Ladies who Lilac!

This spring's colour of choice is lilac. It's been making an appearance in the clothing department but now it's going straight onto eyelids this season for a pretty-as-a-picture stare! Here's the low-down on how to achieve the ultimate lavender love...

1. Skin needs to be left dewy

This keeps the look fresh and youthful, soft and as girly as the colour lilac itself. This is a colour of innocence after all, so you're after girl-nextdoor beauty! You want a highlight down the centre of the face to catch the light flatteringly.

2. Lips are ever so slightly glossy

There's no need to worry about what shade of lipstick to wear with this look because it doesn't really need any strong shade as such. Just make sure your lips are well moisturised with a touch of lip balm and add a dash of lip gloss. You can opt for either a clear gloss or reach for a peachy or nude tone that keeps the lips soft and pastel coloured.

3. Cheeks are bronzed

You can get away without blusher on this look but so as to avoid the lilac on the eyes draining the colour from the rest of the face you need to add a hint of colour. Add a bronzing powder to the cheek bones to contour the face. If you want to, add some to the temples and underneath the chin area for a well-sculpted and lifted face.

4. Lilac isn't restricted to the eyes!

Try it on your nails or lips as well for more pastel perfection. The key to this look however is all about making the lilac the centre of attention. Lilac can be quite a powerful colour and too much of it can make the look dated or make you look older than you really are. So if you can work in the lilac in your eyes/lips/nails but avoid it all over then all the better.

So now you have the tips on how to achieve this spring/summer makeup trend, here's a few tools to help you on your way!

For the foundation:

• Pick a moisturising/hydrating formula, rather than a full-on matte version.
  
  
• If you have oily or combination skin and are worried about looking more greasy than goddess with this then use your regular foundation
  
  
• To achieve the dewy, fresh effect you'll need some highlighting fluid/liquid. Benefit's High Beam and MAC's Strobe Cream are both perfect.
  
  
• Then powder with some translucent powder, but avoid going heavy with it - a light application is all that's needed. You don't want to lose the effort you went to when adding the highlighter

For the bronzer:

• I recommend using a matte bronzer as opposed to a shimmery bronzer as otherwise there will be too much shimmer going on making the face look too polished.
  
  
• MAC make a great matte bronzer called Blunt or for a more purse friendly alternative GOSH sell fantastic matte bronzers as well.

For the lovely lilacs:

• As for shades of lilac I really recommend MAC - Crystal, Idol Eyes, Digit and Beautiful Iris are all fab colours perfect for this look.
  
  
• As for lilac lipsticks, MAC's Saint Germain is gorgeous, as is their Pervette.

The Mission to find a Face Primer...

A few weeks ago I was asked to review a face primer - specifically one of the new Urban Decay face primers that came out recently. I didn't rate it at all. Not one to leave it at that I wanted to seek out an alternative that could come in handy for all you makeup lovers. I chose to buy and trial Too Faced's Primed and Poreless Face Primer.

Could I find it at any of the Too Faced counters? Nope. I tried Boots, Debenhams and even online stores that sell Too Faced (which isn't many at the moment). None of them had it in stock. I then checked the shelf labels at the counters to see if it was supposed to be in, hoping that they were perhaps awaiting delivery but none of the shelf labels listed the primer at all. It would appear that no UK Too Faced counter/online store sells the face primer... Bizarre.

Now I'm feeling sheepish for saying I'd buy it and review it before I even got my hands on it. Having said that, considering practically all of the Too Faced range is available in stores you'd think that the primer would be too...

I'm very sorry for not being able to deliver the review, but I promise the quest hasn't stopped there! I will continue to search long and hard for an alternative primer to Urban Decay's but in the meantime I can't recommend enough the GOSH primer that I myself use everyday to keep my foundation in place!

But I didn't want this post to be all bad news. Instead of reviewing their primer, I decided to get my hands on one of the Too Faced eyeshadow kits. They look so cute in all of their packaging and this one in particular just drew me in. I must say I'm pretty impressed...

