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!

NOTD: Mac Immortal Gold and Topshop Black Dynamite Crackle

Topshop Black Dynamite Crackle polish is an interesting one, it's matte back with gold sparkles without a topcoat. I preferred it with topcoat, I prefer shiny polishes. I applied it over Mac Immortal Gold nail polish and the combo looked really nice.

Formula was good on both, the crackle effect is actually really good. Sadly, that's where the positives ended. The mani chipped on me within 24 hours and in fact one nail completely peeled off. I don't know which polish to blame, but generally Mac polishes don't last very long on me.

Mac Immortal Gold was a limited edition, so it's not available anymore. Topshop Black Dynamite Crackle costs £6 and is a permanent shade.

See more pictures after the jump!

Mac Pro Longwear Paint Pots Review and Swatches

Mac has released 8 "new" Pro Longwear Paint Pots this month, although only 2 of them are actually new shades, the other 6 are repromoted or even from the permanent line. I only bought the two new shades: Frozen Violet and Antique Diamond, because I already owned the other 6. Although mine are the original, "just" Paint Pots, I believe the formula hasn't been changed, they've just been renamed to Pro Longwear Paint Pots.

So I thought I might as well do a quick post on them and show you all the swatches. For once, these are actually NOT limited edition, so you can take your time to purchase the ones you like. Yay!

We have here Let's Skate from Glitter & Ice (2011), Chilled On Ice, Vintage Selection, Let Me Pop and Dangerous Cuvee from Cham-Pale (2010), Frozen Violet and Antique Diamond (new) and Blackground (permanent). All of them are glittery and/or frosty to some extent, some more than others. They are quite sheer, perfect for a quick wash of colour. I often use paint pots when I don't have time to do a complex eye look, just swipe one colour on my lids and maybe another one to highlight and that's it. These paint pots are brilliantly long lasting and they don't crease all day long (not even without primer underneath). Once they dry, they're not going anywhere. They are also very good as eyeshadow bases.

As you can see, most of the old paint pots are still in good condition, but my Let Me Pop has shrivelled up somewhat. I don't know why, I stored it just like I store the others (upside down with the lid tightly closed) and it's the same age as the other 3 Cham-Pale ones. It still works, it's not too dry, but I suspect it may not have too much life in it left. Oh well, at least I can repurchase it now it's permanent. Actually Let Me Pop isn't one of my favourites, it's a bit chunky and hard to get even. My favourites are definitely Vintage Selection and Dangerous Cuvee, but I also really like Antique Diamond.

Mac Pro Longwear Paint Pots cost £14.50 and you get 5 g of product for your money. It's nice to have some new shades added to the permanent line, but I would still like to see some bright colours like purple, blue, teal and green.

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

Mac Pressed Pigments Review and Swatches

In January Mac also released a collection of pressed pigments, but as they are actually permanent additions to their make up line, I thought I'd take my time before reviewing them. Even after this long I still haven't got around to wearing all shades, but I have a good idea about them now, so it's time for the review.

Mac says the collection contains 12 shades, but for some reason there are only 11 on the Mac UK website (it doesn't include Light Touch). 3 of the 12 shades are actually repromoted from the previous release and I have found these on the House of Fraser website (they are Light Touch, Deeply Dashing and Day Gleam), but for some reason not all of them are up on the Mac website. Anyway...

I got 7 of the new shades this time around (I also got Warming Heart with the first release if you want to check out my thoughts on that one), and they are Sweet Acting, Flicker, Blonde Streak, Smoky, Amethyst, Jet Couture and Blue Willow. Sweet Acting is described by Mac as "midtone pink", Flicker is "pastel yellow", Blonde Streek is "light cream", Smoky is "deep silver blue", Amethyst is "purple with silver undertone", Jet Couture is "charcoal black" and Blue Willow is "light icy blue".

Generally speaking these pressed pigments are very shimmery, glittery. They actually remind me very much of the Laura Mercier Sequin and Bobbi Brown Sparkle eyeshadows. If you don't like shimmer and glitter, then stay clear of them. I have to say, I don't find them at all gritty or chunky, I found application to be smooth. There is some fallout during application, but I didn't notice it after I'd cleaned up and applied my foundation. Most of these shades are pretty light and not very pigmented, except for Smoky and Jet Couture. Jet Couture in particular is an amazing shade, it's charcoal black with multicolour shimmer. It's really stunning.

