Wunderbrow | My thoughts + Review

Hi my loves,

I've promised you this for the past two weeks SO HERE WE HAVE IT!

 I've done my fair share of teasing and giving you guys little mini reviews on this product but I wanted to put it all the details and facts - basically all my feelings together in one post.

Crown Brush 35 Colour Rose Gold Palette | Review & Swatches

Hi my Loves,

I wanted to review & swatch the Crown Brush 35 colour Rose Gold eyeshadow palette for you all today. This palette was bought for me by my mam as a Christmas present and since then it has been one of my most reached for and most used palette.

Every time I have mentioned or used this palette I have gotten LOADS of questions about the palette and you guys have asked me if it is similar to Morphe palettes because honestly they do look similar.

First off, here is what the Crown Brushes Rose Gold palette looks like - she is a beauty isn't she! This was purchased straight from crownbrushes.ie and cost €29. 

35 Rose Gold Palette

As a huge Rose Gold lover- it's my favourite colour for jewellery - the name alone had me at hello, but the colour selection sealed the deal. I could create a dream palette this would be it - the colours are exactly what I look for. Warm browns, some peach, rich gold & bronze shimmers, pops of reds - I adore this spectrum of colours. 

At €29 each shadow in this palette works out at 83 cent - WHICH IS A STEAL!

Formula wise I am absolutely impressed with this palette. The shimmer shades are so buttery & pigmented. Two issues brands struggle with when making shadows is that the shimmery shadows have a lot of fall out and the matte shades are not pigmented enough and are scratchy. Whilst I do like the matte shades, one or two of them especially in the lighter shades were hard to build pigment on - but every shimmer shade was consistent.

You also get a great selection of colours in this  palette and there is a good balance of both matte and shimmers allowing you to create multiple looks just using one palette.

top row (horizontal)

Second row from the top

Third row from the top

Fourth row from the top

bottom row

 

Lets get on to the questions I have gotten about this palette being similar to Morphe (namely their 35O palette). 16/21 (76%) of the ingredients in the Morphe 35O palette are the same as the Crown brushes Rose Gold palette and the ingredients that are different are things such as Kaolin (which is a clay & is in the 35O palette) and Lanolin (Lanolin helps to form an emulsion & possesses adhesive characteristics - in the 35O).

I have heard rumors that Morphe private labels from Crown Brushes (meaning that Crown make the palettes and brands like Morphe pay to put their name on them) - but honestly that is just something I have heard and I cannot comment on the authenticity of it. 

I would think however, due to the ingredient similarities that there is some type of correlation. 

The colour scheme in both palettes in very similar - after careful studying what it seems to me is that the majority of the colours in the palettes are the exact same but they are arranged differently which is what tricks the eye. 

I can't comment on the quality of the Morphe 35O palette as I do not own it, so the one I would be recommending to you guys to go out and grab is the Crown Brush Rose Gold Palette as it is the one I have tried, tested and loved! I think you guys will love this palette and get SO much use out of like I have!

With Love from,

Rebekah x

My favourite MAC lipsticks | The Nude Edition

Hi my Loves,

I have just recently been reminded of my love for lipstick, the actual standard bullet type lipsticks I mean! I am a huge Liquid lipstick fan and to be honest they are all I've been wearing the past year probably. Last week I was cleaning up my makeup area & found myself tidying my lipstick drawer. I got to playing with some of them and swatching them and I have to say I've re-found my love for the bullet lipstick!

MAC lipsticks are some of my all time favourites - yes a little pricey, but there is just something so glamorous about a MAC lipstick and I adore the vanilla smell of them so much!

When it comes to MAC lipstick (and lipsticks in general to be honest) I tend to lean towards nude lipsticks. In my eyes, no two nudes are the same and I will fight people on this! Every time I bring a lipstick home my mother will say:

 "Oh but don't you have something just like that?" 

NO! 

Each shade is special and unique in its own way! I will justify it till the day I die!!

The nude lipstick obsession and trying to find the perfect nude all really stemmed from the Kardashian & Jenner clan and any time I heard they were wearing a specific lipstick, well I just had to have it in my collection too - so I am blaming them for my addiction!

