Review: ELF's Mineral Bamboo brushes

These brushes have been in my possession long enough to be given the full five star Rhamnousia treatment so I can finally let you know what I think of them.  If you want to know more about the basics, click here and ye shall see all you need to know about this range.

These are my test subject:

First, the general points:

• The bristles are bamboo coloured.  On the plus side, you can see how much product you have picked up.  This also means that the brushes look used a lot quicker so if you're funny about having brushes looking clean all the time, you will find yourself cleaning them more often.
• When I first got the all-over eyeshadow brush out of the packaging, a powder came out.  I kept stroking it until all the powder had vanished.  It wasn't a large amount of powder but I've never had that situation with any brush I've used before.
• The hair on the brushes is very soft.  The softness of these is on par with the brushes that Elizabeth Arden and NARS make.
• When you take them out of their packets, they smell very plastick-y, much like those children's plastic chairs that we all had.  However, this smell all but faded once I'd taken them out of the packet.
• They don't seem to pick up as much colour as my other brushes which is a good thing if you're new to using makeup as you don't want to be over zealous and look like a fool.  If you're a bit more advanced then this might annoy you a bit.

Obsessions du jour

The things are currently occupying my fickle mind are...

The Sopranos

I had two episodes recorded and as I came home early from work the other day, I watched them both.  I now have itchy feet waiting for the next one.  I have never seen this programme before but I already love it.  I love the fact they intersperse their conversation with Italian (as I do that with Punjabi), I love the way they openly use the word whack (something which I thought they wouldn’t really say), I love how the right hand man is called Pussy, I love how someone in the mob owns a strip club and you see a lot of boobers on the show.  I love the fact that you see the gruesome-ness, I have only seen two episodes but I have seen a man’s head kicked in and a man get his brains blasted over a butcher’s table.  I love how they don't edit things down, they way they happen is the way you see them.  True to life is what I think I mean.  Most of all, I love how easy it is to access.  I found The Godfather hard work the first time I watched it but I just slipped into this and it made very easy viewing.  The people who wrote it, directed it, produced it and acted in it have done very well.  And it doesn’t seem fake, it’s all very real.  Another thing that I liked was the fact that he stayed true to his roots..he's gone up in the world but he still conducts all of his business back where he was brought up.

Scented candles

You follow me on Twitter, you know all about this.  If you don't, step to it.  I've found a brilliant seller on ebay who ships super quick and has very reasonable postage.  The Yankee ones I have are samplers but they are big enough, I've been burning them a lot and each should burn for 15 hours.  How much do the samplers cost? Less than 2 quid.  However, you do need something to put them in, I wanted to be decadent and use a crystal Scotch glass or a rummer but attempts to permanently deprive (nice legal term for you there..thank you first year uni) my dad of one of his didn't go well.  My current favourite scents are Clean Cotton, Black Cherry and Mountain Pine.

Bronzers

Never did I think I'd be the one using a bronzer but I've found that the right one can give you the shiny cheek look that I can never achieve with blusher.  I wanted a blusher without colour that just gave my cheek a bit of a highlight, now I realise that you need a bronzer to do that for you because they're easier to match to my skintone than a blusher is for this.  If this one works as well on me as it does on her, it shall have to be purchased.

What's everyone else loving?

Rhamnousia Reviews: Biotherm SKIN.ERGETIC Anti-Fatigue Concentrate Serum

After my last disaster with serum, I was really looking forward to giving this a go.  My bottle has no print on it but I saw a few in Boots and they all had a nice Biotherm printing on it.  This is also the reason why you're getting a stock photo in this post.

First, how to use it..

The box comes with a silver packet inside, inside this is an alternative top for the serum bottle.  You take the standard top off, put the alternative top on and push down, releasing a brown powder into the serum.  You take alternative top off and put the standard lid back on.  The instructions say one tap is enough to immerse the powder properly into the serum but I gave it a good shake to mix it in well.

It smells very fruity..to those of you who have been to India and have ice cream there, that is exactly what this smells like.  The brown powder smells like fish food but when mixed into the serum, it takes on the fruity smell.

The bottle is made of glass and it reminds me of when I used to play with the glass bottles on my mum's dressing table.

