YVES ROCHER: RETROPICAL COLLECTION; REVIEW

Summer finally, hopefully, appears to be on its way, and with the new season, comes some lovely new collections of cosmetics.

 French brand Yves Rocher have launched the Retropical Collection, a limited edition range of make up and a fragrance that will only be available until September.

Inspired by the lush plants of the Tropics, this affordable range of nail polish, mascara, eye pencils, cheek stain, eye shadow, lip gloss come in bold and bright colours to get you in the mood for warmer climes (which is always a good thing, especially if you live in sunny Scotland, where it pretty much rains all the time).

I tried out a couple of the products and this is what I made of them...





Sunkissed Glow-Cheek Stain, RRP £7.50:

This cheek stain is enriched with floral witch hazel water and promises to "leave your skin with a natural tan whatever your shade of skin.
"It's watery texture lets the skin breath and does not stick. For a brighter complexion, shake the bottle before use, the extra-fine gold pearly particles will illuminate this summer elixir!"

The packaging it came in is really lovely, I love the bright tropical patterns on it, and that was even before I took the bottle out!

The bottle itself is about the size of a large bottle of nail varnish, so it would be easy to pop in your make up bag if you're on the move, although with it being a liquid, you would have to watch out for that pesky liquids allowance if travelling.

The liquid cheek stain itself is a very dark ruby colour and I was concerned what this would look like on my face.  Being Asian, I can usually get away with darker colours, but this looked too dark, even to me.  It has a very pleasant sweet smell once opened, which was nice. I applied it to my cheekbones with a cottonwool pad as instructed and blended it in.

I found it did give my complexion a warmer glow about it and it wasn't dark as I had feared, however, If I'm being honest, I think I prefer sticking to my powder blushers, as I didn't really find there was too much of a difference to my skin. I was a bit disappointed but I think it may suit girls with a paler complexion maybe?







Kohl Duo, RRP £2.95:
This double tipped pencil comes in two colours, a lovely warm brown and a striking green, sort of a mix between mint and aqua.

I wasn't sure about the green at first, as I have always just used dark colours as liners but I was willing to give it a try.  I first applied the brown as usual and then put the green over it and I loved how it looked.
It was so different but not too over the top for an afternoon lunch date on a rainy Saturday afternoon. I was also wearing a green dress, so it looked deliberately matched, which was a pure accident. It lasted all day too, which was impressive.
You can also use it on your upper lid as a shadow, so I think I'll be trying that next time.

I really like this pencil and at just under £3 it's a beauty steal. Get one and cherish it in your make up box.







Crackle Nail Polish, RRP  £2.95:
"A deep matt blue shade of crackle polish to be used as a top coat over this summer's colours. It dries instantly and the crackle effect is immediate!"

I used this over Barry M Nail Varnish shade, Cappuccino.  I normally use a fast drying top coat afterwards, but with the Crackle Nail Polish, I didn't have to.

It sweeps smoothly straight on to the nail and crackles instantly before your eyes, drying immediately as well, which is useful. This is what it looked like on my nails, I like the sort of animal print effect it gave and it will look different with other shades, so there's plenty of experimenting to still be done with this nail polish!

Check out the whole Retropical range and more at www.yves-rocher.co.uk