Some Summery Blushes

During the couple of weeks in April/ May that I actually had a tan I was thrilled to be able to pull some blushes out of my collection that I find a little trickier to wear when I’m at my pastiest. Yes with a light hand I can use them all year round but some things just look better when you’re bronzer. 

Clockwise from left we have NARS Orgasm, Illamasqua Hussy, Topshop cream blush in Pinch, The Balm Hot Mama, Sleek Scandalous. 

Swatched from top to bottom The Balm Hot Mama, Topshop Pinch, Illamasqua Hussy, NARS Orgasm and Sleek Scandalous. 

All of these are very pigmented and easy to overdo which can make them very unforgiving on pale skin. In fact I generally apply all of these with my MAC 188 stippling brush. 

Do you switch up your blush depending on the time of year? Let me know in the comments! x

The Balm Hot Mama Blush (with Coralista/ Orgasm comparison)

I picked this up in TK MAXX for £5.99 instead of £15. First impressions are good. The packaging is adorable and feels relatively sturdy despite being cardboard. you get 7.08g of products which is not bad at all and the pigmentation is good so you don’t need a lot. 

In the pan is it a deep peachy coral with gold shimmer running through it. The shimmer is quite full on in the pan but thankfully doesn’t translate too much to the cheeks. I’m not a fan of glitter bomb blushes! Wait... peachy coral blush with gold shimmer? We’ve seen these before surely? I pulled out Benefit Coralista and NARS Orgasm to compare. 

They look similar in the pan, more so than I was expecting actually. The shimmer in chunkier and more obvious in Hot Mama and Orgasm than it is in Coralista. The swatches confirms that these aren’t really dupes though. 

Please excuse the shoddy picture. Al l the ones with flash were washed out and the lighting is nonexistent here at this time of year. I’ll replace it with a better shot when the lighting improves. Anyway in person you can clearly see that Coralista (in the middle) is much softer and pinker. Hot Mama (bottom) is more peach with larger flecks of sparkle. Orgasm (top) is deeper and pinker though again has quite significant gold flecks.

Do you need all three? I think Coralista is significantly different but if you have Orgasm you can probably skip this. I think Hot Mama looks slightly more flattering on my pale neutral skin x

*Bought by me*

TK Max & Asda Haul (I’ll go to my room now and think about what I’ve done)

In my defence the last time I ‘hauled’ was November. Apart from the MAC pencil from Cham Pale... Anyhoo nothing else will be bought this month honest! Firstly I stumbled across the cheap jewellery clearance section in Asda. I’m forever losing earrings so I like to stock up on super cheap ones that I won’t be upset about when they inevitably disappear. 

Then we went to TK Max. For those of you who aren’t in the UK TK Max is a discount shop which has all sorts of random (sometimes designer brands) on sale. It’s hit and miss but sometimes you find some absolute gems! Stila is very hard to come by these days in the UK and I’ve never seen the Balm anywhere in the UK. I picked up two Stila value packs.

The first contains and oil free tinted moisturiser in medium (this will be going to my mum who is much darker than me), a shine lip colour in Anna and an eye shadow pan in Sajama. According to the price tag it should have been £61 and I paid £7!! The second pack contains another shine lip colour in Sonia, a Kajal in Topaz and an eye shadow pan in Batura. This had an RRP of £42.50 and cost £8.99. Now do you see why I bought these? 

I spotted the Balm Hot Mama blush £5.99 instead of the RRP of £19.00 so this came home with me too. When I first opened it I immediately thought of NARS orgasm but I swatched the two and they are very different. 

For £4.99 instead of RRP £16.50 I got a H2O+ Sea Clear t-zone mattifier. It claims you can use it over makeup or alone to control shine. I’m very excited to try this! 

Finally my eyelash curler is on its last legs so when Ed spotted this MsMakeup one (I’m sure i’ve seen this brand in Boots?) for £2.99 instead of £6.99 into the basket it went. 

Ok ok... I’ve been bad and I know it but It’s been a while since I succumbed to my makeup addiction! I’d been doing so well and then all of a sudden became overwhelmed by the urge to by something new. I don’t think it’s too bad as I have never tried these brands before and goodness knows I’d be unlikely to find them this cheap again! Am I forgiven?

*All bought with my own pennies*