An outfit post.....

Today I've decided to be pro-active and start my Christmas shopping so I'm headed to Meadowhall. Thought I'd do a quick 'what I'm wearing' post as its nice to have a weekend where I'm not at the football and bundled up like the Michelin Man!

Sequinned beret - Primarni
Dress - Next (I think)
Vest (under dress) - Topshop
Belt - Primarni
Tights - M&S
Grey boyfriend cardi - Oasis
Tall chestnut UGGs

Accessories - the usual (Tiffany & Co ring, bracelet and necklace, Gucci watch)

Hope you all have a fab weekend!!

xxx

REVIEW: Rimmel Stay Matte Mousse Foundation

Having recently had a bit of a fall out with my usual autumn/winter/spring daytime foundation Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse, I thought I'd give Rimmel's offering a try. I'm a big fan of mousse foundations as they don't seem to carry with them quite the same risk of getting cakey as I find with liquid foundations. 



The only other Rimmel foundation that I've ever used is Stay Perfect 16 hour wear. I bought Stay Perfect after hearing that the Rimmel product was a pretty good dupe for Estee Lauder Double Wear and I was pleasantly surprised. It was too heavy for during the day but was perfect for nights. 



My first impressions were that the foundation was ok, the colours were a good match for my skin, it blends out well and provides medium coverage. The name is a tad misleading as I don't think its particularly matte, but as I buff MAC MSF Natural over the top in any case its hardly a breaking matter. I've been applying it with my 187 (no change there then) and it gives me a nice, even finish with no cakey-ness. It has good staying power and, I've not experienced any major issues with transfer. 



The main issue I have with this is the packaging. Its in a small glass pot a la Maybelline Dram Matte Mousse, only there is a bit of a lip meaning that it can be a task scooping out the product when you're getting low. Another problem for some people may be the range of shades as the choice is pretty limited (5-6 shades if I remember rightly).



All in all, the product was ok, not exactly earth shattering but as they say, you get what you pay for!



xxx

NOTD 30/10/2009

Collection 2000 hot looks in intense

xxx

Rating and Slating 28/10/2009

Rating

• UGGs - I'm on my third pair now and I honestly don't know what I'd do without them. I've even resorted to keeping an old pair under my desk at work!
• Guinea Pigs - After a trip to Pets at Home for some food for devil-cat, I finally managed to convince the Mr that we need a Guinea Pig (or two) in our lives


• New Moon Midnight showings - got my tickets booked, eeek!


• Sleek Graphite Palette - I picked this up at lunchtime and I can't wait to give it a whirl!

Slating

• Leaving the office when its dark - I don't mind getting to work when its dark, but leaving the office in the pitch black is not good (It doesn't help matters that we share a building with the probation service). For some reason everything is so much more effort when its dark - going to the gym, going to the cinema, doing the washing...I just want to hibernate!!


• Not being able to get a hair appointment when I need one as my hairdresser's going on holiday - I'm sure if she saw the state of my roots she'd be on the first plane home.

xxx

Desert Island Essentials

While I’m waiting for the Mr to finish laying the laminate floor in my dressing room, I thought I’d do a quick post on my top 5 products. I’m quite flaky when it comes to products, and my favourite items change on an almost daily basis so these are my absolute failsafes, the products that I would take with me to a desert island – if ever I was lucky enough to find myself stranded on one!!

• Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero.

I’ve already sung the praises of these liners in a previous post, but they are so easy to use! They have a creamy formula that doesn’t drag, and won’t budge all day. This particular colour is a fab intense black, and gives an almost fluidline-esque line (and no panda eyes!). Its love.

• MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Medium

I bought my first MSF natural in February and its still going strong, before then I tended to use whatever powder was cheap/on offer to set my foundation. I’m now a complete convert! The MSF natural is great over foundation, or even on its own -  in summer I barely wore foundation, I just used the MSF, buffed in with a kabuki.

• Lancome L’Extreme waterproof mascara in Noir

I love, love, LOVE this mascara. I suffer from stumpy-lash syndrome, and this mascara gives me both the length and volume I crave. After dabbling with pretty much every brand in Boots as part of operation clear debt, I’ve sidled back to the Lancome counter, wondering why I ever strayed. I love the fact that it lengthens, volumises AND curls my lashes without getting clumpy and nasty. The perfect mascara.

• Benefit Posietint

This might be cheating a bit, but I was rapidly running out of items, so I thought I’d got for a multi-tasker this time. I tried Benetint, and thought it was ok, but I wasn’t sure about the colour as I’m quite fair. Posietint gives me a pretty candy pink flush for everyday use, or is buildable if I want something a bit more dramatic for night time (not that I’d be doing too much clubbing on a desert island, but you never know when Captain Jack Sparrow may come ashore in search of rum!). Plus, it can be used as a lip colour – bonus!!

• Urban Decay Brow Box in Honey Pot

Again, I’ve blogged about this before, but I just can’t sing its praises enough! It may be cheating a little bit as it has the cutest mini tweezers you ever will see (and a mirror) included, but it would definitely be desert island must have for me. I know everyone bangs on about how your eyebrows frame your face, but it really is true, and this little box of tricks does a sterling job of keeping mine in check!

