MUA Wet Look Eyeliner and Luxe Velvet lip Laquer in Atomic

So here are some mini reviews of two of the products I picked up in Superdrug.

Firstly the Wet Look Eyeliner. Oh boy do I love this eyeliner! It stays on amazingly. Here is a swatch freshly applied:

 

And here it is about 8 hours later:

Now maybe you think I'm some sort of filthy, unwashed degenerate...And you would be right! But I had washed my hands (yes with soap, God Mum!) at least 3 times while it was on my hand. Very impressive. Later on I had a bath and started scrubbing at it and it began to peel off neatly which was very satifying.

Here it is on the eyes:

And again at the end of the day: 

 

You can see that at the end of the day a little bit has flaked off in the inner corner of my eye and that's about it (it appears much less shiny but I believe that's the lighting)

While it does not actually look wet, it is nicely shiny and more patent looking than any other eyeliner I've tried. And it's wonderfully pigmented, appearing a nice solid black and not patchy at all. The applicator is one of my favourite kinds, a pointy felt style tip that's a little softer and more bendable than a 'felt tip' eyeliner, quite long and nicely tapered. I find these styles the easiest to use as they let me hug the lashline and control the thickness of the lines.

The Velvet Lip Laquer is a liquid matte lipstick (the kind that goes on as a liquid and then dries and attaches yourself to your lips and becomes completely smudgeproof). I've tried quite a few of these products in different brands and these are my favourite. A problem I often get with these matte liquid lipsticks are that they don't go on quite opaque in one layer and to avoid it looking streaky I have to apply at least 2. But putting more layers on top just doesn't seem to work well in the formula and they end up sloughing off my lips. The MUA ones I've tried have all been opaque in one stroke and a little goes a long way. It dries a little slower than other brands but I find this helpful as it gives me more time to apply it evenly and neatly. And when it does dry it doesn't feel uncomfortable or dry my lips like other brands. It lasts about the same amount of time as other brands, which for me is basically all day...Until I eat. I find when eating the product either rubs off from the middle out or if it's anything remotely oily it sort of melts.

Atomic is a bright, red based orange. Here it is on my lips:

 

...Unfortunately it's a really bad photo. It is much brighter and more orange in real light.

Here's my face! (I'm also wearing one of the shades from the MUA Birthday palette and Makeup Revolution foundation in FB01 pink tones) Again the lips colour isn't really accurate:

The eyeliner is £2 and it is awesome so you should buy it, the lip laquers are £3 and if you like matte lips you should try one. I'm really happy that such a nice inexpensive brand is making such quality products :)

Colour B4 Extra Strength

Hello! Pinky the computer is up and running again and I didn't lose any of my documents. Thank you Dell Datasafe restore or whatever you're called!

So today I have a review for Colour B4 Extra Strength hair dye remover.

You've probably seen reviews for this or similar products on other blogs, these products really became well known within the last year. It's a great idea, if you dye your hair and don't like the result, or get bored of it, or whatever other reason, you apply this stuff and it takes you back to your original colour...In theory. 

 I'm not going to go into all of the science behind it as I am not smart enough and can't be bothered to read into it properly but it seems the basic idea is that this somehow shrinks the hair dye molecules which releases them from your hair follicles, then when you rinse it away it also rinses off the molecules taking your hair back to it's previous colour. Or something...

Anyway does it work?

Well it had a challenge with my hair. It hasn't been my natural colour (except for the roots) for over 11 years. The closest the poor hair came to a break was when I was about 17 and shaved my head. Since then it's been (that I can remember) bright red, blonde, light pink, ginger, dark red and black so I was not expecting the Colour B4 to perform miracles and get me back to blonde, I just wanted to get rid of enough black to enable me to get back to ginger.

So here I am before applying:

 

You can see my hair is a sort of washed out black with lighter brown tips 

 You apply it like any regular hair dye, it comes in a bottle with a spout that you mix the various components in then just apply it to your hair as usual (I am useless on my own so always get someone else to put it on me). Then you just leave it awhile (60 minutes for the extra strength). For it to work you need a warm environment so I wrapped my head in clingfilm, which has the added bonus of stopping clumsy people like me getting it everywhere.

 

I'm beautiful I know.

