Bourjois Sweet Kisses Lipstick - Rose Seduisant

You know when you find your "perfect" lipstick, when the formula, the packaging the colour and the wear all come together?  This lipstick, for me, is one of those.  

I recently wore a bright red lipstick and whilst the orangey bright red I wore I didn't love I did really like how glam a red coloured lip made me feel.  I had my heart set on a dark vampy red, but decided that it would just be unwearable and was lurking around in Boots admiring the packaging of the Bourjois lipsticks when I spotted this shade which is I guess a berry pink shade in the bullet but on my lips looks quite red without being over the top.

What Bourjois say about it:

Bourjois Sweet Kisses Lipstick dress your smile in intense radiant colour thanks to the unique complex of waxes and oils which coats the pigments for ultra luminosity. Voila! A luminous satin finish in one stroke!
A new generation of gliding formula, plus a selection of fine and infinitely light oils, which offer maximum comfort upon application. Argan oil gives upto 8 hours moisturisation for ultra kissable lips.
A true beauty accessory!

Years ago I had a Lancome lipstick in this sort of shade and I loved it.  What I really like about this is how comfortable it is to wear, all those oils really do seem to help prevent my lips drying out and I love the satin finish, bit of sheen without a heap of shine!  I have been wearing it with a bobbi brown pencil to prevent bleeding and then applying it with a brush for a really neat application - its not the sort of colour I would want to smear all over the place!  Although it does work nicely if I just pat a little on for a less "done" look as well.

In shade

In sunlight - this is very colour accurate

I feel this really brightens up my face and love that it feels really comfortable on.  It has no real taste or smell and I like that too. 

The 2 above were a rush job when I got in from shopping as was dying to try this!

This one I made a bit more effort for - including the taupe and grey from the Ruby & Millie quad!

The packaging is great too, although it took Em and I a while to work out how to get into it! You push down the silver button and the lipstick comes completely out of the purple case and then slots back in with a satisfying click, very novel and more importantly very secure.

You can buy it from Boots here for £7.99, I will definitely be going back for more. 

Ruby & Millie Bargains!

Wondering around Huddersfield feeling a tad dejected.  I literally had £15 left in my secret stash of cash which I keep for emergency make up purchases.  Even by my standards £15 is not a whole heap and everything I wanted was way more.  

Em and I wondered into Boots just on the off chance and look what I found!

Ruby & Millie bargains!! These were reduced to £1.81 each - an eye shadow compact in the gold case and a lip gloss one in the red.

Really nice neutral collection - the light brown in the top right section really caught my eye as the UD Naked palette doesn't have a pale brown/taupe with subtle shimmer, the 2 palest browns are in that palette are matte.

Swatched in shade, clockwise from the white

Same order, in the sun - clipped the white a tad!

The shadows are gorgeous! soft and buttery, well pigmented and with light shimmer and no fall out, I am made up with them.

The lipglosses are a nice range of colours too.

Swatched in shade, clockwise from the red

Swatched in sunlight, same order

 The glosses aren't as strongly pigmented as the shadows but I think for glosses the colour pay off is pretty good.  They have a really nice balm like texture, rather than gloopy sticky gloss with no taste or smell.  I was really pleased to pick these up for for under four quid even if the glosses aren't pristine - should have been more careful and nabbed one of the still sealed kits, didn't think about it in my haste to grab one!

In addition I got one of their eye liner brushes for 83p - I already have one which I use daily to tight line using shadow, its a straight brush and is fantastic for tight lining, pleased to have a spare just in case!  Resisted the £1 foundation brush as I already have one of those too!

I also got a GORGEOUS lipstick - but saving that for a later post!

Whats everyone been up to this weekend, anyone else nabbed a bargain?

Sanctuary Therapists Secret Facial Oil & Mir Argan Beauty Oil joint review

If you are a regular reader you will know that I have really dry skin.  I was recently going through a really dry phase when I was in Boots with a £5 voucher off facial skin care burning a hole in my pocket when I spotted the Sanctuary facial oil.  Without the voucher this would have been £17 which isn’t bad, for £12 it was a steal!

