Spring Looks: Body Shop Hi-Shine Lip Treatment in Golden Coral

I'm completley addicted to Body Shop body products, and though I normally don't dabble much with their colour cosmetics I'm a longtime fan of their Hi-Shine Lip Treatments. If you haven't tried these before, they're a very moisturising gloss tinted with sheer colour - kind of like a budget version of Clinique Tinted Superbalm gloss.

Anyway so I picked the shade Golden Coral up on an impulse whilst purchasing some Blueberry body butter (also delicious!). It's part of their Spring collection and this particular shade seems to have been a hit since mine was the very last one in store. It's a gorgeous soft peachy coral with golden shimmer. On the lips, it's a very natural shade (just a hint of coral and gold) but it's a very nice change from my usual uncoloured MAC Tinted Lip Conditioner.

This is limited edition so get it while it's going! :)

Review: Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Fresh Powder Makeup SPF10

I haven't really dabbled much with mineral makeup, having tried Everyday Minerals several years ago and pretty much finding that it did not agree with my super oily skin. I read some amazing reviews of this product so thought I'd give it a go - it's actually not a true mineral makeup, but since it's a loose powder foundation it essentially applies in the same way.

First of all, this is a hydrating powder with a high water content. It feels like nothing else I've ever put on my skin. It's hard to explain, but the powder is light, airy, and somehow wet when you apply it. You really don't get any feeling of dryness that powder foundations can sometimes give.

Secondly, I'm in love with the finish of this. This is easily the closest finish to bare skin of any foundation I've tried. It has a subtle radiance without shimmer that's stunning.

Why I am not wearing this every day then? Well, the coverage is light. Some days I think I need just a little extra cover than this gives. Secondly, unfortunately I'm in between shades (30 & 40). I have shade 30, but I can only use it if I haven't been using any fake tan. And lastly, it's not quite as long lasting on my oily skin as Makeup Forever Matte Velvet, or Diorskin Forever, though I'm sure most others wouldn't have this problem.

So although this isn't my HG, for me this is still a wonderful addition to my foundation wardrobe. But if you're in the market for a powder or mineral foundation I'd highly recommend giving it a go.

MAC Colour Forecast: Purple Quad & Fresco Rose = Spring perfection

First of all, hello I'm back!! Life has been very busy these last couple of months and it's been hard to find the time and willpower to motivate myself to post. By the time I get home these days, it's about 7pm and I feel just about ready for bed! :P

Anyway, thought I'd share a pic or two of the quad I picked up from MAC Spring Colour Forecast. I had actually planned to buy the purple quad from the Guerlain spring collection, but since it was sold out, this seemed a good alternative.

As MAC palettes go, I think the colours in this one co-ordinate nicely. The standout shade for me in this quad is Bruised Plum. It's a pinkier, plummier version of Illegal Cargo (from Naughty Nauticals) and the veluxe pearl texture is very smooth.

Mink Pink, a matte nude pink, unfortunately doesn't show up on me at all (NC30). I wish MAC had included a lighter highlight colour instead. The two dark purples are OK, though the darkest shade Jungle Moon could do with a bit more pigmentation.

I got this quad with Fresco Rose paint pot and they are a match made in heaven! I've swatched Fresco Rose (left) with the 3 darker shades in the quad (right). Fresco Rose is a pinkier version of Bruised Plum, so using this as a base really brings out the colours of this quad and helps them stay intense. I wore this combo yesterday on a mammoth shopping trip, and it lasted all day.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this quad, although for me I definitely need to use a separate brow highlighter.

Not dead... I promise!

Just a note to say that I haven't dropped off the planet! Have been fairly busy (and tired) lately, plus hubby has vanished on a month-long holiday to New Zealand (yep, lucky little devil) and it dawned on me right after he'd left that he's taken our one and only camera. So, bah to him, his camera, and his sunshine-filled days... (Me? Jealous? Never.) In the meantime, my haul from Dior's spring collection lies on my dresser, just begging to have pretty photos taken of it. That will have to wait!

In other news, I've been somewhat bored with MAC lately. I've even resisted the lure of the CCO at Bicester Village, even though no-one has been here to disapprove of my bad shopping habits! I'm more tempted by Chanel's spring collection, which seems to have suddenly made an appearance in the UK in the last week, if I'm not mistaken. The soft coral Rouge Allure has spring all over it. Now, only if it would stop snowing, I might be able to pretend it's spring already...

xx
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Inglot Reviews: Liquid Blush, Lip Gloss Duo, & more!

Whenever I walk into Inglot, I'm overwhelmed by the sheer choice of colours and products they have. It really is amazing! Since I've been loving my Inglot Freedom palettes so much lately, I thought I'd branch out and try a few other Inglot products too. (Not to mention, their store in Westfield London always seems a much more pleasant place to shop than MAC!). Here's what I got:

Inglot Eyeshadow Trio
I got this in a trio of purple shades. The formula is the same as in the Freedom palettes - pearlescent, smooth, and nicely pigmented. They had a big range of colour choices, including some that were too outrageous for my taste (e.g. hot pink). A very handy size for travel, although I kind of wish there was some variation in the textures (more satins and mattes, please!). The purples I got are vibrant and pretty, hubby even commented they were maybe a little too bright (or was that just 'cause I was nipping out to Tesco's in purple eyeshadow and hot pink gloss? Hmm..)

Inglot Young Skin Makeup Pressed Powder
As much as I love MAC face powders, I always seem to be in between shades. I'm a MAC NC30, but Medium Dark seems a little light, and Dark seems a little Dark. (Am I just being difficult? Maybe). Anyway, so the Inglot pressed powders caught my eye as they had a good range of yellow-based shades. I got shade #41, which is a perfect match for me - yay! The formula is as good as any powder I've tried, but nothing that makes me especially excited. The compact is black, sleek, and functional.

Inglot Liquid Blush
This one's a winner - thanks to Shifa at Get Gawjus! for recommending it! I haven't tried liquid blushes before, but this is very nice. The texture is somewhere between a cream, a gel and a stain, and is surprisingly buildable. Length of wear is slightly longer on me than other cream blushes, but still requires touch-up after a few hours, although my skin is pretty oily so that's no surprise. The colour I got (#82) is a beautiful nude pink that I think would work on just about any light-to-medium skintone. It's in the same colour family as MAC Lilicent blushcreme, only a shade or so deeper. Lilicent disappears on me in minutes, so I'm glad I found this as an alternative. It's also not sticky, just leaves a hint of moistness on the cheeks to illuminate naturally.

Inglot Lip Duo
Inglot sell a lot of different lip products, and this cute duo seemed a great way to try 2 for the price of 1. It comes in a cute transparent cube - the bottom half of the cube has Lip Paint, and the top has Lip Gloss. The formulas are slightly different - I have to say, the Lip Paint is absolutely divine, not like any lip product I've come across. It's very opaque and pigmented, very moisturising but not sticky. This, along with Chanel glosses, is one of the best gloss textures I've found. The Lip Gloss (top half) is quite shimmery and slightly more sticky, with good colour payoff. The colours look similar in the pot, but the Lip Paint is a creamy bright peachy-pink, whereas the Lip Gloss is a medium cool-toned pink with a lot of silver shimmer. I did find it hard to choose shades as many of them seemed quite similar (mostly variations on pink/pink, or nude/clear), so I do hope they introduce more colours into the range.

ELF Studio Mini Makeup Set Review

ELF UK have a very generous offer at the moment, that if you purchase £25 of product, you receive a free Studio Mini Makeup set worth £15. Since they recently added a lot more products to their range, I took the opportunity to order some more Studio brushes (most of which I love btw!), mineral eyeshadow primer & bronzer, and I got the kit for free.

I was pretty excited by this palette as not many kits come with such a fantastic range of products - eyeshadows (powder & cream), blush, bronzer, brow powder, lipglosses and and eye pencil. However I have to say that although I love this palette in concept, the actual thing didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Firstly, the eyeshadows - the range of colours is very good, you have some soft natural colours, blue-greens, and smokey greys. My main gripe though is that the two colours suitable for using as a lid shade (the champagne colour,and the pale cream shadow) are both way too shimmery. Since these kinds of colours are pretty much the foundation of any eye look, this is not so great for doing everyday looks. Maybe I'm just conservative, but for me, glitter doesn't belong in the office. The other colours are OK, but the pigmentation or consistency aren't wowing me.

The second disappointment is the lip products. The colours are quite dark, which for me is a negative, but at the end of the day comes down to personal preference. However, the consistency feels somewhat cheap. It's hard to describe, but they feel waxy and have an unflattering shimmer to them.

The blush, bronzer and brow powder are all smooth and nicely pigmented. Thumbs up.

The eyeliner pencil is not that pigmented (especially when I'm so used to Urban Decay 24/7 pencils). It would do in a pinch, but wouldn't be my first choice for eyeliner.

Overall I think this was a really nice freebie, but not one that I'll be using much. I'm really not convinced it's worth the £15 ELF UK is otherwise charging for it. On the US website, it sells for US$15 I think, which seems like a fairer price. I'm sure there are plenty of people who love this palette, but for me it was a bit of a disappointment given how much I love the other Studio products. I will stick to the ELF products I already love - especially the brushes!

Inglot Blush Palette Review

A few months back I purchased this (link here) Inglot Freedom Palette. What I love about this palette system is that it's made up of magnetic layers, so you can basically add as many layers to your palette as you want. You can choose from eyeshadows, blush, concealer, brow or lip products. So far I have two 'layers' of eyeshadows, and I've been so impressed with their smoothness and pigmentation that I decided to get a layer of blushes too.

There were plenty of blush shades to choose from, although almost all were shimmery shades. Some matte options would have been nice. I ended up choosing one deep bronze colour (to use as bronzer/contour), a bright candy pink, a coral and a medium peach. I've tried swatching them, unfortunately, the pictures aren't so great, I really must get a decent camera one of these days, but you get the idea. These are really very pigmented - more than MAC, but less than NARS, if that makes sense. The colours are clean and bright. Actually I'm wondering now if they're a little too pigmented for my taste, seeing as I tend towards soft colours. They will be wonderful in summer though!

The formulation could use a little improvement as it's very powdery. Because the product is so loose, my brushes tend to pick up a lot of powder, and because it's so pigmented one needs a very light hand when applying. So I'm using a stippling brush (MAC #187) in order to avoid picking up too much product, and that seems to be working well.

Overall I think the quality is good. The price is £26, which is reasonably good value compared to high-end brands. I love the fact this fits together with my existing Inglot eye palettes - I now have a "stack" of palettes that I can add to or downsize depending on where I'm going. I do hope Inglot introduce some more matte options at some point, and maybe some highlighter shades too, but for now I'm pretty happy :-)