Too Faced's Natural Eye Kit

Natural eyes, whilst many of us want to achieve them on a day to day basis, can be quite difficult to achieve. Well this is where this kit comes in handy. All the eyeshadows come in a box and when you lift the lid you'll discover 9 different eyeshadow colours, along with 3 different helpful cards telling you how to complete various looks depending on what you're after and the occassion.

The eyeshadows are nicely laid out together so you know which shadows to use for each look. Of the looks available you can choose from:

• Day
• Classic
• Fashion

'Day' is the nudest look, and the eyeshadows needed for this look are the top row within the box. You'll find a lovely cream colour 'Heaven' for the highlight, a nice nude brown shade 'Velvet Revolver' for the lids, and a lovely coffee colour, 'Sexpresso' for the accent shade.

The second row belongs to the 'Classic' look. Here you'll find 'Silk Teddy', a shimmery soft pink shade to go as a highlight, 'Pushup' and 'Erotica' as your shade for your crease.

The final row as you may have guessed is designed for the 'Fashion' look. These three shades consist of 'Nude Beach', 'Honey Pot' and 'Cocoa Puff'.

The first thing you'll notice about these shades even by just dipping your finger in them and not using a primer or base is that they are really pigmented and are of very high quality. I was really impressed with the strength of the colour achieved, so with an eyeshadow base you really don't need that much to achieve the look you're after. They also blend beautifully and their lasting power? Perfect. They don't budge at all.

I'm perhaps not so fond of the shimmery highlight colours as the other shades in the kit but that's just down to personal preference really.

The kit retails at £22.00 which isn't very cheap but you do get 9 eyeshadows for that price, all neatly and well presented within a box which is very light and compact and you could easily take

it away with you on holiday or for that weekend away! Plus with the added bonus of the cards you can really learn from them again and again and perfect those natural peepers.

I really love this eyeshadow set and to prove it I keep using it time and time again both on myself and on others so it really has become a staple in my kit.

*Gasp* Sneak Peak - MAC Holiday 09 goodies...

Ok, somewhere on my makeup grapevine, I found about these little treasures. Yes, every Christmas hols, as many of you may know, MAC release special limited edition kits over the holiday season.

I've just found out about this year's kits and they're so adorable! They'll be offering lip kits, eye palettes, face kits and a bronzing face kit, all packaged in beautiful metal cases with colourful spheres corresponding to the shades of blush, eyeshadows, etc. that they house!!

Here's a hand-picked selection from all of the kits on offer this winter, bearing in mind that in total there will be 8 kits on offer! These are the ones that I'm keen to try out most:

'Devil May Dare' Warm Eyeshadow Palette
'Dare Ya!' - light frosty peachy pink
'Devilishly Dark' - rich brown with gold pearl
'Oh My Darling' - pale frosty cream
'Prankster' - mid-tone frosted olive
'Sorcery' - blackened burgundy
'Gold Tease' - frosty mid-tone gold

'Mystic' Cool Eyeshadow Palette
'Cool Incantation' - opalescent white gold
'Shhh, Don’t Tell' - pale neutral pink
'Blue Enchantment' - dark frosted turquoise
'Rose Potion' - mid-tone frosted rose
'Deep Secret' - deep frosted indigo
'Violet Vow' - deep cool brown

'Hocus Focus Colourful' Face Kit
'Pretty Baby' Beauty Powder - soft baby pink
'Peachykeen' Powder Blush - mid-tone peach with pearl
'Sunsparked' Pearl Beauty Powder - frost warm beige with pearl

UK prices and more pics will be on their way when I know more - *watch this space!*

Good things come in small packages!

Right now I'm loving all of the mini makeup kits that are coming out! They're perfect for that weekend away where you don't want to haul your entire makeup collection along, or you want to take something along as a safety measure for a night on the tiles, but only have a little clutch bag with you.

These are some of the mini makeup wonders I really love (and want)...