After you've given it time to do it's thing it's time to wash it off. Unfortunately this is where it differs from hair dye as unfortunately you can't just rinse until the water runs clear, no, instead you need to rinse for at the very least 5 minutes, with the longer the better basically. When that is done you apply a 'buffer' which I think is like a sort of conditioner to bring your hair back to a normal condition, live it for a minute then rinse it off for at least another 5 minutes. Then you apply the buffer again and rinse it off just like a normal shampoo. Annnnd you're finally done! Phew!

And here are the results:

 

  

So you can see it worked quite well! It got rid of all the black leaving me with a slightly darker version of the ginger that was there previously. 

However it has one big major con, the smell. This stuff smells absolutely evil. People have said it smells like rotten eggs, I've never smelt one, but to me it smells of stink bombs which I've heard are based on rotten eggs. It's a horrible sulfurous smell and it's strong. To make things worse for the next month or so after using this every time I washed my hair the smell would come back. Something to do with wetting the hair reignites the power of the stench!

Also the rinsing thing was a major hassle for me as we don't have a proper shower, just a shower -head. Which means I couldn't just stand and let the shower rinse it away, instead I had to crouch uncomfortably in my bath holding the shower-head over me for about 20 minutes in total. This left me with a very stiff neck. But if you have a proper shower I'm sure it's a lot easier.

But even with the irritance of the rinsing and the evil smell I would still recommend this. It does work!

There are various other brands of hair dye remover such as Color Oops and a superdrug own brand one (which is meant to be cheaper but I picked up the Colour B4 when it was on a special) and I assume they're the same thing and work the same. It cost me about £9 which is quite expensive but as it's not something you'll need to use regularly it's not that bad.

Has anyone else tried this, or one of the other brands? Did it work for you? How did you cope with having hair of eternal stench?

Darling Girl Eyeshadow Review and swatches

Continuing my ongoing huge Darling Girl review  I've got a bunch of eyeshadows for you today!

 Darling Girl eyeshadows come in three sizes, samples (1/8 tsp in bags), petites (1/4 tsp in jars) and full size (3/4 tsp in jars) 

As I've never actually finished a shadow I only buy samples and petites, so I can't show you the full sized packaging:

    

Eyeshadow packaging is again simple and clear. Sample bags are labelled with the ingredients, name and whether or not they're lip safe. The jars do not have room for the ingredients, but they are on the website. Darling Girl is well known for making awesome taupe colours with a twist but they also have some great bright and dark colours!

In the following photos I am wearing Dasher on my bow bone, Jewelled Taupe on my lid and a touch of Rudolph in my crease. This was applied on a bare lid (no primer) 

Freshly applied: 

10 hours later

 

So as I hope you can see the shadows stayed amazingly well! There's a tiny bit of fading in the crease but other than that it looks the same as when it was first applied! The slight change in colour is due to the different lighting.

Swatches below the cut!

Look with Illamasqua Wisdom

When I attended the Illamasqua Generation Q event a few weeks ago we were all sent home with a goody bag containing one product from the collection, the Precision Ink eyeliner in Wisdom. The event was held before the products and packaging had been completely finished so our Liners are fresh from the factory! 

 

 

 As you can see there's no writing or anything on it, just plain black. I think it looks cool! And it makes me feel sort of pleased and special to have a prototype!

Wisdom is a antique, blackened gold colour, it has golden sparkle which looks green sometimes. Also, I don't know if it's just a trick of the light but in this photo if I look at it closely I can see a few tiny flashes of pink.

  

The formula of this is the same as all the Illamasqua Precision inks, which is my favourite ever liquid eyeliner. It's really easy to apply (I don't know why but it's felt-tip just seems easier to apply precisely than others!), It's lovely an opaque, dries quickly and when it's dry it doesn't fade or smudge. It's also not waterproof but I find it water resistant, when I've swatched it on my hand and tried to wash it off it doesn't dissolve in the water, you need to rub it off.

 

I'm going to post my look and outfit from the photo above soon :)

Thanks Illamasqua for a lovely new addition to my Precision Ink collection! This product, along with the rest of the Generation Q will be released in September.

Illamasqua  have also recently launche their 'Fight for a fair Beauty Price' campaign, to try and stop the ridiculous enflation on cosmetic prices in Australia, just another reason to love this brand! You can read more about it and sign their petition here!

