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.

Poundland Beauty Buys: Revlon and Stila

Firstly I picked up three Revlon Nail Enamels; I only own one other Revlon nail varnish which is 260 Girly that I bought when on offer in Superdrug for £4.49 (forever a sale seeker) instead of the usual  £6.49. I love the colours Revlon offer but I don't usually bother buying expensive nail varnishes because I honestly think it's impossible for it to not chip off throughout the day so stick to ones that are around £4 or less.  I really like the shape of these bottles (it seems wrong calling them bottles haha) and the long lid makes it easy to hold. There were a few more different colours available such as a red and an orange which I very nearly bought as well but then realised I really don't need any more nail varnishes...but I still bought three anyway.

From left to right: 340 Stunning, 85 Minted and 281 Classy

Stunning is stunning (hawhaw), no I'm joking but it is a really nice glitter varnish to layer over any other colour, it has different sizes of glitter pieces and the larger ones are holographic which provides me with minutes of amusement when it catches the light, usually when I'm stood at the fitting room at work.

Minted is a pastel mint (why does Revlon make it so hard to describe a colour without using the actual name?!) and I was really excited when I found this because it looks so summery.

Lastly is Classy which I thought would be a very light, pale pink but it actually comes out with an orangey tint which isn't what I expected but I still like it. In the above picture I used two coats of varnish for Stunning and Minted but three for Classy because it came out quite streaky and the streaks were still obvious after two coats.

I've worn all three varnishes and I would say their duration is around two to four days depending on whether you peel and pick at it like I do or not.

The next item I bought was a Stila Tinted Moisturiser, when I saw this I was so excited because I've never tried any Stila products but have heard it's a good brand. The idea of a tinted moisturiser really appealed to me because it's been so hot recently and especially because it's by a higher end brand. The colour is in Light 3 which I think is a bit too orange for me but it was the only one I could find so I thought I'd buy it and try and make it work somehow.

I've tried this twice and I find it personally isn't beneficial for me because, even though I don't use high coverage foundations, I do like to use foundation to even out my skin tone but I feel like this product just doesn't provide enough coverage for me. This isn't any fault of the product because it's intended to be light and sheer as it says. I tried it first by itself without a moisturiser before hand and felt it just didn't moisturise my face and I found it really hard to spread because it's quite thick, however, the actual blending is fine it's just a case of using quite a lot of product. The second time I used it after my usual face moisturiser had sunk in and it did seem to work better where it didn't have to act as a primary moisturiser.

I think it would be really good to use for a holiday if you wanted to keep your base to a minimum and get sun protection as well and, because it's slightly too dark for me, it would match a lot better if using it with a tan. It'd also be good for younger girls starting to wear makeup because it's so minimal and leaves your skin looking and feeling like skin. I looked online to see how much this product would usually be and I found prices of around £20 but also saw it on eBay for £1.99.

You can sort of see a yellowish tint on my arm in the above picture where I used the product which looks worse than it does on my face because my face has more colour than the inside of my arm but I do wish I found a closer matching colour. I'm going to give the tinted moisturiser another go when my skin is having a good day and see what I think again because I really want to like the product and be like 'yes I use Stila...which I got FOR A POUND.', but, for now, those words shall not be uttered.

Review: Poundland Chit Chat Mascara

I always love visiting Poundland to see what sort of things they have in stock makeup wise and usually always buy random items that I could most definitely live without and that I didn't even know existed before hand (I'm talking about you Rimmel Colour Mousse that I love looking at but haven't actually used). Every time I step into a cheap shop like Home Bargains, B and M and Savers I lose all sense of financial stability and develop a mindset that if I don't buy the product I'll end up regretting it when it's out of stock.

I'm going to be talking about Poundland's own mascara from their range Chit Chat which is a permanent feature in store that offers a variety of makeup products. I've only tried a few products, like their lipsticks and gel eyeliner, but the 'Lash Building Mascara' is an item I have repurchased about three or four times since first trying it and always find myself going back to even when I buy more expensive mascaras.

I really like the wand on on this mascara, I'm usually quite picky about mascara wands; I don't like them to be too thin and make my eyelashes all spidery but I don't like them to be too big to properly brush through my eyelashes. I find the wand perfect both in terms of shape and size and, when I use a different mascara and I feel unhappy with the outcome, I always use the Chit Chat brush to try and reshape them and lessen the visual damage caused hawhaw.

I find the formula both thickening and lengthening which I love, because, even though I don't like lengthening mascaras, I still want my eyelashes to be longer than they are but for the focus to be on the volume. I find it to be quite unusual in that if I get in the shower with the mascara on it comes off in really soft clumps instead of just running down my face and so it makes it a lot easier to take off after. Once you let one coat of it dry however it's kind of unmovable even if you run the brush through them again so it's best to get the shape and look you want while it's just been applied.

My face can get quite oily and, with mostly all of the mascaras I've ever used, I always end up with black smudges under my bottom eyelashes from the mascara but, with this one, it literally leaves only a tiny amount of smudging it's barely even noticeable so I love using this for my bottom eyelashes as well. I don't think it's even smudging it leaves but more like flecks of the mascara.

I took this picture of my eye at the end of the day and as you can see there's only a few specks of mascara underneath my bottom eyelashes that can easily be wiped away with a cotton bud. Considering the heat in England at the minute as well the mascara has done well to hardly budge or flake at all.

The writing on the tube pretty much rubs off after a few uses leaving you with just a plain pink tube which I suppose could be a downside for the product but for me personally, I don't mind.

I really think this mascara is amazing and if the price was raised higher than £1 (which I doubt it will because it defeats the whole object of POUNDland so it was pointless even contemplating a price change) I would still buy it because it works so well for me. I have tried this on my mum who has shorter and thinner eyelashes than me and it doesn't work in the same way for her so I can't say it'll be everyone's favourite but it's definitely worth a try considering the price.

Have you tried any products from the Chit Chat range? I'm thinking I may dig out the lipstick of theirs that I've severely neglected and am also tempted to buy a blusher to try out even though I have way too many already.

:)