Benefit's Justine Case

This cleverly named box has all you need to refresh yourself when out and about, on a date or just because! It contains mini versions of some of Benefit's best-selling products:

'Some Kinda Gorgeous' - what Benefit call a 'foundation faker', this a pressed sheer cream-to-powder that apparently blends in to most skin tones - I'm curious about this one as it sounds quite intriguing!

'Benetint' lips & cheeks tint - yes I know it comes in what looks like a nail varnish bottle, complete with a nail varnish brush, but it's not. It's a very rouge liquid tint - in some ways it intimidates me because it is so red, but I'm still keen to try!

'California Kissin'' - lip gloss with a difference. This gloss has a slightly blue hue to it to make teeth appear whiter. It's also minty to freshen your breath!

'Eyecon' is Benefit's eye cream that provides additional 'fading action'. You can use it any time of day or night and it's supposed to soften fine lines and lighten those pesky undereye shadows.

Benefit's Smokin' Eyes

This is an all-in-one kit that has everything you need to create smoky eyes and perfectly groomed brows. It comes with 3 shadows (pink highlight shadow, pewter base and deep charcoal), a black 'Smokin'' eyeliner, 'Eye Bright' brightener, mini fluffy shadow brush and mini hard angled brush, Brow Zings wax, mini tweezers and a little leaflet with a 'How to' lesson.

TheBalm's Shady Lady Palette

I only heard about TheBalm fairly recently but this palette's been out since last year and is a limited edition exclusive to U.S. department store Sephora. They're a U.S. brand not yet selling over here *sigh* but that still doesn't deter me, there must be some left in the world somewhere! : ) Their cute branding and packaging is very similar to that of Benefit's in fact. TheBalm's Shady Lady Eyeshadow Palette contains 9 'long-lasting' eyeshadows that can be used wet or dry.

The variety of shades on offer make this small palette really flexible, so if you're at work and end up going out for some spontaneous partying at the last minute, fear not - this little gem will help you smoke up your look from daytime to nighttime in no time! The shades on offer are:

Caught in the Act Courtney (rich brown with gold sparkle)

Shameless Shana (tahitian bronze)

Luscious Lani (icy pink champagne)

Jealous Jordana (rich shimmering green)

Risque Renee (dark navy blue sheen)

Curvy Cami (plum shimmer with gold flecks)

Jet-Setting Jennifer (pale gold shimmer)

All About Alex (olive shimmer)

Easy Wheezie (gunmetal gray shimmer)

In the word's of Garth and Wayne from Wayne's World - They will be mine. Oh yes. They will be mine.

Image Source

Images courtesy of Benefit and Sephora

Popping my Benefit cherry...

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend - I LOVED the sunshine, I made the most of it on Sunday in the pub garden - true bliss! Oh and I also had a very interesting haul weekend. I swung by the Benefit counter at my House of Fraser on Saturday as I normally do to look at what they have to offer.

I've heard hit and miss things about Benefit's collection, but their counter always gets me looking due to their quirky product names and even cuter packaging and branding! Some people don't like it at all but I think it's very vintage - what's not to love?!

The only thing that's really ever put me off is their pricing - some of their products are two times more expensive than their more established counterparts and I've found that interesting since Benefit have been around for a fraction of the time in the UK. Still I gave them a shot for the first time the other day and I must say I'm impressed! Here's what I bought...

Hello Flawless!

This is Benefit's brand new hot-off-the-counter product so you may not have heard of it yet but go along to your local Benefit counter and give it a go! It is also my favourite buy from my Benefit haul so I have to tell you about this one first :-)

Hello Flawless! is a cover-up powder that really does do what it says on the tin... or box! As I was in the market for a new foundation I thought I'd give it a go. The cover up powder comes in 7 shades so there's a shade suitable for everyone, I'm "Me Vain? Champagne" and each powder comes in a compact with a mirror, sponge and small brush.

The great thing about it is it also has SPF 15 which is something I've been on the hunt for for a while. My current foundation's been letting me down recently and the other downside is that it doesn't contain any SPF in it for that extra mile of protection. More and more of us are being made aware of the damaging effect the sun's rays can have on our skins and after seeing many demonstrations of the damage on television I think it's too late to be ignorant.

