Lou's Reviews || Collection 2000 Glow Getter

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

You know those products you have, that might not be the most glamorous high end products, but you use them day after day until they are old and tatty but you just LOVE them? Well Collection 200 Shimmer Shades 'Way to Glow' is my one of those. 

I bought it about 2 months ago and have found myself using it every single day since. Now, as an extreme beauty junkie, this is high praise indeed!!

I use the 2 darker brown shades under my cheek bone to contour and this gives the illusion of a shadow. You want to create this illusion because it then makes people subconsciously think your cheekbones are more prominent and your face is slimmer. It's a great little trick if you have a round face or a bit of extra chub like I do.

(Mmmm maybe I should just felt tip on myself. It's so shexy!)

Above that (so on the lower part of my cheek bone) I use the peachy blush shade and then above that to highlight, the pearly shade. I tend not to use the peach and pearl shades too often as I have other blushers and highlighters that I enjoy, but the two brown colours are a staple. 

I love that there is a warm and a cool toned bronzer in this kit as I can match this according to weather I am (fake!) tanned or au naturally pale. 

The packaging is sturdy and functional. It's not the most beautiful item I own, but it does the job, never pings open in my makeup bag, is clear plastic so you can see what you have and isn't unnecessarily bulky. 

I have found the pigmentation of this to be fantastic, my slanted contour brush (which I sell in mine and Zoe's SHOP in the mineral collection) picks up the pressed powder beautifully and it has EXCELLENT staying power.

Really, at £4.19, you'd be silly not to add this to your kit. I find myself choosing it over my much more expensive products- crazy.

All in all, I literally cannot fault this quad. Great formula, impressive lasting times, good packaging, bargain price. 10/10.

Do you have any 'must have' staple items like this? Share in the comments and we can all diminish our bank accounts! haha!

Toodlepip!

xx

This month my Ultimate Advertiser is Confessions of a Secret Shopper. If you would like to know more about advertising on Sprinkle of Glitter, check out my 'Sponsor' page up at the top! 

FOTD :: Beauty UK Exhibition

Aloha Bloggerinos,

I'm a bit late posting this but I have been soooo busy with Baby Glitter, my YouTube channel, working at fanx.com (A cool way to say thanks, dontchya know) HQ (if you can call working 'playing on swivell chairs with Baby Glitter and throwing ideas at Lee' working!), taking up sewing again and keeping my house nice! Sheesh I'm shattered just typing it all out, let alone doing it!

Anyhoo, I decided to have a play with lime green to match my top. I love to match things.

Gargh I forgot to put foundation and powder in there! It's MAC Studio Sculpt NW15 and Collection 2000 Ivory Pressed Powder. Oopsie!

Any questions, let me know :)

Toodlepip!

xx

Lou's Reviews :: Boot No.7 Equisite Curl Mascara

Aloha Bloggerinos,

Like many other Beauty Bloggers, I was sent this mascara a few weeks ago, to try out and let you know what I think.

If like me, you have an unhealthy obsession with reading everyone elses blogs, you will have read reams of stuff about this product, but just to join the masses, here is my opinion of it.

 

I've mentioned a few times, I am a mascara whore. I struggle to stay faithful to a mascara for more than a couple of months, so am always very open minded to new wandy friends. I was quite excited to try this, I'll admit because I thought the lilac chunky packaging was fun, but alas, I'm not in love.

This mascara has a curled bristle head that promises to curl my lashes and do all sorts of fabulousness. It doesn't. As far as drugstore mascaras go, it's alright. It separates the lashes and does give a bit of length but I have seen better results from the likes of Collection 2000 (I'm still loving the skyscraper one), Bourjois and GOSH, for less that £10, which is what this is retailing at. This is an introductory price and I believe it will soon be £13. I shan't go into it too much because I don't want to slate something that is good, just not good for me, but you get the jist.

Now, I'm definitely not saying this is rubbish, infact, I know another Beauty Blogger who is yet to do a review on this and she bloomin' well LOVES it. She can't stop ravving about it, which goes to show that everyone is different.

At the moment, if you spend £5 in Boots on anything (so if like me you are on a spending ban, you can claim it's for essentials like toothpaste- I love a good loophole), you will be given a £5 Off voucher for No.7 products. Boots are also running an offer (or at least they were last week), where if you buy this Equisite Curl Mascara, you receive a free eyeshadow palette. Soooo, with the intro offer price of £10, your £5 off voucher, you can have this mascara aannnddd a palette. Quite a good deal, non?

