Category: Make up

Freedm Street Deluxe Box [August 2020]

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I recently received my Freedm Street Deluxe Box in the post! For those of you that may not be aware, The Cruelty Free Beauty Box have recently changed their name to Freedm Street! For more details, check out their instagram posts.

Let’s move swiftly onto the contents of the box!

Again, nothing in this box disappoints! As always, there are various beauty products and snacks which I’m very much looking forward to digging into. Inside the box is:

  • Flawless Hydrating Toner (RRP £3.95)
  • Love Absolute Mulberry Milk Jelly Cleanser (RRP £24)
  • Pura Cosmetics Lip Scrub (RRP £4.99)
  • Lola Makeup Lash Extension Mascara (RRP £11.95)
  • Jorgobe Black Peel Off Mask (RRP £26)
  • UpCircle Gentle Exfoliating Soap Bar (RRP £6.99)
  • The British Crisp Co Handcooked Crisps (RRP 89p)
  • Brave Roasted Peas (RRP £1.39)
  • Beevive – The Bee Revival Kit (RRP £10.99)
  • Nourished Inner Beauty Stack Trial Box (RRP £29.99)

The contents of the box totals at £121.14 but only cost £39.95 as part of their subscription box!

I’ve yet to make a dent into yet as it only arrived this week but I’m looking forward to it already!

The Nourished vitamins appear interesting. I’m not sure how much benefit you’d be able to see with a 7 day trial but I can’t complain when it’s included as part of my subscription box! Each vitamin is individually wrapped and without opening it directly, I believe they’re gummy ones!

  • Beevive Revival Kit
  • Lola Lash Extension Mascara

The other more interesting product in the box was the Beevive Bee Revival Kit! It’s a little keyring with a little vial of sugar water which can be used to save the bees when they’re in need of a little bit of energy! I love the idea behind it but whether I’ll find good use for it is a different matter.

I also love the Lola Lash Extension Mascara. I didn’t take a picture of my lashes, but I loved it. The brush is great and leaves lashes well separated without any clumps for a nice wide eyed look.

There are so many other goodies included in the box with some wonderful brands that I’m currently using such as UpCircle and Love Absolute. I’m so excited to try them all out.

With the company rebrand, I highly recommend taking another look at the website to see what new products have been added!

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Make Up Revolution: The Mascara Revolution

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I’m not one to switch up my make up too often as I know what I like and what gets me the look I normally like. I’ve been using the KVD Beauty Go Big Home or Go Home but at a pricey £20, I thought I’d switch it up.

I popped to my local Superdrug earlier last month where they had a 3 for 2 offer so what better opportunity to try out a new product?

Make Up Revolution are cruelty free and offer lots of vegan options so I took the plunge and spent the £8 of their Mascara Revolution.

The packaging is simple, yet appealing and bold with the rose gold and black. It’s quite a large tube. Similar to the large tube for the KVD Beauty mascara.

The brush is quite big with a curve in the middle mimicking an hourglass. I never really understood why mascara brushes were so different and what benefit they brought. I’m more of a dan of the standard shaped brushes.

The product sat a bit clumpy and thick on the brush, and with the curve in the middle, more of the product sat there. I wasn’t entirely filled with confidence when I saw it.

Left hand side with mascara on

Applying the product wasn’t an issue, even with the brush shape. And surprisingly, it applied very evenly across the lashes. It gave me a bit more volume and a little bit more length which is exactly what I wanted. My only criticism is that it did group my lashes more than I liked but for £12 less than my usual mascara, I can’t complain.

The mascara is a decent mascara for the price. Other online reviews don’t speak as positively about it as I do but I do think I’ll be sticking to my usual but it’s good to know there are other options out there.

stylPro Brush Cleaner

Many of you know that I have no control over spending my money…

My lovely friend Emily received a stylPro brush cleaner for Christmas and was showing me how easy it was to clean her brushes. I naturally was amazed and bought one for myself to share in the joy!

There is no excuse not to wash your brushes regularly with this product in your dresser. It saves so much time by cleaning and drying in one hit.

I got my stylPro on QVC when they were on introductory offer for £29.99. It’s gone up since so it’ll be something to consider if you’re thinking of buying it.

The set came with all equipment, with the addition of 2 make up brushes and the make up brush cleaner. The set contains the cleaning bowl, the brush cleaner and dryer. Most interesting though is the fact that the make up brush cleaner is vegan!

Based on use, it seems to be an oil based cleaner, and it is excellent. Combined with the brush cleaner and dryer, it is so convenient to use and strips the make up off my brushes so easily. I looked at buying the cleaner separately but it’s quite expensive so I’m not 100% sure I’ll buy it again soon, but I’ll have to see how easy it is for me to clean my brushes with the usual soap and water!

