This is for the cosmetics side of my luggage. I tried to keep it small, but...



Recently, I've been featuring Sleek products less and less on the blog (mainly because of their piss poor customer service, but also because it seems to be all that anyone ever blogs about) but I couldn't help the fact that they ended up being so prominent in my travel bag -.- Their thin size and multitasking nature makes them easy to take on holiday, OK? *is defensive*

Anyway, the three palettes are - 'Storm', 'Acid' and 'Primer' - though I'm not sure if the latter will last in the Italian heat - and I took a Face Contour kit in 'Dark' and a Sheer Cover lipstick in 'Calico'. I also took an MUA quad and liquid eyeliner, three No7 eyeliners and one Primark one (in bright orange) a Rituals lipgloss, a Miners lip tint and Urban Decay Primer Potion in 'Eden'.

£2.99 well spent, I'll give you that.



A very nice nude polish on my skin, but it's not one dimensional in colour as so many other nude cremes are. When I first saw this, I was convinced that the undertones were yellow, but viewing it outside in overcast weather, it looked almost like a muted purple. Most of the time, it hovers somewhere between the two depending on what angle you view it from. An achievement for a budget creme polish, yes?



Compared to Barry M's previous naming efforts, I'd say the title of this one is spot on.

Feel free to view it SUPAH SHINEE



I usually don't add an especially shiny topcoat onto my nude polishes if I'm aiming for manniquin hands, as the human body isn't especially shiny (unless you're sweating buckets or something) so I find it looks unnatural. But since this isn't any old nude polish, I thought it called for it.



Random fact: I think I prefer this with one coat, compared to two. No idea why...though in these pictures, you're seeing two coats.
This lasted, chip free (minimal tipwear) for four days on me - pretty damn good when polish is often falling off my nails within the hour.

As I've probably mentioned before, I'm really not a lipgloss person as such. I find it just makes my already huge lips look like, freakishly huge, and often feels gross and greasy. Not a good combination on someone like myself who detests feeling anything remotely oily/greasy/sticky on my lips at all...

However, a while back I won a giveaway from the lovely Witoxicty and got this pretty awesome (going by the packaging) lipgloss. Naturally, I felt that this was a good opportunity to give it a go (it was free, lol) and I ended up being pleasantly surprised by this one.

The 'Super Shine Lipgloss - Icy Amethyst' lipgloss at rest:



Just look at that classy European packaging.



Now, please listen to my commentary while I lip swatchwhore.

It's a non-sticky gloss, feels (mostly) light on the lips, and most of all is moisturising, a property which is really important to be if you're coming into contact with my Sahara dry lips.



Can you pick up those teeny weeny blue shimmer particles?



The gloss is mostly sheer on my pigmented lips, but it imparts a a little irridecence and of course, the blue shimmer. Good for cooling down a warm lip tone.



Anyone else tried anything from the Rituals range?

Out of MUA's Pro range, I was most excited about the crackles, but my (old) local Superdrug was dragging it's feet about getting them in. As soon as they did - nearly a month after launch, naturally - I quickly dashed in there and snapped up two colours - a silver named 'Shattered Ice' and a dark, indigo blue called 'Quiver'.



I was geniunely up for buying the whole range (minus the black, as I already own a black shatter) but yeah, lack of funds killed that idea dead. Ah well. The salmon one is MINE at some unspecified point in the future.



 This is the silver shatter over Barry M's 'Raspberry'. I like the contrast - the light metallic silver against a dark background makes it pretty striking.

On my middle finger, I cocked it up a little - that was the one I painted first, and the coat I did was far too thin to effectively crackle properly. To achieve the effect I like, I do thick coats. The formula is runnier than other crackles that I've tried, which is good in the sense that it won't turn into thick, unusable tar after three weeks but does mean  you have to put a little extra work in to get it to crackle evenly. Plus, the brush is thinner than normal (thinner than the normal MUA range, as well) so I do have to be quite precise with how I'm applying the product. I'm willing to put in the effort, though, as we haven't seen this wide a shade range in the UK.



'Quiver' really reminds me of a post I saw by ChaosButterfly on the Sally Hansen nail crackles - it's the same jelly-like, not quite opaque finish.



I'm planning on doing a proper post when I've collected more, but for now I just included some quick photos. This is 'Quiver' over Nails Inc's, 'Atomic'.

Tell me I'm not alone in coveting the salmon one?

In the words of that Korean guy in Nicki Minaj's video...CHECK. IT. OUTTT!



I was cruising in Tescos. Having run out of my Vaseline Body face whatever cream a few days ago, I realised it was high time for another. And what would have been the point in not picking up this one? A jar was £4.04, but it was on offer for two jars for £4 (no, I don't understand it either). Anyway, I bought two jars.



I'm really, REALLY not keen on the smell - it smells a little like rancid baby powder (to me) and the scent hangs around for a while. Shame, because that's the only thing that ruined a really good product. I love the fact that this has an SPF in it because I can never be bothered with applying that seperately. It rubs in well and keeps my face hydrated all day (as promised) and best of all, IT COMES IN A JAR. WOO JARS.

The smell is gross though. Not sure if I'll repurchase it purely on that factor.

