Lady of the Lane

Exciting M&S News!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sun, 27 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000

M&S are about to relaunch it's beauty departments across all stores nationwide and I have to say it sounds impressive. M&S own brand products are all being repackaged and improved but not only that you'll be able to find selections of some incredible niche beauty brands such as Apivita and the amazing Dr Murad.

Not only that but there's be a new own-brand range called Pure with a natural and eco friendly proposition. There also seems to be a massive change in staffing as the Your Beauty departments will be staffed by experienced and expertly trained beauty advisers to offer advice but without any hard sell. All advisers have been specially selected and will be undergoing rigorous training to include skincare, hair care and make up training as well as skin analysis.

I think the whole thing sounds really excellent. The first department opened on 22nd May at the Kensington Hight street branch in London and you can have a look at what's on offer now at www.marksandspencer.com.

Two further departments open in June and the roll out of new departments will happen over the next 12 months with over 100 stores by Summer 2012. Sounds wonderful.

Glossybox - Just when you thought I was done...

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Back in March I did a post about Glossybox which I entitled "My Final Thoughts", partly because I thought I'd said all I had to say about Glossybox and I suspected I wouldn't receive another one. It's not that I hate Glossybox but I certainly don't think the process has been perfect in many ways.

So I had decided that if I did receive another box I wouldn't review it because I'd already said all I wanted to say, and then came April's Natural Box and it turned out to be my absolute favourite of all the boxes I've received to date. Not one single dud product. I'm not going to give you the run down of everything in the box because, it's May now, the April box has been and gone and I know the contents have already been done to death in the blogsphere, but here's a quick look.

Monu Moisture Rich Collagen Cream
Caudalie Vinosource SOS Thirst-Quenching Serum
Burts Bees Naturally Nourishing Milk and Honey Body Lotion
Figs & Rouge Cherry & Vanilla Lip Balm
Inika Organic Eyeliner in black.

All beautiful products and the Monu and Caudalie have been exceptionally useful to me since my experience with that mask...that said, as always, if you've got oily skin, those two products will not have been ideal at all but for me, April's box was the best yet. I even loved the actual box. It's biodegradable and lovely.

Well done Glossybox, loved it!

*Disclosure - PR Samples*

Illamasqua Naked Strangers

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I just wanted to share with you some images and information for the newest Illamasqua collection, Naked Strangers.

This is so stunning.

Stunning image. Aside from the glitter and gold leaf that is what I wish my make up looked like every single day.

And check out these nails... to die for...

Took me a few looks before I realised both hands were different!

So the collection is a gorgeous combination of golds and nudes. In Alex Box's own words

"Naked Strangers captures inner glows and depths. The deeply and darkly alluring exists alongside ethereal shimmering brilliance. We are complex and multifaceted whilst also being naked to the world."

It's a nice small collection.

Naked Rose Powder Blusher and cream blusher in Zygomatic (£16.50). Intense Lipgloss in Stranger (platinum gold) and Sheer Lipgloss in Intimacy (£13) and three Nail Varnish in Monogamous (creamy flesh pink, matte), Faithful (coppered metal) or Swinger (platinum gold) (all £13.50).

I like the look of everything but am particularly drawn to the polishes, Sheer lipgloss and both the blushers.... what about you?

The collection launches on 31st May.

BlanX Extrawhite Intensive Whitening Treatment

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Fri, 25 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I've seen BlanX toothpastes around but somehow had not quite gotten around to trying it. In recent months my whitening toothpaste of choice seems to have disappeared from Superdrug and Boots shelves so the chance to try out BlanX came at a good time.

BlanX Extrawhite Intensive Whitening Treatment is not a cheap toothpaste at £10.50 but it is very effective. The idea isn't that you use this constantly as your toothpaste of choice, but instead use it as a treatment, twice a day for two weeks, four times a year.

I've used this this product for three weeks now (that'll teach me to not properly read the instructions!) and have certainly noticed a fantastic difference.

Alas, I totally forgot to take a before photo so the photo I'll show you in a second won't be much use to you, but what you need to know about my teeth is that they are naturally fairly yellow and that I apparently have quite "grainy" enamel which attracts stains... that and I drink way too much coffee. So the following results are amazing for me, excuse the horrible grin, I hate showing my teeth, but I can do it with a little more pride since using this stuff!

Gurn!

So this is a definite winner for me, highly recommended. I like the fact it's not tested on animals, it's suitable for vegetarians, it's not gritty and so won't destroy your enamel and finally, I like that its made with Arctic Lichen because I think that's super cool (the Lichen inhibits the growth of bacteria, helps prevent plaque, reduces staining and soothes gums)!

BlanX is available From ASDA, Boots, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Superdrug and Wilkinson.

*Disclosure - PR Sample*

Carmex Carmex Carmex!!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Carmex! Everyone knows Carmex right? Everyone loves it don't they?!

Well I've been carrying around a little pot of Cherry Carmex for ages, because a) it lasts for ages and b) it works and c) because nothing beats the dryness you get after you've had a cold and I get a LOT of colds and d) the mentholly strawberryness is yum.

Carmex sent me three products to try out. A little tube of strawberry carmex, smells and tastes yummy, does a great job, like all Carmex does, but is perfect for those of you who don't like tubs you have to put your fingers into. Good job!

