NYX Round Lipsticks that I REGRET buying

A while ago, I ordered a couple of NYX round lipsticks from America. I was really excited about trying them, as I had heard so many good things about them. So after they arrived, there were a couple that stood out and I completely feel in love with, but there were also a couple that I was disappointed with and I just new I wasn't going to wear.

So after doing a couple of posts swatching the colours I did like, I thought I'd do a post of the colour that I wasn't too fond of. Surprisingly, the three that I don't like were the colours that I was most looking forward to.

The first one is Louisiana, a HOT pink. It's such a daring colour and it takes confidence to wear. Confidence that I don't think I have. Plus it just doesn't suit my skin tone.

The next one is Circe.. I'd heard alot about this colour and how good it was, but I have to disagree. It's meant to help achieve a concealer lip look, but on my skin tone it completely fails. It makes me look a little ill!

And finally Rea which is very similar to Circe...but worse. Although you cannot tell in the picture above, it has a grey tinge to it...WHY? i don't know! This colour looks awful on me, and in my opinion, it's probably the worst one out of the three.

Do you own any NYX round lipsticks that your not too impressed with?

NOTD - BarryM Mint Green

I've wanted this colour for ages, and finally got round to buying it today! When i first thought of mint green as a nail colour, i wasn't to enthusiastic about it, but over time I've grow to like it! I think it looks nice and summery, and it really helps dress up a plain outfit.

I think that in the bottle, it looks alot lighter than it is on the nails. I'm on a search for a 'mintier' green, so basically the same colour as this one, but lighter. Any recommendations?

Are you a fan of mint greens nails?

MAC CCO Haul!

Yesterday, I managed to finally visit a MAC CCO. If you don't know what that is, its basically a shop that sells MAC makeup, and other brands at a slightly discounted price. The items sold will often be from past collections, discontinued items or they may just be from the permanent line. There is a CCO about 45 minutes away from me, and I've been wanting to pop down and check it out for ages now!

If I'm honest, i wasn't planning on buying much, as I've often heard that there's usually never anything good left, but i actually came back with more than i was expecting too! I felt like a child in a sweety shop!

Anyway, here's what i got...

I'll be posting swatches and prices tomorrow, so watch this space! x

Product Rave: Garnier Facial Scrub

At some point over the past couple of months, I'm sure you've heard me moan about the condition of my skin. It's not so much spots, but the blemishes they leave behind. I guess I'm partly to blame because I've been slacking on maintaining a proper skin care routine. However, about 2 weeks ago, I re-discovered the Garnier Pure facial exfoliator which I used to love, but just fell out of the habit of using. After a week, I could really notice a different in my skin. It looks alot clearer, with alot of blemishes being less visible and my skintone was more evened out.

I like the fact that it contains exfoliating beads. It's important to remove dead skin off the face, and this helps to do just that without being too harsh or causing irritation.

I think sometimes it's best to stick with products that you know work for you. I'm always up for trying new things, but then always find myself coming back to certain products like this one. Definitely a favourite!

Back to Mineral Make-up

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will know that I am a big fan of Bare Escentuals Mineral foundation.

But I'll let you into a little secret... over the past two months or so, i had completely fallen out with it! My skin was going through a really bad phase due to stress etc. and i kept on breaking out. I became convinced that mineral makeup was not what I needed as i didn't feel like it was giving my skin the coverage it needed.

I started looking for alternatives and found the dream satin liquid foundation by Maybelline in my makeup stash. Yes I do love that foundation, the finish and the coverage is beautiful, but the only problems was that I could feel it on my skin. Having got used to wearing minerals... I found liquid foundation to be really heavy and I always felt the need to re-apply during the day.

So after weeks of being moody and failing to find a foundation that I was happy with, I decided to sit down and apply my bare minerals foundation the same way that SJ on QVC was telling me too (Bare Escentuals is sold at QVC) and that's when I realised what was going wrong! It wasn't the foundation that was letting me down, it was the technique. I had fallen into a pattern of not following the specific SWIRL, TAP, BUFF method that your supposed to follow when applying bare escentuals mineral foundation, but that was all I had needed!

I also realised that when using mineral foundation, less is definitely more. I now apply three fine layers using the swirl, tap, buff technique with my bare escentuals full coverage kabuki brush. I find that this is enough to give me the coverage my skin needs. before, I had got into the habit of putting a lot of minerals on at once and not taking a little extra time to properly buff it into my skin.

I can officially say that I am loving using mineral foundation again! and another added bonus is that it has a natural SPF 15 in it, which is great for summer months!

What's your opinion on mineral foundation?

