Lipstick I’m Loving Right Now-Bare Escentuals Perfect Mauve September 27, 2010

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the brief blogging hiatus-I have been crazy busy with work and haven’t had a chance to blog lately That is going to be rectified effective immediately

A lipstick that I have been reaching for a lot lately is Bare Escentuals Perfect Mauve. I got this as part of a set for my birthday a while back, so I don’t know the exact price. According to the Bare Escentuals website though, this set retails at $30-not a bad price for three good quality products;  a matching lip liner, lipstick and gloss.

While I use the gloss and the lipstick a lot from this set, I haven’t used the lip liner much, as this isn’t a product that is part of my make-up routine.

According the Bare Escentuals website, the lipstick is:

100% Natural

Naturally decadent, creamy and long-lasting

Uses a healthy mix of 100% pure bareMinerals

This is a great day time lipstick. For me, it is a few shades darker and richer than my natural lip colour, which I like. If you like to know my thoughts on it, read the Pro/Con list below:

This Weeks Likes and Dislikes August 15, 2010

Hey everyone,

I hope (as always) that ye are enjoying the weekend! I have been so bad to post this week. I would love to say that it was because I was on holidays (unfortunately not) but I have been such a busy bee this week that I  simply didn’t get the time. I hope to make up for this today though

Here are my week’s likes and dislikes:

Likes

• Random Acts of Kindness

Random acts of kindness are such a lovely thing. For instance, this week I went for a bit of a road trip (and fitted in a little bit of shopping, of course) but by the time I reached the car park it was jammers. I was just about to turn out of the car park when  lovely woman ran up to my car and told me to wait as she was going to be leaving the car park. Not only did she give me her car parking space but she also gave me her parking ticket, which had an hour of parking left. It was such a lovely gesture and really perked me up for the day. If you happen to be this woman and are reading this-thank you so much! I really appreciated it.

Sometimes I lose my faith in mankind, when people are unnecessarily rude to me when I am out and about, but this restored my faith. It made my realize that I don’t do half as many random acts of kindness as I should. However,  am going to rectify this when the opportunity arises.

• Bright Make-Up

Now, I don’t mean neon, in-you-face, luminous make-up when I say this. I simply mean a nice bright coloured pink lipstick or blusher. I was feeling a little blue the other day, and after putting on my GOSH velvet touch lipstick in timeless (107) and some of my lovely sheer, barbie-pink Smaskbox blusher and I felt so much better. Never under-estimate the power of bit of bright make-up to perk you up!

• Great new blogs to read

I love finding really great fashion and make-up blogs (particularly Irish ones) to read. I end up reading them start to finish-better than any glossy magazine

Dislikes

• Step-Up 3D

I had such high hopes for this film, given that I am such a huge fan of Step-Up 1 and 2, however I was really disappointed with this one!

Instyle Freebies August 4, 2010

Hey everyone,

I thought I would let ye know (for those that don’t know already) that Instyle magazine are giving away a free, full-sized The Body Shop lip and cheek stain with their September issue.

There are too shades available-rose pink (which looks red in the tube) and bronze glimmer (a metallic bronzer with a lot of glitter in it).  The lip stain comes in a tube, and unlike stains like Benefit’s Benetint and Poisetint, this stain has a wand applicator.

I haven’t purchased any myself, as I already have too many lip and cheek products on the go as it is However, if my research of the lip and cheek stain turns out positive I might change my mind.

Anyone used this product before? Would you recommend it?

Appearances can be deceiving……. July 23, 2010

Hey everyone,

This is a Bourjois Sweet Kiss lipstick that I have had for awhile. I had gotten a few bits and bobs around the same time as I bought this so it got forgotten about. I picked this Bourjois lipstick as part of a Bourjois offer being run at this year’s Xpose Live show, so I’m not 100% sure about the RRP.

Outer packaging/case of lipstick

The shade that I got was 41 Beige elegant, as I am loving all things nude at the moment, and thought I would try and build up a little nude lipstick collection.

In The Nude…. July 21, 2010

Bare Lips

I’m loving the whole nude lip trend seen in magazines and on celebrities at the moment. However, while I like the nude lip look, it’s a tricky one to pull off. I had tried it out a few times before, but I thought like I liked corpse and quickly wiped it off before showing my face in public.

