FrontCover Rainbow Queen

Hi everyone!

A while back I reviewed the FrontCover Party Queen Edition (see other FrontCover Cosmetics review here) and as part of my review I mentioned that the two included pots of glitter were scarcely filled. Now, when I opened them there really was only a bare covering on the bottom of the pots of glitter, but in fairness I didn't mind - there was 19 separate pieces of makeup included in the set so I wasn't going to gripe about two scantily filled glitter pots especially for the mucho-affordable price of the entire shebang, however the lovely folks over at FrontCover got wind of this in my review and as a result, they personally checked all of their available stock at hand to ensure that all the glitter pots were adequately filled (they were) and they wanted to send me out the Rainbow Queen palette by way of apology.

Now, the only reason I'm prefacing this by mentioning this scenario at all is to give you an idea of the AMAZING customer service by FrontCover! I had no issue at all with the glitter pots - it was merely an observation I wanted to point out in my previous review as I always want to be honest and up front with my readers at all times, and being perfectly honest I've often purchased MAC pigments which were just about half-ways filled - but I am of course aware that pigments and glitters are generally filled by weight and not volume so you do get discrepancies when opening pots for the first time. It's happens - no big deal!

I was however blown away by how seriously and thoroughly FrontCover took this issue, checking their inventory and sending out this palette by way of apology (when none was needed in the first place) So I thought it only right to let you guys know how conscientious the brand is. It's not everyday you get such stellar service and when you do, you should tell everyone about it!

So big THANK YOU to FrontCover! It's great to see a brand so committed to their customers and such attentive service.

In the Rainbow Queen Edition you'll find:

• X20 Click In Eyeshadows
• 1 Refillable Compact 
• Double Ended Applicator
• Shadowbase
• Shadowline
• Double Ended Mascara

In other words, quite a bit for your money. There's definite bang for you buck going on here.

This set comes with an ingenious portable shadow palette with space for 4 shadows and the included double-ended brush. You can customise the palette with your 4 favourite shadows - simply click them in and off you go. Want to change the colours for night-time? Then simply pop out the shades and replace them with your new chosen colours and off you go!

Swatches

All swatches are done over one swipe of the Shadow Base. I also applied a one-stroke swatch of each shadow using the Shadowline Eyeliner underneath for reference.

Row 1

These shades are very frosted leaning towards the metallic end of the spectrum. Pigmentation was decent and they give a high-shine finish. The shades in this really reminded me of the Palette D'Antoinette by Lime Crime - think shimmery pastels.

Row 2

These were a lovely selection of Autumnal shades - gold toned olive greens and warm rust toned autumn leaves. Very decent colour pay off with these and they have a satin/frost finish.

If you want to pair these with the Shadowline Eyeliner to create your own custom liner, you can see that it doesn't effect the colour or finish of the shadows and they stay true to form even when creating a liner.

Row 3

This was probably my favourite selection of shades - I normally go for cool toned shadows and there was a nice selection of shades here. Black Spark was my favourite shade out of the bunch - it didn't translate well on the photos but it's actually a lovely charcoal black with electric blue sparkles and shimmer running through it. This would be awesome with a festive smokey eye with lots of glitz and sparkle. :D

Row 4

The last row were much more muted shades but yet again have that lovely high frost, shimmer and metallic look to them. These would make lovely brow highlights and both Corona and Day Star could also be used as a gorgeous cheekbone highlight if you wanted.

  Customisable Mirror Compact

Nice combination of colours were already in the compact - good pigmentation and easy to blend and smoke out. With this compact you can mix and match the shades and bring any 4 with you when you're on the go for touch ups throughout the day - or bring some darker shades with you for more depth and definition if you want to quickly transform your daytime look into an evening look

Shadowbase lid primer

This is a lovely champagne shade to suit nearly all skintones. Can be worn on it's own or as a primer underneath your shadows to make the colour really POP and to enhance longevity and keep creasing at bay.

