Saloule

THE LOST BOYS

2013-04-19T07:00:00.000+01:00

Do you ever buy something, put it away and then completely forget about it? Guilty! What makes it even worse is that the two products I found languishing at the bottom of my makeup pile were not exactly cheap. Oooops?

First up is the infamous Stereo Rose Mineralise Skin Finish from MAC (it was limited edition but will probably be re-promoted with one of MACs new weekly collections soon). Upon finding it I remembered I bought it passing through duty free coming home from a job ('a job' makes me sound like I kill people for a living or something, I don't. Although that would probably be far more interesting than my chosen profession!). I think I bought it because:

I sometimes buy into the hype, and;
It was the last one in stock

What? I couldn't have someone else get their grubby mitts on it, could I? Since finding it I have been slipping it into my blush rotation occasionally (read more about that here) and I like it just fine. It's great if you're lazy (I am) because you don't need to apply highlighter with it. I am, however, glad I only paid the duty free price for it.

I think I may have a problem as the other poor soul I forgot about was also purchased in duty free and comes in the form of a Chanel lipstick. I know, isn't that shameful? It is one of their Rouge Allure Luminous Intense formulas in the shade 91 Séduisante (£25 from Boots) and I am now fairly confident that I am in The Love with it. This hasn't left my makeup bag since the rediscovery and probably won't for a while. The formula of these is great by the way; creamy and long-lasting without being drying. Would recommend if you're in the market for a fancy new lipstick.

Life lesson: stop with the duty free shopping! Yes, because that's going to happen.

THE EFFACLAR EFFECT

2013-04-17T07:00:00.000+01:00

Skincare, man. It's well documented that no amount of makeup is going to look good unless you have a flawless canvas to put it on. Well since most of us are not naturally blessed with a flawless canvas we need a little help sometimes. This is where these guys come in...

La Roche Posay Effaclar K, Duo and Mat are three items that come with pretty high praise and, well, it's for good reason. Effaclar Mat (£12.75 here) is a lightweight, oil regulating moisturiser that I have also found to be great as a primer. I've already raved about it here so I won't bore you all with the same spiel again, but basically this is a winner if you have oily skin and struggle to find a moisturiser to apply under your foundation.

Effaclar K and Duo (both £11.05 here and here) I tend to use in combination with one another. I use K when my skin just has a few blemishes but I leave Duo, or 'The Big Guns' for when I'm having a mini skin meltdown. I think I'm doing this the wrong way round as K is billed as a 'renovating acne treatment' whereas Duo is a 'corrective and unclogging moisturiser' but it's the latter of the two I find the most effective to really calm down my skin. They both also really help with oil control, I wake up with little to no shine after I've applied either of these two the previous night.

Overall I'm a fan of everything I've tried from the Effaclar range so far and think it is perfectly suited to oily skin types (can't speak for the dry skinned of you though!). La Roche Posay, I salut you.

WITCHCRAFT! AKA NARS EYESHADOW PRIMER

2013-04-15T07:00:00.000+01:00

Here are my top 5 reasons why I believe that the NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base is, in actual fact, witchcraft.

You put it on and it disappears without a trace. No grease, no sheen, nothing.
It makes your eyeshadow stay in place for (at my last count) 12 hours. At least. I mean my eyeshadow looked exactly the same when I went to take it off as when I had applied it that morning. We're talking pretty heavy eye makeup too; I was at a wedding, yo!
It makes your eyeshadow stick to your eyelid better therefore less fallout. How does it do this when it doesn't even leave a sticky layer? See bullet point 1. for reference.
It costs less than £20. How can you bottle actual magic and sell it for £19?
It doesn't smell funny, look funny or act funny; it just goes about it's business like any normal makeup item would. Do you know who else goes about their business as normal? Witches.

In conclusion I believe that the people behind this (NARS, obviously) are all dabbling in some sort of black magic. I'm talking if we were in the Middle Ages right now they would all be burned at the stake for this kind of thing. It is, consequently, on of those items that I simply could not live without. If you don't already own it you're not living your best life and you cannot be complete without it. You cannot. Go forth and buy it, friends.

NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base is available from narscosmetics.co.uk and Space NK in the UK priced at £19.

