Review: Duri Tudor Rose Nail Polish

I am a fan of red nail varnishes, I admit myself its pretty boring but I think reds suit me and I like them.  However something strange happened today and I decided to go for a colour that wasn't red - SHOCK!!

I chose a deep fuschia / magenta shade called Tudor Rose.  Its by a brand called Duri.  I have to admit I don't know one single shop that sells Duri (I think I saw it in a chemist once in Hampstead in London) but it is stocked in quite a few salons and I think you can find it online.

I really like this colour, its such a deep colour (I am wearing two coats here) and in certain lights it looks quite purple which I really like!

 

I am also impressed by what a nice glossy finish I got with this polish.  I have to say it feels really similar to Essie.  I am looking forward to trying out Duri's other colours.

Have any of you tried Duri?

Review: BaByliss Curl Secret Styler

Over the last few months I have been reading online about the BaByliss Pro Perfect Curl, it looked like an incredible tool for curling the hair - it literally would suck a strand of hair into the barrel and "hey presto" curly hair!  I really wanted the Pro Perfect Curl but there were two obstacles, firstly the price - it was retailing at approximately £170 depending on where you bought it from, Ouch!  The second was it was selling out everywhere so even if I had decided to go for it, I wouldn't have been able to find anywhere stocking it!

I sat back and hoped that it would become more widely available (and cheaper!) in time and last month I read that BaByliss were bring out a consumer version!!  Cue major excitment from me!  The only differences I have been told between the two products are that the consumer version is lighter, has two heat settings as opposed to three and automatically alternates the curl direction.  So, if anything it is more user friendly I think.

It is priced at £119.99 and last week I ordered it online......I had to wait a whole weekend for it to be delivered but yesterday it finally arrived!

Please excuse the photos, I took them late last night when the sky had gone black before a thunderstorm so the light at home was really bad!  I was going to take new photos later but decided I couldn't wait to share my thoughts with you (I am like an overexcited child about this product!)

I should have said that this version is called Curl Secret!

 Above is some information that is printed on the box. 

And here it is, in all its glory:

I had to have a little go of this last night even though I was only going to bed afterwards!  I was really impressed by how easy it was to use, the main thing to remember are to keep one side of the Curl Secret facing your head (its easy to remember which side as they have written on it to remind you).  Apart from that you choose your heat and time settings from those below:

• Setting 8 (8 seconds = 3 beeps) - for loose waves

• Setting 10 (10 seconds = 4 beeps) - for soft curls

• Setting 12 (12 seconds = 5 beeps) - for more defined curls

There are two heat settings and if your hair is fine and/or coloured you would use the cooler setting and if your hair is thick or coarse you would use the hotter setting.

I took small sections of my hair, probably no bigger than 3cm in width and made sure it was a nice neat section so there was no tangling and then I clamped the barrel about half way down my hair (you just clamp it where you want the curl to begin), once the barrel closes, the hair disappears and then I waited for the four beeps.  After the fourth beep I would release and that piece of hair was curly!  I used the lower heat setting and Setting 8 and I would say that I got a soft curl. 

After using this for a while I found the plastic surrounding where the hair is curled gets quite hot (I didn't think it would) but BaByliss do supply a heat mat which I will definitely make use of.

The thing that surprised me most was that the styler looks quite large in a lot of photo and even in video footage I've seen but when I took it out of the box I thought it seemed really small and I also find it quite light.  I took a photo of me holding it so you can see what I mean:

Lastly I know this shouldn't matter but I like the colour too!!

When I style my hair properly with this I will take a before and after photo so you can see the results.  My first impressions are all good, it seems really easy to use, I felt like I was getting the hang of it after just five minutes playing around with it yesterday.  I am hopefully that after a couple more goes I will be really getting the hang of it.  My mind goes back to when I first got BaByliss Big Hair and I got into a bit of a mess the first time I used that but now I could use it with my eyes closed so I am hoping it will be similar with Curl Secret.

Please let me know if any of you have bought this or are thinking of treating yourself!

Curl Secret cost me £119.99 at Boots.com

July Empties

Here are my latest empties and a small review for each item.

The first item is is the Clarins Water Comfort One-Step Cleanser with Peach Essential Water.  I love this stuff especially during summer, its refreshing and I really like the peach smell which I find quite subtle.  I use this after I have cleased or in the morning when need that refreshing feeling.  The only downside is that I seem to get through a bottle of this quite quicly but that may be because I love it so much and am constantly reaching for this bottle! 

This costs £19.50 at Boots.

The second item is Espa Hydrating Cleansing Milk.  Again this is another firm favourite of mine, it removes dirt and make up really well using a cottong wool pad and there is no need to rinse off so its nice and quick.  I have repurchased this twice in the past as I find it agrees with my skin and causes me no problems, its funny as I have combination skin and this is meant for dry skin types but I often stay away from products for combination skins as they can be a bit harsh I find.  The heavy glass bottle is really classy looking but is maybe not so good for travelling.  I will repurchase this again in future but at the moment I am trialling a Caudalie cleanser (which I will review shortly).

