Searching for Soft Lips

So I'm back fro my blogging hiatus (my laptop is back from the fixers..yay!)

Now I've conquered my eyebrow obsession my next is super soft lips. I bought something called Everyday Minerals Deep Kiss Buff & Shine which I am not so enamoured of. The smell is ugh! and you expect me to put that on my mouth? I've used it a couple of times and it's not really improved the dryness/roughness on my lips so I'm not prepared to keep it up for the smell to be as bad as it is! I think I'm going to try the bubblegum one from Lush. After my most recent video lots of people recommended it so I figure.. they can't all be wrong. While I was on their site I also saw a balm called "Lip Service" which is apparently their "original super softner". I figure the scrub paired with the balm may just give me the beautifully soft lips I crave.

So I'm off to Meadowhall this morning to pick up some things and will pop in to Lush.

Do you guys have any suggestions for something I simply MUST try? I'm not a huge Lush fanatic so I haven't tried much but would be open to something new if you guys love it.

Avon & Cocktail Cosmetics Haul

Nothing I bought from Avon was uber-life changing or anything but the Sigma brushes... wow!!

I got the round top Kabuki and the small angle brush. I am OBSESSED! The Kabuki is absolutely amazing for applying foundation and cream products and the angle brush has literally revolutionised my eyebrow routine. LOVE IT!

You can expect a full review of the brushes and tutorials very soon.

Check out the video for a look at what else I got!

MAJOR BLOG SALE!!!

L-R

Angel, Gel, Lovedust, Sandy B, Made to Order, Please Me, Ravishing

All have been no more than 2/3 times some only swatched.

ALL SOLD

Urban Decay Lipsticks

L-R

Gravity - used 2/3 times £7, Naked - unused, un-swatched £9 , Sellout - used 4/5 times £6

Urban Decay "Urban Lash"

Above - Hot Number £5

Below - Tease £5

Both brand new

Accessorize Bronzing Block Shade 1 - SOLD

Nars Blush in Torrid - SOLD

Smashbox Blush in Famous - 3/4 left £5 

Eyeko Creams both only swatched £4 each

Eyeko Fatbalms only swatched £3 each

Gosh Primer - SOLD

Mac Prep and Prime skin base - SOLD

Urban Decay Complexion Primer Potion *Brightening - Used once £7

Nars Multiple in Orgasm - SOLD

OPI L-R

Significant Other Colour, Mod About You SOLD, First Dance

All used only once, £5 each

Bobbi Brown eyeshadow palette, SOLD

Bobbi Brown Lipgloss (to fit palette) swatched once, £5

MAC Amazon Eyes Palette, SOLD

MAC Paintpots in Rubenesque - SOLD and Chilled on Ice, SOLD

Benefit Lust Duster in Goldilocks -  90% full £5

Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin - SOLD

Urban Decay Surreal Skin Mineral Makeup in Dream - 1/2 full £7

Urban Decay liquid liner in ecstacy - used twice £5

Urban Decay Wicked Cream Highlighter - SOLD

Big Fatty Mascara in Black - never used £5

MAC Mineral Skin Finishes

Comfort - used once SOLD

Natural Medium Dark - SOLD

Flat rate postage £1 per order. After the sale has ended I will send invoices via paypal.

All items must be paid within 48hours or they will be back up for sale.

International buyers welcome but be aware postage will be calculated on a case by case basis.

Leave me a comment with what you want and your email address that you'd like to be invoiced to.

Happy Blog-Salin'

Lee's Makeover - By Ella

Isn't he a trooper?

He seriously took zero convincing to do this though lol...

Watch to the end for clips of HIM doing MY makeup.

Posting in my Pyjamas

I realise I'm a bit rubbish with the whole blogging consistency thing.. I tend to blog all at once or not at all when of course what you want is the posts nicely spaced out.. that's not my style!
I'm gonna go for just the one post today and then maybe tomorrow I'll do another.. novel concept!

I'd like to start a little tag within our blogging community and it is posting in pyjamas!

I generally blog in my pj's. It's when I'm most comfortable, I'm settled in for the evening and have the most time free. That or it's first thing on a Sunday morning blogging in bed.. again.. in my PJs.

So.. I've seen some posts on "this is ho I blog" and I liked them.. I will consider doing something similar perhaps but in the meantime I'd like some responses to posting in pyjamas.

Here's me...

