Fixing Broken Make Up

    Or indeed making dusty, messy beads of make up a little more usable! I've always been intrigued but a little bit intimidated by the idea of fixing broken make up with alcohol. It seemed a bit exciting but also a bit like black magic.

     However my Benefit Sugarbomb box o'powder broke a couple of weeks ago and my heart lurched... I'd never even hit pan! Eventually I got brave and just went for it, would you believe it's actually shockingly easy? I rapidly got braver and decided that my new found skills could also be used to make some nice but slightly difficult products a teensy bit more user friendly. Enter: Physician's Formula Mineral Wear Talc-Free Mineral Correcting Pebbles (mouthful). These are little pebbles of pink, green and yellow designed to work like a pressed powder and for the most part they do! However  some of mine were a little crushed around the edges from the start and just a little too messy to use for my liking, so I figured I'd make it into a pressed powder for real!

So you'll need:
- Any clear alcohol, medical or otherwise as long as its around 37-40%
- A spoon to crush your pebbles/chunks of powder
- Thin fabric cloth/ sturdy paper towel
- Something heavy to press you powder, preferably just smaller than the container.
- Your broken make up/ beads

So first I emptied the beads into a little bowl and crushed them down to the finest powder I could manage, started with a cuticle stick but graduated to a spoon when I realised it was gonna take a million years.Then i brushed down the inside of the container to collect any excess, you'd be surprised how much product gets left behind!

Then when its all fine you add in a a small amount of alcohol, a really small, teeny, tiny amount. You want just enough to make a pretty thick paste out of all the particles. Start small, you can always add more but if you do add to much its no big deal, you just need to wait for the booze to evaporate enough so you have your thick paste again.

Then scrape the paste into your container, smooth until the surface is a bit even ad then lay your cloth over the top. The compact I had was pretty big so I employed my surprisingly heavy Nuxe Reve De Miel Lip Balm to compress it. Pro Tip: press hard but not too hard if you're using something smaller than your container cause some of the product did end up gouged out the first few times I tried. Steady even pressure spread across the whole surface is what you're after. If you're using something like an eye shadow pot you'll be fine, coins, coins are the way forward here and you can just squeeze the bells out of the and you're good to go.

The finishes result: all you need to do is let it dry.

Mine took a few hours to dry but since then it's been perfect and much easier to use. I'd heard you can't fix mineral make up this way but so far I've had good results! I quite like the idea of mixing different powder products this way to make your own unique colours, have you ever played around with make up this way?

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Friday Night Wisdom

    I couldn't agree with the girl who made that picture more. A couple of weeks ago I started working on a beauty counter for a pretty well known  make up company with a pretty aggressive sales technique. For various reasons, I no longer work there but this post has less to do with them and more to do with the beauty industry in general. Prepare yourself....this may get ranty!

    Working in a beauty hall and hearing dozens of different sales approaches every day, I've noticed that they all revolve around the same idea: making you feel bad about yourself.

    I get that that's kind of obvious and most places have the decency to at least be subtle about it but that doesn't make it less of a problem. The message pervades everything from the product slogans to the training information. In the training manual of the company I worked for, they had two pictures of the same woman side by side. In one she was bare faced with messy hair, in the other her hair was neatly scraped back and she was fully made up with a bright, red lip. The captions read 'Yuck!' and 'Wow!' respectively. I can't begin to explain all the things wrong with that.

    Make up for me has always been a creative thing, its about having fun and the freedom to be as many different people as I feel like on any given day. It's not the same for everyone, but the core value should stay the same, it should make you feel GOOD above all else, it should help you express who you are or who you want to be, it should bolster your confidence, empower and enhance you.

    But a lipstick isn't going to change your life and if loving yourself enough is something you struggle with, no amount of concealer or eye shadow or mascara is going to change that.

