Red Lips

With Christmas rapidly approaching, it's time for the party season to begin. Nothing says 'Christmas Party' to me more than bold, red lips but I find myself torn on which shade to pick. (Which is hardly surprising given my obsession with all lip products. Read about the ridiculous amount I carry in my bag here.)


I recently went from Brunette to light Blonde, then from light Blonde I have gone to, and settled on, a sandy, caramel blonde. But truth be told, I still think of myself as a brunette so find it tricky picking out the right Red lipstick. I've grown fond of a dark berry colour called Digna, which was part of the limited edition Marcel Wanders line from Mac last Christmas. It's very vampy and very glam, the perfect red lip for a mulled wine filled evening. I also feel like Mac's Lady Danger seems to be a universal colour. It suited me as a brunette and still looks great with my lighter locks. Lady Danger is not for the shy and retiring type however, and has a hint of Orange to it, but I love it.

Digna

Lady Danger

Whilst we're on the topic of lips I'm quite intrigued by Violent Lips. I definitely want to hunt them down and give them a try. Does anyone know where you can buy them in England?

Company Magazine Freebie

"Discount is my second favourite word... Freebie is my first!"


Did anyone else catch this gem of a line on Desperate Scousewives last night? (I think this may well be my new guilty pleasure).
This comes straight to mind when I think of magazines and their freebies. They certainly do the job on me, and always lure me into buying a magazine that I might not usually look twice at. That's not to say I wouldn't look twice at Company magazine, but it certainly made me want to buy it right there and then.


December's issue comes with a full sized sample of Build it, Lash it Mascara (Which I'm presuming is the name of the brand, since it doesn't mention a brand name anywhere else on the packaging or in the magazine). First impressions were along the lines of 'hmm... I've tried one of these kinds of mascara's before but I'll give it a go.' Then I opened the packaging and it turns out that, a) The 'handle' in the middle of both wands is cracked and b) the wand on the 'Lash it' side actually fell out of the handle when I unscrewed it.

 Packaging as a whole

 Pretty metallic base coat

 Writing already scratching off after using once

Will this crack mean the mascara dries out straight away?

Packaging aside, the 'Build it' base coat side didn't seem to be applying anything to my lashes. However, the 'Lash it' side was fabulous. I'm not sure how long it will be before it dries up but it went on a dream. My lashes have stayed curled throughout the day and as far as and smudging or transferring goes... So far so good.


I'm definitely giving this mascara the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure cheaper packaging was used for the freebie version, or at least I hope that is the case. Also I'm not sure branding was particularly clear and I can't say I'd know where to buy it, but it has at least grabbed my attention.


Did anyone else try this?

Rainbow Connection

Good evening lovelies.
I know I have raved about OPI's Rainbow Connection but I have yet to give you a NOTD.
So this is exactly what this is!
It took me about 3 coats to create this 'solid' glitter affect and I had to use 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat, as I'm a stickler for smooth nails. Does anyone else have that strange, almost fear of nails catching on their clothes, be it a chipped nail or glitter polish? It is literally like nails down a chalkboard to me.


Without further ado I give you... Rainbow Connection...

Isn't it beautiful? I feel very Christmassy with this polish on and have been given plenty of compliments, which we all know is the sign of a good nail polish.

What nail polish is making you feel Christmassy? I am, as always, on the lookout for more!

Homemade Face Mask

Well haven't I been a rubbish blogger recently. I've been having some serious computer troubles, namely that I have too much crap clogging my beautiful MacBook Pro. So after a good few hours of de-clogging my computer, I decided to de-clog my face with a homemade face mask.

It's always nice to know exactly what you're putting on your face and with a homemade face mask this is obviously a guarantee.

I made a banana and honey face mask which really is as simple as it sounds. I mixed one mashed banana with a teaspoon of honey, est voila! It's a bit of an awkward texture to apply but that's all part of the fun.

My skin felt smooth and tightened after, and I even have leftovers in the fridge for seconds.

Does anyone else have any good home made face mask recipes?

November Lust List

Before I start with my 'Lust List' I wanted to start with a little hair, for want of a better word rave. I watched AndreasChoice's Youtube tutorial on Semi-Heatless pin curls and was very eager to give it a try. I was convinced it just wouldn't work with my hair since my hair never even holds heat produced curls. I'm unfortunate in that my hair is very fine but I have lots of it, which means weight... Which means it really fights against being curled. I suppose I should be grateful since it pretty much air-dries straight but this is no fun when I fancy tousled curls.

Anyway in short I followed the tutorial and it worked! I was amazed and really loved the results so thank you Andrea I have found a great way to get curls with no heat which is exactly what I needed after my Babyliss curling wand disaster. For those who don't know, back in June my Babyliss conical wand burnt a chunk of my hair off on a low heat setting. I have to add that Babyliss were absolutely wonderful with dealing with my complaint and they replaced my faulty wand, so I have no complaints there.

See below for the hair tutorial. I actually enjoy the whole process of pinning the curls, it feels so retro like painting on a nice Red lipstick.

Right on with the 'Lust List'

• Pixi Ultimate Beauty Kit - Everything you could possibly want in one place.
• Selfridges All I Want This Christmas Beauty Advent Calendar - Get a daily beauty treat AND save calories... Shame it's sold out. Boo hoo!
• Dior Velvet Eyes - Perfect for eyeliner addicts without a steady hand, and gorgeous for dramatic Christmas party eyes.
• The Saturdays Magnetism Nail Lacquer - The new nail trend. I tried to get this in Superdrug but they didn't have the magnets which come separately. Desperate to get my mitts on some.

Until next time lovers...

(P.s. Everyone go and subscribe to Andreas channel here NOW... She's fab!)

Le Freak C'est Chic

Normally I would run from fragrance promoters and avoid them like the plague... But today I gave Freak the benefit of the doubt.It might have possibly been down to pity (the poor lass had been shoehorned into a rather unflattering pleather all in one) but I accepted her offer and tried the perfume.

The perfume in question is by the rather theatrical cosmetics company Illamasqua, and boy am I glad I tried it out. It's pretty much my perfect fragrance which, since finishing my last bottle of Narciso Rodriguez I have been on the hunt for.

I am very particular about fragrance but can never describe what it is I actually like, given that I am not very gifted in the 'Describe a smell' department. The only word I can use to describe what I like is 'creamy' which doesn't really help anyone. I like a musky perfume, yet hate spicy musk or vanilla musk... See not picky at all! It's easier for me to identify what I don't like but Narciso Rodriguez was sheer perfection to me and the good old cheapy Moschino Chic and Cheap was also a close second.

Babble aside Freak is a lovely soft, sweet smell with deep velvety smoth aroma's to it. The lady at the counter sprayed it on a tester card for me and at first I wasn't sold but once it was dried I couldn't stop smelling it. I went for dinner with a friend and kept having to get the card out for a sniff... It was love!

I went back to the counter after dinner to spray it on myself, as we all know perfumes can smell completely different on different people. This perfume is one of those fragrances that lingers and you keep getting a little whiff of every so often which is what I personally look for in a perfume. I love the thought of walking past people and them just catching a hint of the fragrance, but not so much it's overpowering, and Freak certainly does this.

And did I mention the bottle? It will look gorgeous on anyone's dressing table. It has the corner missing so it sits on a slant and has the cutest silver snail 'crawling' up the bottle.

Definitely a new favourite and 100% on the Christmas list.