Time to say goodbye...

To google reader that is!

I'm going to be honest I have no idea what this means for me or my blog, GFC isn't going for now so presumably there is a way for GFC followers to get updates without reader. All I know is after 1July I'll see what the true impact is and I need to be prepared so I don't lose touch with my favourites.
If you would like to keep in touch with me, and I'd love if you did there are a number of ways.

Twitter — my random ramblings and updates, if you want to start a conversation with me this would be the best way.

Instagram — quite easily my favourite social media app ever. Do leave your usernames below for me to check out and follow for pictures of makeup and all the other things I find entertaining.

Facebook — I update new blog posts here and share pictures and findings from other blogs I love.

Bloglovin' — For following blogs this seems to be everyone's favourite. I do find it overwhelming when I log in sometimes and find I am hundreds of posts behind but it's a great way of making sure you don't miss anything.

Google+ — I think I finally 'get it' with google plus. Apart from my blog postings you can also see all the articles I've given a +1 to, which is everything from great beauty blog posts to news stories.

Email — If you pop your email address in the box on the right you will get an email from me every time there is a new post.

And that’s it. I hope that whatever happens next week I'll still hear from you all!

Nails of the Week: Color Club Mod in Manhatten

I’m in the depths of revision at the moment but I had to take some time out to sort out my nails, after all a break helps with productivity right?

Mod in Manhattan is one of the Color Club Wanderlust shades that I received in this month’s Birchbox.

I said in my post that neither of the colours I received are ones I would purchase myself. But this week I wanted something bright but clean — something that wouldn’t distract me too much in exams — and Mod in Manhattan is just that.

It is described as "a brilliant off-white that represents the glow of the mega-watt city at night.” But in my eyes colour is more of a cream, and in some lights borders on looking peachy.

The shade is chic and a nice twist on nude, it works well with any outfit and it is a colour I can see myself turning to a lot this summer.

The polish also doubles up as a base coat for the brighter polishes in the collection and I expect that it would work as a base to bring any bright colour to life.

To application needed two coats to be fully opaque in two coats and it has a sheen finish. It is one of those polishes that needs you to be very good at applying with one or two swipes as it starts to dry quickly and can smear. But I have been wearing it for 3 days so far and it has remained chip free.

Overall I am very impressed with Color Club and the shade, and I may even try the OPI colour I received in the May box in the hope that will be a pleasant surprise too. After the exams I’ll do something crazy and test out that London Calling green!

Color Club The Wanderlust Collection is £10 and exclusive to Birchbox.

Let me know, good or bad, what nail polish shade have you been surprised by?

Quick review: L’Oreal Super Liner Perfect Slim

From what I can tell when it comes to eyeliner you are either a slick but thick kinda gal or you like it nice and thin.

I fall into the second camp so L’Oreal’s Super Liner Perfect Slim is just right for me.

The eyeliner has a nib style applicator, which you sweep across the lid. It is easy to get close to the lash line and the nib is firm but not too rigid.

The nib also lends itself well to achieving a flicked eyeliner and of course if you do like your eyeliner thick this can still be for you, all you need to do is keep building up the line to however you like it. The black colour is a good intensity and I can wear this all day without a worry about smudging or fading.

In all I love this, except for one thing. As with any pen style eyeliner because all the colour is in the base when you store it upright it drains away from the nib. This means that unless I store it upside down, I’ll get a faint black line rather than the intense black I want. When I do remember to store it upside down this isn’t a big deal, but it’s not ideal.

I have had the liner for a few months and I’m glad to say that it hasn’t dried out. It costs £5.49 and can be found in Boots, Superdrug and supermarkets with a L’Oreal counter.

So what’s your preference, thick or thin?

Discover Nuxe

I was invited to an event to Discover Nuxe, which was perfect because apart from seeing their products on shelves in Dubai didn't know anything about them. 

Nuxe is a French natural origin cosmetology brand that has been around since the end of the 1980s. It has its own research and development labs and numerous patented ingredients, which is something that really impresses me. 

At the event were walked through their product range, each designed for either a different skin type/concern and had the chance to feel the products and take in the lovely scents while admiring the new artwork designed to complement the range.

In terms of stand out, must try products, I loved the sounds of the Nuxellence youth and radiance revealing fluid and the Creme Fraiche beauty mask. The Reve de Miel (honey) lip balm also felt great on the lips and was much more nourishing than any lip product I have tried before. 

One of Nuxe’s most famous products is the Huile Prodigieuse, multi-purpose dry oil, which can be applied to face, body and hair.

