New! No7 Spring Eye & Nail Collection

You may remember from this Penney's Haul that I'm very eagerly anticipating the arrival of Spring so I was thrilled to see this gorgeous new palette and accompanying nail polishes pop through my letterbox, as they herald the start of brighter days, slightly warmer temperatures and overall, more colour! 

First up is the new No7 Mini Eye Palette*, a beautiful rose gold case housing eight of the brand's most popular eye shadows, ranging from light shades to the darkest of metallics. 

This is a serious piece of eye candy and rivals any of the top selling higher end brands for its lust-worthy packaging. It's a slim palette that would be perfect for your bag; taking with you on a night out or a weekend away or even into work to touch up your make-up for an office-to-dancefloor scenario (I wouldn't know about that as I generally stumble out of work after a 13 hour shift and fall directly into bed. Mmm, bed). 

Inside, there's a large mirror and a double ended eye-shadow brush, which is more useful than most brushes you'll find in similar palettes. Again, the muted pink tones inside add an element of sophistication to this that completely belies its €14.25 price tag. That's right, €14.25!!!

The idea is that you can create a natural daytime look or a smokey eye for night time, so it's a more versatile selection of nudes, basically. 

In case you're a No7 eye shadow buff, here's what each one is:

Top, left to right: The first shade there is a pearlescent pale pink from the Good Earth Trio. It's quite pigmented and would make a good inner eye/brow bone highlighter. 

Next is the Mink shade from No7 Mono. This was a bit of a let down for me, it looks great in the pan but doesn't translate that well on the skin. It takes a fair bit to make an impact and really only provides more of a light shimmer.

I really like the matte taupe shade next to it however. This fella was originally in the In The Navy trio and is a perfect base shade.

Although the last on the top right looks similar to the second shade, it's actually much darker, more pigmented and a very flattering bronze/grey shade. The one is buttery soft and needs little to create a great look. One of my favourites in there. This is from the Good Earth trio.

Bottom, left to right: Again, from the Good Earth Trio is this chocolate brown shade. This is also super soft and super blendable. A dream to work with.

The shade beside it is from the Chocolate Fondant Quad and is a dark grey with some subtle glitter. A great shade for blue eyes.

Also from the Chocolate Fondant Quad is this dark brown with again, subtle glitter pieces and lastly, from the Moonlight Shadows duo is that black matte with yet again, subtle glitter. 

Apologies for the wrinkles in my hand, I took the photo outside and was kneeling on my hands to warm them up before taking the photos! The things we do for make-up, eh?!

Here's the top four shades, I had to swatch these a couple of times to get that level of build up. Out of all four, the last on the right definitely has the most pigmentation and would be quite pretty on its own with some smudged brown liner and lots of mascara.

The first two shades of the bottom four require only one swipe and that's the colour payoff. Good, eh? The last two needed an extra swipe but that's still quite good for darker matte shades like that. 

Overall, I think this palette is excellent value for what you get- its aesthetically pleasing packaging and flattering nude shades will appeal to many, so if you like this, pick it up as it's limited edition!

Next up, are the two new nail polishes* to the brand's already excellent Gel-Look Shine Collection. I was really excited to see these as I have a cobalt blue from this range that I LOVE plus pastels are my favourite shades to wear for most of the year round. 

Here we have Sweet Lilac and Coral Crush. These are €9 each and provide that great glossy gel finish that you would pay double the same amount for in a nail salon. 

I already have an image of that coral on my toes with my feet in the sand..cannot wait!

The lilac will be firmly on my fingernails- it's one of my all time favourite hues for nails.

Gorgeous!

The NO7 Spring collection will be in Boots stores and on Boots.ie from the 28th of January, just in time for payday! 

Anything catching your eye?

Go on, you deserve a treat for surviving the horror that is January!

XX

*Indicates that products were provided for review. All opinions my own, as always.