Liz Earle Sheer Pink Lip Shimmer Review

I got this product at the Liz Earle shop in the Victoria Quarter in leeds. The shop is cool, bright and airy and smells refreshing and uplifting.

While in the shop I sampled the fragrance I had been eyeing and after a long and hot shopping trip I can still smell it strongly on my wrists. I'll definitely be looking into that zesty scent when funds allow!

Anyway, onto the product we are here to review. Served in a tiny pale pink screw top pot emblazoned with the Liz Earle "science flower" as I call it, the name of the product is on the bottom of the pot and is not visible when looking at it normally. A little unusual but by the colour and shape it's fairly obvious what we will find inside.

Unscrewing the lid the product inside is slightly darker, more mauve than the pot itself but carries the same shimmer. Swatched on my (very pale) hand there is a subtle pinky shimmer but no obvious deposit of colour. After the initial swatch I guessed that the product wouldn't show up as colour on my lips, which is fine, but after applying it to my lips I was surprised to see that they do indeed look "pinker". Not having a lot of natural pigment to my lips I didn't expect this at all from such a sheer product. Perhaps the ingredients themselves bring out the colour. Hmm.

While we are on the subject of the ingredients, the product has a really interesting herbal smell, it is one I find pleasant but I admit I was surprised at how "savoury" the scent is compared to lip products I am used to. Upon arriving home I called up the Liz Earle website to check the ingredients as I could swear that the lip shimmer smells of basil! After checking though there is no basil in this product so I'm not entirely sure which of the ingredients I am picking up. The earthy herbal smell is a comforting one though and it smells like you are putting something good for your lips on rather than a cosmetic product, which I suppose is true!

Overall I'm already enjoying using this product. I hate how lipsticks leave a mark around the edge of your lips when you don't have time to maintain them, but having so little natural pigment I'm always looking for a maintenance free way to look a little more awake during the day or at work. This product will almost certainly enter my regular rotation right alongside my beloved lanolips.

Pictures: Myself looking a little worse for wear after being rained on and tired after running around leeds all day!

Oracles of beauty - the little pink powder

Well done if you've already guessed what I'm about to discuss, those little tubes and pots of brightly coloured pink, ripe with the promise of revealing hidden secrets. Like the real oracles of ancient greece however I'm inclined to think of their predictions as deliberatley vague to provide the illusion of mystery.

All right all right I'll get to the point. This outbreak of colour change "shifts to the most perfect pink for YOU" products that simply refuses to go back to the mists of the 80's from which it crawled. I hate the way they use science, not complex science mind you, science we've all done in our fabulous free education, to attempt to baffle us into believing many ridiculous things, as I shall demonstrate below...

The products all claim to use "the pH in your skin" to adjust their colour. We will start by dissecting just this one claim. Let's assume that this is correct and the products do react to pH, by no means an impressive feat, red cabbage and Phenolphthalein can perform this circus trick and with their clear to pink spectrum it wouldn't surprise me if the chemical in these products was of similar origin or makeup.

Let's have a closer look then, pH is a measure of acid/alkaline. 7 in the middle is neutral. Stomach acid being the strongest acid at 1 and bleach the strongest alkali at 13. The general idea - that we got from school anyway - was that alkalis (at the levels most people would come into contact with) were far more dangerous than acids. Our skin is slightly acidic at pH 5.5. Looking at the way Phenolphthalein works i'd wager whatever chemical they use is very sensitive to slight variations around pH 5-6 with the pink darkening towards the more alkali end.

Indicators are a fairly basic, but visually impressive science and i'm not averse to their use as an exciting and entertaining product, I love science, I love pink, these are normally something i'd be all over. But no, what I don't like about these products is the way they heavily imply that whatever pink it turns is your OMGSUPERSECRETMOSTPERFECTESTJUSTFORYOUSPECIALSNOWFLAKE.

The product changes colour, it reacts to the pH in your skin, pH has nothing to do with tone or what suits you, the lipstick/gloss/blush CHANGES COLOUR - that is awesome in and of itself, I don't need to be told that it knows what suits me better than my own eyes do, I'm not going to buy it for fashion advice, If I buy it at all it's because it uses science and changes colour.

Lush Jackie Oates review

I enjoyed Lush's previous tint offering in light pink, but it was far too dark for my skin and I had to water it down with moisturiser so much it was hardly worth the effort. This new ivory colour is much better. I still mix it with my factor 50 to make the colour more like my real skin though, but as suncream is something I wear every day that isn't a problem, it's just combining two steps in one.

