A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

If you’re looking for some mega bright lipsticks to blow away those wintery cobwebs without too much in the way of spends (let’s face it, it’s a miserable skinty mcskinty January), look no further than Miss Sporty.  Oh yay, brand of inexpensive-but-beautiful duochromes!  Infact, it was buying the duochromes that led me back to my local stand in Boots (or is it Superdrug? or both?!) for another look at what was on offer.

I skimmed over the foundations, for I am a foundation snob.  I meh’ed over the mascaras… contemplated a new liquid liner but eventually settled on the Perfect Colour Lipsticks.  Of course.  Not that this wasn’t the most completely predictable route that I would take.  God, I love lipstick.

I went for the brights, just because… you know… I could.  I mean, they’re £2.59 each… not an ounce of guilt was felt.

I Love and Malaga, the most obnoxious shades I could find.  Lovely.

They pack the kind of pigment you’d expect from some of MACs hallowed shades without saying “Here, have great colour in exchange for a shitty shitty texture”.  That’s not to say the texture is mind-blowingly awesome but it’s not draggy like the bright BarryM lipsticks can be and it’s not moisture-sucking.

My only issue with these lipsticks is that they smell a bit like a rancid Jolly Rancher.  Obviously disguising something that must smell even more revolting.  It’s a good thing I can’t sniff my lips.

Neither of these shades are the most flattering on me but they’re flippin’ fun are they not?  Malaga is a really great casual red that looks lovely (much nicer than the lip swatch) when pressed onto the lips and then smooshed around, paying no attention to things like a sharp lip-line.

What do you think?  Will you be checking them out the next time you’re in town?

Miss Sporty Perfect Colour Lipsticks in Malaga and I Love are priced at £2.59 each and available instore and online from Boots.com and Superdrug.com

If the advent of this new year has inspired a fresh start when it comes to your skincare choices, you could save yourself a pretty penny by heading over to the Organic Surge website and indulging in their Skin and Body Mega Bundle which offers everything you need to turn over a new leaf.

The Mega Bundle, worth £60, is currently priced at an astonishingly good value of only £23.97 and contains many of Organic Surge’s bestselling products including:

Gentle Cleansing Lotion
Daily Care Face Wash
Skin Perfecting Polish
Overnight Sensation Night Cream
Super-Intensive Daily Moisturiser
Eye Gel
Kiss & Make-Up Wipes
Gentle Meadow Body Lotion
Sweet Blossom Shower Gel
Lemon & Honey Soap

This deal should be of particular appeal to those of you with sensitive skin and anyone concerned about the chemicals in their skincare, the entire range is 100% free of parabens and sodium lauryl sulphate with no artificial fragrances or colourants.

Beware, this is a limited edition bundle so go forth and shop!

I expect I’m not alone when I say that I’ve tried numerous dry shampoos over the years because although I’m pretty loyal to Batiste… it is quite expensive no?  I’d also wager a bet on the likelihood that popping into Poundland once in a while is as much of a guilty pleasure for you as it is for me.  Somewhere up there with scowling at a Liz Jones article, buying more Krispy Kremes than there are people to eat them, and lingering on Dog the Bounty Hunter reruns for longer than is strictly necessary whilst browsing the channels.  There, I said it.  I <3 Poundland.

So when I spotted some cans of dry shampoo on the shelves that I hadn’t spotted on previous trips, I felt a little thrill of excitement!  Not only that, but they had different versions for coloured hair a la Batiste!  Oh happy day!

I picked up this can of Intu Style Dry Shampoo for Brunettes, expecting it to be thoroughly ineffective.  But it’s bloody marvellous!  In-fact, rather than plain old dry shampoo, it reminds me more of the Batiste volumising one (but for brunettes).  It also seems a little less noxious with a non-descript scent that although not amazing, doesn’t melt your brain either.

Obviously, this stuff is a mere quid – I’ve only seen it in Poundland and whether or not it’s still in plentiful supply is anyone’s guess.  I picked this up just before Christmas, so if you’re passing your local store… drop in and see if you can spot a can.

Have you tried it?  What other “off brand” dry shampoos do you rate?

