Duty Free

Duty free always suckers me in. I am one of those people that get to the airport painfully early due to fear of having to run through to catch my plane (been there, done that) so I had plenty of shopping downtime. Pink champagne, a new Smythson's notebook (I am one of "those people" that make lists of things to do). A little Tiffany bracelet... the small black onyx beaded bracelet. It's dainty, light and I haven't taken it off. My one regret is perfume related... I have completely given in to my perfume love and will be doing a short course for perfume geeks next year - I am that into it... but I sprayed two Miller Harris scents: Fleur Oriental and Coeur de Fleur. I got on the plane and kept smelling one arm. It was an amazing fragrance but I can't for the life of me remember which one it was. It was floral but with an intriguing depth and I must have it. A trip to her store in Mayfair is already on the cards...

Ways to use Crisco that Don't involve Eating It

Recently, I inherited a couple of blocks of Crisco. I'm not much of a baker (monumental understatement), but decided I'd go all Bree-from-Desperate-Housewives so it wouldn't go to waste. However, after I donned my starched apron, I noticed that the ingredients included the dreaded "partially hydrogenated fat". Which, duh, I should have realized. I hate to toss it in the garbage or pass it along to a food bank, so I'm seeking other uses. From answers.yahoo, I've found that Crisco can: Remove lipstick and tar from clothing (because you know how often you end up with tar stains); Remove dirt from your hands (although it seems like then your hands would be greasy); Prevent diaper rash; Help historical battle re-enactors lubricate their musket balls (I know, I know, my mind went there too); Be used to create white clown make-up; Season cast-iron skillets; Be used to make bird feed (although that seems cruel to the birdies); Moisturize hands, feet and face; Be used as an, um, relationship aid; I'm thinking about dumping it on some newspapers and letting the kids go nuts, like they do with shaving cream. Or maybe creating the clown make-up and letting them go wild with that. Any other suggestions?

O Happy Day!

So I was at the mall with my mother, and the local Icing store is closing out. 75% off the lowest price. So I got a couple polishes. For $0.63 each. Win! Putty Concrete and Peacock. Putty Concrete is a delicious shimmery taupe / greige bottle of gorgeous. Seriously. I've died and gone to neutral polish heaven. No pics cause I'm at my grandparents without my camera. But it's gorgeous. Pics later. I'm excited to try Konad-ing something lacy in black over it. Peacock is slightly more depressing. Gorgeous in bottle, it's a light teal blue with pink duochrome. Sadly, super sheer. I tried it over Finger Paints Easel Come, Easel Go, there was no trace of the pink, it just turned it into a pale blue metallic, much like China Glaze Metallic Muse. When I get home I'll try it by itself and over black, and maybe over a grey like China Glaze Recycle. Maybe over Putty Concrete, but I think I love it too much to risk it. I'll take pics of all these things when I get home as well.

Dreamcatcher

It was difficult, but I'm trying to get used to wearing my nails without something Konaded over top. I keep telling myself, I got through 10 years of wearing nail polish without my Konad, it has to be possible. So here I give you Claire's Dream Catcher who looks exactly like Chanel Jade. Honestly, while applying it, I did not think that I liked it. There was something about the colour that made me think to myself with each brush stroke "Brynne, what the f*ck are you putting on your nails?". But then I finished... added a coat of Seche Vite... And I love it. For the same unknown reasons that I disliked the colour during application. If this is a Chanel Jade dupe like I've been reading all over the internet, then I love Chanel Jade. And actually, compared to my usual amount of nail wear, this is holding up pretty good. I've showered and done a load of dishes and I have 1 tiny chip and some tip wear. Usually I'll have half a nail chip off in one go. I'm almost sad to take this off later today to make way for my weekend manicure. Oh well. Them's the breaks. Ps: The colour is much more vibrant than these pictures suggest. These make it look quite dusty. However I'm not practiced enough with my photo editing program to try to tweak them to the proper shade.

