Guerlain Summer 2012 Collection - Ecrin 4 Couleurs 13 Capri Review and Swatches

Summer is coming and so are the new summer collections. The one that interests me most is Guerlain's Terra Azzurra collection and I just can't wait to get my hands on most of the products from the collection. So when I saw the new eyeshadow quad, #13 Capri up on eBay, I had to snap it up. I was lucky as I paid less than half of the retail price, although mine - while brand new - didn't come with the velvet pouch or the outer box.

So this is it. A very summery looking quad with a shimmering white gold shade, a bright matte pink, a shimmery coral and a deep slightly shimmery brown. Bit of an odd combination with the coral and pink, but you can either use just 2 or 3 shades, or work the whole lot into one look (which I did with the pink on my eyelid, coral in the inner third, brown in the crease and the shimmery white gold to highlight - sadly I have no pictures).

The brown would work well as an eyeliner as well as crease colour. It is the most pigmented shade in the quad, it is absolutely gorgeous. The shimmery white gold is stunning, it has lots of small flecks of fine glitter, but it's actually still quite subtle with very minimal fallout. The pink is almost completely matte and is rather chalky, but it is buildable, however I'd advise patting it on rather than swiping. The coral is a big letdown, it looks gorgeous in the pan but sadly it has a very poor colour payoff, the shadow is not at all buttery, it's hard and not much colour comes off it when swiped. I haven't tried it wet yet, that might work, but I tend not to use my eyeshadows wet, so I need them to work well dry too.

The compact is shiny and bronze instead of Guerlain's usual black. As I said mine didn't come with the velvet pouch or the box, so I don't know what those look like.

All in all, this quad has positives and negatives. The price will be a negative to a lot of people, I think it's likely to be £37 as that's how much the other quads cost. You get 7.2 g of eyeshadows, so that's not bad, but at this quality I don't know if I could recommend it. I do love the brown and white gold shades very much, but the other two, especially the coral are not very nice. They're okay, but not that great. So to me this definitely doesn't live up to the normal Guerlain standards.

Se more pictures including swatches after the jump!

NOTD: Orly Gorgeous

I only own a few Orly nail polishes (from the Cosmic FX collection), so I jumped to the opportunity when I was asked if I could be sent a few Orly nail polishes for review. This is the first one: Gorgeous. I believe this is part of Orly's permanent collection, and this shade is exactly what it name suggests: gorgeous. A vibrant fuchsia-pink with beautiful blue/purple duochrome and shimmer. 

The formula is pretty nice, it's quite runny, but not overly so. It's a bit sheer, what you see in the pictures is two layers, but it could've benefited from three layers to be honest. It did dry quickly (with Seche Vite), however didn't last very long at all. It started chipping on me after about 24 hours, which isn't too unusual for me, but having said that some other polishes last for 2-3 days without chipping.

All in all, this is a lovely shade and a nice nail polish. In the UK Orly polishes are a lot more expensive than in the US (as usual), you can get them for £9.25 from Lookfantastic (although I can't find this particular shade there) or £7.50 from BeautyBay and you get a whopping 18 ml for your money.  You can also buy 5 ml mini bottles from Boots if you prefer, alternatively there's eBay, my old friend. I have seen it for under £6 including postage from the US.

See more pictures after the jump!

L'Occitane Pivoine Delicate Hand Cream

My last L'Occitane review (for a while anyway) is for the Pivoine Delicate Hand Cream. Also launched as part of the Pivoine Delicate collection for spring 2012, and comes in the same pretty flowery packaging as the rest of the collection.

The hand cream has the same peony scent as the fragrance, but it's not too strong and fades away quite quickly. The cream is lightweight, non-greasy and gets absorbed quickly. At the moment my hands are not dry, but they can always do with a bit of moisture, and this product does that nicely. It's a very nice hand cream and I'll be happy to use it all up. You get 75 ml for £14 which is a bit too high for me for a hand cream, I kind of draw the line at £10.

There is one more thing I'm not too keen on and that's the packaging. The cream comes in a squeezy tube and the cap of the tube isn't removable, but has a small hole in it and by twisting the cap you open and close the hole. When you squeeze the cream out, you can get it all over the cap if you're not careful, plus when you twist to close, a bit more cream escapes. Since I prefer storing it standing up on the cap, this can result in quite a bit of mess, so I've decided to keep the sticky label on the opening (that it came with) to avoid getting the cream everywhere. Other than that it's a lovely product.

