London Haul: Clothes, makeup, hair care and more!

Hi guys, hope everyone had a great weekend! I hit 100 page views for a single day’s count and was so happy! Thanks for remaining with me and continuing to read this blog!

So I went to London on Saturday for a haircut at Bloww hair salon/spa in Piccadilly Circus. The staff there was lovely and I really like my new cut. I did take some before and after photos, which I’ll post in the upcoming days, should you be interested. I had a Redken shot treatment which nourished my hair, and after seeing the Moroccan Oil display, I requested Tom, my hairdresser to use it on my locks.

The end results left me quite amazed. I don’t suffer from frizzy hair, and they’re in pretty good condition anyway, but the oil gave my hair such softness that I can’t stop stroking it, even two days after. So I went ahead and grabbed a bottle for £30.45.

Afterwards, I went to Oxford Circus and did a bit of shopping there. I saw a long line of women protesters for International Women's day at around 2pm, each representing some female-oriented cause.

 Seasoned Londoners may know just how packed Oxford Street is during the weekend. It wasn’t too bad for me initially – I went to Harvey Nichols and had a browse around, checked out the new Nars Illuminators and talked to the MUA there for a bit. I really liked the Super Orgasm illuminator, but I wanted to see if there were other makeup stuff I’d rather buy.

And indeed there was! As you may or may not know, Ruby and Millie is being discontinued in Boots. There were some great bargains to be found and I snapped up two eyeshadows, a lipstick and a lipgloss for £3 each – they were around £12 originally! I really wish I bought more eyeshadows now, as I’m really impressed with the softness and pigmentation, plus the circular pots can be clicked onto of one and another – very convenient. However, there weren’t many good colours left and I don’t particularly wish to buy more rarely worn colours. I also got the brand’s eyeliner brush for £1.50 but haven’t used it yet.

From top: The Body Shop hemp hand cream, Ruby and Millie lipgloss, lipstick and two eyeshadows

From top: Ruby and Millie eyeliner brush, Body Shop blending brush, mineral foundation sample

I hauled a large stash of mainly facial stuff from the Body Shop and grabbed a few sample pots of serums too. The total came to £32, since I got the Vitamin C facial scrub free, having spent over £15 on skincare.

From left: Vit C microdermabrasion, Vit C Skin Reviver (repurchase), Tea tree oil, Ruby and Millie lipstick (Matte orange)

I was on the hunt for some cool summer wedges, but it seemed like they were all size 5 or larger, probably because of the height on the heels. This is rather unfortunate considering I’ve size 3 to 4 feet, and have been known to fit into size 2 heels. My desperation to find a suitable pair or wedges may have prompted me to venture into Primark, where I thought the selection will be large. What a mistake that was! I managed to get on to the first floor and have a quick glance around before I needed to leave. The place was stuffy, smelly and packed with people – vicious, bargain hunting natives and foreigners hell-bent on snatching that last dress on the racks. Now I’ve participated in some pushy Boxing Day sales before, but the experience at Primark was simply traumatising. Kudos to any reader who can navigate around the place on a Saturday afternoon without breaking sweat!

I escaped to New Look and managed to snag two pretty outfits – a green leopard print, long sleeved dress and a heather grey dress shirt. Ever since I bought my Calvin Klein heather grey snood last month, I’ve loved the colour. My wardrobe normally consists of blacks, whites, pinks, reds and purples – very few neutral or cool-toned outfits as they don’t flatter my skin tone as much. However, I’ve been selecting some specifically coloured items now to broaden my clothes palette, since I like expanding my range.

The lighting's pretty yellow since I took the photos at night, as soon as I got back, since I wanted to pack all the hauls away.

That’s all the stuff I bought this weekend! It was a very tiring experience and not a pilgrimage I’d likely to make often. I do want to check out the Camden or Portobello markets next term, after my exams though. Any seasoned Londoners with good advice on which stalls I should check out and the time-frame I should go? I think stall holders normally pack up around 3 or 4 in the afternoon and call it a day, so do I need to go in the mornings?

Let me know if you want specific reviews on any of the products I bought on Saturday!

xoxo Cassie

Top lip tips a girl should not live without!

I visited London by train yesterday for a Benefit event (my first! *squeals*) co-hosted by the lovely Yinka from Vex and the City, which I will blog about soon. I met some really great girls there and it was so much fun to talk to girls as addicted to makeup as I was. It was so much fun that I stayed later than planned and missed my train home. I had to catch the next one, but that’s a whole different story. Anyway, to pass the time, I bought the April issue of Cosmopolitan.

