March Favourites

Happy Easter Guys! It occurred to me while taking the images for this months favourites that they are mostly all skincare related - Perhaps they'll be of use after the amount of chocolate I've consumed this weekend! 

Vaseline Essential Moisture Cocoa Radiant Body Lotion  - This product really surprised me, I love how soft it left my skin and will be buying another as soon as I get a chance. (You can read my full review here)

Skinetica* - This has been talked about a lot, and I can see why - it's worked wonders on my skin. Although I've found myself going through it way too quickly despite not using it every morning and night as instructed. (Full review here)

Origins Out Of Trouble 10 minute mask -  I've had this since December and still haven't written a review as nearly four months on I don't feel ready to do so. I do really like it and have used it quite a few times this month, while it calms my skin I'm unsure If I can justify spending £20 on it (I found mine in the sales along with two other masks for £20!)

Perricone MD No Concealer Concealer* - I really like this and I feel like it does a wonderful job at brightening my eye area and for that reason its here. I'm sure in the future I will think about buying this again, but for now I'm still 17 and probably don't benefit from this as much as others do. (Full review here)

Good Things Stop that spot! - If you've been reading this blog for a while you may know that my local Superdrug is amazing (examples here and here) I picked this spot gel up for just 49p and have been loving it this month, It just does the job and I'm likely to buy again if I see it on offer.

Natural Collection Green Concealer - I mentioned in this post that I really like this product for masking any redness that I have. Since then I've been reminding myself to apply this in the morning and have been loving the results! 

Ghost Deep Night - Normally I like sweet scents so this is a little bit of a change for me but I love it - I actually have a perfume post coming up so look out for more about it in that! 

Dainty Doll liquid foundation - I've been loving not having to spend about what feels like 3 hours buffing my foundation in because this shade is perfect for me! Expect a review very soon! 

March Empties

This month I've managed to finish quite a few products, I'm pretty fed up of having ten of each product so was made the choice to start continually using products until they're done which seems to be working for me as I've finished a lot more - although I find it pretty boring!

Naked Skincare Up Tone Girl - I really like this product and am currently on my second bottle of the stuff (along with my perfect getaway cleanser). If you're into natural products I'd give this ago - It's under a fiver too which is always a bonus 

Botanics Cleansing Cream and toner - I really enjoyed using these and would happily buy again if I didn't have so many products to get through - Again something which is pretty cheap and cheerful with a bottle costing around £4 (although always on offer!)

Naturally Radiant Hot Cloth Cleanser - I really liked this product and would happily buy it if it was on offer, although for now its the same price as the Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser which is 200ml, compared to this 150ml.

Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser - As mentioned above I happen to prefer this one. Not only because you get 50ml more of product but It leaves my skin feeling so moisturised. 

Tea Tree & Peppermint Face Scrub - I thought this was good, although for the price I know I can find many more effective ones which are double the size.

Herbal Essences Seductively Straight mask - This was a poundland find that I quite enjoyed, I've actually just bought the shampoo and conditioner from the same range so fingers crossed!

Tresemme Silt remedy sealing serum - I really liked this product, I just have lots of these types of things to get through before I rebuy.

Boots expert hear protection intensive Conditioner - This was about my fourth bottle of this stuff, I really like it and would recommend checking out a Boots Clearance store (I picked this up on a 2 for £1 offer!)

Batiste Blonde Dry Shampoo - This stuff works wonders on my blonde hair, I love it and have already picked up another,

Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Body Milk - Love this stuff, It smells amazing and leaves my skin feeling great.  I will happily buy again when I get the chance.

Radox Berry Burst Shower Creme - Loved the scent I just found I went through it way too quickly.

Sugar Crush Body Scrub - I have mixed feeling about this while I loved the scrub itself the smell was a bit much. 

Maybelline Dream Matte Powder - I thought this was an excellent powder, although currently I'm using my MUA one which works out a lot cheaper at just a pound!

Collection 2000 Skyscraper mascara - Another poundland find! I thought this was great and will by again when I finish my current mascara.  

