Month: April 2013

I Used It All Up: Stila Set & Illuminate Baked Powder Trio

/ brightandbeautyfull / 2 Comments

I never use anything all up. I never get to use anything all up! It’s all ABT with me {Always Be Testing}, all the time. In fact, if I use something all the way up, well, that’s as a big a seal of approval as I can give.

Behold, Stila Set & Illuminate Baked Trio.

STILA SET & ILLUMINATE prettyIn the past, I was not one for arseing around with loose powder and graters and brushes. In the last few places I’ve lived, there hasn’t been room for me to keep all my cosmetic gear in the bathroom. Despite my latest loo being small, it is perfectly formed, and I have all my stuff in there, and the lighting is actually pretty good.

Now that I can hang over the sink and dust on the looseness, I am a convert, and this little beauty is the main reason why. Comprised of three shades, in which the Pale pink warms the complexion, the Champagne highlights and the Kitten Shimmer brightens and illuminates, this is my go-to set-the-foundation, liven-up-the-look powder.

Or… it was.

Picked it up the other day, as I do, gave the grater a twist, and then — nothing.

Not a single speck of beautiful, beautiful powder was brought forth.

I grated and grated, you know the way, the way you do when you’re looking for something in your bag that you know should be there and it is not but you look and look anyway, well, I grated and grated and… nothing.

I simply did not believe that there was nothing left, so I got all McGyver up in that shizz.
STILA SET & ILLUMINATE bustedThere’s some left, maybe two faces-worth if I am parsimonious. Dammit.

I should just let this go, but after taking that photo, I carefully closed it all up again, with the intention of binning it, but there it is sitting on my desk, at my right hand.

Well, there’s always the One Step Illuminate.STILA one step illuminate It’s got that famous combo of Pink, Champagne and Kitten Shimmer, in a serum that you apply underneath foundation. Like a serum-y primer. It’s terrific too, if somewhat colonic-looking.

I just loved the sense of finish that I got from the powder. The one half turn of the grater, one swipe of the kabuki brush, and I got just the correct amount of shine-control and the perfect degree of illumination.

Obvs, there’s nothing for it but to get some more. I don’t know why I’m so wistful, it’s not like it doesn’t exist in the world. I mean, it’s not like it’s been discontinued. Right? Right?!?!

This is causing me to ponder all the other thing that I have used all up. And I wonder about the things that you have used all up?

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Set & Illuminate Baked Powder Trio: €31.60/£24/$34
One Step Illuminate: €31.60/£24/$36

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When is Maintenance Too High? Sisley Paris Mascara Étoffant Fortifiant

/ brightandbeautyfull / 3 Comments

I have silently been bemoaning the demise of my eyelash extensions, as I knew I would… They have just seemed so stubby, and it may chiefly be psychological, but I think it is actual as well. There was a whole thing in the post, linked above, about anagen phases and telegen phases, in reference to hair growth, and there’s no way that my lashes can have grown much since I removed them.

*Sigh* So when I got a sample of Sisley Paris Étoffant Fortifiant Mascara {that would be Thickening Fortifying, en Anglais}, I thought, ‘Excellent! Let us begin thickening and fortifying straightaway!’

I opened the tube, and drew out the wand.
THE WAND

Well, yuck! I know that there are folks who have to wipe down their wands {talk about yuck}, on a daily basis, but I’ve never had a problem with too much mascara on an applicator. As I like to say when it comes to this particular cosmetic: Too Much Is Never Enough.

Imagine my chagrin. I could see exactly where this was going to go: product allll over my eyelid, that annoying blot that never comes off. Those irritating little dots that land on your lids from the blinking. This was a mess just waiting to happen.

BLOTThat’s not as much blottage as I thought there would be. Doing the scrape-y thing at the mouth of the tube helped curb the excess. The comb itself doesn’t seem to hold that much mascara, at least not on the comb-y side. The flat side? Full up to the max of product just waiting to smear everywhere.

Now, here’s the thing. I consider this high maintenance. By extension, I consider that statement to be in my favour: if I think it’s too much work to wipe product off a wand, then despite my habitual and comprehensive use of the products of beauty, I am not wasting to much time in getting the stuff on my face.

Which! may be why I get blots and such on my eyelids! This mascara made me go slow, take my time, and practically coat each lash individually. The result?
THE MASCARA ITSELF

Well, hurray! I am much happier than I look in that photo, let me tell you.

