Tag: A Bit About Moi! (And a question to other bloggers!)

A little while back, Mim Claire at Life is Sassy tagged me, so here you go, A Bit About Moi!

How it works: She gave me 8 questions to answer, so I'm answering them first. After that, I'll post 8 questions of my own and tag a couple of people to answer the new set. Then they can go and repeat the process on their blog! :)

1. If you were a lipstick colour, what colour would you be?
Fuchsia pink

2. What's one non-portrait photo that you feel represents your personality best? (Example: This would be mine. Pink and girly, but just a little oddball. :P)
My Scarlet O'Hara attempt for my friends Birthday....because I'm dressed up, because I look so utterly different, because I look glamorous, because I love big dresses, because the Dress is old......the reasons go on and on......but you may count that as portrait.....

3. What's your favourite hiding place?
The toilet!         I have kids :-D

4. Regardless of your actual age, what age to you FEEL like most days?
Grief when my joints ache 100 lol

5. What's something you would LOVE to wear, but can never pull off?
Structured dresses - They just aren't made for my figure, even my Wedding Dress maker had difficulty with the gradient of boobs to waist!

6. If they were going to stop making ALL beauty products, except for ONE, which one product would you want it to be?
Concealer - Amazing Cosmetics ........Oooh no Liz Earle Superskin Concentrate...........Nooo that's just too hard.

7. The candy industry is apparently also closing up shop, and they too give you ONE choice of candy to keep making, which one is it?
Snickers - easy by comparison

8. Who is your absolute, hands-down favorite beauty blogger currently? (doesn't have to be someone on blogspot, per se, I'm just always on the lookout for good blogs!)
Lillian Funny Face - Although MizzWorthy got me into blogging in the first place so absolutely deserves a mention,

Who is someone you really admire? It may sound cliché, but I truly admire my grandmother. This woman has been through so much in her life, yet she still remains a sweet and determined LADY. She's cute and prim and goes absolutely nowhere without her lipstick!
My Sister...she's a Nun who lives completely by the Vow's of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience, working in a very very poor area. She is so my opposite. You have to admire that......even if you can't understand it...

Ooops answered that one by mistake.....I was so tired when I did this.

So questions for:

Modesty Brown Loves Make up

Lady of the Lane 

Le petit jardin de liloo

Beauty Blogg Roll

Big Fashionista

lacquer ware for tips and toes

MylanQolia's Make Up Massacre

red lipstick and black liner

nukleopatra

Stay Beautiful

OK well I have no brain right now, so I've stolen the questions I like best by working backward through the last 4 or 5 tags:)

1 Who is someone you really admire?

2 What are three things you love about yourself?

3 If you could live somewhere for a month where would it be?

4. What is your biggest guilty pleasure?

5 What is your most important beauty secret?

6 What is your favourite piece of clothing in your wardrobe?

7 What is your dream job?

8 What is your most important beauty secret?

Frontcover Easy on the Eye - Cool

Well you didn't think I wasn't gonna get both of them at that price did ya?

Packaging is exactly the same as the Hot version

Again the top swatches are over UDPP. This time Honey, Baked and Butterum are quite strong in their own right.

For those of you who haven't been around so long, I'll just explain, that the reason I usually have an aversion to these sort of colours, the ones everyone else is mad for,  is because one day I woke up and found that browns made me look like my Mum. I love her a great, great deal, but I honestly don't want to look like her. Do any of us? We kind of know we're going there but even so.........I loved them in my 20's just not now.

If you ever read this, Sorry Mum, I hope your not too offended. But then you did introduce me to this:

Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

By Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple

with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired

and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

and run my stick along the public railings

and make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

and pick the flowers in other people's gardens

and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

and eat three pounds of sausages at a go

or only bread and pickles for a week

and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

and pay our rent and not swear in the street

and set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Lovea Tahitian Monoi Moisturising Body Lotion

I was so excited when I heard MyPure were sending me a bottle of Lovea Tahitian Monoi Moisturising Body Lotion to try. I have a small bottle of Elemis Monoi Moisture Melt and I love the smell so much. Body moisturiser is something I find essential these days, however I wouldn't say I have particularily dry skin.

Although I love the scent I didn't really know much about where it comes from, so I thought I'd find out a bit more:

Monoi oil is infused oil made from soaking the petals of Tahitian gardenias (tiare) in a semi-wax coconut oil. Monoi (pronounced Mah-noy) is an ancient Tahitian word meaning "scented oil" in the reo-maohi language. Monoi is widely used among French Polynesians as a skin and hair softener. It is also popular in Europe and gaining recognition in the United States.

Today’s marketplace is rife with monoi oil imitations. Authentic Tahitian monoi oil follows a strict manufacturing code that oversees the entire process from handpicking the tiare flowers to storage and shipping of the final product. This process has been validated and protected by an Appellation of Origin which was awarded to Monoi de Tahiti on April 1, 1992. Source Wikipedia

The product has a light milky texture that applies easily and absorbs quickly. I found the Moni scent much stronger than the Elemis (which on just checking the details actually has another flower scent), which could have been overpowering, but it settles quite quickly to a more gentle fragrance.

Lovea Tahitian Monoi Moisturising Body Lotion contains 2% Monoi, which, after reading about it's production, strikes me a quite generous for a product that costs only £6.99. And remember it's also certified Organic by the French organic certifying body: Cosmetique Bio & ECOCERT.

Here's what MyPure has to say about Monoi, and a full list of ingredients can be found here .

It was formulated for normal skin types and on my experience that is definitely the case. My skin has felt quite satisfied, although being a milk I felt like I used quite a bit each time. Reading the information now I see that Tahitian Monoi softens the skin in a gradual, lasting manner, so not something that's giving it's all when you first put it on and then fading after half an hour or so.

