Speedy Update- Makeup of the Week

It's been another busy week. I have a few posts I want to do, but just haven't had time to sort photos (in particular, decent swatches, plus I have new camera capabilities which I'm still learning how to use) so those things will be coming eventually, but, in the meantime, I thought I'd do a quick update with some of the things I've done this week.

I've worn an awful lot of plain eyeliner to work this week. I did, however, have two more interesting days. Firstly, I have a work shirt with orange flowers on it. I usually do a pastel look with orange and brown when I wear it, but I've recently been enjoying doing a simple colourful smokey eye with Sugarpill's Flamepoint, blended out with Buttercupcake. I get a lot of compliments at work when I wear this, plus it's so quick and simple to do.

Quick colourful smokey eye, and something to break the run of eyeshadow-less days this week

On Friday, I was feeling pretty colourful. I've recently placed my first order with Coloured Raine, and I've been trying out the lipsticks I bought from them (a review will be in-bound shortly). I particularly felt like wearing Emerald Raine, which is a bright green lipstick, so I did a simple blue and green "halo" eye, using Velocity and Mochi from Sugarpill, and then Almond Pear from Sigma in the centre.

Rounding out the working week with a blue and green halo eye- really this was just an excuse to wear green lipstick to work

As stated above, I plan on doing a more in-depth review of Coloured Raine, but I will say I'm impressed, and I am really pleased with the items I got. Emerald Raine is an awesome colour, but also has good staying power. It's definitely a conversation piece.

Emerald Raine in all it's glory. I swear this is work-appropriate. Check out Coloured Raine here:- https://www.colouredraine.com/

And typically, I managed to wipe my pictures of my Saturday makeup, however, I wasn't that happy with how it turned out in the end, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it! 

Hopefully, there will be some reviews and other update-y kind of things up and about soon.

Looks For New Shirts & the Death of Yet Another Car

Unbelievably, following the death of my partner's car earlier in the year, my car suffered a terminal case of blown head gasket... on the way home from work on a Friday... after leaving late... leaving me stranded at the roadside for several hours. After all the hassle of trawling car dealerships endlessly to buy one new car, we then had to do the exact same thing over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, which was truly miserable.

Needless to say, the whole debacle has been frustrating and exhausting, so I haven't felt like doing much in the way of updates, which is sad considering I've been favouring some pretty bright makeup for work over the last two or three weeks and have failed to take a decent photo of any of it.

I did, however, with the very last of my birthday money, make a purchase from Truffle Shuffle recently. The whole thing actually worked out quite well, as when I had just about decided to make a purchase, they released a discount code via their Facebook page, and I was able to get a huge discount and buy an extra item (which crossed the threshold for free postage and packaging too, so was a total bargain).

My recent Truffle Shuffle purchases (in need on de-creasing).

You can check out Truffle Shuffle here:- http://www.truffleshuffle.co.uk/store/

My first purchase was this gorgeous Cinderella t-shirt from Fabric Flavours. I loved everything about the colours and images on it that once I saw it on Facebook, I couldn't resist. 

The gorgeous Cinderella shirt by Fabric Flavours on Truffle Shuffle

When I did my makeup with this, my partner picked out the red, blue and gold shades specifically, which I did like the sound of, but I was keen to add in some pink to match the Cinderella text. I laid down Dollipop from Sugarpill on the brow bone for this purpose, which served as a transition colour for Love+, also from Sugarpill, in the crease. For the inner corner, I used Blueberry Cream from Sigma and added a gold Dazzle Dust from Barry M in the centre. 

The look I did to go with the Cinderella shirt- lots of bright matte shades, but with serious gold shimmer in the middle

I used Violet Whip, also from Sigma, as a blending colour for the inner corner around the edges of the blue; odd as it sounds to use lilac to blend red/pink with blue and gold with blue, I think it turned out rather well, and gave the blending an ethereal look. I was so pleased with the way the colour offset everything that I added it to my waterline over the Rimmel Scandaleyes Pencil in white. 

Considering it doesn't really tone in with the other colours, the lilac shade holds it all together

My bonus buy was the Pinky and the Brain t-shirt, which thankfully fell into the birthday money budget with the discount code. Who can resist that front and back print?

