Cream Tea & Kisses

More July Must Haves!

2012-07-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

At the moment I am just in love with deep jewel colours and rose gold.

I recently started working and of course, the thing that I was most excited about was buy clothes for the office! After splashing out of a few things to wear, I now seem to be attracted to all clothes that would be suitable for working... probably not very suitable for when I start back at uni in September!

Other years I have bought clothes from places such as TopShop and Miss Selfridge but I don't really find any of their current stock appealing. There seem to be a lot of denim shorts, and huge baggy vest tops which look just terrible on me. If I wear loose clothes, I just look fat, so I've started to drift towards Oasis which can be a little more expensive but their clothes look so effotlessly chic.. I love them.

Here are a couple of thing that I have my eye on (out of many) First is their Cowl Lace dress which is currently on sale for £60. It's a beautiful deep ruby red with a flattering cowl neck and a lace panel for modesty (that apparently you can barely see, but I love it anyway!). Their Cowl Belted Coat for £98 is also beautiful. I love the wide waist belt and the neckline – yes I have a thing for cowl necks at the moment!

As for rose gold... FolliFollie are a brand that I adore but have yet to buy anything from. I find rose gold so delightfully feminine and most of their jewellery comes in it! Their pieces come in quite a range of prices but this Dice Bracelet is quite affordable at £55. The watch is £127 and more than I've ever spent on a watch because I'm not very good at wearing them.. but this is so simple and classic looking that I'm sure if would go with nearly anything I wore- and isn't that the most important thing?

Lastly is a Rose Gold plated script font name necklace from Barbabelle88 on etsy (image belongs to her). These necklaces come in either pink gold, gold, white gold or brass and are obviously made with your own name. They cost just under £20 which is a bargain... but shipping to the UK is the same as the price of the item! There are other Etsy shops that sell similar items though so I may buy from a different shop. They are incredibly pretty though and I've wanted a name necklace for quite a while now.

I'm looking forward to payday next month as I seem to be amassing quite a list of things that I'd love to buy.

Are there any clothes or accessories that you're longing for at the moment?

NOTD – Perky Polka dots

2012-07-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

I LOVE polka dots. They're so cute and feminine. Raj recently bought me a dress covered in them (which I love) and today, when I got back from work, I decided to add some on top of the varnish that I already had on to create this adorable look.

The base colour is one of my L'Oreal Paris Color Riche varnishes in Blue Reef. It's a beautiful deep teal with a cream formula that gives good coverage with one coat and is completely opaque in two.

On top of this I used a pointed clay tool that I had to create white polka dots with my white OPI nail varnish. I don't know the name of this one, it came in a mini set that I bought on the way back from my holiday last year. It's a white that I usually use for French tips.

I actually can't stop gazing at my dotty nails. I've been watching the Olympic Opening Ceremony tonight and every time I picked up my phone to talk to text/facebook my eyes were drawn to them.

I don't constantly text, by the way, but I had to do something to fill some gaps when all 200+ countries were marching!

Apologies if this post doesn't make too much sense. I started it before the ceremony and am now ridiculously tired!

What do you think of this polka dot nail look?

Did you watch the Olympic opening ceremony too?

Makeup Tutorial – Everyday Work Look

2012-07-26T10:43:00.001-07:00

So if you've been following my blog you may have noticed a complete lack of updates recently. This was due at first to me going up to Birmingham to see my boyfriend for a week, but when I got back I was then notified about a job that I had applied for and had to start this monday!

The job's not particularly exciting I guess, I'm editing designs for the engineering company Intra, that my dad works for. But it's a really great environment to work in- everyone's so nice!

It's a little weird because the office I'm in has no other women but lots of very pleasant engineers who try incredibly hard not to swear too much as there's “a young lady” in the office, haha!

My usual make up look ALWAYS has gel eyeliner, but for work I thought that was a little over the top. So here is a natural and pretty look that I've been doing this week that is incredibly low maintenance and a lot quicker than when I'm playing around with 50s-style flicks for my eyes!

It's also my first video post. I was too scared to actually say anything, but maybe next time I'll buck up and do a proper video review (with my voice and everything! Ooh-er!)

Products in this video are as follows:
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Porcelain
Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish Pressed Powder in White
Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation in Porcelain
Benefit Coralista
Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette
Cargo Lash Activator
L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes in Extra Black
Bourjois Kohl & Contour in Ultra Black
Rosy Lips Vaseline

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler Review

2012-07-20T07:46:00.002-07:00

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler

The past week or so I've been away in Birmingham seeing my boyfriend and some friends -thus the lack of posts! I've been terribly lazy since I got back and haven't even started taking photos for the posts that I'm writing. I bought a LOT over the past week and so there're lots of pretty things that I want to share.

I've also got a job starting monday working Monday to Wednesday with the company that my dad and brother work for and uni work to be done by the middle of next month so I won't have that much time in the coming weeks to write but I'm going to try my hardest to fit it in!

Anyway, I bought these eyelash curlers a few weeks ago on Buyapowa. I'd been waiting weeks for the Co-buy to come up, and on the day that I finally broke down and bought some cheap Revlon curlers to tide me over, it finally started (as is my luck!).

I've heard a lot of good things about these, but I honestly haven't really used eyelash curlers before! My lashes are generally pretty long anyway so I didn't see the need, but I'm actually really excited by these!

Here are my eyelashes before. You can't really see that they're that long because they're not that dark and apparently aren't that curly.

And here's the huge difference that the Shu Uemura's make! They already look huge here even without mascara.

Here's the final look with one layer of mascara. Apologies for the different angle but I found it pretty difficult to photograph my own eye. My camera kept focussing on my eye and blurring my lashes- not that helpful for this post!

I have very deep set eyes and I did notice that it was a lot easier for my to use these than my Revlon ones. After a couple of times using the curlers I had no problems curling all of my lashes in one go and the curl really is very significant!

