Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder 52 Review

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

This product will probably be familiar to a lot of you and many of you have probably already tried it out. Up until recently I had never tried the famous Bourjois chocolate bar bronzer and a few people I talked to couldn't believe it, being the makeup artist and beauty blogger that I am! I have a very limited experience with bronzers and contour kits because once I find a product that I like I usually just stick with it. You'll probably have noticed that too from the lack of reviews of those particular products on the blog. 

There are always 3 for 2 offers on in Boots and I was picking up some products to try from Bourjois when I couldn't settle on a third and final product. That was when I noticed the chocolate bar bronzer and I thought why not!

The bronzer is contained within a book like packaging and closes with a magnetic clasp. Inside the product is shaped like a bar of chocolate and even slightly smells like one too! I really like the packaging its cute and quirky. While the packaging looks small and convenient for on the go there isn't a mirror inside, just something to note.

I picked up the product in the shade 52 which I would consider to be a warm terracotta shade. Unfortunately this particular shade won't suit very pale skin tones. There is another shade called 51 but it wasn't in stock at the time I was purchasing otherwise I would have bought that one. I can only assume the shade 51 is a lighter colour than this one so that may be worth checking out if you are very fair.

The bronzer is soft to the touch but the texture is really nice, it isn't too soft or overly powdery. If you look closely at the product in the pan you can make out tiny golden particles of glitter running throughout the bronzer. However, I find these sparkly particles don't transfer onto the skin which suits me better if I'm honest. Due to this, the product can be used as a bronzer to warm up the skin and also as a contour product for sculpting the face as it pretty much has a matte finish to it.

The bronzer is quite sheer but definitely build-able. I wear a strong contour on a daily basis but I was surprised that I actually liked how the product looked on my skin after one application. It gave my cheeks definition but in a natural way. If you tend to go for the no-makeup makeup and still like to look polished, then this is a product you need to check out.

As I am naturally quite pale this shade is too dark for my natural skin tone. To make it work I like to wear it when I have fake tanned. I get the most wear out of this bronzer 3 to 5 days after I have applied my fake tan as that is when I'm lightly bronzed due to the colour of the tan fading.

The bronzer lasts quite well on my skin I'm pleased with the longevity factor. In the above photo I have applied the bronzer strongly into the hollows of my cheeks and then added a light dusting to the jawline and to around the temples. 

Overall I think its a good product for the price, definitely not the best drugstore bronzer on the market but a very nice one at that. The Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder will set you back €10.29 and is widely available from the likes of Boots and pharmacies nationwide.

Until next time!

Eimear x

Sleek MakeUp Face Form Contouring & Blush Palette 'Light' Review

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Recently I was up in the Dundrum Shopping Centre having a little browse around and one of the places I stopped into was Boots. The Boots up in Dundrum stocks Sleek MakeUp so I was really excited about going in and having a look at the range. I usually buy my Sleek products online as there isn't a counter near me but I prefer to be able to swatch the products in a store before I buy. That way I can get a better idea of what products might work for me and what ones may not. 

There are always offers on in Boots and the day I ventured in there was a 2 for €14 sticker across all of the Sleek MakeUp range. Depending on what you picked up you could save yourself a good few euro. To give you an idea I could have picked up their 7 piece brush (€16.99) and this contour kit (€13.49) for €14 giving me a saving of....€16.48 pretty decent huh! 

In the end though I picked up the Sleek MakeUp iDivine Storm Eyeshadow palette along with the Face Form Kit, as one of my subscribers over on my YouTube channel wanted to see some more eye makeup looks using the Sleek range. 

If you have been a follower of my blog or YouTube channel for any length of time it probably comes as no surprise that I picked up a face product from the brand. My all time favourite contour kit is Sleek's Face Contour Kit in the shade 'Light'. I reviewed that a few years ago so if you missed that post you can read it here. I'm also a massive fan of their blushes, I've reviewed the ones I own here, so it only seemed fitting to pick up a product that combined my two loves.

The Sleek MakeUp Face Form Contouring & Blush Palette comes in four shades:

• Fair
• Light
• Medium
• Dark

Being that I pretty much already owned the light face form kit, I had intended on picking up the kit in the medium or dark shade. Unfortunately Boots didn't stock the dark shade in the Dundrum store and I changed my mind once I laid eyes on the medium kit. Not because I didn't like that particular kit, that wasn't the case at all it was more so to do with the products included in the kit.

What I mean by that is, in the 'fair' and 'light' kits there is a contour shade, a highlighter, and blush included. While in the 'medium' and 'dark' kits there is a contour shade, a highlighter, and a bronzer included. 

I knew I wouldn't get the full use out of the 'medium' kit because the only time I would wear a bronzer like the one in the kit is when I'm tanned and that is only on special occasions. I pondered for a few minutes over the 'fair' kit but decided in the end to go for 'light' shade. 

The contour and highlight shade are the same products that are in face contour kit 'light' and I'm almost certain the blush in this kit is sold as an individual blush called 'Rose Gold'. I own both of those products which is why I said I pretty much own this face form kit already but despite that I still bought it. I figured it was just handy to have all three products in one palette, perfect for on the go! Plus I would probably have been repurchasing my face contour kit in the next little while anyway so now I don't have to.

The contour shade in this palette is one of the only contour colours that I enjoy wearing on my skin. If you have pale skin it can be hard to find a contouring shade that isn't too warm toned, I find a lot of contour shades can appear quite grubby on paler skin tones. This product is a cool brown and works like a charm. If I want very sculpted cheeks which is usually the case, I take my Sigma Small Contour F05 and apply the product whereas if I wanted to just add a bit of colour to the face I would use it on a larger, less dense brush such as the Sigma Large Angled Contour F40. I've a full video on my favourite face brushes and their uses if you're curious! You can find that here.

The highlight shade is also very flattering on the skin, when the light hits the points where you have applied the product it gives off such a gorgeous glow. It isn't overly glittery it just gives a nice subtle sheen to the skin.

The blush in the palette will suit all skin tones but I think the blush will be the deciding factor for people of whether to buy or not. The blush is a pink/rose shade and has golden shimmery flecks running throughout. If you are not a fan of shimmery blushes then this may be a little off putting. If this is the case I would suggest to only apply the contour shade and the blush, the blush has enough shimmer in it to double up nicely as a highlighter on the cheeks too if you sweep it from the apples of your cheeks back towards your hairline. The blush is very pigmented so pick up a little product, tap off the excess and begin to apply to the cheeks. Keep adding product little by little until you are pleased with the level of intensity.

As you can see from the swatches below each of the three products in the palette are highly pigmented. They are also smooth in texture making them very easy to work with. 

I lightly applied the trio to my skin to give you an idea of how the products perform. I have the contour shade in the hollows of my cheeks, the blusher just off the apples of my cheeks and the highlighter along the tops of my cheekbones. 

Definitely one to pick up if you are in the market for an affordable contour kit, you really can't go wrong with this one!

Chat soon :)

Eimear x

Seventeen Define & Conquer Contour Kit 'Fair'

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Around this time last year Seventeen released their 'Define & Conquer Contour Kit'. I remember scrolling down Twitter and I spotted blogger after blogger talking about this product. Initially I wasn't pushed, I thought it looked nice but I was happy with the contour kit I was using at that time. Later on that day I was on Twitter and I saw yet another post about the contour kit but this time, I was sold. What sold me was this picture that Dee and Sinead from Viva Adonis shared.

In the picture you can see the Seventeen Contour Kit on the left sat next to a Nars product, I'm assuming it was a contour and highlighting kit too. The reason I don't know is because I'm not familiar with Nars products and that's purely because of their price point. Nars isn't a budget brand by any means so when I saw this side by side picture and the resemblance was striking....well I needed to go out and buy the budget alternative didn't I?

