OPI Nice Stems Collection Summer 2011

For this Summer, one of OPI's new collections is Nice Stems. It is made up of four pink shades in a variety of finishes. The collection is inspired by Summer flowers, each with it's own whimsical name to match it's floral counterpart. Each colour would work perfectly on both fingers to accentuate your outfit and toes to jazz up your flip flops. There is something for all occasions, a pale pink for a more demure or work appropriate manicure to bright fuchsia and a glitter to be used as a top coat or worn alone.

Here are the shades!

L-R: Play the Peonies (soft pink), Come to Poppy (shimmery coral pink),
Be a Dahlia Won't You? (fuchsia), I Lily Love You (light pink glitter).

They look so pretty, I look forward to them, especially the glitter! Be a Dahlia Won't You? reminds me of a pink I used to have which I wore so much but threw it away after it went really gloopy and stringy :( I don't think this will be a perfect replacement as it doesn't appear to have shimmer but it is still a lovely colour and very close to what I had.

- Jennifer

Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturising Lip Colour Balm

These are a new product coming from Clinique which I am really looking forward to. They contain a lip colour, gloss and lip balm all in one chunky pencil so sounds very handy and great for my dry lips. They are sheer colours so will work well as work shades or if you only only want a subtle colour. I also like how they are in a chunky pencil to make application easy on the go. Sometimes I get lazy and can't be bothered to top up my lipstick so just shove a lipbalm on so this will do both steps in one. They contain Shea butter, mango butter and jojoba oil which sounds really nice for helping to keep lips in tip top shape.

They are going to be available in the following colours:

Richer Rasin

Super Strawberry

Chunky Cherry

Whoppin Watermelon

Fuller Fig

Graped Up

Mega Melon

Whole Lotta Honey

 - Jennifer

New OPI Shatter Colours

Shatter or crackle polishes, whichever you know them as, have been really popular recently. OPI are now adding five more shades to their current black and up and coming silver shatter (from the Stranger Tides collection). Three of the new shades are blue tones to be released together whilst the other two are to go with the two new Serena Williams colours which are coming out for the Gran Slam collection.

These are the new colours!

Blue Shatter

Navy Shatter

Turquoise Shatter

White Shatter

Red Shatter

Any of these shades catch your eye?

- Jennifer

MAC Quite Cute Collection Spring 2011

Brand new Spring 2011 collection from MAC which is full of pastel girly colours with cutesy names. The promotional imagery seems very inspired by Japanese subcultures, Hello Kitty and cartoons. The collection is out now online at http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk/ so should be in store very soon. Be sure to order online by the 30th March 2011 as the shopping part of the site will be temporarily taken down at midnight for website updates. You can get free delivery during the time being by using the code: SPRING for the time being.

Anyway, this is what MAC say about this collection:
“CUTE!” The most fanciful, fun and flattering compliment and young, modern trendsetter could ever want! Our version is the girliest kind of international glam possible, a style ride that combines postage-stamp-sized puppies with pixie swizzle-stick fashion and buttergly kisses for cute boys and even cuter shoes! Cupcake icing colors, vintage romance, an ATM card with Hello Kitty on it – and a way of life that says “yes!” to everything adorable!

Come on, get happy, with the multi-culti cutie, from Tokyo to Toronto to Paris with love! Pastel shades for Eye Quads, Lipstick, Plushglass, and Nail Lacquer…And due to popular demand, we’re completely cute-ifying three favourite Lip Pencil shades from last season that will join the fun and frolic. Flash! You’ll ♥ the Mineralize Blush with the sweet heart baked right into it. If it shines, shimmers and pops it’s completely, contagiously, cute!

MAC Surf Baby Collection Summer 2011!

MAC are releasing a brand new collection for this Summer called Surf Baby, inspired by the sun and sea.

