Urban Decay Book Of Shadows Vol. III review and pictures

So here it is, Urban Decay's newest Book Of Shadows, volume 3 (in fact it's number 4 since they also published the Alice in Wonderland one, but hey who's counting?). It's called UD hearts NYC and it's all about New York City. To be honest with you, I don't like the design at all, I find it pretty ugly, especially the faces, but then you don't even have to look at it since the eyeshadows are - as usual - in the drawer below. I bought the first Book Of Shadows because of the pretty pop-up design it had, didn't even know much about Urban Decay back then, only discovered how good the eyeshadows were afterwards, but this time I bought it for the eyeshadows. Read more of my review and see pictures (including swatches) after the jump!

My first NOTD

I don't wear nail polish very often, mostly because it chips off my fingernails within a matter of days, sometimes hours. I have thin, bendy nails and nail polish just doesn't stick to them. I usually paint my toes in the summer, but in the winter when they're hidden, they're usually bare. However, I decided to paint my fingernails while painting my toe nails and decided to take pictures. So here it is, my first nail of the day. Can't promise there'll be many, but we'll see. I used Max Factor Nailfinity in 830 Dusky Rose. I love their Lipfinity long lasting lipsticks, so I thought I'd try their nail polish which also promises to be long lasting. So far I don't have any chips, but it's only been 24 hours. No doubt there'll be some tomorrow. Dusky Rose is a lovely shade, it's a muted fuschia colour, not too bright, but definitely noticable. The formula is pretty nice, easy to apply, but I'm not an expert on nail polish and haven't tried many, so don't know how it compares with other - popular - brands. I only used one layer as it's pretty opaque and I hate waiting for ages for my nail polish to dry. I'm also pretty bad at applying, so apologies for that. I do find though that the dry nail polish easily peels off my skin the following morning, so I tend not to bother tidying up the edges. Anyway, here are the pictures, let me know what you think.

I went shopping today...

My husband has taken the children to his parents for 3 days, so I finally have some me time on my hands and today I went to London for a spot of shopping. This is what I bought: As you can see, I didn't hold back, I bought quite a few things, but I can honestly say I'm very happy with everything I got. I haven't worked out how much I've spent yet, but it's quite a lot. In my defence, some of the things you see here were samples and gift with purchase, eg you get that lovely make up bag if you spend over £40 on Paul & Joe products. Also I bought the other pieces of make up in Debenhams and Boots and as I have both their loyalty cards, I've earned some points, so I actually saved money. Well, off future purchases anyway... See more pictures of what I bought after the jump!

Urban Decay Book Of Shadows III now available on Debenhams.com!

Calling all UK based make up lovers! I have just found out that Urban Decay's new Book Of Shadows III eyeshadow palette is currently available from www.debenhams.com. It's priced at £30. Click here to order it! For more details and lots of pictures (and excellent swatches!) check out Temptalia's site: http://www.temptalia.com/urban-decay-book-of-shadows-vol-iii http://www.temptalia.com/urban-decay-book-of-shadows-vol-iii-review-photos-swatches This is great news for us, because I believe this palette won't be available in the US until September! I have been told that it is an online exclusive to Debenhams right now and will launch in-stores on 6th September. I have ordered one and hope I can review it sometime next week! Are you buying this palette? Or are you waiting for the infamous Naked palette?

Mac Alice + Olivia dazzleglass cremes and Partylicious pigment

This review is probably a bit late since some of the Alice + Olivia collection is now sold out online, and the only other place they're sold is Harrods, which will only suit those living in London. The dazzleglass cremes are all still available, but Partylicious and Later pigments are now sold out, together with one of the nail polishes. the curse of limited edition. I was lucky (and determined) enough to buy Partylicious pigment before it sold out and I'm pretty happy with it. It's a nice medium turquoise shade, finely milled and not at all glittery. I got two of the dazzleglass cremes: If It's Pink and Sparklicious, which are very glittery as dazzleglasses should be. If It's Pink is a bright pink shade, less shimmery than Sparklicious, a milky pale pink with loads of glitter. If It's Pink works well on its own, Sparklicious is probably better layered on top of a brighter lipstick.

Sparklicious, If It's Pink, Partylicious

See more pictures of my haul and me wearing some of these products!

