From Bag to Bin II: More Products to Avoid
Primark S/S 2015: First Look
3 of the Best Everyday Lip Shades: MAC, Bourjois & Collection
There are some girls out there who are confident rocking a statement lip everyday; slicking on fuchsias, reds and purples with gay abandon. I, however, am what’s known in the industry as a ‘coward’. Bold lip colours are so risky; what if I clash, what if I get it in my hair, what if people mistake me for a clown? I prefer to stick to neutral lips on most days, and so usually have at least 8 different lip products floating around my bag at any one time, all slightly different shades of nude and pale pink.
There are 3 that I’m currently reaching for most at the moment that I decided to share with my fellow neutral-loving chicas. They’re all from different brands and are in very different price brackets, so there’s something for all the Fancy Nancys and Cheap Chelseas out there. Let’s begin with the cheapest of the 3, which has been a staple in my makeup bag for years…
Collection Lock ‘n’ Hold Lipgloss in Urban Punk – £2.99, Boots
I know some people find lipglosses a bit dated, and considering I think I first picked this up when I was still a teenager it should really be very dated. However, I just can’t let go of a decent, easy to apply nude lip gloss, and this one from Collection does the job. Lauren gave the Rock Steady shade a mixed verdict when she reviewed it here, but I will say that Urban Punk is a slightly warmer, less milky shade than Rock Steady, making it more wearable. The 6 hour wear claims are, as Lauren said, really high on the nonsense-ometer, and I apply this lipgloss fairly regularly throughout the day. But despite that, I always like how it feels on my lips, like the colour, and when it does fade it does so evenly and still leaving a nice sheen.
For £2.99 this is a cheap and cheerful lipgloss that I think still does a lot better than a lot of its similarly-priced rivals.
Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick in Beige Trench – £7.99 from Boots
Although it’s a drugstore brand, I always find Bourjois to be the slightly pricier end of the scale and so don’t usually get much from them. However, I fell in love with this shade during a recent swatching frenzy and had to have it. Although it looks very brown in this photo, it’s actually a cool-toned nude. With a slightly purple undertone to it, it gives quite a 90s effect while still being basic. This is the first of the Bourjois Rouge Edition lipsticks I’ve tried and I have to say, I am super impressed. The formula is creamy and moisturising, and lasts well without flaking. I still think paying £8 for a lipstick is a bit steep (you know Cheap Chelsea I mentioned earlier? SURPRISE, SHE’S ME!), but for an everyday colour that you know you can rely on, I suppose it’s worth it. It’s also double worth it if you can buy it while there’s a Buy One Get One Half Price offer on, like I did (Chelsea wins, hurray).
MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Crème Cup – £15.50 from MAC
Finally, we have the brand that really needs no introduction. I recently added Crème Cup to my pitifully small MAC lipstick collection as I was looking for a neutral shade for my sister’s wedding, but wanted something slightly pinkier than my beloved nudes Crème D’Nude and and Pret-A-Pretty (which can look a bit foundation-lip-esque if over-applied). Once again ignore the darkness of the photo; Crème Cup is the perfect pastel pink. My toes curl at the cliche phrase ‘my lips but better’ but unfortunately that’s probably the best way to describe this shade. The Cremesheen formula is smooth and moisturising, though I do think you have to be careful when re-applying if you have any dry patches on your lips. Other than this though, it is of course HEAVEN in a lip case, and the typical vanilla scent will have you belting out “I’M SO FANCY” to any passers by.
Collection | Bourjois | MAC
So there we have my current 3 favourite everyday lip shades. If you have any you think I should try, let me know in the comments below!
Collection 2000 Lock n Hold Lipgloss in Rock Steady Review
Hello you scoundrels,
I hope you are all having a marvellous Saturday. I’m bringing you a very quick review today, because quite frankly there is only so much you can say about lipgloss. A LIPGLOSS?! Yes, apparently we’ve time travelled to 2003 and I’m actually going to start doing OOTDs with my oversized disc belt and white gypsy skirt.
Anywho, lipglosses are great – especially if you can tear yourself away from the terrible fact that no matter what you do, your hair will always get stuck to your lips. I like wearing them during the day, partly because they’re easy to reapply at my desk and also because I can’t be trusted to wear lipstick to work (i.e. it manages to get on my nose and forehead, don’t ask me how).
I’m a big fan of Collection and here at the old Stylingo ‘hood, we enjoy a bit of Collection 2000 reviewing – check out our Collection reviews if you’re feeling wild.
What I am not a fan of is cheap lipgloss. It tends to be really sticky, gloopy, generally rubbish and sob-inducing. The Lock n Hold lipgloss is £2.99, so we can safely say it’s a cheap lipgloss. But is it all of these tragic things?
