What I've been up to this Month: March Favourites

I thought I'd write about what I have been up to lately so that you guys could get to know me a bit better. This month I've been loving the show Drop Dead Diva. The show starts with model Deb who is engaged to lawyer Greyson, but gets killed in a car crash. When she arrives in the holding area in heaven she decides to press the return button on the computer. This sends her soul back to earth but in someone else's body. In the body of Jane a smart lawyer, who happens to be plus size. Her guardian angel Fred is sent after her so that Deb maintains Jane's life. Jane also has to work alongside Greyson who is mourning his fiancé Deb. While the show has been criticised for implying Deb's old life as model was better than her current life as the plus size smart lawyer, I feel like that Deb just pines after her old life and in particular her family, and that it takes her a long time to adjust and appreciate her new one. The show tackles the issues of weight in the court cases, wanting to sue a store for not stocking clothes for larger women and when she defends a women who was fired from her job for putting on weight. The lead is played by Natalie Hall who has a wonderful singing voice with cameos from Kim Kardashian and Paula Abdul. Some of the show's crazy court cases remind me a little of Ally Mcbeal, but what I love about this show is it's heart. I also like the fact that there's generally two court cases in each episode so you don't get bored or so many you're confused. It's currently on Amazon instant Video.

This month also saw the Season 5 finale of Pretty Little Liars which I've been hooked on since the get go. This series hyped the big reveal of the identity of A, the person who has been torturing a group of five high school girls and murdering a few other people along the way. However while we found out the name of A, we weren't quite sure of their true identity. I guess the show couldn't give us all the answers to this mystery as there's still another two series left. It's still gripping as always so if you haven't seen it I'd recommend watching it! It's available on Netflix & itunes.

I've also been listening to Sia's latest album 1000 Forms of Fear, she is an amazing talent and so is Maddie Ziegler who features in some of her videos. I never caught Dance Moms, the TV show that made Maddie famous, but she is incredibly talented. I also picked up an Anastacia's self titled album (2004) and been really impressed, my favourite tracks are Sick and Tired and Left Outside Alone.

I've almost completed a course on Cyber Security, a free course with the Open University. It's an 8 week online course and if you're interested and have the time I really recommend it. The course is run by Cory Doctorow, and involves learning how the hacks in Playstation and Target security breach happened as well as practical ways to protect your computer from viruses and trojans and yourself from identity theft. I might write a post covering some of the main points.

This month I've also discovered Fig and Hazelnut bread from Marks and Spencer (in store) which is absolutely delicious, if you're interested you can also find a recipe for it here (though it's not the same as M&S's version.) I've also be wanting to try out Cupcake toothpaste from Flamingo, which I found out about through Fee from Make up Savvy when she tweeted that she was trying it out- you can see her review here of it here.

Let me know your favourites this month in the comments below.

Make Up Revolution The One Fluid Blusher & Atomic Lipstick in Ruby Review

Make Up Revolution The One Fluid Blusher in Rush Me

Make Up Revolution The One Fluid Blushers are packaged very much like Daniel Sandler's famous watercolour blushes. These come boxed with a stripe across the top of the box showing the colour inside and hold 14.4g of product in a very small bottle. These fluid blushers are oil free (yay for some) and silicone based (various Dimethicones) that make it glide across the skin but this may be a no-go for those who are allergic to silicones. I have sensitive combination skin and I did not have any problems and can agree with MUR that it doesn't clog pores either. These liquid blushes also contain vitamin E and Jojoba, both of which are good for the skin. The smell is very neutral and there's no artificial, heavy chemical scent some products have.

Before applying you need to give this a shake to mix the silicone and pigment together. Then put a drop on the back of your hand, dip a finger in and rub and blend on your cheek. Because of the bottle design and because I'm not used to using liquid blushes, I often pour out too much and also have the product running/dripping off your finger/hands. I recommend applying this over a sink as it's a lot messier than applying something like Benefit's Benetint. (Maybe they should rethink the packaging?) You only need one or two drops but it's very easy to over do, but a few dabs of concealer and foundation can fix this. I find applying liquid blushes tricky but although this is messy to use, achieving the desired effect was easy. As long as the bottle is shaken before use this can be used on bare skin as well.

