British Beauty Blogger

Bobbi Brown Navy & Nude Palette

This is already on sale in the US, but we have a little while longer to wait in the UK. I’ve got so used to seeing high pigment colour splashes in palette, that I forgot for a moment what pared back glamour really looks like. I am a huge fan of a navy shadow (I use a Trish McEvoy one) but had never thought really that navy is nude’s best friend on the eye. I cannot wait for this to come my way to swatch and experiment. There isn’t a shade in the palette I wouldn’t want to wear and to me, that is the very most you can ever want from a make-up palette.

Chanel Le Vernis Group

I’m always really impressed when an imaginative collection hits the spot – not all do, but Chanel’s referencing of butterflies really works both creatively and in practical translation.

Chanel Le Vernis Group

I can’t wait to get these on my nails.. probably all at once since choosing will take forever!

Chanel Le Vernis Swatch

Lilis, Azure and Bel-Argus cost £18 each.

Chanel Le Vernis in Bel Argus

But my money is on Bel-Argus as the most sought after shade.

Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow Blue Bay and Black Stream

The Stylo Eyeshadows are a revelation to me; soft, creamy and easy to blend – everything you’d expect and more.

Chanel Style Eyeshadow Blue Bay and Black Stream

Black Stream is pretty much my perfect shade, the deepest charcoal flecked with iridescent sparkle. There are six shades in the range: Cool Gold, Pink Lagoon, Jade Shore, Blue Bay, Black Stream and Moon River priced at £23 each.

Chanel Inimitable Waterproof Mascara Lime Light and  Blue Note

So, on to *those* mascaras! I’m actually wearing Lime Light on my lower lashes and they’re, um, interesting! I think you either just do the very last millimetre of the tips or you go the whole hog. There’s no in-between with this look. I’m rather glad I don’t have the yellow one to test!

Chanel Inimitable Waterproof Mascara Lime Light and Blue Note

I find the blue one, True Blue, a bit Princess Di. There are four mascara shades; Blue Note (above), Zest (yellow), Lime Light (above), Aqua Blue and Black. They’re £24.

Chanel Gossamer For Lips

You can’t really go wrong with this light whisper of colour for lips. A beautiful peach tinted base with flecks of gold. It’s pretty.

Chanel Gossamer For Lips

There are three shades for lips in L’Ete Papillon De Chanel range; Envolee (shown above), Eden (pink) and Zephyr (nude) at £21 each.

So, when does this launch? 31st of May.

OCC Stained Glass

A very quick last-minute post.. look what’s coming from OCC!! I should have product to swatch by tomorrow but couldn’t resist this colour splash to round the evening off! You’ll find them HERE around mid-day tomorrow.

Nails Inc Autumn Winter 2013 Spills

These are really lush colours.. and on a wintery, horrible day like today where it’s hailing in May, they look just about right for now!

Nails Inc Autumn Winter 2013

Its a while since I used a Nails Inc polish and I’d forgotten how glossy they are.

Nails Inc Autumn Winter 2013

So from left to right: St Martin’s Lane, Old Bond Street, Regent Street and Oxford Street. Oxford Street I think will be the surprise hit – it doesn’t look much in the bottle but once out it’s a gorgeous deep nude suede shade. No further info for now, but I’ll keep you posted!

L’Oreal Nail Care Group

This is, I believe, L’Oreal Paris’ first foray into nail care, with the hero product being 7 in 1 Saviour with Argan that promises results in seven days. According to the info I have here, after 14 days nails feel 100% smoother, which is an odd claim. However, it’s the other products, Grow Beautiful, Diamond Force and 2-in-1 Protect which I am more interested in. The one that’s right for me is Grow Beautiful because it’s specifically for fragile, brittle nails, whereas Diamond Force is more for soft and weak nails. Mine are too hard, and the ends can literally just ping off! Urgh.

L’Oreal Nail Care

However, watch out for the old ‘big-box-small-bottle’ trick with these! They’re £5.99 each HERE.

Cinq Mondes Face Mask

I’m such a fan of Cinq Mondes – it’s lack of availability is very frustrating because it’s really a super brand: if you do want to get hold of it in the UK, it’s the old fashioned way – telephone 02078413578. Talk about making it hard for themselves.

