The Under £10 Hot Pink Matte Lip Edit

When I'm in the mood for a statement lip, there's only usually one colour I find myself reaching for - Hot Pink. I don't know if it's the barbie lover in me or the fact that I'm often a little afraid of wearing a traditional red lip, but there's something about pink that keeps me coming back.

I wanted to share with you 3 different products that all may be similar in colour but are all different in price and formula.

1. NYX Matte Lipstick - Sweet Pink £6.00

At £6.00,The NYX Matte Lipstick is the perfect hot pink traditional drugstore pick. It glides on easily and provides an even finish. Although this product doesn't dry out the lips, I would recommend exfoliating your lips before wearing matte shades as if you have any dry patches, you may find they show up more prominently as the day goes on.

2. MUA Luxe velvet Lip Lacquer - Criminal £3.00

At 3.00 the MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer is the cheapest of the bunch, and offers great value for money. It has a doe foot applicator, and applies like a gloss. The product feels velvety soft when applied, However, the downside is with this product, it takes quite a good few minutes to dry and become matte. If you're looking for a starter bright pink lipstick, then the drying time may be worth waiting for as at £3.00 this is a bargain and worth adding to your collection.

3. Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet - Pink Pong £8.99

At £8.99 The Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick is remarkably the most expensive of the three. What I love about the rouge edition velvet line is how easy they are to apply, the fact that they are incredibly long lasting and how they fade evenly and naturally without leaving the dreaded dark line on the outside of the lips. Pink Pong is remarkably similar to the Criminal MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Laquer, but 3x the price. I find the Bourjois Pink Pong lipstick has a longer staying power and a slightly deeper colour.

3 matte lips, 3 different formulas and 3 different prices... which would you choose? Let me know in the comments...

Em xxx

Introducing The New Bourjois Rouge Edition 12 Heures Lipstick Range

If you're an avid reader of My Pale Skin, then you may know all about my love for Bourjois Lipsticks. I fell in love with the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet line and now I'm lucky enough to get my hands on 6 of the new Rouge Edition 12 Heures Lipstick Range* before they hit the shops on October 1st.

The Rouge Edition 12 Heures line has a semi matte finish and the lipsticks are billed as being long lasting and easy to wear. I found they swatched easily onto my arm and provided a smooth finish - so far so good!

The 12 Heures line features 6 new shades including a nude beige, dark plum, soft rose, raspberry red, pearly coral and a deep red. There really is a shade for everyone in this collection and on first swatch there are 3 stand out shades for me that I'm thinking could become every day wears - Beige Shooting, Rose Vanity and Pamplemousse. 

Pamplemousse is apparently the most requested lipstick by Bourjois of all time since It was discontinued in 2007. Now it's back by popular demand and this pearly coral is the shade which has inspired the entire range, so diehard fans need to splash out £100 on ebay to get their hands on it again. I've never tried this shade before, so I'm super excited to try it out!

I'm looking forward to getting to know this range a little better over the next few weeks and I'm hoping to create a look based around each shade, if you have any specific looks you'd like me to recreate using these shades, let me know!

The Rouge Edition 12 Heures Lipstick ranges hits the shops on October 1st, and I'd love to hear which shade is your favourite and also, which you're less keen on... Let me know in the comments.

Em xxx

Make Up Revolution Ultra Blush & Contour Palette - Sugar & Spice Review

A few weeks ago I headed to the Summer Blogger meet in London, and in a blogger bag swap (from the lovely Sarah from And Beauty Or Something) I received the Make Up Revolution -  Sugar and Spice, Blush & Contour palette.

Make Up Revolution is a brand that I've seen quite often popping up on my bloglovin feed as well as twitter and instagram, but for some reason I hadn't managed to add any to my collection. I'm quite 'old school' when it comes to make up and I always prefer to swatch and feel products in store before I buy, and with only 2 Superdrug stores in Central London that stock Make Up Revolution, I haven't had a chance to get to one.

I was so happy to get this palette in my swap bag after eyeing it up online and I'm pleased to say that I was not disappointed. When purchasing drugstore blushers, I usually expect a certain level of pigmentation, and tend to take into account the fact that I'll need to run the brush over the product a certain umber of times. However with the Make Up Revolution palette, you get the opposite effect! This palette is so pigmented that all you need of each shade is a small dab on the brush, any more and you're in trouble.

The palette contains 8 shades that are unique to the palette, ranging from matte, shimmer and merged baked blushers, and that includes options for contouring and highlight. Over the past few weeks, on an almost daily basis, i've been wearing shades 2,4 and 7 to lightly contour, highlight and add some colour to my cheeks.

I love how affordable this palette is, at £6.00 it's incredible value, and the pigmentation is great, if anything - too great. Make up Revolution has won me over with this palette, and I'm very much looking forward to adding some more of their products to my collection.

What are your favourite Make Up Revolution products? Let me know in the comments.

Em xxx

How Learning To Love My Pale Skin Made me Happy.

Over the past few years I've been on a roller coaster journey of learning to love and feel comfortable in my own skin and I admit, it hasn't always been easy... and sometimes I feel like I'm a walking ghost.

The thing about pale skin, is that is is often loathed by many and loved by few. Here are a few examples of the type of negative tweets that you see just by searching the words 'pale skin' on twitter...

It breaks my heart and makes me feel sad reading those tweets, not only because I used to think and feel the same way, but because society has this image of the perfect woman ingrained into our minds, and she certainly doesn't appear to have pale skin...

Gone are the days when I used to worry about reaching that ideal image, 'fitting in' and not looking pale, smothering myself in fake tanners and caking my skin in foundation and powder in shades that are nowhere near natural, and should never have made their way onto my face.

A few years ago, my skin tone used to rule my life. Before going somewhere I had to make sure I'd put my fake tan on the day before, had to make sure I had a dark enough foundation, had to avoid white clothes, white sheets, white anything... and I had to look like everyone else... i'm sure it's no surprise that eventually I started having panic attacks before going out with my girlfriends.

 And it didn't just end there, i'd be paranoid about my skin being blotchy, getting rained on or if i'd exfoliated enough to stop the blotchiness... it was a never ending circle, and that doesn't even include the other options of tanning beds or sunbathing. As my Grandmother had skin cancer few years ago, (she luckily made a good recovery) the thought of possibly self inflicting skin cancer on myself by using tanning beds and sunbathing scares me.

I can't remember when I stopped using fake tanners, but I remember the weeks afterwards. I remember worrying less, and not minding if I didn't look like a bronzed goddess. I remember when I started to be okay with being pale, and that it didn't matter if my 'legs looked less toned' because they were pale.

Now, I haven't worn fake tan in well over a year, I wear either a moisturiser with SPF 30 or SPF 50 sunscreen depending on what i'm doing that day and I've thrown myself well into the world of experimenting with pale skin beauty and finding out which products really enhance my skin tone, instead of masking it.

I've banned myself from wearing fake tan, and to go with that - you will never see a fake tan review on My Pale Skin.

The moment I let go and work with my natural skin tone, and stopped trying to hide it was the moment I started to become happier. We choose clothes based on what makes us feel comfortable and happy, but unfortunately we can't chose our skin tone - without damaging it or artificially colouring it - so stop fighting it, it's okay to be the palest person in your friendship group, yes it's annoying not being able to easily find foundation in your shade, but when you find a style that works for - run with it.

Learning to love my skin colour brought me a level of confidence I didn't have before, and helped me on my road to becoming a better person, and y'know what - I don't ever have to worry about smelling like digestive biscuits again.

Em xxx