Benefit Watt's Up Highlighter | Review and Swatch

Benefit Watt's Up! is one of my favourite Benefit products. It's still a recent addition to their cosmetics line and is noticeably different to the other highlighters they produce (Such as High Beam and Moon Beam). This is one of the most beautiful highlighters I have ever used, it leaves a very natural sheen to your skin without leaving you looking like a disco ball.

The Claim:

'This cream-to-powder highlighter turns up the wattage with a delicate, gorgeous champagne glow. Its smooth application and luminous sheen switches on the "wow" factor for any complexion. Apply it to cheeks and browbones, then sculpt with the soft-glow blender for your perfect gleam.'

Packaging:
As always, Benefit is top-dog when it comes to makeup packaging. Their fun and quirky packaging is eye drawing, and their cute names make a product memorable. I love the packaging of this and was drawn to it initially because of it. I also like the name 'Watt's Up' which is a play on words, and the bottle then looks a bit like a lightbulb.

The product has two sides. The first side is a sponge applicator to blend the product into your face. I actually like the applicator, which is a surprise as I tend to hate the applicators that come with products. The only worry I would have is that the sponge could possible attract bacteria as it would be difficult to clean.

The second side of the product is the highlighter itself,  it work by twisting it up and then either applying it straight to the cheeks or using a brush. I tend to mix between methods depending on if I'm traveling or not. I find it easiest to apply straight from the applicator, but more precise to use a brush.

Application:
I've already briefly touched on this, but application is really easy. It is also a very creamy formula so it is incredible easy to blend. I don't usually wear cream highlighters but I've found that they are much easier to blend than both liquid and powder highlighters, which can sometimes be a bit more difficult to blend into your foundation.

Pigmentation:
As you can see in the swatch it is a very pigmented product and a little goes a long way. It does look dark on my fair skin but it is easy to blend in (I could have blended the swatch in more but it would have been hard to photograph the effect). I like to wear this just above my bronzer to add a sheen to it. I still use this in the winter though when I use less bronzer, it adds a very natural 'lit from within' glow to my face.

Lasting Power:
The lasting power of this is good too. I've gotten 8+ hours of wear out of this. It's also incredibly easy to touch up due to the creamy texture. So even though a powder formula may last a bit longer, it's a lot easier to touch it up than it would be to touch up a powder highlighter.

Availability and Price:
The Benefit Watt's Up! Highlighter is available for £24.50 from Benefit Cosmetics.

I highly recommend this highlighter, it's one of my favourites in my makeup bag. It has such a gorgeous sheen to it and highlights the skin beautifully. It is on the pricier side but you get a lot of product and it lasts ages.

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Toni & Guy Sea Salt Texturising Spray | Review

I'm not one of those people that use a lot of products on my hair. Sure I curl it with curling wand quite a bit, and sometimes I straighten it, but that's pretty much all I really do to my hair. I'm rubbish with trying to put my hair into nice hairstyles and I don't have the time to spend ages on time and prefer to spend my time on my makeup rather than my hair. My sister is the opposite though, she has so many hair products its ridiculous. I recently saw this when I was in the haircare section of Boots and had heard good things about sea salt spray so decided to pick it up.

Toni & Guy's Claim:

'Creates texture and body with light to medium hold. Suitable for all hair types and perfect for achieving a lived in, beach look. Spritz evenly root to tip, on towel-dried or dry hair and work through to create tousled waves and natural movement.

For extra hold and texture, layer through dry hair and re-style with fingers.'

I love this spray. It helps create texture in your hair. It really give you that beach look which it claims to do. It is really easy to apply you just spray it in your hair and scrunch it up with your fingers to get that tousled beach-hair look. You can control how textured your hair is by how much you apply and how much you mess with your hair. It does look very natural and looks simply windswept.

I personally apply this on dry hair as I don't like to style my hair wet. I find it is easier to see what I'm doing and how my hair will look.

My Hair with Sea Salt Spray

It also leaves your hair smelling like the sea which I personally love. I smell my hair and it makes me think of being at the beach!

The only thing I'd be careful is that this could potentially make your hair look greasy if you applied too much. I'm lucky that I have quite dry hair so my hair doesn't tend to look greasy, but if you have oily hair I'd be careful with how much you apply.

I love how easy this is to apply too. I hate spending a lot of time on my hair. And curling my hair usually takes about 20 minutes. This gives a similar effect and only takes me a couple of minutes. It has also meant I use heat products on my hair less often, which is a good thing!

Does it last?
It does last pretty well. I found this did last all day but after about 5+ hours the hair does start to lose some its texture. I don't tend to use hairspray on my hair though, so lasting time could be improved.

Packaging:
This is a small bottle so its really light and portable. It's perfect for travel and its a good size to put into your hand bag if you want to use it during the day. I also really like the blue tones of the bottle as it reminds me of the sea.

Pricing and Availability:
The 75ml bottle (which I have) is only £2.19 and I can see it lasting a good while. You can get a 200ml bottle for £7.19 so it's definitely on the cheap side. You can get it from Boots.

