YSL Le Teint Touche Eclat Foundation

Hello all you lovely people. 

Sharing the love today...

Aaaah you know when you fall head OWA heels and have the butterflies, the excitement and the overwhelming sense of contentment? Well I have all of those things right this second. 

For.A.Foundation. 

 Actually in all fairness I have a lot of love for a lot of foundations (fickle). Which one I go to depends entirely on my fettle (fickle AND flighty). At the moment I have a few on rotation... Benefit, Laura Geller, Perricone and Bourjois to name drop a few. 

BUT

YSL Le Teint Touche Eclat Foundation has been a favourite a good few months now and since Autumn kicked in with it's winter-esque temperatures I've found myself reaching for this more often.

I'm putting it down to the rosy undertones brightening my complexion.

This is radiance in a perfectly packaged bottle. BELIEVE.

It blends in effortlessly and feels weightless on the skin. My skin isn't perfect by any stretch but this gives as close to a flawless finish as I've had and that's before the concealer and powder come out to play!

Oh and it has a pump too so none of this spatula or pouring out nonsense that seem to dominate 'posher' brands. 

I have the shade BR10 which is a pinky toned porcelain. For me this works beautifully as I'm paler than your average polar bear and my skin tone isn't what you'd describe as warm. Think Snow White or an Ice Queen and you're on the right track.

 (Hoying myself a few compliments in there... got to love yourself before anyone else will love you n all that!) 

I'd say this is medium coverage, it's certainly not heavy or cakey but it offers more perfection than say a tinted moisturiser or BB cream. 

The finish is dewy, luminous and perfecting.

J'adore

The picture above is me (hiya) wearing the Teint Touche Eclat Foundation, I've swept on a bit of blusher and MAC Soft and Gentle on my cheek bones. No concealer or powder so you can see the how magic it is. 

 A laaaaaverleeee finish don't you agree.

The obvious draw back of this is the price tag, you can get this at Boots for £29 so it's definitely a high end sort of affair. I was lucky and got mine through Miss Make Magpie's (legendary) blog sale. I'll certainly be re-purchasing.

A little goes along way though I tend to use more if I'm being all profesh and applying with a brush. Maybe I'm doing something wrong!!

Have you tried this? Have I tempted you? What foundation makes your Holy Grail status?

Love

k xxxxx

Ps come see me on twitter here or instagram (link on sidebar) mwah xxx

Mac RiRi Boy Lipstick

Let's cast our minds back to the 20th June 2013... What were you doing? I remember it well as from about 11:40am I began to hit the refresh button on the MAC home page in (obsessive?) anticipation of Rihanna's second RiRi Hearts Mac launch. I had already snared RiRi Woo back in May (which was a happy accident! totaaaally unaware of the coveted hype!) and now my eyes were set firmly on RiRi Boy.

I knew I needed to be prepared. 

Let’s picture the scene.

Me surrounded with the laptop, Iphone and Ipad.  

Tapping the refresh key on each device, willing the collection to go live so I could order and relax!

DISCLAIMER

I say I was 'tapping' the refresh key and that's true so long as the term 'tapping' covers repeatedly and frantically press press PRESSING the enter key at a rate that mirrored my pounding heart beat!!! BANG BANG BANG! 

Girls feel the urgency here and imagine the crazy look in my eyes! All I was missing was a whistle and some back up

(Think Friends when Monica goes wedding dress shopping... yes!)

BUT... twas worth it though as I got her! And ain't she beautiful?

(I also got the bronze and blush duo in Hibiscus Kiss but that was really in the interest of free delivery!)

Despite having this lipstick since June, I've only just started wearing it. The RiRi embossed bullet looks so good I couldn't bring myself to even swatch it and spoil it! And then there's the putting off using it because you haven't taken the photos yet... BEAUTY BLOGGER PROBLEMS THOUGH!

RiRi Boy is described as a 'matte vivid lavender' with a retro matte finish. They certainly weren't lying when they said VIVID mind. The colour is intense and I loved wearing it. For me it's a true purple, it's bright but deep and because it's a matte finish it's entirely opaque.

Looking at comparison swatches RiRi Boy is Matte version of Mac's Up The Amp.

Purple lips and dark nails... Oh and a berry coloured beanie hat. This can only mean TAAAARAAAA SUMMER! 

I 'do' the colder months better. I find them less hassle and love feeling cosy.

(Give me a week before I'm on here whinging and whining asking for a bit sunshine again!)

FICKLE.