So this leads me on to today's post - my favourite NUDE MAC lipsticks. If you want to reference my skin shade to yours I would be a MAC NC20 at my palest and when I am tanned like in my arm swatch below I am an NC37! 
Lets get right into it:

From L-R Honeylove, Faux, Velvet Teddy, Kinda Sexy, Spirit & Twig

Honeylove (matte finish)
MAC describes this shade as a light beige with a rose tone.

This is the lightest of the nudes I own & it is a warm toned nude. Very Pale nudes rarely suit me (and very few people for that matter) and make me look very ill because of my olive skin tone and I have very pigmented lips naturally making light nudes look just that little bit off. If I'm honest this shade can even wash me out sometimes but I counteract this by wearing a slightly darker lip liner and it looks amazing. If you are on the hunt for a light natural nude, this is definitely something you will love - fair skinned girls will also be major fans.

Faux (satin finish)
MAC describes this shade as a muted mauve pink.

This is more pinky nude and more so a shade closer to your lip colour which is actually my favourite type of nude and the type that is easiest to wear on a day to day basis with no fuss but you still look polished.
This is a gorgeous rosey nude and the satin finish means that it is comfortable on the lips. This one was purchased in my obsession days of trying to find the exact colour Kylie Jenner wore on her lips daily (you know before she came out about the lip filler and had us all thinking it was honestly just good lip liner and lipstick technique....) - it's the perfect type of your lips but better shade and very Kylie.

Velvet Teddy (matte finish)
MAC describes this as a deep toned beige.

I literally spent weeks trying to get my paws on this when Kylie Jenner supposedly said she wore this - it was sold out everywhere but I was determined to have it.
This is definitely a more pinky/brown toned nude and if you are fair this could come across as a darker nude on your lips. This is a very 90's esque colour and I love these type of shades.

Kinda Sexy (matte finish)
MAC describes this as a neutral pinky-rose.

This is definitely a peachy pinked nude (can I possibly put any more colour spins on 'nude' haha!) but is still very natural. This can play quite warm and on cooler, fairer skin tones can pull coral peach rather than pink peach so just be mindful of that. This is a good lipstick to pair with any look as it is not to overpowering and compliments a smokey eye lovely.

Spirit (satin finish)
MAC describes this as a muted pinky-beige brown.

So it's a little bit of everything according to MAC. This is the darkest nude I own from them - this a very like Velvet Teddy, probably two notches darker and a stronger, richer brown base. This is definitely one if those brown toned nudes, again very 90's esque. I think this shade is best suited to medium skin tones in order to get a true nude lip but if you are fair and don't mind a slightly darker lip this will of course work for you too. 

Twig (satin finish)
MAC describes this as a soft muted brownish-pink.

So out of all the shades, this is definitely the most mauve-y toned of them all. If you own MAC's Whirl lip liner, these two pair gorgeously together. This is another one of those colours that would lean more on the your lips-but-better spectrum, although this is probably slightly darker it would enhance a lot of people's lip colour. It is a gorgeous colour for everyday wear and gives that polished effect that Faux gives too. This shade is richer and deeper toned than Faux.


I hope you guys found this helpful! It can be confusing when you go into MAC and see all these colours, it's hard to know what to ask for or what you even might want - so hopefully I have helped some of you out! You can purchase MAC from MAC's online store if you are from the U.K or the U.S - House of Fraser also now carry MAC which you can order online as well as Arnotts (in-store only) & Brown Thomas in-store & online for us Irish gals.

With Love from,

Rebekah x

L'Oreal Infallible Total Cover Foundation | Review

Hi my Loves,

I hope you are all well! 

Today's post is all about L'Oreal's newest foundation - The Total Cover Foundation.

If you follow me on snapchat (it is @rebekahwithlove if you don't!) I am sure that you've already  heard me speaking about this foundation & how it is the best thing since sliced bread BUT I wanted to write a more in-depth review because I've still had a lot of questions on it plus, not everyone is a snapchat fan!

The Foundation claims

(This is from boots.com website)

"Discover Infallible Total Cover Foundation for a flawless, full coverage base that lasts up to 24 hours. The zero compromise, camouflage formula covers everything from blemishes, redness and tattoos without the overload, while the matte finish leaves you with an even, shine-free base.

No compromise. No transfer. No overload"

You can buy it from here or here and it retails for roughly €10.99.

