Sleek Make Up Sparkle palette new for the party season

I'm a big fan of Sleek Make Up palettes, so when I heard that there was a new limited edition one being released for the party season, I jumped on it right away. This one is called Sparkle and it contains 12 gorgeous eyeshadows as usual. Most of them are sparkly, but they have also included a matte black (Noir) and 2 metallic shades (Gold Ribbon and Tinsel). The rest of the eyeshadows are very sparkly and there's a good mix of colours: plums, blues, purples, plus a gorgeous green and an outrageous bright pink are also included. This palette is certainly not for those who don't like colours, there isn't a nude shade in sight, but then Sleek palettes are usually packed with colours.

I really like it that Sleek have changed their packaging from the old style see-through plastic sleeve to prettier boxes. This palette has a blue outer box with lots of sparkles - very festive! Inside it's the usual black matter slimline palette with the words "Sleek Make Up" printed across it. Inside the palette you find a very useful mirror, a double ended sponge applicator (meh) and the eyeshadows. The names of the eyeshadows are printed on the plastic cover inside, which goes over the eyeshadows. I tend to throw these plastic covers away as they get in the way, so I guess it would be better if the shade names were printed on the back of the palette. But I personally don't care about the shade names that much anyway, so I don't mind.

The eyeshadows are very smooth and pigmented as usual. I swatched them on bare skin and they showed up fantastically. I would recommend using a base under them though as they do stain a bit, especially the darker shades. Plus I always use a base anyway, but that's just me. Not sure how easy it would be to create looks from this palette alone unless you're going for a very dark smoky eye and there isn't a highlighter shade included, but I'm sure we all own our own highlighters and other eyeshadows anyway. All in all I think this is another great palette from Sleek Make Up and if you want to pick it up, I'd urge you to do it asap as they won't be around for long. Available from Superdrug and online from Sleek Make Up (they deliver worldwide I believe) for £5.99.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Want It: Urban Decay 15-Year Anniversary Set

Unfortunately this is not available in the UK just yet, but the lucky people in the US can purchase it tomorrow on Urban Decay's website. The rest of use will need to wait until next year to get our hands on it. For those of you who don't know what this is, there's some more info below!

Boots No 7 Christmas Collection eyeshadow compacts and eye pencil sets

This time of the year is proving to be very expensive to me because there are just too many nice products on offer. Today I would like to tell you about Boots's own No 7 brand's limited edition Christmas Collection. I'm not going to review the Mirror Ball collection (the highlighter, eyeshadow quad, lipstick, jumbo pencils, etc.), but concentrate on the limited edition 9 colour eyeshadow compacts and eye pencil sets. Both of them available in 3 colours: Candy Cane, Smoky Jewels and Precious Metals. The colours work very well together, so you can co-ordinate the eye pencils with the compact with the same name, which I think is pretty cool.

Candy Cane, Smoky Jewels, Precious Metals

Right then, first off the eyeshadow compacts. In style they remind me very much of a small compact Lancome did a couple of years ago also with 9 colours, only difference is, these eyeshadows work much better together (the Lancome shadows are very hard to use together). You get 3 rows of co-ordinating shades, although of course you don't have to stick to using them together. Candy Cane is a nice soft pastel palette, with blues, pinks, purples and greens. Smoky Jewels has darker, "smokier", jewel toned colours, blues, greens, purples, browns. Precious Metals has a collection on metallic shades: gold, silver, bronze. The eyeshadows are nicely pigmented, smooth and easy to blend. You get 3.6 g for £12.50 (the pans are about the size of a 5p coin, so that's why they're only 0.4 g each).There's often a 3 for 2 offer on No 7 products or at the moment you get a free gift if you spend £22 or more on No 7 - check it out here!

Read more of my review and see lots of pictures and swatches after the jump!

