Vanity Claire | Birmingham Fashion and Beauty Blog

ClaireOctober 28, 2013

Our New Crib | Lauren’s Bedroom

Ahoy there pals,

As you may be aware, Claire and I have recently moved homes. Our old place was a very interesting array of horrific carpets and there is a distinct possibility that an old lady died in there (just on Saturday I found some weird talcum powder in my wardrobe, good heavens). Our new house is a beautiful palace of wonderment, and this is the start of a new series showing off where we now live (for all of you stalkers out there that like to imagine us lurking around at home).

I have to say, I managed to bag myself one of the most beautiful rooms in the history of the world. I was lucky in the sense I didn’t have much furniture, so I could build my room around the space I had. So, I ended up with the stunning mint green boudoir with wooden floorboards and a BEEYYYOOOOTIFUL white mantelpiece. HUZZAH AND THANKS TO THE QUEEN (and my lovely housemates who had too much furniture to fit in, tehehe).

I’ve not quite finished decorating, but the finishing touches will involve a nice rug in the next couple of months and maybe hanging a bit of bunting for some winter cheer (because nothing says cheerful like a string of triangular shaped bits of paper).

The Mantelpiece:

I have huge, weird love for my mantelpiece. It’s an excellent place to stash all of my useless candles and random things I have collected over the years. The fireplace mirror is actually an excellent one for doing my makeup in, so any unannounced visitors are likely to find me on the floor surrounded by lipsticks wailing about my troll face. For anyone who is particularly nosey, I keep my wires and framed photograph of a ship (a weird charity shop purchase) in the leopard print box and the union jack book is a scrapbook my mum made me for my 21st. The bucket is not, in fact, a milk bucket for the cow I keep in my bedroom but rather my quirky rubbish bin.

In a fit of being sensible, I went for Ikea’s cheapest wardrobe (and also because my lovely mother was treating me to it) but it’s a jolly good thing I did – it only just fits in my alcove! There’s not much to say, apart from the fact I look like a victim of domestic abuse after putting this thing together (because of the flatpack related bruises, not because it comes with fists). For £60, it’s really good quality and also comes with a shelf which is just marvellous and fine.

Can we all spend a moment mooning over this chest of drawers? If you’d read Claire’s wardrobe organising post, you may notice that it’s the same brand as her wardrobe. Unfortunately, this wardrobe wouldn’t fit in my bedroom so I had to delight myself with the drawers and side table. I am being a tidy egg and ensuring that everything is hidden away, so I just have the bare minimum on the actual top bit. I have ALL of my toiletries and bits in the top drawer, undercrackers and PJs in the second and tshirts and not-very-often-worn bottoms in the last drawer. And now all the creeps know where I keep my pants. Excellent.

Here is my matching Brusali bedside table, complete with Game of Thrones and a nice lamp from Wilkinsons (£6! PARDON AND HELLO). What impresses me most about this bedside table is that there is a little opening at the back for your plugs to go through. No longer do you have to suffer through the trauma of having your phone charger on show. It is nicely concealed in the cupboard. If that isn’t wizardry, I don’t know what is.

What do you all think of my new bedroom? If you have any suggestions of how I can add anything more, I would be most grateful – my interior decoration skills are about as good as a blind homeless troll from the mountains.

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireOctober 24, 2013

Bleach London White Toner | Review & Results

If I had to pick one brand that’s been the most hyped in the blogging community this last month, then it’s Bleach London. Bleach is a London-based hair salon that has now branched out to launch their own product range, specialising in dip-dye kits, semi-permanents hair dyes that span fully across the colour spectrum (yes, green included), and toners. Now of course I’m hugely tempted by the pink hair dyes, but my first priority for now is still getting my hair as white as possible, so on a recent trip to Boots I decided to pick up the White Toner for £7. I’ve previously used the Directions white toner (my review of which you can read here) and was happy with it, but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try this much hyped about brand.

