Poppy Fever: The Body Shop Spring 2015 Collection

The Body Shop Spring 2015 Shimmer Cubes Palettes 31 Yellow Poppy (left), and 32 Pink Poppy

The Body Shop is kicking off 2015 with fun, Poppy-themed face and body collections from 5 Feb. The makeup products include:

• 2 colorful Shimmer Cubes Palettes (SGD39.90) - 31 Yellow Poppy, and 32 Pink Poppy.
• 4 coordinating nail polishes (SGD12.90) - Apricot Kiss, Cupid Pink, A Sunny Affair and Mad About Blue.
• 6 chubby Lip & Cheek Velvet Sticks (SGD29.90) - there are 5 colors - nude, peach, red, pink and coral, as well as 1 Universal color-changing shade which is really interesting. 

I did quick swatches for the shimmer cubes without any base or water, so you can see the pigmentation levels. They're all quite smooth and pigmented, although I have to say it's unlikely that most of us would wear all these colors together on the eye at any given time.

The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes 31 Yellow Poppy swatches

The Yellow Poppy palette was not the one I grabbed for first when I saw both. I'll say up-front I like the Pink Poppy one more because the colors are so unique. But I do have to say that Yellow Poppy has 2 neutrals (dark brown and white) that help make the palette a little more "complete".

The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes 3 Pink Poppy swatches

If you were to get Pink Poppy on the other hand, you would probably need to add a darker neutral color to anchor the shades because they're all accent shades. There isn't really a "definer" shade unless you want to use the red around your lash line, and not many people are brave enough to do that!

I like this palette more but I would just use the colors individually or 2 at a time, and pair them with neutrals. 

I somehow can't look at Yellow Poppy without the Simpsons' theme song running through my head. 

The Body Shop Lip & Cheek Velvet Stick in 40 (left) and 50 Universal (right)

The Universal Velvet Stick is like a matte color-changing balm. The textures of these sticks are quite smooth and blendable, so I wouldn't hesitate to use them on the cheeks.

I do like the colored ones more than the color-changing black one, because depending on the pH level of your skin, if the color doesn't "bloom" completely, you end up with slightly grey-ish pink lips, which is an effect, but maybe not quite what you were going for. 

Still, most times I seem to end up with at least a nice berry color on the lips so it's not too bad. I just feel I'd rather know exactly what color is going on than play guessing games, even though color-change products are kinda fun.

And let's not forget the poppy-red brush. 

The Body Shop Spring 2015 Poppy Blush Brush

 Technically you can use this for mineral powder, regular powder, bronzer or blush. It's 100% synthetic and cruelty-free; plus it's very soft and good quality.

Aside from the face products, there's also a line of body products with the Forbidden Flower scent, which is centered around poppy (from which opium is made btw). I only have the shower gel to sample for a review so I can't speak about the perfume version, but if the gel is anything to gauge by, it's quite a powdery, musky, spicy floral that's not exactly very "flowery" or sweet. It's quite dark and soft and I think the lacquer black bottles with the red poppy visual are quite fitting.

The Body Shop Forbidden Flower Shower Gel

 The range includes the requisite 30ml eau de toilette (SGD24.90) shower gel (SGD14.90), lotion (SGD21.90) and the body butter (SGD32.90), but not a fragrance