Monday 27 December 2010

Finished! The December edition

I have seen this on other blogs and thought it's such a great idea to review products that I've finished over the course of the month, however, I'd never got round to it (I did a Hitting Pan post a while ago, but that's as far as it got.) As I have such a big stash, it's not very often that I use up anything, so it's pretty unusual that I've actually managed to finish 4 products pretty much at the same time. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to show you the products I've finished, tell you how I liked them and whether I'll be repurchasing them. I will try to make this into a regular feature on the blog, but we'll see how it goes since I don't often finish products.

First up it's my favourite face primer, Meteorites Perles Light Diffusing Perfecting Primer by Guerlain. A very light gorgeously scented (parma violets, mmm!) slightly shimmery quite runny liquid that gives a nice sheen to your face while mattefying it (I know, it sounds odd, but it works) and helping your make up last through the day. It's expensive at £40 per 30 ml, but you don't need a lot, one press of the pump dispenses enough for your whole face. It's very interesting, you have loads of little balls filled with primer and the pump sucks up one or two balls and squeezes them out onto your finger. The outer "shell" is so soft it just disintegrates, so you get this gorgeous smooth wonderfully light shine controlling illuminating primer. Do you get the impression that I love this stuff? 


Here is a picture of how it looks when full. The bottle is heavy glass, it feels luxurious just as much as the primer inside does. Will I be repurchasing it? Of course. For now I have 2 back ups, so I'm okay, but I'm always looking for good bargains on this, so might stock up again soon.



Find out what other products I've finished after the jump!

Friday 24 December 2010

Merry Christmas To All My Lovely Readers!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my blog and leave lovely comments. It's a really great feeling to know that there are so many people out there interested in what I have to say. To this day I've not had a negative comment and I feel really lucky to have so many followers.


The tree above is our own decorated with the help of my 3 children, so while it's not a fancy designer one, it's ours.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my lovely readers! Hope to see you all next year!

Don't buy this! Boots Cotton Wool Double Faced Round Pads

I go through cotton wool pads very quickly since I wear make up every day, and am very good about removing it. So on a recent trip to Boots I bought this pack of cotton wool pads (mainly to make up the £50 total necessary for the bonus points Boots were offering at the time), in fact I got 4 of them! Unfortunately it turned out to be a mistake, because these pads are pretty rubbish.


According to the packaging they're supposed to be made of high quality non-fleecing cotton, they do not fluff or lint, and therefore are suitable for contact lens wearers. This is not the case, in fact they do fluff quite a bit, they fall apart very easily, and they are not half as good as my ordinary Superdrug cotton wool pads. I am a contact lens wearer, although I've not had problems with fluff getting in my eyes yet, but it's mainly because I've been extra careful with these.

When I tried to remove nail polish with them, they were even worse, just stuck to the nail polish and practically fell apart when I tried to wipe the polish off. I also use cotton wool pads wet for wiping off face masks (like Mac Volcanic Ash Thermal Mask and Avon Rejuvenate Mineral Mask) and the Superdrug cotton wool pads work really well even wet, whereas these ones just fall apart.

Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do with 4 packs of these, I can't return them now as it's been too long since I bought them. Any ideas?

Finally see some more pictures after the jump!

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Update on my Project Skincare Samples

You might remember this post from last month, so I thought I'd do a little update to show you how I'm getting on. I've used up quite a few of my samples, still have plenty to go, and so far there have been two products that I really liked, and so ended up purchasing the full sized article. Although the whole point was that I use up the samples before I purchase any more skincare products, in my defence, the products I bought I didn't actually own similar things to.

Firstly, I got Chanel Body Excellence Revitalizing Smoothing Scrub which is a lovely body scrub with a gorgeous scent that I just couldn't resist. Now unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available in the shops anymore (you guessed it, I got it on eBay), which is a shame, because it's very nice. Gentle enough, but effective, leave my skin really soft, and it smells gorgeous.


See more pictures and find out what other products I purchased!

