Lust Have It - January 2013

This is the best beauty box I've received in a long time. 

The new packaging is lovely, the only thing that would improve it would be the removal of the company's logo on the spine.  I'm not likely to keep and re-use the box with advertising showing on it.  Looking around the web, I think I got the best version of this months's box.  I received:

• Lush Emotional Brilliance in "Sophisticated" (full size).  Described by Lush as shimmering taupe I found the shade to be very wearable for a less dramatic everyday eye look.  It was extremely easy and mess free to apply and lasted and lasted.  I think I'm going to buy some of the other products in this range.
• Nude by Nature BB Cream in "Medium" (full size).  I would have chosen "Light" but at least I can have a go with medium.  I wish Lust Have It would send out foundations tailored to people's skin tone.  I got luckier than some bloggers (some pale skinned girls received "Dark") and I'm pretty excited to try this.
• Lust Have It Kabuki brush (full size).  This is actually the third kabuki brush in my collection so it will be perfect to put in my travel bag as it's a short handled version.  I use a kabuki brush every day and find them perfect for foundation application.  This brush is lovely and soft and dense.  I tried it out straight away and it works very well.
• Klorane Shampoo and Conditioner (sachets).  I'd prefer a slightly larger sample size as it's difficult to assess a product on one application and I have long hair so there's never enough conditioner in a sachet.  Having said that, there were three full sized products in this month's box so I'm not too annoyed at the small size.
• Avene Cleanance Skin Range (large sample size).  I've already received this range in Bella Box but I've just finished the gel cleanser and loved it so I've happy to have another to go on with.  I don't try the exfoliant or anti-shine moisturiser as they're not suitable for my skin type.  The gel cleanser is, however, very good indeed and worth a purchase when I run out.

Super Easy Last Minute Christmas Nails

It's Christmas Eve and I suddenly really wanted to have red and gold glittery Christmas themed nails.  Sadly my nail polish bowl (I use a vintage Pyrex bowl which is just gorgeous for nail polish storage) had absolutely no glitter at all.  I did find the perfect Christmas red polish in my collection - Red Hot Ayers Rock by OPI.  It's a really bright red that isn't brown or orange at all.  If you imagine the classic Christmas red colour it's exactly that.

So a couple of coats later and I had my red Christmas nails, still lacking glitter.  Now there's lots and lots of glitter nail polish options. I had in mind a clear polish with gold glitter in it to go over the red nails.  But in a small town on Christmas Eve there's not a lot of options to purchase nail polish (OK actually none at all).  If I'd been a bit more organized I could of course get anything I wanted in the world online.

Then I had a brainwave and raided my husband's top drawer where he had secreted some gold glitter dust he'd used to help the kids make birthday cards for me a month ago.  A nice thick wet coat of clear top coat, a thin dusting of glitter and another thick clear top coat and I'm good to go.  The gold glitter stands out really well over the red and it turned out just as I'd imagined.

If you need some last minute Christmas nail art that's super easy give it a try, and just for fun check out the Christmas nail art that's going on around the web at the moment.  There's some very talented people out there.

Lust Have It October 2012 Box

The Lust Have It box for October has arrived packed full of goodies.  I got the fun and flirty box.

Mask in a Cup Facial Mask (full size)

I'm trying this tonight so I'll update with how it went.

NYX Cosmetics Girls Nail Polish (full size)

I got Milano.  I thought from looking at the bottle that it was going to be a rather unattractive brown, though my husband disagreed and voted for silver.  After a couple of coats it turned out to be a slightly sparkly silver with a hint of brown.  I quite like it.  I'm tying to move away from just pinks and reds and this made a nice change.

Avene Cleanance Skin (sample sizes, enough for three or so applications)

Gel Cleanser - This was nothing special when I used it, but after I finished cleansing and followed it up with the accompanying moisturiser I've noticed that my skin feels smoother than usual.  There was enough in the bottle for quite a few goes (though not enough of the moisturiser to accompany it) so I'll finish using this.  I'm not sure it was special enough to purchase a full sized bottle though.

Cream Exfoliant - I didn't try this.  I squinted at the tiny writing on the bottle and discovered that it was going to have a skin peeling effect.  I've done that a couple of times by accident when I've had a bad reaction to a cleanser and I can't imagine doing that to myself on purpose.  This one went in the bin!  I did really appreciate that it was written clearly on the bottle though so I could avoid damaging my skin by accident.

Anti-Shine Moisturiser - This little product did exactly what it said.  It was totally no-shine.  I got a bit worried when my skin tingled when I first applied it.  I almost quickly wiped it off again.  Luckily the reaction didn't go any further and my face is fine.

