The perfect Barbie pink

Hi ladies, just a quicky post today about the perfect Barbie pink nail polish. Rimmel make some amazingly good quality nail polish's and this is one of my favourites. It's from their Pro range and is number 293 Pop Rose. The perfect Barbie pink!

It looks fab on toes too and because it has the wider brush, it's really fool proof to apply.

My poor Mac palette

My Mac palette has seen better days. It's been dropped off of my dressing table numerous times, and shadows have shattered as a result (note the now empty pans - boo!). Having said all that something made me what to depot my Stila eye shadows  into the palette so everything was close at hand and things didn't get forgotten. Here's a before and after.

BEFORE:-

This was the dreadful state my palette was in prior to it's overhaul. I took out the dividers, which was easier said than done but I wanted to be able to fit in my larger Stila pans.

AFTER:-

Here's the result. I wasn't able to get the square and rectangular Stila shadows out of their plastic case but I've simply slotted it in and the lid of the palette seems to work just fine. I'm pleased to have my Stila shadows out and within easy access so I can actually use them, however, when ever I buy a new Mac shadow in future I will not be depotting it as I've managed to damage so may of my colours from dropping the palette, I'd rather have then in pan form, so it's also easier to pop them in my makeup bag. I'm clearly too clumsy for a palette, in the meantime I will try to be more careful!

What do you prefer palette or pot? P.S Did you enjoy the wedding?

St Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Lotion

For a while now I've been debating on whether to try in the infamous XEN-TAN but after much deliberation I decided to retry an old favourite. Spurred on from reading Maria from TOWIE's blog post I went online and purchased myself a 240ml bottle of St Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Lotion.

I am absolutely IN LOVE with this product. I cannot say enough good things about it. I find it easy to apply, it has very little "fake tan" smell to it, in fact it actually smells like a beautiful perfume! You definitely need to purchase some latex gloves (or you can use those gloves you get in boxes of hair dye - not the ones stuck to the instruction leaflet, the ones in the kinder egg looking container!) and also a buffing mitt although a buffing mitt is not as essential as the latex gloves, unless you want your hands to be 100 times darker than the rest of your body that is!

This is the video I watched to get the gist of how to apply it 

and have used this method with excellent results.

In order to maintain my tan I have been using exfoliating gloves each time I shower and also I've been ensuring that I moisturise thoroughly. The lotion I used to apply the tan, and blend etc. is by Nivea and has no mineral oil in or petroleum which could act as a barrier and stop the tan developing properly. I've been reapplying the tan every 3 days or so, but I think it would last longer than that, I'm just scared to be tan free now!

I'm not sure whether you'll be able to see properly in this photo (taken on my phone - sorry!) but I can definitely see that I'm very tanned... and loving it!

What's your favourite self tan?

Happy Easter weekend!

I thought I'd quickly check in with you all and wish you a very happy Easter! What are your plans? I'm going to be enjoying the beautiful weather here in the UK, plenty of lovely salads and the odd glass of wine! I have been neglecting my blog a little bit recently, I used to try to post almost everyday but it's been hard to find the motivation at the moment. I will be doing a review on St Tropez Tanning Lotion that I bought this week, I'm absolutely loving it, I'm so brown it's fab! So that will be coming up soon. I'll leave you with a quick look at the oh so pretty hairband my mum bought for me yesterday, that I posted on Twitter this morning (please follow me if you don't already, I'd love to chat to you all!). 

Have a lovely weekend!  

Cream or powder?

As we move into the warmer months, do you find yourself reaching for cream products rather than powder? I think many of us prefer to use a cream blush and highlighter in the spring and summer months, so as to avoid that cakey powdery look throughout the day. I've recently dug out two of my cream blushers, and it dawned on me that they are very similar, so if you can't find one, the other will do just perfectly!

The two in question are Mac Ladyblush and Stila Lillium. My mum has stolen Ladyblush and it takes up permanent residence in her makeup bag now but I will let her off, because I love her and also because Lillium is very very similar.

I love also that these products can double up as lip colours too, dual purpose is always a plus, especially if you're planning a holiday abroad and have limited luggage space.

What's your favourite cream blush? Do you favour cream products over powder when the weather warms up?

