Nude Stix ... first thoughts

I was lucky enough to win a competition on Instagram with Space NK and was sent some Nude Stix, a new range of fuss-free natural makeup in stick form which they are launching this month. I was excited. Damn excited. You all know of my love for anything in crayon form, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on these and to start drawing on my face.

I was a teeny bit disappointed when I opened the package. I don't want to sound ungrateful as i'm lucky to get sent anything, but I had really hoped my booty would include one of the lip crayons and one of the concealer crayons. Sadly this was not the case. Enclosed in a very lovely matte black tin was a golden eye crayon (yay), a pretty average looking black mascara (yawn) and one of their special crayon sharpeners (yay - I think). I'm just wondering why they would choose to send out mascara's to all the prize winners when it's not one of their clever, inventive products?

Anywhoo, disappointment aside it was nice to see some tips and suggestions inside the box. The eye crayon is a beautiful gold shade and lovely and creamy in consistency. It probably is not the correct shade for me to wear as an eye-shadow alone but it would work nicely as a highlight in the inner corner of my eye. The mascara seems fine but nothing amazing and definitely a disappointing inclusion in the prize selection.

The eye pencil in Golden which is £24.00 

Is it enough to entice me to go out and spend money on other products in the range? I am not sure.  They have some fierce competition in the eye crayon stakes with the likes of the Charlotte Tilbury range who's shadow sticks I lovingly caressed last Friday in Selfridges. And let's not forget about Wild About Beauty who have one of the loveliest colour palettes I have seen in a while.

The full range ca be viewed here and is available for pre-order now with dispatch to take place later in the month.

Duty Free Bits n Pieces ….

So I managed to pick up a few 'essentials' as I departed London for Sydney last week. Ok, there was actually nothing essential about what I bought, but I was about to embark on 24 hours of hellish torture so I needed a little something-something. 

Tom Ford Lipstick in 'Indian Rose'  - oh mother, this is good. It is as close to my beloved MAC Cosmo lipstick as I can find except the price is substantially steeper and the packaging is more luxe.  It is a gorgeous rose shade like my lips only better and I love it in all it's beautifully packaged glory. 

The duty-free price of this was £30.60. Tom Ford cosmetics are sold in David Jones in Australia. Unfortunately they don't list prices on their website so i'm unable to link it for you.

Clinique Chubby Stick for Eyes in Lavish Lilac - purple is definitely the new brown for me and I would encourage any green-eyed girls to try it if you haven't already. Purple tones really bring out the green in your eyes, and as weird as this sounds, many of the ones I have discovered have a brown undertone so they just work. It is very sheer so perfect on its own for daytime, and for a night look I ramp it up a little by adding some deeper purple powder shadow in the crease. 

The duty-free price of this was £14.15 and you can find this product here in Australia for $35.00.

I also repurchased the Clinique High Impact Extreme Volume Mascara which I tried earlier this year. What sets this mascara apart from the others for me is it's incredibly fine applicator which makes coating each and every lash ultra-easy. 

The duty-free price of this was £14.15 and you can find this product here in Australia for $38.00.

I've gone cold turkey on the makeup purchasing front while i'm in Sydney. Even an obsessive like me can't justify the crazy prices over here.

My new thing - Tubular Mascara

Recently I bought a pretty pricey mascara by Chantecaille (hangs head in shame). Clocking in at £45, (yes, I know. I can't explain what came over me) obviously it is so high up on the luxury makeup rictor scales that I had very, very high hopes for it. It is the Supreme Cils Mascara by Chantecaille, one of my all time favourite brands. So the big question is, is it worth the luxury price tag?

I think it is, and let me tell you why. This is a tubular mascara. This means it coats each lash and creates a tiny tube around it. Once this mascara goes on, it will not budge for anything. You can sweat in it, cry in it even swim in it (if you are careful not to wipe your eyes after). It just stays put all day and night. So what makes it superior to say a waterproof mascara? Well the genius is in the way it comes off. You just need to rinse with warm water, wiggle the lashes between your thumb and forefinger and it literally comes off in your hands. Gone are the days of trying to remove waterproof mascara - I used to have to rub so vigorously that half my lashes became detached to get that stuff off.  So I am a total convert.

Tubular mascaras have been on the market for a few years now (i'm just a bit late to the party). You don't need to go so far up into the luxury price bracket to reap the rewards. Here are some other tubular mascaras:

MAC's Opulash Mascara £14.00

Trish McEvoy High Volume Mascara £22.50

Kevyn Aucoin Curling Mascara £22.00

Clinique Lash Power Mascara £17.00

L-R: Chantecaille, Clinique, Kevyn Aucoin

The frustrating thing is they don't seem to have any reference to being tubular in their names, so if you are shopping for new mascara it is worth enquiring whether they wash off in warm water as that seems to be the main indicator. 

Psst: i'm actually in Paris today. Stay tuned for a post on the beauty junkies guide to Paris which will be coming soon!

Christmas Beauty Treats

There are some absolutely gorgeous Christmas beauty treats for sale at the moment. Even though it is only October, I can't help buy feel excited about the festive season when I look at these.  Last week I blogged about the L'Oreal Luxury Beauty Advent Calendar which you can read about here.  And here are a few extra items to add to the wishlist.

Clarins Christmas Crackers

How chic would your table setting be with these babies lying around? 

£39.00 for 6 from Selfridges here.

Ciate Mini Mani Month Advent Calendar

Featuring a mini-sized treat per day to take you right from 1 December to Christmas Day. £42.00 from Space NK exclusively here. Act fast as this sold out last year.

Beauty Ball Shimmer Balm by This Works

This lovely tree bauble contains a shimmer balm to use as a highlighter on your cheekbones, lips and cleavage. £12.00 from Space NK here.

For amazing gift sets you can never look past Sephora. These are from the US website however I will be in Paris in early December and may just have to see if I can pick some of these up there.

Sephora - Give Me Some Lip gift set  

A set of six lip favourites in pinks and nudes. $25.00 USD here. 

Sephora - Lash Stash gift set

An 11 piece set that guarantees amazing lashes and includes a set of false lashes. $45.00 here. 

Sephora - Fragrance Sampler gift set

Featuring 14 samples of their best selling fragrances and a clutch bag. Once you have sampled to your delight, you can take the included certificate into their store to redeem a full sized bottle of your chosen fragrance. $70.00 here.