In the beauty section of the magazine, I came across a fantastic feature on ‘Hot Lips’ by Ingeborg Van Lotringen. There were some neat tips and tricks for bright siren red lips, pretty pink smackers and orange punch pouts, as well as colour guides for different skin tones. Some of these tricks I knew already, whilst others were really interesting to discover. So I thought to share some of my favourites with you here – hopefully you’ll be tempted to buy the magazine! (It’s definitely worth your money to purchase this month’s Cosmo and here’s why).

Note that I’ve paraphrased a bit.

Bright lips tips and tricks:

1.Brights can drain the skin, so warm it up with rosy blusher and cover up dark circles and blemishes.

2.Use your gum colour as indication of your perfect pink.

3.Use flesh-toned lipliner to neutralise your lipcolour in order to achieve the exact shade of lipstick in the tube.

4.Never be Miss Matchy-match with your lip and nail colour if you want to be modern.

5.Give your lips a plumped look by applying sheer gloss.

6.A stain topped with gloss fades more evenly than lipstick.

So there you go – my top 6 favourite tips from Cosmo which I hoped you enjoyed.

Wonder Woman out tomorrow! I will be getting up early to check it out in Debenhams so no 9am wakeup for me as I had hoped. However, it will be the LAST DAY OF LABS tomorrow for the duration of my undergraduate studies and I am so ecstatic about it. I would burn my lab coat as a celebratory gesture, except I kinda need it next year for an extended project in research. Harrumph.

Wanna steal Barbie’s pout?

Well, do yah?

I bought the Revlon Matte Lipstick in Pink Pout a few weeks back in Boots, when they had the £2 off deal and I was in need to lipstick comfort.

According to the good Revlon people, the lipstick range is supposed to ‘glide effortlessly across lips, depositing rich, beautiful matte colour without any drag, cakiness or resistance.’ Doesn’t it sound beautiful? Power of advertising for you, but let’s go on to the actual product, shall we?

The packaging is plastic, but nice and solid, with a clear transparent top on the lid so you can easily spot the colour in your stash. The colour is a pretty, light pink with a hint of mauve to make it more wearable.

In the photo, both the swatch and bullet appears a tad more mauve whilst on my lips, the pink really shines through. This is reflective of how lighting affects the lipstick shade and I believe demonstrates truly how wearable it is for everyone.

Application-wise, I’ve got to warn you that it isn’t something you can slick on and dash out. As the finish is matte, any dryness on your lips will be exaggerated. I’ve highlighted the tiny portion on my lips with showed horrid flakiness because I didn’t exfoliate properly. I recommend applying lip balm first, blot it off, and then apply lipstick. This way, the lipstick applies smoothly and gives me a great matte, pink look that seems natural and fresh.

It lasted nicely into the day and survived around 4 hours of wear, in which I continuous drank water. This is probably due to its matte nature and the tendency to stick to the skin, as opposed to some creamier or shimmer lip formulas that slide right off.

Review Summary

Packaging: 7/10 (Nice and sturdy, with convenient see-through top)

Cost: £7.49

Formula: 8/10 (You need extra preparation steps. If exfoliated and moisturised properly, the lipstick glides on smoothly and gives beautiful colour pigmentation and long lasting wear. Otherwise, flake-city beware!)

Final Verdict: I really like this colour but I probably won’t repurchase this colour as I’ve yet to finish off any lipsticks, hence won’t need a backup. However, the matte finish is really natural and perfect for low-key looks, so will be purchasing more colours in Revlon’s Matte range.

Nyx Round Lipstick in Lala Review

I posted details about my Cherry Culture haul last week (you can check it out here) and have now had the chance to try some of the things out.

Out of the 12 items I got, the one I was most sceptical about was the Nyx Round Lipstick in the colour Lala. I saw a really beautiful swatch of it online and wanted to stray away from my usual palette of pinks and reds. However, in person, the colour seemed much darker than I expected. As described before, this is a purple-based pinkish mauve colour.

It definitely earns a unique place in my lipstick collection, but I am unsure how often I will be choosing this, especially considering the cool weather at the moment – when applied, the cool tint makes me look cold. Perhaps I will rock it in the summer for a chic gothic look, or for a twist on the sophisticated plum lip evening look.

Application-wise, this is A*. Everything about the formula is great – moisturising, pigmented, long lasting and no scent! I get more than four hours of wear from this. Since the colour is very strong, it fades into a pretty stain on my lips.

