Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

When I heard about Urban Decay releasing some new, very sparkly eyeshadows, I of course had to check them out. They came out in 7 shades and I picked up 4 (for now?). I got Glitter Rock, Intergalactic, Stargazer and Zodiac.

This is the description on the Debenhams website: "Urban Decay launches Moondust Eyeshadow, a dazzling innovation in eyeshadow with a super-refined and incredibly sophisticated feel. Forget EVERYTHING you know about glitter eyeshadow. Moondust is like NO OTHER shadow. There's not a speck of chunky "teen glitter" be found in these babies. Microfine bits of iridescent sparkle collide with intense, dreamy hues and lush 3-D metallics - for an effect that's out of this world. And while some traditional sparkly shadows tend to look cheap, Moondust has a really luxe, upscale vibe and a gorgeous, diamond-like effect." These are definitely very sparkly. They are also pretty pigmented, so you actually get a lot of colour as well as a lot of sparkle. Initially they reminded me of the Stardust eyeshadows, but these are a lot more intense, both in colour and also in sparkle.

These eyeshadows are not only very sparkly, but they're also duochrome, some more than others, in particular Stargazer which has a gorgeous green duochrome to it. Zodiac is my favourite of the 4, it is amazingly intense and is full of green, blue and gold sparkles. I found Glitter Rock and Intergalactic quite similar on the eyes, although they swatched more differently, but Stargazer and Zodiac gave a great contrasting look.

Urban Decay recommends you apply these using your fingers, I swatched them with my fingers, but I prefer applying eyeshadows on my eyes with brushes for precision. These eyeshadows can be used dry or wet for more intensity. I haven't tried them wet yet. As for glitter fallout, there was surprisingly little, I mostly only had some during application and blending. Once I cleaned it up, I didn't notice much glitter fallout. I would say that if you didn't like glitter, you'd probably wouldn't want to go anywhere near these anyway since they are so sparkly. But they definitely didn't spread all over my face. I didn't notice any creasing either (I used them over Too Faced Shadows Insurance) and they looked vibrant all through the day. 

These eyeshadows come in the usual round Urban Decay eyeshadow compacts and by the looks of them can probably be depotted and put into their new palettes (which I don't like one bit, but anyway). You get 1.5 g of product for £14. Urban Decay is stocked in Debenhams and House of Fraser, and they are currently on sale at BeautyBay (£12.46 each), although Zodiac isn't in stock.


See more pictures including swatches and a look I did using Stargazer and Zodiac after the jump!

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Vault Now Available!

Just a heads up, the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Vault is now available exclusive on the Debenhams website. Apparently there are only 40 of them available in the UK, so if you want it, grab it now!

It costs £240 and you can order it from here.

Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat Foundation Review

A little while ago I was stopped by a lovely lady at the YSL counter in House of Fraser and was asked if I'd like to be matched up for a free foundation sample. Of course I couldn't say no and came away with my little bottle of Le Teint Touche Eclat foundation. I was given shade B50 which looks a little yellow on my hands but blends out nicely on my face.

I have to admit I don't follow YSL as closely as other brands, but I believe this is their new foundation. This is what I found about it on the Debenhams website: "Twenty years after the launch of the iconic Touche clat, Yves Saint Laurent adopts a leading edge technology that transposes the magic of this legendary highlighter into a foundation to achieve the same illuminating result for the entire face. Yves Saint Laurent introduces LE TEINT TOUCHE CLAT. A bold, unique formula to target shadowy areas and define contours. Infused within a weightless fluid, the light of Touche clat foundation targets shadowy areas and highlights the contours of the face. Free of opaque powders, its perfecting texture evens the complexion and helps conceal imperfections, while enhancing your skin's natural beauty."

I think the key word is illuminating. While not greasy by any means, this foundation does look more "dewy" on me than some others, so I think it would suit drier skins better than oily ones. I have normal skin during the winter months, but my T-zone can get rather oily in hot weather, so I would definitely not wear this in the summer, but right now it works well for me. I don't love it as much as I do the Lancome Teint Visionnaire foundation, it is definitely more dewy on my face and tends to need a bit of blotting halfway through the day, but it does have a nice medium coverageand it feels very light on the skin. It comes in 22 shades which is great and the full size product comes in a pump bottle which is also a big plus.