Then there's a little pot of original Carmex, for me this is my bedtime lip balm, I keep it on my bedside table and its the last thing I do every night along with applying my cuticle oil, sometimes I don't even bother with cuticle oil and just use the Carmex! I wake up with soft moisturised lips. Marvellous.

The main product I wanted to tell you about is the Carmex Moisture Plus Ultra Hydrating Lip Balm, perfect for me, lip balm meets colour. I absolutely adore lipstick, I have billions of them, but I actually don't wear lipstick that often, I far more often reach for a gloss or a balm, or one of the sheer lipsticks around these days... now I can have subtle sheer lip colour with all the benefits of an ultra balm. In this case. Peach.

SPF 15 Peachy shade, vitamin E and Aloe. I absolutely love this product.

The Mositure Plus Ultra Hydrating Lip Balms (bit of a mouthful!!) are £4.49 and Carmex tubes and pots are a bargainous £2.54. Amazing.

Available from Superdrug, Boots and all sorts of other chemisty type places.

*Disclosure - Products provide to me free of charge for review purposes*

My Groupon and No!No! Hair Removal Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I was approached by Groupon a few weeks ago with the invitation to try it out and purchase a deal so that I could share the experience with my readers.

For the uninitiated Groupon offers daily deals on things to do, see, eat and buy across cities in the UK, along with national deals. The deals are usually great value, and highly discounted and although I've been registered with Groupon for quite some time now, I'd not yet actually given it a go.

So, I had a look around at all the deals and although I fancied treating myself to some kind of beauty treatment, at the time there wasn't anything available for my city, so it was that I ended up going for the No!No! Classic Hair Removal Device at a bargain price of £99.99 including six extra blades (which had I bought from the same supplier without the Groupon deal would have cost me £259.96). I'll tell you all about the No!No! in a minute, but first let me explain the process to you.

A deal appears that you fancy. In order for the deal to go ahead a certain amount of people need to buy it, and at that point you are ensured your deal will go ahead. You purchase your deal and then will receive a voucher or voucher code, this I believe, nearly always comes to you via email. For me, I purchased the the Groupon No!No! Deal and the following day the voucher code arrived in my inbox along with the the details and link to the site from where I'd be purchasing my No!No! from. The device wasn't available immediately, but a couple of days later, all of which was explained in my email. And so it was that a couple of days later I headed off to the Chemist 4U website, added the No!No! to my shopping basket, redeeming my Groupon code, and a couple of days later my device arrived in the post. Very simple, very quick and very easy.

Included in my No!No! box was the device itself, a buffer, five blades, a little brush to clean the blades, a pouch to keep your bits in, and a power adapter, in this case it was a two pin adapter but there was also a adapter so I could plug it into a UK socket. I had also got the deal with the extra blades so they were included but I've not photographed those.

So far so good. It's actually extremely easy to use but a little confusing at first, once you've got your head around it though its simple. You have to truly understand what this device is supposed to do though before starting. This hair removal method requires patience and time. You don't use this once and remove your hair, that's not the idea at all.

Let me explain. The basic idea of the No!No! is that over time, it will decrease the amount of hair on your body, and the time it takes that hair to grow back. You can use it on most parts of your body except your face, genitals (bikini line is fine) and breasts. There is another model I think that you can use on your face if you needed to.

The No!No! looks like an electric shaver but it doesn't actually cut, it uses a thermodynamic wire to pass heat to the roots of your hair follicles. The heat (which you can't feel) disrupts communication to the spot that stimulates growth and it lasts as long as you want it to with a continuous treatment. You can use it daily, but the manual suggests 2 -3 times a week. I've been using it 3--4 times a week so far and haven't seen any results yet but haven't expected to. This isn't an immediate hair remover, the good news is you can still shave in the meantime so you don't have to be hairy!

You will be left with hair after using the device thats for sure, but as I say you can shave, but you also buff each area after you've been over it which removes a lot of stubble. Also, one big thing that I can tolerate but you may not be able to, is the smell of burning hair. Be warned.

As I say I've been using this for about 2 weeks now but I wouldn't expect to start seeing results until the 4-6 weeks mark so I'll of course come back to this and review again, for now though I'll just say it's a breeze to use, I'm optimistic and beware of negative reviews where the reviewer hasn't realised that this isn't an immediate hair remover. I'm just doing my lower legs at the moment but we shall see. You need to use for about 15-30 mins about three times a week for as long as you want to the product to work, and by around week 5 the need for additional shaving should be gone... we shall see, but I must thank Groupon for the opportunity to try this product out.

I can highly recommend the whole Groupon process and will be looking more closely at deals in future!

Take a look at what beauty deals there are on offer at the moment here.

*Disclosure- I was provided Groupon vouchers by Groupon which I spent on the No!No!*

Paul & Joe Summer Love Potion Lipgloss

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I don't think its a secret that I'm a huge Paul & Joe fan. When they release a collection, I invariably want it all and as for the permanent line I've got a fairly hefty shopping list for that too...

The Summer Collection is called Midsummer Night Dream and the products are as you would imagine, magical (not Shakespearean!).

I was sent the Love Potion Lipgloss (£15) from the collection which is lovely. As always, the packaging is beautiful.

A softly shimmering pink with the delicious scent of strawberry and vanilla. It's very yum.

The rest of the collection is equally, if not more so, gorgeous and here's my wishlist.

Under the Stars, Love-in-Idleness and Moonbeam Self Select Eye Colours.

