When the body shop first came on the scene it was one of the few big 'trendy' companies that actually opened a branch in Swansea quite early on (we've only acquired a lush outlet in the last couple of years) and it made quite a splash. I loved the fact that the Body Shop ethos was very ethical at a time that was not very common. I tried several of their products and have to admit that as far as cosmetics go I was completely underwhelmed. The foundation for me was dreadful and couldn't be used (they have probably changed the formulation by now - hopefully), I think they have picked up their game as far as cosmetics go somewhat now. However even then the little shimmer cubes of eye shadows were gorgeous.

I bought my first set of these colourful cubes a long time ago in the brown shades and it lasted ages with no deterioration, but I recently had another set in purple given to me. Just before they brought out the new colour palettes, which I must say I like the look of better than the old colour range. The new ones are: Bunch of Violets, which cover the purple and pink spectrum, Blue Moon, which is kind of self explanatory, and Green Light, which covers the turquoise and green spectrum. These new cubes are the first permanent additions to the shimmer cube shade range in ages. I'd love to try some of them but I'm not going to be forking out £16 on make up for myself just before Christmas, all funds are diverted to the girls.

My review will be on the still available longer serving purple set. I'm sorry I can't 'name' the individual colours in the set as if they were ever on it they've long worn off my set. They are in my words, silver, a deep plum, a mid dusky pink, and a more purple plum.

The cubes come within a simple clear plastic box with a lift off lid, and the individual shadows are contained in their own miniature version of the larger cube, in individual square transparent pots with their own little clear lid (I'm not sure if this has changed in the new additions). This makes it very easy to take one or two colours out of the 'palette' to carry with you. The square format with minimal packaging also means they take up little room in your make up bag. I find the packaging fairly robust for everyday use, and the lid stays on well.

I'd like to see the Body Shop allowing customers to customise the 'palettes' the way they are formatted would lend itself to this very well. The colours in the sets do go very well together but personally I hardly ever use the darker shades as I rarely 'do' a smoky eye, and tend to use them in tiny quantities as liners so I would make my palette up from light colours given the opportunity. Others may prefer different colour combinations of course.

Also I have noticed quite a bit of repetition of colours or at least so close as to be almost the same in the shimmer cube palettes, so if you are a real fan of them you could end up buying a few options just to get 3 colours, ending up with 9 other colours that are either repeated or that you hardly use.

The cubes are nicely pigmented and the colour pay off is good. The shimmer looks beautiful in the pans. It can be blended out quite subtly when used dry and doesn't look as bright as it does in the pan. When used moistened though the iridescence really pops and the pigments take on a more intense depth and gorgeous shimmer and the silver in particular looks quite metallic. There are tiny fine specks of glitter apparent here and there but they really are minute and the shimmer is smooth and silky.

The texture of the shadows is gorgeous and is easy to apply, it's almost like compressed pigment rather than a block of standard eye shadow. Because of this texture there is a little bit of fall out on the cheeks but it's easily solved by applying but not patting into the skin a bit of loose face powder (if you have some, pressed will do if not) before applying your eye shadow. When you've finished your eyes it's easy to flick away the loose powder taking any shadow fall out with it, it should have acted as a barrier and stopped the pigment leaving streaks.

When used on bare eyes or over foundation and powder the longevity of these shadows isn't very good despite the depth of colour (it does last longer when moistened). The soft texture that makes them fade quickly does mean that they blend well though, even when applied over primer they still blend and buff into one another and the skin well, but last a good bit longer, all day and into the night if you don't touch your eyes much. One of my favourite uses for these shadows even if I'm not using them for my main look is wet as eyeliners, they give a good high pigment line, with a bit of shimmery pop that is easier to apply for me than a glittery pencil or liquid liner.

They claim to be crease resistant and suitable for contact lens wearers, I can vouch for the first, as I have noticed that they do stay put better than most eye shadows, though they will crease a little if you tend to have slightly oily lids, or don't wear primer or any other base on your eyes. I can't vouch for the later as I don't wear contacts.

A smashing eye shadow set that seems to last forever.