Showing posts with label gifts for her. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gifts for her. Show all posts

Saturday, 17 December 2016

Sleek Onto The Horizon Ltd Edition Palette Review with Arm Swatches - Cruelty Free Drugstore Makeup

Earlier this year Sleek released some limited edition palettes: Onto the Horizon, Nordic Skies and Goodnight Sweetheart. All of them are still available and over the past month I've somehow acquired all three. I've spent a bit of time forming an opinion on them and now I plan on reviewing them all whilst they're still available on Sleek website.

The first one I got was On The Horizon palette, and I believe it was a Superdrug exclusive in the UK. Sleek have a habit of splitting collections down the middle in the UK and making half of it Boots and half Superdrug. They've done it more recently with the Rockstars Collection and you can find my review of the Hidden Gems palette from that here.

This is also one of the products I thought I'd lost all the photos for when my laptop died. Luckily I managed to find some on my backup hard drive, and I've chosen to use them as I've already binned the box and can't re-photograph it.


They all have gorgeous outer packaging that is themed around the colour selection. On the Horizon is a mix of forest greens,burnt oranges and brown tones. I've been wearing a lot of nudes recently but on Saturday I cracked into Lightyear from the Moondust palette I bought on Black Friday and I'm in love with greens again.


So the actual palette is just standard Sleek packaging. It comes with the usual sponge applicator and sheet with the names printed on it. I now have a stack of these in my palette drawer just from Sleek and Makeup Revolution, and I have no idea which one goes with what palette.


Here's a better photo of the shades themselves, you get 9 shimmery metallic shades and 3 mattes. The shimmer shades are where Sleek always excel so its a really good breakdown.


So here's the top row of the palette, as you can see the first shade and last three are gorgeous but two and three (Sugar Maple and Beech) didn't swatch very well.  It's a shame because Sugar Maple is such a pretty rose gold colour and looks really nice when its blended.  Beech on the other hand is just mehh.. and blends away to nothing.


Here's the bottom row. Again not all of them swatched very well. The first shade, Chestnut is a really beautiful brown with a blue/purple sheen. Willow (third from the right) swatched really intensely but isn't as vivid and vibrant when blended out and the two shades to the right of it Dew Drop and Pine Cone are really nice shimmer shades that just need building a little. The only shade in this palette that I would say is bad is Fawn (the yellow shade third from the left). It's far chunkier than any other Sleek eyeshadow I've ever seen and just skips and highlights skin texture. 


The one thing I really like about the outside of this palette is that it has the name of the palette stamped on the front on clear lettering. My biggest criticism of these palettes has always been that I can't tell them apart from the front and need to flip them all over or open them to see which is which. I like that they all come in a hard plastic shell and have a large mirror, it helps make all their products feel like they're extra good value for money.

I've also been using this palette for a week straight now and I do love the shadows but I was limited by the colour selection and had to mix it in the Naked Ultimate Basics palette as the week wore on. I liked mixing the shiny green and brown colours together but found I didn't use the orange even though I thought I would. I also didn't find a use for the lovely navy blue and feel sad I couldn't be more creative in the mornings. 

XOXO Scruffy

Other Sleek reviews

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

(Just a wee note. I live in Scotland and we're currently in Winter. Right now we're getting less than eight hours daylight a day and I spend that in work, so sorry about the badly lit photos).




Wednesday, 14 December 2016

Review: Revolution Blush Queen Palette with arm swatches - Cruelty Free Cosmetics

Ever bought makeup online and when its arrived been like... What did I just buy? This palette was one of those purchases and I initially didn't love it and wasn't going to review it as I didn't want to seem negative. I now feel like we passed that point after the Natural Collection eyeshadow and 7th Heaven Argan Mask reviews. As times gone by I've given this palette more of a shot and don't hate it as much so I thought I'd dive down that rabbit hole.


So I bought this because on the Revolution website it looks like a palette of little planets for your cheeks (link here so you can see for yourself). It's very, very cute and I was excited to have it in my collection because I loved outer-space as a kid.


It's a little used not and the planet look only seems to stand up on the blush's where the accent colour is stronger. Also packing from Revolution comes in two forms, nice or cheap. This falls into the cheap camp, the nicer ones have sturdier plastic and a large mirror in the lid. The only thing that the cheaper packaging has to its advantage is that you can see through it and tell exactly whats in it, making it much easier to find what you're looking for. It just feels so plasticky.


Top Row.


Bottom Row.

All the blushes are sparkly, and some of them are very similar. So even though you're getting 13 grams of product for £6, its not over 8 pans, more like 5 (or maybe six if you really build it up). Also its not so much a blush palette as a blush topper or highlight palette. The only shades that could conceivably be used as blushes are the send and fourth ones on the bottom. 

I think that might have been part of my instant dislike for it. As its called Blush Queen I was, understandably, expecting for it to be filled with blush. Seven out of eight of them are very soft  and easy to use, and all of them blend well. That scary looking bright pink actually sheers out really nicely and gives you a gorgeous, flushed glow.

Would I recommend this as a blush palette? No. Would I recommend it as a cheek and highlight palette? Maybe. There's not a lot of blush options, and everything is baked and sparkly. If that's what you're into then go for it though. 

XOXO Scruffy 

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com 



Tuesday, 13 December 2016

BOMB Cosmetics Flutter By, Butterfly Bath Blaster Review with Photos - Cruelty Free & Handmade

Some Bomb Cosmetics are a brand that have been on my radar for a while now. I've been given a few of their gift sets in the past and I've always found them nice. When I found I had another set squirreled away in the cupboard I thought I would let you all know what I thought of the blasters and bath melts, like I have been with Lush.

So this is the Flutter By, Butterfly Bath Blaster, and according to the website this contains cocoa butter to soothe the skin and mandarin and neroli essential oils. It also is supposed to smell like a combination of fresh apples and sweet cherries.

I don't know about all that, it is super dooper cute though....


From a mix of past experience and a lot of time spent going through they're website I can say they make some of the cutest bath bombs ever. They even make one with a tiny little rubber duckie in it, which is so so cute.

Smell wise, its a very nice, sweet kind of fruity, floral smell. I don't think its particularly like apples and cherries though. It is nice and pleasant. 







I feel like over recent months I might have been spoiled by all the lovely Lush goodies I've used because as fizzing displays go, this was a bit of a let down. 

It smelled really good but apart from that it was a bit boring and flat. I would have liked it if it did something more fun. Maybe some glitter or some more colour. It was just very mehh.

Another thing I noticed is that the cocoa butter leaves a really thick film on everything that came in contact with it, my body, my hair and the bath. It felt really gross. This was also really difficult to clean off the inside of the bath. I think in previous posts when I've been talking about the bath being difficult to clean I might have been thinking of these. 

So final thoughts, this bath blaster looks cute and smells good but its not worth the hassle and the clean-up. They cost £2.99 off the Bomb Cosmetics website so for that price you could get something from Lush that doesn't gunk up the same.

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com