Review: Sleek - Limited Edition Sparkle 2 Palette

Hi 

I've been posting a lot about lip sticks and nail polishes recently so I thought I would switch it up and show you a eye shadow palette I got just before Christmas:

Now I am a massive fan of Sleek as a cosmetics brand and have several of their other eye shadow palettes simply because the colours are so gorgeous and the pigmentation is amazing. So I was hoping that this new palette would be the same.

The outer packaging is a bit different to their usual plain black box, and I have noticed this more and more with the newer sleep palettes. The seem to decorate their boxes a lot more and I'm so pleased. It may just be me being nerdy but I like to keep my palettes in their boxes to keep them clean, and I was getting a bit fed up of looking at the same black box all the time. This time the box looks very festive with twinkly lights out of focus.

The inner box is very simple but keeps with the look of all their other products. Although yet again the matte finish means every little bit of dirt or make-up sticks to this palette like glue!

Inside the palette is beautiful array of glittery colour eye shadows ranging from dark and sultry to bright and colourful. A large mirror accompanies the eye shadows, which is so handy because it makes it perfect for travelling or a night out. 

On top of the eye shadows (not pictured) is a sheet of acetate inscribed with the names of the colours. This was obviously meant as a Christmas palette due to the names "Mistletoe", "Festive" and "Tinsel" but don't let that put you off. These colours are going to be perfect for any party or night out.

Top row L-R: Chocolate penny, Blue Spruce
Bottom row: L-R: Festive, Gold Ribbon

Without primer. L-R: Chocolate Penny, Festive, Blue Spruce & Gold Ribbon

Chocolate penny is the first colour I came to and isn't actually a glitter shadow as such. But it is super shimmery, and pearlescent. As the name suggests it is a milk chocolate colour with a slight bronze tint

Festive is a bright aubergine purple packed full of silver micro glitter. This will make a beautiful smokey eye or add a hint of sparkle to a more simple look.

Blue Spruce is a bright but deep turquoise/teal. I'd say this more green teal than a blue teal, but never the less a beautiful colour sprinkled with lots of light blue/possibly silver micro glitter

Gold Ribbon is like Chocolate penny in that it is not a glitter but a shimmery pearl shadow. It is a bright yellow gold, like the star at the top of a Christmas tree. Unlike some bright golds which can go quite sheer the pigmentation in this is so high it stands out really well.

Top Row: Mulled Wine, Truffle
Bottom Row: Glitz & Glamour, Tinsel

Without Primer: L-R: Mulled Wine, Glitz & Glamour, Truffle & Tinsel

Mulled Wine is a deep burgundy red with lots of warm gold micro glitter running through it. The name is very apt as the shade of red is definitely the colour of Mulled wine, mmmm I can just smell it now!

Glitz & Glamour is not quite what I would call a grey but it is definitely not a black either, its a smokey/ash colour strewn with silver micro glitter. If a black smokey eye is too intense for you, maybe this colour with offer you a lighter alternative.

Truffle is another of Pearl/Shimmer colours in this palette and is the darker, warmer older brother of Chocolate Penny, and I think the two colours will work really well blended together.

Tinsel is the forth and final pearl/shimmer of the palette and it is a bright, silver. It is at the lightest end of the silver spectrum, almost a white but not quite. 

Top Row: Mistletoe, Illusion
Bottom Row: Twinkle, Starry Night

Without Primer: L-R: Mistletoe, Illusion, Twinkle & Starry Night

Mistletoe is a pine green with bright apple green micro glitter spread through it. Again this will make a great alternative smokey eye.

Illusion is what I would call a dusky purple, and is a lot less bright compared to Festive. This is filled with silver micro glitter which really brings this colour to life.

Twinkle is a true navy blue, with silver micro glitter. Blended into Tinsel this colour will look gorgeous.

Starry Night is a traditional dark black eye shadow but with the added twist of lots of silver micro glitter. The name is very appropriate as when applied it looks like stars shining in the sky.

As you can see from my swatches these eye shadows didn't disappoint  as they are highly pigmented and stand out beautifully on the skin. This palette along with all the others they make are available at Sleek's website and at only £7.99 are a definite bargain not to be missed!

Have you tried any of the Sleek eye shadow palettes yet? 

Love Jude xxx

The Liebster Blog Award

Hi everyone,

Now most of you will notice that I haven't been blogging for very long, so when Steff of Ch3rryBomb nominated me for a Liebster Blog Award I was really surprised and ecstatic that she had taken the time to add me to her list, so do me a favour and go check out her blog here.

Right now as far as I can grasp the rules to the Liebster award are as follows:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you by mentioning them
  and link it back to their blog on your post!
• List 11 Facts about yourself. 
• Answer 11 questions which are given to you by you Nominator.
• Ask 11 Questions for all the bloggers you nominate for the award.
• Nominate 9 Bloggers pages which have less than 200 followers. 
• Go to their blog and tell them about their Nomination.

Review: Rimmel Apocalips: Lip Lacquer

Hi everyone,

Well they are finally here, after what seams like an age of Rimmel posting, tweeting and Facebooking about their new Apocalips Lip Lacquers, they are now available in stores. 

