MORE bargains! Stila

After my last (dreadful) experience with Stila, I was in two minds whether to pick up any more, but these were such a bargain that I thought even if they're awful, it's not too much of a loss.  I picked up four loose shadows and a smudge post in Jade for just £10! Thank goodness for the random bargains you can find in TJ Hughes ... Then I discovered that I'd actually bought two shadows which were the same colour, but hey ho ... look out for it in a giveaway soon!

Onto the swatches etc, first the loose shadows:

I have numbers 7, 3 and 12, as you can see they're all very shimmery, 7 is a nice metallic taupe, 3 is a very pretty lilac, and 12 is a soft copper.  Here's how they look on the skin:

 

 

As you can see, they swatch pretty sheer, but the colour pay-off is still better than last time. These have been swatched dry over bare skin, I expect if swatched wet, or over a primer they'd be a lot more vivid.

Here's the smudge pot, I like this mossy green a great deal, and I'm a bit annoyed they didn't have any other colours that I could find:

 

The colour pay-off in this is excellent, and it blends well.  I'm really looking forward to getting on with some FotD's with these.

Whee! Squared ...

150 followers, wow!  As a little gesture of thanks, I'll put together a giveaway for you soon ....

You're all great, thank you so much! Incidentally, if you have a blog and I'm not following you already, leave me a comment on this post, and I'll get around to updating my blogroll very soon!

Makeover: Helen

Ah ... back in the makeover swing of things after the Christmas break, it's nice to have them back!

Please welcome Helen, here she is giving it her best "Prisoner Cell Block H" pose:

Helen wanted a very simple, daytime look that she could easily replicate herself, that would make her look more "polished".  We picked some nice, neutral shades to suit her skin-tone, and that would be easy to apply in a rush.

As always, we started with the base, we thought that using a tinted moisturiser would be the best thing, so we wouldn't have to "mess about" with moisturiser and foundation and powder.  I used Benefit You Rebel in light, with a little light concealor under Helen's eyes to even out the little dark circles she has there:

This left us with a nice, sheeny glow.  Then we moved onto the eyemakeup. We had picked out the Paul & Joe eyeshadow I bought recently in 95, which is a lovely rose-gold shade, as we thought it went very well with Helen's eyes:

As you can see from the picture above, it's very natural-looking.   I applied it in an almond shape all over the eyelid, up to the brow-bone, then replicated it on the other eye:

 

 

 

Helen seemed quite impressed!  In order to emphasise the  blueness of Helen's eyes, I used a Chanel chocolate-brown eyeliner on the top lid, and added a tiny amount of Clinique liner in charcoal under the bottom lashes.

Once I'd finished off the eyes with a smudge of Clarins Wonder Perfect (currently my HG mascara) on the lashes, I applied a dab of Cargo Illuminator in Wind to Helen's amazing cheekbones:

Then I realised it needed a bit more blending in, so taking a soft fluffy brush, I did just that!  To give a llittle sheen to Helen's lips, I applied a layer of Clarins Joli Rouge in fig, which is a lovely soft reddish shade, with a lot of illuminating particles:

 

 

I think she liked it!

Here's the before and after:

It's a very simple look, with a minimum of fuss and products used, but I think it polished Helen up a  treat.  What do you think?

Review - By Terry Or De Rose Baume

Oh, this looked like a little pot of gorgeous in the store:

It smells delicious, looks pretty, and makes all kinds of wonderful claims on the packaging, so I bought it.  Oh, when will I learn?  This is the limited edition version of the fast-becoming-a-cult product By Terry Baume de Rose, which, according to Space NK (yes, them again) is a "Rejuvenating, reparative, strengthening, nourishing and anti-ageing" wonder product that works on lips, cuticles and, well, practically anywhere else you want to put it.  So, a bit like 8 Hour Cream then, only without that gross "liniment" smell that can sometimes be so off-putting.

I got some SpaceNK vouchers just before Christmas, and I splurged on a pot.  This costs £45!  Now, I'm no stranger to expensive lip balms (my Holy Grail lipbalm remains Sisley Nutritiv, and that's £33 a pop!), but this shocked even me.  I guess it's because that lovely sparkly effect you can see in the second picture there is made by lots of flakes of pure 24k rose gold.  But ... even so.

And actually, it's those rose-gold flakes that make this product a bit of a duffer, if you ask me.  Now, the thing I like about pot-balms (as opposed to sticks) is that they tend to be more versatile, meaning you can use them in places you wouldn't dream of putting more traditional balms.  I use 8hr cream (and my Badger Balms) like some people use Vaseline. I stick it on scrapes, cuts, burns, zits, cuticles, in my hair, around my eyes, and on the odd occasion, I've even been known to use it as a lip product.  But this stuff is GLITTERY.  Really, very GLITTERY. And that glitter gets EVERYWHERE.  And it's scratchy glitter too.  Urgh.

Don't get me wrong, as a lip product it's ... well, it's okay. It's not as moisturising as some other balms (Sisley, Badger Balm, and 8 Hour Cream all knock it into a cocked hat for that), but it's not a dreadful one either.  It is better than many Nivea or Blistex products, for example.  But my problem is that damn glitter!  You can't use the balm on your cuticles unless you want to shed glitter onto any porous material you come into contact throughout the day, and you can't put it anywhere on your face - except your lips - unless you want to look like you like you let a 3yr old with ADHD and a Barbie obsession put on your makeup.  Apparently, the balm (sorry, baume) is meant to give you a sheeny glow, but glitter is not glow, and I wish cosmetic firms would stop mistaking the two.  It's a shame really, as I own a couple of By Terry products, mainly eyeshadows, and they're very good.

It does, however, make an excellent base for lipstick, but at £45 a pop, I won't be re-purchasing.  Ever.

Saturday Link Love!

Well, it's Saturday at Get Lippie (I'm hoping it's Saturday where you are too, I'm losing track of what day it is at the moment, still not entirely back in the swing of  things after being ill over Christmas!) and that's the day I show you some great posts from about the Beauty Blog Link Love network.  Please check them out!

theNotice is hosting a New Year's giveaway with lots of discontinued or hard-to-find items, and everyone has three chances to win!

Priminition, an expose on primers - over at Jeweled Thumb

A go-to  neutral purple-beige look from Maggie at The Polka-Dotted Apple!

Krasey Beauty warms it up for winter with a golden makeup look using Chanel's Spring 2010 collection

This week at I Heart Cosmetics Sarah has been loving  Mac's warm and cozy collection 

Vex in the City explains why Dr Hauschka Rose Day Cream is all she needs to beat her winter blues

Amy over at Yoetke Beauty Blog is taking L'Oreal's 4-Week Lashboost Challenge!

Arianne can't stop raving about her holy grail foundation (OMG!) on Glitter Geek.

Lisa Kate has some Sparkle Approved Mineral Makeup Companies to share with you!

LiAnn asks what beauty products you tried that made you say "meh" 

Retrodiva wants to know what your signature fragrance is! 

Jellyminx Thinks swatches Sleek Eyeshadow palettes 

Hot Beauty Health share some sexy haircolor ideas to start the new year off fresh!

Over at Lipglossiping this week, Charlotte contemplates life with triangle hair.

This week at Get Lippie, Louise tries out a Scarlet Johanssen-style makeover.

 
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I'm going to be spending mine writing blog posts and finally doing those FotDs I've been promising you ... what're you up to?