NUDEY CHEEKS

2013-04-10T17:00:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I lie in bed thinking about what blusher I'm going to wear the next day. Most nights I don't; this is because it will inevitably be one of the four I favour over pretty much everything else in my collection.

The nudey/pinky/browny hue of blush is my favourite, it rose to the top after a love affair with Tarte Exposed that Sinéad so wonderfully brought me back from her travels last year. You see these shades of blush have a sculpting effect, which is pretty much perfect if you are a pale girl with a big, round moon-face just like me. I tend to apply it more so to the outer half of my cheeks as opposed to the apples, which helps me achieve the illusion of cheekbones. Cheekbones! I'm like a model now*!

All four are matte finishes, well, Illamasqua Zygomatic is a cream blush but none of them contain shimmer is what I'm getting at here. I would imagine this type of shade would flatter most skin tones, I wear them both with and without fake tan on (NARS Douceur looks extra beautiful when I have a tan though!).

I know MAC Blushbaby is in the same colour family so it is next on my hitlist. I don't even care if I end up with 10 of the same shade, my Pokémon tendancies have taken over and I gotta catch 'em all! So if you have any suggestions of similar colours please, let me know.

Clockwise from top: Illamasqua Naked Rose (£18), NARS Douceur (£21.50), Illamasqua Zygomatic (£18) and Tarte Exposed (not available in the UK!).

*Effects may be slightly exaggerated.

FOUR WHOLE DAYS

2013-03-30T16:29:00.000Z

This bank holiday weekend I will mostly be doing a lot of eating, drinking, spending time with friends and family, sleeping and reapplying this bad boy; MAC Violetta (£9 in a CCO!).

I hope you all have a great weekend!

THE DAY TO NIGHT-ER: JO MALONE POMEGRANATE NOIR

2013-03-28T07:00:00.000Z

Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir is a fragrance I have been lemming after for, like, at least 3 years now. I always steal a spritz when I'm near a counter, make a mental note to buy it when I have money then never do. Luckily enough I had some vouchers lying around so decided to treat myself to the big 100ml bottle because I'm fancy that way. On a side note I am now in love with Dark Amber and Ginger Lily... unf.

This stuff, for me, is pretty much the perfect scent for daytime and night time use. It's fresh and musky at the same time which I think is the key. Most other perfumes I have are exclusive to day/night, such as Tom Ford Black Orchid which I can't wear during the day on account of the fact it makes me feel like a baby prostitute.

I wore it the other day and one of my male friends said "Oh you smell spicy, I've never smelt a spicy girl before!" which, is a pretty great way to sum it up (and is also a pretty great way to sum up my male friends, in fact... not spicy, just weird). Spicy. And fruity. It's spicyfruitymuskyfresh. I can smell it the whole time I'm wearing it too, it really sticks around for me which is a big plus. I mean who wants to lug a bottle of perfume around with them? Not this girl!

Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir is available at jomalone.co.uk and in House of Fraser stores nationwide priced at £38 for 30ml and £76 for 100ml.

DIFFERENT NAMES FOR THE SAME THING

2013-03-25T07:00:00.000Z

Nail polish. It's great, isn't it? On my quest to find... well I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, I found a budget brand (NYC) that is knocking out some serious colours to rival their more expensive counterparts.

NYC Rock Muse Smoky Top Coat* (£1.99) v OPI Metallic 4 Life: I have layered these both over a dark base colour in the interest of fairness and all. The glitter in Metallic 4 Life is more dense than Rock Muse which is to be expected since we are comparing an actual polish to a top coat. The desired effect is pretty much the same though; handy considering the OPI version is pretty difficult to come by without shelling out well over the original price (£17 on Amazon!).

NYC Full Metal Jacket* (£1.79) v OPI Glitzerland (£11): These two are probably the least alike of the bunch, with the NYC polish leaning more silver than OPI. Still, I far prefer the NYC. Why? It was opaque in one coat. One! Glitzerland? Three coats is what you see there. Oh and there is also the £9 odd price difference.

NYC Chelsea* (£1.79) v OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress (£11.50): I'm Not Really A Waitress has been one of my favourite polishes for a long time now. I love the iridescence that makes it just that bit different from every other red polish out there. I also love that NYC Chelsea is an exact dupe for it for an absolute fraction of the price.