I like this foundation, but won't be buying the full size version. I know it's just going to be too dewy on me in the warmer months plus it doesn't come with SPF which I think is really necessary in the summer. It's nice in the winter, but I have nicer foundations. However, if you have dry skin and you're near a YSL counter, it's well worth a look. £29 for 30 ml.

See more pictures after the jump! If you want to see me wear this foundation on my face, check out this post for full face pictures!

ArtDeco Spring Collection Haul, Review and Swatches

This pretty magnetic palette is part of ArtDeco's spring collection and as I love butterflies, I of course had to snap it up. I also bought 4 of their duochrome eyeshadows to go with it and a pretty duochrome nail polish.

The palette takes either 4 eyeshadow singles or a blush and an eyeshadow, and I decided to get 4 of the new shades of eyeshadows. Of course you can buy it without refills and you also don't have to get the palette if you just want the eyeshadows, but I figured they would look lovely together.

I got 255 Aero Spring Green, 267 Fresh Water, 285 Lilac Passion and 297A Rosy Heart Throb. These are new shades for the spring, but I don't know if they are also limited edition or permanent. As I said, these are said to be duochrome eyeshadows, but with the exception of Rosy Heart Throb, I can't really see the duochrome in them. Rosy Heart Throb has a gold duochrome to it which is very pretty. The eyeshadows are very soft, a bit powdery and they are rather sheer as well. They give a very soft effect and look very springlike,but if you are looking for something more dramatic, more pigmented, then these are not for you. They did last well though and didn't crease at all, but due to their softness it was easy to overblend them, so you need to be careful when applying and blending.

Considering the price of the made up palette (£32.25) this is not as cheap as you'd think and for the amount of product you get (3.2 g) it's not the best value. I also found it a bit odd that the packaging of the palette shows an applicator, but you don't get one with it, which I probably wouldn't use, but for the price they really should've thrown in a measly applicator. 

I also bought Ceramic Nail Laquer 245 Iridescent Butterfly Wings which is a pretty blue with purple and teal duochrome. It seems very sheer, but I haven't tried it yet, so can't really comment.

The palette costs £10.25, the single eyeshadows are £5.50 (for 0.8 g) and the nail polish costs £9.50 (for 6 ml). I bought mine from BeautyBay, but Debenhams should be stocking the collection soon too.

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

Bare Minerals Ready Luminizer The Love Affair Review and Swatches

I saw this highlighter on another blog and it had such glowing review (excuse the weak pun) I decided to get it. I'm a sucker for highlighter, especially if they come with a pretty design.

This actually comes in two shades, I bought The Love Affair which is the peachy pink variety, there's also The Shining Moment which is a gold shade. I find pinks more wearable for me, so I decided to get this one instead of The Shining Moment.

This is a very nice highlighter, feels quite creamy, but it's definitely a powder product. You get a subtle glow with some barely noticable shimmer. I have posted a couple of pictures of me wearing this (check out this post), but I will also include one at the bottom of the post.

You get 10 g product in a white square(ish) compact with a full size mirror in the lid. It used to retail for £26, but it's now in the sale for £13 (Debenhams still has this shade, The Shining Moment is now sold out). I bought mine on eBay for £17.50 just before it went on sale (typical). I'm guessing this is a limited edition product, but I'm not sure. I don't follow Bare Minerals and I think this might actually be the only product I own from them.

All in all, this is a lovely highlighter if you want a subtle glow, and it's great value for money (especially now). Get it while you can!

See more pictures including swatches and a picture of me wearing this after the jump!  

ArtDeco Dita Von Teese Golden Vintage Eyelights and Blusher

This post is purely to show you these beautiful products I've got from the ArtDeco Dita Von Teese Golden Vintage collection. Since they are still available from Debenhams, I'm not actually being mean teasing you with something pretty that you can't have.

I got the Golden Vintage Blusher and Golden Vintage Eyelights. As you can see they are ridiculously pretty and me being crazy, of course I haven't actually swatched or used them. So there's no review today other than "look how pretty they are".

They both cost £25 and both are 10 g which is way bigger than you would need of blush or eyeshadows. They come in gorgeous gold boxes and gold compacts, everything about them is just gorgeous. What's not to like, eh?