All of Make Up Revolution's The One Fluid blushes have a gold shimmer to them. I wasn't sure how obvious the shimmer would be, but I bought this in Rush Me, a peach gold blusher in the hope that it would give that Nars Orgasm highlighter glow, I couldn't find any reviews on it at the time so I thought I'd take a gamble and give it a go. In the bottle the blush looks peach but it actually gives a warm pink flush to the skin with a gold shimmer highlighting effect and not a hint of glitter or disco ball in sight. The gold does fade/wear off first after around 5 hours and the pink blush wears after 8 hours. I don't have Daniel Sandler's fluid watercolour blushes so I don't know which one is more superior but what I can say is I like this a lot and for £3 it's definitely worth checking out. I think I've fallen in love...I can't wait to try it in a darker shade such as Desire which is a raspberry colour. See the other colours available at Make Up Revolution website here.

Make Up Revolution Atomic Collection Lipstick in Ruby

The shade Ruby is supposed to be a dupe for Mac's ever popular Ruby Woo. However Ruby Woo is matte and this lipstick is not quite as matte, since it shines a little in the light. This is fairly comfortable to wear and not at all drying, a common complaint with Mac's Ruby Woo. It's a blue based Hollywood red (although Ruby sometimes looks like an orange/warm red it's not) and if you google pictures of Mac Ruby Woo you'll see it pretty much suits every skin tone despite it being a blue/cool red. I think the same can be said for Make Up Revolution's Ruby lipstick as well. I absolutely love this shade as it's just so glamorous!
It smells of vanilla and it does taste very subtly of vanilla. I've been wearing this with a No 7 lip liner in Fire as a lip base, which is a pretty good match for this lipstick (the lip liner leans a little warmer but it's not that noticeable.) After that I blot twice in between applying three layers altogether. Without a base of lip liner underneath this lipstick has a habit of moving all over the mouth area after drinking and eating so a lip liner is recommended. Unfortunately this lipstick does transfer when drinking, but the blotting and layering means that the pigment remains pretty much intact through a coffee and cold drinks. However this did not last through a meal at lunch or dinner which is pretty much standard for a budget lipstick.

I recommend this lipstick for those either on a budget, looking for a dupe or those scared of bright reds but want to give it a go without spending a lot. And of course for bargain hunters. This is my favourite shade of lipstick that I've bought from MUR and it's only £1! Available at Make Up Revolution online.

Revlon Neon Nail Art Polish

The concept behind Revlon Neon Nail Art Polishes is that a layer of white polish underneath another colour will make the colour 'pop.' This is why NYX Jumbo Eye shadow Pencil in Milk (White) is so popular, because used under other colours it makes the colour on top much more vibrant.
I bought this for a St Patrick's Day themed manicure and was interested in buying a green polish rather than looking specifically for neon nail polish. I also thought that with the two colours I was getting two colours for the price of one, and if I didn't like one polish the other would be ok. In the end I used other polishes because Revlon's version just doesn't work well.The white does make the polish a little brighter, a little more neon but the finish is very streaky and uneven. I have Revlon's number 150 Florescence- a white and bright light green polish. You're supposed to apply two coats of the white polish and two coats of the green. I started by using one coat of Bourjois So Perfect Base Coat before using the Revlon polishes.

The white polish is thin and runny, but isn't all that bad to be honest, and needs two coats to be opaque, I have read other reviews (unfortunately after I bought this) complaining that the white polish is really streaky but I think it's OK. However the green polish is very thin, watery and very transparent. This may be deliberate, so that the colour underneath shows through in order to make the green pop. However it applies very unevenly and ends up looking very streaky and blotchy. Some of the white polish showed around the edges as well, though I did my best to rub it off . It reminds me of trying to use a yellow neon highlighter pen to hi-light  black print and the highlighter merges with the ink to a weird green colour. It took separate two afternoons (10 hours in all) to try to get this looking presentable. It doesn't look great and I hope the camera picks this up. I didn't use a top coat because after all the effort of 4 layers and still looking bad I couldn't be bothered to apply more. However it does have a nice shine without a top coat.