The only trouble is my current SPF protection cream that I put on before foundation is a little too greasy and heavy for my liking. It cancels out all of the effort that I go to in eliminating oil on my skin and not to mention the smell - I can't really describe it other than think of the unpleasant greasy smell you can get from some sun lotions, but instead sits on the face all day right under your nose. Bleh. So having the advantage of an all-in-one SPF & foundation is a God-send!

The cover up powder provides 3 forms of coverage:

1) Sheer coverage - for those of you who like your coverage light and just want a quick dusting, use the brush provided and sweep onto your face in upward and outward motions starting from the centre of the face.

2) For concealing spots or dark circles use the sponge and dab the powder onto any, as Benefit call them, "boo boos" :-) Keep building up for ideal coverage.

3) For full coverage use the sponge to apply the powder as you would with the brush.

Because I have a few blemishes and ruddyness in my skin I prefer to use the sponge for concealing and also all-over coverage. I was so impressed as I swept it on, I dabbed it onto a couple of recent blemishes I had and in no time at all and with very little product they disappeared. To finish off my face I swept the rest of the powder across my cheeks and forehead very quickly and easily and I found I was done. SO much quicker than my liquid foundation!

Putting this on seems virtually effortless, it seems so quick and easy and the great thing about it is that the powder doesn't look powdery on the face - it doesn't cake up even where I've layered it on in the blemishy areas! I'm so impressed with the match to my skin colour, there's no clear line/tide marks so it doesn't look as if I'm wearing a mask of foundation. It just looks natural and I love that because it's a powder it keeps the oil at bay for most of the day.

The ultimate test now will be waiting to see if it causes breakouts. It's not non-comedogenic so I'm waiting to see if I get some spots as a result of using it. After only two days of use it's hard to tell at this stage but if it doesn't cause problems I will most definitely be buying this product in future!

The powder retails at £24.50 which I know is a little on the not-so-very budget side but trust me give it a go at least, it's very, very good!

Coralista

This is a blush that I think has been one of their best-selling products for a while now. It comes in a very cute leopard print box with its own small wooden blush brush. The blush, as you can probably guess from the name, is a coral, pinky colour - perfect for someone like me who has a natural pinky blush to my skin anyway.

When I first used the blush on myself I noticed it actually has a scent - it smells a little like raspberries! I think quite a few of Benefit's products are scented, as I tried a bronzing powder of theirs which smells like roses. So it might not be recommended for those of you with sensitive skins who might react to scented products.

This blush is very good however, you can build it up as you apply to take it to the level that you like. I'm new to blush so I'm always a little timid with it as there's a fine line between looking like an English rose and a clown! I'll certainly be adding this to my beauty routine more often as it gives the right level of warmth to the skin :-)

Coralista is £22.50.

Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner

I've never tried a cream eyeshadow before so decided to get hold of this when the MUA tried some on me to bring out the bluey greens in my eyes. I bought the shade Birthday Suit which is a lovely nude brown or as Benefit describe, a brushed chrome colour.

This stuff is very creamy and shimmery and feels very smooth as it goes on. I was a little worried that cream shadows might feel a little thick and heavy but not this one. It blends great and you can build it up from a sheer sweep of colour to a deeper wash of colour, or use it for contouring in the crease of your eye for added depths!

It mixes nicely with other eyeshadows so don't worry about blending. Plus it can double up as a fantastic eyeliner if you take an angled eyeshadow brush, run the edge of it through the cream shadow and then glide along the lash line for added wow!

I like this shade so much because it seems to be so versatile - it's most definitely a shade to be worn in the day, to work, or when built up and/or combined with other colours is perfect for a night on the tiles!

You can find this cream eyeshadow/liner for £13.00 from your local Benefit counter or on the Benefit website.

Image Sources
All images courtesy of Benefit

Miss K Co Makeup

Hey y'all!

OK for my second and final haul from my Vitality Show visit I'll be reviewing Miss K Co Makeup's Contour brush, Glitter Eyeliner in Blue, Bronze powder in Terra Cotta Blonde Bake and their eyeshadow pot in Green. This haul costed me a bargainous £12 on special offer.

