November Favourites - Makeup, Fashion, Candles and Food - Cruelty Free and Delicious 2016

So November has been a kind of funny month. My trip to the Czech Republic at the very start now feels like a lifetime ago, the nights are drawing in, its getting cold and feeling very wintery.

I've tried some new makeup I love, some I wasn't so sold on and rediscovered some old favourites. Some of these have review posts and others will be getting them soon. I'll link anything I've done a full post on. Also if the photos seem a little blurry, I'm sorry. I had a major case of the hiccups and didn't have time to retake them.  

The Sleek Bad Girl i-Divine palette and the Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Palette. I have full reviews of both of these coming out soon, the Sleek one might actually be up by the time this post goes up and the Urban Decay one will follow as part of Blogmas. 

I've been really enjoying combining these. My usual has two top left and bottom right shadows in the Sleek palette combined with most of the top row of the Naked palette, although its also great on its own. The only thing I hated about both these palettes was the applicators that came with them. The Sleek palette had one of those sponge applicator things and the brush that came with the Urban Decay palette kicks off more fallout that I've ever seen. These shadows are great with any other brush, but not that one. C'mon Urban Decay...

Other eye favourites this month. I <3 Makeup Eyeliner in Channeling My Inner, Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper and Freedom Duo Brow Powder in Caramel Brown. These two eyeliners have been staples in my makeup bag this month. The I <3 Makeup pencil is one of my favourite brown liners ever. Its soft and blendable with a gorgeous copper sheen to it. It also lasts all day. The Kat Von D liner has a super thin, but its also firm enough to draw a good line. I can see me getting a full sized one of these once this little guy is finished.  The Freedom brow powder has been a favourite for a while now. As you can see from the swatches, its not super pigmented but that's all I need. In the past I tried penciling in my browns, or using coloured pomade or tinted mascara, but my brows are fairly thick and defined so most things make them feel over done. This powder is all I need to simply fill in the patchy bits nearer the ends of them to them looking a bit thin. 

Face product wise I've been loving the Naked Skin Weightless Concealer from Urban Decay in light neutral. I've never found a concealer that's a good match for me. I always find that high street ones are always either far to warm or far to cool for me. I went and got colour matched for this one and its a good match (guess I maybe should have swatched it for you). Its also really nice and blendable. I also got the foundation from this range and am planning on a wear test post, hopefully as part of Blogmas but no guarantees. Then we have the Freedom Pro Glow in Meow, the first wrist swatch is everything swirled together and the second is a more concentrated one using the circle in them middle. I've been loving this for days when I'm feeling more lazy and just want something to add a little something to my cheeks. The third product is the Sleek Blush in Rose Gold. This colour and the swatch looking really intimidating but when you use it lightly on a fluffy brush it gives the most gorgeous. soft, rosy glow. The gold shimmer is also super cute. Both these products are super affordable as well. 

My two absolute favourite lip products of November are both NYX. The first is the Lip Lingerie in Embellishment. I've already done a full review of this here so I'm not going to go on about it. The other is the NYX Matte lipstick in Eurotrash. I have a full review of this and another matte lipstick from the range going up during Blogmas, its already finished so that will probably go up within the next week or so. I wore it pretty much every day last week and its just the perfect nude matte lipstick for work and if I'm not doing anything fancy.

So onto other favourites. I got this bag before Halloween and have used it loads. I love it. Ursula has always been my favourites, she has an awesome musical number and spends all day chilling in a killer dress and getting food from her henchmen. Those are my life goals in a nutshell. Also it saves me 5p every time I remember to use it (in Scotland you have to pay for plastic bags, unless they're coming directly in contact with food and keeping it sanitary).

I've been loving my pins too, I got the Hufflepuff Quidditch colours pin when I was in Florida and it currently chilling on the collar of my winter coat. I've had a lot of compliments and it reminds me of sunnier times. The wooden stags head came from CherryLoco Jewellery, a Glasgow based company I own a fair amount of stuff from including my sleeping fox necklace. I'm currently trying to work out how to fit getting one of the Gingerdead Men pins into my meticulously planned budget. Folk keep asking what I want for my Birthday, I might tell the next person that asks I want that. The Critical Hit and French Fancy ones are from Kitty's Kitschenette and when I was trying to find that link I remembered why I stopped looking at her website. I want it all! She has a Wednesday Addams brooch up. I might need to ask for that too. I love the Addams Family and Wednesday was always my favourite. 

