September Haulin'

Ooooh new things! I thought I would do a round up of the things I've bought in September

Ardell Enchanting False Lashes - Ardell make my favourite lashes, the Demi Wispies. They are so easy to apply and look really natural. My Best Friend bought these and they looked amazing on so I had to try them. Obviously they aren't natural looking but I can't wait to try these! I picked these up in Boots.

Bourjois Delice de Soleil - Basically a spray bronzer, the blurb on the back says " For a beautiful natural-looking tan, spray the product about 30cm from the skin "
I got this in Fair/Medium and I've only tried it once but I wasn't impressed, the colour was very orange and the spray wasn't a fine mist, some bits spurted out so I was left with unattractive orange spots. I'm going to Spain for a few days next week so I'm hoping it will look better with a tan, but so far not impressed. Avoid! - Boots £7.99

Garnier BB Cream - I LOVE LOVE LOVE this stuff, can't recommend it enough! I originally bought the medium because I was worried the "Light" would be too light but it turns out the medium was a bit too dark so I ended up buying both shades. I'm sure you have heard all the hype about this product already but all I can say is that it feels lovely on your skin, gives a good level of coverage. It doesn't leave your skin looking flawless unless you are lucky enough to have flawless skin in the first place but it makes you look glowy and healthy and I would recommend this to anyone - Boots £9.99

Too Faced Glitter Glue - Not my most sensible of purchases! I recently bought the most amazing Make Up For Ever glitter and was struggling to get it to stick to my eyelids. I saw MakeupbyTiffanyD talking about this product on YouTube and it became my impulse purchase! I haven't tried it yet but will let you know how it fairs the next time I break out the glitter. - Boots

Boots Cucumber Cleansing Wipes - Really nothing special but I just love the smell of these!

Beyonce Pulse Perfume - B has done it again, gorgeous smelling perfume, hideous bottle! I mentioned in my latest beauty graveyard post how much I love Beyonces perfumes and Pulse is no exception. I highly recommend you give it a sniff, its one of those perfume that i cant stop sniffing! - Superdrug - £21.99 for 30ml

Too Faced Glamour Dust Glitter Pigment in "Glampire" - Not going to lie, I think I bought this mostly based on the name! I'm watching True Blood as we speak ;) - Boots

Stila Eyeshadow in "Kitten" - I have wanted this eyeshadow since I first started watching YouTube videos and Kande Johnson used it. Now with Stila coming back to the UK I thought I would finally pick it up. Its a beautiful champagne colour and really buttery to touch not at all gritty (yay!) The only thing I did notice, looking at the Stila stand in Boots is how expensive their products are. This eyeshadow was £12, their price point is too high. If the prices were lower I might consider checking out other items in the range. I think if they want to stay in the UK and be successful they should really reconsider their pricing - Boots £12.00

Chanel Peridot - Sometimes I really annoy myself! When I saw the swatches of this online I thought no, its one of those colours that looks so much better in the bottle. But then everyone started talking about it and I got sucked in! This started a mad hunt for it, only to find everywhere was sold out. Eventually I found this little guy on the Harrods website, which is where I ordered it from. I would like to add that I had to pay the ridiculous delivery charge of £5! So I finally got it and guess what, I don't love it, for all the reasons I didn't want it in the first place. You can see every brush stoke, it doesn't make your nails look good you can see every ridge and on the nails it just appears gold, you don't pick up any of the beautiful teal beetle colours :( If you missed this don't worry - www.harrods.com

Maybelline Colour Sensational Lip Liner "338 Midnight Plum" - I was looking for a plummy colour lipstick for Autumn/Winter. I have a couple of very dark plummy lipsticks and I wanted one that was a bit lighter, more day time appropriate. I couldn't find a lipstick that I liked but I did find this lipliner. I have just been filling my entire lips in with this. This will do for now but I think I may check out Chanel Vamp Lipliner in Duty Free next week! - Boots

MAC Eyeshadow in "Moleskin" - This is from the new MAC Me Over collection. I love this colour and I will get a lot of wear from it. Its just a matte light brown shade similar to Wedge by MAC or Naked by Urban Decay, great for wearing all over the lid. If you can still get this I would really recommend picking it up. - MAC £11.50

