Face of the day with Accessorize products

Since I've now reviewed a lot of the new Accessorize make up range, I thought I'd show you the look with some of them that I did today and it turned out really well. At least that's what I think, feel free to let me know in the comments!

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin
Accessorize Baked Duo Eyeshadow in Zoria

• turquoise side all over my lid and blended into the crease
• champagne side on browbone to highlight

Accessorize Icon Eyeshadow in Mermaid (soon to be reviewed) above crease and below lower lashline
Gosh Long Lasting Eyeliner Pen in 002 Turquoise above upper lashline
Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in Flipside on lower waterline
Diorshow Blackout Mascara in Black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:

Accessorize Highlighter (sson to be reviewed) above cheekbones and lightly mixed into foundation
Maybelline Dream atin Liquid Foundation in 020 Cameo
Guerlain Poudre C'est Moi
Accessorize Bronzing Block in Shade 3 (soon to be reviewed) on cheeks
Highlighter side of Accessorize Baked Bronzer Duo in Laguna above cheekbones

Lips:
Accessorize Diamond Sparkle Lipgloss in shade 5 Crush (soon to be reviewed)

See more pictures after the jump!

Accessorized Baked Duo Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

Today I'm going to show you the new Accessorize Baked Duo Eyeshadows. Not so much a review than mostly just swatches as I haven't worn these enough to have a proper opinion on them. But I can say that they all swatched really nicely (all swatches were done dry), they are smooth and similar texture to the trios, not very soft or buttery, but still with a good colour payoff. I also didn't experience fall out or creasing with the one I have used (the purple and pink one), but it did fade over the course of the day, however I also managed to overblend it somewhat, so I need to give this another try.

These new Baked Duo Eyshadows are available in 6 shades (I think) and I got 4 of them. The shades I bought are: Venus (purple and pink with silver veining), Freya (gold and light brown with gold and burgundy veining), Thalia (chocolate brown and white with brown veining) and Zoria (champagne and turquoise with green and purple veining). All in all, I love the colours and the price (£4.50 for 4.5 g each). These are available from Superdrug and Accessorize.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Accessorize Baked Trio Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

I am really happy with my recent Accessorize purchases and today I would like to show you the baked trio eyeshadows that I'd already talked about in my video (check it out if you haven't yet). There are 8 new baked trio eyeshadows in the range and I have 4 of them to show you. These are absolutely massive at 12.5 g each, so you don't have to worry about not being able to pick out the individual colours with your brush. As usual, they come in the lovely butterfly decorated compact.

The four shades I bought are Astonishment (greens), Blown Away (blues), Shameless (pinks) and The Good and The Bad (browns). If I remember correctly there was a lighter brown trio, a grey one, a purple one and one with bright pink, purple and white. All very pretty, but to me these stood out. (I also loved the purple one, but I managed to pick up a duo with a gorgeous purple none of the shades in the purple trio could compete with, so I passed on it. I will show you the duos tomorrow, but you can also see them in the video.)

I really like these baked trio eyeshadows. They seem quite hard in the pan, but despite that they have a good colour payoff and apply very easily. The swatches you'll see below are all one-swipe swatches. I have only used them dry so far, but they can be used wet too. The eyeshadows are quite frosty and some of them have some very fine glitter too. I have not really experienced any fallout with them (I have so far used 3 of them), if there was a bit, it was only during application (they are quite powdery), but absolutely none later. I also didn't experience any creasing either (I wore them on top of my Barbara Daly eyeshadow base).

In the video I'm wearing Blown Away, and I have also included some pictures of the look I created with Astonishment. I wore Shameless yesterday and really liked the look (medium pink on the lid, dark mauve in the crease and light pink on browbone to highlight), but didn't managed to take pictures as I had my children at home and it was so hot anyway that my face wasn't too photogenic with all the sweating. The eye makeup stayed pretty much flawless despite the heat though.

