MUA Eyebrow Palette Review & Swatch

I bought this on a whim when they had 35% off a few months ago. I love my elf kit - review - but couldn't resist testing MUA's offering as I had heard many a good thing about it!

I'll start with the negatives, first one being the brush. It's bloody awful quite frankly. Too thick too define the brows and scratchy. I generally never use brushes that are a part of palettes anyway but I thought this was worth a mention as if it was a good brush, it would be rather handy for travel. Secondly the shade selection is pretty pants. You get a dark chocolate brown and the next shade down from that is a light taupe colour. The lightest shade which I assume is the 'highlight' shade is beige. Now I don't know about you but I wouldn't use beige as a highlighter shade. Well apart from when trying this out of course and it looked yellow! The brown, although a beautiful shade is too warm and too dark for me. The next shade down would be far too light so I can't see this suiting many skin tones. 

The good things....! The shades, especially the brown are soft, pretty pigmented and lasted all day. The gel keeps the brows in place without looking like you have slapped anything on. That my friends is the extent of the 'good things'. Oh and of course the price. 

If you were an exact match for the brown shade then I say go for it as it's a bargain but otherwise it's a miss for me. Hopefully in the future they will bring out a variety of shades as as a whole MUA are a pretty good brand but this has disappointed me unfortunately. 

You can find MUA on their site here or at Superdrug for £3.59

Have you tried 

this yet?

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SleekMakeUp Sparkle 2 Limited Edition Palette Review & Swatches

This is my first dip into the ever-so-popular SleekMakeUp Palettes* I'm not a huge fan of shimmery eye shadows but I rather quite like this one. The glitter doesn't transfer too much when swatched/worn so it's less obvious which is more me. The colours are beautiful too - Blue Spruce and Twinkle being my favourite! 

 The Swatches! 

A great variety of colours that are fairly pigmented, you don't need to worry about being too heavy handed though either which is a plus. The shades wear well and lasted most of the day without a primer. I have my eye (yep pun well and truly intended) on the the i Divine Ultra Matte V2 Palette!

You can find them on their website here or online and in store at Superdrug

Do you own any

Sleek palettes? 

*PR Sample

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Recipe: Duck with Plum Sauce

This is my trusted Duck recipe. At the moment Morrison's have been selling a pack of 3 legs for £4 or three packs for £10. Would be rude not to eh? So we've eaten a lot lately! Good job it goes down well in this house. I took the plum sauce from this recipe here by James Martin  - one of my favourite chefs! But modified it to my liking ;)

Ingredients 
Duck Legs - one per person
Plums - 300g - stoned and cut into small wedges
Shallots - 2 finely chopped
Demerara Sugar - 50g
Red Wine - 50ml
Beef Stock - 200ml
Veg Stock - 100ml
Red Current Jelly - 1.5 tablespoons
Seasoning

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4, 180 degrees

Put the duck legs on a baking tray with a grill. A bucket load of fat will seep from the duck while cooking so it's best it doesn't sit in it really.

They need to cook for an hour and half

Saute shallots in some olive oil. Once softened add the plums and demerara sugar

When the sugar has melted add the wine and simmer for a few minutes

Then add the stock and simmer for around 20/30 minutes

When you have a gorgeous red thick consistency (like below) add the red current jelly and some seasoning and slowly heat until the jelly has melted

Once melted pass through a sieve. If you still have lumps of plum mash them up first. Make sure you use a spoon and push through all the lovely juices

I serve this with mash and veg - buttery garlicy spinach works a treat. It can also be made in advance and heated when needed, freezes well too

You do want to find a small bowl to pour the duck fat into and store in the fridge. Think crispy roast potatoes. Scoop some into a baking tray and heat in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Add part boiled potatoes and enjoy the true pleasure that crispy roast potatoes exudes. Yep I am a big fan...

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SleekMakeUp OMG Lipstick Review & Swatch

Due the hype around Sleek's matte lippy's I thought this was one when it popped through the door. I wore it a few times and found it was creamy and glossy so thinking it was a matte I just wasn't too impressed really. Not a true matte I thought, why is it so popular? haha! It took to using stiletto - review here - to realise. Yes really doh!

Jeez Sam maybe read the actual product info next time...

Anyway. It's a sheen formula and a lovely bright red, very pigmented and applies well. Lasts around an hour or two on me but I find it feathers a bit. I am in love with their matte formula's but this I feel a bit so so with. Still a bargain for a fiver but I would rather pick up a matte. I think I may be a matte gal really, nothing compares!
Maybe I can say matte one more time...

What do you think on 

the Sheen formula's? 

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Operation Spending Ban: Update #2

Soooooo.....

I had a little Christmas money that I WAS going to save but a few pretties caught my eye (damn you Illamasqua sale), and after asking around it was general consensus that I was not cheating the spending ban as it was pre-ban money! 

What do ya think? Naughty step?