ArtDeco products are available from Debenhams and BeautyBay (although the latter doesn't have the Golden Vintage collection).

See more pictures after the jump! 

ArtDeco Dita Von Teese Illuminating Baked Powder Review and Swatches

I wasn't going to get this, I swear. I have plenty enough highlighters, I did not need another one. I certainly wasn't going to get this for £30. But then I saw it, swatched it, realised I had £15 on my Debenhams Beauty Reward Card and there was a 10% off event, and somehow this little beauty came home with me.

I have to admit, I don't know much about Dita Von Teese, other than that she always looks glamorous and gorgeous. I also didn't own many Art Deco products (until now), in fact I think I only had 2 or 3 eyeshadow palettes I've never used (they were too pretty). Until recently this brand wasn't easy to come by in the UK, but since Debenhams and BeautyBay started stocking it, I've been paying a lot more attention.

Hopefully you have seen my review of the Glam Deluxe Collection (if not, click here to read it), and there's even more gorgeousness to come, but for now, check out this beautiful highlighter. This is what Mac Lightscapade MSF should've looked like when it was re-released last year (?). The powder is a blend of beige, pink, blue, orange, yellow and mixed together you get a very fine slightly shimmery pastel highlighter. The effect is very similar to Lightscapade, but the powder is even prettier to look at. It also comes in a shiny black compact with a mirror in the lid, something Mac MSFs lack.

The powder is so soft and finely milled, but not powdery, it melts into your skin like butter. You get a whopping 15 g which should last a few lifetimes for £30, although currently you get 10% off at Debenhams. I believe this is a limited edition product, but unlike Mac MSFs, ArtDece seemed to have made plenty as it has been around for a few weeks now and is still in stock. It's really lovely and actually it's not that expensive considering its size, so pick it up while you can!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

ArtDeco Glam Deluxe Collection Review and Swatches

Once again apologies for the erratic posting, but I've spent the last couple of days Christmas shopping and rushing around. I'm slowly getting there, but to be honest, it'll take a few more days for me to catch up.

Anyway, let's get on with this. I have 6 eyeshadows and a blush from ArtDeco's Glam Deluxe collection to show you. The eyeshadows are another variation on the cream/powder formula, like Mac Extra Dimension eyeshadows and Estee Lauder gelee powder eyeshadows. The blush isn't the same formula, it's a powder blush, but it comes with a similarly pretty design.

Overall, the eyeshadows aren't as pigmented as I expected (except for Glam Bronzed Fabric and Glam Blissful Taupe), they are quite sheer. The formula is similar to the Mac and Estee Lauder eyeshadows, it feels quite creamy, but it's definitely powder. The blush I was a bit disappointed in as I thought it was the same formula as the Mac Extra Dimension Skinfinishes, but it's just a regular powder blush. It's actually a bit too powdery for my liking, although it is a nice, natural colour with just a hint of shimmer.

As I said above, other than the bronze and taupe eyeshadows the others are a bit sheer and rather similar as you'll see in the swatches below. The white shade has a slight shimmer to it, the others are mostly just metallic. The formula's good, they didn't crease or fade on me for 12+ hours (I wore them over primer).

The eyeshadows cost £16.50 each and you get 2.5 g. The blush is £21.50 for 10 g. I'm not completely bowled over by them, but the bronze and taupe eyeshadows are definitely worth having. Available from Debenhams and Beauty Bay. Debenhams currently have a 15% off offer going (until Sunday).

See lots more pictures, including swatches and a couple of looks I did with the products, after the jump!

Illamasqua Nail Duo Bright - Glitterati and Viridian

I bought this set of two Illamasqua nail polishes from Debenhams, named Nail Duo Bright. The set includes Viridian, a metallic peacock green and Glitterati, a glittery plum shade.

My first impression was that neither of these polishes looked as bright or glittery in person as they did in the stock picture on the Debenhams website. Fair enough though, things never do. I still think naming them as "bright" is a bit misleading because they're not.

Viridian is rather dull, darker and a lot less metallic than I expected, even based on what it looks like in the bottle. I ended up jazzing it up a little by Zoya Maisie, a blue/green flakie polish.

Glitterati is very misleading in the bottle as you can see loads of sparkles, but they mostly end up being sandwiched between the layers you apply (I did two) and also just floating inside the polish. The end result was much less glittery than I thought it would be.

