The Royal Wedding

I'm busy watching the Royal Wedding on TV. But here's a few pictures found off the web already for those who haven't seen the TV yet.

Invite.

The McQueen Dress.

The beautiful bride.

The happy couple.

Her Majesty The Queen.

And a major fashion crime by Princesses Bea and Eugine.

Rockalily's Roulette Red Lipstick.

It's official, I've fallen in LOVE.... with a lipstick.

To be precise with Rockalily's Roulette Red.

Roulette Red is one of a series of lipsticks designed and sold by ReeRee the owner of Rockalily Make-up.

Borrowing directly from her website;

Rockalily Lipsticks launched with 4 shades; two blue-based reds and one orange-based red and a blue-based pink.

The blue-based shades are perfect for ladies with paler skin tones and those who want to enhance the whiteness of their teeth, while the orange-based shade compliments darker skin tones perfectly.

The lipsticks have vitamin E in them to ensure they don't dry out your lips and making them perfect for every day use.

Roulette Red is a deeper shade of the classic red, a blue based shade suited for paler skin with a creamy matte formula.

It's the colour that called to me.

On first usage all I could think was how I'd like to just keep on applying as the lipstick felt amazing on my lips, soft and creamy and gorgeous. It has been designed so you don't need to line your lips before use as it won't feather out. (YAY one less thing to do)

And the colour payoff is just stunning, look at that swatch.. look at my lips. I'm in lipstick heaven, and me not even a major lipstick wearer. (recent convert)

And here I am full frontal exposure, wearing Roulette Red... excuse the lack of other make-up, I'd been at work all day.

I am officially in love with this colour.

There are currently four shades to choose from;

Rockette Red a classic bright red, perfect for pale skin.

Roulette Red (mine) a deeper shade of red, perfect for pale skin.

Hot Rod Red an orange based red, perfect for darker skin tones.

Pompadour Pink a semi gloss, a blue based fushia shade.

All priced at £14.00 each, I'd say well worth it. And which one should I get next?

Soap and Glory. DrSpot.

Although I'm pretty sure I've found my HG of blemish control it doesn't stop me buying and trying out other products that claim to fight the blemish.

And so to introduce Soap & Glory's DrSpot.

Containing;

Salicylic Acid, a beta-hydroxy acid that helps fight spots not only by gently peeling away clogged up dead skin cells, but reducing inflammation in the follicle

Witch Hazel, to balance the surface PH of the skin

Vitamins A, C, E & B3, for skin conditioning, exfoliating, dark spot brightening, and circulation stimulating

Liquorice and Ginger Bark, to help to relieve irritation and inflammation, and to slow the secretions of oil from the glands.

(excuse my dried out and shredded skin)

The first thing I'd point out is although Salicylic Acid is listed quite highly in the ingredients it doesn't actually state the percentage included in the product anywhere I could find, so it could be less than the highly effective 2%.

It is a clear gel both on application and after the product has dried on the skin and is easily spread if you have blemishes over a wider area than just one or two solitary ones.

With the ingredients in it it does help calm blemishes down slightly and speed up healing time, slightly. But I really cannot say it is a HG product.

For me, although I quite like it and I do use it from time to time, I don't find it as effective in its blemish control as my personal favourite HG Garnier Pure Active Roll On, which does contain the 2% Salicylic Acid and declares it clearly on the box.

Available from Boots, £7.00.

(Although I got it in the sale for approx £4.50)

Haulage - Picture heavy

Back from the shops where I've done a little hauling again. Thing is I've got a lot going on in May, two large birthday party's and a wedding to go too...

So a girl needs clothes and accessories for it right?

So I picked up two new dresses (in the sale, thank you New Look)

This cute little peter pan collar, polka dot mini. Very Fearne Cotton I thought.

(£15.00)
A few minor issues with it, because it was in the sale there were two sizes left, a size 16 with a stained collar or a size 10 which was clean.

Obviously I brought the clean size 10, I'm not technically a size 10 anymore though more like a size 12... so I'll need someone to do up the long zipper at the back of this and not to breathe in to deeply while wearing it or I might spilt a seam.

Then I saw this lovely blue lacy dress by Madam Rage, New Look again, also a size 10 but a more spacious size 10.

