Cargo Lash Activator End Of Week 2

Here is the picture of my Mum's lashes after using the Cargo Lash Activator Mascara for 2 weeks, I think there is a bit of a difference, they look a bit longer and thicker to me, although that might just be because I am looking so closely!

Sorry the photo is really bad, I took loads and this is the only one where the lashes were in focus!
7 weeks to go before the final verdict!

Did I really say I was going on an eyeshadow ban....

Well I was doing pretty well until I saw this the Urban Decay Book Of Shadows volume 2 over at Lipstick and Lightsabers, who has a great blog by the way! Great reviews and EOTD, check her out if you get the chance!

This has only just come out in the USA so I was expecting it to be a month or so before it would be out here but on Thursday night I nipped into Debenhams on Oxford Street and they had it! The MA said it was a debenhams exclusive for a little while and then will be available elsewhere.This is such a gorgeous palette and I have to say I think I like this one more than the original and I love that one too! There are 8 new/exclusive shades and 8 best selling shades. 2 mini liners in Zero & Bourbon and a mini Primer Potion (With the new wand!) it costs £27 which I think is really reasonable for the amount you get!

So onto the swatches, done in the same order as the palette

Peversion, Gunmetal, Ecstasy, AC/DC

Nylon, Sellout, Mushroom, Sphynx

Half Baked, Twice Baked, Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, YDK

Jink, Flipside, Homegrown, Misdemeanor

These are all dry with no base! My faves so far are AC/DC a gorgeous metallic purple, Mushroom if Mac's Style Snob and Smoke & Diamonds had a baby this would be it, Jinx one of the prettiest blues I have and Misdemeanor similar to Mac's Club, can't wait to try this over a green base!

All the colours are creamy and the only one with obnoxious glitter is Midnight cowboy rides again!

This palette gets a huge thumbs up from me, its great value for money! Expect some EOTD's soon!

Review - Elf Studio Eye Primer & Liner Sealer

I posted my haul from the Elf studio line a month or so ago and I have had a chance to use everything. There was only one dissapointment (Complexion Perfection) and I am really happy with everything else but I have to say the Eye Primer & Liner Sealer is probably my favourite, it's such a good value product!

Eye Primer: I have been alternating between this and UDPP and I have to say I prefer this, it does look very like a concealer but it works so much better. I like to get some product on my ring finger and then spread it over the lid. I have had make up on for a whole day and there was no creasing or fading, even during the super hot weather we had last week. The main reason I like this better than UDPP is that shadows blend much easier, I always struggle when I use UDPP, it feels as though it grabs the shadow too much and it is really difficult to try and blend colours out, I don't have this problem at all with the Studio line primer. I haven't tried this on a night out in a club yet but I am out this weekend so will report back! I had honestly forgotten how much difference eye primer makes, I had a couple of concerts last week and did my make up before I left work, I had forgotten my primer so used concealer and both times when I got home my eyeshadow had creased really badly!

Liner Sealer: I absolutely love this product, its basically a mixing medium to use shadows/pigments wet or as a liner. I had a similar product about a year ago from Urban Decay which was about £12 and does exactly the same job! What I like to do with this is take out the brush and tap the bottle until a drop or two comes out in to a little pot and then mix it with my pigment, i find this works better than trying to mix it with the brush provided. I have been using this with my Barry M pigments and using them as liners and they are gorgeous! Below are swatches of Barry M Khaki with the liner sealer on left and dry on the right

Overall I highly recommend this product, it is fantastic value for money!

Also for anyone that has been looking at the US website I contacted Elf about the other products to find out if they are coming out here, the single blushes/eyeshadows should be available here in October and the Concealer Palette and other items will be available but no date has been set yet!

Sunday's Face Of The Day!

I have been having a no make up week so far this week, mainly because I have been so tired that I have been laying in bed for the extra 20 minutes! So here is my face of the day from Sunday. I am sticking to my challenge of using things that I have been neglecting so pulled out my Urban Decay Ammo Palette.

Products Used

Face:

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Illamasqua Concealer

Revlon Colourstay Foundation
Mac MSF Natural Light

Nars Lokoum Cream Blush

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Eyes:
Elf Primer

UD Maui Wowie on lid

UD Mildew in crease

Mac Vanilla as highlight

Elf Liner Sealer & Barry M Dazzle Dust in Khaki as Liner

Covergirl Lash Exact Mascara

Lips:

Nars Lokoum cream blush (Love this as a lip colour!)

Nails Of The Week - Nails Inc Chesham Place & Nails Inc Review

It was so bright and sunny outside today that I had to put on a shimmery polish! I picked Nails Inc Chesham Place. Its a gorgeous blue shimmer that can look purple in certain lights. Mine has got really thick so its a bit of a pain to apply but worth it! This is 3 coats with Albert Bridge top coat. I put on 3 coats just to make sure the coverage was even!

