Seventeen Miracle Matte Foundation Review

Without a doubt, Seventeen is my favourite drugstore cosmetics brand. The quality of product for the price you pay is unbeatable in my mind. So, with that in mind, if I am looking for a new product and don't have too much to spend, the Seventeen stand is always my first stop off. In the past, I have never tried anything from the brand that I haven't been really impressed with... That was until I picked up a bottle of the Miracle Matte Foundation.

I picked this product up having tried and loved the Miracle Matte Pressed Powder (which I have actually repurchased several times now) thinking that for £5.99 I had little to lose, especially when I have had such positive thoughts about everything else. But if I am going to be completely honest, I actually hate this foundation.
Hate is a strong word and I'm not one to throw it about often but I can find virtually nothing positive about this foundation.
Let's start with the shades; there are very few. Now, I know that I am relatively fair skinned but having bought this in Natural which is the lightest shade available, there is no way anyone lighter than a MAC NC25 would be able to subtly wear this in my opinion, it is just too dark. Then there is the coverage, which goes on rather strangely to begin with, needing a lot of blending with both fingers and a brush to get it even and stop it going sticky(?!?) And then finally there is how the foundation wears... Even if by some miracle you find a shade that works for you and manage to get it to apply evenly, after several hours you will still find that the product has oxidised making it go orange and also somehow work its way into streaky lines so you resemble a somewhat suntanned zebra, which isn't a look many people find overly attractive.

I feel bad that I can't find anything good to say, so I will add that I like the packaging, which reminds me quite a bit of something you would expect from Benefit, but packaging doesn't make a product good so really that counts for very little.

Have you tried this product before, or any other Seventeen foundations? What were your thoughts?

Annie xx

Seventeen Va Va Voom Mascara

Finding a new mascara is something I find a bit of a drag. They all promise so much and to be honest, I find that half of them just don't deliver so lately when I ran out of the Soap and Glory Thick and Fast (which does work well by the way!) I asked one of the girls I worked with what she would recommend for under £10 and just went with it. She recommended the Seventeen Va Va Voom offering for just £6.29, and you know what? I think it may just be the best mascara I've ever tried!

Seventeen cosmetics have always been consistently good in my experience so why I hadn't thought to try one of their mascaras before I don't know. I think it may have been the beauty snob inside me wanting to be using Benefit or Estee Lauder. Va Va Voom is a volume mascara that is designed to lift, give definition and give an almost false lash effect. I went for the shade blackest black and with a couple of coats I definitely agree that it lives up to its claims and have actually been asked several times whether I'm wearing false lashes.

The brush size is pretty good; nice and big without being too clumsy and the tapered end makes it easy to pick out shorter lashes. It picks up a good amount of product without having to wipe loads away before using it and what I love most is that I have no trouble at all with clumps with this mascara! I don't know whether it's the brush or the formula but it is just so perfectly non-clumpy!
I can't make up my mind about the packaging. It's hardly the sleek tube of a high end offering, but it is pretty funky and I like the black and white, and to be honest, I do my mascara in private (no one wants to see the mouth half open mascara face) and this only lives in my drawers anyway so who cares that it isn't gold or curved in an appealing manner!

For £6.29 you can't go wrong and I urge you to give the Va Va Voom mascara a chance when you next run out. I'm a convert.
Have you tried this before? What did you think? Which mascara do you always repurchase?
Annie xx

NOTD: Seventeen Rock Hard Couture- Bijoux Baby

Just a quick one today because the depression is in full swing at the moment so motivation is pretty low :(
I've been obsessed with the Rock Hard Couture polishes that Seventeen released recently. The colours are gorgeous, the coverage fantastic and the wear pretty long lasting too making them an all round good choice in my eyes, especially at just £3.99 a bottle!

The shade that I love the most is the pretty baby pink Bijoux Baby which I am wearing here. I love the fairy like colouring and the subtle green toned shimmer that runs through the polish giving it an ethereal sort of feel. for full opacity bottle finish you need just two coats and that's quick and easy because it applies evenly and dries in around 60 seconds. The only thing that may put some people off is that these polishe do have a textured finish which I personally like but would need several coats of clear polish to smooth off for peopl who like their nail completely smooth to touch.
You can pick them up either in Boots stores or online *here* ready to wear for Christmas party season! Or they will also make great stocking filler gifts. Either way, I think everyone needs at least one in their nail polish collection :)
Annie xx

Reaching for Recently

Oh my goodness it's been hot here! Living in the south west we've been getting the hottest of hot weather and boy it makes makeup choices tricky. I'm really not used to having my makeup slide off my face in the UK but some products just haven't been able to hack it!
With a little experimentation though I've found these products to all be fab, even in the heat and beating sun.

