My Actual (Almost) Christmas NOTD: Color Club Gingerbread

I'm sorry, I know I said I was going to continue with my 2012 Favourites posts today, but after a whole day of putting away Christmas decorations and sorting things out for children starting school tomorrow, I just didn't have time for it. You'd be surprised if you knew how long those posts take. I promise I will continue with my 2012 Favourites post tomorrow.

Instead here's the manicure I did for Christmas. Or rather Christmas Eve as unfortunately it had chipped by the end of Christmas Eve and I had to change it, but never had time to take pictures of the actual Christmas Day manicure (it was Color Club Art of Seduction - a gorgeous red glitter).

This is Color Club Gingerbread, a gold glitter polish full of holographic glitter that sparkles in the colours of the rainbow. It was part of the Under The Mistletoe holiday collection (2010). It has a nice formula, and only took 2 coats for pretty full coverage. Unfortunately it chipped on me very quickly, so I had to remove it after just 2 days.It was very pretty while it lasted though.

Color Club polishes are available from TK Maxx, or I have bought many on eBay too. I don't actually know anywhere else in the UK that stocks them.They only cost a couple of quid on eBay, so even with postage you can get them pretty cheap. Beautyzone2007 is my favourite Color Club seller on eBay.

See more pictures after the jump!

2012 Favourties - Part 2: Eyes

I buy and wear a lot of eyeshadows, eyeliners and mascaras, that is one thing I don't think I'll ever be able to stop. I have very undefined eyes, so I cannot be without eyeliner and mascara, eyeshadows are more of the fun part, I really enjoy playing with colours and have got pretty good at doing quite fancy looks.

I'll start with eyeshadows. One of the brands I mostly raved on about on here in 2012 is L'Oreal, I love their Infallible eyeshadows. Nowadays I tend to gravitate towards high end eyeshadows, but every so often cheaper brands that come out with something amazing and I'm not that much of a snob not to check them out. I did a series of reviews as I bought 20 shades of them, here's the recap post that is linked to all the reviews.

My other favourite eyeshadows that I often compare the L'Oreal Infallibles to were Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill and Chanel Illusion D'Ombre eyeshadows. You can find several reviews of these on the blog as well, just do a search. I loved the Infallible eyeshadows most for their affordableness and big colour selection (although we don't get quite as many in the UK, but thank God for eBay and US sellers).

Carry on reading after the jump to discover which other products I loved in 2012!

2012 Favourites - Part 1: Lips

As it's now a new year, I thought I'd do a recap of my favourite make up products of 2012. I'll only included products that were either newly released in 2012 or new to me, no point in me repeating myself over and over again (I still love Vaseline and Pleasureflush MSF is still my favourite highlighter, nothing new there).

So I'll start with lip products. The brand that stood out for me in 2012 when I think of new lip products was definitely Revlon. While I still love Guerlain lipsticks very much and wear them often when going out, on days when I'm staying in or not needing a bolder lip colour, I often opt for Revlon's Lip Butters. I acquired 10 of them over the course of the year and they've become my most used lip products.

They are moisturising, very comfortable to wear and some of them are absolutely gorgeous and actually pretty pigmented. On days when I don't need to wear lipstick but want something more colourful then Vaseline, I reach for these, and of course some of them double up as lipstick due to their fantastic pigmentation. Raspberry Pie, Lollipop and Sweet Tart are my absolute favourite shades. I did a full review on these Lip Butters here, so if you need any more details, check it out!

See which other products I loved in 2012 after the jump!

Update On My No-Buy 3 Months On

Here's another quick update on how I'm doing on my lipstick, lipgloss and nail polish no-buy. The answer is not too well. Firstly, I'd abandoned my plans for the nail polish no-buy because I just couldn't resist all the pretty colours I keep seeing on blogs and in shops. But yesterday I decided (having realised that I've managed to buy the same colour nail polish multiple times, sometimes even from the same brand!) that I'm really going to have to give it a proper go. So I've decided that I'm going to do a one month nail polish no-buy and actually properly stick to it this time. I now have over 700 nail polishes which is just crazy. I'm also going to do a giveaway very soon and include some of the multiple colours I've got so you can benefit from my silliness.

