I see it in the Nars!

When I noticed that ASOS were offering 20% of Nars products a while back I jumped at the chance to buy some. At first glance I assumed that the least popular products would be discounted leaving the most popular products at full price but I found the exact opposite after having a more thorough look.

I've had my eye on the Orgasm blush(peachy pink blush with gold shimmer) for about 3 years now but never bought it until now due to the price. After trawling the internet for dupes I bought a Wet n' Wild blush in Pearlescent Pink instead. After finally getting the Orgasm blush I can see now that the colour comparison wasn't as close as I dreamed but it is still a great dupe. I prefer the Nars Blush as its a little darker and the gold shimmer is more apparent.

In addition to the Orgasm blush I also bought the cream blush in Cactus Flower (a warm orange/red with flecks of gold). Again, this is another blush I've been lusting after for a long time (along with Penny Lane cream blush aswell) but wasn't prepared to shell out the cash. Cactus Flower is a lot brighter than Orgasm and the shimmer isn't as chunky. It's very easy to apply (I use a flat top kabuki) and the texture is very smooth. The colour itself is quite scarily bright in the pan but once applied sparingly it looks wonderful and gives me a natural flush. The colour itself is quite similar to the colour of my natural flush/blush.

After shoving these blushes into my virtual shopping basket I decided I wanted to try something different, something I hadn't been lusting over and something I needed. I had recently ran out of my Eyeko Graffiti Liner so I decided to have a go of the Nars equivalent, I mean, It had to be good? ITS NARS? WRONG WRONG WRONG. What an absolute waste of money. The product doesn't flow well, the product itself isn't dark enough and it smudges like hell! Soo disappointed. Just shows that however high a reputation a brand has it cannot reflect the quality of every product.

Two photos just to show the colour of the products. Apologies as they're not the best photographs:

Colours are true to life in this photo.


Swatchy swatchy. See the thinner line from the eyeliner is very 'wishy washy'. The thicker line was only more pigmented as I was able to apply pressure from the side of the pen nib. Left to right - Nars felt tip liner, Cactus Flower blush and Orgasm blush.

I'm still happy with my purchases and I will use the eyeliner when I need to go somewhere quick and don't need my eyeliner to stay on for any certain length of time. Maybe a quick walk to the garage? The blushes are lovely I'm still thinking of buying the Penny Lane cream blush as it looks lovely. I also want to have a look at the Nars eyeshadows but it would have to be a pretty one of a kind colour before I invested.

Bryden xx

Cupcakes, cocktails and jewellery.

You may have seen us mention the Newcastle based jewellery company Scarlett Hearts here before, a couple of weeks ago we were kindly invited to their launch night. The invitation stated that there would be cocktails, cupcakes and jewellery- we were sold!

















Here's me and Bryden with Charlotte of Scarlett Hearts.
If you think I look a bit smug/drunk, it's because I just drank a drink that came in a pineapple.

We both picked up a few items as well as the lovely free gifts included in the goodie bags we were generously given.



Bryden got key and feather necklaces, some mustache earrings and a fry up ring (Scrabble ring was a present from Becky)! I decided to branch out into silver jewellery as they had so many nice pieces.


Scarlett Hearts have given us a discount code which can be used until the 30th of June to get a 10% discount off orders of their lovely jewels, just pop LAUNCHPARTY2011 in at checkout.

Claire
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North East Blogger Meet Up UPDATE!

Just a quick final update about the North East Blogger Meet Up we're organising in Newcastle this weekend.

We'll be meeting on Saturday the 25th of June in Newcastle Central Station between 11.30am-12pm outside Burger King, which is in the station itself. If anyone gets in earlier or later, just let us know and we can sort something out. You can contact us via our Twitter.

Once everyone has arrived we'll be going for some drinks/food/chat. After we've all got to know each other ,we'll have a look round town and do a spot of shopping. If you have bags with you, don't worry as I've got some storage sorted whilst we're in town.

We'll then all pop back home/to hotels etc to get all tarted up for a night out on the toon! We've come up with a few ideas of places to go, to make sure there's something for everyone. If anyone has any suggestions or requests for places to go in either the day or the night, just let us know.

It's not too late to come along, just let us know before the day so nobody gets left behind! If you're under 18 you will only be able to attend the day time part of the meet up.

We can't wait to see all of you lovely ladies! I hope you've all been watching Geordie Shore in preparation!

Claire & Bryden
xxx

No dollaz for Mac Palettes!

