August's Lemmings

I realised I never did a July's Lemmings, but to be honest, it's the same as June's. I still have my eye set on the Chanel illusions d'ombress once it comes out on August 15th at my local debenhams.

My August lemings list is a lot smaller, but boy do I really admire these few.

Christian Dior

Mitzah Palette

Illamasqua nail polish in Eclipse

Garnier BB Cream

YSL Rouge Volupte in peach passion

Maison Martin Margiela - Untitled L'eau perfume

NARS Nail Polish in Purple Rain

Dag...it's an expensive month geez lol

What's everyone lemming after this month????

Your Neighbourhood Recycle Spokesperson

Have you guys noticed that I'm spelling things all in the British way, with the extra "u" lol. My computer is now telling me that I am spelling everything wrong now, since I updated it to English time. HAHA.  I don't know how to spell anything anymore, can't remember when to use the z versus the s's, or when to add the u or when not too. sigh.

Anyways, It's a gorgeous spring/summer day here in England and I decided to do some cleaning up.  I've always put together a pile of makeup empties to take with me to Origins to recycle, but since my town already has an amazing recycle program, I've been able to recycle locally, so I wanted to write a post to see how many people actually recycle their makeup empties?  

Just to show you all how much one person can go through in just a matter of 3 months, this is my pile.

I actually have more, but I tend to reuse a lot of my little pots for depotting broken eye shadows or pigments for my friends to try, so those aren't included, but as you can see, one person can make a lot of mess, and instead of all this ending up in a landfill, I have chosen to recycle.

Now I know in the states, recycling is a pain in the butt.  There aren't as many programs there as I have seen here in the UK, but having said that, there are a lot of Origins in most towns, so try to recycle, we all should do it, it's just a little thing we do that can make a big impact if we all do it.  Especially us beauty fanatics haha.

Other recycling programs with great incentives are:

Mac back 2 mac - If you are a MAC fan, then you probably already know that if you take back 6 empties, they will give you a free lipstick (other than the viva glam line)

Lush - Bring back 5 black pots and they will give you a free fresh face mask (retail over $5/£4)

and of course...

Origins - Take any other companies empties and they will recycle it for you.  In exchange, they will give you samples of whatever you ask for.

So even if there isn't an incentive, the incentive is to help not fill up landfills and add to the debris in the world :)

Does anyone have any other recycling programs that they participate in?

Chocolate Mud Mask

So one of the items that I got in my swap with buttonboxx was a chocolate mud mask. This was a god sent, because I haven't had a chance to go to lush and pick up the fresh face mask that I usually get from them.  So last night, I decided to take a nice bath full of oils and give myself a facial.  


Sorry my pictures look yellowish, this was taken late last night and the lighting isn't too good in the bathroom.

See that, wash your face ladies before applying this mask.

Ok, this looks a bit gross haha

but it's like fudge, it comes out thick and it's really creamy so it's really easy to apply.

I did contemplate taking a picture of my face, but honestly I looked so ugly so I decided not to do that you guys.

Well overall, you got a ton of product in these pouches, I was able to use it all over my face, neck, decolletage, and even parts of upper arm where I do get some tiny bumps sometimes.  The mask did clean out my pores a bit, but it felt very tight, so I had to pack on the serums and moisturizer last night.  I believe it did what it was suppose to do, and it really cleaned out my pores.  And, for someone who doesn't like to eat chocolate, I was so tempted to eat this facial mask.  It smells really really really good! haha

It's a nice packet to have, for a cheap facial, so definitely grab one for the next time you have a night in and want to give yourself a special pampering.

NOTD: Skinfood Nail Vita Polish in VL408

This baby arrived this morning all the way from Korea. Sort of like me :) Well you all know how I feel about number systems with most asian nail products...I hate it. It's a fact, we like names with our polishes, sigh...Anyways, this is VL408 from SkinFood.  I am new to this brand, even though I have heard it many times.  Skinfood is like your equilvalent drugstore brand/chemist brand, and like I said from Korea.  


