How is that we are only a week away from Valentines Day, February thankfully has not taken heed from January in terms of being the longest month ever. And whether you are choosing to spend Valentines with your partner, friends or hitting it up solo and ignoring it all there’s no reason you can’t do it without rocking some Unicorn Snot on your lips.

Now I clearly didn’t pick the blog name Glam Glitz Gloss for no reason, I am obsessed with all things glitter and if it’s in a gloss form then even better. I am also a big fan of all mythical creatures, mermaids, fairies and of course unicorns, so you can imagine how excited I was to receive an email about a mythical creature, glitter fuelled piece of make up. Made for me or what!

Now before you start to worry, I can confirm that no unicorns were harmed in the making of this lip gloss. What I can tell you though is that this product is cruelty free and vegan friendly, and smells like cotton candy. I literally have to challenge myself to not lick it off after applying because the scent is so tempting. Just me?

The Unicorn Snot Lip Gloss comes in 5 different shades; Pink, Gold, Silver, Purple and Blue, and contains non-toxic, cosmetic grade glitter. It applies easily, using just a fingertip or with the tip of lip gloss squeeze lid itself. It has a really lightweight feel to it and so sits on top of a lipstick really well, and without that horrible sticky feeling that some glosses have.

The Lip Gloss retails at £6.99, and as if that wasn’t good enough fellow glitter junkies, they also do Body, Face and Hair glitter for £9.99. I will definitely be picking up a couple of these for nights out, holidays, just general glitter loving days, do you think I could rock up to work painting head to toe? I seriously can’t understand people who dislike glitter.

So as a single girl I have no actual plans for Valentines Day itself, but I am attending a Lock and Key Speed Dating event on Saturday, and by no means will I be be denying myself a face full of glitter on either day. I’m all about being covered in Unicorn Snot and so should you. Check out Instant Beauty Fix’s Valentines page for tips, tricks and product recommendations for the big day itself.

I’m sure you all know by now just how much of a highlighter fanatic I am. Having tried so many from numerous brands I have a very large highlighter collection and I have so many that I love but I’m still always on the look out for the one. And I think I’ve finally found it in the form of Iconic London‘s Illuminator in Shine.

I first came across this highlighter whilst on a weekend away with one of my best friends who is always insanely glowing and I’ve never thought to ask what she uses. She uses shade Original, a champagne-toned shimmer that gives you a golden glow but was slightly too strong for me during the winter months when I am at my palest.

I was lucky enough that when I went to buy the highlighter it was on a special sale of £20 each, where it is usually £30. I know that that sounds really expensive but believe me it is so worth it, as the smallest drop goes such a long way and the bottle will last you a long time. I bought one bottle for myself and treated my friend to a new bottle of her shade.

Available in 4 shades, I decided to buy myself Shine, a pink based shimmer to add a pearly shine, perfect for those of us with a paler complexion. The other two options are Blush, a peachy antique-rose based shimmer that adds a warm rosy glow, and Glow, a terracotta toned shimmer that gives you a rich bronze glow.

You can add the shimmer to your foundation, primer or moisturiser, or use it alone for an intense glow. Personally I just it as a highlighter as I haven’t been able to work out the right amount to mix and so when I tried putting it into my foundation I look I was going to a fancy dress party as the glitter ball, but again it proves just how little of this you need and how far it goes.

I would advise using your fingers to apply this product and place a small amount on your hand before blending on your face unless you are willing to risk that ultra glow or if you are used to the product. Dot the illuminator on to your cheekbones, nose, whether you usually highlight and then tap the product to actually blend it in.

Iconic London currently have 25% off with the code ICONIC25 and have a Christmas Contour and Glow Gift Set for £69.99 which contains the Illuminator in Original alongside a Cream Contour Palette and a Rose Gold Concealer Brush.

“What are you wearing?” has got to be the most used saying amongst us girls, even if we’re just going out for dinner the first thing we all need to know is what is everyone wearing whilst wondering how to do our make up. The most complicated has got to be when you’ve been at work or out all day and you’re going out out after, how do you make the easiest transition from day to night.

On a night out I used to only ever wear a dress or playsuit, I was never found in any form of trousers as I felt it was peritive to have as much skin on show as possible. It made going out straight from work harder work as I always had to completely change and redo my entire make up look to suit the outfit choice. Thankfully a few years back I realised the better way to be was legs or cleavage and whilst I haven’t owned a pair of jeans for years I’m all over the late night leggings love.

