Review: Combined Products

Wrights Coal Tar Soap (£0.76-Tesco):This is a product that I have used every couple of years but could not decide whether or not I liked it that much, I think it is a good dependanble soap that can be used by all of the family but the smell is like Marmite in that you'll either love it or hate it. I like it up to a point, it smells clean and you feel that you can "trust" it to do its job properly and get your skin feeling squeeky clean and that there wont be alot of germs left. It can feel a bit hospitally to be honest and its a bit old fashioned. But over all its a decent soap and it serves its function.

E45 Cream (from about £2.50 for a small tube- the co-operative): A wonderful product that does not require a lengthy explaination. It moisturises fantastically, comes in many different sizes and doesn't cost the Earth. I first discovered it after my doctor suggested it for treating eczema (I get some little patches when stressed) as it is much cheaper than the prescriptions and does the job just as well (for the type I get anyway- there are alot of different types many of which might need to be a bit stronger). It stopped the itch and cleared up the horrible dry patches in under a week. They do have a massive bottle with a pump which is good to use on a daily basis to moisturise skin and try to prevent more outbreakes.

Barry M Nail polishes (from about £2.70- Superdrug and Boots): Have a wide variety of different colours and was vote the best inexpensive nail polish of the year by Instyle. It dries to have a nice shine and look nice and thick with two coats. It tends to be quite good in the chipping department (i.e. it doesnt chip much) but since its so thick (but not uneven) it can take a while to dry properly, but if you have time and patience it is well worth the results.

Review: Nars Night Breed Eyeshadows

Night Breed Eyeshadows in Night Porter and Night Flight (£15.00 each) from http://www.narscosmetics.co.uk/

(Night Porter-Left, Night Flight-Right)

I bought these e/s's a couple of weeks ago and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what to make of them.

Night Porter is a dark green with a green sparkle, Night Flight is a dark blue with a blue sparkle. I do actually like them but I suspect that my expectation of them has not been met and I'm feeling a little disappointed, something I don't think would have happened if I had gone into a department store and bought it at a stand where I could see it before I bought it (There isnt a Nars where I live, the closest I'm aware of is probably in London which is over an hour and a half away by train and where I have been a grand total of once since I'm terrified of going on the underground and getting lost a fear i had in New York but not in Glasgow poss. since if you get on the wrong circle you'll end up where you wanted to anyway, just takes longer-still wouldn't advise it on a football day esp if its an Old Firm match most especially if it is at Ibrox which is on the route). Anyway, back to the e/s, I found that to get any of the sparkle you had to press it on to the lid (best done over a primer and base), if you brush it on the colour weakened and didnt look very good. I have used the Night Flight in a look I have already posted here (the eurovision look) and as I mentioned then, it doesnt take to being blended, which kinda limits its scope.

I would probably press it on to the lids over a paint pot like Bare Study until I got a nice dark sparkly look or at the most apply a different shadow to the crease and blend it very carefully to see if it would work. then add liberal amounts of kohl liner to the lower lashline and waterline and then put on a lot of mascara and/or false lashes.

There was a fair bit of fall out as might be expected but there is quite alot of the product probably more than a MAC and I think there is more than in a MUFE refill (but not 100% sure).

As for it being worth the money? Well it was a nice product and it will last a long while but I'm not sure that I personally will get the full benefit from it but it might be fun to get it out now and again but I just dont think I could justify spending another £15 on one unless I saw it in person and decided I really wanted it. It also doesnt help that I didnt own a single item of Nars makeup (that said I'm totally in love with their Albatross Highlighter). I would buy from Nars again ( I have my eye on the sparkling pressed powder but since there are 3 colours and i havent seen them in person I'm a bit reluctant to spend £22- but would like the Gold Rush shade or the Machu Picchu one but not really keen on the Venus which might look a bit too pink and be a sort of little girl-esque nightmare but the others could be designed for people with darker skin than mine or atleast who are capable of getting a tan and not turning scarlet in the sun).

Overall 3.5-4/5

Review: Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes (£2.68 or 2 for £4.00) Tesco

In the past I have used these wipes and for a couple of years they were all I ever used to remove my makeup. However, for the past year I have taken to using various brands instead including Skin Wisdom and Johnsons wipes and liquid and cream eye makeup removers. Some of those were great like the MAC eye and lip makeup remover (not the wipes), Some good like the Skin Wisdom Firm & Lift 4 in 1 Cleansing wipes and the downright horrific like the Johnsons dreamy skin 3 in 1 facial night wipes which certainly removed the makeup along with half the skin from the area around my right eye leaving it red, raw, streaming and extremely painful for a couple of days less than a week before christmas (when A&E was full of drunks, the waiting times were horrendous and the GPs were closed over the weekend since I had to be experimenting with my makeup at 11pm on a friday night- Thank God it had more or less died down by Monday to a point where it was ugly but not sore or I'd have had to brave the Surgery full of sick old people, sick children, or people who had overindulged in alcohol over the weekend but wanted a sick line to get a couple of days extra off work to shop- not my idea of fun).

