Human Weakness

Oops...

Yep, I may have strayed a little bit when out researching water filters. It turns out that Superdrug stock a bigger range of the oh so desirable Revlon Lip Butters and this time I 'accidentally' purchased the shade Pink Truffle. This is a slightly darker hue than Peach Parfait (as featured in my last post) and verges towards the plummy side of the spectrum. It is also free of any shimmer or reflects.

Swatch time:

Apologies for the veiny hand. It seems to be quite warm in the flat today. Hooray for vasodilation (big word of the day).

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend :)

Haul: Revlon, Elvive & Yankee Candles

I thought I'd start the weekend with a little trip into town to pick up some new shampoo and as usual ended up with a little more than I anticipated. At least I actually got the shampoo; most times I end up forgetting the item I actually went out to get in the first place.

I didn't really have any particular shampoo/conditioner in mind so I walked blindly into Boots and came across this new release from L'Oreal Elvive. The Nutri-Gloss Crystal range:

I picked up the big bottles because they were on a half price offer, quite a clever thing to do seeing as I haven't even tried the stuff yet.

This was a surprising choice for me because I usually tend to run a mile from anythin overly pink and glittery (no thanks), but something about the 'crystal' bit has me intrigued. The bottle states: "embedded with visible Micro-Crystals + Pearl, the sparkling formula illuminates and smooths the hair's surface for better light reflection and crystal shine." - Yes please.

As much as the thought of glittery hair makes me cry, I can't wait to wash my hair and see the results.


Next you can see that I caved and bought a Revlon Lip Butter and too many Yankee Candle sample tarts. I'm far too indecisive aren't I? Anyhow I hope I enjoy the choices I eventually did make:

What are your favourite Yankee scents? I'd love to hear your recommendations so I can go and buy even more.

So, on to the Revlon Lip Butter. I went for the shade Peach Parfait, which was an amazingly easy choice as I wasn't that impressed by the range my store had in stock. Plus I wanted to try one before going out and getting any more. Logical right?

 

I'd apologise about being late on the bandwagon here, but I'm not going to because these have literally only just become available over here in the UK! I do quite like the packaging; it's a little different. I suppose some might say that the translucent plastic case looks a little tacky, but I don't really have any complaints - it does the job.

Broken record time, yes the formulation is lovely and I am really impressed. This particular shade is a perfect everyday hue and is a nice cross between a gloss and a lipstick - perfect for me really because I don't always want the stickiness of a gloss or the solid block colour of many lipsticks. The added moisturising quality is a bonus. I think I'll be picking up some more of these...

Depotting MAC Eyeshadows

As you may have seen in my second to last post I recently purchased one of the MAC 15 shadow palettes with the ambition of depotting my loose shadows into it when I could spare half an hour. I thought I'd document what I did (injury-free thank goodness) so you can have a go yourselves in your own time.

Here's what you'll need:

• A towel or something similar to protect your work surface
• A candle 
• A sharp pointed knife
• Tweezers
• A MAC palette (obviously!)
• Some adhesive magnets - I bought mine off eBay
• Scissors in case you want to trim the labels 

So without further ado, let's get started!


1) Pop out the pan insert from the casing: Open the eyeshadow and VERY carefully wiggle the end of the knife into the groove where the pan insert meets the outer casing. Keep wiggling until the pan insert pops out. Make sure you don't press too hard and let the knife slip. Blood in your eyeshadows is not very becoming.

Once it has successfully popped out, you'll have something that looks a bit like this (note lack of blood):

Set the outer casing aside for now. You'll need it a bit later.


2. Removing the pan from the pan insert: Take your tweezers and hold the pan over the flame of the candle. Make sure you don't hold it IN the flame; you don't want to melt the plastic completely. Hold it there for around 30 seconds until you can see that it has softened.

Once you think this is the case, gently poke the bottom of the pan insert with the end of the knife to prise up the eyeshadow from the plastic.

If it doesn't want to come out, don't force it - the plastic just isn't soft enough. Hold it over the flame a bit longer and give it another go when you think it's ready. The plastic will be VERY hot when you do the poking so use the tweezers to hold it steady.

3. Stick on the magnet: Pretty self explanatory really. When the metal on the underside of the pan has cooled a bit and the glue on the bottom is still tacky, stick an adhesive magnet to the back (carefully so you don't damage the eyeshadow). Centre it by moving it on the tacky glue.

4. Removing the name label: This bit is optional, but I like to stick the label to the bottom of the shadow so I can keep track of the colours and finishes. As you can see this one is Modelette, a lovely matte brown.

The labels are usually very well stuck on so the best way of removing it without damaging it is to hold the casing over the candle at an angle to slightly melt the adhesive attaching it and a small area of plastic at the edge.

Make sure you don't hold it too close to the flame - burnt fingers/labels aren't amusing or attractive. As you can see in the clever split-picture below, once the plastic has softened you can take your knife and gently press down at the edge of the label to indent the casing. You should now be able to lift off the label causing little to no damage at all.

 The adhesive will still be sticky when you do this, so you will be able to place it straight over the magnet that you've just attached to the shadow. Feel free to trim it to neaten it up a bit.

