Empties At The End Of The Year

Waaaaay back in April, I made a post where I mentioned that I would be keeping a record of everything that I use up for the rest of the year. As it's now early evening on New Year's Eve, I don't think I'm going to get anything else finished before tomorrow. I've included items like shower gel, shampoo and conditioner as I tend to have several of those open at once. I never have the patience to actually finish those!

Here's the list:

• Herbal Essences Greasy roots/Dry ends Shampoo 400ml
• Herbal Essences Greasy roots/Dry ends Conditioner 400ml
• Nivea Hand Nourishing Cream 100ml
• Tesco B Natural Organic Day Cream 50ml
• Lush Whipstick Lip Balm 10g
• Body Shop Moringa Shower Gel 60ml
• About Face Pigment "That's So Camp" 1/8tsp
• Anatomicals Help The Paw Hand Cream 100ml
• YSL Instant Eye Make Up Remover 30ml
• Body Shop Olive Glossing Shampoo 250ml
• Body Shop Olive Glossing Conditioner 250ml
• Collection 2000 Nail Polish Remover 150ml
• Fyrinnae Perfume Oil "Cernunnos" 1ml
• Garnier Fructis Strength & Shine Shampoo 250ml
• Garnier Fructis Strength & Shine Condition 250ml
• Shu Uemura Skin Purifier Cleansing Oil 8ml
• Bee Luscious Shaving Cream For Her 120ml
• L'Oreal Panoramic Curl Mascara "Black" 6ml
• Body Shop Vitamin E Face Mist 100ml
• Body Shop Wild Cherry Shower Gel 250ml

That's quite the list but I wish I'd managed to finish more than 2 make up items. I'll be keeping a list for 2010 as well, but this one will be from tomorrow!

Did you manage to finish any beauty products recently?

Evil Shades Minerals

One of my favourite blogs to read is Fresco Phyrra as she's an absolute mineral nut like me! She's always trying brands I haven't come across yet so I always have something new to look at. One of the brands she's recently inspired me to order from was Evil Shades as the pigments looked amazing.

I was also quite interested as Evil Shades are part of the Mineral Makeup Mutiny, which I will be posting more on in the future. As someone who owns a lot of minerals, and has ordered from the main wholesalers, it is disappointing to receive mineral pigments that are the same as the base shades I already own! Evil Shades do blend their own unique colours.

Evil Shades is not the easiest website to order from, I must admit. I ordered the full set of 15 eye shadow samples for $9.50. Individual samples are $0.75 each. The photo on that page isn't very clear, and it is hard to see which samples you are ordering unless you go to the full sized eye shadows page.

Also, if you are outside of the US and want to order *do not* order directly from the website! Her cart isn't set up for international shipping and you will be charged a flat rate of around $13. I sent an email, as she directed on the site, to receive a paypal invoice with the correct shipping. Within 24 hours my initial questions were answered and I had paid. She also pointed out that she was adding a new collection to her site in case I wanted to wait before I ordered.


The samples took 2 weeks to arrive. The samples arrived loose within a padded envelope, along with a business card. An invoice listing the samples would have been helpful as it wasn't until I cross checked with the site that I realised 3 samples were missing. That evening when showing off my order on blogtv I noticed that not only were 3 of the sample missing, I had duplicates of a couple of them. I emailed Evil Shades and she promised that my missing samples would be sent out asap.

I received the missing samples roughly two weeks later, along with a couple of extra samples from the new collection. I haven't included those in this post as they are not colours I think I'll wear. I'm pretty pleased with the way my issue was resolved, the slow mail was mostly due to it being November/December. Mail always slows down at that time of year.


Of course, I've put them all into my 3g jars. Some look about 1/4tsp, some look closer to 1/2tsp. Where I've had a duplicate sample of a pigment, I've managed to pretty much fill the jar.

The colours are interesting and quite unique. She has a mission statement on her site which I love!

Her prices are incredible. A full sized jar of pigment ranges from $2.85-$3.50. I may order a full sized jar or two of my favourite colours, but the samples are so huge that I doubt I'll ever use one up. I may order again as I'll be keeping an eye on the new collections that get put out.

I swatched all the pigments from my initial order (not including those extra two) as the pictures on the site are pretty inaccurate. I had initially been worried that some of my pigments were not right but the swatches Nymphette has done here and here were all the same as mine.

All the swatches have been done in the usual way I do mineral pigments - with a damp cotton bud.

Firstly, the swatches of the Illusion eye shadows. These all have holographic glitter.


-Devil's Bonfire - deep black base with holographic glitter
-Mysteria - shimmery lavender with holographic glitter
-Erinnye - reddish plum berry shimmer with holographic glitter
-Acolyte - black based green shimmer with holographic glitter
-Nymphette - black based blue shimmer (listed on site with Illusion shadows, but has none of the glitter)

Then the rest of the loose eye shadows.


