TO HUNGER MIST OR TO BEAUTY ELIXIR?

I simply cannot live without a face mist since my discovery of Caudalie Beauty Elixir.  It's become my handbag essential, especially when I found myself stuck in traffic or in crowded areas.  It also works amazingly when I'm on long haul flights.  A quick spritz of this gives such a 'pick-me-up' SOS lift to my life.

Recently I got my hands on the Omorovicza Queen of Hunger Mist.  It's something very similar to Caudalie Beauty Elixir.  It can be used as a toner as well as a face mist.

Which is better?  I think I prefer Caudalie's.  It's got a stronger scent that it's fantastic to 'wake me up' but I feel that it's a bit too strong to use as a toner.  Queen of Hunger Mist, is the opposite of Caudalie's beauty elixir, it's got a milder scent full of neroli and rose flavours.  It feels more 'water' which is more suitable to use as a toner (less harsh to the skin I feel) but less powerful to use as a 'wake-me-up' spray.  So, it really depends on what you prefer then.

If you haven't tried either of these, I strongly suggest you to have a little spray on yourself to give it a go!

EAT BRUNCH ON A SUNDAY: IMIL STREET

I don't blame ya if you were already planning on what to do next weekend! Perhaps today's post (wow it's my first ever food-related post, too!) can give you a little inspiration.

It was a Sunday, I woke up wanting pancakes, American style preferably. To think pancakes are such common food types, it's actually not the easiest find to "eat" in restaurants in London.

A quick search of "pancakes in London" on Google wasn't all that helpful. The Breakfast Club came up as I expected. Honestly I'm not the biggest fan there (perhaps it's to do with the "age" thing.... "Cringe").

Nevertheless I said to Mr Holiday, "OK let's try to see what the queue was like at The Breakfast Club...."

It was horrendous when we got to BC in Soho, I would have stupid counting the number of people in the queue; I would be there until dinner time. 

So we kept walking and suddenly I saw IMIL STREET and I remembered having dinner here once, they serve street style Indian food and it was "OK" but when I saw it had a "Weekend Brunch" sign, I was intrigued. Then we saw people eating some lovely looking food by the window seats, I took a closer look to the menu, I found "Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup"! Without me realizing it, we were seated inside the restaurant. 

It's much more "peaceful" and "tranquil" here. There's a great vibe inside, people were enjoyable their brunches, the staffing team was chilled.  Even though I knew what I wanted to order, I still took a closer look at the menu, it's an extensive one with a mixture of standard full English, to American pancakes, and some of IMIL specialties, breakfast with an Indian touch. 

We've ordered a Pancake with bacon and maple syrup, an Egg Benedict; and Masala Chai with Milk. 

The food came and I was impressed! I was offered extra maple syrup immediately had I happily said, "yes please!". I don't know how the Egg Benedict tasted but Mr Holiday enjoyed it.

I loved my pancakes, there were 3 and sandwiched in between were a generous helping of bacons. Pancakes were light and fluffy, bacons were grilled to perfection, together with my overindulgence in maple syrup; it was food made in heaven!

We have enjoyed every biteful of it, the Masala Tea tasted just right too! All in all a very surprising find in try middle of Soho area. I would give 5* for both the food and ambience of the restaurant and its service. The only down side is that Weekend Brunch at IMIL STREET is only available at weekends from 9am to 1pm. For leisurely people who want to brunch on weekdays, sadly this isn't an option.

Next time if you run out of ideas on brunch and wanted a quiet place, do give IMIL STREET a try!

Where to find IMIL STREET?

167-169 Wardour Street, London W1F 8WR

Tel: 020 7287 4243

THE EYE PRIMERS EDIT

Something strange has happened in my own little makeup world.  I'm reaching for the use of eye primers regularly, almost every time when I wear eye makeup.  It's never something that I wore but now, I needed it.

Things started to change a few months ago when I saw that the eyeliners on my eyes started to smudge and move; which never happened to me.  I also realised that my makeup doesn't stay put as well as they use to (still pretty well but it's changed slightly).  I don't think my skin has turned from dehydrated to combination/ oily, but for some unknown reasons, applying eye primers seem to help my eye makeup to stay put a little better.  Naturally, I started my journey on looking for a perfect eye primers.  You can read a previous review here.  

