May favourites

This month has definitely been one of trying new products and getting to grips with older ones or testing new combinations.

T-B- NYX cream blush in "Natural", Beauty UK blush in Royal Rose.

My NYX cream blush has become an everyday staple for a dewy finish to an everyday face. It adds a healthy tint whilst remaining in place pretty much all day. I've been using one of the new baked blushes by Beauty UK which I'm a big fan of, it's very pigmented with some fine shimmer to it, and it complements the NYX blush well enough to use on top just to add a bit of extra kick to the colour or keep it on for longer.

Ooh la la Naked is a wonderfully creamy moisturising body wash with a heavenly scent that makes me want to eat it and produces mountains of creamy lather when used with a shower scrunchie (buff puff/ mesh-thingy... Everyone calls them a different thing!) 


Naked's Perfect Getaway cream cleanser is something I've been using everyday for the last week and a bit and so far it's pretty much perfect. I don't use it quite as the directions suggest (smoothing on and removing with a cotton pad) but use it like a hot cloth cleanser which seems to be working well. Full review on this to come once I've been using it for longer! 

Max Factor Experience Weightless Foundation - I'd seen Fee @ Makeup Savvy rave about this foundation and I love, love, love it! The coverage is amazing, for general blemishes I don't need anything extra but spots do require either a tiny bit extra foundation (which can be built up without looking at all cakey) or a dab of concealer. It visibly perks up my skin leaving it looking smooth and perfect whilst not looking like I'm wearing a heavy foundation or feeling as though I'm wearing anything on my skin at all! It lasts all day, doesn't need any powder on my normal-combination skin and is what I'd describe as a satin finish. This is definitely a must have and something I'll be sticking with. I actually got hold of this for £6 including postage on ebay instead of the Boots £10 price after swatching instore for a colour match.

elf Studio cream eyeliner- after quite a number of months of this being my only used eyeliner the top of this started to dry up and made application difficult and a bit messy. Having started to burrow down past the top layer of drier eyeliner it's got a new lease of life and I'm back to using it every single day without fail. Such an amazing product for the tiny £3.50 price tag. 

elf Studio stipple brush- perfect for cream blushes and for a quick swirl in pigmented powder blushes too. 

Bourjois Delice de Poudre bronzer- a tiny price for a lot of bronzer! This smells delicately of chocolate which in my books can only be a good thing, it's just about totally matte though there is the odd bit of shimmer thrown in. It's great for evening out my chest and neck if my fake tan is starting to fade or for a bit of all over colour on my face, this is a really buildable powder ideal for us paler girls (mine's number 51 which is the lighter colour I believe). 

Nivea Daily Essentials oil free moisturising day cream is another new product, I was running low on my Simple oil balancing moisturiser and this was on offer in Tesco for £1.50 (usually £3) so I thought it was worth a try. If anything I prefer it to my Simple moisturiser, it's scented, which I like, and it's possibly a little more moisturising too, the formula is more creamy and less gel-like. Does a great job of keeping my skin from getting oily through the day and moisturises too!

17 Wild Curls is definitely my favourite everyday mascara (and that's not to say it doesn't deliver fierce curled lashes!) but with No7's exquisite curl mascara layered over it I'm left with even bigger lashes that are both volumised and lengthened. 

A long favourites post this month! Anything outstanding that you've used this month? Let me know!

x

Naked Haul (!)

I recently took advantage of the amazing Groupon deal for Naked, £20 of Naked goodness for £8 (plus P&P of £3.99)... Overall costing me £13-something as I clearly couldn't stick to the £20 budget!

Naked have been a company I've admired for some time now, their products are interesting and very well priced for natural ingredients, paraben and SLS free goodies.

This is what I picked up...

Ooh la la naked Coco de mer body wash, Melt away naked starflower bath foam, bare faced cheek softening face wash, perfect getaway cream cleanser and up tone girl gentle toner! 

