Christmas Gift Ideas

I'm keeping it quite short and sweet this year. And, for the most part, quite reasonably priced too. This is a make-up blog but I've included everything I've seen or tried that I'd want. Pretty simple really.

• Scandinavisk Candle - I have loved every one of these I have smelt and have had my favourite, Skog, since last year and even though I burn it sparingly it gives off the most beautiful spurts of smell. Worth spending money on as it genuinely smells great. From £32

• JT Make-up Studio Metallic Leaf - this is a great stocking filler for those who love a bit of creative make-up. So nice to be able to give a make-up present with no use by date. These will last forever and are great not only for Christmas and New Year parties but festivals, parties and Ibiza holidays. Minimum effort, maximum impact.£6.80

• H&M Jacquard Weave Scarf - I have a large blanket scarf. And I love it. But one's enough. If I could convince myself that it wasn't then I would get this like a shot. I love the colours, it's beautifully soft and particularly appealing to those of us who wear a lot of black. £14.99

• Aurelia Little Treasures - a great present for girlfriends this contains a mini body oil and hand cream. I absent mindedly tried this oil on the back of my hand whilst waiting for something in Space NK and for the rest of the day it felt amazing. Exclusive to Space NK. £12

• Consultation with Me! - well if you are like us and trying to de-clutter rather than add more stuff to your life then why not arrange a consultation with me. You can check out my (in the middle of being updated) website here www.corinnaharrod.com

• Charlotte Tilbury Legendary Party Eyes - two Charlotte Tilbury products in a Christmas bauble. Another great present for your girlfriends. £20

• Ole Henriksen All Four Love Holiday Kit - I love the Ole Henriksen Truth Serum and can't wait to try more products. £15.30

• Nude Liquid Gold Christmas Bauble - I love this oil and even though it's a tiny bottle of it, a little goes a long way and it's a great present for a girlfriend. £15

• Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush - stocking sized but this lasts for ages. If in doubt I'd go for Rose Glow - a really flattering universal shade. £15.50

Aurelia Cell Revitalise Night Moisturiser

Because my skin has been so sensitive since having Jim I tend to only buy stuff that I've been able to try out beforehand so I know if my skin is going to react. I'm happy to spend some money on skincare but not if it's going to make me an angry tomato or, maybe even worse, not do anything at all.

When the sensitivity first started I went to Space NK in Chiswick where they are fantastic at giving you (tiny) sample pots of products to take away and try. I can never understand places that don't do this. If I can't try, I usually won't buy, but on the back of trying it first I've bought loads from that Space NK, Sunday Riley Luna to name but one. I explained the sensitivity situation and took away four tiny pots to try three of which caused my skin to burn and the last one just disappeared into the skincare vortex that is my bathroom and only reappeared recently. It was the Aurelia Cell Revitalise Night Moisturiser.

I slapped it on mindlessly expecting the inevitable burn, I've always been a bit suspicious of night creams anyway, and was really pleasantly surprised. No reddness. No burning. Lovely smell and texture and the next day my skin looked hydrated and quite good compared it it's usually grey haggard horror.

It claims to 'promote' luminous, dewy and radiant glow and I genuinely noticed a difference after using this. Even after one night of using it. My skin felt plumper, softer and looked dewy and healthy. Every single use. 

Tanya Burr 12 Days of Christmas Gift Set

I have never tried anything from the Tanya Burr make-up range because I feel I'm tooooooo old but I jumped at the chance to review this 12 Days of Christmas Set because it's such a lovely idea for teen girls as an alternative to chocolate. Why am I reviewing it now? Well it's still available and as it's 12 days you can still treat someone! I wish my goddaughter was a bit older so I could get one for her.

At £25 it's a bit of a treat but it's a really sweet calendar and the fact that it's only 12 days means they are not getting a ton of make-up that they don't really need. The design is grown-up but there's a good amount of glitter on there too and I've heard great things about the Tanya Burr range of make-up. One thing is that the doors don't open that easily. I ended up tearing mine a lot. It didn't both me but it may bother some.

Now if you don't want to know what is in this then you should stop reading here. I hate spoilers but my reason for reviewing this is so you can see what you get for your money and if it's appropriate for who you are buying for.

