My Lancome Holiday 2012 Collection Haul - Review and Swatches

One of my favourite holiday collections this year is by Lancome (obviously the other one being Guerlain). I've bought two of the Petit Tresor eyeshadows and the two khol pencils (which I wouldn't actually describe as khol, but we'll get to that later), as well as the gorgeous sparkly gift set I've already shown you.

The eyeshadows are really lovely and sparkly, even the compacts they come in are so glam. It's definitely 10/10 for packaging for Lancome! I bought Fil d'Or and Fil' d'Argent, the gold and silver ones. I also liked the bronze one, but decided to skip that as it was the least interesting shade for me. The silver one is actually more taupe than silver, which probably makes it more wearable, but if you're after a proper silver shade, this won't be the one for you. The gold one is a light yellow gold, very pretty. Both are sparkly, but not glittery, very smooth and easy to use. They aren't massively pigmented, but they give a very nice wash of colour to the lids.

The khol pencils are nothing like khol, they remind me a lot of Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencils. They are soft, smooth and really nice. They don't drag, but they're also not too soft. There are two shades: 015 Jazzy Taupe and 016 France In A Glance. The latter is a bronzy brown colour, Jazzy taupe is... taupe. They compliment the eyeshadows perfectly.

You get 1 g in each eyeshadow for £18 and the khol pencils are £16 for 1.2 g (same size as the Urban Decay ones). The eyeshadows are pretty expensive gram per gram, but I don't mind since I'm never going to use them up anyway.

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

Mac Glamour Daze Extra Dimension Eyeshadows and Fluidlines - Review and Swatches

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post this review, but it's been pretty hectic in my house. So to speed things up I've decided to review the eyeshadows and fluidlines together.

As you can see, I bought 5 of the Extra Dimension eyeshadows and all 3 fluidlines from the collection. I decided to skip the silver, black and burgundy ones because I felt that I either have similar colours or won't wear them anyway. The fluidlines were just too sparkly to leave behind.

The eyeshadows I got are A Natural Flirt, Ready To Party, Stolen Moment, Divine Blue, Stylishly Merry. They are all pretty pastely colours except for Stolen Moment which is a gorgeous taupe. First of all, let me just say, these eyeshadows are absolutely tiny. The eyeshadows originally released in the In Extra Dimension collection were 2 g whereas these are 1.3 g, but the price remained the same (£16.50). Not cool, Mac. They are still bigger and cheaper than the Estee Lauder Gelee Powder eyeshadows which are only 0.9 g for £19.00, so I guess that's something. It's not that you necessarily need 2 g of eyeshadows, but if you reduce the quantity, then reduce the price as well!

Anyway, now that's out of the way, these are actually rather lovely and if you haven't tried the liquid powder hybrid formula, then they're worth checking out. These ones didn't feel as soft as the Estee Lauder ones to me, but I didn't actually re-test the EL ones, so my memory could be tricking me. They're not cream eyeshadows, but they are very smooth and buttery, and even the lighter colours are pretty well pigmented. I wore them over primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance) and they lasted well all day without fading or creasing. I wore Stylishly Merry in the crease by the way.

I also got all 3 fluidlines: Catch My Eye, Little Black Bow, Feminine Edge. They are all very sparkly, in particular Catch My Eye and Feminine Edge. Little Black Bow is the least unique, it's a dark grey with sparkles, pretty, but not that special. Catch My Eye is a gorgeous sparkly taupe and Feminine Edge is a very shiny, sparkly cool pink.

I've only worn Feminine Edge so far, it was a quite hard to spread smoothly and the line ended up broken with chunky glittery bits rather than a smooth line. I think that shade in particular would work better as cream eyeshadow/base. It stayed on my lids and didn't fade or crease as a liner, but I haven't tried it as cream eyeshadow yet. (EDIT: I've been wearing Catch My Eye as a cream eyeshadow today (Sunday) and it's stayed creaseless and hasn't had any fallout all day.) You get 3 g of fluidline for £15.50 which is definitely a better deal.

