Miners Giveaway

Today's giveaway is provided by the wonderful Miners Cosmetics. They have provided their Spring Summer '12 nail polish collection (£2.99 each here) for one lucky winner. To enter go and check out their website (link) and leave a comment with the product you'd most like to try. 

T&Cs

Entrants must be over 16, able to provide a UK delivery address and a follower of this blog via GFC or my YouTube channel. All winners (for giveaway week) will be announced 01/05.

Come back tomorrow for another chance to win!

Miss BB

 

Get Cheeky with Miners

When I received the 3 new lipstick formulas from miners I also received these new cream stick cheek products. In general I don't get along with cream colour products so I didn't think I was going to like these but they are not what I expected them to be and I'm actually really enjoying them. 

None are so pigmented they look garish which is often the issue for me but it was the formula that won me over. They aren't at all greasy. They're almost dry, blendable but smudge proof.. really just totally different from anything else I've tried. I'm not sure how they'll fare over time, I get the impression they might dry out to an unusable state earlier than I'd like but I will have to get back to you on that one.

The only one real negative is that these are the only shades available so if this bronze/blush or highlight doesn't suit you there are no other options. I don't know if they plan to expand at a later date but I would imagine it will depend how popular they are. I expected to be comparing these to the old Eyeko Fat Balms but I found those sticky and unusable as cheek products where these are too dry to be multi-purpose for the lips as well.. swings and roundabouts I guess. 

The Cheek Of It is available from Miners online for £3.99 here

Miners Lip Colour

L-R Dreamer, Glamour Girl, Seduction, Icon

With the regular lip colour range I have to start with Dreamer! It's a frosty, shimmering formula and well.. it's not for me. It's dated and all just a bit old fashioned. I'm pleased to say that of the 12 lipsticks they sent to me it's the only miss. The shade is actually quite nice but the finish.. not so much. Seduction is very much a true red, Glamour Girl a fun candy pink and Icon is the first plum I've ever swatched and considered to be potentially wearable.

I can't believe I haven't even mentioned the scent of these lipsticks. I find it impossible to describe a fragrance but I can tell you they smell deliciously fruity and you definitely wont mind having them under your nose all day.

Overall I am so impressed by everything Miners has launched recently and can't wait to see what else they come up with!

These are available for £3.99 here

Miss BB

Miners Moisture Effect

L-R Hush Hush, English Rose, Kiss Me Quick, Moulin Rouge

When I first opened the package from Miners I was most excited about the matte formulas but upon closer inspection (and swatching) these are definitely my favourites! Hush Hush and English Rose are almost certainly MAC dupes, they go on beautifully and the finish really is moisturising. I mentioned in the Matte Effect swatch post (here) that I find nudes and pinks difficult to wear but the two in this formula are so flattering, it's like they were made for me! after the last post I had a few requests to show the colours on a full face to give an idea of how they really 'sit' on me, if you'd be interested in that let me know and I'll put together one monster collage of them all. The brights are equally as beautiful here but I just don't get as much opportunity to wear them so finding new, wearable every day lip colours is always great!

Again the packaging really has me hooked this time around, Miners are improving all the time and I'm pleased to be able to offer you a peek at their new line!

Available for £3.99 here

Miss BB

Miners Matte Effect

Fiesta, Barely Buff, Wonderland, Vixen

Last week I received 12 newly launched lip colours from Miners and being the dutiful blogger that I am I immediately swatted and photographed them all but am only just getting around to posting no (oops)

There are 4 new regular Lip Colours, 4 new Moisture Effect and the 4 I am showing you today.. Matte Effect. You all know how much I LOVED their Matte Factor lip paints so when I opened these newly reformulated matte shades I was pretty excited, and they didn't disappoint. 

They go on beautifully and although they don't look so matte in the picture below (they were freshly swatched) they dry quickly without feeling dry on your poor winter lips. As you'd imagine due to their matte finish they are longer wearing than your average lipstick which I always appreciate and the colours are beautiful. The pink and the nude aren't quite my colouring which is a real shame because they swatch so nicely but I'm sure I'll make them work.

My last thought will be on packaging. The old packaging felt cheap (sorry Miners but it did). I liked the colour indicator on the lid.. All lipsticks should have one in my opinion, very handy, but otherwise it was just a bit rubbish. They seem to have really upped their game where packaging is concerned withe their rent launches.. it's all looking a bit more drugstore and a little less pharmacy (where the brand is currently stocked). They have great quality products but previously I don't think I'd have looked twice at a stand whereas now they're just... better! On the left you can see 'barely buff' when these lipsticks were called 'Fashion Matte'. Since the revamp the colour indicator remains but  I'm sure you'll agree the whole thing just looks a little more lush!

Overall I'm really impressed with these new offerings and I'll be following this up with swatches of the other formulas too.. some of which I actually prefer.

