Lippie of the day number one!

So at the moment I'm not leaving my house much at all due to my chromic fatigue and social phobia and as i am lazy if I'm staying at home i tend to stay in my pyjamas as long as physically possible. So putting on a full face of makeup is just not gonna happen the vast majority of days. However I've decided that i shall start a project to wear a different lip product every day (or the majority of days, I'm not gonna pretend I'll manage it every day!). It's nice for my self esteem to make just a little effort with my appearance even when I'm just indoors alone. And it will give my ridiculously huge lipstick collection some well needed attention!

So without further ado here is Lippie of the Day number 1: Topshop Gloss Ink in Smitten.

Topshop has discontinued the Gloss Inks and I am really sad about it! I only have this one shade and i really wish I'd bought more when i had the chance. The formula is like a mix between a lip stain and a gloss. It's hard to explain. It's very thick and it sticks to your lips like a magnet, but it doesn't feel very sticky or wet. I love the look of lipstains but sometimes find them a bit drying and flat looking as they sink into my lips. As this is a hybrid it doesn't dry down like that and is very comfortable to wear. 

It's brilliantly adaptable, you can apply just a tiny bit as a flush of colour 

 

Or you can slap it on thickly for opaque coverage and better shine 

 

One of my favourite ways to wear it is to apply it very sheerly to my whole mouth but then build it up ib the centre for a slight two-tone effect. 

 

Smitten is a lovely bright raspberry pink with a small amoubt of subtle pink shimmer (you can only really see this in the photo where I'm wearing it thickly). The product has very good longevity, it fades a bit after eating/drinking but the colour does last all day or until I wipe it off. The packaging is sleek and quite classy looking black with a rubberised finish. It cost about a fiver i think but sadly as i said earlier you cannot get them anymore :(

If anyone knows a similar product please let me know in the comments!

 

And here's my very very simple face using it. Nothing but the Gloss Ink and a bit of black mascara.

 

 

A Trip To Westfields

A couple of weeks ago Claire and I took a trip to Westfields which at the moment is my favourite place to go shopping. It really reminds me of a peoper huge American mall, has tonnes of shops I really like and it's really spacious and airy so it never seems too crowded (which means I feel less anxious). 

I didn't do very interesting makeup as I wanted to get out the house quickly.

 

Claire wanted to take a picture of my (not particularly interesting) outfit but as we went out to the garden I realised that the burly polish builders working on the house next door (who constantly play really loud Europop from the nineties) were watching us, which explains my expression (I hope).

 

Our first stop is always at Butlers Chocolate Cafe because it is AMAZING! It does the worlds best hot chocolate and you get a free fancy truffle with every drink.

 

Drinking a delicious chocolate milkshake and wearing my fake Jeremy Scott sunglasses ( I wanted the real ones but these were £6).

 

Claire likes her Chai tea.

We shopped for a while and then had lunch. The food court is great, it has loads of choice and healthier items. I got falafel and hummous and Claire had a huge vegetable burrito.

Westfields is absolutely great for a makeup fiend like me. There's regular shops like Superdrug and Boots then higher end brands like Makeup Store, Mac and Inglot (I think it's the only Inglot shop in the UK, but I may be wrong) and Debenhams which has various brands like Chanel, Dior, Urban Decay etc.There's also an OPI shop (which I think is the only place in the UK to get Nicole by OPI polishes), some kind of mineral makeup place and Kiko (which is a great shop with bargain prices and fun colours but seems to always playing really horrible loud club music). There's also Beauty Base which is..odd. Beauty base is like a big discount perfume place (though some of the discounts are only 5p off RRP) and then it has some high end makeup brands like Shiseido (which seemed to have no discount) and also really cheap, obscure brands. You can get L.A. Colors there which is great because everythings under £5. And finally (I think, I may have forgotten some shops) a Models Own shop has just opened. 

The shop looks cool because it's in the shape of a nail polish bottle!