I'd never heard of Miss K Co before so these guys came as a total surprise. Having visited their website since the show I think they must be fairly new as the site's pretty much under construction and sadly none of the products have been added to the site yet so you can't buy online right now. Because of this I can't give you a standard price list of what these products would cost you ordinarily. And I can't tell you where to find their products in the shops as there's no mention of this yet. I will keep checking the website though and if there are any updates I'll let you know!

When at the show however the flamboyant ladies brandishing their brushes kept jumping at us to try their stuff out so I thought why not! I wasn't so keen at their enthusiasm to use the same brush on every person's face so readily but hopefully I haven't contracted an eye infection that's incubating LOL! (It still horrifies me that hygiene still has no place in these events and at some counters, I wig out a little when I see them double dip and happily take the same brush to a thousand faces! However this is another story...)

Contour Brush

This brush has quite a long handle for easy control and the hair is quite soft - I'm not sure if the brush is natural or synthetic hair as there's no info available yet but I assume from the appearance it's synthetic. It's not quite as fluffy or as full-bodied as the MAC Contour Brush (168) but because it's soft on the skin I prefer it to the MAC 168 as that has the potential to be a bit scratchy from time to time. I haven't seen how well Miss K Co's Contour brush would fair being washed yet (as some of the cheaper brushes on the market shed like mad when being cleaned, reducing their life span) but hopefully I won't have any troubles with that.

Glitter Eyeliner in Blue

This glitte eyeliner is quite watery - i.e. there's more gel than glitter pieces unlike glitter eyeliners from high-end brands where I find the brush comes out smothered in glitter lol! At the prices offered though, you can't really expect them to be in the same high-end category.

The blue however is very dazzling, it's a midnight blue and I'd say a great addition to an outfit for nights on the town, or even dressing yourself up for dinner because the blue isn't too bright or offensive. :-)

Bronzer in Terracotta Blonde Bake

This bronzing powder comes in a cake form and as the lady on the counter demonstrated, it has many purposes other than a bronzer:

1. You can use it to gently bronze the key areas where the sun would naturally hit your face, forehead, cheek bones, chin, nose or even the decollete!

2. You can use it as an overall dusting to give you a little glow - gently swirl your powder brush once round the cake and then dust lightly over the face to give yourself a little sparkle for an evening out (or to fake that "Yeah-I've-just-been-abroad" look when really you only went to Skegness!) Please note: don't go heavy-handed with this stuff or you'll end up looking like your face needs a much-needed wash rather than a sparkly fresh diva!

3. Or if you take an eyeshading brush to the cake you can layer up some nice pinky colour to your eyelids. The lady at the counter tried this on me but I wasn't too taken. I have blue eyes, fair skin and reddish hair so I don't think it complimented my features, but if you don't go too heavy or you can afford a reddy-pink wash over your eyelids then go for it! I think if I try this again with a combination of other colours though, this might work for me so I'll have an experiment.

There really is a lot of flexibility with this little number and a little goes a long way. It's also a mineral bronzer meaning that it's kind to the skin and colour impact is great. Unfortunately though having tried this myself for contouring my cheeks I'm not overly sure - the shade is rather red and I don't feel I need that shade of colour for my complexion. I think however I may have taken a little too much on the brush the first time I tried it, so I think a little-by-little approach is advisable, go easy with it and you can always build on the colour as you go! I'm going to keep giving it a chance and see how I go with it.

Eyeshadow in Green

This came in quite a large shaker pot of loose light grassy green eyeshadow. I chose this colour as I love greens and this shade would compliment my hair colour. It's possibly the best green I've ever bought. I think it's also a very flexible shade as on it's own with a little kohl pencil it makes a very pretty look for work or a day out in the sun! Built up with stronger, darker colours it could transform into a wild-child look in moments!

