Jelly Pong Pong Haul

Went to the Clothes Show in London last weekend and picked up a bag of 5 Jelly Pong Pong products for £8 - bargainous considering that individually, some of the items retail for more than £10 each.

I've never really tried Jelly Pong Pong before - it doesn't seem to be a brand that's in wide distribution in high street shops, but is sold via its own website, asos.com and the Jelly Pong Pong store in London's West End.

Anyway, it seemed like a good opportunity to experiment with their well known products without having to part with too much £££.

Here's the haul:

L-R: red make up box, Gourmet Lip Therapy in Sugar, Supermodel Stain in No Breakfast, Jelly Flush Cheek Stain in Grape Colada, Love Rouge in Taylor and Burton)

What's my overall verdict? Disappointing, disappointing, disa-pong-pong.

So let's appraise the items individually.

Jelly Flush Cheek Stain in 'Grape Colada':
Jelly Flush? Sounds like something you might hang off the rim of your toilet. And to be honest, you'd probably get a better colour pay off if you did actually rub a toilet gel over your face.


This just felt like a watery, patchy mess when I swatched it, and was no better on my face. And what's with the overpowering synthetic grape scent? If anyone remembers a childhood game called Grape Escape (factory thing where you could make your own vile grape scented drink), this smells exactly like that.

Grape Escape: The main ingredient of Jelly Pong Pong's cheek stain?

Gross. I won't be repurchasing, or indeed using at all.

Gourmet Lip Therapy in 'Sugar':
It was hardly worth the effort it took my mate and I to figure out how to get the product flowing to the applicator brush. As with the Jelly Flush, this had a sickly scent. So far this seems to be a common affliction amongst JPP products.

I put this on over lipstick and when I opened my mouth, saw stringy bits of gloopy product between my lips... rather like when you cut a slice of pizza and get the stretchy cheese bits.

Fine on a pizza, not fine on my lips.

Yuk.

Supermodel Stain in 'No Breakfast':
Hmm... I actually quite like this. This is a well pigmented cream that gives a nice nude effect on the lips. I would wear this. It swatches true to colour:

You can also use this on your cheeks but I won't be doing that as 1) it's a bit to greasy for oily skins to wear on the face; and 2) the colour would be all wrong for me as a blush.

I can see myself using this, so at least it's not another dud. Phew!

Love Rouge for Cheeks and Lips in 'Taylor and Burton':
One half of the pan is a lip and cheek gel and the other half is a cream-to-powder blush:

So, on a day that I wasn't at work, I decided to try out the cheek gel as a blusher. I like the colour - it gives a wash of coral/orange colour with a nice sheen, but it didn't stay put during the day and by lunchtime required touching up. I have to caveat this with the fact that I have oily skin, so on drier skins this may well have more staying power.

I also like the cream to powder blush. It looks a bit grey in the pic above, but is actually a nice mauvey-pink - see the swatch below:

L-R: Cream-to-power blush, cheek and lip gel

I would wear this as a blush on 'nude' days. As in, days where I'm wearing nude coloured make up, as opposed to going naked.

So far... 2 out of 4 products are good. Not amazing, and not worth the full price, but... good.

Now. Let's take a look at the final product in closer detail:

Yes, that's right it's a make up box that appears to be made out of Elmo from Sesame Street.


And as if a red furry make up box wasn't tacky enough, they put on a pink tassel. Which has now mostly fallen off. Nice.

Tacky does not even begin to describe it. And that's all I'm going to say on the matter.

All in all - Jelly Pong Pong = extremely hit and miss.

The highs (Supermodel stain and Love Rouge - and I'm not sure they are 'highs' as such) are not really worth the lows, so if you were considering trying the products, I would visit the JPP store in the West End rather than buying off websites. At least then you can be sure of the textures, pigmentations etc.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend! With all this typing I've worked up an appetite so I'm off to eat dinner.

xx

Elle August 2010 Issue - Free Paul & Joe Sister Top

Yesterday I had to make a trip to the local petrol station to stock up on sanitary supplies.

Feeling embarassed to approach the little man behind the till with just a packet of Always Ultra (I clearly haven't matured past the 'embarassed to buy sanitary products' stage... tragic, I know), I also grabbed the August issue of Elle Magazine (£3.70), hoping it would somehow render my other purchase invisible.