Let’s start this season’s gift guides off with some beautiful bargains shall we?  You know me, I’m just as happy swatching on the counters at Harrods as I am trawling the clearance section at CheapSmells, my makeup snobbery gets treated to a regular kick in the teeth each time it tries to raise its ugly head.  Sure, I’m no MUA girl (that neutral palette is pretty/too SHINY SHINY for my slowly-ageing eyelids) but I still get all clappy excited when I spot a bit of a bargain.

Here be my pick of the gifts for next to no pennies at all… heads up skinflints, this one’s for you (and me).

01: Umberto Giannini Painted Lady Beatrice Palette (£8.00)

Part of Boots 3for2 on Christmas gifts, this striking palette from Umberto Giannini (better known for their hair range) offers a wealth of grungy glamour and rather cool illustrationd to boot.  Four eye colours, two lip shades and a butterfly stencil should the desire to flutter yourself up become too much to resist.

02: ELF 48pc Little Black Beauty Book – Warm Edition (£5.00)*

ELF are the kings (and queens) of affordable gifts this time of year and there’s no better place to look for achieving the biggest bang for your buck.  A veritable menagerie of neutral-toned eyeshadows presented in book form, complete with a mirror ensures that this is a gift that will delight all makeup fans.

03: LUSH Sweet Christmas Gift Set (£6.95)

Everyone has a Lushie in their life and whether they’re big or small in stature, you’ll be sure to melt their icy heart with the LUSH Sweet Christmas set containing a Candy Mountain bubble bar and Rockstar soap.  It’s a win-win situation, not only will they smell sweeter, you don’t even have to do any wrapping.

04: SEN Energy Gingko and Mandarin Energising Mist (£4.95)

Embrace the reinvigorating scent of the far east at a price that will uplift your wallet and splash out on this posher-than-average body mist from SEN.  It promises to refresh, revive and revitalise – something we could all do with once the Christmas shopping is over.

05: Yardley 3-Piece Body Spray Set (£4.99)

A boxed set for under £5 is not something to sniffed at (haw haw), we all know someone who would appreciate this timeless set from iconic British fragrance house, Yardley.  The set contains three 75ml body sprays including: English Lavender, Royal English Daisy, and English Rose.

06: Essie Tour de Finance Nail Polish (£1.99)

Hold the stampede!  Yes, you can get a fabulously hot pink polish from cult NY nail brand, Essie for less than £2!  I see some fabulous stocking fillers in your future!  Not only that… but if you stick on-site a little bit longer, you might come across the £5.00 OPIs… just sayin’.

07: Soap & Glory Wowed Mouth (£12.00)

The most expensive item in today’s selection but for your pennies, you’re getting a 6-piece lip palette that contains all six shades of S&G’s Fabulipsticks.  The perfect gift for any lipstick fan, or ideal for someone who owns all the lipglosses in the world and just doesn’t quite know where to start with lipstick.

08: The Body Shop White Musk Shower & Moisture Set (£6.00)

A classic fragrance from The Body Shop that has stood the test of time, and worn it elegantly.  A duo of mini bath-time treats that are great for travel or taking to the gym – the set contains: 1 White Musk Shower Gel 60ml, 1 White Musk Smooth Satin Body Lotion 60ml, 1 Ultra Fine Lilac Bath Lily.

If you’re a glitter fan, look out – the next gift guide’s got your name on it!

* press sample

I found these Miss Sporty Metal Flip Nail Polish Duochromes in my local Boots store last week, they sure are pretty – and at £1.99 a-piece (aditionally on a buy-one-get-another-half-price offer), they’re also a flippin’ steal.  I can’t remember the last time I bought anything from Miss Sporty, infact, I thought you could only buy the brand in Superdrug?

Anyway… I’m pleased I had some time to kill for a proper “browse”, the kind of luxury I haven’t had in a while.

