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. 

My besties of 2011

Right it's time to step away from the negativity and go onto something positive! I thought I'd finally share my favourites of last year, i'm only just in February so not as bad as last year where I just never got around to it.

(I stole the catergories from jennifaes awesome blog, because I am too lazy to make up my own! I did add a couple of things though and removed some that i don't have favourites of though). Some of the categories have contenders which are products that only just didn't make the cut.

Best High-End Beauty Brand

Illamasqua
 A lot of my favoutite products come from Illamasqua, they tend to have really high quality, beautifully packaged, excitingly coloured and richly pigmented makeup.  I also just love Illamasqua as a brand! Here's why. 

Best Drugstore Beauty Brand

ELF
ELF tends to be a bit hit and miss with their products but the majority of those I have tried have been really brilliant, particularly those from the Studio section of the brand. The prices are fantastic (basically everything is under £5) and the packaging is really nice considering how cheap it is.

Contender
Sleek
Sleek are another great Drugstore brand. I love that they have very pigmented, bright and interesting shades and exciting products like their Molten Metals and Pout Paints. Their shadow palettes are also fantastic and (even with the stupid price hike) great value.

Best Indie Makeup Brand

Darling Girl
Darling Girl is one of the newest indie companies I've tried but they've quickly become my favourite. All the products I've tried have been fantastic quality and come in lots of gorgeous colours. The prices are fair and Susan (the owner) is one of the nicest, most helpful people you could hope to deal with. I've never had a problem with an order and TAT are always reasonable. I have a proper review coming up soon :) 

Contender
Sugarpill

The reason Sugarpill didn't win is that they have fewer products to choose from and also I find it hard to catergorise them as an indie company! The packaging, branding and quality of the products is absolutely amazing and wouldn't seem out of place in a High End brand. 

Best Pressed Eyeshadow

Sugarpill
Sugarpills pressed eyeshadows are just the bees knees. They're insanely pigmented, bright and true to colour and also apply smoothly and blend easily. They're also really reasonably priced at $34 for a palette of 4 huge pans of shadow or $12 each. At the moment there are 9 fantastic rich colours and a tonne more are coming out soon!

Contender
MUA Pressed shadows
MUA shadows are nice, particularly the pearl finish ones which are creamy and easy to apply, but not amazing. However as they cost £1 each they're a fantastic bargain!

Best Loose Eyeshadow

Darling Girl, Shiro, Sugarpill, Venomous Cosmetics, Fyrrinae
I couldn't choose just one brand for this. All of the above make amazing shadows, pigmented, creamy, easily blendable, great range of colours, long lasting etc. I'd say they're all about equal in quality. Sugarpill tends to have the brightest, boldest colours, Fyrinnae the most complex, Darling Girl has fantastic unusual neutral shades and lovely duochromes, Venomous has great sparkle and Shiro has wonderful soft shades.

Contenders
Illamasqua pure Pigment, Barry M Dazzle dusts
Both of these are lovely too but more expensive (particularly the Illamasqua)

Best Pencil Eyeliner

Illamasqua Medium pencil
I really like these because they come in a multitude of colours and you can use them anywhere on your face, which means you can finally have a pale green lipliner or bright red eyeliner if you wanted! I also just really like them, they're soft enough to leave an easy line but not so soft as to break or smudge easily and they last longer on my waterline than the average eyeliner.

Best Liquid Eyeliner

Illamasqua Precision Ink
 This eyeliner has a really great applicator, it's a felt style one (not a felt-tip pen style though) but is a bit longer than average (I think? Something's different anyway) which makes it really easy to apply precisely. The formula is great, completely opaque and slightly glossy. It dries quickly and does not fade or smudge at all.
It's only available in 4 shades which is a bit of a shame in one way because I love coloured eyeliner but in another it's great because I love this stuff but my bank balance does not :P

Best Glitter Eyeliner
Collection 2000 Glam Crystals Dazzling Gel Liners
Just the best glitter Eyeliners ever. These are packed full of glitter which means you don't need to layer it over and over to get a proper glitter liner look (unlike some glitter eyeliners *coughUrbanDecaycough*). They come in lots of lovely bright colours including some holographic ones and also dry quickly.


Contender
MUA Glitter Eyeliner
These are almost as good as the Collection 2000 but have a worse brush (it's too long and splays and is just a bit odd) and only come in about 3 shades, but they're also just £1 yay!