Well….kind of. I do really like it and I recommend it if you’re looking for an everyday gloss. Their colour range is really nice – Claire has the lilac version and it looks absolutely brillo. I just find it a little bit gloopy and touch to work with. The trick is not to layer it on too thickly (quite obvious but easy to do with the Lock n Hold) and spread the colour evenly.
Rock Steady is a pale whitey nude colour, which is right up my street. It looks quite nice on and I’m happy with it! In terms of lasting 6 hours, I say to Collection…are you having a bleedin’ laugh?
What do you think? Have any of you tried the Lock n Hold Lipgloss?
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Makeup Fisticuffs: The Best Pink Lipstick
Well, we may as well end this review here and now because it’s quite clear which pink lipstick I can’t stop wearing (I’d give you a prize but all I have is half a slice of toast and I am not giving that up for love or money).
Like any girl on the planet (and even the universe), I love a pink lipstick. Nothing says “look at me, I am a girl” by a nice pink lippy and the days I’m looking somewhat manly are always rectified by slapping some pink on my face.
When I decided to put this post together, I spent approximately 3 and a half minutes whittling down my collection to my top seven (if 7 is good enough for Voldemort’s souls, it is good enough for me). I can tell you here and now that I wear all of these on a regular basis, but there is one or two that really stand out for me. Without further ado, let the makeup fisticuffs commence. Let’s hope things don’t turn into a fracas. Or god forbid, a ruckus.
(with flash/without flash)
(from right to left)
Collection Deluxe in Tallulah – £3.99
This is one of my favourite everyday lipsticks, the perfect subtle pink that looks magnifico for a casual daytime face.
Pigment: Fabulous, it’s a lovely colourful shade that doesn’t look wishy washy at all.
Staying Power: Pretty good – it lasts for about 3-4 hours if you’re not scoffing cakes like I usually am.
Price: Grand and spiffy.
Kate Moss for Rimmel in 16 – £5.49
This is the lipstick that is permanently on my face. I love it.
Pigment: Amazing, one of the best pigmented lipstick I’ve used in my tiny little life.
Staying Power: Really good. This will last you a night out with no drams.
Price: You can buy a lipstick for the same price as a bottle of wine. Need I say more?
Clinique High Impact in Extreme Pink – £17.00
This is a stunning golden rose pink that is another daytime favourite for me. It’s so moisturising and really lovely.
Pigment: Not heavily pigmented but one coat is enough.
Staying Power: It’s a moisturising lipstick, so wipes off quite easily but if you’re not eating or drinking, it’s fab. It fades well too.
Price: Best to force rich strangers to buy this for you.
MUA in Lipstick Shade 4 – £1.oo
Not the best lipstick, but nice enough to put on if it’s the only thing you can find.
Pigment: Frankly, a puddle of water is more pigmented than this lipstick.
Staying Power: Less than Britney’s husbands.
Price: Amazing. Worth it just so you can tell people you own a lipstick that cost £1.
(from right to left)
The Body Shop Colourglide Lipstick in Shade 58 – £6.00
The Body Shop makeup is something that I continue to be impressed with, and this vibrant lipstick is fabulous.
Pigment: Brilliant, top marks BS. These are sheerer lipsticks, but the pigmentation is still excellent.
Staying Power: Grand – the Colourglide lipsticks are quite ‘waxy’ so they stay on very well and are quite waterproof.
Price: Very, very reasonable for The Body Shop!
MUA in Lipstick Shade 3 – £1.00
This lipstick is much better than Shade 4. If you invest your pound before payday in anything, it should be this lipstick.
Pigment: Fantastic, considering it is one Great British Pound.
Staying Power: Also good, although it is quite a drying lipstick so it does get stuck in the cracks of your lips.
Price: One pound. (?!?!)
The Body Shop Colourglide Lipstick in Shade 57 – £6.00
Another Body Shop favourite, the Colourglide lipsticks are really really vonderful.
Pigment: Really good – less vibrant than Shade 58 but really feminine and pretty.
Staying Power: As good as Shade 58 – it also fades just as well and my lips feel nourished and marv when I wear it.
Price: Worth it.
But who wins the title of Pink Lipstick Overlord? Obvs, Kate Moss for Rimmel in Shade 16. It’s incredible and rules my life in every way.
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Collection Sheer Loose Powder Review
My dear friends and admirers.
Today is a momentous day. NAY. Today is the day that history was made. Today, I am writing to tell you that loose powder is great. No more will we think ‘pahaha loose powder is for my nan and her shiny mate Mildred’. No more will we breeze past the loose powder products in disgust. I am here to tell you that this loose powder has changed my life.
