Greeks bearing gifts!

In this case I had nothing to fear. My dear friend came to stay with me last week and decided not to bring a giant wooden horse (they've stopped selling them at Athens Airport duty free don't you know) but to bring me some beautiful make-up goodies instead. Swoon.....

From MAC she had bought me the new-ish mascara,  Haute and Naughty Lash,  which I was raving about when I saw how great it made her lashes look. It has two wands in one, if that makes sense. I couldn't photograph them together as each wand forms a part of the other and if you try and pull both out at once you end up in a mess with a wand in one hand and a bare stick in the other. So here are the too brushes photographed separately.

MAC Haute and Naughty Lash - lengthening wand

MAC Haute and Naughty Lash - volumising wand

I've used this a few times now and I like the double wand concept, it's fun and makes the mascara chore less boring. I wouldn't use it when I'm in a hurry as it doesn't really give me 'fast' volume and length, it takes some building up to do that. The lengthening wand gives pretty fluttering eyelashes which are perfect for a natural daytime look, but I like full-on thick, long lashes all the time so for me it's not quite enough. I tried using the volumising wand separately too, but this was unsatisfactory for me. Not enough length and separation. The lengthening wand is also supposed to be the lash separating one so I can see how they work well together. Overall the effect of both used together is quite good, but on me it's not as great as on my friend, proving that mascara suitability is totally a personal thing. You'd think that lashes are just, well, lashes and that what works for one will work for all, but this really isn't the case. I do like it though and will use it up happily. It doesn't flake or smudge which is a huge bonus. Score: 7/10

Also from MAC she bought me the Summer Stash crushed pigments from the Surf Baby collection. Now these I initially wasn't that interested in but OH MY GOD, they are just divine!  I'll let the swatches speak for themselves.

MAC Summer Stash

All four shades of Summer Stash swatched

Close-up of the violet-plum and golden-champagne shades

Close-up of the bronze-brown and palest pink-champagne shades

The colours don't seem to have names which is such a shame as you'll have to make do with my naff 1980's paint-chart colour descriptions. (Misty buff, anyone?)
We had a great deal of fun using the pigments to create the most stunningly elegant and expensive looking smokey eye. I can finally see why people use loose pigments, the effect on the skin is just something else, another level of quality. The texture of these ones is different to the regular MAC pigment powders. As you can see from the photo above, they are like little pots of dust and rubble. I won't lie, they are difficult to apply without making a complete mess. I actually think that using them wet will minimise the fall-out and stop you looking like a human disco ball. I also think that applying them with fingers may also work, at least just to lay down the colour. I used a combination of blending brushes and flat eyeshadow brushes and although they blend like a dream I just could not minimise the amount of fall-out. So absolutely, definitely use them BEFORE you put on your foundation as you're going to have to clean your face of glitter once you've finished your eyes. This is not for when you're in a hurry. The colours are so versatile and work equally well applied on their own or blended together. It is worth checking them out next time you go to MAC. I'm in love with them and hope to be putting them to good use this summer. Score 9/10

Last but not least came the new Diorskin Nude Glow Healthy Glow Summer Powder in Aurora (phew.... ). I blogged about seeing this about two weeks ago and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I told my friend and the sweetheart bought it for me.

Dior Healthy Glow Summer Powder in Aurora

One of the prettiest compacts this summer, n'est-ce pas?

 

 

 This will probably be my most used product this summer. I'm not a fan of full-on bronzers but this is pale enough to be applied liberally and haphazardly to provide that gorgeous summer glow without looking like an extra from The Only Way is Essex. It is slightly shimmery, but it needs that touch of shimmer to give that 'glow'. I normally prefer bronzing powders to be matte, but this is somehow a hybrid between bronze, blush and radiance powder so it gets away with it. It is beautiful to look it, beautiful to hold, and luxurious to use. The brush it comes with is beautifully soft and a welcome change to the scratchy cheap brushes that usually come with compacts. It's a bit small to sweep all over the face, but for cheek top-ups on the go it's perfect. I've been sweeping it all over my face over my BB cream with my Ecotools blusher brush, concentrating it on my cheeks. The colour on me is a peachy pale bronze and I can skip blusher if I want to go for an au-naturel California beach babe type look. Very apt as I'll be in California in three weeks and this baby is definitely coming with me. Score 10/10

