Dehydrated Face? Answer... Bio-oil

Bio-oil claims to be a miracle worker in being able to reduce scars and uneven skintones, I am not sure if it lives up to this I have never tested it on any scars you have to apply it religiously for 3 months to have any hope of seeing any effects and I am way too fickle with products for this, I like to dip in and out and not commit to anything! I am also a bit sceptical that this is way of getting to use lots of the product up and therefore repurchase. 

However this baby does work miracles on my dehydrated skin especially in winter, I’d have a face like a prune without it. No it doesn’t break me out, my skin loves it. Many people have seem shocked that I splash this all over my face and am still alive to tell the tale! I suppose because it is an oil, a very fragrant oil and it’s not a product specifically for the face, these factors on some people would cause a break out if they even looked at the bottle, but for me its fine and I don’t have completely resilient skin Mac Face & Body  is just of the things that causes me to erupt in spots. (which makes me so sad as I love this foundation) You just need to know your skin and what it can handle.       

I use this before bedtime (you don’t want to use this before apply make up it will just slide right down to your chin!) after I have cleansed and while my face is still damp I apply the bio-oil. (A damp face helps to the oil soak into your skin a lot quicker and more evenly) I will usually then apply a night cream on top as well for super soft skin in the morning. I tend to do this for 2 or 3 nights and then my skin is sorted out a treat, it can get addictive but it's not like bio-oil is bad for you slap it on every night if you wish! you never know it might actually work at evening out your skintone.  For reference my skin is normal/combination in the summer and normal/dry in the winter.

My Mac Palette (Warm)

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I have finally completed two 15 pan Mac eyeshadow palettes, and to be honest I am quite chuffed with them! So I thought I would show them off a bit. Most of my eyeshadows are neutral colours but I did want there to be a difference between each palette so I have separated the colours into warm and cool, which I think has worked quite well because all the colours in the warm palette compliment each and the same with the cool, obviously they can all still be inter-matched!

Warm Palette

Shades from left to right top to bottom

Brun, Bronze, Twinks, Sketch, Mythology,

Saddle, Soba, Wedge, Haux, Sable,

All That Glitters, Jest, Grain, Flip, Patina

If I had to pick my top three shadows from this palette I would choose Jest, Brun and Patina. Jest is a beautiful glowly peach colour it is so shimmery it gleams but is not at all glittery. Brun is a really dark matte brown and is just a classic colour you can do so much with it. I feel like Patina is the eyeshadow colour I have been searching for all of my make up life! a light antique gold/brown shade. 

I was going to include my 'cool' palette in the post but I don't think the photo shows the colours true to life so I will retake the photo and show it in a different post. 

xx

  

Book Haul

I love reading and tend to hoard lots of books so that I have a big selection to choose from when I am ready to start a new book. I have a whole shelf dedicated to unread books in my bedroom. I have picked up some new (well mostly second hand but new to me) books lately and thought I would show what I had got. I love finding out what other people are reading and after watching a video by Lolasayswhat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgyDbuQ0AVI and also Gemma from Gemsmaquillage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMKQqKVChl4   I decided that I wanted to do some blog posts on books.   

I had a £10 WHSmith voucher and decided to spend it on books because I very rarely buy new books. I dithered for ages but finally decided on two books by David Nicholls 'The Understudy' and 'Starter For Ten' as I read 'One Day' by him and loved it. These were buy 1 get 1 half price!

I buy most of my books from Charity shops and yesterday picked 3 books for £1 such a bargain! I am starting to find that charity shops are getting much more expensive these days in some of the bigger 'chains' of charity shops books are £1.99 minimum. Eat Pray Love which I am currrently reading (and would recommend to everyone) The Other Women and Kiss like you Mean it, I picked up for 60p each in another charity shop.

A website that I would totally recommend for second hand books is www.greenmetropolis.com you can buy second hand books here for £3.75 or less (that's including postage and packaging), which i know isn't an amazing bargain but if you are looking for a particular title and don't want to fork out £7.99 for a new copy it is quite a good deal.  You can also sell your second hand books on their and make a few pounds to go towards your next books.

xx 

More Yaby Eyeshadow Swatches

My Yaby Palette has grown, I have finally got around to purchasing 6 more shades. The new edition in the top row on the far right is Royal Brown,
The second Row on the far right is Hottest pink and then Seashell,  

Middle Row far right is Firewood,

Fourth row on the right is Rainforest,

Bottom row right is Candy Pop. 

Now onto the swatches, top to bottom - Firewood (Matte), Hottest Pink (Satin), Royal Brown (Frost)

Left to right - Seashell (High Shine), Rainforest (Matte), Candy Pop (Frost), and just peeping out at the bottom is Royal Brown again.

