L'Oreal Colour Riche Collection Privee Cheryl's Nude Lipstick

I have had an obsession with finding a pinky nude lipstick for a long time, I found that some pinky-nudes were that bit too much of a blue pink tone or a pastel shade and just really didn't suit me. I had found the perfect shade in 17's mirror shine lipstick in Beehive but mine (in the original blue tube) was broken by my niece who enjoys raiding my bag to find my 'lipdip' to put all over her face, it was too cute to be mad, so when I went to buy a new one I bought the new packaged lipsticks and it wasn't the same at all, the colour and formula was completely different, I was soo disappointed. 

So I was very excited when I heard that L'Oreal were releasing a range of nude lipsticks, surely I would find the perfect shade?? I hunted nearly every Boots and Superdrug in town and in every shop the new Collection Privee lipsticks and testers had been ransacked, it took me ages to actually swatch the range, and then I found my perfect nude lipstick and it was by my fellow Geordie Cheryl! The Collection Privee lipsticks are £8.19, and you can find them here.

The Cheryl nude is a perfect pinky-nude shade for my complexion.

The lipstick feels lovely and moisturising and the colour lasts for about 2-3 hours, the balmy feeling disappears after about half an hour though which makes you think you need to keep reapplying but the colour lasts quite well. I really like the packaging of the lipstick but I do find black matte packaging annoying when it gets messy.

I really love this lipstick, I have worn it constantly since I bought it, it's perfect for everyday and for an evening look paired with a smokey eye. I'm definitely tempted to try more of the L'Oreal Colour Riche range.

Elaine

February 2013 Favourites

My February favourites... only a little bit late!

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Foundation

I love this foundation, I have had quite a few busy longs days so I have been choosing to wear this foundation on days I know I need the extra oomph, it gives my skin the right amount coverage and a lovely healthy glow.

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder

I've struggled with some new foundations not mixing well with my combination/oily skin so this powder has been a god send for me!

Maybelline Colour Tattoo eye shadow in Pink Gold

I love this eye shadow, it's a really pretty colour that really compliments my pale skin. 

Rimmel Blush in Pink Rose

I originally went into Boots to buy Rimmel's Santa Rose blush as I used to be obsessed with it when I was younger, but I swatched this by accident and loved it, it is a lovely pink colour which gives a nice glow so you don't need to use a highlighter.

Rimmel Scandaleyes Kohl eye liner in brown

I mentioned this in my January favourites and I included it again, as I am still loving this eyeliner and have been wearing it everyday.

L'Oreal Studio Secrets Anti-Shine Mattifying Primer

I've had this for a very long time and never really used it, I tried it recently as a last resort to help combat my shiny skin with a new foundation as nothing else was working, and I have been really impressed as I have noticed a difference in how shiny my skin becomes during the day!

L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes Extra-Black

I always go on about how much I love this mascara but recently I went back to my mascara addict ways and have been testing out quite a few different mascaras (review series coming soon!) but I went back to this the other day and fell in love with it again, it's soo good! 

Ooops I forgot to include my Bourjois Rouge Edition lipstick in shade 17, I love this lipstick and often pick up shade 17 in Boots and think ooh this is pretty, go to buy it again then realise I already have it! You can see the picks and full review here.

Elaine

What's in my Handbag? My everyday lipsticks

My handbag is jammed packed full of everything, as an outreach worker it doubles up as my mobile office too, so it's a struggle to find anything in a rush and every time I went to grab a pen I seemed to find a lipstick, so I had a good sort through of my bag at the weekend and found 5 lipsticks in there, not including lip balms!

All of the lipsticks I found are my everyday lip colours that I reach for the majority of the time.

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse - Tempting Lilac

This lipstick is a mix of dusky pink and mauve lilac, I wasn't sure if this shade really suited me when I first got this, but I find it gives your lips a nice perk of colour.

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse - Dating Coral

This is one of my all time favourite lipsticks, if I am looking a bit tired or a bit blah I love wearing this lipstick as it really brightens up my make up, I've been wearing it quite a lot recently as me and the dark mornings aren't mixing well.

I'm really loving the L'Oreal Rouge Caresse lipsticks they are so nice and easy to wear, they give a nice glossy sheer swipe of colour. I think they are great value for money for £8.19 and easier to wear than the Revlon lip butters, you can find them here.

