LauraSummer09 Blog

Look Magazine is officially copying me. I read it every week and a lot of the time i find their 'new items of the week' in which they list for most high street shops are items i've already bought or tried on. If you look at one of my first posts 'gossip girl is copying my style!' http://laurasummer.blog.co.uk/2009/07/29/topshop-playsuit-amusing-update-6610857/
then you will see a picture (very unflattering though it is) of me trying on a floral playsuit, posted in July. You will then see 1 month later Blake Lively wearing it. Yes, she looks infinitely better in it but I wore it first...
This week i have decided to photograph the evidence of Look copying me:

My post on 11th November, with photos:
http://laurasummer.blog.co.uk/2009/11/11/mac-cosmetics-holiday-collection-7351625/

Look Magazine this week:

Here we have their photo on dark red/purple nail polish:

And here we have a picture from my post on dark red nail polish:

looks pretty similar doesn't it?

Finally for this week, it is well documented on my profile page that i hula hoop. it says it in my information statement thing and it's on my interests tag list. Hula hooping is my little thing which everyone knows I do although I have noticed it get more and more popular overthe last 18 months since I started doing it all the time. Now apparently it's the latest fashionable exercise:

Why don't they just employ me and make everyone happy?

You see, I am not only good at make up, nails and developing illicit liasons (although I make a living here and there out of the first two) but I can also read. This isn't going to be a long winded clever sounding book review just my little opinion as always

The book is the 3rd of it's trilogy, sometime referred to as 'the milennium trilogy' the first being 'the girl with the dragon tattoo' and second being 'the girl who played with fire'.
I suppose the best way to describe the genre is as a crime novel, although it is a particularly complicated and multi stranded plot. I don't usually read anything like a crime novel but this story also is a romance, a mystery and a thriller so despite being nearly 700 pages long it is very easy to read and keeps your interest.
It's one of those concepts that really shouldn't work or be readable at all but it is. The main protagonist is frequently described as the most anti-social and bizarre weirdo you could ever think of, there is no reason the reader should empathise with her, but you do. In fact all of the main characters are deeply flawed and occasionally unpleasant individuals, the initial description of each of them gives you adequate reason to root against them to be fair but you end up sympathising some how. Maybe the point is that their misgivings are what make them human? I don't know but somehow the author (steig Larsson) has managed to make a string of horrible people appear fascinating and worthy of the readers compassion.
The only qualm I have with these books is that they focus a lot on realistic facts and figures, as the plot centres around journalism much of the time and although it's fiction you get the impression it's not supposed to be a fantasy novel. Then occasionally things happen in the plot that are a bit far fetched and a bit too fantastical to be taken seriously. To be fair you don't notice when you're reading it, it's only when you explain the part of the book you've just read to someone else that you realise it sounds completely ridiculous. For example at the end of the second book the lead female is chased and fought with until exhausted, shot in the head and buried fairly deep in the ground. Then she gets up out of the ground and disables her attackers. It's worth mentioning that this woman is not a GI Jane type either, she's described as extremely petite with the build of an 11 year old boy. She does spend the first half of the third book in hospital, yes but it is still a little bit unrealistic.
Also i should probably mention that the story deals with very unpleasant topics such as murder, corruption, sex trafficking, stalking, violence and various other types of abuse but it is not written in a voyeuristic or gratifying way- it is sensibly handled and relevant to the plot in each instance.
Anyway I am being pretty vague in this review because I don't want to give it all away for those who want to read it and secondly because it is a very complicated story which calls for an in depth review and i'm not a good book critic.
never the less it is a fantastic book, start at the beginning and read the girl with the dragon tattoo first or the second 2 won't make a blind bit of sense, but yes read them. I've found out this morning that they've also made this into a film in Sweden (where it's set)so I anticipate that coming out in English to see if it's as good.

