Tag: How much is your face worth?

I always enjoy reading these kind of posts, so hopefully you will agree! I have seen the “how much is your face worth” tag quite a bit recently so thought I would jump on the bandwagon and do the tag myself. I am only going to include exactly what make-up I use on a day to day basis, so no duplicates of any type of product unless I genuinely use both. I am interested to see how much I actually spend to put my face together each day!

Base

Garnier Caffeine Anti-dark Circles 2-in-1 Roll-on - £10.20
Smashbox Photo Finish Bronzing Primer - £11.75
MAC Strobe Liquid - £21.50
Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua - £31.00
Maxfactor Smooth Effect Foundation - £7.99 (currently have to mix these as they are not the right colours, but I will be getting a new one soon)
Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer - £4.19 X2 (I use a lighter colour under the eyes and a darker one on blemishes)
ELF Studio High Definition Powder - £6.00 (not pictured as it has fallen behind my chest of drawers :()

Cheeks

Benefit Coralista - £23.50
Benefit High Beam - £18.50
Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder - £6.99


Eyes

Benefit They’re Real Mascara - £18.50
Avon Arabian Glow Eyeliner - £4.00

Lips

Carmex Lip Pot - £2.69

Finish

The Body Shop Vitamin E Face Mist - £7.00

Total £178.00

It is not as much as I expected as I was worried it was going to hit the £200 mark when I was writing the list, however it is still a lot! It doesn’t help that I use 2 products for a lot of things, for example concealer and foundation.

A lot of the products genuinely last a long time, therefore if you spread out the cost over that period it isn’t too bad, that’s what I tell myself anyway!

I tag everyone who is reading this to do this and to let me know what your end result is :)

Lots of Love

Carissa XXX

Amour #001 - Gossip Girl

Hey lovelies,

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend. I am going to start a new feature post each Sunday which will look at one item/thing/whatever that I have loved in the past week that is beauty/fashion focused.

Making a comeback on our screens recently I find myself eagerly waiting for Tuesday to come round so I can catch up on Gossip Girl (Don’t miss their 100th episode this Tuesday!). Therefore this weeks amour features the lovely Blair and Serena.

I adore their styling, hair and make-up with Blair's classic yet preppy look and Serena's boho but rocker chick look. Which do you prefer? I don't think I can choose!

I also couldn't help but include something which I hope other Gossip Girl fans will share my frustration love for – Chuck and Blair. They have been teasing us from the very beginning, getting together, splitting up, nearly getting together, not talking, about to run away together and yet again no longer talking. THEY ARE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER!! Although it is frustrating it makes me love them even more and I know they will eventually be together, I hope. What do you think?

♥

I want Gossip Girls Stylist...and I also wish that Chuck Bass was real.

Lots of Love

Carissa XXX

Top 3 ways to spend your £5 No.7 Boots Vouchers

Boots are continuously handing out £5 No.7 vouchers if you spend more than £5 in store, so over the years I have found my favourites and what I think the best ways to spend the vouchers are.

Nail Polishes

I know you probably all saw that coming, but for £2 who can complain! As you can see I mostly tend to purchase nail polishes with my £5 voucher but this may be down to my nail polish addiction. Having said that, they apply nicely and stay chip free for a couple of days, so are great value.

Make-up Brushes and Accessories

Whilst trying to branch out from nail polishes I found myself trying out their make-up brushes and accessories. I can’t say I would pay £5.75 for a pencil sharpener, however I was in need of one and at 75p you can’t go wrong.

I have only tried the 2 brushes pictured above, but they both are great cheaper alternatives to MAC and Sigma brushes, or if you are just starting to get into brushes and want to try some cheaper ones. I would definitely recommend the eyeshadow blend and contour brush, it’s soft and is great at blending.

Skin Care

More recently I have been trying out their skin care range and I have to say I am really liking it so far! Originally £7.00, the Quick Thinking face wipes are expensive especially since there are other great face wipes at over half the price. They are however great at removing your makeup and leave your skin feeling nice and refreshed. These are one of my favourite face wipes, therefore I find myself stocking up on them when the £5 vouchers are about.

Again, both of these products leave my skin feeling clean and refreshed. They are huge and therefore will last you a while, so I would definitely recommend trying out some of their skin care if you are unsure what to purchase.

I have also heard good things about their eye make-up remover so shall definitely be trying that next.

What do you like to purchase with your £5 No.7 vouchers? Let me know if there is anything you recommend!

Lots of Love

Carissa XXX

Vanilla Crush Makeover

So I spent most of yesterday designing a new layout, playing with HTML and pulling my hair out at all the things going wrong. But finalllllly I can share with you guys the new and improved Vanilla Crush :)



I am really pleased with how it has turned out and think it looks much better then previously. What do you think? I am still tweaking a few things, but overall it is mostly done now.

