Revlon Juicy Papaya Lip Butter - photos, swatches, review!

I've found The One.  The perfect every day lip colour for me.  This is huge folks.  Ha-uge.  You know me, I'm starting to get into more colour, especially as we head towards summer, but as I spend millions of hours a day at work, I want something easy to apply without a mirror and that looks purty.

Enter Revlon's Lip Butter in Juicy Papaya.  One of their summer releases, Juicy Papaya is one of those shades that looks different in the bullet than on the lip, but either way, I knew I was going to love it as I am the queen of all things peach and coral.

Now, the photos don't do Juicy Papaya justice.  Neither does a swatch on the back of the hand.  On my hand it looks almost orange and I loved it and couldn't wait to get it on my face.  However, on my lips, it becomes pinky, corally, peachy and just gorgeous.  I took a million photos trying to get the peach nuances to show up, but alas, you'll have to trust me when I say it's amazing.  It's very creamy in texture, feels moisturising and gives a grand glossy finish.  Like most lip butters, I get a couple of hours out of each application.

This was €7.45 I think (I totally threw the receipt out, you know me, if I don't see the receipt, it didn't happen).  It's completely worth it for me and I'm going to buy a couple of back ups this weekend.  That's how much I love it and if you buy it and don't love it, send it my way!  But I know you're going to love it.  

Lip perfection for moi.

Irish Country Magazine giveaway!

I'll hold my hands up and say I totally judge a book by it's cover.  Or in this case, a magazine by it's title!  I thought, sure I'm a grand city slicker, what would be in Irish Country Magazine for me?  A lot as it turns out!

I was sent the current issue for a read and devoured it from start to finish over a cup of tea and a KitKat, followed by a Tangle Twister ice pop.  They've got fashion, food, features and of course, beauty!  This months has a feature on Irish brand Voya's journey to become the powerhouse brand it is today.

And one of the beauty features, Working It, gives us the low down on how to take inspiration from the catwalk and make it work for us mere mortals!  

The April/May issue is on stands now at €2.99, but I've got ten copies up for grabs!  To be in with a chance of winning a copy, send moi an aul email with your name and address to competitions@lovelygirliebits.com with Irish Country Magazine in the subject title.  You must be a resident of Ireland and the giveaway ends on Friday May 10th at midnight.  Good luck!

You can find out more about Irish Country Magazine on their Facebook page or if you're on Twitter, and you should be, follow them here!

My new make up storage!

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you'll know that I've been working on turning the box room into my beauty room/office.  It's getting there and when I've all the little accessories bought, I'll do a little post showing it to you.  Right now I want to get some pictures up and maybe a mirror, but the main focus over the past couple of weeks has been getting a new make up storage system working.

Well, it's finally done!  Kind of.  When I was taking photos of each drawer in my new make up storage system, I started thinking about a couple of changes and tweaks I might make.  I know, very annoying already, but here it is in all it's glory!

Sunflowers courtesy of Ms. CherrySue and reed diffuser from Rituals

This is actually two units stacked on top of each other.  I bought two of the Alex Drawer unit on castors from Ikea after seeing Makeup by Tiffany D's makeup storage video on YouTube and knew they'd be perfect.  I'd originally been using this Malm unit from Ikea but over the past two years, found that the larger drawers were too deep and I ended up having to stack products on top of each other.  Then I couldn't see everything and it annoyed me lots.  We don't like to be annoyed around the make up.  

So I took it upon myself to head to Ikea to see the Alex drawer units in person and once laying eyeballs on them, decided to bite the make up storage bullet.  At €100 each, they're not cheap, but they're perfect for moi.  I wanted something where everything was hidden, drawers were shallow and it looked sleek.  Each unit has six drawers, all the same depth, but the front of three drawers are smaller than the other three.  They took about an hour each to assemble and are bloody heavy, but despite that, I still had to stick a bit of blue tac between them to stop the top unit from moving.