People have said that these curlers didn't crimp their eyelashes, even when they tried, but I didn't find this. I did end up with a sharp crimp one time when I was playing around with them but to avoid this you just don't use as much pressure- pretty simple.

Also despite other reviewers saying that they didn't catch on their skin, I do find that I have to curl my lashes lower down than I would like because it pinches my eyelid. I think this is to do with my deepset eye shape though rather than being a fault of the product.

The curlers come with one extra pad, and once both pads have lost their spring you need to buy a new curler. I really hope mine last a while because I'm not sure I could justify spending £20 regularly on eyelash curlers!
Despite the high price, I definitely recommend these. The curl seems to last all day, and paired with a good mascara you'll end up with lashes that have everyone asking if they're fake - and who doesn't want to be complimented like that?

Jolie Box Review - June 2012

2012-07-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

Like most people, my box took a while to get to me. I wasn't that impressed seeing as it was my first box that I'd signed up for; but I'd decided to try it looking for something to replace Glossybox.

Here's an overview of the items that I got. I was very impressed with the size of these samples. There is definitely enough to find out whether you'd be interested in buying the full size product. I know some people were disappointed that there were two moisturisers in the box, but I actually loved both of them.

Yon-Ka Pamplemousse Protective and Vitalizing Cream

The first of these is Yon-Ka Pamplemousse Protective and Vitalizing Cream. This was the customised item; and although I didn't receive the correct box (new subscribers were meant to receive a volumising shampoo also) this was for normal to dry skin which fits me.

As the name suggests, it smells like grapefruit but isn't as overpowering as I thought it would be. A little goes a long way and a pea sized amount gives a light layer all over my face which means that this generous 50ml tube will last a long time!

They say that it should protect skin from external factors and make your complexion look hydrated and bright. For the few days I've used it I can say that it makes me skin very soft and I think it definitely gives my skin a dewy look.

This is actually a full size product and the cheapest price that I could find for it for £25. This means that I'm not sure that I'll buy it after I've finished it as my usual bodyshop moisturiser is £11 and I'm not sure it's worth double the price.

L'Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream

The second of these is L'Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream that they say reinforces natural skin hydration and leaves skin looking radiant and fresh.

I haven't used this one too much as I have been using the Yon-Ka moisturiser; but it feels nice on the skin. I don't actually like the scent of most L'Occitane products because I prefer fruity to floral scents so this doesn't appeal to me immediately.

But the little pot is so pretty and ideal for travelling, so I'll definitely use it for a weekend away some time.

Elysambre Lipstick

Next is a product that I really rather like, but I'm not sure I could pull it off!

I received a lipstick by Elysambre that I thought looked a little brown and would be terrible on my lips, but it's actually a beautiful deep red. It looks rather striking against my skin, but would definitely be too much for a day look- and I'm not sure I'm brave enough to wear it at night!

Here you can see it on my morning face. I'd just taken photos of my eyes for a post on Shu Uemura eyelash curlers and for some reason decided that a sleepy full face picture would be a good idea.

I think it's actually a little darker in person than it is in this photo, but it's a beautiful colour. The coverage is amazing, it's surprisingly easy to apply and Elysambre's products are supposed to be all natural which is always a plus.

Institut Esthederm Bronz Repair Body Lotion

The last sample is Institut Esthederm Bronz Repair Body Lotion. It is supposed to fight signs of aging caused by the sun whilst helping the skin to tan. I won't be using this because I don't tan very easily at all and generally stay out of the sun or pile on my SPF 30.

I've given it to my mother because I think she'll use it. I like the idea behind the product even if I wouldn't actually find much use for it.

Joliebox nail file

And lastly a free Jolie Box nail file that is quite cute but I have other files that I'll probably use instead. It's nice as an added extra though.

Overall I loved this box. I much prefer it to Glossybox and so think that I will be cancelling my sub to that and sticking with Joliebox. I adore French beauty products and can't wait for my next box at the end of this month!

If you got the box this month, what did you think of it?

Review – Rimmel London Moisture Renew Lipstick in Coral Queen

2012-07-11T05:43:00.001-07:00

I found this lipstick the other day in Superdrug and fell in love with it. I was was actually ridiculously excited by it and wanted to try it on straight away.

It is THE most perfect pinky coral colour for me. I've been looking for my lipstick that I can wear for that pop of colour on the lips that everyone wants this season and this is definitely it!

Coral Queen

The packaging is super cute. Metallic purple with the Rimmel London crown imprinted on the lid. I always think that because of this, Rimmel looks very much targeted towards teenage girls, but I still love it!

The formula seems to live up to its name and feels quite moisturising on the lips, which I love. It goes on smoothly and doesn't seem to stick to any dry parts. It looks very vibrant but is more forgiving than red lipsticks would be when it comes to applying it.

Unfortunately after the first couple of applications the bullet started to feel a little grainy, but the coverage still seems really good to me. I guess that's the difference between a £6 lipstick and something double the price from Mac. Not going to complain, this is much more affordable!

I haven't worn this out properly to see how long it lasts, but I'm sure I will be soon, because this is the first coral lipstick that I've found that has been so perfect for me.

Maybe I'll try this with some natural eyes when the weather's a little more predictable.

Before this I hadn't really bought much from Rimmel besides nail varnishes, but I'm not sure why! I'll definitely be keeping my eye on them from now on. Maybe eye shadow singles next..

Have you tried any Rimmel Moisture Renew lipsticks? Are there any other products by them that I should try out?

July Must Haves

2012-07-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

There are so many things this month that I'm dying to purchase but currently don't have the money for. I thought I'd make a quick post about a few products that I'm super excited about.

Maybelline eye studio gel liner in black

From Superdrug.com

My current gel eyeliner is getting old and I've heard really good things about this one! I don't have money for Bobbi Brown or MAC so this will have to do! I've heard that the brush that comes with it is pretty good too.

