REVIEW: Urban Rituelle Festive Candles...

Santa made an early delivery last week ♥ - this beautiful glossy white box arrived courtesy of the lovely Lauren from Urban Rituelle, and boy did it get me in the mood for Christmas...

Nestled inside were two delights from their Limited Edition Festive Favourites Collection - travel sized scented soy candles in the delectable fragrances of Warm Cinnamon & Cranberry, and Fresh Fig & Sugar Plum. Just reading the names had me salivating, and busting to open the pretty packaging to see if they lived up to my sensory expectations, and hopefully breathe in some Christmas cheer...

Well I sure wasn't disappointed! The presentation is stunning - classy and elegant, and I can just tell the candles have been poured with love ♥ The first one I opened was the Cinnamon & Cranberry - such a delicate fragrance, the perfect balance of fruit and spice. I spent a while taking photos, and the clock hands did a few more circuits before I could bring myself to light up this little gem. It's neither sweet nor sour, but somewhere in the middle, and if I had to describe it in one word, I'd say "calming", which makes it the perfect antidote for the merry mayhem of the silly season. Interestingly, the cinnamon becomes a lot more obvious when you extinguish the flame...

So then I opened the Fresh Fig & Sugar Plum, and that's when I fell - in love that is ha ha! This treasure is sweeter and fruitier, and I reckon I'll be ordering several of the 400 gm size so that I can savour her delights well into the new year. I find the FF&SP fragrance more sensually stirring, and my one word description would be  "appetising". This little darling actually makes my mouth water, and has me yearning to tuck into some mince pies and plum pudding. Of the two, this one has my heart - the scent becomes even more intensely fruity after blowing it out, and while I usually put the lid on my candles when they've been put to bed, I leave this one off till morning so I can enjoy the extra little boost...

In summary, both of these candles are a delight, and perfect partners. I experimented with burning them at the same time, and neither one dominates - in fact they enhance each other, and turn my office into a gourmand haven. I can't think of anything more wonderful than finding more of these under my tree on December 25th - I know some family members and friends who would feel the same, so that's a chunk of my shopping taken care of :-) Actually I placed an order during their recent sale (haul pics here), so my pressie stockpile is already well under way - looks like it will be an Urban Rituelle Christmas this year :-)

In case you're wondering, the small candles (45 gm - $17.95) burn for around 15 hours, and the full size ones (400 gm - $39.95) will last up to 80 - that's a measly 50 cents per hour to surround yourself in some sweetheart seasonal scents that will bring a smile to your face, and lift your spirits...

Thank you so very much Urban Rituelle for sending these to me for review, and the opportunity to immerse myself in some festive delights ahead of the big day - I'm completely entranced ♥

Well ladies, have you started your Christmas shopping yet?

Take care of you,

kats xxx

P.S. Urban Rituelle products contain no artificial colours, fragrances, sulphates or parabens, and are 100% cruelty free ♥

EOTD: Christmas Red, Green & Gold...

These days Christmas can be any colour or combination of colours of the rainbow and I'm all in favour of that - the more the merrier I say, though I admit to being somewhat of a traditionalist. Red, green and shimmery gold will always be my favourite Christmas hues, and the ones that never fail to jingle my bells :-)

So here's another look, similar to one included in my recent Party Peepers article over at beautyheaven, but  (I think) sufficiently different to warrant it's own post - besides it's heaps more sparkly!...

So here's the list of ingredients I used for this concoction...

I started with a red base of Darling Girl Cosmetics Pyramid of Skulls Watercolor Paint Pot

Over that I patted down red from DB Glam Clutch palette, topped with MAC Glitter in Reflects Bronze

On the outer corners and under the lower lashes, I applied Fern from the SleekV2 Matte palette...

Of course I included all the usual suspects...

bhcosmetics black liquid liner for tightlining the top lid

MNY Master Precise Liquid Liner underneath the green shadow on the lower lashline

Essence white kajal on the waterline

MNY The Falsies waterproof mascara

And MUA matte beige on the hood...

I really like how the MAC glitter toned down the red to a more subtle hue, and overall I think this look is more wearable (so long as you're a colour-crazy gal like me lol) :-) 

Now that I'm on holidays (hooray!) I'm hoping to do some major catching up with my EOTD postings before we say a fond farewell to 2013, including the results of my experiments pairing apricot with three other colours, so stay tuned :-)

Take care of you,

kats xxx

EOTD: Christmas Berry Ombre...

As you all know, EOTD's are an everyday thing for me - they're what I love to do, and a very important (and fun) part of my life. Nothing makes me more settled than to start my day doing something creative with colours and textures. As a rule, I'm reasonably happy with the majority of them, but every now and then I create one that gives me an even more satisfying sense of achievement than usual....

So I'm doing a bit of ra-ra trumpet blowing here ha ha - I LOVE this! Turned out way better than I thought it would, and the combination of red and white brings to mind Santa's suit, red nose (or is that Rudolf?) and white beard, so I'm including it in the Christmas collection :-)

At my age, I have to be verrrrry careful with deep pink and berry red eye shadows - if these colours end up anywhere outside my natural eye boundaries or even along the lower lashline, you'd swear I'd been bawling my eyes out for a week. As it is I spend quite a bit of time and effort covering up pinky patches in various places on my face (including my eye hoods), and so playing with these pigment tones is always a risk, unless I'm super careful with the placement.

How to create this look.. (what I used is in brackets)
Tight line the top lash line with a black waterproof eye liner
(bhcosmetics black liquid liner pen)
Apply a white crayon or gel on the inner half of the top lid as a base
(essence white kajal)
Apply a reddish crayon or gel on the outer half
(MNY Color Tattoo in Pomegranate Punk)
Press an off-white shimmery shadow onto the inner one third of the eye
(Pearly oyster white from the db Bold palette)
Add a medium pink to the middle third, and a deep berry shade on the outer section
(L.A.Colors Wildflowers palette pictured below)

As you can see I'm about to hit pan on the raspberry - gaaaaaah!

Tight line the lower lashline with a fine black eyeliner
(MNY Master Precise Liquid Liner)
Blend a browny red matte shadow over the top of the liner using a moist angled liner brush, and take it up and around the outer corner
(Maple from Sleek V2 Matte palette)
Apply mascara to top and bottom lashes
(MNY The Falsies waterproof)
Line the waterline with a white pencil
(essence white kajal)

Are you comfortable wearing berry shades? Do you think the ombre effect works as well for eyes as it does for nails?

Take care of you,
kats xxx

EOTD: Christmas Green...

Gosh Christmas is almost here, and I'm way overdue for posting some festive eye looks, so I'll start with a glittery green :-)

Mirenesse Superlong Wear Gel Mineral Face Colour in Emerald was my base. Over this I patted down matte emerald green from the Chi Chi Goes To Rio palette, and then added a pale and soft shimmery green from the BYS Diamond Shadow Miami Beats palette along the top and bottom lashlines. 

To add some sparkly cheer, I stroked Chi Chi Glitter Eyeliner in Murder on the Dance Floor close to the lashes on the top lid. Wouldn't be Christmas without a sprinkling of glitter now, would it?

So that's my quick and easy mistletoey look that I reckon I could almost get away with any time of the year lol. 

Are you planning any special party eyes this Christmas?

Take care of you,

kats xxx