Mellow Yellow: Face of the Day

With the entire country in a sort of soft-lockdown, with self isolation and social distancing orders in effect, it’s the perfect time to delve back into just playing with makeup. And with nowhere to go, the rules kind of just go out the window. I’ll admit that I’m not really that girl who is too shy to wear more out-there styles or colour combinations (hello, navy lips!) but today’s look was a liiiittle more different and I haven’t decided yet whether it’s actually outside my comfort zone.

The photo turned out well though so there’s that.

Ignore the fact that I was on struggle street with my brows a little bit. But here’s my face of the day, although I kiiiinda washed it off in favour of a nap after a couple of hours.

For the base I started with The Ordinary’s High Adherence Silicon Primer, and honestly it’s not my favourite. I’ll do a full review sometime later but I’m having mixed success at best using this primer. Today, for example, it stuck to parts of my foundation and clumped and moved together, leaving a bit of patchiness on my cheekbones.

Next I used MAC’s Studio Fix Fluid foundation (shade NW10), with Jeffree Star’s Magic Star concealer blended under my eyes (shade C5). That’s it for the face so this was a pretty half assed face of the day... mostly I wanted to play with eyeshadow and everything else was secondary, but the eyeshadow wouldn’t have looked good on an otherwise bare face, so here we are!

Brows are Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in shade Taupe, and let me just take a second here to tell you that yes I am attempting to learn to use Dipbrow for its intended purpose of drawing individual hairs and oh my god so far? Not so good. So I do what I can and trust me this is P R O G R E S S from even two years ago. So I guess, go me!

Anyway back to the point! For eyes I primed with MAC’s Paint Pot in shade Painterly, which is the perfect shade for my skin tone and has been my go-to for a solid decade. For colour I dipped into the Anastasia Beverly Hills Alyssa Edwards palette because I knew I wanted to do a pop of colour. And this palette didn’t disappoint! With a fluffy brush I swept the fuchsia shade Unicorn Tribe all over the lid, up to and above the crease. I kept the edges soft and well blended, and set down a few layers to build up pigment all over. Then with a pencil brush I buffed yellow shade Brick Road on the lower lid, keeping fairly close to the lash line but blending out.

Add some winged liner (Morphe’s Felt Tip liquid liner) and a coat of mascara (Misslyn’s Lolita Lashes) and the eyes were pretty much done! Easy peasy lemon squeezy ;D

The final touch was lips and I wanted something that complimented the eyes but didn’t draw away from them too much. For that reason I didn’t want to go for something dark, but I wanted more colour so stayed away from nude as well. So I figured, hell I might as well give this yellow lipstick a shot!  I applied Velour Liquid Lipstick shade in Queen Bee by Jeffree Star Cosmetics, straight from the tube and without any liner or brushes to complicate things. It’s been unused for some time so the formulation is a bit thicker than normal, but it still went on comfortably and nice and opaque.

Then as a final touch I took some Queen Bee on a small flat brush and added just a touch to the lower waterline to brighten it up and blend into the yellow eyeshadow.

And that’s it for today’s look! I like it a lot more than I thought I would, and I really like the contrast of the colours next to each other without so many shades to complicate things. I’m not convinced whether I’ll wear stark yellow lips out of the house just yet but hey, it’s not like I’ll be going anywhere anytime soon anyway!

So what do you think? Are you a fan of colour blocking in makeup? Would you rock a yellow lip??

Until next time!

~V

REVIEW: Peter Thomas Roth Pumpkin Enzyme Mask

I’m something of a skincare connoisseur.  I’ve tried a lot (like, a LOT) and I stick with what I like and what works.  But I’ve changed up my skincare infinite times in the last several years, because even if I find something that I like well enough, if I don’t LOVE it then I’m always on the look for something bigger and better and more effective for my own skincare woes. 

