Weekly Roundup feat. Topshop Eye Palette, Naturally Radiant Day Cream and W7 Candy Floss

Having returned home from a lovely trip to Brighton yesterday (involving lots of ice cream, walking and sunshine!) I'm ready to get going with my new Weekly Roundup series. Every Sunday I'll be writing about my favourite products of the past seven days, the things I've been using regularly throughout the week because I just can't help but love them so much. 

This week's fab three are Topshop's Smokey Eye Palette in 'Golden Aura' (£12), Superdrug's Naturally Radiant Brightening Day Cream (£5.99) and W7's Candy Floss brightening face powder (£3). 

I'm a sucker for a neutral eyeshadow palette and have an ever-expanding collection bulking up my many make-up bags. What intitally drew me towards Topshop's 'Golden Aura' was the buttery soft texture of the shadows and the shimmery golden finish of each shade. Plus, the packaging is a handy slimline case with a pretty polka dot design for decoration. Who doesn't like the added bonus of nice packaging?!

Topshop Smokey Eye Palette 'Golden Aura'

I'm determined to learn how to properly contour and define my eyes, as so far I haven't been able to find a foolproof technique for a novice like me. Topshop provide a handy leaflet explaining which shade to use for which part of the eye area, so I'm going to give it a go and see what happens! I'm thinking it might be a good idea to go to a beauty counter and book myself in for a professional make-over so I can learn how to do it from a professional. We'll see!

The lightest shade doesn't show up brilliantly in the photo but it's a lovely golden beige colour that works well in highlighting the inner corner of the eye (something even I can do!) and highlighting the brow bone. I really like the next shade up, a light brown taupe shimmer, and the darkest shade which is flecked with gold. It creates an almost green gold effect which is really pretty. I use it to line my eyes and add definition. The only downside I've found with this is that the outside of the packaging seems to pick up on smudy fingerprints easily and is a bit tricky to clean, but this isn't a huge problem in the grand scheme of things. 

About a month ago I purchased Superdrug's Naturally Radiant Brightening Day Cream for normal to combination skin in my efforts to find a day cream that would both soothe any anxiety-related dermatitis flare-ups and act as a good base for make-up while not being too heavy on my t-zone. According to the information provided on Superdrug's website the cream contains Kiwi Fruit (loaded with Vitamin C) and Mulberry Fruit to brighten skin, while Sugar Beet extract moisturises. This has since become my go-to cream in the mornings as it's light but moisturising, smells lovely and fruity and really anchors make-up well. Plus it has made a noticeable difference to patches of pigmentation and discolouration on my cheeks, chin and forehead left behind from past dermatitis and acne attacks, which I'm really pleased about. 

Drawing upon results from a trial of 50 people, Superdrug claims that after four weeks use 'skin tone appears refined and evened out'. While I still have areas of skin pigmentation that are proving difficult to shift, this cream has significantly faded an area of pigmentation on my right cheek that always used to show in photos no matter how carefully I applied a high coverage base. I'm thrilled that I've found something relatively cheap to combat marks, and it soothes current patches of dry skin brilliantly. I'd highly recommend this to anyone looking for a cream to tackle pigmentation and dullness as my face does feel a lot smoother and brighter having used this daily for the past month. I'm also a fan of the included SPF15 as I find it quite difficult to find face creams with SPF that aren't anti-ageing creams and I like using an SPF every day to protect my pale, sensitive skin from the sun. 

Benefit is one of my favourite beauty brands and I currently have a huge wishlist of all the Benefit goodies I'm lusting after. One product I used religiously before it ran out was the dandelion brighening face powder, which at £23. 50 is quite expensive, hence the lack of replacement so far! I love a good dupe and when I came across W7's Candy Floss brightening face powder I had to give it a go. 

Candy Floss comes in similar, albeit cheaper packaging to Benefit's dandelion. The base of the cardboard box actually fell off when I first opened it! But a little dab of superglue soon fixed that... The brush provided is very soft and doesn't feel uncomfortably synthetic, although I prefer to use my own bigger blusher brush to apply the powder. It's been a while since I used dandelion but from what I can remember Candy Floss in comparison gives a slightly darker flush of colour with a subtle golden shimmer. It works well as a brightening powder dusted over the cheeks, forehead and nose, and I also like to add more product on my cheeks as a blusher. I really like the gold shimmer it provides, especially for summer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't remember dandelion being particularly shimmery, so in this respect the products differ. 

Candy Floss swatch

In the swatch above I've applied it to my skin using my fingers for a more concentrated effect and you can see the rose gold colour it gives. I love how easy it is to build up the colour to a depth I'm comfortable with and it blends wonderfully with my blusher brush. While I'd say it's quite different to Benefit's dandelion in terms of being a more shimmery, darker pink it works excellently as a brightening powder and blusher, and it's quickly become my main pink blusher over the past week. For only £3 it's a brilliant bargain alternative. I do miss dandelion's paler pink brightening powers though and I'm sure I'll be repurchasing as soon as I can afford to. 

There you have it, my favourite three products of the past seven days. Have you tried any of the above? What have been your go-to products this week?