Anyway, I thought that I would give it another go, after discovering a love of lipstick. I consulted Amy, Make-Up and Beauty blogger, for advice on a good nude lipstick, and ended up purchasing a GOSH lipstick (Shade-Darling). This lipstick has a lovely and creamy consistency but ladies be warned with this one-do not apply it to anything less than smooth and recently buffed lips, as most of the lipstick pigment tends to stick to the flaky bits on your lips. From experience, I can assure you it isn’t a good look!!

I think the key thing when trying this look it gloss.

Lipstick are the new lipgloss in my books May 11, 2010

Lots of Lippes!

 

I’ve never been one for lipsticks…….. ever! Until recently I’ve never purchased one, and only had any in my makeup bag as they were free with a make-up offers or I had gotten one as a present. Recently, I spied the new ad for the new Chanel lipsticks, it got me thinking about lipstick. After that, I decided that it was a waste to let the four lipsticks that I had going unused so I decided to start making use of them. 

Over the last few weeks, I have got so many compliments once I changed from the gloss side, and I must say that I really like the fact that lipsticks are so much more pigmented that a gloss, but you can still get that glossy finish from them. 

Anyway, this has led to a spending splurge on all things lipstick lately, from cheaper brands to the more expensive (my purse has been sobbing at the loss of cash as a result). So watch out for loads of lipstick related reviews in the near future. 

Have you moved over from  the gloss side????

There’s a new brand in my life and its name is………Estée Lauder May 11, 2010

I have never tried any of Estée Lauder’s products before and when I ever passed the product stands in BTs, I am ashamed to admit I thought it was an older mature brand not suitable for young ‘uns like myself (currently bowing my head in shame).  Anyway, I have been hearing such good things lately about this brand that I decided to try it out.

Estée Lauder High Gloss Ultra Brillance in 09 Flamingo

My first purchase was the Estée Lauder High Gloss Ultra Brillance lipgloss in 09 Flamingo. This is a great nude/caramel colour sheer gloss with lovely small golden particles throughout it. It has great staying power (for a gloss anyway…). The packaging, like other high-end (and expensive!) brands is extremely luxurious. It has a lovely long, slim tube with a heavy metal gold cap. Did I mention my favourite things about this lipgloss that sets it apart from others?

Firstly, it smells great. To me, it has a lovely strong caramel smell but my further research indicates that it’s actually fig. I’ve never smelt figs before, but it smells strong and rich, like caramel to me, which is a lovely change from traditional bubblegum/fruity fragrances.

What is looks like on-pretty no?

 

Secondly, is the narrow slant-tipped applicator. I didn’t think I would like it initially, thinking it would take all feckin’ day to apply my lipgloss. However, the smaller applicator allows for more precise application, and as a result, no excess lipgloss outside of my lipline or waste of my precious, precious lipgloss. Success!!!

Definite thumbs up for this one. In fact, I liked this Estée Lauder, I am planning on more purchases from the brand, and soon.

Mod Chic Palette is a Smash!! March 28, 2010

A smashing success-sorry I couldn't resist

I’ve had this Smashbox palette for a while, but it is one that I reach for on  a daily basis. I am a high fan of Smashbox products, as I think that they are great quality and come in a good range of products. This palette was my first foray into the world of Smashbox and I haven’t looked back since.

With regards the palette, it comes in a lovely black cushioned palette, and when I purchased it, I got a free black and white makeup bag with it. What I don’t like about the packaging is that there is no clasp of latch on the palette to keep it closed which means it can easily open and product can escape, get dirty from being exposed, etc. For this reason, I don’t keep it in my hand bag, but rather  on my vanity table.

The palette itself contained an eyeshadow quad and two lip glosses. It also comes with a handy double-sided eye-shadow blending brush and smudger. These are really good quality brushes and definitely unlike the little plastic, cheap ones that comes with most products that I usually end up throwing away or never using. I have had these brushed for over a year and a half, and they are still as good as they were one day one.

The eyeshadow quad is a very wearable one, containing lovely sparkly white, light beige and bronze shades as well as a matte black shadow. I find that I can use this for day or night looks, where I tend to use the lighter shades on my lids, and using the black as a liner, for day-looks and using the more intense bronze and black shadows for a night time/going-out looks.

The lip glosses are really great, non-sticky, sheer glosses too. The glosses themselves are quite thick, which results in them lasting for longer after application. I think that palettes are a great way to try out a particular brand, as well are providing you with all the colours that you need to achieve a particular look. A definite thumbs up for this one!!