Review: Topshop Cream Blush in 'Head Over Heels'

Bonsoir, this is a review of another quick and pointless purchase that didn't involve much thinking on my part, which usually results in makeup tragedy (I tend to exaggerate).

Right after buying the MaxFactor creamy blush and realising I have no idea how to use it properly, I decided to buy another cream blush, because that makes so much sense. To be fair, my thinking was that this was lighter shade (a very pretty one indeed) and it felt creamier so I hoped it'd blend better. 

So here it is: 

The Topshop packaging is very cute. Minimalistic, sorta retro and very nice in your hands. In fact, I still keep the blush in it's original box because I like it so much :3 

The instructions on the back say "dot on cheeks and blend"... again, easier said than done. I really, really don't like doing that. I find that using fingers to blend anything but concealer on my face just feels... vulgar. When I blend this on my cheeks, it makes the red, so basically I can't tell where the blush is and where I've rubbed my cheeks raw. This spoils the whole look and the "naturality" of it just dies - I might as well just rub my cheeks vigorously for some colour, like in dem old dayz. 

The camera doesn't rally do the colour justice - it's a gorgeous peach-coral colour, you just want to eat it. Well, not really, but you get the idea. 

The consistency is much creamier than the MaxFactor Creamy Blush, i.e. it is more...'slippery'. Which means it blends better, much better, but not well enough for me, still. I honestly, honestly wish it was less pigmented. Crazy? Yeah. Reason being, if it was less pigmented, I would be able to layer it nicely to get the glow, but because it's so strong (see swatch above), it's so unmanageable for a cream blush rookie like me. I am yet to try this on a full face of makeup (where my stupid rosacea cheeks are neutralised by foundation), but I fear of blending with fingers in case I take all my foundation off. I do love my powder blushes. 

  

This hand swatch doesn't show the colour properly, it is much stronger 'IRL', especially on the cheeks. Overwhelmingly strong, especially combined with my natural redness. There is the tiniest, tiniest bit of sparkle in this, which makes me happy. I love golden sparkles!

In conclusion, I love the colour, love the packaging, love the texture and consistency, don't love the fact that it's pigmented or that I have to use fingers, don't love that it makes me looks like a drag queen, but would still thoroughly recommend to those blessed with an even skin tone and no fear of rubbing your cheeks raw! 

PS. this blush retails for £6 which isn't too bad for the size you get and the quality definitely surpasses my stigma against fashion-shops going into makeup lines. 

:)

x

MaxFactor Holiday Haul

Hey there :) I've been working 5 days a week lately and volunteering on the other two, so it's been pretty rough. I have stopped wearing makeup completely (Extremist me!) when going to work because I am just way too tired to take it off afterwards and it's not worth on my poor eyes. Alas, I digress. After my first salary I was itching to buy me a little something with my own money finally and I stumbled into Boots which was decorated from ceiling to floor with Xmas decs... ghastly. 

The Maxfactor promotion was a free gift with any purchase over £15. Sounds good huh - well, how bummed was I when the two items I got reached £14.98 and I couldn't get the gift and had to get a third item I didn't really want? yeah, pretty bummed I'd say. Nonetheless I bought these three:

L-R: MAX Effect Mini Nail Polish in 26 Cappuccino, Colour Elixir Lipstick in 36 Pearl Maron, Miracle Touch Creamy Blush in 09 Soft Murano

The blush is my first cream blush, and I've been meaning to try them because supposedly they give a "glowy, more natural" look on the cheeks. Er... yeah, it made it look natural, sure, i.e. so natural that it looked like I've been frost-bitten. It doesn't blend too well, and it might be doing it wrong, but it's so damn pigmented that I end up looking like a drag queen. I cannot work this. And for £6.99 it's a bit of a shame. If anyone could help me understand how to use it, I would be very grateful. For now, it's just lying in my draw sulking. 

The nail polish is the purchase that I made to make it over 15 pounds, and one that I am surprisingly happy with. All my polishes are sorta crazy colours and I realised I don't have any neutral grey-brown sorta ones, so off I went to choose it. Does it last? Well, not really. But for that one-two days it sure does looks pretty. Would recommend :)

Since buying my first Colour Elixir Lipstick in 825 Pink Brandy, I've been itching to get my hands on more MaxFactor lipsticks. The formula is beautifully creamy and luxurious and the packaging does very good things to me, it's gorgeous. Off I went and bought Pearl Maron, which is a shimmery blue-toned red, with a slight staining power. It doesn't overwhelm my face like most reds, and I just really like this. See below for swatches and pictures.

This is the gift that came in a pretty golden box - damn, I am a sucker for packaging...

 

     LR: Colour Elixir Lipstick in 655 Lilac Wine, MasterpieceMax Mascara, Glossfinity Mini Nail Polish in Angel Nails, Earth Spirits Eyeshadow in Terra Firma

So this is a pretty decent package. 

The lipstick is what drew me to the gift, realistically I can live without the other items but this... it's absolutely gorgeous. And as I've mentioned, I absolutely luuuuurve Maxfactor lipsticks, so woohoo! See below for swatches. 

The Masterpiece Max Mascara is a usual mini item in Maxfactor promos. I've had one of them before, it is decent but nothing spectacular, though I do remember really liking it last time I had it, for some reason.

Angel Nails is also a staple in MaxFactor gift sets an I already have one bottle, although it's labeled NailFinity not GlossFinity. Silly lying Maxfactor, it's exactly the same polish. I can't say I'm a huge fan on this, the shimmery peal quality doesn't transfer too well to the nails and I personally think it looks a bit cheap. Does it last 7 days? Oh please. 2 at most, then cue horrible chipping.

The single eyeshadow, Terra Firma, is a nice neutral brown which is matte-ish but more on the shimmery side... kind of... it's hard to explain. I haven't used this yet (makeup hiatus, remember?) but I have a feeling it won't stand out the endless dark browns I have in my medium-sized collection. 

 Now the good part, the swatches for the lipsticks:

 Notice the absolutely stunning gold shimmer in Lilac Wine compared to the normal shimmer in Pearl Maron. It was that golden shimmer that drew me to it like a moth to the flame. Gold sparkles all the way!!

  

 

 Left - Pearl Maron, Right - Lilac Wine.

 

My lips are such a f***ed-up shape I don't even bother to put the blog title on it because no one will steal these images :'( 

You get the picture though, they're both gorgeous colours which I would thoroughly recommend!

 A little hand swatch.

 In conclusion, I am very happy with my purchases and will be using all of these products, bar maybe the blush because it's just too red. When I was trying it on in the shop I thought it would be the most natural, compared to a coppery one which just looked like dirt on my hand. This upsets me greatly because it just looks atrocious on me and far, far from natural.  

I hope this has been helpful and see you in the next post 

:) 

x