beauty, fun stuff, tag posts

Summer Lovin’ Tag

The lovely Sal of Ummbaby fame did this tag post, so I swiped it. 

💄Favourite Perfume – this summer I’ve been turning to my beloved Chloe perfumes, today I’m wearing See by Chloe. 

💄Favourite Lip Colour – Revlon’s Ultra HD Matte in Devotion, real like it. 

💄Favourite Drink – I have been raiding Lidl for a gorgeous Cornish Elderflower Pressè – it’s a bit sweet for me so I dilute it with some water. Refreshing. 

💄Favourite Blush – recently I’ve been layering MUA in Cupcake with Benefit’s Highbeam – so I have softly glowing cheeks. 

💄Favourite Clothing Item- the maxi skirts are out in force at the moment but I found a gorgeous jacket in my wardrobe that I don’t remember buying (shopping amnesia anyone?) that looks great over a tee and skirt/leggings/maxidress/whatever!

💄Favourite Movie – I tend to watch more movies in the winter but I did watch 101 Dalmatians the other day. 

💄Favourite TV Show – we’re rocking the sci fi at the moment, with Dark Matter season 2 and The Killjoys due back on our screens in August. 

💄Favourite Food – squeaky cheese Aka Halloumi! On and in everything. Salads, sandwiches, paired with watermelon or cherries, drizzled with my favourite chilli sauce, just give me it! 

beauty, fun stuff, tag posts

Make Up Addict Tag

Another tag post borrowed from the lovely Sal Ummbaby. 😊

💋What product do you keep buying even though you have plenty in your collection? 

Nail polish, ooh shiny! 

💋What one product can’t you live without? 

Moisturiser – I have thirsty skin

💋What’s your favourite make up brand? 

Lush have lovely colourful make up, but I am fickle and love many different brands. 

💋How big is your make up collection? 

Ridiculous. It’s taking over. 

💋How do you store it? 

I have many storage boxes, labelled up for my apparent convenience. 

💋How many items of make up are in your handbag right now? 

A slightly ridiculous amount – I can do my make up on the go between work and social life. 

💋Which other blogger’s stash would you raid? 

Caroline Hirons’ skincare stash would be amazing. 

💋How long does it take you to get ready and how many products do you use?

About 15 minutes including hair and perfume. It takes a lot of products to get me ready but only a tiny amount of each. 

💋Have you ever bought a product knowing you won’t use it? 

I have bought products and not used them, but never intentionally. 

If you want to join in with this tag, do, and let me know so I can check out your answers. 

beauty, fun stuff, lifestyle boxes, reviews

Moi-Meme – 

Moi-Meme is a new quarterly subscription box that costs a little bit more than some others (£45) but is filled with beautiful, hand selected, personalised items for you and your home. It’s perfect if you like a bit of luxury and feels like a gift to yourself. 

My first box arrived on Saturday morning and was a lot bigger than I expected. As it’s an entirely new box, there weren’t any spoilers or previous boxes reviewed online so I had no real idea what to expect. 

More luxurious boxes seem to be becoming quite popular, from Look Incredible’s Deluxe box to the pretty much permanently sold out Cohorted box or the rather too expensive for me Cult Beauty Box, the make up world has plenty but I don’t think there are that many luxury boxes with more of a lifestyle bent, which is where Moi-Meme seems to have spotted a gap in the market. 

You can give the boxes as gift subscriptions and you’ll need to fill out their questionnaire when you subscribe so they can get things personalised. But interestingly, for some of the items, you can exchange them for a different size or colour.

This is a new idea and one I think is quite useful. Sometimes the box companies get it wrong, and a lot of the complaints about other subscription boxes seem to revolve around the fact that often the items seem to be completely off the wall when it comes to the profile you filled out. 

So, what did I get in my first Moi-Meme box you ask? Well, let’s dive in. 

Firstly the box itself is personalised, with a sticker, so I know this box is mine. I like this little touch. 

The box is themed too, this is The Adventure Box and just rather lovely. 

From designer Lisa Angel there is a gorgeous scarf (3 designs available) I have the very pretty peacock feather design. I love scarves as accessories and add them to outfits and bags all the time so this will certainly be making its debut soon. 

There is also a really pretty bracelet of silver beads on a delicate blue cord. It looks rather chic on my wrist and will go nicely with most summer (and other seasonal) outfits. 

I don’t know how they knew at Moi-Meme but I love notebooks, I have hundreds and I’m always picking them up. Most get used, some get lost, but this one is mine. 

My passport is not as well used as I’d like, mostly because it’s pretty new and you don’t get stamps for travelling in Europe (yet). But this Laurige France passport holder is very smart and soft. I think my burgundy British passport will look rather swish tucked into this. Now to plan a holiday! 

Now, frequent fliers will know I love beauty treats, and these Evolve Organic Beauty tubs of body polish and butter are right up my street. 