   You are so much more than the shape of your eyebrows, the size of your nose or a birthmark on your cheek! The things we use to torture ourselves are design features, unique selling points, not the 'imperfections' we're encouraged by the industry at large to conceal, paint over and distract from. Not that I don't think make up is a fantastic tool for getting rid of annoying blemishes or helping you to feel better and more in control of something that really knocks your confidence, but you get where I'm going with this.

    With or without make up;

Your worth does NOT begin and end with someone else's definition of what's beautiful! 

    It's about time companies stopped trading on making you feel like it does.

   Sorry about that, but I don't think it gets said nearly enough!

 

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Nuxe Reve De Mieille: First Impressions

    I'm still in the midst of crazy business with a holiday in a couple of days and a new job (yay!) starting tomorrow. I haven't had a lot of time to play with my make up but one thing I did pick up was Nuxe's infamous Reve De Mieille lip balm.  I've heard it's a holy grail but I'd never seen it available here until last week. I found it for €11 (McCabe's Pharmacy in Dundrum if you've been looking) which is pricey for what it is but I was waiting for someone and found it unexpectedly so figured I might as well give it a go!
 
    The texture surprised me most. The balm is a honey yellow colour, which isn't a great surprise but it has a thick paste consistency rather than the more solid or gel like texture of other balms I've used. The smell is citrusy and downright edible which is nice, but I do find it a bit invasive when its actually on my lips.

    All else aside the balm does a great job of moisturising the lips and is especially good before bed seeing as it's so rich. I tried it today before applying a red lip and found the lipstick actually lasted longer over the not completely absorbed, still slightly sticky base of the lip balm!

   So far I'm not sure if this will ever be a complete holy grail for me (not like Blistex <3) but it does do a great job, especially if you have particularly dry or chapped lips. Well worth a shot if you're a serious lip balm person!

Have you ever tried anything from the Nuxe range?

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Put To The Test: Maybelline Gel Liner

    I've had a pretty hectic week! It was a combination of birthday shenanigans (22 now!), socialising, cinema and an outdoor gig; all during one of the hottest weeks we've had in years!

    Ireland is a drizzly, temperate place at the best of times so nobody, NOBODY, was ready for temperatures that were nearly creeping into the 30's.

    On Sunday I went to see Mumford and Son in the phoenix park, big and outdoors, in sweltering heat. We had to walk what felt like endless miles (maybe 1? 1.5?) to get to the arena with little shade and next to no change in the landscape. It was like wandering a desert in hell, and I don't feel that's exaggerating. BUT the gig was amazeballs and it was bearably cool by the time they came on and my love for Marcus Mumford is getting out of hand, so it was all good in the end!

    I threw Maybelline's Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner 24H in  10 Ultra Violet, or Eggplant in the states, on my lids as I ran out the door on Monday morning in the vain hope that it would stick around. And you know what? It actually did! 

    I'm not usually impressed by claims that make up lasts a whole day, for me at least, it's rarely true. So I was pretty impressed when I finally went to wash the dust and old beer ( Aside: why do people feel the need to throw beer in crowds anyway?) off my skin around 12:30 a.m and found my eyeliner still perfect, unsmudged and opaque, exactly where I left it. Mega kudos to Maybelline, you go!

As a nice perk it didn't take any nasty scrubbing or pulling to get it off my face either! Have you tried any supposedly long lasting products that took you by surprise?

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Smoky Blue FOTD

    I was in the mood for a smoky look for the first time in ages (I had a funny turn towards neutrals a couple of months ago) and so I decided to play around a bit with a few shadows that had been sorely neglected. I'm pretty happy with the result and found a way to get the best out of one of the most awkward shadows in my stash.

   On a side note my new found neutrality paid off in that I finally have a lipstick to wear with looks like this that isn't too over the top or intense for day time.

 

Face:

L'oreal Lumi Magique Pure Light Primer

Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation - 110 Ivory

Mac Sheertone blush - Pink Swoon

Make Up For Ever Sculpting Blush - Satin Indian Pink (I think?)