Loreal telescopic mascara - I really like this, although I know I can find mascaras just as good for half the price - including the collection one.

Kleenex eye make up remover wipes - I thought these were really handy and would happily by them again on offer.

Glade Winter Berries Candle

While I love candles, I'm fed up with only ever seeing £30 ones featured on blogs. I do own some of the bigger more expensive ones, but I feel like the cheap ones can be just as great and there are some little gems out there. So Im kicking off my own little series where I feature some of the cheaper ones I've tried. Back in December I was given Glade 'Winter Berries' for Christmas, I love anything berry scented so this was perfect for me. The smell is pretty impressive, I found that whenever I burned this the whole house would smell amazing - If your looking for a really strong smell this may be ideal. Although making it burn evenly was a struggle, Id leave it on for hours at a time and it just refused to burn the whole way through . I know some people say this is always the case with cheaper candles, but I've used ones from the poundshop that have burnt all the way through. It's just a matter of burning it long enough.

Overall I think this is quite a bargain at £4 despite the problems it may have, It lasted for a good while too. (Apparently up to 30 hours - But I cant say I actually know how many hours mine was going for)

Have you tried any candles from Glade?

Hemp Hand Protector

When I was younger the skin on my hands would get so dry in the winter that it would physically hurt to write - of course this was a great excuse during lessons at school, but it was quite a painful experience which seems to have faded with age. That said I still have to be extra careful in the winter (and apparently spring given this current weather) to keep my hands moisturised. Lately I've been putting my trust in this hemp hand protector from The Body Shop, while I hate the smell and wouldn't think to use it in public this now lives on my bedside table ready for me to use.

From the first use this just made my hands feel so soft, I also found that the hemp hand protector doesnt irritate any redness/dryness I have on my hands and seems to help soothe them. If you do suffer with really dry hands I think this is one of the best hand creams you could try, yes I hate the smell and I'm not a huge fan of the packaging but this has worked wonders for me.

You can pick this up over on The Body Shop's website at £5 for 30ml or £10 for 100ml.

Vaseline Cocoa Butter Lotion

Over the past year I've become little bit obsessed with moisturising in that I couldn't go a day without doing so. It's become part of my everyday routine , I don't care how late I'm running I will find time to do it before I get dressed. I've never suffered with dry skin or anything so I'm not too sure how I came to be so obsessive with it, but I find myself going through a lot of body butters and lotions so I'm always trying new ones. A couple of weeks ago this 'Vaseline Cocoa Butter Lotion' was half price in Superdrug for around £2.50, so I figured it was worth picking up a bottle since you get a great 400ml of product for your money. I didn't know what to expect from it as I've never tried any of Vaselines body products before but I've been left impressed.

I find that this sinks into my skin effortlessly and I'm not waiting around to get ready. I was really surprised to find that this leaves my skin feeling just a moisturised, if not more than my beloved TBS body butters which retail at £13 per 200ml, whereas this costs a lovely £4.69 per 400ml. It has a lovely scent to it which lingers on the skin, yet its nothing too overpowering at the same time.

Have you tried anything from the essential moisture range?

Youtuber of the week #5

Doing a six hour car journey last weekend I managed to miss my weekly Youtube post! But I'm back with with another great youtuber I think you guys should go and check out. Although the lovely Laurie from Blue Rinse is pretty new to youtube, I think she is a complete natural and I've really liked all of her videos so far. She also has a lovely blog which you can visit here - I promise you wont regret it!

Who is your favourite youtuber?

Yet another Dainty Doll Haul

If you haven't already noticed, I'm very pale- So when I heard that Dainty Doll was being sold in TK Max I rushed to my local store to get my hands on some, but my one is rubbish and I left empty handed. So I was pleased to see items being sold on Fragrance direct for just £1.99. Having my luck by the time I got around to making an order they had no blushers left in stock which I really wanted to try. So I took to Amazon and managed to bag some amazing deals, From the same seller (Onlinemakeupstore) I got two cream blushes, a powder blush, concealer and lipstick with delivery for just over £9.

