Taaaaag!

So Dani did this tag on her blog and she said everyone was tagged...I'm gonna take that as NAT and everyone, cause her forgetting her sister is unforgiveable.

What is your favourite fashion accessory?

Hat. To be precise, the grey hat in my OOTD, it's my new baby, I don't even care that it's not even winter yet.

Who's your fashion role model? (In real life and YouTube/Blogging)

Well, I suppose, I do try and imitate my sister a little bit and also, I like to try and get that Rachel Berry look, but I don't completely succeed, because some of it can be too nerdy for me. Otherwise, I don't actually follow any fashion blogs, but I try and create my own sort of funky style based on what I see in magazines, although it doesn't always work.

What do you always carry with you?

Well, nothing all the time, as I am prone to forgetting/not needing stuff. I suppose you could say tissues and throat sweets as I become sick very often and very quickly so they're often neccessary.

What would you describe your style as?

My style is a mixture between ecletic and normal, depending on how lazy I'm feeling. I used to have days where I'd go to school in a sweatshirt and jeans, but I try and spruce it up by adding pink doc martens or a girly headband as not to seem too boring. Otherwise, I like all kinds of skirts, knee-length to short, with tights mostly and usually something pink. And usually my clothes are patterned, so they might seem a little loud.

Favourite: jeans, sunglasses or heels?

Jeans, I guess, even though I don't wear 'em very often. I can't wear heels as a) I can't walk in them and b)I look stupidly tall in them and my sunglasses don't get used very often.

What inspired you to blog about fashion?

Eh, I don't really blog about fashion, but I suppose I'll just answer this about beauty. I guess I just had so much makeup and I wasn't doing much with it so I just decided to review and use some of the stuff up. And the thrill of trying make up probably has something to do with it!

What is your favourite fashion store/shop?

Typically, Primark. I love the cheapness and trendiness of the place. That being said, I adore Jane Norman though I can't really afford a lot of stuff from there.

What is your favourite fabric in clothing?

Wool! I love it, it just feels so snuggly and I love all things winter clothing.

Who is your favourite designer?

Now this is gonna shock people, but I actually....don't like designer stuff. I think they're all really overpriced and I can get stuff practically the same from the high street. What can I say...I take Gok's side in Gok's Fashion Fix!

Who/what inspires your style?

Dani! Again, I just inspire myself from my big sister (though shorter than me) and sort of attempt to imitate her, but it rarely works, but I'll admit, I love the 50s as well as it's all about showing off your curves, and well, I have some of those and it's sort of helped me accept my body as it is and not long for a stickthin body like my classmates. Haha I guess I like being unique!

What would you choose to do - buy something in high quality or make it yourself if you could?

Buy something high quality, I'm a real klutz with my hands, I could never make anything.

4 things in my bag

* My purse

* Cola Vanilla lip balm

* tissues

* ipod

4 things in my purse

* My bus pass

* Sephora Black Card

* A 1p, even though I'm paying in euros here

* cinema tickets

4 favourite things in my bedroom

* My Joker poster! It sort of balances out the uber pinkness of my room by making it a little less girly (although nothing's wrong with girly, I just like a balance)

* My makeup box. nuff said, really

* My assorted little memory pics on my wall: I've got everything from mementos from being an extra in a movie, to pics of my mates and I and this funny little pic of my late teacher from primary of him as one of the french football team (you know the stickers you collect before the world cup, one of them)

* My bed! Best.bed.ever

4 things I've always wanted to do

* Go to Australia! I need to do this

* Dress up as the Spanish Inquisition.

* Go to an 80s Night!

* Meet Hans Zimmer

4 things I'm currently into

* Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This man, althoug 13 years older than me, is my future husband. He doesn't know it yet though

* Dissertations. I know WTF but hey, I get to shout my opinion on pro/con things in class, could it get better?!

*Pink cheeks :) Yay, fresh look!