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish - Blonde

Benefit Brows A-Go-Go

Benefit Boi-ing Concealer - 01

Benefit Erase Paste - No.2 Medium

Benefit High Brow

Young Blood Mineral Rice Setting Powder - Medium

Eyes:

Mac Metal-X Cream Shadow - Cyber

Mac Velvet Eye Shadow - Beauty Marked

Barry M Dazzle Dust - 22

Too Faced Exotic Colour Intense Eye Shadow - Midnight Mist

L'oreal Super Liner Luminizer - Black Diamond/Brown Eyes

Urban Decay Vice Palette - Occupy

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil - Perversion

Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Mascara

Lips:

Bourjois Levre s Contour - 18 Framboise Exquise

Yves Saint Laurent - 13 Peche Passion

    Sadly the photos don't do justice to the incredible beauty of Midnight Mist, possibly the world's most awkward eye shadow but that's sunshine for you! 

    If you don't fancy the hefty price tag of Peche Passion ( actually a little birdie told me it's soon to be discontinued along with most of the original Rouge Volupte Line), Rimmel's Lasting Finish by Kate Lipstick in number 16 is a good dupe, though the formula lasts much longer and isn't nearly as glossy!

   On a side note  I've been pondering including where and how I used the products as an aside to the product lists in posts like this, what do you think?

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Birthday Bronze FOTD

    So it was a friend of mine's birthday last night and I felt like giving the more neutral (if still quite dramatic) side of life a go. I'm not especially au fait with the whole browny/goldy/greige world, but a little exploration never hurt!

    Ps. Apologies for picture quality, it was late in the evening and my camera was saying no to close ups!

Face:

 Benefit That Gal Primer

Benefit Erase Paste - Medium

Benefit Brows a-go-go

Benefit Boi-ing Concealer - 02 light/medium

Catrice All Round Concealer 010 - green/ pale beige

L'oreal True Match Foundation - C1 Ivory Rose

Mac Mineralize Skin Finish - Blonde

Benefit Box o' powder - sugarbomb/thrrrob

Art Deco Compact Powder - 01 Dita Von Teese Face Fatale

Eyes:

Mac Paint Pot - constructivist

Bourjois Shimmering Shine Liquid Eyeshadow - 31 Molecule D'or

Urban Decay Naked Palette - Half Baked

Urban Decay Mariposa Palette - Wreckage

Urban Decay Vice Palette - Muse

Urban Decay Vice Palette - Penny Lane

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner - Midnight Cowboy

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner - Bourbon

Bourjois Liner Clubbing - 81 Absolute Black

No. 7 Exceptional Definition Mascara - Black

Lips:

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter - 15 Tutti Frutti

Revlon Colorburst Lip Gloss - 46 Sizzle Canicule

    My favourite part of this look was the completely bright orange lip that looks completely bright red when you put it on, without any of the worry or slippage you can get with most glossy red lip looks!

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Emergency Eye Liner Update!

    There comes a time in every girl (or boy)'s life when you need to figure out what kind of eye liner you're going to settle down with.  For some it's the soft embrace of pencil, for others the bold but versatile look of liquid but either way there's an endless array of choice in terms of finish and colour thanks to companies like Urban Decay and Stila not to mention more affordable brands like Rimmel and Bourjois who've been seriously stepping up their eye liner game recently!
    For some though, those true devotees who care nothing for time or ease of application, only the immovable, dependable lasting power of a gel formula will do and in that arena the choice is severely lacking.   There are numerous shades of black, blackest black and carbon black to choose from, or brown or even purple if you're feeling fruity (thanks Maybelline!) but as a girl who likes to play the field (careful now), it's really hard to find nice, colourful gel liners.
    Enter the Smashbox Cream Eyeliner Liner Palette: a neat little palette with plenty of colour choices that retails for around €30, the liners are creamy, vibrant and last as long as you'd expect without being hell to remove.

