Laura Geller Blush n Brighten in Hibiscus Swatches and Review

Yet another lovely blush from Laura Geller, Hibiscus is a light pink with subtle golden sheen and very fine shimmer. I have to say though, Laura Geller has been churning out new blushes like there's no tomorrow. And of course not just blushes, but baked eyeshadows and lip products as well. I can barely keep up. But let's just take a moment to look at this beauty...

As always, I picked this one up from eBay together with the new Dream Cream Lip Palette in Hibiscus and Baked Eye Dreams Palette in Sandbar. Basically they are another variation on the Escape To The Tropics collection (reviewed here) with the same sparkly packaging. This is the third installment, the second one was reviewed here minues the blush because I'd already owned that one (Como).You can check out my collection of Laura Geller blushes here if you haven't seen it yet by the way!

So basically this is pretty much the same as other Laura Geller blushes, a pretty baked swirly design, in this case a mixture of shimmery pink, cream and brown which result in a pretty warm slightly shimmery pink shade. The texture is very smooth and fine, well pigmented, and the blush stays on well for a good few hours. As with all Blush n Brighten compacts you get 9 gramms. This particular one isn't available separately, but the 7 piece collection it came in was priced at $59.50 on QVC. I bought this for $20.50 on eBay as this set has not been available in the UK. I think it's a lovely addition to my Laura Geller blush collection, butnow I like Ms Geller needs to slow down a bit and give me a chance to use and enjoy these lovely blushes. Seriously, if I only owned Laura Geller blushes, I still couldn't use them up, there are just so many!

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Simple Kind To Eyes Eye Make Up Corrector Pen

Having worn make up for the last 20 years or so, I am now pretty good at applying it. However, I still make mistakes, especially when applying mascara, so on a recent shopping trip I picked up Simple Kind To Eyes Eye Make Up Corrector Pen. Up until then I either used a cotton wool bud to tidy up my mistake, or my Avon make up remover pencil (not sure if those are still available at all). But at £4.99 I thought I didn't have much to lose should the Simple pen not work out. Fortunately it did. I like it that it has such a fine tip, it's very easy to get under my lower lashes (which is where the mistakes often are), and also that it really is gentle to my skin with no alcohol or perfume.

I'm not entirely sure that it's that much better than my trusty cotton wool buds (dipped into make up remover if necessary), but I guess it would come in very handy when travelling or needing to tidy up smudged make up on the go. There is one thing I'm not too keen on though and it's this:

This is what the tip looks like after using it to remove some mascara. It is recommended that you clean the tip with make up remover wipes, but I do feel that having to do that suddenly makes it less of a portable option. Besides, might as well use a wipe to clean off the smudged mascara then, no?

But it is convenient and all in all works well, so I will forgive it for that small issue. Do you own this or have you tried it? Let me know in the comments!

NOTD: Chanel Peridot - My First Ever Chanel Nail Polish!

I was very excited when I first saw pictures of Chanel's fall collection, especially when I saw pictures of Peridot nail polish. It instantly reminded me of Scarab beetles, it being green-gold with blue sheen. Never seen a nail polish that colour before. So I bought it last Monday and I've finally got around to wearing it. 

I love it, it's so beautiful. In the bottle it's green-gold with blue around the edges of the bottle, and I was a bit afraid this wouldn't transfer as well onto my nails, but it did. Depending on how the light hits them, my nails are gold, green, even blueish green, or all of the above. Not easy to catch in photos, but I have sort of managed, be sure to check out the pictures after the jump! (Sorry about the picture quality, I used my phone to take the photos as I was pressed for time.)

Formulawise it's lovely. Goes on like a dream, not too thick, not too runny, dries quickly and it's soooo shiny! It took only 2 coats to be completely opaque. Unfortunately it did chip me within the first 24 hours, but I always like to point out that almost everything chips on me within a day, that's because I have crappy soft, bendy nails. It costs £17.50 for a 13 ml bottle, so it's not cheap, but it is Chanel after all. Is it worth it? It is a very unique shade, so I would say it is, but if you're on a tight budget, you might just want to wait and see if cheaper brands come up with a dupe as they often do. Of course there's also the small matter of this shade being sold out already, as unfortunately it's a limited edition shade.

