Francesca's Collection: another place for stylish dresses

While in the US visiting family, I discovered a new shop - well it's new to me! Also just found out, it does appear to be a chain with shops all over the US (sorry UK and other country readers!), so it's worth sharing, I thought. 

Francesca's Collection carries cute little dresses that are right up my alley. They also carry little gifts and other accessories as well. On the website they also have shoes and boots, but the actual physical shop I visited, didn't. 

I did end up picking up a couple of dresses, one of which was the recital lace dress above (US $48.00). They're currently having a 'Buy one, get one 50% off' special on apparel. Sadly, the other dress I didn't see on the website, otherwise I'd share it with you!

I'm pleased with my find! Did you already know about this place?

L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss 810 Pearl Blonde Review

I know it's been ages since I bought it, but I finally got around to trying the L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss in 810 Pearl Blonde.

The product promises 'super soft' and 'super glossy' hair in this no ammonia hair colourant that washes out in 28 shampoos.

Here's what I found.

I followed the instructions for already-coloured hair as I really wanted to disguise my roots a bit before I get my hair professionally done again. This meant leaving the mixture on my roots for 15 minutes, then adding the rest of the hair for the remaining 5 minutes. So the whole process is 20 minutes total.

The packaging and instructions were clear and easy to follow. The gloves were decent quality, coming in a little plastic tube. Easy-peasy.

The results...

After rinsing the first time, the tips felt a bit dry, but honestly I've not had my hair feel like this, well ever! Okay, that's not true. I found my hair felt like this when I was using TRESemmé Split Remedy Shampoo and Conditioner. Days later my hair still feels heavy and sticky. My hair has never felt like this before.  I know my hair looks shiny in the picture above, but it didn't feel soft!

It did work for disguising my roots though. So I guess it wasn't a total loss.

So no, I would not recommend this AT ALL. While the colour isn't too different from that on the box, it has absolutely wrecked my hair. It's been a week and even with intense conditioning, my hair still feels heavy, greasy, and yucky. I would avoid this at all costs.

Have you had better luck with L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss?

Lunasol Petal Pure Eyes Review: Sweet Peach

It's seriously about time I got around to reviewing this eyeshadow palette from Lunasol's 2012 Spring release:

Petal Pure Eyes in 01 Sweet Peach

Like all Lunasol palettes it comes in the classic mirrored bronze cases and has Lunasol patterned into the bottom two shades of the palette.

This palette is called 'Sweet Peach' which immediately made me think of Peach from Wedding Peach.

Peach, in the style of Mucha

I would describe these shades from left to right, top to bottom as:

• sparkly shimmer highlighter
• sparkly pale pink
• sparkly beige pink
• sparkly deep dark brown

Now for the swatches.

I love this palette. It's very wearable and full of shimmery sparkle. I often wear this as an everyday work look. As usual, another Lunasol palette that is OL friendly (Office Lady). :)

This retails for 5,000 yen and is now available at Ichibankao. 

Hart of Dixie's Lemon inspired dress

I was browsing over at ModCloth and saw this beautiful little number which made me think of Lemon from Rachel Bilson's new TV series Hart of Dixie. Hart of Dixie is about a New York doctor who through a wacky chain of events ends up in small town Louisiana and is brought to us by the lovelies who brought us Gossip Girl. Lemon is the ultimate Southern Belle and dresses very feminine and retro-tastic. I can't look at this garden sketch dress without thinking it was made for Lemon to wear!

The garden sketch dress is available from ModCloth for USD $129.99

What do you think? Would Lemon wear it? Would you?

TRESemmé Split Remedy Shampoo and Conditioner

I've used a few of TRESemmé's haircare products over the years, so when they realeased a new line called Split Remedy, I thought it was worth checking out.

Split Remedy (US site/UK site) claims to reduce the number of split ends and fix 80% of split ends after 3 uses!

For someone with long locks, that's a serious claim.