The collection is now available from L'Occitane both online and in-stores.

See more pictures after the jump!

My Skincare Routine Video

I decided to do a short video about my skincare routine and products I use. Check it out below!

L'Occitane Pivoine Delicate Eau De Toilette

First of all, I'd like to point out that I'm rubbish at describing scents, and that is why I don't normally do fragrance reviews. But since I was sent the new Pivoine Delicate Eau de Toilette from L'Occitane's new spring collection of the same name, I thought I'd give it a go.

I can describe the packaging, it's very pretty, pink and feminine. All the products I was sent from this collection have the lovely peony flower detail on the outer packaging. On the inside, a fairly simple glass bottle with pretty pink fragrance inside it. Now for the fragrance. I think it's best if I copy what it says on the (tin) box:

And that's pretty much spot on. A delicate flowery fragrance that after a while smells a little soapy on me. It's quite nice, not offensive, and despite being quite delicate, lingers on for most of the day. I'd say it would make a lovely spring daytime fragrance if you like roses and peonies. For me it's just a little too powdery, but fragrance is so personal, that is why I don't really like reviewing it.

You get 75 ml for £35 which isn't too bad, it's the same as L'Occitane's Pivoine Flora EDT. It should be available soon on the L'Occitane website and in stores. 

See another photo after the jump!

L'Occitane Pivoine Delicate Lipstick Review and Swatches

As I told you earlier, I've received some products from the new Pivoine Delicate collection by L'Occitane. First up is one of the lipsticks, this is shade 2, Pivoine Delicate.

Don't you just love the packaging? So pretty. Both the outer box and the tube itself have the gorgeous peony flower details, all very pink and girly. The lipstick itself is a pinky beige shade with some very fine shimmer. The colour is hardly noticable when applied, it is very sheer, almost just adds sheen rather than colour. You will see swatches below, those were taken after I swiped 10 times! The listick has a subtle flowery scent (peony) which I don't find too overpowering, but it's definitely there, so if you don't like your lip products scented, then this isn't for you.

Would I buy this lipstick myself? No, I wouldn't. It's just too sheer for my liking and it disappears completely after about an hour. £12.50 is just too much to spend on a lipstick that is hardly noticable and needs reapplying every hour. I would rather buy a Revlon Lip Butter to be honest. Maybe the other shades are more pigmented, I don't know, but this one certainly isn't.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

L'Occitane Pivoine Delicate Collection for Spring

Launching this April is L'Occitane's new collection Pivoine Delicate and it has some lovely products. The collection is made up of two parts: fragrance collection and make up collection.

The fragrance collection contains Pivoine Delicate Eau de Toilette (75 ml / £33), Fresh Mist (50 ml / £13), Hand Cream (75 ml / £13), Shimmering Powder (8 g / £22) and Eau de Toilette and Gloss Duo (2 x 5.5 ml / £14).

The make up collection contains 3 Lipshines (8 ml / £11.50 each) and 3 Lipsticks (3.5 g / £12.50).

I was sent a few products to try out including the Eau de Toilette, the handcream and a lipstick, so I will be reviewing them over the next few days. For now I leave you with a picture. I just love the packaging of these, don't you?

Want It: China Glaze Bohemian Luster Chrome Nail Polish Collection

Lately I have gone crazy buying so many nail polishes, I will need to paint my nails every day for 2 years to use them up, and one of my favourite brands is China Glaze. One of my favourite finishes is duochromes, so you can imaging how happy I was to see info about China Glaze's Bohemian Luster Chrome Nail Polish Collection. It contains 6 gorgeous duochrome colours, one of them looking suspiciously similar to Chanel Peridot that every brand is trying to copy nowadays, but the other 5 are really interesting. Can't wait to try them out.

Here are the names of the polishes in the collection. This is due out sometime in the summer, I believe July. Can't wait!

• Unpredictable
• Want My Bawdy
• Rare And Radiant
• Swanky Silk
• No Plain Jane
• Deviantly Daring

Source

Bobbi Brown Rose Gold and Wild Rose Shimmer Bricks Review and Swatches

I've got the two newest Bobbi Brown shimmer bricks to show you from the Rose Gold collection. They are called Wild Rose and Rose Gold and I was especially excited about Wild Rose, it's such a pretty one. As I collect Bobbi Brown shimmer bricks and own all that have been released (you can check out my collection in this rather old post - it shows all of them except for the Party shimmer brick that came out for last Christmas), of course I had to buy both of them.

