Jellyminx Thinks

Review: Dita Von Teese Nails by Kiss

2012-01-30T11:00:00.000Z

I have only ever tried press-ons once in my life and they lasted all of an hour before pinging off. I've had acrylics once and whilst they looked nice, they completely ruined my nails so press-on always seem like a great idea but after my initial experience I was really put off. Fortunately this new experience is a lot better :)

I was given the opportunity to try a couple of sets of Kiss nails just recently and I thought I'd give these swanky Dita Von Teese ones a go first.

Kiss is available in both Boots and Superdrug in the UK and the brand sell a wide variety of products from false nails and nail art items to lashes and lash serum.

These sexy red nails show Dita's trademark ruffian manicure and would look great if you wanted something a little special for Valentine's day. They are available here for $9.99 or roughly £6.00.

Each set contains 24 nails of varying sizes, a wooden orange stick and a tube of pink glue. I was a little surprised, and disappointed, to see that a mini nail file hadn't been included especially since some of the smaller sizes have the "Self-Tab".

I like the look of these nails mostly because there is no way I'd be able to achieve a decent "half-moon" freehand. I have enough issues just painting my nails the regular way!

I really like how the length of these elongated my hands and as the tips are more round, they don't make my fingers look like they've been cut off.

I'm not overly keen on the colour against my skintone, is it just me or they just look everso slightly not quite right? If these came in a deep dark navy with a taupey gold half moon I'd buy a ton and never take them off! Although I think I'd need to re-train myself on how to type :s

These were super easy to apply, held up well and were easy to remove. The only downsides for me was the lack of a handy dandy nail file and the length of them, it's just something I'm not used to.

Have you guys sorted out your Valentine's manicures yet?

These were kindly sent to me for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and I'm not being compensated for posting this

Beauty Blog Link Love

2012-01-29T11:00:00.000Z

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed thinks size does matter and tests out her theory with Maybelline Illegal Length Fiber Extensions Mascara - check out her results and see if you agree!

My Funny Valentine is proud to present...A vain person's guide to water sports: how to waterproof your makeup and deal with chlorine.

Nail bling strikes again! Musicalhouses shows you her silver and blue nail art with pearls and hearts!

At Lipstick Musings, Shannon embarks on her first-ever fragrance review with the all-natural artistry of Aftelier Perfume's Cepes and Tuberose.

With the BB cream craze in full swing, Rae takes a moment at theNotice to review (and swatch) the much-hyped Marcelle BB Cream. Find out it if this new wonder-product is all it's talked up to be!

New year calls for new product launches! Miss Beauty Nerd tests out Maybelline's newest - their SuperStay Lip Colors and EyeStudio Color Tattoos.

Beauty In The Mirror has been reviewing the very popular OCC Lip Tars. Pop over for some great pictures and advice.

Kajal Couture shares her tips on preventing eyeshadow fallout.

Prime Beauty is dreaming of spring with the Nordstrom Exclusive Dior Garden Party Milly Garden Clutch.

Looking for some double duty beauty products? Check out Krasey Beauty's recs!

Kimberly at Kimmie Karma Love shows her New Years Eve makeup and the day after pictures!

Phyrra presents a variety of lovely lipsticks and pigmented lipglosses from Morgana Cryptoria.

Tracy at Beauty Reflections has a new PRECIOUS called Guerlain Cruel Gardenia Meteorites.
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Join Anita in celebrating reaching 400 followers and win yourself a gorgeous Accessorize Eyeshadow Palette!

Review: Boots 17 Instant Glow Shimmer Brick

2012-01-28T11:00:00.002Z

Boots 17 recently re-launched their bronzing products in swanky new packaging and with new items to boot. Amongst the re-launched bronzing powders there is a leopard print bronzer, bronzing rocks and shimmer bricks. Would anyone be interested in me doing a comparison post between my beloved Instant Glow Bronzing Powder in Light with the new launched one? Today, though, I'm reviewing the two new shimmer bricks.

If you would like to see what these look like on ma face, check out my Face of the Day post here to see me rocking the pink one :)

Gold Bronze

Pink Bronze

Each brick contains four stripes of shimmery powder and is £4.99 for 5.7g. The Gold one reminds me of Bobbi Brown Bronze Shimmer Brick and the Pink one reminds me of Bobbi Brown Pink Quartz Shimmer Brick. The Bobbi Brown products contain 5 stripes of colour and cost £30.50 for 10.3g of product. The finish of these 17 Bricks reminds me of MAC Mineralize Skinfinishes; they have the same kind of shimmers and pigmentation but aren't quite as smooth as some of MAC's recent releases.

Gold Bronze - Natural Light

The Gold Bronze shimmer brick contains a soft champagne, a golden sandy taupe, a rich coppery bronze and a deep rose bronze. The fifth swatch shows what the colour looks like when they're all blended together. Each shade is super pigmented and smooth. No chunks of glitter here.

The darker shades in the Gold Bronze shimmer brick are far too pigmented for me to be able to use on my face, I'd end up looking a bronzey shimmery mess. The two lightest shades mix to make a beautiful taupey highlight though. All four colours work well on the eyes and I didn't experience any creasing when I tried them out with my trusty Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

Pink Bronze - Natural Light

The Pink Bronze shimmer brick contains a silvery pink, a soft ballerina pink, a taupey pink and a pinky purple bronze. Again, the fifth swatch shows what the colour looks like when they're all blended together. Also, each shade is super pigmented and smooth. It's worth bearing in mind that the second shade has more of a satin finish; it certainly doesn't have the same level of shimmers as all the other shades in either shimmer brick. This makes it my favourite shade out of all of them lol!

Now these do say that they wash off, and they do easily rinse off with warm water, but I didn't notice them disappearing when I got caught in the rain. That is definitely something to bear in mind especially given the temperamental nature of the British weather!

I used a run of the mill flat shader brush to apply these to my eyes. To apply the pink colour to my cheekbones I found my Eco Tools Finishing Kabuki picked up the right amount of product without depositing too much glitter.

What do you make of these shimmery kinds of products?

Face of the Day: Peep Show Style!

2012-01-26T11:00:00.002Z

As promised here is a Face of the Day using the Boots 17 Peep Show Eyeshadow Palette and Mascara I reviewed here.

Apologies but all the photos were taken in the evening. Basically Ant and I popped out to get a bite to eat and managed to shut our front door with the keys on the inside effectively locking us out. The key was in the back door too and our bathroom window is too small to climb through so we had to call out a locksmith. £120 down and three hours later we were back inside but unfortunately it was too dark to be able to take any decent photos without the use of flash. I did promise that I would put up a Face of the Day and I thought that some photos were better than no photos. Hope you don't mind :)

PRODUCTS USED:

FACE
Garnier Roll-on Anti-Dark Circles in Very Fair
Neutrogena Health Skin Liquid Makeup in Natural Ivory * (Review to come)
Boots 17 Blush in Damson Wine (Review to come)
Boots 17 Instant Glow Shimmer Brick in Pink Bronze - Used to highlight top of cheekbones, peak of brow and inner corner of eye (Review to come)

EYES
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Boots 17 Peep Show Eyeshadow Palette - Light pink on the lid, taupey gold on the outer corner, deeper cool toned brown in the crease (Review here)
L'Oreal Super Liner Carbon Gloss on top lashline
Boots 17 Peep Show Mascara in Black (Review here)
Boots 17 Photo Flawless Eye Pencil in Carbon Black/Blue on lower lashline (Review here)
BeneFit Browzings in Dark
Collection 2000 Colour Me Lash in Clear

LIPS
Too Faced Lip of Luxury in Free Love

Hope you liked this Face of the Day. Once again I'm sorry the photos weren't the best quality but they were the best I could do under the circumstances lol!

Can you guys tell I like Boots 17 products? ;)

* This was a gift from my friend Gina. You can check out our swap videos here and here

Nail of the Day: China Glaze Jolly Holly

2012-01-24T11:00:00.003Z

Natural Light

Flash

China Glaze Jolly Holly from 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice Collection, Holiday 2010

Is that collection name the longest you've ever seen? It certainly is a mouthful!

Oh how I love this shade. It's the most perfect shimmery forest green I have ever had the pleasure of owning. Not only is it beautiful but the quality is superb too. Yes it is a "festive" polish but look how pretty it is!! I'm just pleased that I've finally found a green that doesn't make my hands look either super red or bright yellow!

I've been wanting Illamasqua Rampage for ages, mostly because MissChievous from Youtube has been wearing it a ton recently. That one is a jelly polish but is a similar colour to the China Glaze. Good enough for me, saves me some pennies :)

I did three coats, as always, but this could seriously be a one-coater. The first coat was slightly lighter than the shade above, the perfect Oz green in my opinion. Three coats just intensified the colour and depth of shimmer. One downside, of course, is this came out over a year ago and I'm not entirely sure of it's availability. Such a shame.

What's your favourite festive polish you gravitate towards year round?

Review: NYX Eyeshadow Singles

2012-01-22T11:00:00.001Z

I bought the above NYX singles ages ago from Cherry Culture, back in September according to my order history lol! They are currently on sale (see here) for $3.99. Alternatively you can now buy NYX in the UK. They are available here for £4.50. For those of you going to IMATS on the 4th February in London, NYX have a stand so there may well be discounts on products there. I honestly can't remember if they were any deals or not last year :s

Any way, let's have a look at the colours I picked up :)

Gypsy

Gypsy is described as a Shimmer, a "sparkly eye shadow with soft glittery effect". As you can see in the photo aboved the eyeshadow is a deep red brown with gold glitters.

Root Beer

Root Beer is also described as a Shimmer. The sparkles in it aren't quite as noticeable as the ones in Gypsy but they are still there. It is a cool toned almost plummy taupe brown with silver micro shimmers.

Sparkle Cedar

Sparkle Cedar is a Metallic/Shimmer. It shares the same sparkles as the other two but is considered to be more "bold" and "intense" lol! It is a golden sandy beige with multi-coloured micro shimmers.

LEFT TO RIGHT:
GYPSY
ROOT BEER
SPARKLE CEDAR

I'd hoped that Gypsy would have been an inexpensive dupe of NARS Galapagos but I don't think it is. It seems too red toned on my skin, whereas when I've swatched Galapagos it just looked like straight up cocoa powder brown. NYX Gypsy is a lovely quality eyeshadow though. It is very smooth and soft, almost too soft in fact. It's very pigmented so a little goes a long way. Also, don't worry about the sparkles, they disappear before your brush gets anywhere near your eye!

Root Beer is considered to be a dupe of MAC Satin Taupe. In the pan, to me, Root Beer looks a hair darker. Swatched on the skin Satin Taupe has more of a metallic quality to it that the NYX shadow doesn't. Whilst the base colour of both shadows is extremely similar the metallic sheen definitely gives the MAC shadow that little extra something. Don't get me wrong, Root Beer is a fantastic eyeshadow, super blendable and very nice to use.

Sparkle Cedar is a lovely unique colour, almost an olive toned golden sand on the skin. My biggest problem with it is the fallout. It's lovely, you just have to make sure that you really push it onto the lid rather than sweeping it across.

Despite their few shortcomings these really are great inexpensive eyeshadows. The range of colours is amazing, check out this swatch post on Karla Sugar's awesome blog. I think I will definitely have a look and see if they have any other unique colours I can pick up, might even have to have a look at their other products while I'm at it ;)

Do you like NYX eyeshadow singles? If you do which are your favourite colours?

Nail of the Day: OPI Lucky, Lucky Lavender

2012-01-20T11:00:00.000Z

Natural Light

Flash

OPI Lucky, Lucky Lavender from the Hong Kong collection

This is a super pretty pastel violet-pink. It's really cool toned, pink with a hint of lavender. I remember having a colour really similar to this when I was younger. It was from the brand Miners and it was awful to apply; super chalky and streaky. This OPI polish is the complete opposite. Super opaque and creamy, a dream to apply. The swatches shown are three coats, as per the norm for me.

I really like this colour, the picture with the flash is probably the best representation. I tend to avoid cool toned pinks as they make my skin look a like yellow toned but fortunately this one doesn't do that. It's a bit different to wearing a neutral pink without being too in your face.

I liked a lot of the colours from this collection but I think this is the only one that I ended up buying. I did buy it relatively recently from my local Sally's store so I presume the colours are still readily available.

What do you guys thinks? Yay or nay for cool toned pink polishes?

Review: 17 Peep Show Mascara

2012-01-18T11:00:00.001Z

17 recently launched a new mascara. If you missed my review of their previous mascara launch, Falsifeye, you can find it here.

The mascara comes housed in a cute pink tube complete with lace detailing, a nod to the name "Peep Show" I guess. I picked it up in Black but it is also available in Black-Brown.

This mascara has a traditional wand and claims to lengthen lashes from root to tip with it's fibre rich formula. Can you see it says "with lengthening fibres" on the tube photo above? Can you see the fibres on the up close and personal wand shot below?

The mascara is nice and black, not one of those nasty dark grey kind of blacks but actual black black. The wand isn't so large that I run the risk of poking my eye out but it's also not so small I spend a good part of my morning just applying my mascara. The formula isn't overly wet or goopy and I like that the wand has a "locking" mechanism when you twist it shut. That little feature makes me think that this mascara won't dry out as quickly as some other brands, not entirely sure why I think that.

Sadly, though, I do not like this mascara. The little fibres in it tend to flake off as the formula dries on my lashes so not only do I end up with flaky bits in my eyes but also all over my face. Also it tends to smudge onto my lower lashline giving me that highly desirable "panda eye" look. Not!

Now the good thing about this mascara is that it comes with a free eyeshadow palette ;) So for your £5.29 you get a mascara that I'm not particularly fond of but an eyeshadow palette I adore =o

The Peep Show Smokey Eye Palette contains four large square eyeshadows, roughly the size of Shu Uemura single square pans. In the top row you have a cool toned brown with shimmer and a matte grey. In the bottom row you have a shimmery ballerina pink and a shimmery warm golden brown.

Natural Light

Each of the shadows are super smooth, soft and blend really easily. I've worn them all in different combinations and didn't have any trouble with creasing or fading throughout the day. Please note I did use my trusty Too Faced Shadow Insurance underneath though.

Even though the mascara wasn't really my thing, the eyeshadow palette was totally worth the money to me. Have you ever gotten a product and found the free gift you got with it to be better than the product you actually paid for?

Nail of the Day: Illamasqua Raindrops

2012-01-16T11:00:00.000Z

Natural Light

Flash

Illamasqua Raindrops

I lusted after this polish ever since it was first launched back at the tail end of 2010. I seem to remember it was part of a customer designed collection (they held a contest, there was thousands of entries etc) alongside Shrapnel and Eclipse. Shrapnel is a metallic rose gold copper colour and Eclipse is a frosty deep dark blue. I don't have either of those and boy do I wish I could track down Eclipse *sigh*. Any way, I digress...

If you've watched my latest collective haul video (available here for those that haven't watched it), you will know that I bought this polish on my Youtuber pre-Christmas lunch date in London. I took the opportunity whilst I was there to pop in and have a look at the Illamasqua flagship store in Beak Street; I was in the area after all so it would have been rude not to! There was a tiny section tucked away in the far corner of products that were discounted so I thought, what the hell, I'll have a look. There was the usual mish mash of eyeshadows and what not but then I spied Raindrops all on it's lonesome for a fiver. HELLO! I grabbed that sucker and paid toot sweet, the whole time thinking "I want you, I need you, oh baby, oh baby"! (Extra brownie points for those of you able to name the film!)

And yeah, there's my little story about this polish.

The pictures shown above are three coats as per usual. The colour is the kind the sky goes on those horrid muggy drizzly days, a light, almost translucent grey with silver shimmers and flakes. Seriously this is all kinds of gorgeous. Grey polish has, and always will be, my favourite colour polish. That and purple. Comparing it to some of my other greys, it really is quite a unique colour. It has more blue in than China Glaze Pelican Grey, less silver than OPI Totally Fort Worth It, it's a touch lighter than Revlon Hazy, less beige than 17 Chaperone and nowhere near as dark as Barry M 293. Plus let's not forget that none of those polishes mentioned have the super awesome silver shimmy shimmers and flakes!

As with all my Illamasqua polishes this wears like no other; it will seriously stick with you until you decide you're bored and want to change lol!

Of course while I was in the shop I also added Lies and Seduce cream blushes and Ambition powder blush to my list of wants but I didn't purchase them. I thought I'd be sensible for a change. If they happen to be discounted at IMATS then I might change my mind ;)

That reminds me... I'm going to IMATS this year, again I did explain the low down in that video but if you'd like me to do a post about it beforehand please feel free to let me know :)

Beauty Blog Link Love

2012-01-15T11:00:00.000Z

At Musing on Beauty, Mariella gives Japanese brand Suqqu a try with their Reset Cleansing Oil.

At long last, BB creams are (finally!) hitting it big in North America. Check out theNotice's BB cream coverage, which has only just begun.

polish insomniac shows us how to make a difficult polish look good!

The Pink Sith has FINALLY finished her quest for the elusive L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadows! Read about the colors she got and see what she thinks!

Have old dried out nail polish strips and don't know what to do with them? Musicalhouses shows you how to save your dried out nail polish strips!

