My Make Up Staples

I thought it was time to show you what I mean when I say my staple products. Although sometimes I vary them a bit (eg. if I need waterproof mascara or a foundation with less coverage), but generally these are the products I reach for most often nowadays.

Guerlain Blanc de Perle foundation in 02 Beige Clair. Guerlain Divine Pressed Powder (this is an oldie!), Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Mac highlighting palette (homemade and no idea which shades it contains), Cargo Last Activator mascara in black and Mac Brow Set in Show Off,

So now you know what I mean when I say my staples.

Getting Out Of The Rut Day 2

Here's another look I've done with products that had been sitting unloved in my make up drawers. Products used (other than my staples which I will do a separate post about) were Mac Surf Baby! Cheek Powder in My Paradise, Barry M Dazzle Dust no. 26, Mac pigment in Spiritualize, Urban Decay 24/7 eye pencil in Vacancy and Mac Kissable Lipcolour in Exxxhibitionist.

 Here are the products I used:

I'm really enjoying this and will continue to post pictures. Hope you like them.

Getting Out Of The Rut Day 1

So today is the first day of me using some make up that's been sitting in my drawers unused. In this look I used (among my staples like foundation, powder, mascara and brow set gel which I have no need to mix up) Sephora Moonshadow Trio in Dusk Till Dawn, Urban Decay 24/7 eyepencil in Rockstar, Accessorize Merged Baked Blusher in Wowzer and Mac Dazzleglass Creme in If It's Pink.

Feel free to let me know what you think, but please go easy on me, I haven't done this in a long time.

So that's day one ticked. Onto day two, the adventure continues!

Want It! Dior Golden Shock Collection for Holiday 2014

First of all, hello, and sorry I've been AWOL, had a very difficult summer and now we've got a new member in our family. His name is Max and he's 4 months old. No, not a new baby, but a puppy! He's a Cavapoo (cross between a King Charles Cavallier Spaniel and a Toy Poodle) and is extremely adorable, but also quite a handful. Typical puppy, he loves stealing things and chewing them up. So as much as I love him, he has been taking up a lot of my time, it's like having a toddler again!

This is him a bit over a month ago when he arrived in our family. He is quite a bit bigger now, but is still a baby and still loves his cuddles with mama.

Anyway, moving onto beauty now, I couldn't not post images of the Dior holiday collection, the products are just so gorgeous. I have't bought anything from Dior for a while, but I am very tempted by the eyeshadow quints and those lipsticks! Oh my! Loving the powders too, but I'm not going to get them, I'm actually in the process of selling off all my pretty powders that I know I'll never use.

Here's the list of products in the collection:

5 Couleurs Eyeshadow  (Limited Edition)

• Golden Reflections (046)
• Golden Shock (756)

Diorshow Fusion Mono Eyeshadow

• Mirror (621) (New, Permanent)

Dior Addict Gloss (Limited Edition)

• Gold Rain (164)
• Pink Excess (663)

Diorific Illuminating Press Powder (Limited Edition)

• Gold Shock (001) 
• Pink Shock (002) 

Diorific Golden Shock Colour Lip Duo (Limited Edition)

• Delicate Shock (001) 
• Enchanting Shock (002) 
• Daring Shock (005)
• Ardent Shock (006)
• Passion Shock (007)
• Mysterious Shock (008)

Diorific Vernis (Limited Edition)

• Shock (762)
• Mirorr (022)
• Smoky (990)
• Gold Equinoxe (241)

Diorific Vernis Effect Top Coat (Limited Edition)

• Gold Leaf Effect (001)

Finally, here are some pictures!

See more pictures after the jump!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre #96 Utopia Review and Swatches

So as I've promised, I have a review of one of the new Chanel Illusion D'Ombres. This one is Utopia, a slightly frosty dusky purple shade.

I really like Chanel Illusion D'Ombres, they are one of my go-to eyeshadows when I only have time for a quick sweep of colour on the lids. They go on smoothly and blend very easily. I tend to use them over primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance is my favourite) and they stay without creasing all day.

The eyeshadows come with a small angled brush for application, but generally I think any dense brush is fine for that purpose and mine tend to sit untouched. They would be good for using the eyeshadows as liner though.

They don't come cheap at £25 for 4 g, but they do go a long way and I'm happy to report that none of my older ones are showing signs of drying out, so they are a good long-term investment.

