To Love and Loathe

I don't know what is up with me at the moment, feeling very uninspired! So I thought I might go through a few things that I'm loving and loathing at the moment.

I LOVE...

• Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair.  I got it just before my BIG birthday and so far, I am loving it! 
• Jo Malone fragrance.  I was treated to the gorgeous Pomegranate Noir fragrance chronicles from Nic and the Lime Basil and Mandarin cologne from my friend Lorna for my birthday.  I feel as though I should be wearing a white coat and goggles, when I'm creating my very own bespoke fragrance. Its all a bit scientific, but lots of fun.  Its such a unique thing to do and I like the fact that I can alter the fragrance blend depending on my mood.  I'm also loving the arm massage vouchers that came with Lorna's pressie.  Cant wait to be pampered!!
• MAC Stereo Rose MSF. Need I say more?!? 
• Urban Decay eye-shadow in Sin.  I use this pretty much every day.  I'm nearly out, so I will seriously need to get my mitts on the single shadow.  Or, I'll just have to wait until Urban Decay launch the Naked palette. Another item to add to my lust list.  Roll on September.

I LOATHE...

• Nails Inc polish in Lancaster Gate.  Its the hot pink polish, with a touch of iridescence running through it.  I think the colour is really lovely, although not very me! But I thought I'd brave it and used it for my manicure last night.  On first application, I loved it. Glossy, opaque, fantastic!  After a while, I noticed that it had dried matte, which confused me greatly.  I applied a second coat, same thing happened.  So I thought I'd finish with a top coat of OPI Nail Envy - and it still looks matte!! Its also chipped after less than 24 hours.  Needless to say I'm not a fan of this particular colour/finish.  I had hoped to love it, but it was not to be...
• Elemis Pro Radiance cream cleanser. This came as part of a set from QVC and I was excited to give it a try.  Its not the best cleanser I've ever used and its certainly not the worst. Its got a nice creamy consistency, has a pleasant smell and it does the job of cleansing the skin adequately.  It does seem to have taken the lead somewhat from Liz Earle's iconic Cleanse and Polish! Even down to the pump top packaging.  However, because of the ambivalence I have shown to this product, it seems to be determined to hang around FOREVER and that is my main reason why it falls into the loathe category.  I wouldn't mind if it was a product that I thought was fab, on the contrary, I'd be positively delighted that it was so economical.  But I can't seem to get rid of it. And trust me, I'm trying! I don't want to throw it out or give it away, I just want it to end!!!  Safe to say, its not something that I will consider repurchasing.  If bought alone, its in the region of £27.  I think I'd rather have Cleanse & Polish and to be honest, I wasn't that fussed with that either!!

MACRodarte - Power to the People!

MAC, in my opinion, you've made a total balls up with the MAC/Rodarte collection! I will not be purchasing ANYTHING from this collection, should it ever make it to the MAC stores.

Want to get a handle on the story, check out the links below from some of the beauty bloggers I follow.  Makes for some interesting reading....

www.mizzworthy.com
www.britishbeautyblogger.com
www.getlippie.blogspot.com
www.vexinthecity.com

And follow the trending topic at #rodartemac on twitter.

Sometimes, the internet is a wonderful tool to educate and heighten awareness of issues that are swept under the carpet.  I believe this is one of those times.

Its a miracle!

Just wanted to say that I'm loving this cream blusher from Max Factor. I think it was about £6.50 from Boots. Easy to use, a doddle to blend (even for a cream blush novice, such as myself) and the perfect shade of pink to lift my whole face. The colour here is Soft Pink, but I think they do another shade.  Seems to have decent staying power too. I'm impressed!

Today's High's...and Low's!

High

Being told by a Colleague " Wow, you look fab!" (and trying to suppress my natural instinct to think, does that mean I look shite the rest of the time?!?!?)

Low

Horrendous day in work, period pains from hell,  topped off with me falling over and doing the splits in the pouring rain on a busy street and ripping my work pants (luckily not in a delicate and potentially rude place!). Mortified, but still finding it quite amusing until the mortification takes over yet again. Oh yeah, and then they cancelled my train. Grrrrrr

High

The Boy coming and rescuing me from the train station. I'm sure its because he didn't trust me not to do any more damage, but I was eternally grateful none the less.

Hope you are having a better day than I am. And if you are having a day like mine, I hope there is someone there to ensure your cloud has a silver lining.

Tomorrow is another day! Thank god!! Now, where is that wine.....

Calling all MAC Addicts, I need your help!

Top row - Embark and Charcoal Brown.

Middle row - Mulch and Sumptuous Olive.

Bottom row - Sable and Naked Lunch.

Isn't this a sad sight? A mostly empty MAC Pro Palette.

Ladies, this is my work in progress.  I'm trying to get together a palette of shadows that I can use constantly.  For day, for evening,  for work,  for weekend's. For anything!  The shades I have purchased/chosen thus far seem to be fairly neutral at the moment.  I hope that in time, I'll get another one for my crazy colours!

So this is where you come in,  I need some advice about what MAC colours should fill my 9 empty little voids?  What is fabulous?  What will I love?  What will suit my hair/skin tone/eye colour? (light to reddish brown/fair/brown)

As Nicola will tell you, I have a MAC shopping list as long as my arm (god bless the note's app on iPhone), but I don't know what should be an immediate purchase or what can wait.  Any idea's??

NOTD - Rare Species (but I'm bored now!)

So it started life like this, 8 days ago (although this picture wasn't taken that long ago as you can tell from the tip wear!). It's a Nails Inc varnish in "Melrose Avenue" from The Hills Collection.

Then I got bored as I invariably do, but I didn't have time to do a total changeover before I went out on Saturday evening, so I decided to "Konad" my manicure.  I went with the leopard print, because I thought it looked quite funky. Now I know this would not be to everyone's taste, but I like it.  I've had lots of compliments about it too.  Its not the best Konad job I've ever done, but you know what its like. When time is of the essence, you just have to make a decision and live with it.

  Finally, after 8 days of wear on my base colour, it's beginning to look a little tatty.  I can't complain about its longevity!  But I'm certainly due for a change.

Hurrah, its Beauty Day

I've been up early this morning watching Beauty Day on qvcuk.com.  Loads of lovely things have been aired so far.  Think I am going to be good and leave the Bare Escentuals TSV.  I have some similar eye colours (although not in a matte finish) and I have a stack of the brushes and mineral foundation to use up.  I do have to say that I love both the Buxom Glosses (Sugar) and the Flawless Definition mascara.  But as I am working my way though lots of things, I will remain restrained.

However, I cant promise that I wont see something I like later on in the day!  I am quite interested in the No No! hair removal system.  I've been looking at the Braun epilators on offer in Boots at the moment.  But maybe "total" hair removal is the way forward. We shall see.

Will you be succumbing to your OCD urges??

Nails Inc TSV. Decisions, decisions.

So I finally got my hands on the recent Nails Inc TSV.  Had it delivered to the Parental Units house, so had to wait a little longer for mine!


I love the idea that Nails Inc have mixed 2 collections for the QVC viewers. 5 full size (F) colours for the summer and 5 mini sizes (M) from their forthcoming Autumn/Winter 2010 line. I think it was about £25 for this collection and considering that a standard size (10ml) bottle of nail varnish is £10.50 in their shops/website, I think this kit is exceptionally good value. Thank you Nails Inc and QVC!


The stand out colours for me are Berkley Street, Leicester Square and Emperors Gate.


So, starting with the Green at the top, the colours are:
Berkley Street (F) a gorgeous "Tiffany" blue/green
Rosebery Avenue (M) deep rose
Lancaster Gate (F) fluro pink with blue iridescence
Thayer Street (M) taupe/greige 
England's Lane (F) pale lavender
Romily Street (M) cherry red
Montagu Place (F) vibrant coral
Emperors Gate (M) a fabulous stormy gray with greeny blue undertones. I cant wait to wear this!
Leicester Square (F) the most amazing purple
Swan Walk (M) baby pink with pink iridescence (they said on QVCUK that it was South Molton Street with shimmer.).

Which colours do you like??

MAC MSF in Stereo Rose

This was the one thing I really wanted from the new MAC "In The Grove" collection.  So I ummed...and ahhhhhed.  Went onto the MAC website.... put it in my basket.....ummed and ahhhhhed again.... then had to pop out.  After much thought while I was out, I decided that I did want it, went back on the MAC website and.... of course, you guessed it.  It was SOLD OUT!!!! Grrrrrrrr. Stupid me.

So on my birthday, we went pas the MAC shop. The Boy suggested we go in and ask, I was still annoyed with myself for missing out on the website.  Joy of joys, they still had a couple in stock!!! So The Boy purchased for me ( along with eye shadows in Mulch and Sumptuous Olive for my pallet, Yes, I'm spoiled, I know).

Now it looks totally scary in the pan, but don't be put off.  As you can see from the colour swatch below, it transfers onto the skin with a gorgeous rosy gold bloom.  I think its very flattering on my pale skin, but think it would still look lovely on a darker skin-tone.

Here is a little piccie of me on my birthday wearing Stereo Rose and drinking a Poison Ivy (which was divine!). I've worn it every day since I got it, think it is going to be my new summer staple.

30 Years Young Today

Just a quick post to say Happy Birthday to Nic. We are both 30 today! Wow, its not that bad when you say it fast. We've received lots of lovely beauty (and non-beauty) related gifts.  So I'm sure there will be plenty of posts about those. We have been VERY spoiled by our families and friends.

But for now, there are birthday cocktails with our name's on them!!!! ;o)

See you all soon
X