Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Colour (Lovechild & Crush).

I don't want to speak too soon and jinx things, but it is in fact SUMMER! Or at least as close as it's going to get in the UK any way. And when the sun comes out to play so do my pretty summer dresses, sometimes even without tights!. And of course what is the perfect make-up accessory for pretty summer dresses? Pretty lips. Presently my new lip loves are Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Colour's, phew that's a big title lets slim it down to UD lip colour for this post. I first caught the bug for these lip lovelies when I purchased Adrenaline back in October and now I have added another 2 to my collection, Lovechild and Crush. Urban Decay is as amazing as ever and these colours are just lovely. 

 

Lovechild is a pale pink that gives my lips a hint of colour, for those subtle days.

Crush, not so subtle. Crush is a hot pink that is dying for a party to be shown off at.

I will definitely by getting my wear out of these even once the sun decided to hide again, and there is no point in shielding you guys from the fact that I will be probably be buying more of these in the near future. The only thing I would advise about the UD lip colour, and any lip stick is to make sure your lips are in tip top condition before applying. Dry, cracked lips are not a good look with lip stick, you lip balm is your best friend.

Oh before I go I do want to share with you something I am really excited about. Urban Decay are launching a new palette system to go with there recently reformulated eye shadows. I am not too sure when/or if they will be out in the UK but I will be keeping my eyes peeled for any signs of this. I, like a lot of other make-up enthusiasts, love a good palette and from what I have seen of these they look amazing. If anyone knows when they are launching in the UK please let me know and you will be my favourite person in the world!. 

Hold the phone, quick update. Urban Decay customer service just emailed me back (within 20mins no less) and advised me that the new palette system and revamped eyeshadows will be out in the summer. I know it's a few months to wait and I will be counting down the days, but once I get my hands on them you will be the first to know.  

Stacey x x

Dior Skinflash and MAC Prep and Prime transparent finishing powder.

Hi guys so on Saturday, the hottest day of the year so far (I can't count Sunday as I was in my house all day and didn't have chance to enjoy the sun) my self and the ladies enjoyed a lovely day and evening in Manchester. We had booked to see Sarah Millican at the O2 Apollo so we decided visit Manchester a bit earlier to partake in it's pleasures. That for me and another friend meant some retail therapy, the others some alcohol therapy. So while we were there we ventured in to Lush, for my friend and MAC, Dior and Next for me and here are my purchases.

These amazing glasses are from Next and were bought for me by one of my lovely friends for my birthday. They are a bit of an acquired taste but to be honest my whole style is a bit of an acquired taste ;0)

The first actual purchase, of the things I bought with my own money (I didn't even use hubby's, I am a very good girl) is MAC Prep and Prime transparent finishing powder. I have only just started using a liquid foundation again recently and I have found that it really needs to be powdered to stop it from feeling sticky, as I have quite oily skin. MAC says “A silky, colourless finishing powder suitable for all skin tones. Reduces shine while optically minimizing the look of lines & imperfections. Wear over make-up or on its own”. As you can see I bought this in the compact just because I find it easier and less messy than loose powder, but it does come in both. This powder is also translucent which is great for me because of the whole paleness issue that I have. 

 

My next purchase was Dior Skinflash in 002. When I visited the counter the sales assistant showed me both 001 and 002, now I would normally go for the lightest colour that I can get my hands on which I believed would be 001. However when she swatched both the colours on her hand 001 was SO pink. I mean really pink, I was shocked. The sales assistant had already commented that she thought I would be 001 instead of 002 but when she swatched them my actually words were “am I that pink?” accompanied with a look on my face that I can only describe as 'deer in head lights'. Now I am not normally one for contradicting the sales assistant, they know their products after all but after seeing the swatches I had to go for 002 instead. 

 

So here is the swatch on my hand.

And here it is on the left covering most of the redness under my eye. I am still really surprised that it makes that much of a difference. This will be something I will be repurchasing over and over. It's pretty amazing. 