I do like both of them, but Rose Gold works more of a highlighter on me whereas Wild Rose I can use as blush. They both have a metallic sheen, but they are not glittery. If used lightly, they give nice highlight, and even a more heavier application of Wild Rose didn't look too shimmery on me. On a darker skintone both would be highlighters rather than blushes. Of course they can also be used as eyeshadows. I swatched the shades separately with my finger and also blended together with a brush, so you can see the colours and the sheen properly.

Rose Gold is definitely the warmer one of the two, whereas Wild Rose is a cooler pink. It reminds me of Rose shimmer brick without the white stripe. Rose Gold reminds me of Nectar shimmer brick, but lighter. Nectar works as a blush on me, but Rose Gold doesn't really.

You get 10.3 g with both of these and they cost £30.50 each. These are limited edition, so if you like them, get them while you can.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Want It: Mac Heavenly Creature Mineralize Collection For Summer 2012

As you know, I love my mineralized make up, so of course I am once again excited about Mac's annual summer mineralize collection. I haven't got any pictures to show you yet, but hopefully I will soon. In the meantime, here are the collection details courtesy of Specktra.

Lipstick

 

Pleasureseeker - Creamy peach (Glaze) (repromote)

Cut a Caper - Mid-tone peachy pink (Lustre) (repromote)

Venus - Sheer yellow pink with pearlized pigments (Lustre)

Fire Sign - Red-pink (Lustre)

Cusp of Dawn - Beige pink (Lustre)

Cremesheen Glass

Celestial Kiss - Pale cool peach

Strictly Plutonic - Mid-tone pink brown

Meteoric - Mid-tone vibrant coral

Astral - Bright yellow pink

Galaxy Rose - Mid-tone violet pink

Mineralize Skinfinish

Earthshine - Tarnished bronze with gold pearlized pigments and pink reflects

Light Year - Peachy pink with gold shimmer

Star Wonder - Plumy pink with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments

Center of the Universe - Coral with gold shimmer

Mineralize Blush

Solar Ray - Peach and gold melange

Ring of Saturn - Terracotta and gold melange

Stratus - Amethyst and golden brown melange

Supernova - Magenta and burnt gold melange

 

187 Brush - Duo fibre face brush

188 Brush - Small duo fibre face brush

Mineralize Eye Shadow - all frost finish

Aurora - Peach, green, and brown melange

Magnetic Attraction - Orange, pink and gold melange

Neo Nebula - Cream, warm amethyst and warm pink melange

Universal Appeal - Gold, bronze and violet melange

Invincible Light - Icy white, lavender and warm gold melange

Earthly - Beige, peach and cool brown melange

Water - Yellow, lime green and blue melange

Bright Moon - Grey, silver and icy green melange

Sky - Green gold, turquoise and cobalt melange

False Lashes 

False Black - Black (Repromote)

286 Brush - Duo fibre tapered blending brush (repromote)

Skincare

Mineralize Volcanic Ash Exfoliator

-foaming, exfoliating scrub made with natural volcanic ash and sugar crystals (repromote)

Mineralize Charged Water Cleanser

-a make up removing "water" that can literally wipe off most types of makeup without scrubbing or massaging. Formulated with M.A.C's exclusive Charged Water technology (repromote)

Mineralize Charged Water Moisture Gel

-An ultra light gel cream that gives intensive hydration and moisture but leaves the skin feeling soft and supple. Infused with M.A.C's exclusive Charged Water technology (repromote)

Mineralize Charged Water Moisture Eye Cream

-A luxuriousand rich eye cream that improves and moisturizes the skin around the eye while reducing the look of dark circles and puffiness. Infused with M.A.C's exclusive Charged Water technology (repromote)

Guerlain Shine Automatique Lipstick #200 Sous Le Vent Review and Swatches

I have been looking forward to the new Guerlain Shine Automatique lipsticks and finally I've managed to get my hands on one of the shades, 200 Sous Le Vent. It's a pretty shimmery nude shade, although it probably wouldn't have been mine personal choice of shade, I'm more interested in the pinks and reds, but since this was available on eBay for under half the retail price, I thought might as well get it and see what I think.

