Jo Malone Blackberry & Bay

Jo Malone London are about to launch a new fragrance collection, Blackberry & Bay. From the moment I saw the word blackberry, I knew I would love the scent. I'm already eagerly awaiting the transition into autumn and have spotted the blackberries and sloes ripening in the nearby hedgerows. I'm hoping this year I can take the children out to pick the berries with me as it's something I used to love doing with my parents when I was little.

When I first spray this, I get a fresh citrus burst from the grapefruit and it dries down to a surprisingly leafy scent on my skin. The blackberry note I get is like the outer skin and perfume of the blackberry rather than the juicy insides. I definitely wouldn't describe this as a fruity scent.

This fragrance does seem to fade quite quickly on my skin. There's something about my body chemistry that 'eats up' green fragrances, so I like to spritz it onto my hair as well as my skin for greater lasting power. You can wear Blackberry & Bay alone or Jo Malone also recommend layering with Lime, Basil & Mandarin or (my old favourite) Nectarine Blossom & Honey. Today, I'm wearing it over the Lime, Basil & Mandarin body creme to give it more zesty oomph.

The Blackberry & Bay fragrance collection will be available from September and the cologne spray will come in two sizes: 30ml (£38) and 100ml (£76). It will also be available as a body creme (£48), body & hand wash (£30) and a home candle (£38). I'm tempted by the home candle as Mr MB really likes this scent too and I think it would be perfect for our kitchen/dining area.

PR Sample

Illamasqua Naked Strangers Collection

I first heard about this mini Spring/Summer collection through my subscription to the Illamasqua e-newsletters, as they were offering customers an early shopping preview of the three nail colours. Oddly, this grabbed my attention more than the usual press and blog build up. I like that Illamasqua want to engage with their customers not just schmooze bloggers and if it hadn't been for my nail polish ban, I would have bought Monogamous (flesh pink) and Faithful (metallic copper) there and then.

The collection will be available nationwide from 31st May and as well as the three nail polish colours, they are releasing two lipglosses and two blushers. Both of the blusher looks like quite neutral shades: Naked Rose is described as a neutral beige brown and the cream blusher, Zygomatic, is a naked pink brown. The lipgloss are one of each formula; Stranger is a platinum gold in the intense formula and Intimacy is a sheer nude pink brown.

Although I like the sound of Intimacy (ho, ho!), I know I rarely wear lipgloss so I should be sensible and pass on this. I am however quite tempted to get one of the blushers. I get a lot of use out of nude-y pink blushers, the only tricky decision is powder or cream? Are you planning on picking anything up on Thursday?

New Home Fragrancing from Jo Malone

Jo Malone have recently added some new products to their Home Collection. The Scent Surround Diffusers (£45) and Room Sprays (£34) are both permanent additions to the collection and come in the fragrances Pomegranate Noir, Red Roses and Lime, Basil & Mandarin.

I have been using the Red Roses Diffuser for a couple of weeks now. I have it positioned high on top of a book shelf in my living room away from curious hands. Although it is up high, it still scents the downstairs rooms nicely. My living area is quite open plan and often suffers from cooking smells drifting in from the kitchen (and also from the next door neighbour's for some inexplicable reason!). The diffuser has done an excellent job of masking those lingering smells.

The Red Roses fragrance from the diffuser is quite strong and very much a true perfume scent. I initially thought it might be too pungent for the living area but both myself and my husband have become accustomed to it now. I look forward to coming downstairs to have the smell greet me in the morning. I'm actually considering getting a more citrussy scent for downstairs, I think the Lime, Basil & Mandarin would work well, and moving Red Roses to my bedroom. I live in a house where I am outnumbered by the male of the species and I suspect the rose scent is touch feminine in the circumstances. However, as no one has mentioned it, I should probably carry on regardless!

The Scent Surround Drawer Liners (£20) and Sachets (£30) are both limited edition items and come in the Lime, Basil & Mandarin fragrance. I rather like the old fashioned appeal of both of these items, I imagine it is a real treat to open a draw or wardrobe door and be greeted with a beautiful scent. I'm tempted to take Lipglossiping's advice and buy some for my suitcases and storage boxes, I'd never have thought of it myself but I think it's a great idea.

The signature Jo Malone black and cream colour scheme has been reversed for the Home Collection packaging and it looks rather stylish. I always think the presentation of the Jo Malone products with pretty bows and tissue paper makes them ideal presents. Even if they're just presents to yourself! 

The new Home Cragrance products are available from Jo Malone stores and online from www.jomalone.com.

Disclosure: PR Sample

New Rouge Bunny Rouge Eyeshadow Keepers

Sometimes my eyeshadow and nail polish purchasing ban seems like a good thing, other times it can feel like a terrible mistake. Sharing this news whilst simultaneously not being able to purchase any of it, is probably one of the lowest points. With that little pity party out of the way, let's enjoy some pictures of the new loveliness from Rouge Bunny Rouge.

