October favourites - fragrance andskincare

So...in the space of two years favourites have come and gone. Long term fixes turned into nightmare exes and some had the indignity to break me out.

So in November 2013 these are my current loves:

1. Kiehl's Calendula Herbal Extract Toner

This has really helped me battle my 'problem' skin. It's very light and as there is no alcohol in it, my skin is never irritated by it.

From memory this wasn't cheap and I have bought cheaper toners to sit alongside this one (Lush do a great tea tree oil one that I would recommend to anyone that suffers with spots).

2. Glamglow mud mask

This is amazing at clearing out pores and tightening the skin. It cause me no irritation unlike other masks.

I bought the teeny tiny sample size which was around £5; I've been able to ration this well and got at least 5 masks out of it.

3. Fresh Cannabis Santal

Ever since I've discovered the Fresh store in Marleybone, London, I've made many excuses to travel over there.

Although I have a couple of fragrances in rotation this is one of my favourites especially as I find that not many people have the same scent on the tube!

4. Super Free Clear face wash

Part of the cheaper Super range by Dr Nicholas Perricone. I've used this day in day out and was very upset to finish this bottle.

When I used this my skin was left feeling super clean and it didn't cause any breakouts.

I got this as an über bargain from a TK Maxx.

Jo

I WANT ONE!

Cue cute photos of otters *sigh*

Top 5 pets (wanted):

1. Chinchilla

2. Ferret

3. Rex Cat

4. Jack Russel Terrier

5. Iguana

Illamasqua - quick haul

The magazine Stylist was offering 25% off purchases at Illamasqua and I just couldn't resist, especially as I was keen to try their new matte pigments which were released as part of the new Toxic Nature collection. I only ordered two items as I'm planning to make a trip to the Trafford Centre to see the actual products up close soon.

First, I ordered a Cream Pigment in Delirium; this is a lovely mauve-y purple which I'm wearing as a blush, eyeshadow and lip colour. It's very multi-purpose and it's a colour I really love (I sometimes wear Mac "Pink Cult" over the cheeks).

(click on images for detail, Blaze (top), Delirium (bottom)

Second purchase is swatched above; I decided to go for an older lipstick form Illamasqua instead of the current Orange that was released with Toxic Nature. I wore this yesterday and got a good 6-8 hours out of it; although drying it wasn't as bad as I expected. Really love this tone of orange and joins my ever growing collection of corals and oranges.

I was really impressed by the service from Illamasqua (ordered on Tuesday night, arrived Thursday morning). Along with the items was a small catalogue which included the beautiful pictures from the current collection.

Overall: A+ for service; A- for products.

Barbie Collector... A worrying sign :S

On my second to last trip to London, I finally got to visit Harrods. I was extremely excited, and that's a bit of an understatement! Three things really drew me in: D&G, Laduree, and Barbies!

Whilst in the toy section, which was incredibly hard to find amongst the baby grows and pet gifts (??), I stumbled across the most beautiful barbie ever. I've never really owned a "doll" before and was never really into "girly" toys when I actually was a child. But this was so much more....

(click images for detail)

From the most intricate details such as jewellery and tights, to the gorgeous colour of hair, this is no typical Barbie. Joan was arguably the prettiest Mad Men Barbie, although Betty did look strikingly like the character. The notion of Barbie collecting and this "high end" range of Barbies is something I'm still not sure of but more information is available here: http://www.barbiecollector.com

This was my first Barbie, and my first "posh" Barbie. I'm sad to say that I may have developed a habit, three more have been bought, but two were for family members.

Barbie Collector is not readily available in the UK, as we cannot make orders form the US site listed above. Harrods have a section in their children's section, but this is not readily listed on their website. Ebay, Amazon and Play have all listed some of the Barbies.

Oscars Review Part1...

...so I managed to crawl out of bed just after 1pm GMT, it was a very long night. Considering one of my favorite person ever (James Franco) was presenting I expected to be entertained throughout but the show really lacked flair and the writers seemed to do little to help the two young, inexperienced hosts.

