MAC Sinfully Chic Face Kit

The Sinfully Chic face kit from MAC was part of their holiday collection for 2012 called Fabulousness. I was late in buying anything from this collection, trying to hold back a little on buying so much makeup but I eventually caved and bought this. I must admit that the packaging this year really did sway me, it's got to be the most beautiful holiday collection from them yet (in terms of packaging). I've never actually bought from their holiday collections before so I was interested to see what was on offer. As I don't own that many MAC items, I thought this would be a great way to try a range of their products. I do own a few lipsticks and lip glasses, both of which I love! So getting the blush and eyeliner was a plus. 

This set seems to big the biggest in terms of size, kind of like a clutch bag. And while I think it would be great just to pick up this set and take it with me, it can be a bit bulky so I've taken the items out and put them into my makeup bag to save space. You can also change out the products if you want which I think is a nice idea if you're going for a different look. The only other thing I'm worried about with the silk pattern would be getting it dirty, the texture seems like it would attract a lot of dirt so I haven't taken mine out. It sits on my shelf looking pretty instead.

Once you open the set, the two sides are divided by a mirror. There is a pouch with a travel size blush brush in (MAC 129) and you can always add your own brushes in with this. I already own the 129 travel brush when it came out with the wonder woman collection and I think it's great for when you are limited on space and it does the job. I have heard that the travel size brushes are nowhere near the same quality as full size but as I don't own the full size I can't compare. This brush is still better than a lot of other brands though.

The lip glass (be nice) included in this set is a pretty champagne colour, when on the skin it does come out clear and has quite a few glitter particles. The lipstick (Out to please) is a slightly orange toned nude, I think on my skin this would wash me out so if I were to use this I think I would put a more brighter gloss over the top. 

My favourite items in this set are the blush and eyeliner. The blush (pursue your passion) is much more orange than it looks on the site, it's a warm bronzey colour. I do like this a lot and don't use a bronzer when I wear this, I will sometimes put a more pink toned blush just on the apples of my cheeks to give my face a bit more colour. 

The eyeliner (technakhol liner in graphblack) is very soft and very pigmented, it glides on the skin so smoothly and doesn't budge all day. It's also really easy to take off at night. This is an eyeliner that doesn't need sharpening, you just twist the top whenever you need more. So an all around good product in my books! This is no longer available but if you are interested in the fabulousness collection, Debenhams still have a lot on their website.

What did you think of MAC's 2012 holiday collection? Did you purchase or receive any of these items? What would be your favourite product from MAC?

Nude Tude Palette

This is the first all "nude" palette I own. I haven't bought the naked, naked 2 or the natural eye palette's yet. Every time I go to buy them, some limited edition products/collection gets released and I find myself spending the money on that instead because the others "will always be there". This was probably the hardest to find palette I have ever purchased, including the Alice in Wonderland book of shadows long after it sold out. 

I knew I wanted to try this palette as soon as I'd discovered TheBalm brand and my love for it is increasing with each product. I did some searching online around November/December time and found a few UK websites that sold this… but to my disappointment they were all sold out. FeelUnique.com and Next.com both claimed to stock this item but still after 6 months of checking their websites neither have restocked and I doubt they ever will. I'd rather they just remove it altogether. 

{Free makeup bag with my order}

I finally decided to order from the official website but had to settle for the "nice" version. This palette comes in two different designs, the nice version and the naughty version. Basically as the palette is "nude" the naughty version has naked women behind each eye shadow pairing. Don't worry there isn't any real nudity it's just a bit of fun with packaging and I personally loved this idea. Unfortunately this version was sold out on TheBalm's website so I figured I'd purchase the nice version or else I could be waiting another six months before having the chance to buy it again. I think it's a good idea that they have the option to buy both as the naughty version may not be everyone's cup of tea. One thing I will mention is the shipping on this item was very reasonable (I shipped to a US address) and my items were shipped the day after purchase which I was very impressed with, I also received a free makeup bag with my order!

The packaging of this palette is very 50s style as with most of TheBalm's products. There are 12 eye shadows in total and comes with a double ended eyeshadow and liner brush. Each of the twelve shadows are named with an "S" word which I thought was a cute idea and ties the whole palette together. 

The shades in this palette are a little different compared to what I've seen in the Urban Decay palette's there seems to be a bit more colour which I think is great because they're subtle enough to still fit the description of "nude". There are no matte shades in this palette, some have a subtle sheen to them and the rest are quite shimmery but not in the chunky glitter way. As far as formula and colour pay-off goes, these eyeshadows are great quality very pigmented and smooth to apply. They're also quite long lasting and I never noticed them creasing. I would still recommend using a primer with them though. I haven't used the brush that comes with it as it looks quite scratchy but I keep it in there anyways in case I ever have to use it. 

