May Favourites 2012!

Hey everyone!
I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. I know I keep saying I'll post more regularly, but I swear, this week has been busy. I had a wisdom tooth coming in that I got removed yesterday, and my face is swollen like you would not believe - so not FOTDS or putting makeup on my face in general! I've been too headachey and sore to be on the computer for long, but I thought I'd put up my May Favourites to tide you guys over till I come back properly. Which I promise will be soon!
In other good news, I just learned I got a 1st Class degree today! So, a cause for celebration indeed!
And I just hit 500 followers this week, which is amazing. I'll be doing a joint giveaway when my blog's 1st birthday rolls around soon, so keep your eyes peeled!
On to the favourites!

1. Models Own Hed Kandi Nail Polish in Ibiza Mix (£5): I haven't got any swatches of me wearing this, but I did find some over at The PolishAholic. I wear this mostly over nude polishes and it's gorgeous; the perfect multi coloured glitter topcoat with big hexes in it. It's lovely, but limited, so get it fast!

2. NYX Cream Blush in Glow (£5.50): I've spoken about this before, a few times, but I've been using it a lot recently as the weather's warmed up and it's started to feel more like summer. I love cream blushes, and although this one is a touch tacky, it has the most lovely warm pink glow that is perfect for this time of year.

3. NUXE Huile Prodigeuse (£17): You may recall from my original review that I didn't rave about this product, although I didn't not like it. However, recently, in the day I've been using this as a substitute for moisturiser to keep my skin feeling non greasy and light in the daytime. I probably wouldn't use this every day as oils can clog the pores, but when I do use it my skin feels softer, brighter and smoother, without feeling greasy at all.

4. Dior Addict Lipstick in Bobo (£24): A wedding makeup purchase for my mum's wedding, but this has become a strong favourite despite the price. It's such a beautiful, wearable coral colour and the formula is beautiful.

5. MAC Lipstick in Syrup (£13.50): You can see my original review/swatch here. This is a lovely, wearable rose pink that warms up my natural lip colour and just looks effortless and elegant.

6. La Roche-Posay Lipikar Baume AP (cheapest at £9.50 from Escentual): I raved about this when I first got it and my opinions haven't changed -you can read my original review here. This is an intensely hydrating, non-thick, non-greasy balm that doesn't irritate my sensitive skin and in fact seems to soothe and heal it, especially on my easily irritated legs. Perfect for getting summer-ready!

7.Yves Rocher Culture Bio Eye Wake Up Care (£15)*: Here's my original review, and I stand by what I said. My undereye area feels softer, smoother and much less dry than usual, and my concealer applies much more easily and settles less into lines throughout the day.

8. Laura Mercier Second Skin Cheek Colour in Rose Petal (currently on offer for £18.45): Again, pricey, and something I've spoken about before but I cannot rave enough about this super soft, silky formula and the lovely, glowing wash of colour it provides.

9 & 10. Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr in On and On Bronze and Permanent Taupe (£4.99 each, currently 3 for 2): You can see my original review, including eye swatches, here. I love these, and have found myself reaching for them almost every day, whether I'm wearing them alone or under shadow. They are gorgeous colours, don't budge all day and are incredibly simple to use. For that price, I don't see how you couldn't love them!

11. Clinique High Impact Mascara (£16 for full size): I'm still working my way through a large sample tube of this, but love it. It's not too wet or too dry, it's not clumpy and it's not overtly dramatic so I don't feel foolish in the daytime. You can see it on me here.

Bottom to top: NYX Cream Blush Glow; Laura Mercier Second Skin Cheek Colour Rose Petal; Maybelline Color Tattoo On and On Bronze and Permanent Taupe; Dior Addict Lipstick Bobo; MAC Lipstick Syrup
 Only after swatching did I realise I'd picked blushes and lipsticks very similar in colour!What are your month's favourites? Any of these?

S xx

*This denotes a product I was sent for review. My opinions are always, always, 100% honest and impartial. 

Spa In The City Edinburgh Event

Hey everyone!

I have something a bit different for you today - last night I went to an event in Edinburgh; a drinks reception for the yearly Spa In the City event. I had a really lovely time, and I'd like to say thanks to Essential Edinburgh and Burt Greener for inviting me!

