Pai Rosehip Oil and other current skincare favourites

I bought the Pai Rosehip Oil a couple of months ago on the recommendation of a good friend who has been using it as a night treatment.

I get on well with Rosehip Oil; I used the Organic Pharmacy Rosehip Oil as a night treatment after my pregnancy with Miss London left me with some dark sunspots on my upper cheeks, and together with vitamin C + sunscreen in the daytime I managed to fade those completely.

The Pai Rosehip Oil is the best Rosehip Oil I've ever used. It contains oil from the fruit and the seed, rather than just the seed oil, and has a pleasant natural vanilla scent. It is quite rich, but it sinks in reasonably quickly and leaves my skin feeling supple and looking bright after use. It's £20 for 30ml, so not hideously expensive either.

The back of the box blurb and ingredients:

I've gone back to some other skincare favourites recently; I found the Chantecaille Firming Sun Cream in my local SpaceNK and bought one (despite the cost, it's my favourite summer face protector - I use it over a serum). I've repurchased the Sarah Chapman Eye Recovery.  I've also got a couple of serums from Renee Rouleau on the way from the US to me.

Beauty Spotlight Team favourites posts - 15 Minute Beauty's turn!

Last year, Christine went crazy with her curling iron and FRIED her hair. Like, really and truly fried it. She's now very well acquainted with the intensive hair masks out there, but most of them were not good enough to make it to the blog.

Here's her list of favourites!

Beauty Spotlight Weekly round up 08 June

Meet Vita Liberata the newest self-tanner on the scene. Vita Liberata provides natural color, is easy to use, and moisturizing! Color Prime Beauty tan and impressed!

It is no secret that Helen from Lola's Secret Beauty Blog carries a great many lip products in her purse, but rather than carrying fewer items she simply upgraded to a much better makeup bag! The PurseN Classic Make-Up Case is an absolute must-have for every woman who likes to carry her favorite products with her!

The Pink Sith tells you about the new Supergoop! SPF 50 Anti-Oxidant Infused Sunscreen Mist with Vitamin C. It helps fight the signs of aging while it protects and moisturizes your skin, plus it has a funny name, so how could she not like it?

15 Minute Beauty has found an hair gel that leave your hair soft and is so amazing it should be used on unicorns. Really.

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed discovers that Stila After Glow Lip Colour really does glow under a black light - why she owns a black light is a whole other story - so come admire her swatches and try not to be too curious!

Not content with seasonal releases, many brands are now releasing mini collections in between, Visionary Beauty scopes out the Chanel Jeux de Regards Collection.

Gross foot dust aside, Christa from Perilously Pale shows us why the MICRO Pedi is a super cool tool you won't want to be without for sandal season.

Beauty Info Zone wants you to smell wonderful this summer with LaVanila Coconut Forever. Start your summer the fragrant way.

polish insomniac shows off her love of blue and green with her 10 Favorite Nail Polishes for Summer.

London MakeUp Girl tries out a cosmetics company that creates colours specifically for the twelve seasonal types. See what she thinks in her post on Elea Blake Bright Winter make up.

Beat the Heat with Pammy Blogs Beauty's Lift Lab and Icy Cools Giveaway!!! Includes Lift Lab's fabulous Lift & Fix!

Elea Blake Seasonal Colour Cosmetics

Elea Blake is a mineral cosmetics company that specialises in cosmetics matched to and arranged by the colour analysis seasons. The owner, Darin Wright, is trained in Sci/Art colour analysis (the system my colour analyst uses) and carries out personal colour analyses at the Elea Blake boutique in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Zuzu over at Everyday Beauty has also written a great post on Elea Blake. You can read it and see some of her True Summer picks here: Everyday Beauty Elea Blake.

The Bright Winter selection is all, well, very bright. There is a single brown eyeshadow, but none of our medium greys as yet. I borrow Mediatrix (mid grey) from Bright Spring quite happily.