After putting a few photos of the unit up on Instagram and on Twitter, I'd lots of requests to show how I have everything organised and for a little nose at my stash!  I'll be doing a video showing everything in more detail soon so stay tuned for that.  

Drawer 1

Drawer 1 contains my primers, concealers and brow products.  I keep that empty plastic container handy so I can pick out what products I'm using that day and bring it downstairs where I do my make up.  I might put my brushes in this drawer at some point so I don't have to have them on display.

Drawer 2

Drawer 2 houses all of my foundations, BB creams and face powders.  Laying them all out like that gave me heart failure, but in all honesty, I could throw out a good few of them because I've had them for years, so by the time the video comes around, this will probably be a bit lighter on the foundation front!  Having them all laid out flat like this is so handy and the same goes for the powders.

Drawer 3

I keep all of my high end eyeshadows in Drawer 3.  I'm hopefully going to depot my MAC shadows soon and that'll free up more space.  As we can see, I love me some Chanel!  And I love the mini sized pigments from MAC and have been collecting them over the years.

Drawer 4

I love blush a lot.  So Drawer 4 has my blush collection with my bronzers on the little plastic container on the right.  I think I'm going to move the bronzers to the drawer below and dedicate this entire drawer to my cheeks!

Drawer 5

I keep my mascaras, eyeliners and highlighter products in Drawer 5.  I only have so many mascaras because a lot are sent to me.  Usually I'd only have a couple on the go but it's been a busy couple of months on the mascara front!

Drawer 6

Drawer 6 is the lip drawer!  On the left I have all of my glosses and liquid lipsticks and love having them laid all flat like that.  It's much easier to see what I'm looking for.  In the middle I have my lipsticks stacked upside down so I can see the shades easily.  I have my high end lippies in a container of their own and then have lip liners and my NYC lippies on the far right.  This drawer makes me happy.  

Drawer 7

I keep my higher end palettes in Drawer 7 and spent ages trying to get them to fit around each other so they'd be easy to see!  I have my beloved Stila palettes on one side and on the other have Urban Decay, Inglot, Smashbox, MAC etc.  Again, this is much better for my brain than having them all stacked on their side and not being able see what I want.

Drawer 8

I have my more affordable palettes in Drawer 8.  If you see the palette in the top right corner of the drawer, that's the first palette I ever stole from my mam years and years ago, which started my obsession with make up!  I don't use it as I'd like to keep my eyes in tact thanks very much, but I will never ever throw it out.  I'm strangely sentimental like that and as you can see from my stash, I'm a collector.  Ahem...

Drawer 9

I keep my more affordable single eyeshadows in Drawer 9.  All of my MUA shadows are in the long container on the left and the rest are a mix of everything and anything.  Hmm... This drawer looks a little empty wouldn't you say?  Any excuse to go shopping!

Drawer 10

I just have the sets I bought in New York in Drawer 10.  I could take the products out of the packaging, but I don't need to right now and they remind me of a great trip!

Drawer 11

Drawer 11 is very uninteresting altogether, having just make up bags and the bottom of a gift box in case I need it to organise something.

Drawer 12

Drawer 12 is the tanning drawer.  I didn't realise I'd so many tanning products and have made it my mission to try and review them all over the coming months.  Where to begin!

I got the majority of my acrylic organisers in Homestore and more.  They've four sizes and prices are €2.50, €2.99, €4.99 and €6.99.  They're brilliant and have little rubber feet on the bottom so they won't move around in the drawers or scratch the bottom.

I'm over the moon with my new storage system and have found myself being inspired again to try different looks and have been rediscovering some products I forgot I had!  For example.  Remember a couple of weeks ago when I did my post on the Bobbi Brown Calypso Coral Pot Rouge?  I told you this was the first one I bought?  Not true.  I totally found one I forgot I bought in the CCO in Belfast last year and hadn't even swatched?!  So I'll be shopping my stash a lot and wearing all the make up.  All of it.  I'll set the make up gun to drag queen!

