My favourite eye makeup remover

Do you have scents associated with your childhood? I do. Apart from the iconic yummy fruity scents of my native island (vanilla, coconut, mango, etc..) and the not so yummy ones (overripe guava, papaya, banana) I think I will never forget the scents of essential oils of vetyver,  geranium, sweet almond oil and lavender. My mother used to be a big fan of essential oils. Her favourite was lavender and she used to  douse herself in it, as it 'would keep mosquitoes at bay' she used to say. Well, the stuff pongued so much, I'm not surprised it kept  mosquitoes and any form of living species at bay. I also will never be able to forget the strong, powerful and nauseating scents of  geranium and vetyver essential oils. Sweet almond oil, however, was a total different story. I couldn't never get enough of it. When  I left home, my contacts with sweet almond oil became more and more rare, verging non existent. In fact, I even forgot it  existed.


Soon after my poll about eye makeup remover and with the firm intention to purchase one of your recommendations, I ended up  purchasing a bottle of Johnson's baby oil to use as a makeup remover, after seeing lots of rave about it on YouTube. There's nothing  quite like an oil I think to remove stubborn eye makeup with ease. But deep down, I was not fully satisfied. I knew it wasn't the  best for my eyes and that it contained the controversial mineral oil, I turned to eBay and  came across Naissance a seller who sold 100% pure organic sweet almond carrier oil, bottled in the exotic land of ... Swansea.






Very often, when you try to reconnect with food and products from your childhood you end up being disappointed. Scary films from the  past feel suddenly ridiculous, and kids sweets don't taste as good. When I opened my little 50ml of sweet almond carrier oil, I must admit I  was disappointed. It had a lovely smell but it was nowhere as strong as the essential oil that my mum used to have. The fragrance is  very delicate. But then again, I thought that it was a blessing in disguise as I mainly purchased it to use it on my eyes. The very  day I tried the sweet almond oil on my eyes, the very day I threw away my bottle of Johnson's Oil, which was still half full.




I can't describe how lovely it feels to remove my eye makeup with this oil. I love how effortless and quick this removes my makeup.  The whole makeup removal ritual feels like a mini pampering session, with no skin tugging, scratching, and eye stinging whatsoever. 


Doesn't it leave my skin too greasy?
No. In fact, it leaves my dry skin so nourished and I feel that my lashes have been given a second  lease of life. If I need to reapply makeup straight after, say I have made a booboo and want to start over, I try to remember to  revert to my good old trusty eye makeup remover from Simple, in an attempt to finish the bottle but the reality is that I use this organic oil as a  makeup remover 99% of the time.




I feel really happy about myself when I use the sweet almond oil on my eye area. Sweet almond oil is high in proteins, and vitamin E,  an ingredient which I have been very fond of recently because of its universally recognised anti-ageing properties (vitamin e is powerful antioxidant) I feel like I am really caring for my eyes as the whole eye makeup removal  process is so gentle and there is hardly any tugging involved anymore. Twice I just plopped some directly on my face to use as a face mask and it made my skin feel so smooth! My skin is basically loving it and despite being an oil, it doesn’t cause any breakout.


Will I purchase a full size bottle?
The question doesn't even  need asking and this is the first thing on my shopping list come pay day. For now, I am enjoying my very handy travel size (see photographed above with one of my most worn day lipsticks) of sweet  almond oil and will continue to do so until the last drop.


what: 100% pure organic oil cold pressed sweet almond oil (carrier)
where: ebay, amazon or directly on the website.
name of ebay seller: naissanceuk.
how much: £3.29 for 50ml
disclosure: bought myself

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Barry aime Bold* and a flash giveaway

Barry M Cosmetics is on fire at the moment and is spoiling us with amazing new products: a new TV ad, 4 magnetic nail polishes, 5 'standard' nail polishes and 6 new shades of creamy and waterproof 'bold eyeliners' (£3.99 each) to complement the black, the only shade which existed so far.




Personally, I found the eyeliners a bit too creamy for my personal taste but I couldn't deny how bright and pigmented they are. Despite their initial movement due to their soft as butter texture, I can confirm that these are definitely smudgeproof and waterproof. Once they are on, they're on.




OMG. how gorgeous are they!!





If you like the softness of the Urban Decay and Gosh eyeliners pencils (I seem to be the only one who doesn't like them) I can guarantee that you will fall in love with these. When you need to sharpen them, just make sure to put them in the freezer for 15 minutes beforehand and you'll be all right.

