5 Years of Beauty at Topshop

The fact that Beauty at Topshop is celebrating its fifth birthday this year makes me feel really old. When it was released, I was in second year of college and living with a best friend rather than in university accommodation for the first time. My other best friend and I had made the annual student night at Topshop a tradition and when I saw the lipsticks that newly graced the store displays, I went a little mental. I only bought two but considering I barely wore make-up even to dressy events back then, it seems rather a unique incident.

Since day one, I have loved the range of colours, the quality, packaging and price point. A Topshop lipstick feels expensive, even though it is not. The nail polishes have regularly offered my colour of the season. And the rainbow of eyeliners have allowed me to mimic catwalk looks as I learned about make-up and how to use it.

The capsule collection to celebrate 5 Years of Topshop Beauty is a gorgeous collection of their most iconic and in-demand pieces. It is made up of five essentials: the Matte Lips, Cream Blush, Magic Liner, Glow Pot and Nails. The lips come in five of the best-selling shades, Rio Rio, Innocent, Beguiled, Nevada and Ohh La La, offering a range of tones from nude to pink, peach to orange-red and vampy blood-red. The Nails come in five shades also (sensing a theme here?) with one glitter (Adrenalin), one metallic (Heart of Gold) and three opaques (Green Room, Boy Next Door and Parma Violet). The blush, highlighter and eyeliner only come in one shade each but all of the products are sold in special rose-gold packaging that immediately suckered me in.

While none of the products were new or new to me, I hadn't tried some of the shades so I grabbed a Glow Pot, Cream Blush, nail polish (Parma Violet) and lipstick (Rio Rio).

The Glow Pot (Polished, £9.00) was the first I had owned rather than borrowed and it has become my go-to highlighter since purchasing it. I don't wear highlighter often, only when wearing make-up for an event, but I do pop a bit on the tip of my nose and in my cupid's bow now and then with minimal make-up. It's not too in-your-face, which I like. The consistency is great too. The only really issue is that it can be a wee bit tricky to get out of the pot.

The Cream Blush (Head Over Heels, £7.00) is the perfect pop of colour for daily make-up. It's very  pretty and light and only needs fingers for application - though you can blend it out with a brush if you like. Again, consistency is smooth and it's a really nice size for popping in a bag.

As I said, I've always been a fan of the Nails polishes. Parma Violet (£6.00) is a really pretty pastel purple and I really like it but I've been wearing polishes with better formulas for so long now that I had forgotten that these can be a little tricky to apply. Bonus though: they smell like nineties nostalgia in a bottle.

Again, the Lips are products I've loyally enjoyed for years. Generally the matte finish can be difficult for me with my habit of biting and destroying my lips but with a layer of balm underneath, the colour actually spreads quite nicely. I've been after a shade like Rio Rio (£8.00) for a while now and really like how it looks - I feel like it makes my eyes look very blue.

But, really, it's all about that packaging! So, so gorgeous. For those of us more obsessed with design than make-up, it's a real draw.

At the end of the day, these products are great value, pretty, good quality and cruelty free. They appeal to girls and women of all ages alike and are totally accessible. All major bonuses and reasons to support the brand in my eyes.

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