You can purchase these here for £3.99

Miss BB

Miners For MAC - Toxic Tale Dupe

Ever since I purchased the limited edition (and uber popular) Toxic Tale from MACs Venomous Villains collection I've been on the hunt for a dupe. I've seen so many anxious tweets about people losing theirs and I'd love to be able to offer an alternative to those looking to repurchase or just those that would rather not pay MAC prices even if it does get relaunched. I know I'm still not quite there as this isn't perfect but it's as close as dammit (pardon my french) and the best I've seen to date. I was sent the new Miners lipsticks to review this week and while I haven't got around to the full swatch/review post yet I couldn't wait to share this with you....

The Miners shade is Kiss Me Quick from the Moisture Effect range (link)

In the above and below pictures the Miners is on the left and MAC on the right. 

Above my top lip is Miners and bottom is MAC, as you can see a little clearer here the finish when worn unfortunately does exaggerate the few differences in tone. Kiss Me Quick is the little bit more red than coral. It's a touch deeper but a great near dupe all the same. Especially for the price!

You can purchase Miners Moisture Effect here

You can expect a full review on formula, staying power etc this week but so far I'm loving the range (there are matte and regular lipsticks too) and would absolutely recommend you give them a try.

Miss BB

My January Favourites

It's that time again! Last year I wasn't great at putting my monthly favourites on my blog as well as my YT channel but it's a new year.. new start, those of you that don't watch my videos might appreciate my new commitment to the monthly posts. 

A lot of what I've used throughout January has been in my regular routine for a while, I haven't made many changes since it's all kinda working for me right now. I'm totally in love with my skin and hair care routines for the first time maybe ever so it's really just cosmetics that I switch out from time to time and even then.. the Garnier BB cream has had me hooked for 6 months.

Skincare

Liz Earle Cleanser 100ml £13.75 here

Clarisonic Mia £120 here

Soap & Glory Pulp Friction £8 here

Body Shop Shea Body Butter £12.50 here

I am absolutely obsessed with my Clarisonic.. I'm not convinced the Liz Earle does anything special for me but the fact I can remove my makeup in the tub is awesome!! I will be trying some drugstore variations this month. S&G Pulp Friction is fab.. keeps me as smooth as can be the only down side is that it's such a pain to clean out of the bath afterwards.. if it wasn't I'd probably use it twice a day. Lastly the Shea Body Butter... ahh the smell, it just melts in to your skin and is fantastic value for money as a little goes a really long way! Totally changed my mind about The Body Shop Body Butters, I used to think they were a total rip off but this one is great!

Haircare

Aussie Miracle Moist Shampoo & Conditioner £3.99 each here

Macadamia Natural Oil 125ml £23.95 here

The combination of these three products have totally rejuvenated my hair. I never thought I'd find a shampoo and conditioner I genuinely valued, intensive masques and treatments, yes but not run of the mill shampoo and conditioner. I tried very cheap, I tried very expensive nothing did anything special until I tried Aussie. Luckily they are very affordable as well as being super effective.

You may recall me mentioning "Project Hair" which I started at the beginning of the year, well I've had a lot of questions lately about how I've improved the condition of my dry, damaged barnet and you can look forward to a comprehensive hair post very soon!

Base

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector (BB Cream) £7.49 here

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer £4.19 here

My Garnier still reigns supreme as my favourite daytime "foundation" but this month made way for a brand new concealer. I've lost count of the amount of recommendations I've had to buy this so I finally caved. It's a similar consistency to YSL touche eclat and great for the money but I do think while I'm surviving on little sleep I need a touch more coverage under my eyes.

Cheeks

Miners Bronzer/Blush Blend in Sunblushed £4.99 here

Only one product this month but this has been a long time love of mine! Not many people are familiar with the brand (or at least not since they were around in the 90s) but there are some great, affordable products to be found there. This gives just enough glowy colour to do the job of a bronzer and blush in one.. I wore it at my wedding, that's how much I love it!

Eyes

Loreal Volume Million Lashes Luminizer £11.29 here

Rimmel Exhaggerate Liquid Liner £5.29 here

Rimmel Brow Pencil in Dark Brown £2.99 here

The mascara has served me well over the last three months, used almost every day it does exactly what it says on the tin. I plan to repurchase the Maybelline one bu one this month to really test which is my all time favourite. The liquid liner is back. It's been my go to look since Christmas, it's a quick way to open up my eyes and look more awake in the mornings and this particular liner has been a firm favourite for more than 5 years! The Rimmel brow pencil is the same.. I never strayed from this from the ages of maybe 15/16 to 23 when I discovered brow powders. I've recently returned to my old faithful because quite frankly.. it's easier!

Lips

Miners Matte Factor in Peach £3.99 here

Another one from Miners, my friend StyleSoCoy recently did a review of this range you can check out here. I love that these are easy to apply, long wearing and non-drying and still so inexpensive. My favourite everyday shade is peach (more pink in my opinion) but I love them all.

