I picked up a few things yesterday. I only went in for the spray bottle after melting and deforming my last one, (I was trying to get the last of my facial cleanser out using the Michelle Phan lipgloss technique, apparently this doesn’t work with cheap plastic bottles) but as usual got more than I intended. I thought I'd try out this flat eyeshadow brush from GOSH. I haven’t seen any reviews of these in the blogging world so I wasn't sure what to expect. I’m generally happy with the quality of GOSH products so at just over £6, thought I could give this a go. I’m in need of more eye brushes, so using cheaper ones is a way of finding out which brush shape and textures I like, before committing too much money on high quality brushes, and if it turns out to be good quality then it’s a bonus. I thought this flat eyeshadow brush would be suitable for both applying shadow to the lid and crease, and so far I've used it for my crease colour and have nothing negative to say. It's a natural hair brush, so feels real soft and applies really decently, I got very precise application of eyeshadow, like a cut-crease effect, which was easy to blend with the brush for a softer look. I’m still on the hunt for a brush I can use on the outer corner though.
This eyeshadow is by Elite, which I’ve only seen in London Superdrugs, and I don’t know much about its reputation. It’s not a brand that I reach to usually, I guess through unfamiliarity, but I noticed they had some items in clearance, so this single shadow was half price at just under £3. Quite a bargain I thought, and I love the colour, it’s called Marron Glacé which is also the name of a Bourjois eyeshadow I have but don’t wear very much. This is quite different in colour to that, so I'm still none the wiser about what exactly a marron glacé is, and is very easily wearable for everyday, suitable for just a wash of colour over the lid. I find the consistency of these shadows really unique, it’s a powder, but has almost a creamy texture, and so glides on really smoothly. You can apply it lightly for a sheen, or build it up to have a heavier powder look.Here's my obligatory face of the day using the products I bought. I'm honestly not as sad as I look, I'm looking down so you can see the shadow properly! I've used it with my No.7 eyeshadow trio in a name I'm sure you'll love: Twilight! It's a basic grey, white and black for classic smokey eyes. I used the white as a highlight, black in the crease and more condensed in the outer corner, with the grey on the inner corner. I used the Elite eyeshadow all over the lid, building it up for a more dramatic look.
The Barry M lipgloss, I bought purely for the smell which is not a good premise for buying something, I know, but as soon as I smelt it, it reminded me of childhood and happy memories. I’ve since figured out what it is...it smells exactly like Jelly Babies! It wasn’t even my favourite colour in the collection, it was actually the toffee smelling one that caught my eye the most, but to me, this had the best smell. This is a great colour though, quite frosty, I’d describe it as a baby pink with lilac undertones, I can imagine this looking great over a lilac lipstick like Lavender Whip. I'm by far no lipgloss expert, but of all the brands I've tried, this has great staying power, even better than MAC! It's quite sticky, which to me means good, because it will stay, but not too sticky that it doesn't feel nice on your lips. Definitely something I will be repurchasing and trying out other shades, I just wish these were named rather than referred to by numbers, that's really all I can criticise these lipglosses on!
Because I loved the first two I bought, yesterday I went back for more! I bought Grey and Cyan Blue (293&294) and compared to all the other drugstore colours, these are very unique, I wish more brands would sell more adventurous colours like these. The blues especially by Barry M are very striking. This post is cheating slightly because the idea behind Product of the Month posts is that I’ve had chance to try out the product a few times during the month. To be quite honest I haven’t purchased much this month (times are hard), and nothing really standout enough to call product of the month. I know I bought this only yesterday, but I love it and think it deserves a mention. Blue can be quite a dodgy colour to wear on your nails, you really want to avoid looking like you’ve been out in the cold too long. Because these colours are so vibrant and glossy it’s very unlikely to look like that, and I love how much coverage is achieved from just one coat. 
The other colour I got was Grey, again I like this for being so unusual, I get really bored of the same safe pinks, peaches and reds and I really feel like your nails are the one place you can try outlandish colours, literally every colour of the rainbow! Also in this picture is yet another Batiste shampoo because I am obsessed with this stuff. Lately I’ve been washing my hair every day so I’ve not really been using it, but when it’s not this warm, I tend to wash every other day, and this is nice to just freshen up on those days I don’t wash. This one’s in Diva which I kind of feel is packaged wrongly because it looks like it should have glitter in it. Then the fragrance of it is “heady oriental” which I don’t really think goes with the Diva theme, but it smells good all the same. I tried it out and I think they’ve actually improved on their original formula because this left my head a lot less chalky than the other cans. Not that it was much of a problem before, just a quick brush, et voila, nice fresh hair.
So what I did buy then: MSF in Triple Fusion, my first MSF! I thought I’d allow myself to be sucked in to the novelty of the three colours in one, and actually it’s quite practical this way because I have the option of mixing all the colours together or wearing them individually, the colours are suitable for a blush on one side, and the other two are more for bronzing. I guess it looks pretty dark compared to other MSF’s but it doesn’t have amazing colour pay off, it’s very sheer and shimmery. I like it though, it’s really pretty, I know it’s unappealing to a lot of people to have shimmery products, but I’m actually quite partial to a bit of shimmer! Which is just as well because the mineralise blush is also on the shimmery side. I chose Hand-Finished.