When I got to Boots I headed straight for the Seventeen stand, eyes peeled. This kit comes in two shades, fair and medium. I wanted to pick this up for everyday wear so I was looking out for the shade 'fair', which at first was nowhere to be seen. The row on display containing the fair kits was completely out of stock, much to my disappointment. 

After standing there aimlessly for a couple of minutes trying to figure out how not to make this a wasted journey....out of the corner of my eye, I spotted one. Some sneaky little person had hidden the last kit among the shimmer bricks on the stand. Delighted with myself off I skipped to the till, kit in hand. Success!

The packaging ticks all the boxes for me. Its black and white, instant love for me. The casing isn't too big and bulky so its ideal for traveling. It also contains a large mirror, again making it perfect for on the go!

I have been using the Sleek MakeUP Contour Kit in the shade 'Light' for a few years now. I absolutely adore that kit and use it religiously, I have a review up already if your interested which you can catch here. I couldn't wait to see how the Seventeen kit would perform next to the Sleek one as that costs less than a tenner also. Boy oh boy, I love a good budget buy.

If you are new to the world of contouring and highlighting this Seventeen kit is a good place to start. First of all its affordable, its priced at just €8.49 in Boots. The kit also comes with a handy step by step guide to shaping and sculpting the face again, making it good for beginners. Finally, the shades in the kit are matte so if contouring and highlighting doesn't work out for you, the products can be used for other purposes. For instance, if you didn't want to use the contour shade to define areas of the face you could use it to define the crease of the eye or as an eyeshadow all over the lid. The highlight shade in the kit could also be used to set foundation in place. Either way I think it's worth spending the money on, you'll get use out of the palette one way or another for sure!

The texture of the powders isn't bad, they are not really chalky or too powdery which is great. Another thing I noticed is that when you dip your brush into either of the two powders you don't get a lot of excess powder lying in the pan.

The above picture is from a tutorial that I posted on my YouTube channel almost exactly a year ago and in it I'm wearing the Seventeen contour and highlighter. I haven't worn the two shades together since. The reason being, personally I find the contour shade in the palette to be too warm toned for my colouring. 

If you want to see the product in action just click on the play button below! I start using the kit around 3.57, if you don't want to skip through the rest of the tutorial :)

On the other hand, I adore the highlight shade in the kit. I use it every single day as a face powder to set my foundation in place and I also use it beneath my contour to further define my cheekbones. If I have a little tan on I like to use the highlight shade to set the concealer underneath my eyes and that also highlights and brightens that area. 

I used the highlight shade for these purposes in one of my more recent video's so if you would like to see it in action you can skip to 4.23!

Hopefully between the two video's you'll get a good feel for how the product performs. Even though I don't enjoy the contour powder in the palette for its intended purpose, I do like to use it as an eyeshadow so it doesn't go to waste. I've repurchased this palette a couple of times now solely for the highlight shade, I just couldn't be without it!

Have you tried the contour kit?

If so, let me know what you thought of it!

Chat soon :)

Eimear x

Physicians Formula Bronze Booster Season to Season Bronzer

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

In the past I have been lucky enough to have been able to get my little mitts on Physicians Formula makeup. My friend Louise had sent me over some various bits and pieces from the States which I'm ever so grateful for! Other than the odd bronzer here and there in TK Maxx, Physicians Formula wasn't available to use ladies and gents here in Ireland……until now. >:)

I was luckier again to have been invited to the Physicians Formula Launch party in the Morrison Hotel last month. The room was filled with delicious treats, buzzing beauty bloggers and an array of makeup products…what more could you want? I had my makeup done on the night using different products from the range which was great as I was able to try out products that I might not have picked up otherwise. We got a lovely little goody bag to take home and todays review is of one of those products, 'Bronze Booster Season to Season Bronzer'.