Ginvera Green Tea BB Cream- Foundation has been the biggest problem in the heat because most have just made my skin feel clogged or have just slid off but the Ginvera BB cream has held its own. I've been using it because of the good coverage, SPF 30 (definitely essential right now) and because, being from Singapore, the formula is able to stand up to heat and humidity.
MAC Coppertone Blusher- I use this as a bronzer rather than a blush and just use  little to contour cheeks and add definition but the colour is gorgeous in the sun and I find MAC powders are the best for being long lasting but weightless on the skin.
MAC Lightscapade Skin Finish- This is a product that I've loved since purchasing but as someone whos a little hooked on highlighters, it can tend to be a little neglected. In the same way as Coppertone, the powder feels weightless on the skin but sits beautifully and lasts for hours. I use this around the outer corners of my eyes, along cheek bones and down the centre of my nose to highlight...and it also helps keep my foundation on!
MAC Painterly Paint Pot- Always a staple product for me. I've found that more than ever I've been needing something to keep eyeshadow sat in place and MAC paint pots are simply unbeatable, especially Painterly as it also evens out colour and conceals dark circles.
Lush Strong Lipstick- The whole Lush Emotional Brilliance range has been really good through the heat actually. I find the colours stay in place, don't dry out and also don't spread half way across my face if I get sweaty. I've been wearing Strong a lot because the warm toned red is really pretty and on trend. The long lasting formula also really helps when you need to constantly be drinking water but don't have time to re-apply constantly :p
Lush Sophisticated Eyeshadow- Another Emotional Brilliance colour! Sophisticated is a soft, shimmery colour that is really easy to wear and I've been loving it just with a little mascara for a quick and effortless look that stays in place.
17 Lip Liner- One final staple has been a clear, slightly illuminating lip liner that stops lipstick from feathering across my face from excess heat. This one was really cheap but works just as well as others I've tried and for me, that makes it a winner!

Worn together, I think these items work really well and create a soft, fresh faced look thats easy to maintain in the heat.
One thing that I've really noticed though is that MAC seems to be an unbeatable brand in this weather, which only makes me love it more :)
Have you found your makeup routine has suffered in the sun? What products have you been reaching for most? Or have you been braving a bare faced look like I wish I was brave enough to?
Annie xx

17 Oh so Spring! Cheek Stamp Blusher Review

I first saw this blusher featured on All That Slap a few weeks ago and got hopelessly over excited at the idea of stamp on makeup, I think it might be the child in me coming to the surface. In short though, I KNEW I had to have one.

The idea is a simple one, the product comes as a powder pan blusher with a screw on lid, however, instead of coming with a brush like some blushers do, this product comes with a rounded sponge built in to the lid that springs up as you unscrew the top. There's also a handy little mirror on the lid of the product which means that you can easily stamp and blend whilst on the go.

The product is amazingly easy to use; you just stamp on to the apple of the cheek and blend with your fingers to get a soft, spring ready colour. Before blending you do look like a badly painted china doll, or maybe a slightly more subtley toned clown but the inner child resurfaced and I just found this to be part of the novelty of the blusher.

Once blended out onto the cheeks you are left with a gorgeous soft glow that isn't too heavy. My worry was that there would still be a visible circle from the stamp however I'm happy to say that isn't the case at all. The powder is nice and finely milled and blends in very easily. I've also found that the colour is nice and long lasting on the cheeks, and still sits nicely even after a long day at work.
Price wise this is a bargain at just £4.99 and I think the fact that it is limited edition makes it feel that little bit extra special to me. You can get this blusher in two shades; pink and coral (the one shown above is coral).

What do you think of the new 17 spring blushers? Do you find the novelty of the product as exciting as I do? Have you tried them yet? I think I might have to go back and get the pink version...and possibly hoard another of the coral!
Annie x

200 Follower Giveaway!

Hello,
A few days ago I reached 200 followers so to say thank you to everyone who supports my blog, here is my 200 follower giveaway.
I've put together a few little goodies that I really like and think are perfect for the summer including the much loved Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish and one of my favourite Pixi Nail Varnishes.

To get the chance to win, simply fill in the rafflecopter form below. The only rules are that you must be a follower of this blog and you must live in the UK. The competition runs until 30th July so get entering! Good luck :)
Annie x


a Rafflecopter giveaway

17 Fest of All Kit

Hello,
As I mentioned yesterday, today Ima tell you what I think about the Fest of All Kit which is a little bag of goodies you get free when you spend £6 of 17 products at the moment. I'm not sure how long the offer is on for but it's well worth a look in Boots if you're near one as the kit is pretty fabby.

