LUSH - The Comforter Bubble Bar

Hey girlies, sorry I've been MIA this week, we had an audit at work, back on top form now though. A few weeks ago Darren ♥ bought me the Think Pink giftset from LUSH which I blogged about HERE.

What LUSH say:-

“This fruity bubble bar gives the feeling of being hugged by a jolly blackcurrant. When life is getting you down, crumble The Comforter under hot, running water for purple water and creamy bubbles. The warm aroma of cassis absolute is relaxing so relaxing that you'll go to bed feeling happier and the world will seem brighter the next day”

In the giftset you get a massive 200g bar which the SA told Darren ♥ could be cut into 4, I was a little unsure of this but from doing this with other bath bombs (well cut into 2) I decided to listen to her, I’m so glad I did, just look at all the bubbles you get from one little quarter of this baby!

Darren ♥ has used more of this giftset than I have so it seems only right that I should ask him for a few words about his latest bath using The Comforter.

S: Darren how was your bath?

D: It was pink.

What you can’t see in this picture is Darren ♥ hoping from one foot to the other like a small excited child waiting to get in his bath. Telling me to ‘hurry up’.

If you haven’t tried this from LUSH please do, and let me know that you love it too! After using a quarter for my very own bath I ♥ it so much, it's a repurchase for me for sure

Special Thanks to Darren ♥ for your input in this post!

♥

FOTD - Hot pink lips

Hey dolls, sorry I've been a bit vacant from my blog this week, I've got an audit at work next week so I've had to pull my figner out and get a few jobs done. Back to the post.

I was admiring my handy work on my sister ♥ and I'm now kicking myself that I didn't get Girl about Town. It really is a gorgeous colour and maybe one that will be added in the future (very near). I had a Barry M dazzle dust near enough the same colour as Girl about Town so mixed it with a bit of vaseline and Voila homemade Girl about Town (kinda) :) You could also just use this as a lip tint, using your finger to just pat it on the lips.

Face

Chanel Pro Lumiere Shade 10

MAC MSF Medium

Benefit Coralista blush

Eyes

MAC e/s Brule

MAC e/s Naked Lunch (near tearduct)

Maybelline One by One Mascara

MAC false lashes #34's

Lips

Barry M dazzle dust #85 (neon pink)

Vaseline (mix the two)

Just a quick look I knocked up at home. The spotty thing on my head is a top I cut up, I quite like it, think it needs bigger spots on it though and maybe a stiffer material, it didn't look how I thought it would!

Have a good weekend girls

♥

Monday Summary (A little late)

1 Slimming World – I lost 1.5 pounds this week at SW and I have to say I was pretty chuffed with myself. I’m now half a pound away from getting my 1 stone award, however after the weekend I’ve had I’m not sure I’m going to make it this week. Darren ♥ was off all weekend with me and we had a lovely time just lazing about the lounge, this also included a Chinese takeaway on Friday night then a Kebab on Saturday. Let me explain this kebab though; it was Chicken and Lamb chunks (proper name I think is Shish) with salad and chilli sauce, I had a handful of chips and a bit of garlic sauce so I don’t consider this to be a bad meal, I never eat the pitta bread that comes with it either. Then yesterday Darren ♥ said he’d cook one of his famous roast beef dinners and well I couldn’t say no to some roasties. Ahh well we shall see what the damage is on Thursday. I am thinking positive about it all *smiley face*

2 Seeing friends and family – Me and my 2 best buds finally decided on a date that we are all free to have a good ol’ knees up. We’re all quite spread about at the minute, I live in London, Anna lives in Salisbury and Hayley still lives on the Isle of Wight. The weekend of the 9^th April couldn’t come quick enough. Not only are me and Darren ♥ going to the best Indian restaurant in the UK (Isle of Wight) I get to see my gorgeous Nephews ♥, Brother ♥, Sister-in-Law ♥ and my beloved Mumma ♥.

3 Rejoining twitter - I joined Twitter ages ago, just under my own name but didn’t really know how it worked so cancelled my account. I know a lot of you are on it so thought I would join again this time under my blog name. I’m still a bit clueless with it to be honest but, I’ll get there. At present I’m following 30 people and 7 followers! If you’re on twitter @TheHQofBeauty come join my party!