I use one stingy drop a day.  This was found out via trial and error.  I use only the tiniest amount on my forehead, nose and chin and a little more on my cheeks as I have combination skin.  If I use more, it makes my skin greasy.  The day cream I put on top of this is Garnier's Soft Essentials Day Cream.  It sinks in quickly if you use the right amount, if you find it taking ages then you're using too much. 

It claims to turn tired looking skin around and make it look radiant and fresh.  Claims which, if actually true, would sum up exactly what my skin needed when I got it.  So..does it work?

After the very first use, my skin looked a lot smoother when I was putting my eye makeup.  The morning after, I didn't have my usual dry flakes around the nose that I'd suffered with from the onset of winter.  My skin also felt quite plumped out and it looked a great deal more radiant than it did before I used this.  The sweet smell doesn't linger at all after the first two or three days.  I've used this for three/four weeks now and there is still a lot left.  I'm still using one drop on my face and it has really made my skin look very good, a lot of the ladies at work are convinced that I've been going for facials on the sly..  It's brilliant for those who don't have time to be masking themselves up all the time, it makes you look like you've used a brightening mask which is brilliant.  I find myself using less foundation and concealer as it really evened my complexion out.

This will set you back £35.  Do I think it's worth £35? I do.  Simply because I find it hard to get a serum which is aimed at my age (26 years old) that doesn't make my skin overly oily because it is too rich.  I've used a fair few in the past and this is the only one that has does what I'd want a serum to do.  Plus, the fact that it lasts so long is also a good thing.  You can pick it up from the Biotherm site or from Boots.

New from The Body Shop (and my first impressions): Earth Lovers shower gels

Mixing together fruit and herb extracts and Community Fair Trade aloe vera, the new Earth Lovers shower gels by The Body Shop promise to not only be good for your skin but also for the environment.  The range is the second range from The Body Shop to fall under the eco-conscious label (the first being their Rainforest shampoos).

The entire range is made from a soap free base so it's suitable for sensitive skins and it won't dry you out which is something I welcome because my current shower gels have been aggravating me no end.  The range doesn't contain any of the following:

• Sulphates: This doesn't mean that they don't foam, they contain natural foaming agents.. I can vouch for this as I have a bottle and it does foam up but not as much as ones with sulphates in.  Having said that, I like this amount of lather better.
• Colourants: This ensures that you can see the actual colour of the gel (their Rainforest shampoos are the same).  
• Parabens:  More nasties you don't want!

They come in seven different smells..well, six, the seventh one is unscented.  Does that count as a smell? It doesn't to me because a smell is something your nose recognises but if it's go not smell, what can your nose recognise? But then is nothing something you can recognise? You do say "I smell nothing" so that's recognition.. Anyway, I don't like the way that the Cucumber and Mint one has a lighter coloured bottle design compared to the rest.  In my mind, that should be reserved for the unscented one. 

EOTD: The two brush, two eyeshadow smokey eye

The one thing I've wanted to be able to manage is a smokey silver/grey eye.  This has eluded me for many reasons, the first was that I didn't have a decent grey eyeshadow and the second was that I had no clue how to go about blending grey to get it into two different tones.

I can't remember why I bought the MUA shadow, I can only think that it was because it was next to something else I bought and impulse buying is a mother..  The two brushes are from the ELF Bamboo range and the hairs are actually a pale yellow (er..bamboo, you dunce!) colour, they're tinged darker because I couldn't wait to use them.

I hate the way any makeup looks so unimpressive when you close your eyes but I really like how this looks in the open eye shots and I keep my eyes open more than I do closed so that's a winner.  There is indeed a bit missing but there's a reason for that, it works really well with my eyes open, you can see the "missing bit" effect in my eyes open shots, I wanted that little bit of clearance there.  I've lined my eye with the MUA shadow, it really is very pigmented and well behaved as a liner, not like the other pesky ones that end up in the eye, this baby stays where you put it.  And...the shadow by 17 is grey with little blue-y glitter bits in it which is something new for me, I've only ever seen silver with golden bits in it.  Last point, I swear! You can see that it is creasing a bit, I've tried this with a primer underneath it and stays true to colour, I just didn't have the mind to photograph it.

The best part of all is that I wore this work and got away with it! Thus, I'm declaring it worksafe.

There's a review coming up on these brushes (and the two face ones I have) very soon!

A man's perspective on Hugo Boss Orange Man

As many of you know, I live with a man.  A man whose virtues I shant extol here as he is fully aware of them.  He has been the test subject for my first ever fragrance post, the subject of which being Hugo Boss Orange Man.

