Freedom MakeUp London: Pro Bare Collection

I have been absolutely blown away by new makeup brand, Freedom Makeup London, that launched in June this year. The quality of their makeup is utterly amazing and the price is even more outstanding (I mean £1 per lipstick..?!)

I started following Freedom Makeup London on Instagram a little while ago when they were first trying to get noticed before launching and I was so excited to try them out! As many of you may know I adore finding beauty bargain that are really worth buying.

I am a little bit of a nutter when it comes to nude based lipsticks and I'm not as brave as I should be with bold colours so when I was browsing around on their website and stumbled across the Pro Bare 5 Lipstick collection for £4 you can imagine how excited I was. I purchased these lipsticks around about 2/3 weeks ago and I have honestly used one of them every single day since they arrived. 

An overall review of the quality of the actual lipstick product is all round fantastic. They apply beautifully and evenly, however I apply at least two layers of lipstick to ensure I get the best of the colour. I find the bars very moisturising which is spot on for keeping summery lips from drying out and winter lips from chapping. They have their own unique finish to them which is neither matte nor glossy but more velvety which is perfect for every day wear and can be glammed up by adding a clear gloss over the top is a more formal look if desired. I do however find myself reapplying the lipstick a few times over the course of a day, meaning I'm using alot more of the lipsticks than I do with many of my other lipsticks, however you can't really complain for less that £1 per lipstick! They're still gorgeous. 

Sooner or Later 

Sooner or Later is the palest colour in the Pro Bare collection. Its a a very light natural pink shade that adds just a touch of pink over your natural lip colour. Its' subtle pinky tone collaborates perfectly with Makeup Revolution's Iconic 3 Palette. This is my favourite pink shade at the moment as its a dead easy natural colour to wear for summer.

Untouched

 Untouched by name, untouched by nature. The name says it all really, this lipstick is the most natural shade in the collection because it literally looks like my lips have no colour on, however have a flawlessly even tone and velvety appearance for the ultimate natural makeup look.
I use this look when I'm trying to get away with looking as natural as possible with minimal make-up.

Naked Beauty

I would say Naked Beauty is one of my favourite nudes in this collection as it is a fantastic subtle taupe colour that seems to just go beautifully with any makeup look whether is big and bold or sweet and subtle. I wear this as my every day lipstick for work as it is the perfect everyday lipstick.

Mannequin

It's a terrible shame that I couldn't quite get the camera on my iPhone to pick up how much darker this shade is to Naked Beauty. In person this shade is quite noticeably darker meaning it needs quite tame eye make-up to match. I use this shade when I have bronzed and tanned my skin. I like to use a dark nude lipliner when using this particular shade as it is quite a statement nude.

Whispers

Whispers is the brightest shade in the Pro Bare collection. I would describe this as a bright rose pink, still maintaining it natural shade however bright enough to make a subtle statement. It collaborates perfectly with my Makeup Revolution Iconic 3 palette and looks stunning against my natural pale skin, however I wouldn't personally wear this when I've been tanning or bronzing.

I have already spent another £25 on their website and taken advantage of their many many special offers! I can't wait for my next delivery to arrive this week.

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Epoch Mud Mask Review

On one of my previous blog posts reviewing the Nu Skin foundation I mentioned how my friend, Chloe, gave me a free sample pot of the natural mud mask that she sells. I have to say that this is by far my favourite face mask I have ever tried!

It has a clay like texture that applies very smoothly and evenly across the skin and I was also really impressed with how little of the product  I needed to use to spread all over my face. Chloe only gave me a small sample but I have managed to get 2 whole masks out of it so I can't even imagine how long a proper tub would last! Fantastic value for money.

It dried very quickly on my face and made the skin feel very tight which was really refreshing. It was amazing at how I could actually see tiny oily dots bursting through the dried mud mask showing me how the mask is actually drawing out all the dirt from my skin!

It really showed me the areas of my face that get clogged up and dirty easily meaning I'm focusing more of deep cleaning those areas with exfoliators.

I kept my mud mask on for about 10-15 minutes to make sure my skin had enough time to draw out all the dirt and muck from out of my pours.

You can see quite clearly along my nose, t-zone and a couple of spots around my mouth dots of oil where the mud mask has drawn impurities out of my skin

After washing off the mud mask with a flannel and hot water I could instantly feel a huge difference. My skin felt so silky and much smoother than it has before. It almost felt as though a a new layer of soft skin had been uncovered. My pours were visibly more unclogged and began tightening up again.

Epoch Mud Mask- £26

Knowing that the Epoch mud mask only uses natural ingredients means I can trust this product to be used on my skin over and over without worrying about any chemical damage. It's so good using natural ingredients to feed your skin with nutrients and vitamins!

Once a week to anybody! It is without a doubt one of the best products I have used to buff up my skin, especially with these hot summer days!

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High End Beauty Wish List

I have never had the funds to indulge in expensive make-up and beauty products I get super excited when I occasionally treat myself to an item off my wish list! Here is my most recent wishlist <3

Real Techniques Bold Metal Collection

I have seriously lusted over these ever since they came out, they're incredible! I hear nothing but positive reviews regarding Real Technique brushes however have sadly never had the chance to use any.