*The eyeliner was provided for a review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own*

Darling Girl Lip Products Reviews and Swatcharama!

Today I have some swatches and reviews of Darling Girl Cosmetics Lip Products.

They make several different lip products including lip balms, primer and of course colour cosmetics.

Packaging is simple but attractive:

  

Holo Gloss in a click pen, Kiss You Off Colour Rich Lip Balm in a tube, Liquid Kiss Luxe sample in Strawberry Fields Forever in a clam shell, Holo Gloss in a pot.

Reviews and swatches under the cut :)

Darling Girl Cosmetics Overview

I'm going to make several posts to review the different products I own from Darling Girl as I have lots of swatches to share!

But first up here's a quick overview.

These posts are a long, long time coming! Last Halloween I made my first Darling Girl order, which included a blogger review pack. Yeah I know, I suck. Sorry! D: Since then I've made several more orders and they have quickly become my favourite indie company.

Darling Girl sell tonnes of different products, from your basic loose eyeshadows and blushes, lip balms and glitters to primers, lip stains, cream blushes and solid skin balms. There isn't really a 'theme' to the company, other than just being girly and pretty (though some collections are, like the rock themed 'Darling Grrl' shadow line) which suits me just fine. The website is brilliant an very professional looking. The design is clean and simple and very easy to navigate and the photos are really clear and bright with true to life colours. One suggestion I would make though would be to provide some photos of the products in use so you could see what a colour looks like on the lips/eyes etc. But the swatches look great anyway so it's only a tiny niggle. All the products have clear ingredients listings.

Check out is really easy and I immediately got a confirmation email about my order. The price for shipping varies depending on how big your order is (at least it does internationally) the most I ever paid was $10 for a large order, so I was very pleased with that. My orders have generally gone out within a week though one took just over 2, that was at Christmas though, an I recieved an email to tell me it had been shipped. Then it takes about 1-2 weeks to get to me, which is average for a parcel coming from the US to the UK. The packaging of the products is simple and attractive and orders always come beautifully wrapped, for instance here is an order from around Valentines Day:

 There is heart and lip shaped confetti in the valentines bags and the zebra packet contains my freebies! My orders always contain a business card and a couple of eyeshadow samples. Plus if you spend $10 or more you get a free Gift With Purchase eyeshadow shade. This is a large sample (a full 3ml volume jar) and is often a shade unavailable elewhere.

Anyway there's a little overview to what Darling Girl Cosmetics has to offer. Reviews of individual products and swatches will be coming up soon!

Me Me Me Goddess Eye kit from Findmeagift.co.uk

  A little while ago I was contacted by the lovely Joanna from Find Me A Gift who offered to send me one of their makeup gifts to review. I chose this, the Goddess Eye Makeup Gift Box from Me Me Me. Find Me A Gift is an online shop that specialises in all sorts of presents for everyone including lots of silly novelty things as well as luxurious items and days out. Their makeup section isn't extensive but they do have The Balm products which can be hard to find in the UK and some Me Me Me gift sets I've not seen anywhere else.

Anyway as this was sent to me I can't really review the website so I'll just be discussing the Me Me Me set.

The Goddess gift Box comes with an Eye Inspire Baked Eyeshadow Quad, Fat Cat mascara (black), Eye Sweep liquid eyeliner (black), Eye Line pencil eyeliner (in Coal) and a little 'get the look' flyer.

 

 

 

As you can see it's packaged in a simple black box. It did have a little wrapper thing (you can see it in the item link) with the same picture as on the flyer but you have to take it off to open the box and so of course I immediately lost it. It would be nicer to have a more decorative box as it's a gift set but it's not really a big deal. The box is nice and solid and hardy, mae of heavy cardboard and closing with magnets.  

The get-the-look flyer wasn't a particularly useful addition. While the look itself is very nice the instructions are a bit lacking.  Basically all the steps are the same, just saying to put the colours across the lid and under the lashline without going into detail. Also the colours in the quad aren't labeled with named but the look sheet refers to them ('Cream' is easy to work out but it's hard to tell which colour is meant to be 'Light Gold', 'Bronze' and 'Rich Copper' without being told). But again this isn't a big deal at all, it's easy to think how to use the set because the colours all compliment each other well.

