Recent/Summer Beauty Favourites

Morning everyone,

As my last post was about products that have disappointed me recently, I decided today I would share with you some of my favourites!

Recently, I have noticed myself tossing certain products to the back of my makeup collection, leaving them forgotten about and therefore unused. However, after a huge organise of my make up drawer, I am now finally able see everything again and more importantly rediscover my old favourites.

Now that everything is organised and my OCD has had it's long over due input, I am using a larger variety of what I own... so today I thought I would share with you a few of my absolute favourites from this summer, whether they are new finds or old gems that I have rediscovered over the past few months!

St Moritz Instant Self Tanning Mousse in Medium

This is honestly the best tan I have ever used, Im not sure if its because I have been fake tanning for a while now so have got the knack of a streak free ran or if it is purely because this product is so brilliant!

The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Lotion

Although this product doesn't effect/improve my skin dramatically, I have noticed after using it, my skin feels a lot brighter and it leaves me feeling so fresh!

Barry M Nail Varnishes:

Shocking Pink

&

Gelly Prickly Pear

I have been wearing these two colours ALL through August. I just think they are such summery colours and completely compliment a tan!

Lush Eau Roma Toner Water 

This toning water is part of my daily routine, not only does it help to keep my skin clear but it just feels so refreshing and really wakes me up in the morning. Lush do a variety of different toning waters for different skin types, this one contains Lavender and Rose Water and smells 'Lush'.

Rimmel Colour Rush Intense Colour Balm in 'The Redder the Better'

When I first got this lip balm/crayon, I really slated it as I didn't feel it moisturised my lips well. However, after giving it another chance, I actually really love this lip product and will definitely be investing in some more!

Soap and Glory 'Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Stick' in Bashful

This is one of my newest purchases and it's already a favourite! I will be making a trip to Boots to purchase the shade 'Nudist' now I know how good these sticks are.

Nivea Sun Protect 

&

Nivea Milk and Honey

Whilst away on holiday, I always end up burning my lips, leaving them cracked and sore but this year, I decided to take extra good care of them whilst in the sun and Nivea, once again, delivered!

I really struggle with my lips and finding a product that actually helps them, whether it be drugstore, high end or even prescribed by the doctor, has been so hard! For a long time now, I have been a huge fan of the Milk and Honey balm, although it took some stronger medication to help my lips initially, now they are back to a normal state, this stuff is so good for maintaing them!

MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study

 I really need to stop mentioning MAC's Paint Pot, but how could I not include it in a favourites when it quite clearly is a favourite of mine! The formula of this is so creamy and easy to apply to the lids and as a bit of an eye make up noob this makes life a whole lot easier!

Real Techniques Stippling Brush

And another product, from another brand I can't say enough good things about! The Stippling Brush by Real Techniques is perfect for a light, yet flawless look to your foundation!

Boots Exfoliating Gloves

I almost feel silly including these in a post so all I am going to say about this product is, how have I never used a pair of these before this summer! 

A-MA-ZING and so simple!

Well, there you have it, my favourites from the past few months! 

Although summer is coming to an end, I know I will be continuing to use all of these products.

What products have you been loving this summer?

E x

Disappointing Products

I am definitely a creature of habit!

Recently, however, I have started trying and testing new products. There are so many brands on the market, all trying to create the best possible products for us. This is great because we always have options, however, it leads to disappointment because each brand is trying to match and beat the other.

It is impossible to buy products and be impressed with 100% of them and so today, I thought I would share with you an accumulation of products I have been disappointed with...

Clarins 'Instant Eye Make Up Remover'

I found this product way too oily and although I hear people raving about how well it removes their eye makeup, it really didn't live up to the expectation!

Garnier BB Cream

Again, I heard people raving about this, I was disappointed though. Not only did this irritate my skin (even though I bought the Sensitive Skin BB cream) but I wasn't a fan of the consistency either.

No7 'BB Lip Balm' in Blink Pink

This balm was way too sticky to be a balm, the colour pigmentation wasn't great either, although, this wasn't vital for me. I mainly was disappointed with the way this felt on my lips!

Luckily for me, over the past few months, I have only had experience of three really disappointing beauty products!! I was actually quite shocked when I looked back at my notes to find so few products on the 'Disappointing' list. This is no bad thing though!

E x

Make Up Brush Collection

I am a serious Real Techniques lover and my collection is ever growing so I thought I would share with you, my collection of these amazing tools!

My jar of brushes consists of:

Powder brush, Stippling brush, Buffing brush, Expert face brush, Contour brush, Pointed foundation brush, Setting brush, Lash-brow groomer, Detailer brush, Shading brush (All by Real Techniques)

Can I please just add (even though I mention this ALL the time), these brushes are bloomin' brilliant! They are seriously soft and don't leave frustrating little hairs all over your face, you really can't go wrong!

