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!

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! 

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!

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!

Laura Mercier Illuminating Eye Colour Review and Swatches

As part of their Art Deco Muse collection Laura Mercier came out with 4 new, limited edition eyeshadows for the holiday. The collection was inspired by the decorative architecture, style and mood of the Art Deco perios in Paris in the mid-1920’s.

These eyeshadows have "a multi-dimensional, luminous pearl finish with a soft, bouncy texture for excellent colour pay-off and a smooth, even application" according to the official description. I'm not sure about the soft and bouncy bit, but these eyeshadows are certainly very smooth, buttery, and indeed give a gorgeous luminous finish. They remind me of the Mac Extra Dimension eyeshadows, only better. Extremely smooth, pigmented, they apply and blend really well and look gorgeous on, they also last for hours on end without creasing and fading. They have a high sheen, but they're not glittery and there was no fallout from them either. While they're not cream shadows, they certainly feel creamy. They really are lovely, and will most probably be my choice for a Christmas party make up.

They come in 4 shades: Gilded Rosegold, Gilded Platinum, Gilded Bronze and Gilded Moonlight. Gilded Rosegold is a warm, coppery pink shade, Gilded Platinum is a shiny white gold, Gilded Bronze is a taupey bronze colour and Gilded Moonlight is a yellow gold shade. I've worn them all and they all have the same wonderful texture and colour pay off. I have to say I am now very happy I passed on the Dior holiday quints because these are possibly the nicest gold/bronze eyeshadows I bought this year - probably similar to the Guerlain Calligraphy palette if not nicer.

The eyeshadows cost £20 each and you get 2.5 g which isn't too bad. For the quality, I think these are well worth their price, honestly, they are really really fantastic.

See more pictures including swatches and looks I've created with them after the jump!

Chantecaille Les Fetes Trio Review and Swatches

Chantecaille released a cute little palette for the holidays called Les Fetes and I have it here to show you. "The three festive shimmer shades will inspire anyone to celebrate the Holidays with glamour. Colours glide on seamlessly and adorn your lids with a joyful glow." - Space NK

The palette contains the following 3 shades:
Moonstone - a soft pearl with hints of gold and pink highlights
Diamond - a silvery slate infused with diamond-like sparkle
Pink Sapphire - an effervescent rose to brighten the eye

The trio is actually a great little palette, very nice for a smoky eye with shimmer, perfect for a night out. Moonstone is a beautiful highlighter colour with a pinky-gold sheen, Pink Sapphire is a lovely rosy pink with a slight sheen and Diamond is a dark grey with a sequin/sparkle/stardust formula, it's a very shiny, almost wet finish.

The eyeshadows were very nice and smooth, and nicely pigmented Moonstone and Pink Sapphire especially. I found Diamond had to be packed on a bit more, but once it was on, it lasted well. I had no creasing from any of them and the look stayed vibrant for hours.

The palette also comes with a double ended brush/applicator and the compact has a full mirror in the lid. It costs £65 from Space NK, I luckily managed to buy it from eBay for around £41. You get 5 g for your money which is not huge, but decent.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Stila Luxe Palette Review, Swatches and a FOTD

Before I show you this lovely palette, I just want to say that I'm really struggling with writing new posts at the moment. Firstly, I am currently very busy with school and children related activities. Secondly, due to the gloomy weather we've been having in the UK, I've found it incredibly difficult to take proper photos of products, which means if I can't take pictures of my new acquisitions, I then can't start using them, and obviously can't review them in detail. So for the time being I think you might be seeing a few more nail polish posts, I have a big backlog of NOTD pictures that were taken back in the autumn when we still knew what the sun looked like. Hopefully I'll be back with some proper product reviews soon.

For now, here's a lovely palette from Stila to drool over. This one is called Luxe palette and it contains 3 matte and 6 sparkly eyeshadows, plus a smudge stick waterproof eyeliner in Ladyfish (an exclusive shade). You also get a small booklet with ideas on looks to create with the palette. I bought it with my £5 off discount code StilaKiss which is valid for another 3 days on the Stila UK website (minimum spend £25).

I have to say, I'm a bit on the fence about this palette, I'm just not sure about the matte shades. I would've preferred either 3 more sparkly eyeshadows instead of the matte ones, or at least shades that go better with the rest of the palette. Quality-wise I can't really fault the palette, because the matte shades are really nice, the sparkle shades are gorgeous and the eyeliner is lovely too.