These are his thoughts (typed by me):
The smell you get from a sniff compared to that you get from spraying it is totally different.  It took a few minutes after spraying for the true smell to come out.  It's not an overpowering scent, I'd say it was a background smell, you only notice it's missing when you don't wear it.  I'm convinced it smells like a mixture of perfume-y apples and coriander, not sweet apples though..the other ones.  And regardless of what anyone else says, I'm sure I smell a tiny bit of vanilla.  It's not your typical "boy" smelling scent so if you want to buy something a bit different, this would be a good bet.

The bottle is very similar to the women's version.
 
Would he buy it? Yes, but make sure you spray it so that you get the proper scent, it smells totally different from sniff to spray.

These are my thoughts: 
I gave him a "are you dizzy, blud?" look when he said it smelt of coriander and apples because who would ever think to put that smell into a perfume?  Imagine the egg on my face when I checked online and saw the official smell was described as having top notes of crisp apple and coriander...and something to do with vanilla.

Talking of descriptions, this also made me laugh "Boss Orange Man, a vibrant scent of free-spirited optimism.  The Boss Orange man is truly liberated. A mellow soul with a passionate and spontaneous spirit, his fragrance complements his easy-going charm and his natural feel-good aura.  A fragrance with a remarkable character and a relaxed feel, just like the Boss Orange Man himself."  He is a mellow soul though, nothing ever seems to faze him whereas I used to lose my shit at the drop of a hat.

If you're wanting to buy a perfume for a typical Indian boy (you all know the type), this won't fit the bill BUT.. both my brothers have all the standard Indian boy smells (Issey Miyake, 212 etc..) and they didn't mind this one.

You can pick this up from Escentual.com, prices range from £25.00 to £45.00.

Garnier Soft Essentials Rose Water Toner aka the product that saved my dodgy skin

Towards the end of the last year, I had a skin crisis which seemed to be something that would never be fixed.  My skin went from being combination (at best) to being super dry.  My nose and cheeks were really flaky and nothing helped restore adequate moisture.  I used products that left me feeling greasy and yet dry at the same time.  Then I picked this toner up..not expecting great things.

My cynicism was clearly built on a weak foundation as this pink unassuming bottle rescued my skin from the flakes and adequately plumped it back up to its normal self.

I find that being stingy with this is the best way to use it as otherwise, it takes ages to dry and I find myself dabbing my face with a tissue to get some excess moisture off.  I find it makes my skin clean and also gives enough moisturiser so that I don't need to moisturise afterwards.

It does have a smell but it's a nice smell, it's not overly natural or overly synthetic, you can't really notice it unless you sniff it out.

It has really transformed my dull winter skin into my usual non winter skin.  I find it also does the job of a cleanser at times as it is very good at removing City grime that collects on my face on a daily basis.

I have been using it in conjunction with the matching face cream which is surprisingly light considering it is for people with dry skin.

I took this photo when I had just started using it and it is nearly all gone now.

Both this and the moisturiser cost me less than £4 but even at full price I don't think it is too expensive.  The range is currently on offer in Boots (2 for £4).  I haven't linked you up because it's not the website but I've seen them instore!

A tale of 12 moisturisers..

I jumped onto the bandwagon of daily body moisturising back in 2005 when I had finished my law degree and was working the summer before doing my LPC..a bandwagon which I quickly disembarked when I realised just how heavy the workload of the LPC was.

But, I hear you say, that was nearly 6 years ago, why are you still packing heat?  Well, I was moisturising during the interim, albeit sporadically.  I also kept buying more and more in the hope that I'd once again have the time to moisturise everyday because, you know, getting the LPC out of the way was the hard part, not what came after it *ahem*. 

I've reviewed the Aveeno ones in detail here but pace yourselves for a speed review of the rest.

Olay Body Quench Mousse:  If you use too much, you will feel sticky and greasy for ages.  I find the best way to use this is to squash it into your skin and then slide your hand down to let it soak in.  This makes your hands sticky and this will transfer onto the canister.  On the plus side, the bottle lasts an age.  It is also very cheap.  It cost me £1 from the Pound Shop and it is a permanent fixture as I have always seen it there.  They have another variant for people who have normal skin.  If you moisturise after shaving/waxing, don't use this as it stings like a motherfudger.  

