Wednesday 23 September 2009

For Fun - Purple & Gold Eyeshadow with Blue Brows












Face - VB Blusher


Lips - 17 Silver Eye Pencil


Lid -  Mac Violet trance
Primark Purple Pigment
Primark Gold Pigment
17 Silver Eye Pencil


Crease - Mac Cassette


Highlight - Mac Whistle


Brow - Collection 2000 Blue liquid eyeliner


Mascara - Primark Blue mascara (not that it shows!)

Friday 18 September 2009

Natural Collection Eyeshadows - Overview & Swatches

Another Natural Collection post, this time for their eyeshadows. Again, they're affordable and available in every Boots (I think). They dont have the most daring colours but there is still a nice selection on offer.
Priced £1.65 for singles and £1.95 for duos, Boots even has a 3 for 2 offer on at the moment so they are even cheaper!





This is my Collection, 11 singles and 1 duo.


Top Row - Lilac Shimmer, Lavender, Sea Shell, Butterscotch
Middle Row- Midnight, Snow Storm, Barley, Vanilla/Plum
Bottom Row - Willow, Crushed Walnut, Asteroid, Milk Chocolate





Lilac Shimmer - Pastel lilac with shimmer, as the name suggests. Nice smooth texture and easy to apply.


Lavender - A paleish blue purple, darker than Lilac shimmer and more intense. Pearl finish with the tinyest amount of pink reflects, the texture is a little dryer than lilac shimmer but still very easy to apply.


Sea Shell - I loved this one in the shop, the tester was creamy and gorgeous but when I got it home I had to scrap away the top layer which was dry and chalky to get to the good texture underneath. A good neutral satin finish base colour.


Butterscotch - Very smooth to apply and far more intesnse than sea shell - A similar colour just this one is more pinky/red in tone.






Midnight - A simple black, nicely pigmented and buildable. Has somewhat of a semi-gloss finish.


Snow storm - In the pan this looks like an ordinary white but when applied it has a lovely violet/blue shimmer which catches the light (sorry my photo just doesn't do it justice). The more you blend this the more the white disspears and you are just left with the lovely violet blue reflects. Only downside is this is the most chalky of the bunch.


Barley - Shiny Shiny Shiny. Easy to apply and lovely colour, though the fine glitter can fall down a bit.






Willow - I think this was the first NC eyeshadow I got, and is still one of my faves. It's got some silver shimmer in it. Applies so nicely, great as an all over lid colour.


Crushed Walnut - Another of my faves, very rich pigmented colour with the creamiest texture . Great for crease and lashline as well as for brows as its not shimmery and has a satin finish.


Asteroid - A warm toned brown with golden shimmer. Again it's a smooth texture to apply and is nicely pigmented.


Milk Chocolate - I've seen a few raves about this, its satin with the exact same consistency of crushed walnut. Applies darker and redder than it looks in the pan. A good basic neutral to have.






Vanilla/Plum Duo


Vanilla - A warm yellowy vanilla shade, just like the ice-cream. Goes on nice and smooth with the slighest golden reflects to give a pearly finish.


Plum - I'm a sucker for purple so couldnt resist this.  The photo bleaches it out a bit, either that or its picked up all the silver shimmer in it. This is a red toned purple, verging on magenta.




All in all I would say these are deent quality eyeshadows, like I said before there aren't any colours that will shock you but most will give you a pleasent suprise. If your just starting out or looking to experiment with colours than therse are a good bet, also if you want to get a nice neutral/brown kit together than these are great. Oh and by the way they can be depotted and are the same size pans as MAC shadows.







Monday 14 September 2009

Other Side of the Tracks - Eye Look

Silvery grey smoke with a twist!










Products used -
Lid
Lacura (www.aldi.com) Opal Duo for inner and outer corner
Mac Silver ring for centre of lid & lower lashline
Primark Black gel eyeliner
Mac Brule for bottom line on lid and brow bone


Waterline
Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero


Mascara
Clinique High Impact in Black


Brows
Natural Collection eyeshadow in Crushed Walnut

Thursday 10 September 2009

Violet Trance Purple Glitter Eye Look


Excuse the horrible brows and the glitter falling half way down my face, I just wanted to have a little play around. I never use glitter so this was fun for a Thursday afternoon.

Lid -
MAC Brule (as a base)
MAC Violet Trance - a gorgeous colour but hell to work with
Boots No7 Electric Purple - got this for a bargain £2 with one of their current promotions
Opia (primark) Purple crayon (to draw upper line)
Sephora purple glitter -from back when Sephora was in the UK, shows how old that is!

Higlight -
Natural Collection Snow Storm

Liner -
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Lust

Mascara -
Beautiful Colour Cosmetics (primark) 9 And a Half Winks in Ebony Envy


Wednesday 9 September 2009

Natural Collection Lipsticks - Overview & Swatches


I've been spending far far too much time in Boots recently, mostly because of Natural Collection. With all the items being under £2 it is an extremely affordable range of makeup. These lipsticks were £1.95 each and had the added bonus of a 3 for £5 offer, only a saving of around 80p but its nice to see that even though they're already cheap they don't mind adding in some extra value from time to time.
Now, onto the lipsticks themselves, I've been searching various blogs and have not found a great deal of swatches for these. The quality isn't the same as a high end Lipstick but they hold their own and there's a nice colour range too.



Bare lips + Astor lip Balm Base


Coral Shimmer Moistureshine Lipstick (satin) - Like the name suggests it's a coral with gold shimmer.


Sweet Pea Moistureshine Lipstick (Satin) - Very similar to Coral Shimmer but with a pink tone.


Sand Castle Sheer Natural Lipstick (sheer) - Unlike the other lipsticks this is a sheer cover with no shimmer, it tints the lips with a tinted balm like texture. Has a glossy finish and is a light brown toned pink.


Candy Mist MoistureShine Lipstick (frost) - A very light barbie pink, the frost makes it harder to wear than others as it shows up lip texture in fine detail.


Apple Blossom MoistureShine Lipstick (satin) - This is the most matte like lipstick out of the bunch. It's a nude peachy pink that applies more opaquely than other colours. The only downside to this is that again it is quite hard to wear, shows up any imperfections and can wear off in an uneven fashion.



NC Lipstick Swatches (l-r) - Coral Shimmer, Sweet Pea, Sand Castle, Apple Blossom, Candy Mist

Overall I think these are great for the price, they are lovely colours and if applied with care they do provide a lovely finish. This is only a small selection of Natural Collection's lipstick range and I intend to get more, I'll make no secret of it; I'm a fan! But if anyone has tried them then what do you think?

Violet x