KIKO Cosmetics Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow in 06 Golden Brown, 36 Malva Dorato, 38 Tortora Dorato

I bought these KIKO Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadows based on a recommendation from Leanne, and I'm very glad I did.  I usually stay away from stick or cream eyeshadows, unless they're pretty much guaranteed to stay put in the face of my very oily lids - and despite the creaminess in these little sticks, they're pretty decent.  Granted, I do still need primer, but for colours as pretty and sparkly as this, that's a price I'm willing to pay.

36 Malva Dorato, 38 Tortora Dorato, 06 Golden Brown

The format is pretty simple - creamy stick eyeshadows in a twist-up, black plastic case.  They glide onto the skin, remaining blendable for a few minutes before setting down solidly.  Woe betide you if you've not blended the edges before they set!  

36 Malva Dorato, 38 Tortora Dorato, 06 Golden Brown

I went for three neutral tones (all of which go well with a red or berry lip, my favourite for winter).  36 Malva Dorato is a gloriously golden rose shade, which looks pretty and polished and still shimmery.  38 Tortora Dorato is a netural taupe-brown with golden shimmer, and 06 Golden Brown is a highly metallic golden brown which makes for a very striking eye with a slick of black liner and plenty of mascara.

Overall, I'm very impressed with these little sticks - particularly given that they cost a mere £6.90 each.  The colour range runs from sparkling neutrals like this to brights, including some particularly punchy blues.  Find them at the KIKO online shop.

Disclosure:  Bought as part of a mega-haul, paid for partly with a PR-supplied gift card, and partly with my credit card.  Because clearly I don't know when to stop spending.  Oh well.

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Introducing Peculiar People Bath & Body

Peculiar People Bath & Body is a new indie brand created by the lovely Deborah, who used to blog at Dvora Divine.  Its products are pretty standard for an indie brand - whipped body butter, whipped scrub, bath oil, soap, bath salts, and face masks - and I was expecting a similarly standard indie brand experience.  You know, nice enough, products a little bit basic in formulation, albeit with interesting scents.

Well, I was wrong.  Unlike other indie bath oils I've tried, Peculiar People's bath oils emulsify in the water, leaving the tub less perilously slippery, and feeling generally more luxurious than plain oils which sit atop the water.  And as for the two scents I tried - Honey Fig and Saffron and Black Orchid - they're both intense enough to leave the bathroom fragrant, but not so intense they linger on the skin.  Black Orchid has a lovely smoky note to it, which blends well with the vanilla and amber base - right up my oriental/woody-loving street.

As for the Whipped Sugar Scrub, I'm in love.  The Good Samaritan scrub contains Colombian coffee and wafts of vanilla, making for a scent that's almost edible.  The texture is a little hard and gritty to scoop out of the tub easily, and you will get some stuck under your nails, but it's worth it - the scrubby particles are big enough for a comprehensive sloughing, and the base is creamy enough to leave the skin feeling velvety soft rather than thoroughly scrubbed.

Evidently the scents are appealling to felines as well as humans - my cat Yoshi couldn't resist a sniff as I tried to photograph the products!

At a mere £4.50 per bath oil, and £5 per scrub, Peculiar People is a lovely range which offers handmade products which really work.  I'll definitely be repurchasing The Good Samaritan when my tub runs out.

Disclosure: PR samples


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Estee Lauder Pure Colour Instant Intense Eyeshadow Trio in Sterling Plums

Estee Lauder have added a new eyeshadow trio to their lineup.  Pure Colour Instant Intense Eyeshadow Trio (wordy) is designed to offer intense colour with different finishes from soft sparkle to metallic in one compact.

Sterling Plums contains exactly the colours I love - plum toned shades which aren't too PURPLE.  Super flattering on pale skin and greenish eyes.

The biggest pan is a soft pink with the sheerest of shimmer, the medium sized pan contains a taupe toned plum with a very sparkly, almost metallic finish, and the smallest a more intense orchid purple with a shimmer finish.

Swatched, you see that these shades are a more subtle take on plum - all three are wearable and almost neutral, with the rightmost orchid colour bringing the most colour.  All three shades are very, very soft in texture - almost crumbly - and I found that the middle and rightmost shades suffered from a fair bit of sparkly fall out in the application.

Overall, this is a lovely trio, particularly if you're looking for subtle yet pretty plum tones.  Find it at the Estee Lauder website, where it costs £27.

Disclosure: PR sample

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The heaviest oil you ever did feel: Melvita Milky Cleansing Oil

I get through a lot of cleansing oil.  Bucketloads.  It's my preferred makeup removal method of choice, and I quite often use it in the morning with my Clarisonic too, so I really do go through a lot of it.  Despite having declared my love for Origins Clean Energy cleansing oil, I still try new ones out on a regular basis.

The latest is this Melvita Milky Cleansing oil, which comes in a pump topped bottle (so far so good) and has a delicate rosy scent (even better).  It's a very thick, heavy oil with a golden colour, and unfortunately I'm not loving it.  It's so heavy that I find I have to constantly splash my face with water to try to get it to turn to milk and wash off.  Eventually I give up and rub the remaining residue off with a flannel or cleansing cloth.

Unless you have seriously dry skin and like an oil which leaves a bit of a residue, avoid this.  Otherwise, you'll find it at the Melvita website, where it costs £20.

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Merry Christmas!

This snowman Christmas tree decoration is the handiwork of my stepson Lou.  It's a pirate snowman.  Don't ask how it's a pirate, though, the answer is too metaphysical for the likes of you and I.

Wherever you are, whoever you're with, and whatever you're doing - Christmas, Chanukah, or a generalised wine-and-Quality-Street-fest - enjoy!

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The lightest oil you ever did feel: REN Vita Mineral Omega 3 Optimum Skin Serum Oil

REN's new Vita Mineral range is all about hydration.  In amongst the new products, there's an old favourite which has had a rebrand - Omega 3 Night Repair Serum has become Omega 3 Optimum Skin Serum Oil (no extra points for the extra wordy name, REN).

This Serum Oil is the lightest, least oily-oil I've ever used.  A couple of drops massages easily across the skin, and melts in really quickly, leaving the skin feeling hydrated and supple but without any residue.  I've been applying it every evening before bed, and I've even applied it in the morning before makeup on really cold days.  It's hydrating without being heavy, moist without leaving a residue.  It's the lightest oil EVER.

If your skin is delicate, slightly on the oily side, or you don't like the residue left by heavier oils, this is definitely worth a try.  Find it at the REN website, where it costs a very reasonable £23.

Disclosure: PR sample

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New hair colour: more pink than red

I recently decided that after having red hair since the age of sixteen, I'd experiment a bit.  But not with another colour - I wouldn't feel like me without red hair.  I decided to go for something far more pink; having always hated orange toned reds on me, and long maintained as pure a red as possible, I thought a pink red would be a good change.  And here it is - in normal sunlight it just looks like a pink toned red, but when the sun hits it full on.....

Pink!

I'm quite enjoying the colour change although I am finding it pretty difficult from a colour bleeding point of view.  I used Directions' Rose Red, which is a bright pink-red, and like most bright, unnatural colours it works by staining the hair.  Unlike the Directions shades I've used in the past, this one continues to bleed brightly when washing the hair for weeks afterwards - pretty much until I need to top the colour up.

But hey, it's worth it.  I'm sure I'll go back to red-red sometime, but for now I'm enjoying the pink.

Have you ever considered going pink?  Let me know in the comments!

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Lovely: Elemis Frangipani Monoi Salt Glow

By all accounts, this Elemis body scrub is a bit of a cult favourite, and having tried it I can certainly see why.  I had a lovely bath the other night, finished off with a thorough scrub using this Fragipani Monoi Salt Glow scrub on damp skin, and I was left with amazingly soft skin.

It's a salt based scrub (which means it'll sting if you have any little cuts) with tiny flower petals suspended in it, and it smells divine - warm and floral, with a richness to it from the monoi.  The jar looks really smart in the bathroom, too - the metal catch keeps the jar firmly shut, and the simple white packaging looks very sleek.

At £36.50, this is an expensive scrub, and although you get a good amount of it in the oversize 480g jar it's still an indulgence.  Find it now at Time to Spa, the official Elemis stockist, or at Gorgeous Shop, where it's reduced to £29.20.

Disclosure: PR sample

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NOTD: Nails Inc Modern Art in Cromwell Road

This rather gorgeous glitter polish is from the new Nails Inc Modern Art collection, which contains four polishes composed of dense matte glitter in multiple sizes and shapes in a clear base.  Cromwell Road has glitters in shades of green and gold, with some holographic sparkle in there for good measure.

This is two coats, which makes for pretty much perfect opacity.  Whilst the polish isn't the easiest thing in the world to apply, it's not bad for something so glitter-packed (although I'm dreading taking it off).  Because the glitter is a mix of matte and sparkle, it's more interesting than overly bling - I've spied a few of my male colleagues looking at my nails this week, but not (presumably) because they're blinded by sparkle.

The Modern Art collection is available on Nails Inc's website now, for £12 a bottle - not bad for something a little bit unique.  I'm eyeing up Bankside, a mix of grey, pink, gold, red and teal glitter.

Disclosure:  PR sample

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Bare Minerals READY Face and Body Luminizer

Bare Minerals have a pretty comprehensive Christmas collection this year, including this whopping great big box, which contains a pressed READY luminising powder, split into three shase, and a big, soft brush.

I'm not sure why Bare Minerals have chosen to use such a large box - it could easily be smaller given the product inside.  It does have an element of "oooh, lovely big box of makeup" followed by "oh, a compact and a brush".

It is a nice compact and brush, though - the luminising powder is presented in an oversized, patterned compact with a nice big mirror, and the brush is super soft and big enough to easily add a glow to the collarbones, cheekbones, and shoulders alike.

Inside, the powder is split into three colourways - a bronze, pale pink, and soft pale gold.   My swatches of all three turned out very light - I'm not convinced you could build that pink up into a blush, unless you like your blush very, very shimmering indeed.

Swirled together with the mega brush, though, the three colours create a soft, candlelit luminescence which is very pretty applied sparingly to the cheekbones, and applied liberally to the body.  Personally, I don't usually bother with any kind of makeup on my body, but if you're fond of adding shimmer, this might well be up your street.  Find it at the Bare Minerals site now, where it costs £35.

Disclosure: PR sample

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Estee Lauder Pure Colour High Intensity Lip Lacquer

I've written before about my love for Estee Lauder Pure Colour lipsticks, so I was curious to try out these new Pure Colour lip lacquers.  They promise 'luscious, wet, brilliant colour' with the opacity of lipstick and the shine of lacquer.

If you say Wet Plum too often to starts to sound a bit dirty.

I received Wet Plum and Melting Sun to try.  Wet Plum is a rich, deep berry colour, and Melting Sun is a very vibrant orange red.

One of the selling points of this product is the applicator - it's a flat paddle shape, which is intended to hold plenty of lacquer so you can apply without sticking it back in the tube, and you're supposed to use the edge of the paddle to outline the lips, then fill in with the flat side.

Wet Plum, Melting Sun

As you can see, the colour opacity is excellent, and that shine is almost plastic-y.  There's a tradeoff, though - the lacquer is a little on the sticky and heavy side.  It does apply smoothly across the lip, but it remains sticky once set.  To its credit, for something so intense it feels pretty lightweight - my lips feel hydrated and moisturised with it on, albeit very sticky.

Wet Plum

Melting Sun

Wear is actually pretty decent - I get a couple of hours of full colour, full shine, followed by a couple more hours of muted, stain-like colour with significantly less shine.  This stuff does transfer all over the place though; there'll be no guessing which wine glass is yours on a busy pub table if you're wearing it.  Ditto who you've been kissing.

For a statement party lip, or for an ultra-shiny every day look, these are great, albeit high maintenance and sticky.  I'm curious to try some of the more neutral colours - Mirrored Mauve and Liquid Petals look like great my-lips-but-better shades, and probably need a less precise application than the bright or deep shades like Wet Plum and Melting Sun.  Find them all now at the Estee Lauder website, where they cost £21.

Disclosure: PR sample

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KIKO Sugar Mat Nail Lacquer Gift Set

Another part of KIKO's un-Christmassy holiday collection.  This is the Sugar Mat Nail Lacquer Set, which contains eight shades of limited edition KIKO Sugar Mat nail polish, which dries matte and textured for a sand effect.

The eight shades are Apricot, a soft peach; Watermelon, a bright, clean pink; Cherry Red, a bright, err, cherry red; Wine, a deep purple-plum; Light Taupe, a silver-taupe; Teal Green, a greenish teal; Royal Blue, a rich mid-blue; and Anthracite, a pewter silver.

The shades have varying amounts of shimmer in them, with some being ultra sparkly, and some being a little more low key.

Teal Blue, Wine, Royal Blue, Anthracite

And here's what they look like on the nail.  The textured effect isn't as stark as, say, Nails Inc Concrete, but it's definitely textured.  These shades also look good with a good dollop of topcoat on top of them, which makes them look more like normal shimmery polish.

At just £19.90 for a set of eight polishes, you can afford to experiment with textured shimmering shades without shelling out a fortune (ahem, OPI Liquid Sand).  Find the set now at KIKO's website.

Disclosure: PR sample

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KIKO Ultra Glossy Stylo Gift Set

KIKO, Italian purveyors of reasonably priced high quality makeup, have released a Christmas collection which isn't very Christmassy at all.  The Digital Emotions collection contains a variety of limited edition products, and some gift sets perfect for the makeup fanatic in your life.

This set is the Ultra Glossy Stylo Lipstick Set.  Inside the very pretty and not at all traditionally festive (I approve) packaging, you get five lipsticks in shades of neutral beige, rose, red and hot pink.

This is where the reasonable price point makes its compromises - inside the prettily printed box, the lipsticks nestle in a plain old moulded plastic tray.

Pearly Natural Sand, Pearly Calypso Rose, Pearly Poppy Red, Pearly Peach, Pearly Hot Pink

Whilst KIKO might have skimped on the packaging, they've not skimped on the lipstick (good prioritisation, KIKO).  The Ultra Gloss Stylo lipsticks are in limited edition opalescent white tubes (making them a bugger to photograph), with the lipstick bullet having a flat, angled top.