Throw in a mohair cardie and some buckled ankle boots and we've got autumn sussed!

Do we like? Is RiRi Boy on your list come the 3rd of October??? I don't know what's on mine yet but I can already imagine any logic or self control going ooot the window.  In fact I'm still waiting on it coming back!

I reply to all comments and you can catch me on twitter and instagram too (links on home page) 

See you over there :)

Love and kisses

k xxxxxxxx

Mac Impassioned Lipstick love

MWAH

Pucker Up Boys and Girls as today I want to share my lusty love for this weeks favourite lippy shade.

MAC's Impassioned.

Aaaah for me this is sexy gorgeous sexiness rolled into one vanilla scented sleek lil bullet!

 The colour on the lips is a beautiful bright almost neon pinky red. Its warm toned and I found it ever so flattering on my pale face. It's certainly a lipstick to centre your make up around like, it does the talking for you and makes a canny statement on a Saturday afternoon.

The Amplified finish is perfect as it intensifies on the lips to give high impact colour that will turn heads!

(Listen to me, talking like I'm wor cherillllllllll doing her loreal adverty thing)

No lip brush required, I just swished (yes swished) it straight on from bullet to lip.

(happy accident, I was pushed for time, couldn't find a brush so thought I'd cheat... score!)

Matte and Amplified are most definitely my favourite finishes and they have the best staying power...  I mean this pouty pic was taken about 3 hours after my initial application and it hadn't budged.

In fact I woke up the next morning with Impassioned still clinging on to my lips for dear life! Not a look I'd recommend though :)

I wonder what lippy will be ruling my world next week? What's your favourite MAC shade?

Looking forward to reading your lushty comments and please feel free to leave your links :)

*blows kisses*

Love 

k xxxxxx

Elemis Cellular Recovery Skin Bliss Capsules

Hey Guys and Dolls, how is everyone? Hope you are all as fabulous I know you look :) I'm generally fine and dandy but still decorating (I'll be saying this come June next year at this rate) and I'm struggling with interior creativity, so things can feel a tad stressy from time to time... And when Kate is stressed her smile can hide it but boy oh boy does her skin show it!!! (Random bit of third person there... sorry about that!)

So on to me and my temperamental skin... the time of the month, hormones and stress levels play havoc with what should be (by now!) a perfectly flawless complexion. 

So what specific havoc do these components play?? Well breakouts are more stubborn and are difficult to treat because my skin is so sensitive... we are talking FRAGILE and HANDLE WITH CARE!!

An example for you...

Now what? Now what? When my skin is screaming out for hope and love then Elemis Skin Bliss Recovery Capsules are my actual saviour, my Goddesses of skin therapy. 

Slightly off topic but these silky little capsules remind me of bath pearls that you used to get in bath gift sets from The Body Shop. These were the only acceptable present to give/receive if you went to my middle school... espesh if you were 'going out' with someone! If you were lucky you got Dewberry or Ananya set, but for me and a canny lad called Sean, a White Musk basket meant we could no longer be exclusive!! Sorry Sean!

Elemis Cellular Recovery Skin Bliss Capsules contain pure moringa oil and anti oxidents to cleanse and erradicate the harmful and damaging effects of everyday pollution on your skins delicate cell structure.

Morniga oil is hailed as the oil of the moment and Emma Hardie fans will know what I mean! 

Moringa oil is jam packed with anti-aging properties working to rejuvenate skin tone, improve elasticity and blast them toxins out of the water.

You'll notice that there's a mix of pink and green capsules. 

The Pink Rose is your day time treat and the Green Lavender is your night time indulgence. 

Super easy to use you just twist to open and the perfect amount for your face and neck is dispensed... massage in after cleansing and toning then apply your moisturiser (Pro Collagen Marine Cream if you are after further miracles!) and let the healing commence.

I find that my skin is calmer, clearer, fresher and certainly gets it glow back after using these. They fix the redness and dryness and actually combat the breakout by repairing the skin so quickly.

The idea is to use every morning and every night but to be honest with me having combination skin it can feel a little excessive plus I like to keep them as an intensive kiss of life when my skin is dying

Spot the little cat hair... invisible to naked eye but captured on camera!

I discovered these in a set bought from QVC and they have a ton of Elemis products which are always great value.

Oh and in case I didn't make it abundantly clear... these are (and have been already) a repurchase!

What's your sos product? Have you tried these before?

