July 2017 News

You may have noticed that it's been a bit quiet here for the past month and that's because Jack arrived on 2nd July. Not a girl as predicted and almost exactly on time. He's been a little distracting so things may be a bit erratic over here for the next couple of months but I will try my best. All things baby related will be over on www.blueskyandbunting.com where I am also wageing a war against plastic.

New Releases

• Urban Decay Naked Heat - has finally been released and has sold out in quite a few places. I was lucky to be sent one which I am trying at the moment (it's on my lids as I type) so there will be a review of it up in the next couple of weeks. There's plenty around already but I'm going for everyday, wearable, quick and easy looks so I'll keep you posted 

News and Events

• UK to ban microbeads (microplastics) by 2018 - this is great news as they are terrible for the environment and do nothing for your skin. If you use any kind of exfoliator check to see what it is that is exfoliating your skin. 
• NARS to sell in China - this is last months news but there is now a petition with 65k signatures. I can't see what the point in this is really. I would love for them to change their minds but I don't see it happening.

Clinique Pretty Easy Liquid Eyelining Pen

It's been ages since I've had a guest spot and so I asked my lovely friend Lucy to oblige. Lucy and I were at school together and had the same surname and love of the Beatles and when you are 14 that is enough to forge a lifelong love. Lucy has the kind of face that doesn't need any make-up but as a make-up artist you can do loads of exciting things with. So she hoards me magazine tear outs that she things I'll like and sends lovely postcards from where she lives in Provence and when I see something make-up that I think she'll like I get it for her - very hard when someone is a make-up minimalist. 

In May she dog-sat for us and mentioned that she longed for a good eyeliner to get a real 60s flick going on and so I dashed to buy her the Clinique Pretty Easy Liquid Eye Lining Pen - I've heard nothing but good things about it and was told that it was super-easy to use. I know that Lucy wants no-faff when it comes to liner so who better to review it for me?

Urban Decay All Nighter Long Lasting Makeup Setting Spray

You all know how I'm a bit 'meh' about setting sprays. They do sometimes work but most make-up is pretty long lasting nowadays and frankly I'm happy to look a bit worn in and then take it all off asap as soon as I get home. I'm not out partying that much at the moment. I was sent this to try however, and try it I did and was very pleasantly surprised.

Now I don't want to sound completely bonkers but this actually worked. I managed to conincide testing it with a bit of a heatwave in the UK (don't worry it's rained all day so normalty is restored) and my make-up stayed on my face. It not only stayed on but looked really fresh and nice. I sort of became addicted to using it because it was such a novelty even though frankly my kids don't care what my face looks like and my husband is avoiding me as much as possible because I have late-stage-pregnancy rage.

Eye Shadow Pencils Spend or Save

I love an eye shadow pencil. They make application so easy, they travel well and are often a great base for eye shadows if you need to give them a bit of oomph or longevity. You can use them as an eyes shadow or straight liner, or as a blended liner or base. They make for a great, quick and easy smokey eye too. But they not only vary wildly in quality but also in price. So I've gathered together all the ones that I've either been using for a while myself or have been recommended and have been testing them out to see how they compare. Do you really get what you pay for? Are they actually all the same?

There are so many things to take into consideration so I've tried to test take the same things into consideration for each pencil. Longevity, price, packaging, whether they are sharpen or twist up. In my opinion there is less to go wrong with a pencil that you sharpen - the product doesn't dry out and you don't get a fault with the mechanism. It is a bit of a ballache to have to sharpen. I feel I should just mention the difference in shimmery and sparkley here. For me 'shimmery' means a not matte but not noticable glittery finish, 'sparkley' means there are noticable bits of glitter of whatever size. I've included some swatches below so hopefully you'll be able to see what I mean. I've used these a lot but when testing and re-testing for this post I've worn for a couple of days on their own to see how they looked and lasted and a couple of days more as a base with a shadow over the top.