Lipstick Queen 15 Minutes of Fame Kit and Saint Pink Lipstick

I finally got round to buying some Lipstick Queen. I got the 15 Minutes of Fame Mini Lip Gloss Kit- Nudes (£21.53, from Space NK). Upon receiving this I though I had been sent the berries kit instead as the colours are not what I would term “Nude”. The set contains Minute 1 (baby pink), 3 (slightly bright pink), 4 (pinky/brown), 12 (rose) and 13(reddy pink). This is a really cute set and would make a nice Christmas present.
These glosses are non-shimmery and have very good colour payoff. They last well for a gloss and have quite a thick creamy almost cushiony texture. They come in a click style packaging with a brush applicator (think Stila lip glaze). Personally I find them too tacky/sticky and that’s the only reason I won’t be buying anymore. Please click below swatches to enlarge.
Grace from londonmakeupgirl.blogspot.com had recommended the Saint pink lipstick to me, as we like similar things I had no hesitation in ordering this shade unseen. The colour is a pink (would you believe) it has no other discernible undertone and would be what I would describe as a true natural pink. Its not bright, and although described as a sheer lipstick I find this more pigmented that other brands “Sheer” lipsticks. It feels comfortable on, not dry nor overly creamy and wears quite well. This cost £16.15 at Space NK.

Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadow swatches

I thought it would be useful if I did a picture and swatches of all my RBR eyeshadows together. As you know I highly recommend these shadows, they have great pigmentation, blend effortlessly and have a really soft almost creamy texture. You can get them from Zuneta.com.

Please click pictures to enlarge.

L-R top row: Grey Go-away Lourie, Fire-Tailed Sunbird, Bejewelled Skylark, Blackpepper Jay, Delicate Hummingbird, Periwinkle Cardinal, C Major - a Minor.
L-R bottom row: Chestnut-napped Apalis, Vivacious Maguari, Solstice Halcyon , Gracious Arasari, Alabaster Starling,Angelic Cockatiels, A Major - fis Minor.

Rouge Bunny Rouge EOTD

I did a soft shimmery look today using RBR Angelic Cockatiels on lid,Vivacious Maguari applied very lightly in the crease blended with Alabaster Starling mainly on the inner lid and Tiger Eye Essence to line. Ignore the bad mascara its my Sisley one that has turned on me ! I'll be doing a post with a picture of all my RBR shadows and swatches soon which will hopefully help those ordering online.

Bobbi Brown Chrome collection

This is the rest of my BB order. Although I didn’t have the intention of keeping these for myself now that I have had to I am not overly disappointed. I find the majority of BB shades warm toned so it’s nice to have a completely cool toned eyeshadow palette. This offers various versions of grays and a white. I don’t think pigmentation is that good especially with the 2 sparkly shadows, which seem mostly sparkles and the 3 metallic eyeshadows. This aside you can get some nice looks with this and all the colours go well together so you don’t have to put much thought into a look.

There are also 4 sparkly lip glosses in it which are mostly sheer (especially pink mist and chrome pink) and too sticky for my liking.
Overall if you like your cool toned shadows this is a nice albeit quite expensive option but I just can’t seem to get much of a variant of looks with this considering it has 10 shadows as I think a lot of them apply quite similar.

I also have the Plum Pearl Metallic Lip Color, I found it hard to get a good photo of this. It’s a very cool toned brown plum, I don’t think it’s the most wearable shade as its such a cold colour but I have worn it a few times and it does go well with the palette.

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Recovery Complex review

I've been using this for over a month now so thought I do a review. This retails for £33. I have dark circles,very puffy bags and small lines, I don't expect an eye cream to help with the darkness so bought this in the hope it would help with the bags and lines. This has a silky gel/cream texture and has quite a silicone feel to it. The pros for this is that it does make the area look smoother in terms of lines (which it seems to plump out) however the cons far outweigh this. First off it stings slightly nearly every time I use it, I've since checked reviews on MUA and other people have said the same thing, secondly it doesn't sink in that well so when you apply you concealer over it the eye cream/gel almost rubs off, and lastly it does not help with my puffiness so overall a thumbs down for me. I have seen lots of raves for this product but my advise is to ask for a sample at the counter first to see if you get on with its texture and that it feels comfortable on.