-13th Hour - black base with a very deep blue highlight
-Banshee - bright blue shimmer
-Abyss - purpley blue shimmer
-Coffin - pretty much the same as Erinnye but without the glitter
-Double Barrel - black base with gunmetal silver shimmer
-Moonlit - silvery white sparkle


-Panic - bright (but not neon) pink shimmer
-Sinister - apple green shimmer
-Suffocation - reddish pink with blue shimmer
-Venom - deep black
-Silver Bullet - silver sparkle
-Zombie - black base with rich red shimmer

These weren't the easiest minerals to work with. Pretty much none of them wanted to cooperate with foiling, their texture was extremely dry. Even when foiled I had to swipe a couple of times to show the richness of some of the pigments. The ones with a black base were better as the ones without were quite sheer when they were swatched dry.

I don't like a couple of colours. "Moonlight" and "Silver Bullet" don't really have a base colour so aren't going to work so well on their own.

FOTD: 27/12/09

I snapped my make up just before I went out for a couple of drinks last night and meant to post it when I got home. The pub had a lovely pear cider on tap and things kind of got fuzzy after that! When I got home I just watched Top Gear and fell into bed. Even though we only went to the local, I wore the sparkly sequined top I bought for the Christmas party I didn't get to go to.


I used:
*-Bee Luscious Pore Perfecting Primer
-Diorskin Nude Liquid Foundation "010"
*-ELF Studio Undereye Concealer "Light"
*-ELF Studio Complexion Perfection
*-ELF Studio High Definition Powder
-MAC Paint "Mauvism"
-MAC Paint Pot "Fresco Rose"
-Evil Shades Pigment "Erinnye" - wet on lid & smudged lower liner
-Evil Shades Pigment "Zombie" - dry in crease
-MAC Eye Shadow "Jete" - highlight
*-Coastal Scents Gel Liner "Exotic" - top liner
-Gosh Eye Liner "Frozen Lilac" - lower liner
-Revlon Double Twist Mascara "Black"
*-Body Shop Blush Trio "Cool Pink"

I forgot to put lipstick on before the photo, I had a gloss in my handbag which I put on but have completely forgotten what it's called.

Little Boxing Day Haul - Boston 26/12/09

We braved the mad crowds in Boston today as Sirvinya's Dad needed something for his Xbox. I, of course, had to detour into Superdrug and investigate a couple of items.


-Revlon Double Twist Mascara £8.99 - saw it advertised last night, the brush fascinates me
-Aussie Leave In Conditioner £3.37 - my hair is currently in need of something, it's a little dry
-Johnson's 3 in 1 Eye Make Up Remover £2.93 - on offer: buy one get on free, I really like this remover

Just a little haul, that lot came to just a bit over £15.00. Is it just me or are drugstore mascaras getting really expensive? There are mascaras in that shop that are more expensive than MAC's and Superdrug, unlike Boots, doesn't sell any high end brands.

The Johnson's Eye Make Up Remover has become a favourite of mine. I picked up one from Tesco a while ago but they don't seem to sell it any more. Since it was on BOGOF in Superdrug I just had to stock up! It's one of those two layer ones you need to shake up before use. The oil layer does a great job of taking off the bulk of my mascara and liner. I never rely on just that for make up removal, I always follow with one of my cleansing oils.

I haven't really done much of anything with my hair in the past but I want to grow it a bit now. But I also want it to look nice. So it's time I actually treated it properly! I rarely heat style it, but that's not enough to keep it in top condition. It's very dry right now and starting to feel a little coarse, so some leave in conditioner should do it some good. It's colour treated so I need to be nice to my hair.

FOTD: 25/12/09

I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas to all my followers and readers. I hope you've all had a lovely day.

I don't get beauty and make up gifts so I won't be sharing my presents with you, however I did get an iPod docking station which is just awesome! And lots of chocolate. Everyone's just sleeping off a huge and delicious dinner so I thought I'd come and poke around Blogger for a bit. We didn't get any snow today in Sirvinya Land but there's been enough of it in the right places for it to be an official White Christmas in the UK.



I used:
*-Bee Luscious Pore Perfecting Primer
-Diorskin Nude Liquid Foundation "010"
*-ELF Studio Under Eye Concealer "Light"
*-ELF Studio Complexion Perfection
*-ELF Studio High Definition Powder
-MAC Paint "Untitled"
-MAC Shadestick "Beige-Ing"
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Painkiller"
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Absinthe"
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Shattered"
-No idea what I used for my highlight
*-Coastal Scents Gel Liner "True Black"
-Urban Decay 24/7 Liner "Binge"
-Urban Decay 24/7 Liner "Zero"
-Mascara
-MAC Blush "True Romantic"
-MAC Lipstick "Naked Paris"

Products marked with a star (*) were received for free.