    I picked up mine around Christmas in the shade Metallic; the alternative, inexplicably named Proof, was far more neutral and that's just not how I roll! This thing is gorgeous and about as big as a bank card making it perfect if you're travelling or want something to play around with for special occasions. Don't get me wrong, there are 10 shades and not enough of any one colour to make it a staple but it's great if you fancy a walk on the wild side with some really nice, unusual colour choices.

 In shade.

In bright sunlight.

    The only catch is: Smashbox don't seem to have it on the website at all any more. I checked around and it does still seem to be available at Boots and some of the reviews on the company website are pretty recent so I don't think it's entirely gone, but if you fancy getting your hands on it you might want to do it fast!

Caveat: when I first got my paws on this I made the mistake of using the included brush, which is the least useful thing I have ever come across, and judging it by the results. I only recently fell in love with this after using it with my EcoTools angled eye liner brush, which by the way is really excellent should you ever feel the need!

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Young Blood Haul and Review Courtesy of Model Advice

    A fair while ago I was lucky enough to win Model Advice's make up tip competition and was sent a care package full of delicious mineral make up courtesy of Young Blood. I fully intended to post a review but then exams happened and after the exams, celebration happened. So here, FINALLY, is a full review with pictures and swatches!
    At first glance Young Blood look like a pretty nifty mineral make up company, they're products claim to be paraben, talc, mineral oil and petroleum free and the over all focus seems to be on good natural ingredients. I'm not too familiar with mineral make up but I like the cut of their jib so far.
   I was lucky enough to be sent their Minerals in the Mist spray in Relax, Mineral Rice Setting Powder in Medium, Incredible Wear Gel Liner in Lagoon,  Lipstick in Debalicious, Lipgloss in Champage Ice and two Mighty Shiny Lip Gels in Stripped and Displayed.

    The gel liner is probably my favourite and the one I've used most. The colour is just gorgeous and the bright teal colour stays opaque and true on the lash line. It goes on easy with a creamy texture and seems to have pretty good staying power so far! Plus it looks as good on my pale and pasty skin as well as with a hint of a tan, bonus!

    The Might Shiny Lip Gels seem to be a big deal for Young Blood. I'm not sure what the difference is between these and their lip glosses but they're very nice either way. Stripped is a completely clear gloss with beautiful flecks of micro-glitter that add a bit of dazzle without any nasty grainy feeling. Displayed looks to be a bright, orangey red but in reality it goes on almost completely sheer. They're both pretty sticky which is a no no for me but they leave your lips feeling quite moisturised and certainly live up to their title. They're fairly pricy at £23 a pop but you get 7g of vanilla scented, high shine gloss, which might be enough to sway shine lovers!

Mighty Shiny Lip Gel in Displayed: so sheer it almost doesn't exist.

    I'm a fan of translucent setting powder myself but I enjoyed the opportunity to try out the more pigmented variety. This is in the shade medium which is a little dark for my complexion but actually just made me look a little more outdoorsy than I am, which is a pleasant change! The texture is nice and light though a tiny bit drying and though this isn't the product's fault, I'm a little too clumsy for loose powder and when it falls this thing gets EVERYWHERE and isn't easily budged. Good for your face, BAD for your clothes when you're rushing out the door. But I do like this, so I'll be using it now and then during the summer, with very great care.
 

    The website says these are designed to hydrate and protect the skin and advises using them after cleansing and again after applying make up to help it set. I'm not really in to setting sprays but this particular scent is beautiful. The lavender and vanilla has a warm soothing tone to it and I have started to add this as a final step to my make up routine, especially on warm day, but I have to admit that is mostly cause it smells nice.

    This is far more opaque then it's Mighty Shiny counterparts and a bit less sticky too which I appreciate, though it continues to deliver on the soft lips front! However I'm really not a fan of frosted finish lip products or neutral lip products for that matter, but over all the shade choice seems far more varied than the lip gels and at £17 for 4.5g of product they're a weency bit more pocket friendly.

