Dior haul & first impressions

If you follow me on twitter you'll know I did some shopping at Dior the other day.  I caved and bought their Nude BB cream, but as I was about to pay (in Boots) they lady on the counter said that if you buy a Dior product, you get £10 of advantage card points, so did I want to buy something else? Dangerous words for any beauty blogger to hear!  So of course I did!  I know their lip glosses are raved about in the beauty world so I picked up the shade Princess.  See what my first impressions are below :)

First impressions

Lets start with the BB cream.  It's full blown ermergherd amazing!  Hand on my heart, I've never put something (foundation/bb/cc cream) so good on my face.  End of.  It's very light, so light you can't feel that you're wearing it, yet it gives near flawless coverage (how, I've no idea!).  It gives a radiant & glowy finish that goes a little dewey, but not super shiny, even with my oil slick skin.  Now, I've only work it the last 2 days so these are only first impressions, but I really am overwhelmed by how amazing it is.  Move over Dr Jart, a new kid rolled into town and wants your holy grail status!

The lip gloss - how is it I've never bought one before?  Like the bb cream, I've worn this the last 2 days too, all day.  It's so good, I've been keen to reapply as the day goes on.  It's not sticky at all, it actually feels more like a lip conditioner or fluid balm than a gloss, but is as shiny as one.  This is another winning product for me!  Watch this space for a full review in the next couple of weeks for both of these beauties :)

What's your favourite Dior product?

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass,
and my Big-Pixi3 advertisers Rachel from Emerald Skies, Tom from Daydream in Blue Sammy from Rambles & Jangles, Katrina from Carousel Diary, Hannah from Bailey Cakes, Lyndsay from Fizzy Peaches and Sophie from Sophie Jane

 

Written by Georgina Kent

Maybelline quad in Smoky Cinnamon

You know when you get a quad/palette, you use it and are like 'ooooh I love it!' then you move on to the next one you feel like that about, totally cheating on the first one, then a couple of months go by and you re-discover that first one again?  It's like rediscovering your first love, but really it's your 30th love because lets face it, us makeup addicts have quite a few of these palette/quad love affairs.  Well this is one of them.

Oh yeah, and did I mention, you can't even get this in the UK.

The look I created with the quad (excluding the eyeliners)

Why it rocks

First off - yeah, I like green eye shadows, especially the mildewey kind.  I actually have the Urban Decay eyeshadow called Mildew, man that's a nice shade.  I'll take you back about 6 months ago, I was watching a Beauty Broadcast video where Emily featured this little beauty and showed a great way to wear it, which I've done ever since (see above pic).

Each of the colours are super duper pigmented and all go together oh so well!  So the way I wear them, primer first, then a colour tattoo as a base (I use a green american one), then the dark green shade all over the lid, then the lime green shade from the inner corner of the lid for about a third of the way, the cinnamon shade on the edge of the dark green and the light colour under the browbone :)  Simples!

All I can say, do whatever you can to get hold of this if you like green shadows!  You can find it kicking about on ebay and the American amazon :)  You need this in your life!

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass,
and my Big-Pixi3 advertisers Rachel from Emerald Skies, Tom from Daydream in Blue Sammy from Rambles & Jangles, Katrina from Carousel Diary, Hannah from Bailey Cakes, Lyndsay from Fizzy Peaches and Sophie from Sophie Jane

 

Written by Georgina Kent

Marvellous May Advertisers

Grab yourself a cuppa, there's a lot of great blogs featured here today!  I'm not going to give a big introduction, there's a lot to get through, so here goes, sit back and enjoy ;)

Big Pixi3 advertisers

Carousel Diary

Katrina runs Carousel Diary which features fashion & beauty reviews.  She's recently blogged about a Prodigy Red cityscape dress, reviews on the Amie cooling clay mask, and Shappos Hats :)  You can check out her blog and twitter using the links below :)

Blog | Twitter

**********

Bailey Cakes

Bailey Cakes is run by the lovely Hannah and is a beautiful lifestyle blog with stunning photo's :)  She's recently blogged about starting on skinny sprinkles, going to a bake festival (love the pics from that!) as well as restaurant and cafe reviews (both will make you hungry and want to go there!).  Links below.

