J-Blog from J-Bog

The Cosmetics Company Store - Antrim

2010-03-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

I went to Junction One in Antrim on Paddys Day (with a stopoff in Belfast on the way home). They have a Cosmetics Company Store there (aka a CCO that you see floatin' about in blogosphere especially in the US). The CCS is run by Estee Lauder, so they sell all of their brands such as Bobbi Brown, Prescriptives, Clinique, and MAC. I may have purchased a MAC item or two!

More info here including photos, swatches and price comparisions.

Retail prices (price from www.maccosmetics.co.uk, I've roughly guessed how much they'd cost to buy in Dublin):
Paintpots usually cost £13 (about €20)
Normal lipstick costs £12.50 (about €20)
Eyeshadows pans cost £9 (about €15)

Paintpot in Delft: £9.25. Great greeny-blue colour, would look great as a base!

Paintpot in Rubenesque: £9.25. Lovely pinky colour with a gold shimmer.

Amplified Creme Lipstick in So Scarlet, £7.75 and Mattene Lipstick in Bing, £8.75

Eyeshadow pan in Motif. £5.95. This is a lovely golden colour with a pinky shimmer. I couldn't get a nice photo of the swatch I made!

The shop itself is quite small. They didn't have any Bobbi Brown palettes, gel eyeliners or shimmery stuff that I like. The MAC collection can be quite sparse - they do foundations but only in one or two colours. They have maybe 20 - 30 lipsticks, about 20 eyeshadows, no MSF's, a few paintpots and no brushes. They also had a good stock of items from the Hello Kitty collection. I enjoyed it the one time I was there but I wouldn't make the trip for essential items.

Prestige Total Intensity Eyeliners

2010-02-14T12:27:00.000-08:00

Another delectable purchase from Boots in eyeliner form. I've had these for a while, and the black is certainly getting used very well at this stage. Nothing can compare to the softness and the staying power that these have. Therefore, I must own ALL of them (except one, think it's a shade of brown). They don't have a huge range of colours, but the ones they do have are lovely.

These cost about €7.50 in Boots, I got mine on a 3 for 2 offer.

You can have a look at their website, but there doesn't appear to be any mention of the Total Intensity liners, which is handy.

Have a look under the cut for some pics!

Top to Bottom:
02 - Bold Brown
06 - Powerful Purple
03 - Daring Green
04 - Fierce Blue
01- Deepest Black

New Essence stuff

2010-02-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

So, I headed into Dunnes Stores on Henry Street today to have a look at the new Essence Colour & Shine lip pencils. They were practically chewed on by the time I got in at 6.30, but I did have a look at some of their other new offerings.

3 x eyeshadows in 08 (Summer Love, not from a new collection), 18 (Super Babe) and 19 (Disco Diva) @ €1.98 each
Metal Glam eyeliner in 02 (On The Go) @ €2.98
2 x Smokey Eyes Pencil in 02 (Showtime) and 03 (Are U Hot?) @ €2.48 each

Top to Bottom - Metal Glam Eyeliner in 02, Smokey Eyes pencil in 02, and 03

The Eyeliner is a little watery, but very buildable. Lovely sparkle in it.
The Smokey Eye pencils are very creamy, and smudge-able so I think they would make a great for eyeshadows and to smoke out eyeliner.

Eyeshadow in 19

This is a metallic effect deep green eyeshadow with a light green shimmer. Very lovely, creamy and easy to apply.

Eyeshadow in 08

This is a Shimmer effect shadow with a slight pink tinge for an awesome highlight

Eyeshadow in 19

This is a Metallic effect shadow. It does apply lighter than it appears but it's still a lovely buildable warm purple colour

Cherry Culture

2010-01-19T13:41:00.000-08:00

I've used Cherry Culture to order NYX Cosmetics and I couldn't recommend them more. It can be a bit difficult buying stuff from the States due to the customs charges that can be incurred when purchasing outside of the EU, but Cherry Culture mark their boxes as gifts. I've only waited 10-14 working days for delivery from placing the order which is pretty good going. Delivery costs about $10 - $15 and they often run 20% offers (about once a month or so).

I'll do another post about NYX cosmetics and their marvels, but one thing at a time!

Cherry Culture

The first!

2010-01-15T13:30:00.001-08:00

So,

Here it goes!

Swatches will begin soon, and some reviews too about stuff to buy here or can be delivered here from the interwebs!