REVIEW: Colour Theory Blushes...

More goodies from the Colour Theory box that arrived a few weeks ago! Blush is something I simply can't live without. If I'm in a rush I can manage without concealer, contouring and mascara, but if I have absolutely no makeup on and there's a knock at the door, a couple of swipes of a soft-toned blush gives me the confidence to open it and say hello (hey, it might be a delivery of beauty stuff lol!). Even lipstick on its own can appear a bit out of place on me, but a gentle glow on my cheeks looks natural and healthy, and these blushes have just the right intensity to wear solo, as well as adding a much-needed radiance when I'm fully made-up ♥...

The three blushes in the Colour Theory range are all gorgeous, and I've no doubt at least one of them will be a great match to whatever your skin tone may be - there's a pastel pink (Pink Poison), a rose gold (Sunburst) and quite a bold terracotta (Misty Rose), and all of them are only $5 each, or two for $8 from Amcal or Guild Chemists...

Pink Poison

The palest of the three, and so pale I thought it wouldn't show up on my skin, but actually, it does! (see swatches below) While it doesn't have enough oomph for me to wear it alone, I've been using it to soften deeper shades that are a little too bold, tone down shimmery highlighting when I've been a bit too heavy-handed (it's almost a matte finish) or for colour-correcting others that are a wee bit too orangey. The brush picks up the powder easily, and the formula blends beautifully ♥...

Sunburst

At first, I thought this was more like a light bronzer as it looked quite golden in the pan, but when applied (and in natural light) it has more pink content, which is why I described it as rose gold above. It's a gem - silky soft, pretty as, and just the thing when you want a subtle ever-so-soft sunkissed glow ♥...

Misty Rose

Knowing my penchant for colour, you've probably guessed this is my favourite of the three - the most fabulous autumn shade and I love it so much I may be hitting pan by September! Unlike the other two, this one has more of a shimmery sheen, and the texture seems just that little bit creamier ♥...

Swatches!

The pan pics and swatches below were all taken in natural light, whereas in the photos above, I matched them with wardrobe items under cool artificial light - there are some slight tone differences, but I think you get the idea...

As with the lipsticks, I think these are amazing value. Thanks again to the Colour Theory team for sending these to me to try. Heaps more in the box to go through, so watch this space! ♥...

Take care of you,
kats xxx

REVIEW: Essence Fall Back To Nature Highlighter & Blush Palette...

Oh the joy of a brand new blush set! While I've been buying single cheek rouge pans whenever I've spotted something particularly appealing, it's been literally years since I bought a palette of mixed shades, and when I spotted this Essence Fall Back To Nature Highlighter & Blush Palette in Target yesterday, it was a done deal ♥...

It's an inspiring mix of coordinated mattes and shimmers in some of the most unusual shades I've ever seen. The presentation is just so cute and pretty, and it has a protective plastic sheet firmly attached so you can see the colours in-store, but the pans are protected from inquisitive fingers (there's a slide-out tester on the stand). At $20, it's quite pricey amongst the usual budget-friendly Essence range, but well worth it for a selection of five hues with two different finishes ♥...

Normally I find the latest Essence limited editions in Priceline, but I either missed this Fall set, or it never made it into my local store. Googling reveals this was actually released last year for the northern hemisphere Autumn, so I don't know how long it's been available in Oz, or for how much longer. There's an eye shadow palette as well, but the colours were not so appealing to me (quite muted and natural), but if you're interested, I'd hoof it to Target before the collection is gone forever ♥...

I have lots of blushes in my kit but none quite like this array, and nothing in the maple or pumpkin shades. And, well, you know me and how obsessed I am with matching my makeup to my outfits, so you can imagine that I'm blissing out at having more choices. Now for the arm swatches!...

Pigmentation is quite impressive - even the mattes, and even the yellowy tones, which in my experience with powders, is unusual to say the least. As to be expected, the shimmers are creamier, and I'd classify the light-reflecting quality as medium - by my standards that means they're not OTT. A couple of brush swipes will give you a subtle wash of colour, but all are blendable and buildable without becoming patchy. Interestingly I'm most excited about the red one (Pretty For Mr. Apple) as I only have one red blush, and it's over five years old - well I did have, it's now in the bin lol ♥...

To sum up I'm absolutely delighted with the quality and colour mix in this selection - I'm not a big user of highlighter, and it's a treat to have a matching shimmer shade that I can stroke across the tops of my cheeks without the need for those around me to reach for their sunnies. Love! ♥...

Take care of you,
kats xx

REVIEW: NYX Ombre Blushes...

