Sunday 1 January 2012

2 x £6

How much make-up can you get for £6 these days?  Well, it depends where you look I guess.  Normally that’d be enough to get a full priced lipstick or eyeshadow on the highstreet.  In the run-up to Christmas there were lots of special offers to entice me away from my Christmas shopping, and I took advantage of some special offers in Superdrug to come home with these veritable make-up bargains.

First up, Superdrug are (at the time of writing) running an offer for free false eyelashes when you spend £5 or more on Collection 2000 products.  In effect this works out at purchasing two full priced products.  I picked up a glitter eyeliner and a matte lip cream and chose the natural look eyelashes (there was a choice of two designs; natural or volume lashes), which came to around £6 in total – what a bargain!

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The glitter eyeliner has already featured in several posts on this blog as I’ve already become a big fan.  All I really have to say about it is that it’s a good quality, great value product so if you like glitter eyeliners this range is definitely worth checking out.  The only slight issue with this is that the coloured gel that the glitter is suspended in  does stain my skin if worn alone but I’ve been wearing it on top of a normal dark liquid eyeliner and not had any problems with staining.  It’s very easy to remove with either normal make-up remover or face wash.  In the swatch below I’ve applied two coats which as you can see provides dense, opaque coverage.

The lip cream has a lovely consistency – really smooth and moisturising.  It also has a relatively inoffensive, light vanilla scent – which makes a nice change from some of the overpowering fragrances I’ve experienced in some other lip products lately.  The colour, coverage and finish are all lovely, so I would be totally in love with this product if it weren’t for the fact that it fades on me really quickly.  I haven’t been able to eek out more than a couple of hours’ wear from this so far which is a shame as I really want to like it a lot!  I’d love it if anybody has any tips to share on how to get this product to last longer.

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I have worn the lashes and they were also comfortable to wear with a nice finish – noticeable in an elegant way and not at all overwhelming.  I did have some problems with them poking me in the eye after a few hours but that could be because I didn’t trim them and just wore them as they were in the pack.  I’d take a bit more time to fit them to my own lash line next time.  I don’t even like wearing mascara too close to the inner corner of my eye normally.

Next up Superdrug are also currently (at the time of writing) running an offer for a free eyeshadow palette with any purchase over £6 from the Accessorize cosmetics range.  I’m a big fan of Accessorize cosmetics so I picked up one of their new mascaras which cost exactly £6 and chose the eyeshadow palette in Peony Union Jack.  They do the undeniably cutest  make-up packaging on the high street.

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The quality of the shadows is really OK.  There’s no denying that they’re a bit chalky, especially compared to the mono eyeshadows in the Accessorize range which are very creamy, but I really find the colour payoff to be OK to good, and all the shades are definitely useable.  The indigo has the poorest colour payoff but I think it could be made to pop over a creamy primer – something along the lines of the Sleek primer palette perhaps.

I really like the Flutter Curl Mascara.  I accidentally bought the shade black brown as usually I wear only black mascara (as my eyelashes are black anyway) but this shade is really quite dark anyway.  The brush is quite unusual being a multi-layered plastic comb, and is great at defining my lashes (short and sparse).  I use it to either brush through several very thin coats of mascara, or turn it on its side to load my lashes with a thick blob of mascara which can then be brushed through to separate the lashes.  Oh and the packaging is also ultra-cute; a navy tube covered in pictures of brightly coloured butterflies.

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Oh and of course there were make-up bargains a plenty to be had in the post-Christmas sales which I will admit I did indulge in a bit.  Plenty of pictures of my newest make-up goodies will be coming to Chilled Pink Grapefruit soon!

My Christmas Travel Make-up

I went away just for a few days over Christmas itself to visit my boyfriend’s family in Scotland.  We were only there for three nights but I still wanted to channel the festive season in my make-up.  Here’s what I ended up taking.

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I decided just to take this small make-up bag but I had to cheat a little and take my Pixi lumi lux radiance powder too and some make-up brushes which didn’t quite fit into the bag in the end!  Here’s what it all amounted to.

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From left to right

Top row: ecotools eyeshadow brush set; travel mirror

Middle row: unknown eyeshadow; Illamasqua eyeshadow in Vapour; Accessorize blusher in Scandal

Bottom Row: Ecotools retractable kabuki brush, Accessorize jumbo glitter stick in silver, MAC shadestick in Heirloom; liquid eyeliner in purple black and shimmering black; Accessorize Flutter Curl mascara in brown black; Collection 2000 Glam Crystals glitter eyeliner in Shake it up!; No. 7 High Shine lipgloss in Smile, Pixi lumi lux radiance powder.

