Nails of the Day: Essie's Sole Mate

Oh yes, it's made a come back - Essie's Sole Mate has been dug out from the box under my bed and carefully applied whilst laid in bed recovering from a food coma. Just shy of black with a beautiful ruby red hint to it, I have a feeling this is going to be my go-to nail colour for a little while..  Anyone else painting their talons a touch darker ?

Autumn/Winter Beauty Trends - Vampy Dark Lips

When Rosie came into work a week ago with a dark vampy red, it took me less than 5 minutes before I was rummaging through her make-up bag to try it on myself and less than 5 days before I'd made a trip to a MAC store to get my own vampy lipstick to sport oh so casually.

When it comes to love, in order to find 'the one' it is necessary to kiss a lot of frogs.. and the same is true when trying to find a dark lipstick - you need to swatch, swatch and swatch. I went through a range of 'too plum' to 'too brown' before I found mine - in this case MAC's Diva - and even then I probably wouldn't have made it out of the store if I hadn't someone there to tell me I wasn't crazy. 

Do not even think about applying something so dark without getting a lip liner to go with it. MAC's Burgundy one matched this perfectly and kept it from smudging onto my chin - it's not a good look.

Anyone else found their perfect dark lipstick ?

Joop! Miss Wild Perfume & Competition*

Perhaps we are all a little wild at heart... I'm usually in bed by 10.30pm, read about health to the point of obsession and still havn't built up the courage to buy a pair of electric blue heels I've been wanting. But then again, I'm sat writing this with disco pants on (shiny), 'No Doubt' booming across my room and a lipstick so dark it makes me look like the living dead - which I suppose for some would be considered venturing into the realms of wild.

Despite having a on-line thesaurus to hand for all my alternative adjective needs, it's incredibly hard to accurately describe a perfume. The best I can do? Well it has quite a warm berry smell to it, but doesn't come across as sickly - infact it's quite a refreshing berryness - I told you my ability to be descriptive isn't great right now!

Today's post has a competition element to go with Joop!'s Miss Wild Perfume* - how jolly exciting. In order to enter, take the test on www.joopmisswild.com/ and share your results via instagram with a wild detail of yourself (see what I did there) and using the hashtags #misswild #badfeelssogood. Don't forget to tag me as well (@p0larmilk) Best photo.. Wins. Judges ? Me. What do you get ? Your very own bottle of Joop! Miss Wild. Again I say.. how jolly exciting.

I'll choose a winner by the end of Monday, 16th September and let you know via twitter or instagram!

Product Empties - Ren Cleansing Balm, Origins Moisturizer's and more

Okay, lets get this straight - I am far too fickle a person to be able to post a monthly 'product empties' post. I chop and change, get bored and suffer from 'grass is always greener' syndrom. It just so happens that in the last couple of months, I've had a little cluster of items that I've really enjoyed using, but this is by no means a regular occurance!

The Ren No. 1 Purity Cleansing Balm has been completed used up.. to the point where I've even attempted standing on it in the bathroom to squeeze out a little bit more. Now that I've tried using a balm as a cleanser, I am completely converted - I even feel like it moisturizes my skin as it cleans it. Needless to say it's taking incredible will power not to just go out and repurchase this item again.

I picked up the Origins High-Potency Night-A-Mins at the same time as my housemate Amy about 4-5 months ago (my god, time flys). Although I do like it and it's been brilliant over the summer, I feel as though it lacks amazing ooomph. Think I'll keep searching for 'the one'. Hmm.

The Origins Make A Difference Moisturizer, designed for people who's skin is as dry as an elephants, has been brilliant. It's not heavy, has never left my skin greasy and doesn't take too long to soak into my skin before I wack my make-up on. I would definitely repurchase this if I wasn't so keen to try out the new Origins GinZing Moisturizer - told you I was fickle!

Finally the Clarin's Instant Smooth Self Tanner has been mentioned in posts in the past and it's still without a doubt my favourite face tanner. What I love so much about this product is how it leaves my skin feeling like I've slept in an over night mask - heavenly.

I've already persuaded Rosie who I work with to pick up the Lancome Bi-Facil Make-Up remover. If you're committed to waterproof mascara (how else have you survived the humidity this summer) then you know the pain of getting it off at night. Not with this wonder product! It's a shame it's £21 though as I go through it at quite a rate. Sigh - any cheaper recommendations ?

Always love to hear what you guys have been loving.

What I've Been Wearing #1 - Keeping things light

If you follow my twitter feed, none of these items will come as a real surprise to you. It's incredible humid in London at the moment, so the heaviest foundation I can bare wearing is YSL's Touche Eclat. I'll admit when I first got this, I wasn't completely sold - infact I thought it made my skin look a little shiny! But at the moment it's working perfectly.

My cheeks are rosey enough as it is, so instead of a blusher, I've been using my NARS Laguna Bronzer (major product love) and just a touch of Mac's Mineralize Soft & Gentle Skin Finish across my cheekbones and nose to give a little bit of definition to my face.

I felt like I got into a bit of a rut with my eyes recently (everyday was liquid eyeliner day), so after a lesson at the Bobbi Brown counter, I picked up their Rich Chocolate Eyeshadow Palette and have started recreating a smudgey cat eye esq shape. This is always followed by a lick of my trusty Waterproof Lancome Mascara - panda eyes be gone!

Finally the Georgio Armani Maestro Eraser Concealer comes out to combat my sleepy under eye areas, I pop a light pink lipstick on like Bobbi Brown's Binkini Pink on my lips and I'm good to go. Quick, simple and hopefully not to sweaty.