A key thing, though: this dries super fast, so if you want to get a million layers on, like I do, don’t wait very long in between applications. Also, be careful when applying to the back of the lashes, that’s where the little blobs make their presence known. I say that, knowing that I can blob even when I’m doing the fronts. Or bottoms and tops. Whatever! Be careful!

Huh. Looks like a little high maintenance product, every now and then, is no bad thing.

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€44 — which is very O.o for mascara. I am assuming this will last me forever, if not an eternity?

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The Face Mask That is an Actual Mask: Olay Total Effects

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Someone thought this was a good idea.
OLAY mask

I… I don’t even know where to begin. Unless it’s with the addition of a Nightmare on Elm Street tag to go with my Silence of the Lambs look {scroll down, you’ll know it when you see it.}

I… Okay, Olay 7-in-1 Anti-Ageing Total Effects Mask. Love the idea of a thing infused with anti-ageing stuff that you lay on your face, and it’s all like you’re in a spa. Except yesterday was a Working Sunday, and I can’t actually work with this thing on my face — was soooo tempted to put on my specs, total Invisible Woman vibe — and I needed to get this work done, and lying around even for fifteen minutes was not gonna happen.

I ended up converting RGB photos in Photoshop, to CMYK, because you don’t really need sight for that. I will say that the mask didn’t slip a’tall, so, that’s something, I guess.

I — the thing is, I bet this is great in the summer, when you want a blast of chilly on your weather beaten gob. This is cold, like it just came out of the fridge. I also realise that I have a large face, and the thing probably wasn’t actually going to fit anyway, and that the bridge of my nose is the one part of my face that doesn’t need any of the 7 benefits accorded by this BEAUTY Anti Ageing 4treatment, but this did not fit! And I kept trying to make it fit, until I got stuck into the file conversions and — well, I was going to say I forgot about it, but, no. Not possible.

The 7 benefits are: fine line minimisation, moisturisation, spot minimising, tone enhancement, brightening — these last three are very much akin to one another — pore minimising and exfoliation. After you’ve let the youth juice sit on yer face for the fifteen, you then massage the remaining nectar into your skin.

It felt sticky, and smelled of too much fragrance. I did feel refreshed, however, so that was something, too. Two things that were okay. Okay.

My only regret was that it was indeed a Sunday, and the chances of my doorbell ringing were nil. I’d say I’d get some fun running down to the postman in this yoke. I may give this another chance, one in which I am lying in a relaxed state — maybe the gravity will help the mask settle better — but seriously? Needs way more stretchy.

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RRP €19/£16.99

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Ride, Sally Ride! Hansen Makes it Through 40 Minutes of Unrelenting Flatwork

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Forealz.

POST LESSON 1

When I got back from horseriding, I totally forgot to even check my manicure, because what would be the point — way to keep a positive attitude, Suze! {Or, I just forgot to look.}  When I remembered and I looked, I said, out loud, ‘Holy amazeballs!’ No, I didn’t, but I think I did gasp in admiration.

Okay, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure — maybe I do buy into your legend after all.

POST LESSON 2

I mean, seriously: we went and went for 40 minutes straight. Not like I’d ever take my gloves off to give my fingernails an airing, or whatever, but the havoc said gloves wreck on the varnish is usually appalling. Hey! Maybe this means I was keeping hands as still as I ought to be! That would also be worthy of a ‘holy amazeballs’ expostulation.

I am desperately excited about every aspect of this result. Honestly, go here and compare!

Amaze.

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Got Yer Spring Right Here: Sally Hansen Totally Tropical Complete Salon Manicure Exotica Collection

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VITAMIN SEA
Oh, herlooooooooo.
PALM TREAT
Nothing like a pop of colour to pick you up. That’s Vitamin Sea as the accent nail, and Palm Treat on the rest.

Gotta love Sally Hansen for always having fashion forward colours at a dead reasonable price. Other ‘flavours’ in the Exotica Collection include Sgt. Preppy {a dusty pink}; Evening Glow {a bright orange}; Shore-ly! {beige-y sand}; Tahitian Sunset {melon}; and Go Bananas {uh, yellow, unsurprsingly.}

I had my colours applied by visiting celebrity manicurist Jessica Hoffman, a fellow Yank, though a London-based one. I watched her and hoped to learn, but I think you have to be born with patience? Which I was mainly not? At least when it comes to painting my nails. And I made sure that I waited long enough for them to dry, helped along largely by Jess’ application of Sally’s Insta-Dry Top Coat, which protects against chipping.

I’ve already dinged ’em though, so I’m still not convinced as to the completeness of the salon manicure. And I’m going horsing tonight, so we’ll see how they hold up to that.

But for right now? I can practically hear the leaves unfurling on the chestnut trees, and whatever the flowers are, that come after the daffs and the croci, they are just about ready to bloom!

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€8.95/£6.99/$7.49

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I Heart This Already: Nails Inc Leather Effect in Noho

/ brightandbeautyfull / 4 Comments

NAILS INC leathuh
Mainly? Because the texture is what I end up with anyway, with my srs lack of mad skillz re: manicuring, yo*.

This looks like when I go and pull on a cardie after I’ve done my nails and I think I’ve let enough drying time go by — and I am always proven wrong. But this is on purpose so it’s okay.

It’s like, texture.

I sincerely love everything about it, from its crackly, leathery matte finish on my World Famous Super Model Thumbnail™ to its leathery-lookin’ little lid. Or cap, if you’re not hooked on alliteration.

These go for £12, so really ought to only be €12ish, 13, right? Right?

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Nails Inc have several other monochromatic themed varnishes for S/S13 — will get back to you on those!

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*Sorry, sorry, been mainlining — ha, ha — Breaking Bad, and I am worse than Jesse with my verbal posturing.

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Start Spreading the Nudes: L’Oréal Paris BB Blush

/ brightandbeautyfull / 2 Comments

Information and an ear worm. You’re. So. Welcome.

I fell in love with Nude Magique BB Cream this time last year,and it is still my go-to when I want light but comprehensive facial coverage.

NUDE MAGIQUE BB BLUSHImagine my delira when I received this today! Despite my love for the above, which has a turns-colour-to-match-your-skintone quality about it, I am not certain I am convinced by this alchemy. I have come across a Smashbox lippy ting that I liked… hang on… ah, right: O-Gloss Intuitive Lip Gloss. Yeah, I think I liked that, I am really reaching into the wayback machine on this one. Anyway! Haven’t been sure, because I don’t really know how it works, and also know that if someone tried to explain it to me, I’d zone out as soon as someone mentioned a molecule, or whatever. I could google it, I suppose. Ugh.

Well! The internet doesn’t seem to know! Unless how does intuitive makeup work is poor SEO. It’s to do with Ph, is as near as I can get. That’s when you put the paper in the liquid, right, and it changes colour? Is that chemistry? Did I even do chemistry? Oh, Walter White, are you dying right now, yo?

Whatever the Science, I immediately dabbed a dot onto my left paw.
BB BLUSH 2

First off: use a brush to apply, or do it the old-fashioned way and use your finger. Now, in fairness, you are not likely to dab the tube directly onto your face {or are you?} I dabbed straight from the tube, and the blending, it was a little difficult. < I don’t know that there was any point in all that, but there you go.

I’m just sayin’: blending may be an issue, so be prepared.

Other than that? A lovely, Victorian-valentine-esque rosy rose, the colour of which I think defines ‘in rude health’*.

Today, so far, is not a makeup day — that may change if the courier I am expecting comes sooner rather than later. Contrary to what you may believe, I rarely sit around the house sporting a full face of slap. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what it looks like on my cheekbone area.

I have high hopes!

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Nude Magique BB Blush: €11.99/£7.99

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*Which is British English for being very healthy, in which ‘rude’ = ‘robust’ .**

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**And it was no hardship to google that.

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Haiku Review: Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer

/ brightandbeautyfull / 3 Comments

Resistance: futile.
Originality: none.
Apocalips: now.

*Sigh* I’ve haven’t done one of these in age, and hell, that wee pome just wrote itself. I’ve seen some dissent On The Twitters, and different strokes/different folks, but as for me, I am lovin’ Apocalips Lip Lacquer from Rimmel London.

APOCALYPTIC 303
Above is Apocalyptic, and pretty much engenders everything I adore about these lippys. The pigment is APOCALIPS appintense, but the weight is light, light, light. The applicator is angled, doe foot style, with that little well in the centre — this allows you to get the bulk of it in the middle of your lips, where it belongs, and allows just enough lacquer to go around the edges of yer gob so you can build it slowly.

That’s Nude Eclipse to the right, which I think wins for the Most Inexplicable Lipstick Name Ever, but I love this one too; I find it is the perfect accompaniment to a deeply smokey eye.