"Grab the board, hop in the Jeep, cruise the Pacific Coast Highway… Surf’s up! The lure of the endless summer starts here with My Paradise Cheek Powder, Mini Blush Sticks, a Summer Stash of Crushed Metallic Pigments, Hibiscus Lipstick and Splashproof Lash Mascara that just won’t smudge. Colourful, lustrous, and full of life… journey to a world where feeling the rush means taking a risk. Hang Ten!"


Blush - My Paradise (Coral orange with champagne gold flower)
Lipstick - Bust Out! (Soft violet), Hibiscus (Bright coral), Mocha, Naturally (Eccentric Nude)
Lipglass - Girl on Board (Sheer gold), Good Lovin’ (Peach pink), Krazy Kahuna (Medium brown), Strange Potion (Pink coral)
Crushed Metallic Pigment Stacks - Summer Stash (Pale pink, gray pink, purple, taupe), Surf the Ocean (Silver, aqua, gold, navy blue)
Eyeshadow - Saffron (Coral), Short Shorts (Whte champagne), Sun Blonde (Yellow with gold pearl), Surf U.S.A. (Aqua with teal pearl), Swell Baby (Medium gray)
Nail Lacquer - Hangin’ Loose (Beige), Ocean Dip (Aqua teal)
Eye Liner - Blue Noon (Teal), Gilded White (Shimmering off-white)
Bronzing Powder - Solar Riche
Studio Careblend Pressed Powder - Gold-go-Lightly
Tan Tint - Billionaire Bronze (Soft gold), Guilty Bronze (Copper bronze)

Blush Sticks and Suntints are also in this collection.


Read on for promotional imagery...

New hair colour and cut!

So my experimentation in the world of hair dye took another turn yesterday. The last time I had a hair cut (a couple of months ago) I had some bright red 'slices' put in. I liked it but after a while I wanted more lol! I'd wanted to go red for ages, I'm always telling my boyfriend about it and pointing out people with nice red hair. He just keeps telling me I should just do it, I'm sure he gets bored of the same conversation after a while but he doesn't need to listen to it again... well until I am bored and want to have a different colour!

So here it is!

I love it! It is a tad brighter in real life, I couldn't quite capture it on camera and ended up nearly droping it on my head as I had to half lay down on my bed to get decent lighting! It is also brighter in the areas where I had the slices from last time. I think it warms my skin up a bit more, I don't look as pale as I did with dark hair, yeah I know I wasn't exactly pale but I mean in contrast to my old hair colour. (Excuse the awful Forever Friends curtains behind me, I have had them since I was a baby and I think I've well outgrown them by now.)

- Jennifer

MAC Wonder Woman Army of Amazons Coloured Mascara

Hi guys! My last post for the MAC Wonder Woman collection is about the coloured mascaras. They are available in three colours - green, blue and purple. Being a green fiend, I chose the green (Army of Amazons) for a little change to my regular black mascara. The mascaras are in the Opulash formula which is a thick gel like consistancy, good for getting a strong amount of colour onto the lashes. The brush is very big, one of the biggest mascara brushed I have used but that is okay, just be a bit more careful getting to the roots of your lashes and doing the bottom ones.

About the Opulash mascara, MAC say:
'Big, fat, full, bouffant lashes! Dramatic density and curl achieved with a giant brush! Fibres go in all directions for thick, rich, even application with no clumping. Long-wearing formula – up to 15 hours – quickly thickens lashes, root to tip.'

Well I agree with this to some extent, I don't find that it gives me very volumised lashes, Plushlash is much nicer in my opinion. Also I did find it clumped a bit but not overly so considering I did about three coats of this mascara to get the green really intense. The formula is long wearing... but... I found it can flake a bit. My lashes feel hard and crusty, I don't like this. I want my lashes to feel close to natural, be able to flex a bit but obviously keep their hold. Plushlash and my current mascara Bobbi Brown Extreme Party Mascara feel much nicer on. This mascara does however thicken lashes but they just don't look volumised. If you are more concerned about length and making them appear a bit thicker then this formula could be for you. Personally I like my lashes to be very volumised as if I have millions of them.

