I Heart Makeup The Chocolate Palettes

 
I Heart Makeup the sister brand of Makeup Revolution have brought out three Chocolate Palettes, I am reviewing the I Heart Chocolate palette and the Death by Chocolate Palette. They are quite similar to each other so you many only want to buy one of them or maybe collection all three.  The lid of each look like  3D chocolate bars. They actually remind me of the fake plastic chocolate bar from the Fisher Price Kitchen set from the 80's! The I Heart Chocolate has a warm reddish brown lid while the Death by Chocolate has a darker lid. Each palette has 16 eye shadows including two larger pans that I assume are for highlighting under the brow (one matte and one shimmer.) Each palette also has a large mirror which makes the palette heavier that most, but I'm glad they included it.

I Heart Chocolate Palette

 

The I Heart Chocolate palette is hailed as a dupe for the original Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette. There are 4 glitter shades, Piece Me Together (dark brown with gold glitter), Love Torn (aubergine with  multi coloured glitter), What A Way To Go ( a darker brown with multi coloured glitter) and Unforgivable (purple with glitter.) Alongside these there are 6 matte Shadows and 6 shimmer ones. I have used this palette a lot and like the fact that I Heart Makeup have included some other colours besides brown. Without primer they only lasted 4 hours on my oily lids so I definitely recommend using an eye primer.  The performance of the light coloured matte shadows (You Need Love and Meet Chocolate)  was disappointing, they were very chalky and not as pigmented as the other shadows. Additionally the glitter shade Unforgivable didn't seem to contain as much glitter than the others. It seemed as if the glitter was only on the surface and after a few swipes it went. However the three other glitter shadows are fine and I think the glitter just about shows up in the photos.

I don't have the original Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette on hand to swatch and test the difference between the two palettes. I think that if you aren't fussed about the 3 disappointing shades which aren't that unique (apart from Unforgivable) then this is a cheaper alternative dupe for the Too Faced Chocolate palette long as you use any eye primer.
 

 

Death By Chocolate Palette

 

The Death By Chocolate Palette contains 6 mattes and 10 shimmer shadows. There are no glitter shades and the palette consists mainly of metallic shades although there is one purple shade. Apart from White Light the mattes are much better quality than the I Heart Chocolate palette, in particular the black shade All is Not Lost and the dark brown Devour Me are incredibly pigmented.  

The I Heart Makeup Chocolate palettes contain 16 shadows for  £7.99 which works out on average as 50p a shadow which is a bargain! It also scores highly for the unique packaging. Although I included the I Heart Chocolate palette in my August Favourites post, after trying the Death by Chocolate palette I decided that I actually prefer that,  because the quality of almost all the shades are much better and I love the metallic shades. However  if you love glitter shadows then I Heart Chocolate would be a better choice.

 

I Heart Chocolate palette is available on Superdrug while the Death By Chocolate palette can be found on Makeup Revolution online.

 

Make up Revolution Blushers Review -Vivid Blush Lacquar and The One Fluid Blusher

These two blushers from Makeup Revolution are so pigmented they really do pack a punch.
The first is Makeup Revolution's Vivid Blush Lacquar in O'Boy which is a bright pink.  The consistency is a thick and slightly creamy liquid which blends really easily. While I sometimes use a bright pink powder blusher, in a blush lacquer form the colour has much more impact and is easy to overdo. I always have a foundation brush or sponge to go over areas if it's too much. This would suit most skin tones. The blusher is is packaged in an air tight pump dispenser and while it looks on the small size you really don't need much just a third of a pea size. Just be careful when pressing the nozzle too hard so it doesn't dispense too much. Also if the blush hasn't been used in a while, dried product can block the nozzle so you may need a clean pin to unblock it. These packaging issues aside I really like these. I've tried various brushes to apply these the best were Bobbi Brown's foundation brush and the Zoeva 122 petit stippling brush.  This blush dries fairly quickly (if you use a small amount) but with enough time to blend them. Once sets the blush is long wearing and lasts all day . It dries to a matte finish but once blended it looks pretty natural on the face. I really recommend these vivid blush lacquers, they're pigmented, longwearing and extremely good value for money, I just wish they'd expand the colour range as currently there are only 4 shades in the range. For swatches of Desire and Heart see here. These are on sale for £1 at Makeup Revolution grab it while you can!

The One Fluid Blusher in Desire is a raspberry colour with subtle gold shimmer through it, though the shimmer isn't very noticeable once it's on the skin. It's actually brighter than I expected but gives a surprisingly natural look- a snow white blush, at least on medium skin tones. These liquid blushes also contain vitamin E and Jojoba, both of which are good for the skin. Make up Revolution say that this doesn't clog pores which is true, I've had no issues. The smell is very neutral and there's no artificial, heavy chemical scent some products have. The One Fluid Blusher has to be shaken before use to mix the silicon and pigment together. Then apply a drop on the back of your hand, dip a finger in and rub and blend on your cheek. Because of the bottle design and because I'm not used to using liquid blushes, I often pour out too much and it drips off my fingers, so I recommend applying this over a sink. Using a brush would be better but I haven't found the right one. I reckon if you have Daniel Sandler's Watercolour blush brush in your arsenal to use that. Also as long as the bottle is shaken before use this can be used on bare skin as well. This does tend to fade towards the end of the day after 7 hours or so, I didn't find it as  longwearing as the Vivid blush lacquers. However I love the colour and it's cheaper and better value for money than Benefit Benetint in my opinion. It's currently on sale for £1.50 at Makeup Revolution online!