Benefit Prrrowl double ended mascara topcoat and lipgloss review

I'm not a huge fan of Benefit cosmetics for several reasons, including the fact that I often find their sales assistants a bit in your face and pushy, but I have come across a product lately that I really like, so I thought I'd show you. It's called Prrrowl and it's basically a double ended mascara topcoat and lipgloss duo. I bought it when I went shopping to Boots the other day and there were no sales assistants at the counter, so I could browse happily. What caught my eye first is the gorgeous teal-blue colour of the mascara topcoat. It is just so beautiful. The lipgloss is also pretty, although it probably suit someone with cooler skintone better especially as not only it's light pink, it also has blue shimmer to it. Good for a smokey eye though!

I love the packaging, it comes in a leopard-skin print box and it's really fun to look at. Inside the box you have a very generously sized double ended wand (very similar in shape to Guerlain's Le 2 Mascaras by the way). You get 7.5 g of mascara and 6.5 ml of lipgloss for £19.50 which is pretty good value for money. Both ends have very good applicators, the mascara wand is a really nice size and picks up just the right amount of product, and the lipgloss applicator is nicely curved on one side to make application easier. The lipgloss is non-sticky and has the same fruity scent as other Benefit glosses (not my favourite to be honest). The mascara topcoat (which could also be applied alone) is a beautiful peacock blue shade with lots of sparkles. Once it's applied it doesn't flake or smudge at all, and there's no glitter fallout either.

See more product pictures and swatches after the jump!

Laura Mercier Sequin Eyeshadows review

Laura Mercier's Sequins Collection includes 9 eyeshadows in the following shades:

• Tiger’s Eye – warm chocolate brown with flakes
• Twinkling Star – soft neutral beige with flecks
• Shimmerplum – cool lilac grey with flecks
• Pink Crystal – soft pale pink with flecks
• Black Ice -  cold gray
• Lapis – vibrant blue indigo with flecks
• Copper – warm copper brown
• Jade – light smoky green
• Brilliant Rose – rose copper with flecks

The collection is now out and it looks so tempting that I ended up buying 6 of the 9 eyeshadows! As you know, I love sparkly eyeshadows and I just couldn't resist picking more up. I reviewed the 3 Sequin eyeshadows that came out with the autumn collection here together with Lapis that I already had (courtesy of eBay) but which is actually part of this collection.

See which shades I've picked up and read my review after the jump!

My favourite upcoming Spring 2010 collections (so far)

I know it's not even winter yet (well, technically it isn't, but it's blooming cold outside and they're forecasting snow for the end of this week - brr!), but there's been quite a lot of news appearing on the web about the upcoming spring collections. So I thought I'd show you which ones are my favourites so far, but of course without seeing details on all of them (I'm especially keen to see the details for Dior's and Chantecaille's spring collections), it's hard to pick favourites just yet. But I can happily say that I absolutely adore the new blush that's coming out in Lancome's spring collection, the entire Guerlain collection (of course) and YSL's collection looks very interesting too.  

I'll start with my most favourite item of them all, Lancome's spring blush. Isn't it just gorgeous? 

Lancome La Rose Butterfly Blush

Keep reading to find what other products are among my favourites!

Mission: Nail Rescue part 3

Following on from my post 2 weeks ago, here's another update on my Nail Rescue Mission. I'm now 5 weeks into my Nails Inc treatment and to be honest, although there is some improvement, it's still not great. My nails are in a bit better shape, there's no new peeling, although I'm still waiting for the very thin bits to grow out, and growth is very slow. I have switched to Tesco's nail supplement (simply because I was shopping there when I needed to stock up) and I've also started wearing nail polish again as I got bored with not being able to wear any, as a result I'm only applying the base coat every 2-3 days now. None of these seem to have an adverse effect on my nails luckily.

Well that's all for now and I will update you again in a couple of weeks' time.

Week 4

To see more photos of my nails and the new supplement I'm using, continue to read on!

Guerlain Meteorites Poudre D'Or Voyage Powder

I've got it! Just arrived in the post today! And it's lovely! What am I talking about? The new Meteorites Poudre D'Or from Guerlain's holiday collection of course!

