Review and Swatches - Suqqu Holiday 2009 Eye Kit

As you will know a few weeks ago I was sent the Suqqu Holiday 2009 Eye Kit. I featured it in a post I written about Christmas gifts. I didn't provide any swatches at that time though and hadn't used it either, so I couldn't provide my own opinions. Ive had a few weeks to play with it now, so thought I'd give a quick review and some swatches.

Just to remind you the set consists of a limited edition eyeshadow palette, a limited edition eye lucent and an original pouch (make up bag). The price is £48 which I think is good value really if you were to consider the price of Suqqu individual items.

All 4 shades in the Palette are neutral colours and the Eye Lucent is an opalescent pink.

Since I received these products, I have been reaching for them virtually non stop. The texture of the eye shadows is so soft and silky, very pigmented with a gorgeous shimmer. The Eye Lucent is just amazing, by far the best product I own. I love to wear it just under my lower lash line, plus Ive also used it on my cheekbones, its just so versatile. Its a gorgeous product.

These are actually the first Suqqu products I have ever tried, purely because Suqqu is only available in Japan, Bangkok and at Selfridges in London & Birmingham UK. So obviously me living in Manchester means I don't get a sniff :( If you're lucky enough to live in London or Birmingham though, I'd say get this gift set on your Christmas List because you really won't be disappointed.

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Review and Swatches - Suqqu Holiday 2009 Eye Kit

NOTD - Rimmel Lasting Finish Pink Shimmer.

For some reason last night I had the urge to paint my nails pink. Ive never had pink fingernails in my life, had pink toe nails plenty of times but never pink fingernails. Autumn and Winter is normally darker shades and through spring and summer I normally just have a clear polish on. So yeah totally wrong season for pink, but I wanted pink so I had a look through all my polishes and settled on this baby pink shade from Rimmel. Ease yourself into pink Jo, I thought to myself.

Can't make up my mind yet, what I think of it. How do you feel about Pink nails? and any recommendations of a nice Pink shade?

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NOTD - Rimmel Lasting Finish Pink Shimmer.

My new love - Inglot Lipstick

Well I finally got my hands on some Inglot Lipsticks thanks to the gorgeous fantastic Marcia over @ Let there be shopping. We was talking on Twitter last week and she mentioned she was going to Westfield where the Inglot store is and asked would I like anything picking up. I jumped at her offer! As far as I know there is no Inglot store in Manchester and the website is currently under construction, so there was no way of me getting a hold of any of their Lippies.

The first time I actually even heard of Inglot and saw their lipstick, was on Marcias blog and I particularly loved a gorgeous pink nude (No. 256) that she bought and did a post about, which you can read here. So when she asked did I want anything picking up.. that was my first choice. Its absolutely gorgeous. Ive been wearing it non stop since I received it. Its well and truly true love! It remind me a bit of Barry M 101 but the formulation is totally different The quality of these Lipsticks is fantastic, they are so creamy. Here's a little pic just to show you, but my cameras playing up today, the lighting inside is just so dark, probably because its pissing down outside ha. so I'd say head over to Marcia's post and have a look at her swatch and pic of her wearing it.

Marcia being the adorable sweetheart that she is though, threw in another Lippie for me as well. which is equally as gorgeous. This one is Num 172 and again its just the perfect nude more of a beigy nude. LOVE it!

Thank you so much Marcia hunny. You're a star! We now share a love for Inglot hehe.

If you haven't tried any Inglot Lipstick, I really suggest you try them Ladies, doubt you'll be disappointed.

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My new love - Inglot Lipstick

My baby boy turns one.

This is a post just for me really, just so I have something to look back on and just so I can talk about how the last year has flown by. Feel free to carry on reading if you want to though.

It only seems like yesterday that I did that pregnancy test and it came up positive and now he's a year old. Time really does go too fast. I'm sat here now thinking about my pregnancy and how excited Gareth and I was when we went for our 20 week scan, hoping to find out the sex of our baby. We found out I was having a boy and I'll always remember Gareth face and how happy he was. He was over the moon, but then came the bad news.  I was told "markers" had been found on the scan suggesting Harvey would either have Down Syndrome or Edwards Syndrome. Within seconds our happiness vanished, we were both distraught. Gareth held me while I cried and he cried with me. We were both told in detail what Downs was and what Edwards was and I was given the choice of an Amniocentesis. To find out for sure what was wrong with him. If the doctors would have told me, he might have only had Downs, I wouldn't have had the amniocentesis, I would have carried on my pregnancy as normal and loved my son no matter what, there was no way I'd end my pregnancy because I was having a child with Down Syndrome. But because they told me he could have Edwards Syndrome, I was advises that an Amnio was the best course of action to find out for certain, because if it was Edwards we were told our baby would either die inside me before I reached full term or that he'd be so severly disabled he wouldn't live past a year old. This obviously meant that a termination would be the best possible course of action. There was no way I'd be able to carry on my pregnancy knowing our baby, would end up leaving us and we'd have to bury our son. I chose to have the Amnio.