Best Mascara

Benefit They're Real
I've been using this as an alternative to my absolute favourite mascara (Lancomes Oscillation) since I discovered that lancome test on animals (or support animal testing or something, it's hard to tell :/ ). It's a really good mascara giving wonderful length and volume (doesn't add much curl but my lashes are naturally curly so I never bother with curling mascaras) and it doesn't flake or clump easily. The brush is a plastic one which I always prefer to bristles and has a cool little spiky top part that helps to lift the lashes up and coat them right to the roots. I have found that it's dried out a bit though and is not as good or easy to use as it was when I first bought it.

Best Lip Balm

Models own
When it comes to bog standard lip balm used just to moisturise your mouth I don't really have a favourite, I'll use anything as long as it doesn't taste disgusting, but these Models Own ones are amazing. Look here for a full review but these are highly pigmented, lip softening, super shiny, delicious smelling little pots of joy!

Best Lipstick

MAC Amplified Creme Lipsticks
My favourite ever lipsticks, these are creamy, soft, not at all drying and easy to apply. They glide over my lips and are beautifully pigmented with a slightly shiny finish. They come in lots of pretty colours and while they don't have any very unusual ones like blues or greens they do have bright oranges, pinks, purples and reds. 

Contender
Mac Matte Lipsticks
I tend to just like Mac's lipsticks in general but only have a few that aren't either Amplified Creme or Matte formula so Matte would be my contender. A couple of the shades are hard to use (Ruby Woo i'm looking at you) but in general they tend to be slightly dry but not bad and not drying to the lips. They're very pigmented and have a lovely retro finish.

I have swatches of all my Mac Lipsticks here

Best Lipgloss

Illamasqua Intense Lipglosses
I just looove these. They're super opaque, ultra glossy, smell delicious, come in fantastic shades like grey and molten silver along with pinks and reds and last longer than any other gloss I've tried. See my full review here and swatches here


Contenders
Darling Girl Holo-glosses/venomous cosmetics Lip Poisons
Darling Girls Holo-glosses are fantastic (generally) clear or sheer glosses packed with lovely glitter. They last beautifully and are amazing layered over lipsticks. Venomous Lip poisons are actually quite similar to the Illamasqua Intense glosses, they're opaque and long wearing and lovely but just not quite as good (in my opinion) You can see some lip swatches here.

Best Blush

Illamasqua powder blush
Amazingly soft and blendable but ultra pigmented. You need a light hand with these! They last all day and come in a myriad of colours to suit every skin tone (from the palest pink to deepest plum). The majority of these are matte but a couple of shimmery shades have just been released and have a lovely hint of shimmer but not over the top sparkle.


Contender
ELF Studio
ELFs blushes are also incredibly pigmented, easy to blend and cheap at £3.50 each but I find them just slightly chalkier and the sparkle in some shades can be a bit brash for me.

Best Bronzer

ELF Studio Cool bronzer

I don't generally use bronzer to look bronzed or sunkissed, I just use it occasionally to  contour my face. To do this properly it's best to use a matt contour shade as the sparkle in bronzer reflects light (and when you're contouring you want to create shadows, which should not reflect the light) and this bronzer is great for that! It's matte and has 4 shades in the one pan that you can mix together or use seperately to get the right depth of colour. It's very pigmented though so you need to use a light hand. 


Contender
  Sleek Contour Kit
Sleeks contour kit has a beautiful formula which is really easy to apply and blend. It comes in a few shadesto suit different skin tones. I use the 'light' shade and it works well with my ultra pale pink skin. It's not super pigmented but I find that a good thing because it looks more natural. However it has shimmer in it which as I said before is not brilliant for contouring (for me anyway). 


Best Highlighter
ELF Studio Blush in Gotta Glow/Illamasqua Illuminator
 Gotta Glow is a pearly white pressed powder with some golden sparkle. It's great for adding a bit of shimmer to the face and highlighting large areas like the cheekbones however it's not very pigmented. Illamasqua's Illuminators are cream highlighters that are insanely pigmented and really reflect light. They have fantastic sparkle and dry really quickly. You can apply them sheerly for a hint of a glow or more thickly for a real sparkle with more opaque colour.