NYC Lexington Yellow* (£1.79) v Chanel Mimosa: The last of the two with what is definitely the largest price difference. Chanel Mimosa was released two summers ago and from my knowledge is no longer on counter (don't quote me on that!). Lexington Yellow is not exactly the same, it does not mimic the gold shimmer of Mimosa as it is just a yellow creme. Still, to the naked eye they do the same job and Lexington Yellow is the perfect colour to brighten up your nails for summer. I know, summer, what a laughable thought!

If you're looking for a cheap nail polish fix NYC is the man for the job. Seriously. Under £2 a pop? You could do far worse.

NYC nail polishes are available from Superdrug and chemists nationwide.

*PR sample

NAMESAKE: STILA 'SARAH'

2013-03-15T07:00:00.000Z

I have come across quite a few lipsticks in my day but none that fit me quite as well as this one does. I was pursuing the aisles of TK Maxx one day last summer and noticed they had some Stila products. Half an hour later (it took me that long to find a product that didn't have dirty finger/lip/I don't even want to know what else marks all over it) and I came away with three products. A brown eyeliner type thing that I'm not too fond of, a Convertible Colour Cream in Gladiola and a lipstick in Sarah. Sarah! That's me!

I will admit that I bought this because of the name. Who doesn't want to own a lipstick with the same name as you? It's great because now I can pretend that they actually did call it after me, much like I do with that Thin Lizzy song. I wasn't even born when it was written? Whatever.

This is one of those elusive 'my lips but better' colours. It makes me look more put together which is always nice at 7.30am. It has a slight sheen, feels more like a balm than a lipstick and has SPF 20. Lasting power isn't great, around 2/3 hours into the day I would say it's pretty much gone. Sometimes if I'm feeling a bit wild I apply some Clarins Instant Light Lip Perfector in 03 Nude Shimmer (bottom photo, FYI) over the top, the two make a lovely combination.

I've had a bit of difficulty tracking this down but in the end I found it on eBay for £12.39 which is quite a bit more than I paid for it in TK Maxx (around the £5 mark I believe!), so it's worth a punt in there too!

What's your 'my lips but better' colour?

THE PERFECT BASE

2013-03-13T07:00:00.000Z

I think I have found it. The perfect foundation for, well, foundation.

I have dehydrated, combination skin which is annoying because it somehow manages to look both oily and dry at the same time. Joy! My prayers have been answered with this magical twosome though; enter Hydraluron and La Roche Posay Effaclar Mat.

Now these two aren't new to anyone, Hydraluron (£24.99 from Boots in the UK) has been much lauded in the beauty community for it's extreme hydration properties ever since skincare maverick Caroline Hirons heaped praise on it. I agree, wholeheartedly, with every good thing anyone has ever said about it. Ever. If I don't use this for a few days I notice my skin looks drier under my foundation, especially in my t-zone which is my 'problem area'. This is the boost of hydration I have been searching for, thank you Indeed Labs.

In combination with Hydraluron I use Effaclar Mat (£15 from Escentual, currently on offer for £10 though!). It is one of those 'I don't just moisturise your skin, I do other great stuff for it too!' products, which seems to be a common theme with La Roche Posay moisturisers. This one regulates sebum and smooths out my skin ready for foundation. The perfect primer when I can't be bothered with actual primer (most of the time).

Together these two are a match made in heaven. Hydration paired with oil control? Count me in. I would recommend both of these products to anyone with a similar skin type to me. Just have dehydrated skin? Get Hydraluron. Just have oily skin? Get Effaclar Mat. I doubt you'll regret it.

BABY B. BROWNE SELF TANNING LOTION

2013-03-11T07:00:00.000Z

Fake tan is great. I used to give it a wide berth but in the past year or so I've been using it a whole lot more. My ultimate favourite is Fake Bake Original Tanning Lotion (£12.20 from here) because it gives me a perfect colour. I haven't tried too many others so I was immediately interested in this arrival of Baby B. Browne Self Tanning Lotion*. The best part for me? It's a Northern Irish brand!

