Trish McEvoy Carpe Diem Planner

Trish McEvoy planners are genius. Good for travel, slung in your bag for emergency touch-ups, heading away for a weekend or even a stay in hospital.

 Trish McEvoy has created these style planners for a while but every so often they launch limited edition ones with a unique patterned vanity bag.

The latest limited edition planner is the Carpe Diem. The bag is a beautiful leather leopard print with red wrap around zip.

 Inside is a metal ring binder, which allows you to swap in different wardrobing sections if you have alternative ones from Trish McEvoy.

 This particular collection comes with an eye shadow and blush wardrobing page in quite an autumnal selection of colours.

 Pigment is good and the shadows blend well. It consists of two mattes and two shimmer shads and the rose gold blusher also reflects a warm shimmer.

 The second wardrobing page is a matte bronzer and translucent powder.

In addition there is an internal zip pocket holding a high volume tubing mascara with slim line brush, eye brightening pencil to lift any redness away from the waterline of the eye, line refiner which can be used as a primer to hydrate the eye area and finally a rose lip and cheek cream chubby stick.

At the back of the planner is a pocket for the Trish McEvoy Instant eye lift which, casts a very soft pinky radiance to the under eye which helps to neutralize down under eye discolouration. The shade in this kit would only be good for a fair to light-medium skin tone. The separate eye base acts as a primer to hold your eye shadow in place and the fab gel liner, which we have loved for a long time, adds a blendable definition in jet black.

The kit also contains a step-by-step guide if you feel you need a little help in application methods.

I love this kit and its usefulness. It’s great to be able to interchange the wadrobing pages or also add in key pieces from other brands that you may wish to carry around.

 The Carpe Diem planner is £185.00 and available for a limited time here.

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Playing with new products

*Some of the products in this tutorial were gifted as PR samples, some Nic has bought herself.

Chanel 1957

*This fragrance was gifted to us by Chanel

1957 is one of the newest fragrance launches from Chanel and although it’s sometimes hard to describe a fragrance experience via a blog, this one has a nice little back-story.

 So why 1957? There are a few reasons. Gabrielle Chanel’s favourite number was famously 19 and 57^th Street is where the Chanel flagship boutique sits proudly in New York. 1957 also happens to be the year of Gabrielle Chanel’s consecration in America.

Perfumer-creator Oliver Polge along with the Chanel laboratory of fragrance creation have developed a fragrance that is soapy, soft, and light that smells clean, fresh but un-mistakenly Chanel.

It uses eight white musks that are layered in veils. His inspiration was Gabrielle Chanel’s pearls and how they emit different reflections depending on the light.  Slightly woody, honeyed notes are apparent and you can really detect the spicy tones of pink pepper and coriander. Vanilla is also in there but it wasn’t overly obvious to me personally, there isn’t the sickly sweet scent that vanilla often produces.

It’s quite a warming scent that has the soapiness of Chanel No5 but a slightly citrus scent of that is detected in Chanel Chance. If you like No5 but don’t like the powdery intensity then you’ll probably enjoy this fragrance.

It’s not cheap, it’s a whopping £280 for 200ml so head into stores to have a test and wear for a day to check you like it first!

 You can purchase here.

Marc Jacobs beauty Fineliner

 *Items in this blog post have been gifted to us

 Marc Jacobs Beauty has launched 5 new gel liners that are in a selection of spring tones to add a little pop of colour to the eyes.

 Firstly, these are ridiculously long wearing. After testing out, I had to go over my eye area several times with an oil-based remover and it still required additional removing at bedtime. Great if you have oily eyelids, watery eyes or don’t like too smudgy eye liners. Not great if you have sensitive eyes that don’t enjoy too much rubbing. They are completely waterproof!

 The texture is smooth on application and pigment pay off is bold from the outset. The tip is a twist up although it’s blunted off to a square tip, which is odd. It doesn’t take long to mould into the shape you desire though.

 The super fine tip allows you to get close to the lash line or water line of the eye. You need to apply and blend immediately. There isn’t a lot of playtime.

 Shade wise, I really like the selection. The pink is nice in the waterline for a brighter eye and the steel blue is a very pretty alternative to grey.

The Fine liner Ultra-Skinny gel liner is available this month for £20 each.

Is Dermaplaning for you?

I get a lot of emails about which foundations are best if you have a lot of fine downy hair (vellus hair) on your face. The long and short of it is, if the hair is there then every single makeup product you layer on top will cling, there is no wonder product that won’t.

 The only way to try and combat this is to apply a very sheer wash of base makeup, use a really loose fibred brush and spritz the area well with a facial spritz before buffing the product down to almost nothing. If you prefer a heavier foundation then you’ll find the vellus hair will still be visible, especially in sunlight.

So, the beauty industry has come up with a treatment that will eliminate the fine downy hair that causes some people a lot of bother. This is not really a new treatment, apparently Cleopatra used it and Marilyn Monroe too, although I was under the impression that Marilyn liked the soft focus that her peach fuzz gave her! Maybe using Marilyn is just a marketing ploy?

So what is Dermaplaning?

