Review: Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencils

 Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil Duo in Zero and Ransom (pencils are available individually at Sephora Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall, 88 Dirhams each) 

  The duo came with a cute sharpener, too!

 

 The pencils can easily be sharpened when needed.

 I love how dark this black is!

Urban Decay Says:

Creamy, forever-lasting, award-winning and waterproof 24/7 pencils delight you with lush tropical hues, deep metallics and unusually vibrant neutrals. 

Created with 50% moisturizing ingredients suspended in a sophisticated waterproof formula, 24/7 Eye Pencils offer long lasting color and a dreamy, creamy feel when applied. With Jojoba Oil, Vitamin E and Cottonseed Oil.

I say:

I think I now understand what all the fuss was about!  These pencils are super creamy, so they glide on without dragging the delicate skin around your eye. Plus, they are waterproof, which means that not only are they going to last even if you sweat, they are ideal for lining your waterline as well as tightlining. They're also great if you are prone to allergies and watery eyes, like I am!

Plus, they smudge really well, which is great for me because I like to wear a thin line of smudged liner when I am wearing my glasses. When you apply these, you have about 30 seconds to smudge it before it sets. I don't really advise waiting because once the liner is set, it isn't going to budge!

Just one word of caution: Don't press too hard with these. The liner is so soft and pigmented, that you really don't need to press hard at all. So use a light hand to prevent having to sharpen these all the time, and save yourself a little liner :)

Now, I know I'm a little late to the 24/7 party. In fact, Glamour's beauty blog Girls in the Beauty Department recently named it 'The Best Eyeliner Ever'.  Have you tried these liners? What are your favorite shades?


*This product was provided by PR

A Small Shopping Haul

 My uncle and his kids were visiting from Qatar this week, so we took the girls shopping! :) My uncle is my dad's best friend and he was also the witness at my parents' wedding. Whenever he gets together with my dad, it's like they revert back to being teenagers! It's so sweet (and a little funny) to see!

Ok, on to the shopping :)

  Bath and Body Works Cherry Blossom Shower Gel and Hawaii Coconut Body Lotion

Bath Sponge

Bath and Body Works were having a sale, so I took the opportunity to stock up on my favorite shower gel. Cherry Blossom is my favorite B&BW scent. I also got the Hawaii Coconut body lotion from their summer collection. It smells like a bottle of summer! hehe

I've never seen bath sponges like this one! But I got it because it was on sale and I thought I'd try it out :)

 

 Long necklace and angel wing earrings

 The pendant from the necklace

I just loved this necklace. It is pretty long, so it'll be great to layer with other stuff. I just loved the (plastic) stone haha. It's one of those ones that turns color, it goes from a milky white to almost purple. I have a really bad nickel allergy, and most necklaces from F21 tend to give me a giant rash, but this one felt like it was coated, so I'm gonna try it out and see (fingers crossed!)

The earrings are ones that I wouldn't normally go for, but my cousin insisted that they were cute and I bowed to peer pressure! Hahah I might actually wear them during the fall.

 

 Guerlain Terracotta Lipgloss 04 Ambre, Sephora Triple Action Cleansing Water

Swatch of the gloss

I treated myself to a new lipgloss. I saw it in the store and I do love a nude(ish) gloss so I bought it. I'm actually wearing it in my smokey look here. I'm glad it works because I didn't wanna use the tester in the store so I didn't get to try it before I bought it!

I saw the Sephora cleansing waters by the cash register and I bought a little travel sized one. I'm currently going through a 'cleansing water' phase, so I was really excited to try it out! It actually seems to work really well, but you'll get a proper review in a little bit when I've had a chance to use it for a while.

Did you guys buy anything this week? :)

Friday Fashion

Summer Accessories Wish List

I saw a woman at my beach club with the most gorgeous metallic, gold beach bag and since then, the hunt has been on! This Gold Tory Burch bag is beautiful! 

