Guerlain Les Ors Holiday 2010 Collection Haul

As you know, I was very excited about Guerlain's holiday collection Les Ors and I have already told you all about the new Rouge G Brillant here. Now I'm going to show you my latest haul from this collection. Ta-da!

I got:

Meteorites Perles D'Or

Or Imperial Sublime Radiant Powder

Ombre Eclat 4 Colours Eyeshadows in Velours D'Or

Kiss Kiss Strass Lipstick in Rouge Imperial

More details and pictures after the jump!

More Midnight Cowboy anyone?

I have just received the above e-mail from Urban Decay telling me about their new Cowboy Junkie Set which contains 4 eyeshadows, a travel size 24/7 eyepencil and a Lip Junkie lipgloss for just $38. Now this sort of sounds good - however 3 out of the 4 shades included in the palette are from the Midnight Cowboy family. I don't mind Midnight Cowgirl much, it's actually a very pretty shade and has the least glitter of the 3, but Midnight Cowboy (MC) and Midnight Cowboy Rides Again (MCRA) have loads of chunky glitter which is of course recipe for fallout disaster! And MC and MCRA have literally been included in every Book Of Shadows Urban Decay has ever released. So if you are a fan of Urban Decay, chances are you already own at least one each! If you don't, believe me, you haven't lost anything! I love Urban Decay, but MC and MCRA are literally the worst ever eyeshadows they ever came up with. And now a set of all of them? No, thanks!

Anyway, if you are interested in this, here are the details:

The set contains an eyeshadow palette with MC, MCRA, Midnight Cowgirl and Romp (an exclusive shade to this palette - I'm guessing to sell the set better?!), a 0.8 g (normal size is 1.2 g) 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Whiskey and a Midnight Cowboy Lip Junkie Lipgloss. 

Are you interested in this? Will you be buying it? Or have you had enough of MC and co for life?

My favourite high street (drugstore) make up / beauty products

As you know, I love high end make up, my favourite brands include Guerlain and Dior, and you can't get much more luxurious products than from these two brands. However, I also like products that work well no matter how much they cost or what brand they are. I am a make up snob, but not enough to pass on good bargains! :)

I thought I'd show you what my favourite high street (drugstore) beauty products are and if you like, please tell me in the comments which ones you like / work for you. 

Find out more about my favourite bargain buys after the jump!

Chanel SoHo collection available at Selfridges!

I'm happy to report that Chanel's SoHo collection is available in the UK exclusively at Selfridges. Unfortunately this is a bit late as the collection has been available since 15th October and some items (namely lipsticks and nail polishes) have sold out already, but if you are interested in the highlighting powder, Stupendous eyeshadow quad and Star glossimer, then head to Selfridges right now (or tomorrow morning)! I've just been and purchased all 3 items, they are really pretty.

Here are some pictures if you don't know what I'm on about or just to drool over:

Have you bought something from this collection yet or are you planning to buy anything?

Mission: Nail rescue! Part one

I have always had really weak, bendy nails, but unfortunately lately they have started splitting as well. I put it down to either using Seche Vite top coat or the cheap nail polish remover I bought from Sainsbury's. Or maybe neither, I don't know. In any case, I needed to take some action, so I bought a treatment pack from Nails Inc and supplements to boost my vitamin and mineral levels.

I'm going to show you over the coming weeks how I get on, hopefully I can report some improvement. Annoyingly I didn't take any pictures of my nails at the start of the treatment, but I have been taking them weekly since. So here's what my nails looked like one week into the treatment (beware, not a pretty sight!):

You can see what bad shape the nails are on my index and middle fingers especially, my thumbs are the same too. The skin around them is horribly dry too despite me using hand cream all the time. To be honest there isn't really a big change in their condition since I started the treatment, but they have stopped peeling even further, so I guess that's an achievement, and I know I have to wait for the weak bits to grow down to see any huge improvements (hopefully).

What products am I using?

Guerlain Rouge G Le Brillant B64 Bee

As part of their holiday collection Guerlain have released a new limited (?) edition shade to their line of Rouge G de Guerlain Le Brillant lipsticks. The new shade is called Bee (#B64) and it's an intense violet shade with subtle sparkles. The Le Brillant range of Rouge G lipsticks tend to be much sheerer than the original Rouge G formula, but in this instance, Bee is certainly not what I would call sheer. It is a beautiful dark (but not too dark) violet shade, with subtle multicolour shimmer. The formula is lovely as usual, very smooth, buttery, but not slippery, fairly long lasting and moisturizing. 