The situation is that at the moment I'm trying to downsize my make-up collection. This means trying to use up what I have, making space and making careful decisions when purchasing new items. I have a lot of eyeshadow's from different brands including a handful of MAC items. I was contemplating in buying a MAC eyeshadow palette so I could make more space but I knew fine well if I had done this I would end up buying more MAC eyeshadow's (probably in similar colours that I already own from different brands) to fill the darn thing up! But I wanted something I could use to store my eyeshadow's in one place so that I could use my MAC 4 pan palette for traveling (interchanging the eyeshadow's when I needed to). I was having a look at the Z palettes as a solution as they have no pan spaces and can hold any shape/brand of eyeshadow once they have been depotted and fixed with a magnet. I still wasn't too hot on the idea of shelling out cash for this so I carried on looking for a cheaper option. After a couple of weeks of researching into different palettes I could use I realised that I had the perfect solution staring me right in the face at home.

Behold! My metal cigarette tin palette:




Obviously, I'm not asking you all to take up smoking and run out to buy some cigarettes in a 'posh-ish' tin. But maybe an old pencil tin could work if you have one lying around. I'm just using what I had to hand and it beats just throwing it in the bin. I actually have two more tins as I picked a couple off the floor (trampy?) at last years Leeds festival in order for my (very sad) father to store his metal detecting finds in. Looks like he won't be getting them now! As the tin was magnetic all I had to do was depot my eyeshadow's and place some magnetic strip on the bottom (which I bought off Ebay for incredibly cheap).

It's not the most prettiest of tins and I'm thinking about covering it in some decorative sticky back plastic. Again, I am definitely NOT asking you all to run out and start smoking to pick up a tin. Merely suggesting that if you're unable to buy a MAC palette or are reluctant to buy one then have a look around your home and you may find something which could be used in the same way I have used my tin.

Bryden x

Skin Care Diary 2.

As you may have read in the first part of my Skin Care Diary, I went to see the dermatologist just over a week ago about starting the isotretioin treatment Roaccutane for my long standing acne problem. Luckily all my tests came back fine (including the pregnancy one!) and I was given my first months prescription to start very soon. I'm really excited to start the treatment, but not for the side effects! I spent an absolute fortune in Boots buying skin care items in preparation. The skin care lady thought I was insane when I told her I was planning on having extremely dry skin in the future!

In the mean time I thought I'd share with you a few techniques and recommendations for covering acne with make up. I stumbled across this video my the amazing Lisa Eldridge on You Tube in which she uses a very similar technique to the one I use for covering up my acne. This way you get to look at a pretty model instead of my ugly mug.



I always start off by preparing my skin before foundation as my skin currently tends to be a bit greasy and shiny during the day. I love Good Things Miracle Mattifier to moisturise with, followed by Murad Oil-Control Mattifier over my T-Zone for extra help and then finally a thin layer of Clarins Beauty Flash Balm all over my face.



Like Lisa I use a lighter foundation over the majority of my face, Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation (shade- 51) in my case. I love this foundation. I'd used MAC for years but had found recently my usual shade was looking a bit orangey and I ended picking up this Bourjois foundation on special in Boots. It's light, easy to blend and even smells nice. I then use the same Vichy/Dermablend corrective foundation Lisa uses in the video (shade- 15 Opal) over the worse areas on my face. For me this tends to be around my chin and jaw line, I also apply some of this over my permanently red nose! For any areas still looking a bit red and for my under eye shadows I use Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer (shade- 1 Fair), which is another amazing cheap buy. I then usually set my make up with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural (Shade- Light), but I'm really interested in trying the setting powder Lisa talks about in the video.



Does anyone else suffering from acne have any tips or product recommendations to help cover up bad skin?

Claire
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Some like it hot.

Long time no blog, sadly work has been preoccupying our time (maybe a bit of partying too!). Both Bryden and I have a million planned blog posts to do but so little time to fit them in. Please bare with us!

This weekend was pay day for me, so today I popped down to Royal Quays Shopping Outlet with my Mam. I find Royal Quays to be a hit and miss, they don't have as good a selection of shops as they used to. However I happened to be looking around Pilot (Where I don't think I've bought anything from  in about 10 years!) and I happened to spot these shoes. Months ago I'd seen a similar style shoe in New Look, but never got round to buying them. Months later I was typing 'wedge desert boots' into Ebay every few days in the hope of snagging the shoes that got away. I finally tracked down a tan brown pair just last week and they have barely left my feet since. I was so surprised to find an identical pair in black in the middle of a rack full of diamante flip flops and tacky platforms. They were only £20, so I now have two colour options for about £5 more than the original New Look pair.



I picked this peace sign necklace in the Claire's Accessories outlet for £4, I was impressed with the standard of some of the jewellery in there. They've got some nice things amongst the other tacky crap! I also bought a new purse as the knock off Anna Sui purse I bought in the Sydney Market in Australia last year is on it's last legs. Tan tooled leather of course.




