A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I woke up to an email this morning announcing the arrival of Get Lashed lashes for sale on the Nails Inc. website (like that website isn’t tempting enough already right?)

Choose from 8 available styles:

L-R: Get Cute, Get Natural

L-R: Get Gorgeous, Get Kissable

L-R: Get Glam, Get Flirty

L-R: Get Funky, Get Playful

Prices vary from £7 up to £13 depending on style.  Personally, I’m loving the look of Get Kissable!

Which of these styles would be perfect for your Christmas parties this season?

Cloud Nine got in touch to offer me a pair of their new straighteners for potential review and with a high maintenance chin length bob to tame every morning, I’m not ashamed to admit that I very nearly bit their hands off.

Now, I know that this is probably the 50th review you’ve read of these straighteners (no exaggeration), and I do apologise… so when I was putting them to the test, I tried to approach it from a slightly different angle.

I’m no expert hair straightener and I’m sure many of you would fall into this category too.  In all honesty, I’m far too busy worrying about how my makeup looks to care *too* much about my hair.  Obviously, I’d rather not look like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards when I visit clients… but for me, it’s all about the eyeshadow.

Unfortunately, the dragged through a hedge backwards look is *exactly* the one I sport on my head when I wake up every morning.  Example? Oh ok, then…

So with this time-pressed, hair straightening novice method of review I wanted to present to you an 8 minute hair straightening challenge.

Why 8 minutes? Well, because that’s approximately how long I get before baby L. notices that I’m not right up there in her face singing songs and dancing like a loon for her entertainment.  I also figure that I can never be arsed to spend much longer on my hair in the mornings anyway.

Ready?  Let’s have a look at what I got sent first then…

Nicely presented packaging is always a good thing and the turquoise/black combination is very sophisticated.

GHDs hmmmm, I’m sure it’s a selling point… but Cloud Nine, you’re advertising those competitors of yours every step of the way!  I can’t read anything about you without someone, somewhere mentioning GHDs in the same breath.  Fair enough, but don’t you do it on your packaging too!

To me, that’s saying… “Look, we should be as good as 1st gen GHDs…”

Oh… well I’ll just go buy a set of GHDs then… these sound like they should be as good as, but I’ll play it safe and go for the tried and tested option.

Is that the best you can be?  Come on!  You’re Cloud Nine!  Be a tiger, grrrr….

*and breathe* sorry… but as you might be able to tell, I’m bored of the GHD comparisons already.

Right, what else does it say…

“Less heat, more style”, “…without the need for searing heat.”

Oh ok. well my straighteners are usually set at a hair-frazzling 230c, so I’ll keep that in mind for testing…

I’m all for secret ingredients…

Swivel Cord (boring), Heat Guard (whatever) – Next!

Universal Voltage (blah, blah – no actually.. that’s quite useful for international jet-setters such as myself *cough*), Hibernation Mode – so I don’t burn the house down (at least not with the straighteners), Box Contents – yep, the postman didn’t nick anything.  Good, good.. moving on…

Slide off the cardboard sleeve and you get…. another box!

Aha! Finally!

Still loving the turquoise.  Minimalism is ‘in’ it seems…

We want… we want… we want…

Is that all they could come up with?  What about peace among mankind?  I would at least have added a few Dior shadows to the list (no, I’m still not over them).

Variable heat settings – useful!

Sparkly shiny plates!!

I should at this point probably mention that build quality feels good.  It’s all sturdy stuff despite being surprisingly lightweight.

I also like how ’rounded’ the casing is… it makes for easier, smoother curling.  The plastic on the tips of the straighteners are grooved/ribbed which makes for an easy grip on the tips if curling with both hands on the barrel.

Everything you get…

Right, enough of that… let’s straighten!

I set the temperature to 150c (Less Heat More Style remember) and the Cloud Nine’s heated up in literally 5-10 seconds, which quite frankly is just showing off and actually didn’t give me enough time to find my straightening spray. Boo! 😉

Now listen up to this bit… It’s a negative and up ’till now my review has been a glowing one.

