Seventeen Instant Glow Shimmer Brick (Pink Bronze) // £4.99

I bought this shimmer brick last year but I wasn't blown away by it and it got put to the back of my collection but this summer I've been using it almost everyday. I absolutely love it as a highlighter and as eyeshadow too. It obviously looks similar to the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick, however it's a lot cheaper! I can't compare the two as I don't own the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick, but I'm sure someone else has!

Anyway, I love using the top two shades as my highlight as it gives a subtle highlight that can be built up for a more intense look and I use the bottom two shades as eyeshadows. I find these last all day on both my cheek bones and my eyelids which makes this an even better product for my make up bag as it has multiple uses! As you can see in the photo below the shimmer brick is extremely pigmented as well. 

What's your favourite highlighter at the moment?

Yesterday I went shopping with my Mum to pick up a few bits for uni and then we went into Asda to have a quick look around. I bought some stationery and a few other necessities for uni but I obviously ended up down the beauty aisle and I picked up a few things.

The first things I bought were from the NSPA range and I'd never heard of this brand before, but there was a 2 for £4 offer on their body products so I thought I'd give them a go. I was torn between buying raspberry and coconut but I chose coconut because I already have a lot of raspberry Body Shop items at home. Anyway, these two products smell amazing. 

I've already tried the Coconut Body Milk once after my shower last night and so far I really like it, but I'll keep using it a little longer before I do a full review. It's usually priced at £3 for 300ml which is a bargain. 

I then chose the Coconut Body Mist to go with the body milk. This also smells wonderful and the scent lingers as well, which is obviously the point of a body mist but sometimes I find the smell just disappears after a few minutes. This also retails at £3 usually. 

Finally, this George Glow Shine Luminous Highlighter caught my eye because I thought it looked similar to Benefit High Beam (which I have reviewed here) and so soon I will do a comparison of the two and a review as well. This highlighter was only £3.50 so we'll see how good it is!

Have you bought any new beauty products recently?

At the beginning of the month I blogged about how I was sorting through my make up bags and realised that I have far too much make up that I forget about. So I've decided to start a series on my blog called rediscovered beauty products which I'll be doing regularly. It'll include me talking about the beauty products I had forgotten about but have recently rediscovered!

1. Bourjois Health Mix Serum Foundation | £8
I can't find this on the Boots website anymore but it's available on Amazon here. I've previously reviewed this product earlier on this year here but I just forgot about it once I bought a new foundation. However, after using this I remembered why I loved it. It has a lovely scent, easy to blend and gives a good coverage.

2. Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer | £10
Although I like the actual concealer in this kit, I've been using the setting powder most. It just increases the longevity of my concealer and makes sure I don't look oily during the day. I've also reviewed this concealer here.

3. Accessorize Baked Blush in Scandal | £5
This was the first ever baked blush I bought and I loved it and used it everyday for months, but as usual I ended up switching it up with a new product and putting it to the back of my collection. I found it again the other day and remembered how beautiful it looked on my skin. It gives a lovely highlight as well, which saves time in the morning! As with some of the other products this specific shade isn't available anymore, however this blush looks similar and is also an Accessorize Baked Blush.

4. Benefit High Beam | £19.50 (full size)
I've never actually seen a negative review of this highlighter and I adore it. I usually gravitate towards it during the summer months because it just looks beautiful on the skin. I've done a full review of this highlighter here.

Have you rediscovered any beauty products lately?

I love wearing highighter all throughout the year, I feel as if it just makes my skin look healthier so when I heard about the Soap and Glory Glow All Out Lumizing Powder I wanted to try it. I bought it from Boots for £11 which, admittedly isn't the cheapest for a highlighter but then again it's cheaper than my MAC MSF.

My Mum actually picked this up for me (but I payed for it) so I wasn't expecting it to be this pink toned, however I do really like it. I use it as a blush and highlighter in one because it can sometimes look a little too pink for just a highlight on my skin. Either way I'm happy I have this product.

