Pick of the week #13

 

1. Rimmel BB Cream 9 in 1 Make Up - £4.99 Boots
I found a tester of this in my make up drawer so I must have pulled it out of a magazine at one point. I was surprised that the tester was a 'light' shade as usually

2. Floral Bandeau Playsuit - £25.00 Topshop
The photo of this doesn't do it justice. It looks great and is the perfect look and fabric for a beach holiday. It's one of those playsuits that you can throw on every day on holiday and you'd look great.

3. Knitted mint jumper - £38.00 Topshop
The colour of this jumper in the flesh is gorgeous; perfect for spring and you can wear it with shorts, throw it over a dress, or wear it with jeans. It's versatile and I love it.

4. Garmin Forerunner 10 - £99.00 Tesco
I'm still at the stage where I'm running holding my iPhone (bad I know), so on my wishlist is this pink GPS watch, which will track all of my activity without the heavy load. And even better, if you buy this pink version from Tesco they will donate £5 of every purchase to Breast Cancer Care.

5. Sleeveless smock dress - £25.00 River Island
This dress also looks much better in the flesh. I love the loose fitting smock dresses, but I have to be careful that they don't make me look bigger than I am although I love the fit of this one. I bought it on Friday and it's perfect for the summer weather at the minute.

Dans x

I don't need more makeup but oh, go on then

Well after my mega makeup haul a couple of weeks ago, I blogged about how I wish I had bought a more striking lipstick but always back out as I'm not brave enough to wear red. I also came away wishing that I had bought a brow definer because my brows are just so fair and they haven't really grown back properly from when it was 'cool' to have thin brows in my teens.

So I was happy to see that this month's Marie Claire included either an Avon brow 'glimmerstick' or a lipstick in Smitten Red. My colleagues at work love it when my favourite mags give away a great product as I always buy several copies and dish them out for lunch time reading.

Awful quality, soz.

So when I got home that day I played around with them a bit and was really disappointed to find that the lipstick was nowhere near the smitten 'red' that Avon claimed it to be, but was actually a really bright pink which I've got several of in the bottom of my never worn stash makeup bag. But I actually quite liked the eyebrow pencil and even though it was a bit dark for me I can get away with putting it on quite lightly to fill my eyebrows out and make them look much better and defined.

 

I took the lipstick off straight away as I didn't want to scare my sister, who was my dinner date for the evening and would have said 'is the Queen coming for dinner' or something along those lines. Who knows, I might try it out for a night out but for the moment it's definitely one for the pile of neglected lippies.

 

Dans x

Make up splurge

I am Dani and I am a Clinique addict. 99% of my make up is made up of their products - mascara, foundation, concealer, blusher, eyeliner, eyeshadow... all of it except my trusted Rimmel matt powder.

But I am not a millionaire and even with my lack of control I just couldn't face a mega Clinique bill when I suddenly ran out of everything. And anyway, why is it that you always run out of everything at the same time?? What's with that??

I was desperately in need of some makeup ready for our friends' wedding on Saturday, so off I popped to Boots on my lunch break to see what I could see.

Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid foundation in nude
I have plenty of my Clinique even better foundation, but my colleague at work the other day (also a bridesmaid at the wedding at the weekend) mentioned that she needed some SPF-free foundation ready for the evening 'do. Why? I asked. Oh, the camera flash bounces off of my SPF foundation and makes my face look white, she answered. OH! Everything suddenly made sense. All of those photos where I have a ghoulish white face compared to my naturally coloured neck and body.

So I bought my old trusted Dream Satin Liquid foundation - I used to love this as it gave me a lovely dewy complex. The only mistake I made was that even though it doesn't say in the tube that it contains SPF, I forgot to double check online, so I'm just hoping that it'll be OK.

Maybelline Dream Terra Sun bronzer
I fell in love with Benefit's Hoola bronzer when I bought it in a miniature 3 pack from Boots along with a mascara and powder foundation for £9. But as I was running out I knew I wouldn't be able to afford the real deal, as I know it's over £20. So I purchased this Maybelline bronzer today, not knowing how it would turn out and I have to admit that I love the results. It's quite subtle so you can build it up without it looking streaky.

Maxfactor Masterpiece mascara
This has been my go-to mascara ever since I started using it. I think I originally found it in my mum's makeup bag, used it and fell in love. I always alternate between this and Clinique's High Impact mascara (when I have more £ in the bank) but I feel as though this mascara frames my eyes so much better and it never lets me down. I can really build it up without it becoming clunky.

Maxfactor Colour X-Pert waterproof eyeliner in deep black
I always feel so plain Jane without my eyeliner. I always feel as though my eyes need to be framed else they just look boring and non-existent, especially with my fair eyebrows and eyelashes. I switched to Maybelline / Clinique gel eyeliner when everyone raved about it, but even though I've been using it for over a year I still can't get the hang of a perfect flick with a brush and always end up with smudged, dodgy eyeliner. I stuck with it but I feel much more comfortable with an eyeliner pen, and this one completely does the trick.

Boujois Rouge Edition lipstick in rose tweed
I love a subtle lip colour (I always want to try red but am not brave enough) and it has to be matte - I really dislike sheen on my lips. My favourite lipstick is Clinique's Long Last in Creamy Nude but as I've been rocking this for so long I thought I needed a change. This Boujois lipstick is AMAZING. It's such a gorgeous colour and seems to be pretty long lasting too (I'm sipping on a hot cuppa at the moment and it's staying put).

And here is the end product of my makeup haul:

The only products I added were my Clinique Blushing Blush Powder Blush (I don't need to buy any blusher for a zillion years as I have so many Clinique samples it's unreal) and Even Better Eyes concealer (the most reliable product in the history of makeup). At the weekend I will most probably add some eyeshadow and my Benefit high beam, and a couple more lashings of mascara to make my eyes stand out and ensure it lasts throughout the day.

Total: £32 - Boots are doing a good few buy one get one half price offers at the moment.

What's in your make up essentials bag?

Dans x