The Seller also had Dainty Doll's liquid foundation in the shade dark, although I thought this would be too dark for me and found a seller on eBay who still had the shade 'medium' in stock for just £3.99, they're sold out now which is a shame as I was amazed with their service (It came the day after I ordered it!) but here is a search where you can find other sellers selling the foundation for pretty reasonable prices. Just a day later my amazon order arrived and although the store I brought from is sold out of everything I brought now I will do my best to offer alternatives. 

The top shade in the above picture is Dainty Doll's powder blush in the shade 'Hippy Shake' - It's unlike anything else I own and was priced only at just £1.50 so I figured Id pop it in my basket(alternative seller here) Next I picked up Billion Dollar Babies cream blush at £1.99, this looks like it would be a great contour for pale skin so I look forward to trying it (alternative seller here) Lastly is the beautiful Orange County Girl cream blush which was a steal at £1.70 I've seen lots of posts about this so I cant wait to wear it (alternative seller here).

I have an obsession with lipsticks so had to pick this one up for just £1.35, Storm in a tea cup is a lovely everyday shade and I love how luxury the packaging feels! (alternative seller here), I also mentioned how much I love using green concealer so couldn't pass this one up at just £1.00 (alternative seller here).

So there's my Dainty Doll haul expect full reviews very soon! Did any of you manage to pick up some discounted Dainty Doll?

How I cover up facial redness

When faced with the problem of redness I know so many people who will just slap the foundation on, while this seems like quite a logical idea a lot of the time the redness still peeps through. Personally I hate foundations with a high coverage anyway, so when faced with this problem myself last week I developed a routine for combating the redness on my face without caking the make up on and thought Id sure if with you guys who may be suffering from similar problems.

Firstly I prep my skin with Witch's anti-blemish redness relief moisturiser, any primer will do the trick although I find using a green moisturiser just automatically helps get rid of some of the redness and just gives a great base. Next I make a grab for Natural Collections Green Concealer which I think is fantastic! I hate that green concealers aren't really marketed that well as they're a complete lifesaver for me. Everytime I recommend this to a friend they look at me oddly for a while before repeating the word green to me like I'm mad, but everyone of those friends I've told to get this has been left amazed! This concealer just helps get rid of any excess redness on the skin before using a foundation, My current one is Rimmels Match perfection which is a little dark for me but blends like a dream. Next I take my Collection concealer  which I will tap into any blemishes still peeping through the foundation, I find this is the most effective method of applying this concealer to target areas and like my foundation it blends into my skin really well. Lastly I find that setting all of that work just really helps the make up to stay in place for longer - Im currently using MUA's pressed powder  with my ecotools brush which does the job really well. 

Bottom-Top: Witch anti-blemish redness relief mosituriser, Natural Collection Green concealer, Rimmel Match perfection in Ivory, Collection lasting perfection concealer in fair and MUA pressed powder in shade one.

I'd love to hear how you guys deal with redness and if you have any tips or tricks! Personally I cant stress the importance of a green concealer enough, I found mine for just £1.99 in Boots.

Disappointing Products #1

I know some people hate negative posts, but personally I love them. I rely on bloggers to give me their honest thoughts on a product and if I'm only ever shown a one sided view I'm never going to be able to get a true picture of a it. So here is a small collection of products which disappointed me, Some of them are loved my many bloggers so I'd love to hear your thoughts on this post.

The first product I want to mention is Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation which isn't pictured since I gave it away after about one use. This had so many rave reviews, so like most hyped up products I was excited to try it - and like most hyped up products it disappointed me. I just found it orange and cakey,which is not something I look for in a foundation. Next is this Japonesque powder brush which you'd expect to be great considering it retails for nearly £30, but I just didn't see anything special about it and prefer my EcoTools one that retails for a third of the price. 

Hyped lip products seem to let me down a lot, Firstly I wanted to talk about Revlon's famous lip butters, the shade pictured (Peach Parfait) I actually don't mind but I found others too drying and gave them away. Secondly, I have Rimmel's Apocalips which I don't think are bad products - I just don't really think they deserve the hype they have (I did a more indepth post which I've linked if you're interested to save me ranting again here!) 

