Saturday, August 28, 2010

Boots €7.50 No.7/Ruby & Millie vouchers August/September 2010

Just wanted to let you all know that Boots are doing their €7.50 off vouchers for No.7/Ruby & Millie if you spend over €7.50 on anything in store at the moment. I had to pick up moisturiser and a few other pieces today so I divided the purchase into two lots and got two vouchers which then went on two No. 7 makeup brushes. I don't need them at the moment but it's no harm to have FREE good quality makeup brushes stored away for in future!

Decanting Lush (hair products)

Since I have converted to using all Lush products on my hair it obviously makes sense that I buy the large bottles of products in order to save money. An example being that the 250ml Rehab shampoo costs €14.40... And the 500ml bottle costs €23.40. Thats a saving of €5.40 which I consider to be quite a good amount. (For example in Lush that would buy me a small sized 9 to 5 cleanser, or a good chunk of many of the soaps, or any of the bath ballistics, bath melts, or most of the bubble bars... You get the picture!) There are similar savings to be made when it comes to Coolaulin (240ml: €10.95 490ml: €18.15 Saving: €3.75) and American Cream (250ml: €11.95 500ml: €19.85 Saving: €4.05) conditioners too.

The problem here is that the bottles are MASSIVE! They're also known for not being the sturdiest so one fall in the shower could see you losing all your savings down the drain very quickly! Here is where I came up with the idea of keeping the bottles from the first purchase of the item (because no one is going to buy a 500ml bottle straight off without trying it first to see it works!) and decanting the larger bottles of product into them. In my case my smaller bottle was the medium sized one as the 100ml bottles wouldn't go too far in my thick head of hair!!

Empty 240g bottle and full 490g bottle of Coolaulin


Step 1: Make sure your smaller bottle is completely clean and dried out. I'm a bit paranoid that old product will contaminate the newer product!

Smaller bottle partially filled with product decanted from larger bottle.

Step 2: Fill the smaller bottle 1/2 or 2/3 way full. In the case of Rehab I find this really helps as it gives some space to shake up the product to remix it when it separates.

Rehab, American Cream and Coolaulin - all decanted to smaller bottles from the larger one and ready for use!

Step 3: Enjoy your Lush product in a manageable size... And don't forget to treat yourself with the savings!! :)

Friday, August 27, 2010

Awesome pressie! :)

I have an awesome sister!! :) Recently Little Friday went on a trip to Germany and came back with a really unexpected AWESOME present for me!! An Alice In Wonderland Urban Decay book of shadows! You know the one NO ONE has been able to get and EVERYONE has been raving about?? Well yeah, THAT one!! Don't you wish she was your sister?? :P









Urban Decay have outdone themselves this time with the packaging. The palette itself has space for the primer potion to fit, rather than it just being contained in the box as with many of the other palettes.

The products themselves are contained in a pull-out drawer but the piece de resistence is the fact that the lid of the palette opens to display a beautiful popup scene from Alice in Wonderland. Even though this was released to coincide with the Tim Burton release it contains a more traditional Alice in Wonderland scene.























The colours in this palette have all been given names relevant to the story... Even though there aren't any new colours!

  • Underland (Flash) is a bright, cool-toned medium purple with an icy lilac shimmer. It’s soft, smooth, and richly pigmented.
  • Alice (Painkiller) is a bright aqua-blue with an icy sheen. Like Underland, it’s smooth, silky soft, and has lots of pigment to it.
  • Oraculum (Baked) is a warmed-up copper with a softer copper sheen. Smooth, soft, well-pigmented.
  • Queen (Last Call) is a reddened eggplant with a burgundy edge. It has a frost-like sheen, but it is smooth and pigmented.
  • Chessur (Chopper) is a cooler-toned, not nearly as bright, copper shade. It has the same soft texture as the majority of Urban Decay’s shadows, but it has silverish glitter particles that may contribute to some fall out in practice.
  • White Rabbit (Polyester Bride) is a gently yellowed white (though still, very white) with a white-gold sheen. Like Chessur, it also has some glitter to it. (I'm not a big fan of the fall out from some of the glitter shadows!)
  • Wonderland (Maui Wowie) is a tarnished gold, maybe an antique gold, but not quite so dark. It has a golden bronze sheen to it. It’s pigmented and smooth, but it also has a few glitter particles (though this is one of the more manageable glitter-based shades in the bunch).
  • Curiouser (Grifter) is a lightened fuchsia-purple with icy purple sheen. It also has silverish glitter particles in it, which may lead to fall out. This is one of the lesser pigmented shades, though it still has decent color pay off.
  • Muchness (X) is a peachy-melon with a gold sheen. It almost has a little mauve to it, in certain lighting. This has a frosty finish, but it doesn’t have the glitter, so it’s smooth and easier to work with. I've wanted this one for ages!!
  • Mushroom (Mushroom) is a taupe brown with kind of a silvery sheen and shimmer.
  • Midnight Tea Party (Midnight Cowboy Rides Again) is a flushed champagne with silver/gold glitter particles. This is quite possibly my least favorite Urban Decay eyeshadow because the glitter fall out is pretty insane. It’s a shame, because the color itself is pretty.  
  • Vorapal (S&M) is a neutral, slightly cooled down silver with a brighter silver sheen. Smooth and pigmented. Love this colour and had actually treated myself to it as I wear quite a bit of grey/silver.
  • Absolem (Homegrown) is a grassy green with a golden shimmered sheen. Very pigmented and true-to-color.
  • Drink Me, Eat Me (Sin) is a pinked champagne with a bright, frosty sheen. It’s like a pinker version of Midnight Tea Party–and sans all the glittery fall out. Love this!!!
  • Mad Hatter (Twice Baked) is a lightly glittered dark brown with warm undertones.Personally I am a fan of the Baked/Half baked/Twice baked browns.
  • Jabberwocky (Oil Slick) is a dark black base with icy blue and silver glitter. While not as prone to fall out as Midnight Tea Party, it’s still one of the glittery shades that may lead to some fall out while applying it.







The colours are beautifully vivid as always and there is a great variety of shimmer and glitter shadows. This is the type of palette that is ideal to bring away with you as it contains a mix of colours and textures that are suited to day or night wear. It contains the fabulous Sin eyeshadow which I personally find great as a neutral day colour.








In addition to the SIXTEEN eyeshadows you also get two eyeliners in Zero (black) and Flipside (turquoise).







These eyeliners last amazingly well. After about a minutes drying time they are smudge proof and the colours are great. I highly recommend them.

The final item in this set is a miniature primer potion for eyeshadow. This is always highly recommended in beauty blogs and really makes the colours 'pop' and gives them much extended staying power.








All in all I am thrilled with this palette. It is so versatile and just a beautiful piece. Thanks sis!! :)

Thursday, August 26, 2010

I'm back!! 26/08/2010

Unfortunately due to the move I haven't been doing anything on this blog recently. The good new, however, is that I have some posts lined up to do so I have no excuse not to get back into it!!

Did ye miss me? ;)