As spring is slowly starting to creep round the shop’s are becoming full of candy and pastel colours. Clothing wise I prefer bright colours but when it comes to make up I just can’t resist the girly colour’s and packaging.

The Body Shop is full of lovely candy colours so I’ve been trying a couple of eye shadows and lip products. The 2 eye shadows I have are a white colour with a pink edge called Shell Pink and a dark, dusty pink called Champagne Pink.

When I first looked at the Shell Pink shade I initially though it was a slightly shimmery white however it’s only when you try it on that you realise it has a proper pink edge almost like looking at the back of a sea shell. The Champagne Pink shadow has a lovely dusky colour to it and hint of a shimmer which I really like. I applied these with a damp brush to give a more intense colour but they easily blend down if you are after a more subtle finish.

The lip balm has a slight shimmer which hasn’t come out too well on the pictures but on your lips gives a little extra sparkle than a usual lip balm.  And personally I think you can never have too many lip balms! The lip scuff is an exfoliator for the lips which is something I always need in the cold weather as my lips seem to get so dry no matter how much lip balm I use! Much better than the old tooth brush and Vaseline trick I used to use which was a lot harsher on my lips. The eye shadows are £8 each, the lip balm is £3.50 and the lip scuff is £8 all from The Body Shop.

* PR samples – views are my own

I finally have the Internet again after a very long wait for BT to come and install a phone line so I shall starting to blog again. I have a little bit of a back log of things I’ve got over the Christmas period but I thought I might as well start with this giveaway from Max Factor and Special K.

From now till June if you buy Special K all you have to do is go online and enter the promotional code from the pack to be in with a chance of winning this red Marilyn-esque lipstick. The shade is called Ruby Tuesday and is certainly not a colour for the faint hearted!

As with most Max Factor lipsticks the formulation is rich and creamy which gives a stunning scarlet colour. This shade has slight orange undertones which helps to make this a warm shade of red which I think will suit a lot of skin tones. I’ve just dyed my hair dark brown and with my pale skin this colour does look very striking. I’m just now waiting for a party to wear it too!

As promised here are my swatches of my two new 17 Mirror Shine Lipsticks. Beehive was my original purchase from this range and I have used it so much since even though I wouldn’t really call myself a lipstick person.

The two shades I have are Flirtini, a hot pink shade with a hint of sparkle and Belle, a reddish shade with a hint of brown. The formulation is the same as Beehive, very glossy and glides on the lips very smoothly.

My favourite is definitely Flirtini which on the lips does still look hot pink but it actually seems to really suit me. Belle unfortunately doesn’t really do too much for me but them lipsticks with a hint of brown to tend to make me a little washed out.

I think I might wear Flirtini to the party I’m going to this weekend with a black and cream dress. Wear wise they probably last a couple of hours but the formulation is very easy to wear and helps to moisturise my lips. Mirror Shine lipsticks are available from Boots for £4.59.

I popped into Boots on Saturday hoping to find the new 17 magnetised nail polishes though unfortunately there only seemed to be the product info and no actual nail polishes! However I couldn’t fail to notice the 3 for 2 offer across all the makeup ranges so I had to pick myself up a few new items.

I’ve fancied buying a nail art pen for a couple of weeks now so when I spotted this pen from Models Own for £6 I thought I might as well try it. I’ll do a proper review with some NOTD soon after I’ve tried experimenting with it. I love my Mirror Shine lipstick from 17 in Beehive so I’ve also picked up another 2 shades, Flirtini and Belle which were £4.59 each. With my 3 for 2 it means I picked up the second lipstick for free!

I’m a sucker for lip glosses or lip balms and definitely believe you can never have too many! I have so many different shades from the  brightest of colours all the way through to the everyday neutrals. I don’t tend to wear lipstick or even bright lip colours day to day so instead you’ll usually find with a couple of nude lip balms or glosses in my hand bag.

I’ve been trying out one of the new tinted lip gloss* from Madara in moonkissed which I thought was a pinky/rose shade however in reality I’d say it was more of a pinky shade with an orange edge too it. Still very neutral as it just gives that hint of colour to your lips.

I’m not sure if I’d call this a balm or gloss as it’s somewhere between the two but it lasts well on your lips to give a glossy appearance whilst still moisturising them which is handy as my lips are getting so dry as the weather gets chillier! Madara tinted lip glosses are available for £9.90 from the Madara website.

*pr sample