There are 3 new shades in the Chanel summer collection and I have New Moon as well to show you at a later date.

For now, see more pictures of Utopia, including swatches, 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?

Want It! Christian Dior Mystic Metallics Collection for Fall 2013

It seems that the weather in the UK has decided that it's already autumn, so it's very appropriate for me to continue showing you the upcoming fall collections. Today I have the Dior one to tell you about. It's called Mystic Metallics and it features 2 beautiful eyeshadow palettes as well as some new mono eyeshadows called Diorshow Fusion Mono which I suspect is Dior's take on Chanel's Illusion D'Ombres, cream eyeshadows with a bouncy texture.

There are also some new nail polishes including a green magnetic one (a little late to the game, but I personally do like magnetic nail polishes, they're the lazy way to create cool nail art), and 13 new shades of Diorblush. You can find the entire collection details over at Totally Blond.

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Want It! Guerlain Voilette de Madame Collection for Fall 2013

Hello! Yes, I'm still alive. Sorry I've been MIA, I've had a very busy last few weeks and I've also seem to have gone off make up and blogging. I'm sure I will get my mojo back eventually, but until then, I'm afraid posts will be few and far between. Sorry.

For now I have images and details of Guerlain's upcoming fall collection named Voilette de Madame. A very classy, feminine and elegant collection with strong colours, absolutely beautiful. The star item is a stunning Blush G and there are some beautiful new Rouge G lipsticks and Gloss D'Enfer glosses, and a whole lot of new 2 colour eyeshadow palettes that are permanent additions to the line.

The collection is due out in August and these are the details:

Guerlain 4-Colours Blush – New & Limited Edition

Lipstick Rouge G – Limited Edition

#860 Madame Batifole – bright fuchsia
#861 Madame Flirte – pink red
#862 Madame Reve – deep pink

Lip Gloss D’Enfer- New Shades

#860 Madame Batifole – shimmery fuchsia
#861 Madame Flirte – shimmery red
#863 Madame Fascine – deep plum

Nail Lacquer – New Shade

#860 Madame Batifole – fuchsia

L’Ecrin 2 Couleurs Eyeshadow – New

#01 Two Rock
#02 Two Stylish
#03 Two Extravagant
#04 Two Gossip
#05 Two Candy
#06 Two Parisian
#07 Two Lovely
#08 Two Spicy

Eye Pencil

#01 Black Jack
#02 Jackie Brown
#03 Deep Purple
#04 Katy Navy
#05 Amber Silver

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Want It! Chantecaille Wild Horses Palette for Fall 2013

You know me, show me a pretty palette and I'm all over it. So of course I want to get my hands on Chantecaille's newest palette for the fall/autumn, called Wild Horses. As ever, 5% of proceeds will go to charity, this time to the Humane Society to help their efforts in conserving the land on which the animals roam.

Included in the range is the Wild Horses Palette, £74 containing a quad of warm, neutral eyeshadows, with a chestnut golden brown, creamy beige, a dusky flush of pink and a strong black which can also be used as a liner. With a slight shimmer, a super creamy powder texture and effortless blending qualities, it's all you need to evoke a sunset-inspired look for next season. The pretty casing is also a keeper - a refillable compact that you can use again and again. - See more details at Get The Gloss!

Available from September 2013 in Space NK, Harrods, Fenwick Bond Street and Liberty.

See more pictures after the jump!

Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

When I heard about Urban Decay releasing some new, very sparkly eyeshadows, I of course had to check them out. They came out in 7 shades and I picked up 4 (for now?). I got Glitter Rock, Intergalactic, Stargazer and Zodiac.

This is the description on the Debenhams website: "Urban Decay launches Moondust Eyeshadow, a dazzling innovation in eyeshadow with a super-refined and incredibly sophisticated feel. Forget EVERYTHING you know about glitter eyeshadow. Moondust is like NO OTHER shadow. There's not a speck of chunky "teen glitter" be found in these babies. Microfine bits of iridescent sparkle collide with intense, dreamy hues and lush 3-D metallics - for an effect that's out of this world. And while some traditional sparkly shadows tend to look cheap, Moondust has a really luxe, upscale vibe and a gorgeous, diamond-like effect." These are definitely very sparkly. They are also pretty pigmented, so you actually get a lot of colour as well as a lot of sparkle. Initially they reminded me of the Stardust eyeshadows, but these are a lot more intense, both in colour and also in sparkle.