MAC Lipstick in "Blankety" (Amplified) - I have been looking for the perfect nude lipstick but I don't like concealer lips, I like my nudes more on the brown side and Blankety is perfect. I just picked this up after randomly swatching half the lipsticks on the counter, I haven't heard much about this lipstick online but I really like this! I also think Amplified are my favourite MAC lipstick finishes. - MAC £13.50

Orly Nail Varnish "Shine on Crazy Diamond" - I love this holo glitter polish. Its definitely a layering glitter but its perfect for my galaxy print nails which I have been obsessed with lately. I painted 2 coats over some black varnish to show you how cool this looks. - eBay

OPI "Get in the Expresso Lane" - This is from the new Touring America collection, a gorgeous deep, dark brown. I'll make sure I get a pic for you when I next wear it. - eBay

OPI "Unripened"- Another eBay buy! Repeat after me, I must stop buying nail varnish on eBay! Sorry about the sloppy application, this colour didn't stay on long. This is a big regret! Its another one of those colours that looks so much better in the bottle, on the nails it just looks flat and I really don't like it :( - eBay


Is it bad I already have a mental list for next month?!

Galaxy Nails

Having been obsessed with Christopher Kane's galaxy creations and heart broken that I missed out on his exclusive to Liberty galaxy print scarfs, I have been consoling myself by obsessing over galaxy print nails. This is one nail art trend that I love and when bandwagon I'm happily jumping all over!

Its time consuming but I love painting my nails and I actually really enjoyed the process. Here is the link to the tutorial I used. Once you've mastered it, you can then play around. In the first picture I used more yellow and in the second I used more of the pink. (I prefer more yellow)

http://youtu.be/3EMgt4_jW5U

Oh and don't go out and buy a load of new colours for this! I am so guilty of doing things like this and you really don't need to for this one. If like me you are a nail varnish whore you will be able to find the colours you need!

FYI, I used:

Chanel - Black Satin

Revlon - White on White

Barry M - Lemon Ice Cream

Ruby and Millie - Pink 450c

O.P.I - Yoga-ta get this blue!

Revlon - Galaxy

Barry M - Hologram

P.S. Yep I love Buffy!

The Beauty Graveyard

Sad to admit, but I feel so proud of myself when I finally use up a product! Here's a round up of the products I've finally finished.

LiLash - This is the second tube I have now got through. This stuff works there's no doubt about it. You can see before and after pictures on my previous LiLash post. I love this stuff but I hate the price, it will set you back £80 a tube! As much as I love it, I cannot justify shelling out that much money again. Which is why I have converted to Rapidlash, its half the price (£41) and easily available in Boots. The results take a little longer to notice and are slightly less dramatic but I am still highly impressed. Rapidlash is my new staple.

Dove Summer Glow Daily Face Moisturiser - Yonks old, I don't even know if you can still buy this! A good moisturiser though and it gives me a really nice subtle colour (no orange!) I now have my St Tropez Everyday Moisturiser to use but I would definitely repurchase this in the future.

DuWop Foundation of Youth - There were two things that made me buy this product:
1) On my last work experience at a magazine I was lucky enough to help out on a celebrity shoot. I got chatting to the make up artist and asked her for her foundation recommendations. She said she had two she swears by. One of them being DuWop foundation of youth.
2) After a quick google I found that Pixie Lott is also a fan and I'm that shallow that any celebrity association makes me immediately want a product!
I have to admit I wasn't overly impressed and would not bother buying this again. I also found the coverage too heavy and cakey for my liking. I hate the feel of heavy foundations and even though I probably need more coverage I only like to use light to medium coverage.
Oh and if you're wondering the second foundation recommended was Bourjois Healthy Mix. (Still need to try that one)
Also I highly recommend cutting packaging open where possible, theres normally a ton of product left in there. This lasted me for over a month after cutting it open.

Clinique Turnaround Concentrate Visible Skin Renewer - Have to be honest here, I was far too lazy with applying this and probably didn't use it often enough to give a true review! I have bought this product before though and really enjoyed it as it leaves your skin feeling very soft and smooth.

