Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer

This month Rimmel's Apocalips Lip Lacquers have literally exploded into bloggersphere and have taken over our lips. These were released at the very end of January in the mist of a 3 for 2 offer on Rimmel, lovely lovely. I, of course, picked up three shades Luna, Nova and Apocaliptic.

From Top to Bottom: Apocaliptic Nova Luna

I have heard nothing but glowing reviews for these so naturally I thought that I would instantly fall in love never to use a standard lipstick again. The reality was very different, I hated them. They smelt like paint, they felt like paint on the lips and showed ever dry crack in my lips. They were not what I expected at all. 

I actually really like the packaging, you can easily see which colour you're choosing, the lid has a sort of crystal style end. The wand is a doe foot applicator which actually spreads the product evenly across the lip. The wand contains a lot of product therefore can be a bit of pain when you first apply.

After spending a while testing all the different shades on my lips I decided that I wasn't going to just throw them to the back of a drawer and forget I ever bought them. I decided to play around with them a little bit and make them work for me. For me these are not a throw on as you leave the house sort of product.  How I have found works best for me is to apply one coat, then blot the colour on some tissue to remove the thickness of the product while creating a stain on the lips. I then apply a thin layer again, depending on which shade and the occasion I could be done there. However, with the brightest shade I own Apocalipic, I would then blot and apply one more time to make sure the colour is really vibrant without being too heavy on the lips.

Luna: The peach tone in the range. There is a shade that is more nude than this one. I have actually been a bit unfair with this shade as this photograph was taken after the first application, before I blotted whereas the other two are after the blot. This is probably my favourite out of all three, I think it would suit a lot of different skin tones.

Nova: A really nice daytime pink, this is almost a your lips but better shade. I wear this slightly more opaque than photographed but can look lovely sheered out too. The shade range is really varied and contains all different shades from a soft nude all the way to post box red 'Big Bang'.

Apocaliptic: The brightest shade that I own and for me a lovely nighttime shade. I wore this out to dinner and it stayed put for such a long time even after eating the stain still remained. When I swatched these on my hand in Boots, this shade causes me the most pain as it wouldn't come off my hand. I rubbed it and it just turned my hand pink. Good to know that it wasn't going anywhere, but embarrassing that I looked like I had a really bad rash. 

I now really like these and have been using Luna or Nova every day. These were created to combine the colour payoff of a lipstick and glossy finish of a lipgloss. I'm still working with the texture as the brighter shade can bleed a little and sometimes I do have to check to make sure I don't have any on my teeth. At £5.99 I think these are really great, and have also taught me that I shouldn't just give up on a product if I don't like it immediately. 

52 Things update

Beauty

I have started Project 10 Pan
No new eyeshadows

Blogging

The number of views on my blog has increased this month so we are already on the way to getting the 10,000 that I wanted to achieve by the end of the year.

I joined Twitter! I am so glad I did this already, it has opened up an extension to the blogging world and I would recommend anyone to get an account and join in.

Finance

Erm let's not talk about this.
Actually I have started the 100 Spending Ban it's been 2 days and I'm on track.

Health and Food

Let's not talk about this either. I have pigged out a lot this month.

Relationship

The surprise for my boyfriend was that I took him out to dinner. Well he almost ruined it because he hates me paying anything for him.. We went TGIs which is his favourite place to eat at the moment. I wanted to say thank you to him for spoiling me recently as it was him that took me to New York for my birthday. Cringe!

Travel and Activities

Everyone has been booking their holidays this month, and it's driving me crazy. I'm not going on a girls holiday or anything this year so seeing constant status of Ibiza is already getting me depressed.

So I have started doing the challenges I have set myself this year. Slow and steady I say. As things progress into the year and birthday season in my family is over, I'll be able to concentrate on some of the long term goals I want to achieve this year.

Life Through a Lens #2

These photos aren't actually in any order, just as I came across them on my phone.  I really enjoyed putting pictures from my holiday to New York in my last Life Through a Lens post so I thought I would do a similar post with what I got up to in January.
(Left to Right)

I bought the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, Yes I did! I was so excited about trying this as I have heard so many good thing about this brand and love the Pixiwoo sisters. (Samantha designed the brushes for those of you that didn't know)

The Apocalips Lip Lacquers by Rimmel might have found their way into my life, and oh would you look at that, there was a 3 for 2 offer as well. Naughty!