It’s so easy to use and the silicone collars come in so many different sizes that there’s going to be at least 1 that will fit on snugly on your brush.

I haven’t used the make up brushes yet but they seem nice enough.

The stylPro Brush Cleaner is a game changer. It makes cleaning so easy that there really isn’t an excuse to skip a brush clean anymore! I can do all my regular use brushes in under 15 minutes, clean and dry, ready to use again.

Kat Von D ‘XO Vinyl’ Lip Cream

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It’s been a long time since I’ve used a lip gloss. I don’t generally get along with them as I find them sticky and heavy.

As always… along came Kat Von D Beauty and their brand new products… The ‘XO Vinyl’ lip cream. It was announced before Christmas and came to the UK in the new year. Of course, I treated myself to some new make up… because I have no restraint!

  • Carnation
  • Packaging

I bought 2 in colours Carnation and Lolita. Both are more neutral ‘nude’ shades, with Carnation a little on the pinker side than Lolita.

The packaging is beautiful. It has the classic Kat Von D gothic lettering which makes it stand out on your dressing table, as well as showing off the gorgeous colour.

I am not going to deny that I am a huge Kat Von D Beauty fan, but I’m not exaggerating when I say I love this new product. I’m pictured above with the XO Vinyl Lip Cream in Carnation on, and it’s such a flattering shade of pink. I can imagine it looks great on different skin tones.

It has the perfect amount of shine to it and doesn’t have that horrible, thick, sticky feeling that I know a lot of lip glosses have. It dries quickly and feels incredibly lightweight.

I found that the staying power was much better than most lip glosses but didn’t have the same staying power as the Everlasting Lipstick which I was expecting.

As a summary, I would absolutely recommend the XO Vinyl Lip Cream. It comes in 6 different shades and the quality of the lip gloss is amazing. As I mentioned above, it’s lightweight and the colour is flattering. I wore it all night, have a few drinks and some buffet food and it was still on by the end of the night.

If you can go check it out for yourself before buying, you definitely should! It will take no convincing from me as the product will speak for itself.

The Cruelty Free Beauty Box Deluxe [December 2019]

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As we’re aware, the lead up to Christmas is super busy and deliveries take longer than expected. I almost entirely forgot about my Cruelty Free Beauty Box delivery so it was a nice surprise!

This months deluxe box was FULL of goodies, including a few Christmas extras!

The contents of this months Deluxe box contains:

  • Bowe Organic – Lip Rescue Balm (RRP £11)
  • Balade En Provence – Hand Cream (RRP £8.95)
  • All Earth Mineral Cosmetics – Finishing Powder Eco Pot (RRP £14)
  • Sknfed – Cleansing & Exfoliating Cubes (RRP £14.50)
  • Tisserand – Sleep Better Pillow Mist (RRP £9.45)
  • Delhicious – Original Black Tea Body Scrub (RRP £7.95)
  • Christmas White Chocolate Soy Wax Melt (RRP £1.50)
  • Matcha Green Coffee Sparkling Water (RRP £1.75)
  • Vegan Chocolatier – Christmas Cracker (RRP £3.25)
  • Spacemasks (RRP £3.50)
  • Freedom Mallows – Mallow Bites (RRP £3)
  • House Of Wonderland – Snowflake Earrings (RRP £7.95)

The total value of the box tots up to £86.70 and everything looks and smells fabulous! It only arrived yesterday so I have yet to try everything but here are my comments so far…

  • Sknfed Exfoliating Cubes
  • Tisserand Pillow mist

The Sknfed exfoliating cubes smells absolutely incredible. I’m not sure if it’s a coffee smell but they smell amazing and I’m really excited to use them.

The Tisserand Pillow Mist is life changing. I actually bought one in September for Tom for his birthday so it’s nice that I have my own one. I’ve probably used Tom’s one more than him! Again, this mist smells lovely and full of lavender and I really do have a good sleep when I use it. I usually give a spritz across the pillow and let myself fall into a deep slumber.

  • Balade En Provence Hand Cream
  • Freedom Mallows Mallow Bites

The Balade En Provence hand cream is really absorbent and smells fresh. I’m planning on taking it to work and keeping it on my desk so I can have a good moisturiser to use there! I have enough at home so it makes sense to keep one in the office.

This is the first time I’ve tried Freedom Mallows before, even though I’ve seen them around before but never bought them. They are delicious!! It’s been a while since I’ve had marshmallows but these have a very similar texture and the flavour is great. If you spot these when you’re out and about, grab a bag! As a gift for someone else or even for yourself, these are great.

The only item I sadly won’t be able to show off is the House of Wonderland earrings as I don’t have my ears pierced. I have debated getting my ears pierced for a while now so whether I will do so to make sure of them or not is a decision I need to make. Otherwise I will gift them to someone as they are really cute and a gorgeous rose gold!

