Lush Emotional Brilliance Launch

Lush's long-awaited makeup range launches tomorrow, and I have just got home from a little preview event that the King's Road shop held tonight. I had a lovely time- the staff were friendly and helpful, and of course we got to try the new range!

The whole range is quite unique- the bottles reminded me of an old apothecary, and you can't even tell what kind of product is in the bottle until you read the label/ take the lid off to find the wand (although you could hazard a guess from the colours!).

There's a good range of colours available, as you can see- the brand haven't gone for things that are on trend, instead the whole idea is that you find makeup that suits your current emotions. Each one is labelled with a different word to match what you might be feeling, and Lush actually have called the products 'word up' rather than 'makeup'.

We were told to close our eyes, completely clear our minds, and picture no colours at all- just a blank, white canvas. Then, as the wheel (shown above) was being spun, we had to open our eyes and choose the first three colours that popped out at us.

I chose three lip colours (luckily, as I usually focus on strong lips!)- a gorgeous red, vibrant orange, and a shocking pink. The first colour represents what mood you're in at that time- this was the red, which was called 'Decisive'. The second colour represents what your subconscious is telling you to focus on- for me that was the orange, 'Ambition'. The third represents what you are all the time, and I chose the pink, which was 'Passionate'!

The dry ice definitely won me over

The three colours I chose: Decisive, Ambition, Passionate

It might sound strange, but the three colours I chose, and what they were supposed to represent actually did kind of match up! Even though I know it's only supposed to be a bit of fun, I was quite excited at that! These colours had a really nice texture too- the only thing I would say was when I tried them on, the orange (Ambition) seemed to have a bit of a weird taste- probably just me, but something to look out for.

Passionate, Decisive, Ambition

Passionate, Ambition, Decisive

Out of the three, my favourite was the pink Passionate- it looked absolutely amazing on, and was really strong in colour. I was encouraged to try them all on my eyes as well (you can use all of the colours all over the face), but I completely chickened out!

The bottles cost £14.50 each and will be available tomorrow- I think I'll be in store picking up the Passionate!

Downton Abbey Sisters

Nothing to do with products this time, but WOW have you guys seen their photoshoot for Love magazine?

I think they all look amazing!

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2176295/Downton-Abbey-sisters-transformed-magazine-cover-shoot.html#)

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser: Review

Today, I thought I'd review one of my favourite products EVER.

A lot of you have probably tried Liz Earle's hero product, the Cleanse & Polish (£14.25 for a 100ml starter pack with two muslins)- I've been using it for about five years now, and really haven't found anything better. Their tag line is that they only need to sell one cleanser, because this suits all skin types, and I have to agree- my skin's changed from oily to normal/combination while I've been using it, and I've found it still works well, and friends/relatives of mine have all loved it despite having wildly different skin.

The cleanser itself is quite creamy in texture, and smells absolutely gorgeous- the eucalyptus really comes through so it smells really fresh. One pump is enough to do the whole face, and you must apply the product to dry skin or it doesn't really work properly. This product is also gentle enough to apply to the eye area- I've never had any irritation from it whatsoever. The 'polish' part of the name comes from the muslin cloth (rinsed in hot water) that you're supposed to use with it- you'll get some people who say that it's fine to use with cotton pads or even just rinsing off with water, but the muslins add an exfoliating step to the cleansing routine.

You can see how creamy the texture is from the picture- amazing!

What I love about this is that it takes off all my eye make up- I never use a separate remover. I do have trouble if I wear waterproof mascara (it takes a bit longer to get off, and a bit more product), but as that's a rare occurrence, it doesn't really bother me! I did a little swatch to show you how it takes off eyeliner and lipstick below:

After one wipe with the muslin

After a few more wipes!

As you can see, it doesn't come off completely with just one wipe of a muslin, but it's pretty good! One thing is that is annoying is that the muslins do get soft and lose their texture after a while, but I guess there's not much that can be done about that. Another thing to note is that some of my lipsticks actually stain the muslins, so be careful!

Have any of you tried Cleanse & Polish? Do you love it as much as I do? Let me know!
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Nars Multiple: Review

A friend who was clearing out some of her beauty products last year gave me two of Nars' The Multiple sticks, so I thought I'd do a little post about them.  The Multiple has been hailed as some sort of wonder-stick, designed for use all over the face, as an eyeshadow, lip colour, blusher, highlighter or even as a contouring tool.

The shades I got were Portofino, and Cannes (which has now been discontinued). The Portofino is a beautiful pinky coral colour, with a slight shimmery sheen to it, and the Cannes is plummy colour with bronze undertones.