17 Mirror Shine - Beehive

17 recently changed their packaging from a blue bullet to black square packaging with an in built mirror, the consistency of the lipstick have also changed and they aren't as soft. I think the colour used to have a hint of pink but now it's more of a beige neutral colour, it's a shame as I loved the original but this version is good to wear for everyday. You can find them here.

Revlon Lip Butter - Macaroon

This is a really lovely berry colour with a hint of gold shimmer, it's not too dark so I wear but you can build up the colour for a more dramatic look. You an find the Lip Butters here.

Rimmel Apocalips - Celestial

Every beauty blogger has mentioned the Apocalips from Rimmel, when I saw all the swatches on blogs I knew I had to get this shade when it was released, and so did quite a few people, I had to go to a few Boots to get one. It's a really pretty pigmented dusky pink shade. You can find them here.

(L-R) Celestial, Dating Coral, Tempting Lilac, Beehive and Macaroon

Have you counted to see how many lipsticks are in your handbag??

Elaine

2012 Favourites... Makeup

When I was thinking about the different makeup products that I wanted to include in my 2012 favourites that list was getting very long and I was getting a bit concerned this post would turn into a bit of an essay, so I cut the list down and decided to only include the products that I turn to all the time without thinking and that list was easy to make. So here are my 2012 favourites...

L'Oreal Million Lashes Mascara
This is my all time favourite mascara, I love it!! I talk about it in this post.

Garnier BB Cream
I love this BB cream it is perfect for my combination/skin, it's really easy to wear and BB cream has lasted ages I bought this back in May (i think) and I still have loads left and I wear it everyday! You can read my post here.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Foundation
I really like this foundation, it is medium coverage and really does last all day, I know a lot of people compare this foundation to Revlon's Colour Stay foundation, which I have, but I think that the double wear gives a much better finish compared to the colour stay, you can find the foundation here, I will do a post soon!

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder
This powder is brilliant, there is not much I can say about a powder but it keeps my skin nice and matte all day and for only £3.99 it's a bargain, although since I have been using the Garnier BB cream I haven't been using it as much. You can find it here.

Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer
I recently did a post on this, which you can see here, but I am obsessed with concealer and use it everyday!

Collection 2000 Extreme Liner
This range of eyeliners are really great felt tip liners which can rival other brands such as L'Oreal and Rimmel for only £2.99. It's mentioned in a post here and here.

Avon Super Shock Gel Liner
I use this liner on my waterline and it is such a great true black I love it, I bought it from Ebay but you can find it here.

Benefit Blushers
I've included the Hervana blusher in my favourites, but I could easily wear any of my Benefit blushers any time. (You can see my post here and here)

I love all 3 of these lipsticks, they are so easy to wear, I have a LOT of lipsticks but I reach for these the most.
Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti (You can see my post here)
Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Stain Balm in Crush (You can see my post here)
L'Oreal Rouge Caress in Dating Coral (You can see my post here)

MUA Heaven and Earth Eye Shadow Palette
I know everyone raves about the undressed palette, which I also have, but the Heaven and Earth palette is always the range of eye shadows that I reach for most often for daytime and evening makeup looks. I just realised I haven't done a post on this so I will get some swatches done soon, in the mean time you can find it here. 

Real Techniques Brushes
This year I have become really interested in using makeup brushes, I never quite understood the need for them before I became a blogger but now I am obsessed, especially with Real Techniques brushes, I first bought the Stippling Brush which I love, I got the core collection for Christmas so I can't wait to try them.

What have been your favourite makeup products this year?

Elaine

L'oreal Volume Million Lashes Excess Mascara Review

If there is one bit of makeup that I couldn't leave the house without it has to be mascara! Out of all the makeup I own I am the most obsessed about mascara, a good mascara can make such a huge difference to your look and really open up your eyes. I often have a few mascara's on the go and tend to always end up buying new mascara's that are being launched in the hunt for the 'perfect' mascara, that was until I tried L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes mascara I loved it instantly and have been pretty loyal to it, I must have bought at least 10 since I first tried it. 

I was pretty excited about the launch of a new mascara to add to the range, the Volume Million Lashes Excess, I was expecting great things considering how much I love the original. The mascara is £10.99.

