Pastel pink FOTD

The other day I watched a youtube tutorial by the lovely Lisa Eldridge here that was so pretty I had to try and recreate it! This isn't really a FOTD but I had great fun trying this out.

I used so many different eye shadows and products whilst playing around with this look that I sort of lost count but most of them were from my trusty MUA immaculate palette and my Collection 2000 (Now just Collection of course) Angelic palette. For my lips I mainly used my lilac Barry M 129 lip paint and my Collection lipstick in bubblegum. To finish off the lips I patted a little of one of the pink eye shadows from my MUA palette on top. I used my ELF eyebrow kit in ash and my Accessorize pretty pink baked blusher.

And finally, on the topic of lovely girlie pinks and purples, how gorgeous are these tulips that Mike got me for my birthday? I love them!

Accessorize baked blusher

Now I'm sure by now everyone has worked out that I'm very much into Accessorize's makeup range. I've posted swatches so far of the eyeshadows and a lipgloss and I'm sure that on other blogs you must have seen by now some of the duochrome nail shades they've got on offer. Well now I've got to show you what was actually the first Accessorize product I ever tried! I started my collection with their baked blusher in 'pretty pink' and frankly I'm sure you'll see why I couldn't resist it.

After I read a post about the blusher on Lipglossiping my birthday came around in March and I couldn't help it. The gorgeous packaging and glorious swirled colours were calling to me! Because I can't afford higher-end brands I am used to fairly bland packaging but Accessorize as I've said before know their market! For a £5.50 blusher where you get 8 grams of product the packaging is still adorable. Kudos to them!

The surface of this blusher looks like the surface of an amazingly girlie planet that I wish I lived on... Well actually it looks like a blend of a pale peachy pinks with veins of lilac running through it. And even though I have very pale skin this shade is still perfect as both a subtle shimmer and blush. When dusted lightly it provides shimmer and when used more liberally the peach tone really comes to life. The product is very fine and doesn't have heavy chunks of glitter in it. Really I'd say it is very easy to work with.

 

Due to the shimmer in this product it can look a lot paler than you first might expect when swatched. In this swatch where the light hits in the bottom of the picture you can see the highlighting shimmer's effect but if you look towards the top the peach tint is more visible. On my cheeks this product doesn't stand out and look obvious but actually blends quite well with my skintone and adds a natural looking radiance. I'd say that this is perfect for summer and using these products always brings out my girlie side!

Summer look #1 FOTD

Well I promised way back in my Collection 2000 lipstick review that I'd be showing you all some of the summer looks I'll be trying this year. So, here is my first FOTD incorporating a few summer brights!

On my lips you can see the 'bubblegum' Collection 2000 shade sealed with a little powder in all its matte glory. I can't resist a sweep of eyeliner and I think with my 'tousled' (that's the polite word) bun I wore my hair in today this look is almost 1960s in inspiration. However I couldn't resist making the most of that pastel lip and paired it with the mint green from my Accessorize palette. For a finishing touch I added some MUA shade 1 blusher just to add a slight pink flush to my face.

Products used on my face were L'oreal Paris 16 hour foundation in porcelain, Collection 2000 cover up stick in light translucent, Collection 2000 pressed powder in ivory and MUA blusher in shade 1. On my brows I used MUA brow pencil in blonde and their mascara in shade 5. On my eyes I wore the palest shade and the mint green from my Accessorize eye wardrobe palette along with Rimmel Glam eyes lash flirt mascara and Collection 2000 fast stroke eyeliner in black. Finally, on my lips I wore Collection 2000 colour intense lipstick in bubblegum with a dusting of powder! 

Accessorize have shiny covered!

Hello there dears! I promised reviews in my haul post and although I’ve been under the weather, I’m delivering quite a few swatches today from the Accessorize makeup range.

 In the gift-set I got from Mike, were these 2.5g eye shadows for £2 together while they would usually have been priced at £4 each. The casing for these solo eye shadows is practical, pretty and easy to open. All of the individual shades that I’ve seen have been shimmers so Accessorize must be sticking to their roots and favouring all things shiny!

