Haul: NYX

I picked up a few NYX bargains, not much but enough to make me fall in love with the products and want to explore the brand a bit more. I'd really love to try out NYX lipsticks. Anyone up for a swap?!



I bought:

For Your Eyes Only Palette in Beautiful Green Eyes

For Your Eyes Only Palette in Smokey Eyes

Super Powder Brush

and Nail Polish in South Sea

The palettes are much smaller than I imagined. I don't mind, it's just something I noticed when I first opened the package. Pigmentation is great upon swatching but I'll see how they wear and post a review at a later date. Colours are beautiful and well chosen for each palette. I've got a bit of an obsession with eyeshadow palettes and think these are fantastic additions to my collection.

The brush is large and fluffy, not especially soft but not painfully scratchy. Will have to see how it holds up in terms of shedding when in use and washing.

The nail polish is an impulse buy as I don't have a colour similar to it in my collection. I'm quite disappointed to be honest. I know it's only a cheapie but I've paid far less for a polish and this one is so sheer it requires a good 4-5 coats to get a nice finish. I resorted to wearing it over a navy blue cream polish and thought it looked lovely.

Any review requests, send them my way!

Monday Night Rant: Vol 1

Tonight's rant will be about public transport. More specifically, public transport in London. While I enjoy the huge spectrum of wonderful people I see on my travels to and from work and find myself giggling at the lost tourists or just-got-a-big-job-in-London-town girls and boys ending up in Edgware when they meant to get to Waterloo; I do not enjoy the proportionally large number of morons I find myself dealing with. These include perverts, the inconsiderate and those who refuse to follow the rules.

Why oh why do people not obey the golden rule of the underground? Let people off before you push yourself and your 30 tonne suitcase through the doors. While you're at it, don't get your coat/scarf/arm trapped in the door. I'm late, you're making me later.

Why, when the train is completely empty, do you choose to sit next to me and read my paper? There's 500 discarded papers in this carriage. There's also 30 other free seats and a thing called breath mints.

Why do you choose to leave it until you reach the barriers before you retrieve your Oyster card/ticket from your wallet/bag/pocket? It almost always requires you to "Seek Assistance" anyway. Whilst I'm on this subject, how about NOT using my Oyster/ticket to let yourself through the barriers? It means I can't get through, you know...even though I've PAID for it.

How about realising when the train is full and waiting for the next one? We all have to do it at some point in our lives. I'd rather not have my face pushed into the sweaty armpit of a 73 year old whos never heard of deodorant just because you're impatient.

Spilling your coffee on my white coat DOES require you to apologise. You're lucky I don't send you a dry cleaning bill.

Just because the bus is full and someone is standing in the wheelchair/buggy area, doesn't mean you can demand to take up half the standing space with your buggy by giving us sinister looks and tutting. Notices say at busy times, they must be folded. Fold them or wait for the next bus please. Or put your baby in a wheelchair.

I really don't appreciate having to listen to your crappy taste in music when I've got a headache and the parent with the buggy is shoving it into the backs of my new boots.

Many thanks,

Chrissy xx

Review: e.l.f. Bamboo Brushes & Studio Stipple Brush

Quite a while ago, I ordered a few brushes from e.l.f. I'd been using a number of their regular range and Studio Line brushes for just over a year and thought that they were good quality for their price point. Seeing the new Bamboo Brushes and knowing how soft and lovely my Studio Complexion Brush was, I ordered the Powder Brush. Having a thing for angled brushes, I chose the Angled Blush Brush as well. I noticed the Studio Stipple Brush was still in stock so quickly popped one of those into my basket and paid up.



These brushes are all an absolute pleasure and a dream to use. All soft, all pick up and deposit the perfect amount of product and all easy to clean, economic and best of all - each brush is produced using man made fibres (Taklon). The Bamboo Brushes are made of recycled materials too.



The Powder Brush is large, fluffy and perfect for applying loose powder quickly and evenly. I use it for pressed powder as well. The brush is also fantastic for blending out and diffusing colour when I get too blush-happy.



The Angled Blush Brush is beautiful and I love me a multi-purpose product or brush. It's perfectly sized to use as a blush brush, tilt it slightly to use with a highlighter or lay on its side to contour with bronzer.



The Studio Stipple Brush is not as dense as many duo-fibre brushes I've used but it's a nice size unless you plan to use it for foundation. I like my foundation brushes to be big (I use a MAC 189, e.l.f. Studio Powder Brush or my fingers) so this one wouldn't quite cut it. Though I did try it once and found it gave a nice finish. I love this brush for cream or gel blushes.

Each brush sits well in the hand and is comfortable to use whilst looking stylish and above their price range. I would highly recommend the Bamboo range!

Have you used any e.l.f. brushes? What are your thoughts? Any winners I'm missing out on?

I hope you're all well, I hope to be back and posting more often from now on!

What I've Been Using: January

Shampoo: Toni & Guy Dark Brunette Shampoo
Conditioner: Toni & Guy Dark Brunette Conditioner
Styling Products: None!
Shower Gel: Lush Grass/Glogg/Happy Hippy
Body Moisturiser : Lush Vanilla Dee-Lite
Deodorant: Dove Lemongrass & Grapefruit (delicious scent)
Face Wash: Mario Badescu Acne Cleanser/Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil
Exfoliator: None for my face, as the Acne Cleanser exfoliates as well. Body: Soap & Glory Flake Away (not loving it to be honest)
Primer: Trying out a Pixi primer.
Foundation Brush: MAC 189
Foundation: Revlon Colorstay
Concealer: MAC Pro Longwear
Powder: e.l.f. HD powder
Blusher: Shu Uemura blush tint
Bronzer: Rimmel Natural Bronzer
Highlighter: Nars multiple in Luxor
Eyeshadow Base: Urban Decay Primer Potion
Eyeshadows: Sleek Original palette.
Eyeliner: Urban Decay 24/7 liners
Mascara: CoverGirl LashBlast
Lipstick: None
Lipgloss: None
Nail Colour: Model's Own Nude Beige. It's the only polish from my collection that I'm able to get to as my polish boxes are under a pile of cat food. No, I'm not joking.