Haven't done one of these for ages and I love reading other peoples so thought I would do one as we're coming into Winter and everyones beauty routines are changing (or should be anyway) this also spells out what a ridiculous amount of products I own and use. I challenge you other girlies to do this as it is a pretty good indication to yourself of how much stuff you have and what you actually use
So here's mine:

Shampoo: Toni&guy red brunette and l'oreal elvive anti dandruff
Conditioner: John Freida brilliant brunette ultimate shine- I like to match usually but the toni&guy conditioners really suck
Shower gel: Lush 'Flying fox' shower gel or 'joy of jelly' shower jelly
body scrub/exfioliater: Elle McPherson SOS salt scrub
facial exfoliater: Lush 'dark angels' charcoal exfoliater
Soap: Lush 'chocs away' bar or l'occitane shea butter soap
tooth paste: Blanx stain removal or pearl drops whitening tooth polish. The pearl drops one is £1.99 at most and it actually works better!
make up remover: Johnson's 3in1 cleansing wipes= better than MAC I swear, especially the purple sleep time ones whatever they're called
Night cream: L'occitane ultra rich face cream
Day cream: Johnson's 24 hour moisture cream
eye cream: L'oreal wrinkle decrease collagen filler eye= great base for make up, smooths out tired lines and contains light reflectors to brighten dark circles
Lip balm: l'occitane 100% shea butter, Mac naked honey skin salve, nivea care & repair (best lip balm ever)
Body cream: Garnier firming lotion and Soap&Glory 'the righteous butter'
Hair products: Aussie detangler for long hair, and Toni&guy blow spray for brunettes as a volumiser
Foundation: L'oreal visible lift serum inside - I am only using this because I got a load of it in every colour the last time I worked for l'oreal and got to keep it. It is completely inappropriate for my age but it works fine! Also it is useful having a million colours of foundation as I tan really quickly then go deathly white in Winter. At the isle of white festival i went from sheer ivory to dark sand in 2 days.
Concealer: ELF concealer pencil & brush, mac studio finish concealer or mac select moisture cover
Blush: Chanel 'in love' or MAC 'superdupernatural'
Eyeliner: Elf mineral eye pencil in black or barry M liquid liner
Eyeshadow: any MAC shadow but mainly the graphic garden pallette at the moment, also No.7 eyeshadow in wheatsheaf as a base in the day, urban decay in midnight cowboy rides again for going out. very glittery!
Lipstick/gloss: Mac politely pink lipstick, maybelline ambre rose lipstick, mac nymphette gloss or partially pink cremesheen gloss
Mascara: That bourjois one i posted about as i hate wasting things and it is usable but I can't wait to upgrade
Obviously I have a shockingly extensive make up collection but that's just what's in my purse this week
And that is a lot of stuff! What are your routine products this month girls?

I said a while back I would do a post on my skin saving moisturiser so here it is, L'Occitane Ultra Rich Face Cream

Nail polish in pictures is still Nails Inc Victoria as in my last post, it stays on extremely well!
I find this cream amazing, it has completely sorted my skin out. As you can see from the photo it is extremly thick and rich, and is designed for very dry skin like I have. If you have oily or combination skin stay well away from this cream it will not be your friend! If you have dry skin however I can't recommend it enough. I really like the whole range, including ultra rich eye balm and particularly the shea butter soap and 100% mini shea butter pot which I use as a lip balm. The face cream pictured is 25% shea butter which is good for me and contains other natural ingredients as well. It doesn't irritate my skin at all and I have eczema on my face so that gives you an idea of how soothing it is too.
I was going to put a link in to the range on their website but for some idiot reason it's not working at the moment
What are your skincare heroes?

Yay for free nail polish, if you buy this month's Glamour magazine then you get a Nails Inc polish for free with 4 colours to choose from! I read it practically every month anyway and I chose the darkest nail polish which is called Victoria, it's very dark red, almost black basically in certain lights:

Obviously I have access to a lot of nail polish to do comparisons with and it is exactly the same as Chanel Rouge Noir and Zoya's 'Paris'. They look slightly different in the bottle but on they look identical:

Using my mum as a hand model there! She has nail extensions I think and her ring is from next if anyone is wondering.

