A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Funnily enough after this morning’s post…

I was browsing Debenhams sale online this lunchtime and some of the Mavala Mini shades are reduced to £1.87 a bottle – mega bargain!

Linkage

Use code SHD1 for free delivery!

I accidently added most of them to my basket *oops*

There’s also some Stila goodies on sale too.

My enjoyment at admiring my latest Body Shop haul was short lived when…

…to my horror, I opened up my Oui, Oui, Oui lip butter only to discover that the lip butter goblin had swiped the lot.

The greedy little bastard had even somehow managed to get the plastic wrap back on the pot ensuring it was hygenically resealed (just to mess with my mind some more you understand).

Um, do you think The Body Shop will believe me?  Or will they think I’m some kind of sick desperado who goes around buying Oui, Oui, Oui lip butters… painstakingly scraping out the contents, washing up the pots and returning them for a new one?

I wouldn’t mind SO much, but sods law dictates that I didn’t haul from my local Body Shop… oh no, I had to get this from the store 15 miles away didn’t I.

Anyway, onto the rest of my haul…

Olive Glossing Shampoo & Conditioner: Have heard such good things about this.  My scalp is a mess at the minute, I always suffer from soreness this time of year so I’m hoping something a little more natural than my usual products will help.

Mandarin Orchid Shower Gel: Love my bathing products to smell fruity or tropical and citrusy scents are at the top of my list!

Vitamin E Face Mist: Replacing my last bottle which I find essential for giving my mineral foundation a more dewy appearance.

Rich Plum handwash: This was in the sale, and now that I’m a full time nappy changer – I’m always washing my hands, so thought I’d indulge in something a little more luxurious than Carex!

Almond Home Fragrance Oil: I already own this one (I collect them), but it’s one of my favs so grabbed another bottle while I saw it.

Chamomile Essential Oil: My super bargain of the day, I usually drip a little of this into some milk and add to the bath, it’s normally over £11 a bottle, this was reduced to £1.75 – very happy!

Simply Purify Rejuvenating Bath Soak: Another sale item, contains wasabi extract… love wasabi!

Was sorely tempted by the Coconut Body Scrub too, but I’ve still got a Nirvana Spa one I bought at The Vitality Show to use up.

What are your Body Shop favs?

This is a tiny haul, it was larger but MsCuppyCakes was out of stock on a few items of my order.  How much do I hate it when e-tailers send half an order without giving me the option to adjust/add to my original order in lieu of the out of stock stuff.  I mean, I’m already paying the international shipping, so gimme the god damn option to choose alternative products or simply re-order from fresh if their online merchant service doesn’t allow exchanges.  *and breathe…*

Other than that, I was pleased with the service.  I received my items fairly quickly (within 14 days) and everything arrive in one piece and well packaged.  The value of my order was stated correctly on the customs form and not overinsured (important to avoid unecessary import duty).  I would order again, although I would definitely double check stock levels with a quick email and go to NonPareilBoutique instead if they were unsatisfactory.

Overall, 3/5… definite room for improvement with regards to stock updates and communication.

Anyway, here’s some of the infamous round lipsticks I selected:

From L -> R: Darling, Chaos, Ceto and Rea

and the swatches…

Darling and Ceto are a little too simillar for it to be worth owning them both.  Out of the 2, I prefer the slightly less sheer Darling.  Rea is a nice medium matte nude which isn’t at all drying on the lips like some mattes.

Chaos… beautiful in the tube, I’m really not sure whether I can pull this colour off or not… what do you think?  Yay or Nay?  Be honest now, or I’ll come round your house and pee in your cornflake box.

I also bought some of the NYX Loose Pearl Eyeshadows and Nail Polishes, although none of the polishes turned up *sigh*.  First impressions of the Loose Pearl Eyeshadows are positive (for the price).  Can’t stand the little pots they come in so I’ve ordered some pigment pots from eBay to decant them into.  I shall do some swatches of them soon.

My beautiful little girl Leila.  I’m in love!

She arrived on Saturday 16th May at 6.22am weighing a lovely 7lb 6oz.  She entered the world through the sunroof thanks to an emergency c-section after the induction went a bit wrong.  As you can see it appears that I have given birth to a little redhead, I didn’t see that one coming – hope it doesn’t change though… I adore it!   Her Daddy and I are massively in love with her and think we might just keep her.

As for me, my stitches itch and pull but I’m one for looking on the bright side – so at least my foof is intact!  I’ve only got about a weeks worth of posts lined up, so I need to get back into the swing of things!  I’ve got loads of lovely goodies to review and play with, I would do a FOTD except I’ve broken out in lovely hormonal spots – so, not a chance!

Forgive me if it goes a bit quiet round here at the end of the week.  You’ll probably find me crazy eyed, covered in a mix of vomit and shit, gently rocking myself in the dark corner over there K?

I put in an order for some goodies from across the pond.  I’ve been wanting to try NYX Cosmetics for ages, but just haven’t gotten round to it until recently.

I scoured the net to find the best sites to order from (without the extortionate international postage charges) and it was a toss up between MsCuppyCakes & NonPareilBoutique.

After adding the products I wanted to both baskets, MsCuppyCakes had the edge on overall cost thanks to the fantastic shipping charges and current unbeatable offers on the Loose Pearl Eyeshadows.  I also found the website easier to navigate.  To be fair, NonPareilBoutique slightly had the edge on range of products that were instock so I may end up back there to pick up a couple of bits if MsCuppyCakes don’t stock them.

