Collection 2000 The Smokey Eye Palette Quick Review

Bad, bad blogger.

I have been completely rushed off my feet lately, with my crazy unpredictable schedule, a lot of sorting out to do and worrying because Mr Fish still hasn't found a job and we are needing/wanting to move to our own place ASAP.

I know things will eventually get there, but it takes a while and a hella lot of headaches I can tell you!

Apart from that, I am absolutely LOVING my job, I am so happy there! The ideal thing for me would be to move to a more Make-up/Skin care oriented role at Boots, but for now I am very happy just getting little "whiffs" of different roles in the shop: pharmacy, beauty counters, perfume, customer assistant... Getting a load of extra hours covering for other people means every week is different and never boring. It just takes a while to get used to and some weeks I hardly get a break, last week I only got one day off and tomorrow and the next day I'm doing 12 hour shifts! 

As for blogging, unfortunately it has become a bit of a background priority but never forgotten! I still try and catch up with all your gorgeous blogs quickly before I go to bed, even if I don't have the time to comment!

I really do miss it though, and must get back on the horse, as they say!

I just wanted to quickly point out a great recent purchase of mine that I have been using everyday. The Collection 2000 The Smokey Eye Palette is freaking awesome and cheap as chips!

I have been lusting after the infamous Naked II Palette but seeing as it retails for 36£ I think I have to put that one on hold. In the meantime I spotted this little baby at Boots and for just 4,19£ it was impossible to resist!

The colours are all very wearable, extremely pigmented for such a cheap palette and amazingly long lasting! I was amazed by this because usually eyeshadows will crease and fade during the day, especially without a primer so when I got home from work the other day and checked the mirror, there it was - perfect! I even took a picture for blogging/reviewing purposes.

I am really enjoying being creative and experimenting with these eyeshadows as they're dead easy to mix and match! 

I fully recommend investing in this palette, it's also excellent for beginners and as a good alternative for those who can't afford the higher end ones!

I'll try and post a few FOTD using this palette to show you the different shades, but as you can guess the colours range between browns, blacks, nudes and light colours for highlighting. A couple of them are shimmery but without being outrageously so.

By the way, the mascara I'm using is the No.7 Fanomenal Lashes I had blogged about before, I love it!

Thanks for reading guys, and thanks for being patient with me! x

Long time, no post!

I haven't forgotten about you guys!

I have been so busy with work lately, I was only contracted to work 5 hours on a Sunday but have been doing every extra hours I can get my paws on and have been working practically full time for the last couple of weeks - lucky me!

I am really enjoying working at Boots, my colleagues are so nice, I love interacting with the public and just being around all that make-up and beauty products all day makes me happy! Yes, I have a degree in Pharmacy but am not working as a pharmacist yet (because it will take a while to sort the fact my degree was completed in Portugal). However I am lucky enough to be able to work most days at the Healthcare counter so in the meantime I am, to a certain extent, using my knowledge there :)

I feel like a totally different person now, more independent and overall just feeling like life is gradually sorting itself out. I was getting a bit desperate - firstly not being able to get a job in Portugal, and now all the adapting process after having moved to the UK. Mr.Fish is job-hunting, and we're already looking at places to rent, so it is all falling into place - slowly!

As it happens this week now I wasn't given that many extra hours at work, which is a shame, but I'm working Thursday and Friday (and obviously Sunday) so that's better than nothing and at least I'll be able to sort other things out like looking at houses to rent.

I'll keep you posted and I'll probably blog this week since I have plenty of time. In the meantime I'll leave you with a couple of pics I took via the Webcam Toy google chrome app. If you have Google Chrome I fully recommend you download this app, it's free and fun to use. You can add loads of effects to your webcam pics and load them instantly to facebook or twitter if you want.

I literally took these pictures 5 minutes ago, and after a few attempts managed to get a decent one of Marley - bless. For those of you that don't know, I'm blind as a bat without my contact lenses so at the end of the day I have to pop this not so fashionable pair of glasses on (just like every other hipster out there I'm wanting the nerdy ray-ban wayfarer ones).

Taking off my lenses is on par with putting on pijamas and ditching the bra... just heaven after a day at work!

