Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Sail La Vie








I know your probably thinking I'm a bit late talking about this, Ive had the 'Sail La Vie' MAC lipstick for a while now but have only really just got round to wearing it. I love red lipstick I think its an all round suits everyone kind of colour, obviously it comes in a whole range of shades and I think theres a perfect one for everyone out there. I know its not for the faint hearted as red stands right out on your face no matter what skin tone, but it can really lift your face and brighten your skin and teeth.

This lipstick was from another one of MAC's many limited edition ranges that's still in store, I don't always buy into the hype of these as they are always sold out and aren't always great colours for extra pale types like me. I also find that in the past I have fell in love with a limited edition product only to find Ive ran out and it has literally disappeared off the face of the earth.

Although as I said I stay away from the hype, when I was browsing in MAC I saw this and knew I had to have it. I managed to get my hands on the last one they had, so I know its probably become a staple in everyones makeup bag by now. The packaging is amazing I love the nautical stripes and it looks great when I whip it out on a night out. Its a satin finish which is great as it doesn't dry out my lips and has a good wearing time, I can usually go a good while without reapplying it. Its not a true red shade its wavering more on the orange side of red and is a pretty bright shade that goes with everything. I have put this with my night time lipsticks as I have tried it in the day but I find its a bit much for me, especially when I'm doing my Tesco shop. Do you buy into the limited edition hypes?

I'm also wearing my sample of the Ginvera BB Cream in this picture which I will blog about later. Its a little darker than I would usually use so excuse the slightly strange mask look to my skin.

REN Moisturisers


While in Space NK a week ago buying my new favourite Eve Lom Dynaspot which I blogged about recently HERE, I was given two sample size REN moisturisers to try. I have heard so many good things about REN, but I have never actually used any of the products before. When I received these I was excited to try them as I battle with my oily skin everyday and have actually never found a moisturiser that controls it and keeps that dreaded shine at bay. Everyday I go through my skincare routine and apply my makeup only to find two to three hours later I have a pretty decent amount of oil around my Tzone. It does get me down at times as I do feel that I might as well not even bother applying anything, but its a terrible circle as my oily skin brings spots that need treating and covering. The upside to my skin type is that the oil helps to keep my skin moisturised so its great for anti ageing concerns, well that's what I console myself with anyway!

The first moisturiser I tried was the T-Zone Balancing Day Fluid, It claims to be a "A mattefying fluid that will leave combination skin looking balanced, clear and beautifully healthy", with rresults that "Balances combination skin, Reduces shine/mattefies, Antibacterial, Protects against free radicals to combat the signs of premature ageing". I did find that it applied well without the awful surgical smell and had a matte effect when absorbed, but unfortunately as always my skin battled its way through and it only lasted two hours.

The second was the Hydra-Calm Global Protection Day Cream this claims to be "A moisturiser formulated to leave more sensitive skin optimally hydrated, calmed, soothed, protected and looking beautifully healthy". Claiming to give rresults that "Hydrates and replenishes, Skin feels calmed and soothed, Protects against free radicals to combat the signs of premature ageing". My skin is also sensitive as well oily, I do find my skin doesn't agree with a lot of the harsh spot fighting facial products so I thought this would be great. It was a slightly thicker consistency and definitely had a hydrating feel when applied to the skin. Yet again I'm afraid my oily skin did beat it, but it did take a little longer to get through to my skin and didn't give the sliding effect I get with my makeup.

I think if you want to combat moderate shine both of these would work well, but if you are like me and have serious shine then I would say it might not be for you. Out of the two moisturisers I did much prefer the one that wasn't for oily skin, which sounds weird as you would expect to prefer the one for your skin type. This one definitely hydrated and softened my skin a lot, which gave it a good base for my makeup. I definitely think REN is a good skincare brand as the two samples I tried were lovely, I know they didn't work for me but I think they would be great for combination skin types. They are hydrating and leave the skin soft enough to provide a smooth base without the piling effect when applying your foundation. The only downside may be the price as the Hydra-Calm is £27 and the T-Zone Balancing is £26, so if your after a purse friendly product you may not be so keen to try.

Does anyone else out there have problems with excessive oil? Have you got any great recommendations for skincare that combats this?

Sunday, 17 June 2012

Smashing Pumpkins



Just thought I would do a quick post about a nail varnish I bought a couple of weeks ago that I love. As you know Ive got a thing for Topshop varnishes I don't really buy any other brand now as I think they do an amazing range of colours and they are great value for money. I find that I can often get a colour match or a close one of the higher end varnishes in Topshop for less than half the price, which is great as we all love a bargain!!
This colour is called 'Smashing Pumpkin' its a burnt orange colour, I haven't really seen this colour in any of the other nail varnish brands before. I love orange nail varnish but on my pale hands it looks terrible so this was a great compromise for me, its still got an orange tone but its a deeper colour instead of being bright. 

I'm not totally sure how it would look on the toes I haven't tried it yet, I do find some colours can only be worn on either the hands or feet and not both. Either way I think this is a great colour for summer going into autumn months, I will definitely be wearing this a lot over the next few months.

Do you like this colour? Have you tried any other colours you think I should get?

Saturday, 16 June 2012

My First She Said Beauty Box





So as I said in a previous post I decided to go against the grain and cancel my Glossy Box subscription, Its a great box but just not for me. Ive only really found a couple of products out of all the boxes that I could try, I really don't like the perfume samples for me its a waste of time as they end up in the bin. I also found that there would be 100 posts on the Glossy Box every month, I wanted to offer a slightly different box post so you don't read the same over and over again. That's why I decided to try another box and after much deliberation I went for the She Said Beauty Box, hoping that I can finally get the right box for me.

It finally arrived yesterday (had problems with the post office as usual) and first impressions were good, I loved the bright pink packaging. The actual beauty box was another lovely bright Aqua colour and the magnetic opening is a nice change from the standard box lid. Inside I received a mix bag of the usual types of beauty box products. I will probably use 3 of the 5 products which is good, I know I had a perfume sample (again!!!) but that wont be used and the lashes I will probably give to a friend. I was impressed by the other products I cant wait to try the St.Tropez Everyday Moisturiser, I have only used the usual fake tan that didn't work for me so I'm eager to try this. I also love Elemis products so the bath elixir will be used this weekend and you cant beat a hand cream I always have two or three in my bag. I'm hoping as this was my first one I had a standard box and the next box will NOT include a perfume sample. I have completed my beauty profile on there and they give you the option of which products your most interested in so hopefully next time will be a bit more personal to me.

The bonus Ginvera BB Cream is a nice surprise too, I have only tried one in the past which was Garnier and it was horrible. I haven't written them off completely though, I have seen so many great reviews about BB creams so I'm looking forward to trying this sample.

I will do a post about the St.Tropez and the Ginvera BB Cream when I have tested them properly. I'm hoping I wont get too much of an Essex tan as I am extremely pale and that is medium to dark!!

Have you tried a good beauty box that you could recommend? Or are you fed up of these boxes?

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Eve Lom Dynaspot







So we all know I like to harp on about my skin, as I know its a problem I decided to stop moaning and start finding a solution. I'm making it my mission to find the best treatment to combat blemishes, from high street to high end I'm going to give them all a go till I find my favourite!

Recently I tried the Witch Hazel stick and I was so unimpressed, at under £4 I thought I had found a bargain product but I hadn't. So in light of this I decided to go find a high end one to see the difference, hoping to find a miracle cure. I usually love to go to high street pharmacies and department stores, but as I'm on a mission I wanted to go to a stand alone boutique for a change. There isn't many where I am we currently only have one Space Nk in the whole of the region where I live, so whenever I'm near I have to buy at least one thing. As I am on a mission to combat my blemishes I decided to head straight for there and try and find a spot treatment.

I originally wanted the Mario Badescu drying lotion, Ive been wanting to try it for so long but its only available at Harvey Nicholls. I thought surely they would have something for me at Space Nk so after to speaking to the lovely shop assistant they showed me the Eve Lom Dynaspot. I tried this years ago but actually forgot it existed and I have to say when I was reunited I was excited as I remember it being pretty good. It has a very similar formula to the drying lotion, its white/pink and is a thick toothpaste like texture when applied to the face. It does have a slight Casper the friendly ghost look to it when its on, but if you blend it in right you can apply your foundation over the top. When you apply it due to its white formula it almost conceals the blemish, so when you do apply your makeup it almost disappears which is an added bonus. You do have to apply a really thin layer if your going to do this though as it will cake if you slap it on.

Since Saturday I have been smothering this on at night when I go to bed  and I have already seen improvements after a couple of days. I have marks from where I have had bad purges before and they wouldn't budge but this has helped to fade them already. I also had small bumps under my skin around my chin and mouth and they have gone down a considerable amount, and any spots that have appeared since go down within hours of applying the Dynaspot.

I have loved using this and for the short time I have been and I have already seen my skin improve. I really would recommend this to anyone who suffers with blemishes. The only downsides to this are the smell which is slightly strange but I think bearable, also the price at £22 its not the bargain I was hoping for. I think as its quite pricey I wouldn't recommend this to any acne sufferers who have very large areas that need treating as you would go through a tube a week. But for anyone like me who gets big painful purges in small areas on their face its great, you don't need to use a lot so it wont break the bank too much. 

I know it probably sounds as if my mission is over already but its definitely not, this product is good but I know there is better out there. Are there any you can recommend? Am I going in the right direction heading for the high end of the product scale? 

Sunday, 10 June 2012

Cant Con An Honest John


Hi everyone Ive been a bit of a rubbish blogger of late, Ive just started back at work 5 months after my accident so I'm trying to manage my time. I'm not sure how to get back into the swing of things Ive had so long away from civilisation I feel like an alien. Everything comes back with time, but I am making a blog promise from this week to blog as much as I can. I bought quite a bit over the weekend that Il have to tell you about, bad for my bank account but great for blogging!

Also I have decided to cancel my Glossy Box subscription and I'm now joined up to She Said Beauty, there are so many people on Glossy Box I will still feel like I have had one when I read reviews. I have to say its a great beauty box subscription but for me personally it wasn't right, I always found I only liked 1-2 products out of every box I had. So its time for a change hopefully this will be more suited to me!

I'm still fairly new to this game as I only started at the end of Feb and there are so many amazing beauty blogs out there, I just want to say thank you to my followers and the people who read it over twitter posts and so on. I don't have many followers and am only over 1200 hits but I'm not out to compete for followers I'm just appreciative of the people who actually take time out of their busy lives to read my ramblings. I try to give honest reviews and advice from my experiences with products. I know many bloggers out there just like to blog the good and while I think that is great and is a really positive way to blog, I do like to share with you my fails when It comes to products because I do have many and it can be entertaining. Too many times we waste money that we don't have on products that are just not right for our skin types. If I can give just one person the heads up that something is not great for oily skin or would be bad for dry skin then that's my job done.

I also love hearing any advice or new products you think I need (well I say need but its usually just want!) so please feel free to comment away and let me know what you think. The one thing I will speak out about is negative blogging comments, I see it time and time again on peoples blogs and I think it is disgusting. Bloggers work hard at what they do and take time out to share their lives with people, people aren't forced to blog they want to and have every right to do so without abuse from 'Anon' which can I say makes you a coward. Whatever the topic may be of the blog or whether you have 2000 or 2 followers, it's not right to leave terrible comments or remarks and I wont tolerate it on here or anywhere else.

So to the lovely people reading this I would like to say....... 


Sunday, 3 June 2012

I Heart Etat Pur





Ive seen so many Micellar Cleansing Water posts around lately, mostly from the famous 'Bioderma' range that seems to be the new favourite product. I love the idea of these micellar cleansers as they seem to benefit the skin and don't add anything that it shouldn't. Being the sort of person who tends to wear makeup a lot I know a lot of my skin problems are due to overkill. Everyone knows less is more but its hard to do so, when we pile on the primers and powders you clog your pores and don't let your skin breath. I'm a huge skin abuser when it comes to this, I can hold my hands up and safely say I pile on the makeup daily and my skin hates me for it.  
So when I saw a miracle cleanser that takes everything off in one go without stripping the skin I jumped at the chance to try it. I decided to not follow the hype and go for the Etat Pur instead of the Bioderma, I researched the brand and really loved it. I like the fact that its a range of simple products that target lots of different skin types and issues without the fuss of complicated routines. I was drawn to it for the great products but also for the really reasonable price bracket, everything is purse friendly and you get a fair amount for your money.
I decided to give this Micellar Cleanser a few days to try before I reviewed it, I did want to wait longer but I really love it so I couldn't wait to share my thoughts. Ive been converted to the hype and will definitely be keeping this as a major part of my routine.With this I used two cotton wool pads, the first pad was full of makeup (I always feel guilty when I see how much I'm piling on) but the second pad didn't have much makeup on at all. This really surprised me I usually find with some cleansers I'm still taking off makeup after using half a pack of cotton wool.By the next morning I had a clean oil free face with no panda eyes, my skin felt hydrated and my flaky tzone has gone completely.
I seriously cant big this cleanser up enough, I'm totally in love and at £6.40 I really cant believe that its this good. I'm sure the Bioderma is just as good but I'm sticking to Etat Pur, Ill definitely be purchasing more of the range They have a free delivery for your first order and they also sent me two moisturiser samples, I will try these and review them next.
Have you tried Etat Pur? What did you think, is there anything you recommend I try next for my oily skin?