Le petit jardin de liloo

Boots versus Superdrug: Two can play that game…

2012-01-30T01:01:00.001Z

While I was checking my emails, this little ad popped up on my screen. I don't know about you, but I felt the advertisement was of poor taste. Advertisement based on price comparison have been done before, nothing new there, but there is a fine line between being cheeky and being downright low. I think Boots Marketing Team has crossed my line.

Well, Boots: Two can play that game ;)

My little impromptu 'face off' with a little comparison on products entirely designed for the face.
Excuse my poor puns, this is the best the French native speaker in me could do, on the spot, recovering after a night of debauchery...

top photo credit: image source

The one which fluttered away…

2012-01-20T00:12:00.002Z

You might already have seen these if you've been around on twitter today but I just could not not blog about them. I am a massive fan of Eylure false lashes and equally massive fan of Katy Perry's makeup. Katy Perry's eye make up looks always excite me: it's fun, it's colourful, dramatic, glittery and fluttery.

In February, Eylure and Katy Perry fans will be able to purchase nationwide (Boots and Superdrug) the amazing creations of their collaboration. I am not quite sure of the prices but I would imagine that these would retail around the the £6 mark.

Katy Perry's collection is to die for and boast 4 pairs of eyelashes: from the dainty, delicate 'sweetie pie' to the full on drama of 'Oh my'. I prefer a fuller lashline personally (easier to conceal) so will probably pass on 'Oh Honey' and 'Sweetie Pie' as they both sport an invisiband but I just cannot wait to play with ‘Cool Kittie’ and ‘Oh My!’.

Hurry up, February!

Have you got any favourites?
Will you be checking these out in store?

photo credits: source.

Nanoblur Optical Cream: My experiences

2012-01-09T00:26:00.003Z

Well, hello there :) This little garden has been left alone for so long, I can’t even see the wood for the trees or whatever the expression goes. Before a lengthy post on what the heck I have been to lately, and an overdue update, I would love to share some news with you. Today I was published on Perfect Polished for a little guest post I wrote.I would love to invite to read my experiences with Nanoblur, the most hyped about optical skin cream, which promises no less, no more to make you look 10 years younger in a matter of seconds.

So please, hop along to Perfectly Polished Nails blog and find out how I got along with Nanoblur. Oh and if you would like to leave a comment there, this would make me very happy!

Thank you xx

Christmas Coundown Slendertone Toning Challenge: My Journey and Progress

2011-12-15T22:47:00.000Z

I've been pretty quiet on the blogging front lately, nor have I been very active on commenting on my daily beauty reads. This is not the usual me and I am not happy about that. But there is one thing which I am really really chuffed about: to have embarked on a body toning challenge routine and to have stuck with it implacably, which is for me, something of a miracle.

Which toning challenge is that? Well... :)

In the last week of November, I was approached by Slendertone to see if I would be happy to embark on a 'Christmas Countdown Toning Challenge' and share my experiences on the 'Slendertone System Abs' belt with my readers. My abdominal / tummy area is not too bad compared to the lower half of my body (bum, thighs and legs) but it has never been as toned as I wanted it to be. Why? Because addressing this area with exercise is hard work and painful.

Ask anybody on what they think would be a good form of exercise to tone and improve the muscles of your tummy and they will all reply in unison: 'crunches and sit ups'. I can't do crunches and sit ups. I try to do it for 2 days, and then I spend the whole week with stomach cramps, when laughing even becomes painful. Sit ups also give me pain in the neck area. In fact, while I try to do my sit up, I feel more pain in the neck than in the tummy area, which surely isn't right. So when I was given the opportunity to try this Slendertone System Abs, it was a no brainer, I had to say yes and I just couldn't wait to start my challenge.

So what does this belt designed to do?

The Slendertone System Abs is a belt designed to tone your abdominal muscles. It delivers a complete abdominal workout for the rectus, oblique and transversus abdominis muscles, giving you firm and flat stomach. Replicating abdominal exercises, wearing the belt for 20 minutes is equivalent to 120 sits ups targeting the abs muscles (rectus, oblique and transversus abdominis muscles)

Yes, you heard: 20 minutes is equivalent to 120 sits ups. I know!!

I was very impatient to try the belt but I was also very anxious. As I said earlier, I don't do pain. To give you an idea of my pain threshold, I'd have some anaesthetic cream before a blood test, would usually have my whole mouth numbed before dentist could approach me and categorically refuse to have my eyebrows threaded. I have my tache waxed every now and then but this usually comes with me swearing at the beautician and calling her a wicked witch. I knew I wanted to have a firmer tummy but I was really scared to have an electrically charged belt around my tummy. Did I need to expect a pain similar to electrolysis, or perhaps some mini electrical shocks?

I received my belt bang on 24 November, which fitted perfectly with the Christmas Countdown Toning Challenge and decided to start my slendertone adventures on the same day. The belt arrived in a nice posh box and ready to use in 2 simple steps: charge the belt for 3 hours, stick the 3 pads on and you're ready to go. What does it feel like? I felt so silly as I realised instantly that I had really nothing to worry about. Depending on what level the belt is on, wearing the belt feels like a tingle or a strong massage of your tummy and whole abs area.

The way the belt is programmed is brilliant and takes the guess work out of how long you should do the exercise. Their prime objective (the way I personally understand it) is to provide you with a safe and gradual/progressive work out. The belt has 7 programmes and the first time you switch it on, it activates the programme 1. The belt remembers how many times you followed programme 1 and then it declares you ready to move on programme 2. I don't remember the figures but it's something like once you've done the programme 1 five times, then the next time you switch on the belt they move you on the higher programme.

No need to choose how long to wear the belt as the programme you’re on has a predefined time. To top it all off, and to mimic the effect of a real work out session, each programme even comes with a warm up and cool up phase. All you do is to choose the level of 'contraction intensity' of your workout and you are encouraged to increase the level of contraction intensity as and when you feel ready.

There is a special section in the manual which gives you suggested intensity levels if you're doing a 4 week challenge. They recommend for example to start it at level 20 the first time you switch it on (I started it at level 30 on my first work out, you'll understand why below) with a view to progressively get to level 80 in your last week. A lot of emphasis is put on safety throughout the manual. While they encourage you to increase the level of intensity as you go through your 4 week challenge, they also discourage you to put up with a work out which causes too much discomfort/pain.

During a 7 day week you are also supposed to exercise 5 days and give you 2 days of rest, to give you and your muscles a chance to rest. I find it very sweet. When I wear my belt, I am usually sat on my fat arse, watching telly and they still ask me to make sure to allow 2 days of rest :) aww.

Which brings to my next point: How difficult is it to follow the programme day after day? To be honest with you, doing the slendertone challenge is as easy as watching 'I am a celebrity Get me Out here on telly' for 20/30 minutes (minus the eating challenges which make it very uneasy watching) I have been naughty on a few occasions, whereby sometimes I have not allowed my body to rest after 6 or 7 days in a row but other than that, I have followed my work out programme/challenge religiously for which I am extremely proud about. I can't recall the last time when I have followed an exercise routine so assiduously! Probably never.

I started the programme on 24 November, wear the belt pretty much every night, (funny enough i like to wear during watching masterchef or best dish) and I am now on programme 4 and level 70. Level 70 is not for the faint hearted, it feels there was a massive gap between level 50 and level 70 but I am really really happy. At the moment it feels like I am never going to be able to move on to 'contractions' further than level 70, but I have still have some time before Christmas Eve to get there. What pushed me to move higher and higher in my work out and keep stuck to it was this little diagramme I saw on the website. You see below why I wanted to be at intensity 30 from the very beginning. I don't want a tingle, I want muscle contraction baby :)

How efficient is it? Does it work?

Yes, yes, yes. I really feel my tummy is much much more firm, toned and I am loving it. I am also a bit shell shocked about 2 things: how I managed to stick to the programme to the letter and how the belt abs managed to tone while so little input was made from me, as the most active things I've been doing have been walking to work and watching tv. If I had to pin point one uncomfortable thing about the belt is this 2 second moment when you attach the belt on, as your tummy gets into contact to the cold fleshy-like pads. It’s a bit like the mindset you would have before taking a cold shower, the 1,2,3 count you take before going in, but at a much smaller scale as it is only 2 seconds. I really don’t like that 2 seconds bit though!

I am really hoping that the before and after pictures I am hoping to post when my challenge is over will show the improvement. The system belt is not cheap (£119) if you don't already own a controller. But very little active input is required from you, it's easy to stick it to so I really think it's a worthwhile investment. I don't know how you're all doing with your party season / christmas diet but if you've fallen off the wagon or planning some form of diet/exercise regime comes the new year, but if you have the funds, this seems to be like the perfect way to reward yourself, and have a little help while you're putting your 110% efforts cutting down in portions while your appetite is raging and you could eat a horse and everything else in sight.

See you soon for another update x

disclosure: the system abs belt was offered to me for review purposes and I still can’t believe how lucky to have been chosen for the experience/challenge

Deal Alert Shu Uemura Smoky Layers False Lashes for £10 at Buyapowa (RRP: £20)

2011-12-14T13:00:00.000Z

I don't usually treat myself to high end beauty products. Also if a product is not usually sold in an average size Boots or Superdrug store, I am not usually interested. But I am a massive false lashes addict and I have been lusting for as long as I can remember for a pair of Shu Uemura False Lashes and specifically the 'Smokey/Smoky Layers' variety. These babies usually retails at £18.50-£20.00 and even though I know for fact (and from my friend Cat (@perfectpolished) that they are extremely good value for money, I just can't bring myself to spend 20 quid in a single pair of lashes.

They say 'Layers of thin black lashes add volume to your lash line, creating a sultry eye look reminiscent of old Hollywood glamour' *cue photo*

Well today, the lashes are available to buy on Buyapowa and this makes me excited like a kid on Christmas day. The lashes were available twice before on buyapowa, but I missed both sales or co buys as buyapowa call them. The principle of buyapowa is simple. There is a very limited number of products available for purchase. The more people buy the items, the cheaper the item gets. In the words of buyapowa themselves 'Co-buying is a new form of shopping which brings shoppers together into a single transaction, so that you can benefit from the sort of discounts which have until now only been available to retailers buying in bulk'. To top it all off, the postage and packing (for makeup items) is £1 but in most cases free.

Are you tempted to try the 'Smoky Layers' yourself? You can buy them here but you need to be quick! At the moment they are £13 and there are only 15 left (14 December 2011. 12:53) and together we can get them down to a tight lovely round £10. Postage and Packing is just £1.

Boy, this is definitely the quickest blog post I have ever written.
I am so excited aaaaaAAaAaaaaaa :) :)

:: OPEN :: 100K Twitter Party Madness. 3-Day Celebration and Giveaways

2011-11-24T19:04:00.002Z

Would be able to pinpoint, out of the blue, something you've done more than 100 000 times in your life? I couldn't either, apart from thing: tweeting. I am not sure how I managed to get that point but it appears that I have tweeted more than 100 000 times. Addicted much? Twitter is a much more than an addiction for me though, it's a place where I met loads of lovely people.

To mark the occasion and thank you for following me through happiness, rants, tears, tantrum, {makeup} tweets and much more, I would like to invite you to a little 3-day twitter party.

Each day, starting today, I will be giving away a beauty product. To take part, you'll have to watch out the giveaway tweet of the day (this will contain the #100kmadness tag) and retweet the message it until midnight that day. Winner will be chosen at random and the 3 winners will be announced on Sunday, after the X Factor shenaniggans.

What to win: This is a 3-day twitter party, 3 prizes in total, 1 prize a day (photo and details below)
Who can enter: Open to all my twitter followers , the giveaway is international
How to Enter: Follow me on twitter (http://www.twitter.com/tsunimee) and retweet the giveaway tweet of the day.

Prizes
Day One: 3 pairs of Eye Candy false eyelashes
(model numbers 006, 009 and 010)

Day 2: Festive Red Party Pack: - 1 metallic red Ruby and Millie hard cased cosmetic case with mirror
- 1 Barry Red Glittery Red Lipgloss
- 1 Ruby and Millie foundation brush
- 1 red Revlon eye contour brush
and last but not least 1 Ardell Lash Starter Kit (101 lashes, glue, and lashes applicator/facilitator)

Day 3: Wash Off Instant Glow Kit containing - 1 St Tropez Wash Off Instant Glow BODY Lotion (150 ml)
- 1 St Tropez Wash Off Instant Glow FACE Lotion (50 ml)
- 1 St Tropez Powder Bronzer (12)

Rules & Other Boring Information:

- Must be a follower of @tsunimee on twitter http://www.twitter.com/tsunimee
- Multiple entries are accepted
- Winners will be chosen randomly.
- This giveaway is first and foremost for my twitter followers: you can naturally comment on this blogpost, but they won’t count as entries for the twitter giveaway
- All prizes were purchased by me, over the past 12 months. All items are brand New and never been swatched or used.

Happy tweeting and good luck :) xx
@tsunimee

Free Manicure anyone?

2011-11-23T17:20:00.001Z

"The decorators, the pixies, the time of the month, mother nature's monthly gift etc..." We dislike our monthly periods so much, we like to rename them to make them more bearable. If only we could be rewarded to have to live with them! Well... we are. Tampax and Always have teamed up to launch its limited edition ‘Free Manicure’ offer, available at hundreds of beauty salons across the UK. That's right.

Buy a special pack of Always or Tampax and get a free manicure! No catch!

To take advantage of this limited offer, this is what you need to do:

1. Purchase a special pack of Always or Tampax featuring the ‘Free Manicure’ sticker before 31st December 2011
2. Visit www.alwaysmanicure.com or www.tampaxmanicure.com to find their nearest participating salon (I am so happy, there is a place in my little poxy town who does it, woop! :)
3. Book a nail treatment with the salon before 31st March 2012 quoting ‘Always and Tampax Manicures’
4. Print the voucher and take it, along with the on-pack sticker, to their appointment.