The packaging is beautiful just like all the other Soap and Glory products and having a mirror is always handy. I have been switching between wearing this and my Topshop Highlighter which are completely different, but I love both.

Overall, I would recommend this if you are looking for a subtle but build-able powder highlight from the drugstore.

What's your favourite highlighter?

 I attempted to go Christmas shopping earlier this week and ended up buying no presents but instead buying more make up I probably don't need. I'm going shopping again next week and I'm determined to buy all the Christmas presents I need to get!

Anyway I ended up buying a couple of items from the Topshop Make Up Range. Previously I have done a blog post on my Cream Blush in 'Pinch' which I really like but I wasn't a massive fan of the colour which is completely my fault for choosing it. So I thought I'd try a different and more wearable shade, I decided to buy Head Over Heels Cream Blush as I'd seen so many good reviews on it.

As always I love the Topshop packaging as it's cute but sturdy so it won't be ruined easily in your make up bag. I much prefer this shade to my Topshop blush. It's a beautiful coral colour with pink undertones. I usually stay away from cream blushes purely mainly because I'm worried it'll make my skin look shiny, however this is not the case as once it's dried it looks like a powder blush. It gives your skin a natural looking blush to it, but it is easy to go over the top with this blush since it is so pigmented. It only costs £6 which is a very reasonable price for a wonderful product.

I'd been wanting to try out the Topshop Crescent Moon Highlighter for a while after seeing Essie's favourite highlighters blog post. I swatched it in Topshop and decided I had to buy it because it looked so pretty. I can see this highlighter quickly becoming one of my favourites. It's £10 for 6.5g of product.

Have you tried any of the Topshop Make Up?

I've been meaning to do a post on this for a while, but I was prompted to do it now because I saw Essie's post on her favourite highlighters. 

As I think I've mentioned before I have most of the ELF Studio Blushes and I think they're amazing quality and pigmentation for only £3.75. When I bought this I knew it would be used for a highlight rather than a blush. 

The packaging is the same as all the other ELF Studio Blushes in that it has a mirror and the typical black sturdy packaging. It's extremely pigmented so you need to be careful not to be heavy handed when applying this, otherwise you can look over shimmery. It's a beautiful subtle champagne colour which brightens up the face, which I think is really important for me in Autumn and Winter when my skin can be looking quite dull.

I'd really recommend you try this highlighter if you haven't, it's cheap and I love it. Also if you check the ELF website there's usually offers going on so you can save on shipping or there's certain amounts off etc.

What's your favourite highlighter?

As you can probably tell from this post my October spending ban hasn't gone too well. However, I'm going to make an excuse and say these next couple of posts don't count as breaking my spending ban as much, because I am quitting smoking and so I treated myself. I went to visit Portsmouth Uni and so there were some shops I 'accidentally' ended up spending money in.

Anyway, I ended up buying a MAC Semi Precious Highlighter in Crystal Pink. I have wanted a MAC highlighter for a while now so when I saw in it a discount cosmetics shop, I felt I had to buy it and save myself £7. I only paid £14.50 for this highlighter, rather than £21.50 for a highlighter from the current collection.

It's such a pretty highlighter, which attracted me to it. The top swatch is from the veining section in the middle of the highlighter, and the bottom is from the outside section of the highlighter. It is a very pigmented highlighter and gives a beautiful glow once applied to the skin.

I am glad I bought this highlighter, even though I technically broke my October spending ban.

Have any of you tried the MAC highlighters?

xx

This week I thought I'd invest in a Mac Mineralize Blush however, as amazing as they seem, i couldn't justify £19 as I'm trying to save money. So I went onto eBay and I found something that looked similar, and it's the NYC Color Chroma Face Glow Powder and it was only £3.75 (with free postage and packaging). It took about 5 days to arrive, and I'd forgotten I'd ordered it until it arrived earlier today.