As with all Rouge G de Guerlain lipsticks, you get the beautiful luxurious case that once the lipstick is pulled out, opens to reveal a mirror. (In this case you also get a bee printed on the mirror which follows the design of the rest of the collection.) This is an absolute masterpiece and the lipsticks are priced accordingly, currently retailing for £27! I have been able to purchase a lot of the permanent shades on eBay as testers for as low as £6 (do you remember this post?), but if you want the case as well, you really have to fork out.

Interesting fact, all Rouge G de Guerlain lipstick names begin with a G, and all Le Brillant shades are named after female names beginning with B. I think this is really quirky and I always wonder just how many names they can come up with (they have 60 or so G names already).

Overall, if you like Guerlain's Rouge G lipsticks and like darker, vampy shades, I recommend you check out Bee.

See more product pictures and swatches after the jump!

100 followers giveaway: your chance to win Urban Decay goodies! *CLOSED*

Giveaway is now closed, please do not leave comments! 

As I promised a few days (weeks?) ago, I would like to hold a giveaway to thank all my lovely followers for reading my blog. It makes me so happy that there are people out there who are interested in what I have to say. So without further ado, let me show you what you can win:

The prize is: Urban Decay eyeshadows in Shattered and Ecstasy (1.5 g each) and Urban Decay Big Fatty Mascara (trial size - 7.5 g). All brand new and unused.

How to win: 


One person will win the above goodies. You have to be a follower of my blog to win! If you're not yet one, please click on the Follow button on the right and follow the instructions. Then leave a comment below and tell me what your favourite eyeshadow is (doesn't have to be Urban Decay). Please note: you have to leave a comment if you want to enter, you will NOT be entered automatically even if you're already a follower! Please make sure I can contact you via your profile, if not, please leave your e-mail address in your comment. One entry per person only!

To double your chances of winning, please post a link to my giveaway on your blog and make sure you let me know the link in your comment. 

The giveaway is open to all readers WORLDWIDE! The giveaway closes at 10pm (GMT) on Sunday 31st October 2010. Winner will be selected randomly and notified via e-mail within 48 hours of the giveaway closing. I do not accept responsibility for the prize items getting lost in the post.

Good luck everyone!

FOTD: Look created with Bobbi Brown Black Velvet sparkle eyeshadow

A while ago I reviewed Bobbi Brown's new sparkle eyeshadows (in this post) and now I would like to show you the look I created with Black Velvet eyeshadow.

In this look I used:

• Bobbi Brown Pink Oyster cream eyeshadow as base
• Bobbi Brown Black Velvet sparkle eyeshadow (all over lid and in crease)
• Bobbi Brown Moonlight sparkle eyeshadow* (above crease)
• Bottom (pink) strip of Pink Oyster** shimmer brick (to highlight)
• Mac Intense Pearlglide eyeliner in Industrial Purple on lower lashline
• Givenchy Phenomen'eyes mascara in Black
• Guerlain 4 eclats blush in #05 Rose Plein Vent
• Bobbi Brown Pink Oyster** shimmer brick
• Bobbi Brown Crystal Rose*** glitter lip balm

* From the Shadow Options palette

** Asia exclusive from The Beach collection (details over here)

*** From the Glitter Balm palette

I really like Black Velvet sparkle eyeshadow, it goes on very smoothly and holds up really well. There was hardly any fall out and the look held up for 10 hours before fading. Very pleased!

See more photos after the jump!

My Mac mineralize eyeshadow collection details & close ups

As promised, here's a detailed look into my Mac mineralize eyeshadow collection. Firstly, the follow up video (for some reason the video won't appear for me straight away, but if you click on Read more, you will be able to see it):

See more details and pictures after the jump!

My Mac mineralize eyeshadow collection

I had a few hours to myself the other day and decided to make a short video about my Mac mineralize eyeshadow collection. Hope you enjoy watching it. Details of eyeshadows to follow soon!

Looks featuring Frontcover eyeshadows

As promised, here are some looks I created using my Frontcover palettes.