I wasn't sure how well the colour would show on my lashes as they are so dark but it does! Even with one coat it is visible but I built it up to three coats to make it more intense. The colour is quite nice, it isn't a bright grass green, but slightly bluer. It is a hard to describe colour. When I tried it with the green eyeshadow quad from this collection, I didn't think the greens went well with this shade, it looked a bit strange to me.

Onto photos!

Outer sleeve

Inner box

Army of Amazons Opulash Mascara

Army of Amazons Opulash Mascara

Close up of brush

Applied on the left of the photo, no mascara on the right (notice how dark my eyelashes are?)

Close up - there are some clumps (two coats here, one very light coat on the lower lashes)

Applied to both eyes, three coats altogether, Vanilla eyeshadow on lids which
helps it to stand out better for the photo. It is more noticeable in real life.

So, do you like coloured mascara? I didn't purchase the other colours, did anybody get them, what did you think? I think it is a bit wierd with me not wearing eyeliner but for some reason I like it with this green mascara, maybe because it has a bit of colour in it.

- Jennifer

MAC Wonder Woman Lipglass and Lipstick Review

The Wonder Woman collection included four shades of lipstick and four shades of lipglass, ranging from pale pink, purple, bronze and red. I picked up two of the lipglasses and three of the lipsticks. MAC's lipsticks and lipglasses are vanilla scented, so yummy.

The Lipsticks I got were Marquise'd (sheer pink nude with sheen - lustre finish), Spitfire (magenta purply pink - satin finish) and Russian Red (rich blue based red - matte finish). I had been wanting Russian Red for a while so decided to pick it up from this collection as it was in cool packaging lol. The packaging for these is so fun, the outer is blue with the Wonder Woman logo and the cap is red. The metal tube inside is gold with a red star, I love it but I know it is not for everyone.

I really like lustre finishes but they don't tend to last long on the lips however I find them moisturising and they make my lips appear full. Marquise'd, being a light shade lasts even less time on the lips than darker lustre finish shades. It is a very nice colour though, I really like to wear it to work to help give my lips moisture and also a bit of colour. I don't work in a place where you need to stay safe with your clothes or makeup and hair but I do sometimes get stupid comments from colleagues about the way I dress so I am often put off wearing bright lip colours there. Therefore, I am glad I picked this colour. It also works so well with smokey eye makeup or 60's inspired makeup. On less red toned natural lips, this would appear lighter and pinker.

Spitfire is meant to be pinker from other swatches I have seen but it definitely purple toned on my lips.It might be because my bare lips are quite red naturally. It is another comfortable to wear lipstick. If you like the look of matte lipsticks but find them really drying, you might want to try a satin finish for a similar look. I like this colour for a more subtle version of MAC Violetta (on my lips) but you might find it comes out pinker on your own lips. If you are looking for a purply shade, go for Violetta instead. This is a little disappointment to me because I wanted it to be pinker on me but never mind, it is still a nice lipstick.

Russian Red is my favourite out of the three although I wont get much wear out of it due to idiots at work. I think it is probably my perfect shade of red, it is just a stunning colour. I like that it is blue based as it works well with my warm skin tone although it can look a bit more neutral on my skin. I find that orange based reds just look orange on me so it is nice to have a proper red. I have one other matte MAC lipstick and find it so drying on my already dry lips but Russian Red doesn't do that to me thankfully. This colour would work on any skin tone definitely, it is such a universal shade. You can buy it from the permanent line so if you aren't fussed about packaging, you may aswell get it in regular black and save a little bit of money.

Read on for swatches and lipglass review...

MAC Wonder Woman Mighty Aphrodite Blush Review

The blushers in the Wonder Woman collection are duos, they both have one larger colour and one smaller shade. One blusher is pink based while the other is coral based - I bought the coral one, Mighty Aphrodite.