I just loved the color of these Ivanka Trump Sandals, they will look so great on tanned feet and add color to any summer outfit. The Ray Bans are just classics, the aviator style works with everything and the gold gives a hint of 'hollywood'.

I LOVE Chan Luu wrap around bracelets! But since I can't afford them, I've been making my own :) I have also been really into bright pinks and orange polish this summer, but now I'm craving something a little more "sophisticated", like this bright, tomato red. 

I already have the Nars Body Glow, but it's so pretty that I had to add it on. It's a bit too heavy for the summers here, but I'll be ready to wear it when the weather cools down a bit.

And just how adorable are these peacock feather sandals! I would wear them and just ooh and ahh at my feet all day! :)

What are you guys lusting after this summer?

Two Different Looks, One Oh So Special Palette!

Hey you guys,

I just reviewed Sleek MakeUp's Oh So Special Palette, and I wanted to show you just how versatile it really is. So here are two different looks that I wore this week, using the palette. (Excuse my eyebrows, I'm growing them out so I can have them reshaped! And my skin is a little bumpy because I had a rash from the sun over the weekend. Fun times!!)

For this look, I went with a summery bright lip. I used The Mail on my lid, Gift Basket in my crease, and Bow on my brow bone. Then I lined my lower lids with Noir and smudged a little of it into my lash line. I'm wearing Girl About Town lipstick by MAC :)

Here I went for a more smokey, evening look. It was super easy! I applied Glitz to my lids and lower lash line, then I darkened the outer corners with Noir. I applied Bow to my brow bone and a little liner and mascara. 

In both of these looks, I used Noir mixed with Wrapped Up to fill in my brows. See? Versatile hehe :)

What kind of looks would you guys create with this palette? And what are your favorite looks for the summer?

Quick Note: Every once in a while, Disqus will decide to send a comment to my original blogger format. And then the comment can't get published. I'm not sure why this happens, does anyone else experience this?
Anyway, I got a question from Galen, who asked what lip gloss I'm wearing. Galen, it's my new Guerlain Terracotta Lip Gloss. The shade is called Amber :)

Review: Sleek MakeUP Oh So Special Palette

 Sleek Makeup i-Divine Oh So Special Palette, $12.60 from www.sleekmakeup.com

 Sorry, I forgot to take pictures before I swatched/played with this!

 A close up of the shadows

Sleek MakeUP says:

"Sleek MakeUP's new release is an eyeshadow palette that encapsulates everything that is fashion forward, sophisticated, and feminine. Shades from every day beiges and peachy hues, to sultry matte browns and shimmery greys makes this i-Divine a staple in any woman's makeup-bag - no matter what her age"

I say:

This palette is insane. The colors are just perfect and they work so well together. This palette also has a good mix of shimmery and matte shadows, so it's great for texture. 

I've read a lot of reviews comparing this to Urban Decay's Naked Palette and I have to agree. I am not sure about the exact shades because I don't have the Naked Palette, but they are similar in the sense that they're both 'all in ones'.

This palette has pretty much everything you need for your day-to-day looks. Whether it's for work, a night out, running errands or whatever. It's also great for traveling because it is really compact and you can create a variety of looks from it, so you'll save on space.

If you've been saving up for the Naked Palette, I definitely suggest trying this out first. It's such great value for money.

On to some swatches! :)

Swatches: Bow, Organza, Ribbon, Gift Basket, Glitz, Celebrate

Pamper, Gateau, The Mail, Boxed, Wrapped Up, Noir 

I found the matte shades in this one to be a little more pigmented than the Curacao palette. I also love the staying power of these! I wore a couple of shadows out the other day, without primer, and they lasted all day on my greasy lids without creasing!Yay!!:)

The most surprising shadow was Gateau. It looks a little bit peachy, but when you wear it, it turns into a gorgeous goldy shade, perfect for highlighting (I might even try this on my face).

