Love At First Blush

Stila is a brand I always wanted to try more of but just wasn't sure what products to try. I already own a blush by them which I bought on sale from the Debenhams website but had never gone further than that. I had seen some of their previous limited edition products before but had never been able to get my hands on them. You'll probably know from my previous posts that if a product has cute packaging/looks pretty then I'm all over it. I'd seen this blush and knew I wanted to try it. Then I found the gift set with the 2 lip glosses. The blush itself retails for $14 and the set sells for $20 so $6 for 2 lip glazes I thought was a bargain. I purchased this from the Sephora amazon store. It is still available from the Sephora website which also has the individual blush. Not sure if they sell in stores though. 

The blush palette comes with three colours, a light lilac pink, a bubblegum pink and a more vibrant pink. The design is embossed with hearts. The top and bottom shades are more shimmery than the middle, however when applied the shimmer is quite subtle and not as harsh as in the photo. When applying this I sweep my brush downwards and then sideways so that I can try to get an even amount of all three rather than having three lines of colour. These shades can also be used separately. 

The two lip glazes came in the colours Pinkle Twinkle and Bubble Gum. Pinkle Twinkle is a shimmery berry/corally colour and Bubble Gum is more of a subtle pink when applied. I'd never used a Stila lip glaze before and was eager to apply it because I hadn't used a brush tip applicator either. You get 1.5 ml of product and to apply you need to turn the top to get the product out. I liked the brush tip which made it easy to apply. I'm definitely a fan of Stila more so now after trying this. 

You can buy Stila Cosmetics from www.stilacosmetics.com and they now have a UK website www.Stila.co.uk. You can also purchase from boots stores and www.boots.com & www.debenhams.com

Have you tried any of these products? Have you tried any Stila products before? Are you a fan of this brand?

Kendall On The Katwalk

This is my first Nicole by O.P.I polish that I bought at CVS and as you may already know I love glittery nail polishes and my favourite colour is blue so this is a match made in heaven. I put this on my nails pretty much straight after I bought it. I like that the glitter parts in this are quite fine because it has a subtle shine rather than big chunks in your face glitter which I also like but it's a nice change sometimes. This is part of the Kardshian Kolors range. I love the bottle of these. I'm not sure if this range of polishes is available in the UK, if anyone knows please let me know :)

The Pretty Committee

I'm always on the look out for sales/bargains on cosmetics, especially the high end products as sometime's it can get pricey. I managed to find this benefit set at Sephora and as Benefit cosmetics rarely go on sale I decided to get it. As far as I know this set isn't available in the UK or from the Benefit official website so I'm assuming it's a Sephora exclusive. It's a shame we don't have a Sephora in the UK anymore because it's still has stores around Europe. I hope they consider at least shipping to the UK. 

This set retails for $38 and it's value is $86 so there's quite a big saving. The set includes Stay Don't Stray Primer, Bella Bamba boxed powder, Eye Bright, and High Beam travel size. 

Three of the items in this set I was planning on buying anyway and the High Beam I already have so I think I might give this away to my sister because I have too much high beam already.

The Bella Bamba blush does have a sweet smell to it, I've heard it's supposed to be water melon which I kind of get. As always with Benefit boxed powders, there is some novelty which I like because it helps you remember the brand. This blush does have some shimmer to it so if you are more of a matte person you may not like this. The blush has a good colour payoff but I would recommend starting out with a small amount of product because a little can go a long way with this and if you want to you can then build it up. It's easier to add than take away. I've been wearing this blush almost every day. I think this would be the perfect colour to have with a tan in the summer. Retails for £23.50/$28

 

The stay don't stray primer can be used for both concealer and eyeshadows, although I have never heard of priming specifically for concealer. Anyone done it? does it work? I'd like to try it for concealer but not sure if it would be too much, I already prime my face with one or two primers then add concealer and foundation. I like the packaging on this with the exception of the pump, it's hard to control how much product comes out and even when pressing slowly it still gives too much. I would say one slow pump is enough to do both eyelids and perhaps under eye concealer. I like that this product covers veins and discolouration which gives you an even base to work on. Retails for £19.50/$26

The eye bright stick is a milky pink nude colour with a creamy consistency, it also blends easily if you are looking for a less harsh line. I've been looking for a white eyeliner for a while as I've heard so many people say it really helps brighten the eye. I usually line my waterline with black so to have something a bit lighter is a nice change. Something I also like about this is that it's not a pure white so it won't give such a harsh look. It can be used to highlight the waterline/inner eye and the brow bone. Retails for £14/$20

High Beam is probably a highlighter you've heard a lot about, I've already got the full size and travel size versions of this so am no stranger to it. This is a liquid highlighter for the cheeks that is a milky pink colour with a tad of shimmer. I usually like to dot 3 times on the upper cheek and then lightly blend them in so it gives a natural look. Retails for £18.50/26 full size.

The back of the box also has a kind of how to manual, I know most are pretty straight forward but it could help with better application and is a great idea for anyone who is new to makeup or the brand.

Have you tried any of these products? Are you a fan of Benefit cosmetics? Would you recommend any of these products?

Non Beauty Haul

A few days ago I went to a discount store, kind of like TJMaxx and found a corner full of cute boxes and book boxes and just generally storage/stationery. If I lived here I'd have bought tons more because they had some really nice bigger boxes but I only got the one. The storage box I bought has a Paris theme and I thought it was funny that right next to the word "Paris" there is an English stamp with the Queen on… oops! I also bought the matching notebook and a Haute Couture themed notebook. I have tons and tons of notebooks, I love them and they're great to use for college. The box was originally $16 which I got for $5.99 and the notebooks were $10 & $12 which I got for $3.99 each. I've searched for storage boxes like this before on ebay and know that they aren't that cheap so I'm glad I decided to get it. 


