My New Year Makeup

I know it was a whole month ago but I found these photos and thought I'd show you what my makeup was like for New Years, plus there is one documenting one of the rare occasions that my boyfriend wears a proper shirt haha!

Martin and I for New Years

I can't remember the exact makeup I am wearing but the lipstick is Chanel Dragon and on my eyes are some neutral eye shadows with black liner and Urban Decay Heavy Metal liner in Baked (gold)

Jennifer x

October Favourites

This month it took me a while to choose my favourites as I've been switching between products quite a lot. I'm fickle like that haha. Also, apologies for the quality of this photo, you may notice them not coming out so bright for the time being, I just don't get a chance to use daylight at the moment unless it I do my photography at the weekend. I'm going to try to take lots of swatch photos during weekends when I can take advantage of the daylight so that I have them done for when I post during the week. Anyway, here is what I picked this month:

Urban Decay Naked Palete

You have probably seen this thing everywhere, all over the internet but I truly love it. The colours are so easy to use and work well together in pretty much any combination. It is a foolproof palette and is very flattering. It is a really good staple to have in your collection and many people will find that these are the only neutral shades they need... unless you are a hardcore makeup fanatic!

MAC Lightscapade

This came from one of the recent collections from MAC. Mine isn't one of the most beautiful pans of this but it is still lovely. It gives me a nice glow to my cheek bones and has made it's home in my everyday makeup bag.

Enchanted foaming sugar scrubs (Gingerbread Ghosts, from the Halloween line is pictured but I have been loving the scrubs in general). I doubt many people have heard of Enchanted Bath and Body, if you haven't, I suggest you head over to enchantedbath.co.uk and have a look. I've been a fan of Sarah's scrubs for a while, in fact a like a lot of her products. She is a one man band at the moment but she works amazingly hard to get her orders done to top notch quality. If you have heard of or are a fan of Isle of Eden, Enchanted makes a great alternative to anyone based in Europe. Sarah will ship further afield too however. The Halloween line will be discontinued soon so get in quick if any take your fancy. I will get a quick review of my latest order up soon.

Bronzer

I have been using bronzer to contour my cheeks a lot this month, mainly this one which is MAC's Golden. It is subtle and most suited to lighter skintones. It has a very subtle shimmer in it but is still fine to use for contouring. I've also been enjoying NARS Laguna.

L'Occitane Ultra Rich Body Cream

My skin especially on my legs is very dry. It gets worse after shaving but I normally hate using body moisturisers as they take ages to sink in and they make it hard to get dressed after using them which is not good if you like to wear skinny jeans like me. This one is different, it sinks into my skin so quickly even though it is so thick. You can hold the pot over your head and it wont come out. It has 25% shea butter in it which helps so much with my skin. My skin is much more supple and glowy than it was before and best of all, it no longer flakes!

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle EDP

This was a birthday present from my Grandad. It is such a beautiful and sophisticated yet youthful perfume. I always thought that Chanel perfumes were a little too mature for my liking but I adore this one. If you have smelt Miss Dior Cherie, it is on a similar line to that but it doesn't smell the same to me. I find this one more sophisticated and elegant, not as sweet and the end of the perfume has a lovely muskiness to it. I find that it smells different on me every day, I never know exactly what I'm going to get so it makes it even more enjoyable to wear. Amazing thing, skin chemistry!

Jennifer xx

Lava Nails

This was a bit of a 'happy accident' as they started out rather crap and I hated them but was too lazy to start over. I thought I'd add some black crackle to see if I could rectify them by making them look even more messed up... without being messed up... if you see what I mean lol. Deliberate looking. I actually thought they resembled lava flows when I had finished, like the liquid lava with the solidified lava on top when it turns grey-black. I liked it and wore it for a full week and even my boyfriend liked it (he was biased though because it involved the colour orange which is his favourite).

I used Chanel Mimosa for the yellow base then used Butter London sheer jelly polish in Chuffed for the orange. I applied it straight from the brush in thin layers making a gradient towards the tip. You could sponge it on instead or use a more opaque colour when sponging and fade it upwards towards the cuticle instead if you didn't have a sheer or jelly shade. Then I used BarryM black crackle on top and sealed it all with a coat of Seche Vite - my top coat of choice, I'm on my third bottle of this now!

This would be really easy to change up the colours to whatever you wanted and I will be trying it again in the future, I'm thinking of purple and blue with silver shatter on top!