Jane Iredale Just Kissed Lip and Cheek Stain

Another product that I've read good reviews on. It was a sample in a previous Jolie Box that I missed (and later kicked myself for doing so!). It's meant to make your lips look like a better, pinker version of your own. With With Olive butter, avocado butter, wild rose wax and beeswax it should also nourish and moisturize your lips.

Due to it being like a balm, the wear time isn't impressive, but it sounds really easy to wear on the lips and just a fun and pretty product that looks nice and natural without drying out your lips.

Lily Lolo Mineral Blush in Clementine or Cherry Blossom

Lily Lolo Mineral Blush in Clementine
Copyright Lily Lolo

Lily Lolo Mineral Blush in Cherry Blossom
Copyright Lily Lolo

Since being wooed by my Lily Lolo mineral foundation I have been dying to buy some more of their products. These mineral blushes in peachy pink tones look great on my pale skin and are supposedly incredibly pigmented and long lasting.

I'm only a little bit put off because I have to purchase brushes at the same time. I would have to do this anyway because I'm severely lacking in brushes, but it makes what are actually quite reasonably priced blushes into quite a big purchase.

Lily Lolo Mineral Eyeshadow in Green Opal and Pink Champagne

Lily Lolo Mineral Eyeshadow in Green Opal
Copyright Lily Lolo

Lily Lolo Mineral Eyeshadow in Pink Champagne
Copyright Lily Lolo

As above, I LOVE Lily Lolo and these two shades are so pretty and shimmery that I must have them. Green Opal in particular is probably one of the most delicate shades of green eyeshadow that I have ever seen. When I first saw it I knew that I would be buying it in the future, so now it's officially on my list of future purchases.

Pink Champagne is just as shimmery but a perfectly pretty pink. I'm not as fond of pinks on my eyes, but I think I could possibly get away with it. It's a very pale shade of pink that is girly but sophisticated.

Smashbox Try It Kit

I've been fascinated with Smashbox for a while now. I don't hear that much about it compared to brands such as MAC but its products always seem to be rated very highly by those that buy them.

When the UK site first opened I was so excited! I have yet to buy anything from them due to low funds, but I'm sure this kit will be the first thing I purchase! For £19 you get 5 decent sized samples.

These include their famous Photo Finish Foundation Primer, their Photo Finish Lid Primer, Hyperlash Mascara in Blackout, Lip Enhancing Gloss in illume and Limitless Eye Liner in Onyx.

All of these products interest me and I think it's a really great set to introduce new customers to the brand. I can't wait to try it! Smashbox also give free standard delivery and a sample with every order.

What are you dying to buy this month?

NOTD – Emerald Tips

2012-07-05T11:16:00.001-07:00

Today I went shopping in Bishops Stortford with my beautiful mother. Initially she was just meant to be getting her hair cut but I tagged along. I started the day super happy as I pulled on a summer dress that I'd worn very briefly last weekend and realised whilst a few days ago I'd struggled to do up the zip, I'd lost enough weight to do it up effortlessly. A bit of a surprise!

I spent the couple of hours that my mum was being pampered to browse the selection of shops, trying not to walk in time with the Korean music that had been stuck in my head since waking up in the morning. It would have looked particularly awkward in my summery wedge sandals!

Here it is just in case anyone's curious:

Of course I had to pop into superdrug and pick up another couple of L'Oreal's Color Riche nail varnishes. In Macaron Noisette (a beautiful pale nude colour with shimmer) and Blue Reef (a dark teal crème).

I also found a collection of nail glitters by Gosh and bought one in turquoise that was almost a perfect match for Blue Reef, already deciding how I would paint my nails when I got home- exciting!

I also picked up a pretty coral lipstick before heading back to my mum, but was stopped by a lovely older woman and her husband on the way back who made me blush by telling me that I looked pretty. Not the sort of thing that happens to me, haha!

Feeling a lot more confident and happy I eventually found my mother who looked even more beautiful with her newly coloured and cut hair, and we went to find somewhere to have lunch- where I chose a baked potato as the “healthy option” only to end up with a potato almost the size of my head that I couldn't even eat half of... slightly too generous portions perhaps!

Anyway; this long winded explanation leads to my first attempt at using glitter dust on my nails- which happens to be ridiculously awkward and ends up with a lot of glitter all over your desk.

But it looks pretty.

I could have redone this and made it neater... but I'm lazy!

L'Oreal Color Riche in Macaron Noisette and Blue Reef,
Gosh Nail glitter in Turquoise

I used L'Oreal Color Riche in Macaron Noisette and Blue Reef and Gosh Nail glitter in Turquoise for this design.

I'm also wondering about buying some stamping plates to create more interesting nail art... maybe in a few weeks!

Daily Make up

2012-07-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

So this weekend past I spent at Goodwood Festival of Speed with my car-obsessed family. With a positive weather forecast I didn't sleep the night before we left and dressed at around 2 in the morning in a pretty summer dress and cardigan... I was feeling positive, okay?

Of course when we eventually got there and put up our tent I was frozen by the terrible winds and had to change into jeans and a hoodie. A little disappointing!

Of course as soon as I changed into this and we actually got down to the car festival, the sun came out and I was immediately sweltering.

I think my favourite part of the weekend was... staying in the tent. Is that silly? Haha! We got to see the Red Arrows and another RAF display of the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft which was simply amazing!

It was nice seeing sports cars through the ages as well and it was nice to spend some time with my family, even if cars aren't really “my thing”.

It was nice to get home to my warm bed and a proper shower – not to mention having all of my make up after surviving on concealer and and a little eyeliner!

So I thought I'd make a post on what I'd usually wear on a day out. I don't wear all of these products at once but they're the ones that appear most often.

