Rave Review: No.7 Colour Calming Primer

Hey guys,  you may have read in my 'what's in my (travel) makeup bag' post that one new item I'd recently been sold on was No.7's Colour Calming Primer. My skin has always been sensitive and sometimes my redness just refuses to be covered up by foundation. So I was really excited when I went shopping a couple of weeks ago and bought my first 'correction' primer that promised to tone down redness.

The first thing you might notice is that this product isn't subtle, it's an in-your-face green. A little scary, but once applied it blended into my skin nicely.

A couple of points though for application...

- The primer dries pretty fast, so I would recommend applying it in sections.

- Make sure your skin is dry as it proved a lot harder to blend when there was a bit of moisture left on my face (probably a bit of an obvious one).

So, does it do what it promises? In my opinion it absolutely does. I actually couldn't be happier with this product. You really only need to apply a small amount of the primer as a little goes a long way, and the green tone seemed to instantly diffuse the redness. Not only that, but my skin was smoothed out, primed and ready for my foundation. 

Any downsides? One downside is that I wouldn't wear this alone as sometimes the highly pigmented green colouring doesn't completely blend, but once foundation or concealer goes on top it makes an amazing difference!

For £11 I would say the product was worth it, but I'll also be on the look out for more colour correcting primers from other brands once I've used this up.

P.S. The primer also comes in a lavender colour to brighten sallow complexions! (tempting...)

Have you tried this or any other colour correcting primers? Let me know if you have any recommendations :)

NOTD: Ciate 'Wait Until Dark'

This is going to be just a quick post about a gorgeous nail polish I've recently started wearing, although I also just quickly wanted to say sorry for the lack of posts in the last few days! Unfortunately I've been bombarded with work lately, but I should be back to posting as normal now :)

So, this is my first ever NOTD! Exciting times...and a nail polish I've fallen in love with recently is Ciate's "Wait Until Dark"
This was free with Marie Claire, which I now seem to be buying religiously every month and they are going Ciate crazy recently in association with their free gifts, which I'm definitely not complaining about. My lip gloss review from last month's issue can be found here.

After two coats

The colour is a lovely deep, rich purple/plum with a bit of shimmer, although it really looks more like a high shine and is pretty subtle. The polish dried very fast and there wasn't any chipping for about 3 days...as ever Ciate is a winner when it comes down to quality.

I'm not sure how often I'll wear this for the summer, but I think it'll become a staple for the winter.
So overall, just really love this! The colour is so pretty and flattering, and I would really recommend to get one of these before they run out as normal retail for a Ciate polish is £9!

Bow Tied Beauty featured on two amazing blogs!

After now blogging for a little over a month I've had the pleasure to get to know some other really lovely and very talented bloggers. And I'm so excited that today I've been featured on Metaphors in Blue and A Peek of Chic.

My first ever guest post is on the amazing blog, Metaphors in Blue! Definitely go check it out, it's such a fun blog and I always love reading the posts. She writes about such wonderful things that gives me a little bit of inspiration and perspective, plus style advice and outfit posts...what more could you want? My post is about makeup, or the lack of it, you'll see what I mean :p

I was also kindly asked by the lovely Cheryl at fashion blog, A Peek of Chic if I'd like to be featured on her weekly 'style me chic' feature...which of course I jumped at the chance to! This is where every Thursday a style dilema is put to the question, asked by a reader. My dilema was what to wear when I go back to university in Autumn/Fall. Her style advice is amazing and I love the looks she came up with.

Hope you have fun reading and I'd also like to say a big thank you to everyone who's reading and has followed. I genuienly love to read all your comments and writing this blog has been such a great experience so far :)

Bow Tied Nails!

In the spirit and name of my blog I had to share this with you!

From one of my favourite You Tubers, Fleur De Force, I found in her latest video a 'Cute Bow Nail' tutorial!

