Last week I made two exciting discoveries - Fenwicks - be still my beating heart - and the line of makeup by French fashion house Paul & Joe.

I know both these things have been around for quite a while, but they were a new discovery for me! Coming from a country where there is a total sum of 2 department store chains, both of which are mediocre at best, I am so in love with the little independant department stores here in London such as Liberty and Fenwicks. They are perfectly sized, you can pretty much see it all without getting shopping fatigue, and the buyers do an amazing job of selecting the best and coolest products around. I heart them big time.

So after stumbling into Fenwicks and doing a lap of the beauty hall, I happened upon the Paul & Joe beauty counter and just fell in love with the way the makeup was packaged. The beauty range was launched in 2002 following the success of the Paul & Joe clothing range and they have a lovely website which you can check out here. So in the name of 'research', I thought it was best to sample (ie. purchase and take home) a few products. And they had a gift-with-purchase going on. I was helpless.

Customisable eye shadow palette with colours 15, 31 and 11

The main product which caught my eye was the customisable eye-shadow palette, and I selected the shades 15 a deep brown-based purple, 31 a light mauve and 11 a neutral blending colour. The total cost of the palette and the shadows came to £46.00. As you can see, I am yet to try the eye shadows.

Lipstick - shade 207 in 'Far, far away' packaging

I am a lipstick addict so I couldn't go past the lipstick range which are packaged in the sweetest cardboard tubes which have just been launched for Autumn. I went for lipstick 207 which is a lovely nude shade in the 'Far, far away' packaging. The lipstick cost £19.50 including the limited edition packaging. The lipstick refill alone is £12.50 and they also do a more basic pink packaging.

I was also delighted to finally find in stock, this pretty awesome makeup organiser which I have read tons of positive reviews on. It is perfectly sized with tons of pockets and zippy bits for excellent makeup travel. The bag costs £26.00.

Makeup organiser ... perfection in a makeup bag.

The gift with purchase was a really divine soft kitty-cat print blanket which came in a satin cover which could be used as a pillow case. My daughter was taken with it immediately and I have barely seen it since. I was sent on my way with a lovely assortment of skincare samples which I am looking forward to trying.

The cat blanket and pillow case. Quite possibly the cutest gift with purchase ever.

I am more than happy to add colour swatches of the eye shadows and lipstick and feedback on the products and their quality, so if you would like to read that please tell me in the comment box below.

All in all, a lovely shopping experience. Lock away my credit card. Fenwicks, I shall return xx

PS. You can buy the Paul & Joe makeup range with free international shipping from here !!

PPS. As requested, here is a swatch of the eye shadow colours taken on my hand (in natural light)

Paul and Joe eye shadow swatches, left to right colours 15, 31 and 11