I've been using this recently and have been surprised by the versatility and how much I like it. I love oils generally but I tend to save them for night time use. Because this is a dry oil means there is no greasy feeling and it dries quickly so I've been able to get dressed straight away without the oil transferring to my clothes.

The smell is gorgeous and I have used this on my legs to moisturise and on my hair to add shine. I have also tried it as a hair mask by applying it to my roots and wrapping my hair in a towel for a few hours before shampooing. After washing my hair felt softer than it has felt it in a long time so I will definitely be using the oil like this again. You can also mix in the oil with your normal moisturiser or foundation to give a smooth and nourished base.

The spritz is quite powerful and I would recommend spraying close to the skin or directly onto your hands and then rubbing where ever you need otherwise you will get a light layer of oil all over the bathroom floor! 

There is also a shimmer version of the oil available. I squirted a little too much on my hand at the event but with the right amount the shimmer would provide a very pretty glow and would be perfect with a tan or for use on sunny days.

You can see Nuxe's full product range and find out more about the brand on their newly launched website. 

I'd love to know, how did you discover Nuxe? 

Birchbox June 2013

It’s that Birchbox time of the month again! This month’s box landed on my doorstep on the day of my exam making it a much needed treat.

I already knew from Twitter three things about this month's box:
1) that Birchbox had a redesign,
2) that the boxes were going to be personalised,
3) that the box had a festival theme.

Now I am not a festival goer and to be honest after finding out the theme I wasn’t looking forward to the box because I expected dry shampoo — or even worse, a dry shampoo for the body — and gimmicky makeup, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Inside this month’s box:

Beauty Protector, Protect & Detangle (full size £15)

Normally a hair product would have me sigh, but because I have curly and dry hair a product for detangling could be very useful. The spray also adds shine and is meant to protect hair from UVA damage and heat, which will be perfect if I go on holiday this year.

Color Club nail polish (full size £10)

I have never heard of Colour Club before and these shades are two of four exclusive-to-Birchbox colours. They aren’t shades I would pick out myself but they look very pretty in the magazine so I am curious to know how they will look. One polishes is meant to be given away to a friend to introduce them to Birchbox but I have decided to be greedy and keep both for myself! 

Green People sun lotion SPF 15 with tan accelerator (full size £17.50)

I can’t wait to try this, I am keen to find my perfect sun protection and even though this is a little expensive if it has the right texture I would consider purchasing it. I love the fact that it includes a tan accelerator, I have used separate tan accelerating products in the past and they are great if you want to look golden without spending as much time in the sun. 

ModelCo eye define eye pencil (full size £14) 

I was very pleased to see a make-up product included in this month’s box and I am always happy to try black eyeliners especially if they are budge-proof, as this one claims to be. I still haven’t repurchased my much loved Rimmel eyeliner, so it will be good to see if this can contend for best eyeliner.

Carole Franck Fluide Fraicheur Phyto-Hydrant (£47.50)

I am sure I have said before that I am always glad to have moisturiser samples. This one is on the pricy side but it is meant to provide all day hydration and can be used in place of a primer. 

Every brand in the box is new to me, which is exactly what I think these boxes are for, and there isn’t one thing in the box that I will not try. I do feel like the box is catered to me and I hope that continues for the rest of my subscription. 

As for the redesign I am not really fussed, I would have preferred if they got rid of the drawstring bag completely, it makes me feel guilty that I can’t reuse it in someway. 

What do you think of this month’s box and if you are not a subscriber are you now tempted?

Quick review: Nivea Body In-Shower Lotion

When I saw reviews of the first In-Shower Body Moisturiser from Nivea, I knew I had to try it. It appeals to the lazy girl in me and since I am always running late in the morning the convienience and time saving element of this product is a bonus.

After washing as normal, you apply the cream while still in the shower and rinse off. The formula is meant to instantly absorb into wet skin so you are able to get dressed and go straight away. 

I purchased the dry skin formula because my skin, especially my legs is so dry that it can feel itchy. Generally I don't moisturise my upper body (my more normal skin) but I have done so using this and my skin does soft and hydrated. Unfortunately, for the area I feel needs the hydration it didn't provide that and I still felt that I wanted to moisturiser as normal.

The idea in theory is great, and if you are someone with normal skin should be ideal, but for those like me with extra dry skin it's not going to be enough. 

The mousturiser is available in two formulations and sizes, 250ml and 400ml. I purchased the larger size for £5.09 but they are currently on offer at 1/3 off in Boots and Superdrug.

Guest post on All That Slap

I’m very lucky that Grace from All That Slap kindly allowed me to invade her space for a day and write a guest post.