I find I have to use a lot of this to get the desired strength in colour but once I'm there, it's a really nice shade that I know I'll get plenty of use out of in the future. As I'm not sure what the eyeshadows normally retail at it's hard to say if I'd buy again as I don't know the range of colours on offer and I think that would be the deciding factor. I wouldn't really be prepared to pay anything more than £5-6 for this eyeshadow - anything more would be put me off because you have to use so much to get it to show up!

Overall I think Miss K Co, from what I have seen of their collection, have a nice range of products to offer - it's just a shame that you can't get hold of more info on them right now. However I would suggest going to the website and getting in touch with Kathy, as she may be able to send you a catalogue for more details.

Go to www.misskco.com to get in touch!

Image Sources

Image courtesy of http://www.indiamart.com

Helen E Shimmer Eye Powder & Sparkle Glitter Pots review

As I mentioned the other day in my post about the Vitality Show I bought myself a heap of Helen E eye shimmers and glitters to add to my growing make-up collection.

I'd never previously heard of Helen E but once I did a little research into them I learnt that they are based at selected Debenhams stores here in the UK. Not only that but their makeup is decently priced! They sell a range of makeup from eyeshadows to blush right the way through to tools. I managed to buy 6 Shimmer Eye Powders for £10 and 3 Sparkle Glitter Pots for £5, however a special discount was applied as it was the Vitality Show.

Shimmer Eye Powders

Ordinarily their eye shimmers retail at £4.99 each (and their glitters retail at the same price). The shimmers are loose and come in small shaker pots so be warned they're a tad messy as they're loose and the powder isn't very fine. I've tried three of the shades out of the six I have and created a nice subtle daytime look with Shade 2 - a creamy, vanilla shade great for highlighting, Shade 17 - a warm coffee colour and Shade 18, a chocolate brown great for accenting.

At first I wasn't really won over - even with my Urban Decay primer, I was really struggling to get the desired strength in colour. I had to use quite a bit to build the colour up a lot. Funnily enough, when at the show my friend asked the lady who sold me these if they were mineral shades and she replied that they weren't, but added that mineral shades don't normally deliver the same level of colour as their shimmer pots.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. I've used plenty of mineral shades since the mineral craze launched last summer and have never struggled to get the depth of colour the way I did with these. In fact normally, mineral shades are great for the "less is more" advantage! And another part of me felt that the shades, even though I didn't go crazy with them, had the potential to look a little cheap once applied. You could say that it's what you pay for at £4.99 a pot, but with Barry M offering some fantastic shades with great colour payoff and fab quality at the same price, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect Helen E to deliver the same great results too.

Obviously if you're not into sparkly, shimmery shades then these won't be for you. The fallout is almost unavoidable and annoyingly it's not necessarily the powder but the tiny, tiny pieces of glitter that you find half way down your cheeks, which are harder to spot unless you're in direct sunlight. Once I'd applied them however and let the colours settle I felt happier with them. I think if I'm to use these shades more often in the future it will be for work and days out - i.e. for subtler washes of colour.


Sparkle Glitter Pots

Out of their selection of glitters, I bought Red Disco, Penny Copper and Blue Disco. All of their glitters come totally loose rather than in a fixing agent such as a gel or liquid, so again be careful of the mess. You can buy a fixing gel separately from Helen E for £7.99 . However you may find you don't need it sometimes, the glitter gets everywhere and sticks quite easily to the skin without the aid of a gel. Alternatively you can use a base (if applying to the eyelids) such as a MAC Shadestick or primer to give the glitter something to cling to. I tried Blue Disco on top of MAC's Shadestick in Sharkskin - the results were very impressive!

These glitters are fabulous, the glitter's aren't fine like MAC glitters though so make sure if you buy these you're after big-bang glitter for nights out and fancy dress or wild looks for the camera! The selection of colours are very striking and deep and can really add impact to any look. They're multi-purpose so can be used anywhere on the face or body, but be wary of getting them in your eyes! They are eye-safe but the glitter pieces are fairly large.

Just make sure you've invested in a great makeup remover - this glitter is as stubborn as a mule when it comes to removing it! Even my makeup remover which is fantastic at dissolving the most hardcore of makeup struggles to lift this glitter.