My hair was badly in need of a toner. It had been about three weeks since I had used my second pot of Directions and although I’d tried to stay on top of it with silver shampoo and the occasional dash of L’Oreal’s lilac hair dye mixed in with my conditioner, yellow tones had started to show strongly through my hair. You may know that I have a hair weave, and my extensions are a silvery colour – thus my own hair starting to turn yellow was nothing short of a nightmare.

Process

The White Toner Kit contains a Developing Lotion, a Colouroant and a Reincarnation Mask for aftercare. It works in very much the usual way that box dyes do – you crack open the top of the lotion bottle, squeeze in the colourant and shake what your momma gave ya (and then shake the bottle too). You use the little nozzle to apply the toner to your head and then leave to develop for fifteen minutes.

This toner’s different from Directions in that rather than being a bright purple (the colour commonly used to tone down yellow) it’s simply a normal white creamy colour. So how does it tone it? My answer is that I don’t know, and I can only conclude it’s sorcery.

I had my usual struggle with application because I was only applying it to my natural hair and not my extensions, thus had to do lots of head flipping and tying up random bits of hair. Thank God nobody randomly decided to knock on my front door because I looked, quite frankly, like I should be sectioned. But eventually I managed to apply the toner evenly(ish…) to my real hair and then I left it to develop for fifteen minutes.

As you can see it actually did start to take on a lilac hue, which reassured me a bit. It was definitely developing a bit sporadically though, with some bits of my hair not seeming to turn at all despite being fairly well coated. As always I was tempted to leave it on longer than the 15 minutes, but the leaflet had explicitly said (in what I imagine to be an aloof, cool-person voice) that it did NOT need longer than this.

Results

Before / After

Okay, you can see that I seriously wasn’t joking about how yellow my top layer had got, right? I would totally be ashamed I’d even gone out in public like that, except I had spent the previous three days lounging on my sofa watching Geordie Shore and eating Penguins so it was alright really.

Anyway, the results are definitely mixed. It has toned the overall appearance of my hair down hugely, i.e. I can actually face the outside world now without too much shame. But there remain some yellow bits – nowhere near as yellow as they were before, but still a pale lemon kind of shade that I don’t want on my dream white head. I don’t know whether it’s because of the box dye that was previously on my hair before I bleached it – which is what this article on bleaching would suggest – but there seem to be these stubborn little sections that just do not want to go white, no matter how much I try.

Because my hair is in such a complicated state right now, I wouldn’t really think the toner was to blame for not turning all of my hair white. However, the weird thing is my roots:

I had freshly bleached them that morning and so I would have expected that, without any old hair dye on them, they would have been the section to turn out the best. As you can see though, they didn’t really change colour that much, and it’s not until an inch down my head that we get the whitey-grey we’re looking for. I have no idea why this is, perhaps something to do with how porous hair is just after bleaching? But then people usually have toners put on after bleach at the salon, so I’m not at all sure why it didn’t take.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the Bleach London toner. I think it would work really well for people who just want to eradicate the very brassy tones in blonde hair, rather than necessarily get their hair as pale as I want it. It will definitely also be a good option for people who hate the fact that other purple-based toners like Directions can make hair turn lilac as, although it kind of looks it in the photo of my roots, it hasn’t actually done that at all.

This costs £7, which isn’t bad at all for what you would otherwise be forking a lot of money out for in a salon. I can definitely see myself trying this out again – and I promise , for the sake of the world, that I won’t leave it three weeks ever again. The world simply doesn’t deserve to be exposed to that again.

Have any of you tried Bleach London’s White Toner Kit? What did you think?

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireOctober 23, 2013

Organising Your Wardrobe: Tips for Not Living Like a Tramp

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to meet the new love of my life. Yes, it is a wardrobe. Yes, I know I’m dangerously close to becoming that woman who married the Berlin wall, but just LOOK at it – have you ever seen such a fine piece of furniture in all of your life? This little baby is a brand new addition to my brand new bedroom, and was kindly bought for me by my dad as a housewarming/’congratulations on finally passing your driving test you idiot’ present after he watched me swooning over it for a good ten minutes in the shop. It’s the Brusali wardrobe from Ikea and costs £140.

