Charlotte Tilbury Glowgasm Face Palette On Textured Medium-Tan Skin

Charlotte Tilbury Glowgasm Face Palette On Textured Medium-Tan Skin

Summer Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, June 09, 2019

The Charlotte Tilbury Glowgasm Face Palettes come in two variants - Lightgasm, for light to medium skins, and Lovegasm, for medium to dark skins. This post has the review and swatches of the Charlotte Tilbury Glowgasm palette in Lovegasm, and a tutorial of the palette used on textured, tan skin.
The Glowgasm palettes cost £60 each, and contain four shades - a "bronzer", a highlighter, a "multi-glow", and a "pop blush". The packaging is gorgeous, the whole thing feels and looks luxurious and heavy, and the pattern is very pretty.
Therein end the raves, for me at least. There are some real issues with this one. No, really - don't believe me? I have a proper demo of this thing right ahead.

Scroll down for the review, swatches, and demo of the Charlotte Tilbury Glowgasm Face Palette on textured medium-tan skin.

affiliate

Benefit Cheekleaders Face Palette Review, Swatches, Demo

Benefit Cheekleaders Face Palette Review, Swatches, Demo

Reviews Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, May 14, 2019

The Benefit Blush Bar was among my Christmas goodies for 2018 - I love the comprehensive face palette; there's everything my cheeks need in one handy, travel-friendly box.
So, when the Benefit Cheekleaders palettes were launched for Spring 2019, I felt I didn't need them - two palettes were launched; the Pink Squad, and the Bronze Squad.
But. But. But. Benefit also launched two deeper versions of their iconic Hoola Bronzer - Hoola Caramel, and Hoola Toasted. Plus, there were two highlighters - Tickle, and Cookie. The last two were exclusive to the Cheekleaders palettes, and I was intrigued.
I found that both Cheekleaders palettes - and their mini versions, with three products each - contained FIVE FULL-SIZED box of powders, including ONE of the new highlighters. The Bronze version also had the new Hoola Caramel. So I treated myself to the Cheekleaders Bronze Squad palette, and to a single box of Hoola Toasted.

Scroll down for the review, swatches, and demo of the Benefit Cheekleaders Bronze Squad Face Palette, and for a comparison with the Benefit Blush Bar.

affiliate

Add Subtle Warmth and Glow To Your Face With By Terry Compact Expert Dual Powder

Add Subtle Warmth and Glow To Your Face With By Terry Compact Expert Dual Powder

Reviews Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, December 15, 2017

Anyone else here who cannot get the hang of Instagram contouring? I fail to master the sharp-sculpted-cheekbones-look at all levels. So in a rather clever display of "sour-grapes", I vote for a subtler look, a softer glow.
By Terry's Compact Expert Dual Powder offers just that; it comes in a demurely-packaged compact of two finely-milled powders. There are eight shades in the range, so you can choose from a blush-bronzer combination, a blush-highlighter combination, or a bronzer-highlighter combination. I prefer the last one.
This means that you only have TWO differently coloured powders to grapple with; just the two shades to figure out what goes where. Those multi-pan face palettes give me the heebie-jeebies, no matter how many face charts and instruction manuals the brands include. This one is a lot less daunting.

Scroll down for a review and demo of the By Terry Compact Expert Dual Powder.

affiliate

LookFantastic Beauty Box July 2017 Review

LookFantastic Beauty Box July 2017 Review

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, July 28, 2017

Given that the most exciting item in the LookFantastic Beauty Box for July 2017 arrived all smashed up, I decided not to do a video unboxing. This box contained an excellent curation of products, but was spoilt entirely by the vagaries of the postal system. Ah well, the perils of shipping makeup.
The July 2017 LookFantastic Beauty Box is themed Pretty In Paradise. The box is stunning, and comes with the Elle UK magazine for this month, as well as the in-house booklet.

