A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Another weekend, another deal – really, I didn’t wanna blog about CheapSmells again for a bit (I like to spread the love around all my bargain places) but they make it kinda hard when they do shit like offer BOGOF on Orly and the highly coveted Jimmy Choo fragrance for under £20 you know?  It says the RRP is £29 for 40ml… but to be fair, on Debenhams – it’s actually £34 which makes this saving even more impressive.  For those of you concerned about Cheap Smells selling older stock, this one hasn’t been on the market too long either which should alleviate those worries in this instance.

So anyway, if you like your perfume all gourmand and sweet – you’ll probably like this one.  It’s too sweet for me, though I do like the dry-down which is more classically floriental but I just can’t get past the fruity stuff at the beginning – pear… and lots of it.  I think the while stocks last element is key here… £14 off the real RRP of what is frankly, a bit of an “it” frag still enjoying its moment is not be sniffed at, no pun intended.

You can purchase Jimmy Choo 40ml EdT online from CheapSmells at this special price (other sizes available) until 18th March, or while stocks last.

Not 3-for-2, or 2-for-1, but BOGOF at Cheap Smells on these Orly Mani Mini polishes priced at £3.95 each.  That’s buy one get one free (I said, you buy one, you get one… sorry) – which is pretty incredible when you remember that these polishes sell for £5 each in Boots.

The only catch is that you can’t choose the colour of your “free” one, so my advice is to go on the website, look for the most disgusting colour you can find and simply resign yourself to the fact that that’s the one Sandra in the packing department will chuckle over as she packs your polishes on Tuesday morning.

The deal ends today, so get your bum in gear and use the code OrlyFree at checkout if you want to take advantage – don’t forget there’s free shipping.  One per customer, which seems pretty fair considering you’re practically stealing them.

Pray, tell me, which colour would you be pissed at receiving as your freebie? Mine would be “naughty” – can we say BORING?

p.s. incase you’re interested – I’ve bought Goth, you?

p.p.s. if you’re a fan of D&G Rose The One, check on the site tomorrow because a little birdy (ok, CheapSmells) told me that they’ll be selling priced from £21.50 Up To 40% Off RRP.  A cracking fragrance for Mother’s Day.

Smashbox is a brand that just isn’t that easy for me to lay may hands on – sure, it’s in Debenhams but my local Debenhams is situated a 10 minute walk from the main shopping area, making it a bit of a black hole as a far as I’m concerned.

Smashbox Bionic Mascara in Jet Black is currently available at CheapSmells.com — who knows for how long, they have a pretty rapid stock turnover — and they sent me a sample to put to the test.

The mascara has a “wet” formula, something which I noticed immediately because I can never help but worry when buying from online cosmetic ‘discounters’ that I might be getting very old stock… and in the case of mascaras, old stock = dry mascara.

I needn’t have been concerned as the Smashbox Bionic Mascara I received is most definitely wet, any wetter and it would have been an instant fail, like the Bourjois 1001 which I hated until it began to dry out.

You can see from the before/after that the Smashbox Bionic Mascara (on the right!) offers decent lengthening if not much volumising.  I like the inky black shade and the fact that it left my lashes feeling soft and flexible.

It’s not the showstopping mascara I’d have liked to see from Smashbox but it’s a better-than-natural daily mascara (I hate ‘natural’ mascaras) which won’t dry out any time soon and offers genuine single-sweep lash boosting.  Maybe not for nights out on the tiles but a really, very good daily choice for work.

Smashbox Bionic Mascara in Jet Black is priced at £12.95 (a £16.50 value, 22% discount) and available from CheapSmells.com

What’s your favourite ‘daily’ mascara?

* press sample

Argh, look what happens when I go away… all the awesome deals come out!  I’m loving this one in particular courtesy of CheapSmells (I typo’ed CheapSmalls then and gave myself a massive smirk).

Back to this Deal Alert – Remember when I talked about the Travalo Perfume Atomisers?  Well, they’re fairly inexpensive to begin with but CheapSmElls are offering them at an unbeatable price this weekend only…

£5.50 with gratis delivery and you can carry a fair amount of your favourite perfume around with you wherever you go.  I took my Travalo on holiday with me this week (filled with Apothecary EDT incase you care) and it was fabulous for quick on the go spritzes.

