Benefit Lollitint- Swatches and Review!


Benefit Lollitint Cheek and Lip Stain.

Benefit Lollitint Cheek and Lip Stain.

With Panatone naming Orchid as their Colour of the Year 2014, Benefit Cosmetics have cleverly taken the purple-pink hue and incorporated it into their range of lip and cheek stains.

Lollitint

Lollitint Instructions

Lollitint, launched in UK stores today is a candy-orchid tinted lip and cheek stain and offers a fresh take on Benefit’s existing stains trio of BenetintChachatint and Posietint.

The very helpful Anthony at the Lollitint Launch at Benefit, Queen's Street Cardiff.

The very helpful Anthony at the Lollitint Launch at Benefit, Queen’s Street Cardiff.

Swatches

Lollitint Swatches

Lollitint Swatches

It’s a beautiful and unusual lilac colour and is certainly something different to brighten up every make-up lovers January!

Review

As I only purchased this product at its launch today (25/01/2014), I can’t offer a full, in-depth review so I’m just going to give my first impressions of using Lollitint.

Lollitint Packaging

Lollitint Packaging

One of Benefit’s real selling points is its colourful and unique packaging and Lollitint is no exception. The vibrant pink box and stunning pink chrome bottle add to the product’s luxurious and on-trend feel and makes this a must-have product for girlie girls like myself.

The application seems quite easy and there’s no need for brushes as you simply brush the product onto each cheek with three strokes and then blend it into your skin quickly with your fingertips. However, you do need to make sure you blend it immediately as being a stain, the colour sets very fast and can cause streaks if it’s not blended properly.

Brighter cheek

The bright colour does look a little scary in the bottle, but on the cheeks it gives a gorgeous pop of colour.

It’s  also an easily buildable shade so you can choose to create a subtle or a more intense look. The stain formula also means it should last you all day and many hours on it still hasn’t moved from my cheeks. In fact, after I swatched Lollitint for this review, I really struggled to even remove the colour from my hand with make-up remover!

Lollitint On My Lips

Lollitint On My Lips

I particularly love the colour on my lips as it’s pretty but striking and is very smudge proof. I do think it’s brighter and more noticeable on the lips than the cheeks. It’s also really easy to apply as you simply swipe it on your lips and blend it in, using more or less product depending on how bright you want the colour to be. It would be the perfect colour for a night out where staying power is particularly important! It does seem to have a bit of a drying effect but using lipbalm before applying Lollitint should solve this.

Finished Look With Lollitint On Cheeks and Lips.

Finished Look With Lollitint On Cheeks and Lips.

Lollitint retails at £24.50, which isn’t the cheapest considering you only get 12.5ml of product, but a little does go a long way. It’s long-lasting formula also means you won’t need to be constantly applying more product throughout your day.

Overall, I love the eye-catching colour of Lollitint and I think this will be my new go to colour both for the daytime and nights out! 

What’s your favourite Benefit product?

Are you going to try Lollitint?

Alice xx

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Twitter: @looking_glass01

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The Liebster Award!

What is the Liebster Award?

I was thrilled to be nominated by both Lottie from http://fallinginapassionpit.blogspot.co.uk and Lisa from http://lovefrom-lisa.blogspot.co.uk The Liebster Blogging Award!

Fellow bloggers nominate their choice of bloggers from the blogging community for this award to recognise new blogs that are just beginning to build up their readership and show their future potential.

From reading Lisa’s post I know now that ‘Liebster’ means ‘love’ in German so I’m so pleased that both Lottie and Lisa enjoy my blog enough to nominate me for this! Thank you girls!

Liebster AwardThe Rules

The Rules are as follows:

1) Mention the blogger who nominated you and link to their blog in your post

2) Answer the 11 questions set by the blogger who nominated you.

3) Nominate 11 bloggers of your choice whom have a small following at the moment but lots of potential for the future.

4) Include 11 questions for the bloggers you have nominated to answer.