Joan Collins Timeless Beauty Ten Effects

Although I have much admired the Joan Collins make-up range when I've seen it in Harrod's I haven't actually got round to trying it so I was very pleased when asked to try this Ten Effects make-up fixer for a review.

Make-up fixing sprays are a strange thing. A good one, used correctly can increase the longevity of your make-up but most of them spritzed directly on top of your make-up won't do much at all. So it's taken me a while to review this one.

Ten Effects claims to; hydrate, firm, refine wrinkles, minimise pores, improve skin tone, add a pH balancing layer to your skin, soften, calm redness, lock-in makeup and cool. That's a lot of claims and some are very vague and hard to judge - you can't actually see your skins pH being balanced for instance. I also think that if you wear any kind of foundation and concealer then spritzing something over the top of that is not going to have many, if any, skincare benefits. If I buy something to benefit my skin I want it to go directly onto my skin, not seep in via my make-up.

However, I have been spritzing this onto my face immediately before applying my foundation and I've found it doesn't make me go red (most things do at the moment), does hydrate, and actually does help my make-up look fresher for longer. One thing I've found it really helps with is when I use a tinted moisturiser that for me is just not fluid enough if I spritz this onto my face first it dramatically improves the way the tinted moisturiser blends into the skin. I wouldn't use my Hourglass Hyaluronic Skin tint without using this first now.

CLOSED December 2016 Giveaway - LMB Turns 10

Thank you so much to everyone who has already taken part in the monthly giveaway's to celebrate the blogs 10th birthday. London Make-up Blog (or Little Miss B as it originally was) first posted on 6th December so this month the giveaway contains a whole lot of prizes. Sadly this means it is UK only.

The usual rules apply. I will pick a winner from my YouTube subscribers but you have to leave a comment below this post to let me know 1) that you want to be entered and 2) what your YouTube username is!

Good Luck!

November Giveaway Winner

Congratulations Electraleigh you have been picked as the winner of the gorgeous Louise Young Lip Trio and lip brush. Thank you so much to everyone who took part and see you back her on Friday for the December giveaway announcement

Babyliss Big Hair Styler Tutorial

As requested by some of you here's me using the Babyliss Big Hair Styler. This is how I taught myself to use it - I may be doing it wrong but it works for me!

October 2016 Favourites - Friday Video

No new products in here. This was a spur of the moment video so I grabbed what I've been using most and loving recently. And here they are...

Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush (Golden Glow)
Daniel Sandler Radiant Glow
Lola Eye Base
Hourglass Brow Arch
L'Occitane Lavender Clean Hands
L'Occitane Lavender hand cream

CLOSED: November Giveaway - LMB Turns 10

This is late! I only just remembered yesterday that it hadn't gone up. I was distracted by my biggest small boy turning 4. FOUR. How did that happen?

Anyway this month the prizes are two of my absolute favourite products. I have them in my pro kit and in my personal make-up and they really revolutionised my life once I started using them.

The first is the Louise Young Lip Trio in Free Bird. This is the most amazing palette for those who love a nude lip as you can create any colour of nude you want by mixing the three together (or using them individually if you want. The slimline packaging and usuable brush and mirror mean you can slip this into your handbag and it takes up hardly any room. I the whole range of these and use them over and over again and have never had one break which is pretty impressive considering how much they get carried around.

The second prize is the LY27 lip brush which I found to be the perfect size and shape lip brush - and I've tried a lot. It is a natural hair brush and can be used for lipstick, balm and lipgloss and makes it so easy to get really precise application.

October Giveaway Winner

And the winner is... Kim Neville! Congratulations - this is a fantastic prize (i'm a little bit jealous). Please email me your address and I'll get them out to you as soon as possible.

Thank you to everyone who took part and see you back here in a couple of days for the next London Makeup Blog Turns 10 giveaway!

Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara

I have a lot of make-up samples knocking about the house and it's got to the stage after two children and two house moves in two years that I get a bit hazy on where everything came from. My sample tube of Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara found it's way into my every day make-up stash and hasn't left. When it runs out I will rebuy it. Secretly it has become one of my top mascara's without me really noticing.

