Urban Decay Book of Shadows III - My thoughts!!

So, I've finally gotten around to posting my thoughts on the Urban Decay Book of Shadows III!!
Note : Before I start, all my images are from Google, I don't have a camera at the moment so couldn't take any of my own.

I'll start with the packaging, its so so so pretty!! It's all matt black apart from the small print on the back and on the front there's a logo that says "UD <3 NYC", with images of NYC in the background.

 When you open up the lid theres a pop up scene of New York, showing the yellow cab and other high rise buildings. It also contains 7 led lights and a mirror. Can I just say, I nearly died when I saw the lights, I didn't know it did that but its so so so pretty!

Next we move onto the actual palette itself. Here are the colours :

You also get two 24/7 glide on eye pencils in "Zero" which is just a black and "Ransom", a violet purple liner with a hint of blue in the light. Plus, the "Primer Potion" - gods gift to the eyes!! It just helps even out your eyes before applying eye-shadow and holds it all in place for hours. you only get a travel size on and I believe the full size is about £11 in the UK.
Starting with the value of this product. You get 16 eye-shadows, two pencils and a primer potion for £30. Each eye-shadow alone is £12.50 when bought individually. Plus a number of the shades aren't available out of the palette. There are a few repeats, although I'm not sure which ones are as this is the only palette I have, but I've heard there are a couple of repeats. This is extremely good value, you get a decent amount of eye-shadow in each colour, the eye pencils are not much smaller. The primer potion is a travel size however, I still love that you get one in the set.
Onto the colours!!
First Row -

Perversion - A matt black shadow, super intense, I don't use it very much as I find it makes my eyes look too drawn but I do use it for shading in the crease above my eyelid for definition, also for lining the upper lash line or lower lash line.

Uzi - Super glittery, super sparkle. Useful for highlighting the eyes, but its just too much to use a lot of it at once for me.
Its whiter than this picture shows however, but there's a lot of fallout from it.

Loaded - I was so disappointed by this colour. It looks like a lovely forest green when its in the palette but when its on its really really dark and hardly green at all. It could be used with the other greens in the palette however, it'll bring out the little green there is in the shadow.

Kush - I love this colour, its super green but not so green that it looks ridiculous. Its quite glittery however, which can mean you end up with a lot of fallout.




Second Row -

Midnight Cowboy Rides Again - Probably one of my favourite shadows in the palette. Its gorgeous as a highlight, under the eyebrow, and on the actual lid. It just opens the eyes up. Again, super glittery so can be a bit of a problem but its almost translucent on the skin and just makes the eyes look gorgeous.

Last Call - More of a burgandy than this picture shows, I haven't used it much as in honesty, I tried once and it made me look like I had a black eye!! I'm sure used in a more subtle way, it would look fabulous though.

Rockstar - A beautiful, intense deep purple. I love this shadow, its dark without being black and I love purple in make up, so this one is gorgeous. Its a little sparkly but not as bad as the others in the palette.

Money - Yum! I love this colour! Probably up there with Midnight Cowboy as a favourite shade. Its quite glittery, but it has this gorgeous greeny turquoisey tone to it. I just love it, its quite subtle but can be eye popping if you want it to be. Super glittery however.



Third Row -

Haight - I also adore this one. When mixed with the Money it looks beautiful. Its pretty glittery but it just looks stunning when applied to the eyes, I like it because its a little bit darker than the Money but it compliments it so well.

Maui Wowie - Gold!! Super super bling, but still awesome. I do like this shade, it can be a bit intense so I use it sparingly on my eyes, just as a highlight, like the Uzi. Very very very shimmery, lots of glitter, lots of fallout.

Smog - I do like this shade, but its pretty bog standard brown as far as I'm concerned. Its a useful shade to have, the safe option in the whole palette.

Bordello - A peachy, pinky colour, lighter than the picture I think. Nice shade, thats all it is though, is nice. Nothing good nor bad to say about it really.



Fourth Row -

Radium - I think this is my favourite in the palette. I just love this blue. It has a fair ammount of sparkle but not too much. It looks just as intense on as it does in the palette. I just adore it. I usually mix it with the Midnight Cowboy and the Snatch so it really pops.