Shade Range

 In the UK & Europe this foundation is available in 7 shades. (The US has a different bottle and different shade names.)

Could it have more shades? Yes most definitely. The lightest shade isn't all that light to be honest. I am an NC15 (with olive undertones) in MAC for reference and the lightest shade 9. light sand is actually a smidge too dark for me but I can make it work with a lighter concealer. There is only one shade for darker skin tones too which is a little disappointing.

These are the shades:

• 9 Light Sand
• 10 Porcelain
• 12 Natural Rose
• 21 Golden Sand
• 24 Golden Beige
• 32 Amber
• 33 Cappuccino  

Shades 9 Light sand & 21 Golden sand

Skin type best suited to?

I have normal/combination skin which leans more to slightly dry and dehydrated than it would to oily and this foundation sat on my skin perfectly. As I mentioned above, I think that this foundation will work for oily skin you just might need to powder your skin whereas I did not have to. As for dry skinned girls - this probably wouldn't be my first choice of foundation to recommend to you if your skin is extremely dry in terms of flaking or cracking etc. as it is a matte foundation in will cling to those dry areas. If you lean towards slightly dry that is nothing too drastic, this will work perfectly just make sure to moisturize before hand (as you should with every foundation BTW and prime if you want to.)

My Thoughts

This foundation has not left my face since I bought it almost 4 weeks ago - it has been the only foundation I have used since then and it is my new favourite even above my high end foundations!

 I initially bought the lightest shade first and then bought my tanning shade 21 Golden Sand I loved it that much. 
This foundation is incredibly full coverage, incredibly matte and incredibly long wearing (I've not ever worn a foundation for 24 hours in my life - but it lasted me 12-14 hours which is a dream) - all whilst still feeling light on your skin. It completely covered my blemishes and spots, my pores and my ridiculously dark under-eyes and left me with the option of using no concealer which I have never experienced before. I also did not have to use any powder as the matte finish sets itself and truly does not need to be set unless your skin leans oily and then probably only in the t-zone area anyway.

The best way to apply this foundation is with a buffing brush in my opinion and to work in sections of your face (e.g. Dab some on your right cheek and nose then blend it in, dab some on your left cheek then blend it in etc.) as it dries down quickly and can be hard to work with if your aren't quick enough with your blending - and once this sets, it is going NOWHERE.

If full coverage is not your thing this foundation is not for you - whilst it looks flawless on the skin it will look like you are wearing makeup, however it does not look heavy or cakey.

I am extremely impressed with this foundation - I did not expect to love it as much as I did and now I can't be without it!

I hope you guys found this review helpful! If there is anything else you would like me to review please let me know and I can look into it for you!

With Love from,

Rebekah x

USING A BAR OF SOAP TO DO YOUR BROWS?? | Soap brow technique

Hi my loves,

So I'm pretty sure out of all the products you ever thought you'd use on your eyebrows - a bar of old fashioned hand soap was not one of them - and I'm with you on that! 

Then all of a sudden a few weeks back I heard of this thing called 'Soap Brows' and now honestly, I thought it was just some strange challenge; like you know find the oddest thing you can put in your brows and see how it goes..... 

However this was not the case.

 Apparently using a bar soap to style & groom your brows IS a thing & actually originates from way back to the old Hollywood era and YouTube sensation Pixiwoo have decided to revive it!

The main goal and result you will see from using a bar of soap to do your brows is that they will look very natural and have that fluffy look as opposed to harsh and blocky. Your brows will also last all day no jokes.

So how exactly do you go about doing your brows with soap you may ask?

I got you covered.

 Basically what you will need is:

1. A bar of soap (It has to be a clear glycerin bar of soap - so no bars of Dove otherwise your brows will look like they have dandruff. I used a brand called Pears that I got from Boots and I got 2 bars for about €1.90 ish and this will probably last me for the rest of my life.)
2. An eyebrow spooly (any brand will do)
3. Warm water or something you can use to cause the soap to soften.
4. Your usual product of choice you use to fill in your brows OR if you have amazing brows and you don't need to fill them in, leave this step out.

Now I have seen this done two ways, I have seen it done using the soap first before you fill in brows and I have seen it being done after you've filled in your brows. I'm not 100% sure what is the 'correct' way, but I found both techniques worked well. If you have pretty full brows with very little that needs done with them I'd say go in with the soap first but if you need to do quite a bit of work on your brows then I think the soap after will maybe be the best for you.