Thank you mother nature! :)

Ultimate Strapless by Wonderbra: Ultimate party accessory?

2011-11-20T22:55:00.000Z

Sharing your impressions on a strapless bra on a beauty blog might seem a little bit odd and unexpected but if you think about it, it might not seem too much out of place. You can wear the most amazing makeup ever and have the most gorgeous mane but wearing the wrong bra might let down your whole appearance and the way you feel about it.

The last four times I've gone on a night out I've found myself wearing a strapless top/dress so I thought it was high time I treated myself to a nice strapless bra from a very well established brand. The gorgeous ultimate strapless bra from Wonderbra has been on my radar for a while but its recommended retail price of £36 had always put me off. When I saw it reduced to £24 on Amazon with free delivery, I thought the time was right.

I have tremendous respect for the brand Wonderbra. My very first cleavage enhancing add-a-cup push-up padded bra was a Wonderbra. The fabric was stiff coarse lace, very noticeable under soft fabric, it gave me boobs like missiles but I absolutely loved it, and I wore it to death, until it became yellow and it had to bra cemetery. I also have in my wardrobe the amazing Wonderbra plunge multiway and a everyday black one with a little unexpected saucy red lining. I love Wonderbra and I had big expectations for the ultimate strapless.

So what makes the ultimate strapless special and stand out from the crowd? What makes it worth £36?

Instead of underwiring that sits underneath your boobs, the Wonderbra Ultimate strapless bra uses innovative polycarbonate "hand" shaped structures moulded into smooth, seamfree microfibre cups.

So the idea of this bra is to give you the support as your own pair of hands would. To top it all off, Wonderbra subjected their ultimate strapless bra to rigorous fun tests on YouTube: the wriggle, the jump and the twist tests. . I particularly loved the jumping test, when the girl tries to flatten the suitcase and I just had to get this bra.

So, how the ultimate strapless perform? Well, Wonderbra definitely didn't exaggerate about the support. Once this baby on, your bosom is truly well supported and won't budge. However I felt it did nothing to lift my breast nor boost the size of my cleavage. I felt it made my breast appear smaller and somewhat dragged down even though it did a good job of maintaining it firmly in place. I felt that Wonderbra spent so much time making sure this bra gives you amazing support that they forgot the 'lift' part.

It could well be that a bigger size than normal could have flattered me more but personally, for a bra worn under a top which shows cleavage, I prefer to go for a bra which is a tad on the small side to give the illusion of land of plentiful (one could hope) and it's almost spilling with boobage. What I expect first and foremost from a Wonderbra is a lift and the illusion of a fuller enhanced breast and then and only then unconditional support as you jump, wiggle, and whatever you do.

Another thing which disappointed me is that the only way you can wear this bra is strapless and there are no hooks to put a strap if you wanted to, or transform it as a halter neck bra.

Trialling this bra made me appreciate even more my soft moulded £9 bra from ... Matalan, of all places. It might not have the fancy lace, not the wide band coated with silicone under the bra itself for added stay on power, but it gives me cracking cleavage, support, flexibility and most of all confidence to wear a strapless top or dress. Girls with bigger breast or who feel that their breast is big enough would absolutely love the support of this bra, it's nothing like what I've experienced before but sadly this is not the one for my modest 32C plums.

Do you often wear strapless numbers?
Which strapless bra do you swear by?

Tiggress Trio from Max Factor

2011-11-15T15:00:00.000Z

Back in September, when Boots was doing an amazing 3 for 2 offer for a whole month, this little trio eyeshadow from Max Factor ended up in my basket. This is tiggress eyeshadow trio, which can be used dry or wet.

I need to confess I have never used an eyeshadow wet, I am scared of ruining it. I was hoping this would be the perfect opportunity to pop my 'wet eyeshadow cherry' but I just can't do it. I am scared I won't be able to blend the wet texture once on my eyes.

So what does it perform applied dry? It's ok. Definitely nothing to shout home about. The yellow is a nice shade but overall I was hoping the whole trio would deliver more pigmentation. I want my eyeshadow to have more punch, and sadly this screams more 'pussy cat' than 'tiggress'.

Before I fall asleep writing this review, a little picture on how it applies on the eyes.

Adventures in Leeds – Bloggers Meet up: Photos Galore

2011-11-14T20:41:00.000Z

There are not many bloggers events organised in the north of England: Fact! So when there is one, with an opportunity for cheeky boogie and drinks afterwards, it would be rude not to attend, right? Last Saturday, I had the pleasure to attend a big bloggers' meet up in Leeds, meet up organised by the lovely Ray @RayWhoisShe and Tor @tornumber9.

I was, as usual incredibly nervous about attending. I always dread this moment when my blogger friends and acquaintances who never seen in my real life realise that I have an incredibly kind camera and notice the big gap between my flattering angle posy blog photos and the reality. So I gave the activities of the day a miss and arrived late afternoon, when the sun had gone down a little bit. Did it help? A little bit but not much. I can't believe how nervous I was. I felt really self conscious, I felt so much older than everyone else, but the lovely warm welcome from Ray and my partners in crime Ellie and Cat, and the flowing wine really helped a lot with the nerves.

I had planned this day in my head for so long. I had imagined I would have lost 10 pounds of weight for the event, that I would be wearing some lovely French manicure and the most outrageous evening eye makeup. In the end, I turned up at my fattest point ever in my life, minimal makeup (no eyeshadow whatsoever and just some king kong lashes and foundation), and wearing some tracksuit bottoms as I don't have many daywear nice clothes to wear which suit my new fuller figure.

Aaanyway, enough about my insecurities. Let's have a look at some photos, shall we?

Gorgeous girlies: Ellie (@missy_ellie_uk) and Clare (@bigbeautyblog)

Clare and myself

This is Cat (@perfectpolished) and her friend Dave/Davide/Jean Jacques

The lovely Carla (@carlito86) and Sinead (@daintydollymix)

Sinead (@daintydollymix), her new shoes and Catherine (@perfectpolished)

Adorable Lauren (@laurensdressing)

I forgot the names but this is @sparklyvodka in the middle and Tor on the right x

The coolest RayRay @RayWhoisShe

Change of clothes and getting ready to go out. I have tried to take pictures of my eye makeup but failed at capturing the glitter on my eyes. Lipstick and a bit of bronzer was applied after photo. I need to go on bronzer and blusher classes for dummies and learn once and for all.

Photo of the gang before going out in town.

How fabulous is Ellie’s hair!! (far left)

I had such such such a lovely time. It was so nice to be able to meet bloggers in real life!

Little Red Riding Hood met Barry M ...

2011-11-10T15:05:00.000Z

I can't say I am a very charitable person. I don't give enough money to charity really. But there is one charity which always dear to my heart Breast cancer Research Campaign. As every year, I like to ~~force~~ encourage my office to wear pink on pink Friday. It was so much fun. I didn't take photos of my outrageous pink eyes but I managed to take some pictures of the pink manicure I had for the occasion.

I chose to wear my little red riding hood nails (limited edition 2true nail polish in shade 2) with a fresh coat of Barry M pink crackle which got me lots of compliments. I hope you like them too.

and now with ambient lighting :)

Did you also 'celebrate' pink Friday and did pink things on the day?

Hopefully more exciting posts will be coming soon. Please bear with me xx

Simmer Smokey Kit from Models Own

2011-11-10T14:04:00.000Z

I've always been on the look out for small compact eyeshadow palettes where I can achieve a look just by using the colours contained in that one palette and no separate products. When I first laid my eyes on the smokey eye (trio eyeshadow) kits from models own, the first problem for me was to choose the colours and I wanted to buy them all: They have 6 trios on offer, with suitable sexy smokey names, all starting with the letter S: Sultry, Seduce, Smoulder, Sensual, Simmer and Sassy. But I decided to be ... sssensible and just buy one.

So I waited for the half price sale and purchased 'Simmer' trio, the only true matte eyeshadow trio from the collection, at £4 instead of the usual £8. The trio comes up with fully detailed 6-stages instructions on how to achieve a smokey eye and two cute brushes.

Had my local Boots stored some Models Own at the time, I would have had the chance to swatch it beforehand and make a more informed decision. You've guessed it, the trio is just not good enough for me and I can't use it really. The main problem for me is low pigmentation. The light shade hardly shows on my hand (I should have marked the spot really) The warm and dark brown offer better pigmentation but I find them a bit patchy and not just good enough. Cue swatch:

I've tried to create a makeup look with the trio to demonstrate the colours applied on the eyes but I was unable to create a look I was happy with it and I found I needed to add some darker brown to add a bit of depth to the look, which totally defeated the purpose of finding a handy self sufficient eyeshadow palette.

Matte eyeshadows palettes are renowned to be a little more difficult to get it right and I knew it would be a gamble before buying it. Thanks goodness Simmer was a half price gamble, as I would have been ever more sorely disappointed. Don't let it deter you from swatching the other smokey trios, but you'll be better off skipping simmer. Right, there's no more words starting with S I can find..

Thank you for reading.

Return to Pandora - My Halloween antics

2011-11-08T15:21:00.000Z

It's been so long since I last blogged, I feel I have forgotten how to do it. I hope you will excuse this very simple post from me. I am nowhere near sorted computer wise but I can finally talk about computer gate without crumbling into tears (this lump in the throat won't give me a rest though)

Time away from it all has helped me but nothing has been more uplifting than the amazing & overwhelming support from you all, from blogosphere and twitterland. Then something else happened: you guys were so lovely, I felt I just couldn't come back on twitter, with just tweeting about doom and gloom. Until one of you - and you will recognise yourself - told me I could come back, no matter what tweets I was up to post. That gave me the biggest lift in the world and I happy I have come back to twitterland. Coming back to the bloggosphere (this for me includes blog reading and commenting on your wiriting) is taking longer but it is on the cards, when access to technology permits it.

To ease myself gently back into blogging, I wanted to share a few photos with you, photos from one memorable and happy week end: Halloween weekend. Some of you will know that Halloween is a big a deal for me. It's quite simply my favourite day of the year. With the computer apocalypse happening, I was feeling so low that I didn't even know if I was going to celebrate it. Being a whopping 10 pounds heavier (my all time heaviest) didn't help my confidence but I couldn't live with myself not doing anything for Halloween. I am so glad I made the effort. It was such a blast. Nothing could have spoilt my mood: not the uncomfortable lenses, the rain or the fact that my camera broke in the middle of the night!

A big fan of Avatar movie, I wanted to be a (tsu)na'vi again this year but wanted to jazz up my makeup a little and make it a little bit more three dimensional. I went out dressed as an avatar twice: Saturday 28 November and the actual Halloween night, Monday 31st October. The pictures below are from 31st October, where a new camera had to be purchased in emergency for the occasion.

I prefer the look of the lenses I wore on Saturday night but I prefer the avatar marking of this makeup look.

Necklace (as I lost the one from last year) was a bargain from BHS: 50p ladies and gentlemen. Get in!

No way on earth I could have fitted in my brown skirt from last year. This bargain back up from eBay just had to do.

Posing with Beetlejuice and the only thing I could think of at this stage was the new polishes from Models Own bearing the same name

I don't who he was but he did scare me!

Want to see what I used to do my makeup? Here, here :)

Thank you so so so much again for your support
liloo xx

Becoming Blue for Halloween

2011-11-08T15:19:00.001Z

Take one liloo with no makeup on. This is so scary in itself, it could have been perfect to scare the kids out, or anyone for that matter.

Leave your hair to grow for a year, braid your hair and put the coolest looking contact lenses in. I bought them with my own money from eyesbright.com and I chose the ones which were actually called 'avatar' lenses. The lenses looked absolutely amazing, the perfect shade of yellow with darker brown on the outer circle. However, I think I must have worn them inside them out as I could really feel the lenses throughout the night. To make matter worse, I forgot to remove them at the end of the night, slept with them and ended up with a blurry vision for a day which spooked me out. For the love of Halloween, no matter how tipsy you are, please please please remember to take out your special effects lenses before going to bed, ok?

I was asked if I was going to the full works and get my whole body blue but I chose to do a half mask again and I am so glad I did. It was raining on both nights (Saturday preceding Halloween and Halloween night itself) and I can't begin to imagine what it would have been like to be rained on with wet paint smudging all over the body.

This is what I used: For the actual paint, I mixed a bit of blue and white Ben Nye Magicolor Liquid Paint. No need to mix it water, it's already the perfect consistency. I only mixed the blue and white to make the blue a smidge lighter. I absolutely love this face paint, and I have used the blue many times as a eyeliner on my toucan look and on my flamingo look

I chose the biggest eyelashes I could find in my stash, added a bit of black in the crease to define the eyes a bit more than last year. The face paint is great, very resisting to the elements. The downside is that it's very hard to blend eyeshadow on top. Blend too much and you start to wear off the paint underneath. To add a little bit of sparkle, I added some glitter pigment from Mac on the eyelids.

Once the base was on, I added my markings very very gently with a random brush and some plain black eyeshadow. The little white dots were done by simply dipping an old eyeliner brush straight into the white liquid paint.

The piece de resistance was my lovely handmade ears from my best friend @joannadelilah, the ultimate master of disguise on YouTube. She made them herself, from scratch, first making a mould and then creating them with some liquid latex! I love my ears, I've worn them 4 times now. I have the nose to go with it but I am a bit shy to wear it.

Finishes touches were some mini crystals stuck on some white dots and a generous spray of Ben Nye Final Seal all over my face. My avatar mask stayed so well through the night. Even the little crystals stay put! The response I had throughout the night was absolutely amazing. I was the only avatar in the hood but people recognised me instantly. 'Oh it's Avatar' they kept on saying. I had such a buzz, despite my fuller figure this year.

I think I might have gone overboard on the white dots, I prefer the look I was wearing on Halloween Night itself (Monday 31st October) but much prefer the look of these avatar lenses.