Would I buy it again? No.  It doesn't give my skin enough moisture and takes ages to dry properly.

The all singing, all dancing Valentine's Day gift guide

Well..Monday is the big day.  Have I bought Simon anything? No.  Mainly because I haven't found something befitting a man of his stature *ahem*.  I saw this bitchin' pair of spoons in a newspaper, the "head" of the spoon was shaped like a heart but I can't really see him being too impressed with those.  

Anyway, men are easily pacified with a bit of carnal delight come Valentines Day so this is about the people that actually appreciate a good gift.

(All the links under the photos will take you straight to the the respective places to purchase the items..)

Clothes
Always something a bit dodgy come Valentines Day because you know that getting clothes either too big or too small won't really help sexify the mood.  Sexify being a technical term I learnt whilst watching Family Guy.  Thus, make sure you know the size before you go shopping..and by size I mean actual measurements because we all know a River Island size 10 isn't the same as a Topshop size 10.  If that's too much work, underwear is usually easier to buy once you know the cup size..

Images courtesy of La Senza

1. Babydoll: £25.00
2. Bra: £20.00, Thong: £8.00, Shorts: £12.00
3. Bra: £28.00:, Thong: £10.00 , Shorts: £14.00
4. Bra: £28.00, Thong: £10.00, Shorts: £14.00
5. Bra £30.00:, Thong: £12.00, Shorts: £16.00
6. Bra: £22.00, Thong: £10.00, Shorts: £14.00
7. Bra £22.00:, Camisole: £16.00, Shorts £12.00
8. Babydoll: £36.00
9. Bra: £28.00, Thong £12.00:, Shorts £16.00

Pantene Colour Protect Instant Nourishing Shine Spray and 2 Min Damage Rescue Treatment

This review comes courtesy of the two ladies in my family who constantly dye their hair.

I've had this range since before Christmas, thus they've tested it for a fair old while.

Party 1: A hair dyer who air dries her hair and only roughly blowdries their hair.
Party 2: A hair dyer who beats her hair with heat on a daily basis.

Both parties have shoulder length dyed hair.

My photos make the labels look red, they're a bright pink in real life.

Pantene Colour Protect Instant Nourishing Shine Spray (£4.07)
Ingredients:

Aqua, Amodimethicone, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, PPG-2 Methyl Ether, Polyquaternium-11, Disodium EDTA, Polysorbate 80, Parfum, Aminomethyl Propanol, Citric Acid, Panthenol, Panthenyl Ethyl Ether, Cetrimonium Chloride, Trideceth-12, Lysine HCl, DMDM Hydantoin, Hexyl Cinnamal, Methyl Tyrosinate HCl, Benzyl Salicylate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Histidine, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Acetate, Linalool, Limonene, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Benzyl Benzoate.

Both parties have been using this once every two/three days and are very impressed.  They wash their hair about three times a week anyway so their hair never looks greasy or lank.  I've seen both raven haired foxes whilst they've been using this and their hair looks like glass.  It looks a lot healthier than it used to before.

Free Benefit Badgal mascara and makeovers at Debenhams

If you have nothing to do on Valentines Day (February 14th), why not hotfoot it down to Debenhams and get yourself yourself a free makeover and Badgal mascara courtesy of Benefit?


Alls you need to do is visit on of the 105 Debenhams stores with a Benefit concession, login to your Facebook profile via either the traditional route or the Facebook app, open "places" and then click on "check in". You obviously need to check in to Debenhams, which should feature on the list.

If you're one of the first 10 people to do this at your chosen store, you get yourself a travel sized Badgal mascara.  If you miss out that, it's still worth checking in as there will be free makeovers on offer all day.

Adventures with a bent eyeliner brush..

The brushes that came with all my gel liners have not been very good at lining my eyes, mainly because I feel that they don't give me enough control and the liner doesn't sit close enough to the root of the lashes for my liking.

Thus, I went on the hunt for a bent eyeliner brush as I'd heard they were really good.  The two of choice were the Benefit Get Bent brush and the Sonia Kashuk one.  SK isn't readily available here so I have the Benefit one.

When you take that plastic "protector" off, the brush is quite stiff and me being me had to bend the bristles to loosen it up a bit..then the panic hit me..what if I've ruined the brush?! Well, I hadn't so don't panic if you're compelled to do the same.

EOTD: Silver Fox? More like a purple rinse fox..