At the very beginning of January I debated as to get The Sims 2 and after about half an hour I decided it was a very good idea.

This month I also started reading The Time of my Life by Cecilia Ahern who is one of my favourite writers.

I made a small ELF order, the picture included is actually of the wrong brush that they sent me. Unfortunatly they have a policy where they don't send out replacements but they did refund my money. Which isn't really the same but at least they excepted that they had send me the wrong item.

January can be really expensive with the sales, but on top of that I know so many people with birthdays in January I spend a lot of time buying presents for people.

I finished the last ever episode of Gossip Girl, accompanied by a lovely little pot of Cherry Ice Cream. Very lovely indeed, worth a try.

On one of my shopping trips this month I got a Costa Coffee Smoothie, I religiously get Millies Cookies Iced Smoothies so I felt a bit naughty that I had strayed from my usual beverage.

I have been craving a holiday. I keep searching for holidays at ever opportunity but I probably won't get the chance to go on one this summer.

Walkers Pickled Onion crisps, have you heard of them? I suddenly got a massive craving for these this month and no one believed me that they existed, so I stalked them down and found some in an ASDA.

Love a nice cup of tea and a Rich Tea biscuit. I am such an old woman. I am really funny about dipping food in drink but tea and rich tea biscuits are the ONLY exception, I'm so weird.

I posted my first ever Outfit of the Day picture on Twitter. It's something that I want to do more often as I think it would give you a great opportunity to get to know my style and therefore a little more about me.

Anyone that is subscribed to Glossybox would have received a night mask this month. I've never had one before and I'm a little bit scared to use it because if I wake up in the middle of the night and can't see anything I might think that I've gone blind in my sleep. Seriously I'm getting more crazy as this goes on.

I bought the famous Enrapture rollers back in November I think, and I really love them. I only use them in the evenings if I'm doing something nice so I've played around with them a few times so I might be doing a post on these soon.

Me and my boyfriend like taking his dog for walks, we go to a wooded park where we walk in the river. This time shown the river had gotten really deep and was flowing really quickly.

As I mentioned this month is all about birthdays not only in my family but with family friends and my close group of friends. So I've been going out to restaurants quite a lot this month and I also treated my boyfriend to dinner to say thank you for taking me on holiday and spoiling me in general. We went to TGIs and it was so good their cocktails are amazing too.

Project 10 Pan

This challenge sort of goes hand in hand with my 100 day spending ban, which I guess could be seen as cheating as I'm not allowed to be buying new things anyway. Oh Well!

The idea behind this post is to show you which products I have decided to completely use up, either because I don't use them and they are taking up room, or because I love a certain product so much that I have bought 100 of them and need to use them all up. I am also not allowed to buy any other products until these are completely used up. These are not the only products that I have that fall into each category so I have no excuse to buy any products at all. 

I have 10 categories as opposed to just 10 products.

Concealers
I have also included the Dream Matte foundation from Maybelline as I bought a couple of these back in the day of their hype, but now I'm not such a big fan and just want it gone. Similar story with my ELF All Over Cover Sticks (top right) I used to love these, but my love affair ended before I could even start my second stick. The other two ELF concealers are not favourites of mine, the coverage is nice on both but neither have very good staying power which for me is such a pain. However, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer is really good and is one of the products that I have lots of, so want to get rid of some of my most empty tubes. The Collection Illuminating Touch was too very nice and did the job that I wanted but I've decided to try other versions of the YSL format.

Primers
I'll start with my ELf eye primers both from their normal and mineral ranges, I like both of these and most of the time reach for these more than my Urban Decay Primer Potion. I want to do a post where I compare these to the UD one so keep you're eyes peeled for that one. The MUA face primer, it's ok but nothing great. I prefer face primers that have a more silicone base to them whereas this one is more of a cream. I think it was under £5 though so I'm not disappointed as I didn't have high hopes really.

Bronzers
The Natural Collection one has appeared in a couple of posts before where I have tried to use this up and that's because I have another one in the same shade. They are so big and contain so much product it seems like it is never ending. I like this, it does have a lot of shimmer running through it so I like it has a highlight shade on my cheek bones. The bronzing balls are in a Dream Matte Foundation pot because the packaging broke very soon after my buying them and I can't remember what brand they are from. Sun Kissed or something maybe? These are darker than the Natural collection one and again contain shimmer.