It didn't. But it did come with a free gift - a Paul and Joe Sister top with frilly sleeves. And it's kinda cute!:

Not bad for £3.70.

It comes in three colours (khaki, black and I think a white/cream colour). As you can see, I went for the khaki... partly because I didn't have the choice. Why is it that shops never seem to stock the full range of free magazine gifts?! Tres annoying. Same thing happened with the Benefit giveaway that Glamour ran the other month.

To me, khaki calls out for gold jewellery so that's what I shall be accessorising with.

x

Primes... Primarni... Primark!

Right. I'm going to try and knock this blog post out in record time - I'm so tired I'm verging on delirious but such is my commitment to blogging that I am pushing through my duvet-desire to tell you about my recent acquisitions!

I prepared for the England vs USA match the only way I knew how - yes - I went shopping!

Went into Primark (codename Primes or Primarni amongst some of my friends) and picked up the following:

Little faux suede cross-body bag for £4 (also comes in navy):

Cute on the outside, crappy firehazard flammable plasticky lining on the inside - but who the heck cares!

Then I found these babies: faux suede platform heels £12. Very similar to a pair that I've seen in Aldo for £70:

Again, cute on the outside, slippy as hell on the underside - nearly went skidding across the shop floor when walking over to the mirror. Going to have to score the soles on these, or risk breaking my neck. Nice and comfy though. Although, not sure what good that is when you are lying in traction in hospital following a particularly nasty fall.

Final item - a pair of sunnies that cost £2 and have the unusual feature of arms that aren't placed in the middle/top of the side of the lens, but at the bottom of them. It almost looks as if you are wearing them upside down:



Cue gratuitous picture of me prancing around in shades:


Told you I was delirious.

I'm off to cleanse, tone, moisturise and all that business, then I'm hitting the sack!

Wishing you all a great forthcoming week...

XXX

Topshop - Lip Stick

I went to see Sex & the City 2 on its opening night in Westfield and beforehand, went in search of the Topshop make up collection. I didn't exactly leg it down to Topshop on the launch day... something told me the range would be a total homage to make up mediocrity and I was right, I think. The only products that really drew me in were the 'Lip Stick' lip crayons/pencils (£7).


I picked up the bright pink shade, 'Rosa' and loved the way it swatched - quite opaque in texture and slightly glossy:


It's a white based pink, quite pale but bright at the same time. I think fans of Mac's Lady Gaga/ Pink Nouveau lipsticks might like this one, although it's a darker version of those shades, so is more wearable for skintones like mine.

It doesn't drag when applying and I also like that because it's a pencil, you can be more precise when shaping your lips, but doesn't take too long to fill in your lips because of its jumbo size.

Drawback? I don't have a sharpener for jumbo pencils! Schoolboy error or what?? It is now languishing on my dressing table, blunt. Pointless, in more ways than one. More pointless, in fact, than my World Cup Sweepstake picks - Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Not. A. Chance. In hell.

Although, in their favour, neither of those countries have Butterfingers Green in goal! =D

Blah.

Believe The Hype: Sleek Eyeshadow Palette

Yeah yeah yeah, it's been blogged about for ages but I thought I would chuck in my 2 cents too.

Sleek eyeshadow palettes are crazily good. I cannot believe the value for money: £4.99 for 12 eyeshadows that are perfectly pigmented, easy to blend, do not fall out onto your cheeks when applying and last all day.

I got the Storm palette and there are no dud colours. There are even a few colours that look like MAC dupes...


My colleague was with me when I was buying it on a Friday after work and she picked one up too... come monday morning, she was also giving it rave reviews!

I apply the shadows with my MAC 217 brush and it goes on smoothly and evenly. You can create so many looks from smokey to natural with this palette.

My favourite right now is the colour in the top right (a dupe for MAC Antiqued?) which although looks like a standard brown, has a bronzey pink tone running through it.

I am still in shock about how good this palette is, honestly. It isn't often that something so cheap impresses so much. Well done Sleek!

