IMATS London 2012 - I'll be a Makeup Model! But which of these looks to choose?

Hi everyone,


It's that time of year again when IMATS comes to London town.  This year I have been so lucky, as I've been asked to be a makeup model for Make-Up Atelier Paris. To say I'm excited is putting it mildly!  


I will be there on Saturday the 4th February, I don't know my time slot yet but I'll let you know when I find out in case you would like to come say hi and watch the transformation.


I've only ever had my makeup done by someone else on a couple of occasions so this is such a treat for me and I have been given the opportunity to bring along a makeup look of my choosing, just gets better and better eh? :-)


Only problem is, which look to choose? I think I've narrowed it down between two looks, OK possibly 3!  So as I'm still deciding I thought I'd ask which look you would prefer for me, just out of curiousity.


So first up is Mila Kunis with classic winged liner makeup looks, I'm putting two pics one  from her recent Dior advert and the other from a red carpet event, both similar and in my mind have that classic chic Parisienne/European feel, neutral colours, totally my cup of tea, so here is gorgeous Mila:








































The next look is totally different, more sexy, well it is on the beautiful Penélope Cruz, this one has beautiful colours and the eye liner on the top and lower lashes is more intense than I would usually go for, I'm curious to see how Makeup Atelier will recreate it on my skin tone, so this is the one that is just ahead for me at the moment:

So which look do you prefer?  I really would love to know.  Of course the hair styles really set off the looks and the clothes are the finishing touches, so whichever one I pick, I'll probably do my hair sleek and straight or volumised and bouncy, I hope!


Will you be going to IMATS?  If you are I would love to know what's on your wish list.


Diane x

Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24H Foundation - Free 7 day sample

Lancome has a new foundation launching on 1st February, Teint Idole 24H, £27 I believe, available in 18 shades, from fair to deeper skin tones, however, you don't have to wait until February to try it!

Earlier this evening, whilst passing the time waiting for one of my kids to finish one of his after school clubs, I was just flicking through a magazine in the supermarket, as you do, and saw that during January if you get yourself to a Lancome counter to be colour matched to this foundation, they have a Try Before You Buy” scheme and will give you a 7 day sample, so you can go home and have a good test of the foundation to be sure it suits you before you buy, how nice is that :-)

I get so excited when I see a range that looks like it will accommodate my skin tone and will be so accessible to boot.

That's all the info I have, I'm sure going to be popping to a shopping centre near me this weekend and will definitely check out this and the Clinique promotion.

If you do too, I'd love to hear how you get on.

Diane x

Free Clinique Mascara Time Again

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year!

I do hope you have all had a lovely time over the festive season and that 2012 will treat us all well :-)

Don't know if you remember this promotion but seems every year Clinique launch a promotion to give away free mini mascaras, all you have to do is go to a Clinique counter in a Boots store between Sat 14th Jan - Wed 1st Feb 2012 and hand in any old full size mascara and they will give you a mini Clinique mascara in exchange.

There's a choice of two mascara samples: High Lengths (5ml) and High Impact (4ml). They're about half the size of the normal ones (7 and 8ml).

It's while stocks last. Apparently Clinique hasn't been able to confirm specific stock levels but has said it's ordered more stock than the last time this offer was on. Saying that, this offer's been mega popular in the past so it's worth calling ahead to check stock at your local store.

This is great because I have an old one lying on my table so fab timing for me :-) I think I got the High Lengths last time so will ask for the High Impact to try out this time around, if I can get it!


Happy freebie shopping :-)

Diane x

Christmas Gift Idea - Toni and Guy Deep Barrel Hair Waver

Hi everyone,

Three posts in row!  I am on a roll here, musing over doing 12 blogs of Christmas kind of thing...  Enough musing, I wanted to share information about this product, as I think it would make a lovely Christmas gift.

I know at the moment the Enrapture Amplify Jumbo Hair Waver
is the talk of the town but firstly it costs £67.49 on Amazon! secondly I saw tutorials and the size of the waves were a nice size but not exactly what I was after and thirdly it costs £67.49!  Similarly I saw tutorials for the Babyliss Wave Envy but again I was after bigger deeper waves.

The Toni and Guy Deep Barrel Hair Waver costs £34.99 from Argos and £34.97 at Tesco Direct at the time of posting this blog, however, I was quite lucky and managed to buy it reduced in a recent sale.

I've still got lots of experimenting to do with it but I've played with it enough to let you know that I love the waves you can get with this.

The smaller the sections, longer you hold it and the higher the heat setting you select will give you deeper waves, beachy waves and the wider the sections and lower the heat will give you more soft femme fatale waves, which I've always been after.

