Finished! The December edition

I have seen this on other blogs and thought it's such a great idea to review products that I've finished over the course of the month, however, I'd never got round to it (I did a Hitting Pan post a while ago, but that's as far as it got.) As I have such a big stash, it's not very often that I use up anything, so it's pretty unusual that I've actually managed to finish 4 products pretty much at the same time. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to show you the products I've finished, tell you how I liked them and whether I'll be repurchasing them. I will try to make this into a regular feature on the blog, but we'll see how it goes since I don't often finish products.

First up it's my favourite face primer, Meteorites Perles Light Diffusing Perfecting Primer by Guerlain. A very light gorgeously scented (parma violets, mmm!) slightly shimmery quite runny liquid that gives a nice sheen to your face while mattefying it (I know, it sounds odd, but it works) and helping your make up last through the day. It's expensive at £40 per 30 ml, but you don't need a lot, one press of the pump dispenses enough for your whole face. It's very interesting, you have loads of little balls filled with primer and the pump sucks up one or two balls and squeezes them out onto your finger. The outer "shell" is so soft it just disintegrates, so you get this gorgeous smooth wonderfully light shine controlling illuminating primer. Do you get the impression that I love this stuff? 

Here is a picture of how it looks when full. The bottle is heavy glass, it feels luxurious just as much as the primer inside does. Will I be repurchasing it? Of course. For now I have 2 back ups, so I'm okay, but I'm always looking for good bargains on this, so might stock up again soon.

Find out what other products I've finished after the jump!

Merry Christmas To All My Lovely Readers!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my blog and leave lovely comments. It's a really great feeling to know that there are so many people out there interested in what I have to say. To this day I've not had a negative comment and I feel really lucky to have so many followers.

The tree above is our own decorated with the help of my 3 children, so while it's not a fancy designer one, it's ours.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my lovely readers! Hope to see you all next year!

Don't buy this! Boots Cotton Wool Double Faced Round Pads

I go through cotton wool pads very quickly since I wear make up every day, and am very good about removing it. So on a recent trip to Boots I bought this pack of cotton wool pads (mainly to make up the £50 total necessary for the bonus points Boots were offering at the time), in fact I got 4 of them! Unfortunately it turned out to be a mistake, because these pads are pretty rubbish.

According to the packaging they're supposed to be made of high quality non-fleecing cotton, they do not fluff or lint, and therefore are suitable for contact lens wearers. This is not the case, in fact they do fluff quite a bit, they fall apart very easily, and they are not half as good as my ordinary Superdrug cotton wool pads. I am a contact lens wearer, although I've not had problems with fluff getting in my eyes yet, but it's mainly because I've been extra careful with these.

When I tried to remove nail polish with them, they were even worse, just stuck to the nail polish and practically fell apart when I tried to wipe the polish off. I also use cotton wool pads wet for wiping off face masks (like Mac Volcanic Ash Thermal Mask and Avon Rejuvenate Mineral Mask) and the Superdrug cotton wool pads work really well even wet, whereas these ones just fall apart.

Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do with 4 packs of these, I can't return them now as it's been too long since I bought them. Any ideas?

Finally see some more pictures after the jump!

Update on my Project Skincare Samples

You might remember this post from last month, so I thought I'd do a little update to show you how I'm getting on. I've used up quite a few of my samples, still have plenty to go, and so far there have been two products that I really liked, and so ended up purchasing the full sized article. Although the whole point was that I use up the samples before I purchase any more skincare products, in my defence, the products I bought I didn't actually own similar things to.

Firstly, I got Chanel Body Excellence Revitalizing Smoothing Scrub which is a lovely body scrub with a gorgeous scent that I just couldn't resist. Now unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available in the shops anymore (you guessed it, I got it on eBay), which is a shame, because it's very nice. Gentle enough, but effective, leave my skin really soft, and it smells gorgeous.

See more pictures and find out what other products I purchased!

Laura Geller Escape To The Tropics Collection Review

Well, not the whole collection, because I only got 4 products whereas the collection actually contains 7. The reason I only have 4 is that this collection isn't available in the UK, so I purchased the products on eBay (where else?) and I only got the ones I was really interested in:

Blush-N-Brighten baked cheek color in Tropic Hues (9 g): "Sheer enough to look natural, and colorful enough to look great! Like Laura's other baked items, this powder is made in Italy with an amazing process that begins with a multi-color, pigment-infused liquid that becomes a rich, silky powder after baking for 24 hours on a terra cotta pan. This superb formula is mineral oil- and paraben-free. It is also loaded with antioxidants."