4 Sweet tings! – Since joining SW my taste buds have changed so much, I was always the savoury girl, crisps, cheese, crackers, bread and nuts were things I’d consider living off before SW. Now though, my cravings for sweet things are getting out of control, a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about a crème egg, galaxy ripple or making a batch of sweet cupcakes for me and Darren ♥ to devour! It’s making my SW journey hell, these sweet things are full of calories and are super bad for the diet. 1 measly bar of Cadburys Dairy Milk is 13 syns (you’re allowed 10-15 a day). Chocolate and cake never used to bother me, but now, it’s very hard to say no.

That’s it this week for the summary, hope you have a good week my beauts!

♥

Maybelline One by One Mascara

Hey dolls, I bought this mascara about 2 weeks ago after seeing the advert in Stylist magazine, I love Stylist, it comes out every Tuesday and has some great features in there usually more on the make up and beauty side of things which is perfect for a make up whore like moi! Lol

Ok, I’ll put it out there, it’s good but it doesn’t beat my beloved Max Factor False Lash Effect. The separation and length it gives is amazing though, so much better than the awful (in my opinion) Rimmel Accelerator. I quite liked the packaging, the brush came separate to the actual tube, I suppose so you could see exactly what you were buying. The tube itself had a kind of stopper thing on it; I thought this was quite a good idea.

The advert in the paper claims up to 3 bristles per lash 1; it catches 2; coats and 3; de-clumps. It definitely catches and coats but I found it dried quite quickly. This still doesn’t put me off though, I’m a bit of a Linford Christie with mascara now!

As you can see from this last picture the problem I have with mascara is my bottom lashes, maybe because they’re quite long they catch my skin and this happens. Sometimes it's worse than this picture. This even happens with my False Lash Effect. I know Sam and Nic from Pixiwoo are raving about this new Clinqiue mascara for bottom lashes. It has a tiny brush but is specifically for the bottom, Sam loves it. It might be worth a try!

I picked this up too, I can't be without one of these, I ♥ it! 

All in all I think this is a really good mascara, I bought this from Boots for the introductory price of £6.49, a saving of £2.

Have any of you tried this mascara? What’s your verdict? Let me know in the comments

♥

Liz Earle - Mask and Tonic

Hey girlies, as you know from my Cleanse and Polish post I am a massive Liz Earle fan. I’d read some amazing reviews about these 2 products so took the plunge and pur-chased.

Intensive Moisturising Treatment Mask

What they say

“Problem: dry, dehydrated or stressed skin.

Solution: this deeply rehydrating ‘moisture’ mask will help to replenish, calm, condition and moisturise skin. Apply to face and neck and relax for 10-15 minutes. Naturally active ingredients include St John’s wort to soothe, borage to help lock in moisture and rose scented gernaium to help tone and balance “

How I use mine:

I use this mask once a week after using my Cleanse and Polish, I apply a thin even layer to my face, I don’t bother with my neck, if I did I’d go through it too quick. Lay back in the bath and relax, I probably only leave mine on for 10 mins but it’s enough after that I use my Instant Boost Skin Tonic (see below)

I bought the 50ml tube which was £12.25, you can buy this HERE.

Instant Boost Skin Tonic

What they say

“This heavenly floral-scented, non-drying toner refreshes, soothes and brightens your skin. Gentle and alcohol-free, it also adds a fine layer of moisture”

Pour onto a cotton wool pad and sweep over face and neck after using Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser. Naturally active ingredients include organic aloe vera to revitalise and soften and calendula, chamomile, cucumber and natural source vitamin E to soothe and refresh the skin”

How I use mine

I squidge a bit of the tonic (you don’t need a lot) onto a bit of cotton wool then wipe over my face and neck. This stuff has the best smell ever, it’s smells like clean babies, that gorgeous sweet smell. I use this after Cleanse and Polish and the weekly mask.

I really can see a difference in my skin too. I’m kicking myself now for not thinking about taking before and after pics!

Liz Earle do this in a range of sizes, I bought the 200ml bottle which cost £11.75 but if you wanted to try this without committing to the mls, then you could buy the 30ml spritzer for £4.85 or a 50ml bottle for £4.85?? Aye?? You do the math, I think I know which one I’d buy! You can buy these from HERE.

