May 2016 - Emma - The Bravest Individual

golden eyes

Golds & Nudes

2 comments

, by Unknown

album review

An Album I'm Loving: This Unruly Mess I've Made

No comments

, by Unknown

beauty

Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette review

Over the weekend I realised I had about £20 worth of boots points on my advantage card that weren't really going anywhere, so I decided to treat myself (is it a treat when brush cleaning is a massive chore?) and get the new Real Techniques Brush Cleansing palette with some of these points.

I needed a good clean for my brushes, and had previously been using kitchen towel which a, took a decent amount of kitchen towels each time and b, I wanted something that I could really see getting into the brushes. Unfortunately a lot of the brushing mitts are quite expensive, so I'm really pleased that Real Techniques have introduced this which works perfectly with their amazing brush line.

The palette is bright pink and has a handle on the back, which fit really nicely in my hand and it held well and didn't feel like it was coming off at all. The palette itself is made up of three sections, the small dots for small brushes such as eye brushes, the middle for medium brushes and the large dots for large brushes such as a powder brush.

This palette really helped give my brushes a good clean. I used the gel sample which comes with the palette which seemed pretty good, although I think I'll stick to my Johnson's baby shampoo next time as thats my personal preference. I put a dot of the gel in the middle section, wet the palette a tiny amount and swirled my brush in the section depending on the size. I feel like the middle was my favourite as it really got inside the bristles, although the small works perfectly for a blending brush.

Above is a picture of my blush brush - which was one of my dirtiest as blush obviously has a bit of pigment so needed a good scrub.

And above is a picture of afterwards. Once it's completely dried there was no colour left on the bristles, this was the same with all of my eye brushes (plus I've had this blush brush over a year or so).

It's not revolutionised my brush cleaning or made me any more excited to do a brush clean, however for £12.99 it definitely does the trick and speeds up the process of the most boring chore. You can purchase the palette here.

Have you bought this palette? What did you think?

1 comments

, by Unknown

beauty

Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani

No comments

, by Unknown

beauty

Let's get cheeky

I had so many titles for this post in my head, mostly Cheeky Girls inspired (does anyone even remember the Cheeky Girls??) but I decided to go simple and let the product do the talking. This purchase totally happened by chance but I'm so happy it did because I absolutely love it and it's a pretty good deal too.

So in March my boyfriend and I went Leeds, and after a pretty unsuccessful day shopping as nothing was looking good on me, I wanted to at least get a new make up item to make up for it. I'd been wanting the Rockateur blush for a few months as honestly my blush collection is pretty poor. I couldn't see Rockateur anywhere so I asked one of the assistant and she showed me the Benefit Cheekathon palette on the top shelf, which includes Rockateur, Dandelion, Hoola, Dallas and Coralista as well as nice little brush.

The best thing about this palette is they are all full size, and only £44.50, which is about the price of two blushes otherwise. I wanted it immediately especially since Dandelion was further down my wishlist. I snapped it up and the sale was done.

I've used Rockateur nearly every time I've done my make up and I absolutely love it, it's such a gorgeous shade and can be build able which is nice. Dandelion is my other favourite for more natural days, and the pink is really nice for pale skin.

Honestly, I'm yet to try dallas and hoola on me, only because I've tried Hoola with the bronze of champions palette and it was quite dark for my skin tone, so I think I need to wait until I have a tan or just be a little more light handed. I think Dallas would look great on a night out though.

I think the palette is a really great deal, I only wish that it was a little easier to travel with as I'd like to take it away with me, but hey ho it'll just take a bit more room I suppose!

I found my Benefit Cheekathon palette in a House of Fraser store, however you can also get it from the Benefit website here.

Whats your favourite benefit product?

2 comments

, by Unknown

alice in wonderland

A palette fit for a queen..

The only birthday present I asked for was the Alice in Wonderland palette created with Urban Decay, and I'm so glad my boyfriend was able to get it as it's such a dreamy present and made my day when I opened it. Urban Decay teamed up with Disney to create this stunning palette based on the new movie Alice through the looking glass. I enjoyed the first movie of Alice in Wonderland however just really wanted the palette more than the film it was collaborating with!

As soon as you open the palette you see a beautifully written quote, surrounded by colourful roses. Opening this up, you see a gorgeous butterfly whose wings move depending on how far you open and close the packaging. I love this detail and I sat for about 5 minutes when first opening the present just playing with the butterfly.

By this point you'll probably need to remind yourself that there is a palette underneath, which can be opened by black fabric underneath. The palette looks like an illusion with a mixture of white and blacks, which I really like and it makes the shadows pop.

