My favourite cosmetic products ever (that got discontinued :( )

Promesse by Cacharel

This was my favourite perfume when I was at school. Even now, I still keep the empty bottle (although the smell's gone off and it's really not the same anymore). It was very fruity, without being too sweet. Could work in winter or evenings just as well as for summer days. Youthful, but not too much. Great staying power, without being overpowering. Naturally, I didn't find out it got discontinued until I ran out and tried to buy a new bottle.

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M.A.C Studio Sculpt foundation

To be fair, this hasn't quite been discontinued. It's merely no longer distributed in the UK. Which, considering that the US shop doesn't ship internationally, adds up to just about the same thing for me. I'm trying to get a bottle off of another retailer as I type. It has really good coverage, I like the texture - it doesn't dry out my skin, nor does it melt off my face halfway through the day - and it smells delicious.

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Yves Rocher Gloss Fruité

This gloss... this gloss... Let me tell you. This gloss takes everything that's awful about gloss and makes it disappear. Then it takes everything that's great about gloss and multiplies it tenfold. Then you find out what it is to love, for no gloss could ever compare and you'll treasure it forever. Then you put it in your pencil case at school, along with all the other useless things you carry with you every day (your Tunisian Vanilla essence perfume that smells like vanilla and absolutely nothing else, your favourite Diddl ink pen that doesn't scratch the paper when you write....) .... Aaaand then your pencil case gets nicked. And you never see it again. The end.

...Seriously, though, that gloss was the bomb. Childhood nostalgia aside, it smelled so good it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. It was so glossy your lips looked like vinyl. It didn't have glitter. It was roll-on. IT DIDN'T STICK TO YOUR HAIR. 

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What about you guys? Any products you wish they'd bring back?

Hair From Beyond #5: Do the Clara Bow

It dawned on me the other day that I'd never styled short hair. I mean, sure, I've styled long hair into faux-bobs plenty of times, but actual, real short hair? Never. Conveniently, my flatmate happens to wear her hair cropped very short and very straight. Always up for a challenge, I marched straight into her room and declared I was turning her into Clara Bow for the evening. She never knew what hit her.

Clara Bow was one of the very first silver screen icons, THE 'it' girl of the 20s. As Anne Helen Petersen writes in this fabulous post for The Hairpin, "Girls wanted to be her, boys wanted to date her, and old people thought she was a sign of the apocalypse, which obviously meant she was star material".

And so I set to work curling, teasing and spraying, until I was moderately satisfied with the results. Now, you can't have a Clara Bow without the Clara Bow eyebrows. This posed a bit of a problem, as you can't really get Clara Bow eyebrows without plucking it all away, and my flatmate/beautiful model was (understandably) really not that keen. Thus I was forced to compromise and draw them in on top of her (partly concealed) natural eyebrow, but oh well.

~

Here I'm looking for Clara Bow, but all I see is Theda Bara...

Theda Bara

~

Model: Betty. Hair, make-up and photography by moi.

Hair from Beyond #2: Once Upon a Time's Ruby

Today, in Hair from Beyond... Storybrooke's favourite rebellious granddaughter.

"You dress like a drag queen at Fleet Week". 

Yes, Granny, I also feel like a drag queen at Fleet Week. So much makeup!

This one was actually a lot of fun. The makeup is a little heavy for me, but the 60s-style pigtails I suspect I'll be wearing again. Sorry for the low quality images, I didn't have my camera at hand!

Again, if you want a tutorial, feel free to let me know in the comments. Have a great day!

I'm looking for Ruby, all I see is Kat Dennings... what?!

Bumper Bangs and Giant Crepes

I bought a hair rat! I bought a hair rat! I bought a hair rat!

Guess what? I bought a hair rat the other day. I've been meaning to get one for ages - I have a small one, made out of my own hair, but it isn't suited to crazy gravity-defying updos. Thus on to Sally's I hopped, and while I was at it I picked up a new rat-tail comb, pin curl clips and even a curling wand.

Now, as my ex-boyfriends will know, I dress up on bittersweet occasions. Defensive mechanism, or what have you. One of my closest friends is moving to the other side of the planet, I reckoned her leaving party was an occasion warranting going to town...

Cowboy swing dress - Love Life (original 50s fabric)

 Bandana - Claire's

Shoes - Nine West

Bag - Blitz vintage

 Make-up:

Gel liner - MAC

 Lipstick - Marvelips by Soap&Glory

This was my very first time doing bumper bangs and I felt like Snow White... If you need a good tutorial, Cherry Dollface's is excellent. Worked well for me, if I may say so myself~ One correction, maybe: for frizzy hair, I recommend treating your bangs with a smoothing serum rather than a texturising spray. Best of the best? John Frieda's Glossing Mist. I mean, hey, it works on me, and NOTHING works on me, for I am the FrizzMonster...

We ate giant crepes!  

Hello, blinding table in the background

My new toys

This is what happens when I am given 60 pounds to waste on Boots products. Not that I'm complaining, really, I'm just saying.

1. Herbal Essences straightening shampoo and conditioner. Tried it twice on my naturally very curly hair, and so far I'm surprisingly satisfied with the results. Short of making my hair magically lose its curls, it does make it silky smooth and achieve the near-impossible task of preventing it from frizzing. Suddenly my purple minion mane was rendered stupidly manageable, and straightening it with a heating brush gave me results that even the Zohan couldn't get if he tried.

2. Eylure naturlites false eyelashes. This is just a refill, I swear by that brand. Their texture and  length makes them look very natural.

3. Simple Eye makeup corrector pen. I haven't actually tried this yet, but love the concept and been meaning to try it for ages. I'll let you know.

4. Sure deodorant. I normally buy Dove, but felt like a change. Verdict? Well... everyone keeps complimenting my new perfume. When I'm not wearing any perfume.

5. Standard hairclips. These are actually H&M, not Boots. They're just in there because I needed something to fill the gap. I do keep buying those very clips, though, because they're the perfect size and shape and a friend of mine keeps soullessly destroying them.

6. Babyliss curling wand. Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking. Doesn't she have curly hair already? Well, yes, I do, but they're tight, crazy curls, and I've always wanted to make myself some loose barrel curls. So far I'm quite satisfied, it heats up incredibly fast. The resulting curls are soft and loose, which is quite nice. Barrel curls are a tricky thing, though. Probably easier to achieve with a curling tong.

7. Soft cotton headband. I love them. I use them to braid my hair out of my face before I go to sleep, because I'm weird like that. I like to think it gives me an Anna-Bates-from-Downton look.

8. L'Oreal Color Riche lipstick 233 (Boreal/Taffeta). A really nice, shimmery nude. I've been looking for a nude lipstick that fits my hair and skin tone for a long, long time, and it hasn't been easy, but I think I can finally stop searching. The packaging claims it's a lipstick for blondes, but that's a filthy lie. It's good for anyone with a pale skin and yellow-y complexion (what a nice portrait I paint of myself...).

9. Soap&Glory's Marvelips! J'adiore. The colour side is just that perfect shade of vintage coral pink that Benefit wishes it had come up with, and the white shimmery side does its job just fine. Plus, you know, it doubles as a cool eyeliner. Convenient.

Definitely my new favourite toy. I had to stop myself from wearing it to bed last night, because it went so well with my new nightgown.

Five Overlooked Beauty Buys that I can't live without...

Because sometimes mainstream just won't cut it.

1. Lipstick Lock, by Rimmel

This thing is absolutely amazing. One coat, applied like nail polish, and your lips will stay a fatal shade of whatever-colour-you-chose for the entire day, surviving torrential weather, sloppy meals and even sloppier kisses. As I am rather prone to all three, it is essential that I carry this miracle bottle everywhere, and I recommend anyone who wears lipstick does the same. Granted, the smell will make you feel like you've just done a shot of sambucca, but believe me, it's all for the best.

2. Blotting paper

Shiny nose? Need a quick mid-date re-powdering, but you don't carry a powder puff as this is no longer the 60s? Fear not, the fairies have heard you! 

After discovering these in Japan a few years back - they're all over convenience stores - I was disappointed and mildly horrified to find that nobody on this side of the planet manufactured these. Thankfully that gap in the market was promptly filled. Blotting paper not only absorbs any oil that may dare show its face on your skin, but it allows you to dab off excess foundation if you've overdone it - and this without ruining your makeup. I personally use DHC's, but Clean&Clear also make it.

3. Superdrug's B Prepared primer

I'll admit it, I didn't have much faith in Superdrug's Own brand B when it launched. But they had a deal on makeup kits, and I'm a sucker for those things. Verdict? It's restored my faith in humanity drugstore brands. This thing is as natural as they get, with no perfume or alcohol, and it will leave your skin feeling more silky smooth than Zohan's head. I don't normally use primer, as my skin is mixed and they tend to be either too oily or not enough so. I did lead a little inquiry and ask regular makeup primer users to test this one, however, and they were all just as impressed as I was. Conclusion: Best. 10 pounds. Ever. Spent.

4. Klorane Dry Shampoo

I've decided to include this one on the list after seeing Cosmo forum thread on which dry shampoo brand was the best. I was surprised to see most people voted Batiste as their favourite. I honestly don't get it - Batiste smells nice, sure, and its different colours mean you can be lazy about brushing the powder out of your hair. But results-wise? It isn't much of a shampoo, and your hair looks refreshed, at most.

This baby, on the other hand, is enough to replace a hair wash completely. Its talcum-powder-like texture absorbs the sebum completely, leaving you with voluminous, freshened up hair. Oh, and it's not an aerosol, yay!

5. Fragranced Body Lotion

This one's a bit less specific. I have a skin that absorbs products quicker than a sponge, and that means the strongest of fragrances barely lasts on me. So for heavy-duty occasions, I choose to wear perfumed body lotion instead. Too nauseatingly strong for casual day wear, sure, but it's actually perfect for parties, nights out - hell, even the gym (ha! as if I went).

Aaaaaand finally, because I couldn't resist - the one product that definitely deserves its hype... *drumroll*...

MAC studio sculpt foundation! You've all heard it, and it's all true. Solid coverage, matte but luminous, not cakey or too powdery... Paired with the B primer mentioned earlier, it works wonders.