Day to Night Look with The Body Shop

The Body Shop has consistently impressed me over the last year or two. Their Oils of Life is one of my favourite skincare ranges, if you haven’t tried The Body Shop Oils of Life Sleeping Cream I HIGHLY recommend it, one of the best night creams I’ve ever used. Their Drops of Youth range is also worth checking out. So I was really interested to try their new cruelty-free and vegan makeup brushes*. There is a brush for every makeup need and they’re also incredibly affordable. I don’t use real hair makeup brushes nor have I ever tried them so I can’t say how they compare but I do use Real Techniques and Zoeva, which I think are both great quality. These brushes from The Body Shop are just as good if not better in some cases.

To celebrate the launch of The Body Shop makeup brush range The Body Shop challenged me to do a day to night look just changing my lips for the evening. Erm, I kind of stuck to the brief. Because it’s Christmas I had to include gold eyeshadow for the evening, I’m pretty sure it’s the law tbh. All of my looks use The Body Shop products, the only items that aren’t from The Body Shop is the foundation which is a mix of Nars Sheer Glow and Estee Lauder Double Wear, and the blusher is from Illamasqua . Everything else is The Body Shop.

I started with All-in-one InstaBlur* which mattifies to control shine, blurs imperfections and reduces the look of pores. InstaBlur provides a really nice smooth base for foundation application plus it helps it stay in place throughout the day. To apply my foundation I used the buffer brush* which is smaller than the Zoeva one I usually use but I actually preferred it. The smaller size meant it buffed around my nose easier and I felt it just blended really nicely. Its bristles are compact but not overly hard. So if you’re looking for a new buffer brush this one just might be for you. I then applied The Body Shop All-in-one concealer* under my eyes and over blemishes with the lip/concealer brush*. The brush makes it really easy to conceal big or smaller areas, a really easy brush to use and makes concealing a doddle. The concealer offers medium coverage and lasts pretty well, I would say that it needs some powder under the eyes as it’s creamy and does crease slightly.

For my eyebrows I used the brow and liner kit* which is just fantastic. As you can see I’m not especially pedantic with my eyebrows but they are starting to thin so I need something to bulk them up and The Body Shop’s eyebrow kit does it so easily and fast. There can be a little bit of fallout from the powder so I would make sure you tap the small (and rather clever) applicator before applying to the eyebrows. This lasted all day, looked natural and was super-quick to use. A great product.

I already have a couple of The Body Shop’s Down to Earth Palettes (which I reviewed here). I get a lot of use out of these, the colours are versatile and easy to wear.  So I was very pleased to receive the Down to Earth Eyeshadow Glow Palette*. For the day look I opted for the muted grey and blended it with the bone like shade and also added a touch of the darkest shade along my eye line. I used the eyeshadow brush* which picked up just the right amount of shadow without dropout. Application was easy thanks to the solid yet soft bristles. Then to blend out I used the eyeshadow blender brush* which is brilliant to use. It blends quickly and easily without any pull on the eyelids or loss of eyeshadow. For the evening I added the beautiful gold shade and created a kind of smokey eye with the sparkly dark brown/bronze shade. Unfortunately my photo doesn’t do this palette justice. The light was absolutely shocking so you can’t really pick up the depth to the iridescent and shimmer shades. The quality of these shadows are really brilliant, they are soft, easy to blend and last all day even without primer. I’d really recommend going to The Body Shop to swatch these, I guarantee you’ll be impressed with them.

On to my favourite part: the lipsticks. I was sent two matte lipsticks, a matte liquid lipstick, two lip liners and one of my favourite The Body Shop products the lip line fixer*. The lip line fixer is transparent and creates a barrier around your lips to stop bleeding. So it goes with everything plus it's perfect for those bolder colours which can tend to bleed. For the day look I used 423 Rio Fuchsia* which would work just as well as an evening colour. This is a bright semi-matte medium pink that lasts for absolutely ages on the lips. I really love the colour but I wouldn’t really say these are matte lipsticks, certainly not like MAC’s mattes. For the evening look I used 415 New Orleans Scarlet Red* which is a stunning mid-toned red. Again I absolutely this colour and I’d wear it pretty much all the time. It’s comfortable on the lips and long-lasting. To apply these lipsticks I used the lip/concealer brush* which I much prefer over the previous lip brushes I’ve used. You get precise application and makes bold colours easy to apply. If you prefer a more vampy look I’d highly recommend trying the matte liquid lipstick in Mauritius Dahlia 017*.

And finally is the mascara which is The Body Shop’s Super Volume Mascara in 01*. I’m really impressed with this mascara, I usually wear either Lancome Hypnose Volume-a-Porter, Benefit They’re Real or Estee Lauder Sumptuous Infinite Mascara so I like big eyelashes and The Body Shop’s offering will definitely give you that, plus there was no clumping nor smudging. 

So yeah I am *very* impressed with the new selection of makeup brushes from The Body Shop. The quality is brilliant, they feel well made and look beautiful. The sustainable wooden handles are coated in charcoal to give them longevity. There’s a brush for every makeup application and all the ones I’ve tried have done their job wonderfully. Why anyone would want to use real animal hair is beyond me when we have such amazing synthetic brushes available now. They’re soft, strong and won’t irritate the most sensitives of skins. A big thumbs up from me.

I’d just like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Thank you so much for all your comments here, on Twitter and my Instagram and here’s to a prosperous 2017! 

(*PR Sample)

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