Wednesday Wish List: Topshop Make Up

When Topshop first launched its make up range I wasn't in a rush to try it but after trying polishes, lipsticks and blushes over the past year or so I can safely say that I'm a fan. I think the products are reasonably priced and I love that their shade range is usually so on trend. I tend to stick to products in the core collection and here are some of the products I've currently got my eye on:

Lipstick in Sartorial

£8

link

Topshop describe this as a bright coral and from the swatches I've seen I'd say that's about right. It's definitely more a red/pink shade than an orange.

Bronzer in Desert Sun

£12.50

link

How pretty does this look in the pan? Topshop describe this as a peach shade and I think it'll work more like a blush than a bronzer.

Nail Polish in Helter Skelter

£5

link

I'm really drawn to this coral shade; it's odd since summer is almost over (did it ever really begin?) but I'd happily wear a shade like this all year round.

Smokey Eyes Quad in Tawny

£12

link

These colours are all shades I'd wear regularly so I'm interested in swatching this to see what the pigmentation is like. If any of you have tried these shadows, let me know!

Metallic Nails in Crystal Clouds

£6

link

If you've read any of my nail polish posts before you'll know that I'm not a fan of shimmer or metallic polishes at all but there's something about this shade's calling to me! It might be a nice pedicure colour...

Are you a fan of Topshop make up? What's your favourite product?

Stace xx

July Haul

I didn't think I bought too many products this month but I guess I was wrong!

I needed a new shampoo so picked up the L'Oreal Ever Strong Reinforcing Vitality shampoo; it's from their new sulphate free range. Having tried (and enjoyed) another (much more expensive) sulphate free shampoo, I've been keen to try another one. The E45 lotion was a necessity because the skin on my back and shoulders has been feeling so irritated recently. It's a decent moisturiser in general and something that's handy to have on hand when scented lotions are too irritating.

I popped into The Body Shop because it's my birthday month so I had a £5 reward plus a £5 reward on my reward card. I needed to replace my African Spa Hand & Foot Butter so I used my £10 of rewards on that.  From the sale I picked up a Raspberry body butter, a Green Apple shower gel and a Passion Fruit cleansing gel. I stupidly thought the Passion Fruit cleansing gel was a body wash, though. I added a Born Lippy balm in Pinkberry at the till and I've been enjoying this lip balm so much. It smells like a strawberry Opal Fruit.

I picked up the famous Rub Rub Rub body scrub from LUSH and have been loving it so far. The scent is really unexpected; because it's blue I was expecting it to smell fresh but it's actually a lot more floral.

I did a little blog sale shopping this month. From a US blog sale I bought a mini Make
Up For Ever Smokey Lash mascara but unfortunately it's very dry looking so I don't think it's usable. I bought two more Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Punch and Cherry Me. Despite the naff packaging, these are great little tinted balms. I also picked up a Hard Candy 'bronzer' (what?!) in Tiki. It's a lovely highlight powder.

I accidentally bought another highlight powder from Lou's blog sale; this time it was Topshop's Sunbeam. This one is very pigmented and golden. I also bought a mini Burberry lip cover in Rosewood because I didn't get it in my Harrod's Glossybox and felt I was missing out! It's very cute.

I clearly had a thing for honey scented lip balms this month given that I purchased both the Nivea Milk and Honey balm and the Burt's Bees Honey balm. I have to say, I prefer the Nivea one. I picked up a couple of the new-ish Revlon Kissable Balm Stains in Crush and Rendevous. I wanted to try a waterproof mascara so picked up the L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes Waterproof in Black; I've been enjoying using it so far. I had to replenish my stock of Collection Lasting Perfection concealer in Medium, too.

I attended a make up lesson at Urban Decay that I'd won and the make up artist used this concealer on me. I really liked the coverage and texture of it so I picked up the Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer in AFI. Expect to see a review on this sometime soon. The final product in this haul wasn't purchased by me. A lady I babysit for gave me this because she didn't think the colour would suit her. I've been hankering after a NARS Larger Than Life lip gloss for a while so it was a nice surprise. This is in the shade Place Vendome. 

