Izabelle Hammon Beauty Launch

Last Sunday, I was invited to an exciting beauty launch party which was held at the beautiful Midland Hotel in Manchester. I have to admit that I hadn't heard of Izabelle Hammon, Calgel, Iz Beauty or Christian Beauty before but now I have and I have to say I'm very impressed. Iz Beauty consists of nail art products including a LED/UV gel, embellishments, nail wraps and nail art pens. Calgel is a one phase gel nail system which is designed to maintain the condition of the natural nail. Finally, Christian Beauty specialise in eye products and on the day we were introduced to their eyebrow products. 

The purpose of the event was to preview the upcoming collections, master class workshops and seminars led by Izabelle Hammon herself. We had the opportunity to look at all the amazing nail art products and we were very kindly given a box to fill with amazing products like nail wraps, stickers, nail art pens and studs to try at home. I cannot wait to start experimenting and getting creative with my nails!

Calgel were on hand to give us a demonstration. I was lucky enough to have the full experience and opted for the gorgeous shade Model Behaviour which is a vibrant, blue toned purple. A week on and it's still looking as vibrant and glossy as it was the day I had it done. I've actually done housework and built some IKEA furniture with no chips or scratches. Calgel isn't available to buy to use at home as it's only available to people who have had the official training. There are plenty of salons which offer Calgel nails and a quick Google search will allow to find one near to you. 

Also, I was colour matched to find out which shade I was from the Christian eyebrow range. There are eight shades in total and they are available to buy as a kit which include one shade, three stencils and an application brush. They're revolutionary water resistant eyebrow powder that can be used to create defined, yet natural, brows in seconds. Lasting up to 24 hours this clay based powder adheres to the skin, filling in and transforming sparse, thin and pale eyebrows.

Any blogger event wouldn't be complete without a photobooth, cupcakes, a sweet table and prosecco! We were well and truly spoilt. Thank you so much for such a fantastic day and for introducing me to some fabulous new products. I have lots of nail art products to try so look out for those in future blog posts. You can find out more about Izabelle Hammon here and if you fancy trying any products for yourself, you can via the online shop found here.

Rachel x

Collection Colour Lash Mascara in Clear - Review

Collection Colour Lash Mascara in Clear £1.99

Eyebrows! Eyebrows! Eyebrows! Mine are a pain in the neck! I absolutely hate them. They never look how I want them to look. My hair is thick and curly and so are my eyebrows! I have been having my eyebrows waxed for years, probably over 10 years now! A few years ago, I over plucked my eyebrows and I'm still trying to grow them back so I don't trust myself to pluck them. Hence why I go to a salon to get them waxed.

Regardless of whether I'm wearing make up or not, I still have to comb my brows! They are so wild and unruly! I don't necessarily need to fill them in everyday as they are darker than my hair and sometimes I feel it's too much. However, some days I feel the need to fill them in in some areas, for this I use the MUA Brow Kit.

My eyebrow routine consists of combing my brows with a brow comb, filling them in, if I feel it necessary, combing through again, setting them with a gel or wax and finally combing them again! Up until about a month ago, I had been using the wax from the MUA Brow Kit to set my brows. However, I found this too waxy and it never really dried on my brows. It left my brows feeling waxy for hours. Many beauty bloggers use a clear mascara instead. Therefore I set out to find a version cheap enough to try that I liked. As any beauty blogger would, I turned to other beauty blogs. Many had tried and loved the Collection one and for £1.99 it's worth a try!

The Collection Colour Lash Mascara in Clear does a perfect job of setting my brows and combing them at the same time with the mascara wand. I haven't used it as a mascara so I can't comment on its primary function but as a brow gel, it's perfect. The mascara is protein enriched too which helps to condition and strengthen your lashes (or brows in my case!) I have extremely unruly brows but by using this mascara they stay tame for hours. Furthermore,  it dries after a few minutes and doesn't leave my eyebrows feeling wet.