The awesome Pinky and the Brain shirt. I still remember the words to the theme tune.

When I was choosing colours for this, I felt like my main options were red, pink and white, which is one of those colour combinations for me where I very much have a "go-to" look which I wear every time, so I asked my (colourblind) partner for inspiration. He picked out blue and purple to go with this, which whilst still being a colour combination I wear all the time, is not a combination I usually put with red and pink.

I was pleased how clean this came off, considering there were four eyelid colours

I was quite pleased with how this look turned out; I particularly like how clean it seemed to look, considering it's also quite busy. I started with the white section (using the white from the Sleek Acid Palette as it's currently the only white eyeshadow I own) and used a bright blue from my 88 Palette in the inner corner (I have no idea what it is with the blue inner corner and me recently). I brought out Dollipop and then Love+ out to play again on the outer half of the eyelid,  and cut the crease with Sugarpill's Poison Plum.

I added a spot of glitter on the bottom lid to liven up the matte look.

I enjoyed playing with some new items and new ideas; at least it kept me entertained whilst on the hunt for new cars. Hopefully, I can start doing something else with my free time now!

Saturday Shopping & A Harrowing Lush Experience

My partner and I have been out and about in town today, as I was rapidly coming to the conclusion that my favourite pair of black skinny jeans were beginning to die a painful death, and I also needed to pick up a few items for an exciting new recipe I had been concocting.

Perhaps you may recall in the post I will link here, that I had mentioned I had never been into a Lush store or tried any of their products. Recently however, particularly since my positive experience with Bomb Cosmetics' similar products, and the trawling of several Lush hauls on Youtube, I've been finding myself increasingly interested in trying some of their things. 

I keep finding myself curious about Lush products, even though I've never been in a Lush store. I blame Bunny Meyer for this (see one of her Lush hauls here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFdkn4zprMQ

As mentioned in the post linked above, I was a bit unsure about actually venturing into the shop in town, as I usually find the assault on the senses too much when I just walk past, but my partner (who, as a student, applied for a job at Lush and had his own small niggle of curiosity) encouraged me to go in. 

I was greeted immediately by a member of staff, which was fine, and attempted to make my way over to the makeup section; I had seen the Colour Supplements, which I was interested in, by the window; however, I now had a shop assistant virtually standing between me and the product I wanted to look at. 

She then immediately proceeded to ask me what I knew about Lush, their products, their ethos, and what I had come in to look for, all in rapid-fire. I'm generally not the kind of person that wants an intense customer service experience, as I like to be left to browse in my own time, and so I just gave some brief, but polite answers, and emphasised that I wasn't there for anything in particular; I just wanted to have a look around. 

Counter-intuitively for a store where everything is set out invitingly for you to play with, I was actively discouraged from browsing

This evidently was not the correct answer, and I was asked, again, for more precise information, and in particular, what sort of scents I liked. I tried to give an indifferent answer, but when pushed (and I was pushed) I admitted to favouring sweet scents, such as vanilla. 

This was apparently the cue that I now needed to try a product, and I was encouraged to the back of store, away from the product I'd been trying to look at. Trying to be polite, and also still, at this point, being a little curious about their other products if nothing else, I agreed to look at what the sales assistant was directing me to. 

Now, in the countless videos on Youtube which I've watched recently about Lush, I had been led to believe that Lush employees are not only knowledgeable about the product line, but they're trained and encouraged to select products that will suit an individual customer's needs. 

Bearing in mind that I had just been forced to confess I liked sweet scents, (in the same way one might also be coerced to confess a war crime at a UN tribunal), I think I was understandably disappointed when I was slathered in a scrub and a shower gel (the dubiously named "Rub Rub Rub" and "It's Raining Men" respectively), both of which were heavily citrus-scented, particularly with orange blossom, which I can't stand and certainly wouldn't describe as being "sweet" in the first instance. My hand was subsequently basted in a lotion named "Dream Cream", which, having been scented with rose and lavender, is more "floral" than "sweet", and, of course, blatantly not anything to do with "vanilla".

