Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Bronzed Green Eyes Review and Swatches

I was really interested in trying out this brand before I went to America last year and I did buy a few of their face powders and blushes, but never got any eyeshadows. I bought this palette in TK Maxx a couple of weeks ago together with a blush that I will review shortly. Although this palette is for green eyes, I decided to get it because it has a nice mix of colour and also because I don't believe in only wearing certain colours depending on your eye colour.

You get 9 eyeshadows (or rather 6 eyeshadows and 3 liner according to Physicians Formula) and they range from very subtle neutrals to darker, smokier colours. The colour theme is definitely neutral, but there are some nice pops of colour including a copper and a khaki shade. The eyeshadows are grouped into 3 groups of 3, the 3 on the right giving you the most subtle look and the 3 on the left the most dramatic look. You can also use them wet for an even more intense look.

The eyeshadows are nicely pigmented and smooth, all of them metallic, but there's no glitter. I didn't have any problems with fallout or creasing when wearing them over a primer. I used the 4 shades on the right to create the look you can see at the bottom of this post (not just 3 because I'm a rebel). I didn't use the liner shade as a liner, but as crease colour instead. Of course it's up to you what combinations you do with these, but the main thing is that you have a good choice with 9 shades.

The palette contains 7.5 g product and I paid £4.99 for it in TK Maxx. On the Physicians Formula website these retail for $10.95 and come in 4 variations. In the UK your best bet is TK Maxx or eBay.

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

NOTD: Barry M 344 Magnetic Gold Sparkle / Moon Dust

I'm still on the fence about magnetic polishes, even though I always get lots of complimentents when wearing them. I'd only owned 3 of them so far (one Nails Inc and 2 17 ones), and decided I wasn't going to get any more. I don't hate them but they can be quite fiddly. However, then I saw the recent shades Barry M had come out with and decided I had to try them out. I also like it that they come with different pattern magnets, so you can mix and match.

Magnetic Gold Sparkle (or as it's now been renamed Moon Dust) is an antique gold colour polish with gold sparkle. None of my other magnetic polishes had sparkle, so I thought this might look quite interesting. I didn't anticipate just how gorgeous it would look once I've put the magnet over it, in fact both my daughter and I exclaimed when we saw the result, it's truly striking.

You get silvery stripes as well as darker gold ones with sparkle, neither colour actually resembling the colour of the polish in the bottle. It's like two colours had been mixed together and then separated by the magnet. The effect is almost 3D, and it appears to move as I move my hand. I have had many compliments when wearing it, the beauty of these magnetic polishes is that they look like you've had your nails done whereas you can do them quite easily yourself.

I do find them a little fiddly to use, sometimes the design doesn't come out as sharp and sometimes I manage to touch the nail with the magnet. I also found that the stripes got a bit messed up when I applied the top coat, I don't know if maybe waiting a bit would've helped. Wear time wasn't that great, it started chipping on me within the first 24 hours. This isn't unusual, but not every polish chips on me on the first day, so I'm still not too happy about it.

I used two coats on most fingers, but some of them I had to redo several times, so I just kept applying extra layers. It dried fairly quickly and other than the top coat's brush leaving slight marks in the design, the polish was pretty easy to use.

Barry M magnetic polishes come in 5 shimmery shades and 4 non-shimmery ones, and they come with 5 different magnets (one each). They cost £4.99 each and you get 10 ml for your money. Of course there are usually deals on in either Superdrug or Boots, so keep an eye out!

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Lancome Blush Subtil in 02 Rose Sable Review and Swatches

Following on from yesterday's post, this is the blush I got in the Lancome Beauty Box. This is the Blush Subtil formula which isn't actually available anymore I don't think.

The shade I got is 02 Rose Sable, which is a muted rosy pink colour. It's very natural looking, but well pigmented, so you don't need to layer and layer it. However, because it's quite subtle, you don't have to worry about overdoing it especially if you have a lighter skintone. It has some fine shimmer to it, but no chunky glitter at all.

The blush comes in a black compact with a small brush and a full size mirror in the lid. You get 6 g of product. As I can't find this on any website now, I have no idea how much this is worth, but I'm guessing it's in the region of £24. EDIT: I have just found it on the House of Fraser website and it's £27.

Okay, so there's probably not that much point in this review since you can't get this anymore, but since I've taken all the pictures and cropped, edited and watermarked them, I might as well post them.

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

Lancome Color Design Palette in 103 Golden Frenzy

I wasn't sure whether I should do this review since the product itself isn't actually available on its own or in fact anymore for that matter, but I decided to do it anyway because you can pick up practically everything on eBay plus this palette might actually be available elsewhere. Lancome don't sell these 5 colour palettes in the UK but they do in America, I picked up the purple one last year in Florida.

