Something Sunday: Skincare Haul

I don’t have much to say today, I think the Sun has frazzled my brain. I did pick up one or two bits in BodyCare which I would be interested to see if anyone has used before. (We need Bodycare in the South, i’m confused as to what I will do when I move back and there isn’t one).

I forgot the keep the receipt so the prices are from the Boots website, whoops. 

Witch Natural Concealer (£4.99). They have a range of ‘Anti-Blemish Cosmetics’ but this is actually part of their skincare range. It’s supposed to combat spots as well as cover them up. I also got a tube of Witch Foaming Face Wash (£3.99)

Simple Eye Make-Up Corrector Pen (£4.99). I think this was a bit of an impulse buy, we’ll see if it actually works. 

Lipcote (£3.69). I think I paid under £2 for this so figured it was worth a try, plus I do remember it getting a lot of magazine mentions last year. It’s supposed to ‘seal and fix’ lipstick cover. 

Have you used any of these? What did you think?

Wonderful Wednesday ♥ Anonymous Eyeshadow

The Case of the Mysterious Eyeshadow

I thought about this blog post for a while but couldn't find anything that I truely wanted to proclaim as wonderful. So I decided instead to turn to the blogosphere in the hope that you would be able to help me identify something that will be wonderful. I mentioned before that I picked up an L&B (Lula & Belle) pallette for cheaps of eBay. I have fallen in love with one particular shade, but it doesn't have a name (and even if it did L&B only appears to exist at Christmas time in Boots) so I need a dupe!

My camera decided to be an absolute nightmare so apologies for the strange pictures. The shadow is hard to get an accurate picture of as it does appear fairly yellow, but goes on a more bronzey-gold. I tried to do 3 swatches to show it built up, but again the camera didn't really fancy that.

 

Sooo, if you have any suggestions please leave them as comments below! And I hope you had a lovely Wednesday x

Lip Service

A few months ago I went through my mid-lip crisis (see what I did there!), I wanted to have statement lips. They didn’t have to be bright red, or orange or anything special, I just wanted people to notice them and for them to stand out on my face. Now, I have tried lipsticks before, I’ve never had an amazing experience with them to be honest. This time I tried out MUA Shade 13 (which is a bright Red) - I received this as a freebie and was quite excited as I know Louise (Sprinkle of Glitter) raves about it – and also Rimmel 16 ‘Heart Breaker’ which is a more natural dark lip shade.

MUA I couldn’t get on with at all, it had virtually no staying power and would smear very easily. I will say though that putting it on you do notice that it’s nice and smooth and not drying at all. The Rimmel lipstick is also nice but is slightly more matte. However, with this product it would gather around the edges of my lips while the inner parts would return to my natural shade, not what I wanted people to notice about me. I bought this lip-liner to try as I’d not really used it before and I hoped it would stop the lipsticks bleeding and help me define the shapes of my lips.

The product is from the Rimmel 1000 Kisses range and the shade here is 004 Indian Pink which is slightly misleading as the application is certainly closer to red than pink. It is very hard to smudge or alter which is great, as long as you don’t mess up during application. I found it easiest to apply using a few strokes rather than attempting a continous line. If you have thin lips I’d possibly recommend looking for a more specialist pencil as I did occasionally have problem at the corners of my mouth where my lips appear less defined. The staying power is excellent, unfortunately for me it outlasted my lipsticks. (If you own one of the Lip Stains that comes in Pen & Gloss form, I found it actually works really well with them). It retails at £2.99 so it’s a cheap and cheerful product, I got mine from Boots.

For me, I have realised that I think I was trying to attach myself to a trend that wasn’t suitable. Natural Lip colours sit far better with my skintone and lessen the risk that I will end the day looking like a clown. I am currently using Burt’s Bees Lip shimmer and loving it. It’s no hassle, smells great, and still gives me that bit of colour I crave.

However, I would be interested in your say. Did I just try the wrong products? Should I have splurged on a high end lipstick? Or is it possible that I have the type of lips where it’s just a no go product?

What's in my bag?

I wanted to do this post for a while but it's very temptiong just to include cool things that I sometimes have in my bag rather than what is actually in it. So, as I am currently confined to a train on my way to see a friend I've decided to go through and document the things I really lug about with me all day.

