30 Days of Lipstick (The End)

Well, you know you have enough lipstick when you can easily go a month of wearing a different one every day without running out of options. Granted a couple of these aren’t my favourite on me (I’m looking at you MAC) but I made it.

Swatches are in order from left to right (i.e. last Wednesdays is on the far left).

Wednesday – No7 Moisture Drench in 55 Pink Crush. This is so easy to wear and comfortable on the lips in cold weather. Love it!

Thursday – NYX Jupiter. Slightly too frosty for me but a fun bright pink nonetheless.

Friday – Clinique Spiced Apple. I love this on but for some reason never reach for it. I think it’s the sickly green tube that puts me off. Shallow but hell, this is a blog about makeup.

Saturday – Estee Lauder Fig. Wow that is some craptacular application right there. Gorgeous deep dark red, vampy and very season appropriate.

Sunday – 17 Peace. It goes on pinker on the lips than it looks in the tube and is surprisingly subtle.

Revlon Colour Burst in Carnation - Again a gorgeous pink but I could have lived without the shimmer.

MAC Lazy Day lipstick (from the To The Beach collection) – This looks awful on me so I always wear a pigmented gloss over it. I love the colour but my lips are too dark to carry it off on its own as you can see here.

  

L’Oreal Taffeta – A deeper nude so more wearable on me. It is rather cool toned though so again I like layering it with gloss for a more wearable finish.

You can tell from looking at the tubes that these aren’t my most worn colours but there are some gems in there that deserve more love than they have had. And now I’m done with this project I just need to avoid falling back into the trap of grabbing the same few lippies! x

Cowshed Knackered Cow Relaxing Body Lotion

Of the many things I treasure in life one is tongue in cheek humour and another is a good body lotion. I like the naming from the Cowshed. In fact I once bought a friend their Horny Cow candle set.  What can I say, I’m easily amused. One thing I’m not keen on is paying £18 for a 300ml bottle of body lotion. So I didn’t. This 100ml bottle came free in a magazine months ago but I’ve been using up other bottles of moisturiser so it’s taken me a while to get round to using it.

This ‘relaxing’ body lotion is infused with the fragrances of lavender and eucalyptus, both of which are fragrances that I typically like.  Unfortunately that’s not all I can smell. There is a more earthy herbal smell in there and sadly I do not like it. The fragrance puts me off. Now this is completely a personal thing and you might love it. I’m just saying sniff before you spend £18 on it.

The lotion itself it mediocre. It’s a reasonably thin lotion that spreads nicely, sinks in well and is an ok moisturiser. It isn’t quite rich enough for me at this time of year. There is nothing wrong with it, apart from it being a scent I wouldn’t have chosen myself. There just isn’t anything about it that I haven’t found in body lotions that cost less than a fiver x

bareMinerals Matte SPF15 Foundation

This is really my first proper foray into the world of mineral makeup. I’ve tried a sample of the original formula before and hated the shiny, glittery finish. The matte finish appealed much more so I finally took the plunge and purchased the shade Fair C10 (a fairly neutral toned pale shade, perfect match for me). At £25 for 6g it is definitely a higher end foundation but the SA assured me that the jar would last for months and month. Having seen how little I use I fully believe him.

The packaging is fantastic. My first concern with any loose powder product is mess. This has a handy locking mechanism in the sifter so you could in theory travel with this without any powder escaping through the sifter. You simply tap out a tiny amount onto the lid, swirl you brush in it and go nuts.

Despite the matte finish and powder formula it doesn’t feel dry or powdery on the skin. The more you buff the more creamy the texture becomes. If you didn’t know better it does have the finish of a liquid once it is on, it just doesn’t normally need setting with another powder. This makes is quick and easy to apply so it is a good choice for days when you are in a rush. The finish is matte but never cakey or dry looking. It’s perfect for me!

Now I had hoped that a matte finish mineral foundation might spell the end of my shiny nose worries but alas this goes shiny just as quickly as any other foundation that I own. The difference is that this doesn’t start to separate and go patchy at all. I just blot and it looks perfectly fine again. The coverage is light to medium and buildable to an extent so this is better for good skin days but it lasts the work day on me.

I like it a lot and it has piqued my interest in mineral products. Can anyone recommend any other matte finish mineral foundations? I’d love to try some more indy brands x

Sample Sunday – L’Oreal True Match Foundation

More often than not these sample Sunday’s reveal a product that doesn’t work for me but every so often up pops up with one that I actually like. This I like.

