NOTD and review: 17 Lasting Finish 'Glisten'

Do you ever have moments where something doesn't work how you thought it would, but you like it better that way? That's what I'm thinking about this nail polish.

I thought it would be a bit duochrome-y, which it isn't really. There's a very slight gold/pink gradient, but most of the time you just see the golden colour, and it's lovely!

Packaging

Fairly standard for a nail varnish, it has a nice long handle on the lid/brush which is good for ease of application.

The bottle contains 8ml, which is the same amount as in the Rimmel 60 second varnishes.

Does it live up to its promises?

This product promises to deliver up to 5 days of shine.

It is very shiny, yes, and the colour does stay on really well. I've had it on since Friday at this point, and while I've had to 'fix' some of the nails, the fix lasts well and blends in, as well as drying very quickly.

I did get bubbles on one nail where I didn't let the coat below dry fully, but the others look fairly perfect.

A downside is that it's very sheer, which could make it really good for syrup nails, and since it dries so quickly it's not an issue that it takes a good three or four layers for full opacity.

It also looks good with one layer over a solid colour.

Something I like about this colour is that it's fairly close to my skin colour, meaning that although this is a little bit of a 'party' colour it actually looks appropriate for anything.

Would I repurchase it?

I would, yes, and I'd consider purchasing others from the range. It sells for £2.99 and is currently on 3 for 2 with the rest of the 17 range.

Long-lasting FOTD and review of Collection Extreme 24H Felt Tip Eye Liner

Often, I see Face Of The Day posts and think 'really? And how long did that last?' so I thought I'd post today's with a picture taken at half past nine, fourteen hours after putting on my make-up.

Products used:

• 17 BB Cream (most definitely still there, I used a cleansing wipe just after taking this picture and it came off onto it)
• Collection Shimmer Squares in Way to Glow (as above)
• Rimmel 1000 Kisses lip stain and balm (this I reapplied throughout the day, but the last time was at about 3pm, so this is still six hours' wear)
• Hello Kitty and Liberty eyeshadow palette
• Collection Extreme 24H Felt Tip Eye Liner Pen (still looking pretty much as new)
• Natural Collection LashCurl mascara in black.

And now the product review:

Packaging

It comes looking like a simple black marker pen - the end of the pen is a different colour depending on which colour you buy. It comes in black, teal, purple and blue. I had it in real about a year ago and lost it, and my mum has it in purple, but it is in black that this liner is indispensable. The lid fits nice and securely, which means the product doesn't dry out too quickly

Does it live up to its promises?

Be bold, bright and beautiful! The fast-drying versatile felt tipped pens give your makeup look an instant burst of colour.

Easy-to-apply felt tip nib for all day long lustrous looking eyes.

Obviously the instant burst of colour isn't applicable for black, but it is very quick to apply.

I totally agree with the easy to apply label, if I can do it, anyone can.

All day long - well, just look at the photo above! It's not even easy to remove with makeup wipes - even though mine say they tackle waterproof mascara. Maybe if I used my eye makeup remover pads they would work? On the odd days when I forget to take my makeup off, my liner is still ready to go the next morning.

It looks equally good when worn as a thin line or 'like Cleopatra' as my uncle put it. It also works quite well for the waterline.

Would I repurchase it?

I already have! Best of all, it's only £2.99!

Review: Garnier Belle Color hair dye in shade 6 - Light Brown, and FOTD

Naturally, my hair is a very very boring very very dark brown - so dark that there isn't really any colour so I wanted to take it up a few colour levels (I'd say I'm naturally a 2 or 3, where 10 is white blonde and 1 is black).

In the middle of December I dyed it the violet from Schwarzkopf's Salon Style range, which was a level 3 colour. So that's what the dye had to cope with.

Method

It's the standard colour cream into developer bottle situation, and there was a lot of product! As my hair grows back out it'll be interesting to see at what point it doesn't feel like there is enough, but there was pretty much surplus product.

There was a bit of an 'aargh what am I doing?!' moment when I saw that the cream + developer solution was a pale yellow, but it was fine in the end, as you can see.

A good thing about this colour was that it washed out quite quickly - last time I dyed my hair it took forever, and two or three washes after I dyed it I was still getting stains on the bath towel - this time, nothing, even though I wasn't rinsing for as long as I'd like to (the hot water ran out).