I have only worn the eyeshadows over a primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance), but I didn't experience any creasing and there was only minimal fallout (usually during application). The smudge stick is really long lasting, even on the waterline.

The matte shades are a bit brown for my liking. Actually Bubble Bath is a pinky highlighter colour, it's pretty, but I prefer highlighting with more sparkly, satiny colours. I couldn't combine the two different finishes in the palette. I did do a look with the mattes, it was a nice, but rather boring look for my liking.

I also used the shadows in the middle row which resulted in a lovely pink/purple look. But my most favourite shade in the palette has to be ♥ Of The Ocean. At first it looks really dark and a bit dull in the palette, but on the skin it turns into an amazing teal/peacock green colour with loads of pearl. Absolutely gorgeous! I've included pictures of the look I did with it (actually not including any other eyeshadow from the palette, I used it with Sassy Marshmallow and Time Resist White L'Oreal Infallible as well as Stila Peacock smudge stick on the lower lashline). It was really lovely, probably even better in real life.

The palette costs £30, but you can get £5 off with StilaKiss on stila.co.uk. I'm too tired to work out how much value you get, but altogether there's 13.5 g eyeshadows and 0.28 g eyeliner, so you can be sure you're getting great value for your money. I also like it that you get a mirror in this one, definitely something that was missing form the other Stila palettes before.

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

Dior Holiday 2012 - Grand Bal Palette

Dior really know how to make you drool over their products, don't they? When they make it this pretty, how can you possibly say no? This is their newest holiday palette, Grand Bal.

It contains 2 eyeshadows (gold and silver), 2 lipglosses and an eyeliner pencil, housed in a gold clutch type compact with a full size mirror in the lid. The pencil holds the clutch closed as it's threaded through the two circular barrels in the front.

The eyeshadows are so incredibly beautiful, not just the colours but the pattern. I carefully swatched them, but I'm really not sure i want to use them much as it would ruin the gorgeous design. However, they seem so lovely, it would be silly not to use them. They are very pigmented, smooth, and the colours are lovely. The gold is a light coppery gold and the silver is a white silver. The eyeliner is a straightforward black, quite creamy and well pigmented.

I didn't swatch the lipglosses (a shimmery sheer golden colour and a medium reddish coral colour), because I really didn't want to mess them up, but they would be good to apply on top of a lipstick or wear alone. For those who don't like their powder and cream products in one palette, you'll be pleased to know that the glosses are hiding behind a little flap.

Not only the clutch itself is gorgeous, but it also comes wrapped in white tissue paper with gold CD printed all over it. The whole thing just screams luxury. Unfortunately the pricetag is rather luxurious too at £60. You get 5.3 g product (doesn't say individually) which isn't much, but like with many other luxury products you also pay for the name, the design and it doesn't get much more luxurious than Christian Dior.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Chanel Holiday 2012 Collection Haul - Review and Swatches

At last, the Chanel holiday collection has arrived to the UK as well. Must have been the last of the high end collections, it was released on 9th November. Yes, sorry, it has taken me this long to finally review it, I still have quite a backlog of things I haven't even photographed, or swatched or used.

But for now, here's what I bought from the Chanel holiday collection:

I got the eyeshadow quad, Harmonie de Soir, the blush called Star Dust and the new Illusion d'Ombre in Apparence. I knew I wanted the quad when I saw pictures of it sometime in the summer, it just looked so pretty, I had to have it. I was on the fence about the Illusion d'Ombre, especially after swatching it as it seemed to be pretty much the same colour as the gold in the quad. The blush I wasn't even going to get, but once I'd swatched it, I couldn't leave it behind.

So the eyeshadow quad. It's soft, silky, pigmented, gorgeous. Easy to use, blendable, long lasting, non-creasing shadows that look satiny. Love it. Only drawback is you only get 4 g of product which is teeny, especially considering the pricetag (£43). But then having said that, I'd rather pay that much for 4 g of loveliness than £30+ for a mediocre Mac quad. Anyway, I have used all the colours except for the gold one and they all looked great 12+ hours later, didn't crease (over Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer) and didn't lose their sheen. I apologise, I didn't take a picture of the look because that day was the gloomiest, darkest day and I knew the pictures wouldn't come out right.