As I said above these are massive at 12.5 g and cost £6 each. Available from Superdrug and Accessorize. They're not on the Accessorise website yet, but hopefully they'll appear soon.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Sleek Make Up Mediterranean Collection Monaco Eyeshadow Palette

There's a new Sleek eyeshadow palette out, in fact a new collection called The Mediterranean Collection that includes an eyeshadow palette, a pout polish and a blush. All 3 are limited edition. I only got the eyeshadow palette, which is called Monaco. It comes in a card sleeve with a Mediterranean style image printed on. The actual palette is the usual plain black. It comes with a large mirror inside the palette and a double ended applicator.

It's the same story as with all Sleek eyeshadow palettes, you get 12 highliy pigmented eyeshadows for just £7 (although for some reason I think Superdrug sells them for £6.49, but it says £7 on the Sleek website). These eyeshadows used to cost something like £4.99, but in all fairness, £7 is still a bargain since you get 12 really nice eyeshadows and they are a good size too at just over 1 gram each. This palette contains 4 shimmery and 8 matte shades, and as usual, the shimmery shades are more pigmented and softer, but the matte shades aren't bad quality at all.

I'd like to point out that I haven't worn any of these colours on my eyes yet, but if the swatches are anything to go buy, I can safely say that we have another nice palette here. I personally would like to see more shimmery colours, but I won't grumble too much as between my 11 (?) Sleek eyeshadow palettes, I'm sure to find enough shades to create several looks. (If you missed my video on my collection of Sleek palettes, here it is!) I like it that Sleek names its eyeshadows now, but I wish the names weren't printed on the plastic covering sheet as I tend to throw that out, but never mind, you can't have everything for £7, eh? All in all, another nice palette and I'm already looking forward to the Caribbean collection due out at the beginning of July.

Stay tuned as I will be bringing you the lowdown on the Oh So Special palette too which I have now seen a tester for in Superdrug, although there weren't actually any palettes on the shelf next to it, so not sure if it's actually out yet officially.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Accessorize Merged Baked Blushers Review and Swatches

I showed you my latest Accessorize haul in this video and now it's time for me to review the 4 baked blushes I bought. There are 4 new shades replacing the previous 4 shades (I reviewed 3 of them here), otherwise they are pretty similar, the packaging is the same with the pretty butterflies and they still cost £5 for 8 grams. So far I have only worn 3 of them and they all seem pretty frosty, not glittery, but certainly frosty.* Edited to add that I have now tried Sensation too and it's definitely very light and frosty, so most suitable as a highlighter unless you are very very fair and cool.

The shades I bought are no. 5 Sensation, no. 6 Scandal, no. 7 Wowzer and no. 8 Quiver. Sensation is the lightest, it's a very light frosty pink colour. Scandal is my favourite of the bunch, it is a nice coraly pink colour (reminds me a lot of Mac Stereo Rose MSF on my cheeks), not really the same as it looks in the pan. Wowzer is bright pink, but not as bright as it looks in the pan. Quiver is a dirty rose colour. They are all quite pigmented, but you don't need to be too careful when applying them as they aren't too pigmented, they are very buildable. I think they are pretty nice blushes, but if you don't like your blushes frosty, then Scandal would be the best to try as it's the least frosty.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Accessorize Baked Bronzer Duo in Laguna

I promised you in my Accessorize haul video that I would show you swatches of all the new baked products I've purchased the other day. First up is the new baked bronzer duo in Laguna. This is a new type of product in the Accessorize range, they appear to have replaced the mineralize skinfinish type bronzers/highlighters. They come in 4 shades, but sadly I can't rell you the other shade names because they're not up on the Accessorize website yet. I only bought Laguna because the other looked either too dark or too light for me.

Laguna is a peachy bronze colour with a champagne colour highlighter that has gold and peachy bronze veining inside. The powder is very finely milled, it has some sheen and a bit of shimmer to it, but no glitter. It's actually a rather sheer colour, but buildable, so you don't go too over the top with it with any luck. The compact is 12.5 gram, so quite a bit bigger than a Mac Mineralize Skinfinish, and retails for £6. Available from Superdrug and hopefully soon from Accessorize. I personally really like it, partly because it's very pretty to look at (mineralize powders and eyeshadows are my weaknesses) and partly because it's a nice product to wear. I also love the butterflies on the lid of the compact, so pretty.