No.7 Fanomenal Lashes Mascara

I have been a bit absent these last couple of days because I've been a busy busy bee, with my training at my new job and just generally solving a few bureaucratic issues regarding us moving to the U.K. (i.e. trying to get a N.I. number - a real pain in the behind, but fingers crossed it should be all resolved next week).

I am so happy I am finally working, albeit it being only a part time job, but it's keeping me busy and it's always a few more pennies in our pocket at the end of the month. I am really enjoying my training period so far, it can be quite daunting at times but all new beginnings are really and you just have to push through it and learn from the experience. In the long-run it's so gratifying and it provides you so much self-growth.

With that little bit of motivational speaking I'm moving on to the main purpose of this post, to talk about a very exciting launch I'm dying to try out! I'm still keeping to my spending lock-down and am not buying anything now for a while. 
However I can still blog about the things I'm lusting for and put them into my little virtual wish list now can't I?

No.7 is proudly presenting their most recent product - a very promising mascara. It has a funny looking wand but has received tonnes of positive reviews already and I'm really itching  to try this out!

On the Boots website it says:

Introducing Fanomenal Lashes, the revolutionary new mascara from No7.

The unique 'star' brush is made up of clever cogs which load and comb through the lashes to volumise, lengthen and separate, creating a spectacular fan of lashes.

It's hypoallergenic and doesn't contain any fibers that can be irritating to the eyes. 

You can buy the No.7 Fanomenal Lashes at Boots and it retails at 12.95£. 

At the moment when you purchase this mascara you get 5£ worth of Advantage Card points, so that's a big plus.

How about you, have you tried this mascara out, or are you wanting to?

OOTD for the dullest day ever

Do you get frustated when you waste a perfectly good outfit on an extremely non-eventful day? I do. But I needn't fret, as that's what a blog's for.
So here is my OOTD, where I basically got ready and even photographed just to go to the dentist.How sad is that? I wasn't even actually seen by the dentist, I just accompanied Mr.Fish.
My favourite jeans were in the machine and I remembered about the cute dress I got in Bershka a while ago, before I came to Northern Ireland, and thought why not? Then I realized it was raining but it was too late by then. Which also meant the picture would have to be taken inside. So not even an interesting backdrop, but there you have it.

I'm afraid everything I'm wearing is from quite old collections so I won't even bother to do an outfit breakdown. I feel bad about wearing boots in June, but it was rather chilly!

Although I think it's rather nice, I was almost not going to post this as it was such a dull day - apart from the lovely Fish n' Chips dinner which I was too famished to even photograph.

On the other hand in these situations you can always think like this:

Night night!x

What was my excuse today again?

I'll be good tomorrow, I swear.
And I'd better be, after the humongous, mahoosive portion of Fish n' Chips I had for dinner. It was yummers though!

*Balance Me* Moisture Rich Face Cream WIMH free try

Remember when I told about this great site - What's in my handbag - where you find about beauty trends by peeking through other people's handbags? And that you can register for a free try each week and they then send you a lovely personal packaged item if you're selected? If not, take a look here at my older post explaining all about it.

This past week's try was a Balance Me Moisture Face Cream (10ml) and it even came in a sweet little drawstring bag, I was chuffed when I got it in the mail a few days ago.

The cream has a lovely texture and is really moisturizing. It smells of roses, and I'm usually not really a fan of that scent, but I've been sent so many rose scented products lately that I'm actually warming up to it more and more!

Balance Me is a "natural, high-performance, paraben and sulphate free, aromatherapy skincare products, made in the UK" and has been raved about  in several magazines lately, like Red and Glamour. 

I personally love anything claiming to be natural origin or organic, especially if the the product is good and smells nice. My only thing to pick at with this moisturizer is that there's no SPF in it, for me that's a very important factor when choosing a daily moisturizer. Apart from that, very very pleased and shall be looking further into Balance Me products soon.

This try has ended, but now for grabs on WIMH is a Jurlique Rose Hand Cream (rose again, I really am going to end up loving this scent, you'll see!), so give it a go and register on What's in my handbag for a chance to win a lovely high-end sample totally gratis.

Click here to get your free try.

Also I just remembered, Glamour Magazine is offering a Balance Me product with their July Magazine, so keep an eye open for that!

