My IMATS experience and the damage done!

I'm sure everyone knows that IMATS was here in London this weekend, I had every intention of getting there for when the doors opened but the warmth of my bed proved a bit too tempting and I got there at about 10.30. It was INSANE!! The line to pick up tickets was huge! But thanks to Sheenie I picked my ticket up at the press booth and there were only 2 people in front of me! I bumped into Jasmine pretty much as soon as I walked through the door! I headed straight for OCC for the lip tars and found Helen & Sheenie and Charlotte there swatching away! Next stop was Make Up Forever at Guru Makeup which was absolutely mental, there was a lady making a list of all the items she wanted stood right in front of the eyeshadows and refusing to budge! In the end she should have just asked them for one of everything!I then went over to Crown Brushes which was just as nuts, it was 3 deep at one point. Illamasqua had a great discount so I made the most of that too although it took about 15 minuted to get anywhere near the counter! I then met up with Tali and we headed out for a drink as the crowds were proving a bit too much! We braved it again and headed for Naked Cosmetics where we were both won over by the sparkly pigments! We headed back and picked up a bit more Make Up Forever and bumped into Louise.
It was a nice day but honestly I don't know if I would go again, it was so overcrowded and the pushing and shoving was doing my head in!
Here are some pictures of what I picked up, I will review the products over the next few weeks, if you see something you desperately want to read a review of please let me know!

Make Up Forever HD Foundation, Powder, Concealer Palette and Eyeliners

Illamasqua blush in Hussy, Pigment in Furore and Illuminators in Odyssey and Poised

 

Ben Nye Eyeshadow in Peacock

OCC Pigments in Ironic, Chlorophyll, Lafayette & Static

OCC Lip Tars in NSFW, Hush, Grandma and Pageant

Naked Pigment Stack in Ebony

 

Crown Brushes

We met up with Zara and decided that actually we had had enough of being elbowed, pushed and shoved. I had a woman literally grab me and push me out of the way to get to a counter! Manners obviously go out the window at these things!

We ended up driving around in the hunt for a decent place to eat, I say we but Zara was actually doing the driving and very well might I add!! We randomly found this gorgeous pub/restaurant in Crouch End. The food was incredible, proper homecooked food, none of that microwave crap some places serve up! It was lovely to chill out and have a good chat! Good food and good company, who can ask for more!

So that was IMATS, my bank balance will need a good break to recover now and apart from the few recent additions I haven't shown you yet I will be focusing on reviews and using the products I have!

Did you go to IMATS, what did you think? Would you go again?

Drum roll please......and the winner is...

And the winner of my one year anniversary is

Lu

Comment number 5 was selected using random.org

Please email your address details to jobetterdays@hotmail.com

Thanks for all your entries, I will definately be having another giveaway soon!

Beauty Blog Link Love - Saturday 23rd January

theNotice has a three-part video series on how to contour your cheeks -- check out the first tutorial here!

MAC Mineralized SatinFinish gives off a beautiful finished look according to Eve's review at xLovelymakeupx.

Marina from MakeUp4All reviews and swatches on the cheeks Illamasqua's Cream Blusher in Rude and Illamasqua's Lipstick in Over.

Lipglossiping asks if the modern age has spawned demon digital artists.

This week, Louise wonders if the nude lip is all it's cracked up to be

Krasey Beauty takes you back to school with Skincare 101

Head over to Beautifully Glossy to check out L'oreal's Studio Secrets Resurfacing Primer.

It's Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, so check out some makeup looks inspired by some of the costumes!

Jellyminx swatches her cream eyeshadows!

Lisamarie at Beauty Crazed visits the Benefit Brow Bar for the 15 minutes that changed her life.

Sarah over at I Heart Cosmetics has found a really cool new invention for your makeup brushes!

Liparazzi has found the perfect concealer to brighten up her life, put a boi-ing in her step and Benefit her on her wedding day.

Jo over at Music & Make Up is having a one year anniversary giveaway.

Lisa Kate from Sparkle is my Crack! shows you how to look like a Cheer Bear!

The Makeup Snob shares her opinions on a couple NYX lip and eye palettes.

