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 Good news for my fellow palefaces: the Dainty Doll range, which was created in 2008 by Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts and Jelly Pong Pong, to cater to those of us who’re a whiter shade of pale, is due to release a selection of brand new products later this month. This time, however, the range will be produced by Original Additions, the brand behind Eylure and Elegant Touch, and will include some extra products.
I loved the colour of the original Dainty Doll foundation, but didn’t love the texture, so I’m really excited to learn that there’ll be a new mineral foundation as part of this launch, along with more concealers, plus blusher, lipsticks and more. You can take a look under the jump to read a bit more about these products: I’m really hoping to get my hands on some of them when they become available, in which case you can expect reviews of some of them, too.
In the meantime, these will all be available exclusively from Harrods from August 24th, and then at ASOS.com from the end of September.
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Boots No. 7′s Exceptional Definition Mascara claims it’s about to “transform the way women wear mascara”. Naturally, then, I was as excited as a kid at Christmas when it landed on my desk, because a new mascara? That’s going to give me defined, fluttery lashes? Bring it on, Boots!
The key to this product is the brush, the purpose of which is threefold:
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My new-found love of lip stains means that I’m always on the lookout for a new lip-staining product to try, and quite a few of you have recommended Tarte to me recently. This is a brand I’ve actually looked at a few times now, but haven’t actually got around to trying, for reasons that totally escape me at the moment – probably because I’d already given all my money to MAC when I last stumbled upon a Tarte stand.
This new LipSurgence Natural Matter Lip Stain, however, makes me even more determined to, er, give Tarte a try. My own preference is always for matt lip colours rather than gloss ones, so this looks ideal, and the highly pigmented formula also claims to be long-lasting, without any of the drying that so often comes with long-lasting lip colours. (In fact, it claims to actually increase the moisture content of your lips by 6,000% over the course of 28 days, and no, that’s not a typo.) Oh, and it’s peppermint-infused too, so if nothing else, it should at least taste nice.
This comes in six different colours: I like the look of ‘Fiery’, but of course, I WOULD say that, as it looks like the brightest red they do. Take a look at the other shades available at Sephora, where this retails for $24.
Posted in Lips
Tagged lip stain, tarte
I know, I know: I talk about Smashbox’s Photo Finish Primer A LOT here (and, just to give you fair warning, I have a version of this en route to me as I type this, which I’ll be reviewing soon), but in my defence:
1. It’s awesome.
2. They’ve just released this new “Luminizing” version.
Now, Sephora don’t give a whole lot of information about this product. From the description, I can see that the formula itself is the same as the other Photo Finish Primers, so we can expect it to feel like skin, and make our faces smooth, soft and ready for foundation. What’s different about this formula, however, is that it’s a colour described as “sheer golden beige”, which will apparently give skin a “beautiful luminous glow.”
I’m all for the beautiful luminous glow, but I suspect the “golden beige” bit will be a problem for my not-even-remotely-golden-or-beige skin, so this sounds like it’ll be much better on those of you who have that kind of skin tone naturally (or get it from a bottle). Either way, it’s always great to see new incarnations of my favourite primer: the more, the merrier, right?
This is $38 at Sephora.
As my fellow unibrow owners will understand, you need a lot of light to keep the beast under control – in fact, many’s the time I’ve found myself pressed up against a window, or balancing on a chair to get closer to the electric light, just so I can make sure I’ve caught every last straggler. It’s not always an easy task, so these illuminated tweezers by La Tweez look like the kind of thing that could really help a girl out.
This is another one of those “so simple it’s amazing everyone isn’t doing it” ideas. The tweezers come with an ultra-bright LED light in the centre of them, which will illuminate the brow and allow to to identify every last offending hair. They also come with a case which has a magnifying mirror built-in to make it even easier, and if, like me, you’re prone to leaving electrical items switched on until the battery dies, don’t worry – these automatically switch off after seven minutes to keep the battery alive.
These cost £15, come in black, white and hot pink and are available at Boots, John Lewis, House of Fraser, Lakeland and www.victoriahealth.com.
Bye-bye unibrow!
My regular red nail polish (Rimmel’s Double Decker Red) finally gave up the ghost this week, and when I tried to add a new bottle to my regular Boots order I discovered it was out of stock, so I had a quick root round for an alternative, and finally settled on Boots No. 7′s ‘Starlet Stockings’, which is from the Anniversary Collection I wrote about back in May.
When it arrived, I was initially a little disappointed, because the colour in the bottle looked like a much more orangey-red than I was expecting. As soon as I started to apply it, however, I was converted: this is a great polish to use – it goes on smoothly, is totally streak and drag free, and gives perfect colour in just one coat. It also dries quickly and lasts for ages without chipping. Overall, it’s great value for £6.75, and now that I’ve tried it, I’d definitely want to try some more colours from this collection.