OK, not really BUT HEAR ME OUT. THERE IS NAIL POLISH AND OTHER PRETTIES AT THE END. Although I am /currently/ in riot-stricken England, by the time you are reading this I will be in sunny Italia. No, don't be jealous because it's probably going to be rubbish. No internet access and it probably won't be like Rennaissance Italy like on Assassin's Creed. That is the only Italy worth visiting - as Ezio Auditore da Firenze, of course. (the guy cloaked in white on the front cover of the video game)

Anyway, before I went, I scheduled enough posts for this week (I'm off for a week, lol) so won't be responding to comments and emails :( I also photographed all the makeup and nail polish that I'm taking with me, and I thought I'd share the snaps with you...

While this looks excessive, it totally isn't. When you break it down into groups (all, of course, are completely essential)

Nail Bases and Colours


My base and top coat are pretty much out of the picture, but it's the usual Barry M base and NYC top coat that I feature regularly. For colours, we have Barry M 'Spring Green' - which I'm currently wearing on my fingers - Essie's 'Bermuda Shorts' (currently on my toes) Nails Inc's 'OMP!' and 'Yellow Peril' by BeautyUK. Having worn the neutral 'Mushroom' (by Barry M) for most of this week, and faced with the prospect of actual sun in Italy (about the only benefit, to be honest) I was longing for some colour, so packed four bright, summery shades.



'OMP!' is out of the picture because I was clever and forgot to photograph it.

Now, I like jazzing up my nail colour of choice regularly, so bought three easy ways to alter my manicure - a black crackle polish, Hello Kitty nail stickers from the Born Pretty Store and a glitter topcoat (Funky Fingers). Ample, no?



Finally, nail care (once again, 100% essential). Cuticle oil, nail files, a nail nourishing strengthening thing that I will talk about later on in the month (probably. If I remember) and a hoof stick. BOOM.



Enjoy more pretty pictures while I'm being miserable in the land that isn't anything like it's supposed to be (in Assassin's Creed)

I'm sure regular readers know exactly how I feel about the revamped Sleek lipstick range (hint - if you don't, follow the link) but since my last lipstick post got such a good response (and I haven't even technically reviewed that one yet. Lol) I thought it was high time I properly sampled the new range for myself.


I'm sure you'll recognise 'Mystic' from my 'Prom Face' post - that's the colour I wore to my afterprom. Me, a lipstick virgin, wearing bright purple to afterprom...good times. The origin of 'Barely There' is a little more convoluted to explain...


I've been reading the lovely Shamini's blog for a while, and during my hunt for Sleek lippies on a slight discount, I read a post in which she'd won a Sleek competition and was happy to send the two colours she wasn't keen on to blog readers. But I misunderstood (typical) and was like, 'Blog sale? How much do you want for them?' She then explained in terms my simple mind could understand, and I was happy to pay postage but then she refused, posted it, and skipped the country (on holiday, lol. But still) This lovely woman paid postage for the lipstick all the way from Norway <3 an act that firmly placed her on my 'Things I love about Norway' list which was started in 2009 and currently consists of:
Alexander Rybak (ETERNAL crush on that man...stole my heart at Eurovision 2009)
Shamini

Subsequent amazing hosting of Eurovision 2010
Being so much classier when it comes to pretty much everything 

General Awesome
One of my Uncles lives there and his wife is Norwegian and she's really pretty and nice.



I digress. Back to the lipstick, lol. When I requested it, I didn't actually realise how light it was! Perhaps I was mentally still thinking of the old Sleek Lipstick range, in which I could have worn pretty much ANY shade and have it fit my skin tone. I like that this range has plenty of nudes and 'my lips but better' shades for those with lighter skin (which, I'll be fair here, the old range lacked that) but really dislike the fact that it has NONE for those that aren't, well, Caucasian.



The range only needed a little tweaking to be inclusive rather than exclusive which is what they've done - they've moved from what is essentially one extreme to the other, alienating those that propped them up for so many years (namely the Afro Hair and Beauty shops who have stocked Sleek since forever.) Would it have killed Sleek to leave the two brown shades in, while adding all the new ones? I still sound really angry about this. Read the post, it's kind of a masterpiece. *modest*

Even though a Sleek rep assured me that they'd be coming out with two brown ones later in the year, so far I've seen zilch and it really seems to me like it was just said to appease the angry blogger (me).


'Barely There' is part of their 'Sheen' finish range, which when these came out a few months ago, bloggers left right and centre (a suspicious amount of whom seemed to get the product free to review) were saying were really moisturising. I was hoping that they would be, because my lips really need the moisture...sadly, it wasn't to be. You'd think that I was applying a matte lipstick by how it looked on and how not-moisturising it was. Which was a bit of a bummer, as I personally didn't find the sheen lipsticks from their old range drying at all.



My lips weren't in the greatest condition when I applied it but I really needed to take it off, condition, exfoliate and reapply just as I would for a matte lipstick when I was taking these shots. Wasn't impressed.
Oh, no need to say that the colour is hideous on me. I dare the great Nicki Minaj to try and pull a lip colour THIS light off. Nope. Not possible.
It turns peach on me? Don't quite understand it, lol - it looks pink on everyone else and in the tube.

Luckily, I found a way (quite by accident) to make this work.



The photos are a bit crap, but work with me here.
By applying a layer of Miner's Lip Tint (cherry) beforehand (I really needed the moisture), the colour was altered into a far more flattering rose pink that is slightly darker than what you're seeing in the photo now.



I actually quite like it and wore it like this to drop off my application for a job as a lifeguard.

Anyone else tried this particular lipstick?