A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Who hasn’t dreamed of creating some makeups of their very own?  Leila and I sometimes spend an afternoon making lipglosses together from vaseline and food dye.  When we’re not doing that, we’re mixing up nail polishes to create some vile frankenpolish, inevitably throwing half a ton of glitter into the mix… just to make sure that it’s completely unwearable.  But boy, it sure is pretty to look at!

Last year, GOSH gave two customers the chance to create their own cosmetics in a competition held over on the brand’s instagram feed.  The two winners were delighted with the opportunity, and who can blame them?  One got to create a lipstick colour, the other… a nail polish shade.

Danielle Graves from Leeds, the nail polish creator, took colour inspiration from one of her son’s toys and transformed the eventual shade into a pretty blue with a subtle shimmer.  Danielle said:

“I was so shocked when I won, I love GOSH and I love Superdrug so to be able to create a make-up colour with them is incredible.  I’m so happy.  It’s great to think that other people liked the colour I picked enough to vote for it, my son loves Monsters Inc. and the picture I submitted is actually a close up of the fur on his favourite teddy bear.  It just screamed summer and bright and wow to me but at the same time reminds me of my little boy.”

It is indeed, a very pretty shade.  The flecks of shimmer give the polish the effect of sunlight on water, like a glistening tropical ocean.  Very summery indeed!  The formula on the shade is good, with two coats delivering adequate coverage and I had no issues with application or a shorter-than-average wear time.

Danielle’s nail polish is priced at £3.99 and is available instore at Superdrug

* press sample

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I’ve mentioned these maybe once or twice (or 7 or 8 times)…

When I first tried a GOSH Velvet Touch Liner, I was genuinely amazed at how they performed.  They just work.  They’re creamy and smooth to apply.  Once applied they don’t budge from the waterline on me for around 6 hours and if applied along the lower lashline, they don’t move until I remove my makeup that evening.

They come in an amazing array of colours and each pencil will set you back around a fiver.

I realised a few weeks ago, that since buying these I hadn’t reached for any of my other pencils (and eyeliner is kinda my ‘thing’, so I had a few!).  I ended up giving away, selling or binning my eyeliner stash and am now on the wonderful mission of hunting these down in every shade available.

Have you ever ‘purged’ your stash in such a way?  Now… if only I could do the same for mascaras…

GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Liners are priced at £5 each and are available from Superdrug (instore & online).  Don’t forget, there’s a Superdrug 3for2 promotion going on at the moment aswell!

Here’s that FOTD I promised showing the GOSH Smoky Eyes Palette I was sent.

Remember the one?

No, sorry not that one… I meant this one…

*alright, stop bitching about their crap stock imagery already*

Anyway, I was semi pleased that it wasn’t hugely pigmented as I find the Sleek MakeUP Graphite palette so hard to work with.  Although I was unsure if I would get much payoff from that light grey (2nd from right) at all…

And I was right! (which makes a change).

I do really like this for a non-overpowering smoky eye.  It feels more grown up, more genteel and sophisticated than the Sleek Graphite Palette.  Unfortunately, I got nothing from that pale grey shade at all.  I applied it in the crease and blended upwards but you just wouldn’t be able to tell.

I hereby class this a “nearly” palette… “nearly” good, but no cigar.

I was very excited to see the promo image for this latest GOSH collection which has been out for a little while now.

The eyeshadow palette in particular caught my eye:

*sigh* Such beautiful taupes…

Unfortunately for me, the stock image looks nothing like the product.  Way to go Mr. GOSH product photographer/retoucher.

This is what the palette really looks like:

Black to White… hey, where did my lovely taupes go?

I can’t really bitch too much – I was sent this by the nice people at GOSH.

Well I can bitch, ‘cos that’s what I do when I don’t like something… so yeah… where the hell was I?

Oh yes, it’s often helpful if the promo images reflect the actual product, don’t you think?

Let’s have a look at the packaging and see if the palette can redeem itself.

Oooh, a tutorial.  I’m a sucker for these and always happy to receive some inspiration and direction!

This is really nice, sturdy casing… good job!

2 eyeshadow applicators and a big mirror… all good stuff.

How about the actual shadows themselves?

Disappointing really…

They feel chalky and they’re simillar to Sleek shadows in as much as they’re quite soft and crumbly.  Shadow dust will fly everywhere when picking up the colour with a brush.

That’s where the Sleek comparison ends.  Unlike Sleek these give very little payoff in terms of colour.  Wanna see?

