Clinique Smart Custom - Repair Serum: A review

Normally I'm a little bit slack with my skincare products. But I had been thinking about buying a serum for a while, my skin gets quite blotchy and red and dry in patches and I thought a serum could help. Then I saw that Clinique had launched a brand new product they were hailing as their best serum yet - The Clinique Smart Custom Serum. It was created after 5 years of research with patented technology and apparently can solve ALL of your skincare issues in one go.

I picked up a sample sachet in store in the summer and thought I'd try it out. Of course the sample only had enough product for 2 or 3 uses, which is no way to properly test out skincare. However, it felt quite rich and moisturising and a little went a long way. A few weeks later I decided to buy my mum a bottle for her birthday present and accidentally ended up with some for myself too (oops).

The packaging is really sleek - a tall silver pump action bottle, a departure from Clinique's usual green bottles. The pump dispenses the right amount of serum so that you don't waste any - which given the price of this stuff, is very important! I think what appealed to me was the claim that the serum is for all ages and all ethnicities. The sales assistant explained it by saying that the serum can sense the individual needs of your skin and is activated to repair and improve it. Now I can't vouch for the science on that but I was swayed. Being a serum-novice I liked the idea that this one would solve all of my issues and I wouldn't have spent my money only tackling wrinkles OR pores OR skin tone.

Review: Dior Fluid Stick 373 Rieuse

I first set eyes on the Dior Fluid Sticks in the Selfridges beauty hall. The packaging just looks so beautiful - especially when the whole colour range is laid out in a line. Dior make such pretty looking lipsticks that you just want to buy them and look at them. I love the silver ball lid with the 'CD' inscription and I love the colour of the gloss gleaming from the clear vial. If you turn it upside down the pointed end of the gloss inside looks like a lipstick. Swoon.... But aside from being such a thing of beauty, is the Dior Fluid Stick as good as it looks?

Essentially the Fluid Stick is a lip gloss with no stain, but it is more of a liquid lipstick / gel type formula. So it applies like a gloss and sets as a gel on the lips. It is water based so it applies well and as the water evaporates from your lips it leaves a non-sticky finish. It is glossy and pretty and lasts longer than a regular gloss (but won't survive a meal - expect to reapply regularly).

OPI Chillin' Like A Villain Nail Polish

I picked up OPI's Chillin' Like A Villain nail polish recently. I liked the nude colour and thought it would be great for summer, especially with a tan.

I have a quite a stash of pale pink nail polishes but this is different. It is a pale nude peach in fact it reminds me of the colour of ballet shoes. It is really pretty and quite unusual.

I used 3 coats and the colour built nicely and was not streaky. This particularly impressed me as most of my other pale opaque colours tend to apply unevenly. To maximise wear time and give a really glossy finish I used my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat (reviewed HERE). I also love Insta-Dri because it makes my nails touch dry in 30 seconds - yes really!

OPI's Chillin' Like A Villain is part of a Muppets Most Wanted collection. The other colours in the collection are chunky glitters, pale pink, pearly white, metallic blue and a pretty duochrome mauve and gold (you can see swatches of the full collection over at the The PolishAholic).

I have no idea how the choice of colour range corresponds to the film - but I do love the film and have just bought the dvd - for my son of course....

I bought OPI's Chillin' Like A Villain at Sally for £11.50, but they don't have it online. You can find it cheaper on Amazon though at £8.98 HERE or £10.40 for mini versions of the whole collection HERE.

Just in case you haven't seen the film yet, I will leave you with my favourite song from the soundtrack which just really makes me laugh!

Revlon Colorstay Moisture Stains: A Review

I first read about the Revlon Colorstay Moisture Stains months ago when the pre-release hype was building. Since then I have been eagerly awaiting their August release in the UK.

Finally the time came for my local Boots to be fully stocked with the new Colorstay Moisture Stains! I was on holiday when they were first released, but to be honest by the time I made it into Boots I had already been looking at online swatches and had a good idea which shades I would buy. Cannes Crush - a pretty peach coral was already leaping out at me!

I was relieved that my local Boots had plenty of stock so I could swatch away and see all the different shades in the flesh. So often when a new product is released there are only a few shades in store for a few weeks and stock can be limited for the most popular colours. Not this time!!

