I wrote my original BeautyUK review not so long ago (on the Eye Sparks. I'd reviewed one of their nail polishes previously). It was ultimately positive but I did point out areas of possible improvement. Then I forgot about it.

Two or three days later I received a Twitter message – from BeautyUK. They’d read my review, and wanted my email address to address some concerns.

I was seriously taken aback. I hadn’t contacted them in any way (which means that the company have been making good use of Google Alerts) and a little snooping on my part revealed that they’ve recently been making good use of various social networking mediums to reach out to bloggers and YouTube gurus, something I always applaud.

I was emailed by Sara at BeautyUK and she explained that the Sellotape around the products was applied by Superdrug – “I would love to send you free replacements of these pencils – you’ll be pleased to know there is no tape wrapped around the lids of these ones either! We’ve asked Superdrug not to do that as it looks awful – but once they buy the products off of us it’s technically theirs so it’s up to them." and even offered a suitable suggestion for a sharpener for the pencils "With regards to sharpening – I use a boots own brand sharpener (which has a large and small sharpen section) and it seems to work fine.... just for future sharpening." She then asked for my postal address so as to send some replacement products. Incredible.

Naturally, I then went to Superdrug (a different one, this time) and proceeded to drop more coin on BeautyUK. Call me easily impressed – “Lena, you’re easily impressed!” – but I’m far more inclined to purchase from a company that clearly cares about their customers than one that acts like it does not. Unfortunately, this particular stand in this particular Superdrug had been abused. It looked like one of those really sad monkeys that you get on those animal rights ads. Seriously.

The three pencils that I managed to grab were almost the only ones left. There were no more gold pencils, a couple of greens and one more blue. The few that remained had the gems at the bottom callously removed by some bitchy pre-teen. For some reason, that really pissed me off. Don’t you have better things to do than to pick gems off makeup products? Go back to school. Hurray for no tape, however.

I would have bought the Bright palette, because that’s been piquing my interest for quite a while now, but I had no more moolah. Boo.

I’m digging this company, big time. Look at the pretty swatches!

The colours are gorgeously unique. I rarely use these without an eyeshadow over the top anyway but the fact is that the pretty remains if you have drier eyelids than me. I like using the silver and the purple near the tear duct, as a quick highlight. All of the pencils fare well as lower lash line liners, as well – because the lower lash line is less mobile than the eyelid, these don’t crease as easily. It makes for a great pop of colour, especially as these shades are pretty special. I love the “lit from within” look that the purple/red and the blue have!

These are easy to sharpen with the correct sharpener. I’ve sharpened the silver since it’s last outing. It now works well but the formulation is a lot softer than the other four colours – it’s easy to apply too much. Shame, because it looks really good on the eyelid. 

Where these excel, in my opinion, is as a base for matte eyeshadows. I have a TON of mattes that are basically pigmentless (which is why I need to get my ass down to Inglot, quick sharp) unless you layer them 2838319 times. This is hard to do over a conventional primer as you just end up wiping away the previous layers when you try to apply more. With this baby underneath, that doesn't happen. It grabs onto and intensifies the pigment of your eyeshadow. Love. Amor. Sarang. Adore <3 Us UK girls don't have as many options as the US girls when it comes to finding bases at drugstore prices, so this is really useful.

I find these easily last the school day with only minimal creasing on myself, sans primer underneath, and after that they fade rather than crease.

The price is great, the company is wonderful and they perform well. Ten out of ten points.