Wonderful Wednesday ♥ Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer

I recieved 3 of these in my recent Burt's Bees Grab Bag; two Rhubarb and one Watermelon. I pulled open one of the Rhubarb sticks to give it a try and it quickly became a staple in my handbag.

The packaging introduces the product as 'The World's Best Lip Balm in Sheer Luminescent Color' and whilst this is not an inaccurate portrayal of the product I think it would be easier for me to describe it to you in a different manner. What it is is a thinner version of a conventional lip balm, it resembles a pen in someways. It contains 2.6g of product, visible when you twist the bottom of the pen. I have had these over 2 months now (and have used it a lot) but I still have over 3/4 left. When you open the cap you can smell the peppermint which goes into the product. It's not an overpowering smell, just a light, sweet scent to accompany application - and I guess if you want any make-up to smell like mint it would be something you apply to your lips.

Watermelon applies as sheer gloss covering with a little bit of glitter. It is very moisturising and fills in any dry areas on your lips. Rhubarb is the same moisturising texture but with far more colour. You can apply it as an enhancing gloss or you can build as fuss free alternative to lipstick. For me it is just one shade darker than my natural lip colour so is a simple way to give them a little more 'oomph'. I also think it is just a little bit more matte than Watermelon so lasts a tiny bit longer.

The lip shimmers are 100% natural, and are not tested on animals. There are 9 shades currently avaiable on the Burt's Bees website and they are also stocked in Boots, all priced at £5.99.

Hope Everyone Had a Wonderful Wednesday! x

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Bourjois Magic Remover Dupe?

I ran out and got this after reading about it on It’s All About Creativity as being an obvious dupe for the popular Bourjois Magic Nail Varnish Remover. It’s from the delightful haven that is Poundland, and therefore obviously costs £1. It has far cheaper packaging but is essentially the same product.

One of the main differences is that it contains acetone, whereas the Bourjois version doesn’t. For me, this doesn’t matter since my regular nail varnish remover (Cutex) also contains acetone. Since the Bourjois product is heralded as being the glitter nail polish saviour I decided to give it a test run as soon as possible. I actually don’t own many glitter nail varnishes, my main one is Hed Kandi Ibiza Mix, so the polishes I tried were Models Own Lemon Meringue with one coat of glitter and No.7 top coat, BarryM Bright Red, Models Own Aqua Violet Beetle Juice and MaxFactor Disco Pink with two coats of glitter. I did a little ‘Twist and Out’ action (probably several twists) and was quite excited by the results.

 

However, when I came to use the pot a week later after having worn the Beetle Juice polish with glitter and topcoat for about 3 days, I was less impressed. There was virtually no movement. I tried again and whilst it did move a little bit I had to give up and return to cotton wool pads and cutex. I think it was because when I tested it I’d only had the varnish on for a short period of time.

I’ve tried it a few times since (I fell a bit in love with the BeetleJuice & Glitter) and I do think it loosens the glitter but I’ve not managed to completely remove my nail varnish. I won’t be throwing ‘Twist and Out’ away, but I certainly won’t be re-purchasing. I guess it’s a case of getting what you paid for this time.

Shoulda Put a Ring On It

I would consider my jewellery collection to be quite small. This is partly because I wear the same two necklaces almost everyday (both silver; one of my name, and one half of a pair) but mostly because I when I was younger I had a tendency to lose practically everything. However, since receiving two this Christmas I’ve gotten into rings in a big way. 

Double Fingered Cross, I’m actually in the market to replace this as I love this style but am not a fan of the tarnished edge (I probably got it wet at some point). I ordered this from eBay as soon as I saw someone wearing a similar one.

Blue Lizard, this was a present from my Mum. Her exact words were that she was deliberating at a jewellery stand and she told the seller that I like ‘large, garish rings’ and she pulled these out from under the table. It’s plastic and I think she paid about a pound for it. As it is quite big I wear it on my Index finger.

Large Red Stone. Boots almost always have a sale on their jewellery so I probably picked this up for somewhere between 1-3 pounds. Luckily, I have quite long fingers because this thing is huge and pretty heavy as well.

Floral Bouquet, this comes from an artist who was exhibiting at a Wine Estate near me (fancy back story, eh?) and is one of the more feminine ones that I own. It has tarnished a little over time but I don’t think this has made it unwearable as it would to some rings. 