Lastly I have two eye products, While I loved Maybelline the Falsies Black Drama mascara on my lashes the amount of smudging it caused and the mess it made every time I tried to apply just wasnt worth the fuss. I also was disappointed with MUA's newest palette Undress me too which just wasn't up to the standard of every other palette in the line, again as with all these products I've linked a full review. 

Which products have left you disappointed? 

Undress Me Too

If there's one product I've been really lusting over in the past few months it's the Naked 2 palette, So when I saw that MUA were releasing a dupe palette I searched high and low in around five different Suerdrug's until I finally picked up the last one on the stand! Undress me too comes housed in a simple MUA style palette only this time it's white opposed to their famous black packaging, while this is quite ascetically pleasing as you can imagine it doesn't stay for very while for long (especially with that black shadow around!). The palette is compelete with nine shimmery shades and three matte.

It seems MUA have finally listened to fans naming all twelve shadows on the back along with a little masterclass which would be a great starting point if you're stuck for ideas. I'll be honest in saying this isn't going to be an amazing review - While I normally love all MUA products, I just feel that this just wasn't up to the high standards they have set themselves. 

As normal the shimmery shades are amazingly pigmented, I found that the few matte shades in this palette seemed to lack in quality so have decided to break them down shade by shade. I found that all of the shades I used lasted all day with my MUA Primer (which on a side note is well worth checking out)

L-R: Naked, Devotion, Shy, Firey, Lavish and Dreamy

While naked doesnt show up on my arm, I've found It works well as a base and really brightens the eyes. To be honest the next shade Devotion doesn't really appeal to me, neither does Firey so I haven't had much use out of those. Shy reminds me a lot of Naked only in a shimmery form, It looks quite nice on the lids especially if you're looking to add a bit of shimmer to an everyday look. I've been more intreated in matte shades lately was excited to try Lavish - unfortunately it picks and chooses when to work and when it does pigmentation is weak. I did tweet MUA about this and gained no reply so I'm assuming that this may be the case for many. Finally Dreamy is yet another shimmery shade which I see myself getting a lot of use out of in the coming months.

B-T: Tranquil, Exposed, Reveal, Wink, Obsessed and Corrupt 

The bottom row is definitely my favourite! Over the past week I've been loving the first three shades (Tranquil, Exposed, Reveal), Ill either create a look with all three or just quickly sweep Reveal over the eyelid. Again Wink isn't a shade I'm too bothered by so I cant say I've used it much, I have the same problem with Obsessed but think the brown with a little shimmer will make an nice liner! Lastly is the shade that shocked me most Corrupt - Judging by the other shades I didn't expect to have quite as much pigmentation! Although I automatically detected a problem in that it's so powdery! With a thin brush it works great as a liner though and can be blended to create a softer look. 

While I'm sure many will be looking at this review thinking what's she moaning about its a £4 palette, but budget brands such as MUA have taught me to expect quality products at even the smallest prices. I'm disappointed in that all of their other palettes have been so great and this had nothing on them! Never have I experienced an powdery MUA eyeshadow or one that doesn't even work until I tired Undress me too. Dont get me wrong this is worth an investment, but when I buy a palette I expect all the shades within it to at least work.

Maybelline the Falsies Black Drama

I hear so many good things about Maybelline and their mascraras so when I finally finished previous my one I couldn't wait to try one out. I found that 'Maybelline the Falsies Black Drama mascara' really stood out on my lashes and left them long and volumised without being too 'spider legy', I loved it so much that I even put it in a favourites. But after a while I started to pick up on some of the may issues with this product. I found that It was really messy on application. While I could deal with this when I wasn't wearing any eyeshadow by simply sweeping a cotton bud around my eye - It made wearing anything else a complete nightmare! Although the thing that bugged me most was the pure amount of smudging that I experienced with this mascara, never before have I experienced any kind of smudging but everyday without fail I'd find this under my eyes.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this mascara on my lashes as I lost it before I had the chance - quite frankly I'm happy I did as I hate waste and was determined to finish this. 

ps. I didn't want to bore you with a blog post begging you to follow me. But If you have twitter you may have seen a little about the Google reader drama - While as it stands no one has officially announced that its the end of GFC, It doesn't appear to be far off and I'd really appreciate if you could follow me in one of the many other ways available such as HelloCotton, Bloglovin' or even Twitter as a back up (Links in the sidebar) 

Sleek Lipsticks in Poundland!