Nail Enamel in Pixie, a holographic silver glitter £10.50

Shimmering Pressed Powder £22. Need this, if I can only afford one thing, it will be this. Paul & Joe do amazing powders.

Cheek colours in Faune and Nubile £15

Most of the collection is available on www.asos.com now and it will also launch on www.beautybay.com no 14th June. If things sell out before I get there I'm not going to be happy!

Erno Laszlo Hollywood Collection Skincare

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Audrey Hepburn once said:

"I owe 50 per cent of my beauty to my mother and the other 50 per cent to Erno Laszlo"

Well. Wow.

Erno Laszlo was a Hungarian Born American Dermatologist and cosmetic businessman (thanks Wikipedia!) who founded the Erno Laszlo Institute. The Institute specialised in beauty treatments and cosmetics and was aimed at the rich, famous and powerful...among his clients were the aforementioned Audrey Hepburn along with Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy amongst many many others.

Erno Laszlo sadly passed away in 1973 but his legacy lives on with a wide variety of skincare products but recently, to celebrate 85 years a special collection was released. The Hollywood Collection, a collection inspired by the brands most famous and iconic devotees.

There's the Instant Eye Repair inspired by Ava Gardner, Morning Rescue Beauty created in tribute to Marilyn Monroe, Velvet Night Cream inspired by Greta Garbo and finally two products that I was sent to try out, which I'll tell you about below.

Before I do, I just want to quickly mention the packaging. Sleek, sophisticated minimal. The jars are especially stylish, square pot with a round lid, with very little else except the product name and the brand logo. Love it. It looks exclusive.

Intensive Porcelain Veil

This cream was created with Katharine Hepburn in mind. It's a palest aqua shade and lightly scented. It's purpose is to deliver deep moisturisation for a smooth refined complexion. It moisturises beautifully, yet somehow remains incredibly light. I LOVE this. There is a catch though, I'm just going to say it. It's £140 for 50ml. That's a hell of a lot of money and certainly out of my price range...if I had money for things like this though, this would be my moisturiser of choice. It is positively divine. Every inch the luxury product. Is it worth £140? I don't know really, probably not, if I could afford it I'd buy it though, no questions, so perhaps that makes me a fool, but if it made me look anything like Audrey Hepburn then I'd be happy (alas even I know that's never going to happen, not even if I spent £1000 on a pot of cream). Because this is so expensive I'm seriously regulating my use. I can't use this every day. I just can't.

Then the final product in the Hollywood Collection is the Refresh Moisture Infusion.

This time the cream is a cool palest lavender shade, created in homage to Grace Kelly. A Moistuiser to increase radiance and even skin tone, full of antioxidants to brighten the complexion. Very moisturising, slightly heavier than the Porcelain Veil but still ridiculously light given the amount of moisture going on. All of my comments for the previous apply here as well. This one is £125 for 50ml. Worth every penny in terms of luxury and hydration... could you get the same quality for £30? I don't know, I'm not a scientist, I can't compare in any real and scientific way. All I can tell you is that if I could I'd buy this range. No question.

Beautiful products, beautifully packaged with a stunning background story to add to the magic.

Available from Harrods exclusively.

*Disclosure - PR Samples for which I am extremely extremely grateful!*

A-England Ascalon

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sat, 19 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I pretty much suck at taking photos of pretty polishes. I probably shouldn't even bother to try really, but I love polish and I want to share anyway, so here's the second of my A-England purchases. Ascalon.

A dark grey duochrome with a purple flash and lots of lovely holo. I've totally failed to capture how wow it is. Formula wise it's smooth, glossy and perfect.

No more words, just pictures.

Dove Spa Strength Within Anti-Wrinkle Supplements

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

An anti-wrinkle supplement needing reviewing, I'm all over that! Or at least I wanted to be. It didn't quite work out how it was supposed to but let me tell you about the product first. When Strength Within was first launched it sold out in 3 hours. Because it's the first supplement proven to reduce wrinkles.

5 Years of clinical research carried out by scientists, dermatologists and nutritionists resulted in the Strength Within supplements. Results have shown smoother skin after just 14 weeks with the greatest effect being on the deepest wrinkles.

The idea is that supplementing the diet with nourishing ingredients has a significant effect on the appearance of the skin.

Ingredients (feel free to click to enlarge):

The research was carried out on and with more than 500 women and has been independently recognised by experts from the British Skin Foundation with the final tests were carried out over 14 weeks with 164 women.

Now that really is something. I can't tell you how many products or press releases I get that claim to have had a dramatic effect on 99% of women but then when you read the small print there were 10 women on the trial, this is more significant and certainly therefore more believable. And I do believe this product to be effective and I do believe it works... for me though, trialling this hasn't gone so well.

I didn't realise when I agreed to review the product that it would involve taking three tablets a day. There isn't a problem with that, and I don't have a complaint about that...BUT for me personally, it's a miracle if I remember to take one tablet a day, never mind three... so I managed about two days before I started slipping and taking one or two a day before forgetting completely. Then I pulled myself together and started again...only to find the three tablets a day nigh on impossible for me to remember to take. Let me make this clear, this is entirely my problem, and no fault at all of the product. I am just useless.