As I was lucky enough to be nominated by both Lottie and Lisa for the award, I’m going to answer both of their sets of questions in my post!

So read on if you wan’t to know (way too many) facts about me!

Lottie’s Questions To Me. 

1) What’s your biggest fear?

Spiders without a doubt- it scares me just thinking about them! I would also say death but then it’s starting to get a bit morbid…

2) What’s your lifetime ambition?

To be a successful and respected journalist with a nice big house in the country. Oh and write the next book series to rival Harry Potter. A girl can dream…

3) Where do you see yourself in 5/10 years time?

Hopefully, I will have my own home by then with a blue french bulldog wearing sky high Christian Louboutins and in a job that challenges me and that I enjoy! Extreme wishful thinking here again!

4) Chocolate or Sweets?

Oooh hard one! Chocolate as being a vegetarian I can’t eat a lot of sweets out there anyway!

5) Do you collect anything?

Only more make-up than anyone could need if that counts!

6) Tea or coffee?

I hate coffee and love tea so that one is very easily answered! This question is now making me crave a cup of tea!

7) Who inspires you?

My mum, soppy but true, she always deals with whatever life throws at her, good and bad and she’s always there to help and support me.

8) Do you prefer Summer or Winter?

Summer- but not a British one, we never get much sun!

9) What’s one item of clothing you can’t live without?

Is it extremely lazy if I say my onesie…? I have about five of these and to be honest, if I don’t need to leave the house, then I’m not getting out of my onesie ha!

10) Would you rather be famous, or the best friend of someone famous?

Famous for doing something I was proud of!

11) What is something you are passionate about?

Being a vegetarian and animal lover, animal rights are really important to me.

Lisa’s Questions To Me.

1) Do you have any New Year’s Resolutions?

Yes mostly to be more organised- so I hope I can achieve this in 2014!

2) If you could travel to anywhere in the world where would you go?

I’ve always wanted to go on Safari so I would love to travel to Africa and experience a full safari there!

3) High-street or high-end?

High-end, if I could afford it! But realistically, on a student budget, high-street!

4) What is your favourite make-up brand?

Urban Decay- I think their products are beautiful and worth the slightly higher price tag!

5) Why did you decide to start blogging?

I started this blog as part of one of my modules for my University master’s degree but I absolutely love blogging now so I can’t wait to continue to grow my blog- hopefully for years to come!

6) What are you most excited about for 2014?

Trying to be more organised in life (not very exciting I know) and hopefully graduating from my master’s degree.

7) If you won the lottery what is the first thing you would buy?

Probably something frivolous like a Chanel handbag…

8) What is your favourite online clothing brand?

I love http://www.boohoo.com

9) Trousers or skirt?

It depends on the weather, but I would go with a skirt!

10) What is your favourite city in the world?

I’m going to stay true to my Welsh roots and say Cardiff.

11) What beauty product could you not live without?

The Urban Decay Naked Palette, I’m too obsessed with it!

My 11 Nominated Bloggers 

1) Ruby from http://rubylions.blogspot.co.uk

2) Nat from http://theremightbecoffee.wordpress.com

3) Steph from http://stephellis531.blogspot.co.uk

4) Julie from http://justjulie81.blogspot.co.uk

5) Heidi from http://blushandbelle.blogspot.co.uk

6) Amy Rhian from http://lipsticksandliner.blogspot.co.uk

7) Sian from http://sm-beautyblog.blogspot.co.uk

8) Collette from http://shrewd-fox.blogspot.co.uk

9) Hannah from http://pinaforesandpies.blogspot.co.uk

10) Emma from http://aprettypeach.blogspot.co.uk

11) Taylor from http://www.taylorscollectionn.com

11 Questions For My Nominated Bloggers To Answer!

 1) What are your 2014 beauty resolutions? You can see mine here: http://bit.ly/1eLh2ts 

2) What is your favourite book and why?

3) What is your favourite quote?

4) Cats or dogs?

5) What’s the best thing that’s happened to you so far in 2014?