To borrow a phrase from Dragon's Den, I feel that Revlon have 'over engineered' the idea of neon nail polish. This concept involves painting an extra two coats of polish when I'm sure you must be able to buy a neon polish straight of the shelf without all this hard work and effort. I feel Revlon  repackaged some nail varnish to convince us that it was something new and completely different to whatever else was out there, so that it becomes 'special' and a 'must have.' Basically it's a gimmick that doesn't work. The concept is terrible. I'm amazed that Revlon let this product out of the testing lab! It's priced a £7.99 in Superdrug, and on Amazon (£1.59-£15!) but luckily I bought this in Poundland so I didn't waste much money, but even for a pound there are much better nail polishes out there- I recommend Poundland's Make Up Gallery in Midnight Black nail polish. I am going to keep it to see if I can use the white polish as a base underneath some glitter polishes so that it doesn't go completely to waste. But my advice is not to waste your money on a gimmick that doesn't work well enough!

St Patrick's Day Manicure

To celebrate St Patrick's day I painted my nails gold and green. I used Kate Spade for Nails Inc in Uptown Glamour, which applies like a dream,it's opaque in one coat and dries quickly. It came with Glamour magazine awhile back,although it's still available on Ebay here. While Sinful  Color's Envy (Poundland) was runnier and needed two coats for complete opaqueness and to eliminate streaks. Sinful Color Envy results in a super shiny finish. I used Bourjois So Perfect Base Coat which has the benefit of being quick dry too. I used PD Topcoat by Butter London.

6 TV Shows To Binge Watch On Amazon Instant Video/ Prime

Devious Maids 
This show centres around the lives of five maids working in the houses of the rich and famous. Flora, one of the maids,is murdered at a party held at socialite Evelyn and Adrian's house. Marasol (Ana Ortiz from Ugly Betty) a former professor decides to work undercover as a maid in order to clear her son who is accused of Flora's murder. The other maids are Rosie a sweet idealistic young window who works for the self absorbed actress Peri Westmore and her long suffering husband,soap star Spence Westmore. Zoila and her teenage daughter Valentina both work for wealthy long time friend Genevieve Delatour and her son Remi. Valentina dreams of becoming a fashion designer someday and also has a crush on Remi. Sultry and ambitious Carmen has dreams of becoming a singer and has managed to get a job working as a maid for the successful singer Alejandro Rubio. If you enjoyed  Desperate Housewives you'd enjoy this.

Spooks
Spooks is an action drama/thriller about  British MI5 agents/spies working in Thames House London. Spooks used contemporary socio-political events and terrorist threats as story lines, such as Al Qaeda and Iran. As well as the dangers of the job, the show also illustrates the moral dilemmas MI5 officers face as well as the red tape that occurs. The show is action packed and pretty realistic. What I liked about the show was that the writers weren't afraid of killing off the main characters which made the show less predictable and that each series had an overriding story-arc as it's focus.

One Tree Hill
When I first heard about OTH I dismissed it as another American high school drama but I fell in love with the show. The main characters are two half brothers Nathan (James Laffety) from a wealthy two parent family and Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) raised by single mum Karen without any financial support, although both are close to uncle Keith. Dan (father of both brothers) constantly berates Lucus, Keth and Karen on a regular basis and pits Nathan against Lucus when they try out for the school's basketball team. Their rivalry grows when Lucas is interested in Peyton, Nathan's girlfriend and in retaliation Nathan becomes interested in Lucas's best friend Hayley. Gradually Nathan and Lucas's relationship changes from animosity to friendship. I absolutely love Lucas for being so kind and for taking care of people and feel that Lucas and later Nathan become really good male role models. Plus Lucus is hot and Nathan is also good looking. The soundtrack is brilliant, the eclectic mix introduced me to Citizen Cope, Band of Horses, The Wreckers, Trespassers William and reminded me how good Feeder is. The soundtrack also showcases the singers in the show Hayley (Bethany Joy Lenz/ Everly) Chris (Tyler Hilton) and Mia (Kate Voegele.)

Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is a  medical drama that follows a group of surgical interns and residents as they cope with various medical traumas alongside their personal lives, and is every bit as gripping as ER. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) is the lead character and the introduction is often narrated from her point of view.Her complicated relationships with both her parents have made her pessimistic but her compassion and skills as a doctor stop her from being completely jaded. Grey's Anatomy also a pun on the medical textbook Gray's Anatomy.  This is addictive drama with top notch quality acting from all the cast.

Alias
While at college Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is approached by someone claiming to work for the C.I.A and offered a job. Sydney is assigned to SD-6, a "black ops" section of the CIA and becomes a field agent. Unable to reveal her real job Sydney tells friends and family she works for a (very demanding) bank who expect her to make last minute international business trips and come in to work at all hours. In the pilot episode Sydney confides in her fiancé Danny that she is a spy. The consequence of telling an outsider about the existence of SD-6, is that SD-6 kill him. Her father (who also works at SD-6) reveals that SD-6 is actually an international organised crime group and enemy of  America and the C.I.A. Sydney becomes a double agent like her father, determined to destroy SD-6 from the inside. This fast paced action show sees Sydney in many disguises and the complicated relationship Sydney has with her father and colleagues within SD-6 means allegiances are constantly changing. Her C.I.A handler Michael Vaughn played by Michael Vartan is pretty easy on the eye too!

Grimm
Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) is a homicide investigator at Portland police department. His dying aunt visits him and tries to warn him of his heritage as a Grimm and the creatures that will soon be after him. Around this time Nick realises he can see people transform into monsters when he looks at them a 'gift' that no one else has, realising that creatures from fairy tales actually exist. Grimms are guardians that hunt mythological creatures (Wesen) to protect humanity. However after meeting reformed wesen Monroe, Nick learns that not all things are black and white, that some wesen can be good and essentially harmless. Nick struggles to balance this new Grimm life with his normal life, keeping the Grimm part a secret to most people. Along with his partner Detective Hank Griffin and Monroe providing the supernatural background, Nick battles the wesen creatures that he encounters on his murder cases. A show that merges cop drama with fantasy.

What To Get For The Mum Who Already Has Everything Part 2

After a certain age you already have everything you need and end up buying yourself the things that you want. So booking a day out to do something special for mothers day, or at a later date or  purchasing a voucher for a future day to be pampered, will be both memorable and enjoyable. It's always nice to ring the changes a bit! If you give vouchers remember to remind to check the voucher expiry dates. Don't assume they last for a year or more as some need to be used up with 6 months. At the end of this post, I've also included a list of things that hardly cost anything at all to do, but will be much appreciated by mothers everywhere.

Trip To The Spa
Book or buy a spa trip gift voucher. There are many reputable ones across the country - see Red Letter Days for more information here. Virgin Experience also offer many Spa trips see here

Manicure (Mani-Pedi)
Use Glass pod to book a manicurist to come to you or your mother wherever you are. Surprise your mother or have one together at home. (London Only)
To book a mani-pedi when your mother lives in a different city, use the Beauty Spotter app. This rates beauty salons and users can upload pictures of their finished manicures or haircuts, tagging in the salon and their location so others can see the result and find a good salon.

Afternoon Tea
There are lots of afternoon teas held at various historic sites including The Royal Albert Hall , Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace, Royal Pavillion , Blenheim Palace , Kinnettles Castle,  Carberry Tower (Edinburgh), Blackpool Tower Ballroom and Chateau Rhifana in Anglesea. If you've been inspired by The Great British Bake Off, there are afternoon teas that include a two hour Tea Cookery class at L'atelier des Chefs (London £99) for more information see here. There are various afternoon tea and Thames cruises see here. There's an afternoon tea where you also design your own perfume here. If your mum loves pottery and ceramics Wedgewood do a tour and afternoon tea (Staffordshire £35 see here) as well as Emma Bridgewater (Staffordshire £16 see here.)