Burnables wise, these two have emerged as my Winter 2016 favourites. There's the Wickford and Co. Gingerbread candle and the Airwick Mulled Wine by the Fire colour changing candle. I've raved about both of these on Instagram (find me here cough). I love all the festive, spicy, gingery, cinnamony smells that are out there right now so I've bought a lot of candles and a lot of backups recently. The Gingerbread candles wins the award for overall best though. The huge jar, and by huge I mean the same size as the biggest Yankie Candle I've ever seen, is £2.99 from Home Bargains and it smells like exactly like fresh gingerbread biscuits, When I lived at home my little brother used to bake them a lot so it brings back memories. I'm not even half way through the first one, even thought I've burnt it for what feels like days, and I have two backups. Hopefully that will keep me going for a while. The colour changing candle is more just fun to watch. Flames and a light show. I did manage to make it colour change without lighting it, but I'm not sure how. Also you can trigger it by just passing a lighter near it. Not sure how it works but it sure is pretty. 

My last two favourites are delicious. The first is the M&S Christmas Mulled Fruit Infusion Tea. This stuff is amazing. It smells like, and, if drank when piping hot, tastes like mulled wine but is office appropriate. I have boxes squirreled away everywhere, home, office, boyfriends. Heck, I've have a backup in my handbag if there was space. Everyone I've given this too seems to love it as well and I managed to survive two days when I didn't have milk (because I forgot in town and was too lazy to cross two roads and go to the shop directly across the street once I was home) drinking this and I normally need my breakfast tea. Just don't let it get cold because then it tastes awful. Its one of those herbal teas. 

My other favourite is Lebkuchen. Whilst this isn't ever not a favourite, cause gingerbread is the best, its finally in the shops and acceptable for me to eat lots of it. This one is especially nice and is a new discovery this year, its the Nuremberg assortment from Lidl and has walnuts, almonds, cashews and hazelnuts through it. I'm surprised this lasted long enough for me to photograph it. So yummy. 

Thats all for now duckies.

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

Boots Ingredients Lotus Flower & Tiger Lily Radiance & Brightening Sheet Mask Review - Cruelty Free

A couple of weeks ago I tried the Ingredients Charcoal and Willow Bark Mask and as I didn't hate it as much as I expected and I had really good results, I thought I would try another one. 

I had three to pick from, but this week has been long and could do with a boost, so I chose this one. Its the Lotus Flower & Tiger Lily, Radiance & Brightening Sheet Face Mask. 

So this mask is a little different to the first one. When I opened the packed the first thing I noticed was a faint floral smell, pleasant but not the slightest bit overpowering. Also, unlike the Charcoal one, the fluid with this one is a thin, milky cream and not a thick, slimy gel, which was far far nicer to deal with.

Just like before the sheet was huge, so so huge, but it did feel like it was made of something softer than the previous one. I did see somewhere this one was listed as a tissue mask, not a sheet mask, so it might be made of something different.

A couple of minutes in this happened and I ended up having to cut the cupids bow area off as it was getting in my mouth. This mask didn't sting as intensely as the other, but did tingle for longer (and I love me some tingle). I also feel like it began to dry out quicker than the other one, but not so fast it caused problems. 

When I took it off and rubbed the excess serum in, my skin did feel moisturised and look healthy. I wasn't sure how much the mask had actually done though, and decided to hold off judging it till the next morning.

....

So after using this mask, I had a bit of a disturbed nights sleep (nothing new for me) so I'm not sure if I would have had better results if I had got a solid 8 hours. My skin did look nice and refreshed, but I don't feel it did much more than just a nice moisturiser would have done.  And with a nice moisturiser I wouldn't have had to sit for 15 minutes doing nothing and trying not to get parts of it in my eyes or mouth. 

Overall it was fun, but I don't think the results are worth the hassle and I'm not going to repurchase it. I have already repurchased a couple of the charcoal ones, and am waiting of my skin to inevitably flare up again so I can see if the results were just a coincidence or not. Hopefully the second time around is better now I know what to expect.

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

Black Friday 2016 - Urban Decay and Kiko Milano Bargains - Cruelty Free and Gorgeous Finds

I originally hadn't  planned on buying anything over Black Friday. Its not a UK thing and I hadn't been expecting the high street here to offer anything. Also I really didn't need any more make up. 

That being said.... Debenhams sent me another £5 beauty club voucher (I had one two weeks ago when I bought the Naked Ultimate Basics palette) and had a further 10% off all beauty. I decided to wander through and just check if there was anything I wanted, that was my first mistake.