Now onto the review, I know that Nails Inc gets mixed reviews, some people love it and some hate it. Personally I love them, they can be a bit hard to work with as the formulas are pretty thick and they dry really quickly but the colours are gorgeous. Most only need 2 coats and they last about a week before they start chipping. I took these pictures 8 days after I put this colour on, I am not kind to my nails, my job is office based so I spend all day typing so no matter what polish I use the tips always go first!

I have a pretty decent nail polish collection, loads of different brands from Barry M & No7 to OPI & China Glaze and I can honestly say that Nails Inc seem to have the best staying power out of all of them. Infact I find the worst one is OPI, I only ever seem to get a couple of days wear before it starts chipping!

So overall I would say that I highly recommend Nails Inc polishes. It does take a little while to get used to the technique of applying them as the formula is very different but once you get the hang of it the results are great!

Cargo Lash Activator End Of Week 1

Here is the picture of my Mum's lashes after using the Cargo Lash Activator Mascara for a week, I personally can't see any difference but I think its still a bit early!

Will post a new photo each week for 8 weeks to see if there is any difference!

Face of the day

I can't believe what a lovely day its been today! I thought Wednesday was supposed to be the last day of summer for us here in London but today has been lovely and sunny!
I went out for dinner with my family this evening and this was the make up I decided on! I used Mac Style Snob eyeshadow again, I honestly love this colour, its just gorgeous, if you like brown shades I highly recommend getting this one before its gone!

Again please ignore the eyebrows, they are being tamed next Saturday!

Products used:

Face:

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Illamasqua Concealer

Mac Studio Sculpt Foundation NC15

Mac MSF Natural Light

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Nars Torrid & Albatross

Eyes:

Elf Studio Line Eye Primer (Review to come!)

Mac Style Snob on lid

Mac Satin Taupe in crease

Mac Vanilla as highlight

Urban Decay 24/7 Zero on waterline

Mac Mascara X

Lips:

Maybelline Colour Sensational lipstick in Hollywood Red (Absolutely love this!!)

Products I'm using right now

Emma aka Magpie sparkles just posted this and I felt like doing it too! I just got back from seeing Pearl Jam at the O2 and my ears are still ringing!

Shampoo: Aussie luscious long hair
Conditioner: Aussie luscious long hair
Styling products: Unberto Giannini Scrunching Jelly & Bed head After Party
Shower Gel: Soap & Glory Clean On Me
Body moisturiser: Soap & Glory The righteous butter
Deodorant: Random Sure one at the mo!
Fake Tan: Don’t use
Cleanser: Lush Baby Face
Exfoliator: St Ives Apricot Scrub Blemish Control, I actually prefer the original one but want to use this one up!
Primer: Smashbox Photo Finish
Foundation brush: Sonia Kashuk Beauty Blender dupe
Concealer: Barbara Daly For Tesco
Powder: Mac MSF Natural or Mac Transparent Powder
Blusher: Nars Orgasm or Illamasqua Rude Cream Blush
Bronzer: Nars Laguna
Highlighter: Mac Redhead MSF
Eyeshadow base: Urban Decay Primer Potion
Eyeshadows: Mac Smoke & Diamonds & Style Snob or Vex & Shale
Eyeliner: Bourjois glitter fizz & Mac Black Russian
Curler: Boots No7
Mascara: Mac Mascara X, my friend picked this up for me from a CCO and I actually really like it!
Lipstick: Mac Up the amp & Illamasqua Wanton
Lipgloss: Barry M Lipgloss wand in Toffee & Mac Dazzleglass Date Night
Nail Colour: Nails Inc Kensington Palace, it's still going strong without any chips from Saturday!

And the winner is....

Comment number 22 Tackyblueeyeshadow !! Winner was selected using random.org

Congratulations!! Please email me your address so I can get your goodies sent off to you at jobetterdays@hotmail.com

Thanks for all your entries! I will do another contest soon!

Jo x

Cargo Lash Activator Experiment

There has been such a buzz about this product that it sold out on the Boots website and in stores in a matter of hours! The website finally got it back in stock this week and my Mum ordered a tube. My Mum has really short eyelashes, there are plenty of them but just not much length, here is a picture of my Mum's naked lashes!
She is going to use the mascara everyday and I will take a picture at the end of each week so we can see if it is actually doing anything! The claims are a bit ambiguous as it says that it boosts the "Appearance" of lashes by 2.5x in 30 days but it doesn't specifically say it will encourage growth so we shall see!

Kat Von D Eye Of The Day

Hey!