YSL Touch Eclat, Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit

After moisturising and before foundation I use one (or both!) of these concealers to brighten under my eyes and cover any blemishes.

The Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit in porcelain gives great coverage for under eye bags and the white powder sets it and makes it light enough to suit my skin tone.

My Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat in the original shade is so beautiful. I've gone through quite a few of these now and I don't think that I'll ever replace them! Instead of the usual orange/yellow tone of concealers, this has pink undertones and blends into even my incredibly pale skin. Not to mention it can really open the eyes when used in the inner corners. I tend to keep this with me wherever I go.

Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation in Porcelain, Mineral finishing powder in Translucent Silk

For foundation I wear a mineral foundation by Lily Lolo in the shade Porcelain with their translucent finishing powder. I actually bought it as a set from the website with their Kabuki brush for £35 and am incredibly pleased with it.

As someone who is pretty much as pale as it's possible to be, this foundation is a Godsend! It doesn't oxidise at all and covers all of my red patches on and around my nose with a natural yet matte appearance.

I cannot recommend this foundation enough! Before this I forked out for Bobbi Brown Moisture Rich foundation in their palest colour Alabaster; but even that was too dark and made me look orange!

You can buy Lily Lolo products from their website here: www.LilyLolo.co.uk

At the moment you also get a free grey eyeliner if you order products that come to more than £25 (which I may well be doing thanks to their beautiful summer blushes!) take a look.

Benefit Coralista

My current go to blush for summery cheeks is Benefit's Coralista. I tried this a few years ago when I had an assistant at their counter attack me with make up... coating me with make up that was FAR too dark for my skin!

But I still fell in love with this blush; and although I didn't buy it then in a hurry to escape for the scarily made-up woman, I still made a note of it.

Somehow however I only just purchased my own Coralista blush recently and it's just as amazing as I remembered!

A beautiful coral pink that looks perfect on a whole range of complexions I'm not astounded by its staying power but I always find that powder blushes don't stay on my skin for very long.

It's still beautiful and I have yet to find something that I prefer.

Urban Decay Naked Palette 2

This is my everyday eye palette. For some reason I bought this rather than the original Urban Decay Naked Palette (although I'm sure I'll end up buying that too). At the moment I've been keeping my eyeshadow very subdued with only a slight highlight at my inner eye and brow bone with the shade Bootycall and a little shading of my outer eye and crease with Suspect and Snakebite but this palette is truly amazing.. and so portable!

Gel Eyeliner, Bourjois Kohl & Contour pencil in Ultra Black, MUA White eye pencil

I accidentally on purpose bought an incredibly fake Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner about 6 months ago just to see how it would fare. It was fairly cheap at about £5 with shipping and came with a brush and so I thought that I had nothing to lose.. and I'm still using it.

I had intended to replace it with the genuine Bobbi Brown article or a similar gel eyeliner from a different brand but decided to wait until it dried out.

It does the job that I intended it for and it only now starting to dry out- and the brush is actually incredible quality for such a cheap price- no fallout whatsoever! I by no means recommend ebay fakes though, I usually keep this hidden and am quite embarassed by it, haha!

Also shown is a Kohl and Contour Ultra Black Kohl liner by Bourjois which is lovely and soft on my sensitive eyelids and my cheapy white eyeliner from MUA which was only £1 and comes with its own pencil sharpener. Cannot recommend MUA enough for their cheap products that are still great quality!

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curlers

Recently I bought these eyelash curler from BuyaPowa.

Everyone and their dog has heard of the hype surrounding Shu Uemura eyelash curlers so I waited for weeks for them to come up on Buyapowa so that I could see what all the fuss was about.

Unlike my previous drugstore eyelash curlers, these don't poke me in my brow bone which is amazing! I have deep set, hooded eyes and so surprised when I tried these first time and managed to grab all of my eyelashes and create a perfect curl.

I can confirm what many before me have: Shu Uemura eyelash curlers are well worth the hype. I hope that they last me a while though!

L'Oreal Paris Volume Million Lashes mascara in Ultra Black, Cargo Lash Activator

I'm in between mascaras at the moment. I tend to find that I like mine the most just before I run out of product (probably due to less clumping). At the moment however I'm using Cargo LashActivator which I got for £5 from boots in the sale (down from £20) and L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes in Extra Black that I also got from boots because they had a 3 for 2 offer and I'm still searching for my perfect mascara!

The Cargo mascara isn't my favourite when it comes to how it looks, but it boasts to increase lash growth and I truly believe that it works! I've been using it for a couple of months now and my lashes touch my shades (if I ever get to wear them!). It is not as true black as the Revlon mascara and so sometimes I use them together.

The Revlon mascara is an incredibly dark black and clumping is avoided as the tube pulls any excess product off of the wand as you take it out to use it. A very nifty feature that I wish every mascara had!

Chanel Glossimer in Calypso, LOOK Beauty Lip Slick in Fruit Punch

And last but not least my lipglosses – both of which I have reviewed recently!

I usually wear either Chanel's new summer glossimer Calypso or LOOK Beauty's Lip Slick in Fruit Punch. There's nearly £20 difference between them but they're both beautiful! Fruit Punch is a little easier to wear just because it is slightly less sticky, but as lipglosses go they're both pretty easy to wear and give a lovely peachy pink appearance to the lips. My favourite!

I ran out of time today to actually do my makeup and show you what this looks like on but I thought I'd make this post just to give an idea as to what I put my poor face through on the days that I go out.

What are your make up must haves?

NOTD - Candy Stripes

2012-07-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

I guess two shades of grey don't really class as candy colours, but this striped style made me think of all things sweet and summery; stripey ice lollies and colourful boiled sweets.. things that I'm not even letting myself have in my desperate attempt to lose weight for summer.

This look didn't end up nearly as neat as I wanted. Despite waiting at least an hour for my base coat to dry it still peeled off with my nail stickers. Sigh!

