Quick Holiday Face of the Day

I'm back from my holiday in Glasgow and The Lakes!  I had a fantastic time, although it wasn't very relaxing after my half marathon last week - I drove there and back and we did a lot of walking!  I was packed all the wrong things - I know that Scotland has a reputation for being cold, but it never has been when I've been before, even in November.  And last Sunday, I was running in Cardiff in 15 degrees sunshine - I didn't think I'd need a hat, gloves and winter coat 2 days later.  Well ladies, I was WRONG!  Luckily, we were staying in the centre of Glasgow, which is fantastic for shopping so I was able to pick up a few essentials (and non-essentials) - a haul post will follow shortly.

Anyway, I took a huge bag of makeup, but hardly ended up using any of it - in cold weather, I just didn't fancy doing a full face, and for the last few days in the Lakes, I would've looked ridiculous stamping around in my hiking gear in the rain wearing eyeliner!  I did manage to do one full face whilst I was in Glasgow, but kept it simple - here it is.

Face:
Lancome Teinte Miracle in 010
Mac Studio Finish Concealer in NC20
Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil
Mac Cream Blush in Lady Blush
Benefit High Beam

Eyes:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Nars Strada Eyeshadow
Mac Smoulder Eyeline
No 7 Exceptional Definition Mascara

Lips:
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in Nude Pink

I keep meaning to do a proper review and swatches of Nars Strada - I will do it soon, I promise.  Sorry about my wet hair, and half dressed state!

Thanks for reading! xx

Just a little haul...

...or not!  Hi ladies, I’ve had a very busy week, staying away overnight at a roadside Travelodge yesterday, before going to Brighton and back today. Anyway, I had a spare half an hour in Brighton (one of my favourite cities) to pick up a bit of shopping and I managed to stock up on a lot of products.

Beauty addict's paradise... Mac, Bare Escentuals, Aveda, Kiehl's and Shu Uemura

If you’ve never been to Brighton, you will be in for a shopping treat.  I think it’s the best place for shopping in the country outside London, catering for all tastes, including high street, high end and designer, independent and quirky/hippy shops.  In particular, their beauty shops are fantastic. I used to live there when I was a student and I remember a friend coming to stay with me and us spending 3 whole days covering all the shops!  My best friend still lives there, and we always hit the shops when I’m staying with her.

I went to L’Occitane and finally got some Almond Shower Oil which I’ve been meaning to get for ages.  I then popped into Mac to get some concealer and bumped into a former colleague of mine who works there as a MUA – I’ve not seen her for over a decade, so we caught up whilst I also decided to buy Satin Taupe.  Then I went to Bare Escentuals to get some more Mineral Veil.  In Oasis I got a couple of pairs of earrings and Butter London polish in Marrow.  Finally, I went to Superdrug to stock up on bits and bobs.  Some Garnier BB Cream, an Accesorize bronzer, and GOSH cream blush, as well as other stuff.  Phew, that was a lot of shopping in half an hour!

Believe it or not, I’ve not spend much money on beauty products recently, and other than nail polish, I don’t think I’ve bought any makeup all summer!  

Vintage and Chanel Birthday Goodies and FOTD

I just thought I'd post about a few things I got for my birthday today, as I'm thrilled with them!

Kicking off the French theme, the first is a piece of 1920s antique jewellery that my friend found for me in an antique market in France.  She knows me so well, as I absolutely love it!  It's a very long beaded piece, with knots in it and tassels.  It's basically a cross between a long necklace and a scarf - I love necklaces and scarves, so it's perfect for me!  It's so beautiful! Scroll down for a picture of me wearing it

Secondly I got some Chanel makeup from my boyfriend ooh la la!  Naturally, I sent him the website links and even told him that Boots would deliver it to our neighbourhood shop!  I asked him for Chanel Les 4 Ombres Eyeshadow in Murano and Le Vernis Nail Colour in Black Pearl.  Here are the pictures and swatches...

I must apologise for my FOTD post - I don't look at my best and my hair decided to go 'rock-chick'!

Here's the makeup I used:

Mac Studio Fix Concealer
Lancome Teinte Miracle Foundation
Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil
Nars Blusher in Deep Throat
UDPP
Chanel Les 4 Ombres Eyeshadow in Murano - pink all over the lid, the darker silver at the outer corners and the crease, the darkish green in the outer v and the pale blueish green as a highlight.
Mac Smoulder
Lancome Hypnose Mascara
Nars Carthage Matte Lipstick, mostly wiped off with lipbalm applied on top

I picked up the pink swirly top from Next last week for £18.  I really love all the prints that are around at the moment! It works well with my antique French scarf/necklace non?