Espa Cleansing Milk costs £22.50 at Liberty.

The final item is Ambre Solaire After Sun Hydrating Tan Maintainer.  This is a product that I always take on holiday with me, it contains glycerol and vitamin E to soothe your skin after exposure to the sun but it also contains a low level tanning ingredient which is great for a pale being such as myself.  You get a very subtle colour,  so I am always quite slapdash with the application and have not had any disasters!  There is a slight self tan smell from this but it is slight, I always apply this at night and then shower in the morning and then the smell is gone!  I have already repurchased this.

This costs £7.49 at Boots but is currently on sale at £3.74 (grab it quick!)



Review: Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colour in Amethyst

I was in Selfridges on Sunday to re-purchase an Illamasqua Precision Ink, I had told myself that I would only buy this but I was weak and stopped at the Laura Mercier counter for a look at their eyeshadows!  Yep, you can guess the rest!

I was looking for an eye colour that is unlike anything I own (I do tend to stick to neutrals) and I started swatching the Caviar Eye Sticks.  I was really taken with a few of the colours but knew I must steer away from my usual favourite colours.

The assistant told me that the Eye Stick in Amethyst is one of their best selling colours and that she thought it'd look nice on me as I have blue eyes.  I took her advice and bought it!

The eye stick is a bit like a crayon which you twist up from the bottom.  You are able to twist it back down too which I really like as so many products won't twist back down once you have twisted them up (if that makes sense!)

The first morning I used this at home, I really liked how creamy it is, I applied it onto the eyelid (I didn't use a primer) and then blended with my ring finger.  At first I wasn't sure about the colour - its a smoky mauve shade, but once I had my eyeliner and the rest of my make up on, I loved it.  The shade seemed to really flatter my blue eyes.  

There is a very slight shimmer in this but I quite like that, however yesterday I layered a powder shadow (Urban Decay's Naked 2 shade) over this and that takes away any shimmer and it makes the colour look a lot deeper.

In the daytime it didn't crease - by 10pm at night (by which time I had been wearing this for fourteen hours(!) there was only very slight creasing but maybe even this could be eradicated by using a primer?

I wish I had discovered this product sooner - its foolproof and the results are gorgeous.  I am already trying to decide what colour to buy next?!

I bought this from Selfridges for £20.50

Review: Illamasqua Powder Blusher in S.O.P.H.I.E

I recently bought this blusher on a whim, it was online in the Illamasqua sale and I have heard so many good things about these blushers that I decided to give one a go.  I read a few reviews online and decided that the SOPHIE shade would (hopefully) work on my fair skin.

 

Like always, Illamasqua's delivery is super quick and items are packaged well - I have no complaints there.  

The packaging looks good, its black plastic and I like the clear plastic lid as it means you can instantly see the colour you are looking for in your make up bag.

I was blown away when I first tried this, I used my regular Illamasqua blusher brush and dabbed it in the powder as I normally would but this is so much more pigmented than any blush I have used before so I had to do a fair bit of blending!  However now I know how pigmented this shade is I only lightly touch the powder with the brush meaning you use less and still get a brilliant amount of colour on your cheeks.

I have been wearing this every day for the last five days - I absolutely love it and personally I prefer it to Nars Orgasm which I was loving up til I received this!  They are similar colours but the colour payoff with SOPHIE is quite a bit better.  This blush does great things for my pale skin, I feel like I look a lot healthier with it on.  I have found it very easy to blend (even on the first application when I overloaded the brush!) and its not chalky.  Its longlasting too, which is particularly impressive at the moment when London is in the middle of a heatwave!

I got this for £15 (down from £18 in the sale) from www.illamasqua.com  

Review: Illamasqua Kabuki Body Brush

I received my Illamasqua Kabuki Body Brush on Monday, I ordered it in the sale as it was £15 down from £39 - what a discount eh?  At that price it would have been rude not to purchase!  I did need a new kabuki brush too and I always hear good things about the Illamasqua brushes and like the three that I already own so I had high hopes.

The first thing I noticed when I got the brush out of the box was how soft the bristles are and for a couple of minutes just kept stroking the back of my hand with it!  The bristles are advanced synthetic hairs and so are cruelty free. 

It's a large brush, you could dust powder/bronzer on your face with this and you can also use it to apply bronzer to the body as well.  It is awesome at blending too when I have been a bit heavy handed with my blusher!

Its a pleasure to use as it performs so well and feels so nice.  I can't believe I have only just discovered it and I am also really happy that I bought it for £15 which I think is an excellent price for such a lovely brush.

I would say if you are in the market for a kabuki brush then definitely grab this while the Illamasqua sale is on.

I bought it from www.illamasqua.com