Rimmel

Hauls

January Sales Haul

January 9, 2015

You know when you probably shouldn’t go shopping but you do anyway? Well Pants and I decided that a touch of retail therapy would be the perfect pick-me-up when we went into the city to send my lovely boyfriend back to university in Holland after the winter holidays, in fact the proximity of Debenhams to the coach station means it was all sort of meant to be.

I knew right away that Christmas money would almost certainly be sent to the Urban Decay stand, but I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted. Luckily Pants is the best friend in the world and already bestowed the gift of the Electric Palette on me for Christmas (as well as Naked 3 for my birthday last year – spoiled I know!) so it was a toss-up between 1 and 2. The extremely lovely and helpful lady at the UD stand swatched practically every colour in both palettes, despite the fact we must have poured over swatch posts for hours, and eventually we both left with a shiny new Naked 2 palette [£37.00] on the premise that we simply couldn’t live without the matte black shade. I also picked up this adorable Beauticology set [£2.50] at the counter which smells delicious and I want to eat it all right now.

I remembered I had some money left on a Boots card, so we went to take a peek there where I snatched up this Soap & Glory minis set for £5 [sold out online]. I already know I love all the products, and they will be stashed safely away for my next jaunt to the mainland saving me lots of precious bag space!

I’m a true bargain lover at heart, so no trip to town would be complete without a a perusal of Poundland where we found a nice stash of Rimmel Apocalips! I already owned the other shades on the shelf so I thought I’d give Nude Eclipse [£6.49] a try . I’ve also been really impressed by the new Make-Up Gallery range, and have really loved a few of the nail products so I went for this cuticle oil as mine are an absolute state after a Christmas full of construction work (more on that ambiguous statement in another post soon I’m sure!)

Finally the lure of Primark called out to us, where I composed myself like a proper grown up and definitely didn’t squee with delight at finding a My Little Pony T-shirt for only £3.00. I followed that with a little strop because I saw the The Beatles shirt for the same price, yet only in a size six…so I did what any experienced band t-shirt wearer did and bought it anyway with plans to alter it into a halter shirt.

Opperation: Shopping-trip-to-fill-the-space-my-boyfriend-leaves-with-pretty-stuff was a resounding sucess and hardly damaged my post-festive-season bank balance at all. From this point on thought there’s going to be a serious cosmetics/clothing spending ban whilst I try to recover from going a little overboard with spoiling my friends and family this year!

Did you find any amazing bargains in the sale, or treat yourself to anything particularly nice with Christmas money?

Totally hellbent for shopping with my bestie always and forever

Gem

Beauty Boxes

Glossybox October 2014 Review

October 29, 2014

It’s not secret that Glossybox and I have had our ups and downs over the last 6 months and despite cancelling my box I’ve somehow still ended up subscribing. Thankfully they’ve managed to win me over with this month’s Pop Art theme which has been absolutely fantastic and well worth my monthly sub.

This first thing that’s a little different about this month’s box, is that the product card you usually receive is now online. Great if you can keep your crummy hands off opening the e-mail until your box arrives, but unfortunately I peeked because I couldn’t help myself. There was also no glossy mag but I’m all up for saving the environment so I don’t mind.

NUXE – CRÈME FRAÎCHE® DE BEAUTÉ MASK – £19.50 for 50ml – Full Size Received

The first thing I checked was whether this was cruelty free and it seems to be after confirming with their FAQs. This is billed as a 24 hour moisturising mask which helps to soothe and reduce redness. The instructions say to leave the mask on for 10 minutes and then either rub it into the skin or wipe off with toner, so I’m quite excited to try this out. After trying a little on my hand although the smell is a little less than desirable my hand did feel quite soft afterwards, although I opted for rinsing it off under the sink. I’ll definitely be giving this a go sometime next week to see how my face gets on with it.

Website: uk.nuxe.com

ÊTRE BELLE COSMETICS – LIPLIFT PEEL – €12.95 for 15ml – Full Size Received

Again my research tells me this is not tested on animals and should be cruelty free. Brilliant news because I’m super excited to give this a whirl. I often get dried lips, especially in Summer and Winter so have a quick fix like this will really help. Simply massage onto the lip area and rinse. No nonsense, no fuss and hopefully lovely smooth lips!

Website: etre-belle.co

SO SUSAN COSMETICS – FLUTTER MASCARA – £14.95 for 4ml – Full Size

I do already own this mascara I have to admit and it’s been sat unopened in my “mascara” drawer (issues I know!). I’ve enjoyed all the So Susan products I’ve acquired over the past few months so I’m hoping this one will be no exception. The price is a little steep and I’m pretty good at avoiding paying full price for pretty much everything so I’m not sure that this is something I would actively seek out to buy but it’s been bumped up my “mascara to open next” list by quite a few so I’ll see how it goes!

Website: sosusan.com

CIATÉ LONDON – PAINT POT – £9 for 13.5ml – Full Size

One of the reasons this month’s box was so appealing was definitely this full size beauty. Both Gem and I have quite a collection (obsession) of these and they are definitely one of our favorite brands of nail varnish. The finish and look is so perfect and the longevity of the colours beats a lot of other products I’ve used in the past. I’d not owned a nice blue from Ciate so this gorgeous bright and bold colour named “Skinny Jeans” was a more than welcome addition to my collection. I’ve had it on my nails since it arrived and I’ll be hard pushed if I’m going to change it for another few days I’m so in love. Gem received a lovely green in hers which I also want!

Website: ciate.co.uk/glossy-box

YVES ROCHER FRANCE – QUELQUES NOTES D’AMOUR – £33 for 30ml – 5ml Sample Received

I’m always pretty so so about receiving fragrance samples. The reality is that even though they may smell nice, I never really repurchase them with the exception of Katy Perry which I instead asked for as a gift. Still, providing they smell nice, they are quite handy for when I go away, for festivals and gigs. This fragrance is quite pretty though and is a pretty great Autumnal smell with notes of damascus rose, guaiac wood and patchoul it’s not too heavy and very wearable for the day. £33 seems pretty reasonable for this though and it might be something I’d think about repurchasing at some point when I can justify it.

Website: yves-rocher.co.uk

RIMMEL LONDON – BB CREAM MATTE – £6.99 for 30ml – 8ml Sample Received

This is probably the least exciting out of the box. I’ve not really got on with BB creams since they became such a trend. Mostly because even when opting for the lightest shade, they still turn out a tad orange. Although I received a sample in “light” it’s still a little too dark for my skin but there is less of an orange undertone to this one. I reckon this is destined for my summer skin drawer where it should give me better coverage when I become a victim of tanned when daring to brave the sun for more than 5 minutes. In terms of application, I’m not sure how impressed I am with this. It’s a little heavy and I have the feeling it may dry my skin out if I use too much of it. Having tested it on my hand, it does give a pretty nice matte finish so a good dose of moisturiser may help with the heaviness when applying – unfortunately they only have this in Light and Medium, but a shade or two lighter would have been perfect for my skin!

Website: uk.rimmellondon.com

This month’s box has definitely made up for a bunch of bad ones and I love the theme, the box and the contents to go with it. I’ll still be subscribing for now and crossing my fingers that the next few month’s are equally as good.

You can subscribe to Glossybox for just £10 per month plus postage and packaging here. You can also buy 3, 6 and 12 month subscriptions which are perfect for gifts especially around this time of year!

Have you received the Pop Art Edition yet? If so, I’d love to know what you received and what you thought!

Totally hellbent for a little art with my makeup

– Pants

Candles, Clothing and Fashion, Make-up, Nails, Skincare

Accidental May Haul

May 29, 2014

Sometimes you just want to shop. It’s an urge that truly can not be ignored, especially if Gem and I are left alone, unsupervised! This afternoon was definitely one of those times and we ended up going on a completely unplanned spree.

No budget style shop would be complete without a trip to Primark and even though I didn’t -need- anything at all, I still ended up with a bag full of stuff. I absolutely adore giraffes and I squeeled with delight when I found the giraffe print dress and the tote bag. Even though I usually buy matching underwear from La Senza or Ann Summers, I often pick up some cheap briefs when I can for the gym or lounging around, because lets face it, no one wants to spend 30 minutes on a treadmill in lacy briefs. I really couldn’t resist the pack of four Brazilian style briefs which came in red animal print, red lipsticks, red hearts and navy polka dots and the 5 pairs of animal print “shoe liners” or better know to me as … socks I can wear at the gym with my trainers.

Giraffe Dress – £5 – Primark

Giraffe tote bag – £1.50 – Primark

Pack of 4 brazilian briefs – £4.50 – Primark

Animal print shoe liners – £2.50 – Primark

And now the stuff that I really really didn’t need. Another candle to add to my collection from Primark in “red berries & orchid” a beautiful berry candle in a gorgeous purple tin, surely this was meant for my dressing table?

A trip to boots ended up in me picking the Rimmel Scandel Eyes gel eyeliner up, which you can read Gem’s review about here, and also NO7’s Beautiful Skin Day Cream with spf15. This was my primary reason for going into Boots as I had a £5 off No7 skincare voucher and really needed some day moisturiser which had spf in. This was for dry to very dry skin and all the reviews I’ve read about this cream were pretty good, so I’m excited to give it a try when I run out of my current moisturiser.

Despite my worries of going to Superdrug and buying half the store, I was actually very sensible, as it was 3 for 2 on most of their makeup, I did pick up an MUA lip-liner in “Red Drama”, MUA lipstick in “Shade 3” and another MUA power pout in “Crazy in Love” (you can see my review of the MUA power pout in “Runaway” here). I also picked up some Garnier Micellar water, which I really did need and some more deodorant which I’m almost out of.

Lastly, we fell into Poundland where I stupidly decided that I had to have a Revlon nail varnish in “Runway Pearl”, two W7 “rock and roll” eye-shadows in “sage” and “envy”, some zebra pens (I already have a vast collection of these exact pens in my desk drawer!) and some beautiful blue paper, a nice addition to my craft room.