My personal favourites are Royal Brown, Firewood which I want to use to fill in my brows, and Seashell which is fabulously shiny great for an inner corner highlight!

xx

Mac 190 vs Ruby and Millie foundation brush

I have always preferred using a duo fibre brush for foundation, they always buff foundation in perfectly leaving you with a streak free airbrushed finish. But not being content with just one method of putting on foundation I wanted to try the ‘paint’ style brush. I have had the Mac 190 (£26) for about 3 months and it is a good brush but I do find it can be tricky to work with sometimes as is absorbs a lot of foundation which means it doesn’t spring back into shape when your using it and goes very flat so you feel like you are painting your face as if it were a wall instead of blending the foundation into your skin.

Last month I had a purse full of £5 vouchers for No.7 and Ruby and Millie. None of the No.7 make up was tickling my fancy so I ended up using my vouchers on brushes, one of the brushes I got was Ruby and Millie’s Face brush. It is smaller than the Mac 190 but seems denser. I love this brush and can’t think of any bad things to tell you, it is £12.26 and with a voucher just £7.26. When I use this brush as with the 190 I apply my moisturiser with the brush first stopping it soaking up as much foundation and to minimise streaking. It is such a pleasure to use and leaves my skin looking flawless, because it is small you can easily do all the areas around your nose and mouth, and the density of the brush helps buff the foundation into your skin.      

For me the Ruby and Millie wins hands down plus with a voucher it can be bought for almost £20 cheaper than the Mac 190. 

Below - Ruby and Millie on the left and Mac 190 on the right

Yaby Eyeshadow Swatches

I have started to build up a Yaby eyeshadow collection. They are are great way to get lots of high quality colours cheaply. Each pan is only £1.99 They are fabulous quality (similar to Mac) but the reason they are so cheap is beacuse the are tiny but lets's face it you use so little eyeshadow, so these will still last you ages. The palette is £10.99 and holds 40 eyeshadows. I got my palette and eyeshadows from  http://themakeupartistboutique.com/ and they are also available from  www.love-makeup.co.uk   

Eyeshadow Names
Perfect Wine, Twinkle Twinkle
Fairy Princess, Dusty Pink
Papaya Milk, Baby Grizzly, Pottery
Jaded
Jungle Mist, Sunny Ocean

I have done some swatches because when I was trying to decide what colours to buy there was not much info or swatches online. They do look slighly different in real life to the colour swatches on the websites, so hopefully my swatches will give you more of an idea. These swatches are from just one swipe of my finger on the eyeshadow

Perfect Wine, Twinkle Twinkle, Fairy Princess, Dusty Pink

Papaya Milk, Baby Grizzly, Pottery, Jaded

Jungle Mist, Sunny Ocean

I think Yaby eyeshdows are great for make up artists or if you really like experimenting with colours. I can't wait to fill up my palette, I have 30 spaces left but there are so many colours to choose from it will be tough deciding what to get! 

xx 



What do you do if your favourite moisturiser doesn't have spf?

Last year I started to seriously think about the damage that the sun can do to my skin. I have always been one that likes to get a nice tan in the summer and so perhaps haven’t been as vigilant with spf sun creams as I should have been, especially with my face. I am 22 now, and I think that you should start to look after your skin with ageing in mind as soon as possible. Of course as we all get older our skin will show signs of aging but sun damage will really speed up the process. I have noticed over the past couple of years faint freckles all over my face that are a result of sun damage.

A lot of face creams have spf 15 in them but only protect against either UVA or UVB rays, you need to be protected against both or your skin will still be getting damaged. Which means really reading the small print.

So last summer I purchased Dermalogica Solar Defense Booster with spf30 which wasn’t cheap at around £18 but I felt it was an investment and if I didn’t do it now I would regret it when I was older. Now I have been a bit naughty and haven’t been wearing this over winter even though I know you still need an spf in winter, when you look outside and it’s all grey and gloomy putting on sunscreen is the last thing to pop into my mind and I just forget. But from this day forth I vow to wear this everyday so I don’t get caught out when the spring sunshine peaks out from the winter gloominess.         

False Lashes

I am often found browsing the beauty section in TK Maxx hunting for a bargain, so I got very excited last week when I saw rows and rows of false lashes. I spent about 20 minutes dithering about which ones to get as I had a pile of about eight pairs that I wanted but had to restrict myself to just two. I finally chose the two below – Ardell Demi Pixies and Lash Addiction Sex Kitten. They were £2.99 each

The Demi Pixies are the typical lash style that I go for they flare out at the outer edges and are fairly wispy. My eyes are quite small with a small lid so I think they can easily be drowned lashes that are too big and thick. However my second choice is a very full lash I am not really sure what I was thinking when I bought these! I tried them on today and I think it probably is best if I stick to the wispier types, but I won’t give up just yet maybe it is just a case of getting used to seeing myself with huge lashes.