Now for those of you that follow me on Twitter, you probably already know my good news. I went for an interview last week (quite intense I must say, but it went very well actually) and they called me today offering me the job! I am so so happy, I can't even tell you. 

Ok, it's only a part-time job but it's a start! Baby steps, as they say.

April/May Favourites

This is a post I've been wanting to do for ages, since April and never got round to doing it.
Since I moved to Northern Ireland I had to buy a load of things, I didn't want to fill the already chock-a-block car with half full bottles of shampoo and heavy tubs of moisturizer.
So since I arrived I have been going a bit crazy on Ebay trying to get the best bargains. I tried to refrain myself from going wild in Boots, as you all know there's no Boots in Portugal so it's basically my favourite shop ever. Of course I bought a few things in Boots but I must say I did some good hunting online for some of my products.

All this to say:
- Everything on this post is new or relatively new, I'm not going to talk about old favourites and things I still have in my make-up bag/cabinet that I still use on a daily basis.
- Don't freak out with the amount of things I'm showing you on this post, keep in mind this is a 2 month combined favourites, that I had to buy a load of new stuff since moving. And a lot of these things were absolute bargains on Ebay, freebies or samples.

So on to the faves!

Body Products

-Saint Tropez Everyday Moisturizer Gradual Tan in Light/Medium

-Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter

-Soap & Glory Flake Away Body Exfoliator

-Soap & Glory Heel Genius Foot Cream

God, I love S&G products. All of these were very smart buys via Ebay. I managed somehow to get these babies for less than half price with some clever obsessive bidding. It was worth it though! 

The Righteous Butter and the Flake Away have the S&G signature scent which I ADOOOORE. I am very funny with smells, even if I love a scent I will grow tired of it very quickly and have to change products, but I have yet to get over this luxurious, sweet, musky and sensual scent. Love love love.

Also both the butter and the exfoliator make my skin so soft and moisturized, it's so worth it I highly recommend.

The Saint Tropez gradual tan moisturizer is lovely, although I probably need a Medium/Dark because I'm not that pale to begin with. Apart from that, it gave me a nice subtle glow, it's got a lovely texture and applies beautifully and effortlessly. And best of all - no horrible DHA smell that tan products always have no matter how they try to disguise it. 

I shall definitely repurchase, although I'll try the darker one next time.

This purchase was part of a pack on Ebay (face and body moisturizer) and was again, a great deal. I think I got both for 12£ (that's usually about the price for only one product).

The foot cream is just a rather good foot cream, nothing much to say about it. It's got some nice ingredients and left my feet nicely moisturized but I don't really like the slipper -ness it gives to my skin.

I have to either wait ages for it to sink in, or pop some socks on (which is actually what they recommend you do, so it's good before you go to bed for an intense moisturization, not so good if you're just about to go out).

Hair Products

 -Tresemme Split Remedy Serum 

-Tresemme Split Remedy Leave-in

-Terax Life Drops Leave-in Conditioner

-Philip Kingsley Elasticizer 

-Philip Kingsley Stimulating Scalp Mask

-Terax Crema Conditioner

-Macadamia Natural Oil Intensive Mask

-L'Oreal EverStrong No Sulphate Shampoo

-Virgin Coconut Oil

I admit it. I am a hair product snob. I am so obsessed lately with hair, that I would literally spend anything on a hair product, as long as it were good. I know, it's bad. Mr.Fish and I have countless arguments regarding my extreme consumerism on hair products. But in the end he tries to understand and indulges. Normally!

I think it derives from the fact that my hair has always been far from perfect, you'll hear me rambling on and on about it in this blog but it's true. And after years of abuse I'm finally trying to get it as healthy as possible and am always in the search of the Holy Grail Hair product. 

That being said, I also enjoy spending as little as possible and am up for a good bargain, so my most expensive products here - the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer and the Macadamia Mask were both bought online through BuyaPowa at a very good price, half price if I recall. 

The Terax products were bought also online on BeautyBay.

The Tresemme products were a 2 for 5£ offer in Boots, so that was a bargain too since each one of them is close to 5£ anyway! I like these, but use sparingly as I try not to overload my hair with silicones. I use these if I happen to style my hair or just on the ends if they're looking a little frazzled. These smell gorgeous!