The main selling point of this foundation is that is comes in 20 shades, the theory being that everyone should be able to find their ‘true match’. Speaking as a pasty faced lady who often struggles to find a shade that is a.) pale enough and b.) neutral enough for my skin. The shade I have here is W3 Golden Beige and it is of course too dark but the tone is promising. A little yellow but not too much. I’m holding out high hopes that they would actually have a good match for me.

The formula itself was very runny the by product of which is that it is very easy to spread over the skin. It blended in beautifully. After a few (maybe 5) minutes is set to what I would call a satin finish. Not uber matter but not greasy looking either. When I test these samples I don’t use primer or powder, I sat and watched 3 episodes of X Files (rocking Saturday night...) before this started to look oily. That’s pretty good going on my nose. The coverage is medium. Not as heavy as Revlon Colorstay but enough for me to skip concealer on a good skin day.

If I’m totally honest with you I had actually sworn off high street foundations. Maybe it’s the snob in me but I decided that if I was going to buy more I was going to treat myself to high end ones. This one is tempting me though. I’m curious to try it again. And it’s only £9.99! This little sample has sucked me in. Congratulations L’Oreal, that’s exactly what samples are supposed to do! x

November Empties

November was a pretty good month for empties. I finally finished the final two products of my project ten pan at the start of the month and my cold weather induced dry skin meant that a few body lotions that have been hanging around for a while finally bit the dust.

Benefit Badgal Plum mascara – I loved the colour and the formula but the wand is just too big for my little eyes and the price (£16.50) is just too high. I won’t be buying it again although I will miss it.

Clinique City Block Sheer – I used this as a primer and whilst I like the high SPF I didn’t like the fact that if you use too much it tends to ball up and go flaky. Yuck. It lasted for ages though and was relatively inexpensive for what it is at £15.50. The flaky issue means I won’t buy it again though.

ELF Oil Blotting sheets – Again I still don’t like the new smaller size but they are super cheap and they work. I have plenty of backups.

Botanics Hand Cream – Love the SPF10 and its slightly oily formula is great to very dry skin. I’ve had several of these and will buy it again.

ELF Makeup Remover Cleanseing Cloths – my holy grail face wipes. I have another 3 backups and will buy again.

Tiny bottle of Neutrogena Shampoo from a hotel – I just use these to deep clean my makeup brushes.

Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit Daily Scrub – I’m an idiot and bought three of the Neutrogena face washes whilst they were on offer ages ago. This was the best of a bad bunch but I still didn’t like it. The fresh grapefruit scent is about all it had going for it.

Soltan Face SPF 50+ - I’ve been using the Soltan sunscreen for years and lover them. I used this instead of moisturiser in the morning. They have a new longer lasting version out that I would like to try although I am enjoying the Simple sunscreen I am currently using.

Boots Lavender & Rosemary Body Lotion – It smelled great but the heavy perfume kind of stung my dry legs. I do better with less scented products.

Vaseline Essential Moisture Body Lotion – Meh. It was cheap and worked ok though it left me a little greasy.

Estee Lauder Pleasure Perfume Sample – I wasn’t a massive fan of this. It was just too floral and plain, it had no complexity.

Not pictured is yet another can of Batiste Brunette (love). I also had to throw out the last of my coloured ELF Studio Cream eyeliners. They have totally dried out to the point where they just fell out of the pots. Why this happened I would love to know as the black one I bought months before these is still perfectly fine.

 

I don’t see many things getting finished next month. I just seem to have had a run of lots of things coming to an end all at the same time!

Laura Geller Blush-N-Brighten in Como

I won this blush over at Pleasureflush a few weeks ago. Laura Geller isn’t a brand I have tried much from, mostly due to the fact that it isn’t overly easy to come by in the UK. I know it is sold o QVC but their shipping rates put me off. I was thrilled to have chance to try this one out! I am not sure on pricing but I *think* it is probably around the £20 which would place it firmly in the high end price bracket. Thankfully though the quality lives up to it.

You get 9g in some fabulously festive gold packaging. In the pan it looks like a MAC MSF with baby pink, caramel and berry shades swirled together. It looks a touch sparkly in the pan which made me very wary but thankfully what transfers to the cheek is a smooth shimmer rather than a glitter fest.

The texture is so much softer than any MAC MSF that I own. It just blends itself with no real effort. It is a lovely warm pink shade when applied. Granted I wouldn’t wear any highlighter with this but the shimmer is soft enough to be flattering rather than frosty.

I’m extremely impressed with the product and there is a set on QVC (Vanilla Nudes I think?) which has been calling to me recently. I’m not sure whether I will take the plunge yet though. Thoughts? X

No7 Precision Eyeliner Brush

When the No7 vouchers of temptation are around (i.e. every other month) I like to stock up on their brushes. They usually work out dirt cheap with the voucher and this particular is only £7.25 at full price. I actually have two of these!

