Getting Out Of The Rut Days 3, 4 and 5

I know I've disappeared for a bit, but it doesn't mean I wasn't keeping up with the challenge. It just means I didn't have much time to post. The past 4 days though I have been slacking a bit, so no photos of that, but I did incorporate a few products in my make up that I'd not used for a while, mainly blushes and lipsglosses/lipsticks. Anyway, here are the photos of the days I did make an effort:

Products used (other than my staples): Mac Crushed Metallic Pigments in Moss Garden, Spruced and Silk Stocking, Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Covet, Laura Geller Baked Blush in Bora Bora and Mac Lipgelee in Lush & Bright.

See 2 more looks after the jump!

Haul Pictures

I am so happy we can finally get Essence in the UK! In case you didn't know, Essence is now being sold in Wilkinson. My small local branch only has a small display, but I popped into a bigger one that had a much bigger one. Today I want to show you what I picked up as well as a couple of other bits from Topshop, Superdrug and Boots.

So from Essence I got these cute nail stickers for when I'm too lazy to do some stamping, and a nail polish called Laser Show which is a glitter topper with silver microshimmer and black glitter. From Topshop I picked up two glitter polishes called Dreamlike and Myth.

Also from Essence, I got their Blush Up powder blush that bears a very strong resemblance to Mac's blush ombres. It's very pigmented, just great for summer. I also got the new Sleek palette, Rio Rio and Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in New Moon, one of the new summer shades. I have another shade to show you, which I'll be writing a full review on very soon.

Have you been buying any make up or nail polish lately?

Sleek Make Up Aqua Collection Mirrored Pink Blush Review and Swatches

Gah, I've been so busy these past few days, I've hardly been home, so that's why I haven't been posting much. I'm gonna quickly write this post up and then go to bed, I'm knackered. I know this is just a hobby, but I feel bad about not being able to blog. Hopefully next week will be a bit calmer.

The other day I showed you the eyeshadow palette from the Sleek Make Up Aqua Collection and today I've got the blush called Mirrored Pink. The blush comes in the same style cardboard box as the palette, and the compact itself is the regular black Sleek compact with the full size mirror in the lid.

Mirrored Pink is a frosty, slightly cool blue pink shade with fine gold shimmer, can't actually think of what other blush to compare it to. It's really nicely pigmented and smooth, not too powdery, and it wears very well. It is a bit frosty and it's quite easy to overdo, but it is a lovely blush. I have been using it for the past few days and it's very easy to wear. I did enclose a picture at the end of this post, but I wasn't wearing much else in the way of make up as I'd been to the pool, so excuse my disshivelled look please!

My only niggle about this product, and this might just be my compact, but I find it very hard to open it, so instead of trying to force it open with my nails, I'm now using a pair of nail scissors to pop the lid open. Shouldn't be necessary, but it could be a one off. At least it closes securily!

The blush costs £4.49 and you get a whopping 8 g, so it's still a brilliant bargain and it is really lovely. It's limited edition and is available from Superdrug and the Sleek Make Up website.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Sleek Make Up Aqua Collection Lagoon Eyeshadow Palette Review and Swatches

Nowadays Sleek Make Up eyeshadows are pretty much the only drugstore eyeshadows I buy (yes, I've turned into a make up snob). They are still great value for money and their quality is up there with Mac, Inglot, etc. eyeshadows. So as you can imagine, I was very happy to get my hands on the new limited edition Aqua collection, and in particular Lagoon eyeshadow palette (I will review Mirrored Pink blush another time).

The palette comes in a gorgeous cardboard sleeve, but inside the sleeve it's the usual matte black palette with a full size mirror in the lid, 12 eyeshadows and a double ended applicator. The eyeshadows come in a good variety of shades, you get yellow, green, teal, blue, coral, pink, the lot. Some (most) are shimmery/frosty and there are 3 matte ones too. They swatched very nicely, with the exeption of the matte ones which swatched okay, but actually all of them applied, blended and stayed really well on my eyelids.

I have done a few nice looks with this, although I still haven't used the bright coral shade (which I guess would also make a nice blush, if only the pans were bigger) and the black one. There isn't an obvious highlighter shade in it (the white one is too frosty for highlighting, better in the inner corner/tearduct area), but if your collection is even a quarter of mine, I'm sure you will own a highlighter shade to use with it.