I'm off work sick today so I'm going to try to mess around with some makeup to create some different looks while I have a chance and will be getting those up soon :)

Jennifer xx

May 2011 Favourites

Hi everyone, I hope you have had a good weekend, mine has been pretty wet here in London :( Sorry this post is quite late! These are the products I have been using a lot during May.

Top L-R: Chanel Imitable Intense Mascara in Noir, Chanel Vitalumiere Foundation,
MAC Fix+, MAC Stereo Rose MSF
Middle: MAC Sun Blonde Eyeshadow, L'Occitane Shea Butter Handcream
Bottom three products: MAC 222 brush, MAC 239 brush, MAC Spiked Eyebrow Pencil.

Yep, there is quite a lot this month!

Firstly, Chanel Imitable Intese Mascara. This mascara has become my favourite one I've ever tried. My eyelashes always look lengthened, volumised, they hold their curl, it is dark black, it doesn't flake/smudge, it doesn't clump, all of them are separated well. Yes, I just love it and it is perfect every time.

Chanel Vitalumiere Foundation: This gives a lovely dewy finish to my skin, it makes me look healthier and awake. It doesn't give much coverage but I am lucky enough to have skin that doesn't really get spots often and my skintone is quite even so I only need minimal coverage. I apply it around my nose and across my cheeks then up towards my forehead where I need a little coverage and then anything that is left gets blended over the rest of my face. I find it nice and moisturising and it doesn't cake or oxidise at all and looks good all day. I only need half a pump for my whole face so I can see this lasting a good while for me. The colour match is perfect too.

MAC Fix+: This can be used in a few ways, some people use it under their makeup, some use it over, some use it to refresh their face in the day, others use it on their makeup brushes before applying eyeshadow to make the pigments more vibrant. I like to use this over my makeup as I find that it makes everything look finished well and takes any powderiness away from the areas I have applied powder to. It also helps to make my foundation last better and seems to prevent it from transferring too much (like if I was to blow my nose). Some people hate this product so I think it depends on what you want to use it for.

MAC Stereo Rose: Yes this makes another appearence. I don't need to say much about it really as I've featured it before. I have really been loving this over the last few months, it is such a pretty colour and I really understand why it is such a 'cult' product.

MAC Sun Blonde Eyeshadow: This is from the Surf Baby collection and I've really enjoyed wearing this. I've put it with blues, greens, gold, coral and white and I think it is a very flattering shade of yellow. It looks fun and Summery.

L'Occitane Shea Butter Handcream: This is a savior product for me. My hands have been quite dry and sore with ezcema and this is my favourite handcream. It is so thick yet absorbs so well. It is literally like a drink for my hands. I really like the smell too, it reminds me of baby powder but I'm not sure what it is actually scented with, probably soft white florals. If you are looking for a really good quality, rich handcream, definitely have a go at this one.

MAC 222 brush: I'd been using my 217 brush and wanted a new blending brush so I had a second one for when I'd used it with dark colours and didn't want to get muddy eyeshadow with light colours the next day. I thought I'd try this one out and I really like it. I find it blend much more softly and it also allows me to get deeper into the crease area for more precise application due to it's tapered shape. I still feel that the 217 is useful and I sometimes use both of them together.

MAC 239 brush: I needed a better brush to apply eyeshadow over my whole lid. I saw that Temptalia used this one a lot so bought it. It is just right, it picks up so much colour and makes it easy to pat/sweep it on and get the full colour. You can put less on the brush and use it to sheer out colours too. It is a good size and does it's job really well. I have since bought a second one so I have one for light colours and one for dark colours (I am too lazy to wash my brushes after each use).

Finally, MAC Spiked Eyebrow Pencil: Obviously if you were buying one of these, you would pick the colour that was right for you. I've been getting better at using this and now can make my eyebrows look pretty neat and crisp. You can use it lighter if you just want to fill in the sparse areas or use it a little heavier to get a really good shape. I like it because I can draw in each hair and it looks real as it's nib is very fine. The only thing I don't like about it is that you can't wind it up to see how much is left and then wind it back down because once it has been wound up, it can't be put back inside! Don't forget that if you get one, you will end up with the 'lead' sticking out and not being able to put the cap on! - I haven't done that by the way lol!

