Beauty And The Blogger

Lush Sweetie Pie Shower Jelly

2009-06-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying that I am not one of these people who loves all things Lush. You know those people who seem to buy bath bombs practically every day. Not me. But I was in one of their stores the other day buying a birthday present for one of those people and I was drawn to this - The Sweetie Pie Shower Jelly. It feels and looks like jelly. And smells like vimto.

Lush describes it as "Lashings of blackcurrant and bergamot essential oils in a sour cherry and coconut jelly make this deep purple Shower Jelly just about as fruity as you can get."

I love this stuff. You can use it in the shower/bath as a body soap or as a hand or facial soap too. You can crush them to make trillions of bubbles for your bath or apply it directly to your body. So many uses. The girl in Lush told me that sometimes she even uses it to wash her hair.

The smell is amazing and honestly I wouldn't mind smelling like this for the rest of my life. Lots of berry-goodness. Not overpowering like so many soaps/scrubs/bath bombs etc that you can find in Lush. Definitely worth the £2.15 I paid for it. I didn't get a massive chunk but enough for a good few showers. Will definitely be repurchasing.

BTW: I asked the girl in Lush to recommend something pink/glittery/sparkly for my friends birthday present. She's mid twenties but mentally much younger. lol. Anyone bought this before or used any of the products in the Wild Child box set? Let me know if I made the right choice by commenting below. Thanks.

Weblink to the Wild Child box set:

https://www.lush.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=186&category_id=587&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=80

MAC Euristocrats Collection

2009-06-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

(All images from www.temptalia.com)

I have only recently started getting into lip products. Style Warrior made sure of that. So I don't know if I will be picking up much of this collection but it sure looks pretty. AND new dazzleglasses to ogle. Remember - You can never have enough dazzleglasses.

Lipsticks:

Costa Chic - Light coral (Frost)
Naked Paris - Mid-tone brown with multi deminsional pearlized pigments Lustre)
Patisserie - Creamy neutral pink (Lustre)
Milan Mode - Deep pink with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Lustre)
London Life - Deep berry with multi-pearl pigments (Lustre)
Saint Germain - Pastel pink (Amplified)
Cockney - Yellow red with multi-diminsional pearl pigments (Lustre)

Lip Pencils:
Magenta - Vivid pinkish-purple
Cherry - Vivid bright bluish-red
Subculture - Underground pink
Whirl - Dirty rose

Dazzleglasses:
Date Night - Deep plum with blue and gold pearl (Permanent)
Euro Beat - Peach coral with gold pearl (LE)
Internationalist - Yellow pink with blue pearl (Permanent at MAC Stores Only)
Local Colour - Neutral yellow pink with gold pearl (Permanent at MAC Stores Only)
Roman Holiday - Med brown coral with pink pearl (Permanent at MAC Stores Only)
Rue De Rouge - Light red with pink pearl (LE)
Vie Veneto - Light violet with blue pearl (LE)

From first glance I think I want Costa Chic, London Life, Cockney lipsticks and I really can't decide on the dazzleglasses. Euro Beat looks good but I already have Smile dazzleglass and they look quite similar. The collection isn't out till July though so I have a while to decide. And as for the lip pencils I don't actually own any yet so maybe I should look into those too.

Anyone know what they're getting from this new collection? Comment below and let me know.

MAC Naked Honey Collection

2009-06-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

As soon as I saw the Naked Honey promo pictures I knew that it wasn't going to be a collection that would wow me. Honey scents might do it for Allthatglitters21 but not me.
Thanks to a friend in America (I love you btw lol) I get MAC collections just after the USA receives them. It really depends on how fast the postal service is going. So I got my wishlist yesterday and tested them out this morning. I didn't pick up much but what I did get I love.

(Item names in red are the things I picked up)

Eyeshadows:
Crème de Miel - A typical white/gold highlight colour. MAC includes a highlight colour in every collection they do so I don't think this is a must have, unless you are just starting out with makeup and don't have any highlight colours.
Pollinator - A coral/pink colour with minimal shimmer. Not the most pigmented shadow but it is definitely buildable. Perfect for summer.
Buckwheat - A warm chocolate brown colour. Similar to MACs mulch so you could probably pass on this one if you already have mulch.

Lipglasses
She's A Star - A sheer nude lipglass with peach/gold shimmer. A bit bla in my opinion, there are probably so many dupes out there for this.
Queen Bee - A beautiful coral gloss with orange and peach shimmer. I am really into corals right now so I know this is going to be a favourite of mine for the new few months.
Buzz - A red/brown with gold shimmer. This just isn't a colour I could ever see me wearing so I didn't pick it up.

Highlight powders
Honey Light - A frosty gold overspray and then slightly less frosty underneath. It would only take a few uses of the powder to remove the overspray.
Golden Nectar - A frosty peachy gold overspray and then slightly less frosty underneath.
The highlight powders were actually a big disappointment for me. The honeycomb design on top almost made me buy one, well it worked for the Rose Romance beauty powders, but underneath that overspray they just seemed kinda boring and easily dupeable with a regular eyeshadow as highlight.

