Paul & Joe Pearl Foundation Primer Review

I showed you this beauty in my haul post and had a couple of requests to review it, so here you go. Firstly, this primer is so pretty with the colourful little pearls inside. Reminds me very much of Guerlain Meteorites Pearls primer, which is also made up of little pearls and is also silicone free. It has a lovely smooth, slightly runny texture that spreads easily and a little goes a long way. It is mattifying, but also contains some very fine shimmer.  

The colourful pearls are in a colourless liquid and once you pump the primer out, the pearls get crushed by the pump, so you get a smooth, cloudy runny gel as a result. I can't say how mattifying exactly it is, or how long it makes your make up last because I haven't tested it long enough, but it certainly has some effect and I do love how smooth it makes my skin once it's applied.

At £23 per 30 ml it is a much cheaper alternative to the Guerlain Meteorites Pearls primer, so if you always wanted to try that one out, but didn't want to pay the high price tag (I think the Guerlain one is now £42!), then give this one a go. I bought mine from BeautyBay, I don't know if it's limited edition or not, but at the moment it's not available on the site. Hope it's not limited edition, because I would definitely repurchase this when I run out.

See more pictures after the jump!

My Recent Haul Pictures

I'm still playing catch up when it comes to writing blog posts, so I thought I'd do a quick one about my recent make up (and mostly nail polish!) purchases. I don't think I will get around to reviewing many of these anytime soon (I have one review coming), but if you are really interested in something, let me know in the comments. So without further ado, here are the pictures:

My Cherry Culture order

First up lots of lovely Milani stuff. I bought these from Cherry Culture when they recently had a 20% sale. Shipping was quite expensive, but I was very pleased that I didn't have to also pay customs duty and the horrendous £8 Royal Mail fee on top of it all, so the above came to a total of £60 which isn't too bad actually.

See what other products I bought after the jump!

Paul & Joe Sparkles Cat Collection Review and Swatches

When I first saw the images of Paul & Joe's upcoming cat collection, I knew I wanted to get some products just because of the cute design. I ended up buying Face & Eye Colour in 077 Kittycat, Lipstick C in 076 Meow! and 077 Catwalk. I'm still wanting the Matte Pressed Powder to hit ASOS or BeautyBay (I got the others from ASOS, but I never saw the Kitten collection up which has the face powder, nail polishes and blush sticks).

As pretty as they are, sadly none of these products lived up to my expectations. Firstly, the Face & Eye Colour and Lipstick C in 076 Meow! both have really ugly packaging. Red background with ugly floating heads - WTF? I really don't understand why they would use something that ugly for something this pretty on the inside. Lipstick C in 077 Catwalk has lovely packaging at least.

The Face & Eye Colour is pretty sheer. There's one really lovely shade in it (the shimmery purple one on the back of the cat), the pink (background) is okay if a bit sheer, but the front of the cat is a meh light beigy-brown matte colour. I do love the purple though, it reminds me of Urban Decay Crash 24/7 eyeliner pencil in eyeshadow form. There was some glitter fall out from it, but as it's very very fine glitter, it was hardly noticable.

The lipsticks have really cute paw prints on the all the way down the bullet, but sadly that's where the positives stop. The two shades I got are nothing unique, they are both pretty sheer and the texture's not that nice either.

All in all, if it wasn't for the cuteness of the design (and the fact that there is no way I could've swatched them), I wouldn't have got any of these products. I thought about returning them, but of course once you swatch them, you can't. I'm not saying they're awful, but other than the design there is nothing special about them. I think the promo images are way nicer than the actual products - sadly. They're not cheap either, the Face & Eye Colour costs £21.50 and the lipsticks are £16 each.The Face & Eye Colour is 12 g, the lipsticks are 3 g each.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Paul & Joe Spring 2011 Parasol Collection eyeshadow duo review

I had my eye on the new lipsticks that came out in Paul & Joe's Parasol Spring Collection, but when I went to harrods last month to finally check them out, I was distracted by all the shimmer in these lovely eyeshadow duos. So much so that I ended up coming away with 3 of them and no lipsticks (the lipsticks were quite sheer and I decided against them in the end).

Paul & Joe's spring collection includes 5 eyeshadow duos, 3 lipsticks and several other lovely things. I bought eyeshadow duos 001 (yellow and white), 002 (pink and brown) and 005 (light blue and purple). They are a bit similar to the Myface Cosmetics Bling Tone eyeshadows that I reviewed here, they seem like pressed glitter, but they are very fine and look almost creamy. I found they apply better with your fingers than brushes, the light blue shade especially applied very flaky with a brush, but there wasn't too much fallout either way. Some are more pigmented than others, my favourites are the brown and purple shades for pigmentation, but I do love the sheer sparkles of the white and yellow too.

As usual, the packaging is very pretty, I love Paul & Joe, they always have such lovely details on their products. The boxes have beautiful spring theme, what looks like a flowering rose bush, and the compacts are pearlescent white with the signature flower detail on them. Very pretty. The eyeshadows are fairly small (2.3 g, which is still quite a bit bigger than Mac single eyeshadows), but they are big enough for the halves to be used separately. 

I did a look with the blue, purple and pink ones that you can see here, and there are more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Myface Cosmetics Haul: Bling Tone eyeshadows and Gigabyte lipsticks

I'd been wanting to try out Myface Cosmetics Bling Tone eyeshadows ever since they appeared in Boots, but I was always a bit hesitant since they cost £9.99 each, however, when they were on offer (3 for 2) the other day, I couldn't resist them anymore. And as there were 4 shades I wanted to try out, I ended up buying two of their Gigabyte lipsticks too. The lipsticks cost £9.99 each too and the 3 for 2 offer is still on by the way!

The eyeshadows are very very sparkly, they look like pressed glitter. They come in 10 shades, although my Boots only carries 5 which is just as well, otherwise I might have bought them all. I got Bellbottom Blues, Purple Haze, Morocco and Gilt-y. I've worn two of them so far and I didn't experience much fall out or creasing at all (you do need a base though), but the glitter does migrate a little bit after several hours of wear. Not a big deal for me. The colour payoff isn't that great, but with some layering you can build up the colour, and I gues it might suit those better who just want a sheer wash of colour as the shadows in the pan do look quite scary. The blue one is the most pigmented, it is a beautiful colour, can't wait to try it out.

Now onto the lipsticks. I bought Strawberry Fields and Sweet Dreams. Strawberry Fields is a bright pinky red, Sweet Dreams is a rosy nude colour. Both are really pretty, have smooth textures, feel lovely on the lips, quite moisturising in fact. The don't last too long as they are quite slippery on the lips, but if you don't mind reapplying, they are pretty nice lipsticks. 

With the 3 for 2 offer the price was okay, but to be honest, the packaging, especially the lipsticks still feels a bit on the cheap side. I personally don't like white or see through packaging much, I prefer black, it just looks more classy.

See more photos, swatches and a look I created after the jump!

I went shopping today...

My husband has taken the children to his parents for 3 days, so I finally have some me time on my hands and today I went to London for a spot of shopping. This is what I bought: As you can see, I didn't hold back, I bought quite a few things, but I can honestly say I'm very happy with everything I got. I haven't worked out how much I've spent yet, but it's quite a lot. In my defence, some of the things you see here were samples and gift with purchase, eg you get that lovely make up bag if you spend over £40 on Paul & Joe products. Also I bought the other pieces of make up in Debenhams and Boots and as I have both their loyalty cards, I've earned some points, so I actually saved money. Well, off future purchases anyway... See more pictures of what I bought after the jump!