All in all, I don't think these are must haves, but if you like different effects and a bit of shimmer when it comes to eyeshadows, then check them out. They cost £16.50 each and you get 3 g.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Barry M 344 Magnetic Gold Sparkle / Moon Dust

I'm still on the fence about magnetic polishes, even though I always get lots of complimentents when wearing them. I'd only owned 3 of them so far (one Nails Inc and 2 17 ones), and decided I wasn't going to get any more. I don't hate them but they can be quite fiddly. However, then I saw the recent shades Barry M had come out with and decided I had to try them out. I also like it that they come with different pattern magnets, so you can mix and match.

Magnetic Gold Sparkle (or as it's now been renamed Moon Dust) is an antique gold colour polish with gold sparkle. None of my other magnetic polishes had sparkle, so I thought this might look quite interesting. I didn't anticipate just how gorgeous it would look once I've put the magnet over it, in fact both my daughter and I exclaimed when we saw the result, it's truly striking.

You get silvery stripes as well as darker gold ones with sparkle, neither colour actually resembling the colour of the polish in the bottle. It's like two colours had been mixed together and then separated by the magnet. The effect is almost 3D, and it appears to move as I move my hand. I have had many compliments when wearing it, the beauty of these magnetic polishes is that they look like you've had your nails done whereas you can do them quite easily yourself.

I do find them a little fiddly to use, sometimes the design doesn't come out as sharp and sometimes I manage to touch the nail with the magnet. I also found that the stripes got a bit messed up when I applied the top coat, I don't know if maybe waiting a bit would've helped. Wear time wasn't that great, it started chipping on me within the first 24 hours. This isn't unusual, but not every polish chips on me on the first day, so I'm still not too happy about it.

I used two coats on most fingers, but some of them I had to redo several times, so I just kept applying extra layers. It dried fairly quickly and other than the top coat's brush leaving slight marks in the design, the polish was pretty easy to use.

Barry M magnetic polishes come in 5 shimmery shades and 4 non-shimmery ones, and they come with 5 different magnets (one each). They cost £4.99 each and you get 10 ml for your money. Of course there are usually deals on in either Superdrug or Boots, so keep an eye out!

See lots 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!

NOTD: Color Club Wild And Willling

Since I've been buying so many nail polishes, I'm trying to do a nail post a week, although I actually have quite a backlog of pictures since I change my nail polish 2-3 times week and most manis are actually worthy of sharing on here. Would you like me to do more nail posts in the future or not? I know I'm still not that skilled when it comes to painting my nails, although I have got much better. Let me know in the comments what you think!

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

Today I have this gorgeous Color Club nail polish to show you. It's called Wild And Willing and it was part of the Wild At Heart Collection from 3 years ago. It's a beautiful shimmer polish which is also duochrome, it's pink and orange, with some yellow and a bit of green thrown in for good measure. It looks great both in the sunlight and in shade.

The formula was very thin though, I think it took 4 coats, it was very sheer and runny. It dried pretty quickly though. It lasted okay on me with some very small chips on day 2, I ended up wearing it for 4 days. It's so pretty, I think I can forgive it for the thin, runny formula, but it would be just perfect if the formula was better.

I buy Color Club polishes on eBay from this seller or from TK Maxx (they sell Color Club box sets for around £8 which is a great deal!). I think I got this one on eBay for about $3 plus $4.50 postage to the UK. You get a very generous 15 ml for your money.

See more pictures after the jump!

Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer in Bronze Shimmer Review and Swatches

I love myself some shimmer, and I was happy to try out Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer when it was sent to me for consideration. Although I don't get on very well with liquid highlighters, this is more of a base product that you can mix with your foundation or lotion for a radiant glow.

I got Bronze Shimmer which is a golden bronzy colour. It's good for adding a bit of a sun-lissed glow to your skin. I'm fairly pale even after the summer (yeah I know, what summer?), but this wasn't at all dark for me. The shimmery liquid that comes in a small bottle with a brush in the lid that you can use to apply the product with. It's fairly runny which makes it very blendable.