 

I do like it actually. The formula is lovely, very lightweight, moisturising and surprisingly long lasting considering how light it is. It stayed on my lips for about 2.5 to 3 hours with minimal drinking, although it was a little hard to judge when it disappeared, because it's really not very pigmented. It does give a lovely shine to the lips and feels very comfortable, so for days when you don't want to look like your wearing much make up, this is perfect. It does have a slight shimmer to it, but it's definitely not gritty at all. It also has a slight sweet scent, not flowery like some of the Guerlain lipsticks nor does it smell of parma violets like the Meteorites. It's quite nice and unoffensive to me.

You get 3.5 g for your money (which I believe will be £24.50 once it's launched in shops sometime very soon) which is your regular lipstick weight. The tube is the same as the regular Rouge Automatiques, the lipstick pops up when you push the slider down. The packaging is lightweight and not too bulky, so you can carry it around happily (not like the Rouge G lipsticks that weigh a ton!). I can't wait to try out the brighter shades, I am well impressed with this lipstick.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Bellapierre Cosmetics 9 Stack Shimmer Kit Review and Swatches

I'd been planning on reviewing this kit for ages, but other things always got in the way, but finally, here it is. I bought this set in TKMaxx a while ago (February), but this is also available from BeautyBay and House of Fraser. I had actually spotted this on the House of Fraser website and loved the colourful stacks, but at £59.99 I just couldn't justify buying it, especially as I'd never actually heard of the brand before. So I was really happy to see it for just £19.99 in TKMaxx and of course snapped it up straight away.

In fact I believe you only get the actual 9 colour shimmer powder stacks for £59.99 whereas this kit also includes an eyeshadow base, two brushes and a clear lipgloss. So yeah, bit of a bargain really. I got the colour Fabulous which is a nice mix of shimmery bright colours. The stack includes two small pots of glitter, one red and one copper, and 7 pots of shimmer powder pigment. The glitter is very fine, but of course still chunkier than the pigments which are really nice and fine. The base included with the kit is slightly sticky and does a good job of holding on to the pigment, giving a creaseless result for several hours (in fact I had no creasing or fading for about 12 hours or so). You can also mix the pigments with the clear gloss and create a lipgloss, although most of the colours in this stack wouldn't be my ideal lipgloss colours. The brushes are okay, a slanted eyeliner brush and an eyeshadow brush are included in this kit. You get 15.75 g of pigment in this kit which is a good amount, making each pot just under 2 g each.

All in all, I really like the pigments, but I would not pay £59.99 for this. It's nice, but not 60 quid nice. However, for £19.99 it's really great and I wish I could pick up more colours (I especially like Iris and Astrid), but sadly due to TKMaxx's nature, they're not available there anymore.

Have you tried anything from Bellapierre? How do you like it?

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

NOTD: Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish in Ultra Violet

Here's the second Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish I got from Simply Occasions. If you missed out on Mermaid Spell, you can check it out here.Ultra Violet is a beautiful violet shade (doh!) with gorgeous holographic shimmer. This is slightly more holo than Mermaid Spell, you can properly see the rainbows there.

With flash

Once again, I used 3 coats, 2 below and one above the Seche Vite topcoat to make the polish longer lasting and more vibrant. Unfortunately it's not long lasting at all, chipped on me very quickly. You can already see some chipping in the photos and they were taken the day after I painted my nails. Sadly this seems to be one of the characteristics of holographic nail polishes.

This cost £11.25 and can be ordered from Simply Occasions. You get free shipping if you order over £21, otherwise it's a very reasonable £2.50. Each polish is 10 ml which makes them rather expensive, but it is hard to find holo polishes this pretty, so that's my excuse anyway!

See more pictures after the jump!

MUA Beauty Balm BB Cream Review

It seems every brand is coming out with their own version of BB cream at the moment, and this time it's Make Up Academy's (MUA) turn. Their version is called Beauty Balm instead of Blemish Balm, but since they put a big BB on it, we'll just assume that's supposed to be the same thing.

Although technically this is not a BB cream, because it doesn't include any SPF. They claim the all in one, multi-functional formula primes, protects and conceals. I'm not sure how it's supposed to protect your skin without any SPF though. Okay, so what does it do? It's basically a medium coverage foundation as far as I can see. For the price it's not a bad one either. The formula is a little on the thick side for my liking, but it does blend out eventually, and it gives a good medium coverage, so I don't need extra concealer on my spots/scars. I chose the medium shade as the light one was too light for me (it comes in 3 shades by the way), and other than being a little pink for my colouring, it's a very good match. It has a slight scent, but it doesn't bother me and fades away quickly anyway. I always set my foundation, so didn't test it without setting powder, but with it this lasted on me for a good few hours before I had to do some blotting, which is very much the same as any other foundation I own.

