And the highlight of this post is...

You may, or may not, have heard that theBalm Cosmetics are releasing a new luminzing,highlightering, shimmery shadow goodness in the form of 'Cindy Lou-Manizer a.k.a.The Con-tour Artist'. The swatches are making me hyperventilate! It is very pretty and looks to be a great shade for us pale skin girls.  I am waiting patiently until it arrives on our shores though, shipping off of theBalm website to Aberdeen is $25!  Thats one dollar more than the actual item itself!
I digress, seeing the new release made me take another glorious look at my 'Mary'.  This is one of the best highlighters I have tried and I thought I would do a comparison with a product from another of my favourite brands, Benefit.  

Meet 'Moon Beam' liquid highlighter and 'Mary-Lou Manizer' powder highlighter.

So lets start on ease of use.  'Mary' is nice and easy, just lightly dust across where you require a little glow and you're done.  The 'Moon Beam' is a bit trickier because it is liquid.  A little goes a long way with these liquid highlighters and it's usually best to just put a few dots along where you need it and then blend.  This is the bit I struggle with as I often feel I end up undoing my base to blend this.

So colour wise, initially they would appear in the same colour family, so to speak,  'Mary' is a bit of a lighter, champagne gold whereas the 'Moon Beam' has a bit more warmth to it. However, once you get to blending, that changes more than I had expected!

The 'Moon Beam' ends up with a reddish, apricot tone to it which is totally different to the 'Mary'.  The change is quite drastic, and although it is very pretty, it has the potential to change the make up look that you were intent on having. It's still nice and shimmery but on my pale skin, to suddenly have reddish tones along the top of my cheekbones makes me look a bit oddly flushed.  Not ideal if you were aiming for Kim K. style contours.

A few more pics just because I was thrown by how much the 'Moon Beam' changed!  

It's very pretty and on skin with a bit of a tan, the apricot tones would look gorgeous but for now, 'Mary' suits my paleface and my needs much better.

'Moon Beam' is discontinued now but that's not to say it won't come back, however, I did some digging and found a blog post by What Larry Loves, which compares 'Moon Beam' with a super cheap, easy to get a hold of alternative, if the colour sets you aflutter!

I got my 'Mary' from feelunique when they had a 10% off sale however I have noticed it has went from £15 to £16! Sad times!  Save your pennies up and wait for the sales folks! 

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

My First...Ever Birchbox!

Evening chummers!

Last Friday I received my first ever Birchbox, I had ordered it on Halloween after spotting an offer on Tattooed Tealady's blog, where you could get another box free (to give to a friend, or friends or family, or keep all for yourself!) and as it was possible going to contain a Laura Mercier product, I went for it.

This is what I got...

A fine selection, I hope you agree.  Below is the menu...

I got...Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser in Nude (14.7ml) , Dr Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant (7.5g), KMS California Hair Play Makeover Spray (50g/70ml), theBalm Cosmetics Stainiac (1.2ml), Dr. Lipp Nipple Balm for Lips (3ml), Egyptian Magic (3 x 3ml sachets).

 Birchbox also often provide a 'Lifestyle Extra' which, in this case, was a sachet of Chia Seeds (8g) which is the superfood of the moment.

Also provided with the Chia seeds was a wee information card and even a recipe for a smoothie by a celebrity chef none-the-less.

From ordering it on the 31st of October, in the afternoon, it arrived pretty quickly on the 8th of November, so just a week, which isn't bad at all.  It came well packaged in it's own recyclable box (or you could use for storage as it is sturdy enough) and there were also information cards provided which told me about Birchbox, about the Birchbox shop, about products they sell, about how to use the products etc. 

 

The products themselves were contained within a small drawstring bag within the pouch, which again would be pretty handy for storage.  I can actually see the bag being pretty useful for maybe storing hair stuff in if I were going away for the weekend.

A couple of things I will mention is that my second box was dispatched a week later (so I'm told) and the Laura Mercier product (which I was most looking forward too) appeared to be opened and the tube was a bit dirty.  While I appreciate that not everything comes sealed nowadays (the Dr Brandt was), it did look as though it had been used or at least squished very hard! 

The tube as it was in the box :-(

Dr Brandt product was nicely sealed though!

I contacted Birchbox customer services, got a reply within 24 hours and was told a replacement product would be sent out and that my second box was on it's way - can't say fairer than that!

Overall, I was pretty chuffed with this box and the great customer service is always a win for me (I worked in a Hotel for 9 years, I had customer service drilled into me!).  I'm glad I went for it as although I loved the 'present' aspect of the Beauty Box, the mediocre Glossyboxes had put me off a bit.

Also, if you are thinking about getting a subscription, you can get cashback via Topcashback. 

Birchbox also have an online shop where you can purchase the full size items featured in your box and they also offer a rewards points system which can help towards your treats! 

Do you get any Beauty Boxes?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

Just because...

I bought these a while ago and have already had separate posts for three of these items; the Bourjois Colour Boost, here, the Models Own Artistix, here, and the Models own Absinthe, here.

I like this picture though, which is almost the only reason I have put it on. Haha, I'm so easily amused.

This will also give you a wee insight into a few more reviews that I am going to be doing soon!

Bourjois are Bringing it!

Peach on the beach, never has a name been so apt than this delicious little nugget from Bourjois.  Bourjois are really upping the stakes at the moment and my wishlist is growing exponentially with those stakes.  Here is one of their Colour Boost Lip Crayons and I urge you to try one and not want to keep it!

Following in the style of the Clinique Chubby sticks, these are a very effortless and speedy addition to your make-up bag. I can see them lasting a good amount of time too as one swipe and your done, even stevens!

The top is pointed for precision (although I squished mine a little putting the lid on).

And the silver part at the bottom twists the product up, similar to a lipstick or a retractable pencil thing that lasted your first week back at school.

The colour is a yummy, juicy coral which will suit a majority of skin tones and would go beautifully with a tan.

I would say that the hydration is good but perhaps not the 10 hours promised good, especially not if eating or drinking.  On me, the glossiness faded after about two hours but it left a nice tint behind on the lips.  On another one of my colleagues who also tried it, I would say after an hour all that was left was a tint.

Here you can see the sheeny shiney-ness of it.  One thing I really like is that although it is incredibly juicy looking, it is not sticky.  There is nothing worse than walking to work with my hair stuck to my face, I have to cross some big (big in aberdeen) roads and seeing where I'm going is incredibly helpful!

This gives a pretty opaque colour for one swipe, although I think on the lip it has a slightly more milkier opacity to it.  I had this to work and one of the staff nurses, who is blonde and really tanned, put this on and it looked great on her but just not as orangey-coral as it did on the back of my hand.  Still gorgeous though!

These are available in six shades on the Superdrug website, here, and on the Boots website, here. It is worth noting that on the Boots website, 'Peach on the Beach', is just called 'On the Beach'.  Also worth noting is that Boots have a buy one get a second half price offer on at the moment.

I'm after 'Prune' next, sounds like an ideal autumnal shade.

Oh, and one last thing, these little beauties contain SPF15, so really you would be doing yourself a favour if you went out and bought one.  Right now. 

Have you tried these yet?

Hugs,

Jodi 

xxx