MAC Rocky Horror Picture Show Collection

Items from the MAC Rocky Horror Picture Show collection

Now this isn't a review post, this is more of a slight variation on the 'what I bought' style post with more of a 'what I was very fortunate to get' post. This collection is pretty much impossible to buy now unless you head to eBay (reasons not to do this will become apparent in a bit) and although I should be elated (in some ways I am, this is an amazing collection).

First of all, why did I want items from this collection? I love The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I say picture show as I've never been to the stage version, there is still time but I am quite shy - daft, I know. Now bear with me here, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was one of the first videos I bought whilst under age, by this I mean I picked this up when I was 13 on video, at the time it was a 15 certificate along with Psycho from the Woolworths in Hanley, 19 years ago. I already had a Richard O'Brien obsession thanks to The Crystal Maze and at an even younger age had The Rocky Horror Picture show game for the spectrum computer. I love the film, am fascinated with the stage show and love the soundtrack. Having picked up the recent release of the film in a lovely shiny steelbook edition I just had to have the make-up, of course it wasn't that easy.

Now I don't go wild for every MAC collection but I adored last years collaboration with Rick Baker, I'm still wearing those palettes, so Halloween is usually a good time for me and MAC.

Before I go into my rant I think it's time to show you what I actually managed to get rather than rant first so that you can skip that bit if you just want to see delicious goodies.

Riff-Raff Palette £38.50 - 6 very wearable shades

The inside of the packaging is also amazing

The lipsticks, everyone loves the lipsticks. There were four variations of red in the Rocky Horror collection, I went for two, Frank-N-Furter on the left and Strange Journey on the right. Frank-N-Furter is more of a plum red and Strange Journey is a brick red, both matte, both £17.00 each, see below for swatches on skin

Frank-N-Furter on the left and Strange Journey on the right

Powder Blush in Crazed Imagination, a glittery mauve shade, not my usual for the cheeks but it's a gorgeous colour for autumn and perfect on the eyes too - £20.00

Bad Fairy Nail Polish £11.00 - already part of the MAC range but repackaged for the Rocky Horror collection

Now if, like me, you get very excited by these sort of releases so much that you set reminders of release dates so as not to miss out you'd understand how frustrating it is not to have a proper release date. Okay, there was a proper release date for the U.S. but no real mention of the U.K., as soon as the U.S. release date rolled around I immediately checked, just in case, even though I was in and out of hospital. After there was no joy there I did a bit more digging and found the UK release date wasn't due for another few weeks - even then that was from an unofficial source.

Now how did I get it on the day? a mixture of luck, checking during every break and taking an early lunch. From what I've read on the MAC Facebook page I was still very lucky - I had even waited the night before to check whether it went live at midnight - which to me would make total sense, no joy. Fast forward to lunchtime, the picture was online at around 12.10pm, but no products to buy, 10 minutes of refreshing then at around 12:20pm it was there. I had already looked and chosen what I wanted to buy so I got straight in there and was checked out by 12:24pm, I looked at everything two minutes after and everything appeared to be sold out - by everything I mean everything especially for Rocky, not the standard mascaras, eyeliner, etc. also featured on the page.

I didn't just buy for the sake of it, I stuck to items I really wanted, mainly original items (i.e. not just re-branded items) apart from Bad Fairy as I just really wanted this nail polish. I know I was lucky with the amount of stuff I managed to get, there were horror stories of people adding items to their basket only for them to disappear when trying to checkout. Until my items arrived I've not allowed myself to get excited but now they're here I'm rather chuffed.

I'm still disappointed for other people. I imagine there are lots of angry people wishing to just pick up one or two items from the collection that weren't as lucky as I was. I get the feeling that plenty of traders got in there to purchase in bulk as these items are appearing on eBay for a lot more than they cost when they were released just a few days ago, which is why I've added the price of each item to this post so that you can compare. It's really quite disgusting that traders could buy in bulk and sell on, I wish they could crack down on this as it seems unfair that just because someone couldn't get in there immediately order they miss out unless they pay someone double the original cost. Now if only MAC released more stock so that real fans could buy at the original price or if MAC only allowed shoppers to buy one of each item, sure I know you might genuinely want two of one items but wouldn't you prefer to actually be able to get one of the item? I know this is easy for me to say as I've got all that I wanted but I'd urge you not to pick up the items from traders on eBay as it only makes it worth their while to continue this shady behaviour. Now there could be individuals on there selling unwanted items, hard to imagine but it could happen, I'm just talking about those selling multiple items of the same product. Also be wary of those selling items under the Rocky Horror banner that are just old stock, some items have been previously part of the MAC collection for example, Formidable nail polish, I picked this up in summer but it's been repackaged for the Rocky Horror collection.

I know this little rant overshadows my post but I do think this release has been badly managed, I don't really know the point of limiting a make-up release this much, the only people that profit are the traders that can get in early when most people are at work. Limit it by limiting the quantity we can buy for each product. For me it just doesn't add value to the collection, I want to be able to show it off but what's the point when nobody else can have it and discuss it?

Did anyone out there manage to get an item? At the moment I feel like the only one doing the Time Warp. 

Sunday Weigh-In: It Feels Like Another Week, Same Excuse

A quick update is never simple, of course I got to fitbit to get the figures for the last two weeks and I realise it hasn't been synchronising even though the computer has been on and I've been in here. As you can tell this means I haven't been checking up on myself as recently. So, I'm just trying to fix the problem which means ten minutes of it asking me whether the tracker has power, yes! Nothing has changed, this always bugs me even more so when I have so little time to spare.

Anyway, enough whining. My dad is still in the hospital but at a neuro-rehab centre where he could be for weeks, months. I'm back at work full time so of course this means there is a clash. I have decided to give myself a little bit of a break, two nights in the week and one day at the weekend. There will be other people going down, mainly my mum, so he isn't completely abandoned but I do need some rest.

I did tell myself that I would exercise today but I've chosen lazing, cooking a proper lunch (vegetarian cottage pie and cherry sponge) and once again lazing. In all honesty I do really need a rest, I'm shattered, run down and for some strange reason my right side has been bad again, kidney pain in the half I have left. Possibly just an infection but I just feel like crap. I'm setting my sights on the near future. After our cancelled holiday, which came after waiting months to take a full two weeks off, we've decided we still need to have the break, it will still be at home but my mum will be around which might mean we are disturbed every thirty minutes to do a job - if that does happen I will have a breakdown as I am at breaking point. We will try our best to enjoy a week off though and I will fit in at least two 20 minute hardcore workouts and one 30 minute yogalates session in between visiting my dad, film marathons and trying to update my lists that show what dvd's and blu-ray's I already own so that I don't get giddy and order duplicates.

My eating has been completely out of order too apart from when I'm back at work but even though I've switched back to sandwiches to save time in the evenings which means I'm having the same amount of calories but less food by volume so I do snack slightly more than I would usually do and our evening meals are generally what we can be bothered to do after 9pm.

I'm trying to do my best to be normal and although I'm not obsessively checking my fitbit I am trying my best to walk more during the day.


Right, I've finished my post and I'm still trying to get fitbit to synchronise again......

..................


......finally....it always seems to do this after I've fully charged it, anyway,

Not too bad, I'm glad to see an improvement this week compared to the previous one, I've like to make sure I hit 10,000 each week day as I don't think I'll be doing as well on my week off unless I walk the 15 miles to where my dad is...never going to happen!



One thing I should mention is how sorry I am that I haven't been able to check in on everyone but I hope you are all being amazing and feeling wonderful!

Short Term Goal

I'm just going to try my best for now and keep trying to get my steps up - must work harder at weekends.

Long Term Goal

A bit less of me by my 33rd birthday, I hope so, and no more kidney pain oh and smaller tits - they're just a pain in the arse over a c cup really.

What's in Samhain's Cat Hampurr? October 2014

Now although I'm busy I couldn't miss out on revealing Samhain's second Cat Hampurr, so I got him to help out writing the blog!

