First Impressions | Seventeen Gel Cheek and Lip Tints

On a recent visit to the boots.com website, I discovered I'd racked up £7 worth of points. I know I probably should've saved them and spent them on something a bit more "special", but I seem to be unable to save anything, even if it is points saved through spending frivolously, haha. I popped in to store and had a look around at some bits, and these little oddities rather took my fancy.

I've tried the gel blushes from Rimmel and to be honest, didn't much like them. I found the formula to be a bit odd, and didn't find the colour pay off to be good enough to warrant wearing without really layering them up, which as far as I'm concerned defies the point of something being lightweight. They had a few testers of these in store, and I had a quick swatch, to discover that the texture of these are far more like a "true" gel formula, unlike the Rimmel offering which was more of a cream in a tube.

Excuse the state of the pink one, I think it got squashed in my bag on the way home!

As you can see, these come with little spongy applicators. I think the packaging would've done better with a little nozzle if I'm honest. Much more hygienic and there's less product wastage then. I suppose they were trying to cater to application on cheeks and lips, but to be honest I don't intend to use the sponge on either. I've been popping some out on to my hand and then applying either with my finger or a buffing brush on to my cheeks.

To the left is "Perky Pink" and to the right, "Coral Crush". These are both quite summery colours. I'm hoping they'll come out with something more berry toned for the autumn and winter. 

As you can see, these are a translucent gel texture. They're very, very lightweight and you can't feel them on your skin once they've been applied. They blend out incredibly easy, and it's quite hard to overdo the product once its on the skin. I've not found that I need to build it up at all, but I'd imagine that you could if you wanted a more punchy colour, due to the texture.

Again, because of the texture I've found them to be quite long-lasting on my skin. The flush left behind sticks around for a good 4-6 hours after application, which is pretty good on my skin. I think that these would be easy to reapply too, if you felt so inclined. As the packaging is quite portable, they're definitely a take-and-go kind of product.

At the moment they're on an introductory price of £3.99 in Boots, with the entire Seventeen line having an offer of buy one, get one half price. Over all, I really like these little tubes. You get 10ml of product in the tube, which I'd imagine will last you a good long while. I'd recommend these to anyone in the market for a lightweight and relatively long lasting blush and lip colour. Give them a go!

Review | Rimmel Brow This Way in Medium Blonde

I thought I'd found my brow gel "one" in the Maybelline Brow Drama - I was wrong! Although I like it, the shape of the wand is a pain in the neck to me, and it just doesn't seem to be all that pigmented. I was browsing Superdrug a few weeks ago, looking for nothing in particular when I saw this sitting on the shelf at its introductory price of £2.99 - I couldn't pass that up! I love tinted brow gels for lazy brow days. To be honest, my brows don't need all that much filling in, and this gel more than does it for me. The little brush is the cutest and the formula of the gel is that perfect "held, but not crispy" kind of level. The pigment in this little tube is significantly better than the Maybelline brow gel, and for that reason alone I would probably recommend the Rimmel variant.

As you can see, the gel looks a little bit dark on the wand, but it matches perfectly to the colour of my brows, which is a true medium ash blonde shade. The little wand is really easy to use, and the overall packaging reminds me a lot of Benefit's Gimme Brow - no doubt Rimmel's intention when designing this product. 

Have you tried Rimmel's tinted brow gel, or something similar? what did you think of it?

Monday Musings: Relocation, relocation, relocation.

Ever done something that you're well aware is a little bit daft, but you go ahead and do it anyway? We've all done things like this, whether it's something minor, like eating chocolate when you know it gives you a damned headache for the next four or five hours; or something a little more major, like quitting your job, upping sticks and shifting yourself to the other side of the country on little more than a whim. Oh... oops.

Yep, I've moved. Made the grand old journey from Essex to Liverpool. I'm here predominantly for university (studying a History degree, starting next monday on the 29th.) I quit my job, and moved away from my family to do it, but I don't regret making that decision. I thought I'd be more nervous/worried about it, but in truth I'm glad I did it. I definitely miss my family and the familiarity of home, but I'm excited to explore this new place a bit more, and my boyfriend's family have been more than welcoming to me. I haven't started at university yet, but I'm hoping to make plenty of new friends when I do, giving me more opportunities and things to do - and new people to get to know and explore the city with. I've never been particularly good at making friends, but I'm prepared to put 110% of my effort into it.

I definitely feel like this has been a big step for me. I had a full time job in Essex, in the industry that I thought I wanted to be in (I know now that I definitely don't - it's not right for me and I couldn't have been less happy while I was working there), and all my family and friends were there. I'd only been up here a handful of times, and it was a bit of a risk upping sticks, but as I've already said, one I'm so glad I took. I'm looking forward to university infinitely more than I'm nervous about it (though I am also incredibly nervous!) and I've already started taking steps to finding a little part time job while I'm here.

