Max Factor Lipfinity Lasting Lip Tint Pen - 03 Pink Princess!

I bought this from Superdrug on Sunday as I had wanted to try these since I first saw them advertised, anything that is meant to be long lasting is always good in my book so when I noticed they were just £5.99 on offer I thought it would be rude not to buy one, really.

I went for shade 03 (Pink Princess) and it hasn’t disappointed me; it is quite a strong pink when used heavily, but still perfectly wearable as you can build the colour up (as you can see on my hand swatches below) as much as you feel comfortable with. 

Another thing I’ve been really impressed with is the staying power of this product. It has survived drinking very comfortably; even eating doesn’t do much, if any damage and I do tend to use it a lot as a base for a lipstick or gloss for this very reason! The lip swatches below are with a bit of lip balm on, the shine isn't really from the pen, although it's not completely matte either.

A light usage:

 Slightly heavier:

 Heavier still:

Apologies for my dodgy lips, I rushed with the application and then was trying to hold them fairly neutrally but I failed, badly... this is still all new to me and I'm not entirely comfortable in front of a camera or with my looks in general!

I quite like that I can use this to make my lips look fuller by tracing ever so slightly over the outer lip-line, and as the stain really does stay put I feel confident that I’m not going to end up with dodgy looking lips later on in the day/evening when doing so!

Close ups:

This is still on offer at Superdrug for a limited time for those of you who are interested in buying it!

Free Bourjois Ombre Stretch Eyeshadow & Brush (£1.99 postage) @ Cheap Smells!

I just got this offer sent to my email box and have ordered one myself, for £1.99 delivered I thought it was worth trying out - it seems to only be available in 'Vert' (shown above) but that's fine with me, I like green!

If you would like one too, then here's how to get yours:

'To claim your free eyeshadow simply add it to your cart, enter freeombre in a discount voucher box below your cart and press add. The offer also works with other items in your cart - it can be free or free with any order - the choice is yours.'

CheapSmells.com

If you find that you like the product then I've just found that Fragrancedirect.co.uk have a larger colour selection available (5, to be precise) for £1.35 each plus £1.95 postage per order.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Real Techniques Brushes!

I just love the look of Samantha Chapman's (Pixiwoo) 'Real Techniques' make-up brush collection, currently only available in the US but due to be sold internationally at a date TBC. The prices on the American site selling them currently seem very affordable; I can't wait until they arrive here as I am expecting good things from them!

If you're lucky enough to live in the US then you can buy the brushes here!

For the rest of us, here's the website so you can find out more about the collection!

Time To Spa Offers - Potential Mothers Day Gifts?!

Until 31st March timetospa.co.uk are offering big savings on Elemis, Essie and Bliss products – perfect for treating yourself, or even your mum for mother’s day?

There’s something for everybody’s budget, with individual Essie polishes in selected shades for £6.50 or a choice of 2 mini sets for £12.50, plus Bliss sets from £21 -£47, but what I find to be even better value are the Elemis products that are in the sale.

My personal Elemis favourites and bargain buys are:

Elemis Renew & Resurface Anti-Ageing Cleansing Duo - Valued at: £47.00, Now £27.60

Elemis Everyday Beauty Essentials - Valued at: £100.00, Now £35.00

Elemis Exotic Spa Secrets - Valued at: £87.50, Now £35.00

Elemis Skin Brilliance - Valued at: £92.00, Now £34.00

Daisy Spa Candle - Valued at: £25.60, Now £15.00

Slightly Speechless Sunday - Fearne Cotton!

I just love Fearne Cotton’s new hair, I first saw it on Celebrity Juice when she had it curled – and then also on Comic Relief where she wore it straight and both times it looked amazing (as did she). It’s such a perfect style to wear straight or curled which is why I’d love my hair to be like that too, but unfortunately I got layers cut in a couple of months ago so it needs to grow out a little before I could do so!

 

The ‘do was done by Lyndell Mansfield who explained that it was achieved by cutting her hair into a sharp bob and then ‘shattering’ the ends... which is what I’d expect you would need to tell your hairdresser should you want them to recreate the style on your own hair.

What do you think... do you love it or hate it?

Doing this post got me looking through some more of her hairstyles on Google, and I thought I’d also show just a selection (well slightly more than I thought there was) of those that I also loved in this post too...

 

Beauty Blog Link Love!

This week's Beauty Blog Love Links:

B eMiss Beauty Nerd dishes on Asia's hottest and most coveted product - BB Creams!!

Jellyminx shares a Jessie J inspired makeup tutorial.

K from Beautifully Addicted To gives us a look at ELF Mineral Glosses.

Anita over at Pleasureflush sorts through her stash of mascaras to find out which ones are keepers and which ones are heading for the bin!

Fee at Makeup Savvy takes on this year's Spring/Summer key fashion trends with a series of inspired nail art tutorials!

Phyrra's Indie Spotlight for March is Epically Epic Soap Co. Learn all about Allison!

Getting downright swatches spring blushes and tries to decide between Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent!

Ooh, shatter! Musicalhouses shows you an awesome black and silver shatter NOTD with Barry M Instant Nail Effects!

Krasey Beauty hobnobs with makeup royalty, and learns of new beauty releases, while she's at it!

Beauty's Bad Habit shares her favourite eyeshadow bases and primers for vivid, 'life proof' eye make-up that lasts.

Checked outELF's black bottles yet? Queen of Turquoise has!

