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!

Mac Flamingo Lustre Lipstick Review and Swatches

Okay, I know I said I hardly ever buy lipsticks and yet, I'm here reviewing another one, BUT Mac Flamingo lipstick was always on my wishlist. I didn't buy it when it first come out in a limited edition collection and always regretted it, so when it was recently added to the permanent lipstick line, I decided to finally pick it up, especially as I had some House of Fraser vouchers burning a hole in my pocket!.

Mac describes Flamingo as "light milky bright coral", but it also has a lot of pink in it. I'd say it's one of those my lips but better shades. It's a lustre finish, so it's not very opaque, it takes a few goes to get a good colour payoff. It's very glossy, but also due to the lustre finish it wears off really quickly. I'm lucky if I get 2 hours of wear out of it, and that's without eating or drinking. It's not drying at all and feels very comfortable when on my lips.

So was it worth the wait? I can't honestly say it was for me, but if you are after a nice subtle lipstick, this is a good one to pick up. It's a great colour for the summer, but also all year round. I now prefer more pigmented, more opaque shades, so Flamingo sadly didn't live up to my expectations.

Flamingo lipstick costs £15.50 and you get 3 g for your money.

See more pictures, including swatches after the jump!

Lime Crime Opaque Lipstick in Geradium Swatches and Review

As I mentioned in my previous post I bought this beautiful summery lipstick from Lime Crime and couldn't wait to try it out. Geradium is a bright coral pink shade with a glossy finish. It is bright, but also wearable if you're not scared of a bit of brightness on your lips. The lipstick smells divine, it has the same vanilla scent as the Mac lipsticks, and feels lovely to wear.

It glides on really easily and feels very comfortable on the lips. Weartime is around 3 hours without eating, when I ate it wore off pretty quickly. The lipstick comes in a beautiful purple case with holographic print and a cute unicorn. This is my first Lime Crime lipstick, but may not be the last one. I already have my eye on another shade!

I bought it from Harlow & Co for CAD18, but I've also seen it for sale for £12.50 in UK webshops. I decided to buy from Harlow & Co as I was already ordering some nail polish from Katie. You get 3.5 g for your money which is the larger end of lipstick sizes.

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!

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!

How To Wear Coloured Eyeliner?

When the news about the Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil Vault emerged, I read a few comments from people saying they don't normally wear coloured eyeliner because they don't know how to. So I thoght I'd put together a little post to show you a few ideas on how to wear coloured eyeliner. All pictures are clickable and will take you to the post they were originally posted in, so you can also see full face pictures.

I'd say there are 3 ways of using coloured eyeliner. One is to make an otherwise simple look pop. In the picture above I used black and beige eyeshadows, so I added a purple eyeliner on my bottom lashline to make it pop. In the picture below I used a gold eyeshadow and added purple eyeliner on both the top lashline (liquid) and the bottom lashline (pencil).

See more pictures and ideas on how to wear coloured eyeliner after the jump!

Guerlain Rose Aux Joues Blush Duo 06 Red Hot Swatches and Review

This is the last one of the (not so) new Guerlain Blush Duos that I've finally managed to get my hands on. After reviewing all the other shades I didn't feel like paying full price for this, so waited until I could find it much cheaper on eBay. I have to say though I'm actually pretty happy with this shade.

Red Hot is made up of 2 shades, a reddish brown shade and a lighter coral-red. Both of them have a satin finish, no shimmer to speak of, but they do give a nice sheen. I have worn them separately as blushes, but you can also use the darker shade to contour and the lighter shade as a blush. The beauty of this is that you can do whatever you like.

Both of them have okay pigmentation, I find that they apply better than they swatch (I use my fingers to swatch usually). I didn't have to be too careful not to overdo them, but they can be layered, so they will work well for darker skintones.

These blushes cost £32.50 and you get 6 g of product which is not huge. I probably wouldn't pay full price for any of them, although they are nice, but I feel there are better blushes around for a lot less money.