Leggings are the ultimate day to night look with all the intricate detailing and designs you can get these days like the Crochet Lace pair I recently got from SimplyBe. With the simplicity across the top three quarters of the leggings you can wear these as a day time look but the crochet lace trim gives you the versatility that with a simple swap to heels or boots and your favourite party top you’re instantly night out worthy. You are definitely not too overdressed that you can’t get away with a pit stop food run pre drinks. In hindsight rolling into KFC to grab a snack box in your sheer bodysuit and mini skirt at 6pm might not be a winner. Not that I’ve done that of course, honestly I’m not sitting here hanging my head in shame at all… Well actually I’m sat here laughing away like a child at the memory.

Swiftly moving on, the next thing we girls have to contend with is make up options. Do you risk going to work with no make up on so you can pull out your killer smokey eye with ease at night. Do you rock that winged liner that you never wear at work and have clients wondering why you’ve gone to such an effort for that morning meeting about figures. Why do men have it so easy?!

My day time make up when I’m going out of an evening tends to consist of eyebrows courtesy of Lancome, Perversion mascara, a little splash of NARS blush and that’s about me done. For me there’s no point in doing a full face of make up to halfway through the day redo the entire look unless I am attending some kind of formal event or somewhere it would be a requirement.

As you all know I’m a big Urban Decay fan and whilst I have been loving the Naked Heat that recently came out I have fallen back in love with my Naked Smoky. As I don’t already have foundation on it means I can go to town with my eyes with no worry of any shadow fall out. There’s no stress over having to somehow fix my base, especially when going for a darker shade or stronger look. If you’re not sure you can pull off a strong smoked eye then why not try using browns, purples or maroon shades rather than grey and blacks.

The other love of my life right now is Highlighter, I can’t go out at night without it! I want to be seen shining from the space stations and my new favourite highlighter right now is the Laura Mercier Luminizing Candlelight Palette. The palette actually contains two highlight powders and four eye shadows but I actually use the eye shadows as my highlighter more than the highlight itself. I don’t even have a favourite shade, Ive swapped between them all every time I’ve used it so far. A banging highlight really does change you from day to night in snap as far as I’m concerned and this coming Friday I’ll be strutting into my local from work, highlight on point, smoky eye and my new luscious lace leggings. Fingers crossed I’m as successful as I was above, day event to night glam and just look at that highlight under the eyebrow, god I feel vain right now!

As you are all very aware I am big fan of Urban Decay make up and one of the holy grail items in my make up bag is their All Nighter Setting Spray.

You know that girl on a night out, the one on the dance floor thinking she’s a backing dancer in a music video. In her head she’s performing on tour with Britney or Jason Derulo, in the real world she’s probably nearly took someone’s eye out with her “sexy” moves. One part of you is thinking What on earth is she doing?! One part might even be thinking Aw at least she’s having fun I guess And yet there’s one little part that’s just thinking How is she not sweating off her make up. Well that girl is me and the reason my make up hasn’t moved or smudged even an inch is because of this Setting Spray.

Urban claims that the “All Nighter Setting Spray keeps makeup looking gorgeous for up to 16 hours — without melting, fading or settling into fine lines.” Featuring patented Temperature Control Technology the formula is suitable for all skin types, and is free of oil and parabens. However if you have oily skin I would suggest getting the De Slick as it controls oil, deflects shine and leaves the skin looking matte.

To be honest I’m a bit of a nightmare when it comes to taking my make up off at the end of the night, but this does give me a chance to fully appreciate a great Setting Spray. Many times have I woken up still wearing last nights make up and not an inch is out of place. I could actually get away with wearing it the following day if I had no care for my skin in the slightest, but I’m not that bad! It really does show how good the Setting Spray is though and that it really does live up to Urbans description. I seriously don’t know how people can go out without setting their make up.

Urban recently gave their Setting Spray a makeover, previously it was a white bottle with a purple lid and purple writing. They have stuck with their iconic purple but changed the white to black and personally I think it’s really striking and a lot more pleasing the eye. The Spray comes in two sizes, 118ml which is £23.50 and a travel sized 30ml which is £10. The bottles are really lightweight and easy to throw in your bag. Another success from Urban as far as I’m concerned.