Neil George Shampoo

I’d not heard of Neil George before, until I stumbled upon the range on the SpaceNK website. I think they have Neil George salons in America and they offer a reasonable small range of products. I got the Everyday cleanse shampoo, £15.66 for 215ml. This is aimed at normal to dry hair. It’s very gentle and gives my scalp no irritation but it still manages to clean well without leaving build-up (a problem I can get when shampoos are a bit too gentle). It leaves my hair very shiny although I don’t think its overly moisturising. The product is also paraben free. I think for normal hair types this makes a very good simple everyday shampoo, I’ve already ordered some of the Oribe range as that is getting rave reviews but I can see myself buying this Neil George one again.

MAC Holiday

I’ll just do a short post, as due to the popularity of MAC I am sure these items have been featured in lots of other blogs. I had a really nice time in the MAC freestanding store and it was all down to the SA. This is the first time I have felt that I have been greeted with someone who seemed a professional artist, there was no attempt to hard sell me stuff, all he did was show me different ways to use the shades and recommended certain colours that would best suit me. It was such a novel experience which is a shame given the amount of times I frequent cosmetic counters.
I got the smoke and mirrors eye palette, very easy to wear shades (only spell No.9 is a bit too warm so I don’t wear this as a lid shade), I don’t think MAC offer the best texture eyeshadows but the only texture I am not too keen on in this palette is Deception as it seems dryer than the others.
I got the Mineralized duo in under your spell, I had heard the crescent shades were a rough,gritty texture so bought this for the other shade, which is a beautifully smooth and pigmented super shimmery silvered mauve.
I am tempted to go back for Blue Sorcery as YorkieLuvs did a nice look with this, http://yorkieluvs.blogspot.com/2009/11/fotd-100409.html

I also got the naughty noir set. I am pleased with what I bought and I think MAC offer some nice gift options for Christmas.
Swatches of the under your spell eyeshadow and pigment

Bobbi Brown holiday disappointment UPDATE

I received another email from Bobbi Brown this week, it was from someone else saying my email had been forwarded onto them. They asked for more details so I just sent them the pictures. They said they would like to replace two of the items.
As it was only the packaging broken and I had since bought alternative gifts, I said thanks but declined the offer. Today I got an email saying they would send them anyway,so we will see.
At any rate I am a bit bemused by this,as I thought it was already done and dusted so not sure why it got forwarded onto someone else in the department. I was never after replacement products, just wanted to voice my annoyance about my stuff not been packed properly. So, guess I'll have to withdraw my moaning on this one..

Illamasqua and Chanel EOTD

Simple look of Illamasqua Hunger as a base with Synth and Matter and the deep green from the Chanel Celadon-Lame eyeliner. I can't seem to get the green to show up on photos that well but in real life it does look noticeably green.

Rouge Bunny Rouge, Hourglass

I ordered a few things from Zuneta.com after seeing the lovely Anna from italianbeautyblog's post about her RBR haul and I thought it was wrong for me to not have one of their blushers :) I decided to order two other things from Hourglass as well as I really like the eyeshadows and lipstick I have from them.
I got RBR blush in Starina (£25) as I mostly have pink blushers. This shade is a true coral with a pretty sheen to it. Its described as "Palest Coral" but on my pale skin I actually find this rather pigmented. It has no strange undertones, and the texture is really smooth and it goes on really well and lasts, my favourite powder blushers were Armani but I think this exceeds them and I am already planning on my next shades to order.
From Hourglass I got the extreme sheen gloss in Ignite (£21), which is a sheer warm peachy beige on me and has some gold shimmer. If you hate sticky glosses then you really must try these. The texture is quite wet but it feels really comfortable on and is completely not sticky or tacky. This shade is quite sheer so for those with more pigmented lips you may want to select another shade.
Finally I got Hidden corrective concealer in shade pearl (£23). I got this to thrown in my bag so I would have something to use at work if I needed to cover a spot or any redness during the day. Texture wise this has a lot less slip than I thought and gives medium coverage that lasts really well as it applies quite dry, I find this really good for covering up my spots and old acne scars as it really stays put and does not look cakey on. This shade is a bit dark for me, I am an Illamasqua L120 and a bit lighter than a MAC NW15 so if you are the next shade or two up this would probably suit you better. I did try this on the eye area as well and it does go on without looking too dry.

