Current skincare and makeup, less is more?

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit my skincare and makeup routine has been lacking recently. I'll blame the weather.

That said, my skin seems to be looking better for it. My makeup application these days is minimal, part laziness, part not having learnt how to make makeup stay in place for any length of time in 40^oC+ conditions. So all I use is Bourjois CC cream (which seems to be never ending), Smashbox BB cream concealer, a bit of bronzer, and Benefit's Gimme Brow, and I'm done.

Skincare wise, I'm still using my Kiehl's cleanser, I am so impressed with how little of this you need to clean your face. I use it both morning and night, and because my makeup application is so little during the day I only need one cleanse to remove everything. I also haven't been using my Clarisonic and have just been using my hands or a flannel depending on my mood.

I also use La Roche Posay's Effaclar Duo+ morning and night now as a moisturising/treatment step. This product has holy grail status to me now as I am pretty sure it is the main reason my skin is clear. I haven't had a major breakout in a while, and when at night I notice small, red spots have started to surface by the morning they are gone.

I also recently introduced Bioderma's moisturiser and I am, so far, really enjoying it. It is light, almost serum like, and considering that it is so hot now and air conditioning is on full-time it has helped with some dry patches that have been developing.

When I know I will be outside for any length of time I also apply Alpha H's protection plus daily, which is my SPF step. I have a full review of this coming up, but, in short, I love it. It is non-greasy and also acts a great primer.

Keeping it simple seems to be working for me at the moment. Does anyone else find this?

Wedding day beauty: Eastern style

After a whole year of promising I am finally sharing some of my wedding day photos. I was very fortunate to have two wedding parties, satisfying the cultural habits of both mine and my husband's family.

The first party had a more Eastern feel, particularly the dress and so it was only appropriate to go for an Asian bridal inspired makeup look. For this night, I actually did the makeup myself, starting at about 2pm and really taking my time so it was just right! In the end I didn't enter the hall until after 8pm so it just shows how well it lasted.

I used my Naked palette and copied Frooti Beauty's Naked Arab look. I used Urban Decay's Greed eyeshadow base to get the gold started theme started and then followed her instructions.

My base was E1 Cosmetics foundation, a new discovery at the time, which I loved because it seemed to match my face and neck so well. I was using the lightest shade on the day, which is too light for me right now. It is a great foundation for anyone with a more neutral skin tone and when buffed in well it looks flawless.

I contoured and highlighted using my Sleek contour kit, and on the lips I used MACs Russian Red, which I have reviewed previously. I used a GOSH lipliner too. I used a L'Oreal gel eyeliner on the night, which I was very glad stayed put, I've since lost it though!

I did use lashes on the night, but I don't think I did a particularly good job with the application as in some photos you can see they are there!

Spot the beauty bloggers?

Come back tomorrow for my Western style makeup, and I will also be sharing my wedding advice later this week.

Sorting out the problem…..

I don’t know if this happens to every beauty blogger and beauty addict at some stage, but lately looking into my cupboards and makeup bag(s) I feel a bit guilty.


I like to buy things on sale and special offer, which usually means I have a selection of new products at my disposal. The privilege of being invited to events means that I am given new product to try and all together this means that I have quite a collection.

So I plan to reduce my stash and guilt in the process. I’ve already given away products that I am no longer loving or will never use to friends and family and I also have a small box ready to be sent to Give and Makeup.

On the blog I will be resurrecting empties posts, but only sharing things I feel are an achievement and that deserve a mention rather than every sample, shower gel and deodorant. Rather than monthly this will be as and when I have a decent number of products to write about.

I also plan on rotating my remaining makeup much more than I do so that everything gets some love and I’m going to keep to my promise of only purchasing when I have used up two products. 

Do you get beauty addict guilt? And how to you make sure you make the most use out of everything you own?

Avon introduces True Colour Technology

Avon is a brand I have a lot of fond memories with. My mum and my aunt were both Avon ladies and my first makeup was all Avon. In fact I pretty much hijacked the little suitcase filled with mini lipstick samples, gloss and eyeshadow that she was meant to use to help clients decide what to buy.

It’s been a few years since I’ve used their makeup so when I was invited along to see the new offerings from the brand I was excited to see what had changed.

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.

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.

Quick review: Inika organic eyeliner

I didn’t become aware of Inika until late last year, the brands unique selling point is that it offers all natural and almost all organic makeup and is certified as halal too. I’m a huge fan of mineral makeup and Inika offer a full range of makeup products and more than just powders.

