My Thanks

I have reached the 100 milestone, unless any of you leave me, and I'll look like I can't count :)
Thank you,it means a lot that I know there are people who read about my "habit"
I'll be doing a giveaway soon, just need to decide what to get.

Guerlain Ombre Eclat Mono Eyeshadow

I really like the look of the Guerlain dazzling radiance summer collection, so went to the counter to have a look. Unfortunately I was informed that its not out till June for those of us in the UK.
I was a bit deflated as I was really looking forward to seeing the collection but appeased myself by picking up two of the single eye shadows.
Although I have had a few of the quads, this is the first time I have tried the singles. I picked up 160 l'instant coquin and 180 l'instant fume, £19 each.
Shade 180 is a beautiful taupe, more on the grey side. Although I have similar shades I don’t have anything quite like it, and this has fast become one of my favourite shades.
In the store shade 160 looked like a sheer pink with a peach iridescent to it, once home however its actually a sheer pink matte. There is nothing wrong with the shade, its just not what I thought it was (I wonder if someone had transferred some colour of another of the shadows into the tester when swatching and that’s why it looked so different).
The one thing I noticed with these shadows is that unlike the quads the texture feels a bit dry, although they don’t look at all dry when applied (you get a nice smooth look). Other than that I really like these, true to colour and they last extremely well, I will definitely be checking out the other 4 singles that are released with the summer collection.

MAC: To the Beach Collection

When you see I have made a MAC purchase, you can basically read that as “I had a bad day at work so stomped off to MAC in my lunch break”
I bought my stuff last Thursday and the highlighter was sold out already, so if you’re interested in that I’d get it as soon as possible.
I was looking at Fun Bathing lipstick but got talked into Lazy Days instead by the SA. It’s a very sheer cool toned slightly milky pink .Its a bit too pale for me and washes me out slightly so I combine it with a gloss to make it more wearable.
I got blush in Hipness, which is a really pretty vibrant coral pink. Whilst I really like the shade I find the lasting power is not that good.
Lastly I got eyeliner in Rosemary & Thyme; it’s a medium olive green with slight gold shimmer.
Its nicely pigmented and lasts really well when used on the top lid to line, however when used on the waterline the colour didn’t seem to adhere well.
Overall I’m quite pleased with my buys, I just have to work with them a bit. I do like that the collection has shades for those either warm or cool toned as summer collections are usually a bit of a no go for me.

The Lure of the GWP

Back track a week and there I was at the Estee Lauder counter having a look at the mascara’s and I couldn’t help but notice the many GWP signs dotted around. To think it could all be mine if I purchased one more thing, I then saw that they had the summer collection out. In an “I must get free items” haze I picked up a liquid shadow and crystal lipstick (you’ll note I didn’t get a mascara which I went in for). Feeling rather victorious with my purchase (the GWP included a mini mascara so it must have been meant to be) I headed to Boots to pick up my lunch, I thought I may as well pick up a sunscreen for my husband and then noticed there was a No7 GWP on. I only had to buy three products, cunning idea, I could get my husband the No7 Facial protect SPF50 sunscreen and then I was down to only needing two more items. I remembered seeing the new hot cloth cleanser raved about on a few blogs and I knew the new nail polish colours had got good reviews so my 3 items were now decided.
Once home and surrounded by my goodies two thoughts occurred to me
1. I don’t think I have ever really liked an Estee Lauder product
2.I don’t think I have ever really liked a No7 product.
Perhaps this time it would be different, erm…. no. I don’t really like any of it. The liquid shadow goes on patchy/uneven, the nail polish chipped really badly in one day, the lipstick whilst a nice shade (warm pink nude) I find heavy and drying, the cleanser has broken me out, and my skin texture feels dryer than normal.

Nail polish in Queenie 60
Swatch:Bronze Goddess sand shimmer, crystal baby 301 pure colour lipstick,
If you are wondering if my glorious GWPS would save me, you can stop, as they didn’t, half of it went in the bin after the first try and the skincare I gave to my mum. Here's a picture of the GWP mascara for interest
The EL sumptuous bold volume mascara lengthen and gave thickness but was extremely clumpy and the No7 extreme length gave a bit of length and nothing else.

Clearly I have a problem, I’d like to think I won’t do this again but I said that last time…..

Chantecaille Les Dauphin Palette

I finally gave in and bought the limited edition Les Dauphins Palette. Priced at a hefty £79, the way I see it, the normal eye shadow/blushers are £23 each and I know when I bought a 8 pan empty palette a few years back if cost me a upsetting £42 so I imagine that the 3 pans must be about £20 now and this is a refillable 4 pan, anyhow that’s my feeble attempt to justify the price.