I can't wait to play around more with this palette and the nail polish!

Thanks for reading!  xx

Goodbye 2010 - Review and Products of the Year

Happy New Years everyone!  I know it's a little early, but I thought I'd say it whilst I can!  I'm still not sure what my plans are for this evening, but I'm planning on getting dressed up and doing a full face of slap, so even if I'm sitting at home watching telly, I'm going to feel glamourous!

Anyway, I thought I'd do a round up of my year, since it's been an interesting one, and include a few products that have rocked my world in 2010.

I started out in 2010 stuck in a beauty rut.  I had had the same hairstyle for about a decade, and used to do the same makeup everyday, occasionally bringing out a bit of eyeliner for special occasions or red nail polish when I was feeling daring.  I was beginning to get paranoid about the signs of ageing and the grey hairs that were appearing, but doing very little about it.

All this changed when I went to a fancy dress party as Audrey Hepburn.  I was a bit clueless when it came to doing my hair and makeup for this event, so I googled her style, and a load of YouTube videos popped up.  As my boyfriend was stuck in Hong Kong because of the ash cloud, I was able to watch all the videos guilt free, and became hooked!  I tried (and succeeded) in pulling off a very complicated hair-do for the fancy dress party and even did my makeup to a pretty good standard.  And then I started discovering my YouTube Gurus and fab tutorials, and my love of makeup was reborn! I think I have at least five times more makeup now than I did when I started the year!

I then found beauty blogs, started my own in July, and the rest is history.

Here are some of my favourite products from 2010 - and I have all you lovely people to thank for introducing them to me.  Without you all, I wouldn't have bought them, and I love them all, so thanks very much!

Firstly, I've been using the bareMinerals Mineral Veil from Bare Escentuals.  I had been using the cheapest Boots 17 powder before I discovered Mineral Veil, and I'm so glad I did.  This is actually my second pot of it, as I've now used up my first one.  It's really light on the skin and does keep me more or less matte all day, which is something other powders have never done for me.  It also stops my makeup from shifting, so I love it!

I've become a complete convert to Teint Miracle by Lancome.  After having a couple of samples of it, I finally splurged on a full size bottle - it's so worth it.  It offers a good coverage, whilst not feeling like you are caking yourself in foundation.  It lasts all day and gives my skin a nice finish.  At £25, this isn't a cheapo foundation, but it's also not super-expensive, so it's definitely a foundation I will purchase again.

I've included the Naked Palette by Urban Decay as one of my favourites.  There's not really much more to say about this, other than it's brilliant value, has great colours, is a lovely formula, looks good, and is just about the most useful eyeshadow palette you could ever own.

My other favourite eyeshadow of the year is Taupe Grise by Chanel.  I've already reviewed it here, but I will repeat that it's such a beautiful colour and has even displaced Shale by Mac as my favourite.

In 2010, I've been getting into blushers in a big way.  My favourite, and the first non-high street blusher I purchased was Ladyblush cream blush by Mac.  It's not too dark a colour, but adds a lovely rosey glow, and it reminded me how much I used to love cream blushes when I was younger (but had gone back to powder for some reason).  I tend to reach for it first when it comes to blush, so it's become a staple of my makeup bag.

My absolute favourite skincare product this year is Starting Over moisturiser by origins.  This was one of my favourites in November, and I'm still loving in now.  I can see that this will become a winter staple for me, I'm so glad I found it!

Another great skincare product is the Revitalising Hand Saviour from No 7 (reviewed here).  This is such an indulgent product, but it has made a massive difference to my hands this winter.  It's another beauty staple that I'll be repurchasing.

And finally, my haircare product of the year is the Moroccan Oil treatment.  I bought a travel sized bottle in November, and I've used it every time I've washed my hair since.  It's a lovely hair oil, it smells lovely and it really does tame the frizz.  I'm nearly out of this bottle, so I'll be repurchasing a larger bottle soon.

There are a few beauty products and treatments that haven't been so successful this year.  These include my disasterous spa day, the fact that my Brazilian Blow Dry did absolutely nothing to my hair, and Powderflage by Benefit - the most useless product I have ever bought.  But there have been more sucesses that failures and I feel I'm a more discerning consumer of beauty products now than when I first started blogger, when I'd buy anything because of the hype.

So that's it for 2010.  Let's hope 2011 is an interesting and happy year for everyone - I'm certainly looking forward to it!