L'Oreal describe the mascara... L'Oréal Paris's Volume Million Lashes Excess mascara. Don't just volumise, millionise your lashes for a maxed-up, fanned-out effect.

I have to be honest I was really disappointed in this mascara, the long brush does allow you to reach all of your lashes but it certainly doesn't millionise my lashes or provide volume to excess.

I also found that unlike the original mascara the more I applied the more clumpy my lashes got, and it was more of a struggle to try and avoid the spider leg lashes look.

I also feel that when I wear this mascara I have to wear eyeliner as it isn't volumising enough for me, which in contrast to the original I can happily wear it with or without mascara, so I have only been using this as a work/daytime mascara but I have already bought the original Volume Million Lashes mascara again and will just stick to that. 

I know that mascara is quite a personal thing, but I found that this mascara didn't match up to it's  name which was disappointing and I won't be buying this again. 

I much prefer the Volume Million Lashes in extra black, the brush is bigger so it adds more volume but the plastic brush means that you do get fewer clumps.

Have you tried L'Oreal mascara's? What did you think?

Elaine

Recent Purchases - mini haul

Just a quick post to share with you some of my recent purchases. While Superdrug had the 3 for 2 on I had a HUGE list of products I wanted to get, unfortunately they never had stock of anything I wanted (sort it out Superdrug) so this mini haul is a lot smaller than I expected.

Sleek Blush BY3 - Lace £9.99 (bought in Superdrug 3 for 2) -  I have been looking for this for so long in Superdrug, I'd given up on finding it so I went in for a different blush but when I asked to see if they had the other blush in stock the sales assistant found the palette and tons of others in the drawer (why don't they have them out!) I've already used this loads and love it, review to follow soon - although I'm not sure anyone really needs to read another review on it.

Revlon Colourstay Foundation - Buff £12.49 (bought in Superdrug 3 for 2) - I used this foundation years ago but stopped wearing it when I wanted a lighter coverage, I bought this as although I don't wear medium to full coverage foundation daily its always handy to have for really bad skin days. Although I wish that I'd waited and got the new SoftFlex ColourStay.

L'oreal Lumi Magique - £8.49 (bought in Superdrug 3 for 2) - I've wanted to try the Lumi range for awhile but the foundation colours really don't work for me and I'm not in need of another primer so I went for this instead. I love the packaging but if I'm honest I'm not sure its really working for me.

nspa Nourishing Eye & Lip Treatment - £2.50 (Usually £3.00) ASDA - I was in need of a new eye cream and as this was only £2.50 it was a bit of a impulse purchase. I haven't used it yet but the smell is delicious!

BM Beauty Finishing Powder - £8.00 EthicalSuperstore.com  - I loved the samples I received from BM Beauty and I absolutely adore their brushes so I have high hopes for this powder. I've played about with it and its seems lovely and light, not at all cakey. I will of course review it fully asap.

Revlon Lip Butter - Tutti Fruitti  - £5.99 Boots (Usually £7.99) - Elaine LOVES this lipstick and I've had my eye on it for awhile, I've got quite dark lips so the lip butters don't do too much for me but its a easy and light alternative to my Topshop Infrared lipstick - I also love using a bit of it on my cheeks when I don't have any blusher with me.

Do you use any of these products?

Rachel

Not So Favourites

Bit of a random post but I wanted to let you know which of the products I have bought and have decided to give away or stop using and the reason why, I always get new makeup or beauty products on a whim love them in the shop then get home and realise they aren't for me, I've lost count of the things that I have given to Rachel! So here are a few of the recent ones!

Aveda Shampure Shampoo and Conditioner

I normally love Aveda products especially their gorgeous scent, they are pretty pricey for a shampoo and conditioner so they are normally presents. I like this shampoo but I found that I was using it less and less, as my hair seemed to get greasy more quickly than normal so I would have to wash my hair each day or use a lot of dry shampoo to eventually just tie my hair up. I think this is better for people with normal to thick hair which isn't mine, so Rachel got this!

Simple Moisturising Face Wash

I love the Simple range, and I bought this over the winter as my skin was feeling a bit raw from the cold, but I haven't really used it as I find it's a bit thick for my skin type and I could never be sure I had washed it off 100%. It does leave your skin feeling lovely and would recommend it to people with dry skin (so Rachel's getting this). 
I now use the Simple foaming face wash and love it!  