*Contact lenses. Yep, I'm wearing 'em again

4 things I bet you didn't know about me

* I studied Mandarin last year after school voluntarily and I'm probably gonna continue this year

* I have to sit next to three teenage boys most days of the week and listen to their discussions about MILFs and other things I would really not want to know (Thanks a lot for that guys btw)

* I love cheesy 80s music, which I've inherited from my mum. LOVE it

* I'm half english and a quarter Indian and a quarter Austrian. Complicated much?

4 songs I can't get out of my head

* Glee's version of Toxic. Lol addicted to it, scuse the pun

* This. It's not actually a song, but it's magical

* Hit Me Baby One More Time. Yeah, again glee. But it stays in my head aaarghhhh

*Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You <3>

yeah, I'm tired now so I'ma tag some people tomorrow, but feel free to do it already!

Ins and Outs!

Wow, I'm on a role now. I guess it's to make up for the lack of posts during the week. Anyway, I decided to try this out, as so many people do it and I always think of my own lists whilst reading.

So...here goes

Ins

*MeMeMe Poppy Tint
I LOVE this, as you can tell from my review on it :)
*Glee Season 2 Songs
Toxic and Stronger are amazing, as are practically all those songs, but those two are making me love Britney Spears again
*Diorshow Iconic mascara
I know I blogged about it saying I'm not all that keen on it, but compared to the Rimmel and Maybelline ones I've been using since dropping it under my bookshelf, I'm really missing it!
*Playing the piano
After aquiring some great sheet music (The Crisis by Ennio Morricone and assorted other pieces that I got in a Film Scores sheet music book from my parents:) ), my love for playing the piano has returned after being tired of it this summer
*Tights
I love my tights! And now that it's appropriate to wear them again, I'm gonna wear all of them (except maybe the neon pink ones - that would be really cruel to Luka(guy sitting next to me), I mean how much pink can a guy take?! Already poor bloke's sitting next to me, the girl who manages to get something pink in whatever she's wearing!
*Sleek Gel Liner
This has replaced all my liquid liners cause it gives me a much more consistent line than the others and I actually even got even flicks yesterday!

Outs
*Longchamp Le Pliage Totes

Ok, these have been 'trendy' for years in Luxembourg, but I hate them. First of all, I think they look like old ladies bags and the amount of girls who use them as school bags have me practically growling whenever I see them! They just really annoy me for some reason as they are really overused, cause every third person has one here aaaargh
*German-French Translations
Urgh, just kill me now, these are torture.
*Garnier Roll-On Under eye concealer
This has stopped working lately so I've got eye bags on show :(

So far that's all I can think of and hope it's interesting to everyone. I may not be able to update tomorrow as I have loads of homework to catch up on and then I'm finally going to see Inception with my mates :) xx

Making my own nail varnish!

Yeah, I'm not a pro in a lab, I just did as many other beauty bloggers did and mixed some pigment with clear nail varnish, as you can do by following this nifty tutorial although this's a pretty good post as well!

So basically I did it using Barry M's Pink Gold (3) and a random french manicure clear nail varnish and this....was the result.



The colour is definitely gorgeous, but I think I used too much pigment and not enough nail varnish so the consistency isn't fantastic and it's chipping already, so note to all you people ready to try this: Don't use too much pigment!


So next time I try this, I'll try and do it a little better (and neater!) and I'm looking forward to it as Barry M has some lovely colours with hints of different ones, so I'm anxious to try out some other colours.

Outfit of the Day!

The first one, yay! Well, I'm just gonna try experimenting with this, cause generally, my outfits tend to be a bit repetitive and/or boring (like the days when I just wear jeans and a sweatshirt)

So here's my outfit from yesterday, which I wore to school:) Haha yeah, as a side note, we don't have uniforms which can be a pro and a con. The con being that way the rich people can't show off their designer stuff and annoy all us lesser mortals.