If you have missed my reviews of the other shades, you can check them out here: Peach Boy, Over Rose, Pink Punk, Chic Pink and Golden High.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

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!

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Eyeshadow 85 Light in Purple / Liquid Light Review and Swatches

Maybelline has released a few new shades of their very popular Color Tattoo eyeshadows and I picked up 85 Light in Purple (or according to the display in my local Boots, Liquid Light). It's a really interesting colour, a greyish purpley blue with a pink duochrome to it.

The formula is the same fantastic long lasting, non-creasing, easy to work with gel-cream formula that we know and love. I used it over my trusty Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer and it stayed put for over 12 hours. It would also make a nice base, but I haven't done that as with a colour this lovely, I prefer to use it alone.

The colour is very similar to Mac Industrial pearlglide, in fact that's the eyeliner I have used with it for a quick, but rather striking look. The pictures don't show the pink duochrome very well, but it's there and depending on which angle you're looking it's pretty strong, making the shadow look more purple than blue.

I really like this product and absolutely adore the shade. At £4.99 for 4 g (with a 3 for 2 offer in Boots currently) it's well worth buying.

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

Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat Foundation Review

A little while ago I was stopped by a lovely lady at the YSL counter in House of Fraser and was asked if I'd like to be matched up for a free foundation sample. Of course I couldn't say no and came away with my little bottle of Le Teint Touche Eclat foundation. I was given shade B50 which looks a little yellow on my hands but blends out nicely on my face.

I have to admit I don't follow YSL as closely as other brands, but I believe this is their new foundation. This is what I found about it on the Debenhams website: "Twenty years after the launch of the iconic Touche clat, Yves Saint Laurent adopts a leading edge technology that transposes the magic of this legendary highlighter into a foundation to achieve the same illuminating result for the entire face. Yves Saint Laurent introduces LE TEINT TOUCHE CLAT. A bold, unique formula to target shadowy areas and define contours. Infused within a weightless fluid, the light of Touche clat foundation targets shadowy areas and highlights the contours of the face. Free of opaque powders, its perfecting texture evens the complexion and helps conceal imperfections, while enhancing your skin's natural beauty."

I think the key word is illuminating. While not greasy by any means, this foundation does look more "dewy" on me than some others, so I think it would suit drier skins better than oily ones. I have normal skin during the winter months, but my T-zone can get rather oily in hot weather, so I would definitely not wear this in the summer, but right now it works well for me. I don't love it as much as I do the Lancome Teint Visionnaire foundation, it is definitely more dewy on my face and tends to need a bit of blotting halfway through the day, but it does have a nice medium coverageand it feels very light on the skin. It comes in 22 shades which is great and the full size product comes in a pump bottle which is also a big plus.


I like this foundation, but won't be buying the full size version. I know it's just going to be too dewy on me in the warmer months plus it doesn't come with SPF which I think is really necessary in the summer. It's nice in the winter, but I have nicer foundations. However, if you have dry skin and you're near a YSL counter, it's well worth a look. £29 for 30 ml.

See more pictures after the jump! If you want to see me wear this foundation on my face, check out this post for full face pictures!

Maybelline Superstay 14 Hour Lipstick Review and Swatches

So I was in Boots the other day looking at make up and found a new shade of Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadows (review coming soon) that I really liked the look of. But since there was a 3 for 2 offer on Maybelline make up, I thought I might as well take advantage of it and ended up buying two of the new Superstay 14 Hours lipsticks. I got 430 Stay With Me Coral and 160 Infinitely Fuchsia, the two brightest shades.

First of all I'd like to point out, that I'm not a muppet and wasn't expecting these lipsticks to last for 14 hours. The blogger in me was very curious and of course had to get them. So, do they last for 14 hours? Of course not. Now that's out the way, let's see what the lipsticks are actually like.