I thought that these dragged a bit.

Not a huge amount, not like my Remington Wet2Straight that I wanted to throw through the nearest window for literally pulling strands of hair from my poor screaming barnet.

However, I did feel a little bit of tugging especially when I reached the ends, they simply didn’t glide quite as easily as I would have hoped for £129 straighteners.  Ho hum.

Anyway, back to this whole 8 minute thing…

Ta-Da!  I like it… It’s not poker straight which I presume is ‘cos I’m using less heat… but that also means that it’s not completely flat and lacking in volume (which was the only end result I could get from my 230c ones).  It should also mean that my hair stays healthier despite frequent use.

I normally wash and blow dry my hair (whilst curling under with a round brush) and only after that do I use my straighteners, so to be fair on the Cloud Nines, they were really up against it to be used straight on my dry bed-head hair.

They performed admirably, I would totally let clients see me like this…. and all in 8 minutes (oh, ok it was closer to 9).  Not bad, not bad at all.

Mostly, I’m impressed with the flexibility of styles I can get from these straighteners depending on the temperature used.  I also found them pretty good for curling and I was pleased with the amount of shine they left on my hair.

Now, if only they could perfect ‘the glide’… hopefully this will be their main focus when designing and building the C9’s mkII.

As for me, I’ll be consigning my old ones to a backup drawer somewhere.  Hello super quick, unfrazzled natural looking straightening!

As a Batiste-lovin’ brunette, my one and only issue with the product was the insane amount of “distribution” I had to do everytime I used the dry shampoo.  It was a tiresome but critical step to ensure that I didn’t make myself look like this little Romeo…

Oh Mon Cheri! xx xx xx xx xx xx (sorry.. I’m having a Pepe Le Pew moment)

Anyway, I wrote about the new range of Batiste dry shampoos for dark hair a few weeks ago, and got the opportunity to see how I got on with the new product.  I’m glad I did, because could I find the coloured range in the Boots stores nearest to me?  Could I hell.  The shelves were bare!  I think that my experiences with hunting the stuff down are being echoed throughout the land.  Hopefully as it becomes a more established feature, stock numbers will increase.

Now, I don’t know how complicated this stuff is to produce, or what goes into it.  All I know is that it needs to perform one simple task.  I need it to dry up any oils that are weighing my hair down at the roots and making it look flat and dull, and in an ideal world, it’s gonna achieve that one thing without any additional side effects.

I swatched it for ya! Ha!

It’s most definitely brown!  The lighter patch in the middle is where I got a bit heavy handed and went back in for a 2nd spray.  As it dries, the colour deepens, so the paler spot didn’t take long to deepen to the same shade as the surrounding colour.

It works aswell as the original formulas, smells fine enough and does what it’s supposed to without making me look like Cruella de Vil.  It’s better than other generic dry shampoos and in my experience, works just aswell as the more expensive varieties.

This really is a staple for me, something that I purchase over and over.  Finally, I can be a little more sloppy with it when I’m in a rush.  Woo ha!

However…

I go through this stuff pretty quickly and I noticed that it’s priced up at nearly £3 in my local store compared to the original (and other scented varieties) which are priced at just above the £2 mark.  So that’s a 1/3rd more expensive and I would love to find out why.

To be blunt, as much as I’m impressed with the product… and truly can’t fault the way it works.  I won’t purchase it now I’ve got the ‘novelty’ factor out of my system unless the price comes down in line with the rest of the brand.

Perhaps if a can of it lasted me longer than 5 minutes then I’d pay a bit more without noticing the hit to my purse.  But if I’m repurchasing this a couple of times a month, then I think I’d rather get a bit of arm ache and spend my £3 saved on a Eggnog Latte instead 😉

Have you tried it yet?  What are your thoughts on the pricing?

