Swatching it up a little...

I was in the sacredest of sacred places recently, yes, Boots, again and didn't buy anything!! Except some halls soothers! However, I wasn't feeling that rotten that I couldn't do a few swatches.

Benefit Hydra-Smooth Lip colour in 'Fling Thing', £15 here.  First off, the colour of this is lovely, a perfect autumnal, berry shade.  The casing is so unusual too, it kinda looks like a Doric column from ancient greece. With shea and mango butter along with Vitamin E, this packs a hefty hydration punch for your lips and has a double slanted tip for precise application.  It did glide on very smooth and I can see why this would be classed as medium-full coverage.  My only bugbear is paying £15 for a lipstick, but I could be tempted with this one!

Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick in '07 Fuschia Graffiti'.  A superbly bright pink!  This contains Orchid Blossom extract to help it glide on lips smoothly and it feels as though it would do just that.  Bourjois can do no wrong at the moment with new releases popping up every other day it seems and each collection just as good as the last.  There are 18 shades in this particular lipstick ranging from nudes to dark purples, so there is something for everyone.  This is also claimed to hydrate and protect lips for 10 hours, a claim that I usually take with a pinch of salt. This can be purchased at Boots or Superdrug for £7.99.

Lastly, was a rather melty Sleek 4 Lipstick Palette in 'Ballet'.  Sidenote, I do wish people would take a bit more care when handling products in the shops, I love a good swatch myself but it doesn't kill ya to put lids back on and not get lipstick all over the place! *steps off soapbox*. 

 Back to the matter in hand, Nudes are not something I tend to go for when picking a lippy, my dark hair, green eyes and pale pink skin, seem to me to be a better match for pinks, purples and reds.  Having saying that, nudes are something I want to experiment with as they can look great with a smokey eye and this wee palette is a great way to try out a variety of nudes.  

The pigmentation was really good with these four and the consistency was nice and smooth, the palest one on the top left corner looked to me like concealer at first glance and it seems to be softer than the others.  Still, a great introduction to the nude lip for £8.99, these only seem to be available on the Superdrug website, here, it doesn't seem to be on the Boots website at the moment, but I think that the range is quite new to Boots.

Do you have plans to buy a new lipstick for Autumn/Winter?

How much is too much to spend on a lipstick?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

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

Not the cutest panda

One thing I find supermarkets are quite limited in is their selection of eye make-up removers.  A wee while ago now, I was in need and in Sainsburys and so this eye make up removal cream by Olay, found its way into my basket.

It is a white cream of which a little goes a long way, especially if you only wear one or two coats of mascara on a normal day.  The best method I have found for this is to rub the cream GENTLY onto your closed eye, being careful not to drag on the skin under the eyes as this area is very delicate.  You do not want this product in your eye as it can be very nippy, so please be careful.  After a minute or so on each eye, the cream should have dissolved the majority of your eye make up and you can use a damp cotton pad or face cloth to gently wipe it off.

I find this to be pretty effective although if I use this after cleansing, I often find I still have a little bit of a panda eye the next morning and so I prefer to use this then cleanse.  I especially like to sweep some cleansing water over the top just to lift off any residue.

This process is best left to the privacy of the bathroom as it can get messy, might be a good look for halloween though!!

I think I prefer the quickness of an oil based eye make up remover but massaging this into the eye area can be quite nice after a long day.  It is perfume and colour free but if you have sensitive eyes, be super careful this doesn't get in them.

Do you prefer cream or oil eye make up removers?

What do you think of Olay?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

P.s. Superdrug have this buy one get one free ath the moment, priced at £2.99 

A clean sweep!

Last year, I purchased Caudalie's cleansing water and oh my, was it a revelation! Removed make up with the hassle of washing your face and flooding the bathroom, with no residue and no irritation afterwards - I was sold.  Alas, every bottle has to run out eventually and mine ran out just in time for L'oreal to release their 3-in-1 purifying micellar solution.

In a relatively un-fancy bottle, this is part of their new skin perfection range, fronted by the gorgeous Cheryl Cole.

It has a flip top lid and dispenses easily, with little chance of waste.  It is marketed as being hypo-allergenic and therefore suitable for sensitive skins.  It claims to remove all traces of make-up using just gentle sweeping motions across la visage, although some areas such as eyes and lips may require you to hold the cotton pad over the area for a few seconds longer.

It also claims to help tone the skin too.

Above is the finished result, this was quick and easy and left my face feeling clean with no redness or tightness.  I would like to try keeping this in the fridge and then using it on my eyes to dissolve my eye make-up, I think that would feel lovely and refreshing and I know it won't irritate my eyes.  I would say that if you had on more than one coat of mascara, this may struggle to remove it all.  I had previously got my make-up done at the Bobbi Brown counter and this took all that make-up off with no problems.

This is an affordable cleansing solution to keep in your work or gym bag or just to have handy when you're feeling lazy (like me!) and at the moment, superdrug have got them better than half-price at £2.48 instead of their r.r.p of £4.99 here.  I think I am going to go get a few back up bottles, and perhaps explore a bit more of this new range. 

Have you tried cleansing waters? 

Have you tried any of the new skin perfection range? 

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

*Update, as of 28th August the price now seems to have gone back up to £4.99 but is now 2 for £6