Body Shop Lip Balms
These are perfect for school bags and desks, they come in a variety of scents and shades. To be honest not as moisturising as I thought they would be as I am a massive fan of The Body Shop Body Butters. But I do like these especially the Born Lippy version which can be used as a tint as well, so brilliant two in one product. 

Eyeshadows
The two palettes I don't ever use so I thought that now would be a perfect time to clear them out. This Gosh palette has actually made me not want to buy anything else from the Gosh Brand because I really don't think the quality matches the price and when there are brands like MUA that keep bringing out amazing palettes at really affordable prices, I don't want to waste my money. The other palette is by a Spanish brand and was really cheap, but with that the staying power is rubbish. The little Maybelline Eyeshadow in P  I think is very similar to Sin from Urban Decay, and also might be doing a post on dupes very soon. 

Face Powders
Maybelline Dream Matte Powder, a good face powder but have since tried the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder and I much prefer it so I've converted to that one. I bet not many of you recognise or even remember when 17 packaging looked like this. I know some of you are probably shaking your heads because I can't hide how long I've had this. I like this, a simple powder, matches my skin colour really well but I prefer the Rimmel powder again.

Face Creams
It feels like I have a million and one face creams sometimes but these particular ones have been with me for quite a while and have even followed me to 3 different houses! They are good creams though so don't just want to throw them away. HOARDER guilty.

Body Creams
I have so many lotions and potions I have decided to remove the ones that have been lying around the longest. Also the sample that I received in a Glossybox is also in here as I really like the scent but for reason always choose something else over it.

Impulses
I used to collect Impulses. Is that sad? I have at some point in my life owned every single fragrance  and have duplicates of all the scents photographed. These are really handy for school or gym bags as the scents are always nice and girly without being too overpowering. My friend asked me what perfume I was wearing and I don't know if the scent she liked was my impulse of my actual perfume. 

Heat Defence Spray
I have a mini collection here, the Aussie Take the Heat and the John Freda Frizz Ease sprays I would probably repurchase at some point as I really liked them but the GHD and Toni and Guy I felt were just alright and nothing too special really. Did the job and smelt nice but always felt that either they could be greasy or weighed my hair down.

As I finish these they will appear in empties videos, or I might do updates if I think there's enough information to do a full post on. I have done similar posts to this before as I Shopped My Stash in August and September in a bid to use more of my products.

100 Day Spending Ban

Hello, I'm A Secret of Beauty and I have a spending problem

If you've been floating around the blogging world since the start of the year, you would have seen at least one blogger swear to padlocking their pennies away and chopping up their credit card. For some reason everyone that I know seem to have their birthday in January I decided to start a little later with my ban. From 1st February 2013 running for 100 days I pledge to curb my spending habits.

1. NO MAKEUP or SKINCARE or NAIL PRODUCTS or HAIR PRODUCTS or BATH ITEMS

2. No Clothes, Shoes, Bags, Jewellery or accessories

3. No Candles or other home products

4.. No unnecessary food (you only need one chocolate bar, not the whole shelf)

5. I am allowed to buy presents and cards for others

6. Maximum eating out/takeaway once a week

7. Only after I have used all my Glossydots will I be able to order Glossybox

8. Go out, get drunk and have a good time, but do it with the least amount of money

9. If there are things that I need I must write a list, go through it and honestly make a decision on whether it is a 'need' or want. Under no circumstances shall I impulse buy.

I think I have enough products to last me the course so even though other people are allowing themselves 'essentials' I think the 5 cans of deodorant, 3 bottles of shampoo and god knows how many cotton pads in my drawer will last me. I really want to be as tight with my money as possible over the next 100 days.

If anyone has any tips or tricks please let me know because I think this is going to be really hard.

January Favourites

I know I'm a bit of a flusy when it comes to posts like this as I like to really love the products that I include as opposed to just adding products in to fill spaces. Let me know if you would prefer these on a more regular basis.

Origins - Drink Up 10 Minute Mask

I plan to do a full review on this mask as it is so amazing. My skin has never felt so good I am really glad I picked this up. Unlike other masks that sit on the skin and have to be washed off. This is an intensive cream that soaks into the skin and I wipe away with a cotton pad. Easy as that with fantasic results.