Miss Beauty Nerd loves nude colours, especially ones by Bobbi Brown. Currently, she's coveting the Bobbi Brown Nude on Nude Eye Palette!

Check out Jenn from Spiced Beauty's current obsession from Sleek makeup.

Phyrra shows you the latest lip product she's been lusting after, new Fyrinnae Lip Lustres.

Looking for a full coverage foundation that doesn't feel like a full coverage foundation? Gouldylox Reviews checks out this one from Tarte and puts it's lofty time promises to the test!

My Lips But Better learns the hard way Tweezerman's nail files aren't nearly as good as their tweezers.

Wishing for Spring like Tracy at Beauty Reflections is? Then take a look at the new Lise Watier Aquarella Spring 2012 Eyeshadow Palette.
---Beauty Crazed is giving away a giant pile of makeup to celebrate the new year! Come enter and decide for yourself just how crazed they really are!

Review: Look Beauty Statement Eyes in Cami

2012-01-14T11:00:00.000Z

I recently purchased a new eyeshadow from the Superdrug exclusive line Look Beauty.

For those that don't know Look is a UK based weekly fashion and beauty magazine, the only magazine I'm subscribed to and ever really read if I'm being completely honest.I heard about the launch of this line ages ago but it was only initially available at the Superdrug in the new Westfield in Stratford. Most inconvenient for me! Shortly after the line was launched it was rolled out into Superdrug stores across the UK and the majority of my local stores, I have five lol, stock it.

The first colour I picked up was the eyeshadow Cashmere. It has a satin finish, in that it's neither matte or shimmery, and it's a very soft dove grey. It's a great colour for just a wash over the lid or you can use it to blend out darker greys and blacks when creating a smokey eye. Having enjoyed the colour for a month or so I decided I would pick up another one. The colour I chose is Cami.

Housed in tough, thick plastic (very Shu Uemura), Cami is a soft golden peachy pink and when I bought it I thought, hello could you be a dupe of my beloved Stila Kitten or MAC All That Glitters??!!!

On the left we have Stila Kitten, one of my favourite lid colours ever, in the middle is my sparkly new Look Beauty eyeshadow in Cami and to the right we have MAC All That Glitters. They all look kind of the same in the pan, that lovely luminous golden peachy pinky prettiness I love so much but how do they compare side by side.

The first pair of swatches are the Look Beauty shadow and Stila Kitten. Yeah you can't really see Kitten but you can see that the Look Beauty eyeshadow is a lot more golden and peach in comparison. The second pair of shadows is the Look Beauty shadow and MAC All That Glitters. All That Glitters is actually a tiny bit more pink that the Look Beauty shadow so it doesn't look like we have a dupe :( Sad times.

Despite not being the dupe that I'd hoped for this shadow delivers well! It's pigmented and creamy and it adds a been shimmery sheen to the lids without giving you disco ball face in the process. It's a great basic colour and suitable for most skintones.

At £4 a pop these are great to try out and they have an awesome range of colours. I'm currently ogling Suede, a beautiful taupe purple brown, and Velvet, a deep purpley blue which may possibly be a dupe of MAC Contrast...

I have read that the more matte shades are kind of crappy so be sure to utilise those testers before you commit to your purchase!

The Look Beauty line is literally bulging with products so there is plenty to choose from if eyeshadows aren't your thing. One word of warning though. I got the nail polish Catsuit and it's awful. Thick, gloopy, crusty, just plain nasty so I wouldn't recommend that!

Also apologies for the "hairy arm swatches" rather than a photo of me actually wearing the shadow. If you'd like to see it featured in a Face of the Day post please let me know in the comments :)

Nail of the Day: China Glaze C-C-Courage

2012-01-12T11:00:00.001Z

Natural light

Flash

China Glaze C-C-Courage from The Wizard of Ohh and Ahz collection

The Wizard of Ohh and Ahz collection originally came out way back in 2001 and then re-released in 2009 in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the film. This colour is, however, still readily available online.

As you guys probably know I have a love for any grey or purple polish so this polish holds a special place in my heart. It is a deep, rich cool toned purple that has a tendency to look a little more blue in photos and on camera. It's blurple in my book. I absolutely love the beautiful dark purpley base and the teeny tiny purple and silver sparkles in it help to add dimension. I did three coats as I normally do and found it to be really opaque and densely packed with shimmers.

What do you guys think? Do you like a good blurple manicure?!

Welcome Back!!

2012-01-10T18:00:00.002Z

Hi guys!

I hope everyone is well and had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year!

You may have noticed something a little different around these parts! My blog has undergone a bit of a face lift recently; I hope you guys like it!

It took me a while to get everything just how I wanted it and how I had visualised it in my head but I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

I will be back to blogging regularly soon but in the mean time be sure to check out my Youtube channel where I've been trying to upload a couple of videos each week.

Please be sure to leave your feedback in the comments; I can't tell you how good it feels to be back :)

Pink stars image sourced from here

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-12-31T12:17:00.002Z

Before I post this week's Beauty Blog Link Love I just wanted to let you guys know I have updated my blog sale. It can be found here.

Also, whilst I haven't been posting on here I have posted several new videos on my Youtube channel. Please be sure to check them out and subscribe :) My channel can be found here. I'm hoping to get back to blogging after Christmas. Thanks guys :)

Miss Beauty Nerd is smitten over Korres' Body Butter in Basil Lemon because her skin now feels oh-sooo-soft!

At Lipstick Musings, see how a happy mistake at the Dior counter led Shannon to fall in love with the Dior 5 Couleurs Palette in Rosy Nude!

Looking for the perfect waterproof eyeliner? Jenn over at Spiced Beauty reviews the limited edition Make Up For Ever Wild & Chic Aqua Eyes Collection.

Rae reviews lip sets featuring Korres Cherry Lipglosses, Clinique Chubby Sticks, and Bite High Pigment Pencils during the not-so-inventively-named Lip Set Week at theNotice.

At Eyelining Obsessions Claire decides to try the Laura Mercier Eye Basics in Cotton and discovers a couple of potential pit falls.

My Lips But Better shares the scoop on the MAC Naturally Collection for spring 2012!

At Beauty Reflections, Tracy tries out the new CoverGirl Blast FlipStick Blendable Lip Duo.

How long does it take you to use up your makeup? Katherine from Handmade Reviews vows to finish her favorite beauty products by 2012.

Fleurissante reviews the best eyeliner ever: Guerlain Terracotta Loose Kohl.

If you're a fan of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle but can't part with the pennies? Then head over to Beauty In The Mirror where you can find a very similar scent for only £3.99 - 15 times cheaper than the original!

Pammy Blogs Beauty continues her Holiday Palette Review series with her take on Stila's Daydream Palette.

Le Metier de Beaute fans will rejoice when they learn that a Blush Kaleidoscope has been created. To see it in all its glory, check out Beauty Info Zone’s review and pictures.

Check out Bun Bun Makeup Tips' 8 days of Christmas Eye Makeup Tutorials!

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Help celebrate AOYV's second blogiversary; one lucky lady will win a MAC lipstick and eyeshadow of her choice.

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-12-20T19:44:00.002Z

Before I post this week's Beauty Blog Link Love I just wanted to let you guys know I have updated my blog sale. It can be found here.

Also, whilst I haven't been posting on here I have posted several new videos on my Youtube channel. Please be sure to check them out and subscribe :) My channel can be found here. I'm hoping to get back to blogging after Christmas. If anyone can help me with site design I'd really appreciate it if they could contact me! Thanks guys :)

Jen celebrates earth tones with this FOTD atMy Funny Valentine.

Want luscious long lashes? Amy Antoinette shows us the impressive results of Rapidlash.

Fleurissante shares her impressions on Chanel Holiday 2011 collection.

Phyrra shares with you her new favorite way to follow all her beloved beauty bloggers... on the Kindle Fire!

Take a sneak peak at the new Sigma Extravaganza Complete Kit and grab the Sigma Brushes coupons at Handmade Reviews.

Feeling the holiday blues? FabDiva20 has made it look cheerful for the Holidays with herFOTD Holiday Look #1: Bright Blues and Purples!

Gouldylox tried a new BB Cream from 3LAB that contains some seriously high-tech skincare. Is $95 too much to pay for a BB Cream with stem cells? At the very least, it looks amazing. See for yourself.

The Pink Sith asks: What do dragons, lipstick, the Welsh and the Utah Saints all have in common? Find out when you read about Shiseido Perfect Rouge in RD514 Dragon.

Midnight Violets shares her favourite red lip products, perfect for Christmas - and the rest of the year too!

Christmas is almost here! Musicalhouses does a Christmas gold and green eye look, and a Christmas gold nail look to match!

It's officially Winter! Check out Hellcandy's favourite hand creams to see your mitts through the colder weather!

Will you wear mascara during the Zombie Apocalypse? Tracy at Beauty Reflections thinks that CoverGirl 24HR LashBlast is perfect!

Are you ready for the holidays? Anita shows you some festive nail ideas over at Pleasureflush!

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Battle dry winter skin by entering Audrey Dao's Holiday Giveaway to win her favorite skin care products!

Prime Beauty is gifting one lucky reader her TOP holiday beauty pick, Tarte's Lip Service LipSurgence Collection. Enter now!

Is your skin holiday-ready? Over at theNotice, Rae is giving two winners a chance to win the Skin Tight Body Lotion of their choice. Don't miss this party-approved Prtty Peaushun review and giveaway!

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-12-04T17:00:00.002Z

Before I post this week's Beauty Blog Link Love I just wanted to let you guys know I have updated my blog sale. It can be found here.

Also, whilst I haven't been posting on here I have posted several new videos on my Youtube channel. Please be sure to check them out and subscribe :) My channel can be found here. I'm hoping to get back to blogging after Christmas. If anyone can help me with site design I'd really appreciate it if they could contact me! Thanks guys :)

The auctions are now open! Head over to this year's BeautyBloggers.org auctions to bid on everything from classic perfumes to the one-of-a-kind (and once in a lifetime) Ultimate Neiman Marcus Experience.

Polish Insomniac shows you the Muppet Glitters - her way!

Miss Beauty Nerd is smitten over Benefit's pretty little scents of Crescent Row. Can you blame her?

How do you feel about orange lip products… with a kick? Don't miss theNotice's love-it-or-hate-it LUSH Chilli Tingle Lip Tint review.

The Beauty Spot goes into outer space with a galaxy inspired look.

Looking for the perfect luxe gift for the beauty lover in your life? Well, Krasey Beauty has the scoop on the new holiday collection from Guerlain.

Addicted to Beauty is shocked by the cologne for cheating men - what's your Alibi?.

Ever wanted to try a bold red lip but were a bit shy? Prime Beauty has five gorgeous red lipsticks for scaredy cats!

At Lipstick Musings, see how a beautiful mistake led to an unexpected new love with the Dior 5 Couleurs Eye Shadow Palette in Rosy Nude!

At Eyelining Obsessions, the No7 Midnight Enchantment blush demonstrates why getting sucked in by pretty online pictures can sometime lead to buyers remorse.

The Pink Sith wonders if Sephora came up the with the Name Foiled Love before or aftre Kat von D's break up with Jesse James when she reviews the Kat von D for Sephora Foiled Love Lipstick in Adora.

Finally! A chart that describes how to apply eyeshadow for Asians! Bun Bun Makeup Tips shows us some incredible tips on where to apply eyeshadow on the Asian eye.

On My Funny Valentine, Jen swatches her new Inglot 10 pan eyeshadow palette and shows you how to depot the shadows with a strong magnet.

Jenn over at Spiced Beauty went crazy at Imats! Check out what she got.

Tracy at Beauty Reflections test out the new Tokidoki 24 Karat Skate Deck Palette.

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Suffering from dry wintertime skin? Musicalhouses' Dr Organic Manuka Honey Gift Set giveaway is just the thing for you! Giveaway closes soon, so hurry and check it out!

Beauty Crazed wants you to prepare to get really naked! Enter to win nude palettes from Urban Decay, Smashbox, Stila, Sleek MakeUP, 100% Pure and Sephora!

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-11-20T10:19:00.000Z

Before I post this week's Beauty Blog Link Love I just wanted to let you guys know I have updated my blog sale. It can be found here.

Also, whilst I haven't been posting on here I have posted several new videos on my Youtube channel. Please be sure to check them out and subscribe :) My channel can be found here. I'm hoping to get back to blogging after Christmas. If anyone can help me with site design I'd really appreciate it if they could contact me! Thanks guys :)

Have you heard of Beauty Bloggers for Charity? Tune into BeautyBloggers.org between Nov. 28th and Dec. 12th to bid on some awesome products. The auctions will be open internationally and all proceeds will go to Doctors Without Boarders, so don’t miss it!

Addicted to Beauty is excited to hear about the latest scented mascara - Guerlain's Noir G! Will it be a hit or a miss?

Get them before they are gone - polish insomniac shows you two of the Nicole by OPI Holiday Glitters!

Have you found your perfect fall lip colour yet? Rae, at theNotice, unearths another "hidden gem" in the brand's permanent lineup. Be sure to check out her MAC Desire lipstick review to see it for yourself!

My Lips But Better learns why you should always get a sample before purchasing new foundation!

The Pink Sith tells you a story about an "Ugly Duckling" or sorts and how she was transformed by Votre Vu SnapDragon Body Cream. This story has a happy ending.

Want perfect party nails for this season? Amy Antoinette shows us some sparkle with Models Own Pink Fizz.

Tracy at Beauty Reflections says Deborah Lippmann Stairway To Heaven is winter skating party worthy!

Want a compact powder for great coverage and convenience? Bun Bun Makeup Tips recommends the MAC Studio Fix Foundation.

Have you seen Guerlain's Spring 2012 Collection yet? Anita at Pleasureflush wants everything! What about you?

Kajal Couture shares her 5 Must-Have MAC Shadows that complement every skin tone!

At Musing on Beauty, Mariella tries a shampoo that smells like creme brûlée and keep your color vibrant.

Prime Beauty's Guest Reviewer takes you on a fragrance journey - or should I say fragrance quest? See what she ended up choosing.

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Want to win 3 month's of free nail polish customized to your taste? Enter Perfectly Imperfect's Julep Maven giveaway!

Smashinbeauty is have a Sigma Beauty & E.L.F. Cosmetics Giveaway. Make sure to check it out.

Shivani at Adorable On Your Vanity is celebrating her puppy's first birthday, with a gorgeous namkesake lipstick from Dior, Dior Addict Lipstick in Millie. Come and tell who is cuter!

It's Holiday Giveaway time! Enter to win a Conair Spin Air Brush from Audrey Dao!

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-11-09T17:00:00.000Z

Miss Beauty Nerd is working on her own skincare line, code name Project M! She wants savvy beauty junkies to help her with the development process - are you in??

Check out these drool-worth bottle shots from the Wet n Wild Ice Baby collection on polish insomniac.

If it's taupe, then you know The Pink Sith is gonna be all over it! Her newest acquisition is the Dior 3 Couleurs Smoky Eyes Palette in Smoky Brown #781.

Love the shiny lid look, but hate the mess? Find out how to fake the glossy eyeshadow look at theNotice. It's perfect for the holidays, and ridiculously easy to put together!

Are you a fan of Lush? Check out Midnight Violet's review of the Christmas Lip Tints.

Beauty's Bad Habit points out the weird and wonderful quirks beauty bloggers develop, because we're a rather unique bunch!

Are your nails ready for Fall? Check out the new Mary Kay Fall 2011 Lacquers over at Spiced Beauty.

Fleurissante gives the reasons to show why Sisley Skinleya foundation isn't worth $190.

Kim Kardashian may not be able to keep a husband, but she can whip up a nifty little polish! Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed takes Kardashian polish (but not marriage) advice and swatches some Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolors!

Tracy at Beauty Reflections is dreaming of skating parties thanks to the Tarina Tarantino Aurora Jewel Eyeshadow Palette in Diamond Dusk!

Still loving the nude nail trend? Krasey Beauty has the scoop on the new Feel Collection of nude nail polishes, by Zoya!

K from Beautifully Addicted To shows you her new favourite perfume D&G 3 L'Imperatrice.

Remember that popping candy from your childhood? Now it’s in a lip scrub! Hellcandy tries out Lush’s Pow Wow. Click here to read the review.

Pammy's Cover It! Concealer Review Series continues with her review of Maybelline's Mineral Power.

Madame B Fatale shows us part 4 of her Illamasqua products overview!

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-10-26T19:08:00.002+01:00

Polish Insomniac shows off her favorite manicure to date!

Can you believe that Fall is already here! Check out Spiced Beauty's favorite red fall lipsticks!

Midnight Violets gives us the low-down on some of the great nude palettes available at the moment - comparison included!

Being bored watching Loxy play Shooty-Town led Gouldylox to this helpful discovery. It'll all make sense and help your super-short nailed ladies look amazing when you click here.

Want big Bambi lashes? Amy Antoinette reviews Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara.

Miss Beauty Nerd features a lovely blusher from Iman for Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Get full lashes that last throughout the day with L'Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara, as reviewed by My Lips But Better.

Being an international jet-setter just became a little easier. See how on the Perfectly Imperfect Beauty Blog.

