Try me for FREE - my fave word!

A while ago, I bought some things from a blog sale, included in the package were some mineral pigments.  Last night I was sorting through them and decided to give them a try. WELL, there was one which i have decided is my now 'go to' colour, its basically brown but with this BEAUTIFUL green shimmer to it.  Then today, I decided to research the company name "Everyday Minerals" and see if I can buy a full size jar of this colour, turns out I can't as they no longer sell it BUT what I did discover is that you can pick a little selection of samples to try WITHOUT buying anything else, all you have to do is pay for postage, which is about $3.  You get to pick your items from a range of products- foundations, blush, eye shadows etc and from a few colours within those products.  Seems like a great idea to me so I'm going to give it a try.  If you think it might be worth the $3 to try new and cool stuff, you can find it here.

Everyone loves a sale...

We all know I love Medusa's Makeup.  Currently they have a 'sale' of sorts on.

Just use the code 'rocknroll' at the check out to get your 15% off.  Not sure how long this code will be vaild for so just give it a try.

This is a great opportunity to try some of their great products at a reduced price!!!

Bellapierre; most certainly bella.

Mineral makeup isn't new, it is just suddenly readily available.  During one of my spending sprees on Ozsale, Buy Invite or Brands Exclusive (I forget which one but all 3 regularly carry the products) I purchased a Bellapierre 'Get Started Kit', because it looked cool, and it seemed like a good buy for 4 products and 3 brushes. 
When it arrived I was excited, but when I opened the box and saw a DVD, it put me off, I mean, what the hell kind of product comes with an instructional DVD? Terrifying.

This evening I decided to bite the bullet and watch the DVD, most of it was promotional blurb, which is annoying, I've already bought the product, stop trying to sell it to me.
However I did get a helpful tip, use the concealer brush to do under the eyes first, really I thought, a powder concealer? hmmm...

So I followed the basic instructions; powder on brush, tap, buff etc WOW, I was amazed, not convinced by my opinion I did what any self respecting makeup fanatic would do....I did half my face and asked my mum for her opinion...she's not backwards about disliking many of the makeup looks I create, she is at least nice enough to say things like 'well, it wouldn't be my taste, but I suppose you can get away with it' or 'mm hmm' which I firmly believe is her version of "if you have nothing nice to say...say nothing" NOT THIS TIME this time, I got 'I agree, it looks good, come closer, yeah, its fabulous, I'll let you do my makeup with that sometime' Well, you can't get better praise than that in this house.

I have got some other things by the same company, some glitter and a liquid liner you can dunk in them to create any colour liner, eventually I'll try those, but in the mean time, I'm pretty happy with this lot. 

A few things worth mentioning; is that this kit is unlikely to ever be a 'just throw it on in the morning' type makeup, its too messy to do quickly, although, it doesn't exactly take ages.  I also believe there is a pressed version available for quick mess free application.  All details can be found on the Bellapierre website.

Finally just to give a further example of how much I liked how this looked, I took a heap of pictures to show but they all sucked due to bad lighting, but, I was willing to show my face....

Oh, and powder concealer... yes, it works, under eyes, blemishes all manner of sins, who'd have thunk it....

Picture courtesy of Bellapierre because my photos refused to load but I had to rave about this product.

NB: I've just checked the website, it says this kit retails for $200.... I DID NOT PAY THAT. So, if you're interested, keep your eyes open for the deals.  Now I know how good it is I will too, I'll post on my twitter if I spot a sale.

Number 10.

I'm not naming names here, I don't name and shame in public....but recently I bought a lipstick I thought would be my number 1.  I'm constantly looking for the perfect red and I thought this was it.  I tried the tester then had to go to 4 different shops because they were all out. 
Brilliant colour, great finish, good price, BAD TASTE in my mouth. 
I love a long lasting lippie as much as the next slightly-lazy-likely-to-be-drinking-wine-and-therefore-forget/fail-the reapplying-process BUT why? oh why? oh why? do they have to leave such an awful taste in your mouth and the back of your throat?  I wore mine all night, I did have a few alcoholic drinks which no doubt made the staying power falter, and that in turn perhaps meant I consumed more lippie than normal, but surely when they develop lippie they expect this?  Are you seriously expected to wear BRIGHT RED lip stick just to stay at home and look pretty, don't talk...don't move, don't touch that glass...I doubt it, especially if it is advertised by a model particularly known for her partying...(I could make a statement about not putting lipstick up your nose, but you know, its too easy) anyway, when I got home I brushed my teeth TWICE and rinsed with mouthwash, it was still there...creepily creeping.


OK so maybe the trek to 4 different shops built this product up in my mind, and maybe I should give it a 2nd chance when I'm not out, or at least not out having drinks... maybe it  IS worth a 2nd try, that's just HOW MUCH I love this colour.


OK, sorry, rant over.

Jozelle Alginate & Vitamin E Mask

I was lucky enough to get to review a product for Makeupnet recently, it was a Jozelle Alginate & Vitamin E Mask.

Here's what I said:

The mask itself was easy to make up once you got passed the technical terms used in the instructions,  I’m a scientist so I understood them fully but sadly I do not have access to a still at home to use distilled water, so given we are on tank water I opted for cooled boiled water as this was the purest I could manage.  Given the basis of the mask and the warnings about seafood allergies I expected a seaweedy smell at the very least but was pleasantly surprised to find it was just really clean smelling, light and fresh.

Application of the mask was easy and quite fun too, it was lovely and cooling when placed on the face, once it started to dry it began to tighten but it was a gentle tightening feeling rather than something harsh like a lot of peel off masks.  We waited a little while and then peeling off the mask time.  This bit was fun in a creepy way.  On the inside of the mask it was visible where it had been, every pore and line appeared.  On my skin it felt smooth and lovely but the real magic was when I took it off my mother’s 60+, somewhat sun damaged face and the difference was visible immediately.  The skin appeared lighter and certainly visibly smoother, any redness had gone and I certainly believe a few of the lines,  I was amazed.  Needless to say I jumped onto the computer to see how much this mask would set us back, I was pleasantly surprised to see it was not going to cost an arm and a leg.

Sadly the following morning most of the magic hard worn off but the smoothness and the lack of redness was still visible.  Given the time this mask took to make up, apply and use I was very pleased with the results and will certainly be buying it in the future.

Yes yes readers, a little more formal than my usual rants about stuff I like, but remember, I was a guest in someone else's blog....

Anyway, it was an amazing mask, anyone who knows me knows I'm not selling my fake opinion...