Hair, Beauty & Mental Health

The formula is very watery, which I found quite strange as it loses its proper colour once I applied just one drop onto my face.I had to go in 2-3times of droplets until I actually got some colour out of it.The smell isn't really that pleasant either, which I was quite shocked about as normally L'Oréal produce some lovely scented products.This one smells a little bit chemically, and although it doesn't linger after applying, you can always smell it when you take the top off.

Not much information was provided when it came to blending it out, so for the first time I used my finger and the second I used a beauty blender.This was actually really hard to blend with both and actually dragged my foundation with it, leaving it streaky.To me its just too watery and its more of a shimmer, than an actual highlighter in my opinion.Its not that pigmented at all, which again I'm shocked about as L'Oréal usually deliver.It didn't set as a powder after leaving it on my face for 30minutes and even with applying a setting powder on top didn't really do anything.I didn't want to give up on this product just yet, so I decided to mix it in with a foundation to see how that works.It did work a little better at first, only slightly making it luminous, but it then began to break down my foundation,

I decided to do a swatch comparison to another highlighter that I own by L'Oréal, so you can see the different formulas.Both were applied with my finger with one swipe and without a base.Both were left on my arm for 45minutes, with the top formula starting to break down and the other completely set after a few minutes.The formula of the glow drops was still wet after an hour and in no way set as a "powder" as advertised.Out of the two, I would pick the Liquid Illuminator by far, purely because its:

Since I've posted an unboxing video on these products 6 days ago (click here to view), I thought I would do a blog post with swatches too.Firstly I want to talk about the customer service that I received from them both as one was shipped from the U.S and the other here in the UK.I originally ordered the Carli Bybel Palette from BH Cosmetics on release day, but the website went down even before it went live, and me along with many other people got charged more than once.This caused a lot of panic of course on social media, especially since BH Cosmetics weren't that helpful.Carli however was absolutely incredible with handling it all, getting people's refunds sorted out and reassuring us that everything was going to be fine.I got my refund after 8days after chasing them, and I was able to reorder the palette through Carli's website: Pranava Beauty.My order did take a little while to dispatch along with everyone else, as all the shipping was done by BH Cosmetics, but the customer service from Pranava Beauty was amazing.The order took 9days since placing the order for it to be delivered by Royal Mail.

My Huda Beauty Palette was shipped by Cult Beauty which I've used many times in the past.I decided to pay the extra £7.95 to get it the next day, because I literally have zero patience when it comes to new product releases.It was dispatched 3hours after placing the order, along with a tracking link with DPD handling the order.Both of my orders arrived on the same day with an hour between them which was pretty impressive.

Carli Bybel Deluxe Edition Eyeshadow & Highlighter Palette

The packaging of this palette is incredible, like I was just happy with my plain Morphe palette, but this takes it to the next level.It was hard to pick up the rose gold writing on camera, but its so beautiful.The palette itself with the marble details is stunning with "Aspire to Inspire" above the eyeshadows and it also comes with a mirror too.

The swatches below start from the top and go left to right:

The pigmentation of this palette is incredible and all of the shades are extremely beautiful.The shimmer eyeshadows glide onto the skin like butter and only needed just the one finger swatch on the arm.The matte shades were a little more difficult to pick up, needing 3-4 swipes on the arm, but this is understandable as their matte.I'm in love with all of the eyeshadow shades, but the forth shade on the first row is my favourite.

I was very surprised by the highlighters too, because I wasn't expecting them to be so pretty.I was worried the second shade on the last row was going to be way too light for me, but its easily become one of my favourite highlighters or can be used on top of a eyeshadow.I'm still learning how to use eyeshadow, so please excuse the not so amazing blending.

I think Carli has done really amazing with this deluxe palette, and I'm so glad that I picked it up.This palette only cost me £23.63 (which includes shipping), which is a really good deal.I love my Morphe palettes, I really do, but this has now become my favourite eyeshadow palette for now.It can be purchased from either BH Cosmetics or Pranava Beauty

HUDA BEAUTY 3D Highlighter Pink Sands Edition + GIVEAWAY!

HUDA BEAUTY never fails when it comes to her beauty products, so when she announced on her instastory that she was releasing highlighters, I went a bit crazy.I loved both palettes, but I wanted to play it safe with ordering just the one, as quite a few reviews weren't really keen on it.I decided to go with the Pink Sands Edition first, mainly because the shades in this palette are unique to any of the other highlighters that I have already.

The packaging of this highlighter is ridiculous and although I love my Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kits, I think this one is so much better.It comes with a plastic case to keep it protected, but I've decided to take it off because it was such a pain to take it off in the first place.If you have seen my Youtube video review on this, there is a clip where I literally spent ages trying to get it off.Its pretty amazing how the highlighter and eyeshadow on this packaging is actually 3D, and of course Huda looks absolutely stunning on the packaging too.

These are the swatches go from left to right in the palette(names are below) and I've never found a formula like it.The first shade Capri, has a texture that feels like water, but applies and melts onto the skin like butter.Its really weird to explain but I love just how simple it is to go on the skin.You can use these in 4 steps as a PREP, SET, SCULPT and FLUSH or you can use them how you wish.As a preference, I prefer to apply these with my fingers, instead of using a brush.

These are all swatched onto my arm just the once with my fingers, and I used a makeup brush to tidy it up, to make a rectangle shape.All of the shades look really good on my skintone, especially AZORES, but I was really surprised about the shade IBIZA.I'm normally not a fan of pink shades when it comes to highlighters or blush, because it makes me look a bit like a clown and I normally just let my mum have it.IBIZA is a beautiful pink highlighter, but its not too much for my skintone to make me look like a clown and you can build up the intensity of what you want as well.

