Concealer is probably the thing I buy the most when it comes to make up. I definitely need something to cover up those extremely dark circles especially. I have 5 of my top Concealers that I have to share, so here they are:

Maybelline Fit Me concealer is my new favourite I bought it a few months ago and I've hardly used anything else since. It's the perfect balance between good  coverage and a natural finish. It's very build able without being cakey, it does crease under the eye slightly but can be easily fixed with a setting powder. Also if you're looking for a concealer that does fit your skin colour nearly perfectly, this is the one for you (especially as there are a fair few shades to choose from). You can get it at boots for £5.99!

left to right: KIKO Natural Concealer, Maybelline Fit Me, Maybelline Dream Touch Lumi

Another favourite of mine is the KIKO Natural Concealer, and it's safe to say that i'm obsessed with this concealer (i've been through about 6 or 7 bottles). I'm going to cut straight to it and say that if you are looking for a heavy duty concealer to cover spots this isn't the one for you. It gives a natural coverage (very skin-like) and i would recommend it if you are looking to cover scarring and you can build it up to cover your dark circles without it being cakey. The Fit Me concealer is almost like a thicker, and longer- lasting version of this one, but i'd definitely recommend the KIKO one as a light summer concealer! I know this brand is sold across Europe and there are a few stores in London; you can get it online for £5.50 here.

I'm very into doing my nails, and I don't think i'm ever not wearing nail varnish. However one of my biggest pet peeves is chipped nail varnish (well on myself anyway). On top of that, another pet peeve is when I do my nails and then they smudge...I hate smudges! Who has the time to just sit around, hands held out in a really weird position, waiting for their nails to dry? Not me (I might be a bit impatient).

So when I heard Lily Pebbles talking about how good the Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat is, I jumped at the chance to buy it when I saw it in Sally's over the summer. It's safe to say that I fell in love with it from the first time I used it, it was dry to the touch within 2 minutes (although I wouldn't recommend you go around doing everything you can to see if it's dry because let's face it...it's going to smudge).

I've been wanting to purchase this brush cleanser for while now but kept putting it off, so I finally bit the bullet and bought it a week or so ago. It's safe to say that I'm now hooked, so I thought I'd do a review for you all!

I deep clean my make-up brushes every couple of weeks using Johnson's Baby Shampoo, but I do have a fair amount of brushes so I find it quite a tedious task. So I went on the hunt for a product to spot clean my brushes; before this one I'd only ever tried one from Amazon which worked, but it was only 150ml and I noticed that it was slightly drying out my brushes. 

So anyway after reading loads of rave reviews about this I finally decided to buy it and I'm so happy I did! The brush cleanser retails at £10 and you can purchase it from any MAC store or online here (or here). You get 235ml which makes it pretty inexpensive for the amount of product that you get. This cleanser's amazing for when you're in a rush and need to clean your brushes fast, or if you need to use a different colour on the same brush as it dries almost instantly.

When Mimi found the dupe for the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette in one of our previous posts i thought that i would go and buy myself an MUA dupe. Unfortunately i couldn't find it in my local superdrug, however i did find a very similar palette to the original Naked palette!

The palette is called undressed (very sneaky MUA), and you can find it in superdrug or online here. The colours are almost identical, and a great bargain for the price of £4. Obviously, a product so affordable isn't going to have the nicest packaging compared to the Naked palette , but it's compact and easy to travel with, and i guess you get what you pay for.

The colours on the top half are naked and bottom half are Undressed.

So, every single time i watch a Mac Barbie video, there is almost always a mention of Brandy Melville.
I honestly envy the clothes she has from there, so when i found out it had come to London I was extremely excited and jumped at the chance to go!
The Store is on the Kings Road (Closest station is Sloane Square) so Mimi and I spent the afternoon in Chelsea and literally HOURS in the shop, i can't tell you how many clothes we tried on...
If you are looking for affordable cropped tees, vests, leggings etc you have to go and have a look.