 

The sales assistant was lovely at the Dior counter, she wasn't fazed by my outburst, she popped some samples in the bag for me and also came out from round the counter to delicately pass me my bag (oh good customer service how I love you so much). She was a delight.

So what free goodies did I get? I received a sample of Miss Dior Eau Fraîche which smells absolutely divine and a sample of Capture Totale One Essential. This is plugged as “the 1st Universal Skin Boosting Super Serum” by Dior. It eliminates toxins, correct all visible signs of ageing, boosts performance of other products and brightens the skin. It is a serum so I will either be using this on it's own at night or under my daily moisturiser in a morning. As with all products it offers the world but I'm excited to see if it delivers for me. 

 

So a very good day all round. The sun was shining, I was with my ladies and we had some giggles. I hope you have all been enjoying the sun if you have been lucky enough to get some, remember in the UK the sun won't be around for long so enjoy it while you can.

Stacey x x

Skin Care part 2 – The Rise of Advanced Skin Care.

Here it is, the post you have all been waiting for, well I know of at least one person that has been waiting for it. I am hoping you are all well on your way to getting you basic skin care routine down to a tea so now it is time for Advanced Skin Care. Sound scary? I promise it’s not.


Advanced skin care covers the added extras that skin might need to make it even more beautiful. These are things like masks, serums, scrubs, eye creams etc. So what I am going to do today is give you a brief description of what these things are so that you will be well equipped to get your skin care shopping on!


Scrub.
 
A scrub is used to remove dead skin cells from the surface of the skin making it smoother and sometimes brighter. Basically what happens is the skin replenishes its cells all the time which can result in a build up of dead skin cells on the surface of the skin, and the scrub removes this. Generally scrubs are made up of some kind of bits (pumpkin seeds, apricot kernels) and some kind of wetness (fluid, cream, gel). There are the odd exceptions to the norm like facial scrub bars and scrubs that don’t have bits but use high tech ingredients to exfoliate the skin. I honestly believe even the most sensitive of skins can benefit from exfoliation, just remember to read the instructions before use. A scrub should be used no more than 2 times a week and, I know this is going to be tough, but please don’t scrub your skin too hard when you are using this type of product. Every time I decide to give my skin a good scrub my thoughts alternate between “this feels really good” and “I want to get this done really quick”, both these thoughts result in me pressing harder and scrubbing my skin faster and then I have to tell my self off! Just like I remind my self every time, pretend you are massaging your skin. You want your hands and the product to glide over your skin as opposed to scrubbing your skin off. Blotchy red face and broken capillaries is not a good look!




Mask

Masks are pretty amazing products as they can have a multitude of qualities and benefits. A mask is a type of treatment that you apply to your skin for a certain amount of time (stated on the packaging) and then removed. You can get masks that brighten, tighten, plump, moisturise, mattify, deep clean, and sooooo much more. As with scrubs, and in fact most skin care products, there are different types and textures. Ones that you wash off, ones that you peel off, ones that dry and ones that don't. Always, always check the instructions before use and follow them. Only leave the mask on for the allotted time because you don't want to have a reaction to it, especially if you are going somewhere special. But most off all have fun shopping for a mask, smell them all, feel them, ask for help if you need it (or if you just want a chat).

Facial Massage Oil

This product used to be solely consigned to professional facials but now it is becoming more readily available on the open market. Facial massage oils are exactly as the sound, an oil to be massaged in to the skin. The benefit of this product is not only that the massage boosts circulation making the skin look lovely, but most of the time they are full to bursting with beneficial essential oils. I have to admit facial massage oils are on the higher end of the price range when it comes to skin care because it is so luxurious. However don't rule it out just yet because it could be the wonder product that you have been searching for. You don't know unless you try. 

 

Serums

Serums are lightweight, high powered products that are used in conjunction with moisturisers. They are used to boost moisture, plump and smooth and many are plugged as “anti-ageing” products. I really like the feel of serums because they feel so silky on the skin. They are a great way to pep up your skin and feed it extra goodness without feeling laden with too much product. Also if you have issues with clogged pores then this could be a good substitute for a night cream or you may be able to get away with using a lighter moisturiser and increase the benefits by using a serum underneath for the day time. Which brings me seamlessly on to my next products, night creams.