This self tanner is a lotion, as previously mentioned, which is my preferred consistency. I was excited to give this a go but was not immediately enamoured. I found it quite sticky to apply and tried with a tanning mitt and gloves, eventually settling with the mitt. Once I got over the application (the pump does ease this process slightly!) I was able to put my clothes on about 5 minutes later which I was rather pleased about. There isn't much in the way of a classic fake tan scent, nothing too deeply offending anyway and I was able to sleep conformably without getting whiffs of it throughout the night. It develops into a natural bronze colour and it apparently works with your skin's natural pigment to do so. It faded in a few days, but it does stick around longer if you moisturise. Same story as most fake tans really!

However, my mother took it upon herself to give this a little road test too. She loved it. "Where is this from? How much is it? Where can I buy it?" were a few of the questions that ensued after her first trial run. Mum is a fake tan connoisseur, she has tried a huge number of brands over the years and this one really stood out to her. She didn't have any real problems with application, found it dried quickly for her also and loved the colour.

I wouldn't recommend this as a starting product to launch yourself into the world of fake tan as you'll probably encounter the same application problems as me. If you're old hat at this business though, I would encourage you to take a look at this stuff. Or rather, my mum would. Mum knows best, after all!

Baby B. Browne Self Tanning Lotion is available online here for £14.95 and is stocked in chemists and salons across NI.

*PR sample

EVERYDAY EYESHADOWS

2013-03-08T07:00:00.000Z

"I have my morning makeup routine finely tuned and down to 5 minutes long!" said me, never. Not because I put on a full face of slap everyday but because I dither about, take my time and generally do whatever I can to put off going to work. I manage to find the time to fire on a bit of eyeshadow most mornings, never more than one though because that requires longer than 0.5 seconds of blending per eye and just no.

The shadows I have been favouring recently all go over the same base, MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque, which is a golden pinky peach and I'm just using it because it's there really, it creases by the end of the day, at which point I am completely past caring.

Numero uno on my hit list is Smog by Urban Decay which is a dirty bronze from the original Naked palette (that now costs £36?! When did that happen?). I like this because it makes you look like you've put in more effort than you actually have. My second choice is the Balm Swedish Pancakes (10 points for an excellent name and reference to a delicious culinary treat!) from the Cast Your Shadows palette that came out last year. I'd love to point you in the direction of this gorgeous piece of kit but it was limited edition so, you know, sorry. Anyway Swedish Pancakes (bottom right) is a peachy-beige that makes me look more awake than I inevitably am so I like it.

The last few are all from my MAC palette; Woodwinked, Patina and Satin Taupe, which are the 3 shadows on the left going down. These are all very similar taupe-y shades but just different enough to justify owning all 3. My favourite of the three is Satin Taupe because it has a purple undertone and purple makes green eyes look greener, yo.

That's what I've been wearing everyday, pretty basic and boring but I guess that's what the working world has reduced me to. Any neutral shadow recommendations? Hit me!

SUDDENLY MADAME GLAMOUR: LIDL DOES CHANEL

2013-03-06T07:00:00.001Z

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle is, admittedly, not one of my favourite scents. There's not a hope I would spend £65 odd on a bottle of the stuff, it's just not what I'm in to. However the people at Lidl have taken it upon themselves to create a pretty impressive smell-a-like of this product for a fraction of the price. "Iiiiiiiinteresting...", I thought to myself.

Suddenly Madame Glamour* is more or less identical to Chanel Coco Mademoiselle. I would be hard pushed to tell the difference between the two but then again, as previously mentioned, I haven't actually owned the Chanel version. I have, however, lingered around the Chanel counter, looking shifty and spritzing some Coco Mademoiselle on one wrist to compare to Madame Glamour on the other. I'm nothing if not classy, me.

Madame Glamour lasts an average amount of time on me, around six hours. I can't complain, the bottle is handy enough to throw in your bag if you're that way inclined. If you wanted extra wear you could layer up with the shower gel and body lotion, which I have not yet tried due to my skin being a delicate little flower when it comes to heavily scented lotions.

If you're a Coco Mademoiselle fan I would say this is a definite winner, even just as a stop gap between repurchases.

Lidl Suddenly Madame Glamour is available in Lidl stores across the UK priced at £3.49 for 50ml, gift sets are £4.99.

