My summer favourites!

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack

First things first (I'm the realist - sorry couldn't resist!!!) a big fat sorry for disappearing for the ENTIRE summer! I had loads of ideas for blog posts but never had any time to sit and get them down!!!!!! My summer was crazy and went far too quickly!! 

I hope you are all well and had a fab summer! 

As I am terrible at regularly blogging, monthly favourites come and go and I forget to do them, so instead I thought I would do a blog post on the products that I have loved and used all summer long! I've picked a few skincare, makeup and perfume items to share with you all! 

I'll start with skincare and a slightly tenuous/random skincare item... I wouldn't exactly put it under skincare but I didn't want it to feel lonely in a category on it's own! So without any further waffle I give you the Dove Go Fresh roll on anti-perspirant deodorant in the scent pomegranate & lemon verbena. 

I took this on holiday to madeira with me as you aren't supposed to take aerosols on aeroplanes. It kept me sweat free and smelling lovely all day. Does what it says on the tin... And I liked it! 

Next up is the Garnier micellar cleansing water. Initially I was a tad reluctant to try this as I had tried bioderma before this and really loved that and I initially saw this as a cheaper less superior alternative... Oh how wrong I was! 

 It is just as good as bioderma, if not better in my opinion! For a fraction of the cost of a 500ml bioderma I was able to get 800ml of the Garnier water and it works so well to remove even the stubbornest mascara! 

Now the next two products I am going to talk about together as I have used them hand in hand with each other! After all the indulgence from holiday, my skin took a turn for he worst and I had possibly one of the worst acne breakouts I have ever had, and when it's hot outside and you've got a bit of a tan, the last thing you want to do is have to be slapping on makeup! I got to the end of my tether where nothing seemed to be working and just happened to be walking through tesco when I spotted both these items and decided to give them a try. 

First is the Neutrogena Visibly Clear spot stress control daily scrub. 

I have been using this to cleanse my face twice a day and it has completely changed my skin! It makes sure all the dirt is washed off my face, controls oil and soothes blemishes whilst the exfoliant particles help remove dirt and dead skin. I was initially worried about the exfoliant being too abrasive to use on my skin twice a day, but it has had a positive effect on my skin. My skin is now glowing and smooth and I actually feel comfortable wearing considerably less makeup for the first time in ages! 

Along with this I used the Witch Naturally Clear blemish stick is a natural antibacterial spot prevention treatment containing witch hazel oil. It helps to break down excess oil and fight the bacteria that cause spots. 

I put this all over my face after the scrub and before moisturising and this has also helped combat the acne. 

The moisturiser I have been loving this summer is the Loreal Skin Perfection correcting day moisturiser. 

This moisturiser leaves your skin feeling fabulous and also moisturised and I love it!!! 

Along with the moisturiser, to leave my eyes looking awake and feeling refreshed I have been loving the Origins GinZing eye cream. 

It depuffs and brightens your eyes. I love using this first thing in the morning to make sure I look more wide awake then I feel! 

Well that's my skincare favourites done, now onto makeup! 

Up first is a sample that I was sent to try that I fell in love with. This is the MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage face primer. 

This left my skin feeling fresh, dewy and smooth without leaving a greasy finish. My foundation sat beautifully on top of it and I will definitely be purchasing a full size of this! 

Next up is my trusty old Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation.

As you can see by the photo, this foundation has been well loved this summer! It gave me a great coverage, SPF protection and a great shimmery and dewy finish. There is nothing more perfect for a summertime foundation than this one! 

 

Going with the shimmery theme, up next is my Rimmel Sunshimmer 3D Bronzer.

This gives a beautifully bronzed, sun kissed shimmer and looks amazing with a tan!!! 

With the heat in Madeira, it was hard to keep makeup in place. When I get hot and sweaty my eyelids are the first to get slippy which makes eye makeup so hard to try and keep on. With this in mind, I purchased these products in the hope they would stay put a bit better. I'm talking about gel/cream eyeshadows. 