As you can imagine on the day before Mothers day card shops were off limits so I wondered into poundland in search of a gift bag. Of course I couldn't make a visit without having a peak at their beauty isle, where I stumbled across a few Sleek lipsticks! I was low on funds so only picked up this little beauty from their sheer collection but I wish I could have got more - They even had some with the Matte black casing!

While Cashmere may look scary in bullet form and like a product which would suit a darker skin tone I love it against my pale complexion, It has a bit of shimmer running through it but little enough for everyday use. The colour itself is an odd one, While swatched heavily it looks a little on the burgundy side, on the lips its a lovely browny nude. It's also really comfortable on the lips which is always a bonus.

Have you found any bargains lately!?

Weekend Make up.

Personally I find that over the weekend I have a little more time to spend on my make up because I'm not rushing around to try and race my bus to the stop. So I figured I'd show you what I wore yesterday since today I'm feeling too lazy to even bother with my face. Lately I've been trying this MUA primer  - and have found It does the same job as my more expensive ones for a fraction of the price! I'm almost out of my Rimmel match perfection  but am considering rebuying in a lighter shade. Concealer wise I've been reaching for my No concealer concealer* to brighten my eyes although felt the need to use something with a higher coverage for any blemishes in the form of Collection's famous lasting perfection concealer. To help mask any redness I also prepped the skin with witches redness relief moisturiser before hand. Blush wise I've been loving Benefits Thrrob  which just gives such a pretty flush of colour.

As always before applying eyeshadow I used MUA's eye primer  followed by the third shade along in the second row of the Undress me too palette over my whole lid (expect a review very soon!) Finally I finished the look with Soap & Glory's Naked Beige  which is such a lovely natural shade - I'm even considering buying the lipstick!

What did you wear this weekend?

Youtuber of the week #4

I can't believe I've been doing these posts for a whole month now! The next youtuber I want to share with you guys is the lovely Hannah from hannahyep. I love people who can make me laugh and Hannah just manages to time and time again while talking about beauty, which is always a bonus if you're half as make up mad as me!

You can see all my Youtube posts by clicking here. Who's your favourite Youtuber?

Skinetica anti-blemish treatment

If you follow half as many blogs as I do I'm sure you'll have noticed a review or two of this product, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about so when I was offered the chance to try a bottle I jumped at the chance. Skinetica* comes housed in a practical 100ml bottle, while this has come under many criticisms I don't mind it and actually love the fact that it's quite unisex. The only problem I do have with it however is the  lid, while it does the job I just feel like the product would better from a pump which would really help the application process and assure you don't use too much of the product. But I'm just a sucker for pumps and would prefer everything with one!

The product itself is something I have loved using over the past couple of weeks,  It doesn't sting my skin like most treatments yet leaves it clearer than any of them.  The couple of months have been rather hectic and my skin has suffered! I've found myself with blemishes across my cheeks that just wouldn't fade and new ones oping up every so often across my chin and forehead. But I've found after just a couple of weeks the marks and blemishes across my cheeks are pretty much gone with the exception of a couple which have faded drastically. As for the rest of my skin I find this to be really effective in reducing blemish size. It hasn't been drying at all on my skin which for reference is normal and blemish prone.

I think at £9.99 for a 100ml bottle with P&P I think this is worth every penny, but if you can also request a 15ml bottle for £1 P&P which I think is well worth a try if you're considering buying the full sized bottle! Have you tried Skinetica?