Again, The Cruelty Free Beauty Box have not disappointed with their deluxe box. I am always looking forward to receiving my box and the contents has never disappointed. Seriously, look them up if you haven’t already!

This will be my last post before Christmas, and although Wednesday is my usual blogging day, it falls on Christmas Day so normal business will resume on the Sunday, 29th December!

The Cruelty Free Beauty Box Deluxe [October 2019]

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Another 2 months has passed us by so it’s time for another run through of my latest delivery of the Deluxe Cruelty Free Beauty Box! I was lucky enough to win this box this month in their usual sharing giveaway. I was so chuffed.

If you want to read about the box before this, click here for the post. Previous posts can be found under the Beauty section.

As always, the box did not disappoint and had so many goodies that I cannot wait to try!

This months box contained the following:

  • My HairCare Rescue My Hair Hydrate Shampoo Bar (RRP £14)
  • Natura Pumpkin Sheet Mask (RRP £5.95)
  • Fairypants perfume (RRP £1.50)
  • Palm Bar Body Butter Bar (RRP £5)
  • Bellapierre Liquid Gold 24k (RRP £30)
  • Niu Body Glow Facial Serum (RRP £27.95)
  • Gardner’s Halloween Cookie (RRP £2)
  • Vegan Bunny Chai Latte Soy Candle (RRP £13)
  • Jeavon’s Rizo (RRP £2.75)

The total value of the Deluxe box comes in at £102.15 but will only cost you £39.95.

I’ve eaten the cookie and Rizo bar already and both were a dream. I haven’t had shortbread for a long time and the Gardner’s cookie was a delicious shortbread.

I’ve written about Natura products in various other blog posts I’ve written and I love the sheet masks. They’re a really lovely treat so I’m looking forward to using this pumpkin one.

My final favourite is the Vegan Bunny Chai Latte candle. I’ve actually bought Vegan Bunny candles off Etsy before, but not for myself! I’ve bought Christmas scented candles as stocking fillers for my family members and regretted not buying one for myself. The Chai Latte smell is incredible! I haven’t lit the candle yet but I can’t wait till I do!

I absolutely cannot recommend The Cruelty Free Beauty Box enough. They only send every 2 months which is more than enough for me, and every month is full of new and interesting treats. I adore The Deluxe box with the lifestyle treats. It’s so nice to receive new things that I’d never normally buy for myself or want to try.

Fenty Beauty Matte Match Stix

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I’ve written about Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Matte Foundation before which is now my go-to foundation and I highly recommend it! Blog post can be found here.

I convinced my friend Leah to treat herself to the foundation as she’d finished her non-cruelty-free foundation. While she was there, she also treated herself to the Match Stix Trio.

The intrigue got to me so I had a look. To emphasise here, don’t fall into the trap of buying the trio! On the FAQ, it states that only the matte match stix are vegan, not the shimmer stix.

What’s great about the match stix trio is that it provides you with an idea of your colouring based on your foundation colour. Mine is 230 so I sit within the medium colour range. So I bought the 2 matte match stix within that trio which were Bamboo and Mocha.

Each stick is a magnet so they stick to each other which is an interesting feature and likely to be beneficial if you have a lot of them.

As you can see one of them is a concealer and the other is a contour. Both are cream and incredibly easy to use! The product itself it’s very easily blendable with a brush or your finger and it creates the exact look and contour that I want. I’m far from a contouring expert but this makes it much easier. And for those of you who like a stronger contour look, this can be applied as heavily or lightly as you want!

At £21 each, they’re not the cheapest product on the market, but I’ve yet to find any contour set that comes close to matching in quality and perfect tone matching.

I’m incredibly happy with my purchase and they work great for me. I’ve read some reviews that they’re not great on dry skin so it may be worth doing some research and popping to your local boots to see if you can sample it but I love them!

The Cruelty Free Beauty Box Deluxe [August 2019]

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The second edition of The Cruelty Free Beauty Box Deluxe has arrived and it is, again, another delight! You can read about the first edition in my previous post, here.

I’ve been waiting for my box as soon as the shipping e-mail was sent. It arrived last Friday and I couldn’t wait to open it.

Before the shipping, I ordered myself a Natura sheet mask as I loved the one I received in one of my previous boxes (read about it in this post). One great thing that The Cruelty Free Beauty Box offers is that you can order items on their website to be shipped with your beauty box. This saves on shipping costs and means more treats!

Under all the beautiful and protective, recyclable shredded paper was my sheet mask, so I was glad it made it into my box successfully. Then came the seed paper product lists. I was too excited to read through them so kept digging for the products. I came across all the beauty products first which included a facial bar, a skin scrub, a balm and a gel eyeliner.

