Sample Challenge Week 3

This week I will use these samples:

Benefit Stay Flawless 15 hour Primer- I do love a good primer.

Dermalogica Skin Refining Masque- not a fan of skin care sample on the whole, so lets just use it up, I do like Dermalogica, so who know.  Specifies it is for oily skin, so I know it is correct for (at least some of) my face.

Finally a perfume sample, Vera Wang- Be Jeweled I have smelled this before, and I know I quite like it, so I won't mind using it up.  Perfume samples, to me are the more useful.  They usually contain more than one application, which is critical for deciding on any product, but especially perfumes, sniffing a piece of card might help tell you what the perfume smells like, but not how you will wear it, what it will smell like mixing with the oils of your skin, OR most importantly, how long the perfume with linger on your skin!

I'm really getting through these samples, and thankfully, not collecting them faster than I use them up.

Make sure you check the Month End Empties post to make sure I kept to my word!

Cargo Costmetics Contour Palettes- Malibu and Monaco

Since being in the UK, I have fallen head over heels in love with Cargo Cosmetics.  The range is lovely, the prices are very reasonable, and the products are great.  Today I bring to you the Contour Palettes, in Malibu and Monaco

The palettes have a sleek brushed aluminium design, it is sturdy, finger print proof, and perfect for travelling.

As you would expect from a contour palette, it has a highlighting colour, a blush and a contour colour as well as a mirror.

Malibu

Malibu: The highlight is a beautiful, soft pale pink champagne colour, the blush is a rose pink and the contour is a plumb based brown.  I wasn't so sure of the contour colour at 1st, but it works.

Monaco: The highlight is a less shimmery, more pink colour, the blush, a rose with just the slightest hint of gold, and the contour is a matte bronze.

The colours in these palettes are subtle, there is no getting away from that, while Malibu is a pretty trio of bubbly colours, Monaco is a refined choice for a more natural look.

I love both of these palettes, the powders and super smooth and blend well, the swatches don't do the colour pay off justice, in fact, the first time I used Malibu I accidentally overdosed on everything by the highlight colour.

The packaging is sturdy and classy but without too much excess.

I often find that contour palettes either have more packaging that is really required OR they are the somewhat useless cardboard variety, these are just right.

Cargo cosmetics are available in the UK from Debenhams and Beauty Bay

In Australia, you can find a good range at Mecca Cosmetica, but at the time of writing not these particular palettes, but you can buy them online at Beauty Bay where this palette is stocked.

Battle of the Micellar Waters.

We all love this:

It needs no explanation, it is a great product, but what if it runs out and you don't have time to order it online (despite now living in the UK, I can not find it locally)

In steps:

B. Pure Micellar Watter

Although the bottle is different, believe me when I say this is just as good.  BUT where the Bioderma solution is £4 per 100ml OR AU$7.32 per 100ml.  The B. Pure solution is a mere £1.64* per 100ml OR  AU$3 per 100ml.  Now I know those prices make Australian wince, because they are a mere fraction of the cost of the price there, but my comparison is here. Sorry...

Anyway, either way you look at it, it's a bargain, making this a definite part of my skincare regime, not just makeup removal.

I do feel bad, Bioderma were the original, and now I am jumping ship to a cheaper 'Johnny come lately' brand, but at the end of the day, the more money I can save on removing my makeup, the more I can spend on putting it on.

*When I bought this product, it was on a 'half price sale' however I have not seen it at full price in the entire time of being here.  I stocked up, just in case.

Sample Challenge Week 2

This week, I'll be using up the following:

Sample one I will be using this week is another from Benefit, The POREfessional primer.
I already own a full size version of this, so using the sample is more annoying than anything,  I don't have any friends or relatives here to give it to (I have friends here, but most of them are male, and probably wouldn't be grateful enough to waste my time)

Sample 2 is a sample of the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo, I have heard good things about this, so I picked it as one of my 3 sample with my first ever (direct) order from Sephora, I try not to pick skincare samples because I never like them, and this was one of the few makeup samples available.
I recently had a 'Celebrity brows' treatment, where we worked out my brows are slightly short, and for some stupid reason getting more sparse at the nose end, when they were filled in a little they looked fab, so I'm eager to try this one.