So that's it for January.. well this is actually February (oops)

I love these posts because in a years time I could be using something else that's not doing it for me and I can look back at my own recommendations.. plus it's always interesting to see what consistently makes the favourite lists. Sometimes you just use things for months without really thinking about how great they are or why you're repurchasing.. next month I'm bringing in shower gels and such.. an under-appreciated product in the beauty blogging world in my opinion but I love mine!

Miss BB

Luminous Lips

I was recently sent these glosses to review and I'll admit when I opened them up.. I wasn't exactly excited. I'm not really a neon kinda gal so I wasn't sure when I would ever use them.. especially the yellow, I mean who wants yellow lips?? Anywho when I swatched them for this post I was really pleasantly surprised, that's why I'm including lip swatches as well as you really couldn't guess how it would look on from what it looks like out of the tube. Each gloss offers just a tint of colour and all are sheer but for the Amplified pink shade which is borderline opaque. What I particularly like about these being more tints than lip colours is how they can subtly change a makeup look with no commitment to reapplying throughout the day or night. See below the headshots I've included to demonstrate.

*L-R*  Born In The 80s, Thriller, Fever, Amplified, Purple Rain

FEVER 

AMPLIFIED

THRILLER

PURPLE RAIN

MADE IN THE 80s

My personal favourite has to be Fever. Not too bright but offers just enough colour to jazz up an evening makeup look and sheer enough it won't look out of place in the daytime. A great handbag multi-tasker!

They're available from minerscosmetics.co.uk and are priced at £2.99 each

Miss BB

Warm Winter Look

What I used...

Garnier BB Cream in Light

YSL Touche Eclat in Light

Maybelline Superstay 24 Concealer in Light 2

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Translucent

ELF Studio Cool Bronzer

MAC Blush in Desert Rose

HD Brows Palette in Vamp

Too Faced Natural Eye Palette (Silk Teddy, Erotica and Sexpresso)

2True Easyglide Khol Liner

Maybelline One by One Mascara

Miners Matte Factor Lip Colour in Peach

Really loved this look.. it's glowy and bronzed but still winter-appropriate. I filmed a tutorial and will post it here once it's live! 

The Matte Factor

I get sent samples of all new releases from the Miners range.. some I don't post on because quite frankly.. I don't like them.. but when I got these... WOW! They are Ah-Mazing! Upon uploading these pictures I realised my error with my swatched immediately... I didn't let them dry before I photographed them so they come off glossy.. they're really not. They go on so smoothly, dry quickly and are smudge/kiss proof. They don't claim to be long lasting but as with most matte colours they are.. unlike most matte lip products, however, they do not dry out my lips at all. I haven't found a lip product I've loved this much in a long time! The only colour I don't think will get much use is the light pink, otherwise I will wear them all. This is one Miners launch I am whole heartedly behind, I would recommend these to anyone and for £3.99 how can you not want one? They do have a strong vanilla scent which could put some people off but I don't mind it. The only thing that puts Miners at a disadvantage is that you can only purchase online (here) but I guess it's the same with ELF here in the UK and they still do pretty well for themselves.  

L-R

Light Pink, Peach, Hot Pink, Warm Red, Deep Red, Cappuccino

Have you tried these? I never tried the Cream Puff lip colours from Collection 2000 but I'd imagine they are similar... I'd be interested to hear from you if you'd compared the two.

NOTD - Miners Plum

Plum, a beautiful, wearable raspberry shade. The easiest formula I've applied in a long time, I might have been able to get away with just the one coat. Even within one brand formula can be hit and miss so I'm really pleased with this one.

I'll remind you this is from the A/W collection I blogged about previously.

This is the only colour that's not *new* for the season. It's a relaunch but it's my favourite of the five.

You can shop the A/W collection here for at £2.99 each

New Nails from Miners - A/W '11

This week I received the new Miners A/W Nail Polish shades to review. When I first saw them online I couldn't wait to get my hands on them, they are so different to last years A/W collection. This time around they've gone for glossy opaque colours where as previously Miners have favoured the shimmery/frost finishes which I'm not entirely on board with. Before I even begin I love "Weekend in Paris" which may seem like a boring old red but it's a little on the pink side and different to any other I have in my collection. As we near the festive season I can't get enough of red nail polish. Without further ado.. here they are..

L-R - Fairytale of New York, London Calling, Bangkok Blues, Weekend in Paris and Plum

The first I tried was Fairytale of New York, it's the one colour I'd have never picked up so I guess I was out of my comfort zone. I wasn't expecting much and I wasn't exactly wowed. I don't think green is the best colour on me and this is not the autumnal shade I'd have chosen. It's more like a racing green. I really love the Miners formula, they go on nicely in two coats and are reasonably chip-resistant so I will definitely get through the rest of the collection and post as and when I wear them.

You can buy the new range from Miners.co.uk priced at £2.99 each

Have you tried anything from this budget brand?

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.