I have done absolutely nothing this weekend, just sat out in the garden enjoying the sunshine and basically chilled out, I was cooking a roast for the family today so just wanted to keep my makeup simple but look presentable lol!

I have set myself a challenge to use all the things I already have that are being neglected. Today was the turn of the Kat Von D Beethoven palette. I bought this when I was in New York in January and have only used it twice! I love the dark sparkly purple but unfortunately I am allergic to it, as soon as I put it on my eyes go bright red and water! I think this put me off but the rest of the shadows are fine!

I only used 3 of the colours Razor Grey (3rd),Lucifer (1st) and Tequila (4th). Razor Grey is more green than grey but it is such a pretty colour. All the colours in the palette are really pigmented and creamy apart from the Matte shades which are really pigmented but a bit harder texture as most matte shades are.

Other Products used:

Elf Undereye Concealer

MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation NC15

MAC MSF Natural Light

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Nars Orgasm Blush

MAC Most Popular Lipstick
MAC Live & Dye Lipglass

Have you got things hidden away in your make up stash that need some love??

Nails Of The Week - Nails Inc Kensington Palace

Hey!
So here are my nails for this week (I know I have missed a couple of weeks) this is Nails Inc Kensington Palace, its a gorgeous Green/Grey that has very subtle shimmer in it that is only really noticable in the sunlight so I have taken the picture outside! I didn't order this colour originally, I had picked a discontinued shade that was in the sale but it had already sold out so Nails Inc said I could pick any other colour for the same price! This is one of the shades from their new collection and I really do like it! This is two coats with Albert Bridge top coat.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend! There are only 2 days left to enter my giveaway, so if you haven't entered yet please click here to do so!

Superdrug "Feels Like Summer"

Just a quick post to let you know about Superdrugs current online promotion, you may have seen this already as I think quite a few people have been sent the press release!

Basically you can sign up here and you can claim 15% off your first order when you spend £35 or more but thats not all, there are also competitions and giveaways like free music downloads, shopping sprees and loads more! They will also send you beauty tips and tricks via email!

As you will know from my posts I love superdrug and spend a small fortune in there so a 15% discount is great!

Hope this is helpful!

Eye of the day, more love that look!

Like I knew I would I gave in and went and bought Strike a pose. Thankfully I can say I now have everything I want from this collection and can now stay away from MAC for awhile lol! But I am waiting for a couple of things to arrive from Illamasqua, I ordered a lip palette as its unavailable in stores and an eyeliner cake. I am hoping that the sealing gel comes with it as I have read on a few blogs that it does but it didn't say anything on the site.
Anyway on with the EOTD, I am having a bad hair today so no head shots!

I took the inspiration for this from DRBrooklyn730 video on youtube, I used Shroom on the inner corner & brow bone, Fashion on the lid, Strike A Pose in the crease, outer corner and under lower lashes and Fly by blu liner. I am shocked by how green my eyes look, I swear they change colour between blue, grey & green!
This picture is just showing my love for Nars orgasm blush, it gives such a nice glow! It is shimmery but if you tap the brush off and then really buff it in then I don't think its too over the noticable.

I am loving these starflash eyeshadows, they are so creamy and blend together so well, MAC really should make this formula permanent!

Love that Look eye of the day

Hey!

Hope averyone has had a great weekend! It has been so hot this weekend in London that i really wasn't wearing much make up but I wanted to do a look with my new starflash shadows, so here is my eye of the day!

Products Used:

Butternutty Shadestick as a base

MAC Hey eyeshadow inner third (Fafi quad)

MAC Style Snob rest of lid & Crease

MAC Smoke & Diamonds in Crease and outer corner

MAC Vanilla as highlight

Black Russian Pearlglide Liner upper lashline

Black Kohl pencil on Waterline

Loreal Telescopic Mascara

I really hope you like it! Honestly these shadows are gorgeous, they have such a nice finish and they blend together beautifuly. I have to admit I think I am going to go back and buy Strike A Pose tomorrow, I know I will just wish I had otherwise! Sometimes I hate working 5 minutes away from Selfridges, its just to easy to nip to MAC at lunch time!!

I was bad...my Love That Look Haul!

Did I say I was only going to pick up two things, really? I really should know myself better than that! I was won over by the display of pretty sparkly eyeshadow and had to get a few more! 6 items to be exact!! Thankfully there wasn't anything I wanted from Graphic Gardens or Baby Bloom and I already have a couple of things from Euristocrats 2 as the lipsticks are permanent in Europe.

So firstly the eyeshadows, I knew I was going to pick up Smoke & Diamonds and it really didn't dissapoint, colourwise it is similar to Sweet Sienna pigment and the taupe in the Earthly Riches duo but is different enough that I am happy to have it.