I'd say for £4 (or rather £3 at the moment in Superdrug!) this is a good foundation. It's a good size at 30 ml too. I would prefer it to have some SPF, but for the price it's really hard to fault it. Out of the four BB creams I have tried so far (MUA, 17, Garnier and Ginvera) this is not my favourite, but probably comes close to the 17 one. The Ginvera BB cream is still leading, although it contains the least product and costs the most, so I'd probably go for the 17 one when it came to repurchasing. I hated the Garnier one so much, I got rid of it, but I will be keeping and using this one, however, probably won't repurchase it if I ever run out. 

See more pictures after the jump!

Revlon Lip Butters Review and Swatches

As far as I'm aware the two new product launches this year that everyone got very excited about were Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadows and Revlon Lip Butters. I haven't actually purchased any of the Color Tattoo eyeshadows as the colours don't really excite me, I have most fo them from other brands already, but I have well and trully got sucked into the Revlon Lip Butter craze! I ended up buying 7 of them.

So do these live up to the hype? While they are not that exceptional, they are pretty good lightweight, moisturising lipsticks for the price. I don't normally buy drugstore/low end lipsticks anymore mainly due to the smell they all seem to have, I do make an exception for Revlon because in my mind they make the best cheap/drugstore/low end/whatever-you-call it lip products. I love the pigmentation and the fact that they don't stink. These lip butters are pretty much scent free and taste free, and some of them are very pigmented. In fact if you just want lip butters rather than lipsticks, I'd say they are almost too pigmented.

They are nicely moisturising, and they actually last for a good amount of time, about 2-3 hours. They come in a very good selection of colours. I went for the most pigmented ones because I wanted colours. I swiped them 3 times for the swatches, so you can see how the colours turn out, but some of them (Lollipop, Raspberry Pie, Candy Apple) actually deliver a lot of colour in just one swatch. A couple of the colours I won have some shimmer in them, Peach Parfait and Macaroon both have small gold flecks, although it's really only noticable in Peach Parfait. I don't mind either way, I like my shimmery lips too.

 I took these with me on holiday to test them out properly and I was very happy with how they lasted on me even in the swimming pool, and they were moisturising enough without the need for extra lip balm. All in all, I would recommend you check them out, especially as Boots has a 3 for 2 offer on them at the moment. They cost £7.99 each, so you save a good amount if you buy 3. I believe these are permanent and they come in 14 shades (which is probably less than what the US got, but at least it's something).

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Mac In Extra Dimension Haul Pictures and Swatches

I was very excited about this collection when I first heard about it and as I thought I would, I ended up buying nearly everything. The only things I didn't buy were the brushes and 3 eyeshadows: the black one because I don't really use black eyeshadows, the silver one because it's very similar to the Estee Lauder silver Cyber Eyes eyeshadow and the brown/bronze one because again, I don't use that much brown. The rest I just had to have.

I would like to point out that I haven't actually used any of these as I wanted to wait until I can photograph them which I finally managed to do yesterday, so I can't really report on wear time, etc. I have only swatched them on my arm, so I can only comment on that. The texture of these eyeshadows is very similar to the Barbara Daly ones I've reviewed here and here, they also look suspiciously similar. They are definitely powder shadows, but they also feel creamy and they're wonderfully smooth. My favourites are definitely the purples, although they are all really pretty. I'm a bit sad there weren't some more interesting shades like green, yellow, fuschia, etc., but what can you do?

The skinfinishes are even creamier and very smooth. I swatched them heavily and then blended them out with my finger and they are very blendable. They are also very frosty, so you need to use them sparingly, unless you are going for a sexy cyber woman look.

The eyeshadows cost £16.50 each and you get 2 g, the skinfinishes are £21.50 each and they're 9 g each, much like the regular mineralize skinfinishes. Most of these are still in stock on the Mac website except for Whisper of Gilt and Superb skinfinishes. Debenhams is almost entirily sold out, but then they did have a 10% off and 500 bonus points event.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Mac Highlighter Palette

Here's my Mac highlighter palette that got left out of my holiday make up bag post. This is the one Mac palette I reach for almost every day, it has a good mix of highlighters that work with any eye look I'm trying to achieve. I picked these eyeshadows and put the palette together myself.