I also notice that it's used to combat the effect's of sun, wind and salt making it a great thing to pack if you're off on your hols. I certainly will (if I ever get near a beach!!) I thought I'd check how easy it was to close the pump off for travelling. It took me a couple of pumps but was relatively easy. I do much prefer a pump for this kind of product becase of the liquid texture. I'd make such a mess with it otherwise.

As I already own a number (lol) of body moisturisers, I'll be saving this for the occasional, treat use now, but I'd certainly recommend it and will be back for more later.

A'kin Jojoba and Lavender Conditioner

This is one of A'Kin's products that caught my attention way back. Now thanks to MyPure I got to try it out:) I just love the packaging. It reminds me of kinda old fashioned apothecary bottles. I love the shape, colour and how it feels in your hand. What strikes me most though is how economical of space this is. In a world of Carbon Footprints this bottle makes sense. It carries 225ml that's more than say the Lovea Shampoo I also trialled for Mypure, yet takes up way less space on the side of my bath. Way more importantly, think how many more units you'll get boxed in a container from Australia. I'm telling you, this packaging makes sense.

OK, but what about the product?

Here's a bit about A'kin's natural hair care:

 The range consists of 7 shampoos, 4 conditioners and 2 styling/treatment products.  They are made from the finest ingredients, chosen for their purity and skin friendly compatibility. A'kin hair care is formulated free from sulfates, ethoxylates, parabens, propylene glycol, petrochemical cleansers, silicones, phthalates, mineral oils, DEA and artificial colours. Products are certified vegan by the Australian Vegan Society and use certified organic ingredients where possible, they have been formulated without animal ingredients or animal testing. They are also halal certified.  

A'kin Jojoba & Lavender Conditioner combines certified organic lavender flower extract combined with cold pressed Australian jojoba to provide light conditioning and natural lustre to fine or oily hair. check out a full ingredients list here.

I have to say, it smells soooo gorgeous. I absolutely love lavender mmmm. It's my ideal wake up smell in the shower. It's also a delight not to be using a conditioner that simply coats my hair in silicone and yet my hair is as soft as ever. The only rub is that £7.49 is a little expensive for me right now. If I was working I'd be in there like a shot so too when I was pregnant and on a serious nasties avoidance scheme. However, it's also available in a 500ml size and MyPure sell some of the A'kin range in duo 500ml  shampoo and conditioner packs for just under £20 making the cost more like a fiver for 250ml. Which isn't bad value at all for such a lovely product. Unfortunately the Lavender doesn't appear to be included in this right now.

Frontcover Easy on the Eye Hot - EOTD

I've done a few looks with this palette now, unfortunately the new camera really doesn't pick the colour up(see pic at the bottom) to make for a good EOTD.

So here we have some shots with the old camera back in use.......it just takes soooo long!

This is the first look I've tried using all four colours together. The previous ones have just been using the Iced Lime and River Blue. Blues and greens being my go to colours. But I really wanted to have a play at incorporatingthe pink and orange without bringing another palete in.

What I did find straight away is what an awesome colour Coral Kiss is on my eyebrows! It just brings that extra bit of life to them:)

*

Below is the EOTD from the other day, enhanced with a little Cloud Dance and a teeny touch of the navy from the Circus palette which was still on the brush I grabbed in a hurry! again I have the Coral Kiss on my eyebrows.

Juárez - A Real Life Horror Movie

OK I'm a little late to this party, I'm very busy with my non blogging life right now and having a bit of a twitter detox to boot! Just in the very slim chance you haven't heard Mac and Rodarte have joined up to bring you a wonderful collection for AW10 - Check it out here at Temptalia.

Uproar, claim and counter claim ensue......

Mac have said their sorry, never intended to cause offence...........are they thick as two short planks? Or just so in the thrall of Rodarte that they thought they could do no wrong?

Rodarte are fashion darlings right now. Their stuff is beautiful and very artistic.

Let's see where they started from though.........well that would be horror movies. Never my cup of tea, but fair's fair lots of people love them.

Recent inspiration? Mad Max......death valley.....

Initially I let my personal prejudice think that they were just stupid Americans who didn't have a clue what was going on in the world outside their personal bubble. No chance.

Check out this video at http://www.lstudio.com/ where the Mulleavy girls openly admit that they have always been obsessed with horror as a genre. Check out the collection of blood soaked cloth and then tell me that they didn't know exactly what they were doing with this collection. I'm sorry, but having looked at the trend of their work and style, it's clear to me that they have lighted upon the plight of the women of Juárez as a real life Horror Film and without any thought or concern for the women and their families incorporated it into their art.

The thing is, they are right, the reality of life in Juárez quite clearly is just that.......in pursuit of their horror inspired niche they have hit on a truth that many of us have been blissfully unaware of. But what have they done with it? Oh we were really looking at the bleak scenery.......

Does thoughtlessness or art really justify using this for commercial gain?

There are quite clearly big issues here to address, has the fashion industry just swept them under the carpet. And MAC? Oh we're sorry we didn't notice. Get real!

Right so now you have noticed, now we have noticed, let's do something about it. Don't give me vague statements about donating some of your profits.....I want the lot! I want more than that, I want promotion of the hidden plight of these women. I want a full blown link with Amnesty or some other suitable charity. Not some half hearted sop. You cocked up, now deal with it.

And I'm not alone www.bit.ly/bloggerzunite

Illamasqua Last Chance to Buy!

Until the 30 July Illamasqua are offering 50% off on 50 or so of their soon to be discontinued items, including some gorgeous nail varnishes. Check out the sale items here and see if there's any gems to grab before they're gone!