I’m my own worst enemy.. I suffer from dry skin, particularly in the winter and one of the worst places for this are my hands.

Despite this, I hate hand creams.  I avoid them like the plague.  I am yet to find one that doesn’t leave a greasy, sticky or at best slightly clammy feeling (and I’ve tried a lot!).

The only thing for it, is to minimise anything that dries my hands out.  This was never a problem for me before I had Leila, but now she’s 6 months old and I’m dreading this winter.  My hands are constantly in contact with baby wipes, which seem to suck all moisture from them (yet they’re fine for her bottom – go figure?).

I was offered a Surya Hand Sanitizer to trial and I was pleased to do so as it’s a product I use often when out and about with the babs in tow.

The Surya Hand Sanitizer carries a little tagline which I didn’t notice in the press release and only discovered after a couple of days use: Moisturizing (yes, spelt the American way).

Surely that’s an oxymoron?  Since when are hand sanitizers (mostly composed of alcohol) anything other than incredibly unmoisturising?

Well… I actually do find this to be pretty good compared to my usual brand of sanitizer (Carex if you’re interested).

I wouldn’t go so far as to call it moisturising, but my hands don’t seem to dry out so much after use and I don’t get a tingling sensation like I do with other brands.

The scent is a little overpowering – an odd combination of mint and lavender, both seem to vye for my attention in an altogether slightly too heady manner, but thankfully the scent it leaves on my hands is a lot more understated than on initial use.

Perhaps most importantly, it dries quickly without leaving any kind of residue.  If you’re in the kind of profession where you need to use these products often – I’d really recommend this as a gentler alternative to many other brands on the market.

Surya Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer is available in two sizes: a 60ml handbag size (£7.00) ideal for busy (who am I kidding?) Mums like me, and a 200ml (£10.00) “desktop” size.

Available to buy from Liberty and online from their website.

Hello my pretty!

I discovered her hiding under a pile of soaps at my local T.K. Maxx… let me introduce you to “Bubble Pink” as we shall call her from now on.

Seriously, have you ever seen a more outrageously girly lipstick in your life?

I know… that’s almost indecent.  Glitter bomb on a stick.  A pink stick.

This really shouldn’t work for anyone over the age of 7.  And it definitely shouldn’t work for a lady knocking on the door of 30 (by ‘knocking’ I mean ‘ungracefully sprinting in the opposite direction of’).

So does it work?

Ohhhhh yes.

The topmost layer of glitter is an overspray… after the first application it’s a lot more subtle as you can see above.  The pink is a beautiful soft bubblegum pink which is neither too warm, nor too cool.  The shimmer (whilst apparent) doesn’t overpower nor look frosty.  It’s just ‘glitters’.

I was most taken aback by the texture… yes, there’s a teeny bit of gritiness… but nothing compared to what I expected considering how packed full of sparkle it is.  I find it actually quite moisturising and my teeth aren’t set on edge every time I press my lips together.

Whilst wearing this, be sure to kiss lots of people for whom glitter prints would be highly inappropriate.

I want to be buried wearing this lipstick.

And if you think it’s too shimmery for me… I can’t hear you *la la la laalalala*.

Yano when you’re shopping… and it’s been an el-crappo experience… your money is burning a hole in your pocket but you just can’t find *anything* to commit to… everything is… for want of a better (or even actual) word… meh.

I had one of those days in town.. lots of nice money practically setting my pants alight and nothing that caught my eye enough to extinguish them.  Until I popped into Superdrug and sidled up to the Sleek stand.

I prodded at the blushers… meh.

I eyeballed the lipsticks…. meh meh.

Just as I was about to leave, frown intact – I cast my eyes downwards and caught sight of the nail polishes.  Nail polishes? I didn’t even know Sleek did nails?  Well, obviously I haven’t emerged from that rock of mine enough… cos there they were all lined up like beacons of salvation ready to save me from a shit shopping trip.