The polish is a sugar based scrub with no soap but lots of skin friendly natural oils to remove dead skin and leave you all fresh. Then you apply its friend, the shea butter based moisturiser. Again full of skin loving natural ingredients, it smells delicious and goes on like a dream. 

All in all, I love this box. It’s gorgeous. 

I am also impressed with their customer service offers – if you want to exchange certain items (scarf, bracelet, passport holder) for different designs/sizes you can. Or you can pop onto their online shop and buy more goodies for you or as gifts. The booklet has all the details. 

Did you subscribe to Moi-Meme or are you tempted? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. 

beauty, fun stuff, make up, questions

The Beauty Knowledge Tag

I’ve seen this popping up on lots of different blogs and Twitter feeds. The answers are often pretty hilarious. 

For this tag you need a partner or friend who doesn’t use make up or know much about it. I am using the Mr as my guinea pig. He doesn’t get my interest in make up at all. Let’s see what knowledge he has absorbed. 
💋What are these different beauty products and techniques? 

💋Bronzer – giving a tanned appearance 

💋Blusher – making your cheeks pink like a doll

💋Mascara – making eyelashes black and curly 

💋Eyeliner – making your eyes look more Egyptian 

💋Strobing – something to do with disco

💋Eyeshadow – colouring your eyes in 

💋Powder – do you put that on your face? Is it like manual photoshop?

💋Foundation – like a base coat 

💋Concealer – covers spots and blemishes

💋Setting Spray – like varnish or hairspray for your face?

💋Contouring – using your make up to give your face different shapes?

💋Primer – another base coat

💋Lip liner – makes lips look happy 

💋Brow pencil – drawing on your eyebrows after you stupidly shaved them off. 

💋Serum – watering down make up to apply an even coat

💋Cleanser – taking your make up off

💋Micellar Water – no idea, is it for cleaning your face?

💋Toner- matching your make up to your skin tone

💋Was this test hard? Not really, I think I knew a lot. 

💋Why? You didn’t ask for an essay and I had no idea about some of them. Did I win something? Is there a prize? 

I then had to explain what everything was, he still doesn’t get the point of most of these products. He still wants a prize. Bless him. 

If you want to do this tag, go for it. Let me know in the comments, I’d love to see if your partners and friends do any better. 

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews, skincare

Blogger Beauty Box 

As always this box is a great mix of items curated by bloggers for bloggers (it’s £10 too – hello bargain!)

There are five items in this month’s box, three are full size. 

I love to smell nice, and a fruity shower gel certainly gets me ready for the day. This little bottle of I Love…Mango & Papaya Bubble Bath & Shower Gel is right up my street. 

One of the things that frustrates me the most is my lack of volume – in my hair, I’m certainly loud enough! So hopefully this Nanogen Root Boost Hair Thickening Spray does exactly what it says on the bottle. 

One of the more unusual items is the tub of Derma Babies Full of Hope Heavenly Mummy Nipple Cream. Now, I am not currently a nursing mother so you might think I’d have no use for this but because it’s designed for sensitive, damaged skin, it’s actually incredibly useful if you have dry skin, or even ezcema like me. Plus this is full of skin loving ingredients including aloe vera and olive oil. 

The next is a useful addition to your handbag – fab little bag is a clever and discreet way of disposing of used sanitary products. It’s designed to be opened with one hand, made from biodegradable materials and provides a better way of disposing of tampons than flushing. 

Finally there’s a lipstick from new US brand 4U2 Cosmetics, weirdly the shade I have isn’t listed as one of their Lipaholoc shades. They’ve just launched in the UK with their range of PETA certified cruelty free make up. 

 
Really quite happy with this box, should get a use out of each, unlike some other boxes. 

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews, skincare

Little Known Box – Summer Starts Here

Five products, three fullsize plus one bonus treat – June’s Little Known Box is crammed with great beauty products to get your summer going. 

Oxynergy Paris Power Infuse Cushion Foam cleanser from France, a country that loves great skincare. Wash your face with this lightly scented foaming cleanser containing amino acids, copper, zinc, calcium and magnesium. 

Manna Kadar is a cruelty and paraben free brand from the US. Fantasy 3-in-1 is a powder blush, highlighter and eyeshadow in a nude blush pink suitable for all skin types. 

PHB’s Anti-aging Serum with Rose & Sea Buckthorn is vegan, cruelty free and Halal as well as being suitable for all skin types. It smells pretty good too. 

Lucy Annabella travel sized treatment oil for skin, face and hair. This has Orange and Marjoram oils for a restful mood. 

In the Buff Mineral Highlighter in Sunshine Glitz is a golden hued 100% natural ingredients and vegan glow.

Bonus: Creme of Nature 100% Pure Argan Oil & Leave in Conditioner samples.  

beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, haircare, make up, nail polish, skincare

Never-ending Summer with Birchbox 

This month’s  Birchbox arrived today, all pink and purple, in collaboration with Millie Mackintosh (one of those famous for being famous types it seems). 

