Getting Out Of The Rut Day 1

So today is the first day of me using some make up that's been sitting in my drawers unused. In this look I used (among my staples like foundation, powder, mascara and brow set gel which I have no need to mix up) Sephora Moonshadow Trio in Dusk Till Dawn, Urban Decay 24/7 eyepencil in Rockstar, Accessorize Merged Baked Blusher in Wowzer and Mac Dazzleglass Creme in If It's Pink.

Feel free to let me know what you think, but please go easy on me, I haven't done this in a long time.

So that's day one ticked. Onto day two, the adventure continues!

Accessorize Baked Duo Eyeshadows #12 Maia Review and Swatches

A while ago I was walking around Superdrug and found a few reduced eyeshadow duos on the Accessorize stand. I don't know if those particular shades are being discontinued or not, but I decided to pick up Maia anyway as it looked very pretty. I love the packaging with the pretty butterflies and the product inside is realy lovely too. (I have reviewed 4 other shades in the past, to read my review please click here.)

It is a baked formula and the eyeshadow is domed in the pan. Maia contains a frosty white gold shade (similar to Nars Albatross, but frostier) and a satiny olive green shade with bronze flecks. Both are nicely pigmented and smooth, apply really nicely and stay on all day without creasing (over primer). The swatches below were done dry, but these can also be used wet to intensify the colours.

I can't find this particular shade on either website, in fact the Superdrug website isn't showing any of the baked duo eyeshadows, but on the Accessorize website the other shades retail for £4. I can't remember how much I paid, it was between £2-3, so not much. You get a generous 4.5 g of product for your money.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with this after the jump!

FOTD with Accessorize Merged Eyeshadow in Purple Drama

This is the look I created with the Accessorize Purple Drama Merged Eyeshadow I showed you earlier this week. I really liked this look, I generally love purples and I especially adore Stila's Royal (purple) Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner which always makes any purple look pop. I used the pink part of the eyeshadow on the lid and the purple in the crease and it worked really well.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Barbara Daly Even Smoother Eye Base
Accessorize Merged Eyeshadow in Purple Drama all over lid and in crease
Mac Vellum eyeshadow on browbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero on waterline
Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Royal on upper lashline
Guerlain Noir G de Guerlain mascara in Noir
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Parure Aqua foundation in 02 Beige Clair
Guerlain Radiant Butterfly Meteorites Voyage Powder
Blush from Vivo Baked Shimmer Palette in Paparazzi

Lips:
Chanel Glossimer in #104 Astral

See more pictures after the jump!

Giveaway Time: Win An Accessorize Eyeshadow Palette! *CLOSED*

*** THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED ***

Every time I log on, I'm amazed by all the pageviews my blog receives daily and all the lovely followers I now have. I can hardly believe that Pleasureflush has been visited nearly 300,000 times (and more amazingly over 200,000 times just in the last year!) and that over 400 people are following me. Wow! So I thought, it's about time for another giveaway to say thank you to all you lovely people! The prize is a beautiful Accessorize Peony Union Jack eyeshadow palette (worth £6).

To win this gorgeous palette all you have to do is be a follower of my blog via GFC (new followers are very welcome) and post a comment below with your e-mail address. For up to 2 extra entries you can also follow me on Twitter and tweet about the giveaway (make sure you include me @Anitacska in your tweet) and/or post a link to the giveaway on your blog (make sure you let me know the link as I will be checking). You can do both or either for one extra entry each. Remember, you MUST be a follower via GFC or none of your entries will count! You must also leave a comment below with your e-mail address to enter. Competition is open worldwide! Competition closes at midnight (UK time) on Sunday 5th February 2012. Good luck!

See another picture of the palette!

Accessorize Merged Eyeshadows Shade 9 and 10 - Review and Swatches

I picked up these two new Accessorized Merged Eyeshadows in my recent trip to Superdrug. I owned a few of these already and being a sucker for all things baked/mineralize, I decided to pick these up too. If I remember correctly there were 4 new shades on the Accessorize stand, but the other two didn't interest me. I picked up Cosmic Rays and Purple Drama.

Cosmic Rays, Purple Drama

These eyeshadows are actually quite different to the the ones I'd ownded already as they have quite a lot of glitter in them. Cosmic Rays has gold glitter and Purple Drama has silver glitter. They are not fine glitter either, although I did find them quite easy to use and I just tended to avoid the big glittery areas when picking up the shadow with my brush. The eyeshadows are quite large (3g), so it's reasonably easy to pick up the shadow from just one side of the pan. There was quite a bit of fallout when I applied them, but I just do my foundation last in those cases and once it had been applied, I didn't experience much fallout at all.