Ingredients: Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Glycerides, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil*, Mica (CI 77019), Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax*, Levisticum Officinale (Black Lovage) Oil (Olus), Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil*, Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Glyceryl Caprylate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Sorbic Acid, May Contain (+/-):, Iron Oxides (CI 77491) (Red), Iron Oxides (CI 77492) (Yellow), Iron Oxides (CI 77499) (Black), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Chromium Hydroxide Green (CI 77289), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510), Pigment Violet (CI 77742) *Certified Organic

The liner comes with a complimentary sharpener lid, which did fall off in my bag so I would recomend keeping it at home or in a makeup bag 

I recieved the certified organic eyeliner in the shade black caviar in my #bbloggersxmas goody bag. It is not the darkest of black but it is good if you want something less harsh to use on a daily basis. The texture is smooth and creamy, which makes it easy to apply and blend if necessary.

The wear on the lash line is good and I didn't get any smudging all day. However, the wear wasn't as good on my waterline. After about an hour I started getting eyeliner underneath my lid and setting the liner with a powder didn’t improve the wear. I'm starting to think I'm always going to struggle finding an eyeliner that stays on my waterline unless it is waterproof….. is there such a thing as having a very watery waterline?

The eyeliner costs £13.50, which is more than a high street brands but great for a product that is organic. Inika can be found online or in John Lewis stores.

Although the liner isn’t quite right for me, I am interested to try out more from the brand. What would you recommend I try next?

Tag: How much is your face worth UPDATED!

In last week’s #SpendingBan chat, Gaelle (Lipstick Ergo Sum), Hannah (Midnight Violets) and me decided that we would all do a shared ‘how much is your face worth tag’. I did one of these in my early blogging days and decided that it would be interesting to only compare totals after writing this post.

I generally mix my makeup up on a day-to-day basis but for the purpose of this post, I picked out my current most reached for products.

So here we go….

Benefit Porefessional £23.50 (review)

Bella Pierre foundation £34.99 (review)

Bella Pierre makeup base £12.99

Beautiful brows kit £30 (review)

Garnier caffeine anti dark circles eye roll on £10.49

ELF concealer and brush £3.75

Bourgeois bronzing powder £4.99 (review)

Bourgeois 3D effect lip colour £6.99

Rimmel exaggerate waterproof eyeliner £3.99 (review)

Rimmel  colour rush quad eyeshadow £6.63

Benefit They’re Real mascara £18.50 (review)

Total = £156.82

I had a jaw-dropping moment when I looked back at my previous post and realised that my previous total has increased by a huge £61.84! If I had substituted a few of the cheaper products for high-end brands then my total would be close to £200! 

Luckily I know that most of these products were purchased with an offer or as part of a set and I didn’t pay the full price but this post has made me glad to be on a spending ban because I really should be making the best use of what I already own rather than adding to the collection. 

Make sure you check out the posts from the other two ladies, I’m curious to see how my total compares! 

Instanbul Haul — Flormar and Golden Rose cosmetics

I couldn’t resist a spot of beauty shopping whilst in Istanbul. The city has a good selection of stores selling both high-end and high-street beauty, but I was on the look out for brands that I hadn’t heard of before and that weren’t available in the UK.

 

The first brand I spotted was Flormar, which reminded me a lot of Barry M with it's bright coloured store. They had a good selection of makeup, makeup brushes, nail polish and even hand/nail cream and perfume. I asked in store if the brand was Turkish, and was told yes, but the bag I left with and the website both say founded in Milan — go figure!

I lot of the eyeshadows and blushes were very shimmery and frankly I really shouldn’t be adding more of these to my collection. Instead I picked up a BB cream, which when I swatched in store I realised is actually nothing like a BB cream but may be a very nice tinted moisturiser, based on the consistency and feel of the product.

I also picked up three lip liners. Recently I have been wearing bolder lip colours, which could do with the additional lip definition. One thing that immediately impressed me about the lipliners is that I recognised names on the ingredients list, with the main ingredient listed as hydrogenated palm oil.

Another brand (which I believe is Turkish) was Golden Rose, which I found in pharmacies and convenience stores and therefore had a smaller product range. Again the products here all seemed to be very heavy on the shimmer. One thing I spotted, which I now regret not buying, was a baked eyeshadow set that could be used wet or dry. However, what I did pick up was the Terracotta stardust blush in the shade 03, again this is shimmery, but with a light hand I believe this will look very pretty.

Istanbul seemed to offer a lot of was homemade beauty, soaps in particular. I found a few individual shops selling homemade goods and there were also a few stalls in the spice and grand bazars.

The stalls listed the ingredients/scent use and the benefits that the ingredients were meant to have.  I however, based my choice on smell and chose Olive oil with cinnamon and fig. Both smell gorgeous and although generally I don't use soaps on my face, if I find that these aren't suitable I know I will be able to use them on my body. The soaps cost just over £1 each, which is a bargain compared to the cost of handmade and natural products in the UK.