Smashbox Contour Trio Sticks

I fell in love with these when we had a talk from a Smashbox Rep at the Shropshire Blogger Meet. I am obsessed with difference techniques of contouring, especially easy contouring and these are perfect. 

Mac Studio Fix Fluid

Everybody raves about Mac foundation and have always wanted to try it! Would love to see how this sits on my skin as I struggle to find decent foundations.

Mac Lipstick Velvet Teddy

I adore nude toned lipsticks and this is a perfect everyday colour. Especially as it's known to be one of Kylie Jenners favourite lipsticks!

Dior Addict IT Liquid Eyeliner in Black 

I use the Dior Addict IT mascara and it's absolutely fantastic. I have been dying to try a higher end liquid eyeliner as winged eyeliner is my go-to everyday look and recently my drug store eyeliners are just not cutting it

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Simple Contouring

Although I'm not exactly a pro at it, I love contouring! I call this simple because it literally takes me about 5 minutes to do this. I love having control of my face and deciding whether today I will have a smaller nose or maybe tomorrow I will define my cheek bones more. There is no correct way to contour, it all depends of what you want your face to look like. I have watched endless tutorials and studied many many guides on how to contour and after alot of experimenting I have finally found a perfect go-to contouring routine for me.

It is very important to prime your face before contouring as it involves the use of alot of make-up product. I use my Smash Box Photo finish primer which is absolutely fantastic and leaves my contour looking perfect all day. 

For the contour itself I use Make-Up Revolution Cover and Conceal palettes in the colour Light and Medium-Dark. For the highlight I use the lightest shade in the light palette and for the bronze and contour I use the shade next to the darkest brown. These are creams which I find alot easier to apply and blend rather than the more commonly used powders. 

To apply the creams I used 2 flat concealer brushes, one for the highlight and one for the contour/bronze and finally my Nanshy 4 in 1 blending sponge to blend the creams. 

I got my Nanshy blending sponge in my goody bag from the Shropshire Blogger Meet I attended last month and it is absolutely fantastic! It has different shaped sides to help you with sculpting and blending the products in any way you want and it doesn't absorb much product which means hardly any is wasted. My previous beauty blender sponge would end up with more product on it than there was on my face so I'm mega impressed with this one! 

So here I am barefaced, fresh as a daisy, absolutely 0 make-up. I naturally have fuller cheeks and a large nose so I like to use contouring to try and define my cheek bones and make my nose appear smaller in particular as well as defining my personal favouring feature.. my eyebrows!
 (Anybody who knows me knows that I adore doing my eyebrows and am extremely proud of the fact I have naturally thick and dark brows)

So it's time to begin. I found a guide on the internet which I used to inspire this type of contouring for me and helped me with where to highlight and contour. 

I always start by applying my highlighter with a flat concealer brush by using the lightest shade of my Make-Up Revolution creams. I apply this to my cupids bow, on my forehead, above my cheek bones/under my eye's and down the centre of my nose, as you can see in the photo. Then, using my slightly damp Nanshy blending sponge, blend my highlighter until it looks smooth and flawless. 



Although most tutorials I've watched shows the mua applying all of the contour, highlighter and bronze then blending it all together in one I find that by doing it all separately and in stages you have more control over it and it's alot easier and less messy. 


With a different flat concealer brush I apply the darker shade cream along the edge of my forehead, below my cheek bones, down the side of my nose and also across my chin. Be careful not to apply a shade too dark or apply too much product as you could end up looking as if you have mud strokes across your face which is never a fab look.  The key with blending the darker shade is to ensure you blend it fully into your hair line otherwise you could end up with very obvious make-up lines which is a big no-no. 

So here is my finished blended contour! Easy! Two creams, two brushes and 1 blending sponge is all you need. 

After blending

Complete make-up look

                     
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Silky smooth summer legs!

It's coming up to the summer season where it's all about skirts, shorts, dresses and cute playsuits so it's super important to get those legs silky smooth and summer ready.

It's dead easy to achieve beautifully smooth legs. It's best to shave your legs when you're in a warm shower or bath to soften the skin, First it's all about exfoliating. I use Lush Ocean Salt face and body scrub on my wet legs with exfoliating gloves to remove as much dead and dry skin as I can before shaving and wash off the scrub with warm water.
It's then time to prep your skin for shaving by using either a shaving foam or a personal favourite of mine is to use a hair conditioner! Now it's time to start shaving. It's best to use a really good quality razor, not a disposable one as they're less damaging to the skin and provide a better, closer shave. I use Venus razors with Olay Moisture Bar heads as these leave my skin irresistibly smooth and cut the hairs very close.
Start shaving from the bottom of you ankle gliding the razor all the way to the top of you knee and continue all the way around until you calf and shin is complete, then repeat for the thighs ensureing you don't miss any hairs. Remember to rinse the shaver head every stroke or two to try and avoid the razor head getting clogged up and ensure a closer shave. 

Once you've shaved your legs and are happy with the result its very important to moisturise afterwards to hydrate the skin and repair and damage to the skin. I prefer to use a thick body butter for this as I feel it really feeds the skin. This will also help reduce shaving rash!

So there we go ladies, the perfect guide to perfect summer legs!