Nars Deep Throat blush

I do kind of object to the name - not that I'm a prude but I don't want seedy traffic coming to my blog - never mind! I love this blush - much more-so than Orgasm (fighting a losing battle here really) which is a bit more sparkly than this. It does have shimmer, but not too OTT for daytime. This gives a very pretty flush to the cheeks and as with pretty much all my other Nars blushes is great at highlighting the cheekbones. 

I can't get enough of Nars at the minute especially their blushes - I don't love Deep Throat as much as Amour - yet, but give it time and who knows. I'm loving this shade with my new red hair and I especially love this with my new Bangkok Pure Matte lipstick, which I'm also wearing in these pics.

What are your favourite Nars products? I love Dolce Vita and Pigalle lipsticks, Amour, Zen and Douceur blushes and Rebel Yell nail polish. I'm ashamed to say I've never tried one of the famed Multiples. I'd also like to try Sheer Glow foundation, but I'm going to use up my tube of Diorskin Nude first, which I do really love and may well repurchase.

Nars Pure Matte lipstick - Bangkok

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Caudalie Toning Lotion

I'm about three-quarters of the way through a bottle of Caudalie Toning Lotion which I purchased from Beauty Expert a couple of months ago, and so thought I would write a short review. 

I really like this product. It is soothing and calming on the skin and has a clean, fresh fragrance. I don't notice any magical effects, but it is effective at removing cleanser residue, freshening my skin and preparing it for moisturiser - pretty much all I look for in a toner. 

Ingredients-wise, it's alcohol free and contains '94% natural ingredients', one of which is a compound called 'Vinolevure' which is apparently capable of retaining up to 100 times its weight in water, therefore preventing dehydration of the skin. I like the fact that it combats dehydration, as my skin has definitely become a bit drier and tighter with the change in weather.

Although not the cheapest at £14.50 for 200ml, my skin seems to like this product and I feel it is quite nourishing and protecting, so I think I will repurchase when it runs out. I haven't tried any other Caudalie products other than the lip balm which I do really like; based on this toner I may well investigate further.

Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte - Opera Rose #29

Yesterday I had a bit of a clear out of my make up stash... which predictably involved rediscovering a few little worn gems that had been relegated to the darkest recesses of my make up drawers - enter MAC Brit Wit and Bobbi Brown Velvet Plum cream blushes - and my two YSL Rouge Voluptes in Forbidden Burgundy and Opera Rose - the latter of which I had a little play with and as such am now blogging about.

This is one of those colours that I love in the tube, and like on my face.. but never wear. It is kind of bright - and I'm not really a bright lips kind of girl (why I bought this one out of all the other more wearable colours I will never know - it may have been to do with Temptalia). I love the formula - it feels heavenly when you apply it. But I've never yet got around to wearing this in public - so I'm thinking it might be toodle pip. I'll always have the photos at least (actually having done this post I've decided I like this colour too much too let it go, so I'm going to keep it to look at from time to time - and one day I might just whip it out and surprise everyone).

NB I'm sorry about the imperfect application - since I've started blogging I've realised that I in fact have a very wonky lipline - this I've only noticed since I've started looking at lots of photos of my lipsticked mouth! I can only get lipsticks to apply evenly using a lipliner - and I then feel that gives an inaccurate portrayal of how the lipstick would look applied solo. So you'll just have to put up with my wonky application I'm afraid and I hope it doesn't offend anyone!

Shiseido - Sheer Gloss lipstick in Honey Tea

Shiseido Sheer Gloss lipstick in Honey Tea was a cult product a few years back. It was one of my first high end beauty purchases (and few repurchases) and one that marked my transition from mildly-interested-in-make-up to make-up-obsessed.


Honey Tea is kind of similar to Clinique's Black Honey - it's a berry colour that works with rather than against your natural lip colour, and that you can build up or keep quite sheer - but I see more brown in it than Black Honey. It adds polish to the lips but the glossy finish keeps it quite natural and sexy - I like to wear it without blush and my eyes defined with a bit of brown eyeliner or shadow. The formula is lovely - moisturising and glossy with decent lasting power. What you get on the lips is basically the colour you see in the tube.


