Review- More cheap treats

I haven't bought any make up in an age, and today I caved - however I can at least hold my head up high as I kept it cheap. One cult(ish) item and one 'it's so cheap why the hell not give it a go' item.

I'm desperate to find an eyeliner that will stay on my waterline and won't just melt away 20 minutes after application so I got GOSH Velvet Tough Eyeliner in Hypnotic Grey. It's very dark grey, nothing half-hearted.

These eyeliners come in 27 colours, and even the teeny little Superdrug I bought mine in had a good 16 or so. GOSH claims they are very highly pigmented and extremely waterproof and durable. Makeupalley members would seem to agree. It certainly goes on beautifully smoothly and doesn't drag your skin so we'll see now how well it lasts.

My super cheapo why-not buy was a 2True lipstick in no.8:


Now, I don't 'do' nude lips - they just look awful on me, unlike so many people on here who I see looking beautiful with them. Perhaps because my lips are pretty higly pigmented naturally so it just looks very wrong? I don't know. Anyway, this is more my cup of tea, perhaps more than my normal cup of tea: It's a blueish-fuscia pink - bit 'more' than I'd usually go for, but surprisingly, I like it. I'm not going to be reaching for it every day by any means, but at this price why not have it for the occasions you do.

Swatches:

What are your favourite cheapo treats in the make up world?

Homemade birthday presents

One of my best friends emailed me a few days ago about her daughter Isla's first birthday which is coming up in a month or so. Would I be offended, she wondered, if she suggested some things I might like to make for Isla instead of buying something. There are things she needs, and she knows I love to (try and) be creative and she knows that I don't have many spare pennies at the moment.

And so this is how Project Pyjama Case started. Good haberdasheries are hard to find in London, and I'm really missing living in New York and having all the wonderful fashion district walking distance away. Steinlauf & Stoller, how I miss you.

I'm not sure what form the overall finished product is going to take but it's going to have an embroidered panel somewhere as I've been wanting to have a crack at some some embroidery for a while now. I'm a huge Miami Ink and LA Ink fan, so I tried some tattoo inspiration - ha ha - weird? Seriously, I love so many of the graphics used in tattooing and thought I could cute-ify it enough to make it appropriate for a little girl.

It's very much a work in progress, but here's what we have so far...


What else do you think it needs? Any embroidery experts out there?

Perfecting the blank canvas

I read with horror that MAC's Select Tint SPF15 tinter moisturiser/foundation has been discontinued. Why? Is it really selling that poorly? It seems to be they don't have anything comparable in their range so it's strange to remove the only tinted moisturiser they do. But perhaps there's more to it than that.

After the initial feeling of disappointment however, it got me thinking how it's not been the best product for me as it doesn't give me the perfect blank canvas that I'm after. I want perfect airbrushed skin dammit!

I've stuck with it, because I have temperamental skin that's easily annoyed and Selet Tint doesn't bother it at all. In all honesty though I want a little more coverage so this is a good opportunity to start the hunt. I thought I was happy with YSL's Perfect Touch for something a little heavier but again I'm finding myself increasingly not thrilled with it.

I wondered about trying Studio Fix or Select SPF, but I've heard scary things from a lot of people about both causing major breakouts and I'm loathe to find out the hard way. Plus, times are tough and due to some financial belt-tightening I'd like to try and find a drugstore foundation to do the job. The two I've heard reasonably good things about are:

Revlon ColorStay

and Maybelline Dream Liquid Mousse


Have you tried either of these? How did you find them? Did they break you out? Was the coverage good? Or any other budget reccomendations?

Friday - In and Out

It's Friday so let's do this

Air-conditioned limos:
- being able to carry my beautiful Rebecca Minkoff bag every day this week without fearing rain ruining her
- andremo a Firenze la settimana prossima (my Italian is a little rusty...)
- having a daily street market right on my doorstep now we've moved
- no longer living above a noisy pub
- catching up on Gossip Girl and The Hills online


Crowded tube trains:
- Being broke
- having a freezer the size of a shoebox now we've moved. Enough space for icecube tray and peas (..and perhaps nail varnish, having read Hele's latest post..)!
- having to wait ages for Ikea to deliver
- needing to purge the contents of my wardrobe still further. Why amI so sentimental about clothes I no longer wear?

