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Fave 4 – Nars Pure Matte Lipsticks

LIPS | REVIEW – Make Mine Matte.

Today’s post is something I have wanted to do for a while, I have a to-do list longer than my desk right now with ideas being added to the scribble daily.

Without realising I seem to favour wearing matte lipsticks rather than creme finishes or glosses. I counted 4 of the Nars Pure Matte lipsticks in my everyday makeup bag so decided to write a post on why I seem to have this little obsession, how they look on and what lipliner would look best with them.

Firstly it’s worth noting that these are 4 completely different colours which with probably benefit a wider spectrum of people as there should be at least one that will suit everyone.

View the gallery below to see the shades

In image 5 you will see I have placed the co-ordinating lipliner alongside the lipstick,

Nars Pure Matte Lipstick in Carthage.

This is a show stopping intense pink, definitely not for the faint hearted this is more on the cooler side of fuchsia I’d say it’s teetering on the edge of highlighter pink! Looks great with grey smoky eyes or graphic eyeliner. I line my lips with NYX pinky then fill with Carthage. Perfect marriage.

Nars Pure Matte Lipstick Val Paraiso

This shade may be more suited to winter I hear you say, actually this is an every season colour in my opinion as it has the modern but mature sexiness that begs for simple make-up or you can go all out vixen with darker eyes. I love this with buffed up highlighted skin and a silk wash across the eyes for uber sophistication.

Nars Pure Matte Lipstick Moscow

Moscow is on of those colours that may be a good introduction to reds for those a little intimated by a statement lip. It makes lips stand out but doesn’t scream “look at my lippie” it’s quite understated but assertive enough to show you aren’t afraid of a little colour. It also wears quite well so you don’t need to be on constant lip watch.

Nars Pure Matte Lipstick Montego Bay

This is hands down my favourite everyday lipstick, well this and Dolce Vita which is also a Nars Lipstick. This just looks so natural but gives my lips the definition they need. I feel they look fuller in comparison to using other nude lipsticks and look great with heavier or sweetheart( as I call it) style makeup. I will wear this mostly with MyFace nude lipliner or if I want that 90′s supermodel or Bardot look I use MAC spice for a slightly more defined lip line.

Matte lipsticks have this stigma attached to them that they make lips dry and fall off, ok slight exaggeration but people do think it makes lips chapped. True for some formulas but I find these have the matte finish but keep the lips feeling hydrated, I have Moscow on as I write this and as I press my lips together I can feel the creaminess of the product rather than a tight chalky sensation. These are made with Wild Mango Butter so your lips are taken care of.

I do find they feel less hydrating than usual creme finish lipsticks but that’s a given and the beauty with Matte’s is they last longer on the lips. Invest in one that’s more hydrating even if it is more expensive as the cheaper mattes don’t contain the extra moisturising ingredients.

These are around £18.50 and can be found in Selfridges, SpaceNK, House Of Frazer and more

 

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Richard Reviews – Palmer’s Cocoa Butter MEN Review

SKINCARE | MEN – An affordable No Hassle Lotion For Men.

Palmers Cocoa Butter is a beauty classic loved by many and now they have now launched a new version dedicated to MEN. Not that the original is particularly feminine in any way but the new range has a sleek grey bottle and the scent is noticeably different, although you still have the usual sweet/nutty Palmers scent you can also detect a fresh masculine fragrance. I purchased this for my other half as he likes mild scents during the day then the stronger cologne on an evening.

The Gallery

 

Having previously loved the original Palmers for years he was keen to give this a go and after using it religiously for around 3 weeks he was delighted to not have any dry skin on his face – which I can confirm!
His skin looks more even and glowing and I’ve also noticed he has had fewer in-grown facial hairs.

Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion for Men contains pure cocoa butter, is fast-absorbing and contains Vitamin E for maximum protection. Skin feels moisturised without that heavy/greasy texture and remains hydrated all day.

Richard tells me this has 100% replaced Palmers Original, I just hope they make  travel sized version for holidays!

I purchased this at Sainsburys but I’m sure you can find this everywhere.

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Inside May’s Glossy Box 2013

GlossyBox are celebrating 2 great years since their arrival in the UK. They have taken the beauty box world by storm and provided some pretty impressive samples. I’m very excited by the generous Caudalie dry oil sample, the mutli-use product has been a fav amongst many a beauty editor.

