Wednesday 31 December 2014

Lime Crime Mint To Be Lipstick

Mint To Be is a mint green lipstick from Lime Crime. I've always loved Lime Crime's color selection of lipsticks and as soon as I saw they had a mint color, I always wanted it. Like all of Lime Crime's lipsticks, the packaging is a similar shape to MAC's just a bit bigger. It's also a lovely lilac color with a unicorn on the design. I don't have a mint color in my collection, so this is a great color to have, along with my expanding selection of crazy colors.





Like other Lime Crime lipsticks, this one has a creamy texture too. Theres plenty of pigment in this color and it took about two applications to get full color. It isn't a matte, so it doesn't have the staying power of one, but it did stay on most of the day and only needed reapplying once. The texture wasn't drying, sticky and didn't have a slimy slippery texture, like Makeup Revolution's lipsticks do. 

I love the color of Mint To Be. People may be a bit unsure whether to wear a mint lipstick, but I say go for it and have fun with the colors. I wore this color with a dark eyeshadow and it looked fab.



Tuesday 30 December 2014

Lime Crime New Yolk City Lipstick

I've always liked Lime Crime's color selection of lipsticks. They do regular colors like pink, but also do crazy colors like blue and green. I always like something different, and decided to try yellow as a lip color. 

New Yolk City is a banana yellow lipstick with a really nice creamy texture, similar to other Lime Crime lipsticks. It comes in lilac packaging with a unicorn on. The packaging is a bit like MAC's lipsticks, the same sort of shape but a bit wider. 




Yellow is usually a dodgy color. I've found most yellow eyeshadows to be difficult to build up and go a bit patchy. It was the same with this lipstick. It took me a number of applications to get an opaque finish. It went on smooth and didn't feel a bit sheer. It did need reapplying throughout the day. Yellow is not a color choice most people would go for on their lips. I say be daring and try this color out. It did go well with black eyeshadow. I love this color as it is such a different color and makes a change to pink.


Sunday 7 December 2014

How To De Pot Your Products

Depotting is the process of removing products from their hard packaging and putting them into a palette. This is a handy thing to be able to do if you want your products in one place. This post explains what I find the easiest and best way to de pot your products. This post covers products such as eyeshadow and blusher.

Some companies make it easy to de pot products. Brands such as Bobbi Brown sell their blushers and eyeshadows in packaging where you can just press the back of the product out and put it into one of their customizable palettes. Others such as MAC do refillable versions for palettes alongside eyeshadows and blushers in regular packaging. I really like these refillable versions, not only are they cheaper, but it saves having to de pot them. Then you get some brands like Illamasqua that don't offer refillable versions or easy pop out packaging. This is where knowing how to de pot comes useful.

Custom MAC Eyeshadow palette


The method I like to use is the heat method. There is a non heat method, which involves using a knife and wire cutters. I have tried that before but think the heat method is much easier.

What you will need

  • Hair straighteners
  • Greaseproof paper
  • Large towel
  • Tools such as pins or scalpel
  • Empty palette
  • Product to de pot
  • Wet wipes (hands can get very messy)
This tool is the best for depotting


Empty MAC customizable palette


First you will need to separate the outer packaging from the inner packaging that contains the eyeshadow/blusher. To do this use a tool such as a scalpel or a knife and carefully wedge it in, be very careful when doing this. When you've separated it, get ready to use the heat.

Separating the packaging

The product is now ready to be depotted


I switched my straightens onto the hottest setting, this is the best temperature as the hotter it is, the easier it is for the glue on the pan to melt. Wait for them to heat up. Get the greaseproof paper and put it onto the plates onto the straighteners. Being careful not to burn your fingers, put the product you want to de pot onto the greaseproof paper and leave it there for no more than 10 seconds. 



Hopefully the glue would have started to melt by now, allowing the pan to come away easy from the packaging. You can either use a pin to pop the back of the packaging, which means the pan should come away easy. I prefer to get the scalpel and carefully wedge it underneath the color. I found the glue came away really easy with my Illamasqua eyeshadows. The MAC ones took a bit longer.