The L'Oreal shampoo is great, lathers up exceptionally well for a sulphate-free shampoo! 

The Elasticizer and Macadamia masks I use as a special weekly treat, they are absolutely miraculous, love them to bits. I bought the small scalp mask tube for less than 5£ to try it out, I have to say it feels really nice on my scalp, so refreshing.

I bought the Virgin Coconut oil in Portugal just before I moved and is a great natural treatment for any hair type. It's practically finished and I must buy another soon.

Finally the Terax products are very retro looking but very effective, apparently Liv Tyler swears by them. I bought them because I was looking for a good silicone free conditioner and was convinced by the raving reviews on the net. I have to say it is a really good conditioner, does its job without weighing down the hair. Some may be put off by the smell, but I quite like it. It is quite expensive so I'm looking to try a few other options I have in mind when it finishes.

Make-up

Just going to run you through these really quickly since this post is getting ridiculously long!:

-L'Oreal Lumi Magique Foundation (nice light foundation, dewy skin, bla bla)
-Paul&Joe Foundation Primer was a freebie from "What's in my handbag" website
-Collection 2000 gel eyeliner in black from the May Glossybox (applies effortlessly and lasts all day)
-Soap and Glory Solar Powder Bronzer (another cheap as chips deal on Ebay - very light and hardly noticeable bronzer)
-W7 Candy Floss Blusher from TKMaxx for about 3£, lovely and apparently a dupe for Benefit's Dandelion
-17 Blusher in First Kiss (so cheap, lovely colour payoff and apparently a dupe for Nars Orgasm)
-Bourjois Effet 3D Lipgloss in Rose Chimeric (Glamour Magazine May Giveaway Freebie)
-Revlon LipButters in Cotton Candy and Peach Parfait (Couldn't resist the 2£ off offer in Boots, they are gorgeous!)
-Rimmel London Kate Lasting Finish Lipstick in 16 (again a 2£ off offer at Boots, a lovely coral pink perfect for summer - love love love!)
-Beauty Blender Sponge for applying foundation bought on Ebay - really cheap

Facial Products

-Saint Tropez Everyday Moisturizer for Face Gradual Tan Light/Medium
-No.7 Beautiful Skin BB cream for Normal/Dry Skin (my favourite BB cream so far)
-Good Things Daily Cleanser
-S&G Peaches and Clean Cleanser (Ebay again)
-Weleda Wildrose Night Cream Sample from the May Glossybox
-L'Oreal Vibrating Collagen Eye Cream from TKMaxx (gimmicky thing, not too bothered about the vibrating but the cream isn't too bad). Am looking to buy a more organic/natural eye cream next though.

Gadgets / others

-Tangle Teezer
-Braun Silk Epil7  Epilator  (Best Ebay Bargain ever!)
-Oral B Triumph 5000A Smart Guide Electric Toothbrush (again, won this on Ebay for much less than half price, would never spend the whopping 179 pounds on it)
I love this thing! Once you go electrical you never want to go back! What a difference, my teeth feel so clean after, like I've just flossed. Best investment ever, it's so expensive but totally worth it especially if you can grab a halp price offer on Boots (think there's one on now) or like me, get lucky on Ebay.

So that's that! Pheww. I am officially on lock down now though, no buying anything, and I mean anything until I get a job.
I went for a couple of job interviews and have sent millions of CV's so I'll keep you posted on that. Fingers crossed!

You know you're getting old...

...when you suddenly need reading glasses!

It's the boyf's 28th birthday today and this was the "card" I made for him, courtesy of Sir Marlington looking very dashing for the occasion :)!

NOTD : Bourjois 10 Day Nail Polish

As you know from my previous post, I was one of the lucky winners of Glamour Magazine's May Giveway Bourjois Set consisting of a lovely lipgloss and this gorgeoooous nail varnish.

I'd never tried any of these Borjois 10 day polishes, as you know I am a fan of the lovely and cheap Catrice, a brand that unfortunately does not yet exist in the U.K., so I've never really thought about shelling out on the more expensive brands like Bourjois (am tempted to try out the Essie range since it's so raved about).