What I'm still practicing mostly with is how far down the hair shaft will look best on me.  I found it works best if I straighten my hair first rather than roughly blow drying it straight-ish, gave more smoother defined waves.

The other thing I would point out is the deep ridge on the bottom depending on the angle can be a little awkward to get the hair over and in to the waver but that's probably something I'll get better at with more practice.

You would definitely need to put some kind of product in to help keep the waves for as long as possible, I have naturally curly hair but still need to do this if I want waves/curls to last, whatever I use but sometimes it's nice just to let them drop and look more "natural".

It has 25 heat settings, deep tourmaline plates, stay cool tip, 60sec heat-up time, that I think are worth mentioning here.  If you change the temperature, I didn't notice any change in the light to let you know that it was being changed or when it had reached the required temperature as my Cloud9 Wide Hair straighteners do, so you just have to wait awhile and test.
.
Once I feel confident enough, I hope to do demos on my YouTube channel dianeuk01 in the future.

I've been after a hair styling tool like this for years but never got around to getting one, can't tell how pleased I am to have finally found one, which is at such a reasonable price and so accessible too, and with Christmas fast approaching just had to share, really do think it will make a great gift.

Diane x

My Beauty Wish List - Suggestions?

Hello lovelies,


I've been looking at my beauty wish list, which is not as full as you might think, as I've not been adding to it much when I hear/see something, mainly because I'm trying to be more restrained and more selective these days.


Here is what I have on the list right now:-
Bobbi Brown long wear cream eye shadow in Sandy Gold

Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals – Faux Tan all over colour

Collection 2000 Crème puff lip creams, all except Powder Puff
Laura Mercier Rose Rendezvous Highlighter
Makeup Atelier eyeshadows, gel liners in deep brown/blue

Iman Time Control Primer

Kryolan Anti-Shine powder

Mac Sable eyeshadow

Daniel Sandler water colour blush liquid/crème

Kett air brush liquid foundation
Brush Guards

NYC Lip Stain

Louise Young small crease brush

MUFE Aqua Crème lip pencils

Inglot Gel liner?

Photo belongs to karlasugar.net

I know there are plenty more things I "need" OK would like, but for the life of me can't think of them right now!

Each year I try not to spend the points I have accrued on my Boots Advantage card, but I have used some earlier in the year and have not been to Boots that much of late so this year my Christmas treat will have to cost £26 or less.  

As far as I know Boots still don't let you part pay with your points so you have to have the right amount as you can't top up with cash, shame as I know Superdrugs do allow you to do this.

Problem is apart from Collection 2000, nothing I have on my list is available at Boots and I'd like something special that would be a real Christmas treat, but what?  If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

What's on your wish list?  Something from Chanel, Dior, Estee Lauder, Clinque etc?  Anyone?

If you could share some ideas that would be fab.  Thanks so much.

Diane x

FRONTCOVER GILT EDGED REVIEW

Hi everyone,

I'm back with a post!  So sorry I've been gone awhile but I do hope you enjoy hearing about and seeing swatches of this gorgeous looking gift set.

I was asked if I would like to review some FRONTCOVER cosmetics, this was the first time I have accepted this kind of offer and the reason for that is because I have been curious about this brand for awhile.

So as you can see from the title, this post will be about FRONTCOVER GILT EDGED, The Ultimate Party Collection For Golden Girls.  I picked this set to test and review because the colours are right up my street.

The set includes a Large Metallic Makeup Case, Mini Metallic Cosmetic Purse, Shimmer Stick, Compact with Domed Baked Blush, Double Ended Lip Gloss, Double Ended Chunky Metallic Pencil Gold/Copper, Holographic Glitter, Iridescent Pigment, Shadowbase, Double Ended Eye Applicator, Cheek Brush. 

You get alot in the set but how do they look and perform?  Well below are swatches and my experiences using these products.


All heavily swatched left to right : Domed Baked Blush , Shadowbase, Chunky Metallic Pencil Gold
end with Dubloon Glitter on lower half, Copper end with Burnt Carrot Pigment on lower half 

Compact with Domed Baked Blush - the lid has a mirror. It is a beautiful peach with silver micro shimmer.  On my medium deep skin tone (Mac NC44, Nars Sheer Glow - Cadiz, MUFE HD 173) it makes for a lovely highlight on the top of the cheekbones and has been my highlighter of choice since I received this set for testing. It does have shimmer and some micro glitter but not too much, I've really been enjoying this.

Shadowbase - is a shimmery Champagne eye base, on my oily eyelids combined with the chunky metallic pencil on top it creased but it lasts longer just with the pigments or eyeshadow applied directly on to it.  It makes for a beautiful highlight under the brow bone and collarbones, blends really lovely.  The shimmer in it can give another dimension to eyeshadows you put on top of it, I tried with matte shadows on top and it gave a lovely effect.

