October – 2013 – Hellbent for Lipstick

Make-up, Nails

An Accidental Haul

October 24, 2013

We set out for our little shopping trip yesterday with a thrifty mindset and a small budget. Four hours later that all went out the window! We’ve added links where the items are available online, otherwise you’ll have to hit the highstreet and track them down yourself!

Red links are Amie’s treats and blue are Gemma’s treasure, black things we both picked up!

In our defence we did start off well so first up is the charity shop treasure we found. Our intention was to find things we could craftily turn into cake stands and we did at least succeed in that.

Candle stick – £1.50

Studded belt – £1.25

Glass plates – £1

After that it all started to go downhill (at least for our bank balances, our mood certainly went uphill!) when we dared to venture into Superdrug. 3 for 2 on cosmetics is too good of an offer to resist really isn’t it.

NYC Rock muse in Red hot – £1.99

NYC Rock muse in Gold Maiden – £1.99

NYC Rock muse in Rock Muse – £1.99 (Free)

NYC Disco Inferno top coat – £1.99

NYC In a New York Minute in Lexington Yellow – £1.79

NYC in a New York Minute in Prince Street – £1.79 (Free)

MUA Glamour Days eyeshadow palette – £4.00

MUA Stary Night eyeshadow palette – £4.00

MUA Pro-brow ultimate eyebrow kit – £3.50 (Free)

MUA Heaven and Earth palette – £4.00

NYC in a new york minute in High Line Green – £1.79

NYC Foil Explosion in Magic Earth – £1.99 (free)

technic party brights in Sunset Strip – £0.99 (from Bodycare)

Vaseline Paint The Town – £3.49

It was a complete accident that we fell into Sallys and happened to find two OPI Rock Goddess sets.We’ve been lusting over this for ages and it’s always out of stock so we grabbed them gleefully and spent the next ten minutes talking ourselves out of getting the Mariah Christmas sets too (with a promise that we will get them next time…)

OPI Rock Goddess -£12.95

The poundland search for Revlon nail varnish came up trumps as always and we chose two gorgeous shades at a massive discount.

Revlon Scented Varnish in Grape Fizz – £1.00

Revlon Matte Suede in Fire Fox – £1.00

We then realized that all the charity shops were closed and that we had sort of diverted from our immediate task with the promise of cosmetics, so we decided a quick peek around home bargains might bring us some last minute treasure.

Gemspa body butter in Calming Amber – £0.99

Halloween shot glasses – £0.59

Craft storage box – £0.59

Star cookie cutters – £0.99

Drawer dividers – £0.99

Seeing as we DID get what we set out for, and found a whole host of treasure all at super bargain prices I don’t think we did too badly! A whole bunch of swatches and reviews will be coming very soon!

Totally hellbent for shopping trips with a bad influence

– Gem & Pants

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Festivals, Make-up, Skincare

October most wanted!

October 23, 2013

I’m starting to be very careful with my money now. That seasonal-time-of-the-year-you-shouldn’t-mention-in-October is coming, I have a wedding to go to, a visit to Holland next month, I’ve just spent £300 on Wacken tickets, and I have more than enough make-up and shiny treats to justify having to buy more. BUT. It doesn’t hurt to look and dream, right?

Geek Chic Cosmetics Witchcraft and Wizardry Set

L-R House Elf, Always, Mischief Managed, Golden Trio, Headmaster, You know Who.

Look at those colours. LOOK AT THEM. I’m having delirious day-dreams about pairing Mischief Managed and You Know Who into a dramatic stage look right now, and I fear it is one of those things that will continue until I get my hands on these gorgeous shades!

Geek Chic Cosmetics are a company that have been on my radar for a really long time, yet I still haven’t got round to actually ordering from them. This needs to be rectified! I mean really, combining gorgeous pigment eyeshadows with tongue in cheek geek culture is right up my street. I need this in my life.

Available from Geek Chic Cosmetics for $28.75

Body Shop Honeymania Range

Amie picked up a few pieces from this range (and blogged about it here) and has been singing praises ever since! I’m very very tempted, especially by the scrub and body butter. The Body Shop have amazing discounts online all the time, so maybe I can be tempted in the next 50% off sale. By maybe I mean definitly.