Now, I’m determined to start a new way of life in my new room – no longer do I want to be messy, live in a hovel, and be constantly worried that my piles of clothes are about to grow legs and start walking. I’m hoping that this beautiful new wardrobe will help me in my new organised way of life, and so before I filled it with all of my junk I did some research into effective storage techniques (yes, I have a lot of time on my hands, okay?) and here are a few things I learned…

1. The Clear Out Before you and your wardrobe can start your new life together, you should have a serious clear out. Go through all of your clothes and be ruthless in what you’re actually going to keep – a good rule is that if you haven’t worn something in a year, then you’re probably not going to and so it should be gone. The same applies to clothes that don’t fit you – ‘skinny’ clothes will only make you feel fat, fact – and clothes that are basically the same as other things you already own (though my personal exception to this rule is black vest tops – like hair grips and socks, I can never have enough black vests). All of these clothes are just taking up vital space in your wardrobe and, indeed, your life.

My first choice when clearing out clothes is always to put them on eBay and try to make some dollar. This is a really good idea if you’re anything like me and have a lot of dresses and outfits you’ve worn on nights out that you’re not going to wear again. With more basic clothes though – things like jumpers, t-shirts, jeans – it can be really laborious going through the whole photo taking, description writing rigmarole when the items might not even sell or only make you the measly 99p starting bid. If you’ve got a lot to stuff to get rid of, then I’ve just found out that Music Magpie now have a whole page about getting money for your old clothes as well as your CDs and DVDs, or I’ve seen a few stores recently, including Marks & Spencer and H&M, offering schemes wherein you get vouchers for donating bags of old clothes. Finally, we have the good old fashioned option of charity shops, where you can clear out a lot of old stuff and be left with the warm fuzzy feeling from do-gooding. Once you’ve got rid of all that ~~crap~~ unnecessary clothing, you can start creating the organised wardrobe of your dreams.

2. Storing Away One of the key things I picked up from my research is that your wardrobe should only really contain clothes you’re currently likely to wear. This helps you to see everything more clearly and to better plan your outfits. The basic idea then is that during the summer months you should store away your knitwear, and as you approach winter, pack away your bikinis, sun dresses and crop tops (sob sob, goodbye til next year my trust friends). Obviously don’t just chuck all your out-of-season clothes into your damp garage or anything; invest in some of those vacuum pack things that make your clothes all squishy, like the sartorial version of Flat Stanley, or just get some storage boxes and pop them on top of your wardrobe.

3. What to Hang and What to Fold Because for the last six months I’ve been without a wardrobe and instead have just been using rails (which I thought would look all boutiquey, but actually just made my room look like a bloody mess), the majority of my clothes have been hanging up. Faced with less rail space, then, I was a bit baffled about what to hang and what would be okay folded. The general rule seems to be quite a simple one: hang what needs to be hung. If it creases easily, then hang it up. So that’s probably things like dresses, trousers and anything with a hint of chiffon. Things that don’t need to be hung include jeans and heavy knitwear. I also chose to hang up quite a few jackets and coats I have that were cluttering up the back of my door, as well as scarves and belts. These are hung on one of the specially designed accessories hangers from Primark, but you can also get them from this eBay seller.
4. Smart Hanging It might not look it, but there actually is some semblance of logic to my hanging here. Some people like to colour co-ordinate their clothes, but… nah, that’s not for me. I’d just end up grabbing wildly at everything in my black section and never really putting any thought into anything. To make picking outfits a little easier, I decided to group my clothes together by type – so we have midi dresses at the left, then kimonos, dresses, tops, knitwear (the thin or new ones that I decided were worthy of being hung), with shorts, skirts and trousers to the right. I decided to group all of my going out dresses in the other section of the wardrobe, with the jackets, just so they weren’t as likely to get knocked every day – and also so that I’m never tempted in a moment of madness to wear sequins to work.