The Illusion d'Ombre is a gorgeous not too yellow gold colour, it's also not very warm, so should suit people with cooler complexions. Not as yellow and sparkly as Vision Illusion d'Ombre, it's more of a muted colour. Still sparkly, but not as metallic as Vision. It's a very lovely colour. If you have the quad you probably don't need this as well, because the two golds are very similar, but Illusion d'Ombres are a different products, they are cream eyeshadows that don't crease and stay on all day (I only use them over primer). I love them on those days when I only have 10 minutes to put my make up on, they are just so easy. You get 4 g of eyeshadow for £23.

As I said, I wasn't even going to get Star Dust blush, but it's just so sparkly, I couldn't say no to it. Also, Stardust is one of my favourite films (watch it if you haven't see in yet!), so the name really appealed as well (yeah, I know, lame excuse). Star Dust is a very sparkly light pink blush, more of a highlighter really, and defitinely more for nights out than school runs (although I wear crazy colours to school runs, so whatever you want to do really). It's very finely milled and just lovely. It's not huge, you only get 4 g and it's pretty pricey at £31.

While the Chanel collection isn't my favourite of this year's holiday collections, the products I've bought are all really lovely. I didn't got for the lip products or nail polishes for obvious reasons (no-buy), but they also looked nice.

See more pictures after the jump including swatches and a look I did with Apparence Illusion d'Ombre and Star Dust!

My Lancome Holiday 2012 Collection Haul - Review and Swatches

One of my favourite holiday collections this year is by Lancome (obviously the other one being Guerlain). I've bought two of the Petit Tresor eyeshadows and the two khol pencils (which I wouldn't actually describe as khol, but we'll get to that later), as well as the gorgeous sparkly gift set I've already shown you.

The eyeshadows are really lovely and sparkly, even the compacts they come in are so glam. It's definitely 10/10 for packaging for Lancome! I bought Fil d'Or and Fil' d'Argent, the gold and silver ones. I also liked the bronze one, but decided to skip that as it was the least interesting shade for me. The silver one is actually more taupe than silver, which probably makes it more wearable, but if you're after a proper silver shade, this won't be the one for you. The gold one is a light yellow gold, very pretty. Both are sparkly, but not glittery, very smooth and easy to use. They aren't massively pigmented, but they give a very nice wash of colour to the lids.

The khol pencils are nothing like khol, they remind me a lot of Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencils. They are soft, smooth and really nice. They don't drag, but they're also not too soft. There are two shades: 015 Jazzy Taupe and 016 France In A Glance. The latter is a bronzy brown colour, Jazzy taupe is... taupe. They compliment the eyeshadows perfectly.

You get 1 g in each eyeshadow for £18 and the khol pencils are £16 for 1.2 g (same size as the Urban Decay ones). The eyeshadows are pretty expensive gram per gram, but I don't mind since I'm never going to use them up anyway.

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

Laura Mercier Petite Baked Eye Colour Trio in Golden Metallics Review and Swatches

This holiday Laura Mercier has released some very pretty palettes and I picked up this Petite Baked Eye Colour Trio. Although I'd already owned one of the shades, I thought it was still worth picking up.

The palette contains 3 baked eyeshadows in the following colours: Gold Leaf, Black Karat and Emerald. Out of the 3 only Black Karat is permanent. Because they're baked, they can be used both wet and dry, and usually look more intense when used wet. I tried Gold Leaf and Black Karat dry on the lid and then Emerald wet as eyeliner and they looked very pretty. I didn't take any pictures of the look, sorry.

Even when used dry they're nicely pigmented and there isn't much fallout from them, what little there was occured during application and not afterwards. I used them over primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance) and they stayed creaseless all day. There's a lovely shimmer to them, but no chunky glitter, so if you like some shimmer, these could be a good choice for you. I can see this as an option for a Christmas party make up look.

You get 3 x 0.5 g of product which isn't a lot, but it's worth keeping in mind that baked eyeshadows are often lighter than non-baked ones. The palette is slightly worse value at £20 than buying the eyeshadows individually (although technically you can't anyway), because the singles cost £18.50 and you get 1.8 g for that. If you don't think you want to fork out £20 for this, then wait until the sales because I have seen other Laura Mercier palettes go on sale after Christmas, clearly they are not as limited edition as Mac products are. If you like it though, best get it now, just in case.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Too Faced Shadow Bon Bons Review and Swatches

I have another pretty palette from Too Faced to show you, this time it's the Shadow Bon Bons palette. This one is also a very good value offering. Of course it's not just abut value, it's also the quality that counts. Luckily this is also a great quality palette. Well done Too Faced!