To celebrate their release (and also due to the fact that I've recently won some Barry M stuff which I already own) I am giving one of you the chance to win:
- one bold eyeliner of your choice
- one Barry M nail polish in navy
- and one Barry M bold eyeliner in black (reviewed by my friend Claire here)




All I need from you to enter this mini giveaway is to tell me which shade of bold liner you would most  like to win basically. Simples. The rules are the same for every of my giveaway. Open internationally. You just need to be a follower of my blog (Google Connect, Google Reader, Hellocotton,  Blog Lovin) blabla.


How to enter:
This giveaway is for all my blog readers from all over the world.
It will end this week end: Sunday 22 April 2012, 23:59 BST (UK).
All I would like you to do, to enter in this comment giveaway is to tell me: 

What is your favourite shade of Barry M Bold Eyeliner?

--- your name
--- your email address
--- how you found out about this giveaway

Additional Information: - There will be 1 winner and the winner will be sent the three following Barry M items (1 Bold Eyeliner in Black, the Bold Eyeliner of your choice and 1 Navy Blue nail polish
- Winner will be chosen at random with random.org
- The prizes are new, unswatched and unopened.
- * Barry aime Bold is a play on words, based on the fact that ‘M’ is pronounced the same way as  ‘Aime’ in French which means ‘loves’. So ‘Barry aime bold’ just means ‘Barry likes bold’

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New Offerings from Sleek Makeup: Eau la la collection

Sleek Makeup has just released a few days ago a wide range of multi purpose waterproof pencils appropriately called 'Eau la la' liners. The name is a cute play on words on the famous expression French 'oh la la' and the french word for water 'eau'. After having seen them first on British Beauty Blogger, and know about their mouth watering price (only £3.99) I just couldn't wait for their release.




They say:

Highly pigmented with a unique waterproof formulation, Eau La La are the ultimate in liner luxury. Enriched with a soft, creamy formulation, Eau La La are perfect for use on the eyes, lips, brows and body. Smudge proof, multi-purpose pencils in 20 show-stopping colours

Let's have a look at the colours then. Please do not be put off by the montage done below. This was made from the pictures from the website and most probably not very true to colour.








The colours are gorgeous but I can't help but being a little bit disappointed. I wanted to see a bright lime green in there. A bright purple would have been welcome also, but I guess the darkness of 'raisin' is more wearable. Must have shades for me, from looking at the pictures above: venom, which seems to be bright fuchsia, white out (i am a massive fan of white eye pencils) and bullion which I hope will be a nice gold.


I live nowhere near a Superdrug selling Sleek Makeup so I am unable to show swatches of what I would have bought but have a look at the pretty swatches from my blogging friends.

• Jane, from BritishBeautyBlogger loved the yellow, orange and red from the collection (I assume the yellow one is canary, which looks so much better than the shocking neon yellow from the stock picture.
• Becky, from Sirvinya was impressed by the smudgeproof aspect of noir and tonic.
• Adrienne teased us till no end, breaking up her sleek post, and offering us bullion,  nutcracker and tonic in three instalments.
• Get Gawjus puts the multi purpose claim of moulin rouge, cobalt blue and white noise to the test.

What: Sleek Eau la la liners
Where: SleekMakeup online store and selected superdrug stores.
How much: £3.99. Yeah man



What do you think of the Sleek Eau La la collection?
Any shades have picked your curiosity?

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Anxiously waiting for…

... the release of the Smokey Eyes Palettes from Gosh Cosmetics. Ever since I saw Beaut.ie's post, I've been regularly checking my local Superdrug to see if they have arrived. We're talking about 3 to 4 times a week. Today, I've finally asked for more information on twitter and rumour has it that it won't reach our British shores (the palette has already been made available in Ireland for a while) before 'sometime' in April.




I am particularly desperate for the brown quad as it's designed to feature exclusively matte shadows and that good quality eyeshadow palette which doesn't break the bank are very hard to find. I've been using this little matte fella from Gosh to death and it's about time I purchased a replacement. I love gosh eyeshadows: They feel a little hard and dry at first, but in return they offer a good colour pay off, have very little fall out and are easy to blend.


I am told that the palette will be sold at £7.99 and will be released sometime in April. Watch this space, as there is NO DOUBT, this will end up in my home and on my eyes. Yeeha!    

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

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.