One shade of Mighty Aphrodite is a peachy coral with a pearl finish and the other side is a bright pink coral with a pearl finish. This blush duo is supersized to be the same size as a Beauty Powder, it has almost double the amount of product to a regular MAC blusher. These shades are very nice and well pigmented and I think they would work especially well on warm skin tones, cooler skin tones might prefer the other blush duo - Amazon Princess. I really like the lighter shade on my skintone, the darker one needs a light hand as it can easily look overpowering. You can also swirl the two shades together to make a middleground colour.

One gripe about these duos is that the smaller part is difficult to get a brush in to pick up the colour without getting the other shade on it. I would have prefered that they had made the colours even in size - although as I prefer the lighter shade that means I get more of that to use.

Overall, I do like these colours although I don't see myself using the darker shade much as I think it is quite bright but if I was wearing a very neutral look it would be okay to add a bit of colour.

Photos and swatches...

MAC Wonder Woman Pink Power MSF Review

When I saw that MAC were releasing new Mineralize Skinfishes with the Wonder Woman collection I was so excited. I love MSFs, I only had one beforehand (Stereo Rose) but really liked how they looked in other bloggers swatches and FOTD looks. With Wonder Woman, MAC brought out two shades of MSF, one being a dark tanned trio, the other being a lighter pink trio. I went for the pink version as the dark one would have been quite orange on me as it is more suited for deep skintones.

These are a new style of MSFs where the powder isn't swirled together like others such as Stereo Rose, instead split into three sections which you can swirl together or use individually as blush, highlight and contour colours. These ones are also jumbo sized, being 20g of product compared to the regular 10g. They are enormous - which is great to be able to use each colour individually plus they make excellent value for money being only a few extra pounds more than the regular 10g sized MSFs. However, if you are one that likes to pop their products in their bag for a top up, these are quite clumsy and would take up a lot of space. I only carry lip products so it doesn't bother me. I do think it is a shame there is no mirror in the lid because the compact is large enough for a decent sized one but then that would have been something else to increase the price.

The highlighting shade is a shimmery champagne shade, it is quite shimmery but not glittery. The blush shade is a peachy pink with shimmer, a really nice colour. The bronzing shade is a reddish brown but isn't too orange however a light hand would be wise, building colour if desired. It has a subtle sheen to it.

Pictures and swatches...

MAC Wonder Woman Valiant Eyeshadow Quad Review

I know a lot of people think that the Wonder Woman collection is awful, the packaging looks cheap, they don't like the colours, the supersized products is a rubbish concept. I actually really love this collection. I love the comic book style packaging and think a lot of the colours are great. I'm two halves with the supersized things but I will get to that later. I think Wonder Woman is a great character for MAC to use as she is all about peace, love and sexual equality, the latter being part of MAC's motto 'All ages, all races, all sexes'.

Firstly this collection came out with three eyeshadow quads, one pink based, one blue based and one green based. As I am a sucker for green eyeshadows, I knew this was going to be something I would buy providing that it swatched well. It contains four eyeshadows, Manila Paper (white frosty gold - veluxe pearl, repromote), Valiant (light gold-green - frost, limited edition), Diana Undercover (forest green - satin, limited edition) and Spinning Transformation (khaki-bronze - frost, limited edition).

The packaging is gorgeous in my opinion. I am quite nerdy and love these sort of things :D It is so fun and takes me back to watching Wonder Woman on TV when I was little. The outer is true to the DC comicbook, featuring Wonder Woman herself and Medusa who is trying to use her 'drab ray' to turn Wonder Woman into a Plain Jane. The inside of the box is printed blue with white stars which I think is a lovely finishing touches and show that MAC do like to pay attention to details. The quad itself is red on top and blue on the bottom and feels like it is made of metal. It has a glossy finish and is printed with the Wonder Woman logo on top. I really like the shape of this quad compared to regular quads because it slips easily into my makeup bag, also there is a proper button to open it so it makes it easier to get into. It clicks back into place when you close it, it just feels more substantial than the regular quads (regardless of the design printed on it). The inside is gold, again metal and comes with a mirror in the lid which is just the right size to do your eyes and see both at once.

Continue reading for picspam and swatches!

Models Own Smash-up (Crackle) Polishes!