I also came across these two books at a local music shop. I knew as soon as I saw them that the illustrations were by Camille Rose Garcia, I'm in love with her work. I'm such a geek for fairy tales too, I must have the Alice in Wonderland book about 5 times now. I'm going to see if there's a way I can display some of this in my room and perhaps I'll use the box to store some makeup. What do you guys think? 

Back From San Francisco and Yosemite!

Alcatraz//Giant Cupcake at Louis Vuitton//Ghirardelli//China Town//Pier 39//Coronita at Bubba Gumps//Cable Car//San francisco from Alcatraz//Golden Gate Bridge//Union Square//Tunnel Tree//Crab Cakes at Morton's//Fortune Cookie Bakery//Solitary Confinement Cell//


Still in California right now, I leave in just under two weeks but my week in San Francisco and Yosemite was amazing! It was snowing in Yosemite and we weren't prepared at all. I really wanted to see some giant sequoia's and Mariposa Grove was closed due to snow and ice so we went somewhere else. We was told it was about a one mile hike but seemed more like three, you could tell I'm not the outdoors type, I went hiking in converse and brought the ipad lol. San Francisco was fun too, quite cold there though and some crazy people! Alcatraz was so creepy but awesome, would definitely recommend going if you're ever there. Also hello to all my new subscribers, it was so hard not being able to blog in over a week. I have so much I want to blog about so hopefully I'll have some time on my hands in the next few days :) Hope you are all doing well, I'm gonna go catch up on some blog comments xx

Whats in my travel makeup bag?

I've finally arrived in California and getting the urge to blog while I have some free time. Will be leaving tomorrow morning to drive down the coast to San Francisco, so won't be blogging whilst there but I'm gonna try write up a few today so then I can just post them :) Thought I'd do a quick post on what's in my travel makeup bag as I haven't written a proper post for a few days now.

Boujois Healthy Mix Foundation

Revlon Colorstay Foundation

Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation Sample 

Benefit High Beam

Rimmel Fix and Protect Primer

Benefit The Porefessional

Urbn Decay All Nighter Spray

Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder

Milani Mineral Blush

Bourjois Bronzing Powder

Urban Decay Supercurl Mascara x2

Paul and Joe Cat Eyeshadows

Maybelline Line Stylist Eye Liner

Too Faced Shadow Insurance (travel size)

Urban Decay Primer Potion (travel size)

Rouge Dior - Rare Amber

Rouge Coco Shine - Rivage

Maybelline Lip Gloss - Born With It

Usually I'd take a lot more makeup than this with me but I knew I'd be buying makeup whilst here so kept it to a minimum but no I look at it it looks like quite a lot lol I really like that I can take small travel size pieces with me because I know that with thing's like primer and mascara I don't use that much. The Paul & Joe cat palette is my new fave at the moment, the eyeshadows are really good quality. 

Hope you are all having a wonderful week, will get another post up as soon a I can :)

That night at the rainbow...

The name of this post is in reference to the night I went to the rainbow bar and grill on Sunset Boulevard last year. One of the best nights from what I remember I ended up with a famous rock star's finger in my mouth… (oh the shame!) If you're a motley crue fan, you might recognize him ;)

Tomorrow at 3:35pm, my plane will depart Heathrow to go all the way back to LAX and I really cannot wait. Except this time I won't be drunk with rock stars! I'm away for three weeks and will try to blog whenever I get the chance. Don't want to be MIA for the whole time :) I'll be visiting San Francisco and Yosemite national park, and the thing I'm excited about most? Walking inside a sequoia tree, I'm a geek! Flying on Air New Zealand, they're service is amazing, just not looking forward to a 12 hour journey. Maybe I'll pass the time by writing up some blogs.

On another note I've been adding and changing some small details of my blog. Changed a few things on the side bar over there ---------> Please let me know if you like/don't like the new "buttons" I've added :)

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days, everything's been a rush, they'll be some more coming up soon!

Revlon Lip Butters

So as the UK release date for the Revlon Lip Butters approaches nearer, I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on them. I managed to pick up a few on my visit to California last year, they were pretty hard to find. We drove around looking in almost every Rite Aid and CVS that we could. Rite Aid from what I saw didn't stock them at all, and the stands at most CVS's were sold out. The three that I bought were the only ones left so I got them all. There were maybe two others that looked like they'd been opened and swatted so I skipped on those. The three colours I managed to get were, 070 Cherry Tart, 055 Cupcake and 090 Sweet Tart.

For me I like them a lot, my lips are VERY dry and I need to apply a lip balm quite often or else lipsticks stick to dry areas too much. So to have something that is not only rich in colour but also good for moisturizing my lips is great. They apply easily and you don't need to be too precise as they do sheer out. Cherry Tart and Cupcake both have small glitter pieces in but this isn't very noticeable when applied. They are very long wearing, which is expected from a lip butter.

The packaging is one of the things I like about these, the colour on each one matches the colour of the product inside. There is also a clear top so you can see what the actual product looks like which is nice for when you're looking for a certain colour. I've signed up for the release date email as these will likely sell out very quickly. They sell for $7.99/£7.99

Have you signed up for the release email? Will you be purchasing any? Do you have a particular colour you want to buy?