All in all I'm very pleased with the palette and other than my usual compaints (put the shade names on the palette somewhere rather than the see through protective sheet, get rid of the applicator, stop putting the price up by a quid every year) it's a really nice one to have. I find some of my Sleek palettes a little hard to use due to the colour selection, but this one is really great, provided of course that you like bright colours. Other than the light purple and the rosy pink shadow, everything is pretty bright and loud in here!

The palette costs £7.99 for 13.2 g of eyeshadows. I bought mine from the Superdrug website, but haven't actually seen this on the shelves, also this doesn't seem to be on the Sleek website at the moment.

I'll leave yo with a picture of Paws, out gorgeous big cat who decided to "help" when I wanted to photograph the palette and blush! 

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Looks Featuring Sleek Make Up Sparkle 2 Palette - Part 3

Finally, the third part of my looks post featuring the new Sleek Make Up Sparkle 2 palette. I really liked this one too, I actually wore this on a night out, with a bit more smokiness in the crease. I am sporting a few other products in these pictures which will also be reviewed soon, so stay tuned.

To create this look I used:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Tinsel eyeshadow in the inner corner of the lid
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Illusion eyeshadow in the outer corner of the lid and in the crease
Mac Mating Call Mega Metal eyeshadow blended above the crease
Mac Vellum eyeshadow on the browbone to highlight
Mac Designer Purple pearlglide intense eye liner on lower lashline
Guerlain Noir G mascara
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Lingerie de Peau foundation in 02 Beige Claire
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Laura Geller Ombre Baked Blush in Pink Blossom (will be reviewed soon)

Lips:
OCC Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Metallic Liptar in Yaoi (will be reviewed shortly)

See more pictures after the jump!

Looks Featuring Sleek Make Up Sparkle 2 Palette - Part 2

Here's part 2 of the looks I did with Sleek Make Up Sparkle 2 Palette. Again as you can see, there isn't really any glitter visible (maybe a tiny bit in the crease) and the eyeshadows blended into each other really nicely. And that eyeliner (well, actually it's an eyeshadow pencil) stayed that vibrant all day. Although I have to add, I don't think those Urban Decay 24/7 eyeshadow pencils are very good as eyeshadow pencils, but they make nice eyeliners. Anyway... here's the look:

To create this look I used:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Tinsel eyeshadow in the inner corner of the lid
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Blue Spruce eyeshadow in the outer corner of the lid
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Twinkle eyeshadow in the crease
Mac Vellum eyeshadow on the browbone to highlight
Urban Decay Clash 24/7 eyeshadow pencil on lower lashline
Guerlain Noir G mascara
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Guerlain Parure de Lumiere Foundation in 02 Beige Claire
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Lancome Blush Subtil 02 Rose Sable (will be reviewed soon)
ArtDeco Dita Von Teese Illuminating Baked Powder

Lips:

Guerlain Rouge G in Grace

Part 3 is coming very soon. See more pictures after the jump!

Looks Featuring Sleek Make Up Sparkle 2 Palette - Part 1

As promised, here are some of the looks I did with Sleek Make Up Sparkle 2 palette. As you will see, none of them are at all glittery, but the colours are really vivid and the shadows were so easy to blend. Really love this palette and have enjoyed using it so much!

First up is the one you have already seen a few times, actually my favourite one of them all. Part 2 and 3 will follow very shortly. Let me know what you think!

To create this look I used:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Gold Ribbon eyeshadow in the inner corner of the lid
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Chocolate Penny eyeshadow in the middle of the lid
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Mulled Wine eyeshadow in the outer corner of the lid
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Festive eyeshadow in the crease
Mac Peek At You Mega Metal eyeshadow on the browbone to highlight
Urban Decay Eldorado and Crash 24/7 eyeliners on lower lashline
Guerlain Noir G mascara
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Lingerie de Peau foundation in 02 Beige Claire
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Laura Geller Baked Blush in Bali
ArtDeco Dita Von Teese Illuminating Baked Powder

Lips:

OCC Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Metallic Liptar in Super NSFW (will be reviewed shortly)

See more pictures after the jump!

