blushmedo: August 2015

Freedom Makeup London mono shadow // with swatches

22:00

This landed on my doorstep this morning/afternoon (the postie is always late) and to say I was excited, wouldn't even cover it!

If you have ever heard of Makeup Revolution, then these guys are kind of a sister brand of theirs. It's the same company that owns it, but Freedom Makeup London is an affordable line targeted at people who love makeup through to people who want to become makeup artists and need to build up a kit. They sell 'pro kits', which contain all different types of products, from full look ones containing everything you need for a makeup look, to contour palettes. It's a great way to get to grips with makeup for a really good price.

I placed an order for the eyeshadow armoury kit and when I ordered they had an amazing offer on, so I was really lucky and got more than I paid for. At the time of writing this post, they have another offer on, so I'm sure there will be more in the future. But one of the eye shadows I ordered was out of stock.. sad times. There are a total of 30 mono shadows in the collection, of which I have 29 and 4 duplicates (which I got as part of the deal).

They are separated into 6 different collections. There are the bases, nudes, smoulder, smoke, gilded and brights.

BASES

GILDED

SMOULDER

SMOKE

NUDE

BRIGHTS

Apart from the switching these, I haven't gotten round to actually trying them out yet. I thought I would just share the prettiness first. It's so hard not to try them before i have taken photos. But from first impressions, they are mostly all very good quality; pigmented, smooth and an overall lovely formulation. Some of the matte shadows are a little cakey, but that will always happen whatever brand you buy. If I had to pick a favourite, I'm not sure I could whittle it down to just one shadow, let alone one part of the collection. There are a couple of them that I prefer because they are beautiful, not because they are practical. I will probably do a full review once I have done a few looks, but I can imagine it could take me a while to use all 29 colours... As far as I'm aware, Freedom makeup London is only available direct from their website here. As for the eyeshadow collection, that is available here.

Have you tried anything from the Freedom makeup line yet?

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed this post.

This is not a sponsored post and all PR samples will be marked with an asterisk (*)

#AnastasiaBeverlyHills #browwiz #dipbrow #pomade #eyebrows

Anastasia Beverly Hills brow products // Worth the hype?

22:00

I first discovered you could do something with my brows when I was about 18 years old. I believe Benefit were probably one of the first brands to cater to us in that aspect, and it came by the name of Brow Zings. They do still make this product, but I don't think its as popular as it once was, because there are so many other brands that have gotten in on the action. I still have mine. Sentimental sucker that I am! Probably time to get rid.... I wanted to want to use it, but it was such a faff and really time consuming, especially compared to the products available today.

So with my new found love of my brow's ( though I didn't have much in that department, due to mental over plucking in my teenage years) I was forever on the hunt for the perfect brow product. It had to be good enough to fit with whatever colour I decided to dye my hair next, no matter the brand or price tag. But most of all, it had to have an ashy undertone. That my friends is much harder to find than you'd think.

But that was until last year. Whilst I was in America, the land of the holy Sephora. I spotted the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz. Honestly, if it wasn't for the lovely staff helping me, I probably would have chosen the completely wrong colour. Who knew there was a need for so many shades of brow?

I have since then gone through ONE whole Brow Wiz. In a year!! That's not bad going. So, when it gave its last click a couple of weeks ago, I knew it was time. As far as I'm aware, there are only two places in the UK that stock these online, which are Cult Beauty and Beauty Bay. I believe they are much more easily accessible if you live in the big smoke. I picked up both the Brow Wiz and the Pomade.

I hadn't heard much about this product before I came across it in Sephora. It's basically a crayon with a really fine nib, so you can get the most precision your nifty fingers will allow. It twists up to reveal more of the product, which is handy as that means no more sharpener! I got this in the shade medium brown (after much deliberation), which I never would have opted for, but having used this till it died I will say its the perfect build-able colour. It goes on really smoothly and because it's such a nice texture, you can control how dark you go by the pressure you apply. I normally start near the arch and then work from there, brushing through with the spoolie as I go, to distribute it through.

So as I said, on one end there is the actual product and on the other is the best spoolie I have ever come across. It's the right amount of bristles/density and isn't too sharp when brushed through the fine hairs. Which in my case is a good one because mine have a tendency to fall out...

Brow Wiz done, I decided to give the pomade a go as well. A girl can never have to many brow products right? *justifies spending £30*

Dipbrow pomade is described as a fast drying, water resistant, smudge and slide proof formula. I found it to be very smooth to apply, but you do have to be quite light handed otherwise it can look much darker than you were anticipating. I haven't found it to budge at all throughout the day, but I can't say that I've ever had an issue before.

Again, I purchased this in the colour medium brown and I think it might be a tad darker than the Brow Wiz. But that may be because I got a bit over excited..

Above is a picture of the Pomade applied for the first time I after it landed on my doorstep. After a few more uses, I got more to grips with it and managed to get a more flawless application. The brush of choice at the moment is the Zoeva 322/Brow line, as it's the perfect size and shape for the size of my brows at the moment. I got mine shipped directly from the Zoeva website as part of a set, but has since become available on Beauty Bay here for £5.95.

Both of the Anastasia products I bought were definitely worth it. I know it may seem a bit excessive, but some days I want a full on brow for which I would probably use both. But on other days I must honesty tell you that I have been reaching for the Dipbrow Pomade the most.

Dipbrow:

The Dipbrow Pomade is available here for £15.00 for 4g and the Brow Wiz here for £15.50 for 0.08g, both from Beauty Bay.

Have you broken your Anastasia Beverly Hills bubble yet?

I hope you enjoyed this post. Don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin, like and share!

This is not a sponsored post, all opinions are my own and any PR samples will be marked with and asterisk (*)