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.

New Look Sale Purchases

I picked up 3 necklaces in New Look's recent sale all of which I had wanted to buy previously but never got round to buying. I took the packaging off of the necklaces which had the price on it and so now I can't remember what the original prices were but know that two of them were reduced to £4 and one was reduced to £3 and I'm pretty certain that the prices were originally £7.99 and £6.99. I love all of these necklaces and find them so easy to put with outfits and so have been wearing them a lot.

My friends thought this necklace looked cheap and tacky (HOW DARE THEY HAVE A DIFFERING OPINION) but I honestly love it and think it's such a good statement necklace! I love the gold and white together and I don't own anything else like it. The only problem I have is that it sits really high up around my neck which I don't like the look of and so I need to find the chain extender which I stole from my mum but then lost a few weeks later (damn it).

I didn't intentionally choose monochrome themed necklaces but, for a while now, I have been constantly buying gold coloured necklaces and haven't bought any coloured or silver ones for what seems like forever. I also bought a cream lace leotard from the sale and, after some persuasion from my friends (I would have just bought it regardless), I asked if it would be able to be reduced further because it had a red pen stain on it and so got it for £3 instead of £5. I wish I bought some earrings from the sale as I've gotten so bored with the earrings I have recently and really need to get some more (I don't really) but, alas, I did not.

Review: Accessorize Baked Bronzer Duo in Laguna

A few weeks ago I was looking around Superdrug (how odd of me) and saw that a lot of the Accessorize products were reduced by a few pounds including their range of baked bronzers. I always loved the look of these bronzers however I  find them to be quite pricey at their usual price of £5.95 (I have an incredibly cheap taste as you can probably tell) but, with the reduced price, they were only £3.95. I'm not sure whether the bronzers are being discontinued or maybe repackaged because I looked on Superdrug's website to double check the price but couldn't see them. Either both my glasses and contact lenses have stopped functioning or they have been taken down from the website but I'm pretty sure they'll do a Terminator and be back. I bought shade number 3 which is called Laguna (quick, someone alert Nars) but kind of took a risk cause my Superdrug is a shambles and I don't think the testers correlate to the product shown behind it haha.

My first impressions were how dang pretty it was both in terms of the case and the actual product itself. I love how the lid flips open and seems sturdy so even if I drop it (which I have...multiple times) it won't break, and, appearance wise, it really reminds me of a Mac Mineralize Skinfinish, not that I own one, sob.

I usually don't tend to go for bronzers with a sheen to them as I don't like the idea of having a shimmery face and so prefer a flat shade where I can then add highlighter in a controlled way. However I have found this to be the perfect amount of sheen, shimmer and glow to create a colour for a healthy look and has been really suitable for the sunshine we've been having. I tend to use the left hand side for the main colour on my cheeks and then use the right hand side to highlight on top of my cheek bones. However, mixing the two halves together creates a really glowy look that I love as well so I live life on the edge and decide at the very last second which direction my brush will take (please note: extreme sarcasm). I find that it really suits being paired with a bright lipstick and so has been a good go-to product for me. The colour isn't at all orange which I find can be a problem with bronzers and seems to have a bit of a peachy undertone which I really like and the right hand side also has flecks of gold which look nice when catching the light.

The left swatch is the left hand side of the product by itself and you can see that it is already quite glowy even on it's own. The middle swatch is the right hand side of the product which is a lot lighter and so is ideal for highlighting and, finally, (hands up, who saw this coming?) the last swatch is the result of the two sides mixed as one which creates a lovely peachy gold colour.

I honestly love this bronzer and expect it will last a long time as you only need to use a small amount because it is really pigmented and so soft and easy to pick up onto a brush. There were a few more shades available in the same form and all followed the same idea as a darker side on the left and a lighter side on the right so there is most likely a shade to suit all skin tones.