All in all things are going pretty good at the moment, and I'm looking forward to seeing how things pan out.

What are your thoughts on taking big steps? Ever done something you thought you'd never be brave enough to do?

Let's Talk About Books: The Armageddon Rag

If there's one thing I like as much as cosmetics and beauty, it's the written word. One thing I love to do (and I'm trying to get back in to doing more of it) is reading. I used to read something every. single. day, without fail, but as I've gotten older and gotten busier, I've found it harder to find the time and motivation to go back to reading as much as I used to. From this week, I'll be introducing a feature to Oyster and Blush, most likely to be posted on a Sunday called "Let's talk about books", not the most original of titles, I'll grant you, but it fits what I'll be doing - talking about books! It won't necessarily be book reviews, as I may not finish a book every week to be able to review, but it'll certainly be talking about what I've been reading, how I'm finding it and where I'm up to.
I find that my mind is much more at ease when I'm regularly reading novels and creative literature. There's always been an element of escapism in reading for me, even as a kid, and there's something really satisfying about immersing yourself completely into someone else's fiction and letting it carry you off into other worlds (or other times, or both!). I'm looking forward to seeing if I still get the same calmer feeling that I used to when I allow myself to get completely absorbed into a book for longer than half hour or so.

I've been reading the Armageddon Rag for a few weeks, on and off. It's a book by George RR Martin, (y'know, the Game of Thrones guy?), written in the 80s. I bought this based off the blurb, and the fact it was written by him but doesn't fall into the same genre as the ASOIAF series (which I've read most of, but still need to finish it), I expected good things, but I didn't expect to fall in love with the book. The writing is different to what I'm used to from him - it's much more simplistic, but still well done, the book is all from one man's perspective which is a nice change from what we're used to, and the story itself is nicely woven. I'm just under halfway through, and I've encountered themes revolving around The Lord of The Rings (hello, there!), murder and the underground music scene, with a hint of hippy-ish revolution and the effects of the ravages of time. I like the way it's tying so many things together, and the way the book deals with some difficult themes (the idea of cults has been hinted at, public death, famous people being faded out of the limelight and such), and I'm looking forward to pushing through it and seeing the way it ends, because I honestly have no idea at this point!

The book is a standalone novel, something I'm not usually overly keen on, but it's a good push to get back into reading regularly. I intend to get back to it as soon as I've published this post, and I'll likely have it finished by the end of the day so I'll possibly pop back and edit a little update of my final thoughts.

What's your opinion on reading? Do you find it gives you a similar sense of calm as it does me? What's the last thing you read, or what are you reading currently? Consider yourself well and truly interrogated :P

My Essence Cosmetics Favourites

Since Essence cosmetics arrived in the UK at Wilkinson stores nationwide, there's been a bit of a buzz about them. From what I've tried of the brand, their overall quality is pretty darn good. These are a few of my favourites from what I've tried of the brand.

Essence's mascaras are pretty darn good. I've tried 4 in total so far, and for me, these 3 are pretty stand out. They're £2.30 a piece, and each mascara is in the black colour. Mine are Lashmania - which claims to give a "false lase effect", and it really does. My mum asked me earlier if I was wearing falsies, and this is the mascara I'm wearing today! The I Heart Extreme Crazy Volume Mascara - I like this one, but it's a mascara I'll only wear when I'm wearing quite dramatic eye makeup as it can look a little too much otherwise, but it is quite lovely. Finally, the Get Big Lashes, this is my favourite one for almost every day kind of use. It gives the perfect ratio of volume to length and blackens the lashes really nicely I'd recommend trying an Essence mascara or two if you're in the market for one.

The lip products Essence has to offer are another of my favourite things. Since taking the photos for this post I've also tried their matte and regular XXXL glosses, and they're something I'd really recommend as well! Their lipliners are an absolute steal at £1 a piece, and the texture of them is lovely. They're both creamy and hold well to the lips, and their colour range is really quite nice. Even though they only have subdued, more wearable colours, I'd still recommend purchasing a few of these if you need some liners. Their Lip Glow tinted lip balms are lovely. They offer a pleasant tint of colour on to your lips - they're not exactly moisturising, but they don't dry yours lips out at all, and the packaging is pretty darn cute! Their long-lasting lipsticks are some of the best I've tried, particularly for their price (£2.30!) and the shade 13 Love Me is my absolute favourite daily pink colour. You can't go wrong with the texture of these, either, they're quite emollient, but they're not too slippy at all.

Finally, some things from the All About Matte range. The blotting papers are fairly standard of blotting papers. They just soak up any excess oil from your skin as standard. It's the packaging of these that I like, you pull open the box slightly and just pull the paper that'll be sticking out. It negates the mess that most blotting papers make, because the cardboard packaging doesn't always shut right! These are £2 for 50 sheets, absolute bargain. The All About Matte powder is nice for setting makeup, and for touchups throughout the day. The powder is £3 per pan, and worth absolutely every penny of it.

