Wednesday 31 March 2010

March Empties

I had another great month for empties. If I keep on going this way I might actually be down to my ideal collection size by the end of this year.
Cutex nail polish remover
Olay ProX Age Protection lotion 
Biotherm Aquasource eye cream
Malin + Goetz grapefruit face cleanser
Tommy Girl perfume
True Blue Spa Tahiti, Sweetie body lotion
Diana B Peach Frangipani Flower sugar scrub
Ardell Clear Brow Gel 
Rexona Activ Reserve deodorant
Trilogy cream cleanser
NeoStrata Daytime Protection cream 
ModelCo Face Base primer
Olay ProX Wrinkle Smoothing cream

ROX Wrinkle Filler
Bvlgari Omnia perfume
DDF Advanced Micro Exfoliation cleanser
MooGoo Oil Cleansing Method cleanser
Lancome Virtuose mascara

Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula
Jhirmack Silver Brightening shampoo
Nivea Soy eye cream

Monday 29 March 2010

Project 10 Pan Update

I've decided to change the rules of P10P again. I've changed it to include all make-up items. I did this because I actually used up a make-up item, something that I thought would never happen.

This month I finished my beloved Jane Sungloss eye shadow, Becca Gisella lipstick, MAC VGV Lipglass and ModelCo Glass Ultra Lipgloss. This brings me to a total of seven products finished. I'm more than half way there!


I've felt like I was taking ages to finish things but this month has been a great month. 

Friday 26 March 2010

Trilogy Gift With Purchase

This one's too good to miss. Step in-store* now to claim your FREE Nutrient Plus Firming Serum (RRP $43.00) when you purchase any two products from our AGE PROOF range.
 Age Proof Nutrient Plus Firming Serum
If you dream of restoring a more youthful appearance to your skin then AGE PROOF is for you. There are four products in the range. A day cream with SPF, night cream and two powerful serums all loaded with powerful naturals to visibly firm, tone and enhance your complexion and restore a healthy, younger looking appearance.

You'll find Trilogy AGE PROOF products in Myer, Priceline and selected pharmacies and health stores throughout Australia.

*The free gift is available while stocks last at participating pharmacies and health stores only.

SKIN SERUM KNOW-HOW

There are two powerful serums in the AGE PROOF range which address different skincare needs:
 Age Proof Nutrient Plus Firming Serum  Age Proof CoQ10 Booster Serum
REVIVE
Nutrient Plus Firming Serum
is a fresh, light serum with Licorice and Mulberry extract and a plant derived Hyaluronic Acid to help lift and brighten your complexion. Perfect as an instant pick-me-up if your skin feels tired and a must for special occasions. With regular use your skin will look firmer, your wrinkles will be smoothed and skin tone and clarity improved.

RESTORECoQ10 Booster Serum is an intensive antioxidant treatment to aid skin recovery. Potent antioxidant Co-enzyme Q10 helps boost collagen production to assist skin regeneration and radiance, while Tamanu oil deeply moisturises. On application your skin will feel immediately hydrated with an increased glow. Regular use will restore supple skin and a smoother, more youthful complexion.

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Becca Pressed Shimmer Powder

Becca's Pressed Shimmer powders are one of those products in my collection that I use a lot but don't really think about much. I'm quite surprised that I haven't written about them yet. 
At the moment I have two Pressed Shimmer powders, Nymph and Hyawatha. They're both very subtle and natural looking. I use these when I want a natural, healthy, glowing look. I usually get told I'm looking really healthy and well when I wear my shimmer powders. 

I use my Shimmer powders on top of my cheek bones, as a light dusting all over and as a highlight under my brow bone. They also work well as an inner eye highlighter.  The powder is great quality, very soft and finely milled.

As you can see in the picture above, Nymph is a soft white colour and the one that I've had the longest.

Hyawatha looks like a brighter colour than Nymph but when applied it is actually softer and more subtle (probably because it's quite close to my skin tone).
I've taken some pictures to show how subtle and pretty these are. The picture above is a heavy swatch of the colour, Nymph is on top and Hyawatha is the bottom one.
In this picture I've rubbed them in to give an idea of what they look like on. As you can see, when rubbed in Hyawatha is more subtle than Nymph.


I don't have an ingredients list as I've had these for ages and threw the boxes out.


Would I buy more of these? Yes, they're gorgeous.

Monday 22 March 2010

Post and Shame Challenge Update

Surprise surprise, I've finished another lip balm. And finished no more eye liners. I'm working on one but I have a long way to go. I've decided the best way to tackle this challenge is to use the same two eye liners until they're finished. At the moment I'm working on Clinique Egyptian and a taupe Trish McEvoy liner (which is actually a lip liner but I use it as an eye liner).

I'd love to be able to say that I've nearly finished this challenge but I can't (unless I can get Music to change the rules and allow me to count the eye liners that I've given away).

With the lip balm that I finished my tally is now one finished eye liner and seven finished lip balms. I've also given away three eye liners and thrown out four lip balms. So my collection is a tiny bit smaller. I still have a long way to go to get my lip balm collection down to a manageable size but at least I'm working on it.   

Saturday 20 March 2010

Link Love

Over at theNotice, Rae shares an amazingly pigmented bright blue eye -- done with shadows from the drugstore!

This week, Louise gets an (almost!) exclusive look at a Lancome mascara that has them queuing down the aisles in Harrods, and promises better lashes in a month.

Yinnie Dances with the fairies with her fairy inspired EOTD.

Phyrra dishes with Britton from Haus of Gloi for this month's Indie Spotlight at Fresco Phyrra.

Blaq Vixen Beauty decides to treat her skin to a Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector Regimen!

Retrodiva checks out three new innovative drugstore foundations. See which ones she would recommend!

Krasey Beauty takes a trip across the pond to bring you complete swatches and a review of MAC's newest, Give Me Liberty of London.

Looking for a great cream eyeliner that won't break the bank? Lipglossiping may have just the thing...

Sophie from melovemakeup talks about how much she loves Trilogy's Everything Balm.

TheLipPrint adds a little more Allure to her life with Chanel.

Michelle at Lipstick Rules laments her Liberty Of London lipstick purchases... but then finds a way to make it work!

Check out the swatches of Yummy Mummy by butter LONDON at Makeup4All.

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed falls in love with the 10 year anniverary editions of Lancôme Juicy Tubes!

Follow Jellyminx's step-by-step tutorial for a pinky-coral look for Spring.

Over at Music and Make Up, Jo celebrates her birthday with a purple smokey eye courtesy of MAC's Violet Pigment.

***

Beautywoome has a giveaway with Europe's coolest new beauty brand. Win 1 of 10 Ellis Faas Ellis Red lipsticks.

Audrey Dao is giving away $89 worth of Napolean Perdis makeup as part of her 1 year blog anniversary.

Mz More at The Glamorous Gleam is having a giveaway in honor of her 200+ Followers. Check out the goodies galore!

Cindy from Prime Beauty gives you the Golden Ticket to win a Bliss "Best of Bliss Set".

Hope you enjoyed this week's Link Love! See you soon :)

Friday 19 March 2010

Designer Brands Nude Lip Pencil


Nude lip pencil is another one of the lovely products that Designer Brands sent me to review. It arrived at the perfect time as I'd just finished my ModelCo lip liner and was looking around for a new one.   
I'm really happy with this liner. It's the perfect pinky nude shade that enhances the colour of my lips and looks natural at the same time.
The pencil has a great texture, not too hard and not too soft.  It lasts well and doesn't dry out my lips.
I'm not sure what else to tell you about Nude lip pencil, it's an effective pencil with a good colour.


Would I buy it? Yes. It's effective and well priced.
 
Ingredients: beeswax, isopropyl myristate, ceresin, carnauba wax, shea butter, cocoa butter, cyclohexane, hydrogenated palm glycerides, butylparaben, bha.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

In Essence Blissful Body Bar

I'm not normally a soap person. I have dry, sensitive skin and soaps generally dry out and irritate my skin. However, I am totally in love with my new In Essence Blissful Body Bar.


Aside from it being a very gentle, non drying soap, I am totally in love with the heavenly scent. If I could buy this as a perfume, room spray, body lotion, candle etc I would. The smell is beautiful. Every time I walk into my bathroom I get a lovely waft of scent and I don't want to leave. The fragrance truly is blissful. 

In Essence says: This luxuriously cream, moisturising and gentle palm oil body soap with the beautiful aroma of ylang ylang, geranium, sandalwood and jasmine pure essential oils offers a blissful shower or bath experience every day.

They are so correct in their description. I could happily sit in my bathroom smelling this soap all day.  I can happily say that along with the heavenly scent, I really like the actual soap. I've been using it all over my body without any problems at all. It cleanses without leaving my skin feeling tight and itchy.

If you're interested in trying this soap, In Essence are currently having a lovely gwp at Myer and David Jones, so it's a great time to buy.

Would I buy it again? Yes, I've already bought two back-ups.

