Current Loves, Eye of the day and Strawberry Shortcake dolls…

Here are some things that I’m currently LOVING:
1) Gel Eyeliner – I have to rave about gel eyeliner – I’ve been wearing eyeliner for 15+ years – but I’ve only used gel for 3 years – I wish I had discovered it earlier! It does NOT budge – even on your waterline- unlike liquid or pencil liner, so you can have flawless eyes all day. It takes effort to line your eyes perfectly – so it’s nice to know that your hard work won’t wear off until you remove it!

I had avoided gel eyeliner because I thought it was too fussy (with the separate pot and brush) and not very portable. But since you NEVER need to reapply, the fact that it isn’t travel friendly doesn’t matter. If you haven’t used gel eyeliner yet – give it a try – even if you don’t like the classic lined look – you can lightly press it on top of your lash line to make your lashes look fuller.

Partial “Face of the day” – Eyes: Lancome “Coquille” on lid, Lancome “Sunlit” on inner corner, MAC fluidline in “Blacktrack” as liner, Maybelline Falsies Mascara. Lips: Barry M Lip Paint in “Raspberry “and Benefit “I’m With the Band” Gloss

2) Maybelline Falsies Mascara –  This volumizing formula makes my lashes look thicker and holds a curl ALL day! When you apply it – your lashes look instantly dramatic – it really does replicate the look of false lashes. I like it MUCH better than any of the 3 mascaras I reviewed here. I would never have thought to buy this myself, so I was lucky to get this tube from my sister ( I don’t EVER share make-up…but I make exceptions for my sister and mother!) – we have the opposite type of eyelashes (whatever that means) – mascaras that work on her do nothing for me, and vice versa. She hated this formula and found it clumpy – but loves how it looks on my lashes.
3) Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil – I use this setting powder to give me a glowy, airbrushed look. Unlike mineral base powders,  this doesn’t offer much coverage (blemishes will show through unless previously concealed) – yet it somehow creates the illusion of healthy, flawless skin.  The Sephora website describes its effect as “giving the look you see with a soft focus camera lens”. You can try this even if your skin reacts badly to Bare Mineral’s base powders – the ingredient list for Veils are much simpler and don’t contain any bismuth. My BM base can leave my skin itchy – but I never react badly to this (I use the tinted version – there are several finishes available.) I would definitely ask for a sample of this the next time you’re at Sephora.

4) Aura Cacia Almond Oil -I bought this oil 2 years ago during my “natural products” phase…along with Emu oil and Coconut oil. Since I’m trying to use up my existing make-up/toiletries, I switched to this after my Fruits & Passion Body Butter ran out. I like my body products to smell good, so I mixed this with a couple of drops of Rose Essence oil. Oh my goodness – I can’t get over how soft my skin feels after using this! It is so moisturising, softening and long-lasting.  I’ve used other body oils in the past (Coconut Oil and Baby Oil) – this oil is lighter, non-sticky and more moisturising – and you only need a teaspoonful to cover your whole body! I wish I didn’t love it so much since body butters are less messy – but the results are too amazing to pass up. I’m sticking with Almond Oil for body moisturising….although next time I’m going to try it with Vanilla Perfume oil mixed in.

5) Cake Beauty Strawberry Shortcake Collection – the other day I was playing with my daughter and her Strawberry Shortcake dolls (they look totally different – but they still smell as AMAZING as my childhood SSC dolls). The smell is so addictive – and I was wondering why they didn’t sell SSC perfume (I’d sniff it all day long!). Well – it looks like my wishes have been answered! Cake Beauty have come out with a 30th anniversary SSC range consisting of hand cream, body wash, body butter and lip balm. I went to Sephora today to smell the products – they smelled too vanilla-y out of the bottle…but upon application the scent dries down to smell JUST like the dolls – I NEED to purchase something from this line! However, I wish Cake offered a SSC travel set with smaller bottles. I’ve never used Cake products before, and the product sizes are quite intimidating…I don’t want to spend $22 for a huge bottle of bodywash I may not love….

By the way – have you seen these dolls in stores? As part of SSC’s 30th Anniversary, Harbro have re-issued 3 original SSC dolls – they look SO cute – I need 2 boxes – one for me and one for my daughter…I bet they smell amazing too…

6) Painting my nails – The last thing I’ve been loving this week is painting my nails. I love the look of neatly manicured, short and colourful nails. I want to recreate the look of salon manicures at home – and this video has very useful advice. Her technique uses short small strokes to paint a clean edge near the cuticle – which is what I’ve seen manicurists do – rather than the standard magazine article advice of painting “one long stroke down the center of your nail and a small stroke down either side”. My application is FAR from professional – but I’m working on it!  Here are some manicures from this week:

China Glaze “Strawberry Fields”

Sally Hansen’s “Plum’s the Word” and Barry M’s “Dusky Mauve” (Paradoxal dupe)

What are you currently loving? Did you play with Strawberry Shortcake as a child?