Essence products are available from Wilko stores and Wilko.com. They're all relatively cheap, with the most expensive product I've seen at £4. Have you tried any Essence products yet, and if so, what are your favourites?

The Best Budget Brushes

Edit: Sorry it's been a while since my last post - I'm staying at my boyfriend's house and don't have my laptop with me at the moment!

Allow me to preface this post with two things - 1: I didn't thoroughly clean every brush in my brush roll, I'm truly sorry. and 2: I haven't photographed every single brush in my roll for pretty much that exact reason. If you're interested in seeing any of them up close and personal, let me know. I will however write a brief description of each brush and include the price of it below. I truly recommend each and every one of these brushes, particularly if you're in the market for some budget brushes!

From left to right-

Crown Brush C413 Brow Duo - £3.59
This is a double ended spoolie and angled brow brush. The height in convenience for doing your eyebrows, as far as I'm concerned. I wasn't expecting much from this, and the angled brush is slightly rough, but I find that it picks up the product you're using a lot better than softer bristles. The spoolie is also pretty effective, catching the hairs of your brows and combing them to perfection.

Crown Brush C441 Pro Blending Crease - £3.99
This is probably supposed to be a dupe for some sort of MAC brush. I've never tried a MAC brush so couldn't compare, but this one is a rather lovely brush in its own right. I use this to apply colour and blend in one go, rather than applying with one brush and then blending with another. Far too lazy for that! Haha. The bristles are nice and soft, and a decent blend is easy to achieve with this. And for less than four pounds - pretty darn good.

Crown Brush C200 Deluxe Crease - £3.19
This one is a lot softer than the brush previously mentioned. It's quite good for getting a soft, hazy application of colour, but I tend to use it specifically for blending colours out. It's very, very soft and the bristles aren't particularly dense. I don't think you could get away with this brush being your only blending brush, but in companionship with the C441, you're on to a winner.

Crown Brush IB116 Round Tapered Crease - £3.49
I've found this brush to be best for applying colour into the crease and outer corner and getting a precise blend. You're unlikely to manage really blown out blending with this brush, but for more specific places, it's a good'n. It's also pretty good for the lower lashline, if you're not too bothered about the colour being really close to your lashes. The bristles are very soft, and very dense on this brush, and it's one of my favourite Crown Brushes.

Crown Brush C148 Mini Contour Brush - £1.69 
This brush is SO tiny! It's a lot smaller than I was expecting it to be, and I'm fairly sure I'll end up losing it at some point. I use this brush for my lower lashline, inner corner and detailed lid work, however I think I'll probably grab another one to use as a lip brush. The bristles are soft, but because they're so small I don't think it'd matter if they weren't. This is definitely a good one to pick up if you're in the market for a small brush for detail work.

Crown Brush C152 Medium Chisel Fluff - £2.49
There's very little to say about this brush if I'm honest. It's just your standard flat shader brush! I have found that some flat shaders can be a little bit big to get a precise lid application, but this one is just the right side for it, particularly if you want more than one colour on your lid, or if you're trying for a super defined cut-crease. The bristles are also cut nicely, and they're not scratchy at all on the lid.

Generic eBay Blending Brush - 99p
I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much at all from this brush when I bought it. However, it's like a perfect cross between the C441 and C200 brushes from Crown Brush, and for only 99p! It's one that I like to both apply colour with and blend it out. Although the bristles aren't as soft as those on other brushes I own, they're far from scratchy and more than usable on the skin.

ELF Essentials Eye Crease Brush - £1.95
This is, essentially, a little pencil brush. For the price this is insanely good quality. It's a brush I use both in the outer corner of my eye, for very precise crease work and under my lower lashline. It's really quite versatile! The only trouble I've had with this brush is that it keeps coming out of the ferrule. Eventually I'll get round to gluing it back in, but for the price it's not something I'm inclined to complain about.

ELF Flawless Concealer Brush - £3.95
The main problem with ELF in the UK is that they keep putting their prices up! The brush was only £3.75 when I bought it, and although it still isn't pricey, it's still irksome that they keep increasing it. Darn it.
On to the brush, this is from ELF's Studio line, with the black handles and bristles. They're all synthetic as far as I know. This one in particular is a dense, relatively stubby brush that I use to buff out concealer under my eyes and on my face. It makes the finish of my concealer much nicer than it is when I just use my fingers, and I'd recommend anyone trying this out. I believe in America they're only $3, so even better if you're in the states!

ELF Eyeshadow C Brush - £3.95
Much like the medium chisel fluff brush, there's little to say about this. It's simply a large, flat shader brush. I like this brush for all over the lid, but it;s also a good brush for highlighting under the brow bone due to its size and shape. It's not exactly a unique brush, but it is one I enjoy using.

