Review: Lidl's Miomare Brushes

I was having a look around Lidl as I do every Friday night (wild, I know) and came across some makeup brushes. I assumed they'd be really poor quality, but I can't walk past a brush without some investigation. I found one that had been removed from the packaging and I'm not sure I've ever felt anything softer in my life. I ended up buying three different brushes. None of which I needed, but when has that ever stopped any of us? 

I bought an angled face brush, a powder brush, and an eye brush. 

The angled brush is soft, as are all the brushes, but it's also short and dense enough to hold its shape. I find this perfect for contouring. I had been using the Real Techniques Contour Brush and the Sephora Angled Blush brush but I found the Contour Brush too small to be effective; it took more work than needed, and the Angled Blush brush was too big and too soft; it didn't apply enough product, and there wasn't enough control. This is exactly like the Sephora brush, but shorter and slightly smaller. It's by no means stiff, but it's dense enough that you can push it up against the underside of your cheekbone to contour, and rather than splaying, it softly pushes the colour on to your skin exactly where you want it. It's also fluffy enough to be able to blend with it too so you don't need to switch to another brush. Perfect! 

The powder brush is wide, and flat. I would best describe it as a slightly narrower, slightly thicker version of a fan brush. Or like a non-angled, longer version of the angled brush. I think the small surface area on the top would make this annoying to powder all over with, but you could certainly use it for powdering specific areas like the T-zone. I find the way it's relatively thin for a powder brush makes it good for applying powder to smaller areas like the cheeks or around the hairline, so I use this for bronzer. 

The eye brush, although it's nothing special, is quite nice. It's a double ended brush, and both sides are the same shape, but one is smaller. It's very similar to the smaller end of the brushes that come with the Urban Decay Naked palettes. It's great for packing shadow on to the lid and my Urban Decay brushes are somehow never clean. 

I've washed them a few times and they held up really well. I think the angled and powder brushes cost €2.99 each and the eye brush was €1.99. The only problem is that Lidl only stocks their special products occasionally so they're not there at the moment, but keep an eye out for them, they're a great bargain. 

Review: Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm

Due to a combination of far too many drying lipsticks and bad weather my lips have been in desperate condition lately. Even the lip balms that usually rescue my lips weren't doing the job so something had to be done. I then saw Nuxe Reve de Miel on cloud10beauty.com. I'd read many good things about it on various blogs so I decided to give it a go. Also, it's French, and the French do really good skincare. I'd heard it was expensive and was prepared to shell out up to €20, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it was only €11.50. 

It says on the packaging that the scent is grapefruit, but it reminds me exactly of the smell of orange essence. Not a real orange, but definitely citrusy. 

The consistency is the strangest I've ever come across. It calls itself a lip balm but I think to describe it as a paste would be more accurate. It's a muted, dull yellow colour, and it's thick and opaque. Sometimes when you put a lot on you feel tiny lumps in it. It's not shiny at all like most lip balms, and it leaves a matte finish rather than glossy. When I first tried to swirl my finger on the top nothing happened and I thought it was going to be a dud product, but once you get through the initial layer it's much easier to apply. And it's even easier when it's slightly warm, as it usually is in my handbag or pocket.

I haven't exfoliated my lips since I started using this because I haven't felt the need to. It's like it moisturises so deeply that the dead tissue just can't stick to the lips. I put some on before I go to bed, and when I wake up I wipe my lips with a tissue, put some more on before I start my makeup and my lips are ready to go when it gets to lipstick time. 

Sometimes I like to apply some lip balm over my lipstick during the day, especially if I'm wearing a matte lipstick. With shiny lip balms, I hate to reapply them over a lip colour because the shininess, or I would presume the oily ingredients that give them their shininess, tend to break down the lip colour. This doesn't break them down at all, and because it leaves a matte finish too it doesn't look like you've put anything on. 

The glass pot just makes it seem so luxurious. It's obviously only a minor thing in comparison to how it works, but it's definitely an added bonus. 

My lips are now in excellent condition. They don't crack or peel anymore, and I'm confident you could wear a matte lip colour everyday and your lips wouldn't be any the worse for it. 

Bottom line: this works. My lips have never been better. I haven't read of anyone using this and not liking it or it not working for them. That's not to say it's 100% guaranteed to work for you, but I'd guess 99%. It is slightly pricier than the usual lip balm, but think about how many lip balms you've bought that didn't work. I'm sure it adds up to more than the cost of this. As well as that, it's in a heavy glass jar so I think the chances of losing it as you would a tin of Vaseline are greatly reduced. I will 100% repurchase this when I run out. In fact, I'll buy one before I run out, because I don't think I could be without it for a day!

The most readily available place I know to get it in Ireland is cloud10beauty.com. Orders can take maybe up to a week, but it's free shipping over €15 and it's ridiculously well packaged, so there's no fear of the glass jar breaking in transit. As well as that they often have deals for payday or holidays so keep an eye out and you could get it for less than a tenner!