2012 Favourites - Part 3: Face

Here's another installment of my favourite products of 2012, this time it's the face products. I will start with the more exciting ones, ie. pretty highlighters. To me one of the most used highlighters of 2012 was Guerlain Cruel Gardenia. It is just so pretty both in the compact and on my skin. Just lovely.You can read my initial review by clicking on the link above.

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

FOTD: Clothes and Jewellery Inspired Look With Urban Decay Book Of Shadows

I have pretty much run out of things to blog about other than a few random nail polish posts, due to the fact that it's been half-term school holiday and I haven't been able to take any pictures and do swatches. But fear not, my children are back in school and my husband is back at work tomorrow, so I will spend the day taking pictures, swatching products and there will be many new product reviews to come (because I have been buying things nevertheless!).

But for now, here's a look I did a month or so ago. This was actually inspired by the colours on my top and the necklace I was wearing that day. Do you do looks inspired by clothing/accessories?

To create this look I used the following:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Urban Decay Shattered eyeshadow in the inner corner of the lid
Urban Decay Scandal eyeshadow in the middle of the lid
Urban Decay Last Call eyeshadow in the outer corner of the lid and the crease
Urban Decay Virgin eyeshadow on the browbone to highlight
Urban Decay Electric and Rockstar 24/7 eyeliners on lower lashline
Cargo Lash Activator Mascara in Black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Boots No 7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Mac Pet Me Mineralize Blush

Lips:
Guerlain 166 Shalimar Rouge Automatique Lipstick

See more pictures after the jump!

FOTD: Estee Lauder Vivid Shine / Cyber Metallic

This was the first look I did with the new Estee Lauder Vivid Shine and Cyber Metalllic eyeshadows and I really liked it, so I thought I'd share with you.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Arctic Sky in the inner half of the lid
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Magenta in the outer half of the lid
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Electric Orchid in the crease
Estee Lauder Cyber Metallic Eyeshadow in Cyber Pink on browbone to highlight
Mac Pearlglide eyeliner in Industrial on lower lashline
Guerlain Noir G Mascara in Black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Boots No 7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Bobbi Brown Illuminating Bronzing Powder in Pink Peony

Lips:
Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait in Gourmandise

Let me know what you think in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

Boots No 7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream Review and Swatches

Every brand is bringing out their own version of BB cream at the moment and now Boots's own brand, No 7 has one as well. I had heard about it being a good one, so I thought I'd give it a go. As I had a £5 No 7 voucher, I only has £7.95 to lose. But actually, it was money well spent.

No 7 Beautiful Skin BB cream comes in 2 different shades (fair and medium) and also there are 3 different versions according to your skin type (normal/oily skin, normal/dry skin, dry/very dry skin). So other than dark skinned ladies, everyone can find their own match (and yes, there should be a dark shade!).

I bought the shade fair and as I have a normal/combination skin, I opted for the normal/oily version. The colour is a pretty good match for me and the consistency works well with my skin type. It did need blotting/powdering halfway through the day, but that's normal for me. The coverage is medium and the cream doesn't feel at all heavy on my skin. Blends in like a dream, doesn't feel at all tacky and doesn't make my face shiny. I really like this one.

It also qualifies as an actual BB cream as it has skincare elements as well as SPF15 and 5 star UVA protection, and it's also a pretty good tinted moisturiser/foundation. I can't confirm whether it's moisturising on its own or not, because I always use my usual daycream under it, but it's certainly not drying on me.

I think this BB cream is comparable to the 17 Blemish Balm, but it's more lightweight, has a slightly less coverage, has less SPF and is more expensive. So there are pros and cons to it. This one costs £12.95, but if you manage to get hold of a £5 off No 7 voucher (Boots are handing them out right now!), it is a very good deal as you get 40 ml with this, whereas the 17 Blemish Balm is just 30 ml. 

So all in all, I think this is a very good BB cream and would happily recommend it. I really like that they cater for different skin types. On that note, has anyone tried the new Garnier BB cream for oily skin? Is it any good? I'm too scared to buy one, I hated the original one so much.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: No7 Vivid Violet and Color Club Covered In Diamonds

I had been eyeing up this gorgeous purple shade from No7, such a pretty purple. I also found Color Club Covered In Diamonds on one of my many, frequent trips to TKMaxx. The two polishes were meant for each other! Vivid Violet, while very pretty on its own, provides the best canvas for Covered In Diamonds. It is a flaky polish with loads of multicoloured flakes in different shapes.