I hope you enjoyed my favourites this month :)

- Jennifer

Bronze Corail Soliel Tan de Chanel Review - Summer 2011

There are two versions of bronzer in Chanel's Summer 2011 collection, Bronze Corail and Bronze Rose. I chose Bronze Corail because I always tend to prefer corals over rose colours and I'd been using my MAC Stereo Rose MSF a lot so wanted something else corally but I'd also been into bronzers, this seemed to fit the bill.

It is a striped palette, it reminds me a bit of Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks (but much less shimmery). It has four shades of powder, a bronzey brown, a pale peach, a deeper brown and a pink coral. All of the colours are on the warm side so definitely more suited to warmer skin tones. They can be used alone if you want, the thin rectangular brush supplied allows you to pick each shade out individually. You could also use two colours together - the lighter brown with the peach for a subtle highlight effect, the peach with the deeper brown for a subtle bronze or the deeper brown and coral for a bronzed blush. Or you could use the top three shades together to get a beautiful bronzed look and then the coral alone as blush. You could even use the shades on your eyes if you wanted or was travelling light. When all of the colours are mixed together they create a subtle bronze with a champagne sheen, and light coral tones. Very pretty and hard to mess up as it is so subtle, yet buildable. However, if you want something more pigmented, this wont be for you.

L-R: Bronze Corail, Bronze Corail blended out.

The brush supplied is okay, not my favourite brush ever but it does the job. I found it a little difficult to use because I ended up with a bit of a stripe the first few times I tried it but after a few goes, I got the hang of it. I still prefer using a round brush with it however. I tried my MAC 129 brush, mine is quite rough unfortunately, it probably needs a good conditioning, but I found this buffed the colour out too much so I went for a softer brush instead. I chose the MAC 168 to diffuse the colour more gently so I still had it where I wanted it but could blend it better. This was also handy because of the angle in it so I could use the bronzer in other areas of my face such as around my temples with ease. A stippling brush might be a good choice too.

The compact is sleek as per Chanel's usual standard and it contains a very handy mirror in the lid which is the same size as the compact and allows you to see your whole face easily without having to do your makeup at arms length. You also get a nice suedette bag to keep the compact in so it doesn't get scratched and to minimise fingerprints all over the glossy black casing.

The quality of the powder is so soft so whilst it blends beautifully on the skin, it can kick up a lot of dust which I found annoying and made the compact very messy after each use so be careful when using it. Another downside is the price, it costs £32.50 for 14g/0.49oz so it costs £2.32 per gram compared to a MAC bronzer which costs £17.50 for 10g/0.30oz which works out as £1.75 per gram. So whilst you do get a lot of product and it is more versatile than a MAC bronzer which only contains one shade, if you are going to use it swirled together all the time, unless you really love the colour, consider something cheaper instead.

- Jennifer

Les Fleurs D'Ete De Chanel Summer 2011 Collection - Mimosa & Morning Rose Review

Hiya! I hope everyone in the UK is enjoying their start to the Bank Holiday weekend, sucks if you are working though :( Thankfully I am staying at my boyfriend's house which is nice to have a little break from London for a few days.

L-R: Morning Rose, Mimosa

L-R: Morning Rose, Mimosa

Today I have a review of two of the Chanel Summer nail polish colours, the highly anticipated Mimosa and beautiful Morning Rose. There was also another shade released called Beige Petale but that didn't appeal to me at all, I loves my bright colours! As soon as I saw the press releases for these I just loved the yellow shade. I only had one yellow polish, Barry M yellow - do not recommend unless you want to have finger that look like they've been dipped in a pot of American mustard... bleugh, not a good look and I was actually told by somebody else that is what my nails looked like :( Chanel's offering looked much more flattering.

I recently did a post on OPI's Fiercely Fiona which is a really pretty yellow but Mimosa is quite different, it is brighter and is shot through with a pretty golden shimmer which gives the colour some depth so it doesn't look flat. Chanel are very good at putting trendy colours out there but making them flattering.

Morning Rose is a jellyish colour and again shot through with gold shimmer although bigger particles in this shade. I wouldn't say it was a proper jelly because it is quite opaque but you can see the shimmer floating within the polish just like in a jelly finish. I found capturing the glitter difficult for both of these colours because the sun refused to come out and it has been horrible in London for the past few days so I couldn't re shoot the photos unfortunately. The pink is a nice flattering shade, it is a medium pink and has slight peach tones in it. Both of these colours are perfect for Summer.

