Scent Of The Month: Guerlain Shalimar Eau de Toilette

I don't normally review fragrances on here mostly because I'm really rubbish at describing scents. I can say things like "it's really nice" and "it's a sweet and/or floral scent", but other than that, I'm no use. But because I really like perfumes, own around 40 different ones and use perfumes every day, I thought I'd start a little series and see how it goes.

So this month's fragrance is one of my favourite fragrances Shalimar by Guerlain. It's a strong, sweet scent and I think it's a great choice for this time of year. It's not in your face, but is quite strong and long lasting. Because I'm rubbish at describing scents, I've decided to copy Guerlain's official description of the scent:

"Soft oriental Voluptuous, sensual, spellbinding Tonic top notes of fresh flowers and bergamot are calmly intrepid. Like the savvy disorder of rumpled silk sheets, powdery notes of iris, jasmine and rose suggest or promise sensual embraces. The creamy softness of addictive vanilla, the penetrating charm of iris, the balmy roundness of opoponax and the gourmand warmth of Tonka bean orchestrate an intimate symphony of scent for languorous interludes."

I couldn't find the Eau de Toilette on the Debenhams website, but the Eau de Parfum costs £42 for 30 ml and £79 for 90 ml.

Let me know how you like the idea of this post (possible series) in the comments!

See another picture 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!

Introducing Our New Kitten: Midnight

It's been such a hectic day, but finally I have time to sit down and show you our new kitten, Midnight. He's 10 weeks old, very black and very cheeky. Our other two cats, Paws and Fluff aren't quite sure about him yet, Paws was actually pretty friendly towards him, but Fluff is very unsure. I'm sure he'll warm to him though.

So there you go, our third kitty. We're looking forward to lots of fun and lots of cuddles. He is a very mischievous little thing, so no doubt he will keep me entertained when the children are in school.

Topshop Cheek Duo in Desert Sun Review and Swatches

I have a confession to make: I don't get Topshop. Please don't hit me! I don't know if it's my age or that fact that I'm ridiculously not fashionable, but I have not once managed to find any clothes in Topshop that I liked. Make up however, is a different story. I'm a sucker for Topshop make up especially their nail polishes, but I have been known to pick up other products like their eyeshadow crayons and other bits and bobs. So when I last wondered into Topshop this little beauty caught my eye.

Topshop Cheek Duo is basically a 2 in 1 baked products with a blush and bronzer in one compact. Desert Sun is the peachy version, there is another shade (Break of Day) which has a pink blush instead of a peach one. Actually I'd say the blush in Desert Sun is more a pinky coral than peach. It's a satin finish, whereas the bronzer, a little coppery brown shade, is actually quite shimmery. I'd prefer it the other way round to be honest, the bronzer would be more suitable for contouring. The blush is quite powdery and had to be layered to show up on me and it faded away quickly. The bronzer is more pigmented and longer lasting and not as powdery either. The two products together give a nice sunkissed glow to my cheeks. I think on darker skintones the blush would look quite ashy, but the bronzer would make a lovely highlighter.

The compact is an off-white colour matte finish plastic. It seriously lacks a mirror in the lid, I think at this price they really should put one in. It's not overly expensive, it costs £12.50 for 6.5 g, so still significantly cheaper than Mac blushes and bronzers, but equally I don't think the quality is there. I like it, but don't love it.

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

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!

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadow #07 Review and Swatches

After falling in love with Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadows #27 and #28 I decided to order #07 as well, a beautiful rosy pink shade. I know a lot of people don't like wearing pink eyeshadows, but I find they go very well with my dark brown eyes and my colouring and I had been really wanting to get this shade as it's so pretty.

The formula is once again really lovely, buttery smooth, yet very long lasting and creaseproof. I wore this on top of my Too Faced Eyeshadow Insurance primer and it lasted all day without fading or creasing. I find this shade so easy to wear, on days when I don't have much time, just sweep it onto my eyelids, pair it with black eyeliner and mascara and hey presto!

I won't go on about how fantastic these eyeshadows are, for more details please read this post, but I do think that these are well worth their price (£26 for 4 g) and if you can afford them, check them out. For a cheaper alternative I would wholeheartedly recommend the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows as they are comparable and probably easier to get hold of anyway.

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadows are available from House of Fraser, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Bentalls and maybe Harrods too, but I'm not sure about that one.

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

NOTD: Milani 3D Holographic Nail Polish in 3D

As you might know, I really like holographic nail polishes, so when Cherry Culture was having a 20% off sale a little while ago, I took the opportunity to order some of the Milani 3D Holographic nail polishes (okay, all 6 to be precise). The first colour I tried was this pretty yellow gold shade also named 3D, which is a bit confusing, but never mind.

This nail polish wasn't as holographic as I had hoped, it looked more like it just had silver glitter in it, although at some angles you can see some faint rainbow colours, but only in sunlight. Indoors it's really just yellow gold with silver sparkle. It's pretty, but not really holographic. The formula was very nice. It took 2 coats for full opacity and it wore okay on me, it started chipping on day 2 which is normal for me.

As I mentioned before, I bought this nail polish from Cherry Culture and it cost $3.99. You get 13.2 ml which is great. I'm looking forward to trying out the other shades as well and I will report on how I got on.

See more pictures after the jump!