What are your top 5 products that you always fall back on??

xxx

My First Blog Award......

Hello lovelies!

First of all a HUGE thank you to the gorgeous Domanique for giving me my very first blog award. To be honest I didn’t really expect anyone to read this blog, it was just a place for me to talk about make-up as I’m pretty sure the Mr has got to the stage where he just smiles and nods to keep me happy (me talking to myself is nothing out of the ordinary as I’m sure my work colleagues would be willing to testify). Anyway I’m dead chuffed that someone has found even one thing on here that they want to read, so thank you again!!!

The rules for this award are as follows:

Thank the blogger who awarded you and link her.
Put the picture of the award in your blog.
Award 7 bloggers and link them.
Tell them you awarded them.
Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself!

Here are the 7 (equally fabulous) bloggers I will be awarding:

Sinead
Daisy-Faye
Catanya
CBethGlitter
Daisy
Marie
Miss Dolly Gal

And here's my 7 random facts:

1. I am a massive football fan and have held a Sheffield Wednesday season ticket for 13 years.
2. I am frightened to death of fish and snakes…..basically I don’t trust anything without legs.
3. I have a bit of an Anthea Turner complex, I love cleaning, tidying, cooking and anything else that is a bit house-wifey
4. I am possibly the least maternal person on the planet
5. I love reading, I will read absolutely anything. I can read a book in a day on holiday easily.
6. I’m a qualified snowboarding instructor. Sometimes I wonder where I’d have ended up if I’d followed my heart and gone to Canada to instruct rather than rushing straight into uni.
7. I talk to my mum on the phone every single day (yes I'm a bit soppy).

xxx

Arm Candy

Behold!!!!

 

I finally got my mitts on the Matthew Williamson bag that I've been losting over in Debenhams. If any of you saw my 'whats in my bag' post from a while ago, you'll know that squeezing all my crap into that tiny wee Radley bag was proving difficult. No such problems anymore - this baby is a Mary Poppins bag in the truest sense. Nevermind the kitchen sink, I can pretty much fit the tumble dryer in here too (and more importantly, my make up bag)!

 

Amazingly, I made it in and out of Debenhams without a second glance at the MAC concession - not sure what was going on there!

 

I generally seem to be drawn to brown leather bags. No particular reason, that just seems to be my preference. This one is a lush chocolate brown with  pink and blue stitching, and a gorgeous hot pink lining.  I'm not sure what it is about me and linings, all of my work suits all have crazy linings - I think its because my work environment is so conservative it’s the only chance I have to inject a splash of colour.

 

Anyway I was so excited about my new purchase I just had to share, as I'm not sure that anyone else in the office is all that interested :(

 

xxx

 

Rating and Slating 19/10/2009

The original plan was to put one of these together every Tuesday, but this week it’s a little bit early as I’ll be at the match tomorrow night cheering on the (not so) mighty Owls.

Rating

• My new blue woolly beret from Next – I’m very much a hat person, and I love my latest purchase, it’s a really pretty royal blue with little sequins (I’m a sucker for a sequin or 50).
• Sleek Storm Palette – This has been nestling in the bottom of one of my make-up boxes for too long. It’s had a revival of sorts over the last weekend.
• Windows Live Writer - Makes this blogging lark easy peasey lemon squeezy, and I’m all for making life simpler!
• Getting back in my kitchen groove – Baking, making soups, Sunday dinners, whatever. The thing I love most about winter is cooking up a storm (we’re very BBQ reliant in the summer!)
• Counting down to my holiday – I’ve already started ticking off the days to my mini snowboarding holiday in January. We usually go to Canada over Christmas to visit the rellies but this year they’re coming over here – they must be mad, why would anyone leave the snow for a wet, miserable Christmas in the UK?! I thought this had put paid to my snowboarding this year (aside from a few trips to Xscape), but the Mr surprised me with a 4 day break to Les Saisies on the 7 January - Yay!!

Slating

• The Rain – My hair doesn’t cope with humidity very well (think Monica from Friends), which is probably half of the reason I’m such a fan of hats!
• Being poor – Though I know paying my overdraft off is a good thing, I’m not loving the fact that it means I’m going to be living on a shoestring until February. This is NOT good for my make-up habit.
• Sky Plus being on the blink – Naturally, the Mr sees this as a blessing / a sign that we need Sky HD upstairs as well. I see it as a sign that I must spend the next weekend holed up in our bedroom watching the endless episodes of ANTM and NCIS I have recorded in case they’re wiped from my life forever.

First FOTW

So here it is, my first 'face' post. I'm a bit camera shy, hence it taking me so long to get round to doing one of these. Once again sorry for the slightly dodgy pics, I finally found my old digital camera as I haven't quite gotround to buying a new one......I've realised that I need to think about Christmas shopping so I've put a new camera on my list for Santa!

I thought I'd start with what I've been using this week. I work in a pretty conservative office environment so unfortunately its nothing too exciting, but it is something that I can chuck together in under 10 minutes (which is just what I need at the moment).