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Lime Soda and Champagne {eotd & notd}

I am still angry at myself for having missed the 'all nyx eye pencils at £1' from cocktail cosmetics the other day. More than ever since then, I have been obsessed to get my hands on a bright lime pencil. Ideally, I would have loved to buy a Revlon, as a big fan of the colorstay eye pencils, or a Bourjois but both these brands don't offer a bright lime. There was 3 for 2 on Gosh recently and I finally took the plunge and bought Gosh Lime Soda 'velvet touch' eye pencil






The colour is absolutely gorgeous. It's just the perfect shade


 


However, I am not in love with this pencil. I know many of you are absolutely in love with these pencils, but I found the application of Lemon Soda a bit laborious, the texture a bit on the dry side and not as creamy as I would have liked. For its price tag of £5, it took a few goes for the pencil to warm to my waterline, and showing some pigmentation before firmly migrating soon after to my lashline.


Removal of lemon soda was even more laborious. This is not the fault of Gosh. The pencil is meant to be long lasting and waterproof which I failed to read, as I was too enchanted by the colour to consider anything else.


Another product which I have been waiting anxiously for its release is the line of mini polishes from Gosh (£2.99 for 5ml of product). I decided to be good, and just buy 1 from the range and opted for 'nude champagne' (022).






I am absolutely thrilled with my purchase. The colour would suit a darker skintone better than mine but the polish offered me full opacity in just ONE coat, and all the photos outdoor and indoor show just one coat of 'champagne'. My application is very rushed. I didn’t expect to apply just one coat at all!!



 





This would be a perfect polish to take with me if I am in a rush, packing to go somewhere, and absolutely no idea of the final outfit I'd be wearing and when my unsightly yellow nails would need to look pretty and polished. This would also be perfect as a base for other colour polishes which would require 3 or 4 coats to achieve opacity and cover the white nail line. Ironically, this polish would need to exist in ... full size. There I said it.





Lime Soda annoyed me, Champagne excited me. 


Fin.

p.s Like the look of these mini polishes? Nic from Strawberry Blonde Beauty Blog is giving away 6 shades of the Gosh mini polish on her blog. Don't delay your entry, her giveaway closes on August 1st!

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Me, myself and my under eye triangles

Do you sometimes feel that it's that the people who are in most in need of certain things who ignore the existence of these things and the little boost it could do to their self confidence? I've seen women with a potential cracking figure but who let themselves down and their figure by wearing an ill fitting bra? Maybe that's the trauma of having your breast measured, I don't know. I've got practically no lashes whatsoever and the little I have are hopelessly thin and straight. Do I wear any mascara? I don't even bother most of the time, there is only so much a mascara can do. Plus the flaming mascara always slips down on my face, making me look worse.


 I 'suffer' (I am not in pain or anything but I can't find a better word) from very bad eye circles It's always been there. It feels like that I have never had enough fat under my eyes to cover the orbit of my eye. It's the bane of my life. Do I wear under eye concealer? Do I heck? I've tried to, but I find it settles into the {not so fine anymore} lines and I get even more self conscious.


I was bored in the train journey and took this picture of myself using my the camera of my phone. The only makeup I am wearing on this picture is foundation. and that’s it. nothing else. Admittedly this is still a VERY flattering picture of me but at least it doesn't have the 'beauty shot' setting of my usual camera and is much more accurate picture of me. This photo hasn't been smoothed in any way, shape or form (eeek!) but does have a colour filter applied to it to make it look better.





This puffed by nature under eye action, combined with my droopy lids is what I hate my eyes more than anything else on my face. These very eyes are the reason why ALL MY LIFE people have been giving me comments. Total strangers (for some reason the majority being taxi drivers!!) who I have never met before would comment that I look tired. I get ‘you look tired’ comments all the time. I have often been asked if I smoke weed because my eyes look like I am high on something. niiiiice!


The worst was that this ticket control guy in Manchester train station asking me if I have been in a fight because of the way my eyes look. Naturally, it would have caused a riot if I did retaliate and asked him if he had been sleeping in a bed of charcoal the night before because of the colour of his skin. Rest assured that I didn’t make that offensive racial comment but I was left rather offended myself.

SINCE WHEN IS IT ACCEPTABLE FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW YOU VERY WELL TO TELL YOU THAT YOU LOOK TIRED? I can’t get my head round it.

But I have decided to fight back. A colleague at work (from a different department than me, I probably see her maybe 3 times a year, if that) thought it would be lovely to comment on how tired I look. I said ‘You look like you’ve put on weight yourself’. Somehow she never felt the need to comment on tired I look. I wonder why?


