Rimmel Glam'eyes mono eyeshadow

Although at a glance this eyeshadow may not look like the most interesting (or to be honest the most loved) of cosmetics. I inherited this from my Mum who is exceptionally pale and actually found it too dark. However, on me I think that shade 130 'Tribute' is a perfect taupe crease colour!

Despite dustiness, I think this shade provides something that I've rarely had at my disposal - a gorgeous substitute for brown. Cosmetics in chocolatey shades show up as seriously dark on me and take a lot of blending! Even paler browns seem to just look quite wrong so I tend to favour shimmery gold shadows. Fortunately, Rimmel have found a pretty balance between the two that applies and blends very easily.

Yes the shadow is rather dusty in the pan, but take a look at that shade! On the back of the packaging Rimmel add that this shade complements both blue and green eyes. Upon recent application and inspection I can agree that it does actually bring out green shades in my eyes. The rather dusky gold shimmer has always seemed to me to be a brown with lilac undertones, setting it apart from several other red based golds that I have. A light application gives a subtle gold shimmer covering and heavier application can be blended easily for a smokier look.

The consistency isn't as soft as some I've come across and it isn't overpoweringly metallic. I find it is a lovely neutral with just the right amount of shimmer. While the wear is quite average I find it depends on blending and eyeshadow combinations. When worn alone I've experienced some annoying creasing but no more than when I wear some of my Accessorize shades which are far softer.

Finally a pair of swatches for your delectation. On the left is a very light sweep and on the right is a built up application. The left clearly shows the shimmer which is very fine and very pretty. On the right I think is where the shade shows its substance and gives some colour payoff. While it isn't particularly dramatic I think this shade is definitely a go-to colour that I'm glad to own! Rimmel mono eyeshadows normally retail at £4.49 and are very widely available. Considering this fell into my lap for free I think I can call that a very happy accident!

An extremely thrifty haul!

If you look at the pictures above, would you really believe it if I told you that every single item had been bought for £1 or less? I know I wouldn't but I've been pretty lucky on my shopping expeditions lately! Here is a little guide to the budget haul I've collected where all of these items still left me with change from a tenner!

The Rimmel solo eyeshadows and the wet n wild solo eyeshadow were a chance find at Poundland. I'm a great lover of pound shops and when I noticed the various brands that had cropped up out of the blue at my local store I was delighted. Among the racks were NYC, Revlon, MeMeMe and several other brands I immediately started to flap about. However as I was in a hurry, these were all I got! I'm sure I'll be returning soon to pick over the rest of the spoils. All 3 were exactly £1 each and the cream shade makes a perfect highlighting colour.

I'm not sure where I found out about the Peacocks cosmetics sale but I'm glad I did. Whilst bumbling around the store the other day I made my way over to the beauty products that I normally skim over and found two products that caught my eye. The first was this stunning peachy/gold bronzer and the second a shimmer packed bronzer. My boyfriend picked up the blusher for me which was £1 (reduced from £3) and he even got his 10% student discount off it, making it just 90p. The bronzer we picked up later on for £1.

The LA Colors palette came from a store that boasted prices of 99p or less... I'm sure you'll start to see a theme in my shopping habits soon! I bought it because I'd been mooning over a Sleek palette earlier that day and wanted to see if I could get equally pigmented bright shades at a much cheaper price. I'm completely in love with this palette and I'm sure it'll get its own review soon as despite the seemingly awkward shades I've been reaching for this constantly! Again I'm going to have to return and pick up some of the other shade selections on offer. The palette was 99p and I've worn every single shade!

By now I'm sure my love affair with MUA products is common knowledge. Whilst browsing in Superdrug the other day I couldn't resist expanding my collection of their eyeshadows with these shades (6 on the left and 7 on the right) which go wonderfully together. I also bought their lipstick in shade 1 and while I am still having trouble pulling off deep reds, I bought this to play with. Each product was £1 each.

For 9 items I don't think that £8.89 is a bad price to pay. I've had a lot of use out of several of these products so far and the quality has been great. Individual reviews will follow and I'm sure that they'll pop up in future looks. Turns out I can still sometimes haul on a miniscule budget, fantastic!

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!