6) Yes or no to wearing black lipstick (not at Halloween)?

7) What’s your favourite mascara and why?

8) What is your dream job and how do you think you could get there?

9) What beauty product are you currently lusting after?

10) Harry Potter or Lord Of The Rings?

11) Twitter or Facebook? 

I hope you enjoyed this post and I’d love to read your answers to any of the Liebster questions above in the comments!

Alice xx

Bloglovin: http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11174557

Twitter: @looking_glass01

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/aliceinthelookingglassblog

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/lookingglass01/

The Ultimate List of Twitter Chats for Beauty, Fashion and Lifestyle Bloggers!

Twitter Chats for Bloggers!

For any new blogger, one of the key goals you have when you start your blog is often to generate more interest in your content and expand your readership. Engaging with social networks can be a great way to interact with other bloggers and get your blog noticed by your fellow bloggers in the blogging community. You can see my post on some of my favourite blogs here: http://bit.ly/194suA9

As many of your blog’s readers are often bloggers themselves, social networking is a vital tool to share your links, increase the audience of your blog and heighten that view count!

Twitter, is in my opinion the easiest and most effective way of networking with other bloggers and participating in Twitter chats is a brilliant way to share your blog with other bloggers and also discover some new reads for yourself!

Not only will you meet some new blogging friends but expand your knowledge of the industry and subjects you have chosen to blog about. The chats usually officially last an hour, but many bloggers will continue chatting after this!

As a beauty blogger with a keen interest in fashion and lifestyle, here’s my pick of the best Twitter chats for my fellow #fblbloggers to get involved with:

Chats

1) #bbloggers- This is probably the biggest and well-known chat for beauty bloggers on Twitter. It’s run by @bbloggerschat from 8pm UK time (3pm EST) every Wednesday and Sunday. Beauty bloggers can tweet with the hashtag #bbloggers at that time to interact with and discuss issues in the beauty blogging community with other bloggers. There will often be a specific chat topic- which bloggers can vote on at http://www.bbloggerschat.blogspot.co.uk or it will just be a general chat with the opportunity to communicate and introduce yourself and your blog to other bloggers.

2) #lbloggers-  The lifestyle bloggers chat hosted by @LbloggersChat also takes place on Sundays from 7pm-8pm UK time or 2pm EST. Bloggers tweeting with #lbloggers can join in with the weekly topic chat. Bloggers can suggest a topic by tweeting the Twitter account and can also apply to be the host of the chat.

3) #fbloggers– For all the fashion bloggers , there’s a specific fashion related chat using the hashtag #fbloggers on Friday nights at 8pm for UK bloggers or 3pm EST. 

4) #sbloggers- Student bloggers like myself can join in with the brand new #sbloggers chat, run by @charleylucy to discuss blogging issues faced by students every Friday 8pm-9pm UK time (3pm EST).

5) #fblchat– Another regular Twitter chat for beauty, fashion and lifestyle bloggers is run by @fashbeautylife and takes place every Tuesday at 8pm or 3pm EST. This uses the hashtag #fblchat and the weekly topic  is voted for by participating bloggers themselves using a poll on the Twitter page.

6) #BlogHour– This is a popular Twitter chat for bloggers of all genres hosted by @UKBlogAwards  with the hashtag #BlogHour and begins at 9pm UK time every Tuesday or 4pm EST.

7) #BlogTrends For all you night owls living in the UK, @BlogTrends hosts the #BlogTrends twitter chat every Monday at 2am for UK bloggers or at 9pm EST. The chat focuses on how beauty, fashion and lifestyle blogs can improve their blogs and increase their readership as a result.

8) #iFabboTweetMeets– Another American Twitter chat that’s perfect for UK insomniacs is the #iFabboTweetMeets, hosted by @ifabbo. It takes place fortnightly on Wednesdays 9pm EST or 2am Thursdays UK time. This chat is for fashion and beauty bloggers and is a great source for learning about networking with brands.The next chat will be held on Wednesday 5th February 2014 for American bloggers or the early hours of Thursday 6th February for bloggers from the UK. It will then run every other week from there.