I'd say these are not the best quality eyeshadows I've tried from Accessorize, but they're not bad, just more glittery than others. They are still nicely pigmented and I just love both colours. They cost £4.50 and are available from Superdrug and Accessorize.

I will post a FOTD I did with Purple Drama and I will be hosting an Accessorize giveaway very soon, so make sure you check back!

See more pictures after the jump!

My Ever Growing Nail Polish Collection Part 1 - OPI, China Glaze, Orly, Mavala

I had some requests to show off my nail polish collection, so here it is. I'm going to do it in 3 parts because I have a lot of nail polishes, so make sure you check out part 2 and part 3 as well!

Some of my nail polish stash

Would you believe it that just a couple of years ago all the nail polish I owned fitted into this box?

Wanna see what's inside? A bit boring really, but here you go:

A bit samey, all pastels and hardly any colour. I just wasn't into nail polish, mainly because my nails are really thin and bendy, so nail polish chips off within a matter of days, and I couldn't be bothered to repaint them all the time, so I just used barely there shades. What's changed? I realised that there were some really gorgeous nail polishes out there from brands I'd never heard of! I also realised that nail polishes come in seasonal collections like make up, which of course made me buy even more so I don't miss out. And suddenly I don't mind painting my nails every 2-3 days. At the last count I had 130 nail polishes, which is really crazy, especially as some (most of them are large 15 ml sizes). I will now have to stop buying them and be sure to use them all, although that will certainly take a while. I'd say about 75% of the nail polish I own has not been used yet, so I'd better get cracking!

Without further ado, here are the detailed pictures. I haven't put the shade names down simply because it would take too long, but if you have any questions, just ask in the comments! Enjoy!

Accessorize Highlighter Review and Swatches

I have so many lovely Accessorize products to tell you about, so far nothing has diappointed me. Today I have the liquid highlighter to show you. I bought this a little while ago, and have since used it quite a few times and I really like it.

You get a very generous amount (50 ml) for just £7 in a cute tube decorated with butterflies, as always. The product isn't too runny, it's more of a cream, it's not sticky and it blends very easily. You only need a tiny bit to highlight cheekbones or you can mix it with your foundation for an all-over glow. By glow I really mean subtle glow with pinky-gold sheen, the highlighter isn't shimmery or glittery at all. You can blend it out really well, so it will be as noticeable as you want it to. I either wear it alone or blend it with my 17 foundation which is a bit dull, to brighten it up a bit. Gives a lovely dewey glow. Love it and would repurchase it if I ran out. Available from Superdrug and Accessorize.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Accessorize Bronzing Block Shade 3 Review and Swatches

I have been meaning to review this for ages, but only just got around to taking some comparison pictures. This product is well worth reviewing though because it is really good. It is described as a bronzing block, but in reality it's actually a blush, and a really lovely one as well. I don't know why it's called bronzing block, but then Bobbi Brown uses the name bronzing powder for some of her blushes.

The bronzing block/blush comes in a pretty flowery box, with Accessorize written on it. The box is slightly bigger than Benefit blushes, but similar style, although the new Bella Bamba now has a flip top, but the old ones have lids that come off. No mirror in the lid, but you do get a small brush. I don't use it, instead I use my normal blush brush. The blush itself is a gorgeous pinky coral colour, really pretty and great for summer. It has a little sheen, but it's not shimmery or glittery at all. Very pigmented, a little goes a long way. It's a decent size at 5.7g and it's really very affordable at £7 (although I think when I bought it, there was a £2 off deal at Superdrug).

I have compared it to some of my coral blushes including Nars Orgasm and Mac Stereo Rose, I think it's possibly closest to Sleek Rose Gold blush, but that one has a lot more sheen to it. You can see the comparison swatches at the end of this post.

Overall I would highly recommend this blush to everyone who likes coral cheeks and good quality blushes at affordable prices. Once again Accessorize did not disappoint.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Accessorize Icon and Merged Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part 2

As promised, here's part 2 of my Accessorize single eyeshadows. This time I have 5 Icon Eyeshadows and one Merged Eyeshadow to show you. To read about these in more detail, please check out part 1 of my review. However I would like to add that the Merged Eyeshadow in this post is slightly different to the ones I reviewed in part 1. It is possibly my least favourite Accessorize eyeshadow, it is quite glittery and the glitter is a bit more chunky and flaky this time, and there is quite a bit of fall out (only during application though, not afterwards). It's still lovely and I do like it, but maybe don't love it quite as much as the others. The Icon Eyeshadows in this post are the same excellent quality as the others. 

