; une tasse: a beauty and casual fashion blog: July 2009

Under construction!



Apologies for the cheesy photo but this is the only one I have of my favourite nail colour in the world which has since been lost in the wilderness of my bedroom. Coralicious by Rimmel is exactly what it says on the bottle - a delicious coral colour that is perfect for summer and whenever I wear it I feel cheery just looking at my nails.

My blog is currently under construction and it may take a few days until the finished product whilst I mess about with HTML codes and what not...

Oh and in other exciting news, I received an email from a magazine informing me that I had been chosen to test out hair products for them. In the next few days I should be receiving a package with different brands of shampoos, conditioners, styling products and hair straighteners!

Rachel Weisz

I have a major girl crush on Rachel Weisz.

I think she is the epitome of a classic beauty with her glossy brown hair, prominent eyebrows and rosy lips. Her style is mostly classic but she does experiment. She doesn't always get it right but that makes me love her even more. I also like that her makeup is usually understated - softly accented eyes, rosy cheeks and nude lips.








I wish I look this good when I'm 39.

I love Freebies! Dazzle Me dust and Nails Inc

I recently entered a competition online (don't really remember what for) and today I got a lil magazine in the post from Fabulous - the supplement that comes with News of the World? And it informed me that although I hadn't won, there was a voucher for a free Dazzle me eyeshadow by Collection 2000 from Superdrug. So I went to pick it up today and because I didn't want to come across as a total freeloader, I took advantage of their 2 for £2.99 offer on their new nail polishes.



I got BMX Bandit, on the left, which reminds me of a "periwinkle" crayola crayon, and Dynasty. I thought the quality would be plop considering it's Collection 2000, but they are surprisingly good. The consistency is thick and creamy, and 2 coats is all you need.

For my dazzle dust, I chose the shade "Paradise" which is a soft shimmery gold. I haven't had the chance to test it yet but will do a proper review post when I do. Here's a stock photo from their website:



Okay so whilst I was googling "Fabulous" to check what newspaper it came from, I saw on their website that they were giving away free Nail Inc polishes!



A few have sold out already because it started yesterday but I managed to get one! I chose the above shade "China Town" which is described as hot pink with purple pearlised swish .

The offer is here. Just choose your shade, and add to basket, then enter the code FABNA0709. There's a £1 p&p charge but it also says you can buy any other items online and you won't be charged any more postage!. Another bonus is that if you sign up to their newsletter before you purchase this, they'll send you a free mini polish with your first order. Not sure if it works with this offer but it's worth a try right?

Kryolan Aquacolour Palette

Just a quick post to show what arrived in the post today. I got this Kryolan aquacolour palette off ebay for the bargainous price of £8. The packaging has been in storage so it was a bit tatty but it was unused.





Look at all the pretty colours!

Now this is actually theatrical makeup for face/body so they are very pigmented and have great staying power, but can easily be removed with makeup remover. The great thing about this is that the colours can be mixed together in the tin to create your own shades. I'm thinking of making up my own shade of blusher with the red/pink/white.

Onto the swatches, which were taken with flash and applied wet (Click to make bigger)



The top row of the palettes are bright and vivid. They have numbers instead of names but these are true to colour. My favourite is that hot pink and purple.



These are more neutral and less in your face. I'm not sure how I'm going to use the brown and the two shades of green yet. The turquoise came out as an aqua blue on my skin.

These are quite matte so I'm not sure they would work as everyday eyeshadows but could be used lightly with other blended shadows? I think I'm going to use the black for eyeliner. I'm looking forward to experimenting with these! :D

First NYX purchase

So I've heard and read a lot about this American brand from other beauty blogs as well as YouTube guru's and they seem to have nothing but praise so naturally I was intrigued and wanted to try them out for myself! However they aren't available in the UK yet so I had to search for sites that delivered here but I thought I'd put it off for another day and I'm glad I did! I was looking for tutorials for Asian skin tones and came across InnerBelle on YT who said she had found somewhere that sold NYX in London and it was really close to me!

The shop is called East End Cosmetics and is a 3min walk from Liverpool Street station so I went to check it out the other day. Their sections are higgledy piggledy, and seem to be a bit random? I walked around the store like 6 times trying to look for any NYX product.

