I'm a very bad blogger

I know this.

I'm so very sorry. The whole of December seems to have passed by in a complete blur and now it's NYE!

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, I certainly did.

I rule at cooking turkey, and roast dinners in general :)

Anyway, I wanted to talk about a little product that I treated myself to the other day. It took me by complete surprise by arriving yesterday (the next day!) and I'm in <3

I first came about OCC Lip Tar's on the gorgeous Bubblegarm's blog when she talked about the shade "Cha Cha".

I was instantly intrigued but put them on the list of things to buy, one day.

I was reminded of them the other day when browsing my Favourites on my computer and decided to bite the bullet and buy one.

I went for the shade "Momento" as I knew as soon as I saw it that I would love it.

(Apologies for the Google Image - I didn't photograph the actual tube I got)

Described as a pink with plum undertones on the internet, I guess that's about right although I would definately describe it as more of a rose shade.

This is how it looks on:

(Not the best photo - but hopefully you'll get the idea)

I read a lot into these products before buying and I would say that everything I read is completely correct:

You only need the SMALLEST amount of product
They dry semi-matte and are long lasting (even for a naughty smoker like myself!)
They have a minty scent, although it's not tingly on the lips- more cooling than anything else
You must use a lip brush to apply- straight from the tube is a no-no

The only thing I was a tiny bit unimpressed with is that when I unscrewed the lid, there was no protective seal or anything there. It had already leaked into the lid slightly and I reckon I must have lost about 10 applications worth of product.
But in the scheme of things, and especially as I've already ordered two more, that was a minor and I'm overall totally in love and converted.

I can't believe that less than a year ago I was a lipgloss only girl! Now I own several lipsticks that I just couldn't live without and now I'm in love with these lip tars!
The power of the blogging community - I love it so much.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all. My lovely readers and just other bloggers in general.
You've all made this year which has been a bit rough at times, that little bit better.
Plus the information and advice I receive from bloggers really has been completely invaluable.

Here's to 2011 and I promise (hand on heart) more regular posts from moi.

Love,

Keri xo

IN and OUT

This is my first post of this kind but wanted to give it a whirl. Hope you enjoy :)

In

Christmas!
I'm so bloody excited about Christmas this year it's not even funny. It's always my favourite time of the year, but this year will be extra special as I will be the hostess :)

Urban Decay 'Naked' Palette
I keep meaning to post some looks I've done lately with this gorgeous palette, but up until yesterday (when I started taking arty shots of my Christmas decorations!) my camera was dead as a dodo.
I'm late on this band-wagon. Really late. But literally I've scrapped my MAC ES "wish list" thanks to this baby alone.
Every single shade that I could, would and do love is included. It is most definately one of my desert island essentials already!

Rimmel 'Magnif'eyes' Mascara
I've been using MUFE Smoky Lash continually for months now and I love it. But the other morning I couldn't find it and instead reached for this mascara again. I forgot how amazing it was and I'm definately going to repurchase when it runs out.
As much as I love big, fluffy mascara wands I'm the first to admit that I find it difficult not getting mascara either in my eye or on my eyelid when applying in the morning (pre-tea!)
This brush is the perfect size for me. It's got a plastic wand with very short bristles and although I admit that doesn't sell it that well, for some reason it works so damn well. Rimmel is priced significantly lower than MUFE as well so that's always a bonus!

Out

Snow.
I'm not being a complete debbie-downer on snow. I love snow! It's beautiful and a lovely reminder that my favourite season is upon us.
Usually it snows for a day, causes a lot of disruption to a work day (which is NOT a bad thing), it gets nasty and slushy, and disappears without a trace in a few days.
Since the heaviest of our snow fell a week ago we've still got snow and ice everywhere and it's getting a bit old now.
I really feel for the poor people up north as well as they have had no let up for weeks now! Not fun at all.

Clinique Gel Liner
I haven't yet read a bad review on this product which is one of the main reasons I bought it.
I'm a gel liner junkie and when my Fluidline died a death it was a toss up between the Bobbi Brown liner and this one.
I wish I'd picked different.
To be fair to it though I think it's less than impressive staying power has more to do with my greasy eyelids than anything else. But with UDPP and eyeshadow, I thought it would do a much better job of staying put. I get serious smudging in the inner and outer corners of my eye after only around 1hr.
I'm going to see how to gets on when it's dried up a little bit. Obviously with it being fairly new it has a very wet consistency- maybe that's the problem.
Definately more impressed with my Sleek inkpot which is a fraction of the price!

