The Drugstore Lipstick Range with ALL the High-end Dupes

Maybelline launched their popular line of Color Sensational Creamy Matte lipsticks a while ago, but I hadn't tried any of them yet. With this season's release (check out more Maybelline Autumn launches here) they have expanded their range with a ton of new shades, ranging from nudes and pinks, all the way up to the deep luscious berry colours that we all crave in the autumn and winter time. This season, they have introduced their Loaded Bold collection, a range that is quite expansive in the US. It seems they are testing the water with 4 shades here in the UK, so hopefully they'll add to that in the future.

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Top 5 Drugstore Eyeshadows

Urban Decay Gwen Stefani, Too Faced Bon Bons... The list of palettes I want gets added to on the daily. The only problem? My bank balance, and indeed my makeup storage. My eyelids on the other hand, would be having a parr-tay! Feeling the pinch of the pennies is never a good thing, and potentially facing a life without high-end makeup is a scary thought. Of course, there are scarier things in the world. Just... ignore me on that one.

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Tanya Burr Hollywood Eye Palette

Tanya Burr first released her cosmetics collection back in 2014 and recently gave it a revamp to include some fabulous new products. I posted a first impressions of the collection earlier on in the week which you can read here. One of the products I knew I had to own as soon as I saw the details on Tanya's blog was the Hollywood Eye Palette (£6). Visually the combination of shades are gorgeous, but I was most looking forward to getting stuck in, swatching and testing out the quality of the shadows. Obviously Tanya knows her stuff, having been a makeup artist and all-round beauty guru for years, so I hoped that she would be taking pointers from the best beauty brands for her own collection.

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Rimmel Kate Moss Nude Collection Lipstick in 45

Nude lip shades and I have had a rocky past. It all started with another Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick (shade 03) that I thought was the bees knees until I saw photos of myself. With concealer-lips on fleek, I looked like an extra from Twilight, aka D.E.A.D. Not a good look. Since then, it has been an eternal struggle to find the perfect nude lipstick. I thought I'd found it in the Rimmel Colour Rush Balm but after a fiasco and a half, it ended in the disappointing products pile. A love affair with CK One Brainiac later, I still wasn't happy. Things took a pinky turn in the form of MAC Creme Cup (disaster all round) and a failed Makeup Revolution attempt left me high and dry. The struggle is real, people!

Thankfully trusty old Rimmel struck a goldmine with the idea that hmmm, maybe it's not a case of one size fits all... And so, the Kate Moss Nude Collection was born. Comprising both nail polishes and lipsticks, it was the latter of the two that got me interested. There are 5 shades of the Lasting Finish lipsticks (plus a lip balm), to target different skin tones and undertones, awesome credentials for a drugstore brand! The shade that gave me the heart-eyes emoji moment was 45, a pinky plum shade at the darker end of the nude spectrum.

I tried the lipstick out as soon as I got home after buying it and instantly loved it. It just adds that bit of perfection to the lips: nothing too overdone, or too shiny (although it does have a bit of a sheen). On the lips it runs slightly paler than in the bullet, although for me it is still easy to pull off. The shade really reminds me of NYC Riverside Rose, which is the perfect throw-in-your-bag-product. I'm pretty confident this is going the same way. It's pretty impossible to go wrong with this shade. No mirror, no lipliner needed; just swipe and job's a good'un

The formula is perfectly pigmented, and feels very moisturising. On the downside, it has a strong sweet scent (coincidentally akin to the NYC product I mentioned) and the packaging also looks a little cheap. However for £5.49, you can't dwell on little details like that. I can imagine I'll get a lot of wear out of the Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick in 45.

Could this be the perfect nude? Watch this space...

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Max Factor Masterpiece Mascara

I have never been hugely into Max Factor as a brand, but I do remember really liking their Masterpiece Mascara (£9.99) a few years ago. I had been using Benefit They're Real, and still have a mini on the go, but I'm not enjoying it as much as the full size. I thought I'd revisit the Max Factor mascara, and see how it compares with They're Real, the product that changed mascara for me. 

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