Estée Lauder Mad Men Collection

I mentioned a few posts back that I had ordered something from eBay that had caused a bit of a drama for me! Well it was this, the Estée Lauder Mad Men Collection . When I first heard that Estée Lauder, one of my favourite make up brands was working on a collection inspired by one of my favourite television shows Mad Men, I knew I would have to get my hands on it. The collection consists of just two items, a cream blush in the colour Evening Rose and a lipstick in the colour Cherry. Both come in the most beautiful gold packaging and boxes inspired by original 1960s Estée Lauder packaging. 

Foundation- YSL Le Teint Touche Éclat BR20

Eye Shadow- Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette, Bootycall and Tease. Revlon Vintage Lace

Eyebrows- Revlon Rich Sable

Concealer- Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Porcelain

Mascara- Boots 17 Wild Curls Waterproof

Eye Liner- No. 7 Amazing Eyes Pencil Brown

Powder- No. 7 Perfect Light Loose Powder Translucent

Lip Liner- Rimmel Exaggerate Full Colour Lip Liner Red Diva

For some reason the only place that seemed to be selling the collection was on the US Estée Lauder site and unfortunately they don't ship internationally. So after month's of deliberating and waiting to see if there was anywhere that would ship here I decided to bite the bullet and buy it, arranging to have it shipped to my friend in the US who was so kind as to agree to forward it to me. 

I excitedly placed my order and received an invoice and everything was dandy! Until I got an email the following day to say that my order could not be processed. I contacted Estée Lauder to find out why as the money had already been taken from my card. They said that because my card was not issued within the US or Canada, they could not process my order, even though I was having it shipped within the US and they had already taken the money. I swear, the emails I got from their customer service representative were the most cryptic emails I have ever had the displeasure of trying to read in my life. In the end I gave up trying to understand the responses I was getting and I asked them to refund my card. Luckily I managed to find a seller on eBay who agreed to ship to my friend and everything worked out fine!

But enough of that rubbish and onto what I think of the products. I could find very few reviews online about them and being someone who reads as much as I can about a product before I buy it ( especially something as expensive as these) I was a bit worried about not liking them as there was no way for me to swatch them at a make up counter. 

Thankfully as soon as I opened the packaging and tried them on I was in love! The cream blush is a gorgeous rosy colour with a really creamy consistency and is very easy to blend and build the colour. I'm sure it will take me some time to use up the blush but when I do it will become my new compact as the gold packaging is too pretty to not reuse. The lipstick is the most beautiful cherry red, it applies beautifully and smells so nice, it's quite a creamy consistency too so if you want it to last it definitely needs lip liner. The only problem I have with it is that it's a smaller lipstick than the normal EL lipsticks. For $25 you get 2g of products in comparison to the 3.8g you get with a normal EL lipstick. The cream blush is $40. In my opinion they are very much worth the money!

Other than that I really can't fault these products or recommend them highly enough. I really think they would make an excellent gift for anyone who has an interest in vintage make up. I only wish they weren't Limited Edition! Estée Lauder are set to release a second collection in 2013 to mark the sixth season of Mad Men, hopefully the will ship internationally by then!

Emma x

No Straws To Grab Just The Rushing Wind

We took these photos when we were out for a walk during a rare sunny spell at the weekend. You ask for sun in Ireland and you get disgustingly humid and windy horribleness with your sun. I actually can't wait for Autumn now. We're never happy, but that's because we get four seasons in one day as the song goes. At least it wasn't raining!

Bag- Zara

Rings- Topshop

Sandals (I know you can barely see them but they were there I promise)- Clarks 

Belt- ???

Necklace, Skirt, Top and Denim Shirt- Monsoon

Bracelet- Accessorize

Lipstick- MAC Fire Sign from the Heavenly Creatures collection (worn over lip liner)

Foundation- Estée Lauder Invisible Fluid

Eye Shadow- Urban Decay Naked Palette Sin and Buck, Revlon Vintage Lace

Nails- Orly Rage

I wanted this bag from Zara for about 6 months and could never justify spending the money on it until I did some overtime in work and had a little extra money so after 6 months of looking at it online and in the store every few weeks I treated myself to it last month and I'm so happy I did because I love it! It's huge and goes with everything and is so lovely and I just love it AND I saw on tumblr still of Rachel McAdams wearing it in her new film! Okay enough about the bag... I've been mixing silver and gold together a lot lately. I love how they look together. 