Excuse the dirty mirror and messy room, please! I only cleared it all up today, which took a total of four and a half hours! But anyway, on to the outfit, it's quite summery and I'm not sure whether I pulled it off with the tights, so let me know if it doesn't look season appropriate!

So, anyway the top is from Primark, cardigan from H&M, skirt from Jane Norman (reduced from £32 to £9.50!) and tights from Matalan. Haha, that's my all-english outfit.

And now with the woolly cardy/cape and hat that I wore instead of a coat.


Erm, yeah, as you can see my style looks rather...ecletic like this, to be honest I'm suprised no one stared (as it is custom to wear boring clothes here). I suppose wearing it with normal orange converse (yeah I know, doesn't go, but I was in a hurry) isn't as scandalous as pink doc martens.

So the cape/cardigan and hat are both from Primark and I bought them on saturday (as opposed to the other stuff all being june/july stuff) and I love them, especially the hat, it's so soft! As for the scarf, it's a christmas pressie from my best friend from a few years ago.

So that's it for my ootd, hope it was successful :) xxx

MeMeMe Poppy Tint

Aaargh, I am so sorry for neglecting this blog! My first week of school's been hectic but it's improved a lot in the sitting thing, as I'm now sitting next a really nice chap in most subjects(lol that makes him sound ancient! rest assured he's only 17, I think) and the only lesson I'm sitting alone in is Maths, but it's best I don't get distracted in Maths, so it's better that I'm alone.

Moving on to more relevant matters, my mum brought me a MeMeMe Tint back and some dry shampoos from Superdrug, which is really handy when you're too busy to shower every day.


Now if you read blogs, as you surely do, you know this is a very cheap dupe for Benefit's Posie Tint. Unfortunately, I can't verify this as I don't own Posie Tint, but judging by swatches, they're practically identical.

As for the packaging, I LOVE it. A) It's pink. B) It's CUTE! So it ticks all my boxes.


With this, a little goes a long way and it also lasts for AGES. I apply it at 6.30 am and my cheeks are still pink 8 hours later at 14.30, so it's great quality for a cheap price.




So here you have it applied straight on to the hand and then above that, blended out. It's a really cute pink and I find it makes me look more awake by making my cheeks pinker. I'm not sure how exactly that works, but it just does haha.



What you DO have to watch out for is that if you don't blend it instantly, it'll stain in the shape that you applied it (dots, streak, etc...) as you can see above, so be quick!

Now this has fast become a HG product for me. I use it every day and it's one of those products that make me feel like I could go out with just that on my face (ok exagerrated, but that and just a little mascara/concealer)

Now here's my FOTD from today with Poppy Tint on my lips and cheeks. And my new Primark hat that I decided to wear today as it was so bloody freezing and raining so I wanted to double protect my hair (hat + umbrella)



On my lips, the Poppy Tint goes quite darkish, but then today I applied a little bit more than usual, so that might be it.



Just a side note, as you can see, my eyebags are absolutely awful. If anyone could recommend a good cheap(ish) under eye concealer which isn't the Garnier Roll On, I'd love you forever!

And as for the rest of my makeup, it's the usual for me, except with a different mascara cause I've stupidly gone and dropped my Diorshow underneath my bookshelf and I need another pair of hands to help me find it.

Boots No7 Opulence Palette

The Boots No7 Opulence Palette was released as a Limited Edition Christmas palette at £13 but obviously they had some left over in clearance at June, as one of my birthday presents from my nan was this (costing £3.75, my nan has a radar for bargain things) and I've used it a few times, so I thought I'd review it for you girls :)


So it's a pretty small compact, ideal to fit in your bag as it has a mirror with it as well.

The palette has five colours, all rather shimmery except the black, which is matte. The odd geometrical forms are a small annoyance for me, as personally, I'd rather the highlight colour was the small circle, instead of the gold yellow, which I use a lot more.