Shadow Bon Bons contains 12 eyeshadows, a trial size Candlelight Shadow Insurance primer and a full size LashGASM mascara. I have to admit, I actually bought this palette for just one of the eyeshadows (and the fact that I got £17 worth of points on my Advantage Card in Boots when I spent £50). I'm happy to say that all the eyeshadows in the palette are actually very nice, with the exception of Nude Beach which has quite bad fallout, although it's a pretty shade. This palette isn't as colourful as the Sweet Indulgences palette, so better for those who prefer neutral looks, but there's still plenty of variety in there. Not just colourwise, but also regarding the finishes, there are matte, metallic and shimmery shades.

Some of the shades in this palette can also be found in the Sweet Indulgences palette (Peach Fuzz and Lovey Dovey) and I'm pretty sure I've come across some of the others before too, but this is such a nice, comprehensive set, and not too bulky to travel with either.

The Candlelight Shadow Insurance primer has a nice golden sheen, so it's great under shimmery shadows. It grabs onto eyeshadows and makes them stay vibrant and creaseless all day long. The LashGASM mascara gives me nice lenght, although not much volume. It has those plastic bristles/spikes I like and the brush is a nice size, not too big at all. The formula is pretty nice too.

All in all, a great set and well worth the £33 price tag. According to Beauty Bay the value of this set is £130. It contains 10.8 g eyeshadows which is £95 value, plus the full size (12 ml) LashGASM mascara £16.50, and the 5 g Candlelight Shadow Insurance primer is an extra £7.50 value, which makes it £119 in my books, but either way, it's great value.

Have you bought anything from Too Faced's holiday collection yet? Or are you waiting for Santa to bring you something nice? Let me know in the comments! Also see if you can guess which one is my favourite shade in this palette? And which one is yours?

See lots more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Bobbi Brown 24 Karat Shimmer Brick Review and Swatches

Aah, I love Bobbi Brown's shimmer bricks, they are just so pretty. So of course I had to buy the newest one, 24 Karat, that was released for the holiday.

As usual, it contains 5 strips of shimmery colour that can be worn as eyeshadows or swirled together as a highlighter. It is quite frosty, but if applied with a brush, it can be sheered out. The result is a soft golden sheen.

I absolutely love the outer packaging, the compact comes in a cardboard box decorated with pearls. So pretty. The compact itself is the regular shiny black with the Bobby Brown emblem. You get 10.3 g for £35.

I have an old post that shows my Bobbi Brown collection, you can see it here. It doesn't include my most recent additions, I might have the time at some point to take an updated pictures.

For now see pictures including swatches of the 24 Karat shimmer brick after the jump!

Mac Guilty Passions Crushed Metallic Pigments Review and Swatches

Sorry it has taken me this long to show you swatches of the Mac holiday crushed metallic pigment sets, but here they are finally. As you know, I bought all 3 of these sets because I absolutely love these pigments, they are just so pretty.

The packaging is adorable, they come in these cute mini sized "hat boxes" with a bow on top. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with mine yet, but they are good for storing little things you might have hanging around, although unfortunately due to the bow on top they can't be stacked, so they may not be that helpful. That aside they are very cute and pretty.

You get 4 pigments in each set and there are 3 sets: Sweetly Smoky, Brilliantly Cool and Tenderly Warm. There are a couple of repromotes, but most shades are new. Of course that doesn't mean they're not dupeable, although the testure of these is quite different, so the colours might look similar, but not the overall effect.

These crushed metallic pigments are all very high sheen, some are more than others. The sets contain a complete look with a highlighter shade, a couple of light/medium shades and a darker shade included in each one. Due to the nature of these pigments they are less finely milled than regular pigments which makes them less easy to blend and more prone to fallout. I have tried 3 of the shades from the Brilliantly Cool set on my eyes and I found the easiest way to apply these is with your finger. Another way is with a dampened brush. I used them over Too Faced Glitter Glue which made the blending even mor diffcult, and sadly there was some creasing too, not sure if it's due to the Glitter Glue or the pigments. Will have to keep experimenting. The set with the most finely milled pigments is definitely Tenderly Warm. I've found Brilliantly Cool the most "rough". Despite all this, I still love them because the colours are so pretty and the effect is so gorgeous.