It also smells lovely. I think the little sachet of conditioner must be from the Garnier Fructis range because it smelled so delicious.

Once I'd used that conditioner I also used a bit of the Percy & Reed conditioner I got free with Glamour, to amp up the softness a bit more

In conclusion, five out of five - my hair feels lovely and soft, and still smells nice.

One odd thing I noticed - on the instructions, after rinsing and conditioning it directs you to 'style as normal' - who dyes their hair before going out for the day?!

Face of the day - products used:

• Elf eyelid primer
• Rimmel Colour Rush Quad in Urban Flower
• 17 Solo Eyeshadow in Green Glimmer
• 17 Photo Flawless eye pencil in Copper/Black
• Natural Collection LashCurl Mascara in Black
• 17 Sheer Finish Mineral Blush in Plum
• Natural Collection Cream Blush in Rosy Pink
• Elf blush in Shy
• Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in One of a Kind
• Benefit Watt's Up highlighter

Review - Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades in Blushalicious

It's been hailed as a dupe of Nars' Deep Throat Blush.

It's been compared to Givenchy's Le Prisme Blush.

But what's the fuss about with Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades Blush? Here I'll review the blusher palette and then I'll review the bronzer at a later date.

Here are the colours swatched separately - but one of the best things about this blush is how the colours look all mixed together - it's a really lovely pink that produces a natural-looking flush.

This blusher sells for £4.19 from everywhere that stocks Collection 2000 - Boots, Superdrug, Morrisons... the list goes on. Often there are 3 for 2 deals, so it might be worth waiting for one if you want to get this.

Packaging

As you can see, it comes in a chunky clear plastic block that's about 8cm square and a centimetre thick. Admittedly, not particularly high-end looking, and no mirror for on-the-go application (but who does blusher on the go anyway...?) but it's durable and you can easily see what's in it. If I ever use this blusher up I'm going to use the casing to put elf custom elements in - it's just that durable.

Another good thing about this packaging is the catch. It feels securely shut, so you could be sure you wouldn't get blusher all over your make-up bag/ handbag/ suitcase, but it's not so tricky to open that it hurts your nail polish.

Does it live up to its promises?

On the Boots website, it says:

Release the shimmer queen in you, and create a soft glow that lasts all day long with new Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades. These delightful little compacts will give you a sun kissed, radiant glow normally associated with spending time under the exotic sun.

With two palettes to choose from, prepare to dazzle as the four merged blocks combine shimmer with shade for a multi-tonal and natural blend of colour.

There is one part of that promise that doesn't ring true - this blusher is not at all shimmery. I was worried that the shimmer would make it difficult to wear, but as there isn't any it doesn't. The bronzer palette is slightly less matte, though.

They're certainly not lying when they say the product lasts all day long - I wore it yesterday for a party involving lots of dancing and screaming the words of 90s songs, and it was still there when I got home. I was impressed!

The 'multi-tonal' part is certainly true - one thing I like is that I can lightly swipe a mixture of the bottom two shades around the jaw to serve almost as a bronzer - for a tiny bit of amateur contouring.

Would I repurchase?

Well, to be honest with you, I doubt I'll ever finish this - there's a stonking great 12 grammes of product there. But if I did use this up, I would definitely repurchase it. Lily likey.

(Other products worn in that photo: elf 32 shade eyeshadow palette, elf shimmer eye pencil in Plum Passion, 17 Ultimate Volume lipgloss in Very Berry)

Review: Simple 'Spotless Skin Quick Fix' cleansing wipes

I have used up the wipes I was using (more on that in my Project Pan update on Sunday) and I had these in store ready to go, and here's a review from first use.

I picked these up on a multibuy deal, but the normal price is £3.85 for 25 wipes, which is a lot of money, so I'll be reviewing with that in mind. I chose these ones specifically because they say they're good at reducing and preventing spots, and although I'm very lucky with my skin in general, I have recently been getting some spots, so these wipes should help. I also chose them because they promised to remove waterproof mascara, which I wear quite a lot.

Packaging

Fairly standard for wipes really - I like the colour which is much more vibrant in real life than it looks in that photo. The logo patch thing on the front is cool, looks really swirly. (technical term, there).

