Organic Wednesday - Balm Balm

My love for lipbalms is well known worldwide (seriously, I don't think Badger have forgiven me for kicking up such a fuss about Chai Rose yet, but they're still lovely people! And lovely balms too), so I thought I might be forgiven for talking about yet another one that I really like.

BalmBalm I love, because unlike a lot of organic companies, their labelling is clear, and they don't make claims that their products can't possibly live up to.  Plus, their products are both 100% natural and 100% organic, which is a refreshing change at the moment. If you saw my post last week, you'll know simply how refreshing it is to see a company commit to it's aims properly without resorting to desperate claims for it's products (SLS-free face powder anyone?  Oh no! I'll really miss that lovely foaming action!) in order to seem more "worthy".

Okay, I'll come down off my soapbox now.  The other major reason I'm a big fan of BalmBalm is the simply beautiful scent of the rose geranium balm, I have this one in a pot my the bed, in a tube in my handbag, and now, in the new lipbalm-sized tube which I'll be taking everywhere with me.  But if you're not a fan of flowery scents, the balms also come in unscented and tea-tree varieties.  If you have any other scents that you're a fan of, you can add a couple of drops to the unscented variety and make yourself a customised flavour - I'm always tempted to make a proper rose-scented one (not artificially flavoured and pumped full petrochemicals like some rose balms - which shall remain nameless - are), it'd be like smothering yourself in Turkish Delight ...

Where was I? Oh yes, the balms are vegetarian (not vegan - although I understand some vegans will use bee-products) and have a shea butter, jojoba and beeswax base, meaning they're a bit more solid than some balms you can use, but I don't find this a problem as it means a little goes a very long way once you've warmed it on your  fingers or played with the tube in your hands a bit before applying.

I'm looking forward to trying the tea-tree variety, as I think it'd be just the ticket for cold-sore affected lips, or on spots!  How else do you use lipbalms?

Balm Balm lipbalms cost £3.99 (£2.99 for a tub!) and are available from Balm Balm's website and well-known health food shops. Plus you can read the Balm Balm Blog here.  Glenda's lovely, do go and say hello!

Review - Philip Kingsley Elasticiser

I was recently invited to a PR event where we were introduced to look at some new brands, and one of the products we were invited to try was this pre-shampoo treatment for dry hair from Philip Kingsley. I’ll be honest, I thought Philip Kingsley was a celebrity hairdresser, and I was a bit embarrassed to discover that he’s actually a trichologist (and has been for 50 years!) who believes that healthy hair starts with a healthy scalp.
Elasticizer was first introduced 26 years ago, and it’s still going strong, mainly because it works.  Here’s what Kerry had to say about her experience using it:
“Rarely do I get to take a bath with something so exciting... 
My hair is highlighted, over-straightened, overdue for a trim, dry, porous and frizzy.  So the promise of shine, bounce and manageability was impossible to resist and I had read good things about this product.

You can either apply the elasticizer, comb through and then shampoo out immediately or leave it on as a mask for 10-20 minutes.  I really wanted this to work, so I decided to give it a full 20 minutes to do it's magic.

You need to apply this product on wet hair before shampooing, which I thought sounded a bit strange, but actually wasn't too bad.  I applied liberally to my wet hair and covered it with the nice little branded shower cap included in the box.

The product had a nice thick, rich texture.  Moisturising, but not greasy feeling.  This is perfect for my hair, which does need a rich conditioner, although it might be quite heavy on fine hair and the instructions do suggest being a bit more sparing with the product if this is your hair.  There is no particularly strong scent to the product.  It doesn't smell 'scented', but neither does it smell of yucky underlying ingredients.

Although I did apply the product pretty liberally it didn't look like I'd used much out of the pot, so I reckon it would last you quite a long time, at least 10 treatments I would think.

After 20 minutes, the product rinsed out easily, not leaving any residue even before I'd shampooed it out.  As per the instructions, I used shampoo and conditioner in the normal way.

I then dried and styled my hair with all my usual products.  My hair was noticeably softer and silkier to touch.  It styled much straighter and more easily than normal.  In fact, it was almost too silky to style!!

The next day, it still feels very soft to touch and has only started to frizz a little on the ends, although it has been a pretty damp day (and my hair does need cutting).  It does suggest using the product regularly for the best results and I am sure I would notice a definite improvement in the condition of my hair if I used this as a weekly treatment.  In fact, that's exactly what I will be doing!!”
How do you look after your dry hair?

Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadows

I was sent these little lovelies last week by Urban Decay, and I’m delighted to bring you some swatches as I’ve not been able to find any more details about them in the UK!
They’re the latest in sparkly eyeshadows, here’s what Urban Decay says about them: 
“An explosion of stars. Stardust shadows’ silky texture delivers an incredible amount of sophisticated, twinkling sparkle. Boasting 40% more glitter than our most sparkly shadows, Stardust delivers a sheer wash of color, topped with teeny bits of iridescent sparkle that glisten like wet snow.”
I received the shades 54 and Moon Spoon (and how I wish it were called Button Moon!) which are a lovely light lavender-purple and an iridescent grey, respectively.
I love the squeezy rubber packaging, they’re great fun to use, and they do indeed sparkle and twinkle in the package. Urban Decay say you will get no fall out with these, so I put them to the test, but first off, here are some hand-swatches:
First things first, Urban Decay aren’t kidding when they say these are sheer!  I’ve swatched these over Urban Decay Primer Potion here (there’s a dot of UDPP in the centre of these swatches, and the shadow has been swatched in a much larger circle around them), you can see there’s a hint of purple on the 54 swatch, but you can barely pick up the colour of the Moon Spoon at all.  Here’s a swatch from a different angle:

These are very shimmery, and very lovely. They’re not gritty (surprisingly non-gritty, in fact!) and the fact that they’re so sheer actually makes them a lot more versatile than they would be if they were more highly pigmented. I’ve not experienced much fall out, and they’re very definitely NOT chunky glitter.  Here’s a look I created – and wore to the office! – recently with Moon Spoon:

Apologies for the slight creasing there, this was taken after I’d  been wearing it for around 14 hours.  This is a base of the two lightest colours of my Chanel Kaska Beige quad, (with a Kat von D King Cobra liner, more about that later this week!), and with some of the Moon Spoon pressed over the top.  It just gave me a gorgeously glossy shadow look without being too OTT for day wear.
These shadows really come alive under artificial light though, and I’ll bring you some more looks with them when I’ve had a chance to see how they work foiled.
Urban Decay Stardust shadows are available in 9 colours (including white and black) and will be available from Boots and Debenhams stockists very soon, will you be picking any up?

And we have a winner!

Or winners, rather!  The lucky winners are the comments numbered:

Winner of the Liz Earle package (comment number 46) is Beauty Junkie London

And winner of the mystery package of goodies (comment number 8) is JellyMinx

Congratulations to both of you! And thank you very much to every single one of you who entered, it's been great fun, and I'll be doing this again soon.

Makeover: Rebecca

I recently put out a call on my blog for volunteers for makeovers, and the lovely Rebecca from Le Salon de Beaute had volunteered almost before I’d finished writing the post!  Take a look at her blog if you get a chance, it’s a lovely one, and I’m a big fan.
Anyway, this is Rebecca refusing to give me her best “Prisoner Cell Block H” impression.
I was a bit nervous during this makeover, as Rebecca is a talented makeup artist in her own right, so I was really putting my amateur skills to the test here.
As always, we start with the base.  Rebecca has very pale skin, and I had a little trouble matching her up with my small foundation supply, but the nearest match we came up with was – once again – Max Factor Seamless in Porcelain:

It’s evened out her skintone well (it’s a foundation I use a LOT), but I can’t help thinking it’s  just a touch too warm on Rebecca’s skin.
We had a fun time picking out some colours to use, and eventually we decided to do something a bit different, and went for a pink and burgundy smokey eye.  As a colour wash, I used ELF’s Shimmering Facial Whip in Pink Lemonade:

It’s a lovely soft pink shade that you can use anywhere on your face, and it makes a nice eyeshadow base too. 
It’s not as scarily bright as you might think on the eyes, and I thought it was a lovely, brightening shade.  In order to smoke it out, I used Korres 77s eyeshadow in plum, which is a lovely  burgundy, and an eyeshadow that I use very often.  I used it as a liner, and to define the outer V of the mobile eyelid and into the crease:
I then finished off the eyes with a sweep of Bourjois Ultra Care mascara (full review of that coming soon!) and added a little of MAX lipgloss in VI to Rebecca’s lips:

I think she liked it:


Here’s the before and after: 

Thanks so much for taking part, Rebecca! It was lots and lots of fun!

Giveaway Reminder!

So, did you enter my giveaway yet? Alongside your choice of either Liz Earle skincare or pefume, I’ve added some goodies from Stargazer (IMATS exclusive!), Clinique and Balm Balm.  The second prize gift includes a skincare set from Jason, and there might be a little something from Lancome in there too … there are

some other little surprises in the bags as well!

So, please, become a follower (there’s a link just over there on the right –>), and add a comment to the post on this link There are only two more days to enter, I’ll be making the draw on Sunday evening!

Thank you everyone for reading, I’ve been at this for six months now, and it’s been amazing!

Technorati Tags: Giveaway,Random

Estee Lauder - Michael Kors

More beige, and yet I want this collection so badly.  Someone needs to talk me down ... I have enough make up! 

... Don't I? I also think I need the Bobbi Brown summer corals collection.  I love me some coral ...

Any things you are looking forward to seeing appear in the shops over the next couple of months?