I have a tumblr...

that I forgot about.

I still don't get it, and I don't know what I'll post on it, probably things I find entertaining.

http://vocaltest.tumblr.com/

Caroline.x

New hair...

I now have purple hair.

It is more of a cherry purple, I'll do it again tomorrow.

I also have a silly new hat, which does not suit me at all.

Caroline.x

New Sleek Sunset palette…

You all know I love me a bit of Sleek make-up - especially the palettes’. So of course I squeeled with delight upon discovering they’re releasing some newuns!

Here I introduce to you the Sunset palette (yeah, I don’t know why this came out in October entitled Sunset either…). A lovely concoction of warm sun colours with a splash of blue, and the obligatory matte black eye shadow which all Sleek palettes come with. The shadows themselves feel even more creamier than the other palettes which I’m a big fan of, and all shadows minus the black are frost/veluxe pearl like.

You will be pleased to hear that the Sunset palette is permanent – hurrah! According to Sleek’s twitter, the palette is being rolled out across all stands gradually so if it isn’t there right now, it will be eventually. Also, I’m pleased to say that Canterbury Superdrug (where I’m at uni) now has a Sleek stand – even bigger hurrah! Which means I no longer have to travel to Brighton/Bromley/Bluewater to get my Sleek fix – hopefully Ashford will get/has one too!

Swatchy swatchy; Not my best swatching effort I’m afraid, I took these pictures late at night, sorry!

 

And in other news, ANOTHER new palette is coming out next week. I can’t think of the name right now, but its a smokey eye palette – oooo!

 
Ahh, don’t they look all pretty lined up?!

Caroline.x

My mini Style Black haul (and a black lip gloss dupe)…

I know I know, there has been a thousand posts about Style Black and its so yesterday’s news.. but I’ve been a busy bunny (I only have one day off a week now – and its usually spent sleeping!) and have been neglecting my blog. Naughty me.

Anyway. Style Black was/is such a hyped collection and I’ll be honest… I wasn’t wowed by any means. I went in on release day expecting to come out with a considerably light pocket, and I can safely say I didn’t. On the day I only bought Night Violet Mattene – wow, what a mistake! I saw swatches on Temptalia and thought ‘oh its not that dark’ – wrong! This shade does not suit me AT ALL. However, I covered my lips in Barry M’s 101 lipstick (the super duper horribly pale lipstick that makes everyone look like a corpse – sorry 101 fans!) and put Night Violet over the top and it actually turned into a lovely colour. I’m um’ing and ah’ing whether to keep this lipstick – you might see it in my next blog sale!

Originally I had reserved Young Punk mineralize eye shadow and Feline to pick up the Thursday after (pay day!) but upon return on that Thursday I decided against Young Punk. I simply have enough eye shadows to keep me going for a lifetime – plus, if I’m really desperate, I can mix MAC’s Beauty Marked eye shadow and a bit of Barry M’s purple cosmetic glitter together to get the same affect.
I did of course buy my lover long time Feline Kohl Power. NOTHING compares to this eyeliner, and we will be in love forever. I also decided to bite the bullet and buy the Thermal Mask, as well as the exfoliator. I’ve used VAE before when it was released last year in the stupid useless tub, very pleased it is in a squeezy tube this time!

Now for the dupe..

Originally I was very tempted by one of the Dazzleglass Creme’s or whatever they are – in particular the greyish one with little sparkles – sorry can’t remember the name. But less face it – black lip gloss isn’t for every day use and for an every day make-up wearer it is just a novelty. So whilst mooching round Boots I discovered Rimmel have released a black lip gloss in their new ‘Stay Glossy’ range entitled ‘Black Diva’.

As you can see in the swatch it can be worn either opaque or sheered out to a greyish colour that I can imagine looking rather nice over a berry lipstick. I believe this was either £5.99 or £6.99, I’m not sure, but better than the £12 or whatever MAC’s version is!

Caroline.x

In's and Out's...

Haven't done one of these for a long time! You might be seeing more of these soon now that I am back to uni - no time for huge blog posts at the moment! Once I'm into a routine within a couple of weeks I will back on the blogging :)

In:

Ignoring the negativity-

You're all aware of this 'negativity wave' that has appeared recently - you can't miss it. Personally, I've kept away from it and kept quiet (minus my own blog drama, of course) purely because I don't want anything to do with it. As Emma has said, I do my blogging for me and me only, and if it makes me happy then I will continue to do so, even if there is negativity surrounding my love and my hobby.

LUSH American Cream Conditioner:

Oh. My. Word. I have never smelt something as amazing as this. The smell is divine... I'm a real vanilla fiend and love everything vanilla scented - well, within reason... some 'vanilla' scents smell rather like cat wee instead of vanilla. Its not the most conditioning conditoner (harhar) but I'll settle with that for the smell.