Models Own are bringing out their own range of crackle polishes called Smash-up. These are another product they have created alongside WAH Nails and will be available in 9 shades. I am pretty excited for these, some of the colours are the same sort of thing as Barry M/OPI/China Glaze but there are a few that do look unique like the yellow, orange and purple. I am especially excited for the silver as I would like to get the OPI silver shatter but this looks like a nice cheaper alternative! I think the orange and turquoise would look fantastic together over coordinating nail colours where you could have turquoise and orange shatter over the top and vice versa. I am intriged to see how opaque the yellow is going to be as yellow can sometimes be a bit sheer so would be great if it turns out to be really pigmented.

You can see more about them at http://www.modelsownit.com/ and they will be available from April from there and some shades in Boots.

What do you guys think? Any colours stand out to you?

- Jennifer

Leighton Denny Desireables Collection Review

This was a TSV (Today's Special Value) on QVC a while ago and I keep meaning to review it even though it was delivered a few days after being on air. I did a post on the day it came out at the special price but it is now £36.50 on QVC. I am quite a fan of Leighton Denny's products, I think they are excellent quality and his kits for QVC are such great value.

The boxed kits are great, they are well packaged in a fantastic box (usually white but this kit is a special edition silver) so would make good gifts or if keeping it for yourself, ideal for keeping your products all together.

Outer box. Nice sleek design.

Inside contents. Well packed and compact.

In the kit you recieve five nail colours (the best bit about this selection!), a bottle of Miracle Drops, tube of Cuti Lips, Demi File Buffer, Uno File and a hoof stick. Leighton Denny's nail colours retail for £11 each so you are pretty much getting 3 and a bit bottles for this price of this kit (the value was even better when it was the TSV).

Read on for pictures and review!

Illamasqua SS11 Toxic Nature Collection!

This is some information for Illamasqua's new Spring Summer 2011 collection, Toxic Nature, which releases on March 10th online and March 17th in stores/at counters. You can go to their website now and join the waiting list for products and be entered into a give away to win the whole collection!

The collection is made up of bright neon shades as well as murky and earthy tones to contrast it in pure Illamasqua style. This collection is about nature fighting back against humans destroying it. The promotional images show a sort of semi dead secret garden type landscape. I think the makeup is just incredible in these shots, they're real masterpieces. I don't know how Illamasqua do it, they just seem to outdo themselves every time.

Read on for more information!

Art Deco Themed Nail Art

To go with my 1920's inspired makeup look I decided to do some nail art inspired by Art Deco which started in the 1920's and continued into the 40's. I googled Art Deco to find some inspiration, particularly looking for something which was quite simple and would work on nails. I found this:

I thought this was a window pane but it is actually a carved granite door sign.

I've seen this sort of sesign before and thought it would look nice using the half moon type manicure and then adding the sunburst coming out of it. Now I'm not very good at nail art, I'm still trying to get the hang of painting designs with nail polish as it dries so quickly on the brush whereas my usual painting medium is acrylic which I find very easy to work with. I would have liked the lines to be crisper and thinner, more like the design above but I just did it from memory and only painted five sunburst stripes.

More pictures and products used...

Chanel Spring 2011 Review

From this collection was my first makeup purchases from Chanel. The collection is about enhancing a woman's natural beauty by using the radiance of pearlised colours in the same way that real pearls create luminosity to the skin. I picked up one of their nail polishes in Black Pearl and their eyeshadow palette which has 5 colours in it.

Firstly, the nail polish, Black Pearl. This is gorgeous. The finish is lovely, like a real black/grey pearl. It changes colour giving a kind of oil on water effect with greys, blues, teal and greens in the colour and shot through with a metallic silver. It feels incredibly smooth on the nail but you can see the brush strokes in it so need to be careful with the application if it is something that bothers you. Two coats was enough for opacity so this colour is very pigmented. It cost me £17 from a Chanel counter, quite pricey but considering that as soon as I saw it on Temptalia I loved the colour and was excited for it's release knowing I'd not seen another colour like it I thought I'd treat myself to it. Since then, some 'dupes' have been created - brands I can think of are Model's Own and Leighton Denny but I don't think they are real dupes, instead being on the same colour spectrum.

Black Pearl

Chanel Ombres Perlees de Eyeshadow Palette: This is a new and limited edition palette for the spring containing five pearlised shades - a golden white, bronzy pink, blackened mauve, dirty green and a charcoal blue. All colours are pigmented, the mauve is less so however and they are all metallics. When swatched they are gorgeous and buttery but I did find them difficult to apply onto my eyelid. They seemed to sheer out too much and I didn't get much colour payoff with them. This seems very strange as they were so nice when swatched with my finger. I am wondering if they are better used with a finger or sponge applicator instead but I haven't tried it yet, only with a brush. My other problem was their staying power, I did use Urban Decay Primer Potion under them and they still migrated into creases. I don't understand why and lately these haven't been the only eyeshadows doing it to me even with primer so it is possible that my eyelids have become oilier recently but even so, these colours crease the most for me. I hope I can get these to work for me either with a different base product to applying them differently because if not, they were a lot of money at £39 to spend on an annoying to use product.

- Jennifer

Illamasqua Throb Collection Review

Ugh, this has taken me forever to get up here but the collection is still available so at least you can still get them if there is anything you fancy. The only thing I didn't get was Scorn (matte black) as I just didn't fancy it.

First up, the nail polishes in Throb and Load.

L-R: Load, Throb

Load on index and middle fingers and Throb on ring and pinkie fingers

Both of these polishes are a cream finish, they have a nice texture for application and go on very smoothly. Load however is a little streaky and required a third coat to even it out, Throb only needed two coats (this is how I always paint my nails) but you could get away with one coat if you didn't have time for the second. I do recommend that you do two though to get the true depth of colour. The brush on these is nice, it isn't a wide brush like OPI but it is a decent length and applies the lacquer well. The bottles have a square cap but that comes off revealing a round cap underneath if you find it hard to use the square one.

Next is the lipstick in Sangers.

I really like this lipstick, it is a true red but seems to be slightly orange against my warm toned skin. It is a colour which should work for everyone which is nice to see. It is very pigmented and applies so well. I especially like the shape of the lipstick as it makes it easier to get my cupid bow perfect as it fits just right and it has a large surface area so I find it easy to sweep along my bottom lip. Obviously this shape wont stay there forever but it is nice while it does. I certainly think the shape of the product is better than MAC for application on my lips. I haven't worn this out yet but it does feel very comfortable on my lips which are actually very dry. I wouldn't say it was moisturising but it doesn't make them dry at all. I feels like it is staying in place - if you are familar with MAC's lustre or creamsheen finish lipsticks, they tend to feel like they move a bit if you press your lips together - this stays still but still gives slip to remain comfortable. It doesn't taste of anything to me but I do smell a hint of sweetness but not when it is on. I really like the black packaging of Illamasqua's products. I think they are very sleek looking and I like the 'knocked off' corners and slightly concave sides.

Finally Succubus Intense Lipgloss.

This is another true red product but again seems slightly more orange based on my skin tone. Illamasqua's intense lipglosses are supposed to be strongly pigmented and give true colour to the tube, however, this one seems sheerer than other shades I have seen. I also find it difficult to apply evenly - this may just be me though because I have seen other photos of it looking really good. I'd say use a brush with it because I personally hate the applicator. I find it clumsy and difficult to squeeze the right amount from the tube and get it on my lips evenly. I rather doe foot or brush applicators. I wore this out on Valentines Day for lunch with the boyfriend. I ate spaghetti and it was barely there when I had finished, with just a little around the edges and smudged bits around my mouth... in all fairness though, I had chosen a rather messy meal! It is very comfortable on and not incredibly sticky. For me however, this would be more of a layering product due to how I find application. I'd also say a liner may be needed in case of feathering, a matching red or a clear waxy liner would be perfect.