Anyway, every year, Spa in the City is on in Edinburgh, offering sample treatments and goody bags and introductory offers from all kinds of businesses in Edinburgh, from beauty retailers like Harvey Nichols and Boots, to skincare and pampering places like Crabtree & Evelyn and Clarins, to jewellery retailers...it starts tomorrow, in St. Andrews Square in Edinburgh, and if you have a minute you should pop down!

Lush will be doing hand treatments, the lead makeup artist from Cover FX will be doing mini-makeovers, there will eyebrow threading and facials. I wish I could be there, but I'm working.

A 'Spa in the City' cake made by Bibi's Bakery

This year's Spa in the City theme is Vintage Glamour, and they certainly laid that on at this event, with a four-piece vintage band, a screen playing scenes from Some Like It Hot, and canapes and cupcakes from Hyndberry.

I was lucky to spend the evening in the company of the lovely Jen, who works for Palenque, the sole jewellery retailer at this year's event. If you've never seen their pieces before, check them out! Jen, if you're reading, it was lovely to meet you!

All in all - a fab event and if you are in the area, something you should definitely check out over what promises to be a lovely sunny weekend. You can also see that I went away with a goodybag of samples, some of which I'll be reviewing in short order!

What do you think - is this your kind of thing? Would you go to Spa in the City?

S xx

Topshop Cream Blush in Neon Rose Swatch and Review

Hey everyone!

Today I'm showing you another blush, but my first ever blush from Topshop. I keep hearing so many great things about their blushes and so I went to check them out. I was surprised that I loved every single blush colour that was there (although it's not the widest shade range in the world), but finally I settle on Neon Rose, £6, which is a cream-to-powder formula.

How cute is the packaging? I know some people hate it but I think Topshop packaging is cool and cute. I said this before about the lipstick, but I especially like the blush packaging; although I assume it'll get dirty really quickly.

 The swatches above are out of the sunlight and in sunlight, and I think you can see that it's a fairly bright pinkened coral that blends out to a soft, warm colour.. You can also see, between the first and second swatches, that it's a smooth cream formula that dries to a powder finish, which is great for those with oilier skin who want to wear cream blush.
I found this blush soft, extremely blendable, and I thought it had a lovely texture. The colour is great, although it sometimes seems to bring out the redness in my cheeks a little, but that's no hard feat in the hot summer weather. It looks properly neon but it's such a lovely bright coral that I find extremely wearable.

Have you tried Topshop blushes? Do you have a favourite shade?
S xx

NYX Blush in Taupe Swatch and Review

Hey everyone!

I told you I'd be getting back to regular posting, and here I am! Today I'm swatching a super-hyped product for pale girls like me - NYX Blush in Taupe (£5.50). I've seen it spoken about on blogs, on Essie and Megan's Youtube channels, as the perfect contour colour for pale skinned girls, so I had to pick it up. 

First off let me say that the packaging is cute, in a kind of cheap and cheerful way - I quite like the diamond pattern in the actual blush and I like that it's not ridiculously big.
Secondly - the two swatches are photographed in different lights but I think you can see it's a fairly ashy brown.
The first time I put this on my skin I did not blend it out properly and it looked ashy and muddy on my skin. However, the product is soft, medium-pigmented and blendable if you actually bother to blend, and on the next try it worked fine.
It may not be my ideal contour colour as I lean yellow in skin tone and this can look overly ashy, but it's a damn sight better than using deep orange bronzers on my skin and it works pretty well, especially for such a bargain price!

Have you ever tried this? What do you think?
S xx

Sleek Ultra Matte Palettes Part 1: V2 Darks

Hey everybody!

Sorry I haven't been a regular poster - it's been a bit of a trying week. We are trying to figure out how to move for my Masters programme and it's all become a little stressful! But I'm back; to talk about the Sleek Ultra Mattes i-Divine Palette in V2 Darks, which you can get for £7 from Sleek or £6.99 from Superdrug, who are also running a 3 for 2 promotion at the moment.