With MAC eyeshadows the best way to loosen the pan is to wait til the heat has actually distorted the plastic packaging. It is easy to see when this happens as it goes a funny shape underneath. When this happens, grab a pin and just push it into the packaging. The pan comes out really easy.

Be careful not to burn your fingers or to break the eyeshadow. I've cracked quite a few eyeshadows before trying to do this. 

With MAC, they offer refillable palettes available in single size or duo size. They also do inserts for eyeshadows and blushers so the colors go in really tidy. Currently Illamasqua don't offer any customizable refillable palettes, so I bought a MAC duo palette and put the colors in using sticky magnets. I do like having all of my Illamasqua colors together as it makes it so much easier when applying color. It is easy to forget about a lot of colors when they are all stacked up, plus one palette takes up a lot less room.

Custom Illamasqua palette with powder and cream eyeshadows


Depotting can be messy so make sure you cover the floor with a large towel and have wet wipes handy. It is really easy to get colors over your hands.

There is a non heat method, but I think using heat is a lot easier and faster. Knowing how to de pot is definitely a good skill to have especially if you like to put your colors all in one place.

Friday 5 December 2014

Nails Inc Shoreditch High Street Crackle Nail Polish

Crackle nail polish has been around for some time, and I still like the look of it. Shoreditch High Street is a bright purple crackle effect polish from Nails Inc. I got this for £4.00 in TK Maxx.



The best way to wear these colors is to have a really pale color underneath. This is so the crackle shows up and doesn't get overpowered by a darker color. I wore NARS Ecume as my base color and applied this on top of it. The crackle appears almost immediately after applying it. I love applying the crackle and waiting to see how the effect turns out. I gave my nails two coats of crackle and it looked awesome. It dried in about a minute and didn't chip, it stayed on my nails for about a week.



Tuesday 2 December 2014

L'anza Healing Strength White Tea Shampoo And Manuka Honey Conditioner

My hair was absolutely wrecked not long ago. Bleaching, sun damage and over use of straighteners really messed my hair up. I decided to invest in high end shampoo and conditioner and decided on L'anza. I have been using L'anza products for some time now and noticed the difference they made. They do shampoo for all hair types, including mine.

The shampoo and conditioner I bought was from the Healing Strength range. This range is for damaged hair like mine. The shampoo is called White Tea and the conditioner - Manuka Honey. 

HEALING STRENGTH combines CP Anti Aging Complex and Keratin Healing System to strengthen hair that has become weak and brittle from chemical processing, heat and other age-accelerators. Each fortifying formula is guaranteed to reduce hair breakage. Fiber integrity is restored, resulting in stronger, shinier, healthier hair.



This shampoo and conditioner is sulphate free. That is no Sodium Lauryl Sulphate or Sodium Laureth Sulphate. I've been reading about sulphates a lot lately and after reading about them, I don't fancy using them on my hair. Not only do they dry the hair out, they also strip color and can irritate the scalp. L'anza uses natural cleansers and not the ones I mentioned above.

The shampoo contains White Tea which is one of the most potent antioxidants around. It uses Keratin Healing System and CP Anti Aging Complex to heal the hair. The conditioner contains Manuka Honey which is rich in nutrients and healing properties. It reduces breakage and boosts elasticity.

As this is a sulphate free shampoo, you don't get as much lather as you do with shampoos that contain sulphates. I always used to think that you have to get loads and loads of lather when you wash your hair. I know now that you don't need loads of lather, the shampoo is cleaning your hair. After shampooing my hair doesn't feel all dried out like a load of shampoos have done before. After using the conditioner my hair feels a lot better, even without being dried.

I have noticed a difference after using this shampoo and conditioner. The condition of my hair has improved lots and there is definitely a reduction in breakage. My hair is easier to brush through too. This shampoo and conditioner is from L'anza's luxury range of hair products and is the most expensive. L'anza do a cheaper range of products for damaged hair which I have been told are really good too. It's just this one is more luxurious. These are not cheap, but they are definitely worth it.