Looking forward to your gorgeous comments and I reply to all

Love k

xxxxxx

Neon Nails Inc of The Day

Happy Sunday Folks! Everyone ok? I'm feeling a bit under the weather, not poorly enough to demand tea and sympathy all day but not chipper enough to motivate myself to get ready! That may come under LAZY in the dictionary... Not too sure!!!

Anyway had the house to myself this morning so spent it in bed, painting nails, electric blanket on, Gavin and Stacey on Netflix and surrounded by my curious cats (who incidentally got bored quickly and decided to cat nap!).. Bliss yes?

So today I've gone for PINK on my nails. Not that I'll be making any boys wink any time soon... that will take some work believe me!!! (Unless the unbrushed, unwashed look is catching on?)

Todays weapon of choice was Nails Inc in Notting Hill Gate, it's sold as a neon shade so I was psyched thinking I was in for the Baker Street of the pink world... 

Needed the flash to 'capture' the colour

Not quite the NEON I expected but still a striking colour
You can see the tips of my nails if you concentrate and squint :)

In all honesty it doesn't have the stand alone 'kick' that Baker Street has, I wouldn't describe it as neon pink that's for sure, more barbie bright! Plus I needed four coats to to achieve full coverage which is unusual for Nails Inc... 

With half an hour of 'me time' left and feeling like my nails needed more OOMPH! I decided to have play around and jazz the colour up... So I whipped on Nails Inc Electric Lane holographic top coat and striped on Essie's Matte About You over my remaining two fingers.

EEE the shame, got picture happy before I 'neatened up' my splodges! Damn disgrace!!

I adore the holographic top coat, it's not chunky bits of glitter, its a smooth polish full of itsy bitsy particles that catch and reflect the light. And it smells like glue! Don't know why that's a good thing but i distinctly remember thinking OOOH when I caught a whiff of it!! :)

And there's todays products... I'm liking but not loving this look my so my guess is that this evening will be spent catching up on Corrie (still surrounded by sleeping sleeping kitties!) and repainting my nails to something I'm actually 'feeling' !!

What do you think? Have you tried any of these products? Any ideas for my nails tonight??

Thanks for reading

k xxxxxx

Got The Lip On?? Mood Matching Review

Happy Monday  One and All! What we like today? Counting down the days until the weekend would be my guess... :)

Got a canny little lippy post today in the shape of six (yes six!) Fran Wilson Mood Matcher Lipsticks. Now I hadn't heard of her or these before but when I saw all the bold and bright colours I just had to give them a go. Now baring in mind I never wore lipstick ever ever until last month I think you'll agree on first impressions these were certainly a crazy brave choice.

Not for the faint hearted!

Now these rainbow bullets promise 12 hours of continuous colour and hydration, each shade changing according to your very own body chemistry. (ooh err)

As you can see on the swatches the colours aren't quite as garish as they initially appear. They are a lovely sheer formula that glides and glistens over your lips. No lip brush required but word of warning maybe whip a lip pencil around your lip line just to avoid looking like you've face palmed a beetroot... That photo didn't make the cut :)

Pretty little rainbow swatch

I must be feeling brave as (i'm leaving my dignity at the door) I've got some actual face shots of me wearing the lippy...

DISCLAIMER:
All shots are 'selfies' and taken with face shot on my iphone, so they create that oh so flattering 'looking into a spoon' angle.

Here's my natural lips...

Here are the results... (drum roll drum roll)

Incidently I'm in alreeetish fettle so its matching to a good mood :)

First up is the ORANGE. Now this goes on lovely, the pics don't do it justice really, as in real life its a gorgeous juicy coral that adjusted to flatter my ghostly porcelain complexion perfectly.
Equally would look great with a tan so will have to get mitted out and fake baked up pronto :)

ORANGE

KISS ME?

 Dark Blue... As i was putting this on i'm thinking "yak yak yak" (think it reminded me of a fling with rimmels black cherry lipstick in 1996!) but actually i'm sold. Its a lovely purply plum on me and because its a stain it makes my lips look kinda bitten. I LIKE.

DARK BLUE...   VAMPYish

Look how luchious... :)

The sky blue one... Like the dark blue above it has a definite purple tone to it, this is a softer creamier finish. Its more of a candy pink. The sort you feel pretty wearing... day or night.

SKY BLUE
whats that they say? "like my lips but better" I WISH

YELLOW... Its alright, like it better on my lips than my arms. The gold sheen on the swatch transfers to an almost frosted finish on the lips. 

YELLOW... 