Soooo.... I can't really review this other than to say it SOUNDS fantastic and it's probably well worth checking out. As for the packs I have here, I'm going to try once more to do it as I'm noticing increasingly that the aging process is quickening and my lines seem to grow more obvious by the day so I'm on a mission to do this! Properly! If all goes well, in about two and half months I'll report back with my results... fingers crossed.

Strength Within is available exclusively from www.dovespa.co.uk and retails at £35 for 28 days supply.

EDIT: I have just been informed that you can take your daily three tablets all at the same time which will make it a lot easier for me!

*Disclosure - PR Sample*

Gold by Giles Beauty at New Look

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I was pleasantly surprised when this box of goodies arrived through my letter box a couple of weeks ago.

I had no idea where it came from but was in New Look packaging so guessed it was from there, a little look on the New Look site confirmed that the Gold by Giles range is indeed from New Look. I don't know how they got my details, but am very grateful. Also, if I agreed to review these products it's terribly embarrassing as I have no recollection whatsoever of doing so.

That's irrelevant anyway, what is relevant is that this is a box of make up received for review. Now I think I've swatched everything and have taken photographs of some of the item in use. This would have been a very huge post if I'd shown everything!

So anyway, Gold by Giles for New Look. The Giles in question is in fact Giles Deacon, the designer. He's pretty well known I think and I think putting his name to New Look cosmetics is a slightly odd combination because this make up is so incredibly cheap. Not that thats a bad thing as I think you'll see, but in some cases it's not a great thing either.

In terms of packaging, I like it, it looks great, it does however feel cheap. I don't mind that too much, I find the packaging to be completely in line with the pricing, it IS cheap, so of course the packaging is cheap. It looks nice though so thats fine by me.

Let's look at the brow and Eye Liner Set first. It's £2.99 for both products.

The black kohl liner has a smudger on one end, it's decently pigmented and nicely blendable without being too smeary, its decent enough and I've used it a few times actually, it really is quite a bargain I have to say.

It's the Brow Pencil I've used a lot though. I think it does a great job, the spoolie on the end is great and the colour is perfect. In any of the following pictures where you can see my brows, I'm wearing this pencil to fill in. Excellent. I can't decide whether I prefer pencil or powder at the moment and tend to mix and match but if I need a new pencil, I'll get this one.

Next, The Liquid Eyeliners in Turquoise, Gold and Black. £2.99 each.

These are great for the money, they don't last all day, but they don't transfer to my upper lid which is great, I love the turquoise shade especially. The brush is average, its not brilliant, it's just okay. Ignore the shoddy application of the gold there, that's me, not the product.

Next the Scandal Eye Shadow Quad £3.99

Love the colours in this palette I have to say, I wish I'd gone a little lighter on the blue-ish shade bottom left, but they are all fab. In terms of quality, these feel cheap, they feel exactly like the MUA eyeshadows, but they are very pigmented and actually wear very well indeed. They just have this sort of wet-ish texture about them. I've worn this a few times lately though and I'm a big fan of the colours.

Next up the cheek products.... The Metallic Blusher Set and the Bronzer. Both £2.99. Alas my bronzer arrive a bit damaged but not too badly.

I'm not sure what to say about these, they are super pigmented and VERY metallic, both of them, the bronzer is actually very gold and not all that bronze. Thats not a criticism, these are just for evening only I think.

Here's the blusher...

And the bronzer...

Gold. I don't know though, I kind of like it! Like I say though, evenings only!

Finally the lip products. I was sent the Red and Pink lipsticks, £2.99 each.

Love these, gorgeous colours, nice texture. Bargain price. Would totally be happy to buy them and may indeed check out the other shades.

Then there are Three Lip Gloss Tubes £1.99 each.

All nice, all pretty shades, the first in particular. It's an interesting method of dispensing too...you sort of pump product out onto the brush. They are all nice, nothing amazing but they are nice and as with the rest of the range an absolute bargain for the price!

Finally there are Three Lip Gloss Wands, £2.99 Each.

Love these, I don't know if they really differ formula wise from the the tubes, but I love them, the colours are beautiful, and they wear as well as any high end gloss I own.

All in all a very cheap but cheerful range. There are some absolute gems in there, like the Brow Pencil and the Lip Gloss Wands and if budget beauty is your thing, well worth checking out.

Available from www.newlook.com

*Disclosure - PR Samples*

Jo Malone London Limited Edition Plum Blossom

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

It's times like this I wish I could just embed a scent into my blog, you know, a scratch and sniff blog. Alas I don't. So you'll have to put up with my inept attempts at describing scents... prepare for lots of "oooh I love this".

Jo Malone London have a new Limited Edition fragrance available now, Plum Blossom. Officially described as "Opening with the fruitful freshness of yellow plum, its floral heart blooms on a background of creamy sandalwood and clean, white musk".

To me this smells so like plums it's uncanny, it's a sort of sour-ish plum scent, rather than a sweet fruity scent. That's a good thing. It smells just like plums...and it stays like that for quite some time, then when you give yourself a sniff an hour or so later thats when you really get the musk and sandalwood underneath, whilst there's still a hint of the plum blossom around. It's truly a thing of beauty, I've seen other reviews mention it as being a bit too light to wear alone, I've not found that at all and find it positively gloriously alone, however, it is also, I am afraid, perfect for Fragrance Combining, in particular with Nectarine Blossom & Honey. Sounds delish!

Finally, just a comment on the bottle, beautiful as always, trimmed with a dusky pink rope, and a floral design on the front, gorgeous.