The formula of Vivid Violet was very nice, but Covered In Diamonds is VERY thick, so you really only want to do one coat. Luckily it has a lot of flakes, so you get a good coverage in just one application. I can't remember now how long it lasted without chipping, I think it was the average 2 days or so, but in the end I kept it on my nails for ages because it was so pretty.

No7 polishes cost £7 from Boots and you get 10 ml. Color Club isn't available in the UK (other than TKMaxx I think), but on eBay you can find it for around $3 (£1.80) and you get 15 ml.

See more pictures after the jump!

Finished! The January Edition

Finally, January is over. Is it just me or did it feel like the longest month ever? I was really willing it to be over for a few reasons. Firstly, I want spring to come. I've had enough of the dark afternoons and mornings, I want it to be daylight when I get up and daylight when I'm cooking dinner by my south-west facing kitchen window. I want flowers in the garden, cherry blossoms on the trees down the street. Secondly, I couldn't wait for Guerlain's spring collection to be finally released. And thirdly, I'd already exceeded my monthly beauty budget by the middle of the month and I desperately needed it to be February to start again. Sadly it has turned really cold in the UK, so there's no sign of spring yet unfortunately.

At least, with January being such a long month (or at least it felt like it), I've managed to finish a few products, so there are some positives there too. A lot of the products I finished this month I have reviewed on here at some point, so I will just link them to the reviews instead of repeating myself.

First though here's something I've not reviewed before, this is Avon Skin So Soft Signature Silk Nourishing Body Cream. I used to buy lots of Avon products a while ago, and I'm still finishing some of them off. This particular body cream sadly isn't a good example of Avon's good quality products. Very pretty packaging, nice scent, but a pretty rubbish moisturiser. It sort of feels like body butter, at least it's texture, but it's not at all that creamy and doesn't really spread well, so you actually use up quite a lot of cream, and it's not even that moisturising. So it's a no from me I'm afraid.

See what other products I used up after the jump!

FOTD: Too Faced Romantic Eye Palette

I wore this look in my Sales Bargains video, but I have to say, I wasn't sure whether to post this after all as it didn't look too good in the video. The pictures aren't great either, but it actually looked really nice in real life. I decided to post it anyway, if nothing else for the idea as I think the colours worked really well together.

For this look I used Too Faced Romantic Eye Palette which I have reviewed before, click on the link if you're interested. It's a lovely little palette and the shadows are really nicely pigmented, so I would definitely recommend it.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Barbara Daly Even Smoother Eye Base
Too Faced Honeymoon eyeshadow (Romantic Eye Palette) all over the lid
Too Faced Ever After eyeshadow (Romantic Eye Palette) in the crease
Too Faced Soulmates eyeshadow (Romantic Eye Palette) on the inner corner of lid and on brownbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Mildew on waterline
No 7 Exceptional Definition Nutrient Enriched Mascara in Black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Parure Aqua foundation in 02 Beige Clair
Guerlain Radiant Butterfly Meteorites Voyage Powder
Blush from Too Faced Glamour To Go (French edition) Palette

Lips:
Mac Impassioned lipstick

See more pictures after the jump!

2011's Favourite Products: Part 1 - Eyes

As 2011 is drawing to a close, I decided to do a series of posts about my favourite beauty products of the year. To be honest though, I do find it quite difficult to do posts like this, because a year is a pretty long period and I often find if I think of my favourites of a certain period, the latest favourites will most likely be included rather than the ones I was crazy about 6 months ago. But I will try to be as objective as possible. I'm not doing detailed reviews on everything since I have actually reviewed a lot of these products, so I will just link them back to the posts if they've already been reviewed.