  

Here is the quad. As you can see it contains 3 complimenting metallic goldy/bronzy colours and a cream which has golden tones too. Sometimes I find baked shadows to be dry and hard to get decent pigmentation from but these were lovely and creamy. The cream colour was ever so slightly chalky but not badly. All the colours are lovely and soft and blendable. But the quad itself is quite small and as all four colours are baked in a pan I found it hard sometimes to get my brush in without picking up more than one colour at a time.

 

The Eye Line pencil is soft and creamy and a very deep black. I don't tend to use pencil eyeliners except on my waterline (I just prefer liquid liners) so that's how I tested it. It is not smudgeproof but I found it very long lasting. After about 8 hours the colour had faded a little but was still clearly visible.

 

The Eye Sweep liquid eyeliner is really fantastic! I've tried many pen style eyeliners before and never liked them, they always seem really dry and I often find the colour dries down slightly grey. This one however is lovely.  The liquid flows easily out of the tip and you can run it really smoothly across your eyelid. It dries down to a very pigmented black. The felt nib is just the right size, not too big, not too small and you can make both thin and thick lines with it.

Top: Eye Line - Bottom: Eye Sweep (one stroke of each)

 

Finally the Fat Cat mascara. This was a bit of a let down to be honest. Firstly it smells very very strongly and the smell isn't very pleasant. It's like a very chemically, synthetic orange smell. You don't notice it when you're wearing it thankfully but I found it off putting when I was applying it. It's also a very dry formula, which I find hard to apply properly. And I wasn't very impressed with the look it gives my lashes, I want the biggest, thickest lashes possible and this doesn't give me them. However on the plus side it didn't flake or clump and gave good definition. I'd think this would be a good daytime mascara for people who want natural looking lashes that are just a bit darker and thicker than their naked lashes.

  

 

My naked lashes 

 

With 3 coats of the mascara.

You can see it's lengthened my lashes a bit and they're obviously darker but there's very little volumisation (which this mascara specifically boasts) and I'd prefer more length.

Here are some photos of a look I made using everything in the set:

 

All in all I think this is a really nice gift set. It contains everything you might need for a lovely eye look. I really love the Eye Sweep and the eyeshadow quad has some great complimentary colours. I could imagine making a nice bronze smokey eye with it too. The only disappointment was the mascara, but again it's not terrible and people who like natural looking lashes will probably like it (if they can cope with the smell). I think for £14 this is a great gift set and would be particularly good for someone just getting into makeup as it contains a nice set of basic and essential eye products and the colours aren't too scary or out there.

 *I was sent this for review purposes but all thoughts and opinions are my own*

Illamasqua Freak

A little while ago I was sent a sample of Illamasqua's first perfume - Freak (AKA possibly the perfume with the worlds most beautiful bottle) - to test out. 

Ohh such a beautiful bottle! *__*

Beware, I find discussing perfumes very difficult. All the talk of top, heart and base notes just baffle me (generally) apart from the initial strong smell you get when you apply perfume they tend to smell the same on me regardless of how long it's been on (apart from the smell fading and stuff) they don't seem to 'mature' or change and no new notes come through. Also perfume is much harder to describe than makeup because I can't photograph a scent! And of course it's really subjective, what someone loves may smell rank to someone else and vice versa.  

 And describing this perfume is particularly different as there are quite a few notes in it that I don't think I've ever encountered before! But anyway let's give it a go!

 

 

This is what Illamasqua says about Freak:

'The rich and daringly provocative opening notes of Black Davana cast a magical spell of desire across the senses to celebrate the night. The compelling burnt orange bloom base is highly prized the world over for its ability to enhance the wearer's natural perfume. The subtle mustiness of Poison Hemlock haunts the background tone of Freak, adding alluring depths of mystery.
Datura, the Moonflower, has an intoxicating scent that has long been used as a heady aphrodisiac. The exquisitely rare Queen of the Night blooms fleetingly for a single night each year, and completes this daringly provocative concoction with its warm, soft floral scent touched with sweetness.'

As for me... Well I think the description is pretty accurate! This is a strange, almost mysterious perfume. To me it mainly smells like musk or incense, dark, oriental and exotic. It's earthy and musty. But there's also a strong floral note that I can't put my finger on (probably because I'm not familiar with the flowers in it!). These flowers are not sweet or at all 'old fashioned' smelling, no roses or jasmine  for instance, they're unusual, earthy, and fresh. Finally there is a slight sweetness from a hint of sugary orange blossom and honey.