Transatlantic Swapsies anyone?

Help!
I am desperately in need of some more moisturiser as I've nearly run out. In the past I've flirted with a few others, but I like this one I've got now, it likes me and if it ain't broke I'm reluctant to fix it.

So, it's a Sephora brand one. No amount of pleading with Sephora can convince them to ship to the UK, so I'm wondering if any of my US based friends here (who I 'know' a little) fancy doing a transatlantic swap for some UK stuff of a similar value? I'm just trying to think what we love over here that you can't get in the US....some Barry M perhaps? Any other brands? Come to that, it doesn't have to be makeup - I'm open to suggestions.

Let me know if you might be interested.

Fake Baking

It's weird being back in London after the Easter break back home. I'm a country girl at heart and it always takes me a while to adjust back to city ways when I've been back home for a visit. However, weirdly, I seem to like extremes - as I said I'm a country girl, but I loved the ultra city-ness of New York...I just find myself uncomfortable and twitchy in the suburbs. We've just moved from a more quiet residential area back into Zone 1 again, near where I first lived when I moved to London. I'm finding I'm much happier being back in the thick of things. Plus I can walk everywhere which I love. Anything to avoid the tube.

I'm setting off today for the wedding this weekend that I'm bridesmaid-ing for. I haven't done the honours since I was 5, which was....let's say a very long time ago. I did a mad dash to Boots today realising that my glow-in-the-dark white legs might be in danger of stealing the bride's thunder, such is their luminous glow. I was after Sally Hansen airbrush legs spray which I used before, loved ten typically lost the can. So - I've had to pick up instead Rimmel's Sun Shimmer Instant Tan:

which I'm hoping will do the same thing - basically just take the edge off. I daren't risk something that doesn't wash off in case it all goes horribly streaky and wrong. Anybody used this one before?

Connected

Finally back online after an excruciating couple of weeks without internet post-move. I have a lot of catching up to do!

The hard work and stress of moving is all rewarded by the fun of unpacking and making your new nest a home. Managed to shed a lot of rubbish along the way and rediscovered lots of forgotten treasures - books, shoes, clothes and odds and ends, like these coasters. I'm being mocked mercilessly by Mr C for my love of them, inherited from my grandmother, but I'm really fond of them.


Also, glad to finally be putting some of the wine crates I can't resist accumulating to good use at last, so my makeup is now a bit more organised. Just need to get hold of some of those flower arranging beads now so I can turn that vase into a Sephora style brush holder.


Now I need to go start making the rounds and see what everyone else has been up to

Predictable? Moi?

The things you discover while packing...


I think I must be predictable. I love France, I love shoes, I love strong black coffee - so is it any surprise two people bought me these French shoe espresso cups one birthday? In fact - three people bought me a set, but I thought 8 was enough so I exchanged the third box.

Packing Tip No.1

Top packing tip, courtesy of my Pa -
- don't worry about packing your book into boxes (nothing more upsetting than a box bottoming out and depositing the contents on a pavement in the middle of a move) - instead, tie them up into beautiful little parcels with string, just like this:


Easy to carry, easy to fit into small spaces in the car/van and most important - don't they look adorable?

Shoes. Sigh.

Having a very hastily mixed Martini (all in the name of using up the last dribble of gin before moving day on Friday) before heading out to meet Mr C for date night. Sushi by the Thames - really, it's a lot more romantic than it sounds, I promise!

I am officially the worth packer in the world. I started on the shoe collection (or at least the portion that currently lives with me and isn't out at my parents' place). Trying to pack them descended into trying them all on..admiring them..and then lining them up on the stairs...and admiring them some more.. Here are two steps' worth where some of the ones dearest to my heart are standing.