Did you go out for Halloween? Feel free to link me to your piccies. I'd love to have a look! x

tsuna'vi
(liloo)

The thing with hope

2011-10-18T19:49:00.000+01:00

They say hope is good, that hope gives you the fuel to continue on in the face of adversity. I'm not convinced any more. If I hadn't been hoping that a second doctor could revive my hard drive, I wouldn't feel the crushing pain I am feeling right now. In fact, I had so much hope, I had already a third course of action planned: if 2nd computer doctor can't do anything, there is always the ~~crooky~~ costly data recover specialist route. I have just received the final diagnosis, and it really *is* the end:

"He found out the problem was something called 'spindle wear' which is when the needle inside is damaged so it can't read the data at all. He said it's from either damage to the HD or just because the HD wasn't that good quality maybe because of this he can't extract any data off it at all.... and even if you tried to send it off to a company they won't be able to either. I'm really sorry Liloo, I know it meant a lot but it really *is* the worst thing that could happen to it :(("

There is really nothing that can be done now and I really have lost everything. I can now fully concentrate on grieving my loss and moving on. But for now I am crushed and memories of what was stored on this hard drive is making me feel sick and cry uncontrollably. There are some makeup looks on there which I am never going to recreate, it's too painful. For that, I guess it's better if I try to believe that it never existed.

The thing with me is that even though my frequency of posts was not necessarily there to show it, I had been building slowly but surely a huge bank of blog posts and not a week end or evening passed which wasn't dedicated to blogging in some sort: whether it'd be just plain writing, or taking photos, editing them, practising makeup looks etc. While I had been quite an active tweeter, there was rarely a moment of my time at home which wasn’t spent on working on something for the blog.

Recently, the very few small blog posts which you've seen on my blog were some survivors from the memory card of my camera, and hope gave me the courage to work on there while my hard drive recovers. Now I am faced with recreating stuff which I have lost and I simply don't have the courage to face the thought. It's simply devastating and once again I am broken.

While this netbook I am using at the moment gives me internet access and a wider-than-a-phone keyboard, it is no means suitable to function as a blogger. The very few posts you saw were written and edited on a normal computer, which necessitated me staying behind at uni to work on them. You'll appreciate that after a full day at work, the last thing I want to do, is to stay behind at uni, while I am dying to go back home, in the comfort of my flat.

Also, while I could technically comment on blogposts read on this netbook, I can't even see the colours properly (the display is of very poor quality - even my phone offers a better display) therefore not being able to appreciate fully the blog updates of my dear 350 blog subscriptions. It might sound pathetic and extreme, but I really feel a bit disabled without my computer.

While technically I could just buy another new drive (£50?) and have installed it in this machine, and be ‘up and running’ I was strongly discouraged to do so, as it turns out, as three of my computer friends have observed, that it's the machine itself and its cheap components which could have contributed to its failure.

I could kick myself for many things, many things I should have done to prevent from recent events to have happened, but now what I am kicking myself the most with, is to have hoped that things could get better. Nietzsche was right: "Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man".

Allow me some more time to get better and get back on my feet, as I am beyond broken at the moment and really need to recover properly this time.

Biscuit Nails by Next Oh So… Cosmetics

2011-10-16T18:39:00.001+01:00

To promote the (recent?) release 'Oh so...' their affordable range of Cosmetics, Next is offering four shades of nail polishes when you purchase of copy of Easy Living Magazine. I had no idea Next was doing makeup, so this operation is perfect for me, if only for one slighty detail...

There is a problem right away: the magazine costs £3.70 and the nail polish retails for just £2.50. Ooops. But it's worth it if the shade is stunning, right?

There are 4 shades on offer: biscuit (nude) shimmer (white with golden shimmer shining through it) blush (a delicate pink) and metal (dark metal grey).

My friend and I went half and half and bought 'biscuit'. I now wish we bought shimmer and biscuit doesn't suit her nor me. The shape of the bottle will remind you straight away of the bottle from Beautyuk, apart from the top of the bottle which less round than the bottle of the Beautyuk.

Biscuit applied beautifully, had a little bit of dragging but gave me perfect coverage in 2 coats. Drying time was fantastic. I am very impressed by the quality. Sadly this shade is not for my friend, nor for me, and reminds me a little bit of Caramel from Nails Inc, another magazine/bottle of coke freebie, but not as 'horrendous'.

If any of you bought 'shimmer' and fancy a swap let me know and let’s do business

Little Red Riding Hood Sparkly Red Nails

2011-10-15T19:20:00.000+01:00

I am really excited to present to you this little beauty of nail polish. As part of their brand new 'crystal' collection, Superdrug owned brand 2true has released 4 gorgeous ultra sparkly and ultra festive nail polishes. Ditch the 'crystal' name, they scream 'party' all over, so much so that I have decided to rename this collection, the 'party' collection as I feel it's much more appropriate and more fun.

For those of you new to 2true polishes, these eyeko lookalike bottles polishes are exclusively sold at Superdrug, for the price of £1.99 and they have a permanent offer, whereby you can get 3 polishes for £4.99. Thank goodness my store only had the red polish in as otherwise, I think I would have bought the whole blooming lot.

For you today, I have stunning shade 2, which is described on the website as VAMPISH RED and about 10 billion pictures. I just couldn’t narrow it down any further. The shine and the richness of the finely milled sparkle/glitter inside is absolutely incredible and I can't believe how pretty it is.

Application was ok. Not a fairy tale, but not your worst nightmare also. The polish is a liiiittle bit too thick for my liking but other than that this polish is a little stunner. On the budget side of 'party red' polishes, I still would prefer ELF red velvet, but the advantage with 2true vampish red is that you can find in any Superdrug, whereas Elf is a bit faffy and you need to place an order online and before you know it you end up with £30 in your basket because they have an offer on.

What I like the most about this polish is that it almost gives the illusion of a very rich glitter polish, but without the grittiness and removal nightmare of a real glitter polish (I am looking at you Barry M). The finish is very smooth and removal was a doddle. Had the formula been a little bit thinner, 'Vampish Red' would have easily beaten my ultimate favourite nail polish from 2true, the gorgeous lime green. For now Vampish sits comfortably at spot no.2

This polish would be ideal to compliment a vampire, a little red devil, a little red riding hood etc halloween outfit on a budget. Make sure to apply a base (I had some staining with the lime green polish from 2true), make a point not to overload the brush during application and you'll love it. Vampish Red is a limited edition. I would imagine it'd be gone after Christmas so grab it now while you can.

Oh did I say it was £1.99? s-weet!

p.s
I wouldn't wish to be fussy, but a sparkly green nail polish would have been a lovely addition to the collection my wallet is not complaining though.

Taking your Halloween costume to the next level...

2011-10-14T13:23:00.002+01:00

Do you know what's frustrating? You want to make an impression, take your fancy dress costume to the next level, go and make the effort and expense to buy some fancy coloured contact lenses and they're rubbish: You try them on and they look nothing like the picture, and they are 10,000 times darker and duller. If only you could see it on a real person. Unless contact lenses buyers/wearer start to blog their experiences share their real unedited pictures or videos, buying contact lenses is always going to be a risky business.

Whilst looking for some contact lenses yesterday, I stumbled upon eyesbright.com who have been going the extra mile to show us what their lenses look like on a real person. They have set a whole youtube channel full of normal people like you and me, men or women, showcasing the lenses in a video footage and it's quite simply genius! And and and they really made an effort to create a makeup look around the character to showcase the lenses.

Not all the lenses that eyebrights sell have got youtube videos for them but it's a start.

Fancy, for example, some Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter's eyes?
This is the official picture and this is the video for it.

Quite a difference huh?

If you're wondering, despite the strong 'advertorial' tone of this blog post, no one has contacted me to tell you about eyebrights. Probably the whole world already knows about them. I didn't personally and wanted to shout over the rooftops about their youtube channel, as I think it's simple, revolutionary and helpful.

Will you be getting some lenses for this Halloween?

Irreplaceable Crush: NOTD

2011-10-11T00:40:00.003+01:00

Another nail post? Yes, please bear with me as I muster the courage to take some new photos and blog about something else. At the moment, I am using the materials which survived the computer apocalypse and which were stored on my camera memory card.

There are nail polishes that you like, nail polishes that you really like and polishes that you like so much, you just can't help but looking at your nails constantly. 'Irreplaceable' nail polish from Essence belongs to the third category and has captivated me like no other polishes,well if you don't count Holographic from Gosh, which frankly belongs to a league of its own. I first came across 'Irreplaceable' on a Slovenian Blog, Biba's Beauty Corner, a blog I have become very fond of, as the photos are incredible and it features different products from the typical British nail blogs I follow.

Back to 'irreplaceable' and my attempt at trying at to explain to you why it fascinates me so much. Imagine a sunny and golden sandy beach, and this is what the polish reminds me of. In fact, forget the 'irreplaceable' name, I would like to call this nail polish 'golden sands'.

This is how I would have liked my Boots No. 7 (Sundowner Collection) 'Sultry Sands' to have been like. The colour is absolutely gorgeous, it applies beautifully, smoothly, so easily and to top it all off, it is dries very quickly. Drying time was a major issue with the sultry sands from No.7, so much so that I m convinced that an hour would not be enough for it to dry fully, it's that bad.

Irreplaceable could also be called 'unfindable' as sadly, if you live in the UK this is a very hard to find nail polish. Yes I might be lucky to live in a country which sells really good quality polishes at a low price (Barry M, BeautyUk and 17 Cosmetics polishes spring to mind) but I will always be jealous of my fellow European Bloggers (the swatchaholic and nihrida - to name but a few) and their easy access to stunning and budget friendly Essence polishes.

I am very emotionally attached to this 5ml bottle: I acquired it in a makeup swap with Biba herself and if I break it, I know this is really going to be irreplaceable. This polish gives me gorgeous golden sandy nude nails in minutes (2 coats), goes pretty much with anything, and is for me a minimum effort maximum impact polish.

I am in love.

Want to see more Essence Polishes? Pop over to Biba's blog. I left my heart on there.

Fury, Sulk and Revenge

2011-10-08T18:25:00.000+01:00

Can anger ever be a good thing and lead to positive things? I'm never going to be proud of the countless times I've lost my temper and said outrageous things in the heat of the moment but I do feel that, if channelled properly, anger can lead to good things, such as getting over a past boyfriend or help produce great pieces of writing. 17 Cosmetics took inspiration from strong feelings and emotions a woman can go through and produced a great collection of eyeshadows and nail polishes. They named their collection 'A woman Scorned' after 'Hell has no fury like a woman scorned' a verse from The Mourning Bride, a poem from William Congreve.

Today, I would love love share with you my impressions on the nail polishes from the collection.

Emotional indeed I was when I first held the bottle of 'Fury' in my hand. After rolling it in my hands, I felt my heart skipped a beat as I thought 17 Cosmetics produced a dupe of Chanel Peridot. Well, Chanel Peridot it isn't but deep rich bronzy perfect gold it is, with specks of green and red shining though: red and green, incidentally echoing the 2 others shades of the nail collection.

'Fury' was a delight to apply and opacity was achieved in 2 coats. The colour reminded me of my favourite gold nail polish from Avon mixed with a little stinker from Bodycare, which I had to throw away as the smell was too bad. I was very impressed with Fury.

Revenge reminded me straight away of Chanel Paradoxal but redder and better. I only own a dupe of Chanel Paradoxal but one things which annoys me is the elusive subtle shimmer, which unless shown under the right lighting, won't show at all.

Revenge is not moody as Paradoxal and will more readily show you its gorgeous shimmer inside. Application was a doddle, required no clean up whatsoever (then again, I do apply my polish 1 mile away from the edges) and dried very quickly.

And last but not least, this is Sulk, a gorgeous shimmery green nail, with bright specks of lime green and blue shining through it. Don't be fooled by the apparent brushstrokes on my pictures. Application was very easy, so easy that I rushed through it, taken by the moment and forgetting that I should probably make more of an effort knowing full well I was going to blog about it.

If you like one of the best seller from 17 Cosmetics (Peacock) , Sulk ... won't leave you sulking *badum, pssh*

The best about this collection: the prices. Each polish costs £2.99, and if you buy 2 polishes at the moment, you get rewarded twice: a gorgeous festive gift with 17 cosmetics (containing a glittery eyeshadow, a black eyeliner and a lipgloss) and a no.7 voucher expiring in November. Be quick, the gift with purchase is flying off the shelves. I went to Boots earlier on (yes, because no week end is complete with a visit to Boots and Superdrug) and there was only one box left!

Fury, Revenge and Sulk: which one gives you envy?

What? 17 Cosmetics 'A Woman Scorned' Collection, Nail Polishes
How much? £2.99 each
Where? Boots
Disclosure: Samples provided by the company. I know I can't believe it myself! ^_^

A younger looking skin in 30 days?

2011-10-07T13:57:00.000+01:00

I don't go to the beautician very often (twice a year maybe?) but when I do when I like to treat myself with a micro dermabrasion treatment (around £30). Money doesn't grow on trees so I'm always on the lookout for exfoliation products to try at home in between my beautician treats.

I've seen this kit today and I'm getting all excited, as excited as I was when they first started to release micro dermabrasion kits to use as home. It's a glycolic acid 30-day treatment and it's from The Sanctuary, a brand I know I won't have any problems sourcing and that even my rubbish Boots shop will have. The name is ever so pretentious, it's called 'the 30 Day Youth Revolution' but I really want to try it.

It's a two-part treatment system (£22.50) which combines a skin renewal Glycolic Peel-off Mask and anti wrinkle Serum which promises to reveal, used on a daily basis, over a period of 30 days to reveal younger, smoother and brighter skin.

They could have maybe chosen an older model in the video but other than that I am really tempted: The peel off mask is only to be used twice a week and it's the serum that they use every day, which I should be able to manage. Santa, if by any chance you're reading, you know what to do...

Lucky Lilac Nails

2011-10-07T13:56:00.000+01:00

In the style of 3 for 2 Boots offers, I wanted to offer you swatches of three no.7 nail polishes, but external circumstances decided otherwise and I only have this lilac number to share with you. This is 'Lucky Lilac' from no.7 and it's quite a beauty. It reminds me of my beloved Models Own Utopia but in a lilac variation.

