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Fortune Favours The Brave Palette | Review

29/5/2016

Hello Everyone!
Happy Sunday!
Did you see last week's post about the May Glossybox (here)?
Today's post is all about the beautiful Fortune Favours The Brave eyeshadow palette which is a collaboration between the beauty blogger BristishBeautyBlogger and Make Up Revolution.
I love Make Up Revolution and always want to help support other bloggers, plus I loved the variety of shades so I knew I just had to have it!

First let's talk about the packaging, it isn't a beauty review without talking about the packaging!
I love the gold as it's a total contrast to the usual black packaging and the addition of a giant mirror is always nice. The palette looks expensive and fancy even though it's so affordable.
There are a total of 30 shades in the palette. Some of the shades are marbled and make the palette look really eye catching and classy.
The shadows are a mix of shimmers/glitters, sheens and mattes. The shades vary between neutrals like creams/golds/bronzes, browns and pinks and then bolder colours such as purples, blues and olive/khaki green. Definitely a few shades here to suit everyone.
Each shade has a fun name too which just makes me love the palette even more!

The consistency of these shadows is like a creamy powder, really smooth, pigmented and blendable. The pigmentation is really good and long lasting. I haven't had chance to use all of the shadows yet, such as the blues and purples but I've been loving the left side of the palette and have been using it everyday. I can't wait to use the bolder colours too. There is such a huge variety of shades in just one palette! I'll definitely be taking this on holiday with me.
30 great quality shadows for £10 is such a steal.

What do you think of the Fortune Favours The Brave palette?
I think it's a lovely palette and is versatile for all skin tones and all seasons.
It'd definitely make a great present too.

Leave me a comment from your lovely brain!
Thanks for reading and I'll speak to you next Sunday.

Abi xxx

P.S. You can follow me on Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'

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What's In My Glossybox? | May 2016

22/5/2016

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Hello everyone!
Happy Sunday.
Did you catch my Big Beauty Haul last week? (here)
I have to say I am much happier with the contents of this month's Glossybox than I was last month (here).
This month's is a collector's edition, hence the funky different packaging.
The boxes are based around city breaks so all the products are tailored to travel necessities.

The Packaging

I received the New York version (you could get Paris, New York, London or Berlin) and the box is incredible! It depicts iconic images from the city such as the Statue of Liberty. All of the collector edition boxes were designed by the illustrators at OMY Studio. I really like the cartoony images and that the look is so different to the usual (equally as lovely) design of a Glossybox.
The tissue paper was orange as was the inside of the box to match the font on the front. The shredded tissue was white which created a nice contrast against the orange. Gave it a summery vibe. It's just lovely and I look forward to the next collector's edition box!

The Contents

As a delicious added extra, there was a packet of Proper Corn included with the box! It really was 'done properly' and was quite easily the nicest popcorn I've ever had. If Glossybox wants to start including food pressies in the regular boxes, I'm all up for that!

Crabtree and Evelyn Hand Therapy

This hand cream smells delicious; really fruity and floral. It absorbs quickly without feeling sticky and is very moisturising. For £5 I think it's great and would love to try out the different scents. I also like the twist off top as it reminds me of a paint tube and I like that it's a bit different.

Revlon Ultimate All-In-One Mascara

Last month, I received an email from Glossybox (as did other Glossies) saying that you could pick one of the 5 new Revlon mascaras! I was really pleased because I had been wanting to try these mascaras but didn't know which one to choose. At £10 each I didn't want to pick one and then it be the wrong choice.
I chose the All-In-One and its lovely. Really black and you get a lot of product on the brush (I had to scrape some off the first time I used it!) which I prefer as I hate when the brush looks like it's barely touched the mascara, I mean how am I supposed to get it on my lashes when it's like that?
I've been using it on top of my regular mascaras and it separates and lengthens my lashes. The tiny brush makes it excellent for the bottom lashes too. It hasn't crumbled off in the day or irritated my eyes.
I definitely want to try the others out now!