Guerlain releases a limited edition Voyage Powder every holiday and they seem to be getting more and more beautiful (although to this day my favourite is the Radiant Butterfly one that was released in 2008). This year the theme is bees, it runs through the whole collection. Both the lid and the actual powder feature bees. The lid of the compact is very similar to both the Meteorites Perles D'Or box and last year's Imperial Voyage Powder. It has the same flower pattern and bee as the Meteorites Perles D'Or but it also has the black Swarovski crystals from the Imperial Voyage Powder. The compact is very heavy and has a very luxurious feel to it, and it's refillable, although you may not be able to find the same powder, you can always pop in one of the permanent Mythic refills. It costs £107, so it is very expensive, and refills are around £30.

I apologise to those expecting swatches and a comparison review between Meteorites Perles D'Or and Poudre D'Or, but I cannot make myself swatch the powder and ruin the gorgeous bee detail. I collect these powders as well as use them (if you haven't yet, please feel free to check out my collection here) and since I have a few powders already on the go, I don't feel the need to start using this one as well. Hope you understand.

See more photos after the jump!

Guerlain, you know I love you, but you and eye don't get on!

Guerlain is one of my favourite brands, but unfortunately when it comes to their eye creams, it's a different story. You might recall that I'm currently doing Project Skincare Samples which means I'm basically using up all my samples I've accumulated during the past few years. I started using Guerlain's Issima Succes Eye Tech which is an "eyelid lifter and wrinkle minimiser" eye cream. Unfortunately just after 2 uses I found that it made my eyelids extremely sore and very puffy. This is how my eyes looked the morning after the second application:

Not only my eyelid wasn't lifted, it ended up very saggy and puffy. I have naturally hooded eyelids, but they don't normally look like this. They were also very sore and sensitive. Really not what you expect from a high end eyecream like Guerlain's. Unfortunately the same thing happened to me a while ago when I was using the Orchidee Imperiale eye and lip cream, so I had to resort to only using it on my lips which considering that it cost me £50 was really not great! So it seems Guerlain and I are just not seeing eye to eye (excuse the pun). It makes me sad, but at least I can now stop lusting after their horribly expensive skincare products. Although I do need to add that their face serums and creams are still one of my favourites. 

See more pictures of my puffy, sore eyelids if you dare!

Boots Strictly Fabulous lipgloss collection review and swatches

I'm not a huge fan of Strictly Come Dancing (having said that I have nothing against it, just don't watch it), but this lipgloss set caught my attention when I was looking through my Boots Christmas brochure a little while ago. I picked it up during one of the shopping events to make use of Boots's generous point giveaway and 3 for 2 offer (all holiday giftsets are included in their 3 for 2 offers). It costs £12, but was effectively free because I bought it at the same time as a couple of Front Cover palettes. Plus I got £12 worth of points on my Advantage Card. Anyway....

I really liked the look of the colours and although I couldn't test them out before buying, I thought what the heck I'll get them anyway. And I'm glad I did because the glosses are actually really nice. They are double ended with one end sheer and sparkly and the other end nicely pigmented. The coloours are all wearable and have a good range, so should suit a lot of skintones and preferences. I would like the sheer, glittery glosses to be just a bit mroe pigmented and actually look more like they do in the tube, but I guess if you apply them on similar coloured lipsticks, you still get a very nice effect. Not bad for £1.50 each. 

See more photos and swatches after the jump!

Too Faced Enchanted Glamourland review and swatches

From the moment I saw the first picture about this palette, I knew I wanted Too Faced's holiday palette Enchanted Glamourland. Unluckily for me, this particular products wasn't available in the UK, but after weeks of stalking eBay with no luck, my husband announced he was going to America on a business trip. So I gave him a little list of things I'd liked and he bought them for me! (I also got Lancome Shimmer Blush in Mandarin sky that I'd been really wanting ever since I saw Christine's review on it over at Temptalia.)

So since this products isn't available in the UK, I'm guessing this might be a UK exclusive review? (Please correct me if that's not the case, I don't want to offend anyone.) Anyway, Enchanted Glamourland is a super pretty palette that includes 15 eyeshadows (4 exclusives), a blush, a bronzer, a lipgloss and a full sized Insurance Policy eyeshadow primer. It costs $49 plus tax. It is a very pretty girly palette with fairies, flowers, butterflies and tons of glitter on the packaging.