Scroll down for the contents of the LookFantastic Beauty Box July 2017.

affiliate

Beautylish Lucky Bag 2017 Review, Unboxing, Contents

Beautylish Lucky Bag 2017 Review, Unboxing, Contents

Wayne Goss Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, January 14, 2017

Meet the world's best beauty box. It comes out only once a year, on Boxing Day. I bought last year's Beautylish Lucky Bag, which you can see here, and fell in love with the concept.
Lucky Bags are popular in Japan around the New Year time - businesses distribute them, believing they will bring good luck to the recipients.
There is no actual bag - the contents of the Beautylish Lucky Bag come in a regular box with special wrapping paper. The owl, which Beautylish incorporates in the wrapping paper each year, is said to bring luck. Nils, who co-founded Beautylish, tells his staff to make each bag better than the previous years'.
The Lucky Bag costs $75, and international customers need to pay shipping as well. You cannot combine orders with the Lucky Bag. But the contents are worth a lot more - my own bag contains products worth a whopping $194, as you can see below. 
Spoiler: There are NO eyeshadows in my Lucky Bag!

Scroll down for the contents of the Beautylish Lucky Bag 2017.

Holiday 2016 Gift Guide: 12 Best Makeup Buys From Bourjois, With Intl Shipping

Holiday 2016 Gift Guide: 12 Best Makeup Buys From Bourjois, With Intl Shipping

Palette Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, October 26, 2016

American makeup lovers, rejoice. You can get Bourjois products delivered to your doorstep, courtesy of international beauty retailer Feelunique. Established in 2005, Feelunique was voted the fifth best shopping website on a recent poll conducted by consumer group Which. They ship to more than 120 countries, and postage is free worldwide above £60. Also, code THEICONS20 gets you 15% off all makeup till midnight today.
Bourjois is my favourite drugstore brand, with lovely packaging, incredibly good foundations, lipsticks and bronzers - well, everything, really.

Scroll down for the best makeup picks from Bourjois, with worldwide shipping.

affiliate

Baking Makeup Technique: What, How To, and FOTD

Baking Makeup Technique: What, How To, and FOTD

Zelens Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Just when I thought I had the hang of strobing and highlighting, the trend changes to "baking". What next, the stir-fried makeup look? Or the parboiled one?
So what is the baking makeup trend? No, you don't stick your head in the oven. There are different ways of "baking" or cooking your makeup out there, but the majority of the beautysphere, particularly on Reddit, follows these steps:
1. After makeup, you apply a tonne of powder. Some recommend baby powder, but you can also use any old pressed or loose powder, or setting powder in your own shade.
2. Then, you proceed to dunk your face in a basin of water. Some do this by liberally spraying on a face-mist, but I find that leaves most of the powder on the face and actually combines with the powder "to create a sort of blancmange".
3. Post-dunk, pat your face dry - gently, please.
Fans of the trend claim your makeup will be set, matte and long-lasting. Let's see what happened when I "baked" my mug.

Scroll down for the lowdown on the baking makeup trend, and for a "baked" FOTD using the Lorac Pro 3 Palette and more. 

affiliate

Cult Beauty's Summer Goody Bag 2016

Cult Beauty's Summer Goody Bag 2016

Skin care Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Each year, online beauty retailer Cult Beauty - they ship worldwide - does Spring, Summer, Autumn and Best-of-the-year Beauty Bags. After having missed the Spring 2016 version by a whisker - kicks self; it even had Zelens - I was able to get hold of the Summer bag before it sold out. These bags are always worth it; the brands included are great, and the products are full-, half-, or at least deluxe-sized. No foil sachets to be palmed off.

Scroll down for a detailed look at the Cult Beauty Bag for Summer 2016.

