Wednesday 31 August 2016

REVIEW: Seventeen Mega Matte Lipstick "Looking Buff"

The background is the cover of Johanna Basford's excellent new colouring in diary, review to come! :)


So I spotted these on Twitter maybe? Or Facebook. And was like 'yes of course I need more matte lipsticks I won't wear everyday!'... I was first drawn to the intensely fuchsia offering "Back to the fuchsia" but settled on this dark rosy pink nude instead. These are £4.49 in Boots. The colour of this may be a bit on the cool side for me once on the lips and set, but it's still a very wearable darker nude for those with highly pigmented lips like me.

I like the packaging, it's sleek and feels sturdy and, dare I say it, a bit more grown-up than the brand's target audience...

Best of all - this has no scent - yay! :) It takes a certain technique to work onto the lips as the formula is a bit stiff. Once on, you have seconds to blend before it sets rock hard. Once on, it's there. But despite this, it doesn't feel sticky or dry. It has a velvety feel and doesn't cling to a dry bit that I have. I removed this at the end of the day with a Garnier Micellar Makeup Removing Wipe without issue.

So how did it wear? Over half a day, I consumed some Maryland cookies (I'm classy, what can I say) and fizzy water. And milky coffee. After the coffee I noticed it had faded a bit on the back of the lips, like most of these matte lip products do quite quickly. I then had a nice nacho burger for dinner with Pepsi in the pub with my friend and my Husband. And sure enough, a greasy burger did kill it, I had to reapply. But damn. For £4.49 and after 6hrs, colour me impressed! I think this might make it long-term into my handbag. It's a toss-up which I like better - NYX Lip Lingerie or this?!


Monday 29 August 2016

NOTD: H&M "Scarab"


This is one of the H&M polishes I picked up in Sweden. I took a chance on this one as I am not normally a fan of the 'nearly black' and I must say it's possibly a bit too dark for me. It is a mermaid green/blue shimmer in a very deep navy base.

Please excuse the chip on the ring finger, as acquired last night reaching into my friend's pick and mix bucket too soon after painting... I should've known better. But the Haribo Gold Bears were good!

I did 2 coats here. It's really smooth and forgiving to apply and dries fairly quickly. It's also very pigmented and if I had done thicker coats I may have got away with just 1 coat. I topped it with Sally Hansen MegaShine.

Nice but not my fave H&M polish ("Orchid Bee" anyone?). I feel it's the mild-mannered sister to H&M "Nocturne". And it's quite similar to my old fave Bloom "Bianca" which I love, but not as duochrome or green. Like all the H&M polishes they're available online only in the UK and cost £3.99.

Saturday 27 August 2016

I'm back - with a Swedish holiday beauty haul!


I was on holiday back in Sweden for the last couple of weeks. I wasn't really in a mood to blog so that's why it's been quiet for a while. All refreshed now though and ready for the next couple of months!

I didn't really do much shopping - we went to a large shopping center one day as it was raining so much but other than that I definitely just was out looking for wildlife and enjoying time off. I did buy some clothing as well, and acquired two pairs of shoes off my Mum as she didn't fit into them. More on those in another post.

Of course, the top destination in Sweden is usually Kicks which sells makeup and beauty products. This year I decided I was going to go more for skincare as I have soooo much unused makeup it's not funny. Kicks' own line of skin care comes in a range of products but I decided to get this starter set for hydration (four products on the right on the top row). It also contains fairtrade ingredients so I felt a bit more ethical. I found it was good but I'm not blown away. My favourite was the face wash. Mainly the strong scent is putting me off? I don't mind a slight scent but these products are all highly perfumed. So not ideal if you have sensitive skin.

The mask (top row left) is a hydrating cream mask, again from Kick's own line. I clearly needed the moisture as I had nothing to wipe away after 5 min... Some bloggers have suggested that you add a second layer but I've not tried that yet. Won't repurchase this, but exciting to try new things nonetheless.