Said woes are myriad, but my primary concern has plagued me since my preteen days when hormones crept up and an effortlessly perfect and poreless complexion became a thing of the past.  Dryness, coupled with frequent dehydration.  What this means for my complexion is a rough, dry, almost bumpy texture and flakiness if I don’t make sure to stay on top of things.  And forget trying to put makeup on top of that; it just doesn't work.  

When I was younger, I swore by that old St Ives Apricot Scrub, and in all honesty it probably didn’t do my face any favours.  Then when I eventually swore off of it in my early twenties, I discovered my holy grail facial scrub at MAC – Microfine Refinisher, which was discontinued a few years later and frankly it was devastating.

Because basically what I always felt like I needed was the equivalent of a belt sander for my face, to remove the layers of dead and flaky skin that build up and leave the baby soft skin underneath on show.  And that’s essentially what I was getting in the physical exfoliants I had been using back then – super fine scrubs that would leave my skin red raw.  After the MAC scrub was discontinued, I spent a very long time trying to find an exfoliant that would give me what I wanted, that raw and sensitive lobster realness. Only ExfoliKate gave me that feeling I was after, but it was way too pricey to justify for a small tube of the stuff (not to mention it was hard to get a hold of here in the UK at the time).

Of course that was several years ago and now I find myself older and, arguably, wiser.  Now I know that many physical exfoliants can be damaging, both to the skin and complexion but also to the environment as they’re full of non-biogradeable tiny plastic beads which are mistaken for fish eggs and eaten by aquatic life.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

LookFantastic £37.50 | Peter Thomas Roth $60.00

While on a brief and tumultuous trip to Paris with my best friend (which is in itself a long story, maybe I’ll write about it another time) we happened across a tiny little Sephora right across from the Starbucks where we were eating lunch.  And while there, I finally made a very pricey purchase I had been thinking about for a while: Peter Thomas Roth’s Pumpkin Enzyme Mask.

And let me tell you; it’s almost four years later and I still love this stuff. I’ve repurchased it in spite of the steep price point (generally in the region of £40+).  Frankly it sounds a lot but I justify buying this because in practice it’s not that expensive in the long run – a 150ml tub of this can last me a year easily, using it 1-3 times a month.

It’s actually changed the way I think about skin care because prior to using this mask, I was incredibly dubious about chemical exfoliation vs physical exfoliation.  I always felt like I NEEDED a harsh scrub to literally wear away the entire outer layer or three of my face.  But these days I don’t really use physical exfoliators anymore.  And if I do, it’s maybe once or twice a year.  However I’m a firm believer in chemical exfoliants now - and have a couple others in my arsenal that I’ll review here in another post.

The thing I love about about the Pumpkin Enzyme Mask is that it’s potent – it contains pumpkin enzyme, AHA, and aluminium oxide crystals to completely smooth and resurface your complexion.  The aluminium oxide crystals are a physical exfoliant, but in truth I don’t find myself scrubbing this into my skin like I would with my old face scrubs.  Instead, I apply it to my face in a thin later, and only rub at it when I’m washing it off (usually with a muslin cloth). 

When you apply, it tingles and kind of stings a little bit sometimes, but if I’m totally honest I enjoy the sensation.  It *feels* like it’s working, I don’t know how else to explain it.  But I would absolutely say to patch test this if you were wanting to give it a try, because I’m not sure how pleasant it would feel on really sensitive skin.  I have a tolerance to the tingling sensation and I like it, but not everybody will.

And ultimately, for me at least, this is very effective and gives me the results I want; a softer, smoother, brighter skin texture.  After a serum or two and a moisturiser, my skin really does feel like it’s brand new.  It feels overall much nicer and smoother than before, and if I do wear makeup in the following days, sits so much better afterwards.  Plus it’s a joy to use because the mask itself smells like spiced pumpkin, which I absolutely adore.

All in all I would highly recommend this mask to anyone who has hardy enough skin to withstand the stinging sensation from the pumpkin enzyme and AHA combo.  I definitely urge you to shop around online too, because you can save yourself more than to £10 by checking a few different retailers – at time of posting Cult Beauty is selling for £50 and LookFantastic for £37.50. 