If your like me and thought they looked amazing but not quite sure what they are, then let me explain. Hidden inside a edgy, sexy shiny black tube is a product which contains the pigmentation and opacity of a lipstick and the high-shine impact of a gloss. 

Now at £5.99 sadly my purse wouldn't let me buy more than a couple but out of the colours I think I chose the ones I will use the most. A hot red called "Big Bang" and a pink nude called "Celestial" 

The packaging is futuristic, and edgy which I like. The way the black blends into the colour also gives a modern feel 

The brush is very similar to a traditional lip gloss wand but with an whole in the middle, which seems to make it hold onto more product than a usual wand.

The colour is so gorgeous and bright. It applies smooth and streak free without feeling sticky and also feels very light on the lips. The colour is what I would call tomato red, its slightly blue but also very bright.

The second colour I chose is called Celestial

Its a dusky pink on the side of nude and I think it will go with a lot, and be a good everyday colour.

I love the colour its such a pretty shade of pink and its so pigmented. The high-shine finish makes these so sophisticated that these are going to a must-have for night out.

My only negative is the fact that these lacquers bleed quite easily and stain your lips quite a lot, especially Big Bang which left a stain on my hand after swatching. I'm not sure if this will put me off buying any more shades because the finish is so gorgeous. I might need to try some more colours before I make a final descion hehe!

Have you tried out any of these Apocalips Lip Lacquers yet? Let me know in the comments below

Love Jude xxxx

Review: Nails Inc. - Bling it on: Leather & Skulls Pt. 2

Hi

Welcome to part 2 of my review of Nails Inc.'s Leather & Skulls Nail polishes, In this post I will be looking at the tan colour (click here for part 1 and the review of the black polish).

The packaging is very similar to the black shade however the image on the front is slightly less 'Rock n roll' to appeal to ladies who don't like wearing dark in your face polish but still want the leather effect. The kit also includes the nail glue, cuticle stick and 4 crystal skulls but this time they are in gold to compliment the tan polish. 

As with the black polish the Tan polish bottle has a leather cap however with this colour the cap is more tan and the polish inside appears to be slightly more nude however on the yellow side of nude to keep it close to tan leather. The name of this colour is 'Soho Mews' which seems very appropriate name for a very trendy yet classic style polish.

The polish is the exact same formula as the black, as it is opaque with one coat, although needs 2 for bolder colour and more defined texture and has a very fast drying time. As I was painting onto a sample nail rather than my own I found it very easily to apply the crystal skull using the glue and cuticle stick, however I think this might be slightly trickier on your own nails but the result is so gorgeous it will be well worth the hassle.

As I mentioned above you can see the colour of the polish is slightly more nude than the tan leather lid but I think this is a good decision because the yellow tones in the a tan colour would make the polish less suitable for lighter skin tones, so by adding slightly less yellow and more pink tones it opens up the number of people who can wear this polish.

Overall another well done to Nails Inc. for creating a unique polish with classic style that a lot of women will fall in love with.

I would also just like to add that currently the tan and the black polishes are they only colours available on the high street however at QVC in the UK they are selling a burgundy colour as part of a 7-piece fast fashion set. I have ordered this because it also contains one of the new feather effect polishes that will be coming out at the beginning of march. I will be reviewing these as soon as they arrive so keep your eyes peeled for some more Nails Inc. reviews coming soon.

Do you love Nails Inc. polishes? How big is your collection if your do? tweet me a photo @judes-addiction I'd love to see!

Love

Jude xxxx

Review: Nails Inc. - Bling it on: Leather & Skulls Pt. 1

Hi

Well its still snowy and white here in the UK and the weather reports show it may get worse today and tommorrow so, what better excuse to stay in and write reviews for all you wonderful people.

Now if you like my Facebook page you'll have seen me post a photo of today's review, I was so excited I just couldn't wait to show you all what was coming so go hit like on my page now and I;ll keep you up to date with all my upcoming reviews, hauls and all the other exciting things that happen in my life.

Now at Christmas (which was a whole 3 and half weeks ago now - where has time gone?) I was a very lucky girl and got both shades of the new Nails Inc. Bling it on: Leather and Skulls nail polish, so rather than review them individually I thought I'd review both today but to avoid making this one very long post, I'll put them in 2 parts.

First is the classic black. The packaging is very rock and roll, which seems to be the vibe they have gone with for this product, and by pairing the leather effect polish with diamanté crystal skull embellishments they have sealed the deal. Inside the box you also get nail glue and a cuticle stick to help stick the skulls to the nail, with full instructions on the back.

The nail polish itself is very unique, because it comes with a leather glad lid. Very different to the usual silver mirror lids and allows you to immediately compare your nails to the real thing. Nails Inc have called this polish 'Noho' which I have to admit I found an unsual name, I can't find anywhere in London called Noho or in the UK for that matter, however I have emailed Nails Inc.'s customer service desk, to help clear up the matter so I'll let you know when I get a response.