There are a couple of light eyeshadows in each season that work well as an eyeshadow wash, and Optimistic is the Bright Winter one I chose; an icy lilac with some shimmer to it. I bought this in the Reveal size, which is $5. I also bought Committed eyeshadow, a mid purple that works well as a lid shade.

The blush is Transparent, a neutral red that feels a touch too dark for my light olive skin; if I'd checked the description against my BW fan I'd have seen it's a mixture of two of the darkest red shades on the fan. With my next order I might try Floweresk instead, and give a couple of the Bright Spring blushes a go. (If you want a quick way to see if a pink/peach shade is a blush or eyeshadow - the blushes start at $6 for the Reveal sizes, the eyeshadows at $5.)

The pencil is Violine, a deep violet, with no shimmer.

Swatches:

Applied: a wash of Optimistic eyeshadow all over, Violine pencil with Committed eyeshadow smudged over the top. I think Optimistic works better than BB Lavender Metallic on me; Optimistic has a touch of pink to it that makes it more friendly on the skin.

Full face: same eyes stuff, Transparent blush and Elea Blake E-Commerce Me lipstick with Patience Is a Virtue... gloss over the top of it.

Yes...not sure about that blush on me, but I really like the eyes. It's a softer, more colourful look than I usually do, and nice for days when you want to fool people you're a gentle soul a gentler, pretty look.

I've also ordered and am waiting for a lip palette designed for Bright Winter and Bright Spring (called Elvis).

If you've had a PCA with a surprise result and have literally no idea where to start with makeup, a few Elea Blake Reveal sizes would be my first recommendation. It's also particularly helpful for the seasons that are tricky to find in mainstream cosmetics (True Summers and the Brights, I'm looking at you).

It's also good for anyone who likes colour rather than neutrals in makeup; you'll know for sure that that purple, green or blue will be seasonally correct for you.

Elea Blake ship internationally; be aware in the UK you might get stung for VAT and the Royal Mail processing charge (£8) if the value of the goods is more than £15.

Beauty Spotlight Desert Island with Prime Beauty

It's Prime Beauty's turn to get dumped on the desert island with her 12 must-have products. She's hoping she'll meet a handsome island man who will appreciate her efforts!

Click on the picture to see what she's taking...

Bright Winter shimmer/sparkle eyeshadows

From top left (pink) clockwise - Diorshow Mono eyeshadow in Bikini, NARS single in Goldfinger, Bobbi Brown Metallic eyeshadow in Lavender, MAC satin eyeshadow in Shroom, Suqqu limited edition gold sparkly eyeshadow.

One particular eye look I've been enjoying for Bright Winter is a wash of a shimmer shade all over my lid/browbone with a dark kohl and/or grey shadow smudged into the lashline. I've asked Mr London to give me a discreet nudge if I slip over the line into Vegas showgirl; I'm flirting with figure skater but there are limits.

These are the shades I've been using. The two most natural/flattering shades are MAC Shroom and Dior Bikini; BB Lavender can look a bit too stark as an all over wash, and Goldfinger is more edgy than pretty - but I like that sometimes. The Suqqu is not anywhere near a Bright Winter fan match and is really too warm/browned for Bright Winter, but it's sparkly and I like it.

Here are Bikini, Lavender and Goldfinger with the Bright Winter colour fan. Bikini and Lavender match/blend with the icy shades and Goldfinger is a pretty good match for wb 4.3. If you're a brown-eyed Bright Winter and intrigued by Goldfinger it is worth at least trying it on at a counter; it brings out the gold in my eyes and looks good with a bright warm red lip. 

Top to bottom, swatched, photographed in shade: Suqqu gold, NARS Goldfinger, Bobbi Brown Lavender, Dior Bikini (pink), MAC Shroom (beige). I'm a bit disappointed by the pigment of the BB; I wanted something more like the Dior, but there isn't an icy lavender/violet in that range. Goldfinger is very pigmented - I blend it down a lot more than this on my eye. 

Same order, in sunshine. 