The shades in the palette are: top row, left to right: Dazzlelight, Gleam, bottom row left to right: Vellum, Tissueweight. I think Tissueweight is the only limited edition one of these, it came out with the Pret-a-Papier collection two years ago. Vellum has a lovely blue/purple duo-chrome and is great with blue/pruple looks. The most used shadow of these is definitely Dazzlelight, it's the most neutral shade of them all and it also have a really lovely texture.

Do you own a highlighter palette? Have you got a favourite highlighter? Let me know in the comments.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

What's In My Holiday Make Up Bag?

You might not have noticed (thank God (Blogger) for scheduled posts), but I went on a short holiday last week, and I thought I'd show you what make up I took with me. Now bearing in mind I was only away for 5 days and on day 1 I'd already done my make up, I'm thinking I might have taken a bit too much with me. Well, see for yourselves...

It doesn't look too much in the bag, but that's just the basics, I also took 5 Sleek palettes and my Mac highlighting palette with me. So yeah, too much, especially bearing in mind we spent 3 of the 5 days at the swimming pool, so those days I pretty much only wore waterproof mascara and lip balm.

Do you also take loads of make up with you when you go away or are you a minimalist? Let me know in the comments!

For details of what I took with me, keep reading after the jump!

Paul & Joe Pearl Foundation Primer Review

I showed you this beauty in my haul post and had a couple of requests to review it, so here you go. Firstly, this primer is so pretty with the colourful little pearls inside. Reminds me very much of Guerlain Meteorites Pearls primer, which is also made up of little pearls and is also silicone free. It has a lovely smooth, slightly runny texture that spreads easily and a little goes a long way. It is mattifying, but also contains some very fine shimmer.  

The colourful pearls are in a colourless liquid and once you pump the primer out, the pearls get crushed by the pump, so you get a smooth, cloudy runny gel as a result. I can't say how mattifying exactly it is, or how long it makes your make up last because I haven't tested it long enough, but it certainly has some effect and I do love how smooth it makes my skin once it's applied.

At £23 per 30 ml it is a much cheaper alternative to the Guerlain Meteorites Pearls primer, so if you always wanted to try that one out, but didn't want to pay the high price tag (I think the Guerlain one is now £42!), then give this one a go. I bought mine from BeautyBay, I don't know if it's limited edition or not, but at the moment it's not available on the site. Hope it's not limited edition, because I would definitely repurchase this when I run out.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish Mermaid Spell

As I said before, I'm always on the hunt for good holographic nail polishes, so when I saw Charlotte blog about these polishes, I knew I had to pick some up myself. I ordered 4 of them including a beautiful purple that I'll be showing you later, but for now here's another one: Mermaid Spell.

The picture above was taken in indirect sunlight, so the holographic effect isn't that strong, but even so, it is way more noticable than the Color Club polish I showed you the other day. It really comes to life in direct sunlight or under a strong indoor light, which you will see towards the end of this post. The colour is a really pretty light blue/turquoise. The consistency itself was fine, I think I did 3 coats, two below and one over the Seche Vite topcoat (to prolong wear and make sure the topcoat doesn't dull the holo effect). It chipped on me fairly quickly (day 2), but it's so pretty, I can forgive it.

I bought mine from Simply Occasions and they cost £11.25 each (so not cheap), and you get 10 ml for your money. Postage is free on orders over £21 (so that's two bottles of this). Well worth checking out if you like holographic polishes.

See more pictures aftre the jump!

Inglot Under Makeup Base Review

I was given this sample when I went to the Inglot shop in Westfield shopping center last October and finally got around to trying it out and reviewing. To be honest, I always find reviewing products that are just so-so a bit tricky. The ones I love or hate I feel passionable about, the ones that are just a bit meh I don't feel very interested in reviewing.

So by now you might have guessed that I wasn't too keen on this. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't like it much at all. This primer has a very slippery silicone feel to it and it didn't do anything for me, didn't make my skin matte and it didn't help with keeping oil at bay either. I just didn't see much difference to my skin's appearance or how well my make up lasted. All in all, I prefer non-silicone based primers, so I am pretty sure I won't purchase the full size product. If you want, you can buy it from Inglot for £13 (for a 30 ml tube). 