Swatches

Hard Candy Tiki, Topshop Sunbeam, Urban Decay AFI, Collection Medium

Maybelline Cherry Me, Maybelline Pink Punch, Revlon Rendevous, Revlon Crush, Burberry Rosewood, NARS Place Vendome

If you'd like to see reviews of any of these products, please let me know!

Stace xx

My Top Five: Spring Lip Products

Next up in my Spring top five series is my top five lip products. I love orange and it seems to be everywhere this season which is why three of the five products I've chosen belong to the coral/orange family. I've also picked out a bright pink and a nude shade to add a little bit of variety. In truth, this could have been a top ten or top twenty post but I've been good and stuck to five products.

MAC Viva Glam Nicki

This is one of my most recent purchases from MAC. It's a very bright yellow based pink shade. I can't see myself wearing this much in the autumn or winter so I'm going to wear it as much as I can during the spring and summer. I'll definitely be keeping the rest of my make up very simple when I'm wearing this!

MAC Freckletone

I think this will be my go-to nude shade for spring. I tend to wear warmer toned eyeshadows and blushes so I find this nude works better than something like Blankety because of its peachy undertones. Freckletone has a Lustre finish so it's not particularly long wearing but it's very easy to re-apply on the go.

MAC Tendertone in Purring

I feel a bit bad for including this since it was limited edition and is now sold out almost everywhere. Try your local MAC counter, though as they may still have one or two. This is a deliciously fruity and glossy balm which is pretty sheer. It's not sticky at all and I know I'll be getting a lot of wear out of this product over the coming months.

Topshop Lipstick in Infared

I got this lipstick recently but I've not worn it a lot yet. The shade is much more flattering than you might expect, particularly on warmer skin tones. I'm planning on wearing it with very minimal eye make up (or a huge pair of sunglasses...) I like the finish of this lipstick too, it's got a bit of a sheen to it. 

Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss in Firecracker

Yes, this is another orange/coral product! I love these glosses - the quality is great for the price and best of all, they don't leave a sticky feeling on the lips. They've so easy to wear so this is probably what I'll use when I don't feel like wearing a lipstick. It looks like an orange-red in the tube but on the lips it just looks like a sheer orange.

Swatches

L-R: MAC Viva Glam Nicki, MAC Freckletone, MAC Purring Tendertone, Topshop Infared, Revlon Firecracker Super Lustrous Lip Gloss

What are your go to spring lip products?

Stace xx

Topshop Cream Blush in Head Over Heels

I picked this up at the weekend and have been using it for the last few days so I thought I'd share my thoughts on the product!

I picked this up in a Topshop store for £6 (or £5.40 with student discount) but it's also available online (link)

The packaging is white with a matte finish. It looks pretty but it quickly starts looking grubby. The compact also includes a decent sized mirror which is useful if you need to reapply on the go.

I am not the biggest fan of cream blushes, to be honest. I feel like I end up rubbing off a lot of foundation when I apply them with my fingers due to their sticky texture. I sometimes find them to be too pigmented and whilst I do love a good dose of blush, I don't want to look like a clown either!

The formula of this Topshop cream blush is excellent for someone like me as it quickly dries down to a powder finish and doesn't interfere with my base underneath. It's also pretty sheer which I like as it means I can layer it to get an amount of colour I'm happy with.

I did try applying this with my fingers but found it easier to apply with a Real Techniques Stippling brush. I looks more even and wears much better when I use a brush. The blush lasts around 5/6 hours on my cheeks when I apply it this way. The skin on my cheeks is 'normal' so if you have very oily skin, you might find this doesn't wear for as long. It's easy to top up throughout the day if necessary.