I swatched 8 of the 12 available shades as you can see above. My first impression was a genuine excitement about the range of shades. Sometimes a product has a great formula but the shades are too bright or too Barbie pink for my tastes. But I am sure that there is something for everyone in here. The 4 that I didn't swatch were Miami Fever (orange), Rio Rush (bright pink), Shanghai Sizzle (bright orangey-red), and LA Exclusive (a Barbie pink) just because I don't wear bright pink lipstick and as much as a love an orangey-red lip I have enough lip products in that shade for now (yes I was at least briefly, the vision of restraint).

Sephora Haul! Sephora & Make Up Forever Waterproof Eye Make Up

I love a trip to Sephora, whilst you can buy online in the UK now there is something exciting about browsing a store full of new beauty discoveries. My first Sephora visit was a few months back (I bought some great lip stains and eyeshadows which you can see HERE) and as soon as I arrived in France for my summer holiday I was Googling the nearest store.

Ok I admit it, I actually made a few visits during my trip - the first time was a quick browse which was interrupted by my squealing toddler. But I had managed to swatch some products as I looked round the store. I noticed later that day and the following day that despite two showers and adequate hand washing (I promise!) some of the swatches still hadn't budged. I had to make another, now solo, trip to Sephora to track down this amazing product. Retracing my steps I realised that it was the Sephora Jumbo Liner 12H Wear Waterproof.

Sephora Waterproof 12H Jumbo Liner in Beige and Khaki

The Sephora Jumbo Liner 12H Wear Waterproof is a twist-up eye shadow crayon that is very soft when you apply it. If you work quickly you can blend it but within a few seconds it sets and doesn't budge easily. Online the Jumbo Liner comes in an amazing 28 shades, but in store the offering was much smaller. I chose a pretty pale peachy golden shimmer, misleadingly called Beige and I also bought Khaki.

I was interested in the Jumbo Liners more as a smudged out eye shadow than a precise eye liner, so I didn't pick up any of the matte black or brown options. But I did want a bronze shimmer colour and there weren't any in the Sephora range in store. However, I did find the colour that I wanted on the Make Up Forever stand!

MeMeMe Cosmetics - Coral Blossom Lip and Cheek Tint review

It is summer and I am all about bright colours at the moment! I have just come back from holiday and all I want to use on my nails, lips or cheeks right now is something bright like coral or orange! If this sounds familiar then the new Coral Blossom Lip and Cheek Tint could be for you.

MeMeMe Cosmetics are a new discovery for me and from reading other blogs the products get rave reviews and they aren't expensive. So when I was offered the chance to try the new Coral Blossom Lip and Cheek Tint I was keen to put it to the test.

Tints are not a new concept for me. Benefit make some well known tints - Benetint, Posietint, Cha Cha tint and Lollitint. I have them all! I use them on my lips rather than my cheeks although the idea is to use them on both. I like the long-wear effect of a tint and I tend to use it as a waterproof, matte, lip base colour and then apply a Clinique Chubby Stick or other lip crayon over the top. Best of both worlds!

Coral Blossom is a really pretty coral, peach colour which is right up my street! This kind of colour really suits my complexion and gives a really healthy glow. It is much more subtle that Benefit's Cha Cha Tint - which is more of a bright orange. Seeing as I only dare wear Cha Cha Tint when I am tanned in the summer, I think Coral Blossom will be more of a year-round option for me.

MAC Monday: MAC Satin Taupe Eye Shadow

Satin Taupe was the first MAC eye shadow that I bought. It was a couple of years ago and I wandered into the White City Westfield MAC Store and asked them what I 'needed'. I had heard beauty bloggers mention Satin Taupe as a must have so it seemed a good place to start!

As it was my first MAC eye shadow I bought it in the single pot because I didn't have my larger pro-palette at this time. Nowadays I always choose the pro palette format as I find them much more convenient for travel. I also find that just like Woodwinked (which I also bought as a single pot - see my swatches HERE) my single pots tend to get lost amongst my expanding make up collection and I just reach for my palettes instead. What a waste! (Obviously I really need to improve my make up storage!).

At first glance, Satin Taupe doesn't look like much. But it is more than just a cool toned taupe. Satin Taupe is a Frost finish and this gives the eye shadow a slight iridescence and a silver shimmer. It also has a pinky colour to it in certain lights.