This time I have Denim, Champagne, Molten Copper (Merged), Chocolate Fondant, Mermaid and Sage. All the swatches below were done dry with just one swipe. You can see just how gorgeous and pigmented these eyeshadows are. Once again, highly recommended (just maybe not Molten Copper).

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Accessorize Icon, Baked Duo and Merged Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part 1

Today I only have time for a quick post with some more Accessorize eyeshadow swatches (it's my daughter's birthday today and we were busy with her party this afternoon). I actually bought these back in November, but never really got around to swatching them, or even wearing them much actually, which has now changed because I have been trying new looks out every day this and last week with these and my newer Accessorize eyeshadows (the baked ones I reviewed here and here, and there will be one more review in the next few days with part 2 of single eyeshadows).

In this post I have 9 eyeshadows to show you, one of the older Baked Duo Eyeshadows (not available at Superdrug anymore, but you can still find them on the Accessorize website), 2 of the Merged Eyeshadows and 6 of the Icon Eyeshadows. The Baked Duo Eyeshadows (BDE) are pretty similar to the ones I've reviewed before, but in this you get 2 solid colours rather than a mixed one and a solid one. The Merged Eyeshadows (ME) are basically one colour with different coloured veins, much like half of the new duos. The Icon Eyeshadows (IE) are the softest, almost creamy powder eyeshadows ever and they come in a good range of colours. I have another 5 to show you and I think they are all pretty amazing. They don't crease or fade, are very easy to apply and blend, and they're cheap, plus their packaging is very cute. You will see in the swatches below that they are extremely pigmented, all the swatches are one swip dry swatches and look amazing! I recommend them wholeheartedly. They cost £4 and you get 2.5 g per eyeshadow. The Baked Duo Eyeshadows are currently £2.00 (were £4.00) and you get 4.5 g, and the Merged Eyeshadows are £4.5 for 3 g each.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Accessorize Diamond Sparkle Lipgloss Review and Swatches

Are you bored of my Accessorize reviews yet? Hope not, as I have some really lovely lipglosses to show you. I actually bought these when I first discovered Accessorize make up back in November 2010, and I'm ashamed to admit that I've only just started using them after my second haul a couple of weeks ago. I have so many other lipglosses, these just never got a look in. BUT I have now started using them and I have to say, I am very happy with them. So much so that I bought another shade just last week which I included at the bottom of this post as I took these photos before then.

Mysterious, Captivating, Crush, Forgiven, Diva

So these are called Diamond Sparkle Lipglosses basically because they are very sparkly. Some more than others, but all in all they all sparkly. Other than that they are creamy, non sticky, pigmented, pleasantly scented (similar to Mac liplasses, not sicky sweet and not plasticy as some other high street brands) and moderately long wearing. In the end of the day these are lipglosses and as they're not sticky, you shouldn't expect them to last through your lunch, but without eating they will last 2-3 hours on me which is think is fine for glosses. I got 5 shades initially (as above) and out of the 5 Forgiven, a lovely raspberry pink was the least sparkly. It's also a bit more sheer than the others, but that said I wore it on top of a medium pink Avon lipliner today and it came out amazingly pigmented. Very juicy, shiny, little bit sparkly, but nothing like some of the others. You will see from the swatches below that Mysterious and Captivating are the most sparkly of the bunch, but also Diva is pretty sparkly. However, you don't just get sparkles, you also get a fair amount of colour. You can expect some glitter migration as the lipgloss fades, which I guess may put some people off, so I'd recommend you go for the less sparkly shades. I love Crush, a gorgeous coral pink with medium amount of sparkles for example. I also got Bewitch (see at the bottom of the post) which is a very pigmented medium bubblegum pink colour with not too much glitter.

All in all I think these glosses are well worth checking out if you don't mind a bit (or lot) of glitter in your life. You get 3 ml for £4 and you can buy these from Superdrug or Accessorize.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

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!

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!

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!