The moment I got as far as the Urban Decay counter I realised I was splashing some cash. I had thought about getting the Spectrum palette, but I realised I already had a bunch of bright palettes that I never ever used. My other option was the new Moondust palette. On one hand I was like its really glittery and you only want it cause its shiny. On the other hand, I really don't own anything this sparky or shimmery, well not that has such insane colours. So it would be filling a gap in my collection. You already know which hand one.

So with the discount and my £5 off I got this for £26.50, so I saved £8.50, which I thought was really good.

More gorgeous photos. I'm going to do a full first impressions post on this palette with swatch photos and the like as part of Blogmas. It wont be a full review as I would want to use it for two straight weeks before hand and I wont be doing that because its not something I would be wearing day to day normally.

The only other place I went was Kiko Milano on Saturday. Again I hadn't planned on it but they were doing a buy 3 get 3 free. I don't own many Kiko products but had heard good things and was always swatch brilliantly when I go for a lunch time wander up to the Buchanan street store. 

I ended up getting four lip and two eyes products, and only paid for three of them. It was a really good deal if you just wanted to buy things to have a play with. We need to start by talking about how much they are killing it with the packaging. The lipgloss and lipstick in the middle both look and feel so luxurious. So much love.

So left to right I got the: Unlimited Double Touch Liquid Lipstick in 101 Soft Rose, 3D Hydra Lipgloss in 22 Sparkling Red Garnet, New Unlimited Stylo Lipstick in 17 Tulip Red and the Everlasting Colour Precision Liner in 415 Sangria.

I know it seems completely out of character for me to willingly buy a lipgloss but I've swatched the Hydra Glosses a couple of times in store and never found them sticky on my hands. I have tried this on my lips since I took the swatch photos and it is not sticky at all. The glitter does make it slightly grainy but its not an issue (much rather have slightly grainy that super sticky). It also looks so pretty. I might need to get more of these, but that's an after Christmas thing.

The last thing I picked up was two of the long lasting stick eyeshadows in 06 Golden Brown and 21 Passion Fruit. These are also something I've swatched in store and man do they cling to the skin. I am really excited to use these on my eyes and see how they last. I'm also hoping they might speed up my morning routine if they're something I can just rub on, blend a bit and go. I'll let you know how that goes.

Did you get any awesome Black Friday bargains? Let me know what you got or leave me a link in the comments

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

Review: Lush Goth Fairy Shimmer Bar - Cruelty Free Skin Care

When I did my Halloween Lush Haul in early October (post here) the wee Goth Fairy bar was one I wasn't sure about reviewing. How would I go about it? Its not like I have anything to judge it against. Then I fell in love with it and wanted to share my thoughts regardless. 

Can we start by just discussing how cute this little spookle is? So adorably cute. She a lovely lilac colour and smells a lot like snow fairy, or for those those who aren't familiar with Lush, old school raspberry Calpol. Its really sweet, but also nice. I'm more a fan of earthy, floral or citrus scents, but the Snow Fairy Christmas scent from Lush is one I make an exception for.

So what does it do? It's somewhere between a moisturiser and a body glitter, which I know sounds like something I would not enjoy, but I really do. 

Fun fact, I'm writing this post in the background. 

As you can see from the photo, I am a) wearing matching pyjamas that have stars on them, and b) my arm is sparkly. That gorgeous smell I mentioned before last a really long time on the skin. It's also moisturising, but not heavy or greasy, and the moisturiser soaks in very, very quickly. Like most of what I mention on this blog, I really like it. 

The Lush website states that it has almond oil in it that provides "Hydration for skin and hair". I have a theory you could use it on your hair before a big night out, like the glitter spray you used to get in the late 90's/early 00's. I'm not sure why you would want to do that, but I think you could and it would probably be quite good for your hair. If anyone wants to do that, for science, then please please let me know how it goes. 

XOXO Scruffy 

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

Natural Collection Eyeshadow Singles and Duo's Review and Swatches - Cruelty Free Cosmetics

Between the ages of 11 and 14 I probably owned more Natural Collection cosmetics than I should admit to. Their products were never good but even back then they were the cheapest on the market and when I started to make some money working after school, they got binned in favour of Rimmel (I wasn't cruelty free back then) and Barry M.

11 years on and I needed some makeup to create a day to day zombie look. I didnt want to spend any more than a tenner and wanted it all to be cruelty free. Makeup Revolution was my first choice but I couldn't find a palette that fitted my vision when I was buying them. I did actually end up using the Light and Shade palette (the "dupe" of Kat Von D Shade and Light one) for my makeup and not touching these. Make of that what you will. 

I held onto them though as I figured it would still be fun to see if things have improved since the last time I owned any Natural Collection. Then again, their foundation retails for £1.99 so maybe expecting anything is expecting to much. 