Phyrra shares her Hacks! Cheats for blending eye shadows.

Krasey Beauty has the scoop on the new, the awesome, Urban Decay Midnight Emergency Kit!

K from Beautifully Addicted To gives you her opinion on MAC's Purple Majesty nail polish.

Kajal Couture reveals whether the $35 Boscia Black Mask is better than a $2 face mask.

Anita compares the new Mac Lighstcapade MSF with the old, prettier version over at Pleasureflush.

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theNotice is still celebrating it's four-year blogiversary! Enter Rae's Pink Giveaway now, and keep your eyes peeled for something big on the 24th ;)

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-10-11T11:30:00.001+01:00

Phyrra disseminates this month's Independent Spotlight about the darkly delightful Distorria and Detrivore Cosmetics!

Love all things Urban Decay? Check out their 15th anniversary palette, at Krasey Beauty!

Excited for October 31st? Musicalhouses shows you her Halloween cobweb nails and her Halloween red and black eye look!

Do you have all you need to complete your fall nail wardrobe? Polish Insomniac breaks down the FingerPaints Fall Fashionista Collection.

A beauty junkie in London shares what's in her travel make-up bag.

The Beauty Spot goes for a very untraditional Disney inspired look!

Mehak from Peachesandblush has over fifty MAC lipsticks swatched on her blog. Which one do you love?

Benefit Cosmetics is launching a false lash range, and Addicted to Beauty can't decide which of the 9 styles she likes most.

Jonesing to buy loads of new makeup without the wallet to back up your wants? Gouldylox suggests checking out this 27 piece kit that is actually worth it.

Miss Beauty Nerd discovers three new lip balms almost good enough to eat (as her kitten will attest)!

Looking for silicone-free hair products? Tracy at Beauty Reflections finds a great silicone-free hair serum, PHYTO Phytokératine Serum!

Sherrie from Mirror, Mirror On The Wall Reviews Elemis's New Melting Cleansing Gel.

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Fleurissante is giving away Chanel Le Vernis Graphite. Will you be the lucky winner?

theNotice: a beauty blog just turned four - and Rae's hosting four colour-coded week-long giveaways to celebrate. Check out this week's nude giveaway to win five tubes of her favourite lipstick formula!

Anita is celebrating 200,000 pageviews by giving away a gorgeous Laura Geller blush over at Pleasureflush!

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-09-28T20:09:00.002+01:00

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed revels in the luxury of lash extensions - come admire her fluttery lashes and find out what they have in common with Gremlins!

Christina Aguilera was the inspiration for the celebrity makeup challenge over at SocialiteDreams. Check out the recreated makeup looks and participate on the next celeb!

Addicted to Beauty gets fresh and fruity with her Strawberry Nail Art Tutorial.

Madame B Fatale finally continues on with her Decades Past series with a 70's inspired makeup look.

From Benefit to Dior, theNotice has all of your new-product-needs sorted. Check out this week's recent launches, products, and deals!

Amy Antoinette reviews Topshop's new Smoke & Mirrors collection.

Midnight Violets shares some bargain brushes that have become a part of her everyday routine!

Kajal Couture shows you a cheap and easy storage solution for makeup and skincare that you use on a daily basis.

Dollar store beauty - trash or treasure? Check out Confessions of a Glitterholic and you be the judge!

Is there a dupe for the new minty-blue shade from Color Club? Find out in polish insomniac's Color Club New Bohemian comparisons and dupe search!

Still looking for the perfect red lipstick? Anita thinks she's found hers in Guerlain's Garconne Rouge G!

Lydia from Perfectly Imperfect shares her daily beauty plan of attack and favourite products.

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Head over to Adorable On Your Vanity for a chance to win NINE amazing L'Oreal Paris Color Infallibe Eyeshadows.

Phyrra is giving away the entire Madre Labs bath and body product line from iHerb!

Enter to win a chance to win a NEW Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Pink Raspberry from the "Blushes You Can't Have" series on the Pink Sith Blog. Giveaway ends September 30th!

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-09-10T11:00:00.001+01:00

Retrodiva is excited about the end of summer, but not all that excited about losing her tan. Find out what product she is using to keep that glow.

Midnight Violets shares her favourite new contour shade - great for those on a budget!

Phyrra's Independent Spotlight for August is Silk Naturals. Learn all about Karen and her company.

Do the Cs and Ns and Ws of MAC shade names leave you feeling rather... dazed and confused? Then make sure to check out Rae's MAC colour system lesson to figure out how it all works!

Learn how to do a quick and easy DIY French Manicure from Audrey Dao!

Beauty Bloggers get to test tons of products each season. Ever wonder what they keep using after the fact? Gouldylox shares her favorite discoveries from the summer!

Lauren from Love Laugh Lauren shares the products that are currently in her makeup bag.

Daily Polish attends the global preview launch of Tom Ford Beauty in Selfridges and gets a makeover to boot!

Beauty's Bad Habit shows her intergalactic, galaxy themed glittery nails.

Miss Beauty Nerd test drives Benefit's They're Real Mascara - can they really compare to falsies?

Jellyminx goes on another swatching mission and shares her MAC eyeshadow palettes, all ten of them!

Madame B Fatale talks about her ten favourite products at the moment!

Want to
get rid of puffiness, fine lines, and dark circles around the eyes? Check out Kajal Couture's secret weapon eye cream!

Read Makeup, Beauty and More's take on the super affordable ELF Studio Powder Brush.

If you love The Muppet Show, then you'll love this gorgeous theBalm Cast Your Shadow Palette which is all about them! Check out swatches over at Beauty Addict's blog!

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Want to win three nailpolishes of your choice? Mehak from Peachesandblush is hosting a international nail polish giveaway!

Enter to win a mineral face package worth $30 from Purely Pleasures Cosmetics, ends September 11th!

~xoxo~

Review: L'Oreal Color Infallible in Endless Chocolat

2011-09-07T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys :)

I'd completely forgotten I'd picked up this product until my friend Joey blogged about the purple one I sent her here and when I spoke to @rhamnousia84 and @thekarleighshow on Twitter yesterday. :)

I got this back when Boots was doing an offer whereby if you bought any L'Oreal mascara you got one of the Color Infallibles free. Ordinarily they retail for £6.99 and Boots are currently running an offer where if you spend £15 you get a delightful box of goodies with a lovely mugshot of Cheryl Cole on it. Nice.

So what are they?

They're pressed cream pigments much like the more expensive Armani Eyes to Kill. I swatched the Armani ones when I was in Selfridges for a meetup back in May and I was severely disappointed.

The pigment is housed in a squat plastic pot with a screw top lid. It also has a little press thing on it but I neglected to photograph that. Oops.

Endless Chocolat is a rich chocolate brown with gold shimmers. The pigment is velvety smooth and super easy to blend. I never have a problem with creasing or my eyeshadow fading throughout the day and I didn't have a problem with this little guy either :) Only thing is I probably won't be picking up another shade since out of the eight shades available, this is the only one that appealed to me.

Another bargain to make this Minx happy :)

~xoxo~

Review: Real Bodycare Real Skin Cream

2011-09-06T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys :)

I was recently sent samples of the Real Bodycare Real Skin Cream and couldn't wait to share the details with you guys.

The ethos behind the brand is that their products contain no synthetics, no toxins, no chemicals. There are no false claims, no wild assertions, no manipulation.
They just use real ingredients to get real benefits.

They produce the cream in three "flavours"; Apricot and Shea, Hemp and Shea and Rosehip and Shea and the website details which is going to be most beneficial for which skin type without the technical razzle dazzle that big brands like to bombard us with!

The sample set above is available here for a grand total of £9 :)

Each of the three pots contain shea butter and sweet almond oil. The Apricot one also contains Apricot Kernel Oil and Orange Essential Oil, the Hemp one contains Hemp Oil and Bergamot Essential Oil and lastly, the Rosehip one contains Rosehip Oil and Lavendar Essential Oil. That's it though, four ingredients each.

When I first opened one of the tins I thought they were going to have a solid texture much like a cross between a solid perfume and a body butter. They don't. They have a weird kind of moussey creamy feel, I've never seen anything else quite like it.

Once the cream reacts with your body heat it starts to melt and turn into an oil, much like my solid coconut oil does.

I found all of the creams to be extremely moisturising, leaving my skin feeling nourished and soft. These creams can be used on both the face and body but I found the scent to be a little too overpowering to use on my face. I did try the Rosehip one as a makeup remover and whilst it did remove the vast majority of my makeup and didn't have any adverse effects on my skin, I still felt like I needed to cleanse my skin after using it.

I think these products are great and furthermore I like that the brand was founded by a group of friends in a kitchen in Swansea :)

~xoxo~

These samples were provided free of charge by the company. I am not being compensated for this review nor am I affliated with the company.

Chanel Haul

2011-09-05T11:00:00.010+01:00

Hi guys :)

Happy Monday my lovelies, hope you all had a lovely weekend.

I know posting another haul is a little indulgent since I just got some lovely bits from MAC but technically I didn't pay for these bits either. Now my mum didn't treat me to these bits and they certainly didn't come from the PR since they don't know that I even exist, I actually paid for them with my Boots points. The lady's face when I said I wanted to pay with my points was an absolute picture, it'll keep me amused for weeks :) *simple things... *

Any way, here's what I got :)

I decided my Chanel Black Pearl was lonely and grabbed two polishes:

Le Vernis Nail Colour in 525 Quartz

Le Vernis Nail Colour in 529 Graphite

I haven't had the chance to swatch these yet but I did a quick swatch in store before I bought them. Quartz is a taupe pink, less pink than GOSH Frou Frou, more cool toned and less gold than MAC Soiree. It's lovely and neutral and beautiful. Graphite is a sparkly, shimmery silver base with golden pearl. It's beautiful. End of. I asked about Peridot because I wanted to get that as well but unfortunately they were out of stock in my local store. Apparently it is a permanent colour though so I'm not so worried :) Chanel nail polishes retail for £17.50 a pop.

Illusion D'Ombre Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow in 83 Illusoire

Now this bad boy has gotten the beauty blogging community all of a flutter. It's a powder-cream formula that looks kind of crumbly, crusty and glittery in the jar but it's smooth and silky and gel-like to the touch. They're odd basically lol! They come housed in a weighty glass jar with a nifty little brush that allows you to either pat the colour across your lids like a normal eyeshadow or you can use the angle of it to line your eye. These retail for £22.50 and there are six colours in total. I believe they aren't limited edition, which is nice. I swatched the other colours while I was browsing. The white one (Fantasme) was sheer and just gave a wash of glitter, the peach one (Emerveillé) reminded me of MAC Rubenesque, the red one (Ebloui) I deemed unwearable because it's red basically, the green-silvery one (Epatant) looked like MAC Cakeshop Shadestick which I already have and the black (Mirifique) had a drier texture and that put me off a bit as I thought I might get some fall out from it.

This is an absolute pain in the whatsit to photograph! It's basically a taupe with purple undertones but because of the metallic quality, it confused my camera some what :(

Onto the last product:

Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadow in 90 Fauve

This eyeshadow joins my previous free eyeshadow, Taupe Gris. It looks very similar in the pan but has more pink in it as well as cool toned sparkles. You can see the sparkles in the swatch photo below. Not exactly the most ground breaking of colours but it's right up my street and I'll get a lot of use out of it so I'm happy :) The eyeshadows are £21.

The lady was sweet enough to give me a sample of their Infinite Length and Curl Mascara, I honestly wasn't expecting anything since I didn't technically pay for my items! The lady she served before me got an entire bag for of samples, I'm not even kidding. Then again she did spend like £400 so it's not like she didn't pay for it one way or another lol!

Now all I need to do is save up my points and decide what I want to splurge on next...

~xoxo~

MAC "MAC Me Over" Haul

2011-09-04T11:00:00.002+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

I was fortunate enough to go to a MAC MAC Me Over Preview event on Thursday and my mum was sweet enough to treat me to some new goodies :)

Firstly about the event. On arrival we were treated to a glass of champers and had a little time to chat to the staff. I know the majority of the staff at my local store so it was nice to be able to have the opportunity to catch up. Then there was a demonstration by the national trainer of the new MAC Me Over products. The look she created was stunning, using Street Cool shadestick as a base on the eyes with the purple and grey colours from the Evil Eye quad over the top, Stunner blush on the cheeks and a lipglass (I forget the name) to complete the look. The only thing I wasn't keen on was the fact she used Studio Fix Fluid on the model and she really didn't need the coverage, her skin was completely flawless :-/

Let's have a look at what I got shall we :)

Stunner Blush - Satin

The blush is a lovely light coral pink. It's very brightening on my pale complexion and is going to be perfect for the autumn :) The other blush, Equilibrium, was a little too bronze for my liking and I didn't think it would suit my skintone.

Street Cool Shadestick

I love Shadesticks, I know I'm in the minority for that lol! This one is a midtone purpley grey taupe and is going to be great for creating an awesome multi-dimensional smokey eye. There are five colours in total in this collection, I already have Butternutty and Cakeshop from the Sugar Sweet collection which came out in Spring 2009. Heirloom reminded me a lot of NYX Yoghurt Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil and Tundra reminded me of NYX Pots and Pans Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil so I passed on those.

Avenue Fluidline

This fluidline is a blackened brown with golden sparkles, it's like a brown version of Blitz and Glitz basically. I really love Fluidlines, again a not so popular opinion, and I'm seriously tempted to get Dark Envy and Midnight Blues but I'm not entirely sure I'll use them. I already have Dark Diversion from when it was previously released with the Stylishly Yours collection from earlier in the year.

And that's it :) The eyeshadows didn't really grab me, the quality of the quads wasn't anything to write home about and I have more than enough lipsticks and glosses so I wasn't particularly fussed with those.

I know MAC isn't everyone's favourite brand and the brand certainly is not helping itself by releasing large limited edition collection month after month but as with every brand, there are still some awesome products that shine through.

Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend :)

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-09-03T18:12:00.000+01:00

Beauty's Bad Habit shows off her favourite pink lipsticks and explains why she prefers pinks to the classic, Hollywood red.

The Pink Sith tempts you with THE PERFECT creme blush. A new product from Besame Cosmetics, Crimson Creme Rouge.

Find out what My Lips But Better voted as her favorite lip balm ever.

Are you desperate to keep your summer glow for as long as possible? This week at theNotice, Rae showcases four gorgeous, not-too-orange bronzers that you NEED in your life.

Love MAC Teddy Eye Kohl, but want a cheaper alternative? Mehak from Peachesandblush shows you a great dupe for it!

Stunning. Exquisite. Quite simply an indulgent luxury beauty range. It's got to be Tom Ford. Check out Hellcandy's post for a sneak peek.

Tried the Sleek Pout Paints yet? Musicalhouses shows you how to mix a perfect warm rose shade and a wearable purple lip using a few shades of this awesome product!

Retrodiva is trying to decide which Fashion's Night Out beauty events she will be attending this year.

Gouldylox shares one of her deeper beauty junkie secrets. Have you ever felt this way?

Addicted toBeauty falls in love with aperfume atomiser from the 1980s!

Love pigments? If so, check out Spiced Beauty's Color Infallible Eye Shadow collection.

Want brightly coloured hair without the commitment or upkeep? Check out how MadameBFatale coloured her locks using pigments. Then did it for real!

Lauren tests out Collection 2000's new Cream Puff Lip Cream.

K from Beautifully Addicted To gives here opinion on a W7 Africa Bronzer.

Want to see something pretty? Then go and see Anita's swatches of all her Guerlain Rouge Automatique lipsticks over at Pleasureflush!

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Looking for a great quality makeup mirror for your vanity? Be sure to enter Pammy Blogs Beauty's OttLite Makeup Mirror Giveaway!

Claire has TWO competitions running with chances to win a Sigma Travel Brush Kit worth $49 and two Yves Saint Laurent lipsticks over at The Beauty Scoop!

~xoxo~

Review: Dr Organic Organic Rose Otto Facial Serum

2011-09-02T11:00:00.003+01:00

Hi guys :)

Happy Friday! I hope you're all well and have had a good week. I honestly can't believe it's September already, only 193 days until my holiday and I still have 40lbs to lose. An epic task :-/ Any way, that's not the point of today's post. I'm here to review the Dr Organic Organic Rose Otto Facial Serum.

This claims to be an anti-aging serum which is quickly absorbed to instantly lock in moisture penetrating deeply to help renew elasticity, restore skin integrity and leave your skin feeling soft and hydrated.

Below you can see the list of ingredients in this product, basically oil, oil and a bit more oil. This is also paraben and SLS free, suitable for vegetarians and vegans and is not tested on animals.

The serum is housed in a weighty glass bottle with a nifty little pump on the top. The fact the bottle is glass is lovely but it makes the product a little too heavy and difficult to travel with.

The serum itself has a slight yellow colour to it and behaves just like an oil.