Stay tuned because I will be reviewing the new baked blushes, eyeshadow trios and duos over the next few days! For now, see more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Urban Decay Rollergirl Where Are You?

I have been wanting to purchase the new Urban Decay Rollergirl eyeshadow palette set and nail kit ever since I saw them on the Urban Decay website. However, it's been months now and they still haven't arrived to the UK. I have tried e-mailing Urban Decay, they reckon the sets will be available in the UK, but they don't know when. I was given a couple of contacts in the UK, but have had no replies, I also tried contacting Debenhams and House of Fraser, but they were no help at all.

Please Urban Decay, I have waited for so long now, please let me have them! Or at least somebody tell me when I can have them, so I can stop checking the Debenhams website twice a day! Thanks.

Rimmel Colour Mousse 8hr 013 Galaxy & 014 Mermaid

Just a quick post to show you these two shades that I've just recently purchased since I had had very good experience with these mousse shadows and decided not to purchase the Mac Flighty mousse shadows. I have reviewed these once ages ago (see my review here) and also included it in my Back to the Bases video. To sum it up, these are excellent, they go on very smooth and stay put for 12 hours+, don't crease or fade, they make excellent bases and also work very well on their own.

These mousse eyeshadows come in 8 shades, I personally would love to see a lovely green shade added as well, and maybe a silver and a gold too (just checked Rimmel's website and there's also a Gunmetal shade shown there, but I have not seen it in store and it's not on the Boots website - maybe it's new?). Hopefully Rimmel will add to the range if they sell well, which they should as they are excellent and at £4.99 each (plus there's a special offer on these regularly, right now it's 3 for 2 at Boots!) they are very affordable. Do you own any of these? Let me know what you think!

I'll leave you with some more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Avon Ultra Colour Rich White Gold Lipstick Swatches and Review

One of my favourite lipsticks is Avon Ultra Colour Rich 24k lipstick in Natural Gold (reviewed here), so I was very curious about the new White Gold lipsticks when I saw them on the Avon website. Avon described these lipsticks as "moisturising lipstick infused with glistening pearls of real gold for instant sparkle". Similar to the 24k lipsticks which are also infused with real gold for instant sparkle, these are quite shimmery lipsticks with fine silvery sparkle. Similar to Mac Dazzle lipsticks, but a bit more subtle.

Red Karat, Golden Berry, Glistening Rose, Platinum Pink, Shimmering Nude, Gilded Brown

I ordered all 6 shades available as thanks to Avon's excellent return policy I can always return the ones I don't like, but I am happy to say that I might not be returning any of them. The shades I got are Red Karat, Golden Berry, Glistening Rose, Platinum Pink, Shimmering Nude and Gilded Brown. At the moment the only shade I'm not too sure about is Shimmering Nude as it's the sheerest of the lot and I'm just not sure I need it. However, it is a lovely nude peach colour. These lipsticks are pretty moisturising, although I don't suffer from dry lips, they certainly weren't at all drying on my lips even after 6-8 hours. The darker shades especially last really well, around 3-4 hours without much fading which I find really good for a lipstick. This of course doesn't involve eating, but I did have some drinks and it didn't seem to matter. These lipsticks do have a pretty strong fruity scent, but it's quite pleasant and doesn't bother me, and does disappear eventually.

All in all I would definitely recommend these lipsticks if you like shimmery lipsticks and you're on a budget. They cost £8.50, but are on special at the moment at £5.00 and they're available from Avon's website or your Avon representative (if you have one).

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Swatching My Stash Part 4: Lipsticks - My Mac Lipsticks Part 3

This is the final instalment of my Mac lipstick swatches, the dazzle lipsticks. These were limited edition lipsticks that were released last year. I think I ended up buying all of them (oops). They are really lovely and sparkly, look great on top of other lipsticks, but some work really well on their own.