For this I used a L'Oreal Paris Color Riche in 604 Metropolitan, A shimmery, slightly darker grey by Miss Sporty in shade 420 (I think it's called New Black... but don't hold me to that!) and Collection 2000 Hot Looks in 48 Candy Floss.

Perhaps It's my nail stickers that are the issue... I'm not sure! I think I'll attempt this again with different colours some time.

NOTD - Pretty Pastels

2012-06-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

Today my nails didn't end up exactly how I wanted them to, but I wanted to put up a NOTD so they'll have to do! (This is me being lazy and not wanting to redo them..)
I love my new shaped nail stickers though, can you tell?

L'Oreal Color Riche in Marie Antoinette and French Riviera, Essie nail varnish in Mint Candy Apple and Shine of the Times

For this look I used two of the new L'Oreal Color Riche shades: French Riviera and Marie Antoinette as well as my new Essie buys: Mint Candy Apple and Shine of the Times which gives a flecked, opal appearance to your nails.

Maybe I should do something with less pastel colours next time, but they're just so pretty!
What would you like to see?

Shopping Trip!

2012-06-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my boyfriend, Raj's last day staying with me. It was hard to see him go. We've been together pretty much constantly since Valentine's day whether it was in my student house, at his family's home or at mine but now we're actually separated with no plans yet as to when we'll be seeing each other again.

So our last day together we took the bus to the nearest big town and spent the day shopping.

I couldn't stop myself from going into Superdrug. Initially I was only going to look for a cheap eyelash curler to tide me over until Shu Uemuras came up on Buyapowa... but I ended up filling both hands with bargain products that I just couldn't leave without!

Also the Shu Uemura eyelash curlers ended up on sale the same day! What a waste of £4. If you want to get one whilst the sale's still up. Get them for cheap here:

http://www.buyapowa.com/deal/1050

In the end I bought all of these products (minus the Essie nail varnishes which I had ordered online and arrived that morning). I was so excited to try a couple of the new L'Oreal Color Riche nail varnishes from the Candy Girl collection. All of the colours look beautiful and I managed to pick up French Riviera (a very pale, baby blue with some iridescent shimmer) and Marie Antoinette (a light peachy pink).

French Riviera, Marie Antoinette

The nail varnishes need 3 coats to become opaque but they look very pretty on. Perfect pastel colours. They're £4.99 each which isn't that cheap for 5ml bottles but Superdrug currently have a 3 for 2 offer on L'Oreal Paris products so I also bought a grey colour (which I forgot to photograph!) and £10 for 3 probably isn't too bad.

I also managed to pick up a couple of MUA shadow singles. For some reason I hadn't bought some when I previously ordered some products from them. They're very pigmented and beautifully shimmery. I chose the blue/green (shade 8) and Raj persuaded me to also buy Shade 9; a pretty deep purple. Purple isn't really my colour but I think he wants me to wear it for him, haha! They're also only £1. Ridiculously cheap!

I also found the Look Beauty brand which I hadn't seen before. I picked up a matte orange eyeshadow single from them for £2 which I thought was amazing. I think they are currently reduced in price, so I may try and pick a few more up whilst they're this cheap. The colour that I bought is called Sorbet.

MUA Shade 8, MUA Shade 9, LOOK Beauty Sorbet

Here is a swatch of all three eyeshadows. I've only been using my Naked 2 palette recently for barely-there eyeshadow with bold liner and bright lips. I guess I'll have to change my look now and then to fit these pretty shades in.

Here's a very basic look that I created with MUA's shade 8 and Look Beauty's Sorbet. I also used the orange colour “Carrot” from my Front Cover Rainbow Eyes palette and BootyCall from my Naked 2 palette.

Not something I'd wear during the day but I love the colour of Sorbet! It makes me want to pair orange/peach eyes with similar coloured lips. But maybe that's a little much, haha!

Look Beauty also have some very pretty lip glosses called Lip Slick. I bought their orange-coral shade named Fruit Punch. It's a warm coral with the tiniest little gold flecks throughout. Wearing it is incredibly comfortable. It isn't at all sticky and I barely realise that I have it on. It is very pigmented but still lets the pink of your lips through.

LOOK Beauty Lip Slick in Fruit Punch

Here's a lip swatch. I love this colour! I'll definitely buy this again. For £3 it's an absolute bargain.

Spent a long time looking for shoes after this as Raj decided that he wanted to buy me some shoes that wouldn't rub my feet. Even my flats do! I don't understand it!

But after an unsuccessful attempt at finding anything suitable, we ended the day having lunch in Chiquito (which was incredibly tasty!)

I had bbq pulled pork quesadillas which were pretty good, and Raj had the hottest Chiq chiq chicken that they sell- which was tasty but not something that I could really eat!

So now he's gone and I'm all alone. Such a weird feeling to not have him to talk to constantly when I've really taken that for granted recently... but I guess there's more space in my single bed!

Recent Buys - June

2012-06-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

I've bought quite a lot recently, but I thought I'd make a post containing a few things that I've bought and loved.

I decided to do this after receiving quite a large amount of MUA cosmetics that I ordered from their site. If I remember correctly, all of these items cost around £13... pretty cheap really considering that I bought 8 items with that money!

I was really impressed with some of the things that I ordered. The brow and eye pencil in particular are really pigmented and just soft enough. They are amazing at £1 each! I'm usually not too fond of spending a lot on pencil liners so I'm super happy with these – the white liner even comes with its own sharpener and the brow pencil comes with a brush to groom your unruly eyebrows, too!

I got the clear mascara because it's cheap and works to keep my eyebrows in place. Maybe another time I should try one of their black mascaras and see how it holds up.

The other items I haven't managed to try properly yet, but I did think lipstick formulas felt particularly non-drying. I'll probably review all of these products at some point!

Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit in Porcelain

This is the Creamy Concealer Kit by Bobbi Brown in the porcelain shade- which is the lightest.

I'd previously bought the corrector which comes in a slightly paler colour and thought that this was too dark when I first tried it. But combined with the white powder that accompanies the concealer it really is incredibly good. Maybe at one point I'll reorder my corrector too as they're meant to work amazing together.

The Body Shop Vitamin E moisturizer and scrub

Next are my current favourite moisturising duo! I've been using The Body Shop's Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream and Nourishing Night Cream for about a year now and so far I haven't wanted to try anything else! I suffer from mostly normal skin, but now and then dry patches appear on my cheeks or between my eyebrows and these amazing moisturizers clear that right up. I'm always worried when I use new face products in case they'll make me break out in spots, but I have only good things to say about these two.

The Cream exfoliator I bought because Body Shop currently had a 3 for 2 offer on skin care. It's okay; I'm sure I'll use it if I get dry patches again. It's incredibly gentle though and I prefer to feel like my dead skin cells are coming off when I exfoliate, so I think I'll stick to my St Ive's apricot scrub.

Bio-Oil

Recently on Buyapowa I bought two 125ml bottles of Bio-Oil for £11.50, that's £19 less than RRP!

I've been looking at Bio-Oil for a while now because I have stretch marks from when I lost some weight fairly quickly a couple of years ago.

If you haven't heard of Bio-Oil; it's said to help minimise scarring, stretch marks, uneven skin tone, and help aging and dehydrated skin.

I've heard good things but I'm not expecting miracles; but with two good sized bottles at least I have enough to see if it'll work for me!

Last but not least are these incredibly cute heart earrings that I bought from the River Island Boutique store in Cambridge.

I didn't even know that this shop existed, but now that I know I'm sure that I'll be spending more money there! They sell my favourite parts of River Island: the shoes, bags and accessories!

What are your recent must-have purchases?

NOTD - Nearly Nude

2012-06-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

Supermodel, Peppermint

Yesterday I met with a good friend of mine and went to Cambridge for shopping and Yo!Sushi. The weather was terrible but I still spent ages doing my hair (only to be rained on). But the slightly colder weather meant that I also got to wear my huuuge legwarmers which I adore.

I was going to do a Look Of The Day post but ended up not having enough time and having no one to take the picture for me. We also have the village fare,

I had decided that I needed to buy a total of two things when I was out. A new compact mirror, because my last smashed on my journey to my boyfriend's house, and a nude or muted brown colour nail varnish to match with some pretty pastel tips.

Of course I forgot about this entirely once I was out and bought nothing that I'd decided on beforehand.

But just before leaving for home in the late afternoon, I spotted Bazaar magazine had Leighton Denny nail varnish freebies and snapped one up for about £4. I though that this was rather reasonable considering that the varnish retails for £11; and the colour that I chose was Supermodel. A lovely dull brown that was perfect for what I wanted (it's also far more muted than my photo makes it seem!

So today I painted my nails with Supermodel for the base and Rimmel's Peppermint colour, from my previous NOTD post, for the tips.

I love this look and think that I'll try it again with different colours.

This is the first Leighton Denny nail varnish that I've tried and it's wonderful. I only needed one coat for full coverage on my nails which definitely saves a little time when I have to wait for it to dry completely before painting the tips.

Coloured french tips are almost definitely overdone by now, but I still love them.

What about you?

NOTD - Summer Shimmer

2012-06-21T05:04:00.000-07:00

I am a sucker for anything in green or blue shades. Particularly nail varnish so this simple look has my gazing at my nails during the day -it's quite distracting!

I bought the Models' Own nail varnish Indian Ocean after reading a blog about it and falling in love with the almost opalescent appearance that it gives to any nail varnish that you layer it over.

It looks blue in the bottle but I've tried it over all kids of pastel shades and love it over everything (next I should try it over dark colours... but I feel far too summery at the moment!)

Indian Ocean, Peppermint

This is my current favourite combination; a pretty mint green (here I used Rimmel London Lycra PRO in Peppermint) and just one layer of Indian Ocean.

I also use OPI Nail Envy as a base coat because I suffer from terrible flaky nails.

I think I'll be wearing this a lot this summer, it's just too pretty!

What are your go to summer shades?

Dainty Doll Review – In His Kiss, Baby Love and It's A Kind Of Magic

2012-06-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

I was never a fan of Girls Aloud and so never really knew much about Nicola Roberts. But I heard about her range of make up aimed at pale skin tones around a year ago and it sounded perfect for me!

With incredibly pale, almost translucent skin I figure that I must be one of the girls that her range is aimed at.

If you're pale too you'll know just how hard it is to find foundation and cover-up that doesn't look glaringly orange on our porcelain complexions.

So I was browsing the Boots website recently and I came across Nicola Robert's concealer pen and ordered it in the colour “very light”. I'm used to ordering the palest shade there is so even though this was supposedly aimed at fair skin, I wasn't taking any chances.

Seeing as Boots had a 3 for 2 offer on and I'm a sucker for new lip products I also ordered two of her lipsticks in In His Kiss (a pale pink) and Baby Love (A very warm nude colour).

The boxes that the products came in are pretty cute. Plain black boxes with an image of a skinny woman with orange hair (who I presume is supposed to be Nicola).

The lipstick tubes are metal and feel cold in the hand whereas the concealer tube is plastic and rather cheap looking. For £12.50 I expected it to be metal also. It looks a little like it's going to open up and be a cheap felt tip pen!

I tried the concealer first because that was what I was most interested in. At £12.50 I was hoping for a cheaper version of my Touche Éclat that would be more suited for my skin colour (hey, a girl can dream!).

The design is similar to the Touche Eclat. It has a button on the bottom that you have to pump about 40 times on your first use to push the product up to the brush end.