On the directions it says to apply this before moisturising in the morning and after moisturising at night. I tried this and in all honesty it didn't work out for me. I found that it didn't absorb into my skin making it impossible to apply moisturisers let alone makeup on top. Even leaving it overnight it didn't sink in and my skin felt like it had a residue on the surface the following morning. I think this caused some congestion problems on my skin and I think unless you have a serious case of alligator skin it may do the same for you :( Determined, I had to try and find another use for the product. I'm pleased to tell you I have :)

My favourite method for makeup removal is using an oil cleanser and my favourite is the Origins Clean Energy Gentle Cleansing Oil. I recently finished my bottle and haven't had chance to get to my local Origins counter and also didn't have the foresight to order it online in advance. In place of the Origins oil I have been using the Dr Organic Serum and it works marvelously :D Basically I use a couple of pumps, massage the product into my skin and then using a hot muslin cloth, steam my face and then rinse off the product and carry on with my night time skincare routine. Job done. It works perfectly! My skin is left feeling clean without feeling tight or uncomfortable. Oh and it smells amazing too (if you like rose scents that is!)

So there you have it. It was disappointing as a treatment but works wonderfully as an oil cleanser, who knew?!

This serum costs £12.29 for 30ml and is available at Holland and Barratt. Just as an FYI, it scooped the Best New Brand and the Best New Everyday Facial Skincare awards at this years CEW Beauty Awards.

~xoxo~

This product was provided me for free for the purpose of this review. As always all opinions are my own and 100% honest. I am not affiliated with or being compensated by the company for featuring this product

Review: Sleek Au Naturel Palette

2011-08-31T11:00:00.002+01:00

Hi guys :)

Yesterday I featured the recently released Oh So Special palette from Sleek and today I wanted to share their new palette from the Nude Collection, the Au Naturel palette.

This palette, like the Oh So Special palette, contains a lot of matte shadows and a good mix of "different" shades.

TOP ROW: Nougat, Nubuck, Cappuccino, Honeycomb, Toast, Taupe
BOTTOM ROW: Conker, Moss, Bark, Mineral Earth, Regal, Noir

Order as above

TOP TO BOTTOM:
Honeycomb - Matte buttermilk
Cappuccino - Matte grey-toned beige
Nubuck - Matte dove grey
Nougat - Matte off white

These light shades don't swatch very well and I've read some reviews that have been quite negative because of them, if that makes sense?! I quite like these kind of shades, they make great base shadows or blending shadows.

TOP TO BOTTOM:
Moss - Satin olive-toned brown
Conker - Metallic cranberry
Taupe - Shimmery pink-toned taupe
Toast - Matte apricot

TOP TO BOTTOM:
Noir - Matte black
Regal - Matte plum-toned brown
Mineral Earth - Golden brown
Bark - Satin cool-toned brown

Unlike the Oh So Special palette, which contained predominantly warm colours, this palette contains mostly cool toned colours. I like the green and grey undertones in some of the shades as it adds to their unique quality. Other than Noir and Nougat, I'm pretty sure I don't have any similar shades in my collection and if you've seen my MAC palette post you know that's saying something!! Lol!!

What do you guys make of this palette? Out of all their recent releases which is your favourite or do you just skip the brand altogether??

~xoxo~

Review: Sleek Oh So Special Palette

2011-08-30T11:00:00.003+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

I'm a little late to the game posting this review but then again I've always been happier doing my own thing ;)

There was a time when I used to run out and buy the new Sleek palettes as soon as I knew they would be on their stands. Those times have since passed just because the palettes sat unused and unloved :( For the longest time the only one I kept hold of was the Storm palette, by far their best release to date. However, the Oh So Special palette caught my attention when I saw the number of matte shades and number of colours I'd actually wear in it lol!

TOP ROW: Bow, Organza, Ribbon, Gift Basket, Glitz, Celebrate
BOTTOM ROW: Pamper, Gateau, The Mail, Boxed, Wrapped Up, Noir

I really do wish that Sleek would release their eyeshadows as singles so you can create your own palette. I could pick and choose all the best colours from all the previous palettes and create my own super palette. A girl can dream right?

Order as above

TOP TO BOTTOM:
Gift Basket - Shimmery metallic coppery-rose
Ribbon - Matte pink
Organza - Shimmery pink with gold
Bow - Silky feeling matte cream

TOP TO BOTTOM:
Gateau - Shimmery mauve-pink with gold (my favourite, like a more wearable version of MAC Trax not that you can tell by the swatch!)
Pamper - Matte baby pink
Celebrate - Deep metallic purple (very hard shadow, not the easiest to swatch unfortunately)
Glitz - Shimmery metallic blue-grey

TOP TO BOTTOM:
Noir - Matte black
Wrapped Up - Matte plum-purple
Boxed - Matte cool-toned brown
The Mail - Matte ochre

It annoys me somewhat that some of the shades didn't swatch as well as they actually perform... does that even make sense?!

My favourite look is to wear Gateau on the lid with Gift Basket and Boxed mixed in the outer v then Wrapped Up blended out with The Mail in the crease and Bow as a highlight. I don't have a picture of this look sadly :( Poor planning on my part I'm afraid. However, the oh so fabulous Liloo created a simply stunning look which I highly recommend you check out here. She, in my humble opinion, is the Queen of the Sleek palettes :) ♥

Have any of you tried this palette? Have you tried anything from Sleek at all for that matter?? Would you like to see the new Au Naturel palette tomorrow???

So many questions...

~xoxo~

Bargainous Beauty: ELF Studio Blush

2011-08-29T11:45:00.001+01:00

Hi guys :)

Happy Monday everyone :)

I've still got quite a few items from my recent ELF order to review so today I thought I'd feature the two ELF Studio Blushes I bought :)

These are £3.50 for 0.168oz (4.75g) of product.

Blushing Rose

Blushing Rose is a beautiful deep rose with golden shimmer. I have a sneaking suspicion it's going to be my go to colour for autumn and winter.

Candid Coral

Candid Coral is a complexion brightening coral with gold shimmer. I've been wearing this a lot recently as I find it adds more of a healthy glow than actual coral colour or gold shimmer to my skin. It's one of those meh blushes that look naff when swatched but really lift the complexion.

I'm really pleased with both blushes I picked up and would happily buy all of the rest of the range. I might even do that when they have another sale, just because :p They are really good quality, the packaging feels nice and sturdy and the little mirror in the lid is very handy.

If you've tried ELF Studio Blushes which are your favourites? Which do you think I should pick up next??

~xoxo~

Project X Pan Review: John Frieda Frizz Ease Critical Care Miraculous Recovery Strenthening Creme Mask

2011-08-28T11:00:00.002+01:00

Hi guys :)

Hope you are all keeping well and that all of my readers across the pond aren't too badly effected by Hurricane Irene.

Another day, another finished product! I hope you don't mind these Project X Pan reviews :-/

Today's product is the John Frieda Frizz Ease Critical Care Miraculous Recovery Strenthening Creme Mask.

I bought this because someone I watch on Youtube raved about how wonderful it was for frizzy and damaged hair. My hair is very dry naturally, because it's naturally blonde, and it's dried out even further by the fact I dye it and use heat on it. I also have a severe issue with static. I thought this mask would be great and would really help my hair. In short, it didn't.

I found that it just coated my hair and made it limp looking. It does smell nice but it seriously just made me look like I'd stuck my head in a vat of oil :(

Safe to say I won't be buying this again and my hunt for a product that makes my hair super awesome continues!

Do you have a favourite hair mask or treatment?

~xoxo

New Lipstick Love: MAC Gem of Roses Lipstick

2011-08-27T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

One thing I like about MAC is the fact you can take your junky rubbishy empties and exchange them for lipsticks. I'm jealous of those of you in the states that are able to get lipglasses and eyeshadows too though :(

One of my most recent Back 2 MACs was Gem of Roses lipstick from the Semi Precious collection.

Unfortunately this lovely Lustre finish lipstick is sold out on the MAC website, which is the main reason why I was reluctant to write about it, but your local stores or in-store consessions may well still have stock.

Described as a mid-tone strawberry pink, I'd say this is like the corally toned sister of my favourite, MAC Viva Glam Cyndi. It's such a beautiful universally flattering and easy to wear colour.

Having had a look on Temptalia and it seems to be very, very similar to Chanel Mademoiselle so if you like the look of this and can't get your hands on it there is an alternative. A quick google search later and the lovely Charlotte at Lipglossiping has found a dupe of the Chanel in Revlon Soft Rose. I just quickly compared the Revlon to the MAC and they are very similar, the Revlon is a touch darker but they do have the same tone.

I know I'm going to wear this lipstick a ton in the autumn, it's such a great transitional colour :)

Love it :)

Did you guys get anything from the Semi Precious collection? Have you tried Chanel Mademoiselle or Revlon Soft Rose??

~xoxo~

Project X Pan Review: Cutex Strengthening Nail Polish Remover For Brittle Nails

2011-08-26T11:00:00.002+01:00

Hi dolls :)

I thought I'd best do a Project X Pan post seen as how my empties box is starting to overflow! Expect to see several more of these style posts in the coming weeks!

I bought the Cutex Strengthening Nail Polish Remover for two reasons.

1. It's a "strengthening" nail polish remover and boy do my nails need that

2. It says it's specifically for brittle nails on the front

If you have weak nails whatever you do, don't buy this! As you can see from the ingredients list below the main ingredient in it is acetone. That's not exactly a good idea to use on brittle nails since it dries them out!

Ingredients: Acetone, Aqua/Water, Isopropyl Palmitate, Panthenol, Benzophenone-1, Citric Acid, Alcohol Denat., Ethyl Ester of Hydrolyzed Silk, Fragrance, Butylphenyl, Methylpropional Hexyl Cinnamal, Benzyl Salicylate, Linalool, Hydroxy-Citronellal, Limonene, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Citronellol, Benzyl Alcohol, Geraniol, Denatonium Benzoate, Benzyl Cinnamate, Benzyl Benzoate, D&C Red No.33 (CI 17200)

This remover was ok, I mean it worked but I definitely wouldn't repurchase it. It completely dried out my nails and made them even more peely and brittle than usual!

Can anyone recommend me a good polish remover for weak nails? I'm seriously struggling to find one I like :(

~xoxo~

Review: Skin79 Beblesh Balm

2011-08-25T11:00:00.004+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

First and foremost I've got to say a huge Happy Birthday to my big bro, he turns 30 today :D

Now let's get back to business...

I recently purchased two Skin79 BB creams from here as I'd been toying with the idea for ages and thought I may as well take the plunge.

Skin79 Super+ Beblesh Balm BB Triple Function

This one claims to have whitening properties and improve wrinkles to help create brighter and more elastic skin. It also contains SPF25, protecting it from UVA and UVB rays.

Skin79 VIP Gold Collection Super + Beblesh Balm BB

This one claims to do the same as the pink one but it also contains Gold and Caviar extract to give you shiny and healthy skin.

The swatch on the left is the pink one and the one on the right is the gold one. You may not be able to tell but the gold is a hair lighter.

Now here's an awful photo of me wearing the pink one lol!

For a better look check out this post here

Although the swatches show slight grey undertones, apparently to counteract any ashy tones in the skin (?), they don't look that way on my skin. Both blend seamlessly and give me that My Skin But Better look which I LOVE! They leave a dewy finish to the skin so I'm not sure if these will be ok for oily skinned ladies but they give my sahara-like face a nice non-greasy glow. I do need to add concealer for my undereye circles and any blemishes but that's no big deal really. I did notice the whitening effect on some scarring I had on my cheek, so I'm really pleased about that.

All in all I'm really pleased with these. They last all day, give good coverage, they haven't broken me out and I've actually seen an improvement in scarring and the texture of my skin. Happy Kelly :)

Have you guys tried BB creams? What do you make of them??

~xoxo~

NOTD: Chocolate Coated Strawberries

2011-08-24T11:00:00.005+01:00

Morning guys :)

My Nail of the Day was inspired by the new OPI Touring America collection. I really like all the beautiful autumnal shades alongside the nice bright corals and pinks. I thought the brown against the bright pink in my Nail of the Day looks kind of like chocolate coated strawberries, hence the title. Maybe that's just me though :p

I used three coats of each polish. The brown is OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys from the OPI Texas collection. Looking back on the collection I kind of want all the colours and am sad that I only picked up two :( The pink is OPI Come to Poppy with OPI I Lily Love You over the top for some much need shimmer shimmer ;) Both of these polishes were from the OPI Nice Stems collection.

What colours are you guys currently rocking? Have you pulled out your autumn shades or are you still clinging on to your summer brights??

Apologies today's post is a little shorter than normal. I spent a large part of my evening trying to catch a mouse that had decided to come and watch telly with us. Fortunately we caught him first go, thanks to my awesome shoe box tossing skillz, and we released him on the beach :) I do feel slight pangs of guilt though as I worry he'll get squished crossing the road since he's not tall enough to push the button on the crossing.

~xoxo~

Lipgloss Love: BeautyUK Lip Lust in No.7 Playboy

2011-08-23T11:00:00.008+01:00

Hi guys :)

The blogging world has been buzzing about the Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector and whilst I was tempted, I didn't want to drop £15 on another gloss. Then I spotted this BeautyUK Lip Lust and thought at £2.99 for 7.5g, what's there to lose?!

The shade I bought is No.7 Playboy. It's a Playboy Bunny-esque pink with shimmer.

The tube is made from a hard plastic but it's easy enough to squeeze and the tip has a fuzzy covering, much like that found on a doe foot applicator. Unlike the Clarins one it isn't all spongy, I'm pretty sure it's just a thin layer over the top of the plastic end but without picking it off I can't be sure.

The gloss was a lot more pigmented than I was expecting and the shimmers add a lovely reflective quality to the gloss, rather than a noticeable sparkle. It does have a scent, it's kind of sweet and fruity, I can't really put my finger on what it smells like exactly.

On the lips it gives that nice pouty look lol! It feels smooth and balm-like and I don't find it to be sticky either. I really like to tap this gloss over the top of lipsticks that are just a bit too peach or just wear it on it's own for a simple slick of glossy pink :) It lasts well on my lips, even through eating. I'm definitely happy I picked this up :)

~xoxo~

Bargainous Beauty: MUA Pro Eyeshadow Palette in Heaven and Earth

2011-08-22T11:00:00.004+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

Happy Monday :D

The blogging world has been awash with information about the Makeup Academy Professional line that launched recently in Superdrug and I figured I'd upload these swatches since the Superdrug spend £30 get £10 worth of points offer finishes today. Wow that was a mouthful!

The line contains three eyeshadow palettes (although six are shown on the Superdrug website, thanks for the update Hannah); Heaven and Earth is the warm neutral palette. For a whole £4 you get 12 shimmery eyeshadows.

The packaging is a little flimsy but for £4 I'm not complaining.

TOP TO BOTTOM:
Light shimmery peachy-pink
Metallic antique gold
Metallic rose
Shimmery white gold

TOP TO BOTTOM:
Satin finish tan
Satin finish red-toned brown
Metallic yellow gold
Deep metallic red-toned brown

TOP TO BOTTOM:
Cool-toned taupe brown with shimmers
Metallic red brown
* Taupe with silver glitters
Icy white-pink

* This shade is quite disappointing, when I say glitters I mean chunks of shiny stuff lol!

If you like mattes then this isn't going to be for you, you've got to love the shimmy shimmers lol!

My favourite way to wear the colours is as a warm smokey eye. For work, I like to just wash one of the lightest shades across my lid, adding some black liner and a bit of mascara.

I've been ogling the mosaic blushes from the same MUA Pro line and I picked up some of their crackle polishes but I haven't had chance to play with them yet.

Whilst these aren't the most buttery shades I've ever used, they're still good value for money so I'm a happy bunny :)

~xoxo~

OOTN: Berry Wedding

2011-08-21T11:06:00.000+01:00

Hi guys :)

I hope you're all well and have been enjoying your weekend so far.

Yesterday I went to the wedding reception of a family friend and after asking everyone on Twitter for their opinion on what dress I should wear, I went with option number 1 like everyone said :)

Dark Berry Dress - Marks & Spencer, Limited Edition, purchased last summer

The dress is a touch too big for me but it's cool, I don't mind :) I had my hair recoloured yesterday and got my hairdresser to add some curl into the ends just to give it a bit of shape. I love my shoes. Despite the high heel, the hidden platform makes them really comfortable.

Snakeskin Slingbacks - New Look

For my nails I took inspiration from Lisa Elridge's video she made with Sophy Robson, you can watch it here if you haven't already seen it.

Base Colour - Bourjois So Laque in Rose Lounge (one of the polishes worn by Kate Middleton on her wedding day)
Smile Line Colour - GOSH Special Edition Nail Lacquer in Berry Me

I'm not so good at drawing on the smile lines but they look neat enough from a distance.

Here are the four new Special Edition colours from GOSH, I think they're beautiful for Autumn.

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Berry Me - Dark raspberry pink, semi sheer almost jelly creme finish
Attitude - Royal blue, semi sheer almost jelly creme finish
Rebel Yell - Dark grey green, opaque creme finish
Forest Floor - Emerald green, opaque creme finish

I actually made the effort to shape my nails yesterday, something I haven't been able to do for a long time. Basically my nails were far too flexible and brittle and any attempt at even the lightest filing caused them to split and break. I have been taking some supplements from a brand called Nurture since the beginning of August (as part of Challenge: August) and despite it saying on the box you need to build up at least three months worth in your system for the best results, my nails already feel a lot stronger and they don't bend at all. The supplements contain a mix of B vitamins, vitamin C, D, E and Biotin and for more information can be found here.

