My Mac Hey Sailor Haul and Swatches

Sorry this is a bit late, but I've only just got around to doing and I know this collection hasn't launched in America yet, so hopefully some of you will find it useful. So this is my haul from Mac's summer collection Hey Sailor (well, most of it, I'm still waiting for two eyeshadows to arrive from Debenhams, will do a separate post on them).

I got all 3 Pro Longwear Lip Pencils, one Powerpoint Eye Pencil in Handforged, Riviera Life and Send Me sailing lipglasses, Red Racer lipstick and Crew High-Light Powder. A relatively modest haul by my standards, but I do have a lot of make up already, so I'm trying to be a bit more picky.

I'm not going to do a full review partly because I haven't actually worn everything yet, but I do have swatches for you and also a picture of me wearing Red Racer lipstick. So far I'm happy with everything I've got, my favourites have to be the lipstick and the High-Light Powder, which actually shows up quite well on me, so I can use it as a subtle blush. Also, just to clarify, the stripes are not an overspray which is why I ended up buying it (plus because it's very pretty).

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

FOTD: Estee Lauder Summer

Here is the look I did with the new Estee Lauder summer products. I don't know about you, but I still feel like the teal shade doesn't work very well with the other shades, certainly not the copper. Or maybe it's just me. Let me know what you think.

Here's a list of all the products I used to create this look:

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Estee Lauder Pure Color Five Color Gelee Powder Eyeshadow Palette gold shade in the inner corner of the lid
Estee Lauder Pure Color Five Color Gelee Powder Eyeshadow Palette copper shade in the middle of the lid
Estee Lauder Pure Color Five Color Gelee Powder Eyeshadow Palette teal gold shade in the outer corner and crease
Estee Lauder Pure Color Five Color Gelee Powder Eyeshadow Palette white shade in the inner corner of lid and on browbone to highlight
Stila Smudge Stick in Peacock on lower lashline
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero on waterline
Mac Zoom Lash mascara in Black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:

MUA Beauty Balm BB Cream
Mac Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder
Estee Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelee in Shimmering Sands on cheeks
Mac Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Whisper of Gilt to highlight

Lips:

Mac Riviera Life lipglass

See more photos after the jump!

Estee Lauder Pure Color Five Color Gelee Powder Eyeshadow Palette Review and Swatches

The other product I was really excited about from the Estee Lauder summer collection is the five colour gelee powder eyeshadow palette (if you missed it, you can read my review of the Illuminating Powder Gelee in Shimmering Sands here). This is basically the same as the Cyber Eyes Gelee Powder eyeshadows in a palette, but with the same pattern as the Shimmering Sands powder.

The colours in this palette are so beautifully summery, I love them. Although I also have to add that I'm a little bit unsure about the turquoise/teal colour in the middle. I thought it would be brighter, whereas it's actually quite a dull, bit greyish colour. To me it doesn't work very well with the rest of the palette. The other shades are all lovely, they work well together and swatch beautifully, soft and buttery. The teal shade swatches and applies well too, it just looks a bit faded, not as vibrant as the other colours.

I did a look with them (photos to come soon) and they applied and blended beautifully and lasted really well, there was no creasing even after 10 hours. I would love to see another few palettes with this formula in other colours, pinks, purples, blues, greens perhaps. The eyeshadows have a high metallic sheen but are not glittery and there is absolutely no fall out from them. They really are lovely.

The palette contains 4.4 g of eyeshadows (roughly the same size as 5 single Cyber Eyes eyeshadows) and costs £35 which is actually not too bad considering that the singles cost £19 each! This is a limited edition product and judging by how popular these eyeshadows have been, it will probably sell out fast. At the moment it's available from Boots, Debenhams, House of Fraser and other department stores.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Estee Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelee Shimmering Sands Review and Swatches

Estee Lauder once again has a lovely summer collection and there were two things in particular that really interested me when I saw the promo pictures, the 5 colour Gelee Powder eyeshadow palette (review to come soon) and the Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelee in Shimmering Sands.

This is the third Illuminating Powder Gelee hybrid that Estee Lauder has come out with in a short space of time. The formula is very similar to Mac's Extra Dimension Skinfinishes, very smooth and creamy with high frosty shine (although less frosty than the Mac skinfinishes). Colourwise this shade is different from all 3 Mac skinfinishes, it's darker and redder than Superb, but lighter and less orange than Glorify. I think this shade will look good on darker skintones or on me once I have a tan (which is not looking too likely judging by how the weather's been lately), but it is possibly to pull it off when you're pale if you use a very light hand (apply with a brush rather than the sponge applicator) and I think it works pretty well as a contour shade too.