The Result

After some ruthless sorting and, I admit, the occasional mid-organising strop followed by a power nap, I think I finally have an organised wardrobe to be proud of! I even made room in the bottom of my wardrobe for a couple of pairs of shoes (I think the shoe-shelf thing was bought from Argos, but quite a few years ago – they have lots of other shoe storage though) and my washing basket. I hate having too many things left out in my room, so being able to hide away little things like that suits my minimalist tastes perfectly. Now that everything is organised, I take a solemn vow to

always fold things away properly
pick things up if they fall off hangers
not throw creased or worn things into the back of the wardrobe in the hope that they’ll end up in Narnia

What do you all think of these tips? Do you have any of your own to help keep wardrobes tidy and organised?

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireOctober 22, 2013

New Beauty Product Launches | Autumn 2013

‘Ello chaps.

I don’t know about you, but I am always hugely influenced by new beauty products. Nevermind whether they’re any good or not (here’s looking at you Maybelline Baby Lips, you useless product), the fact that they are new and exciting is enough for me to reach into my purse and fling money at the nearest Boots.

Claire did an excellent post on the new Barry M collection (of which she bought the Natural Glow Eyeshadow Palette – read her review here) and it got me thinking…what other new products have we got to moon over on the highstreet at the moment?

I’m the type of gal who likes everything in one place and it is hugely frustrating when you see products that say ‘new’ but then can’t properly find out more about them. If you’re a bit like me (god help you), then you are in luck. I’ve found out as much as I can about what new beauty products we have on the go for autumn and decided to be a top gal and share them with you.

Rimmel

Rimmel is still one of my favourite go-to makeup brands and I have never been disappointed by anything they offer me. I’m a big advocate of their 25 Hour Lasting Finish Foundation, which is fantastic if you like a coverage that is practically industrial and/or clown-like. They have launched a few new products, but the one that excites me most is their new Moisture Renew Lipsticks. I’m guessing this is their answer to Revlon’s Lip Butters – they’re supposed to be light wearing and moisture enriching. There is an amazing array of colours – especially for the deep reds/plums that we all want to smear on our lips in autumn/winter!

I want them all. Even with the embarrassing product names.

Collection 2000

We all have to admit that Collection have been bringing out the big guns recently. With the Lasting Perfection Concealer topping every bloggers’ list of must-haves and lots of other products making us reconsider one of the high street’s cheapest brands, I definitely think that we should keep our beady eyes on what Collection has on offer. The Deluxe Lipsticks look really good, which is also marketed as a moisturising lippy with creamy texture – lip butter bells ringing anyone?

I’ve seen the Cover & Go Foundation on the Collection stands for quite a while now (although they’re still marketing it as new on their website), I’m still vaguely unsure about how it would work. Foundation and concealer combined sounds like the disaster that 2in1 shampoo is. Still, it sounds interesting and may be worth investigating!

Revlon

I have to admit, I’ve not bought a huge amount from Revlon in the past. Call me a lunatic, but I always saw it as one of those ‘mum’ brands’. But after trying out their lip butters (can I rave anymore about a lipstick in one post?), I’m extremely keen to see what else they have on offer. I’m not sure how properly ‘new’ these products are (as I say, I tend to breeze past Revlon without much thought) but that Face Illuminator has my name on it. CAN YOU SEE IT?

Seventeen

For anyone who follows Stylingo on Twitter, you may have seen us rave on about Seventeen on numerous occasions (check out Claire’s reviews about their primer and highlighter here!). They have some amazing products on the go at the moment, a few of which I have tried and a few of which I really really want to try. I also recommend their Flawless Poreless Primer and their heavy duty concealer – they’re making my face look decidedly less troll like at the moment.

These are just a few of the new products on the highstreet that are currently on my beauty wishlist. Nothing excites me more than new makeup and there are some absolute bangers out there at the moment. Be sure to catch up on Claire’s Barry M product launch post too – you can’t have too much makeup knowledge now can you?

|| Also, don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireOctober 21, 2013

Currently Watching: eBay Wishlist #2

Another month, another endless list of eBay delights!