These eyeshadows are not only very sparkly, but they're also duochrome, some more than others, in particular Stargazer which has a gorgeous green duochrome to it. Zodiac is my favourite of the 4, it is amazingly intense and is full of green, blue and gold sparkles. I found Glitter Rock and Intergalactic quite similar on the eyes, although they swatched more differently, but Stargazer and Zodiac gave a great contrasting look.

Urban Decay recommends you apply these using your fingers, I swatched them with my fingers, but I prefer applying eyeshadows on my eyes with brushes for precision. These eyeshadows can be used dry or wet for more intensity. I haven't tried them wet yet. As for glitter fallout, there was surprisingly little, I mostly only had some during application and blending. Once I cleaned it up, I didn't notice much glitter fallout. I would say that if you didn't like glitter, you'd probably wouldn't want to go anywhere near these anyway since they are so sparkly. But they definitely didn't spread all over my face. I didn't notice any creasing either (I used them over Too Faced Shadows Insurance) and they looked vibrant all through the day. 

These eyeshadows come in the usual round Urban Decay eyeshadow compacts and by the looks of them can probably be depotted and put into their new palettes (which I don't like one bit, but anyway). You get 1.5 g of product for £14. Urban Decay is stocked in Debenhams and House of Fraser, and they are currently on sale at BeautyBay (£12.46 each), although Zodiac isn't in stock.


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

Mac Tropical Taboo Mineralize Collection for Summer 2013 Promo Pictures!

Finally we have promo pictures of the upcoming Mac Tropical Taboo collection. I was loving it before I saw the pictures, but I'm loving it even more so!

Due to be released in July in the US (and I'm guessing August in the UK), here are the collection details:

Mineralize Lipsticks

• Lady at Play – Mid-tone cool tangerine
• Divine Choice – Mid-tone cool pink cream
• Midnight Mambo – Intense violet
• Luxe Naturale – Light beige cream
• Glamour Era – Mid-tone warm brown frost

Cremesheen Glass

• Calypso Beat –Pale neutral pink
• Fever Isle – Bright red coral
• Japanese Spring – Pale mid-tone pink
• Narcissus – Mid-tone eggplant

Lip Pencil

• Hip ‘n’ Happy – Mid-tone blue pink
• Have to Have It – Soft warm beige
• Heroine – Bright purple
• Ablaze – Bright apricot

Mineralize Skinfinish

• Adored – Coral with light beige pearlized pigments
• Rio – Bronze with bright pink pearlized pigments
• Lust – Pale pink with cranberry pearlized pigments
• Soft ‘n Gentle (permanent) – Gilded peach bronze
• Gold Deposit (permanent) – Soft reflective golden bronze

Mineralize Blush

• Sweet Samba –Dark pink with tan pearlized pigments
• Exotic Ember – Orange with bronze pearlized pigments
• Simmer – Burnt rose with peach/gold pearlized pigments

Mineralize Eyeshadow

• Dare to Bare – Light cream with gold pearlized pigments
• Carribean – Rose with pink and red pearlized pigments
• Cha-Cha-Cha – Deep blue green with green pearlized pigments
• Time to Tango – Lavendar with silver pearlized pigments
• Bossa Blue – Royal blue with brown pearlized pigments
• Tropica – Silver blue with purple pearlize pigments

Kohl Power Eye Pencil

• Feline – Rich Black
• Orpheus – Intense black with gold pearlized pigments

Brush

• 187 Brush – Duo fibre face brush
• 159 Brush – Duo fibre face brush
• 287 Brush – Duo fibre eyeshadow brush

In Extreme Dimension Lash

• Black

See lots more promo and individual product pictures after the jump!

My Mac Art Of The Eye, Fashion Sets and Temperature Rising Collection Haul and Swatches

Okay, here's the last installment of my Mac haul posts. This one is actually a very small haul, despite Mac releasing so many collections in May. I was really only interested in the Extra Dimension products, but decided to pick up a few bits and bobs from other collections too.

I got Banafsaji eyeshadow from Art Of The Eye, Embrace Me eyeshadow from Fashion Sets and Caliente lipstick from Temperature Rising. I haven't actually worn the eyeshadows yet, but both swatched very nicely, they are both smooth and pigmented. I have worn Caliente lipstick and have included a lipswatch picture at the end of this post. Caliente is a dazzle lipstick (you might remember them from a few years ago), but it's actually not too gritty at all. Yes, it is sparkly and glittery, but the glitter particles are very small and the lipstick feels quite smooth on the lips. It's a lovely purpley bronze colour and I think it's great for summer.

