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.