Topshop Gloss Ink | Sloe Gin

Following on from yesterday's post on a holographic Topshop nail varnish, I'm coming to you today with another new love from the Topshop make up range. 

I swear I love their make up much more than I love their overpriced clothes.

(For reference, that's Topshop 'Profound' on my nails too!)

The Gloss Inks are a new addition to the Topshop make up stands and come in 5 different shades. I chose mine in quite rush and upon reflection, I probably wouldn't have picked the shade Sloe Gin had I had a better opportunity to swatch and decide. I do love it, don't get me wrong, but it's a very brave shade and not all that practical for every day wear. Plus, it's not a very 'me' kinda shade.. but I guess it does us all good to step out of our comfort zones every now and again. 

It comes in a smaller-than-average standard lipgloss tube, with a doe foot sponge applicator and matte black packaging, accentuated with glossy text and still keeping in touch with classic Topshop packaging with the stripes on the tube. It does seem much more upmarket and classy than the usual packaging, not to mention more durable and less likely to get in a state after a couple of trips out in the handbag - Yes, I'm looking at the lipsticks in the white tubes!!

The doe foot sponge applicator is great and seems to come out with the perfect amount of product for one application. It's very simple to apply and I went straight onto my lips with it, no faffing about, and it was opaque and good to go all in one quick, swift motion.  

All looks good, but I've got some big time issues with it, mainly the problem with colour transfer. It's absolutely awful for getting onto your teeth, even after the 'finger trick' (Google it if you're not sure) and after rubbing it off the teeth (it can stain the teeth too!) it almost immediately finds it's way back onto there again. Being such a bold colour this isn't ideal because it's hardly subtle.

I wore the colour all day yesterday, from 9am until around 7pm and it still had a slight hint of the stain but no gloss remaining by that time. The glossy finish lasted around 3-4 hours, and after that it was just the colour stain remaining. However, I did leave bright pink lip smears on every glass/mug/fork that I used throughout the day, even after blotting, which is pretty gross.

It leaves me in a difficult position now for when I actually wear this lip product. It's bright, bold, beautiful and really long lasting, so I'd normally pick a product like this for evenings out or a meal; any occasions when you don't want to faff with touch-ups.. but leaving lipstick prints on glasses and cutlery just isn't classy.. 

I've tried to blot it does but it still likes to transfer, no matter what.

What would you do?

It's a shame because I really love the colour and finish of it!

Topshop Gloss Ink in Sloe Gin - £8.00 | LINK

What do you think?
Thanks for reading!

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♥

Topshop Cream Blush: 'Prime Time'

 

Hey everybody! Hope that you're all okay and having a good week. I can certainly say I've been better.. if any of you reading this are students you will know that May is not an easy month of the year - assignment deadlines and exams tend to be a little bit life consuming and it's definitely not fun! Roll on a care free summer!! Speaking of summer... here's a pretty adorable and purse friendly cream blush that should see your cheekbones through the upcoming sunny season.

I'm a fan of Topshop's make up; from their lipsticks to their nail varnishes, to their bronzers and their highlighters, but one thing I'd never tried was their cream blushes. At only £6.00 each they're very affordable and cheaper than quite a few of the other brands on the high street (Revlon and Bourjois' cream blushes are both £7.99 each). There's 4g of product in the pan and they're super cute and 'dinky' in a very small compact that's just the perfect size to fit into the palm of my hand. Complete with a mirror for 'on the go' touch ups, there's no unnecessary bulkiness taking up space and the signature black and white, almost 'designed by a child' like, packaging just adds to the sweetness of this product. 

The formulation of these blushes is actually a 'cream to powder', so that when it comes out of the pan it's soft and creamy, but when dried on the skin it actually has a powder finish to it. The shade that I picked up was a bright pink shade called 'Prime Time' that looks pretty scary and vibrant while in the pan, but only a small amount of product is needed, dotted and blended (I just use my fingers) and it creates a lovely soft flush of colour across the cheeks. It's not scary at all once it's blended out. The formula is really easy to work with, easily blendable and you can easily build up the intensity of the colour pay off that you're looking for. It's an incredibly pigmented colour, but with a light hand it's also so simple to create such a natural soft wash of colour with this that can really perk a face up.

(My hands and fingers look a bit.. yuck because I'd just been playing about with this clay mask from REN before I took the pictures; I'm not normally covered with a crusty white dust!).

If soft rosy cheeks are something that you strive to achieve and are looking for a good quality and affordable cream blush then head on down to Topshop and have a look at their range of cream blushes - I know I'll be going back for more! You can see it on the Topshop website here.

|| A cheeky little plug for myself, but if you enjoy reading my blog I would be SO grateful if you could nominate cosmeticcrave.com for a Cosmopolitan Blog Award in the category of 'Best New Beauty Blog'. All you have to do is click here and it'll take you a matter of seconds to enter my blog url and click enter!