Overall I think the value for money on both of these products are great so I give them a 4 out of 5 there. However I probably won't purchase the eye shimmers again as the colours don't deliver well enough for me and I worry that they may look low-quality once applied so performance-wise I give them a 2 out of 5. The eye glitters however are great fun and I think once my collection of these is running low I may re-invest :-) So I give them a 3 out of 5 for performance!

Visit here for more on the Helen E collection!

Image Sources

Both images courtesy of www.helen-e.com

Three wishes!

I've never been able to get my eyeshadow or eyeliner to sit where it should. If I put eyeshadow on in 2-3 hours it will have disappeared - I only end up finding it in the creases of my eyelids hidden from all to see!
The same goes for eyeliner - off it pops into the crease of my eye when it's supposed to be on my upper lash line and worst still - tumbling down my face when it's supposed to be on my lower lash line - making me look like the Sweeney Todd!

I'd been reading tonnes of rave reviews about Urban Decay's Primer Potion so I had to see what all of the fuss was about. It's won a few awards as best cosmetic product by many magazines and retailers.
Ever since I can remember Urban Decay's counters have always got me excited, they have awesome names for their products (Asphyxia and Acid Rain to name just a couple)! Their packaging is quirky and very pretty with lots of gorgeous colours of lipglosses, eyeliners and eyeshadows to boot!

Their Primer Potion, as you can see from the piccie on the right, comes in a cute little purple bottle with a silver lid. The packaging has been designed to look a little like a genie's lamp with the swirly details etc. The lid acts as an applicator, and when you open the bottle you'll see a brush attached for application.

It's approx. £11.50 for a bottle, but I got hold of a full size bottle included in the Ammo Eyeshadow box set - which is to celebrate Urban Decay's 10th birthday! (Go get it now!) The first thing to note with this product is very little goes a long, long way - a product feature that I ALWAYS love! In fact if you use too much you won't get begin to notice adverse effects, such as it can either cause crinkling in your eyeshadow (which makes your eyelids look aged) or it creates a layer that's hard to work with and causes difficulty when trying to blend the shadows. So go easy with it. What comes out on the applicator will be enough for one eyelid! Also make sure to blend it in with your fingers or a brush before you apply your eyeshadow!

The primer promises three benefits: more intense colour, no creasing and eyeshadow and eyeliner that stays put all day! I can certainly vouch for all three! The difference between eyeshadow used with and without this product is amazing! I even noticed it on the back of my hand when I sampled some in-store and that was with the sample bottle of Primer I'd used having only the dregs left in it!

No creasing is certainly guaranteed, each time I had a look at my eyelids during the day, I couldn't see any shadow creeping into the creases of my lids. And finally yes, the eyeshadow stayed where it was meant to, by the end of the day my eyeshadow looked the same as it did when I first applied it in the morning! I was very impressed! My sister can also vouch for this as I did her make-up using the Primer for a special occassion and she said it did not budge!

The only down side is its packaging, which is a common bugbear of many a make-up lover! The bottle is pretty but also pretty small - however I know that this stuff will last me a long time because I only need to use very, very little at a time. Due to the curves in the bottle, a lot of primer hides away. So when you think you've ran out, in actual fact you have a lot more left than you think! I've been hearing from other users that you can even get another 6-12 months' worth of use out of the remaining primer that sits in the curves.

The only way to get to it is to get a junior hacksaw or knife and and cut open the bottle at both beneath the bottle's neck and half an inch above the bottom to empty the contents out. You can find tutorials on how to do this on YouTube. Be sure however to empty the primer into a well-sealed container or the primer will dry out and become useless! If you're a bit worried about cutting the bottle yourself I'd suggest getting someone to help as you don't want any nasty accidents!

Overall I think it would be a good idea for Urban Decay to reconsider their packaging for this product, however I can see where they're coming from, as it does communicate the unique genie in a bottle message! But it might be worth them making it so you can pull out a stopper at the bottom of the bottle or something similar so customers can get to the remainder that hides!