Night creams

Night creams are generally known as such because they tend to have properties that work best when you are asleep, and they tend to have no SPF. When we go to sleep this is when our body has time to repair, which is why bad sleep = rubbish body. So night creams are designed to work best when we are dreaming our sweet dreams (mine are of Christian Louboutin's that I can't afford). Do you need a night cream? Well if you want to wake up in the morning with your skin looking amazing, and who wouldn't want that?, then yes. Although not specifically a night cream, you could use a serum, or an oil, or your day time moisturiser at a push. What I would keep in mind when choosing day and night products is that in the day you are primarily protecting and at night you are repairing.

Speciality products

These are things like eye creams, lip balms, neck gels, anything to treat a specific area really. Obviously I am not going to go through all of these speciality products but be aware if you have any specific area you would like to treat I am sure there will be a product out there for it!

Beauty/Blemish Balms (BB's)

So I have had to do a little research in to the last group of products that I am going to talk about today. B balms (either beauty or blemish) have just really materialised on to the European market in the last few years and I have to admit I have not tried one yet (gasp, shock horror), I know I am a little slow on the uptake really. B balms are described as an all in one product to combat and treat a multitude of cosmetic issues as well as giving the skin a light coverage of foundation. These products have been massive in Asia and now we have finally jumped on the band wagon. With No7's Beautiful Skin BB Cream and Clinique's NEW Age Defense BB Cream SPF 30 there are no end of possibilities to choose from. For me this is a pretty amazing idea, for too long we have covered our skin with a layer of foundation that did more harm than good, now with the evolution of the B balm hopefully that is soon to change. Unfortunately at the moment I am having a little bit of a hard time finding one that suits my very pale skin tone but once I do I will definitely be reviewing it for your reading pleasure. If any one has tried any of the B balms let me know how you got on and if you have any recommendations for a really pale one for me that would be amazing.

So we have come to the end of our romp through advanced skin care and we have come out the other side relatively unscathed. I have more than likely missed products out of this post because to be quite honest there are so many on the market. I hope I have helped give you an incite in to what is available and what could be beneficial to you. All that's left for me to say is don't get bogged down or stressed with skin care, yes it's going to take time to find the right things for you, yes you are going to have things that you wished you hadn't bought or have been a waste of money (god knows I have, the amount of which would probably fill my bathroom!), just have fun with it. Buy the best quality products that you can afford and do what I do, ask for the more expensive ones for Christmas. Sometimes be a little cheeky and ask for some samples and most of all talk to the sales assistant, don't be afraid to ask questions, that's what they are there for and if you don't want to buy don't be forced to by the hard sell.

Have a great time shopping, trying and pampering and I hope you find your wonder products.

Stacey x x

New Face Painting Goodies.

HI guys just a little one to show you my new face painting stuff. If you haven't noticed face painting is playing quite a big part in my life at the moment. I love it. It lets me unleash my creative side and seeing the children's faces when they have been transformed is priceless. 

I have been buying most of my face painting equipment from Face Paint UK at the moment. They have a massive array of products and with all my researching they are actually the cheapest of the websites that I have found. And I am all about the cheapest, cheapest and good customer service. Actually good customer service comes before the cheapest but the two combined and I wont go anywhere else. 

So here's what I got.

Round Metal Palette - for mixing liquid make up and glitter. 

Large Non Spill Water Pot - For clumsy hands (namely mine)

Empty A4 case with 12 velcro dots - this is for storing my paints so i can just open the lid and get started.

Diamond FX Sponge and Coloured Tack Sponge - I have only bought one of each at the moment so I can try them out and see what I like.