Review: Urban Decay Preen Shadow Box

This was one of the Urban Decay goodies I bought on a recent trip to Lincoln. Urban Decay always do a very good job of parting me from my money, their stuff is just too pretty.


I apologise for the slightly less than brilliant picture, but I got way too much glare when everything was in the clear plastic case.

I bought this from House of Fraser in Lincoln for £18.00. Perhaps a little overpriced, the Book of Shadow palettes are only £10.00 more. It's available on the Urban Decay website for the time being (it is limited edition, after all) and we need a UK Urban Decay site!

*Please note this palette may be known as the Show Pony Shadow Box in some locations. The packaging is different but the contents are the same.*

This palette comes with 6 eye shadows (2 of which are unique to this palette), a mini 24/7 liner in "Zero" and a mini Primer Potion.


Please click on the images for a larger version. I've left them a little larger than usual to show detail.

In the palette you get the following shadows (0.90g):
-Snatch* - peachy pink with golden glitter
-Mildew - slightly dirty metallic green
-Flash - bright, vivid purple
-Painkiller* - bright aqua blue with a touch of gold shimmer
-Smog - golden brown
-Toasted - somewhere between taupe and brown

The two shades with a star are unique to the palette. All the shadows are shimmery, almost metallic with "Snatch" having some glitter. It's not to the obnoxious level of "Midnight Cowboy" but is still a little annoying. All 6 shadows are richly pigmented, smooth and easy to blend together. I swatched over primer on my arm as that's how I would wear the shadows.

The palette also comes with a mini sized Primer Potion (3.7ml), which comes with the new bent doe foot applicator. I honestly don't know why they don't just put the Primer Potion in packaging similar to the new face primers. I've got a few tubes of the stuff floating around now, I use it a lot! I'll be keeping one of these mini bottles for my travels, and also reviewing Primer Potion in a separate blog post.

Finally, you also get a mini sized (0.80g) 24/7 liner pencil in "Zero". I stuck it on the end of my swatches. It's a really good, basic black eye liner. Another item that keeps popping up in palettes and sets! It's always useful so I can't complain too much! I honestly think "Zero" is one of the items pretty much every one needs in their collection! The 24/7 formulation is pretty much the best out there and "Zero" is a rich black shade that doesn't lean towards green. So many black pencil liners do that, very annoying. I'll be reviewing the 24/7 liners in more depth, but, just to be brief, it goes on smooth, it's very pigmented and it once it's on and set it doesn't go anywhere!

Initially, this palette may look like a mish mash of random shades but it's a very versatile palette. I've worn a few combinations to create everything from toned down neutrals to obnoxiously bright.

-Toasted on the lid, Smog in the crease.
-Pack Painkiller on the lid and add Flash to the outer edge
-Try using Mildew smudged onto the lower liner

Let's not forget the packaging! It's cardboard so be careful not to get it wet! The peacock design is just gorgeous, I just love how the design is repeated over the rest of the case.

I've mentioned before that I love Urban Decay's palettes and this one is no exception!

FOTD: 22/12/09

What's this? Sirvinya wearing taupe? Yes, I do sometimes wear taupe. This is the one I bought in Lincoln the other day, it was such a pretty colour that I had to dig it out to wear today. I also opened up a new mascara to review, which for some reason was strangely exciting. It took me a while to pick which one to try.


I Used:
*-Bee Luscious Pore Perfecting Primer
*-ELF Studio Under Eye Concealer "Light"
*-ELF Studio Complexion Perfection
-Lily Lolo Foundation "Candy Cane"
-Urban Decay Primer Potion
-Me Me Me Eye Shadow "Cafe" - over lid & smudged into lower lash line
-MAC Eye Shadow "Jete" - highlight
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Roach" - outer edge
-Shu Uemura Eye Shadow "ME Black 990" - touched to very outer corner
*-Maybelline Line Definer "Black" - top liner
-Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara "Black"
-Nars Blusher "Outlaw"
*-Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick "Pink Hurricane"

Products marked with a star (*) were received for free. I'm not being paid to use them.

NOTD: 21/12/09 China Glaze Ruby Pumps

I was in the need for something Chritmassy last night so I dug out my China Glaze polish in "Ruby Pumps". I hadn't actually got round to trying it out yet but it was just what I needed last night. Also, the folks at Nailene had sent me some nail decals as a little Christmas present so I just had to add a couple.


This is two coats of "Ruby Pumps" over one coat of Maybelline "Cherry", topped off with a quick dry top coat. I thought "Ruby Pumps" was extremely runny so I didn't fancy trying to get it to show up on its own.

"Ruby Pumps" is very glittery without being over the top. I think it's because the glitter particles aren't huge. Or maybe since it's near Christmas, a little glitter is allowed. You know, of course, that I'll still be wearing this in June.

And that is a very scary macro. I can see things on that picture I can't even see with my eyes.

