Lush Haul

 I nipped into Lush at the weekend with the intention to only buy a present for the mother in law. Naturally I disobeyed my own rules and ended up a few bits for myself too.

I picked up the Relax More set as the prezzie, I thought this looked like a good all rounder and the packaging was lovely too. This set included The Comforter Bubble Bar, Therapy Massage Bar, A French Kiss Bubble Bar, Twilight Bath Ballistic and a Dream Time Bath Melt.

For moi, I bought the Rose Jam and Dragons Egg bath melts and also the Let The Good Times Roll Cleanser.

Out of the Christmas range, the `Good Times’ cleanser instantly became my favourite as the smell is amazing! I will be reviewing this soon as it’s quite an interesting product. Next time you are in lush go and have a whiff of this and I guarantee you will buy it

The last thing is another prezzie, but this time for my nieces. The fun bars look perfect for kids, it’s basically play dough for the bath which turns into shampoo/body wash. I can see my nieces having lots of fun with this.

See, two out of the five items bought were for presents – that definitely justifies my Lush haul.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Airbrush Or Not To Airbrush?

After the #BBLOGGERS chat last night I was inspired to write this post. I had asked the question whether it is acceptable for a blogger to airbrush their pictures and I got lots of comments with very different opinions.

If you are a beauty blogger, do you feel the pressure to make your skin and make up look perfect in a picture? After all you are putting yourself out there as a `beauty guru’ whether you intend to or not. I know I do, after taking pictures for what seems like hours and then uploading them only to find the horrors of my close up face, I immediately want to whip out the paintbrush.

You start to question, how do other bloggers do it? Is my skin really that bad in comparison? And then at the end of it you’re so disheartened you don’t even bother adding any to your blog.

Or do you? Do you in fact get your little digital concealer out and touch up those bits? no one will ever know if I got rid of that spot and that large pore oh and that dodgy crease, while I am there I wonder what my face would look like thinner...................

It’s a vicious cycle; once you start surely there is no going back? But hey, what’s wrong with wanting to look your best? After all your blog is a showcase and it’s OK to portray yourself the best you can?

Celebs are well known for this (well the media anyway) and they too just want to look the best they can, but does it go too far?

Below is my version of airbrushing, pic 1 is with airbrushing and pic 2 is without. Notice what I have done here? I have got rid of those pesky large pores and changed the lighting slightly.

Now to me pic 1 is sooo much better as my skin looks great! However I do feel like a little bit of a cheat, especially if I am referring to products I have used.

Personally, I do not think airbrushing should be used for review posts full stop, it would not be a true representation of the product. However I can’t help but feel little tweaks are not so bad, if you love a pic but there is one little blemish is it OK to zap it?

On the other hand we are all human, and guess what? We ALL have spots, pores, wrinkles, dry patches etc so what’s the problem? You could say that wearing make up is cheating so how far do you go? however there is no way I would do a close up bare face shot, hell no!

So what are your views on this?

New Blog Shop Layout

Hey!

I have been a little absent on the blog the past week or so, why is this? It’s because I have been working on my new blog shop page which is now live (trumpet sounds)

As you can see below, the products are now all neatly displayed on one page

Simply click on the item and then select add to cart

Once you have finished shopping, view your cart & select UK shipping (please contact me if you are outside of the UK for shipping costs)

You will then proceed to the checkout with Paypal to make your secure payment, simple!

Visit the shop here – http://whatkimmididnext.bigcartel.com/

Or click the blog shop link at the top right hand side of the page



Saturday Shopping

  

This is the start of my collection of products for mission VOLUMIzE. That’s right, I am going BIG. I have a feeling these rollers are going to be a waste of time, at least it will give me a bit of practice before investing in heated rollers.

As for the spray, I like Tresemme products so I am hoping this will work for me. Well it’s a step in the right direction anyway, I have been chatting to other bloggers on Twitter and they have given me some good advice and also suggested a few products which I will be trying soon.

YSL Top Secrets Flash Radiance Primer

Whilst routing through my draws in a `shop my stash’ moment, I came across the YSL top secrets primer that I had bought months ago but never really tried (naughty I know)

So I felt like I had a new toy to play with, and seeing as I have a thing for primers at the moment I was delighted. I paid £38.00 for this so it’s one of the higher end primers in my collection; buy does that mean it's the best?