I had very mixed feelings about this palette and I have to say I’m glad I didn’t buy it at the full price of £52 but instead got it for a bargain at £11. If you are a matte fan this is definitely not the palette for you but I love a bit of shimmer to my look and I liked that it had a wide range of shades in one place so you don’t have to carry multiple palettes with you. The darker shades have great pigmentation and all the colours blend easily for a smooth look.

There are 30 shades in this palette, with 17 being brand new and 13 being pre-released shades. With so many shades this palette would work for any skin tone but with the lighter shades you need to spend a while layering up the shade as the pigmentation is not as strong in them. I would advise using a wet brush for the lighter shades and if you want a stronger metallic look with the shimmer.

I would say this palette is perfect for a beginner to make up or for practising new looks as some of the shades are quite crumbly and some are dry. If you are a make up artist or just really skilled in that area I would not recommend this palette as there’s more negatives than positives from your perspective. I think this palette is overpriced but it has not put me off the Too Faced range as I have other items from them that I highly rate like the Love Light Highlighter.

I swatched the shades top to bottom in each column from left to right but I was unable to get a good swatch of the lightest shade Heaven. The first photo shows swatches of Lace Teddy to Kittens, followed by Cutie Patootie to Tickle Me, then Honey Pot to Spoiled, finishing with Make Up & Chilled to Stiletto.

As with all my August posts there is a giveaway to enter, today’s is for the Kat Von D and Too Faced Mascara Liner Duo. The set contains a miniature of the Kat Von D Tattoo Eye Liner and Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara. You have one month to enter, the giveaway is international and the winner will be announced on Twitter and Facebook.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, or you’ve been on my Instagram, you’ll know that I am a massive fan of Urban Decay. So I’m sure you can all imagine how excited I was when I came home from the doctors, with an all clear to my scans thank you very much, to a shiny purpley-pink parcel and inside was the newest addition to the Urban Decay Naked family; the Naked Heat.

Admittedly when I first saw pictures of the Naked Heat I was a little concerned I wouldn’t be able to use it. It looked very much like it sat in the orange family, so being the strong ginger that I am I wasn’t exactly jumping with joy at the idea of my hair and my eyes clashing.

Thankfully on closer inspection I was happy to find it was more of a red to brown selection. Usually I might slightly edit the brightness or contrast of my photos, I mean don’t we all right right, but I promise you I haven’t touched these as I wanted to truly show the colours on offer. With matte warm browns, shimmering coppers and deep reds, this palette should work with all skin tones and is extremely versatile. You have the ability to create a subtle daytime look, a bold statement eye or of course my favourite for a night out a smoky eye, alongside so many in between options.

The shades are, as always, super pigmented and soft, and very easy to blend which is great for me as I have quite hooded eyes so I spend a lot of time blending my eyes out so you can actually see the colour and result I was going for. I’m by no means a pro when it comes to make up, especially the eyes, but I’ve actually been quite impressed with my skills with this palette. I have not yet had a chance to take any swatch pictures so I do apologise for being that girl that posts a review without all the information you’d want, but I just have not had the time. I will post pictures of them on my Instagram soon, and I will update this post with them when they are ready.

I created the look above using Low Blow as my base across the lid, followed up with He Devil in the inner and outer corners brushing slightly across the lid line. On the outer corner I then built the colour using Cayenne, En Fuego and finally a dash of Ember to give it a touch of smoke, and finished off with a brush of Ounce under my eyebrows for a touch of highlight, and of course Perversion Mascara. I wore this to a blogging girls day out at Junkyard Golf on Sunday and was so pleased when they all said they liked it, as I’ve not been feeling too great lately, so that definitely picked me up. I’ve since heard and seen that Em Ford from My Pale Skin Blog done a Naked Heat Tutorial and used pretty much the same shades (great minds think alike) so you should definitely check her video out, she’s fabulous!

I already have a number of Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes and I’m happy to say this did not disappoint and is as loved as the rest of my collection. As soon as I got it and sent a snap to one of my best friend she was straight online ordering it as she couldn’t get over how great it looked. The Naked Heat retails at £39.50 and is available online now, and launches in stores on the 3rd August, so just two days to wait if you’re not an online shopper.