The Shadowline Eyeliner is similar to Inglot's Duraline and Too Faced's Liquify Eye Shadow Transformer in that it's a clear liquid which can turn any powder eye shadow / pressed pigment or loose powder into a custom eyeliner.

It has a nice stiff applicator making it a cinch to get straight, neat lines and line close to the lash line. The shape also makes winging your liner a breeze.

I always clean the applicator after every use with 99.9% Isopropyl alcohol so that I'm not dipping the coloured wand back in each time as eventually I'm sure the liquid inside would turn murky and your liner won't look as fresh or vibrant. That's just me though!

There's also a mascara included in the set. Nice shaped wand. The mascara itself does the job and I wasn't left with clumpy lashes / panda eyes or flaking - always a good sign!

Lastly, there's also a double ended brush included - one fluffy blending side and the other side for smuding and crease work. It's not a brush I would have up there with my MAC brushes, but it does the job and it fits in the portable mirror compact so you can't really complain. Plus you can never have too many brushes, so it's always handy to have a few extra around the place.

I've previously reviewed these extra items included in the set so if you want some more in-depth info or photos then please check out this and this, thanks :)

If you're stuck for a last minute Xmas gift for a fellow beauty enthusiast, I don't think you can go too far wrong with this for the price.

There's 25 separate makeup items in this set for the very affordable price of £35 / €42

This would also make a great buy for someone making their first foray into the world of makeup as there's a good mix of eye products included with which you can create lots of fun looks.

It's also very reassuring to know that if you ever have any issues, FrontCover Cosmetics are there to help and do their best to assist which is something well worth pointing out.

Find FrontCover Cosmetics here,

http://www.frontcovercosmetics.com

Inglot Bloggers Night and Christmas Launch

Hello my lovelies!

My gosh, the time is going to fast and we're already headed into winter now, cue my favourite time of year - Christmas! :D

Inglot whom some of you will know is one of my absolute favouritist brands around (I'm currently replacing all of my pro kit with all Inglot goodies) recently held their very first ever bloggers night in order to launch their new range of Christmas 2012 offerings.

There were 3 Blogger events around the country in Inglot Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, Inglot Belfast and in Inglot Limerick - Crescent Shopping Centre.

I was invited to the launch at the Limerick branch and jumped at the chance as I love Inglot so it was a great excuse to attend and stock up on some goodies whilst I was there.

Inglot store in the Crescent Shopping Centre

The night was hosted by the lovely Stacey, Avril and Celene all Makeup Artists at the store and they did not disappoint!

We were left to browse the new ranges on offer along with ooohing and aaahing over some of the old reliables in the store. Inglot stores are like being in a candy shop with rows upon rows of beautiful rainbow shades of their amazing array of eyeshadows, pigments, lipsticks, glosses, nail polishes and more - I really was like a small child in a sweet shop. I may even have let out an over-excitable squeak of delight or two.

Customizable Freedom System

AMC Pure Pigments

Rainbow Square Pans

Body Pigment Powders

Freedom System

Eyelashes

Blush Pans

Foundations

We were then shown the highlight of the evening - the brand new Christmas 2012 collection and let me tell you, there are some absolute winners there! I'll definitely be asking Santa for some of these... ;)

New metallic nail polishes

There's 5 new metallic shades which almost have a chrome / mirrorball type quality to them and they're priced at just €10 each.

They come in shades: 221, 222, 223, 224 and 225

I was lucky enough to receive shade 222 on the night - a gorgeous molten silver colour.

Application is a dream with this nail polish - one coverage is *almost* enough for opaque coverage, however for these photos I decided to go with two coats so you can see it in its full on gorgeousness! :)

I couldn't get over how fast drying this was aswell, I was just about to go reach for my Seche Vite or Essence Quick Dry Drops, however the polish had already set before I got the chance to grab them before taking photos. I was very impressed with the super fast drying time - it's not even marketed as a fast drying polish either!

I'm looking forward to picking up one of the gold shades coming up to Christmas.

