Inglot Freedom System Concealer Palette Review

I have a very love hate relationship when it comes to beauty palettes, you buy it because you convince yourself it'll be great for travelling and that you'll save loads of money as buying each product individually would cost a fortune but you ultimately buy it because it's pretty. In reality you end up using a couple of shades from each palette and the rest is left untouched after that initial swatching session we do with all new products. But that's not the case with Inglot's Freedom System because (as the name suggests) you have the freedom to create your own palette with the products and shades the you want. You can create blush, powder, concealer, eyeshaddow, brow, lip and fragrance palettes, all coming in various sizes.

I decided to create myself a concealer quad that could be used for highlighting, contouring, concealing and correcting as I haven't really seen a palette that covered these 4 bases. First off the packaging is gorgeous and looks very expensive, though it does have that matte Nars-esque packaging that makes it impossible to clean as you can see in the pictures. 

As for the concealers, they are a beautifully pigmented and of a creamy finish. I'd say they give a medium coverage and because of their creamy texture they need setting a lot but it does mean they blend nicely which is crucial if you want to use them for contouring.

From L to R - DW300, LW100, P and G

Each concealer was £5 and the cost of the palette was £7 resulting in a total cost of £27 which I think is very good value for money especially when you know that you will use each and every product.

This post isn't sponsored but I just love the idea of the freedom system that I could not do a review of the palette I bought. Yes I know that some other brands do similar things but I can't think of one who has such a wide variety of choice for such a reasonable price.

What do you think of the Freedom System? Have you tried any Inglot products?

Eleanor xx

Mini Beauty Haul

While I love makeup I would never consider myself a makeup collector or hoarder as something I've always been quite good at is deciding what I really need and what I don't. This being said I do tend to spend a considerable amount of money on makeup but they are always calculated purchases. That is probably the reason why today's mini beauty haul comprises mainly of repurchases but you know what they say 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'!

My all time favourite foundation (well so far) has to be Estee Lauder's Double Wear Foundation and I constantly repurchase it again and again. Like with any product there are lovers and haters but Double Wear is an especially Marmite product within the beauty community, luckily for me it really suits my skin type and gives me that high coverage flawless finish I need to cover my acne scarring. 

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation £29.50

The are some products that I would never look in the drugstore for such as foundation but when it comes to mascara 99% I will buy it from either Boots or Superdrug. The highstreet has a mascara to suit everyone with the majority of them coming under £10 and one of my favourites is the Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara. When I first tried this mascara I wasn't sure but the more and more I use it the more I have come round to it as it gives me the blackest lashes.

Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara £7.99

When I was on holiday in Portugal a couple of years ago I went into a Kiko store and picked up the Eyes 200 brush on a whim as it looked very similar to Mac's 217 brush but for half of the price. Since then it has become my favourite eyeshadow brush and the only one I use to blend out my eyeshadow. So when I went to London for my sister's birthday I made sure to pop into the Oxford Street store and pick up another one as you can never have too many blending brushes.

Kiko Eyes 200 Brush £10.90

My final purchase is surprisingly something I've never tried before but it's been exactly what I've been looking for. For ages I've been looking for light and dark concealers for contouring and coloured concealers for correcting and Inglot had exactly that as part of their Freedom System. I won't say too much just yet as I am planning to do an in-depth review as soon as I've tried it out but let's just say that I am very excited to try this out.

Inglot Freedom System Concealer Palette £27

Have you tried any of these products before or have any recommendations of what I should try next?

Eleanor xx

Review - Benefit Erase Paste

When asked what makeup product I couldn't live without, my answer everytime would be concealer, so finding the right concealer is important to me. At the moment my favourite concealer is the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer (mentioned previously here) but when my sister came home from Uni raving about Benefit's Erase Paste I knew that I needed to try it!

The Benefit Erase Paste is marketed as a brightening and camouflaging full coverage cream concealer. It costs £20.50 which is nearly 5 times the price of my trusty Collection Concealer and comes in three different shades, personally I think that three shades is a very poor range for a high end brand as when it comes to makeup 3 shades really do not fit all. I use the palest shade - No.1 Fair.

The actual concealer is a lovely product, it is full coverage without being drying or cakey as the formula is very creamy. Due to it creamy nature I find that I have to set it with a lot of powder otherwise it just slides right off my face and creases under my eyes. I find that the concealer is best applied with fingers as the warmth of my hands allows the products to melt and blend perfectly into the skin, leaving a beautiful glowing finish. 

The only product that I've ever tried that is similar is Mac's Studio Finish Concealer and I definitely prefer Erase Paste to that but I don't think it will drag me away from my trusty Lasting Perfection Concealer.

Have you tried Benefit's Erase Paste?

Eleanor xx

Where Have I Been? Just A Little Update

It's been nearly a whole month since I last blogged and I've missed it like crazy. When you live a hectic and busy life it's hard to find the time for blogging without compromising quality for quantity, but I didn't want to put anything out there that I wasn't proud of as that would be taking like one step forward and three steps back. I decided to wait until the time was right and that time is now, but let me catch you up on the last month before we move on.

As you may be able to see from the above picture I have not only had my hair cut but also the rim of my ear pierced. I did actually get my ear pierced when I went into Bristol with my friend Steph over a month a go (blog post on it here) but I forget to mention it, Steph was getting her nose pierced so I joined in on the fun, it was very spontaneous but also something I'd wanted to do for a long time. 

As for my hair, this was definitely not planned as when I went to the hairdressers I simply asked for a trim, what did I get? A bob. Despite my initial despair I'm loving my hair and the Kim K/Kylie Jenner vibes that come with it, plus it's very low maintenance which is always a bonus.

Another thing that I've not mentioned in previous posts is that earlier this year I started a course of Isotretinoin (better known as Roaccutane) to treat my acne, so far treatment is going well but let me know if you'd be interested in me writing a more detailed post about it.

While I have been very busy I've of course managed to squeeze in a little bit of shopping here and there and I can't wait to show you guys the things I've purchased recently in either a haul, outfit posts or reviews.

One thing I've done quite a lot of this month is go to the theatre. As a drama student it is part of my course to watch various performances (let's not mention the awful performance of King Lear I saw in Bath earlier this month) but I also enjoy going to the theatre in my spare time and it has just turned out this month that I have seen a lot of musicals. At the end of February I saw my friend in a performance of Hairspray at the Theatre Royal in Bath then I went with my family to see Wicked at the Bristol Hippodrome before taking my sister to see Les Miserables on the West End as part of her birthday present just yesterday. While all were brilliant I'd have to say that Les Miserables was my favourite.

But one of my favourite things I did this month was go watch Ben Howard in concert. Ben Howard's main UK tour had sold out months ago and sadly I hadn't got tickets but when I saw on twitter last week that he was releasing tickets to some intimate pre-tour gigs I knew I had to get tickets. Luckily I got tickets and went to see him last Sunday, and he was amazing.Apart from these things I've just been working lots (in Office Shoes, where I started working before Christmas) and revising lots for my exams. I'm hoping to get back into the swing of blogging though it may not be as regular as I'm still under lots of pressure from Sixth Form. I'd love to hear what you guys have been up to recently so let me know what you've been doing in the comments below!Eleanor xx