The Cocoa Blend

Top L-R - Bitter Start, Sweeter End, Warm Tones. Bottom L-R - Pure Ganache, Substitute For Love, Freshly Toasted

Top L-R - Warm Tones, Subtle Blend, Beans Are White. Bottom L-R - Freshly Toasted, Infusion, Delicate Acidity

It turns out that Zoeva are not only awesome at providing amazeballs make-up brushes, but also gorgeous eyeshadow palettes!

Is 24 hours enough time for you to make up your mind about a beauty product? Because that is how long it took me to fall for this one.

I didn't think that I would love an eyeshadow palette so much after the buzz wore off following the delivery of my Lorac Pro. But this arrived the other day and I photographed, experimented and started drooling as soon as I bolted up the stairs and into my room like a mad woman. What can I say? New in make up excites me!

The Zoeva Cocoa Blend retails for €17.50 here.

For an affordable palette, it has a luxurious weight to it and beautiful gold asymmetric detailing on the packaging. And I don't mean tacky gold. It also contains a rather lovely message on the inside as you open the flap. 'Selected with love', to which I thought was quite a nice touch. This product screams Christmas stocking filler.

The Cocoa Blend contains 10 beautifully pigmented and buttery eyeshadows, with a mixture of shimmers and mattes that blend like a dream. The shimmers, such as Pure Ganache, Warm Tones and Subtle Blend, have a foiled appearance when they are applied onto the eyelid which I love. Additionally, Substitute For Love and Freshly Toasted are warm matte shades that are perfect for the crease of the eye.

Palettes are extremely expensive products to buy, so finding an affordable one that consists of high quality eyeshadows is a great feeling.

The verdict is in. I really, really love this.

Have you tried the Zoeva Cocoa Blend?

Cranberry Festive Face Mask by Lush

Even though each individual has a very different skin type, one thing that most of us have in common is the struggle to keep our skin moisturised and nourished throughout the cold and frosty months of Winter. An oily t-zone is something I battle with daily, but the Winter annoyingly welcomes flakey and dry cheeks which are quite frankly a pain in the bum!

In order to combat this, I've been using the new Cranberry Festive Face Mask by Lush. £6.75.

I'll begin by pointing out the least most important aspect of this product. It is pink! There is something great about layering a baby pink product all over the face. It smells lovely too!

Moving away from pretty colours and scents, this face mask has a bitty and cool consistency that soothes the skin and gently exfoliates. The product description highlights that the mask contains a mixture of argan oil and rose clay, which creates an almost matte finish upon removal, and I have to agree. It looks as though you have applied a mattifying primer but the skin feels like silk.

The face mask also has brightening, nourishing and moisturising capabilities. The product has the ability to brighten your complexion and brings the skin to life. 

As a student, I spend a lot of time on public transport on my way to university and walking along busy roads. The antioxidant cranberries and argan oil protects your skin from the environment and puts the moisture back into the skin that tends to be taken away throughout the season.

Have you tried the Lush Cranberry mask? I'm sure you'll enjoy it too!

Impressive Bargain Beauty

I've come to the realisation that I am a student. And as much as it pains me to say it, I can't always afford to buy beauty from the higher end of the spectrum. *sigh*. I have also come to realise that it costs a lot of money to be clean! Goodbye £44.50, I hope Superdrug treats you well.

But in terms of saving the pennies on cheaper beauty brands, that's OK! Because here in the UK we have amazing beauty products from the drugstore that are fantastic dupes for some of the luxury products on the market.

Sleek is a brand that I have never shown too much interest in and I am not entirely sure why. For a drugstore brand, Sleek have an impressive colour palette, which is a significant quality to have in the beauty industry. Furthermore, the product range is great and almost everyone has a good thing to say about it. Especially with regards to the eyeshadow, blush and contour palettes. As someone who loves a bit of contour, the latter appealed to me and I decided to purchase the Face Form Contouring and Blush Palette in Medium - £9.99. 

I am so impressed with this in more ways than one. Firstly, the packaging is 'sleek', efficient and petite enough to carry around in your bag and most importantly contains a huge mirror. 

Secondly, the content of the palette is extremely impressive. It comes with a matte sculpting shade, a luminous highlighter and a 'bronzey' shimmery blush shade. I am yet to try the blush, but the blend ability of the contour powder was lovely and the highlighter added a subtle luminosity to my cheeks. Both powder's complimented my tanned skin-tone beautifully. I think my mum may be receiving the Light version in her stocking this year.

It is safe to say that my contour was on point last night for the fireworks!

The second product that managed to weave it's way into my basket was the Matte Me - Ultra Smooth Matte Lip Cream in Fandango Purple - £4.99. The fact that it is a liquid lipstick may have had something to do with it.

I am completely obsessed with the colour of this product. This fuchsia purple is so pretty and complimentary. Pinky tones almost always never suit me, but I have finally found one that does. 

Starting with the Negative Nancy verdict, the only major downfall about the Matte Me lip creams is the applicator. It made it quite difficult and uncomfortable to apply because it has a lack of softness. Furthermore, it has a rather odd and unnecessarily long shape.

I didn't find the formula of the product too drying. I could feel it slightly after the application but it wasn't a significant amount. Additionally, I found the staying power to be pretty damn good, but I did have to top up once throughout the night. But in the grand scheme of things, that is not a huge burden. I find myself doing that with almost every lip product that I use. And you cannot argue with £4.99!

Here is a cheeky selfie of me with my new purchases on:

See what I mean about the colour?

Is there anything that you are loving from Sleek at the moment that I may want to know about?