Highlighted below the bane of my life, my under eye action, or under eye triangles as I'd to call them.





and below, me and my very potent under eye concealer ... it's called Paint Shop Pro. *sigh*





Back to the real world, I am not getting younger. It’s about time I took care of myself and use an under eye concealer. I would love it:

if you could tell me the under eye concealer you swear by, the one that you've been purchasing the most and which you feel (if that does exist) actually does conceal/improve something and doesn't seep into your smiles lines.

Is it concealer or highlighter which I need?
Any pointers would be most appreciated,
thank you so much for reading xx

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The best eye makeup remover chosen by… You! :) Mini Poll

.I am running out of eye makeup remover (It seems like I'm going through gallons of eye makeup remover so quickly) and I need to buy a new one.  At the moment, I am using a eye makeup remover from Simple, a decent alternative I had to find to replace my ultimate favourite eye makeup remover product, which I can’t find in England, Cils Demasq, a bi-phase product from Gemey/Maybelline.





I was really curious to see what is everyone's favourite eye makeup remover to have ideas of what to buy and also to find out if I've been missing out on real gems. So this is what, you, my lovely twitter followers have answered, 34 of you to be precise:


 




I messed up my imagemap on the previous picture, so if you want to access cosmetic candy’s links, here are they are, this is her review of her beloved Softymo and this is where she buys it.




and last but certainly not least:


 

I would like to say a massive thank you to all of you for your replies. It is really really interesting what everyone is using, from the high street product to the high end ones, with some ‘homemade’ simple ones thrown in too.


  


I have learnt so much and I think I have been really missing out on the wonder of what the ‘Botanics’ seems to be. I didn’t even know that Boots Botanics did an eye makeup remover, as I was judgemental about all the metallic lid of their bottles but @loulou699 reassured me and nothing is stopping me now :)

I also really really want to try a product I’ve never tried before: the Bioderma product raved about by @lipglossiping and @mylipsbutbetter, as I love the concept of water removing makeup and leaving no residues.




Are you surprised by the answers?
Were they predictable to you?
Any product from above which you want to try?
What is your holy grail eye makeup remover?

liloo/@tsunimee on twitter--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like this type of post? Here are some more polls from the past:
- Elf products and high street availability
- Restaurants dates and who should pay the bill
- 3 Essential Makeup items for a night out

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Russet Eye Glitter Dust (Beauty UK) and EOTD

What can I say. I think I might have a little crush on Beauty UK. After Lily from Beauty’s Bad Habit was raving about the metallic eye sparks, I wanted to get some for myself. Alas there was none in my Superdrug: instead 2 little pots (the last ones) of  glitter eye dust were begging me to grab them: Russet and Green. The glitter lover in me couldn’t resist at £2.99 each.




Let’s cut to chase and go right into it: the packaging is far from ideal but let it not deter you as the product it contains it’s gorgeous. It is like your traditional loose glitter but more finely milled to look almost like an eyeshadow. With this product, you get the best of both worlds: vibrancy, glitter and drama which you would get with a loose glitter, but a product very similar to eyeshadow as far as the removal goes: a cotton dampened with eye make up remover will take it off very easily, while traditional glitter would be more tedious (I usually resort to sellotape to remove the excess first)





Talking of packaging, this is what it looks like inside. I feel like the product dissipates itself around its little opening at the top.

 



You can actually remove the whole plastic protector inside and just use the lid. I happened to have some mini jars (5ml) left so I decided to depot them.



 
Are you still with me yet?
Now for the look. This is not very elaborate at all. Look at it more like it’s a swatch of the product but made directly on the eyelid.

 





To create this look, I used 3 colours from the Day and Night Palette (reviewed and fotd’ed here) and the russet glitter eye dust. Eyepencil and eyeliner are the same usual ones, I won’t bore you with it :P Again, I must point out that you won’t usually see me using shimmery shadows in my crease.  But the shimmery burgundy from this palette as well as the other colours don’t have an overpowering shimmer at all, it’s more of a mix between subtle sheen and shimmer.

I treated the glitter eye dust exactly like it was chunky loose glitter and applied it with my beloved and trusty splash proof sealer. In retrospect, I wish I had darkened the crease a bit more with a bit of black. Never mind.


 


Now what am I going to do with 2 jars of the same glitter, huh? ;)
Oh, anyone want to have a guess at the nail polish I am wearing? answer tomorrow. I know, you just can't contain yourself ... and I need to get out more

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