I did feel guilty....that is until they turned up yesterday... 

....and to justify it even further, I picked colours that I don't really have. Yep, justifications all over the place here...

But you know I have no more excuses now and if (not that it will happen...!) I spend any money I will allow you to give me a firm slap on the wrist! I do urge all non spending ban peeps to check out the Illamasqua sale though link, £35 for this lot! I didn't pay full price for the YSL Glossy Stain either so that was a bargain too.

How is everyone else doing 

on the spending ban?

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Enrapture Extremity Heated Rollers Review

These baby's were a Christmas present....self bought Christmas present mind you. I did get them a bit before the big day but only used them for the first time last week. Is it sad that I love the purple shiny box it comes in? (shows up blue in the picture!) 

The 10 large and 10 smaller barrels are housed in a decent sized sturdy container, not too heavy but you wouldn't want to travel with it. There is a handy storage pouch under the rollers to store the cable - would've been a touch handier if you could fit the plug in too. Incredibly these rollers takes seconds to heat up!

I combed through volumising mousse before blow drying. I then sectioned the top part wide enough to fit the rollers. Taking a section at the back of this for the first roller. I used three large ones at the top. I then went down the back with the same width section. 

By the time I started on the sides the top part kept flopping all over the place and was quite frankly annoying. This is is probably more due to my fine hair than the clips that are provided with the rollers. I decided to take  the top section out and come back to it at the end. Sides done and top section re-done I left it to cool for around 20 minutes. The annoying floppy top part needed a clip to hold it in though!

In the end I think I left them in for an hour as I busied myself with other non exciting chores. They were easy to take out and I experienced no tugging or hair catching on the rollers

I was left with great root lift and really liked the wave the larger barrels left but found the smaller ones were too curly for the look I wanted to achieve. I ran my fingers through hoping they would drop a bit but nope they stayed pretty curly. Of course that is a good sign for the actually rollers so I'm not knocking it but I was hoping for more waves than curls. If I could have 20 of the larger barrels then I would be a happy lady but alas there are only 10. 

I also thought that heated rollers would be easier to use than a curling tong as I am quite lazy when it comes to actually doing something with my hair but I think I would be better off with the latter. These are great rollers but maybe for the longer haired or if you wanted quite a curly do. I do like the look of the Totem styler and wish I had bought that instead now! Grass is greener eh. 

You can find them from Argos, Amazon and Boots!

Have you used anything from Enrapture?

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Motel Rocks Wish List and 25% Off

1. Playsuit

2. Dress

3. Shirt

4. Shorts

5. Jacket

I have joined Motel's Street Team and this week my code  honeygolightly gets you 25% off for this week only! As I am on a spending ban I can only peruse the site *sob*

The playsuit has been been on my wish list for ages. Well not this particular pattern as the one I did want was sold out *sobs again*. A definite after spending ban purchase I think! I have been after some leather shorts for a while now and the dress is so cute!  

Will you be taking up the 25% off offer? Have a little look yourself here! 

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Skinetica Blemish Treatment Review & A Freebie!

A few months ago I had some stubbon blemishes on my neck. It started off with one and they just seemed to multiple! They stuck around for longer than was necessary too. I tried using different cleansers and went through many spot treatments that did not really make a difference. They would start to disapear but then pop up again just as I was starting to think that was it! Dr spot (Soap & Glory) was the best I had used but they still wouldn't completely budge. I was at a loss really.

I  found the Skinetica in my stash that was from a Glossy Box. I won't lie. When I first saw this in my box I didn't think I would use it. I'm ashamed to admit it was because of the packaging! I like fancy looking products and this looked, well ahem cheap and I thought it might be too harsh - yes even though it does say kind to the skin on the bottle but with sensitive skin I don't trust very well. 

So don't judge a book by it's cover clearly springs to mind...

I'm not entirely sure how long it took but can't have been too drawn out as they went, they went and never came back! Hallelujah! The product wasn't harsh (as it suggests) and non drying. I haven't used it on my face yet but I know a few that have and it's been fine.

I don't have to tell you how depressing it is when you get a breakout like that, and in fact I don't think I ever have! No idea what caused it or why it wouldn't budge. Fingers crossed that's the last time. I put the Skinetica back in the cupboard and promptly forgot about it. Until now that is as Nardine linked to a free sample. It just popped through the door so I thought I would share!

Fill out the form here and give it a whirl :)

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Christmas, New Years Eve & a Snow Day

Just a few snaps over the past month. Had Christmas at the folks and played a few silly games and drunk too much as usual! Then New Years Eve at a friends for Mexiacan food, fireworks and yet again too much alcohol! 

Attempted to make a snowman with the little one. They are not as easy to make as I last remember! Probably didn't have quite enough snow anyway so ended up tiny plus my hands were frozen and I couldn't take much more wimp! Good things come in small packages though eh? 

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday break and is enjoying the snow! Leave me a link if you have published any snow posts :) 

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