Monthly Archives: December 2010

2010 In A Blog Shell.

Hi dolls! Are you all ready for the new year? I hope you all have a fantastic NYE whether you’re staying in & celebrating at home with loved ones or partying the night away – let’s all go into 2011 with a POSITIVE outlook!

So I thought I’d do my favourite products of 2010 (which there is no doubt I’ll be taking into the near year with me!) This was very hard as I have A LOT of favourite products & it was tough to pick them… But I thought I’d only feature the ones that I have used more throughout the year! It’s in no particular order, nor is there one item from each beauty category (I chose my favourite 10… If I have missed any out I’ll be sure to add them in the post somewhere!) So… Here it goes!

I have been blown away by Nicole by OPI! These nail varnishes have such a good lasting power! I really couldn’t believe my eyes that I only managed to get ONE chip in a whole weeks wear! I can’t wait till their colour range is HUGE like OPI so I have more of a selection to choose from! If I were to choose a nail varnish COLOUR of the year. for me it has to be PARADOXAL by Chanel… I love the everything about the shade! I’m glad to have it in my collection

If you know me or follow me in any way you’ll know how much I’ve been loving this palette this year! The one & only NAKED palette by Urban Decay! I really don’t think I need to buy a neutral colour eye shadow in a very long time! It was my first UD buy & if their other products are as good as this I’ll be getting more in the new year I love how pigmented the shadows are! If I were to choose my second favourite palette it would have to be SLEEK! Cheap & cheerful with great colour pay off

This baby here, has to be my saviour for my tired, run down days! The Garnier Caffeine eye roll-on has literally REPLACED my concealer. It cools my skin & makes me look wide awake & not to mention healthy (& not death like!) LOL I think I can say that I’ve used this every day since I got in back in summer & will definitely buy it again! The product has lasted me ages & still looks like there’s a lot in there WOOHOO!

Lady Million by Paco Rabanne has become my favourite perfume of all time… I like to think of it as my signature perfume I tend to wear this on special occasions as I have too many perfumes at the moment but my god, I can’t get enough of it! If you haven’t smelt it yet I suggest you get yourself down to your local department store – it’s like HEAVEN in a bottle!

The almighty MAC Face & Body foundation has been the one product which I always put on my face! If you love light/sheer coverage this is totally for you! Even if I decide to wear another foundation I always like to mix this with it because I LOVE it that much! It’s even better because you get a lot for your money!

I’m a sucker for anything that smells sweet… & I’m a sucker for all things Soap & Glory! I love smelling like sweets coming out the shower My favourite has to be their ‘Righteous Butter’. It’s super moisturising & has a gorgeous fluffy texture – this body butter along with their ‘Flake Away’ scrub has made my skin INCREDIBLY soft.

Okay, I know there’s 3 different products in here. But I’ve converted a lot of my eye products to drug store brands. I used to spend lots of money on expensive mascaras & eye liners but have found some real GEMS this year! These include Falsies by Maybelline, SuperSHOCK Mascara by Avon & SuperSHOCK Gel Eyeliner by Avon!

ADDICTED. Yep, I’m addicted to Carmex. Sometimes I think why I haven’t used this for longer? It’s ALWAYS in my handbag now without a doubt. I hope they bring out new flavours too!

You must have heard me rave about OCC’s Lip Tars a couple of times on my blog but these little tubes of exciting colours has made me fall in love with them. I only have 4 right now but am definitely going to add to my collection. From their colour to their lasting power is pretty AMAZING. My favourite has to me ANIME, hands down!

I have been re-introduced to ‘Dazzle Dust’ by Barry M! These little pots of pigment are pretty darn good! The last time I used one of these was about 5 or 6 years ago but can’t remember why I wasn’t amazed by them. Their colour range is GORGEOUS & to be honest pigments like these tend to last AGES so I think I’ll stop getting MAC pigments next year & stick to Barry!

I thought I’d also mention 5 products which have FAILED me this year…

High end mascaras. After using drug store ones, my MAC mascara’s don’t really get touched! I’m definitely trying more out in the next year as I’ve nearly finished the ones I currently have!

A lot of people raved about this product but I really didn’t see the big deal in it?! I’ll have a review coming up soon but for me it was a big waste of time & money!

My hair naturally is pretty wavy/curly. I thought I’d get this product because the packaging caught my eye. However it really did nothing to my hair! It didn’t even define my curls which was a shame

I think the whole Samy range has disappointed me. Well not whole but the 2 products I got a hold of. This again didn’t make my hair look any thicker either? Samy in general was not on my good list!