So here you go. I will aim to do a post about the look I did with most of the eyeshadows and Feminine Edge fluidline tomorrow and will also review the nail polish you can see in the pictures soon.

In the meantime, see loads more pictures after the jump!

Stila Seeing Stars Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner Set

First of all, apologies for the lack of posts over the last couple of days, but I've been very busy with my children. On Wednesday we spent the day preparing for Halloween, carved 4 pumpkins, decorated the house and I even did my first ever face painting. Today's been more about shopping, food as well as make up, I went to the Boots Points Event and to the Mac counter to pick up some of the new products from the holiday collection. Incidentally, I'm really behind with taking pictures and swatching, so there may be a small gap in posting, but normal service should resume come Tuesday.

Anyway, I'm pretty tired now, so this is going to be a very quick look at one of Stila's holiday offerings. What we have here is a set of 5 full size Smudge Sticks.

I just love great value sets and this is definitely one of those. You get £65 worth of eyeliners for £25. What's not to like? Smudge Sticks are very good eyeliners,they are waterproof and smudge-proof, they last for hours even on my waterline.

In this set you get Stargazer (black with gold and silver pearl), Angelfish (metallic pewter), Tetra (deep shimmery purple), Moray (golden olive shimmer) and Oscar Fish (warm brown with gold pearl). I believe that out of the 4 only Oscar Fish is limited edition, I only owned Tetra and Moray, so even that way it was worth buying as individually they cost £13 each. I can only see Moray listed on the Stila website, my Tetra came with one of the palettes, so I don't actually know if you can buy Stargazer or Angekfish separately. Maybe in the US?

My only criticism of Smudge Sticks is that you get very little for your money. While Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners contain 1.2 g, these Stila ones only contain 0.28 g each! However, these come in a plastic pencil and instead of sharpening them, you just twist them up as and when you need to. So I gues you save quite a bit that you would lose with sharpening, but I still think these could contain more product.

Other than that, Stila Smudge Sticks are great eyeliners and this set is certainly worth getting if you like them and don't already own many of the shades.

See more pictures after the jump!

Urban Decay Smoked 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Set Review and Swatches

This is the second 24/7 eyeliner pencil set Urban Decay has released for the holiday, and even though it's not as exciting/great value as the Ocho Loco set, I thought I'd show it to you, because this is also a good one and still very good value.

This set is supposed to complement the Smoked Palette released earlier this year, which I didn't buy, but you don't need that of course, you will still enjoy this set if you like dark, smoky colours.

The set contains 6 travel size 24/7 glide-on eye pencils and they come in a variety of colours and finishes. You have Uzi which is a dark shimmery grey, Zero, a black, Demolition, a cool toned matte dark brown, Smog, a light metallic brown, Empire, a dark aubergine with satin finish and Mainline, a dark matte teal. Out of the 6 shades 2 are permanent (Zero and Demolition), 2 have been included in other sets (Uzi and Empire) and 2 are brand new (Smog and Mainline). I only owned Uzi and Zero, I wasn't even aware that Demolition was permanent.

It's a lovely set with really nice colours, my favourites are definitely Empire and Mainline, but I also really like and regularly use Uzi. Demolition doesn't seem that pigmented to me and Smog is a little light to be referred to as a smoky colour, but it's still nice. If you don't have these colours yet, this set would be a great one to buy.

The eyeliners are 0.8 g each which is 2/3 of full size and the set retails at £26, but it's actually worth £52 based on the price of the full sized pencils (£13). So it's still a great value and it also means that you don't have to commit to buying full sized products, because let's face it, who can get through eyeliners quickly enough anyway?

All in all, I would happily recommend this set especially as Urban Decay 24/7 eye pencils are one of my favourite eyeliners.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Guerlain Holiday 2012 Collection Haul Part 5 - Eye and Lip Calligraphy Palette

I was going to do this review last night, but by the time I fixed up my new monitor (courtesy of a friend) and put children to bed, it was late and I was too tired. But now I have a nice new monitor, so I can get on with editing and typing at the desktop computer. I don't know why, I don't like using laptops. Maybe it's my age, haha!

