Mmm. Butter.

Thanks to the aforementioned MOBO Awards, I have a new all encompassing obsession - Palmer's Cocoa Butter.

Most of us are familiar with Cocoa Butter in the jar form:


And I was aware that there was a lotion equivalent:

So when I saw they were being represented at the MOBOs I had to approach the team at the end of the night to ask if there were any spares going. Turns out they had LOADS of stuff left and just gave me everything in a bag!

I ended up with two jars of the Cocoa Butter so I gave mum one, and I also got:

Olive Butter Formula Lotion
Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion
Cocoa Butter Formula SPF 15 Body Lotion
Cocoa Butter Formula Skin Firming Lotion
Cocoa Butter Formula Massage Cream for Stretch Marks
Cocoa Butter Formula Swivel Stick
Cocoa Butter Formula Body Gloss
Cocoa Butter Formula Dark Chocolate and Peppermint Lip Butter

So yeah... lots!

I asked for the Skin Firming Lotion and Massage Cream for my pregnant friend, and another friend who's just had her second baby. The rest I am keeping as I am IN LOVE.

The Cocoa Butter Lotion is fabulous after a bath or shower. It's so easy to apply. I slapped it on after my shower yesterday and I can still feel the effects of it. I have also found myself using a small amount of this on my face, as my skin gets REALLY dry and tight during the colder months. Seeing as it's good for stretch marks and scars I wondered if it would even out my complexion. I'll keep you posted on this. It certainly seems to make my skin brighter and more glowy.

The Swivel Stick has been a lifesaver. It looks like this:

Basically it is the Cocoa Butter Formula in a stick. I like to think of it as being essentially a Pritt Stick, but instead of glue, it's Cocoa Butter. Yeah. This makes it so much easier to carry around and to apply. You can apply it straight from the stick and the butter just melts into your skin.

I have had a bad (and I mean REALLY bad) breakout of hand dermatitis, and my skin is very very dry and cracked. After a few weeks of trying every moisturiser and cream I could think of I was getting more and more stressed out which was just making my condition worse.

So I popped this into my bag and used it after washing my hands, or any time I felt my skin was getting sore. The results are amazing. Bearing in mind that there is no cure for eczema or dermatitis, this made a huge difference and acted as a barrier while keeping my skin soft.

But my new favourite thing in the whole wide world is the Cocoa Butter Formula Dark Chocolate and Peppermint Lip Butter...

Oh. My. God.

I have touched upon my obsession with lip balms but this is just divine. The scent is just as it's described. It's exactly like mint choc chip ice cream.

It goes without saying that the product is ultra moisturising. It has a thick (but not sticky) consistency and the gloss it gives is pretty without being over the top shiny. It has the usual ingredients of Cocoa Butter and Vitamin E but also contains Peppermint Oil. It doesn't actually taste of mint choc chip, which I actually like as I feel it would be sickeningly sweet if it did. It's pleasant while not really having a taste as such. If that makes sense to anyone...

Here it is on bare lips:



And with my favourite Barry M Lip Paint over the top:



Suffice to say I rate Palmer's Cocoa Butter products very highly. You can pick most of them up at Superdrug and they are so affordable for such high quality. I was almost scared to look online for the Dark Choc and Peppermint Lip Butter in case it was hard to get in the UK. Thankfully it's not ;)

I fear I might become a full blown collector of lip balms soon - the sort that can't see a new product and not buy it. Pray for me...

Music Of Black Origin

My big event is now well and truly over. Seeing as I have been working non-stop since then (and trying to catch up on my sleep), it's been a while.

I can now tell you that the event I attended was the 2009 MOBO Awards. I was working backstage in the Celebrity Gifting Lounge (or Talent Retreat), promoting our company's products and trying to chat to celebs!

Spot me and my chosen outfit almost walking into frame here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8xtQLpp2bs

I had an awesome time on the night, and afterwards we attended the afterparty and ended up in the VIP dining room crashing JLS' table!

I'm off to get ready to meet some friends for lunch. I promise a proper update later tonight.

Apologies To The Bank Balance... Part II

I have returned from an afternoon of browsing and the results are interesting.

I promised to take pictures and I did. This in itself was difficult I was trying to avoid the embarrassment of it being obvious I was photographing myself (camera flash, camera clicky noises etc). Then without a flash some of the pictures came out a bit blurry. And also taking a photo of your own body is both tricky and unflattering. With that in mind and the previous post to hand, here's how I got on.


I parked the car at Debenhams and walked through. Browsed the rails of the concessions in there that included Miss Selfridge, Warehouse, Oasis, Red Herring and Julien McDonald. I wasn't impressed, and I couldn't find Dress Number 4.