The oil is in a nice glass bottle with a pipette top, which initially I really liked – very apothecary. Reality is if you are as cack handed as me, a glass bottle, a tricky top and lashings of oil are not the best combination!  I did eventually work out that if  you hold the bottom of the bottle your left hand you can unscrew, suck up and drop a couple of drops of oil onto the palm of the left hand using your right, but that entailed a good few near misses.  

The Sanctuary oil is a blend of Essential oils of Frankincense, Jojoba oil, Rose, Rosehip seed oil, Sunflower oils and wheat germ oil – the fragrance, which is very delicate but rather lovely, clearly comes from the Rose and Frankincense.
 
Whilst I have had the Sanctuary oil I have also tried a small sample of the Mir pure Argan oil which was part of a Mir Sample set that I purchased to try, the full size bottle of this comes with a pump  - much less dangerous!

Photo borrowed from www.mirskincare.com

The two oils feel quite different. The Sanctuary oil is much denser and as such feels a little as if it sits on the skin more, the Argan oil is a lighter oil and did seem to soak in very much more quickly.  The Sanctuary oil is more fragranced than the Mir pure Argan and if you are a very sensitive soul this might warrant bearing in mind.  My skin has relished both.  I use a couple of drops of whichever is closest to hand morning and evening, after cleansing and before moisturizer – it is an option to add a couple of drops of oil to your moisturizer but my skin seemed happiest when I applied the oil direct.  My skin feels nourished and plumped up and once it got over a major hormone induced blip recently has had a much more even tone and less visible redness. 

I am rather partial to a good exfoliate before bed and again the oil has been lovely smoothed into my buffed face, on the nights I have exfoliated I have been a bit more liberal with the oil and applied it more as a mask rather than a base for a night cream – the Sanctuary oil may be better for overnight as it is more heavy weight.  It is lovely for a pre-sleep facial massage too as it gives nice slip and the fragrance is soothing. The pure Argan is my preference in the morning under my moisturiser as my skin just mops this up.

Will I buy again?  Absolutely. I have to say I love the convenience of being able to nip into Boots to pick up the Sanctuary oil so it will probably win out but I think the Mir is actually better for your skin, not least because it is so easily absorbed.

The Sanctuary oil is £17.35 for 30ml and available in Boots.

The Mir pure Argan oil is £17.50 for 30ml and available here (although you will need to add p&p to that too!)

Trafford Centre haul

Have had such a lovely day! More than made up for not especially wonderful birthday and 22nd wedding anniversary!  Steve and I had a day to ourselves, we work and live together so are in pretty much the same place 24/7 but having a guest house full of guests, 2 kids, 2 dogs and another business each as well as the guest house "quality" time is in short supply.  

We aren't getting a holiday together again this year and our birthdays and our 22nd wedding anniversary came and went without much fanfare so we have decided to shut up shop on Sunday night and head up to Ripon when we have finished breakfast on Sunday morning and got rid of all the guests - there'll be no polite post-breakfast chatting on Sunday thats for sure!  I have booked a room in what according to Trip Advisor is a very nice hotel, LateRooms guests hurtle between loving and hating, so if its pants there will be trouble!  Have booked a table for dinner in an Italian Restaurant nearby and then on Monday we are going to Fountains Abbey before heading home Monday pm ready to see in the guests that are arriving that evening.  So Steve needed some new shirts for our "trip" away which is why he suggested the trip to the Trafford Centre today.