Blog | Twitter

**********

Rambles & Jangles

This cute little blog is run by Sammy who hails from London.  Her blog is mostly focussed on beauty with the odd fashion/ootd post thrown in for good measure :)  She's recently put a couple of fashion posts together, as well as her top blusher picks for Spring :)

Blog | Twitter

**********

Daydream in Blue

This little beauty is run by Tom.  It's a lifestyle and food blog with amazing quality photo's.  Reading Tom's blog you'll be navigating to the kitchen as you read to see if you have the ingredients in the cupboard to recreate his lovely dishes! (yep, that's what I did!).  His most recent posts have been yummy ones like a recipe for Basil hummus (nom!), as well as a lifestyle post from a nice weekend :)

Blog | Twitter

**********

Emerald Skies

Emerald Skies is run by Rachel from Liverpool, she's much like me in that she's a beauty blogger, with lifestyle posts thrown in the mix :) She's recently reviewed some of the Maybelline Colour Tattoo's in some of the new shades, the Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser and the REN Glycolactic mask :)

Blog | Twitter

**********

Fizzy Peaches

Run by Lyndsay who is currently studying with the OU (brave girl! my hubby is doing the same, it's a LOT of work) :)  She's a vegetarian (like me!) and obsessed with bubble tea (like me!) - this month she's been posting about an amazing trip to Gambia she went on years ago (lovely photo's and a great story), as well as a review of a new beauty box (new to me!) called Souk Souk, they're an environmentally ethical beauty box :)

Blog | Twitter

**********

Sophie Jane

This lovely little blog is run by Sophie, she started blogging last month in April but has already posted a whopping 37 posts in May, talk about hit the ground running!  She's recently reviewed the new Maybelline Mega Plush mascara as well as one of the Colour Tattoo's in n and on bronze :)

Blog (I can't find a twitter account for her)

**********

Middle Pixi3 advertiser

I've just had one of these this month which has been the lovely Jess from Lovely Jubbly, she's a self confessed shopaholic.  Her blog is mostly beauty, with lots of reviews and even some lovely pinterest recipes, including a delicious looking one for ritz crackers with a rolo on cooked in the oven for a few minutes, yummy!  She also wrote a great post on interview makeup as well as an OOTD :)
Blog | Twitter

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass,
and my Big-Pixi3 advertisers Rachel from Emerald Skies, Tom from Daydream in Blue Sammy from Rambles & Jangles, Katrina from Carousel Diary, Hannah from Bailey Cakes, Lyndsay from Fizzy Peaches and Sophie from Sophie Jane

 

Written by Georgina Kent

Imperial Leather review and Giveaway

A few weeks ago I was given this little treat to try - now I know this is a slightly different post, but hey, shower gel is still a beauty product :)  So here's a little review for you and a cheeky giveaway at the end :)

Product claims: Family skin care specialist, Imperial Leather, has launched its best shower gel yet. Crafted using over 200 years experience, the newly formulated recipe gives a more luxurious shower experience with a lather that is richer, thicker and twice as creamy.

  A richer, thicker, creamier burst of Ocean Fresh. With a blend of uplifting ocean minerals, this shower gel promises to energise and prepare you for the day ahead.  Each newly formulated variant is dermatologically tested, has a skin friendly pH and is mild enough for the whole family. The Imperial Leather range is available from all major retailers, with an RRP of £1.89 for 300ml.

My Thoughts
The thing I loved most about this is the scent, I had (as you can see from the pics) the Ocean Fresh one, it's perfect for showers in the morning as it has an invigorating and really fresh scent.  It claims to be their best formula yet and extra thick.  Well, it's definitely thick!  This would be great for families too as the scent is unisex, my hubby's even been using it and really liking it, he's been reaching for it over his usual guy one, so it must be good :)  It's reasonably priced too, for 300ml you'll pay under £2, so if times are a bit tight this could be worth a try for you :)

All in all I've really enjoyed using this and would love to try some of their other scents, especially Japanese Spa and Citrus burst, they sound super yummy :)

Here's the 5 different scents - if you're the lucky winner, you'll win all 5 of them :)