Fedora Hat – £9.98
Fedoras are hugely in fashion this A/W, but they’re the sort of item I’m just not sure if a) I can pull off without looking like a try hard twit, and b) I would be brave enough to wear without the fear of a gust of wind tearing it away from me. For these reasons, I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of money on one, so this one coming in at under a tenner (with free P&P, HOLLA) is the perfect way to experiment with the trend.

Ring Display Hand – £3.95
I’m still on the fence as to whether this is cool or a bit tacky and creepy. Even if it’s the second, I still want it to be honest. My rings are currently stored in a variety of different jewellery and trinket boxes, but I think something like this is much more fun. It’s also nice to see jewellery actually displayed and used decoratively in a room.

Fur Gilet – £22.23
As we go into the colder months, my deep and passionate lurrrve for fur comes out in full force. Two fur coats, a fur hat and a new fur collar are simply not enough – I also need this fur gilet for those days when my body’s all chilly but my arms are all toasty.

Printed Shorts – £9.59
I know these are completely unseasonable, but I am in love with the paisley print on these shorts. I also think the warm hues make them kind of autumnal… um, right?

Poster – £6.49
I’ve had my eye on this for a while, and now that we’ve just moved into our new house I think I have a definite reason to buy it. Even if my life is more about drinking tea and falling asleep on the sofa these days…

What do you all think of this wishlist? What are you loving on eBay at the moment?

ClaireOctober 20, 2013

Barry M ‘Lash Vegas’ Mascara | Review

Hey thurr everyone. We’ve had an insanely busy few days lately, as we both moved into our new house and then I finally passed my driving test! This has meant our days have been a whir of insurance quotes, Ikea flatpack furniture and (of course) celebratory champagne sipping. We don’t have Wi-Fi in the new crib yet so haven’t been able to blog, but today I’ve come to ‘visit’ my mum with the real intention of stealing her internet. Smooth, non?

Enough of my maverick antics, on with the show. Today I’m reviewing Barry M’s mascara ‘Lash Vegas’, which I’ve been using for around the last two weeks.

Despite loving Barry M, I wouldn’t ordinarily have chosen this mascara. Lash Vegas (£6.49) has a bristle brush, which I don’t usually go for because I prefer plastic, but I picked it up for free from Superdrug in a promotional offer so I wasn’t about to complain. Plus, has anybody else noticed the mascara’s oh-so-casual product placement in Iggy Azalea’s ‘Change Your Life’ video? If it’s good enough for Iggy, it’s good enough for me.

The brush is spiral shaped, supposedly designed to separate and define even the smaller lashes. It promises ‘show-stopping volume’ and ‘the ultimate oooooomph‘ – which is, of course, what every lady wants. So, does it deliver?

Overall, I do like this mascara. It’s a very ‘wet’ mascara, a bit like Benefit’s ‘They’re Real’ in the sense that it’s easy to get in a total mess when applying it and it takes a little while to actually feel dry on your lashes. One coat works well at defining your lashes and giving some added volume, though you have to be careful applying extra coats because the formula means it can clump quite quickly. Using an eyelash comb can quickly sort this thought, and you’re left with quite an intense black colour that lasts all day. During my weeks using it, I haven’t experienced any flaking throughout the day, and it never starts to feel at all crispy. The flip side of this is that it’s an absolute bitch to remove, so make sure you have a good eye makeup remover to hand!

For under £7, I think this is a really good value for money mascara. It lasts well, adds good volume and essentially does what it says on the tin. I don’t think I’d re-purchase it, because the only place it falls down is that it’s not fantastic at adding length – which is personally my main want from mascara. But if you already have quite naturally long lashes or are more about the volume, then I think Lash Vegas could indeed be the one for you. Barry M also released the waterproof version recently as part of their A/W range, so that might be worth checking out too.

Have any of you tried Lash Vegas? What do you think?