9) #beautychat– Another one for the beauty bloggers, #beautychat created by @beautyhigh, begins on Fridays at 2pm EST or 7pm UK time. This American based beauty chat offers a fantastic opportunity for bloggers to connect with high-end brands such as MAC and Illamasqua!

10) #psbloggers– This chat is for plus size bloggers and is held every Sunday from 9pm UK time (4pm EST).

11) #tbloggers- If you’re a teenage blogger, check out the #tblogger Twitter chat hosted by @teenbloggerchat. This chat takes places every Saturday at 8pm UK time and every Thursday at 9pm UK time (or 3pm Saturdays and 4pm Thursdays on EST time). This is a great opportunity to network with other teenage bloggers!

12) #Mybchat-A new Twitter chat has recently started by @MarketYrBlogCht discussing how to increase exposure for your blog and work effectively with brands. This runs on a Tuesday at 7pm UK time (2pm EST) using the hashtag #mybchat. The Chat took place for the first time last week and proved popular with bloggers- even trending in the UK!

The large volume of blog chats available to bloggers may appear slightly overwhelming, but if you have commitments meaning you can’t always participate every week, don’t worry!

You can always participate next time or search the hashtag and catch up on what you have missed after the chat!

I hope you enjoyed my ultimate Twitter chat list and please comment with any chats you love or think I may have missed below and I will add them to the list!

Alice xx

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Twitter: @looking_glass01

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/aliceinthelookingglassblog

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Beauty Resolutions!

beauty resolutionsI hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to what 2014 may bring for you!

I thought I would just do a quick post to thank everyone who read and (hopefully) enjoyed my blog in 2013 and share my 2014 beauty resolutions with you!

My Beauty Resolutions

1) Take better care of my skin. I have to admit I’m rather lazy when it comes to skincare and having spot prone skin, I should probably spend a bit longer ensuring I remove all traces of make-up from my face and moisturise daily.

2) Try some more adventurous lip colours. I love lip products, probably too much… but I would like to step out of my comfort zone with the colours next year and try out some brighter shades.

3) Eat healthier. This might not seem like an obvious beauty resolution but I definitely subscribe to the notion that we ‘are what we eat.’ I hope by eating a healthier diet, I can improve the appearance of my skin, hair and nails and not just my waistline! You can read my post on the importance of healthy eating ft. an interview with Marco Pierre White himself here: http://bit.ly/1a8uEQj.

4) Use up the products I already own. As most beauty junkies will know, the temptation to buy new makeup products when you don’t necessarily ‘need’ them is very high! This year I’m going to try and only buy things when I have run out of a similar product. Though I have to be honest, I don’t anticipate this resolution lasting very long…

5) Organise my make-up. I am probably the untidiest person you could ever meet but I’m hoping to change this in 2014 by sorting through my bedroom- my makeup organisation is at the top of my ‘to do’ list!

I hope you enjoyed reading my beauty resolutions and I will leave you with my top three most popular posts of 2013:

1) Celebrity Interviews ft. interviews with Towie’s Sam Faiers, MIC’s Jamie Laing & X Factor’s Sam Callahan-http://bit.ly/19mdTAH
2) How Much Is My Face Worth?-http://bit.ly/1cWsahX
3) Ten Top Money Saving Beauty Tips-http://bit.ly/1kA80C9
What are your beauty resolutions for 2014?
I would love to hear them in the comments section! 
Alice xxx

The Sunshine Award!

What is the Sunshine Award?

I was delighted to be nominated by the lovely Lucille from http://pinkleopardlipstick.blogspot.co.uk for The Sunshine Blogging Award.

For those of you who don’t know, this award is for positive and creatively inspiring other bloggers. As a new blogger, I’m so excited to be a part of this! Thank you Lucille!

So if you would like to learn more about me, please read on!