I first wore it on Friday a month ago, before a special euromillions roll over. Guess what? It didn't bring me any luck and I didn't scoop the jackpot but it gave me hassle free coverage in 2 coats and pretty nails for the week end.

If you have a spare no.7 voucher (the current one expires this Sunday 9 October), you can also get your mitts on Lucky Lilac for £2, same price as a ticket for the euromillions incidentally..

What do you think?

Overglaze: the latest gossip

2011-10-06T18:27:00.001+01:00

Can't get your hands on 'Rainbow', the gorgeous discontinued 'flakie' top coat from Gosh? Not a problem. Inspired by the main female characters (Blair, Lily and Serena) of the 'Gossip Girl' American TV series, Nails Inc have released 3 gorgeous collections of special effect nail polishes. Don't call them 'flakies', these are 'overglaze' top coats, dahling!

Using hand cut particles, overglaze top coats will give your nails a futuristic finish which is bang on trend for this season. Applied over a deep glossy nails inc polish, overglaze provides a unique and exciting look for your nails

Meet Blair, a Teal black Blair nail polish teamed with Privileged blue / green overglaze top coat

This is Lily, a Plum black Lily nail polish teamed with High Society red / green overglaze top coat.

and last but not least, meet Serena, a patent black Serena nail polish teamed with It Girl electric blue overglaze top coat

Now, I know what you're going to ask. Can you buy the overglaze top coat separate? No, as far as you know you can't and you need to buy the whole collection, which is £20 per 'character'. But if you don't mind spending £17.50 in Chanel polish, then £20 in a collection of 2 polishes, with limitless combinations brought with the fancy top coat shouldn't be too much a problem :P

Do the nail polish correspond to the personality and look of the characters of the series? I couldn't tell you, I need to confess that I've not watched the series, but boy these polishes are gorgeous and get me more excited than any magnetic polish could ever do!

What? Nails Inc Gossip Girl Special Effects Overglaze Polishes
How much? £20 for one set of 2x10ml bottles
Where? Nails Inc website.

Location, Location, Location

2011-10-06T15:01:00.000+01:00

A few days have been passed since HDA (hard drive apocalypse) and I'd like to feel that the worst about mourning for my lost data is behind me. What kills me is remembering details on what I've lost.

Fortunately, before this week end, I didn't delete a 3GB full to the brim camera memory card so I've got a bit of raw material to work with. The problems are finding the motivation to redo some work which took me ages before to complete and finding a computer to do it on. But now on top of feeling broken, deflated and generally unmotivated, I am beginning to feel more and more guilty about time accumulating, and posts and reviews which have not been done. I know full well I am not a magazine, and the world won't stop turning if I am not posting but I just don't feel right about it and it bugs me. That and there is only so much 'come dine with me' (dear me, the people in 'come dine with me' can be so rude to each other.)and freaking 'location, location, location' I can watch.

I might be despising tv more than usual as I know I have a serious amount of blogging to do, and a serious amount to redo it all. I don't know where to start and how to go about it again. It is seriously daunting.

All is not lost for definite definite yet, and I have another lifeline to use, before going the final costly 'specialist data recovery route' but this could take weeks before an outcome, with a chance or not to have something back at the end of it. Do I could stand behind at work, when my work day is over, go to computer room or whatever and do some blogging done and have a happier conscience or do I go home, with guilt accumulating, and be bored to death at home, fixating on Kirtie Allsopp's eyebrows and counting down the minutes till bed time?

I did back up my data but not often enough and I didn't have a set routine about it as it was a very faffy operation. If you're reading this, learn from my mistakes, plug your external drive in (or get one even - Comet or Currys is not closing till 8pm, no excuse!) and give your data a little back up. I wouldn't wish my worst enemy to go through what I'm going through.

I miss blogging so much. However the balance between 'proper' reviews, nail posts, makeup looks and 'press releases' isn't going to be good for my immediate future posts. Please bear with me, while I pick up the pieces of myself and find my feet again. Thank you guys so so so much for all your kind messages. xxx

p.s
@bigfashionista: kellie, how about a Phil Spencer Nom or Vom Special?

The verdict

2011-10-03T22:03:00.002+01:00

Dearest Liloo,

I have reached the end of the road with the hard drive. I am unable to communicate with it. It is making regular mechanical sounds which are not normal; I believe a piece of hardware inside the drive has failed.

I've only tried relatively basic things such as trying it in a couple of different computers (...) and trying to plug it into the hard drive caddy and use with two different laptops etc. The computers can see that there is a 160GB hard drive plugged into the system but cannot do anything with it.

With the data being as important as it is I think it's best one of the specialist companies with a lab have a look at it. There are more aggressive ways of trying to make it work but if they don't work it means that chances of recovery are lower.

I know it's no help but with hundreds and hundreds of computers at work I see a failed hard drive every week. It's a sad situation but happens to all hard drives at some point. I have had three fail on me.

Do you want the computer back and put together as it was or do you want it back without the hard drive inside it so you can do something with it?

So this is it. I can't believe I am through this again. Just over a year ago, the same thing happened and I can't take it anymore. This is truly heart breaking. I've lost so much stuff it's unreal: from halloween looks I was waiting to post for a while, tribute to my best friend recreating some of her looks, thousands of photos i took for the blog, hours and months of work all gone. My computer is everything to me. I live on my own and I basically spend every hour i am not sleeping on it. The thought of proper blogging and posting reviews and so on is just beyond unimaginable. I've lost so much writing, and photos. It takes me for ever to take photos, it solely depends on sunny weekends and as you know they dont come often in england, despite the surreal weather we had to start October.

I got £300 left in the bank to finish the month, and this will be all gone if I choose the 'data recovery specialist route', some even charge £400 to do it. There is no even guarantee they retrieve stuff. Then add £400 to buy another pc and my bank won't let have a loan. London for towib2 is out of the question. Can someone tell @lbqblog about it cos I don't have the courage to let her down again. I am not going to make the #nin thing either, the newcastle thing as it seems very superfluous, when money is so tight. I am sorry ladyfromatramp (sp?)

Thank you you all so much for your all kind words fo support, love, hope and candles. It helped me through yesterday and today. Right now i cant hold the tears any longer. On the plus side, my boiler is now fixed, after three weeks of cold water. Here's the thing though, I couldnt care less about hot water, greggs pasties or halloween even, and that's my favourite day of the year. All I wanted was my little baby to be revived.

My head is pounding with so much crying. I am not sure what to do right now to make me feel better
I am not the kind person wh will do anything silly, you dont need to worry about that but right now I feel broken, totally broken. Thank you for your support

xxx

liloo

Why me?

2011-10-02T21:59:00.001+01:00

Dear god, please not again...

To say that this week end has been a roller coaster of emotions is an understatement. It feels like I've been put through some test. I don't have much in my life in england, other than a crap ton of makeup, a permanent job, good health i guess, plenty of virtual friends, and my baby: my computer, holding some precious data which is very valuable to me. Tonight, after a very nervous visit by the landlord, the worst has happened: computer won't boot, windows won't start and I am very worried. My computer friend from work, who can't see my computer before tomorrow is very pessimistic. He fears a hard disk failure, which would mean, in his words, that the computer might be f*cked and the data with it. Of course I've backed it up but it's been so long since I backed up and I am very worried. About a year ago, i lost everything, and i mean everything, from childhood photos, to other bits and pieces which was my life basically. I can't go through this again. Some of you following me on twitter will remember that I solicited your good vibes and good luck wishes for the visit of the landlord today which I am very grateful for. (My boiler is broken, damaged the storage room through leaking and I was very nervous to inform the landlord about it).

My computer - well the data stored on it - is everything to me. If you have a minute, and a virtual candle, please spare a thought for me and hope my hard drive has not died.

As for 'les petits cadeaux' (you know the giveaway thing which I update every Monday) I am really sorry. I dont think I will be in a position to update it time or at all for tomorrow.

xx

liloo

The foundation I've been looking for?

2011-09-30T17:34:00.000+01:00

What time is it? It's time for another 'ghetto' press release. Brace yourselves. I don't know about you but I haven't found my holy grail foundation. I'm a bit bored of Revlon Colorstay, Mac Studio Fix is not helping my dry skin and the 3 latest foundations from Max Factor left me very unimpressed. What I need is full coverage and suited for dry skin. This new foundation from Revlon popped under my eyes today, as I was paying a short visit to Superdrug and I wanted to share it with you.

This is the latest from Revlon and it is called 'Age Defying with DNA Advantage' foundation.

NEW Revlon Age Defying with DNA Advantage Cream Makeup combines makeup + powerful anti-aging skincare to help protect skin's DNA to fight the signs of aging. 96% of women saw flawless, younger-looking skin in two weeks. Lines and wrinkles are visibly diminished while skin is refreshed, hydrated, revitalized. SPF 20

There's some more ~~blabla~~ information on the website here, but I'll skip to the bit which got me more interested:

provides flawless, moisturizing, complete coverage to even out skin tone and hide imperfections.

Complete coverage did you say? This sounds like music to my ears.

Yes, the DNA bit sounds very fancy and they made an effort to replicate the shape of the dna in the design of the bottle but what I am most bothered about is how it looks on my skin really. Having a quick play with it in the shop, I found the lid to be a little bit on the tacky side but there was something which caught my attention: the non smell of the foundation. I would need to double check that, as I still can't believe it myself, but I *think* this has a virtually non detectable smell.

As you can see from my 'professional official photo' the foundation is on special offer and I am really tempted. Ageless Elixir from Mac Factor left me with too much glow on my face. Is the DNA age from Revlon going to be the same? I am scared.

I am scared and annoyed. There are only 4 shades. I am sure I can find one which will suit me, but is it too much hard work to stick to the same shades, Revlon? *grumpy face*

Have you tried Revlon DNA thingy bob foundation yet?

The unconfessable

2011-09-30T16:04:00.001+01:00

No makeup or nail polish talk today. Today, I would like to share with you the story of my friend.

I have this friend who have a irrational phobia of dentists. As much she can, she would try anything to delay visits to the dentist. She's convinced that all dentists are butchers, who are there to hurt you and who have no heart, compassion and understanding with people with a fear of the dentist. This friend lost half of one tooth years ago because of it as she was too scared to have a filling. Today, I took my friend to the dentist, for a regular scale and polish, where she specifically asked to have a whole mouth numbed.

How she managed to sit still through countless injections in the mouth, I do not know. A bit drastic and pathetic for a deep clean you will certainly agree but she couldn't manage to receive the treatment otherwise. She did it and words can't describe how happy she was when it was over. Tears running down her face, she could barely speak but she had to tell the dentist and the assistant she loved them, how much they rocked to have been so amazing and patient. You would have thought it was child birth almost. I don't remember seeing someone so moved and happy.

Despite the intense bliss and the emotion, there was still something at the back of her mind which was nagging her: 2 things to be precise.

We'll start with the frivolous one. 'Do whitening toothpastes work, and which one would you recommend?' she asked. Dentist replied that he was strongly against any kind of whitening toothpastes available on the market as they are abrasive. You could tell she was not happy with the answer. She insisted and had the dentist admitting that only 'costly cosmetic treatments are truly effective' and recommending his favourite toothpaste, some toothpaste from Oral B and handed her a sample.

There was something a bit more personal which was nagging her. I believe it has been nagging her for a whole and she felt it was now or never to open up and speak to someone about it. 'What would you recommend for bad breath' she mumbled through her numbed mouth, 'people won't have courage to tell me, but I think I can tell, the way they behave around me (...)

Dentist said explained that b.b (I hope you don't mind this abbreviation) was caused by bacteria, this bacteria creating 'sulphur particles' in your mouth. He recommended my friend to go and get a mouth and wash, not any kind of mouth wash: a 'hydrogen peroxide mouthwash' easily available from a chemist. She left the dentist, tears of happiness uncontrollably running down her face, a mouth numbed, a giant tissue to wipe out any occasional dribble, and a post it note with 'hydrogen peroxide' on it

Together, we went to Boots and Superdrug and bought these products in a bid to combat the problem.

I can't tell if these products work and if these will be enough to relieve her burden but she's excited to try. I am not sure if I should share her story with you. I don't know why I am nervous, it's her who has the embarrassing problem, not me right?
{awkward pause}

B.B might be one of *the* most taboo and embarrassing things to talk about. How do you tell your friend about it? Do they even know? They might be already aware of it, and give themselves stomach-ache with the amount of mints and gum they ingest or they might be totally oblivious to it. If you happen to have a 'friend' who is also concerned about b.b, you have all my compassion {hug}

{another awkward pause goes here}

Want to leave a comment
but unsure what to write?
Please feel free to leave me any recommendations
on whitening toothpastes, I am all ears.

oh, guess what is on special offer at the moment?…

Steamy Glow Makeup Look

2011-09-28T22:48:00.001+01:00

Today I want to share with you a gorgeous little eye shadow I bought from Loulou in a past blog sale. This is Steamy, from Rimmel. Despite being all shimmery, the colours are absolutely gorgeous, very well pigmented and blend easily into the skin.

I've used this eyeshadow trio three times now but on all these occasions I've been unhappy with the pictures I took from my looks. This is the less worst of them. If I could go back, I'd change the lip colour wouldn't have had an orange lower lashline, made my brows darker and put less darn highlighter on my browbone.

I do love this lipstick (it’s called My Beautiful Rocket, from Limecrime - blogged in detail here) but not with this look. The lashes, if you are wondering are my beloved Ardell 131 which I just can’t get enough at the moment.

All in all, I am not happy at all with my look, I feel it does not give any justice to the look but I've promised Loulou to publish it anyway. It's best to consider this as an eye swatch rather than a look look.