If you missed my other two posts with my Mac lipstick swatches, you can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Since swatching my Mac lipsticks in April I have acquired a few more, and update post will follow in a few weeks/months. For now, here are the swatches of my Dazlle lipsticks.

Smash Hit, Baby's On Fire, Hot Sass, Glaringly Hip, Superior, Powerful, Snazzy, Sweet Bits, Win-Win, Liquid Lurex, Naughty You, Infused With Glam, Hellraiser, Wham, Troublemaker (with flash)

See more pictures after the jump!

My new Accessorize baked products haul video!

Sorry I've been MIA lately, a lot of things have come up in my life, but I have managed to record this video about my recent Accessorize haul. Swatches and proper review to come soon!

Guerlain Ecrin 6 Colour Eyeshadow Palette Swatches

I'd been thinking about doing this post for a while now, but never got around to do it. After posting about the Guerlain fall 2011 collection, including the new Ecrin 4 colours eyeshadow palettes, I thought it's about time I finally got out and swatched my 6 colour palettes. I didn't include Rue de Rivoli because it was a limited edition palette, but you can read my review on it here.

Currently there are 5 permanent Ecrin 6 colour eyeshadow palettes: 2 Place Vendome, 29 Rue de Sevres, 10 Rue de Francs Bourgeois, 93 Rue de Passy and 68 Champs Elysees. They come in a beautiful silver compact with an intricate lace pattern and little bee, inside of which there's a fold out mirror and a double ended brush as well as the 6 colour eyeshadow palette. They currently cost £52.50 which is a lot, you pay for the packaging as much as the product in my opinion. I only have 2 of these compacts, the rest of my Ecrin 6 colour eyeshadow palettes are testers that I got from eBay for around £20. I think these palettes are all a bit too neutral and dare I say boring to justify the price, although they are high quality, apply really nicely and don't crease for 12+ hours. Do you own any of these eyeshadows? Are you tempted by any?

See more pictures of the eyeshadow compact, my collection and swatches after the jump!

Yves Saint Laurent Pure Chromatics Eyeshadow Palette Review

Ever since Yves Saint Laurent released their new Pure Chromatics eyeshadow palettes I'd been wanting to try them out, but in all fairness, I couldn't justify paying £37 for one. But luckily I found this one on eBay for £25, so I thought I'd give it a go. Out of the 6 palettes available no. 6 (this one) seemed the most interesting to me. Some of the other palettes seem more complete with a highlighter shade included, but this one has 4 shades that don't all go together that easily.

The four shades are olive green, warm golden yellow, light pink and dark purple. These eyeshadows seem very similar to Bobbi Brown Sparkle eyeshadows and Laura Mercier Sequin eyeshadows, they look like cream shadows, but they are actually powder. You can apply these both dry and wet, apparently you get more intensity wet (I have not tried them wet yet). There are two double ended applicators included in the compact, one for applying with dry, one for wet (which are more plastic than foam looking). I usually just use brushes for application, but you always have the option.

Below you will see some swatches (dry) and a look I created using the olive, yellow and pink eyeshadows. I couldn't really fit the purple shade in there. Next time I'll try pink, purple and yellow I think. The eyeshadows didn't crease all day, the colours did fade and migrated a bit by about 12 hours' wear, but other than that, I was very happy with how they performed. I'm still not sure these palettes are worth £37, but for one third less I'm happy I've got this one. Have you got any of these? Are you tempted to get one?

See more pictures, swatches and the look I created with this palette after the jump!

Who says make up isn't ART?

I've come across this fantasticly talented young make up artist the other day and I thought I'd share her work with you. Usually when you hear the word make up artist, you think about people applying make up onto others more or less in the traditional way, but this lady is very different. She literally paints scenes onto her eyes and lips, sometimes her whole face. Outer space, Disney film scenes, sunsets, anything. I mean just look at the pictures below! Absolutely amazing!

Obviously not something you'd wear in public, okay, maybe at Halloweeen, but it is certainly amazing to look at. You can find out more about Katie on her DeviantArt website and her facebook page. For now I'll leave you with a few more of my favourite pictures. Which one is your favourite?