The body wash has become my new favourite, I already have the body butter and I've had the bubble bath too so I knew that the scent of this is just amazing, it's so rich and gorgeous and it stays on my skin afterwards too. It is really creamy and moisturising too which is so unusual for my skin to actually be moisturised by a body wash! (£3.99 from Naked)

The bath foam is also incredibly scented (again, I've had products in the starflower scent before, a long time ago!), the whole bathroom and upstairs area just smells gorgeous when I've used this, and the bubbles last for at least an hour in the bath. (£3.99 from Naked)

I'll be doing a separate review for the skincare, but so far I'm really enjoying it, particularly the two cleansers.

Have you discovered Naked products? What are your favourites? Let me know in the comments :)

x 

Taking control.. of Spotdom

Recently my face has decided it doesn't like me and must punish me with spots and clogged pores despite having  normal/dry skin. I decided enough was enough and went to search out some solutions to rid my skin of pesky blemishes!

I got my hands on T-Zone's antibacterial pore cleanser, which reminds me of the first cleanser I ever had, it's just like water in consistency and it smells of tea tree and generally clean and fresh, I personally really like the scent to it! I've been using it for about a week either before cleansing in the morning and before I wash my face in the evening/after facewipes. It does nothing to exfoliate my skin and little to look after it so I don't fancy using it all on it's own. I have to admit though it's not been drying and I've had no problems with my skin reacting badly in any way.

You literally squirt some onto a cotton pad and wipe it over your face and that's it. It's doing a good job of keeping my skin balanced and it's definitely made a big difference to the congestion and blackheads in my pores, especially on/around my nose. It's also got on top of the spots I had which left much quicker and the amount of blemishes plaguing me has dramatically reduced

I picked mine up from Home Bargains and I can't see it online in either Boots or Superdrug.. Definitely worth having a look for it though if you're after something to keep spot-prone skin under control!

Are you a fan of no-water cleansers? Any suggestions for me?

x

Soap and Glory's Girligo!

While Boots had their big huge 3 for 2 skincare event I was unable to resist getting a couple of bits from Soap and Glory. One of them was Clean Girls! which I love and which also lasts FOREVER and the other was Girligo, a wonderfully scented moisturising spray, perfect for spritzing on after a shower.

First off, my only niggle with this... I cannot hold the bottle and spray it with one hand, it's too big/unbalanced and it's just too difficult to do both without it falling with a thud to the ground, I have to spray it into my hands and then apply it to my arms/legs/wherever I'm moisturising which annoys me a little.

This is so perfect for summer, the light moisturising action is only going to be any good if you either have no issues with dry skin/ you're using it in the summer as a supplement to moisturiser. It'd be great for travelling as the beautiful girlie scent lingers as well, so it's multi-tasking!

As ever the packaging is gorgeous and despite being a teeny bit on the expensive side (£6.38 for 250ml in Boots) for a light moisturiser, it's a price I'm happy to pay for a multi-tasking, pretty product.

Are you a fan of moisturising sprays?

x

NYX cream blushes

NYX blushes are pretty legendary in the beauty community. They're affordable with a wide range of colours and a great formulation, so why it took me so long to get hold of some I've no idea.

L-R- natural, boho chic

I eventually bought them from an ebay seller in America (see the current listing here) and I paid around £5 each for them, including postage. The two shades I have are Natural and Boho Chic, as sadly the infamous Glow was out of stock. You can see all the different shade selections in the listing.

It's taken me a couple of months to work out how best to use them, and to decide whether I like them or not, now that I've found that my ELF stipple brush is perfect for applying and blending just the right amount I'm really enjoying using them! I'm clearly like a small child, some days I choose cream blush just because it's fun to use... You can apply with fingers too, you only need a tiny dab, I dot it onto the apples of my cheeks and blend up and out towards my hairline.

The effect once on is a glowy, dewy look that can be played up or down depending on blending and it lasts most of the day even without a powder blush on top on my (currently!) normal skin.

Well worth a look, and I'd really recommend the seller that I've linked to in the post too!

Are you a cream blush fan? Any tips to share? Let me know :)

x

Poppy King Lipstick- Power

If I'm honest, the only thing that excited me about the Poppy King range when I first heard about it was the beautiful packaging I was expecting. Sadly this only extends to the cardboard box that houses the lipstick however it does do something to satisfy my craving for pretty packaging!