Giveaway Rules
1.  The giveaway will be open for 1 week
2.  If you're not over 18 make sure you get permission from your parents
3.  The products will be sent out by the PR agency
4.  This giveaway is open to UK residents only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass,
and my Big-Pixi3 advertisers Rachel from Emerald Skies, Tom from Daydream in Blue Sammy from Rambles & Jangles, Katrina from Carousel Diary, Hannah from Bailey Cakes, Lyndsay from Fizzy Peaches and Sophie from Sophie Jane

 

Written by Georgina Kent

Japanese makeup swap

You may not know but I'm pretty obsessed with Japan.  My husband is learning Japanese, I love all things Kawaii, we love sushi and are desperate to fly out to see the sights :)  So when the opportunity came to do a Japanese makeup swap with the lovely Nicole fro A Beauty Maniac in Tokyo I jumped at the chance!

As you can probably imagine, with the Japanese infrastructure being super efficient it only took about 4 days for the parcel to arrive, amazing!  So, here's what she sent to me :)

My only request from Nicole was for the Canmake blusher in 01 (powder blush) which is in the picture: )  She also sent from Canmake a cream blusher, a lip gloss (looks super pretty on), a cream eye shadow.  She also included an eye shadow palette from Kate in my favourite colour, purple! And from Majollica Majorca there's a jewel liner (glittery) :)

**********

This is a Tenugui, you can use it for drying hands/dishes, as a face cloth or as a handkerchief or for wrapping things up, Nicole tells me it's a traditional type of Japanese cloth :)

**********

A couple of lovely face masks, can't wait to try the Strawberry one :D

**********

Some other treatments and shampoo :)

**********

These super cute goodies! On the left is a masque for your lips! (in the picture on the back, it says you can put them on your nipples too, lol) :)  The middle doughnuts are face masks, they're in a gel liquid and you put one on each cheek, and then we have the Beauty Book - this opens up to be a super pretty pop-up book with a mirror, they're shine control sheets that smell of chocolate :)

**********

Here's the book open :)

**********

Nicole also kindly included some Japanese sweets call Hi Chew, these were seriously yummy, between the hubby and I we demolished these!

Thank you so much to Nicole for sending these too me so quickly, I love them all and can't wait to try them all out :)

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass,
and my Big-Pixi3 advertisers Rachel from Emerald Skies, Tom from Daydream in Blue Sammy from Rambles & Jangles, Katrina from Carousel Diary, Hannah from Bailey Cakes, Lyndsay from Fizzy Peaches and Sophie from Sophie Jane

 

Written by Georgina Kent

May Biggest Pixi3 advertiser

Each month I do two advertiser posts, one is dedicated to my biggest pixi3 advertiser, and the other is dedicated to my big pixi3 and middle pixi3 advertisers :)  Today is the first of those two :)

I'd like to introduce to you Laura from A Scottish Lass.  Through blogging Laura and I have become good friends, so it makes me really happy to have her as part of the Pixi3 advertising family :)  Here's been some of the highlights from her blog over the past month ;)

I love these kind of posts, they're like little snapshots of someone's life, even if it's just what they've chosen to put on their face :)  In this pic I'm most envious of the Soliel tan de Chanel - I seriously want this in my life, especially as a die hard Chanel makeup fan :)

More items for me to crave over, the Lime Crime velvetines - these I need in my life, I think a matte red lip looks stunning :)  If you check out her post here, Laura has put together some beautiful face charts too using the lippies ;)

I loved the photo's Laura took for this post, a bit cheeky :)  I didn't really get on with this foundation when I used it, so it was lovely to see that it worked for Laura :)  I'm not sure 'bad foundations' exist, they just work for different people :)  You can read Laura's review here.

Be sure to check out her blog & social media :)

Twitter | Blog 

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass,
and my Big-Pixi3 advertisers Rachel from Emerald Skies, Tom from Daydream in Blue Sammy from Rambles & Jangles, Katrina from Carousel Diary, Hannah from Bailey Cakes, Lyndsay from Fizzy Peaches and Sophie from Sophie Jane

 

Written by Georgina Kent

Illamasqua haul

Last Friday Illamasqua hit 50k twitter followers and as a thank you they (for a total of about 6 hrs) gave 50% off everything purchased on their site.  Before then I'd never actually bought anything from Illamasqua - I'd had the precision ink liners in a goody bag, but that's all I'd tried of theirs, so I took this opportunity with open arms and made a purchase :)  Here's what I got:

The best part of £100 worth of stuff (was actually about £88 or something) for about £44 and free postage.  It took about 5 days to come which is amazing considering how busy they would have been!