Sunshine AwardThe Rules

The Rules are as follows:

1) Share 11 facts of your choice about yourself.

2) Answer the 11 questions set by the blogger who nominated you.

3) Nominate 11 bloggers of your choice.

4) Include 11 questions for the bloggers you have nominated to answer.

11 Facts About Me

1) I’m currently studying for my masters in Broadcast Journalism.

2) I’m a vegetarian and I love animals.

3) I’m obsessed with everything to do with Harry Potter and I’m not ashamed to admit I wish Hogwarts was real…

4) The vast majority of things I own are the colour pink.

5) I think The Vampire Diaries is one of the best TV shows ever made.

6) I’m probably the worst procrastinator I know- I’m desperately trying to stop this but have had no luck yet!

7) I really want a pet micro pig as I think they are unbelievably cute (but then again, who doesn’t!)

8) It’s my ambition to write fiction books one day.

9) I think I’m addicted to chocolate.

10) If it’s glittery or sparkly, I usually want to buy it.

11) Listening to music and singing (usually to myself) makes me so happy.

Lucille’s Questions To Me

1) What’s your favourite low-end makeup brand?

I love lots of low-end drugstore makeup brands but I’ve been particularly impressed by Maybelline’s products at the moment! Their The Rocket and Colossal mascaras are fantastic and their baby lips lip balms and colour tattoo cream eyeshadows are so amazing for the price!

2) Name one celebrity you would love to meet.

There’s so many celebrities I would be ridiculously excited to meet but I would absolutely love to meet Emma Watson. She’s beautiful stylish, down to earth and intelligent and I think she’s an amazing role model for young women. Plus she happened to be in Harry Potter, my favourite film franchise ever so I would definitely love to quiz her about that!

3) What is the best advice you have ever been given?

That ‘you make your own luck.’ This is my godfather’s favourite saying and I think that while we all need a little bit of luck, exciting things will come our way if we work hard for them.

4) What’s one experience that you will never forget?

Skiing in Lake Tahoe in Nevada was amazing, being able to see the desert while you’re knee deep in snow is pretty surreal!

5) What’s one present you want to get this Christmas?

The Urban Decay Naked 3 palette is most definitely on my Christmas list! I’ve heard it’s coming out mid December so that’s perfect timing for the Christmas stocking! I’m in love with the original Naked palette and the rose gold hues in the Naked 3 palette look equally as incredible!

6) Who’s your celebrity crush?

I know this seems like I’m taking the Harry Potter obsession a bit far but I think Daniel Radcliffe is perfect- he’s gorgeous, intelligent and humble.

7) What one country would you love to live in?

I’ve always been fascinated with America, I would really love to live there one day and it’s my life’s ambition to visit every single state- USA watch out!

8) What’s your favourite hot/cold drink?

My favourite hot drink has to be the British favourite of a cup of tea- it seems to solve all life’s stresses and is the perfect antidote if you’ve had a bad day! My favourite cold drink is probably Diet Coke as it’s so refreshing, especially on a hot day (not that we get many of those here in Britain!)

9) What was your favourite subject at school?

My favourite subject at school was always English because I love writing and day-dreaming up lots of creative things- that’s why I love blogging!

10) What’s your favourite high-end makeup brand?

This is a hard one- I love Mac and Illamasqua, but my favourite high-end brand at the moment has to be Urban Decay. Their eyeshadows are incredibly pigmented and their All Nighter spray always sets my makeup perfectly- plus they’re cruelty free!

11) If you were only allowed to shop at one shop for the rest of your life what would it be?

I would choose T.K Maxx (or T.J. Maxx if you’re an American reader) because then you could buy designer makeup, clothes and homeware all in one place all at much lower prices. This may be slightly cheating as I think you could get pretty much all you needed there for life (apart from maybe enough food)!

