The Swatch Files: LA Colors eyeliner pencils in Black, Violet and Sky Blue

I can't help myself when it comes to buying eyeliner.  I have about six million that I need to use up and still I buy more and more.

I bought these in the Autumn and I've been getting some good use out of them.  I especially like the blue as it is one of the few bright blues that shows up well on my skin.

All three are pigmented and smudge out a treat.  I find that the Black and Volet pencil glide on smoother than the Sky Blue one.  Having said that, the Sky Blue one isn't a total pain!

The Swatch Files: Oh My Gosh nail polishes in Electric Pink and Peachy Rose

I have had these for an absolute age but I lost my nail wheel so was unable to blog about them until now.

I don't think they're available in stores anymore but you can probably find some on ebay.

GOSH should really bring them back as I cannot fault their application.  The brush is pefect (no streak marks) and the consistency is everything you'd want from a nail polish.

I don't know why GOSH don't adopt this formula for their permanent polishes as I know they're tricky to apply.  I have Holographic and that's quite a mare to apply.

Whenever I look at Peachy Rose, it instantly reminds me of orange lollies, I defy you to tell me anything else!  When I grew my nails before, I wore both of these and my cousin said it looked like I'd dipped my nails in juice..which was nice!

I can't believe how well these apply considering they are only £2.99.  Seriously, that's one coat.  One!  I've seldom used a polish that gave such a good finish after one coat.

The Swatch Files/A Review: Urban Decay Primer Potion squeezy tubes in Sin, Greed, Eden and Original

Heavenly choirs where heard when I held these in my hands for the first time, mainly because I was so excited that I'd never have to faff with the old style Urban Decay Primer Potion bottle again.  Everyone who has ever used UDPP knows what I'm on about..when the dreaded depotting time arrives and you risk going to bed with less digits than you woke up with.

Each shade has a different picture next to it and that did impress me but you know what they say, simple things please simple minds.  Original has a mushroom, maybe because it came with the Alice in Wonderland palette..remember that one?  Greed has a diamond because (I assume) everyone wants diamonds; Sin has an apple..all that Adam and Eve stuff I suppose and Eden has a deer.  I thought that was because of the Garden of Eden but that's more Adam and Eve so I'm not sure why..

The Swatch Files: Benefit's Girl Meets Pearl

This is a PR sample that I have had for a while..it only came to my attention properly the other day when I was sorting through my makeup stash.  The actual clearance took me about four hours (I only have one drawer of makeup) because I was watching my favourite series of Blackadder and swatching as I went.

I ended up throwing away only three items.  The rest are waiting to be doled out to cousins/people at work.

Anyway, you want swatches of Benefit's Girl Meets Pearl and I have them!

I like the fact that it has a lid guard on it so if  you accidentally turn it, the product is captured so you can use it later.  It swatches well on Indian skin which is something that a lot of Benefit products struggle to do.

This retails for £24.50 and can be bought from the Benefit site.

The Swatch Files: GOSH Extreme Art Waterproof Liner shade 01

I came across this when I was looking for the infamous Holographic polish but as this store had none, I decided to buy a liquid liner instead.  I have this "thing" where if I go out looking for something specific and don't find it, I have to buy something else.  This time it was a GOSH liquid eyeliner.  There was a time when a liquid liner would be the last thing I'd buy but as I'm improving, I'm learning to use colours other than black. 

I find it odd how 01 is not black as something in my mind assumes that black would be 01 and then the less conservative colours would be 02, 03 etc..seems like they're being revolutionaries..much like Walkers and their blue Cheese and Onion packets.

I thought this would work as a nice brown-y, copper-y colour but as the swatches show..it's a lot more purple-y which is OK with me..purple brings out brown eyes.  It's a really unique colour, a mishmash of purple and brown..and them some copper.

Longevity wise, these last an age.  They're called semi-permanent and they really are!  My eyes watered, I touched my lids and they stayed in place.  I have a sneaky feeling that Superdrug might be discontinuing these so I'm going to try and track down a black, dark green and a blue just in case!

If you like the look of these, run to Superdrug as they're all currently on half price..

The Swatch Files: ELF Cream Eyeliners in Midnight and Gunmetal

For a while now, whenever someone asks me how many gel liners I have, I've only said one.  To those people, I apologise for being a filthy liar as last night I counted how many I had and it is verging on double numbers.  I have two Bobbi Brown liners (it used to be three until I sold one), three Stila ones and two ELF liners.

I don't know why I kept saying I have only one..maybe it's because that's the one I use the most..

Anyway, these are my ELF cream eyeliners..which I find a bit funny because they're not half as creamy as my Bobbi Brown ones (they're still decent though!)

