Budget Bronzers Review

Hello you gorgeous ladies,

Today I thought I would do a quick review on the budget bronzer/highlighters that I have, well I say quick I thought I may have a couple as a very rarely wear bronzer with me being so pale but turns out I have quite a few so may not be the quick review I was expecting so I will get straight into it.

The swatches are in order of the picture above, we have Vivo in Sun Kiss, Vivo in Healthy Glow and NYC Color Wheel in Island Spice. The Vivo bronzers are amazing, the Sun Kiss gives a gorgeous glow to your face its just stunning, its really buildable colour also, I'm really pale (as you can see from the pics above) and I can apply just a small amount just to add a bit of colour to my face but you can also add more if your slightly darker and it builds up nicely without making you look caked in make up. The healthy glow I use as a highlighter on the top of my cheek bones and it really does do what it says on the tin, gives you a perfect healthy glow. You only need a tiny amount as its really pigmented so I can see this lasting me a long time. I would definitely recommend these to anyone. I think Vivo cosmetics are definitely worth the money. The NYC bronzer is not so good, it looks quite pigmented in the picture but I had to rub my finger in the bronzer for a while and keep building it up to get this colour, its not very pigmented at all and if you use a brush you get next to nothing on there, unfortunately this is a bit of a fail for me.

Here we have the 17 from Boots GLOW bronzers in pink bronze and gold bronze and at the end the MUA bronzer in shade 3. The 17 bronzers are super pigmented and super shimmery, I have tried them on my face and they are very pretty colours but far too shimmery for me. Each one is 4 separate shades that you can swirl together to get a nice glow, I can't use them on my face, they accentuate the pores on my face and just do not look flattering. I use the colours individually on my eyes as a shimmery eyeshadow and they are really pretty, especially if your doing a bronzed summery look. So for these its a fail on the bronzer side but a win if your using them as eyeshadows. The MUA bronzer comes in at only £1, it has decent pigmentation and is a matt finish. Its a nice product, just a bog standard bronzer really nothing special but nothing bad to say about it. The packaging is sturdy so I would feel ok popping this in my bag to take out with me for the day or for travelling. For a quid I don't think you can go wrong. I think it would be good for someone who maybe hasn't tried a bronzer before and they don't want to splash the cash with something they may not like. Win for me on this one!

Ok, so pretty sure some people are going to hate me for this, we have the ELF Cool bronzer and the blushed/bronzed duo. I know alot of people have raved about these but I just cannot get on with them at all. The cool bronzer makes me look dirty, I so wanted to love this product but I just can't. It doesn't seem to blend at all and just looks awful I have tried it a couple of times but every time I have had to take off my make up and start again because its just terrible (for me anyway) next the blushed/bronzed duo. These aren't very pigmented, I can't get any colour from the blush at all when I use a brush and the same with the bronzer, I have tried to use it for contouring but I can't get anything from it at all. The only time I see any colour is if I rub my finger vigorously in the pan but then thats not much help really is it? Sorry ELF both of these are a big fail for me.

Another 2 17 products, the bronzing rocks and the instant glow bronzer and highlighter. I love both of these especially the instant glow. 

The bronzing rocks don't give to much colour when using a brush and sweeping over your face but rather a nice looking glow to your skin, I would think these would look stunning if you have tanned skin. There are pink rocks and bronze rocks, if you can see above I have taken a swatch of a pink rock and a bronze rock, I have also used these on my eyes again and they both are really pretty on the eyes too. Gotta love a multi use product! The instant glow is amazing, gives me a perfect bronzed look for my pale skin and the highlighter is great on its own on the cheek bones or the brow bone. I'm pretty sure I got this free using the Boots vouchers from the machine, something along the lines of buy 2 17 products and get this for free. They often have amazing offers on these machines so don't forget to check them out when you go to Boots. Both of these are a win in my eyes and I would repurchase them both.

These are the W7 boxed bronzers, I think we all can see where W7 have got their inspiration for these boxes. Maybe another higher end brand that do something similar? Anyway, these are super cheap, I picked up the Africa from New Look for £2, the Africa is really pretty on the cheeks, its not good for a bronzer as it comes out really pink but it gives a lovely glow to your cheeks. The Honolulu is lovely, a matt bronzer its lovely to blend and the pink packaging is super cute. Unfortunately its a little too dark for me but for something with darker skin than me it is a lovely product and for the price I don't think you can go far wrong. 

 

Another one that I think people may hate me for. Here we have the Bourjois Bronzing Powder and the Sun Kissed Bronzing Pearls. I really really dislike the Bourjois for two reasons, the first is the smell. People have raved about this smelling like chocolate but I think it smells like a cheap car freshener, I cannot stand putting this on my face because it stinks, I really wanted to like it because it looked like chocolate but I can't it just smells so bad. The second reason is because I cannot get any colour from this at all. The swatch above was me layering colour over and over again, it must have been over ten layers and there was still hardly any colour, the sunkissed next to it was me swirling my finger around in the pot a few times and swatching and there is a massive difference. Unfortunately the Bourjois was a big miss for me and it was the most expensive of the lot. The Sun Kissed I got from the Poundshop, these are ok, they're cheap and cheerful a but a bit shimmery for me not as shimmery as some of the others I have mentioned. I cant wear these on my cheeks for a slight glow but I do have to be careful otherwise I can look a bit like a glitter ball. Not a good look!

