beauty | Spotlight on: Avon

I've used Avon products for as long as I can remember. I can still recall going to Avon parties with my mum and all of her friends, feeling all grown up as I wrote out my order form from the Colour Trend section (AKA every tweenager's dream - think bright blue mascara and green eyeshadow).

But I've grown up (at least a little) now - and I was excited to see my grandparents had bought me this beautiful make up set for Christmas from the more grown up side of Avon.

This is the 'Prepare to Party' gift set - and for just £10 you get an eyeshadow duo, eyeliner, mascara and lipstick.

The eyeshadow duo is in Warm Cashmere, and includes a nude shade that goes over the lid, and a darker warm-toned brown shade which looks lovely throughout the crease. Both have a shimmer to them - but there's no fallout and the shadows themselves are buttery and easy to apply and blend.

The glimmerstick eyeliner - in Blackest Black - stays for a lifetime in the waterline - and can be easily blended out to create a simple smoky eye. It's also incredibly pigmented and a little goes a long way - and once it's set it won't budge (it took me a good few minutes to wash the swatch off my arm minutes after applying it!).

The Supershock mascara is the only product in the set that I haven't totally fallen in love with. The first thing I noticed is that the formula is incredibly dry already - which doesn't bode well for how long it'll last me. But the brush is right up my street - plastic with a ton of bristles that reminds me of the Benefit They're Real brush. It isn't the worst mascara I've ever tried but I definitely wouldn't rush out to buy a new one when this one ends.

And finally, my personal highlight of the kit is the Ultra Colour lipstick in Pout. It's the most beautiful nude-pink colour that's such an easy colour to just throw on and go. It's really moisturising and has a faint sheen to it - which means it doesn't have the longest lasting-power, but it's so easy to reapply due to being a nude.

I think these four products can easily work together to create looks perfect for day or night - and I'm so impressed that these four products only cost £10 overall. To say three out of the four products are high in my favourites since Christmas, this set really is worth it.

The Avon 'Prepare to Party' gift set costs £10 and can be bought here.

Have you tried any of Avon's products? 

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beauty | eyeko skinny liquid liner 'navy'

Last week in Glamour, I received this free liquid liner from Eyeko. I've heard so many good things about the brand so was expecting a pretty good product. I'm a huge fan of liquid liner and wear it religiously every day. However, I must admit that I've been left pretty disappointed in this eyeliner.

I decided to get the shade 'navy' after a recent blog post written by Essie Button (Estee) caught my eye. She had started using her navy eyeliner from Stila and it got me in the mood for some navy liner myself!

The Eyeko liner comes in a thin silver felt tip, which I always find the easiest to apply. I think the packaging is really slick and definitely caught my eye. The nib of the pen itself is long and comes to a thin point which I thought would be perfect to nail cateye flicks and to create a really solid line.

When testing it on my hand, the colour pay off was so-so. I liked that you could tell straight away that the pen was navy, but I was a little worried that it wasn't as pigmented and wet as it should be. The first few swipes were really pale and it took quite a few attempts to make a solid and noticeable line.

When applying to my eyelid, I had to go over the same space several times to create anything even close to a line, and as you can see from the pictures below it made the final effect look undefined and almost like i had just used a pencil rather than liquid. I was shocked at how dry the pen was - especially as I had only used it previously on the back of my hand - and can't see it having a very long payoff. 

But the colour really is lovely, and is very noticeable in real life. It's something a little different and mixes up basic eyeliner. I'm hoping that if I leave the liner alone for a while it will re-wet (?!?) itself and become a little more easy to manage. 

This pen costs £12  when buying from the Eyeko website and I think that's crazy if the pen is in fact as dry as it seemed for me. I'd rather just stick to my trusty £6 drugstore eyeliner, which works amazingly well is and crazy pigmented.

If I'd bought this with my own money I would be so disappointed so I'm really glad I just got it free with a magazine.

Have you tried this product? What did you think? Is mine just from a bad batch?

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