La Roche-Posay Makeup Remover

This was an accidental purchase arising from a 3 for 2 offer at Boots. I was vaguely looking for a new MU remover, following an episode with me and Clinique's 'Take the Day Off' Lids, Lips and Lashes formula. I purchased the Clinique product after a recommendation by Tanya Burr (Pixi2woo for you YT'ers) and whilst I agree that it is amazing and removes every sinlge tiny trace of makeup, it left my lids with a slight oily feeling which I found hard to apply makeup onto. So, although I still have my Clinique and will love it and use it on occassion, I needed something a bit more day-to-day.

Enter La Roche-Posay. I became aware of this brand about a year ago, but as it wasn't stocked anywhere near me, it was a bit of a non-starter. Now, my local Boots stock it and the prices are fairly reasonable (from £8 +)- I had expected them to be much higher.

I picked up the Physiological Micellar Solution, which claims to remove all traces of lip, eye and face makeup, whilst still suitable for sensitive skins. The light, non-oily texture of this solution means there is no rinsing required either, so can just be applied with a cotton wool pad. It is free from parabens, alcohol, dyes and soaps.

My skin, which is dramatically reactive to any change in skincare routine, has drunk this up without any issues and I'm onto my 2nd bottle. Since I've started using it, I wash my face less with water (except on days when I exfoliate) and I really think it's helping. My skin is much calmer, my hormonal spots seem to be going away from a flare up last month and it is much less oily! Unfortunately, it is unavailable to buy on Boots.com just now, so I can't give you the exact price, but I recall it was around £8-£10 I think. Other products in the range can be seen on the Boots website or visit the La Roche-Posay website for a look at their full line.

I will definitely be picking up more in this range!

Pic from La Roche-Posay website

Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadows

Hola,

I first bleated about these back in Feb, after picking up RSVP and loving it; since then, I have acquired 3 more and I love them even more!

Last time I talked about how lovely the application was, how soft they are, how long-lasting the shadow is and how easily blendable they are, so no need to mention all that again...

This time, I am just wowed by the colours. I love them! They are so versatile, so modern but classic and can be just as easily daytime as they can evening eyes. Because it is a cream, the pay-off you get is the same as what you see in the jar. No need to build these colours up, 1 coat is enough.

The whole range complements each other perfectly and many of the colours can be blended together. I often use RSVP over my lid, then Get Figgy in the crease, or Skinny Jeans on my lid with Strut as a liner.

Fab, fab, fab.

Above - pic taken in artificial light, below - pic taken in bright daylight.

From Left to Right: Strut, Get Figgy, Skinny Jeans and RSVP

RSVP

SKINNY JEANS

GET FIGGY

STRUT

These bad boys currently sell for £14 in your nearest Boots or Debenhams counters or visit Benefit's UK website. I should point out that the UK site has 21 colour choices as opposed to the US site which only has 13!

Jewel-ly Eyes inspired by Rae Morris

One of the pictures in the 'Eyes' section of Makeup, The Ultimate Guide by Rae Morris (I can't post the pic in case of copyright rules) totally captured my imagination last week and below is what I created using the pic as inspiration. The picture in the book is of a beautifully bronzed model with purple, pink and turquoise-y blue eye makeup and it's stunning.

I am a bit browner in the pic due to a combination of proper suntan and a little Benefit One Hot Minute Bronzer.

Other products used included the Purple, Pink and Blue glitter eyeliners by Sleek Makeup and the Acid I-Divine eyeshadow palette, with lashings of Benefit Bad Gal lash to make my lashes spiky as if they were wet.

Mini Monday... Not Makeup Related

Hi

I'm sorry today's Mini Monday is not about makeup but today was a very, very sad day; one of those days that shows how painfully short life can be. How it is too short for bitching, moaning and procrastination.

So while we lust after the latest lip-glosses, blushers and bronzers to make us beautiful on the outside, remember the ones we love who shape us on the inside.

That is all.

Love, Amanda x

Ellis Faas Lipstick

Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know I am a bit fond of a red lipstick, so when I spotted a competition over at Beauty Woo Me to win an Ellis Faas lippie, I was all over it!

Unbelievably, I won and the bullet of delicious red glossiness popped through my letter box last week. The Ellis Faas cosmetic brand is completely inspired by 'Human Colours'; the colours that exist universally and naturally in each and every one of us.

The lipstick range consists of 27 colours, in 3 textures; Creamy, Milky and Glazed. You can see the full range here. I received L103 Creamy Lips, which retails at 25Euro. It's so smooth and silky, not like a normal thick lipstick texture at all and it's beautifully moisturising. I expected it to go on slightly streaky due to it's lighter texture, but pictured below is just one tiny smooth coat. And 3 hours later, my lips are still red, even and the best part is they haven't dried out. Delighted!

Mini Mondays... Coco Beau

Howdy,

I had planned on doing a full on creative FOTD today inspired by Rae Morris, but my skin is having a freak-out at the moment and don't really want to be messing about with it too much as I'm hoping it will calm down soon. So... I thought I would do a new mini series called Mini Mondays. Everyone hates Mondays anyway so 'Mini Mondays' will be short and sweet!

Today is basically just to show off about the fact that the lovely peeps at Coco Beau have decided to put me up as a 'model' (trust me, I use the term loosely!!) on their customer gallery, which contains pics of lots of lovely girlies modelling the products they have purchased.

If you select a product, click on 'more images' and then use 'next' in the top corner and that will take you through all the customer pics for that product. So, my dreams of being famous are slowly being realised!!

Anyway, this is supposed to be mini so I'll stop now. But not before I entice you back later this week with a look at my Ellis Faas lippie... The packaging alone is simply divine and I can't wait to try out the product properly! Pics up in a couple of days!

Love A x

Chanel Mini Haul

Following on from yesterday's post, here is a quick look at some of the things I picked up at the Chance party...

First up, Chanel Ombre Essentielle Eyeshadow in Quartz (£19.41). Fiona, the MUA who was tasked with brightening up my face, choose this shade and teamed it with some grey eyeliner (not in the pic below). Although I didn't take the eyeliner, I fell in love with the gorgeously baby soft velvety feel of this little shadow and the shade just made my eyes so blue!

I can't enthuse enough about how soft and dense the application and pigment is. The colour is like a neon pastel, with the soft summery baby pink, with a much deeper, brighter undertone peeking through.

Quite pricey for a single e/s, so any future ones will definitely be a treat but really pleased with this one!

Next is another addition to my ever-growing Chanel foundation collection! This is the Vitalumiere Eclat Comfort Radiance Compact (about £42 I think, I couldn't get onto the Boots website to check).

Although this is more like a pressed powder compact, Fiona used it as a foundation alone. I normally think my skin is oily but Fiona said it seemed to be a bit de-hydrated and that even though the compact is powder based, it's still suitable for dryer patches and it looked fab! Very natural with a lovely day-time coverage. I received a free compact in my goodie bag, so the mini-version will go into my travel kit. Perfect!

This little card was one of the mini-freebies in my goodie bag, which has 4 little pots of Rouge Coco lipsticks. I haven't tried these yet, so am saving them for when I'm off on a night out or something to give the shades a whirl! Sorry about the pic, I forgot to turn it when I was editing...

Last, but not least! Chanel La Vernis Rouge Noir. My HG nail polish since I discovered it in 2005. Other colours may come and go, but Rouge Noir will always be there!

Chanel 'Chance' Launch party

This afternoon, 2 of my most favourite girls and I sauntered down to the local Chanel counter, after I managed to secure 3 invites to this weekend's launch party for the new Chanel Chance perfume. Chanel is running these mini pamper parties all through April and we jumped at the opportunity to get make-overs, manicures and goodie bags!

**Sorry I should have said... I will cover the products I bought and received in a seperate post! And the new perfume, the star of the day, was gorgeous!!**

The new version of the perfume is the pink one! I didn't realise the bottle was the wrong way round!

The lovely Claire!

Marie having her nails painted with 'Splendour'. I had mine done in Rouge Noir, as if I'd choose anything else!


One of the goodies I received was this little limited edition book about the Rouge Coco lipstick range. Lovely!

Although I did spend a fortune, as usual, the ladies at Chanel kindly flung in some other goodies including some Chance perfume, Rouge Coco lipsticks and Vita Lumiere foundation.

And this was me, after being beautified by Fiona, the Chanel MUA and having my nails painted!

All in all, a lovely wee treat for the girls and I!

I'm Back!!

Hi there!

So, sincere apologies for my extended absence! My internet was finally re-instated last night. Whilst my lovely new house in the country is fab for some wholesome living, it's in a total mobile phone/internet blind spot so the past few weeks have seen a very grumpy girl!

From tomorrow, regular MU posts will be back to normal! I only have 4 weeks left of my Post Grad, so am expecting to have much more time to dedicate to the blog.

See you all soon!

A x

Giveaway Winner!!!

And the winner is...

* * * Dainty Dolly Mix * * *

Congratulations chick! I'll drop you an email tomorrow to get all your details!

Thanks to everyone else who entered and hello to all my new followers! Hope you enjoy the blog!