Urban Decay Book of Shadows III and FOTD!

I finally received my Urban Decay Book of Shadows III from Debenham's a few days ago and after I jumped up and down in joy for a few minutes, I took a few pics for you guys. There are far more detailed pictures and swatches by Yinka of Vex and the City and also on Lipglossiping you can check out but I wanted to show what the colours looked liked on a darker skin tone like mine. I'm an NW45 in MAC foundations as a reference. I also used it for the first time yesterday and I swallowed my shyness and apprehension to show you my first ever Face of the Day (FOTD) so be kind.

The top of the box

Lift the lid and you get a cool light up, pop-up effect

The shadows with a mini primer potion and 24/7 eyeliners

I took some swatches of the colours and believe me when I say that my camera does them no justice. I took a set without the flash and a set with the flash to give you more of an idea of the true colours in the set.

From left to right:

Perversion- a matte charcoal grey/black colour; Uzi- a silver shade with  silver glitter pieces; Loaded- a deep, dark green; Kush- a bright green with a silvery sheen; Midnight Cowboy Rides Again- a neutral champagne/ beige with glitter chunks; Last Call- pinky purplish; Rockstar- aubergine purple; Money- a platinum with a slight tinge of blue-green.

Haight- a lovely teal; Maui Wowie- a pale gold with glitter; Smog- bronze; Bordello- lighter pink with small bits of gold glitter; Radium- a bright metallic blue; Snatch- a peach with bits of glitter; Suspect- pearlescent dark beige; Psychedelic Sister- medium purple

The set also comes with two of Urban Decay's 24/7 liners in Ransom (a bright purple) and Zero (a jet black) in addition to a mini vial of their primer potion. I've already gone through several "zero" liners and while it goes on great on my upper eye lid, it just doesn't agree with my waterline because it melts itself into the corner of my eyes. I still love their liners though because they go on so damn smoothly! As for the primer potion, there's nothing I can say that hasn't been said before and I heartily recommend using this before applying any eye shadow.


As for the colours, once again my camera really does them no justice. My favourites so far are "money", "haight" and "loaded" but I'm sure that will change from week to week. I absolutely can't stand "uzi" as it's a certified glitter monster. I already own the full-size eye shadow of this I got in a sale a couple of years ago and I've only used it once. The silver glitter pieces really do go EVERYWHERE. The other glittery eye shadows in this collection aren't anywhere as bad as this.


The box itself is quite big so I can't imagine it'd be very portable for everybody but I carry huge bags anyway so I wouldn't blink at carrying this around with me. The packaging is really cool though and the lights in the pop-up section are a nice touch.

Angels with dirty faces

I don't think I'd stepped foot in LUSH since I was about 14, and although I'm not entirely sure what led me to the store in Bluewater last week, I did not leave disappointed. The store still had the distinctive LUSH "smell" but everything seemed a little more glossy and less rustic than I remembered.

I ended up buying a 100g pot of their Dark Angels scrub for £5.50. I was a bit unsure about the purchase at first because a seemed a little pricey for a small tub but trust me, it's well worth the price.

The scrub is made of charcoal, Rhassoul mud, black sugar, and sandalwood and it definitely smells "earthy". it looks likes a lump of soft, black, charcoal paste and you only need a smidgen to cover your whole face. I mix it with a little bit of water before spreading it on my face and then I rub rub away!

The sugar granules felt a bit big at first but they quickly dissolved into smaller pieces. The scrub washes off easily but it leaves your sink/ bath in a bit of a mess, so I guess it's good you're only supposed to use it once or twice a week depending on how oily your skin is. It made my skin feel UH-MAZING! It felt soooo soft and not at all dry. I didn't have that "tight" feeling I often feel after washing my face and this feeling lasted up until I applied my moisturiser. I'm finding it hard to stick to the twice a week thing though because I want to use it everyday but I guess the sugar granules would be hard on sensitive skin every day. Needless to say, I heartily recommend this scrub to everybody, particularly those with oily or combination skin.

PROS: You get a lot of product for the price, leaves skin feeling considerably softer and refreshed, pleasant smell


CONS: The sugar granules are a little large, the product is quite messy and your sink won't thank you!

Love, life, and flawless skin
Domzy x

Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Smoothing Serum

Was there life before Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Smoothing Serum? It sure doesn't feel like it. Suffice to say that I'm absolutely in love with this product! I just got new extensions a couple of weeks ago and this serum has kept my hair looking as good as the day I did it. I use a mixture of Brazilian and Malaysian hair for my extensions and you're only supposed to use "European" hair products on it. I was previously using the popular Frizz-Eaze by John Frieda and while it worked well when my hair was still wet, it could make my hair look borderline greasy if I used even a smidgen too much when it was dry/ drying. The Paul Mitchell Serum works just as well wet or dry and it smells absolutely divine! It tames any flyaway hairs without making my hair looking greasy and it actually looks really good on my own relaxed hair as well.