First one:

For this look I used:

Plovers Egg + Nine Iron duo eyeshadow from Frontcover To Go (all over lid (PE) and crease (NI))

Powder Puff domed eyeshadow from Frontcover To Go (to highlight)

Azimuth domed eyeshadow as liquid eyeliner (mixed with Shadowline) on upper lashline

Mac Pearlglide eyeliner in Industrial on lower lashline 

Givenchy Eye Fly mascara in black

Mac Dainty mineralize blush

Givenchy Sunset Pink lipstick

See more photos of this look and two other looks created with Frontcover eyeshadows.

Frontcover To Go palette review

I first heard about Frontcover cosmetics 2 years ago when they first released their Rainbow Eyes palette and as I'm a sucker for anything colourful, of course I had to pick it up. Since then they have released several palettes and kits, usually for Christmas, but this year they also had a few palettes in the summer too. (You might remember I showed you their Mermaid Dreams palette here.) They have also made their Rainbow Eyes palette permanent and in my opinion it is probably their best palette to date, so well worth checking out. Frontcover palettes are available from Boots, boots.com and frontcovercosmetics.com. I believe they also deliver worldwide (not Boots though unfortunately).

Today I would like to tell about their new palette called Frontcover To Go. I apologise for being late with this, unfortunately I didn't get around to posting this sooner, but there was a great deal on this at Boots just this last week. It normally costs £35, but it was reduced to £16, but it's also part of the 3 for 2 gift promotion, so you can still save on it. And you never know, it might be reduced again before too long. 

Frontcover To Go contains 20 eyeshadows, 13 of which are domed and 5 that are split in 2. The pans aren't huge, so working with the split ones can be a bit tricky, but not impossible. There are also 2 flat single eyeshadows. The great thing about this palette is that the individual pans are removable and you also get a small palette with 4 spaces to put your eyeshadows into, so you don't have to carry the whole palette around. Which is just as well as this is very bulky. You also get a double ended brush and a pot of Shadowline, which is basically a mixing medium that you can use to turn your eyeshadows into eyeliners. There is an applicator wand inside which is very good for lining your lids, it's pointy, but soft enough so you don't poke your eyes out with it. 

The shades in this palette are mainly cool, you get blues, greens, turquoise, silver, gold, pinks, but there are some warmer shades too. The colour payoff is okay, the shadows are at their best when applied wet, but they work fine dry too. I apologise, I didn't swatch them, but I have created a couple of looks with them which I'll be posting later.

One more great thing about this palette and other Frontcover palettes is that you also get look ideas and instructions on the inside and the back of the box, and they are easy to follow and pretty helpful.

I'll leave you with loads of images of this palette and also my collection of Frontcover palettes and kits, hope you enjoy looking at them. I will be back soon with some looks I've created using this and other palettes.

What's in your handbag?

I really love being nosey and reading about what's in other bloggers handbags/make up bags/cupboards, etc., so I thought I'd do a post on what is in my handbag. I have to warn you though that I don't carry a lot of make up with me, so this may not be the most exciting post you'll ever read.

I don't take a separate make up bag with me, but my handbag has a pocket with a zip, so that's where I keep my make up/beauty essentials. So what is exactly in my bag?

Mac Venomous Villains haul part 2

I got to go and check out the new Mac collection at my nearest counter on Thursday. I had ordered my must have items online (see this post for details), but I had a few maybes on my list that I wanted to check out in person. Apart from one thing (Oh So Fair beauty powder) I ended up buying everything on my list. 

The outer packaging

I got:

• Devilishly Stylish lipglass (Cruella)
• Revenge Is Sweet lipglass (Maleficent)
• Toxic Tale lipstick (Evil Queen)
• Truth & Light magical cooling liquid powder (Dr Facilier)

Truth & Light powder is absolutely amazing, it is a loose powder, but when you apply it with your brush, it feels wet! It swatched quite shimmery with a pink sheen, but on my face it wasn't at all shimmery, just had a very slight sheen. Toxic Tale is a very bright reddish coral lipstick, with very good coverage, it applies really nice and even. It is bright, but can be toned down, I tried Devilishly Stylish on top of it and that looked very nice. Devilishly Stylish is a shimmery champagne nude, less pink and more shimmery than Strange Potion. Revenge Is Sweet looks pretty dark and intense in the tube, but it applies quite lightly, so it looks quite natural and very wearable (I wore it today).

Once again I like the images on the boxes a lot more than the actual Disney images, except for Dr Facilier, I just find him so ugly, I hate both images. I love the powder, but really wish it didn't have his picture on it. But I didn't want to pass on it because the product is really cool (literally!).