Since then I've now tried a few more eye primers and I wanted to share with you what I thought of them.

NYX Eyeshadow Base (£6) - For the price you get quite a large pot (7g) of product, bargain!  It's a beige colour/ skin tone cream textured eyeshadow base that works as an eye primer, too.  The skin tone colour is great for smoothening out any discolouration on the eyelids.  It does the job well but when I first used it, I found the formulation a little bit dry.  It's difficult to smear the product out of the pot, it needed a bit of temperature from the fingers in order to 'melt it out'.   However, recently I thought I would give it another go and I found that the formula has become a little bit more creamier than when I first bought it half a year ago.  I started enjoying using it, it works for me as an extension to my foundation, but on my eyes.

Rimmel Exaggerate Undercover Shadow Primer (£4.99) - I've tried the Nars eye primer which is a silicone based product, it works even though I wasn't keen on the formulation.  However it's a little bit too pricey to my liking so when I saw this one by Rimmel, I thought perhaps this could be a 'dupe'!  It comes in a tube form with a dover applicator.  A convenience design for application.  The product comes in as a (pearly) white silicone based primer.  It's quite a wet formula and therefore I found it a little too slippery and difficult to blend on my eyelids.  It also takes a little while to dry before I can apply my eye makeup.  Does it work?  Yes it does but because I tend to like to apply my makeup quickly.  I don't like to be waiting around for it to dry.  I tried to apply eye makeup before the primer dries up, the eye shadows would either slip everywhere or is not ready for the eye shadow to adhere to my eyelids properly.  If you like a silicone base product and wanted something budget friendly, this could be a product for you.

L'Oreal Color Riche Eye Primer (£5.99) - The latest primer addition to my stash.  This primer comes in a chubby stick/ crayon pencil shape.  It's got a skin tone/ nude shade, quite a 'chalky' formula.  I normally apply it to my eyelids straight from the stick itself which works really well.  It's very easy to blend and counteract any discolouration on my eyelids that need to be done.  It works excellently as an eye primer which my eye makeup would never move.  It's easy to control how much of this you want to apply on your eyelids.  You can apply eye makeup straight after.  I like this one the most!

No 7 Stay Perfect Smoothing Eye Shadow in Iridescent Purple (£8) - The most expensive one out of the four, and technically this isn't an 'eye primer'.  This was a bit of an unexpected purchase from Boots a while ago.  However on a few occasions when I have opted out on applying an eye primer on, I used this as an 'eye base'.  The 'wetness' of the eye shadow is just right and easy to blend.  It works especially well if you apply a similar colour powder eye shadow afterwards.  This stuff really helps to intensify the powder eyeshadow and stay put really well.  It's got a nice sheen to it (not shimmery) that works well if applied alone.  

Are you an eye primer wearer?  Have you tried any of the above primers before?

A MAKEUP STORAGE IDEA

I found that I'm never satisfied with the way  my makeup is stored.  I'm constantly thinking of ways to improve it, and new storage bits to add to.  Last week when I was in IMATS, I saw this Cosmetic Organiser (£8) I knew I had to snap it up, as I have been looking for one like this for ages.  You can also get an identical one here.

I'm storing my makeup stash slightly differently as I'm spending time away from 'home', so my makeup collection has greatly reduced.  This cosmetic organiser seems to work perfect for me at the moment but I'm sure I will keep this forever for my makeup to display nicely.

I especially like that fact that I can choose up to 12 lipsticks on display at one time, which is what I have at the moment (hard to believe I am only carrying with me 12 lipsticks and left my others behind....)  In other compartments, I decided to put my base products that I'm using or reaching for on a regular basis.  I also put eye primers, mascaras, eyebrow pencils and other tube-shaped products on this organiser.  

I keep the rest of my eyes and cheek products in another tray.  It works for me I feel.  I like the acrylic material as it keeps everything look chic and goes with any design you may have in your room.

What system do you use to keep your makeup neat and tidy?  Do you use something similar to this?

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