I love playing around with different nail colours and experimenting, but when it actually comes down to designs or small details I'm still a bit cautious. However, after watching this, I'm pretty tempted to have a go at this sweet 'bow tied' look.

What did you think? Let me know if you have any success re-creating this look!

What's in my (travel) makeup bag...

I've been traveling pretty frequently for the last few weeks, so this post is all about my travel essentials. I thought I'd show you the makeup I take with me normally, and I also just found a really sweet bag to put all my products in from Boots, which I love and am happily going to showcase to you :)
I'll probably also do another post about my skincare essentials when I travel somewhere next time.

But for now, this is literally what I have with me in the bathroom next door...

I really am in love with this bag. I can't actually remember the price, but it wasn't too expensive, and I only purchased it a few days ago, so there will definitely be some left if any UK readers want to get their hands on one.
The compartments are so handy and I've actually used them to separate and categorize my makeup which is just so much easier. The bright pink lining is also lovely... and I'm not even a big fan of that colour normally. The bag looks a little smaller in the picture than in real life, but you can see below that I managed to pack a lot into it, and there was definitely still room for more!

In the first compartment I included my base makeup (foundation, concealer etc.) and blush.
The second compartment I used for colour and eye makeup.
Finally the little side pocket (which was so handy) I filled with tools (brushes etc.) and eyeliners.

So first compartment... (above picture)

No 7 Colour Calming Primer - A new favourite! (upcoming review soon)

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation

E.L.F. Cover Stick

Mac Select Moisturecover Concealer

L'Oreal Touche Magique Concealer

                                                          Benefit Boi-ing Concealer  -                                                     

A lot of concealers! But a must-have for me with my dark circles.

              E.L.F. Colour Stick - Great for both cheeks and lips.

E.L.F. Natural Radiance Blush

Second compartment...(above pic)

                                                         E.L.F Setting Spray -                                                                     

So useful, I actually didn't pack any powder as I've found this sets my make up well and my dry skin can do without it for a few days.

Collection 2000 XXL Volume Sensation Mascara - 

The only mascara I use now! I love it, although definitely need to get the non waterproof version as well.

E.L.F. Eyebrow Treat and Tame

Benefit Brow Zings 

Ciate Lipgloss

Maxfactor Bronzing Powder - 

Such a lovely and good quality bronzer, I've had this for so long and it still doesn't seem to be going down.

Side pocket (above picture)

Tweezers -

A necessity for plucking a few strays hairs while you're away. I bought these years ago, so couldn't actually tell you where I got them from!

Topshop Eyeliner Sharpener

E.L.F. Complexion Brush

E.L.F. Brow Comb and Brush

Ecotools Concealer Brush

Bourjois Liquid Eyeliner

Body Shop Pencil Eyeliner

Phew, that was actually quite a lot! I haven't specificallly put a lot of detail about each product, but if you'd like to know a shade or where to buy something etc. please feel free to ask me. 

I also wanted to quickly tell you lovely readers that I will be doing some eye shadows tutorials soon that I promised in my post about a week ago. But right now I don't have my palette with me, so when I get back home I will make sure to get that up asap.

What's in your travel makeup bag? Do you just bring the bare essentials or a mini suitcase full of products? :p

An Almighty E.L.F Haul!

Yes I may have gone a little crazy and spent a little too much on E.L.F. products. How can I justify this? Hmm... well, firstly new and exciting products appeared to my very eyes as I clicked onto the website, which were of course at very reasonable prices. Add in a couple of re-stocks of favourite things plus items I've wanted for a while, and you've got a hefty amount of E.L.F. goodies stacked up!
Oh well, all of this was probably equivalent to a high end foundation, so once in a while I say splurge! :p

Now, what did I get you ask? I am very excited to show you and review everything!