Both manicures took 2 coats to look opaque, the formula was nice, not too runny or thick and they applied evenly. Both started chipping slightly in the first 24 hours, even though these polishes are supposed to be "extremely hardwearing and chip-resistant" according to Illamasqua. Once I applied Zoya Maisie on top of Viridian, it lasted really well (3 more days), but that credit goes to Zoya Maisie. Glitterati was very badly chipped on me by the end of day 3.

The set costs £22 from Debenhams (currently £19.80 in the sale - ends tonight!) and interestingly £24 on the Illamasqua website. Single polishes cost £13.50 and as both are full size (15 ml each), this is a good value set. (I can't actually see Glitterati on the website, maybe it's exclusive to the set?) Whether I'd recommend it is another question. If you don't mind that they're not as bright as advertised and aren't chip resistant like Illamasqua claim, then I would. I'm myself a bit disappointed with this set, and since these are my first Illamasqua polishes, not sure this was the best introduction to the brand's nail polishes.

See lots more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Fantastic Lancome Deals At Debenhams!

I was going to blog about the Mac Glamour Daze eyeshadows today, but then I got so excited about the fantastic deal I came across in Debenhams, I just had to share (sorry, Mac swatches coming soon!). I don't know how long these offers last, so I thought I'd let you know quickly, in case you want to take advantage of them.

Today I bought two of the Lancome holiday collection eyeshadows and one of the khol pencils (I will do a proper review on those later) and as a result was given a really nice gift with purchase including a gorgeous make up bag, several skincare samples, a tiny lipstick, a sample size mascara, two make up brushes (which I forgot to photograph, sorry) and because I bought the third product, a full size Bi-Facil make up remover. I won't go into all the details here, but you can see the offer by clicking on this link. According to Debenhams the gift with purchase is worth over £58, although I'm not entirely sure if it includes the extra Bi-Facil, but it doesn't include the make up bag and brushes apparently. A full-size Bi-Facil alone costs £21.

I also purchased the Christmas Beauty Box for £45 (you can only buy this if you buy 2 or more Lancome products, and luckily you still get the gift with purchase, they don't exclude each other) which actually has a value of £165! The eyeshadow palette and blush alone add up to at least £45 and there's also a full size Bi-Facil in here as well as Genifique and Visionnaire samples, 2 tiny lipsticks (one is the same as in the gift with purchase), 2 sample size mascaras, an eye khol, a sample size cream, a sample size cream cleanser and toner, as well as a gorgeous big sparkly gold make up case.

The Christmas Beauty Box is actually a fantastic deal as it costs £75 on the Lancome website, although you can purchase it without buying other products, but to be fair, if you're going to buy something from the holiday collection (and there's plenty to buy from that as it's gorgeous!) or even some staples, you might as well buy it from Debenhams and get it for £30 less!

See lots more pictures after the jump!

My Mac Heavenly Creature Haul Part 3 - Eyeshadows

Here's the final part of my Mac Heavenly Creature haul, this time it's the mineralize eyeshadows. You may know that I'm a massive fan of them and own almost every one Mac has released. (I didn't get two of the Chen Man ones that were exact dupes of some colours that were released earlier, but that's all.) I did a post on my Mac mineralize eyeshadow stash a while ago, but of course I have even more now. And of course I had to buy all 9 eyeshadows in the Heavenly Creature collection too.

I have to add that I have not used them all yet, but I have swatched them and they all seem very nice. Some are more shimmery than others (Invincible Light in particular is rather shimmery and frosty), but some are more satiny than anything. The colour payoff is very good, they are all really nicely pigmented. The ones I wore stayed on without creasing and fading for 10+ hours and there was only very mininmal fallout and that was only during application which is not a big deal for me at all.

The beauty of these mineralized eyeshadows is that you get 3 different colours swirled into one pot and they can create multidimensional colours, and also of course you can use them separately if you get large enough patches. Some of mine have really nice large patches, especially my Water with the big yellow patch in the middle and I've been able to use the separate colours in my Neo Nebula and Bright Moon as well. Of course the swirls also mean they are really pretty and nice to look at.