Anyway, Guerlain's Eye and Lip Calligraphy Palette is a limited edition product for the holiday. It contains 2 lipsticks, 3 eyeshadows and a powder eyeliner (which you could also use as eyesahdow of course). I know some people aren't keen on having eye and lip products in the same palette and I'm not always myself, especially if the eyeshadows are very powdery as they end up in the lipstick, but this one works surprisingly well.

The eyeshadows in this palette are not at all powdery. They are soft and smooth, easy to pick up with your brush, but they aren't powdery. The lipsticks are also not very soft and sticky, so the combination of the two means that the products don't mix.

The eyeshadows were the main reason why I bought this palette (and the fact that I could pick it up on eBay for much cheaper than its retail price, you know me!), they are all so pretty. You get a very light golden beige highlighter, a copper shade, a gorgeous silvery taupe and a matte black powder eyeliner. This you can use wet as well for a more dramatic look. I have only tried it dry so far, but it works well dry too, although it's a bit on the sheer side that way. The rest of the eyeshadows are soft, buttery and nicely pigmented. The copper shade is especially amazing! The silvery taupe shade looks pretty unique to me, don't think I own anything else that colour. The highlighter is pretty, although not that unique.

The lipsticks included in this palette are a bright, dark pink and a brick red shade. I initially thought the red was very similar to Gardner Rouge G, but it's not that brown, it's mor of a cross between Gardner and Garconne. The pink shade is darker than Girly Rouge G, it actually reminds me of Mac Moxie lipstick. I did comparison swatches to the 3 Rouge G shades mentioned above. The lipsticks are not as soft and smooth as the Rouge G lipsticks and they're not very long lasting either, I only got 2 hours wear out of them, whereas Rouge G lipsticks last for 3-4 hours or even longer on me. The colours are lovely though and go really well with the eyeshadows.

I did two looks using the palette, you can see them at the bottom of this post. I apologise for the lack of close up lip swatch photos, but I have managed to develope a lovely (not!) cold sore, so I didn't want to scare you.

All in all, this is a lovely palette. I wouldn't say it's a must have, especially when you look at its retail price. It costs £54, although you do get 10.2 g of product for your money (5.6 g eyeshadows and 4.6 g lipsticks) which is a good amount. If it was cheaper, I would thoroughly recommend it, the quality is excellent.

See more pictures including swatches and the looks I did with this palette after the jump!

Too Faced Return Of Sexy Palette Review and Swatches

I've been meaning to show you this palette for a while, but never got around to it, which is a shame because this is possibly the nicest palette I've bought this year. When I first saw it and swatched it in Boots, I fell in love with it. You will see in a minute why.

The palette contains 15 eyeshadows divided into 3 sections to create looks suitable for day and night. You have neutrals, purples, greys and blacks for smoky eyes, so you can create work friendly looks as well as looks for a night out. It's like Urban Decay's Naked Palette, just better. Seriously. I like the Naked Palette, but this has so much more to offer. I could use this every day for two weeks and still be creating different looks with it and not get bored because it's not just neutrals.

The eyeshadows are buttery soft and smooth, and even those with glitter don't have fallout. Most of the eyeshadows are shimmery or metallic, but you can still create a subtle look with them, and of course you can go crazy. All of them are very nicely pigmented, don't fade or crease for hours on end (I wore them for 12+ hours). They can be used wet or dry.

You get 3 looks cards with the palette with look ideas for day and night that can be created using each section of the palette: The Ingénue (chic neutrals), The Icon (girly pinks and plums) and The Bombshell (classic smokey greys). Of course you don't have to follow them, but for someone who is a bit inexperienced in applying make up they can be very helpful.

