November 6, 2008

Lush Snow Showers Solid Perfume Review

Tis that special time of the year kids when Lush presents us with the Muse’s second favorite Holiday item from Lush!

We know Muse, we know!

It’s snowcake!

Shhhh! Don’t be so quick there lovies! I said SECOND favorite! It’s not Snowcake but it’s almost as good! It’s Snow Showers!

Yay!!!!!

Cure the music, strike up the band, let’s celebrate good times come on! We need Kool & The Gang to help us with this one!

What? I couldn’t embed the original Kool & The Gang video so you’ll have to settle for the Chipmunks! Sorry ’bout that! Yaaawhooooooooooooo! No matter how many times I hear that song (especially when I’m on a cruise) it never gets tiring!

Celebrationnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!! Let’s all Celebrate and have a good time!

Anyway.

As I listen to the original version of Celebration and you listen to the Chipmunks screech your ear off I’ll give you the deets on Lush Snow Showers!

Excited?

Lush Snow Showers was originally renamed Champagne Snow Showers. The Muse isn’t sure why or when but the name evovled into simply Snow Showers….she actually kinda misses the old name as it was quite fitting for what Snow Showers actually smelled like.

Snow Showers has come and gone in various bath bombs but it sticks around for most of the Holiday Season in Lush Jelly form and Lush Solid Perfume. The Muse is not particularly fond of Lush Jellies but she admits that come the Holiday she indulges in purchasing some Snow Shower Jelly to ring in the new season!

Snow Showers carries the wonderful smell of wild oranges and cognac while managing to tickle your nose with an effervescent fresh citrus scent that’s reminiscent of a cold bottle of Champs on ice!



Although I’m not the biggest fan and supporter of Lush Solid Perfumes I do admit that when I got Lush Snow Showers Solid Perfume I was quite happy to see the formula has improved slightly! I felt like this year the solid had quite a good strong, throw when applied! I like tucking this into my purse for touch ups when I’m wearing my very rare bottle of Snow Showers perfume that I got from a UK Forum Party a year or two ago.

Honestly, taking into consideration that the fabulous scent of Snow Showers is only available in Jelly and Solid form the Muse does suggest and recommend nabbing one or both as the scent is intoxicatingly addicting and well worth checking out for yourself! The Muse guarantees you won’t be able to resist it’s gorgeous allure!

Lush Solid Perfume in Snow Showers makes a guest starring appearance in this Muse’s makeup bag!

Get yours from Lush before they are gone! Don’t want to have to wait till next Holiday to indulge do you?

Lush Perfume

Lush Solid Perfume

B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful Perfume

5 Comments

November 6, 2008

Sephora Haulin’

I came, I saw, I conquered Sephora’s Friend & Family Sale!

W00t!

I ended up doing all my own personal purchases and gift purchases for friends and family on the same order. I normally like keeping them seperate because I like to budget my own purchases but this year I just gobbed it all together!

Sadly, it wasn’t as thrilling as it would be if I wasn’t a blogger. I tend to end up purchasing things way early so I can get reviews up here. If I waited for Sephora FF I’d be WAY late on reviews so I just indulge early! But I did get a few items that had my eye and will review them all for you when they arrive of course!

Here’s the final list (I think that’s all of it!):

Kate Von D Rock n Roll Eyeshadow in Air Guitar and Confessional
NARS Single Eyeshadow in Emmanuelle
Korres Eyeshadow in 24S Gold
Korres Sugar Plums Gift Set
Stila Eyeshadow Duo in Terracotta
Bare Escentuals Extreme Glimmers Kit
NARS Eyeshadow Duo in Persepolis and Mediteranee
YSL Bow Lip Palette

I won’t be posting gifts I brought as my friends and some family members read my blog! Don’t wanna ruin the surprise!

How about you?

Whatcha haul?

Tell the Muse!



Sephora Friends and Family Coupon Code

Sephora Holiday Catalog 2008

Sephora Friends and Family Checklist

Sephora Friends and Family Discount 2008: Disappointing News

34 Comments

November 6, 2008

Lush Paradise Regained Moisturizer Review

I’ve already did prior reviews on Lush’s brand new facial moisturizers Skin Nanny and Vanishing Cream and today I’ll be wrapping up my review with Lush Paradise Regained Facial Moisturizer.

