Another of my hero products along with millions of others around the world is my beloved YSL Touche Eclat. I don’t use it every day, I’m lucky enough not to need to so I ran out for the first time in ages the other day.
Today I went and got a replacement, have just taken it out of its little gold box and………..
The addition of a flocked “Y”? Why?
As promised earlier today, I thought I would share a couple of my favourite hair and skin care products of the moment.
For a couple of months I had to revert to cheap and cheerful cleanser and moisturiser (Simple), which really pained me. I’m quite evangelical about what products I use on my body, doing my best to use SLS and paraben free products wherever possible.
Two days ago my new supplies turned up and to say the change is nothing short of miraculous would be an understatement. I only wish I’d taken a before pic of my skin. It was flakey on the forehead and nose, getting quite a few little pimples all over the place and the texture in general just wasn’t good.
Enter Liz Earle and her Cleanse and Polish, Skin Tonic and Superskin Moisturiser. 3 cleanses later and my skin is near back to as good as it has ever been. No flaking, no roughness and my mineral foundation went on a dream, even with forgetting primer!
One of the best places to buy Liz Earle is, believe it or not, QVC. They do all sorts of kits and allows you try out lots of stuff without buying full sizes. Otherwise John Lewis is a stockist or there is a Liz Earle website.
I have even braved a close up shot of my face (not the best, I took it myself!) to show you how flake free I am and how lovely the texture is. I do have a light coverage of Bare Escentuals on here but that’s only evening out my natural pink patches 
Now onto a recent discovery that I don’t think I can ever be without as long as I keep bleaching my hair at least!
It is a wondrous thing called Argan oil. I first heard about it when I was asking Google about good extra conditioning treatments for bleached hair and many posts came up with this. Whilst in Boots I spotted it and picked it up, a little reluctantly due to it being £12.99 for 100ml. This particular variety is like a serum, you can use it on wet hair and gives a lovely soft shine to hair or as I also like to do about once a week, I pile it onto dry hair and leave for a good few hours as an intensive treatment.
It’s fabulous. I don’t know how well fine hair would do with it as a styling type product but for those of us who use and abuse our hair or have a coarser hair type I can’t recommend it enough. I regularly put rollers in my hair and that is when I really notice the difference as my curls how have a shine to them!
My pic is of the bottle but it actually comes is a brown and gold box.
Now if I could just find a great lip treatment, this winter has not been kind, recommendations welcome.
When I started my transformation, one of the most exciting things for me was to perfect the 50s flicks on the eyes.
I had done this when I was about 16/17 and became quite the expert but make-up fashions and my style changed so I became very rusty!
So about 6 months ago i started the hunt for a great liquid eyeliner. It had to look great, not flake, crack or smudge within minutes of applying and top of the list, be easy to apply.
Budgets were tight so I didn’t want to start at the premium end of the market, at least I could live a bit easier wasting a few pounds as opposed to spending £30 and finding I hated the product! And so now follows my review of each product I tested.
Collection 2000 Waterproof Fast Stroke Eyeliner: Comes in a little pot with quite a nice pen like tip. However I found it a bit tricky to apply and the biggest downside was it flakes rather badly. Onto the next one…………
Max Factor Glide & Define Liquid Eyeliner: The best I found until last week. Again a pen like tip, lasted well, flicks could be tricky but that’s a bit of a personal thing. It was the easiest to apply but I still found myself nervous of making mistakes and sometimes I had to correct my flicks rather too much for my liking. I also found the tip dried out quite quickly and could be difficult to get refilled again mid application.
L’Oreal Super Liner Carbon Gloss: I just didn’t get on with the application of this one. The tip is sort of pen like but doesn’t have a pointed end and is a bit spongey, no good for doing flicks and I generally didn’t have much joy applying it.
Rimmel Flash Eyeliner: Again a pen tip so quite easy to apply but quite a long tip making flicks a bit challenging for me. Quite smudgy product too, wouldn’t last day to night.
Rimmel Glam’eyes Professional Liquid Liner: First off, putting “professional” on any product really gets my goat, may be this is irrational but that’s just how I feel! This is a very fine paint brush type applicator. You need a steady hand and bags of confidence. Now i’m pretty good at make-up application, not uncommon for me to be recruited to do make-up for friends on occasion but this for me is just too much of a disaster waiting to happen. If you’re good with a paint brush though, go nuts, I think this would be a winner for you.
Maybelline Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner 24H: Now I have a confession, I may have given up on this one rather too quickly. It didn’t even make it to my eyes………….I had a little go with the supplied brush on the back of my hand and immediately thought “NO WAY”. I have been told a better brush makes this a great product but I have yet to try. It wasn’t dense enough and the brush just gathered too much product which would lead to a complete mess on the eyes if not very careful.