Welcome to your new addiction - Alyson reviews the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams at The Gloss Menagerie.

Tracy at Beauty Reflections gets a 70s makeup vibe with Rimmel Glam'eyes Quad Eye Shadow that fits right in with the 70s fashion trend!

The Pink Sith won't be able to kill your lemming for this new Armani Beauty Eyes To Kill Intense Silk Eyeshadow in # 4 Pulp Fiction.

Who said neutrals can't be dramatic, Madame B Fatale shows you how!

Kimberly takes the Dare To Wear Charity Challenge: For Japan Are you up for the challenge?

Hop in the car for a roadtrip with My Lips But Better and OPI's Fall 2011 collection, Touring America.

Are you a Kate or a Vanessa? You'll find the answer at Musing on Beauty, by comparing Chanel Rouge Coco Shine and Dior Addict lipsticks.

The Chantecaille Sea Turtle palette came swimming into Cindy's life, see if she thinks it's worth the $79 price tag.




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Did you hear? BarryM may come to Canada!! To celebrate Spiced Beauty is giving away a huge 5-piece prize pack.

Want to win 2 NARS blushes + other goodies? All you have to do is be a follower of StealMyHeartLovee's blog for a chance to win.

Music and Makeup has been going for 2 years! Jo celebrates with a giveaway of some of her favourite products.

theNotice is giving away a ridiculously glittery Honeycat Cosmetics lipgloss. Whether you're a cat lover or a glitter girl, you *need* to check it out!

Did You Observe National No Makeup Day?

Yesterday was National No Makeup Day, and it got me wondering what the point in having it was? I mean it’s not like No Smoking Day where it brings awareness to health and giving up smoking etc, so I just don’t understand the reason for it. Did you even know it was happening, and if you did know, did you observe it?

I have to say that I did observe it - not intentionally though,, it was only because I spent the day in my half demolished kitchen and so didn’t see the point in putting on any makeup as it would really have been a waste of my time, since my face was full of brick dust pretty quickly.

I’m not the kind of girl who won’t go out without a full face of makeup anyway so it was no big deal. I have no problem in going to do my shopping without any makeup on at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not *that* confident with my face sans makeup (or even with it), it’s just sometimes I really can’t be bothered to do it just for the sake of an hour in Tesco.

What are your views on going makeup-less? Is it something that bothers you or something that you do regularly?

Boots Mother's Day Offers!

Remember the Soap & Glory Big Value Bundles I told you about here? Well there's now a code available for £5 off the 'Enormous Beauty Bundle' that is still available - which makes it a bit more affordable and an even bigger saving on the RRP!

Just use the code BUNDLE5 to receive the discount at Boots.com - available until 5th April (this year obviously lol)!

Also available is a gorgeous looking Protect & Perfect Intense Face Collection gift at better than half price, £32 instead of £66, PLUS you get a free gift for spending over £22 on No7 - this  is such a great gift at a great price too, I might have to get Mummy Beauty Scoop one!

This is available whilst there is stock available so if you know you want it, act sooner rather than later! :-)

Wordless Wednesday - OPI Shatter Expands...

I have absolutely no idea when the new ones will be out, but just look at the colours we're going to be getting!

Picture courtesy of Noir Nail Bar, Canada!

Speed Review & Swatch Blinc Eyeliner (Black)

I’ve had this eyeliner for a while; I don’t know why I’ve not blogged about it sooner as it’s a great product. It’s beautifully pigmented, has a matte finish... and it really does stay put once it has set like it says it will. It does not fade, flake or smudge which is perfect for me as I’m a chronic re-offender when it comes to accidentally rubbing my eye because I’ve forgotten I put eyeliner on! To remove I find it best to use warm water to help slide the product off the eye area.

There is an element of skill to using it, as there is with any liquid eyeliner but if you generally know how to use one then you should have no problem with this.

The top (thinner) swatch shows a very quick swipe of the product as I wanted to show that it was still quite pigmented when this was done, the bottom is more to show a decent amount of product relative to what you'd expect to see on your eye (just not as thick)!

Available at Beauty Bay!

Clinique Chubby Sticks

I’m a big lover of lip balm, especially since I feel like I constantly have to battle chapped/dry lips; what I'm not a lover of however, is having to sacrifice colour on my lips for the care of my lips so I have been quite excited to find out that Clinique are bringing out ‘Chubby Sticks’, moisturising lip colour balms.

They’re said to be packed full of good-for-you ingredients such as Shea Butter, Mango Seed Butter and Jojoba Seed Oil that will keep your lips lusciously moisturised whilst still giving them a hint of colour and bit of a sheen, which sounds great to me – hopefully they’ll live up to my high expectations.

These sticks also seem perfect for using throughout the day when you may not necessarily want a strong lip colour, and they look like they’ve been designed with ease of use in mind. I much prefer this type of twist up pencil to one that needs a manual sharpening; firstly because it means that you don’t need to carry a sharpener with you, and secondly it means that you don’t run the risk of ruining your product because your sharpener isn’t up to scratch or whatever.

At least 4 colours have really taken my fancy from the pictures I’ve seen (shown below) and those are:

L-R: Chunky Cherry, Whoppin Watermelon, Richer Raisin and Super Strawberry!

Also available in the range: L-R Mega Melon, Graped Up, Fuller Fig and Wholelotta Honey.

They’ll be available at Clinique Counters nationwide from 15th April, priced £13.50 for 1.5ml of product.