I was naughty and bought a whole bunch of new polishes over the last couple of weeks. What can I say?! The swiftly approaching new season and my nice new super nails were the reason behind my haul :p

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Revlon Facets of Fuchsia, Revlon Smoky Canvas, Revlon Top Speed Polish in Cloud, Revlon Top Speed Polish in Hazy, Revlon Top Speed Polish in Stormy, OPI Be A Dahlia Won't You, OPI Come To Poppy, OPI I Lily Love You, OPI Play The Peonies

Facets of Fuchsia and Smoky Canvas are part of the new Autumn line released by Revlon. It also contains Gold Coin, which I have, but it's not included in the photo above. My local Boots have also just started stocking the Top Speed line too and I'm very excited to try these ones out :) The OPI colours are all from the Nice Stems collection, which I literally had to hunt high and low to find :( So pleased I got them though. I wore Play The Peonies the other day and it's such a beautiful white-pink with a lovely iridescent shimmer. Great stuff :)

I'm off to enjoy the last of the sunshine before the forecast thunderstorms due tomorrow and Tuesday! Hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday, whatever you have planned :)

~xoxo~

The supplements were kindly provided by a PR company, my nails are very thankful :)

My MAC Cream Blushes

2011-08-20T11:00:00.007+01:00

Hi guys :)

Since I have already shown you guys my MAC eyeshadow palettes and my MAC blush palettes I figured I may as well share my MAC Cream Blushes :) So here goes :)

I have three Blushcremes. I'm very sad that these got discontinued and replaced by the Cremeblend Blushes as I found the Cremeblend Blushes to be greasy and the colour to be a little watery :(

MAC Blushcreme Pearl in Blossoming

MAC Blushcreme in Ladyblush

MAC Blushcreme in Posey

In addition to my Blushcremes I also have some Cream Colour Bases. I have Hush, Shell and Pearl in addition to the ones shown below but they're more highlighty type colours rather than blush type colours.

MAC Crushed Bouganvillea Cream Colour Base

MAC Movie Star Red Cream Colour Base

MAC Virgin Isle Cream Colour Bases

All the products, with the exception of Blossoming, have a creme finish and do not contain any shimmer. Blossoming has a pearl finish.

LEFT TO RIGHT:
MAC Blossoming - Mid-Tone Coral Pink with Pearl
MAC Ladyblush - Medium Pink
MAC Posey - Berry Toned Pink
MAC Crushed Bougainvillea - Sheer Cool Toned Raspberry, Limited Edition MAC for Ungaro Collection Autumn '08
MAC Movie Star Red - Pink Toned Red, Limited Edition Stylishly Yours Collection Winter '10
MAC Virgin Isle - Vibrant Coral, Pro

I personally really like cream blush as I have dry skin. I really like pairing a cream blush and setting it with a powder blush to help improve the longevity of the powder blush.

If you'd like to see any more of these type of posts please let me know in the comments :)

~xoxo~

Review: BeautyUK Pearl Eyeliner

2011-08-19T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys :)

I have a confession ...

I'm an addict ...

I'm addicted to eyeliner :p

I recently picked up a couple of new pearl liquid liners from BeautyUK as I wanted a couple of different colours from my run of the mill black and brown. I picked mine up in my local Superdrug for a grand total of £3.49 each.

I got Sorceress, a deep metallic purple, and Eclipse, a pearlescent navy blue-grey. They have a fine felt tip style nib and the ergonomically shaped lid makes it easy to hold it like a pen to literally draw the line onto your eye.

They are a little on the watery side so I found I had to layer the colour onto my lid to be able to get the intensity I wanted. However they are super easy to use and make light work of following the contours of my eyelid.

If you'd like to see more swatches of the full line the best review I've seen is by the lovely Liloo aka Tsunimee on Twitter and can be found here. I like the look of Rich Mahogany, boring but pretty all the same :)

Take care guys, until next time ...

~xoxo~

My MAC Eyeshadow Palettes

2011-08-18T11:00:00.004+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

I previously showed my MAC palettes here and an update to my MAC blush palettes here. Today I wanted to share my MAC eyeshadow palettes. This is going to be a long post so I'll leave it there!

This is my black/white/gray palette:

TOP: Black Tied, Carbon, Crystal Avalanche, Electra, Gesso
MIDDLE: Knight Divine, Print, Silver Ring, Typographic, Vellum
BOTTOM: Vex, White Frost

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Black Tied - Black with Silver Sparkles, Velvet
Carbon - Black, Matte
Crystal Avalanche - White with Reflects, Veluxe Pearl
Electra - Silver with Icy Shimmer, Frost
Gesso - White, Matte
Knight Divine - Black with Silver Pearl, Veluxe Pearl
Print - Muted Grey with Shimmer, Satin
Silver Ring - Grey with Silver Sheen, Veluxe Pearl
Typographic - Asphalt Black, Matte(2)
Vellum - White with Violet Opalescent Shimmer, Limited Edition Chill Collection Winter 08
Vex - Beige with Pink/Green Pearl, Frost
White Frost - Vivid White with Icy Shimmer, Frost

This is my blue/aqua palette:

TOP: Atlantic Blue, Contrast, Deep Truth, Electric Eel, Flashtrack
MIDDLE: Freshwater, Moons Reflection, Nehru, Prussian, Sky Blue
BOTTOM: Aqua, Shimmermoss, Steamy, Tilt

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Atlantic Blue - Bright violet blue,
Contrast - Purplish Blue with Blue Pearl, Velvet
Deep Truth - True Dark Blue, Frost
Electric Eel - Bright Blue with Shimmer, Satin
Flashtrack - Bright Midnight Blue with Silver Pearl, Veluxe Pearl, Discontinued
Freshwater - Bright Summer Blue, Veluxe Pearl
Moons Reflection - Blue with White Pearl, Veluxe Pearl
Nehru - Muted Bluish Black, Matte
Prussian - Dusty Dark Blue, Matte(2), Discontinued
Sky Blue - Robin's Egg Blue with Silver Pearl, Pro
Aqua - Aqua Blue, Pro
Shimmermoss - Green with Green Pearl, Veluxe Pearl
Steamy - Bluish Green with Gold Pearl, Frost
Tilt - Violet with Blue-Green Pearl, Frost

This is my first brown palette:

TOP: Amber Lights, Antiqued, Blackberry, Bronze, Brown Down
MIDDLE: Cork, Cut To Fit, Embark, Era, Espresso
BOTTOM: Folie, Handwritten, Haux, Honesty, Kid

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Amber Lights - Peachy-Brown with Shimmer, Frost
Antiqued - Ash Brown with Bronze, Veluxe Pearl
Blackberry - Muted Burgundy-Plum Brown, Matte
Bronze - Gold Brown with Gold-Bronze Shimmer, Frost
Brown Down - Teddy Bear Brown, Veluxe
Cork - Muted Golden Brown, Satin
Cut To Fit - Frosted red bronze, Frost, Limited Edition Pret-A-Papier Collection Spring '10
Embark - Intense Reddish Brown, Matte
Era - Soft Golden Beige with Shimmer, Satin
Espresso - Muted Golden Brown, Matte
Folie - Reddish-Plum Brown, Satin
Handwritten - Rich Chocolate Brown, Matte(2)
Haux - Soft Muted Rosy Brown, Satin
Honesty - Pewtered Bronze, Lustre
Kid - Beige Cashmere, Veluxe

This is my second brown palette:

TOP: Mulch, Mystery, Patina, Romp, Sable
MIDDLE: Saddle, Soba, Swiss Chocolate, Tempting, Time And Space
BOTTOM: Twinks, Wedge, Woodwinked

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Mulch - Red-Brown with Bronze Pearl, Velvet
Mystery - Muted Plum-Brown, Satin
Patina - Taupe Brown with Golden Pearl, Frost
Romp - Chocolate laced with Gold, Frost
Sable - Gold-Plum with Bronze Pearl, Velvet
Saddle - Warm Red Brown, Matte, Discontinued
Soba - Gold Brown with Gold Shimmer, Satin
Swiss Chocolate - Muted Reddish Brown, Matte
Tempting - Sinfully Rich Coco, Lustre
Time And Space - Frosty Copper, Frost, Limited Edition Neo Sci Fi Collection Spring '08
Twinks - Deep Plum with Pearl, Veluxe Pearl
Wedge - Soft Muted Beige Taupe, Matte
Woodwinked - Warm Antique Gold, Veluxe Pearl

This is my green/yellow palette:

TOP: Bitter, Eyepopping, Henna, Humid, Juxt
MIDDLE: Kelly, Plumage, Bright Future, Chrome Yellow, Crest The Wave
BOTTOM: Goldmine, Gorgeous Gold, Nylon, Ricepaper, Rose Blanc

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Bitter - Vivid Green with Shimmer, Velvet
Eyepopping - Soft Lime Green with Yellow Gold pearl, Frost, C Shock Collection Summer '07
Henna - Dark Gold, Limited Edition Blonde, Brunette, Redhead January '09
Humid - Intense Green with Shimmer, Frost
Juxt - Bright Green with Gold Pearl, Satin
Kelly - Kelly Green, Pro
Plumage - Dusky Peacock, Matte
Bright Future - Frosty Bright Yellow Gold, Limited Edition Style Warrior Collection Spring '09
Chrome Yellow - Vivid Bright Yellow, Matte
Crest The Wave - Rich Yellow, Frost, Limited Edition Make-Up Art Cosmetics Collection Autumn '09
Goldmine - Intense Gold with Shimmer, Frost
Gorgeous Gold - Muted Yellow-Gold, Veluxe Pearl
Nylon - Pale Gold with Icy Shimmer, Frost
Ricepaper - Peachy Gold with Shimmer, Frost
Rose Blanc - White-Yellow, Veluxe Pearl, Limited Edition Cool Heat Collection Summer '08

This is my highlight/neutral palette:

TOP: Blanc Type, Bisque, Brule, Dazzlelight, Femme-Fi
MIDDLE: Grain, Grand Entrance, Hush, Mylar, Naked Lunch
BOTTOM: Nanogold, Phloof!, Retrospeck, Shroom, Solar White

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Blanc Type - Creamy Beige, Matte(2)
Bisque - Soft Muted Pinky-Beige, Matte
Brule - Soft Creamy-Beige, Satin
Dazzlelight - Neutral with Shimmer, Veluxe Pearl
Femme-Fi - Frosty Golden Cream, Veluxe Pearl, Limited Edition Neo Sci Fi Collection Spring '08
Grain - Golden Beige with Icy Shimmer, Satin
Grand Entrance - Frosty Neutral Peach Beige, Starflash, Limited Edition Love That Look Collection Summer '09
Hush - Peach with Pink Opalescence, Frost
Mylar - Creamy-White with Shimmer, Satin
Naked Lunch - Minimal Pink with Shimmer, Frost
Nanogold - Sheer Pinky Beige, Lustre, Limited Edition Spring Colour Forecast Collection Spring '10
Phloof! - Frosted Off-White, Frost
Retrospeck - Beached Blonde, Lustre
Shroom - Soft Beige with Shimmer, Satin
Solar White - Frosty muted white gold, Frost, Limited Edition Cool Heat Collection Summer '08

This is my orange palette:

TOP: All That Glitters, Bold and Brazen, Coral, Evening Aura, Expensive Pink
MIDDLE: Fire Cracker, Hey, Honey Lust, Jest, Motif
BOTTOM: Mythology, Off The Page, Paradisco, Rule, Soft Brown

LEFT TO RIGHT:
All That Glitters - Beige with Gold Pearl, Veluxe Pearl
Bold and Brazen - Soft Copper, Starflash, Limited Edition Starflash Color Collection Summer '08
Coral - Coral, Pro
Evening Aura - Pink with Gold Duochrome, Veluxe Pearl, Limited Edition Neo Sci Fi Collection Spring '08
Expensive Pink - Pink with Duochrome, Veluxe Pearl, Limited Edition Neo Sci Fi Collection Spring '08
Fire Cracker - Oranged Coral-Red, Veluxe Pearl, Limited Edition To The Beach Collection Summer '10
Hey - Warm Mid-Tone Beige, Veluxe Pearl, Limited Edition Prep For Colour Collection Spring '10
Honey Lust - Bronze-dipped Peach, Lustre
Jest - Soft Peach with Icy Shimmer, Frost
Motif - Pale Yellow with Pink Duochrome, Discontinued
Mythology - Copper, Lustre
Off The Page - Vibrant, Bright Orange, Frost, Limited Edition Make-Up Art Cosmetics Collection Autumn '09
Paradisco - Bright Pinky-Coral with Pearl, Frost
Rule - Vivid Orange, Matte
Soft Brown - Orangey Brown, Discontinued

This is my pink palette:

TOP: Beauty Marked, Coppering, Cranberry, Da Bling, Et Tu, Bouquet?
MIDDLE: Girlie, Passionate, Pen N Pink, Pink Freeze, Seedy Pearl
BOTTOM: Sketch, Sushi Flower, Swish, Wintersky, Yogurt

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Beauty Marked - Black-Red with Sparkle Pearl, Velvet
Coppering - Orange Copper, Veluxe Pearl
Cranberry - Red-Plum with Pink Shimmer, Frost
Da Bling - Pink with Gold Pearl, Veluxe Pearl
Et Tu, Bouquet? - Frosted Pale Pink Gold, Limited Edition A Rose Romance Spring '09
Girlie - Rosy-Pink with Subtle Shimmer, Satin
Passionate - Real Mid-Tone Red, Matte
Pen N Pink - Pastel Pink, Matte(2), Discontinued
Pink Freeze - Bright Pink with Icy Pearl, Frost
Seedy Pearl - Chilled Lavender Pink, Frost
Sketch - Burgundy with Red Shimmer, Velvet
Sushi Flower - Pinky-Coral with Pink Shimmer, Satin
Swish - Bright Pink with Icy Shimmer, Frost
Wintersky - Frosty Neutral Mid-Tone Pink, Limited Edition Chill Collection Winter '08
Yogurt - Soft Pale Pink, Matte

This is my purple palette:

TOP: Creme De Violet, Fig.1, Hepcat, Nocturnelle, Stars N Rockets
MIDDLE: Star Violet, Trax, Vibrant Grape, Beautiful Iris, Crystal
BOTTOM: Digit, Graphology, Parfait Amour, Poison Pen, Shadowy Lady

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Creme De Violet - Pink-Violet with Gold Pearl, Frost
Fig.1 - Eggplant Purple, Matte(2)
Hepcat - Jazzy Little Deep Blue-Wine, Frost
Nocturnelle - Pinked-up Chrome Purple, Frost
Stars N Rockets - Purple with Pink Pearl, Veluxe Pearl
Star Violet - Pinky-Brown Plum, Veluxe Pearl
Trax - Burgundy-Plum with Shimmer, Velvet
Vibrant Grape - Bright Purple, Pro
Beautiful Iris - Lavender with Sheen, Veluxe Pearl
Crystal - Violet Duochrome with Pearl, Frost
Digit - Soft Violet with Subtle Pearl, Satin
Graphology - Deep Purple-Black, Matte(2) Discontinued
Parfait Amour - Blue-Violet with Shimmer, Frost
Poison Pen - Deep Mid-Tone Purple with Grey, Matte(2) Discontinued
Shadowy Lady - Blackened Plum, Matte

This is my taupe palette:

TOP: Brun, Club, Concrete, Copperplate, Coquette
MIDDLE: French Grey, Hypnotizing, Illegal Cargo, Moth Brown, Omega
BOTTOM: Prepped For Glamour, Satin Taupe, Shale, Smoke And Diamonds, Smut

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Brun - Muted Blackish-Brown, Satin
Club - Red-Brown with Green Pearl, Satin
Concrete - Muted Taupe Brown, Satin
Copperplate - Muted Mid-Tone Grey, Matte(2)
Coquette - Muted Greyish-Taupe, Satin
French Grey - Taupe Grey, Limited Edition Danse Collection Winter '06
Hypnotizing - Frosted Grey Mauve, Frost, Limited Edition Love Lace Collection Winter '09
Illegal Cargo - Pale Cool Toned Mauve with Plum, Limited Edition Naughty Nauticals Collection Spring '08
Moth Brown - Dirty Silver Brown, Frost, Limited Edition Madame B Collection Summer '05?
Omega - Soft Muted Beige-Taupe, Matte
Prepped For Glamour - Ashy/Dirty Brown, Frost, Limited Edition Prep For Colour Collection Spring '10
Satin Taupe - Taupe with Silver Shimmer, Frost
Shale - Mauve-Plum with Subtle Shimmer, Satin
Smoke And Diamonds - Frosty Dirty Taupe, Starflash, Limited Edition Love That Look Collection Summer '09
Smut - Muted Black with Red Shimmer, Velvet

If you've made it to the end you deserve a pat on the back! This post has taken a week to put together so I hope it helps someone!!

~xoxo~

Bargainous Beauty: ELF Mineral Eyeshadow in Socialite

2011-08-17T11:00:00.002+01:00

Hi guys :)

Today I wanted to share another product I picked up in my recent ELF order; ELF Mineral Eyeshadow in Socialite.