I'm pleased to say that they are actually pretty nice. They are creamy, vibrant, they smell gorgeous (this I was worried about as most drugstore/cheap lipsticks smell hideous with a few exceptions) and feel lovely on. Infinitely Fuchsia feels smoother on, Stay With Me Coral seems heavier and doesn't look as smooth either. They both apply very opaque in just a couple of swipes and last for about 4-5 hours depending on whether I eat or not. I tested them both for wear, they were both okay for 3-4 hours with little eating/drinking, and then practically disappeared when I had a proper meal. The sheen starts to disappear after about 3 hours and I've found that the lipstick starts fading from the inner part of my lips first. They last well for a regular lipstick, butu definitely nowhere near the advertised 14 hours!

On the plus side they feel really nice on, they're not at all sticky and don't feel drying at all unlike a lot of long lasting lip products. I didn't need to apply any gloss or balml on top, or even afterwards, my lips were fine. Won't say they're actively moisturising, but definitely not drying.

According to Boots they come in 20 shades, but I can only see 11 on their website and my local store only had about 8 shades on the display. There are lighter, more muted shades as well, but I like mine bright.

These lipsticks cost £6.99 each (I don't know what size they are as it doesn't say anywhere) and there's a 3 for 2 offer on all Maybelline make up at Boots at the moment.

See lots more pictures including arm and lip swatches after the jump!

My Recent Kiko Haul, Review and Swatches

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this post due to my bad experience when ordering from Kiko a while ago (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read this post, but basically their customer services based in Italy were a pile of cr@p), however, to be fair to Kiko, despite their non-existing customer service their products are actually very good and the staff in their Westfield store have only ever been helpful and nice. I still won't be ordering from their website, but it's worth checking out their store if you're near one.

On a recent trip to Westfield London I picked up four of their water eyeshadows, one long lasting stick eyeshadow and two nail polishes. The nail polishes were in the sale, I believe they are from the holiday collection which I never saw because I stupidly forgot to pop into the Kiko store when I was in London in December, and one of them is even holographic (I believe there were four of them in the collection)! The water eyeshadows are permanent and the long lasting stick eyeshadow is limited edition (although there are also some permanent shades in different packaging).

I haven't tried the nail polishes yet, so I won't be reviewing them in this post. I have tried other Kiko nail polishes and they were fine, but they come in lots of different finishes and colours. I got shades 402 and 404. Kiko nail polishes cost £4.90 for 11 ml, but I think I paid £2 each for the ones I got in the sale.

I have reviewed the long lasting stick eyeshadows (permanent line) before, if you want to read my review, it's here. The new limited edition shade I bought is 31 Hypnotic Iris Blue which is a bright blue with purple duochrome. It gave me a very hard time as my camera just couldn't pick up the beautiful duochrome, so I had to use my phone to capture the true colour (as a result I have to I apologise for the bad picture quality). It's such a beautiful, vibrant colour though, I had many compliments while wearing it. I used it over Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer and it lasted very well without fading or creasing. It was easy to blend out and stayed put without smudging. The product come in a twist up pen like many other cream eyeshadows. Long lasting stick eyeshadows cost £6.90 and you get 1.64 g product.

The water eyeshadows are basically wet and dry eyeshadows with an excellent texture and colour payoff. They come in 32 shades and I chose 4 of them: 212 Emerald Green, 221 Cyclamen, 225 Indigo Blue and 224 Lavender. The latter was also a troublesome shade, it has a gorgeous purple duochrome to it and of course that didn't show up properly either (cue bad quality phone camera photos). The eyeshadows are a little bit like the gelee powder shadows Estee Lauder and Mac have come out with, very smooth, easy to blend, almost creamy, but with the non-creasing advantage of powder shadows. They are quite shimmery and a bit metallic, but not glittery at all. I wore them on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer and they lasted all day without creasing or fading and with no fallout. I seriously love them, they are gorgeous. They come in mirrored black compacts and have a design that resembles ripples on water. The water eyeshadows cost £8.90 each and you get 3 g for your money.