Grace is one of my favourite bloggers and if you are a fan of my blog when you are sure to love hers because I think we have pretty similar tastes when it comes to beauty and skin care. 

As I say in the blog, I had a tough time deciding what to write and in the end it seemed obvious, in fact I can’t believe with all my talk of skincare I haven’t spoken about my routine before.

Pop on over and have a read here, then come back and let me know what you think!

Hello Flawless

To be honest I didn't have high hopes for Hello Flawless when it was given to me at a Benefit event a few months ago. But since the first try I have been wearing it every day.

Hello Flawless is a powder foundation and I was matched to the shade Honey, which is a great perfect for my skin tone in the winter months.

I wouldn’t say that the foundation makes me look flawless but I get pretty close, and that’s good enough for me on a daily basis. 

The foundation provides a light to medium coverage at best. It isn't very long lasting, but because of the size of the packaging I carry this round with me to touch up my foundation if I am planning on going out in the evening.

The finish is matte and you can see the level of coverage and shade in my last makeup post here. 

The application is a little tricky to get right, only because you need lots of thin layers to get the coverage level you want or you risk looking cakey. Surprisingly, I found that the brush and the sponge stored underneath the foundation are best for application.

I use the sponge to press the powder onto my skin where I want the most coverage, and then with the brush apply the light layer over the rest of my face making sure to blend well.

The foundation costs £25.50, a little pricy in my opinion for that money I would want something with a few more skin benefits but I wouldn’t say no to buying it again when I run out.

Sample session: Perricone MD No Foundation Foundation

I’ve really tried hard to love this product. But I just don’t. I’ve applied it sparingly, slapped it on, buffed it in, let it settle, but whatever I do I can’t seem to achieve that flawless skin everyone else describes.

The No Foundation Foundation by Perricone MD is meant to correct skin undertones, blur lines, wrinkles and pores and offer all-day moisture with an even, dewy finish. It also contains lots of anti-ageing ingredients to help to firm skin and reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles over time.

The first few times I used this my skin was at its worse, lots of spots and scars and the dewy formula just made me look greasy. The orange tint it left my skin also did nothing to tone down the look of the spots and I didn’t notice any reduction in the appearance of my pores.

So I decided to let my skin settle and try again. This time it did even out my skin tone but the orange hue remained. I did hope that by leaving it to settle product would adapt to my skin tone but I didn’t find this to be the case.

My conclusion is that if you have flawless skin the first place and need the security that comes with applying something on your face then this is for you. But if you are someone looking for more coverage, then this wouldn’t work. That being said if the colour does work for you this would be a great choice to use on holiday — although it wouldn’t provide much in the way of coverage the skin benefits would make up for that. 

At £47 for a full size bottle, this isn’t something I would repurchase right now. If I ever achieve my goal of flawless skin it may be something I revisit but only because I would want to benefit from the ingredients it contains. 

Let me know if you have tried this and what you thought, am I using it all wrong? 

Rimmel quad eyeshadow in smokey brun

This is an oldie but goodie eyeshadow palette that I pulled out the back of the cupboard and has led to a lot of compliments on my eye makeup when I have worn it.

Now I’m a bit confused about this palette, in store there is a product with the same name but that has been redesigned, but online this same look palette is available.

I had forgotten how good this palette is. The shades are great to wear on an every day basis and because they apply so smoothly and blend well, I can easily do a quick smokey eye look in under 5 minutes.

What is even more impressive is that without a primer and the shadow has lasted over 8 hours without creasing! Using a primer it lasts for around 12 hours.

In this pic I am also wearing the nude eyeliner I blogged about here!

I remember buying this as a student and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have spent £6.99 on it. I think it is a little pricy for 4 eyeshadows, but as part of a 3 for 2 deal or another other offer it would be worth picking up. This would make a great gift for a newbie to makeup or as a handy sized palette for your bag, which is how I use it.

DHC Deep Cleansing Oil Review

Long long ago I attended an event by DHC cosmetics, which is a brand from Japan and is one of the biggest Asian skincare and cosmetics brands.

I hadn’t heard of the brand before so the event was a nice introduction to the brand and their existing skincare line as well as new cosmetics collection (which I will be reviewing separately).

Their most famous product is the Deep Cleansing Oil. The oil is a water soluble based cleanser containing vitamin E and olive oil.

I was a bit concerned that with the hype around this product I would end up disappointed but I in fact I have been really impressed.

To use, you apply a small amount of oil to dry skin, massage your face and remove with water - I've been using either a damp muslin cloth or my Clarisonic. I've used this to remove eye makeup and although I was a bit nervous I didn't experience any irritation and my eye make dissolved immediately and was removed in one go. The cleansing process is quick and a small amount of product goes a long way.