I actually got an AVON one and a Maybelline Colour Tattoo (which I have been wanting to try for ages!!!!) these are ideal because you can just apply them with your fingers, instead of faffing around with a brush and they also set making them very long wearing! 

Next I want to talk about a set I managed to get online for a very good price. It was Benefit's Real Steal set which included a full size They're Real mascara and a sample of the Push Up gel liner. 

I'll talk about the liner first as this is a relatively new product and everyone is blogging about it! 

Once you get the hang of it, it's incredibly easy to use and allows you to create the perfect cat flick every time!!!! It is incredibly long wearing which makes it ideal in heat and the mini sample size is fab for the smaller makeup bags we take on holiday! 

Now I'm a bit late to the They're Real mascara party but I am in love with this! 

It leaves my lashes looking incredible and longer than they have ever been before AND it is long wearing to the point where it's rather hard to get off! 

Lastly I want to talk quickly (as I fear this blog post has been rather long and waffly!) about my three favourite summer perfumes! All are fresh, fruity scents that aren't too heavy! 

Born in Paradise by Escada

Caribbean Paradise by AVON

AND lastly...

Outspoken Fresh by Fergie for AVON

Well there's my Summer favourites. I hope you have enjoyed reading and I also hope it's not as long until I get to post next! 

Take care and keep smiling

XOXO

Imats haul day 2!!

Here's my haul from day two of imats.

Sorry for the delay in the post but I have been super tired and also super busy since I came back from London! 

First I custom created this palette from make-up studio which is a relatively unknown company based in amstersam and Germany at the moment. These palettes are amazing because you can put anything from eyeshadows, blushes and even concealers in them. I filled my 10 piece palette with eyeshadows and blushes and I am truly amazed at the pigmentation of all the products! They are truly stunning! The staff on the stall were all super friendly and couldn't help you enough which I really liked! They are hoping to get a uk website and also open some stores in the future so definitely check this brand out and keep your eyes open for the stores! 

Next I got these pigments from naked cosmetics which are also beautiful! I love using pigments on the eye but what I hadn't realised is how versatile these pigments really are. You can wet them down into a cream formula, add them to clear nail polish and add them to a lip balm to create custom lipsticks!!! 

 Then I got a nyx jumbo eye pencil in orange... That I actually intend to use on lips instead of eyes! 

I also got a jumbo lip pencil in vanilla ice from nyx to use on eyes instead of lips... I guess I just like to mix things up!!! ;) 

From nyx I also went a little crazy and got a ton of glitter gels which I thought would be perfect to press over eyeshadows to give it a pop of glitter!! 

From eldora lashes I got these cute little lashes to sit on the outer corners! They are hand made and I'm sure they will look lovely! 

I then got some zoeva brushes! Which excited me no end! 

I got two fluffy brushes, a pencil brush and a flat contour brush! They came with this cute pouch too which I store all my brushes in now. 

Also for my kit I got this amazing carry bag and tool belt from PAM. 

That concludes my imats haul from day 2! 

I had the best time at imats, there wasn't one moment I didn't love! If you get a chance to go make sure you do! I will definitely be going next year and every year after that! 

Hope you've enjoyed this!

Keep smiling 

Xoxo

Imats day 1 haul!

Hiya lovelies

Long time no speak! I've had a busy few months and have had very little go on worth blogging about... But I think this blog post will be more than worth the wait!! 

I'm currently curled up on my bed in my hotel with all my spoils of the day nested around me- I feel like a little magpie sat here!! 

Unless you didn't get the hint from the title of this blog post, I'm at IMATS in London this weekend (it's the international makeup artists trade show) and have just gotten back from the first day at the olympia exhibition hall in Kensington and boy am I tired! 

Upon walking in I felt completely overwhelmed, like a kid in a candy shop!

I think I generally peaked too soon and didn't pace myself very well but being surrounded by so much makeup was far too tempting to slow down! 

I thought you would like to see what I spent my money on today so let's get cracking with the haul!!!! 

I will try to categorise everything as I go! 

I shall start with the brushes I got today (and there is quite a few!!) 

From the crown brush stall I got a teenie-tiny eyeliner brush (it says it's a c250-1 on the side if that's any use to you!!) 

