On Sunday, me and my poor husband have been married for a year. Well, as an early, extra anniversary present, he bought me Soap & Glory's Girl-O-Whirl cosmetics kit. Originally brought out for Christmas, Boots must have had surplus left, and although this kit retailed at £40 over the festive season, my husband managed to grab it on sale for the amazing price of... wait for it... £10! Now, as much as I'm a fan of Soap & Glory's bath and body products, I'm a make up virgin. I've never tried any of their cosmetics products. In fairness, I guess the Girl-O-Whirl kit is a pretty great way to try their stuff out.

Oh, and by the way, please excuse the photographs.. Trying to get semi-decent pictures during a British Winter is pretty impossible. Sob.

The kit states that it contains: "6 gorgeous shades of our LIDSTUFF Eyeshadow, 6 SUPERCOLOURFABULIPSTICK shades, our bestselling THICK & FAST Super Volume Mascara, SEXY MOTHER PUCKER GLOSS STICK in Nudist, the perfect dust-on Highlighter GLOW ALL OUT Luminizing Face Powder, the gorgeous dust-on SOLAR POWDER Multi Shade Bronzer, a double ended EYESHADOW BRUSH, a double ended LIP BRUSH and a handy half-moon BLUSHER BRUSH". Phew! That's a lot of products in just one kit, right?!

At first impressions, this cosmetics kit is pretty good value for money, even at full price, especially when you check out the Soap & Glory products included at their separate retail prices. For example, their Thick & Fast Super Volume Mascara is £10 alone. The reason I was so excited for this was the Glow All Out highlighter, because I was actually considering purchasing it anyway after seeing good reviews by other bloggers. 

It's pretty cutesy, and very retro with the usual kitsch vibe associated with Soap & Glory's packaging. The case it comes in is pretty sturdy, although the inside does look a little cheap in my opinion. The black plastic that holds everything is a little flimsy, but with the PVC-style case to protect it, that shouldn't be an issue. Another grumble is the lip brush is huge! I definitely won't be using it.. Then again, I probably won't use any of the brushes in the set since I already have a couple of brush sets. 

I have to say, though, I'm pretty impressed. All you need other than this kit is some foundation, powder, a blusher and an eyeliner, and you have a full make up kit. For either a make up newbie, or someone like me who hasn't use Soap & Glory's stuff before, it's definitely a great starting point. I'm really looking forward to using it, not least because the lipsticks are not shades I would usually reach for so I'm excited to try those out!

Have you got the Girl-O-Whirl? What do you like and dislike about it?