Quick review: Konjac face sponge

You should all know by now how much I love my skincare and enjoy trying out new products. So I was really pleased to see the Konjac puff sponge in my iFabbo goodie bag, especially since I had already seen something like it on Lovemakeup.com.

I was given the pure konjac sponge, which is suitable for all skin types. There are other sponges available, which include red, green and pink clay for dry/mature, combination and damaged skin, respectively. There is also a bamboo charcoal sponge for oily skin types. 

Using the sponge is meant to offer many benefits, including gentle exfoliation, stimulating cell growth and renewal, deep cleansing and balancing the acidity of the skin. It is also non-abrasive and therefore suitable for sensitive skin and the most unique point…. there is no need for product.

The sponge is 100% natural and made from the root of a konjac plant, which also makes the sponge 100% biodegradable. So extra points for being environmentally friendly!

The sponge is extremely soft, don’t be fooled by its loofah like appearance. To use, all you do is run it under a tap, squeeze out the excess and massage in a circular motion all over the skin. Once you are finished all you do is rinse and leave it to dry (the sponge dries hard, but all you need to do is run it under the tap again).

It does feel lovely to use and it certainly is very gentle. As for deep cleaning, I am not convinced. I was told that the sponge could be used to remove your makeup and whilst it did remove some, I still needed to use a cleanser.

I won’t be giving up cleanser just yet but I have been using this occasionally to cleanse my skin in the morning and for the cleansing steps in between my home facial routine. 

Blogger appreciation award

I think these blog awards are so sweet and it always makes me happy to think someone has thought of me when it comes to passing on appreciation and in this case I want to thank Beauty and Babbling for that. Thank you!

The rules for this award are:

1) Thank the person who gave you the award with a blog link on your post
2) Answer the four questions below
3) Award the Blogger Appreciation Award to as many readers/commenters/supporters/followers as you’d like
4) Let the blogger know you’ve awarded them, either by commenting on their blog or sending them an e-mail.


THE QUESTIONS ARE:
1) How long have you been blogging?
I started my blog January 2011, so 1 year and 6 months!

2) What are 1-2 reasons you started blogging?
I had quite low self esteem having struggled with acne and scarring, once I started to deal with that I built up some confidence and started to enjoy using and wearing makeup. A blog seemed like the perfect place to share what I discovered.

3) What types of blogs do you like to follow/read?
I mostly follow beauty blogs but there are a few fashion and lifestyle blogs I like too.

4) What is 1 thing you would like to improve as a blogger on your blog?
The design. I think over time my photography and writing has improved but my understanding of blogger and HTML means that my blog doesn’t look as pretty and neat as I would like.

THE AWARD GOES TO:
Beauty and Makeup Boudoir
Beauty for Thought
Beauties in Bloom
CurvesColourSparkle
FrootiBeauty
Miss Stylicious
Skin Deep
Skin Scrubs
Truly Madly Beauty

Thank you once again to Beauty and Babbling!

Quick review: Mememe Seventh Heaven

This doesn’t need to be a long review, in one word, I love this.

This is the first time a primer has really performed for me and I actually noticed that my makeup looked as fresh at the end of the day as it did at the start.

Mememe's Seventh Heaven is described as a moisturising face base and has a texture similar to a moisturiser, rather than a silicone based primer. It has a fresh, citrus scent, which I love and it sinks into the skin easily.

I apply a small amount of the cream after moisturiser and leave it to settle for a few minutes before I go on to apply my makeup. I have noticed that different moisturisers have affected how well the primer works, so I would suggest trying it with different moisturisers and also leaving a gap between applying your moisturiser and applying this.

Now the only bad point for me, I have been using daily for over a month and I am about half way through the pot. At £15 for 30ml, I can't decide if I think this is good value or not but I know, begrudgingly, I will go back for more.

Maleficent inspired look (using Sleek dark matte palette)

Have I told you all how much I love matte shades? I’m sure everyone is aware by now that Sleek have released two matte palettes. I picked up version 2, which is a perfect mix of dark shades, which can create subtle day or smoky night looks.