All in all I'm still loving Liz Earle, I think on my list next will be the Skin Repair Moisturiser for dy/sensitive skin.

I’m sure it will deliver just like the rest of the range. Bravo Liz Earle……Bravo

Visit Liz Earle website HERE

♥

P.S. Sorry for the excess linkage! I like to provide you with as much info as poss! ;o)

FOTN - featuring Up the Amp by MAC

Hey dolls! This is the make up I wore for my sisters birthday party the other week. This was my first time wearing such a bright lipstick. I went to MAC to buy Girl about Town (for Faye ♥) and Vegas Volt for me but I preferred Up the Amp. I’m so pleased with the colour and can’t wait to wear it out again.

Please excuse my brows, looks like I forgot to give the lil monsters a brush through!

Face

Smashbox Primer

MAC Face and Body in C3

MAC Studio finish concealer for under the eyes

MAC MSF in Medium
Benefit Coralista Blush & a bit of Rose (wine) too!

Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion

MAC Brule e/s

MAC Glitter Brilliants Reflects Red

Ardell lashes no 117’s

Lips

MAC Up the Amp Lipstick

Next I think I will try a red lippie. Any suggestions? Thanks girls

♥

Monday Summary and a big Fank Youuuuu!!

1 Slimming World – I had a really bad week diet wise and completely wimped out on going to class, I didn’t stick to the diet one bit and knew I had put on weight. I’ve tried my best to stick to it this week but it’s been hard again. I struggle the most at the weekends, then after a heavy meal on a Sunday night I start thinking about it again trying to forget about the damage I’ve done. I will go to class this week. I’m thinking about changing diets completely and maybe going to ‘the other side’ (Weight Watchers). I’m trying not to think about it too much until I get weighed and see what the damage is. It’s a vicious circle, eating makes me happy so I eat then I feel guilty and get upset, then I eat to make myself happy! Darren ♥ thinks I put too much pressure on myself, I’m just angry because I can never stick to it and never make it to my target goal before giving up. *Think positive Stace*

2 Morley College Course – Last week I said I was going to write a proper post about this but it’s really not worth it, it’s such a waste of money. There’s 5 of us in the class and we’re all complaining about it. We basically just put our make up on for 3 hours, I know more than the tutor and I think I could probably take the course myself! A few of us went for drinks after and 2 of the girls said they’ve learnt more from me! I was supposed to be booked on for the next course too which is Eye Makeup but hopefully I can transfer to Photographic and Catwalk make up, this course is taught by Karen Beadle who is a professional MUA.

3 Make Up – I think about make up constantly, I can’t wait for the week to be over so I can sit in front of my mirror with everything out, seeing what looks I can come up with. I must admit I’m running out of ideas and eyeshadow! I think I need to invest in a palette off eBay, maybe one of those Coastal Scents ones?? Do any of you have them? Or can any of you suggest one, maybe with some bright colours?

4 Jamie Oliver’s Butchers - I treated me and Darren ♥ to a Rib Eye Steak each from Jamie’s butchers at St Pauls for din dins on Saturday. We’ve had them once before and loved them. This time though they came out a bit on the small side but again we couldn’t fault the meat. I think I have definitely changed to a Rib Eye girl after being devoted to Sirloin for so long it just doesn’t quite cut the mustard now.

5 Reaching 200 followers – Woweee! I was so pleased when I logged in this morning to see that I had reached the 200 mark (202 now!), thank you, thank you, thank you to you all for following, commenting and just being fab! I never thought I’d reach so many followers but I have to say blogging truly makes me happy and having each and every one of you following me makes me happy too. I will probably do a giveaway when I reach the 500 mark, that way I’ve got plenty of time to collect/think about what to do. Thanks again girls (and boys if there are any?) ♥

That’s it this week for the summary, Darren ♥ and I are still on ‘mission save’ so haven’t been out and about much at all.

Have a good week my lil peanuts!

♥

MAC Brushes and Eyeliner practice

Hey girlies, I picked up a couple of new brushes from MAC this week from House of Fraser.