Snatch - I love this shade as well, its kinda like a lighter version of Midnight Cowboy, so great for the tops of the eye lids and the highlighting of the eyes. Very glittery however, can be a pain in the arse.

Suspect - Dark browny/ goldy colour. Looks lovely on, just a bit too dull for my liking, I'd put it with the smog for an everyday sort of look.

Psychedelic Sister - I was so excited when I saw this colour, its a beautiful purple and I had no end of ideas of what to do with it but I was so disappointed with it on! It just isn't anywhere near as intense as I had hoped. It is still a lovely colour though, just a bit disappointing.




All together a fantastic palette, bit of a mixed bunch, but on the whole a lot of beautiful colours and the primer is just a win!!
I would recommend this on value and on the colours, its a beautiful palette in a beautiful box!

Angry Angry!

I have written a complaint to ofcom regarding Panorama. I was so mad at them for putting that shite on the tv.
Here it is anyway :)

I am writing with reference to the Panorama investigation on game addiction, which was on BBC1 on Monday, 6th December. To put simply, I found the programme to be ridiculous and I was completely disgusted with the show from start to finish. The level of research that went into that programme was clearly minimal and when something is listed boldly as an “addiction”, with the intent on labelling it a disorder, then maybe talking about minorities isn’t the best thing to do.

For starters, this is a programme about addiction to gaming, showing two people repeatedly playing games to which they are addicted to. Surely this is no better than showing a heroin addict shooting up or an alcoholic getting drunk? The programme pretty much showed two “addicts” getting their fix.

For a large portion of the programme, the presenter was in South Korea, a much more technologically advanced country than ours, I’m sorry but by connecting broadband to every home doesn’t equal a mass gaming addiction, just merely a country with vast amounts of Internet. This is a hopeless scare mongering tactic. They mentioned a couple whose baby starved to death, due to neglect because they were playing a certain game. They also mentioned that both parents had very low IQ’s and the mother was “unstable” and had mental issues, I would suggest the fact that the relevant authorities did nothing to help either parent sooner was what contributed to the death of the child. I have a 2-year-old daughter myself, I play games, and my daughter enjoys watching me play age appropriate games. She is a healthy, happy child. This case is a one in a million with many other factors to consider.

The next thing in the programme to irritate me was the statistic of 12 people in South Korea dying due to gaming related incidents. Let’s step away from South Korea for a second and look at our country. In 2009 316 people died of “Dependence on drugs”, 8,282 deaths due to “Natural Causes”. Stepping to America, around 10 people a year die from peanut consumption, which puts into perspective how silly the statistic was, especially when comparing it to something more serious, like drug dependence.

To conclude, I believe gaming is a healthy form of escapism. It is better than drinking, better than drugs and it helps a lot of young people escape from their daily lives, which are sometimes difficult, in a more positive way. I have been gaming for many years, so has my partner, we live very healthy, happy lives with our daughter. We have jobs, we have social lives. I would say that the two people that were interviewed for the programme are in a tiny minority of people who probably need psychiatric help reasons beyond merely playing video games.

Panorama should be about revealing controversy, revealing problems, not attempting to cause them, which is what they did with this programme. What about all the good that video games have done recently? The Nintendo Wii is considered a great fitness exercise tool, “Brain Training” is seen as a great way to use gaming in a fun and educational way, trying to get people to use more and different parts of their brain. But twelve people died in South Korea due to gaming related incidents? I think I might do a half hour programme on the “evil” peanuts, like suggested earlier.

Finally, probably the thing that annoyed me the most, the man at the end of the programme, Joe, who is labelled an addict from the off, suggests that instead of gaming you should do something else, perhaps going out and getting “smashed”. So the BBC endorses drinking but doesn’t endorse gaming? It epitomised what was a terribly researched, poorly conducted piece of programming, designed to scaremonger and just generally put a negative spin on something that is actually much healthier than “getting smashed”.

No, Jeff, NO!