This was my very first Chanel buy. I never knew brands did waterproof eye liners?! But as soon as I did I thought I’d opt for Chanel… However after using Avon’s SuperSHOCK gel liner this hasn’t even been looked at! I actually forgot that I had it! I’ve only used it once as well… It was a big waste of money too!

So this was my (fairly rushed) 2010 in a blog shell I hope 2011 brings you all nothing but happiness! But for now… I’ll see you all next year!

Wordless Wednesday.

RRP: £10 £5
Boots

Post Christmas round up.

Hi dolls! I hope you’ve all had an AMAZING Christmas this year & Santa got you everything you wished for! I spent lots of time with my family & ate lots too. I thought I’d share my highlight (& of course pictures) with you guys – which was making my first gingerbread house!

This is what we STARTED with.

Slowly getting everything DECORATED…

The white icing EXPLODED & got all over mine & the boy’s hands but it was all fun

Putting it together was so TRICKY! It took ages to get it up.

All done! Doesn’t it look AMAZING?! I couldn’t wait to eat it! LOL

It’s a pretty lame post Christmas round up post… But! It was such a GREAT Christmas-y way to spend time with my number 1 I just had to share it with you dolls

Did you do any Christmas activities? How did you spend your Christmas?

P.S – I got this kit from Costco for about £4.50 in case you were wondering & the sweeties on it tasted SO yummy!

Eyebrow OCD.

Those that know me know that I have a thing for eyebrows. They totally FRAME your face & if they’re not done properly well… I really don’t think there’s any excuse for them not to be done! Here’s a little diagram to show you how the shape of your brows should roughly be.

1 is where your brows should STARTS.
2 is where your ARCH should be.
3 is where your eye brows should END.

This is a rough guide to get the shape of your brows sorted. However you can always tweak them to make them perfect if the hair are slightly lighter in certain areas & what now I have really bad eyebrow OCD & need to make sure they look perfect all the time! I thought I’d show you how I do my brows as I’ve had many people ask me about it. Here’s what you’ll need (please bear in mind that I have used everything to suit the colour of my brows & skin)…

I like using the myface.cosmetics brown eye liner because it’s not very pigmented & works REALLY well on your brows. It doesn’t give you any harsh lines which is what you want So, this is what I do to my brows to get them looking ‘PERFECT‘ …

It doesn’t take very long which is good & really makes a BIG difference to your face. Make sure you BLEND the concealer well & don’t over do the brow pencil or shadow because less really is more I hope this helps you & shows you one way you can do your brows

Does anyone else have eyebrow OCD? Or am I the ONLY one?

FORTY.

I’m back gems! I hope you had a LOVELY Christmas weekend! Here we go for the next 10 of my 100 things…

I think pugs are the cutest little dogs!

I’m such a hopeless romantic! I love anything to do with romance.

I’ll always stop what I’m doing to help others out. No matter what.

Getting cute messages makes me light up! Especially the really unexpected ones

I love having little picnics in the summer. It’s such a good way to spend time with your loved one.

I like being creative in all aspects of my life.

I love learning about new things. Whether that’s food, culture, science, art… You can never stop learning!

I love finding myself a really good bargain. Makes me happy

One of my favourite drinks! Fruity Martini’s are yummy!

I dunno what it is about this smell that I like. Probably because it reminds me of cake.
Source: All images from weheartit

Until next week, dolls

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hi dolls! MERRY CHRISTMAS! I’m sure you’ll all have a lovely time filled with lots of fun, food & laughter all in the company of your LOVED ones! Also, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas eve! I thought I’d do a quick NOTD post now as my laptop was playing up earlier yesterday morning. I actually did it the night before, ready for a BLINGING CHRISTMAS! You’ll see what I mean about Christmas BLING in a sec! It was fairly easy to do… Just needed a little patience!

All I used was ‘Saucy Polish’ by Eyeko with some lovely sparkly nail gems (which I got from eBay) on my ring fingers to give it a bit if BLING! All my other trusty Barry M reds are pretty much gloopy because they’re fairly old. So, I’ve been using ‘Saucy Polish’ a lot recently. It really is a lovely staple red Once again, I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

P.S – I totally hit the 300 follower mark on my GFC, 390 on my Facebook & 50 on my Bloglovin’!! This has been such a wonderful Christmas present from you all to me! You’re all STARS ★ & thank you all for your love over the past few months, dolls!

Wordless Wednesday.

MAC Pro – 3D Silver Pigment

My little treasures.

Hi cupcakes! Have you ever found any little treasures in your house, TOTALLY out of the blue?! Well, it happened to me last week when I was helping my mum clear out & organise her room. Here’s what I found…

I’m definitely going to use the little storage bits for my dressing table & I was so surprised to find these few great make-up bits How CUTE is the packaging for the lip stick?! I know I have lots of swatches to put up so I’ll get these done too I also found 4 or 5 NAIL FILES… A girl can never have too many of them

If you like sweet smells you’ll love ‘Baby Phat Golden Goddess’. It reminds me SLIGHTLY of a Strawberry Vodka Lemonade that you can get from Revolutions (with a hint of vanilla? – even though I don’t like vanilla, this smells lovely). Minus the weird vodka smell of course! LOL The ‘Baby Phat Goddess’ is more on the fruity side with a hint of freshness… Kind of like a fruity SOAP? I prefer the Golden Goddess but I LOVE how these will fit nicely in my purse/clutch for a night out – & they both come with a sprayer! I’m hoping to fill the Anya Hindmarch travel bag with some of my stuff Who would have thought my mum would having all this amazing stuff?! There’s ONE more…

I have NO idea where this amazing drawer divider came from!? Possibly from an old jewellery box? But I’ve put it to great use for now…

I was in need for something to put my compacts in nicely so this was very handy! It’s temporary for now because I’m on the look out for something a little BETTER in terms of organisation This is what it looks like in my drawer…

I love that it’s black & MATCHES the inside of my drawer I also thought I’d show you how my DIY ring holder looks in my drawer…

If you missed my post on how to make it… Either click the PHOTO above or click HERE!

Have you found any little TREASURES hiding in your house? How do you store your compacts? Any good ideas out there?

Liz Earle: Hot Cloth Cleanser

Hi my lovelies! Hope you’re all doing okay in the crazy snow that’s hit the UK! I have normal skin & I’ve become a little OBSESSED with my skin care recently! I was sent the Hot Cloth Cleanser by Liz Earle, which is supposed to be the MOTHER of all cleansers. I had very high hopes for this product, to say to least, & what wonders it could do to my skin.

RRP: £13 for the 100ml starter kit HERE

The packaging is gorgeous. No bold or bright colours which ties in very well for the ‘NATURALNESS‘ of their products. I do wish it was slightly CLEAR because this would let me know when I need to get myself a new bottle! The muslin cloth which comes with the cleanser is not harsh on your skin at all.

I love that it’s in a pump so you don’t need to fiddle around with squeezing the product out. With this all you need it one PUMP & you’re ready to go

The first thing I noticed about the cleanser was the SMELL. You really can smell the eucalyptus oil. I like it – it adds to it’s natural qualities & makes me feel good that I’m not putting harsh chemicals onto my skin. However, if you’re not a big fan of that scent it may put you off. I’m a big fan of cocoa butter & am convinced that it’s helped my skin feel very soft

It came with a step-by-step guide on how to use the cleanser, which is pretty STRAIGHT FORWARD. Apply the cleanser all over your face, then with hot water & the muslin cloth remove the product off your skin. Lastly, splash your face with cold water to close your pores before toning & moisturising your face. I’m not a big fan of toning so I only moisturised afterwards.

The product itself I found was very RICH & SMOOTH. It goes onto your skin like a treat!

I’ve been using this for about a month now. For the price, this cleanser is AMAZING! You can’t go wrong in £13/£11 to get smooth, fresh & radiant looking skin! I was told that my skin felt ‘BOUNCY‘?! It does definitely feel very, VERY soft after using this. So, I took it as a compliment

In the information that comes with the kit, it stated that this would take traces of your make-up off as well as stubborn mascara. I would NOT advise you to have a full face of make-up on when cleansing. However, it did take off my ‘mascara’ (even though I thought I took it all off with my make-up remover!)

There was one thing which I didn’t expect about this cleanser. When I used it TWICE a day my skin got VERY OILY on my T-zone. I found this really strange! But as soon as I started using it ONCE a day, I was fine This also means that 1 bottle of 100ml will last me 2 months instead of the estimated 1 month

Their muslin cloth, I felt, was a little too SOFT on my skin. It didn’t feel like it was exfoliating my skin very well. However, my skin does look & feel much better after using this So maybe I’m just being a little paranoid? The muslin cloth does look like it’s going to last me a long time which is a plus

I don’t think this is the product for you if you’re looking to get rid of your SPOTS. Personally, I only get spots sometimes at certain times of the month (if you know what I mean) & this didn’t really help with that. That’s all got to do with your diet & what not as well. But it did help the general texture, look & feel of my skin

If you’re looking for something to BOOST the look your skin then this product is totally for you! However, please bare in mind that it may not be suitable for everyone! To be on the safe side I’d advise you to try their 30ml tube, which ONLY £5, to see how it suites you

Does anyone get oily skin when using this twice a day? What’s your skincare routine? I’d love to know (especially if I’m MISSING out on some lovely products out there :))

This product was sent to me.