I'm never convinced with these longevity claims (5 days, 10 days with no chips), to me a manicure only looks good the first couple of days, as I'm a perfeccionist when it comes to manicures and the slightest chip makes we want to get hold of my acetone, clean it off and start again. Because I like changing often the colour of my nails, I don't really mind if nail polishes don't last that long, but obviously it's a plus when they do resist some wear and tear for a while longer.

I was pleasantly surprised with this Bourjois nail polish, it doesn't last anywhere near 10 days but it kept nice and shiny for longer than my usual polishes. I would say 3 days with no chips is more accurate, but I'm still dead chuffed with this baby. And the colour... Gorge-balls!
It was almost impossible to capture the real colour on camera for some reason, so I took some photos with my camera, and some with Mr.Fish's smartphone. The real thing is somewhere in between, a lovely mauvy pink.

Here's is slightly more lilac than the real colour

With flash, still not pink enough!

Here it's ever so slighty "pink-er" than the real colour!

Unfortunately no funky imaginative names on these lacquers, in fact - no name at all, which is quite annoying since I like having a reference. Actually I just went on the Boots website and searched for these polishes... apparently they do have names, at least on the site anyway. I couldn't seem to find it printed on the actual bottle. I think this one must be Guimauve according to Boots.

I really loved the shape of the cap, it sort of clicks when you close it which reassures me the bottle is tightly shut. The brush is very good too, has a marvellous shape that allows you to get most of the nail covered in just one stroke.

As per usual I did two coats and finished with Sally Hansen Insta-dry top coat.

Leopard Print Skirt

Ebay has become my new best friend. I got this fantastic assimetrical maxi skirt a while ago for peanuts and decided to give it a whirl today. I wanted to celebrate the Jubilee in style but decided in the end the weather wasn't colaborating and changed to something more demure and cozy.
But are we going to waste a perfectly good outfit?
No we are not, we take pictures as an excuse to register the outfit combo for future reference. Or, as I did, make the boyfriend take the pictures and make him forget about something he'd left in the oven. The things we do for a blog post, tut tut.

I really want to pair this skirt with a nice light coloured vest paired with sandals or wedges.
That would make it a perfect beachy and relaxed look.
But for that I need to go shopping (and for that I need dosh, therefore a JOB, sob sob), so I decided to see how it looked with some peep toe heels and a quarter sleeve blouse, making it more of an evening look.

The skirt is from Ebay (link here!), the blouse is from Primark (last year's collection I think), shoes and jacket from Portugal and spike necklace from Ebay. (link here!). Cheap as chips this one, hey?

Slap-wise, this is just my "less is more" everyday make-up look, let me know if you want a breakdown on the products I use.

Hope you all have a fantastic, royal weekend!

What's in my Handbag Freebie - Paul & Joe Moisturizing Foundation Primer

As I'm sure we all do, I do love bagging a good bargain or better still, getting free stuff! I've never really won any competitions or received free stuff before, but I guess it's pretty simple as to why. I simply never really tried! This month I started a new resolution : enter as many competitions as I possibly can. I mean, if I don't try then I'll never get will I?

As you're probably aware, Glamour magazine has been offering a great Giveaway for every day of the month of May, so every day I've been religiously going to their website and entering their competition on diferent products. I think I entered everyday except for a few days where the products they were offering weren't really my cup of tea, like Acne targeted cleansers. To my utter surprise, I get a package yesterday on the post that left me wondering what on earth it could be since I hadn't ordered anything recently. As I open it, realize ... Oh my god I just won May 5th competition prize! It's a Bourjois set comprising of a lipgloss and a nail polish, there were about 700 sets to give away at random people who entered the competition on that day.

I was thrilled to bits! The lipgloss is lovely and I simply ADORE the colour of my new nail polish. I have already done a NOTD with it but I'll blog about it on the next post.

Now I recently got to know about this great website and I thought I'd share with you guys. It's called "What's in my Handbag", or WIMH between friends. 

It's a really nice idea, it's basically an online magazine where they show you the beauty must-haves of a whole host of fascinating style-insiders. 

I do love a bit of nosing aroud, especially when it comes to beauty products. So with this site you can flick through various handbag contents and read the descriptions of their favourite products. 