They are glossy and again, light, like a lip gloss, but unlike dark glosses, they hold their own colour. I find that when I use many darkly pigmented glosses, they don’t mix well with the actual colour of my lips, and look like my mouth is past its sell-by date. Not terribly appealing. These have as much visual heft as a lipstick, at a third of the perceived weightiness.

In addition to the colours above, my other faves are Celestial {blue-y pink}, Galaxy {sparkly mauve}. Big Bang is another red that went a bit orange-y on me, but YMMV!

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 €7.95/£4.99

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Snap! Judgment: SkinCeuticals Mineral Radiance UV Defense

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Haven’t done one of these in an age!SKINCEUTICALS bottle

It’s a lot of name for a little bottle, but SkinCeuticals wants us all to know that this covers all the bases, much less your face {click on the photo for the full effect.} It’s got just about everything you’d want in an SPF, in that, among other things, it is like more like a makeup than an annoying sunscreen — a thick, greasy, odd-smelling sunscreen. Now, I’m getting much better about using the stuff, espesh when out on the horse, even under overcast skies, but it’s still something of a nuisance. Not as much of a nuisance as some class of adverse skin condition, of course! But still. What if you’ve got sensitive skin, the pores of which are easily clogged? I would have few if any products to recommend to you, in that case.

This looks to do all things that BB creams are meant to do, except this looks more science-y, and therefore possibly more trustworthy.

As always, when it comes to this sort of post, it does what it says in the title: I am simply reacting to this product in an instant — I haven’t had the chance to try this out in the world yet.

So the main thing with this is, it is tinted.

SKINCEUTICALS dot

Since most SPFs, if not all, are white-creamy-coloured, this is already something different.

It looked a little darker than that in real life {I will get a proper camera someday…}, and I was a tiny bit worried about that. I am not as sallow as I think I am, nor have I begun my annual tanning rituals, so I was somewhat taken aback.

There was, however, zero fragrance, and it felt light as feather.

Then, I blended.

SKINCEUTICALS blended

It is somewhat ruddier than my skin tone, but it’s got a lovely shimmer to it.

On my actual face?
SKINCEUTICALS on the gob

Well, it feels like there is nothing on it, which is exactly the point. It also looks like there is nothing on it, which makes it not like a BB after all. Howevs: the broad spectrum coverage plus the lightest of its being minus the sticky stinky quality of most SPFs equals something I will use under makeup, and also when I’m sporting about, as I do.

I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the sun, and will reach for this when it shows its face again…

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SkinCeuticals Mineral Radiance UV Defense SPF 50 is available in June, RRP €43. Ring 1850 812 740 for stockist info.

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What is Wrong with This Picture?

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SO RONREY
How crazy it this? Compared, of course, to this…
OMHaircare
… which is crazy in the other direction.

So what’s up with that?

A} The tub is smaller, in my new place — which I have lived in for a whole year, so is not really ‘my new place’, but is considered to be such, by me and many of my pals.
B} I have been trying & testing away, for The Herald, and have used up a lot of shampoo and conditioner in the last two months.
C} Er. There is actually a little bucket-y thing full of stuff tucked away here, next to the toilet.
SO RONREY, NOT
Ha, ha.

My bath looks so nice and clean and uncluttered! But also a little bit sad. Especially the super lonely little tub of John Frieda Sheer Blonde® Blonde Hair Repair Conditioning Treatment {€7.03}, which I use for pre-shampoo deep conditionin.

The thing is, every single one of these combos is a guaranteed Good Hair Day, of a Very Specific Sort.

*For a Thick, Full, Voluminous Hair Day: Well, Mane ‘n’ Tail, obvs. Couldn’t be happier to have this available in Ireland. Years ago, I ill-advisedly cut my hair short, and this grew it all back in like, no time a’tall.

*For a Super Shiny and Soft Hair Day: It’s a toss up between the Trilogy Refresh & Shine Shampoo & Conditioner {€15.95/each} and the Green Angel Seaweed Shampoo & Conditioner {€14.95/each}, because both are efficacious in the soft-and-shiny department. Neither are too fragranced, either, if that is an issue for you.

*For a Happy, Magically Clean and Healthy Scalp Hair Day: I am loving Aveda’s Invati Range. It’s a system! which includes Exfoliating Shampoo, Thickening Conditioner and Scalp Revitaliser {€27/€29/€54}; all three can be bought as a set from petals.ie for €100 with free shipping in Ireland.

And what’s in the bucket-y thing? That’s a post for another day…

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See here for the run down on the product in that second photo.

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