Take a look at the promotional video for an idea of the other shades on offer...

  

Power is described as raspberry in colour and I totally agree. For a range that's supposed to be sheer I actually don't think that Power is that sheer, sure one swipe leaves less colour than the bullet would have you expect but still it's not all that sheer. The colour also doesn't particularly match the colour in the video, but it's still pretty and not a colour I have already.

I personally like it blotted which leaves a beautiful raspberry stain, that is so perfect for spring. It leaves an even stain as it wears off which sticks around for hours.

swatched 2/3 times

£12 seems a little on the expensive side for such a teeny lipstick (3.5g of product in a tiny lilac-y silver tube) however with a £5 No7 voucher the £6 is so much more reasonable.

Definitely something I feel I'll be getting a lot of wear out of this spring/summer!

Disclosure: I was sent this free lipstick to review. All views and opinions expressed are my own.

Liz Earle Mother's day gift

Are you being a naughty, rebellious child and leaving it late to buy your lovely mum her Mother's day gift? Lucky for you Liz Earle have a special treat that even comes all ready in a gift box!

Liz Earle's special Mother's day gift contains THE cutest little pot (15ml) of Superskin moisturiser, a 10ml rollerball tube of Superskin Concentrate and a lovely travel sized tube (50ml) of Superskin Body Cream as well as a sample of the new Superskin Eye & Lip Treatment all in a generously sized gift box in Liz Earle's signature blue (or is it turquoise? Or even green?!) colour, which is sure to earn you a bigger portion of dessert!

I've previously reviewed the Superskin moisturiser and the Concentrate is a favourite of SO many, even if I personally found the scent too strong for my sensitive little nose. The body cream is wonderfully unique, it's fragrance is the same as the concentrate but not as strong, and it feels really luxurious.

Available until the 11th of April from the Liz Earle website, priced at £30.

Neal's Yard Remedies... Chamomile Cleanser

I love it when a product surprises you and your opinion changes from one end of the spectrum to the other...

Neal's Yard Chamomile Cleanser was one of those. I received it as a gift for Christmas and eagerly used it for the first few days, waiting to get used to it and love it. It didn't happen. I didn't like the scent, the lack of "slip" when I massaged it into my face made me want to throw the pot, and it wasn't doing anything for my skin. Eventually I stopped using it and it was only after a break of a few weeks that I went running back to it with my arms wide open (think slow-motion romantic end of film) realising that I did in fact love it.

I've used it just about every day since then and it's wonderful. I recently found out from the website (a little video in the bottom corner of the page..) that you can use it with water rather than massaging it onto dry skin which makes a big difference to how much I need to use and how easily it moves over my face (this is totally missed out from the- reassuringly heavy- jar). The key for me is that once it looks like it's gone from my face, it really has gone; it's not possible to rub it in any further, as that just results in non-slip frustration.

I use it with a muslin cloth to remove it which makes sure my face gets a little exfoliation too and leaving it on for a few minutes results in baby soft skin. I still think that it's not the best for helping to clear congested skin, you'll need something extra too, but aside from that it removes make up perfectly, leaves my skin soft and smooth, the scent has definitely grown on me to the point where I really like it, and it's become a real favourite.

Neal's Yard Chamomile Cleanser costs £11.75 for 50g and is available from their website.

Have you tried anything from Neal's Yard?

x

Mysterious black bottles from elf.

I've declared my love for elf, budget makeup company, many times now so I'll spare you my thoughts on the company themselves!

These two black bottles are from the elf studio line and contain daily brush cleaner and makeup mist and set, which both retail at £3.50 each.

The daily brush cleaner was bought on a bit of a whim, I'd always seen it as a waste of time.. Why do I need a spray when cleaning my brushes quickly in the sink works just as well?! Turns out convenience is the answer, I can have a brush daisy fresh and ready to use again in under a minute with this, no waiting around all day for brushes to dry! It smells nice too and is in a really generously sized bottle- 250ml. You spritz it onto your brush and use a towel to remove any old makeup left on there, before letting it dry for a few seconds. Definitely something I'd recommend for lazy-girl brush cleaning in the mornings!

