Essie shopping: one to try, one to avoid

So I may have spotted a few Essie polishes on sale in TK Maxx the other day for the bargainous price of £3.99 each. Seeing as they retail for around £8-9 in stores, I felt that this would be a good opportunity to augment my collection. They had some great shades on offer (and some really disgusting ones) but I picked up these two: Truth or Flare and Resort Fling. This is from their Spring and Resort 2014 collections respectively, so I'm only 9 months behind the times (better than usual, I'd say).

Truth or Flare ¦¦ One to try. This polish is a light, grey-toned blue with a creme formula. It's a sophisticated way to wear blue nails and it suits the season quite well. The first coat goes on pretty streakily but with careful application, a second coat can usually save it. You may need to go for 3 coats if you're after perfection, but I draw the line at 2 coats of anything so for me that had to suffice.

Resort Fling ¦¦ One to avoid. This is a peachy coral with a jelly formula. The colour is really pretty but the formula is quite transparent and even though it applies evenly, you do need 3 coats to make it opaque. As I mentioned above, I don't really have the time for that kind of nonsense - particularly given that an hour later, it still hadn't set despite the use of Seche Vite top coat. You can see it pooling at the tip of my index finger in the picture below.

Here are both of them on my nails. I'm modelling two of my most frequent activities this month, namely: 1. Reaching for a scarf, and 2. Reaching for some chocolate coins. P.S. Let's not look at my cuticles eh, all I can say is roll on summer.

Have you tried either of these polishes? What did you think?

-Rachel

Memebox Wake Up Makeup: Unboxing & review

The past few Memeboxes I've received have been strong, very strong. So by the Law of Subscription Services In General, I was bound to end up with a dud sooner or later. Ladies and gents, I present Memebox Special #37, Wake Up Makeup.

Memebox kindly sent me this box for review, and I have a sneaking suspicion that this one was left sitting the warehouse because Memebox's makeup boxes don't tend to get such good reviews. I've personally had a mixture, but this one sadly falls into the "so close... but not quite" category.

If you haven't already heard me rabbit on about Memebox, they're a Korean non-subscription beauty box and online retailer who have taken the beauty world by storm of late. Their boxes are oddly addictive; for more information I refer you to their website here.

Let's see what they put in this particular box, shall we?

Royal Nature The Original Soothing Blemish Balm SPF30 PA++ ¦¦ Here we have a common or garden BB cream. This is formulated with lots of interesting extracts and smells pleasantly of lavender when applied. This gives a light coverage, and blends in nicely without going patchy. The colour matched my super pale skin well, and over time it wore well, not oxidising or sinking into pores. The only downer is that this has an SPF of 20, whereas on the card it's marked as 30. The higher the better as far as I'm concerned, but I suppose this will be a high enough SPF for wear during the British winter.

Bbia Downy Cheek in 02 Downy Peach ¦¦ This product did ok, actually. It's a lovely peach shade which blends very easily into the skin. It didn't emphasise my pores or stick to any dry patches, and didn't feel greasy on the skin either. This lasted reasonably well, although it did fade gently throughout the day. Nothing too serious. I'll happily keep using this. 

Cheek Room Two Color LipGloss in Wine & Nude Peach ¦¦ Has anyone else ever seen wine which is this particular vivid shade of pink?! No, me neither... So I'm not quite sure how they came up with the shade name. And who else is heartily sick of the Cheek Room Girl? Funnily enough, not all of us aspire to look like a scarily rendered Scarlett Johansson. Anyway, moving on to the product. I was all ready to hate it, given the packaging and the wild claims made on the card (long lasting lip stain, waterproof, smudge-proof, opaque colour, matte texture with a topcoat that gives a lacquered finish). However, the proof is in the pudding and I've actually been reaching for this fairly frequently. It does none of the things it says it will on the card, but is a nice, comfortable clear lip gloss to wear with little fuss. It doesn't taste weird and gives a super-subtle lift to the lips. 

It’s Skin Babyface Young Girl Gel Eye Liner in 02 Purple Black ¦¦ I think this was probably the worst thing I've ever received in a Memebox. Oh apart from that mix your own face colour thing that looked like it was for a 6-year-old. This is a two-part eyeliner containing a black and a purple. The black is about passable, although certainly nothing special and I found it difficult to get a crisp line with it, but the purple was a joke. It was dried out when I received it and the product had pulled away from the edges of the pot. It balled up, flaked and pulled on my skin when I tried to apply it and it's safe to say the result wasn't pretty. The black portion of the pot isn't good enough for me to save, so this is going in the bin. I may keep the brush. I'm still debating that one.