The bag itself is a navy blue, zip-up from Next. It's approaching it's one year birthday and is still in pretty good condition however, I am looking to buy it a companion - I'm thinking either white or brown, any suggestions?

1) Purse - Etienne Aigner, I love yellow and this purse is perfect as it has a zillion card pockets.

2) Kindle - as much as I would urge everyone to support the print industry, this was a present from my Mother and it is pretty damn useful. The skin for it was made on wrappz.com and the (very messy) outercase is a Belkin.

3) My railcard, complete with the worlds oddest photo.

4) A box of mints.

5) My work ID pass.

6) My house keys - covered with a KeyPurr which can be got here.

7) A copy of NewsWeek (thats not very glamourous..)

8) A knitted headband - Primark, Hats aren't great for people with curly hair, we're more suseptable to hat hair and when they squash down the top of your hair they make the bits left showing look massive! I picked this up for 50p in the sale.

9) A fruit shoot.. mmm sugar...

10) Nail Varnish - Models Own, Beetle Juice: Aqua Violet. (I may have painted my nails on the train this morning).

11) MakeUp Bag - a freebie from MaxFactor.

12) My Phone.

13) Two Pairs of Headphones (why?)
14) The Lens Cap of my other Camera (why?)

15) A Cinema Ticket - for Dark Shadows, I wouldn't reccomend it.

16) Lip Shimmer - Burt's Bees in Rhubarb.

17) 'A' Necklace - a birthday present, but I think it's from TopShop. (This didn't make it to the photo as i've obviously moved it somewhere 'safe' and can't remember where)

19) Sony Little Camera - plus Pink Case from eBay.

20) Perfume - Paris Hilton's Heiress (that's embaressing).

21) L&B Eyeshadow Stack - picked up cheap of ebay so I could test out what colours to invest in in the future.
22) A Mirror - magnifying cos my eyesight is almost as bad as that of a mole.

That's seems like a lot of cr*p, but aside from the eyeshadows and cinema stubs I do usually drag most of it about. If you have done a similar post recently feel free to link it below cos I think everyone like being a bit nosy.

22) Notebook - John Lewis. I almost forgot about this since I was writing in it at the time.

Wonderfully Late Wednesday

Hello,

Today was a wonderful Wednesday by default as I finished an exam that I had been waiting for, this meant I could justify treating myself afterwards AND I get the day off work on Friday so can travel down to London to see a friend.

With regards to treating myself I picked up a few things whilst doing my shopping;

- Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation, a lot of bloggers were raving about this and it was only £5 in Wilkinsons so I thought I'd try it out. I'm yet to use it properly but as I walked home I noticed that the sample on my arm appeared quite glittery.

- Cutex Nourishing Nail Polish Remover, I love Cutex for nail varnish remover. I honestly think they are the best for your nails, and obviously they remove nail varnish pretty well to.

- Cotton Pads, they were 3 for 2. Very Exciting.

I then used my free afternoon to make Cake Pops, these aren't really big in the UK (yet) but when I was in Canada I saw quite a lot of them (I think they are sold in Starbucks as well). This was my first attempt at making them so they aren't the most asthetically please but they are still fun, everyone secretly loves food on sticks! This is the reciepe I used (mainly because it was one of the only UK based ones) and I had my own little stroke of genius when I realised I could use an upturned colinder to prop them in whilst they dried.

 
The only thing that wasn't wonderful (and I'd stop reading now if you're not in the mood for a rant) was my experience with Superdrung. I don't usually shop there as I think you're either a Boots or a Superdrug girl and I love Boots. However, I wanted to check out Sleek a brand which is exclusive to them (I read about it here) and were having 3 for 2 on make-up which is good for everyone. This brand was nowhere to be found in my local store, and they didn't have any light shades of Rimmel powder so I sort of gave up. I then spotted a cheap baked blusher by their brand MeMeMe which looked similar to the Bourjois one I am currently lusting after, but all the pots were of a completely different colour to the tester.

Fine, I thought, i'll do a shop online cos with the benefit of 3for2 I can easily justify the spend to get free P+P. There was even less stock online than in the shop I had been in (How is that possible?). Plus, after having a look at the new(ish) Superdrug Beauty card and reading that you only get 1 point per pound I can now undoubtedly confirm that I am a Boots Girl.

