The Drugstore Eyeshadow that Rocks.

First of all, when I use the term 'drugstore', I do so unwillingly, but Boots and Superdrug just don't sound as catchy in the title. I'm not a big fan of that particular term in British English... Grammar nerdiness aside, it's not that often that I find a gem in the aisles of my local stores, if I'm being perfectly honest. Most of the time, I go to Boots, look at the French skincare stand, swatch some lipsticks and walk away. It's mostly where I go if I want to experiment with my look a little bit, without the risk of spending an absolute fortune and being disappointed. This was one of those times.

I'd heard about the Rimmel Glam'eyes HD 5 Colour Eyeshadow in the shade 002 Brixton Brown  on various blogs and thought it looked like a surprisingly nice selection of colours. I wasn't really that interested, however, as I'd just ordered my NARSissist Eyeshadow Palette and, let's face it, the last thing I need is more eyeshadow. But... When I popped into Boots to have a play around and felt the textures of this little palette, I was actually quite impressed. They're certainly not the best shadows I've used, but they're far from the worst. The lightest colour is probably the weakest, as it isn't quite as finely milled as the others, but all five are surprisingly blendable and lend themselves to a very flexible range of looks.

You can go for a straight up, simple, neutral smokey eye, or amp up the drama with the beautiful red shade. It looks incredibly difficult to wear when swatched (one of the reasons as to why I'm not very keen on swatches), but it really vamps everything up to another level, especially on green eyes.

My preferred way of using this palette is over the Rimel Scandaleyes Eyeshadow Sticks in the shades Bulletproof Beige and Bad Girl Bronze, as these have a similar undertone. I then take the cooler toned mid-brown shade and place it all over the lid with a fluffy brush, place the bright red on the centre of my lid, smoke it out with the reddened brown, then finish with the darkest shade as a liner. In the daytime, I use the champagne colour as a brown and inner corner highlight, to add a little bit more brightness. This is great for creating a slightly grunge-y, but also polished look.

It may not be a 'must-have', but it's a welcome addition to my stash. The colours, most notably the red shade, are unique enough to validate this purchase and the textures are really good for a 'drugstore' purchase.