OPI Absolutely Alice Vs OPI Reflecting Pool

This is just a quick post comparing the two, I was almost put off ordering Absolutely Alice as it's a blue with gold glitter which sounded really similar to Reflecting Pool but I'm glad I did get it as actually they are totally different. So just incase anyone else thought the same thing I thought it would be helpful to post swatches, these are done on tape as Mad As A Hatter is not coming off my nails yet! This is pic heavy but I wanted to show the difference as much as possible.

Absolutely Alice

Reflecting Pool

Top Absolutely Alice Bottom Reflecting Pool

L: Reflecting Pool R : Absolutely Alice

Hopefully you can see the difference as in person it really shows. Absolutely Alice is almost clear with blue and gold glitter, it's pretty chunky and will need a thick layer of top coat to feel smooth. Reflecting pool has gold glitter and is more of a green blue. It's a much smoother polish as there is not so much glitter. Both of these need 3 coats to be opaque.

If I had to choose I think Absolutely Alice would be my favourite of the two as its a much brighter colour and just looks a bit more special!

OPI Alice In Wonderland and Konad Plate Haul and NOTW Mad As A Hatter

I couldn't wait to get my hands on Absolutely Alice and Mad As A Hatter from the OPI Alice in Wonderland collection, I was checking on Radiant Babe every day and on Friday night I saw they were available so placed an order straight away. They arrived on Tuesday morning and I couldn't wait to get Mad As A Hatter on my nails.

I picked two plates with full nail stamps as I really like the full designs and I think they are easier to stamp. Expect to see these on my nails soon!

On to the nails, this is 3 coats of Mad As A Hatter with Leighton Denny top coat. It is basically a clear base with multicolour glitter, the first coat goes on very sheer with a really sparse covering of glitter but by the third coat it was solid with none of my nail showing through, its gonna be a complete pain to take off but I still love it. I tried to take pictures in different lighting as it really does look different, sometimes it looks more silver, other times the purple really shows through. It almost looks like jewels. I went out this evening and it looks incredible under street lights!

With Flash

Natural Light

Have you ordered anything from this collection?

Face Of The Day

This is actually the face of Saturday when I went out for dinner with a friend, I didn't have a huge amount of time to get ready so reached for some staples.

The photo below shows the colour well but not the sparkle, the flash showed this better but washed the colour out!

Products Used:
Face:
Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque
Revlon Colourstay Foundation
Mac Prep & Prime Transparent Powder
Stila Convertible Colour Orchid
Nars Laguna Bronzer
Eyes:
UDPP
Gosh Grey/Brown Eyeshadow on lid and under lower lashes
Mac Knight Divine in crease
Stila Smudge Pot in Black on upper lash line
Covergirl Lashblast
Lips:
Sephora Lip Gloss Pencil in 05

Any products listed there that you want to see a review of please let me know.

Nails Of The Week - OPI Baby It's Coal Outside & Konad

I have to start by saying I love this colour, OPI Baby It's Coal Outside came out with the OPI Christmas collection in 2008 and I picked it up recently from Radiant Babe it's a gorgeous shimmery black. But after a couple of days I wanted to change it so I stamped an image from Konad Plate M57. I used China Glaze OMG for the design, this is a beautiful silver holo.

The picture below shows the holo really well.

I was actually really happy with this although my nails were on the verge of being too long for the full nail stamp. That problem was solved the next day though as I broke one and had to file them all down!

I have placed an order for a couple of the OPI Alice In Wonderland colours and a couple more Konad Plates from Radiant Babe, can't wait for them to get here!

Lipstick Rules Contest

Lipstick Rules is currently having a great giveaway with the opportunity to win a Beaute Weightless Lip Creme in Masochist.

This is such a gorgeous colour! It's not available everywhere so is a great opportunity to try and get your hands on it! The contest closes on Wednesday so be quick!

Click here to visit her site and enter!

Revlon Renewist Lipstick Review, my 99p bargain!

I love me a bargain, I really do! Considering I spent £20 on that dior eyeliner not long ago (Still blame that on lipglossiping) I really needed to find some cheap thrills!