Hope you’re having a lovely Sunday, it’s Saturday night as I’m writing this and I’ve not long got home from my 5 day break in London, want to go back already!

Still sitting down there in my wishlist purely because I’m a lazy oaf who hasn’t updated yet, sits the fragrance Agent Provocateur.

CheapSmells.com are currently doing a ridiculously good deal on the Agent Provocateur family, so I thought that now would be the most useful time to update and review the fragrance that I finally got around to buying last month).

Agent Provocateur EDP starts with an intense blast of spice, reminiscent of a (very) steamy evening in Marrakech before quickly softening as the fragrance blends with the warmth of my skin.  The floral begins to peek through as the heart notes surface to smother the spiciness in a shroud of powdery rose and white flowers.

Despite the scent’s obvious femininity made apparent in the floral aspect of the perfume, there’s a musky sourness that remains intact from that initial spritz to eventual fade.  It’s animalic, sexual and bold.  Don’t expect a juicy, sweet fragrance to make you feel light and girly.  Agent Provocateur is a seriously sexy number that will wear you if you lack the confidence to wear it back!

Agent Provocateur is available for upto 70% off the RRP at CheapSmells.com until the 5th June.

Do you like your fragrances to be provocative and bold or a little more demure?

Cheap Smells has always been an oasis for bargain discoveries… I highly recommend a browse when you get that late night urge to spend a few coppers.  It makes me feel like I’ve gotten more bang for my buck and stops me from overspending.  I don’t have a problem, I don’t have a problem… really.

BUT…

In the past, their shipping system has infuriated me.  It went something like this…

Spend £1.50 with us and we’ll only charge you 99p for postage. (woohoo!)
Spend £9.50 with us and we’ll charge you £3.15 for postage. (err…)

Probably one of my biggest turn offs for shopping online is that sliding scale of postal charges… or just high postage charges in general.

Well, I was flippin’ pleased to notice that Cheap Smells now offers free standard postage on ANY order.  Not only that, but I checked… they haven’t increased their prices as a result (well, not on the items I would notice anyway – Creaseless Creams, Stila odds and ends).

I think that this is what one might call, a good executive decision!  While I’m here… will you indulge me in a little enabling?

1. Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in Sippin’ ‘n’ Dippin’ – £6.90
2. Elizabeth Arden Hydra Gentle Cream Cleanser (Dry/Sensitive Skin) 150ml – £7.90
3. Urban Decay Brow Box – £7.45
4. Burts Bees Lip Shimmer – From £2.49
5. Bvlgari Jasmin Noir Eau de Toilette Spray (100ml) – £33.00
6. Urban Decay Lipstick – £4.85

What’s your ‘cut-off’ for OTT postage charges online?  Name and shame the worst offenders!

I was a very nervous girl leaving the house in this YSL Rouge Volupte Red Taboo lipstick…

It’s a beautiful cool-toned red with just a hint of raspberry but it’s a Rouge Volupte.  It threatened to slip like me on ice skates and I feared that it was just as likely to land me on my bum.

You either love or hate the YSL Rouge Volupte range.  Creamy, non-drying, deeply pigmented and scented like a fruit salad.  These are pretty nice properties in a nude or mylipsbutbetter shade.  In a red?  A red that needs to stay put?  Uh Oh.

First things first… this lipstick needs a lip liner, it’s a braver woman than I who attempts to wear this bare-backed.  Application is effortless (nearly)… I applied straight from the bullet to the centre of my lips before pulling the colour outward with a lip brush.  Then I waited for dry-down.  And I waited… and I waited.  Then I checked my watch, panicked and wondered if I should blot and decided on the “bugger it, that’ll have to do” option instead.

A word to the wise (from the utterly stupid)… don’t attempt to eat, drink, lick your lips or indeed breathe whilst wearing this beautiful shade.  It WILL transfer faster than that email you clicked ‘send’ on by accident.

I get about 2/3 hours wear from Red Taboo before needing to stage a lipstick intervention.  On the flipside, because it is so creamy… I can dab a little more on from the bullet and get away with smooshing my lips together.  Obviously, that doesn’t give me the cleanest line in the world… but if you’re on the go – you can get away with it.

CheapSmells.com sent me this lipstick for my red lip series so I’d like to point you in the direction of where you can pick it up on their website here.  This particular shade is selling for £15.90 (a saving of 24% off the RRP).