Happy New Year everyone!  xx

Summer Favourites

Hello all.  Today I'm going to do a favourites post.  As I've not been blogging for very long, and my beauty obsession is still in its infancy, I thought I'd do a Summer favourites post, rather than one specifically for August.  It's a bit late for August now anyway!  I decided that I must have used a product for over a month to include it in my favourites, so my newest purchases are not included.

First of is Neutrogena Visibly Clear 2-in-1 wash and mask.  I bought this on a whim as I wanted a face mask, but it was the only product available.  I instantly loved it!  It's fast replaced my old Nivea face wash as my favourite.  I also use it as a mask, and it's great for that as well.  It is white in colour with a chalky consistency and a very slight grain to it.  It really gets all the dirt out, leaving my face feeling squeaky clean and slightly tingly.  I can't remember how much I paid for it, but I suspect it was about £3.50.  I'd definitely buy it again (once I've used up my stash on my Beauty Diet), and am currently trying to ration it so I don't run out of it first!

Secondly is Orange & Geranium Shower Gel from Neals Yard Remedies.  My Mum gets this for me for Christmas every year, and I look forward to it each time!  It has a really unusual, warm smell that I can't get enough of.  I was very surprised when I first tried this out as I don't really like the smell of either oranges or geraniums, but together, they are genius! As I've explained in my earlier Beauty Diet posts, I had so much shower gel and bubble bath for Christmas that I've not bought any more since then.  This was my favourite shower gel gift, so I saved the best for last!  Again, as I'm trying to use up my stash of mini hotel shower gels, I'm rationing the Neals Yard shower gel to make it last longer. 

Thirdly is my Mineral Veil from Bare Escentuals.  This is the only Bare Escentuals product I've tried, and I've been using it all summer long.  I hadn't used loose powder for over a decade, but I've totally converted after trying this.  It is almost weightless, feels great on my skin, really sets my make up and stops me from getting too shiny.  It's made me want to try more Bare Escentuals products, and I will, once my wallet allows me!

I'd heard good things about My Biggest Lashes by Prestige, so I decided to fork out.  I think I paid £9.99 for the mascara which isn't too expensive.  It's quite easy to apply and really does make my lashes look longer and thicker which I love.  My eyelashes really don't curl well, and it doesn't improve their curl-ability, but I've never found anything that does!  It is a quite dry formula which I like, as I'm always getting mascara transfer all over my eyes, and it has a large, traditional brush.  I'd buy this again.

Sorry this is so yucky!

One of the things I've really got into over the summer is concealer palettes and quads.  Having terrible skin, they've transformed my life!  I used  a rubbish No. 17 concealer for years, but I've not looked back after trying this Hide It palette from Technic.  It is soft in consistency, there are two colours to mix for a match to my skin, there is a highlighter and a red-reducer, and it covers up really well.  I bought it from Amazon for under £5, and I'm onto my second palette already (which is also running out).  That's the only problem, it runs out too quickly!

I've been mainly rotating two lipsticks throughout the summer.  The first is Thrills from the MAC To The Beach collection.  It's a beautiful orangey red colour with flecks of gold shimmer in a frost finish. Just a perfect summer colour! Although it's slightly drying on my lips, I can't get enough of the colour.  As it's LE, I bought a back-up as well!  

The second lipstick I've been loving is Mademoiselle from the Chanel Coco Rouge collection.  I've reviewed this here, but it's so good I had to give it a shout out!

This ELF Minty Lip Gloss in Boston has been a firm favourite, despite a bad packaging failure.  The black cover to the lid is cracked and keeps twisting off on its own, leaving the applicator stuck in the tube!  The gloss itself is red with gold flecks, and goes perfectly over MAC's Thrills. It's not that pigmented, but I love the minty tingle it gives my lips.  I'm not sure if it makes my lips look bigeer, but at £3.50, I'm not complaining.

Finally, this has just squeaked into my favourites.  I think I've been using it a month, but I love it so much, I'm going to include it anyway.  It Lip & Cheek Stain from The Body Shop in Bronze Glimmer.  This was free on the front cover of In Style last month and I snapped it up.  I love using it on my lips before applying lipstick, as it makes it last longer.  This also works really well with Thrills, asn the shimmery golden orange really complements its colours.  I've also used it on my cheeks and it gives an unusual, subtle shimmer.

Here are swatches of the lip colours in different lights - neither photo does them justice:

L-R: MAC Thrills, Chanel Mademoiselld, ELF Boston, The Body Shop Bronze Glimmer

Thanks for reading!  xx