Perfect Christmas Nails

I always rave about Mavala so I  really feel like I shouldn't even be mentioning this but I have found a new favourite nail colour for autumn/winter. Grown-up, glamorous and goes with everything I can't recommend Mavala Polish Mini Colour Bordeaux highly enough. Discovered this colour thanks to the Mumma and have been in love with it ever since - the weather may be weird and Christmas not quite here but I look down at my nails and I'm happy... yes it's that simple xx

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MyFace Strawberry Fields Lipstick

The more I use them the more I love MyFace cosmetics and the way they go about creating their products. I love red lipstick but being a dyed blonde it's very hard to carry it off without looking trashy or washed out. MyFace however, have this covered with their selected shades according to your skin tone. I've been trying out their Myface Gigabite Lipstick Strawberry Fields and I love it. It's not a real red, red - it's quite pinkish but what I love most about it is that you can either wear it pale and pink or deeper and reder depending on your mood, or outfit, or where you are going. It does wear off eventually but evenly and prettily and is fantastically easy to apply with or without a mirror so touch ups aren't a problem. For £9.99 this is a fantastic buy - lovely colour, lovely package, great quality.

So I had the perfect berry tone of lip liner to go with it I've been using Myface High Def Lip Pencil Brick from the medium/dark range and again it's fantastic. The line goes straight on with great colour - it lives up to it's high definition claim. This blends really well with a lot of different reds I've tried it with and I think is now going to be a definite lip liner staple in my kit. As good as if not better than MAC and only £6.49 xx

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Jim Chapman Liz Earle - Friday Treat

I've chosen this video for three reasons. Firstly, because he makes me laugh, I love him (you should all subscribe to his channel) and secondly because I love Liz Earle products they are spectacular and thirdly because they have just launched Liz Earle TV which you can watch here and which makes you want to use her products because she looks AMAZING.

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Mascara Disaster

I'm having a hard time not spending money on makeup at the moment. I tell myself that I'm going to be good but then five minutes later I'm swatching stuff on the back of my hand and arguing that it's my duty to buy things for research purposes.

One of these recent excursions to Superdrug (to get a sleek makeup brow set that they then didn't have) resulted in my buying, amongst other things, two mascaras that I'd seen advertised and wanted to try for a while - Collection 2000's Pump Up the Volume and Maybelline The Colossal Volume Express Cat Eyes Mascara in Glam Black. Both have similar shaped brushes, both offer more volume and both were a bit of a disappointment.

I am, in general, a big fan of Collection 2000. They offer good products for really reasonable prices, sometimes, however, they really let themselves down which I think is a real shame. Pump Up the Volume is supposed to give 12 times more volume and has a unique 'spoon' shaped brush (the uniqueness of which I'm dubious about as it is very similar shaped to the Colossal...). The shape and size of the brush is great - it makes application and coverage really easy but it is so clumpy and actually the size of the brush makes it quite difficult to get the really tiny lashes on the inner corner of your eye. The colour is good and for £4.99 I suppose a bit of clumping isn't too bad - I've definitely tried worse mascara's but it just didn't live up to the hype.

And the Colossal isn't much better. It has pretty much the same 'spoon' shaped brush but thinner which does make the application to the corner lashes easier but this gives a whole new meaning to clumpy and having spoken to other users I'm  not the only one to think so. At £7.19 this is still not the worlds most expensive mascara but for that money I wished I'd bought either Max Factor's Masterpiece Max which is wonderful or even Maybelline's own Define-a-lash which you need to build up but is clump free and covers every lash. It is supposed to give 7 times more volume which I think must just be measured in clumps. I think what makes me so angry is how photo-shopped the advert is - the outcome is nothing like how it appears. The only pro is that this product is collagen and jojoba enriched which encourages lash growth.

Both mascara's are OK - I feel that maybe I'm being a bit unfair on them. If you like spidery lashes then you'd probably think they are great but I just think with so much great competition out there these could be so much better - I'd always rather have a good, black mascara that gets every lash and that you can build up depending on how much volume you want. But maybe that's just me? xx

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Clinique Touch Base for Eyes

I wanted to try Clinique's Touch Base for Eyes for a long time as it seems such a fantastic product. So my sister very kindly bought it for me in Canvas for my birthday so I have been finally trying it out and I have to say that I have been using it most days. The colour is fantastic, it lives up to its name, and it's fantastically easy to apply and provides a great waterproof base for other eye colours. I've been using it a lot for when I want simple, slightly contoured and lined eyes and my shadow hasn't budged all day. Definitely worth its £10.50 and a great present for the hard to buy for beauty addict in your life. I can see this being a permanent part of my make-up kit.

What You Need to Know - Clinique Touch Base for Eyes

• £12.50 or US$15
• Two shades available in the UK - Canvas and Canvas Light  
• Six shades available in the US 
• Waterproof
• Can be worn alone or as a base for eye shadows
• Available in the UK from Clinique, John Lewis, Boots,
• Available in the US from Clinique, Sephora,

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Smooch Lipgloss

As much as I may like lip glosses I quite often don't wear them, it seems that as soon as I leave the house my hair whips over my face and leaves little marks of gloss all over my cheeks, but somehow It's Peachy lipgloss by new make-up brand Smooch seems to have made it's way into my make-up bag and seems to be always just the thing to complete a look.

I didn't like it at first - you have to do quite a few clicks before you get enough gloss out to actually do anything, and then you have to really work it on with the brush so it doesn't look streaky. But once it's on it seems to stay pretty well, you don't need to use too much of it and it's not too glossy. I also think that this particular colour seems to look great over the top of most lipsticks if you want to give it just a bit of gloss. The packaging is cute and the price isn't too eye watering at £7.50 and at the moment they are offering a free eye pencil with orders over £5 so definitely worth checking out xx

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Really Make a Difference with Origins

Now any regular readers of this blog will know how crazy I am about Origins Make a Difference cream. So light and incredibly moisturising this great smelling cream is really hard to beat. Suitable for all skin types it helps restore and rejuvenate dehydrated skin it contains Rose of Jericho, Trehalose and Padina Pavonica and now it is also doing it's bit for charity.

October is breast cancer awareness month and Origins are doing a limited edition pink Make a Difference Skin rejuvenating cream for the whole of October. It's £21 for 30ml and £3 of this will go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation - I wish it could be more but every little helps I think and this is such a great moisturiser that not only will you be helping a fantastic charity but you'll be giving yourself a treat! xx

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