Volume Million Lashes: The Verdict

I was going to wait until I had enough advantage card points to buy this mascara, but Superdrug had it on special offer for £7.99. I'm always torn between sticking with Boots and accumulating points, or going to Superdug for their better prices... anyway, after a particularly crap day at work, I decided to pop into Superdrug (dangerously close to my temporary office) to purchase it.

Things did not get off to a good start as I found myself face to face with a grammatical car crash upon arriving at the stand:

Ahem, hhhexcuse me... since when did L'Oreal have the license to invent words?! Last time I checked, 'millionize' was not a word. If I was to use this word in a meeting at work ("Everyone, it appears that our costs have millionized") people would look at me as though I was a few eyeshadows short of a palette. I can see that L'Oreal might be trying to create inventive tag lines by coming up with their own lingo, but all I can say is that if worked in their advertising department, this one would never have slipped through the net.

Anyway, let's talk about the mascara.

Yeah, it's not bad.

Has it usurped my favourite mascara (L'Oreal Lash Architect)? Nah. And this is mainly to do with the brush.

I'm not a really a fan of these new rubbery brushes that Max Factor first used in their Masterpiece mascara. Give me the traditional bristles anyday - they seem to separate lashes better and inject more volume. Loads of companies have jumped on the rubbery brush bandwagon and 'Volume Million Lashes' is the latest offering.

When applying my mascara, I push it into the roots of my upper lashes so that it coats the upper waterline making lashes look more dense and dark. Normally, this is a comfortable experience... but not with VML. The rubbery bristles are pokey and feel a bit too spikey for this task.

As for the performance, I think it does serve to lengthen lashes effectively, but I would prefer a thickening effect too. Clumpiness seems to set in at the second coat, which I don't get as much of with my normal mascara. It wears well during the day - no transferring or crumbling off. Pictures speak a thousand words so here are a few to demonstrate what I mean...


No coats...



One coat...

Impressive lengthening


Two coats...

NB: A furry caterpillar has not crawled onto my face and died. That is indeed my eyebrow. I am long overdue a threading session


As you can see, there are little clumps forming. I could probably get rid of these with an eyelash comb, but I don't have to comb my lashes with my other mascara and don't see why I should have to add another step to the getting ready routine. It looks best after one coat and doesn't seem to be be a mascara that you can build, coat after coat. And that's what I love about Lash Architect - if going out after work, I can amp up my lashes with a few more coats to achieve a dense look. With VML, you get length and curl. With Lash Architect, you get length, curl AND thickness.

As I said before, mascaras are so subjective. None of my circle of friends swear by the same one. But in my humble opinion...

Does it live up to the hype of best mascara ever, per the Femail article?
Nope.

Will I repurchase?
Only if my other mascara is sold out.

Is it better than some of the more luxe mascaras?
Yes - I preferred this to Smokey Lash by MUFE and YSL Faux Cils.

So there you have it.

Now excuse me whilst I plot ways of 'millionizing' my bank balance.

X

Earrings I've Made...

Right chicks, in my last post I promised some pics of the earrings I've made since the jewellery workshop I went to. They're probably not to everyone's taste but I think I'll wear all of these at some point.

I've kind of tried to go down the vintage-y route, using golds and pearls.
Fake, of course darling ;)

I estimate that each pair cost £1- £2 to make in terms of materials. Cheap as chips!

Item number one:



Two...



Three...



Four...


And five...!


I can knock up a pair of earrings in about 15mins now.


Upcoming post: My review of the Volume Million Lashes mascara from L'Oreal. I bought this in Superdrug as they had it on special offer for £7.99. I've used it twice, but I shall reserve judgement until it's at least been a week. I find that mascaras aren't at their best when they're brand spanking new... they're a little bit too watery and almost need some exposure to air to let it thicken. And breathe. Rather like a fine wine. Or not.

Stay tuned!

Jewellery Workshop!

Feels like it's been a while since I last wrote something - work appears to be getting in the way of the fun stuff :s

Having said that, I had such a good weekend spending time with family, letting my hair down with friends... and I finally got round to redeeming the jewellery workshop vouchers that my mates had bought me for my birthday! The voucher was for two, so I took my mum along and on Saturday afternoon we toddled off into LDN town for the workshop, followed by dinner and a cheeky beverage. Or 5.