What’s Inside?

 

Caudalie Divine Oil – A dry oil packed with skin loving ingredients and has the subtle scent of Moroccan and Bulgarian Roses, Pink Grapefruit and spicy Pink Pepper. It can be used on the skin, hair and nails and a few drops makes the most ‘divine’ smelling bath.

Harmony Moisturisng Creme Balm - A gentle moisturising balm that sinks into the skin quickly, leaves no residue and has a light mild scent. The lemongrass oil soothes breakouts and reduces excess oil secretion.

Beautiful Movements Prime & Create Primer – A silky gel primer that dries to a soft matte finish and can be mixed with foundations and eyeshadows to create a range of textures. The creates a satin soft base making the foundation appear more flawless.

Givency Noir Couture Mascara – The wand on this looks a little awkward but it actually works quite well, I can’t give a full review however.

Nails Inc Portobello – I’m a huge fan of bright orange nail shades and this new neon colour from Nails Inc did not disappoint! This is part of their neon range perfect for Summer

Bonus – Small Emery Boards

Visit GlossyBox.co.uk to find out more

 

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Review – No7 Lift and Luminate Dark Spot Corrector

REVIEW | SKINCARE – The Final Conclusion.

It has been exactly 1 month since I put the No7 Dark Spot corrector* on trial, so what did I think and more importantly did it work?

I have been using the product morning and evening before moisturiser and after cleansing, the product itself was very easy to use. It was a case of squeeze the tube and roll onto the pigmented area. Unfortunately after 4 weeks I have seen no change but it does state in the results that it is proven to brighten within 3 months so maybe it needed more time.

See the gallery below of images after using the treatment for 4 weeks.

N07 lift  & Luminate

N07 lift  & Luminate

On bare skin (excuse the wet hair, was straight out of the shower)
N07 lift  & Luminate

How the area looks with makeup on
N07 lift  & Luminate

Everyone’s skin is different so even though it didn’t work for me it may work for you but be persistent with these things. Leave it out on the bedside table or with your other creams so that you remember to use it.

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MACs RiRi Woo Lipstick

MAKEUP | NEW – Is It Worth The Hype?

There’s been a huge woo ha – get it? about the new celebrity lipstick launched by MAC cosmetics. Ruby Woo SORRY RiRi Woo has caused quite the stir in the beauty world. It sold out in 3 hours leaving many with empty shopping carts and aching fingers from constant page refreshing. Don’t be disheartened though fellow make-up lovers, Temptalia has a great in-depth review with clear images to show us it’s not so different from Ruby Woo! Check out her conclusion of the two over on her site.

RIRI woo

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Storage Ideas – The Skincare & Base Drawer

STORAGE | MAKEUP – In My Drawer #1.

It’s been a long time since I created a storage post and it’s changed a little since. I have accumulated a lot of makeup since 2011 and have separated my personal everyday items from my make-up kit. I have 2 large Ikea Malm drawers which are both full. There’s so much to get through so I’m just showing my first, most used drawer today.

In here I keep my most used skincare and my base products so foundation, tinted moisturiser, primer, highlighters, concealers and bronzers.

how to organise makeup

how to organise makeup

Inside…

Light Coverage Bases.

how to organise makeup
1 – Stila Sheer Cover in Medium
2 – Nars Pure Radiant tinted moisturiser in Finland
3 – Chantecaille Just Skin – Glow
4 – No7 Beautiful Skin BB cream – Fair
5 – Ginvera BB Cream – Universal shade (too dark for me however)
6 – Embroylise BB Cream – Universal shade (too dark for me again and dry)
7 – Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser in Nude

 

Light – Medium Bases.

how to organise makeup storage
1 – Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum – 53
2 – Rimmel Wake Me Up – 200 soft beige
3 – Hello Flawless – Ivory
4 – Jemma Kidd Pro Skin Rescue nude p1
5 – Jemma Kidd Pro Skin Rescue nude y1

 

Medium and Waterproof Foundations.

makeup storage

1 – Look Beauty Flawless fix – light
2 – Look Beauty Flawless fix – Medium
3 – Look Beauty Flawless fix – Dark
4 – CID I-perfection – Cinnamon
5 – Makeup Atelier Waterproof foundation – FLW2NB
6 – Makeup Atelier Waterproof foundation – FLW3NB
7 – Chantecaille Future Skin – Alabaster