Beauty Spotlight weekly round up

The Pink Sith shows you that it's not a sin to love red lipstick especially when the lipstick is Lipstick Queen Sinner lipstick in Red!

Attention Tom Ford Cheek Color Fanatics- there is a new "Private Blend" to behold! Helen from Lola's Secret Beauty Blog discovered that Frantic Pink+Wicked=Passionate Pink! This union creates a stunning new must-have shade!

Cindy over at Prime Beauty shows you how to stay to cool and look fab at those pool/beach parties this summer with the new Make Up For Ever Summer 2013 Collection!

Win It!!! Enter Pammy Blogs Beauty's Conair Styling Tools Giveaway!

Beauty Info Zone finds that when MAC Cosmetics does something right, they do it right! See what makes Marcia so happy.

Visionary Beauty takes a departure from her natural shades and goes for the brights of the Dior Bird of Paradise Peacock Palette.

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed goes ultra glam with her Bourjois Volumizer Ultra Black Mascara - come admire her lashes and see if you think the extra step is worth the results!

Is London Makeup Girl a Saint or a Sinner when she checks out Lipstick Queen's new shade, Fire Red?

15 Minute Beauty shares 12 common sunscreen mistakes and how to fix them!

Jessika is celebrating three years of polish insomniac with giveaways! You can enter giveaway #1 here!

Perilously Pale has found her new summer pedi polish colour of choice in the OPI Couture de Minnie Collection. This is every pink and red lovers dream, and if you think you aren't a pink and red lover this collection will convert you into one!

Melvita Camellia Oil

This oil is £15 for 50ml and it's one of my favourite multi-taskers. I use it to remove eye makeup, as a hair treatment, an overnight facial moisturiser and I add a drop to foundation/mineral sunscreen/BB creams that are too dry/matte for me. Melvita Camellia Oil has a neutral scent and is conditioning without feeling heavy.

Eye makeup remover
I massage a few drops into a dry eye area and remove with a dampened cotton wool pad to remove eye makeup.

Hair treatment
A drop in the ends of the hair to smooth after washing, or a more generous pump the night before washing to deep condition.

Overnight treatment
A pump massaged over a damp face and neck.

You can buy it online here: Melvita Camellia Oil.

Lipstick Queen Fire Red Sinner

Lipstick Queen introduced ten new shades to their core Sinner/Saint line recently. A £10 N.Dulge voucher at SpaceNK was burning a hole in my purse recently, and this is what I spent it on (with £8 of my own - these are £18 each).

I could also wear Scarlet Red and Hot Rose from the new colours, but I opted for Fire Red as I wanted a slightly orange/yellow red that isn't too orange.

On the lips - the orange tone is not obvious; it just reads as a slightly warm, bright red. I find I do have to be careful with the formula, which is matte and a little drying. I need to use Lanolips underneath it to stop it looking too heavy. I find the Saints too sheer which is why I opt for the Sinner formula, but it is too matte for my taste without something to add a little shine, although it isn't as draggy as the original Sinners could sometimes be. Lipstick Queen has also added vanillin to the formula, giving a vanilla scent to the lipstick.

In context of the rest of my face - it looks fairly neutral on me.

Next to the Bright Winter colour fan - it's a good match for BW 5.3, which is slightly deeper and less orange than BW 5.2. 

Swarovski Crystal Earrings from JewellerySmith

One of the things Nikki Bogardus told me at my colour analysis was that as a Bright Winter, I need sparkle and bling. As the budget isn't going to stretch to real gemstones any time soon, I've been scouring Etsy for good Swarovski pieces. 

I found these earrings at www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JewellerySmith. Sapphire blue Swarovski crystal drops are individually wrapped with silver wire and attached to delicate silver chains. They cost £22.95, and £2 for postage in the UK. JewellerySmith is based in the UK, so there is no risk of being stung by Customs charges either. 

Here they are worn. The drop length and colour/sparkle are absolutely perfect. I've worn the heck out of these, so I've just bought myself a red pair from the same jeweller, and I've enquired about the possibility of other colours.