COLLECTION Cover & Go!

One of our New Years Resolutions is to scale down our makeup bag. The suitcase full of slap we cart around most days is just excessive, so we’re planning to invest in some multipurpose products and palettes. So we quite like the look of this new foundation and concealer in one from COLLECTION (formally Collection 2000).

The foundation comes in a screw top bottle and there is a matching concealer and mirror contained within the lid. We’ve not tried many products from COLLECTION, but we think this is a really simple but ingenious idea. We’ve got a bottle of this winging its way to us at the moment, so we’ll bring you a full review soon and let you know whether the product itself is as good as the packaging.

If you’ve got a great multipurpose product then let us know, we’d love to hear!

COLLECTION Cover & Go Foundation and Concealer Duo will be available in 6 shades: Vanilla, Ivory, Biscuit, Natural Beige, Honey and Golden for £5.99. It hits Boots stores nationwide from 23rd January 2013 and Superdrug from 6 February 2013.

More Magnets!

After our Magnetic Attraction article the other day, where we reviewed BarryM and Nails Inc polishes, we got a bit of a taste for them! So whilst we fancied a treat this lunchtime, we decided to avoid the cakes and head to our nearest Superdrug, where we purchased this gorgeous MUA Magnetic polish in the Mayfair shade!

Two quick coats and we were done, and it definitely brightened up our day, especially as it only cost £3.50! Obviously we can’t tell you how well it lasts yet, but definitely applies well and we love the squiggle effect.

Check out the rest of the range here.

Share your magnetic polish pics with us on Twitter.

tbo

xxx

Limited Edition PPQ A/W12 Palette for Fashionista…what will you fill yours with?

Sometimes when we’re wandering around in our lunch hour, something bright, shiny and irresistible will catch our eye. Here at thebeautyobsession, we’re a bit like Magpies when it comes to pretty, shiny things – which is unfortunate as they’re usually expensive!

Luckily for us, our Friday trip to Superdrug ended with us purchasing something gorgeous, for a ridiculously good price! Don’t we all love things like that? The new Limited Edition A/W 12 Palette by PPQ for Fashionista is an absolute gem. The Palette itself is gorgeous, and looks far more expensive than it is and the bonus is, you can choose a total of four blushers and/or eyeshadows to fill it with, for the bargain price of £10.

For those that aren’t familiar with Fashionista, they’re a new brand by Style Icon London who retail in Superdrug. As well as a range of products you’d expect from any cosmetics line; foundation, mascara, concealer etc etc… they also have a range of over 49 eyeshadows and 12 blushers that you can buy individually or purchase with a custom palette.

As the PPQ palette is so gorgeous, we decided it would only be right to fill it with what we thought were some of their most gorgeous eyeshadow shades.

We’ve chosen 3 shadows from their Double Take Baked Eyeshadow range, and you can see the shades we picked above. We also decided to be a little bit sensible and buy a new blush, but we wish we’d been a bit more adventurous and gone for something other than a traditional mono shade now we’ve had a chance to try them out.

So although they look gorgeous, we all know that it’s all about how they look out of the palette and on your face that counts, and thebeautyobsession doesn’t overlook quality for appearance.

We’re very pleased to say that all four shades we tried lived up to expectations. We have swatched them wet and dry for you to see the impact.

Wet Swatches

Dry Swatches

There is very little fallout from any of the colours and they blend very well. We think that they add a nice touch of shimmer for brightening up a daytime look. Even more excitingly, if they’re used with a wet brush, they’ll give you an evening look that will really help you stand out from the crowd!!

Overall we are really impressed with this palette and the shades that we chose, and we can’t wait to try more Fashionista products to see if they’re all up to the same standards.

Have you tried this brand? What did you think? If not, do you think you’ll give them a try now you’ve read our review? Let us know!

You can find out more about Fashionista and subscribe to their newsletter here. You can purchase them from the Superdrug site here.

Lipsticks for £1….too good to be true, or a true find?

Here at thebeautyobsession, our love of luxury and premium makeup pretty much knows no bounds! However, if there’s a good quality bargain to be had, you can guarantee we’ll be there!

We’ve been noticing more and more inexpensive makeup brands popping up on the High Street over the last 12 – 18 months, and although initially put off by memories of poor quality, icky, sticky cheap makeup of yesteryear, we decided to bite the bullet and purchase from some of them.

MUA (MakeUp Academy) are one such brand that has been catching our eye. MUA began by selling products that all retailed at £1, but more recently with the launch of MUA Professional, prices range from £1 – £4, with their aim apparently to provide good quality products without the guilt. So far so good…

As MUA can currently only be purchased from Superdrug or the MUA website, and thebeautyobsession’s local Superdrug only have a very small selection, we decided to indulge in some “guilt free” online shopping. Firstly, and rather importantly, the site was really easy to use. Secondly, and just as importantly, the postage was very quick. Two working days after we ordered, our bag of MUA goodies was waiting for us on the mat!

We bought quite a few bits, including a brow kit, a liquid eyeliner, an eye-shadow palette and three lipsticks from their £1 range. We also received a free gift as we spent over £10, which was a Halloween orange eye liner, a smoky eye shadow trio and a rather nice nail polish.

Today we’re going to concentrate on the three lipsticks we bought. We picked up an orange red (shade 13), a warm pink (shade 3) and a light pink (shade 4). Considering they were only £1 each, the packaging is still quite pleasing – they don’t look ‘cheap’ and the colour guide at the bottom of each stick is a great idea.

We were quite pleased with how they swatched, as you can see shades 3 and 13 have great pigmentation and the result is really bright, bold colours. The tones are spot on as well, I’d say shade 13 has more orange undertones to the red but that will mean it suits more skin tones than a traditional blue-based red. Shade 3 is a really warm dusky pink which would also complement most skin tones. The only disappointment was Shade 4, although you can just about see it on the below swatch, the colour is so light it barely shows on the lips. Obviously it is intended to be a very pale shade, but we’ve tried tinted lipbalms that give off more colour!

Shades 3 and 13 apply very well, with a medium heavy texture. They have quite a creamy feel, and whilst they don’t compare to more high end brands in the moisturising stakes, they’re not drying at all. Both shades lasted 3/4 hours without having to reapply, and that included eating lunch and drinking a few glasses of water! As we’ve already said, shade 4 is a much lighter coverage and texture and it feels more moisturising when applied. However, within an hour what little colour there was had gone and you’d need to reapply.

Overall we think these are a brilliant find for £1, and although we’ll probably stick to the richer colours, we can’t wait to explore more of the MUA range!

Have you tried any of the MUA lipsticks? What did you think?

MUA can be bought from Superdrug stores or directly from the MUA site here.

Thank’s for reading.

tbo

x x x