MAC 'Shy Girl' Lipstick Dupe - NYX 'Pumpkin Pie'

Hi Everyone! I haven't got round to blogging for over a week! I've been so busy getting ready for my holiday which is now only just around the corner. I took myself to Westfield in Stratford throughout the weekend and popped into MAC just to buy myself some foundation. What ended up happening was ridiculous, as I ended up coming out of the store with a bag full of goodies including the cremesheen lipstick in the shade Shy Girl. I met Amy Childs last Wednesday at her perfume launch on Oxford Street and I loved the lipstick she had on. I asked her what it was and turns out it was from none other than trusty MAC! 

Alot of people are somewhat dubious as to why you would spend £14.00 on a lipstick, but my MAC collection has never failed me. I love the cremesheen range as they add the perfect amount of gloss without becoming sticky and have a fantastic formula which means there is extra staying power and it never budges out of place. The only thing I probably dislike is the smell. It has that awful smell of chemicals which is really off putting, especially first thing in the morning. I was also looking through my make-up box a few days back (yes a box. I don't do make-up bags) when I came across a lipstick I'd forgotten I owned and hadn't even opened. To my horror, the shades were practically identical. I purchased 'Pumpkin Pie' a few months back for no more than £3.00 and although the formula doesn't quite match up to MAC's Shy Girl, it's still a lipstick I could use on the go.

I'm an absolute sucker for nudes and pale pinks, so for colour this definitely gets a 10 out of 10 from me! Pumpkin Pie is a very subtle colour, and isn't nearly as pigmented as Shy Girl as I found myself applying up to three coats to achieve a similar colour. It didn't glide on as easily as Shy Girl, but for only £3.00 it's hard to justify why I can't use my NYX more often. It contains a small amount of gloss, again not too much that it's sticky and sits awkwardly on my lips. I did find that after a few hours that the cracks in my lips were beginning to show but it was easily fixed by a quick top up. For packaging, I obviously completely prefer that of MAC's Shy Girl. All the lipsticks from MAC are so sleek looking, and I can't help but think Pumpkin Pie is a little tacky looking. It will be absolutely perfect to replace my Shy Girl lipstick when I go on holiday as I'm so clumsy and will probably end up dropping my MAC into the sea! I've bought a load of drugstore lipsticks recently for this purpose and may post a small haul showing you all what goodies I've managed to find.

Do you own any MAC Cremesheen lipsticks? Which is your favourite shade?

☮

Amy Child's Perfume Sample Vail

Hello! August is finally here, I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone! I hope you're having a lovely Thursday and the weather isn't too bad wherever you are. Here in London it's pretty standard. Grey, overcast, miserable and raining. Hello British Summer! I've been glued to the Olympics when I haven't been working at them, and I'm so excited for the running and athletics to start next week! I get so much adrenalin just from watching how competitive the runners get, and I love the men's 100m final where everyone is especially excited. Going slightly off topic now, I wanted to show you all something I received on Tuesday through the post.

Being a massive TOWIE fan, I've always had a bit of a girl crush on Amy Childs. I think she's funny, she's glamorous and above all she genuinely seems like a lovely person. I was really gutted when it was announced she would be leaving The Only Way Is Essex after only two series to go off and do her own thing. She has become quite the successful rising star here in the UK, and has since then launched a clothing line, her own beauty salon, a fitness DVD and now a perfume. It does sound a little familiar to another one of my favourite celebrity idols, as they both have had the same management team at one point in their career, but I won't go into a rant about that as we'll be here all day! I don't tend to use celebrity fragrances other than those from Katie Price but was expecting something really nice and girly from Amy Childs.


The company who designed Amy Child's perfume were holding a competition on Twitter (@JigsawESL) to win free sample vails of the product three weeks before it's released to the public in a full size bottle. This means I'm one of the first people to try the new perfume (major excitement), and I have to say I absolutely love it! I love the fragrance card holder it comes in as if you'd have watched her show 'It's All About Amy' then you'll know it matches the theme of her beauty salon. It does slightly scream cheesy as the reflective purple card is a little tacky, and I have no idea what the full size bottle itself looks like. I hope it's a perfume I can put on my dressing table and not in my dressing table! I think it's extremely hard to describe how a perfume smells to other people as everyone has different opinions as to how they smell a particular scent, so this is what was written about the scent from Jigsaw ESL. 

"The scent opens with gloriously fruity,exotic notes of pomegranate seed, fresh green leaves and kumquat, moving into a floral heart of lotus, champaca and purple orchid. The gorgeous perfume settles onto a sensual base of purple violet, amber, skin musks, soft woods and vanilla. Encased in an adorable deep purple, multi-faceted bottle embellished with a heart shaped charm, Amy's perfume is fabulous and feminine, just like her."

Cheesy. But I do agree with the fact that this fragrance smells absolutely stunning. It's so girly and it's definitely more of a Summer fragrance, so there isn't too much time left to use it. Other than the fragrance card holder I do quite like the bottle at first glance. I think it represents Amy as a brand rather than a celerity. The only small criticism is the fact that it is an Eau De Toilette, which means the fragrance isn't as concentrated as Eau De Parfum's, resulting in a fragrance which doesn't last as long as others. I just hope to God that the launch of this isn't anything like good old Katie Price as I think that Katie has her  own unique style to her launches and Amy seems to be following her. I can't wait until the full size bottle of this comes out as I'll definitely be buying it. It will be available from good perfume retailers from August 18th.