It's A Kind Of Magic in Very Light

I swiped some of the excess on my arm and was a little disappointed by how it looked. It was very much as pale as promised but looked almost like it had the texture of cottage cheese..

A bit of a turn off.

Determined that I should give it a try anyway I added some to my hand and tried to blend it into my skin to see what the coverage was like.. and there really wasn't any!

I've tried to take photos to explain but my camera just won't pick it up. I tried to use my fingertips to gently blend the product into the skin on the back of my hand but this just made it look incredibly splotchy. In trying to get rid of this the product almost completely disappeared from the surface of my skin and forced itself into the tiny lines on my hands.

Not impressed.

I've tried it on my face after this but the uneven coverage just makes me look like I have some sort of weird skin disease. I don't think that this concealer could conceal anything.

I also tried mixing it with my Touche Éclat for a better colour but it doesn't take on its lovely consistency.

I honestly don't know who tested this and thought that it worked as a concealer..

They also sell a cream concealer in a compact; perhaps that's a little better.

Anyway onto the lipsticks.

In His Kiss, Baby Love

In His Kiss is a very pretty pink with gold shimmer that I wasn't expecting. Baby Love is the warm nude that was promised but after swatching I was fairly certain that it wouldn't suit my skin colour.

In this swatch you can't see In His Kiss very well, but that's as opaque as I could make it! It has very little coverage.

In His Kiss

Here's In His Kiss on the lips. I think that this photo actually makes it look nicer than it is. It's quite a pretty colour but I'm not sure that I like shimmer in lipsticks. It tends to put all faults on show!

I think I put at least three layers on for this photo so it takes a while to build up but it feels like it would last a while on the lips.

Baby Love

Baby Love is terribly unflattering on me. The bullet feels softer than In His Kiss and it's far more opaque but it looks streaky on the lip and doesn't stay in one place. I tend to find that with matte lipsticks it's fairly important that they give equal coverage or you look a little ill, so I don't think that I'll be wearing this.

In all I'm fairly disappointed with my purchases. I may have just chosen the wrong shades for me when it comes to the lipstick so I will have another go with different colours if I see them in store. But I think that I won't buy before trying when it comes to Dainty Doll again!

Glossybox review - June 2012

2012-06-19T07:07:00.003-07:00

This morning I was lucky enough to receive three packages. A very cheap (1p!) Maybelline New York lip gloss bargain from Half Price Perfumes, a beautiful Paprika peplum dress from New Look and my beautiful new Glossybox.

Upon opening my box I actually said out loud “Wow, that's big”; referring to the Clean Start 3-step kit by Dermalogica that sat at the top of my box. This set has three parts to it:

A foaming wash that is said to “clean deep and wipe out dirt and breakouts”

A purifying toner in the form of a spray mist that they say “helps control shine and keep breakouts away”

An spf15 moisturizer that is lightweight and shouldn't block pores.

Foaming wash, Purifying Toner, SPF Moisturizer

I was pretty excited by this set. The card that came with my box says that it has a value of £12 which is practically the price of my box by itself and I'm always looking for new face products. I don't suffer from breakouts but I do get terrible blackheads on my nose so maybe this set will be good for not clogging my pores.

Although I haven't used this set yet (it arrived too late and I'd already finished my morning routine and put on my make up!) I thought I'd open it to feel the consistency of the products.

Foaming Wash

For some reason I thought that the foaming wash would have a creamy formula; probably because of all of my moisturising washes that I have to banish my dry skin on my cheeks. It doesn't smell unpleasant, maybe a little medicinal though.

The mist toner feels lovely on my skin. I sprayed it a little on my neck and it felt very cooling on my skin. I'm not sure if it stops breakouts but it did leave a matte finish once it had dried although I'm not sure how it would fare on oily skin. It also feels amazing on hot days like today!

SPF Moisturizer

The moisturising lotion is lightweight, as promised. It takes a little bit of rubbing to get it to absorb into the skin but seeing as it's a very thin lotion is seems like a little will go a long way.

I think I'll be trying this whole set out starting from tonight.

Next was a 1g pot of Summer Warmth Bronzer by BM Beauty. This little pot is worth around £2 and for a sample it's very full!

Summer Warmth Bronzer

In the box was also a natural goat hair blush brush with Glossybox written on it (which matches our compact mirrors from their birthday box!) and a mini Yves Rocher France Ultra-volume Sexy Pulp mascara.

The brush is made of natural goat hair and is said to give supersoft make-up application. It had quite a few loose hairs but does feel quite soft. Apparently it retails for £15 but I'm not sure I would have paid that; a very nice addition to the box though. I'll be trying it tomorrow with my blush.

The mascara I haven't been able to test yet because I already have some on. I'm looking forward to trying it though as the brush seems to come out with very little excess product on it. Even if I don't buy the larger version of this I think I'll keep it in my handbag as it's such a useful size. I don't know who thought the word “pulp” sounded sexy though!

Last are a collection of 6 shades of Dermablend Ultra-Corrective Foundation Cream Stick by Vichy. It is said to be good for correcting minor to severe skin flaws. Inside the packet it shows before and after images of models covering their flawed skin -including one male model which I thought was quite nice. I've known quite a few men who were embarrassed by their blemishes, it's nice that Vichy aren't just targeting women with this product- men should feel confident in own skin too!

Left to right: Porcelain, Opal, Light, Nude, Sand, Bronze

Here are swatches of all 6 tones. They seem very creamy and I can imagine that they'd be good at covering blemishes. As always they don't really suit my skin, but if there was one that did I'm sure that I'd buy it. The foundation sticks are fragrance free, hypoallergenic and have spf50 as well as being resistant to water and persiration.

This isn't going to be the kind of product that wears off after an hour or so. I've washed my arm twice rather brutally after these swatches and I still have shadows of all 6 shades!

Overall I'm very pleased with this months box. I think it's better than ones that I've received in previous months and I believe that I'll use nearly all of these products.

