*Review* Nars Dual-Intensity Eye Shadow Palette

Hi guys

I have been testing the Nars Dual-Intensity Eye Shadow Palette for a couple of weeks now. I was so so so excited when I heard Nars were releasing a palette because, and a few of you may agree with me on this, I hate buying single eye shadows, they hardly get used and you have to pair them up with other shadows. When with a palette most of the work is done for you!!

In this gorgeous palette come 8 shades all of which can be purchased in the single form, apart from the matt brown which is unique to the palette The shades are highly pigmented and apply wet or dry which gives you 16 eye shadows!!! 

The colours and contents are as follows:

Europa - Gossamer Pink Peach

Himalia - Shimmering Topaz

Ursa Major - Chocolate Glaze

Subra - Black Orchid

Andromeda - Alabaster

Lysithea - Shark Grey

Giove - Navy

Sycorax - Black

#49 Wet / Dry Eyeshadow Brush

The palette has a mirror whereas normally, the lid is the signature Nars matt packaging which we all know and love, however I find it quite cool and quirky.

The palette retails at £45.00 and is limited edition, so get your hands on it now! Or miss out as it is a steal considering one dual-intensity eye shadow costs £21.00 👀

What I also love is that it comes with a brush too!! Having used it, I would personally only use it wet when tapping the pigment on my lids as it isn't too great at blending personally, what could beat a 217??!!

Also having had the shadows on for a period of at least 12 hours I can endorse them for long lastingness!! Is that even a word??! But the colour doesn't budge once on, I normally use a primer as my lids are disgustingly oily, but it's worth a shout out - Urban Decays Primer Potion love ya - so the shadows with primer do not move until removed.

Nars have done a few tutorials on the palette and they're deck worth a watch - link down below for one of my favs

http://youtu.be/po7njs-pwEk

Let me know if you have this, and what shade is your fav???

S x

*NARS* Narsissist Palette - Review

Hello all

Happy new year to you and a warm welcome to today's blog!!!!!

I have absolutely adored Nars Cosmetics since I first discovered its philosophy and obviously the quality of the makeup is just out of this world.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on this palette early 2014 when it was released limited edition.

It retailed at £50.00 and I thought as a regular user of Nars eyeshadows that this was a bargain buy!!! Tonnes of colours all in one palette. I believe this is the first time Nars released such a large selection of colours in one palette, So you can imagine my excitement!!!

The palette itself consists of 15 shades of colour, a mixture of mattes and shimmers and is ideal to create any eye look, from day to night!

As you can see this palette has seen a lot of use. It has an amazing range of highlights, warm browns and darker shades to create the ideal smoky eye look! 

Another amazing thing about this palette is that the shades are not exclusive to this palette, they are available as either singles or duos, but there is one colour exclusive to the palette -

Top row, from right to left - All about Eve, Madrague #2, Fez, Bali & Coconut Grove

Middle row, from right to left - Madrague #1, Nepal, Ashes to Ashes, Brousse #2 & Mekong

Bottom row, from right to left - Belissima #1, Lhasa, Bad Behaviour, Dogon & Pandora #2

Dogon is the exclusive colour, all the rest are readily available.

I love this palette and have rarely used any other palette since, it's a great all rounder and if in some miraculous way you can still get your hands on this, or you have it closeted away for a special occasion - USE IT!!!! Don't be a closet makeup hoarder!!!!

As I say to my friends - YOLO!!!! And makeup has a shelf life!!!

Have you used this, what do you think?

Sam

X

*Review* YSL Baby Doll Kiss and Blush Lipsticks

These are amazing and I have three! The formula is liquid but dries to a matte finish. Which for any of you who love long lasting lipsticks, it’s a great thing!

The packaging is funky too, it looks like you’re carrying nail polish in your handbag! And you can use it as a blush too! I find that element bizarre and don’t use them for that purpose tbh…Think the colours show up much better on my lips than my NC42 cheeks!

The ones I have are No 11, No 9 & No 5 and these retail at £27.00 each. I think I got a little carried away that day….oh well it happens…I have yet to visit a Guerlian counter for fear of the havoc I may cause to my bank account…

All in all very pretty colours, they have a wide range of colours. Very moisturising and good colour pay off – you do have to reapply after eating etc but its matter of preference really. 

Matte lippies are not my friend and I usually find I have to apply a balm before putting them on.  However these are great because they’re a liquid consistency so I don’t need to do the lip balm step first. Yay!

Have you tried these – what do you think?

*Review* Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir

Hi guys

This is more of a personal taste thing really so this review will be more about the brand, service and utter quality personified that is Jo Malone! J

I was first told about JM a few years ago and since I have had some form of product from JM sitting on my dresser since…JM traditionally produce fragrances and home perfumeries (if that’s even a word, well Word hasn’t auto-corrected so I assume it is :/ ) for all occasions. The have recently branched out into skincare too.

To give a brief history…

Jo Malone joined The Estée Lauder Companies' family of brands in 1999 and is available in 22 countries and territories. Jo Malone is a British lifestyle brand known for its unique fragrance portfolio and luxury products for the bath, body and home. Rewriting the rules of perfumery by mixing unexpected combinations of ingredients and providing elegant yet playful concepts where scent is used with abandon, the world of Jo Malone continues to inspire a loyal following.

