Review and Rave: Nivea Lip Butter - Caramel Cream

First of all let me start by saying I love this!!! (a little background info...) I spend 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year torturing my lips with matte lipsticks and sugar scrubs so its payback time - Autumn.The season of pumpkins, mittens and of course disgustingly dry and chapped lips! In my hour of need I have always turned to that little yellow tin of loveliness, Carmex, however this year Carmex didn't work!! Dun Dun Dunnnn.. SO it's okay, Blistex will come to my rescue, slightly more medicinal but much less yums - this didn't work either :( And then... After seeing this on a few blogs and noticing it retails at £1.25 at Superdrug I thought 'ah, why not!?' I picked it up in Caramel Cream as this appealed to me most.

Formula - Buttery, soft and smooth.
Smell - In my eyes, the most delicious smell EVER.
Taste - None (suits me).
Look - Slight shine but not too glossy.
Packaging - Practical, matte tin.
Results - Amazing. My lips are the smoothest they've ever been.

I'm converted! This tin holds an impressive 16.7g compared with 7g of Carmex at double the price!? Its a no brainer. If you haven't already tried this I recommend you do asap :)

NYC 16H Lip Stain and Applelicious Glossy Balm - Reviewed.

NYC 16H Lipstain in 'Berry Long Time'

I'm strictly a matte lipstick or softening balm kind of girl, there is no in between. I don't 'do' with sheer tints, lip butters or gloss, its a full on pigmented lip or just a slick of 'medicinal' balm. However lately my lips have been so rough and dry that I haven't been able to wear any bold lip colours (I have just found the solution to all my problems in the shape of Nivea Lip Butters, but that's a separate post) so I went in search of something a little more easy going on my lips, something which would forgive the horrible scaly texture of my pout and give me just a sheer tint on top of or underneath my lip balm, as I didn't want to spend a great deal on a product that isn't really me I turned to NYC, a great value for money and very overlooked brand (in comparison to MUA).

The two products I picked up are the 16H Smooch Proof Lip Stain in 498 'Berry Long Time' and the Applelicious Glossy Balm in 356 'Big Apple Red', swatches below.

L-R - Berry Long Time and Big Apple Red

 

 



Berry Long Time

£3.99 - Superdrug

 

This is packaged like a felt tip pen, very in-offencive but not anything to write home about looks wise. It takes a while to get used to the application (may be because this is my first lip stain use) but once on I find this doesn't bleed, leaves a nice level of colour and has no scent however it seemed to have rubbed off on me after about 4 hours, far from its promise of 16 hours. It's an okay product considering the low price but not something I'd repurchase, unless a new colour is released which wows me.

 

 





 

Big Apple

£2.49 - Superdrug

 

 

On first glance this is packaged just like an ordinary cheapo lippie but when you open it up it has a lovely apple design in the core of the balm - very cute touch! It smells of the typical artificial apple-y scent you find in washing up liquids, hand soaps etc, nice and fresh but nothing spectacular. This offered me a very low level of colour but with the addition of a non sticky glossy finish. This didn't do anything to sooth my chapped lips, so again a lip balm would also be needed. I probably wont repurchase this, although it is great for the price!

 



Wishlist #1

 

- Michael Kors, Champagne Chrono Dial Watch MK5055: buy

- YSL Rogue Pur Couture in Rogue Roxanne: buy

 

- Vivienne Westwood, Winter Tartan Small Flapover Purse: buy 

- Rubber Duck Onesie: buy

 

- Ebay, Red Christmas Deerlet Jumper: buy

 

- Model's Own, Wonderland Collection: buy

A tad jealous

So I've been waiting for today since the minute Breaking Dawn part 1 finished... You'd expect I'm getting myself ready for an evening of swoony R-Patz, vampire babies, awkward bella-isms and a giant hot dog, right!? Well no. I'm sitting at home sulking. Sulking that tonight I will not find out the ending to the phenomenon that is Twilight. Nor tomorrow night or the next. I have to wait until an opening appears in my only other Twilight loving friends schedule (to be fair she is working and not just being deliberately awkward) because no one else will go with me. My boyfriend point blank refuses (apparently he's asserting his manliness through cinema choices :/), my mum laughed in my face, Molly's to young (whatevs) and my other 'friends' - if that's what they call themselves - would rather eat their right foot than see it with me (I'm hoping this isn't personal).

So if any of you are seeing it tonight then do have a lovely time (don't worry about my irrational jealousy) I'll be fine miserable and let me know how it was :)

On a slightly less bitter note - I've just made my own DIY lip scrub using brown sugar and rapeseed oil mixed together in an old (cleaned out) carmex pot, it was super easy, works amazingly well and doesn't cost £5+ yes, Lush I'm looking at you! The rest of my night will be spent cuddled up in bed with my boy (whenever he makes it back from work - I hate Friday night traffic), films and a takeaway pizza (the diet starts tomorrow - as always). The rest of my weekend is free for whatever else takes my fancy, perhaps a walk in the woods, LOVE lazy weekends :)

Have any of you got any nice plans?