 It’s a non-invasive treatment that is carried out by a trained skin therapist or practitioner. The therapist will use a sterile, surgical scalpel held at a 45 degree angle, to remove the fine peach fuzz from the face as well as removing the very surface layer of dead skin cells. They will use light feathering strokes that won’t penetrate, damage or injure the skin.

By removing the vellus hair and the dead skin cells, the skin will appear smoother; cell regeneration is triggered, as with standard exfoliation methods and the skin is able to receive your skin care more effectively. You’ll also find that your makeup will sit smoother on the face and have a more radiant and fresh appearance.

Will my hair grow back thicker, stubbly or darker?

No. The hair under your arms, legs, pubic area and head are classed as terminal hair. Terminal hair is pigmented and grows from follicles much deeper down in the dermis.

 Vellus hair on the other hand has a lighter pigment, is finer and softer and grows from a much more superficial follicle closer to the surface of the skin. It doesn’t grow back with a blunted tip in the way terminal hair does.

Can anyone have Dermaplaning?

It’s best avoided if you have very sensitive skin, on going skin conditions that are being treated by a dermatologist or those with acne. The reason being for this is that your skin may be broken and open to spread of bacteria.

 It may also feel uncomfortable for you.

A Dermaplaning treatment will usually take up to 45 minutes to complete and may be followed on with additional skin treatments if necessary or desired.

 Pricing will depend on your location and therapist but you should expect to pay anything from £65 upwards.

 The vellus hair will grow back as it was before in around 6-8 weeks so this is not a one-stop-shop treatment. It’s an on-going treatment that requires maintenance.

Becca Ultimate Lip Definer

*Becca Ultimate Lip Definer was gifted from Becca Cosmetics

It’s Valentines Day this week and if you subscribe to such events then you may be planning a date or a smooch with your loved one!

 You’ll know that we are fans of a lip liner. Not only are they a great tool to alter your natural lip shape without seeking out injectables, they are also great to use as a base for your lipstick or even to wear on their own.

 We introduced the new Becca lipsticks to you last month and to complement this we wanted to share their new range of lip liners.

The new Ultimate lip liner is waterproof and has an 8-hour longevity. The formula is so cushioned and smooth that it glides on with little effort. The finish it gives is beautiful. Softly contours but also glides over the body of the lips to give colour without clinging to dryness. I did find that the lighter taupe colours, such as Low Maintenance and Fearless broke easily due to the softness. To combat this, only twist up in small amounts on application.

Available in 18 shades from nude through to deep plum in a texture that doesn’t feather or fade.

The Ultimate lip liner is a twist-up, rather than a traditional lip pencil. Don’t worry about the tip losing its precision, as there is a built in sharpener at one end and also a flexible silicone blender so you can smudge any harsh lines.

Acts as a great base to improve the longevity of your lipstick but also bold enough worn alone.

The Ultimate lip Liner is available now for £16.00 here.

Votary Super Seed Cleansing Oil

*Votary Super Seed Cleanser was Gifted by Votary

To continue our vegan feature at the moment I’ve been testing out the premium vegan skincare brand, Votary.

 Votary’s founder, Arabella Preston is a makeup artist and beauty journalist with a passion for hand crafted, natural oils that are derived from plants, seeds, vegetable and flowers oils.

 Votary also avoids petro-chemicals, mineral oils or unnecessary preservatives.

I have been testing out the Votary Super seed range of products which is especially beneficial for a stressed out, winter ravaged skin that may have a compromised barrier or be indeed of extra nourishment.

Firstly, as with any good skincare regime, I’ve started with the cleanser. It’s an oil cleanser but doesn’t feel occlusive or heavy. In fact, it’s a real treat for the skin and encourages you to really massage the surface of the skin and get the blood pumping.

 It doesn’t have a synthetic smell or overly fragrant scent. It’s not a cleanser that will fill your olfactory system with delight but it’s certainly not offensive either.

 The texture is light and 4 pumps are plenty to ensure both the facial features and neck are sufficiently treated. After only a quick massage over, makeup is swept away and I even found it perfectly acceptable to gently coat the lashes to remove stubborn, waterproof or tubing mascara.

After applying, use the included cotton flannel soaked in warm water, to remove every trace of the oil. Using the flannel is essential as it ensures there is no residue left. The skin doesn’t feel tight after washing, just softened and nourished and ready to accept the remainder of your skincare routine.

This cleanser has a base of grapessed oil and is infused with apricot, jojoba, sunflower seed oil, pumpkin, cranberry, camellia, hemp and linseed. There is also lots of fruit extracts including strawberry, pomegranate, raspberry and cherry with essential oils of lavender.

Thoroughly cleansing, calming on a sensitized skin, nourishing and does a great job at actually cleansing the skin thoroughly.

If you suffer with reddened skin, rosacea, dryness, (although it’s lovely on an oily skin too) flaky or skin that has patches of dryness then this is a great one to check out. It’s a pricey cleanser but with all of those super food ingredients it’s a real treat for the skin that will last months. A winter to springtime essential I would say.

The Super Seed cleanser is £55.00 for 100ml and available here.

Room tour of my open plan living space