You also get a trial size (5 g) Shadow Insurance Eyeshadow Primer and a full size Perfect Eyes Waterproof Eyeliner in Perfect Black, as well as 15 g of eyeshadows, so it's a great value palette. It costs £38.50. It's a little hard to work out its actual value because Too Faced doesn't do many single eye shadows, and these shades are not available separately, but based on the value of their Exotic Color Intense Eyeshadows that cost £15.00 per 1.7 g, that would make just the eyeshadows worth over £132. The eyeliner costs £14.50 and the primer is £7.50 for that size.

So as you can see, this is a great value palette, with great eyeshadows, a brilliant eyeliner and my favourite eyeshadow primer of all time. The eyeliner pencil is a great product, very pigmented and longlasting. My only complaint about the palette that it feels a little too bulky and heavy for my liking, but aestethically it's actually very nicely done.

See lots more pictures including swatches and a look I created with this palette after the jump!

Looks Featuring Urban Decay's Vice Palette and Ocho Loco 24/7 Eye Pencil Set - Part 2

Here's another look I did with my new Urban Decay Vice Palette and Ocho Loco 24/7 Eye Pencil Set. This time I used some of the neutral eyeshadows, which are actually really really nice. Again I felt this would've looked nicer with a more shimmery highlighter, but I wated to stick to the palette.

To create this look I used the following:

Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion in Greed
Urban Decay Vice Palette Echo Beach eyeshadow in inner corner and above crease
Urban Decay Vice Palette Nevermind eyeshadow in outer corner
Urban Decay Vice Palette Muse eyeshadow in crease
Urban Decay Vice Palette Anonymus eyeshadow on browbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil Hustle on lower lashline and waterline
Cargo Lash Activator mascara (aren't my lashes looking great by the way?)
Mac Show Off Brow Set

Face:
Ginvera Green Tea Nude Cover BB Cream
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Mac Dollymix powder blush
Mac Perfect Topping mineralize skinfinish

Lips:
Nars 413 BLKR Velvet Matte Lip Pencil 
Urban Decay Stardust Sparkling lipgloss in Glitter Rock

See more pictures after the jump!

Looks Featuring Urban Decay's Vice Palette and Ocho Loco 24/7 Eye Pencil Set - Part 1

For the past week or so I've been playing with my new Urban Decay Vice Palette and Ocho Loco 24/7 Eye Pencil Set and this is one of the looks I did. I was quite happy with this, although I think it would've looked better with a shimmery highlighter, but since there isn't one included in the Vice Palette, I decided to just stick with what was available.

To create this look I used the following:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Urban Decay Vice Palette Provocateur eyeshadow in inner corner
Urban Decay Vice Palette Rapture eyeshadow in outer corner
Urban Decay Vice Palette Vice eyeshadow in crease
Urban Decay Vice Palette Freebird eyeshadow above crease
Urban Decay Vice Palette Anonymus eyeshadow on browbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil Psychedelic Sister on lower lashline and waterline
Cargo Lash Activator mascara
Mac Show Off Brow Set

Face:
Ginvera Green Tea Nude Cover BB Cream
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Mac Conjure Up mineralize blush
Mac Pleasureflush mineralize skinfinish

Lips:
Nars 413 BLKR Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

See more pictures after the jump!

Urban Decay Ocho Loco 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Set Review and Swatches

Another lovely set this holiday season (yes, I know it's only mid-October, but you know make up collections are always a season ahead) from Urban Decay is the Ocho Loco 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Set. Similar to last year's 15 Year Anniversary set, this set also contains full size 24/7 eyeliners in a variety of shades and finishes, both existing colours and some exclusive ones.

24/7 eye pencils are one of my favourite eyeliners, they are creamy and easy to use, but they set quickly and don't smudge. I find they don't last for very long on my waterline, but on my lashline they last for several hours. They also have such a brilliant selection of colours, they always come out with new ones and you often get these great value sets too. I have so many 24/7 eye pencils, I have now lost count. I use them every day and they last for a long time. I think I've only finished 3 of them over the last 3-4 years and those were the tiny travel sizes (0.5 g I think).