Have you tried this? What did you think?

Toodlepip!

xx

Lou's Reviews :: Collection 2000- March Range

Aloha Bloggerinos,

Last week I was kindly sent a few bits from Collection 2000 that will be hitting the shelves this March and so I thought I'd give you a sneak peak and my glittery opinion of them.

I am always really grateful when companies send me products to review, it's definitely a perk of blogging, but I do want to make it clear that I'm not paid by them or anything serious like that, so this means I can be completely honest- woop :)

This is the Ultimate Fix foundation in '02 Honey', that will be retailing at £4.99- bargain. It claims to be a 3 in 1 powder, foundation and concealer but from what I can tell, it's more of a cream to powder effect foundation, ie, it goes on like a foundation and then sets like a powder. However, I think if you were to have any blemishes that you wanted to give a bit of extra love to, you could easily just build up the product a bit in that area because it is tres creamy.

I would class this as giving a light to medium coverage, depending on how thickly you apply it, either with the sponge provided (very nice touch because there is also a mirror which would be uber handy if you were on the go or away for the weekend) or with your own tools (brushes, wedges, fingers).

(Below the foundation compartment is a secret layer of sponge and mirror. I do love a good compact)

This reminds me so much of Benefit's 'Some Kinda Gorgeous' foundation faker, which is my best friend during the summer months when I am sporting a (fake) tan and don't want too much on my face. I was comparing the both of them this morning and found I actually preferred the consistency of the Collection 2000 formula- it seemed more moist/creamy and this gave you a little more blending time.

Packaging wise I'm a happy bunny. Everything you need- product, mirror, sponge; shuts securely so no all-over-the-inside-of-your-handbag situations, sleek, simple, not gawdy or tacky. Win win.

Next up on our little sneaky peaky journey is the SkyScraper Length and Definition Mascara, which I have in '01 Black' and that will be retailing for another bargainous £4.99.

The wand of this mascara is very unusual in that it is a plastic bristle brush but one one side the bristles are longer than the other. It took me a little while to get the hang of this, but now that I have I'm really loving it. The short bristles let me get really close to the lash root on to fully coat the teensy weeny lashes on the inner corner, and the longer bristles let you kind of cuuurrrll your lashes upwards, thus creating length.

This mascara basically does exactly what it says on the tin. There is no thickening or volumising but there is definitely lenghtening and defining, thanks to the special applicator wand. This is a perfect daywear mascara, for when you want to feel fluttery and feminine but not too 'done'.

Packaging-wise I rreeeaaallllly like it. It's so unusual to see a white mascara and I'm having a bit of a thing for white things at the mo, so again, I'm a happy bunny.

The third product I have are the new 'Lock 'n' Hold' lipglosses. There will be 6 new shades coming out, of which I have 5. At £2.99 a pop and with such 'out there' packaging, I would say these will be well loved by a slightly younger buyer. I'm 25 and perhaps a bit fuddy-duddy, but I do prefer more sophisticated packaging. My 14 year old sister however, really liked them and thought the foundation packaging was 'boring', so it goes to show that everyone is different. 

Once I'd had my little think on the pink lid and graffiti writing, I was actually really impressed with the actual gloss formula. Shiny, shimmery, good staying power (it claims to last 6 hours but I didn't actually keep it on this long so couldn't tell you if this is a fact or not) and nice buildable colours. If you are a fan of lilac (do you remember last year when everyone went gaga for lilac lipstick?) then there is a shade in there just for you! 

(Colours- Break Dance, Rock Steady, Twisted Disco, Beat Box, Urban Punk)

Two unique selling points to these glosses that I noticed are 1) The Wand and 2) The Scent. The applicator wand is a spatula shaped sponge that I have never come across before. I do prefer doe foot wands but this is manageable and does provide as good a coverage as the doe foot. It is slightly more flexible, which some may like, some may not.

The scent is really unusual for a lipgloss- it smells just like victoria sponge cake (to me anyway!).

I think these are a really good price, something that a girl new to cosmetics would be able to afford on something she would enjoy to have in her stash.  

If you're interested in what else Collection 2000 has to offer, click HERE.

What do you think Bloggerinos? Up your street?

Toodlepip!

xx

Lou's Reviews :: Collection 2000 vs Urban Decay

Aloha Bloggerinos,

As many of you will know, I am an avid fan of Lauren Luke (Panancea81) and her YouTube Makeup Tutorials.