All of these products are limited edition, but I think they are still available, if not online, check your counter (except for the Art Of The Eye collection which is a Mac website exclusive I believe). The eyeshadows cost £12 for 1.5 g and the lipstick is £15.50 for 3 g (which is £1.50 than usual because of the matte brown packaging - which is admittedly quite nice).

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Mac In Extra Dimension Haul and Swatches - Eyeshadows

Here's part 3 of my epic Mac In Extra Dimension haul, the eyeshadows. I only bought 4 out of 6 as the silver one really didn't interest me and I'm pretty sure I have a very similar one to the mauve one. These four, or in particular 3, are quite a different story.

Dimensional Blue is nice, but it doesn't have the same duochrome effect as the other three. Triple Impact has gorgeous purple sheen to it, Zestful has green and Opalesse has pink duochrome. They look stunning swatched on my arm. Admittedly they are quite sheer and don't show up half as well on the eyes, but they still give a soft, ethereal effect and I'm thinking they might really pop over a black base (haven't tried them yet though). They have a creamy, soft texture like that I would expect from these, so I'm happy with them.

You get a measly 2 g for £16.50. Although they are limited edition, they are all still available, so for once I could actually review/post about something from Mac that didn't sell out in 2 seconds.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Laura Mercier Folklore Collection Illuminating Eye Colour in Sun Glow, Fire Glow and Earth Glow

I already told you about this collection and now I can show you the eyeshadows I got which is basically all 3 of them! They are called Illuminating Eye Colours and they are pretty much exactly the same thing as these eyeshadows that came out last winter. Probably best if you read my previous review by clicking on the link because they are very very similar to last year's release.

Colourwise these new shades are warmer, more bronzy, summery shades. I've compared them to last years' colours and found that Fire Glow was more coppery/orangey than Gilded Rosegold, Sun Glow is more orange than Gilded Moonlight and Earth Glow is a much warmer brown shade than Gilded Bronze. The new shades also seem less metallic than the previous ones, but they still have plenty of sheen to them. No glitter and no fallout, and the formula is just as lovely, smooth and long lasting as last year's ones.

I would love it if Laura Mercier released these eyeshadows in more colours (I'm thinking of blues, greens, purples, pinks) as so far they've only done more earthy, natural colours which are nice, but I also love bright colours! These new 3 shades are perfect for the summer though, I've paired them up with Urban Decay 24/7 eyeshadow pencil in Clash which is a crazy bright turquoise shade and really makes the look pop.

These eyeshadows cost £18.50 which is actually £1.50 less than last year's ones and you still get 2.5 g for your money. I bought mine from House of Fraser, but Space NK also stocks them and on their website last year's Gilded Moonlight is still available!

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

Want It! Too Faced Hello Sunshine Collection for Summer 2013

There's another summer collection that has tickled my fancy this year and it's the Too Faced summer collection. I especially love those cute little heart shaped bronzing pearls.

Herer are the collection details:

Sweetheart Beads Radiant Glow Face Powder – New & Limited Edition

Catch the light with buildable color and a hint of shimmer. Inspired by nature’s most flattering pink and golden-light at dusk, these multi-colored heart pearls blend to impart a lit-from-within radiance.

Summer Eye 2013 Summer Sexy Shadow Collection – New & Limited Edition

A hand-picked collection of nine exclusive resort-inspired eye shadows will be your temptation to take a vacation. Like all Too Faced palettes we’ve included a show-and-tell centerfold we call a Glamour Guide to give you instructions and a start on creating three Summer Eyes looks.

The palette features 9 shades: Seashell, Plumeria, Cocoa Beach, Peach Fuzz, Coral Crush, Chocolate Sun, Sunbeam, Mermaid, Toasted Coconut.

Sweet Sun Shine Lip Gloss – New

Watermelon Ice – pink
Papaya Slushie – coral
Mocha Freeze – bronze

Endless Summer 16 Hour Long-Wear Bronzer – New

All good things don’t have to end. Get a lit-from-within bronzed glow that lasts 16-hours or more courtesy of our exclusive “Double Bond” formula that combines staying power technology with long wear pigments. It’s a bronzer that works harder than you play.