This month’s selection contains five items, three full-size. 

LOC x Millie Ultra Gloss Lip Pencil in Bohemian Rose – Birchbox in-house brand Love of Colour lip pencil in a glossy soft pink. 

John Frieda 7 Days Luxurious Volume – this was my pick between two products from John Freida. This is designed to boost volume from the next time you wash your hair with this in-shower treatment. 

Nails Inc in Abbey Road – a teeny bottle of baby pink polish.

High Definition Brow Define in Bombshell – enriched with waxes to boost the long-lasting brow pencil. 
Indeed Labs Hydraluron Moisture Boosting Mask – sheet masks are a big thing at the moment and this one promises intense moisture for dry, tired skin. 

It’s an ok box, not the most exciting to come out of Birchbox and really the Nails Inc polish could be in a bigger size, I will probably lose this bottle at some point. It doesn’t feel hugely summery either – last month’s pineapple print was more so, some summer specific goodies like suncream would be more appreciated, all this pink feels Spring not Summer. 

Thoughts? Are you a Birchbox subscriber? What did you think about this month’s box? Let me know in the comments. 

beauty, make up, reviews

Product Review: Make Up Revolution’s Fortune Favours the Brave Palette

Designed in collaboration with Jane aka British Beauty Blogger, this palette was almost impossible to get hold of. It was available from Superdrug and Make Up Revolution’s website, occasionally.

However, I was browsing palettes recently in Superdrug and it now seems to be readily available.

I’d admired the other Make Up Revolution palettes for a while, especially the Mermaids one but since I am really lazy about remembering to use them, I rarely buy palettes.

Having seen this gorgeous palette all over social media I decided to splash out (it’s a very affordable £10) and treat myself to it.

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The gold embossed packaging is very nice, and as with other Make Up Revolution packaging, it looks more expensive than it was, making it a nice addition to any make up shelf or countertop.

Let’s have a look at the colours within.

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I like the marble glitters, and the range of 30 shades is great, I can definitely see some that’ll get a lot of use.

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Swatch selection

The brush isn’t the best ever, but palette brushes rarely are so I’ll be using my trusty eyeshadow brushes, currently these ones.

The swatches don’t really do the colours justice and while some of the colours aren’t really me, this is a solid collection and worth the investment.

beauty, make up, reviews

Make Up Menu – Revlon Ultra HD Matte Liquid Lipstick

I like a bold matte lip, gloss just sticks my hair to my mouth and recently I swatched the new Revlon liquid lipsticks (a product I love btw, much easier to apply and slides on easy).

Revlon seems to be reformatting a lot of their products and streamlining their range and I think these beauties are here to stay.

Despite being blonde with very pale skin, I don’t really go for pale lip colours, preferring a bold purple or red, so I made a beeline for the purple hued one, sadly Superdrug were out of stock, but I will return for it.

Instead I went for the deep pink of Obsession (one of my personal bugbears – the terrible names given to make up shades), which, while it could be punchier, is great for every day wear.

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Devotion (top), Obsession (bottom)

In my Glamour Summer Edit from Latest in Beauty there was the nude/pink shade Devotion – which they reckon is the perfect shade for anyone, which I’m not 100% sure about as different skin tones suit different shades, even before you take personality and taste into consideration.

To be honest I don’t think you need to build up the colour as they’re quite pigmented, perhaps if you were using the paler shades you might want to.

It lasted fairly well, although I’m not the best judge as I have a terrible habit of licking and chewing on my bottom lip, having to reapply lip balm all the time, so I probably eat more lip products than anything else. 

If you prefer a glossy lip, slick a clear gloss over the top for added shimmer.

Have you tried Revlon’s new liquid lipsticks? Thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

beauty, beauty boxes, latest in beauty, make up, reviews

Latest in Beauty – The Girls’ Night Out Box

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This box is absolutely heaving with goodies for the ultimate girls’ night out – or in!

🌌Kitsch glitter hair bands
🌌Perfection Fashion Tape (aka tit tape)
🌌Styl London Temporary Tattoos
🌌Styl London Instant Gel Nail Wraps
🌌Fudge Urban Colour Hair Art Coral Crush
🌌Balmi Super Cube Roseberry Lip Balm
🌌Lord & Berry black glitter eyeliner pencil
🌌Model Co Crème Rouge for lips & cheeks
🌌Revlon Ultra HD Lipstick in Gladiolus
🌌Model Co Lip gloss in Fairy Floss
🌌L’Oreal Elnett Satin Hairspray
🌌Rimmel London Nail Polish in Glastonberry
🌌he-shi Quick + Easy Express Liquid Tan
🌌Collection Lengthening Mascara
🌌Narciso Eau De Toilette

£20 + P&P available now.