In the last few, I have noticed she has used a Collection 2000 pressed eyeshadow in 'Frosting'. Seeing as Collection 2000 is so affordable (this 'Colour Intense Solo' eyeshadow is only £1.99), I decided to pick one up and give it a whirlybird. For £1.99 I wasn't expecting amazingness, I would have been happy with average but this little beauty has turned out to be a total gem!!

As with most white shadows, I use this on the inner corner of my eye to brighten or under the brow bone to highlight. It is a silvery white shade with teensy weensy finely milled silver sparkles- loves it!

I would compare this product to the Urban Decay single pressed eyeshadow in 'Polyester Bride'. Polyester Bride is also a silvery white colour with teensy weensy silver glitter flecks, except this product retails at around the £13 mark. Hmmm.

I have used both shadows in the same way (inner eye corners and as highlighters) and can honestly say that I prefer the more affordable, Collection 2000 shadow as the colour payoff is more vivid and it has a more silky feel. Keeerrrrazzy when you look at the price difference!

 This isn't to say I don't like my UD shadows, I luurrvve them, I'm just pleased when I can find something just as good (if not a bit better) for a fraction of the price.

Both have good lasting power, are easy to remove and blend well- super.

Packaging-wise I prefer the Collection 2000 one again, as it is a lot more compact and I have never been a fan of the Urban Decay singles. The grey plastic compact feels really cheap and bleaugh to me, which is surprising considering how beautiful and gorgeous all their palettes are.

Lesson to be learnt- It doesn't always pay to be a cosmetics snob and sometimes the cheaper brands are winners. Do you know of any product dupes like this? Tell me tell me!

Toodlepip!

xx

Get Your Glitter On!

Aloha Bloggerinos,

As October looms ahead, I think we are well and truly into Autumn. For me, this is the most magical time of the year. Trees turn golden, you get to treat yourself to lovely coloured gloves and scarves, dig out your winter clothes that you forgot about, turn on the cosy lamps and drape thick blankets all over your lounge.

I also tend to feel more attractive in the Autumn. I think this is because I feel confident wearing dark purple nails and dark smokey eyes, rather than the lemons and pastels that summer tends to suggest to us. With the festive season (by far the best time of the year) on the horizon, I also feel that is it perfectly acceptable to smatter yourself in glitter. Yes, SMATTER!

There seems to be a bit of a glitter issue though which I would like to address. Yes, children love glitter, yes, 12 year olds love a load of sparkle at a school disco, and yes, I know the rule 'less is more'. That's all very well and good but what if you really happen to like large amounts of glitter? Should you stick to the so called rules and have a light shimmer over your collar bone or a dust of luster on your eyelids? I say NO!

If like me, you love the sparkly goodness and feel repressed by the very un sparkly rules, panic not. These rules aren't set in stone like the old testament, it's just what people say. Who bloomin' well cares?!! If you can stand tall and have confidence, get your glitz on!!

There are many ways you can incorporate glitter into your look and here are my top tips on how:

1. EYES- There are quite a few ways you can go about this one.

You can apply whatever look you were going for with matte or shimmer finish and then with a small, dry brush, dab on a little bit of sparkle in the outer corner of you eyes to give a bit of joosh.

These are a selection of my glitter pigments. Clockwise from the top : Too Faced-blue irridescant, MAC- gold, Topshop- Pink, NewLook- Silver holographic.  

You could do your 'look' and then either over regular eyeliner or in leau of, apply a bit of glitter eyeliner. I have tried many a glitter eyeliner, right from the cheap 2true brand (£1.95 per item), to Ubran Decay (£15 per liner). In my shamefully extensive experience, the best brands for this are Collection 2000 an 2True. I found some of the more expensive brands to have a very thin brush and sparse glitter flecks, as opposed to Collection 2000 that has a dense line of glitter particles and a wide variety of colours.

My Collection 2000 liners.

My favourite, is the 'all over' glitter effect. I have a nifty little thing from Collection 2000 that is double ended (ooer missus). One end is glitter and the other is an adhesive gel. I apply black eyeliner, and then cover the lid (but not the eyeliner) with the gel. Then, using a small dry brush, I apply glitter thickly over the area. The gel allows the glitter to stick to every bit of skin so it looks dense. I do this look with my MAC Gold glitter pigment that I bought from a LE range last Autumn. The best picture I could find of this look is from a night out so please excuse my idiotic pose, I was a little worse for wear!! To add the extra wow factor to this look, I wear false lashes too. What I will say, is this is a rather full on look, so it's not for daywear!

2. LIPS- Like eyes, lips are a very versatile face part for cosmetics.

To add some lip sparkle then the obvious choice is either a glittery lipgloss, shimmery lipstick or a mixture of both. I would suggest you try sticking glitter pigment to your lips though, it would be a bit weird and scratchy. If you were feeling adventurous you could try adding your fav colour of glitter pigment to clear lipgloss but I would ensure the glitter is very finely milled so it's not 'bitty'. Pretty much all brands will have a few sparkly lipglosses to choose from. I love the MAC Dazzleglass ones the very most because I find them to be sheeny shiny on my lips rather than gloopy poopy. I also have a regular lipglass in 'Oyster Girl', which is a nudey pink with a slight gold shimmer. This is nice as it's subtle, a good choice for the office I find.

If you have a particular favourite lipstick but want to glitz it up, just add a layer of clear sparkly gloss and your away. Beware though, if you are doing sparkly eyes, try not to do sparkly lips (unless you REALLY want too) as that can look a bit much even by my standards!!

 

3. HAIR. This is not an area of sparkle that I personally pop into, but for fancy dress, I have been known to go there.

The easiest way to glizt up your hair is with Glitter Hair Spray. This is just hairspray that as you spritz it, particles of glitter shoot out. You can buy all sorts of varieties with different coloured sparkles and you can pick them up in places like Boots, Superdrug or Savers. I don't personally own any glitter hairspray because I tend to go glitzy on my eyes or lips. However, last year for a Halloween Party (please see embarrassing story at the bottom), I wanted to put glitter in my hair but didn't want to fork out for the spray that I would never use again. Instead, I generously added regular spray and then with my fingers in a 'pinch of salt' fashion, threw on some of my glitter pigment. Big mistake! looked good for the do, took about 6 washes to get out! Use this technique with extreme caution.

4. BODY. Glitter on the body is all about quantity control. Too much and you look like a mirror ball, too little and it's not worth it.

For big nights out (oh how I miss those now I have ze bun in ze oven), I like to add a bit of shimmer to bare arms, shoulders and collar bones. For this look you have to pick your glitter wisely. In my experience, the best ones are very, very finely milled. If you have big chunks of glitter wacked across your cleavage, you run the risk of looking a little cheap, and I imagine this is not the look you were going for.

To achieve the shimmery body look you can go a few different directions. I personally use my glitter pigments and a large fluffy brush and simply dust them onto the skin. By using a brush you can control how much you are applying and build it up as you see fit. 

You can buy many cream based products that you apply like a lotion and in the mixture there is sparkle which will then be applied to the skin. I have used these previously but found them to either be drying or sticky. This is obviously a matter of personal opinion though.

Another route I take with body shimmer is Lush's GlitterBug massage bar. It smells divine, is under £3 (I think) and applies tiny blue/iridescent sparkles to your skin. Note to self: buy a new one/locate old one asap.

Hopefully you have enjoyed my glitter tips and haven't slipped into an eye strain induced coma because of the length! Mwahaha! 

What are your tippy-pips or are you all together anti-glitz?

Toodlepip!

xx

Little story as promised:

Do you remember my niece Issobelle? Well last year, I was having her a lot after school and spending lots of lovely time with her. My Auntie Jackie asked me if I wanted to bring her to a fancy dress halloween party near where she lives, with her kids and her friends kiddlywinks too. I said yes and was really excited because I LOVE dressing up! I dressed Issobelle in her princess outfit and then set to sorting myself out. I wasn't working and didn't want to shell out for an outfit so decided to pop my creative cap on and see what i could do.

I decided to go put on a mish mash of mental clothes, do crazy mental makeup and huuuggeeee glittery dragged-through-hedge-backwards hair, I was a FASHION VICTIM, taadaaa! I thought I looked AMAZING!! Even Issobelle said "wow!".

Feeling pretty confident we went to the par-tay that was being held at a local Toby Carvery (so please bare in mind regular members of the public were also there, along with the mothers of the kiddlywinks). 

Issobelle and I walked in, feeling pretty cool as Princess and the Fashion Victim, only to turn the corner and feel horror to the pit of my stomach. NONE, and I mean NONE of the other grown ups were in fancy dress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was stood there in a crazy mish mash of clothes and mental makeup and they were all in the restaurant like normal women!!!!!! Cuuurrrrrr-rringe!

xxxxx

Haulypops

Aloha Bloggerinos,

Just thought I'd give you a bit of eye candy before I review the items.