Sleek Make Up Sparkle 2 Eyeshadow Palette Review and Swatches

I have to say, I wasn't sure if I was going to pick this palette up because I don't ever use the 2010 edition Sparkle Palette. It has quite a fallout and the shades are just too glittery for everyday wear. But I have to say, this new version is actually really quite nice.

As usual, the palette contains 12 eyeshadows, which are mostly glittery, but there are a few metallic shades in there too. Although you can see a lot of glitter in the eyeshadows, it doesn't really translate onto the eyes which makes them much more wearable. I experienced a little fallout with some of the shades during application, but once I'd tidied up, there was no more and the glitter (what tiny little was actually on my eyes) didn't migrate at all.

There are two shades, Gold Ribbon and Tinsel that are also included in the previous Sparkle Palette, although it's only Tinsel that's the same, Gold Ribbon is actually quite a bit darker and less yellow than the 2010 version. All the eyeshadows are really smooth and well pigmented, and I have enjoyed creating many lovely looks with them. They stayed creaseless all day and didn't fade either.

Sleek Make Up palettes now retails for £7.99 (bit of a step up from £5.99 from 2 years ago), which is still pretty reasonable as the quality is actually very decent. You get 13.2 g of product for your money. It's limited edition, so get it while you can. Available from Superdrug and Sleek Make Up's website. They deliver internationally, although I have to admit I don't like it that they don't do any free UK delivery. Yes, I hate paying for delivery!

I will show you the looks I did with this palette tomorrow, but I didn't want to put them at the end of this post, there are a lot of pictures. I have really enjoyed using this palette and would definitely recommend it.

See more pictures after the jump!

What's In My Holiday Make Up Bag?

You might not have noticed (thank God (Blogger) for scheduled posts), but I went on a short holiday last week, and I thought I'd show you what make up I took with me. Now bearing in mind I was only away for 5 days and on day 1 I'd already done my make up, I'm thinking I might have taken a bit too much with me. Well, see for yourselves...

It doesn't look too much in the bag, but that's just the basics, I also took 5 Sleek palettes and my Mac highlighting palette with me. So yeah, too much, especially bearing in mind we spent 3 of the 5 days at the swimming pool, so those days I pretty much only wore waterproof mascara and lip balm.

Do you also take loads of make up with you when you go away or are you a minimalist? Let me know in the comments!

For details of what I took with me, keep reading after the jump!

Accessorize Bronzing Block Shade 3 Review and Swatches

I have been meaning to review this for ages, but only just got around to taking some comparison pictures. This product is well worth reviewing though because it is really good. It is described as a bronzing block, but in reality it's actually a blush, and a really lovely one as well. I don't know why it's called bronzing block, but then Bobbi Brown uses the name bronzing powder for some of her blushes.

The bronzing block/blush comes in a pretty flowery box, with Accessorize written on it. The box is slightly bigger than Benefit blushes, but similar style, although the new Bella Bamba now has a flip top, but the old ones have lids that come off. No mirror in the lid, but you do get a small brush. I don't use it, instead I use my normal blush brush. The blush itself is a gorgeous pinky coral colour, really pretty and great for summer. It has a little sheen, but it's not shimmery or glittery at all. Very pigmented, a little goes a long way. It's a decent size at 5.7g and it's really very affordable at £7 (although I think when I bought it, there was a £2 off deal at Superdrug).

I have compared it to some of my coral blushes including Nars Orgasm and Mac Stereo Rose, I think it's possibly closest to Sleek Rose Gold blush, but that one has a lot more sheen to it. You can see the comparison swatches at the end of this post.

Overall I would highly recommend this blush to everyone who likes coral cheeks and good quality blushes at affordable prices. Once again Accessorize did not disappoint.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Sleek Make Up Mediterranean Collection Monaco Eyeshadow Palette

There's a new Sleek eyeshadow palette out, in fact a new collection called The Mediterranean Collection that includes an eyeshadow palette, a pout polish and a blush. All 3 are limited edition. I only got the eyeshadow palette, which is called Monaco. It comes in a card sleeve with a Mediterranean style image printed on. The actual palette is the usual plain black. It comes with a large mirror inside the palette and a double ended applicator.