And now to reveal my hero product. I was doing some last minute Christmas shopping and thought I’d pick up another eyeliner to try. I’d been recommended a premium one but couldn’t remember which brand so thought I’d bite the bullet and try a mid range one again. Wandering round Boots, trying to find eyeliners I hadn’t yet dismissed I came across the Stila stand. Now this is a brand I have never used before, I don’t know why, it’s just not one I’ve got round to trying.
There was this eyeliner, just like a pen and waterproof. Tried it one the back of my hand, no bleeding, good start. Let it dry for a few seconds then gave it a rub, rubbed a bit harder. Oh brilliant, the product is amazing! So I shuffled off to purchase it and couldn’t wait to get home to try it.
Well hallelujah! Finally, an eyeliner I can apply in seconds, minimum fuss, flicks aplenty and it stays put!
I cannot recommend it enough, you know how it feels when you have a beauty product eureka moment? Well this was it for me. It has changed the order I do my eye make-up in, no longer do I hold off on finishing eyeshadow application as I now have little to no fear of eyeliner touch ups!
Go forth and buy people!
http://www.boots.com/en/Stila-Stay-All-Day-Waterproof-Liquid-Eye-Liner_1221010/
As promised, my first ever outfit post. I don’t profess to be some super style maven but I will share with you my favourite outfits and it’s up to you to make of them what you will!
This is my Christmas Day dress, a piece of divine gorgeousness from Vivien of Holloway. If you live in London I recommend you go to the shop, the girls are gorgeous, friendly and wonderful, giving great service whether you’re a vintage veteran or virgin. I guarantee you will walk out feeling more fabulous than you did when you walk in. What’s even better is everything is made right here in Blighty so you are supporting a home grown industry from sketch book to sewing machine to store.
Dress: Runaround Sue by Vivien of Holloway
Hair flower: Shazam – sold in Vivien of Holloway
Slippers: Primark………..
Belt: eBay
There are some people who rather like seeing what I’m wearing on a daily basis and up until now I have taken these pictures in front of my housemates mirror on my iPhone but no more!
Today I got myself a new toy…………..a tripod. I feel all at once slightly mad, conceited to buying it just to take pictures of myself and a little bit like it’s all getting awfully serious but in a good way.
My first outfit post will be from Christmas day, I already have a lovely picture taken by a lovely assistant in the form of a willing friend.
Here’s a little piccy of my new piece of equipment (oo err).
On the 2nd of December a new event was born and I was lucky enough to attend. The brainchild of Olivia Farnesy, the first “It’s a Wonderful” ball was a massive success and I can’t wait for the next one!
This event was called “It’s a Wonderful Winter Vintage Ball”, held at the Green Lantern in Soho and wonderful it most certainly was.
What a delight to see everyone make such an effort and everything was wonderfully thought through. From swing dance demos, a yummy treats stand, cocktail classes, vintage sellers, live music and of course a best dressed competition.
My outfit for the evening was a stunning Tara Starlet dress, beaded clutch from M&S and shoes i’ve had for years from Next. Much to my complete amazement and surprise, I won second best dressed! Much boasting and cheesy grinning ensued.
I also met the fabulous and lovely ladies from The Vanity Box and Bettina Scarlett, who put up with my yapping away and being altogether a bit over-excitable!
I’ll share with you a few more pics from the evening.
Me, looking smug, with my winner’s toffees.
Event poster.
Best dressed ladies competition.
One of my favourite images from the evening.
If you are interested in attending the next even, check out the Facebook page to keep up to date.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-a-Wonderful-vintage-special-events/201887103223555
Sooo, where does one begin on the blogging adventure?
I guess introducing myself is a great start! As in my little blurb, I’m nearly 30 (on 19th January) and think it’s time to start seeing if I can pass on a little of my hard earned and not so hard earned wisdom!
About 2 years ago, I fell back in love with fashion after us drifting apart for a while but Ifelt the High Street and mainstream fashion, as much as I love it, wasn’t really what I wanted to wear. So started my plan to go vintage and vintage reproduction/inspired. In August this year it all got going with gusto and I am absolutely loving it! I have found so many designers, makers, brands, websites, stores and I keep looking. It’s so lovely to find myself on the receiving end of so many compliments and I really feel fabulous a lot of the time these days which is no small battle for most of us.
As well as my superficial transformation, there’s all the little things that have come about. I have really gotten into baking in a big way, not that I have nearly enough time to indulge in it. I have discovered I am rather handy on a sewing machine but again, lack of time is my enemy. I recently went to my first vintage event (more to come on that) which was amazing and so inspiring, I am looking forward to starting swing classes sometime soon.
I think that’s enough waffling for now. I shall be back with some Christmas themed posts very soon.
Thanks for joining me, I hope you’ll stay x
I love cats because I love my home, and little by little they become its visible soul
Jean Cocteau