Please excuse smeared bottle...!

Makeup mist and set is also a spray bottle but this one houses setting spray for perfect makeup all day with a dewy glow. The only thing that I feel could be improved with this is the spray could be a little finer, it works just fine as it is but sometimes I get a couple of bigger drops on my face which feels a little odd. I definitely see an improvement in the longevity of my makeup when using this, plus it leaves a fresh glow about you and makes sure there aren't any sneaky cakey patches of makeup in sight! The 60ml bottle lasts me a couple of months when used most days.

Have you tried sprays from the studio line? Want to?

x

Review: Topshop Makeup

Recently I made my first ever order from the Topshop website as they had free delivery and I'd been lusting after a cream blush of theirs for a while. While I was there perusing the Clearance section (where, as ever, just about everything I liked was out of stock...) I came across a lip "glaze" that they described as bronze.. Scary huh? It was £1 so obviously it had to be thrown into the virtual shopping basket and then I (virtually) ran to the till before anything else found it's way in there! 

I'm really keen on the packaging of both the products, it's different and stands out amongst the glossy blacks and clear tops of other products. The large mirror in the top of the blush makes it great for travel and the packaging seems sturdy enough to survive that too.

I was slightly concerned to find my products had been sent in what is effectively a paper bag, with only the tiniest bit of padding... Luckily for me (and Topshop!) my order arrived in one piece.

The blusher I ordered is "Flush" and it's gorgeous! The colour in the pan is pretty scary, I thought I was going to end up as a clown face... Surprisingly though this blends out well to leave a natural flush (as the name would suggest!) in a powder finish, which having tried NYX cream blushes is definitely welcome (I don't find having a cream finish staying on my face in a slightly sticky reminder that I'm wearing blusher particularly thrilling). It lasts all day and as you only need a tiny amount I can see this lasting a long time! Really good value for money at £6 and definitely unique to the highstreet.

The glaze is actually surprisingly wearable, it's not too bronze, though will look much better on me when the fake tan and bronzer comes out for the summer, it's non-sticky and just feels like a good quality gloss. 

Have you picked up anything from the Topshop makeup line? What do you think?

x

Pretty Purchases!

For someone who professes to dislike pink I certainly have enough of it around in my room... And now I've added these rather lovely Dahlia fairy lights and a pretty polka dot storage box to the mix! 

I got hold of them both at a great price, the box was £2.99 from Home Bargains, and the lights were fromSainsbury's, for around £9 in their recent 25% off event. The fairy lights are wrapped round the end of my bed whilst the box is currently looking for a home somewhere in my room! 

Have you got your hands on any new home accessories recently? Let me know!

x

Review: No7 Exquisite Curl

No7 mascaras have impressed me in the past, however I've not picked up any of their newer ones from the past few seasons as I've been relatively happy with my lower-end drugstore mascaras. This one was sent to me for review.


The newest offering from No7 is their "Exquisite Curl" mascara which claims to coax your lashes "to a more beautifully curved and volumised look, with long lasting curl", sounds good to me! I always used to curl my lashes until my eyelash curlers broke and the replacements just didn't cut it, ever since then I've demanded more from my mascaras; I want them to curl, lengthen, add volume and for all of this to STAY PUT for the whole day... Not much then ;)

The Exquisite Curl wand itself is curved to help curl lashes and has bristles which are quite densely packed, with one side having longer bristles than the other.


Application is easy enough, although I do seem to be having some issues with getting mascara on my eyelid which isn't normally a problem.. I'm putting this down to the brush shape which is a little unusual for me and bound to take a bit of getting used to!


Before...

After....

It definitely lengthens and curls, doesn't add a whole lot of volume but it's pretty rare to get everything in one! I really, really like this mascara and think it's well worth it's current £10 price tag- which is valid until the 23rd of Feb, after that it'll be £13.50 (or £8.50 with the £5 off vouchers that are regularly around). 

No7 also have a competition to win an exquisite pampering weekend including a make-over by none other than Lisa Eldridge! There are also 9 goodie bags to be won every week. For your chance to win all you need to do is upload a wink via picture or video to the No7 facebook page here! You've got until the 15th of February to get your entries in. 