Double Ended Chunky Metallic Pencil Gold/Copper - these are beautiful colours and I was very excited to try these. However, my oily lids ensured that these creased and faded on me but with my Lime Crime Candy Eyed primer underneath the creasing and fading was more subtle than with the Shadowbase, and on their own with no primer at all they practically disappeared altogether in a short space of time. I would recommend using a primer that works for oily lids and apply using the side of the pencils rather than the tip for less drag.


Burnt Carrot Iridescent Pigment, Doubloon Holographic Glitter

Doubloon Holographic Glitter - this is beautiful and a little goes a long way. It comes with a thin plastic cover inside, I chose to dab the eye applicator on the plastic cover to pick up just a little of the product but it would be possible to pierce little holes in it to make it like a sifter pot to control the amount of product that comes out. I apply this over the metallic chunky pencil using the sponge end of the eye applicator, to minimise fall out when you press it on over the pencil. This will look beautiful over so many eyeshadows too, personally I would choose to apply it just in the center of the lid and put a tissue to protect you from any fall out when applying.

Burnt Carrot Iridescent Pigment - I love this really gorgeous, especially so over the copper end of the metallic chunky pencil. Has a beauiful texture, press it on using the brush end of the eye applicator then blend, produces such a lovely colour and dimension. I wore this combo on a recent night out together with Mac Taupe lipstick with Pink Frost lipgloss on top and the Domed Baked Blush as brow bone and tops of cheek bone highlight.  I didn't get fall out and I think a little dab of this on top of your lipstick or lipgloss just in the center of your lips would be very pretty.


Shimmer Stick left heavily swatched, right blended

Shimmer Stick - is a beautiful rose gold colour but for my personal taste it has too much chunky glitter and when I blended it out I was left with glitter moving about and not much colour left, too build up more colour would mean adding alot more glitter.  Of course many love that look but I prefer something more subtle.  It's a shame as I do love the colour.


Pink Frost, Peach Sparkle

Double Ended Lip Gloss - one end is Peach Sparkle (golden orange) the other end is Pink Frost (baby pink with silver shimmer).  I like these, they do not feel sticky and give a lovely dimension.  I have been pairing Peach Sparkle on top of Boots No7 Conker lipstick and Pink Frost on top of Mac Taupe lipstick, loving the combinations.

Double Ended Eye Applicator - work well with the pigments. I suspect the brush end may even do a good job of blending out the crease but haven't put it to the test yet.

Cheek Brush - used to apply the Domed Baked Blush as a highlight on top of cheekbones but I would actually prefer to use a smaller brush for that purpose.  It's OK to use as a blush brush to apply and blend the product but it is not as soft as I'd like or gives as much control in the placement as I would prefer with my own blusher brushes but if you haven't got a blush brush this is nice to have.

Large Metallic Makeup Case and Mini Metallic Cosmetic Purse, both in gold - these will always come in handy.

The stand out products for me are definitely the iridescent pigment and holographic glitter, really beautiful.  However, I could get every day use out of the blush & shadowbase as highlighters and use the lipglosses.

There is one product I don't think I would use, which is the shimmer stick, unless possibly on my legs, on a night out...

One of the lovely things with this set is that it includes a tutorial, with hints and tips on the back of the sleeve to give you some guidelines and inspiration.

I've really enjoyed testing and using the products in this set.  If you or someone you know loves these golden and copper tones (as I do), I think it would make an impressive gift, good value for money and you can create gorgeous looks for the party season. 

You can buy this set from Boots for £25, at the time of this post they currently have a 3 for 2 mix and match gift promotion for the festive season, how nice :-)

What do you think?  Have you tried any FrontCover cosmetics?

Diane x

Magazine Freebies

Just thought I'd let you know about some freebies either already out or coming out soon. 

First up is Body Shop freebies worth upto £16 with InStyle magazine (with Nicole Scherzinger on the cover), from Thursday 7th July, you can either pick a free mascara worth £10 or two eye pencils (black and navy) worth £8 each.  Cost of the magazine is £3.70.

Probably most of you already know about the Glamour magazine Benefit freebies, they usually have fab Benefit freebies each year, this year it is mini Benetint, Posietint and High Beam, magazine costs £2 (with the very beautiful Adele on the cover).  I thought I'd missed the boat on this but on Monday this week there were plenty left on the shelf in my large Tesco supermarket, I picked up High Beam as that's the only one I don't have, excellent bargain but be quick before this gets taken off the shelves.

From Thurs 7 July you can buy August's Marie-Claire magazine for £3.60 (with Audrey Tautou on the cover), it will come with a full sized Ciaté lip gloss, apparently worth £9.

Oh how I do love a bargain! :-)

Diane x