Have you tried this primer? How do you feel about silicone based primers? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

Mac Hot Gossip Lipstick Review and Swatches

It's very easy to forget about what you own when you have a big stash like mine, and the other day I managed to pull out a lipstick that I bought, put in the container with the other lipsticks and promptly forgot about. I can't remember now which blog I was readingthat mentioned this lipstick and I though "ooh, this is pretty", only to realise I actually own it. That's bad, right?

But anyway, I put it on and I decided to review it on here because it is one of those rare Mac products that are permanent and you can actually purchase them any time, rather than having to rush to the counter on the day of release in fear of it selling out.

Mac Hot Gossip is a cremesheen finish and is described by Mac is mid-tone pinky plum which I guess is about right. I'm not an expert on Mac lipstick finishes, but cremesheens are supposed to be more creamy than lustres I think, and Hot Gossip is definitely creamy and feels really nice on the lips. It is well pigmented and lasts for a good 2-3 hours on me or even more if I'm not eating/drinking. I love this shade, it's just so flattering and I love the subtle sheen it has.

Mac lipsticks are £13.50 and you get 3 g for your money which is the lower end of lipstick weight (most are usually 3.5 g aren't they?).

See more pictures including hand and lip swatches and a picture of me wearing Hot Gossip after the jump!

Last Month I...

Following on last month's post idea here are the things I did / liked / loved / hated / finished / threw away / etc. in the month of March beauty wise. So here you go:

Last month I...

• finished 6 beauty products including a fragrance (The Body Shop Cherry Blossom perfume) which is especially great because I have put myself on a fragrance no-buy until I finish at least 5 fragrances since I have about 50 bottles on my cupboard and I need to get through them eventually. I didn't actually like the Body Shop Cherry Blossom perfume anymore, which is a shame especially as this was my second bottle because I initially loved it and I bought a back-up, but never mind, finally it is gone!
• having finished one I didn't like so much I gave some love to my all time favourite perfume, Paris by Yves Saint Laurent, in particular one of the limited edition springtime variations: Jardins Romantiques. I have loved Paris for so long now and I used to buy the limited edition springtime fragrances in the past, but they seemed to have stopped releasing them which is a shame. The bottle's massive though (125 ml), so it should last me through a couple of springs though. And just how pretty is it?

To find out what else I did last month, carry on reading after the jump!

Christian Dior 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow 834 Rose Porcelaine Review and Swatches

Dior came out with some new permanent eyeshadow quints a couple of months or so ago, and they are supposed to be a new formula. To be honest I'm not sure how the formula is different, but in any case, it's very good and the Rose Porcelaine quint appealed to me most colourwise, so here it is.

Housed in the usual dark blue compact there are 5 colours ranging from light yellow highlighter with a pink sheen to a dark eggplant/aubergine shade. The two pinks are quite close to each other in colour, but otherwise there's a nice colour selection. I particularly like the egglant/aubergine colour which makes a very nice eyeliner or crease shade if you're looking to do something more dramatic. The light yellow highlighter has a lovely pink sheen to it, actually it reminds me a lot of Mac Vanilla pigment but with more pink sheen. The middle shade is a bit more peachy pink, but even that is quite close to the other pink shades. The colours are quite sheer and very frosty with the exception of the dark eggplant/aubergine, so I appreciate this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I like it.

The eyeshadows are the standard Dior quality, they stay on for hours and hours without creasing and are very soft and easy to apply and blend. You get 6 g of eyeshadows for £40, so it is now cheap, but after all, it is Dior.

See more pictures after the jump!

NYX Matte Blotting Paper

I don't normally do favourites posts because I tend to use different things all the time, however there are certain products that I always go back to simply because I haven't found anything better. NYX MatteBlotting Paper is one of them. I just love this stuff, it's so simple, but works so well.

My skin is a lot drier now that I'm older (also think Lancome Genifique has helped with controlling the oil, it's bloody brilliant that stuff!), but I still get the oily T-zone depending on which foundation I use, what I do and how hot I get during the day, so around 3 pm I need to mattify my face a little. And that is what these little sheets do, just one sheet is enough to absorb the oil from my face, then I add some finishing powder and job done, I'm good for another 5 hours (by which time I usually don't care what my face looks like anyway).

You get 50 sheets in a pack, the sheets are around the size of a credit card and very very thin. I don't know how much they normally cost in the US, I buy mine from eBay for a couple of quid each and I tend to bulk buy since the shipping costs on something this light tend not to be high.

Do you use blotting paper? Which ones are your favourites? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!