Autumn Eyes: 17 Neptune Starry Eyes

Seriously how is it even October already? I didn't even realise that the day after September 30th was October 1st. Moving swiftly on from my lack of sense I thought I'd talk about this little eyeshadow trio that I bought very early on in the year.

This is the 17 Starry Eyes Neptune Trio Eyeshadow, available at Boots for £4.99, and contains a gold, a slightly shimmery bottle green and an aubergine purple. To me this trio completely reminds me of Autumn and think it's so perfect for creating a variety of different looks. My eyes are a hazelly, browny green shade and find that a lot of shades are just quite bleurgh when I wear them but with these shades I find that each colour compliments my eyes and helps bring out different colours.

On days where I actually have time to do anything semi-interesting to my eyes I put Maybelline's On and On Bronze on my top lid and then use the green shade on the outer part of my eye underneath my bottom lashes and then the gold underneath on the inner section. Does this make any sense?! Another look is using the gold all over the lid and then using either the purple or green on the outer corner to create a smokey eye with a twist (not much of a twist to be honest). Due to the slight shimmer in the green this also looks nice mixed with a brown shade to use on the outer corner and looks really festive.

The pigmentation of these shades are really impressive and to me don't feel like they come from a budget brand like 17. I actually prefer the gold shade in this to Half Baked from my Naked 2 Palette as I feel the colour is a lot more brighter and suits my yellowy skin tone more. In terms of lasting power I can't comment on how long it lasts without a primer as I never wear eyeshadow without my Urban Decay Primer Potion but if you don't have a problem with insane amounts of creasing like I do I would guess that it lasts an average length of time. Gosh I am so vague.

Each shade is so wearable either alone or together and the purple isn't the kind of shade that makes you look dead. I'm really pleased I dug this out of my drawer and started using it and may take a look at the other trios within the range.

MUA Purchases

I recently bought some items from MUA because you knooooow, why not?! I honestly love MUA products and every time I'm in Superdrug I always go and have a look at the stand. I bought two eyeshadows and one of the new range of blushers (that aren't so new anymore) all of which were £1 each.

You can find the eyeshadows online here for the pearl shades mentioned, here for the matte shade and here for the blusher.

(This photo is bugging me so much, the marks on the plastic cases wouldn't budge!)

The eyeshadow on the left is Shade 2 and the eyeshadow on the right is Shade 1

Firstly are the two eyeshadows, Shade 2 and Shade 1, and don't you just wish I put them in numerical order? Typing Shade 2 first kills me and goes against all natural inclination. Shade 2 has a pearl finish and is a shimmery white colour that I bought to use for an inner corner highlight that I can apply using a small eyeshadow brush or my finger. I haven't got round to trying it out yet but it looks really nice on my hand (new trend alert) so I'm hoping it will brighten my eye area just as nicely!

Shade 1 is also a pearl finish and is a shimmery beigey, gold colour that I think would look nice as an everyday shade but, again, I haven't got round to trying this one out either. With both of these shades I know they will last on my eyelids all day when wearing my Urban Decay Primer Potion (my baby).

Both of these shades are really pigmented as expected due to owning other eyeshadows from the brand. They are of such a high quality for their price and I use the matte finish Shade 19 for my eyebrows and it has lasted me so long I can't even believe it, it only has the tiniest dent in it and I use it near enough everyday so I would really recommend it as a cheaper alternative to all the drugstore offerings of brow kits because you can make you can make it make it appear darker or lighter depending on how much you apply.

Lastly is a corally peach blusher called Lolly which, as I mentioned at the start, is part of the more newly released blusher shades that are named (yay) and have a lid that flips out to the side rather than the old blushers which were numbered and the lids flipped upwards. I bought Lolly as a replacement of one of the older style blushers I have from MUA; Shade 5 was one of my first ever purchases from MUA and has lasted me ever since the brand was launched but I recently hit pan on it (never thought I'd live to see the day where I actually nearly finished something) and, combined with the lid having broken off, led to orangey powder being in all my makeup storage drawers. At first I was disappointed because, upon being swatched, it didn't seem as vibrant as Shade 5 and a lot less orange-based but, once I wore it on my face I actually preferred it and find it a lot more wearable and natural.

