Lauren Loves to interview bloggers!

I am officially an idiot. A few days ago the lovely Lauren featured me on her fab blog. I totally forgot to link to it here! Please do me a favour and pop over there to check it out? It's here. Thanks lovelies! xx

Beauty Blog Link Love!

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.

Sleek Saturday – Courtesy of Liloo!

You all know how I love my Sleek palettes. I have each and everyone. By far the most difficult one to track down was the legendary Graphite palette which I am ashamed to admit I bought on eBay for a silly price. Despite its coveted status and paying over the odds I never use the thing! Liloo (or Tsunimee if you follow her on Twitter, which you should) has been running a fascinating series. Every week she and another blogger dig out a palette that they are guilty of not showing enough love too and create a look. This week she kindly asked me to take part and I decided my neglected Graphite palette needed to see the light of day again. Pop over here to check out her posts!

The Graphite palette contains a selection of silvers, blacks, a couple of highlight shades and a couple of indigo purples. So smokey eye it is then? I stole the idea of popping stars on the colours I used from Liloo, hope you don’t mind!

And here is the look. Be warned. For the first time EVER on my blog it involves a full face shot. That’s right people of the interwebs, my actual mug is being inflicted on your very eyes. Contact your GP for any therapy you might require after viewing it. 

 (also wearing Clinique Super Balanced foundation, NARS Orgasm Blush, No7 360 Mascara, GOSH waterproos eyeliner in Purple Stain, a YSL lippie I can't remember the name of and probably some other stuff I can't remember)

My only problem with the palette is the lack of matte shades. I just wish it had a mix of finishes. Regardless it is a lovely palette and I do need to pull it out more often. Thanks for letting me take part Liloo! x

No7 Extreme Length Mascara

I’ve not been blown away by No7 mascaras thus far so I’m grateful that you get so many in those little gift with purchase sets so I don’t have to shell out £12.50 for the full size. Now I like No7 in general ( apart from their mascaras of course)but I always associate them with being a bit more conservative. Imagine my surprise then when I spotted that this sample was in the shade Sapphire. Oh yes people, we have a blue mascara here!

The wand is a rubber, fine bristled affair which I quite like. It gives good separation and definition although I could have asked for a little more in terms of length. The blue doesn’t really stand out on my black lashes but that’s a moot point really given that it no longer appears on their website. I can only assume it was Ltd edition.

As far as the No7 mascaras go this one is probably my favourite because of the wand. It’s small enough to be manoeuvrable even on my piggy little eyes. Do I like it enough to buy it? Not really. I have far too many on my wish list and this wasn’t dramatic enough for me. I’m not sure how I’m going to use the sample up given the colour! X

*Received as part of a gift with purchase*

The Body Shop Pore Perfector

This is essentially a serum which claims to unclog pores, reduce blemishes and reduce the appearance of dilated pores. That last bit is important. I don’t believe there is a serum on this planet that will actually shrink your pores. You pore size is dependent on your genetics and your skin type. Little know fact: they filmed the moon landings in my pores. No, really. Up close my face looks like a colander. It’s just my skin type and I’ve learned to live with it (with the help of a good primer!). 

You get 15ml in a dinky pump bottle for £10.00. It’s a cloudy gel and you only need a tiny amount to cover your whole face. I’ve been using it for about 6 weeks now and have used roughly a third of the bottle. It has a slight seaweed scent. Shocking I know. I leave it for a couple of minutes then apply my moisturiser over the top. 

Does it work? Yes actually! No one is more surprised by that outcome than me. No my pores haven’t shrunk but they are a lot clearer which has improved their appearance massively.  I still have the odd breakout but touch wood they seem to be less severe and less frequent. I’m looking forward to trying the rest of the range and I’m giving some serious thought to repurchasing it! X

*Bought by me*

Collection Overview – Highlighters

Erm, how did I acquire so many of these? Honestly I have no idea. I do know it’s too many for me to go into too much detail in this collection but if you have a look at the tags on the right hand side chances are you will find reviews for all of these if you need more info (reviews on the Sleek Contour kit and Benefit High Beam are in the works). 

From MAC I have (Clockwise from top left) By Candlelight MSF, Petticoat MSF, Truth & Light Magically Cool Liquid Powder (in Venomous Villains packaging), Belightful Iridescent pressed powder (in Fafi packaging). The swatches are in the same order. 

My only liquid highlighters are Benefit Moonbeam (left) and Highbeam (the little sample from Glamour magazine). Again swatches are in the same order. 

The 17 blush/ highlighter duo is called Peaches & Cream. On the right is NARS Honeylust. Swatches are in the same order. 