The Body Shop Shea Body Butter:

I mentioned in this in my Body Shop haul post a few weeks ago. We all know about body butters so I won't say too much, but I've been slathering this stuff on like there is no tomorrow!

Sleeping better!

As I've mentioned before my sleeping has never been brilliant. But since I've been back to uni I've been going to bed early (between 11 and 12pm) and getting my patterns regulated. I'm still tired constantly, I still rely on sleeping pills before 11pm and it still takes me a good hour or so to sleep, but its better than falling asleep at 3am or later as I'm used to :)

Neutrogena 2 in 1 wash/mask:

Not sure that is the exact name, but this has been my skin saver. I've had two spots which are more like boils (no head, just big and red and protuding from my cheeks) and they haven't wanted to shift, but this Neutrogena bad boy has taken them down considerably.

Outs:

Anxiety:

I'm fretting already that I'm going to fail my degree and I'm only a week in..

Preparing to say goodbye to my social life:

Early mornings and late finishes are going to ruin my social life. Lucky me!

No money:

This month I have been absolutey buggered for money, hence my blog sale. I don't know how I ended up with no money, I haven't done anything different but somehow have been extremely skint. Roll on pay day on Thursday!

Uni books - £203!:

Yep, £203 for 6 books. How depressing.

That is all for now. Hope you all have brilliant weeks!

Caroline.x

Goodbye B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful...

Direct from the LUSH UK forum:

"Six years ago B began in bustling Carnaby Street. Since then we have developed the look and feel of the stores and launched the brand into two other countries, Japan and Austria. Now it is with great sadness that we have to tell you that the B stores will be closing at the end of this year. The company has not gone bust or bankrupt and there are no administrators involved, we are simply unable to make a profit. Lush will be absorbing the business in order to retain the assets.

However, we would love you to join us and end our wonderful 6 year adventure on a glittery and glamorous high! Our last B Christmas promises to be a fantastic one with some old B Christmas favourites and a few new ones too. We will be here to help you preen, perfect, prettify and perfume yourself for the upcoming party season; please do come to visit us in our beautiful boutiques before we take a final bow, we would love to see you.
We would like to say a big thank you to all our customers, who have supported our dream. We have had a great time with B and we know you all have too. Don’t forget everything in B is now limited edition, so if you have a favourite product we suggest you get it now before it goes. Everything now really is collectable!!"

I'll be honest, I never bought anything, but the packaging is adorable. Perhaps they shouldn't have opened that store on Oxford Street after all...

Caroline.x

It's the little things...

After a crappy day full of cancelled lectures and seminars (thanks uni for cancelling a lecture via e-mail at 9:30 that starts at 10... I leave home at 9!), illnesses and arguments it's the little things that cheer me up.

One of my followers on twitter tweeted me this:

jennflorence@vocaltest the way you do your make-up is beautiful im finally getting alot more creative with mine due to your blogs x

Comments like that make my day, it's really lovely to know that people think that!

Hope your day's were all better than mine! Now to go pop my inflating ego...

Caroline.x

One thing that amazed me and one thing that shocked me today…

I went back to university today. I can’t believe how pooped I am after just one day and it wasn’t even a full day… I think I’m getting old, either that or I’m just lazy. I’m betting lazy.
It didn’t go too bad, we have a mega huuuuuge new library and if you follow me on Twitter you would have seen my picture of how massive it is and the super duper amazing electronic moving bookcases that fascinated me for about half an hour. I can see myself spending more time moving all the bookcases instead of working.. anyhoo…

During my what looks to be my favourite class (Retail Strategy – Did you know O’Neill the surf brand went bust last week? Neither did I!) we read an article from Retail Week about Tesco and Morrisons’ management strategies. Very boring stuff but at the bottom were a few little boxes indicating various retail sector leaders. Naturally the cosmetics and toiletries table caught my eye, and here it is:

I don’t know why, but the top ten for 2008 really amazed me! I can’t believe what an enormous market share Boots have compared to other cosmetics/toiletries retailers. And aww, look at little old Lush at the bottom! Going from 28th in 2006 to 10 in 2008 is pretty damn good I say.

Onto the thing that shocked me…
I was flicking through The Daily Mail whilst eating my dinner and stumbled across the article. To cut it short, it compares what two twins (is that good English?! haha) spend on their looks/body per year. Here it is:

TWENTY POUNDS A YEAR ON MAKEUP?! My word, I spend that on one trip to Superdrug! Now I know I need to attend MAA (Makeup Addicts Anonymous) but TWENTY POUNDS?! I wish I could spend that little on makeup a year.. in fact I wish I could spent just £384 on my looks per year!

I dread to think how much I have spent on makeup/skincare/hair care. The question for me though… is my yearly spend on my looks vanity or obsession? A mix of both I think.

How much do you guys spend a year then? Huh? Huh?

Caroline.x

P.S OH OH OH! I'm going to a talk with Cath Kidston in October about how she has expanded her business, how exciting!!