Zuneta also sent me a Butter London nail varnish free in shade Diamond Geezer (super sparkly platinum silver) , which I was really surprised and pleased to receive, how nice is that ! I'd always been meaning to try this brand, now having tried it I can say that it did need two coats to get the required coverage but it wears well, I think one of the biggest selling points are that they do not contain Formaldehyde, Toluene, or DBP. I will pick up another shade at some point, as it also has less stinky fumes than other nail polishes.
This was a really nice little order and has cheered my up after my recent BB disappointment, although it has made me wants lots of more things now !

Bobbi Brown Holiday disappointment

The Bobbi Brown website were offering a nice gift box for the holidays if you spent over a certain amount, what I received was not so nice.

It was so poorly packaged the box was smashed in and the packaging on the products were all smooshed as well.
They did sent me a replacement gift box after a while but cannot send replacement product packaging, fair enough but I could not use these for gifts so if you are ordering from their online site bear in mind that they aren't necessarily going to pack things well ( even though a lot of people will be ordering things from their site as gifts this time of year, as I pointed out).
I'll review the Chrome stuff separately but the GOLDSTONE LONG-WEAR EYE PALETTE £34, I think is really poor and to be honest I am glad I did not give this as a gift ! The two colours are mostly layers of glitter, one a gold glitter the other more greyed glitter and the liner shade is much softer texture than the other BB gel liners I have tried so it applies less smooth. The biggest problem with this is how the cream shadows apply to the skin. I have tried them on their own and with different bases but each time they don't adhere properly so you get left with little bald batches, I'm sure a lot of people probably like this but I really cannot recommend this to you at all. Swatches below applied reasonable heavy, they seem to have come out a lot nicer on my arm than they did my eyes.

I seem to keep having bad experience with Bobbi Brown and its really put me off the brand in a big way.I think I'd much rather spend my money at places like Illamasqua and Zuneta who offer really good service.

SPACK NK, new LIFE NK range

LIFE NK is a new range from SPACE NK. It contains mostly body products,two face products and some candles. LIFE NK’s products are free from parabens, sulfates and silicones

There seems to be a lot of ranges at the moment that’s main selling point is the “bad” ingredients they don’t include, for me this is a good think as a lot of these things irritate my skin. Although you do wonder if there are certain ingredients meant to be "bad" why do some of these types of ranges only exclude some whilst others go further ( excluding PEGS, glycols, petrochemicals etc) ?

I bought the ULTIMATE UNWIND BATH & SHOWER GEL - 350ML, priced at £12.24, which I thought a very good price considering the cost of their normal showergels (£17). This comes in pleasant clean packaging and the fragrance is meant to be “lime and green tea, spiced with cardamom and ginger”. I think this a very subtle fragrance and think the lime is the most noticeable scent. I do prefer to have a stronger scent for my bath/shower products but I will be buying this again ( and will try other items from the range) for the simple reason that it makes me feel really relaxed, not sure why, my husband used it and said the same thing and as he is not the type to make comments on such things there must be something to it!

Green and Spring

I had never heard of this brand but had to make a quick substitute on Liberty for something I was ordering that was out of stock and as the showergel was of equal value thought it would be worth a go.
I really like the concept of the range; all the products are “free from parabens, SLS, SLES, PEGS, glycols, petrochemicals, synthetic colours and fragrances. The products are made by hand in the British countryside to ensure the freshest batch quality and they use 100% natural plant materials”.
They have three scent ranges: relaxing, indulging and revitalising. I got the showergel in Indulgent (£18), which is meant to smell of rose,jasmine,elderflower and red clover and a small size of the relaxing body lotion as part of a GWP, this smells mostly of lavender. For both products the scent is long lasting, both are very moisturising and caused my sensitive skin no irritation. The two drawbacks for me was the scent of the showergel, its similar to other herbally smells like that of Aveda and Liz Earle which I really don’t like. Obviously this is just a personal thing and is not a negative against the products, I think you either like this type of scent or not.
The second drawback is that given the price I just don’t feel like these are indulgent products. There is nothing wrong with them I just expect something a bit more for the price, ( the full sized body lotion is £22), a shame really as they do have a lot of nice looking things on their website so I may be tempted to try their skincare at some point as the ingredients look good.
http://greenandspring.com/

