Urban Decay: Build Your Own Palette

As a beauty blogger I try not to play favourites, but sometimes I just can't help myself. Urban Decay eyeshadows are amazing! Their Naked palette has been my most used beauty item and has accompanied me on business trips, nights out and beach holidays alike! I am so excited that UD have now brought out a customisable palette - so whether you love their ridiculously vibrant shadows, glitters or nudes you can easily build your own, individual eyeshadow wardrobe.

In usual Urban Decay style the palette is fun and bold, yet durable in its metallic outer casing that opens flat to reveal 6 shadow wells and a large mirror.

Each palette comes with a Good Karma shadow brush and Walk of Shame eyeshadow (top left), the perfect nude, which can be used as a highlighter, base or blending colour and would work perfectly with different colours and finishes. I was kindly given the opportunity of choosing the other five shadows and decided to go for a mix of my favourites - neutrals and brights.

What I love about the design of these little shadow pots is just how easy the pans are to pop out of their original packaging and put in the palette. There are no fiddly magnets, sharp implements, heating glue, fumes or brute force involved (yes I'm talking about you MAC...). All you have to do is press on the bottom of the pot and the pan snaps out. 

This not only saves time, but also makes the palette super versatile so you can use it to store and organise shadows or if you want to throw one in your bag for touch ups on the go you can quickly transfer the pan back into it's original individual pod. Voila!

Top (L-R) Walk of Shame, Sin, Mushorrom. Bottom (L-R) Haight, ACDC, Busted.

Build Your Own Palette retails at £14 and is available at House of Fraser here and Debenhams here.

Are you a fan of Urban Decay shadows? Which are your favourite shades? Are you tempted to add the UD Build Your Own Palette to your collection?  xxx

L'Occitane Pivoine Delicate

Many moons ago I blogged about the fabulous Pivoine Flora range from L'Occitaine (if you missed it you can check it out here). It was the first peony fragrance I had tried and I fell head over heels on the first spritz. I am so excited that L'Occitane have now extended the range with their beautiful limited edition Pivoine Delicate collection.

The collection includes a mix of fragrance, makeup and hand cream all delicately scented with peony.

All the products come in lovely, pink and girlie packaging with the signature L'Occitane vintage feel.

The Pivoine Delicate eau de toilette (£35ml for 75ml here) is inspired by a rare peony flower found in the Drome region of Provence. For me it is the perfect fragrance for Spring. It's light and fresh, but still sweet, blending the softness of peony and rose petals with the green transparency of lily of the valley in a luminous floral accord with a soft, powdery finish.

 

L'Occitane is perhaps most lauded for its amazing hand creams and the Pivoine Delicate hand cream (£14 for 75ml here) is a fantastic addition to the collection. The cream is beautifully scented and fairly thick, but sinks in quickly without leaving a greasy residue.

I also really like the packaging of this cream and prefer it to the traditional L'Occitane metal tubes. To dispense all you have to do is twist the cap, so there is no chance of losing the lid, or fiddling with caps while your hands are still a bit slippery! Perfect for your handbag and application on the go :).

The Pivoine Delicate Shimmering Powder (£22 here) is a fun product to use as a finishing touch to your look. The bottle is absolutely gorgeous and with its cute retro design it would look very ladylike on any dressing table. Formulated with natural-origin ingredients, the puff releases a fine mist of pink and silver iridescence to beautify the body and hair and leave a silky, satin finish on the skin. One thing I would advice is to make sure you tap it before using it as the powder can get trapped in the nozzle, so one squeeze can lead to...

Yup, I made quite the mess when I was swatching it. Though my sofa has a beautiful sparkle to it now ;). After this incident I have made sure to tap the bottom every time I have used it and it has worked as intended, releasing a light cloud of shimmering, fragrant, finely milled powder.

I love a bit of sparkle. So pretty! I may actually go and have a quick sprinkle before going out tonight... don't judge me ;p.

Have you tried L'Occitane's Pivoine Delicate collection? Are you a fan of peony fragrances? What are your favourite products from this range? xxx

*Products mentioned were sent to me for review consideration*

Glitterati

With my love of anything sparkly I was excited to try out Sleek's (available in Superdrug) newest product- Glitter Dip It liners, please check out their website here.

These come in 5 different shades and at £3.42 each are quite the bargain! The brush applicator is thin enough to draw a precise line, which is important as it gives you enough control. The formulation itself is clear and is infused with small glitter particles with light-reflective pigments. Once these babies dry they do not smear or transfer, which is very good news!

I find these very similar to Urban Decay's heavy metal liners, but these are of course a fraction of the price and have smaller glitter particles (UD always lets us down with the chunky monkey glitter, especially in their e/s, but that is another story!).

Swatches without and with flash (note: these are very generous!).
From Left to Right:
Ice (Silver), Steel (Charcoal), Caribbean (Blue), Gem (Purple) and Diablo (Pink).

My favourite way to wear these to brighten up a look is just along the upper or lowerlashline to add subtle sparkle :).