I created this simple makeup look the other day, using this palette in the shades AZORES and IBIZA, as those two shades really compliment each other.I used a little bit of the Carli highlighter too, to just make it pop even more and to make my eyes stand out.This is currently available at Cult Beauty for £40, but it is 100% worth it.I have been using this palette every single day, and I know I'm going to be using it all summer, even more than my Sun Dipped Glow Kit.

So fancy winning either the Golden Sands or Pink Edition Palette?

I've recently started up my Youtube channel, and as a thank you for the support on here and my other social media, I wanted to give the opportunity to someone to win one of these palettes.The winner will get to choose which one out of the two.All you have to do is subscribe to my Youtube channel and once it hits 1000subscribers, someone at random will be chosen.As an extra entry, you can comment which one you would like to win, its that simple.My Youtube channel (plus the video) is linked below for you:

*CLICK ME TO ENTER*

I had to blow up these pictures so you could see on how beautiful the packaging is.The small clutch design is perfect to carry in your bag if you want to touch up that eye makeup or some of the shades can be used as a highlighter, especially in the night palette.They also both come in velvet pouches corresponding to the clutch shade, just in case you want that extra protection and to keep it clean.The pigmentation of both are very intense (as shown below), however 2 of the first shades from the day palette need to be swatched at least 3-4 times until they show up properly.

I love both these palettes, but the night palette is my favourite.You can use the first two shades from the night palette as highlighters if you wanted too, as well as eyeshadows.The brushes that come included pick up the product very well, but I personally prefer to use my fingers or my Morphe brush when it comes to applying and blending.I swatched both palettes with my finger and swiped only once, apart from the first two shades from the day palette that had to be swiped 3-4times.Both of these just retail for £8 each, £8!I'm so glad that I picked these up and highly recommend anyone that loves ditsy little packaging with intense pigmentation, should pick these up!The links to purchase them are provided below:

Day Palette

Night Palette

The top shade by L'Oréal is called Icy Glow and the Cover FX is Celestial.There wasn't much of a description about the shade of icy glow, however celestials shade is described as glistening pearl.Both of them have a little hint of pink in them, but the silver shine that it gives off mostly counters it out.Icy glow has a little bit of a scent thats nice but doesn't last too long, whereas celestial doesn't have a scent at all.Even though there is quite a price difference between the two, with L'Oréal ranging between £4.99-£6.99 and Cover FX between £28.99-£34.99, there are a lot of pro's and cons, depending on what you're looking for.

The packaging of them both are completely different and with Icy Glow you get 30ml worth of product.It can be used as a primer and can be mixed in with your foundation to give your skin a radiant complexion.I've trialled it with three different foundations: NARS Luminious Weightless Foundation, Kat Von D Lock-It Foundation and L'Oréal True Match foundation.Using it as a primer or to mix it in with your foundation didn't have much of an effect with the NARS and Kat foundation, but it worked great with True Match which was expected.It could be down to the formula for it to be working with the True Match as they're part of the same range.

The application is pretty easy, as the small pierced hole on the end makes it really easy to get the product out and to not waste any product either.You have to squeeze the bottle with only a little bit of pressure to get it out and you can either apply it directly to the face or put it on the back of your hand and apply with your fingers.I prefer to use the finger method as I don't want the highlight to be too intense for my skin tone and it can be easily blended out using my fingers without it leaving them sticky.The texture comes out like a cream but as soon as you start blending it into the skin it turns into a liquid.It gives off more of a matte finish and lasts approximately 5-6hours, which isn't bad for a £6.99 highlighter.

The packaging of this highlighter is still very pretty, however you get 15ml worth of product, compared to the 30ml by L'Oréal above.This can also be added to your primer or foundation, but also states it can be used along with a serum and moisturiser.I've only tried this as a highlighter on top of my foundation, because this highlight is SUPER intense and I think it would of left my face (or head) like below if I mixed it with my foundation or formula.

The application is surprisingly easy and I honestly thought that I would have a struggle with the applicator in general.I practiced before hand with it above the bottle, to stop myself from wasting any product, but it doesn't seem to drip at all.Where the lid goes, it can get a little bit messy, especially when you take the applicator out every time and its all left on the outside of the bottle, but it can easily be put back in or can be used to apply on the face.I like using both methods of putting it on the back of my hand (habit) or applying 3 small dots to the face to then blend out using my fingers.You literally only need a small drop for this highlighter to go a long way, because it is one of the most intense highlighters I have ever used and the pigmentation is amazing.I like to use it mainly on my collarbone if I'm going for an intense look and also my cupids bow or brow bone to highlight them features.The texture is more thick but is really easy to blend like I said with my fingers and it gives off more of a dewy finish.It lasted approximately 7-8hours for being INTENSE, but around 11-12hours it started to completely fade.

Out of the two, I personally favour the Cover FX one, because of how intense it is.I also love that its Paraben, Mineral Oil, Gluten free too.I also forgot to mention that icy glow tends to get patchy after the 6+ hours (depending on how much you apply) compared to celestial that just gradually begins to fade.Although its quite pricy, I would highly recommend the enhancer drops out of the two and think its 100% worth the price.By trying to get icy glow as intense as celestial, I would have to use a lot of product  and saying that I have about 60%-70% remaining of it, where as I have about 97-98% remaining of celestial.I've provided links to where you can get them from, with the sites that regularly have deals on them

L'Oréal True Match Highlight: 

£6.99 or 3 for 2 at Superdrug

£6.99 & free gift if you spend £12.99 or more on selected L'Oréal products at Boots

£6.99 at Feelunique

Cover FX Custom Enhancer Drops Illuminator:

£28.90 (15% off) at House Of Fraser 

£34 at BeautyBay