Glitz and Celebrate are very pretty, too. Celebrate kind of reminds me of MAC's Beauty Marked. They are both gorgeous for an evening look. Glitz looks gorgeous applied on it's own with a little liner. The shimmery shadows are almost buttery in texture, so they are super easy to apply and blend.

The peach shades kind of worried me at first, because I try to stay away from pinks. But they are actually quite wearable, especially when you wear them with a brown in the crease.

Which brings us to Gift Basket. I think this is my new favorite crease shadow. It defines my creases without being too dark or making my other shadows muddy. The mail pretty much blends in with my skin, so it's a great base color for me. 

And then there's Noir. Ah, Noir. Can you just see how dark that is? It's gorgeous! I like my blacks to be as black as possible, none of that sissy "soft black" hahaha if that makes sense! I've actually used it to line my eyes and it works great. This one does have a little bit of fallout, though so just make sure you have some wipes or something handy :)

Have you tried this palette? What are your favorite shadow combos?

This palette was sent to me by Sleek Makeup
 

NOTD Revlon's Make Mine Mango

 Revlon #920 Make Mine Mango

I got this polish when my friend Riya had a swap at her house. She was moving and decided to invite some of us over, and hopefully find new homes for some of the items she no longer wanted. I also took over some of my old jewelry. I had a great time and I am actually hosting my own swap soon :)

Make Mine Mango is a gorgeous shade. It's not quite orange, but I've used about four coats here so it looks a little darker. It does apply a little streaky (maybe that was just my bottle?), so it need the four coats to even it out.

I really love the color, though. It's also great for those of you who are just dipping their feet into bright polish because there isn't any neon-ness.

Have you guys tried this one? What colors are you wearing this week? :)

Review: Sleek MakeUP Curacao I-Divine Palette

Sleek MakeUP Curacao Palette, $10.50 from www.sleekmakeup.com

The first thing I noticed about the palette was how small it is. For some reason, the pictures on blogs and stuff made these palettes seem a little bit bigger than they actually are. I've put one next to a tube of mascara so you guys can get a better gauge of the size. The palettes are also quite thin, made of sturdy metal and have a big mirror so they are perfect for carrying around.

 In keeping with the Caribbean theme, all of the shadows are named after beachy cocktails!

 A close up of the shadows 

The palette contains a mix of matte and shimmery shadows. I personally found the shimmery shades to be a little bit more pigmented than the matte ones, but I was still pretty impressed by how well they all showed up!

 Swatches of the top row: Tequila Sunrise, Martini, Blue Hawaiian, Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, Green Iguana

 Bottom Row: Apres Midori, Blue Lagoon, Purple Haze, Green Martini, Singapore Sling, Espresso Martini

My favorite shadows in the palette are definitely Green Iguana and Tequila Sunrise. Here are two quick eye looks that I threw together when I was playing around with the palette :)

Green Iguana and Martini

 

 

 Tequila Sunrise, Espresso Martini and Martini (with Gift Basked from the Oh So Special palette in the crease)

So now I can say that I totally get all the fuss over Sleek MakeUP. It's crazy how great these are for the price. This palette is pretty bright and, while it's marketed for the summer, I think this would be useful to have around all year long. The darker shades would work during fall and winter, too and it's always fun to have a pop of color no matter what the weather is like!

Sleek MakeUP isn't available in Dubai yet, but they do ship internationally! I definitely recommend having a look at their website because they are constantly releasing new products. Plus, you can't really beat the price, can you?

This palette was sent to me by Sleek MakeUP.
 

Mail From Scotland and Giveaway Winner!

I've been meaning to post about these for a while, but I haven't. haha I'm sorry! :(

I just wanted to share some stuff that I got in the mail, all the way from wee Scotland, courtesy of the wonderful Adrienne from Adrienne Adores. 