Beyonce Heat and Heat Rush Perfume - If you are wary of celebrity perfumes go out and smell these. Granted the bottles are absolutely hideous. House of Dereon anyone? But both these scents smell divine. I have not come across anyone who doesn't like the smell of these and they are also refreshingly different. As you can probably tell I'm currently trying to reduce my perfume collection but no doubt about it I will be buying these scents again. Oh and Beyonce has just released her 3rd fragrance, "Pulse" I caved and bought it and my review is exactly the same. Hideous bottle, amazing smell. Can't recommend enough!

Maybelline The Falsies Mascara - Love.this.mascara.holy.grail.material.end.of

No7 Sheer Temptation Lipstick "Attract 05"- I adore this lipstick as you can tell from it's battered appearance. It makes your lips gorgeously glossy without the horrible stickiness of lipgloss (ugh) and it's great for us lazy girls as its one of our beloved "my lips but better" colours so no mirror required! I have already repurchased this and unfortunately for me, they have repackaged and reformulated it (someone hold me!) the colour is now slightly different even though the name is exactly the same. Its still a vision of loveliness and I remain loyal but I am a little bit sad....why do companies do this to us!

Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat - Now this, this is holy grail. This is the only top coat I will use, no more smudges, bed sheet creases, your nails are dry almost immediately and extremely shiny. This is my third bottle. As brilliant as I think this little guy is, he does come with a few flaws:

1) If you look at the picture above you will see its not empty. Seche Vite does not last and theres no way you can get through the whole bottle. This is the furthest I have got before its gloopy beyond belief and unusable. 

2) Peeling, when I first started using this I loved it but found my nail varnish would just peel off my whole nail. I did a bit of research and found out this was a common problem, a side effect of the quick drying time but this is easily solved. When you paint your nails just make sure you leave a slight gap between the edges of your nail varnish and top coat. It might seem a bit of a hassle but you quickly get used to it and I now get no peeling. I would say its 100% worth it for the results. 

Avon Glimmersticks Eyeliner "Cosmic Brown" - Great eyeliner, great price cost me 99p!

Katy Perry Purr Perfume - I love Katy Perry but the theme continues, celebrity perfume - craptapular bottle! I.really.hate.it
The perfume itself is perfectly pleasant, but just that....pleasant. Quite generic and nothing special, not one I would buy again.

Christina Aguilera Inspire Perfume - Do I really need to address the packaging? OK then, if you insist! This bottle actually makes me cringe and that typeface *vom*

I'm ashamed to say this is the second time I have bought this. I cannot for the life of me understand why, maybe my tastes are maturing......hmmmm all I can say about this now is cheap cheap cheap. 

Zoya Remove (Nail Varnish Remover) - Like my beloved Seche Vite, this is also holy grail material for me and I have already repurchased. Its expensive, I buy mine off eBay costs roughly £10. I love painting my nails and change my nail varnish constantly. This doesn't dry out your nails at all like other cheap removers and it definitely extends the wear of my varnish so for me its worth the money. Also the bottle is pretty nifty. 

So there you have it, using up beauty products almost gives me the same amount of deep joy as buying them....almost!

ASOS Curve Rant

It had to be done.....

Bear in mind I have an incredibly mind numbing boring job in Insurance that could also be to blame for my wrath!

When ASOS Curve first launched I was so excited. It was like all the Angels came down from Heaven with a beautiful gift. Shame Angels in Heaven don't do refunds.

When you are bigger and fashion minded, your options are limited to say the least. If you want an unflattering smock top, pastel coloured checked shirt or a logo T-Shirt with the words "I love chocolate" scrawled across your breasts in comic sans font then don't worry you will be fine. If you want anything mildly on trend or modern though well lets hope you have an elderly relative that can sew!

ASOS Curve had such promise

"Our ASOS CURVE plus size collection features many of the same trend-led, directional pieces from our main range, as well as additional ASOS CURVE exclusives in sizes 20 to 26. The collection includes classic shift dresses, chunky knit cardigans and chic tapered chinos, all tailored to a perfect fit."