Eventually I managed to find a glass counter with NYX products but they only stocked lip liners, lip glosses and eyeliners - not the lipsticks or eyeshadows I wanted to try. I also spotted their cream glitter palettes but I thought they looked a bit cheap. You're not allowed to test anything and there aren't any testers (which is stupid imo) but I picked up a white eye/eyebrow pencil and rummaged round until I found a lip gloss in a fanciable shade.



The best thing is that each item was £1.99! You can't even get drugstore brand makeup like Rimmel or Collection 2000 for as little as that!



Here's a teeny tiny swatch of the Round Lip Gloss in Real Nude, which I think has got to be the perfect nude for me. The formula is just right, not too thin and not too sticky, and the colour goes on well. My one is faulty seeing as the stopper thing came off the second time I opened it. This is really annoying since it causes it to push excess gloss up and now it leaks constantly!



It was cheap so I'm not that upset about it, merely irritated. However my main gripe is the scent. It is strong, pungent and has a chemical like smell - it reminded me of Cif (the lemon scented cleaning detergent) and it really put me off using it. I googled it and apparently they changed their scent from lemon to sherbet, so I don't know if it's because mine is from an old batch? I'm still going to use it but I'm going to look out for the lipstick version which the guy said would be in stock from next week. I'm not going to write too much about the eye pencil but it is good, and you get a lot for your money!Look how long it is, plus it has a pretty drawing of a chic lady. I really do love their packaging, it's simple and sophisticated unlike other cheap counterparts. Looking forward to reviewing their lipsticks in the near future.



And finally, just wanted to show my purchases from the other day. I picked up these earrings for 98p and the pearl headband for £1.50. Gotta love Primark!
Yesterday I went to see Clint Mansell play live and it was AMAZING! He's a British composer/musician who is most known for his film soundtracks (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler etc.) His name might not be recognisable but I guarantee you will have heard his music because it's used a lot in film trailers and tv shows -most notably Top Gear and X Factor.

I was sitting next to the director of the aforementioned films, Darren Aronofsky (Rachel Weiz's fiance) and Trudie Styler!! Plus the producer from Gnarls Barkley was sat in front of us and my boyfriend was so chuffed to meet him. Not gonna bang on too much about it but you should check him out if you like contemporary classical music as it's along the same lines. I'm currently listening to one of his songs from the new film "Moon".


Mesmerising stuff!

Okay onto my latest buy! I've decided not to straighten/blowdry my hair for a good while, so I've been letting it dry naturally and rocking my loose curls. My hair is very thick so I have to tame it with lots of serum if I don't want to end up looking like a frizz ball. My frizz ease has just about run out and I didn't want to pay £6 something for a new one! Instead I picked this Curl Hydration leave in cream from Tresemme up as it was on promotion in Boots for £3.15.



It's from the Flawless Curls collection which is one of the new ranges they have out I think? Anyway this is what it says on the front - "moisturises & smoothes for frizz-free defined curls & waves". You're supposed to use this after washing your hair but I used a small amount on dry hair to tame my frizz, so I'm not sure how good it is at creating/defining curls but will do a follow up when I get the chance.

From what I've seen so far I really like it. It smells great - the signature Tresemme scent and does the job well. In fact I've used this everyday for the past 3 days and it doesn't make your hair greasy at all, nor does it leave a greasy residue on your hands. And my hair really does feel moisturised. I also like the packaging - look at that funky lime green pump! Hopefully will do a post in the next few days on how it works in wet hair :)

Crest Whitestrips

Last week I saw a photo of myself with my teeth looking not so white (damn you tea!) so over the past few days I've been using Crest Whitestrips religiously. You can't get them on the high street but you can buy them online. Amazon sells them from around £20? I bought mine on eBay and paid £17 including delivery.

I did a lot of online research into teeth whitening and the one that was recommended the most was this product. I doubt that those whitening pens work, and I was wary of the bleaching kits and molds you can get as they are too strong and can do more damage than good.

I had read that these strips can cause sensitivity which is why I chose to go for Renewal. It has a lower hydrogen peroxide content of 9.5% as opposed to 14% which is the strength of the Supreme version. Therefore it takes longer for results to show as whitening is gradual, but I'm not too bothered about this.



This is my box, and as you can see it says it's 10 day treatment but I have probably used it once a month until that horrible photo surfaced. It depends on how quickly you want to whiten your teeth.