If you want to try them too, you can buy these direct from Boots.
I have a confession: I have never waxed my legs. Or my bikini line. Or my face. Or, indeed, any other part of me, with the exception of that time I had my eyebrows waxed as a teenager, at a local salon I’d been given a gift card for.
On that memorable occasion, I screamed so loudly that my best friend, waiting outside for her turn, declined to have the procedure, and got her eyelashes dyed instead. She looked fantastic. I, meanwhile, walked around for the rest of the day with a giant red patch between my eyes, vowing never to let a wax strip near me again as long as I lived.
So far, I have kept my promise. I’m not sure if it’s that I have a lower pain threshold than other people, or if I’m just more of a wuss than other people, but I’m an absolute baby about waxing. It terrifies me. And you know what terrifies me even more than the thought of the pain? The thought of how long I’d have to let the hair on my legs grow before I’d be able to wax it off again. I mean, I shave every day: I’d have to walk around with furry legs in order to grow the hair long enough to wax. Aaargh!
In other words, I had totally decided that waxing was not for me. But then this little gift box from Simply Wax arrived:
Isn’t that pretty?
Inside it, I found these:
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As longtime readers will know, when it comes to mascara, I’m all about the curl – or about holding the curl in place, anyway. A product can lengthen and thicken as much as it wants, but there’s nothing like a bit of curl to widen and emphasise the eye, so if my mascara doesn’t lock the curl I get from my trusty eyelash curlers in place, it’s of no use to me whatsoever.
This is why I rate Lancome’s waterproof mascara’s so highly, and it’s also why when I was sent a tube of Boots 17′s Wild Curl Mascara, which claims to hold curl for up to ten hours, I was really keen to try it.
It looks like this:
Suitably “wild”, no?
The brush looks like this:
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 I mentioned Revlon’s ColorStay Makeup in my roundup of foundations for pale skin last week, but as this is the foundation I’ve been reaching for most often recently I figured a “proper” review was in order, too!
I picked this up last month, having heard lots of people raving about how good it was, and having also been impressed by the paleness of the lightest shade which is 110 – Ivory. As I mentioned in my foundation roundup, I’m not 100% happy with the shade, and while it looked like a perfect match in Walgreens, there are times when I feel it’s just a touch too dark for me, which is disappointing, because if they released this in a lighter shade it would instantly achieve Holy Grail status for me, that’s how much I like it.
There are two different versions of this: one for normal/dry skin and one for oily/combination skin. I have lots of problems with shine on the t-zone, so I went for the latter, and it’s been fantastic: in fact, I rarely need to use powder with it because it soaks up the excess oil on my forehead, and heaves a matt, but not powdery finish. So far, so good.
Coverage, meanwhile, is full and thick, so if you’re looking for something light, this probably won’t be for you. It’s not quite as easy to apply as some lighter products: I mostly use my fingers (yes, I know, it’s shocking, but it’s what I prefer!) or a foundation brush, and it does require a bit of blending, and extra attention to the areas around the nose and eyes where foundation can tend to gather. It also smells pretty bad: I’m not quite sure how to describe it, but it’s fairly strong, and a bit medicinal. You do get used it, but I was a bit put off when I first used it!
Once applied, however, this is thick enough to cover any redness, and most small blemishes, however unlike some other very thick foundations I’ve tried, it doesn’t look caked on, and it doesn’t crease around the eyes: it’s called “colorstay” for a reason and I’ve been really impressed by how well it lasts, and how fresh it still looks by the end of the day. I normally find that foundation will have started to wear off (or slide off) by the time I go to bed at night, but this does a great job of staying in place, which is another huge point in its favour.
At £11.99 per bottle, this is one of the pricier drug store brands, however, I think it’s excellent value for money: it’s one of those ” little goes a long way” foundations, so it should last a long time. Ultimately, though, I love it because it just makes my skin look better. Most foundations, I find, do a reasonably good job, but still leave my skin looking like, well, like my skin, just a little bit more even. This one, however, makes me look like I have someone else’s skin, and as the “someone else” apparently has better skin than I do, I’m good with that.
One of the small downsides of this (about the only one I can think of other than the issue I have with the colour) is that it comes in a glass bottle, which can be a bit of a pain to use. I much prefer a squeezable tube or pump dispenser (according to the comments on my other post, it does come in a squeezable tube in some places. I bought mine in Florida, and only ever saw it in the glass bottle, but if it is available in a tube, that’s good news!), but that aside, I find practically perfect in (almost) every way.
Now, let’s have some paler shades, Revlon, pretty please?
BUY: Revlon ColorStay Makeup, £11.99
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