Monday, November 11, 2013

Lush Holiday 2013

Oh Lush...  I lust for Lush.  My best friend introduced me, and then we moved to PA where I am still sure that one of the main perks is I am within 45 minutes of a Lush!  Nothing makes my heart sing like an email from Lush introducing new products, or the return of favorites.  When I got the holiday email, I made myself an impressive online cart.  You know, dream shopping.  That's a thing, right?

Instead of doing the online thing, I dragged my poor husband to the mall with me, where we could smell everything.  I thought it would minimize what I bought.  Ummm, no.  Everything smells so delicious.  And their sales people are just amazing - side read that will make you laugh, and completely explains my life, by Meghan O' Keefe.  In fact, I read this on the way home and had tears because I was laughing so hard reading what I had literally just put the husband through.

Anyway, this is getting long already.  I went in wanting Santa's lip scrub, Star Light Star Bright, and Cupcake face mask, all of which were out of stock.  You can see what I left with...

Luxury Lush Pud
This fun little guy smells really good, like holidays.  How's that for vague?  The little color spots are supposed to pop out and shoot happy rockets of color throughout your bath.  How could you resist? There's holly and color pops.  I'm in!

Father Christmas
This is just my favorite for the holidays.
1.  IT'S SANTA!
2.  There is red glitter (glitter!!!!!!!) and a sweet green color, so it's pretty much Christmas in a tub.
3.  It smells like ridiculousness amazingness. 

Bombardino and Cinders
Bombardino is a fun little bath bomb that smells like butterscotch.  He's so cute, and his white swirl has golden glitter in it.  The guy at my Lush recommended pairing it with Cinders, a favorite bath bomb from last year.  I love how it sounds like a crackling fireplace, and the spicy scent leaves you feeling warm.

The Christmas Penguin
I am a sucker for buying things just because they're cute.  Hence half of what I own from Lush!  This little bubble bar smells very fresh (Lush says orange flower and bergamot glaciers), but either way was coming home.  His nose!

Secret Santa
This is absolutely what I went in for.  While mine is missing the cute roof snowflakes shown on the Lush website, it's described as smelling like a Lush shop; I would say that's pretty accurate.    It has a surprise inside (supposedly a miniature Father Christmas), and is three bombs in one.  Knowing that, will I still use them all at once?  Absolutely!
 
Snowcake
This soap... Evey time I touch this soup I think it's a massage bar.  It literally begins melting in my hands.  This makes it so amazing for winter skin - I always feel so moisturized and soft once I use Snowcake.  And the smell?  It's like an almondy sweet scent that I LOVE!  Topped with golden glitter, what could be more perfect?

 
Mint Julips
This smells so minty and fresh, I just love it!  Since I am in holiday mindset, I am calling it peppermint to make myself happy.  I've never used a lip scrub, and decided I would try Lush's before attempting to make one myself.


Gold FUN 
The salesman told me that this is basically bath playdough for kids.  And then handed it to me...  How did he know!?  This can be used as a shampoo, soup, and bubble bar.  I'm not all about washing myself in gold, as tempting as it is, and I'm not really feeling the sparkle highlights in my hair, but rest-assure I will be breaking this bad boy into chunks and using it for bubbles!  The biggest question is, what shapes?  It smells like caramel, and a small demo revealed very fun and swirly gold water, much like the Sunny Side bubble bar.

So, that's everything!  On our way home I was catching up on my YouTube and saw Fleur DeForce's latest Lush video.  She had the cutest idea for displaying her Lush.  Keeping it out on a platter in her bath vs. keeping it under the cabinet.  She said it would help her to use it more; so clever!  Not to mention, my bath now smells heavenly!


Tonight is a long night for us, and when I come home it's Golden Slumbers and Vanilla something or other for me!


Have a great night!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Bite Beauty Collector's Edition Review

Things have been busy while I finish up with one job and begin the next!  However, in the middle of busy days and nights, my doorbell has been ringing; Sephora Haul!  One of the things I was looking most forward to in this latest haul (more on that in another post), was the Bite Beauty Collector's Edition Lip Set.

I've been wanting to try these lip colors for awhile, but couldn't settle on one color.  I'd heard how creamy, and long-wearing they are, but besides the shade "Fig" didn't want to commit to any full-sized product.  When I saw this set, I looked up each color, fell in love, and made a million excuses as to why I just had to have it.  After crying a little bit over the price, it went right in my cart. Being extremely pale, and fairly new to/conservative with my makeup, I didn't think I would like the many bright shades.  But, why note try them in sample form?  Little did I know, these would become my favorites!

Without further ado, here are swatches and then each shade, on my lips (please forgive my highly-stressed, very broken out skin, and instead just enjoy seeing the colors in action)!  With each name, is the description Bite gives for the color. 

The paleness in all it's glory.  Pre Bite-mazing

Swatch Set 1

Swatch Set 2

Retsina (light pink beige)

Cava (nude lilac)

Pepper (dusty rose)

Quince (deep magenta)

Ganache (cool pink)

Quinta (rosy pink)

Fig (light pink)

Vidal (raspberry pink)

Lilac (bright fuchsia)

Pomegranate (candy apply red)

Apricot (warm red)

Salut (nude almond)

Shiraz (soft plum)

Mulberry (wine)

Tannin (poppy red)

Cin-Cin (tropical coral)

Violet (vibrant purple)

Lavender (light purple)

Vento (sheer bubblegum pink)

Palomino (vibrant magenta)



 
Awesome, right?  I know some of the pictures aren't the best quality (and my favorite: in some I missed part of the lip, HA!) but I was rushing to get these all in before the sun set.  The amount of work that takes is underrated.  I have a little more sympathy for reviewers who opt out now :)  Side-rant: I also like how some of them look "dewy" yet neither my camera, nor myself made them that way. My last post did that too.  The picture, on my computer, and in the "picture loading area" of Blogger, looks fine.  Once in the post, it's almost soft?  Like the Vidal and Mulberry pictures.  They don't look like that on my files.  Only once I publish the blog.  Interesting...

I love a lot of these I didn't think I would.  The really nude colors do nothing for me, and I'm not a huge fan.  Out of the nudes, my favorite would have to be Salut, but it's still so faint and eh.  I adore the classic colors I knew I would, such as Fig, Vidal, Shiraz and Mulberry.  Surprisingly, I'm also really enjoying a lot of the brights: Quince, Lilac and Palomino.  I always struggle with bright reds, so while Pomegranate would probably be amazing on someone else, I will keep my distance and if I need some red love, canoodle with Tannin. 

As for the wear, they go on very easily.  Too easily for a novice painting her uber white face with some serious color!  My lips had some fun, squiggly, defining lines a few times, and you can see in some of them where you (and I) are all, "girl you NEED a lip liner!" But, the color payoff was amazing.  As I've been wearing them over the past two weeks, I have noticed that after lunch these suckers are gone.  My lips are a tiny bit stained and all, but for the most part, doneskies.  Luckily it didn't smear all over my face, but I did need a new coat afterwards.

After the new coat, and with regular use, these lasted well into the afternoon.  Loving these!  Have you tried Bite lipsticks?  What is your favorite color?