Anyway, the Simple wipes are AWESOME to the point where they are the UKs No1 cleanser brand (Simple as a whole I'm guessing from the sticker) and have been voted (by beauty industry experts) the best cleansing wipes in Instyles "100 Best beauty Buys" for the past two years. It's difficult to know where to start praising these wipes since there is just so much in their favour but starting with the blurb on the packet it is stated that there is no alcohol in it, no oil, no perfume or colour and no unnecessary or harsh chemical, in essence it is meant to be non drying, non greasy and non irritating. They even state that they are perfect for sensitive skin, which I can definately agree with ( normally I get a bit of burning and a little redness from products which I dont use again and nothing like what I got from the Johnsons wipes). On the back they also assert that they are dermatologically tested AND approved,the last bit is important as most brands have the products tested but it does not mean that it is approved merely that it has been tested, which is an important distinction to make in my opinion.

Whilst all of the above points are important, the product must be effective for it to be worth buying and once again the wipes succeed in meeting and passing my expectations easily. I found that the fabric of the wipes was really soft but that it removed the majority of my eyeshadow in one wipe (I have been wearing quite a lot of dark smokey looks recently)and the rest of the visible makeup in the next swipe, obviously it wont remove every trace of mascara in one or two rubs but it does get rid of most of it and I havent been waking with bad panda eyes as usual although there was a little bit smudged under my lower lashes. To my astonishment it took off all of the MUFE #92 I was wearing which hasnt happened before usually I have a pinky stain where it was applied until the next day when I apply my makeup (it gets taken off with that is removed).

(Pictured: Close up of the wipe- to see the texture of the cloth)

In a nutshell this is an amazing product, which I have no idea why I ever stopped using (actually I do I fancied a change and wanted to try other products but they all fall far short). 5/5

Review: Treacle Moon Body Scrub

Treacle Moon Body Scrub "My Coconut Island" (£2.89) avaliable in Tesco.

Unusually, the weather has been very hot today (even hotter than in Spain and its Bank Holiday weekend!!!!!!), so faced with the prospect of Short sleeved tops I decided that it would be wise to invest in some body scrub and on my hastily arranged trip to Tesco for Ice Lollies and cold drinks, thought I'd grab it there. My local Tesco isn't exactly overloaded with options (despite it being fairly large) but it did have some lovely scrubs including the one I bought.

As the name suggests, it smells of Coconut but not like the horrible scents you'd expect in something costing less than £3. It genuinely smells of holidays spent lazing around the pool or on the beach (if you like that sort of thing) or the warm balmy nights out, on some lovely Mediterranean Waterfront sipping Pina Coladas.

(A close up of some of the grains in the scrub rubbed on to palm of my hand)

As a scrub it was very nice and it was effective, it wasn't too scratchy or abrasive (still, i wouldn't recommend it for use on the face) and when applied in a circular motion to wet skin it was lovely and relaxing. It rinsed off easily enough and has left my skin feeling soft and smooth. It has even made a visible improvement on the skin of my upper arms which usually looks horrible and uneven after more than a year hidden under long sleeved tops due to the winter and terrible weather last summer (and I rarely go out in the sun being pale, auburn haired and Scottish and as a result burn very very easily and need to layer on tonnes of Factor 50).

Treacle Moon also makes other products to go with this and in other fragrances if you arent too keen on Coconut (I'm a total fiend for coconut and pineapple stuff). It doesn't hurt that the packaging is quite pretty too without being too much. I love this stuff BUY IT!!!!!!!!! 5/5

Review: China Glaze Nail Polish

China Glaze Nail polishes in "In the Lime Light" and "Japanese Koi" (£8.95) from http://www.thebeautypartnership.com/ (for UK buyers) and I believe it is avaliable from Sallys beauty supplies in the USA and possibly Canada.

After reading all of the rave reviews of china glaze online I decided to try it out for myself and ordered In the Lime Light, a neon green and Japanese Koi, a neon orange colour. Like most polishes they required two coats and they tended to dry reasonanbly quickly, but had a tendency to look a little bit dull, so a good glossy top coat is necessary. I wasn't a big fan of how they looked but this could be down to the fact that when I ordered I had no idea that they were neon (I prefer creme finishes) and had hoped that In The Lime Light would be like MACs Peppermint Patti (I really wish I had bought it) and that Japanese Koi would be good with my Morange lipstick. That said they do stock a wide range of colours and textures including creme, shimmer, glitter and holographic.