Mascara: Maybelline Lash Stiletto

I had been interested in trying this mascara now for a while. I bought it a few months ago from Boots probably, I think it was on offer. I also received a free one in my goodie bag from the Maybelline Bloggers Event. So I've paid for one and got one for free. The freebie one got sent to a new home as there was no way I was going to need a second tube of this.

This costs around the £8.00 mark from the usual places you can buy Maybelline (Boots, Superdrug, Tesco, etc.). It's also available in brown. I am reviewing the black one.


The tube is shaped like a Stiletto heel, right down to the little bit at the bottom. I'm not sure I'd want to walk on a heel that high though! Actually, I can't walk in any kind of heel, I tend to fall off them. The brush is rigid and slightly tapered. It's a little thicker at the handle end than at the very tip. It also looks to me to be quite a long wand. The wand is covered in fine spikes that look to be in a very tight spiral pattern. It stinks like the stuff I spray up my nose to prevent hay fever.


This mascara is apparently meant to do for your lashes what Stilettos do for your legs. As I mentioned in the video, Stilettos don't do a thing for my legs! Anyway, this is only a lengthening mascara, it doesn't add any volume.

It doesn't really add any length either. I curled my lashes before applying, as always but the curl had started to come out by the time I did the picture. You can see only the lashes in the middle have any real curl left. While the lashes do look lengthened, remember that any black mascara will colour in the lighter tips of the lash hairs making them look longer. Once I've got make up and liner on, you can barely tell I'm wearing any mascara.

I had issues with this mascara smudging under my lower lashes, a problem I don't really have. By the end of the day I had a very attractive smudge of black mascara under my lower lash line. Lovely.

Now I've done the Youtube video and this review I can chuck this in the bin.

FOTD: 19/12/09

Not strictly a FOTD, but this is the tutorial I recorded yesterday. I really liked the eye make up once I'd finished so I left it on. I played with the Urban Decay Book of Shadows 2 again, I'll try and get the tutorial up as soon as I can as I know quite a few of you are waiting for a few more looks.


I used:
-Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Primer
*-Coastal Scents Undercover HD Foundation - shades ST-01 & ST-04 mixed
*-ELF Studio HD Powder
*-ELF Studio Under Eye Concealer "Light"
*-ELF Studio Complexion Perfection
-Urban Decay Primer Potion
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "AC/DC"
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Ecstasy"
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Sellout"
*-Coastal Scents Gel Liner "True Black" - top liner
*-Sleek Glitter Liner "Rebel" - over top liner
*-Maybelline Khol Express Liner "Glam Black" - lower liner
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Flipside" - smudged into lower liner
-L'Oreal Panoramic Curl Mascara
*-NYX Cream Blush "Rose Petal"
*-Bee Luscious Mineral Sheer Veil "Champagne"
*-ELF Hypershine Gloss "Fairy"

Any products marked with a star (*) were received for free for review.

I'm really, really not liking the Coastal Scents foundation. I don't like the way it feels, the coverage, the colour, the way it looks on my skin, anything.

Embarking On A New Skincare Regime!

I actually received some of this a while back but I haven't got round to testing it yet. Three of the items I received from The Body Shop to test, I bought the eye cream myself.

I'm 27 years old and as much as I'd like to deny it, my skin is starting to show the first signs of aging. The skin around my eyes isn't quite as tight as it was a year ago!

The Body Shop Nutriganics range is designed to be used on skin that's showing the first signs of aging. It's also promoted as a "natural" skincare range. The ingredients four items from the collection I have are stated to be between 98% and 99% of natural origin and each of them has a different percentage of certified organic ingredients.

Each product also contains Community Trade Babassu Oil from Brazil which is supposed to "soften, smooth and revitalise the skin". I honestly hadn't heard of Babassu Oil before now. There's a little about the subject on Wikipedia (yeah, I know. Use Wikipedia as a source at your own risk, etc, etc) but Google doesn't come up with a great deal more.

I'll be taking notes and will probably review at the end of January, there's no point rushing skincare.

I'll be using:
-Foaming Facial Wash (£8.00)
-Smoothing Serum (£13.00)
-Smoothing Day Cream (£12.00)
-Smoothing Eye Cream (£10.00)

Just having a dig around the ingredients on the website. I like that they explain what all the ingredients do, rather than just giving a list of scientific names. Ever wondered why they put Sclerotium Gum in the Serum? It's a viscosity modifier apparently.

There's only so much I can write about a skincare line I haven't even tested yet! I'll save the rest of my notes for the review.

Beautiful Pigments: Lily Lolo "Golden Lilac"

There isn't a great deal of choice for UK based mineral make up websites, but it is getting better! Lily Lolo was one of the first ones I found. I tried foundation from them before any pigments and I love the foundation (mine is nearly empty now so I must repurchase). They've got a fairly good selection of eye shadows but I don't think they've released any new ones for a while.