I wasn't sure the direction to take with this one..it didn't feel summery/springy enough for pastel green and purple wasn't going to take centre stage again so that's how I ended up with this look.

I'm glad my boss wasn't at work because there's no way I would have been allowed this on if he was there but thems the perils of working in the buttoned up corporate world..

It was mean to be silver/grey on the lid with purple in the crease but I ran out of time due to having to straighten my hair so I kind of mixed the two together.  I still think it looks OK.

 It looks dodgy on closed eyes but I really like how it looks on opened eyes and I'm going to apply all my two toned/non crease looks like this..

It stayed on pretty well all day and as we were going to an Indian function after work, I had to conform to stereotype and bang out the old eyeliner..

The flick isn't the best in the world but it sufficed!

And here's what I used:

Overall, I'm quite happy with how brown the grey and purple mix makes my eyes look.  I know that individually they're colours that make brown eyes pop but I didn't think the effect would be so obvious when I tag-teamed them.  I'm also really impressed with the staying power of the Revlon shadows.  I had a primer on underneath but I thought the colours would fade during the day but they really didn't.

PS..a purple rinsed fox!

There's gna be some changes around here!

Writing words like "gna" and "kinda" cause me a great deal of internal conflict as on one hand, I'm a complete grammar and spelling Nazi and on the other hand, I don't want to look like a goon using full on English words when they don't flow right.  Hence why I've let the inner rudegyal win and used the word "gna"..which isn't really a rudegyal word at all..

Anyway, this is a true to form rambly post where you don't get much by way of knowledge but you do get to see the inner workings of my genius (and, of course, modest) mind..

Re. the changes..they're nothing earth shattering and new..

The first is that I've finally pulled my finger out of my tokhes (word of the week by the way) and managed to get myself some contact lens.  I don't know why I do these things to myself..I've had lens on and off since I was 16 but this is the first time I've ordered them properly for a period of longer than three months.  I am wearing them at the moment and I keep doing that annoying "pushing your glasses up" thing, despite the glasses being off.  I suppose that will take a bit of time, naturally.

I'm not really sure how that connects in with the blog apart from the fact that I will be now be able to do EOTD's for people with porky eyes who DON'T wear glasses..

It will also mean that I can give face masks a more thorough testing as I won't be rushing to take them off so I can whack my glasses on and reintroduce the world to my eyes..

Number two is my resolutions..it feels odd using a singular word with a number higher than one..like I'm cheating on one with two..sorry one! Anyway, my two resolutions for this year were simple...

1. Get the brows threaded every two weeks without fail.
2. Make an effort every single day (i.e. WEAR the foundation instead of staring at it in the morning)

They're going well so far..I'm quite chuffed with myself because I've actually managed to pluck my brows so they're lasting longer.  The effort making is also going well, I've finally realised that wearing foundation without blusher is just asking for trouble because you look ill..blusher that mother on up!  Doing the latter also finally made Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish work better for me.

There are also some blog related changes which I won't say too much about now but you will see them as they come about..

What else..I have a question about Sky +..does everyone who has it get the same programmes on their Anytime? I'm convinced they don't but Simon is convinced that they do..the only reason why I ask is because we have a mixture of ANTM, Cake Boss and tonnes of Premiership Years so they must know what we watch and put that on there..musn't they? 

Talking of Cake Boss, it is my aim for this year (along with learning crochet) to go to their bakery because their skills are amazing.  I watched the Christmas episode today and was amazed at how good their cakes looked..there is practically nowhere here that I know of that makes cakes like that around Christmas time.

I've also managed to successfully grow my nails..then the ring finger went and broke, boo!

But, I have a plan! I'm finally going to get around to sticking my Nailene ones on so that should cover the damage.

Talking of which, how could you forget that group, Damage?  I remember I was at school once in Maths (sums are my Kryptonite) and we were doing the usual mix of chatting shit and magazine reading whilst the teacher was out of the class..our teacher was an old cantankerous sod.  Anyway, he came back in and saw a poster of Damage on his desk and went flipmode..demanding to know who owned the post of Da-marge.  We nigh on pissed ourselves laughing at him which only made him angrier and angrier..he threw a chair through the window a few lessons later and it hit a guy in the Sixth Form and we never heard of him after that..

Anyway, if you muddled through until now, well done and I hope you see how much I scale back on my ramblings for the beauty orientated posts here..count.your.blessings!