I will of course do full reviews of the makeup products once I have had a chance to test them. I would love to know if you have heard of or tried either of these brands and what you thought.

TK Maxx Bella Pierre haul!

On one hand I feel guilty about this recent haul but on the other it was just too much of a bargain to miss out on.

I know I have mentioned a thousand times that Bella Pierre is my favourite brand, I use their mineral foundation daily and almost exclusively (with the exception of dabbling with BB creams) for over 2 years.

So imagine my delight when my sister walked in with a Bella Pierre skin care set she found in TK Maxx for a bargain price of £35! I had been prepared to myself to spend over £100 for these, which I included in my 2012 wish list, so the 60% discount was a nice surprise.

After this, the mission was on to seek out more Bella Pierre bargains, which included the complete face kits, 9-eyeshadow shimmer stack and a lip kit. They also had some other eyeshadow trio kits, which I decided to pass on. 

I was lucky that the medium complete face kit contains my exact shade, however even if I did have to pass the foundation on to someone else the brushes, blusher, bronzer and more in the kit still make it excellent value for money.

I will of course be blogging about the individual items as I get a chance to test them out but in the mean time if you are a fan or want to give the brand a try I recommend checking out your local TK Maxx.

Bourjois bronzing powder

The Bourjois bronzing powder was something that I had my eye on for years but never took the plunge to purchase until I visited the pop-up shop… and I am very glad I did.

I have never owned a matte bronzer and always wanted one for the purpose of contouring as well as adding a light touch of colour — and this product works perfectly for both.

I chose the lighter of the two shades, 51. The powder is fine, has a smooth texture and can be built up and applies easily. In the pan you can see flecks of glitter but this doesn’t transfer onto the skin and the powder looks more matte.

The bronzer comes in cute, sturdy packaging. It is known as the chocolate bronzer — well mainly because it has a picture of chocolate on the packaging — but also because the powder resembles a chocolate bar. It also has a subtle, sweet scent, which makes it feel like a much more luxurious product than the £4.99 price tag and with 16.5g of product I don’t see myself hitting pan on this quickly.

Lori Greiner cosmetics organiser

I was lucky enough to receive a make-up organiser for Christmas, which was unexpected but very welcome since my make-up collection was always scattered in various bags. 

This was the extent of my organisation before, two small canvas boxes from Ikea for the makeup products currently in use, my ELF dump bag and a big black make-up travel bag for new items. I also then had another series of makeup cases carrying all sorts. 

This is my new storage, along with all the bags full of makeup to be fit inside. The organiser is quite small, and designed to be placed on a tabletop, it also rotates to allow access to all the items. There are six compartments in total, two that are tall and suit bottles and any other larger items, two that have dividers and the final two have shelves. The top of the organiser is designed for thinner items, lipsticks, eyeliners, brushes etc.

And this is my storage after being filled with all my makeup. I can’t decide if I think that I own a lot or not. All that is missing from this are my eyeshadow palettes and I also left out new and unused items, which I will add once something has been used up.

It was good to come across makeup I had forgotten about — it almost felt like coming home after a shopping spree. I also threw out some really old items and made a mental note of what I definitely don’t need to buy any more of.

I love my new organisation and I am hoping that by having the majority of things out for me to see it will encourage me to use some things I haven’t picked up in a while. The hexagonal shape of the organiser means that the compartments are all angled so not everything can fit easily, I am lucky that a lot of my items are the “right shape” for the organiser, but I can tell that I would have been a lot more limited in what I could have fit if this wasn’t the case. I’ve had a search around the internet and I think the organiser was purchased from QVC — link here!

This is my cupboard having organised it. One box is now for miscellany, tubes of skin care creams and product samples to try and review, and the other contains my eyeshadow palettes.

So apart from tidying up and finding a few lost treasures, I also leant a few things…
1. I do not need any more mascaras, eyeliners or lip balms — I seem to have accumulated lots of samples and full sized freebies, which will see me through for at least a year.
2. I need to make more of an effort to rotate the lipsticks and blushers I use, I might take inspiration from Eyelining Obsessions and do posts at the end of the weeks having worn a different lipstick each day.
3. That I do love a special offer and although it’s always great to get value for money as yet I haven’t even started using the majority of all the freebies and it might be worth in the future just buying the one thing I really want.

I am thinking of starting another project 10 pan to empty out my cupboards a bit more. I am really good about only buying skin care when I need it, but I am not the same with makeup, now I know what I definitely don’t need more of I can make attempt to use up what I have before trying something new. Would you be interested in reading about that again?

So, how do you like it? I would love to know how you all organise your makeup and any tips on how best to make use out of everything you own.