 

(photo belongs to Models Own)

 

My experience of the shop however wasn't that great. The staff seemed very nice and friendly but there were  a group of about 5 SAs standing in a big group chatting to each other. This meant there were bits of the shop I couldn't access and they continued their conversation even when I was paying for my goods which is a real pet peeve of mine. The stock seemed a little odd, they had hundreds of the nail polishes but they seemed to be arranged by colour, while this might usually be helpful it means if you want something from their collections (I wanted some Beetlejuice colours) you have to go hunting for them all individually. And there were about 4 sections, all of which had the nail polish in a slightly different order (some colours were on all sections, some were only on 1 etc). Models Own has a huge variety of products but the shop only had certain products. Finally the check out system is just weird. Instead of scanning barcodes the SAs are all equipped with tablet computers and have to manually search for the colour you're buying, it seems really inefficient, especially as it took took of them (one to call out the name of the product and the other to find it on the tablet)

On the plus side however you can make your own little gift box of 6 polishes for £20 (on the website you can only get premade selections)

 

Those are (rather terrible) swatches of the new Models Own Matt Brite lipsticks. from top to bottom:

Flaming Red, Annalise's Pink, Pink Hawaiian and Orangeade. 

Then an amazing thing happened, I was in Topshop looking at some glittery brogues when I heard a call of 'Lillian?' and turned to discover Robyn, my fellow Makeup Hero, looking at the same shoes! :D

Topshop wouldn't let us take a photo inside for some reason (they also wouldn't let Claire come in the changing rooms with me which sucked because I wanted her opinion on a dress I was trying) but we took one outside. Robyn is just as beautiful in real life as in her blog and a super funny awesome fellow!

 

We ended up both buying the aforementioned shoes. Oooh friend, shoe friend!

All in all a good day was had.

My nail polish (and one lipstick) haul is under the cut. I got a few other bits too (mostly tights) but I haven't taken photos of them yet. 

Topshop makeup - my haul and thoughts

Topshop's makeup brand launched just over a month ago to much fanfare from the press and bloggers alike. Personally i had some high hopes from the brand as Topshop always seems to aspire to high fashion with a (slightly higher than usual) high street price tag so i thought maybe they would take some risks with their makeup line. I was a little disappointed when i first saw pictures from the launch because there were no real bright, exciting colours or innovative seeming products, but i did see some nice looking things so i  headed off to Oxford Street to see for myself.

I must say that my first impressions of the brand have been very favourable! I think the prices are fair (highest being £10 and the lowest £4 meaning they're slightly over drugstore prices but not as pricey as mid-end brands like Mac) and they have a nice selection of products. I like the fact that there will be a limited edition collection 4 times a year, it means that there will be exciting new products to see, but you'll have a whole 3 months to make up your mind and purchase. Everything I tried seemed to be of very high quality and, while the colour range might not be as exciting as, for instance, Illamasqua, but they're not dull either. There's lots of bright, fun eye colours and lots of highly pigmented red, pink and coral lip colours, not just lots of nudes and neutrals.

Personally i love the packaging. I think it's fun but classy, love the stripes and spots and like the fact it's made of metal, it's unusual. I also love that some products come in black boxes with illustrations of the product inside. 

Anyway here are my thoughts on the range.

The main range, so far, has nail varnishes, eye shadows, crayons, liners and mascaras, sheer foundations, highlighters and a concealer, cream blushes, lipsticks, crayons, 3 different kinds of glosses and balms.

The SS10 Range consists of false eyelashes, glitters, a lip and cheek stain, a big, golden pressed powder (possibly baked?) highlighter (seems to be sold out on the website), 3 trios of baked eyeshadows, 4 shimmery nail polishes, 2 pencil eyeliners and 2 soft metallic crayons for all over the face.

The packaging is similar to the main range but with gold and silver added to the otherwise monochrome packaging. Some have golden stars on the boxes and the crayons come in very luxe golden tube-things.

I tried the lightest foundation (Skin Tint in Fair) and it was too dark and too yellow for me but seemed to be a lovely consistency, feeling more like a moisturiser on my hand (where i swatched it) than a foundation. The colour range of the foundations isn't great with only 4 colours, however it does at least go up to a dark colour which looks like it would be suitable for lighter black skintones as does the highlighting liquid. I tried the eye crayon in Black Jack, which is a black with silver glitter, the pigmentation was great but I found the formula a little odd, to me it felt like i was rubbing charcoal on my skin, it certainly wasn't creamy like eyeshadow pencils often are. There are 3 different types of lip gloss, Glosses, Glazes and Polishes. The Glosses come in a squeezy tube similar to a Lancome juicy tube and are the most highly pigmented (apart from the clear one obviously), coming up quite similar to Illamasqua Intense Lip Glosses (which, in my opinion is wonderful!), they are very shiny. The Glazes come in a stiff plastic tube with a wand and are sheerer and slightly pearlised and the polishes come in a small pot (the lip balms also come in this packaging) and are quite pigmented, 'stiffer' not runny like the other 2 types of gloss and shimmery. 