ClaireOctober 17, 2013

Outfit of the Day: Winter Pastels & Leather Leggings

Jumper: c/o New Look | Leather-Look Leggings: River Island (old) | Shoes: Converse | Beanie: H&M | Jewellery: Primark

I face many, many challenges as we head into winter, including how to avoid slipping over on the ice when wearing heels and how to go about sneaking my slanket into work with me. The biggest one of all though, is trying to battle my natural instincts to wear nothing but chunky knitwear, leggings and Uggs. My penchant for dark colours also comes out most strongly during the colder months, so if left to my own devices I would most likely be constantly seen solely in big, dark jumpers, as if in mourning for, I dunno, my fashion sense?

I therefore decided that this mint jumper from New Look HAD to be mine if I wanted a fighting chance of keeping some sort of colour in my winter wardrobe. How nice is the colour?! It’s perfect for the winter pastel trend, which I decided to make the most of by also wearing my lilac Converse. The jumper’s an Angora blend, so feels very luxurious, if a tad itchy (it’s the itch of rich people though, so you have to love it). It’s actually quite a slim fitting jumper, so I bought this in a size 16 for a slouchy, oversized feel.

The beanie’s also a new addition to my wardrobe. I can never really decide if I suit hats; I have a weirdly massive head and I think sometimes they emphasize that while making my face look even smaller, like a pea. However, beanies are just too comfy to ignore this winter, and this one cost just £3.99 from H&M so is an absolute bargain. They’re also superb for hiding roots – er, not that that’s why I’m wearing mine… ahem.

I like the mixture of prettiness and grunge in this outfit. Did I just say grunge? Yes, I unfortunately did, let’s just move on with our lives. It’s also ludicrously comfortable and so could perhaps be the sort of outfit to pull me out of my boring routine this autumn/winter.

What do you all think of this outfit? What are your tips for staying stylish in the winter months?

ClaireOctober 16, 2013

Seventeen ‘Stay Time’ Foundation & Primer | Review

It has to be said, as a person who generally goes through life from kerfuffle to kerfuffle, there aren’t that many times that I get to feel really pleased with myself. One of those rare moments came a couple of weeks ago though, when out of the blue I was contacted by the lovely Clare from Seventeen (superb name, it has to be said). She had read my recent makeup review of their new highlighter and primer – which you can read here if you so wish – and emailed me just to say how much she had enjoyed it.

It was so nice to hear that brands read what we write (I was especially delighted that she’d liked my ‘Pore-tsmouth’ joke, which I personally thought was a corker) and so the email in itself was enough to make my day – but then Clare said she would love to send us a few other bits to try out. Cue me becoming the most excited person in the world, and Seventeen automatically jumping right to the top of my Nicest Brands EVER list.

Two of the products I received a couple of days later were the brand new Stay Time Foundation in shade ‘Natural’, and the Stay Time Long Wear Primer. Longevisty is definitely one of the most important things for me when it comes to makeup. I have very long days, generally leaving the house before 7am and often not getting in again until 8pm. My commute to work also includes a horrible bus journey and around half an hour of walking each way, so depending on the weather my makeup is seriously put to the test. This new range’s promise of a long lasting base, then, was music to my ears and I couln’t wait to give it a whirl.

Firstly, the primer. It’s very different to the Flawless Poreless Primer, which in my review I describe as being a very thin balm which you can barely see or feel. Stay Time Primer is the more standard liquid primer that I’m used to. A thin layer of it goes on almost invisibly, but leaves you with a noticeable, slightly tacky base to work with. This sounds unpleasant, but it’s really not.

Next, the foundation. For one, I really like the packaging. You can’t really see in the photo but the pump twists around to lock and unlock – perfect for people like me (what some may call ‘idiots’) who are always losing lids and finding their makeup swimming in leaked foundation. At first I thought that shade ‘Natural’ might be too dark for me, but actually once I started applying it I was pleasantly surprised that I think my pale skin tone can just about get away with it. I buffed it into my skin with my usual brush, and have to admit I did find it a bit tricky to blend. I’m not sure whether it was the foundation itself or, as I suspect, the surface that the primer had created that made it a bit stubborn.

I persevered though and was actually incredibly pleased with the result. Although it’s not listed as one of the benefits, the Stay Time Foundation provided a lovely matte finish, which is perfect for me. It also promises full coverage, which I can confirm it delivers – yesterday I had an extremely attractive spot develop right at the side of my nose, and today the SPOT IT HIDDEN.