5. Admire your handiwork!

It looks a little complicated at the outset, but the more you do it the more you'll get used to it. You'll be a pro in no time!

I suppose this means I now have to go and spend more money on seven more shadows to fill my palette. Any recommendations?

I hope you found this guide helpful - let me know if you have any questions :)

What I'm using right now!

This may or may not be pinched from a fellow blogger, but I thought it'd be nice to have a quick look at what I'm currently using. For you, so you can see my excellent taste in cosmetics and also for me so I can see how much of a brand/drugstore junkie I really am (delete as applicable).

Shampoo: Pantene Smooth & Sleek

Conditioner: See above (I like my matching sets)

Styling Products: Kerastase Nectar Thermique if that counts?

Shower Gel: Lush Flying Fox

Body Moisturiser: Clinique Deep Comfort

Deodorant: Nivea Invisible - the one with the pink top

Face Wash: Origins Checks & Balances

Cleanser: See above! I use this with my Clarisonic Mia

Exfoliator: Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish (gotta love those muslin cloths)

Primer: N/A - I honestly haven't ventured into primers...yet.

Foundation Brush: Sigma F60

Foundation: Revlon Photoready

Concealer: Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse 02 Natural

Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural (Light)

Blusher: Clinique Peony (the prettiest blush ever)

Bronzer: MAC Golden

Highlighter: Benefit High Beam

Eyeshadow Base: Too Faced Shadow Insurace or Urban Decay Primer Potion. Whichever is closest!

Eyeshadows: MAC Naked Lunch, MAC Mulled Cider

Eyeliner: Revlon Colorstay (Black), Stila Stay all Day liner

Mascara: YSL Volume Effet Faux Cils and Benefit Get Bent (for the lower lashes)

Lipstick: MAC Creme Cup

Lipgloss: MAC Oyster Girl

Nail Colour: OPI Mermaid's Tears

Aaaaand breathe. Wow, that sounds like a lot. I obviously don't wear all of the makeup every day but you get the general idea of what's in my makeup bag right now! 

Also if you have a blog, consider yourself tagged - I'd love to see what you're current go to products are!

Haul: MAC Tour de Fabulous (and a little extra)

I've had my eye on this little array of lip products ever since it came out in the US (it feels like a year ago) and was surfing the MAC website randomly and noticed that the Tour de Fabulous collection had finally arrived on the UK site. This collection consists of limited edition lipglasses and lip pencils and in my opinion is definitely worth a look.

I picked up three of the lipglasses that really stood out to me:

Comfort & Joy, Rich & Witty, Rich Bounty

Comfort & Joy is a cool-toned pale mauve with moderate shimmer - very pretty! Rich & Witty is surprisingly opaque; it's a medium rose-pink with some subtle shimmer. It strikes me as a colour that'd look lovely on the beach! Finally I picked up Rich Bounty. I'm not usually so adventurous when it comes to dark lip colours as I'm fairly pale, but the shade was just so gorgeous I just couldn't resist. It is a coppery red again with some subtle shimmer. I think this would be paired best with a lipstick underneath to prevent any unevenness showing (a slight drawback!)

Onto some swatches!

Comfort & Joy, Rich & Witty, Rich Bounty - same order as above, clever hey?

While I was online I used the free shipping incentive to pick up a couple of other bits. I'd run out of the wonderful Mineralise Skinfinish Natural (Light) and was slightly fed up of shining like a beacon so it was an obvious choice...

MAC Mineralise Skinfinish Natural - Light

I also picked up one of the MAC Pro palettes to house my MAC eyeshadows. I'm really looking forward to depotting them/burning my fingers once my magnets arrive. Here's a picture of my haul in it's entirety so you can see the chic black loveliness of the packaging:

All products mentioned are available at www.maccosmetics.co.uk (Tour de Fabulous for a limited time only). That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Review: LUSH Dreamtime Bath Melt

I had a slight LUSH splurge today when I was hiding from the rain in London. In this oversight of budget I included the new-ish (to my knowledge) Dreamtime Bath Melt in my selection.

As you can see, it's not the prettiest of LUSH's products, but don't be fooled. They introduce this product on their website www.lush.co.uk like so:

"When should you drop this luxuriously creamy block into the water? Bedtime! It may look small, but its secret strengths lie in its scent. The Dreamtime causes your worries to fade away with jasmine, calms with lavender and relaxes with sandalwood."

It is indeed small, but I do think it's worth the £2.90 I paid! It has a curious smell so I was keen to try this the very night I bought it just to see exactly how it'd turn out. You can't hold this for long before it starts to melt so stick it in the tub as soon as the taps are running...

Now I know bath melts aren't meant to be as bubbly as bath ballistics (you have no idea how much I accidentally call them 'bubble bombs'), but Dreamland did provide some token bubbles as it disintegrated. They soon disappeared when my big bum squashed them all as I got in. However the water was lovely and silky/milky.

I was initally worried at the presence of lavendar in this, but the smell wasn't overpowering or cloying at all. It really did what it said on the label and relaxed me just enough so that I was sleepy, but not so much so that I drowned in the bath.

