Category Archives: Makeup General

Last week I sitting at my desk typing away, when the doorbell rang. It was the postman, delivering this surprise Glossybox: totally unexpected, but very welcome, especially in the middle of a rainy, dull kind of week!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Glossybox is a subscription-based service, which, for £10 per month, sends you a box full of product samples, just like the one above. I was sent a Glossybox a few months ago, and was really impressed by it, so here’s a quick look inside the latest one, which contains:

L-R

KIMIA  Exquisite All Natural Face Oil and Hydra Activator samples.

Plum by MAry Greenwell Eau de PArfum sample

HD Brows Eyebrow Palette in ‘Foxy’

Dead Sea Spa Magik Sakt Brushing Exfoliator

Neal Wolf Harmony Intensive Care Treatment for all hair types.

I’m most interested in the hair and brow products, because those are the areas I’m most in need of some (serious) help with. I’ve already started using both, and will have reviews up soon: in the meantime, you can click here to order a Glossybox of your own!

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re all, “Barry M, AGAIN? And MORE red nail polish? Does this chick even realise there are other brands and colours out there?”

I do, I do, I promise. But I also don’t really care, because here’s the thing: I couldn’t love this more. It applies easily – one coat and you’re good to go – doesn’t chip too quickly, and is the perfect, retro red. And it’s only £2.99. LOVE.

Click here to buy yourself some.

Just a few favourite products for last month: November is traditionally one of the busiest months of the year for me, because I’m frantically preparing for the holidays, and as I mentioned earlier this week, it doesn’t leave me much time to experiment with makeup! Still, here are the four products I’ve been most impressed with over the past few weeks!

1. Coastal Scents Mineral Eye Shadow in ‘Frenzy’

Now, I know I’m always saying I don’t often wear eye shadow, but this month I’ve been wearing this one, and I’ve been wearing it a lot. I actually thought I’d already reviewed this, which is why I didn’t bother taking any photos of it on, but I can’t find the review in the archive, so I’ll have to rectify that soon. As you can see from the photo, though, it’s a pale, shimmery pinkish-brown colour which looks very natural on, and provides more shimmer than colour, which is a good thing for those of us who weren’t blessed with eyeshadow-blending skills (and who tend to look like they had a fight with their makeup bag any time they try to wear shadow). I just sweep it all over the lid, and leave it at that. It provides some subtle definition, and looks good with just a sweep of eyeliner on the lid. (Buy it here)

(more…)

Along with the holiday compact I reviewed last week, Clinique also sent me a tube of their High Lengths Mascara, which, being the mascara addict I am, I greeted with great excitement. I actually wrote about this mascara back in January, and had been most curious about the long, curved wand (that’s it above), which, as you can see, is totally smooth on one side, with a double row of “teeth” on the other, in order to help create the “high length” spoken of in the product name.

(more…)

I can’t quite believe it’s the end of October already – it feels like just a couple of days ago that I was putting together my favourite beauty products of September, but rather than dwelling on the speedy passing of time, here’s a quick look at what I’ve been using most of this month:

The Bumpit

When I originally reviewed the Bumpit, I liked the look it created, but couldn’t really imagine wearing it much. Oh, how times have changed! All of those beehive hairdos on the runways and in magazines lately have made my love of big hair return with a vengeance! I’ve tried lots of different ways to create the look, but backcombing just doesn’t work for me (and leaves my hair in a mess, too) and everything else just fell out, so this month I went back to the Bumpit, and have been using it quite a bit. It’s not perfect, but it’s the easiest way I’ve found to create this kind of look, and despite my reservations, it doesn’t budge once it’s on, so this month it’s finally started to earn its keep!

(more…)

I can’t quite believe it’s October already, can you? This has been the fastest year ever, so before we consign September to memory forever, I thought I’d take a quick look back at five of the products that have been in constant rotation this month, kicking off with an all-time favourite: my beloved Rimmel Lasting Finish nail polish in Double Decker Red. This is just the most perfect shade of red I own: it’s rarely off my toes, and it’s often on my fingernails, too, although not today, as you can see. Moving on…

(more…)

I should get this, shouldn’t I? Well, it does have my name on it, after all…

Actually, the whole range has my name on it: Doll Face Natural Beauty Cocktails is clearly a company after my own heart (and my own cash, by the oh-so-tempting look of things), because they also use cute retro-style packing in their range of skincare products, all of which use fresh, natural ingredients which, they say, are “tested on starlets, not animals”. Love it!

Their own website can be found here, but if you’re in the UK, you’ll be pleased to know that some of the products are also available from one of my very favourite websites, Dollydagger. They’re stocking products like Lolita Restore and Heel Peel:

It uses ingredients like honey and pumpkin to bring back a radiant, youthful complexion.

It uses sea minerals to rejuvenate the skin, and retails for £45.

I love the sound of both of these (and the other products available), but most of all I love the branding and, of course, the name. And the £30 train case has gone straight onto my Wish List!

Because I’m far too lazy for the maintenance that goes into self-tanning on a regular basis, I tend to only hit the bottle when I absolutely have to: i.e. when I know I’m going to be baring my legs without the benefit of tights, trousers, or anything else that successfully masks their deathly paleness. Living in Scotland, of course, means that this doesn’t happen very often at all, because most of the time it’s way too cold for that kind of malarky. By the time you read this, however, I’ll (hopefully) be on holiday in Florida, enjoying a rare blast of heat on my cold, pale limbs, and this means that I’ll be applying my gradual self-tanner every couple of days.

To start with, everything will run smoothly. After the first week, though, I’ll start to run into problems. The first couple of self-tan applications, you see, will get old. They’ll start to flake off, and look patchy and nasty, and I’ll start to look a little bit like I have some kind of terrifying skin disease, particularly on the chest, which is where this flaking will be most obvious. Simply applying more tanner over the top will fix the problem for a little while… but only for a little while. Exfoliating helps too, but it doesn’t completely remove the oldest, patchiest areas of tan, which means that by the end of my three-week stay, I’ll probably have given up altogether, and will be in the process of allowing myself to return to my natural, pasty shade, getting rid of all that build-up before beginning the process all over again.

If only I had some of  St. Tropez’ Tan Detox. This is a bath oil that helps rid your skin of self-tan buildup, getting rid of the accumulation of old self-tanner, and leaving your skin soft, smooth, natural… and ready for the next application of tanner, if you so desire. Because it’s a bath oil, the whole process should actually be pleasant and relaxing, too, which is another bonus as those aren’t words I’m used to using in connection with fake tan.

The downside of this is that it’s fairly expensive at £25 per bottle, although they have thrown in an exfoliating cloth, too. If you want to try it out, it’s available at Harrods and QVC.

Sorry for the lack of posts today, folks: I was suddenly hit with the urge to have a massive clean-out (this happens every time I go on vacation, I swear), and so it was that I spent most of the afternoon clearing out the filing cabinet that serves as my desk drawers, and replacing most of the actual “filing” with… makeup. And other beauty products. The cabinet has six drawers, and now half of them are devoted to beauty. I think I’ll call them the Dollface Drawers.

Here’s my “To be reviewed” drawer…

Ah well, I’d rather have beauty products than bits of paper, anyway!