Ingredients: sodium palmate, sodium palm kernelate oil, water, glycerin, sodium chloride, tetrasodium etidronate, tetrasodium edta, lavandula angustilolia oil, cananga odorate oil, pelargonium graveolens oil, aniba rosaeodora oil, origanum marjorana oil, jasminium officinale oil, cymbopogon martinii oil, santalum spicatum oil, citrus aurantium ssp, bergamia oil, linalool, citronellol, geraniol, benzyl benzoate, limonene.

Monday 15 March 2010

Meg's Make-Up

Meg's Makeup
Last week I received another amazing package from Meg's Make-Up. I redeemed 250 points and got the huge ELF Studio Large Make-Up Collection and two Diana B Sugar Scrub samples.

If you haven't heard about Meg's Make-Up before it's a great website where members get points for interacting on the site. You can then redeem those points for free gifts. The gifts are sent worldwide and are amazing. So far I've received two gifts and I've been delighted with both of them. 

If you aren't already a member of Meg's Make-Up head over there and join up now!

Friday 12 March 2010

My Skin

I'm really excited to share with you a great new website that I've recently been introduced to called My Skin. It's an invite only site and the code for all my lovely readers to use is beautifullyglossy.

To use the site you answer questions about your skin, your lifestyle, your current skin concerns, your medical and family history and your skin care preferences. You then enter products that you've used and that have worked for you. Once you've done that My Skin recommends products that will work for you based on all the information you've provided.  This is great when you're looking for a new product or when an old favorite has been discontinued.

If that wasn't helpful enough, they also have links so that you can select the products you want to buy and My Skin will direct you to the appropriate store. Unfortunately as this is a US site it doesn't work for Australian customers, but it's still a great idea. 

Another thing My Skin does that I find interesting is it gives you a price per day for all the products that you use. I'd always thought that I spend quite a lot on skincare but it works out that I spend less than $2 per day. 

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Foundation colour matching

What is it with sales assistants and colour matching? I find that when I got to buy a new foundation I'm always getting colour matched to a shade that's usually two shades too dark for me. The sales assistant will put it on me and then try to convince me that it's the perfect colour for me when it's obviously way too dark. Their usual line is "it gives you some colour". I don't want some colour. I'm happy with the colour I have. And if I do want some colour I'll use a bronzer not a foundation that's two shades too dark and makes me look like I'm wearing a mask.

The only counters that have correctly matched me are Becca, MAC, Laura Mercier and Bobbi Brown. All of the other counters have given me the wrong colour. On two occasions I've bought the foundation, got it home and realised the first time that I used it that it's the wrong colour. Trying to swap a used cosmetic item in Australia is really difficult. If you're not very insistent they refuse to do it. On the last two times that I've returned the wrong colour foundation they've tried to blame me and told me that it's up to me to choose the correct colour and that's the reason they have testers.  If that's the case then why do they have sales assistants?

Now when I buy a new foundation I ask for a sample pot of the colour that I'm purchasing so I can take it home and use the sample first. If I find the sample is the wrong colour then I can swap the foundation without having used it.

Does anyone else have problems with colour matching or is it just me? 

Monday 8 March 2010

Lehved



Lehved is  another site that I discovered recently. I came across them when looking for an Australian stockist for Z Palettes (there will be a review of these coming soon).Their customer service is great. I placed my order on 23rd of January and it arrived in Western Australia on the 28th of January.

Lehved stocks a great range of difficult to find products. Some of the brands they stock are: Beauty Blender, Graftobian, Hair Bungee, Kesalan Patharan and Face Atelier. If you are looking for palettes, brushes and accessories then this is the store to go to. 

Every order over $75 gets free shipping within Australia. 

Saturday 6 March 2010

06/03 Link Love

Over at theNotice, Rae talks about the "LOL Scarf" (aka the MAC Liberty of London scarf,) and wonders why the heck anyone would spend $115 on it!

Head over to Beautifully Glossy to read what GlossQueen has to say about Diorshow's Iconic Mascara.

Curious to see how the Purple Lab Silk Sheets Luxe Foundation measures up? Blaq Vixen Beauty has the scoop!

Arianne of Glitter Geek is still in a makeup rut, so she tries to fight back with smoky blue eyeshadows!

Krasey Beauty gets acquainted with the new Chanel Rouge Coco Lipsticks, and promptly falls in love.

Jellyminx Thinks is featured on Makeup.com, thanks to the lovely people at Lancome.

Jeweled Thumb asks the age old question: "Would you like some lip gloss with those oysters?" Wait, what?
Hot Beauty Health shares hot hair color trends to wear in 2010!