Upon trying the polish I was really happy to see that if your in a rush this polish is opaque in one coat (although two makes the colour stronger and the texture more defined) and that it dries very quickly. The consistancy of the polish is quite thin but not too runny, and the texture when it dries is not smooth but not rough. It is a matte finish in that it is not shiny but the texture of the polish adds dimension and interest to the finish so that they don't look dull at all. As you can see from the my comparison photo below the final texture looks incredibly like the leather cap and so I think this is defintly a job well done for the Nails Inc team.

The only downfall to this polish is because you can't top coat it the polish doesn't stay on as long as one with top coat, 2-3 days at the most maybe. However I love the polish so much this is not going to stop me wearing it at all, and because the crystal skulls are re-usable I will be showing them off all days of the week!

Have you tried the Leather effect polish yet? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @judes-addiction. I love hearing what you think too.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this review where I look at the Tan shade.

Love Jude

xxxx

Haul: B. Cosmetics

Hi everyone,

I hope you are enjoying your day, and the weather isn't as bad as it is here! We have had blizzards of snow for the last 2 days and it doesn't look to be going anywhere before the weekend! 

Never the less I trudged out to lunch yesterday and found refuge in Superdrug, and discovered they have a new make-up brand launching in this week and had only just out up the the display. They are called B. cosmetics and currently that is all I know about them because I can't find them online anywhere. I grabbed a bunch of different products from their range and once I've tested them out I'll let you know what I think. Here's a quick sneak peak photo of all the products I got, I must say I do like the packaging with the theme of encouraging women to be themselves seems a really nice touch.

L-R: 2 cream eyeshadows, Lipstick, Lip Gloss, Eyeshadow quad,
black eye khol & Eyebrown grooming kit

Have you seen or tried out any B. cosmetics yet? Let me know in the comments below.

If the weather is bad where you are, safe journeys to you all!

Love Jude xxx

Review: Accessorize Baked Eye Shadow Trio

Hi

In the holiday season, all the shops start making gift sets, which I am have a love/hate relatipnship with. Love because they make you look at and try out products that you wouldn't necessarily try otherwise and hate becuase they can charge you alot of money for extra packaging and other bits that you don't need. But the other day while walking though Superdrug I saw this Accessorize baked eyeshadow trio gift set and it caught my eye.  Accessorize are a jewellery and handbag brand by trade but have recently starting branching out into make-up on a larger scale and up until this point I haven’t tried or wanted to try any of it. This is simply because I tend to find companies where make-up is not their main focus don’t tend to put that much thought and effort into making it good. However M&S have recently been very successful with their make-up ranges so I thought I would give Accessorize a chance.

Their baked eyeshadows individually are £3.95, so the trio pack at £5.99 basically meant you were getting one free. The packaging seemed nice and the colours fairly unusual but not unusable, so I made my purchase.

The outer packaging was very pretty as you would expect from accessorise although not very Christmassy which butterflies decorating the front and back of the box. I do like the combination of the purple and gold colours though, giving a very classy feel to the product.

Inside the eyeshadows are individually packaged in clear plastic compacts with the brand name and logo painted in gold on the top. Other than the logo the packaging is very clean and simple and allows you to see the colour you are looking for instantly which, with a make-up bag the size of mine can be very helpful.

Top: wet, Bottom: dry

Molten copper is the first of the 3 eye shadows and is a deep copper/bronze colour, very close to that of a British penny, and it has bright yellow gold flecks baked in. When swatching the gold almost disappears leaving only gold glitter visible. This however adds such dimension to the copper and prevents it from being just a shimmer shadow. The shadow is very pigmented and blends easily but without a primer or cream product underneath looks as though it may rub off quite easily. The back of the box of for these shadows suggests that because they are baked you can use them wet as well as dry so I wanted to say that when wet this shadow had a lot more staying power, brighter pigmentation and higher shimmer.

Top: wet, Bottom: dry

Golden Caramel makes me think of a cappuccino after it has been stirred, the white froth on the top blending with the coffee and chocolate underneath. There 3 definite shades in this shadow: a creamy pearl white, a warm but light caramel and a deep cranberry red hidden in the cracks of the first two. When used dry this shadow becomes quite sheer although the shimmer and glitter still catch the eye. When wet though this colour comes alive as a gorgeous shimmery pearl which catches the light at every angle and demands attention.

Top: wet, Bottom: dry

Cosmic rays is quite different to the first two shadows in that it contains a very deep dark forest green. It also has a large amount of antique gold which is blended together to make such a beautiful looking shadow I almost don’t want to use it for fear of destroying its beauty. When used dry the green is quite dull with the gold glitter sparkling on top creating all the excitement. But when used wet the drama intensifies as the dark green creates a beautiful backdrop to the antique gold which shimmers and gleams in the light.

For all of the 3 shadows I would say that dry they are good for day time when you want just a little bit of shimmer and sparkle, but if you want a dramatic impact with lots of “look at me” then use these shadows wet. For the price I think I have got some really good eyeshadows that are going to look great for day or night.

Have you tired any of Accessorize's make up yet? Let me know in the comments below, I love hearing what you think.

Love

Jude xxxx