Wine Tasting
Vinopolis has a Mother's Day Package that includes two Wine tasting tickets and a glass of Canard-Duchene champagne each for £62. This package will be available to purchase until midnight on Sunday 15th March 2015. Open dated tickets are valid for 3 months from date of purchase and pre-booked tickets are available between now and Sunday 14th June 2015. Vinopolis is based near London Bridge. For more information see here
Virgin Experience also has various wine tasting mother's day packages based in East Sussex, Oxfordshire as well as London. My favourite is a voucher for the view from London's Shard as well as Vinopolis wine tasting for £113. For more information see here. The 02 priority app offers 25% off mothers day experiences on Virgin Experiences days valid for 3 more weeks.

Theatre 
See Lastminute.com for tickets to shows in London and elsewhere. Shows such as Wicked, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, War Horse and Shakespeare in Love are popular.

Climbing The 02 (London)
Enjoy spectacular 360 degree views of London from the  viewing platform in the centre of the roof, before finishing with a thrilling descent back to base to complete your adventure. You can climb during the day. against a sunset or see the stars at  twilight. Tickets are £26 for adults for 90 minutes, or there is an option for a gift voucher. The 02 Priority app has an offer for £15 off up to 4 tickets valid for the next 3 weeks if you would like the whole family to go. For the 02 website see here 

Don't forget that you don't have to spend much- some things in life are free (or almost anyway!)

• If you live with or nearby your mum's place you can prepare the traditional Breakfast in Bed or go over later to make brunch or dinner.
• Clean mum's whole house/ Do the weeks chores- she'll be happy that she gets to relex in the week knowing the chores have been taken care of.
• If you are handy with a power tool tackle those d.i.y jobs that nobody seems to get around to do. She'll be thanking you no end- especially if she is not as mobile as she used to be.
• Watching her favourite films or TV box-set together if in doubt Fawlty Towers is a favourite.
• Put your beauty skills to the test and give her a manicure.
• If it's a nice day spend it having a picnic in the park or the beach.

This post is not sponsored and I was not compensated in any way. 

What To Get For The Mum Who Already Has Everything- Part 1

I shall start by saying that of course she has everything, she has you! Corny stuff out the way, I wanted to share some other gift ideas that were a little different.

Favourite magazine or newspaper subscription

• Magazinesubscriptions.co.uk  Have lots of Mothers day offers on magazines in fashion and beauty, home, food and Garden, lifestyle and crafts. They also have another promotion running, for every two magazine subscriptions you purchase before Tuesday 10th March you receive a free box of Cadbury's Thank You flower chocolates. See here for website.

• Whsmiths online here or in store, offer subscriptions to 78 newspapers and over 2000 magazines. They sell titles that are published from around the world and also original back issue newspapers. They have user reviews on the service provided.
• magazinesdirect.com offer a money back guarantee, best price guarantee and Feefo service rating where users can post reviews on the subscription services. See here for website.

Gift Membership

Membership to The National Trust
This gives you unlimited access (free entry and parking) to over 300  historical houses, gardens, countryside and coastal spaces. Perfect for woodland walks and picnics. Individual annual membership is less than you think and starts from £30. For two people membership starts from £99. Membership includes free entry and parking, members' handbook regional newsletters, three editions a year of the National Trust magazine and temporary membership card emailed so you can start visiting right away. For more details see their website here.

Membership to English Heritage
Offers free unlimited entry to over 400 historic properties for the year. Visit captivating castles, historic houses, Roman ruins and enchanting abbeys. It also includes free or reduced-price entry to
exclusive members' events with access to experts and a glimpse behind the scenes. It also offers free entry for the recipient of the gift and up to six accompanying children per adult member. Additionally they will receive a complimentary handbook and exclusive members' magazine delivered to their door four times a year. Membership for single adults is £49 and joint membership is £86. Individual Senior membership (60+) is £72. For more details see here.

National Art Pass
Gives free entry to over 220 museums, galleries and historic places across the UK. Additionally it offers 50% off major exhibitions including those at the British Museum, National Gallery, Tate and the V&A. Members also receive Art Quarterly, the Art Fund’s members magazine.  The National art pass also helps the Art Fund buy masterpieces for everyone to enjoy in public collections. Annual single membership is £60, annual double £90. For more details see here.