Most of these products are tried and tested favourites of mine, although the lipgloss was just one that I had lying around that I never really use so I thought I might as well chuck it in the mix.

These are all the Ecotools brushes that I own and I really rate them.  Not only are they well made and totally synthetic (I always feel a bit guilty about buying natural hair brushes), the brush set is also perfect for travelling, with the brushes all having mini handles and coming with its own canvas pouch, and the selection of brushes covering just about any requirements I ever have for eye make-up.  I’m really glad that it doesn’t come with a slanted eyeliner brush because that’s a brush that I hardly ever use but which seems to have become almost a standard for brush sets.  Instead, there are two useful tiny brushes, both of which are handy for smudging and defining.  I think this cost around £13 from Boots.  Not every Boots store contains a great range of Ecotools brushes though unfortunately.  I picked these brushes up in the Boots next to Tottenham Court Road tube station in the summer.

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I also picked up the Ecotools retractable kabuki brush at the same time for about £10 and it is now perhaps my favourite make-up brush of all.  I use it for applying my Pixi radiance powder followed by blush every day and it’s also perfect for travelling.  The bristles are so soft and dense that they pick up colour brilliantly with practically no fall out.  This would also be ideal for applying powder foundations.  My only complaint is that it can take ages to dry out after cleaning (I just clean my brushes using soap and water) so I have to either leave it on a radiator when the heating’s on or actually give it a blast with the hairdryer – neither of which I’m sure is very good for the brush itself!

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I’ve gushed loads on my blog so far about how much I love the Accessorize blush in the shade Scandal, though I’ve not mentioned so much how much I love my Pixi radiance powder.  It actually applies as a very sheer, peachy shade which is perfect on my pale skin and it’s very difficult to apply too much, so it’s particularly handy for winter mornings when I end up having to get ready in the semi-dark (I don’t have good lighting in my bedroom alas).  I’ve used it most days since I got it at the end of August and the first signs of the make-up pan are showing through, though even with such heavy usage I’m sure there’s still about six months of make-up left.

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As it was Christmas I obviously had to pack some glitter, being a total glitter feind and all.  I bought the Accessorize glitter stick about a year ago but I think it’s a line that’s since been discontinued from their range, which I think is a shame as they were cheap as chips (about £3 when they first came out, then reduced down to £1.50 in the clearance) and make glitter a breeze to apply.  It’s a stick made up of glitter suspended in a soft, clear wax so you just rub it on your skin and blend out with either fingers or a brush – and not a drop of fall out in sight.  If you’re after denser coverage you can then just top it off by patting loose glitter on top as it’s waxy therefore sticky.  I wear this on my eyebrows, just under my browbone, or around the top of my cheekbones when I feel like a bit of a glitter hit.

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I bought the MAC shadestick this autumn when it came out in one of their limited edition collections, MAC me over.  I’d heard mixed reviews of shadesticks to be honest but they’d been withdrawn from the permanent collection and I was curious to try one.  I paid around £12 as I bought it from Debenhams when they were running a 10% off promo.  Usually they retail in the UK for just over £13.

Although I use this product a lot it’s more to do with wanting to get my money’s worth than being a big fan.  It’s really just OK rather than anything special and I really don’t think it was worth the price.  Shadesticks can be worn alone or as an eyeshadow base, but the consistency is just not creamy or smooth enough and they do drag a bit on application.  I don’t think the shades are particularly special either and when this runs out I’ll simply be replacing it with a Barry M shimmery eye and lip crayon for around £4 from Superdrug – the performance is really very similar.

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I took a few eyeliners as I’m into that kind of look at the moment – pale eyeshadow teamed with winged eyeliner.  These products are just my normal everyday eyeliners plus one glittery one to add a bit of festive bling on top.

I chose one glittery eyeshadow and one brightly coloured matte shade.  I think I wore the pale glittery shade both alone and teamed with the orange in the outer 1/3 of my eyelids when I was up in Scotland.  I think they make quite a nice colour combination, and it’s something a bit different and perhaps unexpected.  This eyeshadow actually used to be my favourite – just look at that big dip in it!  However I’ve since become a bit tired of the terrible glitter fall out that leaves glitter all over your face in places where you perhaps would rather not have chosen to sprinkle tons of glitter.  When this runs out I’ll simply start using my My Face Blingtone eyeshadow in Morococo instead – it’s a very similar sparkly shade with no fall out whatsoever.

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So that’s all I really have to say about my travel make-up - how does it compare to how you got along this festive season?