Sian xoxo

This week im loving... #1

Soap and Glory Hand Food / Kate Moss for Rimmel, Matte in 107 / Taylor Swift - Wonderstruck / Hello Kitty Travel Cup

Hey beauties..

This is the start of a new weekly feature where I will be showing you a few bits I'm loving that week; the majority of these will be beauty products but I will add in a few fashion and lifestyle items, basically anything I've got a lot of love for at that moment!
I know a lot of the items from this week are spread all over the blogging world but I thought I'd throw in my opinion too.

An item I'd heard a lot about but not got round to trying until last week is Soap and Glory's Hand Food - I bought this in the travel size as I like to keep hand creams in my bag for use throughout the day. This has been great the last couple of days in the freezing cold weather, its smells lovely and is super moisturising = win!

Next up is the very popular Kate Moss Matte lipstick in shade 107 - this is a gorgeous deep berry red colour, it glides onto the lips, lasts really well and suits all skin tones. I'm really loving this dark lips trend, I find it compliments my pale winter skin perfectly and is extremely wearable.

Now I'm not usually one for celeb perfumes but this is a true beauty! It smells as the name sounds - amazingly sweet and super girly. The three main scents that stand out to me are vanilla, raspberry and musk. This has been cheering me up no end on horrible wintery mornings.

A friend bought me this last week, I love getting little gifts that you can see a lot of thought has gone into - this is another one to cheer me up on winter mornings, taking my own tea into classes really brightens up my day :) Thanks Bethany!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend :)

 

 

Sian xoxo

FOTD and Beauty UK Lipstick 'Snob' Review

 

 

Hey Beauties...

 

Today I decided on a change from my usual more natural make up look, this look is more girly which suits my personality perfectly :)

 

I have worn my usual base of Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid in Ivory mixed with my Rimmel Primer and set with No7's Loose Light Powder in Fair. On top of that I've added a little of Benefit's SunBeam Highlighter to my cheekbones and then MUA's English Rose Mosaic Blush onto the apples of my cheeks.

 

My eyes are lined with a Gold 2True eyeshadow as mentioned in my haul post not long ago, I've added 4 coats of No7's Lash Adapt Mascara and filled in my brows with MUA's Blonde Eyebrow Pencil.

 

Finally for my lips I smothered on Lush's Honey Trap Lip Balm (my fave at the mo) after leaving that to settle and blotting away the excess I applied a coat of Snob, blotted and applied a second coat.

 

 

 

 

Pros 

- Snob gave me an impressively high level of pigmentation

-  It dried matt but didn't feel at all drying or show up any dry skin.

- It would easily last up to 4 hours without a top up

- Its a lovely colour and a fab dupe for MAC's Snob

 

Cons

- A quite strong minty smell which I didn't like at all ( luckily this fades)

- Cheap looking packaging, similar to MUA's.

- Needs to be re-applied after eating/drinking.

 

Overall this is a great bargain lippie and I would suggest trying this or any of the other shades from this range that are available.

 

Beauty UK Lipstick in 03 'Snob' - £3.49.. Available at Superdrug or here

 

 

Above are a couple of bits I picked up today... The most gorgeous dusky pink, vintage looking roses, a house shaped teapot and owl mug from my local charity shop, a fluffy pink pen from Poundland and a new academic diary and pencil case from Rymans.

 

 

Hope you're having a lovely weekend :)

 

 

Love Sian xoxo

FOTD and L.A Colors Precious Plum Review

Hey Beauties...

Just a quick face of the day while I wait for my boyfriend to pick me up (crummy Friday night London traffic permitting). Please excuse my ridiculously bushy brows, I'm trying to leave it as long as possible before I go for my first threading session! Saying that I have found the look of these slowly growing on me, (growing on me, geddit!? Ha.) Keira Knightly style! Oh and my hair is wet hence the super unflattering do!

Anyway... This look is inspired by a lipstick I picked up this week at Beauty Base (full haul post to come) I'd been thinking of investing in a dark wine red colour but wasn't very sure if it would suit me. Seeing as this only cost a super cheap 99p I had nothing to lose! I'm still not sure if it suits me or not, opinions welcome? The formula of the lipstick is smooth and doesn't feel at all drying, it hasn't shown up any dry parts of my lips but this could be down to the layer of Carmex i smothered on first. However I don't like the packaging at all!! Very cheap looking!

I decided to keep the rest of my face pretty simple and allow my lips to do the talking :) I've used Revlon ColorStay Foundation in Light Beige and No7 Loose Light Powder in Fair for my base, lashings of No7 Lash Adapt AND L'oreal Volume Million Lashes Extra Black (I like big volume on my lashes) and filled in my brows with MUA Eyebrow Pencil in Blond.

Have an amazing weekend Beauties :)

Love Sian xoxo

 

 

Sorry about the shockingly bad quality of the pictures so far, they've all been taken on my Iphone! Hoping to get a new camera next week :D