Behold the Eyeshadow Keepers. These customisable palettes will be available in two and three pan versions and there will be a choice of nine eyeshadow refill pans to fit them: six new colours and three current bestsellers. I believe more eyeshadows will be available as refills in the near future.

Although I can't be 100% certain, this looks like it will be a magnetised system so you might be able depot singles you already own and add a magnet to slot them in. That's if you can bear to deface the pretty pots of course, it sounds a lot like cosmetic vandalism to me (gives Everyday Beauty a side long look)! EDIT: The pans for the palette will actually be slightly smaller than the single pots (I knew I should have checked the weights) so you won't be able to depot.

On to the new eyeshadow colours...

Trumpeter Koel - Dark lead-grey with lilac-blue iridescence

Umber Firefinch - Iridescent dark umber chocolate

Bohemian Waxwing - Iridescent bronzed champagne

Golden Rhea - Iridescent pale gold

Lilac Reef Curassow - Pale lilac with iridescent effect

Olive Violeteare - Smoky olive with satin finish

The new colours that really grab me are Olive Violeteare and Bohemian Waxwing. I'm sure that Trumpeter Koel would look great as a liner too.

The three current eyeshadow that will be available in pan form are: Abyssinian Catbird, Solstice Halcyon and Unforgettable Oriole. I already own Abyssinian Catbird and Solstice Halcyon which allowed me to check the accuracy of the promotional images. They look pretty spot on to me so I feel confident that the new colours will look as shown above.

L- Abyssinian Catbird R - Solstice Halcyon

L- Abyssinian Catbird R - Solstice Halcyon

Direct sunlight

Shade

As excited as I am by the new colours, if I was able to make a purchase, Unforgettable Oriole would definitely be on my list. It's rare that I buy light shimmery colours but I like the RBR formula very much and I feel this is something lacking in my collection.

Unforgettable Oriole

When they do roll out more of the eyeshadows in pan form, I hope that they include some of the matte eyeshadows. I think that would be perfect for making a really versatile custom palette. Of course, when and if that happens we'll all be demanding bigger Eyeshadow Keepers!

The Eyeshadow Keepers will cost £12 for the duo and £15 for the trio. The eyeshadow pans will cost £16. All of these items will be available from Zuneta from tomorrow. Are you plotting a purchase?

BECCA Balearic Love News

The BECCA Balearic Love collection has been available for about a week now and I have been eagerly awaiting blog posts. I had been really excited about this collection from the moment I saw the promo shots and had been very sad that it wasn't released before my self-imposed eyeshadow ban started. In fact, it wasn't until I started filling my basket with the nail varnishes (hello vamp nails!) that I remembered that I had banned myself from buying more nail colours too. This pretty much makes this collection a no go for me which is a blow as a BECCA lover.

As I can't bring you any reviews, I wanted to point you in the direction of the lovely Christa from Perilously Pale. Last night she posted the first images of that palette that I have seen and well.........it's not exactly what I was expecting. Christa's review is well worth a read if you were considering buying this palette based on the promotional pictures.

The Balearic Love collection is available from Zuneta and www.beccacosmetics.com/uk.
No doubt I will continue to torture myself by looking out for reviews.

Lancôme Rouge in Love Collection & Emma Watson PA

Emma Watson will be making a public appearance at 4.30pm tomorrow (10th February) in Selfridges, Oxford Street to launch the new Lancôme Rouge in Love collection. I think Emma is a great choice as the face for Lancôme and I'm certainly interested in the new range of lipsticks, but it's tricky to know exactly who the PA is going to appeal to. Of course, it's wrong of me to assume that Harry Potter fans can't be fans of makeup too and I suppose a younger face is likely to introduce a whole new generation to the brand. I'd probably be making my way to the counter after the crowds had died down to take a look at the new lipsticks and nail colours but that's because I'm notoriously rubbish at shopping in crowds!

There are 24 lipstick in the Rouge in Love collection which are divided into 3 colour groups: Jolis Matins - light, sheer, easy to wear shades, Boudoir Time - punchy colours with silvery and white pearl particles and Tonight is My Night - seductive shades infused with golden pearl particles for an intense shine.

Left - Midnight Rose, Right - Rose Sulfureuse

I don't know if this is revealing more that I ought to but of the 24 shades, the 2 that I am most drawn to are Midnight Rose (#377N) and Rose Sulfureuse (#379N) both from the 'Tonight is My Night' colour family. I love the look of Violette Coquette (#381B) too, a vibrant violet colour, I'm not sure that I'm bold enough to carry it off though. I looked for the shade Delicate Lace (#217M) that Charleston Girl blogged about but couldn't spot it, so I'm unsure if we have a different selection of shades to the US release.