Updated Rouge Bunny Rouge lipstick swatches

I'm just posting what is hopefully a better picture of my RBR lipstick swatch. I felt the other two where not as crisp as they should be and it really irkked me ! I need to re-do the pictures in my latest Sisley post as well but since I have moved I have lost my "good light" spot and I seem to be trying everywhere possible at the moment !
Here is the swatch, lipsticks L-R: Watch out Eve,Irreverence,Nothing Unknown, Prey of Lust, Tongue Tickles,Word of Mouth, and Know what lies Are For. Just to note Zuneta have a new RBR eyeliner on their site in the shade amethyst essence, which is meant to be a rich mid-lavender base with silver and pale blue glitter, may well have to get this.....
Please click to enlarge

Review of Clarins Palazzo D’Oro holiday collection Part 2

Well part two’s are never as good..after having bought the two compacts I had gone back and bought the Mascara and lipstick from the holiday collection.
The mascara is a black with very faint gold shimmer (once applied its only noticeable close up) for me this mascara was so bad that I have since thrown it away. The formula was so dry, had it not been a new limited edition product I would have thought it old stock.

The lipstick when swatched in store appeared to be a really nice golden sheen. Once home and in better lighting what I actually had was a sheer wash of gold glitter, nice from a distance not so good close up. My problem with this product was that although the lipstick had a lot of slip the glitter was extremely gritty and I found it really uncomfortable to wear, this has now joined the mascara in the bin. So a bit of a wash out.

I did also pick up one of the eyeshadows from the regular collection called Chestnut Freeze and do really like the shades which is in a variation of taupe, as you can never have enough :)
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Ultimately I think I need to leave alone the majority of the “normal department store” established brands (Estee Lauder, Clarins, Clinique,Lancome ) as they always seem to be a disappointment, if only they would stop having those alluring GWP events then I would be safe….

Chanel holiday Eyeliner Duo in Celadon-Lame

There wasn’t much to tempt me in the holiday collection this year. The Aqualumiere shades seemed the same old thing and I’m sure I have similar shades. The blush looked too dark for me. The quad, whilst I really liked the aqua shade, the others were just too warm. Chanel varnish chips on me and the glossimers I find too sticky. This left the eyeliner, which I did pick up. I had been tempted to get the previously released brown and black versions of this as I have seen a lot of raves for them so I finally succumbed. This is a combo of a matte black and a very slightly sparkly deep forest green. It retails for £26. I was the first one to use the tester at the store and only did a quite swipe so I didn’t realise that the ultra sparkly side on the right was an overlay. In the picture above you can see the true colour in the middle with a bit of the overly left round the sides. First up I have to say don’t bother using this dry, you get zero impact, used wet and you get a really deep rich colour. I am really impressed with this; it applies really well lasts all day and doesn’t transfer to the top of your lid.
This is a heavily applied dry swatch
This swatch is what you get used wet (you can bearly see the sparkle in the green now I have used it more).