Membership to Adnams Wine Club
 For Mums who love to host dinner parties or enjoy having friends round, you can treat her to a case (12 bottles) of wine every three months. Starting from £89 per quarter, you can choose to receive all reds, all whites, or a mixture of both. For more information see here.

The Cheese Society Memberships
The Cheese Society has been featured in BBC Good Food Magazine & Sunday Times Style Magazine. They offer 1 months subscription for £25  which includes a selection of five cheeses in a pack with weighing approximately 900g-1kg. The 3 months 'Hat Trick' Subscription costs £92, again five cheeses in each pack weighing approximately 900g-1.kg. Quarterly Month subscription (4 times a year) is £123, delivery charges are inclusive. For more information see here.

This post is not sponsored and I was not compensated in any way. 

Finish 5 for Cinco de Mayo Challenge 6 week Update

It's time for a March update on my Finish 5 by Cinco De Mayo Challenge. I'm posting this a day early on the 4th as I usually post on Wednesdays rather than Thursdays and I'm trying to be more consistent.
The Finish 5 by Cinco De Mayo is a challenge started by Megan +megsmakeup8. The challenge involves choosing 5 products to finish by May 5th 2015. You can see the first post on this here. I started the challenge on January 21st 2015 (two weeks later than the offical start on January 5th.)

All 5 Items- 5 by Cinco De Mayo Start (January 21st 2015)

All 5 items-  6 Week Update March 4th 2015

Since I started it's fair to say that I don't seem to be doing well so far! What with trying products out for the blog I've hardly been reaching for my Finish 5 items- I'm not sure if I've been a little bit ambitious in some of the products I chose. Anyway here is a run down of where I am.

Sleek Foundation

I have been using this 2-3 times a week which is as often as I'll wear make up so I have been using this regularly and you can see a difference in the pan- I'm not sure it'll be all gone by May though! I will be doing a more in-depth review of this foundation soon.

Revlon Lip Gloss

I've only used this twice so far. I used to be such a lip gloss girl but I think this blog has turned me into a lipstick lady, judging by the lipsticks I've acquired. I used to have like 8 and wear just one or two and now it's more like 20 something! It just feels more sophisticated somehow. Back to the lip gloss at hand, you know when some lip glosses look like they have some pigment to them only to be disappointed that it's really a clear gloss? Well this certainly has colour, it's a pretty peach colour perfect for spring and summer. I chose to use this up as I thought it would be fairly neutral and go with more looks. It does taste and smell of vanilla but it's not overpowering, thank goodness. Texture wise it does feel sticky on the lips, so if you have long hair I would tie it up on windy Spring days to avoid lip gloss sticking to flyaway hair. If you hate sticky lip glosses then this is not for you.

ELF Cream Blusher and Contour Duo

I've used this cream blusher three times so far but from the photos you can't really see a difference in the amount used. It is better than I thought it was, I remember thinking that it was tacky after being applied to the skin but actually it isn't sticky at all. It is a great colour that probably suits almost everyone, it gives a pretty pink colour to the cheeks. The only let down is that it doesn't last all day. Some make up artists recommend 'locking in' cream blushers by applying powder over the top in the same way that you powder over your foundation to set it. I've never bothered with this and as long as it's not really humid, building up a sweat exercising and as long as the blusher has a fair bit of pigment I never really find the need to. I also worry powder over cream risks looking a bit it over the top which is easily done with blusher. Having sensitive skin I found no issues using this cream blusher.

No.7 Eye shadow & Blush Compact

I had such confidence that I would be using this up like there's no tomorrow, but I admit I've only used this about three or four times. You can't tell from the photo at all, there's barely any difference! Seeing that I've hit pan on the gold made me think doing so on the pink would be easy, especially as I used to wear pink a lot. But since I haven't been sleeping well lately I've been avoiding pink in case it emphasised my morning red eyes.

No 7 cream eye shadow in Fudge

I've only worn this once so far. I haven't taken a before and after picture because of the colour of the tube means you won't see any difference. It's a small tube, but I'm not sure if it's deceptively small and could take longer to use up, I do hope to use it all up by May. The eye shadow itself makes brown eyes pop it's beautiful. No 7 have redesigned the packaging so that the cream eye shadow comes in a lip gloss style tube with a doe foot applicator, but I think the formula is exactly the same.