To make your click on my blog more worthwhile, I've swatched the other item I bought from Loulou. Have a looks on this gorgeous blush and highlighter. Unlike Steamy from Rimmel, this is still available to buy from Boots. Don't ask me how much as I got this for peanuts but being a product from 17 Cosmetics, this won't break the bank. I am afraid I don't have any decent pictures of me wearing Blush and Glow but I hope the swatch below will be able to show you its potential.

Pretty, huh? So pretty that I've wearing the 'glow' part on top of a pale eyeshadow (vanilla from mac) and made up a pale champagne colour on my eyes.

What can I say? You can take the girl out of the high street, but you can't take the high street from the girl :)

I love loulou, she's a great friend on twitter, buys makeup I would want to buy myself and knows everything there is to know about census returns :P She's on holidays at the moment but she's having a blog giveaway at the moment, to celebrate her 500 blog followers. Click here on the picture below if you want to take part.

Oh, I might just as well remind you about my other blog. I've started this blog which is mainly about giveaways. It's updated every monday morning at 06.00am, before breakfast time, to brighten your monday morning. I called it 'Les Petits Cadeaux' (French for Little Presents) but I find myself referring to it as Giveaway Gazette. I update it once a week with giveaways I find whilst reading my blog subscriptions. Bloggers can also submit their giveaway there.

Les Scarabées de Novembre*

2011-09-28T21:21:00.002+01:00

I have not even played with my Models Own nail polishes purchases from the half price sale and here I am, lusting for more polishes. But wait, hear me out, these are not any nail polishes, these are beetle effect nail polishes. Feast your eyes on the 'Beetle Juice' Collection due to be released sometime in November.

Inspired by colourful beetle bugs,

Models Own will be releasing 5 shades of duochrome nail polishes:

GOLDEN GREEN: a fresh energetic acid;
PINKY BROWN: a warm rusty pink;
PURPLE BLUE: a vibrant punch of fuchsia indigo;
AQUA VIOLET: a true sky shimmer; and
EMERALD BLACK: a bold-blackened midnight peacock

I am not 100% sure about which one is pinky brown (3rd bottle?) and which one is purple blue (2nd bottle), so please excuse me if I didn’t write the names of the polishes on the picture.

Each bottle contains four pearlescent colours mixed into one gleaming shade, and the complex colour-shifting, with flashes of vivid tones and ethereal hues, gives a shimmering duo chrome finish.

Now wouldn't be great if the company did a 48hr free delivery for any purchase including let's say 2 beetle polishes, which should amount to £10, assuming the nail polishes would retail at their usual £5.
I know which ones I want and must get. Golden green, golden green, golden green, which should finally relieve my obsession with £17.50 Chanel Péridot.

What about you?
Will you be having some beetle juice this winter?

*Scarabées de Novembre: French for November Beetles

Crackle me madly notdees

2011-09-25T01:56:00.001+01:00

If you're tired of the crackle nail polish trend, you might want to turn away now. If you still enjoy playing with crackle polishes, these might interest you. When 17 cosmetics released their gold crackle, I was only midly interested. It was not bright and in-your-face gold enough for my liking and I happily skipped it. A little bit more recently 17 cosmetics came back with 2 new additions to their crackle family and released these 2 babies: a vibrant purple crackle and a really original crackle: a mixture of gold, glitter and black crackle.

I think I've already found my perfect purple crackle. It's BROKEN ARROW from MUA Cosmetics and it's perfect on every aspect. I like Broken Arrow so much that not only it's my favourite purple crackle but it might be my favourite crackle polish of all. So I didn't have much hope for the Boots 17 purple crackle to impress me.

I decided to use GAMMA from Illamasqua as a base for my first play and I was really taken by surprise. The vibrancy of the purple is absolutely amazing. It is not as metallic intense as Broken Arrow (but this is turn makes it easier to photograph) but it has the most gorgeous blue undertone which comes to life when a powerful light hit it.

I love the way the crackle created this x shape on my middle finger

Application was easy, even though I have found the formula a bit thick. I like my crackle to be quite chunky so I had to make a point to load the brush to the max before applying the crackle polish onto my nails.

I have yet to ascertain if using a nail polish thinner would alter the crackle formulation or whether it would still crackle? Does anyone of you know?

I was quite excited to try the gold/black/and glitter polish. I decided to use a nude polish underneath: NUDE CHAMPAGNE by Gosh which I am absolutely obsessed with at the moment. This crackle is very unique. In fact, it's so different from any crackle polish that I've known that I would like NOT to call it crackle. Whilst the finished effect is gorgeous and give you ultimate party nails in an instant, the crackle effect is much more subtle. It doesn't crackle as much as 'normal crackles'. Could it be because of the chunky glitter inside it?

I couldn't stop looking at my nails whilst I was wearing this combo but I kept on wishing the glitter had been more fine. Removal as expected was quite laborious because of the chunky glitter. This polish presents the usual glitter dilemma for me. Is it gorgeous enough for me to put up with the removal process.

If you're expecting this polish to be a true crackle, you'll be disappointed. If you're in a rush, and have 2 minutes to jazz up your chipped nude nails before a party: you'll be in love with this and all eyes will be on you too.

I am lucky. I didn’t have to buy these 2 polishes as my friend from work bought them 2 days ago. Me thinks she should leave them in the office all the time :)

As far as I know, these crackle polishes don't have a name.
How would you call them?

What? 17 Cosmetics Nail Extras Crackle Top Coat
How much? £3.99
Where: any boots, even the 'crap' little ones :)

Related posts:
Mua Cosmetics Purple Crackle Nail Polish (Broken Arrow).
Gosh ohmygosh Nude Champagne Nail Polish.
Illamasqua Gamma Nail Polish.

Bohemian Raspberry – My first tutorial

2011-09-24T16:03:00.000+01:00

The lovely Kat from Click and Makeup asked me if I would want to guest post for her while she’s on holidays and perhaps do a ‘eye makeup tutorial’ blog post. What a terrifying prospect. I have never done a tutorial before. I was petrified at the thought but excited at the same time to embrace the challenge. I am using one of my favourite palette. With extreme nervousness, I would like to invite you to skip over to Click and Makeup blog to see my post. AaaAAaaaaa

Bargain Time: Free hair products worth £30: Amazing trade in offer.

2011-09-22T20:02:00.003+01:00

If you're lucky to live in the vicinity to a John Lewis (that’s me out of the question, then) there is this amazing offer which you must must must be aware of. On Thursday 29 September, arm yourself with an empty bottle of shampoo, get yourself to a John Lewis store (find your nearest store here) and collect a full size set of OJON Damage Reverse Shampoo *and* Conditioner.

I don't know much about Ojon and not heard about it before today when a few bloggers (Cas and Caroline) mentioned this offer. What is Ojon?

Ojon is a range of haircare hair treatments formulated with 'nature’s golden elixir, proven to help restore bounce, body, volume and vibrancy to even the most damaged hair'. Ojon Products are made with Ojon oil, a natural plant extract found in the rainforests of Central America. Ojon oil is said to be highly moisturising, making it perfect for dry dull hair and skin.

Yeah yeah yeah, how much is it though? Both the shampoo and the conditioner usually retails for around £20 (although you can buy the set for £30 on QVC channel) so this trade in is offer is really good really!

Or is it? Do I really want to try for free, a shampoo which costs £20 though? What happens if I really like it? I never spend more than £6 in a shampoo. Do I really want to run the risk of trying a product which is so luxurious.

If trialling high end products doesn’t bother you, this offer for you. Get to your John Lewis in good time on Thursday, 29 September as I imagine this offer will be quite popular.

Will you be reversing the damage next Thursday?

Or will a visit to John Lewis likely to create more damage?

Wildflowers EOTD

2011-09-18T23:23:00.000+01:00

Once upon a time, I participated in a makeup swap with an American friend and collected this little colourful palette from LA Colors. This particular one is 'Wildflowers'. La Colors palettes are really cheap in America: this one retailed around $2 dollars if my memory serves me right. Whilst I was tidying, I found it again, waiting for me to show it some love for the first time.

As you can see the colours are nicely pigmented. Its main flaw jumps from the page: It's way too shimmery. The lilac/purple is much more pigmented in real life and I hope you will excuse these hasty swatches. I managed to damage the purple just after taking the photos. Be warned: these shadows are very fragile.

My look today uses all the colours from the palette apart from the coral colour in the middle. In addition, I added Vanilla Mac eyeshadow, a welcome matte highlight in this disco ball look and a bit of Nyx Black to add a bit more depth to the crease.

All in all, I really like the look but I can't help but distracted by the overpowering shimmer. What a shame, what a lovely colour assortment. Back to the drawers it goes then...

Anything I should own from La Colors?

Daring Pink Nails

2011-09-14T13:30:00.000+01:00

If you were releasing a nail polish called 'daring pink', what would it look like? what shade of pink would it be? Today, I am covering for Jade while she's on holidays and guest blogging on 'Fashion and Beauty Disaster' blog where I am wearing and reviewing 'Daring Pink' from Mavala.

Click here or on the picture below to read my post.

Rimmel Kate Lipsticks – lipswatched

2011-09-11T04:12:00.001+01:00

How do you passionately write about something you're not passionate about. You don't! I wouldn't blame you if you decided to skip straight to the swatches. Instead of just modelling for Rimmel Makeup, this time round, Kate Moss took the designing seat and created 7 shades of lipsticks. I wouldn't describe myself a lipstick kind of person but there has been so much hype about the Kate Moss range that I've been dying to see the lipsticks in the flesh and have a little play with the testers from the shop.

Isn't one of the perks of the job to be able to invent names for your creations? I can't hide the fact that I am disappointed that the shades only have numbers. Why didn't they give Kate one more zero to her pay cheque and give her more 'inspiration' to come up with names. Never mind. The shades which interested me the most were the 2 nudes (shades 3 and 8) and the goth purple (shade 4)

You can't really form an opinion of a lipstick before it's applied on your lips, right? Still from testers (I would not recommend anyone to do this) I went ahead and tried 4 lipsticks on my lips. First impression was the lovely fruity scent. The scent is quite strong, I love fruity smells but it might not be to the taste of everyone. Please make sure to have a good sniff and a hand swatch at least.

First lipstick I tried was the shade no.3 nude. I didn't notice much colour to be honest on my lips so I didn't bother taking a photo.

This is shade 8. The shade is much more my type of lipstick but it doesn't scream 'buy me, buy me' at all costs.

Shade 4 (goth purple) surprised me. I quite liked the dark colour on my lips. I think this would be a perfect shade for Halloween but I found the application to be a bit patchy. I can't help but starting to worry instantly about the lasting power and the upkeep of this lipstick, having had a bad experience with Barry M black lipstick. All that this lipstick is doing is making me wish that Sleek Makeup did a pout paint in black so that I could have created my own shade and be confident to wear something truly long lasting.

And last but not least this is shade 2, a lovely bright pink. This is, without a doubt the most flattering colour on my complexion. Application was easier, more satisfying than the nude, and much more creamy than the goth purple. Would I buy this? No. All this is doing is reminding how much I prefer the sleek pout paints in pinkini and rosette.

These lipsticks are all priced at £5.49 and there couldn't be a better moment to indulge if they take your fancy, as they are included in the 'autumn' 3 for 2 offer at Boots. I can't say anything negative about these lipsticks, the packaging is very cute and the colours are very nice but they don't excite me. I hope you have enjoyed the swatches.

I feel a bit bad, I bet a bloke could write more passionately about these lipsticks than me. On a normal basis, I wouldn’t bother posting at all, but the photographing and swatching was a such an adventure, I didn’t want it to go to waste.

Peridot Mirage

2011-09-10T20:34:00.000+01:00

Before apologising for this cruelly deceiving and non eventful title, I wanted to talk briefly about the tumbleweeds on my little jardin this week. I'm not going to apologise for my absence: Doing so would be very pretentious and imply that I might think the world stops going round when I don't blog or that I'm 'contracted' to blog every other day. I'm no under any contract but it's right to assume that things are not going too well when I don't update my blog for a week.

Work is not going so well at the minute. The project I had been working on for years had come to an end and whilst I have been lucky to keep my job, I've been given a new project to work on, project which is quite difficult to get my head round. on top of having to readjust to working life again and sensible sleeping patterns (I had been off work for a month) this project has been leaving me absolutely drained every day, with no energy left to post, including posting even some 'nearly ready' posts, with ready to insert photos' with minimal work involved. This 'new job' will also explain the relative quietness on twitter front. A week has passed, I have gained no further understanding of the big picture of this new job but I have pacified myself resigning myself to stop trying to understand the whys of everything, the big picture and just concentrating on tasks given, hoping that the jigsaw will piece itself eventually and one day I understand more what I am doing.

Anyway. It's the week end and week end means one thing: the weekly trip to Boots and Superdrug to check out whether there are some exciting new products to be swatched, played with, desired and purchased.

It's all gone a bit mad at Boots at the moment. Mad in a good way. The recent bank holiday week end in August saw a massive (near) triple points (10 points per pound spent instead of the usual 4) operation for your advantage and now, Boots on top of trying flogging off their no.7 products have an autumn operation on, which means 3 for 2 offers on countless makeup items. What to buy? There are new releases right, left and centre and you are spoilt for choice.

On the 17 Cosmetics front, it's bye bye (already) the nude palette free for 2 purchases of any items from 17 Cosmetics and hello new autumn shades. The promotion pictures are gorgeous and features a look alike of Ashley (HollywoodNoir makeup on youtube) wearing greens, plums and gold. The collection features some new trios eyeshadows but it's the nail polishes which first caught my attention.

See the first polish on the left? The bronze gold with a bit of green on the side. Well my heart skipped a bit when I saw it as it reminded me straight away of Chanel Peridot and I am absolutely desperate for a UK company to release a dupe of Peridot. My own photograph is no better but I’ll share it anyway:

It was all a mirage unfortunately. You can still see the green shimmer on the outside of the bottle when you roll the bottle in your hand but this is no dupe of Peridot. My heart is broken. Fury is a gorgeous gold but I’ve got plenty of gold polishes at home and I couldn’t justify buying it. The girl on the promotional picture above will give you an idea of what it looks like.