The "Rub Rub Rub" scrub, which was forced on me; which is scented with orange blossom 

The "It's Raining Men" shower gel was inflicted upon me next; it has a heavy honey texture and note in its scent, with more citrus-y orange blossom over top

It was only at this point, (after further questioning about what I knew about Lush products, how I had heard any of that information, and a lecture about Lush's current campaign relating to the upcoming election) that I was encouraged to "tell [her] about my skin"- I felt it was a bit late to be asking if I had any specific requirements at this point, but replied that I had psoriasis.

She immediately told me Dream Cream was marketed for psoriasis. I've since checked this information on the website, which was easy enough to do, since the "hand-picked items" the sales assistant chose for me are all currently featured products (no surprise), and whilst Dream Cream is recommended for eczema sufferers, there is no mention of psoriasis, and the two conditions are ostensibly not the same and are not always treated interchangeably.

I usually favour heavy body butters and lotions, but this took forever to sink in and feels extremely greasy

At this point, I felt like I had been held hostage for quite some time, and was quite relieved when she said she would sort me out with a sample of the Dream Cream to try at home. I immediately returned to the Colour Supplements with my partner, and managed to get a couple of quick swatches before she returned, only to have the Lush Gestapo immediately push her way into my conversation with my partner and interrogate me on how I had heard about the Colour Supplements.

I now felt under a considerable obligation to buy something, as I'd been in the shop for what felt like an eternity, but so far, I hadn't seen anything I felt like I wanted to leave with (particularly as I hadn't been permitted to browse anything). I remembered I had been interested in trying the toning Steamer Tabs, which I thought would be a quick, cheap, guilt purchase, but I couldn't find these, and at that point, daren't ask a question and risk being detained further. 

And so I took my sample of Dream Cream and ran, under the mournful, puppy-dog gaze of a sales assistant that had failed to inspire a purchase.

To add insult to injury, the Dream Cream on my hand, in addition to smelling quite unpleasant to both myself and my partner, was extremely greasy and did not sink in well. As some of the slime transferred onto my partner's hand (who it should be noted is an eczema sufferer), he immediately broke out in an allergic reaction to it. The whole process' effect on my lizard-skin knuckles was negligible at best, particularly compared to other, cheaper products I normally use.

Funnily enough, the heavy residue of this product on my hand transferred to my partner, and it immediately irritated his skin

I can't honestly convey in accurate terms how disappointed I was by the whole experience; I was pressured to try a product I wasn't interested in (and was equally disappointed in), whilst being actively discouraged to do what I had specifically gone into the store to do, which was to test and swatch items I had actually been interested in, and to just plain see what there was. This behaviour was, by no means, limited to just the sales assistant that targeted me, as I noticed all the other sales assistants were behaving in the same way towards other customers.

I wouldn't describe myself as someone who suffers from 'anxiety issues', but I can genuinely say it took me half the day to calm down from this high-pressured sales situation. I actually made my partner cross the shopping centre back to the car park on the opposite side to the Lush store, as I daren't even walk past it again.

The sample, which apparently was so important that I couldn't browse the items I might have wanted to buy

I don't understand what the point of preventing someone to browse actually it. I can only assume there are some people who enjoy this level of intensity, or at least some sort of perceived personal service. For me, it convinced me never to set foot in a Lush again. If I do decide I want to try something, I'll order online, but I can't help but think it'll be a while before I'm prepared to forgive what was a very uncomfortable and intimidating experience.

To Boldly Go... (even if it's just to work...)

My partner and I have been seriously enjoying relaxing in front of the TV lately. We’re usually both very much into our video gaming and other hobbies, but after a stressful time, it’s been nice for both of us just to sit in front of Netflix and relax.

In particular, we’ve been enjoying some Star Trek. I’m a bit of a Trekkie in general, and so I’ve really been enjoying going back through the original “Kirk Era” 1960s Star Trek. When you’ve not seen something for a while, you sometimes forget how good it is.

I’ve been taking some inspiration from some of the female characters for my work makeup over the past week or two as a way to change things up a little.

Lt. Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols)

 Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura- her makeup was usually neutral in colour but dramatic in shape

I noticed Uhura’s makeup probably varied the least of any of the regular female characters; she generally sported a neutral cut crease, which was sometimes dramatic and sometimes a little more subtle. Me being me, I chose a more dramatic look.