On the packaging these wipes promise to:

• Remove waterproof mascara
• Have spot fighting ingredients which give results from Day 1
• Be naturally antibacterial
• Have no perfume or colour
• Be kind to sensitive skin

Do they live up to the promises?

I haven't yet worn waterproof mascara since I've been using these, but I have been wearing my Collection 2000 Extreme 24 Hour Eyeliner, which I find actually tougher to remove than waterproof mascara. These wipes dealt with it really well; I was impressed.

The spot fighting ingredients are Zinc PCA and Chamomile, which it says absorb excess oils and soothe the skin. While my skin does feel a little clearer, it also feels a bit drier than it would normally in the morning (I use wipes in the evening, and do the whole moisturising thing in the morning, usually), which I guess is because oils have been absorbed away from my skin.

I did wonder why face wipes needed to be antibacterial, but apparently the Phytosphingosine helps to fight spots and blemishes. This is something that I'll have to observe over a longer period of time, I think.

While these wipes most definitely have no colour (unless you get all deeply philosophical and say white is a colour...), they do have a slight scent. They just smell of 'clean' to me, a little bit similar to Boots' own brand cucumber hand wipes. I like the smell, personally.

I would definitely agree with these being kind to sensitive skin. Maybe it's just the jump from those harsher Primark wipes I was using, but these just felt really soft and soothing on my skin. Smooth rather than the slight sting and rough feel I had with the other wipes.

Would I repurchase?

If I saw these on offer, I would definitely repurchase, but I wouldn't pay £3.85 for them.

NOTD: Lucky Dip - Barry M's Blueberry Ice Cream - shade 306

It's half term, yay! I couldn't decide what colour to paint my nails earlier, so I decided to just dip my hand into my nail polish bag and pick one at random, and I happened to pick this one.

And I'm so glad I did. I reviewed another Barry M polish that I've had for the same amount of time (years) here and hated it. I'm going to have to try my other two Barry M polishes again once the weather warms up (somehow, I can't help thinking yellow and orange are a little inappropriate for this freezing weather) and see which camp they fall into. Because this polish is fab.

Again, it took a little longer than I'm used to with my quick dry polishes for this to set completely, with the result that one nail got a little ruined when I tried to pin my hair back off my face, but the brush in this bottle seems much more easily handled than in the other bottle - and maybe the formulas are slightly different, especially since Spring Green is from the general colour range while Blueberry Ice Cream is from the, um, ice cream colour range.

I noticed that, although when first brushed on it didn't look as if it could be a one coat polish (and I actually put two or three coats on) when I let the polish dry it spread across the nail slightly, if that makes sense - so it could very well be a one coat job in the future.

This is a lovely colour, great all year round. In this freezing weather it makes me think of snow and ice, and it could look really cool with glitter. In the summer, by contrast, it's fresh and clean.

This polish retails at just below £3, and there are often special offers of two Barry M nail polishes for £5.

Two things Thursday - Hello Kitty, Hello Hogwarts

First up, I can't believe I forgot to do this last week. Well, actually I can. Let me paint you a picture: I got home from school feeling absolutely rotten, went straight to bed missing ballet. Then about an hour later my mum woke me up to tell me that we had a burst pipe... not fun.

The first thing I've been loving recently is this eyeshadow palette from Boots' Christmas gift range - I bought it in the January sale for £4.00 and you can see it swatched here. It has all the colours to create a nice range of looks, so it's quite good for everyday. Lily likey.

My friends bought me a ravenclaw jumper for my birthday! It's exactly the same as they wore in the films and I like it loads because it's so not obvious that it's Potter merchandise - nice and subtle. Plus it's 100% lambs wool so it's really warm - perfect for this weather...

Boots hauls!

Over the past few weeks, I've been to Boots numerous times, so I thought I'd amalgamate everything I've bought into one big post.

This is really a bit fab. I've seen a few posts complaining that it didn't live up to its promises, but personally I love it. It is very light coverage, but I like that - there's nothing worse than looking 'caked' in foundation in my opinion. If you've got very pale skin, this probably wouldn't be the product for you - I'm not that pale but I found the 'light' shade to be perfect on me. 

Lots and lots of Natural Collection stuff!

I bought their 'LashCurl' mascara in black, and it's far better than I would have thought - I will do a review at some stage, but for now it's enough to say that it's properly black and that it actually does make the lashes look more curled, so that's good.