    Next to the gel liner this lipstick in the shade Debalicious is probably my favourite of the products I was sent. I find really pale lipsticks often wash me out but this pretty peachy pink bad boy works a charm. the formula reminds me of a less creamy version of MAC's Cremesheen lipsticks (as much as that's a bit of an oxymoron), it's nice and opaque without being at all drying or matte and has decent staying power, though I like to re-apply lipstick quite often at the best of times. I'm really enjoying this colour for summer, particular with the Laguna liner for something pretty simple but still striking. On a side note the formula is also lanolin free for those of you with allergies or who don't like using animal products!

 Debalicious with Mighty Shiny Lip Gel in Stripped over the top:

    I'd never used Young Blood before but I quite like the brand so far. Everything they do is also cruelty free which goes easy on the conscience. I'm not sure I'd have purchased these myself given the pretty hefty price tag for products that haven't totally blown my mind but I can't find too much fault with anything either.I've really enjoyed playing with these products and thanks again to Model Advice for sending them to me! I'm hoping to do a look with all  of them sometime in the next few days so you can see for yourself how they wear! Have you ever tried anything from Young Blood?

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Old Tag, New Intro

I found this while I was creeping round some of Zoella's really old posts and figured I might as well give it a go seeing as how I've never done a tag before, here goes nothing!

What’s your favourite eye shadow colour to wear? Hmm this is difficult but at the moment I'd have to saaaaay Last Call from Urban Decay is right up there.

What’s the one product you wouldn’t leave your house without? Lipstick/gloss/balm, always have at least 5.

What’s your favourite makeup look ? A combo of bright summery colours or a sultry pink toned romantic look.

Which feature do you play up the most? Probably my eyes or lips depending on the day, can't say no to a red lip!

Which feature do you try to downplay/cover up? Em...the area round my nose maybe?

Your favourite makeup brand, if you could pick only ONE to exist? Mac for lipstick, Urban Decay for eyeshadow or maybe Inglot cause they do everything well!

Which product have you re-purchased OVER and OVER again? NO.7 Exceptional Definition mascara, it's an absolute beast, loads of length, no clumping and it can be natural or not depending on what you do with it. So much love <3

Which product would you NEVER repurchase again and why? I try to research before I buy but I was really disappointed in Too Faced Shadow Insurance. Everyone raves about it but I found it really oily and a bit useless!

One beauty treatment you would always PAY to have done? A good old fashioned Dermalogica facial.

One beauty treatment you would NEVER pay to have done? A manicure/pedicure. My nails are often pretty stubby from biting, I don't want to be judged :P

One beauty trick you can share with everyone? I'm really fair skinned and I find using different coloured concealers (yellow, salmon, green) works wonders for evening the whole thing out!

Best advice you've ever been given regarding beauty and makeup? Buy the best (not necessarily most expensive) skin care and make up you can afford, you and your face are worth it!

I guess I tag anyone who wants to have a go!

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Bourjois Fan-Tastic Volume Mascara Review

    The first mascara I ever bought was from Bourjois. I was 12, hopelessly new to the world of make up and militantly planning my look for the graduation party my primary school was having. That mascara was eventually ruined by a well meaning cousin of mine and has long since been discontinued but my soft spot for Bourjois has remained.

    So when I was in the market for a new mascara and came across the eye catching streak of violet that was their new (not so new now) Fan-tastic Volume Mascara, promising thick fans of inky lashes, I didn't really think about it.

   Now for context, my taste in mascara is certifiably weird. I may be one of the only people in the world who actively dislikes Benefit's stand out offering They're Real. I have quite long curly lashes and to be honest They're Real just turns my eyes into a mess of spidery looking clumps, big no no! I don't for a second think it's a bad mascara, but it couldn't be less suited to me if it tried! I'm willing to admit that Bourjois's Fan-tastic Volume may also come under this heading, if grudgingly, for my disappointment lingers still.

   I find it binds my lashes together in awful thick clumps with bits of the formula still clinging to them in tiny lumps; all the while creating the opposite of a fanned effect. There's every likelihood it won't do this for you, so I wouldn't worry too much!