Ocho Loco set contains 8 full size (1.2 g) 24/7 eye pencils, including 4 existing shades: Perversion, a matte very dark black, Rockstar, one of my favourites: a lovely aubergine colour, Stash, an antique gold shade, Junkie, a teal with gold shimmer, as well as 4 new colours. Actually, Junkie is new to the UK, it was part of a 5 colour travel set, but only in the US, although I did get it through eBay of course.

The new colours are very nice too, Mushroom is a metallic taupe pewter, Hustle is a medium brown (reminds me of Bourbon, although I didn't compare them side-by-side), Psychedelic Sister is a bright purple shimmer and LSD is a navy with bright turquoise shimmer - possibly my favourite!

You also get a double barrelled pencil sharpener with the set. This set, while still a great value, is less good value than the 15 Year Anniversary set was. This one costs £40 for 8 full size (1.2 g) pencils plus the sharpener, giving you a £104 value for your money (8 x £13) excluding the sharpener. The Anniversary set was £60 for 15 full size pencils which was AMAZING value! But let's not grumble, this is still great, even if you already own some of the existing shades (plus let's face it, you can't have enough of Perversion or Rockstar anyway), you still get 4 brand new exclusive shades for less than the price of 3!

This is limited edition, so if you want it, be quick. You can be sure it won't be available for long. You can buy Urban Decay from Debenhams, House of Fraser, Beauty Bay and Lookfantastic in the UK, but I can't see this set on the latter two websites.

See lots more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Too Faced Perfect Eyes Waterproof Eyeliner in Perfect Peacock Review and Swatches

Too Faced has been releasing some really nice products lately (including the gorgeous Return of Sexy palette which I will be reviewing shortly). I picked up this gorgeous teal eyeliner during a recent visit to the one and only Boots that sells Too Faced products near me (one of the Debenhams nearby has a tiny Too Faced stand, but the brand isn't available online anymore, so I'm guessing they're also not stocking new products).

Too Faced Perfect Eyes eyeliners are said to be waterproof, budgeproof and smudgeproof and they promise an 8-hour-long wear. Perfect Peacock is a medium dark teal with very fine pearl. It's not really shimmery, but there is a very tiny bit of pearl in it. On the eyes it looks more matte than shimmery for sure. The eyeliner is very creamy and glides on easily without tugging, however it does set quickly and stays put once on. On the waterline I didn't get 8 hours out of it, but it worked much better on my lashline. It did smudge a bit, but it was still definitely there 8 hours later. I really like this eyeliner, it's very creamy, but pretty long lasting as well, removal wasn't a problem and Perfect Peacock is a really lovely colour.

The pencil is double ended, it comes with a slanted smudger at the other end. I have not used this as I don't normally smudge my eyeliner, so can't comment on it. You get 1.2 g for £14.50 which is similar to the Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencils. In the UK these come in 6 colours, but the Too Faced website shows 9 shades. You can buy Too Faced from Boots, Beauty Bay and Lookfantastic in the UK.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Topshop Liquid Eyeliner in Intensify by Louise Gray Review and Swatches

I have another Topshop product to show you today. This is from the latest collection, a collaboration with Louise Gray and the product is a lovely blue sparkly liquid eyeliner.

Unlike Desert Sun Cheek Duo I was much more impressed by this. Very similar in style to my MUFE, Mac and Stila liquid eyeliners, it has a spongy very pointy tip, excellent for precision. The colour is a lovely sparkly medium blue and the formula is really nice. It dries pretty quickly and once on, it doesn't budge. You will see at the bottom of the post a picture I did after I smeared the liner after about 2 minutes. The only bit that smudged was the bit where I had applied it rather heavily so you can see the colour properly. The thin line did not smudge at all. It stayed on my eyes all day, but came off easily with make up remover.