I really, really want to try Milani’s Mineral Blush in Luminous which NonPareilBoutique had listed on the site, but for some reason it wouldn’t let me add it to my basket – gutted about that.

Anyway, I ordered:

5 NYX Round Lipsticks which I’ve heard great things about.  I only own 5 lipsticks, so it’s a great way to try out some new shades.  As you know, I’m fairly neutral inclined – so apart from one, most of these colours are taupey/neutral pinks and nudes.  I got: Chaos, Darling, Ceto, Saturn, Rea

7 Loose Pearl Eyeshadows in shades: Pearl, Sky Pink, Nude, Charcoal, Baby Blue, Ocean Blue & Lime (eek!)

2 Nail Polishes in Jungle (a gorgeous teal/green) & Red Pearl

1 Slim Lip Pencil in shade Plush Red (to go with my Chaos lipstick if the shades match up well enough).

Total inc. shipping came to: $26.15 (how bargainous is that!) which should just about keep me under the Import VAT threshold as long as it doesn’t get overinsured by the seller (one of my pet peeves!).

I’ll be back to let you know how MsCuppyCakes performs as an international distributor for NYX cosmetics!

UPDATE: Read my experience with MsCuppyCakes here

Looking forward to receiving my goodies, I shall do swatches and reviews when the parcel lands on my doormat. ‘Cited!

P.S. – If you have any recs for US online cosmetic boutiques with reasonable international shipping – please let me know about them, I’m always on the hunt!

I’ve read that Cory Cosmetics offer some of the highest coverage for mineral foundations and despite the mixed reviews on MUA, I’ve plumped for a selection of foundation and blusher samples for those days when we need that bit of extra confidence in our foundation.

Cory Cosmetics is also purported to be one of the ‘purest’ mineral makeup lines – even doing mica free versions of their products.  Not hugely relevant to me, as I don’t seem to have too much in the way of sensitivity problems towards mineral makeup.

Samples are $.45 each – I’ve ordered 13 samples which combined with shipping came to a total of $10.80.

I’m really looking forward to comparing them to my Elemental Beauty foundation (review) which I am still totally in love with.  Infact, the only reason I’m cheating on it is because I want to try some mineral blushes and can try so many more different shades for the same price from Cory Cosmetics than I could from Elemental Beauty.

Will be back to let you know how they fare!

…look what I’ve got in my grubby little hands!

Hello lover, please don’t disappoint me.  Anyone got one of these little beauties, any tips?

Miners have a special offer on a range of their polishes at the moment costing just 97p a bottle.

I haven’t tried anything from their nail polish ranges yet so can’t comment on quality but seeing as I just made myself a mini haul of some pretty colours, I thought I’d share the love.  It’s a great excuse to try some colours that you wouldn’t normally be brave enough to purchase without spending too much!  I’ve gone for:

Purple Hologram
Lemon
Hologram Turquoise
Pale Mint
Rain Glow
Raw Edges
Babyziz

All for a grand total of £8.26 inc. P&P – Bargain!

Stock up on some cool colours for summer!

I could spend all day in TK Maxx rummaging, especially among the body lotions, beautifully wrapped soaps and lovely purses.  (purses are more my thing than handbags.)

I grabbed a few things today:

a beautiful organic muslin swaddling blanket

A weird rolling massager, which may or may not be completely useless during labour:

Some pretty italian hand crafted soaps, natural sea sponges and….

an Eyeko Manga Book palette for the princely sum of £2.00 – woohoo!

The eyeshadow colours are just up my street – I’m pretty boring and conservative when it comes to eyeshadow shades (I just can’t wear bright colours well).

On the left we have:

(From top to bottom):

3 lip glosses, a cream blush and a concealer.

…and on the right:

5 eyeshadows with varying degrees of sparkle/shimmer.  It’s a really wearable palette – not gonna blow your mind creatively, but for day to day wear it’s really nice.

I’ll do a FOTD with this palette soon.

Fudge isn’t a brand I know much about.  Infact, my idea of haircare is Head & Shoulders followed by my beloved Mason Pearson hairbrush that I’ve had since I was 2 years old and leave the mop to dry naturally.

You’d think that using no styling products or heat would mean my hair is in fantastic condition.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case and I’ve got more split ends (thanks to an aversion to hair salons) and frazzly bits than I care to count.

Since becoming pregnant though, my hair has enjoyed somewhat of a reprise.  It’s been glossier, thicker and fuller than ever before.  I can go 4 days without washing it (I normally have to wash every other day or look like chip pan head).  I’m due to push this little flump into the world (no doubt swearing and screaming for the drugs) on the 5th May, so my days of unnaturally lovely hair are sadly numbered.

In preparation for my return to crap hair, I’ve dug my hairdryer out from the bottom of the wardrobe and ordered 2 products on eBay from Fudge:

Fudge Head Polish (discontinued from website)

which states:

A smooth polishing glaze that leaves hair soft with an incredible reflect.

I also grabbed:

Fudge Erekt (£7.99 – currently on offer)…

Get it straight up with Erekt for dead straight hair.  Get into your power tool and blow up those locks for soft, shiny, frizzless hair.
 
What it does:

• Straightens and smoothes curl and frizz
• Creates shine, softness and manageability
• Makes blow drying curly hair easier to control

I’m hoping for good results!  Either that, or I’ll just have to get pregnant again.*

*I should just point out to my lovely husband that I am of course joking before he scrambles for the Yellow Pages blind panic sending him scanning the ‘V’s’ for vasectomy.