The Muse remembers a few years ago when Lush Gorgeous Moisturizer was $69.95 USD. In recent years the price has steadily climbed upwards to $85 USD. The Muse swears by Gorgeous and has been using it for quite a long time but as it reached the $85 USD mark the Muse began to sweat bullets at spending so much on her facial moisturizer. However, she did decide that she must do what she must do because indeed Lush Gorgeous is nirvana for her skin.

Recently, Lush introduced Paradise Regained and of course this Muse rushed right out to purchase it and try it out for herself unknown to her that this would be the day she found a cheaper option to her beloved Gorgeous.

Although Gorgeous is facial cream nirvana for me I actually prefer Paradise Regained over it as it has some options that Gorgeous doesn’t offer. Paradise Regained is advertised as a mature skin moisturizer but I think it’s perfectly fine for any skin type. It’s light, it’s refreshing and pure perfect for combination, dry, or normal skin types in my humblest. The moisturizer contains an array of fresh fruits to brighten and revive skin. If you seen some of my Summer FOTD’s you may have spotted a certain dullness to my skin, after using Paradise Regained I feel like my skin has a new life and it been glowing once again!

The formula is very similiar to Gorgeous in that it’s very light and absorbs quite easily. It has natural ingredients to protect skin from the effects of the sun and plenty of wonderful fresh fruits to whiten and brighten the complextion. Taking into consideration what wonders Paradise Regained has done with my skin I have no question that it can easily replace my pot of Gorgeous and at half the price!

Honestly, it’s well worth trying out as it’s a fabulous day cream that isn’t too oily, keeps skin fresh and dewy, erases signs of fatigue all while brightening your skin!

The Muse absolutely loves it and it’s easily become a staple morning moisturizer for her! She recommends checking it out for yourself and gives it a big mighty Muse Approval for purchase as she blames all her good skin days on it lately! Paradise has truly been regained as my skin was lackluster before and now it simply glows!

Picking Apart My Best Feature…My Skin!

Lush Skin Nanny Review

Lush Vanishing Cream Review

10 Comments

November 6, 2008

Avon Bond Girl 007 Eau de Parfum Review

Your mission should you choose to accept it is….

Oh wait wrong movie!

Bond, James Bond.

The Muse got the new Avon Bond Girl 007 Eau de Parfum Spray yesterday and she thinks that she might be able to spray herself down with this and nab some hot Bond action! I’m pretty sure that with one quick spray of this seductive perfume I can easily bag myself Daniel Craig….he’ll never be able to resist me!

Hmmm or maybe I should go with Timothy Dalton circa 1980’s…he was always my favorite Bond….

The new Avon Bond Girl 0007 fragrance is supposedly impossible to resist and from the reviews on the Avon site I guess it’s true!

The Muse tried it out last night and it’s very interesting although not my normal style of perfume considering my tastes run to more sweeter blends. The perfume is quite a seductive, sexy blend of exotic orchid, white peach, and refreshing orange blossom. I honestly got mostly floral from the blend with a very firm dry down of patchouli. I’m normally not a big fan of patchouli but it’s honestly not as bad as you may be thinking since the other key notes in the scent take away from the harshness of the patchouli so you’re getting a rather seduction floral scent with hints of a stronger woodsy musk

The scent manages to linger quite long taking into consideration that it is an Eau de Parfum so it contains a good deal of perfume oils. It lasted at least 8 hours on me after two squirts and I actually felt like two was a bit too much! The fragrance comes housed in a slick curved bottle that displays the peach colored perfume perfectly.

Overall, it’s an interesting parfum and worth checking out considering if you purchase it from Avon for $30 USD you also get a free movie ticket to see the latest Bond film!

Avon Bond Girl 007 is available now from Avon for $30 USD plus your free movie ticket too!



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8 Comments

November 6, 2008

Sephora Friends and Family Checklist

It’s today people! Sephora Friends and Family starts today with a whopping 20% off your entire order! I always look forward to this time of year since it’s a fab time to try out new makeup, stock up on staple items, purchase gifts for friends and family, and of course indulge my own sweet tooth for more makeup! After all we all know the Muse can never have too much makeup!

For a while there I was worried about whether Sephora Friends and Family was going to actually happen but thankfully soon after we got good news and today we are ready to shop till we drop hopefully!

I can’t speak for this year but I did use the code three times last year when I forgot to purchase various items that didn’t end up on my wish list, or I seen something else that caught my interest, or I ended up grabbing a few items for friends, and so on and so forth! This year I’m hopeful I can do the same thing just in case I forget an item or want to go back for second helpings however I’ve prepared myself just in case I can’t and I thought I’d share some of the items I think you should be considering or things that you may already have on your wish list or things you might want to quickly write down since your Muse loves ’em and we all know what the Muse loves is probably awesome…right? Am I putting too much importance on how uber fabulous I am there? Probably but my ego knows no bounds!

