Empties March-May 2014

First up, apologies for the rubbish quality of the picture, I took it on my phone with bad lighting. As you can see, I have collected a pretty big stack of empties over the last couple of months, so I thought it was about time I talk you through it!

Makeup

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder – This is my go to powder because it’s reasonably priced and keeps me matte for long periods of time, without making my makeup look caked on.

No 7 Stay Perfect Foundation – My absolute favourite foundation. I had repurchased before I ran out because I can’t bear to be without it!

Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau so Fresh – I adore the scent of the this perfume; it’s so sweet and light and floral. I just wish it lasted a little better. Perhaps using it in conjunction with the body cream is the answer.

Skin care

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser – Yes there are in fact two empty tubes of this. I use it every day and sometimes twice a day. That might make it look like it doesn’t last well, but one tube will last me a good two months on average.

Body Shop Soothing Peppermint Foot Scrub – A really nice peppermint foot scrub to make your feet feel smooth and soft for summer. It was noticeable when I stopped using this over the winter how much more dead skin I seemed to have. Warning that this does dry up after a few months.

Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Cream – I really like the scent of this and it doesn’t break me out at all, but it is quite thick and I generally prefer a lighter moisturiser.

La Roche-Posay Effaclar AI – This is a life saver if you suffer from breakouts. It helps clear up spots more quickly and can sometimes prevent a spot developing if you catch it early. I can’t imagine life without this now.

Hair care

V05 Smoothly Does It Frizz Free Creme – I swear by frizz ease creams for when I blow dry my hair because it gives some heat protection and definitely makes my hair less poofy. I quite liked this one and would consider re-purchasing

Candles

Yankee Candle Christmas Eve – This smelt so unbelievably good and to be honest I just can’t wait till Christmas to buy it again, assuming they bring it back!

Yankee Candle Black Coconut – This smelt incredible in the shop when I sniffed it, but when it was actually burning I was disappointed. It didn’t have a very strong or lasting scent so it wasn’t really a worthwhile purchase.

And another red berry candle which I can’t remember the name of. I liked it though.

May 2014 Favourites

Body Shop Early-Harvest Raspberry Eau de Toilette – There’s not an awful lot I can say about this product except oh my goodness it smells so unbelievably good! Seriously, I just want to spray it everywhere all the time.

L’Oreal Super Liner Brow Artist – I got this 3-in-1 eyebrow pencil to use as an alternative to brown eyeshadow to darken my brows. I was hoping it will last a bit better in hot weather, which it seems to be so far. It has a brown pencil to darken, a small brush to shape with and tidy, and a wax to set the look. I love the effect it creates and it’s super easy to use.

Rimmel Stay Matte Long Lasting Pressed Powder – It’s been uncharacteristically warm in England recently which is lovely but means shine galore. Thankfully, I have my Rimmel powder on hand to help me out. It instantly mattifys my skin and lasts a pretty long time too. Life saver!

Lycon Spa Ingrown-X-It Solution – I bought this product to try on recommendation by a beauty therapist. It is designed to very mildly exfoliate, minimise the appearance and discomfort of ingrown hairs, and moisturise and smooth skin. You spray it on to dry skin after waxing and shaving and gently massage it in. It’s really helped me out recently so it was worth every penny!

Robinsons Squash’d – When I first saw the new Robinsons Squash’d, I thought what on earth is that and why would I need it in my life? Well it’s a small pot of highly concentrated squash you can keep in your bag and take with you to add a squeeze to some water wherever you are. It comes in a bunch of different flavours and has no added sugar. This is going to be a life saver this summer for me because I don’t like to drink a lot of plain water, but it’s hard to find squash in the usual kinds of places you buy a bottle of water. Now I can buy water and just add a squirt of this, instead of constantly drinking coke and other naughty fizzy drinks.

What’s in my makeup bag?

This post has a bit of a misleading title as I don’t actually keep these things in a make-up bag, but it has the right idea, as these are the things I use day to day at the moment. I might vary the lip colour or blush every now and again, but these are the things I am reaching for most.

Face

The two foundations I vary between are No 7 Stay Perfect Foundation and No 7 Stay Perfect Superlight Foundation. I use the first, slightly thicker, foundation the most because it has a nicer consistency and obviously gives better coverage, but the other is nice for a change.

The two concealers I have been using are the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer and No 7 Match Made Concealer. I’m not crazy about either although the No 7 concealer works great with my skin tone.

My absolute favourite blusher is L’Oréal True Match Blush in True Rose. I just adore the natural rosy glow it gives me.