Chanel Les 4 Ombres Eye Shadow 31 Rose Envolee

I first saw images of this gorgeous eyeshadow quad over on The Beauty Look Book and the beautiful swatches convinced me that I need it. This eyeshadow quad was an Asian exclusive (aren't always the most beautiful things Asian exclusives?), so I had to try and track it down on eBay. Fortunately I found it at a pretty good price ($2 over the rrp) and I'm now the proud owner of Rose Envolee.

This gorgeous eyeshadow quad contains a shimmery peachy pink colour, a soft satin white, a dark chocolate brown with purple and blue shimmer and a beautiful rosy pink with slight shimmer. It has the European baked formula which means it can be used wet as well as dry for more intensity. I found the shadows swatch very easily and they are pretty pigmented, especially the beautiful brown shade. I haven't used this yet, but am looking forward to using it soon.

Se more pictures and swatches after the jump!

FOTD: Make A Splash With Rimmel Colour Mousse!

Here's a quick and easy look I've created with Rimmel Colour Mousse in Splash. I used it as cream eyeshadow and just added a bit of highlighter, coloured eyeliner, mascara and voila! As this mousse eyeshadow is absolutely brilliant, it doesn't need a primer and still stays put, doesn't crease or fade all day. It's very easy to apply and I absolutely love this colour, it has a gorgeous gold sheen to it. Just to add, I don't think Rimmel Colour Mousses are waterproof, but I think they'd probably be okay with a bit of splashing.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Rimmel Colour Mousse in 004 Splash
Mac White Gold pigment to highlight browbone
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Zero on lower lashline
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Electric on lower waterline
Diorshow Black Out mascara in black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Cheeks:
Bobbi Brown Apricot Shimmer Brick

Lips:
Mac Thrills lipstick

Sorry, no idea what foundations and setting powder I used for this look, probably Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid and Mac MSF Natural. Anyway, let me know what you think of this look in the comments!


See more pictures after the jump!

Guerlain Fall 2011 Make Up Collection Preview

Guerlain is one of my favourite make up brands and I'm always happy to find out about upcoming collections, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I came across some promo photos and collection details over at Marina's website. Although I am usually most excited about Guerlain's holiday collections because of new Meteorites, Voyage Powders and Sublime Radiant Powders coming out, I can see a few interesting products in the fall collection as well.

Firstly, just how gorgeous does Natalia Vodianova look in this promo picture? To be honest, I have not seen a promo picture where she didn't look gorgeous, I really like her style and I think she really fits Guerlain's image, very classy and beautiful, just like Guerlain's products.

Here are the details of the collection:

Rouge G de Guerlain lipsticks

• 25 Garconne (red from the promo)
• 70 Gigolo (plum)
• 71 Girly (pink)

Ecrin 4 Couleurs eye shadows (they will become a part of a permanent line)

• 01 Les Violets
• 02 Les Bleus
• 03 Les Verts
• 04 Les Bois de Rose
• 05 Les Gris
• 06 Les Fumes
• 07 Les Cuirs
• 08 Les Perles
• 09 Les Noirs

Last fall Guerlain released the 6 colour eyeshadow palettes which are a very similar, obviously with 2 more colours. I wonder if these new eyeshadow quads will replace the current permanent 4 colour eyeshadow palettes? We'll see.

Eye Liner Liquide in 05 Brun Cendré

Khol Me

• 20 Khol Me Navy (navy blue)
• 30 Khol Me Ebony (brown)
• 40 Khol Me Jungle (green)

Parure Gold Powder, new shades in 02 Beige Clair and 03 Beige Naturel.  Plus light shades in 00 Beige Ivoire and 01 Beige Pale for Asian market.

Anything tickle your fancy? 

See more promo pictures after the jump!

I'm excited about... Mac Semi-Precious Collection

I love mineralize eyeshadows, blushes and skinfinishes (in case you missed them you can check out my collection of mineralize eyeshadows here and an old post on my mineralize skinfinish collection here - I will do an updated post once I have the new MSFs from the upcoming collection), so it's not surprising that I'm very excited about the new Mac mineralize collection called Semi-Precious!