I picked up two shades: Royalty (Blackened Red Shimmer) and Poison Ivy (Blackened Green Shimmer) but got the guilts at the checkouts thinking of all those polishes sat at home still untouched and left Poison Ivy at the counter.

Anyway, how do I like Royalty?  I like it a lot!

It is absolutely packed with subtle shimmer – beautiful!

Application? It could be a one-coater if you were a little more careful with application than me.  The above photo shows two coats with no top coat (I’m so lazy about top coats).

It dries fast, perhaps a tiny bit too fast for slowcoaches like me… but as soon as I picked up the pace, I had no problems with application.

This is such a Christmassy shade, I can’t wait to check out the others available!

Nailed Nail Polish by Sleek is available from most Superdrugs.

Well alright, just budge up a bit – I’m sure I can make room for both of you in my heart…

Helena Rubinstein Wanted Stellars Lipstick is available in 12 shades, whilst the gloss is available in 6.  The website sucks, so I can’t view the others..  RRP on these is €28 for the lippies and €26 for the gloss.

But now I’ve seen, I’m smitten… the red would be fabulous for Christmas, even if I only looked at it and sighed wistfully.  I’d love a true pink with sparkle too *le grand sigh*

So anyway, not only are these Wanted Stellars flippin’ gorgeous but get this info from Premium Beauty News…

The Solev company presents an innovative finishing technology called “sparkling effect” which consists in spreading on the material to decorate, in a dense and perfectly homogeneous way, colored and metallic particles to render a smooth and shiny effect.

This effect is enhanced by applying a transparent covering film, with a high gloss effect to amplify depth and light.

In order to achieve this result, Solev formulates its own special effect varnishes and to apply the particles in a dense and homogeneous way, the company has invented and developed a process (about to be patented).

A new technology implemented on Helena Rubinstein’s latest lipstick, Wanted Stellars.

Yeah, yeah… whatever you had me at “sparkling effect”.

It looks as though my nearest HR counter is in Cherbourg… ok, so as the crow flies that’s not bad… a couple of hours.  Shame about that pesky ENGLISH CHANNEL blocking the way!  Harrumph.

Anything you’re craving at the moment?

Pudsey is an iconic figure associated with BBC’s Children in Need and Jessica Nails have released a limited edition collection of bear-shaped bottles timed to appear alongside this year’s campaign.

Each bottle sold will raise £2 for the BBC Children in Need Appeal.

The ultra-cute bear shaped bottles are available in 4 colours:

~ Bazaar – A delectable deep cherry red
~ Midnight Moonlight – A deep midnight blue with a subtle shimmer
~ Pharaoh – A stunning hot pink
~ Notorious – Decadent chocolate brown with a hint of shimmer

I’m partial to a bit of “midnight blue shimmer” and if I can indulge whilst supporting a very worthwhile cause, even better!

These retail at £8.95 each and can be purchased online from LookFantastic

You can also follow Jessica Nails on Twitter

It’s tricky to get back into this blogging lark when you take a little break huh?

Leila has started teething, so I’m finding myself fully occupied until around 8pm every night.  It’s tough to find enough daylight to take pictures, but I have much cool stuff to review, and lots of lovely things to talk about with you guys… need more hours in the day.  Simple.  Sort it someone!

I’m not delighted with these FOTDs… but hopefully they’ll be a useful stepping stone back into making notes and photographing what I do.

Anyway, my first FOTD is a green one and nope… I still don’t like green on me, but there’s 2 particularly lovely looking ones in the palette, so I had to make use of them right?

Eyes:

Sellout in the inner corners
Homegrown on the lid
YDK in the crease and blended out (not that it looks at all blended in the pic *sigh*)
Lined with Shu Uemura Painting Liner in Brown

and number two…

Eyes:

Sphinx on the inner corners
Ecstacy on the lids and up above the crease
Perversion blended lightly in and above the crease
Infinty eBay gel liner in Deep Purple

If you’ve done any looks with the Book of Shadows Vol II, link me up – I want some inspiration!