The last time I was there Em had managed to forget her card and I only had limited cash so I stood with a tube of Lanolips Lemonaid in my hand and had to put it back just in case that £9 was needed for a more important purchase later in the day.  Have regretted putting it back ever since and today I got to rectify that and am already addicted.  For those of you that don't know it is "An ultra rich & creamy whipped lanolin lip treatment with organic lemon oil to naturally exfoliate, leaving lips fresh, soft and moist".  It has a mouth watering, tart, freshly made lemonade smell to it but only a little hint of lemon flavour, it does feel incredibly rich on your lips and because it has some shimmer in it you end up with glossy, smooth, lemon scented lips with a hint of shimmer. Treats like a balm, looks like a gloss with no hint of stickiness, its my new love thing!

I had also been trying to convince Steve that I was worth £33 of Alpha H skin care, he has remained resolute that I am not. Rather than go without a decent moisturiser any longer I decided that I would march into John Lewis and purchase Liz Earle Skin Repair moisturiser for dry skin, as if it were my right, which worked!  Will do a proper review of this in due course, but first impressions are that it is much denser than I had anticipated - had thought I might have to go down the Superskin route - so I am hoping it will be just what my skin needs. 

I also picked up a 5 day sample of Clinique Moisture Surge tinted moisturiser - the SA in Boots was unable to give it to me because they "haven't had the pots delivered yet and if I put it into a pot and anything happens we would be liable" What on earth could happen - tinted moisturiser causes outbreak of plague perhaps? More like a case of "naff off you freebie hunting low life". Went to John Lewis where the Clinique SA was more than happy to play ball, although am assuming she paid for my sample out of her wages as I would need a face the size of a gnat for her sample to last 5 days. Oh well, it's free and I am planning to buy anyway!

So that was the haul.  Oh and Steve got some shirts too!

Clinique Moisture Surge tinted moisturiser

I had long given up on tinted moisturiser, on paper it should be perfect for my skin which is incredibly dry and really can use all the moisture it gets.  Sadly as well as being dry my skin is red and blotchy and needs way more coverage than a TM can offer.

That said the minute I saw the adverts for Clinique Moisture Surge tinted moisture is appealed.  I actually think its that big splash of aqua right in the middle of the ad that just makes me think of the comfort of hydrated skin!

Pic blatantly nicked from www.boots.co.uk

I was in a grump on Saturday eve and nipped to Asda for a hair dye and a magazine, would have added chocolate but have  you seen my backside?!  Grabbed a copy of Glamour and had a flick, and there was a sachet of Moisture Surge TM glued between its pages, the perfect opportunity to try it!

I am loving it!  The shade I got is 03 which is possibly a tad dark for my skin but because its sheer its not overly dark, if that makes sense (actually having looked on line am surprised that it appears that shade 01 and 02 are very pale and there is massive leap to shade 03, will have to check this out for real on Weds).  I have huge pores on my chin which have a habit of trapping any powder that might be in my foundation, which looks ghastly.  Because this is so sheer this powder filled pore thing isn't happening.  And oddly in spite of being sheer enough to look really fresh I am getting sufficient coverage on my redness to be totally happy with it, even in broad daylight with a mirror pressed right up to my nose.  Em said I looked "not oily, not sure what the right word is?" I filled the gap with "glowing" and she agreed!  The wear on this is good, have added a bit more at lunch time just to keep things fresh.  The best thing about it has been how comfortable my skin has been, you may have noticed a dearth of lunch time tweets where I am threatening to run my face over with an orbital sander, which was how I was feeling last week!  I am off to the Trafford Centre on Wednesday so will try and make OH wait whilst I pick up a 5 day sample to really put it through its paces but so far so good.  Second thing in as many months that I am loving from Clinique!

This one is nicked from the John Lewis website!

 This is £21 for 30ml so if I am happy after 5 days think I might purchase for the Summer, saving my lovely Chanel for nights out!

PS I am wearing this tinted moisturiser in the hair colour post here, if you want to see how it looks on the skin!

How old is too old?

I emailed a hugely popular and well loved blogger the other day to check everything was ok with her as she hadn't posted in a long while and she sent me back a lovely mail explaining all was fine but that as she had turned 45 on the 14th of May she just felt she was too old to be blogging, although her love of all things beauty remained, and that no one would be interested in what she had to say.

To be honest this gave me more than a moments pause, as coincidentally I turned 45 on the 14th of May too!  Am I too old to blog?  Does anyone want to read what I have to say?  And if they don't do I care?  Well on the basis that to date I still only have 59 followers the second question has pretty much answered itself! And the fact that I commented on it answers the 3rd!

So what of the first - Am I too old to blog?  God, I hope not!  I work on the basis that any product that is impressing a 45 yr old with a lived in face is working way way harder than one that is impressing a glossy, glowing 19 yr old in the peachy bloom of youth.  A lot of the blogs that I read are written by women who are considerably younger than me, several could be my daughters. Ok had to take a moment then, I needed a lie down after typing that! But it's true! Even so I love their reviews and am interested in their opinions, I just don't imagine for one minute that the foundation that made them flawless and cost £10 is going to have the same effect on me!  I have come across a few bloggers who are of my generation and if they are having a rave or a rant I really sit up and take note.

I can't imagine that the time will come when I wont look in the mirror, sigh deeply, tip my head back and pull down my jaw to see how things used to look when they were tight, sigh again, more deeply, and reach for my make up bag.  Will I ever be so old that I wont care what I look like?  As it has been my primary concern since about the age of 14 I think it's unlikely - and yes I am aware how shallow that last made me sound.  In fact as the years progress I suspect that my reliance on make up and skin care will increase.

So throwing this open to the floor - when are you too old to blog about beauty?  Or is there not an "age" exactly but are the reviews of a 45 yr old not really that interesting to someone in her 20's?  Are you in your 40's and not blogging but reading beauty blogs? If you are in your 40's, blogging and I'm not following for gawdsake give me a nudge!  Whoever  you are, whatever  your age if you have an opinion on this please share, I'd love to know what people think!

Clairol Perfect 10 Hair colour to dye for

See what I did there? Yep, I am bigging up my own rather pathetic pun, sad really.  Apart from one very long winded and astonishingly scientific hair colouring post right back when this blog was a baby I have never really mentioned colouring my hair.

Which is rather odd as it is something that I do about once every 2 - 3 weeks, quite an oversight in fact!

I have been colouring my hair since I was 14, firstly with Toners (Rich Mahogany) then Glints (Pimento Red) and then I grew up and let the hairdresser do it (caramel, honey and red highlights and light brown base colour) and then when the greys became really persistant I went back to doing it myself at home.  I made the usual mistakes - why does the colour on the box never look like that when its on your head?  After lots of trial and error I bought my first box of Clairol Perfect 10 in Medium Ash Blond last July (in response to a bit of a hair trauma!) and have stuck faithfully to this range pretty much ever since - had a brief flirtation with a mousse home colour, loved the formula not the results.


Over the last 12 months I have had 3 different hairdressers, (yes I am picky and yes I will switch hairdresser the minute you lash up my cut) each one has asked about my colour and each has commented on how great the colour is and what fantastic condition my hair is in, all were surprised to hear that I was using a home colouring kit, kudos Clairol!


I have used Medium Ash Blond and Light Ash blond alternatively, just to prevent my hair getting too samey, I tend to use half the pack for a full head colour or divide it into 3 if I am only doing my roots, so not only does it give great results but it is stupidly inexpensive!  I recently had a dabble with lightest Ash blond which I felt was just too light for me, the greys seemed to dominate and with my pale skin and grey eyes I just felt that I was becoming almost invisible.  I needed a lift so last night nipped to Asda and purchased Dark Blond, plan being I'd get up 10 mins early this morning, slap on the colour whilst I brushed my teeth rinse it off in the shower, job done.


I did manage to get up 10 mins early, stumbled into bathroom and promptly mixed half the tube of conditioner with half the bottle of Activating cream, stirred it for a while trying to work out why it wasn't thickening up and then realised what I had done! Luckily had half the activating creme left so rinsed out the bowl and began again!  New hair colour done and upstairs by 8.15am to start work!