Now obviously I didn't buy the body products as I have no idea how they smell, so this bit is basically me repeating the email that I got from my friend about the Naked Honey collection. She didn't buy any body products either which should give you a hint on how she feels about the collection...

Naked Honey Salve - A big tin compared to what I was expecting. I was expecting paintpot size but they really are quite big. You get 40g of product but even that couldn't sway me to buy the thing. It just doesn't smell like honey. Smells more floral with a hint of honey if that makes any sense.
Naked Honey Bodywash and Naked Honey Hand And Body Cream - Again neither are very honey smelling. You would think MAC would put the effort in with this and make a true honey scent for a collection called Naked Honey but nope. nada. nothing like it.
Naked Honey and Africanimal perfumes - Nothing special. Naked Honey has a light almost floral scent while Africanimal has more of a spicy musky scent. Even the MAC artists didn't like them.

Overall I only picked up two products (Pollinator and Queen Bee lipglass) and I am very happy with those two. I plan on wearing them both tomorrow. Pollinator as a quick all over lid colour and Queen Bee over...something. I don't know yet I just know I wanna wear it! I have to say that I am tempted by the Naked Honey Salve and might just pick it up when the collection finally reaches the UK. I predict a sellout for this so get in quick.
Let me know what you plan on picking up or if you think this is a collection to pass on. It just means more money for Colour Craft!

The Body Shop Vitamin E Face Mist Vs MAC Fix+ Rose

2009-06-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

I love my MAC Fix+ Rose and have already gone through nearly a whole bottle of the stuff! Which isn't good. Well, not if I'm trying to save money anyway. So I decided to try out the Vitamin E Face Mist from The Body Shop because I keep hearing that it's a good dupe for MAC Fix+ Rose. So...

A little bit of info on the two:
~While the bottles look very different in size, they both actually contain product to the amount of 100ml. Strangely though, MAC Fix+ Rose claims 100ml to be equal to 3.4 US fluid oz while the Vitamin E Face Mist compares 100ml to 3.3 US fluid oz. No biggie.
~The MAC Fix+ has a lock preventing any accidental spillages in your makeup bag while the Vitamin E Face Mist simply has a plastic cap covering. I don't think this would be a problem though as it clicks down pretty tight to the bottle. So unless you have a tendency to throw your makeup bag about wildly this shouldn't be an issue.
~Both the MAC Fix+ and the Vitamin E Face Mist are suitable for all skin types.
~Both can be used to refresh, hydrate the skin/set makeup etc.

Now the most important parts:
Price: MAC Fix+ Rose £10.77 / The Body Shop Vitamin E Face Mist £5.47
Availability: MAC Fix+ Rose is limited edition / As far as I know the Vitamin E Face Mist is a permanent part of the Body Shop line
The Big Question: Does the Vitamin E Face Mist smell the same as MACs Fix+ Rose?
Well....pretty much. The Vitamin E Face Mist has a slightly stronger rose scent. No major difference though.

Overall I definitely think the Vitamin E Face Mist is worth a try. It's almost half the price of MAC Fix+ Rose and isn't bloody limited edition, like so many products I grow to love which then disappear off the face of the earth and then reappear on ebay at double the price.

Bonus: Enter this code at checkout and receive 20% off the Vitamin E Face Mist
BLOG_MIST
Code expires 18/09/09

It Wasn't Online Until Thursday but I picked up...

2009-06-03T10:55:00.001-07:00

So sorry I didn't post this earlier. Caught some kind of sickness bug. The collection is kind of old news now but anyway...

OK, so the collection wasn't up on MACs website until Thursday so I couldn't take a look until around 6ish when I came home from work. I managed to get everything I wanted though. Went a bit crazy. I got :

~ Soft Force/Night Manoeuvre/Bright Future and Vibrant Grape Eyeshadows

~ On A Mission/Eversun Beauty Powder Blushes

~ Pink Rebel Lustre Drops

~ Refined Golden Bronzing Powder

Basically just what I planned on getting. I kinda regret the Beauty Powder Blushes though, not because they are bad products, just because I don't need them. Probably going to end up on MUA so checkout my account - alexa19

Haul!

2009-06-03T02:19:00.000-07:00

Here's just a round up of all the things that I have bought this week. Some are from ebay, some are from Make Up Alley and some are from http://love-makeup.co.uk/.