This palette costs $36 and is available from www.thebalm.com and www.sephora.com 

Have you used this palette? Are you looking to purchase it? What is your favourite nude palette?

TheBalm Bargains: Oh So Pretty

I've been interested in this brand for a while and have posted about it a few times already but hadn't managed to try any of their makeup yet. Whilst browsing in Marshall's and T J Maxx I managed to find some of their gift sets. I found the Oh So Pretty gift set at Marshall's for $9.99, the RRP was $59.


In this gift set you get the Hot Ticket Nail Polish in "petunia", the Plump Your Pucker lip gloss in "passion my fruit", TheBalm kabuki brush and the Betty-Lou Manizer bronzer which I will do a seperate post on.


The Plump your pucker lip gloss is a plumping lip gloss which I know a lot of people aren't fans of. I've tried others in the past and although I don't really see any real difference I don't mind the tingling feeling that they give. This for me has more of a cooling sensation that a prickly feeling like the sexy motherpucker glosses from Soap and Glory. This product does have a very strong sweet berry smell to it (probably in response to the fruity name) so you may not like that, I personally don't mind it and can smell it less when actually applied to the lips. The smell also resembles the taste, I like lip glosses that don't have much of a taste but this tastes the same way it smells, quite sweet and berry-like. Not something I am a fan of. The colour of this gloss is a berry pink with lots of sparkle, when swatched it resembles the colour in the tube. I applied this over a lip balm to help sheer it out as I found the sparkle to be a little intense for me but overall I loved the colour.

The nail polish which came with it is a luminescent pink/coral colour. Not something I would usually go for but I tried it out anyways. I found this polish to be quite watery in consistency and needed a few coats before it looked anything like the colour in the bottle. From what I've seen TheBalm has a whole range of nail polish colours but these don't look to be available from their official website so I am unsure of where you can buy them.

And lastly the kabuki brush, I actually haven't gotten round to using this yet simply because it feels quite rough on the skin. I like my brushes to feel soft on the skin for when I am applying makeup. Although it isn't the roughest brush out there it's not as soft as I would like. It could end up being the best kabuki brush I've tried, we shall see.

All you need is faith and trust…

And a little bit of pixie dust!

Ok I admit it, I LOVE Peter Pan and I always ride Peter Pan's flight when I'm in a Disney park with all the other 'kids' (best ride ever, no?)

So when I came across this palette about 4 or so weeks ago, I knew I'd love it. I mentioned it in my ASOS haul but hadn't yet had a chance to play around with it. This is my first PIXI purchase and I've been wanting to try their products for a while. The packaging is what drew me to this to begin with, I love that it's not the usual cartoon version of Tinkerbell we always see. The box itself is a light shade of yellow where as the palette itself is classic pixi green with the same drawing by Disney artist John Quinn. What I like about this brand is the hands-on approach the creator Petra Strand has.

This palette is quite a neutral palette in terms of the colour selection which is good for people who aren't that into colour and I think will appeal to a bigger audience. I know some people will probably think that the packaging is quite childish and/or tacky but if you really like the product inside I'm sure the packaging can be overlooked. The palette itself is quite small and compact, and easy for travel. It comes with a double ended eye brush, double ended lip brush and a blush brush. Although these brushes may not be the best in quality I think it's nice to have them for when you are on the go. 

All the eyeshadows featured in this palette are shimmery, so if you aren't into that or prefer something more matte this palette may not be for you. As far as colour payoff goes, the pigmentation is pretty good in the eyeshadows. The blush palette is made up of 3 different shades, all quite shimmery and more like highlight colours. Unless you are using a small brush it would be quite difficult to use the shades individually. 

I really liked trying out the lip colours for this as I'm not usually into lip creams. I applied them using the brush provided in the palette and although they didn't give a lot of pigmentation I like the sheen and colour they gave my lips without looking overly done

{Eyeshadows}

{Blushers}

{Lip Creams}

I love that PIXI has teamed up with disney to create a palette themed around one of the most famous pixie's, Tinkerbell.  The PIXIGLOW Fairy Face Palette retails for £36 and can be found at www.boots.com, www.pixibeauty.co.uk, www.asos.com or alternatively you can visit their Flagship store just off Carnaby Street. For anyone in the states, PIXI products are also sold at Target.

What are your thoughts on the PIXI GLOW Fairy Face palette? Have you purchased from the PIXI brand before?