The eye shadow pigments come in larger jars than usual. These are i the 10g jar size, rather than the 5g size. They're not packed full like the Sweetscents micas (which are also in 10g jars), these have a sifter.

The eye shadow pigments are sold for £5.00 each, I don't think they do samples for them any longer but you can still buy foundation samples.


One of my favourite pigments from Lily Lolo, and one of my favourite in my collection, is called "Golden Lilac". It's a beautiful lilac shade with very intense golden shimmer. I've not really come across anything else that's quite like this one.

On the picture, as always, the left swatch is patted dry onto primer and the right is applied with a damp cotton bud. I normally apply this with a damp brush to my lid to bring out the amazing shimmer this pigment has.

Review: ELF High Definition Powder

I've got to admit, this was the product I was most interested in trying when ELF released the latest batch of new products. I really want to try the MUFE HD Powder which really is just Silica (I do intend on buying some from TKB to try), so I knew I needed to find something more available and affordable.


ELF Studio High Definition Powder is available from eyeslipsface.co.uk and costs £6.00. It only contains two ingredients: Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer and Silica.

It comes in a very solid black tub with a screw lid. You do need to be careful with the lid as powder will go flying everywhere if you don't have the puff sat over the sifter! The puff is a decent size and doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart in 5 minutes.


So, how do I apply? If you just use the puff to apply it over your foundation you will end up with far, far too much obviously white powder all over your face. Not a good look for anyone! I use the Studio Complexion brush to pick some of the powder off the puff and sweep it onto my face. The HD powder is then invisible on my skin. I have noticed that this powder takes a couple of minutes to "settle". Not the nasty kind where every line is caked full of powder, but it just needs a couple of minutes to do its magic. Fine lines are reduced, pores are less obvious and I look 5 years younger!


The powder is extremely light and finely milled. You have no idea how nervous I was when I took the sifter out! If I sneezed or even breathed the wrong direction, I was going to get powder *everywhere*. Fortunately, I managed to prevent disaster! You only need to apply a tiny amount so this pot is going to last a very long time.

If you check out a few of my previous FOTD posts, you'll see that I've used this powder in a few of them. Also, I have been using this powder as part of my face routine when recording videos recently and I have had a lot of questions asking what I'm doing as my skin looks amazing. The answer is this little pot!

It doesn't do a thing for me for controlling oil, it really is just a setting "soft-focus" powder. I need to use my primer under foundation to control oil, or a translucent powder. This can add something of a white cast in photos with flash, especially if you use too much. But I'm so pale that I haven't noticed any difference. Jasmine is also a fan of this, so it works for a range of skin tones.

I was given this for free from ELF, but it's awesome anyway and I'll write what I want. No one tells me to say this is fantastic.

She Space Haul

I haven't hauled from the She Space for most of this year. I think my last previous order was December of last year. I'd had issues with the international shipping so I held off on ordering again. I fired off an email to Heather, letting her know my concerns and that the only issue I had was with shipping and not her pigments. I knew a few others shared my concerns as well. Recently she'd had sale on the full sized jars so I ordered a few and some samples, basically as a test to see if the shipping issues has been resolved.

The wait time is listed on the site, so it worked out that processing my order would take about 2 weeks. A couple of days before that I received an email with a tracking number to say my order had been shipped. I also had a message from Heather explaining how the issues I'd had were resolved and thanking me for being willing to try ordering again. I think I'd sent the initial email 11 or so months again so I was very surprised to get the message as we'd had very little communication in between. I pop up on the She Space message board every now and then.

International shipping is very slow at this time of year, my order took about 2 weeks to get here once it has shipped. About normal for December.

The full sized pigments come in a 3g jar, which were reduced to $3.50 each. Samples come in a baggie and are $0.50 each. The samples in bags are meant to only provide enough pigment for a few uses so you can decide whether or not to order a full sized jar. I always get at least 10 uses out of my samples.

I think there must have been a dodgy batch of jars though! The jars I received cross-threaded every time I tried to open or close them. This meant I ended up covered in sparkle every time I tried to open the jars. Fortunately I keep a stock of jars so I transferred the pigments over to my own jars.


So, I'm sure you're waiting to find out what I ordered!

-Gemini - full sample set (greens)
-Scorpio - full sample set (purples)
-The Terror Of Tinsel
-One Pilgrim Prancing
-Mrs Claus Is Cranky
-Roaring Metaphor
-No Scruples

I thought some swatches would show up the gorgeous colours! All applied with a damp cotton bud to bare arm.


All of the full jars, apart from "No Scruples", are from the current limited edition collection. They are complex, beautiful colours, even compared to the regular line. They are very richly pigmented and full of different shimmers and sparkles.

I am very pleased with the way my previous issues have been resolved and I am happy to continue ordering from the She Space. Not that I need to, I have over 200 of her pigments.