 I thought I could use this brush for eyeliner as it's so small allowing you to get really close to the lash line!! 

Second I got a (s216rs) sable angle liner brush which I thought would be perfect for doing brows with! 

I also got  a (IB119) deluxe crease brush! You came NEVER have too many of these!! 

Then from the royal flangnickel stand I purchased a gorgeous brush set which contains 13 brushes in the 'love is...kindness' shade! These are bloomin gorgeous!! 

I could not say no to these!! 

Lastly from the same stand I got a flat eyeliner brush (BC450) which I thought would be ideal for putting eyeshadow underneath the eye!! 

Then I bought two Z palettes which I have wanted for months! (I may even buy some more tomorrow!) they are lush ad are in my favourite print... LEOPARD! 

I cannot wait to de-pot things into them! 

Next I shall move onto brow products!! 

First I purchased from the crown stand a brow palette for my kit which also comes in leopard print (woop!) it comes with 8 brow shades and some stencils to make brow shaping easier.

Then for myself from the beautiful brows stand I got one of their kits in the shade dark brown. I tried this on and fell on love with it! It's a semi permanent brow powder that sets and doesn't budge, it took the lady under 2mins to do both of my brows!!! 

Next I'll move onto cheek products, which surprisingly I didn't buy many of today! All I got was a Daniel sandler watercolour blush in the shade cherub! It was amazing value for money as is such a beautiful shade! 

Next I will move into my new baby... My mac palette!!! Eeeeekkkk!!! I have never been so excited in my life!! 

I chose four shades of eyeshadow:

Woodwinked

Satin taupe

Charcoal brown

And tempting 

These colours are lush and all compliment each other well!! 

Next are the lip products

I got a crown lip palette which has 10 shades of lip colour.

I also got a lime crime lipstick in the shade babette which is simply beautiful and probably one of their more muted colours! 

I then jumped from the frying pan into the fire when I stopped at the o.c.c stand where I got two lip tars...

The first is in the shade momento which is a lovely pinky tone

Then I went a bit crazy and also got one in the shade radiate which is a bright almost neon reddy-coral.

Then for my final and extremely random buy of the day... I got some temporary tattoos! 

We had one put on for free and thought they looked so cool! Cannot wait to wear mine when I am on holiday! 

Well there's my imats haul for today! I will do another one tomorrow so stay tuned!!

Keep smiling

Xoxo

BB and CC Creams. What are they all about??

Hiya lovelies  :)

Hope you are all well! And a Happy Easter to you all in advance!!
Today I am going to be talking about BB and CC creams which have really exploded onto the market in the last few years.
When I was growing up and getting into make-up there was always liquid foundations and tinted moisturisers for when you wanted less coverage and a more dewy finish and despite being first made in the 1960's BB creams were relatively unheard of until they took the make-up world by storm in 2011/2012. BB stands for blemish balm but instead of concealing blemishes, it is actually an all singing all dancing all-in-one product that mousturises, primes, evens complexions and provides sunblock too.
What I will say is if you have flawless skin, BB creams are ideal as you aren't needing much coverage like you would get with a full-on foundation. I like to wear them on days when I'm not doing much so don't need a full face of makeup.

My usual BB cream is Maybelline's Dream Fresh BB Cream
which leaves your skin looking fresh and dewy. The solution is slightly runny and very moisturising. It gives a slight tint to your skin and goes on smoothly. I love this product and it lasts ages as a little bit goes a long way.




Recently I decided to try a different BB cream to see if there were any differences in solution and payoff.
I tried a sample of the Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream and was generally impressed with the product.
The solution is much thicker than the Maybelline one but is easy to apply to your face and leave it looking fresh and dewy. What I will say about it however is that it does tend to go a bit shiny after wearing it most of the day but that's nothing a bit of powder cannot fix!!!