The green corrector stick is to help neutralize my naturally very rosy cheeks, and it seems to work, which is good - this is certainly something that I wouldn't buy from a posher brand when I know it's available and very good for £2.

The lipstick, in shade 'Rose Bud' is brilliant. A really good buy, in my opinion. It's pink and springlike without being too pink and horrible. I'll probably have to stop wearing it when I pick up a tan in the summer, but for now it's great. It doesn't come off on glasses etc either, which you would expect for the price. 

Centre front are bronzing pearls - I gave these a quick go just now and they're really good - I like that the different colours blend together. On the right is some loose powder - I'm going to give this a go. 

On top of the two little pots is a lip liner. I felt I ought to have one, and it's a nice nude/pink shade. 

I got these six products in two separate 'three for £5' deals.

This is No7's Stay Perfect Nail Polish in shade 270 - Jammy. It would normally be £7 but  I used one of those '£5 off No7' vouchers they like to give at the checkout.

It's FAB. The brush is really good, for a start. It's almost a one-coat polish, but the second just helps to add depth etc to the colour. I've heard that it lasts really well too.

Company's New Look: February 2012

This month's Company magazine has a new look, and is only £1 to promote it. I buy it regularly anyway, and I was really looking forward to the new look.

To be honest, it seems like the main difference is that they've used matte paper rather than glossy throughout. I prefer this finish to be honest - my mum says that it's cheaper than glossy, so both me and the magazine are happy!

I'm a big fan of the fonts they've used a lot - 'SHOES' and 'alexa' being an example of each of the two. They seem either to be new, or used much more now than in the past. Alexa's look on the front cover actually seems really achievable, unlike most of the glossy covers, so I might have a go at that... I guess the key thing is that, to me, this cover looks friendly. Plus I like her lace sleeves.

(highlighting my own)

The 'high street' is a big part of why I like this magazine, so it was good to see that that's not going to change. Lots of the glossies (marie claire is especially guilty of this) fill their fashion section with the kind of brands most of us can only dream about. But Company knows I haven't got bottomless pockets.

The first of the Olympic beauty adverts! After reading this article I have got fairly sensitive to how silly they all are and how few Paralympians are featured. One thing that I wasn't a fan of about this advert - though it's minor and I'm being a pedant - is that Keri-Anne Payne is a swimmer. So she needs waterproof mascara. There is a waterproof mascara in the range - so have that one uncapped! Surely if you can convince the consumer it withstands kilometres of open water then you will convince them that it will survive crying at Love Actually... no?

(I know this isn't actually a gripe that Company could do anything about, just a gripe at Max Factor, but still... attention to detail, guys!)

I might be alone in this, but when a magazine rebrands or anything like that I'm always worried that my favourite regular features will be cut. Never fear! Bargain to blowout, showing progressively more expensive ways to achieve the same look, is still here, as are columnists Jameela and David Whitehouse and the rest of the gang. One thing I like is that we see more of the individual members of the team - we get comments from Oonagh, the Fashion Director, all the way through the magazine.

Just thought I'd show you my favourite pull quote from the issue - it's from Alexa Chung's interview, which was really good :). I thought it was slightly ironic that Company was Alexa's first 'glossy cover' and they're no longer glossy... just me, then.

The generation Company articles are something I've always liked about this magazine - instead of just wanting to be walking mannequins they know that their readers want to make something of themselves. This issue has three case studies of women who've made it to the top of their careers (including the PR boss for Benefit - jealous much?) and who can wear jeans to work. A little bit of an odd angle, but hey, it's always fun to read these stories and dream.

Another of the articles in this section was addressing the issue that women often undervalue themselves and don't negotiate for salaries - ending up with lower salaries than other people (often men, who statistically are more likely to have the gall to negotiate) doing the same job.

There was also a feature on a girl using prostitution to get herself nice shoes and so on - a bit same old, same old now, but still interesting.

One thing I liked about this page of the beauty edit was that it's proposing an alternative to bronzer and fake tan - this is definitely a look I'll be copying! It seemed slightly out of sync, though, with the rest of the magazine in that all of the six blushers featured are luxury brands - with the cheapest being the Clarins at £19 and the most expensive the Chanel at £46. I know they have the page where a musician's style is attempted using Rimmel products, but... could they not have found a Maybelline/Collection 2000/etc blusher to feature on the page?

