Force Of Love

I don't own many MAC lip glosses at all but the ones I do have I've really liked. I've only ever tried lip glasses from MAC and I love the formula of these. For a lip gloss they have a lot of colour which is something I've not found with a lot of other brands. They aren't too sticky either which I think is great because I often find that when other lip glosses wear off my lips they are still incredibly sticky. 

This lip gloss was part of the Chen Man collection and this is the kind of colour I always go for. Something not too "out there" that can be worn either sheered out or with the colour built up. I find that really bold colours don't fit my skin ton of face sometimes unless I'm wearing bronzer. I really like this colour as it's not a very bright or dark pink but somewhere in the middle. This lip gloss also has small shimmer particles in it but they aren't that noticeable when worn. I don't find the staying power great but then I haven't found that with any lip gloss as they are a gloss. I don't find myself re-applying often though.

I picked this up at duty free whilst I was at Heathrow airport last month so I got it at a discounted price. I think it was only about 10% off but I'd seen it sold out all online so took my chance! Mac lip glasses range from £13 upwards and are available from www.maccosmetics.co.uk www.debenhams.com and all MAC counters.

My first NARS product!

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this duo, I bought it from Sephora when I was out in the states. It's one of those things I'd wanted for a long while but the price always put me off buying it in favour of products that were new or limited edition. I was originally planning on buying the Orgasm and Laguna separately but they are just so expensive I went with the duo. I know that this is a little more expensive than an individual but it's also cheaper than buying them both separately even though you get less of each in this. I didn't want to spend out all that money and realize I didn't like either of them if you know what I mean. If I end up liking one more than the other then I would definitely repurchase the big one. 

I'm guessing most of you will own either of these already being so famous in the beauty world. I had to try it for myself after hearing so much hype!

The one thing I do love about NARS is their packaging. The matte finish looks so sleek and I've noticed a few other brands following this trend. The only problem is that it gets dirty so fast. I knew it would happen though even after wiping it over and trying my hardest to not get anything on it. Eventually I gave up lol It's what's inside that counts after all! Right?

I already have so many shades that are similar to Orgasm but it's my favourite type of pink and I do love shimmery blushes. This one is quite subtle though when I use it lightly and I think it looks best this way. It's not overly shimmery either, just enough for a glow. I'm not too fond of chunky glitter pieces. 

I love Laguna as a bronzer because it's not too light and not too dark. With Benefit's Hoola bronzer I find that it's too dark for my skin tone and doesn't blend well with it. I also like to use this lightly as a contour shade with Orgasm on the apple's of my cheeks. I like that this bronzer isn't completely matte either, it has very fine shimmery particles and blends with skin nicely.

I'm glad I finally purchased this and I do love it but it hasn't blown me away like it seems to have everyone else.

What do you think? Do you own either of these or are you thinking of purchasing them?

NARS products are available from www.houseoffraser.com www.narscosmetics.co.uk and from Sephora in the US.

This duo retails for £29 or £21 each

NYX Bourgeois Pig Blush

NYX is one of those brands that is difficult to find in the UK. There are some sites here that sell their products but I like to see a product before buying it. So when I visited ULTA a few weeks back I made sure to check out the NYX section. I'm a blush addict so knew I'd be picking up one, the colour I decided to go with was "Bourgeois Pig". This is a medium pink matte shade. I usually go for shimmering shades in a blush so thought this would be something different. I think this shade is great for an every day blush and gives just enough colour to not look too overdone. I loved the packaging of these blushes, they're quite compact so great for putting in your makeup bag. I only like to use a little of this during the day but it is a buildable blush. I was impressed with the colour pay off of this considering how cheap NYX products are. This blush retails for $5.99 from ULTA or you can purchase NYX products on www.cocktailcosmetics.co.uk

100 follower giveaway! (closed)

Sorry this post has taken SO long to put up! I've been so busy lately, with uni, hospitals, job seeking etc etc but it's here! My 100 follower giveaway! I'm so glad I decided to pick up some things from my recent trip to the USA, I'm so thankful to everyone that I've met and all the people who follow my blog. I really didn't think anyone would ever want to read it lol

This giveaway will be a UK only giveaway. I'm hoping to have an international giveaway in the future though so hopefully you can all enter that :)

These are the things I've picked out for my giveaway:
Wet 'n' Wild trio palette in Sweet As Candy
Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Pink Frosting
EOS lipbalm in Summer Fruit
Slatkin & Co mini candle in Mango Beachwood from Bath & Bodyworks

To enter you need to be following me through GFC or Hello Cotton, please leave a comment on this post telling me which one you follow me on. If you follow through both you'll get 2 entries :) Just make sure you tell me your usernames in the comments below. I would do the same for Blog Lovin' but it doesn't tell me who my followers are :(

If you want to earn one more entry if you tweet this "@Linnetbirdxx is having a 100 follower giveaway, check it out here! greenfinchandlinnetbirdx.blogspot.com"

If you tweet just let me know your twitter username as well in the comments.

I hope this all made sense, you can earn up to 3 entries!

This giveaway will end on the 14th of May 2012 :)

Versatile Blogger Award!

I know you've all seen this before tons of times and some of you aren't really into blog awards but seeing as this is my first ever award and I've been nominated twice quite recently I thought I would just go ahead and do it :) I was nominated by Ellen over at The glow down and Gemma over at Blueberry Blushes. 

I'm also only 2 followers away from my 100 followers giveaway, I have some beauty items from the USA to giveaway so stay keep and eye out!

Rules:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers who are relatively new to blogging. 

2. Let them know that you have nominated them. 

3. Share 7 random facts about yourself. 

4. Thank the bloggers that have nominated you. 

5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your blog post. 

My 7 random facts:

1. I absolutely love animals! I've tried chasing after wild rabbits and even wave at cats through the window! (they see me and run :( )

2. I'm currently studying graphic design at central saint martins college

3. I'm scared of zombies, aliens, robots and ghosts.

4. Even though it scares the crap outta me my favourite tv show is the walking dead!

5.My favourite actor is Johnny Depp who I'm lucky enough to have met 3 times and see on the set of pirates 4 (totally not a stalker)

6. My favourite art movement is pop surrealism and my favourite artists are Mike Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia and Elizabeth Mcgrath.

7. I want to train to be a tattooist.

I know I'm supposed to tag something like 15 people or whatever but I'm sure a lot of them have been nominated already so I'll share some of my favourite blogs with you and if they decide to do the award they can :)

 

http://autumnleaves-x.blogspot.co.uk/

http://marieeeloves.blogspot.co.uk/

http://theedgeofbeauty7.blogspot.co.uk/

http://cityscape-bliss.blogspot.co.uk/

http://emsmixedbag.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.shlynsbin.com/

http://thetimetomakeup.blogspot.com

http://fourteen10.com

Betty-lou Manizer

I wear bronzer on a daily basis, mainly to contour my face with. The betty-lou manizer from the balm has become my new go to bronzer. I think this would be the perfect bronzer for the summer, it blends really well with my skin without looking cakey or muddy on my face. When swatched this bronzer comes off very shimmery and a deep gold colour but when applied it blends out to give a subtle tanned look to the face. I love to pair this bronzer with Benefit's Bella Bamba to give a sun-kissed glow to the face. This is a highly pigmented bronzer so I only use a minimal amount on my blush brush and then build it up from there. I like to apply this as a contour shade and then blend it out very sheer over my cheeks and up over my temples. I was very surprised with this bronzer and am so glad I purchased it!

Do you have a favourite bronzer?

OPI New York City Ballet Collection

I'm a huge fan of the ballet and when I heard about the release of this collection I knew I'd end up purchasing a polish of two from it. OPI isn't that cheap or easy to get your hands on in the UK, this collection slipped from my mind until I walked into ULTA and saw the stand specifically for this collection. It was hard deciding which colours to choose from. I ended up buying Are you calling me a lyre? and Don't touch my tutu. I don't have shades like this in my collection yet and thought the colours would be great on days when I want something a bit more subtle. Plus they make a great base colour. I love this collection as I think the colours chosen really do reflect that of ballet, very soft in colour. The only thing I didn't like about these was the sheerness of them. They take about 4/5 coats to look anything like the colour in the bottle and take quite a while to dry. This is okay if you have some time on your hands but not for just putting on a quick coat in the morning. 


What do you think of this collection? Have you tried any of these polishes?

Nude Tude Palette

This is the first all "nude" palette I own. I haven't bought the naked, naked 2 or the natural eye palette's yet. Every time I go to buy them, some limited edition products/collection gets released and I find myself spending the money on that instead because the others "will always be there". This was probably the hardest to find palette I have ever purchased, including the Alice in Wonderland book of shadows long after it sold out. 

I knew I wanted to try this palette as soon as I'd discovered TheBalm brand and my love for it is increasing with each product. I did some searching online around November/December time and found a few UK websites that sold this… but to my disappointment they were all sold out. FeelUnique.com and Next.com both claimed to stock this item but still after 6 months of checking their websites neither have restocked and I doubt they ever will. I'd rather they just remove it altogether. 