The first package came a while ago. I was worried that I would miss out on the Surf Baby collection, so I was really excited when Adrienne tweeted to see if anyone wanted her barely touched My Paradise cheek powder! A couple weeks later, it was in my hands :)

 Adrienne also surprised me with pretty sequins (which I had to throw out because the cat looked like he was tempted to eat them:( Silly cat!) and some Tresemme samples! Too sweet! :)

 MAC Surf, Baby My Paradise Cheek Powder, lightly swatched on my arm (so pretty!)

The second package I got from Adrienne was from winning her Nails Inc giveaway. She gave away a set of Nails, Inc polishes that were made for Fabulous Magazine. I was super excited when I found out I won, because we don't get Nails Inc over here and I've been dying to try them out! These colors are beautiful and the quality is amazing! I'm gonna use them on my nails tonight and post pictures soon :) I don't really know which one I like more, but I'm pretty sure one of these will be my vacation polish!

How gorgeous are these?? Adrienne, being the sweetheart that she is, also included a sample of Betty Hula Shea Butter Moisturising cream. It's absolutely lovely! Check out her review :)

Thanks so much, Adrienne! I absolutely love everything and you're actually the first blogger I've ever bought anything from or interacted with through "mail" hahaha so I'm glad my first experiences have been so awesome :)

OK, so I'm sure you guys wanted to know who won my Bourjois Giveaway...

Update: I'm afraid I've had to choose another winner as I never heard back from my first one. Congrats to Ki from Ki and Makeup!! :)

Those of you who didn't win, don't fret! I've actually got a few more giveaways up my sleeve, coming up very soon! :)

I hope you guys are all having a wonderful day! If you're in the gulf, it's the weekend! Woop wooop! And if you're not, well....it's almost the weekend! Woooooo!! :)

We Love Wednesdays: Une Fundraising Lip Balm

(better late than never, right?:) )

Une Fundraising lip balm, 74 dirhams at Vavavoom, Beauty Bay and Debenhams, or check their website for stores near you

Like all Une products, this is made from natural origins and organic farming

Une is a natural product line from France.They have gotten together with Plan International and for each lip balm sold, they will donate 5 dirhams to support a program that educates young girls in the Briqueterie district of Yaounde, Cameroon. Together, they are aiming that by 2013, 3,500 girls from the area will have directly benefited from the program, which will in turn benefit 36,000 residents of the district.

http://plan-international.org/

This lip balm is made of organic shea butter and jojoba oil, beeswax and candelilla wax. It has "a moisturizing formula that acts for up to 4 hours". I like that it actually feels like it penetrates the skin to soften and moisturize my lips. It doesn't just sit on the top, like a lot of lip balms do.

The lip balm goes on clear and isn't greasy, which also makes it an excellent base for lipstick. I know that it is a little bit pricier than most lip balms, but the quality is amazing. This is literally the only lip balm I've been using at the moment. It really helped my chapped lips recover after I got sick for a while. Plus, when you buy it, you are supporting a great cause. I think this would also be a great present for someone because it's practical and the packaging is very luxe :)

this product was provided by pr

MAC Freckletone Lipstick

My sister gave this to me the other day. She said that she thought it made her lips too ashy, and since my skin tone is a tiny bit lighter and warmer than hers, she thought I would get more use out of it (you know me so well, Afra!!)

MAC Freckletone Lustre Lipstick

 Freckletone is a lustre finish and is described as "nude peach"

 

 It looks a little bit like a nude brown on my arm.

 The pink tone in my lips pops through a little, though :) 

I think this is a really pretty color. It's definitely one of those 'my lips but better' lipsticks for me! It kind of looks more like a pale pink on me, but I have noticed that most peaches and corals tend to look much more pink on my lips. 

I've worn this lipstick a lot, with a variety of looks. It looks just as good with simple day makeup as it does with a dramatic smokey eye and it's definitely one that you can pick up when you have no idea what lipstick would match your makeup! 

Do any of you guys wear this one? :)

PS I just had a conversation with my friend about this weekend and throughout the whole thing, I thought today was Thursday. Hahah I really managed to confuse her! Do you ever do that?