This period of my life was the hardest time Ive ever been through. From the day I had my Amnio up until the day I got my results all me and Gareth did was hold each other and cry. Our baby had just started kicking and moving and I was faced with the possibility that I might have to end his life. No words can express what them few days were like, while I waited for the results.

The phone rang and I was heaving uncontrollably with nerves. It was time to hear the results. I made the midwife repeat to me 3 times what she said, she told me our baby was fine, he was a perfectly healthy baby, with no problems what so ever. I was over joyed, you cannot imagine how I felt. It was time to enjoy my pregnancy now and wait for the arrival of our ever so special little boy.

I went into labour 3 days early. I'd decided to go shopping alone in Asda and was busy browsing the make up (typical eh) when my waters broke. I just stood there and looked down and thought "oh shit" ha. Luckily an asda employee was walking past so I just grabbed her arm and said "would you mind helping me, my waters have just broke" she looked mortified haha. I reassured her I was ok and not in any pain, but if she could just walk me to my car I'd be fine. By this time my waters were flooding, I was literally walking and water was just pouring out, so bloody embarrassing! I phoned my parents and Gareth and my dad told me there was no way I could drive and to stay put they was coming to get me.

About an hour and half after my waters broke... Harvey was born. I'd had a fast labour with my first child, Anton, so I knew my second would be fast, didn't expect it to be that fast though! He wasn't breathing when he was born, so I didn't get to hold him straight away. He was finally handed to me though and I was stunned at how perfect and gorgeous he was. After all I'd been through and now I was holding my perfect baby boy, it was an emotional moment.

Now that gorgeous baby boy.. is celebrating his 1st Birthday. A birthday at one point that I wasn't even sure that he'd see. This past year has been filled with nothing but happiness. Every single day he's made me laugh and smile, watching him grown and learn something new. Watching his own little personality develop and seeing how he is so much like his Daddy. His has his Daddy's temper for sure haha. Everything about him is Gareth, his looks, his temperament, his personality, he definitely has my intelligence though :P hehe. Your loved more than you'll probably ever know Harvey, by me, by your daddy and most certainly by your big brother.

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My baby boy turns one.

Asda nails.

Yep.... you heard right, Asda Nail Polish. Its not even George at Asda Polish, which actually Ive read some good reviews on. Its just Asda ha. They stock the range in my local asda, everything is £1 and comes in pretty shit packaging to be honest, just a small clear bag. I always find myself just stopping and looking at the polishes they really do have a pretty range of colours, but then I think "no.. its not going to be much good at all" and just walk off. But this time I thought meh. its only a quid, got nothing to lose, so I picked up a Bronze one.. and well I'm really pleasantly surprised!

It applied so nicely, no streaks, not too thick not too runny, 2 coats needed and well I just think it looks pretty damn nice for £1. I'll definitely be picking up some more.

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Asda nails.

Review and Swatches: ELF Studio Blush & Single Eyeshadow.

Regular readers will know I purchased a few products from ELF's new studio line a few weeks ago. So thought I'd give a quick run down of what I thought, along with some swatches.

Studio Blush - This was one of the products I was most eager to try. I love the Blush that came in the Blush/Bronzer duo so when they finally released the single blushes in the UK, I had to get one. The shade I got was Tickled Pink. Which is a really soft pink.

Its not as pigmented as the blush from the blush/bronzer duo, I needed a couple of strokes with my brush before it picked up enough colour for me. Once on its really smooth on the skin and gives a nice natural looking glow, with a subtle shimmer. I also love the packaging, again its similar to Nars, but its not that horrible rubbery thing, that's a bitch to keep clean. It also has a clear see through strip, which makes it easy if you own a few of these blushes, to know what colour it is and also a little mirror.

Studio Single Eyeshadow - I chose the shade coffee bean. Which is a dark brown with a subtle gold shimmer.

 Again the packaging is similar to Nars eyeshadow. Black case with snap-shut lid and like the blush it also has a little mirror. There's no applicator provided which is not a bad thing really, as none of us ever use them anyway. Like the Blush the shadow also has a nice shimmer to it, not too shimmery just nice and subtle. The staying power is not too bad, its not fantastic for but £3.50 I didn't expect a lot. Saying that though, I did use it without a primer, so no idea how it'll fair up with a primer.

Overall I do like both products and will probably get more shades from both the Blush and Eyeshadow. They are cheap, and work well. They are obviously not comparable to MAC or Nars shadows, but for the price, its obvious they are not going to be anyway. Nice products for every day use.

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Review and Swatches: ELF Studio Blush & Single Eyeshadow.

Fantastic Xmas giveaway!

Hey Ladies...

