By Adrienne, Scotland Contributor

Adrienne lives in Scotland, and she writes for The Sunday Girl, which is mostly beauty but with a little life thrown into the mix. She was born and bred in Scotland, still resides in a damp Scottish town, and jokes that she sees about three days of sunshine a year–but it’s a lovely place to live. She is currently attending university studying both English and French with hopes to become an English teacher.In her free time, she loves to shop and hang out with friends–and beauty blog when she can!

SleekMakeUp Original Palette

5 Life-Changing Products from the UK

I typed this post up with the though what local to me products do I reach for on an almost daily basis and what products would I wholeheartedly recommend without a second thought. Truth be told the list was rather large but I have scaled it back to just five must have products!

SleekMakeUp Original Palette (£6.49)

Most palettes come with a running theme, such as neutral, smoky, or brights but this 12-pan palette has nearly all the colors covered. The original palette has a vast array of shades from bright to neutral that will easily carry you from day to night all encased in a slim compact with a sizable mirror. Each eyeshadow is highly pigmented and mineral based. The black eyeshadow in this palette has to be one of the most pigmented I have ever stumbled across, and it can double up as an eyeliner if you apply it wet.  It’s the perfect eye palette to keep in your handbag for any occasion!

Gosh Lipstick (£6.49)

Gosh lipsticks are all highly pigmented, come in a variety of finishes, apply with ease, and wear comfortably throughout the day without drying out the lips.  I get around four hours of wear from each application, but I am a habitual re-applier so you may find you get longer from each application. Unlike some drugstore brands, these are not highly scented, which I know some may find offensive. My personal favorite shade by Gosh is Darling, as not only can it be worn as a nude milky lip shade, but I also find it works particularly well as a lip eraser if you apply, blot, and then apply your chosen lip color on top. Gosh are particularly good at launching limited edition shades for each season to coincide with runway trends. Another shade to look out for is Gosh Tropical Pink that looks just wonderful on all skin tones.

Accessorize Bronzer Duo (£6.00)

As you might have noticed, I like my products to work hard and have more than one use; anything that can double-up has my attention. Accessorize Bronzer Duos are baked bronzers that are very similar in texture and finish to MAC’s Mineralize Skinfnishes, only with a much reduced price tag.  These are branded as bronzers, one shade in the duo tends to be far too light to do any bronzing and is best suited as a highlighting product, which makes it a multi-tasking product. You can apply the light shade as a highlighter, the darker shade as a bronzer, or sweep both shades together. My personal favourite is the Laguna shade that consists of a pink-toned bronze shade combined with a champagne toned section.

Check out two more life-changing products and photos!

Eyelure Girls Aloud False Eyelashes (£5.19 and up)

If you live outside of Europe, chances are you won’t have heard of Girls Aloud.  To enlighten curious minds, they are a British pop group whom are more known for their personal lives than music but don’t let that put you of.  The eyelashes with their branding happen to be some of the best out there! Available in five different styles from natural to full-on glamour, there is a pair for everyone and each occasion. The lashes are well-constructed, and if you take care of them properly, you will be able to reuse them a few times without the lash losing its shape. Each pack comes with an individual vial of lash glue that is resealable, which is perfect for touch ups on the go. They are extremely comfortable to wear as they are lightweight; I often forget that I am wearing them. I have naturally straight eyelashes, which don’t hold a curl at all, so to perk up my eyes I often rely on the Nadine style that works really well both day and night.

Fashionista Custom Palettes (£4.00)

This is a very recent discovery of mine that has quickly become a firm favorite. Fashionista Custom Palettes are palettes that allow you to combine eyeshadow and blush refills inside one sleek palette. Personally, I hate weighing down my make-up bag with more products than needed, so I really like the clever and functional idea of having a palette that allows you to combine different products. At first, I thought the whole concept was more of a novelty, but I can vouch that the eyeshadows and blushes are wonderful quality.  Each is well-pressed and pigmented and come in a vast variety of shades and finishes. The palette itself is well made; sturdy and slim with a large mirror housed inside. I personally favor the double baked eyeshadows and matte blushes, but there is a shade and finish for everyone’s preference.