Caron Waxaway Ready To Use Sensitive Wax Strips (two strips, not enough to do a full wax)

I don't wax.  And now I know why.  Ouch!  Every follicle on the strip I waxed is now red and angry with me.  The strip worked just fine, and the accompanying after-wax wipe was soothing, but my leg looks so angry there's no way I would want my whole leg to look like that.  Three hours later every follicle is still red and angry looking.  Not a good look.

Star & Rose White Bath Fizzer (full size)

I thought this was doing nothing.  It melted nice and quickly into my bath and completely dissapeared.  I usually like my bath to have a pretty colour or some bubbles or something.  I couldn't tell there was anything in there at all.  I was all set to blog that the fizzer had done absolutely nothing, until I dried myself off after my bath.  Then I noticed that I didn't need to moisturise my legs.  I had shaved the bits I couldn't cover with the wax sample which usually dries out my skin.  So I guess the fizzer did do something after all.  It's not a product I would choose though, for a luxury relaxing bath product I like to see it (the aforementioned colour or bubbles do the trick).

Eve Cosmetics Primers and Foundations - Tested On Me!

Eve Cosmetics is a new brand to me, and they were nice enough to send me a selection of their primers and foundations to trial.  Here's how I went:

First I tried the Tinted Primer in Light.  I used a mini Kabuki brush to apply it and it was lovely and thin and easy to apply.  Unexpected was that this gave a much more opaque coverage than a tinted moisturiser.  There was enough colour that it could be worn as a stand-alone foundation, though I did put a little powder on the top to tone down the shine.  It lasted rather well.  I usually have to powder my nose a couple of times a day but this one lasted all day without budging.  A shame that the colour didn't work for me or I probably would have purchased it.  This one isn't for girls with light skin, the "light" shade was much too dark for me.  If one of the colours suit you, I'd recommend giving it a try.

Next up was the Pore Perfecting Face Primer.  I just dotted it around my face and blended with fingertips.  It was lovely and smooth to apply and sunk in quickly, I could start putting foundation on almost immediately.  I used my usual foundation rather than one of the Eve Cosmetics samples because I wanted to test the primer with a foundation I knew worked for me.  And it did!  This primer made my usual foundation even better, it looked much more smooth and long lasting (I usually have to touch up my nose a couple of times a day and I didn't need to when I wore this primer).  I'm pretty tempted to purchase this one.

And that's all for the primers.  Here come the foundations:

First up was the Mineral Liquid Powder Foundation in Tender Beige.  I almost wasn't going to bother applying this one when I saw what colour it was, it looked so dark.  But when I applied it the colour was much lighter than it appeared.  It was still too dark for me, but not as much as I thought it was going to be.  This was a very matte full coverage foundation (which I like) and it had pretty good staying power.  My nose looked a tiny bit shiny at the end of the day but it was 34 degrees out and I'd been working in the garden, so I'd say it held up pretty well.  If I could get the right shade I might give this one a whirl.

Second I tried the Mineral Sheer Tint in Light.  The colour was the best match so far.  Ever so slightly too dark to be perfect but not bad at all.  As its name suggests, I found this foundation to be a medium coverage foundation.  My red cheeks showed through a reasonably heavy application and it wore off my nose by the end of the day (today was another humid hot day though which is pretty bad for foundation durability).  I would chose the Mineral Liquid Powder Foundation over this one as it really stayed put and covered my cheeks better.

Righto!  We're on to the last one.  The Mineral Photo Touch Foundation in Linen.  Again, I had an almost but not quite colour match.  It was very very close though.  It didn't manage to completely cover my red cheeks but it did have good staying power and the colour was oh so close to perfection.

So which of all of these will I purchase?  It's an easy choice:  The Pore Perfecting Face Primer has earned a place on my wishlist.

You can get your own free primer and foundation samples from their website.  I want to give a big cheer to Eve Cosmetics for providing samples so we can all try them out and pick the product that works best without having to waste money getting the wrong shade or type.

Three Little Christmas Gifts For Under $15

It's that time of year again, time to put in the online shopping orders so they get here in plenty of time for Christmas.  I absolutely hate the hot and dusty search through the shops to find Christmas presents, dragging a reluctant husband and two tired children in tow.  For years now I've been doing all my Christmas shopping online.

Here's my pick for those little gifts for the women in your life, friends, work-mates, secret santas or perhaps a treat for yourself:

Mor Sealed With A Kiss Bauble

Mor products are always packed so beautifully they're great for gifts and when she's taken out the product there's a pretty tree decoration left behind.  $12.95.