See more pictures including swatches and looks I did with these products after the jump!

Lime Crime Aquataenia Fantasy Palette Review and Swatches

I'd been lemming this palette for ages, and once when I was placing an order for a Z palette from Love Make Up I decided to get it. You see it was free delivery for orders over £50, and I ended up with this in my basket. As you do. I didn't own anything from Lime Crime before, but the reviews I'd read were positive, so I thought why not.

I'm happy I got it though as it's a lovely little palette. It contains 5 eyeshadows in gorgeous bright colours. The palette just screams spring to me. The colours included are Nautilus Prime (bright blue), Coral Of The Story (bright coral-orange), Seahorse Discourse (bright lime green), Pearl-ple (pearly lavender) and Atlanteal (bright teal). The eyeshadows are housed in a tin palette which doesn't include a mirror (I prefer palettes with mirrors).

So far I have only used Nautilus Prime and Pearl-ple, but I have swatched all the colours and they all seemed very smooth, nicely pigmented and not too powdery. I applied them on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer as I always do, and my eye make up looked good and lasted pretty well, although I did see some fading after about 8 hours. I didn't experience any fallout and the colours were easy to blend.

The palette contains 7.5 g of eyeshadows and it costs £23.99. The eyeshadows are vegan and have not been tested on animals. I bought mine from Love Make Up, but Cocktail Cosmetics also sells Lime Crime.

All in all, it's a lovely palette with gorgeous bright springy colours. Now I'm interested in trying out other Lime Crime products!

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

Lancome Hypnose Custom Wear Volume Mascara and Cils Booster XL Super-Enhancing Mascara Base

I've had these two samples for ages and finally got around to trying them (over a month ago!). Anyway, I have even managed to type up this review now, so better later than never, I guess.

Lancome Hypnose Custom Wear Volume Mascara

I usually stick with my favourite mascaras, Guerlain Le 2 and Givenchy Phenomen'eyes, but of course I'm always happy to try out new ones. I have heard a lot of positives about Lancome mascaras, so I thought I'd give these a go.

Cils Booster XL is a white mascara base that helps to prime and protect your lashes, and enhance your eye make up. You basically use it under your mascara. I have found it very good for giving a bit more volume and length, although I can't really comment on exactly how it's helped to protect my lashes as I've only used it a few times. As much as I like it, I never have time to use it in the mornings.

Hypnose Custom Wear Volume Mascara in Noir Hypnotic is a volumising mascara and it also gives my lashes quite good length. I like it very much, the brush is very easy to use, it's a nice size with good bristles and the formula is just right too. I really cannot fault it. I have found that I get more volume with the mascara base under this mascara, but even alone it's very good. I haven't had any problems with clumping, smudging or flaking at all.


You can see two pictures of me wearing the base and the mascara at the bottom of this post, but if you'd like to see full face pictures and the breakdown for the looks, click on the pictures.

The full size versions of these products cost £21 for 5.5 ml (Cils Booster XL) and £22 for 6.5 g (Hypnose Custom Wear Volume Mascara).

See more pictures after the jump!

Pink and Mauve FOTD

I did this look over a month ago when I had an entire morning to get ready and could actually experiment a bit. I really liked it, so I took pictures, and finally I have even managed to post them! I am also about to review the mascara I used, so I thought I might as well do the look first.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Magenta all over the lid
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Cyber Ruby in the crease
Estee Lauder Cyber Metallic Eyeshadow in Cyber Pink in the inner corner of the lid and on browbone to highlight
Mac pigment in Helium patted on top of Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Magenta
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Crash on lower lashline
Urban Decay Heavy Metal glitter eyeliner in Catfight on the upper lashline 
Lancome Cils Booster XL mascara base and Hypnose Mascara Volume in Noir Hypnotic
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
Bare Minerals Ready Luminizer in The Love Affair

Lips:
Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in #78 Phoenix

Let me know what you think about this look in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

ArtDeco Spring Collection Haul, Review and Swatches

This pretty magnetic palette is part of ArtDeco's spring collection and as I love butterflies, I of course had to snap it up. I also bought 4 of their duochrome eyeshadows to go with it and a pretty duochrome nail polish.

