Budget Make-Up Test Part 1

As promised in my previous blog post I have been putting budget Make-Up to the test the last couple of days, starting with Collection 2000's "Angelic Eyes" which comes in at just over £4 at my local Boots Store.

With all sorts of vibrant colours in this eye shadow set, I decided to test the blue shades and run with the whole Under the Sea theme which is inspiring the fashion world right now. Here's the result: 


Whilst I am by no means an expert when it comes to applying any kind of make-up here's how I did it - in case you'd like to give it a try yourself..

• I started by generously applying the light silvery colour (1) to my entire eyelid using a fluffy round eye shadow brush, making sure to cover both the outer and inner corner of my eye and brushing up to the browbone and highlighting it at the same time. Then I lightly dusted below my lower lash line using the same colour and removed any excess powder with a cosmetic tissue.

• After lightly scraping the sky blue shade (2) with the end of my eye shadow brush to reach a colour rich result, I went to sweep the medium shade in a half-circular move on the crease of my eye lid. To add some depth I blended the shade down towards my upper lash line with a round-tipped brush that had no product on it. (I find that it's easier to avoid unwanted smudging by using a clean brush for blending heavy contrast shades)

• Next I went to softly dab the purply blue (3) coloured eye shadow just up onto the outside corner of the eyelid and using my little finger I went to blend that same shade ever so lightly into the inner corner of my eye lid.

• I used the navy blue shade (4) to accentuate the eye crease and applied a light grey eyeliner to my upper lash line, the inner corner and the outer corner of my lower lash line as well as a few dots on my brow bone. Then I finished the Under the Sea inspired look by applying some black mascara.

The application of the eye shadow took me a bit less than 10 minutes and its removal was straight forward leaving no ugly dark stains (as some other colour rich eyeshadows are known to do) so all in all I was extremely happy with the result.

As to the colour strength/pigmentation, here a little colour swatch so you can see all colours in this set

The colours lack a bit in intensity despite the fact they look so vibrant but there's nothing a good primer (as a base) and a good strong brush won't fix :) I actually used my Studio Secrets Primer from L'Oreal - have a look at this Review I wrote a little while ago if you want my opinion on some current Primers on the market.

So here we go, a big thumbs up from me to Collection 2000 Angelic Eyes - eyeshadow palette.
Really good value for money.

My piggy bank is happy and so am I. :o)

xoxo
Kate

"Outside" - A book review

Good evening my lovely readers! Hands up if you love reading a good book :D Well, I sure do and one thing that really helps me decide which book to download next (yes, I'm a Kindle addict) is reading the reviews about it. Today, I felt a little inspired to share a book review I wrote about a really awesome book by Shalini Boland. The book is called "Outside" and is set in Britain which is rather refreshing as I mostly read American YA Novels.

ebook - Published July 21st 2011

Written from the perspective of two girls (Elenor and Riley) each representing the "before" and "after" of a fictional civil war in Britain, Outside is a gripping story which will take you on a journey towards and through the aftermath of an apocalyptic anarchy in the UK.

Both stories simultaneously conclude into the shocking truth about the connection between two peoples' lives and decisions made years and worlds apart.

Elenor is leading a truly trouble free life "before". She is in her teens, not overly popular, a little naive and quite easily manipulated by her new found best friend, Abi.

Elenor happily accepts that Abi makes all decisions in their friendship and as they get older even agrees to Abi dicating her love life.

As the events unfold and a series of terrorist attacks change the world forever, Elenor loses almost everything she has ever truly cared about and finds herself in an impossible situation to which there just is no easy way out.
Riley, on the other hand, is leading a fairly sheltered and happy life in the aftermath of the attacks until she finds out that her beloved sister has been brutally murdered by someone from "outside" the compound she lives in.

Failing to accept that the murderer is free to roam the "outside" world because the law enforcements limits are now defined by an oversized fence, she decides to go after the killer herself.
She has his name, his last location and a plan. (More or less) What she doesn't realise is that she has no idea what is behind that fence!

Together with Luc, her neighbour and friend, Riley escapes from the compound and begins the dangerous and explosive mission of finding the man who so gruesomely wrecked her family life.
What she finds however, is nothing like she had ever expected and quickly it becomes obvious that every minute spent outside is putting her own and Luc's life in very great danger. 

There is no turning back, so Luc and her have to fight their way through the chaos and hope they will be able to get into safety before it's too late. Soon they realise, that regardless if your inside or outside the various compounds noone is ever truely safe.

This story is very hard to summarise but it is wonderfully well written and a fantastic read! The story is fresh, it's action packed and full of anything you can possibly want from the genre. Five stars!

To purchase this book from Amazon click here - it's currently only £1.99 to download for your Kindle Device.

xoxo
Kate