Flick off

I'm a big fan of black liquid eyeliner. In fact, unless I'm off on a big night out, I rarely do an eye look other than LC-esque flicks and mascara. So, I was excited to try out Topshop's Liner offering in Rook. On my hand it seemed fab.

A soper-glossy, totally opaque and resilient liquid liner. I bought it without a second thought.
But when I got it home, it was another story. My problem is with the applicator.

It's a felt pen-style applicator, but its core seems incredibly stiff. With no give in the applicator, any small wobble of the hand is reflected on your eye and I found it practically impossible to get a nice clean line. And I tried MANY times. It's such a shame a quality product is rendered practically unusable by a cheap applicator.

Has anyone had better results with this than me? Maybe I just need more practice.

My fave liquid liner, which I've gone back to in a flash now Toppers has failed me, is L'Oreal Super Liner Carbon Gloss. I love this for its ease of use, excellent pigment and price point. Everything they claim about this ultra-lasting, precision-tip product is true. Five stars!

Grunge glam, thank you Maam!

The Topshop Heavy Duty Limited Edition Make Up collection is right up my alley - especially the polishes. I almost left with three, but as I'd bought Chanel's Paradoxal a mere half-hour earlier, I thought this might be a bit excessive. I soul-searched for a good 20 minutes before settling for Grunge, but I can't promise I won't be back for Lead.

Grunge is a beautiful black base/gold mettalic combo which looks kind of khaki green in the right light. It goes with absolutely all my recent A/W aquisitions, including purple, nude, terracotta and especially camel.

It's totally opaque with two well-applied coats, and super glossy due to the amazing gold shimmer that adds a little understated glam to daytime. And 48 hours in with CND Stickey basecoat (review to come) and Seche Vite, it's chip-free.

Well done Topshop!

Take matte

During a fleeting visit to Superdrug to grab some painkillers, I was momentarily distracted by the kaleidoscopic Barry M counter.

A friend had mentioned Barry M's Cyan, and once I saw it, I couldn't resist. It helped that she lives a few doors down from me, and we can effectively share a nail polish collection, so in my mind I was doing a public service by picking up this little beauty. (£2.99)

I hope you ladies (and gentlemen) are sitting down because what I'm about to tell you could knock you off your feet... this is only two coats! This polish is a flippin' gem. Regular readers will know I'm a three-coat addict, but there was absolutely no need with this creamy, opaque beauty. And the colour is great. (Coated with Seche Vite here for extra gloss)

Then I took things to another level. I picked up Topshop's Matte with my other items last Wednesday, and although I was pretty dubious as to whether I'd take to matte nails, on a vibrant colour like this I'm sold.

Don't get me wrong, I'll always love that shiny manicured look. But for the crazier colours in my repertoire this gives a more casual edge I'm a real fan of. Would rather like to try it with some of Barry's ice cream colours, and definitely with Topshop's Gypsy Night, just to see what it does to glitter polishes. Either way, it's a fun product for a fiver, worked well here on top of my topcoat, letting you change it up on a whim, and dried in seconds with no brushstroaks. Go forth and mattify!

All that glitters

I couldn't resist this. I know others have blogged about it, and you're probably bored of hearing of it, but it's just such a fabulous concept. Topshop Make up's Gypsy Night Nail Polish.

Now it's obviously not the most summery polish, but it's like having a little slice of outer space on each nail.

Multi-coloured glitter mixed with gold flecks in a stormy black base? Yes please! This is going to be my go-to colour come colder months.

I would have liked a slightly thicker consistency - there's no way you could get away with less than two coats; I did three here and even considered four. But the polish is much more magical than these pictures suggest. (Note to self, work on photography skills!)

Now some say size matters, but when it comes to polish I must disagree. These aren't big bottles - about half the size of OPI, but I've never personally used up more than half a nail polish anyway, so I don't see this as a downside. Especially as nail polish is, now more than ever, a trend-driven purchase rather than an investment.

The brush is also worthy of comment. It's a nice size, matching the small bottle. Am I the only one who finds OPI's large brushes, and the amount of polish they pick up, a little unweidly? I may be on my own here, as they are a professional favourite so can't be hard for experts to use, but with my amateur painting skills I prefer a more accurate tool.

Either way, I'm looking forward to Topshop restocking the bright blue colour. They're out of stock at the moment and I'm pretty happy with this for £5.

Code red

Last night I swooped by Topshop for one thing, and came out with three. Thankfully they were all make-up, otherwise I would have seriously destroyed my July clothing embargo.

Regular readers will remember my quest for a red lipstick, and I thought, before diving headfirst into an expensive Mac purchase, I'd try something more thrifty and see if I wear it often enough to warrant the big investment.
So I picked up Topshop Lip Stick in Flame.

Here's the rather embarassing picture of me wearing it...

(pic by David Cotter)
You see, whenever I've tried to take lippy pictures myself in the past they are blurry, or washed out, or a totally different colour to real life, so I asked my photographer colleague to lend a hand. I asked him to just crop the lips but he wouldn't play ball.
No, I haven't had a stroke, I just appear to have a rather droopy eye... who knew! Anyway, the stick is very pigmented, to the point that it's actually quite nervewracking to apply without a brush. It's quite versatile; nice and shiny, matte if you blot. I did somewhere in between here.
It lasted around two hours before I needed to reapply, and surprisingly for a pencil it isn't drying - it's more of a regular lipstick in pencil form. Altogether, this product is really impressive for £7.
The only problem is, I just realised I now also need a big fat pencil sharpener.

PS I didn't take a 'swatch' hand photo, because I'm never sure how useful it is to know what a lipstick looks like on your hand, unless you are comparing a few? Please do let me know though if you find these helpful though!

UPDATE: This lasted about 5 hours, including a strenuous aerobics class! It's amazing!