Stylish Blogger Award

Both Brittany and Rabiyah have kindly nominated me for my second blog award! Thanks so much ladies! As one of the rules for accepting the award state I must share 7 unknown/little known facts about me, here they are:

1. I'm the worst person in the world for bulk buying. Think your grandmas bad stocking up on 3000 toilet rolls? I've got 3002. I can only think of how much worse it'll be when we move and have more space.


2. If I could eat fried rice and ramen for the rest of my life, I totally would.


3. When my boyfriend isn't home I listen to some pretty dirty ass hip hop. I'm talking the filthy underground stuff. He hates it, I love it.


4. I have a cat called Reggie who we've nicknamed Belly. Or Reggie Belly. Partly because he's a little tubby and partly because he's one of the only cats we know that loves having his tummy rubbed. Our other cat Mimi loves to have her ears rubbed. It makes her fall asleep.


5. I stopped drinking when I was 21.


6. I once set fire to my mum's brand new carpet. I don't remember why or how but it partly led to unknown fact number 5.


7. I really dislike it when people (myself included) say "sorry" instead of "excuse me" when trying to get past someone. There's nothing to be sorry about!

The rules also state I must nominate 15 recently discovered bloggers for this award:

Everythingism

The Makeup Drawer

Girl In The City Glasgow

Grazed Knees

Jessica Allison/Out In A Pout

Jeweled Thumb

LE FLASSH

Sparklz and Shine

Sweet Like Jelly

Tacky Blue Eyeshadow

oogle makeup

Obsessive Cosmetics Disorder

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Lipstick Rules

Katiexo

With the acceptance of the award, you must follow these rules:

* Thank and link back to the person that awarded you this award.

* Share 7 things about yourself.

* Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.

* Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

FOTD: Navy Eyes, Coral Lips

Products used:

Face: Revlon ColorStay foundation, MAC Pro Longwear concealer, e.l.f. Pressed powder

Eyes: Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Superior, NARS eyeshadow in Night Flight, Bourjois Volume Clubbing mascara in Absolute Black

Lips: OCC Lip Tar in Grandma

Swap Haul with FunnyFaceBeauty!

Through this blog I've had the absolute pleasure of being in contact with some of the most wonderful people from all over the world. A couple months ago after speaking on Twitter a few times, the amazing Alicia and I decided we'd do a swap. There were a handful of things each of us wanted from the other side of the Atlantic so we swapped! This is what I received in the mail yesterday.





Wet n Wild Limited Edition Holiday Palette in Night Elf

Unfortunately this didn't photograph as nice as it looks in life. It is much more pigmented though I feel slightly let down by the super sparkly black. It's pigmented for sure but once again a glitter shadow fails me as a lot of the glitter falls off immediately. A great palette regardless and I'm sure I'll find myself using the gold quite a bit. The bottom left shadow reminds me an awful lot of Blue Brown pigment from MAC. Will need to swatch to compare!







Wet n Wild ColorIcon Single Eyeshadows in Kitten and Nutty and OCC Loose Colour Pigment in Nori

After my first swap with an amazing Twitter friend I discovered Wet n Wild's ColorIcon range and for a drugstore product and at their pricepoint these products are incredible. I'd pay a lot more for them! The OCC pigment is just like I imagined it to be.





Sephora Color To Go Red Edition Palette

I'm not usually a fan of all-in-one palettes. I don't like it when cream products are mixed with powder prodcuts because 9 times out of 10 both end up looking grotty and unuseable. BUT! I spotted this and instantly knew I wanted it. 1 - because of the colour selection and 2 - because the glosses and blush are in a completely separate compartment. They neatly slide under the eyeshadows! WHY DON'T THEY ALL DO THIS?! This palette is tiny and super travel friendly - and it's preeetty.



OCC Lip Tar in Grandma, Sephora Glosses in Rosy Glow, Bronzed Beauty and Precious Pink, MAC Lustreglass in Lustrewhite

Grandma is exactly what I was expecting! I absolutely adore it and it's unlike anything I already own. As for all OCC products, it is insanely pigmented and a tiny amount goes a LONG way - sometimes too far. The Sephora glosses are lovely too. They smell a little fruity, a bit cupcakey and they're not overly sticky. Lustrewhite isn't something I would think to buy for myself and it's a nice break from a coloured gloss. It gives your lips a high shine and looks ultra wet! I prefer Lustreglasses over any of MAC's glosses. Partly because of the brush applicator but mostly because of their finishes.





Wet n Wild ColorIcon Trio in Cool As A Cucumber

In my opinion greens and purples are the most flattering for my patchy eye colour.



Biosilk Silk Therapy Sample

I've heard amazing things about this product and it'd be great to finally see whether it really works.



Lastly a stunning ring from Forever21! I love it - thank you so much Alicia! Really looking forward to our next swap.

She also sent me another eos lip balm as I'm completely in love since I recieved one in my last swap. They work so well! I've become a bit of a lip balm fanatic. I have a selection of them by my bed, in my bag, in my wallet (yes) and in my lip drawer. It's not out of hand just yet...

I sent Alicia's package to her last Tuesday so fingers crossed it gets there soon! I'm so excited to see if she enjoys what I got her!