Finally I bought this book about one of my favourite films- Some Like It Hot for £4.99 from a discount book shop. If you haven't seen this film, you have to watch it! I'm not a huge Marilyn Monroe fan, but I think she plays her character perfectly in this film.








I've also got a couple of tip offs for some free gifts that are available (only in the UK) at the moment. As you probably already know Glamour magazine are currently having their annual Benefit giveaway. There's three different gifts to choose from and at only £2 a magazine there's no reason not to snap up a few! You can choose from High Beam, Posie Tint or Benetint (which I didn't get as I've had it in the past and I'm not a huge fan). I love PosieTint, such a pretty pink.



I visited the Clarins counter again this month (more on what I actually bought in the next installment of my skin care diary) and saw that if you bought two products (one to be skin care) you get to pick three travel sized products from a selection of ten. These are decent sized products and I found I'm still using the tiny sample sized products I was given last month, so these are going to last me ages.



I went for the Multi-Active Day Cream (which will apparently correct my early wrinkles!), HydraQuench Cream (I love this already) and the cult Beauty Flash Balm (ideal for hangover days!). I'm not totally sure how long this offer runs for and no doubt Glamour magazine will sell out, so get in fast!

There's under two weeks to go before the North East Blogger Meet Up, which is taking place on the 25th of June in Newcastle, more information can be found in this post. If you would like to come please let us or Carla know, we don't want anyone to get left behind or lost! You can email me and Bryden at treblesandamixer@hotmail.co.uk, tweet us or fill in this form. Anyone is welcome to come along, we can't wait to see all of your lovely faces!

Claire
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Skin Care Diary 1.

I wanted to do a post about my current skin care routine which has probably worked the best for me out of anything I have used in a long time. My skin is, in a word, rubbish. Ever since my early teens I've had trouble with spots and in more recent years, fully blown acne. In the past year I've suffered from cystic acne which leaves me with huge scars, usually around my jaw line. No fun at all.

I know my acne isn't as bad as some poor people get it; but still at 25 years old, it's frustrating to suffer from bad skin. I have tried pretty much every antibiotic, wash, cream, lotion available. None of which have fully cleared my skin.

A couple of months ago I visited the doctor about something else and happened to mention my skin (for about the millionth time!) and FINALLY they suggested I go and see a dermatologist. I had my first appointment a couple of weeks ago and it's been suggested that I try an Isotretinoin treatment, which is basically an extremely concentrated form of Vitamin A for four months. This isn't something I've decided without a lot of thought and research before hand. Isotretinoin is known for a vast range of side effects and I'll have to go to the hospital once a month for blood and pregnancy tests (It is extremely harmful to pregnant women). I'm thinking of doing updates every now and again to monitor my progress and hopefully help anyone else considering the treatment. Sounds pretty savage huh?!

Anyway enough of the serious stuff, lets look at some lovely skincare products...

Bryden and I were in Boots a few weeks ago and were given some samples from the Clarins counter from their new Daily Energizers range, which in their words is 'A range of gentle yet super effective plant-based skin care products exclusively for 18 to late 20's skin'. After using the samples for a few days, I could already see the difference to my skin. My skin was a lot more balanced and redness had been reduced.

I decided to purchase the starter kit which, for £19.50, contained a full size Daily Energizer Cream and sample sizes of the Cleansing Gel and Wake Up Booster. I also bought the Clarins Gentle Exfoliator as Boots had an offer on where you got Advantage card points worth £10 when you bought two items. The sales assistant also very kindly gave me some samples of the Daily Energizer Cream-Gel (To use on my skin now while it's still oily, I'll use the normal Daily Energizer Cream when my skin starts to get drier from the Isotretinoin treatment) and some eye balm and gel.




I've never used any products from Clarins before and I'm really impressed. My skin can be quite sensitive and react badly to a lot of products, but nothing but good things has come from using this!



In addition to my new Clarins regime I've been using Murad Blemish Target Formula on any spots that have sprung up (I got this in a blemish kit from ASOS, but my skin reacted badly to the rest of the products in the kit. Hello puffy red tomato face!) and the Murad Oil-Control Mattifier SPF 15 to control my grease fest face during the day.

The ironic thing about starting the Isotretinoin treatment is that my skin is the best it's been in ages, in fact the dermatologist didn't even believe I had acne until I removed my make up! But, due to the scars I've ended up with in the past I don't want to run the risk of another cystic acne break out.

I know this has been a very long winded post, but I'd love to hear from anyone else that has either suffered/is suffering from cystic acne, has had the Isotretinoin treatment or has any other tips or advice. The main side effects of the Isotretinoin are extreme dryness of the skin, hair and eyes, so if anyone knows of any products that will help with this I would be extremely grateful!

Claire
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