Bronzed & Poreless Pore Perfecting Bronzer – New

Create radiant-looking skin with all-over natural warmth. Bronzed & Poreless is infused with the same pore-banishing and skin smoothing properties that made our original Primed & Poreless famous—with an added warm matte bronze finish. It’s the must-have little black dress of bronzers.

Sunny Bunny Natural Bronzer – New

Our most popular, dual-toned bronzer is a silky combination of a rich, goldenbronze and a classic bronze with a touch of pink undertone to achieveyear round bronzed perfection that mimics a natural tan without any of the orangey ick!

Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer – New

Bronzing has never been so delicious. Our chocolate-scented, shimmer-free, matte bronzer is perfect for contouring and creating an all-over deep tan using real antioxidant-rich cocoa powder. It’s all the tan without the twinkle.

Medium/ Deep
Light/ Medium

Snow Bunny Luminous Bronzer – New

Four complementary shades are combined in this skin-perfecting bronzer to banish redness and rudiness, correct imperfections and add an all-over faux glow.

Pink Leopard Blushing Bronzer – New

Ourlovely little leopard bronzer combines gorgeous shades of goldenbronzes, gilded pinks and neutral fawns to brighten skin and create aglorious all over glow that will have you looking sun-kissed any time ofthe year.

Beach Bunny Bronzer – New

Our deep, illuminating bronzing powder is a silky combination of four rich, sun-kissed bronzers and shimmers that create a perfect, deep summertime tan anywhere, any time of the year.

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Want It! Mac Tropical Taboo Mineralize Collection for Summer 2013

I was so excited to find out about Mac's upcoming mineralize collection, I had to share the news with you straight away! I love mineralize products and this collection has a lot of new goodies for me to look forward to.I'm mostly interested in the mineralize skinfinishes, blushes and eyeshadows, but there are also some mineralize lipsticks, cremesheen glasses, lip pencils and other goodies included in this collection.

Not actual promo picture

Due to be released in July in the US (and I'm guessing August in the UK), here are the collection details:

Mineralize Lipsticks

• Lady at Play – Mid-tone cool tangerine
• Divine Choice – Mid-tone cool pink cream
• Midnight Mambo –Intense violet
• Luxe Naturale – Light beige cream
• Glamour Era – Mid-tone warm brown frost

Cremesheen Glass

• Calypso Beat –Pale neutral pink
• Fever Isle – Bright red coral
• Japanese Spring - Pale mid-tone pink
• Narcissus – Mid-tone eggplant

Lip Pencil

• Hip ‘n’ Happy – Mid-tone blue pink
• Have to Have It – Soft warm beige
• Heroine – Bright purple
• Ablaze – Bright apricot

Mineralize Skinfinish

• Adored – Coral with light beige pearlized pigments
• Rio – Bronze with bright pink pearlized pigments
• Lust – Pale pink with cranberry pearlized pigments
• Soft ‘n Gentle (permanent) – Gilded peach bronze
• Gold Deposit (permanent) – Soft reflective golden bronze

Mineralize Blush

• Sweet Samba –Dark pink with tan pearlized pigments
• Exotic Ember – Orange with bronze pearlized pigments
• Simmer- Burnt rose with peach/gold pearlized pigments

Mineralize Eyeshadow

• Dare to Bare – Light cream with gold pearlized pigments
• Carribean –Rose with pink and red pearlized pigments
• Cha-Cha-Cha – Deep blue green with green pearlized pigments
• Time to Tango- Lavendar with silver pearlized pigments
• Bossa Blue – Royal blue with brown pearlized pigments
• Tropica - Silver blue with purple pearlize pigments

Kohl Power Eye Pencil

• Feline – Rich Black
• Orpheus – Intense black with gold pearlized pigments

Brush

• 187 Brush – Duo fibre face brush
• 159 Brush - Duo fibre face brush
• 287 Brush - Duo fibre eyeshadow brush

In Extreme Dimension Lash

• Black

Credit goes to Maneater Makeup

Chantecaille Save The Sharks Palette Review and Swatches

Here it is, the newest Chantecaille palette, this time it's in aid of sharks. Probably not the species we think of when we hear about endangered animals, but according to Chantecaille, up to 73 million sharks are killed every year for their fins. As with every special edition palette, Chantecaille donated a percentage of proceeds to the relevant charities. This time 5% of proceeds from the Save The Sharks Palette will be donated to the BLOOM Association to ban unregulated shark fin trade.

