Too Faced Melted Lipsticks

I am a huge fan of the brand Too Faced and I am a little bit obsessed with these Too Faced Melted Lipsticks. Did you know that the Too Faced Co-Founder and Creative Director Jerrod Blandinowas inspired by lipstick in its melted form when he saw it is a cosmetic lab? Jerrod said he had never seen lipstick more beautiful, intense, rich and glossy than when it’s in its melted form and it was this which inspired Melted.

I have four shades within my collection, two of those are called Melted Metal and you will see from the swatches below how beautiful they are. With the staying power of a stain, the intense color of a liquid lipstick and the high shine of a gloss all in one product, they are more than worth their price tag of £19 in my opinion.

The lipsticks come with a Precision tip applicator which allows for a clean, effortless application each time, one swipe is enough to coat your lips and a lip brush isn't required for these which is also a bonus.

The four shades I have are Melted Metallic Debutante, Melted Ruby, Melted Metallic Peony, Melted Peony and that is the order they follow for the swatches in the last photograph.

Melted Metallic Debutante is a really vibrant pop of coral-pink and as you can see from the swatch it has a golden-orange micro-shimmer to it. I found this one a little harder to wear than the other three on the basis that I cannot really pull off the golden-orange coral, but it is a stunning lipstick and I tend to wear it under other lipsticks so I can use it to its advantage.

Melted Ruby is best described as blood red and really makes an impact when worn. Slightly glossy in finish it looks medium to dark cherry red once applied and it has cool, pinky undertones. Again the lastability on this lipstick is phenomenal, it lasts all day. The consistency for this lipstick is much thinner than the other three that I have.

Melted Metallic Peony is a light-medium pink and as you can see from the swatch, it has a mix of pink and gold micro-shimmer for what is described as being a frosted, metallic sheen. Once applied it lasts for a good 5-6 hours before you need to re-apply and it is just a stunning shade.

Melted Peony is described as being a dusty rose shade. When swatched and then worn, it is a really light-medium, perhaps muted pink shade which has subtle warm undertones and has a satin finish. Once applied, it has amazing staying power and I find it only needs to be re-applied once throughout the day.

As I have said, I adore these lipsticks and have ordered a few other shades to try. I love that they are long lasting, they don't cling to dry parts on my lips and are easy to apply. Have you tried them?

You Beauty Discovery Box - May

This month's You Beauty Discovery Box has joined forces with and celebrates the CEW 2015 Beauty Awards. CEW is a not-for-profit organisation that is dedicated to furthering the interests of the British beauty industry. The shortlist for the months box featured an assortment of nominees.

In the box every month are at least two treats. This month we were treated to a sachet of Dr Organic Snail Gel of which I am a huge fan already. Jimmy Choo Man sample for the mister in your life and voucher for 20% off selected beauty and fragrance at Marks & Spencer. So a really nice treat or two to be trying out to use.

Then my actual choices is again one I found quite hard to decide between because I actually wanted three of them and was almost playing "Ip dip" to make my decision. The three I struggled to choose between was the Angel Face Cloth from The Konjac Sponge Company, Better than Sex Mascara from Too Faced which I absolutely love and Pro-Collagen Marine Cream from Elemis which is raved about by so many bloggers and still remains to be a product I haven't yet tried. So, my choice in the end were these two.

The Angel Cloth from The Konjac Sponge Company which at a first glance reminds me of a prawn cracker from my local Chinese Take-away but is actually described as being shaped like an angel. Once wet, the angel turns into a soft gentle exfoliating cloth, made from pure vegetable fibre. Perfect for cleansing with both hot and cold cleansers, or on its own with no cleanser at all; it even cleanses the delicate eye area. Kinder than a muslin cloth or flannel, the angel cloth will not damage the skin and leaves it feeling fresh and rejuvenated. 

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara.  This is a mascara that is always out of stock whenever I look for it.  Having used it some time ago, I have been desperate to get my hands on some more.  Described as follows "One application of this collagen-fueled formula and touch of the specially shaped brush will leave you begging for more. One coat and lashes are full, defined and stretched to unbelievable lengths. Two coatsand they’re reaching unbelievable heights of drama. Three coats and you’ll believe in magic".  What I love about this mascara is the formula which is not overly wet and nor is it overly dry, it sits somewhere in the middle and is perfect for day and night wear.

Given the number of choices for this month's box, at £6.95 it is an absolute bargain.

Are you a subscriber to You Beauty Discovery Boxes?

Chocolate Beauty Gifts for Easter

Easter is the best excuse there is to eat chocolate for breakfast (along with Christmas) and alongside munching away on your Easter egg, there is a whole host of other chocolatey goodness to be enjoyed.

Hotel Chocolat whom are well known for their chocolate range, also have a beauty section that is worthy of drooling over. This Quilesse Body Scrub is described as being uplifting, enlivening, invigorating – the energising scent of our cocoa groves at sunrise.

Bomb Cosmetics Ballotin Gift Set is a must for any chocolate lover who loves to chill out and relax in the bath. The set contains six luxuriously hand crafted bath products all with a chocolate theme:

• Vanilla Bath Creamer
• Chocolate Orange Bath Creamer
• Coffee Mocha Bath Meltz
• Chocolate Bath Mallow
• Double Choc Chip Bath Gem
• Chocolate Buttercup

All containing natural Cocoa Butter and essential oils.

Lush has one of my favourite facemasks - Cupcake - Using Rhassoul mud, which is highly absorbent, it works with cocoa powder to draw out all the dirt, grime and impurities to give your skin a deep cleanse. The use of fresh mint also stimulates and tones the skin, whilst linseed and cocoa butter soften and moisturise. 