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Why It's Ok to be Pale

I''m incredibly pale. It's a fact, from a young age I've constantly been asked 'Why are you so pale?' 'Are you ill?' or even 'Are you a vampire?'. I used to hate my pale skin and try to cover it up by fake tanning or using darker foundation (and blending it down to the neck). However, I have recently begun to embrace my pale skin for what it is. And I hope that I can show some of your other pale people out there, why you should too.

Before I start this post, I would like to say that I am in no way against tanned skin (natural or fake). I myself love the look of glowing tanned skin, and have fake tanned before. However, I feel that around this time of year, people who are naturally very pale sometimes feel down about their natural skin colour. If you are anything like me, you won't tan naturally in the sun (I don't really burn either so that's a plus) and fake tan doesn't look quite right on you because 1. everyone can tell that its fake as you are so pale 2. all your makeup is suited to pale skin and doesn't look quite right and 3. You look so different you don't look like 'you' anymore.

This post therefore is in no way a bashing of tanned skin, I am personally jealous of those who have such amazing skin and wish I could achieve the same. However, this post is about a celebration of pale skin and should hopefully help people feel like its ok if they want to show off their pale skin in the summer.

Pale Skin is timeless. In Victorian times, pale skin used to be the envied skintone and considered something to aspire to. The logic behind this was that the paler a woman's skin was, the less time she spent outside working. So those with paler skin were more likely to be from money and not need to work. While this logic doesn't exactly apply today, it shows that pale skin is a classic, timeless look. Also, think of how beautiful the actresses look in period dramas. They all have pale skin.

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Pale skin IS sexy. I've often heard comments that paleskin can't be sexy and only those with a tan  can be. To all those people, I dare you to look at these images and still say that:

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Look how many pale celebrities there are that women are envious of? There are many celebrities who are known for their pale skin and who embrace it, and they are beautiful.

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I hope that this had showed how beautiful pale skin is, and it should not be something that is dismissed as 'sickly looking' nor should people ever be told 'you need to get a tan'. Everyone should love their natural skin colour.

If you have pale skin let me know if you embrace yours and how, if you have any reasons why you should love being pale, let me know in the comments!

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My Top 5 Nail Polishes | Summer

1. OPI A Good Man-Darin is Hard to Find

2. OPI Planks a Lot

3. Barry M Pink Flamingo

4. Illamasqua Radium

5. OPI Don't Mess with OPI

I love nail polish. I especially love summer nail polish, I love wearing the bright pinks and pastel lilacs and just love who they pull together any summer outfit. I thought I'd show you my top 5 favourite nail polishes that I've been wearing this summer.

OPI A Good Man-Darin is Hard to Find

First of all, I love this name. This is a gorgeous bright orange nail polish. I'm not generally into orange colours but I love how this one looks on my nails. It's bright without being being visible from a million miles away. I love wearing this with coral colours as the two compliment each other really well. I always like it if I'm wearing denim shorts as the blue and orange contrast beautifully.

OPI Planks a lot

This is your summer essential lilac. It's a gorgeous pastel colour that will look lovely with anything you put it with. It's more understated than some of the other but looks very girly and feminine. I love this when I'm wearing dresses as it makes my nails just look girly and chic.

Barry M Pink Flamingo

I think a bright pink is essential for summer, it just goes with everything. I love how this looks great when I'm pale and also if I have a bit of tan. This is actually one of my favourite colours to wear year round as it looks great with everything and makes my nails look bright and gorgeous. It's similar to OPI's Stawberry Margarita.

Illamasqua Radium

This is either going to be a love-it or a hate-it kind of colour. Some will love it and think it's beautiful whereas some will think it's ugly. I wouldn't recommend wearing this on your toes though as it can make them look a bit odd. It's a gorgeous light yellow-green with a very subtle silver shimmer through it that makes it pop. It's quite similar to OPI's Who the Shrek are you? or Did it On 'Em but with the silver sheen. This just makes your nails look super bright and is very different to other nail polishes I own.

OPI Don't Mess with OPI

Finally, OPI Don't Mess with OPI is a gorgeous darker green. It's darker than the other nail polishes and it's great for wearing on a summer evening where you may want a more sophisticated and darker nail. It's a lovely colour and makes my nails look longer for some reason. It's very easy to wear and will go well with everything. It's also good for those who may not like particularly bright colours or colours like pink and purple but still want a summer nail.

So those are my top 5 summer nail polishes for the summer. Let me know if you like any of these and what your favourite summer nail polishes are in the comments below.

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My Top 5 MAC Lipsticks | Summer

I love bright lipstick. One of the things I love most about summer is the chance to wear those bright pink colours along with the corals and subtle nudes. My favourite brand for lipsticks has always been MAC, I love the huge choice of colour they have, you are sure to find something you like. There are certain lipsticks I go back to time and time again, which I've decided to share with you all.