One thing about the fragrances to remember is that they are all Eau de Toilette, I know some people really fuss about these things, myself included and I usually don’t bother with them unless they’re EDP. So I was a little miffed when I found this, however they have an intense range of fragrances which are the EDP equivalent, packaged in black bottles to discern from the normal range (which is packaged in clear glass bottles).

Sadly, the fragrances in the intense range are completely different and unique from the normal range….so I cannot buy my favourite Pomegranate Noir in the intense range *sad times* However, all is not bad because Pom Noir can be bought in a lotion, crème or candle form to help alleviate the sadness a bit…and naturally because I’m so obsessed, I have all of them!

You will also be happy to read that all their fragrances are unisex so sharing is caring peoples! The bottles come in 30ml (£40.00) and 100ml (£80.00) and for Christmas they have put together some amazing gift sets  and even a special edition Pom Noir bottle in festive colours!

Also because the bottles are so beautifully packaged and presented it saves a lot of money on gift wrapping etc. Another few firm favourites of mine are Blackberry & Bay, Peony Blush & Suede and Wild Sage & Sea Salt…

I have linked the website below for you all to check out - http://www.jomalone.com

Let me know what your favourite scent is…

See you soon

Animas x

Asian Weddings...

Hello morning of wedding reception. As I sit here attempting to get ready for this shindig I sometimes wonder, why am I even bothering to go? I feel like such a wallflower at these things...

Seriously these days you have to paint yourself with makeup to fit in...what happened to lightening up? Going for the subtle, natural look...give us working women a much needed break instead of making us feel even more inadequate or otherwise lacking in the skill to achieve the plastered look.

Why do these women take it too far??? The furthest I'll take it is two pumps of my foundation which gives me a full coverage look...but that won't do, you need excess eye makeup, blusher and lipstick....Francois Nars eat your heart out mate! There are no rules! Ha! There are in this circle.

Then there's the outfit, oh lord, having to iron anything on a weekend when all you want to do is lounge in your pyjamas (unironed) and watch trashy TV you can't! as it's so and sos wedding, we must attend. Therefore outfit must be pristine I.e ironed and accessories must match...

What a drone fest, people spend way too much time critiquing the food at a wedding and the brides outfit to care what the guests are wearing...

So my message to any of you girls out there is, be yourself! We are giving our time to these people, time that can be valuably spent elsewhere so they can bloody well appreciate us being there at all...

High five 🙌

Animas x

a photo of me at one such occasion...

My thoughts on the Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate Duo

Hi guys

Today I will be reviewing the Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate cream  duo. 

The fact that I have dry skin and this is a cream based product is absolutely fantastic for me as it sits well on my face doesn't move, doesn't dry out. The product applies really easily and blends well. 

I also bought the TF Shade and Illuminate makeup brush that is used with this duo however I found that for my little face it was perhaps a little too wide and it just made me look like I had a huge splodge of product under my cheekbones when contouring (awkward times) so I use my Real Techniques foundation brush to apply and buff it in with an RT Buffing Brush. 

So yes people, unlike me please don't get wooed by the brand and buy the brushes to go with the makeup!!!

I use a whole host of brushes but at the moment RT are quite simply amazing. Easy to clean, no fall out hairs and make application so easy! Oh and did I mention they are a drugstore brand so very very affordable.

Anyway back to the Duo - as I said the philosophy in using the duo is that you use the same TF brush to contour, you then wipe on tissue and use same brush in the highlight shade and highlight your upper cheekbones. I was shown this in store and didn't realise that when done at home you simply don't have the time to faff (working woman!) around cleaning brushes and so I have a not so clean highlighter now which I don't use too often.

As contradictory as this will sound, I'm not a big fan of the highlighter, I prefer powder highlighters they just feel like you haven't got an extra layer on around that part of your skin and this highlight makes me feel that way, matter of opinion I guess folks.

The contour part of the duo is however amazing. I bought the lighter shade as I wanted to use it as a daily contour as oppose to 'night out' full on contour. However it is buildable so you can do that also. I would repurchase this product simply for this part of the duo as it gives me a lovely shadow under my cheekbones and it stays in place all day! Even on top of my liquid foundation.

So all in all, the product is hit and miss and for the price point (£56.00) you really do want to be very sure you want to buy it. Unless you get someone to buy it for Christmas haha. 

It is a luxury product and that is clear from the beautiful packaging which makes the TF brand stand out especially. I am always drawn to this counter as it just screams quality and class! Oh and did I mention it comes with a fairly decent sized mirror too so you can touch up on the go!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments box below and whether you feel the same or otherwise...

See you soon

Animas x

Start of a very exciting and hopefully long lasting adventure....

Hi everyone 

Here I am, writing a blog and I never thought I'd ever have anything interesting to say or write about.

However I will try, I have a huge interest in beauty and lifestyle products (who doesn't really, if you're a girl especially) and thought, hey why not shout about it to you guys, the wise world out there. Perhaps then we can share thoughts and honest reviews on some of the hot products and epic fails on the market.

So stay tuned and well see what comes up...I have some amazing reviews to share on some Tom Ford and Chanel beauty items I have bought recently as well as some absolute treats from Jo Malone...

See you soon

Animas x