Tarte Tartelette Palette Review || bckysklly

It's been a while since I've written a blog post, so I'm hoping I can still remember how to spell!

Today I'll be writing about the love of my life that exists in the form of an eyeshadow palette, the Tarte 'Tartelette' palette.

I've been lusting after this palette for so long but didn't want to pay to have it imported from America as Tarte is very limited in the UK, so I'm sure you can imagine how happy I was to see it on QVC for the bargain price of £28.92!

My parcel arrived within two days of purchasing and I felt like I was a child waking up on Christmas morning opening it up. The palette contains 12 matte shades that are really pigmented and long lasting, plus they blend like a dream! The packaging is gorgeous in a hard plastic case so it feels quite luxurious and has a good sized mirror which would make this great for travelling.

The Tartelette palette is currently only avaliable on the waitlist on QVC, but there's plenty more Tarte goodies to fawn over in the mean time!

What's your favourite product from Tarte? Let me know in the comments!

More Money March! || bckysklly

You wouldn't think it from the lack of posts on here, but over the past few months I've spent a horrible amount of money on make-up. 

I haven't always been so stupidly infatuated with spending all my earnings on cosmetics, i remember when I got my first 'good wage' going into Debenhams and buying Benefit's 'Erase Paste' and panicking over the £23 price tag. But these days, i don't bat an eyelid over buying a £45 palette on impulse. I own more lipsticks than necessary for one mouth and enough foundations to cover my whole body, and I think I'm finally beginning to realise how silly it is.

Don't get me wrong, i really love collecting make-up and being able to create so many different looks with what I have, but I think i need a break from buying so much.

I find that there's always far too much month at the end of the money and I've found myself scrimping on things for a good three weeks because I've blew all my money on the latest beauty product i want.

So i've decided, for the month of March, I'm going to see how my money can last if I stop being so reckless with my spending. Do I really need ANOTHER neutral eyeshadow palette? Or another variant of pink lipstick? Definitely not! 

I'm not calling it a spending ban as such, if I need to buy powder or concealer then I will, but only if i've ran out of what I already have.

I'm also going to try and wean myself off from my love of high end make up, when there's currently so many amazing drug store brands out there. I've been lusting after the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette for ages now, but instead of committing to spending £56 on it, I decided to go for the little dupe Make Up Revolution have brought out at a fraction of the cost.

I'm not going to say this will last into April, but I'm going to try my hardest to stick to it through March. This year I want to make sure I do things i'll remember an enjoy such as a festivals and weekends away, and If I'm spending hundreds a month on things to put on my face, that's not going to happen!

I'll be doing a weekly post on how i'm getting on and if I've had any slip ups or found any amazing drug store finds.

If you've ever done anything like this, please let me know in the comments how you found it and if it helped you spend less in the following months!

Mini KIKO Cosmetics Haul! || bckysklly

Hi everybody! With having my birthday this month, I had a bit of extra cash lying round so I decided to treat myself to some new make up from the Italian brand, KIKO Cosmetics! I didn't buy loads, because I'm trying to curb my spending to I can begin to save for my holiday, but I did get a few new goodies to try out!

The quality of this brand really reminds me of MAC, especially the lipsticks. They also sell an eyeshadow in the colour Light Gold, for around £6, which is an almost exact dupe of the illustrious MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Whisper of Gilt, which can sometimes sell for £100+ online!

The website has a minimum spend of £25 and as the eyeshadow was my main reason for ordering, I chucked a couple of other things in my basket to try out. The blusher is limited edition (and also the pinkest blush I own!) and it's really pigmented and long lasting.

The darker pink lipstick is in the shade Pink Carnation and is a matte finish which currently comes in some snazzy limited edition packaging making it appear much more expensive than the £5.50 I paid for it! I also bought a Smart Lipstick in the shade Peach. The finish of this isn't named but I'd say using MAC terms, it's at the cremesheen end of the scale!
To further boost my basket, I thought I'd try out a concealer, as I'm still on a mission the beat the eye bags! I haven't actually used this yet but I'm sure a blog post will follow if I'm successful in my battle!

KIKO also threw in an After Sun Balm as a little freebie, however living in England I can't see me using this much, I think I'll stash it away for my holiday to Florida next year!

I'm really impressed with KIKO up to now, they offer free delivery on all new accounts first orders, and you can upgrade to tracked delivery for £2 in addition to this, which is amazing considering it is coming all the way from Italy! 

I can definitely see myself becoming a firm customer of KIKO's so I'd love to know if any of you have any favourite products you'd recommend! Let me know in this comments!

Topshop Lipstick Review - Straight Ace \ The Damned || bckysklly

Hi guys! Look at me, blogging twice in one week, I must be ill! Today was my favourite day of the month, payday! I'm currently off work because I've booked time off for my birthday so it only seemed right to spend it shopping! I've ordered a lot of goodies online while I'll have posts about over the next few weeks but for now, my new found lipstick love!

I only own one other Topshop lipstick, which is Infrared and I love it so much so I don't know why I've never bought any more! They retail at £8 per lipstick which is amazing, however there is currently a 2 for £12 offer on so it only seemed right to pick up two!