First up are base products. My favourites are in no particular order: Barbara Daly (for Tesco) Even Smoother Eye Base, Mac Paint Pots and Rimmel Colour Mousse 8hr eyeshadows. Click on the links for the reviews. The only one of these three that I haven't reviewed yet are the Mac Paint Pots. I don't know why, I've just never got around to doing it. I actually own a lot of them, having bought 10 with the last 2 Mac collections and also the permanent ones, or older limited edition ones that I'd already owned. They can be used as primers as they don't crease at all or just on their own for a subtle (or in some cases not so subtle) colour. My only problem with them is that my older ones are beginning to dry out, even though I keep them upside down and sealed properly. They are the most expensive of the bunch at £13.50 for 5 g.

Keep reading to find out what other eye products made it into my favourites this year!

FOTD With Barbara Daly Satin Swirl Eyes Eyeshadows

This is the look I did with my new Barbara Daly eyeshadows, Navy Reflection and Cinder Shine. I used Cinder Shine all over the lid and Navy Reflection in the crease.

Here's a list of all the products I used to create this look:

Eyes:
Barbara Daly Even Smoother Eye Base
Barbara Daly Satin Swirl Eyes Eyeshadow Cinder Shine all over the lid
Barbara Daly Satin Swirl Eyes Eyeshadow Navy Reflection in the crease
Chantacaille La Baleine Bleue Eyeshadow Palette light grey shade on the inner corner of lid and above crease
Chantacaille La Baleine Bleue Eyeshadow Palette highlighter shade on browbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero on waterline
Gosh Velvet Touch Waterproof Eyeliner in Cool Mint on lower lashline
No 7 Exceptional Definition Nutrient Enriched Mascara in Black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
17 Blemish Balm (will review this soon)
Guerlain Radiant Butterfly Meteorites Voyage Powder
Chantecaille Blush in Laughter
Chantecaille La Baleine Blanche Face Palette

Lips:
Chanel Rouge Allure in Belgravia

See more pictures after the jump!

My Ever Growing Nail Polish Collection Part 3 - GOSH, Models Own, Dior, Chanel

As promised, here's the third and final part of my nail polish collection overview. If you missed part one and part two, you can check them out here and here.

So let's just get on with it shall we? Any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments!

My GOSH nail polishes

See more pictures of my collection after the jump!

FOTD: FrontCover Eye Popping Eyeshadow Palette Cover Look

As promised, here's my attempt of recreating the cover look of the FrontCover Eye Popping Eyeshadow Palette that I reviewed yesterday. This is something I don't do very often, partly due to lack of time and partly due to lack of interest, I prefer doing my own thing. But I do like the cover look on the palette and wasn't too sure what to do with the bright green shade in the palette, so I thought right, I will try to do the look.

So here it is, what do you think? I was quite pleased with it, although I need to add that it's not a look I would wear on an average weekday as it was brighter and darker than in the photos. It's good fun though and I did this last Sunday, so I didn't get many funny looks (other than from my family, but they are used to me wearing bright make up by now).

Keep reading to see more photos and find out what I used to create this look!

No 7 Exceptional Definition Nutrient Enriched Mascara Review

I have a love-hate relationship with No 7 mascaras. Some I love, some I hate (Lash 360 I'm looking at you). I also think that generally the brand is overpriced, especially when it comes to their mascaras. To me No 7 is a high-street/drugstore brand, not high end, but it feels like Boots think it is high end. At £12.50 this mascara is only £1 less than most of Mac mascaras!

Anyway, let's see what it's like first, shall we? I have to say, I love this mascara. It really does give really good definition to my eyelashes, makes them much longer and gives some volume too. If you've been following my blog for a while you will have seen how short, thin, sparse my lashes are without mascara. When I apply this, I actually have rather nice eyelashes.

The wand is a rather strange one with different bristles on every 4 side, ranging from short and stumpy to long and spiky. Each side is supposed to have a function, volumise, separate, define, etc., and there is a video on Boots' website to show you how to use the mascara, but to me that's rather too much effort. It works for me though and the end bristles are especially good for reaching lashes in the corners of my eyes. The end result is long, separated, defined lashes. It also doesn't flake or smudge. The formula also supposed to be enriched with nourishing vitamins and proteins (cashmere keratin, vitamins and hydrolyzed soy protein according to Boots), but of course I can't really comment on that. It comes in Brown Black and Black, I personally prefer Black for more definition (and haven't actually tried Brown Black).