Love, (a tired) me xxx

I’m *nearly* over the whole matte top coat thing… a couple more mani’s then I’ll be able to move on.

This is Barielle’s Shades range in “Grape Escape” – It’s gorgeous.  It’s actually better glossy… but well, I’m a mattifying sheep.

Application is smooth – this is 2 coats.  No issues to speak of, perhaps a touch slow drying… but nothing a quick-dry top coat doesn’t fix.

Desperate to check out some more colours… looks like they have a lovely A/W collection out at the moment.  Let me introduce you…

Putt-E-On-Me – Classic clay

Blackened Bleu – Black with turquoise glitter

Lava Rock – Black with red pearl swirl

I don’t even like glitter and I’m salivating at the thought of the black/turquoise one!

L-R: Putt-E-On-Me, Blackened-Bleu, Lava Rock.

Check out the range at Barielle

Ohhh Bourjois, my favourite high street brand.  It’s impossible to pronounce your name without doing a pouty french expression, it just doesn’t seem right.

I’ve been a big fan of Bourjois’ “little round pots” for years and was beyond excited to see Bourjois’ tweet about this Limited Edition collection of vintage Parisien styled packaging.

Absolute Violet Baked Eyeshadow

…

This is quite an image intensive post, to see the other images, please click this link…

Still on the hunt for an easier to blend alternative to UDPP, I decided to give Art Deco’s Eyeshadow Base a go.

I’ve tried Art Deco products before and on the whole, I’ve been impressed.  I’m a fan of their eyeshadows and camouflage concealers in particular.

Art Deco are a German brand established in 1985 and they’ve been trying to make an impact on this side of the channel for a couple of years now.

I often spy “z”elebrities pictured in the likes of Heat magazine clutching their little Art Deco shopping bags.  You can find the brand stocked in beauty salons and the like, but they’re mostly still trying to find a way into the mainstream market.

Packaged in a sleek little black pot… nice and sturdy.  Honestly though, this is my least favourite style of packaging… especially with these long nails of mine.  HATE digging product out from under these talons.  Yes, I could use a brush, but most of the time I can’t be bothered.

The actual product is a warm flesh-toned creme with shimmer.  If you’re in too much of a hurry for full eye makeup, I have used a touch of this to even out my lids with a slick of eyeliner and I’ve been pleased with the effect.  The shimmer kicks it up a notch, and aids in making me look a little more awake than I feel.

It glides onto the eyelids smoothly and blends (with my finger) to an almost powdery soft finish.  No stickiness or greasy residue is left on the lids.

Shadows glide easily over the base, and blending is much more fluid than I find with UDPP.  Still a little trickier than with no base or the Kryolan Supracolor, but it’s fine.

The million dollar question… does it keep my eyeshadow crease free?

UDPP keeps my shadows glued to my lid like me to Eastenders on Christmas Day, they just don’t budge till the last duh, duh, duhs.

Here’s how my eyeshadow looked after 8hrs with Art Deco’s Eyeshadow Base:

That’s not bad huh?

It actually looks worse in the picture than it did in the mirror, I think the flash from the camera really makes the imperfections stand out.

On the plus side…

It’s creamy, non-drying, makes a good base when worn alone.  It’s easier to blend with than UDPP and it does a thoroughly stand up job at keeping shadows in place.

On the down side…

I don’t think I get quite so much longevity from it as I do with UDPP, but a minimum of 8hrs decent wear is probably all I really need.  I’ve just been spoilt by UDPP still wowing me at bedtime.

On the fence…

It seems to make the shadows just as vivid as UDPP and doesn’t appear to alter the original shades any more than UDPP does, but I’m not really that adept at noticing subtle changes which may well drive other people crazy with frustrations.

Overall, I’m hugely impressed.

It’s also substantially cheaper than UDPP… from memory, I think I paid around £6-£7 for my pot.

You can check out stockists on the UK Art Deco website

[starreview tpl=14]