I hope you enjoyed this wee post and if you've any make up storage tips, please let me know!

Body care with Vichy Essentielles Body Cream Milk, Roger & Gallet Lait Des Bienfaits & Pixy Glowing Body Butter

I know that the weather's getting milder because now I'm now able to sit with the window open at work and not be given out to.  Fresh air is good for the soul but not at the risk of freezing your coworkers.

I also know it's milder because I can now apply body lotion every day without that feeling of dread.  I don't have to wonder if I'll catch my death in an attempt to have smooth, moisturised skin and won't miss the feeling of being one big goosepimple as I wait for my body cream to be absorbed.

Like all aspects of my beauty life, I love trying lots of products, usually at the same time and these are the body products I'm currently using.  Wanna see?

Roger & Gallet's Eau Des Bienfaits is one of my favourite summery scents and being the very generous person that I am, have brought it into work to keep in what we now call "Karen's Drawers".  If a scent stays in my drawers then we know we're on to a good thing because there are a load of us to please.  Eau Des Bienfaits is a winner and now they've only gone and released an accompanying body lotion, Lait des bienfaits... This light body lotion is a bright, morning time lotion and puts me in great form right away.  It absorbs quickly which is handy as I'm always running late in the morning and it's five antioxidant fruits does good things to your skin.  If smooth, soft skin that smells like you're walking through an Italian garden on your way to a table that's set up with lots of delicious food and a lovely glass of prosecco, then this is the lotion for you.  Layering it with the body mist makes the scent linger even longer and for €14.95, you'll smell like summer all day.

Next up is the Vichy Essentielles body cream-milk.  Is it a body cream?  Is it a milk?  Yes is the answer.  This subtly rose scented lotion can be used on even the most sensitive skin and despite being light in texture, packs a punch in the moisturising department thanks to the shea butter, which also soothes and nourishes the skin.  This is so purse friendly that when I read it was €7 for the big 200ml tube, had to double check just to make sure I wasn't missing a 1 before the 7.  I'm loving applying this at night before bed to my arms and legs in an attempt to coax some moisture into them and it's working a treat.  Of course, it has the Vichy Thermal Spa Water, so I know I'm on to a good thing here.  Again, this absorbs quickly so no standing beside the bed fanning my arms and legs waiting for it to dry so I can get under the covers.  And it has the Bailey seal of approval.  It's the only lotion he tries to lick off me.  I wonder if it's the thermal water!

Finally is the newest addition to the body cream family.  The Glowing Body Butter from Pixy arrived this week and like always, I try not to let myself read the description of scents for products like this to see if I can recognize anything.  Well, one whiff and I sank back into the sofa in pure happiness.  I could smell jasmine instantly and that's one of my all time favourite scents.  If you've tried the Godiva shampoo bar from Lush, it smells like that and the fact that I can apply this all over me and smell gorgeous for ages, makes me supremely happy and I carried it around with me for the rest of that first night just inhaling it.  

Despite containing cocoa and shea butters to soften the skin, apricot, coconut and vitamin E oils to condition the skin and beeswax to seal in the moisture, you'd think this body butter would be thick and heavy.  Not in the slightest.  The tin feels light as a feather and you only need a small amount on your skin to get to work.  Now, the intoxicating jasmine scent along with the mica which gives the glow makes me want to keep this for nights when I'm going out and want a bit of a sheen along my decolletage and arms.  In terms of moisturising my skin, I'd give it a 7 out of 10 and feel it makes a much better scented body product than it does a moisturising body product if that makes sense.  Like I'd be applying it before going out at night to smell absolutely gorgeous, not to help my dry skin.  All I want now is a really sunny evening, a beer garden and this on me and I'd be happy out.  You seriously need to smell this stuff in person.  Or meet me in the beer garden and you can smell me!  This is €12.99 and will be a summer staple in the Lovely Girlie Bits household.  

What are you using on your body this weather folks?

St Ives Warming Scrub and Invigorating Apricot Scrub!