After you've looked into a few handbags you'll realize a few products keep making an appearance, so you end up thinking - wow this must be really good if do many fashionistas are raving about it! I guess this might become dangerous to a person like myself who sadly is quite easy influenced to buy the latest beauty must-have, but oh well!

Here's an example of the contents of someone's handbag. You can then click on the products and find out more about them.

Now the best thing about this is that every week they provide a free try for anyone who's signed up to HIMH. I registered for a free try a while ago, when I first signed up, but didn't really give it much thought.

Then one day, out of the blue, I receive this very smart looking black box in the post. 

Oh stop it, you! You're making me blush!

A FULL SIZE!!??

Loving the SPF 15

Isn't she adorable?

Here you have a sneek peek of my Bourjois nail polish

I was blown away, I never in a million years thought I'd actually get this, let alone a full size! I went online to search more about this brand, I'd never heard of Paul & Joe. 

Apparently this little baby retails at 22£ on Beauty Bay, so to say this is a bloody good treat from HIMH is an understatement.

I love the idea behind this, you get to try luxury products that you might of never heard of before and it makes you go out and find more about them. 

Paul & Joe was launched in 1995  and its quirky, kooky and fantastic make-up range has been a cult favourite since.

I have used this primer a couple of times, I always like to test products for a while longer before I blog about them, but I'm pretty pleased with this little guy already. I mean even just to look at - it's fantastic! Its gorgeous packaging reminds a bit of old-fashioned 1920's make-up and beauty products and looks positively luxurious on my dressing table.

Obviously we're not going to splash out this kind of dough just so it looks pretty to look at, so does it work?

I am happy to say YES!

It has quite a fluid consistency, not like other primers where it's basically silicone and makes your face really really soft. This is nothing like that, it feels more like a runny foundation and actually has colour to it, reminding me a bit of a BB cream.

It goes on nicely on my skin and provides a nice base for my foundation/BB cream. I don't know yet if this actually prolongs the longevity of my foundation throughout the day, but for me that isn't a major concern anyway. I just like to have a nice coating for my foundation and allow a nice application. The rest isn't that important to me as I prefer a more natural look anyway and light coverage.

It has a light floraly scent and I am really pleased it has a SPF. The more protection the better, I always say! (although that doesn't always apply - I immediately got the picture in my head of people who think 2 condoms is safer than 1 - it certainly is NOT, on the contrary -  it will cause friction and can rupture the condoms).

I digress. What a lovely little note on contraceptives and safe sex in the middle of a product review, but hey!

All in all I am loving this primer. I have normal to dry skin so it's perfect for me. I always look for SPF on my products so that's a major plus. I had a peek at the ingredients, it has lovely stuff in it like Apricot oil and Jojoba seed oil so it makes me happy to think it's actually doing something for my skin other than just sitting there under my foundation. So thank you WIMH!

If you girls are interested in getting to know about this website copy this link:

http://www.whatsinmyhandbag.com/r/3j9

If you do register I'd be so grateful if you could do it via this link, as the more friends I invite the more goodies I can eventually get. (I have no idea what, but I'm going for it!). Invite your friends after too!

Also don't forget to register for this week's free try : Balance me Moisture Rich Cream (10 ml).

By the way, they can't guarantee everyone who registers gets a free try, they base their choice on your beauty profile you fill in as you sign up and surely there must be a limited stock. But it can't hurt to try, now can it?

How 'bout this lovely weather, hey?

I never thought I'd get weather like this in the U.K.! Why didn't anybody tell us? There we were, missing Portugal and being jealous of friends and family that were getting lovely sunshine and going to the beach.

Imagine my surprise when all of a sudden (it really was, wasn't it?) I went from boots to flip-flops!

Well, with such beautiful beaches right at our doorstep, we didn't have to think much about what we were going to do this weekend.

I didn't quite muster up the courage to actually go in the water, no matter how lovely it looked, because I must say - it's much chillier than in Portugal! Baby steps...

So what were you all up to this weekend? I'm sure you were enjoying this good weather too, hm?

By the way, this is Runkerry Beach in Portballintrae, right near the Giant's Causeway.. Lovely isn't it?