I love a good cream eye shadow and am still mourning the loss of Benefit’s Creaseless Cream shadow/liner in Busy Signal, the perfect shade of bronze. Max Factor, however, have launched fantastic formula called Excess Shimmer (R129,95, exclusive to Clicks).

Each shade promises to stay put for hours and really does as promised. In fact, if used with a primer (I love Urban Decay’s Primer Potion that I buy online or when I travel) you can pretty much tattoo the shadow to your eye lid.

I was given two shades to try, Crystal and Pink Opal, and most like the latter.

I can see me wearing this as a solo wash in spring on jaunty days when I want to take a break from my usual ‘natural look’ hues but for now I’m dead keen on snapping up the bronze variant next time I pop into Clicks. To view that, pop on over to Luzanne at Pink Peonies who did an awesome job of reviewing these babies in depth. You can also check back here later today as I’m going to update with an ‘on eye’ shot. I’m just currently waylaid by two mag story deadlines.

The Body Shop have launched what feels like a zillion new eye pencils that range from jumbo and fine felt tips to wind up gel pens and even a white matte kajal liner and I was given a couple of them to play with.

Of everything I’ve tried, however, I’ve most enjoyed using the Skinny Felt Liner (price TBA). I like that, depending on how you angle it, you can create a nice, defined line as well as a thicker one. The over-sized pen, however, doesn’t really give you a choice but that’s not going to matter to anyone who’s actually keen on a thick, Cleopatra-style line. In that case, it’s their best friend.

Other news? A while back I was asked to dish a bit of beauty advice for the blogger’s edition of online lifestyle magazine Hung Up in a piece called Smoking Hot Beauty Blogger Advice that you can check out over here.

I think they struggled to find four beauty bloggers who rook a pack a day* yet remain ridiculously hot**, but in the end they did manage to pick out four of us, although I think Chantelle’s moved on to chewing tobacco now. Her advice, by the way, about using MAC’s 217 bullet brush, is spot on. The day I brought that baby was a serious tipping point in my smoking hotness.

More things you need to know? Clicks is running a slew of great buy 2, get one free specials that include beauty goodies ending on 2 July so you better move fast. My top pick there? The Essie nail polish! As they’re R125 a pop, you’re essentially saving R125!

Last but not least, Dermalogica is about to go online, launching their new online store on 1 July. Initially, delivery will be free to promote the fact you can now buy your favourite products with just a few clicks but will eventually increase to R120 a pop so best you get your orders in fast. One of the best specials the brand’s currently running is on their Age Smart Over Night Repair serum. Until the end July, R850 will get you DOUBLE the regular size, so that’s almost like buy one, get one free.

However, if you buy three products at a time, delivery will be free once more, so it’s a good idea to buy in bulk or sit tight until you need at least three items to get the most bang for your buck.

Love, love

Leigh

*Please tell me you get that I was totally joking?
**I’m not kidding about the hot part though. <Hair flick, hair flick.>