I feel like I've been wearing a lot of black this summer which is very sad. Hopefully my next outfit post will be of a pretty summery dress! 

Emma x

In The Mail

Hello Friends!

I received a wonderful package in the post this week. I had ordered something from a US seller on eBay (you will see what it is soon) and they didn't ship internationally so I asked my friend Ashley if I could have it shipped to her and if she would forward it to me. She very obliging and courteously sent my package on to me and included some goodies for Donnacha and I. 

Necklace from Anthropologie and cute card!

Mini boxes of cereal!

Another cute card!

I also received a very special Thank You card from Cayce who was thanking me for the package I sent her for my personalised giveaway I did a while ago. I am always so impressed when I get a thank you card, I just think it's such a nice thing to do when I know not many people including myself would even think to do it. So thank you Cayce!

And here's the stuff I sent her, I meant to show you guys sooner but I actually lost the photos and just found them the other day and when I got Cayce's card I thought I might as well show you now! The package included an Orla Kiely notebook, Butter London Nail Polish in Yummy Mummy, a L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream, an Accessorize necklace and two treats from Irish companies Butler's chocolate and Tayto crisps. I really wanted to get Cayce things that I felt were suited to her personality and style so I hope I succeeded! 

I saw The Dark Knight Rises yesterday and I really liked it. I don't think it was ever going to be better than The Dark Knight for me. We actually saw Batman Begins and The Dark Knight back to back on Tuesday and having not seen either since they were first released it was great to get a refresher. I was blown away after first seeing TDK and I just didn't feel the same this time even though I did really like it. Does anyone else dislike Anne Hathaway? I've been having that debate with friends all week and was trying to figure out what it is about her that I just find annoying. Maybe it's the films that she tends to go for, I wasn't impressed with her Catwoman, she wasn't bad, but she wasn't memorable either. Have you seen it yet? What did you think? 

Also after what happened in Colorado on Friday morning, I was very concious about all of the shooting in the film. I am so thankful that I live in a country where guns are illegal and therefore gun crime is very low. I honestly hope something drastic is done about the gun laws in the US, it's just not worth it. It's heartbreaking.

I hope you are all safe and well and having a good weekend!

Emma x

Luscious Lips

I'm a firm believer that having a good base for make up is essential for making the most of the products you use. Therefore if I'm wearing lipstick or lip gloss I want my lips to be as soft and smooth as possible so that the lip colour lasts and looks good. I've been trying out various lip balms over the past 6 months and I wanted to share my favourites.

First up and one of my more recent purchases is the NUXE Reve de Miel Ultra Nourishing Lip Balm. I love pharmacy skincare brands especially French companies like Vichy, La Roche-Posay, Avene and now NUXE. I had heard a bit about this before I decided to buy it, all of which was very positive. I was running out of my Lush Honey Trap and wanted something similar as an overnight lip balm. According to the NUXE site, this rich lip balm repairs, nourishes, restores suppleness and comforts dry and chapped lips. It contains honey, plant oils, shea butter and grapefruit essence. 

When they say rich, they really mean it. I don't wear this during the day as I think it's too rich to wear under a lip colour unless you rub it between your fingers to melt it a bit and a little goes a long way! Also the packaging which is so beautiful, is made of glass so I wouldn't want to risk dropping it when I'm out and breaking it. I keep it on my bedside locker and put it on before I go to bed.  It smells really good, it has a nice subtle fruity scent because of the grapefruit oil but I think it smells kind of orangey too. 

For 15g of product I really think it's worth it because you don't need lots to coat your lips because it's so rich. It's matte too which is great for when I wear matte lipsticks as glossy balms tend to make the lipstick go all over the place unless you really rub it into your lips. I bought this in my local pharmacy for €11.35 and you can buy it online on Feel Unique for €12.35 with free delivery! I definitely want to try out more NUXE products, including the Reve de Miel face cream. 

The second balm I've been loving is the Pomegranate Lip Butter by Korres. I decided to get this thanks to Emma's review. The idea of having a silky buttery lip balm with a tint of colour really appealed to me as a daytime lip balm. It contains shea butter and rice wax and claims to offer deep hydration and softness which I totally agree with. I am happy to wear this by itself all day, it just feels so amazing on my lips and the hint of colour is perfect for those days when I don't want to look too made up and just want to give my lips some hydration.