I then also got Kicks own cuticle oil in the bottle. Now this I love! It has a slight scent to it but nothing strong. It absorbs easily but moisturises deeply. I put this on at night only even though it says morning and night, but I just don't have time for this in the morning! I think it works better than my old fave from Nails Inc. Will likely acquire another bottle of this through my Mum when it runs out!

L to R: 'Scarab' and 'Blueberry Cobbler'
Finally, of course, I nipped into H&M and perused their makeup line (as you can do in Sweden but not in the UK). After actually getting to swatch some of the other makeup in the line, I am convinced that the nail polishes rocks but the other stuff is just a bit meh. Eye shadow isn't really my thing, and I am rather picky with lip products and blushes. I don't do eye liners. The foundations all felt a bit cheap. I picked up two polishes that stood out, and you'll see these soon as NOTDs. I think I need to do a swatch wheel and post on my H&M polishes, I have so many...

So that was it, really. I think I was being rather restrained this time in shopping, and I think it's because nothing has really taken my fancy. I'll deal with the clothing and shoes possibly in another post but I'm not really a fashion blogger so I find it awkward to photograph clothes and shoes. While I was away I also got some more stuff online,  like one of the new oval rose gold brushes from Makeup Revolution, and a new nail polish from MAC form their Star Trek collection! So keep your eyes peeled! :)

Sunday 21 August 2016

NOTD: MAC "Shirelle"

I bought some cool H&M polishes the other day while shopping but already packed them up to travel so I borrowed nail polish from my Mum;  sadly she has a penchant for boring classics. This was as bright as it got on a shelf of pink and red cremes...
I did 2 coats here with my mini top and base coat from Depend Cosmetics.
Looks good together with my brothers red geranium!  :)

Sunday 14 August 2016

NOTD: OPI "Goldeneye"


When you are off on holiday, there's only one kind of nail polish that will do. Hard-wearing and sparkly.

This time, it came down to the gorgeous gold glitter from OPI's 'Skyfall' collection. I've worn it before, and I love it! It's kind of sheer but that makes the glitters pop.

I did 2 coats here, with Sally Hansen MegaShine top coat. Needless to say, I also did a matching pedicure! :)

Monday 8 August 2016

MASK MONDAY: Garnier Moisture Bomb Tissue Mask



It's no secret I love the moisturisers in this range, so when I saw this I was like "need that". And it's £1.49, so it's not an expensive foray into sheet masks!

I kind of didn't understand the instructions... :( It looked like you're meant to remove one of the tissue layers?... Maybe? Once I opened it it was more clear; the blue layer shown in the instructions is sort of a protective bit that the mask sheet is mounted on. It's not very blue though until you peel it off! And the mask is quite large for my face...

Scared the sh*t out of the cat...
Peeling off the protective layer is rather frustrating. And as with all sheet masks I've tried, this one too wants to peel and fall off my face...  I had to sit in the bathroom and lean back to get it to stick on. I hate that as I can't do anything for 15min. Well, apart from taking my Mask Monday selfie... And I did try to play Bejewelled...

After removal, I smoothed the left over serum into my skin and used the Moisture Bomb night cream-gel. I then decided I was going to apply the mask to my chest, as the mask was still very wet, where I have some suntan. After 15 min I removed it and moisturised the same as for my face.

Looking radiant the next morning I must say! Especially my chest! It's clearly a much neglected area... So have bought some more to use these again when I go on holiday later this August to keep my skin tip-top! :)

Wednesday 3 August 2016

NOTD: Isadora Jeanious collection "Bootcut"


I have two polishes from this collection courtesy of my Mummy. The other one, "Hot Legs", you can see here.

This is meant to be a matte polish, but it's more satin rather than matte. I was very tempted to add a matte top coat to it... I think for me, this wasn't a winner because it wasn't as matte as I'd hoped. 

It was very good to apply though, this is two thin, perfect coats over my Bourjois base coat. No mess, none of that dreaded bald spots you usually get with a matte polish. Being a matte polish it didn't last more than a couple of days as expected but that's pretty good compared to my Zoya mattes.

I just wish it was the same finish as the frosted bottle!!