As for the colours, they're all incredibly pigmented, as the picture above shows you. Ok, I used UDPP underneath but the fact that they're THAT pigmented with a base shows how gorgeous they are. My favourites are the gold/yellow and blue. The least pigmented is the white glittery highlight, which took a couple of swipes to end up like that. I love how metallic all the colours look and I've used the yellow often for a simple daytime look.
Unfortunately, I didn't create a look with these for this post, but I will in due time. That's all for this, sorry it's kind of short!

Back to school and a bit of rant

Hey everyone,
sorry I've been a bit MIA the last couple of days, I've been a bit busy what with my piano lesson starting and school starting today.
I'm a bit unsettled cause this year, I'll be sitting by myself during lessons, cause, I guess none of my 'friends' wanted to sit next to me, which obviously makes me feel wonderful about myself. Not even one of my best friends (unfortunately my other close friends aren't actually in my year) wants to, cause when I ask her, she justs shrugs and evades answering. Which is hurtful cause I've known her for more than ten years and she'd rather sit next to the same girl she's been sitting next to for teh past two years (whilst I've had to sit next to a bitchy girl who just tried to use me for those two years).

And so I guess I'm a bit pissed off cause obviously that implies that it's not fun sitting with me, which justs makes me feel like even more of an outcast in my class, because I'm the only one who wears makeup aside from mascara and I wear too much makeup and I'm obsessed with it and my bright pink shoes are weird and blahblahblah... Another thing that makes me feel uncomfortable round them is that I'm a uk size 14/16 and practically everyone here in luxembourg is incredibly thin and then they'll all moan about being fat and of course I'll reassure them that they're not fat and jokingly say that I'm the fat one and then everyone just goes quiet and changes the subject, so yeah another great thing for my self esteem.

So I'm gonna try and optimistically do this sitting alone thing, because this way, I won't have anyone trying to cheat off me or use me just because I'm good in english (amazing how transparent some of these people get) and I'll just see how it goes.

Sorry for a bit of a very non makeup related rant here, I'm just feeling a bit down in the dumps and I'm planning on reviewing the foundations that I have so I'll do that tomorrow and thanks to anyone who bothered reading this moan/rant/poor me thing.
xx

FOTD

First of all, wow four new followers! Thank you :D And now, moving on to the post, my first post actually only consisting of a FOTD and I'm gonna list all the products I used.



My hair's still quite wet, I was too impatient to let it dry. And wow, I actually used foundation for once, I ought to start using some products up...
Anyway, products...

Face:
17 Hide & Chic Anti Fatigue Foundationin Soft Ivory
Garnier 2 in 1 Tinted Eye Roll-On in Fair
Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Transparent (hit the pan on this one)
New York Color Color Wheel Mosaic Face Powder in Mocha Glow (727)



Eyes:
Benefit Brow-zings in Medium
UDPP in Eden
Zoeva Nude Palette
Sleek Ink Pot Gel Liner
Diorshow Iconic



Lips:
Collection 2000 Lipstick in 53
(I think it's discontinued or repackaged as it doesn't look anything like the current ones)

So that's it for my FOTD :) And now for a random picture, this is my cat Coco sleeping. Isn't she cute? <3

Teeny tiny haul

Ok, it's not really a haul, but I bought it yesterday, the same day that I got my Zoeva goodies.

I was in my local drugstore Schlecker (unfortunately it is NOTHING compared to the lovely Superdrug) with my best friend and we were looking at the skincare stuff when I noticed these two hidden palettes behind all the products. The eyeshadow one I dismissed, cause it looked rather boring and I have enough eyeshadows already but the lipgloss one I just HAD to buy, especially considering it only cost 1.99€!



(excuse the brown marks on my bed, whilst depotting my now broken Benefit Brow-zings eyebrow powder into a pot, some fell out, and in hindsight, my bed wasn't really the smartest place to do that, so apologies for the mess.)

Anyway, on to the actual product, it is obviously one of those unknown brands that do cheap palettes and are usually incredibly crap quality. But the colour selection looked quite decent, and at its cheap price, I didn't mind buying it.