Why did I never use stairs to store shoes until 2 days before moving out? I could have left a small gangway wide enough to creep past, and wouldn't they have looked cute?

Saving the best for last?

Now, this is something that my boyfriend thought was hilarious when he first noticed it, and it's something I wasn't even conscious of doing but I will always save the best bit of any meal or snack until last. In fact, with a big meal there's a strict order of eating everything, from least favourite to most favourite (this take some planning with a sunday roast when the plate's full).

It's very simple - I always save until last...the frosting on a cupcake, the mash in bangers and mash, the asparagus in anything served with asparagus and so on.

I just read an article about it on the wonderful kitchn website, and I feel vindicated - I'm not nearly as weird as my boyfriend thinks, there are lots of us out there who do this.....

..do you?

The marvellous Martini

I grew up in the countryside in the middle of nowhere. I loved it. However, occasionally my over-active imagination would be more of a hindrance than a help if I was home alone. One weekend when my folks were away I forgot my cease and desist rule about reading or watching anything remotely spooky as I was embroiled in reading Dracula.

Big mistake.

Once it got dark and the wind was howling outside and the trees were creaking I decided there was only one possible solution: booze and Singin' In The Rain. Nothing bad can ever happen if you're watching Donald Connor sing 'Make 'Em Laugh', or marvelling at Cyd Charise's legs and how sexy Gene Kelly is, and booze - well, it's obvious.

I decided this was the perfect time to learn to mix and love Martinis - a proper grown-up drink that takes some getting to know. He's (I definitely see a Martini as a man) not a chap you like when you first meet him perhaps. You might find him abrasive - or perhaps you don't get his sense of humour...but the more you chat to him you realise he has quite an allure about him and you love his company and his jokes and you feel like you're in on a great secret knowing him.

So, my dad has a great book all about the history of the Martini, stories about it and films it's featured in plus of course recipes.

It's a simple recipe:
1. Cocktail shaker
( I wish our cocktail shaker was so beautiful)
2. Ice
3. Dry vermouth
4. Gin
5. a Martini glass
Plus optional green olive. Officially the proportions are 4:1 gin to vermouth, but many people prefer less. I've read of some people pouring vermouth in the shaker, swilling it round then tipping it out leaving just a thin coating on the inside of the shaker. Winston Churchill apparently liked to pour in the gin then glance across the room at the vermouth - and can you blame him, gin is so wonderful. I would say the best way to describe it's taste is 'silver'. If that makes sense to you.

I just read this wonderful quote from The Thin Man “You see, the important thing is the rhythm. You always have rhythm in your shaking. Now a Manhattan you shake to a foxtrot. A Bronx to a two-step time. A dry Martini you always shake to waltz time."

Anyone for another ... I'm about to go shake my shaker waltz time...

Fringe/bangs pondering

Sensible things to do on google streetview:
- Look at your new neighbourhood you're moving to next week

Silly things to do on google streetview:
- Look at all your favourite places in 'your' old neighbourhood in New York

Sob.

In other news, I'm contemplating a fringe (bangs). I haven't had one since I was a child, and I feel like my hair's had a vast personality change since then.

These days my hair is quite fine with a bit of a wave. Do you think in this age of a zillion and one hair products and straighteners with bells and whistles etc that it's possible for any type of hair to pull it off successfully?

Have you got a fringe? Does it take massive amounts of maintainance?

P.S. Louise Brooks - best fringe ever?

Homes to envy

Look at this beautiful, creative living/working space featured on Etsy. I'm quite simply green with envy!

Friday In and Out

Regular Friday duty

Huzzah
1. 2 weeks until moving date
2. My dark green metallic nails - very Sally Bowles
3. Hen party antics tomorrow, complete with cake bites!
4. Homemade banana pancakes
5. The smell of spring in the air
6. My MAC eyeshadow palette gradually filling up

Boo Hiss
1. Still more people tramping through the flat having a look at it
2. Being broke

That's all - the glass is very much half full!