Which may still sound expensive but I think about skin care like this; If I happily spend over £20 on a foundation, what’s the point if that foundation is sticking to dry patches and highlighting texture issues and flaking away over here and getting sucked dry by my skin over there?  Furthermore, it takes more foundation to cover up problematic skin, and I use a lot less product on my face when everything sits smoothly and I have fewer sins to cover up.

Welcome to the Blogosphere

Once upon a time I was an avid blogger…  I even spent some time on the YouTubes back when the beauty community was in its early years.  I spent a lot of time writing posts and planning for future posts.  Blogging was always easier for me, and came quite naturally, but I maybe wasn’t such a natural in front of the camera.  Either way, I loved it.  Creating something and putting it out into the world was exciting and scary at the same time.  But blogging in particular was something I greatly enjoyed – you see, I’ve always been a writer at heart, and blogging was the perfect outlet for that creative side of me that just needed to put words on a page.

But somewhere along the lines, life happened.  And so now I haven’t blogged in several years… Five at least, maybe more?  And it’s easily been twice that since I uploaded something to YouTube. 

I find myself drawn back into blogging lately, though.  As I said, it used to be a creative outlet for my writing side.  For my desire to share something of myself.  And so here I am!  I wish I could tell you exactly what I have planned for this blogging return of mine…  The truth is I’m not really sure myself.  But I want to dive back in and let things flow naturally and see what comes of it. 

This time around I’m not going to put myself in the box of a “Beauty Blogger” because, frankly, there’s more to me and what I want to share than just cosmetics and skincare.  In ways, it may be quite heavily weighted to that side since it is a passion of mine… but more than anything I just want this to be a personal blog.  Somewhere to share my thoughts and sometimes that may be in the form of a product review or three.

So here we go… I can’t wait to get started.

Event : #TheCityGirls

This past Saturday (April 25th) I was lucky enough to be invited to #TheCityGirls event right here in sunny Sheffield.  It was my first ever blogger event, so I was really nervous in the days leading up (I'm not even going to pretend like I'm not familiar with social anxiety haha) but once I got there it was so much fun, and I adored chatting with the brand reps and meeting the other girls who were invited!  And not only my first event, it was the first ever #TheCityGirls event, one of hopefully many more to come, and it was so exciting to be involved in the birth of what I believe is going to become an excellent blogger event network.

Photo nabbed from Lorna's instagram here

The event was hosted by Lorna and Holly-Lucy, pictured above, and honestly I'm so proud of all of the hard work they put into the afternoon.  Everything was thought of and catered for, and you could really see not just the sheer amount of hard work and planning that they put into this, but also their sheer passion for it.  I'm sure their next event will be just as successful, and can't wait to hear more news about it through #TheCityGirls hashtag.  Did I mention we even trended on Twitter during the event?  So exciting!!

As soon as we entered the venue (Bloo88 on West Street, which? amazing cocktails and even better pizza!) we were greeted by tables littered about with goodies for everyone to collect, interspersed with the brand tables, and a raffle area set up to raise money for the event's charity City Hearts.  The table in the very entrance was stocked with Voss water as well as Virtue iced tea (they had Lemon iced tea available but I chose the Strawberry & Peach flavour, which was delicious, if maybe a little tart).  My bottle of Voss came in very useful at the end of the event, on the long journey home to keep me hydrated!

Some of the goodies that were available at the event.  Voss water, a pretty light-up pocket mirror from Pebble Grey, a bottle of Henderson's Relish (which, of course, since we're in Sheffield - but would you believe I've never tried it??) and the prettiest mini bottles of perfume.  This smells so very delicious I want to wear it all the time.

Amber came from City Hearts to give us a talk at the beginning of the event before we got started mingling and chatting, to really give us an idea of why we were all here.  Amber gave a great talk to the group, which really hammered home the importance of the work City Hearts does, and I admit it made me feel a little emotional.

