My Mac Semi-Precious Haul - Part 1

I placed a rather large order with Debenhams on Monday and my Mac Semi-Precious goodies finally arrived today, so I thought I'd show them to you. They were unable to send Unsurpassable mineralize eyeshadow, so I will have to go and pick that up from a counter tomorrow, and I might pick up one or two lipstick depending on whether I fancy any of them, so that's why this post is titled "Part 1".

As you can see, I got rather a lot of things, in fact I got all the mineralize eyeshadows (but one), all the mineralize skinfinishes and 2 mineralize blushes. I am very happy with everything, I love mineralize products, so this is a great collection for me.

I will post swatches of the eyeshadows later (once I've done all the cropping, watermarking and labelling), for now see more pictures of my goodies 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!

Laura Geller Baked Eye Dreams in Pink Sunset and Dream Creams Lip Palette in Como

You might remember me reviewing Laura Geller's Escape To The Tropics collection (for the review click here) that included a Blush n Brighten, Baked Eye Dreams Palette and Dream Creams Lip Palette. I believe there is a very similar collection available from Laura Geller, although I don't have all the details, the packaging is certainly the same and some products are too, just with different shades. (The reason why I don't know the actual collection details is because I buy these products from eBay separately, I don't even think we get these in the UK and I find QVC way too overpriced anyway.) This time I only have the Baked Eye Dreams Palette and the Dream Creams Lip Palette because I already own the Blush n Brighten in Como - well mine comes with Portofino highlighter, but all the same. (By the way I swatched all my Laura Geller blushes here.)

Baked Eye Dreams in Pink Sunset and Dream Creams Lip Palette in Como

So I got Baked Eye Dreams in Pink Sunset and Dream Creams Lip Palette in Como. I wore both of these products yesterday and I really like them both. The eyeshadows are nice and smooth, not soft and buttery at all, but they still go on nicely and stay on well with no creasing (I wore them over Urban Decay Primer Potion in Greed). The colours are a bit on the sheer side when swatched, but they are buildable and are actually pretty vibrant when worn. The Lip Palette I find a bit too nude for my taste, but it's just my personal preference, the formula is still as nice as ever. I managed to make it work better for me by applying one of the shimmery shades on top of the more matte ones.

For more information including official descriptions on these products please check out my previous review.

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!

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!

Finished! The June edition

I'm afraid I only have 3 products to show you this month, although there are another 5 or so products that literally only have 4-5 uses left in them, so expect a bigger turnout next month.

First up is Lancome Genifique, an absolutely fantastic skincare product. I have reviewed this here already, so won't repeat myself, but I still love it and have now purchased a 30 ml size version (this was a gift with purchase). I find that I use approx. 1 ml a week (I only use this at night), so although it's pricey, 30 ml should last a long time.

See what other products I have finished this month!

NOTD: Nails Inc. Aldwych and Farringdon Crackle Topcoat

Firstly, sorry about the messy application, but I was very keen to try these nail polishes out as soon as I received them and happened to have the time to actually take pictures before the chips appeared, so I decided to post them anyway.

Nails Inc. Aldwych with Farringdon Crackle Topcoat (with flash)

Farrigdon is the gold crackle polish I had been waiting for for a long time, ever since British Beauty Blogger wrote about it a few months ago. I ordered it from the Nails Inc. website a few days ago together with The City (glitter purple crackle) and The West End (glitter turquoise crackle).

Aldwych was a free gift with purchase and I'm really delighted with it as it's a gorgeous shimmery peachy pink. It is so opaque, it almost looks perfect with just one coat, but two certainly does the job. It's very shiny and looks really beautiful. I think it's lovely under this gold crackle topcoat as well as alone.

Farringdon is the thickest crackle polish I have tried and it was a bit tricky to apply quickly as I would run out of polish halfway through my nail, so had to go back to pick up more onto the brush. It took a while to dry too, even with a quick dry top coat and I managed to smudge it while cooking. But it is a gorgeous glittery gold and it especially looks amazing in sunshine. I can't comment on staying power yet, but nail polish chips on my nails quickly regardless of brand, so it probably wouldn't be very helpful anyway. The crackle topcoats cost £11.00 each and available from Nails Inc. and other retailers.

See more pictures after the jump!