The Santigolden Age by Santigold - Smashbox Cosmetics

I as very lucky to have been invited along by the lovely people at Smashbox to see and try out their limited edition launch.  Collaborating with Santigold, the idea has been inspired by the idea of a post 2012 Golden Age, where the earth as we know it ceases to exist and thus reinvents itself as a balanced, utopic mirror image, a world where the earth, stars, humans and aliens co-exist harmoniously.  

The range features a stunning array of colour, Aztec inspired designs and some of the funkiest and most colourful looking packaging I've seen in ages!

The collection includes:

Eye shadow Collage - This features Santigolds distinctive collage art and include 5 shades of the luxe wet/dry shadows to mix and match any eye look. The palettes have two different shades -Earth As We Know It which features shades such as apple green, dark matte blue, raisin with rosegold pearl, a soft sparkling cream and a dark sparkly forest green. Then we have Apocalypse Now which features a shimmery teal,sparkling pewter, matte black, shimmery oyster and a bright golden orange.

As you can see they look absolutely stunning and are nothing like I have ever seen before and I was given Apocalypse now and here it is in all its glory.

There is no denying that these are most definitely bold and bright colours and whilst I do not want to swatch it to ruin the design, initially the brightness did scare me slightly, after all I like and favour the nude naked look and this will take some getting used too.  These palettes will cost £25 each.

Be Legendary Lip Gloss is also part of the collection and it is described as being a one of a kind lip gloss which can be worn alone or layered over other shades to give them a new life.  The one thing I love about these glosses is that they are not sticky at all, they are come in two different shades All Gold E'rything which is a sheer copper sparkle and Hot Lava which is an orange red.  The shade I was given is Hot Lava and admittedly not a shade I would choose personally, but actually I've come to really like it and it goes really well with most of my lipsticks. 

Again the packaging is stunning to look at it, not only the outer box packaging but the actual gloss tube itself.  These glosses will have an RRP of £15.

Also within this range is a Be Legendary Lipstick Ring which is a Smashbox First which is a snake pyramid ring adorned with Swarovski Crystals and inside has a limited edition Coral Be Legendary Lipstick inside. This has an RRP of £39.

Image courtesy of Kimberley from www.kimberleysbeautyblog.com

The final item is a Double Ended Limitless Eye Liner which will be available in two shades so you can mix and match the bold colours. The choice is from either bright blue/soft gold or bright yellow/mint green and again not the sort of colours I would ever think to wear, but seeing all the lovely girls from Smashbox wearing the bright blue and looking absolutely stunning did make me wonder if I could pull it off myself.  These liners will have an RRP of £15.

Image courtesy of Smashbox

There is no doubting that this is a bright, bold and very unusual group of products and they most certainly are eye-catching and it is everything you need for experimenting with new bright bold and brash shades.  For me the packaging really makes this collection, I absolutely love it and know that once it hits the shelves later this month, it will stand out. 

The Santigold collection launches online on 14th May and into Smashbox counters on 28th May.

What do you think to this collection? Is it something you want to try?

Barbara Daly Lip Boost Lipstick

Barbara Daly make-up isn't something I have ever used before, though I do from time to time see it in my local Tesco Superstore.  A few weeks ago, I decided to randomly swatch one or two items to see what they were like, I didn't need anything else in the store and the specific item I went in for was out of stock, so I had some time to kill waiting for a friend - always dangerous!

Anyway, the one item I was drawn too was the Barbara Daly Lip Boost Lipstick in the shade Damson. What drew me to it was the sleek looking silver packaging and like a magpie to anything that is shiny, my attention was well and truly caught.

Described as follows:

"Lip Plumping formula. Wear this lipstick on its own during the day, or apply lip gloss over the top for a more polished evening look. The innovative square tip helps you a achieve precise and accurate application"

The shade itself is really stunning,  I love how creamy the formula is, how easy it is to apply and how it can be worn alone or with gloss to add that little something extra. You can also either apply just the one coat to your lips for a light covering as the bottom of the two swatches shows or if you want to the build the colour and have something a little more dramatic then the other swatch shows what th shade looks like after two coats and for me the difference is really noticeable.

I wear this shade most days at the minute, it has become one of my favourite lipsticks and I get a good 4-5 hours wear out of it before I need to re-apply which is better than MAC Creme Cup which I reviewed recently.

This lipstick and others from the range have an RRP of £7.00 which I think is quite a bargain and it has made me want to try other products from the Barbara Daly Range.

Have you ever tried anything from the Barbara Daly Range?

You know you're a Beauty Blogger when...

I thought this might be a fun post and I am sure many of you reading this can add to it in the comment section... You know you're a Beauty Blogger when...

