Quick cosmetics review

I bought a few new bits of makeup this week. I was looking for a nice autumn colour for my nails and a way to do my eyes a bit more smoky as I love my Lavera shadows, but they are a little light for when I go out in the evening.  So first up, Essence's new shade: Red Ahead. 

This is the photo from their website. 

This is my bottle and my (badly) painted index finger beside it. 

As you can see, the website photo makes the colour look a lot lighter and in my opinion, not as nice. To me it looks like a beautiful rouge noir and I must say it with an emphasis on the noir, it comes out very dark with just one coat. I have been very happy with the Essence nail polished. Their price/quality is amazing. I always use a base coat and as long as I am patient with my application, the colour stays on well.  

Now over to my new eyeshadow. This is the first time I bought something from Swedish brand IsaDora. I went for quad palette Muddy Nudes. Not the nicest name, but I do like these kinds of colours. I mainly wanted the taupe shade in the bottom right corner to use as a liner with my Lavera shadows. 

The photo from the website in all its glory. 

With this one, the photo from the website is very accurate. These are 3 nice matte shades. The only one with a hint of shimmer is the brownish shade in the bottom left. I used Urban Decay's Primer Potion under my makeup and their Deslick setting spray over it. I was quite happy with its staying power and colour payoff. It's not particularly dark, but that is not what I wanted. It's perfect for a hint of definition. I used the taupe from the lashline to the crease as well and that was nice too. It's a lovely little palette for travelling with I would think, or for just having in your bag for whenever you need it. 

Quick shot of the look. So basically Lavera's shadow in Golden Ivory all over the lid up to the brow bone. Then Lavera's shadow in Chocolate brown from lash line to crease. Then the taupe colour from above palette used as a liner. I used Lush's Eyes Right Mascara and you will recognise the nail polish as the one above. 

So, there's 2 products I would recommend trying out if it's your kind of thing! Both cruelty free of course, otherwise they wouldn't end up with me.

Thanks for reading!

Lush Cosmetics Review

I tried spelling make-up, makeup, make up a few times. Nothing felt right so I settled for cosmetics instead.

This post is a bit overdue, my attention has been elsewhere. But I have been using the products I bought for a while now so at least I know what's what.

So without further ado!

Eyes Right Mascara (I was about to spell massacre :-S)

This mascara has claims to not irritate the eyes like other mascaras sometimes do. I too suffer from irritated eyes when wearing mascara sometimes and I have to say the claim holds up! The other thing I like about this is the compactness of the packaging, which has actually been held against it. People have not enjoyed using the little brush but it took very little getting used to from me and I like that it does not take up a lot of space. When my online order arrived, it even came with a normal sized mascara brush but I haven't used that yet. Other than that it is a nice, normal mascara. It may make the lashes feel a bit nicer, but that could be a placebo effect from its lash conditioning claim. It clumps no more and maybe a little less than other mascaras. I will say it is not waterproof. I think I have been getting a touch of hayfever because my lunchtime walks often have me end up with watering eyes. Last week I got some looks in the office and when I went to the bathroom it turned out I have panda eyes. But as long as you're not tearing up, you're good with this one!

Strong Liquid Lipstick

This is from Lush's Emotional Brilliance line. I don't take the spinning wheel thing overly seriously, but I would no say no to feeling stronger. But essentially it was part of my purchases to make my outlook a bit sunnier, I wanted an lippy with orange tones. This one certainly has that and I love the colour. It comes out a little bit pink on me unless I wear a lot but I have gotten compliments in the office that the shade suits me so it's all good. It's not overly drying but not moisturising. It goes on quite nicely with the little applicator and I use my fingers as well. It is highly pigmented and quite liquid so you have to be careful when applying and I recommend kissing a tissue. Another word of advice is to apply this in daylight if you can because it is quite intense and nobody likes clowns, I know I don't. 

I have a new phone (Nokia Lumia 820=awesome!) so decided to take a few shots of myself wearing the makeup (plus shadows from Urban Decay's Naked 2 Palette and their BB Cream Urban Defense). Here's one. The lippy looks very pink here for some reason. It's a daylight shot. 

Thanks for reading, I hope it was useful!

Lush Bath&Shower Recommendations

I believe it is finally time for that Lush review. I will separate the review for the bath and shower products and the makeup into different blogs. The bath and shower products will follow here.

1. Green Bubbleroon Bubble Bar

I love "green" smells, like leaves and freshly cut grass so from the description on the Lush website (see the link) this would be perfect for my Friday afternoon bath. I used half of it (it's perfectly shaped that way) in my bath yesterday. Because I have found that even when I crumble the Lush bars, they don't always dissolve  completely, I put the piece into the leg of a pair of tights and tied that onto the tap before filling the bath. This produced a lovely amount of foam. Because I take books into the  bath with me I don't want the foam to come up too high and this was just right, it covered the surface of the water without piling up. The smell of the bar is indeed lovely and reminds me of that aforementioned cut grass. Unfortunately the smell does lessen considerably while you are in the bath. A massage therapist told me that essential oils sink to the bottom of the water. This can be fixed by adding a cup of milk to your bath water: it props up the oils so you catch their scent better. I will try that with the other half of the bar. All in all, I'd recommend this one if you like naturey scents.

2. The Bright Side Bubble Bar

This one I bought because I wanted to invite its title into my life more. I tend to look at the dark side of a scenario and it is doing me very little favours.

The scent of this is as you would expect, citrussy and reminiscent of sunlight and joy. I love it.

For my first bath I used about a third of the bar as it is quite large and I like to make expensive products like these last. I found it was just about enough to create the amount of bubbles I like. It also coloured the water a lovely orange shade. I had the same problem with the disappearance of the scent as with the other bubble bar, so I will use milk with this as well when I use the rest. Another products I would definitely recommend: especially to have your spirit lifted. 

3. Spank Me With Saplings Shower Gelly

This product (the makeup aside) was me favourite from this order. It smells amazing. It is just so fresh and invigorating and perfect for early morning pre-work showers. Though I shower after work most of the time as it allows for drying my thick hair and it is also great for picking yourself up after work for an evening of socialising or whatever. The best way to use this is to get one of those shower flowers (is that what you call them? Click for a picture of what I mean), take a little piece of the jelly and rub that into the flower. It creates a good lather,makes your product last and exfoliates you in the process. Of course if you're feeling in a whimsical mood, take the whole thing out of it's pot and jiggle it around. This isn't prison, you can drop the soap!

So long story made slightly longer, I was very happy with this order. Tonight I will put on the makeup so I can upload a blog on that tomorrow!

Essence Nail Varnish Review

Last week I discovered that my local pharmacy sells a very affordable and cruelty free make-up brand called Essence (please clock on the link for their statement on animal testing). While I would be inclined to go for a premium brand for products that go on my face, I saw no harm in trying out a new nail polish at a mere EURO1,79. I chose shade 117, "I'm So Very". Take a look at it below

As you can see the shade looks the same on my thumb as it does in the bottle. It went on opaque in one layer and I covered it with a layer of top coat. I put it on on Friday afternoon and it stayed on perfectly until today and then it has only chipped in one place. So I must say I am very impressed with the quality of the varnish, especially considering the price and highly recommend giving it a try if you can find it in your area!