Monthly Archives: August 2012

Estee Lauder Invisible Fluid Makeup Review

August 31, 2012
By
estee and headington 093

If you visit the Estee Lauder UK page on Facebook you can click on their links to find a store near you that is giving out 10 day samples of their foundations. I asked at the Estee Lauder counter in my local Boots store, and although the sales assistant hadn’t actually heard of the Facebook promotion (oops!) she was happy to match my shade in their popular “Invisible Fluid Foundation” and gave me a little bottle of it to take away. The promotional phrase for this product is “See no make up, Feel no make up” and “The newest way to go flawless”, this sounds like a bit of a contradiction in terms as flawlessness with a very light coverage seems like a bold claim. As you know, I’ll try any foundation with an open mind, so let’s have a go at this one… This is the little sample in my…

Read more »

Nails of the Now: Blue Bokeh Spangles – More Poundland Polish

August 30, 2012
By
sparklenails 008

Yes, the above photo is totally out of focus, but look at the bokeh on that! I tried for ages with both my cameras to capture some of what the sparkle of this manicure actually looks like, and fell pretty short. This glitter polish is alive with reflections and multicoloured spangling. It’s impossible to get a good image of. Here are some more tries… For this manicure I applied a base coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Base and Top Coat. My nails have been a bit peely lately and a bit of base coat can help as well as protecting from staining.  I then applied two coats of Sinful Colors Professional Nail Enamel in All Mighty which I picked up in Poundland for just £1. It’s an American import but you can also pick it up from Amazon at about £2.99 a bottle. It’s a lovely rich shade in a nice…

Read more »

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Review

August 29, 2012
By
DSC_0843

When Benefit’s “Hello Flawless” foundation came out, I went to the Benefit counter at Debenhams to have a test makeover with it. You can click here to read that post. I know everyone has different ways of doing things, but I can’t say that I was happy with the effect that the sales assistant achieved when she applied it on me. For a start, she missed my nose. I mean, no offence, but that thing is hard to miss! Maybe it was so conspicuous she didn’t want to touch it and get big noseness on her somehow? Anyway, I was really keen to try the foundation but she didn’t have any take-home samples and I wasn’t keen on buying it based on the results instore.   Skip forward a few weeks, and I went back to the Benefit counter in Truro to find the lovely Lucy is now working there. She was…

Read more »

Why my beauty routine is important to me…

August 28, 2012
By
images

      Picture a woman. She is tall, in her early thirties, and somewhat overweight. Look closely… She has hair that is almost entirely grey and white, it is thick and wavy, and very frizzy. The roots of her hair are clumped with dandruff and her scalp is sore and it itches. She has a cold sore and her lips are chapped and dry Her eyes, behind glasses for short sight, look piggy and small. She has buck teeth, which are stained yellow, and her breath is bad. Her nose and eyes stream constantly from dust allergies and allergic rhinitis. She sneezes powerfully, up to fifty times every day. Her body is covered almost everywhere with fine, dark hairs. She has allergic skin rashes and eczema, worst at knees and elbows where it scabs and weeps. She has callused feet, and a verucca seemingly burrowing into her bones. Her…

Read more »

MUA Offer!

August 22, 2012
By
OFFER

Hey guys, I’ve just seen this on the MUA site, they have £1 off two of their best palettes (making them £3 each!) and their gel eyeliner and Every Lash mascara (making them just £2 each) until 28th August. I’m very tempted to cave and purchase the Undressed palette, which is  a shade-for-shade dupe of the Urban Decay Naked palette. I’ve liked the look of Naked and Naked2 but I prefer to spend money on brighter colours and the UD Nakeds seem expensive to me for subtle shades, just £3 for incredibly similar shades is an amazing deal though! Gel eyeliners are excellent products, part way between a pencil and a liquid liner. At £2 each, if you’ve been wanting to try one, this is a brilliant price. This post isn’t sponsored or affiliated, I just like MUA and wanted to give you the heads up! Do you own any…

Read more »