Three of the rings I bought from a Korean seller on eBay. They took about 3 weeks to arrive but were super cheap;

Skeleton Ring. I’m aware this piece isn’t to everyone’s taste, I’m not entirely convinced it’s even the one I ordered. It’s from eBay, and I’m pretty sure I was looking at a silver skull print, noticed they had a silver version and put it in my basket without noticing the design changed. I think it's actually quite intricate and I wear it often. (99p)

Floral Arrangement. Again this is quite a large ring, but I think there’s something cute about it too. It’s from an eBay seller in Korea and has an adjustable band. (£1)

Stack Rings, thrown in with the eBay order these don’t fit so great but I think they’re cute. I’m yet to work out the best way to wear them, what with the dangly bits and all but I’ll keep trying. (£1.50)

One ring failed to make it into the first photo, and it turns out it is a nightmare to photograph anyways. It is a big beaded flower which in real life has more purple and red colouring. I love this ring based on how much work must've gone into it, the band is made of beaded elastic as well. Unfortunately, as it was gifted to me I've no idea where it's from originally.

If you’ve done a post on your jewellery, please link it below as I’d love to have a look.

Also, if you are into high street rings like I am, a cheeky trick is to paint the inside of the band with clear nail polish and this will reduce the chances of your finger developing that delightful green tone.

The 'I accidentally bought a Teapot' Haul

There's not much going on in my life at the moment, I’m in the process of ‘sorting things’ which I think everyone has to go through at some time or the other. As a break from this task I went for a stroll into town to see if I could pick up any bargains, I may have got a bit distracted from the bargain hunting but I did pick up a few bits and pieces, and since I love a good haul post I thought I’d show them here.

Floral Teapot  - Timotei Intense Repair - Chocolate Buttons – CK Summer – Twinkle Sprinkles -  Max Factor Lasting Performance – Lovely Make Up Base – Skin Therapy Pore Cleansing Strips – Max Factor Free Gift! – Country Air Candle – Glamourize Eye Duo - No.7 Stay Perfect Eyeliner

A Few Accompanying Notes;

 
- I picked the teapot up in the joy that is Poundland. I have a bit of an issue with tea sets, I love them and for £1 I figured I could justify purchasing this since I've been after a new teapot for a while.

- The Timotei shampoo I used the other week whilst staying at my mothers house and I was so pleased with the results that I wanted to pick one up for myself. It contains avocado oil and macadamia seed oil and works wonders for restoring the natural body and shine of the hair. Oddly I think I picked this up in poundland too.

- I think I will do a full review of CK Summer at some point in the future as it's a pretty interesting product, it was £33 from Boots. I have done a post on the Max Factor Box already, so you can peek at the insides here if you're curious.

- These Country Air candles are originally American so can be picked up in your local 'we sell all sorts' shops. They are great because the wax has a slightly gel-like texture so as it burns the melted wax moves downwards instead of collecting on the sides as with some wax candles. The scent isn't as strong as I'd like but it burns a lot longer, and with less waste than other inexpenisve candles so I will definately keep repurchasing these.

Freebie Friday | MaxFactor Make-Up Tin

I popped into Boots (spending the No. 7 vouchers, ya’know) and noticed that if you spent £15 on Max Factor Cosmetics you got this nifty little free gift. For me, one of my staple foundations (Lasting Performance 100) is by Max Factor and I figured there was no harm having one already on hand for when my current one ran out.

First off, the box is super cute! It doesn’t have the Max Factor logo anywhere so can be re-used as whatever takes your fancy. Secondly, I had a sneaky suspicion that there would be a money off voucher inside as there was in there last free gift. I could have looked on the display to find out but that would have spoiled the surprise!

There was indeed a £3 off foundation voucher (not sure whether this will actually get used considering what I purchased to get this box but oh well) inside as well as sample sized lipstick, mascara, blush, and nail varnish. The mascara alone makes this worth it to me as I declared my undying love for Masterpiece Max after getting another sample earlier in the year. I now own a full size one but like having one that fits in my handbag at all time.

The  box is meant to be Britain themed, as you can probably tell from the decor and the nail varnish is a St. Georges Cross red (549 Red Passion) from the NailFinity range, it applies as a classic red with slight undertones of pink and plum. I prefer the NailFinity range to some of Max Factors other nail varnishes and think this is a really wearable colour. Following in the trend the Colour Collections lipstick is in the shade English Rose 510, it’s a very sheer, creamy pink. It enhances my natural lip colour and appears glossy but still natural. The final sample is of MiracleTouch Creamy Blush in Soft Pink 14. I am excited about this as blush is the one item I don’t really experiment with, and I’ve always stuck with my traditional powder blush. This is a nice, soft, dewy pink which is easy to blend although you’d have to like the colour it appears as it is a bit harder to build.

I think this is a really nice sample selection, and I’m sure I’ll be able to find some use for the tin. Did anyone else pick up any free gifts this week?

May the Odds Be Ever in your Favor

I went to see the Hunger Games when it came out over here in March not knowing too much about it other than it was expected to be hugely popular and gross huge amounts (and it did, I believe it hit $400 million today in the US). It was indeed a very good film, which considering I don’t like films that much is a huge compliment!