Sleek - Oh So Special Eyeshadow Palette

I received this in a Glossybox, I think the December edition and I have been loving this palette. There is a nice mix of shimmer and matte shades that can be used to create daytime or evening looks.

ELF - Contouring Bronzing Powder

I like the blush in this set but this month I rediscovered the bronzer. Ironically I digged this out when I bought Nars Laguna and found that the two work so well together. Even though the shimmer can be seen clearly in the pan of this ELF bronzer, I use it to contour and find that the shimmer does not transfer onto the face. 

Sephora - Rose Glow Blush

I also have a review coming up on this product too showing the shade swatched properly. I use this blush in the evening one as I chose a slightly darker shade than my peachy daytime ones. I love how soft and easily this blush blends onto the skin. I wish I had picked up some more shades as Sephora hasn't reached us in the UK... Yet?

Blistex Intensive Moisturiser

My lips have suffered this Winter, dry, cracked and just plain horrid. I have tried various lip balms in the past but none have nursed my lips back to full health as much as this one. Though the packaging and scent may lead you to believe I was prescribed this, it is actually available in Boots. I have really enjoyed using this product and I will definitely be repurchasing it after I have run out.

What have you been enjoying this month?

Primark Haul

I know I've been a bit heavy on the hauls this month, sorry bank balance. For this reason I wasn't going to do another one for quite sometime, however, I did pick up some things from Primark. As many of you will know Primark doesn't have a website that showcases all their stock, for this reason I really like Primark hauls as I can see what sort of things are currently in store.  I know there are many other people that feel the same as I do and use these as sort of an online catalog.  Ok I'll stop rambling and get on with it.

If you follow me on twitter, you will know I'm not a fan of the paper bags. Always splitting *shakes fist*.

 

Navy Blazer - £15

Blouse with Animal collar - Sale £5

Black Asymmetric Skirt - £10

Khaki Peplum Top - £4

Cream Knit Jumper with Zip Detail on Reverse - £8

Cow Print Poncho - £8

Stone Thin Top - £6

Blue Thin Top - £6

Grey Strap Top - £2       Maroon Vest Top - £2.50

 

Navy Joggers - £7

Khaki Soft Jeans - £7.90

Black Skinny Jeans - £7

Raspberry and Papaya Room Diffuser - £3

Black with Gold Detailing - £6

Mink Dolly Shoes - Sale £6

Black Fold Shoes - Sale £3

Ear Cuff Set - £1

Black and Gold Earrings - £1.50

Black and Gold Statement Necklace - £4

Black and Gold Chain Detail Belt - £2.50

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did shopping finding research for it :)

What's In My Bag

I love these types of posts.  I would love you give you lots of intriguing reasons why, but the truth is plan and simple. I'm nosey! Don't you pretend like you're not too. 

Right let's get on with it. My handbag is from River Island £30, but I bought it on ASOS and to be honest I wasn't impressed with their service. They sent me one that had already been sent back because it was faulty. It had a fault sticker on it and it was still sent out to me. I contacted them and they sent me a new one, once I had returned the faulty one, bit of a palava really. I love it though, I fit most of my life in here which is what I like and goes with practically every outfit. I only wish the shoulder strap was slightly shorter as I'm not a fan of my handbag swinging down by my ankles. 

My purse is also from River Island, I didn't realise I was such a big fan. This is actually a few years old but I know the style is still available but it might possibly be in a different colour. I really like this purse I can also use it as a clutch on a night out as its compact but also big enough to fit my phone in it. I'm not keen on how hard it is to get your cards in and out of the main card section, I've broken a couple of nails. 

My little odds and sods back from Primark. This doesn't normally come everywhere with me, but I went to see my parents at the weekend so it's nice to have a little bag that you know contains some essentials.

Some beauty bits that come along for the ride, I don't normally have a big bottle of perfume either but I threw it in there as I forgot to pack it in my larger bag that I was taking away with me.
My little Travalo is so handy, I usually take this with me on a night out to freshen up. I think there is Ted Baker body spray in there at the moment. Hand Food and Hand Maid are both Soap and Glory products, both I really love. The scents are amazing, Hand Food is really similar to the Righteous Butter but in a littler formula and Hand Maid smells florally and is a really great hand sanitiser.