Contender:
ELF Studio Radiance Enhancer
This is a highlighting cream that comes in a handy brush applicator which makes it really easy to apply (especially to places like the cupids bow where you only want a hint of highlight). It gives a nice glow but is not very pigmented and takes a little while to dry.

Best Liquid Foundation

Illamasqua Skin Base 
I love this foundation (though ignore the claims that it's like a BB cream, it isn't) it's buildable from sheer to full coverage, easily blends on my skin, lasts brilliantly and gives a really lovely natural looking finish to my skin. You can see my full review here.


Contender
GOSH X-ceptional Wear
A great foundation that blends easily into the skin, leaves it looking matte and lasts all day.

Best Powder Foundation

BFTE 
To be fair I've only tried 2 powder foundations, BFTE's and Physicians Formula. The PF one is pressed, I find it quite hard to apply and the lightest shade is too dark for me whereas the BFTE is a loose powder which applies beautifully and comes in lots of shades (Alabaster suits me well). It's super easy to apply, you just buff it in, and it leaves my skin looking flawless. You can see me in it here.

Best Setting Powder

ELF Studio HD powder
This is just a good, bog-standard powder. It's colourless so should work for most skin shades (though if you're very dark skinned I think it could make you look a little ashy as it could leave a white cast) and sets foundations brilliantly, leaving you with matt skin. You only need to use a little bit and it's cheap at £6 (or cheaper in the US or with one of ELFs millions of codes).

Best Makeup Brushes

ELF Studio

I love the ELF Studio brushes, they're really cheap (generally £3.50), synthetic and thus cruelty free and just work brilliantly! I can honestly say these are on par with my Illamasqua brushes that can cost up to 10x as much. It's hard to explain why they're so good, they just work! I have a video about them here

Contender
Illamasqua
Illamasquas brushes are great, synthetic, soft, easy to use and apply and blend makeup easily.

Best Nail Varnish

Illamasqua
While Illamasqua nail varnishes are among the priciest I've ever bought at £13.50 each (though I always wait for a sale or discount code as I am cheap :P ) they're probably the best quality too. They're generally very pigmented needing only 2 coats to be fully opaque, come in beautiful colours, dry really quickly and last for ages without chipping or wearing.

Contender
Models Own, Lynnderella, GOSH
Models Own and GOSH polishes are great and dry quite quickly. I generally need 2-3 coats but the finish is smooth and glossy and lasts for days. Lynnderella polishes aren't quite as quick drying but they are so unusual and gorgeous that they're worth it!

Sorry for the lack of posts everyone, My laptop is being fixed so I have to use claire's and don't have access to my files and photos. I'm getting it back soon though.


If there's any other catergories you'd be interested in knowing my favourites of then comment and I'll add them in :)

Models Own Lip Balm Review

I'll just come right out and say it, this review is going to be hideously gushing as this is one of the best lip products I've ever tried. I LOOOOVE it. I actually tried a self imposed boycott of Models Own for a while last year after a big sale fail and then someone from their facebook page nicking photos from my blog without asking or crediting me but then I tried this and was just like '...ok well as a brand they may suck but their products rule!'

So why do I love this so much? Well it's fully opaque with the shine of a gloss, smells like delicious fruity candy, lasts for hours, moisturises my lips as well as a non coloured balm and feels like I'm just wearing a light layer of balm. IT'S JUST AMAZING!

  

As you can see it comes in a little pot (which either weigh 6g full or hold 6g of product. I'm not sure.) The balm itself is like... a paste I guess! It's not as hard as your average lip balm in a tube but not as liquid as a gloss. It's really easy to spread over your lips and looks smooth and even. And my god are the 3 I own pigmented!

Red Hot - bright bold red. Smells like strawberry candy.

 

Tangerine - Reddish coral. Smells like orange candy.

 

Fuschia-Full. Shimmering bright fuschia. Smells like raspberry candy.

 

I wanted to test out their longevity so worn it for a while and took photos at intervals.

Here is Fuschia-Full after about an hour, during which time I drank a pint of water and ate something:

  

IT'S EXACTLY THE SAME!

Here it is after about 4 hours. There was more drinking, eating and at one point I completely smudge it accidentally with my hand. 

 

It has now faded quite a lot but it's an even, sheer pink now, no patchiness or smudging.

While wearing these It just feels like I've applied a thickish layer of normal lip balm, they're not at all sticky or heavy or gloopy feeling. After I remove it my lips feel really softened and supple.