Well there I was, placing an on-line order during the recent Priceline 40%-off-skincare sale, and I thought I'd just take a sneak peek at the NYX page, and then it happened - I spotted their hot pink/purple Ombre blush (Code Breaker) and I was a goner. Not many companies make blushes that are even close to this royal hue, so it landed in my cart in a heartbeat. Of course I also checked out the other colours in the range (there are six altogether), wanted them ALL, but restrained myself as I was already spending up pretty big on the skincare bargains. But as fate would have it I called into the store yesterday to eye-ball the new stand (Max Factor and Face of Australia were ditched to make room for its vastness), did a quick eeny-meeny-miney-mo, and nabbed the Mauve Me one as well...

My passion for sculpted blushes knows no bounds, yet I've held off buying any as I have a rather large collection of cheek cheerers already, but show me one in an ombre style and it's all over red rover. So here they are in all their gorgeousness...

I've swatched them on my pasty inner arm over a colourless primer - three finger swipes, top, middle and bottom as they appear in the pans...

Mauve Me has a slight shimmer content, and the pale pink top section is closer to a highlighter than a blush, but that will come in handy for the top of my cheekbones. It's also the more blendable of the two, invariably the case with shimmery pigments. Code Breaker is almost a matte - probably just as well as it's pretty potent lol! Adore them both for different reasons, but at the time of writing, Code Breaker has my heart ♥ Here's a pic of me wearing it...

Haven't taken a photo of my face adorned with Mauve Me yet, but you'll see it in a post very soon. For animal lovers, the back of the case says "Cruelty Free", but they're made in China. These stunners are $17.95, and next pay day you can bet I'll be picking up Soft Flush and Sweet Spring - my Priceline doesn't have testers, but I'm confident they'll be just as divine...

Take care of you,

kats xxx

P.S. A reminder to check out the great reads on Ingrid's amazing Monday Makeup Madness Link Up Party ♥♥♥

REVIEW: Lacura Minerals Cream Blush...

Recently Lacura has been churning out a fairly wide range of mineral makeup items that are good quality and excellent value. Like the majority of beauty product manufacturers, they've had some misses with their releases (usually the limited colour range), but they're also capable of coming up with a raging hit, and these Minerals Cream Blushes are absolute winners in my book. Yes there's only two shades available, but both of them are simply gorgeous ♥ The formula is richly moisturising and creamy, the pigmentation is brilliant, and they blend effortlessly without disturbing the foundation layer underneath. Plus they come in the cutest little pots, and they only cost $6.99!...

So this is Pink Rose, a divine hue, and the one I've been wearing the most often. I normally use cream blushes as a base, and then dust a similarly tinted powder blush over the top so that the glow lasts the whole day. But this pretty pink is long-lasting and potent enough for me to wear on it's own, and yet it can be blended to a sheer pastel if you only want a touch of colour...

And this is Soft Coral - the name is spot on, a pale brownish pink base with the merest hint of orange, making it supremely flattering for gals with warm skin tones...

The swatches below are over a BB cream base - they both have a delicate sheen with a smidgin of sparkle, which I love because they don't look flat and unnatural, but there's not enough glare to draw attention to the creases and crinkles in my mature skin...

For label lovers, here's what's on the back of the box - like all Aldi products, there's a money-back guarantee if you're not entirely satisfied...

Just LOVE them to bits! I'm wearing these now, but aren't they just the prettiest colours for Spring?

Take care of you,
kats xxx

P.S. You'll find lots more great reviews at Ingrid's Monday Madness Link Up Party ♡

SPOTLIGHT: Rediscovering Powder Blushes (Part 5)

If you're following my Instagram account, you'll be aware that I'm in the middle of refreshing my lipstick collection. It's progressing well (I'm almost out of space lol!), and while I'm having an absolute ball, I started to feel somewhat neglectful of my blush array. So I picked up these two gorgeous BYS palettes from Kmart yesterday morning...

They have a similar look to the Sleek Blush-By-Three series (or maybe Sleek is copying BYS?), and while the pigmentation isn't as potent, I'm somewhat relieved as I have to be very VERY careful with the Sleek ones or else I look a bit overcooked. The beauty of these blushes is that they are silky smooth, readily available in Australia, and only cost $5.75. I already have a vivid pink trio in this range called On The Bright Side that I blogged about last May, so I knew the quality was exceptional for the price...

So this is Endless Summer - a stunning orange and 2 corals.  The first and third pans are almost identical, the last one has a wee bit more red in it (more obvious in the swatches below), and they are both mattes. For some reason my camera makes them look like they have an ombre shading, but the colour is actually the same throughout. The middle orange has a teeny bit of sparkle to it, and I'm particularly thrilled as I have nothing even vaguely like this in my kit ♥ 

Here are the swatches over bare skin. There's minimal fallout, and they blend beautifully!