{Free makeup bag with my order}

I finally decided to order from the official website but had to settle for the "nice" version. This palette comes in two different designs, the nice version and the naughty version. Basically as the palette is "nude" the naughty version has naked women behind each eye shadow pairing. Don't worry there isn't any real nudity it's just a bit of fun with packaging and I personally loved this idea. Unfortunately this version was sold out on TheBalm's website so I figured I'd purchase the nice version or else I could be waiting another six months before having the chance to buy it again. I think it's a good idea that they have the option to buy both as the naughty version may not be everyone's cup of tea. One thing I will mention is the shipping on this item was very reasonable (I shipped to a US address) and my items were shipped the day after purchase which I was very impressed with, I also received a free makeup bag with my order!

The packaging of this palette is very 50s style as with most of TheBalm's products. There are 12 eye shadows in total and comes with a double ended eyeshadow and liner brush. Each of the twelve shadows are named with an "S" word which I thought was a cute idea and ties the whole palette together. 

The shades in this palette are a little different compared to what I've seen in the Urban Decay palette's there seems to be a bit more colour which I think is great because they're subtle enough to still fit the description of "nude". There are no matte shades in this palette, some have a subtle sheen to them and the rest are quite shimmery but not in the chunky glitter way. As far as formula and colour pay-off goes, these eyeshadows are great quality very pigmented and smooth to apply. They're also quite long lasting and I never noticed them creasing. I would still recommend using a primer with them though. I haven't used the brush that comes with it as it looks quite scratchy but I keep it in there anyways in case I ever have to use it. 

This palette costs $36 and is available from www.thebalm.com and www.sephora.com 

Have you used this palette? Are you looking to purchase it? What is your favourite nude palette?

So what did I buy on my travels?

I've already started my posts on the beauty buys I got whilst away, instead of doing a full haul I thought I'd skip and do separate posts instead. Here's my haul on the non beauty items I bought on my three week trip :)


I knew I wanted to buy some magnets, I started a collection last year of buying magnets from the places I've visited. I picked up 5 in total (one not pictured). Two are from Yosemite national park and the other two are from Alcatraz San Francisco. They are now on my fridge next to my Mount Rushmore, Hollywood, Las Vegas and Ventura magnets.

While in China Town I found a squishy penny machine (penny press?) and another in Yosemite, I love these pennies. It's something small but different to take away from a trip.

As always whenever I'm in a big city and there's a Hard Rock Cafe I always have to stop and buy a pin (I think I'm a hoarder!). As I was there for St.Patrick's day I bought the pin for it along with the aquarium on pier 39 themed pin. And lastly I picked up a city pin for my sister.

I love coffee from the coffee bean and haven't seen this chain of shops in any other states so I always try and bring back some coffee beans. Last year I brought home the Holiday Brew and this year was requested to bring back some colombian coffee, it came with free filters too! They also sell refillable coffee cups and my sister wanted one of these last year so I finally bought one for her.

We're big fans of chai latte's in my house and I brought back a mix of this from Trader Joe's last year but we'd since run out so I bought a refill. And Finally from San Francisco I brought home some Ghiradelli easter chocolate from their shop. This is my favourite American chocolate, I really don't like Hershey's or See's Candies at all. I loved seeing the Ghiradelli factory and square and thought it would be great to bring back some from the city it originates from.

Tutti Frutti notd

I was playing around with some new nail polishes and this was the finished look. I really liked it, I think it's quite playful and reminds me of the tutti frutti Jelly Belly bean. I think this is a great nail for Easter too! For this I used Are you calling me a lyre by O.P.I NYC ballet collection with Nicole by O.P.I Rainbow in the S-Kylie.

Sprinkles Cupcakes & back from California

I got back early this morning from my three week trip and was so worn out I just came home and slept. I thought I'd get a post in before bed :) 


Before I left for the airport we took a trip to Beverly Hills and visited the famous sprinkles cupcakes store after hearing about the new cupcake ATM. I decided to get one from the machine and one from the counter and see if there was a difference in taste lol. The ATM is really easy to use, you pick the cupcake you want and how many and press confirm before inserting your bank card and hey presto! I wasn't expecting much in terms of taste because all of the cupcake boutiques I've been too in London have sucked, the hummingbird bakery in my opinion is hugely overrated and overpriced. However these were some of the best cupcakes I've ever tasted, I was really surprised. Everything about it was great, it was a huge cupcake to begin with and cost $4 which might seem pricy but compared to other places I think it was really worth it. The ATM is awesome, as the cupcake is being sorted the screen goes to a camera and it shows you the machine dispensing the cupcake. Pretty cool. As far as comparison goes, the cupcakes were really fresh from both the machine and in store.  The shop is really small though and gets packed really fast, the line was out the door! I can't wait to go back here, this place doesn't disappoint. I can't wait for them to open one up in London!