W7 Cosmetics: Honolulu, Fluorescent Pink and Eyelust Review.

Recently, the lovely people at Aquapr sent me a few items to review, it is always so nice to come home to a little parcel you just happen to rip open like a little girl.

 I have always wanted to try W7 cosmetics, it was a brand that I was hearing quite a lot of on sites such as Amazon and Fragrance Direct and was completely sold when I saw how they had a vast range of products at affordable prices. In fact, some of their products are the exact dupe of Benefit without the hefty price tag, one of them being the Honolulu bronzer* which I received which could easily be mistaken for Benefit's Hoola bronzer. The lovely lady also sent me the Eyelust Mascara* in Black and a Go West Matte Lipstick in Fluorescent Pink*

 

Lately, I have mastered the art and importance of contouring and have been in the search of a perfect shade and texture and I think I have found the one. If I am honest, I do like the Sleek Contour Kit in medium as I love the fact that you get a little highlighter with it too but as of late, Sleek have decided to raise their prices it seems and well at nearly nine pounds, it does seem a lot to use on a daily or 'every other day' basis.

 

Now, I don't own the Benefit Hoola version so it wouldn't be fair to compare the two in great detail but from the picture I have taken from the official Benefit website, you can see for yourself Honolulu is a clear rip off for Hoola but for the price, you really cannot complain, in fact, I may definitely choose this over Hoola time and time again simply because it is an amazing dupe at a fraction of the price, why pay more?

 

 

The packaging is almost 100% identical and the powder has a warm tone medium brown colour. It does appear quite harsh for contouring as remember it is a bronzer, yet since it is matte, it works well as both.

I like to lightly dab at it with the little square bronzer brush already provided and just blend in with my angled contour brush and I find it works brilliantly. I know many moan about the tacky little brushes you get with makeup, yet this brush is oh so soft.

I have found Honolulu also works well as an eyeshadow base or if you want to highlight the crease around the eye. You gotta love a multi use product! I know I do!

The pigmentation is great given the price and stays put. You can build up the coverage if you want to go darker by picking up more of the product onto your brush. I believe this would suit most skin tones and works great as a contour powder. I am yet to try it as a all over bronzer and I know I will not be disappointed. If I was to nitpick, I would say that packaging looks a bit cheap, but who cares? Its an absolute bargain.

If you're after a bit of contouring and bronzing without breaking the bank then I strongly suggest you add this little baby in your life....

 

 

I seem to have completely gone over the word limit with the Honolulu so will keep the next two short but as you know by now, I do like a good rambling! Anyway, back to it, I also received a lipstick from their Go West Collection called Fluorescent pink.*The colour of it is exactly as the name states, a fluorescent baby pink that has a slight sheen to it. The formula is quite creamy and glides on easily leaving a matte finish, but If I am honest, I did find it dry out my lips slightly.

The colour pay off is amazing, with just one stroke, you do get a good amount of colour that does not rub off easily as I have found the case with other similar priced lipsticks.  

I find that the colour is really buildable, you can put a few layers on if you're after the bold look or just leave it subtle which I find goes great with a smokey eye.


 


The packaging is quite sleek, plain black with pink swirly typography with a clear swatch of the colour at the bottom end which may not always be a true reflection of the colour inside as I found.

 

At first, I wasn't too keen on the shade as I normally tend to steer clear of nude/baby pinks simply because they do not go well with my complexion, but this has seemed to have grown on me.

 

And lastly, they also kindly sent me their Eyelust Mascara in black*. Now I love a good mascara, they probably are my most favourite item in the makeup world. I am all for big, bold, voluminous lashes that really draw attention to your eyes and give you that wide awake look and so, a good mascara can make all the difference to your whole look.

W7 describe Eyelust as ' for bold and voluminous sexy eyes'. As you can see from the pictures, it comes in a brightly coloured  basic packaging, as the case with all their mascaras, so you can guarantee, this will definitely stand out in your collection! The applicator is a thick bristle style brush that thankfully isn't made of plastic. The smell isn't particularly overpowering as I have found with some of the more higher priced mascaras so the chances of eye irritation is potentially minimal.

 

Personally, I have never been a great fan of the thicker style applicators, I have always felt that you can easily get a more precise, defined application when the wand is smaller, however, this may simply be my personal preference.

I am not going to lie and tell you that its the best mascara I have tried, as unfortunately it isn't and as mentioned, I do not get on well with thicker wands, but considering this is a bargain mascara, it is certainly good enough for the price it is. I wouldn't go as far as saying it gave great volume, but it did fan out my lashes, gave me a natural look I may want for an everyday/barely there look and did not smudge or clump at all. It certainly deserves a bit of credit for that at least.