The serum is really light so it doesn't just sit on your hair like other hair products tend to do. It left my hair with a nice glossy (non-greasy) finish. It's also supposed to reduce drying time but I didn't notice any huge difference personally. It's not available in the usual Boots or Superdrug so you have to go to a professional hairdresser to buy it. Alternatively, you can do what I did and grab a great deal off e-bay! The RRP is a tad pricey at £13.80 for the 100ml but I managed to find the 250ml for about £15 on e-bay and a little really does go a looooong way.

Pros: Smells gorgeous, does exactly what it says on the tin, lightweight, can be used wet or dry


Cons: Don't really have any, except the price I suppose.

Love, life and silky hair Domzy x

Turn around Bright Eyes

For the past few months I've noticed myself getting dark circles around my eyes and although I initially put that down to my failure to remove my eye make-up properly before going to bed (horrible habit I know). However, after trying to be a good girl and actually taking my make-up off properly, I still noticed dark circles around my eyes. I think it may be a general lack of beauty sleep accounting for that though. Anyway, thus begun my search for something to remedy this.

L'Oreal Visible Results Contour Perfector is attempting to do the job right now. I got this on sale for £4.99 down from about £8.00 so I thought I'd give it a try.

I definitely noticed a difference when I first used this as my under-eye area looked significantly brighter. However, on closer inspection, I noticed that it had a slight pale shimmer to it and this was what was causing my eyes to appear lighter. L'Oreal chooses to call this "correcting micro-pigments" and they definitely work. I'm still not 100% sold though because I wonder what's fundamentally different between this and a concealer? I've been using it in the morning and evening and I'll give it a month to see if it makes a difference beyond the superficial. Will my eye area appear lighter even if I haven't applied this product?

For now though, it's doing the job and I recommend it to anybody trying to reduce the look of dark circles around their eyes.


Love, life and light
Domzy x

Dry skin woes

I've spent the better past of the past nine months in Ghana and my skin was never in a better condition. Here I am back in England and I have no idea what on earth has happened to my skin! I guess it really is true what they say about how hard the water is in London and its effect on the skin. My skin now dries out immediately as soon as I come out of the shower and I've noticed dry patches on my cheeks. I use a combination of Bio-oil (will do an extended post on this later) and an anti-inflammatory cream called "Surfaz" , which I discovered in Ghana, and it seems to be working so far.

I avoided Bio-oil on my face while I was in Ghana as I discovered that it was combining with the sun to make my skin even darker. Conversely, my skin looked great darker but I was too cheap to go out and buy a whole new foundation so I had to preserve the NW45 shade! Will keep you updated if my skin improves.

Now my body has also been suffering from the same dry skin syndrome since I came back a few weeks ago and I've been using raw shea butter to remedy the situation. However, my God do you know how annoying raw shea butter is to use?! It's very hard in its natural state and I resorted to filling the sink up with hot water, putting the shea butter in a plastic bowl  and immersing it to melt while I was in the shower. This way it would have softened by the time I was ready to moisturise my skin. But, after forgetting to do this once too many times, I scooped up a coconut and shea butter body butter on sale at Superdrug. It's two for four pounds at the moment and it smells absolutely gorgeous!

 It's nice on my skin and the coconut smell is not too overpowering but I still think I need more moisture so I'm going to melt some of my raw shea butter and mix it in with the body butter and this should hopefully solve my problem. I will let you know how my amateur mixology goes. Is anybody else having a dry skin moment and how are you combating this? I'm definitely open to new ideas.

Love, life and moisture

 Domzy x

Welcome!

Hello all!

The beauty blogging itch can no longer be ignored so here I am. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE make-up and all things beauty-related. I don't claim to be any kind of expert but I know what works for me and I thought I'd share. The days when the selection of make-up for black women were thin on the ground seem to be on their way out and for that we can rejoice. The choice of make-up nowadays is simply mind-boggling and it gives us fewer excuses not to try new things.

My make-up and skincare purchases range from cheapo-central to "did I really spend twenty-three quid on a blusher?" I'm just here to share my thoughts and views on various skincare and make-up purchases/ choices. Hope you enjoy the ride with me!

Love, life and lipgloss,

Domzy