010 Beetle Wings (gilded green/brown combination)

030 Aurora Borealis (turquoise/lilac combination)

040 Fiery Blaze (purple/green/brown combination)

The Miss Sporty Metal Flip polishes aren’t the most groundbreaking duochromes in the world, simply because the colour combinations have been done many times over (don’t make me dig out my dupes!).  However, the formulas are really nicely done and each was opaque in two/three coats max.  Throw in a sub £2 price tags and these are such pretty little treats, thoroughly worthy of making it into your shopping basket.

Have you picked up any of these on your high street jaunts yet?  Which one is your favourite and will you be indulging?

Who says you need to spend oodles of money to smell like a goddess in the shower?

Yves Rocher’s Voile d’Ambre Shower Gel defies its (current) sub-£10 price tag and smells more like one of the department store fragrance flankers.  At £7-odd, I don’t use this daily… but it’s perfect for layering under your favourite oriental, woody perfumes and is a great scent choice for ushering in the colder weather.

I’m not going to review it like it’s a perfume… it’s a shower gel after all, and I can only hold a certain amount of excitement for shower gels regardless of how nice they are, but still… the amber in Voile d’Ambre isn’t overpowering but lasts beautifully on my skin.  I’m keen to explore the other shower gels, and perhaps even the perfumes in the Yves Rocher line – I’m glad I added this one to my recent order, it’s so nice to find a new brand (to me) to get my teeth stuck into!

Yves Rocher Voile d’Ambre Shower Gel is currently priced at £7.80 and is available to buy online in the UK from the Yves Rocher website.

Fancy some bargainous nail candy to feast your eyes upon?

C’mon…  it might even take the edge off the gloom from the knowledge that yes, Autumn… it’s just around that corner there.  Don’t focus on thoughts of darkening evenings and frosty mornings, think instead of glittery nails and vampy cremes.  Looksie!

That’s not a bad Autumn/Winter lineup now is it? Read on for shade details and be prepared to take many, many detours past the shampoo and into the beauty aisle for many, many, little pickmeups this season.

01: Magic – a pretty Autumn plum with a silvery shimmer
02: Dream – striking charcoal blue/grey that will never go out of style
03: Potion – be hot on trend with the perfect berry colour for the season
04: Fairy Tale – golden, glamorous and perfect for Christmas
05: Spellbound – wear alone for a subtly sparkly look or add to a colour for stand out glamour
06: Liquid Lane – a pretty shimmery pink to complement this season’s berry trend
07: Wizardry – a more subdued glitter to be used alone or works perfectly with Fairy Tale
08: Once Upon a Time – warm up your winter look with this fierce fuchsia

Barbara Daly polishes are available instore and online at tesco.com, priced at £3 each – anyone spotted these shades gracing the aisles yet?

What do The Grand Canyon, The Aswan Dam, my blackheads and the Great Pyramids all have in common?  All totally visible from space.

I’ve been reliably informed that my unwanted facial potholes have often been mistaken by the Mars Rover as an interplanetary field of black holes, thoroughly capable of sucking all living matter within a 1000 mile radius into them.

Sounds about right to be honest.

I’ve been trying a daily scrub from Neutrogena which promises to help eradicate these ‘orrible blighters and although it’s early days, I’ve been pretty impressed with the results so far.

There are a billion blackhead-busting scrubs out there but what makes this one a little bit different is the fact that instead of being advised to use it only a couple of times a week, Neutrogena have formulated this one gently enough to be used every day as a replacement to your usual cleanser.

The key ingredients which should make all the difference to our beloved blackheads in this instance is 2% salicylic acid.  A rather brilliant beta hydroxy acid which helps break down congestion deep inside the pore – and used regularly (which you can with this scrub) – will help keep pores free from debris.  Combine this with the manual exfoliation and massage provided by the synthetic microbeads, and it’s a pretty decent way to encourage clogged pores to remain clear.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will also notice that the Neutrogena Visibly Clear Blackhead Eliminating Daily Scrub contains no SLS, and as a result, doesn’t foam much.  The wonderful side-effect of this, for me at least, is that I don’t have to run screaming from the bathroom in a dash to slather moisturiser on my rapidly-tightening face.  I find it a touch drying but nothing that would stop me from using this daily.