I took a few pictures and I’ve included links to reviews if I already reviewed an item here on Musings. If you need help or have a question about any of the items I mention here do shout it in my comment box as I’d love to be of service! I’d also love to hear what you’re hauling so share, share, share! Please? The Muse loves hearing about hauling as much as she loves to haul herself!

Considering Sephora is busy stocking up on palettes and gift sets the Muse thinks it’s a great time to stock up on these items considering the discount! Some of the ones she thinks you should keep your eye on are below!

Bare Escentuals Rocker Eye Kit
Urban Decay Book of Shadows
Urban Decay Sustainable Shadow Box
Vincent Longo Diamante Quad
Bare Escentuals Ruby Collection
Laura Mercier Flawless Face Kit
Urban Decay Essentials
Too Faced Glamor 2 Go Palette
Too Faced Pink Diamond Jewelry Box Palette
Pop Rose Belle Blush Palette
Too Faced Smoky Eye Palette

Now you might not even be thinking about staple products at the moment because you’re so excited about getting new makeup but don’t forget that now is such a great time to grab some staple items that you use daily and may be running low on or better yet to have a back up handy when you are! At 20% off it’s a great time to nab concealers, skincare, foundations, primers, etc….Some the ones the Muse thinks you should have on your list are below.

Philosophy When Hope is Not Enough
Philosophy Microdelivery Wash
Cargo Blu_Ray Concealer
Benefit Lemon-Aid
Benefit Powderflage
Benefit Boi-ing
Dior Radiance Booster Pen
YSL Touche Eclat

Laura Mercier Concealer
Make Up For Ever Lift Concealer
DERMADoctor Wrinkle Revenge Eye Balm

Of course, we’re all hyper about makeup! We want as much makeup out of this deal as we can get! Right? Glosses, shadows, blushes, the more, the merrier!

The Muse has selected some of her personal favorites that she thinks you might like too! Check it out:

Urban Decay Deluxe Eyeshadow
Urban Decay Eyeshadow
Bare Escentuals Glimmer
theBalm Overshadow

Mascara, mascara, mascara! Now is a rather great time to grab some mascaras you’ve been dying to try out but not wanting to splurge on! The Muse picked out a few that she thinks you might love:

Lorac Visual Effects Mascara
Dior Diorshow Iconic Mascara
Bare Escentuals Big Tease Mascara
Bare Escentuals Brushless Mascara
Givenchy Phenomen’ Eyes Mascara

Nothing can begin without foundation! The Muse knows of some she thinks you’ll want to nab at a discount!

Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer
Keyvn Aucoin The Sensual Skin Enhancer
Too Faced Illuminating Magic Wand Foundation
Benefit Play Sticks

Primers can be costly so now is a great time to stock up on old favorites or try out a new primer at a discounted price!

Tricia Sawyer Skin Balancing Water Primer
Philosophy Never Let Them See You Shine
Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch
Make Up For Ever HD Primer
Urban Decay Primer Potion

There are so many powders and blushes that the Muse absolutely loves but some are rather costly! Now is a great time to update your blush wardrobe with some new shades! Check below for ones that the Muse loves!

NARS Blush
Bare Escentuals Blush
Stila Convertible Color

Can’t forget lipsticks and glosses can we? Many have run across the Muse’s path this year and some of her favorites are on her list to stock up on during Sephora Friends and Family!

Urban Decay Lipstick
NARS Lipgloss
Too Faced Mirror Mirror Gloss
Stila Lipglaze
Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited
Dior Addict Ultra Reflect Lipgloss

Finish up your greatest eye look with an equally fab liner! The Muse choose a few she loves below!

NARS Eyeliner
Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner
Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Liner

Last minute bits and bobs can quickly be added to your cart! Some items the Muse suggests nabbing are Benefit’s powders such as Dandelion and Dallas! Don’t forget stains! The Muse swears by a good stain and listed a few favorites below!

Benefit Face Powders
Stila Cherry Crush
Vincent Longo Lip and Cheek Stain

Well I think that’s all for now guys! Plenty more awaits you I’m sure and your lists must be as long as mine! Better check ’em twice and make sure you have all the yummie goodies in place and start shopping!

Happy Days!

Don’t forget to stop back here and tell the Muse all the deets on YOUR order!

16 Comments