I now also have a Facebook page, albeit not containing much information but that will be updated. So join if you wish :) Also follow me on twitter!


I hope you all like it! Let me know what you think :)

Lots of Love,

Carissa XXX

Product Review: Pretty Polly Love Legs Moisturising Leg Shimmer

Pretty Polly are well known for their hosiery, but they also have a line of beauty products. Launched a few years ago, the Love Legs range was created to enhance, perfect, add colour or highlight your pins.

I have been using the Pretty Polly Love Legs Moisturising Leg Shimmer for a while now and I mentioned it in my 2011 favourites. This product is not for tanning your legs, but more for achieving a subtle yet striking glow turning dull and lifeless legs into bronzed and beautiful legs.

As you can see, the lotion is a lovely gold shimmer that once rubbed in leaves a subtle shimmer that really makes your skin glow. This can be used with or without a tan, I often use this on top of fake tan (or real in the summer!) to give my legs the extra umpf that it needs, or without tan to achieve a subtle colour and shimmer.

I use this sparingly not to overdo the shimmer; otherwise you may end up looking like a tanned version of Edward Cullen! It also has a lovely light scent to it, it does not smells like biscuit at all (fake tanners will know what I mean) and can be washed off in the morning.

The only negative I have about this product is they are not very easy to find. I purchased this from a random shop on a high street near me, however they are available to purchase on E-bay where you can purchase both sachets and 150ml bottles.

I would give this product an 8/10.

What do you think of the product? Has anyone tried it before?

Lots of Love

Carissa XXX

NOTD - Models Own Pinky Brown Beetlejuice Collection

£5 from Models Own (Pinky Brown Beetle Juice Collection)

I received a few of the Beetle Juice collection nail polishes for Christmas and this is the first one I have tried. This collection is inspired by the wings of beetles, mimicking the flash of different colours to achieve this lovely duo chrome finish.

Pinky Brown is a beautiful multi-tonal colour of a pinky/brown and gold. The final picture shows just how beautiful this polish is and you can see multitude of colours.

I am in love with this colour and cannot wait to try the others out, what do you think?

Has anyone else tried this colour or any from the collection?

Lots of Love,

Carissa XXX

An evening with Daniel Sandler, Look Fantastic and FOUR London

Hello Lovelies,

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the Daniel Sandler, Look Fantastic and FOUR London event held at FOUR’s new hair and beauty emporium in Mayfair.

♥

Daniel Sandler, who is absolutely lovely I must say, started off by showing us how best to achieve a simple smokey eye and how to master a red lip. We learnt some great tips so thought I would share them with you!

Simple Smokey Eyes


- You can achieve a subtle yet beautiful smokey eye by using eye pencils only, just smudge to create the smokey effect.

- To achieve a subtle smokey eye, use grey eyeliner rather than black.

- Put black eyeliner over blue to create a subtle yet striking effect.

- If you have light eyelashes, tightline your eyes (line the upper waterline) to give the illusion of dark lashes and to really make your eyes pop.

- Follow the direction of the lower lash line when wanting to create the perfect upper lash flick.

Mastering lips


- To achieve the illusion of a fuller top lip, blend concealer onto the top lip then apply your lip colour.

- To enhance your top lip, put more colour on your top lip and less on the bottom. (I love this tip as I always feel my bottom lip looks too full with some colours when applying lip colour evenly)

- Apply lipstick with your middle finger to achieve a lovely subtle colour, and blot.



The night also involved a colour and style consultation with the lovely FOUR London specialists and the chance to look at some skin care treatments by Doctor Duve, exclusive to the FOUR salon.

Overall, I had an amazing evening, and it was lovely to meet other beauty bloggers. Check out these lovely ladies blogs April @A Pretty Wardrobe, Holly @ Holly Arabella, Aisling @ Fashi-ling and Amelia @ Not Too Shabby.

I even got to try out red lips for the first time, picked out by Daniel Sandler, and I really quite liked it. The darkest colour in my current lipstick collection is a soft pink...so I am sure that will be changing soon.

What do you think of the tips from Daniel? Any particular useful ones?

Lots of Love,

Carissa XXX

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter Launch

I have been waiting for these to hit the British Shores, as I am sure a lot of you have been, and thanks to BBB we now know they will be here on the 14th of March!


They are described as:
- Hydrating mango, shea and coconut butter formula boosts lip moisture by 156%
- Pampering gel formula provides super charged hydration and glides on lips buttery smooth
- Sheer to medium colour with buttery shine
- Available in 20 luscious shades

I love using tinted lip products in the day to achieve a more subtle look, so I will definitely be giving these a go and I will let you know what I think. If you would like to see some swatches head over to Amarixe's Blog.