Brushes

Woops, I actually forgot to include the brushes in the main picture showing you everything I bought! Oh well, you get to see them now :p
I'm actually pretty behind on the brush front, and as a complete beauty addict I thought an investment was definitely needed. I'd heard good things about E.L.F.'s studio line brushes, from which I got a complexion and powder brush. With the prices being so cheap I also threw in an eye crease brush and brow comb and brush from their original line for a mere £1.50 each!
The eye crease brush was the first one I had ever bought and I was amazed at how I hadn't lived without it before. It was so easy to use and soft, producing lovely effects with the eyeshadow that went seamlessly into the crease.

The brow brush was also a first time purchase and I found it to be great for producing perfect looking brows when I was both shaping and filling in my brows. For such cheap prices for both these products I was very happy with the results.

The powder brush (left) and complexion brush (right) were so soft I could have just brushed them over my skin all day! Applying bronzer, blusher and powder with them was effortless and neither of them have shed at all. The complexion brush has a shape that manages to highlight cheekbones, whilst the powder brush is efficient with it's flat top for quickly skimming the face with powder. Again, I loved both!

Eyelid Primers

Oh dear me. By those words you can probably tell I was disappointed with this product!
Lets see, where do I start? The actual primer took about 4 attempts on each lid to actually get anything onto it! It seemed so thin and just didn't look right. It then also creased, exactly what a primer supposed not to do. Product quality was just not up to par unfortunately.

I'm just getting so fancy with my camera work nowadays :p

Any good points? Well it wasn't all bad, the colours were a nice base for my eye shadow, and did make it last longer. Still, I won't be re-purchasing and at £3.50 (expensive in E.L.F. terms :p) I feel pretty disappointed.

Studio Cream Eyeshadow

I was really excited when I saw the new range Studio cream eye shadows, at first I quickly added three different shades to my basket, but then I talked some sense into myself and decided to try out just one to begin with. 

This proved to be a good idea, as this was sadly another product I was disappointed with! :( 

Although the packaging is lovely and sleek, the actual product quality was not so great. It says on the E.L.F website that the colours are ultra pigmented, which I would say is not the case at all. The colour seemed almost transparent and the shade didn't seem the same as what you view online (I picked Dawn). No matter how many layers I tried to build up, it didn't seem to make any difference and it really just wasn't flattering at all.

Cover and colour sticks

Love love loooove! So this review is turning out to be really mixed with my excitement and disappointment over what I bought... but I only have praise for the E.L.F. colour and cover sticks! :)
I thought I was taking a risk purchasing them, but I'm so glad I did. Above is cover stick in Ivory (center), colour stick in Pink Lemonade (left) and another colour stick in Toasted (right).

These sticks are such a convenient size to take with you when you travel and so easy to apply. With the colour sticks I just dabbed a bit onto my finger and applied lightly to my cheeks. They're small, but I think they'll take a while to use up and for £1.50 they're a ridiculously good buy! One small problem is that E.L.F often runs out of stock, so next time I see them I think I'll just buy in bulk! :p

My favourite was pink lemonade. So lovely and pigmented, and I've honestly never used a blush that's given me such a lovely dewy rosey glow.
Toasted was also a lovely colour and fine for my pale skin, both are very pigmented.
Finally the cover stick (in ivory) was just as good as the colour sticks. I didn't think I'd like it, but it's so creamy and applies effortlessly to the skin, I have dry patches on my skin and it actually seemed to cover them really well, whereas other foundations I've used have enhanced them. There's also so many shades and colours to choose from that I really can't think of a downside to these!

Blushes

I've used one of the E.L.F. radiance blushes before (£1.50 each) and loved it, so I re-purchased my favourite one in Shy (right), and also went for a lovely cool plum shade called Coy. It takes a few layers to build up the colour, but that wasn't really a problem.
These blushes have such lovely quality and on the skin they really do look radiant. I would recommend Shy for any girls with paler skin tones, as it really is the perfect light pink blush that just makes you look a bit happier :p. And I would recommend Coy for more tanned or darker complexions, although I can still see myself using it on nights out as it's still a lovely shade.

