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Makeup Revolution Conceal & Define ConcealerI ordered the Makeup Revolution Conceal & Define Concealer along with their stick foundation and new liquid liner on a whim at like three in the morning. I couldn’t sleep so I was scrolling through Instagram and something came up about them. The trigger was pulled, and they were ordered 🙂

Makeup Revolution Conceal & Define Concealer

There is so many comparisons being made online to it and the Tarte Shape Tape Concealer. I own Shape Tape, so that was justification enough in buying it, right? Makeup Revolution are more than well known for releasing ‘dupe’ products. Mostly of more expensive brands, which they do for a much more palatable price.beauty blog ireland

The Makeup Revolution Conceal & Define Concealer is definitely a more reasonable price, coming in at €4.99! I have to admit, other than the chubby packaging it comes in, I can’t really compare it to Shape Tape. I feel like they’re two different formulas. ST is a much thicker consistency, longer wearing and more full coverage, in my humble opinion.

The Makeup Revolution Conceal & Define Concealer comes in a bucketload of shades, which is bloody awesome! 25 to be exact with different undertones to boot. I have the colour C1 which is a good match for me.top irish beauty blog

I actually like the doe-foot applicator more on the MR concealer over Shape Tape. It’s a bit smaller and easier to clean up under the eyes with.beauty blogger ireland

The consistency of this concealer is what I would describe as thick-ish. Perfect english I know. I just mean, it’s not Shape Tape thick, but it’s not runny either. It’s somewhere in the middle 🙂 You can apply a fairly light layer of it and it will give grand coverage, or you can really build up the opacity. For me, it works better in a couple of lighter layers.

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It is a super drying formula, in my opinion, so that is something to note if you suffer with creasing under the eyes. It sets super quickly too, so you have to work fast with it.

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I don’t get much creasing personally and always set my under my eyes, so I haven’t had a problem with it myself. Here it is in action on my skin.

Overall, I think the Makeup Revolution Conceal & Define Concealer  is a damn good, more high coverage concealer for the price point. On my skin type, I will just be sticking to using it under my eyes. I don’t think the staying power is quite there for the rest of my more oily skin.

Have you tried it?

xxx

 

John kindly bought me the new Urban Decay Naked Skin Shapeshifter for my birthday.

Urban Decay Naked Skin Shapeshifter

I asked him why because it wasn’t something I had hinted at or anything and he simply said. ‘Because you collect Urban Decay.’ Cannot argue with that logic 🙂

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The Urban Decay Naked Skin Shapeshifter is a contour, colour correct and highlighting palette. It comes in two shade ranges. One for darker skin tones and then the one I have here which is the light medium shift, more suited to lighter skin.

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The palette itself is quite narrow and is two sided. The creams are on one side. You get five in total.

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And the powders on the other. You get four in total.

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Both are separated by decent sized, double sided mirror and the palette has a magnetic closure. The packaging reminds me a lot of the Naked Smoky Palette which I reviewed here when it first came out.

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The creams consist of a dark contour shade, a light contour, a colour corrector (peach toned), a colour corrector/highlighter (pink toned) and then a pearl highlighter. You get 2.15 grams of product in each pan.

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The powder side consists of a dark contour, a medium contour, a light contour and a pearl highlighter. You get 3.7 grams of product in each pan.

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Both the creams and the powders are really nice quality. They are all soft, pigmented and easy to blend. The creams do not have any slip too them which I like. And, the powders do have some kick back once a brush is introduced, like most Urban Decay powders because they are so soft in texture. I particularly like the lighter powder contour shade and the highlight shades in both. The dark cream contour shade is a bit too full and brown on for me though.

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Here they are in action on my face. I used the cream peachy colour corrector and the pink colour corrector/highlight under my eyes and set it with the light powder contour shade. I also used the medium powder contour shade as contour. Then, the cream and powder highlighter shades to highlight the tops of the cheeks and the tear ducts.

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I find the light contour shades on both sides a bit confusing. To me, they are both just yellow toned product. I would probably use both to brighten under the eyes. I really couldn’t see them being used as contour products personally.

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You can buy the Urban Decay Naked Skin Shapeshifter now in Debenhams in store or online here. It costs €47.50. Have you picked it up? Would you pick it up? I always love to know your thoughts 🙂

xxx

 

 

 

 

I’ve been talking alot about Kat Von D of late, Since they’ve parked their bums in Debenhams, I want to try everything! I did a post on the Shade & Light Eye Contour Palette here too if you are interested. This post is all about the under eyes though. I am giving my thoughts on the Kat Von D Lock It Concealer and the Brightening Powder.

kat von d lock it concealer

I picked up both products together a few weeks ago and have been using the pretty much consistently since.

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There is a whole array of products in the Kat Von D Lock it line, ranging from face primer, to setting spray.
I’ll start out talking about the Lock It Concealer.

kat von d lock it

Off the bat, I love the packaging, specifically the doe foot applicator. It has a tear drop shape, so it works really nicely around the eye contours. I also love that it comes in an abundance of shade ranges, and they differentiate by tone too! So, you can get warm, neutral and cool.

I went with L5 Neutral, which is a really good match for me:

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kat von d lock it under eye concealer
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It has quite a thick consistency on the skin, but blends like a dream. It covers really nicely and brightens up the under eye area too. On me, it has yet to crease, flake or settle in any fine lines once I set it. I usually go in with a light (ish) layer, blend it in and then apply another dot to the darkest area of my under eyes.

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Overall, I am a big fan of the Kat Von D Lock It Concealer. It gives me very similar vibes to the Clarins Instant Light which I am a huge fan of too! It costs €26 from Debenhams in store or online here.