There's quite a good variety in colours and finishes among the eyeshadows, although a lot of shades are quite shimmery, so if you don't like shimmer, this palette might not be for you. There are a few matte and neutral shades in there too though. I like a lot of things about this palette: the blush (La Vie En Rose), the bronzer (Snow Bunny), the full size primer (Urban Decay please take note!), the fact that the included lipgloss is a proper lipgloss and not part of the palette, and I like it that they included 3 cards with looks to inspire.

The eyeshadows themselves are nice, there's a nice variety of colours and finishes and there are also 4 new shades (oddly only called Exclusive (all 4 of them!), even though all other shades have proper names). There are of course a few shades that have been included in other palettes, I'm sure I already own Boy Toy, Label Whore, Glamazon and George & Wheezie from last year's Glamour Revolution palette, but all in all I think this is a great palette and not only that, it is sooooo pretty! (Having mentioned Glamour Revolution, this year's palette is way better value, so if you missed out on GR, definitely get Enchanted Glamourland if you can!)

Okay then, enough of the review, let's see some more pictures and swatches!

My Dior holiday haul

I love Dior and their eyeshadows in particular, so always get sucked into buying their newest limited edition quints. I already have a massive collection (you can check it out here), but I needed to get the two new holiday quints as well because they are gorgeous. I also bought one of the star products released in this year's holiday collection: Dior Mineudiere in Pink Golds.

Read more about these eyeshadow palettes and see more pictures after the jump!

Cool smoky eyed look featuring Mac Tartan Tale lips

I created this look using some of the shades from Urban Decay's Naked Palette and the new Mac Tartan Tale Happily Ever After lip kit. I know some of you might be wondering how on earth you create a grey smoky eye from the neutral Naked Palette, but it does have some darker shades including Gunmetal and Creep.

For this look I used:

Face:

Guerlain Meteorites Perles primer

Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation

Chantecaille White Tiger pressed powder

Mac Dollymix powder blush

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Urban Decay Gunmetal eyeshadow (Naked Palette) all over lid
Urban Decay Creep eyeshadow (Naked Palette) in crease

Urban Decay Vorpal (S&M) eyeshadow (Alice in Wonderland BOS) inner corner and above crease

Urban Decay Uzi eyeshadow (UD Heart NYC BOS) inner corner and above crease

Mac Frozen White Pigment inner corner and below browbone

Urban Decay Gunmetal 24/7 eyeliner on lower lashline

Boots No 7 Extreme Length mascara in black

Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Lips:

Mac Happily Ever After lip kit: Cheers All Around lipstick and Endless Fun lipglass

See more pictures after the jump!

Project skincare samples!

I have a LOT of skincare samples that I have accumulated over the last few years by swapping, gifts with purchase, etc. I'd been keeping them in a bag not really knowing what to do with them, especially since I've not been doing a lot of swapping lately. Didn't want to throw them out, so I thought, why not use them?And not only that, why not set myself a challenge like I've seen other bloggers do (like 10 pan or 10 tube challenges) and not buy any skincare products until I use up ALL my samples.

As you can see I have a variety of samples (I didn't photographed all of them!): cleansers, serums, day, night and eye creams and primers from a variety of brands including Guerlain, Dior, Chanel, Givenchy, Estee Lauder, and loads more. I will not feel like I'm hard done by with all these lovely brands. So over the coming weeks (and months by the looks of it) I will be doing Project Skincare Samples!

Do you have a lot of skincare samples? What do you do with them? Have you ever set yourself a challenge like this?

Guerlain Les Ors Holiday 2010 Collection Haul part 2

I've already told you how much I love the entire Les Ors holiday collection and showed you a few items, and now here's another little review. This time featuring Kiss Kiss Strass lipstick #363 Rose de la Reine and Le 2 mascara 13 Or 2 Nuit.

Read more about the products and see some pictures and swatches!

Mission: Nail rescue! Part two

I didn't get around to posting an update last week as I was extremely busy, so I've decided to show you 2 weeks' progress in one post. Unfortunately there isn't actually that much progress to talk about. My nails are still peeling, bendy and week, and are still very short. (If you don't know what I'm on about, check out my initial post here.)