OPI Sparkle-Icious

I believe I've worn OPI's Sparkle-Icious before, however if I remember it correctly I merely used it as a layering polish back then. For new year's eve I wanted to be in the mood for the occasion and used it on it's own. This time I applied 3 coats, 2 coats work as well. Isn't it remarkable? I don't think I've ever tried a glitter polish this tightly packed with glitter. The glitter comes in 3 colours: gold, pink, and blue. In the sunshine it's almost blinding, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that but I'm sure you can all imagine it's wonderful shining glory. The good thing about glitter polishes is that they usually have the most amazing staying power, but I always dread the entire removal procedure. Since this polish had so many glitter particles I imagined it would be a complete nightmare to remove it. Then I came to think of something I've seen in other nail polish blogs, the tinfoil method. Soaked up a few cotton pads, put them on each nail and wrapped them in tinfoil and waited for 5 min. Boy was I surprised when everything came off in one go! I will never ever have to ponder on whether I should wear a glitter polish or not. Thank you, whoever came up with the tinfoil method! I seriously love you!

Choosing Diet Plan

The most diet plans guarantee you everything. You might know, those dieting "gurus" tell they’re going to get you in perfect shape and the only thing you have to do is follow along & finish every last phase. So you purchase the plan because you saw it on Telly or learned about it online. Then you see that that great plan features different steps that require valuing nutrient, measuring caloric units of all meals, building a register of foods you can afford to eat and so on... Not exactly what you were expecting, right? I mean, you got the action programme because of the end results they assured. What they didn’t mentioned is how much time and effort you’ll have to to gain your desired weight loss destination on this thing. I mean, that there is stage 1 and 2 and only after that the maintenance phase. It’s supposed you’ve got to consume those heavy foods for 1 month straight with your 1 hand chained behind your back whilst while eating. Of course, you might think this is kind of an inconvenience, just try it. After two weeks your belly will turn at the thinking of swallowing one more than egg for your meals. You want to make it to phase two ’cause that’s when you get to eat all these cool foods in gobbets that wouldn’t satisfy a bird.

The dieting plan says this is when the actual benefits break in. You merely finished phase one and finally achieve the following phase. You impatiently turn to stage 2 just to find out that, you’re required to only eat a limited list of food products that you have to search your supermarket to buy. Then you must valuate that calories and eat limited products during certain times of day while doing simple workouts. Okay, by now you’re getting really tired of this diet. Maybe some people that successeeded using the system, but all this phase nonsense is making you crazy. The last pieces of inspiration you had for this plan simply drained out of you. It makes no difference, you still need to lose that belly. Is there anything simpler out there that can help you burn that weight and keep your sanity too? Of course, there’re dieting programs so simple that even a baby can follow them efficiently. Don’t think I’m comparing you to a baby, but I am telling you that there are better ways to become healthier. The Weight Shapes diets do that, but you still have to make a commitment to the plan and stick to basic phases, but those are much easier to follow. I exaggerated a bit here, but I do consider that diets which are over complicated cast a damper on larger number of people than they help. Most of us are living hectic lives and few people have time to look in the fridge figuring out what food products are allowed today.

Estee Lauder Palette

Hello. So you're probably tired of me modeling my face, and thinking what a vain woman! But that's really not the case. When taking photos of the cosmetics that I had used today. I began to see the potential of a still life colored drawing, or pastel painting. There is one particular photo of the cosmetics, where you can see the reflection of the lip stick, and lip gloss in the mirror of the Estee Lauder palette that I thought looked interesting. I think I'm going to hold myself to drawing that still life. (Sigh) I'm what you call a lazy artist. I know how to draw,but I hate to practice. I'm sure that won't make any sense to some of you. I suppose I prefer using mediums that give three dimensional results. For example, crazy quilting, or sculpting with clay. I really like using clay, although I haven't explored that medium in years! I guess having a husband, three kids,and a house hold to run. Makes creating the time an effort mind you, not impossible, but an effort none the less. And there's where I'm lazy. This is the natural lighting that I'm working with today. Misty, gray, and white! Which can be good to work with, if you can get the right angle to take photographs. But not easy, unless you practice...

There's that dang practice rearing its ugly head again! I used Estee Lauder's cream shadow in Ivory Cream all over my lids. Then I applied the green teal on my lids from the Starchild Odyssey palette. The navy shade from the Blue Dahlia Estee Lauder palette in the outer corners of the eyes blended out. Flirt eyeshadow in Sugar Daddy on the brow bone. Estee Lauder eye line in Midnight Blue. Cover girl mascara Falsies. Flirt cosmetics blush in Apple Dapple. Revlon lipstick in Blush, with Elf Minty lip gloss on top. Sheesh! I hope you didn't have anything pressing to do... when reading that massive list of cosmetics. That I just used on my face. I suppose if I can make time for all of that. Then surely I can make time to draw, or mess around with some clay... right?! By the way, amazingly I didn't use a foundation, or powder of any kind. Oh,and I forgot to mention that I did use a concealer under my eyes. Now this was the first time that I used the ivory cream shadow as a base, then apply colored eyeshadow on top. Which produced a soft colored effect on the eyes. I'm not sure if I would do this again. But if you're leery of bold eyeshadow colors. Then you might try something like this. I would think any kind of ivory, iridescent cream shadow that doesn't crease would work. I don't know. You'll just have to play around and see what works. Well! Have a good day, or evening!