So here's what I used:

Face
Benefit Boi-ing concealer
Rimmel Stay Matte Mousse Foundation (review coming soon)
MAC MSF Natural
MAC Stark Naked blush

Eyes
Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes mini-pallette
UD 24/7 liner in Zero
Maybelline Pulse Perfection mascara (I've given up on the vibration, much perfer it without)

Lips
MAC Pink Grapefruit lipglass

Now I've broken my 'face' virginity I'll hopefully post a few more!

xxx

Rating and Slating 13/10/2009

Here's a quick round up of things that I love and things that I loathe this week…….

Rating

• Collection 2000 Fast Stroke liquid liner in blue The colour really makes my eyes ‘pop’ yet its just about subtle enough to get away with at work – winner!
• Lee Stafford Bleach Blondes Hot Shots My hairdresser used a slightly different toner on my hair last time I visited the salon which made me more white-blonde than the platinum I usually go for. After a couple of weeks I find I need to give my hair a bit of a boost, and this time I decided to try something different. I’m willing to turn a blind eye (or should that be nose) to the horrific smell of this, as it gave me an almost identical tone to the one I left the salon with.
• Bourjois Kabuki True to form, I managed to leave half of the things I took down to my brother’s there, and one of the casualties was my much loved MAC 182. I picked up a temporary replacement in Superdrug yesterday and I must say that I’m most impressed!
• The return of Gossip Girl to ITV 2 Now Chuck Bass is back on my TV screen the world makes sense again!

Slating

• Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse This was once my go to foundation in winter. I’m not sure if the formulation has changed or whether my skin has but for some reason the two just don’t seem to go together like they once did. The hunt for a replacement has started………..
• Work Just generally. I’m currently working in a very fast paced environment, and the amount of new files I’m opening per week is madness. Add to that pompous Respondents and clients who tend to do the opposite of what they’re told and its a recipe for disaster
• My car breaking…….AGAIN Believe me, you don’t want to be the person at Ford who is ringing me back tomorrow.

What are you loving/hating this week?

 

xxx

REVIEW – Soap and Glory Catch a Wrinkle in Time Moisturiser

Confession time…………

……….To be honest, I've always been a bit useless when it comes to cleansing, toning and moisturising. I'm really good at the cleansing bit but the rest sort of seems to fall by the wayside for me. I'm lucky in that I have relatively good skin (I get a few dry patches in the winter but nothing too major), I drink lots of water and (so far) am wrinkle free, so I generally would rather spend money on the more exciting things in life like glittery eyeliner than my skincare 'regime.'

Following the starting revelation that I am now in my mid twenties (thanks, mum), I thought that maybe I should make a bit more effort as I'm becoming slightly paranoid that one day I'll wake up looking like a Shar-Pei (no, not Ashley Tisdale, the OTHER one).

The first thing I decided to fix was the moisturiser situation. I generally pick up whatever's on offer/cheapest, and this time wasn't really an exception. I'm a big fan of Soap and Glory products generally, and this one came with 100 extra advantage points, so in the basket it went.

As part of my push to use up products I already had in stock, I had to finish my cheapy moisturiser (some forgettable one from Nivea) before I cracked this open. I started using it around six weeks ago, and to be honest I'm really happy with it. The formulation is nice and silky, and it is absorbed by my skin pretty much straight away which is great as I hate greasy moisturiser which just sits there I really don’t have time to hang around for 20 minutes in the morning waiting for my moisturiser to soak in! The smell is kind of orangey, which I really like - it reminds me a little bit of Gorgeous by Lush which would have been my moisturiser of choice did I not have an overdraft to pay off. I paid around £9 for the tube, which seems quite a lot as the tube is tiny (50ml), but it does seem to be lasting well, and £9 is definitely better than £35 for Gorgeous!

All in all I’ll probably repurchase this as I like the fact that its not greasy and I can pretty much chuck it on and get on with the most important part of my morning routine – the makeup!!

Next I’m going to reconsider my cleanser – any recommendations would be well received!!

xxx

Experiment Time....

Since I first discovered Barry M Dazzle Dusts, back when I was about 15, I've been hooked on loose eye shadows. Yes they can be a pain to work with and without a healthy swipe of translucent powder on the cheekbones disasters are inevitable (for me at least), but I'm drawn to loose shadows over pressed every time. Maybe its because I seem to find the colours of loose shadows more tempting, or because I always get a better colour pay-off with loose shadows, but either way I've built up quite a little collection over time..

In the past few years, I've tried pretty much every brand of loose shadows you can think of, from the dirt cheap (Sleek Eye Dusts and 17 Eye Dazzle) to the more expensive (MAC). Recently, I've realised that I should maybe at least consider pressing some of my loose shadows as I'm becoming over-run with them, and I'm trying to condense my collection so that I can actually find what I'm looking for during my daily mad dash to get ready for work on time. I'm also thinking that come holiday time its going to be much easier to take one palette than 12 little jars of shadow.

Having read a few blog posts and watched some YT vids, I've decided that today is the day to finally take the plunge and invest in some materials to press my shadows. Hopefully I'll be in a position to give them a whirl once I get back from my little jolly down south! Wish me luck.........

xxx