Whilst I was going a bit crazy testing out some of the samples I had in my collection, I came across a sample of the L'Oreal Nude Magique CC cream. Now CC creams are different from BB creams in that their primary job is colour correction and as I have quite a lot of hyper-pigmentation on my face I thought this product would be ideal for me.
Upon opening the sample and squeezing the product out I noticed that the product was green and speckled. Which didn't look too appealing, I immediately questioned whether I wanted to put this on my face. Now I know that when correcting red colours on your face, that you need green to reduce the redness so, still determined to try this out slapped it all over my face. Now when rubbing the product on my face it went from this green colour to a strange yellowy orange colour, which is even more disconcerting when your pale and pasty like me!! This product didn't even fix my redness and I actually ended up applying my BB cream and concealer over the top to try and sort out the mess it had made of my skin!! After being so excited to try it, I was sorely disappointed. :(

All in all, I am going to stick with my BB cream for now as the Oompa Loopma look isn't for me at all and use my foundation for days when I need more coverage!

Hope you enjoyed joining me for this adventure into BB and CC creams. To be honest I don't understand all the hype about either but I do definitely prefer BB cream to CC cream!!!

Keep Smiling
XOXO

My skincare routine: Day & Night

Hiya lovelies

Hope you're all well.

It's been a while but I have been super busy and haven't really had anything beauty-wise worth waffling on and on about!! :P

Today I am going to go through my skincare routine with you all.
To be brutally honest with you all I never really gave much attention to skincare in the past and took it a bit for granted. A few months ago I had a really bad acne breakout which I had never had previously which made me feel very self-conscious.
After a few people commented on how bad my skin was (which really hurts your feelings when you're already worried about how you look!) I decided I needed a better skincare routine. One that was fairly simple and easy to stick to. I had tried a few regimes in the past but they never seemed to work and I could never be bothered to stick to them either!
Now I am not saying that my routine is the RIGHT one or that it will work for everyone, but it works for me.

MORNING ROUTINE:

As soon as I wake up I cleanse my face with the Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean 3in1 Wash off Cleanser.

• I apply this all over my face and then run the hot tap until its warm enough.
• Then, I wet a flannel and wipe off all the cleanser.
• Next, I wash the flannel under the tap and wipe my face with it again.
• Finally I turn the tap to cold and run the flannel under the water until it is cold.
• I then apply the cold flannel to my face and then dry with a towel.

After cleansing I rub a tiny amount of the Soap and Glory Butter Yourself lotion all over my face and neck.

Once that is soaked in I apply my makeup as normal.

NIGHT TIME ROUTINE:

I start by removing the bulk of my makeup with eye remover wipes. I quite like these ones from Tesco.

Once the majority of my makeup is off I then use the Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean 3in1 wash off cleanser.

• I apply this all over my face and then run the hot tap until its warm enough.
• Then, I wet a flannel and wipe off all the cleanser.
• Next, I wash the flannel under the tap and wipe my face with it again.
• Finally I turn the tap to cold and run the flannel under the water until it is cold.
• I then apply the cold flannel to my face and then dry with a towel.

Next I apply Tea Tree Oil to my face starting with any blemishes.

Now a word of warning: This can cause redness, stinging and a slight burning sensation so if your skin is particularly sensitive I would avoid this. I get these sensations sometimes when I apply too much but try to work through it!!! 

Once applied to the blemishes I rub a few drops to my hands and apply to my whole face. This has healing properties and also anti-bacterial properties which help keep those nasty spots at bay!!!

Once I feel that the Tea Tree Oil has sufficiently soaked in I apply AVON's Clearskin Professional Blemish Mark Treatment and rub into my face.

I then go to bed and get a goods nights rest! (MOST IMPORTANT STEP!!!)

If you're having problems with your skin I would also suggest looking at your diet and trying to cut down on bad foods and making sure you drink plenty of water to flush out the nasties that cause spots!! 

Occasionally I use an exfoliating face mask and also use the Soap and Glory cleanser as a face mask too! 

I hope this has helped out those who have problems with their skin. Once again I will say this isn't a routine that will work for everyone and it's probably not the RIGHT routine but it works for me and I am able to stick to it!! (SO FAR!!!)

Keep smiling and Look after yourselves!!

Love and lipstick kisses

Lindsay

xoxo