Gifts From Another Lovely Lady

I got a message via Facebook from the lovely Nazneen at The Postcolonial Rabbit the other day offering me a sample of MAC Vanilla pigment - being a wishlist item I of course said yes - Well I received it yesterday



and not only that she also enclosed a lovely card, these pretty Accessorize earrings (which I've been wearing today)

and a bottle of Nails Inc In Style Berry Nail Polish

What an absolute sweetheart - thank you so much - please check her blog out you can find her at The Postcolonial Rabbit xx

First Light Cosmetics Review and FOTD (Pic Heavy)

A few weeks ago I was contacted by First Light Cosmetics asking me if I would like to try some of the products -loving mineral make up as I do my answer was of course yes! First Light is a new brand of mineral cosmetics which uses only 100% natural ingredients, using finely crushed natural minerals in all their products. I was lucky enough to be sent two products a mineral foundation and a mineral eyeshadow.
The first thing that impressed me was how the items arrived - they came in super cute multicoloured,cotton drawstring bag first impressions - thumbs up :)

Natural Mineral Foundation Breeze In The Beeches
The first product I was sent was the full sized 10g mineral foundation in the shade Breeze in the Beeches which is described a light neutral with cool undertones- It's one of 18 shades to choose from - The product comes in a screw top jar with the company logo on the lid - the lid has a rubberised type finish which unfortunately does get a bit grubby :(




The jar is in the sifter style so all you need to do is tip the minerals into the lid. This packaging does work but unfortunately it's not really practical for travel as the product will come out through the holes.

To apply the product I used my normal method of swirling with a kabuki brush, tapping of the excess then buffing the product into my skin. The shade I think is a tiny bit pale for me but mineral make up is pretty adaptable and as you can see the coverage is pretty good

gross before pics
Notice the redness and high colour

close up of evil spot prone area ie mingy breakout :(

after pics
bye bye redness -pretty good coverage don't you think

OK you can still see the spots a bit here but bear in mind I am wearing no concealer what so ever in any of the pics all I have on is the First Light foundation

In these pictures I haven't used a primer just a moisturiser - I did find it a bit harder to blend on top of primer but I found if I left the primer a little longer to dry properly I didn't have as much of a problem. I also found that this foundation lasted really well on my combination skin - I still had foundation on to remove even after 6 hours!! The only thing I would say is that I don't think that this would be quite as successful on a drier skin it did feel a tiny bit more drying than my usual mineral foundation.
So what can I say I am pretty impressed with this foundation I am a id Bare Minerals devotee but I will definitely consider buying from this range again - it really lasted and the coverage was impressive - this product retails for £12.99 for a 10g pot, or you can by a 2g bag for £1.50 - ideal for helping you find the perfect shade

Mineral Eye Shadow - Cornish Copper

The second product I was sent was one of the First Light Mineral Eye Shadows in the shade Cornish Copper.


It comes in a 2g jar with the same style sifter and it's the most gorgeous shimmery reddish copper shade

The swatch here is dry but you can imagine how nice it would look wet or foiled with water or say Fix +. Again I tipped it into the lid and applied it with and ELF Studio C Brush - pressing it in to the lid- it applied easily and it was super pigmented - I have no other eye make up on in these pics and no eye base




As you can see the colour is very strong - as with all loose mineral / powder shadows you do get a lot of fall out but it brushes away easily. It also blends easily with other shadows and it lasted pretty well without an eye base -all in all I am pretty impressed it compares easily to the id Bare Minerals shadows and it's a lot cheaper at £5.99 for a 2g pot.

So all in all I am pretty impressed with my First Light experience.I really want to try some more of their products and they have a really good selection including blushers, lipsticks, brushes and concealers. If you want to try First Light Cosmetics please check out their website (cick here) - they have also been kind enough to give me a discount code for my lovely readers - just enter First1015 at the checkout for 15% off your order - the voucher is valid until 08/04/2010.

FOTD

Since you've already seen bits of my make up today I thought I'd take a few FOTD shots (sorry they are a bit blurry and my hair is a disgrace)



My eyes with full make up


My Lips


Today I Wore

First Light Cosmetics Mineral Foundation - Breeze In The Beeches
MAC MSF - By Candlelight
First Light Cosmetics Mineral Eye Shadow - Cornish Copper
GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Pencil - Truly Brown
Collection 2000 Collagen Curl - 17 Ultra Black
Models Prefer Lipstick - Tawny Terrain


(Although I was sent the First Light Cosmetics products, both of these reviews are my honest opinions and I haven't been paid or compensated by First Light Cosmetics, to review, or use them on my blog).