To quote from their website "As part of the National Referral Mechanism, we work with the Salvation Army, the Police, Social Services, the UK Human Trafficking Centre and other national organizations, to provide a safe refuse and immediate care for men, women and families who have been rescued from modern day slavery."  

To raise money, a raffle was held, with lots of amazing prizes up for grabs.  In the end, I was very happy to learn that the raffle raised £175 for the charity - and even better, Aviva is going to match the donation, bringing it to a nice, even £350!

There was everything from sets of flavoured instant coffee, bags, cinema tickets and artwork.  For my trouble I came away with a Sheffield Cook Book (swapped with new friend Sophie from Books and Beauty, as she said she didn't cook, and since I had never tried Henderson's it seemed like it had to happen!) and a really pretty silver necklace by Thomas Sabo which you can see in my next post, but you may just be able to spy in the photograph below!  

I also won an amazing clear/holographic clutch from Second Thread, but I felt bad hogging all the prizes and wanted the other girls to get a chance, so I donated it back in for re-drawing.  

I fully admit that I have since ordered the clutch and matching shopper bag direct from their web store though, which you can find by following the above link. #noshame #gottatreatyoself  Unfortunately I don't have any photos of Second Thread to share right now, the ones I took didn't come out clear (I need more practice at this blog photography thing) - but rest assured I will be sharing the bags when they get here.  They're so pretty!

I was really excited to see that Benefit had come to play!  Melissa came to give all of the ladies mini makeovers, mostly focussing on brows and lashes.  She was really lovely, and great to chat with as she talked about not just the products but blogging and beauty in general.  I considered getting her to look at my brows, but I'd already filled them in and thought it would be too much work to start over, so I asked her to let me try out the new RollerLash.  I've actually been needing to buy some new mascara for a few weeks (I'm finishing up my sample of YSL's latest offering pretty soon) and was considering They're Real.  But I really loved RollerLash when Mel tried it out on me - so I definitely know what my new mascara is going to be!

Benefit also brought a little goodie bag for each of the attendees, which included a sample of The POREfessional - which I've been wanting to try as I'm in need of a primer that actually does what it says - and a sample of the They're Real Remover, which I think I'll wait to try when I've got some heavy duty eye makeup going on.

Lush had a stand in one corner, and when I approached they were busy making some Catastrophe Cosmetic face masks.  It was interesting seeing it all come together, especially with the fresh blueberries!

Here the masks are being packed into the iconic black pots - and as we chatted away with one of the brand reps, she slipped one of these masks into our goodie bags.  It worked out really well for me, since I have quite dry and sensitive skin, which this particular mask is perfect for.  I'm planning on a long bubble bath with a mask tonight before bed ^^

They had also brought some of their most popular and limited-edition shower gels (the pink one smells like very sweet pomegranates and the purple one smells like parma violets).  We got a choice of taking one of these home with us, but I opted for a Yummy Mummy body conditioner instead - it's a skin conditioner that you wash on in the shower and it hydrates your skin without having to apply a separate moisturiser after drying off.  We got a couple other goodies from Lush as well, but you'll have to wait for my goody bag recap for the details!

I didn't get a picture of Cinnamon Buns Designs table either - I got a little distracted talking to the lovely lady showing off all of the prints they had for sale, but you can see her own photo of the display here on Instagram.  The print I really wanted had sold out by the time I got there, but I bought the one pictured above instead as it's similar - the only difference is that the one I had my eye on had white text with a multicoloured "splash" design around it.  I think this one is just as pretty though!