The Pink One. From the bullet the most obvious and easy to wear choice surely. And true to form it feels like it could be my favourite... its a pearly iridescent formula on your lips. Again the photos aren't really catching it but there is a definite shimmer to this one!... promise!

PINK... makes the boys...?

Don't strain your eyes, I promise you there is a pearly sheen!

Green one... Difficult to capture on the photo despite standing in front of, along side and behind natural light. This came up rather bright, with the exception of the orange easily the brightest, a real pinky coral kick to it. 

GREEN... Goddess?? 

With the exception of the yellow one,  i'd say any be could be my bestest one... the orange, dark blue or pink probably are my faves today though. Or the green. :)

They are available from QVC and retail at £21.50 plus p&p.

They've been fun and definitely will wear them again... Oh and they weren't fibbing about the staying power, has been 6 hours and they've survived 3 cups of tea, a bowl of supernoodles, a cream egg, walking the dog and a nap! The swatches on my arms have been scrubbed (and scrubbed) but i'm still left with what looks like a dramatic injury (might see if i can get some sympathy somewhere!)

BYE ZE BYE XXX

So what was your favourite? Which would you choose?

Love hearing from you all

Kate xxxx

Spring Scrubbing

Hi everyone! How are we all? Are we loving spring? Don't know about you guys but I'm well excited for it's arrival, and I mean like it's proper arrival. Not just by name and a date on the calendar but with a knowing nod from mistress weather, with bluebells, picnics and pastel colours! Right now I'm kind of thinking there was little point in defuzzing my winter legs!!! :) Still wearing the opagues, I'm just colder!

Anyway Spring for me is the start to the Summer. It's pretty, it's fresh and it's new.

So... what better way to sing the season in than to try something that promises to rid me of the old and reveal the fresher and the newer? Now I'm a big fan of a exfoliators. I love the promises they make, the scrub, the grit and hopefully the fantastic result. Unfortunately for me its the latter that varies, especially seen as I've been known to resemble a peeled tomato when scrubbing goes bad, either due to the product or possibily (and I'm holding my heavy hands up here!) some overzealous application! (oops!)

I've heard so much love about Tropic Skincare recently and I remember Susan Ma from The Apprentice (she had me sold on her vision even then!) If you've not heard then listen up! This her baby and it's Pure Plant Skincare, the entire range is all natural wonderful goodness, even the face cloth (flannel where I come from!) is made from organic bamboo fibres. Also it's vegan friendly and cruelty free... What's not to love???

I decided to try the face polish and the face cloth.

So here's the science bit (channelling my inner Aniston there)
The face cloth is 100% organic, it helps purify skin and it's softer and thicker than traditional muslin cloths.
The face polish is 100% natural and contains wonderful ingredients such as sweet almond, sugar cane, ground rice, golden jojoba, macadamia, acai berry, oranges, lemons and limes as well some essential oils. Ooh and it also comes complete with a wooden spatula to scoop out the magic.

So as you can imagine it smells DELISH, and applying it is like a dream. Its an oily consistency but still thick and luxurious. I had myself a bit of a pamper session and used it whilst relaxing in the bath. It feels absolutely amazing on the skin, so gentle but still satisfyingly "scrubby". As the sugar and rice are doing their thing to brighten, the oils are nourishing and replenishing your skin (and making your bathroom smell like a spa!)

The face cloth holds in so much heat and I found it incredible for declogging my ever congested pores. Plus bamboo has naturally occurring anti-bacterial properties so that can only be a great thing right?

So in summary (sorry if I've rambled, my dad says I could talk under water!) I think the Face Polish is FABULOUS. For me it truly is the queen of scrubs :) My face has never been so luminous and glowy, and I use an exfoliator every morning. This goes the extra mile, after using I find my moisturiser and make up just glide on and the little teeny rough black heads that have lodged on my chin since 1996 have disappeared!!

The blurb recommends using the polish 2-3 times per week, though personally I've found 1-2 times is sufficient enough to keep me looking fresh, supple and revitalised! (Dare i say dewy and gorgeous too? Or is that too much?... Aaah thought so!)

The face cloth is suitable for daily use, I'm tending to use it whenever I have a soak in the bath, so again 1-2 times weekly. (don't worry I shower daily!!)

The face polish retails at £15.00 and the bamboo face cloth at £5 and are available here . They are both definite repurchases for me.

Think the facial oil is next on my list :)

Anyone else tried anything from the Tropic Skincare Range?
Would love to hear your thoughts Xxx