When I bought Springsheen a while back, I very nearly bought a mineralise blush then because it was recommended, but back then I thought my makeup talent was so poor I wouldn’t be able to use it with a nice finish! Even though this has a few colours in it, it’s easily blendable, and like the MSF it’s very sheer and shimmery. I’m looking forward to playing around with these two products tomorrow, and see if the colour can be built up, I’m trying to imagine how shimmery I could be if I wore all the Colour Craft products together...
This eyeshadow quad is one of my favourites, and I’m amazed by how long it’s lasted me. All four colours work really well together for a neutral eyeshadow look with just a hint of colour, and these earthy colours suit me down to the ground. The texture is really great and I’ve rarely got creasing from these shadows, even from my old job in the café where I would sometimes work 10hr shifts! I’m pretty sure these are still available to buy in America but they were never released here in the UK so I don’t know when I will be able to get my hands on a replacement.
I didn’t realise it at the time but the packaging of the Let’s Twist liners are identical to the Bourjois Liner Stylo. And I really mean identical not just similar! The lids fit one another and the bits in the bottom can be swapped and fit perfectly and they’re both made in Germany. I was a little bit disappointed to begin with because the GOSH ones cost an extra £1 and I figured if the packaging is identical then the product probably is too. I’m pleased to say the product is not exactly the same. The GOSH one is actually much better than Bourjois. It’s a great consistency that I can carry on using for both the waterline and lower lashline but it’s also much more pigmented and as you can see from the pictures, it’s a true black not a washy black. The only downside of these liners compared to the Bourjois ones is they don’t come with a built in sharpener. Although the bottom of the pencil is identical and has a removable part, there’s nothing actually in it, they’re basically just there to show the colour. Below top to bottom is: GOSH carbon black liner, the Bourjois black liner, GOSH mink grey and GOSH Blue Moon.
I bought two of the most recently released nail paints, there’s a few more in the collection but I preferred these two. I’m wearing the orange on my toes right now called Block Orange (number 301), it’s a great summery colour which looks great with metallic gold sandals, I went for a vibrant colour because I’ve been suffering with a cold for the last few days so needed something cheerful to perk me up! I also went for 303 Bright Purple, you have to see this shade in person to see how pretty it is, by far the nicest shade of purple I’ve seen. The nail paints are great quality too, they were two for £5 so I did get two but when I figured it out afterwards I really didn’t save a lot of money! The colour pay off is fantastic though, two coats is plenty to give full coverage with no streaking.
I also bought a collection 2000 Eyebrow Definer in Blonde which I haven’t pictured, it works OK but I won’t be repurchasing because it contains palm oil which I think is an easily avoidable ingredient to include in makeup and I’m trying to be more conscious when buying cosmetics. If anyone knows a good alternative eyebrow definer for blonde eyebrows please let me know!
I love being close to nature like this, they're so adorable!
I’d seen this foundation when it was first released but didn’t feel a need to go out and buy it. One of the things that’s made me buy it this time is the fact it can match to your skin tone, obviously a major pro with me because of the problems I mentioned earlier about not knowing my foundation shade. Basically if you haven’t seen this foundation, it goes on a whitey/grey shade and when you rub it in, it blends to match your skin tone. I went for light/medium as medium seemed a tiny bit too dark, and I wanted to avoid any orangeness. I’ve used this for the past week now and seem to be getting on ok with it. I wanted to be more impressed with this foundation than I actually am though. I know Revlon is a great drugstore brand and their Colourstay foundation is up there with SFF, and if this was a bit cheaper, or made by Collection 2000, I’d really recommend this foundation. To get decent coverage from this I’d say I need to use at least twice as much as my MAC foundation, possibly even 3 times as much. For what it does I think it’s overpriced, I think about £9, mine was £2 off though. I mean it matches your skin really well, but unless you have perfect skin, that can be a bad thing, where you have red patches, they’re gonna come through pretty red too! Also if you have perfect skin, there’s really no need to wear foundation in the first place. I hate writing negative reviews, and I didn’t intend this to sound this negative but I always want to give you an honest opinion of products I’ve bought, whether it’s good or bad and think that’s the whole point of blogging, to me anyway. I’m not saying avoid at all costs, but if like me you’re looking for light coverage for the summer, you’re probably better off with a tinted moisturiser at a snippet of the cost. I will continue to use this though because like I mentioned before, with me it’s partly psychological and I feel my skin is too naked without a foundation. Maybe this foundation will eventually give me the confidence to realise I can actually go out with just a mineral foundation on.
So while I’m happy this is a lipstick I can wear on it’s own, I also really like it teamed with the lipgloss I picked up. It’s a watershine gloss that contains shimmery particles, if you think the MAC dazzleglasses are a bit too much, you might like this, because it’s not overbearingly shimmery. The shade is Crystal Rocks, a kind of peachy coral colour, it smells pretty yummy too, although the smell of Lipglasses is still my favourite. Below is the two worn together.
Here is the gloss alone:
I got an eyeshadow palette whilst I was in MAC too, I really don’t like individual pots and it’s just so much easier to have all the colours I want in one place. I can’t actually fill it yet, but it’s easier to see which colours I could do with when the rest of the colours are laid out together. I can’t really believe I spent £10 on an empty palette though, considering I can get a palette from Sleek which is full with 10 shadows for less than £5...I feel slightly robbed.