Whilst out the other day I nipped into the 99p shop, not a place renowned for its beauty products but they do tend to get discontinued lines every now and then. Whilst having a rummage I found a stand of these Revlon lipsticks, I can't say I have ever seen them before but they intrigued me. I picked the shade Red Reinvented as I am having a bit of an obsession with reds. Its a standard lipstick but with a moisturising bit in the middle, I'm not gonna try and describe it anymore because I am failing miserably so here is a picture

I have to admit I was skeptical about this as I thought the colour wouldn't go on evenly and I would need to go over it loads to get a decent coverage but actually its really nice. Its very shiny so no need to put a gloss on top and its also really pigmented. The colour actually reminds me of one of the YSL Rouge Voluptes I was lusting after. So here are some lip swatches, excuse the shoddy application!

With Flash

Without Flash

I really do like it, its a gorgeous shade of red and it does feel really nice on the lips. I don't know if it lives up to the 80% moisture boost that it claims on the packet but I can say that its not at all drying. It lasts pretty well too, I have been eating and drinking and its faded a bit but not gone patchy and it still looks as though I am wearing lipstick.

For 99p I think this was a steal and I can see myself going back to pick up a couple more shades. This gets a big thumbs up from me

Face Of The Day - Playing with the Shu Uemura Ribbon Palette

I couldn't wait to play with the Shu Uemura palette I picked up in the Space NK sale. It's completely out of my comfort zone as I tend to avoid pinks and pastel colours and stick to the dark and smokey. But I have to say I was pleasently surprised. I don't know why it makes me think of Anime, I guess its because it made my eyes look huge!

I used the Lilac on the lid, Pink in the crease and Gold under the lower lashes. I then lined my top lashline with the brown cream shadow/liner. The blush is such a gorgeous colour, its a really subtle pink. It does have some fine glitter in it though but you can get rid of most of it if you tap the brush off. Advance warning that I look miserable in the first picture but its the one that showed the colours the best!

Other products used:
Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque
Maybelline Dream Matte Mouse Foundation
Mac MSF Natural
Nars Laguna Bronzer
UDPP
Covergirl Lashblast
Mac Captive Lipstick

The eyeshadows are really pigmented but are light colours so the camera hasn't picked them up that well. The cream liner is lovely, it does need a couple of layers but it lasted the day without smudging or smearing.
The blush is my favourite in this palette, its just so easy to wear and I like the sheen that the fine glitter gives, a glow that doesn't look oily. I can see myself looking at pastel colours more now.

My 1 year anniversary giveaway

I can't believe that on the 28th January I will have been blogging for a year! When I first started I didn't think I would ever get 10 readers let alone over 150! So I wanted to put this giveaway up now and close it on the 28th.

The prizes, nothing huge just a selection of things I have been collecting for this.

And they are Lush Candy Cane Bubble Bar, Accessorize Peace Necklace, Mini Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin, Mini Smashbox Photo Finish Primer and Vaseline Rosy Lips.

The Rules:

You must be a follower of my blog (I will check and if you are not your entry will be deleted)

You must be willing to email me your postal address

Only one entry per person please

To enter all you need to do is post a comment saying enter me, the winner will be selected at random. The giveaway is open internationally so no matter where in the world you are you can enter.

Good Luck!

Face Of The Day - A different look using Hypnotizing

I wanted to use Hypnotizing again today but decided to pair it with a grey rather than a purple this time. I really do love this colour, it's very versatile. Please excuse the eyebrows, they need threading again. I really like how this turned out, smokey but not too much for daytime. These photos were taken when I got back from the cinema and it had lasted well. I changed my lipstick though, I had been wearing Mac Hot Gossip but I couldn't find it (It was in my bag duh!)

With Flash

Without Flash

Products Used

Face:

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Elf Under Eye Concealer

Revlon Colourstay Foundation

Mac MSF Natural

Bobbi Brown Blush Apricot

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Eyes:

UDPP

Mac Hypnotizing on lid and under lower lashes

Mac Knight Divine on outer third of lid and crease

Mac Vanilla as Highlight

Stila Smudge Pot Black to Line upper lashline

Covergirl Lashblast mascara

Lips:

Mac London Life

Face of yesterday

I don't know whats going on with my camera skills at the moment but I can never seem to take a picture that I actually like! I was having a really bad make up day yesterday (see the previous post for the worst part!) and ended up doing my eye makeup 3 times as I hated it each time! In the end I reached for my Mac Mineralise eyeshadow in Hot Contrast which is super easy to use.