I am definitely loving the Ardell Demi Pixies though they give the perfect ‘bambi’ eyes and elongate my eyes giving them a more almond shape due to the longer lashes on the outer corners but still look natural-ish. I tried them with just some simple black eyeliner.  you can see below my natural eyelashes with some mascara on and then with the Demi Pixies on underneath.         

xx

Everyday Favourites

Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Sand

I have been using this everyday lately, as I have been having a lot of breakouts, which isn’t normal for me, so I have been needing to conceal a lot. I love this concealer because it is so creamy which is great as my skin is very dry in winter and I find that some concealers can go on cakey and flaky therefore just drawing more attention to the area. I love the packaging of this as well with the cute little mirror not that I have ever used it, but it is good to know its there in case of emergency.

Stila Matte Eyeshadow in Kalahoo 

I have had this eyeshadow for about a year and only in the last couple of months have I realised its potential. It is a matte taupe cool brown the perfect shade for filling in my eyebrows, which are a medium/dark brown. I had been using Mac Brun eyeshadow, which gives a lovely strong defined look but is better suited to evening. I then saw a video by Lisa Eldridge who used Benefit Bossy on her eyebrows just to give them a bit of definition for daytime. I realised I had a dupe for that sitting in my draw and is perfect for filling in the brows more naturally and gives a gentler look.

2true Liquid Eyeliner in Black     

This eyeliner only costs £1.99 from Superdrug so I wasn’t expecting miracles, but it has actually surprised me. I find it easier to apply using a Mac 210 brush instead of the applicator it comes with, but what really impressed me is that this eyeliner lasts all day and still looks pretty much perfect when I go to take it off before bed.

Illamasqua Cream Blush in Lies  

This has been on my wish list for ages, I finally took the plunge and bought this in January as it was 25% off in the Illamasqua sale. When I saw it I thought that it too pink to be a highlighter but when you swatch it it’s a beautiful pearly light pink that just gives the perfect glow on the skin, and this lasts really well for a cream product, we all know that they have the tendency to slip away after a couple of hours but I could still detect Lies on my face eight hours after applying.

Illamasqua Highlight Brush         

This brush is amazing, it is super super soft and silky and feels like a cloud on my face. It makes highlighting fool proof as it is the perfect size for the top of the cheekbone and the synthetic brushes buff it in seamlessly.

Bourjois Eyeshadow in 90 Blanc Diaphane

I have been wearing this everyday in my inner corner to brighten and make my eyes look more spaced out. It is perfect has just the right amount of shimmer and blends out easily. This eyeshadow always makes me want to try more Bourjois eyeshadows, hopefully there are more that are as lovely as this one. 

Search for the perfect cleanser continues...

I have been very curious lately about micellaire solutions ever since bioderma sensibo has been appearing on blogs and youtube. They are very appealing to someone who can be a bit lazy when it comes to cleansing. I can be enthusiastic for a couple of weeks when I get a new product take for example hot cloth cleansing but when the novelty wears off it all just seems a bit of a chore.

I originally wanted to get the bioderma one but because I would have to order it online and pay postage and packaging bringing the total cost to about £20 plus the fact that I might turn out to hate micellaire solutions put me off. So I went to boots with an advantage card full of points waiting to be spent and purchased Vichy 3 in 1 Purete Thermale Micellaire solution for £10 or rather 1000 points. I did have my eye on the La Roche Posay one but it always sold out! (Must mean it’s amazingly good, possibly holy grail material!!)

I mainly use this as an eye make-up remover although it does claim to do three things
1. Cleanse the face

2. Remove eye make up

3. Soothe the skin – no rinsing required

I love this as eye make-up remover because it just feels like water. My eyes can be very difficult they go red, sting and water when most products are put near them, I have found that when I find a remover that doesn’t sting my eyes it isn’t effective in dissolving eye make-up quickly resulting in a lot of rubbing, which we all like to avoid because rubbing the thin skin around your eyes will just lead to lots and lots of wrinkles. I just squirt the Vichy on to the cotton pad so that it is mostly soaked then press it onto my eye and hold there for about 30 seconds or more, I then just do a couple of gentle wiggles with the cotton pad to dislodge any stubborn mascara leaving my eyes clean as a whistle and not pink, therefore no panda eyes to wake up to in the morning. It doesn’t irritate at all as it is alcohol free, soap free and colorant free, however it is not scent free which I am okay with but it can bother some people.

I have used this all over my face to cleanse it feels refreshing and is very effective at removing make-up, but there are cons to using this as a face cleanser such as you go through it so quickly because it is just like water (if only it was as cheap as water), it takes about three cotton pads soaked with Vichy to get a perfectly clean face. This product does leave a residue which I think helps to hydrate my skin but I do have fairly dry skin so if you where oily I could see how that could be annoying. I don’t think you should have to rinse your face because that is one of the unique selling points of this product is that you don’t need water which can actually cause your skin to dry out, I found this hard to believe until I didn’t use any water when cleansing for a few days and did notice a difference, that my skin wasn’t feeling like it was going to crack open with dryness.

When I finish bottle of Vichy I am not going to repurchase just yet as I want to give La Roche Posay and Bioderma a whirl first and have a battle of the Micellaire waters!

xx