The only brand I didn't get to spend time with was Panache, which was a shame since I'm already a fan of their lingerie and would recommend them especially to any plus size ladies, since I've never had a problem with underwire breakage or stabbing with their bras and have always found them comfortable.  I was really excited for Panache to visit, but so was everybody else since the rep was so busy all afternoon with everyone getting bra fittings. I really wanted to be fitted myself as well, since I always tend to order bras online and just try on and return what doesn't fit, so I have no idea what bra size I am anymore.  But at the same time I guess it was for the best at the time since I felt pretty warm and a little uncomfortably sticky so I wouldn't have liked to inflicted sweaty boobs on the poor woman haha.  Since we're both in Sheffield though I'm hoping to be able to get a fitting sorted sometime soon anyway, so if I do I'll definitely update with more information!

Between the Raffle items and the Benefit table, there was a lovely display of pretty chocolate cupcakes, baked by Holly.  I'm really sad to say that I forgot to go back to try one, but the other girls said they were delicious!  I had planned to have one as dessert after our pizza lunch (seriously the girls thought of EV-RY-THING) but when we came back upstairs it seemed like a whirlwind.  I can't express how fast the whole day seemed to go!

Speaking of pizza!  When I told my friends that I was going to an event at Bloo88, the first thing everyone said was that they do amazing pizzas.  And seriously, they were right.  We were spoilt for choice as well - I lost count of the number of different toppings on the many, many pizzas that were served to the group.  My favourite had goat's cheese and tomatoes on it (I had to pick off the olives, but it was delicious!).  Even the crusts were perfectly crispy - I'll definitely be going back for pizza and cocktails sometime very soon.

By the end of the afternoon we were all pretty lumbered down with goodies, but I'm definitely not complaining!  I was astonished by both the size and quality of the goody bags that we got at the event (not to mention the canvas totes from The Blogger Programme - I am a total hoarder of printed tote bags, it has to be said).  But you'll have to wait until next time to find out what was inside, since this post is already way longer than I had originally intended!  

Really though, I have to say that the best part of being involved in this event was the real sense of community.  All of the girls came together on twitter, and I felt like I'd made some new friends even before the day - and it was really great to meet and talk to some girls with similar interests and who really "get" the blogging thing.  I hope to see you all again soon!!

In The Life - April 17th, 2014

This is a new series where I'll just do some... lifeblogging.  Catching up with you guys about stuff that's going on, or maybe not even about anything in particular but just.  Life!

To start it all off, I just wanted to take a moment out from the usual beauty/fashion/etc related stuff to talk about something that is very important and dear to me, more to get this off my chest than anything else.  After all, this is a personal/lifestyle blog more than just a straight-up beauty blog, and this is a big part of my life right now.  If you’d rather read about product reviews and hauls, or are at all squeamish about the idea of surgery or stitches (or just generally have no interest in reading about my cat) feel free to skip, I won’t hold it against you ^^

I'll put the rest under a cut, because it's quite long and you may not want to read.  But click to read more if you so choose.

In & Out: Volume 1

In

Skin Care: I’ve been so lax about my skincare routine more or less since the beginning of this year, and my skin has really let me know how unhappy it is.  I ran out of my usual moisturiser and went back to an old one I didn’t like all that much, “until I find a new one” and that turned into a couple of months of inadequate hydration.  I’ve recently purchased a bunch of organic skin care however and am being more stringent with my routine, and already my skin is in a much happier place.  More details to follow!

Blog Events: I was lucky enough to be invited to an event being organized by Holly-Lucy and Lorna of #TheCityGirls (be sure to click the links and check out their blogs) and I really can’t wait.  The event is taking place in less than two weeks and I’m so excited to be a part of it and meet a bunch of fellow bloggers!  I admit that I’m a little nervous, because aside from Holly I won’t know any of the other attendees, but I’m still very much looking forward to the event and meeting some new people who will actually understand my addiction to the world of beauty, fashion, and blogging.

Organization:  The last month or two have been about trying to organize… well, my life I guess haha.  I’ve finally invested in some decent storage for all of my beauty bits and bobs, and find myself keeping obsessive To Do lists to keep everything in order.  Next I really need to get a diary to carry with me so I can keep track of schedules and leave myself reminders!