Application was smooth on both, Mimosa needed a third coat to get true bottle colour and I used a third coat of Morning Rose because I didn't paint the second coat very well but I think a third coat gives it a bit more depth with the extra shimmer going through it. The polishes retail at £17 so they are expensive but Chanel often bring out really unique shades which you can't get elsewhere. The bottles hold 13ml/0.4fl oz of lacquer.

Here are a few pictures at different angles, hopefully the shimmer is visible in some of them. Mimosa isn't quite as bright in real life, I'd say one shade lighter but Morning Rose is pretty accurate on my screen.

L-R: Mimosa, Morning Rose

L-R: Mimosa, Morning Rose

L-R: Mimosa, Morning Rose

Mimosa

Morning Rose

I think they are sold out online now which is a shame so if you would like these colours I would call/visit your local Chanel counter to see if they have it there.

- Jennifer

Surf Baby FOTD

I played with some of my new Surf Baby products today, I was quite happy with how it came out. I also really like yellow on my eyes, this was the first time I'd tried it.

What I used:

MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation

Bobbi Brown Corrector and Concealer with powder.

Collection 2000 translucent powder through t-zone.

MAC Lush-Light Bronze Studio Careblend Powder on cheeks, into hairline, up to temples.

Urban Decay Primer Potion

MAC Sun Blonde Eye shadow all over lid

MAC Surf USA Eye shadow through crease, blended into the yellow and then blended upwards to get the true colour. Also along lower lashes.

Urban Decay Virgin Eye shadow under brow bone and blended into Surf USA.

MAC Spiked brow pencil

Bobbi Brown Longwear Gel Liner in Black Ink

Chanel Imitable Intense Mascara

MAC Hibiscus Lipstick

I felt very summery today :)

- Jennifer

April Favourites!

I am soooo soo soooooo sorry for not posting in so long, I just haven't been in the mood for blogging (in other words, just plain lazy) and I had a cold so didn't want to post pictures of my awful blotchy face and crusty nose haha. Anyway, I'm back now and I have attempted to organise myself a bit better, I had a tonne of photos in my Photobucket account and I was getting confused as to where to start with them so I cleared it all up so it makes more sense to me so hopefully I will be able to get through them and finally post them here. So today I have a belated April favourites and later on I will be posting a review of some Bobbi Brown lipsticks. Tomorrow I have the latest OPI Today's Special Value from QVC that I recieved today. I will also post a review of the Illamasqua Toxic Nature nail polishes (old news now but they are permanent) and next week I will post a review of the cream pigments. Also the new MAC collection - Surf Baby which I had planned to do this weekend but it hasn't arrived yet. Let's get started!

This month I have been using all sorts of things, just playing around and trying to use some of my older products which have been neglected a bit. Therefore, there hasn't been much makeup that I have repeatedly used. These are the things I have really enjoyed using.

Firstly, Philosophy's Hope in a Jar moisturiser. I got this in a Philosophy gift set for Christmas and have been using it quite often along with a couple of other moisturisers. This month I have really noticed how nice my skin has been since I started using it both day and night every day. It is such a gorgeous product and I have hardly used any. It sinks into my skin really well, no oily residue at all. I don't get flaky skin like I used to and my skin tone has been getting more and more even where I barely use any foundation now. It also leaves my skin feeling soooo soft and plump and dewy and smooth... ahhh I love this stuff. I have a small size but the full size is £34 for 56.7g which I am willing to pay because it works so well for me.

Next is my MAC MSF in Stereo Rose which I have featured before. I really love this and it works so nicely in the summer, the perfect corally golden sheen to my cheeks.

Miss Dior Cherie EDP. This is my favourite perfume, I love it and wear it most days. It is so sophisticated and girly and feminine at the same time. The bottle is so pretty too. It just makes me feel pretty wearing it. I will do a full review on this soon.

Chanel Imitable Intense Mascara. This is a new product for me and quite frankly, the best mascara I have ever used. I had these awkward lashes that just would not curl up even using eyelash curlers but this has made them right. It doesn't flake or smudge and the brush is fab. It makes my eyelashes really defined and voluminous, a definite repurchase for me.

Lastly, another Chanel product. Rouge Coco Shine in Romance. This has become one of my favourite lipsticks and I really want to get a couple more colours from the range. They are so moisturising on my dry lips and they look so sophisticated. I like that they are sheer and glossy. The colour range is great too, something for every skintone. Expensive, yes, but I think they are worth it because I really enjoy wearing this.

- Jennifer

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