The Guilty Passions set cost £25.50 each (Debenhams currently has 10% off beauty by the way) and you get 12 g of pigments in each set. That's good value since Mac pigments cost £16.50 for just 4.5 g (although these are not the same products and can't be bought individually).

See lots more pictures including swatches and a look I did with Brilliantly Cool after the jump!

Too Faced Sweet Indulgences Set Review and Swatches

I have always liked Too Faced, especially the special edition pretty palettes, but this year they've really stepped up their game. This is the second palette I've bought from Too Faced recently and this is yet another excellent value, fantastic quality palette.

In this set you get 16 eyeshadows, a full size Shadow Insurance eyeshadow primer, 2 bronzers, 2 blushes, a highlighter and a double ended eyeshadow brush/applicator. Too Faced have also thrown in 3 looks cards. The whole lot comes in a double layer tin. The top layer includes the 16 eyeshadows, the bottom layer has everyting else. The top layer is easily removable, can just be lifted out of the tin. It's not portable on its own, but at least you can hold it while applying the eyeshadows, rather than having to hold the whole tin. The bottom layer is also removable, but less easily.

First of all, the eyeshadows are great. Most of them are shimmery or metallic, but there are a few matte/satiny ones. Some of these shades have been included in pretty much every holiday palette Too Faced have done, I recognise a few of the names, but some of them seem new. I can't find this palette on the Too Faced website (I think this might be a Sephora exclusive in the US) and the Beauty Bay website doesn't have much info. Anyway, the eyeshadows included are: In the Buff, Peach Fuzz, Marshmallow, Lovey Dovey, Copper Peony, Teddy Bear, Gum Drop, Malted Milk Ball, Satin Sheets, Nice Stems!, Nice Ash, Cherry Cola, Honeymoon, Pastille, Cop a Teal, Black Sugar. You get 1.6 g of each colour, so that's a total of a whopping 25.6 g of eyeshadow.

I haven't worn them all yet (in fact I've only worn 4), but I have swatched them all (see below) and they all swatched really nicely. The shimmery ones didn't have much fallout (if any) and the matte ones weren't at all powdery. The shades I've worn (Peach Fuzz, Gum Drop, Satin Sheets and Cherry Cola) stayed on my lids all day (with Shadow Insurance underneath, of course) and didn't crease at all. I hade some glitter fallout, I think from Peach Fuzz, but it wasn't too bad and I only noticed it several hours later.

The bronzers are both pretty nice, the exclusive shade is darker, more matte and less pigmented than the Sun Bunny Light Bronzer which is just gorgeous, smooth and pigmented. Another favourite of Too Faced's is La Vie En Rose blush, I'm sure I have it in almost every palette that's come out in the past 2-3 years, but it's a pretty pink slightly shimmery blush, so i don't mind. Papa Don't Peach blush is really nice, more pigmented than La Vie En Rose and has a lovely glow. You also get a small Candlelight Glow highlighter (another palette essential).

The brush/applicator is alright, I have only tried the brush, I'm not usually a fan of applicators. It's okay, but it doesn't add any value to the palette for me. The full size Shadow Insurance primer is great and I'm happy to own another one. The tube I'm currently using is several years old, yet it's still not empty and hasn't changed consistency one bit. I have now fully converted from Urban Decay Primer Potion.

The tin is a nice idea and could be used for storing other things when you used up all the products, but quite frankly, that's never going to happen, is it? There's no mirror in the lid, and the lid itself is a bit flimsical, mine has changed shape a bit, although still closes fine.

The palette costs £42 which might sound a bit much for some, but according to Beauty Bay it has an actual value of £133. Sephora says $381 value (approx. £236). Either way, it's a great deal. The primer costs £16.50 and a single 1.7 g eyeshadow costs £15, so that adds up to a £241.50 value alone. I think even Sephora has underestimated the value!

That's enough of the maths, let's see some swatches I hear you say! Coming up right after the jump together with lots of product pictures!

Mac Glamour Daze Extra Dimension Eyeshadows and Fluidlines - Review and Swatches

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post this review, but it's been pretty hectic in my house. So to speed things up I've decided to review the eyeshadows and fluidlines together.