Notebooks and diaries, I can't help it I normally have 3 different ones with me, don't ask.  The smaller pink one is from Wilkinsons for under £1 and I bought it to keep all the information about my trip to New York with me. Important contact details, accommodation and flight details, that sort of thing.  I now use it for everyday notes that I want to jot down and To Do lists. It is so handy as it's not bulky but I can include everything that I need on one/ two pages.  The taller pink one with leopard print is from WHSmiths and cost me about £7. This is my everyday diary, mainly includes any deadlines and work that needs to be handed in. 

I am a little bit of a hoarder and tend to keep the receipts of things that I might take back in my bag and not my purse, strange I know but they are safer there. I've got loads of No7 vouchers floating around too. Another bottle of Blink drops as the other bottle isn't normally in there. Wires and Headphones always seem to end up in my bag for some reason and get everything else caught up with them.

In the little pocket at the back is my favourite section, I keep my lipsticks: 17 - Flirt and Mac -Peach Blossom as well as Blistex intensive Lip salve which has helped my cracked lips. My little mirror is from Next and I love it, it has a magnified mirror as well as a normal one which is handy.  Random earrings get everywhere in my house, let me know if your earrings turn up in some strange places too.

So that's a little insight to my handbag, something a little bit different from me so I hope you liked it. If you do like these more personally posts please tell me and I will try and do some more.

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation

Last year Maybelline released a new range called 'Fit Me' and consists on a foundation, concealer and a face powder. Being the foundation lover that I am, I dove straight in and bought the foundation, the other products didn't really appeal to me.

The main selling point behind this range is that the makeup should 'fit' your skin tone.  They cater for whether you have pink or yellow undertones, something that very few high street brands do.  If you have yellow undertones like myself then your shade will end in 0, whereas the pink undertone shades end in 5. There is also 9 shades within each undertone section and also have a larger darker shade range than many other high street brands.

I do like this foundation, and has become my everyday foundation throughout the Winter. I like the matte finish that it has as well as it's longevity. On me this foundation can last a good 6-8 hours, with powder. It has a medium coverage that can be built up, but what I like is how natural it looks on the skin. I haven't found this to be cakey or patchy at all.  It blends very nicely in to the skin and you don't have to work too hard with it.  I think this foundation can be used all year round as it never looks heavy but can provide enough coverage so that it can be worn in the evenings too.

I like the packaging, a sleek glass bottle and yes with a pump. I find it really annoying when you buy a foundation and then have to waste most of it because you have to pour it onto the back of your hand. I find 2-3 pumps is more than enough to achieve the flawless finish that I like. I also like that it's square, a lot of drugstore foundations are round so it's nice to have a change. Oh the little things in life keep me happy.

At around £7 I am really impressed with this foundation and the shade range is really good. So if you do struggle to find a good match, especially darker skin tones, I would definitely say to have a look for this foundation.  The only thing that I found a little weird is that the first couple of times I used it I think it broke me out.  I don't know if maybe it was a moisturiser that I was using that it had a problem with and I changed or whether my skin got used to it quickly, but it's absolutely fine now. 

ELF Haul

I hadn't ordered from the eyeslipsface website in a very long time and was wondering what new products had been brought out when the old devils themselves emailed to say they had 25% off.  Not only that, they still had their 50% sale going on so well, how can a girl resist those charms? It's only a small haul but I think I got some right little goodies. 

Bamboo Angled Blush Brush - £3

Bamboo Complexion Brush - £3

Bamboo Eyshadow Brush - £3

Studio Small Stipple Brush 

I've wanted to get some new brushes for quite a while and ELF have always been a brand that sells good quality, affordable brushes.

Baked Blush

Baked Bronzer

Yes my baked obsession is still with me, I promise this is the last baked product I will buy for a couple of months. Hopefully.

Eyebrow Lifter and Filler

Benefit do a product really similar to this one that I was so close to buying last month so I wanted to try this one out to see if I like it.

Mineral Eyeshadow Primer

This was in my ELF best & worst post, obviously a best as I have bought another one. I love my Urban Decay Primer Potion but for me this product is better value for money.

I haven't tried any of these out properly yet so I will keep you updated with products that I feel desire a post, both good and bad.