Because of the salicylic acid, I’ve actually been leaving this on my skin a little longer than you may expect in order to give the chemical the best chance at having an effect on my deep-space-nine (billion) blackheads.  I’m not the biggest fan of the microbeads because they feel a little granular to me and not quite as smooth as I’d like but I’ve been gently rubbing them in a circular motion around the sides of my nose (area of most congestion) and then leaving the product on my face for a couple of minutes before rinsing my skin clean.

I’ve noticed an improvement in the appearance of my blackheads, especially the larger ones… which I suspect, are the ones that are probably the easiest to flush out.  I’m not sure that I love using the product enough to use it daily for like the. rest. of. my. life.  It smells kinda unpleasant…. in a medicinal way but I’ll definitely reach for it often when I notice those little alien heads peeping out of my pores.

Beam me up spotty.

Neutrogena Visibly Clear Blackhead Eliminating Daily Scrub is currently on offer at Superdrug, priced at £2.34 – definitely worth a punt for those among us who are blackhead-affilicted!

Got blackheads?  How do you bust them?

(long before my no-buy, don’t worry) and I’ve started to dismantle them. It’s not the most interesting post in the world but I thought it might help someone out there who’s considering doing the same thing.

You see, I like freestyle palettes. Those of Z-Palette, Yaby, and MUFE fame. I don’t like their price tags though, at least… not in the quantity that I want to buy.  And so instead, I dropped about £6 (including postage) on these three simple alternatives on eBay.  I decided that I’d have a play with them and see how they fared in my mission to depot my stash, thus getting more use out of some of the lovely things I’ve bought over the years.  The palettes come from China (what doesn’t?) and they’re horrifically cheap-looking. The stuff of nightmares.

That being said, they’re pretty well-constructed and if you can stand the aesthetics (or be arsed to somehow disguise it), you could be on to a winner.

The ones I bought come with 15 pans included, the pans are non-magnetic and bend when I blow on them.  I can’t see myself using these for pigment pressing, they’re just so flimsy.  Upon opening the lid, I was pleased to discover that the material which separates the individual pans, was not plastic… but glued foam.  This meant that I could remove and discard the innards without any fuss at all just by pulling it off carefully.

I’ve also bought some magnetic sheets and will cut them to size next weekend in preparation for phase 2.  If you’re thinking of following along in my quest to transform el-shitty palettes into makeup cases of beauty and wonderment (I’m exaggerating), don’t buy thin magnetic sheets… take it from someone who’s already wasted a fiver.  You need something with more strength – I ended up with 0.9mm sheets which, so far, seem to be heavy duty enough.

I bought my palettes from here, and my sheets from here.

Wanna play palettes?

It’s not that I mean to be a bitch, I really don’t.  It’s just that I’m on a spending ban and this time I really mean it – you see, we’re about to move house and furnish it from top to bottom.  Paul says that furnishing it with makeup doesn’t count and despite my protestations, we have to buy proper grown-up shit, like cookers n stuff.  It’s to this end that I’ve been on a strict no-buy for almost a week.  I know! I can’t believe my dedication either.

Let me tell you though… right now, it’s 01.15am and I’ve just had a cup of tea and half a Boost bar and I’m feeling pretty invincible.  I could whip out the debit card in less time than it would take me to hide the chocolate wrapper and I could buy all this stuff *sweeps arm across browser window*.  But I mustn’t.  I promised that I wouldn’t buy anything except the bathroom essentials for at least a month, so I’m going to do a bit of enabling instead.  It’s ok, I know you can handle it.

This is what I would have probably, definitely, most likely bought this week, had I been allowed.  It’s always the bargains that test my lame-arsed resolve.

01  |  02  |  03  |  04  |  05  |  06

01: Costume National Scent Intense 100ml (sale price £26.10 / original price £87.00, 70% off)

02: Rodial Rehab Scented Candle (sale price £10.00 / original price £45.00, 78% off)

03: Vita Liberata Silken Mousse Set (sale price £14.70 / original price £49.00, 70% off)

04: Ionika Zebra Mini Straighteners – other styles available (sale price £4.00 / original price £9.99, 60% off)

05: RapidLash (sale price £21.00 / original price £41.00, 50% off)

06: La Prairie Life Threads Platinum Eau de Parfum Spray 50ml (sale price £37.00 / original price £74.00, 50% off)

You see what I’m missing out on? SCREW YOU NO-BUY!