Along with the launch of this autumn collection, prominent spot has been given to the 2 new shades of crackle polishes: a gorgeous black and gold mixed together and a purple crackle:

Still not tempted to part with your hard earned pennies? Maybe these will tempt you. Feast your eyes on the Magnetized Polishes from 17 due to be released on 21 September in selected Boots shops.

Curious about them? Boots made a little video to introduce us to magnetized polishes and show us how to apply it.

So that was me reporting from my local Boots and my dodgy clandestine photos.

Anything tempting you?

The best things in life are free... My side project

2011-09-05T13:29:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to let you know (or remind you) about my second blog, a little project of mine which had been brewing for a quite a while. Those of you following on me twitter will maybe remember the now defunct clonky and impractical 'giveaway bonanza' tweetletter which got outdated the minute I tweeted it. I was also unhappy about the flood it created to my timeline everytime it was updated and although the intention behind was good, the tweetletter was rubbish all around.

Les Petits Cadeaux, or giveaway gazette is born from the ashes of this newsletter and I hope you like it. The concept is simple: The blog is updated every Monday morning, before breakfast time and gives you notification of lots of beauty blogs giveaways, well the ones I know of and comes across whilst reading my blog subscriptions. There is so much going on this week, click here if you want what great giveaways are waiting for you.

If you a beauty blogger and unsure whether I am following you, you can also submit your own giveaway there. Similarly, if you know I am following your blog and don't want your giveaway to be mentioned, that's fine by me too and I'll make a note of that. No problema :)

Have a lovely week xx

Liloo
@tsunimee on twitter

Sleek Saturday – Circus Curtain…

2011-09-03T19:58:00.002+01:00

When I first saw pictures and swatches of the Sleek Circus Palette, I remember quite vividly how I felt about it. I thought the palette looked absolutely ridiculous, preposterous and I felt strongly about it that I wanted to write a post about 10 reasons why I wouldn't buy it. The lurid lobster/corally casing reminded me of a Fisherprice or ToysRus item for kids and the colours didn't impress me either.

One year and a half later on (or is it longer than that?) this was gifted to me by the lovely Terri and I am absolutely in love. In fact, I nearly love the Circus palette nearly as much as the Acid Palette which is my favourite palette thanks to its winning purple and green.

I am still learning a lot about makeup, about what textures and finishes I prefer on my eyes but one thing I am sure is that I am definitely more of a matte eyeshadow girl than a all shimmery one. Circus is delightful bright mix of mattes and shimmery shadows and this suits me better than many other sleek palettes which are predominantly shimmery.

A quick look at the swatches and you can't help but noticing the 'waste' of a precious sleek palette slot with the poor pigmentation of the lilac and the why-did-they-bother-at-all white. Other than that, all the colours offer excellent pigmentation. The yellow is a my favourite shade of yellow at all (so far, there is only one yellow eyeshadow in the whole world that I like, but this will have to be the subject of another post) but its pigmentation is flawless. The winning stars of this palette: the vibrant shimmery purple, the matte fuchsia, the shimmery light green and the oh so gorgeous shimmery blue.

I have yet to create a shimmery blue makeup look I am happy with. Until this day comes, I wanted to post a look using 3 colours from the palette: the shimmery purple, the black and the very light lime green.

As you probably know by now, I don't do shimmer in the crease but some for reason, which I genuinely fail to comprehend, this shimmery purple worked a treat in my crease. The gorgeous blue undertones of the purple are to die for. I can't believe how rich and easy to work with this colour has been. You'd think, looking at the crease that there about 4 colours in the crease. There aren't. The purple just blends by itself and somehow, which truly gobsmacks me, it's not overly frosty shimmery which makes me want to remove this look at once.

If I wanted to wear a purple crease look, I'd still prefer to reach for the matte purple from the acid palette but this multi dimensional purple is the bomb. Of course I had to go out with it. The guy from Londis liked it :)

On my lips, I have a little gem, a recent blog sale acquisition. Click here if you want to find out more about it.

Joining me this week are 3 gorgeous girls. Please go and have a look at the Sleek Saturday of these lovely girlies. Click on their ‘pan’ to be directed to their look:


Ellie	Cynthia	Jessie

I have really enjoyed Sleek Saturday. Among other things, it has helped me deciding which Sleek Palette I am going to keep, cherish and keep using and which ones which will be getting the boot. I have used up all the Sleek palettes in my collection so I guess it’s time to finish this series for now. I can’t help myself from feeling a bit sad really. I will be doing some more Sleek Saturdays (as and when I have new palettes) but for it’s an aurevoir (and a full front face picture, actually looking at the camera, aren't you lucky?)

Click HERE to see all the episodes from the Sleek Saturdays (Season 1?) or on the thumbnails below.
Thank you very much again for being awesome, following me, reading and commenting xx

Lady’s Choice by Benefit

2011-09-03T19:56:00.002+01:00

Once upon a time, a in beauty blog sale, I found this tiny little lipstick abandoned and without a home. I am not a lipstick girl at all, and I would only buy lipsticks on recommendations or when I have seen them on people but there was a bargain to be made (£2) and the lipstick was looking at me with its big puppy eyes and I just had to go ahead with it. You know what it's like :P

This is the ever so cute, gorgeous and pocket size Lady's Choice from Benefit. I really didn't know what to expect other than a slightly darker than nude colour. Smell/Taste in lip product is something I am very sensitive to but I was pleasantly surprised: It doesn't smell much of anything which suits me to the ground.

The colour reminds me of my favourite lipstick from Mac, Velvet Teddy but has a very shiny finish and doesn't need, in my opinion, a lipgloss on top. In very few instances and depending on the light, I find the lipstick a little bit too frosty but on the whole I really like it. I find it very creamy and light to wear, and not more uncomfortable than others. {I am one of these girls who can't find a lipstick comfortable to wear}.

I really like this lipstick, it's ultra wearable and it goes with anything. The format means I can carry it everywhere but the downside is that I can lose it just as quickly. If only this lipstick didn't have the name of sanitary towel...

Click HERE if you want to see this lipstick part of a whole face makeup look.

Have you got lipsticks in your collection with embarrassing or not very fortunate names?

False Eye Lashes: 8 reasons why you still can’t wear them..

2011-09-02T13:01:00.000+01:00

Today, I am guest blogging on Lipglossiping.com and we're talking false lashes: how to deal with the little blighters and reasons why you still can't wear them. Click here to read my post.

L'Occitane Immortelle Crème Divine for £1

2011-09-02T12:37:00.001+01:00

How would you fancy trying an anti ageing award winning moisturiser for a (working) week for just £1? L'Occitane has teamed up with Latest in Beauty to give you a five day supply of L'Occitane's new skincare secret, Divine Cream, for only £1. (Click here for offer)

Divine Cream is L'Occitane's latest anti-ageing innovation, a deliciously rich day cream with organic Immortelle and Myrtle essential oils, to help make skin look visibly younger-looking and radiant. Voted the highest rated anti-ageing cream by the 2011 Anti-ageing Beauty Bible panel, this miracle product already has the beauty industry seal of approval!

A 50ml jar of Divine Cream costs £65, but you can try a 5-day supply for free (you only pay £1 for postage & packing, payable via text message)

In your sample pack you will also receive a code that entitles you to a FREE Brightening Cleansing Foam 150ml (worth £17.50) or Immortelle Toner 200ml (worth £16) when you spend £30 or more at L'Occitane.

Further Information:

L'OCCITANE
L'OccitaneUK Website
L'Occitane Immortelle range.
L'OccitaneUK Facebook.

LATEST IN BEAUTY
Twitter: @latestinbeauty.
Latest in Beauty Facebook.

Disclosure: I am subscribed to Latest in Beauty newsletter. This offer popped up in my email this morning and I have received no incentive to blog about it. Montage of pictures was made using the photos from L'Occitane website.

Going crystal

2011-09-01T22:44:00.000+01:00

If there is one thing which makes me cringe, grimace and grind my teeth is filing my nails. For me, filing my nails is as uncomfortable as your teeth getting accidentally in contact with foil paper or hearing a piece of chalk squeaking on an old fashioned board. I hate it and when my nails are too long, I've been known to get a small pair of scissors and cut the excess before resorting to a nail file. Using nail clippers make me cringe even more. When someone uses one, I find it so unbearable, I want to leave the room.

After reading a review on a posh (read: more than £10) crystal nail file from Lipglossiping.com, I've been asking myself if opting for a crystal file would make the whole filing process less unbearable. I was a bit hesitant about forking out £8 in this crystal nail from Tesco, raging inside that I had never paid as much for a nail file in my entire life but I am so glad I've made the investment.

I still grimace, especially when I miss the nail but the whole filing process is 100% easier, quicker and fuss free all around. I was so scared before: The nail file looks so sharp, almost like a blade, I was scared that it would be too abrasive but it's perfect and it's just what I needed all along. I am a bit cross with myself for not having made the plunge sooner.

The world needs to know about brilliant and revolutionary crystal nail files are. Go and invest in one, you won't regret it. Even Jacie, from You’ve Got Nail.com swears by them. I've seen a cute 'normal' glass nail file from Revlon whilst browsing Superdrug, which only cost £4.99. I might get it as a spare. It’s a miracle I’ve not lost my Tesco one!

Why do nail technicians still keep using traditional nail files?
Have you got a crystal or glass nail file yourself?

AcheTML and Blogging…

2011-08-29T23:10:00.000+01:00

Last night, passionate bloggers gathered again for the #bbloggers twitter chat. The topic yesterday was 'Blog Layout', where bloggers could share their worries around their blog templates and discuss html tricks and tips, useful widgets to have and so on.

I really enjoyed the chat. If you missed it, feel free to download the full transcript (all tweets from 20:00 to 21:30, raw and unedited) of the chat HERE.

I am quite passionate about the topic, however analysing and summarising a busy twitter chat (the last one I did took me nearly week to go through it all) is simply not feasible anymore, but I still hope you'll find the transcript useful.

You might also be interested in:

What is #bbloggers twitter chat and how to join the chat?
Is your mobile friendly? Make your blog mobile friendly and increase your views.
Blogging and Time Management? How do they do it?
Tips & Tricks I've learned from revamping my blog.
Your GFC (Google Friend Connect) Box keeps on playing hide and seek? Install an alternative (plan D) back up GFC button and never lose a potential reader: here.

Les Petits Cadeaux

2011-08-29T08:56:00.000+01:00

Hello my little citrouilles,

Today is not an ordinary Monday. It's Bank Holiday in England and lots of us get to have a long lie in bed. I would like to celebrate this happy day by introducing my new baby to you, it's my secondary blog, entitled 'Les Petits Cadeaux'.

Les Petits Cadeaux is French for 'Little Presents' and talks mainly about Blog Giveaways. The Blog is updated once a week and aims to deliver you, every Monday morning, an update on blog giveaways which I come across throughout the week. So every Monday morning. direct to your inbox (or your preferred blog following manner) you can have an update on lots of current beauty blogs giveaways. Your first edition is waiting for you.

Click here or on the picture of a present to access Les Petits Cadeaux and get up to date with lots of cool beauty blog giveaways.

Talking of picture, I would live to give a massive thank you to the kind Sarah Ali who beauty blogs Glossicious.com for letting me reuse her fantastic arty photograph.

So, what's the English for 'citrouilles' then? :)
xx

Sleek Saturday – Paraguayan Peachy

2011-08-28T03:53:00.004+01:00

*There has been a genuine technical problem with Windows Live Writer earlier which resulted in the deletion of my original post. I am a bit upset by that to say the least. Thank you to the lovely 7 girlies who commented on my now disappeared post*

Can you believe it's Saturday already? This means this is time for another episode of Sleek Saturday. Sleek Saturday is about trying to encourage oneself to use one of these Sleek Makeup palettes we have at home and that we don't use enough.

This week, I am a little bit overwhelmed this week as lots of my makeup friends wanted to join me. Please, give a big hand to all my Sleek Saturday buddies this week.







and last but not least

How crazy is that!

For my look today, I am using ‘Paraguaya’, the eyeshadow palette from the Limited Edition ‘Avoir la Peche’ Sleek Makeup Collection. Picture of the palette, indepth review, swatches, behind the scenes of my makeup look, bloopers, and all that good stuff can be found HERE

Apologies again to the 7 lovely girlies who commented on my earlier post, which got deleted due my stupidity on windows live writer :’(

So, anyway, onwards and upwards, who’s got a Sleek palette gathering dust in their cupboard and want to re discover it for next week Sleek Saturday? Let me know in the comments!

Behind the Scenes & Bloopers - Sleek Saturday

2011-08-27T19:59:00.016+01:00

To say that this episode of Sleek Saturday has been a rush is an understatement. Please allow me to regain my breath, take a few steps back and talk about the Sleek Palette which got me ~~hot and bothered~~ occupied this week. This post is very pic heavy, words heavy, everything heavy in fact.

Meet 'Paraguaya' the discontinued limited edition -iDivine eyeshadow palette from Sleek Makeup Palette. Paraguaya was released as part of the 'Avoir la pêche' Collection. If used as an expression, and not literally, 'avoir la pêche’, in French means to feel great, perky, happy, bouncy, in top shape, tickety boo, like a happy bunny etc. For Francophiles, calling this collection 'avoir la pêche is a witty play on words, on the fact that owning peachy shades can make you feel perky.

I didn't plan to purchase the Paraguaya palette. This was until I saw Sinead’s (Dainty Dolly Mix) blog post and most importantly the way she split up the palette to photograph it. It made me see the palette in a whole different light. Sinead divided the palette into 2 parts: the left hand side which left me cold and not bothered and the right hand side which got me desperate to crave this palette.

