E.l.f Studio Lip Definer and Shaper

A while back in a previous post, here, I mentioned I use the e.l.f. Lip definer and shaper and as I still enjoy using it, I thought I would go into a bit more detail.

This is a dual ended device which makes it ideal for your handbag.  It also has a sharpener on it which I find to be a nice little touch.

One end has the Lip definer, which is the darker shade which I find to be an ever so slightly blue tinged pinky mauve.  The shaper end is more like a highlighter which you would use to help define your cupids bow and round the edge of your lower lip.  

The pictures have got a slightly brown looking tinge here, thank you iPhone, but it is pinkier in real life whereas the shaper end is more of a champagne pink colour.  The shaper could, at a push, be used as a highlighter elsewhere on your face if you were really strapped for space.  It would need to be blended in with fingers I think as it would need the heat to help melt it a little bit.

I like to apply this all over the lip as it gives a neutral but better look and I find it makes my teeth look a wee bit whiter thanks to the slight hint of blue. It is soft to apply and therefore does not drag, it struggled a wee bit in the summer months as it was so soft and I would definitely recommend a spell in the fridge before you try to sharpen it or you will get one messy sharpener!

For during the work day, I like to apply a wee bit of lip balm over the top, usually my trusty carmex, to give a sheen and to add some SPF

Overall, I really like this as a no fuss liner that can be worn on a day to day basis and it won't break the bank!  

Do you have a go-to lip product for daily use?

Have you tried any e.l.f. products?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

Weekend Mani

I was given a new nail polish by one of my lovely work chums and couldn't wait until the weekend to try it out.

Introducing Sally Hansen's 'fuzzy coat!' 

Similar to Nails inc. feathers, the fuzzy coat contains strands of different colours suspended in a clear base.  The colour I was given was 'all yarned up' however, I believe there is 8 different colours in the range.

As soon as I saw this, I automatically thought of 'Porchester Square' a gorgeous Nails Inc, neutral shade, marketed as one of their hero shades.  These two polishes together give an otherwise very grown up mani a fun twist.

When I was shopping for my mum's birthday, the girl behind the counter at the jewellers even commented on my nails! 

When I was passing through Boots - it was a shortcut, I promise! I came across their new nails inc stand and couldn't resist a comparison.  This is 'All yarned up' next to 'Chester feathers', they are very similar! The Nails Inc has turquoise-y type strands as opposed to the blue in the Fuzzy coat.  

Application was pretty good although I do find the strands a pain on the end of the nail, if they hang over at all, they can catch and chip very easily.  Once applied the texture was pretty smooth, a coat of seche vite settled any bumpy bits.

What I really like about this is that it is a trend that all ages can wear, the recently retired secretary from my work came in with cake and she was wearing the Nails inc feathers! 

I'm intrigued to try the Bourjois laser toppings now.

Have you tried any of the feathers effect polishes? 

Hugs, 

Jodi

xxx

Hello Softy!

Recently, I may have mentioned a mini splurge in Boots - shock!

I couldn't help myself when I spotted this Soap & Glory 'night in shining armour' cream in the reduced section - reduced you say?! Instead of the usual £13 this cost me £3.25, happy birthday to me!

So, contained in this screw top, pearlescent tub is a myriad of skin-friendly ingredients.  There is the patented Superpeptide complex, which is scientifically proven to reduces wrinkles, increase elasticity, improve skin smoothness and also skin firming effects.  It also includes antioxidant EFA oils (I've yet to find out what the EFA stands for but it would appear to be vegan?!), Vitamins A and E and lastly, aromatic fragrance oils which include orange, mandarin, geranium and lavender.

One major thing that I will point out is that the scientific evidence and statistics are based on testers using this twice daily over two months, so unless we live on mars which has two moons, we earthlings would only be applying a NIGHT cream once per NIGHT! So, any results would possibly take up to four months to become visible.

All in all, I found this to be pretty effective at giving my skin a moisture boost, it would be awesome if it had maybe some salicylic acid or hylauronic acid in it, but for a mid price moisturiser it's pretty decent. I reckon one tub will last a good couple of months too as a little goes a long way.  My face definitely felt softer in the morning and looked a bit brighter too which is always a bonus.  The scent is a floral herby kinda mix, I don't detect so much of the citrus in it.  After applying this to my face, I feel a brief, invigorating sensation, if you have ever used original source tea tree shower gel, it's a bit similar! 

It's available at boots, in stores and online here.

Do you have a magic night time cream?

Are you a fan of soap & glory?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

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 

Weekend indulgence

This weekend I ate far too much fine food.  We decided we were going to have a weekend of mooching about town and scoffing nice things.

Saturday consisted of a quick nip into town in the morning to to return something to New Look and a trip to the Bobbi Brown counter in John Lewis, more deets on that later though, followed by a refreshing red berry cooler from Costa.  These are my favourite thing to drink just now but the only thing that has given me brain freeze since I was about seven! Later on we had a roast chicken dinner that was huge! My man is very good in the kitchen and worked in a professional kitchen for years and his portion sizes are huge, I made sure to eat all my veg first though!

Sunday consisted of a trip to Dobbies with Grandmama and they have the most amazing cakes on display.  On the way out I spotted this strawberry tart jelly and it is exactly the same as you used to get on the proper strawberry tarts - slightly worring that strawberries are not anywhere on the ingredients list but I still bought it!

Saturday Evening was spent drinking frozen pina colada out of a pineapple and playing trivial pursuit  - I lost! 

Of course, we couldn't resist trying out the strawberry tart jelly and we even added strawberries.  It. Was. Nom!

Hope you all had a nice weekend

Do you have favourite yummy food haunts?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

Fresh and Juicy!

For someone who usually never wins a thing, I've been really rather lucky of late.  My latest win was this super cute juicy couture perfume duo from a competition I entered on the Glamour website.  

Contained with the plastic packing was the cutest, handiest perfume dispenser I have seen in quite some time.  The darker pink end is 5ml of 'Viva la Juicy' and the lighter pink is the slightly fresher 'Viva la Juicy la Fleur'.  These scents compliment each other very well and would take you easily from day to night.

I was even more excited to discover the fragrances were rollerballs! So handy! 

I'll be the first to admit that if someone said 'Juicy Couture' to me, my first thought would have been a big bum encased in a velour pink tracksuit but this perfume duo has really impressed me.

'Viva la Juicy' is fresh, warm and fruity all in one with top notes of mandarin and wild berries, heart notes of honeysuckle, jasmine and gardenia and warming base notes of amber, caramel woods, vanilla, sandalwood and praline.  These all combine to make a playfully sensual scent.

'Viva la Juicy la Fleur' is almost like the younger sister of the two, it has more of a fruity and fresh scent due to the addition of water lily to the top notes and without the depth of amber and praline.  This is a much more flirty, daytime fragrance.

Of the two, I felt that 'Viva la Juicy' lasted longer on my skin but both lasted a good couple of hours, detectable to me, when placed upon the usual pulse points.  

A great little handbag hero and it turns out Juicy Couture do quite a few of these nifty little gals, some of which also have lipglosses! Hurrah! 

Do you have any space saving favourites?

What's your scent of the summer? 

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

A trio of Barrie's ...

Hey Chummers!

I couldn't go into Boots and not come out without a polish (or three) *chortle*

Pictured below is the white, ltd edition yellow (only available at boots) and the pink sequin effect. I really like the ltd edition cap, it just makes it look so much more edgy.

Below we have two coats of white on the index (pointer) finger and one coat of the yellow and the white on the following fingers.

Next up we have the two coats of the pink sequin effect over the white to give it a bit of oomph, two coats of the yellow on its own and one coat of yellow over the white.

Two things stood out for me that I did not like about these purchases, firstly, if you are testing a nail polish in a shop, please do it neatly and cleanly! In the picture below, just at the top, you can see a bit of dried up yellow polish, the lid was practically crusted on - eugh! 

Secondly, the sequin effect polish.  The formula was terrible if I'm brutally honest, the base pink was grainy and the colour itself was wishy -washy, it was not good to work with.  It also had a textured finish.  On the second coat I found that the base colour covered a fair few of the 'sequins' from the first coat giving them a much less vibrant effect.  I was gutted by this polish as I had really liked the look of it when it was first released.

The iphone pic below isn't the best, however this is two coats of the sequin effect polish, just look how patchy and meh the finish is! 

The formula of the white and the yellow polish were pretty good, if applied very carefully you could reach opacity in two coats, or if done not so carefully (like me!) you would benefit from three.

Whats your feelings on all these new textured polishes?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx