A Spring Makeup Look♥ || Collab

I can officially say I'm ready for Spring. Goodbye to those dark, miserable days and hello to the brighter, hopefully sunnier days. I'm also more than ready to leave behind the vampy lips and bold eye makeup and welcome in the girly, pretty and fresh makeup looks. Being the makeup lover I am, I decided to collab for a third time with Kirsty where she's also creating a Spring makeup look.

Spring is the perfect time to wear lighter bases - no need for super heavy foundations, plus it's meant to start getting warmer soon, and I know I'm not up for sweating off a whole load of foundation! To ensure the rest of my base stays put, I swear by Soap and Glory One Heck Of A Blot Primer*, it's just a godsend for oily skin. I prefer to use bb creams and it's no surprise that I adore The Body Shop All In One BB Cream*, it's lightweight yet gives brilliant coverage. For a little extra coverage under my eyes, I love Benefit Boi-ing Concealer as it's creamy but dreamy. To set that all in place, I use my trusty old Rimmel Stay Matte. What can I say, it's a true gem!

Got to enhance our natural sculpted face (or fake it till you make it, right?) For blush, Benefit Rockateur is a perfect pink for the Spring. Highlighting never leaves, and layering to make it stronger is what I live for. Seventeen Skin Wow* is exactly as it says on the tin. Skin wow indeed. It's perhaps one of the most gorgeous, pearl toned highlights ever. On top of that, the MeMeMe Shimmer Stack in Gold* is beautiful. It complements my pale skin strikingly! To bring out my cheekbones, the Seventeen Define and Conquer Contour Kit* is the queen of contour kits. Trust me, it's just powerful stuff!

Eyes are possibly the second main feature to this look. The Seventeen Easy On The Eye Palette in Birthday Suit* has truly been my go to, I mean, just look at it! (And whilst we're at it, don't you think it should be renamed to Jasmine?! It's such a "me" palette!) Anyways, taking the last white on the bottom row, it's actually an eye primer. The first time I used it, I was amazed at how well my eyeshadow applied. Taking the fourth shade in on the top row, I apply it all over the lid, and using the fourth shade in on the bottom row, I work it into the crease. I use the MUA Intense Colour Eyeliner in Snow White along my waterline to open my eyes, along with the No7 eyeshadow from Navy Trio in my inner corner. For mascara, I'm using my favourite one, the No7 Dramatic Lift, and I apply a generous two to three coats.

Eyebrows. I cannot leave them hanging there, can I? Well, I could, but it would ruin the look. I like to use the Threads Illuminata Brow Pencil* to fill in the majority of my eyebrows. To set them and ensure they don't go mad, I use my good old Maybelline Brow Drama in Dark Brown. I've been really liking using a combination of a brow pencil and mascara! Finally for my lips, the MeMeMe Light Me Up Lipgloss* has been used more than I can recall. For a lipgloss, the formula is seriously impressive; it's pigmented, lasts a few hours on the lips (including eating) and isn't sticky in any way. What more could one want?!

And of course I had to include a finished look.

What is your go to Spring makeup look? What products do you love?

Campus Idol♥*

Kiko is a brand which I hadn't tried much from. When I received some makeup items from their Campus Idol* range earlier this month, I was intrigued. Although the packaging is meant to represent cheerleaders, I wouldn't describe the packaging to match my personality (it describes itself as sporty, ahem..) but putting that aside, I find that it's quirky and fun. The products themselves though? Let me begin.

I had no clue that Kiko did brushes, so when I saw the Campus Idol Face Brush*, I was delighted. Doesn't everyone just love getting new brushes?! I didn't know quite what to use this brush as, but I have resorted to it being a "multi-tasking" brush - I use it to make sure all my foundation is blended, powder my face or blend out any contouring lines. The bristles are closely packed making the brush dense. The colours of the bristles look extremely pretty, I love the fact they're white but contrast into a purple, and not forgetting the fact they are super soft!

Face palettes are just so convenient - who doesn't want a blush, bronzer and highlighter all together in one place? The All Stars Face Palette* certainly does that. With Spring just around the corner, I've been trying to incorporate blush into some of my makeup looks, so it's no surprise that the blush comes in useful. It's a gorgeous, dusty pink which is subtle. The bronzer is quite an orange tone shade, so I gathered it's best to use for bringing warmth to your face rather than contouring. Of course, the star of the show that stole my heart was the highlighter. As much as I love a strong highlight, this is a lot lighter, however, paired with a liquid highlight as a base, boom!

Who here doesn't love trying new mascaras?! I know I cannot resist trying out new ones. When I noticed the Pump It Up Volume & Curl Mascara* in my package, I was captured. The first thing I like to do is take a look at the wand. It's completely different to anything I've ever tried. Essentially, it looks like an eyebrow mascara wand, but times two, and sitting together. It felt a little intimidating to use at first as every mascara requires a different technique to apply it, and with this one being round, I didn't know the best way to go for it. When applied properly, it adds a lot of volume to the lashes.

I haven't seen many products like the Double Match Lipstick and Lipliner*. The idea of having a lipliner on one end and a lipstick on the other is simply brilliant. Having a lipstick and lipliner in the exact same shade couldn't be any better either. I have the shade "Strawberry Pop", which as the name would suggest, it's a beautiful strawberry shade. This doesn't lack pigmentation in any form - when applied, it's vibrant, pigmented and glossy. My new favourite Summer lip product!

