Friday 31 August 2012

Benefit Stay Don't Stray


Eyeshadow primer is a must for me, without it my eyeshadows apply very unevenly, fades quickly and basically do everything a primer stops it from doing. For years I've used the infamous Urban Decay Primer Potion, but when my last tube ran out, I decided to try the  Benefit for a change.

As you can see, Stay Don't Stray (right) is slightly darker and thicker than UDPP

Benefit describe this as having a universally flattering shade.  Unlike the likes of UDPP this doesn't dry translucent on the skin, it actually applies almost like a nude cream eyeshadow.  This isn't an issue for me, and I've even just put this on my eyelids with no shadow over it.  It does a great job of hiding the discolouration on my eyelids and just evens them out a bit.  This and a bit of liquid liner & mascara and I've got a quick and easy eye look. I'm unsure if those with darker skin tones would prefer a primer that does dry translucent, although if it's going to be covered over with eyeshadow, it won't matter too much maybe! It is also slightly thicker in texture, and I seem to need a smaller 'dollop' than I would with UDPP. With eye shadow, it worked really well for me too, possibly better than UDPP.  Eight hours later my eye makeup was still intact and hard barely creased. Result!

Stay Don't Stray is a "dual action" primer, as it can also be used to help your concealer stay put longer.  To be honest, I felt it made no difference to my concealer.  I wasn't too bothered about this as I bought it purely to use as an eyeshadow primer.  But obviously I gave it a go under my concealers, but felt they did just as good a job on their own.  My go-to concealer at the moment is the Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection, a liquid concealer, so maybe it'd work better with a cream concealer. But like I say, this wouldn't put me off buying this again as I didn't buy it for this purpose.

The major downfall of this product for me is the packaging.  Remember the old UDPP packaging with the genie bottle? And the You Tube videos that showed us how cutting the bottle in half would unleash more product than the wand could reach?!  Well Benefit have made a similar boo boo here. While the pump dispenser is hygienic, unless you are extremely careful, it dispenses too much product. WAY too much product.  Over time I've learned that you only need to press gently on the pump, and not push it all the way down.  This is easier said than done, especially if you're in a rush to get ready like I usually am and even doing this often gives you too much product.  I've possibly wasted more product than I've actually used, which when a product costs almost £20, it's not something you want to do!


 

As much as I love Benefit, and how much this works well for me, I'm not sure I'd repurchase this again, unless they changed the packaging.  It's a shame really, as the primer itself works better for me than UDPP, but £19.50 is a lot of money for me if half the product is going to waste.
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Tuesday 28 August 2012

Instagram #1

I signed up to Instagram last week and, despite not having many followers so far, I'm finding it really addictive! I love taking random shots and adding different filters to create different effects to make the photos look all snazzy.  Here's a few of the snaps I've taken in the last week or so.



Dog walking at the park / Chilling on the field / Lemon Top / PartyLite candle / My Brother in The Guardian / Cocktails with my man / Getting my attention / Boots spree / Blogging / Cheers! / In my bed! / Chipshop supper.


Please follow me on Instagram! My username is 'cupcakesngloss'
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Sunday 26 August 2012

Sunday Spa



I do love a bit of pampering on a Sunday evening.  I think it stems from my childhood and the old Sunday night tradition of having a bath before school on Monday.  Even now my school days are a hazy memory, and Saturdays and Sunday's are just another two days at work (the joys of working in retail!) I still like a long soak in the bath and a bit of me time using some of my favourite products.  Here's what I used in my pamper session tonight.

I also used my No7 Hot Cloth Cleanser, but forgot to photograph it - doh!

After removing my make up, I washed my hair using L'Oreal EverPure Colour Care shampoo and conditioner.  These are sulphate free, which is supposed to help your hair colour last longer.  I recently had my hair coloured red and, as red hair can fade quickly, I try and do as much as I can to avoid having to visit the salon too often!  This is why I also wash my hair first; I do it over the bath using luke-warm water.  Again, this is meant to help prevent fading.

My bubble bath of choice at the moment is Soap and Glory's Calm One Calm All. I've actually lost count of the bottles of this I've got through over the years! I just used my Pulp Friction scrub, which I talked about in more detail here as I exfoliated with my Soap and Glory Breakfast Scrub the other day.  I also used my Clinique 7 day facial scrub.  I only use this once a week at most as I feel my Hot Cloth Cleanser does enough to remove dead skin cells from my face.  I just use this scrub every so often for an extra bit of pampering.  After shaving my legs, I got out and applied the Righteous Butter all over by body, and my new no7 night cream to my face.