Lush Secret Santa

A cute little package, my favourite soap (Honey I Washed the Kids), and a good price point too.  I haven't met anyone yet who doesn't love Lush. $9.95.

Lust Have It

This one's good if you need to send a gift through the mail.  If you haven't heard about this program yet you're missing out.  For $14.95 you (or your giftee) gets a sample box of beauty products to try.  I'm a subscriber myself and I enjoy getting a box of goodies in the mail.  You can purchase just one month for your friend, or a whole year's worth!  The photograph is of my very first Lust Have It box, ahhh nostalgia.

Maintaining bright nail polish in normal life

I like bright nail polish.  I also do a lot of gardening.  I'm talking pretty intensive gardening - pick-axe and shovel type gardening.  Bright nail polish shows chips easily.  What's a girl to do?  I've come up with a system that keeps my nails presentable all the time, even wearing bright polish.  The down-side?  Well, there's no such thing as a free lunch - my system requires daily attention.  Here's what I do:

Every evening when I'm on the computer after the kids have gone to sleep I fix up one hand.  I just look for chips and remove and re-polish any fingers that need it.  The next night I move on to the next hand.  Then it's on to the feet.  You get the picture.  It doesn't take that long because I'm only doing one hand at a time and usually there's only a couple of nails that have a chip.  Drying isn't a problem because I can type just fine with a wet nail without affecting the polish.

To try and avoid getting the chips in the first place I use a base coat (OPI Start to Finish), two coats of polish (currently Revlon Touch of Mauve) and a top coat (Seche Vite).  So I can usually keep my nails looking pretty without huge amounts of effort.

Would you let your son choose your nail polish?

Last night I lived dangerously and let my 6 year old son loose in my nail polish bowl. It's usually kept high up and out of reach so he was quite interested to have a poke around. I asked him to pick what colour polish I should wear. Now you'd think he wouldn't be interested right? I was quite impressed.

He took the time to consider all the options and eventually selected Revlon's Touch of Mauve. This polish is actually quite different from most of my collection. I tend to favour bright pinks and Touch of Mauve is a soft pinky brown polish. I do quite like it though, and while I don't reach for it often I'm always pleasantly suprised by how much I do like it when I wear it.

I've found that many of the polishes that fall into the "nude" category of colour apply much too sheer. If I want a completely nude nail I'll just leave it bare and not go to the trouble of applying polish. Touch of Mauve doesn't have this problem. It applies completely opaque with two coats and is just as chip resistant as my OPI polishes (with a top coat of Seche Vite of course).

You can see other's reviews of this shade at Makeup Alley, a great go-to site for makeup reviews which has an amazingly extensive database of current and past products and shades. I do quite a bit of pre-purchase research there.

The perfect red lipstick

The perfect red lipstick

We’ve all done it, myself included, spending 20 minutes in the store painstakingly testing each lipstick on our hands to find the perfect shade of red only to find when it comes home it doesn’t look good when you actually wear it. Red lipstick is the ultimate classic makeup, but finding the right shade can be trickier than you might think. Luckily there are a few shades that are universally flattering.

If you want to find the right shade of red lipstick for you, you really need to try it on your face, not the back of your hand. But don’t do this in the store, those testers are not clean (just imagine how many people have used them before you) so you don’t want them going on your lips. Instead, take advantage of the department store makeup ladies, who can apply their products to you but use proper hygiene practices so you can be sure it’s safe.

 

Any of the reds that don’t have an undertone are a good bet for a universal lipstick. My vote for a red lipstick that flatters any skin tone is Chanel Allure Passion. This is a very classic bright movie star red (and the luxury packaging looks rather fetching in my makeup bag too).

Thanks to Makeup Alley for the following guide to the perfect red lipstick:

Picks for Pink:
Chanel Hydrabase Lipstick in No. 95, Red Dream )
NARS Lip Stain Gloss Indian Red )
Christian Dior Rouge Dior in Red Premiere 752 )

Picks for Yellow:
MAC Lipstick in Spice It Up! )
Shiseido The Makeup Perfecting Lipstick in P23 Real Red )
Dior Addict Lipstick in Positive Red 857 )

All-Purpose Reds:
NARS Lipstick in Jungle Red )
Chanel Allure Lipstick in No. 10, Passion )
Scott Barnes LipSuede in Sabrina )

Red lipstick, like red nails, does require a bit more upkeep than a nude, but the results are worth it.