From the SS10 range i only swatched the eyeliners and crayons. I didn't buy anything but having thought about it for a while i am definately going to get all of them (and possibly some of the nail varnishes). The eyeliner pencils were just beautiful, coming in stunning metallic pink and blue colours with hints of silver, the applied smoothly to my skin. And the crayons, well when i first applied them i thought i didn't need them because i have the Illamasqua liquid metals. The colours and consistency when first applied are very similar, but the crayons were slightly thicker. However after i got home from my day of shopping i realised that while all of my hand swatches had either disappeared entirely or faded into one big stain on my hand, the gold and silver crayons had stayed absolutely perfect. Even when i watched my hand they stayed strong. And so i need them, particularly for my eyes as i imagine they wouldn't crease as much as their Illamasqua counterparts.

And now onto what i actually bought!

 

Neon Rose - a vey bright but light orangey coral and Crushed Berry - a true berry colour

I LOVE these. They are a cream-to-powder formula and are beautifully pigmented and... just lovely! I like to apply them with my fingers, but they do dry quite quickly so sometimes they can be a little hard to blend.

 

 

Rio Rio - an orange toned red and Brighton Rock - a slightly corally pink

These are beautifully pigmented and have a great matte finish. They are slightly drying but nothing terrible.

  

Rosa - a bright fuschia pink and Pulp - a shimmery true purple gloss

I haven't worn the Rosa Lip Stick pencil yet but it applied wonderfully to my hand and felt soft and was slightly glossy and really brightly pigmented. The Pulp lip gloss is nicely pigmented, but not quite the colour it looks in the tube. Also it's a tiny bit shimmery with a slight blue sheen.

 

Gypsey Night - a stunning black with holographic glitter and coppery flakies.

I also got the Matte topcoat, but forgot to photo it.

The formulas of both seem fine, nothing amazing but certainly not bad at all. They dry quite quickly and were nice and not at all thick or gloopy to apply.

Swatches:

 

From left to right:

Neon rose applied sheerly, Neon rose applied thickly, Crushed Berry applied thickly, Crushed Berry applied sheerly, Rosa, Brighton Rock, Rio Rio

 

Pulp

 

Gypsey Night (craply applied and with a top coat that caused shrinkage, the polish itself applied very well)

There will be proper reviews of everything when i've used it properly. But so far i really like everything i bought. 

Hope you found this interesting! You can buy Topshop makeup from the website (available to the US too and possibly elsewhere, not sure) and selected topshop stores across the UK.

So fed up, NOTD and painting

A little while ago the wonderful people at Beauty from the earth sent me some wonderful samples to try. I had been putting off writing my review until i'd used the products long enough to get a proper idea about them. Now i have and it appears my entire photo of folders (including FOTDs, swatches etc) has gone missing. I assumed i had deleted it but it's not in the recycle bin. I can't find it anywhere though, it's baffling me!
Hopefully i'll find it lurking somewhere deep within the computer memory or i shal have to take them all again X/

 

Here are my nails from last week - Illamasqua's Insanity with Topshop matte topcoat on the tips. The terrible application is my fault, not the polishes (it applied like a dream) i kept smudging and instead of taking it off i just applied another coat :P

And here is a terrible photo of quite a nice painting i finished a while back. Pepito the Performing Pup :)

Pinchy pinchy kiss kiss

Haul Ahoy!

Yesterday i had to do something horribly scary. Because i am on disability allowance (due to my social phobia i can't get a proper job) i was made to go and have an assessment where basically they ask questions and take notes about how my illness affects me. Not only is talking to a stranger horribly scary for me no matter what the situation, this had the added pressure of being really quite important. If they don't believe that i am genuinely ill (which is obviously harder to tell with mental illness that physical problems) they can cut off my benefits and then i basically won't have any income. So yeah, very scary! 