Years ago, my favourite face scrub was the apricot one from St Ives, in the peachy tube.  Oh I loved it so and would repurchase it over and over.  It was perfect.  It smelled divine and had the perfect scrubby texture.  We were very happy together.  Then, for no reason and without consulting me, they changed the formula... And not for the better... I tried to love it but feigning enthusiasm wasn't enough, especially since my face just wasn't as scrubbed and radiant as before.  So for the past seven years or so, I've walked by the St Ives stands in the chemist and looked sadly at the scrubs, remembering what was.

On a recent trip to Boots where I went in just for a look and came out €50 poorer, I came across these guys!  New packaging, I was intrigued.  I picked up the Invigorating Apricot Scrub and opened the cap, breathing in the oh so familiar scent.  Ok.  I was going to try it again for old time's sake.  And I picked up a warming scrub, just because.

Let's start with the Warming Scrub shall we?  First of all, sweet Jesus the stuff is thick.  I thought they'd left the plastic protective layer on it because nothing was happening for ages.  But squeezing with two hands did the trick and out came this gelatinous looking scrub with little red micro beads, ready to do business.  With key ingredients like sunflower, sugar, silica and jojoba, this exfoliates the skin while retaining moisture and it heats up on contact with water and forms a lather, cleansing one's pores and exfoliating one's visage.  This really does leave my skin feeling soft and radiant and is worth the possible injury trying to squeeze it out.

The Invigorating Apricot Scrub is back in business for me!  When they changed the formula, they took out lots of the exfoliating seeds and so no matter how long I was working away at my face, it never felt scrubbed enough.  Thankfully, the lashings of corn kernel meal and ground walnut promotes skin cell turnover and gets rid of every bit of rough skin sitting on my face, waiting to cake my foundation.  The apricot cleanses, hydrates and nourishes the skin and smells lovely altogether.

Will I be buying these again?  Absolutely.  Although I expect it'll take me a while to get through the warming one due to ultimate thickness.  I don't have exact prices as I threw away the receipt in an attempt to ignore how much I spent but they were around the €5-€6 mark each, so definitely budget friendly.

Have you tried any of the scrubs from St Ives?  Now, who wants to come feel my face?

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint - Satsuma - photos galore!

Give me a bright orange-y corally shade and I'm happy out.  Especially in the sun!  There's something that screams holiday time when I have bright shades on my nails and on a recent visit to Boots, I picked up the shade Satsuma from Barry M's Gelly Hi-Shine range.  They're one of my favourite nail polish discoveries of this year so far and I know as long as they keep making new shades, I'll keep buying them.

Satsuma is a bright shade, if you have eyeballs you can see that.  But it's not quite on the neon spectrum, so if you're a bit scared of blinding yourself and the rest of humankind with neons, then Satsuma is a step down from that.  You'll just give everyone slight retina damage, but you'll be grand.

I can't tell you if this is the colour of a satsuma itself and that's mainly because I can't tell a satsuma from a mandarin from a tangerine.  No lie.  But what I can tell you is that this colour is amazing.  Again, the formula of the Gelly polishes is second to none.  I only needed two coats for these photos and I'm not wearing any top coat.  So you can see how shiny the finish is.  Beeee-youtiful!

If you're looking for a spot of intense, vivid, bright, satsuma/mandarin/tangerine colour on your nails, then look no further.  I think my tootsies are going to look fabulous with this shade over the summer.  Get your €5.99 out and hand it over, safe in the knowledge that you're going to love this shade!

Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick - Rose, photos, swatches

Liquid lipsticks are big in the beauty world right now aren't they?  It takes something special to stand out from the crowd and Hourglass' Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick does something that none of the other liquid lipsticks or lip lacquers do and that's give a matte finish.  Ooh-er!

I was given the shade Rose to play with and for something that promises 14 hours of continuous wear, I was happy that this was a totally wearable shade.  The thin wand allows for precise application which is handy as this stuff stays put!  The formula has skin conditioning emollients, antioxidant fruit extracts, cili fruit, goji berry along with vitamins A, C and E to help protect your lips all day.

