Mulberry Haul

Hi. This is a bit unexpected for the both of us isn't it? It's not a mulberry haul really, it's just one piece. But one piece more than I ever thought I'd be blogging about. I'll be honest now, this is being returned, because I got a 'better' item. But that will be shared with you another day ;)

It's a credit slip holder that I wanted to use as an Oyster card holder. Space for 5 cards (2 front, 2 back and one middle).

It's in mulberry pink and in the softest goat leather. It honestly feels like heaven. But I really wanted a proper card holder and something a bit more substantial. So that's why it is being returned :(

Rrp £100 and I got mine from the store in Stratford Westfields. Posh innit lol On a side note, the customer service was great. Much better than my next experience.

Mini Haul and OOTD

Hello hello!

I had a dress down day at work and picked up a few casual pieces that I thought I'd share with you. It's been so long since I've posted an ootd!!

I wore a new look oversized t shirt (£6) with a elephant head printed in the front paired with very light blue Eden jeggings from Dorothy Perkins (£23). Paired with a black bucket bag and very old primark sandals. Probably not a great shoe choice since the ankle detail clashes with the light blue but I haven't unearthed my summer footwear yet so these were the only option at hand.

As well as the elephant print (close up below)  I also got a bright heart print t pic above - also £6 from new  look). This is quite bright and casual for me but I'm trying to embrace the sunshine.

And that's it. How is your summer wardrobe looking? Mine is...black and wintery. Hate summer dressing.

Review: Revlon Colorstay foundation

Hi guys!

Just wanted to let you know what I think about Revlon Colorstay foundation.

I have 3 shades/2 formulations: 

The first Colorstay I tried out was 320 True Beige in the normal/dry skin formulation. I got this ages ago (2012?...maybe 2011?!) but I've only been using it for a few months. I really liked the coverage and staying power but the colour match was not good. Colorstay oxidises on me very very badly - this shade is dark for me regardless but after about 4 hours, I'm an Oompa Loompa. Scrap that - even an Oompa Loompa would think I was too orange!!! 

Also, skin wise I've come to the conclusion that I don't have dry skin (I'm just dry at my damaged nose area); the majority of my face is normal-ish. This revelation has changed my life (well...it's changed the type of stuff I put on my face).

So anyway, I liked this but I needed a slightly lighter shade and whilst I was looking I thought I'd try out the combination/oily skin type.

First stop was Boots and Superdrugs to try to find a colour match. Can I just say that the cleanliness and overall display quality of drugstore makeup stations are utterly appalling. Disgusting. I'm sure you can catch something deadly from the testers. 

Long story short, there wasn't much of a shade range in stores but I knew from online research that Revlon foundations come in a relatively fantastic shade range. So I decided to colour match myself to a mac foundation using my Estée Lauder's double wear match (in tawny FYI) as I very recently got matched  in store. My dodgy research told me I was probably around the 35-40 mark and interestingly enough that gave me a colorstay match of true beige as the darkest. So I was on the right track I felt.

I have shade Golden Beige in Revlon Photoready and it was too light for me but reviews said that Photoready and Colorstay shades weren't the same (despite using the same names) so I decided that I'd go for this, since if it was too light I could mix it with True Beige.

But then! I realised that in the USA they had a shade 310 Warm Golden. Smack bang between 300 Golden Beige and 320 True beige. Now how do I get my hand on this 'special' shade?

Some retailers were selling Warm Golden for £17-21!!!!! (In the UK Colorstay rrp is £12-13 - and I always buy foundation when it's on offer eg 3 for 2.

I was about to lose hope but then an eBay miracle happened. A lady was selling golden beige and warm golden!!! I entered into a bidding war and slayed all my enemies. Best feeling. (Each was sold separately - total for both was £13 inc p+p - bargain!!!)

So - do I like it? Yes! I won't go on about shade anymore but I'm loving the formulation of the combination/oily skin.

Coverage - great coverage. Covers all my red bits and gives a nice even finish. 

Finish - nice and matte but doesn't leave me looking like I'm wearing a mask. And it doesn't feel tight and heavy. It's probably heavy for some people but this is a full coverage foundation so what do you expect?! Wears really nicely throughout the day. 

Oil control - Does control my oil so it was worth switching formulas. Doesn't leave me totally oil free and I do need to blot but my face is definitely less melty lol I can't make a comparison with any other foundation as I've always gone for dry skin types before.

Lasting power - this says "wears for up to 24 hours". I've never worn my make up for 24 hours but I would say definitely great for a 9-12 hour working day, and pretty fantastic for 16 hours.

I'm really happy with my choice of product and for the price this might potentially be my forever foundation. Very tempted to bulk buy but trying to remain calm and sensible!

Have you tried this? Do you like it? Any recommendations?

Review: Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr cream gel eyeshadow [updated 15/09/2013]

Hi Guys!

Firstly, sorry for the lopsided picture - after all these years I still haven't figured out how to rotate  photos on blogger!

Anyway, I'm here today with a quick review of the Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr in the shade 'timeless black'.

Simply put - I love this. I cannot believe I did not get this sooner. For a girl who loves a heavy black eye this is a truly marvellous product. I haven't had this in my life/make up bag for long but I already know that we are soul mates!

So....it is a creamy gel eyeshadow as the name suggests. And shade-wise timeless black is a nice true black; none of that charcoal shizzle. The staying power is great. I can't vouch for 24 hours but I can say that it does stay put for about 16 hours.

The big left swatch is about 2 brush swipes worth of product. You can see that the colour payoff is  impressive and  nice and opaque. The small swatch on the right is one brush swipe worth of product and you can see that even that is some good stuff right there.

I can imagine this would make a great eyeliner but I use this in two other ways. I was initially using it as a base with my mua eyeshadow in shade 20(matte black); I'd swipes color tattoo all over my lid and whilst still 'wet' I'd pat on my powder eyeshadow. This combo would probably last for 3 days and that's not even a lie.

Since the initial combo was working so well for the past week I tried using the color tattoo on it's own and was still very impressed. I did have one problem with this - one day after work I wanted to touch up my eyes so I pulled out my black kohl eyeliner and .....crack! My bloody color tattoo cracked/crumbled/flaked straight off my eye. I was then left with a patch of skin on my eyelid. So.....I don't care - I've learnt my lesson. Packed it on good in the morning and don't be tempted to draw over it and you'll be fine.

Even if this was twice the price now that I know what it can do I'd still repurchase it. And that's a lot coming from me!!!

Have you tried this? What do you think?


[EDITED 15/09/2013]

Hi Guys, in this post I mentioned a problem with this product crumbling/flaking off and wanted to show this. (Forgive the unfinished makeup). Also, it doesn't happen to often but it does sometimes flake off even before I've finished doing my make up in the morning. I had obviously applied the product all over my lids and then for whatever reason the below happened. So that's a bit crap. But I still love it - you can see how black and opaque the bits that stayed on are!