Sorry for the weird angle! The photo above is just one layer of the blush. I'm around an NC30 in MAC, for reference.

The colour is a peach shade with a hint of pink; right up my street! It looks a lot more frightening in the pan than it does swatched or on the skin. I think it will work on a range of skintones since it is buildable but if you're darker than an NC40 you might struggle to get a great deal of colour from this. 

I hope that was helpful! I'll be trying out the famous Neon Rose shade next week so expect a review on that very soon.

Stace xx

Haul: Topshop & Boots

I've not been into town for a while and I had a few clothing items to return so I popped into Topshop and Boots to pick up some new make up. There were a few things I'd been after for a while now. 

I also bought some clothes and accessories from Primark but I never really feel like posting about those. I see this blog as a beauty blog so I rarely feel the need to talk about fashion but if you'd like to see the occasional clothing haul, let me know!

I popped into a different Topshop today and it stocked the entire make up line! I was pretty restrained and just picked up two cream blushes. I tried one of these when they first launched but I wasn't a huge fan of cream blushes. I'm still not a cream blush fanatic but the formula of these isn't sticky, which I appreciate.

I got the famous Neon Rose which is a bright coral shade and Head Over Heels which is a peachy shade. These were only £6 each for 4g of product. Bargains!

I popped into Boots because I had some coupons to use. I had £2 off any Revlon product so I picked up the UK exclusive Lip Butter shade, Macaroon. I already have all the lip butters I want (apart from Creamsicle which is only sold in the US!) so I've not been hunting them down but I did like the look of this shade. It's a deep pink shade. The full range of Lip Butters was well stocked in the St Enoch Centre Boots in Glasgow if any of you are from here and still looking for them. This was £7.99 but I only paid £5.99.

There is a 3 for 2 offer across most of the cosmetics brands so I picked up three new products from Rimmel. I've been debating whether or not to try the Wake Me Up foundation for a while because I was worried it would be too luminous for me. I swatched it and it felt really nice on the back of my hand so I decided to give it a go. This was £8.99. I also picked up the corresponding concealer which was £5.49. I got both in the shade Soft Beige. I picked up one of Rimmel's new lip stains in Nothing But Nude which is a peachy-pink shade. That was £5.99.

I've been using up my perfumes recently and I've only got Prada Candy left now. I love that scent but I don't want to use it every day. I decided to give the Soap & Glory Eau De Soap & Glory Original a try. This was £16.50 for 50ml which is very reasonable for an everyday scent. This will be great for just chucking in my bag. I got a free Foam Call body wash since I'd spent over £10.

So that's it for my little weekend haul! Let me know if you'd like to see reviews of any of these products once I've had the chance to try them out.

Stace xx

Review & Swatches: Topshop Lip Stick in Rapturous

I have tried a few other Topshop make up products but this is definitely my favourite so far!

Product: Topshop Lip Stick in Rapturous 


Price: £7 


Description: Matte finish lipstick in a chubby pencil format, great for applying on the go. The shade is described as an orange-red.


What's Good About It?
Well I love the colour, it looks great with my NC30/35 skin. The main plus point of this product is the fact it's a pencil. It's so easy to apply anywhere (I tried it on a night out - no lipstick where it shouldn't be!). I've tried similar products but I've always found they don't quite pack the same punch as a lipstick. I thought this would be better since it's matte and I was pleasantly surprised at just how pigmented it is. Lasting power was pretty good too, but I find that with most matte lipsticks. 


What's Disappointing?
I do find this quite drying and the fact it has to be sharpened means if you take it in your bag but need to sharpen it, you can't use it unless you chuck in a large sharpener too!


Overall Score & Comment: 7/10 - I like this but I don't love it. It's a great colour and great for popping in your bag but it is drying and there are drawbacks to it being a pencil rather than a typical lipstick. I would like to try other shades to see if they're as good!

What do you think of Topshop make up? Do you have any recommendations?

Stace xx