It's vital that there's nothing on your lips at all when applying this, not even lip balm.  This means that the formula will set good and proper.  Pigmentation wise, Rose packs a punch and I can only begin to imagine what the much loved shade Icon, a blue based red, will look like on the lips.  I only needed one coat of Rose for the photos so although the tube itself might look small for what you're paying, you really don't use much of it at all.

The smooth formula sets in about a minute and then you're good to go.  I'm not used to wearing matte lips and as I have dry lips at the best of times, it felt weird, but not uncomfortable.  I can get a good five to six hours out of Rose before wanting to apply lip balm on my lips.  It's worth noting that if you apply a balm or gloss over the liquid lipstick right away, you'll get less wear time, but you'll have gorgeous glossy lips if that's what you prefer.  

Perfect for a night out where you won't have to worry about bringing it out with you to reapply!  I feel very grown up altogether with a matte lip and really like it!  

Hourglass is available in Space NK in Harvey Nichols Dundrum and will set you back €25.92.

Follow me everywhere! Instagram, Bloglovin, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube!

As most of us know already, Google Friend Connect will be no more in a couple of months which sucks.  But in fairness, it's been driving me mad lately as I can't unsubscribe from inactive blogs without having to go through them one by one.  Anyway, there are lots of other places on the interwebs where you can follow me!

Instagram.  I love Instagram so much.  I couldn't be arsed using filters though, so if you're looking for lots of pictures of non make up thingys, then there's the place to be!   Of course, I do post a few make up pictures, but mostly it's Bailey, sunrises and random things.

Twitter.  I'm a big Twitter-er and can oft be found rambling about the ridiculous over there.

We've got a Facebook page for the blog if you want to have updates on all the posts that go live and aren't into GFC or Bloglovin.

YouTube!  Yes, I'm about to start doing the odd video on the YouTube.... I've lots of ideas but sure we'll see how it goes and if I'm able to learn how to edit them!

Pinterest.  I love pinning all the things.  All of them.  From make up and beauty, to wise words and home decor.  And food.  All the food.

Or if you want a daily email, then enter your email address in the box on the right hand side of the blog and hit the subscribe button!

L'Oreal Glam Shine Stain Splash - Lolita, review, photos, swatches

Earlier in the week I showed you the Bonnie, the L'Oreal Glam Shine Stain Splash I bought in Spain and today I'm back with another one!  I was sent the shade Lolita last week and have been playing with it with much joy and happiness.

Lolita is one of those chameleon colours.  Par example, please look at the clear part of the packaging above, showing the pinky mauve-y shade with shimmer.  Now look at the swatch on the back of my hand.  Looks peachy and shimmery yeah?

On my lips it looks different again!  There's not a hint of pink or mauve, but it gives a "my lips but better" finish.  Like Bonnie, I used three layers and it feels lovely on the lips.  Not sticky or gloopy, just thick and moisturising.

At €11.95, the hard-to-remember-the-name-of-them Glam Shine Stain Splashes are a fantastic budget friendly alternative to the YSL glossy stains.  Hopefully they'll bring out more than the eight shades that are available now.

Have you tried any of the Glam Shine Stain Splashes yet?

Herbal Essences Fresh Balance review!

Being a blogger and general beauty junkie, I generally research most of the products I buy.  I've been bitten on the bum too many times by things I've bought off the cuff and then shake my fist at myself for not doing proper research.  So what happened recently you ask?  Well, I found myself "just seeing" (famous last words) what was on the beauty aisle in the Tesco beside work and these ended up in my basket.

The Fresh Balance range from Herbal Essences is aimed at normal/oily hair so I thought grand jobby, this is moi and it smells lovely and all.  The products are made with a fusion of citrus blossom and green tea and is described as a clarifying shampoo; something I didn't cop until I was home but sure they were bought at that point.  It smells gorgeous and sweet as all Herbal Essences tend to be and I got stuck in that night and haven't looked back.