I haven't worn the lipstick yet, but I've used most of everything else :)  The blusher is beautiful, very pigmented and soft, you really don't need to move your brush over it much, if you do, you'll pick up too much :)  Out of the eyeshadow quad I've worn the brown shade (bottom left), now my camera hasn't picked it up properly but it has a green shimmer running through it which is super pretty!  When it's on your lid you don't noticed it first off but you can see it looks a bit different, very pretty :D

Then we come to the mascara, ermergherd, this is stunning!  It's not what I'd typically go for but it was recommended to me by a girl at work.  The brush is really thick and fluffy (not what I'd usually buy) and the formula is quite thick (not what I'm used to!) but it coats the lashes beautifully giving really stunning lashes :)  I'll be doing a full review in the next couple of weeks so keep your eye lashes peeled :P

What's your favourite Illamasqua products?

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass,
and my Big-Pixi3 advertisers Rachel from Emerald Skies, Tom from Daydream in Blue Sammy from Rambles & Jangles, Katrina from Carousel Diary, Hannah from Bailey Cakes, Lyndsay from Fizzy Peaches and Sophie from Sophie Jane

 

Written by Georgina Kent

TAG: Would you rather: beauty edition

I've seen this doing the rounds around the beautysphere so thought I'd join in for a bit of fun :)  Oh and if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged :)

Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks, and lip glosses or lose all of your palettes and eyeshadows?
I'd have to be palettes and eye shadows, I can't be without my liquid liner and foundation!.

Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again?
Easy, never be able to cut it again :) I used to be able to sit on my hair until a few years ago so that wouldn't bother me at all ;)

Would you rather have a coral cheek or a pink cheek?
This is quite tough, I'd automatically say pink, but I've been loving coral recently - so probably coral!

If you had £1000 to spend, Would you rather buy clothes or makeup?
MAKEUP. end of.

Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick?
Eyeliner as lipstick, there are so many great eyeliner colours available, it would be really easy to repurpose one as lipstick :)

Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora?
A bit hard to answer as we don't have Sephora here in the UK, so by default I'm saying MAC.

Would you rather only use one eyeshadow color or one lip color for the rest of your life?
One lip colour, and it'd be neutral ;) Despite having a big lipstick collection, I hardly wear it :P  But I change the colour of eyeshadow I wear every day.

Would you rather wear winter clothes in summer or summer clothes in winter?
Winter clothes in the summer :)  Here in Wales it's pretty much rained the last year, so there'd be no love lost!

Would you rather dark nails or bright nails all year round?
Dark - you can't beat a nice deep berry purple shade, especially with the Max Factor Fantasy Fire topcoat :)  So pretty! (tip - add that topcoat on top of a navy blue, it'll look like the night sky) :)

Would you rather give up your favorite lip product or your favorite eye product?
Favourite lip product, because of all the reasons I've mentioned in previous answers :P

Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a pony tail or a messy bun?
Messy bun - pony tails are often quite harsh (I usually wear one around the house), but a messy bun can look really pretty if you're dressing up, or perfect for a casual look ;)

Would your rather never being able to paint your nails again or never use lipgloss?
Never use lipgloss, I don't wear lip products that often but I paint my nails every other day ;)

Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all? or sharpie them in everyday?
Duh, sharpie them in!  Silly question....

Would you rather live without makeup or nail polish?
Nail polish, easy ;)

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass,
and my Big-Pixi3 advertisers Rachel from Emerald Skies, Tom from Daydream in Blue Sammy from Rambles & Jangles, Katrina from Carousel Diary, Hannah from Bailey Cakes, Lyndsay from Fizzy Peaches and Sophie from Sophie Jane

 

Written by Georgina Kent

My Thoughts #1 - Cosmetic surgery

Image credit (L-R)