Purple tin candle – £3.50 – Primark

Rimmel Scandel Eyes Gel Eyeliner – 4.99 – Boots (usually £6.99 and also £6.99 in Superdrug)

No 7 Beautiful Skin Day Cream – £12.50 – Boots (only £7.50 with my £5 off voucher)

Nivea deodorant – £2.29 – Superdrug (2 for £3)

MUA Power Pout – £3 – Superdrug

MUA Lip Liner – £1 – Superdrug

MUA Lipstick – £1 – Superdrug (3 for 2 – £4 in total)

Revlon Nail Varnish – £1 – Poundland

Decorative paper – £1 – Poundland

W7 rock and roll eyeshadow – £1 each – Poundland

Zebra animal print pens – £1 – Poundland

I absolutely blame our shop on Lauren over at Lauren Amy Blogs, since I was up late last night reading some of her “Superdrug haul” posts and I had an overwhelming urge to go out and buy things. Despite both Gem and I having a no spending month *cough*, together we are a force that is unstoppable – thankfully we did manage to resist the £5 blow up chairs in Ann Summers complete with built in penis’ – something we thought would be absolutely hilarious to take to our upcoming festivals.

This is definitely my last haul for a while, but if you’ve had a recent haul, please post us your links in the comments below so instead of spending our money we can live precariously through you and your blog posts :o).

Totally hellbent for having an uncontrollable addiction that I thankfully share with my bested friend in the whole world

-Pants

Make-up

Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Gel Eyeliner Review

May 26, 2014

So it turns out I’m pretty bad at enforcing a cosmetics spending ban! In my defence I definitely did need a new black gel liner, so when my friend Red suggested that Amie and I might like this I snapped one up rather quickly!

From what I can make out this is a re-brand of an existing product to match the packaging for the new Kate Moss Rimmel London range, this time including a short eyeliner brush. I can’t find out if the brush is natural or synthetic so I won’t be risking it on my face till I know 100% it’s not made from animal hair (yuk!)

The liner itself, it’s very black. Black black. Spiritual black dimension black. Heart of Varg black. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so pigmented but I’d go out on a limb and say this is one of the blackest gel eye-liners I’ve used.

The consistency is quite thick but I had no problems at all loading it onto my Real Techniques Silicone Liner brush (reviewed here) and it didn’t tug, pull or smudge at all upon the lid itself. I’d say it was just creamy enough without the risk of being too messy and I got a pretty good line on both eyes without too much effort.

It claims to be waterproof, so I decided to keep it on whilst I dyed my hair. I’m happy to say it survived two trips to the shower without budging at all. Once this stuff sets it really is there for the whole day, yet came off with a quick swipe of my Garnier Micellar Water (reviewed here).

I’d honestly expect these kind of results from a much higher end brand, so for a bargain find I’m really impressed. The Scandaleyes Waterproof Gel Eyeliner comes in three shades (black, brown and green) and is available at an introductory price of £4.99 in some stores (I got mine from Sainsburys) or £6.99 online at Superdrug.

Totally hellbent for the blackest black

– Gem

Festivals, Make-up

Gig + Field x Stage Face = Big bag

July 11, 2013

Dakesis recently played for the 16th birthday of an amazing girl called Alice. Since she is already so metal, she had a mini festival with her own band playing and asked us to do a set.

So, I thought this would be a good example to show you one of my more “basic” gig sets. Obviously this gig was a little more low key and since I was planning on spending a great deal of time drinking in a field, I wasn’t overly bothered about how I would end up looking. Despite this, I do like to ensure I have all the essentials to remove my panda eyes before bed!!

In order, here are some of my lovely essentials:

1 Makeup Case

2 Old duster for cleaning my brushes whilst out and about

3 The Body Shop’s Vitamin E Day and Night Cream

4 The Body Shop’s Vitamin E Moisturising Serum

5 The Body Shop’s Vitamin E mini cleanser and toner

6 Dainty Doll Foundation

7 Kindle

8 Elf Studio Eyebrow Kit

9 17 Miracle Matte Pressed Powder

10 The Body Shop’s Vitamin E BB cream (I mix this in with my foundation)

11 Nivea Visage Refreshing Facial Cleansing Wipes

12 Nivea Hydra Moisturising Cream

13 Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Mascara (my new love, from my Glossy Box)

14 Christina Aguilera Secret Potion Perfume

15 Nivea Roll On Deodrant (Keeps me fresh all day long)

16 Elf Brush Cleaner

17 Elf Makeup Lock and Seal (an absolute requirement for stage makeup)

18 Rimmel Exaggerate Liquid Eyeliner

19 The Body Shop’s Shimmer Cube Palette Eyeshadow Blue/Grey

20 Elf Brightening Eye Colour in Drama

21 The Body Shop All in One Blusher

22 Ecotools Kabuki (From Boots, bought this on a whim after I desperately needed one, and this was the only one I could almost guarantee would be cruelty free)

23 Various brushes – The Body Shop Eyeshadow Brush, Bobby Brown brushes, Elf angled foundation brush (studio range).

There is a lot more to my essentials list that this, but you get the idea! Look out for reviews of some of these products in the near future too!!

I will leave you with a thoroughly amusing picture of camping chair makeup application & the sight of hair in much need of dying!