Tuesday 21 December 2010

Laura Geller Escape To The Tropics Collection Review

Well, not the whole collection, because I only got 4 products whereas the collection actually contains 7. The reason I only have 4 is that this collection isn't available in the UK, so I purchased the products on eBay (where else?) and I only got the ones I was really interested in:


Blush-N-Brighten baked cheek color in Tropic Hues (9 g): "Sheer enough to look natural, and colorful enough to look great! Like Laura's other baked items, this powder is made in Italy with an amazing process that begins with a multi-color, pigment-infused liquid that becomes a rich, silky powder after baking for 24 hours on a terra cotta pan. This superb formula is mineral oil- and paraben-free. It is also loaded with antioxidants."

Dream Creams lip palette in Tropic Hues (8 ml): "Each of the four shades were chosen to perfectly match the colors in Blush-N-Brighten. Use one stripe, or combine them all." It came with a retractable gold lipbrush (forgot to take photo, sorry).

Baked Eye Dreams palette in Sunset Horizon (6 g): "Like the Dream Creams lip palette, there are four stripes, one for each shade."

The collection also includes:
  • Balance-N-Brighten (9 g): "This baked color-correcting foundation helps balance and even out the palest skin tones." Comes in three shades: Fair, Regular and Tan.
  • I-Care waterproof eyeliner in Purple Paradise: "Soft, smooth, and super long-wearing, this formula glides into place for a well-defined, flattering line."
  • Double-ended eye brush
Quotes were taken from QVC, where US readers can purchase the set for $54.12 + $5.97 shipping and handling. Unfortunately it isn't available in the UK yet, not even sure if it's going to be, because the Tropics Collection that included the mini-version of Tropic Hues blush was also not available. Thanks to eBay I did manage to get it, and ever since I'd been wanting a full size version of it. You'll see why.

If you've been reading my blog for a while you will know that I'm a big fan of  mineralized products (and if you haven't, well now you know) and I really like Laura Geller's baked blushes too. They all look absolutely gorgeous and they are very good quality, pigmented and very finely milled. One of my favourites is her duo blush in Boysenberry/Amaretti which comes with a highlighter part that is an exact dupe for Mac Pleasureflush MSF. Anyway, back to this collection, Tropic Hues is a breathtakingly beautiful pink blush, it's a blend of apricot, pink and gold with slight shimmer (not glittery though).

Dream Creams lip palettes are another favourites of mine, they are very creamy, moisturising and really nice to use. They are one of the nicest lipsticks I've ever tried. I think I already had 3 or 4 of them. This one is called Tropic Hues that has 4 shades: Sheer Golden Shimmer, Burnished Apricot, Peachy Pink, Deep Plum.

The Baked Eye Dreams palette is a new product and other than swatching it, I haven't really tested it, but it seems nicely pigmented and soft. This shade is called Sunset Horizon, it has four shades: pink, copper, gold and brown.

Right, let's move onto the product pictures and swatches. Apologies in advance about the lip palette swatches, I was in a hurry, so they are not the best. 

Monday 20 December 2010

Christian Dior Tailleur Bar eyeshadow palette and Serum de Rouge

Another limited edition collectors' item for you. I've recently purchased this gorgeous set on eBay (you gotta love eBay!) for a good price, to go with my existing Dior palette collection. (In case you haven't seen my impressive Dior eyeshadow stash, you can check it out here!) The set was produced in very limited numbers and it is very pretty. Comes in a white presentation box (also protected by a white sleeve) with a numbered booklet (mine is 352) that shows you the history of Tailleur Bar (Bar Suit) and an idea for a look you can create with the set.


The set includes a beautiful eyeshadow palette embossed with the legendary Tailleur Bar image and a Serum de Rouge in shade 470. I haven't swatched either of them yet, I'm too scared to ruin the palette, and the serum just looked so pretty (don't you just love the look of new unused lipsticks?). I do intend to use them eventually, but for now, I will save them.The eyeshadow palette has 2 shades of grey, a black, a dark blue and light pink, so it's certainly great for creating a smoky eye look. The medium pink Serum de Rouge is just the right shade for the lips to go with it.

I'm not really sure what more to add to this, so shall we just move on to the pictures?