Phew! That was quite a rant-y In and Out.
I hope it was helpful, or at least entertaining :)

Kxo

I finally did it!

Is there anything that you've wanted for so long, but the timing was never right to get it? You've stared longingly at other peoples blogs and YT vids and thought "one day"?

I have.

I first heard about Sigma brushes probably over a year ago. Everyone was raving about them being cheaper (but still good!) dupes of MAC brushes and that got me interested.

I love MAC brushes, I love how they feel and what they do to my mug, but I do NOT love the price tag.

I know you get what you pay for blah blah blah, but I'm not a make-up artist and I found it really hard to justify spending upwards of £30 on 1 brush for little old me.

This morning I woke up to see a post from the lovely Jo about her Sigma Face & Eye kit that she was sent and she mentioned that today ONLY Sigma are offering free worldwide shipping.

It was meant to be! I'm sure of it!

None of the brush sets really appealed to me as each one probably only had 1 or 2 brushes that I would use on a daily basis.

I instead opted only to purchase the individual brushes that I wanted.

E55 - Eye Shading Brush

E65 - Small Angle Brush

E50 - Large Fluff Brush

E10 - Small Liner Brush (to replace my recently lost MAC 210 *sniff*)

F05 - Small Contour Brush

F80 - Flat Top Synthetic Kabuki Brush

And finally, the one I am most excited about:
F25 - Tapered Face Brush

All photos taken from the Sigma website

Do any of you own any Sigma brushes? Which ones are your favourite?

I'm so excited to try them out!

Now the first test.. How long will they take to arrive? :)

Kxo

Update & Apology

Hi all :)

Firstly I would like to say a massive Hello and THANK YOU to my new followers, some of you left me some lovely comments on my last post and they really made my week!

Secondly I need to apologise for being such a bad blogger. I came back into the community full of beans and then that little thing called real life (ugh) got in the way.

I've had quite a manic week for me, I'm usually home 99.9% of the week (not that I'm complaining - I heart home) but this week has been different.

I have a few things lined up to blog about, including a disappointing Clinique purchase (!!) so please bear with me.

Normal service will resume shortly :)

Until that time, I shall leave you with this photo. It makes my heart smile xo

Hi dolls,

As I'm sure you can tell, this blog is still completely under construction.
However due to the fact that I have noticed some new followers (thankyou!!) I thought I would get things started with a little bit of blog-background...

I'm not new to this community by any means, I initially started blogging over a year ago. I decided that I wanted somewhere to write and talk about my love of make-up.
I had no clue of the size of the beauty blogging community and I was a little overwhelmed for a while (small fish, big pond syndrome) and got a little disheartened with the whole thing.
Plus the fact that my boyfriend and I have had to deal with unemployment this year, buying make-up was (unfortunately!) very low down on my list of priorities.

Things are slowly on the up and I thought now was the right time for me to start afresh, so I took the very drastic (and quite contraversial!) step of wiping my blog.
I did feel sad deleting some of my old posts as they were important to me, and some had lovely comments on them, but I felt I needed to do it in order to move forward with blogging.

I know I did the right thing and I'm excited about my own blog again.
I read hundreds (seriously) of blogs a week and am always so excited to read them and they have proved completely invaluable to me in the past few months when any make-up purchases had to be well thought out, and budgeted for!
I'm hoping that my blog will make other people feel the same way.

So who am I?
Well, I thought you might be asking that. Here are some fun facts:

I've only started wearing lipstick this year. At the ripe old age of 26
I've had pretty much the same hairstyle since I was 18
I change my nail polish at LEAST 4 times a week
I LOVE cooking, and I think I'm pretty nifty at it
I carry around as much make-up as my bag will let me. You never know.
I NEVER get tired of listening to Metallica
I used to want to be a make-up artist, now I've decided that I like it better as a hobby
I'm obsessed with reality TV in all it's trashy forms
I can never own enough candles, candlesticks or photoframes
I love vampires. Yes, I am a fang banger ;)
I hate tomatos

Random facts - definately
Fun facts - I hope so!

Until next time,

Kxo

I'll be back soon :)