MakeUp Revolution Amazing Curl Mascara Review

The packaging of Make Up Revolution Amazing Curl Mascara in Brown Black is plain and basic, though the tube is bronze to distinguish it from the black mascara,  I did sometimes find it difficult to push the curved wand back into the tube after use but this may just be the one I bought- a wider opening would be easier to use though, has anyone else found this  too? However this has got to be the cheapest mascara I've ever tried so for £2 you can't really expect fancy packaging.

The wand is a slim curved bristle brush to give lashes 'an amazing curl.' I've only used a curved mascara wand once before and found it helps to lift the lashes so they appear curled for an hour or two but the effect is temporary and that you need to use an eyelash curler for longer lasting results. Just for the record I have long black but straight eye lashes The curled brush of this mascara makes it really easy to apply mascara from right from the root of the eyelash to the tip of the lashes and does a great job of separating them. This does hold a curl (with eye lash curlers) that lasts most if not all of the the day. This mascara can be built up to lengthen lashes a little too, which is a bonus! However it doesn't add any volume to the lashes. I also also wear contact lenses and found that it did not flake or irritate my eyes at all. Make Up Revolution also have a waterproof version of this mascara for the same price. As I've only recently opened this mascara I don't know if it will dry up after a few months.

To sum up this up this wouldn't be my HG (Holy Grail) mascara. I'd like more volume but for just £2 this is pretty good and does what it says: it curls lashes and adds a little length. I would say Make up Revolution Amazing Curl Mascara would be good for bargain hunters, students, teenagers or those who are skint towards the end of the month and they should check this out.

Available at Superdrug here Make Up Revolution Online £2 here

MakeUp Revolution Salvation Palette Run Boy Run & Vivid Blush Lacquer Liquid Blushes Review

Desire- unblended semi dried

These liquid blushes are similar to ELFs HD blushes in their packaging with the air tight pump dispenser. However I haven't tried ELFs HD blush to compare the two. The bottles are small but you only need the tiniest bit. The consistency is a thick slightly creamy liquid (See picture above un-blended) which blends easily so you don't need to use much.- about a quarter of a pea or third of a pea. I've tried various brushes to apply these the best were Bobbi Brown's foundation brush and the Zoeva 122 petit stippling brush. 

However it is so easy to over apply so I make up I have powder or foundation brush to cover any excessive blush. You have to be careful when pushing down the nozzle so that it doesn't give you more than you need and end up wasting the product. Additionally sometimes if it hasn't been used in a while the blush may have dried blocking the so a clean pin is needed to unblock it. These packaging issues aside I really like these. The blushes dry fairly quickly (if you use a small amount) but it does give you enough time to blend them, but once it sets its hard to remove are long wearing. It dries to a matte finish and both are very pigmented but once blended it looks pretty natural on the face but they do show up and I think these colours would suit most skin tones, although black/women of colour may need something darker and brighter. For the price (£3) these are brilliant. They can be found here at Make Up Revolution or at Superdrug Online.

Many of Makeup Revolution's Salvation palettes contain eye shadows that are very similar to each other. I chose Run Boy Run over the others because it was the least similar to the Redemption Iconic 3 palette I'd purchased previously. The Salavation palettes are limited edition palates and Run Boy Run contains a mixture of neutral and brighter colours that are wearable on a day to day basis.

The packaging is simple but looks sophisticated with rose gold lettering on a shiny black case. There seems to be a Charlotte Tilbury rose good lettering trend at the moment. It has a good sized mirror and is bigger than the Sleek and MUA palettes(16cm long by 8cm wide and 1cm thick)  housing many more eye shadows (18 in all). Overall it looks more expensive than it is, a thumbs up for the pretty packaging, something which is often sacrificed in order to maintain a lower price point in budget make up brands. The packaging is sturdy and not too big so would be ideal for travel such as for weekends away, being able to create anything from brown, taupe and pink daytime neutrals, blue, grey,  brown and purple smoky eyes and bright pop of colour with the cranberry 'Break out from Society' shade. I like the mixture of colours as it makes it more versatile to use.

There are 12 shimmer shades and 6 matte shades in the palette. The shimmers are full of pigmentation and are easy to use and pick up on the make up brush. I'm impressed with the longevity of the colours in the first and second row lasting 8 -9  hours, nearly all day on my oily-ish lids without fading and that's without an eye primer! The last row contains six matte shades, from white to warm browns and then cool taupes and a black. These seem to be the neutral shades. The first two shades (Follow Me and Head To The Hills) were difficult to swatch, with Head To The Hills being difficult to show up especially as it's close to my skin colour. These need a primer to stay on and are softer and chalkier than the others, to be honest this row is wearable and usable  but a little bit of a disappointment compared to the amazing quality of the others in the palette.

This is tremendously good value £6 for 18 shades! For the amount of colours and the quality of the shadows (the 6 shades on bottom row aside) you are getting a lot for your buck! Since these are limited edition palettes I'd snap them up while you can.

Salvation Palette Run Boy Run £6 from MakeUp Revolution (which ships internationally) and Superdrug online and instore.