Finally, the powder I am loving and getting through a lot of at the moment is the Rimmel Stay Matte Long Lasting Pressed Powder in Transparent.

Eyes

No surprise that the eye shadow palette I am using is my Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. I just adore the variety of looks I can create and the beautiful colours.

My favourite mascara of the moment is Max Factor Clump Defy Mascara. I think this gives my lashes the perfect mix of length and volume but doesn’t clump them together AT ALL. I have the waterproof formula, which is sadly not really waterproof at all.

I vary my eyeliner a lot, switching from pencil to liquid and back again. At the moment I am favouring my No 7 Stay Precise Felt Tip Eyeliner which is just the easiest style eyeliner to use ever and lasts pretty well.

Eyebrows

Very simply, I am just darkening my brows a bit with one of the brown shadows from my MUA Undressed palette.

Lips

My two favourite lip products at the moment are Revlon ColourBurst Matte Balm in the shade Elusive and Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer in Stellar, both of which I think are fantastic bright, fun Spring colours.

I think that’s everything now. What are you loving at the moment? What should I be trying?

Cambridge Shopping Haul

I don’t think I have mentioned yet that I have moved to Cambridge temporarily for a few months. At the weekend, I took my first venture to the shops. I hit the Grand Arcade and Lion’s Yard shopping centres and the general surrounding area and finished with lunch in Yo Sushi. I thought I’d do a little haul post to show you what I bought!

When I arrived at the shopping centre I made a beeline for Lush (my spiritual home). After sniffing various bath bombs and face masks, I eventually decided to buy a small bottle of It’s Raining Men shower gel because I had a free sample in my last Lush order and it was amazing, and also Cynthia Sylvia Stout Beer Shampoo because it sounded really weird and I thought my boyfriend might like to try it (SURPRISE if you are reading this!)

After Lush I found Clintons. Clintons is my favourite place for all sorts of quirky little things; they are much more than a card shop now.  I bought beautiful floral print notecards because the print really spoke to me, a Yankee Candle in the scent Black Coconut because it smelt reeeeally good, and this adorable ceramic travel mug. I like to have a mug with a lid at work. When you are concentrating on things, coffee goes cold really quickly without you noticing, and the lid really helps to keep my drink warm until I get round to drinking it.

The Grand Arcade has a nice big John Lewis inside, so of course I went there (despite having only gone to John Lewis a week or so ago and stocking up in Liz Earle and Jo Malone). I bought three adorable Mavala nail polishes in the colours 114 Sand Rose, 164 Rose Dust and 312 Poetic Rose. To be honest I could have bought the whole display. I just adore Mavala. I also got some food storage boxes, because who doesn’t need to store things?

After a short stop in Specsavers to buy lens cleaner for my glasses, I ended up in Boots. I picked up another tube of La Roche-Posay Effaclar A I, because it’s awesome, the latest issue of Glamour magazine, Rimmel Stay Matte powder in the shade Transparent, and Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle treatment for my nails.

Finally, I ended my trip by giving some money to the smallest busker in the world. She was perhaps around 6 (I’m terrible at guessing the ages of children) and was playing the harp. She was awesome!

No 7 Haul

I have a confession: I’ve been shopping. Yep, even this close to Christmas. I am calling this a No 7 haul but there are a couple of other products in there too. The blusher was actually from Superdrug a few minutes later. Here’s what I bought:

No 7 Beautiful Skin Hot Cloth Cleanser – I have almost run out of Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish which is incredibly stressful as I don’t live near a stockist any more. I decided to try something different so I went for the No 7 hot cloth cleanser because it is a similar idea. I have no idea whether it is close enough to be called a dupe or not, but I’ll let you know.

No 7 Lash & Gel Perfector – This is a clear conditioning gel which I thought I would try as an aid to setting my brows in place after filling them in with eyeshadow.

No 7 Stay Perfect Smoothing & Brightening Eye Base – I needed a replacement eyeshadow primer, so I thought I would give the No 7 version a trial.

L’Oreal Paris True Match Blush in True Rose – I haven’t tried a L’Oreal blusher before so I am looking forward to giving this a go. I thought the shade looked really nice, and it is supposed to suit fair skin tones.

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Transparent – I have a Collection powder still in my make-up kit, but it is a little dark for my skin, so I decided to hunt for something that would work just as a powder to mattify the skin, without giving any excess colour.

 

Then, because I had bought two No 7 make-up products, I also got a free gift box worth £30! Here’s what was inside:

 

• Extreme Length Extend Mascara
• High Shine Lip Gloss in Whisper
• Stay Perfect Eyeshadow in Sheer Brown
• Stay Precise Felt Tip Eyeliner