An added bonus with this bath melt is that you get to play a little game of 'pick out the flowers.' To be honest I only did this because my phone battery ran out killing my source of music. Voila, soggy flowers:

Despite the first sight of one of these making me jump a bit, I spent the rest of my bath in a nice, soft, gently smelling haze. When I got out my skin was definitely as soft as a baby's bum.

June Favourites

Well hello there. Today I thought I'd reiterate and go into a little more detail on what I said about the products mentioned in my June Favourites video. I've included pictures and little labels where needed using a pretty little font that I got excited about and downloaded :)

1. Simple Kind to Skin Facial Cleansing Wipes - Pretty much what they say on the packaging! Simple, kind to skin and well...cleansing. I got these on offer and I think they worked out at about £2.99 for a pack of 25 which really isn't bad for what they are. They're unscented, unabrasive and completely safe for taking of even stubborn waterproof mascara; no sting or other unpleasantness when used around the eye area. Definitely worth every penny and very easily overlooked with so many competing products on the market!

2. Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Concealer (£4.99) - If you've seen the video you'll notice that I use this as part of my everyday foundation routine and there are plenty of reasons why! Well the main one is that it just works. It conceals even my silly dark circles that plague every morning of my existance with ease...and that makes me happy. You can see below that it is a really novel product, a mousse to powder formulation which is not cakey (providing you don't splat on too much or press too hard when getting it out of the pot) and really easy to apply. I'm not sure how long this will last - it doesn't look like there is that much in the pot and you have to consider there is a certain amount of air in the product itself, but either way I can definitely see myself purchasing this again.

3. Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Blush in Peach Satin (£4.99) - To keep it brief, it has exactly the same consistency and application as the concealer mentioned above. Peach Satin is a lovely colour and will match most skin tones. I've been loving this so much because it gives a hint of a rosy glow on my pale English skin :) A word of warning though if you don't like shimmery blushes, this is a little so I'd recommend checking it out in person to make sure it is your cup of tea.

4. John Frieda Frizz Ease Straight Ahead Style Activating Daily Conditioner (£5.99) - Ahh the source of my wonderful video blooper. You may notice that I don't have a picture up for this. I threw the bottle away in rage after I'd wrapped up the filming and washed my legs :) Despite that, I really love this conditioner. To me it has the effect of a deep conditioning treatment, but every time you wash your hair and use it (as it is designed to be used daily). It's pretty good value for money too as you get a lot in a bottle and it lasts a suprisingly long time (obviously this depends on how long your hair is). No frizz has been experienced in humid, windy or rainy conditions leading me to think that this really is another hidden gem on those drugstore shelves :)

5. MAC Easy Lounger Lipglass (£12.00) - Well it would have been rude to let the 'To The Beach' collection leave my MAC counter without me getting at least one item with a beachy graphic on it wouldn't it? Nothing else really caught my eye and I bought this on a whim because I thought it was pretty. And it is :) Not one for people who like matte or sheer lip finishes as this is VERY glittery. However it's very glittery in a very nice way. I wouldn't usually pick up something this bedazzled but the colour just drew me in and now I'm hooked. I'll mostly be wearing this to the beach where the sun can make me sparkle!

6. MAC Pretty Plush Plushglass (£14.50) - I originally picked this up because I wondered what there could possibly be in this to warrant the extra £2.50 on the cost of a basic lipglass. I am still wondering this a little, but this colour just goes so perfectly over a number of lipsticks and does give a slight plumping effect. This is a favourite mainly because of the colour and versatility and I've just found myself reaching for it a lot lately. It's shimmery but not disco ball-esque and gives a nice polished finish to your look :)

Now for the nail polishes...


7. Essie Van D'Go (£9.50) - Yes yes I know I could have picked this up much more cheaply than I did, but I was wandering in Liberty and couldn't resist. Bad me. Despite the widely known consistency problems this polish has, I have been completely sucked in to the colour. I'm finding it a more toesy shade and it really sets off a tan if you're lucky and happen to have one. My feet seem to be browner than the rest of me at the moment, so this is perfect for making them seem even darker.

8. Essie Lilacism (£9.50) - The second part of my Essie splurge, and oh what a worthwhile splurge. I adore this colour. I've usually been wary of purples because for some reason they seem to clash strangely with...me in general. This is just the right pastely shade for toes, fingers and anything else you fancy licalising. Unlike Van D'Go the application of this polish is a breeze :)

9. OPI Bubble Bath (£10.00) - Oops, a Selfridges splurge. People should really keep me away from London. I've been wanting to get this for a while and three weeks into owning it I have found myself reaching for it so much. It's the ideal baby pink colour and can easily be worn both casually and formally, matching nearly everything you could dream of wearing with it. A new firm favourite. (You should have seen my Mum's face when I got home brandishing a *pink* nail polish. I'm a notorious tomboy...I think she had an epiphany. That or a 'funny turn.'

That wraps up my June lovelies! Thanks for reading if you've lasted this long :) Hopefully I've made a promising start to this blog, I'll try to keep it up!