TopShop Lipstick: The Damned

(Apologises for having this up late and an awful swatch photo. I was away from the aul blog/computer for the past day and didn't get time to take a good photo in daylight. Never fear though, I'll have a better one up asap!)

I'm forever seeing UK bloggers and vloggers talk about TopShop make up and I just love the look of it, its got packaging that can sometimes remind me of Benefit. But I've noticed not that many Irish bloggers/vloggers talk about them and I think it could be only one of the two things. Either its just not as popular over here, I mean when you go in for a tshirt your hardly thinking about foundation. Or its just too feckin' expensive and if your going to fork out on something like that, then Boots points should be given! Those two are always my excuse when I pass by TopShop, but I went in the other day on a mission, to have a look at the gorgeous stand of stuff. I was not disappointed either.

I ohhed and ahhed over things for the longest time, coming away with the typical overly coloured in hand from testing different products. I have a list of things I'd love the length of today and tomorrow now, so maybe the odd time I'm passing I'll pop in and pick one thing up at a time. As you'll now by now if your around these parts a while, I'm a big fan of the 'drug store' cheap as hell make up. And this, this lip stick was not even slightly cheap in my eyes at €12. If I went into Boots I could get 2 Seventeen lipsticks for that price and a good few Boots points too. But lads and ladies, would you be able to judge me when you have a goo of that shade? Oh holy mammy, its just perfect.

This is 'The Damned' - meaning damned expensive.. Sorry, sorry. Couldn't help that one. Its meant to be a matte finish, but personally I don't find that and it doesn't start to dry into your lips for maybe an hour after applying. Its a lovely rich creamy texture that glides across the aul smackers like it was made only for me. Massively pigmented and one that you will definitely need a mirror to apply with, its going to last you all day long. Its not as dark or purple as what it looks like, but you can also build it up easily so its a little bit darker. its still lovely on and adds a little more omph to your look. This one doesn't dry out my lips like some lipsticks I've used and it doesn't cling to any imperfections like other mattes I have in my ever growing collection. It lasted for a surprisingly long time, even after eating and drinking. I'm very impressed with it and hope that every TopShop lipstick has the same staying power. 

You can see the shade in action on my Instagram over here.

October Favourites

I've had a little break the past few days, the Halloween festivities took over a little bit. October was a great month for the aul blog, I managed to write more frequently then most months and I hope that I'll keep it up in November too. October saw a massive increase in followers (hello there friends!) lots of sexy posts and doing mad amounts of Halloween make up friends and family. I was finally introduced to Walking Dead and Octobers issue of the Buffy comic was particularly brilliant. Pumpkin carving was upped a level and there was lots of time spent in Lush bubble baths. Over all, October was good to me.

Your going to notice a lot of conkers in the photos, but there not just for decoration! These are one of my monthly favourites because I've decked out the house with loads of little bowls of them. Not once have I seen a spider around since. The old wives tale about conkers warding off spiders seems to be true. Magic stuff. And if all the spiders suddenly appear back, I have ammo to fire at them! Its really a win, win situation. And also, appoligies for the dark, slightly out of focus photos, the light was fading fast and I really wanted to get this post up today!

As with every month, I've been picking up the odd bargain around the place. One of those was a dupe for the Bonrjois nail varnish remover pot. This Dealz €1.49 twist&out one has a fruit fragrance and works just as well as the €7 one. Totally blown away as I thought when it comes to nail varnish remover more expensive means better quality, but thats not the case here. Love it!

Next is a wonderful little offering from Lush, Grease Lightening spot treatment. You can put this on at any time of day and as often as you like. I slather a load of this clear gel on just before bed and in the morning my spots have done one of two things. The smaller ones have gone down considerably and the bigger ones have come to a head. This really seems to push out the impurities in the skin and its great if you have a covering of just a few small spots to send them packing. For the slightly bigger ones it will take a few days for them to be banished from your skin, but its a less harsh product to use then some of the spot treatments out there. I wouldn't recommend using this if you were going to put make up on over it, as it flakes slightly if you put on anything but the tiniest bit. 

I've blogged about the Hero Brush in October but I've honestly not used another foundation brush the entire month. This is a bit of a hassle for me as I'm forever applying make up and then running off to wash it and let it dry for the next day. Just goes to show how much I love it considering I'm normally awfully lazy about washing my brushes and only clean them after every single one has been used. You can read the full review over here. 

Never before have I made up so many faces as I have this Halloween. Friends and family all wanted some form of hallowed out, pasty and dead looking appearances so my gorgeous Sleek contour and highlighter palette got some serious loving and use. I'd forgotten just how great this is and know I'll be using it lots more again. Its under €10 and comes in several shades to choose from. It also has a handy big mirror and the packaging is really sturdy. I did a review of it way back, over here. 

Over the past few weeks I have been all about the bolder shades of lip stick. I have more reds in my collection then is healthy, so I'm starting to look to burgundy reds and even plums and purples. In comes the most gorgeous purple from Christian Breton. I was lucky enough to be given this from The Cosmetic Outlet to try out and my god, its just perfect. Available online for €17 from the Christian Breton site, I was shocked that The Cosmetic Outlet was selling it for the bargain €10. I'm going back in to pick up another as part of a Christmas present for a friend. Its moisturising, highly pigmented and lasts ages. Its all I've been wearing on my lips in October and without a doubt I'll be using it all Winter.

Lastly I'm a sucker for trying to find the perfect dry shampoo and Tesco has the new Herbal Essence range on offer, so I picked up most of them. By far I'm really liking the orange uplifting volume one. Theres no white powder like Batiste and it leaves a lovely smell in your hair. I wouldn't say its the most amazing dry shampoo if your hair is really greasy, but if your day 2 of not washing your hair, then its perfect. You can also get them all in Boots if you fancy picking up a few Boots points along the way.