The liquid eyeliner costs £8 and it contains 1.7 ml which is the same as the MUFE and Stila liners. Available from Topshop online and in selected stores.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Eyeshadows in Vision and Abstraction and FOTD

One of my favourite Chanel products is Illusion D'Ombre and I was really pleased that there were two new shades of them coming out with Les Expressions de Chanel collection. I haven't actually seen these in any shop or online in the UK, I ordered mine from Sephora in France when they sent me yet another 20% off code.

Illusion D'Ombres are one of the best cream eyeshadows I own, they feel like jelly, they're quite springy, but also very easy to apply and blend. I often just use my fingers as it's easier, but they come with a little angled brust that you can also use to apply them. They work very well as eyeliners too.They don't crease and stay vibrant all day long.

The shades I got are Vision and Abstraction. Vision is sparkly yellow gold and Abstraction is pinky-coral with pink and gold shimmers. They are both very pretty, Abstraction is more subtle, but Vision is also a very wearable shade. In my swatches I managed to swatch Vision rather heavily, but it can be blended out for a more sheer finish. I have included some pictures of me wearing them at the bottom of the post, they looked really lovely on.

Each little pot contains 4 g of eyeshadow and in the UK they cost £23 (although as I said I have not seen these shades yet). So yes, they're not cheap, but they are really good, and these are such pretty shades too. Let me know what you think in the comments!

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

Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliners Review and Swatches

While on the subject of eyeliners, I thought I'd do a post on Stila's Smudge Stick Eyeliners as well (having already reviewed three of them with the palettes I've shown you recently). I'd been meaning to pick up a few more shades but there isn't a Stila counter near me and I really wanted to swatch them first, so when I eventually went to Westfield (Shepherds Bush) Shopping Center I managed to pick up these 4. For the shades I've already reviewed, check them out here: Tetra, Starfish and Damsel.

I got Peacock, Lionfish, Moray and Bluefin. Peacock is teal, Lionfish is warm brown, Moray is khaki green with gold flecks and Bluefin is blue with shimmer.They are all nice and creamy, but set pretty quickly and once they do, they're not going anywhere. They're fairly easy to remove with make up remover, but they really don't come off just by rubbing. I'm not 100% sure how waterproof they are as I haven't tested that, but they stay vibrant and in place on my waterline all day, so that's good enought for me.

I like all the colours I got, out of the 4 Peacock is my favourite as it's a reallly gorgeous teal shade. There's one thing I don't like about these eyeliners, and that is just how little you actually get. Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners and Mac Pearlglide liners are both 1.2 g, whereas Stila Smudge Sticks are a measly 0.28 g! That's not even a quarter of the size of the other two! So at £13 each they are actually very expensive per gram! On the other hand you don't need to sharpen these, so there's no wastage as you just twist the end to get more product out.

Stila products in the UK are available from Stila's own website, Boots, BeautyBay and Lookfantastic (or at least those are the ones I know about). 

Do you own these? Have you got a favourite shade? Let me know in the comments!  

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Mac Pearlglide Intense Eye Liners Review and Swatches

The Mac Vera collection also contains 7 shades of their popular Pearlglide Intense Eye Liners, so I thought I'd do a little review on them. I actually only purchased 2 shades this time around, becaue I already owned 5. The shades I bought are Lord It Up (bronze with pearl) and Black Line (black with gold pearl), the ones I owned already are Designer Purple (iridescent violet), Industrial (periwinkle grey), Undercurrent (teal with pearl), Black Swan (black with pearl) and Petrol Blue (deep navy with pearl).

These eyeliners are really lovely, they're creamy, long lasting, don't smudge, but still pretty easy to remove. I really like them, they're one of my favourite eyeliners. They all contain glitter, so they're best not used on the waterline, but I did check the Mac website and the outer packaging and there's no warning about that anywhere. However I do find that if I use them on my waterline, my eyes water, so I tend to keep them on the lashline.

