My 10 pan blush palette and why I paid too much!

In my early days I touched on this subject slightly on my 120 eyeshadow palette here. 18 months on and I am revisiting the subject again but this time with my 10 pan blush palette. You see these palettes again are mass manufactured again in the same company as the eyeshadow palettes. They are then sold on to different companies for what is known as "Private Labelling".

Now I could go into all this for you and explains the ins and outs of it all, but another fellow Irish Blogger Annette did a fabulous post on this in the last month and I would only be reiterating on what she said. So if you would like to know what "Private Labelling" is then check out her blog post.

http://annettibus.blogspot.ie/2013/06/private-label-beauty-brands-what-is.html

If you follow my Youtube channel you will know I bought this palette from the Crown Brush stand for £15. I knew I could get it for cheaper but I had shoots coming up and had no time to wait for delivery off Ebay. (Asian Ebay purchases can take anywhere from 7 days to 9 weeks to deliver.)

In terms of prices I have seen for these palettes I was not drastically ripped off and ended up only paying in region of €13 more just for convenience.

Now before I go into the prices I just want to say I love the palette. It hosts a great range of colors and has great pigmentation which you can see from the swatches. It has mattes and shimmers and from pinks to corals. I have already had a lot of use from it and see me getting plenty more from it

 Top row l-r

Bottom row l-r

Companies and their pricing

*prices do not include companies p&p

Fuschia Makeup (Ireland)

Blusher Palette €10

Vanity Makeup ( not to be confused with VanityX Makeup)

I could not find the exact pricing on the blusher palette but they do a deal for two palettes for 
€50 and I also saw that they charge a ridiculous €35 for 120 palette.

Blank Canvas Cosmetics (Ireland/International)

They have the 10 palette included in a 32 eyeshadow palette stacked on top of each other. It does look different but it is still private labelling. The double stack palette is priced at €13.49

Crown Brush (International)

10 Blush Palette €18.74

Costal Scents (International)

10 Blush Palette  €21.95

Bh Cosmetics (International) 

10 Blush Palette  €19.68

There are also sellers on Facebook and similar selling these from anywhere from  €10- €45. 

* All prices were correct as of 25/07/13

If you would like to purchase this palette and have time to wait I would highly suggest Ebay. There  are hundreds of sellers of this on ebay at the moment and the cheapest I found the palette for was €4.85 with free p&p.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/10-Colours-Blusher-Makeup-Blush-Powder-Palette-Portable-Concealer-Facial-Pigment-/321012616600?pt=UK_Health_Beauty_Make_Up_Cosmetics_Blusher_PP&hash=item4abdd7cd98 

Its a mighty big difference in price.

I have never been a big fan of companies who private label and tend to avoid these companies all together when buying makeup. Bar one of the companies I have mentioned above I have never blogged about them and more in likely never will.

Do you know of any other companies selling these palettes?

Were you aware of private labelling?

If not how do you feel about it now? 

A New Purchase- Panache Melody Balcony Underwire Bra From The Dublin Lingerie Company

I have been ignoring it for a while but recently I had noticed that even though the rest of me is slowly getting smaller two parts of me have been somehow getting bigger. This unfortunately means that the 50 odd bras I have need to be chucked out and a new bra wardrobe needs to be bought.

I have always been on the bustier side and with my small frame they are pretty noticeable. So a few weeks back I decided I needed to take the plunge and remeasure myself using the The Dublin Lingerie Company Measuring Guide and found I had gone up two cup sizes and one back size.

Still baffled by how I have gone down 3 dress sizes but up in bra size I decided the new bra shopping had to start. I decided to use a voucher I had for The Dublin Lingerie Company and order the Melody Balcony Underwire Bra by Panache. Available from a D- K cup and in 3 colors.

I choose black as due to work I am constantly in black. The gorgeous embroidery detail was what drew me to it instantly as well it has thick black straps which is great as I barely have any shoulders and thin straps easily slip done which drives me nuts.

Its very flattering and gives full support to my bust. Extremely comfortable and there has been slipping out. Delivery took about a week and came packaged beautifully. 

The Dublin Lingerie Company have a beautiful selection of bras and lingerie sets as well as some shape wear and sports wear.

I was unsure weather to post the below photo but I saw Sian from Forever Fabulous in Bows and was inspired to bare the flesh and we all have boobs right?

Pür Minerals Big Blink Mascara Review

* I have been trying to commit to the 6 month mascara rule i.e mascara only have a 6 month once opened sell by date and then you should bin them. I was trying really hard but when I was not getting the results I wanted from Cargo Texas Lash Mascara I had to open another one.

I am so glad I did, I am in love with this mascara. The packaging is super cure and girly with its pink bottle and silver lid. The wand is a plastic one with short bristle with some pointing left and others right. It has a few short bristle at the tip, I presume their for the shorter lashes on the corners of the eye, but I find them too short for this and end up poking myself in the eye.

So whats different about this mascara its the first one that claims to be clump resistant that actually is clump resistant. Its cruelty free which we all love. But above all this it contains an ingredient that till now I have only seen in haircare. Lashes are hair though so is it technically haircare? 

Big Lash contains Argan Oil which Pür states;

"A revolutionary ingredient loaded with vitamin E, antioxidants and omega 3 and 9 fatty acids to hydrate, protect and repair lashes."

The one con about it I always end up with black dots on my skin because my lashes get so long and curled, not a con I should really complain about eh?

As promised a comparison of the Cargo Texas Lash and Pür Minerals Big Blink. As you can see the lashes are much more separated and fanned out. Also considerably longer!

At the moment I have only been able to find this mascara on the Pür minerals website. http://www.purminerals.com/Big-Blink-Mascara which by the looks of things they do not deliver outside of the U.S. Which makes me believe this is not available yet on our Irish shores. 

Cargo Texas Lash Mascara Review

*Cargo was the brand I was most impressed with at the Wizard PR event. There range of makeup and clever packing on some of their products had me from the word go. I received a sample of the Cargo Texas Lash Mascara in my goodie bag to review.

As from the above picture Texas Lash guarantees longer and voluminous looking lashes. Sure you know the saying ''Everythings bigger in Texas''

The brush is a regular bristle brush rather on the large side. not my favourite kind of brush if I am honest. The packaging is extremely plain black with white writing and stripe. Simplistic to say the least.

So what do I think about the mascara? Well its just ''Meh!'' I do not find my lashes to be any longer or voluminous. Its kind of just coats them and gives them a little lift. I usually find with a good mascara they make my eyes almost doll like with length. Texas Lash fails to do this and basically makes my lashes darker.

I have been using this for a day mascara as I do not want to waste the mascara and seen as they only have a 6 month shelf life I really hate to waste it. Cargo Cosmetics is available on the Debenhams website, the Texas Lash Mascara is 15 euro.

Tomorrow I will have a review of another mascara and I will have a comparison photo of the two mascaras in the post also.

New Youtube Video: IMATS Haul

Charles Fox 

Love-Makeup.co.uk

 Stargazer

Royal & Langnickel

Crown Brush