I really love how this shade is buildable and so I don't have to worry about spending time blending it out and getting rid of harsh lines. I didn't photograph Shade 5 because it is in a terrible state (I'm such a hoarder I haven't binned it even though it's ruined) but I'm sure you'll be able to see swatches in other people's blog posts!

Again, I think this blusher is of such a high quality and it lasts all day on me and so I really don't see a need for me to spend a lot more on a blusher, especially when MUA have such a wide colour range to choose from.

From left to right is the eyeshadow in Shade 2, the eyeshadow in Shade 1 and the blusher Lolly

I'm really pleased with my purchases from MUA, as I always am, and am excited for when I, eventually, get to try out the eyeshadows.

Poundland Beauty Buys: Dainty Doll

Behold, I found more beauty bargains in the paradise that is Poundland. This time I found multiple eyeshadows and an eyeshadow base from the Dainty Doll range by Nicola Roberts which was launched in 2007 specifically aimed at people with very fair skin tones. I had a look online and these eyeshadows seem to retail at £11.25 which is crazily expensive for an eyeshadow! I risked my law-abiding life by opening the packaging to have a look at the colours because all that I could see were the shades names and Poundland's ever descriptive names such as 'Yellow', 'Brown' and 'Bright Purple'. I was really impressed by how the colours looked and as soon as I bought them I swatched them (how anti-climatic).

I really like the packaging of these eyeshadows and the little ginger diva gally on the front. I can only assume that all of the eyeshadows are supposed to have a mirror on the lid of them, however, two of mine are missing them and you can see where the glue was (classy) but I have no idea where the mirror actually went considering the packaging was sealed.

Firstly is the eyeshadow base in 001 Frankie Girl; the formula of this is quite odd in that it first feels like a powder, then a creme, then like powder again when putting it onto your eyelid if that makes any sense. I like this product as it transfers as a pure white and so really intensifies the colour of any eyeshadow. I haven't actually worn this as a base for a whole day as I've only tried it out while at home so I'm not sure how it'll last as the only product that seems to work for me is the Urban Decay Primer Potion.

Next is 005 Purple Hills which is quite a light, shimmery purple colour. I've never really chosen to buy purples however I know they are supposed to suit brown/hazel eyes so thought it would be a good opportunity to try one out. I have tried running this under my bottom eyelashes with black, flicked liquid eyeliner on top and think it is a good way to add some colour to your look without being too full-on for the daytime.

003 Teach Me Tiger is my favourite shade out of the four eyeshadows as it is such a pretty and unusual eyeshadow colour. When on it is actually a burnt orangey gold colour instead of the pinky peach colour which it appears to be in the case and so I find that this is really wearable as an all-over lid colour with some black eyeliner added.

002 Treat Her Like A Lady is a light brown, shimmery taupe shade that a lot of neutral lovers would probably go wild for as it is a good staple colour to have in your collection and is versatile in its use. I don't think I suit these sorts of browns and so haven't found much use for it personally but I'm hoping I will use it in the future.

Finally is 006 Kingston Town which looks like a horrifying neon yellow that would only suit those blessed with a glorious face and skintone, however, when swatched it is actually more of a golden tone with a yellow undertone making it much more wearable. I think this would look really nice used as an inner corner highlight with the right eye makeup.

From left to right: 001 Frankie Girl, 005 Purple Hills, 003 Teach Me Tiger, 002 Treat Her Like A Lady, 006 Kingston Town

I am really impressed with the pigmentation of these eyeshadows and how surprisingly wearable they are despite how overly bright and vibrant they can appear. I am really happy I bought these and love the names of the shades! If anyone has any simple eye makeup looks they can suggest using one of these colours with another eyeshadow and eyeliner combination please let me know because I lack any form of creativity when it comes to eyeshadow.