This is when problems started: trying to get hold of this limited edition palette. I don't wish to get into a heated debate but the release, distribution and availability of this palette didn't go smoothly. To start off, unlike the release of all previous palettes, there hadn't been any build up at all around this palette. Somebody saw it in a shop out of the blue one day and it all started from there. I am not quite sure why Sleek kept this palette under wrap and never spoke a word about this palette until people started to buy it. By the time people started to know about its existence, the palette had already run out for lots of us.

My shop actually never stored it, and if it wasn't the beautiful Amanda, (@abloggingblonde on twitter) selling it in a blog sale, I would have probably had to resort buying it from a crook on eBay selling its for 3 times its value. While I am at it, there has always been some confusion around the release of Sleek Palettes which, I feel, undermine their products a little bit. Customers are given a release date, and write it in their diaries but then palettes can often be found and bought in the shops one month before. The most frustrating is when you can actually see the palette and that the shop wouldn't let you buy it. This resulted in some heated discussion between the manager at Superdrug and myself about a month ago, over the ‘Oh so Special’ which I bought from a friend.

To cut a long story short, this palette has been a nightmare to get hold of.
Was it worth it?

Yes. The palette offers a good mix of matte and shimmery shadows which is perfect for me. I am limited in terms of eyeshadow placement with shimmery shadows and I often find I can't wear them in the crease of my eye and beyond.

The left part of the palette is a little bit disappointing. PARFAIT and BELLINI are extremely shimmery, too shimmery for their own good and cause a lot of fallout. BLUSH is hard to show through. REDSTONE, PERSIMMON and CAMEO are adequate and don't rock my boat. I don’t think I suit peach really which is a bit comical since I went and buy a whole palette based on peachy shades!

The right hand side got me squealing with joy: All the colours, apart from a very disappointing SANDSTONE, which crucially lacks pigmentation, are to die for. TANGELO and BITTERSWEET and STONE for me are the stars of this palette and I already know at this point that my first play with Paraguaya will have to include those gems. PERSIAN ORANGE and PEACH GOLD are absolutely gorgeous shades. However, I find that I can't make them work as eyeshadows and these shades would look better if they were a blush or a nail polish even.

So that's 3 shades out a 12 eyeshadow palette. That's not very much. Is it worth it? Yes, without a shadow of a doubt and this is because of this sumptuous orange of TANGELO. So far, the only orange I've got is part of my bruised and battered 120 palette. It's only a matter of time before that orange disappears totally and Tangelo came around at the right time.

My first play of the palette ended up in the bin. I tried to wear PERSIAN ORANGE or ORANGE GOLD in the vast land underneath my brow and it looked horrible. But since you’re nice and because I am in a good mood now and chilled out from the rush, I’ll show you just one picture of the look which I discarded.

This is why I can’t wear shimmer above my crease. It doesn’t look right. It highlight an area which needs receding. It’s horrible!

If you want to see my final look for this Sleek Saturday, I have posted it >> HERE <<.

This week, Sleek Saturday, has been quite overwhelming. No less than 13 people have joined forces and it’s quite mad really! Thank you so much everyone

Click on their ‘pan’ to be directed to their Sleek Saturday look.








and last but not least:

So who wants to join me for next week, Sleek Saturday Shenanningans? :) x

Pay Day Temptations

2011-08-27T08:00:00.001+01:00

If I didn't know before today I was a nail polish addict, today I have one proof my love for nail polishes has reached uncontrollable heights. I've just indulged in a models own half price sale (my polishes have reached me safely 2 days afterwards!) I've not played with them yet and I want some more. Let me share with you what I've now got my heart on.

These polishes are from the Models Own Professional Range, which is a little bit pricier than the normal range: £8 per bottle as opposed to £ 5, for the traditional range

The Models Own Professional justifies their prices as it is "specially formulated to both assist nail growth and prolong colour, preventing any fading. Added benefits of the premium range include vitamin E and UV sun filters to protect the nail". The added benefits do sound very nice but at the end of the day it's still £8.

This another bootleg press release picture, showing of the very well kept stand of Models Own Professional range in the Boots shop in a town near me.

and these are the shades which got me drooling in particular.

I need to hang in my head in shame as I wrote the information about the first polish incorrectly and looking back at my notes, there is no way that this polish can be called 'Stark Naked' and be a nude beige with a golden shimmer. My guess is that this one is called ‘Lavender Blue’. ‘Pinky Pearl’ is a rather odd name for this sumptuous shade of shimmer reddy rusty orange shade. ‘Sunny Honey’ is a shimmery golden yellow and Clay Away is gorgeous shade of khaki.

If money grew on trees, those beauties would be what I would have loved to spend my pennies on. Boots have a got a special 'triple points 'offer on, especially for the bank holiday week end but I shall be good and resist... until there is hopefully another 3 for 2 offer on these polishes. If you do happen to know the name of pale lilac polish, please let me know!

Will you be splurging at Boots this week end?

A Heavenly neutral palette?

2011-08-26T20:00:00.002+01:00

Ever since I saw the pictures of the new products of the Professional Range from Budget Brand Mua Cosmetics, I've been longing to get my hands on 'Heaven and Earth' a gorgeous neutral eyeshadow palettes, at a record price of £4.

A triumphant open bloggers event later, where all participants were able to see 'Heaven and Earth' in action, and an overwhelming wave of rave all across the board later, and I was still not sure whether this palette was for me. Why? I was scared it would be too shimmery for me.

My palette is a generous present from Danielle, who blogs at Madame Gourmand who kindly donated it to me and I have never wished more than any other time to be in love with it. The shadows are utterly gorgeous, they are very soft, very pigmented but as I feared it right from the beginning, they are too shimmery for me and I am unable to make it work. The shimmer is not chunky and is quite delicate but it still remains too intense for me to wear the shadows confidently in the crease of my eye and beyond.

The search for a heavenly neutral palette carries on...

What: Heaven & Earth Eyeshadow Palette, MUA Cosmetics, Pro Range
Price: £4.00
Where: Selected Superdrug Stores

and the flamingo pack winner is ….

2011-08-26T00:24:00.000+01:00

Enough of delay. This is the moment where 69 of you have been waiting for. I love getting bits and bobs for you and doing giveaways. The part which is not so great is having to choose a winner, and disappoint the rest of you.

But it has to be done. Thank you very much for your lovely entries and for sharing your dream holidays and fond memories of past ones.

Without further ado, the gods at random.org have spoken and the winner of the flamingo pack is:

SUE

Lately, I have been loving...

2011-08-25T20:00:00.003+01:00

If I had to think about the most repurchased facial cleanser in my entire life, it would probably be Clearasil which I have used religiously in an bid to combat my spots. My skin has changed, I am not getting younger and whilst I am still suffering from breakouts every now and then, but it's now moisture that I feel my skin desperately needs.

Because of my acneic past, I've been avoiding oil and cream cleansers like the plague, anxious it would leave the door right open to spots to make their come back. Lately, I've found myself using baby oil, of all things, to remove my heavy eye makeup and I am ashamed to say that I've been loving it. The makeup disappears in one swipe and I feel my skin has been lapping up the oily particles in it. I knew then that I was ready to try a cream/oil cleanser for my entire face

My shy steps led me to Boots, and I came home with Boots Botanics Face Nourishing Cleanser, with water, olive oil and glycerin listed as their first top 3 ingredients.

I can't describe how anxious I was to use this for the first time. No foam, No Sodium Laureth Sulfate to make it foam? This is like telling me to start drinking tea without sugar. I need SLS, it's all I've ever known in my life. Also how could it possibly make my skin clean without leaving any oil residues, and risking my pores to clog up?

I took the leap of faith and I am glad I did. The cleanser feels absolutely lovely on the skin. The whole cleaning ritual feels so lovely and very multi sensory: from the delicate olive oil scent when you dispense the product, the massaging into the skin and the rinsing it off. I can't my head round how using an oil can leave my skin feeling so clean, smooth and moisturised but it does.

The best of it all? The cleanser only cost me £5.10 and Botanics, being a Boots brand is often part of 3 for 2 offers. This makes me happy. I have still have my beloved Botanics Rice and Honey Facial Wash in standby but I've never touched it back since. If you suffer from dry skin and never tried a cream cleanser, you might possibly fall in love with this product. I have.

Oh so wiser…

2011-08-24T22:48:00.001+01:00

There's been a little bit of action of the blogosphere today. A certain list might have made the day or some bloggers and ruffled the feathers of some others. Ok maybe just my feathers. Today 'So Feminine' released the names of their top 100 beauty blogs.

Oh so what, did you say? I have never heard of them either. Bloggers who successfully topped in their 100 favourite blogs were emailed about it and can proudly display their award on their blog: a cute and snazzy badge linking to the oh so feminine website. I have been genuinely delighted for all my blogger friends who made it, until tonight when another friend of mine, couldn't help herself from feeling a little bit disconcerted for not having featured in their top 100. Me, being me, I would need to kick up a fuss about it on twitter and got all melodramatic about it. While I am by no means proud of another twitter drama, talking to my twitter friends helped me to see the light:

Who are 'Oh so Feminine' anyway? How did they come up with their list of 100 favourite blogs? If these 100 blogs are oh so good, why were not these blogs hyperlinked anyway from their website? What if this list was just a marketing ploy to have these 100 blogs talking about them today and displaying their badges? What amazing publicity would that be for them if all 100 of blogs 'featured' would blog about them!

Well, you know what? I don't like that list. Lots of my bloggers friends and their awesome blogs didn't make it and therefore, it's not a very good list. Oh So feminine, I don't need your badge. I've got one way cooler and it's got Cassoulet on it. Cassoulet is great. It's like baked beans, but it's got sausages in it. Do you know who made it? My favourite blogger: Charlotte from Lipglossiping.com. So there.

I feel a bit silly to have totally fallen for their marketing ploy.
I might still be a bit childish to get worked up about silly things but I am a little bit wiser, oh so wiser.

My favourite go-to lipstick

2011-08-24T20:00:00.001+01:00

Do you need confidence in buying certain items of makeup? I do. I could walk into a high street shop (I have yet to combat my fear of beauty counters) and buy every eyeshadow and nail polish in sight but when it comes to lipsticks, I need more help, I need personal recommendations from friends and I need to see it worn real people whom I trust, as opposed to magazines which I rarely identify myself to.

When I saw my best friend Jo, wearing this gorgeous darker than nude lipstick, I just had to find out what it was and give it a try. Little that I know that it was going to become then my favourite lipstick.

Introducing the gorgeous Velvet Teddy from Mac which I simply can't get enough of. Velvet Teddy belongs to the matte family of lipsticks and delivers a gorgeous darker than nude colour which will pretty much go with anything.

For going out at night, or on special occasions, ~~makeup looks for the blog~~, I like to pair Velvet Teddy with Lip Inflation Extreme, in sheer bare from Sally Hansen, a £1.99 bargain I stumbled upon before my nearest TJ Hughes shop before its recent closure.

If you've never tried an lip plumper product before, boy, you're in for a shock. I knew I had to expect a stinging sensation but I didn't expect to be that intense. First time I wore it, I asked myself why on earth women would want to go through such a discomfort.

To add to the stinging sensation, Lip inflation has the most unusual spicy flavour/scent, reminiscent of Christmas spices. So all in all, the first I wore felt really felt I was wearing tabasco on my lips. As for the plumping effect, I think it's working but I feel the effect lasts as long as you can feel the light 'burn' on your lips. There is no way I could wear Lip Inflation on a day to day basis, too glossy, too intense, too much but at night time I really like to wear it. I've become really fond of the whole stinging spicy experience now and I wish I had picked more of these before the shop closed.

And this my beloved Mac Velvet Teddy and Sheer Bare worn together on the lips

Where’s the rest of the head gone? Click here if you want to see as part of my ‘Safari Look’.

Off the top of your head, what is your favourite lipstick, which goes with anything?

top photo credit: lipstick (beautyflorist seller on ebay) and teddy bear.

Plan of attack…

2011-08-23T06:28:00.003+01:00

No one likes to get it wrong but on this occasion I am so glad my first instincts were wrong. When Models Own promised their customers that they would be offering a half price sale if they reach 50,000 Facebook Fans by the end of the month, not only was the pessimistic in me didn't think they would reach their target but that they could reach it 10 days before the deadline would have never crossed my head. I am a pessimist at heart and it helps me to be less disappointed in life, in theory.

But they made it and, according to their latest Facebook update, they are hoping that the sale will happen today. Hoping is the operative word there. To say that I am excited and anxious is an understatement. I started to get into nail polishes right after their last half price sale and I didn't think such a dramatic sale, in search for a better word, at 05.43am, would happen again before Christmas.

Anyway,

if everything goes to plan,
if the code is released today,
if I haven't totally lost it by then,
if my internet connection works,
if the website copes with the traffic generated
if facebook isn't down
if I haven't lost my bank card
if there is no power cut
if I don't fall under a bus

and if the shades I want are still there...

This is going to be my plan of attack.

There is no way, to my knowledge, to save the shades in the basket in advance. The search facility is not working properly so I need to find a way to quickly identify the objects of my desire.

Yes, ‘sad’ is the word you’re looking for here ….

In addition, I would also want to get 2 of their new smokey eye kits, which I have been lusting for/on/over for a while.

Will you be taking part in the models own sale?
Have you got your heart on some shades of nail polish in particular?

Early Green Nails and new releases from Gosh

2011-08-23T05:29:00.000+01:00

Another day and another little trip to Superdrug. Today, I am taking you to the gosh corner of my little Superdrug to show you an amazing lime green polish by Gosh. This is Early Green, shade 606 (£4.99) It's bright, it's in your face and I love it.

Despite to what the noticeable booboos I've made on my index and middle finger might suggest, this polish was a delight to apply. All my photos show 2 coats of Early Green with no clean up whatsoever. Well, considering the massive gap I’ve left around the cuticle, it’s no wonder I didn’t need any clean up. I am working to reduce that gap. The amount of coverage delivered just after one coat really impressed me.