Bee Good Youth Enhancing Plump & Firm Moisturiser

I've found this moisturiser a bit hit and miss. I think this would be a good moisturiser for more mature complexions as it is 'youth enhancing' and is supposed to 'plump & firm' - all skin concerns I don't currently have at 20 years old.
I found the scent a little off-putting too as it's a strong concoction of lavender and zesty lemon (well it is to me) and it's just a bit full on.
I struggled to rub it into my skin on its own as it's quite sticky and doesn't want to move around the face. On top of the Body Shop Oils of Life (which I am still loving) it makes moving the moisturiser around a lot easier.
I just think this moisturiser is not tailored to me at all, like I said it'd probably be a better moisturiser for a more mature lady. At £23.50 I do not think it is worth the money!

Absolute New York Velvet Lippie

This was disappointing but I knew it would be the second I looked at it!
Lip creams are not my thing, purely because I don't think the quality is there neither is the staying power.
This colour doesn't suit me at all, the colour is streaky, it lacks pigment and I just know that if I'd blotted it, 89% of the product would have been left on the tissue! I do like the packaging though and the doe-foot applicator is good but at just under £5, it's not worth the money.

Loceryl Nail Gel

A bit of an odd product to receive, but a useful one, none the less!
As I have stick on acrylic nails attached to my natural nails 90% of the time (except for right now as I'm trying to give them a break) my nails are basically destroyed so this little nail gel has come at just the right time. It's a clear gel that you rub into your clean/bare nails and you're supposed to apply it twice a day (although I'm just doing it before I go to bed). It's supposed to help restore damaged nails by restoring the natural water content. I've been using it for about 3 nights and I haven't noticed too much of a difference but they do look more hydrated. It's great to have this around to apply each time I take my acrylics off and I'm looking forward to seeing some results.
It's £17 so it wouldn't be something I would buy but I'm enjoying using it.

A fab collectors edition Glossybox!
Are you a Glossie? What did you think of this month's box?
Leave me a comment!

Thanks for reading and I'll be back next Sunday.

Abi xxx

P.S. You can follow me on Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'

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Big Beauty Haul | Colourpop, Makeup Geek and More

15/5/2016

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Hello everyone!
Happy Sunday!
Did you see last week's post about what you need for a Make Up Brush Starter Kit? (Here)
I've been shopping on Amazon and Beauty Bay and have ordered a few bits (you may have seen on my instagram) and thought I would share my thoughts with you.

Big Beauty Haul | Colourpop, Makeup Geek and More | abibailey.co.uk

Eyes

Zoeva Classic Liner Brush | abibailey.co.uk

Here we have
*Milani Bella Eyes Gel Powder Eyeshadow in the colours Bella Sand and Bella Champagne
*Makeup Geek singular shadow in Masquerade
* Zoeva Classic Liner Brush
*W7 Absolute Lashes Mascara
*Maybelline Define-A-Lash Volume Mascara

The Milani shadows are nice but not uber pigmented, they're quite sheer but give a nice glossy look to the lid. Very subtle.
Masquerade is lovely and pigmented like most MUG shadows. I've just bought a purple eye crayon to use as a base and I'm dying to try them out together.
I've been on the hunt for a new liner brush as I'm getting bored of my current one. This Zoeva Classic Liner Brush is good, but I'm struggling to get a sharp point at the end of my eyeliner wings.
The W7 mascara is a great dupe for the Benefit They're Real mascara! I love that the tip has extra bristles so you can use it to coat the lashes you missed.
Maybelline Define-A-Lash was my holy grail mascara when I was at school until they stopped stocking it! So I just had to try the Define-A-Lash Volume version! It's a fantastic mascara; coats all your lashes evenly, separates them and lengthens them.

Face

*W7 Bronzer (has no name)
* Morphe MB30 Brush

Contouring is so popular in the beauty world and I really wanted to try it to see what all the hype was about.
I bought the Morphe MB30 Brush as I don't really have a contour brush (this one reminded me of the NARS ITA brush but for a much more affordable price). It's a nice brush with dense bristles.
I've only used it once so far as I really need to practice contouring (on a day when I'm not going anywhere so I can avoid looking like a muddy mess) as I struggled to blend the bronzer out well enough. In Hindsight I probably should have bought a contour powder as opposed to a bronzer but oh well.
I have been loving the W7 Bronzer on my eyes though! It's amazing as a crease colour or to dust over the lid to add some definition. It has great pigmentation and blends out really nicely.

