Smashbox new releases!

I am no stranger to Smashbox, infact I adore their Primer and always have a spare tube of it in my make-up drawer in case I run out.  But I have recently been luck enough to play with some of the new releases which will hit the shelves and stores in January and I thought I would share them with you!

Starting with the Smashbox Double Exposure Palette which is just absolutely stunning.  Described as being the palette of possibilities, each of the 14 featured eyeshadows transform when mixed with water, this palette is all about mixing it up.  Unlike gremlins, you can add water and your shade will either amp up the vibrancy, becomes deeper, turns metallic or finds it sparkle meaning there is something for everyone and these shades are as I have said, stunning. 

Swatches from L-R = Silver, Mauve, Peony, Blanc, Quartz, Flushed and Veiled

When water is added to these shades Silver, Mauve, Peony and Blanc turn Metallic.  Quartz and Veiled amp up their vibrancy and Flushed becomes a deeper shade.

Swatches top - Midnight, Temper, Haze and Noir.  Swatches Bottom - Copper, Fig and Espresso.

When water is added to these shades, Midnight and Temper become Sparkly. Haze, Noir, Fig and Espresso become deeper. Copper turns metallic.

What I also love is that this palette comes with its own double ended brush which is domed on one side to absorb just the right amount of water for impactful colour and the other end is angled which allows you to create a precise line when wet or a diffused line when dry.  If that isn't enough, there is also a little how to use guide, which is really helpful and something I am glad to have.

If this sounds like a palette you would love, it will be priced at £37 and is available from 7th January

The Smashbox Step-by-step Contour Kit is a product I was really excited to get my hands on because I am not good at the Kardashian contouring, no matter how many easy guides I want and follow!  This little kit comes encompassed in this sleek black palette and includes shades to help you highlight, contour and bronze plus a specially designed contour brush and a how to guide. I have used my palette a few times, when ive been home alone and I am slowly getting the hang of it.

Swatches L-- Contour, Bronze and Highlight

This palette is available now and costs £35

The next products I absolutely love, I wasn't too sure about them at first, but boy have they grown on me and they are Always Sharp Lip Liner.  Why do I love them? Well they self sharpen for one and I got quite excited when I was first given a demonstration as to how they did just that, it is all about the twist!  Seriously, there is a hidden sharpener within the lid of the liner which re-sharpens the lip liner everytime you need to use it, one twist, no mess and a sharpe liner awaits you! 

From top to bottom - Melon, Rosebud and Violet

Now I am not the best person at remembering to line my lips, infact I tend to remember once I have already applied my lippie and am on my way out, you know when you have that one last look in the mirror? Yeah then.  These lip liners come in 12 different shades ranging from Nude Fair to Shocking Pink.  I have Rosebud, Melon and Violet and as you can see from the swatches, the colours are absolutely stunning ad you can actually wear them on their own!  Costing just £15 each, they are available now to buy.

The final products I have been playing with are the Be Legendary long-Wear Lip Lacquers.  They are described as being the new boundary-pushing formula which delivers maximum high-lacquered color with major comfort—all day long. They use what is referred to as a proprietary triplex of 1) vibrant staining pigments, 2) glossy-finish pearls and 3) conditioning vitamin E. What this means is that working together, all three of those leave you with a lovely vibrant, but lip conditioned finish, not at all like those horrid Apocalips but much better than the offerings from Revlon, infact, even if your lips feel a tad dry before applying these lacquers, once applied, there is no hint of dry skin or flaky looking lips and nor does it, when applied, leave your lips feeling sticky and tacky, instead, as the colour fades throughout your day, there will be a hint of colour left behind.

Top Swatch is Beet It and Bottom is Orange Crush

The Lip Lacquers come in 20 different shades and I have two of them in Orange Crush and Beet It, possibly neither shade I would ever wear, but from the shades available, there is something for everyone and I have my eye on Warm Rose and Rosewater which I've swatched and really like the look of.  These Lacquers are available now for £19 each.

So there you have a little insight into the new products I have been lucky enough to play with from Smashbox and seriously, if there is one palette you are yet to decide upon, give the Double Exposure one a little look, it is amazing!

What do you think to these new products? 

Have you tried any of them yet?

Too Faced New launches and a few choktails!

When someone says make-up, chocolate and cocktails all in one sentence, it is pretty exciting! Well when Too Faced Cosmetics and Wizard Publicity invited me and a few other Beauty Bloggers along to their Chocktails Mixology Masterclass at the Mixology Studios in Shoreditch last week, I was a little more than excited.

The TOO FACED CHOCKTAIL masterclass was such good fun, honestly, getting to mix your own cocktails was such a laugh and whilst I might not be the next Tom Cruise, I can now make something other than a Vodka and coke! So at the class, we were taught how to mix some amazing cocktails with a bit of something different - each one had a chocolate theme, such as chilli chocolate Martini and I am sure you can imagine a few cocktails in, a bit of drinking and the phrase "salty rim" brought about a lot of cackling.

So in our teams of 3 or 4, mine included the fabulous Grace from Allthatslap, Kat from Tales of a Pale Face and Annie from EpiphannieA after making 4 cocktails under guidance, we were let loose, as part of a competition to create our own cocktail, from scratch - Too Faced Chocolate Orange was born and whilst we didn't win, it actually tasted really nice and I think we were robbed! That said it was good fun.

