Hauled: Crown Brushes & Dotty P's

I'm calling this my 'I-wish-I-could-have-made-it-to-IMATS' haul. I'm gutted that I couldn't go so placed a couple of online orders early in the week to make sure I had something to open up/cheer me up this weekend. One of these orders is actually something that was on my IMATS wish-list: some Crown brushes. I've been wondering for ages how brushes that are so cheap could be any good. The only way to find out was to jump in and hit 'Add to Basket'.

And into said basket went the following:

and now time for their close-ups....

Bullet Crease Brush (BK42) - £2.30.

Self-explanatory really.

Bent Liner Brush (C217) - £2.60

 I don't actually own any gel eyeliners but this is now my incentive to buy one -

have heard great things about bent brushes for liquid liner novices like moi

 Angle Blender Brush (C419) - £4.15

For angled blend-iness(!)

Crescent Fluff Brush (CLS212) - £1.00 

I picked this up from their sale section- it looked like a great brush for blending out crease colours as the 'dip' fits snugly over your brow bone.

Oval Taklon Brush (C170SH-4) - £2.32

Picked this up to use as a concealer brush - wasn't expecting it to be quite

so small but as the second pic shows its tiny! Hopefully it will teach me to go

 easy with the camoflauge!

I will do a proper review of these brushes once I've given them a full road-test. One initial obsevation is the writing on these brushes is just awful - the font is so naff it makes them look instantly cheap - this is one case where I'll be praying the wording rubs off over time :)

Last but not least a couple of bits I got from Dorothy Perkins - I've been lusting after something in tapestry for ages to no avail so when I saw these pumps online for £23.00 it was love at first sight. Can't wait for some warmer/dryer weather so I can wear these beauts out.

The other item I picked up was this waist belt in ochre which is a colour I seem to be obsessed with at the mo. I love the suedey finish and bow detail...and that it was only £6.

So there you have it....quite a modest haul but one that has definitely dulled the IMATS blues for a few hours :)

Until next time,

Swatched: Maybelline & Body Shop Lippies

Just wanted to share pics & swatches of some recent lipstick acquisitions. First up is Maybelline ColorSensational in no. 842 - Rosewood Pearl. This shade is a gorgeous nude pink with a frost finish. Its very wearable but every so slightly drying so you will need a slick of gloss over the top.

In the tube I thought this looked really similar to High Mac High Tea but a quick side-by-side swatch shows they're nothing alike, Rosewood Pearl is way more pink..durrrr!



Top - Mac High Tea
Bottom - Maybelline Rosewood Pearl

My second lip loving purchase was from The Body Shop and takes the form of their Delipscious Sheer Lip Colour. This new product had completely missed my radar and in case you've not yet come across it either, its the Body Shop's first lip range to be formulated with 100% food grade ingredients. My colour of choice was 01 Sheer Lychee a nudey-peach with a teeny amount of shimmer.

As you would expect from the sheer part of this product's name you need quite a few layers to build up the colour and lasting power isn't the best. On the plus side the high cocoa butter content leaves your lips lovely & moisturised. The £9.50 price tag is quite steep for what feels more like a high-end tinted lip balm than a lipstick. You're clearly paying for the natural ingredients &  there is something satisfying from knowing the lip colour you're wearing is so entirely safe you could eat it! :)

Until next time,

I'd like to thank....

...the lovely Miss LV for awarding me the stylish blogger award. My first one ever :) If you haven't stopped by her blog then make sure you do here for her views on all things beauty-related (Miss LV has also enlightened me to the utter gorgeous-ness of chinchillas in the form of Dusty - how have I not known how cute they are until now!?)

On to the rules for the award which are...

♥     Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post

♥     Tell us seven things about yourself

♥     Award 7 recently discovered new bloggers

♥     Contact these bloggers and let them know they've received the award

So, the 7 things about myself are:

1 - I love making lists so this should be a doddle

2 -  I'm half Italian on my dad's side

3 -  My favourite food is cheese. Nom

4 -  I recently completed a masters degree in HR management or in other words I wrote what felt like a zillion essays and had no social life for the best part of two years : /

5 -  I was vegetarian for 7 years before going to uni and re-discovering the wonder that is a hangover-busting big mac

6 -  My car's nickname is Kevin - he's a silver-blue Peugeot.

7 - I'm afraid of clowns and perhaps more weirdly, the sea (I hate the fact that you have no idea what you're standing on!)

And my 7 newly discovered blogs are:

1 The Outfits of a Twin Mummy (head to this blog for gorgeous outfit posts from Karen, who also has the most infectious smile I've seen in ages!)

2 Little Miss NC25 (Brilliantly written posts with a personal feel and gorgeous pics...and she's a fellow NC25!)

3 Emily Charlotte (Her latest post on blog 'pressure' is a must-read - check it out now)
 

4 The Little Things We Do (Not strictly a beauty blog but a wicked read all the same - I especially love Lauren's 'Fill in the Blank Friday' feature, may have to get involved soon!