Wet your bar of soap and very gently start to rub the spooly over the bar till you get a sort of paste collecting on the spooly. Don't take too much as it can be hard to work with - start with a little and you can work up.

Then basically all you're going to do is brush the spooly through your eyebrows and shape them to your desired effect (pic 3). If you want super natural or super full brows brush the hairs in an upward motion (pic 2) - if your brow hairs are very long obviously this won't really work for you but you can trim the brows after you've brushed them up too.

Now on to the optional step of filling your brows in (pic 4)- you can fill them in your own normal way OR for the real old Hollywood way you use your eyebrow product to draw hair like strokes to fill in the brow - avoiding drawing any heavy lines around the brow area like you would usually to get shape. This will give you the most natural brow of all time.

(In the picture above my left eyebrow is done using this technique whilst my right eyebrow is totally bare)

There we have it guys, I hope you found this helpful or even just a little interesting! I personally love know quirky hacks like this and I had to share it with you all!

With Love from,

Rebekah x

Morphe 35U eyeshadow palette review & swatches

Hello my loves,

I promised myself I would be really good this month & post as much as possible on my blog - so far I think I have been doing quite well and I plan on keeping this up<3

Today's post is all about my new Morphe 35U palette! 

Direct palette link: here

So I think we all know by now I'm a pretty neutral makeup person; I'm not usually one for the wild colors. That being said, I really want to incorporate more color into my look - spice it up at little! I'm always envious of the Instagram girls, or actually even all the beautiful Inglot makeup artists that I follow that rock color on their eyes so amazingly!

I felt that something my makeup collection was really lacking was a colored eyeshadow palette. I think everyone should have at least one coloured eyeshadow palette in their stash if they love makeup, even if you don't want to create crazy looks, colored shadows are amazing for adding accents of colour for a pop. If you are a makeup artist I would nearly call this palette a kit essential.

This was my first ever Morphe palette and Morphe was actually the first brand I thought of when I was scouting for a colour palette - as I'm not a huge color wearer I didn't want to fork out a bomb on. I've always heard rave reviews about their palettes but for the price point (I got my palette for €21 from Beautybay.com) I did struggle to believe that it would be as good as the hype I had read. I've purchased multi shade bargain palettes when I was younger and just getting in to makeup and I was never very impressed with the quality.

With this Morphe 35U palette however I most certainly not left disappointed.

At €21 (this will vary depending on exchange rates) for the palette each shade works out at roughly 0.60 cent - I KNOW RIGHT?!! For that price you are getting very generous sized pans which is very impressive.

That's a bargain I can't even believe I'm typing especially since it rivals products I have spent over double on. It is a 100% shimmer & satin palette - you can buy a total matte one but look, I love me some shimmer and I knew for pops of color I would prefer shimmer.

The swatches below are one swipe on dry skin:

 I couldn't even believe the pigmentation I was getting out of one swipe and when I took the pictures I was just so impressed. Each shadow is buttery - some were slightly more powdery than others but absolutely nothing that a primer wouldn't sort, and they all blend out like a dream. I really expected this to just be a slight up on drugstore shadows but I was absolutely wrong, this is comparable with both Anastasia Beverly Hills and Makeup Geek.

You get a fantastic color selection in this palette, you basically get the rainbow and then some! Even if you aren't a huge color fan, there is plenty in here to keep the neutral lovin' gal/guy happy - the browns, bronzes and blacks are gorgeous.

 My only tiny criticism is that a few shades were quite similar (I cannot tell the difference between any of the black shades to be honest) when swatched but honestly that doesn't phase me considering the price.

If you need a color shadow palette in your life (this palette would also be amazing for Halloween coming up, I'm planning on using this for a Harley Quinn look) or you are just sick of the basic neutral palettes and want something to get those creative juices following, I high recommend this palette. It is worth every penny and more.

As mentioned above I got this palette from beautybay.com - which is perfect for Ireland, UK, European and international customers but if you live in the USA you can order directly from morphe.com

Have any of you tried any of Morphe's other palettes? Let me know below what ones and what your thoughts are!

With Love from,

Rebekah x