Sunday 19 December 2010

Another one for the collection: Chantecaille Starlight Face Powder

I was lucky enough to buy this beautiful limited edition Chantecaille powder on eBay for a pretty good price, brand new, so I thought I'd show it off. As you know, I collect Chantecaille compacts and palettes and if you haven't seen it yet, you can check out my gorgeous collection here

Starlight Face Powder, I believe was released 3 years ago as part of a set (that also included a lipgloss and eyeshadow), so it is now very rare. It is a beautiful shimmery powder that comes in a gorgeous gold compact and gold bag.


I think the shimmery top layer is just overspray, but don't expect me to ruin this gorgeous powder to find out because I won't! I know, I'm weird, but I prefer to keep these gorgeous powders untouched for my collection, so unless I find another one to use, it won't be touched for a while yet (ever?).

Anyway, not much more to say, so let's move onto the pictures!

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Mission: Nail Rescue part 4 - The Conclusion

This is the fourth part of my nail rescue mission report and unfortunately the results are not as good as I would have hoped, especially based on what Nails Inc promised me on the box of their treatment pack. According to them, by 6 weeks I should be seeing a big improvement in the condition of my splitting, weak nails. Unfortunately this is not the case. My nails have stopped splitting further, that's true, but even after 7 weeks they are still weak and very bendy. They break easily and the nail polish still chips off them in a matter of hours because they are so bendy. 


I was also unimpressed by the amount of cuticle oil included in the set as it ran out within 4 weeks or so. I'm still only halfway through the base coat, yet I have no cuticle oil left. Mind you, the cuticle oil didn't seem to make much of a difference anyway. 

I will keep using the base coat and top coat (the latter is really fast drying) and keep taking the food supplement, so hopefully there will be some more improvement. I have also invented in Mavala's Scientifique which is a nail hardener that you put on the tip of your nails only and I have to say, that has made some difference. I haven't done anything with my nails lately as I haven't been well for the last 9 days, but will persevere. The only thing with that is if you get it on your skin, it hardens that too, so you have to be very careful. I don't know if that's the reason why, but the skin next to the tip of my nail on my right thumb has cracked twice over the last week or so. Maybe it's because of the weather, I don't know, but it is pretty painful. 

Anyway, here are some more pictures of my miserable looking nails. I think you can agree that the mission has been unsuccessful.

Chantecaille Spring 2011 Collection

I have just seen the details of the Chantecaille Spring Collection and I am so excited about it!



Just how gorgeous is this palette? Absolutely beautiful! And you know I'm a sucker for Chantecaille palettes (if you haven't seen it yet, check out my collection here). So of course I will be purchasing it.

Here are the collection details:

Sea Turtle Palette ($79.00) (Limited Edition)

This limited edition palette, inspired by the beauty of green sea turtles and their warm, sandy nesting grounds, reflects the fluid ease, billowy freedom and insouciant vintage Parisian chic of fashion. Three Eye Shades and one Cheek Shade reflect the golden warmth of new spring neutrals complimented by an on trend deep sea green eye defining shade. Composed of formulas with the finest pearl and pigment particles to create a natural, satin, sheer veil on the skin with a glowing effect. Eye shades never travel or crease. For the complete Spring look, follow with one of our new long lasting, full color Hydra Chic shades. With the purchase of this refillable palette, 5% of proceeds will help WIDECAST ensure the survival of sea turtles.

New Hydra Chic Shades ($30.00)

To complete this clean, graceful and sophisticated look, Chantecaille created three new Hydra Chic shades. Hydra Chic is a modern full-impact lipstick that is hydrating and luminous with six hours of great color wear. Natural extracts of papaya and orchid help to soften lips and provide anti-oxidant and anti-aging protection. Raist, a natural sugar derivative, provides immediate and comforting hydration.
  • Aster A bright vibrant floral pink shade. Not too cool and not too warm, this pink emphasizes and brightens lips.
  • Canna A soft peach shade warms the face.
  • Willow Impart the sophisticated look of the neutral lip with this deep beige shade.