Colourpop Ultra Satin Lip | abibailey.co.uk

Colourpop Ultra Satin Lip Swatches | Frick 'n' Frack and Echo Park | abibailey.co.uk

Now we all know how obsessed I was with the Ultra Matte Lip liquid lipsticks (here) and a girl on instagram suggested I try the Ultra Satin Lip liquid lipsticks so I bought a couple.
I have the shades Frick 'n' Frack and Echo Park.
Frick 'n' Frack is a dark, brick red sort of colour; quite nineties.
Echo Park is a pinky nude shade.
These are much more comfortable to wear than the Ultra Matte ones as they're not as drying.
The formula is really nice and very pigmented. The doe-foot applicator is very precise which is good. The longevity of these is also brilliant, hardly had to retouch them at all throughout the day.

Overall very pleased with all my purchases!
Have you tried any of the these items?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on them!

Thanks for reading and I'll be back next Sunday with May's Glossybox.

Abi xxx

P.S. You can follow me on Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'

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Make Up Brush Starter Kit

8/5/2016

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Hello everyone!
Happy Sunday.
Did you see last week's post reviewing the Shaaanxo Palette (here)?
I was also nominated for the Liebster Award! You can read more about that here.
Today I'll be showing you what you need for a starter make up brush kit.
I have loads of make up brushes because I have no self control, but these are the ones that I think are most important.
Obviously you don't need to get the same ones as me, these are just ideas.
A lot of my brushes are from Real Techniques because a) I think Real Techniques are amazing brushes and b) a lot of them came from the Brushes and Train Case gift set that I got for Christmas (here).

Face Brushes

Here we have the:
*Powder Brush
*Blush/Contour Brush
*Foundation Brush
*Setting Brush

All you really need for your base is a brush to blend out your foundation/concealer, a big powder brush to set your whole face, a setting brush to set smaller areas like under your eyes, and a blush/contour brush to add a bit of colour to your face.

I bought the powder brush from Wilko for around £4.
The blush/contour brush is from Luxie which I received in my Glossybox (here). Sadly, the shipping to the UK is so expensive, otherwise I would love to buy more!
The foundation brush is the Expert Face Brush from Real Techniques.
The Setting Brush is also from Real Techniques.

Eye Brushes

Next we've got the:
*Brow Spooli
*Eyeshadow Brush
*Eyeshadow Blender Brush
* Eyeliner Brush

An eyebrow spooli is a necessity even if you don't put any product through your brows; it's just a good idea to give them a brush through and tame the hairs.
An eyeshadow brush and a blender brush come hand in hand as you don't want any harsh lines.
A liner brush is important even if you don't wear gel eyeliner (but I recommend you try it because it's the blackest, longest lasting eyeliner formula I've ever used) because you could always use it to soften pencil liner or to fill in your brows.

The spooli came from a huge set of brushes that I bought from Amazon ages ago for around £10 .
The eyeshadow brush and the blender brush both came from the Real Techniques gift set I mentioned earlier.
The eyeliner brush is quite old (ew) because it came with the orginal Maybelline Gel Eyeliner (which I can't believe they stopped doing because I LOVED it and the new one is just not the same and the brush is now rubbish!)

Here's a little photo chart of all the basic essential brushes you need!

These are a few brands that I've used that I think do great brushes and are quite reasonably priced:

*Real Techniques
*E.L.F
*Revlon
*Make Up Revolution

Have I missed any key brushes? I tried to keep it as basic as possible so you just have the necessities to start with and then you can expand your collection (and become a brush obsessive like me!).

Leave me a comment from your lovely brain!

Thanks for reading and I'll speak to you next Sunday.

Abi xxx

P.S. You can follow me on Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'

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The Liebster Award

2/5/2016

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Hello everyone!
Happy Bank Holiday!
A sneaky surprise blog post today.
The lovely Shalane from DragonFlies & DreamCatchers (here) nominated me for the 'Liebster Award'.