5 That's So Fletch (A great beauty blog from a stateside blogger...and such a cute blog name!)

6 Nana in Wonderland (Gorgeous fashion blog with some amazing photography)

7 The Former Girl at Bar (A fab fashion, beauty and general life blog by Lexi from San Francisco - I love her tagline of 'makeup...shoes...and sometimes booze...' Just about sums it up I think!)

Until next time,

Hauled: Lush, Revlon (and a primer disaster!)

A small haul from the weekend...I nipped into Lush as I wanted to try their I Love Juicy shampoo and their website is still not up and running after being hacked :-/ I got it in the smallest size they do as although I'll only get a handful of washes out of it, I think you know pretty quickly whether you're onto something good! And If it works half as good as it smells (like tropical fruit juice!) then I have high hopes! I also picked a lip scrub in Mint Julips which I put to work staight away...and which tastes so blinking good it should clearly come with nutritional information.

My only other beauty purchase was some Revlon ColorStay. This foundation is infamous on the beauty blog circuit and as such needs no introduction. I figured it was time to check out the hype for myself...plus it had £3 off in Superdrug and me loves a discount.

On a sad note I was applying some eye primer this morning and on squeezing the tube the following occured:

...depositing the majority contents down the front of my PJs :( Looking on the bright side I've been thinking of switching primers once this tube is all used up anyway so it just means that moment is now! Currently in the running are Nars or Estee Lauder so if anyone has used either or those or has any other recommendations then please do share.


Until next time,

Reviewed: Boots 17 Photo Flawless Lashes Mascara in Black/Copper

What they say

"These fabulous mascaras have a clever curved wand that will give your lashes a long-lasting lift and voluptuous volume from day to night. They are smudge-proof and promise to leave you saying good-bye to panda eyes. Each mascara contains a carbon black shade mixed with a twist of pearlescent colour. 

By accentuating your natural eye colour, you’ll never feel the need to hide from the camera again. Thanks to the angled brush of this mascara it creates the most dramatic effect by lifting and curling the lashes. The best thing about this mascara is the intense pigment in the formula that accentuates the colour of your iris, brightening your eyes making them bigger and your lashes full of life."

What I say

Packaging
This mascara comes packaged in quite a unique shaped black plastic tube with gold lettering - I love the film reel detail.

Product
The Photo Flawless mascara is available in 3 colour-ways Black/Blue, Black/Green, Black/Copper for blue, green and brown eyes respectively! You can (hopefully) see the slight pearlescent shimmer on the brush in the picture below. 

The mascara features a medium sized, curved bristle brush and a middle of the road formula which is neither overly wet or dry. I do prefer a wetter formula but its not unworkable.

Results
As the pics show it took 3 coats to get a look that I was reasonably happy with (probably owing to the medium consistency). There was definitely some decent length but volume was in my view lacking. Also worth noting that this mascara lived up to the claim of being smudge proof during the day but its in no way water resistant.

Bare eye

One coat..

Two coats...

Three coats...

The copper shimmer isn't visible once on - but the key selling point is that the the mascara accentuates your natural eye colour so here is the bare eye/3-coat pics side by side.  To ensure impartiality I asked the boyf to look and see if he could point out any differences. His first comment was 'your lashes are different' (bless!) but he did also go on to add that my iris in the right hand pic is ever so slightly brighter so the mascara appears to have made a little difference :)

Price £5.99 from good old Boots

Would I repurchase? I love the brightening effect but for me the formula doesn't give enough volume for this to become my new fave - three coats is just too much hassle!

Would I recommend? This will be a great mascara for a natural look with a eye-brightening twist so if that's your aim, you could do a lot worse.

Until next time,

 

♥ Twenty Things ♥

Before starting allthingsbloggedandbeautiful I was a serial blog stalker for almost a year and soon realised that my favourites were the ones where the blogger's personality really shone through.

On that note I thought I'd share a little bit about me...so I started with the usual 'I'm Rachael, I'm 27...' and then I figured it might be more fun to post 20 little facts about me. So here goes!

1 I'm a northern lass at heart (Manchester born & bred to be precise) but have lived in Bucks/Berks for the last five years after trotting down South in pursuit of a boy. Said boy is long gone but I stayed anyway!

2 My middle name is Louise

3 The boyf and I are an online dating success story - we met on Match.com just over 3 years ago

Andy and Me

4 I work as an HR Manager...a.k.a hiring, firing, tea & tissues!

5 I've done a skydive

6 I have a dent in my skull from where I ran into a wall when I was 6 :-(

7 If I wasn't working in HR I'd like to be (in no particular order) a midwife, a wedding planner or a forensic scientist

8 I really want a tattoo

9 I will never get a tattoo because I'm so particular (aka fussy) and won't be able decide what the hell I want one of

10 My most starstruck moment was meeting McFly in Planet Hollywood in New York

Don't they look just thrilled...!