 

The only equipment I have not bought from Face Paint UK are my brushes. This is because I am quite particular about the type of brushes I like. First of all I am a plastic handle kind of girl. This is because they are genrally easier to clean than wood as the face paint does not stain the handles, and I find that they are more hard wearing. The brushes below were perchased from a  local art shop in Manchester called Fred Aldous. This art shop is pretty amazing, they have 2 floors and sell mountains of art supplies, also the staff seem to know what they are talking about, which I don't, so really they could tell me anything ;0)

I bought 3 packs of brushes this time.

These are Daler Rowney.

And both of these are Royal & Langnickel.

For my brushes I wanted a mixture of round and flat and a mixture of different sizes. I already have a few Daler Rowney so I know they last and perform really well. Royal & Langnickel are new to me so I hope they are just as good, or even better. Can't wait to use my new things now.  

Stacey x x

New Glitter Tattoo Kit.

Hi guys welcome to a lovely Saturday, I have eaten cheese cake for breakfast and woken up with orange hair, well I had my hair dyed orange last night but it felt like I just woke up and it was there! So on this fine day I want to show you my new glitter tattoo kit. I have been thinking about adding glitter tattoos to my face painting for a while now but it was going to the tattoo show and seeing quite a few of children there that gave me the push to do it. 

 

So first of all I wanted a bag or case to put my kit in. I know this would normally be peoples second thought and not their primary concern, but what I didn't want to happen was to get the equipment and then have no where to put it and it be strewn all over my house. I looked long and hard to find the right kind of case for my kit. I wanted something of medium size with a shoulder strap and something that looked funky.

In my internet searching I stumbled across Roo Beauty. Roo Beauty is a British company based in Devon who specialise in hair/beauty storage, and their things are amazing! Its about time that someone thought about storage ideas for beauty on the go and make it funky as well. Most hair and beauty professionals are creative people and we want to show our creative side, we don't just want to be stuck with an every day black carry case because it's the only thing on the market that will hold out kit, for me anyway I like a bit of choice. 

 

I went with the Amazon – Zebra Beauty Case which was £34.99 and I really like it. I wasn't too sure by the dimensions H22 x W32.5 x D21.5, how big it would be, even though I had my tape measure out trying to figure it out, but it is actually quite spacious without being cumbersome and heavy. 

 

It has 2 pockets on the sides and 1 on the front which will come in handy for extra space. The case opens with a zip that goes ¾ of the way round and the lid opens to display the pink interior. In the top of the case on the inside there is a mesh zip compartment. There are 2 trays on either side that open out like concertina, I think they are made from either plastic or hard cardboard and lined with a pink material. The bottom of the case is black and lined with rubber/felt, which the inserts are also made of. The inserts section off the bottom of the case in to 12 compartments when they are all used, but they are removable as well. The outside of the case is made from quite a thick foam material which I hope is wipe clean but can not be sure of. The whole of the inside does come out as well so if you wanted to use just the bag for some reason you could do that too.

I have also ordered a few other things from Roo Beauty but you will have to watch out for another review for those.

And so, on to the actual products. So I decided to go with Glitter Body Art for my first order of glittery supplies. Glitter Body Art are UK manufacturers based in South Wales and on their website they have everything you need to start glitter tattooing. As you are aware this is my first jaunt in to the world of glitter tattoos so I needed a good selection across the board to get my self started.

I started with the essentials.

Glitter glue: I bought 1 X 14ml bottle of Body Glue Plus which is dubbed on the website to be “long lasting body adhesive”.

Brushes: I bought one set of brushes which included what looks like a small blusher brush, a flat topped eye line brush and a splayed lip liner brush. Be under no illusion, these brushes are quite poor quality so they are in no way make up brushes. However I will only be using them to apply glitter and glue and they were very, very cheep so they will definitely do the job. Glitter tattoos are not the time to be using your MAC brushes!

I then went on to the stencils and decided I wanted to choose the boys first. This is because there was an abundance of girls stencils to choose from (because girls primarily have glitter tattoos done) and I really wanted to get some boys ones in before getting carried away with the girls ones.