One of the items i was looking for was the "you can't sit with us" beanie, however they didn't have it (and also note that the beanies are fairly small) so i was slightly disappointed about that. BUT, i bought the cropped tank version instead (£19), i can tell this is going to be a go-to tee this summer!

Another loose cropped vest i bought was a burgundy/maroon top (£12) which is a matted velvet material and i am in love, it is probably one of my favourite items i bought.

The last top i bought was this grey tee with a skull cut out on the back (£19). It is gorgeous and honestly so my style so i definitely recommend brandy to anyone who likes something a bit more edgy than just a plain Tee.

My current makeup favourites! (August 2013)

Products:

- NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Mont Blanc
- Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Light 2
- Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Transparent
- Max Factor Miracle Touch Creamy Blush in Soft Pink
- Nars Laguna Bronzer
- Benefit High Beam 
- Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette
- Benefit Brow Zing
- Maybelline Expression Kajal in 35 White
- Bourjois Liner Feutre in 11 Noir
- Max Factor False Lash Fusion Mascara in Black
- Clarins Instant Light Lip Perfector in 01 Rose Shimmer
- MAC Lipstick in Rebel
- Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 107
- Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry Me
- Real Techniques Blush Brush
- Real Techniques Buffing Brush (Part of the Core Collection)
- Real Techniques Brow Brush (Part of the Starter Set)
- Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush (Part of the Starter Set)
- Mac 239 Eye Shader Brush
- Double Sided Urban Decay Eye Shadow Brush (Available in the Naked 2 Palette)

Thought I'd show you all some products that I've been loving at the moment, I wouldn't call them my August Favourites because I've been loving them for a while now - some are old purchases, some are new!

Be sure to comment if you want a full review of any of the products mentioned!

M xxx

P.S. Sorry for the lack of blog posts recently, but we will be posting more regularly now so be sure to check back.

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette Dupe!

MUA Undress Me Too.

< These are the names of the shadows in the MUA Undress Me Too palette.





The other day I managed to discover a drugstore/highstreet dupe for the Naked 2 Palette by Urban Decay. It is the MUA (Make Up Academy) 'Undress Me Too' Palette, which is only £4 compared to the Naked 2 which retails at £36!
I discovered this completely by accident - I was in Superdrug and loved the look of the MUA palette so I bought it, it wasn't until the other day when I was swatching both palettes that I realised that they are almost exactly the same..

(Naked 2 shadows on the left, Undress Me Too on the right).

As you can see from the swatches above, the colours are nearly exactly the same. The only significant difference that I've found between the two is that the Naked 2 shadows are much more pigmented than those in the MUA palette. Also, the Undress Me Too shadows are quite crumbly and you can definitely see the difference between the quality of the two palettes.

However, that being said the shadows in the MUA palette are definitely still usable and considering the palette's only £4 it doesn't really matter that the pigmentation and consistency of the shadows are different. 

(Urban Decay Naked 2 at the top, MUA Undress Me Too underneath)

There is pretty much no difference between Half Naked and Devotion (MUA palette), whereas Shy (MUA) is quite a bit lighter than Bootycall and it has slightly less of a pink-y undertone.

Tease and Lavish (MUA) are exactly the same, there's no difference in colour between them at all. Chopper and Fiery (MUA) are pretty much the same except Fiery is a little lighter and has slightly more gold undertones in it. There is definitely a difference between Snakebite and Dreamy (MUA) - Snakebite is darker and less shimmery (which makes it easier to use in the crease).

One thing I would say about the MUA Palette is that the consistency of Corrupt (The black MUA shadow) is horrible - it's really rough and crumbly and virtually unusable. 

If you're on a budget or can't bring yourself to splash out £36 on the Naked 2 palette, then go to Superdrug and pick up Undress Me Too - the colours are pretty much exactly the same and Naked 2 is 9x the price.. I probably wouldn't have bought my Naked 2 had I known there was such a close dupe for it!
However I'm glad I have my Naked 2 palette because the pigmentation of the shadows is much better and they are much higher quality, and this is quite an important quality for me.

I hope this was helpful, and let us know if you know of any highstreet/drugstore dupes for high-end products!

M xxx