*PR sample

MY CLARISONIC AND ME: ONE YEAR ON

2013-03-04T07:00:00.000Z

This one has been a long time coming... the Clarisonic review. I have owned mine for over one year now so I feel like I'm in a pretty good position to give some views on it. Now let's face it, the Clarisonic is expensive. £179 (I have the Clarisonic Plus) is money that could be put towards something more important, such as Prada. It is hard to justify as skincare is so subjective and what works for me may not work for you and vice versa. I'd just like to start things off by saying I didn't actually buy this with my own money, I won it in a giveaway hosted by Holly way back when. Just in the interest of disclosure n'all.

I have troublesome skin; it is combination, dehydrated and prone to a number of blemishes at any one time. In short, it's really, really annoying. I have tried and will try almost anything to keep it under control, which is where the Clarisonic comes in. After a good while of trial and error I keep the use of it down to 3/4 times a week in the morning (I use the normal brush head for reference). I find anything more than that is a bit too much and my skin starts to fight against it.

Do I notice a difference when I use it? Yes.

I had recently run out of the cleanser that I use with the Clarisonic and as a result I stopped using it for a few weeks. Cue pandaemonium. Spots everywhere. Nasty. I decided I'd had enough, ordered some more REN ClearCalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser (£14.40 from lookfantastic.com with free delivery!) and got to work. A week on and my skin had started to behave itself again. For me, these two work perfectly together.

I find that my skin is a lot smoother after use, a smoothness that I have not yet accomplished with any other product or combination of products. It does not have any effect on my pores though, I'm yet to find anything that can take on that role to be honest!

One year on and my skin is in a much better place, something that I think the Clarisonic very much helped with. Would I have bought it? Yes, no doubt I would have been sucked into the hype! Would I have regretted buying it? Not for a second. The road has been rather rocky though, my skin purged for at least two months when I started using it. Now I wouldn't look back and it is something I am happy to include in my skincare routine.

The Clarisonic Plus is available from SpaceNK in the UK priced at £179.

SUGAR CRUSHING

2013-03-03T14:30:00.000Z

I'm obsessed. I'm head-over-heels-can't-stop-thinking-about-it in love and it's all thanks to Soap & Glory, which, to be honest, is not something I thought I would ever say. I bought the Sugar Crush body scrub last year sometime because I'd heard mutterings of it on the internet and it was love at first whiff. I knew the second I took off the lid that I needed this stuff to be great because on the scent alone I was going to repurchase it. And it was, but more on that later. I then twigged on to the fact that there was more to the Sugar Crush range, a body wash and body buttercream to be precise. Naturally I made my way to pick them up too (there just so happened to be a 3-for-2 on Soap & Glory that day, convenient, non?).

First off the scent. Oh. It is just magical. It might not be for everyone (?) but it is the most amazingly fresh lime aroma with an undertone of cocoa or something, just incredible. Are the products any good though?

The body scrub (£8 for 300ml) is thick and gritty, the kind of scrub I favour to be honest. It does a serious job exfoliating the skin without leaving that red raw feeling. In fact you are left with nice smooth skin afterwards, thanks to the almond oil I believe. This is my second tub, I like.

The body wash (£6.50 for 500ml) comes in a bottle with a pump, pretty standard for Soap & Glory. It is a light, creamy lotion that lathers well and does not leave the skin dry or lacking moisture; quite the opposite in fact. I suffer with a touch of eczema on my upper arms and was worried this would aggravate it but it doesn't in the slightest. A touch pricey for a what is effectively shower gel but if you can pick it up on a 3-for-2 offer you're laughing.

Last but not least is the body buttercream (£10.50 for 300ml), which really packs a punch. This stuff is super moisturising and you only need the smallest amount for each... appendage? I have been using this on my little patches of eczema and it has all but disappeared which is no mean feat let me tell you! Well worth the money, I can see this lasting quite some time.

Overall? I love the Sugar Crush range and will continue to buy it for a long, long time.

The Soap & Glory Sugar Crush range is available from Boots in the UK.

P.S - you may have noticed a slight change to the blog... I have completely redesigned it. I wanted something fuss free and clean looking so this is the result. You may also have noticed I have deleted my previous posts, an impulsive decision that I took last night. Like I said, clean! Let me know what you think! Hope you are all well.