I could go on and on and on and on but bottom line the majority of the clothes in the Curve line are hugely unflattering, shapeless and the trends they do seem to use are probably the least flattering for curvy girls. There is a blog called fat girls like nice clothes too......Never a truer word said. There is a huge void in the market for fashionable, young, plus size clothes.......why can no one fill it?

Topshop I beg you release a plus size line!

Harajuku Lovers G of the Sea Perfume

This is the new summer fragrance from Gwen Stefani and her Harajuku Lovers range. As far as I'm aware Gwen is the only member of the gang who has grown a tail.

I love the under water themed packaging for this. It comes in quite a big box and would make a great gift for someone. I bought mine in Boots for £20 but I just checked on www.boots.com and they currently have a offer on where if you spend £19 or more on Harajuku Lovers fragrances you get a free Gwen doll. The doll is the original Gwen shape but its white and the doll comes with pens to colour it however you like. How cool is that!

Now onto the actual fragrance. I was really, really hoping this was going to be a similar coconuty smell to G from last years Summer Cuties. I have repurchased that perfume over and over and its my favourite ever summer perfume, in fact it could be my favourite all time perfume as I am rather partial to a bit (I mean a lot) of coconut smelling goodness.

Alas there is nothing coconutty about G of the Sea. I don't know if its just my extreme disappointment about the lack of coconut but I am really struggling to describe this. I think this is going to be a grower, its just a disappointment when I loved Summer Cuties so much.

The official description for this scent is "A fresh aquatic sent with a dry down of sun drenched woods"

It definitely smells like a summer perfume and the more I smell it the more it grows on me. I know its ridiculous but the only thing that comes to mind when I smell it is The Sun! Also make sure you spray it on you as it smells different on the skin.

A plus side to this fragrance is that you get 30ml compared to the pitiful 10ml with last years summer cuties.

MAC Surf Baby Hibiscus Lipstick

MAC's latest collection "Surf Baby" was released in UK stores last week. I had looked at various swatches from the collection online and I knew the only things I was interested in were 'Saffron" eyeshadow and "Hibiscus" lipstick. I decided to skip on "Saffron" as it just underwhelmed me when I swatched it. So this is the only thing I picked up from the collection.

Hibiscus is a bright coraly/red colour with a creamsheen finish

Personally I'm not a big fan of the Surf Baby packaging. I like the white but really not a fan of the drab coloured stripes. But of course its all about whats inside! This is not a colour for the faint hearted. I personally love any coral coloured lipstick so there was no way I could pass this one up but I definitely feel like I need to be more tanned to wear this.

There are 2 MAC colours that I would compare Hibiscus too and they are Toxic Tale which was released with the Venomous Villains collection and Viva Glam Cyndi.

From left to right: Toxic Tale, Hibiscus and Viva Glam Cyndi

Toxic Tale is more orange and matte then Hibiscus and Cyndi has more red tones but they are definitely similar.

Now I just need to work on that tan.....

Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air

I finally got my hands on my first Deborah Lippmann nail varnish! If you have not heard of Deborah Lippmann before she is an American celebrity manicurist. Her nail varnishes were impossible to find in the UK until House of Fraser recently started stocking them in their Apothecary. You can find them on the House of Fraser website and in store.

I originally heard about Deborah Lippmann after Lady Gaga appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair. She is wearing a Deborah Lippmann colour called "Waking Up in Vegas".

I lusted after this colour for ages but it was impossible to get in the UK, even on eBay. Then by the time House of Fraser started stocking the brand my original lust had worn off! Does anyone else get that or just me? So i picked Glitter in the Air.

Have to admit half of what attracted me to this nail varnish is the name! It reminded me of the P!nk song of the same name and apparently Deborah created this colour with P!nks performance of that song in mind.

Its a milky blue colour with hexagon shaped blue and pink glitter pieces with small silver flecks.

I used 3 coats with a top coat of seche vite. I love this colour its completely unique, I have seen a colour like this and its a more grown up way to wear a glitter varnish.

The downside is the price. Deborah Lippmann colours range from £14 - £16 available from House of Fraser. I actually purchased mine from eBay, it came from America so it only cost me just under £10 including delivery. Obviously you have to wait longer, but if you are on a budget I would recommend checking eBay first.