The palette comes in a darker case than normal, more of a gunmetal colour. The mirrored palette contains 3 eye shadows, and one blush. Each pan is split into a lighter and darker tone. Each pan is embossed with dolphin engravings (five percent of the sale will be donated to help save dolphins in Greece); with a shimmery over spray, which wore off after two uses.
Here is the palette without the overspray
On me the eyeshades are a slightly pink beige base/sheer white pink highlighter, two taupe shades (more brown than grey) and a medium grey/deeper slate grey.
Chantecaille shadows have a fine, smooth, easy to blend texture; the only thing I find is that if I blend too much I seem to blend the colour away.
Your not getting intense pigment from these eyeshadows but it gives a really easy to wear neutral day time look. The finish is a slight sheen/shimmer.
Whilst you can use each eyeshade pan separately, I use the blusher swirled together as I don’t have a bizarre tiny blusher brush. On my pale skin the blusher is quite a strong warm pink.
Swatch below, the lighter, then darker shade and then both combined
Overall if you love your neutrals and taupes and like the Chantecaille formula I think this is worth the splurge.

I bought this from SpaceNK (http://www.spacenk.co.uk/home.do)

TOPSHOP Makeup

It started out innocently enough, I was popping into Topshop to get a pair of trousers for work ( always seems wrong to have to spend money on clothes you don’t really want to be wearing). Needless to say I didn’t get any trouser but did come out with some of the new makeup range.
Typically my makeup is mid to high end, its not like I refuse to buy cheaper brands its just everytime I do they never seem to perform well and end up in the bin. The topshop range, although heavily glitter focused does offer a selection of products that can cater for those wanting a more natural look and those who like their brights.
Here's what I bought and my thoughts:
Lipstick in Mink (£8) this is your typically pinky/brown, a lot more heavy on the brown and with a bit of warmth, this is a nice shade, has good pigmentation and lasts really well.The finish is semi matte. My problem is that its drying and seems to get worse the longer its on, its resolved by wearing a balm underneath it but I’d rather not have to use another product to get another one to perform.

Eyeshadow duo in Rocky Road (£6) this contain a slightly shimmered mink champagne and almost matte mocha.The texture is quite smooth, with medium pigmentation. It blends ok and last well, although not comparable to my high end brands the quality is along the lines of my mid end brands (MAC,Bobbi Brown).
Swatches L-R: Mink,Rocky Road
Nail Polish in Big Smoke (£5) there are a lot of these stone/taupe colours doing the rounds. Two coats gives the colour in the bottle and its wears quite well with minimal chipping.The formula is rather thick though so can go a bit gloopy. They have a really good selection of nail shades, lots of blues,greys and brights.
Mascara in Raven (£8)this gives me some length and thickness but does clump if I put on too many coasts and doesn't seem to curl. It doesn't flake or smudge though.
Wearing shadow duo and mascara below
Overall this is probably my most successful foray into a cheaper makeup range. I probably will pick up a few more things, the crayons looked nice even though they are packed full of glitter (felt really smooth and creamy). I think for the price its worth a look when you are next in there.

Snowberry Nourishing Exfoliator

I’ve always liked the idea of exfoliators but on my dry, sensitive, acne prone skin they usually break me out, irritate me, or dry my skin out.
This is my third Snowberry product and its better priced compared to the other two, £37 for 75ml (you can get the travel sized version at £21.50 for 15ml).
It claims to give you the following benefits:
· Immediately but gently removes dead skin cells – assisting in stimulating new cellular growth
· Immediately provides the skin with a smooth, clean and refreshed feeling
· Helps to re-hydrate the epidermis.
· Helps to maintain healthy skin ecology
· Reduces the appearance of wrinkles
· Increases moisturisation and hydration

I’ve used this no more than 2 times a week for over a month now. It’s a beige colour and has a cream consistency. Its not packed full of beads (it uses a combination of exotic oils, herbal extracts, Jojoba, precious gems, cultured coral and pearl, to remove dead skin rather than polyethylene beads) but as a result it doesn’t feel harsh.
Here are the ingredients:
It feels really moisturising without being overly oily. I remove it with wet cotton pads then rinse my face with water. My skin is not left feeling dry or coated in a film. It exfoliates well; my skin feels smooth without any redness or irritation.
For now I’ll say I’m undecided as to whether I’d buy this again. Whilst I have nothing bad to say, I’m not sure of any long-term benefits of this particular scrub in terms of increased hydration, less wrinkles, for me its main benefit is that it does not upset my skin. Ultimately I do wonder if I really need a scrub in my routine, whether it be this one or another brand.

I bought this from Harvey Nichols. Just to give you an update I have used up the Instant deep cleanser and have re bought it.
For more information on Snowberry please see here http://www.snowberrybeauty.com/