Accessorize Eyeshadows: Platinum, Molten & Chocolate Fondant Swatches

Top -Platinum, Left - Molten, Right - Chocolate Fondant

Accessorize eyeshadows are definitely amongst some of my favourites; the texture is smooth, pigmentation is great and I really like the slim compact packaging which makes it easier to store and flick through if I have them standing.
Here are a few more shades that I have accumulated:

Platinum

Molten

Chocolate Fondant

Platinum is an interesting mix of silver with bluey-green tones, not what I had envisioned by something named Platinum, but lovely all the same. The finish with this is slightly frosty/metallic.

Molten is a beautiful burgundy with interesting warmth to it that makes it appear it slightly browner in some lights. This one isn't frosty like Platinum, it has more of a sheen finish. Quite a pretty and versatile shade.

Chocolate Fondant is a rich, warm brown. The texture of this one is a bit more butter-crumble? What I mean is that it is buttery, but when taking some from pan to brush it seems to come off with slightly particle bits (kind of reminds me a little of MAC Solar bits). It doesn't really effect the pay-off, but it looks a bit more dimensional rather then flat chocolate and gives it an added slight metallic kind of effect.

Top-Bottom: Molten, Chocolate Fondant, Platinum

*Purchased by me*

2010 Makeup Favourites

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday.


It's been a great year for beauty (when is it not?) and I am excited for 2011. Yet another favourites post, but it's good to acknowledge the products that have served me well the past year. It was kind of hard to not list a quazillion products but here is a selection of the items I found myself loving over 2010 (I am sure that I will have missed some out):

Urban Decay Naked Palette

One of the best things Urban Decay has ever made. Enough said.

2010 was the year I put MAC on the backseat a bit and got much more into NARS. The Sheer Glow Foundation is great when I don't want to faff about too much as it gives good coverage, feels light and natural like I am almost not wearing foundation. I use the shade Barcelona and think it's pretty spot-on in colour. There have been some really good drugstore foundations (Revlon Photoready, Maxfactor Second Skin & Bourjois Healthy Mix deserve a mention), but the colour matching in NARS pips it for me.

NARS Douceur Blush - great go-to natural shade that adds a hint of colour that suits lots of looks.
NARS Larger Than Life Lengthening Mascara - this is bordering on HG territory as it gives me lovely separated and defined lashes to help achieve an even 'fanned' look. Adds some volume too.

MUFE HD Powder

This really softens the look of pores which is something many primers fail to do while looking invisible on the skin. I really wish MUFE ups the availability of their products this year as I would love to check out more of the line.

2010 reignited my love of lipgloss and think I ended up adding a few more glosses rather then lipsticks to my collection. Rouge Bunny Rouge Gleaming Temptations Lipglosses, Hourglass Extreme Sheen Lipgloss in Ignite, and Becca Glossy Lip Tint in Amaretto were regular non-sticky favourites.

My love of MAC continues, but last year I was not tempted as much by new collections, however the Ripe Peach Blush, Accentuate/Sculpt Highlight/Contour Powder and the Penultimate liner were things I reached for often.

Korres Eyebrow Pencil

I need to look at Korres more as they have some absolute gems with this pencil being a staple product as it's a dark, ashy brown that blends well with my natural brows.

The ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer along with Bloom Eye Paint in Chocolate has been helping to keep my eyeshadows crease free and the Rouge Bunny Rouge Quartz Eyeliner in Anthracite Essence has helped me get perfectly lined eyes.

17 are rivalling some of the high-end mascaras with some excellent offerings. The Va Va Voom Volume (not pictured) is a better dupe of Diorshow and the Wild Curls Mascara is great for getting lift and definition. I don't need to curl my lashes with this and I can emphasise my outer lashes well to get a more elongated look.


There were a lot more exciting offerings from the drugstore and the Accessorize Illusion Eyeshadows and myface Blingtones were some of the standouts for me.

I cannot believe I didn't make my first Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadow Abyssinian Catbird, as the shade is so beautiful, definitely a must have shade from them.


Roll on 2011!

A Volcano of Sparkle! Accessorize Molten Copper Illusion Nail Polish

Acessorize Molten Copper (shade 43). Two coats

Maybe volcano is an exaggeration, but boy is this glitter gorgeous and it's copper! I've wanted a copper glitter for a while and have not come across one before so when I saw this I had to get it.

This one is part of Accessorize's Illusion range of nail polishes which are supposed to give more of a multi-dimensional/duochrome effect which is truer of some of the other shades like Aztec rather then this which is more a standard glitter.

I have some more 'in your face' coloured glitters, but sometimes I like the ones that are a little more subtle (if glitter could ever be called subtle) and even though there is no denying that this is a chunky particle polish, it is more nearer my skin tone so it feels a little less 'showy'.