These eyeliners are the same size (1.2 g) as the Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners which are also one of my favourites, and they cost £14 (£1 more expensive than the UD ones), but really I wouldn't compare them too much to the UD ones because of the glitter. Also I think the colours they come in are more unique than the UD ones, I especially love Industrial, an amazing light blue-grey, it's almost duo-chrome (it hasn't got as much glitter as some of the other ones either). If you like coloured eyeliners, then definitely check out Industrial, Designer Purple, Petrol Blue and Undercurrent, if you prefer blacks and neutrals, then go for the other 3 shades. Out of those my favourite is Black Swan, it's a gorgeous black with silver sparkles.

According to the UK Mac site these are limited edition, but in the US they are now permanent, however, they're all in stock so let's hope Mac has lots of them available. Have you tried any of these? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Stila In The Garden Eyeshadow Palette Review and Swatches

One of the Stila spring palettes I've purchased is the In The Garden palette. It is a very similar style to the Naturaleyes palette that I reviewed a few months ago. You get 10 eyeshadows (out of which 2 are matte) and a full size smudge stick eyeliner for £25. You also get a booklet with some suggestions for looks you can create. 

The eyeshadows are nicely pigmented, some better than others, but it tends to be that the frostier shades are the most pigmented. The two matte shades are alright, not chalky at all. The darker of the two (Nectar) is pretty much the same as my skin colour and doesn't really who up on me. The darker shades are more satiny than frosty except for Moss which is a really lovely dirty brown colour with gold flecks. There aren't really any true highlighters in this palette (I don't like highlighting with matte eyeshadows), but other than that it's a nice palette. The smudge stick eyeliner you get is in the shade Starfish which is a mossy green colour with gold shimmer. It is supposed to be waterproof and it does stay on through the whole day, once it's set, it's very hard to remove (make up remover does remove it easily though).

I did a look with Breeze, Sage and Moss, plus Starfish smudge stick and it was very pretty, the shadows applied and blended easily and everything stayed in place all day (used them over my trusty Barbara Daly eyeshadow primer). 

The palette is still lacking a mirror in the lid and it has yet another quote from Sarah Lucero whoever she might be (I need to look her up!). Otherwise it's a nice palette, although not as bright and spring like as I would have expected. For £25 you get 14 g of eyeshadows and 0.28 g of smudge stick eyeliner.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Eyeshadows in Illusiore and Emerveille and FOTD

While I'm waiting for my eyelid to recover (dry patch is going away nicely), I managed to dig out these old photos I did back in October but never got around to putting up in a review. It's actually quite fitting as well, following yesterday's post on my Chanel eyeshadow stash. These cream/gel shadows came out last autumn and I have reviewed 2 other shades, so for more info please check out this post.

The shades I have here are Illusiore, a purple-grey/taupe, and Emerveille, a light peach colour. Both are really pretty with fine shimmer, well pigmented, smooth and long lasting. Emerveille is the perfect 5 minute make up solution, paired up with a brown or black eyeliner and lots of black mascara. I included some pictures of me wearing Emerveille, so be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post. I used them with and without primer and they held on perfectly, didn't even crease when worn without primer, so they would also make a good base themselves. They cost £22.50 each and you get 4 g, so they're not cheap, but you really only need a little bit in one go. 

I would happily recommend these to everyone, and I hope the rumours of Chanel bringing out more colours are true as these are really fantastic.

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

2011's Favourite Products: Part 1 - Eyes

As 2011 is drawing to a close, I decided to do a series of posts about my favourite beauty products of the year. To be honest though, I do find it quite difficult to do posts like this, because a year is a pretty long period and I often find if I think of my favourites of a certain period, the latest favourites will most likely be included rather than the ones I was crazy about 6 months ago. But I will try to be as objective as possible. I'm not doing detailed reviews on everything since I have actually reviewed a lot of these products, so I will just link them back to the posts if they've already been reviewed.