After a quick overall scour I went round again to have a closer look at what was on offer. I picked up 4 dresses in the end, all Miss Selfridge.

First up, a one shouldered spotted number. Not particularly flattering on me and a bit low on the bust. Thumbs down. This one was even worse. No idea what's going on around the chest area at all. This was the best of the four, and it just makes me look all hips. The third one I tried on I'm not even going to post, safe to say it was a disastrous Aztecy number. Not good so far. In fact I was actually so glad to put my own clothes back on. This one is mine. By far my favourite in that changing room... Moving on, I checked Oasis and Warehouse's full range in their stores. Yawn yawn yawn.

I then almost ran to Republic as I knew I wouldn't be let down in there. Lots of lovely sequin numbers but I wanted to avoid them, as I already own a sequin dress and I wanted something a bit different.

First up remember Dress Number 2? It turned out to be a tad too casual, so I ended up with an armful of some that were completely different.


This one reminded me a bit of the River Island one that I had looked at, with lace-effect detailing at the top. It was "nice", but nothing special, and something I wasn't particularly excited about wearing. (Yes I cheated slightly, there's a sequin striped top in there that I just HAD to try on.)

Next I thought I was onto something. I really REALLY liked this Jessica's Attic beaded dress:


I would probably have bought this if it was any other occasion. There's a tunic underneath and then a beaded layer over the top which tied at the back with little tassels!

Told you that the self portraits were not flattering. And oops, there's my bra!

Once I decided that I needed something a bit more special I moved on. I headed into Dorothy Perkins and immediately came across Dress Number 5. Two of them. In a size 8 and a size 10. Fail! The entire back section is actually satin and the front seemed to be equally flimsy and not a good look for the curvier figure, so I scrapped that idea.

Next up, River Island. Could NOT find Dress Number 1. Nor did anything else take my fancy. I was beginning to feel a bit desperate.

Topshop was my last hope. I had walked the entire length of the shopping centre and this was the one shop remaining.

I started hunting for Dress Number 3 to no avail. Along the way things were catching my eye so I picked up two other dresses and on the way to the fitting room I found something else...

First up I tried that red and black number hanging up at the side. I liked that immensly until I literally put it over my head and decided that maybe I didn't like it, and that I would probably never wear it again anyway.

Then I tried on this purple one. This does appeal to me but it's a bit too prom-like and shiny and for the occasion.

BUT - we have a winner.


I do need to tie it properly (and may I just say there are some weird shadows going on the armpit area in that photo). However this nude cutie from TFNC, which I discovered stands for "Time For New Clothes!" by the way, is so me. I realised then that when I started out I didn't have any true idea of what I was looking for, just the boots I wanted to wear with it.

So this is the one and I'm picking it up in the morning. It's £60 and right at the top end of my budget but it's definitely going to be worn again and again.

I was so happy that on the way back to the car I treated myself to a GOSH lipstick in Darling. It had to be a lipstick ;)

Apologies To The Bank Balance...

By some small miracle I am awake nice and early this morning, which has given me time to catch up on my internetting. I've now spent an hour and a half between Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook and Blogspot and achieved pretty much nothing...

I am however off out soon to (hopefully) find a dress for my big event. Unfortunately I can't rely on asos.com or oli.co.uk. These are my two favourite online shops for dresses, but if I'm not happy with the fit there won't be enough time to send them back and find something else...

I said I would try to post pictures today to help me decide what I want to wear. Not only that but a little experiment has popped into my head and I want to try it out.

I've had a look at the online websites of stores I might visit today and I am about to post some dresses I like the look of :)

Then later I will post some pictures of me wearing the dresses and see how they compare. I'll also post anything I missed from the websites, or things that I thought would be fugly in real life.

Ok let's go!

Number 1:

River Island, £34.99

Number 2:

Miso at Republic, £29.99


Number 3:

Topshop, £55


Number 4:

Oasis, £55


Number 5:

Dorothy Perkins, £40

So that's the shortlist. I have seen another million that I love but I am hesistant to stretch the budget...

Right now I am starving so I am off to have a light lunch in bed with The Hills, then get out of my PJs and hit "the mall".

(I've been watching The Hills far too much.)

A Very Special Event

So in a couple of days time I am attending an event for work. A BIG event.

I can't quite reveal what it is yet, suffice to say it's a huge deal for me and I will very much be part of the action.

This throws up a couple of issues: what outfit to wear and how much makeup to wear.

I will no doubt be photographed at this event and my makeup has to last at least 7 hours without sliding off my face. Therefore I don't want to go OTT as the more you apply the messier it becomes.

I am really loving my new lipstick so I'm thinking of a slightly smoky eye, peachy blush and Impassioned to take centre stage.