As I'm at work tomorrow (booo!) painting my finger nails is out of the question,  so I had to make do with just painting my toe nails instead.  Tonight I used Models Own Purple Pearl.  I then applied Lee Stafford's Miracle Oil (review here) to the lengths and ends of my hair, and am currently leaving it to dry naturally.


What are your products of choice for a bit of pampering?
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Friday 24 August 2012

Skincare Haul


My skin has been terrible lately, very dull and dry looking. I'll put my hands up now and admit it, its all my fault. I haven't been eating healthily at all and certainly haven't been drinking enough water. I'm also guilty of not taking my makeup off on a night, and when I have taken it off, I've used a wipe.

There's only so much makeup can do to make your skin look radient, perfect, flawless or however you want to describe it. The rest of it is down to use, eating healthily, drinking plenty of water and getting into a good skin care routine. Boots currently have a 3 for 2 offer on their skincare so today  I headed off to boots with my discount card (thanks, mam! She works in Boots!) to take advantage of it by buying some things from the new(ish) Beautiful Skin range and hopefully encourage myself to take better care of my skin.


The first thing I picked up was the Hot Cloth Cleaner, which I've bought several times before it became part of the new range... I'm hoping they haven't changed the formula of it because I really liked the "Radiance Boosting" Hot Cloth Cleanser as it was previously known.


I also picked up the night cream for normal/dry skin.  I already have the day cream which I'm enjoying using and it's a pretty good moisturiser, so it made sense to have the night cream too! I almost bought another day cream too as mine's just under half full now.  But I decided to wait for the time being (see below!) and hopefully when I'm ready to repurchase Boots will be giving away another No7 voucher!





I was then unsure what to get for my third item.  I was tempted to try the cleansing water as there's a lot of hype surrounding these at the moment and it is a product I do want to try. However I was put off by the fact that this particular one was targeted towards those with more oily skin.  I do get ever so slightly oily sometimes, but not enough for me to say I have oily, or even combination skin, so I decided to leave it for the time being.  A bit of a shame really as I wanted something that was a bit more gentle around the eyes, as the Hot Cloth Cleanser is not designed to use near them, and trust me, if you do get it in your eyes it hurts! I've never really liked the No7 eye make up remover, and while tempted to give it another chance, in the end I decided to try something new.  My product of choice was the Blemish Defence Serum. This is a product designed for all skin types to unblock pores, remove excess sebum to give smoother, blemish free skin. I'm hoping this will reduce the slight oiliness I do suffer from occasionally, and help keep my skin smooth and blemish free.  Instead of the water cleanser or the eye make up remover, I picked up the Botanics eye make up remover, which I have again used in the past but is now in pretty new packaging, and also had a third off!



Of course, it's going to take a lot more than this to improve my skin.  I'm going to do my best to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, and to drink more water a day.  There are some days at the moment where I don't do any of this, so it will be a big challenge to get into the habit of incorporating these into my day to day life.  The plan is to start small, and build up over the next few weeks,  and to basically not indulge in junk food and fizzy drinks quite so much!


I may do a post in a few weeks time to say how I'm getting on!
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Monday 20 August 2012

My Everyday Makeup Routine(s)


My basic everyday routine is pretty minimal really.  I work in a busy cafe in town, and while makeup is allowed, we're generally expected to keep it natural, and to a minimum. This suits me fine as I can't be bothered so sit and do a load of make up just to go to work when I'll end up sweating it off in the kitchen.  Ooohhh, sexy!
 

So on a work day  I'll apply Rimmel's Wake Me Up Foundation with my fingers and dab Collection 2000 concealer under my eyes; a must for those 7am starts my boss seems to keep giving me lately! I'll then sweep on a bit of blush.  This varies, and is usually whichever one I grab first, although I am quite liking Elf Studio's Candid Coral blush at the moment, which you can see I've now hit pan on... a sure sign of a well loved and used product!A quick coat of Max Factor mascara, and a bit of Boujoirs bronzer and I'm good to face all those pain the the backside lovely customers!


