Incoming: Cargo

Apparently, I stress shop. Therefore, the beauty halls of Debenhams were the last place I should have gone - but what's that they say about hindsight?

So in I went, stressed. Out I came, still stressed but slightly more cheerful and quite a bit poorer. My target was the Cargo counter, where I'd spied a new palette release. I'd been keeping an eye out for it after I spied it on Instagram, and as a new convert to the world of Cargo eyeshadow palettes, I was really quite keen to try it.

As luck would have it, they had it in stock on the counter. And, there was a gift with purchase running! So these little lovelies came home with me.

Cargo The Essentials Eye Palette ¦¦ Oh look, a neutrals palette. Do I need another of these? Moving on... This contains 7 mattes and 4 of their lovely multi-dimensional shimmery shades, plus one with a more modest shimmer, plus a black kohl eyeliner and a semi decent dual-ended brush. At first glance it appears there are a lot of very similar shades in this palette, but I've found there's definitely enough variety to work with and as always I love the colours, quality and assortment of these shadows. Another great job by Cargo - although I have to say, if I could only have one Cargo palette it would still be the Vintage Escapes palette. This only seems to be in stock on the counter (I can't find it online anywhere, and its name is very close to another of their products so I keep getting results for that instead) so if you're after this, you'll have to go in person.

Cargo Eye Shadow in Shanghai ¦¦ I wanted something a bit more exciting after all those nudes, so I picked up a single eyeshadow to go with the palette (and qualify me for the gift with purchase...). Shanghai is a beautiful purple with, I don't know, almost a brown undertone? It means it's not an obnoxious 80's purple and it co-ordinates with all the shades in the palette beautifully. 

Cargo Swimmables Water Resistant Blush in Los Cabos (GWP) ¦¦ I already have the full size version of this product, but it's what I wear on my cheeks every day during the summer so it will be handy to have a travel sized version of this. That's my rationale and I'm sticking to it!

Some dodgy swatches for your delectation - left, Shanghai eye shadow; right, Los Cabos blush.

Clarins HydraQuench Cream ¦¦ I got this as a free sample when I signed up to the Debenhams beauty loyalty card scheme. There was also a bonus points offer on at the time so I did quite well out of the whole deal, I think! I have dry skin and I'm always on the lookout for decent moisturisers. I've had the chance to use up this sample and I can say that it's decent, but I'm not sure I'd spend the money on it. A full size goes for £35 for 50ml and I've got to really love something to want to pay that much for it. As it is, I didn't.

Lancôme Advanced Génifique ¦¦ Another sample. However, a completely different story with this one - despite the high price point of the full size product (£59 for 30ml!!!) I'm genuinely impressed with this product. It made a noticeable difference to my skin (brighter, more even toned, smoother, clearer) in just a few days and there are very, very few products that do that. I'm saving up already.

Do you stress-shop? What's been your most outrageous stress shopping purchase?

-Rachel

A Mystery Parcel from Boots

An unexpected parcel plopped onto my doormat this morning. I love unexpected parcels, especially when they're from places like Boots where I seem to spend most of my money these days.

Excitedly, I tore into the parcel to find a full size No7 Midnight Lash Mascara in black and a little note from the team at Boots which sweetly says, "We thought you'd like to try a little something on us. Hope you like it!".

I don't know whether it's because I have a ridiculous amount of points on my Advantage card at the moment (almost £90... yikes) or there's a big marketing push going on at No7, but whatever it is, I'm not complaining.

To whoever at Boots sent me the lovely mascara - thank you very much! You cheered up my day no end.

-Rachel

Incoming: Boots II

It happened again! The siren call of Boots is just too strong for me to resist.

This time I made it away with a mere 5 products, making good use of the ubiquitous 3-for-2 and No7 vouchers. I've had these for a little while now, so I can tell you what I think of each of these products. Let's go!

Bourjois Healthy Balance Compact Powder in 52 Vanille ¦¦ I've been searching for ages for a decent replacement for my beloved Une mineral powder foundation which is now no longer available in the UK. The parent company of Une is Bourjois, so it stands to reason that that's the first place I should look for a replacement. I've read lots of good things about this powder and I can report they're basically all true. This gives a beautiful finish, it doesn't stick to my dry patches and doesn't look cakey or old ladyish. I'm so glad I found this, it's a gorgeous product. It's £8.99 and available here

Bourjois Colorband 2-in-1 Eyeshadow & Liner in Mauve ¦¦ I was really expecting to love this. It was basically a done deal in my head. I thought this would be better than my No7 Shade and Define eyeshadow sticks, which I've raved about a lot. Well, it wasn't. It wasn't as long lasting as the No7 version, and it was too sparkly. The glitter transferred to above my eyes and looked messy, and after a while (to be fair, about 10 hours or so) any remaining colour had transferred into creases in my eyelid. The eyeliner part stayed put, though. This wasn't too expensive so I'm not mad about it, but I'm a little sad as I'd expected to love it so much. It's available here for £5.99.

