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

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?

Review - Elf products and Maybelline The Colossal Volum'Express Cat Eyes Mascara + FOTD

Hi there my pink babes :) 

 Today I'm reviewing a few new products I used for my FOTD, including some ELF products I received yesterday on the post. 

 First of all I'll talk about the ELF Mineral Infused Face Primer. I think it has a neat, professional look about it and I love the fact it has a pump. As far as primers go, I can only compare with the only other primer I've ever used - the Sephora smoothing primer that retails at about 11€. 

I loved this primer by ELF, it left my skin so soft and smooth and allowed my foundation to glide on effortlessly and made it easier to blend. For only 6£ (or in my case, with the 40% discount - 3.60£) I think you can't go wrong with this one! It certainly does its job and the container is pretty to look at!

Next I applied my usual foundation and concealer (Revlon PhotoReady and Erase Paste by Benefit) and after that the ELF HD Powder. 

Its description states:

 This high definition loose powder creates a "soft focus" effect to the skin. Masks fine lines and imperfections for a radiant complexion. The incredibly soft and invisible powder is great for on screen and everyday wear. Directions : The microfine particles are designed to be used with high-definition camera technology or fot everyday wear. Apply powder all over face for a professional and youthful look of perfection.

Now I don't really know what to think of this powder. I was expecting a kind of matifying powder just to set the make-up really, but in the end it just left my face looking all powdery and chalky looking, as you can see by this terrible picture of me - gosh why I am posting this on the internet I will never know.

Excuse my bright pink dressing gown

But me being me, I don't give up easily on my make-up, so I applied my bronzer - Avon Arabian Glow, with my new Elf complexion brush (that I love by the way!).

Thankfully the chalkiness disappeared and I continued my make-up. To be honest, I don't really know if the powder made any diference to my complexion, but I took a few pics of my finished look with my "high definition camera" - haha, just to see if in the end you're marvelled with some miracle change on camera, like Edward Cullen in direct sunlight or something. (hmmm, I think not!)

 I tried a few eye shadows from the 32pc Eye Palette by Elf, just to see what they're like, but I wasn't really bothered with all the fiddling about with eye shadows, blending and whatnot, so I made a half-hearted effort on only one of my eyes - what a sexy look. 

The eye shadows seem to be quite pigmented and good quality.

I'll try to show you a proper FOTD using this eye palette to better review it. 

Appearance-wise, it looks very professional and neat, in its black matte slim case, not flimsy at all. 

Next I apllied the Elf cream eyeliner with the Elf angled eyeliner brush. 

Wow, what a difference! I got used to using my faithful Rimmel Glam'Eyes Liquid Eyeliner, and it's fairly easy to apply (contrary to my friends' opinion that seem to think that liquid eyeliner is something like Dan Brown's unbreakable code in "Digital Fortress"), but oh boy, this Elf eyeliner, applied with the fantastic angled brush is a breeze to put on! 

Finally I applied my most recent favourite mascara - Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express Cat Eyes Mascara (that's a mouthful!). 

I asked my mum to bring it over when she came to visit, although we do have it over here in Portugal.

I asked for it mainly because of how cool the packaging looks! 

Come on, leopard, yellow, bronze and the rounded shape of the container?? So pretty to look at, if nothing else! Also, it has a curved shaped brush that I've been dying to try.

I'm lovin' it, it doesn't clump up, separates the lashes, keeps a decent curl and gives great volume and length! Also, the curved brush allows your lashes to slightly fan out - like cat eyes basically. I applied mascara to my other naked eye (no eyeliner or eye shadow), because I find that like that you can really appreciate the mascara's full extent!

Before - no mascara

After - with mascara

Made-up Eye VS Naked Eye

Naked eye with mascara

So my lovelies, are you still there after all this???
If so, then here's the final look (with only one eye fully done - lol).
Can you see any special "dewiness" given by the Elf HD powder? Not really sure about that, but if anything it might help keeping my T-zone from shining. I don't suffer from oily skin or anything, but sometimes I get the odd shiny-ness on the nose when captured on camera.

Flash vs No Flash

In case you were wondering, the lipstick I'm wearing is from the Kate Moss collection by Rimmel, no.08.

Thanks for reading! x


PS- By the way, have just realized how freakish my eye colour is. Isn't the colour sort of like Stephanie Meyer described the Cullen's eyes? (enough with the vampire references already!)