11 I'm half Italian on my dad's side

12 I worry too much

13 I work for a chocolate company. Living the dream....of a five year old!

14 I got bitten by a spider whilst in Australia  - luckily it wasn't a poisonous one but the doc kindly advised that species tend to live in towels and linen. In other words it was probably in my bed :-(

15 I've moved house 4 times in the last 5 years. Nomadic

16 I love rollerskating

Getting my skates on..these barbie-esque ones sadly aren't actually mine though :(

17 I'm an only child but gained a step brother and sister 2 years ago when my mum remarried - instant siblings!

18 I WILL have lived abroad before I'm 30...tick tock!

19 I can only eat peas with tomato ketchup on them

20 I'm addicted to blogging....& the smell of Seche Vite :-)

Until next time,

 

  

Hauled: Elf & Blog Sale Bits

There's nothing like a little Elf order to cheer a gal up so after a bad day at work last week I popped online and ordered up a few bits.  

Into my basket went their Daily Brush Cleaner, Studio single eyeshadow in Wild Wheat, Studio blush in Mellow Mauve and Brightening Eye Colour in Brownstone.

First up the brush cleaner. I try to clean my brushes frequently but thought this might help to keep them hygienic in-between washes. As my brush collection isn't huge its also useful to be able to get the remnants of darker shades off my eye brushes so I can blend without the risk of panda eyes.

The spray is anti-bacterial and a quick spritz onto the brush and a wipe with a tissue removes a fair bit of left-behind product. A possible downside is the scent - the alcohol in it whiffs quite badly - and also the packaging. It looks great but the plastic that body of the bottle is made of is pretty flimsy and when I opened up the parcel my bottle had leaked :(  The cleaner costs £3.50 for 250ml.

Wild Wheat appears to be a mid-beige/gold in the pan but in reality it lacks a bit in pigmentation and on my skin tone (Mac NC25 for reference) comes out as a true nude with a fair amount of shimmer. Texture is fairly smooth and blendable but there's a LOT of fallout.

I'm still pleased with it though as think it will  be great - used with a light hand - for blending out darker shades from the crease. Nars-eqsue packaging is teamed with a clear plastic window so you can easily see what shade you're reaching for. Each of the 10 shadow shades will set you back £3.50.

Mellow Mauve is a deep dusky pink with very subtle shimmer. Colour payoff is again lacking but its not a bad thing and the blush leaves you with a nice, natural flush. Same packaging as Wild Wheat (but bigger obviously!) & like the eyeshadow we do also have some fallout folks. Price-wise, the blush comes in at £3.50.

Last of the Elf goodies is the Brightening Eye Colour in Brownstone which is a quad consisting of a pale cream, light taupe brown, mid cool-toned brown and a charcoal grey. All the colours have a small amount of very fine glitter running through them, are actually quite pigmented and blend well. You will hit pan on this pretty quickly but at £1.50 its perhaps not an issue.

My last haul item is a something I picked up in the lovely Pyxie's blog sale - Mac's MSF Natural in Medium Plus. This is the first time I've used a Natural MSF but I have By Candlelight which I love and this is already proving itself to be a fab setting powder.

Last but not least...some swatches for your perusal. Sorry for having to use the flash...its such a grey and miserable day that there was no way I could snap without it.
 



Clockwise from top left: Mellow Mauve, Brownstone, MSF, Wild Wheat

Until next time,

 

My Beauty Storage

I love reading posts on how bloggers store their make up etc as its fab inspiration (and appeals to my naturally nosy side if I'm being totally honest!)

After getting some lovely new beauty bits from Father Xmas I found myself with nowhere to put them so a couple of weekends back I headed out into the mayhem of the sales to find me some new storage.

First stop was Home Sense to pick up some basic wicker baskets. I got 3 in total - the largest was £7.99 and now houses my hair tools/products. The small-ish basket was £3.99 and is the perfect size to store facecare in whilst the tiniest one cost a mere £1.99 & is just about big enough for my day-to-day body lotions, deodorant etc.

Daddy basket...

....and Mummy & baby baskets

Next up was new make up storage. Despite my collection being reasonably small (for now!) its still crammed into 3 or 4 different bags/boxes which is just a pain, as I forget what items I actually own and end up repeating the same eyeshadow-blush-lipgloss combo day-in day-out. I'd had my eye on this Japonesque case for a while but could only find US online stockists and the shipping costs are horrendous. So instead I dragged the boyf into HobbyCraft where I snapped up this muji-esque see-through craft case.

The case features a shallow tray which with its seperate divided areas is now home to my lipglosses, lipsticks, eye pencils, mascara, loose eyeshadows and false lashes.

The tray  then lifts out to reveal a deeper storage area which I divided out using small plastic storage boxes and their upturned lids (also from HobbyCraft) to create compartments for bigger items such as bronzers, highlighters, blushers, eyeshadow compacts, foundations and concealers.  

I love the fact that this case allows me to store my make up neatly, in one place, and the fact that its plastic will make it easy to keep clean. The case set me back £12.99 and the smaller boxes were £1.75 each...way less than just the postage on the lusted-after Japonesque.

I didn't pick up anything to store my brushes so in the meantime they're residing in a drinking glass from Ikea! Classy!

Last up is this miniature shopping basket which I've owned for years (so long that I can't remember where I got it from) and which I use to keep my shampoo, conditioner and shower gels from being scattered around the bathroom.

So that's my beauty storage in a nutshell...check out these other posts on where some of my fave bloggers store their stuff.

Bubblegarm

Amy Antoinette

Call It Beauty

Until next time,