The bristles are firm and dense with no splaying or shedding. What makes this brush a little different is the shape. Face on it’s actually quite thick which somewhat negates the precision aspect of it although it is good for producing a thicker liner. On its side it is super thin though so you can choose between thick and think liner with just the one brush.

I really like this brush and if you have the £5 vouchers for £2.25 frankly it would be rude not to give it ago. I have also discovered that in a pinch the flatter side makes it a great little lip brush too! X

*Bought by me*

Collection Overview – Foundations/ Tinted Moisturiser

I confess. I hoard base products. I have used up several this year but I know I cannot buy any more for a very long time. I think I’m going to have to start a one in, one out policy. Currently I have 7 open and 2 sealed waiting to be used. I will open one of the new ones when one of the old ones is used up. Currently in rotation we have:

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light in intensity 1. I adore this. The colour match is perfect and it lasts fantastically well. The coverage is pretty light though.

Revlon Colorstay in 110 Ivory. This is a heavy duty foundation that lasts well. At the moment I’m mixing it with the darker tinted moisturisers as it is a touch pale for me at the moment.

Hissy Fit Saving Face Foundation with SPF in shade light. This is way too dark for me even in the height of summer. I only ever use it to mix with other foundations. It’s more of a tinted moisturiser than a foundation to be honest.

Stila Oil Free Tinted Moisturiser in the shade Medium. This came in a pack from TK MAXX so I didn’t have any choice about the shade. Again it is too dark but it works fantastically when mixed with Revlon Colorstay.

Dior Forever Extreme Wear in shade 010. A fabulous colour match and lasts well on the skin although not quite as well as the Estee Lauder. This is probably because it is slightly heavier coverage so wear is more noticeable.

Bare Minerals Matte in Fair C10. I won’t say too much on this as there is a review coming up soon. I like it a lot but I don’t love it as I thought I would.

Sleek Oil Free Crème to Powder in Shell 495. I hate this. It is difficult to apply, goes patchy on my oily bits, is very yellow. Yuck. I will finish it though! I tend to wear it on the weekend when I don’t need my makeup to last all day.

And finally I have the Vichy Dermablend Corrective Foundation in shade 15 Opal and the Witch Anti Blemish tinted moisturiser in shade 01 Light waiting in the wings. I can’t wait to try them but I’m keeping the sealed for now! X

*All bought by me*

November Glossy Box

Before everyone gets into the good month/ bad month love/ hate Glossy Box thing I will throw my two pennies in. I like getting a box each month which I will have no prior warning about the contents and which contains brands I would never in a million years have through to buy from myself. Yes I think things like throwing in a mini can of Batiste and giving out tiny perfume samples of the size you typically get for free at counters is foul play from a service that markets it’s as having ‘deluxe’ samples. Yes it pisses me off that the Glossy Dots system is still down as is the beauty profile (they keep saying it’s coming soon, their version of ‘soon is different to mine’) but damnit I still like the concept.

There. Now here is a picture of my cat. She likes boxes.

Firstly we have two 1 ml (don’t be fooled by the excessive cardboard, these suckers are almost invisible to the naked eye they are that small) samples of Serge Lutens perfume. One is L’Eau Serge Lutens and the other is Vitriol d’Olleillet. Both are apparently unisex fragrances and cost £86 for the 50ml bottle. I would love to tell you what these smell like but I am currently battling a bout of facial plague* and can’t smell anything.

Next we have a 250g bag of Dead Sea Spa Magik Dead Sea Bath salts (full size 1kg for £5.50). I’m not as disappointed with this as many appear to be, I happen to like bath salts. Each to their own and you can’t please all the people all of the time. That being said if the full size is £5.50 then deluxe this is not.

A cooling foot crème in November? Are you mad?! All my feet want right now are fluffy socks and hot water bottles. Well Glossy Box have decided otherwise and sent a 15ml sample of the Arbonne FC5 Cooling Foot Crème (full size 118ml at £19). I think this will have to wait until I’m not quite so chilly. And my lid won’t fasten properly on this. Hmm...

Things are looking up with a set of Nail Rock Designer Nail Wraps (worth £6.65). The leopard print isn’t something I would ordinarily pick for myself but then that is the point of the boxes. I’m pleased I will get to try these.

And finally a Monu Skin Perfector which is actually a full sized product at 50ml. This usually costs £16.25 so it’s here that I think you see the value of the box. If it’s good then I will be very satisfied with this months box. There is only one small problem though and it’s me being thick. On the tube it says “To Use: Every morning after cleansing and toning. Provides a smooth base for makeup’. This makes me think it’s a primer. But the Monu site says use morning and evening. It talks about line smoothing technology with a soft focus effect then it waffles on about skin for a bit. Which is it? Primer or moisturiser? I need to know!

