Lipgloss \\ Yves Saint Lauren

The Yves Saint Laurent Golden Gloss Lip glosses are a product that I keep going back to. I got my first one a few years ago, and since then, every time one runs out (or just as a treat) I go out and get myself another because I love them so much. They are the best lip glosses I've tried, and are definitely a favourite.

They come in a variety of colours, mainly quite pinky shades, and (as the name would suggest) they have a gold tint to them. This is because they have golden flakes in them which makes them shimmer and reflect on your lips which I think looks gorgeous. The colours I have on my hand (from left to right) are (I think - I'm having to guess as it doesn't say on the bottle) shade 49, a purpley colour, 40, Golden Impertinence, and 15, Golden Berry. My favourite of the ones I have is Golden Impertinence because it is the most natural, and I'm not very good with bright bright lips - it makes me feel self-conscious but I am getting better!

Golden Berry is a strong colour and makes a big statement. Because of that, I generally prefer to wear it with quite natural eyes so as not to draw attention away from it. I think it is more suited to evening events and going out somewhere quite nice as a pose to Golden Impertinence which is perfect for everyday wear and can be used to compliment bold eyes. Bear in mind, none of them are ever going to look very natural as they are lipgloss and very shimmery and sparkly.

If you aren't keen on stickier lip glosses then stay well away from these. They are probably the stickiest lip glosses I've tried, but not in a bad way. I'm not saying they stick your lips together or make them 'sweet sticky' if you know what I mean - it's a 'pleasant' sticky. I'm not sure how much sense that made, but I tried my best. The consistency means that they do stay put and, for lip glosses, are quite long lasting BUT they come with a price. At £22 a pop from Debenhams they're not cheap but they last a long time. To have bold, defined lips you only need a swipe of these and you're set, so you don't have layer over and over to get a good colour.

I will continue to love these and buy them and use them up as they are my absolute favourite lip glosses. I adore them in every way, I just wish they were cheaper so I could buy more, more, more.

Naked 2 \\ Urban Decay

 The Naked 2 eyeshadow palette by Urban Decay was a very anticipated product due to the success of their first Naked palette. Once launched, getting a hold of one of these became very difficult as everyone was trying to buy one. It took me about 3 or 4 visits to the Urban Decay counter at Debenhams over a few months before I finally managed to buy one! As you can probably guess, I was overjoyed and could not wait to start playing! The one obvious improvement in this palette over the Naked one is the hard case which makes it better for travel or just keeping in a makeup bag as the eyeshadows don't get cracked and ruined.

This eyeshadow palette consists of 12 shades: 9 of the shades are shimmery/metallic and only 3 of them are matte. Because of this, if you aren't very keen on shiny eyeshadow colours I would suggest you steer clear of this as it really would be a massive waste of money. The colours Foxy and Bootycall are good to use as highlighters. I much prefer Bootycall to Foxy as I think its a nicer colour and it suits my skin tone better. I find Foxy is a little too yellow for my liking. My most used colours are Tease, Snakebite and Suspect, closely followed by Pistol and Verve. However, my favourite colour in the palette has to be Busted which is great to use for the outer v or as a liner. The thin end of the brush, I find, is great for lining. My least favourite colour (after Half-Baked and Foxy which I think are too yellowy and make me look ill) is Blackout and this isn't because it isn't a nice black, but, out of all the colours it is the hardest to blend and so I find that it ends up looking patchy.

If you are a beginner when it comes to blending colours, I would say that this palette is not the one to start with. The colours are highly pigmented and you need very very little on the brush: I often choose to apply the colour I want all over my lid with my ring finger as it gives a smoother look. For accentuating your crease, I think the most important thing to do is to build. Start with only a small bit of product on the brush at the furthest out bit of your crease and lightly blend inwards in a windscreen wiper motion, but do it slowly - speed will not blend it quicker or better or anything.

The brush you get free with the palette is of reasonable quality: it is better than a lot of brushes that you get free in compacts/palettes/etc, but for blending, I would highly recommend you get a proper, good quality blending brush like the MAC 224 Tapered blending brush - this makes application much easier.

Also, when I got my palette which was near the beginning of this year (I think) it came with 4 trial eyeshadow primer potions (a small sachet of each) - these were the original, sin, eden and anti-aging primer potions. So far, I have only used the Eden primer and there is enough product for at least 4/5 applications as only a tiny amount is needed to cover the eyelid. My best bit of advice is to start my squeezing out much less than you think you will need and then build on it if you think you need more. However, don't use the primer if it has been open for more than a week: this would be unhygienic primarily, and it will begin to go clumpy.

Overall, I absolutely adore the Naked 2 palette. It's excellent quality, the range of colours is good and I have found that it lasts very well. The only downside is the price (£37) so if you're on a budget this may not be the best product for you, however I think that if you can afford it, it is worth the money!