Also the second part of my eyeslipsface order has arrived:

I also ordered the red lip stain (not pictured) which I haven't tested properly yet but will let you know on that. I'm really impressed with the eye and lip liners I got from the mineral line, they're retractable so really easy to use and have a nice creamy smooth application. Also they both seems to stay on quite well so happy all round with that

So I got my stuff on Friday last week which I was pretty happy with, then went to the Cambridge shop on saturday to check out the rest of the collection which I wasn't sure of the colours for, and to do my first 'back to mac'! Back to MAC is when you take them 6 used up containers and they give you a free lipstick for it. I took back ..

empty select foundation in NC30, it's too dark for me now it's not summer anymore so I just finished it in time
An ancient barbie loves MAC lipglass in sweetness which I've been obsessively trying to use up for this purpose
My liquid liner in boot black, had to replace with Barry M liquid liner which is actually pretty much the same
Dazzleglass mascara why do mascaras either run out or go off so fast
Naked Lunch eyeshadow, that was well and truly gone
and an old mineralize eyeshadow from probably 3 years ago so just as well thats out the way now.

And in exchange i have the preeety 'politely pink' lipstick

It's a lustre finish so quite sheer, and I got 'nymphette' lipglass which i've wanted ages, it's a peachy pink with gold pearl. Here's the two swatched on my hand:

And I look a bit bewildered in this one but it's me wearing the new blush with the lip products:

I also got the black perfume, catchily named 'MV3' it's lovely, really rich and earthy smelling, kind of spicy. A man could totally wear it, it reminds me of having one around which is probably why I like it!
From the holiday collection I got superdupernatural blush, which i love, partial to pink cremesheen gloss which i also like a lot and midnight madness duo eyeshadow. The blush is very pigmented and the shadow is very sparkly but they are both fab.

I tried to do this look http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk/looks/look.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CAT25208 from the MAC looks board which came out really well but as it was dark and my camera phone only has 3mgp camera on it the photos didn't come out as good as it actually looked.

OK I've done a post about Elf cosmetics or eyeslipsface before as they're one of my favorite brands, but I got more stuff recently so this is the first half of what I've got and what I think is good:

I'll start with the face stuff, I really like the all over cover sticks, I have in the picture 'fair' and 'light' although 'light' is pretty tanned if you ask me. It just depends how pale i'm looking as to which i go for. They are really tiny and perfect for taking away and carrying around, they make brilliant under eye concealers. Also I majorly love the sheilding hydro tint with SPF 15, it's a tinted moisturiser which i can't live without in Summer and still have to keep stocked up with in Winter for those days when you want to feel more fresh faced. It's pretty good coverage too. These bits are an amazing £1.50 each and they last forever despite being really small, incredible really.
I also got 2 things from the studio line which is £3.50 a piece, which are the lip plumper and primer. it seems to work pretty well, smells nice etc. The primer is like a concealer for your lips which you put under lipstick and it helps it stay on, as well as making it look better generally. I'm quite impressed with it as I have very pink lips naturally and like to wear pale lip colours this really helps tone down the natural redness and lets the lipstick colour show more.

Next I got the lip definer and shaper, also studio line. it's not what i thought to be honest, It's quite chunky, really shimmery and creamy so I'm not really sure what it's supposed to do. All those words don't exactly lend themselves to 'good lip liner' in my opinion. One end is supposed to highlight around your mouth basically and the other to line them, for me it's too fat and creamy to do either of those jobs and the two ends are practically the same colour to me. Maybe its just me though, it would probably make an OK lip highlighter in the middle of your mouth but I don't really do that look much.

If any of you girlies reading this want the lip lining crayon thing then email me your address and i'll send it to the first person who does so, since I don't have a use for it then it would be nice if someone else could benefit from it.

Right the real stars from the whole ELF range are the make up brushes, my favorite brush ever is their standard eyeshadow brush which is £1.50. I've got the defining brush yesterday as well which is also lovely and handy, and as they were out of the eyeshadow brush I got the studio line version instead which is £3.50. And.. it's even better! Look at the lovely blending I did today:

To do this I used the shadow stick end of my ELF studio gel liner & shadow stick all over the lid as base with MAC greasepaint stick over the outer 3rd of the lid. Then used the MAC graphic garden pallette putting the ivory colour (any pigmented ivory shadow would be fine)at the inner corner, the black colour in the outer corner and mac's 'tempting' bronze shadow in the middle, then swished it all together with the 2 elf brushes I mentioned. V happy with the blending capabilities of that 'C' brush even if it does have a weird name!