The product smells just like olive oil, but the scent is light and not offensive. I haven't bothered to double cleanse with this because I haven't felt the need to, my skin is left clean and there is no oily residue on the skin. I've had no issue with break outs since using this.

The cleanser comes in three sizes, the smallest bottle is 30ml, and you pour it to get the oil but I the two larger bottles have a pump dispenser.

I love that the mini bottle is available for purchase so you can try the oil before you commit to a larger size. The price of the 30ml bottle is £4.50, 70ml is £11 and 200ml is £21.50, and they can be found on the DHC website.

Protect your face! Ambre Solaire Sheer Protect

The sun has finally come out to play here in the London! Hooray!

Glee aside, sun protection is something I feel very passionate about and that I have blogged about before. I’ve only ever had sun burn once and whenever I see people with pink or red raw skin I want to go over and plead with them to take more care! Apart from being painful in the short-term, sun burn does damage to your skin and DNA in the long-term.

I picked up Ambre Solaire Face Protect, SPF30 (which is also available in factor 15 and 50), to use on a daily basis. As you can tell from the name, sheer protect is specifically intended for use on the face but it can be used on the body too.

This how much product I use to cover my face and neck, as you can hopefully tell
from the picture the cream has quite a thick consistency

The formula is thicker than I expected for a product called ’sheer’ protect. It is non-sticky but I do find it a little greasy, even though it claims not to be, and it absorbs into the skin well. It does take a little longer than regular moisturiser to absorb so I make sure I cleanse, tone, moisturise etc first thing in the morning so that I can leave the sunscreen to settle before applying makeup.

Of course I can’t comment on how well it actually works as a sunscreen but it is meant to protect against both UVA (ageing) and UVB (burning) rays.

Ideally you should reapply sunscreen every few hours, especially if you are out in the sun but generally my morning application is all I do. At night, because I use a Clarisonic, I don’t double cleanse but it is recommended that you do to make sure you remove all the sunscreen.

Being summer there are lots of special offers on sunscreen at the moment. I picked the Sheer Protect using a half price offer at Boots.

I’d love to find something with a lighter texture, but for now something is definitely better than nothing.

Do you have a favourite SPF?

Chocolate Brownie on a Fiery Red head — hair colouring

I quickly became bored of being a red-head.

I’m very bad and dealing with roots and regrowth so I decided to just go back to being a brunette and reapply the shade Chocolate Brownie, which is a shade close to my natural colour but adds some lovely tonal highlights too. 

What I quickly realised is that red is a very difficult colour to get rid and recolouring with brown didn’t get rid of the red complete. However, it did sort out the harsh roots I had and nicely blended everything together and made the red much more subtle.

I still get a lot of comments about my hair colour, even weeks after colouring. Red seems to be one of those shades that as it fades looks different and in some lights even looks purple!

I suspect I won’t get rid of it completely until it grows out but until then I can enjoy the various tones that I seem to be going through!

Let me know about your hair-dying experiences and what you’ve had to do to get rid of a shade.

First impression: Estee Lauder Advanced Eye Night Repair

The only place I am concerned about signs of ageing is my eyes. Maybe because I have actually started to notice fine lines developing. The worst thing is I’ve always found it hard to incorporate an eye cream into my routine.

The Estee Lauder Advanced Eye Night Repair is meant to help reduce fine lines, wrinkles, puffiness, dark circles, dryness and uneven skintone.

What I didn’t realise before writing this post was that the serum is suitable for use during the night and day. I took the name quite literally and didn’t even bother to read the instructions. So for the last week I have only been using this at night and was actually looking for a cream that I could use during the day — a nice bonus for my wallet.

There is something very luxurious about using this product, and for the price you would expect it to be! The product comes in a cute pot with a dip applicator, which you use to remove the product and wash after each use to keep everything hygienic.

The product has the consistency of a serum, and is much thicker than anything I have used on my eyes before. A small amount goes a long way and because I have been using it at night, the time it takes to absorb hasn’t been an issue.

So far I have noticed a reduction in my crows feet, the lines look softer and overall my eye area feels smooth and hydrated. I’m not sure how much of this is the placebo effect, because I didn’t take any before pictures, but before I write my final review I plan on taking some photographs to compare.

I picked this up in a set with the Advanced Night Repair serum but alone this would normally cost £37 for 15ml. Until I’ve tested this a little longer it’s going to be hard to comment if it is worth the money.

If you’ve tried this I would love to know if I can expect good things in the next few weeks.