All I can say is that this is the best affordable hair care range I've tried in a really long time.  In the past I've tried clarifying shampoos to help strip colour from my hair and with stripping colour comes stripping moisture, but not with this lot.  It gives me really swishy hair and gets all the grease from my roots but doesn't dry out the ends.  

And this is the absolute clincher folks.  As an oily rooted person, I have to wash my hair every day and on days where I don't, I use dry shampoo.  The Fresh Balance range gives me gorgeous second-day hair that looks and feels like freshly washed hair.  This is a game changer.  I've actually worn my hair down on the second day rather than having to tie it up.  I've never done this, not even with dry shampoo.

These cost moi €5.69 each and 'tis money well spent for me and my oily roots.  I'm totally going to keep these in my stash and rejoice that my frivolous, non-researched purchases paid off big time!  For once!

Have you tried any of the Herbal Essences ranges?  What's your favourite?

Ciate Funhouse photos, swatches

What's pink and glittery?  Funhouse!  Part of the new Fairground collection from Ciate, this polish packs a glitter punch and then some.  You know I love me some glitter polish and this is a keeper folks.

Funhouse has fine pink shimmer and bigger chunks of glitter in a clear base.  So you can either lash on a couple of thick coats like I've done here, or use it as a sparkley topping over a pink polish for a little somethin' somethin'.

Because it's essentially all glitter, the surface feels rough when it dries, but a coat or two of Seche Vite will smooth that out pronto.  I've applied three coats to make sure it was fully opaque for the photos, but you'd get away with two no hassle.  I'd recommend shaking the bottle well before using it to mix the different glitter up and it'll mean you'll have an even coat.

Funhouse is available on Ciate.ie right now for €11.95!

Clarins Splendours Eyeshadow palette Summer 2013 - just wow...

Oh lads, I haven't been this excited about a single piece of make up in a while.  So much so, it nearly killed me to schedule this for today rather than post about it yesterday!  The eyeshadow and liner palette from Clarins' Splendours summer collection arrived here yesterday and I'd tried not to read too much about the collection after seeing the promo photos a few weeks ago.

Here's why.  I spent most of my teenage years watching the Indiana Jones films over and over.  I'm ignoring the monstrosity that was the most recent one, but the first three made me want to be an archaeologist and go digging for stuff and decipher symbols.  You know.  Indiana Jones-y stuff.  So when I heard that Clarins' summer collection was inspired by "the splendours of a pre-Columbian civilization that worshipped the sun", I couldn't wait to get my paws on it.

And it was worth the wait.  This is the most beautiful make up item I've ever seen and got busy photographing it in the sun.  But I had some problems.  I couldn't get the embossed symbols under the clear bronzey acrylic to show properly.

Then I got a bit of inspiration from the sun worshipers...  As I manouvered the palette around, I let the sun hit  it dead centre and look what happened...  All my years of watching Indy paid off!  Seriously, how gorgeous is this...

I waited to see if a secret door would open in my room, or if something magical would happen to the compact but alas, I had to make do with just opening the palette and seeing what lay beneath the burnished lid.

The palette contains four eyeshadows and an eyeliner, all embossed with symbols.  There are two little applicators, one with a round sponge tip and the other has a pointy sponge tip on one end and an angled brush on the other.  But enough about them.  Just look at the shadows and liners...

Now, I may as well tell you that this post doesn't have swatches.  One, I'm not ready to touch the perfection that is the shadows and liners.  Two, I need to see if I can figure out what the symbols mean and possibly prevent the end of the world.

I promise I'll swatch it very soon and show it in action, but I needed to show you what is the star of the show in the Clarins Splendours summer collection.  I've more bits to show you but you may as well add this to your wish list now.  It'll be available in May and will be €39 but considering how gorgeous it is, that you get four shadows and a liner, making it an ideal travel palette, it's going to sell out fast and that's my prediction, being a beauty obsessed Mayan and all.