I've never made jewellery before so wasn't quite sure what to expect in terms of how fiddly it would be etc, but I was pleasantly surprised: we were taught two techniques along with how to use the tools and that seemed to equip us with enough know-how to make our own necklaces and bracelets.

So... drum roll please as I unveil my handywork...

Ok, so Tiffany's have got nothing to worry about but not bad, huh?

A close up of the beadwork:


Being surrounded with shiny beads and metals was a bit like being a kid in a candyshop and to be honest it was hard to know when to stop - but I think (I hope) I managed to avoid the Mr T look.

As for the bracelet:
I have *officially* caught the jewellery making bug now. I'm addicted. I even found myself in Hobbycraft today, buying beads.

Hobbycraft... that's for people with... hobbies. There were lots of hobby-looking people in there buying hobby stuff. And I have now joined in with the hobbyness. Does this make me a... Hobbit? No, I think that's something else entirely.

Hobbits on their way to Hobbycraft. Probably.

If you are a jewellery fiend then I definitely recommend a course like this. It opens your eyes to how fun and cost-effective it can be to make your own stuff, as well as how big the profit margins of places like Accessorize must be (and I say this having spent mucho £££ on my last haul from there). The swindling bastids!

The jewellery workshop was run by the Claire Aristides Jewellery School. Whilst the instructors were obviously quite knowledgeable, their organisation left a lot to be desired - a community hall was used as the workshop space and it wasn't really sufficiently lit or set up in advance.

I've since made some earrings and I'll post some pics of those too.

Have a good week everyone x

Accessorize Haul

Popped into Accessorize in Liverpool St Station and ended up staying far longer than I intended - they have loads of fun stuff at the moment so a 5 min visit can easily turn into an hour-long browse!

My one annoyance about Accessorize? The overly attentive sales assistants. I felt like I was constantly being met with choruses of "Can I help you?"/ "Are you ok?"/ "Do you need any help?"

By the end of it I really felt like climbing atop a mountain and hollering "I'M JUST LOOKIIIIIIIIIIIIIING"!!

Except I wasn't just looking, was I. I did end up making a few purchases...


The pic above actually shows two separate necklaces that I think look cute together. As a tea lover, I was drawn to the necklace with the tiny ceramic tea cup, gold tea spoon and pink ribbon bow (£6). And of course, what goes with tea? Cupcakes! So it was almost a forgone conclusion that I was also going to get the cupcake necklace (£6). This one has a mini cake and a small diamante stone suspended from it. The lettering reminds me of Carrie from SATC's namesake necklace... although I really hope no-one thinks my name is Cupcake - it sounds distinctly stripper-ish :S

Next thing I picked up:


Some rose quartz style chandeliers (£12). Recently I haven't been wearing earrings much so i thought I'd get back in the saddle with these babies! These would look nice with some pink toned blusher (MAC Pink Swoon) and lipgloss.

And finally...

Some sweet little gold bows (think these were £5 or £6) for work.

So that concludes my little Accessorize post... enjoy the rest of the bank holiday, I'm off to do some ironing :D

Cheap Beauty Deals

I hope everyone is enjoying themselves this bank holiday weekend, despite the temperamental weather!

Just thought I'd pass on a great tip that my colleague shared with me. She's the only one at work that knows that I moonlight as a beauty blogger and during one chocolate binge-eating session (Montezuma's chilli and lime dark chocolate, ginger and dark chocolate and honey and banana turtles - yum!), she told me about the page in Martin Lewis's Moneysavingexpert.com that is dedicated to beauty discounts and deals.

The savings that particularly caught my eye are:

• Stila cosmetics: up to 50% off through halfpriceperfumes.co.uk.
  Cheek colour pans are £5.99, down from £11
  Lip glazes are £3.99 down from £11.99
  
  
• YSL Touche Eclat for £15.50 inc P&P at cheapsmells.com
  At the checkout, enter the code YSLNo1. I just tried this and (at the time of writing) this works, but is only valid until May 3...
  

I'm going to bookmark this page and visit it regularly!!

Why, martin... with all these beauty discounts you are really spoiling us