Initially when I saw the Urban Sheen Lipglosses* in their boxes, I imagined they were actual lipglosses. When I discovered they were in a crayon form, I couldn't have been happier! Lip crayons are perhaps one of the easiest lip products to apply. I have two - one in 02 Vibrant Camellia and the other in 04 Chic Geranium. 02 is a natural pink - a "your lips but better". I love it for days where I'm wearing a natural makeup look. 04 is a lot brighter and has more colour to it - it's a pretty fuchsia shade. It can either be wore as it is or tone it down a level by blending out. Both ways look gorgeous. 

This is near enough my first experience trying Kiko - in the past, I've only tried one of their glassy lip glosses. Genuinely, I am impressed by what they have to offer from this range. I think it's fair to say, I would definitely buy more from Kiko!

Have you tried Kiko? What products do you recommend?

*PR samples

A Hated Product?♥

Being a beauty blogger means I have a fairly good knowledge of new makeup releases due to reading blog posts about new products. If a new release has a high number of reviews raving about it, I know it must be good and will probably buy it, in which I will most likely review it myself. Rewinding back to Summer of 2014, Revlon's lip products were my weakness, and it was no surprise that I bought the Colorstay Moisture Lip Stain. Picking the colour was the hardest part; in the end, I chose Barcelona Nights.

In my opinion, I find the packaging to be quirky. It looks as though the product is quite pricey and almost professional. The pink is handy as it's basically the colour of the product itself. I like the block pink as I adore pink but I feel it adds a little personality to the packaging. With the pink being so bright, it's easy to catch whilst looking through your makeup bag.

But why a hated product? I certainly wouldn't say I hate it, however, it has received some hate in the blogging world. The consistency of it isn't like an ordinary lip stain, it's slightly watery. In saying this, application can look a patchy in some areas and uneven.

However, I managed to solve this, call me a genius. So, Jasmine, do inform me? My solution, simple; a lip liner. If applying a lip liner, it's laying down a base for the product, meaning, even application! Normally, I line my lips and fill them in afterwards. The lip liner also increases the length of time the stain lasts on your lips. I find that the stain seems to, essentially, stain my lips for even longer. The length of time that it lasts varies, but even after eating, it was still in tact, almost perfect.

I find this has solved my problem, meaning it went from "meh" right up to "ooh" within no time.

Have you tried the moisture stain? If so, did you love or hate it?

Treating Your Skin On A Budget?♥

 I go through phrases where I am obsessed with my skincare routine, whilst other times I'm lazy and just "can't be bothered". Soap and Glory's skincare range is raved about left, right and centre at the moment. I love Soap and Glory in general, so course I had to try their skincare range. I had high expectations for their range, and what does a beauty blogger do better than going shopping to try the hyped products?

I have two products; a face wash and a cleansing milk. I received the cleansing milk at Christmas and had a voucher for the face wash so why would I not make the best of the voucher? Like the rest of the Soap and Glory ranges, their packaging is bright, pink and pretty. It's sure to grab anyone's attention, and it sure does catch mine.

The Face Soap and Clarity Facial Wash has been everywhere lately. I cannot even begin to tell you how many reviews I've read on it within the last month. I was needing a new face wash so having a voucher for this product couldn't have occurred at a better time. One thing I like about this face wash is the beads in it. When you apply it to your face, the beads burst, helping it to "foam up". I don't think it's designed for a certain type of skincare, although, I have oily skin and find it works well with my skin type. The smell reminds me of their orangasm range, it's a refreshing scent. When I use it, I find that not only does my skin feel amazing, but looked amazing too, and I believe this is because the face wash is enriched with vitamin C. 

In conjunction with the face wash, I have been using the Peaches and Clean Deep Cleansing Milk. I remember owning this in the past, and I loved it. When I received this at Christmas, I was delighted as I knew exactly what to expect. I absolutely adore the smell - as you could gather from the title, it smells of peaches. It comes with a pump which is a bonus as not many cleansers do. The formula always feels incredibly luxurious and thick on my skin, almost as though I was applying cream to it (which sounds great right now..) I don't use this to remove my makeup, but it is optional that it can be used for that purpose.

Since using these two together, I've noticed an improvement with my skin. It appears clearer - I think it has been helping with my spots! My skin feels silky smooth and looks instantly smoother. I know for definite I would repurchase the two of these in a heartbeat. I mean, it would be rude not too, especially since they're on a 3 for 2 deal in Boots.

Have you tried Soap and Glory's skincare range? What do you recommend I try next?

A Makeup Setting Spray For Less Than £10♥

Makeup setting sprays have recently came by like a storm to the beauty world, mainly because everyone was wanting to achieve that "dewy" makeup look. I bought one because I just wanted to set my makeup, as the name of the product would suggest. When I was flicking through an Avon brochure ages ago, I managed to find a setting spray. It was fairly new to the book so was a bargain price of £3.50. How could a makeup addict resist? 

The Avon Make-up Setting Spray comes in a black bottle, which is plastic and transparent so you can see just how much product you have remaining. Bearing in mind I only paid £3.50, I believe the packaging looks sleek and almost professional. It comes with a cap over the pump to prevent any loss of product.

 So, how exactly does it work? I like to spray it after I've applied my face makeup (ie primer, foundation, concealer, powder etc). By spraying it on top of my makeup, it will remove any excess powder which will reduce your chances of looking cakey. With it removing any excess powder, it's more likely that the spray will actually be able to reach your makeup and set it. In doing so, you will be able to achieve that dewy look, and that all depends on how much you use. I usually do three sprays down my face and it distributes itself evenly.

The formula isn't sticky or drying, and there isn't a distinct scent - I have been using this for a while and haven't happened to pick up on any scent. It dries almost instantly so no waiting required. According to the avon website, it's also enriched with vitamins A, C and E. For 125ml, it now retails for only £6.

Will you be trying this out? What are some of your favourite setting sprays?