Hope Everyone Else had a Good Day! x

First Freebie Friday

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector

Being a huge foundation lover I wasn’t sure how to feel about BB cream, I wanted to try it out but felt that there was no-way it would ever replace that part of my make-up routine. You get 3 1.5ml sachets in a shade of your choice – I chose light as I am quite pale and didn’t want it affecting the shade of my make-up when trying it as a primer. 

Garnier seems to have led the way for the UK highstreet BB market and I do think they present a really nice product. It has a really light consistency (it’s main ingredient is infact aqua) and is very easy to apply and blend, the tiny samples went surprisingly far. The packaging lists numerous supposed uses for it and if you have naturally beautiful skin I would definitely suggest trying this as it would give a nice natural glow, with a slight coverage. My skin is a bit more on the damaged side so I was surprised that coverage-wise I could just about get away with it. However, for all day wear-and-tear I wouldn’t trust it to keep me appearing blemish free.

As a primer it works nicely to maintain the fresh-faced appearance and helps to blend the foundation easier meaning you actually apply less. It would probably also work as a touch-up product for when you’re going to be out all day (I think I’m probably going to keep one of the sachets in my handbag for emergencies). The only downside to the product is that it does feel a bit sticky for a while, If you have oily skin as it is I’d probably avoid this.

Whilst I did love the product I’m not completely sold on its necessity in my make-up routine and at £10 for 30ml, there are things higher up my ‘to purchase’ list. I was a bit cheeky and figured that since Korea is cited as the founder of these creams I may as well try one out from there. I have one working its way over as we speak thanks to the wonder of eBay! If you fancy giving this product a go you can get your sample pack here. Enjoy!

trying something new: New CID Cosmetics

New Cid Cosmetics isn’t a brand I know much about, I was sent their i-flutter Mascara (not a pr sample but as a gift from another company, Andrex I think). At first I wasn’t that into it but after disregarding my other mascaras and trialling this for a week I would fully recommend it.

It comes packaged in a sleek creamy box and then the whole mascara tube is the shiny silver colour (in the picture the text looks really prominent, but in reality it's a lot more subtle). It's an interesting look, it definately stands out from all my other make-up. It is called i-flutter Double Brush Lengthening Mascara, I’ve no idea about the design to be honest, it looks like your average mascara wand to me but regardless of this it does work. I have not experienced any clumping at all whilst using this product; the packaging describes this as “superior separation” and compared to anything else I’ve used it is superior in this factor. You do have to apply several coats to get complete coverage, for a while I had trouble getting it cover the top side of my lashes.

At £18.50 it’s a bit pricey for me, especially since I wear quite severe eyeliner so as long as my eyelashes are black I’m pretty happy. However, if you are a fan of natural eye make-up I would definitely invest in this. This mascara has been the only one where I would still feel confident going out without other eye make-up on. I will certainly be keeping one for job interviews or other formal occasions where I want a elegant appearance.

If you are interested it is stocked it a variety of big store, it’s in a few Debenhams, but the easiest way to get hold of it would be to look at their website. (It is only available in one shade, Black).

Has anyone else used New CID Cosmetics? Is there anything else I should try out?

Also if your constantly exploring new blogs it might be worth checking out this BlogHop by BlogLoveTherapy. I'm very excited by two new blogs I found through it Back For Tea and Beauty Confessions of a Big Girl.

Burt's Bees Bags!

I'd been wanting to try out Burt's Bees for a while, but not knowing where to start had delayed me a litte bit, then I spotted a post about Burt's Bees Grab Bags (I will put the link below). The bags are £20 from the Burt's Bees website and the blurb says you are guaranteed to get at least £55 pounds worth of stuff, obviously the risk is that you've no idea what stuff but unless there is something you really dislike from the range it's a pretty good deal.

The bag comes by first class post so you're likely to get it the very next day. And it is secured in a postage box (I was very excited to hear my postman complaining that he had a really heavy parcel for me this morning). In my little goody bag I got; 

Fullsized;

Radiance Exfoliating Body Wash (350ml) x2

Radiance Body Lotion (175ml) x2
Lifeguard's Choice Weatherproofing Lip Balm x2

Rubarb Lip Shimmer x2

Watermelon Lip Shimmer

Minatures:

Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (8.5g - half the size of the real one).