Next is Style Snob, this one really surprised me, I have heard it described as a pink/brown and I really didn't expect to like it but when I swatched it I fell in love! It's like a lighter version of Sable.

Lastly Fashion, I liked 3 blue/green shades but this one really stood out when I swatched it and I'm sure I will get the most use out of it. Strike A Pose is a gorgeous colour but I just don't think I would use it that much.

Then I picked up 3 of the Pearlglide Liners, I only intended to get Black Russian but when I swatched them I knew I had to get Rave & Fly By Blu as well! I really cannot praise these enough, they are gorgeous! I think everyone needs at least one in their collection!

Swatches with flash, left to right

Smoke & Diamonds, Style Snob, Fashion

Rave, Black Russian, Fly By Blu

So that was my haul and I am now going on an eyeshadow ban! Seriously my collection is out of control! I might do a blog sale at some point as I have so many barely used things that I am neglecting.

Love That Look

I am so excited for tomorrow, I can finally own Smoke & Diamonds and Black Russian!
Truthfully this is the first collection I have been looking forward to this much since Hello Kitty! I only want to pick up the two things, I have just been going mad lately and I honestly can't justify buying anymore eyeshadow but I will make the exception for S&D, although knowing me I will probably come home with one or two more things!

So anyone else looking forward to this collection?? Would love to hear what you plan to get!!

PS: Don't forget to enter my contest!!

Australian goodies! My Swap with Em aka Too Much Blush!

I was so excited to receive my swap package from Em aka Too Much Blush , to be honest apart from Bloom which we have here I really didn't know any Australian make up brands so this was a nice surprise! Em was more than generous and I'm sure she went well over budget!!

Here is a list of the lovely things she sent!

Modelista Dual Eyeliner Gift Set - There are 6 dual ended pencils in this set, they are all really pigmented and creamy! Can't wait to use them!

Modelista Lip Plumper in Mega Kiss - This is a gorgeous pink gloss!

Chi Chi Eye Palette - There are 6 gorgeous colours in this palette, I especially love the sparkly green!

Chi Chi Sheer Colour Cream in She Bangs & Love You Long Time - I have tried these as blushes and they are gorgeous!

Chi Chi 5 Star Lip Luxury Palettes in Red Carpet & Chauffeured Limousine - These are gorgeous, can't wait to use them!

Chi Chi Lip Gloss - This is a lovely milky pink colour!

Australis Powder Puff Blush in Flirtatious - This is a beauftiful pink colour and I love the applicator!

Sugar Baby Lip Gloss Palette - This has 4 really pretty colours, I especially love the bottom red sparkly colour!

Sportsgirl Cheek Mate Shimmer Stick - This is such a lovely highlighter and it smells like watermelon!

Eye Like Eyeshadow Palette - This has 5 great colours, they are really pigmented and super soft, look forward to using these!

4 Glitter Liners - These are really nice colours, especially the green!

She also sent me a bloom palette in Natural Nudes which I love and a juicy-esque little make up bag which is so cute, its in my bag now! Plus some australian chocolate! There were 3 of them but one got eaten before I could take the picture!!

So thanks again Em, I absolutely love everything you sent me!!

Sonisphere festival!

Advance warning that this is not a makeup post! What a weekend! Last week my friend found out she had won tickets to the Sonisphere festival at Knebworth and she took me along with her!

It was a great festival, there was a really good atmosphere and the security/staff were really helpful and friendly! Even the toilets weren't that bad!!

I got to see some great bands, some for the first time! The highlights for me would have to be NIN, Metallica, Linkin Park, Feeder, Buckcherry(Plus getting to meet them!), all the random drunks that were very funny and the kid rocking out on the guitar hero metallica stage, he was a legend, he crowd surfed and everything! There were some utterly rubbish bands too but we can't all like everything! I wish we had been able to camp, we had camping tickets but just didn't have enough time to organise everything so we had to leave before the end of the headlining acts to get the train home!

We had complete extremes of weather, Saturday was raining and horrible then Sunday was really hot and sunny, even though I had a crap load of sunscreen on I am still sporting some very attractive sunburn today!

As usual for these kind of events the majority of my money was spent on drink/food but I did manage to pick up a couple of things!

The first thing was this really unusual silver pendant, it was only £4 and I really like it!

This necklace was £5 and as soon as I saw it I had to have it! I love that the clasp at the back is a little button! The colours in the mother of pearl really don't show up in this picture, its much prettier in person!

And finally this T-Shirt, I have a bit of a vampire obsession and one of the clothing stalls was having a sale so I got this for £7!

I didn't take my camera but my friend did so will post some pictures once she sends them to me!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I have a couple more posts I will try to get up in the next few days, a 50 subscriber contest and my swap with Em aka Too Much Blush!