The directions are to apply to dry cleansed skin, you squeeze the tube and the primer squirts into the brush attached to the tube. You then massage this into the skin using the brush and leave for two minutes before applying makeup. I actually quite like the brush on this; it’s soft and leaves the primer evenly applied. However I can see why some people wouldn’t, there are obvious hygiene issues using a brush attached to the product. The brush is probably what bumps the price right up too, I think the majority would prefer to use their own brush and have a cheaper product. 

The alternative of course is to squeeze it out onto your own brush or just use clean fingers.

I have used this with and without moisturiser underneath; personally I find it works better without although I am not too keen on skipping the morning moisturiser. When I use this I will apply moisturiser sparingly to avoid the dreaded dry flaky patches.

It has a soft clean smell, not too over powering and it left the skin nice and silky ready for foundation. I find that my foundation takes a little longer to blend on top of this primer (MAC Matchmaster) but it does create a nice smooth surface and minimises pore visibility. This primer is silicone based, which always concerns me with blocking pores on my oily skin type, however my complexion has not been affected by this.

This primer did not leave me oil free all day; however it did leave my skin looking smooth and dewy. Really I need to use this with a matte foundation as I feel I would get better results with my skin type.

Overall it is nice to use, however I do not think I would purchase again as I feel it does not live up to the price tag.

Have you tried this? What are your thoughts?

Random pics

Leopard print – me trying out some new make up - Accessorize parcel 

oooh nice new bag – Getting ready to blog – Skinny mocha with an extra shot & extra glitter 

chi’s – Don’t mind if I do – Essie blog shop sales 

ombre nails attempt – MAC office hours – Essie pinks 

WIMH pic upload – Clarins Palette that wants to be mine – Urban Decay primers on sale in my blog shop now J

Collection Bedazzled Nail Effects in Razzle Dazzle

Whether you like it or not, the countdown to Christmas has begun. The shops are starting to fill up with crimbo prezzie ideas and the decorations are up in full swing.

For me, this is my indication to get the glitter out! And first stop is with the nails. I picked up Razzle Dazzle from Collection, the chunky pieces of silver and blue glitter create a festive winter look, but it also looks great over the top of most colours (so even though it is glitter it is quite versatile)

I used Topshop Parma Violet as a base colour. As a warning the glitter takes ages to dry over the top of base colours, I think I was impatient and applied the glitter too soon so make sure the base is thoroughly dry before application.

Black or dark purple bases would make great combinations with this glitter top coat, however the possibilities are endless! so no problems matching it up to the crimbo wardrobe.

I am in love with some of the Models Own glitters for this season; I may have to add them to my collection once they are back in stock

What glitters are you lusting after?

Saturday Shopping

Whilst carrying out my boring Saturday morning duties, I nipped into boots to stock up on some essentials. While there, I thought I would take advantage of the 3 for 2 offer which they have across all make up! (It’s kinda hard not too)

Since my cleanse & polish has finished I needed a new cleanser, after discussing with other beauty bloggers on twitter I discovered that the No7 version was pretty good too. So that was item number one which went straight into my basket.

The next item was the 17 Miracle Matt Skin Primer, which claims to give 22 hour shine control (quite specific, why not 24 hours? Well the last two hours of the day will have to be shiny) Who exactly needs 22 hours of shine control? Anyway, I really liked the foundation so thought I would try this too. That’s number two in the basket.

 The last item was the Collection  Bedazzled Nail Varnish in Razzle Dazzle; I love the chunky pieces of glitter – quite like Models Own (a mixture between the Glitter & Mirrorball collections)

 

So there you have it, I bet a lot of you have been taking advantage of this offer, what did you buy?

DONT FORGET TO VISIT MY BLOG SHOP HERE

September Empties

Not too many empties this month, I have used up a few of my favourites which I am sad to see the end of. The main one being the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish which gives a gentle yet effective cleanse. I am sure I will be buying another at some point but I am quite interested to try some of the other alternatives like No7’s version.

I have already written posts about the Yogi Flow HERE and Hair Mask HERE. One that I have not mentioned is the Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess self tan for the face & neck. I really like the colour this cream gives, it seems to be just right for me however it is easy to over do it, but I suppose you get that with most tanners. The only downside for this is that the cream is quite runny which makes it a bit messy on application, however the milky texture also means it absorbs better than some of the thicker creams.

DONT FORGET TO VISIT MY BLOG SHOP HERE URBAN DECAY, ESSIE, BENEFIT & MORE AT GREAT PRICES