I was wondering about cancelling Glossybox and sticking just with Joliebox but it seems I'll be sticking with them a while longer.

What do you think about this month's Glossybox? Did you love the products as much as I did? I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else got.

Chanel Lèvres Scintillantes Glossimer Review – Calypso

2012-06-18T14:47:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, whilst I was staying with my boyfriend, I managed to persuade him to go shopping with me in the Bull Ring in Birmingham (after bribing him with the promise of Yo!Sushi!)

I have to say... I failed phenomenally at shopping. I'd meant to be buying summer clothes, but instead ended up only buying beauty products for my face! I think that the boyfriend was secretly happy that he didn't have to sit around whilst I tried on clothes, but I almost felt like it was a wasted trip until I went further into the beauty department of Selfridges and met my new beautiful Glossimer!

I've heard mixed things about Chanel Glossimers. Mostly I hadn't been too tempted because most of the colours are incredibly sheer; and for over £20 a pop I really couldn't justify spending the money on them.

But this summer they've brought out Calypso; a beautiful warm orange shade with tiny specks of gold shimmer running all the way through. And I've fallen head over heels with it!

The packaging is of course incredibly simple and classy. A transparent tube which holds the beautiful gloss within topped with a band of gold and a plain black lid with, of course, the Chanel Cs. It feels really nice in my hand... but I think that's just me being weird.

This image shows a little better the beautiful warm gold shimmer in the gloss. I'm a sucker for orange and coral shades at the moment so this Glossimer just called out to me. Although the colour looks almost scarily bright in the tube, as a gloss it has just the right amount of pigment in my opinion. It lets the colour of your lips come through so it looks very warm and beautiful on.

Here's a swatch on my arm. You can really see the gold in this. It also looks a little more pink here than it does in the bottle which makes it a little more wearable.

Here it is on the lips. It's doesn't seem to want to apply evenly always and It does leave gold flecks on your lips once it has faded away which is a little annoying, but it looks really pretty on. A perfect summer shade.

I wore it the other day for an afternoon out in town with my boyfriend (Excuse the terrible roots! I hadn't managed to re-dye my hair yet).

I very nearly bought the Rouge Coco Shine lipstick that Chanel bought out in a similar colour “En Vogue” but the glitter in the gloss won me out. Perhaps I should buy it before the summer's up.

What do you think about Chanel's summer range of pretty nudes and cute corals?

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Review - Dating Coral and Rebel Red

2012-06-18T11:52:00.001-07:00

I heard great things about L'Oreal's attempt at a balm/lipstick hybrid (as I'm sure everyone in the blog circuit has!). I read review after review online trying to work out which colours to purchase for myself; and finally decided on the popular Dating Coral and Rebel Red. Neither of which seemed easy to get my hands on as they have been constantly selling out on the Boots website.

Even going in to my local store didn't help me. The whole display was empty of these lipsticks in any colour whatsoever!

And so I waited; checking the Boots website every day or so until about two weeks ago I finally managed to add both colours to my bag online and check out; trying not to get too excited as I did so.

Does anyone else get unnaturally happy when they have new beauty products on the way? I always get so hyped up about it; waiting for the post excitedly every day and wanting to throw all of my new make up on my face at once as soon as I have it.

It's perfectly healthy, I'm sure.

The first package that I unwrapped was my lipstick in Rebel Red. The casing is transparent plastic with and inner gold tube that holds the bullet. It has the words "L'Oreal Paris" writton on the side in gold and the top of the casing is shiny and red (when I first saw this I thought it corresponded to the colour of the lipstick but my lipstick in Dating Coral has the same colour).

Left to right: Dating Coral, Rebel Red

The packaging is fairly nice for a drugstore product. It looks quite fancy really. The tubes are a lot harder to open than any of my other lipsticks -I have to give it a fairly hard tug to get the lid off- but I guess that just means that I don't have to worry about loose lipstick lids rolling around in my hand bag!

Left to right: Dating Coral, Rebel Red

Upon first inspection Dating Coral looking a lot less vibrant than I expected. It made me think of a dusky rose colour when I saw it with a hint of coral. A little disappointing after how bright some of the Revlon lip butters are (I'll review those later). In comparison, Rebel Red is a very bright, almost primary red that I wanted to apply as soon as I saw it.

Both colours have a slight hint of shimmer to them but I don't think that this shows on the lips, and Dating Coral has a far creamier consistancy to Rebel Red (I think it is also a little more opaque due to this).

Dating Coral, Rebel Red

In this photo they both look pretty bright but I think that Dating Coral is a lot less orange in real life than it is in this photo. Rebel Red comes out as a very pretty and sheer blue-based red.

Dating Coral, Rebel Red

Here on the lips Dating Coral is a very pretty, wearable shade. Not the statement lip that I thought it would be, but suitable for looks where you want to play up your eyes. I like the consistancy. It's quite creamy and doesn't show many of the flaws in my lips.

Rebel Red doesn't apply to the lips as evenly but it is a beautiful colour. A very wearable red that is suitable for those that want some colour on their lips but aren't ready for opaque lipsticks. I've worn this colour quite a lot since buying it but it needs to be reapplied quite often.

Rebel Red leaves a stain once it has faded which looks quite nice and you possibly don't need a mirror to apply it unless you have super pale skin like me where every flaw looks terrible. I think because of this I'll be leaving this lipstick for short trips rather than day-long shopping sprees but I think it will definitely be a new addition to my handbag.

The jury isn't out on Dating Coral yet. I think that I need to wear it some more to decide whether I'll be using it much or not.

Both colours feel quite moisturising on the lips. Obviously not as good as a lip balm but not drying like some lipsticks can be.

What do you think of L'oreal's Rouge Caresse lipsticks? What colours have you tried and are they something that you wear often or do you find them a little high maintenance with their short wear time?