The aim of the evening was to celebrate the Chocolate Bar & Better Than Sex Mascara plus an exclusive preview of the Fall Collection which launches in mid-August and I can honestly say not only does the collection look amazing, just wait until you smell it, wow!  I shall spoil the surprise with nothing further than that!

The goody bag we received was out of this world, I mean totally and utterly amazing and as you can see from the pictures below, I have a lot of new make-up to play with and share with you over a few reviews that are on their way.

Thank you Too Faced and the lovely Wizard Publicity girls, I hope your heads were not too sore the following day!

Have you ever tried any Too Faced make-up? 

Do you have a favourite product?

Ruby Red Cosmetics Natural Skincare

Ruby Red is a company I came by after an opportunity arose in an email and I have to say, if you want a product to make you go "Wow" then read on.

The brand Ruby Red is a combination of Mike’s surname (Ruby), the owner and Red for their London roots. Ruby Red as a company believe that healthy, radiant skin needs vital nutrients from the outside as well as the inside. Their Skin and Body care ranges are full of plant nourishment combined with distinctive pampering aromas made from oils without SLS, parabens, sulphates, petrochemicals and dyes as well as never tested on Animals.  

I was sent two products in the form of a Reviving Body Cleanser** and a Renewal Shea Skin Cream** which as you can see below arrived really well packaged and inside two very different containers.  

The Body Cleanser, which was a finalist in the Best Shower Gel category at the 2014 Beauty Shortlist Awards is described as follows:

"Botanical glucosides found in sugar and coconut makes an effective cleansing agent which does not irritate the skin; botanical extract of Aloe Vera soften and soothe the skin. A warm, invigorating, citrus aroma of Lime, Red Mandarin, Coriander and Cedarwood boost circulation while toning and refreshing the skin"

The first thing about this cleanser is the scent, it is absolutely phenomenal, one of those scents you need on a morning when you feel really sluggish, annoyed that you have had to leave your bed and a morning when no amount of caffeine is going to wake up - well this product will! To use you simply apply a generous amount onto your hands or onto a cloth and then massage over your damp skin whilst in the shower, as soon as the clear looking gel leaves the bottle the scent wakes you, but when it hits the steam you become more alert than you probably have done in a long time, after wahsing you simply wash it off, again using a damp cloth and it leaves your skin not only squeaky clean but smelling so good and the scent lasts pretty much all day, even as it fades it is still wonderful. it is also worth noting that this Reviving Body Cleanser can also be used as hand cleanser, something I am yet to try.

The second product is the Renewal Shea Skin Cream which is in this 60ml glass jar and when I first removed the jar, I didnt find what I was expecting. I was expecting to find a runny cream not a solid, so I was very much intrigued to use this. It comes with the following description:

"The healing enzymes in Lemon and Honey work together to improve cell renewal while Vitamins A, E, & F in our pure, hand processed organic Shea butter help to restore the skin’s elasticity lost through dryness or sun-exposure. A small of cream amount will moisturise, softening and smoothing the skin".

Even though this skin cream contains lemon and honey, the scent isn't as strong as the body cleanser, but it is subtle enough for me to absolutely love it. To use you simply warm a really small amount in your hands and on the Ruby Red site they make a point of stating that by small they mean no bigger than a raindrop, the reason being that as soon as it comes into contact with your skin it begins to melt, so it literally absorbs without no amount of effort on your part and as you massage it into the skin, the lemony scent comes to life and reminds me of sherbet lemons, a scent I happen to adore. Once massaged onto the skin, within a matter of minutes there is no trace that anything was actually there, instead you have soft, smooth skin. If like me you spend a lot of your working life, days and sometimes evening dealing with paper, I find it dries my hands out, hence my love of hand cream, well I have been using this for the last 2 months and it is a perfect remedy for my dry hands, not to mention I use it on my shins, elbows and feet as well.

These products I cannot rate highly enough, they have caused no adverse reactions to my skin, they smell more wonderful than I can give them credit for and I absolutely love using them.  You can find more information about Ruby Red on their website which is HERE and their products can be bought online through the Ruby Red shop or from places like Amazon, Fortnum and Mason and soon to launch in Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge.

Diner Dogs Washbag plus Giveaway

Back in October I was given the opportunity from a company called Catseye London to review some of their products and was slightly excited because I love cats and I love stationary, so imagine my delight when I found the two had been combined, you can read about it HERE.

The company itself was launched back in 2004 with a collection of quirky prints on many fashion and beauty accessories such as home décor, Wash-bags Nailcare kits, Cushions, Mugs, Storage boxes, passport holders, travel card holders all of which allow you to stand out from the crowd and your friends and have something a little bit different and unique.

Today I am sharing with you a brand new product from the 2014 collection which I have right here in my hands and I am the only person lucky enough to have it. The Diner Dogs washbag is everything cute stands for and is a fantastic size measuring  H18 W31 D10 cm making it perfect for those weekends away because you can literally fit everything you will need into it. It is described as follows:

" If you love toy dogs and travel, the Diner Dogs Wash Bag is the perfect companion! Glossy and retro in bubblegum brights, it’s a gorgeous way to cart your overnight essentials. With two inner pockets and a sturdy pink zip, this wash bag will help you play Fetch with essentials. Perfect for an endless road trip".

Now if like me you think this is really cute and you want it, you can purchase it from the Catseye London website for £15 or you can enter my giveaway below to win one for yourself and as an extra treat, I am going to put some products and a few other things in the bag for the winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway