YSL Rouge Volupte Perle 107 & 108

Despite having a bit of a magpie-like lust for shiny things, I've managed to resist the lure of the YSL Rouge Volupte lippies so far, persuading myself that they are just like any other lipstick really.

But now I've had the chance to try them I think I'm going to struggle to resist buying more. Partly because the texture of these really is creamy smooth and lovely and also because the packaging really is absolutely gorgeous. You can't help feeling special when putting these on.

The two colours I have been playing with are '108' (the lilac) and '107' (the peach).

YSL Rouge Volupte Perle 108-107

At £22 each, they aren't cheap by any means but for a special treat I think I could justify...

I really like the colours as they look, the peach '107' shade is definitely my favourite and more flattering on my skintone than the lilac. I now want to find a rosey, 'healthy' pink shade to add to my collection. If you have shade suggestions, please comment below to let me know!

Natural Light (L-R 107-108)

With Flash (L-R 107-108)

What do you think of these colours? Tempted or turned off? I should mention, these are both part of the A/W YSL collection that's in stores now. There's also a gorgeous eyeshadow palette that's a combination of purple and turquoise, my two favourite colours. I love the mix of the darker, rich shades and the pale pastel shades. This baby costs £40... which just happens to be close to the amount I have on my Boots Advantage Card at present...tempting!

YSL definitely has the wow factor for me, you can't beat the bling of the gold packaging! What are your favourites from YSL??


Lippies are PR samples. 

Essie Resort Collection 2011

I'm having a bit of a love-affair with Essie at the moment, the colours are just what I want and they are available in these fabulous little sets of 4 minis for little more than the price of one bottle. I picked this set up from beautybay.com for £11.95 (plus there was a 15% off discount code in honour of the bank holiday, so it was actually even cheaper).

This is the Essie Resort Collection for 2011, meant for summer but I think the colours translate quite nicely into being suitable for Autumn too. The collection is safari-themed, as you will see from the names... 

L-R: Fair Game,  Your Hut or Mine, Lion Around, Da Bush.

Fair Game: A shimmering, slate colour with blue and grey tones.
Your Hut or Mine: A rosy, muted, pink with warm shimmer tones.
Lion Around: A powdery, baby pink with pearly white shimmer.
Da Bush: A creamy, white, khaki shade.

Lion Around

Your Hut or Mine

Da Bush

Fair Game

Essie Resort Collection 2011: Natural Light

Essie Resort Collection 2011: With Flash

Fair Game was the initial stand out to me, and the one I chose to apply first. But I think all four colours work really nicely together.  Which is the stand out to you?

Top L-R: Lion Around, Fair Game
Bottom L-R: Your Hut or Mine, Da Bush

What you think of mini sets? Bit of a gamble on colour combos or a good way to try out before you buy...??


Bought by me.

October favourites (very late)

So I had a bit of an impromptu break from blogging this week... but I'm back with a bit of a late post on my favourites from October...

Through the month of October I was mostly loving...

- Nars Pennylane Cream Blush
- Ciate Paint Pot in 'Dangerous Affair' (a freebie from Marie Claire Magazine)
- Vaseline Intensive Rescue Moisture Loving Body Butter
- Collection 2000 Big Fake Lashes Mascara
- MAC 'In The Groove' mineralise eyeshadow trio (from the In The Groove collection earlier this year)
- Bourjois Khol and Contour in '79 Bronze Raffine'

What have you been loving in October/early November?? Also - where has the year gone?! It seems like only yesterday it was January!


**The Small Print**
Only the Bourjois eyeliner was a PR sample. All other products bought by me (or given free with a mag bought by me...that's probably too much info!)

NOTD: Nails Inc Duke of Wellington place

This is a super speedy nail of the day where I had to do a quick polish change on my way to work as had a green dress and red nails situation that I wasn't happy with - so I did a speedy re-paint with a dark grey from the A/W nails Inc collection. I love grey nails - they go with anything and look quite modern at the same time.

This one too two coats and dried quickly - the paint job isn't perfect and I don't have anything to touch up with, but slightly messy nails are better than clashing or chipped nails...

The colour is quite hard to capture, but is a bit lighter than the picture (that almost looks black). It's a very pure mid grey with no purple or blue undertones. The top picture is the closest...

What do you think of grey nails - great or grim?x

**the small print**
PR sample for review.

Currently loving: Blue Nails

Following my pedi & polish at The Chapel I have a renewed interest in painting my nails less 'normal' colours - especially blue. I have two blue shades, both from Mavala, that I was sent recently and have been um-ing and ah-ing over how I felt about them.

But post-Chapel I can't get enough - especially of the darker blue ('flashy violet') a gorgeous deep royal blue with purple undertones and a shimmer. I love it - I think blue nails are meant to be a bit of a trend at the moment - with a few people picking up on pictures of Lauren from 'The Hills' sporting the look. Not sure if she has been spotted with it recently or not, but either way - I love the look. I think it's a great transitional colour from Summer to Autumn - not that there has been much of a transition in London. I will be sporting dark nails on a regular basis from now on.

Flashy Violet - no flash

Flashy Violet - with flash

The paler blue is also a gorgeous colour, with a very pretty shimmer. But feels a bit more summery than the weather at the moment. If I was jetting off on a late Summer holiday I would definitely get more wear out of this - but as the sun has decided to leave us early I will save this one for next Spring and stick to the darker blue.

Aqua Blue - with flash

Aqua Blue - no flash

What do you think of blue nails?

The Mavala nail polishes cost £3.66 and are available in Debenhams.

On a little side note, I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love the mini bottles from Mavala, such an easy and affordable way to try out new colours! I've included an image of the rest of the Summer range below, in case blues aren't your thing.

**The Small Print**


PR samples for review.

YSL Manicure

So after THIS post on the YSL manicure I went along on Friday and got to try it for myself. Feeling like a bit of a kid in a candy shop I settled on the purple and  gold combination as displayed in the promo pics. Love this mixture of shades and I plan to copy it again with some colours I already have.

The main thing I learnt from getting this mani is that any combination of shades can work - clashing or complimentary - and that you can do this yourself (steady hand needed).

What do you think?

**The Small Print**


Appointment via PR for review.

Loving this look: YSL Nails for A/W 2010

I'm really loving this manicure look from YSL for A/W. I love the deep aubergine shade tipped with gold - so luxe! Although I have my doubts about being able to look quite as polished as the hands in the picture...

If you are looking for a fab how-to for creating this look then pay a visit to  BritishBeautyBlogger to get some great tips.

What do you think of this nail look?

Boots No7 Autumn Limited Edition: preview

As I write this, I have just got back from the Boots No7 Autumn Limited Edition Colour Rebellion Collection and I thought I would give a quick sneaky peak at some of the bits that really excited me.

Firstly, I felt very privileged to meet Lisa Eldridge, Celebrity Make Up Artist and Creative Director for No7. She is a genuinely lovely person and clearly incredibly talented make-up artist. She is also a fellow blogger and you can check out her blog HERE.

So, Lisa gave me a personal intro the the various Limited Edition pieces and the new additions to the general collection. The stand out pieces for me are:

- Stay Perfect Matte Top Coat
- The Smokey Eyeliner (not pictured)
- The Exceptional Definition Mascara
- The Colour Rebellion Eye Palette


I don't love matte polishes in general, I find they chip too easily to be worth wearing - but I do like the idea of being able to transform colours I already have into matte versions. My nail varnish collection just doubled with the addition of one polish... exciting and worrying. This isn't the first matte top coat on the market, but it is one of the first high street versions. Will give this one a test and see how it fares - I bought 'poolside blue' recently (with the help of one of the £5 till spits) and Lisa specifically mentioned she thinks the matte top coat works well with this to give it a slightly edgier/autumn look.

The smokey eyeliner, now this has me very excited - it's a totally different sort of liner. It reminds me of the Guerlain kohl - it's a sort of powder liner, but applies with no drop out for an instantly smokey look - no smudging/blending required. I had a play with this on the back of my hand today and as soon as it is applied it doesn't smudge or budge at all - I don't have one at the moment to test out but I am looking forward to these being released.

No7 have had some pretty mixed success with their various mascara releases - I do still wonder what they were thinking when they released the one with the square bits on the wand.... but I think the newest one has the potential to be quite impressive. The wand is a mixture of three wand types - it has a ball at the end (like L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion or Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes) plus the length of the wand has a side with short dense bristles and one with a longer, wider spaced ones - so with one wand you can easily coat top lashes, bottom lashes and the corners. I am really looking forward to giving this a test - I love a good mascara.

Last, but not least is the four colour palette - with a bit of a jungle theme, the four colours are bright and the shadows intensely pigmented with great colour payoff. Which isn't something No7 has been known for in the past, so this is potentially a real stand out product. The bright colours might not be for everyone, but they are all rich jewel-toned shades that are perfect for Autumn. This was another one I had a play with and all colours are so bright - the blue and purple really stood out. I actually really like the green shade and can see myself using this as a liner colour with otherwise neutral shades.

Lisa had created a really stunning look on a model at the event - using the burnt orange on the lid and the purple underneath. It sounds scary, but it looked great (probably helps that the model was gorgeous of course). Sorry I don't have any pictures for you - my camera decided to die on me at the event so I only have post event pics for you.

Also coming soon to select Boots stores across the country is the 'No7 Beauty Boutique'. As seen in many a department store, Boots is adding to it's repertoire a series of micro-salons where you can pop in for a series of treatments including eyebrow shaping (wax or threading), false lash application, lash tints, and No7 manicures. The threading will cost £12, which is pretty reasonable for an in-store treatment - where they often cost up to £25. This service is launching at five stores across the country from June:

Meadow Hall, Sheffield,
thecentre:mk, Milton Keynes,
St Davids Shopping Centre, Cardiff,
Drake Circus Shopping Centre, Plymouth,
Westfield, London (from August).

I got to sample the treatments and had some false lashes applied. I have never worn falsies before, not for lack of trying - every time I have tried before I have ended up with stray lashes falling across my face before I even leave the house. So I am finding the feeling of wearing false lashes a bit odd, not totally comfortable - but they do look great. I feel a bit like Bambi, with fluttery doe-lashes.

The lash application will cost £10 and includes the price of the falsies - I think this is a bargain for feeling a bit special on a night out.

The Autumn/Winter stuff will be in stores from August (yep, A/W in high summer... go figure) so keep an eye out then.



**The Small Print**


Bits mentioned have been provided free for review, although this isn't a review - just a bit of a preview/heads-up. For the sake of being clear though I should say they were free. So they were free. The end.