This is an old fashioned type of brush but with an excellent curve to it (which I've tried to show in the picture, which I should mention shows a sample size of this mascara). This could be completely lash dependent but for me it makes it really easy to get from top to the bottom of all my lashes. You can use the back edge of the brush to come through the lashes.

There isn't really a pointy end so you have to run the risk of a blob if you are doing the inner-corner - which I do and it doesn't bother me. If you are someone with very fine lashes then this is probably not going to be a great brush for you. Which is a shame as it's a great formula for adding length and volume. The curve shapes gives help to the curl of they eye lash for those of us too lazy to curl every day. I know I should. But I don't.

Cruelty Free and other updates

As well as reviewing products, doing videos and writing features I'm constantly tweaking and updating old posts. Checking the info is still valid and up-to-date among other things. Something I've started adding is whether the product or brand is cruelty free, vegan or vegan friendly.

Cruelty free means it is not tested on animals and not sold in China. Vegan means vegan, vegan friendly means some products from the brand are vegan but not all. There will be tags for these and an explanation in the 'What You Need to Know' section as it can get a bit convoluted. For example, Urban Decay is cruelty free but owned by L'Oreal which is not.

Other updates will be at the end of the relevant posts with the date they were updated.

Face of the Day - 20th October 2016

This is not only a look I've been wearing a lot recently but I've adapted it so it uses a lot of high street products and those more expensive ones that I know some people struggle to get the most out of. Hope it's useful.
Products Used:
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Yoghurt
NYX Prismatic Eyeshadow in Girl Talk
Rimmel Millionaire Eyeshadow
Houglass Ambient Lighting Edit
L'Oreal Superliner Perfect Slim
Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara
Maybelline Better Skin Concealer
Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder
Eyeko Fat Brush Mascara
NYX Wonderstick 
Blistex Lip Brilliance

Product Reviews:
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit
Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils

Some links are affiliate links which means I will get a small commission if you click through and buy from them. There is no extra cost to you and if you are not comfortable with that then do feel free to open a separate window and google the product for yourself

Babyliss Big Hair

I have never before been fully in love with an electrical product before... except maybe my digital radio. But the time has come and I'm obsessed with the Babyliss Big Hair my mother got me for my birthday. And it's not just me. Everyone keeps telling me my hair looks amazing. Everyone. It did look pretty rubbish before to be fair.

This caused a bit of a stir when it first came out - loads of people loved it. Caitlin Moran and such were all over it like a rash. I nearly got one then. Then disaster struck. The original version had a rotating head. The next version didn't and did not get the seal of approval. I thought I'd missed my moment but the third version had both options - you can rotate it both ways or not at all is you so desire.

Inglot Gel Liner - Quick Review

This is a great liner. Long lasting, easy to use and with a lovely matte finish.




Enter the giveaway here

You can read my original review here

MAC Retro Mac Lipstick (All Fired Up) - Quick Review

I really love this lipstick

You can watch my original review of the retro matte's from MAC here

Lola Eye Base

What I love is when I'm given something to try out and it actually works. I've used a lot of eye primers, some are good, some aren't. The Lola Eye Base is a really good one. Reasonably priced, available on the high street (well M&S) and does everything it says it will.

This primer has a really nice smooth texture and is easy to use. I apply it with my fingers, you can use a brush if you want. The beige colour will even out paler skin tones and provide a great base to make colours brighter. It looks very yellow in the pot. It's not. It will prevent any creasing and would work really well on oily lids. When you first apply it it's slightly sticky, then creamy - so you do need to leave it 30 seconds or so before applying your eye shadow.

October Giveaway - LMB Turns 10

I'm really excited because I'm completely passionate about each of the prizes in this month. All three of them would come top in their categories for me: favourite lipstick, favourite gel liner and favourite liner brush.

The first is All Fired Up a retro matte lipstick from MAC and for me the perfect deep pink for those who want to wear a red lipstick but can't quite carry it off. It's long lasting and looks incredible and works well with a gloss over the top if a matte finish is not for you. I will be doing a quick review of this later in the month but in the meantime you can see and read my original review here. 