I like it, but I don't love it. Used under foundation the glow pretty much disappears. If used mixed into a lotion, it will give a more all-over glow which I'm not sure I want on my face. You can dab it onto your cheeks and blend it, it does blend out very easily and isn't too shimmery, certainly not glittery or metallic. I just don't feel like it's a must have product myself, and to be honest I'm not sure I would pay £16 for it. You get 14 ml which is plenty, probably way more than you would ever use up.

Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer is available in 4 shades: Bronze Shimmer, Kitten Shimmer, Pink Shimmer and Rose Gold Shimmer. They can be purchased from BeautyBay and Stila directly for £16.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

NOTD: Darling Diva Polish in Dangerous Driver

I have recently discovered some indie nail polish brands, one of them is Darling Diva Polish. In this post I want to show you Dangerous Driver, a beautiful purle polish with green duochrome, red sparkles and subtle holo. I'd say it's not as blue purple in real life as it is in the pictures as my camera always turns purples into blues. This reminds me of Max Factor Fantasy Fire but with holo.

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

I layered this over 2 coats of China Glaze Gothic Lolita, and I think I used 2 coats of Dangerous Driver as well. You can use it on its own too, it's not too sheer. The consistency of this was really nice, not too runny, not thick, just right. The combination lasted on me for about 24 hours without chipping, by the end of day 2 i had some bigger chips. Not the longest lasting, but China Glaze polishes don't seem to last on me very well, so maybe it was China Glaze's fault. I'm not sure, I've never used Gothic Lolita on its own.

I bought my Dangerous Driver from the Darling Diva Polish shop on Etsy, it cost $12 for 15 ml. They ship internationally for quite a reasonable price, $7 per bottle, but for 4 bottles only $10. I have bought another 3 polishes from Darling Diva that yet I need to try and there are a few bottles in the shop I quite fancy, but can't justify right now due to my excessive nail polish stash.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Bourjois 1 Seconde Nail Polish in Rainbow Apparition

Once again I got sucked into buying another rainbow glitter nail polish. I'm like a magpie, love myself some glitter and rainbow colours. I used Bourjois Rainbow Apparition on top of 2 coats of Orly Sugar Plum (although I can't remember if I used one or two coats of Rainbow Apparition, sorry).

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

Rainbow Apparition is such a pretty polish, it has loads of holographic glitter that shimmer in all colours of the rainbow. It's supposed to be a 1 second nail polish, ie should take one second to apply due to the wide fan brush. I don't like claims like that, nothing takes one second in my opinion, but apart from that it's a lovely top coat with a nice formula and the brush is indeed very handy.

It lasted brilliantly on me, 3 days with hardly any chipping. I didn't have any chips at all in the first 24 hours, and only a couple of small ones later on. Very impressed.What annoys me though is that the bottle is so tall due to the long thin cap, it doesn't fit into my storage boxes standing up. No need for that in my opinion, 2 cm shorter would be just fine.

Bourjois 1 Seconde Nail Polishes cost £5.99 and available from Boots, Superdrug, etc. Orly Sugar Plum was a PR sample, but retails at £7.50 on BeautyBay.

See more pictures after the jump!

Guerlain Terracotta Blush Sun Shimmer Highlighter Review and Swatches

Firstly I'd like to apologise for not posting for 2 days, but I've had some very busy days behind me and then last night I was so tired I actually fell asleep in front of the telly. But finally here's the post I'd been planning on writing for a few days.

Guerlain's annual Terracotta collection was launched here a few weeks ago and I've already reviewed the Sun In The City shimmer powder a little while ago, however, the other two products I wanted took a bit longer to launch for some reason. I got the two liquid blushes, Sunny Pink and Spicy Coral. These blushes are also described as Sun Shimmer Highlighters, I guess because they are quite shimmery, however, they are certainly not highlighters on my skintone (may be on darker skintones I guess). They are actually very pigmented and a little goes a very long way as you will see from the swatch pictures.

Sunny Pink is a gorgeous pink colour with lots of gold shimmer in it. It's very wearable on lighter skintones and can be blended out well. Spicy Coral is quite orange with again lots of gold shimmer and may be harder to pull off, I will probably only attempt it once I have a tan, but right now I'm so pale I'm not sure it wouldn't look too orange and clowny on me. (Admittedly I haven't tried it on other than the arm swatch.) You can see me wearing Sunny Pink at the bottom of this post, so be sure to scroll down all the way.