These Mac mineralize eyeshadows cost £16.50 and you get 2 g which is a bit smaller than some other mineralize eyeshadows (normally 2.2 g), but still rather large and they will last you absolutely forever.

See lots more pictures including swatches and a look I did, after the jump!

My Mac Heavenly Creature Haul Part 1 - Skinfinishes

Finally, the long awaited Mac collection, Heavenly Creature has launched in the UK and I have a lot of goodies to show you. I was very excited about all the mineralize products and ended up purchasing all of them, so I will do this haul post in 3 parts. Apart from the mineralize make up, I also bought a couple of tubes of Volcanic Ash Exfoliator which I won't be reviewing just now, but will hopefully get around to doing so sometime soon. So many products, so little time...

First off, here are the Mineralize Skinfinishes (or MSFs) I bought. There were 4 of them launched in this collection: Light Year, Star Wonder, Center Of The Universe and Earthshine. As I wanted to make sure I ended up with the ones I really wanted, as well as ordering from Debenhams as soon as the collection launched, I also picked up one of each MSF with patterns I really wanted. So all in all I ended up with 8 of them. I was actually very lucky in that the MSFs Debenhams sent me are also very much the colours/swirls I was after, but slightly different from the ones I picked up.

In the picture above the MSFs I picked out myself are in the top row and the ones I ordered from Debenhams are in the bottom row. I particularly wanted a Star Wonder with lots of purple and an Earthshine with very little burgundy. Out of the four Light Year is definitely my favourite, even though I thought it would be Star Wonder. I find Light Year less metallic looking on the skin and it's such a gorgeous peachy pink colour. Eartshine is slightly too dark for me to use as a blush (it looks dirty on my cheeks), but I will find a way of using it for sure. I have not worn Center Of The Universe yet, but it's a nice orange/coral blush and will no doubt work well for my skintone.

The MSFs are all very smooth, not gritty or glittery at all. Yes, there's some shimmer, some finer than other, and some of them, in perticular Star Wonder and Earthshine are quite metallic. I've found Light Year the smoothest and less shimmery. It of course depends on the exact pattern and combination of shades within each MSFs. 

Mac Mineralize Skinfinishes cost £21.50 and you get 7 grams which is actually quite a bit less than the usual weight of MSFs, they are normally 9 or 10 g, not sure why the difference. Have you picked up anything from this collection? Have you got a favourite? Let me know in the comments!

See LOTS more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Urban Decay 15-Year Anniversary Eyeshadow Collection Now Available...

...on Debenhams.com! £39 gets you 15 gorgeous full size NEW (never before seen!) eyeshadows! You can purchase this limited edition set here.

I will aim to review this sometime towards the end of next week, so be sure to check back.

Mac Semi-Precious is now online at Debenhams.com!

Yes, you heard it right! Mac Semi-Precious is now up on Debenhams.com! It's due to launch at counters on Thursday, but Debenhams have already put the collection up on their website (Mac hasn't yet got it by the way). So hurry, place your orders and tell me in the comments what you got!

EDIT: Now the collection is also available at Maccosmetics.co.uk!

PS. Fashion Flower is now also available at Debenhams.com and Maccosmetics.co.uk!

Mac Quite Cute collection is now available on debenhams.com!

Mac's new collection Quite Cute is now available to buy from Debenhams! You get free delivery on all purchases plus 10% off if you buy 2 or more beauty products. No code necessary!

Collection details can be found here!

Is this really necessary?

I ordered these from Debenhams the other day:

And they arrived in these:

I am all in favour of receiving my order in one piece, but surely a small padded envelope and some bubble wrap would have done a sufficient job? Instead they wrapped them in one of the envelopes, then put them in the other envelope and then into the plastic bag. In this day and age when we're all trying to do our bits for the environment, do retailers need to be this wasteful? Lucky I was in as well, because the postman couldn't fit the massive package through my postbox, so if I'd missed him, I would've had to drive to the post office to pick it up, so I would've wasted some petrol as well. 

Really not impressed. I used to think Mac was wasteful sending my 3-4 pieces in giant black boxes padded with loads of black paper, but I have to say, Debenhams has done even worse. Also makes me wonder how much this is costing them, since it was free delivery as well. 

Which stores/companies have you come across as being wasteful in their packaging methods? Let me know in the comments!