News of the World + Barry M

I'll admit, I like a bit of salacious gossip with my breakfast on a Sunday so I'm a regular buyer of the News of the World (or News of the Screws as it's also sometimes known - which gives you an idea of the sort of paper it is if you're not from the UK).

I really like their little magazine "Fabulous"; it always has nice cheap and cheerful fashion and makeup ideas, and in line with this they've had an offer on for the past month to collect a token each week and after four weeks collect a Barry M special collection from Superdrug.

Ta-daa!


Worth £20 apparently, but free with 4 tokens!

A pillar box red nail polish, one quick coat rather haphazardly applied:


A black eyeliner, a charcoal eyeshadow, and a Glossy Tube lip gloss


The eyeshadow has a slight silvery sheen, and the lip gloss is a very pigmented nude - miraculously not sticky at all either - which is a revelation!

So, all in all - not a bad haul. I think I've been pleased with everything I've ever tried from Barry M, and it's funny to think about the (well deserved) love and recognition the brand is now getting after languishing on the outskirts for so long.

5 things making me smile right now

1. Barry M toffee lipgloss - it's official, I'm in love. I've even grown to love the smell.

2. My Longchamp le pliage - my friends bought me this one for my birthday and it hasn't been off the crook of my arm since. Sorry other bags - I still love you dearly, but I'm in the midst of a steamy affair here.

3. The City - I used to work in the distant reaches of south London, and now I work in the City and I love it. Love the buildings, love the lack of tourists, love the busy atmosphere and love the little side streets you stumble across with proper old fashioned pubs - it feels all Dickensian. I'll take and post a photo soon of my favourite little street

4. My sweet potato and cannellini bean soup - quite delicious if I say so myself, and great for taking into work for lunch. Makes me feel smug on two fronts - not spending money on buying lunch and the minimal calorie count and healthy nature of it!

5. The This Amerian Life podcast - how great is this? Does anyone else know it? It's a freebie stumbled across it on iTunes and is a collection of stories and thoughts on a different topic each week. It's fascinating.

Link me to your 5 favourites things, folks!

Barry M lip loving

There's a lovely big Superdrug near work so I popped in at lunchtime yesterday and picked up these two. They were £4.19 each so pretty affordable and despite being cheap, the packaging is great (Rimmel, No 17 - take note!)



Lipstick no. 146 - Dolly Pink, and lip gloss in no. 2 - Toffee


They're the first Barry M lip products I've tried, and overall I'm impressed. The consistency of the lipstick is lovely - I have the say the colour is BRIGHT..I'm not entirely sure how often I'll find myself reaching for this one, but nevertheless it's a fun addition.

You may already have noted my deep hatred for lip gloss but I'm determined to find one I like. This one falls very much into that 'my lips but better' category - and the effect is pretty. It's not as sticky as some, which I like. The overpowering toffee smell is a little off putting as I'm not sure I like feeling as though I'm smearing toffee sauce on my lips!

So, I'm going to try some more soon I think - which Barry M lip paints and glosses do you have? And do you like them?

Some recent disappointments

A quick rundown on a few things I've bought recently. I'm sorry to say, most of these have disappointed me, but perhaps you've found differently?

Group (fuzzy) shot:
Barry M Natural Dazzle, GOSH velvet touch eyeliner in black ink, MAC Eccentricity quad and Bourjois blush in Rose d'Or.

So, one by one

Well, I read the raves, I loved the swatches and so I went out and bought the famous Natural Dazzle. I don't know I've just got a bad one but it's incredibly hard to get any colour from this. I have to literally scrub it with a fingertip to get any colour, so as for managing to load anything onto a brush - fugeddaboutit! At a tenner I'm reluctant to shell out for another on the off chance I just got a bad one... had anyone else had this problem?

The Bourjois blush
So, Rose d'Or - golden pink - sounds perfect right? But again, it's very hard to get any colour from this and oh, the smell of it is disgusting - kind of powdering and old...like make up that's been festering somewhere for far too long.

Colour Craft Eccentricity
Pretty colours - I really love this selection a lot. And I love getting four colours so much more use to me than a single and not much more expensive. But - the glitter fallout on these is really tiresome. With I'd been more diligent with my research and hadn't bought this in such a hurry.

As for the GOSH eyeliner - I love it. Despite it's waterproof claims, it doesn't stay on my waterline for very long at all, but then I can't imagine anything would. Otherwise, big thumbs up.

Anybody else hate (or love?) these products?