As you can see, I bought 5 of the Extra Dimension eyeshadows and all 3 fluidlines from the collection. I decided to skip the silver, black and burgundy ones because I felt that I either have similar colours or won't wear them anyway. The fluidlines were just too sparkly to leave behind.

The eyeshadows I got are A Natural Flirt, Ready To Party, Stolen Moment, Divine Blue, Stylishly Merry. They are all pretty pastely colours except for Stolen Moment which is a gorgeous taupe. First of all, let me just say, these eyeshadows are absolutely tiny. The eyeshadows originally released in the In Extra Dimension collection were 2 g whereas these are 1.3 g, but the price remained the same (£16.50). Not cool, Mac. They are still bigger and cheaper than the Estee Lauder Gelee Powder eyeshadows which are only 0.9 g for £19.00, so I guess that's something. It's not that you necessarily need 2 g of eyeshadows, but if you reduce the quantity, then reduce the price as well!

Anyway, now that's out of the way, these are actually rather lovely and if you haven't tried the liquid powder hybrid formula, then they're worth checking out. These ones didn't feel as soft as the Estee Lauder ones to me, but I didn't actually re-test the EL ones, so my memory could be tricking me. They're not cream eyeshadows, but they are very smooth and buttery, and even the lighter colours are pretty well pigmented. I wore them over primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance) and they lasted well all day without fading or creasing. I wore Stylishly Merry in the crease by the way.

I also got all 3 fluidlines: Catch My Eye, Little Black Bow, Feminine Edge. They are all very sparkly, in particular Catch My Eye and Feminine Edge. Little Black Bow is the least unique, it's a dark grey with sparkles, pretty, but not that special. Catch My Eye is a gorgeous sparkly taupe and Feminine Edge is a very shiny, sparkly cool pink.

I've only worn Feminine Edge so far, it was a quite hard to spread smoothly and the line ended up broken with chunky glittery bits rather than a smooth line. I think that shade in particular would work better as cream eyeshadow/base. It stayed on my lids and didn't fade or crease as a liner, but I haven't tried it as cream eyeshadow yet. (EDIT: I've been wearing Catch My Eye as a cream eyeshadow today (Sunday) and it's stayed creaseless and hasn't had any fallout all day.) You get 3 g of fluidline for £15.50 which is definitely a better deal.

So here you go. I will aim to do a post about the look I did with most of the eyeshadows and Feminine Edge fluidline tomorrow and will also review the nail polish you can see in the pictures soon.

In the meantime, see loads more pictures after the jump!

Fantastic Lancome Deals At Debenhams!

I was going to blog about the Mac Glamour Daze eyeshadows today, but then I got so excited about the fantastic deal I came across in Debenhams, I just had to share (sorry, Mac swatches coming soon!). I don't know how long these offers last, so I thought I'd let you know quickly, in case you want to take advantage of them.

Today I bought two of the Lancome holiday collection eyeshadows and one of the khol pencils (I will do a proper review on those later) and as a result was given a really nice gift with purchase including a gorgeous make up bag, several skincare samples, a tiny lipstick, a sample size mascara, two make up brushes (which I forgot to photograph, sorry) and because I bought the third product, a full size Bi-Facil make up remover. I won't go into all the details here, but you can see the offer by clicking on this link. According to Debenhams the gift with purchase is worth over £58, although I'm not entirely sure if it includes the extra Bi-Facil, but it doesn't include the make up bag and brushes apparently. A full-size Bi-Facil alone costs £21.

I also purchased the Christmas Beauty Box for £45 (you can only buy this if you buy 2 or more Lancome products, and luckily you still get the gift with purchase, they don't exclude each other) which actually has a value of £165! The eyeshadow palette and blush alone add up to at least £45 and there's also a full size Bi-Facil in here as well as Genifique and Visionnaire samples, 2 tiny lipsticks (one is the same as in the gift with purchase), 2 sample size mascaras, an eye khol, a sample size cream, a sample size cream cleanser and toner, as well as a gorgeous big sparkly gold make up case.

The Christmas Beauty Box is actually a fantastic deal as it costs £75 on the Lancome website, although you can purchase it without buying other products, but to be fair, if you're going to buy something from the holiday collection (and there's plenty to buy from that as it's gorgeous!) or even some staples, you might as well buy it from Debenhams and get it for £30 less!

See lots more pictures after the jump!