I like the fact that they have a mixture of both matte and more non matte (?! I can't think of the word and glittery doesn't seem right..shimmery?) eyeliners.

Midnight is a matte blue and Gunmetal is a shimmery grey..

The photograph on top is the accurate depiction of the shade, the bottom one is just to show the difference between the matte and shimmery liners.

Midnight looks like a nightmare but it's really creamy..the Midnight I got was rattling around in its container and it even fell out but it's come back to life and is indeed, very creamy.  They work well as liners but they do dry once on the eye.

The Swatch Files: Revlon Silver Fox Quad

It's not very often that I find a quad which not only has the desired amount of pigmentation but also has a decent enough variety of colour so that you're able to switch your look up from day to night by just adding another colour.

This palette is one of the good ones...

The grey and minty green shade are matte, the white and purple have a slight (very slight) shimmer to them..

I'm pretty impressed that the mint actually came out mint on my skin as usually they come out white.  They're all very soft and easy to blend..not so soft that they crumble..

The white looks a bit chalky but it's easy to blend out with a brush.  As for the sparkle..

It looks a bit gritty but that is due to my camera playing up, in reality, it catches the light really well without making you look like a glitterball.

The Swatch Files: Collection 2000 Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner

Whenever I see these in my drawers, I laugh because when I was swatching them, a fellow swatcher decided to grab a green one and draw a wang on my hand.

We ended up spending about 20 minutes trying to get the wang off, it didn't work.  I came home, washed my hands many a time, had a shower and washed my hair and yet my hand was still adorned with the wang.  This alone should be testament to how long lasting these liners are.

I picked up two and the wang artiste picked two up as well.   Then, due to my general lack of direction knowing skills, we got lost..and it rained..and my umbrella broke..and I got water in my shoes..

Here are the swatchy bits..

They photograph a bit wimpy looking but they pack a lot of pigment.  Both dry very quickly which is a good thing for me because I do like adding some glitter over them when I wear them to parties.  The purple photographs a bit pinker than it actually is, it's a darker purple than shown here.

These deserve to be called Extreme as they really are.  I wore the black one to an Indian function (cue lots of dancing) and I fell asleep with it on and it was still on in the morning.  It hadn't budged at all.  I read somewhere (I can't remember where, sorry!) that these tend to stain.  They didn't stain me as whenever I've worn them, my makeup remover has taken them off with no hassle.

The Swatch Files: Stila Noire palette

This is another palette that I tend to use a fair bit.  Stila isn't available "in the flesh" in the UK anymore but you can buy it from many discount makeup stores online.  Just Google Stila and they will come up.

The colours are pigmented and they're easy to blend.  I know the swatches do not show a great deal of pigment but they come up very nicely on my eyelids and can be worn for about three hours sans primer.

They're not chalky and they're not crumbly either.

The packaging is what I like about this, it's very travel friendly.  There is a magnet in the cover which makes sure that when you close it, it stays closed.  I just chuck it into my makeup bag and I'm off.

The Swatch Files: 17 Solo Eyeshadows

Pigmented, smooth and to top it all off..they don't cost the earth.

The swatches for Mardi Gras and Walnut Pearl look like I've overdone the flash but this is how they came out when I took them by a window with no flash.

Superstar and Socialite are glitter eyeshadows but I'm pleased to say that the glitter isn't chunky and itchy, it's apparent but not too in your face.

I find that Walnut Pearl makes a great everyday eyeshadow for those with a darker skintone.

They're currently on 3 for 2 at Boots.

The Swatch Files: Stila Kajal Eyeliner in Amethyst

On my waterline, it comes out lilacy but when I put it on my lids, it comes out as a darker purple.

Sorry for the crappy photo of the pencil, I had a better photo which Picasa has conveniently lost.

To get a darker colour on you waterline, I suggest warming the pencil up by rubbing it on the back of your hand.

Re. how long the pencil lasts, I've noticed the following:

• It lasts all day on the waterline, it is creamy when you apply it but it sticks around for ages, doesn't smudge or anything.
• If you have brown eyes, it's a really good work-safe colour to use as from a distance, it looks brown but it accentuates your eyes
• I have been using this on a weekly basis for more than a year and I've only had to sharpen it very recently

The Swatch Files: Little Glow Cheek

I avoid Primark's own brand makeup like the plague, especially after the lipgloss caused my lips to combust and the body brush shredded worse than a snake.

I've heard good things about this particular range which is also sold by Primark.  I think it's high end Primark makeup..if ever there was an award for oxymoron of the year, that would in the top three..