The palette takes either 4 eyeshadow singles or a blush and an eyeshadow, and I decided to get 4 of the new shades of eyeshadows. Of course you can buy it without refills and you also don't have to get the palette if you just want the eyeshadows, but I figured they would look lovely together.

I got 255 Aero Spring Green, 267 Fresh Water, 285 Lilac Passion and 297A Rosy Heart Throb. These are new shades for the spring, but I don't know if they are also limited edition or permanent. As I said, these are said to be duochrome eyeshadows, but with the exception of Rosy Heart Throb, I can't really see the duochrome in them. Rosy Heart Throb has a gold duochrome to it which is very pretty. The eyeshadows are very soft, a bit powdery and they are rather sheer as well. They give a very soft effect and look very springlike,but if you are looking for something more dramatic, more pigmented, then these are not for you. They did last well though and didn't crease at all, but due to their softness it was easy to overblend them, so you need to be careful when applying and blending.

Considering the price of the made up palette (£32.25) this is not as cheap as you'd think and for the amount of product you get (3.2 g) it's not the best value. I also found it a bit odd that the packaging of the palette shows an applicator, but you don't get one with it, which I probably wouldn't use, but for the price they really should've thrown in a measly applicator. 

I also bought Ceramic Nail Laquer 245 Iridescent Butterfly Wings which is a pretty blue with purple and teal duochrome. It seems very sheer, but I haven't tried it yet, so can't really comment.

The palette costs £10.25, the single eyeshadows are £5.50 (for 0.8 g) and the nail polish costs £9.50 (for 6 ml). I bought mine from BeautyBay, but Debenhams should be stocking the collection soon too.

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

Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush Review and Swatches

First of all, I'd like to apologise in advance for the lack of posts in the coming few days (and as you could see there wasn't a new post yesterday either). It's school holiday this week in the UK and that means 3 children in the house. With several daytrips this week I won't have much time to write up reviews and by the evenings I usually feel really tired to type anything coherent. I have also not been feeling well (cold and sore throat), so not been feeling energetic at all.

Anyway, I do have a review for you today and it's the new gorgeous heart shaped blush from Too Faced. As soon as I saw the pictures, I knew I had to have it. I just love the design and the colours are really lovely too.

Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush is a baked heart shaped blush devided into 3 colours: rosy pink, coral and peach. All 3 shades are rather frosty, but not glittery. You can just about use the strips alone due to their size or you can mix them up to create a pinky coral glow. It isn't overly pigmented, so don't have to worry about overdoing it. I've found that it gives more of a glow rather than an obvious colour, but of course you can layer it on. It did seem to disappear after a few hours' wear to due its lightness, so longetivity isn't its strongest point. I think this is true to most baked products though.

The blush comes inside a very cute pink heart shaped cardboard compact and the outer box is also cute and pink. The packaging is exactly what you would expect from Too Faced, girly, pink, a bit kitsch, but ever so cute. You get a nice 5.5 g that should last you a good while. The blush costs £24 and I got mine from Beauty Bay, but Boots should be stocking it soon if not yet.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Urban Decay Oz The Great and Powerful Glinda Palette Review and Swatches

There is a new big film out and of course Urban Decay has come up with a couple of palettes to go with it. I haven't seen the film yet (it's only out in March), but I remember well loving the story of The Wizard Of Oz as a child. I decided to pick up the Glinda palette more because I liked the products in it, rather than the film, and similarly I didn't pick up the Theodora palette because I wasn't very interested in the colours.

