Glam Crystals - by Collection (2000)

I have been a massive fan of Urban Decay's glitter eyeliners for years. However, at around the £11 mark they are quite pricey and what's more, there are no stores in North Devon which stocks the brand.

I have found a cheaper alternative in high street makeup brand, Collection.

Collection (formerly known as Collection 2000) are a purse friendly makeup brand. Their Glam Crystals Dazzling Gel Liners are some of the best eyeliners I have come across. 

From left to right: Spandex, Rock Chick, Funk, Le Freak, Dancing Queen, Hustle and Pizzazz.

I have also recently bought Shake it up which is a deep purple and Jade's Rock It glitter liner from the Little Mix Collection.

What I love about these eyeliners is how pigmented they are and how easy they are to work with. No matter which colour I use they build up so easily. If I am in a hurry I sweep one of these glitter liners on my upper lash line and add a coat of mascara to my lashes and I am good to go.

The glitter in the liners are finely milled and don't feel scratchy at all, the product itself dries fast one applied and lasts all day. Each liner only costs £2.99 and in my opinion, they are on an equal footing with my beloved Urban Decay liners.

Have you tried any of the Glam Crystals glitter eyeliners? If so, what do you think?

Coffee, cake and a bit of shopping

Mum and I took a trip down to Exeter recently. The reason for our trip to start with was to go to the Apple store because my laptop has died. To cut a long story short, they basically said the laptop is too old to bother fixing (est around £300, the laptop is 4 years old) and that I may as well sell it on ebay for parts. On that note, I have decided to buy a new laptop (not another Mac, quite simply, I can't afford it)

At the moment I am using my other half's laptop and I can't figure out how to crop photos! there is a crop icon but it won't let me select it.

Feeling a bit upset about my laptop, mum and I decided to have a Costa coffee and cake and carry on shopping. This is what I picked up.

Mask of Magnaminty from Lush (just under £5 for the small tube, even though this is the small size it is bigger than the usual fresh face masks) I am slowly making my way through trying all their face masks out, the lady said I didn't need to keep this one in the fridge.

Melting marshmallow moment bath melt

I had a latte and a lemon and poppy seed muffin

A few other goodies

Estee Lauder Perfectly Clean foaming cleanser (Boots £20)

Collection 2000 Glam Crystals in Hustle (Boots, £2.99) Maybelline Falsies mascara (again, from Boots but mum bought me this so I'm not sure how much it cost)

 Love all that glittery goodness!

Still using the dotting tools

Hope everyone had a good weekend? The weather Saturday in North Devon was quite gloomy, Sunday was a scorcher which was lovely. It was so hot outside, I was sat in the garden, reading magazines with my feet in a bucket of icy water to cool down. 

I used my dotting tools (again) to create this design:

Two coats of Models Own in Lemon Meringue then overlapped lots of dots around the tips using China Glaze in Turned up Turquoise and Flying Dragon, Collection 200 Hot Looks in Show Off.

Arg, my nails are really short again :-( but I still like the way this turned out.

New release for May 2011 - Collection 2000 Hot Looks nail polish

Nearly the weekend! Hope everyone has had a lovely week? I have some exciting news to share. Collection 2000 have a new set of nail polish perfect for summer. Consisting of five new shades, their Hot Looks line has pretty pastels and neutral tones. I was sent the range to test out and am pleased with the results, another triumph for Collection 2000.

The top picture is one I took, the second is the image I was e-mailed from their PR team. The shades from the second image are Fruit Loop, a gorgeous coral colour which I found to have a warmish pink undertone. Milkshake is a very neutral brown toned shade, Angel Wings is a slate grey, Lemon Soda a bright yellow without being garish and finally Candy Floss a lovely pastel pink. Here is a closer look at each polish:

Fruit Loop (46) This picture makes the polish look lighter than how it appeared in real life. On my nails it is a fabulous coral shade, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Next up is Milkshake (47) This was my least favorite shade, I find neutral tones are lost on my skin tone, they blend in too much for my liking. However this shade would be good if you wanted a light colour on your nails without being too obvious. 

Now we have Angel Wings (49) a fantastic blue ish grey, which is my favorite polish from the collection.

Lemon Soda (45) is a bright yellow, lighter than a pastel but not too in your face like a neon, this yellow is just right. I just adore the way this colour transfered on, it is a very jolly colour which I am going to be wearing a lot of in the summer. This would look great with some sort of black Konad design over the top.

Finally we have Candy Floss (48) a gorgeous warm pastel pink, another particular favorite of mine from the collection. Again this picture is not shade accurate, the polish is more pink in real life, a very light pink which would be good for summer weddings if you wanted a more delicate colour.

Overall I am impressed with Collection 2000 with this line which is due to be released May 19. The bottles will cost £1.79 each which I think is a complete bargain. 
The formula is fairly thick, so two thinner coats and you are good to go, there is no visible nail line showing through which is great. The varnishes dry very quickly and have a lovely shine, the creme formula is one of my favorite finishes for polishes. 


What do you think of this new range?

(The products in this post were provided for a review)

Black and Gold

Even though I adore my blue and green eyeshadows, I wanted to wear something different for work today. So I chose a lovely gold and black combination with glittery black eye liner. This is what I used......

Urban Decay palette, Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara, Collection 2000 Glam Crystal eyeliner (7) and Maxfactor Smoky Eye Effect.


I started off by applying the silver shade of the Smoky Eye Effect all over my eyelids to create a base. Next I applied the gold shadow from the platte (Maui Wowie) on the inner corner to the middle of the eye lid.


I applied the black shadow (oil slick) on the outer corner, blending the gold over the top. I didn't want the black to be too obvious, I only wanted it to peak through. To finish I applied the black glitter eyeliner to the upper lash line, curled my lashes and applied mascara. This is how it turned out. 

Looking at these pictures, I am thinking that perhaps I should have lined my lower lash line too, hmmmm