Practically my entire life has been plagued by my shiny face. And I don’t mean shiny in a cute dewy way. I mean full blown you-could-use-my-face-to-find-ships-lost-at-sea shiny. Since learning to apply makeup like a vaguely normal person and eschewing blue eyeliner with a firm hand, I’ve always used powder. I know face powder isn’t for everyone, but is an absolute essential in my makeup bag. I also like a heavy duty foundation, so a nice dusting of powder helps to set my makeup excellently.
I’ve used quite a few different powders and my usual tends to be Rimmel’s Stay Matte pressed powder because it’s cheap and safe. I’ve used Bourjois Radiance Powder too – which I liked but wasn’t the best at keeping my face matte all day. I’ve also used Collection pressed powder pretty frequently – but never used their Sheer Loose Powder.
I grabbed it the other day because I needed a translucent powder, of which there were none in the pressed powder section. How I wish I had grabbed it sooner. If you take anything from this review, it should be this: this is the best powder ever and I strongly encourage that you go and buy it – and proceed to be happy in all areas of your life.
My main points of happiness with the Sheer Loose Powder is this:
- It smells like my mum. This sounds weird, but I’m pretty sure my mum uses this powder and it reminds me of her. My mother is a lovely, tiny, neat woman who always has an organised handbag – so this is a big positive for me and takes me back to the days where I sniffed her face. I’m sure there must have been at least one day I did this for a laugh.
- It keeps my face matte all day. This is unheard of. I always always always have to powder at least once a day, especially when I’m at work. The only time I didn’t have to powder was when I was using Dermalogica’s Skin Perfect Primer (amazing btw). I don’t know what wizardry is in this powder, but it keeps my skin looking relatively normal for 9+ hours – without touching up.
- It sets my makeup well. There’s no need to expand on this really, but it does a good job of making sure everything stays where it should and things don’t go wandering about my head.
- It’s not heavy. I always thought that loose powder would be super heavy and rubbish. I don’t think that this is at all – it feels light on my skin.
- It’s cheap. It genuinely costs £2.99, no joke. I don’t know how either, I imagine that the employees at Collection are related to Gandalf.
As with any product, there are a few downsides too. I will put these in bullet point form too, because apparently that is what I do now.
- I find the sieve annoying.
- I hate the applicator pad. No one uses applicator pads.
I really don’t think I’ll be using another powder again (unless someone decides to treat me to a nice MAC Mineralise Powder). I really do love this though. Snaps for you Collection, I am adding this to the list of excellent and underrated products you do.
What about you? Have you tried this powder before? What do you think?
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The Best Smokey Eye Palettes for Under £20
Hello hooligans,
There’s nothing more exciting to me than a smokey eye palette. Apart from maybe biscuits and a nice cup of tea. And potentially when there is a new Catfish episode on. But you know…smokey eyes are definitely up there.
I’ve collected quite a few palettes over the years, but these are the ones that I am regularly using at the moment. As regular readers of our blog will probably know, we’re quite the keen beans for cheap and cheerful makeup. Sometimes cheaper brands can be a bit more of a miss than hit, but when you find the gems – they’re definitely worth spending your pennies on (and I mean pennies in the literal sense).
Aaaaanywhoo, these are what I think are the best smokey eye palettes for under £20. If you accidentally have spent all of your money on mince pies and Chrizzy pressies for ungrateful rellies (shortening words, all the cool kids are doing it), then you may want to continue reading. And for under £20…you may as well just buy them all and treat your eyelids to a smokin’ good time.
The Bodyshop Smoky Eye Palette – £15.00
The Bodyshop makeup is genuinely really good quality and everything that I’ve owned has been top notch. This palette is my favourite of these four and it’s my go-to for when I go out and pardy. It comes in four shades, with one gold cream shadow. What I like most is that the darkest shade is matte – I’m not a big fan of looking like a disco ball on every occasion. Even the shimmer shades are quite subtle and the pigmentation is excellent and the staying power is fabulous. The palette also comes with brushes, but typically I have lost them both. Whoops.
Bourjois Smokey Eyes Trio – £7.99
This little palette has loads of brilliant reviews and I actually received it as a part of the EXCELLENT free gift that I blogged about here. This one is in Gris Dandy and has three lovely gun metal silvery shades. I’m usually not a big fan of silver based smokey eye colours because browns tend to suit my complexion better, but this one is worth making a compromise for. The pigmentation is brilliant and it has amazing staying power. My only criticism of it is that it doesn’t include a highlighter shade, which I like to have in a palette.
Elf Natural Beauty Book – £6.00
If you can get over the sheer size of this palette, it’s actually very good. They did not lie when they said it was a book, I can tell you that chums. It’s not entirely necessary…they do have some fun information about how to apply the eyeshadow, but let’s all be honest. Anyone with fingers and/or hands can apply a smokey eye. It also comes with an eye primer, which I don’t have anything to say about really. It’s ok, but I wouldn’t say it’s anything too special. The brushes were a bit crap too, but palette brushes tend to be a bit pointless. The pigmentation is good and I particularly like the shade range. It’s a good one for daytime!
