Body Shop Shimmer Cubes Lily Cole v Shade 23 Purple

For me?! How thoughtful...

Yo ho ho and a bottle of RUM!

So today I received a lovely cheeky little package from the Body Shop containing some naughty purchases I ordered over the weekend.  I am a complete and utter sucker when it comes to the Body Shop and the only thing that normally deters me from picking up a bounty of their lovely moisturisers and makeup is my heart wrenchingly empty bank account.  Cue tears and wailing.

HOWEVER, my lovely boyfriend happens to have O2 priorities installed on his phone and luckily for me, this weekend when he came over, there happened to be a 50% off discount for the Body Shop.  50% OFF!  That’s means I can buy twice as much!  Hmmm… Not really, but I was able to choose some things that I’ve been craving for a while to treat myself to for Christmas.

So I bought these two things – The Lip and Cheek Stain 01 in Rose Pink and the Shimmer Cube Palette 23 (The Purple one!).  And now for the reviews…

The first thing I want to mention is that I was completely torn between which shimmer cube to get.  I absolutely ADORE the whole concept so knew that I was going to end up indulging in something my mum would definitely say I didn’t need, but I wasn’t sure which colours to get.

I LOVED the chocolate warm ones but since I already own the Naked 2 Palette by Urban Decay I figured I had most of the shades already covered.  I really can’t imagine reaching for anything other than my Naked 2 for the everyday neutrals look so that takes the Warm one (currently, never say never!) out of the picture.  I was left between a choice of the purple palette and 21 Pink (though I think it also has a grey in it).  In the end I went with the Purple 23 since I wanted one with a little more pigment and I already owned the Blue and Green cubes.

I was a little worried that the purples would be the same as the Lily Cole cubes that I also have and searched high and low on the web for a post that contrasts them.  Alas, I couldn’t find one and took the leap to just buy it anyway.  Since I had so much trouble and wanted a comparison post I’ve decided to include a mini one here for anyone suffering the same dilemma.

In terms of pigmentation, the colours are extremely vivid and it comes with a lovely variety of shades so you can basically use the whole palette on one look if you wanted to.  The white is great for the inner corner and highlighting although its worth noting that it IS the same pearly white that comes in other shimmer cubes so you might end up getting a repeat colour if you purchase more than one.

 

Left to Right: Orchard Purple, Candy Pink, Pearly White, Velvet Plum

With and without the flash.  It was quite hard to get the two darker colours to come up true, however this is fairly close though the little finger one is slightly less ‘brownish’.  The pink is gorgeous and the two darker colours, although at first glance look similar, have completely different undertones that really show up when applied to the eye.

Top to Bottom: Velvet Plum, Pearly White, Candy Pink, Orchard Purple

Above is how they show up on the skin, gorgeously shimmery and not bad colour for a single swipe!  They look even more pigmented when applied wet.

SO NEXT I SHALL COMPARE!

The Lily Cole collection looks like this:

And swatches like this:

As you can see, the colours are a lot less intense with the light pink on the end barely showing up there, only providing a hint of a shimmer.  I have definitely grown emotionally attached to this one and it’s gorgeous for a subtle look, however, it terms of intensity, my new Purple Shimmer Cube wins outright.

A last couple of shots of the two side by side for comparison – Lily Cole on the top and Shade Number 23 (Regular purple one) on the bottom:

 

So I hope this has helped anyone who is hesitant or unsure which to buy.  The colours are DEFINITELY different with the Lily Cole one great for a natural look and Shade Number 23 (Purple) awesome if you want a little more intensity.  There IS a fair amount of fallout on both if you rush and get too much on your brush however nothing that can’t be fixed if you take your time.  Really great colours for building up and I can’t wait to experiment a bit more with my new one!

If you’re interested, I bought the Lily Cole Shimmer Cube from Ebay for £6.00 (it’s a limited edition so out of stock on the website but there’s still plenty floating around to grab!) and Shade 23 (Purple) from the Body Shop website for £8.00.

This post is already far too long so will do another with thoughts on the lip and cheek tint in red, comparing it to the bronze one I already own.

See you later blog! 

Argghhhhhhhh!

(I’m a pirate – see even Body Shop acknowledges it…)

Far too easily amused...