Panda lips!! So cute, right? Couldn't resist showing them to you lot.

Totally unobtainably high-maintenance, though... and would probably look very weird on.

This was the inside back cover advert, and while I will confess with freedom that I'm not a fan of the shatter nails trend, I understand this trend even less. For a start, it looks almost identical to the shatter nails - if you already own the shatter polish, I see next to no point in purchasing a 'croc effect' polish.

Just...no.

Overall, a great issue, and it's great to see that my worries that the magazine would go downhill with its new look were completely unfounded.

FOTD: Simple green eye

Originally I wasn't going to post this, but today at school one of my friends said she liked my eye make-up, which I took as a go ahead to share the look.

So here it is, and you have Sarah to blame if you don't like it, haha.

I think this took less than five minutes to do in total, which is always good for hurried school mornings. Another thing about it that was good for it being a school morning was that it only used three products, so there was no scrabbling around, and walking back and forth from my makeup shelf to my bathroom sink.

As always, I started with this moisturiser. I put it on as I got out of bed to let it sink in while I got dressed - this was a key time-saving thing. If I'd worn foundation today I would have paused halfway through dressing to put it on, to let that sink in while I finished getting dressed. This dramatically reduces the amount of time spent at my dressing table, and increases the amount of time I get to spend having breakfast!

First was my trusty Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil, this time in shade 031, Jungle Green. It blends so well. Love it. I put this across the top lash line, and halfway across the lower lash line, from the centre outwards. It then smudges slightly as I put the eyeshadow on.

Next was eyeshadow - I used my e.l.f. elements one in shade 'sage' - top left in the palette in this picture, and centre of the swatches - across the whole eyelid. Simple but nice.

I then used the blush - 'shy' - from this palette too, which I have really loved using over the past week, as it's just pigmented enough, but not too brash, looks natural on, and blends well.

And ta-da, the finished look! Those of you who've seen previous Faces Of The Day will notice I've had my hair cut. I decided that cost would win out, and went to Supercuts, and I'm actually really impressed. The stylist was efficient, nice, etc, and always asking if the cut was okay. She was chatty but not too much, and the salon was nice and clean. So yeah, good.

I then decided to add some lip colour, and I used Boots 17's Lasting Fix lipstick, in the shade 'Chocolate Eclair'.

It's alright, but I don't think it will be a repurchase. It has a tendency to go bright pink after a few hours...

But here was the look totally finished:

e.l.f haul and unboxing

I ordered some brushes and a custom palette, for a total of £12 including postage.

When the order arrived I could see it was well packed in a good - but not oversized - box. It was well sealed but not impossible to get into - I just used a biro to open the sticky tape. The box seems really sturdy - I'll probably keep it, it will be good for presents or storage.

When I opened the box there was lots of bubble wrap (so I know what I'm going to be doing for therapy for the next week!) and a packing note on the top, and then the brushes on top of the custom palette and the elements I ordered for it, with some wrap between the brushes and the makeup to protect it all. I like the care that's gone into this packing.

I've swatched these bits later, but I thought I'd write more about them here. The compact is a really good size, and you can see why I like the versatility. The elements are packaged well, though slightly overpackaged - within the cardboard boxes there is a plastic frame keeping the element safe. Again, care despite the fact they only cost £1.

The brushes also seem really good; I haven't had a chance to try out the total face brush, but the blusher/bronzer/blender brush is really good, and I like the angle cut across the top of both of the fuller brushes. They're also lovely and soft! The lip brush I haven't had a chance to properly experiment with, but I had a quick go and it seems to work...

Here are swatches (top without flash, bottom with flash, I know, I need hand cream) of the elements I got for the compact. From right: 'sage' eyeshadow, 'wisteria' eyeshadow, and 'shy' blusher.

Sage is a lovely colour, a definite repurchase when I run out.

Wisteria is more purple and less pale than I expected, but I can see it being useful when I figure out how to incorporate it into looks.

Both of the eyeshadows have a lovely creamy (but still powder) texture. LOVE them.

Shy is nice and sheer, which will help to avoid the clown look.

Overall I love these!

Oh, and there is a free postage offer code that lasts until 9.30am GMT on Monday morning when you spend 10 quid - the code is SHIP24FREE