It's the same story as with all Sleek eyeshadow palettes, you get 12 highliy pigmented eyeshadows for just £7 (although for some reason I think Superdrug sells them for £6.49, but it says £7 on the Sleek website). These eyeshadows used to cost something like £4.99, but in all fairness, £7 is still a bargain since you get 12 really nice eyeshadows and they are a good size too at just over 1 gram each. This palette contains 4 shimmery and 8 matte shades, and as usual, the shimmery shades are more pigmented and softer, but the matte shades aren't bad quality at all.

I'd like to point out that I haven't worn any of these colours on my eyes yet, but if the swatches are anything to go buy, I can safely say that we have another nice palette here. I personally would like to see more shimmery colours, but I won't grumble too much as between my 11 (?) Sleek eyeshadow palettes, I'm sure to find enough shades to create several looks. (If you missed my video on my collection of Sleek palettes, here it is!) I like it that Sleek names its eyeshadows now, but I wish the names weren't printed on the plastic covering sheet as I tend to throw that out, but never mind, you can't have everything for £7, eh? All in all, another nice palette and I'm already looking forward to the Caribbean collection due out at the beginning of July.

Stay tuned as I will be bringing you the lowdown on the Oh So Special palette too which I have now seen a tester for in Superdrug, although there weren't actually any palettes on the shelf next to it, so not sure if it's actually out yet officially.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Sleek The Primer Palette review and swatches

I really like Sleek Cosmetics and especially their 12 colour eyeshadow palettes, I own almost every one of them, so when I heard about their new Primer Palette, I decided to get that too. It's also a 12 colour palette, but instead of eyeshadows, it contains 12 coloured eyeshadow primers.It also contains a full size mirror and a double ended brush for application (not too great quality though).

The colours are great, there's a very good variety, you basically get every colour in the rainbow and some. The quality of the primers, well, I'm less certain about. So far I have tried about 4 shades (apologies for not taking photos before I tried it out) and found that some were better than others. The blue creased somewhat rotten, the pink, beige and silver one worked better (crease free for 6-8 hours). I guess it also matters what eyeshadows you put on top, but in any case, a good primer should prevent the eyeshadows from creasing no matter whatthe qulaity of the eyeshadows is, right? I think all in all it's a nice idea and for £7.00 you can't go that wrong, but I personally would rather stick to my Mac paint pots and Urban Decay Primer Potions and cream eyeshadows for bases.

One more slightly annoying thing about this palette is that although they named the shades, they completely mixed them up, so the beige one is called Noir and the purple one is called Pink Frost, etc. Or maybe it was intentional, but in that case I don't get the joke.

Available from Sleek Cosmetics and Superdrug, RRP £7.00.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

My holiday make up bag

Since I really enjoy reading about what make up people take on holiday with them, I decided to write my own post about it. As you know (or don't, but will now), I was away in Florida for 2 weeks last month. I always struggle with packing, usually end up taking far too much, clothes, shoes and make up alike, and while I will not go into details about the clothes and shoes, I can assure you, I did the same again - both for me and my 3 children (my husband packs his stuff). I swear we could have left at least one suitcase behind and not be without anything. I mean who would've thought you don't need long trousers, sweaters and raincoats in Florida at Easter? I always pack warm clothes just in case, but honestly, I didn't even wear a light summer cardigan, it was always over 25 degrees even at 10 o'clock in the evening. Anyway, moving swiftly on, here's what I took with me make up-wise:

My 88 Shimmer and Metal Mania palettes

All other make up products I took with me

As you can see, all of the products are fairly cheap, drugstore or similar products. I'm always really afraid to take expensive high end and limited edition products with me in case they get damaged or lost in transit. I find the 88 eyeshadows palettes (especially the Shimmer palette) very useful as they contain all the colours (including some really good highlighters) you ever need. Although the quality of the eyeshadows isn't that good, with a decent primer they lasted through most of the day, and it was usually over 30 degrees, so I guess that's not too bad.

So what else did I take? I managed to photograph it upside down, but you can see my Maybelline Dream Creamy Foundation (reviewed here) which I actually managed to finish on the last day of the holiday, talk about great timing eh? I took my Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch concealer (reviewed here) as well as my  Mac MSFN & Shimmer in Medium, great for setting foundation and highlighting. Not sure why I needed an extra highlighter, but I took a Ruby & Millie one, not sure what it's called though, it's from a set. I took 4 blushes: First Kiss and China Pink by 17, Sleek Rose Gold (see review here) and Laura Geller Tropic Hues (a handy travel sized one, full sized one reviewed here).