Yankee Candle have some of the most interesting scents that I have come across. I am a huge candle fan and from the new Cafe Culture collection from Yankee Candle, inspired by relaxing city breaks is Cappucino Truffle. Described as being a decadent pairing of bold, roasted coffee and luscious, velvety chocolate.

Too Faced - One of my favourite palettes is the Too Faced Chocolate Palette which I use all the time.  Now with Semi-Sweet on the horizon, it too would make a perfect Easter Gift.  Described as having 16 antioxidant-rich, cocoa powder-infused matte and shimmer shades of warm caramels, deep mochas, bronzy chocolate hues and a pop of sugared blueberry, it sounds totally divine. Add to the Too Faced raving of products comes the Milk Chocolate Bronzer, which I have fallen back in love with and have been using daily, it smells absolutely amazing and works really well with my skin tone too.

Flamingo Candles caught my attention during the week with their Scent Eggs - Scent Eggs are small, oval-shaped eggs which are made from natural soy wax, etched with Florrie the flamingo and come in a variety of simple fragrances. They’re designed to be mixed up, to create wild and wonderful scent combinations!  Place three or four Scent Eggs in an oil/fragrance burner, along with a tealight and wait for the gorgeous aroma to fill the room. Scent Eggs make the perfect gift, packaged in a glass jar with our lovely flamingo lid.

Essie - One of my favourite nail polish brands is Essie and whilst brown nail polish wouldn't be my personal choice, one called Chocolate Cakes certainly grabbed my attention.

What will you be hoping for this Easter?

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?

Getting a bit Lippy!

When I was sorting through all of my make-up the other day to see what needed to be renewed and… well to be honest, see what I could justify buying, I was intrigued to see just how many Lip Balms I had, especially as I had bought a few new ones lately.

I confess to being addicted to lip balms, I have loads of them and they all come in different shapes and sizes, some are tubes, some are pots, some are slimy, some are gloopy, some you don't even know you are wearing and some you wonder why you bought them, the answer usually being - on a whim.

 

Shown above is almost all of the Lip Balms, Glosses, Scrubs and creams that I could find in my bag, make-up bag, make-up case and sample boxes

And this is what they are:

1. Nspa Pick me – is a pack of 3 lip balms which come in Mango, Raspberry and Shea Butter flavours.  The pack cost £5 from Asda.
2. Anatomicals What a complete and utter glosser Strawberry Milkshake  - not one I did purchase, well I kind of did, it was part of my February Glossybox and I love everything about it.  If purchased it would cost between £2.20 and £3.49.
3. Lush Bubblegum – okay not quite a Lip Balm, but it was in with the rest of them, it is great for buffing the lips and removing dry and dead skin cells.  To purchase it costs £5.25.
4. Vaseline – Now this tin is looking old and battered and even though I haven’t used it in a long time, it still works totally fine, though I am not a fan of Vaseline on my lips.  A tin of this will cost £1.99 in Boots
5. Figs and Rouge sweet geranium lip balm – Again comes from Glossybox and I absolutely love the packaging.  To purchase it will cost between £2-£5 and is available right across the internet.
6. Vaseline Limited Edition Pink Bubbly Lip Therapy - Okay so I am not a fan of Vaseline on my lips and I bought this, well it said limited edition and it looks nice.  It retails for £3.49 in Boots
7. I love Raspberry and Blackberry glossy lip Balm - super juicy and bursting with life is what sold it to me, that and I had gone to meets friends and had no lip balm with me.  It costs just £99p from Superdrug and I really like it.
8. Clinique Happy Lip Gloss with perfume roller - this came as part of a gift set and whilst the perfume is lovely, I really don't like the Lip Balm, it is really sticky and gloopy and clings to your lips like copydex glue sticks to your hands. 
9. Nivea Caramel Cream Lip Butter - Again another impulse purchase from Superdrug and it smells absolutely wonderful when you first open the tin and it does glide onto your lips - bargain for £1.99
10. Jason Bee Lip Care - Came as part of a Glossybox package but can be found online from places like Amazon where it retails for £3.99 and I really like it because it is enriched with Aloe Vera Gel , Vitamin E, Shea Butter and Sweet Almond Oil and it smells really lovely
11. Carmex Moisture Plus Ultra Hydrating Lip Balm Clear Satin Gloss Finish SPF15 - I am a fan of Carmex lip balms and I bought this because it was 'new' and I was intrigued by the design of it. It works really well on your lips and is definitely hydrating.  Retails for £4.49 and I bought mine from Boots
12. Carmex Mint Moisturising Lip Balm - I really love the design of this lip balm, makes life much easier with the design of the tube and the applicator and it is minty and makes your lips tingle when applied.  It retails for £2.69 and again from Boots
13. Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker  - A broze coloured lip gloss which came as part of a gift set. These glosses can be bought seperately and retail at around £9
14. Sweet Revenge Lip Balm - Smells of cherries and was sent to me by a friend in America in a package a few years ago
15. Too Faced Diamond Gloss Super Shine Ultra Glam Gloss Pink Diamond - This was a gift a few years ago and it is brilliant for adding shine to your lips and it tastes quite nice too.  These Lip glosses retail for around £6-£14 but if you go to Fragrane Direct you can often get them for £1.99 
16. Palmers Dark Chocolate and Cherry – This I bought because I knew I would love the smell, never mind what it did for my lips and it was on offer in Superdrug for £1.99 when I bought it

And last but not least, the final lip balm to show is the one I bought last night (Friday) when out and about because I swapped bags and forgot to take my Lip Balm with me, oops, so I bought this:

Vaseline Intensive Rescue Lip Therapy Repair Balm SPF 20 which costs £2.89 in Asda and it Soothes and protects very dry and chapped lips.  

Is anyone else as Lip Balm mad as I am? What is your favourite Lip Balm? Lip Gloss? Lip Butter?