QVC June 2011 Beauty TSV's

Thursday 2nd June - Judith Williams Skincare

Wednesday 8th June - Beauty Tools and Accessories

Friday 10th June - Lulu's Timebomb

Sunday 12th June - Leighton Denny Expert Nails

Wednesday 15th June - Beauty Tools and Accessories

Sunday 19th June - In the Salon with Gatineau

Thursday 23rd June - In the Salon with Alison

Monday 27th June - Philosophy

Happy Shopping!!

May Empties

Its been another speedy month and we are already just a day away from June. Seriously, I have no idea where this year has gone!  On another happy note, I've gone through a fairly decent amount of products this month. So we have:

• Philosophy Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash - this smells weird to me and you know I'm all about the scent.  And this will also probably sound a little strange, but I think it reminds me of Heinz Salad Cream - go figure!?!
• Alpha H Micro Cleanse - Love this stuff! A gorgeous minty facial scrub that leaves your skin invigorated and super smooth. Will certainly be re-purchasing.
• Leighton Denny Essential Remover - Possibly the most effective and nicest smelling nail varnish remover. One of those workhorse products that is simply a pleasure to use. Will re-buy the full size.
• The Body Shop Earth Lovers 'Watermelon and Eucalyptus' shower gel - nice but not my favourite scent from the range.  I picked this one for The Boy, so I didn't expect to love it.  Still, it was a really nice shower gel.
• The Sanctuary Warming Microbrasion Polish - I wanted to have a rest from the No7 Microdermabrasion scrub that I love, so I decided to try this instead.  It's nice enough. Not gritty enough for my liking although it is more like a self heating clay mask.  So if you want a multi tasking product, this could be for you.  The scent is nice too, just a very feint hit of rose.  Nice, but not for me.
• Calvin Klein Obsession body wash - I NEVER use these perfumed shower gel/body lotions that come in perfume sets. But I am making a conscious effort to do so from now on.  I love Obsession.  I realise this is not everyones cup of tea (or coffee in my case) but I find it to be a very sexy scent.  I wouldn't buy it as a stand alone product.  However, if it came with the perfume I'd certainly use it.  See, can you see my new leaf that I just turned over.... hehe.
• Soap and Glory Scrub Em and Leave Em - Nah, not for me.  Didn't rate the scrub or the scent. There are plenty of other scrubs that I prefer.
• Lush Snow Fairy shower gel - apologies that you cannot see the bottle properly, it decided to roll over as I took the picture.  I love the smell of this. My Lil Bro got me the set for Christmas. This is one seasonal product that I wish they would make all year round. Such a sweet treat. Hurry up Christmas!!!
• Haus of Gloi Vice Bubbling Scrub - I really like the HoG products I have tried so far and this was no exception. Sweet, spicy and quite scrubby. A winner for me.

• Elemis Pro Collagen Marine Cream  - oh god, I seriously wanted to hate this, given it's £75 price point.  I was certain that it would disagree with my picky skin.  But it loved it - dammit! I will  not buy this again, unless it is part of a TSV, as this pot was. I just cant afford to maintain the cost. However I did love every single second of its use and as you  can see, I wiped the jar clean.  There may have been tears before bedtime on the night this ran out. The Boy looked on in bemusement, until I told him the cost, at which point I was promptly told to go to sleep and stop thinking about it! Charming!

What have you been using up this month?

NOTD: Nails Inc Denim

It really annoys me that I paint my nails and then forget to take a picture straight away.  I'm usually at work or maybe even sat in the bath and it occurs to me that I've missed the golden opportunity to photograph my nails when they look perfect - well, as perfect as I can ever get them!!!  Meet Nails Inc Denim from the Nails Inc/Diet Coke collaboration. 

As you will be able to tell, these pictures have been taken after two, maybe three day's of wear.  And I think they are still looking pretty good.  This is a lovely opaque blue creme that translates a lot lighter on camera.  In some lights it looked almost teal to me, but these pictures show a bright, vibrant blue.  I loved wearing this colour. So pretty.  I think I'll have to go and choose a nice bright colour for work this week.  Who knows what I'll pick!

(Actually, I'm doing a bit of nail varnish shopping on eBay as I type. Never fear, I will report back on my purchases)

Collateral Damage

I went to a family party last night to celebrate my cousin's 21st birthday.  My first thought was to use makeup that I haven't tried before. So I picked up MAC Mineralize Eye colour in 'Earthy Riches' which I got in the Tartan Tale box set last month.  I thought that I could create a good smoky eye with this and was excited to give it a try.

This is what it used to look like

and this is how it looks now

Apologies for crappy iPhone pic but I cannot find my memory card reader!! Damn those bloody house elves. If they are going to steal things,  you'd think they could come and give the place a little tidy as well...

As you can see the whole 'domed' section from the product had cracked and fallen off.  Taking most of the beautiful purple shade with it.  You can see from the after pic, there is still plenty of the metallic taupe shade left, but I can't help feeling a bit miffed about it all.

I don't recall dropping or banging the shadow. So I'm not exactly sure what happened to it.  As this is my first MAC Mineralized Eye Shadow, is this something that is likely to happen again?  I have a split Mineralize Blush (Hang Loose) and that has always been fine, so I just wonder if this a known problem with the eyeshadow or have I been unlucky?

Has this happened to you? Have you opened new products to find they are broken? It's gutting isn't it?!?

Sorry I've been A.W.O.L....

I'm sorry I've been on the missing list for the past few weeks, but things have been very hectic at work.  My promotion was announced yesterday (and that comes with a whole saga all of it's own, but I won't bore you with that!!) so I should be back to semi normal blogging service soon.  Got a few blog posts for the weekend, so keep a look out for those.

All that is left for me to say is...

Thank god it's a Bank Holiday weekend!!!!

Have fun, whatever you are up to ;) x

NOTD: Nails Inc Augustus Street

Nic kindly gave me Augustus Street in a recent clear out. I loved it in the bottle, then I put it on my nails.  And I hated it!  It was a matte/suede finish and I'm not so much of a fan of those.  I just think matte nail varnish looks like you have tipex'd you nails and then coloured them in. Not nice, well for me anyway.   Good news is that you can throw a bit of topcoat over it and it's back to normal.  So clearly, I love it again. 

In some lights it's grey, some it's a taupe/brown and in other's its the perfect greige colour.

Augustus Street with flash

Augustus Street in natural light

What do you think?

Obsessive Cosmetics Disorder 1st Birthday Giveaway Winners

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that took part. So I wont mess around, I'll get straight to the winners....

My very capable assistant known as Random.org  helped me out and chose the 6th comment as the grand prize winner.

And the winner is....

Liloo from Le Petit Jardin de Liloo

So Liloo wins the Urban Decay Sustainable palette and her choice of the Accessorize kits, which was the Crazy kit. I know that Liloo is going to create some amazing looks with these goodies. She is super talented and creative, You should certainly check out her blog if you haven't seen it already.

 Well done Liloo!

For the final winner Random.org chose the 3rd comment.

And so the second winner is

Debbie from This Week I Have Mostly Been Loving

Debbie wins the remaining Accessorize set, which was the Classic kit.  Debbie is a professional photographer and Beauty Blogger on the side.  I cannot wait to see some of the beautiful looks she is going to create with her prize.

Well done Debbie!

Ladies, I'll be emailing you shortly for your details.

Once again, thank you for all your kind words and constant support. 

XXX

Reminder: Urban Decay and Accessorize Giveaway

I hope you haven't forgotten about our little Urban Decay and Accessorize giveaway?  It ends at 7pm on Saturday 14th May.  You can enter it HERE, come on! Chop chop... ;o)

My Thoughts on: Bourjois Bio Detox foundation

Bourjois Bio Detox Organic is the first of the Bourjois foundations that I decided to try out.  I've been using it for about a month now, so here are my thoughts.

Bourjois' major claim for the Bio Detox foundation are that it "evens out the complexion, minimizing pores' appearance and concealing imperfections"

  Hmmm I'm not sure about that.  I think that if you have very good skin from the outset, that this would be perfect.  However, if you require a fuller coverage, then I don't think this will be the foundation for you.

 I do really like the fact it comes with a pump applicator, as it makes dispensing the product quick and easy.  However, I hate that it is packaged in a glass bottle.  As many foundations are.  I live in constant fear that I will drop it whilst tired one morning and end up covering both myself and all available surfaces with broken glass and foundation.  That's just bound to happen on a Monday morning, you mark my words....

Bio Detox seems to dry very quickly.  So if you don't work fast, you will end up with unblended blobs of colour at various points across your face!  I also found that it appeared to create the appearance dry skin on my otherwise Normal/Combination skin.  If my moisturiser/primer had not fully absorbed/set on the skin, it seemed to gather in cakey little lumps - creating the illusion of dry skin. Attractive!

I think the Bourjois Bio Detox foundation is okay, but there are other products on the High Street and certainly in the high end price category, that I prefer.  I don't hate it. In fact, I think that on a good skin day, it will be adequate. But it's certainly not a new favourite of mine.

 As if to highlight this point further, I went to a friends Wedding Reception on Saturday night.  As I stocked up on Revlon Colourstay (while Boots have had their 3 for 2 on),  I decided to open a new bottle for the event. Get me, you'd think I was talking about champagne!  It took me about 3 seconds to reaffirm my love for this little gem. I had a virtually flawless canvas in less than a minute, which lasted extremely well through several hours of celebratory dancing (and drinking).  I just do not think I could praise Revlon Colourstay highly enough.

Anyway, back to Bourjois. Will I buy Bio Detox again?  No, I don't think so.  However, I won't throw it out and I'll finish the bottle, but I'm afraid that it wasn't really my cup of tea (If I drank tea that is...).

Bio Detox 0 - Colourstay 1

GlossyBox.co.uk - Are you on board?

Have you heard about GlossyBox.co.uk on the grapevine? I have and I'm all signed up.

Twitter was on fire with talk of this new beauty subscription service on Sunday evening.  For a meagre £10 per month (free P&P) you will receive 5 luxury beauty product miniatures to try out at home.  You can watch a video about the service here.

You might have heard about a similar service in the States, known as Birchbox.  You'll only need to search on YouTube and a plethora of videos will appear before your very eyes.  I think it's a great concept and I'm excitedly looking forward to receiving my first GlossyBox!

There were further excited 'tweets' relating to the nature of the goodies in the first box.  So @GlossyBoxUK waded in and tweeted this cryptic message about their first box ' It's a surprise! But a clue we've been giving out is - one brand begins with 'N' and their main product begins with an 'O''  Hmmmmmm let me think.... *squeal* 


Have you registered for a GlossyBox?  I cannot wait for mine.

Obsessive Cosmetics Disorder is a year old today!!! CLOSED

Wow, where has the last year gone? On the 2nd of May 2010, Nic and I took our beauty ramblings from text message, email and Facebook and threw them all onto Blogger, beginning with a touch of Bank Holiday Blues.   It was simply another outlet to chat about the things we like.  And much to our amazement, other like minded people began to interact with us.  So here we are a year down the line, with me still rambling on and Nic looking after 3 little ladies with Chickenpox (poor little things!).

Thank you for all your fabulous comments, recommendations and for generally making this whole blogging experience a fun one.  As you know, we are on Twitter @LeanneOCD and @NicOCD so come along and say hi to us, we wont bite...unless you ask nicely ;o)

What better way to mark this milestone than to have a little giveaway to celebrate.  So what can you win?

The winner will receive the Urban Decay Sustainable Eye palette. Urban Decay is one of my favourite brands and I honestly don't think you can beat their palettes and as a little bonus, it comes with a mini size of the infamous Urban Decay Primer Potion  You can read some reviews about it here  from the Debenhams website.

The winner can then choose their choice of the Accessorize kits below. Accessorize is fast becoming one of my favourite brands of High Street make-up.  Anyway, there are 2 options, so I am going to name them  'Classic' or 'Crazy'.  The packaging doesn't really state the names of the colours, so you are going to have trust my descriptions...

The 'Classic' selection includes 3 nail varnishes in a metallic brown/mauve/taupe, classic red creme and a metallic rose pink.  The 3 eyeshadows appear to be a shimmery mossy green, a pale shimmery pink and a shimmery taupe.

The 'Crazy' collection includes 3 nail varnishes in aqua blue creme, a bright barbie pink creme and a metallic greyed purple (which I think might be called Storm and if it is, I have it!).  The 3 eyeshadows include a shimmery vibrant green, a metallic brown (I think this is a shade I think I own, if it is it's called Rich Earth and is a dupe for MAC Club eyeshadow) and a shimmery greyed lavender.  

So there we go.  But what do you have to do to win?


The Rules

• You must be a follower of the Obsessive Cosmetics Disorder blog (we will be checking) and leave  one comment, anything you like but not 'Enter Me'!!!  It would probably be useful if you stated your preference of the Accessorize kit too, in case you are the lucky winner!
• This giveaway will close at 7pm (UK time) on Saturday 14th May 2011 and winners will be announced soon afterwards.
• Two winners will be chosen by using Random.org. The first winner will win the UD palette and their choice (Classic or Crazy) of the Accessorize sets.  The second winner will win the remaining  Accessorize set.
• Open worldwide

.Good luck everyone and thank you once again for a wonderful year!

April Empties

Time for empties again.  Wow, this year is going fast!! It's May already!  I haven't used up that many product this month.  I'm still chipping away at the pile of goodies I have.  But I am doing quite well.  Sadly, there are no make up items...yet!

Anyway, this month we are recycling the packaging of:

• Haus of Gloi 'Snow Wolf' bubbling scrub - This was really nice.  I wasn't too keen on the scent at first, but it grew on me.  It was limited edition at Christmas though, so you wont be able to get it now.  However, HoG have tonnes of other amazing products and they are vegan too!!
• L'Occitane 'Bergamot Tea' bath and hair gel - Again, this wasn't something that I thought I would like.  But the beautiful delicate scent really soothed me into a deep relaxation after a stressful few weeks at work.  I'm sad to see the back of this one.

• Yes To Carrots 'Can you C me' Eye/Makeup remover - Another NYC purchase.  I needed a cleanser and Walgreens happily obliged.  I really liked this cleanser/make up remover, but I have seen mixed reviews about it.  Unfortunately, it isn't so easy to get hold of here.  Just as I decided I liked it, they seemed to withdraw from my local Boots.  Not impressed...
• Decleor 'Aroma Cleanse - Hydra Radiance Smoothing Cleansing Mousse' - Boy, did I want to love this product.  Designed in response to the Decleor/QVC customers desires, I had high hopes for this. However, I hated it.  I stung my eyes and it smelled vile!! It kind of had an ammonia tinge to it and for £25.56, I guess I expected a little more.  I should have sent it back, but somehow this product slipped past me and missed the 30 day window of opportunity...

• Alpha H 'Rejuvenating Cream' - came in an Alpha H kit.  It's ok, probably wont re-purchase although I am in the midst of a love affair with Alpha H at the moment.
• The Body Shop 'White Musk - Midnight Iris' EDT - I was never a fan of White Musk and the name of this almost put me off.  But when I saw this little bottle in TBS Christmas sale for £3 I though, why not.  It actually smelled really nice.  I guess this might be a little strange to some, but this is my bedtime fragrance.  Yes, I know, it's weird.  I like to smell nice ok!?!? Even in bed!  The late, great Marilyn Monroe once said "What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No 5 of course!" - a lady after my own heart.
• The Sanctuary 'Illuminating Moisture Lotion - SPF15' - Really, really liked this.  Very dewy and illuminating just as the name suggests.  This was a mini travel size, but I can see myself purchasing a full size when I need more moisturiser.

 

• Another L'Occitane mini hand cream.  I cant find the photo of the actual one I used, so I have borrowed this picture from a previous month.  This month was Rose Velvet variant.  Nice, but I'm not a rosy kind of gal and just not moisturising enough for my liking.

• Aussie Miracle Moist Shampoo and Conditioner - I forgot how much I like Aussie.  Nice products that are reasonably priced and get the job done.  They always leave my hair smelling nice too.

So there we are. Have you finished anything exciting this month?

NOTD: Sally Hansen HD Nail Colour - Laser

What a total nightmare this is to photograph but boy do I love it!  This was a little NYC purchase last June and it still captures my imagination almost 12 months on.  

It's a blue polish that has a distinctly purple sheen to it, but it is virtually impossible to catch on camera.  You can see the myriad of colours bouncing off the flash,  although this polish is almost certainly better in real life. 

Laser translates onto the nail like a blue liquid metal, not dissimilar to a Minx manicure.  It does take about 4 coats to make it almost opaque.  Even then in some lights, it was still possible to see the nail tip.  The top picture will give you some indication of the amount of polish used, baring in mind that I have worn this a mere 3 times.  

I adore this polish and only wish we had Sally Hansen nail varnish in the UK, not just the treatments/topcoats!