Available from £2 to £13 from The Body Shop

Soap and Glory Yule Monty

Oh yes, all the best Soap & Glory shinies in a fabulous cosmetics case. I’m only a recent convert to the ways of S&G but now I want it all. Even at £60 for this set you’re still getting a bargain considering how many products are included. My plan will be to wait till after Christmas when Boots slash all the prices on their gift sets making a massive saving on the RRP of the individual items.

Can I wait till January for all the lovely things? Hrrrrrm.

Available from Boots for £60.

Katy Perry Killer Queen ETP

Katy Perry, hardly the epitome of extreme metal but she exudes at least a touch of rock chick cool so I don’t think I loose too many krieg points for being a bit of a fan.

I’ve gotten through two testers for this (One from the Sept/Oct Miss Glossybox, the other from the October Glossybox) and am absolutely in love with it.

£30 for 100ml from Superdrug.

Manowar Magic Circle Festival Tickets

Of all the things I love in this world Manowar rank pretty close to the top. They’ve just announced a Magic Circle Festival in Finland for next summer and I’m just chomping at the bit to find a way to go.

I’ve always wanted to go to Finland so this to me seems the perfect excuse!

Tickets go on sale for 75 Euros on November 4th. More details here.

Totally not hellbent for being frugal this time of year. Harumph!

– Gem

Skincare

Nip + Fab Shine Fix

October 23, 2013

This was a gift from Amie (along with lots of other lovely things you can see here) as she has the most lovely matte skin ever and I unfortunately have been cursed with an ever-shiny face.

I am one with the ways of powder and blotting papers, and have tried quite a few products that claim to be mattifying with varying degrees of results.

The Nip + Fab Shine Fix is labelled as a gel, but it looks and applies much more like a cream. There’s a lovely fresh scent that disappears once rubbed into the skin, and as expected of an anti-shine product it leaves a soft matte finish.

Applied over my usual moisturiser it does take away a lot of the shine, but it really does it’s job underneath my make-up. When combined with a touch of Benefit Porefessional I found that I didn’t need to blot or use powder for hours longer than I usually would.

This is also a great product for touch-ups after make-up application, and I found dabbing a little around the nose area kept me shine-free throughout the day and well into the evening.

Available from Nip + Fab for £4.95

Totally hellbent for a shine free face

– Gem

Beauty Boxes, Hair, Skincare

Birchbox October 2013

October 21, 2013

I seem to have waited forever for this month’s beauty boxes to come around and after an underwhelming Glossybox this month, I couldn’t wait for Birchbox to try and lift my spirits.

This months delights included the following:

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer Radiance | £28.00
A generous 15.0ml helping of this primer was very nice indeed. This will last a lifetime! I used a little of this on Saturday in the frantic morning rush when slapping on my stage makeup. It did a pretty fine job and putting on my foundation was most definitely a dream for once. I think this is a keeper to add to my stage makeup collection.

Dr Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant | £67.00
I havn’t actually tried this yet, having not heard of the brand before I am expecting absolute miracles considering the price. A 7.5g helping is good enough for me to put it to the test though, so expect updates on this in the near future.
KMS California Curl Up Wave Foam Mousse | £15.00
Being one of those with naturally curly hair, I am always buying products to make my curls and waves look nicer although most of the time I opt for straightening so it’s always a nice change for me to sport my natural hair do. This 75ml mousse should be plenty for me to test this out, despite the amount of hair I have!
theBalm cosmetics Stainiac | £10.00
Having received a previous lip and cheek tint, I was a little apprehensive about this one. On swatching it’s a very subtle color, but I’m not sure the texture of this will get along with my skin, especially my cheeks. Time will tell with 1.2mls for me to play with.
Dr. Lipp Nipple Balm | £11.50
I’ve been meaning to pick some of this up for a while and this months Birchbox was well worth it for this alone. An absolutely adorable 3ml size product. I own the Nip+Fab version of this and absolutely love it. Needless to say I will be saving this for as long as possible! If it had cheeks – I’d pinch them.

Lifestyle Extra:

Birchbox Eyelash Curler | £10.00
I recently received a Curler in my Glossybox a few months back and havn’t really got to grips with having a very bulky object very close to my eyes, with my precious eyelashes in it’s grasp. At some point, I will have a play with them box and see how they do. It took me years to finally take the plunge with falsies, so hopefully I can be a little braver this time.