Radiance Exfoliating Body Wash (88ml) x2

Samplesized:

Radiance Eye Cream (1.5g)
Beeswax & Banana Hand Cream (7g)

Bits 'n' Bobs:
Mini Nail File
Burt's Bees Lip Balm Tin (it didn't make it into the picture but it's a big yellow tin with a little red ribbon to hang it up, I'm presuming it used to be part of keepsake tin set?)

I did the maths (cause secretly everyone likes to know what a good deal they got) and just my fullsize products add up to £65.31 based on there full online price. As you can see I did get a fair amount of duplicates, but I actually don't think that's necesserily a bad thing, I quite like to have two lipglosses so I can keep one in my handbag at all times. Plus, I might make a little gift from the things I have two of and score some brownie points with a friend!

This is the link if you perhaps fancied grabbing one for yourself: Burt's Bees Grab Bag
And this is the post that first alerted me to them: Evelyn's Grab Bag (You can compare contents as we did get pretty different things).

PS: You did have to pay postage on the bags which was 3.95, but as postage on orders over £25 is free I decided I may as well pick something out that was more exciting to spend my money on than postage. So I've also got a brand new Natural Tinted Lip Balm in Hibiscus which technically only cost me £2. I'll do a review on it soon cos it look amazing (:

Home Baking and Face Caking (Betty Crocker Candles & Matte Powder)

 

I picked up one of these candles the other day when browsing for something exciting, scented draw liners I think (!), and I will certainly be going back to get more. The scent is delicious and genuinely spreads throughout the room when burning. Whilst having a look to see if these were mentioned on any other blogs I did see a few comparisons between these and Yankee candles (namely We Were Raised By Wolves), unfortunately I can’t compare but I will say that the smell is warm and fruity but not too sweet like some candles can be. The scent also sticks around, I’ve know burnt the candle on about 5 separate occasions and it is yet to lose its sillage. I paid 99 pence for mine and that got me a good 85g of candle, which should burn for between 30-40 hours (mine is probably rocking 20 at the moment and still has a fair amount left). They come in a variety of baking related flavours, and apparently there are Christmas one, which I will definitely be looking out for. Unfortunately, I can’t find anywhere to recommend you buy them from, they do just appear to be floating around those odd dollar store style shops – hopefully you’ve got one in your local town, if so I would definitely see if you can pick one up.

 

Also, since that post was a bit random I thought I'd use this Wonderful Wednesday to talk about a product that I would be absolutely lost without; Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder (Ivory 001). I use this product to set and blend my foundation, there are always several pots in my house at anyone time because my routine would be lost without it. I'm sure there are some great mineral powders etc. but for something I use so much of the £3.99 price tag and wide range of shades is spot on with this produc - I am quite pale, so don't want any hint of orange in my make-up and this shade gives good coverage without changing my colour.

If your not a fan of this and could reccomend something for me to try out, I would definately be interested?

Pinks and Purples

I was going to title this post 'Hand Love' but then my brain registered how dodgy that actually sounds. My nails (and hands) have taken a bit of a beating over the past few weeks cause of work and washing up, but today they finally got a coat of paint and I thought I'd do a quick review of the polishes I used.

For starters these look tiny because one is a sample and the other is a 'Mini'. The pink shade (sample) on the left is NailFinity (704) Disco Pink and the darker one is MaxEffect Mini (24) inIntense Plum both are lovely colours and go on smoothly. However, the MaxEffect one also like to come off with equal ease; it will either smudge off in the hours after being painted on, or do that thing where it has chipped off the top of your nails within a day. I think selling mini's is a great idea as you can test out what the colours actually look like without forking out loads (The full range of minis is avaliable here for £2.99 each) but unfortunately I can't see myself upgrading this one.
a

The NailFinity one is slightly more durable, and is just the right side of hot pink. The full size version retails at £5.99 for 10ml and comes in the gold max factor packaging with a conical bottle. On average it take about 2 coats to get a full coverage which is pretty standard, and in the picture i've gone over it with No7 Top Coat (which by the way is amazing, and does meet its claim that it is 'Touch Dry in 60 seconds'.