I Love My Little Bro! Part Two

So last Saturday, my little bro and his girlfriend arrived back to good old Blighty, after an amazing time in the Big Apple.  That reminds me, I so need to start looking at organising our trip Stateside.  Anyway, little bro was a superstar and managed to get me 2 of the 3 travel exclusive 'Look in a Box' kits from MAC at Heathrow.

So in my possession I now have 'Girl Next Door' and 'Rocker Chick'.  I'll apologise in advance that some of these pictures wash the colours out. Sorry! Damn you flash!! 

'Girl Next Door' (£25.75) comprises of:

• Grand Entrance (shimmery champagne) eye shadow
• Smoke and Diamonds (frosty taupe) eye shadow
• Deelight (mid tone neutral) Cremesheen Glass
• Zoom Lash mascara
• Belightful Iridescent pressed powder 

'Rocker Chick' (£30.50) collection comes with:

• Electra (shimmery silver) eye shadow
• Black Tied (shimmery black) eye shadow
• Dazzle Lash mascara
• Smolder (black) eye kohl
• Oyster Girl (freshwater oyster pink) Lip Glass
• Hue (soft pale pink/neutral) lipstick

Close up of Hue.  You also get a better idea of the true colour of Oyster Girl here too. 

I'm delighted with these sets and I really cannot get over the value for money. I wholeheartedly suggest you grab them while you can.  I was actually only going to get one set, but little bro encouraged me to get both.  I'm glad he did now!

 I haven't had chance to use any of my new goodies. I've just been too tired this week and work has been just a tiny bit mental.  I'll report back with any firm favourites.  But I can already tell, I'm going to love everything!

Thank you little bro x

Thank you Jeanie!

I've had quite a crappy week, work wise.  And I've begun the weekend with a spot of Tonsillitis - nice! I secretly think The Boy is delighted that I'm not speaking much.  Although I could be wrong...

Anyway, on Wednesday I came home to an unexpected beauty gift from my lovely friend, Jeanie over at Makeup Merriment.  Seriously, I was so overwhelmed I cried.  It's funny, I don't cry often, or easily. I'm not one of those women.  But some things really catch me unaware, and this was most certainly one of those occasions!

Jeanie, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to you!  I'm so grateful to have such lovely friends all over the world.

Have a great weekend ladies, whatever you are getting up to! ;o)

Leanne
X

Accessorize Pigments in Molten Truffle and Wild Moss

When the lovely Louise (aka Get Lippie) blogged about the most beautiful eye shadow she had ever seen, I was interested to see what it was.  When she told her readers it cost a mere £1.50 from Superdrug, I was off like a whippet to snap one up.  Fortunately for me Superdrug still had the beautiful Molten Truffle in stock and I also managed to pick up Wild Moss too.

I'm not going to explain the finer points of Molten Truffle, Louise did a fantastic job of that already.  So I urge you to check out her blog.  But I will say that Wild Moss instantly reminded me of MAC Sumptuous Olive. Except a little more green/gold. I find that Sumptuous Olive leans towards a brown hue when blended out. Making a really simple one shadow eye look.

I'm really quite impressed with Accessorize make up. Their eye shadows are beautiful creamy and pigmented for a budget high street brand.  I also have a few nail varnishes from their range, but they remain in the untested pile at the moment.  Do you have any favourite Accessorize products or recommendations?

No7/Poppy King Lipstick

So you must have been living under a rock if you haven't heard about the No7/Poppy King collaboration to create a beautiful range of 7 wearable lipsticks.  I had two of the £5 vouchers stashed away ready to make my purchases and so I went for Glamour and Power - making them £7 instead of £12 each.  If you check out the product videos, you can also see the make up looks that celebrity MUA,  Lisa Eldridge has created for No7 and the gorgeous Keeley Hawes.  This includes a full product listing.  I'm building up a shopping list and it's all Lisa's fault!! 

Anyway, back to the lippies. Glamour has taken inspiration from the 1950's and screams femininity with it's flirty pink shade, whilst Power is a shade inspired by the 1930's and was created to celebrate women's inner power.  It's a raspberry shade that I think would be flattering for all skin tones. It kind of reminds me of Viva Glam Cyndi.

I haven't used either shade yet, but when I swatched them in-store they appeared to be fairly sheer, but buildable and they were quite creamy.  Their diminutive size is something of an advantage.  I like the fact that they can slip into a side pocket in your handbag.  But you've all seen how much crap I carry about with me, so this should ease my back pain somewhat.  I also really like the satisfying 'snap' when the lid is replaced.   It feels quite safe, for want of a better word.  You wont end up with bag fluff all over the bullet when you go to apply.  Always a bonus!

Anyone else tried these lipsticks? What colours did you go for?

Happy Mother's Day, Mum!

Here is a pic (sorry, a photo of a photo!) of me and the Mothership, taken probably circa 1980/1981.  She will probably perform a ritual sacrifice of her one and only Daughter if she see's this on the internet. Oh well, I'm going to take that chance to say Happy Mother's Day to my Mum!

And to all you Mum's out there reading this. Happy Mother's Day to you too!

PS - Nic, I hope that PD and the 3 Little Miss D's spoil you today. You deserve it lovely x

Once upon a time, in a CCO...

The Boy took me to Cheshire Oaks outlet village today.  I knew exactly which shop I was headed for - straight for the CCO or Cosmetic Company Outlet.   These shops sell discounted cosmetics from brands that are part of the Estee Lauder group, such as MAC, Origins, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Perscriptives and of course, Estee Lauder.

The picture above was just the MAC section of the store. They had a range of eye shadows, pigments etc., but they also had stock from previous MAC collections.  Today in store, I saw items from the following collections: Hello Kitty, Dame Edna, To the Beach, Venomous Villains and Tartan Tale.

And you can see which collection piqued my attention!

The Tartan Tale collection was released by MAC for Christmas 2010, but at that time of year, I was more concerned with buying gifts, than buying items for myself.  There were plenty of goodies that I wanted from that collection, so I was glad to find them at the CCO at such a reduced price.

The Swinging Violets Mineralize kit (£27.75) comprises of Bare Study paint pot, Zoom Lash mascara, Icescape lipglass and Earthly Riches mineralize eye shadow.

How gorgeous is this eye shadow?  It's half plum and half a gunmetal grey that in some lights leads towards taupe. It is so pretty!  When looking at the 3 Mineralize kits on offer, The Boy honed in on this one and said "this is very YOU" and he was right! That was the one I was drawn to.

The Warm Thrillseekers pigment/glitter set (£19.25). was next on my agenda.  They are a range of lovely wearable pigments, but the unfortunately, the flash sort of washes them out on the photo below.  The only one I will probably not use on a regular basis would be the Reflects Bronze glitter. I have to say, I look at the full size pigments and wonder if I will ever get through a whole jar! These sets are perfect for sampling different colours and I can actually see myself finishing one of these little vials.

The set includes:

• Gift O' Glamour
• Reflects Bronze (glitter)
• Most Darling
• Gilded Green
• Gold Mode

(l-r) Most Darling, Gold Mode and Gilded Green

(l-r) Reflects Bronze (glitter), Gift O' Glamour and Most Darling (again!)

(top to bottom taken with flash) Reflects Bronze, Gilded Green, Gold Mode, Most Darling and

 Gift O' Glamour

I'm delighted with my Tartan Tale bargains. Have you had any great deals from the CCO?

I Love My Little Bro!

My baby bro and his girlfriend are flying over the Atlantic as I type, headed for the Big Apple.  I had such an amazing time there last year celebrating my 30th birthday and so I'm incredibly jealous.

But my darling baby bro has appeased my jealousy and managed to snap up 2 of the MAC "look in a box" sets for me whilst mooching through Heathrow.  I couldn't be more excited about this news!  I have "Girl Next Door" and "Rocker Chic", well, when they return from their hols in NYC that is. I'll post more on these kits when I have them in my possession. *squeal*

I really hope that they both have an amazing time over there in NYC. I know I did!