In all fairness these are not my Pyjamas.. they are Lee's but I am struggling to fit into my Pyjamas right now and mens and a fraction bigger even if he is actually skinnier than I am even when I'm NOT pregnant!

This is also clearly not at night.. this is after work, this is what I do.. I get in at 5, shower, get in to my pyjamas and that's pretty much me til morning. Right now I have to be prepared to sleep whenever possible.. I just don't know when the urge to nap will strike. Generally I will plonk myself on the sofa with my laptop and be busying myself with youtube, twitter, blogging or facebook by the time Lee and Ella get home.

What's your routine?

and do you...

POST IN YOUR PYJAMAS???

MUA Pro - First Look

I have been eagerly waiting for this new range to launch since I heard it was coming and it has not disappointed! I have always thought MUA did the best drugstore shadows hands down and the price was just amazing at £1 each so I was holding out a lot of hope for some palettes on this new pro line. When I heard it was finally on Superdrug's website I was like a giddy schoolgirl at a Justin Bieber concert.I think I was very restrained given that I wanted to try EVERYTHING, I picked up 2 Palettes, one Extreme Metallics quad, two Mosaic powders and the Extreme Curl mascara.

First I'm gonna hit your with some swatches...



Heaven and Earth Palette
£4





Dusk Til Dawn Palette
£4





Extreme Metallics in Go Getter
£3




Swatches on left are dry and right are wet




L-R
Mosaic Bronzer in Natural Glow & Mosaic Blush in English Rose
£2.50





Bronzer : Top, Blush : Bottom

 



Extreme Curl Mascara
£2

 Ok so I don't have a swatch for the mascara but you can take a look at the wand/brush and it was black I assure you!

So they all look awesome and the prices look even better but what did I think of the products when I got them home?

Eyeshadow Palettes

They were exactly as I thought they would be.They have learned from their initial bargain range that although matte shades add variety to what they are offering they aren't so great for colour pay off so all of the formulas in the two palettes I have seen are metallic/shimmery and some even hold some glitter... very Urban Decay-esque. The Heaven and Earth palette was uber popular and sold out online nearly straight away. It's all neutrals and of the two it's definitely been my most used so far. I will at some point do a direct swatch comparison with the naked palette because while it's different in many ways I think it's the best drugstore equivalent I've seen and the price is incredible for 12 shadows. The Dusk Til Dawn is still fairly neutral but it throws in some party colours too.. if you were to pick only one it would probably be better value for money as it would offer more options.

Extreme Metallics Quad

This is dubbed as "a stunning range of colours that add intense shine and shimmer to instantly bring your eyes to life" They are advertised as wet and dry shadows which is why I've swatched them both ways above. Firstly I'll say across the board the light colours from MUA don't give a lot of colour pay off, you get a great sheen or shimmer but not much else but when you use these wet they are fantastic. They transform in to an almost cream consistency and really do look full on metallic on the skin. They look like a rimmel colour mousse or a MAC paint pot, they truly are as intense as they say! I will say this.. I doubt the formula is different to the regular shadows.. we all know most eye makeup gives more bang for your buck when applied wet and I would wager that these are similar if not the same as the others just spun as speciality shades but like I said these are just my first impressions here so I have time to change my mind.

Mosaic Bronzer/Blusher

Here's where I felt a bit left down I'm afraid. With everything else MUA is so impressive and the pro line is no different but the two Mosaic Powders... not so much. As with most things it all depends on your expectations. I was expecting some colour but in actual fact these bronzers and blushers give more of a sheen . I haven't had enough time with them to truly review them but so far for me they're not what I look for in a bronzer/blusher.

Extreme Curl Mascara

This was also a tricky one for me because I don't have great lashes for curling mascara.. I don't actually know why I bought it. I can tell you that it didn't perform any worse than supercurl from Urban Decay on me but I am going to refrain from sharing my opinion on this one until I've tried it on my long lashed friend.

I do intend to buy the volume mascara that I probably should have bought instead! For £2 I can afford to try them all!

What have you tried anything from MUA pro yet?

Define & Line

Last week the lovely people at miners sent me their new product launch to try out and review.

"Define & Line" Liquid Eyeliner in Black, Blue and Brown.

The packaging is what you would expect from a drugstore level brand, no better or worse that Rimmel (as an example) I mention Rimmel because they make my all time no.1 favourite liquid Liner in the WORLD.