I'm a huge fan of bronzer and contouring products, they give such a gorgeous finish to the skin. My makeup routine in the morning wouldn't be complete without that step! However, for myself finding a bronzer that isn't too orange toned and that suits my complexion can be difficult at times. My holy grail product had been the Sleek MakeUP Contour Kit 'light' (review here) but recently I had found myself wanting to try something new, something different!

As the name of the product suggests, this bronzer features a shade for each season. My favourite thing about this product is the fact that you can customize your shade of bronzer. You can wear each of the shades individually or swirl them all together! Physicians Formula stock this product in 'Light-to-Medium' and 'Medium-to-Dark'. The one I own is the 'Light-to-Medium', personally I think this compact is best suited to someone who has a pale complexion like myself. 

The shades range from light, medium to dark so they are perfect for bronzing up the skin…no orange tones in sight! I love that I can still get use out of this while wearing a little bit of tan too, if I am wearing tan i'll bronze up my skin using the 'Summer' shade in the compact. Between the two different compacts there is a shade in there that will suit everyone!

The little gold circle you see in the centre can be used as a face highlighter which looks exceptionally lovely if paired with the 'Summer' shade of bronzer, the combination of the two shades gives such a gorgeous glow to the skin. The texture of the product is quite smooth making it very easy to work with, it blends like a dream.

Just underneath the bronzer, the compact opens to reveal a mirror and a brush so its perfect for on the go touch ups. The brush is a nice addition, its soft and does apply product well. However I prefer to use a smaller more precise brush for applying my contour/bronzer so I won't get much use out of it on a daily basis but it is handy to have on the go!

If you would like to see the product in action you can click the play button above and skip to the 3 minute mark :)

This product retails for €19.90 which is more than I would usually pay for a bronzer but its worth every cent, i'll definitely be repurchasing once I run out.

As of 1st June 2014, Physicians Formula is stocked in pharmacies nationwide.

Have you tried any of the Physicians Formula range? Let me know ^.^

Eimear x

Sleek MakeUP Face Contour Kit 'Light' Review

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Long time know chat!

Finally my exams are out of the way so I can focus all my attention on blogging and filming makeup tutorials...yaaaay!

Today I have for you all a review of the Sleek Contour Kit in the shade 'Light'.

As most of you all know by now I could pass as a Twilight extra, so I need a contour shade that isn't too dark against my ghostly skin.

(Highlighter: Pressed Powder 19. Bronzer: Pressed Powder 21)

I have used the exact same bronzer and highlighter combination since around October 2011, which is quite evident based on the picture above!

Once I find a product I like and that works for me, I use it religiously. I'm not too open to change but I'm getting better at putting new products to the test.

A couple of months ago I decided to venture outside the comfort zone and step away from my beloved Inglot highlighter and bronzer duo and try the much hyped up Sleek Contour Kit. 

Once I removed the packaging and revealed the palette I noticed the design was almost identical to that of the eyeshadow palettes. I adore the packaging.

Simple, sleek and sturdy!

The palette is compact and it comes with a decent size mirror making it ideal for travel.

As I mentioned above, I picked up the kit in the shade 'Light'. Sleek MakeUP also offer this product in the shades 'Medium' and 'Dark'.

The kit includes a matte brown contour shade and a pearlescent highlighter shade.

The first thing I noticed with the kit was that the contour shade is larger than the highlighter shade, opposed to a 50/50 split.

I was happy to see this as although I use both on a daily basis, I find I use up my contour shade quicker as you might have noticed in the picture of the Inglot palette above.

I am extremely impressed with this kit!

The contour shade is perfect for us paler ladies, it isn't orange and doesn't give a mucky appearance to the skin which I find to often be the case with bronzers.

Using my Sigma F05 Small Contour Brush I sweep the contour shade along the hollows of my cheeks, from time to time followed by the jawline and temples.