VL408 is a purple/blue "blurple" shimmery jeweltone polish with blue and copper microglitters floating in it.  I love the packaging.  It looks very organic and almost something that should be sold at wholefoods or trader's joe.  I definitely give it up for their simple, but cute packaging.  The full size bottles are 13ml, and will run you anywhere from $4+, so it won't hurt your pockets too badly. I got this for a little over $5 with shipping, if you are near a heavily populated Korean population with big supermarkets and other stores, you will probably have access to this.


This is a one coat polish, slightly on the thick side but for the colour it's forgiven.


I love this polish, it is honestly the beautiful blend of dark blue and dark purple that I have loved ever since purchasing Chanel's Vendetta.  I really need a back up of this soon.


My photos DO NOT do this polish justice.  It completely doesn't show the rich purple jeweltone that is prevalent in real life, nor the different microglitters, but trust me...it's there and it shows :)

Gorgeous ain't it? I love it!!

Has anyone tried Skinfood? What do you think of it? And the better question is, is there anywhere in the UK that I can buy skinfood without importing it from Korea?

Blog Swap Box Reveal

I am a night owl, but last night I went to bed early like a good girl, because I knew there was a box arriving for me.  I had so much fun opening this box, well in general I had fun.  Me and Ashley over at ButtonBoxx decided to do a box swap.  The problem that a lot of bloggers face is "what do we do with all the stuff we tried but don't want?", so after having met her off makeupalley, we decided to do a swap a box full of products that just didn't work for us.

This is my reveal of this fabulous blog swap that we did.

I just have to say a big shout out to Ashley.

The box smelled so fabulous when I opened it!

It had a bunch of Yankee candles in it, and honestly I'm still smelling the box.

Ahhhh, smells like bliss.

I can't wait to try these everything, so excited. I know I said that already, but I really am excited. I'm the most excited to try out the Soap & Glory Superfruit Plum Skin Brightening Complex.  I have never tried Soap & Glory, and I know they are all the rage here in England, so I can't wait to try this.

Ashely - THANK YOU DOLL!!!!!xx

Everyone, go check out her blog.  It is such a cute blog mixed with beauty and fashion topics.  Her photos are quite creative too.

I need Chilewich in my life

Ok this is definitely out of the ordinary for me. I am not Martha Stewart, sure I can cook, and I've been known to hand make gift packagings, invitations, cards, and other "crafty" things, but in general...my time is usually focused on beauty products or fashion.
But there is something about this company that makes me want to just throw all my money to them.  I don't have my own house, so this is actually quite premature, but I just wanted to show you all the designs from this company.  


I first learned about them when I saw the placemats on the Selfridges website, and my love for them grew.  I love the edgy modern decor.  I need to have this seriously...and it's all based around colours that I love (especially on my nails).

Images taken from Chilewich website

Images taken from the Chilewich website

You can check them out on their website - http://www.chilewich.com/

NOTD: Dior Red Dahlia (Dahlia Rouge)

The Dior Les Rouges Collection is hot right now.  Revisting the classic reds has been done so cleverly by Dior this season, but yet my heart is not beating that fast for them.  I appreciate the look, and believe if you don't have classic reds in your collection, this is a stunning collection to own.  I checked my collection and realised that I did have a red polish by Dior that I have never tried.


Today's nail of the day is Dior's Red Dahlia (or Dahlia Rouge).  I purchased this off ebay around Christmas time and got it for a good deal.  It is a past season collection with the old style brush.  Time has not been kind to it, it is a bit thick and I think I need to pick up some Seche Restore to thin this out a bit, so the manicure was a bit rough today.


The Colour pulls a bit magenta/pink in the shade, that is my only gripe with it, but in the sunlight it is beautiful.  If I remember correctly, I got this in the states on ebay.com for roughly $8 with shipping included.  You can probably find them at that price, so they do vary if you are looking for this polish.

