(Fewer words than usual because ugh, the jetlag, and because I need to finish my conference paper.)
It turns out that my boyfriend lives half a block away from a Superdrug and a Boots. This will be bad, I thought, before discovering that this particular Boots has a limited beauty selection, while the Superdrug has an incredibly loud “radio station” (advertisements alternating with late-’90s R&B). Shopping for makeup while being told by a disembodied voice to shop for makeup is depressing; leave my false consciousness alone, Superdrug! So I find myself incapable of staying there for more than five minutes at a time, which severely restricts my hauling abilities.
I mean, I’ve bought things. Of course I have. Today, taking advantage of a 3-for-2 sale, I picked up a Sleek blush in Life’s a Peach and two Barry M nail paints in Shocking Pink and Sugar Apple. That’s right: I have three blushes now. And a warm-toned one, finally!
I love the packaging: the Barry M bottles look like little perfume vials, and the Sleek compacts are matte black with embossed lettering. (You’ll have to enlarge the photo to make the compact look like anything but a blank black rectangle.) And both Barry M and Sleek are cruelty-free, which of course I appreciate.
Life’s a Peach is a pale creamy orange, roughly the color of cantaloupe. Or, you know, peach. I need to stop trying to get creative, especially when I’m this groggy.
The compact may look like it’s flawlessly designed, but it is surprisingly hard to open, because the mirrored lid is bulkier than the bottom half and the latch is very tight. Still, what’s inside is worth the struggle. And for £4.49 ($7.62 US, which is very reasonable for a drugstore blush), I can’t complain.
Life’s a Peach goes on fairly sheer but can be built up for a nice pastel pop. The swatch below is three passes.
Applied on the correct part of my body, it’s more visible in photos than cool-toned pink blushes are, probably because of its contrast with my natural undertones.
Other makeup: NARS Lhasa eyeshadow and the right-hand (i.e. plum) side of the Habanera duo; CoverGirl concealer to make me look slightly less like I’ve been punched in both eyes; a very light coat of Maybelline One by One mascara; Maybelline Vivids lipstick in Vibrant Mandarin, reviewed here and looking almost like a cool-toned red in the wan English light. Please excuse dark circles and dopey jetlagface.
I’m planning to limit my makeup purchases for the next month (I’m going to Italy; I have to save up for gelato), though I reserve the right to buy Illamasqua’s cream blush in Dixie if I come across it. I will not, however, be buying this:
Auxiliary Beauty 
I… manwasher? How was 'loofah' too unmasculine for them? I suppose people do call them 'shower poufs' though, so maybe that's what they were afraid of…Anyway, gorgeous blush! I like how you managed to capture it in the photos 🙂 Also: I looked at Vibrant Mandarin in the chemist's the other day, and I'm not sure what magic you're casting, but on me it was neon ORANGE, hehe! 😀
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Whatever sorcery I'm using, it's completely involuntary, but I swear Vibrant Mandarin looks cooler every time I wear it! I blame England's constant cloud cover. Not that I'm complaining, because neon orange is Not My Thing. (As you'll see when I review Milani Sweet Nectar.)MANWASHER is now my second-favorite masculinity-protecting product, after \”Men's Pocky\” (pretzels instead of cookies, because salt is…more manly than sugar?).
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That blush is beautiful. I need some Sleek in my life. Not sure what I'm waiting for.And I've only known you for like a month and a half now, but I've heard you mention Illamasqua Dixie quite a bit, lol. It's high time you got your hands on it! Whatever is leftover can go to gelatos. 😀
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Haha, sorry to be so repetitive. 😛 The sad part is that I've never even seen Dixie in person! It's become my Platonic ideal of peach cream blush, based on nothing but a few makeupalley reviews. But you're right, I need to just pull the trigger already.Is Sleek available in Canada? I've never seen it outside the UK.
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