Have you tried No7 mascara's before? Like the look of this one? 

x

Review: Good Things Fresh Start Creamy Cleanser...

... Superfruit extracts Grape and Pomegranate.

Good Things is a brand designed specifically for young skin, free from parabens, mineral oils, SLS and animal ingredients. The pricing's really reasonable and the packaging's attractive without looking like it's been designed for an 8 year old as some younger skin brands have a tendency to be.

I had high hopes for this cleanser having read wonderful things about the face mask and night cream but it's been a minor disappointment really. Having said that, one of the main things I dislike is the sickly sweet smell that for me really doesn't conjure up fresh-face thoughts, more mega amounts of sweets and sticky small people, but of course scent is definitely one of those things in which people's taste can vary hugely!

Good Things say:

"Regular Cleansing is the first step towards fabulous skin. This gentle creamy cleanser is enriched with moisturising mango-seed oil to clean and comfort your skin without drying it out, while skin calming cactus extract and skin boosting anti-oxidants from grapes and pomegranates give your face a fresh start."

Directions for use are similar to hot cloth cleansers in that you apply and rub in for a minute before removing with a flannel (I use a muslin cloth) dipped in hot water. I love cream cleansers, the texture, the softness of my skin after and the way you can dual cleanse and gently exfoliate...But whilst this doesn't claim to be a cream cleanser the way they suggest you use it, and the expectations I had of it's results having read the back of the packaging could easily lead to confusion....

After use I personally find that my face can feel quite dry and tight and there are still visible amounts of eye make up left on my face so this is definitely something you'd need to use an additional eye make up remover with.

I think that this would probably be more suited to an oilier skin type than my generally dry/normal combination skin and to someone who's not put off by sweet smelling skincare. I'm definitely still intending to try out the 5 minute face mask and dream cream but will be just be keeping this as a back up rather than everyday use. Have you tried any of the products from Good Things? What did you think?

Good Things is available from Boots and the cleanser is priced at £5.10.

x

NYX Tea Rose lipstick/FOTD

Face-

 ELF all over cover stick

Clarins' True Radiance foundation (003, Soft Ivory)

ELF studio blush in Candid Coral

Eyes-

ELF cream eyeliner in Copper

Wild Curls mascara 

Lips-

NYX round lipstick in Tea Rose

This was my first NYX lipstick and I'm really pleased with it, the texture is wonderful, smooth and silky but not too slippy with pretty decent staying power. Plus there's no cheap lipstick smell/taste! I'm looking into different shades now, so if you've got any personal favourites that you'd recommend then please do let me know! 

x

Review: Bourjois 10 hour sleep effect foundation

It's been a while since I used a liquid foundation, but every winter I start thinking about it and then I get disheartened and overwhelmed in Boots with the shades, and being in the way (aisles are too narrow for more than one person to browse properly at a time!) and I leave and forget about it.

It was only when I was in one of my bigger local Superdrug's looking for sleek Sunrise blush (didn't find it annoyingly!) that I started to look at the foundations.

The choice came down to this one, Sleek's foundation (looked quite flat in the bottle) and Bourjois Healthy Mix (a little too yellow looking in the bottle, but one I want to try) and at around £8 it was one of the cheaper ones too.

As I've mentioned (many times!) before, I'm really pale, with skin leaning more towards the neutral-pink base tone, and the shade that I chose was 72- Rose Clair, which matches surprisingly well. I do have to be careful not to apply too heavy handedly but to be honest that's what I've come to expect. The picture below looks incredibly orange for my skin tone but it blends in well to match my skin colour.

It's a relatively thin foundation which makes it really easy to blend and I've been using my ELF studio powder brush to apply which has been doing a really good job at applying this so that it just looks like my skin but better. The finish is gorgeous, a nice middle ground between dewy and matte, a satin-y finish, however it's oil free which stops my normal/combination skin from becoming at all oily.

(Pictures taken mainly in an attempt to capture beautiful glowy (in a good way) finish! Also illustrate how well this blends in).