He hasn't quite got the hang of it yet but he is learning! With all that is going on at the moment and how well Samhain is coping with the changes, it's nice to be able to spoil him. Although I can pick up nice bits from in town I can't quite surprise him as well as those behind Cat Hampurr do, as well as myself. It was yet again another fantastic selection of items.

He got so excited, worryingly so, at first I thought he was going to use the box as a litter tray (see above) to mark his goods but luckily he didn't. This doesn't mean it didn't get soaked - the whole box smelt so exciting to him he ended up drooling all over it, rubbing himself against it, he didn't notice when I took everything out - well until I opened the plague rat.

So what did he get? 

Fish 4 Cats Finest Mousse Trout/Salmon 2 x 100g £1.10 each
Thrive Freeze Dried Cat Treat 100% Real Chicken Liver 25g £2.99
Plague Rats Catnip & Valerian Root Rat Toy £3.00 each
Pet Remedy de-stress & calming spray 15ml £6.00
Arden Grange Complete Sensitive Dry Food Ocean White Fish & Potato 50g £4.00 for 400g

Tea for Mews English Catnip Tea x4 (Generally £2.99 each - unable to find directly from supplier which is Paul Lamond Pets - I'm used to Paul Lamond Games but not pets! - they can be found and purchased on ebay)

Plague Rat is being cuddled by Samhain rather than featuring in the box! 

With such a variety of goods it's hard to say which he loves the most, a surprise box for a cat could be very limited but it's nice to see such a range of things for him to try. One things I was incredibly impressed to see was the de-stress & calming spray. Now Samhain is quite a happy chap but with so much going on, dad not being around at home for a month now, a turf war with another cat and myself and James in and out all the time we do worry, he is coping remarkably well but I'd be happy to try this spray out after his next encounter with the brute a few doors down, or, around the time of bonfire night - this will be our first with him and we don't know how he'll be.

We have actually tried everything else - I already buy the Thrive treats for him as he loves them, the liver are his favourite so he is a very lucky boy.

The Arden Grange biscuits I had been wanting to try for a while but as I have a ton of biscuits and I haven't noticed anyone selling them locally, I just haven't made the effort to seek them out. He absolutely went bonkers for them. I tried a few to see if he took to them and then he started to help himself to the packet.

I've been wanting to make sure he ate more fish as he isn't as keen as The Beast was when it comes to fish, he does like it but can be selective. I wasn't sure how he'd take to the mousse which is light but not in a way that it's like he is just eating froth. I put the trout out before bed and was woken to scoffing slurping noises of him wolfing it down so a paws up from Samhain.

The catnip tea is just fabulous, I tried this a couple of days after the box had arrived as he was continuing to rub himself near it, stretch up to reach it and basically act a bit bonkers! So I took it down on Sunday night to prepare it - not while he was looking but as I was walking back with the box he caught whiff of it, then he came into the kitchen.....luckily I have prepared it in a pyrex jug and left it on the kitchen counter - now he does like to get on the table but never the kitchen counter so he would alternative between looking at it from the kitchen table to stretching up against the cupboards trying to reach it, he was completely catnip crazy! It's such a fun, quirky idea that I've ended up picking up some more for Samhain but also a box for my friends cat for Christmas (yes, we do buy our cats presents from our own cats, it is in no way weird)

Now the final thing is the first thing he got hold of, the Plague Rat (Valerian Root makes cats crazy excited), he basically loved it and this is yet another toy I will be picking up more of but instead of writing much about it I will show you his love for it in photos. Although I should also mention that our bedroom has only just stopped smelling like cat saliva!

First we have excitable swinging with the Plague Rat

Then finally some munching action

Followed by giddy rolling, biting, licking, drooling, kicking and pushing his back legs against my hands to roll himself around with even more excitedly.

Some more licking because it isn't covered in saliva enough

Finish with a cuddle just to show how much he loves his Plague Rat - now that is one happy cat! 