So I've given these babies a spin and see if they deliever on their claims:

Less split ends - Yes, a definite reduction in split ends
just cut look - definitely not for me! My hair does not feel smooth or silky, but kind of easily knotted...
frizz-proof - uhm, my hair is pretty frizzy, and I'm not prone to frizzy hair at all

So I found that while it did improve the number of split ends I can see, my hair has been left feeling heavy and greasy. Ya know that feeling you get when you've either over-conditioned or forgot to rinse all the conditioner out? Yep, that one.

It might react differently to different hair. I have thin and fine hair that's usually pretty healthy and shiny. I do colour my hair, but at a salon about 3-4 times a year. My hair is also long, so yes, prone to split ends, but honestly, it's never really bothered me and I haven't had a problem with frizz before. It's usually shiny and sleek with no products other than just a good shampoo and conditioner.

Since my faith in TRESemmé is so high, I did think maybe I was doing something wrong. I've been trying everything with this shampoo and conditioner - including shampoo only, less conditioner, more conditioner, but all coming up with a similiar result.

This is the first time I can honestly say that I'm not sure I want even finish out the bottle on these. What a disappointment.

My hair and Split Remedy just don't seem to have a happy ending.

Dutch Pride Underwear

I was so excited when I saw these cream sketched windmill balcony bra and matching hipster briefs from Floozie by French Frost that I thought I'd share them with you.

These are so adorable! Tulips, windmills, and general Dutch Pride/Love. The lace is even trimmed in orange! Brilliant.

They're currently available from Debenhams. Stock up while you can!

Est Dual Emotion Eyes 02 Review

I want to share one of my favourite eyeshadow palettes with you today: Est dual emotion eyes  (エステ　ヂュアルエモーション　アイズ) in shade 02.

Est is a high-end makeup store brand and part of the Kao Corporation.

This eye palette is my first (and so far only) Est purchase. I debated about trying an Est palette for ages. Mainly because I haven't seen as many reviews online as I have for Lunasol and Jill Stuart. I also haven't had as much a chance to see any Est counters. Est products are also pretty expensive, so I didn't really want to take a gamble with my money. However, I did give this peachy palette in the dual emotion eyes release a spin.

These retail for 5,775 yen and are available at Ichibankao.

No. 2 is what I would call a 'peach' palette, I would describe the four colours in the quad as follows (top row, left to right, then bottom row, left to right):

• gold shimmer
• metallic copper
• frosty peach
• matte brown (with a hint of shimmer)

These colours are sheer, yet the brown is rather pigmented and a perfect everyday palette. The formula and texture on these is so incredibly smooth. Even though it looks pretty sparkly, there's no fallout, and the colours blend really easily. You could apply and blend this shadow with your finger if that's all you had! 

Although Est provide some ideas of how to apply this palette (see below). I suspect they've named it dual emotion eyes because they suggest two ways of applying this look, each using only two of the colours.

I however, used all four colours to create this look.

This has only left me wanting more Est! I can't recommend this highly enough. As it's fairly expensive, it takes me a while to make a choice!

Here are the available shades in Dual Emotion Eyes collection:

I am tempted by 01 (although I'm not sure about the yellowish shade) and 03.

Est also have another eyeshadow series - the Emotional Multiple Eyes collection. I'm attracted to no. 09, although I am intrigued by 06 and 08 as well.

Have I tempted you to try Est? Or even better, have you tried any Est products?

Jill Stuart Jewel Crystal Eyes Jazzy Jasper Review

Jazzy Jasper (10) is one of the two new palettes in the Jewel Crystal Eyes series this Autumn 2012 from Jill Stuart. It's also a brown-based palette! Yes, I've been waiting for this!

Such a lovely palette.  I would describe the colours as follows (from left to right): 

• silvery sparkle (white-base)
• sparkly light pinky peach
• bright peach with shimmer
• chocolate brown with shimmer

I've been waiting for a palette like this from Jill Stuart. See the swatches below.