Major disappointment: There was a lack of song and dance, which has been done excellently the last two Oscars; a one minute attempt was alright but, just not enough.

Major hot point: James Franco in drag, is that weird? It was super hot either way.

Anyway, here's how my predictions stack up to the actual results:

Best Film: Inception (we can dream!) (The King's Speech)

Best Director: Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan (Tom Hooper, The King's Speech)

Best Actor: James Franco, 127 Hours (again we can dream!) (Colin Firth, The King's Speech)

Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan (Natalie Portman, Black Swan)

Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham-Carter, The King's Speech (Melissa Leo, The Fighter)

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter (Christian Bale, The Fighter)

Best Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network)

Best Original Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, Inception (David Seidler, The King's Speech)

So, 4 out of 11. Was on the whole very impressed with the speeches made by the winners above; Christian Bale was moving, Tom Hooper and Colin Firth were very British and very funny, Natalie Portman was just breathtaking.

Next post will be on the best dresses of the night and looking at the make up.

Oscars Oscars Oscars...

As tonight is the Oscars, and I have no job, I'm pulling an all nighter and seeing the ceremony live (in the UK, in the middle of the night) for the first time! *squee*

For some light hearted fun and some, probably, totally wrong predictions, see below:

Best Film: Inception (we can dream!)

Best Director: Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Best Actor: James Franco, 127 Hours (again we can dream!)

Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham-Carter, The King's Speech

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Best Original Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, Inception

So, I'm armed with crisps and lots of coffee, let's see how the night goes. Hopefully I will have predicted one or two right!

xo

Disposable Women??? Mac's collaboration with Rodarte

(Image from Google)

As Temptalia brought attention to the upcoming MAC collaboration with fashion brand Rodarte (September release date) the beauty blogging world has been thrown into an uproar. The subject of this uproar: the seemingly insensitive naming of products in the collection. Rodarte state that the collection is to celebrate the beauty of Mexico, instead it seems that names such as Juarez, Badlands, Factory and Bordertown do not seem to celebrate Mexican women, it doesn't even seem to celebrate women at all. The furore surrounding this collection is indeed centered on the naming of such disposable products such as eyeshadow and lipstick; naming them with such loaded terms seems totally disrespectful to the victims of femicide in the notorious city of Juarez.

I would just like to state that I am not Mexican or even American, I did in fact study narcocorridos and masculine violence in Mexico for my Master's dissertation. From this I have learnt that the treatment women receive in Mexico can be harsh, disrespectful and deadly. The city of Juarez is notorious for its violence against women:

• Officials place the number of women killed in Juarez at 400 whilst locals believe that over 5000 women may have been murdered in the city of Juarez.
• Commonly women were aged between 12-22.
• Most were factory workers.

Obviously this matter can not be taken lightly, it is a serious event and it needs to be tackled internally by Mexico's governing bodies. A makeup campaign which takes this lightly and names an eyeshadow after the city isn't really educating or dealing with the matter. MAC has stated that a percent of its profits will be donated but really we need to know how much will be donated. If something like 5% is donated, its not really going to cut it and I can't imagine many people being happy with this resolution. For MAC to really make a difference (and mop up this major faux-pas) a considerable percent has to be donated. I also believe that it would be very helpful if more literature and education was offered so that the situation of Juarez can become more understood.

Overall, this has left a bad taste in my mouth (and probably also for a lot of other make up lovers). For a major company to show little compassion or tact really changes my perception of them. They could have made this a collection which celebrates the vibrancy of Mexico but instead the colours do not strike me as vibrant or exciting. Instead the promotional imagery looks like a deathly woman and again I feel sick at Mac releasing this collection which seems to totally disrespect women and victims of Juarez's campaign of femicide.

A few helpful links about Juarez:

http://lasperlasdelmarfilms.com/juarez.html (details of a documentary on Juarez women)

http://political.detritus.net/juarez/ (another documentary, On the Edge)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKBQHPYdLq8&feature=player_embedded(trailer for On the Edge)

http://revcom.us/a/v24/1161-1170/1166/juarez.htm (an excellent article on femicide in Juarez)