To me it seems like a very sexy perfume, it's heady and seductive. The notes are unusual and as a lot of the floral ingredients are actually poisonous it adds an exciting thrill! I personally would think of this as more of an evening scent as I do not find it at all invigorating, quite the opposite in face, to me it seems almost intoxicating and calming. It also just smells distinctly 'nocturnal' to me. I also think it could be a good unisex fragrance, the florals are so unusual it doesn't come across as overtly feminine. It is also very long lasting, while it fades in intensity I can still easily detect this after a full days wear.

You can probably tell that I really like this! I didn't expect to, I generally like very fruity, sweet scents, some of my favourites are Diesel Loverdose (which to me smells like a floral based licorice with a hint of tangerine), Gap So Pink (smells like a softened grapefruit), Prada Candy (like baked goods and toffee with a small amount of musk) and Nina Ricci Les Belles Liberty Fizz (which to me smells like tomato flowers). I tend to dislike strong woodsy, oriental or musk smells. So it's odd that I like this so much. I think it's because it's just so unique. I can imagine this being the scent of choice for a  femme fatale or Film Noir heroine because it's so mysterious and seductive. And the sweet undercurrent of the honey and orange blossom makes it more palatable than other oriental/musk smells. I think another reason I like it is because it conjures up images in my head. It reminds me of churches and cathedrals (because of the musty, incense) but also a deep, dark forest, full of slightly rotting leaves and exotic plant smells.

It probably won't become my everyday choice, for that I'll stick with my fizzy fruity smells, but I'd love this for a special evening out or, indeed, a special evening in ;D

Sadly at £59 or 75ml the full bottle is out of my price range at the moment, so I won;'t own that beautiful bottle :( But I'll be enjoying my little sample vial! 

*sample sent for review, all thoughts and opinions are my own*

Shoe Review!

A couple of weeks ago I had the amazing opportunity to choose something from One Stop Plus to review. I picked this lovely pair of shoes. They're made by La Redoute Creation come in sizes 3 - 8 (35-42) and come in black, taupe, cerise and duck egg (a tealy blue colour) and cost just under £40. I chose the cerise in a size 8.

Shoes tend to fit differently depending on the brand, usually a size 8 will fit me perfectly or be a bit small (I might actually be a size 8 1/2) but these were actually a little too big for me. I could have sent them back and swap for a 7 but I am sure that would have been too small. They're not too big as to be a problem though, they don't slip, they're just quite roomy and the problem is solved by wearing thick tights or socks. However as I said I am quite a big size 8 so other people may want to order a size down from usual, they're definitely bigger than the norm.

Anyway they're really lovely. They're a bright cerise colour with a chunky heel, round toes and a t-bar strap with ruffles on it. I love t-bars anyway but the ruffles make them really unusual and cute! They're made of a fuzzy suede-like material but they're entirely synthetic so great for vegetarians like me! 

  

I haven't been able to wear them out yet because the weather has been very rainy and, as they are suede-ish I don't think it's a good idea to get them wet :( But I have worn them a lot around the house and they're bizarrely comfortable! They have a 7cm tall heel without a platform but somehow they don't hurt my feet. Maybe it's because the heel is so chunky. I'm sure if I did wear them out for a whole day I would change my mind because I have terrible feet that hurt in flat shoes and absolutely die in heels. I can walk in high heels but get a bit wobbly in stiletto style heels but because these have chunky heels they're pretty sturdy. 

The fact that they're synthetic is a big plus for me because I'm a vegetarian but if you don't mind wearing leather then it might be a bit of a problem. Leather is generally meant to be more comfortable and better fitting. The fabric does feel a little bit less sturdy than usual but not flimsy. 

They're go absolutely perfectly with this new playsuit I bought from Warehouse:

And I bet they'd look good with some bright blue or turquoise tights.

All in all I really like them, they're really pretty, easy to walk in, vegetarian and comfy. But the sizing is a bit of an issue and the fact they're synthetic may not be to everyone's taste. At the moment they seem comfortable but time will tell how they stand up to long term wear. The price, £40, seems just about right.