That liner is Rimmel Exaggerate and it is perfect from the formula to the applicator. I have tried to replace it with other brands for two reason, 1. It may be discontinued one day and 2. it's nearly £5 dependant on where you buy it and for a basic black liner from the drugstore I'd like to pay less. I've tried 2true.. the applicator was too hard, I've tried collection2000's felt tip liner and it was practically indelible ink.. took forever to come off and bleeds a little.... I tried Revlon which was good but no cheaper so when this arrived on my doorstep I was excited!

I'll give you a rundown ..

The applicator is firm but it has a brush tip so for me it's very useable

The handling is not so great.. one thing this is really missing is an easy to hold tapered lid.. its not impossible but they haven't made it easy for those that do struggle.

The formula is nice, dry too fast or flake off when you apply more over-top and it's wet enough that you won't have to apply too much pressure to your delicate eyes.

One point about the formula is that for me it wasn't dark enough.. the black just wasn't really black and I needed at least 2 coats to get the look I wanted. Once it's dry it almost looks blue after just one line. The blue is a fabulous peacocky colour, very flattering and wearable and the brown is very dark so for those that are avoiding that full on harsh black on their eyes it's the perfect mid shade. 

Staying power is great, When I'm testing eye products I tend to leave them overnight to see what they can really do.. my pillows are worse for wear but this wasn't. It held up really well and my winged liner was still perfect the morning after.  



top to bottom
Black, Blue, Brown



All in all this is not a bad product for the money. It's £2.99 from miners.co.uk and it works for me. I think liquid liner really boils down to personal preference. You have to try everything out there before you know for sure what suits you best. Although this hasn't knocked my Rimmel off it's number 1 spot for the price and the applicator I think this would come a close second.

Sex Machine Hair

As some of your know I've recently been on the hunt for a miracle repair for my damaged hair and on my quest I came across the James Brown Rich Moisture Range. I was doing my weekly Boots.com check of what deals/offers they have and discovered 3 for 2 on Haircare. At first I was drawn to my regular Lee Stafford treatment until I saw the James Brown stuff.. I've never tried anything by this brand but I really value the reviews on the Boots site and everyone spoke so highly of this I just had to try it.

I picked up the shampoo and conditioner as well as an intensive treatment from the new "photo fabulous" line (3 for 2 so I effectively got that free!)

I thought I'd offer my first impressions of the shampoo as I used it last night for the first time. I'm yet to try the treatment because I wanted to give the shampoo/conditioner a fair test as a standalone system so you will have to wait for that review. First of all here's the blurb on the back (click the photos to enlarge)

James advises that when you're using a treatment shampoo such as this you needn't wash more than once but you should leave it on your hair for a minimum of 2 minutes to give it time to work. As with any conditioner you would do the same.. I would generally leave a conditioner on for 5 mins or more.

The shampoo left my hair feeling clean but while wet I noticed no special effects. I rinsed and slathered on the conditioner but it didn't give me the same feel as usual. I normally rub the conditioner into my lengths and ends to really penetrate the hair and get the most out of the product but it didn't feel "slimy" like I've come to expect.. I am struggling to find the words to describe the feeling of conditioner but I'd liken it to the difference between a body oil and an oil free moisturiser. They both moisturise but one feels like it's doing more. The product didn't spread well in my hair and it didn't feel like a treat for my hair... isn't that what conditioner is supposed to be? It was a disappointing. When I came to dry my hair it wasn't smooth and manageable it was a bit ball of frizz and split ends. I will admit that it was possibly the softest it's ever been but it didn't LOOK great and again.. isn't that the whole point?

I have only used this once so this is just my first impression and I'm going to keep using it for the next few week so you never know.. I might change my mind but right now? My money could definitely have been spent better.

  

DIY neckline...

I picked up this dress from Primark for a bargainous £3. I knew I wasn't 100% sold on the cut but at that price I had nothing to lose if my alteration didn't work out.

Firstly I HATED the gold buttons down the sides (you can't see them well here but trust me... they were there) So first thing I snipped those bad boys off!

 Next up I took my scissors to the centre of the neckline and cut to my preferred depth. I folded in the excess fabric and put a couple of stitches in to hold it in place and voila...

The original neckline was so unflattering on me.. and quite possibly on anyone. What I have now is something much more my style and it took me 5 minutes, TOPS!

Don't throw away an item that you're not in love with anymore before getting a little creative first. If it doesn't work out you've lost nothing but if it does you've given it a new lease of life and you'll feel that little boost of pride every time you wear it knowing you had a hand in it's custom style.