The shelf life on the mascara is 6 months but lots of people throw them out after 3 months. However, my clear mascara isn't that clear anymore! I would share a picture here but it's disgusting! (You can see it slightly off colour here but that picture was taken a month ago so it's much worse now!) Therefore I think I will purchase a new one every 2 months. But at the purse friendly price of £1.99, that's not a problem and would only cost £12 a year! A small price to pay for tame brows! Next time I'm in Boots or Superdrug, I'm definitely stocking up and I think you should too!

What is your eyebrow routine? What product do you use to set your brows?

Rachel x
Lost In Lipstick

MUA Brow Kit - Review

MUA Brow Kit £3.50

I'll start this post by stating the fact that I hate eyebrows! Mine are just like my hair; wild, unruly and curly! This means they are extremely difficult to groom and tend to do their own thing! My eyebrows are fairly thick as well. I don't always have to use something on them just certain days and only in certain areas of my brow. The start of my eyebrows are a darker shade of blonde but have gaps in them, I'm not sure if this is due to over plucking when I was younger or not. Then the ends of my eyebrows are very thin and are very fair, this is definitely due to over plucking. The moral of the story is do NOT over pluck!

I began using an eyebrow pencil a few years ago, which was No7 in blonde. Again this wasn't everyday, usually just when I could be bothered. I was aware of my eyebrows from quite a young age and other people's for that matter! I just seem to always notice eyebrows, good or bad! I knew I should not apply the pencil in one long stroke, instead I used small feather like strokes. Besides looking like I only have half an eyebrow on some photos, I didn't really make any huge mistakes when I was younger when it comes down to eyebrows.

Some days though, mostly special occasions and nights out, I want to try and make everything perfect and your eyebrows frame your face. Or some days I just get carried away! (I love applying make up!) It's days like this when I pull out MUA's Brow Kit. MUA launched their Brow Kit in September. I actually bought it then but I wanted to thoroughly try it out before I blogged about it. Then I moved house and everything was hectic but here it is!

When I saw it on sale for £3.50, I couldn't resist. I hadn't used an eyebrow kit before so it was perfect to see how much I actually used it and if I preferred it over a pencil. The packaging matches other MUA products and for £3.50 I cannot complain. It's very sturdy and doesn't easily open if you were to carry it around in your handbag. There is a mirror inside the lid, which is actually fairly huge. The kit also comes with a pair of tweezers, which are useless to be honest. They are so small, it's very difficult to hold them and they are quite blunt. It also includes a double ended angled brush, which I use to apply the product to my brows. Although personally, I want the Real Techniques Brow Brush from the starter set but I'm obsessed with their brushes and I feel it would be easier to apply with a longer handled brush.

The kit comes with four products inside. Two shades to use on your eyebrows, personally I use the lighter one of the two as I am fair. The shades can be used on their own or mixed to create your perfect shade. There is also another powder which MUA suggests using underneath your brows to lift them but this can be used on your eyebrows if you have very blonde brows or mixed with the other shades to make a custom shade. Lastly, there is a gel to finish off your look and set your brows. I use the angled brush to apply the powder in small strokes onto the areas of my eyebrows that need it. Then I use a brow groomer to blend it all together. Using my finger, I apply a small amount of the gel, which is actually more like wax, to hold my eyebrows in place. Finally, I finish with another comb through with my brow groomer to set it all and I'm done.

I am very happy with this brow kit and I don't feel the need to purchase any other and I much prefer using it over a pencil. MUA have done extremely well with this product but I have a feeling it was being developed for a long time. Some people have complained about it not being suitable for them as the shades don't match and I have a feeling MUA will bring out a darker version. If they made a light, medium and dark or even just light and dark lots more people would be as happy as I am. Overall this item is fantastic for £3.50, a complete bargain!

What do you use on your eyebrows? Have you tried the MUA Brow Kit?

Rachel x
Lost In Lipstick