Keeping Cool

Phew, it sure has been hot in London this weekend!  There was no option but to go for cool colours all over my face today.

I used some old favourites and some new products.  It’s a pretty uncomplicated look but I think the result is still quite striking and cute.

First up I swept a shimmery lilac all over my lids then applied a turquoise gel eyeliner.  The eyeshadow was a mixture of the two lightest shades from my new Look Beauty Triple Hit eyeshadow trio in Party Fever and the eyeliner was one of the new MUA gel eyeliners in the shade Tribe. The product comes with an integrated brush in the lid – you just have to remove the protective sticker and click it together.

This eyeshadow feels absolutely massive in its packaging and you do get a generous 10g for £7.50. The eyeshadows are quite smooth and pigmented and easy to apply and blend.  My only slight bugbear is that all the shades are shimmery – very shimmery – so you do end up with a very shiny and reflective result if you decide to use all the shades together to create a smokey eye. I can see myself using these shades individually or blended together as one colour to create a wash of block colour across my lids.

The gel eyeliner is a lovely colour and I quite like the fact that they have kept the packaging small and the price low (£3) as gel eyeliners have a habit of drying out long before you manage to use them all up.  The consistency is soft and creamy and it’s very forgiving when you apply it so it’s perfect for beginners.  It’s also long-lasting and easily lasts all day on me.The integrated brush is actually quite good too, even though the tip of mine was a bit bent.

I actually bought another shade of this eyeliner at the same time although I’m not wearing it in the photo above.  It’s a lovely sparkling grey in the shade Fairground. It has the same consistency and longevity as Tribe so I definitely recommend checking it out if you’re interested in gel eyeliners.

I used some blue mascara today as I wanted something more colourful than black.  I used the Body Shop super volume mascara which I think is fantastic and a product that I definitely don’t use as much as I should.

In keeping with my cool theme I went for this cool toned pink blush in the shade Sakura by MAC.  It was a limited edition from spring 2012 and a shade that I usually reserve for spring but it seemed to go well with the cool tones I used on my eyes. I’ve featured it several times on my blog already and you can click on the “MAC” label in my side bar to read the other entries.

Festive Nails

What better way to start the countdown to Christmas than with some sparkly metallic nails?  I used a Barry M silver nail polish and some Body Shop glitter to create this design.  It’s the first time I’ve created a nail design by simply sprinkling some glitter over still wet nail polish and I really like the effect so I can definitely see myself experimenting with lots of different colour combinations this December.

Not Quite Neutral

I’m really not a neutral eyeshadow kind of gal – neutral lips, yup, nearly always, but I prefer something more colourful on my eyes.  Unfortunately with winter approaching the days have been getting shorter and I’ve been having to do my make-up in the dark recently – well, in very bad lighting anyway.  That means I don’t want to chance leaving the flat looking like a clown because I haven’t realised quite how bright my make-up is, so I’ve been sticking to a very safe mid-tone brown eyeshadow.  However I have been pepping it up with a slick of electric blue mascara because I just love my bright colours too much to go without for too long!

The brown eyeshadow is nothing special, it’s a shade that’s available from countless brands but it just brings a bit of colour and definition to my face and makes me look slightly more awake in the mornings. I do like the way it provides a soft contrast to the bright blue of the mascara though.

The mascara is Super Volume Mascara by The Body Shop in Cobalt Blue.  I had tried a tiny sample version of this in black before and had been quite impressed by it so I decided to pick one up in blue.  I think it works so well on my lashes because of the brush – the way the prongs are wound seems to make it particularly good at grabbing onto my spindly, short lashes and dumping product on them until they’re really quite noticeable.  It’s £10 full price but I picked it up on special offer and Body Shop are always running promotions so you can definitely pick it up for less than £10, which I think is very good value for what you get.

I do think that coloured lashes are a bit retro and make me think of my teenage years, but I have to admit that I’m a bit of a fan.  I’ve had such hits and misses with coloured mascaras over the years though as it seems to be quite a temperamental kind of product.  They either don’t show up on lashes or do show up and just look weird.  I think this colour works quite nicely as a mascara though, and I especially like the way it can just add a subtle hint of colour to an otherwise neutral look.

First Taste of Christmas 2011

I decided to pick up a new Body Shop lip balm this week to try to fend off chapped lips as the weather turns colder.  I picked up one of their seasonal Christmassy flavours in Candied Ginger.  It’s a similar size (15ml) and price (around £4) to their normal lip butters but in a metal tin with a clip on instead of screw on lid.

The consistency is quite different to the Body Shop lip butters though, being much more solid and oily rather than buttery, which I did find made it more difficult to get the product out of the tin and onto the lips.  It also doesn’t last as long as the consistency is quite thin.  However, it does leave quite a nice glossy finish and you could also wear this on top of lipsticks as a gloss which doesn’t really work with their normal lip butters.  I find the scent and taste quite pleasant, but then I am quite a big fan of ginger.

All in all it’s a matter of personal preference as to how you prefer the finish and taste of your lip balms if you would like this or not.  I personally quite like it, and I’m sure I’ll have dug quite a hole in it by the time the New Year comes.

Above: Candied Ginger lip balm worn on lips

It’s Body Shop Sale Time Again! Autumn 2011

The Body Shop seem to do sales all the time – but I suppose in reality they probably run them about four times a year, for about a month at a time.

The sales seem to be the time when they try to get rid of their excess stock of discontinued products, so you often see the same products pop up in their sales over and over again.  Well, for me it’s a good opportunity to pick up some Body Shop staples at knock-down prices.  Here’s what I picked up when I popped into one this weekend.

Above: High Shine Lip Treatment in 01 Pink Cream, reduced from £9.50 to £4.50

I wanted to get a new moisturising lip treatment so I picked up this gloss which was part of a limited edition collection a while back.  It still wasn’t that cheap at £4.50 but you get 14ml of product and it has a brush applicator which is my favourite kind.  On the plus side, I like the peachy smell, the thick and moisturising consistency, and the glowing sheer peachy colour, but I’ve only actually used it about three times and look how empty my tube looks already!  It looks like half the product’s been squeezed out of it it’s so flat.  I’m not impressed.  It was definitely not used when I got it as the applicator was completely clean.  Hopefully I just got a dud one because there’s just no way I can believe that I got 14ml of product in my tube – boo!

I also picked up an eyeshadow quad which was from the same now discontinued limited edition.  It’s called 02 A La Mode and I also have the other palette from this collection in 01 Boho Beauty which I wrote about previously.  The colours in this palette just scream ‘60s smokey to me.

The quality of these eyeshadows is great and you get a massive 2.2g of each.  The swatches above were one swipe with no primer.  The only colour that’s not true to pan after one swipe is the black, but to be honest that doesn’t bother me so much as for one I hardly ever use black eyeshadow and for another I’ve got loads of other matte blacks anyway.  The palette also contains a generous mirror that fills the entire inner lid and a tiny shading brush that’s of pretty good quality.  The palette originally also came with a mini black kohl eyeliner pencil but neither of the palettes in the shop (there were only two left!) still contained theirs.  Again that’s not something that bothers me though for the exact same reasons as I’m not bothered about the black eyeshadow.

I also picked up some of my bath & body favourites:

top row left – right: passion fruit show gel, £2 for 250ml; brazil nut body butter, £5 for 200ml

bottom row: brazil nut body scrub, £5 for 200ml

Even though I’m a fan of Body Shop products I hardly ever buy them at full price.  Why pay £6 for a shower gel or £12 for a body butter or scrub when I know that I can wait a couple of months to get them for these great value prices in the sale?

I love the fact that the passion fruit shower gel is soap free so it’s non-drying (I think perhaps all Body Shop shower gels are soap free?  I’m not 100% sure).  The smell is wonderfully fresh and fruity so it’s the perfect wake-me up shower gel for early autumn mornings when all I’m feeling like is zzz…

The Brazil nut range smells extremely sweet, nutty and creamy – so avoid it like the plague if you don’t like any of those qualities!  However if you do then it’ll be right up your street.  I happen to love it but I think it’s discontinued so I have to stock up when I get the chance.  The body butter is very rich and suitable for very dry skin – I think it could be a bit too rich if you have normal skin.  The body scrub is like a thick moisturiser which happens to contain some grainy bits.  You can see in the close up picture that the consistency is thick enough to hold its shape after I’ve scooped some of it out with my fingers.  I quite like this, but probably more because of the smell than for its amazing exfoliating properties.  It’s just OK as a scrub as the scrubby bits are a bit sparse.

So that’s me all stocked up until Christmas now I reckon, when I tend to get some Body Shop treats from Santa every year, hooray :)

Body Shop Shimmer Cube Palettes 06 & 22

I love Body Shop shimmer cube palettes; I even store mine in their own special tin box where I can admire them like some kind of exotic sweets…

They normally retail at £16 so I only buy them if they’re on sale or there’s a special offer and happily for me Body Shop were offering 30% off to Loyalty Card holders so I took the opportunity to add another two to my collection for just £11.20.  You get 4 x 3.5g of product which is a huge amount of eyeshadow and I’ve hardly ever managed to make more than a tiny dent in any of mine so it does represent good value for the amount and quality of product that you get.

They can be used wet or dry but the colour pay off ranges from very subtle to intense, so it’s a good idea to check the testers before buying as the colour in the pan doesn’t always reflect how they will look on skin.  I think they’re mostly limited edition and at the moment I think there are currently five palettes on sale in The Body Shop.  I bought the green palette which is 22 and the brown/warm palette which is 06.

It’s testimony to how much I love these that I actually bought a palette full of browns as I’m really not a neutrals kind of gal, but these colours just look so delicious that I decided to buy them.  Their names are absolutely perfect as they reflect exactly what I think of when I look at them:

I almost feel like rushing out to buy a Cadbury’s Crunchie and a hot chocolate when I look at these colours, mmm!

I think my favourite colour from the green palette is 03 Silver Grey because it’s quite an unusual colour and makes me think of antique metal.