Bourjois Rouge Edition Aqua Laque liquid lipstick in Viens si tu roses ¦¦ This is the newest iteration from Bourjois, following on from the very successful Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks (which I didn't actually love that much). I decided to give this new range a go, as it's the gloss version and I figured that may work better for me. And it did! This shade is beautiful, very wearable, and I love it. It applies beautifully and wears well - it's not particularly long lasting, but crucially for me it wears evenly and leaves a very slight tint behind afterwards. This means I don't have to worry about the colour fading patchily or leaving the dreaded ring of colour, it just looks nice until it's not there any more. I can't wait for more colours of this, I'll be all over it. It's available here for £8.99.

L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Mono Eyeshadow in Lumiere 502 Quartz Fume ¦¦ I previously picked up the single shade in a mid-brown, 106 Breaking Nude, which I absolutely adore so I got this to go with it. I actually think this isn't quite as good as the matte shade - it applies a little patchily and takes some working in to get it looking nice. However, it's an absolutely beautiful shade and with just a tiny bit of effort it looks stunning. Other shades in the range are available here, but this particular shade doesn't appear to be listed. It's still in stores, though, for a bargainous £5.49.

No7 Protect and Perfect Eye Cream ¦¦ Does it make me sound like an old lady if I keep going on about how much I love eye cream? Probably. Well, this is supposed to protect young skin, boost radiance and visibly improve fine lines. It comes out of the tube slightly tinted but that doesn't translate to anything noticeable on the skin, so it's not something you need to be particularly careful with applying or anything. So far I've thoroughly enjoyed it and it's my personal opinion that No7 skincare is vastly underrated. See also: their Hot Cloth Cleanser, and Protect and Perfect Day Cream.

Swatches L-R: Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder (you can't really see this, as funnily enough it's the same colour as my skin), L'Oreal Color Riche eyeshadow in 502 Quartz Fume, Bourjois Colorband eyeshadow and liner in Mauve, and Bourjois Rouge Edition Aqua Laque in Viens si tu roses

I am officially banned from entering any more Boots stores for a significant length of time. I really am such a liability. Are there any shops you simply can't walk past?

-Rachel

L'Oréal La Palette Nude Review & Giveaway

So I've been stalking these palettes in my local Boots for what seems like forever, and they're always out of stock. I'd just about given up hope of laying my hands on the lovely looking La Palette Nude in Rosé, and then I heard that L'Oréal were releasing a new palette. It was called La Palette Nude in Beige, and seemed right up my alley. I own no Naked palettes as I just can't bring myself to spend the money on them, so I thought a drugstore alternative would be fantastic.

I called into my local Boots on the offchance that they might have this new Beige palette in stock. To my shock, they did (!) and there were even a couple that hadn't already been opened and fingered (!!) (seriously though, why do people do that? That's what the tester is for. Ugh) and even more unbelievably, they'd restocked the Rosé edition as well. So I grabbed one each, and then thought I'd get one of the new ones to give away as well.

L'Oréal La Palette Nude in Beige (bottom palette)

I like the sleek and minimalist nature of the packaging, and the shadows applied beautifully. They blended easily and whilst some have said they lack pigmentation, I think that's ok for a drugstore palette because at just £15 vs almost £40 for a Naked palette it represents a much more affordable price bracket and b) it's probably more aimed at novices than pros, which means it's much more foolproof. I'm really enjoying using it, and it works well for my level of competence...

L'Oréal La Palette Nude in Rosé (top palette)

I also really like this palette; it's the same great quality as the shadows above but the shades it contains are a little bit more interesting. What I've particularly loved is using both palettes together, which gives you an excellent range of looks. I particularly like the subtle purple colours which contain some shimmer - they're really, really pretty on the eyes.

I know L'Oréal have released an extremely similar sounding palette in the US, but having looked at some US bloggers posts about it, it seems quite different. I don't have the US version so I can't compare quality, and I can't find anyone else who has either. So it's a bit of a mystery.

And finally, if you'd like to win one of the Beige variants of this palette; no less than the nice unopened one in the picture above, please enter using the widget. It's open internationally, runs for two weeks, and is open to all. The usual giveaway blurb applies. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

-Rachel