Payday treats, the Christmas pay edition!

As I do every month, January's payday saw me take off into town with a couple of girlfriends to blow some hard earned cash! Although a good 90% of it has to go in my summer away fund, I just had to treat myself to some bits for my Uni's Law Ball, what better excuse?

Soap and Glory 'Breakfast Scrub', 'Righteous Butter' and 'Scrub Your Nose In It' S&G was 3 for 2 in Boots, so this gave me the perfect opportunity to try out some of their much raved about range! I needed a good scrub for patch free tan for the Ball and I have heard so much about this one. I just used it in the shower and it's an absolute dream, smells good enough to eat! The righteous butter is to accompany the scrub and is so rich and my skin feels so soft after using both of these together. I also needed a good face scrub and I had heard Charli rave about it, I'm too scared to use this before the Ball just in case I break out though.

Touch of Silver shampoo I used a box dye on my hair again last week and the roots just aren't looking the part. I used to use this last year but my hair turned into grey fluff because I used it far too much, this time I know moderation is key!

Xen Tan facial tanner I have used and adored Xen Tan for quite some time so when I saw a local pharmacy stocking this I had to pick it up and give it a go, using body tan on my face is just a disaster.

Bronz Express tan I felt I needed something more luxurious for the Ball than my usual St.Moriz as I couldn't get a spray tan appointment, I hope it gives a golden glow rather than the slightly muddy colour StMoriz gives sometimes.

MAC 'Creme Cup' lipstick and 'Boy Bait' gloss In recent pictures of nights out I have been wearing dark lips which with my very smokey eyes sometimes looks a little too much. I didn't photograph these as it's now the evening and the lighting isn't great but I will do a full post on these as I am in love. The lipstick is a pretty nude pink and the gloss is a shimmering peach nude.

Yankee Candle 'Cherry Blossom' I am obsessed with Yankee Candles and often pick them up when they're on offer, this was down to just €16 and I love how it's a floral scent rather than the food-y cents I always go for.

Perfect 10 false nails These are also for the ball, my dress is black so instead of going for some kind of mad mix of pink glitter and whatnot I decided to grab a pack of these. I just hope they don't all fall off on me but I will keep glue on me to keep them attached all night long!

Have you ever tried any of these?

xxxx

Endless Repurchase #1: Maybelline One By One mascara

I think this blog sometimes shows my frivolousness when it comes to makeup, the amount of lipgloss floating in my handbag on any given day proves this! So it's about time I pay homage to those items I take for granted, but completely could not live without.

Number one is one of Maybelline's big mascara releases last year: One By One.

The brush is my favourite kind- plastic with long bristles that distribute the product evenly and with minimal clumps.

The formula is very black (technical term there!) and stays black until you take it off. In saying that, removal is a breeze. With previous HG mascaras of mine (ex-lover L'Oreal Telescopic, for instance) I would just have to apply a little bit of a different mascara on the end of my lashes for a little boost- however with this I just don't feel the need.

The same applies to this as lots of other mascaras I have tried in that they start to work better once they have dried out a little, but even brand new it still works fantastically. Non clumpy, jet black long lashes with a curl, a far cry from their stumpy blonde natural state.  

I will be holding off buying the extremely highly acclaimed Benefit "They're Real" for as long as this continues to do its job- I just cannot fault it!

Do you rate Maybelline's One By One?

xxxx

Jack Wills makeup - Northbridge Nail Polish

Always a sucker for new nail polishes, one of these babies found their way into my basket last time I was shopping at JW. I actually likened this to OPI's 'La Pazitively Hot' and instantly regretted it once I purchased. However upon application I am very impressed as I was completely wrong! For €6.50 (unsure if this is the outlet price or rrp, I couldn't find these online) you get a huge 14ml of product. The packaging is very like a Models Own bottle in that they have the same shape bottle, brush and amount of product inside.

The colour is a bit fabulous really, a flourescent pink with a lilac/blue iridescence which is completely different from anything else in my collection. The formula is thin and easy to use and opaque in two coats. I can definitely see this being a go-to summer colour!

Have you tried any Jack Wills makeup?

xxxx

Deborah Lippmann rip-off alert!

...for just €1.29? Yes please!

Deborah Lippmann glitter polishes have quickly become must-haves in the beauty world, with its sparkly shades rivaling the best in the business and having OPI et al quaking in their boots. The reason I haven't gone and bought her entire range? The £16 (almost €20) price tag. So when trying to fuel my addiction for all that glitters, I came across this little polish from Essence with a likeness to the much sought after 'Across The Universe'. This brand isn't one I have ever bought from before (makeup snob *ahem*), but for €1.29 in my local chemists I honestly didn't have anything to lose.