It has a dome shape, like the MAC blushes do, and it has the veining running through it. I  absolutely love this product already, so far I can't see any down sides to it. It gives a nice glow to the cheeks and I think this will definitely become one of my most worn items! In the swatch it looks a lot more like a bronzer, but it does looks more peachy once applied to the cheeks. I used my ELF Stippling Brush to apply it.

This is also meant to be a dupe for MAC MSF So Ceylon, however I cannot personally compare since I don't own the MAC MSF So Ceylon but if it is, it's definitely a bargain to try the NYC one first.

xx

I was looking through my blushes this morning for something to wear, and I found a product I had completely forgotten about. It's the 17 Blush and Glow *. I bought this a while ago from Boots and it was £3.99. I hadn't really used this product before, only swatched it a few times but I never got round to wearing it. Mine's in the shade peaches and cream which is such a pretty combination.

As you can see, it is fairly shimmery which some people may dislike, although it doesn't look over the top once on the cheeks if it's blended well. They are both highly pigmented and stay on the cheeks all day (about 7 hours for me). The highlighter is a bit more gold-toned than it appears to be here, but it is still a beautiful colour. If you wanted a more subtle colour, I'd suggest blending them well once applied to the face or swirling your brush around in the pot rather than just applying it one at a time.

Overall, for the price and pigmentation of this product, I love it and it's a bargain. I would suggest anyone to try this if you want a well price blush and highlighter.

xx


* I'm not sure what's happened to the photos of the product on the Boots website, but it is still available in stores and online as far as I know. There are also other shades available. 

In Glamour Magazine last year I got a sample size of Benefit's High Beam Highlighter, admittedly that was the only reason I bought the magazine because I wanted the sample. Although I am so glad that I did, because I love this product so much.

As you can see it gives a subtle glow on the skin, but it's not over the top. I think I would buy the full size of this or maybe ask for it for a present for Christmas. It is fairly expensive at £18.50 for the full size version, however it is so pretty and works perfectly for me and stays on all day.

xx

A while ago I made my first order from Miners Cosmetics after I'd seen a few people mention how good their products were. I watched some reviews and read some blogs on what products people recommended and so I bought a few things.

The product I'm reviewing today is the Beauty Brilliance Highlighter and I got mine in the shade 'Pixie' because I thought it looked slightly similar to Benefit's High Beam. I will admit I had quite high hopes for this product and I wanted it to be similar to High Beam, however it was not. I'm not saying it's not a good product, because I do still really like it, but I think i expected too much. It was also only £2.99 (on sale at the moment as well, where as it's usually £4.49) compared to £18.50 for High Beam.

I'm not a massive fan of the packaging, but it's not awful. As you can see you do get quite a lot of product for the price, 9g to be exact. 

This is the colour pay off after swatching it quite a lot, it is such a pretty colour though. The colour would suit any skin tone in my opinion, and I'm extremely pale and it doesn't look too shimmery on my skin either which is a bonus. I do still love this highlighter, even though I feel this review has been fairly negative.

It lasts a good few hours and I just put it on the top of my cheek bones for a nice glow. I would recommend this highlighter if you're looking for a well priced drugstore cream highlighter.

xx

For a long time I'd wanted to buy the Accessorize highlighter but I'd never got round to it, so when I saw it on sale in a blog sale recently I decided I'd buy it! I only have one other make up product from accessorize and I love it, so I had high hopes for this product.

I think the packaging is quite pretty and you get 50ml of product which is a good amount for £7. I like to put a little bit in my foundation to give it a bit more of a dewy glow.

The only negative thing I have to say about this product is that the nozzle is quite big and so you have to be careful that you don't get too much product out.

It's a yellow toned highlighter and it's got quite a lot of shimmer but not too much that it looks silly on your face.

You can see from this photo that it gives a nice glow and it looks even nicer recently since it's sunnier in England (even though that'll change soon probably!)

Hope you're all well xx