* The last thing you do before going to bed is check your social media, emails and comments 

*The first thing you do in the morning before getting out of bed is check your social media, emails and comments and double check after getting out of the shower before getting dressed

Source

*You buy a new product you have been lusting after for ages and can't use it immediately because you need to photograph it

*You have products in a *to review* box which contains all the new purchases you have but cannot use until they have featured on your blog and photographed them

*Your Camera is added to the list of things you cannot leave the house without

*You take random photos everywhere and of everything just incase you can use them for a future post

*When the sunshine comes out, you grab everything within your *to review box* and spend as much time as you can taking photographs

*You have a carrier bag in your bathroom/bedroom for empties to blog about

*Your food is more often than not served cold because after cooking it you have spent 10 minutes in the kitchen photographing them before serving and putting it on Instagram and Twitter

*You arrange to meet friends near Boots, Superdrug, Debenhams etc... arrive early just so you can 'nip in' and swatch things

*You have notebooks, post-it notes, pieces of paper everywhere filled with scribbles of blog ideas that come to you at random moments throughout the day/night and in the weirdest of places

*You can't walk into Boots when a 3 for 2 offer is on and leave with less than 6-9 items

*You can't walk into Boots, Superdrug or any other department store without swatching every new item, regardless of whether or not you would actually buy it

*You know what the Beauty Blogger Claw means

*The postman complains about the number of packages he has to deliver to you and assumes you have a shopping addiction - unlike mine who now knows what I do because he Googled BeautyqueenUK which appears on most packages!

*When a friend says they have ordered a new MAC, you immediately check to see if you have missed the launch of a new lipstick or collection rather than the Apple Website

*Your cats are no longer camera shy and accept that everything they do is cute and you will photograph it

*The word Beauty Box has you all excited

*If it has the words 'Limited Edition' you need to have it

*The idea of putting things such as Bee Venom, Snail Gel and Horse placenta on your face and body is secretly exciting

*You quite happily buy 4 issues of one magazine to get all the freebies

*You plan your spending bans around IMATS and New Releases

*You can tell what shade of lipstick a celebrity is wearing without having to Google it

*You know what #BBlogger means and you hashtag it for everything

*You find it is acceptable to have 5 lipsticks, 4 hand creams, 2 empty Lush pots, mascaras, 7 lipglosses and a billion perfume samples in your bag because you might just need them

*You can use your iPhone to apply your make-up perfectly

*You get home to a Royal Mail Card you feel angry and obsess about what is in the package and the following morning are outside the Sorting Office before it has opened

*You refer to other Bloggers at events by their Blog name rather than their actual name - I am always doing this!

*Your recycling pile begins to look something like this at the end of each week

Source

* When booking a holiday you look to see if there is a Sephora 

*You to-do list actually contains items of make-up you need to buy as opposed to things that need to be done

So there is my (little) list, have I missed anything that you feel should be added? What would you add to this list?! 

Five Among Friends Q&A

Hello and welcome to this month's Five Among Friends! 

This month's questions were created by Lauren from MrsHippo&Me

The theme is... YOUR HOME (with photos!!)

''This month I thought I'd do something a little different. One photo alone speaks a thousand words so instead of you just writing your answers, I want to see them! So add an accompanying photo along with your answer'' Lauren @ MrsHippo&Me

1.) Where do you live? 

I live with the Mister in North London, not originally from London, infact neither of us are, we are both (proud) northerners

2.) Which room in your home do you spend the most time in and why? 

At the minute it s the bedroom, I am not going to lie, I love nothing more than laying in bed with my iPad watching Revenge via Amazon Prime Video Streaming.  But if not there then here:

The Allotment, not quite my home and a slight cheat, but as we don't have a garden we have the next best thing.  Our very own plot of land for growing things and for BeautykingUK to start fires and do man things in the shed!

3.)  Within your home, which is your most treasured item?

Cats... I couldn't imagine life without my boys (Hubby included of course), they mean the world to me and are my fur-kids. 

4.) Do you have a favourite item or group of items? This can be furniture, photographs, ornaments..anything you like. 

This is my favourite photo.  We got married in Vegas and didn't have an official photographer and a friend who was with us took this shot immediately after we got married, so this is the first photo of us being husband and wife.

5.) What is the strangest thing in your home? 

Well I don't know that anyone else can proudly announce that they have got crabs like I can... yes honestly I do... though they are in my aquarium with my tropical fish.

There you have it guys, we hope you enjoyed reading this month's Five Among Friends. Don't forget, you can join in on the fun too!! All you have to do is copy the questions on to your blog and add your link to the Linky below!

Don't forget to check out the other girls!!

Alex - Bump To Baby

Emily - London Mummy Of Two

Hayley - Sparkles & Stretchmarks

Jessica - Our Baby Blog

Kerry - Lived With Love

Louise - Confessions Of A Secret Shopper

Rachel - BeautyQueen UK

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