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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Fresh skin FOTD

I recently posted on twitter that I was able to just get away with MAC Face and body & a bit of powder. Coming from having to cover my skin with layers of fuller coverage foundations a few months ago to being able to just use Face and Body, a really light foundation is something that's made me really happy & relieved. I will soon be doing a skincare post as it's been requested quite a lot & I'd like to share my finds. Anyway, on to the FOTD!

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Face

MAC Prep + Prime SPF50
MAC Face and Body C2 mixed with C5
MAC Mineralize skin finish - medium


Eyes

MAC Tisueweight e/s
MAC Bamboo e/s
YABY es035 - rose wood (M) e/s
YABY brow shadow
Diorshow blackout mascara


Lips

MAC Lazy day l/s


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tissueweight, bamboo, rose wood & lazy day underneath.





Last time hauling

Until I got my parcel & opened it I didn't realise the sheer massiveness of it. Slightly scared me & felt sorry for my bank balance for a moment. So I think I'm going to chill it for now, do a few posts on a the 300 things I've already bought & enjoy them. I still have one excitement to come, a parcel from BeautyBay.com, that will be my last... for now anyway!



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I'm currently telling myself a lot of this will go into my kit. Ahem. A little Jo Malone eye cream in there for good measure too.



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While in Boots I walked past the Sexy & the City stand & took a double step back. I picked up Samantha's, I think they're probably the best. I'm not a fan of gems on lashes & love a bit of flirty thickness.



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Nothing excited here, but after the recommendation from Nicolavc86 I hope this will aid me in my project to get my nails beautiful.


What are your most recent haulings?




Sunday, May 16, 2010

Project manicured nails

I've always had weak nails, they don't snap, they can just be peeled off & bend, almost as thin as paper. As you can tell I wasn't quite blessed with nice strong nails. My cuticles are always dry & I get a lot of those side cuts that sting, ouch! I can paint them with an undercoat & overcoat & the nail varnish will just peel off. So being slightly sick of having to have horrid nails I've decided to give them a full make over. So I popped into Superdrug & bought these to get me on my way.


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exhibit A: nails under treatment arrest! They're thin & discoloured (p.s it's not dirt under my nails, it's fake tan!).


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exhibit B: nail saviors


Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps - it's supposed to 'instantly seal & harden your nails with a breakthrough patented formula which provides a long-lasting surface' - Sounds good!

Ms.Manicure Clip, Snip & Away! - a handy pack of wooden cuticle sticks, a nail clipper, mini 6-way nail buffer & a lovely smelling had cream.

Glenis Baptiste nail polish corrector pen - says it all really! I'm not the best nail painter, specially with my nails, never looks fantastically tidy.

Soon I will have nails as stunning as these Lacquerized. Next on my list is a good cuticle remover, I keep forgetting to look when I'm in Boots! Will let you know how I get on.


To give you something pretty to look at after my disgusting nails, here are some cupcake candles I fell for from Laura Ashley

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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Haul time

So this is what happens when I come back to the blogging community: I become obsessed with products, go shopping ALL the time & my bank balance becomes a scary thing to check. Do you suffer from these problems?

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This was Thursdays haul. I was already on the way to getting most of my wish list all in one afternoons shopping. I'm going to do full reviews on the Givenchy clean to sublime makeup remover serum, it's heaven. Smells divine & leaves skin silky smooth. Also full review on Avene gel cleanser to come. I also picked up the high street copy of Compay, it's beautiful. The layouts, the slightly more square shape to the magazine, the matte stock instead of a glossy one, ahhh beauty. The weird looking belt thing on top of the magazine is amazing, it's a festival belt from H&M (£14). There's space for money, camera & phone so I nabbed in ready for the summer, because knowing my luck come August there won't be any around!

Swatches of Chanel:

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This is stunnnnnning. It's from the new summer collection which is all beautiful & I really need to get more, especially Darling lipstick. This is Genial 187. Beautiful colour pay off, amazingly creamy on the lip & such a fantastic summer colour, probably the nicest pinky coral ever.




Fridays haul:

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Xen dark lotion, Elemental Herbology skin drink (which is supposed to be great for keeping your tan), Bumble & Bumble thickening spray & Brilliantine (after HollyYM's recommendation). Full reviews to come for all of these of course!

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Ahhh & here we have Illamasqua. I love the staff at the Newcastle counter, they're so friendly & approachable, love going to that counter. Anyway, after being seduced by the imagery for the new Body Electrics collection I had to go get some. The gleam cream is gorgeous, you could compare it to strobe cream, but it's a little thicker and pinkier. I love it, will be posting FOTD/review on it soon. Also picked up the liquid metals palette, who wouldn't? & Dixi cream blusher, nom.

You want swatches I hear you say? Go on then!

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Gleam cream & Dixi

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Liquid metals: Enrapture/Surge/Solstice/Phenomena


Phew, monster post!