Also this partners very well with YSL Pink Gold nail polish (No.140) which by the way being my first YSL polish I am very impressed with (great metallic finish, good coverage and quick drying).

YSL Pink Gold on it's own, 1 coat

This is one coat of the Molten Copper on top of the YSL:

I have tried to capture the sparkle but after several failed attempts it still appears flat in the pic but in real life it looks pretty and compliments the Rose Gold well.

But...

The staying power of this is not great - even after using inm Out The Door topcoat over this it still chipped in about a day, with the worst wear at the tips.
Also being a chunky glitter it really is a pain to remove and this is where the drawbacks of Seche Vite become rather useful as I would rather peel off a glitter nail polish then attempt to remove it with nail polish remover so I think a repurchase of Seche Vite is in order.

I am not disappointed I got it as I love the colour but I wish it lasted a little bit longer on me.


Disclaimer: All purchased by me

Accessorize Storm Nail Polish

Storm (Shade 49)
A perfect name for this colour - this is a beautiful pewter grey with a purple tone. Good coverage with two coats and the finish is pearly with a slight metallic edge. Absolutely love it.

I am finding it hard to show restraint with this range as there are definitely some very tempting shades - next up will be a stunning sparkly number from the Illusion range of nail polish.


Disclaimer: Purchased by me

Accessorize Makeup - Nail Polish in Dove

Dove (shade 45) lies somewhere between grey and silver and has a slight pearl finish which gives it a nice dimensional quality. The pic is with three coats (the crappy finish on the pinky finger is a gloopy basecoat rather then the polish). It was still a little transparent with 2 coats so I've applied the extra to give it a better finish. Although I also bought another colour called Storm (which I'll post about later) that applied well in 2 coats so I think the formula varies a little between shades. Application was okay with a standard shape brush, but I think the brush could be a tiny bit more firmer, to me it seems a little bit soft.

It has lasted rather well with hardly any tip wear in 3 days but I have used inm Out The Door topcoat over it (which may knock off Seche Vite's crown). But even still, it holds up well against other brands with the same topcoat.

The bottle looks small but it's actually 10ml in size for £4 so it's not too bad. I think the saving grace in these are the colours as there is a good variety of some interesting looking shades that I don't think I've come across before but also colours that could well be dupes for other brands like there is a greige shade that is along the lines of Barry M Mushroom and also a very bright lilac purple that reminds me of Illamasqua's Jo'Mina.

Disclaimer: Purchased by me

Accessorize Makeup: The Eyeshadows and a Little EOTD

Accessorize makeup landed in my local Superdrug recently and as I wasn't sure when this was going to be available I was very excited to see it in real life as from glimpses from other blogs it looked like a promising range. On the face of it, it looks like how I would expect Accessorize makeup to look as it has quite pretty embellishment on product packaging which has the whole feel of the brand. I was pleasantly surprised at the price as I expected the items to cost a bit more but a lot of the products are around the £4/£5 mark.

The items that really grabbed my attention are the eyeshadows and the nail polishes as there are quite a good selection of interesting looking shades. The baked blushes/bronzes also looked lovely but on this occasion I didn't get any of those.

Illusion and Icon Eyeshadows

I am very impressed with these - they are a good size at 2.5g each and the quality is smooth (slightly buttery), well pigmented and there is a beautiful array of colours of available.
At £4 each I think these are very good value for money and I certainly would love to get some more of these.

Illusion Eyeshadow: 18 Olive

Icon Eyeshadow: 12 Rich Earth

Illusion Eyeshadow: 15 Vintage Rose

Swatched:

L-R: Rich Earth, Olive, Vintage Rose

L-R: Rich Earth, Olive, Vintage Rose

Merged Eyeshadows

These are similar to something like MAC's mineralize eyeshadows but personally I think these are nicer as there are no chunky bits of glitter. They are a bit deceptive in that when you feel them in the pan they don't feel as smooth or buttery, but when applied to the skin the pay-off is very good - one swipe gives a good level of colour.
These are £4.50 for 3g.
 

Shade 6 Cocoa

Shade 1 Gunmetal

Swatched:

Top: Cocoa, Bottom: Gunmetal

Top: Cocoa, Bottom: Gunmetal

I did a quick look with Rich Earth on outer half of lid, then Vintage Rose on inner part of lid (mascara is NARS Larger Than Life Lengthening):

The wear on these is good as even on my oily lids there was only a little creasing at the end of the day.

Overall I am very impressed with these, next on the list to review is the nail polish so hopefully the post for that will go up later in the week.


Disclaimer: Purchased by me