Then I thought… wait, where are my lifestyle products?! What I hadn’t realised was that I hadn’t dug far enough into my box… My lifestyle treats included some sweets, a compact mirror and my favourite item… a tote bag with the infamous words…

Don’t worry. You’re just as sane as I am.

Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling)

For readers of my blog, I went to the Warner Bros Studio Tours the week before this box landed on my doorstep so it felt like fate for this tote bag to be bestowed upon me! Especially when it was a quote from my fellow Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood.

So the breakdown of this box:

The total worth of the box is £102.75, so for £39.95 it’s an absolute bargain. Everything is full size which is great, especially for the things that I like!

As much as samples are great for trying things, it’s a pain if I love it and I run out. Also, if there’s something I’m not a fan of, I can give it to someone else who may benefit more out of it and I won’t feel silly giving them a small sample size.

I have yet to use everything in my box, but the House of Wonderland Alice in Wonderland compact mirror is now a staple in my handbag, alongside the Luna Lovegood tote bag.

I have yet to be disappointed by The Cruelty Free Beauty Box so I recommend giving them a try. Don’t forget that the lifestyle box isn’t the only box available. There are smaller and cheaper boxes available with different items which you can find here.

Spectrum Collections: Cardiff Sample Sale [27/28th July]

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This is an urgent blog post that must go up right now so that you guys don’t miss out on the biggest savings possible!

Spectrum Collections are having a sample sale this weekend in the Tramshed in Cardiff.

My friend, Emily, and I went this afternoon and we were in our element. We thought we’d pop by just to have a look at what was around but we weren’t expecting to buy much…

We walked into the Tramshed and were greeted by staff and told that all the products were behind the curtain pictured above. There was also a coffee bar on the right hand side in case you wanted to buy a coffee to browse with! (FYI, there was both cow milk and oat milk for the omnis and vegans out there).

We carried on through to the main part of the room and there were tables and tables lined with boxes of brushes and bags!

We made the tactical decision to look at everything first and make a list of the things that we wanted. I’m not going to lie, it was so difficult. With everything at such bargain prices, it was a challenge to filter!

There were so many options, ranging from small brush sets, 10 piece brush sets, make up bags/rolls, limited edition Disney X Spectrum collection items as well as individual brushes at £1 each! The most expensive set there was at £20 for the Disney roll bag set.

I wrote a post about Spectrum brushes that I bought a few months ago. I didn’t need any new brushes at all, but at the price they were, I really couldn’t say no. I bought some for my mum and sisters as well!

The sets were lovely and perfect to buy as gifts if you don’t even need them for yourself. And lets not forget, the products are all cruelty-free and vegan which is a massive bonus!

If you have some time, the sample sale continues tomorrow (Sunday, 28th July 2019) at the Tramshed in Cardiff from 11am – 5pm!

Spectrum Collection Brushes

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I treated myself to a set of brand new Spectrum Collection brushes in May in their 50% bank holiday sale. Spectrum are well known for their bright, colourful, cruelty-free, vegan brushes. I couldn’t help myself when I saw that they were having a 50% off sale, so here I am, telling you about my glorious purchase.

At Christmas time, Tom bought me a set of brushes which were lovely so I knew they were high quality so I was happy to take the plunge. I bought a set to match my existing set, and only 1 brush overlapped!

  • 50% 12 piece set
  • Christmas gift from Tom

I took the plunge and bought myself the White Marbleous 12 Piece Set. It has a wide range of face and eye brushes for application, buffing and contour.

  • A00 – Luxe Powder 
  • C07 – Luxe Tapered Sculptor 
  • A02 – Angled Foundation
  • C02 – Flat Top Contour
  • A05 – Precision Blush
  • B05 – Luxe Blender 
  • B06 – Tall Tapered Blender
  • A07 – Stubby Shader
  • A12 – Fluffy Pencil
  • A13 – Short Smudge
  • A14 – Brow Definer
  • A15 – Lip Definer

I believe the prefix A, B and C for the brushes stand for Application, Buffing and Contour. I’m sure they have a range of D brushes also which I can only guess is for Definition. Either way, I just use whichever brush is clean and does the job!

The brushes are made of synthetic materials and they’re super soft. Whenever I use them to apply, product is always applied evenly and smoothly. And plus, because the brushes are white, it does make them a lot easier to clean!

And on the topic of brush cleaning…

I also purchased their Mini Vegan Brush Soap. Incredibly easy to use. You simply wet the brush and wipe it over the soap. I then clean as always using one of the make up pads with the bumps I bought on eBay and my brushes smell lovely and are clean for re-use!

Spectrum brushes are quite expensive but they are worth every penny. The quality is fantastic and they look great on the dressing table. And more importantly, they are a vegan and cruelty-free brand!