The Inglot AMC Gel Liner is a must for those who like their liner waterproof and long-lasting. It comes in a load of colours but of course for me it has to be as black and matte as possible. It's got a great, easy-to-apply and lasts all day. Another product to feature both in my pro and personal kits, I wrote a full review of it a while ago which you can read here.

Face of the Day - Make-up As Therapy - Friday Video

I was having a bad week, as you may be able to tell from my general mood. So rather than go to bed I decided to do my face with some of my favourite products. This is the result...

Daniel Sandler Radiant Glow Palette

Every time a trend kicks off all brands jump on the bandwagon and then Daniel Sandler comes up with the grown-up version. Want to try highlighting but don't want to look like a Christmas decoration? Then the Daniel Sandler Radiant Glow palette is a very good place to start.

Developed for eyes and cheeks you can either sweep this all over the face for a beautiful glow or across the tops of the cheeks for a subtle highlight. And what makes it a particular favourite of mine is that it's neutral peach tones mean it's perfect for anyone who may have redness but still wants to achieve a healthy glow.

You can select one of the four shades to use in specific areas - eye lids, inner corner or the top of the cheeks or you can swirl a fluffy brush around the quad and use as a blusher. The colours are beautifully blendable and buildable and universally flattering.

Bobbi Brown BBU Palette - Quick Review

A quick review of one of my favourite things from my kit

Face of the Day - 15th September 2016 - Friday Video

A spur of the moment face of the day video filmed because I picked up a new palette!

New July Winner

Well I never heard from Meagan and so I have redrawn. re-randomised and Philippa Newman is the new winner. Congratulations - email me your address and I'll send these out to you as soon as I can! x

CLOSED: LMB Turns 10 - September Giveaway

A bit late this month because I was on holiday and completely forgot to organise anything before I went. Two kid and two dogs will do terrible things to your memory.

Two fantastic prizes this month. The first is the now cult Phyto 7 from Phyto Paris. This is a classic french pharmacy purchase from back in the day but now you can get it at lots of places online (it is to hair what Bioderma is for faces). For fine hair it's hard to find truly nourishing treatments that don't weigh it down and it's even rarer to find a really good treatment you can use on dry hair. This is it.

It's genuinely all you really need, treatment-wise for your hair. Most of us have products that we really like for volumising, nourishing etc but if I was told I could only have one treatment product for my hair this would be it. You can use it on dry hair to add moisture and revive it without it looking greasy (don't apply to the roots just the ends) or you can use it like a leave-in conditioner. It smells great, and it's silicone free so incredibly lightweight. Very good for those who's hair tends to frizz.

There will be a quick review for this coming up later in the month but for now here's my original review of it from 2012.

The next prize is the Urban Decay Illuminating balm which helps to minimise pores and wrinkles and is oil-free so great for those with a more oily skin. A fantastic skin perfector.

To be in with a chance of winning just follow me on YouTube and leave me a comment letting me know your YouTube username. I will pick a winner on 27th September 2016

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils - Quick Review

A quick review of the jumbo eye pencils from NYX



You can read my full review of these here

*UPDATE* You can sharpen these - you need a midsize sharpener - the one from Nudestix is ideal. 

Hourglass Ambient Light Powder - Quick Review

A quick look at one of my favourite products ever...

August Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone who joined the August Giveaway. The winner is Hope Talbot. Congratulations it's a fantastic prize - send me your postal address (corinnaharrrod at gmail dot com) and I will get the prizes out to you as soon as possible. If you entered the July giveaway then you have until the end of August to claim your prize. If I haven't heard from Megan by then then I will re-randomise the list and choose another winner so if you entered the July giveaway you could still be in with a chance!

I've come on holiday without the details of the September giveaway so that will be going up on 11th September xx

August 2016 Empties - Friday Video

Here's another empties video. With one of my most lovely thumbnails yet!

Sleek Makeup Solstice Hightlighting Palette

This palette is one of the biggest releases of 2016 and although I find highlighters pretty resistible I had to try this one out for myself. It's taken longer than expected though as I got stuck on just using the cream colour as an eye base and for a while I didn't get much further. But we're here now. I finally got my bum in gear.

So we should start with the cream product which is the one I've used most. For me if I had to choose I'd always want cream over powder. This is purely personal preference and this palette is popular despite only 1 of the 4 highlighters being cream. A lot of the reviews are from people who prefer powders. It is what it is. They say you can use this on the body. Again I would prefer to use a liquid - I still have a tin of Bettina from Benefit which I use if I need to (and remember).

The cream highlighter, Eclipse, and it's on the top left of the palette. It's a very pretty pale purple colour which, in my opinion, is lovely  used as a base for the eyes but is also the most subtle of the 4 to use on the cheeks. It is unlikely to last all day unless you don't touch your face or speak on the phone at all. But it doesn't last all day on me - but it's great for going out for drinks in the evening.

Airport Shopping

I like being in airports, despite hating to fly. I always have a long list of things I want to look at in Duty Free but this time I got a couple of old favourites and something I haven't ever seen before!

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils

When NYX do something well they completely nail it. Where there's a high end cult product NYX can usually produce a similar product for a fraction of the price and not bad quality. The Jumbo Eye Pencil's fall into this category and though I have definitely found fault with them I keep using them and getting different colours and can see myself getting more.

What's good? These can be used as a liner or an eye shadow and it's the flexibility of these that I love. Most days I scribble one of these (preferably youghut or iced mocha) all over my eye lid and blend it out with my finger but if you want more intensity you can do a really good line along the the lashes. If you don't like wearing a lot of your eyes a line with the right colour one of these will make your eye colour really stand out without looking very over the top. You could also draw a heavy line along the lashes and smudge it upwards over the lid for a really effortless smokey eye.

The range of colours is pretty incredible and make these a great choice for those who want to be a bit more experimental with colour but don't want to shell out a ton of money. These are highly pigmented so they are great for pro kits who want loads of colour to work with and won't cost the earth. I don't use that many bright colours so I love having a couple of these to hand just in case.

Book Club

I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, not sure how it's going to work but will just be doing what I've read, favourite books and hoping that you will leave comments on the videos so we can talk books! It will most be on YouTube and my other blog www.blueskyandbunting.com

July Giveaway Prizes - Friday Video

A closer look at this months prizes...

This Works In Transit Camera Close-up

I've been using This Works In Transit Camera Close-up for months and yet still undecided on whether I love this product or just don't really need it. I've heard great things about it and I can see that it would be a great moisturiser to have in a pro-kit but there is something a bit lacking for me. Maybe it makes to many claims. It promises a greatness that is very hard for any cream to live up to.

This is a mask, moisturiser and primer in one. It is absolutely fine as a moisturiser and very nice under make-up so I suppose in a way it's a primer. I haven't noticed any effect on the longevity of my make-up. If you have very dry skin this isn't going to do much moisturising for you. But it's also quite hard to find a good moisturiser for the mornings. You can use this over an oil, or under an SPF. It's quickly absorbed, hence why it's so nice under make-up. Do wait for it to be fully absorbed first thought - about 10 minutes.

A lot of people seem to find that this reduces the appearance of fine lines. I have not noticed this but I actively avoid noticing anything to do with my fine lines. And I just don't see how it's a mask. Suggestions welcome.

I would say that this would be a good product if you are going away and want to take hand luggage or are able to pack a small wash bag. I'm not though I find myself imagining that maybe I'll just be taking this with me to France in a couple of weeks. This and some SPF. And my Environ AVST 2 moisturiser. I did originally buy the This Works In Transit Camera Close-up to take in my hospital bag when I went to have Jim - it did the job then.

Face of the day - 2nd July 2016 - Friday Video

So this face of the day features something I do a variation of most days... then I beef it up for the evening and slap on loads of extra products that you don't need to do. If you want to know some less expensive alternatives to a product then leave me a comment and I'll let you know.

I start off cross with the post office and end up sleepy with prosecco but... you get the idea.