Ok so this box was a little more miss than hit with me but I can’t deny that I was excited when the postie came up the stairs and I will (eventually) use everything in the box. Out of the 5 brands I had heard of 2 and tried none. For me that’s a good thing. I signed up to this to broaden my beauty horizons and to that end I think Glossy Box are doing pretty well x

*I bought this myself*

*Ok it’s just a cold. 

30 Days of Lipstick Round 3

Lip swatches are hard work! Anyway here is the third round. Only one more to go after this! I think what we are learning here is that I play it pretty safe with my lipstick choices. These are all different but not too out there. Maybe it’s because I have very pigmented lips to a lot of colours end up looking the same in me. Whatever, here are the swatches.

Tuesday Was Estee Lauder Beige. Shock horror it’s a beige nude.

Wednesday was Rimmel Summer Angel. I need to just use this up. Look at that sad little stub of lipstick. It’s just a glossy shimmer really, no actual colour but the formula is so moisturising that I just throw it on as a lipbalm.

Thursday was Viva Glam Cyndi. A glossy, juicy looking raspberry red.

For Friday I wore Ruby & Millie Sheer Red. A more true sheer red (I love me a sheer red lippie).

Saturday was NYX B52. A slightly deeper neutral mauve.

Monday was Chanel Mademoiselle. A somewhat brown based my lips but better shade.

And today I wear Lancome Colour Fever in 308 (I can’t remember the actual name). A mid toned soft pink. 

Sample Sunday – Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream

My advice to anyone naming products is a.) keep it short and simple and b.) calling it ‘miracle’ leaves your audience with unrealistically high expectations. Unless you genuinely can get biblical results it isn’t a miracle... I half expected this to turn my tap water into wine (I kid... kind of).

All joking aside this product has been the subject of much excitement in the beauty world. I would love to try an actual Asian BB cream but I worry about fakes on the interwebs. In fact if anyone can suggest a reliable source in the UK I would be very appreciative. The UK brand versions just don’t seem to actually get the point of a BB cream. It is supposed to cover imperfections being originally designed for surgery patients to hide bruising and scarring. It is also supposed to be an all in one product that provides skincare benefits and SPF all in one. UK brands seem to be taking any old tinted moisturiser and slapping BB on the front of it. And I’m afraid that is what this product is to me. A tinted moisturiser with some clever marketing.

Like most Garnier products this has a strong fruity scent which my skin does not like. The shade light is *just * light enough for my skin but give it another month of going to work and getting home in the dark and my skin will be too pale for it. The coverage is minimal. Despite it looking quite thick in texture it sheers out on the skin and doesn’t do much to cover any imperfections. The formula is very moisturising which of course means it lasts about 3 hours on my oily bits before nothing is left at all.

Whilst it does have SPF it is only SPF15 which means it isn’t as much as I would prefer. I generally wear tinted moisturisers in the summer and I certainly want a higher SPF then!

If you have dry but flawless skin that needs little to no coverage then you may well love this. It's £9.99 which isn't bad for 50ml of product in a convenient squeezy tube. It isn’t right for me though. Please please please if you know of a good source for BB creams in the UK do let me know. I don’t trust evilbay to not give me fakes! x

Beauty Blog Link Love!

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.

--- 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!

ELF Hyper Shine Lipgloss in Sugar Plum

For £1.50 how could I not try one of these glosses. Actually I got it in a 50% off sale so it cost 75p. Bargain! With that in mind I didn’t actually have too high hopes for this gloss but I was pleasantly surprised. The shade I have is Sugar Plum which is a cool toned mauve with fine gold shimmer.

The packaging is similar to their Luscious Liquid Lipsticks except the horrible scratchy fuzzy applicator is replaced with a brush. This is an improvement in my eyes however the oozing problem remains. You twist the bottom of the packaging and nothing..... nothing..... nothing...... a gallon of product suddenly oozes everywhere. I dislike oozing.

The texture is quite thick and sticky which I actually like as it lasts longer on the lips than non sticky glosses do. It has a vaguely sweet scent and taste. The colour payoff is good too. All in all it’s a good little gloss for the price despite the packaging issues. You get 1.5ml of product which isn’t a lot but then you are paying literally pennies for it so I won’t complain.

I’m giving serious consideration to buying one of the sets that they usually come out with at Christmas. It’s not amazing but it’s pretty good and for the price that’s all I can ask x

*Bought by me*