Story:

Darren ♥ thought he bought me Stella McCartney In Two Peony perfume for Christmas but he had actually bought me the Hydrating Milk by mistake. I marched into HOF just after Christmas only to find that the perfume was still out of stock from Christmas so they put the money on a gift card for me. I left it til the beginning of March to see if they had any perfume in stock yet and they still hadn’t and it wasn’t available to order online. I walked out most upset! Darren ♥ and I went into Walthamstow quickly on Saturday and there it was in the perfume shop in a gift set with the hydrating milk for £25, Darren ♥ bought it for me and said I could keep the HOF vouchers too. Bingo! Muuhahahahahaha!

266 top 210 bottom

Anyway back to the brushes, I couldn’t decide which fine eyeliner brush to get either the 209 or the 210. I’m not a lover of the thick black line, I think because I have quite hooded eyes; it just gets lost on me. The SA said the 210 would be best for me and if I did decide I wanted it a bit thicker I could just build it up. She herself was sporting the most perfect flick I’ve ever seen! I’ve also heard good things about the Louise Young LY24 fine liner brush and it’s only £11, shame it wasn’t available in HOF!

Here is a picture of my practice shot, I find it really easy to do the bit from the tear duct, along the lashes to the end of the eye but I just can’t get the flick right. It doesn't look too bad in this pic, I practice most days.

MAC Blacktrack liner applied with a 210 brush

 

Have any of you got these brushes? Can you give me any tips for my flicks?

Thank you me lil butternut squashes!

♥

FOTN - Purple Haze

Hey girls, this is just a quick FOTN that I slapped on the other night whilst Darren ♥ was sleeping on the sofa.

Eyes

NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk

Barry M Dazzle Dust #90

Matte black from Sleek palette

Rimmel Liquid Eyeliner

Eylure Lashes 107's

Face

Chanel Pro Lumiere Foundation

Coralista blusher by Benefit

MAC MSF in Medium

MAC Rhapsody in Two to highlight

Lips

MAC Boy Bait Cremesheen Glass

A black and white photo to show it aint all about the pout!

Darren ♥ is working this weekend, hopefully I will get a chance to do some more looks, practice makes perfect.

♥

Monday Summary

1 Slimming World – This week I put on 1 pound at SW, I’m not too bothered about it really, I knew it was coming, it’s my TOTM which means my local shop has sold out of Galaxy Ripples and I am hormonally spotty! I’m feeling positive about this week though, if I don’t lose it’s not the end of the world. It’s just taking me a little longer than others that’s all. I enjoy going to class and there's some real competition in there too.

2 Thriller at the Lyric Theatre – Faye ♥ and I went to see Thriller on Tuesday night and had the best night. We’re both massive MJ fans, I bought us the tickets from lastminute.com for half price, £29 each. First we went to one of our favourite restaurants for Pizza, Ask Restaurant. I had a spicy Vesuvio with Faye ♥ opting for a Calzoné. I’m sure having this heavy dish 2 days before weigh in didn’t help matters either. I know from experience to have my heavier meals at the weekend so that by the time I get weighed they aren’t sitting heavy on my tummy. Anyway Thriller was amazing, we were 2nd row from the front, we had the best view and by the end of the show were up on our feet dancing along.

3 Morley College Course – Back in January I decided to have a look around for some small make up courses to attend until I can do the big course and found 2 courses at the Morley College which is just near North Lambeth. These courses are on on a Friday night after work from 6.00pm to 9.00pm. The first course is called Beauty for Beginners; Makeup Techniques and the second course is called Beauty for Beginners; Eye Makeup. I will do a full post on them when I have completed the courses. Right now I’m just excited to be doing anything that involves someone in the profession!

4 Spending time with Darren ♥ - he’s been working a lot recently, staying late through the week and working weekends, so we haven’t spent much time together. He was supposed to be working this weekend but everything got cancelled. We spent the weekend together, I cooked us dinner on Saturday, after which Darren ♥ fell asleep for an hour and a half, as soon as I heard him snoring in the lounge I knew it was my opportunity to whack out the make up and have a mess about. FOTN to come.