Tresemme Liquid Gold

Back when Tresemme was two for £5 in Boots I picked up this 'Liquid Gold Argan oil infused perfecting hair treatment' since the oil hype last year I haven't looked back and loved the fact that this was 'Argan oil infused' So I figured I'd give it a go. That was over a month ago, and since then I've been using this little beauty on my hair pretty much every night. I find myself using two pumps as my hair is stupidly long at the moment but somehow I've only used around a fifth of this bottle which I think is pretty amazing! Because of the current state of my hair I do have quite a few split ends but feel like this just helps them look less noticeable and leaves my hair feeling so soft.

I've seen mixed reviews about this and I think that's because of the word oil on the bottle - but at no point does it claim to be one and it is a liquid as the name 'liquid gold' would suggest. Either way I still think this is a great product and perhaps Ideal if you wanted to try an oil but were worried about your hair being left greasy as this just seems like a lighter option.

This retails at £6.99 although it's currently on offer for just £4.66 at Boots.

No Concealer Concealer

If there's one thing the High Street does extremely well it's dupes, If you look hard enough you can find a dupe for pretty much anything! So when I was contacted by Cult Beauty, I wanted to review a product with pretty much no contenders on the high street to see if it was worth their 'Cult' status. I've always been interested in Perricone MD as the products all have such an impressive list of claims so I was excited to try this one out.

While some label the packaging of No Concealer Concealer * medicinal looking, I adore it in that it's unlike any other of the products I own. The glass is sturdy enough for me to just throw it in my make up bag and  the pump just helps in keeping everything hygienic. One pump of this product may look tiny, but I've found that you need the smallest amount of concealer on each area and that single pump is enough for my entire face.

I was automatically sceptical about the claims of the 'one universal shade' once I saw how orange this was against my pale skin tone, although I found that this blends like a dream and the shade works perfectly for me. For the same reason I worried that the concealer wouldn't work under my eyes, but this just seems to  make them look so awake and leaves that area feeling amazing after use!  One day last week I was up at 4:30am, and there was pretty much no change under my eyes thanks to this product. I don't suffer with bad dark circles so I cant comment on how well this would cover it up, but from what I've seen review wise it sounds like it does a good job at masking them.

I found this was really good at blurring any other imperfections on my face and it lasted a really long time too. The product didn't feel too heavy on my skin was really natural looking. The thing that impressed me most about this was the fact that it has such a high SPF, Its rare that you see 35 in foundations let alone concealers. 

Overall, I think with a product like this what you get out of it depends what you're looking for in the first place. While it's quite expensive you have to keep in mind the added skincare benefits that come with it,  I definitely think that this is worth the investment if you're someone who suffers from dark circles or even acne but hate the cakiness which comes with most concealers.  I love fact that you only need one small pump for your whole face and  predict my 10ml bottle will last a long time! You can pick this up for £37 over at the Cult Beauty Website. Which on a side note Id recommend checking out if you're thinking of treating yourself, I love the idea behind the website and have spotted a few great deals!                                                                                                       

Youtuber of the week #3

My Youtube posts are quickly becoming my favourite to write purely because I get to combine two of my biggest loves on  a weekly basis. This week I wanted to show you guys a relatively new Youtuber who I think is great! From Dani Austin's  first video she was a complete natural and I have watched everyone since! She just has a lovely personality and I'm pretty sure you guys will agree! (I'm dead jealous of her hair too!)

Who is your favourite Youtuber?!

Japonesque Powder Brush

A couple of weeks ago I raved about the Japonesque angled foundation brush which I love, so I figured it was about time I told you guys about the other Japonesque brush in my collection ! Like the foundation brush this powder brush comes complete with a travel sized handle which is great if you're on the go. The brush itself is massive though and nearly double the size of my previous powder brushes

For giving the face a quick sweep of powder this is great, although if you prefer to pat your powder on this automatically becomes a problem as I feel the ends of the brush hairs can actually be quite scratchy on the face. From day one I did notice a few hairs shed which I didn't expect to happen with such an expensive brush!

Overall I do quite like using this brush despite the problems I have encountered, although I wouldn't pay £29.25 for it!