Thank you, my dearest darling friend for these wonderful presents! A gift of beauty is a joy forever :)

All about Yves

It's funny how some things come full circle. I remember one particular evening sitting in my gran's kitchen with my family, I must have been about 9 or 10,  and whilst they were all talking and passing food across the table I had immersed myself in yet another catalogue which I had found lying around. This one belonged to one of my aunts, and I remember this particular evening because it was the first time I had ever seen anyone else take even vague interest in a catalogue. As I mulled over the pages of perfumes and bath pearls, my aunt was there with me, also showing an interest and flicking through the pages herself. I was so excited at the idea that she might buy something and that I might get to try it too. This was one of the first cosmetics catalogues I'd seen and what I remember was the sheer variety of products on offer with extremely exotic sounding names and all the special offers that they advertised in order to lure you to buy.

The company was called Yves Rocher and was not available in shops, only via mail order. I therefore had resigned myself to the fact that I would never get my mitts on anything from this company until I received my first cheque book. And by the time I did, I'd totally forgotten about them. Roll forward 15 years and I'm living in a country where there is an Yves Rocher store on every corner! I guess it's kind of like The Body Shop of the continent with it's 'natural' & cruelty-free ethos, although like The Body Shop it's products aren't exactly 100% natural. Of course The Body Shop is here too, but Yves Rocher is a bit different. It's more like a club. Of course anyone can walk in and buy the products and their special offers are open to everyone. But if you have a club card (it's free), you get even more offers and free gifts. So, being me, what was one of the first things I did on arrival in Belgium? You guessed it.
I have to say that I up until recently I didn't go there that often. I was lured by the club card, but after that I never really bought a lot of things. That was until I received a 'birthday card' from them a few months ago with various offers on it. I thought I'd pick up a few bits on my way back from French. So impressed was I by the hair-reducing body lotion that I re-purchased. I NEVER repurchase unless I really feel it's a fantastic product, I'm too much of a fickle product junkie to want to buy the same product twice. Hence all my re-purchased stuff is pretty much HG (Holy Grail) territory. This gave me more confidence to go ahead and make more experimental purchases. So today, armed with yet another bonus offer card, I bought a coral plumping lipgloss and a little pot of sparkling gold pigment powder which is supposed to be 100% natural. Everything in store was 50% off, so it was a good time to be experimental. And my bonuses? A bauble ring, a matching stretchy bracelet and a watch (I paid an extra 2 euros for the watch, but it was worth it). It was like Christmas! I unwrapped the watch on the tram on my way home like an impatient child, but it gave me so much pleasure.... and just 2 euros! Believe me when I say that it does not look like a 2 euro watch, I'm not sure the photo does it justice.

Shiny, pretty things...

I like that you can see exactly what time I took this picture....

As for the products I bought? Well, they are just lovely. Seriously, I'm impressed. The plumping lipgloss strangely feels cooling rather than hot and prickly like most other lip plumping products, and the colour is really fresh  and pretty. It's a bit sticky but so far it's adhered to my lips for the last 3 hours with no sign of budging. Not sure my lips look plumped, but hey, I bought it for the colour not because I want a trout pout. The pigment powder  (confusingly called Pigment Pearls) can easily rival the famous MAC pigments and looks absolutely stunning. The colour range is a bit limited but for metallic shades I don't think you can do better. For cruelty-free, bargain beauty it's probably worth checking out. Happily there is also a UK site http://www.yves-rocher.co.uk/

In my excitement I've put everything on at once, gold pigment sparkles from my eyes as I gaze down upon my new baubles, bangles and beads.... Mr Pandora is going to think that I've had a fight with a Christmas tree and lost.