 

NOTD: Sally Hansen Blue It

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear #16, Blue It - 19 dirhams

Do you ever try things that you would normally never go for and then find out that you really, really love them? That's pretty much what happened here. At first, I thought this polish was a little too 90s for me. I was wrong. *hangs head in shame*

This blue is the perfect summer alternative to black polish. It's dark and metallic, so it's kind of edgy. But it is a deep royal blue, which keeps it from being too heavy. It's a nice break from all the super brights I've been wearing :)

These polishes have "an exclusive Micro Shine complex formula that bonds to nails, forming a hard manicure layer on the nails. The result is xtreme hard, and xtreme shine manicure that lasts up to seven days".

I took this picture today, and I have been wearing this polish for about 6 days now. There's a tiny chip on my index finger, but to have my polish last anywhere over 2 days is a bit of a miracle (serial nail biter here! haha), so let's say I'm more than impressed with this!

There are 32 shades of Xtreme Wear and I've seen some gorgeous swatches online recently. I can't wait to try out more of them, and at such a great price, I feel like it would almost be a crime not to! :)

Have you guys tried these polishes? Any shade suggestions?


This item was provided by PR
 

Artist of the Week: Warpaint

Here's a band that I've been listening to a lot for the past few weeks. Warpaint is an all girl band, which is always cool! They're fun and not too heavy, so I'll probably be listening to them a lot this summer.

My friends got to see them in Spain recently and I am sooo jealous! I watched the video one of them took and tried to hold myself back from choking her (I joke! I joke!)

Warpaint - Undertow

What are you guys listening to this week?

Review: ES False Lashes (part 1)

 

 Es A500 Lashes 

A couple of month's ago(I know, I'm a horrible blogger!!), I got an email from KKcenterHK in Hong Kong. They are an online shop that specializes in false lashes, wigs and makeup.

They asked me if I would be interested in trying out and reviewing their lashes. I thought it would be a good opportunity to get into wearing false lashes because I don't usually wear them. Plus, I had read some good reviews on other blogs.

I chose the ES A500 set, which contains ten different pairs of lashes.

 $7.96 from kkcenterhk.com

    

I think these lashes are great value. They are really inexpensive and, if you break it down, you get each pair for less than a dollar! This a great pack to choose if you are new to false lashes, or if you like to experiment. I would also recommend these if you are starting out at beauty school because it's great to have lots of options to play around with in your kit!

The lashes can be reused, just clean them and put them back in the case! You do have to be a little careful with them, though. I pulled on mine a little too hard and they broke :(

You can just see the bit on the right one that broke off :(

The lashes are light and the bands are flexible, which makes fitting them onto your lashes quite easy. Here are some pictures of what they look like on. I've only done half of them, and my camera died (hence the one photo from my phone!) I will take more when my camera charges so you guys can see what the rest look like.

These ones are very fun and flirty!

 These were a pair of criss cross lashes. I'm not totally sure how I feel about criss-cross ones. Because these are shorter (they were the same length as my own lashes), I felt they were more for a little bit of volume rather than length and drama.

 These ones were very nice and natural. My own lashes are long enough, but quite sparse so these give just enough volume. I would definitely wear these to a day time event.

 (Phone picture!) These are really pretty. I know my pictures don't do them much justice. These are so long and fluttery, but not heavy at all! They are angled out as well, so they give that 'bedroom eye' effect :)

These are quite wispy and light. I thought these were pretty, but a little too long towards the inner corner. I might actually trim these just a little to make them more comfortable for me.

I'm sorry that these pictures aren't the best. I'm still working on getting my makeup shots right! I will have the rest of the lashes up soon. But, in the mean time, check out KKcenterHk's website. They have loads of different styles, and you really can't beat the price!

Have you guys tried these? Do you have any tips to help with my atrocious false lash application?