1. MAC 'To Catch a Sailor'

 One of my favourite lipsticks for summer is this golden-tan colour from the MAC 'Hey Sailor!' collection last summer. I always love the look of tan lipsticks on people, but being so pale, I often find that they don't look right on me. However, this lipstick suits my pale complexion and makes me look a bit more bronzed in the summer months.

It's a frost finish which means there is shimmer on the lips, but this is subtle and does not look over the top. As it is a frost it can be a little more on the dry side so it is recommended to moisturize your lips well before using it, or to add a gloss over the top.

I love the lipstick with a bit of bronzer and loose wavy hair on a sunny day.

2. MAC 'Angel'

 MAC 'Angel' is a well known lipstick shade. It's a light pink shade that is known for being one of Kim K's favourite shades. It's the sort of shade that looks good one everyone, regardless of skin colour/tone.

On me, the shade is lighter than my actual lip colour so appears a light pink. However, on people with lighter lip colours than me, it appears as a more netural pink colour. This colour is really nice for wearing natural and no-makeup makeup as the colour isn't too far away from the average lip colour. I especially like this colour when wearing very dramatic eyes, e.g. smokey eyes.

I love this lipstick for summer as I prefer to wear more natural looking makeup in the summer time and this helps me achieve that. It looks really nice with a light pink lipgloss added over the top too. 

3. MAC 'Girl About Town'

 MAC 'Girl About Town' is the least summery of all of the shades I've picked, but I still like to wear it in summer. It's good for those days in August where even though its summer and the sun should be shining, it's pouring it down with rain. It looks more summery than red and maroons, but still isn't so summery that it looks out of place. I also love to wear on a warm day with a pale pink lipgloss. This lightens the colour a bit and makes it more summmery.

The lipstick is an amplified finish, and is very pigmented as you can see by the swatch. The lasting power on this lipstick is very good as well, it last for ages due to its high pigmentation.

4. MAC 'Naughty Saute'

 Naughty Saute (don't you just love MAC lipstick names?) is a very bright pink. Think in your face bright pink that you can notice from a mile off. Well not quite, but Naughty Saute is almost at that level. It's a very bright light-ish pink. To me, this is such a summer colour the bright pink looks great with pink cheeks and minimal eye makeup.

I often find that the pink is a bit bright to wear on its own so often tone it down with a slightly lighter lipgloss, keeping the very bright pink colour but making it a bit more wearable.Also, it's a blue based pink, which means it won't make your teeth look slightly yellow as I know some bright pink lipsticks have a habit of doing it.

It's a cremesheen formula which is one of my favourite mac lipstick formulas as they are more moisturising, which is good for such a bright lipstick. It glides on and leaves a quite a glossy finish. The wear time on this is also good about 3-4 hours depending on if you are eating/drinking.

5. MAC 'Watch me Simmer'

 This last lipstick is my favourite of the bunch, and I think you can tell by the slightly deformed shape of the lipstick, the one I wear the most.

Watch me Simmer is a bright coral red which looks nice with just about anything. I really love how this looks with all my summer clothes. It also compliments a lot of summer makeup. For example, I've worn this with a very bronzed smokey eye with heavy contouring and its looked great. It's also looked good with more simple eye makeup and just a hint of blusher on my cheeks. It's a very versatile shade.

It's an amplified formula which means it is highly pigmented, this means you will be able to get the shade in the lipstick on your lips. I find it to be a very moisturising lipstick and don't find it dries out my lips at all. This will be the main lipstick I am wearing all summer for sure.


These are my top 5 favourite MAC lipsticks to wear in the summer, let me know what lipsticks you will be rocking in the summer months in the comments below!

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Dreams Unlimited™ Sun Fresh Eau de Toilette | Review

The Body Shop is most well known for its skincare range, most notably its body butters. I have their body butters and scrubs and love them, however, I had never tried out any of their fragrances. I spotted this one recently and was in love with the bottle design and the scent. It's hard to describe, but to me, this smells like summer in a bottle.

Scent: According to The BodyShop:

"This summery fragrance is a blend of neroli blossom and refreshing watermelon notes. It is vibrant, energising and as refreshing as a splash in the ocean."

There is also added sea spray and fruity watermelon. Personally, I love this combination and I do find it to be a very refreshing scent. I like spraying this on really hot days as I find it really cools me down.

Lasting Power: This is an Eau de Toilette so the scent and the staying power isn't as good as that of an Eau de Parfum, however I find this lasts around 4 hours on me which isn't too bad for an Eau de Toilette.The bottle is small and light so it is portable if you wished to carry it around with you.

Packaging: I really love this packaging, the gradient from blue to yellow reminds me of the summer and being by the ocean. The packaging shows that this is a summer scent. The bottle isn't too heavy too so I don't feel like I'm scared I'll drop it every time I use it. It is also a 50ml size which is pretty good for the price as the standard size for fragrances is around 30ml.

Avalibility and Price: £15 from The Body Shop.

Would I repurchase?: I really like this scent, but for me it is definitely a summer scent so I would only really wear this in the summer, and would choose something else for the winter.For the summer, I do really like this and will continue to wear it, particularly on hot days.

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