Avon

Fragrance

Christian Lacroix Ambre for her EDP

September 28, 2014

I’ve become quite a fan of Avon perfumes this past year but the new collaboration fragrance with Christian Lacroix has set my heart all a flutter. The official blub reeled me in right away –

Christian Lacroix Ambre is announced as the scent that awakens the senses and imagination, intense, sensual and desirable, belonging to the category of chypre-gourmand fragrances. It opens with mandarin oil and juicy berries, leading to the heart of absolute rose, jasmine and rosewood and the base of amber and liquid caramel.

– and lets be honest, the packaging is very lovely for a budget friendly fragrance! I’d say you can definitely pick out the sweeter mandarin and berry notes, yet it never becomes cheap and fruity. The amber and caramel base keeps it in a decidedly grown-up-with-a-sweet-tooth territory and works so well with the brighter fruitier scents.

I’ve no qualms whatsoever about displaying this next to perfumes that cost quadruple it’s price, and imagine I will be wearing it quite often throughout the impending autumn and winter, in fact I’ve only had the bottle for a week and I’ve already made a fair dent in it!

I find you do have to build up quite a bit to get it to last all day, but I’ve always been quite trigger happy with fragrance so that’s never a problem for me! I’m hoping we will be seeing a shower gel/moisturiser launched at some point, as I find laying and building up Avon fragrances helps a lot.

Christian Lacroix Ambre is available exclusively from Avon and will be launched officially in Brochure 17 for £20 including the lovely cosmetics bag and three full size Avon products as a free gift. If you’re too impatient to wait there are a good few dotted around on Amazon and Ebay right now.

Totally hellbent for designer fragrance that is very easy on the eye, nose and purse

– Gem

Fragrance

Avon Pur Blanca EDT Perfume Set Review

April 17, 2014

When it comes to perfume I’m usually drawn to the more outspoken and sweet fragrances, and especially those with bright and beautiful bottles. Pur Blanca goes against everything I would normally choose; it’s clean light and simple and the bottle is very plain. Still somehow I’ve come to be quite fond of Pur Blanca and have made a sizeable dent in it already!

I’d agree with the official description of “A delicate blend of pure white freesia and ylang ylang over peony, rose and waterlily”, though sometimes I find it leans heavily towards rose above the other ingredients.

I purchased this set as it was on special offer, and for the price of the perfume alone I also received a body spray, roll on deodorant (?!) and body cream. I do think it’s a bit strange to include a roll-on in a perfume set and unfortunately the deodorant is pretty rubbish at it’s job. The body spray and moisturiser however are essential as the biggest downside of Pur Blanca is it’s staying power. The EDT itself doesn’t last longer than a few hours, but layering the scent gives you a little longer – three to four maximum though.

If you’re after something clean smelling with no frills then I’d definitely suggest checking this out! It’s one of the older more stable Avon fragrances so you can find it in practically every brochure! If you happen to pick an unlucky month or don’t have a local Avon representative you can order it from the Avon website for £11 (however the deodorant, body spray and moisture lotion are not included!)

Totally hellbent for something a little more toned down once in a while

– Gem

Make-up

Avon SuperSHOCK Gel Eye-liner in Blackened Metal

February 24, 2014

Today’s post comes from the top of a very very very very tall nekro-mountain, where the wintermoon shines in a spiritual black dimension over my new favourite eyeliner!

I’ve dipped in and out of a few potted gel eye-liners in my time, but I can’t believe I’ve never tried an Avon one before! Blackened Metal is not, as you would suspect, a metallic black, but rather a very dark grey with fine multicoloured glitters. Hardly suitable for drawing on your kvlt corpsepaint, but perfect for a shimmery little cat eye.

The formula is so creamy and soft and applies really easily with a good eye-liner brush. If you’ve a steady enough hand you can built up a couple of layers to get a “blacker” finish, however I think I will actually use this most as a cream eyeshadow as the consistency is perfect, and the metallic grey looks gorgeous in a thin layer!

As for longevity – as an eyeliner it lasted the whole day yet still came off easily with a single swipe of make-up remover. You get the usual creasing to be expected when using it as cream shadow, but a good primer will make it last a lot longer!

A definite addition to my stage make-up bag, I can see myself getting lots of wear out of this!

Unfortunately Blackened Metal isn’t currently available on the Avon website or brochures, but I’ve found it here on Amazon for only £5.99! Bargain!

Totally hellbent for kvlt with a girly shimmer!

– Gem

Fragrance

New Avon perfumes 2014 – “Our Story For Her” and “Femme”

February 2, 2014

Avon seem to have a new perfume launch every campaign at the moment, but these two are my favourite picks of the bunch by a mile! I find that Avon fragrance can be a bit hit and miss, especially with the older scents that seem to all smell very similar to me. The newer lines seem to be vastly improved on the classics though, and if you’re looking for purse friendly fragrance with some personality I think you’d do well to take a peek (or a sniff!) at either of these two.

Our Story For Her is part of a very Valentines-ey duo (The other fragrance being the somewhat obviously Our Story For Him). Described as “A romantic blend of sparkling bergamot, sensual jasmine and creamy vanilla” you’d be hard pushed to pick up the boasted citrus tones, as this is heavily leaning towards the Vanilla base.

For me though, it is the heavy vanilla that makes it so appealing. I’ve always been a fan of very sweet scents, and this is the fragrance equivalent of a candy shop.

Currently on special offer in the Avon webstore for only £5.00!

Avon Femme is the newest Avon fragrance at the time of publishing and described as “Pink grapefruit and luscious pear glitter against gardenia blossom, magnolia and waterlilly, and diffuse down into warm amber woods”. I will say that this is a much more complex fragrance than Our Story For Her, and strikes me as being much more mature. It’s a very pretty scent, fruity and feminine without being too sweet or girly. The bottle is very pretty also and wouldn’t look out of place next to far higher price fragrances.

I’d definitely recommend it for those who are after a feminine fragrance that is grown up but still with hints of a fun, flirty undertone.

Avon Femme will be available from the next campaign at the introductory price of £15.00

Totally hellbent for fabulous fragrance that doesn’t break the bank!

– Gem

Nails

Using Magnetic Nail Varnish

January 29, 2014

Some months ago now, I posted a Nail of the day which included Avon’s Colour Attract Magnetic Nail Varnish. Since then, I’ve had a few people asking me how to use magnetic wands/blocks with their nail varnish and I have to admit, looking back to when I first tried these out – I too was a little confused.

So to help you all out, I’ve taken a few photo’s to show you.

First off, start by painting your nails with the Magnetic Nail colour of your choice and leave it to dry. Once this first coat has set, you will need to do the next step, one nail at a time.

Next paint another coat on one nail and whilst this is still wet, you need to apply the wand/magnetic block:

You should start to see the pattern forming, hold the wand steady for about 30 seconds before removing carefully and allowing to dry. I’ve found that if you move the wand accidentally then sometimes this ruins the pattern, but by the third or fourth nail, you should have got the hang of it!

The two colours used in this example were “Magnetic Metal” and “Blue Attraction”, both can be purchased from Avon for £6.00 each and the wands purchased separately for just £0.99 here. I have to say, I’m completely in love with “Magnetic Metal” even without the magentised pattern.

I hope this has been of some use to you all, I’d love to know if you’ve tried out other Magnetic Nail Varnishes and whether you liked them or not.

Totally hellbent for helping out the nail varnish community!

-Pants

Make-up

Avon Colourtrend Lipsticks – Purple Roses, Heartbeat Red & Shimmer.

January 4, 2014

I’ll admit to being somewhat of a snob when it comes to Avon. I’ve a whole assortment of their standard lipsticks, but till now I’ve avoided the Colortrend range. Seeing as it strikes me as a sort of “things-you-might-buy-for-a-teenager” deal with it’s cheap white packaging and colour selections I’ve just never been tempted…till now!

I bought these for one reason. They were -cheap-. I can’t resist a bargain and a £1.25 lipstick is just too good an offer to turn down.

I picked up (L-R) Shimmer, Purple Roses and Heartbeat Red not expecting much, but all three are gorgeous! Such pretty colours with a lovely shimmer for the price-point, they all went on well – even with my winter chapped lips, and had great lasting power.

It’s not all wonderful though, all three have an unpleasant synthetic scent but luckily it’s only detectable from the tube when applying and isn’t noticeable once on the lips.

Really at such a bargain price you can’t complain at all, however it’s worth bearing in mind that these are from the last collection, so they’re not available in the current brochures or from the website.

Your best bet would be to look on ebay, or to wait for a sale/clearance Avon brochure and snap a bunch of them up at a ridiculously low price!

Totally hellbent for a bargain that exceeds expectation.

– Gem

Nails

Snowman Nail Art Tutorial

December 20, 2013

It’s not long before I ditch the festive cuties for the elegant red and gold nails for Christmas day. (I’ll show you guys nearer the day!) So here’s another quick and easy cute festive nail art!

What I used:

Etos Quick Dry in White
Kate Spade Nails inc in “New York Noir”
Kate Spade Nails inc in “Soho Silver”
Avon Nailwear Pro + in “blue escape”
Jesse’s Girl in “Beauty Guru”
Nail art brush/dotter (you can use an old painbrush and tooth pick)

I used blue for the base – there’s something about this colour that makes me think of Christmas (and Gemma!).

Next paint two circles on your “feature nail” to form the Snowman”

Using a dotter tool or toothpick, add some “Snow” to the rest of the nails

Taking a silver, make 5 small dots and a dot in the middle to form little Snowflakes. This is a bit like a tiny dot to dot.

Once dried, add some little hands, eyes and buttons on the Snowman

Finish up with an Orange nose and a top coat!

Totally hellbent for all of the blue things

-Pants

Nails

Reindeer Nail Art Tutorial

December 18, 2013

My second festive nail of 2013! These cute little reindeer’s are pretty easy to do.

What I used:

Etos quick dry in blue and white (see here for my latest Etos Rotterdam spoils)
Kate Spade New York by Nails inc in “New York Noir” (This colour is absolutely amazing) for my black
Avon Nailwear Pro + in “Vintage Boutique”
Révérence de Bastion “No 4″
A brush and dotter tool
Obligatory Nails inc top coat

Start with your base colour (not to be confused with your base coat, which you have already applied – obviously!). I went for this beautiful blue, but you can choose whatever you like.

Using the brown, paint the top middle of each nail. Almost as if you are painting a nail on your nail.

Using your brush tool, add some ears and some antlers. This doesn’t have to be neat, if looks a little funkier and adds to the effect if it isn’t completely perfect.

Once dry, use your dotting tool to add some eyes.

Add a nose to each nail, just put a blob of black varnish where you wan’t it. I used a red for one of my nails.

Finish up by adding a black eye on top of your white with the dotter tool and once dry, add your top coat.

Have you dabbled with some festive nail arts recently? If so, we’d love to show what you’ve been up to!

Totally hellbent for character infused nails

-Pants

Nails

NYC Disco Inferno Topcoat

November 19, 2013

NYC are really upping the game on glitter topcoats at the moment. As well as the gorgeous Rock Muse collection (reviewed here) I also spotted this gorgeous stand alone shade Disco Inferno.

A clear base with blue and silver holo glitter, it really has to be seen up close to understand how absolutely gorgeous it is.

I think it would look great over any complimentary shade but I really love how it looks over the dark blue. (B. Complete 180 Midnight from this months Glossybox) It’s equally stunning over both black (Avon Rapid Black) and white (Avon Star)

You don’t often get such a gorgeous finish with budget brands, but NYC never fail to impress across their nail range. I’ll be keeping my eye out for anything that twinkles on their stand from now on!

I do find it strange that this isn’t a red/orange/yellow tone given the name, but I’ve decided it’s a bit more of a metal inferno and I can’t complain about anything giving me reason to indulge in this most magnificent riff (and THAT chorus)

Available from Superdrug stores for £1.99, I can’t currently find it anywhere on-line but if you find it shoot me link!

Totally hellbent for anything that inspires thoughts of Symphony X!

– Gem

Facemask Friday, Skincare

Facemask Friday – Avon Planet Spa Thailand Lotus Flower

November 15, 2013

Well it’s Friday again, and after a rather rocky few weeks for Gem and I consisting of feeling under the weather and bogged down with reams of work as the festive season approaches it’s a chance to take a step back and relax. (Not for too long mind!)

Today’s facemask is the Avon Planet Spa Thailand Lotus Flower deep pore cleansing facemask. (Bit of a mouthful there!) My favourite thing about this mask, is the way it drys, it turns a beautiful lilac colour and smells beautiful.

Application is smooth, as it takes such a long time to dry there is time to spread the mask evenly. Although it’s heavily scented, it doesn’t seem to irritate my skin at all which is great.

The mask dry’s hard, but is easily washed off. I generally wash mine in the shower which probably makes it a bit easier, but I have also rinsed this with a soft flannel.

Once I’ve removed the mask, it does feel a little softer, although perhaps not as great as my Body Shop Warming Mineral Mask, however this is nicer for a more regular treat and brings a touch of luxury to the day!

You can pick up the Planet Spa face mask range online direct from Avon or from your nearest representative between £1.50 and £4.00. Unfortunately the Thailand Lotus Flower face mask is unavailable, but I’m sure they will re release this again soon.

Totally hellbent for perk me up facemasks!

-Pants