Next up we have the Kat Von D Lock It Brightening Powder.

kat von d lock it brightening powder petal

I bought this specifically to use over the concealer. I am sure if you wanted just a little brightens under the eyes without using a concealer, this could work too.

It comes in three shades, I picked up the lightest one ‘Petal’. It is a really finely milled loose powder with a peachy undertone.

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With it being a loose powder and in a smaller container, it can get messy to use, I won’t lie. Saying that, it does a really lovely job at setting my concealer and really does help smooth out under the eyes, as well as adding extra brightness.

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It feels like velvet on the skin and a little goes a really long way. It doesn’t leave your under eyes feeling tight or dry when you apply it. Again, this is another Kat Von D purchase I am glad I made. The Brightening Powder costs €24.50. You can buy from Debenhams in store or online here.

Now, I just need to get my hands on the Kat Von D Lock It primer, foundation and setting spray and I’ll be good to go :). Have you tried anything from the range?

xxx

Essence Cosmetics have very kindly given me some of their new Essence Little Beauty Angels Colour Correcting products to give away to one of you!

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I have the guts of the whole Essence Little Beauty Angels collection here. According to the brand: ‘essence brings “little beauty angels colour correcting” on a heavenly mission to you. the products help balance out small skin flaws with contrasting colours to ensure a flawless, radiant complexion. pink gives tired skin a wide-awake look, green neutralizes redness and beige corrects skin irregularities.’

Essence Little Beauty Angels

The prize will include:

  • Primer stick 01 on my concealing mission
  • Primer stick 02 on my anti-redness mission
  • Primer stick 03 on my covering mission
  • Mini make-up sponges 01 pretty little angels
  • Core lip primer 01 prime time angel
  • Concealer palette 01 four angels for brightness
  • Brush duo 01 one team, one mission
  • Multicolour matt pearls 01 call me a multivalent angel
  • Face perfection primer 01 I’m your wake-up angel
  • Face perfection primer 02 I’m your anti-redness angel
  • Face perfection primer 03 I’m your brightening angel

To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is comment below telling me what your favourite blog posts to read are. And make sure to include your email address so I can contact you. For an extra chance, you can share this post on any of your social media platforms and I will include those entries too!

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This Essence Little Beauty Angels giveaway closes a week from today, the 11th of April 2017 at 10pm. It is only open to people living in Ireland. I will pick a winner at random and email you. The lovely people at Essence will then send you out your goodies.

The very best of luck. As always thanks for taking the time to click and enter, I really appreciate it!

Gemma

xxx

*****Prize courtesy of Essence Cosmetics Ireland*****

I have the Sleek Cream Contour Kit in my possession a while now.

Sleek Cream Contour Kit

I have the shade light.

Sleek Cream Contour Kit Review

I was kindly gifted this at a masterclass showing us bloggers how to use the Sleek Cream Contour Kit. I knew it was in high demand and everyone wanted to see it in action, so I embarrassingly rummaged through a few of the very generous gift bags making sure I got the lightest palette because I thought since I have lighter skin this would be the best one for me…dedication to blogging right there! 🙂

Unfortunately, some of the colours don’t seem to really work for me in the way I want them too, so I’ve been putting off talking about it. Some of you lovely lot have been asking me my thoughts on it though, so here they are 🙂

There are three Sleek Cream Contour Kits to choose from light, medium and dark. They all contain 6 cream contour shades ranging in colours to highlight, contour and give definition to the face.

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The texture of the product is really nice. They are creamy to the touch and they do blend into the skin quite well. They also don’t leave the skin feeling or looking to greasy which is an added bonus too.

Here are the colours in the light palette swatched from left to right on my arm.

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With Flash

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Without Flash

And then blended out a little with my fingers.

irish beauty websiteI will be completely honest, and if you’ve been reading Beautynook for a while, you’ll know I’m a big Sleek fan, but I wanted so much more for the palette…

According to Sleek, the shades work as follows:

  • Shade 1 – highlighting
  • Shade 2 – deeper highlighting
  • Shade 3 – concealing / blending contouring
  • Shade 4 – contouring or adding subtle contouring effect
  • Shade 5 – creating the illusion of shadow
  • Shade 6 – adding deeper shadow effects

That sounds a bit overwhelming if you’re not super into your makeup I know, but this is just a guide line of course and they give you an insert with the palette to show you were to place the colours if you want to use them in this fashion. I personally love a bit of contouring and highlighting but I wouldn’t be this dedicated and less face it, my chubby chops need more than some cream contouring to look chiselled 🙂

Here it is in action on my face.

I used shade 3 to conceal under my eyes and then shade 1 to highlight, shade 5 around the periphery of my face and then shade 6 under my cheekbones.

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Before under eye concealer.

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After under eye concealing

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Contour and highlight applied

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Contour and highlight blended in

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Close up

The lighter shades don’t really lift my skin or give any major coverage once blended in. The darkness under my eyes still comes through. I would have to conceal separately before using the palette. They also cake up on my skin slightly too. The three darker contouring shades are just too warm for me to use as contour, although I have used the darker shade a few times more as a cream bronzer and it works well.

Overall, I think the formula is of the Sleek Cream Contour Kit is one of the best on the ‘highstreet’ market that I’ve used to date yet, but the colours (of the light kit anyways) and the coverage of the lighter shades just don’t float my boat 🙁

You can get the Sleek Cream Contour Kit from Boots, pharmacies nationwide and Cloud10beauty stock it online here too. It will set you back a reasonable €13.95.

Have you used it? Am I being overly critical? Let me know?

xxx