They come in a pump bottle and one pump is plenty enough to cover both cheeks, so as I said, a little goes a very long way. They can be blended quite easily, but I would definitely try adding little bits at a time and building up the colour rather than slathering it on all at once and then attempting to blend it out. You get 15 ml for £28, so they're certainly not cheap, but I would imagine they'll last forever.

Have you been tempted by any of these? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures including swatches and a quick FOTD with Sunny Pink after the jump!

Accessorize Merged Eyeshadows Shade 9 and 10 - Review and Swatches

I picked up these two new Accessorized Merged Eyeshadows in my recent trip to Superdrug. I owned a few of these already and being a sucker for all things baked/mineralize, I decided to pick these up too. If I remember correctly there were 4 new shades on the Accessorize stand, but the other two didn't interest me. I picked up Cosmic Rays and Purple Drama.

Cosmic Rays, Purple Drama

These eyeshadows are actually quite different to the the ones I'd ownded already as they have quite a lot of glitter in them. Cosmic Rays has gold glitter and Purple Drama has silver glitter. They are not fine glitter either, although I did find them quite easy to use and I just tended to avoid the big glittery areas when picking up the shadow with my brush. The eyeshadows are quite large (3g), so it's reasonably easy to pick up the shadow from just one side of the pan. There was quite a bit of fallout when I applied them, but I just do my foundation last in those cases and once it had been applied, I didn't experience much fallout at all.

I'd say these are not the best quality eyeshadows I've tried from Accessorize, but they're not bad, just more glittery than others. They are still nicely pigmented and I just love both colours. They cost £4.50 and are available from Superdrug and Accessorize.

I will post a FOTD I did with Purple Drama and I will be hosting an Accessorize giveaway very soon, so make sure you check back!

See more pictures after the jump!

Vivo Baked Shimmer Palette in Paparazzi Review and Swatches

I've recently reviewed the Chocolate Box Palette and today I have Paparazzi to show you. Like the Chocolate Box Palette this one also contains 4 baked eyeshadows (1g each) and a baked blush (2.5g).

The colours in the pan seem very vivid, but they are actually quite sheer, but of course buildable. They swatch quite sheer, but you can pack them on and they actually look very nice when worn. I've included pictures of the look I did with the pink and purple shades at the bottom of the post. The shadows are shimmery with fine glitter, but there was only minimal fallout during application and none afterwards, so that's not an issue. They also stayed on without creasing for 10+ hours. The blush is pretty much the same shade as the one in the Chocolate Box Palette, but this one has less bronze veining, so it appears a bit more pink and less coral. You can see a picture of me wearing the blush at the very bottom of this post.

I like this palette a little less than the Chocolate Box Palette, but it's still nice and for the price of £6 it's a total bargain. It would be better if the blush was different in every palette (not sure about the other two, I don't own them), but due to the difference in veining it still is a bit pinker than the other one.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

NOTD: Max Factor Max Effect Nail Polish in 45 Fantasy Fire

I wondered into my local Superdrug the other day and found that Max factor had come out with new shades of the mini Max Effect nail polishes (I've owned 3 of those already). This gorgeous shade immediately caught my eye, so I decided to pick up two. They are very small (don't know exactly how small as I can't see it on the bottle though), so I thought I'd make sure I don't run out anytime soon, plus there was a 2 for £5.99 offer (they are £3.99 each).

Natural daylight no flash

I'm sorry about the quality of the pictures, I had to use my phone camera as my normal camera refuses to pick up pinky purples, it just turns them into blue and this beauty is certainly not blue. The base is a lovely purple and it has loads of very fine red shimmer which also appear gold and blue depending on how the light hits my nails. On a cloudy day the polish is more bluey purple, but as soon as there's light, it turns more pinky and the red sparkles light up like little specks of fire. Absolutely gorgeous!

It does take 4 coats to achieve the colour you see in the pictures, the base colour is actually very sheer, so you really need to layer it to get the colour you see in the bottle. I guess perhaps painting it on top of a purple polish might work better, but I also really love the actual base colour, so you might lose that if you layer it on top of another purple polish. In any case it is gorgeous and well worth the time. It did dry pretty quickly and didn't chip on me for 2 whole days (which is pretty good for me as nearly everything chips on me within 48 hours) and now 3 days on it's still looking okay with just 2 chips and some tipwear.