The kits are all the same so there's no worry that someone will get a better set than you do which is something I like. It always annoys me when there are different colour combinations on offer and I end up with colours totally unsuited to me.

When you open the box you're greeted with a package wrapped in pretty green tissue paper which I thought was a nice touch. When you open this you find the contents; a black kohl eyeliner, a lasting fix polish in the colour "tropical island" and a handbag sized tube of Instant Glow wash off bronzer. Two of the three products are full sized which is a good offer I think.
The eyeliner is a lovely soft pencil which effortlessly gives a nice lot of colour even along the water line. I wore it to work today and it held up well as well in a pretty hot and humid environment.
I haven't given the bronzer a proper trial yet as I've been working a lot and I don't tend to go out of my way enough to bother with tanning just for that! I have tested it on my hand though and whilst it looks scarily dark when coming out of the tube, once rubbed in it gives a very soft colour which gives a nice glow and a fairly natural look.

The nail varnish is a really pretty colour for summer. The formula is pretty good too, I managed to gain opacity in just two coats which dried nice and quickly. The colour is a lovely corally orange which contains a very subtle glitter than is only really visible when the light catches it or in fairly bright light when it twinkles nicely. I was also happy to see that the colour is true to how it looks in the bottle because I'm sick of buying fab looking nail varnishes that look completely different on the nail. I can't comment on longevity as I was only testing this for now and can't wear nail varnish at work but I'll find out for you when I get the chance.

Over all, I was really happy with this set, especially as a free gift where you only need to spend £6 to get it. I will use all of these products so it was well worth the money. Like I say, I'm unsure how long the offer is on, so I'd recommend snapping up your set as soon as possible before they're gone. What do you think of the kit? Are these products you'd use?
Annie x

Little Payday Shopping Trip

Hello,
Yay for payday! This will be my last pay cheque from Sainsbury's which feels weird but after being skint for what seems like forever it was oh so welcome! I treated myself to a mini haul from Boots after a tough shift at Debenhams and got a few bits and some fab freebies.

What I got:
I felt like a kid in a sweet shop when I was browsing through the makeup section but I was fairly restrained and also only bought fairly low priced bits and bobs. I got a 17 Lasting Fix lipstick in Mulled Wine which is a pretty shade of dark pink (I'll do a fotd in the next few days to show you), I got a lip liner in Fawn which is a nude shade with a slight highlighting shine which looks good around the top lip and really defines the shape. I also picked up an Extreme felt eyeliner in Teal by Collection 2000 which gives a real kick of deep colour that's long lasting.
One of my advantage card offers was a free glitter eyeshadow when I bought any one 17 item so of course I grabbed my freebie. I went for an olivey green shade called SuperStar which looks really lovely on. It's nice and pigmented and brings out the green in my eyes.
Finally, I picked up a bottle of Boots SkinClear Deep Cleansing Lotion. I like a nice hard working cleanser and I'm running out of my favourite so I thought that for £2.50ish this was worth a go.

At the moment, if you spend £6 on 17 cosmetics, you get a free Fest of All kit which is a cute little set including a full sized nail varnish, kohl eyeliner and a handbag sized tube of Instant Glow body bronzer. I'll do a separate  review of this little kit tomorrow but considering you only need to spend £6 to get the kit and its worth around £10 I'd say you can't lose!

What do you think of my payday goodies? I'm really happy with everything and I only spent just over £12 so I think I did pretty well. What will you be treating yourself to this payday?
Annie x

Boots 17 Make-up Haul Reviews

Hello,
As you will already know if you read this post here, last weekend I went on a bit of a shopping spree...seems to be quite a regular occurrence, and I took advantage of the boots 17 range 3 for 2 offer and picked up these three goodies.

I got one of the limited edition spring florals eye palettes, a blush and glow two tone blusher and a supreme shine lipstick. I've now been using them all week and I have to say that I love all three, and they're excellent quality for so little money.

First lets take a look at the blusher:

As you can see, in the pot, this blusher is two different separate shades. I guess this is so you can achieve two different colours if you like, but I have to say, personally, I think the pot is too small to do that effectively so I just use the two together by sweeping my big blusher brush around a bit.
The colour that the blusher gives is a light, pinky tone that looks really fresh and just adds a touch of colour to cheeks. This is perfect for me because I have such pale skin, but the colour would easily be buildable by just using more of the product.

The swatch on my hand actually looks fairly dark bu thats because I used my finger to apply it, with a brush the tone is a lot more subtle but still holds the same peachy pink tone and a slight shine. I would definitely re-purchase this blusher and might try other shades in the same product.