This is such a lovely combination of colours, and it's really nice to see a brown-based palette in the Jill Stuart collection. The last I can recall from their permanent collection was Amber Glaze (now discontinued), but it was more of a collection of golds and bronzes. This is really lovely for an everyday look. I threw a look together below.

Apologies for the quality of the look - I actually forget not only to take a picture until the end of the day (yes, this is after about 10 hours of wear), but also forgot to apply any mascara. Ah, please tell me I'm not alone in having days like those? :) 

I really am impressed with these, but unless you're dying for these shades from Jill Stuart, you can probably pass on this. I actually found the the two pink/peach shades not the most flattering on my skin. But I am a JS addict, especially for the eye palettes, so couldn't pass this up. I'll definitely be wearing it again. 

Jill Stuart Jewel Crystal Eyes in 10 Jazzy Jasper retails for 5,000 yen and is available now from Ichibankao.

Moon Crisis Power Makeup! Kiss Cosmetics Mix Heart and Mix Moon Review

For some background on Kiss cosmetics and the Mix Heart Blush and Mix Moon Highlighter release, please see my first part of this blog here.

So I'm excited to say that I've got my hands on a Mix Heart blush in 02 Apricot Pink and a Mix Moon highlighter in 01 Pink Sherbert.

Before I can get to my review and the swatches, I have to say that part of the appeal for these for me really was the design. I love the heart and moon motif, and as a Sailor Moon fan, it just reminds me so much of Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon's transformation brooches.

Okay, let's start with the blush: Mix Heart in 02 Apricot Pink

The blushes feature a darker colour with a lighter shimmer colour.

I would describe the two shades in Apricot Pink (02) as a peach and light pink. Both colours have a lot of shimmer. The darker colour leans to the pink side of peach, and is fairly pigmented.

Moving on to the highlighter: Mix Moon in 01 Pink Sherbert

Like the blushes, there are two shades in the Mix Moon compacts. Pink Sherbert is the lighter of the two Mix Moon compacts available. The other looked more beige to me.

I would describe the crescent moon colour as a pale pink, and the lighter shade as white. They both have a lot of shimmer. They were hard to catch on camera, but I think the swatch below does them justice.

I really enjoy using both of these. They apply really well and I find them very wearable. You might not like them if you don't like shimmer. Although you really notice the shimmer in the pan and in the swatches, because you only lightly dust it on your face, it's not that noticeable.

Each comes with a small brush which can fit inside of the clear case (no mirror) and retails for  1,200 yen (before tax) each in Japan, and are available from Ichibankao now. 

I imagine you could live without these, but they are precious and not too expensive. Also they are very good quality, and I'm not disappointed with my purchases at all.

I think Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon would approve as well!

Harvest Moon Giveaway

It felt time for another giveaway :) So this autumn, I'm giving away a few Accessorize Diamond Sparkle Lipglosses.

My inspiration for the giveaway is the September moon also known as the Harvest Moon which will be full this year on September 29th. The Harvest Moon is the moon closest to the autumnal equinox and is (as the name implies) associated with the harvest season. Due to the positions of the earth and the moon, the moon rises early around the equinox, supposedly assisting the farmers by giving them light after the sun has set.

The Harvest Moon is also celebrated in many Asian cultures - this time of year features Autumn moon festivals. The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated by Chinese cultures by indulging in mooncakes (a type of heavy pastry), matchmaking, lighting lanterns, and dragon dances. The Chinese Goddess Chang'e is also central to this celebration. Chang'e lives on the moon along with a hare (rabbit) and together they pound medicine, rice cakes, or mochi (depending on the legend). 

Chang'e gives her worshippers beauty. If she would like to bless me with some beauty, I know I'd be grateful :)

Sadly I don't have the same sway as Chang'e, but what I can offer, my dear readers, is a some lovely Accessorize lipglosses. These are lovely sparkly lipglosses with a scent of vanilla - check out a review over at For the Love of Lipstuff.

Use the Rafflecopter below for your chanc'e to win.

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