Top row L-R: Orbit; Ink; Highness; Noir; Dune; Pillow Talk
Bottom row L-R: Thunder; Maple; Flesh; Paper Bag; Villan; Fern

L-R: Orbit; Ink; Highness; Noir

L-R: Dune; Pillow Talk; Thunder; Maple

L-R: Flesh; Paper Bag; Villan; Fern

 As usual with these palettes, the packaging is nice and the pigmentation is mostly good, although not great on the lighter shades like Dune, Pillow Talk and Flesh. These are all great colours though, and most a true mattes, although Maple and Villan look slightly more satin to me.
There are a few chalky shades in this palette - the blues, which I chose to do my eye look with, were a little chalky and difficult to work with, which is why I was not as pleased with my eye makeup as I could have been. However, I've played around with lots of the other shades and have been very impressed.
Just look at the swatches of the last three colours, and maple. They are so gorgeous, and there are so many looks you could create.
If you bought both palettes I can imagine a lot of fun mixing colours from both, and since they are on 3 for 2 right now, you could get yourself an extra gift!
Here's the look I did:

 Here's what I used

NYX HD Eye Primer
Sleek Brow Kit in Dark
Clinique High Impact Mascara
Sleek Ultra Mattes i-Divine Palette in V2 Darks:

• Thunder (inner corner)
• Orbit (lid)
• Ink (outer v)

You can see that Orbit was particularly difficult to work with, but this has not been true of several of the other colours in the palette. And I happen to think that Orbit is a lovely colour anyway, and might work better patted over the top of a blue base like a Maybelline Color Tattoo.

What do you think? Which of the two palettes do you prefer? Which would you get most use from?
S xx

Sleek Ultra Matte Palettes Part 1: V1 Brights

Hey everyone!

I have a couple of exciting posts for you over the next couple of days as I finally got round to buying the new Sleek Ultra Matte i-Divine Palettes! As many people have said, finding decent matte shadows in drugstores is often difficult, so I was really excited when I heard these were being released.

To avoid a photo-heavy post, I've split this post in two; today I'll be showing you the Sleek Ultra Matte i-Divine Palette in V1 Brights, which you can get for £7 from Sleek, or £6.99 from Superdrug.

Top row L-R: Chill; Pout; Sugarlite; Dragon Fly; Pucker; Bamm!
Bottom row L-R: Cricket; Bolt; Strike; Floss; Crete; Pow!

The packaging is normal for Sleek; it seems sturdy and 'sleek' - not to put too fine a point on it. The only difference between this and other Sleek palettes is that the shadows do not have the 'waffle' texture, which I thought made it slightly more difficult for the eye brush to pick up shadows.

Here are the swatches:

L-R: Chill; Pout; Sugarlite; Dragon Fly

L-R: Pucker; Bamm!; Bolt; Strike

L-R: Strike; Floss; Crete; Pow!

I found that most of the shadows were pigmented and soft; although a few were slightly chalkier than others such as Sugarlite and Pow!. Obviously the last three shades were a lot less pigmented, but I feel you could still do a soft, matte look with these shades, especially over a base like NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk. I applied mine for the sample look below over a primer, but it was my skin tone, not white. 

On application, I found that all the shades I used were easily blendable, but the colours I used did require quite a lot of build up. I did find that they came off bright and truly matte (some of the shades in the Darks palette are not true mattes) and that they were very long-lasting.

I did quite an obvious 'sunset' style look for this post, but I can't wait to try some other looks, including one using the softer last three shades, and perhaps a purple and green look, after seeing how nice Sugarlite and Dragon Fly look next to each other.

Here's my look:

Here's what I used for my look:

NYX HD Eye Primer
Clinique High Impact Mascara
Sephora Flashy Liner in Flashy Green
Sleek Ultra Matte i-Divine Palette Shadows:

• Bamm! (inner corner)
• Strike (lid)
• Pout (crease, lower lashline)

For the remarkably reasonable price, I think you get an excellent selection of unusual colours in a matte finish that are mostly blendable and pigmented, and this is rare on the high street. Sleek have once again excelled in the drugstore makeup field. 

This palette might not be for everyone (I suspect the Darks will be the favourite) and I'd love to see Sleek bring out a neutral mattes palette.

I do love it though. What do you think? How would you use this palette, or would you even buy it?

S xx

NYX Round Lipgloss in Apricot Swatch and Review

Hey everyone!

Another NYX Round Lipgloss today, this one in Apricot. You can, as before, get it for £3 from the UK website or on sale for $2.25 from Cherryculture.

This is a nice colour - ignore the sparkles; they were left over from when I swatched the NYX Round Lipgloss in Pink. This is a lot less opaque than Pink, it's a more sheer, coral colour with no discernible shimmer of it's own.

Bare Lips

Lips with NYX Round Lipgloss in Apricot

As you can see, this is quite sheer on my lips but it imparts a warmth and a coral tone that I like. It's not hyper glossy, but it's not sticky either. Like Pink it doesn't last incredibly long on the lips, but that's a factor I'm willing to deal with if it means a non-sticky gloss.

