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?