 

Highlighters and Concealers.

makeup storage

1 – Benefit Fake Up  – Light
2 – Me Me Me – Pearl Pink
3 – Benefit High Beam
4 – Nars Concealer – Vanilla
5 – Nars Laguna
6 – Nars Orgasm
7 – MAC Cream Colour Base – Vrigin Isle
8 – MAC Cream Colour Base – Shell
9 – MAC Cream Colour Base – Pearl
10 – MAC Cream Colour Base – Hush

 

Highlighters and Primers.

makeup storage

1 – MAC Luster Drops – Pink Rebel
2 – Benefit Porefessional
3 – Laura Mercier Foundation Primer
4 – Laura Mercier Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser
5 – MAC Strobe Cream
6 – Michael Todd Eye primer
7 – Nars eye primer

 

Powders and Bronzers.

makeup Storage

1 – Mally Primer
2 – Laura Mercier loose powder
3 – Chanel Bronze Universal
4 – Look Beauty Glow
5 – Daniel Sandler Sculpt and Slim powder
6 – Daniel Sandler Dual Action Makeup Remover

 

Cleansers and Elixer

makeup storage

1 – Loreal Skin Perfection
2 – Nude day moisturiser
3 – Nude Cleansing Oil
4 – Caudalie Beauty Elixer

 

Deep Cleaners, Masks and Oils.

makeup storage

1 – Skinetica Blemish Lotion
2 – Clarisonic
3 – Garnier Body Oil
4 – Aromatherpy Associates Repair Mask
5 – Konjac Sponge

 

Facial Oils, Serums and Lip Conditioners.

makeup storage

1 – Nude Skin oil
2 – Eve Lom Hydrating Serum
3 – Yves Rocher Hydra
4 – MAC conditioning Balm – Coral
5 – Laura Mercier lip balm – Naked Apricot
6 – Rodial Glam Balm
7 – Vaseline Creme Brulee
8 – Figs & Rouge lip balm
9 – Figs & Rouge lip balm
10 – Tit tape (a must and a multi-tasker)
11-  L’occitane Lip Butter

 

The Creams and Correctors.

makeup storage

1 – Eucerin Night Cream
2 – Eucerin Day Aqua
3 – Eucerin Dark Spot Corrector
4 – Eucerin Day Cream
5 – Rapid Brow
6 – L’occitane Shea Butter moisturiser
7 – N07 Dark Spot Corrector
8 – Balance Me eye cream
9 – MAC eye cream

So this concludes the first ‘in my drawer’ section on my daily skincare and foundations. I’m working my way down the drawers so check back to see how I store my lip products, eyeshadows and nail products.

 

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Review and Giveaway – ModelsOwn Nails. Now Closed

The guys at Littlewoods have kindly collaborated with BeautySauce to bring you a great giveaway with 3 people having the chance to win some Models Own nail products.

Before we get into the goodies and how to enter I wanted to review the products myself as I hadn’t used the brand before.
The 3 nail shades I received were Coral Reef, Copper Pot and Pinky Brown Beetle Juice.

View the gallery to see the swatches

The Gallery


 

Coral Reef – a stunning orange red shade that looks equally beautiful on any skin colour. This is what I call proper Coral! none of that peachy or pinky orange this is perfect. I adore coral’s against the colour turquoise so this will definitely be going in the holiday beauty kit.
What else made it pretty special? the coverage, it was surprisingly opaque and covered evenly in one application. So if you are in a hurry and 2 coats is far too time consuming this is your polish.

Copper Pot – a metallic orange/gold that looks fabulous in the sunshine. It wasn’t my favourite of the 3 as I feel yellow shades don’t suit my skintone but nevertheless it’s a great colour. It has a textured finish rather than smooth creme and needs 2 coats for even coverage. It’s quite runny too so make sure you take excess off the brush before applying.

Pinky Brown Beetle Juice – a cocktail of bronze, purples and rose shades. This is what I call a party manicure, if you’re after something simple but effective this is great. For the best coverage 2 coats is best however 1 is OK.

Top Tip? put a base coat down to prevent staining and to get pro looking finish.

The Giveaway

 
We have 6 nail polishes to giveaway to 3 lucky winners.

1st prize is 3 nail shades

2nd prize is 2 nail shades

3rd prize is 1 nail shade.