In the episode "Mirror Mirror", with a bolder cut crease

I used the darkest cool-toned brown from my Lunatick Cosmetic Labs Cool Contour palette on a fine angled brush to cut the crease and gently blended this up with a slightly lighter shade from the same palette. I usually “close” my cut creases by joining them with my eyeliner, but I noticed Uhura never had this, so I left mine open. I used a matte white eyeshadow from Sleek on another angled brush to fill in my eyelid. I didn’t go for opaque coverage with this, but I also drew it out under the open end of my cut crease to highlight it.

My look, inspired by Lt. Uhura

I think it’s quite a classic 1960s cut crease look. If it’s good enough for the bridge of the Enterprise, it’s also good enough for work. I teamed this with a brown lipgloss from Rimmel on my lips, in deference to the original.

Nurse Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry)

Nurse Chapel’s makeup varies quite a lot throughout the series, but is probably some of the most natural makeup overall; I noticed a lot of soft beiges and warm browns kept close to the lash line, comparatively subtle eyeliner (versus most of the Trek ladies) and some serious false lashes (which I don’t use).

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (The First Lady of Trek) as Nurse Christine Chapel

Gorgeous as I think the late Majel Barrett-Roddenberry looked, I struggled to find inspiration for the sort of thing I like to wear until we watched the episode “Return to Tomorrow”. I noticed in this episode, Nurse Chapel seemed to sport a “halo eye” look with her trademark warm browns higher in the crease and a central “glowing” spot in the centre of the lid in a matte pale blue.

Nurse Chapel's makeup was generally very neutral, but sometimes a little more colourful than others

I tried to recreate the look, again using my Lunatick Cool Contour palette for the browns as cooler shades suit me better. I applied a wash over the crease in a lighter shade, and then defined this with a darker shade afterwards. For the centre, I used Sigma’s Blue Chocolat from my Crème de Couture palette, over a little Lunatick Cosmetic Labs Primetime white base. I couldn’t resist my usual wing over the top. I decided to wear a Barry M lipstick which I got recently, in a corally orange shade (429, I think), which, quite honestly, could not be more fitting for the 1960s. It’s a little brassier than Nurse Chapel’s standard lip, but it’s definitely a similar colour.

My look inspired by Nurse Chapel- it was hard for me to embrace the neutrals 

This Barry M lip colour (no 429) is definitely a serious departure from the norm for me

Overall, I like how it turned out- a very 1960s colour combination.

Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney)

Out of the main female characters, I think Yeoman Rand had the most variety in the shortest amount of screen time. She generally sported a slightly messy, rounded smoky eye, with a thin line of barely-winged eyeliner, and a bolder version of the same coral-orange lip which I later saw on Nurse Chapel. I noticed several colours used for her eyes, particularly blues and greys. I was particularly attracted to one look, in which the colours used were pink and grey.

Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand- you can't help but love that hair

I wouldn't say this would necessarily the kind of look that sprang to mind when thinking about 1960s makeup. Compared to the previous styles, Yeoman Rand's makeup is all about clashing colours rather than neutrals. Although I probably could've gone for a charcoal or navy smoky eye, I really liked the pink undertone peaking through.

Yeoman Rand generally sported the most colour combinations in her day-to-day "bridge" makeup

I thought, initially, that this would be a very difficult to pull off, particularly in the time I had before work in the morning, but it was actually very simple. I used Sugarpill's Dollipop on a fluffy brush to build up the pink in the crease and on the brow bone. Although Dollipop is a pretty extreme colour, it is possible to use it sparingly and build up a wash of colour, which was exactly what I wanted. Once I had laid down the pink, I took a shimmery grey colour from my 88 palette and applied this to the lid and working it into the crease; and then it was done! Another application of the Barry M 429 lipstick and a little orange gloss, and I was out the door.

My look inspired by Yeoman Rand- much quicker and easier than I expected

Out of all the looks I tried, this was the quickest and easiest. I'm surprised how much I actually liked the final look; I can see myself wearing it again, particularly for work (I did actually wear it twice in the week, but with a lilac lip colour second time around)

I find it quite hard to do what most people probably think of as an "everyday" or "work-appropriate" look, so I enjoyed brightening up my morning by setting myself a little challenge in the mornings.

Speedy Inspiration

So, I just have time for a speedy update...