Thank you!

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Topshop Lips | 'Firecracker'

It's no secret to anybody that I'm a fan of Topshop's make up line and if you have not tried anything from them yet then I urge you to, even if it's just a little pink nail varnish you pick up I assure you that you'll fall in love and keep going back for more! This is my fourth lipstick from Topshop and I bought it the other week after lusting after it for such a long time. Topshop's lipsticks cost £8.00 (but £7.20 if you have a student card), which makes them one of the higher priced lippie lines on the high street (although some from Revlon are now creeping up to this mark), but their quality is above and beyond their price tag and they can give Mac more than a run for their money. I'd rather have two Topshop lipsticks than one from Mac!

My shade of choice was Firecracker, and no, your eyes are not deceiving you - this is a bright orange lipstick. Bright orange. It looks a little bit red/orange in the photographs and also in the bullet when you see it in real life, but oh no no no this is just orange. There's no denying that it's a bold statement colour to be wearing, but if you want a splash of colour on your lips then why not go all out? There's no pictures of me wearing it because I'm a little camera shy, so I hope this picture will suffice:

That's a little bit of lovin' from me to you right there! Isn't the colour just amazing? The finish on Firecracker is 'Velvet' which means that it is smooth and creamy with about the same amount as shine / gloss that you would get from a balm. The pigmentation is far from compromised by the velvety formula though and just one sweep gives a medium coverage on the lips which is great if you want to wear this more subtley, or a couple more sweeps can easily build it up to the full works of full and opaque coverage. The wear time is pretty good too and lasts for a few hours but leaves a gentle stain of colour on the lips, although be careful when you apply it because I smudged this onto the skin around my mouth and struggled to get the orange stain off! Definitely just looked like a had coldsores or had been messy eating my spag bol!

It's not one for the faint hearted, but it is an amazing statement lip colour that makes a change from classic red and would look amazing on holiday and on hot summer days (that's hard to imagine when it's currently snowing!) because I can just picture it complimenting tanned skin incredibly well. Hurry up sunshine so I can get some more wear out of this beauty!

Is this a lip colour you think you'd be dabbling in when summer rolls around?

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Topshop Lips | 'Macaroon'

Hey, what's that? Hannah likes Topshop lipsticks? Oh really.. you should have said. 

Priced at £8.00 each (£7.20 if you're a lucky owner of a student card), lipsticks from Topshop are on the higher end of highstreet make up price spectrum, but they are every bit worth those few extra pennies. On par with the quality from Mac and with a huge range of shades and finishes available there is something for everybody to be found at the Topshop make up stands. Sticking with my standard colour of a bright pink, but opting for a different finish from usual (velvet), Macaroon became a new member of my collection a couple of weeks ago and was welcomed with open arms with summer days in mind.

Being a 'velvet' finish as opposed to matte, means that it has a lot more of a creamy texture and is far more moisturising on the lips, although the wear time is slightly compromised. It still lasts for a good 3 hours because needing to reapply (providing you're not eating or drinking in this time) and the colour gently and evenly fades away but does not leave a stain on the lips. It feels nourishing like a balm but with still quite a bright pop of colour and a glossy but non-sticky finish. This is a very wearable shade, suitable for every day wear and is a calm coral-y peach toned pink - I love it!

And here it is in action!

(Squinty squinty because it's sunny)

What do you think of Topshop lipsticks?

Do you have any recommendations for me? ..I'm think of trying Sartorial next!

Topshop Make Up | All About Me Lipstick

 

I recently had a little spend on some Topshop make up as a treat to myself and 'All About Me' is the lipstick that I picked up in this haul after a very heavy swatching session and a lot umming and aahing. I absolutely loveeee this little tube of pinky goodness! 'All About Me' is an extremely bright and bold shade, as the name would suggest it. It is a bright, bright pink - almost neon it's so bright. When I bought 'Brighton Rock' a few months back I thought that was vibrant.. but now I've seen this one it makes 'Brighton Rock' look pretty subdued! See the two of them side by side below for colour comparison; 'All About Me' is a lot brighter and a deeper, richer pink shade and the blue undertones within it are quite noticable.

 

It is a matte lipstick, but it's a 'moisturising matte', meaning that there is no tugging and pulling on the lips or emphasis on dry patches, but it still has the long term staying power and good colour pay off. Basically it has everything that you could ever want in a lipstick. Yesterday, I gave this lipstick the test of time, applying it at 10am and it did not need a touch up at all until around half past five. As the hours passed this lipstick gradually but evenly faded away and left a hot pink stain on the lips. I reapplied at 6pm and then ate a full roast dinner with pudding and a few cups of tea later and it was still looking good.