I was surprised to read online whilst writing this review that this product has been discontinued, but as I'd already taken the pictures for this review I thought I'd post it anyway as kind of a cult classic retrospective - though you can still buy the shade from various websites online. I think the sheer gloss lipsticks have been replaced with the Perfect Rouge Tender Sheer line, though I haven't tried this line and it seems to have quite a limited colour range.

Does anyone remember, or still have and wear, Honey Tea?

OPI - I'm Suzi and I'm a Chocoholic

Hmmm... interesting. This was the most difficult application I've ever had with an OPI polish. It went on very sheer and unevenly, with some nails needing three coats. A bit surprising as I usually find OPI a dream to apply. And yet it lasted an amazing five days without chipping - go figure!

The colour I am faintly underwhelmed by. Normally I adore brown-red polishes, but I think I may have ODd on them - so I think I'm a Chocoholic may be my last foray into 'breds' for a while (well, it's better than 'blurple'!).

I was struck however by the similarity between this polish and my retro radio - so I thought I'd introduce that into the shots for a bit of interest (it's a bit dusty as our builders used it whilst working on our house - and clearly I haven't cleaned it since!).

Overall it's nice, and I think it suits my skintone, but I just don't love it as much as some of the other breds in my collection - Essie Downtown Brown for example. So probably eBay for this one (and funnily enough, that's where it came from!).

Molton Brown Seamoss Stress Relieving Hydrosoak

In the past, I had for some reason an irrational dislike of Molton Brown. To my eyes, it seemed to be kind of an 'artificial' brand, invented purely to bring out bland toiletry gift sets every Christmas for frazzled shoppers on a last minute dash to get something for the mother in law, or to furnish bathrooms of luxury hotels.

I think this strange view was in part due to the fact that little seems to be known about the brand itself, and its history, and perhaps too the marketing. You don't seem to see it advertised much anywhere. Doing a bit of research into the brand for the purposes of this post, i was surprised to discover that it has a long history, dating back to 1973, when Molton Brown opened a hair salon in London's Mayfair, before branching out into toiletries based on ingredients from nature (one major plus of this brand is that it does not carry out animal testing on it's products or ingredients).

My somewhat unfair view of Molton Brown has in the past year or so been challenged by the few Molton Brown products I have tried (thanks to my mother being one of the recipients of the aforementioned gift sets!). I was surprised by the utter deliciousness of the scents - one of them a ginger shower gel, and also a green shower gel whose name I forget but which smelled divine, like nature bottled.

So when I was browsing Beauty Expert for a new bath product recently, I thought I'd treat myself to the delightful sounding Seamoss Stress Relieving Hydrosoak.

I have to confess that the gorgeous aqua-marine packaging and the fact that it had 'seamoss' in the title first drew me to this product - I am a sucker for anything marine-themed. However I was pleased to discover that it provided a suitably aquatic bathtime experience.

The scent is gorgeous - kind of hard to explain, but it is uplifting and relaxing, and definitely transports you to somewhere decidedly more appealing than your bathroom. The product contains dead sea salts, seaweeds and horse chestnut extracts which apparently help exfoliate the skin as well as soothe the senses.

The soak gets good reviews on Beauty Expert, but none of them mention the best thing about this in my opinion - that it turns your bath green! A gorgeous, sea green, as if you are bathing in a tropical lagoon.

enticing!

At £18 for 300gm, it is expensive, but being much more of a shower person anyway I figured this would last me a while. The seamoss soak has definitely opened my eyes to the Molton Brown brand and I shall be exploring more products in future. I am considering buying the complementary shower gel, and I also like the sound of the Warming Eucalyptus Bath and Shower Gel. As well as toiletries, there is also a small selection of make up, and scented candles, on the Molton Brown website.


Does anyone have any Molton Brown products they would recommend? Who knows, between this and the Aromatherapy Associates Evening Bath and Shower Oil, which I've also been using (and loving) recently and will be reviewing shortly, I may just become a 'bath person'.