What do you think? Will you be trying them out?

Lots of Love

Carissa XXX

Sales Haul

I went shopping recently in the hope of finding a few bargains, and I was very pleased with my purchases. As some of you may know, one of my New Years resolutions is to save. Therefore I was very good and limited myself to only spending a small amount, and not buying unnecessary things.

Here is what I purchased:

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Frontcover Moondust, Hello Kitty wash bag, Revlon Matt nail polish in Emerald City and Lush Melting Snowman Bath Melt.

£8 from Boots.

Ever since I received a Frontcover palette for Christmas one year, I have been obsessed. I love the uniqueness of the "magazine" boxes, they include tutorials and quite often only available once a year and therefore a nice treat. I cannot wait to try this out especially after seeing it on Dizzybrunette3.

£9 from Boots.

The cutest bag ever! I am in love with this design, also the zip. I am not really a fan of hello kitty, but the Liberty range is lovely. I bought this to use as a daily make-up bag, as my current one is too small and this fits everything perfectly. It comes with a body scrub, body butter, bubble bath and scrub.

£1 from Poundland.
This little beauty was actually from Poundland! They quite often stock discontinued nail polish for the obvious price of £1, which is excellent value. I have seen some pretty swatches of the Revlon 032 Emerald City so I am expecting some good things.

98p from Lush.

Lastly, this cutie! As you know from my previous post I love Lush and I couldn’t pass on buying this melting snowman bath melt. He smells just like vanilla and marzipan, which I love, so I am sure he will go down a treat!

I also bought a few other little bits, including some boots, but these were the main bits I wanted to share.

Has anyone else purchased anything good in the sale?

Lots of Love

Carissa XXX

PS. My posts may be a little slow this week as I have 2 interviews over the next week which I need to prepare for! I am so nervous, wish me luck! ahhh.

Lush Cinders Review

So I know this bath bomb is not part of the permanent collection and was only available at Christmas, but I noticed it is still available online and most likely still available in some shops. As you can see it is a relatively small bath bomb, but now half price at 98p this is a bargain!

You can purchase this here at Lush. They are likely to sell out soon, so be quick if you would like to try one.

What they say
"A ballistic to evoke sitting by a crackling open fire, drinking a glass of warm punch.
A real Christmas time ballistic that fights the chill and brings peace and comfort. Lie back, letting the water support your body, and listen to the fire as the smell of warm fruit punch fills the room.
Almond essential oil, sweet orange oil and cinnamon leaf oil give a smooth fruity scent with a touch of spice. It lifts the mind and lingers on the skin
We’ve also put popping candy in this mix, which gently crackles in the water, giving you a bath with sound effects. If you really want to hear them go, then dip your head underwater for the full cacophony.
Have a Cinders if you want to hide away from the big bad world and feel the warming comforts of home. Great too if you just want to blow away the cobwebs in your mind, or the dust and soot from your body.”

They make it sound very appealing, they certainly know how to sell a product!





What I say
Overall, although this may not be my favourite Lush product, I do rather like it. It smells amazing, very much like cinnamon sticks but not quite so strong. I also love the popping candy element, it adds a bit of fun to your bath. It leaves your skin smelling amazing all day and also leaves it feeling very soft and smooth.

The only downside to this bath bomb is the colour. As you can see in the fifth picture it looks distinctly like urine and this can be a little off putting, but something you can put up with. I would also have liked the popping candy to be more apparent. Once the bomb has fizzed away you are left with small crystal like cubes which disintegrate, but it would have been good if you were to actually hear them popping.

I would definitely recommend this bath bomb, especially for 98p, it is a great product to use in the winter months that is very “warming”.

Has anyone else tried Cinders? What did you think?

Lots of Love

Carissa xxx

Finally ventured to the dark side

For years I have wanted to go darker, but have never gone ahead and booked an appointment. However, I have finally gone through with it! After Christmas I made the appointment and told them exactly what I wanted so that I would not back out.

I was quite nervous during the appointment, as I have never had darker hair, however I love how it came out and I like that its not a drastic change. This will allow me to go darker if I wish and it will not be such a shock to the system!

Before


After



Lighting has been terrible today, so it has been hard to capture the true colour, but I think that my webcam seemed to pick it up the best. I am not sure whether it is classed as dark blonde or light brunette but I have some light blonde highlights through the top to soften it up a bit.

What do you think? Blonde or dark blonde/brunette?

Has anyone else changed their hair recently?

Lots of Love

Carissa xxx