Here are a few bits I have accumulated recently- woop woop! I don't know why I decided to photograph on a wedding mag, fancied a little change but will be going back to plain backgrounds from now on! Phewf!

So here we have:

MUA Lipstick in Shade 7

Prestige Mineral Bronzing Powder in Glam Tan

Prestige Mineral Bronzing Powder in Rich Bronze

Collection 2000 Big Fake Lashes Mascara

L'Oreal Volume Mineral Lashes Mascara

I shall do a series of Lou's Reviews on these soon.

I still want to do a Curvy Girl's OOTD for Pool Wear but I am really apprehensive about it because swimwear is my biggest hurdle. I want to do it to show that there are lots of ways to feel more confident, but I just need to take my own advise and stop being such a wuss!!

Toodlepip!

xx

LUSH GIVEAWAY WINNER

Well ladies, the time has come to announce the winner of my Lush Giveaway! Thank you to all of you who entered, you're great!

Some of you put some tres amusing comments for "enter me", like "throw my name into the goblet of fire" and one lady gave me a very interesting fact about boobs and strawberries.....!

I expect you are all waiting now for the winner, who was selected at random (if I see another excel spreadsheet again it will be too soon!), drumroll please.........................our winner is................

LEANNEBAYBEE

Congratulations lovely Leanne! I'll drop you a little email to find out your address and shall get your lushious Lush loot in the post ASAP!

For those of you that weren't so lucky, panic not! I shall be doing another giveaway at some point and I'm toying with the idea of doing either a MAC one, or one with just British products (for those of you from across the pond and far away) like Barry M and Collection 2000. What do you think?

Anyhoo, let's all give LeanneBaybee and round of applause and I look forward to writing my upcoming Soap & Glory reviews!

Toodlepip! xxx

Lou's Reviews- Benefit vs Collection 2000

I have always been a believer of the phrase "you get what you pay for" and as and when I can afford it (which sadly isn't as often as I would like!), I have splashed out on MAC and Benefit for makeup and Clinique for skin care. On the whole, I would say that these high end brands are of better quality and give greater results. However, I have found an exception!

Now, this is not the only exception to the rule, I have found quite a few brilliant drugstore brands that I would buy over MAC and Benefit but this is the first I want to share with you. PRESSED POWDER.

I bought this Benefit Get Even Powder (In no. 2) about a year ago and when I first bought it, I was somewhat let down. The lady at the stand had insisted that it was the right shade for my skin tone and although I had my doubts, I was bamboozled by the Benefittyness and bought it for £22.50. Yikes!

I have found that this is too dark for my natural and very pale skintone but works a treat when I am fake tanned. The powder is lovely and smooth with very fine particles and doesn't dry my skin out. I usually brush a light dusting over foundation to set it nicely and erradicate that oily look that foundation can sometimes leave. It's easy to use at home with my brushes or on the go because of it's handy mirror and black puffy sponge thinygymabob.

I've had this a year and it's still going strong so you do get a fair amount- and so you bloomin's should for £22.50 eh!

So I was happy with my powder when I had a tan, but fake tanning is quite an upkeep and there are times when I like to embrace my natural hue. I didn't fancy forking out another whopping £22.50 so I opted for this little beauty above. It's from the Collection 2000 range which is a very affordable drugstore brand and I absolutely love it. It's products are so fun and frivellous and their glitter eyeliners are amazing! Review on those to come I think :)

Anyway, this is the finishing powder in Ivory for an easy £1.99 and it even claims to contain vitamin E and UVA and UVB suncreen- bargain! It goes is smoothly and silkily with my prestige fluffy brush (which by the way, is still sheading fibres- so not going for prestige brushes again thank you very much!) and sits really nicely on my foundation- I use Maybeline Dream Matt Mousse (ivory) for non tan days. I finishes my skin off nicely and doesn't leave little flakey dry patches like some powders can.

If I was asked to try these and not told which was which, I think I would struggle to differentiate between the two. The real difference is not in the product itself, but in the packaging. Collection 2000 offers the powder in a plastic palette with a pull off lid and little else, whereas Benefit displays the powder in a sleek black compact complete with mirror and sexy puff jobby-yummy!

So bloggerinos, what do you think? Do you think you get what you pay for, or that this is what we are led to believe by companies that want us to part with lots of our hard earned mula?

Toodlepip! xx