Benefit Birthday Suit Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow

I'm a little bit obsessed with cream eyeshadows lately! I find they're much quicker and easier to apply than powder shadows, they don't have any fallout and they last pretty much all day.

All of this applies to Benefit's Creaseless Cream Eyeshadows (an apt name - they don't crease at all). As soon as I swatched Birthday Suit at the counter I knew I had to have it. You'd be forgiven for feeling a little underwhelmed by it in the pot, but once swatched it shows such a subtle, lovely champagne colour. Perfect for days when you don't want to go all-out with your eye makeup, but just want a little je ne sais quois.

Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow retails at £14/4g, which is a little pricey but they are such good quality. I think I'll be nipping back to Boots for more.

NARS Orgasm

You all know this little gem. NARS Orgasm blush is probably as cult as a product can get—and with good reason. There are countless reviews of this floating around the blogosphere, but I'm going to throw my penny into the mix.

I suppose this is also kind of a 'shopping the stash' post as well. In March, I wandered into Harvey Nichols on a uni day and walked out clutching my little box of Orgasm, my first ever NARS purchase thanks to all the raving I'd read. For weeks, it was all that I wore, I was that enamoured with it. But after a while, I noticed the application wasn't quite as good as it was when I first bought it, and it sat in the back of my box while I moved on to pastures new. Recently, on a whim, I pulled it back out and fell in love all over again.

Orgasm is a flattering pink shade with a finely milled golden shimmer. I find that if it can look too ruddy on my pale skin, so I have to be careful applying, but it's a shade that flatters all skin tones. The shimmer isn't overbearing at all and if you're in a rush you don't have to apply a highlighter as this does a good job highlighting the cheekbones too.

Overall, it's just really, really lovely. If you're interested in NARS products but you're not quite sure where to start, I'd say this is one to go for.

July 2012 Magazine Gifts

I went on a bit of mission on my lunch break today, one which turned out to be a little detrimental to my bank account. I'm sure by now you've all heard about the Benefit freebies in July's issues of Glamour. I don't know about you, but I like magazine freebies for trying new brands. I've never tried any Benefit products before, so I snapped up three copies - at £2 each, you can't really go wrong, can you? I'm really excited to try these out as they're some of Benefit's most popular products. (The other two copies went into the staff canteen - doing my little bit for the planet!)

But Glamour aren't the only magazines offering some incredible freebies this month, and I can see some more magazine purchases in the near future. Make sure you get to your local newsagents and pick up some of the amazing offers as they're selling out fast!

Other gifts:
RED - Jemma Kidd eyeliner or mascara
ELLE - Reiss tank top
EASY LIVING - Rituals body scrub or lotion
MARIE CLAIRE - Ciate nail polishes (choice of three shades)
HARPER'S BAZAAR - Leighton Denny nail polishes (choice of three shades)
INSTYLE - The Body Shop mascara or two eyeliners
WEDDING - OPI nail polish

Instagram #4

1: the bf's sleepy cat; 2: lunch break at Costa; 3: night-time routine;
4: wraaaaaps; 5: ginger kitten that hangs out on my street; 6: the bf's cat again - she's so photogenic!;
7: the reddest watermelon I have ever seen; 8: running shoes; 9: the bf enjoying himself at the local aircraft museum.

Maybelline 24Hr Colour Tattoo

You've probably all heard about these time and time again by now, but here's my contribution! These are a cream eyeshadow not totally dissimilar from MAC Paint Pots. They're quite hard at first, so finger application is definitely the way to go with these - as soon as you swirl your fingertip in the pot they melt into a light creamy consistency that is really easy to blend onto the eyelid.

I bought mine (when I actually found them) while they were on 3 for 2 at Superdrug, so I picked up On & On Bronze, Eternal Gold and Tough As Taupe. On & On Bronze instantly became probably my favourite eyeshadow I own: it's a lovely neutral shade that is so quick and easy to apply, either on its own, with a colour in the crease, or as a base. It is so pigmented, lasts all day without creasing (I have no intention on testing it for 24 hours!) and doesn't really fade much. It's definitely a must-have in my routine now.

As for the other two shades, I was less impressed. Tough As Taupe doesn't seem to warm up as much as On & On Bronze so it's kind of hard to apply, and I find the shade itself pretty difficult to wear. I was really disappointed with Eternal Gold. It looks gorgeous in the pot, but applies patchy and faded.

At £4.99 each, they are excellently priced though, and the pigmentation issues could be worked around, so they are definitely worth picking up.

Instagram #3

1: lonely duck - he got so close to me!; 2: Costa's new iced lemonade - delicious!; 3: cheeky Chinese on the train;
4: Operation Buh-Bye Milk Bottles is a go!; 5: trying to quit nail-biting so on go the false nails; 6: train lunch;
7: the perks of a window seat; 8-9: playtime with the bf's cat

LUSH Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub

Hi, everyone! I've managed to drag myself through exam period (I still have one left but it's one I'm confident with) and I'm back to the blogosphere. Today's post is about a product that I first noticed in one of Essie's LUSH hauls and decided I had to try out.

This is LUSH's Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub, a body scrub - you couldn't tell, could you? - with plenty of fine sea salt in to exfoliate your skin until it's baby soft. LUSH says you can use this in three ways: under the shower for a gentle scrub; straight from the tub if you like it rough; and for washing your hair and adding volume (think LUSH's Big Shampoo). I never tried using it for my hair, but if you have, let me know how you found it.

Just look at that colour! It looks delicious. It also smells delicious, and as soon as you twist off the lid you're hit with a lovely waft of mimosa and orange flower. In the shower, it exfoliates really well and leaves your skin incredibly soft. I did feel a lot cleaner coming out of the shower than I do after using a shower gel, and kept stroking my arms afterwards!

But for all of the positives - lovely smell, great exfoliation - it's not on my repurchase list. Rub Rub Rub costs £7.75 for 330g which isn't so bad, but I went through this tub so quickly. To cover my whole body I had to use three or four good handfuls and I didn't get very many showers out of it. I don't know, perhaps I used it too often, but I did alternate between this scrub and a shower gel and still I felt like I didn't get enough use out of it.

But hey, you win some and you lose some. It's a good product, if you don't mind repurchasing fairly frequently. As for me, I'll be rinsing the pot out, ready to trade in for a free fresh face mask.