You guys see that? SUNLIGHT!!!!! Finally got some sun this afternoon

In the Shade

Camilla Skovgaard Saw Booties

I saw these saw booties and I just knew they were out of my budget. Of course everything that I can drawn too is way out of my price budget.  This is the curse that I have. lol.


This Denmark designer is now making it's way on my top designer list next to Alexander Wang, Alexander Mcqueen, Marc Jacobs, and Acne.  


Very hard to get other than retail, these saw booties is exactly what I dream of this up coming winter.  I'll be on my eternal hunt for these and the YSL arty rings in black & gold and in my size. 
Wish me Luck.


If you like this kind of style, then you'll understand the minimalist, edgy urban meets luxury aesthetics.  Needless to say, they are quite odd, but I happen to be drawn to odd things.  I am quite odd myself I've been told lol

NOTD: Chanel Graphite

I love my american friends for getting the goods way before we do over here. I had a nice swap with a lovely friend of mine and in exchange I got the Chanel Graphite this week. 


I love this colour the best out of the Fall/Winter collection.  It's just so gritty and that's what really draws me into this polish. What I love most (now that I have it in real life) is that it leans a tiny bit green on me, very slightly though...so it's great how there is this continuity of colour within this range.  I now wonder if Quartz has it as well?  Either way, the formula was a tad thick, but finished off very smooth.  It looks gritty, but it isn't gritty in texture.  I don't think it's quite as good as Peridot's texture, but that polish is just a masterpiece.


Anyways...enough blabbing...onto the pics...

outdoors

Indoors

pulls a tad green

The weather is a tad gloomy, so I don't mind wearing this colour now instead of in the fall. I am just in love with it.  It's chock full of micro glitters, but it's not kiddy glitter if you know what I mean.  It's quite adult, it's fabulous, it's just metallic gritty glitter goodness that I'm just loving so much!! Chanel did disappoint me a bit with their summer colours, but I'm back on the Chanel bandwagon with this collection!

Barry M Lavender Hexagram, Hologram Hexagram, Silver Cascade

I got inspired by a thread on a forum dedicated to Barry M.  I have purchased a lot of Barry M as gifts since moving here, but I still haven't bought a creme for myself. The Barry M's that I do have are Lavender Hexagram, Hologram Hexagram, Silver Cascade, and Black Magic.

I'm sure people are tired of the crackle polish (well maybe it's just me :p), so I didn't photograph that since I already did a comparison between Black Magic and OPI Shatter.

Instead I wanted to show you all the lovely glitters that Barry M does.

These are all very hard to find in stores and you can definitely get them online anywhere from 99p - £4.

L-R

Lavender Hexagram

Silver Cascade

Hologram Hexagram

 

Lavender Hexagram and Hologram Hexagram were put over Rimmel's Midnight Blue, since they have a clear base.

All the 3, Hologram Hexagram was the most difficult to work with, because the holographic glitter was very sparse.

But overall, I love Barry M in general.  I've heard nothing but great things about their other colours, and it is quite good quality for a drugstore brand.

Highly recommend :)

July's Top 10 Favourite Products

It's that time again. Another month gone, wow. So this month has been the month for pulling out the old products that I've had and frankly need to use before their shelf-life expires.  So there are some new products, but definitely some oldies.

My top 10 favourite and most reached products of July 2011 are:

* Missha Signature Real Complete BB Cream

* Make Up For Ever Glossy Full Couleur lipgloss in 4

* Lorac Behind the scenes eye primer

* Lorac Front of the Line liquid eyeliner in black

* N.Y.C. Color wheel Mosaic Face Powder in Peach Glow

* NARS Okinawa eyeshadow trio

* Dior Diorsnow Whitening UV Spot Corrector

* MAC Seriously Hip Nail Polish

*Chanel Peridot Nail Polish

* YSL macara singulier

* W7 Mega Matte lips 

NARS OKINAWA

 

I usually shy away from matte eyeshadows, but these are not chalky at all and completely blend-able.  I just love the great pigmentation as well.