Image Source
Now if you don't know what the Liebster award is (I'd heard of it but wasn't sure what it was), here's a little info for you:

"The Liebster Award 2016 is an award that exists only on the internet, and is given to bloggers by other bloggers. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, beloved, etc." source

Basically its a way to give smaller bloggers some exposure (for which I am very grateful!).
The blogger is nominated by another blogger to answer a few questions about themselves that the nominator has chosen and then once you've answered the questions, you create your own questions for your nominees.

Here are my responses:

Favourite Vlogger At The Moment:
I don't really keep up with vloggers anymore, mainly because I don't have time but I do watch a lot of beauty gurus and my number one at the moment has to be Desi Perkins. I am OBSESSED. She is gorgeous and insanely talented, so I have been loving her make up tutorials lately. Go check her out (here)

Best Blogging Advice Ever Received:
This isn't really blogging advice but it is blog photography advice, Paula from Thirteen Thoughts (here) always stresses how important a light reflector is and so I bought one (for less than £10) on Amazon and I don't know how I ever got on without one. It has HUGELY improved my blog photos and the overall look of my posts.
Another helpful piece of advice that I received is to plan and do things in advance; I always take my blog photos in advance as getting the right lighting is tricky. Then when I'm ready to write the blog post, I have everything ready to go and I'm not trying to do everything at once. It just takes the pressure off a bit.

Your Ultimate Blog Goal:
I would absolutely LOVE to one day blog professionally and really make something of this blog.
I'd love to have a bigger following and create a little community.
To work with a brand like Maybelline or something would also be incredible.

Favourite Beauty Brand:
Ooh such a difficult question! I think I'd have to say Maybelline as I think they make the best mascaras and I've been using their gel eyeliner for around 6 years. I love Maybelline to bits.

Where Do You Get Ideas For Your Blog Posts?
Lots of places, sometimes I get ideas from other bloggers (but never copy), sometimes I google starting points and it inspires me. Usually I've bought a new beauty product or tool and want to post a review of it.

Ultimate Favourite Dessert:
Basically anything chocolate - chocolate cake, chocolate brownie, you name it!
I'm also a huge fan of sorbet, particularly strawberry or raspberry.
I find sorbet less sickly so I usually pick sorbet if we've gone out to eat!

If money was no option, which 3 beauty products would you buy right now?
- The Tarte Cosmetics 'Tarteist Clay Liner'
- The Too Faced 'Chocolate Bar Palette'
- Basically anything from Mac - I was given a voucher for Christmas so I'm planning on spending that on the Studio Fix foundation.

You are writing your memoirs. Show us the first paragraph of the first chapter.
Oh wow! Don't even know where to start with this so I'm just going to skip over it! (sowwy)

Name 5 People (Dead or Alive) That You'd Invite To Dinner:
- First person I'd invite in a heartbeat would be my nan. She passed away when I was 9 so I would absolutely love to see her again and have her for dinner! It'd be wonderful.
- Taylor Swift as I love her to bits
- Desi Perkins for obvious reasons
- Chrisspy (from ChrisspyMakeup on youtube) another of my favourite make up gurus!
- Louise Pentland (and Darcy) from Sprinkle Of Glitter as I think she is wonderful and Darcy is too cute. (Technically two people but Darcy is only little)

What Is Your Most Prized Possession?
I have some rings that belonged to my nan that I wear everyday which are very important to me. I also love my iPhone and iPad too. I'm a very lucky girl when it comes to possessions!

Those are the answers to the questions I was given.

Here are the Rules:
* Thank the blogger that nominated you through your blog or social media
* Answer the questions by the blog that nominated you
* Nominate 5-11 other bloggers (with under 1,000 followers on Instagram)
* Create 11 new questions for the nominees to answer
* Notify all nominees via social media

I nominate:
- Essie from   Essie Loves It
- Sarah from Absolutely Sarah
- Shannon from Simply Shannon
- Abbey from    LittleBeautyBlogXO
- Georgiana from Georgiana's Beauty Box

Here are your Questions ladies:
1. Top 3 make up products (eg lipstick, eyeshadow etc)
2. What inspired you to start blogging?
3. Favourite instagram account
4. Worst make up mistake
5. Top place you'd like to travel to
6. Favourite lip colour to wear
7. What is your favourite blog post that you have written?
8. First beauty product you ever bought/used
9. Favourite online shop
10. What's your go-to fancy dress outfit?
11. What have you learned from blogging?