Clarins Day and Night Moisturiser
I got the sample sizes of these moisturisers in the Febraury (I think) Glossybox, everyone seems to rave about Clairns, but I found that these moisturisers were too thick for me and I only used them a couple of times and gave them to Rachel, and she wasn't that impressed with them either.

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation Shade 51 & Healthy Mix Foundation Shade 52

I bought the healthy mix serum foundation first and initially loved it but found that it seemed to white out all the colour in my face so thought I would just get the next shade up... simple right... wrong, it was far too dark and even too dark for Rachel! Despite the colour disaster I'm not that impressed with either foundation the coverage at the start of the day is good but by the end of the day at work it had completely gone and my face was really shiny. I know that the claim is 16 hour raidiance not 16 hour coverage but 8 hours would have been good! 

17 Matte Foundation in shade Natural

I talked about this in a Boots haul a few posts ago so I won't go on about it. I haven't really used it since I bought it and tried it out for a couple of weeks, it's that bit too dark for me but the main reason I don't think to use it is the sticky consistency I just find it hard work to put on, and if I don't spend time on it I end up with streaks. 

L'Oreal Magique BB Cream in shade Fair

I loved this when I first got it, and I still really like it, but after using it for a couple of weeks I have just seem to have stopped picking it up, because I just never think to put it on. I love the 'nude' feel that you get from this BB cream but I have to admit the light shade is far from that and the lack of coverage isn't good for me at the minute as my skin is awful.

This product is definitely for people who dont like wearing foundation and even find BB creams like Garnier or No7 too much. I really like this product but I am debating whether to keep it for the summer or give it away to a friend with darker skin...

As you may have guessed from the amount of foundations I have abandoned I have trouble getting the right foundation, I have oily skin but I am also pale, but a pinky pale so find that when I get the lighter shades they take away all the colour I have and I look a bit ill! So when I think I have the perfect shade in the shop it very rarely is when I get home... 


We will be doing a drugstore foundation review soon!

Do you have any products that you have abandoned recently?

Elaine

L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream Review

I saw this is in Superdrug the other day, and tested it on my hand and had to have it! I got it for £10.99 but Superdrug had all L'Oreal make up on 3 for 2, I tried to see how much it was at Boots but they didn't have it on their website but they do have selected L'Oreal make up on buy one get the second half price.

So L'Oreal say - Discover our new make up sensation that helps to recreate the texture and glow of perfect nude looking skin. Beyond Make up, beyond skin care, new Nude Magique BB cream is the ultimate all in one perfecting cream. A feather light hydrator which transforms on contact with skin, releasing smart pigment capsules to correct tone, cover imperfections and refine skin texture. With up to 24 hour hydration and SPF 12, you can have all the benefits of skin care with the perfecting properties of make up.

The BB cream comes in two tones, I bought Fair, the colour is a little bit darker than my natural skin colour but not by too much, it's a bit lighter than the Garnier light BB cream. When you first put the cream on your hand it comes out white with a hint or bluish specks then when you rub it on your skin it changes colour. I found that the cream seemed to be a bit gritty but I didn't find it off putting.

The cream is very light and does give a bare skin feel which is great if you find other BB creams such as Garnier a bit heavy. I found it did give an even finish on my skin but it only has a very light coverage so it's not the best at covering imperfections such as spots. I also am not convinced about the hydrating qualities as I have a dry forehead and it does feel dry when I have this on, so I will continue to use moistuiser on my forehead especially when the weather is cold. On a plus though I found that this cream didn't make my nose and chin too oily even without pressed powder, which is great because I can get very oily skin.

I would definitely buy this again and would recommend it my friends, it's a great alternative to foundation.

L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream & MUA Love Heart Collection

I nipped into Superdrug last night after work and was so pleased to see the MUA love heart collection, I had seen a few bloggers talking about it and really wanted to try some of the products, I got a tinted lipbalm in Sugar Lips and a yellowy nail varnish in U and I. 

 

I was just about to leave then I noticed that L'Oreal had launched their own BB cream called Nude Maqique BB Cream, I had no intention of buying it as I use No7's BB cream, but I tired it on my hand and I loved it instantly. It comes out as a white cream and changes colour when you rub it on your skin, and it feels very very light so it really does give a 'nude' skin feel, I'm trying it out for the next few days so a review will follow.

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