The coverage might be a bit too heavy for some people, especially when combined with the primer, but generally I like heavy coverage so it was great for me. I was also shocked, nay GOBSMACKED, after raving on about Flawless Poreless so much, to see that my pores are even less visible when using the Stay Time products than they are with that – so a huge thumbs up.

And what about the most important thing – the 25 hour lasting claims? Well, obviously, I haven’t tested it for a full 25 hours – I don’t know what sort of lives Seventeen’s target market lead, but I for one am usually in bed by half ten with a cup of tea and my Kindle. It did get tested on one of my busy work days, though, and I have to say I am hugely impressed! I had to touch up my powder and blusher through the day as usual, but when I got home in the evening my foundation was looking considerably fresher than it usually would at that time.

I would definitely recommend the Stay Time range to people who like a full coverage, or for those those who have a busy day ahead of them and want to be sure their makeup is staying put. I also think this will be great for a night out, when we generally want a heavier coverage anyway (and might actually stay up past – gasp – eleven pm!) Overall, I’m really impressed with these products and they’ve continued to change my perception of the Seventeen brand.

The primer retails in Boots for £5.49, while the foundation costs £6.49.

Have any of you tried these products? What do you think of the Seventeen brand?

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireOctober 15, 2013

If I Was A Rich Girl | October Wishlist

Good morning chums,

I am still in a horrific pit of poverty and haven’t bought much in the last few weeks, snore. Spending bans make me want to cry softly to myself. Nevertheless, I am still perving on a huge number of things at the moment that I simply must share with you all. That way, you can buy it and I can live through you all like a crazy mum on Toddler’s and Tiaras (although I probably wont be forcing you to do dance routines…).

Clothes & Shooooooes

Clothes, glorious clothes. My wardrobe is looking increasingly more pathetic as I keep selling everything on eBay. Claire and I are becoming quite the social butterflies (instead of sitting in and watching Downton Abbey, which has become our lives). Events are coming and obviously new clothes are necessary. I love this little Topshop pastel crop top and I am a keen bean to incorporate a few more pastels into my autumn/winter wardrobe. It’s knitted, so I think I should be able to keep the frostbite at bay.

I need more heels in my life and LETS ALL SAY HELLO TO THESE MISS SELFRIDGE HEELS. Phwoar, corr and good lord. They are stunning. I’m pretty positive I can’t afford to purchase them on my meagre bank account, so lets all start the hashtag #PrayForLauren to get these into my possession.

Beauty & Makeup

Excuse the horrifically long list of items in my beauty wishlist, but you know how it is…when you start browsing it is simply impossible to even think of stopping. I need to go to beauty bloggers anonymous. Particular favourites in this hugey list of beautiful things includes the Sleek Face Contour Kit. I love the look of this (much like I love the look of cake every second of the day) and the range of colours looks perfect for sculpting my face to look like someone who has bones rather than marshmellows for a face. I reviewed the Bourjois Bronzing Primer as a contour product here, but this will be my next facial experiment. Fingers crossed, I’m hoping to look like Scarlett Johansson.

I’ve also heard everyone rave about the Smashbox Brow Tech To Go kit, which is a little brush/pencil set. I’m keen to try it out as I am also on an eyebrow quest for the perfect brows. Too many quests, so little time.

I have a lot of primers in my life at the moment. I’m using Seventeen’s Flawless Poreless Primer, which is excellent beyond belief and I recommend it to anyone looking to get rid of those pesky holes in your face. Nevertheless, a gal can never have too many primers, so I want to try this Benefit one and see how it compares to the cheaper ones I own. I already use the Pore-fessional Primer, but this long-wearing intrigues me like a mysterious woman.

I saw this Collection Smokey Eye Palette recently on a beauty blog (I wish I could remember which!) and I was hugely impressed with the swatches. While I am definitely not a Collection snob, this palette looked a bit cheap to me. After seeing the range of colours and the pigmentation, I MUST OWN IT. NOW.