It contains 40 strips - 20 for your upper teeth and 20 for your lower which are individually wrapped. The strips themselves are a rectangle strip of plastic film which is coated in the gel formula. It's pretty simple to use - peel off the backing, apply to your teeth, lining it up against the gum line, fold the rest under and wait 30mins! You can use the upper and lower strip at the same time but it's easier to do it one at a time because otherwise you get a really frothy mouth from all that excess saliva.

I find it harder to use it on my lower teeth because they are crowded and so it doesn't cover them properly. My damn NHS dentist wouldn't give me braces because he said they were wonky but not wonky enough! :\

It says to use twice a day for 30 minutes but I've been doing it once a day because I don't want my teeth to become sensitive. My teeth do feel tingly when I've got them on, but it's bearable and it goes away after a while. It's been 4 days since I started and my teeth are noticeably whiter.

It promises to "remove 20 years of stains off your smile." So I should expect my teeth to look how they were when I was 3 years old at the end of this! :D

My makeup and I

My earliest makeup memory is aged 10? Sneakily rifling through my auntie's makeup bag with my cousin and using her mascara and lipstick before scrubbing our faces vigorously, trying to get rid of the evidence. We still got told off, perhaps it was because we thought we could remove mascara with water?

I only started wearing makeup when I was about 15 years old, and even then it was just clear mascara. I went to an all girls secondary school and there were no boys to impress so there didn't seem to be a point really. I didn't really experiment at home either because my mum only wears red lipstick. Once I got into college I began to wear makeup more regularly. I couldn't be without my black eyeliner and mascara! On special days I would mix it up with bright blue eyelinerr and maybe some blush...

To be honest, this routine hasn't really changed until recently. I stumbled across some tutorial videos on youtube and realised that there was so much more I could do, so I have come to terms that I am a complete beginner when it comes to makeup. I have a drawer full of products but I don't know how to utilise them properly, nor do I know what colours go together or which suit my skintone and I'm hoping that this blog will document my discovery.

These are what I currently use:





Ever since I was given a gift of Estee Lauder's More than Mascara I've been hooked on high end mascaras. I love Estee Lauder and Lancome, and I'm currently using Lancome Hypnose which is brilliant. It's got a rich formula, doesn't flake/clump and gives lots of volume. Previous to that, I had Lancome's Virtuose and that was equally as good. I've never been convinced by high street mascaras until I tried out Max Factor's Masterpiece mascara to see what all the fuss was about and I really liked it. I'm also using their latest mascara, False Lash Effect, which has a bigger brush but I think I prefer Masterpiece better.



MAC technakohl eyeliner in graphblack. This is my favourite eyeliner EVER and the one I carry with me everywhere. It's so pigmented and creamy, and it doesn't smudge as much as others I have tried. Im upset at the moment as I have run out and I can't afford to buy a new one at £13 :(



Urban Decay 24/7 glide on pencils are my choice for highly pigmented coloured eyeliners, AND they're waterproof. I have the two colours on the right. Zero, which is a really dark black, and Lust, a deep purple colour. I have spent a lot of money on lots of different brands trying to find deep and rich colours, so I think they are worth their £10 price tag.



This is one of the first blushers I ever bought, and I still have it! It's by Bourjois and the shade is Cendre de rose brune. The packaging is so cute - it has a little mirror and a dinky brush inside. I bought it after seeing it was voted a cult product in a magazine. It's a nice colour but it doesn't last long.



This was my first ever MAC purchase - a blushcreme in the shade Posey. I love this and wear it all the time.



The latest addition to my makeup routine! Benefit's erase paste is a light reflecting concealer and it covers my dark circles and gives me a nice glow.

So these are my staples. Hopefully there shall be many more to come!

Lush

I really want to like Lush products but I just can't seem to find a product that I would go back and purchase again. I've experimented with lots of different ones from all the ranges and nothing has stood out at all.

Here is what I've tried over the past few years:



This has a lovely Vanilla scent which does stay after you've rinsed it. However I didn't think it conditioned my hair as well as any other brand, plus it was really expensive. £7.39 for a 250ml bottle.



Trichomania solid shampoo. I asked for a sample of this because I love the smell of coconut and it claims to make dry hair softer. It was awkward to use, I had to rub it hard into my wet hair before I could get any lather and I didn't think it was very coconuty at all.