Friday, May 7, 2010

TOPSHOP makeup


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So everyone has been talking about it in the beauty community, at first I wasn't too interested but curiosity got the better of me. I swear I should have been a cat. My local Topshop stocks the range, so I popped in to have a quick look, ummed and ahhed and then went off to Boots. It must have been the multiple Topshop bags sporting 'Topshop makeup' that made me go back. I love the packaging, very quirky, my kind of style. However, I don't see it lasting very well & staying nice and clean in a makeup bag. I can see the paper cover on the lipstick getting a little tatty. We shall see.



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So, this is what I fell for. Desert lipstick, a looovely peachy neutral colour. I'm very much a peach girl so this was a must. It's got a lovely creamy texture, a lot of coverage and a nice sheen/gloss, a little like a cremesheen. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

The next product is an eye crayon in the colour Satchel. It's a gorgeous cool brown with very obvious but beautiful fine gold glitter. They're surprisingly creamy and nice to blend, I was half expecting them to be similar to the Barry M crayons that I feel pull a bit on the skin unless warmed up.

Finally, the liquid liner pen. Hmmmm, I love the fact that this gives a glossy finish, something I've been wanting for years from an eyeliner. However, it moves. You'll see in the final picture that at the end of the day the line isn't as crisp and it definitely transferred to my crease at some point. I'm going to give this another try, but with only a base on my lid and lots of powder on my crease. Another note on this eyeliner, it doesn't like going over product very much, I had to finish off the flick with another liner as the Topshop one needed a rest.


It was more of a smoked line at the end of the day...hmmmm. & I've got end of the day eyebrows, lets ignore that, ey!

Overall, I'm quite impressed and plan to try more products, especially the lipsticks.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Wish list


This is my current wish list, which will probably turn in to my 'own' list very shortly!

Xen tan dark lotion
Jurlique Jasmine body lotion
Bumble & Bumble thickening spray
Avene gentle gel cleanser
Bumble & Bumble brilliantine

Models own polishes
Jo Malone Greentea & Honey eye cream
Miss Dior Cherie summer edt

Illamasqua liquid metals pallete
Rayban Wayfarer


What are you lusting after at the minute?


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Aveeno review: Dry skin sufferer?

I suffer from eczema quite badly at times & due to more humid weather (well more than usual in England) it always flares up during the summer months. I've heard briefly about taking a bath with oats as it'll calm your skin, but honestly I'm more of a LUSH bath girl than an Oatso Simple bather. So when I was asked if I wanted to try out some Aveeno products I was quite happy to. If anyone else suffers from eczema you'll understand how uncomfortable it can be, constantly trying to resist scratching but then having to surrender, which really only makes it worse. So a product that I am now loving to calm my skin down is Aveeno Skin relief moisurising lotion.



  • Formulated with shea butter and a unique Triple Oat complex containing finely milled naturally active colloidal oatmeal, oat oil and oat essence.
  • Clinically proven to moisturise for 24 hours and soothe on contact, providing immediate, long lasting relief for extra dry, irritable skin.
  • Skin is left looking and feeling soft, smooth and healthy.
  • Fragrance free and fast-absorbing.
This lotion is fantastic, it really is. I'm actually wishing I had it with me right now (downside of living in two places!) because I'm fighting the urge to itch! Whenever my skin becomes irritated I grab for this lotion, slap it on & almost instantly my skin is soothed. It really does help moisturise & sooth, so if you're like me & not too keen on bathing with some porridge oats this is a great other option.

My only negative thought to Aveeno products is the smell. There's no gorgeous sweet or floral smell that I love when chosing a moisturiser. Obviously this can be a good thing for people with sensitive skin in that there's no fragrances to irritate. But there is a slight smell which is only really noticeable when applying, but it's something I'm not too keen on. It's not unpleasant but I love a fragrant moisturiser that fills my room & sticks to my skin.

I've also tried the daily moisturiser & hand cream (which I just recently found my mums cosmetics draw). Both are great moisturisers & the hand cream feels so luxurious & sinks right into the skin leaving hands silky smooth. I think I might actually go out & get a tube of it to replace my Soap & Glory hand food. Not that I've ran out of that, but my god this Aveeno one feels heavenly!

Aveeno products are available in Boots, Superdrug & I'd imagine at large supermarkets, it's widely available & prices are around the £5+ mark.

Want to know more from other eczema sufferers? There's some great posts on here http://www.eczemavoice.com

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Favourite thing right now




Currently I'm loving mixing my blushers. I've been doing it for a while now & can't just be happy with the one! My new favourite is mixing MAC Melba with Illamasqua...erm unrequited? I'm not too sure exactly as the sticker has come off (fab!) but it's a very light, cool bluey pink. Love it. Mixed together these give a gorgeous coral. Missed out on Ripe Peach? Try these two or very similar blushes, seems like an exact dupe.

also wearing:

Face:
a mix of MAC studio tech & fix fluid.... I'm a foundation mixer too!
MAC fix powder
Golden Refined bronzer
Melba & Illamasqua love mix
Soft & Gentle MSF

eyes:
Soft & Gentle MSF
Kid e/s
Diorshow blackout mascara
#7 lashes

lips:
Ravishing l/s
Fold & Tuck l/g