(Pictured: 2 coats of "Japanese Koi")

For the price paid you do get quite a lot for your money (14 ml compared with 10ml for nails inc which costs more) and the promotional booklet that came with it states that it has a long wearing formula with hardeners, I tend to remove my nail polish the night after I apply it (or chip it of if really bored and it has chipped) so I cant really say how long wearing it is but it did last me all day without chipping so I was fairly happy (chipped nail polish is a pet hate of mine, esp when you see a little bit in the centre of bitten nails- yuck!).

I would recommend china glaze but personally I think I'd go for a different finish rather than neon. 4.5/5

Review: Mehron Brush Treatment

Mehron brush Treatment (£4.99) from http://www.teampixie.co.uk/itemdetl.php/itemprcd/300-2T.jpg

(Pictured with the Mehron ProColorRing Neutralizer)This is basically a brush cleaner. To use all you need to do is dip the bristles into the liquid and wipe off on a cotton wool pad or a tissue. It does take off much off the makeup and it does not transfer and of the old product when you use it again meaning that it is very good for use on a daily basis. I would, however, say that it is a good idea to give the brushes a good wet wash with the MAC brush cleaner every few days to take all of the colour out and it might be more appropriate to think of the treatment as if it is a cleansing hand gel, use when you need to and between washes but don't use instead of washing.

Although it did take alot of the product off and it did not transfer any of the old stuff i have found that it does not take the stains out of my white bristled brushes like the 239 which still had some of the blue in it despite having been cleaned using the treatment twice, it was the Mac stuff that removed the remained and the brush now looks as good as new.

The treatment dries quickly and has a nice sort of minty scent to it. Overall 5/5, If you want to use it as your only cleaner 4/5.

Review: Pallets

I got the pallets off of ebayuk seller named tvgametoy (would definately recommend them) based in Hong Kong.
The 88 colour pallet and the 88 shimmer pallet are the same as the ones sold by Coastal Scents. They retail at far less than the Coastal Scents ones but have a high shipping price and the time it takes to get from Hong Kong to the UK is quite long (approx 2 weeks, but it was dispatched promptly so it is down to the postal systems not the seller). The pallets seem to be the same as those being sold on the crown brushes uk website and the are selling for a high price but since it is within the UK it would presumably arrive sooner, if needed in a hurry.

The actual products are quite good. They are highly pigmented, easy to blend and I havent had any problems with irritation or allergies (my skin is quite sensitive). The two 88 pallets are quite rightly recommended all over the internet. The blush and neutral pallets are of a high quality also. Not too much too say as there are literally hundereds of reviews of these products on youtube where it is possible to see the products being used. 5/5

I'm properly back

Had so much on this past while, namely end of term essays and exams, but I now hope to blog a bit more often and have atleast 6 reviews planned and those will hopefully be typed and up over the next couple of days.

Last exam was yesterday and ended up being not very well last night (stress related, not alcohol) and have been very tired and nauseous today so will try and be awake long enough to get at least some of those up tonight.

Pallet numbering

I finally got the pallets (88 shimmer, 88, 28 neutral and 28 blush) last week and I've been really impressed so far, the one problem I have found is that since there are a few colours which look similar, I can't remember which one I used so to combat this, I have numbered the colours.

It didn't take too long to do and has made things sooo much easier. Basically, I wrote the numbers on the clear plastic cover with the pallet over the e/s's with a black sharpie. Not the most creative or genius thing I've ever done but it works.

Eurovision EOTN

One of my favourite nights of the year (I am that sad)...Eurovision.

Have decided to take the easy way out and do a blue,red and white eyeshadow look.

Just posting eyes tonight as the universe has mocked me meaning that the night when my hair has been styled by myself and looks good (not clear from these photos)happens to be during the exam period and I have put on weight, making my lower face look terrible and I have a stress induced break out ( around my mouth and chin area).

There is not a great deal of blending in this picture (I dont find that this combination blends very well) and I tried to give it a slight 1960's feel (i.e. when we actually did well out of eurovision...I hope we do better this year as the woman were sending this year is actually very good).