Jungle solid conditioner. I also got this as a sample with the above. This was also awkward to use, even more so because when you rub it into your hair, you can't tell if you've actually distributed it at all. I hated this so much. I rinsed it loads but it still left my hair slightly waxy and the smell, oh god. I can't really describe it, but it's really strong and it made me want to heave. I tried to wash it out but it still lingered until the next day.



Rock star soap. I love this! It smells amazing, but once again, this scent doesn't stay on your skin once you've rinsed it off.



Ultrabland. This is something that everyone raves about so I decided to give it a go. It's marketed as a cleanser, but a lot of people use it to remove their makeup aswell. You rub it on your face then remove it with a cotton pad and warm water. The consistency is like a sugary honey paste and it leaves your skin quite soft. It just seems too much of a hassle for me, and at around 9 quid, I'd be better off making my own concoction up.



This isn't the exact solid deodorant that I bought but I wanted to show what they generally looked like as mine is no longer sold. This one is called Aromacreme? I can't remember what mine was called, but it was a dark yellow colour (My mum asked why I had a lump of mouldy cheese on my shelf haha) and smelled of some essential oil which I also can't remember......useful I know! Anyway, I think it does kind of work but it leaves a kind of waxy film under your armpits and the scent is strong. I used it on and off for about two months before reverting to my aerosol deodorant.



Shower jelly! I've got a special xmas edition that isn't on their site anymore but this is what they basically look like. It smells lovely but is so annoying to use! It's like a mixture of jelly and rubber and I had a hard time ripping a chunk off with wet hands.

Here is a short list of pros and cons:

Pros

- Their concept. Im all for fresh, handmade and cruelty free products.
- The scents are gorgeous. Sometimes I'm tempted to eat their soap :3
- The cute colours!
- Most products don't use a lot of packaging, which inturn means that they are cheaper. Plus, if you return 5 empty pots, you get a free face mask. Sweet!
- Their sales assistants are always friendly and very generous with samples. They never refuse.

Cons

- The smell of their shops can be overbearing, with all those strong scents together in one place.
- They don't have a long shelf life (this is because they don't contain preservatives)
- Despite having a strong scent, they don't seem to transfer onto your skin.
- In some cases, the lack of packaging. Some products will go mouldy if they aren't stored properly (i.e in a dry place, which isn't ideally your bathroom. I know you can purchase tins from Lush for this purpose so this is a bit of a weak one...

Anyone for a cuppa?

I used to be indifferent towards tea but my boyfriend drinks so much of it that he converted me and now I love it! I usually get through two cups a day - one after lunch and one at night (often accompanied by biscuits).

With the recent hot weather I've started drinking the morrocan mint tea from Whittards. It's really refreshing, and it does help aid digestion after a heavy meal.

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Freebie alert! I got these teabags from Clipper in the post today. You can sign up on their website to become a taster and they'll send you a trial pack of 10 teabags with two money off vouchers to purchase a full size pack. I think it tastes just as good as any of the leading brands with the added bonus of being cheaper and fairtrade!


It's my friend's surprise birthday party tommorow but I have no money to buy her anything so I searched the web for inspiration on some homemade gifts. Iam going to attempt to make this exfoliating sugar scrub that I found on this really good craft blog called Grace Violet and toffee popcorn from the BBC website. I hope they turn out alright......

Sexy Panties and Naughty Knickers

Was directed to this site after reading an article in the Sunday Times Style magazine. Despite having a kinda risque name, their lingerie is actually quite delicate and feminine. I've never heard of them before but apparently their underwear has featured on Gossip Girl and in Russian Vogue? They are currently rebranding their logo, therefore are holding a one off sale with 85% off - bras and knickers starting from £3 each!!

Here are two of my picks:

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The Flirt Soft bra is made from 100% chiffon silk and comes in Hot Pink, Black and Purple, costing £3 each! It's my favourite out of the ranges - I love how vibrant the colours are and how delicate they look, but alas they only come in small sizes. Bustier ladies can purchase the underwired version at £7.50 each.

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I also quite like these 100% silk satin french knickers with ladder detail which are only £4.50. They also come in Hot Pink but I think the Ivory one's are much nicer.

Available here: S.P.A.N.K

Numero uno

As my day has mostly consisted of the consumption of various Parisian treats, I'll start my first post with some snaps from my last trip there.

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