(Left-Right Spaced Out Blush from the Neo Sci-fi collection/Naked pigment/Too Faced Shadow Insurance)

~Spaced Out Blush (swatched on NW15) is a Sheertone Shimmer Blush
Spaced Out is a beautiful apricot/peach colour with very minimal shimmer. I'm not the kind of person who likes alot of shimmer/glitter on my face or even my eyes so this blush is definitely something that I would wear. Even to work. Bought from love-makeup for £16.99.
~Naked pigment: A natural high-light colour for the cheeks or brow bone. My camera can't pick it up so that's why there's no swatch for you. Bought from ebay for £9.99.
~Too Faced Shadow Insurance: Like everyone else on the planet I have tried UDPP and while I do like it, the packaging just annoys me so much that I have decided to try the next best thing - TFSI. Hope it works out! Swapped Shadowy Lady Quad on MUA for this and a new MAC blush palette. Had two of Shadowy Lady for some strange reason...

~(Left-Right Carbon/Parfait Amour/Hepcat/Amber Lights/Gorgeous Gold)
All pro-pan shadows. First 3 bought from love-makeup for only £6.50 each. The other 2 were bought from ebay for £4.99 each. And they ARE authentic. Bargain! The palette is new too, also from love-makeup for £15.99.

~Archetype lipstick (Lustre from the Alexander Mcqueen collection) on the top: Sheer gold/peach colour.
~Dubonnet lipstick (Amplified Creme) underneath: Strong vampy red. It is so beautiful in person. Swatches just don't do it justice.
I swapped both of these on MUA for a MAC Ivy Eye Kohl.

~Teddy Eye Kohl on the left: A deep brown with very good pigmentation. A must have liner for every collection. Bought from love-makeup for £8.99.
~Gosh Extreme Art Eye Liner (shade number is either 08/80) on the right: A sky blue similar to Mutiny pigment. This thing does not come off! After washing my hands several times it was still there. Looked as if it had just been applied. Extremely waterproof! Freebie from MUA. It was new btw. I definitely don't recommend using used makeup items that have been anywhere near somebody elses eye unless it is possible to sanitize them.

2009-06-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone was wondering, I really wanted all of the lip products as soon as I saw them so I got a friend in the states to ship them over. I decided to wait till the 3rd/4th for the rest of the stuff I wanted. You can bet I'm gonna be checking the website every 5 minutes tomorrow evening though so I can get my order in online. lol. My nearest MAC store is like 2 hours away so I always have to order online for the limited edition collection items. Which kinda sucks. Anyway, have a great day or night wherever you are.

Alexa
xoxo

MAC Style Warrior Collection Lipglasses

2009-06-02T11:52:00.000-07:00

(Left - Right Style Warrior/Liberated/Gold Rebel/Fierce And Fabulous)

The lip products, for me, were definitely the stand out products of the collection. The lipglasses being no exception.

~Style Warrior - Blackened bronze brown with pearl (Frost)
Noticeable dark colouring when added to the lips. I personally wouldn't wear it alone. But over my new favourite lipstick (Tribalist) it is a must. I assume it would work well over similarly red/berry coloured lipsticks also.
~Liberated - Sheer yellow gold with pearl (Frost)
Simple sheer gold shimmer.
~Gold Rebel - Sheer copper bronze with pearl (Frost)
Ever so slightly different to Liberated. Not much though. I don't think you would need both of these lipglasses. One is enough. A possible dupe is Goldyrocks dazzleglass so if you already have that then you probably don't need to bother with these two.
~Fierce And Fabulous - Bright Magenta Purple With Pearl (Frost)
Again provides noticeable colouring to the lips. I would definitely wear this alone or over Purple Rite lipstick. The most likely dupe I could suggest is the purple dazzleglass in Funtabulous.

MAC Style Warrior Collection Lipsticks

2009-06-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

(Left-Right Brave New Bronze/Purple Rite/Sunsationalist and Tribalist)

So when I first heard about this collection I have to say that it just didn't appeal to me. The style warrior promo pictures, lets be honest, though beautiful, did seem to be geared more towards women of colour. As NW15 I very clearly do not fit into that category. But, you know what, I was sooo wrong. There are definitely wearable shades for even the palest girls in this collection. Let's start with the lipsticks...

~Tribalist - Creamy blackened berry (Amplified creme)
The darkest of the four shades and my favourite. Definitely the darkest I own! This is something I would definitely wear on a night out. It is such a beautiful deep red/brown berry colour, if that makes any sense.
~Purple Rite - Mid-tone frosty orchid (Frost)
Purple Rite is what I call the marmite of the collection. You either love it or you hate it. I love it. Too many people simply see the lipstick in its packaging and think that it is just not wearable. It is. Maybe not an every day colour but still a beautiful colour to add to your collection.
~Brave New Bronze - Creamy mid-tone pink nude (Satin)
A very wearable nude colour that in my opinion everyone should go out and try. Though there do seem to be a few possible dupes. If you have Hue or Cherish lipsticks also from MAC then you could maybe pass on this one.
~Sunsationalist - Sheer frosted beige gold (Glaze)
As a glaze this lipstick provides a very sheer shimmery peachy colour to your lips. Not my favourite but yet another lipstick I will gladly add to my collection. This will be a perfect colour for summer.

Side note: It is absolutely boiling here in the UK right now! I don't like the heat!