Adventures in hair removal: first time epilation with a Satin Perfect Epilator

August 21, 2012
By
philips-hp6578-satin-perfect-epilator_4

I’ve mentioned before that I use a mens Gilette Mach 3 original razor for all my hair removal needs. It’s brilliant, after trying loads of other brands of razors, wax strips and depilatory cream, Mach 3 has been my favourite for years because it gives brilliant results without any irritation, the blades stay sharp for lots of uses, and I can get a smooth result anywhere on my body with lightning speed using it. I’m quite lucky that although my hair is dark, it’s not particularly thick or coarse, so I’m not particularly preoccupied with it. I do like to have a smooth finish to my skin so I shave regularly, but I’m more concerned with the feel than the look. If someone is inspecting my exposed calf with a magnifying glass and spots some stubble, that’s their weirdness parade, not mine! Just recently I moved house, once again *yawn*…

Read more »

‘Tis the season to be … sweaty?

August 19, 2012
By
mary-kate-olsen-bronze-look

Hi everyone! I haven’t updated in the past few days, I know! Yes I’m still  unwell but that’s not the whole of the reason anymore. It’s been… somewhat hot the past few days. Yesterday recorded the highest temperatures in the UK for the year and today has dawned toasty warm too. When it is properly August-hot, in the high twenties of the centigrade scale, everyone’s make-up struggles. Even using my Urban Decay Primer Potion and mineral eyeshadows I’ve still had some creasing and fading of my eye make-up, a little smudgy no-no if I dare use my eyeliner pencils. For me, in these few days where the sun really beats down, make-up becomes a bit of a Sisyphean task, by the time I’ve finished patching it up, it needs a new patch applied. As a punky teen I didn’t worry about these restrictions and joyfully let my wodges of black eyeliner…

Read more »

Maybelline Dream Fresh 8-in-1 BB Cream Review

August 12, 2012
By
DSC_0941

You might remember from my post earlier in the week that I sent off for and received a free sample pack of Maybelline Dream Fresh 8-in-1 BB Skin Perfector from the Maybelline UK Facebook Page. The sample pack contains three small sachets (1ml each) in the “light” shade. Three samples in a row, wait! I’ve used one already… I’ve tried a few BB creams for you already, and interestingly it seems to me that each one I’ve tried, the brand has interpreted what BB should be (as if it should be anything, obviously!) in a different way. There’s the basically just a light foundation interpretation of the Garnier BB Cream and there’s the strange, matte, delightful chameleon interpretation of the L’Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream, and then there is this one. Here is some on my hand. It’s a thin cream texture like a liquid foundation. Interestingly, the sample shade is actually…

Read more »

Stila Foundation Sponges at Poundland

August 11, 2012
By
DSC_1019

What’s in the box? High quality sponges are great for applying compact foundation, powder and other products, and decent ones can be pretty expensive, so I was pretty pleased to find these gems at Poundland on Monday. Excellent Photobomb from my handknitted Sackboy above! Each white box contains three boxes of two powder foundation sponges, so that’s six high quality make up sponges for £1! The sponges themselves are packaged in individual plastic packets for hygiene, and when you open it, they feel that mid point between spongey and rubbery which is the nicest texture for applying powder foundation and similar products. Very pleased to find something so useful there – I need to replace the sponges in my MAC compacts and I wasn’t enjoying the prices in stores that sell suitable replacements. I’ll be going back to Poundland for another rummage a.s.a.p! Have you found any good bargains lately?…

Read more »

Washing and Drying Make Up Brushes

August 10, 2012
By
DSC_1016

I’m definitely not an expert in taking care of my brushes, but I do wash them! Brush laundry is kind of a chore, but I hate the idea of face bacteria and old make up together mulching away on the used brushes for weeks – ick. I try to do them on a Sunday if I get round to it. This isn’t a tutorial but this is how I wash mine. If any of these steps are super stupid, tell me!   1. Sink full of tepid or slightly warm water, swish brush part of the brush in the water, trying not to immerse the ferrule (bristle holder) or handle too much 2. Gently soap up the bristles with gentle handwash or shampoo 3. Swish in water to rinse 4. Then rinse in running water to get the swish water off. Rinse a lot. Rinsing is key to washing. 5.…

Read more »

Bee Loves Tweets

Error: Twitter did not respond. Please wait a few minutes and refresh this page.

Find Bee Loves onHellocotton

Like this on Facebook