Coverage is light and you'll definitely need an extra concealer to use with this if you've got redness or blemishes as this isn't heavy enough to double up as cover up (I'm quite impressed with that little rhyme myself...) as well.

My biggest problem with this is longevity, it just doesn't last, whether I've got a base or primer underneath or with powder on the top.

Overall, this starts off looking so promising only to be ruined by it's staying power which is really disappointing! I'll be finishing this by using it for at home and pop to the shop days where it doesn't matter so much if it doesn't last.

Have you tried 10 hour sleep effect? What did you think?

x

Review: Liz Earle Botanical Essence No.1

I received this fragrance from Liz Earle a month or so ago, and it's taken me a while to make up my mind about it.

It's really quite strong and sprayed into the air I like it for the first few minutes when it reminds me of the unusual herbal-y smell of the conditioner, and then something happens as it settles and I find it too strong.

Sprayed as a cloud before walking into it, or straight onto my wrist however and it seems to react better with my skin to leave it smelling fresher and... calmer. If that makes any sense? I find myself catching the smell of it on tops I've worn whilst wearing this perfume and really enjoying the scent, it seems to be something that I like more as I wear it more.

Liz Earle say:

"We’ve used the finest natural botanical ingredients from around the world – including high-altitude lavender from France, damask rose from Turkey, Italian bergamot and spicy patchouli from Indonesia. Using the expert nose of distinguished leading French perfumer, Jean Charles Niel, we gave him the time to indulge in this age old art, carefully hand-crafting this complex scent with true passion to create this vibrant, sparkling fragrance translating into warmth and sensuality."

It's a really unusual fragrance, though one I think that needs to be applied with a lighter hand to younger skins, but definitely something that can be worn everyday and enjoyed just about all year round!

Available from the Liz Earle website priced at £39.50 for 50ml.

Are you a big fragrance fan? What are your favourites?

x

Image credit: Liz Earle

Witch Hazel Wonders!

As previously mentioned in my favourites post I've been using distilled witch hazel on my face for the last month or so. Normally I apply some to a cotton pad (or re-usable cloth face pad) and swipe it across my face after cleansing and before moisturising morning and evening. I sometimes use it in the mornings alone, and shock horror, instead of cleansing a make up free face too.

The first thing that surprised me was the smell. Although I'd seen it mentioned before I didn't expect this... It doesn't smell like a witch hazel stick at all, and I can't describe it because I've never smelt anything like it! The only thing that comes to mind is burning, which isn't really what it smells like at all(!) Anyway, it's not horrible and you do get used to it, so for me it's a pretty minor point.

One slightly more major point is that the first time I used this I thought I was having an allergic reaction to it, my face went very red and felt hot. It was also the first time I'd used my favourite Simple moisturiser so I was very confused! It turns out that it was the two combined that was the problem, and I've since found the same problem with other things including my Good Things creamy cleanser. As long as I leave around 10 minutes between applying the witch hazel and the things I've identified as something that reacts with it, it's all fine. If I'm in a rush in the morning then I apply one or the other and save the witch hazel for bedtime (incidentally, I've had no problems with either of my Liz Earle moisturisers).

Onto the effects! I really didn't have much idea of what to expect. My skin is mid-crisis and being rebellious and at the moment I've just about always got a few unwanted spot friends on my face who refuse to leave, I didn't really expect the witch hazel to totally solve that and it hasn't but it has:

• evened out my skin tone quite a bit, lessened the general redness in my cheeks
• helped aforementioned unwanted friends leave a little faster
• done WONDERS for my pores, particularly the ones around my nose, they're practically invisible and are much less congested. Same goes for my nose and chin too! 
• Less blackheads on (or should that be in?!) my T-zone. 
• Helped regulate moisture levels in my skin, keeps oil at bay whilst going quite a way to moisturising other areas of dry skin. Even if I forget (oops!) to moisturise in the evenings my skin feels far softer in the mornings than it would do without the witch hazel. I also wake up to a much, much less oily face which is nice! I've even used it on my arms- dry skin- and it's definitely made a reasonable difference to the softness there too!
• made a very good toner, removing last traces of make up and making my skin feel refreshed and clean but soft.