 
Details and photos Temptalia

Monday 13 December 2010

Dior Spring 2011 Collection Sneak Preview: Cannage eye palette #001

As promised, here's a sneak preview of Dior's spring 2011 collection. I've managed to buy one of the Cannage palettes on eBay and it's finally arrived (no thanks to the seller who didn't post it for 4 days after payment!). I've got #001 which is Dawn Grey, there is also another palette (#002) with brown shades. For details of the collection, click here


The palette comes in a black box with silver letters and silver CD logo. The palette itself is in a lovely quilted leather cover. It looks very similar to the holiday eye palette actually. The palette also has the letters D i o r hanging on the top left corner as charm. Inside there are 4 eyeshadows and a double ended applicator. The 4 eyeshadows are matte black, shimmery dark grey, shimmery light grey/silver and shimmery light pink. The texture of the eyeshadows is lovely, the black shade is really pigmented, soft and not at all chalky. Shame goes to the dark and light grey shades. The light pink shade is a little different in texture, very sheer, it's definitely more of a highlighter, similar to the highlighter shades in the designer palettes. All in all it's a really nice palette, I'm looking forward to using it and also to getting the brown version. I love Dior eyeshadows and this one didn't disappoint either.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump! 

Thursday 9 December 2010

Christian Dior Spring 2011 Make Up Collection

I'd been really looking forward to seeing details of the Dior Spring 2011 collection and finally here they are! Not very springlike to be honest, there are lots of greys in the collection, but pretty just the same. As you know I'm a huge fan and avid collector of Dior eyeshadows, so I'm of course very excited about them especially. And I have been lucky enough to snap up one of the Cannage Palettes on eBay, so will post a review as soon as I have it!


Here are the details of the collection:

Serum de Rouge Lip Treatment
  • #240 Pink Coral Serum
  • #460 Pink Mauve Serum
Addict Ultra Gloss
  • #654 Pink Veil
  • #707 Trianon Silver
Rouge Dior Lip Color
  • #540 Spring Pink
  • #658 Chic Pink
Dior 5-Colour Designer Eye Palette #018 Soft Pink Design
 
Dior 5-Colour Eyeshadow #034 Gris Gris
 
Dior Cannage Palette #1 and #2

Mascara Diorshow 360  #090
 
Dior Eyeliner Pencil #077 Smoky Grey
 
Dior One-Colour Eyeshadow #053 

Colour moist powder SPF 8 in #001, #002, #003
 
Dior Vernis Nail Enamel 
  • #108
  • #707 Gris Montaigne
See more pictures after the jump!

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Accessorize merged blush review

Firstly I'd like to apologise for not posting for a few days, but I haven't been well (caught a lovely virus) and have been busy with friends and family. Also, it is very unlike me, but I haven't been buying a lot of make up lately, so have run out of inspiration on what to write about. But then I remembered these blushes I bought from Accessorize a while ago (you can check out my initial post here) and actually used them a few times the other week, so I thought I'd tell you all about them.


These are baked domed blushes, not dissimilar to Mac mineralize blushes in appearance, some with more than one colours merged in them, some with just one colour. I believe there are 4 shades in the range, but I only got 3, the remaining shade was too dark and bronze for my liking. You can check out the whole range on the Accessorize website. The shades I got are Pretty Pink, Starlet and Diva. 

I have seen Pretty Pink on a few blogs, it's been compared to Mac's Moon River mineralize blush (from Grand Duos). It is an incredibly sheer powder, gives nice pink highlights to the skin, but as a blush it's not much use. I'm fairly light skinned (Light Medium Mac MSFN shade in winter) and it hardly shows up on me. It's also very frosty (not shimmery though).

Starlet is a bit brighter, darker pink, but it still takes a few goes to show up on me properly. It gives a nice pink flush, but it's cooler than Pretty Pink. Still on the light side though and quite frosty.

Diva is my favourite, even though it's the least pretty to look at (I love the marbelised effect of Pretty Pink), it only has one colour in it, but it delivers the most colour onto my cheeks. Despite looking scary in the pan, it's nowhere near as dark, as you can see in the swatches below. All of these blushes are a lot less pigmented than Mac blushes, which isn't too bad with the darker shades as you can always layer them on and it's easier to avoid looking like a clown if you're a bit heavy handed, but the light shades (especially Pretty Pink) only deliver frost and not much colour even after layering. 