I still powder over this as I find it does next to nothing to stop oil breaking through.

It's not unreasonably priced at 7.50 but that does make me question lush's claims that you can use it straight as a foundation. The formula is a very thick cream, and in such a small jar (the same size as their lip scrubs) I wouldn't want to use it straight for a whole host of reasons. I mix a dab (on the end of one finger) in with a dab of sunblock and find that it gives skin tone improvement over my whole face.

While I do like this product i'm not sure if I would repurchase, my card details went missing in the big lush hack that occured a few months ago now, I bought from them in november and was not at all impressed to find out they still had my card details and information stored in february, It took 40 days for me to get my bank card back after the big fiasco.

Having finally got my card back and thinking everything was fine now, I bought this little pot in store a few days ago. Later I found that my card had been flagged as "retain" to shops, meaning that it had been flagged as stolen by my bank. Thinking the cash machine would tell me what was wrong was a mistake, the machine ate my card. Santander are now sending me a new card, but it will take 10 working days and will be sent to my parents address (I live away from home at university) meaning I have to travel across the country - without a bank card - to get it back.

Now, obviously i'm a bit miffed that my bank flagged my card as stolen when I didn't report it stolen, and then didn't seem to have any idea why the machine ate my card when I called, but once again i'm stuck with no access to my money because the banking world doesn't think Lush can be trusted with card details and when I have to commute to work no fancy bath product is worth sacrificing my card for.

New Soap and Glory Might Mouth

I always read it as mighty mouse...

Expect to see two reviews of this one here. Lucky you!

Hanibee came back from a trip to posh posh posh makeupland and brought me this as a lovely geeft. I was of course, delighted, as lip products are my kryptonite (I turn weak at the knees at the very thought of them but they still seem to turn up in my bag, my room, everywhere! heehe heh)



Arriving in a beautiful, if oddly large, box Mighty Mouth is a new product with an old name. Why they changed it instead of just releasing this as-well I can't imagine, from what I hear the old one was fabulous. This candy pink moisturising gloss type thing claims to have lip plumping properties, which makes it the approx 97th (lol) soap and glory product to do so. Being one of the most reliable brands out there, this product is another that does exactly what it says on the tin. I've tried all S&G's lip plumpers and this one is my favourite by far. It feels more like lip care than lip gloss, which is exactly what I hoped for. I don't find it very glossy at all, though it lasts on the lips for a good length of time. It's not slippy but it's surprisingly stickyness free for the texture going on.

Vanilla creme scented Mighty Mouth comes in a long thin squeezy tube with an angled applicator. Simple and works well. You get 12ml which is about standard for this sort of gloss type whatsit and at around 7 quids I'd say it was excellent value for money. The product itself is sheer, very sheer. I'm fair myself and don't have a great deal of natural lip pigment and I can't see much of a colour difference, though it does avoid the grey look that clear lipglosses seem to give me. Winner!



Overall I adore this stuff and like all S&G i've tried so far I will definitely repurchase. Now if only they'd make a SPF moisturiser, preferably a high level like 30 or above, I'd be DELIGHTED.

S&G Mighty Mouth. Not a scrap of other makeup as it's nearly midnight. Sorry about that!

When you wish upon a...

Jar? Most cosmetic products offer far more than they provide, but in my experience Soap and Glory tend to be actually honest with their claims. Their pore shrink mask promises to temporarily shrink pores, and it does the job beautifully for example.

I've been eyeing the "wish upon a jar" 21 day collagen overhaul creme for a while, even though I'm only 23 i've noticed my skin looking less "awake", less finely textured, in other words - aging. Having quite oily but otherwise well behaved skin I have yet to develop any real wrinkles, but training to be a teacher (more stressful than actually being a teacher, or so I'm told) I'd like to keep that stress off my face.

I picked up a jar with my boots points today for £14. For a soap and glory product that's quite expensive, but for a jar of good moisturiser I find it a decent price. The little pot is a silver sphere and is really quite beautiful. Inside is a pinky pearl creme that is quite thick and almost serum like. Though I am comparing it to my everyday moisturiser the clinique one which is rather runny. The wish creme spreads quite easily and skin feels soft and with an ever so slight tackiness that I find makes makeup application so much easier.

The creme recommends that you remember to use a spf while wearing it due to the renewing effect on the skin, it also interestingly, recommends that you use it for the 21 days only and then wait three months before starting another jar. Sounds like powerful stuff, I can't wait to see how it goes!