14 Piece Brush Set - Christmas 2012 - Limited Edition

Next up is a brand new brush kit. Now, I have a far too unhealthy relationship with brushes, I have far too many than I actually need, but I'm a total sucker for nice brushes so I was really excited to see this new brush kit complete with holder.

I love the embossed zip up pouch.

The Limited Edition Brush Set retails at €150 for fourteen brushes and a rather nice faux leather carry case.  The brushes themselves are all LE and not part of their permanent line, and are a mix of synthetic and natural fibres.

The face brushes that are included are:

• Medium sized powder brush (natural fibres)
• Medium sized angled contour/blush brush (natural fibres)
• Flat dense buffer brush (natural fibres)
• Small-to-medium sized flat concealer brush (synthetic fibres)
• Medium sized flat foundation brush (synthetic fibres)

The eye brushes are:

• Dense blending brush (natural fibres)
• Medium flat eye brush (natural fibres)
• Small  blending brush (synthetic fibres)
• Angled Eyeliner (synthetic fibres)
• A small fan brush (synthetic fibres)
• A dense angled brow brush (natural fibres)
• A dense crease brush (natural fibres)
• A small detailer brush (natural fibres)

And for the lips:

• Lip brush (synthetic fibres)

At €150 for 14 brushes, plus the brush case itself, this just works out at a tenner per item, which I personally think is great value. It may be a little pricey for casual makeup wearers, but if you're really into your makeup and brushes I think it's a great buy. This is another one that will be making it's way onto my Christmas wish list for Santa! :)

Sparkle Rainbow Eyeshadows

The other key launch for the Christmas 2012 were the new Sparkle Rainbow Eyeshadows.

Previously released were the matte rainbow eyeshadows which I really like. Basically, they come in a square pan which you can pop into your freedom system palette, and each pan contains 3 complementary shades from the same colour family. The pans are slightly dearer than the regular square pans at €8 but for the extra money you are getting 3 separate colours, plus you can also make a fourth colour by blending all three shades together.

They have now released 10 new sparkle editions of the rainbow shades.

To get the full set of Sparkle Rainbow Eyeshadows plus the freedom system palette will set you back €88.

The eyeshadows are buttery soft and intensely pigmented, so a little goes a long way with these babies. There's a subtle sparkle from these and no major fall out that I could see - which is my bug bear when it comes to sparkly shadows.

On the night we were also presented with a very generous goodie bag of some of Inglots most popular offerings.

Included was:

Metallic Nail Polish in a molten silver - Shade 222

AMC Eyeshadow in Shade 54

This is a gorgeous coppery brown shade which is bang on trend. It contains very finely milled gold sparkles which give a subtle almost duo-chrome appearance. This eyeshadow like all other Inglot shadows is highly pigmented and buttery soft.

Sleeks VLC Lip Gloss in Shade 77

Coming packaged in a "test tube" style wand, No. 77 is a warm nude shade and will look great with a smokey eyes look. This will be a very wearable, daytime shade also. The gloss is very pigmented - almost like a molten lipstick. Staying power is excellent and it doesn't bleed.

Milk and Tonic Makeup Wipes

Selection of YSM Cream Foundation Samples

Under Makeup Base Samples

and also a complimentary makeup voucher which will get used coming up to Christmas!

There was also a very informative demo on the night performed by Stacey on the lovely Avril. Stacey did two smokey eye looks on Avril using the new Sparkle Rainbow Colours - she did one smokey eye with a silver pan and another one with a gold pan. 

You can tell that Stacey really loves her job, she was so enthusiastic about the products she was using and did a great job on the smokey eyes.

All of the staff were lovely and couldn't have been nicer or more helpful on the night. They are great ambassadors for Inglot in Ireland. You can tell they love the products and are happy to answer any questions you may have along with providing tips and making suggestions and recommendations.

I, of course, did not leave empty handed on the night.

I'll be making a post on my new Inglot purchases over the coming days, so watch this space! ;)

I had a wonderful time at the Limerick branch and I cannot wait to go back to stock up on some Christmas goodies for presents, I may be treating myself to a few things also... Yes, Brush Kit, i'm looking at you!