All these swatches were done dry in natural light.  As the name would suggest they are all very shimmery so best avoided if you like your colours matte, otherwise if you love a bit of glimmer it’s definitely worth adding one or two of these little beauties to your stash.

Body Shop Summer Sale 2011 Make-Up

I haven’t bought anything from The Body Shop for ages but I happened to be wandering around Euston train station the other night and popped into the tiny store on the concourse and ended up picking up a couple of pieces of make-up that were reduced in their summer sale.

Their Spring 2011 eyeshadow palette 01 Boho Beauty is currently reduced from £15 to £7.50.  I don’t usually go in for nude shades but I have to admit that I think this palette is just so beautiful I had to succumb.

The cover was designed by students at the University of the Arts London College of Fashion, but actually I’m not that interested in the design – it’s the make-up inside that caught my eye!  The eyeshadows are buttery soft and super blendable, with three matte shades and one shimmer (the nude in the top left).  The darkest brown in the bottom right-hand corner is also a great colour for me to use for defining as it has plum undertones and offsets the lilacs and purples that I like wearing perfectly.

The palette is made of sturdy plastic and also houses a large mirror in the lid, and the kit also contains a mini eye definer in 02 Rich Brown and a mini eyeshadow brush.  The brush is actually pretty good quality – I can see myself getting some good use out of it.  The eye pencil is quite hard and takes a bit of warming up before it delivers good colour pay off, but once it was actually on my skin it did stay put well.

left to right:

eye definer 02 rich brown; eye colour New Nude; eye colour Vintage Apricot; eye colour boho brown; eye colour haute chocolate.

The palette contains 2.5g of each shadow which is very generous.  That’s similar or more than many brands’ single eyeshadows, so overall I think that £7.50 is an excellent price to get this palette for.

I also bought a somewhat more impractical tiny pot of pink Star Dust which is basically 1.5g of glitter.  I have to admit that I’m a bit of a glitter bug and at £3 I thought why not.

The colour is a dark fuschia that I actually think looks quite sophisticated.  The glitter particles are flat and round and therefore sit well on the skin.  Just be careful when you tip some out of the container though, as my first attempt ended in this:

I only wanted to tip out a tiny sprinkling - whoops!  Anyway while I had a big heaped pile of glitter on my hand I thought I might as well take a nice close up shot.

You can see the way the particles sit more clearly on my finger tip which I used to spread the glitter on my hand out a bit.

I love how sparkly the glitter looks in these photos – usually it’s difficult to convey the real texture of glitters and shimmers in photos.  This is how the glitter spread out just on my bare skin, but normally I’d wearing it on top of a creamy primer from my Sleek Primer Palette or a creamy eyeshadow stick to get it to stick exactly where I want and hopefully last all night.

Blue Eyes

I received some quite annoying news this morning which put me in a bit of a grumpy mood.  Well, that’s no way to start a weekend so I set about cheering myself up by playing with my make-up.  (I’m happy to say that not only did I feel much better after having played with my make-up but I have also largely solved my problem from this morning, so I am once again a happy bunny – hooray).

I’ve had a rather annoying cold this week which involved loads of sneezing and nose-blowing which really whacked my skin, so I used a hydrating foundation and quite a lot of bronzer for the first time this year so my skin looks quite glowy in these pics.

I ended up wearing quite a lot of make-up compared to what I normally would for a daytime look but I really liked the colours so I went out during the day wearing this look.  I think it’s also perfect for me as an evening look – a soft wash of colour all over the lid with lots of definition at the lashes, shimmery cheeks, and glossy pink lips.

Creating the Look

First I applied a generous layer of foundation before dusting a shimmery bronzer over my cheek bones and temples.  My absolute favourite is the Shimmy Shimmers in Bronze Shimmer by MeMeMe.  I’ve had mine for a couple of years now and it’s such a great pick-me-up product (and also as you can see from the pic below mine still looks as if it’s hardly been used!)

I used two colours from the Sleek primer palette as a base for my eyeshadow: the silver (1st on right, top row) all over my eyes to the brows, and the blue (2nd from left, top row) over my lids to the crease.

Here are some swatches to show how the colours apply.  I always apply and blend these using my fingers rather than the brush provided – I find it’s the best way to both pick up the product and blend it out to a workably thin layer.

1. silver – thick coat, suitable if using alone as a cream eyeshadow 2. silver – thinly applied, suitable if using as an eyeshadow base 3. blue - thick coat, suitable if using alone as a cream eyeshadow 4. blue - thinly applied, suitable if using as an eyeshadow base

I applied Body Shop eye shimmer in indigo over my entire lid, blending it out to just beneath my brows.

I then drew quite a thick line near my upper lashes using a metallic blue eye pencil.  I smudged the line out with a small brush then applied more eye shimmer on top.  I really like this eyeshadow as it’s super-iridescent and takes on quite a different hue when applied over eyepencil.

I then added some finer definition near my upper lashes using an electric blue liquid eyeliner and finally added tons of mascara to finish my eyes.

Finally I thought I’d pop on some peachy lipgloss and I was good to go (after first posing for some pics for this blog entry of course!)