As far as my lipstick and lipgloss no-buy goes, I didn't do too bad. I got tempted into buying lip products a couple of times, once for a free nail polish and once because I wanted to try a different product (Lip Tars). Oh and I got a free lipstick with my B2Mac empties, but that doesn't count surely? Other than that I've been pretty sensible, so yay for me!

I know this isn't the most exciting post you'll ever read on this blog, but I thought some of you might be interested in seeing how I'm getting on. Let me know if you are on any kind of a no-buy and how you're getting on!

Bare Minerals Ready Luminizer The Love Affair Review and Swatches

I saw this highlighter on another blog and it had such glowing review (excuse the weak pun) I decided to get it. I'm a sucker for highlighter, especially if they come with a pretty design.

This actually comes in two shades, I bought The Love Affair which is the peachy pink variety, there's also The Shining Moment which is a gold shade. I find pinks more wearable for me, so I decided to get this one instead of The Shining Moment.

This is a very nice highlighter, feels quite creamy, but it's definitely a powder product. You get a subtle glow with some barely noticable shimmer. I have posted a couple of pictures of me wearing this (check out this post), but I will also include one at the bottom of the post.

You get 10 g product in a white square(ish) compact with a full size mirror in the lid. It used to retail for £26, but it's now in the sale for £13 (Debenhams still has this shade, The Shining Moment is now sold out). I bought mine on eBay for £17.50 just before it went on sale (typical). I'm guessing this is a limited edition product, but I'm not sure. I don't follow Bare Minerals and I think this might actually be the only product I own from them.

All in all, this is a lovely highlighter if you want a subtle glow, and it's great value for money (especially now). Get it while you can!

See more pictures including swatches and a picture of me wearing this after the jump!  

Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Talc Free Mineral Blush in Rosy Glow Review and Swatches

I showed you the Physicians Formula eyeshadow palette yesterday, and now here's the blush I also picked up in TK Maxx. This is part of the Mineral Wear line and it's a talc free blush. The shade is Rosy Glow which is a rosy pink colour.

I have to say, up until now I'd been pretty ignorant when it came to talc free make up and I actually had to look up what was so good about talc free. Apparently it's less drying for your skin which is better for those with dry skin I guess. I don't have dry skin on my face, not even in winter (my body does get quite dry, but not my face), so I'm personally not that fussed, but if it's better, I won't argue.

To me the blush seemed very powdery, I don't know if it's because it's talc free or there's some other reason. It didn't look powdery on the face, but it did in the pan. The marbleised design features two shades that mixed together give a nice rosy pink colour, pretty well pigmented, yet natural looking. There's a very slight sheen to it, but no glitter or shimmer. It blended out nicely and wore pretty well too.

The compact itself is a bit odd, it's quite bulky because it has a compartment at the bottom with mirror and brush. The compact is stuck inside the box which I have come across before with other Physicians Formula products and the box doesn't close again once you open it, so all in all, not the best packaging.

I paid £4.99 for it in TK Maxx and you get 5.5 g product. On the Physicians Formula website this retails for $11.95 and comes in 5 shades. In the UK your best bet for finding Physicians Formula products are TK Maxx and eBay.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with this blush after the jump!

Happy New Year!

Hope 2013 is a good one! Have you got any resolutions? I don't really, but I will continue with my diet and excercise plan ones I'm finished with all the yummy food in the house. I did really well in the 3 months before Christmas and lost 19 lbs (8.5 kgs), so definitely want to get back to it.

Beauty-wise, I will try to buy less, blah blah blah, but in all fairness I don't expect to. I do need to keep going with my lipstick/lipgloss no-buy for the whole of 2013 (maybe allow myself a few, but definitely not many). I will aim to do lots of reviews and keep up with the blogging for sure, I love it and hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it.

Now, without further ado:

PS. I'll be doing one or two 2012 favourites posts later in the week, but I won't have time until Wednesday when my husband and children are going away to my in-laws for 3 days. Until then, feel free to let me know if you had any favourite products in 2012.