NYC Blush & Lorac liquid eyeliner

 

I reached for this blush quite a bit this month. Not sure why, I think I liked the neutral look of the pink/peach shade.  It wasn't too glitzy, just a nice matte colour for my cheeks.

The Lorac eyeliner is great.  I hate how some liquid eyeliners really drip and apply super heavy in the beginning and then tapers off to nothing, but as you can see, I was able to control my strokes.

MAC & CHANEL NP's

 What can I say, I loves these two polishes so much.  As I previously mentioned, the colours are wonderful and unique and the formula is superb.

Make Up For Ever lipgloss

 

It looks quite bright and bold in the bottle, but it is very sheer on the lips.

This gave me just enough brightness to liven up my face this month.

 YSL Mascara

I got this back in January as a gift in an exchange, and I didn't use it until this month.  The brush is one of my favourites to date. Doesn't clump and gives an even distribution of formula on the lashes. No spider eyes here :)

 Dior concealer and Lorac eyeshadow Primer

 

 I didn't knw if I could believe the hype about the Dior concealer actually lightening up my scars, but it does.  At least for me. I've noticed a slight lightening of my scars. Now I'm not sure if it's the concealer that's doing it or my BB cream, but whatever it is, it's ligthening up my face and I couldn't be happier!

The Lorac eyeshadow primer is just as good as my usual urban decay primer potion (which I ran out of).  It really helps keep my shadows on :)

W7 LIpgloss

 

As I mentioned in a previous post. I love this little cheapie lippie. It suits me, goes on wet, dries matte, but doesn't leave my lips dry either.  I am contemplating going back and buying more of these!

These are my most reached products this month?

What is your number 1 product you reached for this month?

Share please, I'd love to see what everyone is using xx

New Alexander McQueen Leopard Skull Scarves

two words: ME LIKEY!

photo from Alexander Mcqueen.com

Email was received today about their new leopard Skull Silk Scarves...yep I'm hooked.
$475 USD, you can purchase from Net-a-porter or Alexandermcqueen.com.

NOTD: OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui

I have no idea what the reference of this polish is, but none the less, I love this colour. I was able to find this polish at Sally's here for only like £3.

Sorry everyone, I cut my finger on my left hand, so my hands aren't really photogenic lol, but I really hope the colour makes up for it.

 

I'm really feeling blues at the moment, and this just fits nicely into all the other blues that I seem to be loving.

OPI usually has great application and staying power.

This was a little on the thick side, but honestly nothing to complain over.

MAC Seriously Hip Comparison Swatches

I'm a creature of habit.

I tend to love certain nail shades, and this one fits the bill.

MAC Seriously Hip was given to me recently by a friend, and I realised

I love this polish, because well heck, I had 2 others just like it!

It's a black base with gold shimmer and creates this awesome muddy green sheen.

I absolutely LOVE this colour.

Today I have 2 similar to the MAC and one that is in the same family

L-R

D&G Stromboli

MAC Seriously Hip

Revlon Dark Pleasures

Dior Czarina Gold

 

 

 

The Revlon does not have the amount of glitter and shimmer as the others, but it is definitely is within the same family.

Out of the 4, 

D&G Stromboli was the closest to MAC Seriously Hip.

Dior didn't have as much of the dark green/black base, but in terms of 

glitter and shimmer, the Dior and D&G had the most.

I did a swatch, but my hands are in no shape of photographing at the moment.

I've been doing a lot of moving boxes, organising, and other hard labor things and my

hands are rough! So I'll do a NOTD separately one day.

I will say that the MAC Seriously Hip had the best drying power and was very easy and

smooth to apply when compared to the others.  So this one is seriously now my favourite out of the 4 polishes.  I need to pay more attention to the MAC nail polishes, I feel like they don't get enough coverage like the other brands, but they seriously did a great job with this polish.  Just gorgeous!