Vegan Cuts Beauty Box May 2016

Vegan Cuts Beauty Box May 2016

Vegan Cuts Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, May 28, 2016

A 100% cruelty-free and vegan beauty subscription that ships worldwide, Vegan Cuts has been on my must-try list for a while now. I have particularly loved their special assorted beauty kits - see my review of the Vegan Cuts Essentials Box here. Their Summertime Adventures Beauty Box is on sale for just $23 - see contents here`. Monthly boxes cost $22.95, with long-term subscriptions costing less per box.
The May 2016 box (PR sample) is Summer-special, curated to keep you feeling "sweet in the heat". There are five products in the box, of which three are full-sized.

Scroll down for the review of the Vegan Cuts Beauty Box for May 2016. 

 PR sample

Physician's Formula Spring 2015 City Glow Bronzers review, swatches

Physician's Formula Spring 2015 City Glow Bronzers review, swatches

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, April 27, 2015

Beautiful overlays with Paris and NY cityscapes.

Physician's Formula makes the prettiest bronzers, with those gorgeous overlays and keepsake designs. I am currently obsessed with their Argan Wear Bronzer, which is too light to do any actual bronzing, but gives me a healthy glow. See my looks here and here, featuring the Argan Wear bronzer.
Today I have two bronzers from Physician's Formula's Spring 2015 collection to show you. These are City Glow bronzers in two shades - Paris and New York. I had to force myself to dip a brush into these; they are so pretty!

Scroll down for the review and swatches of the Physician's formula City Glow Bronzers for Spring 2015.

Caramel eye makeup look, sunny Spring FOTD ft. Too Faced Semi-Sweet, Bourjois

Caramel eye makeup look, sunny Spring FOTD ft. Too Faced Semi-Sweet, Bourjois

Too Faced Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Caramel eyeshadows, a pop of eyeliner and dusty rose lipstick are my go-to this Spring.

What with the Cricket World Cup and a round of Spring-cleaning, I haven't found the time to blog over the last few days. My desk, floor and bed are strewn with the evidence of my cleaning-spree, the scorecards and the euphoria/disappointment experienced during the matches. On the bright side, my cupboards are all clean and bare and the World Cup ends this weekend.
I wanted to do a look with the caramel and orange-ish eyeshadows in the Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette (reviewed and swatched here) as soon as I got the palette. I had an orange eye pencil from a Memebox that paired nicely with the eyeshadows, and then there was a new bronzer to try out. This post is the result.

Here is a sunny Spring makeup look with caramel eyeshadows and a pop of orange, featuring Bourjois foundation, Physician's Formula Argan Bronzer and Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette.

Too Faced A Few Of My Favourite Things makeup palette review, swatches, photos

Too Faced A Few Of My Favourite Things makeup palette review, swatches, photos

Too Faced Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, February 09, 2014

My first ever eyeshadow palette was the Liquif-Eye Shadow Collection from Too Faced Cosmetics, so I have a bit of a weakness for their palettes. I especially wanted A Few Of My Favourite Things for two reasons. One, it features favourites of Too Faced's founder, Jerrod Blandino. For another, the name reminds me of a much-loved song from my favourite musical and one of my favourite books (The Von Trapp Family Story).
When I saw the palette in Sephora in December, the size of it made my jaw drop - the external box is as large as my netbook - and twice the thickness. It features a pink and gold chevron pattern exclusively designed by celebrity designer Mary McDonald.

Read on for the full review and swatches of the Too Faced Cosmetics A Few Of My Favourite Things makeup palette.

My first beauty box swap featuring makeup, skin care and other goodies

My first beauty box swap featuring makeup, skin care and other goodies

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, May 05, 2013

Last month, the lovely Elle May had asked if I wanted to do a beauty box swap with her. I was apprehensive about the postal services. But I was so excited about it nonetheless.
Elle and I had agreed on a budget of £25 excluding postage, though we did include some gifts in our respective boxes :D We discussed likes, dislikes and allergies and had such fun over quite a few emails. Elle got the box I sent her safe and sound. Her parcel to me arrived on Saturday and I was so thrilled, I almost opened it then and there before realising I needed to take photographs.