It is due to be released on 7th July in the US as well as over here in the UK, although I have heard rumours of it launching this coming Thursday, but I don't think that's true. Mac normally releases their collections on the first Thursday of every month and this month we got Flighty, so I think that's it for June.

See LOTS more pictures and collection details as well as my wish list after the jump!

Estee Lauder Sea Star Bronzing Blush and My Collection of Shimmer Powders

I've recently bought this gorgeous bronzer / blush from Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess collection, and I thought I'd show you some pretty pictures of this and other bronzing blushes and shimmer powders I have from Estee Lauder. Yes, I'm a sucker for pretty powders and I've been collecting these limited edition beauties for a few years now. You will see that most of them have not been used at all (and as a result, no swatches, sorry), because I can't make myself ruin the gorgeous patterns. Some of these powders really are a work of art. I do have some other shimmer powders from Estee Lauder that I have not included as they're not quite as pretty and some of them have been used a bit, so don't look all that good anyway.

This latest powder from the Bronze Goddess collection is my third one. Last year's Exotic Bronzing Blush was very pretty, but this one is just wow! I also have the SunBlush Illuminator from two years ago that I have actually used a fair bit as it's not particularly pretty. It is of course lovely when worn, I'm just talking about the actual pattern / artwork.

See more photos of my collection of Estee Lauder bronzing blushes and shimmer powders after the jump!

Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner Review and Swatches

Stila has recently released their version of waterproof liquid eyeliners which are basically identical to Make Up Forever's Aqua Liners (see my review here) and Mac's Superslick Liquid Eyeliners. The main difference between these are the colour selections and the price. But then again, even those are not big differences, because they are in a very similar price range from £13.50 (Stila) to £16.50 (MUFE). Some colours come very close, some are a bit more unique. For colour comparison I urge you to check out the brilliant Christine's post on Temptalia.

I purchased Bora Bora (turquoise), Rock Candy (brown), Royal (purple) and Flash (khaki).They are all sparkly and vibrant. My favourite is definitely Royal, it's such a beautiful purple. These eyeliners claim to be waterproof, smudge-proof and long wearing, all of which but waterproof I can vouch for. I don't know if they are indeed waterproof as I've not swam or showered in them, but once set, they don't come off with water very easily, you need a lot of rubbing and some kind of make up remover. They are easy to apply and set very quickly. I certainly recommend them. I got mine from BeautyBay and they cost £13.50 each.

See more photos and swatches after the jump!

Back To The Bases

In the light of Mac's new Flighty collection I've decided to check out what cream eyeshadows and coloured eyeshadow bases I own and created this video. Enjoy!

Swatching My Stash Part 4: Lipsticks - My Mac Lipsticks Part 2

Here's the second instalment of my Mac lipstick swatches, there will be one more containing all my Dazzle lipsticks. In this post I've got Frost, Sheen Supreme, Glaze, two Marcel Wanders, a Monogram lipstick and a Lustre that I forgot to swatch with the other Lustres. For the rest of my Lustres, also Amplified, Creemsheen, Matte and Satin finishes, check out this post.

First up are all my Frost lipsticks:

Heroine, Rose Maiden, Madly Creative, Victorian, Pet Me Please, Aristocat, Pink Burst, Thrills, Colour Me Coral, New York Apple, B-Babe, Purple Rite, Riveting Rose, Plastique, Sequin, Trimming Talk, Creme de la Femme (taken with flash)

See more pictures after the jump!

Finished! The May edition

This month's damage: 5 products. Well, 4 and a half. I'll tell you why in a minute. But first up here's something I have repurchased many times in the past and will do again. One of my favourite perfumes ever: Yves Saint Laurent Paris. I have loved this since I was about 18 and in fact this was my very first "proper" perfume. I love the bottle, I love the scent, I love everything about it. Even though I own 40+ different perfumes, I know I will repurchase this one as not many other scents have come close to it in my heart.

See what other products I've finished after the jump!