I leave you with some cheeky snapshots of the latest nail polishes from Gosh. Gosh released 4 gorgeous limited edition nail polishes (£4.99) with a very cute artwork on the bottle. You can hop along to Kelly’s aka Jellyminx Thinks Blog: she has some gorgeous swatches for you. The 4th colour appears to be black on my dodgy bootleg quick_before_anyone_sees_me photo but it turns out to be a very dark and elegant bottle green.

Last but not least, Gosh has hopped on the crackle bandwagon and has released 4 shades of 'cracked' nail polishes. The shades looks very nice, the design on the bottle cap too and the promotional picture delicious and inviting. However, I feel that, personally they will struggle to sell their shades of crackled polish (£5.49) which is such a shame.

*cue uncontrolled rambling*

On average, each company which I have seen doing crackle polish sell the product for £1 more than the normal polish. Beautyuk usually sells their polishes at £1.99 so their shatter polish is sold at £2.99. Barry M would usually sell their traditional polishes at £2.99 and the crackle version at £3.99. Gosh, by contrast has only amped their prices by £0.50 which is really generous but the competition they're facing is too hard.

To give you an example, my tiny little Superdrug has a permanent table put out, with chairs and white towel on which could almost look like a nail technician work station. On this improvised station, 3 plaquettes displaying a multitude of nails, showcasing Barry M crackles and the various colour combinations you can get.

This workstation is there all the time, from the minute they open the store till 5.30pm when they close it. Client goes in, see the 'exhibition' and no one sees the MUA crackles, the Beautyuk nor the Gosh ones. I feel a bit sorry for the other brands really. Do you think, in the case of my shop, Barry M felt suddenly threatened and decided on this tactical approach? I was a bit rude one day. Shop assistant was demonstrating the Barry M polishes and I barged in and went: It's the gold crackle you want, it's better :) I am not sure which one she bought in the end.

I couldn't work in Superdrug, I'd be wanting to push the underdogs forward and would get fired for it... I am surprised they even let me in as a customer. I bet they think 'Oh that's the weirdo which comes in every Saturday...

Sleek Saturday – Sassy ... Smurfy Sunset

2011-08-20T20:02:00.003+01:00

My, my, my! This week has been really challenging for me, probably the most challenging episode of my Sleek Saturday Series so far. Please, please, stay with me till the end of this post to see who else have joined in the Sleek Saturdays Series this week :)

This week, Helen and Ellie have challenged me to use my Sleek Makeup Palette. The Sunset Palette is a truly gorgeous palette but it contains mainly shimmery shadows apart from the black. As I don’t wear shimmery eyeshadow in the crease of my eye and beyond the crease, it was mission impossible straight from the start. Or was it?

I had 2 options: give up totally the challenge and use another Sleek makeup palette or cheat a little bit and add an eyeshadow from another Sleek palette. I have got pride and I hate giving up things, soooo I was left with no other option than to incorporate a little bit of brown. This series has taught me a lot and I’ll probably will want to get rid of this palette afterwards as it has proven too difficult for me to use.

Without further ado, my predictable look:

And now for the full face, obviously not happy with my look, for having cheated this week:

Do you feel this look is representative of the Sleek Sunset Palette?
Something is missing, don’t you think? Let’s add a bit of blue.

As I don’t really like blue on my lower lashline or waterline, how about blue … eyebrows?
Shall we go ahead with that and have a bit of fun?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Nah, this is not working. This blue shadow is not ‘popping out’ as bright as I wanted to. Introducing my trusted Ben Nye face paint (will blog about this someday as I loooove it) since this week is a fail and I’ve cheated already :(

OK. I think this is QUITE blue enough! It was fun playing with my eyebrows. Sadly this palette is not doing it for me, as it predominantly shimmery.

Ladies and gentlemen, give a big hand to the sleekettes for this week.

Ellie: http://missyellieuk.blogspot.com/
Helen: http://www.just-nice-things.co.uk/
Fum: http://www.fumsmusings.blogspot.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/fumsmusings
Lori: http://www.xmisslorix.blogspot.com/

I am so so so sorry to have run out of time for the faces-in-the-sleek-pans feature :/
I lost the files for the pictures I had already prepared and now I am running of time to post this on time. I’ll do better next week. My god, I am a disappointment this week!

Peach Melba Nails and exciting news...

2011-08-18T06:05:00.000+01:00

The Peach Melba (French: pêche Melba is a classic dessert, invented in 1892 or 1893 by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, London to honour the Australian soprano, Nellie Melba.[1] It combines two favourite summer fruits: peaches and raspberry sauce accompanying vanilla ice cream. (source: wikipedia)

Peach Melba is also the name of a gorgeous shade (no.72) of peach polish by BeautyUK (source: liloopedia). Many pale or pastel polishes tend to be streaky or patchy. Not with this one. Application of peach melba was, as per usual a doddle and a pleasure. The overdose of pictures will give you a pretty good clue on how much I have enjoyed this polish :P

My pictures show 3 coats but some of you might prefer to put 4 coats. (see close up at the bottom of this post)

I got a little bit fruity and wanted to pose with my beloved mango butter.

Then I got carried away and tried a little bit of nail art. Oh dear. Well it was fun to play.

Peach Melba was sent me for review purposes and I was waiting for the right opportunity. Well, there couldn't be a better moment to indulge in a little bit (or a lot) of Beautyuk. The brand has just garnered th support of 5000 fans/likers on their Facebook and to celebrate their achievements, they are offering all their customers a discount of 20%. Just enter the voucher code Face5000 at checkout and your discount will be applied automatically.

Be quick, offer will end on Saturday, 20 August, when the Xfactor starts. yaaaaaaaaaay!
I've placed a cheeky little order myself today. If you're good, I might blog about it next week, state of my nails allowing it of course. Looking for inspiration on what to buy at BeautyUK? this might tempt you :)

And last but not least, BeautyUK is touring England at the moment and offering free makeovers, in a bus! Click on the bus or here to see where the BeautyUK bus will be going next. (picture source)

Peach Melba retails at £1.99 in the glam nail range (9ml) or £2.99 in the salon range in the salon professional range.

Voulez-vous smoocher avec moi, ce soir?

2011-08-18T03:07:00.002+01:00

If there's one thing I find it hard to resist is pretty packaging. Now when I find pretty find packaging *and* a half price sale, my self control is even more put to test. Introducing a new British brand of Cosmetics called SMOOCH. I found out about them tonight, through Holly's Secrets and I can't stop thinking about it. I feel compelled to blog about it or I fear I won't be able to sleep properly tonight.

The concept for this line is lingerie and the packaging is absolutely superb. In the words of Smooch Cosmetics themselves:

The concept for Smooch came quite simply from a pair of knickers...... In fact not just one pair a whole drawer of lingerie to be exact.
Cosmetics are a little like your lingerie drawer, you have your everyday basics that you apply without really thinking about it, then you have the special mascara and uber gloss for that big night out.
Smooch “It’s like wearing your naughty knickers to the office, your own saucy secret!”

To celebrate the launch of Smooch, they are offering all customers 50% off everything online for one month only. The discount started 2 days ago and will end on 16 September.

Please allow me to share with you my little wish list. If money grew on trees and I hadn't spent so much already this month, this would have been what I would have liked to spend my pennies on. The 50% discount has ALREADY been applied on these products.

First, these nail polishes (usual RRP: £6.50) have caught my eyes. There are 24 shades in total to choose from but it's Car Key and Deep Beige (woah, you really can't get any deeper than that) which have caught my eyes. I have also nearly run out of my favourite black eyeliner (H&M) so this cute eyeliner is also calling by my pet name (usual RRP: £4.95). It's a shame the website doesn't show what the nib look like.

I don't own any Nars eyeshadow but when this Narsy eyeshadows, my heat skipped a beat. Will you guys indulge for me and report on quality please? The one on the photo is called 'minted' but they have 11 other shades to choose from. Smooch has really made an amazing effort in showcasing the shades but my only regret is that they don't give any description of the shades themselves. From the generic description '12 glistening duo eyeshadows' I would imagine that they are all shimmery.

And last but not least, this bronzer, which is looks so good, they even named it after the brand. Ladies, this is Smooched (usual RRP: £13.95) I don't even wear that much bronzer but look at this beauty! Then look at me in the eyes and tell you don't find this bronzer utterly irresistible!!

In case you're wondering, I have not been contacted by anybody to write this post. Inspiration for this came through reading Holly’s Secrets. If any of you is tempted by any of the items I’m also lusting on, please let me know, I would absolutely love to know what you thought about them.

So, voulez vous ...?

“Paola at a Bachelorette Party” Makeup look – Draggified Recreation

2011-08-17T20:40:00.000+01:00

This is a little tribute to my Italian friend Paola (@Alhrayth on twitter) and her beauty blog which is one of my favourite reads. Paola has a blog entitled 'I might not be skinny, I might not be super rich, but I like to look nice, or in shorter words http://butiliketolooknice.blogspot.com/. I absolutely love her makeup looks and they are a great source of inspiration for me.

She just doesn't do makeup like I do, just for the blog, or just to use a makeup palette, she shares her real makeup of the day looks which she has actually worn during that day. Her makeup looks are colourful, funky and never boring. To top it all off, she also does stunning nail art, she has an amazing camera, the colours are always vivid and everytime I look at her photos taken in her leafy veranda, it makes me feel like I am abroad, myself.

I am very lucky to have Paola as one my readers and together we decided to do a little challenge. We surprise each other by recreating a makeup look which we have seen on each other's blogs and post it at the same time, tonight at 2030, which is in, eeekk 16 minutes. Apologies for the rush of this post.

Today, I wanted to recreate her 'Katia Bachelorette' look. I could have cheated and used some funky lashes with crystals on them but I really really wanted to have a go at her genius glittery eyeliner.

face: boots no.7 Intelligent Mousse Foundation in shade 'Blondie 20'
lips: sleek pout paint in 'rosette', applied the Jenni (@uknailpolish) way, with a sponge tip applicator. I love Jenni as well <3
eyes: gosh trio smoky brown, nyx white/grey/black, mac vanilla, eylure 101 lashes,
collection 2000 glitter eyeliner in glitz and and and 2 faced shad ass,

I hope you like it :)

Paola has an amazing blog. The only thing I don't like about it is that there are not enough people to appreciate her makeup looks and nail art. Go check her out now and tell her Liloo sent you xx

3 Smoky Eyes Palette, Collection 2000

2011-08-15T05:50:00.000+01:00

While I was in Superdrug, I spotted this new little '3 smokey eyes' eyeshadow palette from Collection 2000, released last week.

The palette is very cute, ultra portable and very affordable: £4.19.

These are my swatches, taken from a tester from the shop, on a cloudy day.
Call this sheep’s gate (sp?) blogging, I call it resourceful :P

Quick impressions:

The white (shade 3) is a big let down and is nowhere near pigmented enough
Big thumbs up for the silver (1), the two browns (5 & 8) and the black (2)
Shade 6 and 7 are adequate
Shade 4 could have been ok, but it is let down by a fly away glitter.

As for shade 9, well I need to hang in my head in shame about it: If you're anything like me, you won't read the instructions on the palette because you think you're too clever and you don't need them or because you don't want to be dictated on where to place the shadows. But on this occasion, I wish I had taken a picture of the how to at the back, as it would have helped me to understand what the cream is meant to do. Glossy eyes maybe?

Overall: the star of this palette is the lovely lovely lovely matte but not chalky brown in the middle (5), and the the black (2) and the silver (1), silver which is not very well showcased at all on my photo. Had the white been more pigmented, I could have tempted to indulge but for now I can’t warrant it.

Anyone can spot where the cream was used in the video?

Look at me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want to have a go at recreating this look. I absolutely loved the eyeliner and the popping of silver when the model closes her eyes. My fingers are itching already…

I am lusting over ….

2011-08-15T03:32:00.000+01:00

… these new babies which popped up in my Superdrug. Feast your eyes on these *cough* gorgeous and professional pictures LilooPR sent me. New from Maybelline (well, new for me) this range of 10 cute nail polishes priced at £2.99 each.

The MNY American website shows that they are actually 41 shades of nail polishes to be had, along a vast range of makeup items, ranging from eyeshadows, lip balms, lip glosses, to name but a few, all sporting the cute packaging. I can’t get over how pretty the website is. It’s too pretty to be wasted on teens really.

Anyway, back to the real world of my little Superdrug, It was really hard resist the temptation to take some home with me. If I allowed myself to be naughty, these would have been my personal selection.

Any of you tried this range yet? Are you tempted?

Sleek Saturday: Bohemian Shamrock

2011-08-13T20:07:00.002+01:00

This week has just flown by. I can't believe it's Saturday already. Saturday means it's time to fool around with one of my Sleek Eyeshadows palette and share the fruit of my experiments. Woop! Today, Sleek Saturday is getting bigger and even international: If everything goes to plan, there are 6 lovely girls (please scroll to the bottom of the post to see who they are) who are joining me for the challenge.

About 2 weeks ago, I told how much in love I feel with the Sleek Bohemian Eyeshadow Palette (see full review &swatches post here), so today I would like to show you a second look I've made with this same palette.

These are the colours I've used. The olivy khaki and the shamrock green are a dream to work with, their pigmentation is really good.

And now for the look I came up with:

Looking at the pictures now, I wish I had gone for a brown colour for lower lashline.

And now for the obligatory full face picture

For the lips, I am using my favourite lip combination of gloss and lipstick. But I am running bit late today, I don't want to rush it, and I will blog about it another day if that's ok. I am bit a nervous actually. So many girls are involved in Sleek Saturday. Eeee :)

Ladies and gentlemen, give a big hand to the girls joining me today,
and go and see what they came up with for Sleek Saturday.

http://www.bekahcat.blogspot.com/
http://www.tasteslikeglitter.com/
http://catslittleobsessions.blogspot.com/
http://www.glossicious.com/
http://missyellieuk.blogspot.com/
http://www.redlipstickblackliner.blogspot.com/

So, anyone fancy joining me for Sleek Saturday next week? :) xx