Collection Smokey Eye Palette – £4.19
I did a full review on this palette, which you can read all about here. This is a great little palette, particularly if you’re just foraying into smokey eye territory and don’t want to commit to a more expensive eyeshadow kit. There’s a good shade selection and the pigmentation is really good for what you pay.
SO CHUMS. If you are a poverty stricken human being or simply just want to add to your makeup collection without spending too many dollar bills, you may find these a bit exciting. I really like them and my fave would look WUBBISH without spreading these on my eyeballs (by that I mean eyelids. I’m not mad).
What’s your favourite smokey eye palette? Have you tried any of these?
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How Much Is My Face Worth?
G’day mates. Today we’re finally getting round to doing the blogger favourite ‘How Much Is My Face Worth?’ post. We both love reading these posts, and are usually left gawping at how much people’s everyday makeup actually costs, and bloggers are usually pretty surprised themselves to find that their collections often add up to as much as £100 or £200. I’m pretty sure that mine is going to be nowhere near this, but you never really know (well actually, I do because I’ve already worked it out. But let’s not ruin the suspense).
- Seventeen Stay Time Primer: £5.49
- Sleek Be Beautiful Blemish Balm: £8.99
- Seventeen Phwoarr Paint: £5.49
- Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer: £3.99
- E.L.F. Contouring Kit: £3.75
- Barry M Lash Vegas Mascara: £6.49
- Barry M Natural Glow Eyeshadow Palette: £6.49
- Collection Felt Tip Liner: £2.99
- Maybelline Eye Studio Master Shape Brow: £2.99
Total: £46.68
This surely has to be in the running for one of the cheapest HMIMFW ever? My everyday makeup actually changes at least monthly and there will have been times when the total would have been a fair bit more, but my current love affair with super cheap and cheerful brands such as Collection and Seventeen means that my total price is driven right down.
I have to admit that I’m torn between feeling like a total pikey and actually feeling pretty relieved that if disaster were ever to strike and I were to lose my everyday makeup bag (possible reasons for this: leaving it on a bus, being mugged by criminals with a penchant for eyeliner, zombie apocalypse, etc) then it really wouldn’t be too much of a hardship to replace.
Have any of you done this tag? Leave your links in the comments below!
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Collection Smokey Eyes Palette | Review
HI PALS.
If you’d read my October Wishlist post, you may have seen me extravagantly lusting after the Collection Smokey Eyes palette (I know, I am pretty much the wildest human being that ever walked the earth). As a part of my exciting lipstick haul (read about these badboys here), I finally decided to pick up the Smokey Eyes Palette, which to my delight has lived up to my expectations. Call me a trampy troll if you wish, but you can’t say no to an eyeshadow palette that is UNDER FIVE HUMAN POUNDS. You simply can’t.
I tend to only wear eyeshadow when I’m heading out to the disco and I have been known to trowel on makeup, so smokey eyes are a big must for my night time eye adventures. I’ve used so many palettes in the past, but my ultimate favourite has been Benefit’s Smokin’ Eyes palette. I’m not sure if Collection is trying to dupe the Benefit palette (Smokey Eyes and Smokin’ Eyes is suspiciously similar), but Collection don’t include a brow wax or tweezers in their palette. ANYWHOO. The colour range is truly fabulous – nice neutral colours with some excellent highlighting shades.
As you can see, the colour range isn’t bad at all. My only criticism would be that the ‘Medium’ shades are a bit too shimmery for my taste. If I’m feeling a little bit cray and want to put some shadow on during the day, I would usually go for the Medium shades for a daytime appropriate look. Unfortunately, these ones are a bit too much for the day. Saying that, they’re perfect for doing a night time look, so I can’t complain too much. Also, I’d prefer them to be in colour order (i.e. Light – Medium – Dark) but I get why they’ve laid out the shadows the way they have. And the reason they have done this is because they have a jazzy ‘how to’ on the back. It’s nothing ground breaking but it would have been useful back in the day when I didn’t know what on earth I was doing with makeup. Nice touch though!
I’m impressed with the pigmentation of the palette for the price. The swatches don’t show it as well as they look in real life (darn you miserable weather!) but both the shimmery colours and the darker colours have good colour levels. I’m really impressed with the highlighting colours too. What I do like is the pigmentation isn’t too much – I’m royally cack handed so when eyeshadows are too dark, I make a huge mess of everything. Colours that go on nicely and are buildable are my fave – which these most definitely are.
I’d say the only one that is a bit useless is the middle ‘Dark’ colour – you can see in the swatch that it’s quite weak. I’ve yet to test this colour out properly on my eyelids, but I’ll let you all know how it lasts and how it goes on.
Has anyone else tried this palette? What do you think?