Don't forget to let me know in the comments if you bought this and whether you like it or not. 

See lots of pictures after the jump!

Biore Facial Deep Cleansing and Ultra Deep Cleansing Pore Strips

Confession time: I have a lot of blackheads. Mainly on my nose, but also my chin and and a good few on my forehead too. However, I'm a whimp, so I don't have my pores cleaned out by professionals. I don't know why, I just never go to a beautician, never been other than before my wedding, never want to go again. I didn't have big blemishes as a teenager, so I didn't need to go and so I never got used to the idea I guess. So instead I do it by myself and the help of Biore Facial Deep Cleansing and Ultra Deep Cleansing Pore Strips.

The one on the left is for your forehead and chin, the one on the right is for your nose. Otherwise they're pretty much the same things, small paper strips coated in sticky stuff that you put on your wet face, wait for them to dry, then peel off and voila, dirt from your pores is pulled out with them.

I have to confess to another thing: I love studying these little strips once they're off to see just how much dirt they pulled out of my pores. I know, it's disgusting, but somehow it makes me feel good about myself. I'm doing something for my skin, after all the abuse it's subjected to with me wearing make up 7 days a week for about 14-15 hours a day. Now don't worry, I will not be showing you the used strips, wouldn't want to give you nightmares or make you sick.

Carry on reading my review and see more pictures after the jump!

Guess Who's Got a New Kitten? Introducing Fluff!

You may remember my post about our kitten, Paws, who came to us in January (if not, you can check it out here). Ever since his arrival, my eldest daughter had been asking for a kitten (Paws belongs to my younger daughter) and having been away already this summer, we've finally got her kitten: Fluff. He is just coming up 8 weeks, so still very little, but is a very confident, playful and cuddly little thing. Paws hasn't quite got used to him yet, but we are making progress.

See more pictures of Fluff (and a new picture of Paws) after the jump!

Too Faced Full Bloom Ultra Flush Powder Blush in Sweet Pink

This is the blush I couldn't show you properly in my London haul video because the good people of Boots decided to sellotape it shut, but I have now managed to get into it, so here's the review I promised. I believe this is an all new type of blush from Too Faced, although I admit that I hadn't owned any TF blushes before, so don't quote me on it. There were both powder and cream blushes available at the TF stand in th Boots on Oxford Street, and if I remember correctly there were 3 shades each. I picked up Sweet Pink which is basically a light pink colour with subtle shimmer.

Firstly the packaging is very pretty, as you would expect from Too Faced, with roses and butterflies on the outer box. The box itself has a flip up lid that shows you how to use the blush (erm, like apply and blend, you know), and you can also see the black compact through a peephole. The compact itself is shiny black with Too Faced written across it in pink. Inside the lid you get a full sized mirror, and there's also the pretty pink blush. You only get 4 g of product, so it's rather tiny, similar size to Urban Decay's Afteglow blushes (smaller than Mac blushes that are 6 g). This blush costs £18.50 which is a lot of money for something this tiny, especially as Too Faced isn't exactly a luxury brand.

Anyway, the blush is lovely, it's nicely pigmented (but not too overly, so you can build it up), smooth and the shimmer in it is very subtle, so it doesn't turn you into a glitter bomb. It's nothing special and the shade is most probably dupeable, but it is a nice blush in any case. Do you own it? Would you buy it?

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Swatching My Stash: Guerlain Rouge Automatique Lipstick Swatches

As you know, I love me a bit of Guerlain. (Well, actually, I'll have a lot of it please!) So it probably won't come as a huge surprise that I've well and truly stocked up on Guerlain's latest offering - the Rouge Automatique lipsticks. I now have 11 of them, still wanting to get 2 or 3 more, but they are very pricey, so now I've also resorted to buying testers of them on eBay. I don't mind testers, got a lot of them, if I can save £15 off the price of these beauties, well then be it.

I have already reviewed Guerlain Rouge Automatique lipsticks (click here for my review), so I won't repeat myself, this post is mainly to show you what they look like swatched. However, if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments! Also, let me know which one is your favourite!

See more photos and swatches after the jump!