Now I have to take a moment to say the hugest thank you to all of my readers. For sticking with me through sporadic posting, crazy Twitter updates, drunken at home karaoke Snap Stories and all the rest. To show you how much I appreciate all your ongoing support I will be running giveaways at the end of all my posts in August. There’ll be a total of 7 prizes to be won, all of which have been revealed on my Facebook page if you’d like to have a sneak peek.

Each will run for a month from the day they launch and I will reveal all the winners on Twitter and Facebook after each closes. I sent out a tweet last month asking what Urban Decay Naked Palette people would most like to win and the Naked 3 came top so I am giving one away. I have purchased all the prizes myself, all are things that I love and hope you will love too. Celebrate my birthday month and the countdown to my holiday with me, with your own potential present. Enter now, and good luck my beauties!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Housed in a beautiful pink mirrored case, which you can clearly see yourself in but is rather prone to finger prints, this palette is one of two Unfiltered Cheek Palettes. I can happily cope with the case cleaning though as this is the first Palette I’ve bought in a while where I’ve known I will actually use every single shade. How many times do we buy make up palettes and there’s a stray one or two shadows you’d never use, or a contour shade that’s just too dark or light so it’s never touched.

The Unfiltered 1 Cheek Palette is in my opinion is better suited for tanned and darker skin tones as the shades are quite rich and would be very strong on my pale skin. The Unfiltered 2 Cheek Palette hosts more subtle shades in comparison, all of which have great pigmentation, have an amazing texture that applies beautifully, and can be worn as a light dusting or be built up for a stronger look.

The top row of the palette (L-R) is Conquest, a matte pastel peach shade, Undefeated, a cool toned pink shimmer, and Power Play, a matte pink that makes me think of Barbie. Whilst these are all blush shades, Undefeated also works as a highlighter and can be dusted over Power Play to give the matte shade a slight shimmer. The bottom row (L-R) is Hot Sand, a champagne peach sheen, Fame, a rose-gold pink shimmer, and Candid, a raspberry mauve shimmer.

All shades in the palette are brand new, except for Hot Sand which was originally released as a limited edition but has since been made permanent. I wouldn’t use Hot Sand as a blusher but it’s a beautiful highlight shade and like I said with Undefeated it can be dusted over the matte shades to give them a shimmer.

If you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen that lately there’s been an abundance of make up pictures. I have so many new palettes and yes I know I owe you all a lot of swatch pictures and they’re coming I promise, but right now let’s get back to the reason for this post. After realising I’d gone a little crazy with my eBay make up hauls I decided to put myself on a 60 day makeup spending ban and here’s how week one has gone.

The first thing I made myself do was go through my make up collection and I stumbled all these hidden gems I’d completely forgotten about. After getting a pretty bad highlighter addiction I had completely forgot about the Anastacia Beverly Hills Moonchild Palette which has quite unique highlighter shades. I found my Bare Minerals Stroke of Light and my Guerlain Terracota Bronzer which were my go to products when I first started practicing how to contour. I realised I had completely fallen out of love with red lipstick after a love affair with them last year. Why exactly did I think I needed a dozen red lipsticks, all of which are not that different in shade.

For someone who doesn’t wear makeup on a daily basis I have quite an extensive collection but seem to get caught in the hype of buying a new product and obsessively using that until a new one catches my eye. I’ve realised that I’d rather pay that little extra for a better quality of make up and that Urban Decay and Bare Minerals are as always my favourite brands.

The main thing I have taken from this first week though is that I want to get back to experimenting and practicing make up more. One, it will help me run down my products and two, you won’t ever improve if you don’t try. I was the manager of a makeup counter for a year but left as I didn’t feel like I was being taught enough and that I was doing better watching YouTube tutorials, getting tips from friends and just generally having a play and I would feel so proud when I accomplished a look I’d been working on. Seriously, you should have seen the amount of people I messaged when I did my first banging smoky eye, alongside a picture of course. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get good enough that I’ll feel confident about posting tutorials on YouTube myself.

One great thing about having all these products though is it’s gives me a chance to work on my photography and even if I do say so myself my Instagram flat lays have improved so much lately. I’ve started taking them on my DSLR and once they are downloaded to my phone I only need to do a slight tweak with the brightness and contrast levels and in comparison to what I’d been previously posting I am so proud of how my account now looks. If you fancy taking a look I’m GlamGlitzGloss on there as I am everywhere.