 

Topshop lipsticks all cost £8.00 each so are at the higher end of the drugstore price range but they're definitely worth it as they easily give brands like Mac a run for their money in terms of quality and I certainly wouldn't say that their make up is overpriced like a lot of Topshop's clothing items notoriously are. When it comes to the packaging I do think that this plays a part in the overall rating of product because if I'm going to pull something out of my bag for a touch-up, or have it sitting on my dressing table, then I want it to be visually appealing as a whole, not just when the product is applied onto my lips. At first I really loved the packaging on Topshop make up items; I thought they were 'cute' and different. But now, the novelty has worn off and I find that it makes them look a little bit immature and those lipstick tubes just don't have the durability factor to be able to withstand transport. I took one of these on just one night out in my bag and it is now disgusting to look at; it's scratched, scraped, dented, chipped and just downright grubby! So, I'd give these a thumbs down on the packaging, but other than that I think that the price, the shade, the colour pay off, the consistency and the wear time of 'All About Me' score very highly and this is one of my new favourites for a bright and bold lip colour.
 

 

 

See the other Topshop goodies that I treated myself to in my beauty haul - LINK.

Do you have any recommendations for other Topshop lipsticks I might like?

♥

Topshop Make Up | Crescent Moon Highlighter

You know that line from Mean Girls that goes.. I saw Cady Heron wearing army pants and flip flops, so I bought army pants and flip flops'? Well that just makes me want to say.. I saw Kayleigh Johnson blog about Crescent Moon highlighter from Topshop, so I bought Crescent Moon highlighter from Topshop'.

 

...and I'm not really joking that much either.

No but really, let's be serious here, we all know that Mac's sales of their eyeshadows 'cranberry' and 'sketch' will have shot through the roof in the past few weeks after Kayleigh's post on a gorgeous autumn eye look using these shades (see the post HERE), and now Topshop should expect the same with their highligher 'Crescent Moon' after Kayleigh blogged about how she uses and adores this product, and let's face it.. when somebody as stunning as her talks about a bargain buy like this you'd be silly not to snap it up for yourself pronto! (By the way if you've been living under a rock and don't know who I'm talking about you can see her lovely blog Couture Girl here: link).

 

 

 

I say that I'm a big fan of Topshop make-up, but I have a couple of lipsticks, a handful of their nail varnishes and use their bronzer 'Holidaze' ..and my collection doesn't branch out a whole lot further than that. Considering I didn't even know that Crescent Moon existed maybe I'm not such a top fan of Topshop cosmetics after all! I thought that Sunbeam was the only highlighter that they stocked and I had eyed this up many times before; always considering buying this over a MSF from Mac but in the end always coming to the final conclusion that Sunbeam is just a great big pan of yellow and I wasn't convinced the shade would suit me well at all.

 

Hearing Kayleigh (CoutureGirl) and Lily (Etcllymlrs) gush about how beautiful this shade is and compare it to more expensive products such as Mac Soft and Gentle and Nars Albatross was all that it took for me to march myself right down to Topshop and pick up this little beauty for just £9.00 (RRP £10.00 but £9.00 with 10% student discount). There were a couple of other bits that I picked up at the same time and you can see them in my beauty haul post here: link.




This isn't much of a 'review' on the product, it's just more of a 'feature' to basically tell you that if you don't have this already then you need it; so scrape yourself together a pair of fivers and treat yourself to an absolutely beautiful, soft highlight shade with subtle shimmer that is amaaazing quality and in super cute packaging - what are you waiting for?

♥

Topshop, Superdrug and Yankee Candle Haul

Hi.. My name's Hannah and I have a problem.

I used all the willpower that I have inside of me and it was still no use in helping me to resist going for a little shop and buying lots of new things. I've been feeling a little down recently and the one thing that cheers me up better than anything else, yes, even better than Ben and Jerrys and a cup of tea ..is shopping! I had a little splurge on Topshop make up, picked up a few skin and hair care items in Superdrug, placed an online order with Yankee Direct, and also one with Models Own (eep!).

Topshop

 

I got myself two new nail varnishes (not that I need any more), one metallic shade 'Glimmer' (£6.00) and a matte shade 'Celestial' (£5.00). The shade 'Celestial' was chosen by my giveaway winner so I picked up one for her and liked the look of it so much that I got one for myself too. After much swatching and a handful of pink streaks down the back of my hand I decided on a bright pink matte lipstick in the shade 'All About Me' (£8.00). Finally, after eyeing up the 'Sunbeam' highlighter for about a year I saw Kayleigh's review on the 'Crescent Moon' one a couple of days ago and decided that one looked like a far nicer shade so changed my intentions and headed straight for 'Crescent Moon' (£10.00) instead. I held them side by side each other in the shop and there is quite a considerable colour difference between the two, and even the description on the packaging; 'Crescent Moon' is listed as 'white' and 'Sunbeam' is listed as 'yellow'.