Any cons? Well if you just wanted a slightly tinted lip balm this obviously isn't for you (though there is a clear shade and a light pink that might be suitable), there are only 6 colours available at the moment and some people might not like applying from the pot. Personally I have no problem with the packaging, I use a lip brush to apply it so I don't get messy fingers and because of the consistency I really can't think how else they could package it. Some people also may dislike the fragrances (though those people would be crazy as they smell delicious!) but you can only really smell it when you first apply (or if you stick your nose in the pot to sniff it like I do :P) Other than that I don't see how anyone could dislike it. It's just... lovely! These are usually £5 from Models Own but I think I picked them up in a sale on Asos for about £3 each. Obviously I'm glad I paid less than asking price but I definately think they're worth the full price.

*Despite the hideous gushing in this review I have recieved no form of compensation for it and I bought the products myself, it's just a creamy dreamy product!*

Edit:
If Models Own get to 50000 'likes' on facebook by the end of August there will be a 50% off sale. If anyone outside the UK would like me to do a CP then (or at any other time with any UK brand) I would be more than happy :)

First proper haul in aggggeeessss!

At the moment I still have basically no income (should have some basic ESA reinstated but the DVLA forgot about it -__-) so I can't really afford to buy makeup or clothes or other nice luxuries. I still make some very small purchases occaisionally but they are few and far between. I'm also currently having some problems leaving my house, so Claire decided to take me out shopping and buy me some presents. We went to Kingston. I was very anxious and had some real difficulties but in general I had a lovely time, Claire was really good at looking after me and calming me down and she was really generous! I got lots of goodies and technically only spent £2 of my money! I felt accomplished afterwards.

Claire also decided I needed to have my picture taken. I'm not sure why, I didn't look particularly nice! And yet I am sharing for some reason :P

 

It doesn't look it in the photo but it was too bright for me to see, which is why I'm pulling a silly face.

And I like this photo because it's just like this one from about a year ago when we first got Weevil :) Yet again it looks like I'm strangling him when I'm not, and he's a lot bigger of course!

And the other day Jesus appeared in my cooking!

 

It's Jesus or some kind of crab-beast anyway :P

Now please follow under the cut if you wish to see my haul. 

Swatcharama - Models Own lip Products

Dammit I don't want to like these but I can't help it! They're really, really good and it pisses me off! (for reasons why I don't want to like Models Own see here)

They're all  affordable at £5 each (and often on 3 for 2 at Boots) and they just work. The lipsticks are creamy and truly opaque in one swipe, the lip glosses are pretty pigmented and really glossy and the balms... Oh the balms! I need to write a full review on these products because they really deserve it. Godammit, stop being good, I want to hate you! :(

Anyway here be swatches:

Lipsticks:

Coral Pink:

 

More under the cut :)

Models Own Overall Review

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, my photos for posts i was planning are on Claire's laptop which has died :( Hopefully will be fixed soon. I don't like using the desktop computer for the pathetic reason that the chair you sit at is hard and hurts my back. I've also been busy painting and watching rubbish/amazing films (Phantom of the Paradise and Can't Stop The Music are the latest ones) I've also been writing posts for my other blog (http://lillian-low.blogspot.com/) so if you're interested in my rather rubbish musings on music, films and various other bits (for instance i'm writing a hideously long essay on the similarities between painting and magic for no apparent reason) you should take a look.

Anyway Models Own is a brand i have mixed feelings about. Why mixed? Well I really, really like all the products of theirs I've tried. But the brand have managed to piss me off on two occaisions. Firstly they have a facebook album where fans can send in photos to be shared and someone from the brand (I assume, why would someone not affiliated with the brand do it?) nicked some of my photos of my nail polish stash i posted and posted them without asking and without credit. Which left a bitter taste in my mouth. Taking photos from anywhere and reposting them without credit is a bit rubbish, however in this case i feel it was worse as they were basically using my photo to advertise their product, which was not what it was originally intended to do. Also as the photo doesn't show up if you google 'Models Own polish' or anything similar i assume they got it directly from my blog. In which case why not just drop me a line and ask permission? It just seemed unprofessional to me. They did however apologise and remove them after i bitched about it on twitter :P
The other reason is their recent 50% off sale. It was to celebrate them getting something like 10000 likes on facebook and ran for a week. Sounds great right? However throughout that week i tried repeatedly (at least once a day) to log on to place what would have been a very sizable order and each time i was unable to buy. I'd get to various stages, sometimes up to where i would pay and then the site would crash. Most of the time i just couldn't get onto the site in the first place. On the last day of the sale i was logging on every hour or so but never managed to make my order. And i was not alone, their facebook page was awash with complaints from people who could not log on, could not pay, had accidentally made 2 orders because they didn't think the first one had gone through. It just annoyed me a lot that nothing was done for the people who left out, except saying 'sorry, lots of people managed to get orders though'. I understand that sales have to end at some point, but when the reason people have been unable to partake is the fault of the company (in this case by not getting their website bandwidth or whatever it is ready for the obvious surge of customers) it seems unfair to me.

