A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Love these generous Rimmel promotions, I discovered the original Sexy Curves formula through winning one from their last promotion.

To celebrate the launch of Rimmel London’s NEW SEXY CURVES WATERPROOF MASCARA they’re giving us the chance to try a FULL SIZE sample worth £7.82.

There’s 4000 to give away so we’re in with a shot!

Click the image to be taken to the promotion.

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.

…how cute are these socks?  I HAVE to make them mine!  Well ok, Leila’s… but same difference ’till she’s old enough to wipe her own bum right?

A bargainous £3.00 from Debenhams (currently in their sale @ £1.80 a pair!)

You can save £5 on Ruby and Millie at Boots ’til June 30th with this voucher.  Click the image below to claim your voucher thanks to the 30 days of fashion and beauty promotion!

I’ve heard great things about the ‘precisness’ of i-writer eyeliner pens and as someone who can’t draw a thin line for love nor money, I’m going to be checking them out!

Well, I’m up to my elbows in baby sick, poo, nappies, leaky boob milk and lots of other bodily fluids that you really don’t want to be up to your elbows in.

I have to say though, I’m loving every minute of it!

I make sure that I find the time to apply a full face of makeup every day even if I’m not leaving the house.  It’s so worth making the effort as it keeps me feeling more normal and grounded in a world that feels like everything I know has been turned upside down and inside out in a huge whirlwind of change.  I can barely remember what day of the week it is, but these silly little routines help me more than I can describe.  Who’da thunk it?

I don’t have any reviews or FOTD’s to share today.  I’m currently sporting a lovely mani with China Glaze’s “Ruby Pumps” and I shall try and do a NOTD pic tomorrow before it starts chipping.  Having a month old baby is the ultimate mani endurance test by the way!

I’ve made a couple of hauls of mineral makeup recently (Silk Naturals, Earthen Glow Minerals, Cory Cosmetics (again) and ELF) which I’ll be sharing and reviewing shortly.  Leila is (hopefully) starting to settle into some kind of routine so perhaps I’ll have a little more time to myself soon.

I’ll leave you with another picture of my little girl who has just started to give her Mummy proper smiles…

…till next time xxx

My favourite brand for natural skin/hair/bodycare products is currently offering a fantastic discount!

You can get 50% off all orders online at Naked Bodycare until the 14th June (exc. p&p)

Just enter the code: tweet09 at checkout to activate the discount.

Click the link to be taken to the Naked Bodycare website.

Any kind of bronzer scares me, the thought of it leaves me feeling a little shakey, damp palmed and out of my depth.

I’m pretty pale.  Not in a beautiful Anne Hathaway delicate porcelain doll way unfortunately.  I’m her ruddier, blotchier capillaried sister.

Either way, I have never learnt how to DO bronzer successfully.  I know how it’s supposed to work and be applied.  In theory it’s easy.  I am just so far from achieving that gently sunkissed, delicately contoured natural look that it’s untrue.

Although thankfully, not as far as him:

So, when I saw the Eyeko tinted cream, I was both interested and horrified in equal measure…

Is it just me or does that look very, very brown…

I love the original Eyeko cream and add a small amount to my foundation every morning.  As long as I’m light handed, it leaves an incredibly beautiful slightly soft focus brightening glow to my complexion, without being shimmery or glittery.  As an aside, if I attempt to use the cream as a highlighter alone, it sinks into my pores rendering them insanely noticeable – weird.

The question is, would the tinted cream have the same lovely effect as the original cream if I mix a little with my moisturiser and apply sparingly to areas that I would ‘bronze’… or would I look like an Oompah Loompah with enlarged pores…

A quandry indeed.  If anyone fancies trying this out for themselves, it’s available from Eyeko for a meagre £5 with free shipping, and feel free to use my ambassador code (E3208) for a free gift.

So, I’ve been wearing Max Factor’s old volumising favourite 2000 Calorie mascara for a few days now, and I’m really rather impressed.

Firstly, I hate, HATE the smell of the stuff.  It’s quite pungent and chemically, a horrible whiff as the wand passes my nose on it’s way to my lashes.  It also sports a chunky brush not unlike Benefit’s Bad Gal.

Not sure if it’s just mine but the formula is quite dry aswell which I’m actually really liking.   My initial reaction was irritation that I had picked up one that was drying out… but it really doesn’t seem to be – it just seems to collect the perfect amount on the wand every dip without any big splodges (gotta love my technical expressions)…

Anyway, here’s a before/after:

My left lashes (right on the image) always clump a little more than the right.  It’s a bit tricky to get to the very outer lashes with this chunky wand, but not impossible.  Can’t see too much lengthening or extra curl going on here, but there’s definitely some decent volumising and the pigmentation is a really nice solid black.

For the price, I am really impressed.  It’s very forgiving to apply – often if I go in for more than one coat, my lashes start to clump whilst I simultaneously begin to curse.  I didn’t have a problem at all with this mascara doing that.

Overall… I will absolutely buy this again especially when you can often pick this up for less than a fiver from the online discount cosmetic websites (although not before I’ve tried the new 2000 calorie extreme lash plumper with the apparent MEGA wand!)

As a direct comparison to Benefit’s Bad Gal (click link for my review), I really can’t say that Bad Gal is worth spending the extra money on.  Bad Gal is slightly blacker, thinner in consistency and feels a little more conditioning to your lashes – but I’m not sure those 3 differences justify spending double the amount of money over this drugstore cheapy.  It’s a tough one.

[starreview tpl=14]

The perfect wine red for cool toned gals like me.  I always forget just how much I love this shade until I rediscover it in my little box of polishes.

A solid 2 coater, hardwearing and glossy with a lovely shimmer.

I have a slight problem with nail tip wear with this polish though, you might be able to make out on the tips of my ring and little finger in the above photo which was taken the morning after application.  I’m guilty of not wrapping my polish over the tips of my nails though, it always feels like such a sloppy thing to do.  Does it really aid longevity on the tips?

Anyone care to share their ‘classic’ faves?

So I’m getting a little braver – go me!  Still nowhere near as accomplished or imaginative as some of you lovely ladies, but – baby steps!

As you can see, with this FOTD – the focus is on the eyes.  There’s a slick of sheer lipgloss there but it’s barely pigmented and again, I’m crap at making my blushes show up.  I either go too subtle or all out Bozo the clown stylee – grrr, it’s something I really need to get the hang of!

I can’t bring myself to apply above the crease either… I always end up attacking it with a q-tip.  It just doesn’t suit me – I look in the mirror and shout “Eurgh, garish – gerrit off!” – and yet it looks so lovely on other ladies.  Maybe my eyes are too deep set to carry it off?  Maybe I’m just a big pussy who doesn’t deserve to own any makeup if she can’t wear it proudly and unashamedly – I’m on the fence with that judgement.

Products used (Eyes):

Sleek – I-Divine Palette (Original) – Colours used shown below:

Sleek Ink Pot Gel Liner – Purple Rain
Barry M Glitter Dust – Black Purple (outer V and under eye)
Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara – I love it!

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!