These blushes cost £5 each and you get 8 gramms per blush. Would I recommend them? Diva, yes, maybe even Starlet if you're light and cool toned (can pull of cool pink blushes), but not Pretty Pink unless you want a highlighter and not a blush.

See more photots and swatches after the jump!

Friday 3 December 2010

Accessorize Pink Spice Nail Polish - a possible dupe for Mac's Bad Fairy?

I told you about my Accessorize haul a few weeks ago, but never got around to showing you the products in detail (I haven't actually used anything other than the blushes, which I will try to review in the coming week). Today I want to show you Pink Spice nail polish which is a beautiful pinky-red duochrome colour. I haven't done side by side comparison, but I think it is a very good dupe for Mac Bad Fairy nail polish (from Venomous Villains), maybe a bit less red and more pink, but pretty close. For comparison I reviewed Bad Fairy over here, but please bear in mind that those pictures were taken on a sunny autumn day whereas these ones were taken on a gloomy winter day. On my nails there really doesn't seem to be a big difference.

With flash

Pricewise, Accessorize nail polishes cost £4 which is half the price of Mac polishes. Both Mac and Accessorize polishes are 10 ml. Qualitywise, Bad Fairy took 3 coats to look even, Pink Spice took 2 coats. Pink Spice applied much more evenly and was less runny than Bad Fairy. Nail polishes chips on me almost instantly, so that's pretty equal really. Finally, since Bad Fairy is now discontinued, if you want the shade, Pink Spice is your best bet as it's available from Superdrug and the Accessorize website. I would recommend checking out the line, there are some real gems in there (including dupes for the entire Orly Cosmic FX collection).

See more pictures and swatches below!

Thursday 2 December 2010

In case you were wondering...

...about where my blog sale has gone: I've deleted it. Since there was hardly any interest in it and all the unwanted make up was cluttering up my very limited amount of storage space, I decided that I would give it all away instead.

I have come across Give and Make Up a site run by the lovely Caroline who has been organising donations for Refuge, a charity helping women and children who suffer domestic violence. Caroline is kindly collecting donations of make up, skin care and all sort of other beauty and hygiene products, so I thought what better place to send my unwanted make up and other bits and bobs. 

Caroline is also collecting donations for shoe boxes, an appeal organised by Samaritans Purse which is also an excellent cause. My 3 children and I have prepared 3 shoe boxes filled with toys, stationery and hygiene essenstials for children who live in the poorest countries and will most probably only receive that one gift this Christmas. I believe our boxes were sent to Belarus.

Anyway, if you feel like being charitable, please feel free to check out the above mentioned websites. If you have other ideas for charitable giving, don't hesitate to tell me about them in the comments.

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Chantecaille Tiger In The Wild palette and pictures of my collection

I love Chantecaille's limited edition palettes, my obsession with them started in 2008 when they released their Protected Paradise eyeshadow and face powder (more on them below). I have finally managed to get my hands on their newest beauty, Tiger In The Wild. It had been on my wishlist for a few months, but I was very reluctant to pay £73 for it. You know me, I love my bargains, so I was chuffed to find it on eBay for "just" £41.99 delivered.


What is it? A four pan gunmetal sleek palette (pans are removable, so it is refillable) with 3 eyeshadows (Cream, Pewter and Indigo) and a blush (Persimmon). You also get a very good size mirror. All 4 pans come in a beautiful tiger design to celebrate and raise awareness for the wild tiger, and as usual, Chantecaille are donating a percentage of the profits to support TRAFFIC, an international wildlife trade monitoring organisation to help save last tigers in the wild. So if you're having trouble justifying the price, it's all for a good cause! I love the design and the colours seem very wearable and pretty. I apologise in advance for the lack of swatches though, I have not touched it yet, I'm a bit funny like this and don't like messing up gorgeous palettes and powders. But I will show you some close up pictures though and you can find some great swatches here and here.

In this post I would also like to show you my pretty amazing Chantecaille collection, if you're anything like me, you surely won't mind drooling over the pictures I'm sure.

See more pictures after the jump!

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