And this is my personal favourite - Heart Skipped a Beat. What caught my eye in the store was that third pan, a divine lilac pink, but having swatched them all, I'm in love with every single one. They are all sparkly, but not enough to cause a problem on my mature skin with too much disco glare ha ha...

I just adore these shades - these will all be fabulous with my plum and purple outfits, and will team beautifully with greys and blues too...

All up I'm thrilled to bits to have so many more shade choices on my bench, and you can bet I'll be giving every pan a major workout, starting with one of the pinks tomorrow ♥ 

Have you tried BYS blushes before? Which of the two palettes would suit you best?

Take care of  you,
kats xxx

P.S. I've just added this post to Ingrid's Monday Makeup Madness #13 Link Up Party - always a beaut source for new blogs to follow ♥

SPOTLIGHT: Rediscovering Powder Blushes (Part 4) - Sleek...

I've never disguised my passion for Sleek i-Divine eye shadow palettes, and I'm sure not going to hold back how I feel about their blushes either ♥ I bought these on sale at the end of last year, and once I'd opened them, I put them aside because to be honest, I thought the colours were just a wee bit too bold, even for me! But after wearing some of them this past week, I've realised my initial impression was misplaced - these are just so fabulously fresh and enlivening, I feel kinda dumb that I've had them locked away for all this time...

This first trio is called Flame, and the swatches below are over the top of a thin layer of foundation. The beauty of these pigments is that you can use as little or as much as you like, and if you think you've gone a bit overboard, a gentle buff with a clean kabuki brush will bring the intensity back to where you want it to be, without any unevenness...

Looking at the palette, I thought that the middle matte shade (Bon Fire) would be the boldest, but in fact that honour goes to the slightly shimmery one on the far right (Furnace). Oh what Autumn stunners they are! The first shade is called Molten, and will be perfect when I'm wearing apricot tonings. I paid $7.49 with free shipping, so I'm definitely a happy kat ♥

And here's the other - Pink Sprint. I'm lucky that I have an overall warm colouring, but I'm a bit of a mix of warm and cool as far as skin and eyes are concerned, so I can get away with pinky shades as well as orange. I'm wearing the third pan colour today, and it's ever so flattering...

These pinks are all mattes, which I prefer as I'd rather have the option of adding a little highlighter along the top of my cheekbones rather than have the gleaming happening all over. That middle one is going to be perfect for my magenta and purple looks, which I usually put together at least once a week. I might even try that first shade as an eye shadow - whoa!

From left to right the shade names are Pinktini, Pink Ice and Pink Parfait - don't they sound delicious?

I'm enraptured with these blushes, and will be buying more of these trios - there are 8 combos to choose from, and I have my eye on Sweet Cheeks for my next purchase when it's back in stock. If you're keen, be quick as both of the above palettes are still on sale for half price on their website here ♥

Take care of you,
kats xxx

P.S. I've just added this review to Ingrid's Monday Makeup Madness #6 Link Up Party - you'll find lots of other interesting blogger contributions there too ♥

SPOTLIGHT: Rediscovering Powder Blushes (Part 3)...

Uh oh, I just noticed that Part 2 was way back in July last year :-( I confess I've bought quite a few since then, but I'll restrict this particular episode to the selection from bhcosmetics. Their eye shadows are brilliant, and so is their felt pen liner - I've not had much luck with their lip products, but I find this with MUA as well. Anyways, their blushes are just so darn pretty, and there's a huge variety of shades, so I had to pick up a few (on sale of course) to give them a try. I was in dire need of some bricky red hues and some pinky mauves, and here are the ones I chose...

These first two are from the Duos collection - there's five in the set (currently on sale for US$3.95 each!), all with the names of flowers. The bold shade on the left in this Iris one is amazingly pigmented (small doses only) and it gives a magnificent autumnal flush to my face - perfect for gals with warm colouring. The packaging is super strong - there's a magnet somewhere inside to keep the lid firmly closed, and the mirror is a decent size, and reflects a true image. As you can see from the swatch (natural light), the apricot shade has only a very soft hint of colour - it's shimmery and more of a highlighter than anything else...

Lilac is soft and delicate, sadly almost too delicate. It looks quite bright in the palette, but it takes a bit of doing to get the pretty pink to show up on my skin over foundation, although I don't mind so much as I wanted something subtle. The website has some reviews of the other varieties, and most gals agree that Lilac is the only one that's a tad disappointing pigment-wise...