I have been religiously using the Nails Inc treatment and taking the food supplement I told you about in my first post. I forgot to say that I've also swapped my cheapo nail polish remover to a Sally Hansen one, hoping that that will make a difference too. So far, nothing. I will persevere and hope that eventually there will be some improvement.

For now, here are some not very pretty pictures.

Week 2

Week 2

Week 3

Week 3

See what I mean? There's hardly any difference. :( I'll let you know how I get on next week. 

Belated Halloween look post

I did this look for Halloween, although I didn't actually dress up as anything or go anywhere, but I thought I'd do a fun dark look and at the same time finally use my Urban Decay Black palette. This is also my entry for Temptalia's Halloween make up challenge.

For this look I used the following products:

Face:

Guerlain Meteorites Perles primer

Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation

Guerlain C’Est Moi pressed powder

Mac Love Rock mineralize blush duo

Mac Pleasureflush MSF

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

Urban Decay Jet eyeshadow (Black Palette) all over lid and crease

Urban Decay 54 Stardust eyeshadow inner corner and above crease

Urban Decay Grifter eyeshadow above crease

Urban Decay Bobby Dazzle Stardust eyeshadow below browbone

Mac Pink Opal Pigment inner third of eyelid and below browbone

Mac Designer Purple Pearlglide Intense eyeliner on lower lashline

Guerlain Le 2 Mascara in Butterfly Sparkle (both ends, glittery purple on tips of lashes)

Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Lips:

Mac Extra Amps dazzleglass

(Later added Collection 2000 Volume Sensation lipstick in Plum Perfection for darker lips to greet the trick or treaters, but I thought lighter lips were more appropriate for the supermarket in the morning.)

See more photos after the jump!

This is why I love eBay so much!

I know a lot of people don't like eBay and I have heard it being referred to as "evilbay", but I love it. I know there are a lot of greedy sellers trying to make money off people by buying up tens of limited edition sought after items (Mac Stereo Rose and Urban Decay Naked Palette in particular) and there are lots of fakes on eBay as well, but there are also so many great bargains to be had! You just have to be streetwise and you'll be fine.

The reason for this post is this:

This is Chantecaille's The Rites of Spring palette, a limited edition from 2004. It contains 7 full size eyeshadows and a blush. It's not new, but it hardly shows any useage, and it's absolutely beautiful. Now, I don't know exactly how much this cost new (according to reviews I've found online $125, so that was probably around £100 in the UK), but in any case, one Chantecaille eyeshadows retails for £22, so do the math... 

Do you want to know how much I got it for? 

Accessorize cosmetics now available in Superdrug stores!

Excuse the fuzzy picture, it was taken with my phone camera when I stumbled into Superdrug and found this beautiful display! I'm so excited, I had to tell you all about it. 

The Accessorize make up range includes eyeshadows, blushes, bronzers, lipsticks, lipglosses, nail polishes and a lot more and there are a lot of colours to choose from. Prices range from as little as £3 to a still very reasonable £9 for single items, up to £15 for sets. You can view the whole range on the Accessorize website! You can also order online, but make sure you wait for them to send you a welcome e-mail once you've registered because it'll contain a free shipping code! I didn't wait and had to pay for shipping when I ordered from them a week or so ago after I saw one of the nail polishes on Lipglossiping. 

Wanna see what I've bought so far?

Guerlain Perles D'Or Meteorites and pictures of my Meteorites collection

As promised in my haul review here are the details on my favourite item of the Guerlain holiday collection: Perles D'Or Meteorites. I also thought I'd show you my entire Meteorites collection as it's been a while since I last did it (here) and my collection has grown from 17 (March 2010) to a whopping 22! I am also including comparison pictures for the old and new permanent Meteorites as I've had questions about how similar Mythic and Teint Rose are. So be sure to read all the way to the end!

First up is Perles D'Or, the new limited edition Meteorites from Guerlain's holiday collection:

See more pictures of this product and my entire collection of Meteorites after the jump!

And the winner is....

Congratulations to ANIKA, the winner of my 100 followers Urban Decay giveaway! 

Your goodies have been posted to you!