Vivo Cosmetics

The last time I bought make-up from a supermarket I was less than impressed.  It was circa 2007, I was in my third and final year at University and had just blown my entire student loan, read accommodation money, on a five day trip to Boston with my best friend Leanne.  Desperate times called for desperate measures and I was already living off of reeses peanut butter cups instead of food.  So, the Diorshow mascara I had become accustomed to had to be shelved for a £3.99 substitute.  It was so horrific that I actually ended up using my good old trick of converting five cent coins, in the vending machine on campus, into 20p coins in order to at least afford myself a rimmel mascara.  After all of that I might as well have just paid for my trusty fave.

So when I was invited to the Vivo Cosmetics launch last week, available in Tesco's from September, I was really interested to see how affordable supermarket ranges had evolved since my last experience.  

 The line includes foundations, concealer and highlighter kit, brow kit, highlighter, primer, blushers, bronzers, eyeshadows, kohl and liquid eyeliners, mascara's and false eyelashes.  Everything a woman needs to brighten up her look and all for the cost of £6 or under.  In an age where it's pretty cool to be thrifty due to the current economic climate, a lot of us are looking for the most bang for our buck and Vivo interestingly enough delivers.  It's a perfect impulse purchase line.  Cool eyeshadow?!  Well for £1.50 you'd almost feel guilty not to buy.  With the tag line "Alive with colour", it's not surprising that the eyeshadows and blushes were my hero products of the brand.

There are certain qualities in eyeshadow that need to pass the test in order for them to take prize possession on my dressing table.  Longevity, little to no creasing, little to no fall out and a great depth of colour.  That last one is especially important.  Nothing saddens me more than a whole wad of product leaving just a hint of pink!  

Vivo's eyeshadow range consists, of trio palettes for a smoky eye which are retailing at £2.50, matte single eyeshadows retailing at £1.50 and pearl eyeshadow singles also retailing at £1.50.  The pearls are gorgeous and totally honours the Vivo brand ethos, with that ever stylish pop of colour that is hot, hot, hot, right now.  These singles are a great way to experiment with colour without breaking the bank, take heed those that nervously linger at a £20 eyeshadow but can't justify in case you're too scared to wear the colour when push comes to shove.

They also do a baked shimmer palette for £6 which combines blusher and eyeshadows, making it of course my number one product recommendation from this line.  They'll be perfect for the upcoming season and dare I say it...Christmas *gasp*.  

My sister also thinks that the primer deserves an honourable mention.  I am not well versed in primers, don't use them and don't like to use them but both my mother and sister do and both of whom said they loved the velvet like quality it gave to the skin, it kept their make-up in place and my mother said she almost felt like she could have used the primer on it's own. 

If only they'd been around when I was at University.  Would have made mascara-gate much less painful!