Due to work itself I haven't had a chance to go out and try on any dresses yet, so far I know I want to wear:



Can't find a pic of the actual Zara boots but these are along the same lines.

Many dresses will be tried on tomorrow. I'll try to take pics as I go and then tomorrow night I need to make a decision...

In other news I've fallen out with L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion Mascara. It's really not doing it for me. I don't seem to get the separation and volume that I do with the regular Telescopic one (the good old fashioned kind in the gold tube).

It's just dawned on me that I used the same mascara for two years. TWO YEARS. (Not the same actual mascara, har har, just the same product.)

I seem to be getting a headache, so bedtime for me before some epic fashion browsing tomorrow.

Lipsticks!

I am getting rubbish at updating this thing.

However I do feel compelled to write about lipsticks. I've never been mega into lipsticks, I stick to glosses and an embarrassing amount of lip balms. It's a fetish. I seriously think I have more lip balms than everyone I know put together.

I do tend to suffer with chapped lips so I do stick to more moisturising lip products. I did once go into MAC to buy Russian Red, but two weeks later I left it on the train. Seriously gutted, and I wasn't forking out for another one.

Recently thought I managed to actually use up enough MAC products to stomp into House of Fraser and take advantage of Back to MAC. Some people still haven't heard of Back to MAC; basically if you take back 6 empty containers (empty eyeshadow pots, lipsticks, primers/foundation bottles etc) you get to pick a lipstick for free.

So this time I was adventurous and decided to pick Myth:



It's a really nice nude, if a little bit dramatic. I do feel it's a bit too dramatic for everyday, it might just be my skin.

First of all here's my nudey lips:



And here is Myth on the lips:



I do find Myth to be quite drying in comparison to other MAC lipsticks I've tried, so I usually slap some gloss over it. This is what it looks like with Love Nectar over the top:



I find this makes it more wearable for me, although I think putting gloss over it might be cheating...

Once I felt I was well and truly broken in with lipsticks, I had to try one of the much-talked-about Barry M Lip Paints. At roughly £4 these are a total bargain as they are so creamy and last for ages.

I went with no 147 - Peachy Pink:



I love this as you can really build up the colour with it, or be subtle and dab it on and it still looks gorgeous on the lips:



I am highly impressed with something that is such a bargain. The lip paints come in about 30 colours and are really highly pigmented so I definitely want to try more of these.

The icing on the cake for this week was when the best friend in the whole wide world (she's MY best friend) came home from her holiday in NY with a MAC Amplified Creme Lipstick for meeee! The colour is Impassioned and it's a stunning bright fuschia:



I applied this sloppily last night and it clung on despite a munchy dinner and copious snacking throughout the evening.



To conclude this ramble I can safely say I am sold on lipsticks in general. I might branch out and try some other brands. I always get overwhelmed by the colours so I will play around at the counters to find something interesting! Also, how asymmetrical are my lips? Raging.

Superdrug - A New Love

As Friday was payday I was in a good mood, and ate some lunch at work before making the mistake of thinking "I'll go out for a wee wander". I ended up in Superdrug.

Let me backtrack for a minute. I work in the heart of Glasgow and shops surround me. They call out to me. As you may have noticed from this blog so far I am a Boots girl at heart. I love the Advantage Card points, I love the makeup counters, the fragrances, the brands on offer. In short I love the experience of visiting a Boots store. I very rarely visit Superdrug but as this was a "quick wander" before lunchtime ended, and there is one close to my work (closer than a Boots store), I popped in.

I came out with:


Sleek Divine Chaos Mineral Eyeshadow Palette
Vaseline Rosy Lips
GOSH Mineral Blush in Rose Whisper
Barry M Nail Paint in Mint Green (304)

The Vaseline is a bit of a staple for me as I love lip balms and will use one at least twice a day. Everyone at work knows there is a tub of my Carmex under the desk to reach for at all times! The air conditioning really wreaks havoc on my skin, lips in particular.

I tried out the Sleek palette yesterday. I was in need of some shimmer-free colours in my collection and these did not disappoint.



The colours are a bit brighter than that in real life. I used the taupe, top row 3rd from the left, and the brown on the top row 2nd from the right and did a smokey eye with MAC Phloof! as a highlight to lift the look. The shadows are very pigmented and lasted all day (1pm until I stumbled in drunk at 12.40am that night) on top of my UDPP.

Also yesterday I tried out the GOSH Blush on the apples of my cheeks, topped off with a MAC MSF in Porcelain Pink on the cheekbones. Very impressed I was. This also lasted most of the day.

I'll try to recreate the look and maybe do a tutorial. Right now I'm off for a Sunday night bath with my Lush goodies that I got free! More on them another time. Lots of love for Lush.