Benefit Big Easy- Multi-Balancing Complexion Perfector (A BB cream?) NO, Bigger than BB. (what?)
Blah blah blah, I don't really know what makes this so special, I think it's just a BB cream with a Benefit kitchy spin on it.

I also got this sample with  my Sephora order, and usually I hate complexion samples because inevitably, they are just too dark, but not this one...

The Big Easy has a teeny tiny sample of every colour the product comes in. Bravo Benefit, I can actually trial this product properly, although it is a teeny tiny sample, so perhaps, just trial it on my nose?

How's every one going with their sample challenge? Are you getting through them? Did you at least admit defeat and hand everything over to an unsuspecting friend, your sister or mum? Either way, did you get rid of some of those dastardly samples that just keep accumulating?

Too Faced Chocolate Box- My Thoughts

Forest Gump's Mama said that 'Life was Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gnna get''

This is kind of how I felt when I ordered this palette.  Mixed reviews had me wondering if this would be 'yet another' palette stuck in the bottom of the drawer, because it sucked....

I'm sure everyone knows enough about this palette already to know, that it is chocolate themed nudes, made with 100% cocoa powder.  '16 anti-oxidant rich cocoa powder infused matte and shimmer shades' to be precise.

What that means to you and me is this : 16 shades of eye shadow, named along a cute chocolate theme, that smell AMAZING.  I know this, because my 4 year old agreed, and he is the most honest person I know.

The palette itself is a cute tin in the shape of a chocolate bar:

It comes with a great little leaflet to show you a few looks to get you started.  I love these, I know how to apply eye makeup, but I like to follow the instructions perfectly to see if they are terrible.  Do we remember the UD Smoked Palette? I followed that perfectly and it was terrible.

ANYWAY, I digress....my one little and some what silly gripe about this is that it tells you to use the shade 'Hot Cocoa' in the look, of the same name....but where is this colour?  This colour doesn't exist in my palette, because when they translated the names from French to English, they renamed this 'Hot Chocolate', they did not rename it in the English instructions.  Is it a big deal? No, does it ruin the palette? No, does it bug me? because when paying for a premium product I expect details to be perfect? a little.

The palette on the inside:

Isn't it pretty? 

These shadows are a great size, I love my Naked palettes as much as the next beauty blogger, but I hate that they are so thin, albeit a long shape.  These are just right for a makeup brush.

Also....I LOVE that Too Faced gave you extra big base/highlight colours.  I like to think the discussion in the Too Faced Product Development Office went like this....

1: We should put more colours in...

2. Na, lets just make the 2 colours you would use the most, REALLY big

So they did, I applaud this, I am a fan of ratios, seriously, you should see me eating dip...I am incredibly conscious of the ratio of dip to dipping food.

The ratio of base colour to 'actual' colour is great. 

There is a nude matte, 'White Chocolate' and a beautiful pale pink shimmer 'Champagne Truffle' for my skin tone, these are perfect for any look I would want to create.

I didn't do swatches, I'm sure everyone had seem millions of them.  I didn't find them as chalky as a lot of bloggers did, but then I wouldn't EVER use eye shadow without a primer, which I think combats most of this problem.

My biggest issue with this palette is the lack of names on the palette itself, there is one of those horrible plastic covers with the names on it, which means I have to keep it forever, or forget the names.  It's a pain.  Makeup Production Companies of the world...STOP DOING THIS.

I know it is probably because you sell your product all over the world and rather than make a palette for each, you print a plastic sheet, but really, we don't mind if you want to name a product in another language.  Just as long as you know, most of us will pronounce it wrongly...

I love this palette, the durability of the palette is great, it doesn't feel like it will break like the reinforced card ones do.  I feel like it is a stand alone product.  I am constantly searching for the perfect 'all you need' palette, I don't know why, because lets face it, I'm never likely to travel light on makeup...BUT I do like having the choice, the mix of shimmer, to sparkle, to matte is great.  The colour selection is love.

All in all, I love this palette, and I increasingly find myself reaching for it more than my Nakeds...

Do you have this palette? Would you use it? Should eye shadows even have a scent?