First up are base products. My favourites are in no particular order: Barbara Daly (for Tesco) Even Smoother Eye Base, Mac Paint Pots and Rimmel Colour Mousse 8hr eyeshadows. Click on the links for the reviews. The only one of these three that I haven't reviewed yet are the Mac Paint Pots. I don't know why, I've just never got around to doing it. I actually own a lot of them, having bought 10 with the last 2 Mac collections and also the permanent ones, or older limited edition ones that I'd already owned. They can be used as primers as they don't crease at all or just on their own for a subtle (or in some cases not so subtle) colour. My only problem with them is that my older ones are beginning to dry out, even though I keep them upside down and sealed properly. They are the most expensive of the bunch at £13.50 for 5 g.

Keep reading to find out what other eye products made it into my favourites this year!

Stila In The Light Naturaleyes Eyeshadow Palette Swatches and Review

It seems every brand is coming out of their version of Urban Decay's Naked Palette and today I have Stila's Naturaleyes (why one word?) palette to show you. I bought this online a couple of months ago for £22.50, but literally days later I noticed that it had gone up to £25. I'm glad I managed to snatch it up for less. :)

You get 10 eyeshadows, 4 matte and 6 shimmery ones. The colour selection is really good, you get a couple of highlighter shades, and as well as lots of neutrals, you also get grey and black, so you can create a nice smoky eye as well. All of them swatched nicely, and I'm sporting a look today I did with 3 of the matte eyeshadows and they applied and blended easily and their colour payoff is very good too. You also get a smudgestick included which I'm also wearing and it has stayed put on my waterline for hours now (6 hours and counting). It's a plumy colour, so less harsh than black, but still dark enough. You also have a small booklet with ideas for looks included which is a nice idea.

My only complaint about this palette is that you don't get a mirror in the lid, instead you have some quote from someone I don't know that I quite frankly could do without. I feel that at this price and considering that this palette is supposed to be a portable, contain all you need for your neutral looks, it really really should have a mirror.

Other than that I am really happy with it and I think it's a nice alternative to Urban Decay's Naked Palette. It's also quite a bit smaller, so should be easier to carry with you, if only it had a mirror too... The palette cost £25 and you get 14 g eyeshadows and 0.28 g eyeliner.

See lots more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Finished! The October Edition

Firstly, sorry about neglecting the blog these last few days. I've been very busy with shopping (the new Mac collections are out as well as Dior, Chanel and those gorgeous Models Own Beetlejuice nail polishes) and also updating my blog sale (nearly done). Plus little everyday things like children and cleaning and washing and cooking... You know.

Anyway, another month has gone past, so here's another post about all the products I've finished last month. Only five though, sadly, however there are quite a few other ones just hanging by their teeth. Just like this first product was, I thought I'd never finish it.

It's Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub. Couldn't wait to finish it off. Firstly, it's not a scrub. It's a creamy cleanser with some very soft bits in it. It does not scrub, nor it does exfoliate. It is not a deep cleansing scrub like it claims. It did nothing for me, my pores are still there, clogged and as big as ever. Waste of money. (Can you tell I didn't like this?)

Find out what other products I finished after the jump!

Boots 17 Gift With Purchase Femme Noir Set - Swatches!

Boots are currently offering a free Femme Noir set if you buy just 2 17 makeup. With lots of new products (reviews coming up soon!) and some great permanent products (I love myself some 17 eyeshadows and the lipglosses and mascaras are pretty nice too) it's easy to pick 2.

The set contains Ultimate Volume Lipgloss in Very Berry, Liquid Eyeliner in black and Glitter Eyeshadow in Night Sky. I thought I'd swatch them for you so you can see what you're getting. Although these are all permanent products, so you can usually find testers for them in store.

Very Berry is a nice vampy berry pink slightly shimmery gloss. It's non-sticky and lasts quite well. I haven't actually worn the liquid eyeliner yet, but it does look very nice in the swatch, similar to Urban Decay's new Perversion liquid eyeliner. I also haven't worn the eyeshadow yet, but I really like 17 shadows, they are very good quality and don't crease at all. Night Sky is a nice glittery grey colour.

The value of the set is around £12, so it's a very good deal. I don't know how long the offer lasts, so if you like the look of this, hurry to your nearest Boots!

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!