Pearly Natural Sand, Pearly Calypso Rose, Pearly Poppy Red

Pearly Peach, Pearly Hot Pink

The lipsticks aren't super-high pigement, more giving a wash of semi-opaque, soft colour with a healthy gloss and shimmer.  The colours are pretty wide ranging and most have a neutral base, meaning that they'll match most skintones.

And here I'm wearing Pearly Calypso Rose, a medium rosy pink with pretty shimmer.  I'm not entirely sure that I'd agree with the 'ultra glossy' moniker - there's definitely a sheen to these lipsticks, but they're not by any means super shiny.

At just £16.90, this set would make a lovely gift for any makeup lover.  Or, at just £3.40 a lipstick, you could distribute them across five stockings, and give everyone a little colour and shine for Christmas.  Either way, this set is damn good value.  Find it now at KIKO's website.

Disclosure: PR sample

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Paul & Joe Glossy Lip Colour in Flamingo

This pretty little wand is one of Paul and Joe's latest colour products.  Called simply Glossy Lip Colour, it claims to give glossy shine with vivid colour.  As always, the packaging is cute, slightly vintage inspired, and ornate - although I do wish there was more to differentiate the colours from each other than a tiny rectangle of colour on one side on the tube - if you had a couple in your makeup bag, you'd have to be careful to choose the right one.

Glossy Lip Colour comes with a new applicator - a spoon shaped does foot, which curves with the shape of the lips.  I found it perfect on my bottom lip, but a little awkward on my top lip.  I also think it might be a bit too big for those without full lips, as the applicator was just the right size for my fuller bottom lip.

Colour wise, I was surprised to find that although Flamingo looks like a bright, hot reddish pink in the tube, it's actually sheer and pretty on the lip.  The bright colour translates into a softer, more neutral pinkish shade which is very wearable indeed.

I suspect this one will polarise Paul and Joe lovers - there are a few killer colours in the range, and the texture is gorgeously soft and silky on the lip.  That applicator, though... I can see the reasoning behind it, but it's a little big and ungainly even on my full lips.  If you're keen to find out more, you'll find it at BeautyBay for £20.

Disclosure: PR sample

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And the winner of the Fudge hair chalks is....

Congratulations Aly!  And thanks to everyone who entered :)

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NOTD: Nails Inc Gel Effect in Mercer Street

This super shiny, Smartie-blue polish is a new addition to the Nails Inc Gel Effect Polish range - it's called Mercer Street, and it's out in January.  At £14, it's an expensive polish - but the shine is pretty stunning.  With topcoat, it looks almost as shiny as a proper gel manicure, although unfortunately the wear isn't quite as compelling - I got four days of shiny blue nails before it chipped and I replaced it.

I've never been convinced by the bottles for Nails Inc's Gel Effect polishes.  The square cap looks pretty sleek, but I find it difficult to hold whilst painting my nails.  I recently gave a few shades to my Mum, and her arthritic fingers struggled to get a good grip on the cap.  I far prefer Butter London's approach - their square cap pops off to reveal a small, ribbed inner cap which is far easier to use.

Anyway - if springtime (or in fact late winter) leaves you wanting a shiny, bright blue mani - this polish is a good 'un.

Disclosure: PR sample

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Review & Competition: Too Faced A Few Of My Favourite Things Holiday Set

Too Faced are good at palettes - and one of this year's Christmas offerings is an absolute corker.  A Few Of My Favourite Things may be quite wordy, and even worse put a certain annoying song in your head, but it's full of gorgeously soft eyeshadows and well pigmented cheek products, and comes with a mini mascara and a lipstick.  What more could you need?  Read on for an in-depth, picture heavy review and EVEN BETTER!  A competition to win one of your very own.

Boots Star Gift: Soap & Glory The Yule Monty Gift Set - Just £27!

This whopping great Soap and Glory set goes on sale at Boots on Friday for just £27.  It contains a ton of product for such a tiny price:

·         HAND FOOD™ Hand Cream

·         SUGAR CRUSH™ Body Wash

·         THE RIGHTEOUS BUTTER™ Body Butter

·         PEACHES AND CLEAN™ Deep Purifying Cleanser

·         HEEL GENIUS™ Foot Cream

·         BUTTER YOURSELF™ Moisture Lotion

·         THE SCRUB OF YOUR LIFE™ Body Buffer

·         THICK & FAST™ Super Volume Mascara

·         SEXY MOTHER PUCKER™ XL in Pink Out Loud

Run, don't walk, down to Boots on Friday to snap this one up.  Soap and Glory specials always sell fast, and this one's a great deal.

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