Store Your Hair Accessories in Style

Store Your Hair Accessories in Style with a Remington Storage Board - Reader Giveaway. The more hair accessories you collect, the harder it is to keep them organized. I bin in a bathroom or bedroom drawer may keep them all corralled, but makes it really hard to find one when you need it. Remington has a new solution for you with the Decorative Hair Accessory Storage Board. With decorative knobs and ribbon loops and bands, the stylish board makes it easy to store and organize hair accessories all in one convenient place. From headbands, to hair clips, to barettes, to pony holders, it can easily hold over 100 accessories. You can either hang it on a wall or set it on a counter. Either way it looks great! I love the gray and white print of the board with the bright pink accents.  Because of the variety of knobs, bands and loops on the board, it makes it easy to find ways to store all different types of accessories. You can find the Remington Hair Accessory Storage Board for only $9.97 at Walmart. Reader Giveaway: One lucky Beauty by Jinxy reader will win their own  Remington Hair Accessory Storage Board. Good luck!

Guerlain Terracotta - Sun in The City

As usual, every single year no matter how I swear I will restrain myself... I end up buying everything from the Guerlain's summer Terracotta collection. It's normally the make-up collection I enjoy the most during summer and despite immense shoppers guilt, I never regret anything I buy! Golden Glimmer Powder. This is a soft gold powder highlighter which is hard to photograph but pretty much like a sheer version of what you see in the pan. The powder is shaped with a wave running through it... very pretty! Not as amazing as last year's monoi scented Terra Inca but still lovely to have if you like your true golds.

Brunette & Blonde Bronzer. These swatches do not do the products justice but give you vague idea of the warmth/tone. They are much prettier and more dimensional in real life! These two are deeper versions of the usual blonde and brunette mosaic bronzers. These translate a little darker and more orange toned to skin than the original shades. They were brought out for darker skin types but I'm pretty pale at the moment and they don't look at all muddy or too much on me... I really like them!

Sun Shimmer Highlighter Blush. Two gorgeous, shimmery liquid blushes. One pump gives you a very generous dollop, so remember to apply lightly! You can always layer for intensity. I like to apply these with my fingers. As they are liquid you should really apply them on foundation or clean skin.. not on powder. You can however use a powder product on top once they dry to set them. I like the sheer shimmery color but I would advise not to apply them too central on the face (on the "apple" of the cheeks) as their "flushed" color combined with the shimmer could make you look a bit sweaty in the wrong lighting. Stick to using them on the cheekbone area. I really like both but my favourite is the orange shade!

Jambes De Gazelle. First thing... oh my God this smells amazing! Just like orange blossom! I never thought I would like this type of product as I always find instant tanners a bit hard to apply but once you blend this on your legs (or arms) it really does give you a streak-free, natural, sunkissed color. Love it! It's fool-proof!

Terracotta Touch. Glow Enhancing Perfector. I've bought these before and was thrilled to purchase them again. I use these under my eyes and on top of my cheekbones to add a bit of light. Similar to YSL Touche Eclat these do offer some minimal coverage but they are highlighters not concealers! The golden pigments are invisible which I prefer for this type product. Currently I am pale so using the 01 blondes shade. Can not wait to get a bit of a tan then these will really shine! This is my must-have item from this years collection.

Terracotta Sun Tan Booster, I also bought both sun creams. The SPF30 for the start of summer and the SPF15 for the rest of it. I haven't used them yet but will keep you updated! All I can say is they smell nice and the packaging is nice, generous & travel friendly. All in all a gorgeous collection but I do feel that you need to have a tan to let these products shine to their full potential. Can not wait for summer! Must Haves - Terracotta Touch, Jambes De Gazelle & Sun Shimmer blush in the orange shade. Nice To Have - The pink liquid blush. Skip - Bronzers if you already have one you love and the Golden Glimmer powder wont be for everyone! Has anything from Terracotta caught your eye?