The big sell for me is that it’s 3 minutes to a soft and brighter complexion. It certainly does work – you can feel it tingling – and it feels like it works powerfully. A combo of AHAs and glycolic acid gives an immediate brightening effect. It’s £49 which sounds expensive but believe me, you don’t need much!

Estee Lauder Nutritious Radiant Vitality Two Step Treatment.

This is such a great idea! Part of the new to the UK Nutritious range, this is a double action mask with two elements – detoxifying clay and then a nutrient infusion gel. The power ingredient is pomegranate and my favourite thing in the world, hyaluronic acid.

Estee Lauder Nutritious Radiant Vitality Two Step Treatment

I have put it out to try over the weekend because I could definitely do with some radiance! It’s £46 HERE.

Dune Jetsetter

I love a neon splash against nude.. it’s the perfect combination to be bang on trend and stylish at the same time. I’ve been eyeing up these Jetsetters from Dune but haven’t made the splash because I’m so short I need a little bit of a heel.. just a little one! Other than the heel issue these are just about perfect. They’re HERE.

L’oreal Sublime Bronze Exfoliator

Right, this is both good and bad. It’s easily one of the best exfoliators I’ve ever used (thanks to AHAs which really do leave skin feeling outrageously smooth and soft) but I really don’t like the message ‘Tan Optimiser’. There isn’t anything tan optimising about it other than exfoliated skin tans a bit better. I feel that by labelling it ‘Tan Optimizer’ it rather suggests that there might be more to it such as melanin enhancer or even some kind of self tan involved and there isn’t. It’s just an exfoliator, but oh my goodness, such a good one!

I totally recommend it although I’m finding it hard to identify the slight scent – I sort of recognise it but can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s both warm in a skin-scent way and rather fresh. The consistency is a gel-like formula with quite firm granules (so if you don’t like a brisk exfoliator then avoid – and also if you are sensitive to AHAs then you might also want to give it a miss).

It’s going into Superdrug and Tesco next week for £7.99. It’s stuff like this – that does a brilliant job for a decent price – that makes me raise my brows at the ‘luxury’ exfolitors knocking around for £25 and more. There’s definitely a ‘because they’re not worth it’ joke in there but …

Montange Jeunesse Body Products

More famous for their face masks, this is the first Montagne Jeunesse foray into body care. Montagne Jeunesse as it turns out translates as Mountain Youth. Who knew? !

So, I have to say they are extremely fruity smelling – but because they don’t follow the usual stereotype of fruity flavoured beauty, they aren’t as obvious as you might think. I mean, who knows what a Goji Berry smells like? I don’t. But they’re going to have a broad appeal I think for those who like sweet and fruity butters and scrubs. They’re quite inventive really, with Black Raspberry, Buriti, Acai and Goji and a change from the usual suspects, coconut, vanilla  or chocolate. In texture, they’re much like you’d expect from a Body Shop body butter (as a comparison) and they certainly do the hydrating job, leaving my skin feeling totally moisturised. I think a lot will depend upon whether you can live with the scents on your skin. My instincts tell me they’re aimed at a young market who like that confectionary-fruity combination, but it’s also a bit more sophisticated than that. Hard to put my finger on it really.

I should also add that this is a prime example of some very good marketing. It’s no secret that we (journalists and bloggers) are sent ‘incentives’ from time to time, usually in the form of a gift of chocolates, flowers, etc, but these body products came in a massive box full of fruit with a blender. I was sitting in my hall surrounded by bananas and blueberries thinking what a fabulous idea. Now, given that I don’t think I have ever reviewed a Montagne Jeunesse product in my life before, it certainly gave me the push to at least have a proper look at the offering.

And the reason I say that is that while I like to think I can’t be persuaded, I was and I’d rather be open about it. It didn’t make me feel obliged to feature them, but it did make me look and try which then led to me thinking actually, yes, these are worth talking about.

Generally, I prefer not to be pressured with incentives but in this instance it was a win-win because I hate the feeling of obligation but in fact this was such a wholesome thing, with fruit, not massively luxury whatevers, that the whole thing worked. Nice.