So like I said, this mascara is £12.50, when I bought it last year I had a £5 No 7 voucher plus there was a free eyeshadow palette to tempt you in as well, but to be honest, I would definitely consider purchasing this again even at this price. However, since Boots almost always have a £5 No 7 voucher offer going, it's worth waiting for one if you can.

You can see me wearing this mascara in this FOTD picture and I also put a couple of photos of me wearing it at the bottom of this post. Have you tried this mascara? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

The Great 30 Day Lipstick Challenge - Week 4 and Conclusion

The Great 30 Day Lipstick Challenge has now come to an end. 30 days and 30 lipsticks later I'm very happy I decided to do this challenge. I managed to use lipsticks I'd not actually used at all, also rediscovered some old favourites and found that some I wasn't too keen on at first I actually quite like after all. I also ended up throwing out one very funny smelling one (it wasn't even that old, I don't know what happened there), and put 3 up for sale - by the way, check out my Blog Sale if you haven't yet done so! I think I will definitely do this again, but right now I need to give some love to my other lipsticks. So many lipstick, so little time!

This post includes the last 9 lipsticks and once again I managed to choose a good variety of brands and colours. The lipsticks I used this week are:

1. MyFace Gigabite lipstick in 155 Strawberry Fields
2. Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in 457 Wild Orchid
3. Mac lipstick in Costa Chic
4. Collection 2000 Volume Sensation lipstick in 4 Plum Perfection
5. No 7 Moisture Drench lipstick in 30 Plum Beautiful
6. No 7 Mirrorball lipstick
7. Urban Decay lipstick in Naked
8. Lancome L'Absolu Rouge in Voile de Rose
9. Mac lipstick in Playtime

Find out what I thought about these lipsticks and see more pictures including swatches after the jump!

The Great 30 Day Lipstick Challenge - Week 3

Now that I'm into the second half of my 30 day lipstick challenge, I am having more of a difficulty picking out the lipsticks I want to wear. Even though there are approx. 60 lipsticks in the box with a variety of different shades and finishes, I feel that I find it hard choosing. Also I want to make sure I choose from different brands, so it's not too boring for you either. This week I actually used lipsticks from 6 brands and managed to choose a variety of shades too, so not too bad. We'll see how the last 9 days go, although this has been good fun, my Guerlain and Chanel lipsticks are calling my name. It's funny though as I suspect many of you out there don't even have 60 lipsticks, but obviously I get bored quickly and need to have a lot of them to keep me happy.

Anyway these are the lipsticks I wore this week:
1. Lancome L'Absolu Rouge in shade 350
2. No7 Moisture Drench lipstick in 50 Cameo
3. L'Occitane Pivoine Flora lipstick in 02 Rose Pique
4. Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in 440 Cherries In The Snow
5. Maybelline ColorSensational lipstick in 148 Summer Pink
6. Mac Sheen Supreme Lipstick in Full Speed
7. Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in 415 Pink In The Afternoon

Find out what I thought about these lipsticks and see swatches (including lip swatches) after the jump!

Laura Geller Baked Marble Eyeshadow/Eye Rimz in Cinnamon Swirl/Mint Chocolate Chip + FOTD

Bit of a mouthful, huh? Anyway, this is my newest Laura Geller baked eyeshadow, it cam out in the same (Vanilla Nudes) collection as the Baked Dreams Cheek Highlighter and Blush I told you about the other day.

What you have hereis basically a baked eyeshadow duo. On the left you get a mixture of autumnal shades: orange, brown and khaki swirled together. On the right you have a very shimmery blackened green eyeshadow that can also be used as a highlighter. I have found that it is best used wet because otherwise it's a bit chalky and the shimmers get lost when applied to the eyelids dry. I used it wet as an eyeliner and it is gorgeous. The left side of the eyeshadow is slightly larger and has good chunks of separate colours, so I managed to pick out the orange and khaki (but there's a nice big brown patch too) to create the look you can see at the bottom of the post. The left side is perfectly good applied dry, in fact I never even tried it wet.

I used my Barbara Daly eyeshadow primer under this and the shadows didn't crease at all and still looked the same 10+ hours later. There was minimal fallout during application, but nothing afterwards. The compact is 1.8 g, so pretty much standard baked eyeshadow size. As it was part of a set, I haven't got a price for this, I don't think it's available to puchase on its own anyway.