However it wasn't so bad, the woman who conducted my assessment was really nice and understanding and seemed to realise how difficult i was finding it and tried to put me at ease. Which was a big contrast to a few weeks ago when i went to a doctor for an assessment (i was hoping to find something that might help my condition), the doctor was awful, i felt intimidated and bullied and he made me feel worthless. Really not what a health care professional should do.

Anyway i was still feeling a bit shaken up and low so we decided (Claire had come with me) that as we were out already we should pop into town and do a little shopping. Usually it just ends up with me buying everything and Claire following me around being good and financially sensible, but yesterday she actually bought some things, yay! (though of course not as much as me :P)

So we went to Oxford Street because i wanted to check out the new makeup line at Topshop.

Let the haul commence!

New Gals in Town

Anyone on the blog circuit has probably heard all about these anyway but incase you haven't i thought i'd discuss a few of the new makeup lines that have popped up recently in the UK and share my thoughts about them.

All For Eve:

All For Eve is a truly amazing and noble brand. Many companies will donate a percentage of profits to charities (for instance MAC donates all the money from Viva Glam sales and Illamasqua donates a percentage from SOPHIE products) but this is the first beauty company i have heard of that will donate ALL of the profits of EVERY product to a charity to research women's cancers.
The brand launched in October of 2009 but the products have only been available to purchase recently.
The products look wonderful to me, currently they stock an always glamourous bold red lipstick and nail polish, crystal nail file and a whole range of body care items like body scubs, lotions, shower gels and hand cream. The prices are really reasonable for classy looking products, the toilettries are all under £10 and the most expensive item is the nail file at £12.50.
i plan on getting the red lipstick because you can never have too many red lippies! ... well maybe you can but it's for a good cause :) and also the crystal nail file. I'd been planning to get one anyway and this one seems averagely priced, is pretty and again supports a wonderful charity.
The body and bath stuff sounds great too but i have a huge stash already i need to get through, but when that's done i'll be giving it a go.


Topshop:

 

To much anticipation Topshop launched their own makeup range earlier this week. There are two collections, the core collection which i suspect will be around with some additions and discontinuations for a good long while and a limited edition seasonal range. As you might expect from the brand the colours and products are bang on trend (particularly the nail polishes which boast all of this seasons pastels and the newly essential matte topcoat) and there are some very interesting looking colours and formulas. The packaging is superbly designed and the products look to be great quality.

I was actually surprised by the prices of the products, Topshop has been steadily growing more expensive over the years and i was expecting the makeup to be way above drugstore prices (possibly rivalling MACs or other lower high-end companies). I was pleasantly surprised to find that, while the prices aren't cheap, they're pretty affordable. The most expensive products are the foundations and highlight liquids at £10. The rest of the products range between £3 - £8. A few Topshop's have the products but not all, but Topshop deliver worldwide. I actually went to Oxford Street today and bought, swatched and checked out the whole line, so expect a haul post and then review coming soon :)



Models own:

Well the brand isn't new but they've just released a huge amount of new products, basically doubling their collection. New products (adding to their previous collection of loose eyeshadows, cheek and lip tint, nail polishes, lip glosses, brushes and eye pencils) include blushers, face paints, lip balms, lipsticks, mascara and pressed shadows as well as new shades of their polishes. The new products aren't available on their website yet but you can get them on the Boots Website and Asos as well as in selected Boots stores. I popped into the Oxford street Boots today and had a look see and the products i swatched (lipsticks, face paints and blushes) all seemed really lovely. Basically everything is a fiver. I've got a big stash of their nail polshes already and really love them, a lot of people seem to have problems with the formula but i've always found them really excellent.

MUA:

MUA (Makeup Academy) is a new range for Superdrug and i am very excited about it because every item is just a pound! There are a great deal of products available already such as eyeliners, mascara, lipsticks and glosses, blushers and bronzers, nail varnishes and eyeshadows and a great colour range. Having seen a few little reviews already it seems that the quality is variable, though really you can't expect perfection from a pound. It's available online or in select Superdrug stores (have just found out it's in Wimbledon so i'll be heading out to try it soon). I'm excited to see the colours in real life and quite interested in the glitter eyeliners, which are apparently pretty bad quality wise but come in neon shades which i've never seen before and the eyeshadows are meant to be very good.