I like the clean white packaging, the card is a little flimsy but what's it matter since it ended up straight in my recycling?!

The eyeshadow comes packaged similar to the Bare Minerals eyeshadows I'm very fond of and contains 0.03oz (0.85g) for £3. In comparison the Bare Minerals eyeshadows contain 0.02oz (0.57g) for around £14!

The eyeshadow is a shimmery taupey grey and is very pigmented and smooth. My favourite way to wear this is just buffed across my lid using my MAC 217, a quick slick of black liquid liner and lashings of black mascara. You can easily buff away the sparkles to get a beautiful satin finish taupey grey, which is perfect for me for work. You can easily build up the colour to create a lovely sultry smokey eye for the evening.

All in all I'm really happy with my bargainous mineral eyeshadow, can't wait to check out the other colours in the line :)

Have you tried any of the ELF Mineral Eyeshadows? What do you make of mineral pigments in general??

~xoxo~

Review: Collection 2000 Cream Puffs

2011-08-16T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

Today I wanted to share with you a couple of new drugstore products I picked up recently :)

Collection 2000 recently launched a line of moisturising lip creams called Cream Puffs. How cute is that?! They come packaged in tubes, like an ordinary lipgloss, with a doe foot applicator and a matte finish cap that's very reminiscent of NARS packaging. There is a total of four colours in the line, Angel Delight, Cotton Candy, Fairy Cake and Powder Puff, and they are moisturising vitamin-enriched creamy lip colours that leave your lips with a powdery matte wash of colour.

I picked up two. First up we have Cotton Candy:

This one is a slightly cool toned neutral pink shade and is absolutely perfect for every day wear.

The second colour I purchased is Fairy Cake:

This one is a corally orange colour, perfect for summer as and when we actually see it!

These lip products wear really well and it's nice to finally stumble across a matte lip product that doesn't dry my lips out! Also a great plus is they smell absolutely amazing, somewhere between fudge and cream soda! At only £2.99 these are fantastic value for money and make brilliant pre-pay day treats ;) I'd really like to try the other two colours so with a bit of luck my local store might actually get some new stock for me to grab soon! Lol!

Have you guys tried these yet? What are your thoughts on matte lips??

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-08-14T11:00:00.001+01:00

Soap up with the Eye of Thundera as Addicted to Beauty celebrates the release of the new Thundercats TV show.

Miss Beauty Nerd is going to Europe, and packing her Clinique Day to Night Palette which contains most of her basic colour essentials in one pretty little compact!

Tracy at Beauty Reflections thinks that the new tokidoki Royal Pride Hercolino Palette makes a great Back To School palette!

Curious about the newest additions to the Make Up For Ever Family? Well, Krasey Beauty has swatches and photos of all of Make Up For Ever's newest Aqua Liners!

Ever run into a gorgeous product that left you (and a handful of other bloggers) in, erm, a burning heap? At theNotice, Rae runs into just that. Find out what the culprit was!

Bummed out because summer is almost done? Jennifer over at Spiced Beauty shows you how to get dewy, radiant and healthy skin.

Shatter your nails in the coolest shades! Musicalhouses shows you the BeautyUK Shatter Polishes!

Fleurissante has found her perfect summer fragrance: Montale Intense Tiare.

My Lips But Better gets a magical glow with MAC Magically Cool Liquid Powder.

Over at Prime Beauty, Cindy has developed a Nude Attitude with some help from Three Custom Color Specialists!

Phyrra shows you the wonders of Neptune’s Grotto from Meow Cosmetics.

Christina from Confessions of a Glitterholic shows you how to do a simple sunset eye in this quick tutorial.

Jellyminx goes on a swatching mission and shares her MAC blush obsession!

Claire looks at a fabulous little sculpting kit from Sleek, perfect for all your highlighting and contouring needs!

Take a look at some of these drugstore gems from Essence over at Makeup, Beauty & More.

Are you after some great quality, but cheap eyeshadows? If so, check out Anita's swatches of her Boots 17 eyeshadow singles and trios over at Pleasureflush!

Funky Nail Designs for the remainder of the summer days. Tribal nail designs easy peasy at Dolce Vanity! Bonus nail pen review included.

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Can you have enough L'Oréal makeup? Beauty Crazed thinks not and is giving away a crazy amount to one lucky winner so make sure you enter!

~xoxo~

Easy Nail Art

2011-08-13T11:00:00.002+01:00

Hi guys :)

If like me you aren't a dab hand at nail stamping and you're cack handed with drawing but you like the idea of nail art, nail art stickers are going to be the way forward!

The ones above are from Born Pretty Store and they are available here. Here's my step-by-step guide on how to use them ;)

First paint your nails with your choice of polish, I used Barry M 309 (Pale Pink) Nail Paint.

Using a pair of tweezers gently peel one of the stickers off of the backing.

Then line it up on the nail and lay it down. Once in position press it down into place and apply a clear top coat, I used Seche Vite.

Ta da!! Don't they look pretty :)

Would you guys try nail stickers or would you rather try nail stamping or going it free style?

~xoxo~

This product was sent to me for free for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and, as always, are 100% honest.

New Skincare Stuffs!

2011-08-12T11:00:00.002+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

Not too long ago The Body Shop had an offer on their skincare whereby if you bought a couple of products from their Vitamin C or Vitamin E lines you would get either the Vitamin C or Vitamin E Face Spray free.

I decided to give the Vitamin C Facial Radiance Powder Mix and Vitamin E Moisture Serum a whirl after seeing a bunch of Youtube videos singing the praises of Vitamin C serums :)

The vial contains 10ml of the clear serum, and the white cap contains a reservoir where the powder is stored. To activate, you simply press down of the cap until the reservoir is punctured and the powder is released into the serum. Then all you do is shake it vigorously for a few minutes to dissolve the powder and then the product is ready for use. It also contains a rigid orange dropper cap for easy dispensing. This product is recommended to be used within 10 days of mixing. I stored mine in the fridge and discarded it after 10 days even though there was a smidge left. The product has a watery consistency and feels nice on the skin with no stickiness or any irritation. I love the orangey smell too :) I only used the serum once a day, instead of the recommended twice, for the 10 days and it left my skin very soft, smooth and glowing. I was really pleased with the results but at £13 I do wonder if I would be better off making my own. Plus when I popped into my local store the lady told me that it seemed the line was gradually disappearing and she thought it might get discontinued.

In combination with the Vitamin C Facial Radiance Powder Mix I used the Vitamin E Moisture Serum. It's dubbed as a pre-moisturiser but I found it added just the right amount of moisturisation after using the Vitamin C serum. It's quite a thin gel-like serum and it absorbs quickly into the skin leaving it silky smooth. For £10 I think this is a great value product and think it'll work well in the winter too :)

Have you tried anything from The Body Shop's extensive skincare line? What are your thoughts?

~xoxo~

Bargainous Beauty: ELF Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder

2011-08-11T11:00:00.000+01:00

Hi guys :)

I recently made an order with ELF, my first in fact :) I thought I'd share my thoughts in individual posts for each of the products that I picked up, rather than just shoving all the products into a haul post. Hope you don't mind ;)

Today's post is about the Contouring Blush and Bronzing Powder

Whilst it does feel a little flimsy I do like the compact and think this will be a great space saving product to take on my holiday since it contains a blush and bronzer. Plus the enormous mirror is always a bonus.

The pigmentation of these is fantastic and would be suitable for fair to medium skintones. Both powders are very soft and smoothly milled and I didn't notice any excess powder flying around like you get with some other cheaper powder products.

The above swatch shows the ELF Contouring Blush and Bronzing Powder compared to NARS Orgasm and NARS Laguna, which it is often touted as being a dupe of. To me they aren't comparable. The ELF Blush is much more peach whilst NARS Orgasm has more pink tones in it. The ELF Bronzer is way more brown whilst NARS Laguna is a lot more golden.

At £3.50 for 8g of product this is an amazing bargain, have any of you tried it? What do you think if you have?

~xoxo~

Nail Polish Swatch-a-rama: Barry M 296 (Coral) Nail Paint

2011-08-10T11:00:00.003+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

Just a quick post today I'm afraid. I just wanted to share my nail of the day, Barry M 296 (Coral) Nail Paint:

As with all my nail polish posts the picture above is three coats of polish. Bizarrely I think this looks more orange than coral but I still like it. It's nice and bright and perky and just what I needed to cheer me up.

Hope all my UK readers are keeping safe and well during the awful violence that has struck our streets :(

~xoxo~

Review: Boots 17 Falsifeye Mascara

2011-08-09T11:00:00.002+01:00

Hi guys :)

You may or may not know that I really do love Boots 17! I've featured the brand a whole bunch on my blog already and today I wanted to share my thoughts of the new mascara Falsifeye!

For a grand total of £6.49 you get a hot pink 9ml tube of black mascara! The oversized wand reminds me of BeneFit Bad Gal and the like.

At the moment the brand have a special offer on where you get a free gel liner with your mascara.

The tiny brush is pretty crap and I had to layer the swatch a couple of times to get it to show up as a solid blob.

Here are my naked lashes in all their pathetic glory :(

And here they are with one coat of mascara and a quick line of the gel liner.

I'm not going to lie, the gel liner is pretty crap and I wouldn't have grabbed it if it wasn't free. The mascara, however, is pretty damn awesome. I find that it adds great volume and length. It really holds a curl too and I don't have a problem with this flaking or smudging during the day. I haven't had any problems with clumping either which is just super :) The only downside for me is I do struggle with the wand as it is so big but that's all part and parcel of what makes this mascara work so well.

Has anyone else tried this mascara yet? If you have what do you make of it?

~xoxo~

US Swap with Deuce Beauties

2011-08-08T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys :)

I hope you all had a great weekend, I did despite the weather :)

I was recently contacted by Carla over at Deuce Beauties to see if I would like to do a swap and I jumped at the opportunity :) Here's a look at the lovely goodies she sent me

I received the Wet n Wild Color Icon Blush in Pearlescent Pink:

The powder is very soft and smooth and it's really pigmented so I'm going to have to be careful I don't end up looking like a clown! It's a corally pink with gold sparkles, very pretty :)

Next we have the Wet n Wild Color Icon Trio in Sweet as Candy:

These eyeshadows are awesome quality, I'm absolutely amazed! The one downside is they are freaking difficult to open! This trio contains a satin finish cream with gold sparkles, a metallic golden brown and an icy baby pink.

The other trio she sent me is also from the Wet n Wild Color Icon line and it is Walking on Eggshells.

It contains a metallic white with gold sparkles, a brown with gold sparkles that is a touch lighter than the one in the Sweet as Candy trio and a metallic peach.

Lastly she sent me a Wet n Wild Fast Dry Nail Color in the shade Hannah Pinktana.

It's like a holographic jelly polish in a kind of pinky purple colour. So so pretty.

I'm really pleased with everything I received and Carla was such a sweetheart to me. I can't wait to have more of a play and report back my thoughts :)

~xoxo~

Free Is Nice...

2011-08-07T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys :)

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend :)

Whenever I make a purchase in Boots I always make a habit of checking the Advantage Card points to see if there are any special points offers or vouchers for the bits and bobs that I'm buying. The other day when I checked I had a voucher to be able to pick up one of the Boots 17 Eye Dazzles for free. I wasn't going to say no to free stuff!!

Out of the six colours available I picked Fancy Free:

The square packaging is cute if a little bulky considering the amount of product you actually get. These retail for £3.99 ordinarily but they're currently showing as £1.99 on the Boots website.

As you can see from the swatch below it's a peachy gold colour, nice and neutral :)

The top swatch was done wet with a little spritz of Fix + and I found it brought out the metallic quality. The pigment is smooth and soft and I find it easy to blend. I wouldn't say this rivals other drugstore pigments, say the Barry M Dazzle Dusts or the Collection 2000 Dazzle Me! Eye Dusts, but it's nice enough and I'm not complaining since I got it for free!

Have you guys tried any of the other colours? What are your favourite drugstore pigments?

~xoxo~

My MAC Blushes

2011-08-06T11:00:00.009+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

It was requested ages ago that I record a video giving an overview of my MAC palettes and I went ahead took the photos in this post to support those videos. Unfortunately I haven't been able to upload the videos and since I wasn't in the mood to re-record them just yet I thought I'd go ahead and share these photos with you any way :)

These aren't all my blushes, these are just the ones I have in palette form or limited edition ones that I haven't depotted. I have a few Mineralized ones and some Mineralized Skinfinishes too, plus the ones I own from other brands. So yeah, just one or two... Any way, onto the photos :)

Before I forget, you can see my first post about my palettes here, I still store them in the same purple box :)

First up is my neutral palette:

TOP: Blushbaby, Feeling, Plum Foolery
BOTTOM: Sunbasque, Trace Gold, X-Rocks

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Blushbaby - Sheertone, browny peachy-pink. See me wearing it here
Feeling - Beauty Powder Blush, Limited Edition (Beauty Powder Blush Spring '08), plummy pink.
Plum Foolery - Sheertone Shimmer, shimmery plummy pink.
Sunbasque - Sheertone Shimmer, shimmery rose gold peach.
Trace Gold - Sheertone Shimmer, shimmery golden peach.
X-Rocks - Sheertone Shimmer, Limited Edition (Neo Sci Fi Spring '08), shimmery mauve.

Next up is my peach palette:

TOP: Fleur Power, Peachykeen, Spaced Out
BOTTOM: Springsheen, Style, Tenderling

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Fleur Power - Satin, warm reddy-peach.
Peachykeen - Sheertone Shimmer, golden-beige peachy-pink.
Spaced Out - Sheertone Shimmer, Limited Edition (Neo Sci Fi Spring '08), shimmery peach.
Springsheen - Sheertone Shimmer, peach pink with gold.
Style - Frost, warm golden peach pink.
Tenderling - Sheertone, pinky-peach.

My last palette is my pink palette:

TOP: Dame, Desert Rose, Dollymix
BOTTOM: Pinch O' Peach, Pink Swoon, Well Dressed

LEFT TO RIGHT:
Dame - Satin, plummy pink with subtle blue sparkles.
Desert Rose - Matte, rosy burgandy.
Dollymix - Sheertone Shimmer, shimmery mid-tone pink.
Pinch O' Peach - Sheertone, cool toned pink.
Pink Swoon - Sheertone, cool toned bright pink.
Well Dressed - Satin, sheeny cool toned pink.

Here are my Limited Edition potted ones :)

Bite of An Apple, Matte (Venomous Villians Fall '10), warm watermelon peachy coral

Darkly My Dear, Matte (Venomous Villians Fall '10), warm rosy brown

Get Away Bronze, Frost (To The Beach Summer '10), rosy copper

Hipness, Frost (To The Beach Summer '10), peachy pink

On A Mission, Beauty Powder Blush (Style Warriors Spring '09), plum

Overdyed, Satin (Jeanius Spring '11), bright fuchsia purple

Pink Cult, Matte (Jeanius Spring '11), dusty beige pink

Tippy, Beauty Powder Blush (Hello Kitty Spring '09), bright cool toned pink

LEFT TO RIGHT: Bite of An Apple, Darkly My Dear, Get Away Bronze, Hipness, On A Mission, Overdyed, Pink Cult, Tippy

And that's a wrap!!

Let me know if you'd like to see another post with my eyeshadow palettes or the cream or Mineralize blushes I have :)

I hope this has been useful in some way or the other!

~xoxo~

New Lipstick Love: Sleek True Colour Lipstick in Candy Cane

2011-08-05T11:00:00.003+01:00

Hi guys :)

During the week I opt for more conservative makeup as the environment I work in means I can't really be uber creative. Trouble is I found that my lovely work neutral palette was spilling over into my playtime at the weekend and I was totally stuck in a makeup rut :(

Then in strolls this beauty from Sleek...

This is the Sleek True Colour Lipstick in Candy Cane which according to the tube has a sheen finish. This is everything I had hoped Revlon Cherries in the Snow would be, which was just far too blue toned for me to be able to pull off. It's a beautiful corally pinky red that's really punchy and bright but is surprisingly easy to wear. It's housed in an oval shaped matte black plastic tube and you get 3.5g of lippie goodness for a grand total of £4!

I don't think the sheen finish translates as well in the swatch above as it does in the lip swatch photo below but you get the idea, it's hella pretteh!

The lip swatch above was just a slap dash application by me, if you want a smoother look I'd definitely use a lip brush.

The colour lasts well on my lips and it doesn't wear away to that ugly ring o' colour that some brights do. It's really nice and creamy too and doesn't cling to any nasty dry patches on your lips.

I really like pairing this lipstick with a nice wing of black liner, a touch of bronzer, well defined brows and lashings of mascara. I think it looks classy :) The one thing I don't like is the fact it kind of smells of crayons but fortunately that doesn't last when you're wearing it.

Have you got a lipstick you've been loving recently?

~xoxo~

Review: Tisserand Aromatherapy Relaxing Cream Body Wash

2011-08-04T11:00:00.000+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

I've been meaning to review this product for so long that I've almost used it up! I'm such a bad blogger :( The product in question is Tisserand Aromatherapy Relaxing Cream Body Wash in Organic Lavendar and Shea Butter. Wow! That's a mouthful!

I really do love Tisserand products. Not only are they fantastic quality but the company has a great ethos.