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Look of the day: Mac Briar Rose beauty powder and Hot House lipglass

Just a very quick post to show you the look I did using a couple of products from my recent Mac haul. I'm wearing Briar Rose beauty powder on my cheeks and Hot House lipglass on the lips. What do you think? I really like them both.

PS. Please ignore the eyes, I was in a huge hurry this morning and they're not the best. I used various eyeshadows and loose shimmer powders from Frontcover, Mac Designer Purple pearlglide eyeliner and Diorshow mascara in Black for your info. 

Oh and I've straightened my hair because I got rained on this morning having just washed it and it went all curly and frizzy. What do you think?

Mac Bad Fairy nail polish review

As promised yesterday here's a quick review of Mac's Bad Fairy nail polish (part of the new Venomous Villains collection - out tomorrow!). 

 Mac Bad Fairy nail polish

My first impression is that it's very pretty. I personally don't like matte and creamy nail polishes, I like myself some shimmer. Bad Fairy certainly has that. As well as its orange and pinky red two tone, there is also some multicolour shimmer that makes is even prettier on my nails than in the bottle. 

The formula isn't the best I've ever tried, it's quite runny and it took 3 coats to get it even. First coat looked terrible, very thin and patchy, it was only after the second one that it began to look as it should. As I use Seche Vite quick drying top coat, I can't comment on how fast drying it is (for me it was a minute), but I've heard from someone that it took them almost an hour for the 3 coats to dry properly. It is very pretty though, so if you don't mind the 3 coats and drying time, it is still worth £8. 

I saw on Temptalia that Zoya's Gloria nail polish (from the new Fire & Ice collection) is a pretty similar to Bad Fairy, but it doesn't have the duochrome the new Mac polishes (and the Orly Cosmic FX ones) have, but might be worth checking out should you miss out on Bad Fairy.

See some swatches of Bad Fairy after the jump!

My Venomous Villains haul and swatches

As you probably know if you saw my previous post, Mac's new collection Venomous Villains launched online on Monday and some products sold out in a matter of hours. I was lucky to buy everything (because I'd been stalking the website all morning until the collection finally went live just before 11.30 am) and my little black box arrived today. I think you'll all agree that my haul is relatively small compared to my usual hauls, I only purchased 8 products, although there are a few more I want to check out in person on Thursday when the collection launches online (also I bought the Orly dupes for Formidable! and Mean & Green nail polishes).

I bought the following products:

• Briar Rose Beauty Powder (Maleficent)
• Bite of an Apple Powder Blush (Evil Queen)
• My Dark Magic Mineralize Eyeshadow Duo (Maleficent)
• She Who Dares Mineralize Eyeshadow Duo (Maleficent)
• Wicked Ways Lipglass (Cruella)
• Strange Potion Lipglass (Evil Queen)
• Hot House Lipglass (Evil Queen)
• Bad Fairy Nail Polish (Maleficent)

 Here they are together:

This is what they look like on the outside

While I'm not too crazy about the Disney packaging (was never into Disney princesses and films that much as a child), I actually find the boxes' design very interesting and cool. I absolutely love the inside of the boxes, they look like flowing satin, very pretty. It's only the nail polish that isn't in special packaging which I don't mind, although don't really know why not. Not sure what I'll do with the boxes, for now I've kept every one of them, they are just so nice.

See more pictures of the packaging and the inside of the products and swatches - after the jump!

Mac Venomous Villains collection is now available at maccosmetics.co.uk!

As the title says, this long awaited and highly sought after collection is now available on the MAC website and will hit the counters on Thursday. Make sure you don't miss out as it's sure to be a sell out!

Edited to add (5.20 pm): Bad Fairy nail polish has sold out online already!

Edited to add (7.00 pm): Formidable! and Mean and Green nail polishes and Briar Rose beauty powder are also sold out online! 

I've already placed my order this morning and should have it tomorrow, so stay tuned for my review!

Find out what I've ordered after the jump!

100 followers and giveaway to come soon!

Just a quick post to say thank you to my 100 followers! It seems like yesterday when I was doing a similar post having hit the magic 50, and here we are again. So to say thank you to all of you lovely followers and to encourage those of you who read my blog from time to time to become followers, I'm going to hold another blog giveaway very soon. So stay tuned and I will be back with the prizes and giveaway rules!