Essence 'Blue Addicted'

The verdict? Gorgeous.

Four coats of this gives an opaque navy finish with teeny blue sparkles suspended with larger hexagonal chunks of green and blue. Next time I'll just paint a couple coats of this over a dark base for ease of application. 

However, I can't do a true comparison without an actual swatch of DL's 'Across the Universe', MsRed from Red's Beauty Blog kindly allowed me to use her swatch to compare...

(l-r) Essence 'Blue Addicted' / Deborah Lipmann 'Across The Universe' (c/o Red's Beauty Blog)

Apart from my sloppy application (Ms Red, you put me to shame!) there is no denying that the two are extremely similar. There is clearly way more sparkles in DL's offering, and a smoother finish is left as the Essence one looks quite grainy. However since there's over €15 in the difference, I can not complain!

What do you think of this? Are the Deborah Lippmann polishes worth the extra cash?

xxxx

Montagne Jeunesse yummy face masks

Yumminess personified in handy little sachets!

The Hot Chocolate one is absolutely divine. It is pore cleansing, so I used this when I was carrying out my post-exam skin clear up. It has a lovely thick consistency and has that wonderful self-heating thing going on which is always a novelty! The chocolate orange scent is truly good enough to eat and contains Mediterranean clay, dark chocolate and orange oil, yum!

*lol at tanned hand swatch v natural :o)

The Very Berry mask has one gorgeous scent: blackcurrant chewits, delicious. This one is lighter in texture than the Hot Chocolate one, and is for deep cleansing. I only applied a little bit of this when I this evening, and unlike the chocolate one it dried into my skin before the 15 minutes was up. My skin doesn't feel as soft as it did with the chocolate, however the chewits scent lingers which is a definite plus in my book! Also I do feel that less is more with this one, so you can definitely get quite a few uses out of it.

As always, these sachets contain enough for at least two generous applications, and for just over a euro they are a must have for all girlie nights in!

Have you tried these?

xxxx

I lilac it!

Don't get me wrong, I adore pink. But with last summers coral trend showing us that non-pinks are very wearable and flattering, I started wondering what other tones could tick the same boxes. Looking at this summers huge pastel trend, why not lilac?

Revlon Super Lustrous gloss 'Lilac Pastelle' / Revlon Colorburst lipstick 'Lilac'

As far as I'm concerned, Revlon is one of the top brands for lip products in the drugstore. The packaging is sleek and expensive looking and they have a huge shade range. I couldn't be more impressed by the gloss- this was one of the range brought out for last summer- and the colour payoff is fantastic. I also love the shade, definitely a cool lilac however very wearable. The lipstick in 'Lilac' isn't all that lilac really, more of a mauve/pink however when paired with the gloss gives a very wearable, bright lilac lip.

(l-r) gloss, lipstick, combined

 The next purple pop comes from my favourite MAC collection last year: 'Quite Cute'.

MAC Mineralize Blush 'Sakura'

This pretty little blush consists of a soft lavender colour with a deeper pink-toned heart insert. However scary this may look, it actually is very wearable. As you will be able to see from the swatches below, when the two colours are swirled together this gives a pretty flush to the cheeks, I use my MAC 187 brush for the most natural application. Although on the whole I do prefer warmer tones on my skin, this being a mineralise formula it's much more forgiving and very wearable. Unfortunately this was LE, however check eBay and CCO's, you might strike it lucky! 

(l-r) both shades together, just the outer part

Would you incorporate lilac into your makeup this spring?

xxxx

Jack Wills makeup - Oakland Gloss

Never one to buy something just for its brand name (lies *ahem* lies), on a recent trip to Jack Wills I grabbed some bits from their make up range. This is the first of two little reviews.

I picked up two of the 'Oakland' glosses, in (l-r) Raspberry and Jaffa. These are nicely thick and long lasting yet non-sticky and definitely moisturising which I find unusual for a lipgloss. I would actually liken them to a thicker version of Barry M glosses. According to the JW website, these contain Jojoba oil which is a nice change to other glosses that often leave me with dry lips. 'Raspberry' is a pretty magenta with  lilac iridescence and 'Jaffa' is a non-shimmery coral which would have been very 'in' for summer 2011. Neither shade packs a huge punch pigmentation-wise, however they are nice for quick, easy application on the go. My only problem is that these rrp at £8, which for a non-specialist make up brand is pretty pricey (I didn't pay full price for these as I got them from an outlet store).

Available here.

Have you tried these? What do you think about clothing brands selling make up?

xxxx