Basically, you have ten nude-ish glosses, some of which are quite shimmery, and well, I'm not crazy about shimmery glosses, so they might end up ignored. It also has a brush, which is, to be plain, utter crap, as most applicator brushes that come with palettes are. The brush is really stiff and the handle just feels uncomfortable, so I think I'll stick to my Zoeva lip brush.



As for swatches, quite impressive and a nice surprise is the fact that they aren't AS shimmery as I thought they were, which is a definitive plus! Then I ended up putting the very right one from the top row on my lips and I actually really liked it.



It's quite dark and has more of a lipsticky feel to it than gloss.

So all in all, these are quite good, quite pigmented and very decent payoff for the price. I think if they still have them, I might buy one and include it in the giveaway that I'll hopefully have soon (although don't worry, it's not just gonna be cheap crap, I'm gonna go rack up some points in Sephora for that :))

EDIT: And about the coins from yesterday, Steph guessed 10$...more like 32€ (which is around 40$) so not very close :P But I had no idea it was gonna be that much :P

Beauty Marked Giveaway!

Love Mac? Love Giveaways? and then the magic word...GIFTCARD!

Beauty Marked is hosting a giveaway HERE, giving you the oppurtunity to win a MAC giftcard worth £20 to spend on whatever you want!

What are you still doing here?! Go enter!

Online Haul!

Last week, whilst sick, I decided to spend the last of my film money on some treats that I just couldn't resist on Zoeva, a german online shop which I think is the equivalent to America's Coastal Scents.

And guess what the UPS man delivered today....? My goodies! First off, I have to recommend this brand, because they shipped it really quickly to my house (today was the third attempt...I wasn't expecting them to deliver it so quickly whilst I was still on holiday), although the shipping is about 7€, so quite pricey.


In my excitement, I was halfway through opening the package before I realised I should take some piccies.

I ordered their 28 Nude Eyeshadow Palette(14.95€) and Basic 12 Brush Set(20€).

I'll start with the brushes and then go on about the Palette. The Brushes came in a black (leather? I've forgotten :P..bad naty) brush holder in an adorable velvet bag!




I love the packaging, it's simple but very professional looking.



So in this set, you get (l-r) a powder brush, a slanted blush brush, a foundation brush, a short haired smudger brush, a small crease brush, crease brush, fan brush, small eyeshadow brush, double-ended eyeshadow brush, double-ended flat liner brush, double-ended eyebrow comb and brush and finally, a lip brush.

Just a side note, I'm not sure if those are the correct labels, I only have the names in German (and in no order, at that), so I've tried my best at translating them.

(l-r: top row powder brush, slanted blush brush
bottom row foundation brush, smudger brush)

First of all, WOW at the softness of these. I spent a couple of minutes just brushing the powder brush against my face, it felt so nice and using the powder brush to apply my blush (I didn't use the slanted one), it really picks up the blusher and applies it really well! I haven't tried the foundation brush or the slanted blusher brush yet, but they look to be just as good, but there was a drawback to the foundation brush... As for the smudger/blending brush, I used that in my crease and it really blended the shadow out well, so thumbs up for that!



Yeah, it had some ugly marks on it and was sort of stuck to the plastic, but it was the only one so I'll just brush it off as a one off. Haha, sorry for that pun, I'm full of them lately!

(l-r: top row small crease brush, crease brush
bottom row fan brush, eyeshadow brush)

Again, the brushes are all incredibly soft, I can't really say much else as I haven't tried them out yet but if there's something really wrong with them, I will let you all know.

(l-r: top row eyeshadow brush, double-ended nylon eyeshadow pt 1 brush
bottom row double-ended nylon eyeshadow pt 2, double-ended nylon eyeshadow brush)

Yeah..this second pic of the eyeshadow brush shows what happened when I first picked it up, not that impressed with this one, but hopefully it's nothing superglue can't fix! The rest of the pictures are all of the double-ended eyeshadow brush, which is pretty standard and practical having two parts, so that you can alternate between the two to avoid mixing your colours.

(l-r: top row double-ended flat liner pt 1 brush, double-ended flat liner pt 2 brush
bottom row double-ended flat liner brush, eyebrow comb brush)

Again, these are pretty standards. I'm looking forward to trying out the flat liner as I've only got a slanted liner brush and maybe this might help making my gel liner easier to apply. The eyebrow comb is quite good, miles better than the old mascara brush that I've been using to comb my lashes.

(l-r: top row slanted eyebrow powder brush, double-ended eyebrow brush
bottom row flip brush, lip brush)

The eyebrow powder brush is sort of hard to use, it's actually quite scratchy compared to the others but it does apply the powder quite smoothly, which is what I want, so I'll just have to get used to the scratchiness. The lip brush is pretty good too, applies the product smoothly, although I have no idea how I'm supposed to use the black bit :P

So all in all, the brushes are quite good quality and I'm happy with them (and the fact that I don't need to splash out on MAC now!) so now it's time for the palette!

Nice and sleek, isn't it? Again, it looks quite professional and simple, so the first impression is good.



Aaaah, heaven! 28 Nude mostly matte with a few shimmers chucked in there colours, all in pretty big pans! The perfect thing for someone like me who's just starting out with matte nudes (yes, most of my eyeshadows are actually shimmery :O)

Now for a closer look and swatches, starting with the bottom horizontal row.










So you have everything in this palette. Highlights, dark colours, some gorgeous shimmers chucked in there, although due to my stupid camera, you can't really tell. If these swatces aren't good enough, just tell me and I'll gladly take some more! The eyeshadows are all quite pigmented, although I think you will definitely need a base with these to ensure the high pigmentation.

All in all, I'm very happy with the palette and the brushes, so maybe in the future, when I've got some more money, I'll pay another visit to Zoeva. Hope you all enjoyed this! And big kisses and thank yous to my new (and old, of course) followers, you guys make me so happy! And I'm thinking of doing a giveaway when I hit 25 followers, so stay tuned!

xx

A couple of EOTDs!

I'm back! Well, officially, I am back. And I'm freezing, cause my house is always incredibly cold when we get back from a summer holiday.

So I have a few Eye of the Days for you from my holiday.

The first one is an attempt at a red smokey eye, as I cannot pull off a black one to save my life! A black one would just be overkill, what with black eyebrows and black hair. So using my Sleek sunset palette, I created this...




I am really sorry about the photo quality, my camera is acting mediocre at the moment and it's really frustrating me! First of all, they're blurred with the flash and then without flash, I look like a vampire, I'm so pale (I don't sparkle though thank god). And now with my eyes shut, so you can see it more clearly. The blending out isn't spectacular because I only got my new brush set today (and I love it!).


And then on my last night in the South of France, I did a green look using my Sephora Five-in-One Palette, which I still need to review :P And in both looks, I used Sleek's Gel Liner, which I'm loving!


Sorry the cropping is a bit weird, I couldn't do a full face shot as my lips were awfully swollen from being sick and all the wind in Italy.




O.O I look like a corpse there, my god, the settings on my camera are crazy.




That stray hair on my eyebrow is REALLY bugging me on this picture...

And now for something a little bit random. In my local supermarket, you can give your loose change and get a ovucher in return. How much money do you guys think is in these bags?

Just a little fun thing I thought I'd do and I'll let you know tomorrow how much it is! :)
xx

Free Makeovers & Goodie Bags at Boots

So according to offeroasis.co.uk, Boots are offering free consulations and goodie bags as part of their 'Premium Brands Events' from the 8th of September til the 7th of October. Here's what offeroasis.co.uk says....

Free consultations and goodie bags at Boots during its 'Premium Brands Event' from Weds 8 Sept - Thurs 7 Oct. Just pop in to your local Boots store for your free consultation and goodie bag.

Here's the link for anyone who wants to see it.