Beauty Box Extra:

Egyptian Magic | £29.00
Three 3ml sachets of all purpose skin cream. Who does not love skin cream? I haven’t tried this yet, but through the packet it feels very thick – almost like Vaseline. With the packaging bringing a little Nile into the equation, I could almost see this as a death metal beauty item too. Can’t wait to play with it.

Another thing I enjoyed this month was the little cards in place of a “magazine” with a few tips and other bits of info. I’m a sucker for quirky graphics!

You can get your hands on a Birchbox for just £10 a month with £2.95 P&P. With the option to cancel whenever you want and earn reward points for each box which you can spend later it’s well worth it.

Totally hellbent for teeny tiny treats

-Pants

Skincare

CLINIQUE Dramatically different moisturiser

October 21, 2013

I bought this in August 2012 on the ferry on the way to Wacken. One of the reasons I went for this at the time, was it felt beautiful when I was testing all the lotions and potions on the boat.

Anyway, I had been saving this for a little while as I already had thousands of moisturisers open but about 6 months ago, I thought I would try this out. I have been using this weekly on and off since then and have only just run out of it, so I have to give kudos for it’s longevity, especially as I went for the smaller 50ml tube.

I was expecting great things from this, I have a friend who swears by Clinique’s products and had heard and read some good reviews, but I have to say, as someone who actually suffers from dry skin, this didn’t do wonders for me at all. When using it in the morning, my face would begin to feel dry again around lunchtime, which is very poor next to my Vitamin E cream or L’occitane which keeps me hydrated until my bedtime regime.

Texture wise, it’s far to thin and watery and sometimes my skin felt a little greasy for a short time after application, which was annoying when I needed to rush out the house and slap on some makeup.

Now that this has been used up, I probably won’t be purchasing this again, perhaps my skin is just too dry for this. Have you used this and had better results?

If you do want to try out this or Clinique’s other ranges, you can buy it at Boots online or in store for £17.00, they also have lots of offers on for Skincare and Clinique. You can also pick some up in various department stores such as House of Fraser and Debenhams.

Totally hellbent for moisturisers that last all day!

-Pants

Skincare

Free REN skincare set with InStyle Magazine

October 21, 2013

I have been all over the magazine freebies this month, I got 3/4 of the L’Occitane hand creams with Marie Claire, I picked up another Eyeko Skinny Mini eyeliner from Glamour, and this morning I picked up this mini REN skincare trio with Instyle!

The mini set includes Evercalm Gentle Cleaning Milk, Vita mineral Active 7 Eye Gel and Evercalm Global Protection Day Cream and is worth £12 so a real bargain!

My main reason for grabbing it (other than only costing £2!) was that I needed in particular a travel size eye cream to go in my gigging toiletry bag as I used my last one up in Leeds on Saturday.

I like to pick up miniatures wherever I can so that my gig-day bag isn’t loaded down with loads of full size products. Usually I take my make-up off as soon as we hit the road, as wearing full stage make-up for any longer than necessary isn’t good for my skin at all, and also because I usually end up nodding off if it’s a long journey and I hate sleeping in my make-up!

All three of these look ideal for taking on the road, and I absolutely love the ethos of purity in Ren Skincare, especially after a sweaty night in heavy make-up!

Totally hellbent for all things tiny.

– Gem

Fragrance

Avon Ultra Sexy EDT

October 20, 2013

I’ll admit it was the burlesque-ey boudoir design that drew me in being the shallow creature that I am, but the fragrance certainly lived up to it’s gorgeous bottle.

Described as “The sexiest fragrance you will ever wear” with “fruity and tempting accords of passion fruit, pear and bergamot. Magnolia in the heart is infused with peach and peony. The base includes golden amber, musk and sweet woods.”

It is very light at first with a definite fruity aroma, but once it settles on the skin it becomes much deeper, muskier and yes sexier!

When purchased at launch you get a free 150ml body soufflé and 125ml shower gel, which rather disappointingly don’t smell much like the perfume at all! The soufflé barely has any scent at all, but at least layered adds a bit more depth to the fragrance.

Avon Ultra Sexy launches in November and will be available for £15 from local representatives or from the Avon webstore.

Totally hellbent for all things boudoir

– Gem

Facemask Friday, Skincare

Facemask Friday – The Body Shop Warming Mineral Mask

October 18, 2013

Like Gem, I am a fan of face masks and as you all know, I may have more than a slight obsession with The Body Shop. This is a mask that I haven’t used in a while but before gig day tomorrow, I felt it was appropriate to bring a little pampering into my Friday evening!

This Warming Mineral Mask is the perfect mask for a dull, miserable day/evening. It doesn’t set and dry hard, however it warms when rubbed into the skin and washed off. It reminds me of sitting in the steam room at the gym, and smells a little like it too. I think it must be the ginger fragrance that does that (yes our gym has a fragranced steam room.)

I am not always a great fan of masks that don’t “set” but they have their advantages. What I like about this one, is that it’s easy to wash off and I generally do this in the shower anyway, but if you were to wipe it away with a sponge/cloth you don’t have to scrub your face to remove it all.

The results are amazing, my skin feels really invigorated and stays soft for a good few days afterwards. So next time it’s raining outside, you are having a night in or are feeling a little stressed try one of these out.

If you are sensitive to products, The Body Shop staff are lovely and very helpful and always give me small samples to try out first before I commit to buying. (Probably because they know I spend all my money there!)

You can buy The Body Shop’s warming mineral facemask directly from their website, or in store for £10.00.

If you have tried this out, I would love to know your thoughts?

– Totally hellbent for cosy masks

Pants

Skincare

Nip + Fab Dry Hand Fix and other lovely treats!

October 17, 2013

It’s rather handy to have a different skin type to your best friend. I have very greasy skin and Amie very dry so when freebies or bonuses come our way we can have a nice switch-around.

I am now the happy owner of the Nip + Fab Shine Fix, Nip + Fab Dry Hand Fix, Avon Naturals Lilly and Gardenia Body Whip and a little sample of The Body Shop warming mineral mask.

I want to give the Shine Fix a good few days to try out, so I’ll have a review on that sometime next week. The Body Whip is a product we both use a lot, but Amie didn’t like the fragrance of this one so I’m going to swap a cherry one that I ended up with two of.

Amie is going to be reviewing the facemask on Friday, so look out for that. I’m guessing it’s going to come highly recommended!

Which brings us to the Nip + Fab Dry Hand Fix. I’ve been aghast ever since the Pistachio body butter was discontinued, and actually got to the point where I’ve been craving the scent! Amie HATES the smell, but received it as part of a special offer on the Nip + Fab website so yay for me it’s now mine!

It takes a lot for me to be drawn away from my favourite L’Occitane hand creme (which you can currently get for free with Marie Claire!), but today I’ve not reached for it once. In fact I don’t think I will reach for it until I’ve used this all up!

As far as doing it’s actual job, the Dry Hand Fix does exactly what is says. It’s very moisturising but not greasy, absorbs quickly and leaves hands feeling very very soft. For me though it is ALL about the delicious pistachio and almond scent, and though I still miss the body butter this is fulfilling that craving till I can track some down!

Available for £4.50 from Nip + Fab

Totally hellbent for surprise treats!

– Gem

Make-up

Me Me Me Eye Inspire Pressed Eyeshadow in 01 Ebony

October 16, 2013

I’m always on the hunt for a great black eyeshadow, it’s a pretty big staple in the “rock chic make-up supplies list” yet I’ve never found one that I really got on with. This however is looking like it ticks nearly all the boxes!

Top: Swatched over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
Bottom: Swatched over Elf Eyelid Primer in sheer

Ebony is a pressed matte black with micro glitter. It is very heavily pigmented and even more so when swatched over primer. It has a lovely soft texture and blends really nicely so would be great for both a smoky and a bold eye.

The only thing I can find to it’s detriment is that personally I’m on the hunt for a completely black shade, and with the micro glitter there is a sheen of very very dark bluey-green to it under bright light. However it IS still gorgeous and I’m sure I’ll get lots of use out of it – especially on stage!

The packaging is very sturdy and sleek and looks far more expensive than it’s price tag in my opinion.

Available from Me Me Me for £4.99

Totally hellbent for my new favourite pressed eyeshadow

– Gem