However, all I could think of afterwards is the fact that, as people usually claim, the book version might be better. So before I jumped on the train the other day I grabbed a copy for my Kindle. I think in our modern society it is easy to forget that reading can actually be enjoyable, for me, doing a literature degree reading is often the last thing I want to do in my free time. This book reminded me why I like books in the first place; I absolutely could not put it down which, considering I already knew almost everything that was to occur is pretty special.

If you have seen the film, I would suggest you give the book (and the sequels!) a try. But, if you really don’t want to I would also strongly recommend the film. If you are already a super-fan there is some cute MockingJay jewellery about. I particularly like the pins, which actually feature in the story. If you’re in the US you should be able to pick them up fairly easily (in Walmart I believe), for us Brits there is a seller on eBay selling the offical merch ones for £6.

Freebie Friday | Benefit POREfessional

Like 90% of all the UK 'Beauty Bloggers' I was on a mission to find myself a copy of Glamour magazine so that I could get myself some free Benefit samples. There were 3 to choose from; Bad Gal Lash, That Gal and the POREfessional. I went on the search for one of the primers and then read somewhere that POREfessional is the UK's best selling primer. The full size version £23.50 for 22ml, so this 7.5ml sample is worth about £7.80, not bad considering you're only spending £2 and getting a magazine to boot.

However, I only managed to find a copy with this attached on Thursday (there were a lot with the mascara but I'm pretty happy with my current mascara finds) so cannot say anything about it as I haven't had a chance to use it yet!

If you fancy giving it a try yourself the magazines should be on sale for another couple of weeks (:

Wonderful Wednesday ♥ Lipcote

 I am in love! After finally giving up on being able to wear lipstick I picked this up after seeing it on Bodycare. I do remember hearing a bit about it last year - it was voted Product of the Year by Vogue - and I figured at £2.60 there was no harm in giving it a try.

It comes in a cardboard outer packaging, but the product is in a clear 7ml bottle with a brush similar to a thin nail varnish applicator. The instructions suggest you should apply your lipstick normally. Including liner and blotting, possibly with foundation as a base (I don't personally make an effort to do this) then allowing a coating of this to dry on top. It is simple to apply, not adding much to your make up application but it does smell/taste a bit funny for the first few seconds (yes, I did accidentally lick a bit!). In order for me to trust it fully I let it dry for between 30-45 seconds, after that it is less noticeable that it's there providing you don't deliberately harass your lips.

Because of the jubilee weekend I have had ample opportunity to test this product properly and my lippy survived the, rather sizable, jug of Pimms I consumed. I did make an effort to drink through a straw and because of this I didn't feel I had to touch it up during the day, just to fill it in before going out.

What may put people off is that it feels quite drying, although this doesn't affect the appearance.  Also, what I can only speculate on (boo) is that I don't imagine it would taste great to kiss someone who was wearing this. If you are looking for a care-free day look,  or if you are going anywhere which doesn't involve a kissing spree I would definitely give this a go.

It is regularly available at Boots for £3.69, or there is a seller on eBay who has them for £2.65.

Cupcake Fresh Face Mask

I have been on a recent skincare kick, trying desperately to make up for the damage I caused as a teenager, and I decided to try out some face masks. I read about Lush Face Mask Pots here and was drawn to the fact that they come in pots rather than sachets. Plus, as a blogger I feel like a bit of an outsider due to the fact that I am (sort-of) a Lush virgin. I have used gift sets and bought presents from there but have never purposely purchased something for myself.

After a hectic day at work I popped into Lush before it closed, having convinced myself I deserved a treat. I don’t think my store had the full range and from the 6 they had (on ice, very cute) Cosmetic Warrior and Cupcake seemed like they would be most beneficial. I don’t know about you (leave a comment if you have used it?) but the idea of sitting with the garlic smell of Cosmetic warrior didn’t seem like a treat to me, so Cupcake won out.

It smells exactly like chocolate, and when putting it on your face it is a bit like rubbing cake mix on your face. When I first saw it I questioned how on earth It Is All About Creativity thought you could get 5 uses out of it, having already used it 3 times I am confident you could actually get more. It applies really well, its not too smooth but it doesn’t pull at your skin and it dries into a complete mask within a minute or so.

You wash it off after 10 minutes and it comes off in teeny tiny pieces so I like to think I am exfoliating my skin as well. I found my skin to be smooth, but also slightly dryer if that is possible. I accidentally left it out the fridge one night (eek) and found that when I used it warm it was less effective at cleansing my skin but still made it feel soft.

The only off putting thing about them is that because they are natural they have a relatively short expiration date. At £5.75 they are reasonably priced, but how many face masks do you actually have time for in 3 weeks? I live with all male housemates so they weren’t keen to share with me, next time I'm having 'the girls' over I'll definitely get one of these in though.

I’m thinking of trying out the Lettuce one next, can anyone recommend it?

this date label freaked me out a little when I first saw it.