Ebay = Cheap Make-up

I'm sure all you lovely ladies know that Ebay is great for picking up make-up bargains and on Sunday I decided to order a few bits. It all started the day before when I went by a Too Faced counter and noticed a pile of little books on the side that were still in their cellophane, looking all new and shiny that were not properly displayed on the counter. I picked up the tester and it was a Quickie Chronicle - I hadn't seen one of these in the flesh before and it reminded me of the searches I had done on Ebay a while ago. There I was the next day sitting in the lovely sun searching once again for Too Faced Quickie Chronicles.

I found these three:

• The Plaything of Passion


• The Life of the Party


• The Cupcake

These are just the mini ones but the larger ones can be found on Ebay as well. I did expect them to be bigger but only because I wasn't sure how big the mini ones would be. The seller was completely accurate in the descriptions, they are unused and they were really good value at £5.99 + £2.99 for postage and packing. I cannot believe it - at just nine quid. I think I'm going to enjoy having a play with these!

10 Minute Make-up

I have realised that I have a certain look that I go for if I only want to do something really quickly that looks pretty too.

These are the products I use:

• Urban Decay's Blunt all over the lid and Gosh Velvet Touch eyeliner in Silver Screen to line my top lash line ( a thick line as it's the main feature of the look) or


• Mac Silver Pigment swept over the lid up to the crease


• Mac Technokohl liner in Graphblack to line my waterline


• Mascara


• Lily Lolo mineral foundation


• Benefit's Dallas as my blush colour


• Bobbi Brown Shimmer brick in Bronze to highlight

What are your quick make-up looks?

MAC Nail Lacquers

I have to firstly say that I'm not "that into" nail varnish - until I started reading blogs and posts about nail varnish. Now I am want, want, want. I have bought some Barry M ones, three of those little Eyeko ones and MAC - which I wished I hadn't wasted my money on! I bought two nail lacquers - Peppermint Patti and On The Prowl from the Hello Kitty collection. I was incredibly disappointed with both of these, the Peppermint Patti was awful, it took me three coats to get it to a semi decent finish and then On The Prowl was no better. I can really see a difference in consistency when I compared these to the Barry M nail paints - which take two coats maximum and my nails look great.

I bought Barry M's Mint Green off the website in the end (I gave up looking in Superdrug even though it has now finally reached the shops) and I'm so pleased I did because the MAC equivalent was dreadful. I will definitely not be buying any more MAC nail lacquers because of the poor quality of these two. They seem to be thin in consistency, do not give good coverage, do not coat my nails the way I think they should and they chip easily. It's Barry M all the way for me from now on because they are less than half the price of MAC - and better quality. What do you think to MAC nail lacquers, are they any good? Is it just me?

What I think to Sleek Make-up

I'm working from home today (yes I am very lucky) so I thought I would write a quick blog post about my thoughts on Sleek make-up. I have recently bought the Sleek Original and Storm eyeshadow palettes and a couple of the Ink Pots.

Sleek is reasonably priced at £4.87 for the eyeshadow palettes and £3.91 for the Ink Pots. They are not only value for money but I also think they are really good products. The Original eyeshadow palette (on the left in the picture) are all shimmer eye shadows and are quite bright colours, the Storm palette (on the right) are neutral colours with a mixture of both shimmer and matt finishes. The eye shadows give a really good colour payoff, they blend easily, the mixture of the colours in the palettes work really well together and all complement each other.

The ink pots are gel eyeliners and I bought Dominatrix which is a black and Stone Cold which is a shimmery grey. I was about to go and buy the Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner because it is one the best gel eyeliners out there but then when I bought this and tried it I thought I won't need to visit the Bobbi Brown counter just yet. The black one is softer and creamier in texture than the grey one, this one is harder and less creamy which I actually prefer because I find it a little easier to work with. They also stay in place, don't smudge once set and they are very easy to work with. I have began wearing Stone Cold everyday because it looks great with pink eyeshadow (I wear pinks alot, especially to work). I have been using Clinique's brush-on cream eyeliners prior to these and I actually prefer these to the Clinique liners.

Overall, I would recommend all these products because the eye shadows are highly pigmented and the eyeliners stay in place, are easy to work with and are all very reasonably priced.

As I am a Mascara Fiend…

…I had to try Maybelline’s Lash Stiletto.

I did a post last month where I gave you my top three mascaras and I would say that this would replace one of my three. This mascara gives great length and separation and doesn’t clump yet it does thicken your lashes. It doesn’t give you great amounts of volume, I think it gives more curl, length and separation as opposed to volume but I think it gives my lashes a great amount of length. I am really pleased with it, it doesn’t irritate my eyes and it doesn’t flake although I think it smudges a little bit by the end of my working day. This would replace my Clinique High Impact Mascara as one of my three and I would repurchase Stiletto over the Clinique mascara. I'm so fickle...

I’m thinking about buying Bourjois’ Night Clubbing next because I have looked at the brush and it’s just like Mac’s Plush Lash and seeing that I loved that mascara (and I think it’s the brush and the way you use it why that makes that mascara work so well) that I might try this because it might not irritate my eyes! Have any of you guys tried this mascara?

My April Favourites!

There are not many of these this month.

Lily Lolo Foundation – I love this foundation – I don’t think I can say that enough. It works really well with my skin, this is the foundation I now go to everyday.

MAC Satin Taupe eye shadow – This is the eye shadow I have been picking up when I want to feel good, it really suits me and I love it! I've had this a little while but I've suddenly realised how much I love it!

Urban Decay Shakedown eye shadow – This is not an eye shadow that I thought would have suited me as it’s a green eye shadow with a dark undertone. I wear this as a daytime shadow and it really makes my eyes stand out.

MSF in Perfect Topping – I have been using this as a highlight and it looks fantastic, high lights the cheeks and the cheek bones really well and doesn’t show up my pores or my fine lines. This is perhaps my favourite highlighter.