 

And there you have it, a brief review on all three items. I haven't noted the prices as they all retail at different prices depending on where you buy them from, however, W7 Cosmetics can be found at selected New Look stores, Fragrance Direct (Here), Amazon (Here), Xtras (Here), Love Cosmetics (Here) and many many more.

 

Have you tried any of their products? Any thoughts?

 

xxx

 

Disclosure: All Items marked with an (*) are PR sample(s) sent for review. All views are honest and factual and sincerely my own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bargain Beauty Find: Primark Sunkissed Instant Self tanning Mousse.

Its that time of the year where you wish you were taking a flight to somewhere hot and coming back home with a glow that would bring out the green eyed monster for those that didn't.

 

 

Sadly, for me, my much desired holiday to Egypt doesn't look very likely this year simply because my youngest child is not yet out of nappies and bottles and I don't really fancy carrying all her feeding equipment around in a foreign country so I guess for the time being, I'm just going to have to 'fake' it...read on below to see what exactly I'm rambling on about.

 

I've recently started to have a liking for budget beauty buys and with that, I mean the little bits and pieces you can get in places like New Look and Primark, more so the latter in my case. I am usually quite wary of buying cheap cosmetics and would never buy something for my face just because it was cheap simply because I have looked after my skin for years and well it would be a shame to undo it all. That's not to say though, that cheap cosmetics cant be used generally as remember we all have different skins.

 

If there's one thing though I have been very curious about for a while its fake tan. Now I know what you're thinking, Since I am Asian with olive to medium skin, why on earth am I even thinking about fake tan? Well the thing is, I quite like the idea of wearing it occasionally as it gives me the perception that I'm healthy, glowing with the psychological feeling of being on holiday. For others, well the perception that I actually have had a holiday! win win!

I am currently in love with the tanned look especially on my feet as they somehow always appeared to be at least three shades lighter than the rest of my body. And just how gorgeous does a tan look with the typical summer colour nails such as coral and hot pinks, even with just a simple French Mani.

 



Before



After

 

This fantastic little bargain buy is the Instant Self Tanning Mousse from Primark at an amazing £3.50 for 200ml! Since I wouldn't be tanning much, I didn't want to fork out for an expensive one for it to just sit on my shelf, even the Superdrug own range of Solait self tanners don't come under a fiver. The verdict? Boy am I impressed. I have to admit, I didn't expect it to be as good as it is because of it being cheap but it does exactly what I want it to. Now, I'm not going to sit here and ramble on about fake tan and bore you (If you're not bored already that is!) because we all know what it is used for and what it does.

The smell isn't hugely overpowering as reportedly the case with some of the other brands, it has a slight fruity/ coconutty scent which doesn't linger on which is the first thing I love about it. The second,  which I suppose should be the first is the fact that it works instantly so no waiting a few hours for the colour to develop, simply apply as needed as it has buildable coverage so you can keep layering it on if you're after that rich tan colour. Best of all, it leaves a natural finish and doesn't appear to stain  so no complaints from the other half about orange bed sheets!

 

The consistency of it is a mousse in a pump bottle, and in fact reminds me of brown hair mousse. give the bottle a good shake with the lid on to avoid any unwanted spillages and you're ready to go. The colour medium bronze is absolutely perfect with my skin tone and I couldn't be more happier with it. I've got to give it credit for the fact that it doesn't wash off straight away too if you decide to wash the dishes or shower after, it takes a few goes for the colour to completely wear off. As the product states, it has a quick drying effect, leaves a silky finish and stays on for days. I was absolutely ecstatic to discover that it contains zero alcohol and parabens so no drying out and harming the skin! Well done Sunkissed!

I would mention however if you are quite light skinned looking to tan on a twice weekly/monthly basis then it may be worth investing in a more expensive brand and doing the whole hog, exfoliating the skin first etc etc and this is just a quick instant fix I reckon. Also, since it is in a mousse form, over time, it may completely melt out so I guess you've got to use it up quickly. Also , if you do decide to use this on your holiday as a top up, beware as it does not contain any SPF so you will need to use preferably SPF20+ as they recommend.

 

 

 

 

Would I repurchase? Most definitely yes. I really hope they don't discontinue it as its my little holiday in a bottle. definitely a cheap and cheerful buy that does what it says on the tin and perks me up.

 

 

Do you use self tanners or are you one of the lucky ones going on holiday this year?

xxx

 

Disclaimer: Please note, this product was brought with my own money and is a personal review in which I was not paid for, nor am I an affiliate with those associated with it. All views are strictly my own in the most honest form.