Make sure you go all the way down to the bottom of this post as I have a look I've created with this eyeshadow duo which I think turned out really well actually. There are also swatches after the jump.

The Great 30 Day Lipstick Challenge - Week 1

Once again thank you to everyone who voted for which box of lipsticks I should be using for the next 30 days (you can see the "winner" box here). It's now been over a week and I have 7 lipsticks to show you. I have to say, it was a very good idea of mine to start this challenge as I often reach for the same lipsticks despite owning over 300 of them, so being restricted to choose from "just" 58 lipsticks is actually quite liberating. I also consciously trying to choose lipsticks I don't normally go for, there are quite a few unused lipsticks sitting in each box, so it's a great opportunity to try them out as well as rediscover forgotten favourites. Ah, the curse of having too much make up.

So here they are, the first 7 lipsticks. As you can see I managed to choose from a variety of brands and if you scroll down, you will see that I also managed to use a variety of shades. So shall we see which lipsticks I used this week? Find out after the jump!

FOTD: Neutral Look With Urban Decay Book Of Shadows Vol. 4

Here's the second look I did with the new Urban Decay Book Of Shadows Vol. 4. I used eyeshadows from the bottom 2 rows which are basically just neutrals and as you can see, ended up with a pretty neutral look. To be fair though, you can achieve this look if you have the Naked Palette or the 15 Year Anniversary Palette, none of the shades used are that unique. Having said that, I love Sin, it's one of my favourite Urban Decay eyeshadows, but it is permanent, so you can just get it on its own. Zephyr is a nice highlighter shade too, frostier than Skimp, but no over the top. Let me know what you think!

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion (original)
Urban Decay Sin eyeshadow (Book Of Shadows Vol. 4) on inner half of lid
Urban Decay Missionary eyeshadow (Book Of Shadows Vol. 4) on outer half of lid
Urban Decay Bust eyeshadow (Book Of Shadows Vol. 4) in crease
Urban Decay Zephyr eyeshadow (Book Of Shadows Vol. 4) on browbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Rockstar on lower lashline and waterline

Givenchy Phenomen'eyes Mascara in Black (I ♥ this mascara!)
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Lingerie de Peau foundation in 03 Beige Naturel
Mac Magically Cool Liquid Powder in Truth & Light
Mac Bite of an Apple blush on cheeks

Lips:
Boots No 7 lipstick in Rubellite


See more pictures after the jump!

The Great 30 Day Lipstick Challenge Starts Tomorrow

Thank you to all of you who took the time to vote in my poll. It was very close, but Mixed Up Magic won, so I will be choosing a different lipstick every day to wear from that box for the next 30 days. I will try to do a weekly post on which lipsticks I wore and hope to show you some swatches and looks featuring some of them. So once again here's a picture of the winning box.

I'm quite excited about this because it contains my most recent Mac lipsticks, other new-ish purchases that I haven't really worn much and some old favourites as well. So let the challenge commence...

Finished! The August Edition

Another month has gone by and I've managed to finish a few more products. Mostly skincare, but there are a couple of mascaras in there too. Let's start with the one thing I don't have a photo for, that's because I took it with me on holiday and managed to leave it behind. It was nearly finished, and since I don't have it any more, I'll consider it finished. What I'm talking about it a sample of Clinique's 7 Day Scrub Cream. It's an okay scrub, but not too special. Certainly not £17 per 100 ml special, so I will not be repurchasing it.

Onto the next Clinique product, I also had a sample of Take The Day Off make up remover. I did like this one very much, it's very effective at removing make up, and I will definitely buy a full sized one once my current Estee Lauder make up remover runs out. The full size (125 ml) costs £14.50, it's not cheap, but it is certainly a very good make up remover.

Read about all the other products I've finished this month and see more pictures!

Finished! The April edition

Despite thinking I might not have many empties this month, I still managed to finish 7 products, so that's pretty good. My first one is Avon Clarifying Toner Pads which are basically pads soaked through with toner that's supposed to help keep your skin blemish free. They were okay, but I always forgot to use them, it took me probably more than a year to use up 45 pads, and I don't think I'll bother with buying them again. I don't normally use toner and these pads didn't seem to make much difference to my skin.

See what other products I used up in April after the jump!