Powders

The next product was something I saw from E.L.F's studio line and have been very tempted to try for a while. It was out of stock for about 2 weeks, but when I saw it was back in I immediately added it to my basket. This pressed powder is called Complexion Perfection and retails for £3.50.
E.L.F describe it as a 'sheer formula that brightens, mattes and neutralizes the skin'. The different colours work on the principle of the colour wheel, so the green should neutralise redness etc. Basically it should even out your complexion and brighten it.
I have to say I don't think it lived up to it's claimed, which I was pretty dissapointed about because I was so excited to try it! However, it works fine as a powder to set my make up and the quality was still pretty good so I'll try and use it up.

Next powder...and my most expensive ever E.L.F purchase!... A whooping £6 :p. This is the studio line High Definition Powder.
This was one of my best purchases, I was honestly so pleased with the quality of this finely milled powder. It beats the price of high end loose powders and I would say the quality is just as good as some I've tried. The powder is transparent, and it's so soft and silky. The matte finish was great as well and set my make up perfectly for the day... I can't really praise it much more than that. I would say I'll re-purchase, but there's so much of the product I think it'll be a long time before I run out!

Setting Spray

This was a purchase more out of curiosity than anything else. I've been wanting to try setting sprays for a while, but was a bit nervous. At £3.50 from E.L.F. I thought why not? Plus my makeup seems to come off so easily, so I thought this would be amazing if it held it in place all day!

I first tested it on a patch, as my skin's pretty sensitive and can flare up, but it was completely fine. When you spray the bottle (at least a few inches away from your face) the annoying thing is that the nozzle is small and not wide set, so it doesn't cover your entire face. I had to do 2/3 sprays to cover my make up and then I was left looking like I had like I had little drops of rain on me, but they soon disappeared and absorbed into my skin.

I'm a little on the fence still about this product. It did do a good job of setting my make up and, it did last a few more hours than usual, without any tightness from the spray. However, I'm still wanting to try other sprays like Urban Decay's Dew me, and Skindinavia, which I've head amazing things about.

So I will use this and probably would recommend it, but I'll be trying a different spray once it's finished.

Nail Polish

I'd never purchased nail polish from E.L.F before and with their humungous selection of colours I hunted for the perfect nude with a touch of pink... and found it in, well their shade Nude.
It's such a lovely, pretty shade that would make a great base for a french manicure. It's quite subtle, but great if you want polished looking professional nails. The packaging is great again for £1.50, although one downside is that it took a pretty long time to dry, but I soon got over that after admiring my newly painted nails :p


So overall a bit of a mixed bunch! But apart from the primers and eyeshadow I couldn't be happier with my purchases :)

Have you tried any of these products out? Let me know your verdict. And I'd love to know what your favourite all time E.L.F. product is!

London Riots.

I really applaud all the bloggers who have shown their support for people living in Britain in this current situation. I 100% agree and give my support and hope for a safe and quick stop to this madness.
As someone who lives in London, I can tell you it's a scary situation and an utter misrepresentation of London youth today. The fact that it's spreading across the country is even more worrying and all I can say is that I hope the police and government take swift action to end this! Luckily it hasn't spread to my area yet, however seeing the police here and shops closing early and being boarded up was such a sad sight.

I hope everyone is well and keeping safe.

xxx

Summer nails

At the moment I'm loving reds, pinks and nude's for my summer nails. I've taken a quick picture of my top five that I'm wearing almost everyday. My favourite out of the bunch would have to be Collection 2000's 'Hot Looks' in Milkshake...and the cheapest of the bunch! Although Ciate and Nails Inc take the prize for best quality, E.L.F has given me the perfect nude and I've found an amazing bright coral from Eyeko!

I'm also on the hunt for lilac, mint green and peach toned polishes, so let me know if you have any recommendations :)


What's your favourite colour you're wearing on your nails right now for summer?