Mavala Double Lash Challenge

I've been wanting to try a lash growth product for a while now. The idea of trading in my short, straight, boring lashes for long, luscious, curly lashes really excites me, but i could never justify spending a ridiculous amount of money on one small tube.

Whilst browsing http://www.feelunique.com/ the other week, i came across the Mavala Double Lash serum for only £8.50. I had heard of it before, but after doing some more research it seemed to be quite a highly rated product, with alot of reviewer claimer to have seen some lash growth.

So having nothing to lose (except perhaps £8.50) i added to to my basket! On the packaging it claims to 'strengthen, lengthen and thicken lashes'. It's meant to be applied just like a mascara, as it comes with a mascara applicator, once before you go to bed. Sounds pretty simple really. I hope it has some sort of affect... but I'll just have to wait and see!

Has you tried Mavala Double Lash before?

NYX Snow White Lipstick

what can i say... a deep classic red!

I think some people can look amazing with red lips, but on me I'm not too sure. Maybe it's just a confidence thing. I'd love to be able to rock red lips out 'n about.

The pigment on this one is amazing! It took some effort to take off aswell. It's great for any season, a red lip is a red lip :)

I've had really good feedback from my NYX lipstick swatch posts, if you would like me to do a particular one from the couple that i bought (click here to see) just let me know :)

NYX Pumpkin Pie Lipstick

This is another one of my favourite NYX lipsticks. I've been wearing it almost everyday since it arrived in the post.

It adds a subtle light orange toned nude colour to the lips, making it an everyday/go to colour. Like Tea Rose it's perfect for Spring/Summer. I love it!

Topshop Lust List

i really like alot of the new items that topshop have in lately, here's a few of the things that have caught my eye on the website:

Vaseline helps eyelashes grow...REALLY?!

two coats of mascara

over the past couple of weeks I've been applying Vaseline to my eyelashes to help condition them and keep them strong. I've heard that it worked well for this purpose, but I'd never heard of it to help stimulate eyelash growth.

I've always been interested in eye lash growth products, i mean come on... who doesn't want to have longer lashes! So I'm sure you can guess that i was really pleasantly surprised to discover that after about 2 weeks of using Vaseline daily on my eyelashes, i could see a slight but noticeable different in the length of my lashes.

I think this was mainly due to them being well conditioned and better treated and therefore less likely to fall out, making it appear like my lashes had grown longer, whereas actually there were probably just more of them with eyelashes growing a little bit more rather than falling out.

Whatever this product has done to my lashes, I'm definitely pleased with it and hope it continues.
Has anyone else used Vaseline on their eyelashes and experienced similar results?

NYX Tea Rose Lipstick

This one is definitely one of my favourites from the handful of NYX round lipsticks i purchased last week. (click to see haul post here)

It glides onto the lips and leaves a lovely pinky satin finish. it's not to bright or too much of a statement, but rather a pretty colour which is perfect for spring/summer!

Along with this one there are a couple of other shades that i love too, so i will be showing them soon :)

Have you tried NYX round Lipsticks before?

Which colours are your favourite?

NYX Round Lipsticks Haul

click picture to enlarge

I've always wanted to try the NYX Round Lipsticks, especially after reading many rave reviews about them! my only problem was that i was a bit apprehensive about ordering them from the US because of additional charges and any UK based websites that sold them charged more than triple the retail price.

so, about a week and half ago, i was trying my best to put off the massive pile of work i had to get through and instead ended up searching cherryculture.com, a popular US website that sells different brands of makeup, one of the most popular being NYX cosmetics.

I'd remembered reading a post by Lipglossiping, a UK based blogger on price differences when ordering NYX cosmetics from cherryculture.com and a UK based website, she made ordering from cherryculture.com sound easy enough and made me aware of the fact that as long as you stay under the overall total of £18.00, you will not get charged extra duty on your goods.

so what did i do, i hear you ask.... yep i took the plunge and ordered a couple of lipsticks!
but it wasn't that easy...
the pictures on cherryculture.com aren't very good so i spent hours again, wasting time looking for swatches on the internet. i then finally decided to settle for nine shades that i wanted to try.

this is what i got:

I've been playing around with them and overall I'm pretty impressed! they glide onto the lips and are really pigmented. however having said that, there are some colours that i thought I'd love but i don't... for example REA. but oh well, i can't complain seeing as i got each lipstick for $1.75, so less than a pound each.

if you live in the UK and want to try products by NYX, i do recommend ordering from a US website such as cherryculture.com. it will save you alot of money as long as you keep below the £18.00 threshold.

if you want to see any swatches, just leave a comment below :)
thank you for reading