Mac Craving Review

After falling in love with the delightful scent of mac lipsticks I couldn't resist using a bit of Christmas money to order another. The swatches on the mac website aren't too bad, but the colour descriptions I find to be twaddle. I always look for real life swatches if I can, but even then skin tone differences can cause the colour to pull another way.

After a long time choosing and many google searches for colour swatches (the swatches on Karla Sugar are AMAZING) http://karlasugar.net/2009/09/mac-amplified-creme-lipsticks/ I decided on "craving".

The amplified creme finish is an odd one. It actually reminds me more of Ellis Faas creamy lipcolour than a usual stick lipstick, it's almost a thick ink. The lipstick doesn't feel like much is on your lips and has a slight sheen to it, though not at all as much as something with creme in the name normally has. Craving is VERY pigmented and yet doesn't bleed. You should be careful with application though as it stains! The colour melts into your lips (exfoliate first for optimum results!) though I find it works better without a balm under as the extra moisture just makes it slide off.

This photo was taken with my laptop through facebook to show off my new favourite lipstick colour. I haven't altered the colour in any way, nor did I use flash. The odd white cast to my face is caused by the illumination of the screen, normal skin tone can be seen on my arm at the bottom left of the photo in case you were wondering. Not that much difference, but that's what a healthy dislike of the sun does to you. (Speaking of which, can you please make shades lighter than NC-15 mac?)

Craving as I would describe it, is a plum tinged pink that looks deceptivley warm in the stick. On me it seems a cool toned pink, which is exactly what I wanted, I can't pull off warm toned colours near my face.

I found the way to get what I consider the best result from this lipstick is to just rub my lips with a toothbrush (first thing in the morning when I brush my teeth - lazy) apply a good slathering of lanolips 101 straight after and then get dressed, do the rest of my makeup and lipstick last when the ointment has sunk in properly. For a faster way i'd exfoliate, moisturise, let it sink in a moment then wipe off the balm to leave a dry canvas for this ink stick to adhere to.


Transfer is surprisingly little, I adore this lipstick!

Guerlain Meteorites

Thanks to my lovely parents I received Guerlain Meteorites for Christmas, and Belle de Opium, which I adore.

The meteorites as we know come packaged in a beautiful silver cylinder with a little puff, more for protecting the perles than application, they seem best applied with a large fluffy brush.

There they are applied, sorry for the miserable expression, I was focused on covering up some of the flash that was washing the colour out.

The meteorites give a moonlit glow to the skin and gift a soft focus effect, blurring pores and generally improving the look of skin. The soft powder also helps set makeup which is handy.

Love them. Well worth the price IMO.

New do & Soap and Glory love.

Last weekend I finally got a hair cut, after months of agonising over it and wondering what to get, Sammi convinced me to go for a Christina Hendricks - esque (though obviously I don't look anywhere near as GODDESS like as her) style and I was absolutely thrilled with the result.

Fringe ^_^

Whaddaya think? I love it, it is a big difference from my usual, straight and boring style and I haven't had any sort of a fringe for absolutely donkey's years! (... Not that I know how long a donkey's year would be...)

Of course, after having this overhaul of my hair, I decided to treat it to something new and as luck would have it, Soap and Glory had *just* released their new Shampoo and Conditioner, clearly a sign from the beauty gods that I should offer these up as a tribute to my gorgeous new do.

And boy what a tribute! As expected they smell fabulous and compliment each other very nicely, the shampoo lathers up wonderfully and rinses clean, the conditioner requires a bit of working through from the roots to tips (as recommended on the bottle) and it is well worth it to really get to full benefit. This was my hair after blowdrying;

*poseposepose*

See how bouncey ^^ I was very impressed with the volume and shine;

Check out that shine

Please excuse the emo looking pose, but check out all that shine! Wowza! And just for a finishing touch, this is how it looked after being straightened;


Check that out, frsrs, LOOKIT! I am going to give Soap and Glory, Shampoo and Conditioner full marks! If you want to try these out I'd rush to boots RIGHT NOW as they're having a 3 for 2 on all Soap and Glory products and these hair products are going fast. (for the third product I would recommend their hair mask, i will be reviewing it next as I am even more impressed with it)

Til next time!

Ciate Mistress, Silhouette and White Chocolate Scented Polish Remover

Hello all!

Apologies for my lack of posting for a while, being back at work has thrown me off a bit! But I am here again with a brand, spanking new review! Huzzah!

I recently gave in to temptation and bought two gorgeous red shades from Ciate; Mistress and Sihouette. I also treated myself to their white chocolate scented polish remover, in the hopes of repairing and treating mine and Sammi's poor dried out nails to something a bit fancier. And boy, did this remover deliver!