I've been having a real Iron Maiden phase in my car for the daily commute at the moment. Iron Maiden are probably my favourite band in general, but I tend to go through phases with different bands, and different albums etc. I've currently been listening to Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album in particular, and a while back, I bought myself an awesome t-shirt with the album cover design on.

The album cover for "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" by Iron Maiden. I was a toddler when this album came out, but I love it anyway.

With this being quite a blue t-shirt, I knew I wanted to use blues when I wore it. I remembered seeing ages ago a tutorial on Youtube from Biohazardhous Beauty, using the Sugarpill Heartbreaker palette (which I will link below) and I thought this would be something quick, but also bright and colourful to go with the t-shirt.

My recreation of Victoria's "Heartbreaker" tutorial- check out the original from Biohazardous Beauty here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQqfYu4wwvs

I followed Victoria's tutorial quite closely, although I did use my Lunatick Cosmetic Labs Primetime primer to give me a white base. I also skipped the green waterline as my eyes were a bit sensitive on the day.

Bright and colourful- please excuse the scabby psoriasis eyelids

I couldn't decide whether I wanted to pair this with a blue or purple lip, so I ended up doing a bit of both; using all Lunatick Labs Apocalipslicks (which yes, I am obsessed with- no shame!), I lined my lips with purple in Grave Heart Shift and filled in the sides with blue in London Bridge. I added a spot of Coven Cream in the centre to make a paler, greyish centre, just because I felt like it.

I love "Grave Heart Shift" and "London Bridge" so much that I couldn't choose between them

I like how it all turned it out, and with the tutorial to follow, it was quick and easy to throw together.

Post-Birthday Purchases- Mini Review

So yes, things have been quite hectic of late, and I've not had a lot of time or energy to look at updating. Still, I have been able to buy a number of new toys to play with recently, as I still has some birthday money to spend. I was also fortunate enough that my lovely work colleagues got me a voucher for Boots as part of my birthday present, so there was plenty of scope for new makeup purchases.

My post-birthday splurge goodies

I knew that as part of my post-birthday splurge, I had had my eye on a couple of items from Lunatick Cosmetics Labs that I wanted to try, namely the Cool Contour face palette and the Finish Her HD Finishing powder. I recently discovered Lunatick Cosmetic Labs have a UK vendor available at Cute Cosmetics, so I made my purchase from there.

I don't plan to go into too much depth about either of these products in this post, as it's my intention to do a more in-depth review on Lunatick Cosmetic Labs in the future.

My Lunatick Cosmetic Labs "Cool Contour" face palette- these powders are the softest I've ever used, which is a double-edged sword

Check out Lunatick Cosmetics here:- http://www.lunaticklabs.com/

I made my purchase from Cute Cosmetics, who can be found here:- http://www.cutecosmetics.co.uk/

I will say that I do have slightly mixed feelings towards my Cool Contour palette. I don't regret getting it, and I am, generally quite pleased with the finished look it gives me (and who can help but love that packaging?). Still, as the picture shows, these powders are soft to the point of ridiculousness, which, whilst easier to blend, does make them difficult to use sparingly and also quite messy. 

My Finish Her HD Powder- I love this!

Regarding the Finish Her HD Powder, I have much clearer feelings about this, in that I absolutely love it. I've never tried a finishing powder before, but I really do find this completes a full face of makeup without feeling heavy or caked on. I am slightly dubious about the faint herbal scent it leaves on your face for a while after application, but I just can't argue with the results.

I've really been enjoying this blush palette- you can't argue with £5 for 10 shades/finishes either

One of my slightly more random purchases was to buy this no-name blush palette from a trusted makeup vendor on eBay- I say "trusted" in that it's the same seller I got my 88 palette from. The seller is based in the UK, and their products come with a complete ingredients list.

I decided to buy this as I've pretty much been using the same coral coloured blush for the past 18 months, and I decided I wanted to have some more flexibility without spending too much money. This palette, for under £5, gives a variety of colours and finishes that will probably cover just about any blush look I'll ever wish to go for. I've been using it for some time now, and find all the blushes to be highly pigmented, nicely blendable, and hard wearing.

