Lily Cole for the Body Shop: Shimmer Cube Palette

Just a quick post to say that I picked up this Shimmer Cube Palette from The Body Shop a couple of days ago as it was on offer for £5. I've always wanted to try out The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes as they look really sweet and always swatch very well when I've tried them in store. I wasn't so sure on the colours as I usually stick to neutrals but actually I really like the shades especially with a deep plum lip for Autumn.

I was actually a little disappointed with the pigmentation of the shadows. They swatch quite well (aside from the palest shade) but it's hard to get a strong colour onto the eyelid. However, I'm still really pleased with my purchase, I love the colours, the packaging is beyond cute and with a little work you can create a lovely purple smoky eye.

If you manage to find any on sale in your local Body Shop then I recommend you try one out, I think they're a bargain for £5, or £4.50 if you have a Body Shop card.

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Autumn's Oxblood Lip

One of the biggest trend this Autumn is the oxblood/burgundy/crushed berry lip. This colour comes around every year and although it may look scary it's an easy shade to wear if you can find the right shade for your skin.

I have two favourite lip products for a berry lip. Firstly Bourjois Sweet Kisses lipstick in 78 Rouge Intemporel. This is a really deep raspberry lipstick with slight purple tones and it's highly pigmented. For the daytime this makes a great stain when dabbed onto lips. I love the Revlon Kissable Balm Stains and the colour 005 Crush is a beautiful easy to wear crushed berry colour. It's more moisturising and sheer than the Bourjois lipstick, so it's easy to swipe on for a low maintenance lip.

I think that these two make  a perfect pair. This morning I applied the Balm Stain and let it sink in before dabbing on the Bourjois Lipstick, blotting and dabbing again, then applied the Balm Stain on top to keep my lips bright all day.

Left: Bourjois Sweet Kisses lipstick in 78 Rouge Intemporel, Right: Revlon's Kissable Balm Stain in Crush

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Dahlia Feline Fashion Giveaway

Just a quick post to let you know about Dahlia's cat themed giveaway. I've been eyeing up those sweet pearl cat ears for a while now so I'd love to nab them! There are loads of ways to enter daily on Dahlia's Facebook page. Good luck!!

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Collection 2000 Extreme 24 hour felt tip liner

After I saw Alix of I covet thee using a Collection 2000 Extreme 24h felt tip liner in this video, I ran out to get one. I went for black and teal.

Both pens are really easy to apply thanks to the fine tipped flexible nib. The black pen has replaced my liquid and gel eyeliner as it's so quick to apply. I use it daily; just a sweep across the lids, a flick at the edge and I'm done.

The quality of the pens differs between the two colours. The black pen isn't as strongly pigmented as I would like - I have apply heavily to get an opaque colour. The staying power of the black pen is also lacking. For everyday wear to my lectures it does the job but I'll swap it for my Maybelline Gel liner for a night out or an 8 hour day.

Unlike the black pen, the teal has massive staying power, it's almost semi-permanent. It's pretty hard to get off without leaving faint green lines. The teal pen is is also more pigmented, and it feels a wetter to apply than the black. The problem with this pen is that it transfers onto my upper lid and no amount of priming or powdering my lids overcomes this. This is such a shame because the colour looks beautiful on, but I can't wear it because I'm constantly worrying about getting green lines in my creases.

As for the 24h hour staying power, I haven't tested them for 24 hours but I definitely don't think that the black shade would last that long, in fact it would be unlikely to last just 8 hours. The teal on the other hand might last you though the night, but would probably leave you with some 60's style green lines as well.

Overall, I do like these pens. The black is my go to daily eye liner, although the formula could be improved, it definitely does the job for me, it's really easy to apply, and at £2.99 it doesn't burn a hole in my pocket.

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It's been a while

So, it's been nearly two months since my last post, and for a few months before that they were becoming more sparse. I've taken a little break - I had planned on creating my own website as I'm tired of the blogger format and I'd like to run a blog with more control over the design than blogger allows. But that hasn't happened yet. I hope I do move on to a website at some point in the near future, but until then, I'm going to pick up from where I left and resume. I miss blogging, and in my time away, I've picked up lots of lovely products I want to share with you.

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My sister took the picture above.