 I opted for the Pomegranate as the Mango that I wanted was out of stock on Feel Unique. It was €7.80 when I bought it but I think that was a special offer and it's now available for €9.10 with free shipping. The Pomegranate smells really nice, I definitely want to try out the other scents which are Guava, Quince, Mango, Wild Rose, Plum and Jasmine. The packaging is plastic so it's perfect to keep knocking around in your bag. It's not as good value for money as the NUXE one as it's only 6g of product for €9.10 but to be honest when something works as well as this does it's worth the money to me. 

I've already talked about the Figs and Rouge balms after receiving one in a Glossybox. I fell in love with these balms so I decided to get another scent, the Peppermint and Tea Tree one. I also got this on Feel Unique for €4.54 which is a really great price for 8ml of product which is 2g more than the Korres one and half the price. I love anything mint or tea tree scented so the two together is so nice! This is my quick fix balm because it sinks into the skin so quickly, I put this on if I'm in a hurry and want smooth lips quickly before putting on lipstick. If you want to know more check out my review of the Rambling Rose one. 

The final lip balm I want to talk about is Honey Trap from Lush. I got this back in December along with Celebrate and Snow Fairy which were both seasonal scents and on sale. Honey Trap has been my over night lip balm since December and it has earned it's place as one of my all time favourite lip balms. 

It contains oat milk, almond oil, beeswax, white chocolate, organic extra virgin olive oil, shea butter, honey etc. So it has lots of ingredients that all sound lovely (white chocolate!). All of these ingredients help to calm, soothe and smooth the lips and it smells just incredible! I found this balm very rich and hard to work with when I first started using it so I got a knife and broke it all up to make it softer and easier to use. It retails for about €6.50 and for that you get 10g of product. Both of these Christmas Limited Edition Lip Tints smell incredible! I'm a big fan of anything that smells, feels, looks and does good so these lip tints are perfect for me! I took some photos of them on my lips so you can see the kind of colour pay off you get.

Celebrate

Snow Fairy

So what's your favourite lip balm? Are their any that you swear by? Have you got any recommendations for me?

I hope you're all doing well!

PS. The winner of my Wild Curls Mascara Giveaway is Kelly-Marie! Please check out her blog if you have the time, she is such a beautiful person inside and out and I adore her style! 

Emma x

Being Sick Is The Worst

Hi friends!

You may or may not have wondered where I was this past week and a half. I certainly have! I've been cultivating a rather nasty throat infection since the beginning of last week and I've spent the past 48 hours in bed/on the couch wallowing and feeling very sorry for myself. I should have gone to the doctor on Friday but it wasn't bad enough and of course it got worse and now I have to wait until tomorrow morning to make and appointment and got those sweet antibiotics! 

Donnacha has been the best and has been making me yoghurt and ice cream and lemsip and mushed up fruit anything cooling or with painkillers or that a baby would eat. I've also been watching a lot of Friends and my new favourite cartoon!

Source

Seriously if you haven't already seen Adventure Time, give it a try. It's the cutest/weirdest/funniest cartoon ever. It's the perfect show for parents to watch with their kids, or just 20 somethings to watch with their friends! It's cheered me up a lot. 

We also watched the 1972 film What's Up Doc? with Barbra Steisand and Ryan O'Neal. I used to watch it with my mam when I was a kid and it's still such a funny film. 

So I thought I would give away a Boots 17 Wild Curls mascara as reviewed here because it seemed a lot of you really liked the look of it and I don't think it's available outside of Ireland and the UK and knowing how frustrating it can be to order something from a different country (I'll explain soon) I wanted to send one to one of you lovely ladies as a nice little treat.

Because I'm feeling sorry for myself all you have to do to enter if you want to is leave a comment telling me what you do to cheer yourself up when your sick or a suggestion of something for me to do or a film to watch or whatever you can think of. Also leave me a way of contacting you if you don't have an email address on your profile. I'll leave it open until July 15th midnight GMT and I'll notify the winner by email and in a post. Anyone, anywhere can enter! Oh and if you don't want to enter but just want to leave a comment you can do that too! 

I look forward to reading your suggestions and hope you are all feeling much better than I am!

Emma x