ELF Stippling Brush - £3.95
This is a standard, duo fibre stippling brush - much the same as any other stippling brush. I usually use this for either powder or bronzer, depending on what I'm using that day and what other brushes I have to hand. I like it for both, though, as it really does a good job preventing overapplication of products. I've tried it for buffing in foundation, but I find it is too sparse to be able to do a good job of blending cream products in.

ELF Mineral Powder Brush - £3.95
This brush is a lot smaller than you'd initially think when purchasing it. The bristles are quite short, and it's nice and dense. I use this specifically with a powder contour product now, but I have found it good for blending in cream products, and have even used it to blend in my foundation before now. Like a lot of these, it's quite a versatile little brush, and worth looking into if you want a relatively small, dense brush that's a bit of a "do-it-all".

ELF Small Tapered Brush - £3.95
Again, a bit of a "do it all" kind of brush. This is one that's best suited to powder products, but I can't think of any sort of powder product that it wouldn't be good for! I've used it to contour, to apply powder regularly, for blush and it's currently my favourite highlighting brush. Like all ELF Studio brushes, the bristles are lovely and soft!

Real Techniques Blush Brush - £9.99
The. Best. Blush. Brush. Ever.
Yes, it's a little pricey, but oh my lord, it's brilliant! The bristles are so, so soft, and perfectly shaped in order to apply and blend out any product you put on your cheeks. Again, I've used this for every powder product but highlighter, and I love it for all of it. It's my favourite blush brush at the moment, and I'd seriously recommend it to everyone. I'd quite like to try the setting brush from them, too.

Wilko Large Powder Brush - £4.00
My Wilko store had testers of these brushes out that you could touch and really inspect to see the shape of. As soon as I touched the tester, I knew I had to have this. The brush is HUMONGOUS, easily the biggest brush I own. For that reason, I only really use it for applying powder all over my face, or for applying bronzer lightly all around the outside of my face. I will admit this probably isn't a brush I'd take away with me when travelling  but it is lovely as a "stay at home", kind of brush.

Wilko Eye Smudger Brush - £3.00
To me, this is fairly similar to the Crown Brush tapered crease brush - it's a similar density and shape, and I use it for pretty much the same thing. I also use this under my eyes, and it works rather nicely. The bristles of this brush are lovely and soft, and it works quite well for packing colour on to the lid, too. I'm quite interested in some of the other Wilko brushes in this new line that they've brought out - they do seem to be of a decent quality.

So, those are my favourite brushes that I tend to gravitate towards. What are some of yours? I'm always open to expanding my collection!

Lip Product Favourites

This is my final post in my basic favourite block, and no punny title for this one I'm afraid! There's significantly less I can say about these products, as they all serve pretty much the same sort of purpose. 

Tinted lip balms are something I wear on a fairly regular basis, and my favourites are the Korres Tinted Lip Butters in Pomegranate and Mango. These are so comfortable on the lips, and offer a beautiful tint. They are quite moisturising, and their low maintenance nature makes them perfect for everyday wear. I do intend to get Wild Rose and Quince, but Guava and Jasmine aren't any that I'm particularly interested in to be honest. 

Other tinted balms that I like come in the somewhat cheaper form of the Essence Glow tinted lip balms. These are neither as moisturising, nor as colourful as their Korres counterparts, but they're also almost £6 cheaper. The colours are quite pleasing, and I think they have some sort of pH shindig going on, because they seem to adjust in colour as they're on your lips over time.

My two favourite "nude" lipsticks (I say "nude" because, being this pale, I can't wear true nude colours so these are both kind of pink toned) are the Milani Color Statement lipstick in Nude Creme and the Essence long lasting lipstick in number 13 "Love Me", which is more pink than Nude Creme. They're similar formulas, with the Essence offering being more emollient. I like both of them equally, and they're lovely "everyday" kinds of colours.

My final two favourites are Revlon's Matte Balm in Stand Out - though this is representative of the entire matte balm line. I love them! This is my favourite colour of the bunch, though. I'm a sucker for a good red! These are easily the most comfortable lip colour products I own, more so even than the lip butter line by Revlon. Not only that, but their colour range is stunning. I currently have 6 of them and the line is outstanding.

Finally, Lime Crime Opaque Lipstick in Geradium. What a stunner! The colour of the lipstick itself and the outside packaging are lovely. I have to say I wasn't expecting much, but the formula of this is lovely, and the lasting power is a force not to be reckoned with. At £12.50  a throw, they're not the cheapest things going, but I do intend to explore the line a little more and see if the quality is consistent. Glamour 101, I'm coming for you.

So those are my favourite lip products of the moment. What are some of yours? I'm always open to recommendations.