I then use my Blank Canvas Cosmetics F15 Small Contour/Highlighter Brush to highlight the areas of my face where the light would naturally hit. I prefer to use this brush as it tapered allowing me to glide the product over the high points of my face with ease. I generally tend to highlight down the centre of my nose, the tops of my cheeks and above my cupids bow. I have found that the highlight shade also acts as a gorgeous brow bone highlight!

I have found that the contour kit enhances my features giving definition and structure to my face with ease!

I absolutely adore this product and would recommend it to anyone who struggles to find a contour shade for pale skin. Its an absolute gem!

I picked mine up from Cloud10Beauty.com for only €9.95, another bargain buy for Eimear! :)

Here's to the next year and a half together ♥

Have you tried the contour kit?

What are your thoughts? :)

Eimear x

Blank Canvas Cosmetics 6 Contour Powder/ Blush Palette #2

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Today I have another product from Blank Canvas Cosmetics. As I said in my first post, when I placed my first order with Blank Canvas Cosmetics I ordered a number of palettes. This is the second out of the 3 palettes I own from BCC. As I got all the palettes I own in the one order, you can check out my last post about Blank Canvas Cosmetics here. I explain how well the product was packaged, how efficient the shipping was, customer service etc.

All of the Blank Canvas Cosmetics palettes are packaged in a black palette with the BCC logo on the front. As I have said previously I absolutely love the simplicity of the design, its classy and looks extremely professional.

This palette contains 6 large contour, blush and highlight shades. I love how large each of the powders is, this was the main reason I was immediately drawn to this palette. Its also handy having everything you need to sculpt the face in the one palette.

I primarily use this palette to set my foundation. I will talk you thorough how I use this palette when I am wearing 

• Fake Tan

• Daily Basis

With Fake Tan

I rarely wear fake tan, if I do it will be on the weekend if I was heading out on a Saturday night. 

If I am wearing tan I will use the first shade on the second row (light brown) to set my foundation.

I will then use the shade next to this (dark brown) to contour. Finally if I decide I want a matte highlight I will use the white shade in the palette on the tops of my cheek bones, down the centre of my nose and on my cupids bow to give me the illusion of a fuller lip.

As I always play up my eyes, they are usually very dramatic on a night out. With the combination of fake tan I don't want to go over board so I generally just stick to bronzer, no blush is applied.

On a Daily Basis

As I am quite pale I mix up the white and the shade next to it on the first row, to set my foundation.

To contour I take the first shade on the second row (light brown). This is a really nice contour shade for people who are on the more pale side. I generally find it hard to get a bronzer that doesn't have a muddy appearance on my skin. This is the best I have come across so far!

If I want to give myself some extra definition, I will firstly apply the light brown shade in the hollows of my cheeks. I will then take a small bit of the darkest brown on my brush and apply this only to the most hollow part of my cheek, near my ear and blend it forward towards the apples of my cheeks. This gives a nice fade from the dark shade to the light, adding dimension to the face.

When it comes to the cheeks I will usually wear one or the other, bronzer or blusher. Sometimes I will wear both but not too often. The baby pink blusher in this palette is gorgeous it gives a nice natural flush of colour to the cheeks. The second shade of blusher is a deep shade of pink. I'll definitely be getting a lot of use out of this as we are coming into the winter! 

All of the powders in this palette are highly pigmented and are not chalky at all. I have gotten so much use out of this palette, from face powders, bronzer, blusher, highlighter and I also used the white shade to set my Halloween Sugar Skull Makeup. The palette is just so versatile.

The RRP for the palette is €17.99 and Blank Canvas Cosmetics stock it for €10.99. 

http://www.blankcanvascosmetics.com

Another bargain buy on my behalf! 

Overall

Pro's:

• Affordable
• Compact
• Highly Pigmented Powders
• Versatile Palette

Con's:

• Palette is fragile

Thanks a million for tuning in :)

Eimear x