This cream wash contains calming lavendar oil, replenishing rose otto oil, balancing galbanum oil, soothing calendula and super nourishing shea butter. The only thing I can really smell is the lavendar oil which if you don't like lavendar is a bit of a bummer!

The wash is very thick and creamy and lathers beautifully. The lovely suds can probably be attributed to the ammonium lauryl sulfate so if you're trying to avoid sulfates that is something you should bear in mind.

I personally really like this product. I love the creamy suds and the calming lavendar scent is the perfect remedy after a stressful day at work. This wash is £7.40 for 175ml so it is on the more expensive side but I honestly would be happy to pay that.

Also available in the Tisserand body wash line are Awakening, which has a citrus scent, Rejuvenating, which has a herby citrus aroma, and Renewing, which contains Rose and Lemon Leaf. As I mentioned before Tisserand products are available in Boots, their own website and Waitrose.

Have you discovered any lovely body washes recently?

~xoxo~

This product was sent to me for free for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and, as always, are 100% honest.

Bargainous Beauty: Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades in Blushalicious

2011-08-03T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hello my pretties :)

As much as I like MAC and NARS, I'm not adverse to liking a good bargain too :) And at £4.19 the Shimmer Shades in Blushalicious from Collection 2000 is a bargain with a capital B

The sturdy clear plastic compact houses four blocks of blusher that are large enough to be able to use individually or you can of course swirl the whole lot together. The squares of goodness remind me a lot of the Givenchy Le Prisme Blush but at a fraction of the cost.

Swatched it reminds me a lot of my Guerlain G Blush Serie Noire, which you can see swatched here.

Beware, awful photo of me wearing it coming next...

I really hate my face some times :( Lights are on but no-one is home, awkward much :s

Any way, as you can see it gives a nice corally, peachy pink glow to the face and whilst some of the blocks are shimmery, they add a glow rather than glitter to the skin. This also lasts all day on my skin too. Now I don't have oily skin so I don't know how it would fair when the sebum attacks but I do spend quite a lot of my day with my head in my hands and it doesn't transfer so that's got to be a good thing right?! :D

So there you have it... I recommend you run*, don't walk, to your local Collection 2000 stockist and grab yourself a great blushing bargain :)

* Please don't run, I don't want to get in trouble if you slip and maim yourself!

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-07-31T23:08:00.000+01:00

Musicalhouses shows you an awesome Bird of Paradise/sunset inspired eye look using the Sleek Curacao Palette - possibly the brightest eye look ever!

Beauty's Bad Habit shows gorgeous eyeshadow swatches of her first love in indie cosmetics, the fabulous Fyrinnae Cosmetics.

You know that cooling sensation when you bite into a peppermint patty? Well it's the same thing when you use the Chantecaille Aquablush in Charming. The Pink Sith explains.

At theNotice, Rae reviews a Benefit BADgal waterproof liner and decides that if bad girls all have to wear BADgal... she'd rather just be good.

Check out the new Too Faced Matte Eye Shadow Collection from Too Faced. Gouldylox has swatches and details.

Addicted to Beauty is still dreaming about the crazy hair extravaganza that was the L’Oreal Professionnel Colour Trophy 2011 .

Phyrra's Independent Spotlight for the month of July is One Hand Washes the Other.

Check out Smashinbeauty's Return to Paradise review and swatches.

Tracy at Beauty Reflections wishes Tarte For True Blood Natural Cheek Stain was Hellmouth worthy!

The Beauty Spot tested out the new Rimmel Vinyl Max Lipgloss. See how it worked out!

Have you ever considered Juvederm? Read about the experience of Marcia at Beauty Info Zone to learn whether Juvederm is something that would work for you.

Love bright eye shadows for summer? Make sure to keep lips subtle with this fabulous nude lipstick at Makeup, Beauty and More.

Do you need to perk up your under eye area? Pammy Blogs Beauty's Cover-It Concealer Review series continues with a review of this under eye treatment/primer by Per-fekt.

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed swatches Chanel nail polish to prove that all greys are not created equal!

Read the MAC and Sigma brushes dupe guide at Handmade Reviews.

Take a trip to St-Tropez! Nicole from Lipstick and Luxury swatches this limited-edition luxurious nail polish from Dior.

What type of results REALLY come from having a Brazilian Keratin Treatment? Check out Socialite Dreams for the results of the KeraStraight treatment at Ulta.

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-07-16T20:00:00.000+01:00

Read a thorough and honest review of Sigma's new eyeshadow palettes in Dare, Bare, and Flare at Handmade Reviews!

At Musing on Beauty, Mariella has been trying the new Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation and reviews it in depth.

Musicalhouses shows you summer's hottest offering - Benefit Cha Cha Tint!

The jury’s still out on whether a certain new lash curler looks incredibly intriguing or… incredibly gynaecological, but the real question is: are you ready to start a Revolution with Urban Decay?

Looking for a new blush? Check out my Swatches and Review on Chanel Joues Contraste Blush!

Beauty's Bad Habit shares her technique for using Fyrinnae's infamous Pixie Epoxy eyeshadow base.

You can achieve the perfect summer glow with just one product... shimmer! Steal My Heart Lovee.com shares her thoughts on Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks.

Amy Antoinette shares her top tips for transforming hay fever eyes!

Want the scoop on Urban Decay's new Fall Collection? Well, Krasey Beauty has it all, from information to product pics!

Kelly from Gouldylox has a very bad day. Luckily some MacGyvering with beauty products saves the day!

Miss Beauty Nerd goes to the Big Apple and gets her eyebrows threaded at Blink Brow Bar inside Henri Bendel.

Madame B Fatale introduces her boyfriend to Gillette's new razor and skincare products.

Tired of the regular crackle nail look? Jenn over at Spiced Beauty spices it up with a tri-color mani!

If you like bright colours you'll want to check out the latest find from Lisamarie at Beauty Crazed - SleekMakeUP Caribbean collection - and you'll be relieved to know that the swatches are not on her arm!

Makeup, Beauty and More shows some love for the Wet n Wild Color Icon Trio in I'm Getting Sunburned.

Lauren from Lovelaughlauren shows us some fab makeup brushes for less than £20!

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The Pretty Exclusive shows you beautiful swatches of Geek Chic Cosmetic's N7 Collection & Geek Love Duo, AND has a giveaway to win them all!

Pammy Blogs Beauty is giving away Clinical Organics "Try Me" Packs to two lucky winners! Visit Pammy Blogs Beauty for more details and to enter.

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-07-03T19:00:00.003+01:00

Are you a fan of NARS blushes? If so, do you own the shade Mata Hari? At Steal My Heart Lovee.com she shares her review.

Kelly from Gouldylox Reviews shares her first ever makeup tutorial. Part drinking game, part smoky eye, it's easy to do and isn't so over the top you can't wear it to work.

Madame B Fatale shows us her bright eye look using some gorgeous colours!

Musicalhouses swatches the Illamasqua Powder Blushers! Do you prefer the bright, bold blush shades, or the easily wearable, pretty-in-pink shades?

At theNotice, Rae reviews a cult-favourite MAC eyeliner - but isn't feeling the love. Find out why this popular product was such a letdown!

Phyrra falls in love with the Too Faced Eye Love palette and tells you where you can find it.

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed begins her fall lemmings early with pictures of the Lancôme St-Honoré Fall 2011 Collection - come add to the drool puddle!

Don't forget My Lips But Better's travel must-haves when packing your bag this summer!

Prime Beauty gets in touch with her Inner Flowerchild while falling in love with BECCA's new Mineral Powder Blushes.

Lauren has been going crazy for coral! Check out her latest lipstick additions!

Want a sneak peek at MAC's latest collection, Semi-Precious? Well, Krasey Beauty has pics and swatches, to ooh and ahh over!

Tracy, at Beauty Reflections, discovers an unexpected gem in MAC Prep+Prime Vibrancy Eye Primer and is really glad she decided to try it!

Fleurissante has found a way to the perfect brows with Le Sourcil de Chanel.

Claire swatches OPI Serene Grand Slam Rally Pretty Pink Set over at The Beauty Scoop!

Erin shows you an easy way to create rainbow eyeliner at the Pretty Exclusive.

If you like highlighters, especially at this time of year, Vesna from Beauty addict blog has a few suggestions for you!

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Want glowing, gorgeous skin? Specific Beauty has teamed up with Socialite Dreams to giveaway their full regimen to one lucky reader!

Jellyminx is giving away a bottle of Trilogy Sensitive Skin Very Gentle Calming Fluid worth £28.50!

~xoxo~

FOTD: Glee Live Look

2011-06-30T13:00:00.002+01:00

Hi guys :)

Yesterday Ant and I went to see Glee Live at The O2 and I wanted to share my Face of the Day with you as I haven't done one in ages :D

FACE
Skin79 Super+ BB Cream
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
Boots 17 Instant Glow Bronzing Powder in Light
MAC Darkly My Dear Powder Blush
BeneFit Dandelion

LIPS
MAC Hush Hush Rose Lipglass

EYES
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
MAC Grain
MAC Era
MAC Mystery
MAC Phloof!
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline
Prestige My Biggest Lashes in Very Black
BeneFit Browzings in Dark
Collection 2000 Colour Me Lash in Clear

Hehehe! :)

~xoxo~

Review: Rejuvenating Hand & Nail Cream

2011-06-29T11:30:00.001+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

I have a confession... I love hand creams but I've struggled to find one that works for me, that is also affordable and easy to find :( ... Until now!

Today I'll be reviewing Tisserand Rejuvenating Hand and Nail Cream in the Wild Rose and Lemon Leaf scent

Tisserand is an aromatherapy based brand started in 1985 by Robert Tisserand. This product contains no parabens, no synthetic fragrances, is not tested on animals, is suitable for vegans and comes in a handy recyclable tube :) The essential oils it contains are organic and ethically harvested.

The Rose, Rose Geranium, Lemon Leaf, Pink Grapefruit and Calendula oils in the product give it a fresh, almost fruity floral scent and they help to soothe and nourish the skin.

I suffer with dry hands which I'm not entirely sure is caused by the soap at work. The cream itself is lightweight and non-greasy so it's suitable to use throughout the day. My favourite way to use it is to slap on a load and pop on some spa gloves and leave it overnight. I wake up in the morning with soft and smoothe hands. Even if I use just a smidge during the day it sinks in immediately and doesn't leave a powdery residue or greasy feeling on my hands so I can easily splodge it on and carry on with my work and yet they're nicely soothed from the dryness.

Being a huge fan of anything rose scented I love the scent too. However, there are three hand creams in the line, each costing £6.75 for 75ml. The other scents available are Lavendar and "Essential Oil Rich" which contains Geranium, Orange Blossom, Bergamot, Jojoba and Chamomile.

The other hand cream I like is the Shea Butter Hand Cream from L'Occitane which at £17.50 for 150ml, is not only more expensive but also less accessible. Tisserand products are available from Boots, direct from the Tisserand website and also from Waitrose.

What is your favourite hand cream?

~xoxo~

This product was sent to me for free for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and, as always, are 100% honest.

Maria Allen Jewellery

2011-06-28T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys :)

I recently posted the following video and promised close up photos of the necklaces I bought:

I bought these pieces from Maria's stand at a recent vintage fair but she does have her own website here

Every piece is really well made and a great price considering you'd probably pay the same in Accessorize for something not so unique. I'm currently ogling at least 15 pieces on her site and if I wasn't saving for my holiday I'd totally snap them all up lol!

Have a great day guys :)

~xoxo~

Review and Giveaway (Closed) : Trilogy Sensitive Skin Very Gentle Calming Fluid

2011-06-27T00:16:00.003+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

Apologies for my recent absence, I was unwell with a chest infection and then had tons of work to catch up on so didn't have the chance to blog or upload much to my Youtube channel.

I'm not sure if you'll remember but I previously reviewed the Trilogy Ultra Hydrating Face Cream and today I'm reviewing their Sensitive Skin Very Gentle Calming Fluid.

The fluid is available from Boots for £28.60 for 30ml. The product comes in a glass bottle with a pump on the top and the pump has a little shield over it to protect from accidental leaks.

The product is fragrance and alcohol free and the brand support ethical trade practices and are against animal testing. It also doesn't contain any parabens.

It contains sweet almond oil, chamomile extract, calendula extract, olive oil, evening promise oil, soybean oil, rosemary extract and green tea. Natural spring water combines with these ingredients to make it moisturising and repairing and the green tea extract works as an antioxidant, protecting the skin from signs of premature aging and environmental damage. Despite containing all these oils the product is lightweight and has a milk-like consistency. It doesn't leave a greasy film on the skin and has a natural scent.

The virus I had that caused my chest infection also caused me to come out in a really red, itcy and uncomfortable rash. I've been applying this to my skin after I cleanse at night and then apply my night cream afterwards. Not only did it help clear up the rash and it also helped clear up the redness I suffer across my cheeks. I'm truly enamoured with this little bottle of goodness :)

Now for the best bit :D I have another bottle to giveaway to one of my lovely readers!! Here's what you need to do:

Be a follower of my blog, in the Google Friend Connect thingy

"Like" the Trilogy Facebook page here!

Add a comment to this post to say you "Like" it :)

Follow Jellyminx on Twitter and tweet the following message: Follow @jellyminx & "Like" Trilogy's Facebook page to win their Very Gentle Calming Fluid! See here for details: http://tinyurl.com/6yy68oj

Here are the rules:

You have to be a follower of this blog meaning you should show up in the little follower thing to the right

You have to "Like" the Trilogy Facebook page

Please only leave one comment on this post after you have "Liked" it

You do not have to enter by Twitter but you will receive an additional entry if you do

The winner will be selected at random using random.org

This is open internationally and I will post the items out to you provided it's a country Royal Mail send to. I do not hold any responsibility for any items that may be lost or damaged in transit but I will do my utmost to ensure you receive your prize

If you are under 16 I require written parental consent, sent to the e-mail shown on the right. Failure to provide this or if it proves fraudulent I will not be held accountable. This is for your safety because obviously I'm going to need to contact you to get your address :)

This giveaway starts today, 27th June 2011 and closes midnight GMT 27th July 2011

Good luck guys :)

~xoxo~

This product was sent to me for free for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and, as always, are 100% honest.

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-06-19T10:30:00.001+01:00

At Musing on Beauty, Mariella tries the Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman brushes and tells you everything about them.

Ever wonder how to airbrush your own makeup photos? Well, now you can - check out theNotice's basic Photoshop tutorial for your exclusive look behind the scenes of a beauty blog!

Now that summer's in the air, Musicalhouses shows you a Summer Eye Look and a Summer Lip Look for cheap!

Need melt proof makeup? Check out the new Summer collections from Tarte. Gouldylox has the swatches and details.

Madame B Fatale shows you how to use a conical wand!

Tired of eyeshadow and blush pots taking up too much space? Try de-potting them using Kajal Couture's de-potting tutorial and place them in palettes.

Phyrra's Independent Spotlight for June is with Belén from Lost in Makeupland!

Addicted to Beauty gets serious tween envy when she spies the Happy Faces hair salon. Who wouldn't want to get their hair done whilst sitting in a pink chevrolet?

Amy Antoinette shares her top tips for dealing with Keratosis Pilaris.

Lovelaughlauren tells us her favourite products from the last few months.

Prime Beauty discovered Burberry's newest lipstick formula, Lip Mists and has some insider info for you!

At Eyelining Obsessions Claire finds her perfect pink bluch while trying some ELF Barginous Blushes.

Rachel McAdams sends Lydia from Perfectly Imperfect running to the NARS counter. Find out why!

The coveted Asylum by Sugarpill is back in stock and in the Christina the Glitterholic's hands!

Looking for an affordable gel eye liner? Be sure to check out this fabulous Gel Eye Liner by Essence at Makeup, Beauty & More.

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Handmade Reviews is hosting a Sigma Summer Giveaway with over $300 in prizes and winners every month.

Beauty Crazed is giving away 5 Lancome Desert Rose Blushes - they still think they are too pretty to use but maybe you aren't that squeamish so enter to win one!

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-06-06T15:47:00.000+01:00

Madame B Fatale tests a fun gimmicky product with some not so amazing results.

Are you ready to step out of your comfort zone, and slip into summer? Then be sure to check out this melon and teal makeup look over at theNotice - you won't be disappointed!

Phyrra gives you her take on the Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Sticks.

AOYV shares her tryst with Inglot eyeshadows and shares with fellow Canadians how to access this fabulous brand.

Pammy Blogs Beauty finds a new "Holy Grail" product with MAC's Prep & Prime Vibrancy Eye Primer.

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed is already thinking about fall - but she can't help it, it's Chanel! Come check out the Illusions d'Ombres De Chanel fall collection and you'll understand why she's so weak!

Vesna from Beauty addict blog has a thing for Inglot products lately! Her favorite Inglot item at the moment is definitely 420P eyeshadow so check out what she loves about it so much!

Beautywoome just reviewed the best airbrush tan EVER.

Not having a good day (like Tracy, at Beauty Reflections)? See how the Sephora Flashy Liner helped her to face the day!

Want a fancy perfume but hate the price? Jeweled Thumb finds something similar to a popular and expensive Juicy Couture one. Best part? It's $10!