Review: Coastal Scents Synthetic Buffer Brush Large

I do have quite a large selection of Coastal Scents brushes so I'll be working my way through these as well! Some I did get for free, some I have bought but if they don't work for me then they don't stay in my collection. Some of the brush ranges are much better than others. I'm particularly fond of this brush but I haven't tried any other of the synthetic range.

This brush is available on Coastal Scents for $13.95.


When this brush was released I had planned on buying it as I'd seen a couple of good reviews and I was looking to try another flat topped buffer brush (I had bought the flat badger one previously, this will be reviewed later). However, it turned up in the post before I got chance to put my order in!

This brush feels very expensive. The handle is solid and a good, sturdy size. I'm not worried I'm going to break the ferrule as I'm buffing foundation. The bristles are very densely packed and are incredibly soft. Very soft! I don't think I have a face brush that feels as soft and silky smooth as this one.

I use this brush for applying mineral powder foundation. To use it I tap some of my minerals into a bowl, swirl the brush around then tap off the excess. I then buff the foundation into my skin using circular motions. I did try this for liquid foundation when it arrived, but I really did not get on with it at all! All the foundation seemed to vanish into the brush. I keep it just for minerals now.

Buffing the minerals into your skin gives a very smooth, flawless look without the obvious look of foundation. However, an issue with buffing is that the brush you use has to be extremely soft and smooth. Otherwise, with a rougher brush, you risk tiny abrasions to your face which is just not going to be good. On my skin, this brush is smooth enough to buff with. I've tried with some rougher brushes and it just doesn't feel good! The other flat topped brush I own, the badger one, isn't quite as smooth as this (while not exactly rough) so I can't work the foundation in as completely.

This brush lost a few hairs in the initial washing (but I'm really rough on my brushes for the first wash) and I haven't noticed any shedding since. I give this a thorough cleaning once a week with MAC brush cleanser.

Overall this is a great brush to have in your collection if you apply mineral powder foundations. I got my Mum one as well as she tried to steal mine, she loves hers too!

I may have got this for free, but it doesn't stop it being an awesome product. I'm not getting paid to say it's fantastic, I'll write what the heck I feel like.

MAC Mineralize Shadow "Odd Bits"

This little gem has been sat in my "to be photographed" tub for a little too long so I dug it out tonight. I bought this from Jasmine's blog sale for the grand total of £5.00! So this post is technically a mini-haul! I'd been wanting to try these Mineralize Quads for a while but I had missed out on them when the collection was released.


"Odd Bits" does have a strange combination of colours: a slate blue, pink, cranberry and gold. The slate blue is pretty unique for MAC, I couldn't find anything in my MAC stash that was similar, but I'm sure MAC will have released something not too far off this colour in the past. The cranberry was pretty disappointing as it was quite flaky and sheer. I'm sure all the colours will improve once I apply them with a wet brush.

Review: The Body Shop Vitamin E Facial Oil

This was featured during the make up demonstration by Chase Aston at the Body Shop event I attended at the start of the year. It looked quite interesting so I did plan on buying it until I saw it had been included in the goodie bag that we were all given.


This is available from the Body Shop for £14.65. 15ml glass bottle with dropper. Contains wheat germ, rice bran and soya oils which are all naturally rich in Vitamin E.

Chase Aston used this as a primer at the Body Shop event. I am interested in oils for skincare as I find them much easier on the skin than anything else. I currently use a cleansing oil and Argan Oil.

It is described on the Body Shop website as a "pre-moisturiser", whatever that means. I know that there's no way I could pile moisturiser on top of this, my make up would fall straight off my face! It's stated on the bottle that this is for dry skin, which I don't really have. My skin tends to be combination with it leaning towards oily in the summer and dry in the winter. However, my skin just doesn't get dry enough to use this even as a moisturiser.

I use this as a once a week night treatment, alternating with my Argan Oil. Actually I just got out my bottle of Argan Oil to just compare the two and it's gone off. Eew. So, looks like I'll be using the Vitamin E oil every week! This is just too much for my skin to use more often than that. Even this way, I can still feel oil on my skin the next day. It just doesn't all soak into my skin. I only use about 3 drops so I'm not applying loads!

The smell is pretty non-offensive. I described it in my video as a "clean, cosmetic smell". It does contain rose oil so that may be what I can smell. It's not overpowering or flowery at all.

It leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturised in the morning after I've applied. I haven't had any issues with breaking out or reacting to it, but remember that every one's skin is different.

This product was given to me for free in a goodie bag. It has no effect on the type of review I give.

Review: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish

I have repeatedly been asked to review and do an overview of my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish collection. I'm pretty sure it's a topic that's popped up the most on Blogtv. I recorded a video over the weekend so I took some extra photos and swatches for a more in depth look on here.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinishes are around £19.00 and sold at MAC. All the ones I have are limited edition so are no longer available at MAC. There are 2 in the permanent line, neither of which I own. Each contains 10g of product.


