NYX cream blushes

NYX blushes are pretty legendary in the beauty community. They're affordable with a wide range of colours and a great formulation, so why it took me so long to get hold of some I've no idea.

L-R- natural, boho chic

I eventually bought them from an ebay seller in America (see the current listing here) and I paid around £5 each for them, including postage. The two shades I have are Natural and Boho Chic, as sadly the infamous Glow was out of stock. You can see all the different shade selections in the listing.

It's taken me a couple of months to work out how best to use them, and to decide whether I like them or not, now that I've found that my ELF stipple brush is perfect for applying and blending just the right amount I'm really enjoying using them! I'm clearly like a small child, some days I choose cream blush just because it's fun to use... You can apply with fingers too, you only need a tiny dab, I dot it onto the apples of my cheeks and blend up and out towards my hairline.

The effect once on is a glowy, dewy look that can be played up or down depending on blending and it lasts most of the day even without a powder blush on top on my (currently!) normal skin.

Well worth a look, and I'd really recommend the seller that I've linked to in the post too!

Are you a cream blush fan? Any tips to share? Let me know :)

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Mapril favourites

Since we're now half way into April and I've still not done March favourites I thought I'd squish them together (hence the oh-so-clever title) and maybe do a mini favourites at the beginning of May if anything's changed..

So, Mapril favourites...

Soap and Glory's Scrub Your Nose In It. Love this! Great for an oil-free face all day and can be used as a mask as well, lovely minty scent and feel to it, this will be great especially as the weather gets warmer. Full review to come.

Topshop blush in Flush remains a firm favourite, because of the cream-to-powder finish I've been using it over powder mineral foundation (shock!) without any disastrous results too.

Please excuse the ridiculously grubby packaging, although pretty it seems to be like a magnet for staining! I've been using my Lily Lolo mineral foundation with my Liz Earle Skin Tonic for better, more flawless coverage and extra staying power.

L-R Mac Laugh a Lot and No7's Power.

 Mac's Laugh a Lot is a Lustre finish and on my lips doesn't look that much different than my normal lip colour, except with a lovely glossy finish that generally makes a simple face of make up look much more polished. Power is a gorgeous raspberry colour that I tend to blot down to leave a pretty stain, it's perfect for spring and it's not drying either! 

NYX cream blush in Natural. I have finally worked out how to make this work for me. A very, very light hand and my ELF stipple brush, I buff it in and it leaves a wonderful fresh finish and a perfect natural colour, just as the name suggests! 

What are your new spring favourites?

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Review: Topshop Makeup

Recently I made my first ever order from the Topshop website as they had free delivery and I'd been lusting after a cream blush of theirs for a while. While I was there perusing the Clearance section (where, as ever, just about everything I liked was out of stock...) I came across a lip "glaze" that they described as bronze.. Scary huh? It was £1 so obviously it had to be thrown into the virtual shopping basket and then I (virtually) ran to the till before anything else found it's way in there! 

I'm really keen on the packaging of both the products, it's different and stands out amongst the glossy blacks and clear tops of other products. The large mirror in the top of the blush makes it great for travel and the packaging seems sturdy enough to survive that too.

I was slightly concerned to find my products had been sent in what is effectively a paper bag, with only the tiniest bit of padding... Luckily for me (and Topshop!) my order arrived in one piece.

The blusher I ordered is "Flush" and it's gorgeous! The colour in the pan is pretty scary, I thought I was going to end up as a clown face... Surprisingly though this blends out well to leave a natural flush (as the name would suggest!) in a powder finish, which having tried NYX cream blushes is definitely welcome (I don't find having a cream finish staying on my face in a slightly sticky reminder that I'm wearing blusher particularly thrilling). It lasts all day and as you only need a tiny amount I can see this lasting a long time! Really good value for money at £6 and definitely unique to the highstreet.

The glaze is actually surprisingly wearable, it's not too bronze, though will look much better on me when the fake tan and bronzer comes out for the summer, it's non-sticky and just feels like a good quality gloss. 

Have you picked up anything from the Topshop makeup line? What do you think?

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