You can purchase Real Techniques from Boots, Superdrug and from their website.

E x

Ps. Whilst writing this, I realised I haven't actually photographed all the brushes, oops! But you get the gist and all names are included whether there is a photo or not^ :)

Five Product Face

Hello,

I felt like sharing a challenge with you today, so I decided to do my make up using just five products, hence the post title 'Five Product Face'.

Mac Paint Pot in 'Bare Study', Clinique Intense Chubby Stick in 'Hefty Hibiscus', Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation in '103 True Ivory', Benefit They're Real Mascara, Clarins Bronzing Duo SPF 15 Mineral Powder Compact in '01 Light'

I knew for this five product look, I would need a good base. I chose this foundation by Rimmel as it leaves a dewy effect on the skin, meaning I wouldn't need any highlight (one less product to worry about). When applying this, I put a slightly thicker coverage than I would usually do as I felt like it would compensate for not using a concealer. I normally use the shade 'Ivory' but as I have bit of a tan at the moment, this shade is a lot more appropriate. 

I could have/sort of wish I had swapped this product for a liner, however, I am totally obsessed with Mac's Paint Pot in 'Bare Study' at the moment and I couldn't bring myself to not use it! 

As I opted to go without any liner on my top lid, I chose a mascara that gives an amazing curl to my lashes and opens my eyes - I always find that this product brightens my eyes!

Being one of those people who doesn't really have a lot of colour in their face, I decided a bronzer would definitely be one of my top five 'go to in a rush' products.

Finally, I didn't want this look to be a 'no make up, make up look' so by adding this amazingly pigmented chubby stick, which is also my favourite shade, it gave the look a slight edge. Plus, these are so so so easy and quick to apply!

And here it is, the final look...

This is ideal for a quick five minute 'slap some slap on' look when you have no time for a full face of make up!

This look was actually a lot more difficult to create than I first anticipated, choosing five products is surprisingly hard, I challenge you all to have a go at this, no cheating!

E x

Porefessional vs Instablur

Morning/Afternoon (whatever you please),

As you can probably already tell by the title of this post, today is a review day (woo).

After receiving my first ever sample and for as long as I can remember after that, I have been using 'Benefits Porefessional' primer on my skin. I always thought this product was amazing, leaving my skin feeling soft and smooth and holding my makeup a lot better than before I used any sort of primer.

However, when The Body Shop brought out their 'All - In - One Insta Blur Perfecter' I couldn't help but give it a try. To be honest, I wasn't expecting great things as I was beginning to dislike Benefits Porefessional as I felt it clogged my pores and I was really breaking out badly whenever I used it!

This is where I was pleasantly surprised, because, I completely fell in love with the InstaBlur after only a few uses! Porefessional left my skin feeling soft and smooth, but the Instablurr was something else! Although I was in love with this product straight away, I was still slightly dubious as to whether I was going to break out terribly and have blocked pores, but this product just kept pleasing! 

I don't mean to sound cheesy but, since using this product, my skin has felt and looked the best it has been in such a long time! I am not saying this is a miracle working product because other factors such as a better diet, more water and holidays abroad will have also helped, but this has definitely been a better product, personally, for my skin than Benefits Porefessional!

(I wanted to share a completely unedited photo of myself wearing the InstaBlur under my makeup with you, just to give an idea of how well make up sits on top of it! Please excuse my scruffy brows however)

Don't get me wrong though, Porefessional was definitely my first love and I still think it is a fantastic product which I would use again, but at the moment, whilst I am still prone to breakouts, The Body Shop's InstaBlur is the only one for me!

Thank you for reading, come back soon ;)

E x

Introducing Milo

Evening,

As many of you may already know, I have wanted a puppy for as long as I can remember!

..And... last October, this dream finally came true!

This may seem slightly out dated as I have had Milo for almost a year, however, it seemed appropriate to dedicate a post to him as I am always posting pictures of him on my social networks!

So, here goes...

On the 26th July 2013, a litter of seven border terriers were born! (this sounds like a long winded fairy tale story, but I promise to keep it short) Luckily for me, my parents agreed to take me to have a look at them, to my excitement, we all fell in love with the little fella and the next weekend, we went to collect him.

(I think he is about 11 weeks in this photo?)

Now that I have bored you to death with that story, enjoy this gallery of my buddy Milo (which I have cleverly put in chronological order, points for me)...

(Massive gap of a few months where I took very few decent photos)

This has definitely been a different sort of post but I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed looking back at all the old photos of him - I must quickly apologise for the quality of some of the photos!

E x