MAC Temperature Rising Collection Scorching Haute Nail Varnish Review

Sunday was a naughty day and I found myself at the MAC counter drooling over all of the pretty colours whilst two of my friends tried to drag me away! Everything is just so pretty and pigmented!
In the end I made two cheeky purchases, both limited edition, and both sooo gorgeous.
The first was the Scorching Haute nail varnish from the Temperature Rising collection.

Scorching Haute is a peautiful bright purple glitter polish and is every bit as pretty on the nails as in the bottle. Its the perfect colour for tanned summer skin!
There is a mixture of fine and slightly larger pieces of glitter floating in a purple base colour and you only need two thin coats to create a great, full cover glitter effect. On top of this I used a single coat of Nails Inc caviar top coat for extra shine and I have to say, I was so happy with the finished effect. They looked perfect.

However...
This second photo was taken this morning after having only painted them yesterday evening and after not having done anything harsh on the hands at all. I was gutted. Two coats of high quality glitter polish, complete with a high quality top coat should not be chipping in under 12 hours, especially when more than half of that time was spent asleep!

These two photos show how my two hands look now, after just one day wearing the nail varnish. I haven't been at work, I haven't done anything such as washing up that would expose them to much water and haven't really done anything out of the usual.
This is my first MAC nail varnish and I have to say that I won't be spending the money on another because I've just been so disappointed. I have always been a big MAC fan, as you will know from all my reviews, but this has really knocked my faith in the quality of their formulas a little. Such a shame.
Scorching Haute cost me £11 and is a limited edition product so if you do fancy giving it a go then get in there fast.
Annie xx

Makeup on the Go

I'm a bit of a control freak. I always have to do lots of planning and I tend to do a lot of thinking ahead so of course I have a little makeup kit in my handbag at all times, ready for lipstick re-application and powder emergencies :)
So what do I carry?

I got this Weird Fish tin in a goody bag from the designer fashion show during Bath Fashion Week and thought it was a pretty weird gift and couldn't for the life of me think of a use for it until I happened to clear all the lipsticks out of the bottom of my handbag and shove them in there for safe keeping temporarily. Temporarily kind of became permanently and other bits and pieces have been added to make a little emergency kit :)

Of course I have my holy grail tin of Lanolips Golden Ointment* (reviewed here) in there, ready to soften my skin if its ever feeling a bit sore and dry and a back up lip balm for if I can't find my faithful Lush Honey Trap one for whatever reason.
I also keep a small pot of Bare Minerals mineral finishing powder in there along with a mini kabuki to rid my face of any shine that may creep up during the day.
My lovely MAC Fast Fleet blusher has also made its home in my makeup tin because I've found its a great blusher for adding a little extra definition and colour to cheeks for an evening look so I use the Benefit brush that I've popped in there to do a spot of contouring after work so I can head straight out.
Finally, I always seem to have two or three lipsticks in the tin, usually one red and one bright pink because those are my two go to colours. In the photo above the lipsticks are MAC Girl About Town and Lush Power. Girl About Town lives perminantly in my handbag because I am so so in love with it, it's definitely my go to lipstick!

Occasionally if I'm feeling a bit bored I'll swap things around a bit and add an eyeshadow or if I know I'll be out over night I grab a mascara to go in the tin too, I also have wet wipes in my handbag constantly to battle panda eyes in the morning, but in general, this is my handbag makeup collection :)

Do you carry a makeup tin/bag around in your handbag? What do you keep in yours?
Annie xx

Golden Ointment from Lanolips Reviewed

Dry skin can be really damaging to self esteem. For years I've had incredibly dry, sore elbows that just wouldn't go away no matter what I tried using on them. Because of this, when I was given the chance to try out the new festival sized mini's of both the 101 Ointment* (review to come) and Golden Ointment* I was particularly interested to test them out on my poor old elbows.

The Golden Ointment* comes in a very cute vintage inspired tin that is no bigger than a tub of lip balm and contains 12.5g of product, perfect for dropping into your handbag or stowing in your travel kit for festivals or summer holidays. I am not personally a fan of using lanolin on my lips for personal belief reasons but this ointment is the first thing that I have used on my elbows that has actually worked in softening and hydrating the sore skin and making the pain go away. I have also used it, to amazing effect, on my legs and feet when I get eczema flair up and found it to help so much with speeding up the healing process and lessening the urge to scratch it and make the area worse.

Lanolin is an amazing ingredient, extracted from the wool sheered from sheep, it is the yellow waxy substance that provides a protective barrier in the wool and stops sheep who stand in the cold and rain for hours getting cold and soaked through. In cosmetic use it is amazing for locking moisture into skin and hair, providing a protective layer on the skin for people who work in harsher conditions and is also classed as a vegetarian ingredient so extra yay!

The Lanolips Golden Ointment* harnesses the brilliance of lanolin as an ingredient and enhances it with the addition of very moisturising yet anti-bacterial Manuka honey, castor oil and apricot oil so that the product is the very best it can be for giving you an indulgent and deeply nourishing effect.
My one problem with this product is the use of glycerin in the ingredients. Glycerin is derived from animal sources and is not vegetarian, by using glycerine instead which is made using non-animal derivatives the product could have been kept vegetarian and been made suitable for so many more people.

Over all I have been incredibly impressed with this product, and the mini pot makes it perfect for carrying around and applying whenever needed on the run. I now never leave the house without this little tin and will definitely be re-purchasing for years to come. The amount of relief I've been given from using on my elbows and eczema has been huge and after years of being self-conscious about my elbows I finally feel more confident in showing them. I cannot recommend it enough.

You can pick up the travel tin of Lanolips Golden Ointment for £7.99 from most larger pharmacies, Boots and Superdrug stores. Well worth the money in my opinion.