The Vernis in Love nail colours share the same groupings as the lipsticks and there are 20 shades altogether, ranging from milky nudes to striking brights. They promise fade-resistance, gloss shine colour. If these have the same formula as the nail varnishes from the 29, Saint Honoré collection I will be a very happy lady as these are one of the few formulas that will last on my crummy nails! I have my eye on Aquamarine (#501B).

The Rouge in Love collection is currently exclusive to Selfridges (and online from the Lancôme website) but will be available nationwide from 1st April. The lipsticks are priced £21 and nail varnishes £12.


Image credit: Lancôme

Argh!!!! (and new RBR taupe news)

If I was a cat, this is how I would look right now. Well, I was doing really well with my eyeshadow ban. I blocked out NARS Lhasa, ignored the new D&G quad and I've even checked that the Viseart Basics palette won't be sneaking up on me at IMATS.

BUT my resolve is going to be truly tested now. Some of the new Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadows are already on Zuneta.com and of the two new matte eyeshadows, Sweet Dust Seriema is calling to me like a sweet (taupe) siren. The description is cool dusty taupe mauve. I think I might actually have shed tears. The only silver lining is that Rouge Bunny Rouge don't indulge in this limited edition nonsense so Sweet Dust Seriema will still be waiting patiently for me on the other side.

Anyway, I thought I would share this news with you. It's worth waiting until tomorrow to see if there are any offers announced in the weekly Zuneta newsletter that you can take advantage of. Don't feel you have to tell me how nice it is. I'm going to be sticking my fingers in my ears and pretending I can't hear you until July!

Edit: Here you go, I'll let you have a look at them whilst I wipe away the tears.

Haus of Gloi Valentine's Collection

The Haus of Gloi Valentine's Collection will be released later on today (Noon PST which I believe is 8pm UK time). I had great success with the Valentine's fragrances last year and I'm pleased to see both Come Hither and Who Needs Love are back. Who Needs Love is probably my favourite HoG scent ever and I was quite surprised by this as it's a sweet gourmand smell. As much as I love chocolate, I don't really like it for anything other than eating! Who Needs Love is a dark rich chocolate though with something delicious hiding inside, I find the hint of coffee stops it from being too sickly. I have Who Needs Love in the pumpkin butter and as well as being a lovely scent, the pumpkin butter is the perfect body cream texture for me.

Odette really appeals from this collection. It's described as 'clean sun dried linens, tuberose, ginger lily and white musk'. After my moaning about the January slump yesterday I think I should invest in one of the Spring Tonics. I Imagine the Spring Tonic #1 in the whipped soap would lift my spirits with it's Californian Lemon and Mexican Lime. Although the Fresh Cucumber in Spring Tonic #2 sounds pretty good too.

Will you be purchasing any of the Valentine's Collection this year?

Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless Collection

I went along to the Illamasqua Beak Street store on Sunday to take a look at their new collection, Theatre of the Nameless. The collection is available online already and will be released in store tomorrow (8th September). I'm sure many of you will have already seen pictures of the various pieces but I wanted to throw my pictures and thoughts out there.

Again this is a collection very much inspired by the club scene of 1920's Berlin. The colours are dark and decadent and the imagery for the collection is inspired by characters like Anita Berber and the unique advertising system of the Boot girls! The description of a nocturnal den fits this collection perfectly. Although the collection and imagery is dark, there's plenty to excite this (mostly) pedestrian Mum for everyday wear.

I shall start with the lipglosses. There are two Intense Lipglosses;  Façade, a grey pink that can also be used as a glossy eye colour and Belladonna, a deep pink. Violate is a Sheer Lipgloss and is a beautiful dark, shimmery green. You can see this colour worn over a base of black liner in the image of Clare further down this post.

I was very taken with the new Precision Liner in Havoc, a deep aubergine. In fact, this is one of the items that I purchased from the collection. I think a dark coloured liner is a lovely way to inject a bit of colour into a mostly neutral look.

The nail varnishes released with this collection all have a rubberised finish. I swatched each of the colours and was impressed with how opaque they were with just one coat. My apologies for the smudges, they take a little longer to dry because of the finish and I obviously wasn't careful enough before they had dried. My favourite of these colours is Vice, the deep cerise shade. The bottles have a special edition rubber lid which actually makes them a little easier to grip.

The lipstick in Kontrol is not for the faint hearted. It's an intense blue violet colour. It's actually darker than it appears in the pictures below. I was really pleased with the texture when I swatched this shade. I have some older Illamasqua lipsticks and I have to take care when applying as they're quite stiff and prone to movement at the base. Kontrol is very creamy and smooth to apply but still maintains the intensity and pigmentation of the original formula.

