Palettes

Christmas is coming and that means palettes are hitting the shops. Bobbi's make my mouth water. I don't even use palettes that much finding you favour one or two colours and the rest remain unused but by god, they are so pretty.

This Twilight one is gorgeous:

I've very much got my eye on this smokey eye cool palette:

They also do one for warm:

Tom Ford does these quads all year round and they are the holy grail of eye make-up. This one makes my heart flutter:

This Blue Dahlia Estee Lauder palette is also soooo pretty:

Look at this Lancome packaging!

I want them all!

Essie Fall 2013 collection

I am well aware I don't need any more nail varnish but honestly, since when has need got anything to do with anything? I like the look of After School Boy Blazer and Cashmere Bathrobe in this little lot. You can find out more here.

While I am here, my nail colour of the week on my fingers is Smokin' Hot and I still adore this colour.

Bliss Pink Grapefruit & Aloe

Another day, another grapefruit shower gel to try. My obsession with grapefruit refuses to go away and when I read that Bliss had a new scent, I was champing at the bit to try it. I am not at all disappointed, this is heavenly.

Zesty and refreshing, I am a big fan. Bliss do great shower gels, very concentrated so although they are expensive, you don't need much. Recommended.

Nail colour of the week

Toenail colour of the week actually. YSL's Brun Moderne. I love this very much, it's dark, glossy and vampy. I can't wait to have it on my fingers too. The YSL nail varnish is addictive. I like the look of all of these as well.

Just saying...

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure

I discovered this range a few years ago in a moment of desperation when my nails were a mess and I was nowhere near a nail bar. I bought this and was hooked. You don't need a base or top coat, you just put this on and you're done. It's not the same as a proper manicure but it's still excellent in an emergency and it stays on for days and days. The colour above is called Shell we Dance and it's the perfect pale pink. Last week in New York I also bought Commander In Chic:

I've not had time to use it yet but I think it looks like a good colour.

I also bought Earl Gray which I loved however I gave it a friend who admired it so much and had bought me dinner so I figured she deserved it.

They are about $7 each. I've not seen them in the UK but they might be available. If not, I am willing to take orders and send some back. You can read more about them here.

Kiehl's

I have recently rediscovered Kiehls and I had forgotten how much I like it. Last month I bought the Skin Rescuer which claims to fix stressed skin. I don't know about that but it feels like a dream and is light yet moisturising.

Then at the airport last week, this caught my eye:

24/7 Activated Moisturiser. It's sold for flights to help dehydrated skin so of course I snapped it up. It's divine, it's full of essential oils so it smells like heaven. Applying it on the plane when you feel like you've had the life sucked out of you and the air smells like stale peanuts is such a tonic. I am pretty sure you don't have to fly to feel the benefits of this.

I also bought a travel sized cleanser.

This is very intense, you only need the teeniest blob as I discovered when I spent about 10 minutes trying to rinse it off. It's a great cleanser though and skin feels nice and soft and not tight afterwards.

So all in all, I am enjoying Kiehls and although not cheap, it's not super-expensive either.

Sephora, Sephora, how I love you

I was in New York last week for work and it was pretty intense. However, the sun was shining and it was lunchtime and there is a huge Sephora opposite the office.

Why is there no Sephora over here? It's just HEAVEN. I was in there for an hour and seriously could have spent the whole afternoon. It's very cleverly designed. Some examples: they have nail bars, themed like Neon, so all the shades of neons from different ranges and you can do your own nails. No charge. They have stands of Top 10 products, for example, top 10 primers, top 10 mascaras, top 10 roll on perfume. This makes you look at a range you may overlook. It's brilliant marketing. The best bit is they leave you alone to play and explore. If you have questions, the assistants are there to help you but they don't hound you.

The main attraction for me was the Marc Jacobs make-up range.

It didn't disappoint. The nail varnish is gorgeous.

The packaging is divine. It's all lovely however I didn't buy anything. I know, you did read that correctly. It's expensive and you can't help feel you are paying for the packaging. Which I know is true of all high-end products but a combination of that and not actually needing anything restrained me.

I did however get a Smashbox eyeliner which I can tell you is fabulous. It's easy to apply, it stays on all day with absolutely no smudging.

I also picked up a Clinique super primer.

I am so disappointed in it. It's a very strange consistency and it's nothing special. I shall try again with it but it's not wowing me.

I am moving to New York at the end of October for six months and I feel that Sephora is going to get the bulk of my salary. They do a loyalty card though...

Marc Jacobs make-up

Oh, be still my beating heart.

Marc Jacobs has done a make-up line.

Look at it.

And tell me you don't want it.

It's only available in America at the moment but fortunately, as fate would have it, I am going to New York on Sunday for a work trip. Do not be concerned, I plan to schedule a visit to the Marc Jacobs shop to check out these pretties. The eye palettes are TO DIE FOR.

Nail colour of the week

It's raining, the temperature has dipped and autumn is well and truly here. You can get depressed and complain about this (which believe me, I have been doing) or you can embrace A/W fashion and opt for a dark vampy nail colour. So this week I went for Velvet Voyeur which is a gorgeous deep, dark purple.

September beauty buys

September is here and while I am not saying summer is over, it's definitely time to get serious in the beauty stakes. Sali Hughes has released a video of the products she is most excited about and I am warning you, do not watch it unless you want to seriously damage your bank account.

I knew what I was doing by watching it and found myself making a list of things I wanted. Of course that's never enough for me and so I waited hours, hours I say, before hotfooting it to SpaceNK. I had my beady eye on the NARS Radiant Cream Compact Foundation.

I love the idea of compact foundations but have always found them too heavy. This is a dream, it glides on like silk and there is no cakiness, no flakiness. It's just perfect. So I bought that. Along with the pretty compact to put it in which is only £6 extra and is The Business. The thought of using it tomorrow morning makes going to work totally worth it.

I also bought some more Shu Uemura cleansing oil. I bought this last year with the Karl Lagerfeld packaging. It's marvellous, I adore it. It's lasted me nine months which isn't bad as I use it twice a day.

Then I went to the Chanel counter as I have been waiting to buy their cream blusher. At last they bring out a cream blusher. Yes, it is £27 but can you put a price on perfect blusher? This is divine. Again, it glides on and it's very highly pigmented so I can see it lasting for ages. I went for a bright pink: Affinite. J'adore.

I wanted to investigate the YSL glossy stain rebel nudes however not only were they not in yet, the sales assistant didn't know about them. Yet again, I am astounded by how bad YSL assistants are.

No matter, I am very happy with my purchases and declare the beauty A/W season officially open. What's on your list?

Estee Lauder - Modern Muse

Estee Lauder has a new perfume which is front page news. They've not released a new perfume for 10 years and so there is much excitement about this one. I would describe myself as an admirer of Estee Lauder perfume rather than a lover. My mother wore Private Collection and so I will always have a place in my heart for it but I could never wear it myself. I can't stand White Linen but appreciate why others like it. And I really actively dislike Beautiful, the name, the scent, everything about it.

However, Modern Muse sounds intriguing and I can't wait to have a sniff of it. I finished two perfumes this week, it felt almost liberating to actually finish a bottle of perfume and it means that technically there is room for a new purchase.