This is now an essential item for me and I'll definitely be repurchasing, it's something like £2.19 in Boots and that will last me at least 2 months. The bottle does say that it's not suitable for sensitive skin so do bear that in mind :)

Have you tried witch hazel before? Tempted?

x

Super-duper multitasking moisturiser!

I know, I know, I'm a moisturising bore...!

I've been using Simple's Clear Skin Oil balancing moisturiser for a couple of weeks now and I love it. As my skin's decided it's moving over to the oily side this is ideal as it's perfect for keeping my face shine free all day. It makes a perfect primer, keeping my (mineral) make-up looking flawless, whilst ensuring my skin stays moisturised throughout the day, and whether it's a co-incidence or not (or the witch hazel I've been using..) my skin is definitely becoming clearer.

My skin's not hugely oily, it's undecided and rebelling as the weather changes and goes from being dry to oily over very short periods of time, but it's enough to make my T-zone and the area around my nose a little shiny if left to it's own devices throughout the day.

The moistuiser has an almost gel-like consistency and includes 3 "skin loving" ingredients: Natural zinc PCA to "gently absorb excess oil", Phytosphingosine to help reduce blemishes and corn starch to mattify "all day long"

It also contains vitamin E to moisturise and Pro-Vitamin B5 to "restore, soften and smooth".

A huge bargain I paid around £2 for this 75ml tube from Home Bargains, but is available from Boots for £3.99. A perfect day time moisturiser for those with oily/undecided skin, and perfect as a base for make up.

Are you a Simple fan? Tried this?

x

Liz Earle Superskin moisturiser

My skin is mid-crisis. It used to be dry and never oily, and it's currently combination oily-dry and in the middle of an ongoing breakout, argh! Come back dry skin, all is forgiven! I'll never say mean things about you, or abuse you ever again!

I took the opportunity to try the Superskin moisturiser when my skin was dry (which is normal for me) and I was very excited to get using it, the soft, silky moisturiser feels surprisingly light for something which is targeted at very dry/mature skin, which was a very pleasant surprise. It glides onto my skin and sinks in quickly leaving it minimally shiny which I really like, heavy moisturisers aren't my thing. It contains Cranberry seed oil, Rosehip oil, Borage oil and natural vitamin E to "smooth, plump and replenish". It's almost scent-less though there is a little something to it. It's incredibly gentle and I love it.

Despite being light and non-greasy this moisturiser does an amazingly good job, I wake up in the morning to find my skin feeling beautifully soft- even those irritating creases around my nose that try their hardest to resist moisturiser! As my skin type has changed, I've only been using this around once or twice a week, which has been plenty to keep it in good condition. My favourite time to use this though? After a hot shower, when it just feels wonderful!

Liz Earle Superskin Moisturiser is available from the Liz Earle website priced at £32.50 for 50ml.

x

P.S- bluetooth on phone is working again... Makes blogging much easier, so more posts from me again!

(PR sample provided for review.)

ELF cream eyeliner

ELF hold some strange power over me, there's very rarely a time that I don't want anything from their website. It's affordable, it's generally good quality and therefore.. almost guilt free ;)

Recently they brought out some new colours in their cream eyeliner range and I was excited to try the copper colour. ELF recently updated their cream liners so that they include a little brush with the pot, I'm not keen on it, and would not recommend, it's quite scratchy for a product that's so soft, and my delicate little eyes did not appreciate it! It's also pretty hard to get a good line with and I found I was much better off using a flat eyeshadow brush to apply as I had some problems using an ordinary liner brush due to the product being a little on the drier side.

At first glance the copper colour looks like quite an ordinary brown, but when on there's a subtle glow to it and another dimension of colour that means it qualifies for it's name. I apply it for a soft look, and it lends itself to this really well, no harsh lines here! Once on there's absolutely no smudging or slip-sliding around, it stays exactly where you put it until you take it off with your cleanser/make up remover. Even when my eyes are running in the cold this won't smudge or rub off.

Overall, a total bargain for £3.50 and available in a variety of colours.. from ELF

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