Do you feel like you need to go on a Spending Ban? What’s your biggest make up weakness?

Whenever I go to do my make up I always have a pile of make up brushes lying around, and I even manage to put one down and then it disappears and I have to hunt for it. Tell me I’m not alone in this! Wearing a make up belt takes me back to my days on counter and I instantly feel more confident and professional in myself. And how beautiful do my Spectrum brushes look in there!

I love the design of this brush belt, how it’s so simple with the quilted faux leather and the delicate silver studs give it that little something to make it pop. This fits over 30 brushes plus has room for other beauty tools, and I can’t wait to try it out for the first time when I do my sister’s make up for the prom in a couple of weeks. Until them I’m always on the lookout for some new guinea pigs to practice make up on, specifically eye make up. Last year I finally mastered the smokey eye, which Timehop was nice enough to remind me of the other day, but I’m always looking to keep up what I do know and experimenting with other colours and looks.

Colour Pop is an American brand that I had seen a lot of bloggers raving about and I was planning on picking some bits up when I go to Florida in August but luckily for me I got a chance to try it earlier. I got a message from Lauren from Blonde Vision saying she was planning on buying some bits and if a few of us went in together we could split the delivery and tax charges and it wouldn’t end up costing anyone an arm and a leg.

I am obsessed with highlighters right now so I knew that I definitely wanted to pick up some of these. My go to highlighters are Urban Decay and Anastasia Beverly Hills and I had heard talk of the Colour Pop highlighters being just as good. And how did they measure up you ask, well they definitely did not disappoint and now I really struggle to decide which highlighter to wear on a night out.

I picked the Colour Pop Super Shock Highlighter Set which included three shades; Lunch Money, Smoke N Whistles and Stole The Show. Lunch Money is a soft light gold shade, Smoke N Whistles is a cool-toned pink champagne shade with silver highlights, and Stole The Show is a warm silver shade with flashes of pink, silver and gold. ColourPop advise using either a flat synthetic cheek brush or a duo fiber brush, with the synthetic brush giving more coverage whereas the fiber brush will give you a more sheer and airbrushed look.

You may have noticed that I was a very bad blogger and one of the highlighters has been used prior to me taking pictures. We placed the order around Christmas time but unfortunately due to me being ill and having to cancel on some plans I didn’t get around to seeing Lauren until her birthday last month so you can imagine how excited I was to finally get my hands on my goodies. I just couldn’t contain my excitement and just had to test them out straight away but I managed to refrain myself from trying them all.

Although the blog name would suggest I am a glitter gloss girl, a few years ago my preference completely changed and I became a lipstick only girl, and a matte girl at that. Glam Glitz Matte Lipstick doesn’t have quite the same ring to it though does it. I have however always been a little intrigued by liquid lipsticks and when I saw the Out and About Lip Bundle, containing three matte liquid lipsticks in shades Time Square, Baracuda and Viper, I decided to get that too.

This set seemed to made for me as it has the three shades that I mainly switch between in my make up looks. Viper is a dusty rose shade from the purple family, and my all time favourite lipstick is Urban Decay’s Rapture which is very similar so I definitely wanted to see the comparison. Viper is a slighter deeper shade but I think this is mainly due to Rapture having a more creamy consistency, but Viper has a stronger staying power, I had to scrub my arm raw to remove those swatches.

Baracuda is a warm deepened rose shade and I haven’t actually worn it yet as when first applied it’s a bit too dark of a colour for my pale complexion and I’m too impatient to wait for it to settle. I also think it has less of pink look than on the photos on the website so maybe I’ll pop that one away and try it out the next time I get myself a spray tan or when I go on holiday. Finally, Time Square is a muted pink beige shade, and less face it girls you can never have too many nude lip colours. You just can’t go wrong with it!

I attempted to take some swatch photos of the highlighters but I couldn’t quite capture the beauty or the true depth of the shades in a picture. I did however get a pretty good video of them on Snapchat so I have include that for you all to get a better look at the highlighters and how the colour holds up when it’s in direct sunlight. They’re just so pretty! I’ll definitely be picking some up when I go to America, and I have a feeling I’ll be getting a few orders from friends whilst I’m over there.

Top to Bottom: Viper, Baracuda, Times Square, Smoke N Whistles, Lunch Money, Stole The Show