Barry M Freebies with Shout!

When I was browsing at the magazine rack in the shop the other day, as I often do, always looking for free goodies, I noticed that Shout was giving out a pack worth 14 pounds of Barry M goodies! I've been wanting to try one of their polishes for awhile, so I figured why not. 5 pounds is a bit pricey for a magazine, and it's clearly a bit young for me, haha, but I went for it anyways.

In the pack you get a shimmering body cream, a nail polish, a lipgloss, and a shimmering eye and lip crayon. It's certainly jam packed with shimmer; each item is shimmery and perfect for those Holiday parties!

Shimmering Body Creme:

I assume this is meant for all over your body (duh Lauren, that's what the name says) but I think it's great also for cheek highlight and under the brow. There's no chunky glitters, just pure shimmer.

Swatch:

Blended out:

On my cheek (sorry I look horrid, I had just faced the London cold, lol) :

Overall, I really like this product as a highlighter. It's not TOO intense for day time, but is still also great for night time, and I'm sure it looks great on any bit of your skin you're going to be showing. Which, in this cold, I sincerely hope is very little! ;)

Special Edition Glossy Tube: Super Shiny Lip Gloss in Shout:

Shout (at least I think that's the name, not all these products have names on them) is a bright coral pink color. It's not at all sticky on the lips, but does have a sickly sweet smell to it. It doesn't bother me that much, but it might some. I think it would add a great pop of color/shimmer to those brighter pink lipsticks. I don't think I'd wear this on it's own though, I'm just not that big of a fan of the color.

Swatch:

On the lips:

Shimmering Eye & Lip Crayon:

Now, I don't know about you, but when something says it's for both the eyes and lips, I get a little worried. But, I would compare this to something like Benefit's Eye Bright. It's great for under the brow or the inner corner of your eyes, and does make your eyes pop!

Swatch:

As for on the lips?.....:

Horrid, but hey, I suppose if you really wanted to stand out at a party, then go for it...haha.

Used under the brow and in the inner corners:

Nail Paint:

I don't know the name of this color, it doesn't say, so I'm not sure if you can actually buy these products or if they're special edition to the magazine, I really don't know, if you know the name then do let me know!

It's a lovely purply blue color with loads of shimmer! (How many times have I used some form of the word "shimmer" in this post??)

Applied to the nail, 2 coats:

It went on like a dream and only took two coats and the drying time was great.

Has anyone else seen this pack and picked it up? Or was I the only one silly enough to buy a 5 pound teen magazine?

November Magazine Freebies!

I already posted about the free nail polish that comes with Marie Claire, but for the month of November, both InStyle and Cosmo are offering some freebies as well!

InStyle comes with a free L'Occitane hand cream, each worth 7 pounds. You have a choice between 3 and I picked Fleur Cherie which is said to be enriched with grape seed oil and shea butter and contains neroli and orange blossom. It's a lovely smell and I've been using it loads on my hands. It makes them feel nice and soft. =) Inside, there's also a code for 20% off all L'Occitane products.

In Cosmo, you get a free Missguided Splash nail polish. I've never heard of this brand, but apparently they're an online clothing store that's recently released some nail polishes. You get to pick between lilac, nude, or black and gold. Each nail polish is worth 5 pounds and inside there's a code for 20% off fashion on the Missguided website. The back of the box in which the nail polish comes in gives a code for free next day delivery. I took a look at the website and there's some cute things!

You also get some samples of men's colognes inside (since it's the man issue, I assume), including samples of Hugo Boss and Marc Jacobs Bang. There's also a sample of Palmers Cocoa Butter, which I've heard bloggers rave about. I let my bf use it on his dry skin and it actually helped clear it up a bit!

I picked the black and gold nail polish, since I don't have one, and can't wait to try it out. A lovely fall color, I reckon.

Any other November magazine freebies I've missed out on?

E.L.F Cranberry Nail Polish v Ciate Paint Pot in Dangerous Affair

When I was in the shop today, I noticed the November issue of Marie Claire. I instantly grabbed it to see what the free gift was, since that's my favorite part about buying magazines, hehe. Upon realizing that it was a free Ciate nail polish, I decided to buy it. I noticed that the color looked exactly like the E.L.F Cranberry Nail Polish currently on my fingernails, but I wanted it anyways!

So have I found a dupe? By golly, I think I have! (sorry).

Sure, the Cranberry polish has a bit of glitter while Dangerous Affair doesn't, but on such a dark color, you don't even notice, unless you put your face right up to your finger nails, and let's face it ladies, we don't do that, do we?

And okay, yes, Dangerous Affair is slightly more shiny....which almost makes me prefer it, except for the fact that it retails for 9 pounds whereas the Cranberry nail polish is only 1.50! And I had to apply 3 coats of each so I can't say the Ciate nail polish is really any better quality than the E.L.F one.

The Ciate brush / long and round handle certainly do make application easier as opposed to E.L.F's squared one, but hey, I can deal with that.

Overall, I'm not inclined to shell out the 9 pounds for the Ciate nail polish just because it's shinier and has a cute little bow on it, and I recommend if you want either, you go for the cheaper alternative of E.L.F's Cranberry.

*Note: I wrote this before I actually went to take the photos, and when I put my nails under the studio light, I realized Dangerous Affair became quite red. x_x But the thing is, it doesn't look this red unless you get into bright light, as you can see from the photos above. See how red it gets in the light!?:

But take my word for it, in regular light it doesn't look that red. That's underneath an actual studio light used for photography etc etc, lol, so it's rather bright.

Besides, Cranberry went quite red under the light as well, see?:

So what do you guys think? DUPE?