Finally I have (clockwise from top left) Rituals Cheek & Eye glow in Pink, ELF Gotta Glow, the highlight side from the Sleek Contour kit and Lancôme Blush Subtil in Highlighting Or 00. For some reason I swatched them from left to right Rituals, ELF, Lancôme, Sleek. 

My favourites are the Lancôme, Rituals, By Candlelight MSF and ELF Gotta Glow. I could probably live without the Belightful pressed powder and the Magically Cool Liquid powder. Petticoat MSF and the Rituals Pink and perfect compliments for cooler toned pink blushes. 

Do let me know if these collection overviews are of any interest to you. Is there anything you would like to see in particular? Let me know in the comments! X

*All bought by me. My poor bank account*

Rapidlash Lash Serum Challenge

I’ve had the L’Oreal Lash Serum before and loved it but I’m not quite ready to shell out the big money for something like Lilash just yet. At £40.84 it’s a nice in between ground.Now I’m quite lucky in that I have lots of thick, black eyelashes but they are quite short and will not curl no matter what I do to them. I would like them longer and that is exactly what Rapid lash promise:

“Clinically proven up to 50% longer looking natural lashes*. RapidLash enhancing serum conditions your lashes to look stronger, fuller, and longer in as few as 8 weeks.”

It looks like a mascara tube but the wand itself is like a liquid liner. You apply it once a day to the base of your upper lashes. The leaflet in the box does warn that for the first few uses you might experience some tingling  upon application and I did for about the first 4 days. After that the tingling went away and thus far I haven’t experienced any irritation. Here are my naked lashes before using the serum. 

I started using this around the beginning of July so I will post an update at the end of August. Have you tried this serum? How did you find it? x

*Bought this myself*

Blogger Interview - Anita from Pleasure Flush!

In this weeks blogger interview the fabulous Anita from http://pleasureflush.blogspot.com/ has been answering my questions. If you like high end makeup then you simply have to follow her as she showcases some of the most exquisite collectors items around.

* Quick fire question – tell us something you love about blogging and something you’re not too crazy about!

The reason why I started blogging is that I don’t have any friends in real life who share my passion for make up, so I really needed to be able to talk to others about it. I discovered a few great blogs about 3 years ago and when I finally had some time on my hands (when my youngest started at nursery), I decided to start my own blog. I love showing people all the lovely products I discover and I also love showing off my forever expanding collection, something I can’t do with people in real life. I hate it that I don’t have enough time for my blog, even though my children are all in school now, I of course have other commitments and the blog always comes last. I also hate people stealing others’ photos and posts which has happened to me several times lately, and as a result I have now started watermarking all my pictures, which of course takes a lot of time out of the already limited time I have to write on my blog.

* Why beauty/ makeup? What made you decide you wanted to blog about it?

I have always loved makeup, even as a child, although I didn’t get into it quite this much until about 3 years ago when I discovered high end brands and their frequent and often gorgeous looking collections. I don’t have many hobbies and since most of the blogs I read are beauty/makeup related, there was never any question about writing a blog about anything else other than makeup. I wanted to be able to tell people about all the wonderful products I have discovered and show off my collection.

* You have 5 minutes before you have to leave the house. What items do you throw on?

As a busy mum of 3 children I never really have much time to spend on applying my make up, so I’ve got pretty good at it and I’m actually really quick, so if I only have 5 minutes, I can pretty much do full face makeup. I would leave out eyeshadows though as they take longest to apply, so would just use a black eyeliner, black mascara, and then foundation, setting powder, blush and a lipgloss or lipstick I manage to grab. If I have a bit more time, I might apply a cream eyeshadow as an all-over colour on my lids.

* Are there any brands that aren’t available in your country that you would love to try? What ‘local’ brands do you think everyone should have a chance to try?

I was lucky enough to travel to the US earlier this year, so I have satisfied my curiousity for American brands for now, but there are some really lovely looking Asian brands like Jill Stuart and of course lots of high end brands doing Asian collections which I would love to be able to purchase in the UK. As for British brands that everyone should try, I have to go with Sleek for their eyeshadow palettes, also Boots’ 17 for their eyeshadows and GOSH for their brushes.

* What entices you to follow a new blog? What puts you off?

I mostly follow blogs that either write about brands I’m mostly interested in, I also love it when they have good quality pictures and swatches galore. Some blogs I follow because I love the personality of the blogger, even if the posts sometimes contain products I have no interest in. I don’t like blogs that don’t have a good personality behind, or if I feel that their reviews aren’t genuine or they’re in it for the free products and/or money. I however absolutely loathe bloggers that steal other people’s photos or posts and even go to the length of making them look like they took them or wrote them in the first place.

For some reason I still haven’t tried GOSH brushes. I must rectify this! Thanks so much for taking part Anita! x