(L-R The Damned, Straight Ace)

I'm feeling very autumny at the minute, so I picked up two vampy shades which I'm in love with already! The shades I picked were The Damned (dupe for MAC Rebel) and Straight Ace (dupe for MAC Heroine). They have a gorgeous creamy formula which is really moisturising and lasts ages, plus they're really pigmented too!

(L-R Straight Ace, The Damned)

I'm definitely going to purchase some more Topshop lipsticks now that my favourite MAC Lipsticks have gone up a sneaky 50p (trust me, it adds up!) Do any of you have any suggestions on nice colours in the range? I think 'Brighton Rock' is next on my list!

Do you own any other shades from the range? Have you ever used any other make up from the Topshop range?

Let me know in the comments!

Naked2 Basics + Swatches! || bckysklly

Hello strangers! So as per usual, I haven't blogged in forever! In fact, since I last blogged, I've got a new job AND I've found out I'm going to be an aunty for the first time! How exciting?!

Speaking of exciting, I was lucky enough to nab one of Naked 2 Basics palettes that were on sale on my favourite ever website, Cohorted, last week.

If you don't know about Cohorted yet, you need to! It's basically a way to get your favourite beauty products with amazing discounts. Can't go wrong with that can you?

As far as I'm aware, the Urban Decay Naked 2 Basics palette hasn't been released in the UK yet, so I feel extra special to have my hands on it already! The colours are gorgeous and I can't wait to have a play around with them. They're all matte shades, but feel super creamy/velvety when applied.

Sorry about the really bad swatches! Left - without flash, Right - with flash. You can see how pigmented the colours are from these swatches, and they're so pretty too!

The Naked2 Basics palette will retail for £22, but I recommend heading over to Cohorted were I nabbed mine for an amazing £15!

What's been your best Cohorted bargain? Will you be getting Naked2 Basics when it's released? Let me know!

Song of the week! || bckysklly

Hello guys! So as I said a couple of weeks ago, every Monday I'll be posting a new song which has caught my eye (or ears!) this week. Now, if any of you are alert, you'll realize it's Tuesday and my last SOTW was nearly 3 weeks ago now! My bad! I've been working like a mad women lately so it slipped my mind but I'll carry on as of now, promise!

This week I've picked Birthday by Katy Perry, off her current album Prism. I've been a massive Katy-Cat since she first came onto the scene with 'I Kissed A Girl' and 6 years down the line she's still one of my favourites. It seems she's the only artist I'm listening to lately as I'm going to see her on her Prismatic World Tour next week and I'm getting myself super excited!

Birthday is a classic Perry song, cheeky lyrics and a song that you find yourself singing none stop from the moment you hear it. It's the fourth release of her album and I think she's still on top form. She seems to be the musical equivalent of Marmite but I definitely have a love of her that doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon!

Here's the hilarious video for Birthday, which without fail I tear up at the princess bit everytime I watch!

Are you a lover or Ms Perry? Are you going to see her on tour? Let me know in the comments!

Mini Benefit Haul! || bckysklly

Hi guys! Apologies for my lack of posts for the past few weeks, I seem to have been working none stop lately so I've not had a moment spare! I received a great little delivery in the post today, so I thought this could break up the dry spell!

Benefit are possibly my favourite beauty brand out there. Their tongue in cheek product names and eye-catching packaging really brighten up my dressing table, and if my skin agreed with their foundation, I do believe my everyday face would consist of solely Benefit products!

I purchased these three items from home shopping website QVC, who currently stock a huge variety of fabulous Benefit products, of which are usually much cheaper than buying them from another stockist. I purchased 'the POREfessional' which retails at £24.50, 'they're real! mascara' which retails at £19.50 and 'Hoola' which retails at £23.50, yet thanks to QVC I paid £49.20 for the lot, which is a massive saving of £18.30! QVC also offer Easy Pay Installments on selected items, which allow you to split the cost of your purchase over 2-3 months, which is amazing for any money conscious beauty lovers! The products are often sold as bundles and this was dubbed as 'The Iconic Collection' and I definitely agree with that!
These three items NEED to be included in any make up lovers collection. I'm a falsies lover, and I will wear them for any occasion as I was blessed with short. stumpy eyelashes. However, whenever I've used 'they're real' I actually feel comfortable enough to not have to reach for my lash glue, as it really does make a massive difference in the length of your eyelashes!
As well as stumpy lashes, Mother Nature also blessed me with a massively greasy t-zone, and no matter what primer I tried, my make up still ended up off my face by the end of the day. However, after getting a little POREfessional primer in my 'How To Look The Best At Everything!' kit, I fell in love! I honestly feel like there is witchcraft going on at Bene-towers, as this product holds my make up like a dream, and has the added bonus of making it feel ultra silky smooth too. Result!
Lastly is a product by Benefit I haven't actually tried before, but from reading reviews I've been keen to get my hands on it, so I couldn't ignore it when I found it in this offer! As a naturally pale girl, I love being able to brighten my look up with a tan from time to time, and the colour of Hoola is perfect for doing just that. It's not orange-y like most bronzers I've used before, and it's COMPLETELY matte, which means you completely eliminate the chance of looking like a twilight extra!

I'm so excited to finally add these items to my make up collection, and if you'd like to discover the wonderful section of Benefit that QVC has to offer, you can do that here!

Do you have any benefit favourites in your collection? Have you used any of these products before? 

Let me know!