Lush Mini Haul

Lush Fresh Farmacy Cleanser (45 dirhams for 100 gms), Sugar Scrub (30 dirhams), Vitamin E Toner Tab, Vitamin C Toner Tab (9 dirhams each) - Lush is available at Deira City Center, Dubai Mall and Mercato Mall

 

Last week, I went to the Dubai mall and ended up in Lush. I didn't buy a lot, but here are the things that caught my fancy and came home with me :)

Fresh Farmacy Cleanser: I originally wanted one of their scrubby cleansers, but I was told to try this one out because of my sensitive skin. Not sure how I feel about it, yet, so expect a review sometime soon.

Sugar Scrub: As I am going on holiday soon, I have been looking for products to help me shape up my skin. This scrub promises to be "tough on cellulite, kind to skin". Hmm. We'll see if this scrub can live up to the challenge of my thighs! (Full review coming shortly)

Vitamin E and C Toner Tabs: I have been neglecting my skin and I'm trying to get it back into shape. I want to incorporate regular at-home facials. These tabs are meant to be dropped into hot water and used for a steam. I haven't tried them out yet, so I will keep you guys posted! 

Have any of you tried any of these products out? Are there any more Lush products you recommend?

Review: Sleek MakeUP Aruba Blush and Bonair Pout Polish

 Sleek MakeUP Caribbean Collection, available from www.sleekmakeup.com

I have heard and read so many amazing things about Sleek MakeUP. So, you can imagine how incredibly ecstatic I was when I found out that I was going to be sent some of their products to try out! I'm talking 'slap yourself upside the head' ecstatic! :)

I was very kindly sent the new, limited edition Caribbean Collection to try out. I'm going to review the blush and Pout Polish first, and then post a review of the palette later on, so I don't totally overwhelm you guys with pictures!

 First up, here's the blush:

 Sleek MakeUP Blush, Aruba - $6.50 available from www.sleekmakeup.com

This blush is a super bright orange. I was really excited to try it out because not only is orange HUGE this summer, but I'm a big fan of Sam Fine and he always recommends using an orange blush on women of color. I have a couple of other orange blushes and I compared them to Aruba. You can definitely tell that this one kind of blows the other 'oranges' out of the water!

 Nyx Orange, Sleek MakeUp Aruba, Nyx Love

Now this orange is pretty bright and the blush is very pigmented. It might be a little bit difficult to wear if you have lighter skin. For those of you with darker skin, I totally recommend this blush. I think it would work quite well on women over here, since many of us love a good tan!

And it's definitely not a color to be afraid of. I know it looks really bright in the pan, but just look at how pretty it looks on my skin.

 I just love this blush!

Aruba is definitely a blush that you need a light hand with. I think it would be easy to go overboard with this color. But, if you apply it lightly and build it up, the results are gorgeous, glowy cheeks. 

OK, now on to the Pout Polish!

Sleek MakeUP Bonaire Pout Polish, $7.80 from sleekmakeup.com

Apart from the fact that the color is gorgeous, this Pout Polish has some great ingredients. It does not contain Lanolin or Petroleum Jelly, which are two ingredients I try to avoid in lip balms. Instead, it has jojoba oil, shea butter, almond oil, avocado oil and wheatgerm oil. It also has an SPF 15, so it protects your lips during the day. That's always a plus, no matter what kind of climate you live in!

The color in the pot is a bright orange, but on my lips it is much more subtle. It is very shiny and actually kept my lips pretty well moisturized.

I have heard some people complain about the smell/taste of this, but I actually quite like it. It's not a very vanilla smell like MAC's lip conditioners, it actually smells a lot like a chamomile and honey tea that I have!

One thing I noticed about this is that it melted quite easily under my fingers. I would definitely be careful about leaving this in your car or any hot areas because it seems like it would melt easily.

Unfortunately, Sleek MakeUp is not yet available in Dubai but they do ship internationally, so head over to www.sleekmakeup.com and get clickin'! Remember that these products are limited edition, so they won't be available for long!

Have you guys tried these products yet? What do you think of orange makeup?


These products were sent to me by Sleek MakeUP