Sigma F25 Brush Review

Compared to Real Techniques Blush and Contour Brushes.

Hi lovelies! I was recently contacted by Sigma asking if I would like to try out one of their brushes, and being a huuge brush fan, I jumped at the chance. Sigma brushes have a lot of hype around them in the blogging world, with them being the cheaper dupes to Mac brushes. I have been eyeing a few of their brushes for a while, in particular the F25 Tapered Face Brush, which I ended up picking and was very excited that I would finally be able to try it out. 

Sigma F25 Tapered Face Brush- "Apply powder, blush or contour shades onto the cheeks and temples. Tapered shape gives exact placement of product."

I was so excited when this arrived on my door step, with a lovely note from Sigma and instructions on how to care for my brush, as well as a free travel size E05 Eyeliner Brush in pink which is so cute! As instructed, I gave the brush a first wash before I used it, and when leaving it to dry I was a little worried that it would lose its tapered shape, but  once dried I was very happy to see it stayed in perfect condition and retained its original shape as well as drying pretty quickly. 

I have been testing the brush out for the past week or so and I absolutely love it. I have been using it to contour using my Nars Laguna Bronzer and it has been working perfectly. The tapered bristles mean you can get right into the hollows of your cheeks and the brush is large and fluffy enough for it to blend nicely and for it not to look too harsh. I am not someone who is blessed with strong cheekbones and previously I had been using the Real Techniques Blush Brush to apply bronzer and contour, but found it wasn't quite tapered enough for this, which is where the F25 is amazing for me (I now have some sort of structure to my face!).

The brush itself is great quality, and just by holding it you can feel that it is a very well made brush. The bristles are super soft and luxurious feeling allowing the product to glide onto the skin beautifully. I love the design of the brush, simple black handles are what I favour anyway and this one looks very sleek and professional. It has a chunky handle which I actually really like. The name is printed clearly on the handle in a holographic like print, which adds something special to the design. I havn't had any shedding from this brush (one of my pet peeves with some other brands) which is another bonus!

Overall I am so happy with this brush and impressed with the brand overall. I have read that some people find this brush too large for bronzer/contour purposes, but I actually think it is the perfect size to achieve something that doesn't look too sharp that it becomes unnatural. This brush has definitely converted me to Sigma over a lot of other more expensive brands, as they are so much more affordable yet so comparable in quality to higher end brushes. I am definitely keen to invest in some of the other brushes in the range, I have my eye on the flat top kabuki and the F35 (a mini version of the F25) looks like it would be amazing for applying highlighter or contouring the nose!

The F25 can be purchased on the Sigma website here and they do ship to the UK for a very reasonable shipping rate!

Have you tried Sigma Brushes? Which is your favourite?

(Disclaimer- This brush was sent to me for review purposes. All opinions are my own.) 

Natural Collection Eyeshadows

// Asteroid //

 // Barley //

Natural Collection is a brand I had heard of but had never picked anything up for them before. Whilst in Boots, I saw they had some single eyeshadows which looked really nice for £1.70, so I began swatching and was really suprised at how lovely they looked on the skin. They had a 3 for £5 offer on, so I picked up a few and decided to give them a try.

My two favourites from the ones I picked up are 'Barley' and 'Asteroid'. Barley is a skin toned gold colour with lots of shimmer, which when applied gives a gorgeous hint of shimmer to the skin and works lovely as a base colour. Asteroid is a dark brown with flecks of gold shimmer running through it, which I have been using to deepen the outer corner of my eyes. For £1.70 each these eyeshadows are both affordable and good quality and work great for a subtle smokey eye. 

FYI:
 I also noticed that these are the same size as Mac eyeshadows and when depotted fit into the Mac palettes perfectly!

 I would love to know if you have tried these eyeshadows and what you thought. I would be interested in seeing if they had any matte colours in the collection!

Haul: Jewellery, Clothes & Nails!

Yesterday I went shopping on the hunt for the perfect cream blazer. Of course, as usual, I ended up coming home without a cream blazer, but with lots of other goodies!

I had a couple of No.7 £5 off vouchers which needed spending, so took full advantage and picked up a couple of nail polishes. The first is one of the new glitter top coats in 'Silver'. I am absolutely in love with this polish and I am hoping they will add more colours to the line. It is a clear polish with chunky pieces of glitter which gives the nail a 3D effect. I got home and put this straight on top of my silver Barry M glitter polish and love that it adds more texture and depth. I am going to be doing a separate post dedicated to this nail polish and the different ways you can wear it!

I then also picked up 'Cheeky Chops', a beautiful bright coral pink which is perfect for summer.

I then went to Dorothy Perkins and saw they had a huge sale stand of jewellery. There was some amazing pieces for £2-£3 and I could have stayed there all day picking bits out but limited myself to just a few!

Firstly I picked up this lovely silver over sized ring. I love the detailing on it and how it stretches up the majority of the finger and thought it was an absolute steal at £2!

Next I picked up a peter pan collar necklace. It is made of sequins and is a pearly white colour. I plan on wearing this with a black chiffon shirt and think it will really jazz up an outfit. This was £1, which is amazing value!