I really am crushing on all my Nyx haul products and can’t believe the quality. I generally prefer to use more expensive items for the sheer indulgent pleasure, but because I invested quite a lot of time researching all my purchase colours and such, I’m getting the same endorphin rush!

Review summary

Packaging: 6/10 (The plastic feels cheap, but I do like the font and design print, plus the transparent base that shows the colour and the top sticker with the colour name)

Price: 10/10 (£1.50-ish, taking into account of the Nyx sale and currency conversion on Cherry Culture)

Formula: 10/10 (Pigmented, long lasting, moisturising, smooth application, no scent)

Final Verdict: Something that I will definitely repurchase. Perhaps not in this shade, but I’m very impressed with Nyx Round Lipsticks and really want to delve into their extensive colour range on offer.

O Nyx, Nyx! Wherefore art thou Nyx in my life?

O Nyx, Nyx! Wherefore art thou Nyx in my life?

A modified quote from Billy S seemed in order to emphasise the dramatic moment of this post. Plus it’s quite appropriate to reference some history, given that the Nyx brand and many of their product names are derived from Greek mythology, no?

My Nyx haul from Cherry Culture finally arrived yesterday! I ordered these items at the end of January, when Cherry Culture had the Nyx sale and also a 20% discount. All in all, order processing, packaging and shipping took a grand total of 16 days, which isn’t too bad I guess, although this is the first time I’ve ever ordered from the States before.

I was careful to keep the total value (not including P&P) under £18 in order to avoid the horrid customs duty and Import VAT from the HM Revenue office. I did tick the ‘Gift’ box during checkout as well, as gifts under £40 would be exempt. However, the declaration on the box was still classified as Non-gift, probably because I bought the items as a commercial consignment and the package isn’t sent ‘from a private person outside of EU to a private person’. Ah well, I did keep to the £18 limit after all!

An interesting thing to note is that the package label described the items as ‘Art Supplies’! I was so confused then I picked this up, wondering when I was crazy enough to order paints from the US and not remember – memory-loss at my youthful age is not very reassuring, to say the least.

So here’s my order. I simply used a Currency Converter form Google to check the amount in UK sterling pounds. It’s necessary to note the exchange rate varies – the £ value I got at checkout when converted by PayPal was higher than the converted value from the Currency Calculator I found via Google. The total came to £25.48 (including a P&P charge of around £7), which is quite impressive considering I hauled a total of 12 good quality items, plus a free lip balm.

Click on photo to enlarge!

1.       Round Lip Gloss (RLG) in Peach, a coral pink colour

2.       RLG in Soap Opera Queen , a bright fuschia with pink and silver sparkles

3.       RLG in Doll Pink, a lilac pink

4.       Jumbo Eye Pencil in French Fries, a copper bronze with gold base

5.       Jumbo Eye Pencil in Iced Mocha, a copper colour with silver base

6.       Single Eye Shadow in Latte Foam (Metallic), similar to French Fries but with a touch more gold shimmer

7.        Jumbo Lip Pencil in Soft Fuschia, a medium pink-mauve colour

8.       Diamond Sparkle Lipstick in Sparkling Copper, a shimmery hot pink with a touch of mauve

9.       Round lipstick (RL) in Lala (Unsure why I bought it now...), a purple based pink

10.   RL in Flower, a rich rose pink with light shimmer

11.   RL in Tea Rose, pale nude pink

12.   RL in Spell Bound, a rose pink similar to Flower, but more emphasis on the ‘rose’ part

13.   Free Cherry Culture Bubble Gum lipbalm (a colourless balm with a strong punch of Hubba Bubba bubblegum scent. Applies smoothly but feels like a layer on wax on lips).

So there you have it – I am no longer a Nyx virgin!

I know the items are as cheap as chips, but the effort I’ve spent researching all the colours and the Revenue fine prints to avoid a massive surplus charge has made my lil’ collection as precious as my more expensive items.

Plus you know what? It was damn well worth it!

Straws are a Girl’s Beauty Best Friend

Forget diamonds – what good are those shiny, exorbitantly expensive things? As Holly Golightly from Breakfast At Tiffanys said:  “But it's tacky to wear diamonds before you're forty.” Therefore, I am focusing my energy elsewhere until I reach that pinnacle age.

I want to enthuse the virtues of drinking with straws today. It’s something I read that stars like to do ages ago, in order to prevent teeth staining. Think about it – drink coffee, tea or coke straight from a glass and you’ll risk the liquid coming into contact with your pearly whites. Use a straw and it’s problem solved!