Shara Shara Creamy Dual Auto EyeStick in no.3 Celeb Burgundy ¦¦ Aha, another dual ended eye stick. Unfortunately, this suffered the same fate as the last one, in that the shadow end of the stick was pretty useless. I'm not normally a fan of pink eyeshadows, but this one looked alright just after application. I was all ready to change my mind, and then I looked back in the mirror and... it had disappeared. It was really that fast. There was just some gold glitter left behind to remind me that there had ever been any colour there at all. No good. And that was over a primer! The eyeliner, however, was a different story. This is an unusual burgundy colour, and unlike anything else I own. It applies well and stays on the lid throughout the day. The colour, being red based, does have the tendency to make me look a bit ill, but I think for people with a slightly more 'healthy' skin tone, this wouldn't be an issue. If I dress this up with other eyeshadows I think it could look quite pretty. So I'm looking forward to experimenting with the eyeliner end, but I kind of wish they hadn't bothered with the shadow end.

Shara Shara Glitter Pearl Powder in GL02 Bronze Gold ¦¦ Uh oh, more Shara Shara. So far, I'm not getting a great impression of this brand. I've received an eyeliner from them before, which was fine but nothing special, and here we've got two more products with limited appeal. This is a pot of glitter, basically. Nothing more sophisticated than that. The shade of glitter I received was quite nice, actually, and it's just down to my personal taste that I don't like to wear a lot of sparkle (and wow, does this sparkle). My issue with this product is that it's so hard to apply! The sponge applicator piles it on, and then it proves impossible to blend out. It just sticks obstinately where it was placed. Which, for such a loud product, is not a good thing. I can't imagine using this as a highlighter as suggested, unless two circles of glitter is a look now? Oh and let's not mention the packaging. What has a corset got to do with anything? Why can't we keep things classy around here (I'm looking at you, Cheek Room Girl)?

Cellbydate The Real Galacto Zero Essence ¦¦ This was a bonus product, and I'm pretty excited to use this. It comes in a nice looking frosted glass bottle, with tasteful designs on it (ahem). This is an essence to use after your toner, and I'm just about to run out of a sample sized essence so I'll be getting on to this shortly. It promises pH balancing, sebum balancing, moisturising, revitalising, soothing, and skin boosting effects according to the bottle, so we'll see! I'm pleased to have received this and here's hoping it lives up to its claims.

Left-right we have some of my trademark dodgy swatches for: Shara Shara Glitter Pearl Powder ¦ Bbia Downy Cheek ¦ It’s Skin Babyface Young Girl Gel Eye Liner ¦ Cheek Room Two Color LipGloss ¦ Shara Shara Creamy Dual Auto EyeStick

And bringing up the rear, here's the swatch for the BB cream. 

Overall, there were a couple of decent products in this box but most were duds or not something I'd choose to wear. I do think makeup Memeboxes are a complete gamble, not least because it's virtually impossible to put together a makeup box that everyone will love. Still, I have received better boxes and as for the theme, I'm not sure how whacking a load of glitter on your face before using three different eyeliners on it constitutes "wake up make up" but there we go. 

If there are individual products listed here that you think you'd like to give a go, I've linked to them in each header (these aren't affiliate links). A lot of the products are showing as out of stock, but Memebox have said that they will try to get frequently wishlisted items back in stock. 

If you're interested in purchasing a box or two, here are some codes which might help you:

1. $5 off any purchase over $30: 02JYH5*

2. $5 off on entire order when purchasing over 3 Memeboxes: MEMEBUNDLE3

3. $8 off on entire order when purchasing over 4 Memeboxes: MEMEBUNDLE4 

4. Free shipping on orders above $30 from USA SHOP: No code required 

5. Free shipping on orders above $70 from Memeshop: FREESHIPPING

6. 20% off any USA SHOP order: GIVETHANKS

Did you receive this box? What did you think of it?

-Rachel

The box reviewed in this post was provided by Memebox for consideration. However, I have bought Memeboxes by the drove since they started shipping to the UK and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Memebox to a friend. I'm solidly in love with the company as I'm sure you'll know if you've read my blog for any length of time!* denotes an affiliate link or code, if you'd like to use it then thank you for your support but please don't feel obliged to. 

The Glamour Party Beauty Edit 2014 with Latest in Beauty

Have you got a Christmas party coming up, and you need to stock up on a few party essentials? Maybe you're heading away and you need some travel size miniatures? Well, look no further. The Glamour Party Beauty Edit is here, and it's going to solve a large number of your problems... 

I'm afraid to say the box won't pick an outfit for you, stop your feet from hurting, or prevent that randomer from taking an unwelcome shine to you, but we can't have everything can we? Here's what it will do for you...

Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner in Black Amethyst ¦¦ I'm a big fan of Stila, and I'll take any excuse to expand my collection. This eyeliner is a very deep purple with a hint of sparkle in it. This is just enough to give it interest without making it too in-your-face. You can use this as a normal eyeliner if you have a certain level of skill with application, as it is quite soft. It's much easier to apply it however you can, and then smudge it out into a smoky eye. It's super pretty, and is one of those clever colours which looks black from afar, but it has just enough purple in it to bring out green eyes. I love this!

Collection Lengthening Mascara in Ultra Black ¦¦ Here we've got a mascara which looks a bit like it wants to be Benefit They're Real!'s drugstore dupe. The bristles on the brush are much shorter than the Benefit version, and it's not as instantly wowing, but if you stick around and build it up a bit, then the results are actually quite good. I would say this gives great every day lashes, nothing dramatic, but a solid performance.

Wild About Beauty Powder Eye Shadow in 04 Becca ¦¦ I'm so glad I got the shade I did - I've been keen to try something from Wild About Beauty for a while, and I didn't want to get a crazy unwearable colour. Luckily, Becca is a beautiful neutral shade which I'm having a bit of trouble putting into words - see the swatch at the end of the post for a better idea, but basically it's a kind of very pale warm brown, which looks somewhere between a champagne and a pale bronze shimmer on the lid. It's a lovely shade which would do a party look just as well as an everyday look, it applies well and blends easily. It's also got great staying power. I forsee me getting a lot of wear out of this one!

Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer in Grapefruit ¦¦ This one was a bit of a miss for me, sadly. The shade I got is a very light pink with a heck load of shimmer in it. I know I shouldn't be surprised by this, as it is called a "Lip Shimmer", but this translated as a fairly grim 80s frost pink when worn alone. Not good. I'm going to try and layer this with other products, or maybe just use less at once, but I don't hold out much hope. It's also peppermint flavour, which is good on occasion but sometimes you just want something inoffensive on the lips, you know?

Lola Nail Polish in 005 Stone Grey ¦¦ Grey nail polishes never go out of style, and this fits into my collection beautifully. It's a darker grey so it looks very stylish with almost anything and can do day and night with ease. This would be a great choice for Christmas parties - if you've not decided what you're going to wear when you paint your nails, you can put this on and guaranteed it will go. This applies well and looks great after two coats, and I'm seriously in love with the colour.

Vichy Pureté Thermale 3 in 1 ¦¦ This cleanser for sensitive skin does 3 things in one - it's a cleansing milk, it removes eye make up, and it tones. I'd argue the first two are the same thing but... Minor quibble. I think I will use this after my work Christmas party, as I'm staying away for the night and at 30ml this is a useful size for travelling with.

Vichy Idealia Life Serum ¦¦ I will be using this right after the Vichy cleanser post-Christmas party - this promises to restore radiance to the skin. Sounds just the job, if you ask me.

Skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels ¦¦ Lastly, I will be using these the morning after the night before - we have an all-day team meeting the day after, so I'll need to look with it. I have serious bags at the best of times so I hope these will help me out.

XEN-TAN Luminous Gold Gel ¦¦ I'm not really one for fake tan, as I'm so pale normally that I just end up looking orange. However, I'm thinking of giving this one a whirl. It's got lots of shimmer in it which means it looks pretty as soon as you apply it, and then the tan develops over the next 3 hours. Now, I'm not sure about exactly how they figure the timing works with that (do you arrive to the party pale and leave tanned??) but I guess I'll apply the night before and see how I go. It's got a fairly strong coconut scent, and no detectable fake-tan smell, so that's good.

Philip Kingsley Moisture Balancing Shampoo & Conditioner ¦¦ My hair always needs some moisture balancing, and I'll be taking these with me to wash my hair with after the work Christmas party. I've had much success with Philip Kinglsey products before, so I'm looking forward to trying these.

L’Oreal Elnett Satin Volume Excess Hairspray ¦¦ Travel size cans of hairspray always come in handy, so I know I'll get good use out of this. I'm slightly intimidated by the promise of "Extra Strength" and "Backcombed Volume", but it also says it disappears at the stroke of a brush, so I'm sure I'll be fine.

Popband London hair ties ¦¦ These hair bands are the trendy sort that you've been seeing everywhere for a while, only with a party spin! I like the plain black one for when you need to be sensible, and you can then switch up your hair to party mode with the gold houndstooth pattern one. As they point out, these look good on your wrist as well, so either way you're winning.