Space.NK Buys October 2014

Due to very unfortunate circumstances I haven't been blogging for the last three weeks, I haven't been heavily blogging for even longer as around 6 weeks ago my gran collapsed and then, just over 3 weeks ago, my dad collapsed so I've had a lot on my plate, I still do as I'm back at work and visiting my dad daily in hospital which means getting home from work, waiting half an hour then travelling 40 minutes, 2 hours with dad, then travelling back taking us to just after 9 which leaves a couple of hours to have something to eat, wash, play with Samhain and have a bit of me time. So I have a little bit longer today and wanted to do a quick post. Now for someone that can spend an awful lot of money on make-up I don't think it's important, beauty is only skin deep, my main love is old films (I say old because most new films leave me cold, I must only watch around 5% of new stuff and only like a small percentage of them). I could, however, get myself into some serious debt at Space.NK.

Now I did have £10 worth of reward points to use, I don't really need an excuse to pick something up from Space.NK but having a bit of money off helps so I decided to pick up a couple of pieces online (it's easier to restrict myself when the items aren't right in front of me).

Now the first item I bought covered both my make-up love and film love, The Liptropolis Set (£40) takes its name from one of my favourite films, Fritz Lang's Metropolis - absolutely spectacular just like this set. I'm head over heels in love with Lipstick Queen lipsticks, so I'm fully happy to pay £20+ per lipstick so three full sized for £40 is an absolute bargain in my eyes. This had been on my Christmas wish list last year (along with hundreds of other items!), needless to say I didn't receive it but was planning to add it to my list this year, I just couldn't wait. I'm so glad I picked it up, it's a perfect gift for Christmas, even if you do get it for yourself like I did!

Secondly I picked up And God Created The Woman NARS travel eye palette (£35.00), I do believe cheaper eyeshadow is just as good as more expensive brands but after using NARS Nepal day in, day out for the last couple of months I just wanted to expand my NARS collection. Their longevity really makes them worthwhile but with so many shades to choose from I wanted to pick up a palette and this one, exclusive to Space.NK, was full of the daytime to night-time shades I wanted. The palette includes six small eyeshadows along with a wide contour eyeshadow brush and a mini smudgeproof eyeshadow base. Yet another perfect Christmas gift, greedily both for myself this time.

I will review these properly at a later date once things improve but for now I'm just showing off my shopping.

Sunday Weigh-In: General Update

It's just over two weeks since my dad collapsed, I've been in hospital with him daily, up until a few days ago I was in most of the day also. So everything has gone out of the window which is why I've been quiet blogging full stop let alone my weekly health and fitness update. My dads condition isn't fully clear yet and it could be months until he recovers, if he fully does. So my mind has only been on a few things, I was off work up until last Monday but have still taken some time off to go down so my days have been full but as he is making some improvement and I've got a little more time to myself I thought I should do a quick update.

Okay so my routine is out of the window, no exercise for the last month (my gran collapsed around 5 weeks ago so we've really been run off our feet, she is currently still in hospital). I've been tracking my steps but to be honest I haven't even looked to see how I've been doing as the only walking I've been doing when I've not been at work is in the hospital, in the early stages when dad was still in the coma I did nip across to the shops to pick up groceries as we didn't have much time when we were at home, the hospital is a 45 minute drive so not exactly close by. I just haven't been checking so I'll go to fitbit and do my last three weeks of walking - which will be a surprise, I couldn't predict all I know is that I'll be under 10,000 each day by quite a bit.

Food wise I haven't been great either, not logging, my day is such a mess I'm eating less food but more calories as I tend to have a meal when I can which is quick and easy rather than light-ish meals and snacking. I've found myself not having a proper lunch, then getting hungry after visiting hours and picking up something pointless like chocolate before having a proper meal, - I'm all for everything in moderation but I prefer to be eating well the rest of the time.


I hope to get something back on track this week, I know I won't have time for exercise as I've be leaving for work at 8.30 and not coming home until 9pm but I will try and work on my steps and try to eat better in the day.

Short Term Goals

Exactly the paragraph above.

Long Term Goals

Right now I'm just concentrating on getting through the year and getting back down to a steady routine.