All the products from this range are puns on familiar sayings, it took my slow behind a while to figure out what Little Glow Cheek was parodying but I finally got it.  They could have gone for the jugular like Soap and Glory and just called it something in the same vein as Glowjob but nobody wants to get on the bad side of copyright law and not everyone is as filthy minded as me..

I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth and pigmented it was.  I think it's about £2 something but this was in impulse buy (near the tills) and I didn't pay full RRP for it.

The Swatch Files: The Body Shop Lip and Cheek Stain: Bronze Glimmer

Like the rest of the beauty blogger congregation, I got this free with a copy of InStyle magazine.

I have to say that I have never read InStyle magazine and I enjoyed it more than I enjoy magazines like Glamour.  There are a lot of ads in it but that's to be expected of any magazine.

Anyway, the Lip and Cheek Stain.

Fine glittery bits..

The wand is not pictured here as this isn't a review BUT it is a gorgeous purpley-pink colour and for some reason the product is cold when you put it on.  I've never experienced that before.

I tried to get swatches under as many lights as possible to show you the colours of the stain.  The first photograph is swatched straight off the doe foot applicator, the second and third are blended in a tiny bit and the last is what remains when you wipe it all off.

I used it on my lips and it made me look like I'd smeared my lips with glittery butter so that's a no no, I will stick to using it as a cheek stain (NOT that kind!) from now on.

It IS a stain.  I had to wash my hands with soap for about 10 minutes to get all the colour off.

Click to expand so you can see it in detail!

The Swatch Files: YSL Gloss Repulpant Shiny Lip Plumper Shade No2: Glossy Plum

I bought this with a gift voucher about three years ago and it still hasn't finished.  I used it practically every day, until I found that I had lost it after a trip to my parents' house.

I wanted to put it in the Files ages ago but as it was MIA, this proved somewhat difficult.

I love this as it goes on very shiny and then fades to a stain during the day.  It looks like a lipgloss but ha the intensity of a lipstick.  You know when you put lipstick on and then gloss over the top? This little gem does it all in one.

For some reason, it was very hard to photograph, it's not at all patchy and both my lips were in fact the same colour as the top part of my upper lip.

It works very well with my skintone and has a lovely minty smell to it.

It cost me £15 or so but I think the price has gone up a bit now.  I bought it from Selfridges and I have to say that the ladie who work on that concession are always super helpful, regardless of how busy they are, they have never ever been rude or dismissive.

The Swatch Files: L'oreal Color Minerals Eyeshadow Shade 3 Desert Shimmer

This is one of my daily shadows, the packaging is a bit fiddly but ho hum.

The Swatch Files: The Body Shop's Baked to Last Bronzers

Here we go..

They both look pretty WOC friendly which is good, I find a lot of bronzers are hit and miss as some leave you just glittery and others are too light and leave you looking greasy.

The marbling!

The bit you've been waiting for..

They go on smooth and are very pigmented so if you're feeling brave, you could use them as an eyeshadow.  A very light hand is needed to apply them to Indian skin so if your skin is lighter, be even more cautious.

Glit-tastic but not in an obvious way.  I've been wearing Warm Glow to work and it doesn't look out of place.

The Swatch Files: Smashbox Quad in Electric

I only realised this when I started blogging but I seem to have only eyeshadow palettes.  I think I have four single eyeshadows..

And..there's extra rambling here as I feel this is a gem of a product which is not too well known..

This is another quad which I use a lot, something you wouldn't know unless you saw how grubby the packaging has become.

It looks like quite an odd/unassuming colour combo but the next photo illustrates why it gets so much use.

It was really difficult to photograph how sparkly the green shadow is and how flat the brown shadow is.  The brown is the flattest, mattest shadow I have ever come across..but it's still a very rich brown, if you can get something like that?  It reminds me of cocoa powder.

Look how sparkly number 2 is!

Ain't it handsome?

It's not often that I personally find so many different eyeshadow finishes in one premade palette.

Here's what I use the shadows for:

• Shade 1: I use this as a higlight or as a base for goldeny shadows as it has a very minute sparkle which comes through perfectly.
• Shade 2: This is a shadow and a powder liner.  That's the official Smashbox line, it's not something I decided to do myself.  It works brilliantly as both.  My eyes are brown so I use this as an eyelid shadow, a crease colour and a liner (both on my waterline and my upper lashline).  It's the perfect shade of green to bring out dark brown eyes.
• Shade 3: This too, is a shadow and a liner.  I've only used it as a liner though and it, too, brings out brown eyes.
• Shade 4: Alright (she types with a pained expression on her face) if used with a light hand.  I'm not the biggest fan of the shadow known as number 4 as it makes me look like this guy, which ain't a good look.