Face

Mehron procoloring neutralizer

MAC mineralize satinfinish foundation NC15

Barbara Daly Concealer Fair

28 Blush pallet light pink (number 2 as i have labled it)

Nars highlight- Albatross

Eyes

UDPP

MAC e/s Gesso

UD Deluxe e/s Adore

NYX jumbo e/s pencil Cherry

88 pallet Red (number 72)

Nars e/s Night Flight

MAC e/s Crystal Avalanche

Barry M e/l No. 4 (royal blue)

Barry M e/l No. 30 (white)

Collection 2000 glitter liner Night fever

Diorshow mascara

Bourjois brow pencil

Lips

MAC slimshine in Bare

Just summing up

I have decided to attempt pincurls. They are easy and quick to do but take ages to set (I am trying the ones that sit up from my head rather than the ones that sit against my head and are easier to sleep in without messing up). I suspect that if it goes well in future I will wear them at night and pout them in first thing in the morning rather than wear them overnight for the day as it is a pain. Might do a tutorial on them if I ever get a camcorder or the camera on the mac I'm currently thinking on buying, is any good.

Done a lot of makeup shopping in the past week, bought two of the Nars Nightlife eyeshadows (in Night Porter and Night Flight) and if I'm honest I'm not exactly loving them. They look gorgeous in their container but they dont make any great impact once they've been applied and they are so dark I couldn't see a massive difference between them. I also got the Orgasm blusher and the Albatross highlighter (Nars has free standard delivery on orders over £50). The blusher is very very light but it builds up nicely but it would take a lot to look heavy which is quite good. The Highlighter, I am just absolutely in love with, it is light but it give an amazing glow and shimmers a bit without making you look like an escapee from the 1970's Disco scene (not necessarily a bad thing, I love glitter).

Have finally found a way to wear Coppering without making my eyes look sore so I was quite pleased with myself (I teamed it up with Bronze, Club and Shroom- All MAC colours). I probably shouldn't be spending my time doing this as my 1st exam is a week on Tuesday but...

Waiting for a few things to arrive before I post a haul, ordered the two 88 pallets from Hong Kong and they are apparently the same as the ones sold by Coastal Scents. I can hardly wait for them to arrive and hope like hell they don't get damaged on the way here. Am going to buy a couple of things from Lime Crime after my last exam as a sort of celebration. I don't usually drink alcohol so the amount I'd spend on alcohol will go on makeup- which means that 1. UK prices are very high esp on booze and 2. it takes quite alot have any effect on me and i tend to buy the dearer cocktails that dont taste of alcohol as I'm not keen on it (it tends to make me think of nail polish remover or that horrible smelling stuff you have to use on your hands when visiting people in hospital) so I should be able to get a good haul. Decided to treat myself if i do well this year and since i get the results a week after my birthday I should get some good stuff (If I do badly I suspect the alcohol will be more attractive ;p).

Will try to get a couple of reviews done over the next couple of weeks around my studying. And I'm trying to get a good Red, White and Blue look done for Eurovision (16th May), hope we do well this year and dont come last as per usual. The woman we're sending this year is quite pretty so hopefully she'll have nice makeup and since Andrew Lloyd Webber is controlling things to do with her song and public profile abroad as well as a changed voting system (50% of the votes are by judges the rest is the usual political voting). Germany has Dita Von Teese performing to their song. Clearly the Big Four (UK, Germany, France and Spain) have decided to put up a fight this year and its about time. Although Terry Wogan is no longer doing the commentary (I miss him already) we do now have Graham Norton (he is very funny and is so camp he was the most obvious choice in my opinion)

Review: Carbon e/s (MAC)

Just a quick review of MACs Carbon eyeshadow (£9.80- individual or £7.34- pan for pallet).

Normally wouldn't do a review of a fairly basic product like this, however, I got an amazing surprise from this one.

The e/s is just a matte black but it applies so smoothly its unreal. In my teens I went through a mosher/goth stage where black e/s was basically compulsary. In those days I was flat broke and more or less restricted myself to the brands you get in Boots (I grew up in a former industrial town outside of Glasgow- basically there was No 7 (skin reacts badly to this) or 17 or some of the cheaper brands like Rimmel which I'm allergic to). So for 2 years I lived in 17s blacks eyeshadow which wasn't too bad since all I was doing was applying it thickly all over my lid and that was it. I noticed that it tended to drag a little but it was fine.

Now I feel a bit weird buying 17 and have not worn black e/s since I was 17 until recently when I bought Nyx black e/s, well it drags quite badly which given that I wear it as part of a look with other colours isn't very helpful. I have tried a few other brands and got the same thing to varying degrees. I resented paying the better part of £10 for something I was sure would drag but I was wrong, it's amazing. I expected it to be dry and powdery (not in a good way) but it went on nicely and blends so easily and has a nice finish.

I will be buying this again once I have run out and think that it was worth every penny. 5/5