    On the other hand though, the supposedly easy to use fan shaped comb/brush attached to it does require an awful lot of manoeuvring to get the majority of lashes coated in one go and so if you're the kind of person who doesn't like overly fussy products I'd give it a bit of a think before investing!

   I have a hunch this is a more of a difficult mascara than an objectively bad one and I reckon it's the kind that's better suited to someone with straighter, thicker lashes than mine. Have you ever had similar problems with supposedly holy grail mascaras?

P.S I sent this mascara off to a better home where first reports labelled it a great success. Seems like it just didn't get on with my lashes!

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Oh Honey, Honey, How you Thrill Me: Bee Strong

I love a good conditioner, like, truly, madly, deeply and all that jazz. But once upon a time I had my heart broken. The people at the The Body Shop lured me in with a  hair care duo based on honey. It was thick, creamy, left me with lovely, glossy, tumbling curls and had a scent that lingered gently in your hair for hours. 

Not so long after I fell in love they took it away forever and I've never really gotten over it.

Now Herbal Essences have just added a new flavour to their line of shampoos, conditioners and masques. It goes by the name Bee Strong and it's a honey based line designed to heal damaged hair. My hair spends the majority of the year a bright, unnatural red, so I'm all for anything that packs a little more tlc.

The formula of all three products is thick and creamy across the board which so far has left my hair very, very soft and healthy looking. The only drawback is the residue I felt the conditioner left in my hair the first and only time I've used it (however this may have been due to my own lazy rinsing, so we'll have to wait and see). Scent-wise, I'm easily pleased with anything that smells like honey and there was no disappointment here but alas, it doesn't stick around for long.

Over all I'd recommend giving this a go if you feel your hair is going through a rough patch or if, like myself, you're generally inclined to fall on the straw-ier side of life. Those who suffer with greasy or fine hair may want to give this a miss or at least keep it for those times you really want to treat your hair.

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First Foray into Soap&Glory Skin Care

 I'm always a little bit entranced by the packaging of Soap&Glory, it's fun, it's girly and their sales patter is second to none but for some reason I got it into my head that they were a sort of poor man's Benefit for skin.  I love their shower gels, body butters and exfoliators but wasn't sure if I was ready to trust them with the moneymaker. (You don't have to tell me why I should feel bad, I already do)

  The other day I found myself stranded with unreasonably dull, lifeless looking skin and a sweet little buy one get 2nd half price deal in Boots. I gave in to intrigue.

   I limited myself to the Face Soap and Clarity 3-in-1 Daily Detox Vitamin C Facial Wash (serious mouthful) and the Peaches and Clean 4-in-1 Wash Off Deep Cleansing Milk for all skin types. They were €8 each but I got 'em for €10 with  a deal/student card combo! (woo!) My reasoning is that I didn't want to break the bank on stuff I might not like, so depending on how it works out I may have to go back for more of the adorable, shiny, mysterious things Soap & Glory are offering.

   Face Soap has a lovely clean, herbal smell that reminds me a lot of an old shower gel called Badedas whereas Peaches and Clean smells exactly as fruity as the blurb promises with a fresh peach scent that doesn't assault the nostrils.

  I've only done a little testing so far but the results look promising. Peaches and Clean is a product you can really feel working and though my skin was very distressed the day I used it, it managed to calm the whole thing down and evened out my complexion. I would say though that the resulting tingly feeling might indicate that it's not for the most sensitive skinned and I'd even be reluctant to use it as a regular make up remover, so exercise a little caution before buying!

   Soap and Clarity by contrast is very very gentle but leaves your skin looking glowy and healthy with a really unexpected but very pleasant, almost minty cooling sensation. This one I wouldn't be nearly as careful about, it does the job but feels gently enough to use daily.

   I've only used each of these products once but I'm feeling pretty good about them so far, I'd love to hear anyone else's stories of victory or woe at the hands of Soap and Glory!