Left: Portofino    Right: Cannes

Left: Portofino    Right: Cannes

The swatches of these colours aren't quite as intense in colours as in the stick, but are still quite good:

Left: Portofino    Right: Cannes

And if you blend them a bit, they can be used just to give a hint of colour to the skin:

Left: Portofino    Right: Cannes

So, what do I actually think of the products?

I love the Portofino- this stick has actually made it into my everyday makeup routine, as my blusher. I have quite pale skin (as you can see from the swatches above!) and it gives it a nice dewy glow, and a slight hint of colour, that makes me look less like an extra from The Walking Dead!  I actually apply this using my fingers- it's what Nars recommend, and it's really easy to do.The Cannes is a little too dark for my skin to be used as a blusher, and a bit too purple for my liking as well.

Both give nice lip colours- more a subtle tint than anything else, but I find them too drying to wear them every day. Also ,I have to say, I haven't used either colours on my eyes- partly because I don't wear much eyeshadow, but also because I just don't like the texture as an eye product.

These multi-sticks retail at £29.00, so as I only use it as a blusher, in all honesty, I probably won't be buying the Portofino again once I run out. I do love the colour, but it's a bit too expensive for me at the moment to justify buying it, especially when I'm not using it as a multi-purpose stick.

Luckily, however, they do last for absolutely ages, so it'll be a while before I need to worry about finding a replacement!
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Saran Wrap/ Clingfilm Nails

I've just read an excellent post on 'Saran Wrap Nails' by Leanne at donotrefreeze.com (http://www.donotrefreeze.com/2012/07/saran-wrap-cling-film-who-knew.html#), and she made it look so easy, that I decided to try it for myself...

Step 1: Choose two colours- one as your base coat, one as your top coat. (I chose Missguided's Misstify as  my base, and Rimmel's Double Decker Red as my top)
Step 2: Get some clingfilm and scrunch it up into little balls.
Step 3: Paint your nails with the base coat, and leave to dry completely. (Apparently you should leave it overnight if possible, but I'm an impatient girl, and 30 mins was all I gave it...)
Step 4: Paint each nail with one layer of the top coat, and use the clingfilm balls to gently press on the nail while still wet. This will remove random patches of the top coat, letting the bottom colour show through.
Step 5: Paint the nails with a clear top coat. (I'm really bad and don't usually bother with base/top coats, but I felt in this case, my nails needed it).

The result was this:

(Without Flash)

(With Flash)

Not perfect, but pretty happy with it considering it was my first go!

Oh and don't worry if it looks messy to start with- before I cleaned it up a bit, this is what it looked like:

(The palm of my other hand was totally covered in red nail varnish too...)

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Liz Earle Eyebright Review

I have the worst hayfever ever at the moment. Usually I get a bit of a runny nose at least, but no, this year, I have a blocked/runny nose (how does that work exactly?), I'm constantly sneezing, and my eyes are so watery, sore and itchy that all I seem to be doing is rubbing them, which is not helping matters AT all.

So attractive right now.

Anyway, Liz Earle's Eyebright is my go-to product at the moment. Its name comes from one of its main ingredients, the herb eyebright, which has been used for centuries as, unsurprisingly, a remedy for eye problems.

Eyebright

The two other main ingredients are witch hazel (which tones the skin) and aloe vera (which soothes). The product is marketed as a 'soothing eye lotion' and is supposed to help 'refresh tired, puffy, or sore eyes'.

Let's get one thing straight: I love this product. I've used it for years, and it really does soothe the eyes and bring them down a bit. It's really worked wonders on my hayfever-battered eyes recently.

Even though it's called a 'lotion' it's really a liquid, more like a toner in consistency, and one thing to note is that it has a really strong smell. I happen to like strong smells, but it might not be to everyone's taste. The way to use it is to pour it onto cotton wool pads, close your eyes and place the pads on top. If you don't like covering up your eyes, then fold the pads into a half-moon shape, and place under the eye- it'll work just as well.

Liz Earle Eyebright 

A cotton pad with some of the product on it-
as you can see, the colour of the product is quite neutral

If you are interested at all in this product, check it out on their website: http://uk.lizearle.com/eyebright-soothing-eye-lotion.html

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Essie Review: Update

I've spent the morning doing housework- cleaning, washing up etc. and still only have one minute chip on one finger. MAJORLY impressed with Essie right now, and thinking about getting another colour...

My bank balance is not going to be happy with this latest development.

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