That third grey from the left is a real bastard to get much out of. *swipe, swipe, swipe*.

Having said that… hand on my heart, I don’t mind at all in this instance.  I usually err on the side of heavy-handedness when it comes to applying eye shadows and with a palette of this nature, my looks usually end up all black and not much else.

The Sleek Graphite palette is a real bugger for this as it’s *so* pigmented I generally look like I have a pair of black eyes after using it.  This, on the other hand gives me the chance to build up the colour and stop short of Panda.

However, for most… I’m sure that this lack of pigmentation is not a good thing.  And if it were a palette of different shades, I’d most likely agree with you.

One more thing I will say though, is that it does state that you can use these eyeshadows wet… I shall give it a go and be back with a FOTD, you never know… it could be amazing – eternal optimist that I am!

I’ve heard great things about the nail polishes from this collection.  In general, I find GOSH Nail polishes to be *awesome* but I’m still dipping my big toe into the world of glitter polishes and don’t need another black so didn’t pick either of these up.

The Gosh Bright n’ Black Collection is available to buy from Superdrug and the eyeshadow palette is priced at £8.99

How have you been finding the collection?  Have you tried any other GOSH eyeshadows?

A couple of weeeks ago whilst killing some time waiting to head off to the Maybelline event… Myself, Sian, Sophie, Lydia & Leanne spent a little time browsing Charles Fox in Covent Garden.

I spied upon this little palette and loved it’s metallic sheen  and wearable Autumnal shades.  Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a Kryolan “Shades” Palette in Santiago.

Pretty no?  I love the inclusion of the dark blue over there on the right… great addition.  And the brush that comes with the palette isn’t completely useless either which is more than refreshing!  I can’t remember the exact price but it was around £15.

Here’s yesterday’s FOTD using the above palette.  Apologies for focusing on the wrong eye & then being too lazy to retake.

Products Used:

Eyes:

~ Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
~ Kryolan Santiago Shades Palette (palest gold on lid/khaki gold in crease)
~ MAC Fluidline in Sweet Sage on upper lid
~ MAC Fluidline in Waveline on lower lashline
~ Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara

Face:

~ Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation (still giving this some love… review to come soon)
~ Silk Naturals Maybe Baby Blush (Mac Blushbaby Clone)
~ MAC Blush in Honour (swept gently over the top of Maybe Baby)

Lips:

~ Urban Decay Lip Primer Potion
~ GOSH Darling Lipstick

Do you own any Kryolan goodies?

Whilst on the subject of GOSH, I’ve just come across their new haircare range which is currently on offer in Superdrug.  Usually priced at £4.39 each you can currently pick up 2 for £5.99 – definitely worth a look.  If you’re ordering from the website make sure you enter: abbey100809 during the checkout stage to get a further 10% off your order (valid ’till November ’09)

Standard shampoo/conditioner range includes:

Damage Control

Nourishes and recharges dry, damaged and chemically treated hair with revitalising moisture…

Pump up the Volume

Contains special proteins which add body and fullness while rstonring elasticity and strength…

Colour Rescue

Protects the colour in dyed hair from fading and daily UV exposure…

The images on the GOSH website show the bottles as pump bottles (which I prefer to these squeezy tube types) but maybe that’s for the European market.

There are other products in the range, they appear to have introduced a full range of styling products – but you’ll have to head in store to check those out as Superdrug’s shitty website only displays the shampoo and conditioners.

I have a couple of GOSH brushes which I love and picked up on a 3for2 last year in Superdrug, but I haven’t ventured any further into the GOSH range than that, until now.

After discovering my love for bare coloured polishes (but not Nails Inc.) I picked up GOSH Nail Polish in shade ‘Ginger’ to try out.  I also picked up ‘Tangerine’ but that’s for another day!

It’s a very pretty shade with a subtle but definite shimmer, it’s not particularly ‘ginger’ as far as I’m concerned.

Application was a dream in comparison to Nails Inc., this is a solid 2 thin coater which builds up a lovely solid opacity.   The consistency is smooth and runny enough to allow for quick drying between the two coats.  I’m seriously impressed.  It doesn’t have a hugely glossy finish despite the shimmer, but that’s nothing that a top coat doesn’t put right.

I’ll definitely be heading back to the GOSH range for some more colours for the summer.  Great stuff!

GOSH Nail Polishes are priced at £4.89 each and available from Superdrug.

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