Lastly, I picked up this ring which I am absolutely obsessed with. It is a gold over sized ring with aqua blue, green and gold gems on the top. I love how the colours work together and look against the skin. It is super sparkly when it catches the light and I can see myself wearing this a lot! I actually wore it out last night and got several compliments on it, with my friends asking if it was swarovski!

I then popped into primark not really expecting to find anything as it can be a bit hit and miss, but I found a few things which I love.

Firstly is this chiffon pleated shirt, with gold Aztec collar detail. These shapes tops are always flattering, and can be dressed up or down. I love that the collar brings an extra something to the piece. This was £10 and also comes in a nude colour.

I then saw this top which I fell in love with and actually ended up wearing out last night! It is a sheer cropped vest top with sequins and beading all over. I love the pattern and how the black and gold work together. I also got complimented on this with friends saying that they thought it was from Topshop, as they had a one that was very similar! So if you like the look of it but don't want to pay the price, head to Primark and pick this up for £12!

Lastly, I got this necklace. A gold chain, with a antique style bow. I love bows, and I love that shabby chic distressed white wash effect, so this was always going to be a winner for me.

And that's that! I found some lovely pieces for really affordable prices, have you found any bargains recently?

x

Nail Polish Storage

Nail polish can be a difficult thing to store if you are like me and are very much into decor, so want them on display. Don't get me wrong, I havn't got a huge collection of expensive nail polish, but I still think they look pretty! (Is that just me!?) I had been storing my polishes in a clear vanity case which I kept under my dressing table, which kept them all together, but wasn't very practical as the moment the case would move all the bottles would fall over. I had been looking at the clear acrylic nail polish racks on Ebay, but thought they are fairly expensive for just a piece of acrylic and would take up a large section of my not so large bedroom! 

So, I came up with the simple idea of fixing a standard glass bathroom shelf to the wall next to my dressing table, and storing my nail polish on there, and I really love it! 

The use of the glass shelf means to the eye, it doesn't take up a lot of space on the wall. The bottle also look sleek and tidy and I love the look of the polishes again the glass. It also is very practical, you are able to see all of your polishes making it easy to chose and grab which one you want! I have arranged mine in colour order starting with black on the left hand side, to silver and white on the right hand side. 

The shelf cost about £20 from B&Q, so its definitely more affordable than the acrylic racks, and takes up less space, whilst fitting a descent amount of polishes as you can layer them behind one another. 

I love how this looks, I like how it has a practical function but also adds a cute piece of decor to my bedroom! I am thinking of getting another to store jewellery or perfume bottles on.

Have you got any decorative ways of storing products?

Product Rave: Blush Professional 88 Eyeshadow Palette

When it comes to makeup, I love mixing up my products and trying new things out. As I have mentioned before, in the case of eye shadows I usually go for something pretty neutral that flatters my skin tone and eye colour, so for me, a neutral eyeshadow palette with a range of colours is perfect. Que the Blush Professional 88 Colour Earth Tones Eyeshadow Palette (..And Breath).

I had heard a lot of hype over the Coastal Scents 88 palette, so when browsing Amazon to pick one up, I came across this. The palette features 88 neutral, earth toned colours, with a mixture of both matte and shimmer finishes. This retails for half the price of the Coastal Scents palette, so to be honest, I wasn't expecting much, but I actually love it. I love that it not only includes your usually skin tone and brown shades, but also some maroon, orange, green, taupe and blue toned eye shadows, as well as a black. 

The eye shadows are surprisingly pigmented for the price you pay and the palette is very light weight and would be easy to travel with. It also includes a big mirror and two sponge applicators which makes this palette all you would need for a trip. 


                                                                                                   A look I created using the palette
















This palette has become my 'go to' and retails at £9.99 on Amazon, so if you are looking for a more affordable dupe to the Coastal Scents palette, this is definitely worth getting!


 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blush-Professional-Colour-Eyeshadow-Palette/dp/B0042ADFSI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337267771&sr=8-1

Summer Blush

Summer is fast approaching and we who love makeup have to work around this! Over winter, I was a real fan of the whole vamp look, with a dark rose cheek, but now Summer is almost here, I wanted to switch up for something a big more natural. After having a route through my collection, I picked up my Nars Deep Throat blush (which I had worn for months and absolutely loved last year) which had got pushed to the back of the pile. Now I have found it, I remember why I loved it so much!

It may have a bit of a rude name, but it really is the sweetest blush. It is a coral pinky shade with shimmer, and leaves a soft, natural glow to the cheek. I have been using it for both day and night time and think it works nicely both ways. In the day, a natural flush of colour on a nude face and at night compliments a brown smokey eye well. I have been applying it with both the Real Techniques Blush Brush to bring it from the cheek back towards the ear or the Smashbox Baby Buki to keep it on the apples of the cheek.

                                                            Nars 'Deep Throat'


Nars products can be expensive, so if you are looking for a more affordable dupe, Elf do a blush in the colour 'Tickled Pink' which is pretty similar in colour, though has a lot less shimmer.

                                                     
                                                              Elf 'Tickled Pink'

Left- Nars Deep Throat   Right- Elf Tickled Pink

I love this blush and it will definitely be my go to blush for the Summer! What Nars blushes do you love? x