To enter you must follow Littlewoods and BeautySauceUK on twitter via the widget below, you will receive 2 points for each follow and if you want to gain extra entry points Like both our pages via the buttons below and tweet the giveaway. By doing them all you receive 7 entry points and to earn extra you can tweet the giveaway once per day. Rafflecopter will calculate all your entries!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please note that the winners shades will be selected at random and may vary from what I have reviewed above.

Thanks to all who entered, the 3 winners have been contacted via email xx

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Review – L’oreal 3 in 1 Micellar Solution

REVIEW | NEW | SKINCARE – A Dupe For Bioderma?.

I stumbled across this product recently during a good ‘ol food shop, I hadn’t seen it on TV, mentioned on Twitter or snapped on instagram so was very intrigued to see what it has to offer. It must have been fairly new as that was over 2 weeks ago and now it’s popped up everywhere.

I actually thought it was toner at first glance but the product had me at the word MICELLAR. Immediately it sent visions of Bioderma to mind so I wondered if it was maybe the drugstore version? I don’t own the Bioderma so can’t do a comparison or go as far as call it a dupe but as it’s a very gentle cleansing water I assumed it must be along the same lines.

What is it?

It’s a 3in1 cleansing water which
1 – Dissolves Make-up
2 – Unclogs pores and removes impurities
3 – Tones and Soothes.

lorealmicellar

lorealmicellar2

lorealmicellar3

lorealmicellar4

If it’s water does it remove make-up well?

Actually yes! the Micellar solution attracts the oil and dirt so it lifts it out and away rather than moving around the face. It removes my base products, liquid liner and some mascaras however my stubborn ones like Benefit they’re real require something a little more beefy like the Daniel Sandler oil and water eye makeup remover.

What I like about it is the small list of ingredients and the absence of Alcohol which is chronic for drying out my skin. It has no scent and leaves the skin feeling undisturbed, there’s no tightness or tingling afterwards. Another thing I have noticed is you don’t use it as quick as you’d imagine. I have used it solid for a week and only 1/8th of the bottle which is pretty good going.

I picked this up at Sainsburys for under £3 but it was on offer so may have increased since.

Would I recommend?

YES

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Neon Dresses And Black Leather

STYLE | FASHION – Look Of The Day.

Today I went looking at a couple of houses as we need to move soon so to keep my spirits high I wanted to wrap myself in something comfy and colourful to keep me positive. This has a bit of slouchy sports luxe about it which I love to wear during the day. The T-shirt dress is from ASOS and has the longer piece of sheer fabric at the bottom of the dress that keeps it from looking totally casual. The black wedges add the harder edge and contrast well against the highlighter hue. Tan also looked nice but I felt it suited more of an evening look overall. The sleeveless biker is from H&M, I wore it fully zipped as I wanted to almost separate the dress a little.

We went to the seafront afterwards for a little chill time and to soak in the joyous vitamin D!

ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES
ASOS NEON DRESSES

Have you got any shade worthy brights in your wardrobe?

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Laser Hair Removal – What Is It?

SKIN – A Hair Free Future.

Whether you’re going abroad this Summer or staying local now is the time to start pampering, smoothing and removing. Cheap laser hair removal is becoming an increasingly popular non-surgical cosmetic procedure. It is a non-invasive, convenient method to reduce hair growth.

What is Laser Hair Removal?


In short it is a permanent hair removal system that uses short bursts of light to travel down the hair shaft where it reaches the root causing a heat reaction killing off that follicle.

smoothsummerskin

The low energy beam is attracted to the melanin in the hair and often works very well on those with fair skin and dark hairs, it also works on darker skin however there may be more sensitivity as there’s also a lot of melanin (pigment) in the skin naturally. Unfortunately the treatment doesn’t tend to work on grey or very blonde hairs as there’s little or no melanin to attract the laser.

The treatment times vary depending on the area and amount of hair which needs treated. As the hair is naturally in different stages the treatment often takes multiple sessions as the laser doesn’t affect those hairs in the dormant phase. After each session the hair re-growth will appear finer and the hair count will decrease as the treatments go on.

NOTE ~ Make sure you check the company is registered and the staff are trained professionals when looking for non surgical cosmetic treatments.

Here’s to baby smooth skin!

Sponsored Content

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@danielsandler thanks Daniel :) xx