...beauty: New Year, New Eyeshadows!! Make Up Geek Eyeshadow Review and LORAC Serenity dupe...

Two years ago  I started swapping out my traditional make up for talc free, paraben free mineral make up. There were two flaws in my amazing plan: the first being that I had more make up than I thought so rather than replacing items I simply doubled the amount I own, the second being that minerals can be a bit of a palaver to use, especially when travelling, and the pots don't make it easy to really see all the colours I own so I tend to forget what I have and end up sticking to the same colours.

Due to this cosmetic mis-calcuation, when I saw Marlena's video I was definitely not in the market for trying anything new but, somehow, my habitual behaviour saw me clicking on the link and checking out the starter kit.......
Talc free you say?
No Parabens?
No filler?
All in a convenient MAC sized pan at a limited time only reduced price??

SOLD! To the cosmetic compulsive at the back......

While I waited for the shadows to arrive I felt uneasy. I already have too much stuff, what if they're rubbish and I've wasted my money?

Well, they finally arrived last Thursday and I am truly ecstatic to say that I have ZERO regret with my decision!
I have tried all eight shadows and love them all. My favourite colour so far is Glamorous, a BEAUTIFUL golden brown that is a perfect dupe for LORAC's Serenity eyeshadow at about a quarter of the price - amazing!!

One shadow I was a bit concerned about was Purely Naked, I just didn't think I would use it, but it is the perfect nude socket colour for my skin and I am so glad that Marlena included it in the kit.

Click here to see the kit and be sure to check out the rest of the MUG website for some amazing tutorials.

Next up:
- BLOG SALE featuring MAC, Bare Escentuals and Mally beauty!!
- Multiple EOTDs featuring MUG eye shadows!!

Please come back and check them out :)

Thanks for reading xx

...festiveness: Merry Christmas!!

Title says it all, have a good one everybody!!
xx

... Prizes!!! Funny Face Beauty Holiday Giveaway No.3

If you are interested in winning goodies from Bare Escentuals, MAC, Too Faced and loads more gorgeous brands, just click HERE and follow the instructions.

Good luck!!

... beauty: Project Blade.....

For those of you who are reading and wondering what the f@!$ I am going on about there is a scene in Blade 3 where Jessica Biel is upset and angry (no spoilers here!) so, rather than letting her wallow and break down, Blade tells her with great conviction "Use it"

Do you see where I'm going here? Possibly not, I am being rather random and far reaching, even for me.

To make things clear, this is my own use-sh*t-up project and rather than having specific item goals like project 10 pan, etc, the theme of my little venture is, simply, use it.

See, I got there in the end!

Anyway, I certainly have been using it this last couple of weeks.
So far I have finished a sample tube of Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk foundation (glowing review to follow) and a MAC eyeshadow (Innuendo) and a Bare Escentuals Buxom gloss (Dolly) are sounding their death rattles.

I will post pics of all my empties at the end of the month (year!!) and welcome any comments or compadres on this little journey of mine.

Project Blade is a go!!

... beauty: Holy sh*t, Prescriptives is back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just checked my emails and there, clear as day was a Prescriptives newsletter. WTF? I thought, Prescriptives doesn't exist anymore!??

Well, they are back, this time operating on a website only basis and, unfortunately, only in the USA.

How long will I have to wait before I can get my hands on a Super Line Preventor here in the UK???

I don't know, but I have asked them and they'd bloody well better tell me!

If you missed them too check them out here

..... Beauty - Trilogy Replenishing Night cream and Cream Cleanser Review

Yay, a positive review coming up!!

Recently, I replenished my Kimberly Sayer day cream from Love Lula (see here for a review) and was given a choice of samples to receive with it.

I chose the Cream Cleanser and Replenishing Night Cream from Trilogy.

First up, the cleanser:

image: lovelula.com

I received a small sachet of this which lasted me about three days and thought it was a very nice product. It didn't break me out at all and had a lovely rich, creamy texture that left my oily, sensitive skin feeling clean and hydrated. I didn't test it on mascara removal because I use a different product for that but it removed my face make up easily.

If it was ever on offer I would definitely consider buying the full size.

Now on to my favourite, the Replenishing Night Cream:

image: lovelula.com

I will be honest, this product, for me at least, doesn't have the best smell. My husband commented that I smelled a bit like curry, but it's more like the herbs/spices you would put into the curry than the actual dish itself. The smell does fade though and isn't that strong to begin with but it's best to know these things in advance I think - forewarned is forearmed!

The texture of the product is surprisingly light when applied to the skin, I noticed hardly any shine after using it but my skin felt incredibly hydrated and calmed.

This product I would definitely purchase as a full size, whether or not it was on offer!! It's not a miracle in a pot or anything like that but my skin really liked it and, for me, that is the most important thing.

Anyone else tried any Trilogy? Let me know your thoughts......

... beauty: Nip + Fab Clean Fix Oil review ...

I love oil. I love it for my skin, I love it for my hair. Love it.

Therefore, I thought to myself, surely an oil cleanser is the logical next step?

I was particular about my choice: I needed a rinse off oil that could handle heavy eye make up.
After a bit of research I decided on Clean Fix. It is at the lower end of the cleansing oil price spectrum and is readily available in Boots.

image: johnlewis.com

Things didn't get off to the greatest start when I had trouble finding a bottle that wasn't covered in oil, but I just put that down to people fiddling about and testing the product, as demonstrated on most of the un-manned make up counters. This was a mistake.
The product itself is lovely, it dissolves waterproof mascara easily, it smells beautifully of Neroli and rinses off easily with water. Perfect then? Not quite.

The first problem is that the main ingredient is mineral oil.

The second problem with this product is the pump. It leaks. Badly.
I used the oil on the first night and on the second night went back to my bathroom cupboard full of expectation for more loveliness but when I picked up the bottle I realised that it was covered in oil. I looked closer and saw that it was actually in a puddle of oil. The product seemed to be continuously seeping out of the hole in the base of the pump.
Naively, I thought that maybe this was a first night issue and that after this initial regurgitation it would somehow right itself. Sadly, after my first night clean up, the same issue greeted me the second night.

If this product was cheap these problems would be annoying but at over £10 they are unacceptable.

So the search continues, next up for trial: Cetaphil.

Thanks for reading, feel free to share any thoughts.... :)