(£12.50)

No zips to struggle with as its stretchy and just pulls right on, it's also slightly longer than the other dress with the lace reaching lower than the lining.

Of course once you've got clothes you need accessories. I'm not normally one for accessories but I've seen a few items I've loved enough to buy recently.

This ring for example, was far to lovely to pass up. Surprisingly enough its not a Topshop or River Island ring, it's another New Look purchase.

And some earrings to match.

(Ring - £3.99, Earrings - £4.99)

Also today my ASOS order arrived... well more like I picked it up from the sorting office after the Easter break.

One of the things I'd ordered was this cute little 'ICON' bracelet. Which goes well with my new polka dot dress.

(£3.00)

But this was actually my primary purchase from ASOS, a Marc B. Primrose bag, available in shocking pink, electric blue and the colour I went for... purple.

It's a large shoulder bag and the lining is a fab leopard print.

(Reduced from £45.00 to £18.00)

And on a last little note, I nipped into Superdrug and picked up these two boxes of hair dye for £6.99 a saving of £2.79 and I also got the Got2b volume powder for £2.03 as it's on offer at the moment.

Now all I need are some fabulous shoes... stay tuned.

NOTD - Sparkly Nude

I have so many nice nail polishes at the moment so you get to see lots of lovely NOTD posts.

My latest manicure is using Nails Inc. Fulham Palace Road from the Cashmere collection and GOSH Magic Star.

Two coats of Fulham Palace Road and one coat of Magic Star leads to a gorgeous sparkling nude shade which would be ideal for a spring or summer wedding.

Absolutely lovely, and so easy to achieve. Both polishes dry super quickly so can be applied even at the last minute for a quick, easy and chic look.

Sunday Thoughts - The Passion

Sorry for the lateness of this post but I have spent all day following Michael Sheen around our town as part of The Passion play, being filmed live for both a movie and a documentary soon to be shown on the BBC.

It's actually been going on for a few days but today was the only time I really got to follow it, as I wasn't in work.

And on so many occasions I was within touching distance of Michael Sheen. (OMG)

For anyone not in the know, The Passion is the detailing of the last few days of Jesus Christ's life including his suffering up to his death on the torture stake.

The Passion play in our town was a modern day representation of the original Passion play, so the main character played by Sheen is known as The Teacher, who has lost his memory and causes a revolution in a town taken over the The Company. I.C.U Industries (Bad Guys)

The Teacher had a sham trial, and was condemned to death by I.C.U, he was then beaten and the Crown of Thorns put on his head.

We followed him as he walked the entire distance from town to the beach (long way) carrying the cross he was to die upon.

Finally I.C.U crucified The Teacher at the beach where he was first found with no memory. The towns reaction to this then caused them to pull out. And The Teachers body disappeared....

It was amazingly well done, obviously it's got to be edited and put together properly for the film.

But what we saw... let's put it this way, I wasn't the only one crying.

When it shows on the BBC I'd recommend you watch it, and buy the DVD when it's out!

Who knows you might spot me in the crowd.

Barry M in Mint Green. NOTD

Another day another Barry M nail polish, this time in Mint Green.

The actual polish looks a lot greener in real life not quite a mint green more like a jade green, but my camera shows it as more of a turquoise.. silly camera.

I actually did three layers on these nails as the consistency is very thin for something that looks like it should quite opaque. I do think it could have done with a fourth coat as to me the nails still look slightly patchy.

Natural Light, check out my third finger in particular.. patchy?

And with flash, they look even bluer than ever.

Honestly this is a green colour, it's also a very nice colour and I got a lot of compliments while wearing it.

But it will need three to four coats to be truly opaque, so if you've got the time to wait for it to dry then go for it.

What's your favourite mint green polish?

Some Disappointments

Recently I've been talking about a few products sent to me for review all based on the royal/wedding theme, with names like Queenie and Royal. (See here.)

And on the whole I've really loved both the royal theme and the products themselves. I even feel that one item may be a very close call towards being a dupe for NARS Orgasm.

But there are a couple of products I just don't find myself loving no matter how hard I try.

The first of these is No7 Glitter Eyeliner in Royal. (Blue)

In theory a great idea, who doesn't love glitter and blues a different colour without being to 'out there'. But no matter how hard I tried with this liner I couldn't get it to give me a nice, straight, solid line of colour.

As you can see from the swatch on my hand it creates a kind of walled effect, with the liner actually being pushed to either side of where you draw the brush.
So you end up having to draw quite a thick line to get the colour to show and then kind of pat it with the brush to flatten the 'walls' out.
Over all I found it hard to work with and quite messy to use. I think I'd like to see them re-visit this idea in perhaps a creamy pencil format.
The other product I couldn't get on with was the 17 Photo Finish Foundation in Soft Ivory. This was actually a replacement foundation for the previous one I was sent, which was in the shade 'Biscuit', and far to dark for my skin.

Well I'm sorry to report that Soft Ivory is also far to dark for my (very) pale skin, see it compared below with one of my other foundations.

(17 Soft Ivory at the top, Maxfactor Lasting Performance in 100 at the bottom)

And what I'm sure is the funniest photo to date, this is how it looked when I attempted to apply it...

Umpa Lumpa anyone?

It turns out that Soft Ivory is the palest shade that you can get in 17's photo finish foundation at the moment. I have emailed to ask if they are improving their colour ranges but as to date I've had no response.

Stay tuned for a FOTD using all the royal themed products (other than the foundation) I've been sent.

GOSH Foundation for Pale Skin

Pale skinned people can breathe a sigh of relief, well maybe.

As one of the aforementioned pale skins I find it hard to find a high street foundation that matches my whiter than white skin tone. Obviously I know if I go higher end I can get a match (although not always) but I can't always afford to buy expensive foundation.

So when checking out the offers in Superdrug a couple of weeks ago (buy 2 GOSH items get the 3rd free) I thought I'd give the GOSH Natural Touch foundation in shade 32 Pearl (the lightest) a go. (£8.99)

Along with a cream based primer and a freebie nail polish.

(More on the primer in another post)

I'm not sure why I went for Natural Touch as it's quite a lightweight foundation, and doesn't even claim to be long lasting, which is what I'd normally buy. But it might have been the promise of moisturising Sweet Almond Oil in the foundation that did it.

As you can see quite clearly here the foundation is yellow based, which is great for me as I've very little natural rosiness in my skin at all, so I can use this to even out my skin tone completely then add colour using blush.

(Top row - Cream Primer, Bottom row - Foundation)

It looks almost shockingly yellow/beige in the swatch above but once blended out it almost disappears into the skin in a 'my skin but better,' kind of way.

(Blended out roughly)
And for those of you who need the full picture here is a photo of me wearing the foundation, I'm posing for a FOTD I'll be doing shortly. Unfortunately the foundation provided for that was far to dark so I had to sub mine instead.

Are there any other foundations you think are good for paler than pale people?

NOTD- Ruby Slippers by Barry M

I've just painted my nails such a lovely colour I thought I must share it before they get ruined at work tomorrow.

Indulging my love of Barry M Nail Paints we have these.

Red Glitter and Bright Red.

I was told to pair these up by someone on twitter, I've forgotten who now but if it was you then Thanks!

I have on here Two coats of Bright Red, and One coat of Red Glitter and doesn't it look amazing.

To be honest it looks even more stunning in real life, but my camera couldn't pick up all the sparkling that my nails are doing now.

Think Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz.

Think a red disco ball..

Do you have any combinations you like to do?

Revlon's Matte Lipstick in Strawberry Suede

After seeing a most luscious lipstick on ArtDonatella's blog I knew it had to be mine, the only problem being I couldn't find it in any of the shops near me.

The lippie in question was Revlon's Matte Lipstick in Strawberry Suede and after visiting every shop I could think of and being disappointed I took myself onto the wickedly good site Ebay......

And that's where I found it, a brand new, still sealed lipstick in my sort after shade and for less than £3 inc. P&P.

(I must add here that the lovely ArtDonatella did offer to get me one and post it out, but I'd already purchased this one off ebay, but isn't she nice for the offer?)

Revlon says that their lipstick is an ultra-creamy saturated lip color that delivers beautiful, lightweight matte color without any dryness, caking or fading.

It's also a stunning shade, makes me think of Dita von Tease to be honest.

Some swatches for you, here in natural light.

And flash.

Have you tried any of the Revlon Matte Lipsticks, if you which is your favourite shade?