One of my fave bloggers Sarah, is having a fantastic Christmas giveaway with some lovely items:

1st Prize:

2nd Prize:

So be in with a chance of winning, head over to Sarah's blog which you can find HERE

Good luck Ladies!

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Fantastic Xmas giveaway!

Review: Soap & Glory Make Yourself Youthful Super Rejuvenating Face Serum

I've been using a serum daily for a few years now, just to give my skin an added bonus.Over the years I've tried quite a few different serums and do have some favourites Such as the Famous No.7 Protect and Perfect and one from Olay. However I'm always open to trying out new products to see how they fair up.

Serum is normally applied before moisturiser and is used to add extra nutrients to the deepest layers of the skin, the areas your moisturiser can not do as moisturisers only affect the top layer of skin. They are a lot more expensive than your average moisturiser though and bearing in mind you still need to use one of them too. So it can be pretty pricey using the combination of a serum and moisturiser.

I run out of my No.7 Protect and Perfect a couple of months ago and with money being tight I'd just been getting by without a serum. However I didn't feel like my skin was getting the extra benefits its needed without a serum, so I set out to buy a relatively cheap serum and spotted Soap & Glory Make Yourself Youthful Super Rejuvenating Face Serum in boots for around £12.

Here's what Boots website say about it:

"Soap & Glory Make Yourself Youthful Super Rejuvenating Face Serum is destined for Soap & Glory super stardom, this super active face rejuvenating serum is formulated using our exclusive MAKE YOURSELF YOUTHFUL™ Complex.

It's what’s inside Soap & Glory Make Yourself Youthful that counts?

■Our exclusive MAKE YOURSELF YOUTHFUL™ complex, which mixes clinically proven levels of PALMITOYL TETRAPEPTIDE as a collagen-stimulating and fine line eliminator with DELINER (a maize-derived proven wrinkle decreaser) and our super active stimulating organic oxygenating complex.

■A MOISTURE TRAPPING MATRIX that protects and hydrates

■STIMULATING GINSENG

■SHEA BUTTER to soften & smooth

■SWEET ORANGE PEEL essential oil

■After a 30 day test, a bunch of delighted test-subjects (who showed up glowing with youthfully dewy skin) reported re-energized, smoother, healthier, firmer and younger looking skin.

■Most users see results after three consecutive nights of application."

The Serum comes in an average sized white bottle, with a pump action applicator, the Serum itself is a colourless gel.

Upon application The first thing that hits you is the smell, it has a lovely sweet smell, it reminds me so much of Cadburys Chocolate Orange. The formula is non greasy and soaks into the skin amazingly quickly and leaves my skin feeling really soft to the touch. As it soaks in so quickly, theres no need for me to wait a while before I apply my moisturiser. Ive been using this daily now for around 3 weeks and I am fairly pleased with it. I won't stay I noticed dramatic results after 3 days of usage like other women claimed but my skin does feel smoother and a lot healthier looking.

Would I re-purchase? Yes I would. I'm not going to lie though, I won't be repurchasing another one after this bottle has finished, but that's because I have my eye on another serum that I read reviews on, which I want to give a try. But I would never hesitate re-purchasing in the future. It does give more pricier Serums a run for their money and does just the same job.

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Review: Soap & Glory Make Yourself Youthful Super Rejuvenating Face Serum

5 Favourite: Drugstore Blushers.

So onto another one of my 5 favourites posts. This one is my 5 favourite Drugstore Blushers.

1. 
   
   ELF Studio Blush - Tickled Pink
   
   
   
2. 
   
   BYS Blusher - Candy Floss
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Natural Collection Blusher - Pink Cloud
   
   
   
4. 
   
   Rimmel Blusher - Pink Rose
   
   
   
5. 
   
   Boots 17 Blusher - Bramble Frost
   
   
   

What are you favourite Drugstore Blushers?

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5 Favourite: Drugstore Blushers.

Facial Skincare storage.

Ive been looking for something for a while now, just to hold all my everyday facial skincare items, the ones I tend to use most. I always apply my skincare products in my bedroom, where my big mirror is. The sides of my dressing table and chest of drawers were starting to get really cluttered and I hate clutter and everything on show, so I can't rave enough about this small storage tower that I picked up from ASDA for £7.

It has 4 pull out drawers and fits perfectly on one of the smaller chest of drawers that I have under my mirror.

The top drawers contains all my eye creams/gels, my daily moisturiser, night cream, lip butters, serums etc.

The second drawer is just a random drawer containing cleanser, toner, spot treatment, hand cream, face scrub etc.

The third drawer is where my facial wipes are, along with my cotton wool pads and eye make up removers and pads.

And the fourth drawer is just another random drawer containing face masks, exfoliators etc

These drawers are just so perfect for me, they look clean and tidy and everything is in easy reach.

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Facial Skincare storage.