Jo Malone Fragrance Combining Starter Set

I had a really big list of products I wanted to get but as I don’t have a store near me decided it would not be that clever to order scents that I have never tried before. I bought the Fragrance Combining Starter Set as I thought this a good way to try a range of the products.The set contains Pomegranate Noir Cologne 9ml, Orange Blossom Cologne 9ml, Blue Agava & Cacao Bath Oil 30ml, Grapefruit Shower Gel 15ml, French Lime Blossom Body Crème 15ml and Lime Basil & Mandarin Body Lotion 30ml and costs £32. Pictured below with my 30 ml Blue Agava which was a repeat buy.
I’ve seen a lot of raves for the cream but was hesitant to take a punt and put £45 down on this. Having now tried it, I am glad I played safe. It is very moisturising and the scent is pleasant but its no better than a lot of other high end creams I have tried and I found the scent no longer lasting. The lotion moisturised well too and the scent lasted longer (although this maybe due to the particular scent) however again I didn’t think the quality exceeded other brands.
I had tried the bath oils before (I was bought a collection set as a Christmas present) but wasn’t overly impressed, well things haven’t changed, the smell is nice, it moisturises well but I have to use a lot of product to get a pleasant effect.
The showergel I did like, the texture and how it left my skin would be worth the price but I was disappointed that the scent did not last at all. I may try this in another scent but the other products I won’t be buying. I feel a bit disappointed and guess I was expecting a lot due to the price.
Moving on to the Colognes, Orange blossom, seems a musty, powdery floral on me and Pomegranate Noir, which is a warming spicy scent (my husband says it smells exactly like Ginger beer), I can’t help but feel this is more suited as a bath/shower/room scent rather than a perfume. I also got samples of the Vanilla Anise cologne in my order, at first I found it a really nice light floral but it took on a bizarre edge on the dry down. Jo Malone’s perfumes seem to be notorious for varying dramatically dependent on the wearer; I’ve often seen a glowing review followed by a crushing one where the reviewer has said it reacted against their body chemistry.
I would be interested to try some of the other fragrances, as I do really like my Blue Agava . I do think for a gift the introductionary sets are the way to go and hopefully they will expand their collection of these.

Bobbi Brown Earth Metal palette

When a Bobbi Brown counter first opened up by me I went and had a massive splurge having previously not tried the brand. Buying a lot of items at the same time of something you have never tried is not the cleverest idea and the majority of the items were duds for me. Nowadays I do buy things here and there from them but due to two of my worse counter experience I tend to buy the items online instead. The palette has been doing the rounds all over the blogs but Christina at Lipstick fever did a really nice Eye look that tipped me over the edge. As this has been so heavily covered I won’t go into a full review but just to say that although I still find BB shadows textures a bit chalky/gritty these shades unlike others I have tried do stay true to colour and blend better. Overall it has quite a warm, almost dirtied golds and green’s look to it with two cooler toned shades to even it out a bit. Her creamy lipstick formula is very heavy and although easy to wear shades you’ll not get a lot of pigment from these. Not a must have but a nice addition.

Sisley phyto star eye palette and black diamond collection

Ever since BritishBeautyBlogger featured the phyto star eye palette on her blog I have eyed it up every time I flounce past the Sisley counter. The SA I do not like was not there and instead I was approached by one with a really pleasant attitude with no hard sell at all and who was happy to help show me the range. I noticed there was a black diamond makeup pouch set whereby you basically get an eyeliner for free, obviously I couldn’t cope with the temptation so got this as well. The quad (£54.50) contains all shimmery shades, delicate white (this is not harsh or chalky), pink, and a smokey green and purple.

They are not the softest shadows I have tried but they blend effortlessly. I really like the colour combination and there is just a little something extra special about these once applied. When I first swatched them instore I thought they were rather sheer but applied onto the eye they come out a lot more pigmented. Out of all the products I bought in October I think this is my star buy.
The black diamond gift set contains phyto-mascara ultra volume in so black, phyto-lip star in rose quartz and phyto-khol star in black diamond. This costs £61 so if the eyeliner is free by my reckoning that must make the Mascara about £30 + and the lipgloss just under £30. This easily makes these the most expensive mascara and lipgloss I have used.
The mascara gives really good length and quite good curl, it does not flake or smudge and you can apply multiple coasts without clumpy, I also noticed that when I touched my lashes they felt soft which I found odd as I have never come across this with a mascara before. The downside, it gives me no volume, which is strange given its title. If this was cheaper I would re-buy it but for the price I would expect it to give me volume as well. The lipgloss is a really easy to wear shimmery neutral rose. It’s not a unique colour. It’s slightly sticky and wears the same as your average gloss, I don’t find it any better than cheaper glosses I have. I am not a fan of pencil eyeliners, I can never get a neat line and nor can I get them close to the lash. This does perform better for me, its quite soft but not overly so and you can get a nice deep black with a tiny bit of sparkle. I’ve no idea how much this costs so would only buy another shade depending on price.
I've done a quick look below using all the colours, the flash has washed it out a bit so it is brighter in real life. Its a real raining dark day here in the UK so my pictures have not come out that great so I may well re-take them at a later stage.