EDIT: More info here. Basically, you can get makeovers from designer brands going from Benefit to Dior to Yves Saint-Laurent... BUT I've found out that it's only in selected stores which you can view on the link I posted after the edit. ( I could copy/paste but this laptop's a pain in the arse).
So offeroasis aren't entirely correct, because it's not in your local boots, rather only in 15 stores acorss the Uk. Although, it does sound promising, so a long would be worth it to those who like the sound of it :)

Tesco's are giving away free beauty gifts!

..if you answer the questions at their Your Beauty site. And they've still got 10 713 (ok now it's 10 708 so hurry up!) gifts to give away, so hurry over there!

Now I'm not sure whether it counts internationally, but I've tried and well, we'll see if it does, but for all you Brits, fill out the four easy questions and get a reward!

Review: Claire's Accessories Natural Tutorial Booklet

A post! That can mean only one thing...Naty's still poorly. Bad for me as I can't tan and have to stay inside but good for all my followers! Anyway, on to the product I'm reviewing. I do know that Claire's aimed more to tweens/early teens, but I'm always open-minded to finding a little gem in otherwise not incredibly substantial makeup, so I bought it.

So with this little booklet, costing 9.95€, you get instructions for the specific makeup look in every language from English to German, Dutch, French, Italian...it goes on and on.

So as you can see, the instructions are pretty sparse once you take away all the foreign language, ech step is about one sentence. Now, I tried doing the steps the other day with their brush and it wasn't all that great. I would post the end result, but I look pretty abysmal at the moment and being on holiday, I didn't pack my foundation, which I don't use, and I think I would need that to help cover up my now blotchy skin.

Included in this little book/box is an eyeshadow base, four shimmery eyeshadows, an eyepencil, a two-in-one spongetip applicator and a brush, a mini mascara and finally a lipgloss. Not bad for 10 Euros, I guess.

(from l-r: eyeshadow base scenic view, sandy beach, pinky swear, naturalista and semi sweet)

So the base is quite shimmery and glittery, but actually quite good. All the other shadows are applied over it and as you can see, they're quite pigmented, contrary to what they look like without a base. As for the colour selection, in the pan 'pinky swear' looks a lot pinker than it is actually on skin, where it just looks white with a tiny shade's difference from 'sandy beach'. 'Semi sweet' is a lovely metallic looking colour which looks quite similar to Too Faced's Push-Up from their Natural Eye palette. All in all, quite impressive for Claire's, which is basically a tween brand.

This time, I've added the liner and the lipgloss to my hand as well and I suppose they're pretty decent as well. I'll go over them with more details individually.

The eyeliner is really not bad, but rather bland and basic. It has that really hard pencil feel to it, which I'm not very keen on, as I prefer the softer feel of the Urban Decay 24/7 Liners. As far as pigmentation goes, also quite good, but then again nothing special.

The two-in-one brush and sponge applicator, as I said before, aren't great either. The brush bit is basically useless and you're supposed to use it for blending, although how you can mange that and get a good result, I don't know. Sponge isn't that bad, I just prefer using brushes to pat the shadows on my eyelids anyway, so these won't be getting any use out of me.

The mascara is well....basically like a freebie you get in Mizz or Shout, so again, aimed at younger people, which is what I expected, so basically, this does nothing to your lashes at all, except make them blacker.

In typical Claire's fashion, the lipgloss is glittery with a very subtle pink tone to it. And by glittery, I mean REALLY glittery. I'm not all that keen on glitter on my lips, so I might give this a miss as well.

All in all, the palette's not actually that bad, I'm quite pleased with the eyeshadows and especially with the base, I'm not sure how long lasting it is, so I'll have to test that out, but if you're starting out with makeup and want a natural look, this is pretty decent.

Ok, so excuse any typos or less than stellar descriptions, I'm off to make myself another drink and drown myself in melancholy whilst my siblings get browner by the minute. Haha just kidding about the drowning part ;)

nat xx