This has been a "change your life" kind of product for me- great over just concealer or to set foundation

One of the real stars of my purchases as to be the Seventeen Stay Time pressed powder, which I got from Boots. I've been looking for a new powder, but rather than just something mattifying, I wanted something with a bit more coverage. The powders I've been window-shopping have been around the £10 and up mark, but this was around half that.

I didn't expect to like this as much as I do- I think it'll be perfect in the summer when I really can't be bothered with liquid foundation

Not only does this powder keep me matte for nigh-on most of the working day, but I've actually been wearing this as an alternative to foundation in general, over a little primer and concealer, and it does a great job, giving natural coverage with next to no effort.

The texture is soft and creamy and very easy to apply with a kabuki brush. The powder has far exceeded my expectations, and compared to some of the more expensive powders I've swatched, this is by far superior.

I also bought a few eyeliners; I've had Glam Crystals glitter eyeliners before and loved them, and I was also in dire need of a new white eyeliner, so I purchased a basic one from Rimmel.

"Dollipop" from Sugarpill in the crease and brow bone; the purple in the deep crease is Poison Plum and the lid colour is Mochi, both also from Sugarpill.

Check out Sugarpill here:- http://www.sugarpillshop.com/

I bought my Dollipop single from Cute Cosmetics (linked above)

Not pictured in the main picture (since I forgot) is that I also finally bought my Sugarpill eyeshadow in Dollipop. As mentioned in my Sugarpill review, I decided against buying the full Sweetheart quad, as I just did not think I would get the use out of it that I have had from my Heartbreaker or Burning Heart palettes. 

As you can see above, I've been playing with Dollipop, and have been enjoying it a lot. It's certainly true to my high expectations of Sugarpill colours.

I still have a little bit of birthday money to spend on my Boots voucher, so there will be more goodies to come. There's nothing like a splurge on new things as a pick-me-up.

Sugarpill- An Honest Review

If you’re like me, and you like your makeup to be bright, striking and generally quite obnoxious, your quest for colours has almost certainly taken you through the pastures of Sugarpill at some point.

For a long time, I worked quite hard to ignore my desire to try their products; being one of these boring, responsible adult types, I only have a limited budget to spend on my hobbies, and within that budget, I have quite a large number of hobbies and interests I want to spend money on. Despite the fact that many people said Sugarpill is genuinely worth the money, I found the idea of paying £24.95 for four eyeshadows pretty extreme.

I found a number of dupes as part of my mission to ignore Sugarpill. There is, as always, the 88 palette, which has a great selection of bright colours; with the correct base, these colours will give you plenty of scope for bright looks. For comparison, my 88 palette cost me the princely sum of £6.95, and whilst the pans are much smaller than you’d find from Sugarpill, this palette also gives me every neutral shade I’m ever likely to use.

My 88 Palette; this is actually my spare, which I bought since I've used up a number of shades in my original one. I bought this from eBay for £6.95, and I'm pretty sure it's the same as the Coastal Scents 88 Palette.

Another utterly random palette I found in a local independent beauty shop was my W7 Neon Colours palette, which is a little 5-pan palette. W7 is probably best known for their dupe/blatant copy of the Urban Decay Naked range of palettes. The eyeshadows in this palette are not what I would describe as “true neons”, in the same way that the Sleek Acid Palette is, but they are nice, bright shadows. They are a little powdery however, and so they are best applied as one would apply a neon shadow, in small patting motions to build up the colour. I’ve had a lot of success with this little palette, particularly the yellow shade, which I do think is comparable in its intensity to Buttercupcake from Sugarpill. This palette cost just £3.95 and in my opinion, proves you do not need to pay a fortune to get bright eyeshadows.

My W7 Neon Palette; I got mine from a local independent makeup shop, but they also sell W7 at Peacocks, and a number of other "cheaper" shops

The colours I found I was struggling to find dupes for were decent bright blues, of which there are five million on the market, but none with any staying power and the purples. There are always hundreds of purples, but finding them in vibrant shades from cheap brands proved difficult. In the end, I got suckered into the purchase of, what remains to-date, my most expensive (but also beloved) eyeshadow palette, the Sigma Crème de Couture palette.

My Creme de Couture Palette from Sigma; I absolutely love it, and feel like it was worth the cost, but I still die a little inside when I think of the price...