I only own four of them. I like them but I've never really been "wowed" by them. I know people who have spent an absolute fortune so that they can own them all. I keep looking as they are released and I've seen a couple that I would have liked to own but I can't say that I'm too bothered that I missed out on them.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinishes are a baked product so they are fragile. They're going to shatter if you are unfortunate enough to drop one! They don't have a metal pan so aren't something you can depot. All 4 that I have are shimmery and quite sheer, the swatches I have posted later on are a very heavy application. The 3 pinker ones I use as a glow over the top of blusher and the last I use as a highlight. They last just fine on me, nothing remarkable. They tend to last just as long as my blusher does. Even though they are sheer I do have to apply them carefully as a heavy hand will deposit way too much shimmer and sparkle. Each one is unique, the veining varies in every single one.

I tend to use my MAC (or Sigma) 187 or 188 to apply these. A regular blusher brush picks up way too much as these go quite powdery when you put a brush anywhere near them. The duo-fibre brushes are soft enough to pick up a little without picking up too much powder, they're also really useful for buffing the MSF into your skin to give a more natural look. A lot of people use the word "metallic" to describe the sheen of an MSF and they'd be right, they certainly look metallic!

I've discovered the nifty option on my photo editing software that lets me combine pictures so you're getting some quite flashy pictures today.


"Glissade" was the first one I bought a few years back. Some apparently have very obvious plum veining but mine doesn't really have any. It goes on as a golden peach with some minute sparkles.


"Light Flush" was released with another called "Lightscapade". Every one wanted the first but now "Lightscapade" goes for a fortune on eBay. This one works slightly better as a blush than "Glissade" but it's still not pigmented enough to use on its own. It's a nice pink shimmer and the veining adds a slight coppery shimmer.


I think "Petticoat" is my favourite of the four I own! It's a beautiful raspberry pink shimmer. The veining adds a little bit of gold shimmer. I think this is just a beautiful product just to look at! The veining I have is gorgeous, reminds me a little of the cloud swirls on Jupiter. This one is pigmented enough to use as a blusher on days when I don't mind the shimmer.


The most recent one to enter my collection is "Perfect Topping" that I bought earlier this year. This one doesn't work as a blush but rather as a highlight. I'd describe it best as a pale peachy creamy glow. It's not as overtly shimmery or glittery as the others and has a much smoother texture. Some apparently have a lot of lilac in the marbling giving it a much cooler finish but mine has more peach in it. I love this as a cheek highlight.


These swatches are a very heavy application over primer.

-Glissade
-Light Flush
-Petticoat
-Perfect Topping

Monthly Faves - November 2009

Late again! Today was the first change I'd had in a little while to do any recording so I made sure to get the monthly faves decided and recorded today. The video is just processing right now! I'm off work over the New Year so I might even get December's favourites recorded on time!


-Urban Decay Book of Shadows Volume 2 - Did you honestly think this wouldn't make it into a monthly favourites? I love it.
-MAC Shadestick "Beige-Ing" - I'm using it constantly as a base for eye shadow right now, it just makes colours so bright!
*-ELF Studio High Definition Powder - Soft focus and 5 years younger in a little pot. Awesome.
*-Sassy Minerals Liner "Gasoline Rainbow" - The most incredible, sparkly black liner. The rainbows really show through when the liner is used wet.
*-Body Shop Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream - Even though my skin isn't dry, my skin is just loving this right now.

All products marked with a star (*) were provided for review by either the company themselves or a PR contact. This has no bearing on the review I give of the product.

Camera woes and an upcoming Blog Sale

My Samsung S1030 that has served me faithfully for the last 2 years is no longer doing what I need it to. The macro function is struggling with make up products and I can no longer record video. I'm aware that 2 years is not really a long life for a camera but I recorded a lot of hours of video and 1000s of pictures.

After some digging around online I had planned to investigate the Panasonic Lumix G1 further but I wasn't convinced I wanted to go down the DSLR route. It looked like I would need a separate macro lens and by that point I was way over budget.

I had planned on no more than £300. I know you can pick up a decent digital camera for around £100-£150 but I wanted to go up a grade in regards to performance.

In Lincoln on Thursday I nipped into the Sony shop as I hear consistent good reviews for their Cyber-shot cameras and asked them for "a camera with an awesome macro that I can use as point and shoot". They handed me the DSC-W270. Nice camera, very thin and light but wasn't happy with a macro focus on something 1cm away. Then they handed me the DSC-H20 and seriously, I'm in love. It had no issues with a focusing on something 1cm away and it automatically selects the best settings for point and shoot. It's also only a little thicker than the Samsung I'm currently using. The lens withdraws to almost flat.

It doesn't take the pretty much standard SD memory card so I will have to fork out for a Sony Pro memory stick, but as I'm currently using a Sony Vaio laptop I already have a slot that it will fit into.