Thank you One Stop Plus :)

 

Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless Collection

Yes, I'm stupidly late with this post once again. The collection has been out for quite some time now, but because Illamasqua is awesome with it's collections, the products are all still available and will be for a long time :) 

This collection was inspired by the dark and decadent nightlife of Berlin in the 1920s, the images really reminded me of expressionist cinema. The colours are vampy and rich, but with hints of sparkle and iridescence. While the collection of darker, vampier hues seems perfect for autumn/winter, as usual Illamasqua has not gone down a 'safe' route. The dark cerises, smoked purples, forresty greens and rusty reds are also joined by flashes of bright magenta, light peaches and greyed pinks. There's new textures too - shimmery blushes and rubberised nails. 

To be honest while I absolutely loved the collection imagery that came out before the products, I didn't imagine I'd end up wanting to buy much. To me while the pictures were absolutely breathtaking, I didn't imagine that too many exciting products were involved. For instance I adore this picture: 

But the only product really featured is a black liner (and whatever created the flawless skin)

But then when I actually saw the products, there were loads I wanted! 

And the lovely people at Illamasqua were kind enough to send me a few items, including two that I was absolutely craving, so that was a bit of good luck for me! 

The products came with a catalogue, featuring more gorgeous artwork.

And in the normal, sleek Illamasqua packaging. This is the one thing I would change about Illamasqua's collections, special packaging would be nice to distinguish them from the main line of products.

 

The three products I recieved were Sheer Lipgloss in Violate, Lipstick in Kontrol and Pure Pigment in Berber.

Firstly the product I was the most excited about, the Sheer Lipgloss in Violate. I won't do a proper review of the formula because it's the same as one's I've talked about extensively before here

 

However you can see from my picture that while this is called a 'sheer' gloss it really isn't very sheer (though you can make it look sheerer by applying it very sparingly). It's a fantastic colour. A sort of red-ish brown with tonnes of green shimmer. You can see the brown colour a lot here because of the angle of my lips, from straight on they look much more green.  I really love it, such a cool colour, I can honestly say I've never seen a metallic, forrest green lipgloss before and this is a wonderful one. However what I would say is that the  pigmentation is a little odd, it's not opaque like their Intense Lipglosses but it certainly isn't sheer. I think it would look better over a base, perhaps black. You can also apply a tiny bit of this over another colour to darken it and add a hint of the green sparkle. It's good over red! 

Next the other product I loved the look of, the lipstick in Kontrol.

 

This is an amazing and unique colour. It's a real, true purple (not an aubergine or plum just called a purple) but with a hint of grey which makes it look really sophisticated and special. Berry lips are usually big for winter and I think this is a more interesting alternative. I've had problems with Illamasqua's lipsticks before, a lot of the shades I've tried have been very dry or drying or just not that great. I don't know if they've made any changes to the formula or if it's just this shade but this is just a fantastic lipstick! It's super pigmented, opaque in a single stroke and has a matte finish, however it is not in the slightest bit drying. It's creamy and smooth and glides on like a dream. It's just an amazing lipstick, I don't have anything bad to say about it!

Finally I was sent Berber, a  pure pigment. 

 

Pure Pigments can be used all over, as eyeshadow, blush, highlighter or you can apply it wet to make an eyeliner. Berber is a great metallic red colour with gold and green sparkles. It's beautifully pigmented and the different colours of the glimmer really shine through. I've not used this as an eye shade yet but I have other Pure Pigments which I have and they make fine eyeshadows, they last ages and don't tend to crease or fade. If you apply this lightly it makes a fantastic blush! It doesn't say anywhere if this is safe for use on the lips, which is a shame, I imagine it would look beautiful dusted over a red lipstick.

All the products I tried are really wonderful, I'm so so impressed with the lipstick formula and I love the lipgloss. So I really love this new collection, I want basically everything else from it! If the items I recieved seem a bit too 'out-there' and strange there is a lot more in the collection which is more conventional, there are blushes in rosy magentas and peachy nudes and pure pigments in black and white for a great smokey look. 

One last thing, I thought one item I really didn't need was the eyeliner in Havoc, an aubergine shade. Then I saw this:

From http://solomag.se/killercolours/2011/10/havoc/

Bloody heck it looks nice!

Thank you so much to the lovely people at Illamasqua for the products. I can't wait until I have the money to buy more!