Not only did our nails feel genuinely nourished, clean and smooth after removing our polish but after it dried our hands smelt good enough to eat! At £14 for the 250ml bottle I would say it is a fair price. It has helped my nails no end!

Now, onto the polishes!

Silhouette, a pearly red with gold shimmer

Isn't it gorgeous? Silhouette is a wonderful colour and has fantastic staying power, lasted 3 days with no chipping and minimal tip wear, smashing.

Mistress, I'll admit it, the name swayed me to get this particular red

I haven't worn this beauty as of yet, however one of my friends was taken with the shade and she wore it, it lasted through 4 days, 2 of which were waitressing days! She also said it went on easy, no streaks and only required one coat for an opaque colour.

So all in all Ciate has proved themselves as premium as they claim! However at £9 a pot I will be selecting my purchases rather carefully! Still I highly recommend Ciate, if you want to treat yourself or have enough dollah :)

Soap and Glory Fab Pore review

I bought this on my boots points the other day. I haven't had chance to take a picture yet.

The 15 minute facial peel comes in a small white pot and you get 50g for £7.00. Not a high price for a face mask really, but the amount they tell you to use (grape sized) and the size of the pot makes me wish it came in a bigger pot for more money.

Never one to follow instructions properly I applied it in my usual way in thin layers until It was opaque all over my face and found I used significantly less than the amount they recommend. It spreads easily as a white cream and is "wet" enough that it didn't drag on my skin and ball up on my fingers as drier masks can do. As it sits on your face it feels damp and cooling and not at all burny as the "peel" makes me think. It doesn't dry on the skin, so doesn't have the tightness usually associated with masks containing clay, but there's something about it that makes you think it's doing *something*.

Next I washed my hair and hoped that it didn't melt off in the humidity, which pleasingly it did not. Nor did I get patches where it splashed off, so hurrah there. After 5 mins I caved and wanted to see if it had any effect. The pot says to leave it on for 15 mins or 5 for a "quick refresh". This isn't a splash off mask, I rubbed it off under the shower head and then rinsed my skin with my normal clinque face soap before I felt it was really "off".

Looking in the mirror afterwards I nearly fell over! The pores on my nose and cheeks cause me misery daily. To me they seem vast and cavernous and they are all I see when I first look in the mirror. After just 5 mins in this they looked small, greatly reduced in colour, scrubbed out and not at all flaky and dry as I had feared.

3 days later the initial super tightening (which I assume is from the magical mushroom qualities of the product) has worn off somewhat, but my pores are still on the smaller side of "normal" which for me is simply astounding. Make up goes on smoother and doesn't sink into my skin towards the end of the day. This is simply the best facial product I have ever used and I don't think I'm alone.

This little pot of magic has clocked up 69 rave reviews on boots.com where it can be purchased, often on 3 for 2 (score!!!) in fact, you should probably just get some now, right away before I buy it all.

Quality, on the cheap.

After three days of wearing the Collection 2000 dupe, I was rather impatient to review it, yet have not had a chance to upload it, so here is the judgment of Midnight Rouge!

After three days of wear, there was some chipping on the tips of my weakest nails, (alas I have two that like to flake :( ) however this is to be expected from my nails.


Curse you weak nails! Aside from this however there was zero tip wear and my nails looked freshly applied on the other hand!

Glorious! They are still marvelously glossy and very pretty.

Let's break it down! Collection 2000 Lasting Colour, Midnight Rouge, COME FORWARD!

Colour: 3/5

It pains me to say that this colour was not very close to the Dragon's Blood varnish, it was far more on the burgundy side and didn't have that deep, red, glow that I so fondly remember of Dragon's Blood. It is however a beautiful varnish.

Gloss: 3/5

It wasn't *quite* as glossy as the L'Oreal varnish but it was still lovely and shiny, especially in the sunlight.

Cost: 5/5

At £2.49 you really can't go wrong with this varnish.

Wear: 5/5

Three days, minimal chipping and only on the nails of *mine* that I expect to chip, zero tip wear and no smudging. If I wasn't such an impatient lady I'd like to see if it could last ten days! I wouldn't be surprised if it did :)

Overall it kicked L'Oreal's arse! If you're looking for an affordable, lasting varnish, then I highly recommend this!

Quest for Dragon's Blood; The Second Beast

What-ho fellow Dragon slayers! I have felled another beastie! This one goes by the name Midnight Rouge, of the Collection 2000 Lasting Colour line.