Lip product swatches...

L-R: Succubus Intense Lip Gloss, Sangers Lipstick

Sangers

Succubus

Sangers with Succubus layered on top

So, anything here catch your eye? I hope my lip swatches are better here!

- Jennifer

February Favourites!

Hi all! Another month gone so it is that time again. February seemed to go so quickly and yet it seems like it was ages since this year began... wierd. Anyway, these are the things that I've been liking this month, my concealer and corrector from Bobbi Brown are still firm favourites for me but I wanted to show some other things instead.

MAC Stereo Rose MSF, MAC Dalliance Mega Metal Eyeshadow,
Lush Smitten, Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, Benefit So Hooked on Camella Eau de Toilette

Firstly, MAC Stereo Rose MSF (Mineralise Skin Finish). This was one of the first products I bought from MAC when I started buying from them last year. I thought the swatch picture on MAC's site looked quite nice and then I did a little google to see what it looked like on. This was before I was aware of the beauty blogging world so only had google pictures to go on but ended up going for it as so many people were saying it was nice. I thought it was really pretty in the pan at first but it just didn't seem to show up on me. When I bought my MAC 129 brush I realised that it wouldn't show up due to the crappy brush I was using before. It got shoved away because I still wasn't in love with it and then I thought I'd try it again last month and found have been reaching for it loads now. It just gives me a nice glow and adds a lovely colour. It is shimmery so it isn't something for everyone but I do love it now and I'm glad I purchased it.

MAC Dalliance Mega Metal Eyeshadow - You can see my review for these, including this shade here. This colour is lovely and works so well as just a wash over the lid area when you just want a bit of subtle colour. It is quite a versatile shade and would work with a nice range of colours. I've used it with green, cranberry, brown and turquoise so far (all mega metals). It also has a great texture.

Lush Smitten - This handcream is a funny one for me as I actually dislike the smell. It smells of almonds but more towards the marzipan side but not all the way there (if it did smell exactly like marzipan, I wouldn't use it... bleugh!). I suffer from ezcema and have done for years. It isn't terrible but it can get bad at times, especially in cold weather where my skin can become so dry and end up cracking so it bleeds. I got this product in a Lush hatbox and thought I'd try it out before giving it away as I didn't like the smell and found that it is actually a pretty decent hand cream. At the moment my hands aren't their best due to the cold weather we have had in London over the past few days and it takes a lot for a moisturiser to keep up. However, my skin is better than it would usually be. They are still sore but they are soft except for around my knuckles and between my fingers. Hopefully they continue to get better :D

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat - I am rubbish at keeping my nails looking nice after painting them. I always seem to bump them on something and smudge them. They always seem to take forever to dry and I'm just unpatient and sods law I need the loo or something straight after! I'm so glad to have read about this product and decided to buy it. It is just brilliant and dries my nails in 5 minutes. It penetrates through each layer of lacquer to dry and seal them. It also gives an amazing glass like shine finish.

Lastly, So Hooked on Camella Eau de Toilette from Benefit. I am rubbish at describing perfume but I really love this. I do smell vanilla and coconut in it and it is a sweet creamy sort of smell. Benefit have the base notes listed as Vanilla, Sandalwood and Amber (I often choose these for my perfume as I love how they smell on me) the middle notes as cyclamen, peony and tiare flower and the top notes as grapefruit, lemon and rhubard. Wierd how I smell coconut... I don't even like coconut but I do love this perfume. I think some people may say it is cloying but I don't find it to be, there is something there taking the edge off the sweetness for me, might be the florals or the zingy fruits cutting through it. This perfume lasts and lasts and lasts on my skin, something that rarely happens. I can still smell it on my scarf/coat a few days later when I haven't worn it. Also, the packaging is gorgeous, it is like a cocktail shaker which I think is really fun and the box is made of a thick cardboard and designed like a house with the front flipping down to reveal the interior. This is definately a repurchase for me and I'd like to try the other Benefit perfumes to see how they fare.

- Jennifer