So for someone who doesn't really wear bronzers I think I have quite a few. Oops. I also have some higher end bronzers that I didn't include as I wanted to focus on more budget friendly products, plus there are some here that I think are much better than others which have cost me over £20, especially the Vivo I would repurchase these over and over as they are just so pretty.

Hope you enjoyed my little(ish) review. Do you have any budget bronzers that you think are really good or do you know of any bronzers that are good for the paler girls amongst us? Please leave a comment below

Topshop Constellation Eye Palette

I've never really got into the whole Topshop make up range. I've had one or two items but never been overly impressed with them. I recently got the Constellation Palette that they do and I have to say I'm rather impressed. It retails for £12 and can be found here on their website. Its a really nice smokey eye kit and would be great for Christmas.

Here is the palette, I love the packaging. Its really sturdy and feels like it would hold up if you popped it in your hand bag. It includes a mirror and an applicator.

Here is what it says on the back of the packaging.

The palette includes a very glittery black, a dark  glittery silver, a shimmery pink and shimmery light silver. As you can see the palette doesn't include any matt shades but who doesn't want a bit of glitter at Christmas? 

Now, it isn't the most pigmented of palettes, the swatches below took quite a bit of building up to get the colours as close to the pan as possible. The only shade that didn't quite get there was the black but I don't think that is really an issue if you are wanting to do a subtle smokey eye. All the other colours are lovely and really soft to work with and they don't create a lot of fallout which is really good, I hate having little speckles of shadow on my cheeks.

I think this is a really good palette, the packaging is cute, the colours are nice and do blend nicely and the price is not too bad. However I do think there are other products on the market that are as good or better than this palette for less money. 2  that spring to mind are the MUA Pro Glamour Nights Eyeshadow Palette 
This is only £4 and has 12 shades, definitely good value for money as these shadows are so pigmented, although I would recommend a good primer with them, the second palette is the Sleek Bad Girl Palette 
This retails for around £7.99 and again has 12 very pigmented shades, there is also the storm palette which would be a good alternative that retails for the same price. I love Sleek palettes and reach for my Au Naturel palette alot more than I do my Urban Decay Naked 2.

Have you tried any of the Topshop make up range yet?

Sunday Shopping Spree Haul

I decided that this month I would put myself on a shopping ban, with only October and Novembers wage before Christmas I need all the money I can get for Christmas presents. Unfortunately 4 days into the ban I seem to have failed. I did get some good bargains though so I think I can be excused.

The first item I picked up was from Superdrug and its the MUA Artiste Collection Palette. I saw this online yesterday, MUA posted some swatched on their Facebook page and I really wanted to try it for myself. Superdrug currently have 3 for 2 across all cosmetics and considering I can't pass up a bargain I picked this up. I have swatched the colours below.

This is just one swipe of each of the colours so as you can see they are pretty pigmented for £6.00. Pistachio, Cookie and Shimmer Kiss are all absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to use them. I have had MUA eyeshadows before and have always thought that the colours were great and really pigmented but I have had an issue with getting them to stay on my lids all day and them creasing really badly on my oily lids. Since the last time I tried them I have discovered Mac Paint Pots which have massively helped with the staying power of my eyeshadows so I am hoping that it will help with these.

On the 3 for 2 I also picked up this Gosh Nail Polish which I have been lusting over for a while but never managed to find in stores. Its in the shade 549 Holographic Hero and it costs £4.99. I have this on my nails now and I am loving it. 

I also picked up a Rimmel lipstick in in 128 Starry Eyed, its a lovely berry colour but it has a slightly browny/plummish tone to it which I am really loving at the moment for Autumn/Winter.I really do like Rimmel lipsticks and I do think that they are the best high street lipsticks available. They go on really smoothly and last a  while. I put mine on just after I got back from shopping and it lasted a good four hours before needing to top it up. This cost £4.99 and in my opinion stands up to my Mac lipsticks in terms or quality and pigmentation.

Next up was a little trip to Boots. I went in specifically for these mascaras. I have had them in the past and they are amazing mascaras. I would happily pay three times the price for them because they are that good. They are the Natural Collection by Boots and cost £1.99 each, however Boots have buy 1 get 1 half price across all cosmetics so I got both of these for under £3.

 

I will do some photos shortly with these on my lashes so you can see just how good they are.


I found these Models Own polishes in TK Maxx, they were on clearance at £4.00 for all three. I only wanted the gold and the peach colour but I'm sure I will get use out of the blue. Not much to say about these as I haven't used them yet but I have used Models Own polishes before and I do really like them.

On the way home I popped into the Superdrug right around the corner from me I only picked up three things, two quite boring and one thing I just wanted to try.

I bought these cotton pads for removing make up and nail polish. I usually buy the big packs of cosmetic ones but these had teddy bears printed on them so I couldn't resist. How sad am I?

Look at the teddy bears, too cute right?

I picked up this, its a serum and moisturizer in one. I have tried the Garnier Ultra Lift cream before and really liked it so I thought I would give this one a go. I believe it cost either £7.49 or £7.99and I'm really looking to trying it after learning that the Oriflame cream and serum I have been using it not working for my skin.

Lastly just a nail polish remover, £1.09 and it removed nail polish funnily enough. It works fine for me, it may not be the best thing for my nails with it containing acetone but they haven't fallen off yet so I think I'm good.

Well do much for my spending ban, most of these items were on some sort of special offer though so it really doesn't count.

Have you done any shopping this weekend or are you on a spending ban for Christmas?