I decided not to do a review of the palette, since there are so many good reviews and swatches out there. But briefly, most of the colours are very pigmented and all are soft and easy to blend. So far it is my favourite palette by Sleek and unlike some of their other palettes, I don’t see myself not loving it as much in a few months time.

On to the look I created. Whenever I see deep, dark purple I think of Maleficent, the villain from Sleeping Beauty, she was my favourite Disney villain so I took my inspiration from her.

I used the shades thunder (as a base), highness (all over the lid), villan (in the crease) and flesh (to blend out and as a highlight). I used a grey eyeliner on my water line and on my upper lashes and finished off with Benefit’s They’re Real mascara. I think the look could be improved by using some false lashes to really dramatise the eyes.

On the rest of my face I used No7 BB cream and ELF concealer. On my cheeks I used MUA blush (shade 4), which is a beautiful plum colour and helps to bring out the plum tones in the lighter purple eyeshadow. I also added some highlighter (from the Sleek contour palette) and rather than go for a red lipstick to really emulate Maleficent I chose to wear Rimmel nude delight lipstick. 

I’m hoping to put together a blog post containing lots of different looks, which can be achieved using the matte palette. In the mean time, tell me, who was your favourite Disney villain?

Face of the night: another matte smoky look

Just a quick post to share with you the makeup I wore this evening. I feels like ages since I have done a full face of make-up so a night out with the girls was just the excuse I needed.

I’ve broken out quite badly recently, so I wanted to use something that would provide coverage without looking or feeling too heavy. I have been using the No7 BB cream and having not initially loved it, I am now converted (full review coming up soon!)

I am loving matte eye makeup at the moment and used the Nivea matte eyeshadows I purchased in Dubai.  The look is my standard smokey eye, with the lighter colour all over the lid and a darker shade in the crease, and can be easily replicated using the new Sleek palette or the NYX palette I have mentioned in the past. I decided to line my eyes thicker than I normally do and I only realised once I came home that I forgot to add mascara!

On the rest of my face I used the Bourgeois bronzing powder and Sleek highlighter and my lips were filled in using a nude lip liner and topped off with Revlon lip butter in creme brulee.

May empties

Another month has ended and I can finally throw away the pile of rubbish accumulating on my bathroom floor, but what was there you wonder?

Well, here’s what….

Satsuma shower gel (The Body Shop) — This shower gel has one of those gorgeous scents that fills the bathroom after you use it. The huge 750ml size meant that it lasted me months. All that said, unless it is on some sort of special offer I won’t go out of my way to repurchase it. However, I will look out for large sized bottles of shower gel they are good value for money and it means I throw out less plastic each month.

Get curls (Samy) — I have tried the Samy curl cream in the past, this does the same job but is a gel. It is a little too fluid for my liking but even when I do apply more than I intended it doesn’t leave my hair feeling crunchy. Definitely one I will repurchase in the future.

Skin repair moisturiser (Liz Earle) — I am not sure if anyone can relate to this but I have reviewed this product recently and although it wasn’t a negative review, I wasn’t hugely impressed with the moisturiser. However, compared to what I am using at the moment this is amazing and I almost miss it. I won’t be rushing out to buy it any time soon but if it is ever included in a QVC TSV again, I won’t sigh about it.

Instant boost skin tonic (Liz Earle) — Again, I have reviewed this previously and I really like this toner. I still have a few sample sizes floating around so no need to repurchase just yet.

Concealer pencil and brush (ELF) — I love this concealer, I will do a full review at some point because I am aware I have mentioned it in the past but never fully reviewed it. I always buy these in multiples and I am down to my last one now, which means I will have an ELF haul some time soon.

Cream eyeliner (ELF) — This is something that definitely won’t be on my ELF repurchase list. I purchased the shade copper and black at the same time. Copper is a beautiful shade (a great alternative to brown eyeliner) but had a much drier formulation than the black when it first arrived and dried out almost immediately. The black is on its way to being completely dry too, but hopefully I’ll get a bit more use out of it.

Cream eyeliner (Saffron) — This came with my eyeliner stencils and was very smooth and creamy but sadly this has also dried out.