From left to right - ‘Baby pink’ is a very sheer shade with a definite shimmer and a rosy undertone. ‘Sage’ is my personal favourite and a smoky, rich metallic olive.‘Truffle’ is a shimmery taupe with a pink-grey undertone. When these shadows hit the light they have serious shine but they remain creamy not gritty with glitter. Whilst I experienced some creasing with ‘Sage’ when it was heavily applied, I can’t say the same for ‘Baby pink’ and ‘Truffle’ so I think they are quite reasonable on that front considering they are near-metallic shadows.

 Speaking of shiny, the swatch from the lipgloss says it all! The shade is a deep rosy pink with gold shimmer particles. While it is a deeper shade of pink than I expected, I think it is absolutely gorgeous and it creates a real impact... whilst smelling like cake too!

My only hang-up about this product is the fact that when applying, some of the plastic edges to the packaging feel quite scratchy on my lips. I think that is a real shame for such an otherwise appealing product! I really think that this looks lovely on.

Now in the palette, the shades names aren’t included but I’m sure most of them are from the existing collection and a little guesswork simply has to be employed. The wee spongey applicator included in the palette isn’t something I’d use regularly and the area around the shadows themselves seems to get quite dusty with residue. At least I can say that the mirror is very helpful! The exterior casing – although pretty – seems to pick up every piece of dust and finger print. However the contents is key here and the shades are fantastic!

On the top row (starting from the left) there is definitely ‘Baby pink.’ This is followed by a bright purple, a grey-green, a pastel mint green, a light metallic silver-based shimmer and a light yellow based shimmer.On the bottom row (starting from the left again) there is a black, a black with purple shimmer, a rich red toned bronze, a blue with a hint of green, a dark brown with a copper shimmer and a shimmery taupe.

 

While I would only describe a few of these shades as ‘duochrome’ (the black with purple highlights is definitely) I’d say that the fine shimmer particles definitely add an extra dimension when they hit the light. The only shade in the palette I felt was sub-par was the bright purple in the top row. The shimmer in that shade wasn’t as defined and although the pigmentation was bright it had patchy coverage. I think it is fair to say that it is the only 'dud' of all the shades I swatched so I'm willing to write it off.

I think that Accessorize have really done well with these products. I find them really easy to use and exceptionally pretty. They may focus on the sparkly more than the understated, but these products really do offer a nice dose of girlie indulgence!

PS. You can now contact me on Formspring and Twitter!

My first haul post!

Accessorize clearly weren’t ever content with me going into their shop and cooing over every shiny thing strewn in my path. Now it seems that they want me to go up to their makeup counter in Superdrug and do exactly the same. Naturally I obliged and came away recently with a pleasant surprise.

For some reason, there are quite a few gift sets in Superdrug that have been reduced down considerably and are on displays right now. You can buy 2 sets of 3 Accessorize eyeshadows for £2 instead of the usual £4 each! They have a similar offer on some of the nail polishes in rather delightful shades too. Mike treated me to the set of eyeshadows in truffle, sage and baby pink, but I didn’t feel quite as naughty knowing they were such a bargain!

The other boxed set shown contained a ‘Black ink’ GOSH eyeliner pencil that normally retails at about £5, a GOSH quattro eyeshadow compact in ‘Evergreen’ that normally would be about £8 and a peachy lipgloss tube. Although on further inspection I wasn’t too impressed by the lipgloss, I don’t really care considering the whole set was £2.99!

Another thing I treated myself to was the John Frieda conditioner shown. I’ve never tried any of his products before but I’ve heard good things and when I spotted this in a 99p store I couldn’t resist.

With all this excitement I really suppose I got rather carried away as I returned yesterday to Superdrug for a little more. I snapped up a set of the polishes for my friend Sarah and grabbed myself one final bargain... A palette including 12 eyshadow shades, a gorgeous shimmery lipgloss tube a set of false eyelashes. Everything in the above photograph cost the grand sum of £2.49 and came in some lovely packaging! The palette resembles some of the Sleek ones available and the shades all seem incredibly wearable.

Swatches and reviews will naturally follow but for now I’m going to bask in the glory of a few good bargains. Check out if your local Supderdrug are stocking any of these because they really are at pocket-money prices!