Purple look with 17 Vintage Love Perfect Pastels Palette

Last week I reviewed 17 Vintage Love Palettes here and today I would like to show you a look I created using the purple shades in the Perfect Pastels palette. Unfortunately the pictures don't do the colours justice (I really need to get a better camera!), but here it is anyway. I would appreciate if you let me know what you think of my eyebrows, I've done some DIY work to them, I think they do look a bit better.

To create this look I used the following:

Eyes:

Barbara Daly for Tesco eyeshadow primer

17 Vintage Love Perfect Pastels Palette (see picture below)

Shade 2 (pinky purple) all over lid

Shade 1 (dark purple) in outer lid and crease

Shade 3 (light violet) inner lid and above crease

Marks & Spencer Jewels eyeshadow quad light pink shade below browbone to highlight

Urban Decay 24/7 eye pencil in Perversion on lower waterline

No 7 Candy Lavender eye pencil on lower lashline

DiorShow Black Out mascara in Black Khol

Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:

Avon Shimmer Swirls Face Illuminator

Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch concealer

Chantecaille White Tiger face powder

Accessorize Starlet baked blush

Lips:

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Rose Sorbet

See more pictures after the jump!

Accessorize merged blush review

Firstly I'd like to apologise for not posting for a few days, but I haven't been well (caught a lovely virus) and have been busy with friends and family. Also, it is very unlike me, but I haven't been buying a lot of make up lately, so have run out of inspiration on what to write about. But then I remembered these blushes I bought from Accessorize a while ago (you can check out my initial post here) and actually used them a few times the other week, so I thought I'd tell you all about them.

These are baked domed blushes, not dissimilar to Mac mineralize blushes in appearance, some with more than one colours merged in them, some with just one colour. I believe there are 4 shades in the range, but I only got 3, the remaining shade was too dark and bronze for my liking. You can check out the whole range on the Accessorize website. The shades I got are Pretty Pink, Starlet and Diva. 

I have seen Pretty Pink on a few blogs, it's been compared to Mac's Moon River mineralize blush (from Grand Duos). It is an incredibly sheer powder, gives nice pink highlights to the skin, but as a blush it's not much use. I'm fairly light skinned (Light Medium Mac MSFN shade in winter) and it hardly shows up on me. It's also very frosty (not shimmery though).

Starlet is a bit brighter, darker pink, but it still takes a few goes to show up on me properly. It gives a nice pink flush, but it's cooler than Pretty Pink. Still on the light side though and quite frosty.

Diva is my favourite, even though it's the least pretty to look at (I love the marbelised effect of Pretty Pink), it only has one colour in it, but it delivers the most colour onto my cheeks. Despite looking scary in the pan, it's nowhere near as dark, as you can see in the swatches below. All of these blushes are a lot less pigmented than Mac blushes, which isn't too bad with the darker shades as you can always layer them on and it's easier to avoid looking like a clown if you're a bit heavy handed, but the light shades (especially Pretty Pink) only deliver frost and not much colour even after layering. 

These blushes cost £5 each and you get 8 gramms per blush. Would I recommend them? Diva, yes, maybe even Starlet if you're light and cool toned (can pull of cool pink blushes), but not Pretty Pink unless you want a highlighter and not a blush.

See more photots and swatches after the jump!

Accessorize Pink Spice Nail Polish - a possible dupe for Mac's Bad Fairy?

I told you about my Accessorize haul a few weeks ago, but never got around to showing you the products in detail (I haven't actually used anything other than the blushes, which I will try to review in the coming week). Today I want to show you Pink Spice nail polish which is a beautiful pinky-red duochrome colour. I haven't done side by side comparison, but I think it is a very good dupe for Mac Bad Fairy nail polish (from Venomous Villains), maybe a bit less red and more pink, but pretty close. For comparison I reviewed Bad Fairy over here, but please bear in mind that those pictures were taken on a sunny autumn day whereas these ones were taken on a gloomy winter day. On my nails there really doesn't seem to be a big difference.

With flash

Pricewise, Accessorize nail polishes cost £4 which is half the price of Mac polishes. Both Mac and Accessorize polishes are 10 ml. Qualitywise, Bad Fairy took 3 coats to look even, Pink Spice took 2 coats. Pink Spice applied much more evenly and was less runny than Bad Fairy. Nail polishes chips on me almost instantly, so that's pretty equal really. Finally, since Bad Fairy is now discontinued, if you want the shade, Pink Spice is your best bet as it's available from Superdrug and the Accessorize website. I would recommend checking out the line, there are some real gems in there (including dupes for the entire Orly Cosmic FX collection).

See more pictures and swatches below!