Dream Creams lip palette in Tropic Hues (8 ml): "Each of the four shades were chosen to perfectly match the colors in Blush-N-Brighten. Use one stripe, or combine them all." It came with a retractable gold lipbrush (forgot to take photo, sorry).

Baked Eye Dreams palette in Sunset Horizon (6 g): "Like the Dream Creams lip palette, there are four stripes, one for each shade."

The collection also includes:

• Balance-N-Brighten (9 g): "This baked color-correcting foundation helps balance and even out the palest skin tones." Comes in three shades: Fair, Regular and Tan.
• I-Care waterproof eyeliner in Purple Paradise: "Soft, smooth, and super long-wearing, this formula glides into place for a well-defined, flattering line."
• Double-ended eye brush

Quotes were taken from QVC, where US readers can purchase the set for $54.12 + $5.97 shipping and handling. Unfortunately it isn't available in the UK yet, not even sure if it's going to be, because the Tropics Collection that included the mini-version of Tropic Hues blush was also not available. Thanks to eBay I did manage to get it, and ever since I'd been wanting a full size version of it. You'll see why.

If you've been reading my blog for a while you will know that I'm a big fan of  mineralized products (and if you haven't, well now you know) and I really like Laura Geller's baked blushes too. They all look absolutely gorgeous and they are very good quality, pigmented and very finely milled. One of my favourites is her duo blush in Boysenberry/Amaretti which comes with a highlighter part that is an exact dupe for Mac Pleasureflush MSF. Anyway, back to this collection, Tropic Hues is a breathtakingly beautiful pink blush, it's a blend of apricot, pink and gold with slight shimmer (not glittery though).

Dream Creams lip palettes are another favourites of mine, they are very creamy, moisturising and really nice to use. They are one of the nicest lipsticks I've ever tried. I think I already had 3 or 4 of them. This one is called Tropic Hues that has 4 shades: Sheer Golden Shimmer, Burnished Apricot, Peachy Pink, Deep Plum.

The Baked Eye Dreams palette is a new product and other than swatching it, I haven't really tested it, but it seems nicely pigmented and soft. This shade is called Sunset Horizon, it has four shades: pink, copper, gold and brown.

Right, let's move onto the product pictures and swatches. Apologies in advance about the lip palette swatches, I was in a hurry, so they are not the best. 

Christian Dior Tailleur Bar eyeshadow palette and Serum de Rouge

Another limited edition collectors' item for you. I've recently purchased this gorgeous set on eBay (you gotta love eBay!) for a good price, to go with my existing Dior palette collection. (In case you haven't seen my impressive Dior eyeshadow stash, you can check it out here!) The set was produced in very limited numbers and it is very pretty. Comes in a white presentation box (also protected by a white sleeve) with a numbered booklet (mine is 352) that shows you the history of Tailleur Bar (Bar Suit) and an idea for a look you can create with the set.

The set includes a beautiful eyeshadow palette embossed with the legendary Tailleur Bar image and a Serum de Rouge in shade 470. I haven't swatched either of them yet, I'm too scared to ruin the palette, and the serum just looked so pretty (don't you just love the look of new unused lipsticks?). I do intend to use them eventually, but for now, I will save them.The eyeshadow palette has 2 shades of grey, a black, a dark blue and light pink, so it's certainly great for creating a smoky eye look. The medium pink Serum de Rouge is just the right shade for the lips to go with it.

I'm not really sure what more to add to this, so shall we just move on to the pictures?

Another one for the collection: Chantecaille Starlight Face Powder

I was lucky enough to buy this beautiful limited edition Chantecaille powder on eBay for a pretty good price, brand new, so I thought I'd show it off. As you know, I collect Chantecaille compacts and palettes and if you haven't seen it yet, you can check out my gorgeous collection here. 

Starlight Face Powder, I believe was released 3 years ago as part of a set (that also included a lipgloss and eyeshadow), so it is now very rare. It is a beautiful shimmery powder that comes in a gorgeous gold compact and gold bag.

I think the shimmery top layer is just overspray, but don't expect me to ruin this gorgeous powder to find out because I won't! I know, I'm weird, but I prefer to keep these gorgeous powders untouched for my collection, so unless I find another one to use, it won't be touched for a while yet (ever?).

Anyway, not much more to say, so let's move onto the pictures!