Ooh I really do love this perfume. To me, or certainly for my usual tastes, its completely different and I really do love it.

£36 for 30ml Cologne or £72 for 100ml Cologne.

Available now from www.jomalone.com

Lancome Rouge in Love Lipsticks

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Rouge in Love are the latest lipsticks to join the Lancome range and I received a few to try out.

Rouge in love are a gorgeous light lipstick which promise up to 6 hours of wear, the amazing thing being the long wear whilst having a light texture.... in my experience, long wear lipsticks can be very heavy or matte, these are quite the opposite.

Before I show you the colours I just want to take a moment to show you the beautiful packaging.

Gorgeous Brushed silver with a little 'plaque' with red Rouge in Love written on it but I particularly love the seamed stocking effect up the back of the lid. Gorgeous!

So there are 24 shades in 3 different styles, Jolis Matins, fresh and wearable shades, Boudoir Time, vibrant and on trend colours for day to night wear and Tonight is my Night, rich and seductive shades.

Lets look at the shades I was sent followed by the swatches.

Left to Right: 146B Miss Coquelicot, 159B Rouge in Love, 200B Rose The (can someone please tell me how to put an accent on my e?!), 340B Rose Boudoir and 381B Violette Coquette.

And now in the same order, on my lips.
Miss Coquelicot

Rouge in Love

Rose The

Rose Boudoir

Violette Coquette

The texture of these is just lovely, they have this light shine on them and they do wear very well... I haven't managed to make them last 6 hours, but not far off to be honest and I do tend to eat and drink a lot throughout the day so they really do get put through their paces. Out of all the shades I tried, Rose The and Rose Boudoir are my favourites and here's how I wore them.

Oh and incidentally, Rouge in Love, the red, wasn't all that red on me, not a complaint, its lovely, but I'm told it's Emma Watson's favourite red, so there you go!

Love these, and think there is definitely a colour for everyone. I also love how many of the shades having matching Vernis in Love nail polishes.

Available from all the usual Lancome counters and www.lancome.co.uk and priced at £21.

Nars Larger Than Life Lip Gloss in Born This Way

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Nars Larger Than Life Lip Glosses promise brilliant shine, intense colour, long wear as well as protection and moisture. Also there's a promise not to feather...important when you get to my ripe old age ;)

I was sent the shade Born This Way and at first examination I thought there was no way I was going to be able to wear the colour.

Before talking about the wear and colour though, I just want to mention the brush.

It's teeny weeny, very short and pointy which makes it perfect for precise application.

The shade itself is a pale milky pink and as I say, at first glance not a shade I would choose. Turns out I love it though!

The gloss itself feels thick and it feels like great quality and it's true it stays put for hours. What it does do is lose the shine, but you know what, I love it when it's been worn for a few hours. That's when I think it looks best!

Trust me to take a photo when I've got my glasses on wonky, but just so you can see how it looks on.

In all the above pictures it is freshly applied and glossy, but as it wears throughout the day it forms a sort of satin version of the same colour and it looks great.

The Larger Than Life Lip Glosses are a quite steep £19 each but in terms of wear, for a lipgloss, these are really quite impressive. I've got my eye on a few more of the shades, Norma, Piree and 413 BLKR all look gorgeous.

Available from all the usual Nars stockists and of course http://www.narscosmetics.co.uk/

Mac Studio Fix Fluid Review

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sun, 13 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I've had this foundation for months and months and been wanting to write this review for so long... but I just didn't really know where to start with it so kept putting it off.

Then this morning I grabbed the foundation and put it on and suddenly I knew what I was going to write.

Okay, so lets talk about my first trip to an actual Mac Counter. It was...interesting. I must say the help I received was second to none, one to one attentive assistance, a little bit of an attempt to up sell but without the hard sell... all good. Also, the shade she matched me too, NC15, is perfect. It is in fact the most perfect shade for me ever. Out of all the foundations I've ever tried this is the one that disappears into my skin colour wise. Making the trip to the store was worth that little gem alone. The only other thing worthy of mention about the actual counter was the horrific make up of the staff. They were all sporting a very TOWIE look, orange, heavy eyes, not well blended, way too many lashes...I even spotted a tide mark... good job the girl who served me was helpful and knowledgeable because otherwise I might have been put off...shame because from memory, they were all really attractive girls too!

The foundation itself I've got to admit I've really struggled with. It's a very popular oil free, matte foundation with a medium -buildable coverage and SPF15... it claims to have soft-focus powders to minimise the appearance of imperfections but I was finding it did the opposite and made me look drier than ever... that is until recently.

I normally apply my foundation with a flat top brush but for this it just wasn't working. The more I buffed, the less perfect the finish became...until today I switched and tried, on the spur of the moment, my Japonesque foundation brush. Flawless. Today I dusted lightly with Mac Natural Mineralize Skin Finish powder but it's not necessary with this foundation. I've been thinking about blog sale-ing this for ages but now think I'll be hanging on to it because it was starting to look like an expensive mistake, £19.50's worth of mistake but now I'm totally sold. You just need to find the application method that works for you.

A-England Princess Tears

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sat, 12 May 2012 10:30:00 +0000

I grabbed three A-England polishes recently in their recent 20% off deal and today I'm going to show you one of them. Princess Tears.

Princess Tears is a holographic lilac based shade. On me it wasn't the most holographic polish I've ever seen, that doesn't make it any the less pretty though so brace yourself for a load of photographs.