Now the eye palette:

With this product, I was first drawn in by the beautiful design. The different colours look wonderful together and the effect definitely looks more high end than the price that I paid for it.
The gold, pink and purple eye shadows are all lovely, light colours that work well together and blend into each other well on the eye. Indeed, if you use the right sized brush, it is possible to pick up and use two different colours at once and use the gold as a highlighter and the pink or purple on the actual lid.
The bronze shadow I haven't used yet because it swatches quite dark and I've been feeling in a light, springy mood, but personally, I think Imight try applying it with a large brush as a bronzer on my cheeks as it is a nice shade that would look pretty that way.

As you can see from the swatches, the gold, pink and purple are all light, pastel tones, which are great for every day use. The bronze is a lot darker and more pigmented so should be used with a little more caution! I have been really impressed with the staying power of these shadows. Even after a 9 hour shift at work they looked just as bright as when I applied them, and they did not do that annoying thing where they work their way into a dark line along the crease of the eyelid so I was very happy. I would really recommend this palette, but be quick to buy as it's limited edition!

Finally for the lipstick:

I have been looking for a red lipstick for some time now and when I saw this colour I just had to give it a go. The name isn't very imaginative, something like "hot berry" or "hot red" if I remember rightly but as soon asI saw the colour of the bullet I knew I needed it. In the swatch it looks slightly pink toned but on my lips it is perfectly red. The staying power is very good too, although if you were wearing it for a night out you would need to re-apply once or twice I think. I really like the feel of this lipstick. Unlike some, it doesn't dry out my lips, and after a little while, you can hardly feel that there is any lipstick there. Another great product from 17 that I would buy again.

So those are my three new loves from 17. In the photo above I'm wearing all three, but the bright lips definitely take center stage!

What do you think? Do you own any of these products? Are there any other great 17 cosmetics that I should try?

Annie x

I've Been Shopping!...Again

Hello,
As I mentioned, yesterday mum and I went for a wander around town. The weather was lovely, Bath is so pretty in the sunshine :)
Of course, despite trying to save money, I couldn't resist picking up a few bargains.

Boots are currently running an offer on their Number 17 products where if you buy two, you get the third free. Who am I to reject this offer?! I grabbed one of the limited edition spring eye pallets, one of their new Blush and Glow blushers and one of the supreme shine lipsticks. Because I haven't really had the chance to test them properly yet, I'll do a proper review in a couple of days when I have some time off.
Whilst in Boots I also used my last £5 off No7 voucher to buy a little tube of their fabulous Nail and Cuticle Care Cream (reviewed below) because due to the nature of my job I have terrible trouble with the condition of my cuticles. I have been able to put this product through its paces sooo well today.
Finally, when I saw a copy of this month's Marie Claire in Sainsburys I grabbed it. I don't usually buy it but I NEEDED the Neals Yard Rehydrating Rose Daily Moisture. This free gift usually retails at £12 so it is more than worth the £3.70 magazine price (and with my 10% discount it only cost me £3.33! Even better!) Seriously, go get this while it's still on the shelves!

Anyway, onto the review :)

No7 Nail and Cuticle Care Cream:

I work in a supermarket. It isn't glamourous, it isn't easy, and it is DAMN hard on the nails, but it pays well for now and I work with some great people. On mondays I work a nine hour shift stocking the shelves on the chilled food department and when I get home, my nails, cuticles, and tbh, hands in general, are completely wrecked.
Today I decided to do a little experiment with my new cuticle cream so before work, and then again in each break I applied a tiny amount (thats all you need) just to my right hand, the left hand I didn't apply any cream to so that I could see the difference between the two.

Please please please excuse the dirty nails, I snapped these as soon as I got home before washing and scrubbing my hands to show you the full effect. This is my left hand which I didn't apply any cream to and, as you can see, those cuticles are looking pretty rough and sore after a long day of playing with cardboard boxes.

This is my right hand which had a tiny amount of the No 7 nail and cuticle cream applied to each nail 3 times during the course of the day. As you can see, while there is still a little bit of damage, they look so much better than the nails on my left hand. They're no where near as dry, there has been minimal splitting and there was no bleeding (yay!)

This cream is a God send for those of us who have very active jobs. The tube is small (only 10ml) but you only need a very small amount; a small dot on each cuticle. It is a smooth, creamy consistency and sinks in nice and quickly with little effort needed. It also has a very faint, sweet smell that is fairly pleasant. Uusally, this tube retails for £7 but with my £5 off voucher I paid just £2 so it was a complete bargain. I would definitely re-purchase at the full price.

Have you ever tried this cuticle cream? Do you have any other tips for keeping your nails and cuticles in good shape? How about any of these other products, have you tried these?

Annie x