I got the palette as part of the Christmas Beauty Box back in November and sadly it isn't available anymore. It took me a while to get around to using it, but finally I have. It's a really nice neutral palette with some sparkle. The palette consists of 5 eyeshadows and they are labelled as: all over base, lid, crease, highlighter and liner. Of course you don't have to use the eyeshadows as they're labelled, I actually used the all over base colour as a highlighter and the highlighter colour in the outer corner of the lid because I don't think that such a dark colour would look good as a highlighter.

I found the eyeshadows nicely pigmented, soft and smooth, they stayed on without creasing and fading for 12 hours or so. I wouldn't say this is a must have palette especially if you have a lot of eyeshadows already, but it's a nice, all in one palette, and it certainly looks gorgeous too.

As these palettes aren't sold in the UK, I have no idea what they would cost if they were, but in the US they're around $48. You only get 4 g of product which isn't a lot, but I'm not really bothered about the weight anymore since I already have so much make up anyway, I will never use it all up in a million years.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I created using this palette 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! 

Guerlain Parure de Lumiere Foundation Review

This is Guerlain's newest liquid foundation, Parure de Lumiere, Light-Diffusing Foundation - Moisture Infusion. According to Guerlain it's "infused with Luminescent Water, continuously moisturises skin and corrects the appearance of imperfections to dramatically enhance light diffusion. Under its refreshing, caressing touch, skin appears smoother, more even, bathed in light."

I'm not entirely blown away by this foundation, despite being a big fan of Guerlain and their foundations as well. When I first tried a sample of this it seemed to suit my combination skin, but since I've been using it more, I've not really managed to get it to work for me very well. While it is really lightweight and feels moisturising, it is certainly a bit too "dewy" for my skin, making it look rather shiny within hours of application. It's not oily as such because the foundation itself isn't at all oily, but my skin does look rather shiny and it needs blotting.

As I get older, especially in the winter, I find that my skin is less oily, so I'm not really used to having to blot my face all the time. I'm sure this would work better for someone with drier skin, although I can't actually vouch for that myself. The formula itself is really nice though and it feels lovely and lightweight with a good, medium coverage. I got shade 02 Beige Clair. In the summer 03 Beige Naturel is more suitable for me, but in the winter, Beige Clair suits my skintone perfectly. It also has SPF 25 which is a pretty decent coverage.

The foundation also comes in a cream version which I have not tried, but I actually prefer the liquid one with a pump than having to scoop the foundation out of a pot. You get 30 ml for £36.50 (the cream version is £38.50) which is pretty expensive, but that's the price of high end make up I'm afraid.

All in all, nice foundation, but doesn't suit my skin type as well as I had hoped. I think I'll stick with my Lingerie de Peau foundation instead.

See more pictures after the jump!

OCC Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Metallic Lip Tars in Super NSW and Yaoi Swatches and Review

Although I'm still on my lip product no-buy I decided to break it last month because I really wanted to try out these new metallic lip tars from OCC Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. I was actually a complete lip tar virgin, I was never sure about whether I should try them since the tar bit sounds very off putting to me. But then I saw some bloggers' reviews on them and though they looked really lovely, so I ordered Super NSW and Yaoi during the Black Friday sales.

Sadly, I'm not really impressed with these. They are very pigmented and you only need a little bit, so in that way they are great. Super NSW looks lovely on, but Yaoi is actually very metallic, therefore very unnatural looking on me. I guess if you blotted it down it would look better.

My biggest problem with these is that they are very drying on the lips. OCC recommends that "to get the best from your new lip tar OCC suggest priming your lips with their Clear lip tar". I use a lip balms all the time when not wearing a lipstick or lipgloss and don't suffer from dry lips at all, so for me anything that needs special priming not to be drying is a no-no.

Shame really because I really like Super NSW, but I'm not sure I can put up with all the dryness. My lips felt like sandpaper within an hour or so, and also these aren't even that especially long lasting on me, no more than 2-3 hours. By then I have to apply balm on top of them anyway to make my lips comfortable, so of course that makes them disappear even more quickly.

I haven't tried the regular lip tars, so can't compare these to them, but to be honest, I don't even really want to after my experience with the metallic ones.

I bought mone from Cocktail Cosmetics, they currently cost £9.95 each and contain 10 ml. They are 100% vegan for those who are interested. You also get a small lipbrush that's great for applying these.

See more pictures after the jump!