The formula and wear on these was second to none and application was an absolute breeze. Absolutely gorgeous.

I used this on one of my clients recently too and she loved it. Sooo gorgeous!

Highly recommended. Available from http://www.a-england.co.uk/. I'll bring you my other choices soon!

Lancome Vernis in Love

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Vernis in Love by Lancome, what an amazing collection. When I spoke to the lovely PR at Lancome she said it felt like they had fallen in love with colour again and it's easy to see why.

Vernis in love comes in 22 shades, and has the most fab wide brush and perfect formula. These are £12 each which I think is fairly reasonable for the quality of these. There's not much more to say, lets just look at the swatches! I was sent seven of the shades to show you, of which I'm showing you six. I'm not showing you the far left one 020M Pure Narcisse, there's nothing wrong with it but I have a mixture of different types of acrylic on my nails at the moment from practising on myself, Pure Narcisse is a milky sheer and is lovely actually, but I don't want you to see my nails so I'm just going to show you the rest of the colours!

Starting with 112B Rouge in Love.

The signature red of the collection, beautiful, rich, shiny, and classy.

154M Miss Coquelicot

Bright vibrant gorgeous orange!

220M Jolis Matins

Perfect work safe peach toned nude. Wore this for days and days on end!

573B Bleu De Flore

My fave in the selection I received. A rich deep blue which is really quite teal in some lights but pure blue in others. Glossy and gorgeous.

Finally we have 501B in Aquamarine. I did something a bit different with this one and painted tips on top of the previous shade and I think the effect was fab, if a little less than perfect.

Love the bright aqua shade and love the combination with Bleu De Flore, this manicure got lots and lots of compliments!

So that's everything I have to show you from this collection and whilst the colours might not be earth shattering it is a lovely selection of colours and the formula is absolutely fabulous. Highly recommended.

Available from Lancome counters and of course www.lancome.co.uk

I'll be bringing you several of the Rouge in Love Lipsticks soon too, so look out for them!

*Disclosure - Press Samples*

Blog Sale - Items added!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:10:00 +0000

Hi peeps,

Just to let everyone know that I've added a couple of items to my blog sale so please take a look, there's Mac foundation, Chanel and YSL lipsticks and a Tendertone.

Updated Blog Sale

If you have already purchased from me, you should now have received it, or it is on its way, please do let me know if you've not yet received your items. All were sent recorded so should be trackable.

Thank you.

Breast Feeding Photo Shoot

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I think I've probably mentioned before that I'm a HUGE supporter of breast feeding. I fed both of my daughters for longer than I think many people feel comfortable about, 2.5 years for both of them. I'm not embarrassed, I'm not ashamed, I'm proud and thrilled to have been able to do such a thing for my kids. Not that it wasn't hard at times because it was, but it was worth it all. Now I'm not doing it any more I do miss it sometimes. I miss it when my kids are poorly or upset or when they just need comfort especially...don't get me wrong, I don't miss it so much that I wish I could feed my nearly 6 year old, but there's a bond that breastfeeding brings that you loose when you stop. You can create different bonds, you can create equal bonds and you can create fabulous bonds, its just different. But I've done my time...5 solid years of breast feeding was enough for me and my girls and its nice to be able to drink, go out without worrying about feeds and so on.

And so it is that I became involved in a local project, Women of Wonford. UK breast feeding rates are shockingly low, and the area I live in has the lowest rates in Exeter and so my local Family Centre wanted to do a campaign to grab attention and inspire.

I'm delighted to have been involved with the planning of the campaign from the very start, and there are posters, handouts and on the 14th May the posters will be in bus stops through the relevant area.

I'll do a more serious post about the campaign, and the launch and my involvement at a later date but for now I'm going to just talk about the frivolous stuff, the make up and the photoshoot!

For the make up for the day I drafted in the help of the very lovely Eve Ashby and I also roped in the fabulously lovely Franky from Love Audrey to be part of the poster campaign. There were several other Mum's being photographed and made up that day but Franky and I had the privilege of having Eve all to hours selves for the morning rather than the 10 mins allotted to the other Mum's later in the day. Sorry other Mums!

The idea of the shoot was that all the Mum's would look like "normal" Mums, and so the brief wasn't to be overly glamorous or glitzy and I think Eve did a lovely job of making us look great for the photographs.

So here's a little selection!

And a few closer pics of the make up Eve did.

I'm afraid I can't remember everything that was used but I know it was Nars Sheer Glow foundation and Chanel powder and I think the eyeshadow was Nars too. Not terribly helpful but if Eve remembers I'll update the post!

And to see how Franky and I fitted into the final posters, take a look.

I must also thank Jonathon Bosley who took all the professional photographs for the campaign and let me have the above images.

So I'll be back to do a less frivolous post about this after the campaign has launched, I just wanted to share the photographs as it was such a fun day and so lovely to see Eve and Franky.

Over my dead body will I recommend this product.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

It's extremely rare for me to do an all out negative review on my blog. Normally if I don't get on too well with a product I will be at pains to stress who I feel it might suit and explain why it didn't suit me but might suit you. This time I can't think of a single positive. No wait, I can actually think of two, but lets start at the beginning.