Products Used:

Face:

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Revlon Colourstay Foundation

Mac MSF Natural in Light

Bobbi Brown Blush Apricot

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Eyes:

UDPP

Mac Hot Contrast Duo

Mac Naked Pigment as highlight

Joe Fresh Pen Eyeliner

Covergirl Lashblast Mascara

Lips:

Lipstick Queen Butterfly Ball in Goodbye

Look what I did...

to my poor Shu Uemura eyeshadow, I was having a really bad make up day and ended up changing my mind 3 times! In my rush I ended up putting my thumb nail straight into it!
Just look at the damage I caused

So word of warning, always pay attention when opening eyeshadows!

Product Review - Lush Honey I Washed The Kids Soap

I posted my Lush Haul about a month ago and I am gradually working my way through the things I got. I have to say out of everything Honey I washed the kids has been the stand out product for me. A lot of you have probably used this already but just incase there is anyone that hasn't I thought I would post a review.

It looks pretty boring in comparison to some of Lush's other soaps but it smells gorgeous. I cut two chunks off and put one in the shower and one by the sink. This was £3ish and this chunk is going to last me a good while, the two chunks I cut off are less than a quarter of what you see above. The chunk in the shower lasted about 5 showers but my favourite use for this has been as a hand soap and I am still using my original chunk. This winter for the first time I developed really bad dry itchy patches on my hands between my ring and little fingers on both hands. I am awful at putting on hand cream, I have loads but always forget about it. About a week after I started using this as my hand soap I noticed that the patches are completely gone and my hands feel super soft. The smell of the soap does linger for awhile which is good as its a really comforting smell.

If you are on the lookout for a moisturising soap then I highly recommend giving this one a try, most Lush's are happy to give you a small sample if you ask them nicely if you want to try before you buy.

Obviously this is only my experience and I can't guarantee that it will work the same way with everyones skin.

Have you tried this soap? Any others that you would recommend from Lush?

Face Of The Day using some of my recent purchases!

This isn't todays face, it's actually from Monday night and I wasn't going anywhere just wanted to play with the new additions to my collection, I actually really like how it turned out. These photos are with flash as there was no natural light left and when I took them without flash the colours looked nothing like they do in the flesh!

Products Used:
Face:
Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque
Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Foundation*
Mac MSF Natural
Nars Laguna Bronzer
Mac Love Rock Mineralize Blush
Eyes:
UDPP
Mac Hypnotizing on lid and crease
Mac Shale in crease and outer v
Mac Vex as a highlight
Dior Sparkling Purple liner on top lash line
Mac Sense of Style Kohl Power on lower lashline
Covergirl Lashblast Mascara
Lips
Lipstick Queen 15 minutes of fame gloss in minute 12

*Maybelline foundation was received at the Maybelline event

I really don't like these photos of me but they were the best of a bad bunch. I just couldn't get one I was happy with!

Post Christmas Shopping - The Jewellery

Here are the jewellery bits I bought with my Christmas money. First I went into Evans with my Mum and had a look at what they had in the sale, the flower necklace was the first thing I noticed, it's pretty big but it hangs really nicely, it was £4. The two rings I loved equally but for different reasons, the bow was just so dainty and cute and the other one is huge but I really like the way it looks on. They were £3.50 for the big one and £2 for the bow.

I then went into Accessorize, I have a bit of an obsession with Butterflies, and I fell in love with this necklace as soon as I saw it, it was only £4. The ring is sterling silver and was half price so £5. The bird necklace was full price but I just really liked it, that was £8.

I already knew I wanted to pick something up from Tiffany, I have one Tiffany necklace already but its a Lariat and I am always worried I will lose it! I was given some money specifically to buy a pendant of my choice. I decided on this key, it's a classic and something I can see myself wearing a lot. I didn't get a chain with it though as I resent paying £40 for a silver chain! It's something that I will keep and treasure forever.

The only other thing I picked up were a few bits from Lush but I want to wait until I have used them so I can do reveiws rather than just show you what I got!

Nails Of The Week - H&M Mad About You

This is the other Holo polish I picked up at H&M, I honestly cannot recommend these polishes enough. The holo is just as good as some of the China Glaze I have and they are less than £4!
This is 3 coats with Leighton Denny crystal finish top coat.

With Flash

Without Flash

This one shows the holo really well.

I really do love these polishes, they are such great value and are really good quality. You could get away with two coats on short nails and it dries quickly. I will definately go back and see if they get any other colours.