Eye Shadow Experimentation

I recently bought a new eyeshadow palette and like a kid in a candy store, I was so excited and couldn't wait to try out all the different shades! (okay possibly not the best analogy). So I thought I'd post some pictures of my attempts at a few different looks to see what you guys think. I also have to quickly apologise for the lighting in some of them, still trying see what works best with my camera.

Soft, golden winged eye

I thought this would be great for day or night. I used most of the neutral, pinky and golden shades in the palette and worked the darker shades upwards to create a 'winged' effect. I also then created another winged line on top with some Bourjois liquid eyeliner. I'd say if you're looking for a more casual version of this look then don't add any eyeshadow onto your brow bone.


Darker colours with a fairy tale twist

I really loved experimenting with the darker colours in my new Sleek palette and I thought the dark blues, teal and purple went so well together to create a look that was enchanting. I decided not to add any eyeliner as I thought all the colours I blended together spoke well enough on their own.

Simple and bold: Two shades.

All I did with this last look was to blend two colours, a shimmery light yellow and a matt black. Simple and quick, I though this created a dramatic look and could be done in endless colour combinations!

Please let me know what you thought :) If anyone would like an actual tutorial on any of these looks, I could definitely do that in another post. Any suggestions of any other looks you might want to see next? 

Sleek Makeup Eye Shadow Palette

I'm very excited to share with you my first ever eye shadow palette! I know, I know... call yourself a beauty addict? Well I do of course own single shades, but I have to say that eye shadows are something that I've only gotten into recently, but I thought it was definitely time to make an investment!

This was a purchase from a few weeks ago, so I've had enough time to review most of the shadows to be able to give you my full opinion.

The palette comes in a plastic case and I'd say the size is pretty small. I'm not sure what to compare it too, but it's pretty compact which I liked. The packaging was nothing amazing, but it looked 'sleek' and professional. Inside is a lovely black compact, with a good sized mirror.

This brand is great on a budget. This product actually cost £6.49, and also comes in different editions with a variety of colours. I personally chose this palette as I thought it had a good all round choice of colours that could be used day or night.
Although a little side note: the shadows are pretty shimmery, the only matte colour was black, so be I'd be a little cautious about day time wear.

( I also just had a peek at their website and found myself drooling over the many other choices! 'Sunset' palette (bright shadows), 'Bad girl' palette (smoky shadows)... even a primer palette! Oh my.)

Sleek Makeup Divine Mineral Based Eyeshadow Palette, The Original

The colours include from L-R on the top row:

Matte black, purple, dark blue, teal, dark green and green.

Bottom row from L-R:

Yellow, pink, nude/champagne, copper, brownish gold and khaki.

(This is my own interpretation of the colours as there were no details on the package of what they were, so you'll have to forgive me if some of my interpretations are slightly off! :p)

I have to say the colours are gorgeous, as is the quality.  However the 'waffle' print on the shadows, began to quickly wear down after a couple of uses (as you can see from above) ,which does make me wonder how long they'll actually last.

The lighter colours have a lovely shimmer and are more subtle.

I also did some swatches on my arm so you could see how the colours look on the skin. In my opinion they definitely have the same brightness, pigment and tone as you see in the palette. I know with some eye shadows I've tried in the past, the colour will fade and appear like a toned down version of what you expected. Not the case here!
Having experimented going out a few times with this palette, I can tell you that the colour stayed put all night, which I was very happy about. Although I would still recommend using a good eye primer to hold the shadow in place and set it well.

The darker colours are bold and bright, great for a statement look.

The darker colours I absolutely fell in love with! They are all lovely and rich, and go so well together. The shadows blend great, and are versatile, creating a subtle or more dramatic eye.

Overall, I'm very happy with my investment in this great little palette.Budget and quality wise...it's a winner.

P.S. Having looked on their website, I can tell you that they do deliver to a wide range of countries!

Have you tried any of Sleek Makeup's eyeshadow palettes? Please let me know what you thought :) Or any good budget palettes that you've found I would love to hear about!