I fell a bit in love with the Pure Pigments. There are three shade; Zeitgeist, a deeply pigmented black with shimmer, Berber, a bright auburn shimmer and Beguile, a light, shimmery highlighter. They are all shot with complementary shimmer particles. Beguile was used in a number of the promotional images all over the face and body. It has the most amazing sea green shimmer to it which I failed to pick on camera. I received Zeitgeist in my event bag and can't wait to have a play with it. I intend to combine it with sealing gel to use as a liner.

The blushers in this collection are Illamasqua's first venture into a shimmery finish. Morale, the bright rosy pink is stunning and I think the more nudey peach shade, Ambition, will be very popular. These blushers give a beautiful sheen rather than being all out chunky glitter. You can see Ambition modelled on the lovely Clare from Illamasqua below.

There are two sets of false lashes in the collection and I was immediately taken with lashes in Weimar that Clare was wearing. Obviously they are very dramatic but they suited her look perfectly and I actually thought they looked soft and feminine whilst still making a statement. The other thing that Clare had applied that I wanted to mention is the new brow cake in Stark. A perfect brow shade for redheads.

There are two new Cream Pigments, Androgen, a pretty coral and Depravity, a stunning magenta. Like the other cream pigments, these are multi-purpose. I think Androgen would make a lovely cheek colour and Depravity would look great on the lips. Also new is their latest mascara formula, the cheekily titled Masquara.

So, what do you think to this collection? Is there anything you have your eye on? I'm looking forward seeing how people interpret this collection, especially in their everyday makeup.

Lancôme 29, Saint Honoré: Le Vernis Noir 29

I have selection of items to share with you from the Lancôme A/W 29, Saint Honoré collection. I wanted to start with this nail varnish, Noir 29 as I think it's a little gem.

In the bottle this appears to be black packed with gold glitter but on the nail and when it catches the light it shoots flashes of red and coppery sparkle. The nail polish is quite a thick consistency and I found I did struggle to be precise when applying to my short nails. It gives a smooth finish though which I don't always find with glitter polishes and you could almost get away with a single coat.

Noir 29 pictured with Rouge Saint Honoré

In the pictures above I am wearing two coats with a Seche Vite top coat. As you probably know by now, I don't like to comment on the lasting power of nail polish as I am the polish destroyer! Having said that, I applied this last night and so far, so good. I think this is such a special nail polish and it makes a lovely change from black on it's own. It appeals to my inner goth and ticks both Halloween and Christmassy boxes. Gorgeous!

The nail varnishes cost £12.50. The Lancôme 29, Saint Honoré collection is on counters now.


Disclosure: PR sample.

M·A·C Me Over! Collection

It's been a while since a M·A·C collection really caught my eye but this particular collection has rather surprised me. The faces of this Autumn collection are six unknowns picked from thousands of M·A·C Me Over! entries to find new faces and personalities that would personify the M·A·C All Races, All Ages, All Sexes credo. From this concept I had really expected this to be a bold and dramatic collection, so I was surprised to discover so many beautiful neutrals and wearable colours.

It is a collection in three parts; Basics, Black Trend and Icelandic Cool. There's a real mix of limited edition and permanent shades in the line-up. It also includes a few sought after items from past releases. The 226 crease brush has been a big seller before (it's a great brush but personally I find the hairs a little scratchy) and Peachstock lipstick and the Shadesticks in Butternutty and Cakeshop have been popular limited edition items in the past.

Basics Eyeshadows L-R: Creamy Bisque, Moleskin and Outré

Basics Eyeshadows L-R: Carbonized, Mythical and Satin Taupe

Black Trend Fluidlines L-R: Avenue, Dark Diversion and Midnight Blues

There are a quite a few items that are calling my name. The eyeshadows in Creamy Bisque (dirty ivory), Moleskin (nude brown) and Outré (dirty mustard) and the Cremesheen lipstick in Offshoot (mid-tone neutral pink) all sound very 'me'. I'd also recommend Teddy Eye Kohl and Satin Taupe eyeshadow if you don't already have these. Seaside Cream Colour Base (soft peach rose), the Shadestick in Street Cool (Mid-tone grey violet taupe) and all of the fluidlines appeal to me too.

Icelandic Cool Shadesticks L-R: Butternutty, Heirloom, Street Cool

Lady Grey Eyeshadow Quad

Evil Eye Eyeshadow Quad

This definitely feels like a more accessible collection from M·A·C. I think these are colours that would certainly suit all ages and I don't mind confessing some relief at a lack of pale lilac lipsticks. You can find swatches of collection on Karlasugar.net (Basics, Black Trend and Icelandic Cool). I assume the collection will be released on 1st September as the collections are usually released on the first Thursday of the month. What do you think to this collection? Do you have your eye on anything?