Thursday, July 28, 2011

17 Lemon Soda

Today's NOTD is 17 Lemon Soda, a yellow pastel cream from Boots cheap, cheerful and on trend brand 17. I picked this up ages ago but it was still on their website when I checked, so I think it's still available.  The picture below was taken with the flash but it is pretty colour accurate (I did take pictures in natural light but my cuticles were so horrible I couldn't possibly bring myself to show you!!!) 





Application wise - This wasn't great but it also was not as bad it as I thought it was going to be. Pastels are historically tricky to apply, as are yellows, so let's face it, it was never going to be easy! The pictures show 3 coats and most of the issues were evened out by then, the coat of Seche Vite on top didn't hurt matters either!  This wore well and I think I got about 5 days wear out of it before there was chippage (Surely this is a word?! If not it should be!). 


I know yellows are a bit of a marmite issue with people so what do you think?  I think this was one of the nicer yellows out there. Are there any other yellows you'd suggest?

Monday, July 25, 2011

What did I pack?

Those of you who follow me on twitter will know that I was away in Spain for work last week, so I thought I'd do a quick post on the makeup and beauty stuff I brought with me.  I thought I packed light but when it was all sitting on the table I realised how much I brought! (I've not included any nail varnish and removed duplicates.) 


Skin care, hair care etc, 
 




My favourite moisturiser is this Liz Earle one, so that was a must, but I also brought the benefit samples I received here, to try out also. Burt's Bees are one of my favourite brands and the people I like best know that so often buy me the mini kits for presents.  The Milk and Honey body lotion smells yummy and moisturises well but is also very soothing after being in the sun. The Soap Bark & Chamoile Cleansing cream is lovely and one of my favourite cleansers, the fact it smells like sherbet helps too! ( I also brought some No7 Makeup remover wipes with me too, just for heavy duty makeup). The Hamilton Everyday Face Sunscreen, is my favourite, as I'm often allergic to suncream, it also is brown(but it doesn't even out your skin tone like a tinted moisturiser) in colour (like a tinted moisturiser) which means your face doesn't get shiney after you apply it . The Umberto Giannini Curl Scrunching Jelly, just doesn't suit my hair at  the moment unfortunately, I've tried and like it before but I'm having bad hair at the moment! Instead of polish remover I brought these wipes they are not very nice, but easier to transport. Finally, I rarely go anywhere without a bottle of tea tree for spots and cuts (and usually a bottle of lavender for sunburn, bites etc, but I couldn't find it when I was leaving!)








I tried to keep make up to a minimum and knowing that it was going to be hot and foundation was probably going to melt off, I decided to bring 2 MAC samples I'd got at the counter when I was looking for new foundation, in case I did want to wear any (they are the two little pots)  and my battered (it generally lives in my handbag!) Bourjois powder. Eyeshadow wise, since it was a work trip, I kept it very safe. The Rimmel quad doesn't have great colour payoff and was a panicked airport buy! The 17 trio, is good for a smokey eye. That's an ELF eyeshadow brush in the picture too, I have a few of these from both the £1.50 range (like this one) and the Studio range (£3.50) and I like the cheaper ones better.  Mascara is probably my favourite bit of makeup, although since I started wearing my glasses all the time earlier this year, I find I don't wear it so much.. This one is Maybelline One by One Volum' Express (I've no idea why they felt the need to remove the E in Volume?!?), it has a spikey brush and I think it gives good length and definition to my lashes. Also pictured are Benefit Cha Cha tint and a small High Beam, that I got with Glamour last month, I've used both of these every day.  I'll talk about the lipsticks and glosses, further down, so that just leaves the Benefit Tweezerman Tweezers, which I love, and MAC Fix +, which I also love but it comes into it's own in a hot country, particularly when you keep it in the fridge. 






I thought I'd do the lipsticks and glosses seperately, from L-R, Benefit Who are you wearing?, Elf Mineral Pagent Princess,  Elf Mineral Runway Pink, Elf Mineral Pouty Petal, Elf Mineral Party Pink, Benefit Do Tell, Benefit Flirt Alert, Mac Russian Red. Swatches below in the same order.  (Pictures are clicky for larger images as always!)







Phew - I didn't expect this post to be quite so long!  Is there anything I should have brought and didn't? Whenever I'm going away I pack things that I wouldn't mind losing because they were cheap or easy to replace, one because I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached and secondly because I've arrived sans luggage one too many times! What are your must haves for holidays?


Edited to Add: I got the inspiration for this post from Karen at http://www.lovelygirliebits.com, and wrote it about 2 weeks ago, but didn't get to post it due to blogger/lack of internet issues, but I've seen loads of people do it in the mean time.