As I said above, a bottle of this prettiness costs £3.99 and you can buy it from Superdrug, Boots and supermarkets.

See more pictures after the jump!

Vivo Baked Shimmer Palette in Chocolate Box Review and Swatches

I'd heard so much about Tesco's new make up line, Vivo, so when I was doing some Christmas grocery shopping I decided to check it out. I brought home this lovely Baked Shimmer Palette in Chocolate Box. The palette contains four baked eyeshadows and a baked blush. The shadows are a mixture of two-three colours each, so it's a little hard to see what the mixed colour will be, and I was rather surprised to find that the eyeshadow on the right turned out to be a bluey lilac shade (not very chocolatey if you ask me), but it is actually really lovely.

All four eyeshadows are really pigmented and smooth, soft and buttery, they go on really nicely with minimal fall out and once on the eyelids, there is no fallout whatsoever. There was also no creasing at all. I created a look with the shade on the right and the third shade from the right (or second left, not counting the blush, if you prefer) and it was really lovely. (Sorry about the photos, I never got aruond to taking pictures of the palette before using it, so there's some powder around the shades I used.) The blush is a pretty pinky coral everyday blush, it's quite pigmented, but not crazily so, it's shimmery, but not glittery. All in all I am very happy with this palette and it has definitely made me want to check out the rest of the range. The palette cost £6 and there are 4 different shades in the range available from Tesco (sadly not online).

Do you own any make up from the Vivo range? Let me know in the comments.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Finished! The October Edition

Firstly, sorry about neglecting the blog these last few days. I've been very busy with shopping (the new Mac collections are out as well as Dior, Chanel and those gorgeous Models Own Beetlejuice nail polishes) and also updating my blog sale (nearly done). Plus little everyday things like children and cleaning and washing and cooking... You know.

Anyway, another month has gone past, so here's another post about all the products I've finished last month. Only five though, sadly, however there are quite a few other ones just hanging by their teeth. Just like this first product was, I thought I'd never finish it.

It's Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub. Couldn't wait to finish it off. Firstly, it's not a scrub. It's a creamy cleanser with some very soft bits in it. It does not scrub, nor it does exfoliate. It is not a deep cleansing scrub like it claims. It did nothing for me, my pores are still there, clogged and as big as ever. Waste of money. (Can you tell I didn't like this?)

Find out what other products I finished after the jump!

Accessorize Diamond Sparkle Lipgloss Review and Swatches

Are you bored of my Accessorize reviews yet? Hope not, as I have some really lovely lipglosses to show you. I actually bought these when I first discovered Accessorize make up back in November 2010, and I'm ashamed to admit that I've only just started using them after my second haul a couple of weeks ago. I have so many other lipglosses, these just never got a look in. BUT I have now started using them and I have to say, I am very happy with them. So much so that I bought another shade just last week which I included at the bottom of this post as I took these photos before then.

Mysterious, Captivating, Crush, Forgiven, Diva

So these are called Diamond Sparkle Lipglosses basically because they are very sparkly. Some more than others, but all in all they all sparkly. Other than that they are creamy, non sticky, pigmented, pleasantly scented (similar to Mac liplasses, not sicky sweet and not plasticy as some other high street brands) and moderately long wearing. In the end of the day these are lipglosses and as they're not sticky, you shouldn't expect them to last through your lunch, but without eating they will last 2-3 hours on me which is think is fine for glosses. I got 5 shades initially (as above) and out of the 5 Forgiven, a lovely raspberry pink was the least sparkly. It's also a bit more sheer than the others, but that said I wore it on top of a medium pink Avon lipliner today and it came out amazingly pigmented. Very juicy, shiny, little bit sparkly, but nothing like some of the others. You will see from the swatches below that Mysterious and Captivating are the most sparkly of the bunch, but also Diva is pretty sparkly. However, you don't just get sparkles, you also get a fair amount of colour. You can expect some glitter migration as the lipgloss fades, which I guess may put some people off, so I'd recommend you go for the less sparkly shades. I love Crush, a gorgeous coral pink with medium amount of sparkles for example. I also got Bewitch (see at the bottom of the post) which is a very pigmented medium bubblegum pink colour with not too much glitter.

All in all I think these glosses are well worth checking out if you don't mind a bit (or lot) of glitter in your life. You get 3 ml for £4 and you can buy these from Superdrug or Accessorize.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!