So, Jeff Hardy. What an idiot. I can't quite believe what I've been reading about him today. Apparently he turned up to the TNA PPV last night "wasted" and his behaviour was so bad that officials considered stripping him of the title and not letting him wrestle.
I have to say that I find this more than disappointing. He has just become a new father and is still in and out of court on drug charges. TNA need to take control of the situation, it appears that Hardy is unable to take control of himself, even though he now has a baby to take care of. In honesty, if having a baby doesn't knock you into some sort of sense then what will??
I can see him being the next young wrestler to die, its such a shame as I really am a huge Hardy fan but I hate the fact that he is doing this to himself and to others around him. He's a liability to himself and others who have the displeasure of being in the ring with him at the moment.
Apparently he was exhausted not wasted, unfortunatley, I just dont buy it :(
Anyway, I just feel saddened by hearing this, he needs to realise that he is a role model and currently the face of the company as the champion, he's doing a pretty poor job.

Let loose!!

I'm off out this evening, how very exciting!! It actually is, I haven't been out for just over a month, my social life is taking off again, now my daughter is 2. I'm very lucky that my other half doesn't really do the whole piss up scene so I get to go out with my friends more often than some.
I have to say, I find it most annoying when people don't seem to realise that having a child changes your whole life, especially the social side of your life. I'm pretty hard arse when it comes to things like this, I truly believe if you can find the time to make a child in the first place then you have the time to take care of the baby when its born.
I was 20 when I fell pregnant and my mother was invaluable when I first had her, she came round every day for a couple of weeks. But when it came to doing the practical side of parenting it was me and my other half and that was it. We had the sleepless nights and the milky sick all over our clothes all the time. No one came along and took her so I could go out with my friends. My social life all but disappeared when I had Vivi and I'm finally getting to claim a bit of it back. Its a big deal for me to go out for a night out, I don't plan on getting rat arsed, I just want to enjoy not being a mother for a while.
I remember sitting in a doctors surgery with Vivi when she was about 5 months old and there was a mother and her teenage daughter. The daughter must have been about 15 at most, she looked at Vivi and said how cute she was and if she had a baby then she would just leave her with her Mum and be out all the time like she is now. Her Mother cut her a look and basically told her to piss off! I just think its funny, peoples perception on having kids, even I couldn't comprehend how difficult having a baby is. Its the most challenging thing I've ever done. But I will do it again hopefully in the future :)
Anyway, I'm off to preen myself into some sort of acceptable state :) I have a new haircut, done by a fantastic friend of mine who is also a mummy, something else I have to thank having Vivi for, I wouldn't have met half the lovely friends I'm blessed with if it weren't for having a daughter. Having children is only one thing we have in common, it was nice to meet other mothers with similar interests, before having a baby I thought as soon as you became a mother you had to become boring, uninteresting and just friendless but your life doesn't completely stop - it just takes a while to reclaim it!!

Zo My Goodness!!

Yes, I made my way to town today, in the snow and ice, just to buy this!

Yus, It is amazing, it lights up :) I'm such a sucker for little details and the fact that the buildings light up is just like wow for me.

The make up is gorgeous aswell, when I've gotten round to wearing some of it I'll let you know my thoughts on it.

I also got the black gel eyeliner in "Zero" and the Lipstick in "Revolution", the lipstick is so pretty and the eyeliner comes in a gorgeous case with a beautiful little peacock on :)

So, just wanted to share that I'd finally gotten my Urban Decay Make-up which I've been wanting forever!!

Its Very Very Snow, Its Very Very Cold!

Its been snowing like mad here, which is unusual for Portsmouth by hey ho!! Vivi and I walked in the snow for a while and she loved it, its her first real experience of the snow :) her conclusion was "Its very very snow, Its very very cold!"

Her father taught her how to throw snowballs which was great when I ended up with two Vivi sized handprints on my bum! She also insisted on sitting down in the snow, which was peachy except for having to deal with her moaning about how cold she was after!!
Today was also fairly tantrum free, which is a good thing, recently it feels like its a bit of a never ending cycle of tantrums, grumpy, tantrum, grumpy etc...
Ah well, hoping the snow will melt tomorrow as Im going to buy my Urban Decay make up tomorrow :) I'll write on here what I think of it, kinda like a review I suppose!!
Take Care! x

New Blog!!

So hey! This is my first post on a new blog, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, I just wanted to share my experiences as a parent, juggling everything that I do and just having somewhere to come and write and just be myself :)
So if anyone does happen to stop by, take a look and see what you can see!