For the boys I went with Robot 1 (looks very much like Transformers), Skull and Swards and Pirate Ship (classic pirate designs), Dagger Flames (this was just for my personal love of real tattoos), and Baby Dragon.

For the girls it was really hard to narrow it down but I eventually went for: Shooting Star, Cherries, Flower Armband, Heart Crown, Flutterfly, Angel, Diva, Funky Fairy and Fairy Wand. 

 

I then went on to choose the glitters. I decided to choose the stencils first and the glitters last so that I could work out which glitters would go with which designs I had chosen, see there is method in my madness.

Pink, Sliver Sparkle, Turquoise, Gold.

Gun Metal, Apple Sparkle, Marine Blue, Green, Fushia.

My purchases from Glitter Body Art also came with a care sheet advising of precautions and after care tips.

All in all I am very happy with both my purchases from Roo Beauty and Glitter Body Art. They both came packaged exceptionally well, in good time and very good value for money. Just cant wait to get started now, stay tuned for glitter fun coming your way soon.

Stacey x x

Pop in the Bath.

Another quick bath treat for all you bathaholics out there and this is nothing if not lovely. I'm not sure if I really need to specify where this came from, I don't mean which shop (this originally came from Lush) I mean it came from the Christmas goody box, of course. 

 

This bubble bar had me from the start, the flower shape was so cute and, well, it was pink which is always a winner in my eyes. When I stuck in under the running water it started to form perfect suds on the top of the water that reminded of what I thought clouds looked like when I was a child (the Care Bears kind). The scent that floated from this bar was kind of sweet and flowery and calming at the same time. I could not place the scent but it left my bathroom with just a hint of something lovely and comforting. My favourite part of this whole bubble bar has to be the fact that underneath the luxurious, frothy bubbles my bath water was pink! Both the white suds with a hint of pink in them, and the pink water made me imagine that I was bathing in strawberry milkshake, Yum. Would I pay £2.90 for this product? Yes, I definitely would.

Stacey x x

Dolly Cool.

Hi guys I am really excited today to show you the most amazing jewellery. A couple of weeks ago my self and hubby ventured to our first ever tattoo convention at the Tattoo Tea Party in Manchester. Not only were there some of the most incredible artists, but there was also some clothing and accessory stalls. And it was in the mass of ink and Rockabilly where I found Dolly Cool

 

Dolly Cool A.K.A Claire, is a jewellery designer from Manchester and all her creations are hand made with love and care and boy does it show, they are truly wondrous.

I have to throw in the disclaimer now, I am a quirky chick and this is some quirky jewellery so ready your self.

The first are the earrings that I bought at the Tattoo Tea Party where I first fell in love with Dolly Cool. Well technically I didn't buy them, hubby had to because I had conveniently forgotten my bank card ;0) 
 

As you can see they are comic book sounds. Can you believe there are earrings in the world that are this cool? Just wait till you see the rest!


So from the quality and sheer craziness of these earrings I took a look at Dolly Cool's website, and what I found was a collection of THE funkiest, THE quirkiest, THE coolest jewellery I have ever seen! And free delivery. I have to admit free delivery is my favourite when it comes to shopping online, it is a little know fact that I shop more often with websites that offer free delivery. With all this I couldn't help but buy. I paid with PayPal, nice and safe and I think it took about 4 days to receive my parcel and I was so Excited when I did.


On opening my parcel I found that my jewellery was safely packaged in bubble wrap and boxes.

 

And here is what I got. 
 

  

 

 

 

(yes those are skeleton Hello Kitty's)

I can not stress enough how much I Love my purchases. I love the fact that they come packaged so safe instead of just chucked in, I love the little care notes that come with them so you know how to look after them, the prices are great, the quality fantastic, and I love the fact that someone has lovingly hand made these for someone like me. I will definitely be buying more to add to my collection. The Hello Kitty Day of the Dead necklace and earrings I think next.


All I have left to say is Dolly Cool you make me one very happy girl. Keep up the good work.

http://www.dollycool.co.uk/   


Stacey x x