Lights...Camera...Action! Mz. More at The Glamorous Gleam gets ready for her close up as she reviews the new HD foundation from Revlon.

Vex in the City unveils swatches in all their pastel glory from Revlon Spring 2010.


Christelle at Beauty Crazed uses Mary Kay to shut down her shine!

Beauty Woo Me wants you to stop making that Duckface!

Ever wanted to know the differences between the Beauty Blender and it's dupes? Hell Candy Make Up did! Read her reviews here.

On her hunt for the perfect scent, TheLipPrint discovers an indie gem - Sonoma Scent Studio's Opal & Vintage Rose.

Coral is the hottest colour for Spring and Summer. Discover the perfect coral lipstick in Over by Illamasqua with Makeup4All!

***
Help Audrey Dao celebrate her 1 year blog anniversary with giveaways all month long!

Prime Beauty asks "What's your favorite eyeliner?" and gives away a Stila Mini Smudge Pot Collection.


Hope you enjoyed this week's Link Love! See you soon :)

Friday 5 March 2010

The review process

I thought it might be helpful to explain how I test products before I post reviews on them.

For skincare  I don't usually write a review until I've finished the product. The only exception to this is products that I review for Primped as these reviews have to be posted within a certain time frame. If I haven't finished the product I'll write in the review how long I've been using it for. 


For make-up I like to use the product for at least a month before I review it. I figure that this gives me enough time to really test it out and see how I like it and how it affects my skin. If a product is limited edition, I want to get the review written quickly so I'll use the product every day for about a week before I post my review.


Occasionally I am sent products to review and I'll write that in my post. The majority of products I review I purchase myself. Regardless of whether I buy the product or am sent it I'll always give my honest opinion.

Wednesday 3 March 2010

MAC Personal Style Beauty Powder Blush

MAC recently released their All Ages, All Races, All Sexes collection in Australia. I've been eagerly awaiting this collection because I wanted the Personal Style blush. I've been looking for a light, neutral blush for ages and haven't been able to find one.

MAC describe this as a light mauve taupe. I see more taupe in it than mauve. On me it's a lovely, very subtle flush of colour. If you have pale skin like I do (MAC NW20) and want a neutral blush I highly recommend Personal Style. 

All the MAC blushes I own are high quality. They have lovely colours and great lasting power.    
I find this blush to be really adaptable. It's great used on its own when I want a natural flush of colour and it's also lovely used under Benefit Dandelion. Another way I love to use it is underneath a highlighter. Using a highlighter over the top gives a really radiant, healthy look. 

I had a really hard time getting a decent photo of how this looks on me, the photo below is the best I could do.
Would I buy this again? Yes, it's a gorgeous colour. 
 
Ingredients: talc, nylon-12, zinc stearate, octyldodecyl stearoyl stearate, isostearyl neopentanoate, ascorbyl palmitate, tocopheryl acetate, dimethicone, squalane, triticum vulgare germ extract, hordeum vulgare extract, silica, methyl methacrylate crosspolymer, magneisum myristate, aluminum calcium sodium silicate, caprylyl glycol, hexylene glycol, phenoxyethanol.
May contain: mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxides, bismuth oxychloride, blue 1 lake, carmine, chromium hydroxide green, chromium oxide greens, ferric ferrocyanide, manganese violet, red 6, red 6 lake, red 7 lake, red 28 lake, red 30 lake, ultramarines, yellow 5 lake, yellow 6 lake. 

Monday 1 March 2010

Kiss and Makeup

Kiss and Makeup is one of the online stores that I've had a good experience with. They sell a huge range of different products and brands. Some of my favorites are: Beauty Belnder, Trish Mcevoy, Laura Mercier, Nars, Shu Uemura, Kiehl's, Smashbox, Fresh, Frederic Fekkai, Mario Badescu and Tracie Martyn. As they are based in the US their prices are a lot cheaper than Australia. I purchased a Nars blush for $26 US.

I got the following information from their website: Kiss and Makeup is a high-end cosmetic, skincare, and beauty boutique located in Cedarhurst, NY- the heart of Long Island’s “Five Towns”.

Founded by Fay Feder and Amy Friedman, we search the world to find the finest, most indulgent and unique beauty and apothecary products from the most coveted brands. Our staff of professional makeup artists and aestheticians are thoroughly knowledgeable, and provide expert, honest advice. We personally try and love every product we sell.
 



Their shipping prices are very reasonable, I paid $7.95 (USD). I placed my order on 8 January, it shipped on 12 January and arrived in Western Australia in perfect condition on 22 January.

I'll definitely be ordering from Kiss and Makeup again.