The only issue was that it was £250! Fortunately I've found it on Tesco Direct for £200. I just need to save some money for it and I'm planning on buying it in the new year. You might notice the status bar further down the page.

So, I will be launching a blog sale over the weekend. I have a large amount of make up (really?) and sometimes I notice products just don't suit me as well as I thought, or it just doesn't work for me. I've been putting these products to one side for a couple of months. How do you feel about a blog sale? Any money raised will be put towards the camera.

A Little Contest - 123456!

Adding the stat counter to the bottom of my page has proved to be extremely useful. I can see which posts are popular and which topics I'm getting Google hits for. Sometimes I make sure to add an extra post or two on subjects I'm getting Google hits for but have only added a small amount of information to my blog.

So, I'm going to hold a little contest. I haven't decided on prizes yet, it's not going to be anything major. Probably a few Barry M dazzle dusts and I've got some unused stuff from event goodie bags that just won't get used.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see a little green box with my visitor count displayed. It's right above my Creative Commons license and it currently sat at just over 96000 hits.

I want you to check this every time you visit my page as I'm looking for the person who hits 123456! If you see that, or very close (but over) to that then send me an email with a screen grab as an attachment to:

sirvinyavid@hotmail.co.uk

If this little competition works out OK, I may select random numbers to hit in the future.

If no one sends me a grab of 123456 then the closest that is over that number will win the prize.

I'm willing to ship worldwide, apart from countries refused by the Royal Mail.

Good luck!

FOTD: 03/12/09

Since I was heading out on a shopping trip I had to put some kind of make up on! Again, I really hate doing a full face photo.


I used:
-Bee Luscious Pore Perfecting Primer
-Diorskin Nude Liquid Foundation "010"
-ELF Studio Under Eye Concealer "Light"
-ELF Studio Complexion Perfection
-ELF Studio Eyebrow Treat & Tame "Light"
-ELF Studio High Def Powder
-Urban Decay Primer Potion
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Toasted" - over lid
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Mildew" - in crease
-MAC Eye Shadow "Jete" - highlight
-Bobbi Brown Gel Liner "Ivy Shimmer Ink" - top liner
-Boots No7 Metallic Liner "Purple" - lower liner
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Flash" - smudged into lower liner
-L'Oreal Panoramic Curl Mascara "Black"
-ELF Studio Blusher "Mellow Mauve"

All the Urban Decay shadows are from the Preen Shadow Box.

Haul - Lincoln Dec 09

I hadn't intended on really doing much in the way of hauling as my trip to Lincoln today was to finish buying Christmas presents. I did get one bought, so I consider that a bonus.

We don't often get sales on cosmetics in the UK so when we do it's worth taking advantage! Superdrug were offering 3 for 2 on all cosmetics and Debenhams were offering 10% off.


-Sleek Make Up Palette "Sunset"
-Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara "Black"
-Me Me Me Eye Shadow "Cafe"
-Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Primer Potion
-Urban Decay Eye Shadow "Roach"
-Lush Ultra Bland Cleanser

Most exciting occurrence of today was the fact that Sleek had finally installed a stand in Superdrug at Lincoln (the one in the Waterside Centre for any of you who know Lincoln). It means I can stock up without having to take a trip to a major city. The stand was pretty empty, but they had a few palettes. Plenty of the "Original" ones, a couple of "Sunset" and a lonely "Acid".

The Too Faced counter had vanished from Debenhams, replaced with an eye brow bar. They didn't have testers for all of the new primers at Urban Decay, but I got the one I had planned on trying. The 10% off was a nice bonus.

Lush Ultra Bland Cleanser

This little pot of cleanser has been a staple in my skin care for the last few years. Ultra Bland is a thick cream cleanser that supposedly is fantastic at removing make up and every time I've been to Lush to look at skin care, this gets recommended.

I've found it completely useless at removing make up. It hasn't touched eye liner, mascara and I've always had foundation residue left after use. So, what makes it a staple for me?

It is the most moisturising cleanser I have ever come across. I use it every morning and it leaves my skin feeling very soft and smooth. I follow with a moisturiser but Ultra Bland does not make my skin feel dry at all, unlike every other cleanser I have tried (and that includes my cleansing oils!).

To use, I apply a thin layer over my face and as I apply I can feel it being absorbed by my skin. I use a wet muslin cloth to remove the cleanser. The muslin cloths are another staple in my skin care, they gently exfoliate at the same time was removing cleanser (and you can stick them on a boil wash without damaging the cloths if you need to).

I repeat the process in the evenings on days that I haven't worn make up.

Ultra Bland has a lovely gentle honey scent (it does contain honey), which I love. I know some people aren't too keen on the smell of honey but I really like it.

My pot is nearly empty so I will be restocking next time I visit Lush!

Costs around £9.00 from Lush.