Eventually, I found an official UK vendor for Sugarpill at Cocktail Cosmetics and I finally purchased the Addicted to Pretty Palette in Heartbreaker just before Christmas. I selected this palette because I felt solid, good quality bright blues were what I was lacking from my collection. (You can check out Cocktail Cosmetics here:- http://www.cocktailcosmetics.co.uk/)

I certainly was not disappointed in this palette. Compared to the cheaper eyeshadows, I found these easy to apply; so easy that I could throw together a quick look using just the Heartbreaker and a neutral transition shade in the brief time I take to do my makeup for work in the morning.

Sugarpill's Addicted to Pretty Palette in "Heartbreaker"; I adore this palette. Top row left to right: Velocity, Mochi. Bottom row left to right: Acidberry, 2am

I love all the colours, but in particular, Velocity, the darkest, bright blue shade, is the star for me, and I honestly could not name something cheaper I’ve found that does the same job. Mochi is also a surprisingly unique colour compared to the light blues in my 88 palette, where I found (as I suspected before my purchase) that I had an excellent Acidberry dupe in my 88 palette. 2am is a colour I did not expect to like, but compared to many other muted purple shades, this really has something more to it, and blended over Velocity, it wipes the floor with many lesser warm-toned purples.

Sugarpill "Heartbreaker" swatches versus some of my cheaper eyeshadows; the top colour is Sugarpill, the bottom colours are my dupes. All shadows swatched over primer and a white eyeshadow base.

I later bought the Burning Heart palette, for which I had very high hopes. The internet generally waxes lyrical about it, and therefore I expected a lot for my money. Although I do enjoy these eyeshadows a lot, I would say it wasn’t quite the seminal moment that the Heartbreaker was for me. I feel my 88 palette has a great dupe for the red, Love+, and the W7 palette has excellent substitutes for Flamepoint, the orange shade, and as mentioned above, Buttercupcake. The star in this palette is, of course, Poison Plum; Sugarpill’s famed purple shade. 

Sugarpills Addicted to Pretty Palette in "Burning Heart"; top row left to right: Poison Plum, Love+. Bottom row left to right: Buttercupcake, Flamepoint

Sugarpill "Burning Heart" swatches (except Poison Plum) versus some of my cheaper eyeshadows; the top colour is Sugarpill, the bottom colours are my dupes. All shadows swatched over primer; orange and yellow shades swatched over a white eyeshadow base. It still surprises me how well my cheaper shadows hold up.

I was unsure whether I would love Poison Plum as much as the purples in my Crème de Couture palette; I thought they might be a bit similar. As it happens, Poison Plum really is its own beast, and the assertion that there’s nothing quite like it is very true. For me, it’s a real transformative shade, in that dependent upon what you put it over or next to, it can look different every time you apply it.

Sugarpill's Poison Plum versus some of my other purple eyeshadows. I think it's very different to the shadows from my Sigma palette, and clearly much brighter and more pigmented than the 88 palette. 

At time of writing, I’m still waiting for the Sweetheart palette to come into stock at Cocktail, but the longer it remains unavailable, the more hesitant about its purchase I become. I feel I have plenty of blues in my collection and I can honestly say I have more greens than I will ever actually use, so I just do not feel I need to have Afterparty and Midori in my life. I’m currently toying with the idea of trying Dollipop in a single, and as for Tako, I am tempted, only in that I go through white eyeshadow like nobody’s business, so it would potentially have a place for me.

Sugarpill's Addicted to Pretty Palette in "Sweetheart". Top row left to right: Dollipop, Afterparty. Bottom row left to right: Midori, Tako.

Overall, I enjoy Sugarpill a lot, and I do highly recommend their shadows from the point of view of quality, ease of application and pigmentation; the latter being something I don’t think will be easily beaten. However, I don’t think Sugarpill eyeshadows are completely inimitable; there are other brights from cheap brands that will do the job, provided you apply them right. In some ways, I’m glad I waited as long as I did before trying Sugarpill, if only to learn the techniques to deal with cheaper, chalkier eyeshadows before being presented with something so easy to work with, honestly, I couldn't be happier with the products I've tried from Sugarpill.

Primers used for swatching: Geek Chick Cosmetic Labs "Power Up Primer" and Lunatick Cosmetic Labs "Primetime" white eyeshadow base