The powder costs £28 and you get 4.5 g which actually seems very little (half of the Mac skinfinishes), but the compact is the same as the regular Estee Lauder blush compact so I think the powder gelee formula must be lighter than a regular powder. I don't think I will run out of this anytime soon ever as you only need a tiny bit, so the actual amount of product doesn't bother me too much. This is a limited edition product and these gelee powders sell out very quickly, so get yours while you can. Available at Debenhams, House of Fraser, Boots and other retailers with Estee Lauder counters and online from all of the above plus the Estee Lauder website.

See more pictures after the jump!

This Month I...

Rather than just doing a post about products I've finished this month, I've decided to do more of a summary of the last month and all beauty related happenings. So here we go.

Last month I...

• finished 3 products. It's been a slow month, what can I say? At least it's more than nothing, eh? One of the products finished was Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara which I really enjoyed using and would definitely consider repurchasing if I didn't already own 20+ mascaras. It also lasted for ages, I don't even remember when I first started using it, it didn't go bad or dry out, just simply ran out eventually. 
• have overspent by about £250 again. I think I should just up my budget, because it's clearly too low. Or maybe buy less make up and spend less money. (Crazy talk, I know.)
• have bought another lorry load of nail polishes. I know I'm crazy, I have been buying nail polish all the time, but there are so many pretty colours! I have also discovered a couple of brands (namely Glitter Gal and A-England) I'd not heard about before and they both happened to be holographic nail polishes which is my weakness. 

Here are some pictures of the pretty polishes I bought in April (some reviews will follow eventually, let me know in the comments which ones you're interested in the most). First up, A-England holo polishes:

Princess Tears, Lady Of The Lake, Ascalon, Tristram, Princess Sabra

See lots more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Orly Rock Candy

Here's another Orly nail polish I was sent for review, this shade is called Rock Candy. This is an iridescent sheer blue polish with a shimmer finish. It's not just blue, it flashes pink and purple depending how the light hits it. Very pretty.

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

This is actually very much the kind of nail polish I used to wear years ago before I learned about all the amazing brands and colours, so I guess for me this would not be one I'd choose nowadays, but it is certainly lovely and very office friendly and would look lovely even on a bride. As I said this polish is pretty sheer, so it took 3 layers to build up and even then it wasn't opaque, but with this kind of colour I don't think you need that anyway.

A lovely formula, a bit runny, but equally it dried really quickly, and it lasted pretty well by my standards, it wore for 2 days without much chipping.

You get a whopping 18 ml for your money and in the UK it costs £7.50 from BeautyBay or you can buy it from eBay for even a bit less (I've seen it for under £6 includign shipping).

See more pictures after the jump!

Barbara Daly Satin Swirl Eyes Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part 3

You may remember that I have reviewed some of these new Barbara Daly Satin Swirl eyeshadows before (click here for my review) and at the time I was sure I'd seen pictures of some other shades on the display stand, but could only find 6 initially. Well, I have managed to track down the remaining 4 shades and yes, there is a purple and a green one as I initially thought.

Top row: Oyster, Rose Lace
Bottom row: Whirl, Twilight

That's the good news. The bad news is that these are - for some reason - nowhere near as nice as the other 6 shades. I was most disappointed in the gorgeous purple (Twilight), it looks so intense in the pan yet it has a poor colour payoff. I have swatched them with my fingers which always give a better colour payoff, and I have applied them with a brush, but either way all I got was a sheer wash of colour. The green one (Whirl) and the champagne colour (Oyster) are the most pigmented of the bunch, although Oyster is very light, so it's not very easy to see, but it does make a lovely highlighter. The dusty pink shade (Rose Lace) looks quite dull in the pan and also when swatched, it doesn't really show up on my skin.

I haven't worn Whirl yet, but I did a look with the other 3 (sorry, no pictures, I'm really rubbish at taking pictures at the moment) and the colours were very sheer, although you can build them up slightly. I guess it's good news for those who don't like/want to wear very bright colours. I ended up adding Mac Grand Galaxy Extra Dimension eyeshadow in the crease because Twilight was just not cutting it as a crease colour. Otherwise they wore pretty well and didn't crease at all (I had Too Faced Shadow Insurance under them). At £8 each for 2.5 g they're still not bad value, but compared to the other 6 shades I felt these, especially Rose Lace and Twilight, were a a bit of a letdown.

These are now available online from Tesco Direct as well as in-stores, although I believe that these 4 shades are only available in selected stores (none of mine had them). There is currently a 3 for 2 offer on all Barbara Daly products.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!