SleekMakeUp Original Palette

GOSH Darling Lipstick

Accessorize Bronzer

Eyelure Girls Aloud False Eyelashes

Fashionista Custom Palettes

By Adrienne, Scotland Contributor

Adrienne lives in Scotland, and she writes for The Sunday Girl, which is mostly beauty but with a little life thrown into the mix. She was born and bred in Scotland, still resides in a damp Scottish town, and jokes that she sees about three days of sunshine a year–but it’s a lovely place to live. She is currently attending university studying both English and French with hopes to become an English teacher.In her free time, she loves to shop and hang out with friends–and beauty blog when she can!

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth Palette

5 Holy Grail Products from the UK

Today, I am going to share with you some great British products that I use on almost on a daily basis. These are products that have become great staples in my ever growing make-up bag. I thought long and hard about my five choices and whittled my list down by asking myself, “What would I recommend to a friend?”

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth Palette (£4.00) is a palette of twelve neutral eyeshadows that has almost reached cult status, and rightly so, as it is a really pretty selection of neutral shadows as well as it is an extremely good dupe for the often hard to source Urban Decay Naked Palette. The main differences aside from price, (MUA Pro palettes cost £4, Urban Decay Naked Palette retails around £35), is that MUA Pro palette is constructed wholly of shimmer and frost eye shadows compared to the Naked Palette, which has more of a variety in finishes. Heaven and Earth leans towards the cool end of the spectrum but each eyeshadow is finely-milled and packs a punch pigmentation wise. For £4, it is a wonderful neutral palette to add to your stash, but you may want to skip it if prefer matte formulas.

Barry M Lip Paints (£4.49) have a huge selection of shades–thirty one at last count–and they are always adding new shades to the line.  There really is a shade for everyone! I am a huge lipstick fan; I’d go as far as saying it is my favorite thing to purchase cosmetic-wise. For me there is no better UK high street brand for lipsticks than Barry M. Each shade is intensely pigmented and wears extremely well.  On average, I get around four hours wear per application. Unlike some high street/drugstore brands, these do not have am artificial smell nor are they overly drying in formula. There is one down side to Barry M lipsticks, though, and that is they all have the same semi-matte satin finish. Barry M lipsticks are well known for being great dupes for famous brands that are hard to get or of popular sold out shades. For instance, Barry M #147 Peach Pink is a wonderful dupe for MAC’s Ever Hip!

SleekMakeUp Blushes (£4.30) come with a low price tag but perform just as well, if not better, than some of the leading high-end brands out there. With the huge array of blushes available on the market, you grow to have high expectations regardless of the price tag! Why should you pay top dollar for a lackluster product? What I personally enjoy about SleekMakeUp blushes is that they are insanely pigmented, so much so that I urge all light skinned ladies to approach these with a light hand. The reason all SleekMakeUp products carry a high dosage of pigment is due to the fact the line was originally created with dark skin tones in mind. In my experience (and I have a stash of around ten), each one of the blushes is highly pigmented but also so finely milled and well pressed that the shades are never chalky, apply well with minimal fallout, and are a dream to apply and blend. My personal recommendation is Rose Gold, which is similar to a very famous shade with a rude name–yep–NARS Orgasm!

17 Wild Eyes Mousse Eyeshadows (£3.99) are a new addition to the Boots 17 line and come in six shades.  They are a semi-soft cream eyeshadow that works equally as well as an eyeshadow base or as a subtle all over wash of color.  I have been preaching about these little leopard print pots of cream shadow to all that will listen!  17 Wild Eyes Eyeshadows dry down to a powder finish. They are extremely easy to apply and wear best with a primer of some kind. I have oily lids, and with a primer, I can get eight hours of wear. Some have likened these to Chanel, but I see them as more a rival to MAC Paint Pots as this is what the texture most emulates and wears most similarly to. If you do try these out, I highly recommend the Wild Nude shade.

Collection 2000 Ultimate Wear Concealer (£3.99) is excellent! It is very seldom that you come across a budget buy concealer that performs well. On first inspection, it looks like any cheap drugstore buy, and you would be forgiven for not having high expectations, but this is certainly a case of not judging the book by the cover. Inside the tube houses a doe foot applicator and a thick, yet creamy, concealer that blends exceptionally well and hides all imperfections from dark circles to blemishes. It is a little on the thick side but not so much so that it can’t be used on the delicate eye area, and it doesn’t crease either. The only downsides of this product is the lack of shade variety as there are only three shades. My one tip for any potential buyers would be to choose one shade lighter than you would usually purchase as they have a tendency to oxidize throughout the day. I am an NC37 in Mac and wear shade two – light, if that provides any help!