I like to think that this blog is a place I can talk freely and address different topics, despite it having the word 'makeup' in the title :)  So, this is one of those occasions when I'm going to talk about something a  bit different.  Before we get into it though, I do just want to say I'm not encouraging anyone to go out and get any cosmetic surgery or treatments, it's a really personal decision and I'm a strong believer that we shouldn't be influenced by anyone to make this kind of decision, these are just some of my opinions on the subject :)

My Thoughts
Being a 'bigger' girl, cosmetic surgery is something I've given thought to, I've been losing weight consistently for about a year now, and as much as I'm lucky that I haven't had any of the horrid excess skin issues happen, I wouldn't be surprised if as I lose more weight it's something I'm faced with.  So thinking about cosmetic procedures is something I've given a fair bit of thought to.  Also, being a beauty blogger it's only natural that I want to look my best in photo's all the time (without re-touching).

I've accepted that having a procedure might be something I'd consider in the future to combat any issues I face, as well as other less invasive surgeries like laser hair removal, chemical peels and microdermabrasion to reduce the wrinkles and fine lines around my eyes.

I'm a big believer in everyone being comfortable in their own skin, but many people, like me, don't and choose to have procedures done, as long as they've been made for the right reasons (for yourself, and not someone else) I say why not try to be the best you can be, whether that's through minor procedures or something more invasive.

One thing I'm always paranoid about and one of the reasons you won't see very many lip posts from me (yeah, I know I did one yesterday and one not long before that!) is because I have lots of downy soft hairs on my face, I wouldn't class myself as a hairy person by any stretch of the imagination, but when it comes to lip closeups, I do get very self conscious.  It's probably one of my biggest hang ups when photographing myself for my blog.  I don't airbrush anything out at all, the only edits I do to my photo's are cropping or adding text.  Occasionally I'll put a fancy filter on the main picture but that's it.  So laser hair removal for my face would probably be top on my list of things to have done.

So if you're considering one of these procedures please do make sure they're for the right reasons and make sure you research the clinic very well first to make sure they're reputable, after all, I wouldn't want anything happening to any of you lovelies ;)

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass,
and my Big-Pixi3 advertisers Rachel from Emerald Skies, Tom from Daydream in Blue Sammy from Rambles & Jangles, Katrina from Carousel Diary, Hannah from Bailey Cakes, Lyndsay from Fizzy Peaches and Sophie from Sophie Jane

 

Written by Georgina Kent

*sponsored post

MAC Rebel

This is my first, and only, MAC lipsitck :)  The whole time I was on the spending ban, I was craving one of these little babies.  I'd told myself I was going to get an everyday colour, a nude pink or something like that, but when I got to Selfridges I got brave and went for Rebel!  It's probably a bit silly as it's not a colour I'd wear that often, but oh my, it's pretty!

My Thoughts

First off lets talk about the colour.  It's pretty goddam awesome!  Now, you all know how much I love purple and I love wearing a red lip, well, this is the perfect combination of the two of them.  I'd class this as a red lipstick with a lot of blue in it, which makes it sit somewhere between red and purple without being truly either of them.

Next the texture.  Not drying in the slightest, but not super hydrating like a Revlon lip butter either, somewhere comfortably between the two.  I love that these aren't 'too' glossy either, they have a nice sheen to them :)  I don't know if you can see the difference in the photo's, but the bottom pic is painted on with a lip brush, and the one above it is from the bullet, so it's a bit darker and richer in colour.  My tip here, if you have any dry skin on your lips, apply it with a brush :)

Finally, longevity.  If you're not eating or drinking, this will last you a good 3-4 hours before needing to be reapplied.  If you're having lunch/dinner or having a drink while wearing it, you'll probably need to reapply after 1-2 hours.  It's what I'd expect out of any lipstick to be honest :)

All in all, I love this colour - I don't know whether it's the product or the colour that I love most, but either way, I really like it :)  I'm not in a rush to broaden my MAC collection seeing as I hardly ever wear lipstick, but I'm glad this one is in my paws :)

Where to buy: MAC stores
Would I repurchase? Yes
Cost: £14

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass,
and my Big-Pixi3 advertisers Rachel from Emerald Skies, Tom from Daydream in Blue Sammy from Rambles & Jangles, Katrina from Carousel Diary, Hannah from Bailey Cakes and Lyndsay from Fizzy Peaches

  Written by Georgina Kent