Review: Elf Flawless Finish Foundation

Following the ridiculously popular Elf 50% off offer, who was I to resist a bargain? I made an order, as seen here in my massive end of summer haul post.
The fist thing I'm going to be reviewing is the Flawless Finish Foundation. I'm sure you've all heard of it before, so I won't insult your intelligence by giving you the blurb from the ELF website.

Basically though, this foundation promises exactly what it's name suggests: a flawless finish! So read on to see if it  gave that to me!

Let's start with colour choices, ELF offers a measly 6 colourways, ranging from porcelain (my shade) to the deepest Coco shade. Personally I don't think that this is enough, although (somehow) I found a shade that suited me perfectly, I don't think everybody could be that lucky.
So as I said, the colour was perfect for me. I went for the lightest shade, as usual, and it was perfect. I tend to find that light foundations seem to have undertones of yellow, whereas I need a pink based tone - on which ELF really delivers.

Application goes perfectly with my swanky new ELF Stipple Brush, I find this really gives an airbrushed look, and works the foundation into my pores and blends over any discolouration or imperfections. The foundation is thick and oil free - which is a bonus for someone with occasionally oily skin.

I do however set my foundation with a powder, I personally feel that the foundation looks a little too dewy for my liking. I mean, if that's what you're after in a foundation, then fantastic, but I prefer a slightly more matte finish.

As for longevity, I do find that it looks a little less than perfect by the end of the school day. To combat this I just re-powder at lunch time. This really does work, which is good to know!

Price cannot be faulted, for the finish it gives you, £6.50 is a bargain. Even more so when you get it for half price! 

I really do recommend you try this, I know some people have hated it - but I think you should assess it yourself. Even if you don't get on with it, it's not like you've wasted MAC worthy amounts of money!

What about you, have you tried this foundation - or anything else from ELF? How did you get on with it?

Sara xx

P.S Welcome to any newcomers to my blog - I hope you enjoy reading through my posts!

Review: Bare Minerals Buxom Lip Polish in 'Dolly'

I received this lip polish in a gorgeous Bare Minerals 'eyes, cheeks and lips' kit for my birthday a couple of months back. It has become a firm favourite and you'll soon see why.
It transforms the smallest lips into gigantic tingling ones with just one sweep of the sponge wand.

So, on with the pictures. Please excuse the gash in my lip, my boyfriend accidentally headbutted me..

In 15 minutes my lips went from this..

To this! 

WHAM! I love the shade, it's a gorgeous pink - while not being too in your face. I have quite pigmented lips anyway, so I think this really brings that out in them.

The gloss in non-sticky, which is a real bonus for somebody like me with long hair!

The only downside of this lip polish is the price - £18 for 4g. This is justified to a degree as you really don't need to apply much to get this effect, plus well.. it's Bare Minerals!

What are your miracle products?

Thanks for reading!
Sara x

Book review: Looking for Alaska by John Green

So I have this ridiculously long summer. I finished my GCSEs nearly a month ago now, and the summer seems like it'll never come to an end. Of course I have things planned, but what I really wanted to do was to read. 

I used to read unimaginable amounts before I started Secondary School, but as soon as I hit about 12 BAM - I didn't set foot in the library once. I'm not saying I stopped reading altogether, but I went from ravishing a book a day to maybe one every couple of months.

So seeing as I hope to study English Literature at university, I decided that no time was like the present for reading anything and everything that interested me. Starting with this book, Looking For Alaska.

John Green, as you may or may not know, is an increasingly popular Youtube artist. He makes videos along with his brother, Hank, on the Vlogbrothers channel (check them out, trust me, they're good!).

So, on with the review.

At first glance I expected this book to be just another teenage novel, all airheadedness and easy to digest words. I gave it a go only because I've seen and enjoyed the author's Youtube channel. I was so so unbelievably glad to be proved wrong. The book was so much more than I expected it to be, it was deep and meaningful - yet still connected with teenagers on a level most other fellow teenagers can't even manage (John Green is 33).

The novel was relatively short (one of those books that you really don't want to end), but was so thought provoking in its 221 pages that as soon as I closed the last page I got straight onto Amazon to buy myself a copy (the copy I read was from the library). 

The story revolves around an unconventional relationship between Miles Halter, the protagonist, and Alaska Young. Telling you any more would ruin it, please take my advice and DON'T read any spoilers or the plot of this novel as YOU WILL ruin it for yourself. A main message of the book is to embrace the unknown.

So on that note, embrace the unknown by going straight to buy a copy of this amazing book, you will not regret it!

Review: Miss Sporty 'clubbing' nail varnish.

So I needed some nail varnish in the same shade as my prom dress (here, will post about it in due course). This was no mean feat however, as every single polish seemed to be just a bit too blue.

All but one that is! I picked up this Miss Sporty nail polish in Superdrug for the irresistible price of £1.99. It fit the brief, it is exactly the right colour - a great start.

I applied it as soon as I got home, just to see how long it lasted before Prom on Thusday (I'll obviously repaint on the day). The colour went on gorgeously and the consistency was perfect.


BUT- within an hour this is what my nails looked like -

Excuse awful photo, bad lighting :(

After only an hour. Not impressed at all, would not recommend it at all.

I wasn't expecting much for £1.99, but AN HOUR of wear? :(

Review: Benefit Some Kind-a Gorgeous Lite

So I ventured into Debenhams desperate for a foundation that didn't make my ridiculously pale skin appear orange (if anyone knows some good foundations for paler skin- please let me know!).

I was drawn right away to the Benefit counter (as always!) and this product was suggested to me by a drop-dead gorgeous saleswoman. I'd had a bad experience with this foundation before as I'd bought it before the company introduced the 'Lite' version for pale skin - at the time the sales assistant reassured me that I looked perfect (by perfect I'm guessing she meant orange..).

Benefit Some Kind-a Gorgeous Lite - £23.50

The foundation is a creamy, perfectly pale substance housed in a very cute compact along with a mirror and a terrible quality sponge. Compact is exactly the way I'd describe this foundation- you get so little product for your money! This is the only negative point I could find about this foundation, but it's quite a big negative. With daily use I imagine it would last you for maybe.. a month? I've used it every other day for about 3 weeks now and I have disappointingly little left.

In regards to cost, Benefit charges £23.50 for this foundation (9.5g of product) which I think is ridiculously expensive in comparison to Clinique foundation (another premium beauty brand) which costs £21 for 30g of foundation.

As for how well it works as a foundation, I have to say it's brilliant. It gives gorgeous not too heavy coverage and creates a dewy finish. I don't find that you need much of the product to make a difference to your look (just trying to justify the price..). The 'Lite' shade is exactly perfect for my skin, and I don't feel that I look overdone while wearing it because the coverage is reasonably light.

I'd advise you to check out all your options before you're enticed into Benefit's hard sell of their products, once I was sat down in the makeover chair with Benefit products all over my face I found it very difficult not to buy anything. Maybe ask for some samples to take home with you to try in your own time with the brushes and tools you have already?

Much love <3