NARS Sheer Matte foundation and colour comparisons

Nars came out with their Sheer Glow and Sheer Matte foundations a couple of years back, and while I dabbled with Sheer Glow and wasn't overly impressed (you can read my thoughts here and here) it's taken me a while to venture into trying Sheer Matte.

Sheer Matte is an oil- free foundation with a matte finish (surprise surprise!) it goes on quite sheer but the coverage is buildable. It dries on the skin quite quickly so you need to work fairly quickly to blend. I find the easiest way of doing this is to do sections of my face and completely blend it before moving to another part of my face, I usually start with my nose and then chin and forehead before applying to the cheeks which is where I don't need as much coverage.

The colour I chose was Deauville. I have used Deauville (light 4 with a neutral balance of pink and yellow undertones) previously in Nars Oil Free Foundation and when I bought Sheer Glow I bought it in Mont Blanc which is much too pink for my skintone (and now belongs to my mum!). For reference I am NC15 - NC20 in Mac. What I will say about the colour of this foundation is that it is very yellow. I was hoping that it would be slightly more neutral toned going on the colour description but because the foundation coverage is quite sheer I don't think it matters a great deal.

Here I have compared the colours. From the top NARS Sheer Matte (Deauville), MAC Studio Fix Fluid (NC15), MAC Studio Fix Fluid (NC20), NARS Sheer Glow (Mont Blanc), Bobbi Brown Natural Finish (Warm Ivory) and Revlon Photoready (Vanilla).

I find that the longevity of the Sheer Matte is good. I have worn it both with and without powder and I prefer it without powder because it stays a lot more natural looking on my skin. The only area where I find I need to touch up during the day is my nose, because I get quite shiny there but my chin and forehead hold up well. Generally I would say that I have normal to combination skin, I can get an oily t-zone and quite dry cheeks. It has not broken me out whatsoever.

My rule for whether a foundation oxidise or not is usually linked to if I use a day cream with an SPF in it. If I use an SPF then 9 time out of 10 my foundation will oxidise, if I use something like Cetaphil then it doesn't. This rule holds true for this foundation. Overall, this isn't holy grail (as yet), but I do like it.

What's your favourite foundation of the moment?

Spring lip combo

Hi ladies, just a quick post today, here's my new favourite lip combo. Mac's Chatterbox lipstick and Mac's Like Venus Dazzleglass. It's nice and bright and cheerful for the Spring!

What's your favourite lip combo at the moment?

Favourite blog of the moment...

Over the weekend I have been completely obsessed with this blog and have read it in it's entirety! Go have a look here.

Beside the seaside, beside the sea!

It's been a beautiful weekend down on the south coast, as I think it has been pretty much everywhere else in the UK. We popped down to the beach for the afternoon and it was glorious. Sadly we hadn't timed the tide quite right but never mind.  On the way home we stopped for ice creams (I had a strawberry cornetto) and also picked up the May issues of Elle and Instyle magazines (Instyle has a free Murad cleanser - I literally squealed with delight in the Co-Op about this!) and now we are spending the afternoon chilling out and reading magazines. How lovely.

How have you spent your weekend?

OPI No Spain No Gain and comparisons

Hi ladies, I hope you've all been enjoying the sunshine here in the UK this week? I know I have! A while back I posted about finally getting my hands on OPI's No Spain No Gain nail polish. I had been lemming it for ages. I thought it would be the most perfect raspberry colour, and while it is gorgeously raspberry coloured, I am ever so slightly disappointed and let me explain why...

Here we have Barry M Raspberry, OPI No Spain No Gain, Rimmel Urban Purple and Nails Inc Tate. All colours (bar the OPI) that I already owned and tried to acheive the perfect raspberry nail. As you can see from the photos which have been taken with flash Barry M's is probably the most true raspberry colour from the bottle whereas the OPI and Rimmel have a much more bluey tone to them and Nails Inc is definitely more red.

Here you can see them applied to the nail (2 coats of each colour) the nearest dupe to OPI is definitely Rimmel, they are both more pinky than the Barry M and Nails Inc which are redder.

So here again you can see the comparison. I wouldn't say that the OPI polish disappointed me in itself, it's just that I have so many other similar colours, and I still had to purchase the OPI to be certain. Anyway ladies, you don't have to! Go for Rimmell Urban Purple, I would say that it's a fab dupe!

Have you found any OPI dupes?