I was contacted by Montagne Jeunesse to see if I'd like to review their Skin Hero products. Although it's lower budget than I'd usually buy for a face mask, I've seen the lovely bright packaging around and read good reviews, plus I've had a slightly stressful time lately and imagined myself relaxing on the sofa with the face masks and so I accepted the offer to receive them in return for a review. So here we are.

I received the following and thought it was a jolly nice parcel to receive. Something really treaty for me and I was looking forward to giving them a whirl.

A cheerful looking collection of products I think you'll agree.

At the time I received these I was suffering from a small break out, a monthly occurrence unfortunately, so the first one I decided to try was the Break-Out Mask.

It sounded perfect. A mud mask fusion of calming Tea Tree and soothing Canadian Willowherb. Followed by a "super moisturiser of tantalising Tea Tree and calming Canadian Willowherb".

So I slapped it on all over my face (except eyes and mouth obv.) liberally. It felt lovely I must say, a bit mentholly, so cool, smooth and creamy to apply and then as I left it on for the next twenty minutes and as you would expect it dried out giving you that face lift feeling. Then I washed it off and admired my lovely smooth soft clean skin. Then I went to bed.

When I woke up in the morning my face was itchy but it took me a while to drag my sleepy bum out of bed....by which time I realised I was not only very itchy, but my skin was feeling really bumpy and sore too....then I looked in the mirror.... excuse the crappy photographs, I used my phone to take them immediately.

All over my face. Red. Bumpy. Sore. Itchy and Dry. So, I waited to see if it'd settle, it didn't then I hit Twitter up for some advice and the very helpful and expert Caroline Hirons came to my rescue as did the lovely London Make Up Girl. Between them they explained what had happened (Acid Mantle destroyed) and how I could relieve the irritation (antihistamine to relieve the itching and Estee Lauder Advance Night Repair to create a barrier). And do you know what, I'm so grateful to them. The anti histamine very quickly reduced the itching, and the Advance Night Repair soothed quite substantially... that's not to say I was fixed though. Oh no, this first day was just the start of it. Those things did help to relieve the discomfort a little though.

So after panicking and getting advice from those fab experts, I calmed down and penned an email to my contact at Montagne Jeunesse. I wasn't snotty, I wasn't rude, I explained what had happened, explained that I was nervous to try the rest of the products I was sent, I explained how sore I was and what did they think? I think I expected them to consult their "experts" for me or something and offer me some advice on how to treat the damage, explain what might have caused it and whether they thought I would be okay to try the other products. And call me unreasonable but I also expected a fairly quick response. All of those things might have helped me to write a more balanced review... you know to include how quick they were to offer advice on what I could try to help and that perhaps they thought it was an ingredient in this one mask and that the others should be fine for me etc.

If someone emailed me saying the acrylic nails I'd done for them had destroyed their hands I'd be emailing pretty sharp to a) apologise b) see what I could do to help fix it and c) do some damage limitation...

But they never replied.

So here it is. A review with no positive input from the company at all.

So after the initial irritation died down, what happened? Well the itching remained for a week, although admittedly, nothing like as bad as the first three days. Then my skin started to get dryer and dryer and dryer. Then it started flaking. There's no foundation that I own (and I've got about 10) that could cover this...and obviously I would want to keep my skin free of cosmetics and just keep it clean and moisturised, but I didn't feel I could do that because of the final unpleasant side effect. I now have the mother of all break outs. I'm talking more spots than I've had in a long time. Massive sore, hard spots. No, no, I can't go out like that, I just can't do it. I appreciate that's my vanity and no one's problem, all I can say is I've put my foundation and concealer on it the morning and as soon as I knew I wouldn't be leaving the house have cleaned with oils or balms before slathering on my most effective moisture giving products. A week on... the spots remain but the dryness has nearly gone.

So yeah, the Break Out Mask is appropriately named. I sure broke out. And flaked. And itched. And swelled. And got bumpy.

With no input whatsoever from the company I've felt totally unable to put a positive slant on this review at all as I normally would, so I'm sorry about that. I won't be trying the rest of the products they sent me. I won't be giving them to anyone else to try. I won't ever purchase one of their products and I will never recommend anyone does.

Just as a final note, I am writing this post a week after using the mask, at the time this post goes live it will have been nearly a fortnight...if by any chance I've had a reply from the company in the meantime I'll be editing this... so if you are reading a rubbish review you'll know that I gave them a reasonable amount of time before going ahead with this post...

*In case it wasn't clear - PR SAMPLE*

Andrea Garland Summer Beauty Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I don't very often blog about press releases as I'm not generally happy to promote something I've not tried myself unless its something I find really appealing or exciting and so it is that I've yet to try anything from the Andrea Garland range but every time I get sent a press release for her products I am filled with a desire to own everything so I really must remedy the situation soon and these products might just be the ones, one in particular. The first item I'm going to show you.

Lemon Balm Body Gloss £24

Love the packaging and the name of the product. It makes me want to smother myself in it. Lemon Body Gloss! A "lustre loving" oil to moisturise and give radiance and glow. Yummy ingredients, Camellia oil, coconut oil, crambe oil, broccoli seed oil, avocado oil and then Lemon Balm and grapefruit to smell yummy, calm, uplift and keep insects away. Perfect for holiday evenings.

Then there's the Chamomile & Oak Sleeping Beauty Cream £28

A night cream filled with gorgeous things, Oak and Millet for line and wrinkle reduction, Camomile to calm and soothe, hyaluronic acid to hydrate, smooth and plump, pumpkin see oil to lift and tone and anti oxidant rich Rice Bran Oil. I love the sound of this and the name and the packaging!

Finally, the Molly Necklace £28

A tribute to Molly Ringwald in her Pretty in Pink heyday. Red mirrored sunglasses with a clear and a red tinted lip balm. WANT!!!!

I'm thinking if I have to choose I'll go for the necklace... in fact its my birthday this month... oh husband dearest....!

New Clinique Chubby Sticks

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I blimmin well love my chubby sticks. I've reviewed them in detail in the past here and they are my go to lip products for days when I just want a quick slick of colour that's light in texture. I'm so lucky to have all the previous shades but now I've a new one added to my collection. Pudgy Peony.

A recap on what chubby sticks are. A little stick of gorgeous coloured balm that twists up and is full of lovely ingredients such as shea butter, mango seed butter and jojoba seed oil.

This Summer sees the launch of 8 new shades. Yay. There's heaping Hazlenut, Two Ton Tomato, Curvy Candy, Bountiful Blush, Oversized Orange, Might Mimosa, Voluptuous Violet and the one I have, Pudgy Peony. Apologies for the dark swatch, weather issues again.

There's not heaps to say about these. I love them, I've written about my love of them before, I'm delighted there are more colours being added to the range and as soon as they are released I'll be heading to the counter to check out the other shades. They are due for release on 1st June, will be £16 and available from Clinique counters and of course www.clinique.co.uk.

*Disclosure - PR Sample*

Anastasia Lash Genius

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sun, 06 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Once in a blue moon a product comes along that really is genius. This is one of them, the very aptly named Lash Genius from Anastasia Beverly Hills.

A clear waterproof top coat for your lashes. Turn your favourite mascara into your favourite waterproof mascara.

What a fantastic thing! It doesn't clump or change the appearance of your mascara in anyway, it doesn't harden them and it's hypoallergenic.

I have quite extensively tested this product by wearing it for the school run every day. In the horrific rain. I have also tried washing my face forgetting that I need a waterproof make up remover. It doesn't budge.

The reason this is so great for me is that my favourite mascaras aren't waterproof and in recent years I seem to have developed sensitive eyes. They often water for no apparent reason wrecking my make up...but not anymore!

Lash Genius is launched this month at Sephora and is $21. Wherever you are in the world you can buy Anastasia's products on her website here.

There are loads of Anastasia products I want to try and haven't because I didn't realise they were available in the UK but they are! Cult Beauty stock Anastasia products and so I am hoping Lash Genius will join the range (at the time of writing it is not out yet).

*Disclosure - PR Sample*

Melvita Apicosma Skin-Softening Body Milk

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sat, 05 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Just a quick post about this beautiful body lotion. This is a glorious body lotion, a milk that absorbs super fast into the skin but is very moisturising and chock full of gorgeous ingredients.

It has a light fruit scent and contains macadamia oil, chestnut extract and flower pollen and Melvita's patented 3-Honey-Complex. A "synergy" of three organic honeys (thyme, acacia and orange blossom) designed to target dry skin. It nourishes, repairs and revitalises.

Am loving this for a daily moisturiser. It's light and quickly absorbed, perfect for slapping on after a morning shower but it really works well on those dry bits.

I think I've mentioned before that Melvita is a new brand to me but I've spent nearly an hour filling a virtual shopping basket and that's testament to my love of the products I've been sent to try.

I'm looking at all the beauty oils, all the hair products, the scrubs, the fragrances and lots more!

The Apicosma Skin-Softening Body Milk is available from the Melvita website and is £17.50 for 200ml.

*Disclosure - PR Sample*

Wow! Brows Eyebrow Powder

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

With my recent passion for all things brow related it's fantastic to try out a new product (to me) particularly one from a little known company.

So I'm introducing Wow! Brows. A small online shop with just a handful of brow products, including Eyebrow Gels, Stencils, Lash and Brow Rejuvenator and the Eyebrow Powders.

Powders that come in five shades, Blonde, Light Brown, Medium Brown, Dark Brown and Soft Black. These claim to give a rich colour pay off, be water resistant and contain no mineral oil.

I was recommended the Medium Brown shade as I specifically requested a brown that had the least red in it.

Unfortunately I dropped mine, twice, before I even got to test it, I'm so annoyed at myself. I'm still using it though, it just doesn't look as pretty as it should for the photographs.

The first thing I want to say is that I realise the above powder does look quite red toned but it really isn't. Because it's been so dark and rainy lately I'm struggling to get accurate colours with my camera, but the swatch came out a little more accurate.

I'm loving this. The beauty of it really is that you can build up for a darker deeper shade or apply gently for a touch of colour. It suits my HD Brows very well indeed.

Once in place it stays put all day with minimal fading, only coming off when I wash my face. Fantastic.

I have to make the obvious comparison, how does it compare to the HD Brow powders? Well I prefer it, despite the fact that mine is mostly dust thanks to my dropping it, there's less powder fall out, the colour match is perfect for me and I find the application a breeze.

It comes with a little brush which I didn't get on too well with, it was a bit chunky for me, so I've been using with my Japonesque Brow Brush and the combination is perfect.

So if you like the sound of this, you can get your own for £15 (well worth it in my humble opinion) from www.wow-brows.net

*Disclosure - PR Sample*