Mac Dare to Wear lipglass review

I have just realised that most of my recent posts focused on lip products, which must make you think I only buy lipsticks and lipglosses (okay, okay, I did have that huge eyeshadow and blush haul from In The Groove a month ago, so maybe not). Since I wasn't interested in the eyeshadows in the recent Mac collections, and an awful lot of lovely lip products came out at the same time, I'm afraid I will carry on with the trend and show you the new lipglosses from Mac's Dare to Wear collection. I bought them along with dazzle lipsticks and goodies from the Alice + Olivia collection, details of that haul can be found here. Mac came out with a new formula that is much more pigmented than the other lipglosses they do, and have a more whipped formula, although they are also quite sticky, but probably not as much as their normal lipglasses. They are shimmery, so similar to dazzleglasses, but unlike those, these Dare to Ware glosses are very pigmented and also very long lasting. They even last through a meal which is very unusual for me. There's approximately 3 times more products in them than dazzleglasses. The tubes are long and thin and they have doe foot applicators. They come in 6 shades and of course I had to get them all. The colours are all vibrant, ranging from pale pink with blue glitter through bright red to deep purple. The shades are: Bold & Brash, Gimme That!, Ban This!, Dare to Dare, So Bad, Wind Me Up. My favourite ones are Gimme That and Wind Me Up, but I can honestly say they are all lovely. If you're not into very bright colours, try Dare to Dare or Wind Me Up as they are the least bright.

Bold & Brash, Gimme That!, Ban This!, Dare to Dare, So Bad, Wind Me Up

See more photos and swatches after the jump!

Mac haul part 2 and Dazzle lipstick review

I went to check out the rest of the dazzle lipsticks at Mac on Saturday as I only ordered 5 of them initially based on the swatches I'd seen online, but had another 5 maybes on my list. I ended up buying 6 more and in fact I didn't buy 2 in the end, and now I'm thinking about going back to get those as well, although those were my least favourite ones, but I might as well get them for the collection. I also forgot to B2M for them and I still have 2 lipsticks worth of empties, so might as well use them, eh? EDIT: I went back today and got the remaining two lipsticks and also managed to remember to use my B2M empties so they were free! I initially bought the 5 dazzle lipsticks (my original post on my Dare to Wear, Alice + Olivia and Digi Pops haul can be found here) I knew would love most based on the swatches and reviews I saw online. I was not disappointed at all. I got Baby's On Fire, Naughty You, Troublemaker, Hot Sass and Infused with Glam. They are all bright coloured with a fair amound of shimmer. Baby's On Fire has the least amount of shimmer, it's actually very subtle, so if you'd like to try one of these but don't want a lot of shimmer, Baby's On Fire is the one to go for. I have to add though that even the more shimmery ones don't feel at all gritty on the lips and I find them all really nice and quite long lasting too. Second time around I bought Glaringly Hip, Liquid Lurex, Win Win, Sweet Bits (honestly, who comes up with these names???), Hellraiser and Snazzy. Glaringly Hip wasn't even on my maybe list (how did I miss it?) but it's ever so pretty, it's a shimmery peachy coral - what could be more perfect? Liquid Lurex has no colour itself, but it has a lot of multicolour shimmer, not too sure what to do with it yet, but it's very pretty. Win Win is a lovely baby pink, Sweet Bits is light purple, Hellraiser is purple with mainly blue glitter, and Snazzy is a beautiful dark raspberry pink.

Glaringly Hip, Liquid Lurex, Win Win, Sweet Bits, Hellraiser, Snazzy

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

A bit of me time

This post isn't strictly about cosmetics, although as it is about me, you can be sure I will squeeze them in here too, but I thought I'd share with you my perfect "me" day. As a busy mum of 3 young children (9, nearly 6 and 4 years old), I don't have a lot of time for myself. Although I am a stay at home mum, I am always busy with either housework, food shopping, cooking and/or looking after my children. And as it is the summer holidays, I'm currently with my children all day every day. So I was really feeling the need to have some me time and finally I got it, on Saturday. My husband took the children to the swimming pool at 10.00 am, so I had to make sure I got up early enough to get the children ready and give him a chance to get ready, which was going to be 8.30 am, but somehow turned into 9.00 am. Nice. :) Once they'd left, I had a leisurely shower, including shaving my legs and other body parts (you really don't need to know the details). It's lovely to be able to have a shower without having to listen out for whether anyone is crying, especially as i have a very whingy 4-year-old and a rather agressive nearly-6-year-old, so chances are if I leave them alone, my nearly-6-year-old will be beating the crap out of my 4-year-old. :D

My recent Mac haul

I'm back! Sorry it's been a while since I last posted on here, but I've had a lot less spare time lately. What with having a new kicthen installed and all the cleaning and sorting out that followed, and children at home on their summer holiday, I've hardly had any time for myself. What little I've had I've spent reading forums and blogs and searching eBay for bargains. I also never got around to taking photos of my new purchases, let alone looks, so there wasn't much to write about. But now... as we've entered into August, that means Mac has launched its new collections and of course I've had to endulge. Unfortunately it turned out that the UK isn't getting everything from the new Digi Pops collection, including the new dazzleglasses and the Look in the box sets. I wasn't bothered about the box sets, but I really wanted some of the dazzleglasses, although luckily it seems I may be able to get them from a very nice person on Spektra. I have placed a rather large order with Mac the day the new collections were launched on the website and my black box arrived this afternoon. So I thought I'd show you what I got and I will try and take pictures of swatches and possible looks over the next few days as well - we'll see how that works out. But for now, here's the details and some pictures of my haul: