Whilst I was on holiday I had a bit of cash to splash and was struggling to find anything that was floating my boat. I have been reading lots of other beauty blogs and blushers get a lot of love on lots of them. I have always had issues with blusher, I can look quite pink cheeked and I have to confess to tanning (strike me down!) as having a brown face helps to play down this unneeded pinkness. When I have braved the gorgeous amazons that work on the make up counters they have suggested that I go for peachy shades, apart from one SA on a Bobbi Brown counter who was clearly working out her notice and having a right laugh making insane suggestions as she did it. Shocking pink blusher on me is so not a good look!
I may have mentioned that I am no longer in my twenties and I have dry skin, so adding anything powdery to my face would be a really bad idea and I always opt for cream blushers. The best results I have had have been with MAC cream blush and I have used Ladylike and and am currently using Uncommon, which is a sort of weird pink, beige, peach that I like because it gives a lovely sheen and just a hint of colour. The MAC creams are glossy heading towards greasy and I am not always surge that is a good idea.
As I mentioned in an earlier post I really like the UNE range of make up at the moment, its organic, which whilst not a key criteria is clearly no bad thing, is nicely packaged - more key and reasonably priced - most key! I had a dabble around with a few cream to powder blushers in Boots and lots of them seem to become really dry on application with none of the benefits I would associate with a cream blusher. The UNE blusher was less greasy than the MAC cream blusher but still retained the sort of dewy finish I like. I opted for shade B12, which is darker than a peach, more brick coloured I think.
In the pan it does look very dark.
Swatched on the back of my hand you can see that its glossy without being greasy,
I really like this because when you blend it in it gives a sheer wash of colour rather than a big bright splurge of it, which is ideal if you are a bit blusher phobic and never sure what really works for you! there does appear to be some shimmer going on in this photo - there is none in the blusher so not sure where that has come from.
It gives a nice healthy glow and is buildable for a more intense pop of colour.
Saw this reviewed on A Model Recommends and decided that I would have to check this range out when I was next in Boots. Ruth's reviews are really good and although she frequently reviews products that are a little out beyond the means of a frugal blogger she often suggests a less expensive alternative, which I really like about her blog.
On the basis that Ruth was loving this I thought I really ought to give it a go, frankly any product a 20 something model is using probably doesn't have to work too hard, totally different story on a 44 year old, rather lived in face!
The first thing I noticed is the delicious scent. It reminds me of something else I have used and its bugging me that I cant think what it is. It has, obviously, a rose geranium scent which is really soothing, perfect for a night cream. The cream itself is dense, again great in a night cream especially if your 44 year old lived in face tends to be dry into the bargain. I found that it soaked in well and left a layer on my face that I liked. Used a mask on Friday that I think I might have issues with and my skin has been red and a bit stressed since, this cream calmed it down really nicely. Sadly when I woke up this morning I didn't really look like Ruth. But for £7.99 that was perhaps expecting a little too much! My skin did feel soft and well moisturised and much calmer than it has done since Friday. The cream comes in a nice heavy weight jar and the packaging is very attractive.
Whilst I was in Boots I had a play with some of the other products in the range, the Sensitive cleanser is next on my wish list, it has a lovely lemony fragrance and the eye gel was very cooling so that's a possible for the future too. Thanks Ruth for sharing a great find!
Post edit update: Have had a look into this and it seems you had to have been a fan of Models Own on Facebook to receive one of the 50% off vouchers. Damn shame as I was seriously that close to ordering my wish list! Am now on a mission to find Purple Grey this weekend!
Spotted this on All Lacquered Up and thought it might be of interest to all the other Models Own fans out there!
Models Own are having a 50% off sale til Aug 27th - yikes get ordering! - to celebrate having more than 10,000 Facebook likes. Just enter code FACEBOOK50 at checkout on orders of £20 or over on modelsownit.com. My wish list would be Beths Blue, Slate Green, Purple Grey and Grey Mist.
Was on holiday in Cornwall last week and had a bit of cash to splash and can you believe that not a single Boots store had Models Own. Those poor Cornish girls, how on earth do they put up with being so badly served? All the ice cream in the world wouldn't be compensation enough. (That is such a total lie - Roskilly's cappuccino ice cream is to DIE for!)
Fab week in Cornwall. Photo blog getting all the love again!
x
Leanne at OCD has tagged me to answer some questions about myself so I will do my best to be honest! She sets 8 questions which I answer then I set 8 more and tag other bloggers to answer them. Here are Leanne's questions:
- All time favourite Nail Varnish?
- Who was your childhood hero?
- If you won the lottery, which cosmetic brand/counter would you be desperate to flash the cash at?
- You're house is burning down (oh no!), What 5 items do you save?
- For you, which cosmetic product is worth its weight in gold?
- What is the furthest journey you have made this year and why?
- What are the 3 most played songs on your iPod?
- Are you a shoes or handbag girl?
And my answers:
1. Just one? not sure that I can do that as it changes from day to day! Hmm, I guess I'll settle for Models Own Lilac Dream as its the one I keep coming back to at the moment.
2. Childhood hero - god, not sure I actually had one until my teens and then I thought Alison Moyet and Hazel O'Connor where the height of cool. Actually had the pleasure of meeting Hazel O'Connor recently and she is still pretty damned cool!
3. Clarins for skin care, Chanel for make up and Illamasqua for nail varnish - Wink would be mine in a flash!
4. Camera kit, wedding photo album (well, its almost an antique now!), my pandora bracelet, my wedding ring and the videos of the kids as babies (assuming kids, husband and dogs would round up their own 5 essentials a get themselves out!)
5. It has to be foundation, Max Factor Second Skin is one of the few foundations I have ever repeated purchased and I can't see me getting tired of it any time soon.
6. To Corfu with my baby girl for our hols and to celebrate her 18th Birthday.
7. Yoland Be Cool - We no speak Americano, David Guetta - No getting over you and Plan B - She said.
8. Handbag every time.
Thanks for tagging me Leanne it was fun.
Ok here are my eight questions:
1. What type of fragrance do you go for - floral, oriental, woody etc?
2. And what is your favourite perfume?
3. Long nails or short?
4. If you had £100 to spend on make up/nail varnish/skin care what would you buy?
5. What product would get your "Top stuff for under a tenner" vote?
6. Have you ever used a product that just did not deliver? If so what was it?
7. Go to the gym, eat healthily and look after yourself or bloody big pants?
8. You have a voucher for a beauty treat - what treatment would you have?
And I am tagging:
Karen at Frazzle and Aniploish
Ruth at A Model Recommends
Nikki at Nikki's nails
and Shiny at Oooh, Shinies!
By proxy! Karen at Frazzle and Aniploish has swatched it and seeing as I have yet to get my hands on it thought you might like to see her post. Frankly should do all my swatches by proxy as Karen's nails and photos are way better than mine, thanks Karen for swatching!
Having had to forego threading as part of the beauty spending embargo I found myself with a full beard and matching moustache. All those women in Victorian freak shows? They were just nearing menopause when the hair on your head all falls out and then grows in all manner of weird and wonderful places you'd really rather it didn't! Nipped into Boots at the weekend and invested in this:
Quite possibly the least glam thing I will ever post on this blog!
It was about £4.50, its in a little orange plastic dish and when you microwave it it melts and becomes really nice and sticky. Insert own disclaimer about contents being hot after microwaving and that slapping it onto your face without testing temperature could remove your face along with your moustache, thanks. I have a pretty random technique for this as I am a wimp. I dip my middle finger into the sticky wax, stick it onto offending area, pause, take a deep breath and then pull it off rapid style, I find the whole peeling off of set wax much to masochistic for my liking, especially on the top lip yeouch! Like most things that hurt once you have done a couple of bits the endorphins kick in and it hurts much less and boy does this stuff work. I was almost tempted to post a photo of the Rimmel gloss on my lips - thats how good this stuff is!
One tip, if you run a guest house and are microwaving your facial wax in your basement flat please please remove the wooden stick. Other wise the smoke alarm goes off and then you have to explain to all your guests stood in the cold in the car park that actually the whole place isn't on fire it was just your facial wax.......
This might not have been an essential if I am being completely honest. But what is a life without treats? It's lovely actually, have only recently got into gloss as have sort of thought I was a bit old for gloopy slippy lips. Have now decided that as everything is crashing out at a rate of knots I might as well make the most of what youthfulness I have left to me and so I am glossing whilst I still can! Snog, hilarious name for a lip gloss on a 44 year old, although not as chuckle making as the daughters MAC in morning glory, its a sort of pearly pink and I think I'll leave that right there! So anyway Snog is a rose cream, I guess, its not pink as in girly pink, warmer than that so rose covers it. Its not sparkly which I do really think I am too old for, just has a bit of a shimmer and its not sticky which is great. Not discernible taste, unlike the MAC ones which are lush and taste of vanilla ice cream, I might treat myself one day, just for the taste!
Swatched on my hand in sunlight.
And rather more attractively, in the tube!
Spending embargo continues but some things a girl just cant live without. An eye brow pencil being one of them. I have always used the Clinique Superfine liner for brows in soft brown, its a great propelling brow pencil so no need for a sharpener, the only downside is that once it has been propelled up you cant propel it back down again so you never know when its going to run out and I refuse to buy 2 at a time to always have a spare. So was very pleased to find that Clinique have now brought out a new product called Instant lift for brows, its a thicker propelling pencil that goes down as well as up! on one end and highlighter on the other, the idea being you draw in your perfect brow and then highlight the brow bone. Lovely if you are 20 ish. Not so much if you are 44. I took photos of this on my eyes and I am almost too ashamed to show them on here, I have the eyes of a 90 year old. There is nothing like taking close up photos of bits of you to really highlight how utterly knackered you are, til about an hour ago I thought my eyes were in pretty good nick.
Look away now if you don't want to see your future.....
dear god.
Whilst I like the shaper and think I will find it easier to fabricate my eyebrows, which are straggly and patchy, with the thicker pencil I think the highlighter is a bit chalky, although perhaps if you have bouncy plumpcious eyelids then it might be fine.
Here is the shaper
And the highlighter
And here a swatch of both of my hand. Jeez my hand. Took these swatch photos and nearly screamed when I uploaded them. I have the hands of an 80 year old too. It's like Cocoon in reverse round here, bloody awful. So I gave my hands a scrub and slathered on some Soap and Glory hand food before taking the photos again. Now I have the hands of a 60 year old. God knows what the nasty black bit stuck to the highlighter is, probably some other part of me that fell off mid-photo.
And this stunner shows off the chalky highlighter.
Am off to find a photo of me to stash in the loft, Dorian Gray stylee!