Beauty's Bad Habit shares her five favourite make-up finds for under £5 because everyone loves a bargain!

Need a sheer foundation for summer? Check out My Lips But Better's comparison chart for Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua vs. Clinique Moisture Surge. Which will be the winner?

Hair prone to frizz? With the weather in the UK always indecisive it's good to find something that can control that frizz. Has LaaLaa over at Dolce Vanity found that with Sedu Anti Frizz Polishing Treatment?

MAC's Big Bounce Shadows got a bad rap, but Kajal Couture shows you how to make them work.

Looking for a new curling iron? Sophie tries and tests the Remington Pearl Conical Wand!

Don't have the budget for the Mac Big Bounce shadows? Jo checks out Rimmels 8 hour colour mousse and is very impressed!

Nicoletta's Beauty Space tries out some of her favourite Sleek True Color lipsticks.

~xoxo~

Nail Polish Swatch-a-rama: Barry M 295 (Turquoise) Nail Paint

2011-05-28T11:07:00.000+01:00

Hi guys :)

Summer is right around the corner so I thought I'd share this beauty of a polish; Barry M Nail Paint in 295 (Turquoise)

As always the swatcheroo above is three coats of polish. This is a bright, bold creme and it just makes me think of sunshine and swimming pools :) This polish is great on the toes as a nice pop of colour with flip flops or sandals. I'd bet it looks great with a tan too... Not that I'd really know much about that lol! :)

Now all we need is some sunshine...

~xoxo~

Brand Overview: NARS

2011-05-27T11:00:00.002+01:00

Hi guys :)

As well as my blog I've been trying to upload a couple of videos to Youtube every week. I've been trying to keep all the photos, swatches, reviews etc to my blog and mainly focus on general "talky" type things and tutorials in my videos.

I'd previously done a "Brand Overview" video looking at the Accessorize products I have and now it's the turn of NARS.

I'm a huge NARS junkie and so had to split the videos into three, Eyes, Face and Lip products. Here they are, I hope you enjoy them :)

If you have any requests for future videos, or blog posts for that matter, please be sure to leave a comment :)

~xoxo~

Review: Klorane Shampoo and Conditioning Cream with Pomegranate

2011-05-26T11:00:00.005+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

I've had these products so long I've almost used them up! I'm such a bad blogger :( Today I bring you a review of Klorane Shampoo and Conditioning Cream with Pomegranate.

A 200ml bottle will set you back £6 and is available in larger Boots stores and The Garden Pharmacy

I found the shampoo to be gentle, despite containing Sodium Laureth Sulphate, and it didn't drain my colour any more than washing my hair in hot water would!

The pomegranate extract contains tannins which are supposed to help bind the colour to the keratin in the hair. I can't say whether or not it did have any effect on my hair colour as the colour tends to fade pretty easily from my natural blonde locks no matter what I use on it.

I like this shampoo because it left my hair clean without drying it out and it didn't irritate my scalp.

A 150ml tube will set you back £6.50

I found the conditioning cream to be very moisturising and whilst it does contain some silicones, it didn't coat my hair and way it down. I also found that my hair wasn't as frizzy or tangle prone too. One problem I did have is because the cream is so thick I found it quite difficult to squeeze out of the tough plastic tube. That may just be me being a little weakling though!

All in all I like these products. The shampoo is quite thin in texture but it's quite rich so you still only need a small amount to make a nice lather. This means a 200ml bottle has lasted well for me whereas with some other shampoos, they tend to disappear pretty rapidly. Most importantly they made my hair feel and look nice and healthy, plus they don't smell too bad either :p Oh and who doesn't look pink hair products?!

The Pomegranate line is for colour treated hair but Klorane do have several other lines which cater for many different hair types. They have Henna for brown hair, Centaury for gray or white hair, Chamomile for blonde hair and Oat for all hair types. If you've been following my blog a while the Oat may ring a bell as I previously reviewed the Oat dry shampoo. I really like the company ethos of using natural plant extracts and the fact that they cultivate them themselves. It's just a shame they have used SLS and the products contain parabens :(

Have any of you tried anything from Klorane? What are your current go to hair products?

~xoxo~

This product was sent to me for free for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and, as always, are 100% honest.

Nail Polish Swatch-a-rama: Barry M 161 (Vivid Purple) Nail Paint

2011-05-25T11:00:00.012+01:00

Hi guys :)

If you've been following me for a while you'll know that I have a weakness for nail polish, especially purple and grey. Today I wanted to share with you one of my favourite purples, Barry M 161 Nail Paint.

I love this. It's so beautiful! It's the perfect shimmery purple :) Not exactly a summery springy polish but I just don't care :p

What's your favourite polish?

~xoxo~

Project X Pan Review: MAC Prep and Prime Lip

2011-05-24T11:00:00.003+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

Another day, another product finished! Today's product is MAC Prep and Prime Lip.

I was a good girl and scraped it out and everything!

This is supposed to lightly moisturise the lips whilst improving the texture of them and the products you apply afterwards are supposed to look better.

Safe to say I won't be repurchasing this. It's a nice enough balm and all but I found it balled up underneath whatever lipstick I applied on top of it :( Unfortunately for me this was a waste of a tenner :(

Have any of you guys tried this? If you have what do you make of it??

~xoxo~

Hauling NARS...

2011-05-23T11:00:00.005+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

I was lucky enough to be able to go to a Youtuber meetup on Saturday and met some lovely ladies. I put a big long list of all their links in the information box of my video here.

Here are photos and swatches of the products I picked up :)

The lovely bath melts handmade by Rebekka

Sleek Pout Polish in Powder Pink which was a gift from the lovely Maria

NARS Ashes to Ashes Single Eyeshadow

NARS Nepal Single Eyeshadow

NARS Dogon Eyeshadow Duo

NARS Luster Blush

NARS Copacabana Illuminator Sample

Pro-Prime Pore Refining Primer Sample

NARS Bombshell Single Eyeshadow

NARS Cap Vert Multiple

NARS Eye Makeup Remover Sample

Swatches left to right:
Ashes to Ashes
Bombshell
Nepal

Dogon

Left: Luster Right: Cap Vert

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend! Think I'm going to avoid the makeup counters for a while :s

Until next time...

~xoxo~

Beauty Blog Link Love

2011-05-22T11:00:00.002+01:00

Jellyminx presents a bronzer lovers paradise with her ultimate Bronzer Overview.

Missed out on the New York City Makeup Show? Have no fear, for Krasey Beauty has the scoop!

Over at The Pink Sith blog, Joeybunny brings you swatches of the new Dior Rosy Tan Eyeshadow Quint and makes a shocking confession!

Have you tried lining your eyes with traditional kohl/kajal? Kajal Couture did and she shows you how.

Can the cute and new Sephora Hello Kitty-Memoirs Of A Kitty Palette satisfy an ex-punk beauty junkie like Tracy at Beauty Reflections?

Amy Antoinette showcases the prettiest lip balms in her collection.

Beautywoome has found the best light alternative to foundation for summer!

Still a Sugarpill virgin? Beauty's Bad Habit shows you Lumi Chromalust, a pigment which will have you rushing for your credit card!

Lipglossiping falls in love with an eye cream that shows promising results... but like most things in life, it comes at a price!

The Lip Print faces her fear of orange to find this absolute beauty by Tom Ford - that man sure know's how to make a lipstick!

Looking for a perfect bronzer? Check the new Guerlain Terracotta Bronzing Powder at Fleurissante.

Unique, unusual and different...find out what perfume Lady Gaga is currently wearing! Read Hellcandy's review of it here.

Tarte's new Amazonian Clay Waterproof Cream Eye Shadows arrive just in time for summer. See how they make eyes shine at Prime Beauty!

Love Chanel Mimosa but not the price? Find out how you can dupe it for under $10 on My Lips But Better.

Are you ready for summer? Anita reviews Guerlain's Terra Inca summer collection over at Pleasureflush.

AOYV ponders if Vasanti's Magic Liner really magical?

Mariella at Musing on Beauty has a play with the new Becca Halcyon Palette and tells it all.

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Audrey Dao is giving away 3 Julep Jennifer Mani Care Sets, so you can get the perfect manicure!

Head on over to theNotice and enter to win Rae's "holy grail" face powder, a Canadian exclusive that's honestly just really, really lovely.

~xoxo~

Nail Polish Swatch-a-rama: Boots 17 Moonstruck Nail Polish

2011-05-19T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hello my pretties :)

I haven't done one of these nail of the day posts for ages so today I thought I'd share this polish with you :) May I present pretty and super shiny Boots 17 Moonstruck:

Boots 17 nail polishes are a little hit and misses but this one, for me, is a most definite hit :) It's an awesome metallic silver and the swatch above is two coats. The polish is part of the Fast Finish line and comes with a great brush, decent width and decent length :) A great inexpensive pick me up!

~xoxo~

Project X Pan review: Eyeko Big Eyes Mascara

2011-05-18T11:00:00.001+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

I haven't done one of these posts in ages but I can assure you I'm still working my way through products and have a whole bunch of these reviews to share with you :)

Today's product is Eyeko Big Eyes Mascara:

Long and luscious lashes in one easy squeeze

The packaging has changed a smidge since I bought this tube! It retails for £8.95 on the Eyeko website.

Now I bought this because of all the rave reviews I'd heard about it and from what I could see from pictures the wand looked nice and skinny, just how I like it!

Initially I did like this mascara. I found the formulation worked well for me, lengthening and thickening my lashes. However, the more I used it, the more I disliked it.

The tube doesn't seem to have one of those wiper things at the top like normal mascaras. Either that or with repeated use it got stretched or something... I found I was repeatedly wiping off tons of excess mascara onto a tissue before I could even contemplate using it. I did try once and end up with what looked like two clumps of lashes and blobs of mascara all round my eyes, all over my fingers and all over the tube! Lovely! Bizarrely it got clumpy and too wet the more I used it, is that even possible??

To me this product was a disappointment. It's not worth the £8odd I paid for it and I certainly wouldn't purchase it again!

Hope you found this review of help and I hope to bring you more as I work my way through my stash!!

Until next time...

~xoxo~

Bronzer Overview

2011-05-17T11:00:00.000+01:00

Hi girlies :)

I promised a bronzer overview post so a bronzer overview is what you'll get :D

Here's my bronzer family :)

Don't they look cute :)

Swatched from left to right:
Boots 17 Instant Glow Bronzing Powder in Light
Barry M Natural Dazzle Bronzing Powder
BeneFit 10
BeneFit Hoola
Illamasqua Glint
Illamasqua Writhe
Lancome Brush Subtil Miel Glaze
MAC Golden Bronzing Powder
MAC Warm Soul Mineralize Blush
NARS Laguna
Rouge Bunny Rouge As If It Were Summer Still Bronzing Glow Powder in At Netherway Cove
Sleek Face Contour Kit in Light
Too Faced Pink Leopard Bronzing Powder
Too Faced Snow Bunny Subtly Sun-Kissed Bronzing Powder
Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzing Powder with Real Cocoa

Boots 17 Instant Glow Bronzing Powder in Light

This bronzer is a relatively recent acquisition for me but I use it pretty much every day. It's a beautiful peach toned tan so it adds much needed warm to my skin and a glow without making me look overdone. This product is shimmery but the shimmers are subtle and sparse. At £4.59 for 10g, you can't go wrong!

Barry M Natural Dazzle Bronzing Powder

This bronzer is quite difficult for me to wear due to the red undertones in it. If I don't use a light hand I can look either ruddy or sunburnt! I believe this is very similar to BeneFit Dallas but I don't have that to be able to compare it. There is visible shimmer in the compact but the silky smooth powder blends out to a satin finish on the skin. This will set you back £9.99 for 12g.

BeneFit 10

This is sold as a duo of sensual pink and naughty bronze and I think that's an accurate description. Both sides of this duo are shimmery so I tend to use it more as a bronzey peach cheek colour. This little baby will set you back a cool £23.50 for 10g and as yet I'm not entirely convinced it's worth it :s

BeneFit Hoola

BeneFit's infamously matte bronzing powder is perfect for contouring or adding a warmth and glow to the skin. It's super pigmented so on my fair skin I don't need much of this and on me it's a true warm brown colour. This costs £23.50, the same as 10, but to me this one is worth it. I've been using this bad boy for ages and I haven't even made a noticeable dent in it!!

Illamasqua Glint and Writhe

Glint, left, is a soft luminous peach, more of a cheek highlight or blush colour than a bronzer but I thought I'd include it all the same. Writhe, right, is a golden tan that pulls quite orangey on my skin. Both powders are smooth, almost creamy in texture, and whilst they are both shimmery they give more of a satin finish on the skin. This duo will set you back £20.50 for 10g of product.

Lancome Blush Subtil in Miel Glace

Yes I am fully aware that this is actually a blush but on my skin it looks like a gorgeous peachy tan beige that I can easily wear as bronzer :) The powder is silky smooth, soft and delicately pigmented. Now, I'm not sure if I'm being thick but I couldn't find this online in any UK stores so maybe it's only available in the states :s Anyone know?

MAC Golden Bronzing Powder

This is a golden tan-beige powder with golden shimmers. This powder is very lightly pigmented so you'd need to apply a crap ton of it to go overboard! This powder works well if you already have a tan and you want to highlight areas like your shins, collarbone and the tops of your cheekbones. My one gripe with this product is that I have to keep wiping over the top to remove any oils that may have transferred from my brush onto the powder making the surface go hard. It's annoying and when you're paying £17.50 for 10g of product you expect something a little better.

MAC Warm Soul Mineralize Blush

I know I'm cheating again by including another blush but on me it's a bronzing product. This is a tan toned beige with subtle golden shimmers and looks lovely buffed into the cheeks for a healthy glow. At £17.50 for 3.5g of product it works out to be a little pricey but out of all the mineralize blushes I've tried this one is my favourite :)

NARS Laguna

Another infamous product. I think this bronzer is loved and loathed in equal parts. I love mine for summer. The golden shimmers in this brown powder help to add a subtle sheen and glow and whilst the powder is relatively sheer, it's also quite buildable. This one will set you back £24 for 8g.

Rouge Bunny Rouge As If It Were Summer Still Bronzing Glow Powder in At Netherway Cove

Quite possible the longest product name known to man. I bought this in an outlet sale and will probably be my first and last foray into the brand. This is a unique almost coral tan colour but I find the powder a little on the hard side, making it difficult to pick up any product on my brush. When you finally do pick some product up it has a lovely satin finish to it however at £41 for 12g I'm not 100% convinced it's worth it.

Sleek Face Contour Kit in Light

I have mixed feeling about this kit. The highlight is lovely and creamy and it's great that the contour side is matte but that's all I really like about it. The contour powder is too powdery and on me it pulls almost an orange brown rather than a tan brown. This is £6.50 for 14g and I'm not sure it's worth it :s

Too Faced Pink Leopard Bronzing Powder

I love Too Faced :) I think it's a highly underrated brand. This bronzer is a beautiful golden tan with a subtle pink glow. It's £22 for 9g of product or alternatively they have a kit with three different versions of the leopard bronzer :)

Too Faced Snow Bunny Subtly Sun-Kissed Bronzing Powder

This bronzer is a lot lighter than the previous offering from Too Faced; it's more of a golden pink tan-beige. I thought I would be able to use the stripes of colour separately but it's too difficult to find a brush small enough to fit that is still a good size to use on my face. This works best swirled together any way. It's so pretty and will set you back £22 for 8g.

Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzing Powder with Real Cocoa

The latest addition to my little family. This powder is a true cocoa chocolate brown and is flat matte, much like the BeneFit Hoola. The powder is soft, silky and extremely pigmented so those of you with fair skintones be warned, a light hand is need with this one. Again this is £22 for 10g but it smells good enough to eat so it's totally worth it to me!

And that's your lot!!

I hope this post has been of use and if you'd like me to do something similar for another product, just leave a comment :) Oh and if anyone can recommend a matte cream bronzer I'd really appreciate it ;)

Until next time...

~xoxo~

Review: Avène Ysthéal+

2011-05-11T21:53:00.000+01:00

Hello my lovelies :)

Today I wanted to review the Avène Ysthéal+ :) I've had this product for the longest time and have been meaning to review it but being completely useless it's taken me a while to get round to it!

This cream-gel is supposed to help in the prevention and correction of the first visible signs of skin ageing in the eye area. It contains retinaldehyde and pre-tocopheryl to smooth lines and wrinkles :) I fortunately don't have fine lines or wrinkles so I can't comment on whether or not it works on that front!

The tube comes with a measured pump which allows you to dispense as much or as little product as you need. I really like this feature. I'm not overly keen on cream in pots as I don't really like sticking my fingers in them. Other products with pumps tend to always dispense too much so this is the perfect solution :)

You can't really tell from the picture above but the cream-gel is actually a peachy yellow colour. The cream-gel is really lightweight and blends effortlessly into the eye area. A few gentle taps and it absorbs really quickly :)

All in all I really like this :) At around £15 for 15ml it is on the expensive side. Then again my Kiehl's eye treament is £27 for 14ml so maybe it's not so bad :s

Hope this review was helpful :)

~xoxo~

This product was sent to me for free for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own :)