Superdrug

I was disappointed when I got to Boots and found that their 3 for 2 offer isn't on anymore because I had a big long mental list of things that I wanted to get! However, I hadn't been browsing long when quite a scummy looking pregnant lady started causing a scene in the middle of the store. At first there was just a few raised voices and as I couldn't quite see where the commotion was coming from I just assumed it was a woman telling off her child.. but then the shouting continued and when I heard the line 'f**king touch me again and I'll kill you' I knew this was more than a mother and child incident! It continued to 'get your hands off me, I'm waiting until the police get here' and 'I'm pregnant, you've assaulted my baby' and because the voices were so, so loud the entire store had stopped what they were doing and were engrossed in watching this argument. Human nature prevailed and I peeked around the ailses to find the source of the trouble and it was infact between a woman and a security guard! I have no idea how this whole situation started off but I popped my head around the corner just in time to see her swing an almighty punch right in the security guard's face!! This is most certainly not something I am used to seeing at 1pm on a Friday in the middle of Boots! The security guard kept his cool the best he could while another guard ran to help the situation and the woman started angrily thrashing her arms around to get away and started pushing and kicking all of the surrounding stands! It really was quite an experience to see - Benefit and Clarins products flying through the air, lipsticks scattered everywhere, skin care smashing across the floor - wow! As curious as I was I thought it was best I scooted myself out of the store before it went any further as it was pretty certain she was about to be arrested and I didn't want to be one of those gawping members of the public that just stands and watches it all go down, so I quickly escaped and ran to Superdrug instead!

That was nothing to do with my shopping, I just wanted to tell the story! But incase you didn't know Superdrug is now running a 3 for 2 offer instead, only on cosmetics/make up though. I picked up three Nivea items; a raspberry lip butter (£1.25), a rich moisturiser to combat the dry skin that winter brings (£3.00), and their newly released moisturiser/primer that every girl and their grandma seems to be talking about recently (£3.99). I also picked up the VO5 moisture soak elixir (£4.25) that is regularly raved about by Lily - I did think it seemed a little pricey for what it is so I hope that it works! On a complete whim I picked up something I have never seen before and that is the Tresemme Liquid Gold Restorative Treatment (£3.45) and I only really got it because it was on offer and I liked the name 'liquid gold' *big sigh*.

Models Own

Following my ridiculous splurge during the Models Own 50% Summer Sale I have found a new favourite brand of nail varnish. I think they’re spot on with the quality and the price is great – plus their shade range seems to be never ending. It feels like only a week ago Models Own brought out the Mirrorball collection, a collection that didn’t really tempt me, but now they’ve brought out the Wonderland collection for winter and oh my. I. am. in. LOVE! The collection consists of five different types of glitter polishes and I wanted to exercise at least some restraint by not buying the entire set and only selecting two. After trawling the Internet for good quality swatches I settled for Jack Frost and Northern Lights. I am extremely happy with my choice and I just cannot stop staring at the beauty in a bottle. I don’t think that Northern Lights comes across as well as it could do in the pictures, but trust me it is beautiful! (£5.00 each).

Yankee Candle

Whilst in a spontaneously festive mood I ordered 11 Yankee Candle tarts from Yankee Direct which are predominately Christmas scented - it's never too early! The scents include 'Christmas Tree', 'Christmas Cookie', 'Christmas Cupcake', and 'Christmas Eve' - Christmas Eve has a smell? Really? I also picked up some others that are just generally seasonal appropriate: 'Cinnamon Stick', 'Spiced Orange', 'Sugared Apple'.. and the list goes on. (£0.90 - £1.10).

Random

I picked up Glamour magazine for £2.00 because of the free Nails Inc nail polishes that come with this months edition and these full size bottles retail at £11.00 a pop so it’s great deal, especially when Glamour is my fave mag to read anyway – it always makes me feel like a strong and independent woman after reading it. None of the four shades available particularly tempted me but in the end I went for ‘Glitter Glamour’ because you can’t go wrong with a glitter! I found this great post here: link that contains swatches of all four of the shades if you need help deciding. I also got two bars of the new Dairy Milk with Oreo because these seem to be like gold dust – I can’t find them anywhere! I don’t know why Tesco and Co-op don’t stock these. I found these bars for £1.00 each in Poundland.
 

 

My little student overdraft won't be able to withstand this addiction for much longer - get me to shopping rehab asap!

♥