WELL FRIENDS. What do you think of my October picks? Do you guys have any reviews/hauls/ootds with some of these bits and bobs in? If so, PWEESE share them with me so I can have a gander before I launch myself at the Bullring.

|| Also, don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireOctober 14, 2013

The Best Deep Red Lipstick: MUA vs Sleek

IN THE RED CORNER… we have MUA in shade 1 (don’t stretch your creative brains too much MUA, they might explode). AND IN THE, ER, OTHER RED CORNER… we have Sleek in shade ‘Cherry’. These are two different lipsticks from two different brands, but they’re practically identical in shade. So – which is better?

First Impressions

MUA’s shade 1 retails for just £1. This is in itself completely ridiculous. How can a lipstick cost you just a quid? You go into Poundland and pick up a pack of Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers for a pound and you’re happy to have got those that cheap; never mind a WHOLE lipstick that you can use time and again (unlike the Cadbury’s Fingers, which usually last for approximately one cup of tea). Cherry by Sleek costs the much more sensible price of £4.99, which is still extremely reasonable even for a high street lipstick.

In terms of packaging, MUA has its usual black casing, with the really nifty little pot at the end containing an extra bit of product. Although I know that this is a cool feature, I’m not 100% sure what its actual purpose is. Sleek also has black packaging, though the matte makes it look (correctly) a little more expensive. It’s very small for a lipstick, and actually only has 3.5g of product compared to MUA’s 3.8g. I don’t think that 0.3 of a gram is really going to ruin your life, but it’s worth mentioning – yes, mainly because I’m proud of myself for bothering to look at this detail, and now feel really maths-y like Carol Vorderman. Anyway, moving on…

Swatches

As you can see, the shades looks practically identical both within the packaging and when swatched on the hand. The only difference in the swatches is that Sleek seems to have a slight edge when it comes to pigmentation, though MUA is still extremely vibrant. Ain’t nobody accusing MUA of being wishy washy.

On the lips, again both shades look practically identical. They both apply nicely, have a very smooth finish and appear very vibrant after only one layer. Ignore the pinky tones in these pictures – both actually appear much deeper than this in real life, and I can confirm they’re BOTH that dark red shade that is so perfect in autumn/winter for vamping up a daytime look or for a glamorous finish on nights out (whatever they are). Both feel very hydrating on the lips and not at all cakey. Of course, a lot of things in life that seem great at first can quickly turn awful – certain men, BBC sitcoms, etc – so the proof with a good lipstick is always in the…

Staying Power

I wore the Sleek lipstick out for my birthday ‘meal and drinks’ shindig last weekend and can confirm that it is a BEAST. After several cocktails and a lasagne, I popped to the toilet to re-apply my lipstick and found that I didn’t even have to. It. Had. Not. Budged. Nor had it started to go cakey; it was just as much of a satin dream as it was when I first applied it. I think I only touched up once or twice throughout the rest of the night (memory gets a little hazy, damn fishbowls) and it never felt at all dragging upon re-application as some lipsticks can. A HUGE thumbs up from moi.

Determined to test the MUA lipsticks under the same circumstances, I FORCED myself, in the interest of RESEARCH, to head out on Saturday night for another couple of cocktails. You have to test things in the same conditions; that is just a fact I learned in Science GCSE. Although the colour stayed vibrant and looked okay overall, I did notice that after a couple of drinks the colour had began to come away from the inner part of my lip and needed touching up. Again though, it re-applied very well so wasn’t really a huge drama.

The Conclusion of the Matter

So here we have two insanely similar lipsticks, both extremely good value for money and very good quality. I think Sleek has a slight edge on MUA in this instance, due to being a bit more pigmented and longer lasting. MUA is only one pound and so a complete bargain, but then I also think £5 for a lipstick is really reasonable so can’t fault Sleek for pricing either. This was my first lipstick from both brands, and I’m happy to report that I’ve been left with a great impression of them both and will definitely be stocking up on more of them in the future!

Me wearing MUA 1

What do you all think of MUA and Sleek?

|| Also, don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||