S xx

NYX Round Lipgloss in Pink Swatch and Review

Hey everyone!

I have a quick swatch and review for you today. The other week I bought a few things in the Cherryculture 40% off NYX sale - I know you get NYX online in the UK, but the money off, along with the great conversion rate from dollars to pounds, meant I got these things for pretty cheap.

The first thing I got was a NYX Round Lipgloss in Pink, which you can get (still on sale) for $2.25 on Cherryculture or if you can't justify the shipping, for £3 from the UK website.

I know, what's going on with me? I'm a self-professed lipgloss avoider, and i hate sticky lips. But I'd heard the NYX Round Lipglosses were fairly pigmented and non-sticky, and since I love my NARS Lipgloss in Wonder for those reasons, I thought I'd check it out.

The packaging is NYX-standard. I for one like the oddly shaped applicator, as it worked well for my lip size and shape. The lipgloss, swatched here, is a pretty true neutral pink with a faint silver shimmer that doesn't show up on the lips. It is quite pigmented.

Bare lips

Lips with NYX Round Lipgloss in Pink

This is one of the least sticky lipglosses I have ever tried. It isn't 'mirror' shiny, but it has a gloss. It will not last all day - but on me it lasts longer than a sticky gloss, because I would wipe a sticky gloss right off!
I think it's pretty good coverage, for an non-sticky gloss, and it's a lovely, flattering colour that isn't too cool.
What do you think? Have you tried these lipglosses; do you have a favourite shade?
S xx

The Body Shop Lip and Cheek Stain in Rose Pink Swatch and Review

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while; I was busy with wedding things! As soon as the photos come back from my mum's big day, I'll show you my outfit and my makeup. But today I wanted to show you a product I picked up free in my issue of Marie Claire, the Body Shop Lip and Cheek Stain in Rose Pink (£10). There were two shades to choose from, but I didn't much fancy the gold one, so got this one instead.

The formula, I thought, was really watery. I think a little of this is enough for lips as small as mine, although I applied two coats for a deeper colour. This does stain too, but it's not the longest lasting stain in the world. About 5 hours on me, I reckon. It's a gorgeous colour, a deep reddened pink, than leaves a matte, natural stain finish on the lips. On the cheeks I found it slightly blotchy but stains have never worked for my cheeks - they seem to highlight my rosacea. It's a very pretty blush colour though.

You can see here that it is rosy, deep pink, and I think brings a lovely flush to the cheeks, which on me looks a little blotchy close up. It does blend well, but don't give it time to set before you blend or you'll be left with red dots! This is two coats of the colour on my lips, and you can see where it bled into my lower lip scar, which I don't mind.

I do love this as a lip stain, although I'm not sure it's worth £10. Has anyone got any cheaper alternatives, or have you tried this and love it as much as I do?

S xx

FOTD: Purple and Blue Smoky Eye

Hey everyone!

First off - I think these photos are ok, but they are not as clear and crisp as I would like. Perhaps I need a new lens? Any camera-savvy people out there know where I'm going wrong?

Right - on to the look! This might not be 'soft' for springtime, but it had been a long time since I even went near a black eyeshadow, and I was trying to find a way to use it without sticking to black. I'm kind of pleased with the result. I wore my hair entirely back here because it sort of spoiled the effect of the eyes, but I think you can see that it's been coloured darker again, in time for the wedding!

And please don't worry - I know my eyebrows are insane but I'm getting them waxed this week for the wedding and I'm under strict instructions not to touch them before then.

Here's what I used

Face
Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro Primer 002
Lancome Teint Miracle Foundation in 010 Beige Porcelaine
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit in Ivory
Laura Mercier Second Skin Cheek Colour in Rose Petal

Eyes
Sleek Brow kit in Dark
Make Up Forever Smoky Lash
NYX HD Eye Primer
MUA Extreme Felt Tip Liner
NARS Larger than Life Liner in Abbey Road (lower lashline and waterline)
Sleek Au Naturel Palette Regal (lid)
Sleek Au Naturel Palette Noir (corner and crease)
MUA Immaculate Collection Palette Shade 24 (inner corner)
MUA Immaculate Collection Palette Shade 22 (join between black and matte purple shades)

Lips
Dior Addict Lipstick in Bobo

S xx