A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’m off ‘oop North’ for a week to introduce my lovely daughter to her paternal grandparents.  Hope the weather follows me!

I don’t have any posts lined up, I’ve been incredibly slack this week, I even let my next NOTD post slide and am now sporting chipped nails with no photos taken of them back when they were fresh (and thus no blog post) *sigh*

To make up for it, I’ll leave you with a current Benefit discount code celebrating Wimbledon…

Enter code: BENETNNI at the checkout for 10% off all orders valid ’till 5th July.  Click the Benefit logo above to be taken to the Benefit (UK) website.

If you happen to make good use of the code, let me know what you bought!  Since I’m now spending every penny I earn on Pampers and Gripe Water… I’m living vicariously through your hauls however big or little they may be!

Cheerio for now fellow beauty addicts xx

…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!)

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

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.

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!

…Why is it when I finally earn enough Pigsback points to get myself a lovely £10 discount on Nars Orgasm (which I’ve never tried and have been lemming like forever) HQ Hair don’t have it in stock.

One day my pretty…

As you may have noticed, I have an eclectic range of cosmetic tastes.  I couldn’t really be much further from a makeup snob if I tried – mainly because my budget simply wouldn’t allow it.  I’m as happy as a pig in shit to trawl both Space NK and Superdrug looking for new products (although I’m always a little happier at the till in Superdrug!)

I quite like it this way, it means that I have to work that little bit harder to find good quality products at great prices, it also means that I have accumulated more crap than the average beauty junkie, but there’s always a friend or relative nearby who is happy to play with my cast offs and vice versa!!  It really works for me.

I’d love to hear about your tastes – the high street/drugstore brands that work so well for you, you haven’t found better value for the money.  Tell me about those higher end products that you’ve been craving for so long that they’re now firmly ensconced on that pedestal and the thought of purchasing them fills you with fear that they’ll never live up to your now exagerrated expectations.

Anyway, to cheer myself up after being so close yet still so far from my pedestal product, I went and bought a Max Factor 2000 Calorie mascara to keep me going whilst I wait for HQ Hair to pull their fingers out!

You’ll have to do for now!