Delph Factor 50
Lola Eye Primer
Louise Young Essential Eye Palette
Urban Decay Naked Palette
Make Up For Ever Ink Liner
NARS Audacious Mascara 
Benefit Hello Flawless Foundation
Dior Lip Maximiser
Maybelline Better Skin Concealer
Recover Correct & Conceal Red
Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder
Daniel Sandler Water Colour Blush (Rose Glow)
Daniel Sandler Radiant Glow
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder (Diffused Light)
Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat (Pillow Talk)
Charlotte Tilbury Lip stick (Bitch Perfect)
Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow

The Louise Young Essential Eye Palette

 Eye palette's are ten a penny and you can get wearable ones for about £4. That's all very fun but they are not long lasting it's hard to find any good matte colours and a good matte is necessary in any make-up collection. A nice shimmer eye colour can be flattering, fun and 'on-trend' but also the opposite to all those things and they often look so much better on top of a matte shadow. Also at best a shimmer shadow can be used as a highlighter as well as an eye colour. But get the right matte palette and you can do almost full make-up. And the Louise Young Essential Eye Palette is the right palette.

There are lots of things that make really great make-up artists stand apart from the others and with Louise I'm always so impressed by her eye for colour (she'd be able to tell you the exact inspiration for every colour in her range). Its why she's a go-to artist for vintage make-up and its what makes her brand so special. The colours are painstakingly chosen and developed so that every one in this palette are wearable for everyone and are incredibly versatile.

CLOSED - LMB Turns 10 - August Giveaway

As August is my birthday month I'm going to include something that is one of my absolute favourites, the eye palette I would have on my desert island and probably my most recommended products - the Louise Young Essential eye palette. I am so pleased to be able to give one of these away. When Louise sent it over I think I went ultrasonic with excitement. 

There are so many things I love about this palette I'm not going to list them all here but I will write a full review of it soon. You can my not-so-quick review of it here. I use it everyday and on most jobs I do. If you lost all your make-up this palette would pretty much have you covered - brows, contouring, smoky eye and simple blending. Black eye shadow fans, this is the only one to use.

To go with this amazing palette I have an LY30 Angled Brow brush perfect no only for creating great brows but for doing powder liner too and some NYX HD eye primer which I use pretty much every day.

To enter all you have to do is follow me on YouTube and leave me a comment below letting me know your YouTube username.This competition is open until 27th August 2016. Good Luck

How to get perfect bridal skin even in hot weather - Friday Video

I recently had the pleasure of doing a wedding in Greece. It was so much fun to do but at 38C it was hot, even for Greece in July. I needed to pack a basic kit that would have all eventualities covered, would suit the bride and that would travel well. Nothing to heavy, nothing that would leak and most importantly products that if they melted could still be useable. No double-faced palettes this time.

Long-lasting make-up is not only down to which products you use but how you apply them. I know a lot of people want to apply their own make-up when they get married so I thought it would be useful to show how I ensured Maria had perfect make-up all day (and night!) even when it was pretty hot.

Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm
Bobbi Brown Hydrating Face Cream
Laura Mercier Foundation Primer 
Make-up International Supermatte Anti-Shine
Niod Photography Fluid 
MAC Face & Body Foundation
Louise Young Concealer Trio
Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush (in Rose Glow) 
Daniel Sandler Invisible Veil Blotting Powder 
Hourglass Diffused Light Powder 

LMB Turns 10 July Giveaway Winner

The winner of the July giveaway is Megan G. Congratulations Megan - please send me your address and I will get them out to you as soon as possible.

Thanks so much to everyone who joined in this month - see you in a couple of days for the next one

Hourglass Hidden Corrective Concealer

I was given these to try ages ago and I have been trying them but being indecisive but I am here to tell you I have made up my mind on these concealers and I really like them.

One of the problems that comes with a decade of blogging is you end up repeating yourself a lot. I'm going to do it anyway, in case you haven't heard the concealer rant. So if you are a regular reader of this blog you may want to skip to the next paragraph.

I have dark, bluish under-eye circles, redness around my nose and a thread vein. Sensitivity means I also get the odd breakout when I'm testing something new so it's rare for me to find a concealer that works on everything. I ideally want pink-toned for the dark circles and a yellow-toned concealer for redness. Occasionally one will do both - Clarins Instant Concealer and Maybelline Better Skin concealer are two that spring to mind.  I'd be happy to be stranded on a desert island with either of those as my only concealer.