My 11 Nominated Bloggers 

1) Nykki from http://www.josephinenychole.com

2) Katie from http://subtlecoral.blogspot.co.uk

3) Michelle from http://thoushaltnotcovet.net

4) Beky Lou from http://www.bekylou.com

5) Georgina from http://www.shemightbeloved.com

6) Sera from http://www.theagoraphobicfashionista.com

7) Becky from http://lipgloss-and-lashes.blogspot.co.uk

8) Diane from http://stylecontext.com

9) Gemma from http://www.alittlegemm.blogspot.co.uk

10) Cat from http://www.whatcatsays.blogspot.co.uk

11) Georgina from http://www.makeup-pixi3.com

11 Questions For My Nominated Bloggers To Answer!

 1) Why did you decide to start your blog?

2) If you could only take one makeup item to a desert island what would it be?

3) What would be the soundtrack to your life?

4) Who would you want to play you in a film about your life?

5) Would you rather be able to talk to animals or speak all the languages in the world?

6) If you could be invisible, read peoples’ minds or fly, which superpower would you pick and why?

7) Which two celebrity guests (alive or dead) would you invite to your dinner party?

8) What is the best present you have ever received?

9) What’s your favourite beauty product to use in the winter months?

10) If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you would buy?

11) What’s your best makeup tip/trick? 

I hope you enjoyed this post and I’d love to read your answers to any of the questions above in the comments!

Alice xx

How Much Is My Face Worth?

Buying makeup is an expensive necessity for most of us, but how much money are we really spending on our face?

Well, after seeing this tag covered by many of my favourite beauty bloggers and feeling particularly inspired by Subtle Coral’s version, I decided to give it a go!

So I began  the rather scary task of finding out how much my daily makeup routine was costing me!  I’m rather glad this didn’t count my shameful and ever-growing makeup collection, because the results of this were pretty eye-opening! I also didn’t include skincare or makeup tools so my total is purely for the makeup products I would use on a day to day basis!

The  products in this post are what I would normally use for glamorous (but not ott) everyday makeup. Though I must admit this makeup look is for the (sometimes rare) times when I listen to the alarm clock and get up early enough to put my full ‘face’ on!

So here it goes…

All my Makeup!

All my daily makeup!

Face Products

My Face Makeup!

Daily Face Makeup!

Smashbox Photo Finish More than Primer Blemish Control- £28.00

Smashbox Liquid Halo HD Foundation in shade 3-  £27.50

Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder- £6.99

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Shade 006 warm beige- £3.99

Collection Lasting Perfect Concealer in Shade 3 Medium £4.19

Sleek Blush in shade Rose Gold- £4.49

Total: £75.16

Eye Products

Daily eye makeup!

Daily Eye Makeup!

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion (comes free with Urban Decay naked palette)

Urban Decay Original Naked Eyeshadow Palette £37.00

Loreal Volume Million Excess Mascara in Black £10.99

Rimmel Scandaleyes Lycra Flex Mascara in Black £6.99 (yes I feel I must use two mascaras…)

HD Brow Palette in Vamp £19.96

Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil in shade 061 Jet Black £2.99

Barry M Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in Black- £5.49

Total: £83.42

Lip products

Daily lip products!

Daily Lip Products!

Maybelline Baby Lips lip balm in Peach Kiss £2.99

Sally Hansen Lip Inflation Lip Plumper £6.39

 Total: £9.38

Grand Total: £167.96

My £166 Face!

My £167.96 Face!

Although my total is pretty terrifying. These products will (hopefully) last me a very long time so I should get my money’s worth! Also, the prices listed are at the standard RRP and I know I will have taken advantage of some store deals to get some of my products for cheaper than their full price!

I tag these bloggers and all you other lovely people to work out how much your face is worth! :

  1. Lisa from http://lisabella-x.blogspot.co.uk
  2. Shay from http://www.whatsontheblog.co.uk
  3. Martyne from http://www.goingtheextrastyle.com
  4. Gabriella from http://brightongirlblogger.com
  5. Scarlett from http://scarlettlondon.com
  6. Kate from http://www.prettylittleus.com