The palette features 3 eye colours and a cheek colour, all of them made up of two colours (there's no overspray here!). Great White, the highlighter is a sandy beige with a white fin in the middle, Grey Reef is a glistening sandy grey with a lighter brown fin in the middle and Black Tip is a deep ocean blue with a black fin in the middle. Also includes Sea Anemone Cheek Shade, a golden coral color that is universally flattering on all skin tones, inspired by the underwater gardens of the tropical seas.

Despite reading not very positive reviews about the palette, I'm actually very happy with it. The eyeshadows aren't particularly unique, but they are nice colours, and they are smooth as butter. I did have some blending issues with the darker colours, but nothing major. The blush is my absolute favourite of the whole palette, it's a gorgeous coral shade, very pigmented and easy to use. It also has a light pink highlighter fin in the middle, but it's too small to use alone with a blush brush so I just mix the two shades together usually. The highlighter could be used with an eyeshadow brush though.

The palette costs $83 (approx. £55) in the US and £75 in the UK (I'll never understand why Chantecaille is so much more expensive in the UK), but I luckily managed to get mine for £40 on eBay. I'm very happy with it at that price, but I'm not prepared to pay the full UK retail price for Chantecaille products. Available from Space NK, Harrods, Liberty, Harvey Nichols.

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

Want It! Mac In Extra Dimension Collection April 2013 *WITH PROMO PICTURES*

I now have the promo pictures for Mac's upcoming In Extra Dimension collection, due in April in the US and May in the UK. The collection contains extra dimension eyeshadows, blushes and skinfinishes, all made from the same gelee powder as the previous two collections' products as well as Estee Lauder's gelee powder products.

Here are the collection details:

Extra Dimension Skinfinish
Double Definition - Soft shimmery gold / Patina bronze
Shape The Future - Pastel pink with iridescence / Soft brick with shimmer
Definitely Defined - Silvery pink / Soft rose with shimmer

Extra Dimension Eyeshadow
Zestful - Pale iridescent lime
Extra Silver - True silver
Dimensional Blue - Frosty blue
Opalesse - Opalescent white with pink pearlized pigments
Triple Impact - Opalescent lavender with violet pearlized pigment
Smoky Mauve - Mid-tone mauve

Extra Dimension Blush
Flaming Chic - Bright blue pink
Bareness - Rosy beige pink
At Dusk - Mid-tone rose pink
Fiery Impact - Burnt red bronze
Blazing Haute - Mid-tone peach

128 Brush - Split Fibre Cheek Brush

235 Brush - Split Fibre All Over Eye Brush

See more pictures after the jump!

Want It! Dior Birds of Paradise Collection for Summer 2013

I have to admit, I haven't been buying much make up lately, mostly been buying nail polish instead. The spring collections, except for a few, didn't really catch my eye, but having been looking at details of the upcoming summer collections, I've already got a long wishlist.

Today I want to show you the Dior summer collection called Birds of Paradise, full of very colourful, gorgeous, very summery products. The promo pictures are just beautiful, very eye catching.

I'm pretty sure I will want to get the eyeshadow quint used in the promo pictures and the Diorskin Nude Tan Paradise Duos look gorgeous too. I'm also eyeing up the metallic green polish (comes as a duo with the mint green one) and those Jelly Lip Pens look very promising too. There is also a waterproof liner that I don't seem to be able to find info on that looks gorgeous! What do you think?


Here are the details of the collection:

• Diorskin Nude Tan BB Cream
• Diorskin Nude Tan Paradise Duo 
• Coral Glow 
• Pink Glow
• Dior 5 Couleur Eyeshadow Palette  
• #434 Peacock 
• #374 Blue Lagoon
• DiorShow Mono Eyeshadow in #273 Parati
• 1 Couleur Eye Gloss 
• #740 Zenith 
• #530 Golden Sand
• Lip Maximizer Collagen Activ in #001 Pink
• Jelly Lip Pen 
• #516 Copacabana 
• #476 Ilhabela
• #636 Carioca
• #656 Gaia
• Dior Addict Lipstick 
• #771 Passionnee 
• #751 Exotique 
• #471 Flamingo 
• #431 On The Beach
• Dior Vernis Duo 
• Bahia (green and fuchsia) 
• Samba (metallic green and mint)

See lots more pictures 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!