I took numerous eyeliners, all Urban Decay 24/7 ones, as I love their eyepencils and I like the variety of colours. I also took 3 mascaras: L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara (reviewed here), Max Factor More Lashes waterproof mascara and a Rimmel waterproof mascara (its name escapes me completely, sorry). For my brows I took my trusty Mac Brow Set in Show Off. And of course my favourite eyeshadow base: Barbara Daly for Tesco (I've reviewed it here).

I took 2 lipliners and 8 lipsticks, plus 4 double ended lipglosses as well as several of my GOSH eyeshadow brushes, 2 blush brushes and a cheepo noname face brush. Oh and a double pencil sharpener.

Now, do you want to see how many of these products I actually used over the 2 weeks? See after the jump!

Sleek Make Up Paraguaya Eyeshadow Palette Review

I really like Sleek Make Up eyeshadow palettes (see my video review here) and when I saw there was a new limited edition palette out, I bought it immediately. It's called Paraguaya and it's part of Sleek's spring collection called Avoir le Peche that also includes a blush and pout polish.

As usual, the palette comes in a cardboard sleeve which is really pretty with pink/peach flowers and letters. Inside the palette is the usual black sleek palette with the words Sleek Make Up written across it. Inside you get 12 eyeshadows, a double ended applicator and a full sized mirror. The palette costs £6.49 and is available from Superdrug and Sleek's website.

Read more of my review and see lots more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Shopping My Stash: Sleek Eyeshadow Palettes Video Review and Looks

I've done another little video, this time on my Sleek eyeshadow palette stash and also done a couple of looks with the Bad Girl palette and the Good Girl palette, so check them out below! Let me know if you'd like to see any swatches. For my review of the Sparkle palette go here!

See what looks I've done after the jump!

Sleek Make Up Sparkle palette new for the party season

I'm a big fan of Sleek Make Up palettes, so when I heard that there was a new limited edition one being released for the party season, I jumped on it right away. This one is called Sparkle and it contains 12 gorgeous eyeshadows as usual. Most of them are sparkly, but they have also included a matte black (Noir) and 2 metallic shades (Gold Ribbon and Tinsel). The rest of the eyeshadows are very sparkly and there's a good mix of colours: plums, blues, purples, plus a gorgeous green and an outrageous bright pink are also included. This palette is certainly not for those who don't like colours, there isn't a nude shade in sight, but then Sleek palettes are usually packed with colours.

I really like it that Sleek have changed their packaging from the old style see-through plastic sleeve to prettier boxes. This palette has a blue outer box with lots of sparkles - very festive! Inside it's the usual black matter slimline palette with the words "Sleek Make Up" printed across it. Inside the palette you find a very useful mirror, a double ended sponge applicator (meh) and the eyeshadows. The names of the eyeshadows are printed on the plastic cover inside, which goes over the eyeshadows. I tend to throw these plastic covers away as they get in the way, so I guess it would be better if the shade names were printed on the back of the palette. But I personally don't care about the shade names that much anyway, so I don't mind.

The eyeshadows are very smooth and pigmented as usual. I swatched them on bare skin and they showed up fantastically. I would recommend using a base under them though as they do stain a bit, especially the darker shades. Plus I always use a base anyway, but that's just me. Not sure how easy it would be to create looks from this palette alone unless you're going for a very dark smoky eye and there isn't a highlighter shade included, but I'm sure we all own our own highlighters and other eyeshadows anyway. All in all I think this is another great palette from Sleek Make Up and if you want to pick it up, I'd urge you to do it asap as they won't be around for long. Available from Superdrug and online from Sleek Make Up (they deliver worldwide I believe) for £5.99.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

My favourite high street (drugstore) make up / beauty products

As you know, I love high end make up, my favourite brands include Guerlain and Dior, and you can't get much more luxurious products than from these two brands. However, I also like products that work well no matter how much they cost or what brand they are. I am a make up snob, but not enough to pass on good bargains! :)

I thought I'd show you what my favourite high street (drugstore) beauty products are and if you like, please tell me in the comments which ones you like / work for you. 

Find out more about my favourite bargain buys after the jump!