I was super lucky this month to win this beautiful Ciate Smokey suedes eyeshadow palette by Olivia Palermo (what a mouthful) from Just Jodes giveaway. I never usually win things so I was a bit shocked and of course very excited when I got a message to say I had.

I will start off by saying that the palette is a lot smaller than I had pictured but I think this makes it perfect for popping in your bag when you're on the go. I love the crocodile skin texture it has and of course black and gold  always looks classy.

I have small hands so here's a picture so you can see the size. A great little travel item! There's a compact mirror too so you can check you're still looking fabulous ;)

It comes with 9 shades of which there is a generous amount of each. Much bigger than in the Naked palette where there's big holes in my favourite shades!

So far I have only used the neutral shades which are easy to blend and compliment each other well. They're not the most pigmented so I used a few layers to build them up but they're perfect for a natural look. Despite the shimmer in some of the colours, they don't make a mess of your face when you apply them and have a weightless feel  to them.They lasted all day with only a small amount melting in the crease of my eyes but I didn't wear a primer like I normally would.

I'm going to have fun creating smokey looks with the blue/grey shades, they're all super wearable and offer something different to my beloved Naked palette!

It's such a pretty item and I think it would be the perfect gift (or you know, a treat for yourself) for any beauty lovers! If you know of any make up tutorials using this palette I'd love to see them so drop any links in the comments :)

p.s. I now have a facebook page which you can find here

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Recent beauty purchases

I bought a few beauty products last week in the hope of sprucing up my make up collection, ready for Spring!! There was also a great online sale on Superdrug's website - so you know, good timing really!

I wasn't much of a lipstick wearer until about two months ago when I won a mac lipstick in a giveaway which you can read about here! It was in the shade 'Blankety' which is a gorgeous subtle nude - perfect for a new lipstick wearer.

I decided to tip-toe out of my comfort zone and buy some 'a little bit more but not that much in your face' shades from l'oreal's colour riche range. I got three for an amazing £6 in the online sale -a bargain that I couldn't miss, especially as they're normally £6.99 each!

Wooo my first ever swatches!

Greige Amoureux and Fuschia Declaration have a bit of shimmer in them whereas Erotique is matte. All three are quite moisturising which is perfect for me as my lips are always so dry!

I'd been using Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation up until last week but decided to call it a day as it was just making me look oily and the fact I'd picked up the wrong shade didn't help either...so I went back to my old favourite: Revlon Colorstay Foundation in 'Sand Beige'. It gives great coverage and stays matte all day. It does a great job at hiding my huge pores too! The only thing I think could be improved would be if it had a little pump as I often end up pouring too much of the foundation out!

Finally, I picked up two Barry M speedy quick dry nail varnishes which I've had my eye on for a while. I chose Pit Stop (left) and Hearbeat (right.)

I love painting my nails but I'm quite impatient and always end up smudging them into a horrible mess. These dry in around 60 seconds so are ideal for letting you carry on with your day :)

As I'm home from Uni at the moment, I decided to give my dressing table a little spring clean too :) What do you think?

A brushin' good bargain

Just a quick one today to bring a great affordable product to your attention that was kindly sent to me by beauty product testing, in return for an honest review, so here it goes...

I never really used to use make up brushes for applying my foundation, until I was basically made a laughing stock in MAC by the counter girl for admitting I used a sponge...and was bullied  persuaded into buying a stippling brush for around £30!!!!! Personally, I think that's a bit excessive...

BUT BUT BUT!!!! 

For £3 you can get yourself Revolution's Pro F103 Stippling Brush! As a student, that is music to my ears...

My first impressions of the product were good - I thought the packaging made it look a lot more expensive than it is, so I was genuinely surprised when I looked up how much it costs. I think a lot of it has to do with the rose gold foil of the packaging, I'm a sucker for rose gold - aren't we all at the moment!

The bristles are lovely and soft, although I must admit, I ever so slightly prefer the feel of my MAC brush when applying foundation to my face..not enough to justify the price difference though! 

The brush is great for applying foundation under your eyes and blends it well, leaving just as good a finish as my mac brush. The head of the brush could do with being a bit bigger but at the same time, the smaller size gives you more control.

Overall, I think that this product does its job, looks the part and doesn't break the bank! I'm quite keen to try out some of the other brushes in the range now that I'm becoming a more frequent user of make up brushes!! 

Have you ever tried Revolution make up brushes?