So that's the two month update round up. I hope to do better next month and make a conscious effort to use these products much more regularly.

Have any of you attempted any Make Up Challenges- such as project pan or 5 by Cinco, 5 by Fall etc? Let me know in the comments-I'd love to know how you did and what it was like.

I Heart Make Up Go To Hell! Palette & Amazing Sheer Lip Glosses Review & swatches

As the name suggests I Heart Make Up Go To Hell is a rock look inspired eye shadow Palette. Just like the other Go palettes this is handy for travelling because it's compact and light. There are 19 shades with a total of 8.5g of product. Twelve of these shadows have a shimmer finish, six are matte and there is one glitter shadow in the centre. The layout of the eye shadows is definitely unique! I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fit a brush into the smaller pans in the middle circle but I was able to fit an Urban Decay shadow brush, a Sigma concealer brush and a fluffy Boots No. 7 brush. When I swatched these I went anticlockwise from the topmost/further shadow.

The outer ring contains the darker colours, there are three matte colours, although the two matte blacks seem to be exactly the same. The other matte, a vibrant fuchsia/purple was very pigmented and was easy to swatch. The shadow second from the left is actually grey although it looks almost black in the swatch. The blue (fifth from right) is gorgeous and just pops in the pan but while it is true to colour it's not as smooth or easy to swatch/use. The green (third from right) was a lot darker than I expected from the pan but I liked it- perfect for a smoky eye.

The middle ring has three matte shadows in a row. The peach was really hard to get any colour from the pan. It is a nice neutral colour that actually shows up on my skin when I could get it to. The colour that's third from the right looks like a violet but swatches very red and reminds me of Maybelline 24 hour Colour Tattoo in Pomegranate. I also like the colour next to it which is like an antique gold colour, unusual but also fairly neutral. The shadow in the centre is the only glitter and I'm pleased I managed to capture it on camera. It is the most pigmented of all and while there's definitely glitter it is not as strong as some of the Urban Decay/ Too faced glitter shadows, which also means there's no fallout using this shade.

The wear time of these shadows is average without a primer (7 hours, they fade later on in the day.) This palette comes without a brush or sponge applicator which I don't mind as they're never very good anyway- however if you're using this on the go then you need to bring a separate brush. Altogether the colours of these shadows make for a very versatile palette which can give a rocky smoky eye, a neutral eye and a bright eyed paler look. The shimmer shadows perform better than the mattes which is often the case in low end palettes (and even some high end!) The full price of the Go To Hell palette is £6.49 but it's currently on sale for £3.99 here which isn't bad for 19 shadows (or 18 excluding the difficult peach shadow) and you get a mixture of dark light, shimmer and matte and a glitter.

Make Up Revolution Amazing Sheer Lip glosses

Since these lip glosses are marketed as sheer I feel you can't expect too much from them.
Must Be Strong is almost like a clear gloss (even though there is a clear gloss called Free in the collection) while a thin layer of Not Naive gives a My Lips But Better look, a thicker application gives a natural looking pinkish cherry colour to the lips. Baby Try is a cool pink , I'd say between neon pink and Barbie pink. It's very bright and extremely pigmented. It's not a colour I would normally choose (these were part of a Black Friday bundle deal.)  Despite being labelled as sheer these feel quite thick on the lips and a little oily. The texture is a bit like Benefit Ultra Plush lip glosses only not as lightweight and a bit more sticky. They're not incredibly sticky, just a little. These Amazing Sheer Lip glosses smell a little of vanilla but taste fruity very much like Starburst sweets. The lasting power isn't great: they transfer onto cups and begin to wear off drinking and when eating a snack.  Overall I feel that these are not the best lip glosses I've tried (they transfer very easily) but neither are they the worse, they have enough pigment not to be a waste of time, they're not overly sticky and they taste fruity (how I like lip glosses to taste.) These Make Up Revolution Amazing Sheer Lip glosses are sold at  Superdrug here for £1 each!