LtR: Snowstorm, Sky and Blackcurrant/Violet 

So lets start with packaging. Its cheap white and very plasticky plastic. I don't love the screw tops and personally I hate makeup coming in white plastic. I don't know why, I just don't. I do understand that all of this is done to keep costs down, Its just not to my taste. Also if you look at the duo below you'll see the pans aren't even set straight. I will say it's fully functional thought so I should really stop being snobby.

LtR: Snowstorm, Sky and Blackcurrant/Violet 

Formula and swatches. Have a look at that photo and tell me what you think? So the formula would actually be really nice, if there was any pigment to it. Its soft and blendable with very little fallout, there's just no colour. When they're applied to the skin they do give off a really nice sheen if you spread them over a larger area, however that highlights every little change in skin texture. I was thinking about maybe trying to use them as a subtle highligh but I don't think it would work for me as I have issues with spots and bumpy skin.

LtR: Snowstorm, Sky and Blackcurrant/Violet 

I tried a few times to use these and up until today it always ended in disaster. Today wasn't much above disaster though. I tried everything I could think of to make them work, Applying with a natural brush, synthetic brush, foam applicator and fingers, and trying different primers and bases, nothing really helped. 

Today I applied Barry M face primer to my eyelids (the one from my 17 by 2017 project) which left them kind of wet and sticky and then patted the shadow on top with a flat brush. I didn't get intense colour by any means but it was wearable enough for me to leave the house with it on face. 

I did discover something that annoyed me a little. The eyeshadow did not crease, it was been on my face for 12 hours at the time of typing and it has not creased at all. If it had creased I would have been less frustrated than I am right now, because now I'm like maybe some of them have pigment, should I try them all? Grrr.... No. I will be strong.

I'm going to get rid of these as I see no point in keeping them. I've also written off the eyeshadows from Natural Collection and wont be buying more to try any time soon. I would be interested in trying some of the concealer and face powder type products as they seem to get really good reviews and revisiting the eyeliner and mascara of my youth. I will be steering clear of any and all lip products for now though as it seems to be mostly gloss and I absolutely hate lipgloss with a passion.

Is there a Natural Collection product you love I should try? Or have you tried the eyeshadows and had a better experience than me? Let me know.

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

NYX Lip Lingerie in Embellishment Review, Lip Swatches and Wear Test - Cruelty Free Drugstore Makeup

I'm normally NYX Cosmetics biggest fan, however, when they launched the Lip Lingerie range in the UK, I was a little "meh". I went through the whole range looking for a colour that spoke to me and none of them did.

It wasn't till I was talking to one of the staff members and she said she was wearing this one that I became interested.

This is Embellishment, on the tube and when I swatched it on my hand it just looks like a nude but on her, and subsequently my, face its the most amazing Lavender Taupe colour. I love greige type colours. Cashmere by Lime Crime and Ghoulish by LA Splash are two of my absolute favourite lipsticks and this is right in that vein, but a bit more purple. 

I love how it looks on, and have even broken my "no weird colours at work (except on a Friday)" rule. The formula is great, soft, moussey, easy to apply, high coverage, no drying or cracking and it wears off nicely. I feel like this exactly what Tarte were trying to do with the Tartist Lip Paints, however this is ten times better (note to self, remember to write the post you've been meaning to on the Tartist Lip Paints).

Don't ask what my face makeup is doing in this pic, I had a base product fail.

So I wore this all day. applied it before 8am, and the above photo was taken after 5pm with no touch ups. As you can see there are areas where there has been more wear and tear than others, but if I hadn't zoomed in and focus on my lips it wouldn't be that noticeable. 

I would 100% recommend this. None of the other colours, except maybe Exotic, grab me so I won't be testing if the formula is consistent across the range. I just know I really like this one.

It's £6.50 and you can get the full range at Boots in UK.

Loving the Lip Lingerie and would recommend another colour? Leave me a comment on which one.

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

Bare Minerals Glamour Now Gift Set First Impressions and Swatches - Cruelty Free Cosmetics

So earlier this week I saw a post on Facebook regarding the new stock that TK Maxx had in for Christmas. It mostly was about Too Faced products but when I went in to check it out I discovered a high number of other brands as well. The have Nars, Lancome, Makeup Forever, Real Techniques, Models Own and Eco Tools to name a few.

I picked up some Too Faced products (these were down at between £5.99 and £6.99), which I will review at a later date, and I had some Models Own and Eco Tools in my basket when I came across  this gold box. 

So whats in the box...