MAC Haulage :)

I said I'd been buying again and I splashed out on a bit of MAC whoops a diddle. First of all blush - OMG I have bought more blush lately than I ever have before :)
From cosmetics-skincare I got Honour a gorgeous shimmery gold




Only trouble is I was trying to depot it last night when I shattered it into tiny pieces whoops thankfully I managed to retrieve most of it so I'll will be trying to repress it- hence at 10.30 last night I was playing hunt the empty blush pan on the Internet - not an easy thing to find I eventually placed an order with Stars Make Up Haven - hope it doesn't take too long :(
I also got Springsheen which is so pretty


again it looks scary

but when you blend it down its really pretty

I also picked up Saddle eyeshadow which is a lovely matte brown


I also placed a ickle MAC order on Monday which came today, including this little beauty Viva Glam Gaga - such a lovely blue based baby pink




and Naked Liner which I love - it will be such a useful item to my collection



So MAC proves my downfall again whoops a diddle x

Belated Mothers Day Food

Hiya just thought I'd share some pics of todays belated mother's day meal :)
Chestnut Mushroom Stroganoff With Rice and Mixed Leaves


Banoffee, Chocolate, Pecan Cheesecake
The pictures and presentation aren't the best but this tastes amazing although totally sickly lol

Quick Next Purchase

This cardi came the other day form Next - I love it a sort of a animal print pattern in black and silver grey :)

Goods and Bads

Goods

*My mum is out of hospital - she is still having visits from the community nurse and is still on a lot of painkillers but she is home - I am now playing nurses lol
*I am making her a lovely meal tonight including a mushroom stroganoff, and a banoffee, pecan, chocolate cheesecake
*I've bought some lovely goodies recently - pics etc. to come and of course Gaga to come :)
*I've just found out I've won the entire Sleek I Divine palette collection on a facebook competition - I have quite a few of them already so I will more than likely be holding a giveaway in the near future to thank all you lovely people for being so wonderful and supportive especially over the past week :)

Bads

*Am absolutely exhausted at the moment - the combination of lack of sleep, more physical work and getting up too early is really wearing me out :(
*Spending I have spent way too much money lately :(
*A bit of a trivial one but I am so behind on blog posts and yt vids argh

Mothers Day Craft and An Update

As you probably know if you follow me on twitter my mum unfortunately didn't get out of hospital in times for mothers day :( I saw my godmother yesterday and I visited my mum in hospital last night so it wasn't so bad - I thought I'd show you some of the cards I made for my mum and my godmother




Big news today is that my mum is coming home tonight - hurray so we will hopefully be celebrating mothers day tomorrow with a posh homemade dessert and a nice meal (although no wine for mummy;)) Thanks again for all your love and support - I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to reply to all your comments personally but thank you - normally posts and services should return soon - love and hugs x x

A Little Update

Hey all -Just a quick update regarding my mum - she is till having a bit of weeping from one of her wounds and as a result she is on some strong antibiotics so it will now be Saturday at the earliest that she will be out of hospital :( I have made lots of plans for mothers day at home so here's hoping she'll be out by then :( She called me last night as she was a bit upset which succeeded in making me a bit upset so I went shopping online :( That means this months spending diet is another write off - tough I am past caring at the mo I have more important things on my mind which I hope you can understand. I'll try put up a few posts over the weekend - a haul or two and maybe a review :) Thanks again for all your lovely messages on twitter, my blog and facebook I really appreciate it xx

MAC Haulage Or How To Mess Up A Spending Diet In Three Easy Steps

I was having a little sort out the other day and I realised that my MAC 15 Pan Palette that I had reserved for my green, blue and aquas was now full! and with one eyeshadow to depot and several pigments that I am planning on pressing I though I better get a new palette.
So I placed a little order with MAC - but you know me I can't just buy one thing so I added another couple of bits - first of all I got one of the lip liner pencils from the Too Fabulous collection - I got In Synch which is a lovely cool toned peachy pink




I really like this and I think it will be great on its own as the texture seems really good unlike my normal MAC liner - I wonder if they have changed the formula this will be great for colours like Snob and of course like Viva Glam Gaga when it eventually launches :( I am definitely going to try and pick up the Naked liner if I can. (I have had this about a day and it is already gone AWOL - I left it on the table the other night and now its gone - a new cat toy me thinks :()

I also picked up a lipstick - my first Viva Glam in II . I really love this on it's a gorgeous brown/nude/pink the swatch makes it look a bit darker that it is - the lip shot is probably more accurate








I also placed another order with cosmetics-skincare but I was super good and only got one thing -an eyeshadow in Cumulus - a gorgeous silvery, grey :)




Oh and I also picked up another MAC item, this time in a blog sale held by the lovely Cat at Reaching For The Stars - sorry I haven't had time to photograph it but it Amber Lights and its gorgeous :) Huge thanks Cat and check her out if you haven't already x
OK so they you have MAC proves my downfall again to be honest as I said before I am not going to get hung up on the fact that I've gone over my limit, it happened I just have to try not to go too insane (well not much anyways) - this was always going to be a bad month for me with my mum being in hospital - stress, boredom, and loneliness are my shopping triggers - that's just me I am afraid - I'm not going to hate myself for it, it makes me who I am xx