5 Clothes shopping – I seem to have got in a bit of a rut with my clothes outside of work. For work I just wear trousers and tops/jumpers all week, I work on a building site which is covered in dust/mud etc so I don’t wait to be wearing any of my nice clothes to work. However outside of work I don’t seem to have much to wear either. Since learning of the Treat Street scheme I’ve been ordering more and more off the net to get points and also, it’s nice not having to go shopping. In a way I hate it. The only time I seem to like shopping is when I’ve got no money, then when I have got money I don’t see anything I like. I’d love a day with a personal shopper or Gok Wan if he’s available. He’d sort out my pear shape (more apple at the minute) and my ‘bangers’ as he calls them. Oh to be more stylish!

Have a good week my lil peanuts!

♥

LUSH - Think Pink Hatbox giftset

Hey girlies, Darren ♥ bought me this as a present just because he loves me! Aahhhh he’s the best.

Darren ♥ knows I’m a massive LUSH fan, I sat on the floor and got everything out sniffing each item, then came the difficult decision of which one to use for my bath the next day! **

In this gift set there are 11 items in total, I’ve tried the Fair Trade Foot lotion before but the rest were new to me, I couldn’t wait to get started on them.

What’s inside the box?

100g Fair Trade Foot Lotion

65g Happy Blooming Bath Melt

Sex Bomb Bath Ballistic

100g Melting Marshmallow Moments Bath Melt

100g Sugar Babe Sugar Scrub

45g Helping Hands Han Cream (not too keen on the whiff of this)

Think Pink Bath Ballistic

100g Rock Star Soap

Twilight Bath Ballistic

100g Creamy Candy Bubble Bar

200g The Comforter Bubble Bar

This set retails at £39.95, I think this is such good value for money. I love how everything is packed inside too all the foamy things and it all smelt so good!

I decided to use the Melting Marshmallow Moment out the set first, as you can see from my picture it made the bath a lovely faint colour of pink with a silky foam all around it. The smell was to die for, I think I could have possibly got away with breaking this bad boy in half but decided to use the whole thing. I grabbed my magazine off the side and that was me for well over half an hour. I would definitely be repurchasing this.

 

Are there any of your favourites in this set? Which products shall I use next?

You can buy the Think Pink Hatbox from LUSH HERE

♥

** Just to clarify; I bath or shower daily and had already scrubbed prior to receiving this gift.

Unleash the beast! Grrrrr!

Hello my beauts! This was a lot of fun to do. I saw this idea from a picture in the Pixiwoo fan photos archive on Facebook the plan was to do it on Darren ♥ but he tried the contact in and said he couldn’t take it. I knew what I wanted to do for this and knew Darren ♥ wouldn’t let me put fake lashes on him. I will be using Darren ♥ as my model in the near future so look out for that.

 

Products used

Snazaroo facepaints from eBay – yellow and brown

Some old liquid eyeliner I had

MAC 34 lash

Cheap zip from some shop with the fabric cut off the sides

Snazaroo Spirit gum from eBay (to stick on the zip)

Cat Eyes from The Coloured Contact Lens Co.

Barry M Dazzle dust mixed with Vaseline for the lips.

Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in Zero

Ta daaaa! I really enjoyed doing this and Darren ♥ was very impressed with it too *pats self on back* lol

♥

FOTN - Featuring Girl about Town by MAC

Hey girls, Faye ♥ let me do her hair and make up for her birthday party last week. So here is the make up, I bought her Girl about Town as a birthday present and she loves it. I do too and it really suits her, it brings out her green eyes.

The pictures aren’t my finest work we were already half an hour late so I had to just take a couple of pics.

Ardell Sparkles lashes from eBay

Face

MAC Face and Body in C3

Chanel Touche Eclat in Ivory

MAC Moisture cover in NW30

MAC MSF in Medium

Matte brown from Sleek palette for brows
Coralista Blush on the cheeks

Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion

MAC Brule e/s

MAC Naked Lunch e/s

Sleek palette matte brown

MAC Blacktrack eyeliner

Ardell Sparkles eyelashes
Stila Onyx Eyeliner

Lips

MAC Girl about Town

Faye ♥ and I both agree that she needs a lip liner to go with Girl about Town, I’ve looked into this and I think Titivate by Illamasqua would be a perfect match.

Thank you for letting me do your make up Faye ♥.

♥