From a first glance, it seems to be quite a good selection of bright and neutral colours. For once, I've actually not used all of the neutrals first and I went straight for 'Slazen Grum' which is the gorgeous red shade on the 3rd row down.

My other favourite shades are Dream On, which is very shimmery and would work perfect over the top of a dark colour rather than on its own, Royal Flush which is a perfect inner corner highlightt and Paradox which is a beautiful orange shade and will be in use this summer.

The shades are all pigmented nicely and although some are more build able than others, over a primer they really do stand out and I've been staring at this trying to see all the combinations of colours I could get out of this.

The palette is £43 and you get 20 shades, which is pretty reasonable considering it's a limited edition palette. Unfortunately it is sold out in most places online, however it's definitely worth getting your hands on if you can. You can see a make up look I did for my birthday using the palette here.

What are your thoughts on this palette?

2 comments

, by Unknown

beauty

My Birthday Make Up

No comments

, by Unknown

22nd birthday

22 Lessons I've learnt in 22 years

So today marks my 22nd birthday, and I really love birthdays. I'm not usually one to be the centre of attention, but on my birthday I love getting treated special and being allowed to eat pancakes for breakfast because it's the one day I can be bothered to make pancakes for breakfast. In todays post, here are 22 lessons I've learnt in 22 years.

1. Sometimes paying more is worth it - and I shouldn't be so surprised when my topshop jeans last longer than my primark ones.

2. There is always a voucher code somewhere.

3. Friends come and go, and those who will want to stay will do.

4. There's nothing like a good whine to your mum when you feel down.

5. Sometimes wine tastes better with lemonade in it, and that doesn't mean you are weak.

6. Shotting straight vodka is something that I will probably never do again - at least without gagging 100 times after.

7. Life isn't always about high heels, sometimes the flats are worth it for the dancing.

8. University and education isn't worth everything. Most of the time it's who you know rather than what you know.

9. There will always be people who don't put their hand up to thank you for giving way, and those people are dickheads.

10. Weekend morning cuddles are sometimes the best thing in the world.

11. Winged eyeliner isn't worth stressing about.

12. Sometimes you should complain more, and not pussy out last minute and get your boyfriend to do it.

13. Holidays are the best thing in the world, and it's worth saving for them.

14. Food is way more expensive than you think it is.

15. Living with your boyfriend can be pretty damn good, especially when he cooks after you've been gym.

16. Exercise is important, and important to do.

17. Sometimes it's ok not to use a product because it's so beautiful, but you really should eventually.

18. Crying can be an essential part of life before you feel better.

19. Sometimes batting your eyelids and acting dumb does get you things. Sorry feminists.

20. It's good to still giggle at the size of some of the items in the back part of Ann Summers.

21. Gossiping is good for the soul.

22. Don't stress and everything will (usually) turn out just fine.

What important lessons have you learnt in life?

6 comments

, by Unknown

black widow

Captain America Civil War Movie Review | FILM

Over Bank Holiday weekend I went to see Captain America Civil War, the latest superhero movie to come from the Marvel Universe.

If you are unfamiliar with the background, Civil War is based on a government law that is proposed, after civilians are becoming worried about the casualties left behind by super heroes. This act would restrict super hero tasks, controlling them and being able to make rules on their actions. Heroes such as Iron Man and Black Widow stand by this act, while Captain America thinks saving the world is dangerous, and cannot be controlled. Thus creating the civil war between them.

After coming out of the cinema, I felt pretty meh about this film. It's decent enough, but it didn't win me over. It's a long film and it feels very long, there's action placed in and the action scenes are fantastic as always, however there is a lot of dialogue and scenes that just didn't need to be in there or could have been shortened down.

One part of the film that people were excited for was the welcoming of Spiderman to the Marvel universe, as Sony have now finished squeezing every last penny they could get out of him. The guy who played Spiderman was good, and I liked him for the new kid on the block type role, however he did get on my nerves. The characters joke in the movie about him talking a lot, and it's true because he does sort of drone on like an unfunny Deadpool. I think he was fine in the context of this movie, but I don't know if I'd be able to sit through his own film if he talked that much.

I'm honestly beginning to run out of things to say about Marvel films, they are the same formula, same actors, same scenarios so I don't want to feel like I'm pressing replay on previous reviews. I just feel like this movie was alright, but not worth the 3D ticket price. I'd probably use my meerkat movie pass to see it cheaper. Who knows, maybe it's the lack of Thor for me.

★★★☆☆

Have you seen Captain America: Civil War? What did you think?