No pressure ladies if you don't want to answer.
Your blogs are fab and I think more people should know about them!

Thanks for reading and I'll speak to you again soon!
Abi xxx

You can follow me on Twitter   | Instagram   |   Bloglovin'

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Shaaanxo Palette | Review

1/5/2016

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Hello everyone!
Happy Sunday!
Did you see last week's post about the April Glossybox? (Here)
Today's post is all about the Shaaanxo Palette that was created by Shannon Harris (Shaaanxo on Youtube) in collaboration with BH Cosmetics.
It's an 18 colour eyeshadow and lip colour palette and it's just lovely!
As I signed up to the mailer, I got early access to the pre-order which also made it slightly cheaper.
I got the email and went straight to the link to pre-order it and it was $14.50 (about £9.92) and then the shipping on top of that which was only about a £5 which I was thrilled with because usually American shipping is horendous!
I think the price is so good for 9 eyeshadows and 9 lip colours.

First, let's talk about the beautiful packaging! I love the pale pink with the white bubbles and the shiny silver font just adds to the elegance.
I also love that the eyshadows are on one side and the lip colours are on the other so you haven't got to worry about getting eyeshadow in the lippies! Both sides have a mirror too which is handy.
The palette contains the nine eyeshadows that vary from everyday neutrals to bold evening shades and nine lip colours that vary from nudes, pinks and reds and there's even a purple shade too! Definitely enough colours to suit everyone.

Eyeshadows

The shadows are really lovely; they're a powder to cream consistency and blend really well.
The pigmentation is really good but I'm struggling to get the impact onto my eyelids but I think that's more down to my rubbish primer and lack of appropriate eyeshadow brushes, so I'm going to have a play around and see what works for me.
The variety of shades is great, the lightest shade (that you basically can't see in the swatch) is a lovely highlighter for the inner eyes and brow bone. The next two shades on the top row and the middle shade on the middle row are very wearable shimmers.
You then have the yellow and brick red shades (middle row) which can be used as transition colours.
Lastly you have the bottom 3 shades which are duo-chrome, meaning that depending on where you look at it, it can look two different colours in the light. I don't have any duo-chrome shades so I'm excited to try these.

Lip Colours

These are a lovely sticky, balmy consitency. Not a sticky feel on the lips though.
I can't get the impact onto my lips, but again I think it'll just be a case of playing around with different lip brushes and maybe using a lipliner as a base.
Otherwise these give a beautiful wash of colour which will be perfect for a fresh look for summer.
I love the variety of shades as you can go from day to night or subtle to dramatic.
They go great with the eyeshadows too.
My only bug bear with the lippies is that it'd be difficult to touch up during the day as I won't be taking the palette with me everywhere! Great for travel though.

A fab palette for the money! Such a reasonable price.
Plus I love Shannon so I wanted to support her.
What do you think of the Shaaanxo Palette?
Do you have any tips on how to get more impact from the shadows or lip colours?
Leave a comment from your lovely brain!

Thanks for reading and I'll speak to you next Sunday.

Abi xxx

P.S, You can follow me on Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'

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Fortune Favours The Brave Palette | Review

What's In My Glossybox? | May 2016

The Packaging

The Contents

Crabtree and Evelyn Hand Therapy

Revlon Ultimate All-In-One Mascara

Bee Good Youth Enhancing Plump & Firm Moisturiser

Absolute New York Velvet Lippie

Loceryl Nail Gel

Big Beauty Haul | Colourpop, Makeup Geek and More

Eyes

Face

Make Up Brush Starter Kit

Face Brushes

Eye Brushes

The Liebster Award

Shaaanxo Palette | Review

Eyeshadows

Lip Colours

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