I generally only drink water, but still like using a straw because it reduces the chances of me swallowing whatever lipstick or lip gloss I’m currently wearing. However nice a product tastes, I doubt excess consumption constitutes a healthy diet. An added bonus is that straws are less likely to ruin the perfect lipstick you've just applied. 

Straws are so cheap in multipacks – I got this from Asda for £1.50 (methinks). It’s a simple way of preventing teeth staining and (in my case) alleviates fears of consuming my lipstick with every sip.

Miss April Playboy Lipstick Review

Hugh Hefner certainly has built himself quite an empire, has he not? I know there’s a wealth of items adorned with the bunny logo, but didn’t actually realise Playboy has a beauty line until a friend gave me a Miss April lipstick that I promptly forgot about. A recent NYX haul (will update when receive my goodies) on Cherry Culture resulted in me stumbling across the range and reminded me of the few Playboy Beauty items languishing in my drawer. 

The price is $14, which is around £8 – a high end drugstore lipstick. The packaging is very similar to Urban Decay, except rather than the dagger, there is a bunny head. It’s cute and stylish, although I am hesitant in popping the lipstick into a handbag simply because should the bunny head snap off, it’ll be hell trying to extract the bullet (this has occurred to a UD lipstick tester in Boots).

On the Cherry Culture website:

Playboy Beauty Calendar Girl Lipstick    $14.00
Create a sexy, youthful pout with this highly-pigmented formula. Weightless formula keeps lips soft. New technology blends a high level of color pigments for true color and shine enhancing polymers for long wear. Formula contains anti-oxidants vitamins A, C and E.

 From the description, I’m totally sold.

 Miss April is a beautifully rich berry red that is extremely creamy. There are sparkles in the bullet which vanish on skin contact. Application is lovely and pigmentation is very, very good. The lipstick kept my lips well moisturised and I really loved the colour on my lips.

With flash, the colour looks more coral.

No flash. A very good representation of the colour.

Patchy colour

However...if you look carefully at the photos of my lips, I’m sure you can spot the uneven colour (enlarge by clicking on the photo if you wish). That was the result of my smooshing my lips together as I always do in order to test the creaminess. The fact that such a simple action results in a horrid colour distribution has left me quite disappointed. Perhaps it will not occur with the use of lip primer, but I have yet to test that.

Review Summary:

Packaging: 9/10

Formula: 6/10

Cost:   $14 (£8-ish)

Verdict: Colour is gorgeous and the formula very moisturising, but creases too easily. Will not repurchase.

Has anyone else tried the Playboy cosmetics? Or did you even know it existed?

Lipstick Addiction: 17 Mirror Shine On Lipstick

One of my recent beauty addictions last term has been lipsticks. Previously it was lip glosses, and the term before that, eye shadows. In any case, I probably don't need to mention the fun of shopping for different brands and colours. Nor do I need to emphasise the importance of colour choice - a classic red lipstick on a bare face lends instant glamour, nude transfers the attention to the eyes, shimmer adds vitality and plum conveys sophistication. Wow, what a hard-working beauty product! No wonder lipsticks are recession-proof.



I was in London for a short weekend break recently and forgot to pack a lipstick in my general haze of outfit plans. So I popped into a small, but convenient Boots store. There weren’t too many brands or choices available, so I opted for the Boots-own brand 17. I have never tried their lipsticks before and the phrase ‘mirror shine’ caught my eye. Plus it was only £4.49.

A nice flurescnt pink with a hint of coral. Plus the packaging's pretty cute!

 There are a total of 10 colours available and online, the description says ‘Get ultra glam, slick colour that creates the illusion of fuller, luscious lips’.

 My lips are naturally pigmented and pale colours does not suit – the palest I own is Mac’s Viva Glam Gaga and even then, I slather on a darker shade lip gloss to make it look natural. Therefore, I chose Peace.

 I was initially skeptical about the quality of the formula as the lipstick was broken in the tester tube, but the one in my possession have yet to snap. On my hands, it is possible to see the colour is sheer and glossy.




Without flash.



With flash.



On my lips, it does indeed have that ‘mirror shine’ effect and quite moisturizing. I enjoy it to a certain extent: it’s a nice combination of lipstick and lip gloss, there’s no sticky or gloopy-ness and I like the colour.

However, it isn’t long lasting and I need constant re-touchups. Plus there is a hint of that lipstick taste which I detest and that for me is a deal-breaker.

So for the girl who is always on the move, like the combination of gloss over lipstick and not too fussy with the scent, it’s perfect.