The swatch on the left is about 10 swipes (eek!), whereas the lighter colour was created with only two - they are both shimmery. The powders of all bhcosmetics blushes are very finely milled, the consistency is smooth and silky, they blend well, and there's no powder residue left in the container after you've used them so it stays clean...

Now we get to the big Mama palette - Glamorous Blush! This one is also on special at the mo' for US$9.95, and highly recommended by moi. There's only one shade that leaves a lot to be desired, but that's a fabulous result from a 10-pan selection, especially when you calculate that they work out at US$1 each ♥

There's no mirror inside, and the lid clicks shut nicely - it's very slim and light, and would be no trouble to fit into the bottom of even a small overnight bag, making this big baby actually more travel-friendly than the duos...

As you can see my swatching skills haven't advanced one iota from the last time, but I'll keep practising lol! Top row are all great, mainly shimmers, some more shiny than the rest - that pinky red on the end is matte, and really packs a punch...

Bottom row - the purply pink in the middle is the one I covet the most, thankfully far more pigmented than the pink in the Lilac duo, and goes perfectly with my Radiant Orchid outfits. The deep shade to the right of it (let's call it #7) is somewhat of a fizzer - such a shame as it's a fabulously bold hue in the pan, but has very little intensity on the skin. This row only has one true shimmer, the gorgeous gorgeous apricot on the left... 

Overall I'd say that bhcosmetics does a top job with blushes - almost all the deeper shades are nothing short of sensational, they last well, zero powdery bits, and there's a beaut variety of hues. One word of warning though - the website colours aren't entirely accurate, but hey, that's what bloggers are for ♥

Take care of you,

kats xxx

SPOTLIGHT: Rediscovering Powder Blushes (Part 2)...

Following on from Part 1, here's a few more of the powder blushes that I've been collecting, and am loving right now - one was a freebie, one was a prize, and the other two I purchased. I'm still using Australis Chocolate Truffle cream blush as a base on most days, but adding a couple of flicks of any one of these gorgeous powders is bringing another dimension of colour and shape to my face. I really must have been crazy to give them up for so long...

This first beautifully boxed Benefit blush was one of the delights in the beautyheaven goody bag I scored at the recent Beauty Degustation event. ROCKATEUR is a subtle and soft rose pink embedded with minute particles of gold - it's a tad too reflective for me to build it up enough for sufficient colour, but applied as an illuminator along the tops of my cheekbones, hey I'm ready to rock :-) This is the only really shimmery blush in my kit - I normally avoid them like the plague because the light has a tendency to bounce off them and accentuate my enlarged pores and creases, but not this playful little hotsy totsy. Adore the packaging of this range, which includes an in-lid mirror and baby brush nestled on top of a protective plastic insert - sheer genius ♥

Benefit HERVANA came in my Blogstar prize box - the inspired mix of coloured segments all tone together to create a flush that never EVER looks fake. I have swirl my brush about 6 times (washing machine action lol) to pick up enough pigment to give my cheeks a natural glow, but the result can only be described as "natural radiance". It's not completely matte - there are microscopic sparkles in both the lightest and apricot shades to break up an otherwise flat finish, but not enough to give this older gal any grief. These powders are so finely milled that there's never any excess left in the cute-as-a-button box either - quite remarkable really, but hey for $51, I kinda expect something reasonably close to perfection :-)

And next we have ModelCo PEACH BELLINI. I first encountered this pretty shade as a freebie on a magazine cover, but a few months later I had a severe attack of the clumsies and dropped it on the floor - cracked into several large chunks (and a whole heap of powdery bits) and made a huge mess on my carpet. I was totally bummed because it's a magical hue that goes with almost half my winter wardrobe, and I was tickled peach to find it on special for $10 a few weeks ago at Coles. It blends beautifully, and seems to accentuate my hair colour (not that it needs any boosting lol). The plastic case is modern and comfortingly sturdy, and it came with a baby kabuki brush that's been stashed away in my drawer - too tiny for everyday use, but it will be handy when I'm travelling...

And here's the oldest one in my kit - found this at Aldi on one of those "specials" tables, along with a bronzer (which I've completely used up) and a couple of stunning lip glosses. It's great value for under $8 - a similar shade to the ModelCo one, but a tad more orange, and a notch brighter. The loose powder makes it a bit messy for transporting, but the finish on my cheeks is superb. The problem with gems like this from Aldi is that you only ever see them once, or maybe twice in 12 months if you're lucky. Oh how I wish this Minerals range was included in their standard stock along the back wall...

Well my lovelies, that's it for Part 2, but there's more to come I can assure you :-)

Take care of you,
kats xxx