Annie xx

Exciting New Product Launch from Bourjois!

It's been a while since I've been so excited about a product launch.
Bourjois is one of my very favourite cosmetic ranges, the foundation especially works wonders for my English Rose skin tone!
So what are they releasing that I'm so excited about?

Cream Blush!
Bourjois's original baked blush has always been known to be one of the very best and my pot of Rose D'Or is one of my most used blushers in my collection.
The new cream blushers have a cream to powder formula that allows you to apply super easily with your fingers and on contact with the skin it transforms in to a silky smooth powder, giving you a fresh, dewy look. There are only going to be 4 shades available to begin (No 1 Nude Velvet, No 2 Healthy Glow, No 3 Rose Tender and No 4 Sweet Cherry) with but I'm sure this will be expanded over time.
The classic round compact has been slimmed down and made more transportable for the new release and to make the product extra special it has also been enriched with poppy, apricot and mango extracts which are all great for the skin. Can you tell I'm excited?
I'm really looking forward to getting my hand on Shades 1 and 3 which are both super cute, pale pink shades.
The Cream Blush was released in Selfridges on 3rd of May and will be available in Boots stores across the UK for £7.99 from 15th May.

Will you be buying? Which shade are you most interested to try? Are you like me and prefer cream blushers to powders?
Annie xx

Makeup Mugshot- Taking the Plunge

For some time I've been debating getting a pretty major hair cut. I love my big, flowing mane but its a nightmare to wash and tangles like no ones business so, spurred on by the sunshine and an urge to be able to dye my hair without needing 2 bottles of dye I went and got chopped :)
So heres new Annie!

What do you think? I've had about 4 inches off the bottom and lots of shape and layering put in to give me back some bounce and I love it! The next step is to dye it a nice bright colour, I'm thinking maybe dark purple or red.
Makeup wise I've been loving black eyeliner in my waterline recently. Just enough to make my eyes look nice and bright without being too heavy, combined with fairly neutral eyeshadow and dark pink lips.

Face:
Bourjois 123 perfect foundation
Nars Orgasm blusher
Lush Emotional Brilliance face powder
Lush Feeling Younger highlighter

Eyes:
Bobbi Brown Mahogany powder on brows
Lush Sophisticated cream eyeshadow
Rimmel scandaleyes waterproof black eyeliner
Soap and Glory thick and fast mascara

Lips:
MAC Pink Nouveau lipstick

So what do you think of my new hair? Do you think it suits me? And the most important question; red or purple dye?
Annie xx

Lifestyle- Time for a Re-vamp

I'm back! I've had a couple of weeks to start getting my life back on track now so I'm ready to get back to blogging properly now everything is a little clearer in my head.
Something that I'm finally getting round to doing after months of procrastination is a spot of decorating and de-cluttering. Clutter is something I seem to attract like a magnet but it stresses me like nothing else so its time for it to go...or at least be hidden and/or neatly organised so it doesn't make me sulk :P
So here's the plan!

1. Whilst I don't like cluttered surfaces, I do love having things on the wall so pretty mirrors are a must. I have a mirror very similar to this hiding somewhere in the house waiting to be cleaned off and hung above the bed side table against a newly papered wall.

2. As well as mirrors, pictures have a big space in my heart. Our house is a classic old Bath stone house with high ceilings and big walls just asking to hold artwork. This one is from Urban Outfitters...and may have to find its way to my home.

3. I'm doing my decorating on a budget but one thing I am willing to spend money and invest in is a lovely lamp for my dressing table. I spend a lot of time there both doing work and making myself look presentable so I think £15 for a functional and pretty funky looking lamp is allowed :)

4. If you read my previous "take a little snoop" post you may have noticed that all of my jewellery was previously hung on a large tree stand where it was all visible. The problem with this is that it had got to the point of being too full so it didn't look very nice any more so I'm on the hunt for a pretty vintage looking travel case to store it in all neat and tidy.

5. Once a clutterer always a clutterer. I'll never be able to resist pretty but impractical bits and pieces ;)

6. In the same way as I love mirrors and pictures, photos will always play a big part in decorating my home. At the moment though many are just stuck to the wall with blue tack so I bought these prety heart frames from ebay for £4.99 to organise my chaos better. One of my walls is a fab shade of fuchsia so I chose to buy white frames that will stand out nicely against the pink.

So what do you think of my action? I'll post some photos when I'm finished to show you the transformation. Todays task is to sort through my bulging wardrobe and cull some of the more neglected clothes and shoes that fill it and then its off for sushi with the lovely Kassi :)
Annie x

A Little New Phone Bling

My phone is one of my favourite possessions. Its the (rather large) Samsung Galaxy Note II and I've had it since november now. I was only recently though that I got around to giving it a shiny, blingtastic coat.

So here it is, my pretty new case. I am in love with it :)
My pretty case was made by a lovely lady who I found through the beauty swaps group that I am part of on facebook *she has a page you can find her portfolio on here* She makes the majority of her cases to order and each one is totally unique which I really love. It feels like I'm carrying around a piece of art in my hand :)

For my case I asked for pots of pink, purple and pearly bits and pieces and I wasn't disappointed! There is a lovely mix of big and smaller pieces all set in a whipped cream like fixing and Samantha is happy to let you choose the type of decorations you would like. Because of the size of my phone we decided to go for nothing too chunky. He's hiding in my photos above, but in Samantha's photo of the case below you can see my favourite decoration; the gingerbread man peeping out :)

I really do love my phone case and can't recommend Samantha's work enough- like I say, they're like your own little piece of art in your hand.
What do you think of my phone case? Is it something you'd like for your phone? Which is your favourite decoration from my case?
Annie xx