As usual I am really pleased with how this has come out, I think I had been rather sucked into the thinking that the lighter my hair the better, on reflection this darker more neutral shade is much more flattering on me, at least I think it is and response from the fam has been positive!

My hair feels lovely and is really shiny as well.

Think I will be sticking with this dark blond for some time, I really like how it doesnt completely mask your hairs own tones so it looks very natural, not fresh out of the box and this neutral shade is warm enough not to make me look like death!

 If you are thinking of a bit of home colouring I would definately recommend trying Perfect 10, it is one of the few colours I have used where the shade on the box is pretty much what you get on your head, most aren't even in the same colour spectrum, it smells fine, the conditioner is lovely and is the only one from a colour kit that I have actually used between colouring to keep my hair looking good and my hair is in great condition, whats not to love?!

Superdrug Optimum Swiss Apple Overnight Skin Renewal Serum

You may remember that I raved about the Superdrug Swiss Apple cream recently.  To update I am still using the cream and am liking it very much although for my super dry skin, that is now being wrecked by having to increase some medication that I have to take, I have had to add some Simple moisturiser into the mix, just to make sure that my skin is suitably hydrated.  I was sent the Swiss Apple Overnight Skin Renewal Serum to try alongside the night cream and again I have been as pleasantly surprised by this as I was by the cream for during the day.

Nice glass bottle with a pump, perfect for dispensing - I use about 3 pumps of this to do a good slather on my face and neck.  Like the day cream this has no real smell and unlike the day cream no slight tingle either, which is nice - I am happy for the day cream to tingle on basis if the tingle increased and felt like it was causing a problem I could deal with it, with night serum if similar happened I might sleep through and wake up with ravaged skin!

The serum feels lovely when you apply it, nice and cooling which I like as often my face feels over heated, its quite thin so doesn't feel like its clagging up your skin and I have added a drop of facial oil afterwards a couple of times when my skin is feeling particularly parched, ladies with normal skin would not need the addition I suspect, my skin is super dry!

I have to be honest and say that a couple of times a few people have commented on how radiant my skin looks and whenever someone has passed comment it is the day after I have used the serum the night before - sometimes I am a bit rubbish and forget to use it! 

So for £14.99 would I recommend this?  I think I would in all honesty, it is lovely to use and whilst my skin hasn't been transformed it does seem better when I used this serum.  I have to point out that my skin is having a complete meltdown at the moment, partially hormonal and possibly because I haven't been too well recently so I think anything I used that was going to give really visible results would have to be a tiny bit short of a miracle.  I think if you are in your 30's and wanting to ward off early on set wrinkling this could be a good thing to try.

EOTD - GOSH Green & Revlon Blue

When I bought the GOSH green eye shadow I had always intended it to go with the Revlon matt blue.  This morning seemed as good a time as any to give it a whirl!

Really pleased with how this one turned out, it was exactly what I had in mind - always nice when that happens!

Gad knows why I appear to have a jaunty eye in this pic!

Have to say I do think the Revlon orange lip gloss I quite fancied would have been good with this, although when I mentioned it to Em this morning she rolled her eyes and said "you aren't starting that whole orange thing again are you?" so maybe not!

M&S Autograph Nail Varnishes

I first saw these nail varnishes on A Vain Woman and instantly fell in love with the colours.  Then my mum came to visit and raved about her bright red M&S nail varnish and how fab it was and I decided that I really needed to investigate.

Having had a good look at the stand in M&S I decided that I really did need the yellow, soft orange and duck egg blue that Cecilia had posted.

As soon as I got home I had a play and was instantly really impressed; even the lemon yellow wasn't too streaky and was nice and opaque.

Aren't they lovely?  I really love the soft orange, Em has worn the yellow to great effect with her black maxi and whilst I think the blue is very pretty its a bit "frosty" to be an absolute fave. The brush, formula and wear on all 3 are brilliant although having done a pedi on Em with the soft orange that was deemed as looking like "nicotine toes" would suggest keeping that one for your finger nails!

I am having some real issues with Revlon nail varnish at the moment.  I bought Blue Lagoon which was streaky and wouldn't dry and then I bought Mad About Mango, the colour is lovely but again the formula and brush leave a lot to be desired.  To me it feels a bit like Revlon are jumping on the "trendy" bandwagon at the cost of the quality for which they were renowned, style over substance sums it up for me, a real shame.  And they ought to look to their laurels, when M&S are bringing out £3 polishes with better application and wear something is not right.  Strongly recommend a quick browse round the M&S nail polish stand next time you have 5 mins spare.

GOSH - Golden Green & Coral single eye shadow.

Have been a crap blogger of late and its not for want of things to post! As I have the attention span of a slug and always love my newest thing most I am starting with my newest thing, which means there are lots of week old things on my bedside table which are currently feeling a tad disgruntled. So be it.

Em and I went to the Trafford Centre yesterday and I found my Summer perfume, I think - fell in love with Acqua Di Parma Colonia Edc although at the mo its a toss up between that and Eau de Sisley 1, so going to have to drag him to TC and do a squirt on each arm and let him decide, suspect he will think the Colonia is too strident and masculine, whilst I think the Sisley might be too floral, will keep you posted!

Newest thing; have had a craving for a lime eye shadow since I bought the matt blue Revlon one, just knew the lime would ramp things up a bit and make sure the blue never managed to look frosty and frumpy, which is a permanent terror.  Not sure if the GOSH single eye shadows are new, they looked it?  Fell instantly in love with Golden Green, which whilst not lime is a bright but wearable green.  Have also been going through a massive orange phase of late and had an urge for a peachy coral eye shadow, on the basis that it could lift my beloved UD Naked palette into new heights for Spring Summer, see how much thought I give this stuff?!  For one brief moment I hemmed and hawed; green or coral? Then gave myself a mental slap - at £4.99 each whats to decide!

Love the shiny boxes, packaging magpie that I am! Love whats inside them even more.

At the mo the offer is a free velvet eye liner with each mono shadow so I picked up Ocean Mist for me and a black to give to Em.

When we left Superdrug I had a dab of coral and a dab of golden green on my hand with a slick of the blue eye liner and they were tweaking something in my memory but I struggled to place it, and then it came to me - Butter London Spring Summer 2011 collection! Bright green that looks like new leaves, pinky shade for blossom and grey blue for April showery skies - I had bought the eye equivalent! 

I had originally planed to pair these with blue and browns, but once the Butter London collection planted itself in my head I felt the need to do an eye using all three!

Excuse the shocking eye brows!  I was really pleased with how this turned out and was feeling fab til I was in Co-op with OH and he turned to speak to me and said "god, with the light on  your eyes I can really see that eye shadow. I didn't realise quite how much you had put on".  Try as I might I struggled to find a positive in that to be honest! As he knows nothing about anything I decided just to ignore him!

The shadows are lovely to work with, nicely pigmented, soft and blendable without being crumbly and not at all chalky.  They both have some gold in them, I hesitate to use the word shimmer, I don't think either really shimmer, more of a satin finish maybe?

You can see the gold in both quite well in this photo.   I put the shadows over UDPP and they have lasted all day, no creasing or fading and I am really pleased with them and plan to add some more colours to my collection next time I am shopping.


A quick note on the velvet pencils - wow. These are £4.99 if you aren't buying a shadow and again they are fab, really creamy soft and smudgeable if thats your wish. The range of colours is exactly what we have come to expect of GOSH, was really torn between the blue and a darker purple that was gorgeous but in the end was glad I went for the blue, have a hankering for a nice bright violet too now! Em loved the black one and has gone out tonight with it smudged all round her eyes and damn sexy it looks too!


As if all that wasn't enough I have found that Coral makes the most fantastic blush! Had a swoop round with a big brush and Robert is your dad's brother, lovely!