Check out more photos & swatches!

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth Palette

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth Palette

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth Palette

Barry M Lip Paints

SleekMakeUp Blushes

17 Wild Eyes Mousse Eyeshadows

17 Wild Eyes Mousse Eyeshadows

By Adrienne, Scotland Contributor

Adrienne lives in Scotland, and she writes for The Sunday Girl, which is mostly beauty but with a little life thrown into the mix. She was born and bred in Scotland, still resides in a damp Scottish town, and jokes that she sees about three days of sunshine a year–but it’s a lovely place to live. She is currently attending university studying both English and French with hopes to become an English teacher.In her free time, she loves to shop and hang out with friends–and beauty blog when she can!

Holiday Gift Guide: UK Edition

Christmas is the time of giving be it a treat for a loved one or something special for yourself, we all deserve a little pick me up now and then. I have picked five of the best value for money gift sets and stocking fillers available from the U.K. high street. I would like to wish each and everyone of Temptalia’s readers a Happy Holidays!

The Accessorize Complete Collection Gift Set (£9.99) has everything a beauty junkie could ever wish for and more! Nestled inside a floral leopard print gift box sits eight full size products. The great thing about this gift set, aside its price point, is the large variety of products; not only do you get cosmetics (a mascara, three eyeshadows and a blush) but there are also two bath and body items that have a light floral scent. I often use Accessorize make-up and can vouch that it is all of great quality, highly pigmented, and wonderfully packaged so whoever you gift this bounty too will be one lucky person indeed. I can’t help but feel this would make a great present for a best friend!

The festive season is a wonderful time of the year but it does tend to bring with it a whole lot of parties that require some season appropriate make-up. Glitter can sometimes be a little over the top depending on the type of event you have been invited to so why not treat yourself to this complete GOSH Gold Eye Kit (£5.99 ). For little more than five pounds you get in return three full size co-ordinating products, a gold baked eyeshadow, gold semi-permanent liquid eyeliner and black mascara. I have tested this set and can report that the eyeshadow is well pigmented and easy to blend, the mascara is jet black and gives a natural effect and lastly the liquid liner stays put all day and then some. Gold is one of the few shades that looks wonderful on the majority of skin tones so this would make a joyous treat for yourself or if you are having a Secret Santa event with girlfriends you could do far worse than this set.

Unlike the rest of the gift ideas mentioned in this guide, SleekMakeUp The Berry Collection (£10.00) is a limited edition so you’ll have to be quick to avoid disappointment. Berry really is the perfect shade for winter, and what better way to try and test such hue with a delightful colour coordinated gift set? This trio has a matte blusher, matte lipstick, and kohl liner that can double up as a lip or eye colour all in a warm berry tone. Any makeup lover would be more than happy to receive this gift set this holiday season. As SleekMakeUp was originally founded for darker skinned ladies, you can rest assure that each product will pack a punch in terms of pigmentation. Personally I would gift this to an aunt or cousin as it has a sophisticated feel.

For me one of the hardest gifts to source is that of a makeup fan that is a beginner and rather new to cosmetics. You want something that is easy for them to use, and more importantly, a gift that they will actually use. My younger sisters fit such bill, and I have searched high and low for the prefect gift.  I recently found the Studio Look Books, which contain the perfect cosmetic items housed inside book-like packaging to create one of many looks. I settled for the Neutral Look Book (£5.99) as the shades are forgiving, making it more difficult to notice any faults in application but more importantly the colour scheme is one she can wear to school. The gift set comes with a step by step guide to aid any beginners. All of the eyeshadows and blush in this compact are baked, it also contains a neutral pale lip gloss and a glossy black mascara, all in all a great gift for a beginner of any age!

The thing I hate shopping for is stocking fillers; I’m terrible at choosing small gifts and always go over budget, which is never good. This year I have decided to treat those that I buy small gifts, stocking fillers if you will, a MUA Pro Palette (£4.00) each. These palettes are budget friendly at £4 and each contains twelve eyeshadows in various complimentary tones and formulas. The two palettes I will be stocking up on to gift to friends are Dusk ‘til Dawn – “A versatile collection of eyeshadows that will transform your look from day to night” and Glitter Ball – “A spectacular collection of eyeshadows that will add sparkle to your eyes for ultimate impact.” Both have more than enough sparkle and variety to see through the holiday and beyond season with ease.

What are your picks for holiday gifts from the UK?