You may remember this post about the brush guards that I use whenever I clean my brushes, it allows them to dry and retain their shape perfectly.  In the comments, Ellie told us about the el-cheapo version you could pick up on eBay for just ninety-nine pennies!  A couple of my original brush guards were showing some wear on the edges so I picked up a couple of rolls and waited patiently for them to arrive from the far East.

I thought I’d do a quick comparison… this isn’t particularly in-depth but I thought it might be useful to demonstrate the major differences between the available tools.

The most obvious difference is in the rigidity of the material used to construct the brush guards.  The eBay equivalent is much softer, more pliable and to be honest, less substantial.  The ‘official’ brush guards are firmer and more rigid with a stronger construction.  If you imagine a rope… the stronger rope will be weaved of more strands – this is pretty much what’s happening here.  Think of it as the ‘official’ version of The Brush Guard being triple-ply loo roll as opposed to the single-ply eBay alternative!

However, this doesn’t make the eBay Brush Guards any less useful when it comes to keeping the brush hairs in shape.  Look, same brush…

You can see that both guards encourage the brush to keep its naturally domed taper, thus allowing it to dry retaining a good shape.  The biggest drawback to the eBay version is that I simply haven’t been able to use them on any eye brushes with as much success and that includes brushes like the MAC 217 – there’s too much stretch in the mesh to conform to a smaller brush tip and hold the bristles as tightly as I’d like.

As for travel?  Well, the official version would be my recommendation.  The eBay guards are simply too pliable and don’t afford the rigidity needed to protect the brushes when they’re bumping up against one another.  To try and demonstrate what I mean, I pressed my fingertip against the brush tip on a MAC 217… I tried to apply the same amount of pressure to the brush head and you can see the difference between the amount of movement exercised on the delicate hairs.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for something to simply cover, lightly protect and shape your larger brushes after washing and aren’t looking for something to protect your brushes whilst travelling – go for the eBay brush guards.  At 99p for a roll of mesh you’ll be sitting pretty with neatly domed powder brushes at the ready!  If you need something more substantial or struggle to keep your eye brushes in good shape, you should stump up the extra pennies and go for the official versions of The Brush Guard.

It may look like a super low-tech solution to protecting your brushes, but not all brush guards are built equally!

I purchased my eBay brush guards, rather unsurprisingly, on eBay (99p) and my official ones from Cocktail Cosmetics (£5 per pack).

You know how I love to come across an unexpected beauty bargain?  Well, this one is my latest and it’s from the M&S debut Limited Collection make-up range.  The range went live last month, you can read more about the brand’s new beauty ventures in this post but the main thing you need to know about the M&S Limited Collection is that everything comes in at under £6.00

The Limited Collection includes almost everything a girl needs for her daily makeup bag from foundation to bronzer, nail polish to cheek tint and most things that fall in-between.  I was sent a few random bits and bobs from the new collection and I’ve got enough of a feel for the products to confidently call this one out as worth a look next time you’re in store.

The shadows come in a range of finishes and although I suspect that some of the base products will be a little hit and miss when it comes to shade selection (light, medium and dark anyone?) there are some funky nail shades on offer and this little gem of a liquid liner really turned my head…

This liquid liner in turquoise packs one hell of a tropical punch in the colour stakes.  It’s incredibly pigmented and doesn’t do that annoying liquid liner thing of pushing the pigment to the edges of the line, leaving the centre colour-free and in need of seven more layers.  The above swatch images show a single sweep of colour (except for the very outer “v” on the eye where for neatness’ sake I had to go over it).  My only caveat with this product is that it takes a while to dry… I’d say around 90 seconds to set, that’s quite a long time when you’ve only got five-minutes to do your face in the morning.

Marks & Spencer Limited Collection Liner in Turquoise is a complete steal at only £4.00 for 6ml.

* press sample