I've got more stuff coming tomorrow, they've released more new products last night so I've ordered 2 new lip products, a mineral eye pencil and lip liner (thought I'd try again with a different one) and a cream eyeshadow duo as i quite like them.
the site is www.eyeslipsface.co.uk if any of you want to take a look, I'll hopefully be putting up my MAC haul tomorrow when I've done the photos for it. I had quite an entertaining time going on the bus myself to MAC and getting lost, ended up walking an old woman's yorkshire terrier. I do get into some odd situations!

This is my god-daughter Tamara, she makes everything look good somehow, I think she's so cool because she doesn't care what people think, being 4 and all you know. This is T wearing a hat I threw on her in a shop, looks like it was made for her:

Sometimes i find her routing around in my handbag (always dangerous)and applying my make up, which usually looks better on her as well although not very appropriate and her mum always takes it off her(thats my friend natalie,the very pale one pictured in my halloween post) This is her wearing the new MAC cremesheen lipgloss in 'partial to pink' which I'd got that day, she thought it matched her bunny ears:

And finally who looks like an idiot in the x-ray specs? Me of course not her....

Bourjois 1001 cils mascara

Hmmm, I don't love it lets be honest. Sometimes high street mascara is good, example Maybelline Lash Stiletto- that is an amazing mascara for the money. This one? Not so much. I don't like the bendy brush, as I generally hate that whole new wave of rubber brushes, I think it feels cheap. It is hard work, yes it will make your lashes longer,(see picture above) but it took serious skill to do that. It does go on quickly and you can see 'mascara-ed eyes' after 2 coats but not how i want them and if you put more than 3 coats on it goes into clumping territory and is seriously unpleasant. I ended up with only 4 fat eyelashes and had to take it off. To compare, with a MAC mascara I would do 10 coats and be very happy with the result, with a Dior or YSL you don't need to do that but they don't clump if you do.
So to summarise, it's OK if you don't put a lot of mascara on, or if you're very skilled and have a lot of time on your hands but it won't give volume just lots of long, thin lashes. You can see the result above and make up your own mind if thats a look for you, I'm not that keen.

Other things which I'm loving this month that I haven't already mentioned previously:

Toni&Guy Blow Dry Styler for Brunettes

It gives amazing volume and a roots boost, i use it on my dry hair as well and it works good

MAC Brave Red Lipstick
I love this, I got it last year I think, it thought it came out with red she said collection for some reason but it probably didn't as its in the core range now. It's a cremesheen so it's quite moisturising, it's bright red but you can just kiss it on gently in little dabs and it gives a really nice suble finish. Or you can whack it on for serious drama. i'll probably do a face of the day with it sometime soon, although my MAC holiday collection stuff should arrive today so that might take up my focus.

Other things I thik i'll do a separate post on next week, are my new face cream (l'occitane ultra rich face cream) which is saving my skin, and all the teeth whitening things I've been trying out.

This is a bit delayed as I spent Monday recovering and yesterday manically catching up on the work I didn't do on Monday...boring boring.

We didnt manage to successfully take any photos whilst we were out because a) we were too drunk and b) it was too dark to use the camera properly so we only have getting ready photos. I didn't want to go for a total halloween costume as i thought looking scary would reduce my chances of finding suitable male distraction and potential accomodation for the night. So I wore a black lace dress with a red bra, spiderweb patterned tights, pointy witch shoes and carried a fairy wand. I have no idea what I was supposed to be really as I also drew a vampire bite on my neck as the night progressed. My friend Natalie who is in the centre of the pictures was made up by me as a vampire victim:

Again she didn't want to look scary so I didn't do SF-X make up as although she is happily settled in a relationship she still would rather feel attractive, but wouldn't we all?
We took barry m red eye pencil out with us to draw vampire bites on random people we met which was pretty entertaining. It's quite hardcore make up actually as when I got home the next morning it was still perfectly intact. The poor guy I was with must have had a moment of confusion when he woke up next to that!