Swatches ¦¦ Here we have my trademark dodgy swatching. Left to right: Wild About Beauty Powder Eye Shadow in 04 Becca, Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer in Grapefruit, Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner in Black Amethyst.

Also in the box ¦¦ 62% off a 12 month subscription to Glamour magazine, £5 off your next purchase at Xen-Tan, £20 off a Magnitone, and further assorted discounts from the included brands which can be found listed here.

I personally think the Glamour Party Beauty Edit is an excellent value box which contains a mix of everyday, useful products as well as new things to try. There's only one thing in it that I didn't really like, and I'm hopeful about changing that with some considered application. The box has a value of £88.85 (precisely) and can be purchased for £16.99 inc P&P here. They do tend to sell out fairly quickly so run, don't walk towards this box.

Are you thinking of buying this box? Which product swayed you?! For me it was the Stila Smudge Stick, which is normally £13ish alone...

-Rachel

November Favourites

Happy December, everyone! We made it. Now is the time to kick back, relax, and roll on into the festive season. I am going to buck the trend and say that for me, November went past extremely slowly. It was great, but I'm glad we finally pushed through to December. Here are some things that made my November a happy month.

Hart of Dixie // We recently succumbed to Netflix and I decided to give Hart of Dixie a whirl. I had no idea what it would be like and it took me a little while to get into it – initially, I found Zoe’s character a bit difficult to warm to, although I realise that was part of the point. I persevered and I've actually become pretty hooked on it. I'm nearly at the end of the first season and the whole Lemon/Levon/George thang has all kicked off. Gripping stuff.

All Things Heated // Things have been distinctly chilly around these parts, and I've been working from home a lot. We’re too stingy to have the heating on during the day, and we live in a drafty Victorian house, so retaining heat has been of the essence. I've been relying on my Heat Tech tops from UniQlo, which make for comfy and stylish thermals. I stopped by the Regent Street store recently, where I stocked up on the long sleeved ones as well as sleeveless and cami styles. This means I can wear them in a variety of ways, and I've been found in one most days. You can just see my marine blue long sleeved top in the top right of the picture above - I highly recommend it. I've also been absolutely in love with my heated throw, which is the grey and cream furry thing in the picture above. As an ordinary blanket it retains heat very well, but once you put on the heated elements it transcends into a warming experience that’s just sublime. It has a timer and various heat settings and everything. I've been sat with this over my lap while I work – such a granny thing to do, but it works amazingly well at making me feel extra toasty. Then there’s my electric blanket, which warms up my bed for me deliciously. It’s the perfect way to end a frosty day - and saves me heaps of time in making up multiple hot water bottles! I've also just cracked out the fleece lined tights that I loved last year, and I think it may be time to replace them...

Cargo Swimmables Water Resistant Blush in Bali (top swatch above) // This blush is just gorgeous, beautiful, wonderful, I would like to marry it please. It is a delicate pink colour, which is light enough to freshen up the face but doesn't stray into Barbie territory. It’s got a super fine iridescent shimmer to it, which leans a blue-purple but doesn't look glittery on the face. It gives a good lift to the complexion and is excellent at making you look awake with very little effort. You don’t need to bother with a highlight, just slap this on and off you go. Also, it’s such a delicate colour that it’s almost impossible to overdo. Foolproof, flattering, long lasting. Please consider buying this if you don’t already own it.

Cargo eyeshadow in Yukon (bottom swatch above) // Here we have a browny taupe eyeshadow with a moderate amount of shimmer in it, which gives it a lovely multi-dimensional finish. This means you can use it alone and it does the whole eye very nicely. It’s just a gorgeous shade and I’d highly recommend picking up the single if you can. It’s similar to the shade Frolic from the Vintage Escapes Palette but Yukon leans more taupe.

Ecotools large eye brush // This beasting brush can cover your entire lid in two swift pats. It’s ideal to use with a nice multidimensional eyeshadow shade such as Yukon – in fact, this has been my go-to three second eye of late. It looks like you made an effort when really, you didn't at all.

O& Easy Brush Liner // This is a felt tip type eyeliner, and it’s the one I've found easiest to apply whilst in a hurry as well as the most long lasting. The only down side is that it’s pretty tricky to remove every last scrap as it does tend to leave a faint line behind. That doesn't bother me but it may not be ideal for everyone. This came in a Memebox so I'm not sure how I'm going to replace it when it dies – but I hear the Maybelline Master Precise may be quite similar.

Chocolate coins // The Christmas season is well and truly upon us, and I've been absorbing the ambience via the medium of chocolate coins. They’re just such a jolly way to enjoy my chocolate ration, and I'm feeling suitably festive.

What did you enjoy in November?

-Rachel