When I'm not at work, I'll put a bit more effort into my routine. I'll start with my newest purchase, Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation.  After umming and ahhing for well over a year, I finally caved and bought it.  Because of the price, some might want to use it every day, to get their use out of it,  but for me I just can't bring myself to wear a £30+ foundation for work!  To be fair, I don't think it's light coverage would hold out too well where I work anyway so I'm saving it for my days off. I'm also currently trying out the Porfessional primer from Benefit, that came free with Glamour Magazine a while back. My concealer and bronzer remain the same, as does my mascara.  These are definitely my top three High Street products.  I'll then fill in my brows using Benefit's Brow Zings, which I stupidly left out of the photo... silly me!  My go-to eye make up look is Benefit's Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in honey bunny.  It's very natural looking, with just a little bit of shimmer and opens my eyes a little.  I then put Urban Decay YDK in the crease, add a bit of liner (pencil or gel, depending on my mood) and thats the eyes done.  My current favourite blush is a Topshop cream blush in the shade Prime Time. It's very bright and scary looking, and needs to be applied very sparingly but it blends beautifully and gives a lovely pop of colour.  That said, if I was doing a bit more with my eye make up, I'd probably avoid this blush or it might look a bit OTT!  I then finish the look with whichever nude lipstick I grab first (again, not pictured, duh!) and I'm all done! 


Obviously this isn't set in stone.  Some days I may wear a different blush, or use different eye shadows, or whatever.  On a night out, I may do a bit more of a smokey eye, or a brighter lip.  My work 'look' doesn't change so much though, like I said there's not much point in doing much more than that, and to be honest,  if I have an early start I'd rather sleep longer than get up early yo put make up on!  Aside from that, I try and mix things up a bit from time to time and try not to get stuck in too much of a rut,  because that wouldn't be much fun, would it?!
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Cakespiration #2





Some good friends of mine are having a 'Naming Ceremony'  for their little boy next month and have asked me to make cupcakes for it... eek! As much as I enjoy making them, and as many as I've made, for the most part I've been the one deciding to make them, either just because I'm bored (in which case I'll take some to friends and family who live nearby) or because I've chose to make them for a girlie get together or something.  This is only the second time I've been asked to make them for something particularly important;  the last time was for another friends little boy's 5th birthday party, for which I made cookie monster cupcakes, my proudest creation to date!



I've had no real instruction from my friend as to what they want exactly,  just vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream, which is great for me as my chocolate buttercream never works out quite right!  I've spent the last hour or so Googling 'Christening Cupcakes', 'Naming Day Cupcakes' and 'New Baby Cupcakes' to get a bit of inspiration, and to be honest I'm no better off as there was that many pictures! Some of them (well, most of them!) are probably a bit beyond my limits,  I don't yet trust myself to make models out of sugarpaste, nor do I want to spends loads on different cutters and equipment when I don't know when I'd use them again.  That said, there was still plenty that seem perfectly doable, and I've posted a selection of those, and the more fancy ones, above.

If anyone else has any ideas, or if you've made some for a similar occasion yourself, or know someone who has, let me know!


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Sunday 19 August 2012

Rimmel Lycra Pro Nail Varnish


I'm a bit of a nail varnish addict. I'd wear it every day if I could, but unfortunately I'm not allowed to wear it for work.  This hasn't stopped me building up a fairly decent collection with over 60 bottles at the last count.  (some are years old now, and I could do with sorting them out and getting rid of the ones that are past their best; it's on my list of things to do. Honest...) Anyway, one of my favourite brands of nail varnish is the Rimmel Lycra Pro range.  I first discovered these little beauties last summer and I'm slowly building up a little collection of them.

Rimmel say:
Take colour to a new level – promising fresh-out-of-the-bottle-look with long-lasting shine, it’s super durable, ultra-flexible giving you a chip-proof finish

I don't know how the Lycra technology works, but the finish is definitely different to any other nail polish I own. I'm not quite sure how to explain it to be honest.  It's shinier, and almost plastic/rubbery looking... in a good way! It reminds me of the 'gelish' polishes that have become popular recently.  They have a more professional finish than other brands, and it could quite easily pass for a salon manicure I reckon.


What I love about these polishes is the wand.  Rimmel claim the "Maxi Brush" promises a mistake-free application.  For someone like me who often struggles to get an even finish when applying nail polish, this brush is a God-send.  It's flatter and wider than the average wand, and I believe this is the only brand that has this.  It makes applying your nail polish a dream, the brush fans out and practically covers your entire nail.  It makes painting your nails SO much quicker,  which is fab when you're running late but still want to paint your nails! I can do two coats with this stuff faster than I can do one coat with other brands.

Rimmel also claim that it lasts up to 10 days without chipping, and the new 'anti-fade' colour system helps to keep the colour as fresh and as vibrant as when you first applied it.  I can't comment on this as due to work, I only wear nail polish for a day or two at a time.  And even if I have time off, I can't imagine wearing the same colour for 10 days straight - I get bored too easily!  So the long lasting-ness of the polish isn't a big selling point for me.  I'd be interested to know if it really does last for 10 days though, just out of curiosity!  ;)

I absolutely love these polishes.  They offer easy application,  gorgeous finish,  a fab range of colours and better still, they're under a fiver - bargain!

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