As you can see, it's new!

It appears that the blood of Dragons is known for its longevity and durability, as this one promises *up to* TEN DAYS of wear! At the small price of £2.59, I would pleased with one full day of good wear! It is becoming increasingly difficult to find varnish at a good price, especially when they all like to promise me the world with pretty diamonds and unicorns who crap rainbows... Moving along!

Initially I was struck by the ease of application, the brush is simply marvelous! I was able to do several of my nails with one sweep, magic. The formula is nice, not too thick for one that, once again, promises durability and I had no streaks, no bubbles, no drag, just a nice even coat.

POW!

I have to say, so far Collection 2000 are kicking L'Oreal's arse! That's right L'Oreal, we know you're not as premium as you claim!

I quite like the colour and opacity of this varnish, it only required one heavy handed coat and has a lovely, glossy sheen to it, the red isn't too lost in the darkness of the shade, so it's doing well!


Unfortunately the shade appears a bit more towards the mahogany red, rather than the sanguine, who knows, perhaps it will look better in the light of day, rather than the fluorescent lights in our house! We shall see....

Hanibee out! <3

I Am Disappoint! .\/.

After deciding to give L'Oreal Resist&Shine Titanium a good chance, I am very disappointed to find that at the end of the second day my nails look like this;


This is not what I expect from a varnish that promises me 7 days of wear.

Incidentally, that is my 'I am disappoint!' face. Hopefully you will not see it too often, in this situation however is it called for!

As a dupe for No 17 Dragon's Blood, which was of the Rock Hard Nails line, it has lost quite a few points for me... Did I not mention I'll be scoring the potential dupes out of 20?... Well, umm... Too late now! We already started playing!

L'Oreal Resist&Shine Titanium! Come forward for judgement!

Colour: 3/5

Well, it's certainly red and dark red at that, however with the two coats required to make it sufficiently dark enough and streak free, the colour gets lost.

Gloss: 5/5

I cannot deny that this varnish is extremely glossy, it does look freshly applied hours after. Which I like.

Cost: 0/5

£5.99 for a varnish that simply does not deliver what it promises? On your bike son.

Wear: 2/5

I'll give it the obligatory 2 points for lasting through an entire day of my baby related chores, almost continual typing and washing up. But I am doing it begrudgingly, promising 7 days of wear and delivering this, is shocking L'Oreal. SHOCKING.

I would also add that the application, whilst aided by the smaller cap, was hindered by the ridiculously thin and rigid brush. Ah well, on to the next conquest!!

Hanibee out <3

Urban Decay Ink for Eyes review

Today I received an Urban Decay Ink for Eyes in shade Binge, a lovely dark blue, as a gift from the wonderful Hanibee.

I've been apprehensive about trying liquid eyeliners in the past, I always end up with a smudgy mess, but hearing HausFrau and Hanibee's assurances, and given the - to die for - shade of blue, I was excited to give it a try.

Shown in Green (Mine is Blue!)

As it's late at night please forgive the stock photo. (All credit to Urban Decay.com)

The packaging as you can see is long and thin, it's about 10cm long by and Inch wide and has a gorgeous peacock image emblazoned on the case. I don't find the mirror inside particularly useful for application, I like to see my whole eye when applying eye make up, but some might find it useful, and It's a nice thoughtful inclusion.

One of the best things about Urban Decay products, is that the default tools found within their sets are always high quality, and this is no exception. In fact I found this brush easier to use than others I've purchased specifically for purpose.

The ink itself is softer than expected. I applied one line across my upper lids with ease, it came out straighter than I've ever achieved with even pencil liners, but would require two, three or more coats to get an opaque line. While I'd prefer a more defined line initially, the subtlety of a single coat can't be under-sold. For a softer day-time definition, or to add a little interest to a work look, I can see the soft blue line coming in very useful, and I'm glad the option is there.

One thin coat, no mascara.

After building up just a little you get a good density of colour. The blue is a surprisingly warm shade that works well with my irritating skin tone where too warm colours leave me looking dirty, and too cool makes me look washed out.

Again I apologise for the lack of mascara.

After playing around with this product for just a few minutes I've managed to line my eyes neater and faster than pencils have ever achieved. Given half a chance I'd grab this in every colour going. Fingers crossed that the currently US exclusive iridescent glitter shade crosses the ocean and into my waiting grabby hands soon!

Urban Decay Ink for Eyes can be found at many online stockists including Debenhams (Where there is currently a SALE), House of Fraser, and Boots.