So this is the Bare Minerals Glamour Now gift set. It contains seven products and cost me £26.99. It was more than I was planning to spend, however I've been curious about Bare Minerals products for a long time and this seemed like a good way to give things a try. 

Also can we just take a second to discuss how gorgeous the box and gold packaging is. I know gold is everywhere right now and its pretty common, but that doesn't stop me thinking it's cute. I feel like this is what Christmas packaging should be like.

The foundation is the wrong colour for me (its Medium Tan) so I'm not even going to show that as its unopened right now. However I am going to swap it with someone that can use it, so it still serves a purpose to me.

Eyeshadow quad in The Main Event. I'd heard really good things about Bare Minerals eyeshadow so I was excited to try this. The two shimmer shades seem nice, but I'm unsure about the matte cream and purple shimmer shades. I will give them a try on my eyes before I judge them though. 

Hydrating Gold Mineral Veil. So I could find mineral veils on the website but not this one. I also struggled to get a good photo of what this looks like on the skin. It it just a gorgeous, finally milled powder with a very subtle gold sheen to it. It would be really nice for adding a slight glow to face without looking like you've highlighted at all. Definitely looking forward to giving this a go.

Blush in Glamour. This is describes as a warm pop of pink. In actual fact its a much more subtle rosy pink colour with a soft gold sheen to it. Its really pretty and also subtle (not sure if you can even really see it in the above photo). Again, I will enjoy giving this a proper go.

So this is a product that isn't on the website. It's described as brown khol and black liquid liner on the insert card, however I think the both look brown and the liquid end is in the colour espresso so I would personally be expecting it to be brown. Initially I wasn't impressed ,however when I went to wash this off my hands Smoke clung to my skin like crazy. That impressed me a lot so I'm looking forward to trying that end of the pencil.

So this is the Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss in Dazzler. If you've been here any length of time, you'll know I cannot stand lipglosses. Up until I got this one, I only owned two (an old Benefit one I don't use and need to bin, and a NYX Intense butter gloss I don't totally hate). I tried this on my lips and its not bad, its not too sticky and has a pleasant minty smell and taste. Like Smoke its also difficult to remove. I'd be up for giving this ago, the subtle gold shimmer would look nice over some lipsticks.

And lastly, you get the Flawless Application Brush. I own two other Bare Minerals brushes, the only Bare Minerals products I owned before this, and love them. This one is so nice and new and soft. These are £19 each on the Bare Minerals website, so even just this and the eyeliner would cost more that the whole set (and the eyeshadow quad would cost more on its own), and that's the reason I don't own more of them. I would just like to point out that although Bare Minerals are cruelty free, these brushes are made of goats hair, so they are not vegan. If that doesn't bother you, then these brushes are fantastic quality and I would recommend them.

Overall, I think this set is fantastic value and if you are unsure it about Bare Minerals then I think its a good way to try their products. The set is currently not listed on TK Maxx's website, however they still had stock in the Argyll Street store in Glasgow when I was in.

Scored a bargain recently? Let me know about it.

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

Knitting - Challenging myself by making something that scares me

Is there anything you've not done, not because its super complicated or really outwith your skill set, just because it scares you? 

I knit and crochet, it's what I do. I love it. I can knit socks from memory without needing to check anything, I've completed complex amigurimi and shawls. There was one thing that really scared me though and I don't know why. 

Flat knitting a hat...

I don't know why they freaked me out so much. I've knitted a few in the round and found them really easy, and logically knitting flat and sewing them up should be easier. 

Today I decided to face that illogical fear and attempt it. I chose chunky yarn and huge needles. I also picked a super simple pattern so that I hopefully couldn't go wrong.

Also I really wanted rid of this ball of orange and blue yarn, it looks like an irn bru can but not in a good way.

The pattern called for eight rows been the ribbing at the bottom and decreasing at the top and I thought that maybe wasn't enough. I ended up tweaking the pattern and adding another two rows to the main section. Turns out this maybe wasn't enough.

Front

 Here's the hat all finished. As you can see it looks a little short.

Back

 And here's a photo of the back with the seem on it. I think it was having to sew it up that scared me. That part actually went really smoothly. See, nothing to be scared of.

And its way, way to short for me. In the hat (and the patterns) defense, I do have a crazy big head. Like super large. So that may have played a part in it.

Yeah, its teeny on me. But fear faced. I'm going to weigh it for the 2kg before Christmas project I have on the go right now (full explanation here) and then either donate it to a charity shop or  find out if Social Bite are looking for winter clothing donations again. Its really thick and snuggly and would most likely fit anyone that doesn't have a head as big as mine. 

XOXO Scruffy 

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com