Monday, 27 April 2015

W7 Cosmetics vs. Urban Decay


This is my first post in a while, and first ever beauty post, so I thought I’d do a quick review and comparison of the W7 ‘In The Buff’ palette and the Urban Decay ‘Naked’ palette!

I first heard about W7 Cosmetics in one of Pixiwoo’s videos and was shocked by quite how similar the palettes were to Urban Decay’s. After doing some research, and reading some reviews, I decided to give one palette a try to really see how it stood up to the likes of Urban Decay!

My sister was kind enough to buy me the palette when it was in Argos for around £4, which is an incredible price when compared to the ‘Naked’ palette that is around 10 times the price at £38. Unfortunately the palette is no longer available at Argos, but you can also get it on Amazon here.

W7 has three palettes similar to those of Urban Decay: ‘Lightly Toasted’ (dupe of UD’s ‘Naked’), ‘In The Buff’ (dupe of UD’S ‘Naked 2’), and ‘In The Nude’ (dupe of UD’s ‘Naked 3’), all of which have 12 eye shadows like the ‘Naked’ palettes and come with a double-sided brush (which like most cheap eye shadow brushes is pretty crappy). I chose the ‘In The Buff’ palette as it is most similar to Urban Decay’s ‘Naked 2’, and considering I already own the ‘Naked’ palette and am not a big fan of the pink shades in ‘Naked 3’, I thought it was the best choice!



I can’t do side by side comparisons of the colours of both ‘In The Buff’ and ‘Naked 2’ as like I mentioned previously, I don’t own the ‘Naked 2’ palette, however I can compare the quality of the shadows with those from Urban Decays original ‘Naked’ palette.





What I’m about to say probably is no surprise: W7 eye shadows aren’t as good as UD’s. It’s not really fair to expect them to be though at a tenth of the cost! The pigmentation is lacking, the matte ones are chalky and the glitter in the shimmery shadows is chunky, meaning application isn’t smooth, but for £4? They’re not so bad! I definitely wouldn’t recommend going out and getting one of these expecting them to be complete dupes of the ‘Naked’ palettes, because they’re not. However, if you’re new to makeup and want to build up your collection with some more affordable bits then this palette is definitely a good place to start! The range of colours is perfect for a natural look, also including some darker shades if you prefer smokier eyes, and would be a perfect palette for travelling, as the tin is pretty sturdy.

W7 may not be as good as Urban Decay, but for the price they are definitely worth trying and if you pack on the eye shadow, a pigmented look can be achieved! Let me know if you’ve tried any W7 products and what you thought of them and if you want any more reviews let me know what of in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Poppy x






Thursday, 19 March 2015

Norwich


Last month, my friend Lucy and I took a coach up to Norwich to stay at my sister’s house and check out the university, so I thought I’d write a quick post covering some of the things we did there and a couple of outfit of the days!

We spent the first day travelling and relaxing because after a few awful coach journeys, and arriving to pouring rain, we were absolutely shattered!

Norwich Market

'The Bicycle Shop beans on toast'- The Bicycle Shop


Coat - Jack Wills / Jumper - H&M / Jeans - Topshop / Boots - Clarks
Our second day in Norwich involved a lot of walking (sometimes in circles…) and exploring the town! We went to The Bicycle Shop on St Benedict’s Street for lunch, as it had been recommended to us, and I had ‘The Bicycle Shop baked beans on toast’ and Lucy had ‘Mexican Scrambled eggs’, both of which were delicious! Although we had to wait a while for our food, and we were a little put off by having to crane our necks to read the menu from blackboards positioned around the room, the interior of the cafĂ© is so lovely and I would definitely recommend visiting even if it’s just for a drink.

The River Wensum

Norwich Cathedral



Coat - Jack Wills / Jumper - Zara / Jeans - Topshop / Boots - Clarks / Choker - Homemade


Most of our final day was spent at the university for an applicant day however afterwards we walked past the river and visited the Cathedral, which was beautiful! After dinner at Chiquito, we went to the bowling alley where I got what I think is my first ever strike, and spent way too much money on the 2p machines…

Thanks for reading this quick post, please leave any requests for future blog posts down below!

Poppy x