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Model Advice Young Blood UK Competition

   A few days ago I entered a competition run by the lovely, knowledgeable people at Model Advice, a London based company focused on helping new models find their feet in the industry. They provide a weekly  clinic for all your modelling queries as well as casting opportunities and photo shoot services, definitely worth a look if you're hunting for that industry edge!

  The brief was simple, send in a comment, photo or video with your best make up tip to be in the chance to win a delicious goodie bag from the new UK branch of Young Blood Mineral Cosmetics. I flustered round the issue for a few days before deciding to man up and go for it! I sent in this tip:

Now I'm very excited to say that as it happens I won the competition! I'm dying to get my hands on Young Blood's products and with luck a review should follow in the next little while. In the mean time I suggest you get yourself over to Model Advice for some interesting and inspiring industry tips and tricks to see you through spring and into summer!

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MeMeMe Cosmetics Haul and Review

    So, my make up stash has reached critical mass. It's at the point where I pretty much have to blog about it if I'm going to justify even one more gorgeous, creamy lipstick or carbon black liner. A few weeks ago the lovely people at Glossybox were responsible for my downfall. The February box had a bottle of MeMeMe Cosmetics Beat The Blues highlighter nestled in its tissue paper wrapped, neatly beribboned depths and despite initially thinking it was nail polish (oops) I was totally roped in by the cuteness of the packaging!

    Now I'm all for letting a product speak for itself and generally I'm not toooo bad for giving into the need to HAVE SHINY THING NOW! But Glossybox had an ace up their sleeve... a 20% discount... I was helpless to resist. By the time I realised they don't deliver to these distant shores (*ahem* Ireland...) it was too late and my heart was set on their beautiful eye kits, luscious lip creams and an enchanting thing known only as a 'Goddess Rock' (bronzer apparently).

    I was just hooked enough to drag myself over to amazon where I found everything I wanted, though alas that lovely discount was wasted! I limited myself to one of their Long Wear Satin Lip Creams in Morello Silk   (a wonderful dusky aubergine, £5.49 if you're lucky enough to live in the U.K), a set of Goddess Rocks (£12.50), the Ocean Eyes -Get The Look Pack (£12.99) and their Arch Angel brow gel and illuminator(£7). Well I say limited...

 Here are a few snaps of the packaging and initial swatches.

 
   The Ocean Eyes kit is a bit of a joy all things considered. The eye shadows are soft and easy to work with despite being baked, the mascara is quite a dry formula giving lovely, full but natural looking lashes and the felt tip liner is dark, long lasting and incredibly handy for last minute make up on an early morning bus journey!

   The lipsticks are creamy, smooth and highly pigmented with nothing of the thick, tacky texture that some drug store lipsticks present. They are very soft however, so I'd recommend using a lip brush rather than applying from the bullet! The Morello Silk colour doesn't apply nearly as dark as it appears in the bullet but with a little time and effort a lovely rich purple can still be achieved, while Ruby Rich goes on perfectly however you apply it, a wonderful blue-ish red that should be flattering on most skin tones.

   I haven't yet made up my mind as regards Arch Angel or the Goddess Rocks. Both have their good points but overall are quite shimmery for daytime with the highlight end of Arch Angel in particular proving difficult to work with and unfortunately light even against my own pretty ghostly complexion. I'm not really one for bronzer but I've found the Goddess Rocks a pretty gentle entry to the fold, the shimmer can be intense but a nice healthy glow can be achieved with a decent brush and a light hand, with the more pink toned golds in the mix preventing any unfortunate orange streaking!

   The packaging is hopelessly alluring and overall the quality of these products far exceeds the price point. Even a couple of weeks after the initial glow has worn off I find myself turning to their Fat Cat mascara, felt tip liner and Morello Silk lip cream regularly. Should you find yourself with a little (but not a lot of) spare change a little treat from MeMeMe could prove just the thing to put a little spring in your step!

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