But as i said i do love their products. Their nail polishes in particular are pretty great. They come in about 15 million colours (ok actually 80) including some nice unsual ones like Disco Mix which is made of small purple, pink and blue glitter and lots of lovely glitters and shimmers and neons. I find they go on needing about 2-3 coats but dry really quickly and last nicely. The lipsticks are great, highly pigmented, long lasting and non-drying, they don't come in many colours but the ones they do have are refreshingly interesting, reds, neon pinks, dark purples and then nudes and pale colours as well. I really like the lipglosses too, the pigmentation depends on what colour you get, the 2 i have, Tangerine and Fuschia-Full are really pigmented, giving the same sort of look as a lipstick but shiney and wet-looking. They do feel sticky on my lips but not overly so and somehow it's sticky in a way that seems to help it stay on my lips, making it quite long lasting (for a gloss anyway). And i love their tinted lip balms, which have the same basic pigmentation as the lip glosses but feel silky and help moisturise my lips.Basically everything £5 which isn't exactly cheap but not at all expensive and besides there's always money off the nail polishes if you buy 3 or more on their website. They also do lots of products i haven't tried, false eyelashes, cheek and lip tint, brushes, powder and pressed eyeshadows. mascara, pencil eyeliners and blushers (which i've seen wonderful reviews of) and everything looks really good.

So... yeah this is an odd review. I really like all of their products that i've tried, they seem very high quality and are definately worth the price. But i don't really want to buy from them again, and i'm ok with that, which makes me think that nothing they make can be that special, or i'd be more upset about it.

Pink Looks

I've been lazy with my looks lately, i need to sit down and spend some time on my appearance. My hair desperately needs a cut and dye and my eyebrows need bleaching (or plucking if i finally decide to grow them back to their natural colour). Anyway i've just been shoving on dead simple looks i i actually bother putting on makeup at all :/
Anyway here are a couple of looks

 

Eyes:

Superdrug MUA glitter eyeliner (pink colour with blue flash), black mascara. Brows are Jelly Pong Pong Wakeup Makeup brow powder.

Face: can't remember. Probably Physicians Formula SPF 50 powder foundation in Translucent Light

Lips:

Models Own Lipgloss in Fuschia-Full

 

Eyes: Sleek Circus Pallette, black mascara

Face: don't remember, possibly same as above

Lips: Models Own tinted lip balm in Fuschia Full (practically the same as the gloss. Stupid me!)

Then I added some tightlining using Illamasqua's Sophie Medium pencil (LOVE this, it lasts all day)

 

 

 

As you can see i'm not very good at lining my inner eyes. It was my first attempt in a long time at lining the upper waterline but i've done the lower one recently so there's no real excuse.

And i found this photo from my last FOTD and it was just so utterly beautiful i had to share with you:

 

My God, i truly am the most beautiful woman in Puppetland.

Find me a new top coat!

Last night i was doing my nails. I used a lovely colour, Model's Own Pink Punch and it was looking lovely. I left it a while and then applied my top coat which is by Collection 2000. It seemed fine and by bed time seemed perfectly dry. I went to bed with beautiful smooth nails and woke up with THIS:

Look at that bubbling! And it is so much worse in real life, my camera couldn't pick up the true ugliness.
I know it wasn't the polish because i had used it before without a top coat and it had been fine, no bubbling at all.

So... i need a new top coat. Preferably one i can get in Superdrug or Boots or somewhere and that is reasonably cheap. However if there is one you love that is from a higher end or international polish brand please tell me anyway :)

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.