Anyway, the Glinda palette is really lovely, I'm very glad I've picked it up. It contains 6 full size (1.5 g) eyeshadows, a travel size (0.8 g) 24/7 Glide-on eyepencil and a full size (2.8 g) Super-Saturated pencil. The palette itself is the new style design your own palette, so you can pop up the eyeshadows and put different ones in if you wish. You also get a "Get the look" card to show you how you can achieve the look Michelle Williams is sporting on the box (and int he film).

The colour scheme is neutrals, pinks and purples, all very soft and feminine. You get Tornade, a very well pigmented, smooth reddish purple with a sheen, Aura, a split pan duo-chrome pink and blue frosty colour, Magic, a rosy pink with subtle gold shimmer, Illusion, a light frosty peach, Oz, a split pan frosty and glittery gold and silver and South, a frosty taupey brown. All the eyeshadows are very smooth and well pigmented, and apart from Oz, not glittery. You also get Rockstar 24/7 Glide-on eyepencil which is one of my favourite eyeliners ever (you can see swatches of Rockstar by clicking here) and Glinda Super-Saturated pencil, a glossy pinky nude colour which is very flattering.

I did two looks with the palette, one using the eyeshadows in the top row (pictures at the bottom of the post) and one using the eyeshadows in the bottom row (except the silver one). I especially liked the first look as it was so pretty and feminine. The only eyeshadow I had an problems with is Oz, the split pan gold and silver one, because it has a bit more gritty texture than the others and the chunky glitter is more fallout prone.

The eyeshadows last on me without creasing and fading for 10 hours or more. Glinda Super-Saturated pencil lasts on me for about 2-3 hours depending on whether I eat or not. It's a lovely glossy lipcolour and doesn't feel at all drying on the lips.

There are a few things I dislike about the palette itself. I don't like the make your own palette style, the eyeshadows feel quite wobbly in it and also it is extremely bulky for what it is. I also don't like that you can't see anywhere the names of the eyeshadows (other then the bottom of the actual pans and the outer box. I'm thinking about pulling th plastic insert out, depotting the eyeshadows and using the palette with magnets instead. I reckon you could fit at least 9 eyeshadows in the that way, if not more.

Value-wise I can't fault it, the set costs £35 and it includes over £107 worth of products not counting the palette itself. I can happily say that other than Oz that feels a bit too glitzy for every day wear and feels a little bit out of place for me, the palette is really lovely and I have really enjoyed using it.

See lots more pictures including swatches and a look I did using the palette after the jump!

Estee Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelee Blush in Tease

The new Estee Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelee Blush in Tease is so pretty. I love the design and the colour, so of course I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It has taken me a while to use and review it, but I've finally managed.

Firstly, this is another one of the new gelee powder formula, so it's a powder, but feels and looks like a cream product. It is very metallic and gives a high sheen finish, so it's probably not for those who prefer their face products to be matte. It isn't glittery, but it's definitely rather shimmery.

I had a bit of trouble working out how to apply it best and it seems that the sponge applicator they provide with it is the best way to go about it. It doesn't pick up too much product and you can blend it out easily. When I tried using a regular blush brush, the result looked quite patchy. But with the applicator it looks nice and even yet not too heavy. I also found duo fibre brushes work well, but they give a much more subtle effect. With the sponge you need to be a bit careful not to overdo it, but if you do thin layers rather than try to pile it on, you'll be fine. The blush didn't last very long on me, it's practically disappeared after 5-6 hours of wear.

It's a lovely product, but even on my pale skin it's more of a highlighter than a blush. I haven't tried it on top of a powder blush, but I think it would work really nicely.

The blush costs £30 and you get 6 g which is actually more than previous illuminating powder gelees. It's still not a massive amount, but probably way more than you need. This is a limited edition product, so grab it while you can if you like what you see!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!