Out

Default Blogger Layouts:  I think it’s time to invest in a customized layout, but I’m so picky that I haven’t found one I love enough to splurge on just yet.  Mentally kicking myself for letting my HTML/CSS knowledge lapse, otherwise I could do a beautiful one for myself!

Hair Frustrations: This one is a bit of a personal rant that I want to avoid haha.  But late last year I finally left my old hairdresser (who has been doing my hair since I moved to England ten years ago). Constantly cutting off too much length, butchering my layers, uneven colour, overbleaching/burning my hair…  I persevered because it was cheap, but finally decided it wasn’t worth it to be so unhappy with my hair.  So I’m happy to say I’ve finally moved to a new salon, in a more convenient location, with a stylist I adore and who listens to what I want.

Insomnia:  I wish this one would go, anyway.  At the moment I feel tired all the time and find myself waking up a dozen times during the night and then struggling to get back to sleep.  I’ve suffered from insomnia to varying degrees since my teen years, so this is nothing new, but it’s worse at the moment than it’s been in a while, so just hoping that it’ll settle down again soon!

That’s it for now, but check back soon as I’ve got a couple more reviews up my sleeve and ready to go; and I’m planning on reviving the Fashion Fix posts as well, since my Polyvore addiction is getting a little out of hand~

Until next time!

XOXOX

FOTD Vol 2: Kozuecha Featuring SUQQU

Today's Face of the Day again features Circle Lenses from Eye Candy's - these ones are Royal Vision Girly Chip in Rose Pink.  They don't look obviously in-your-face pink unless you're up close and under bright light, but I really like them.

Onto the products!

FACE:
MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation: NW10
MAC Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation: NC15
MAC Sculpt/Shape Duo: Bone Beige/Emphasize
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish: By Candlelight

LIPS:
MAC Matte Lipstick: Nouvelle Vogue

EYES:
MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot: Tailor Grey
SUQQU Blend Colour Eyeshadow Palette: 10- Kozuecha
MAC Fluidline: Blacktrack
Diorshow Iconic Overcurl Mascara: Black
Canmake Mix Eyebrow Palette: 01

Until next time!

XOXOX

Skincare Haul: Featuring allbeauty.com and feelunique.com

Korres Pomegranate Tonic Lotion, First-Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads,Shiseido White Lucency Night Recovery Cream, Korres White Tea Fluid Gel Cleanser

Also pictured: Caudalie Polyphenol C15 Overnight Detox Oil sample, Lady Gaga Eau De Gaga De Parfum samples - both complimentary from feelunique.com

I should preface this by saying that this is neither an advertorial nor a sponsored post.  Like my last entry, which was heavy on links to Escentual.com, I really just want to pass on my experiences and the good deals I managed to find online from some of my favourite online retailers.  This started life as your average haul/shopping post, but it inadvertently turned into something of a review for the websites themselves, so enjoy!!

A couple of weeks ago I found myself online shopping.  Which should surprise absolutely nobody, because if online shopping was an Olympic sport I would definitely be holding records and a Platinum medal.  My initial reasoning for said online shopping was completely altruistic - I wanted to see if I could get my aunt's favourite perfume (well, cologne as she wears a lot of men's scents) for Christmas.  Don't worry, she knows I'm buying it. 

This foray into fragrance found me on an old favourite, allbeauty.com (formerly CheapSmells), as they had the fragrance I needed for a very very reasonable price - which again isn't a surprise as in my experience they almost always have the best deals on any fragrance I've been looking for and which they stocked.  Pleased that I’d hit the proverbial jackpot, I added the perfume to my shopping basket and then proceeded to peruse the rest of the website.  It had admittedly been a good couple of years since I’d made a purchase from them (I’d been getting my fragrance from Duty Free stores overseas when I’d been on vacation) so I wanted to see what they had available.  I’ve also been on the hunt for the old original Polo in the green bottle by Ralph Lauren for my grandfather, as it’s getting more and more difficult to find now that the new Polo scents seem to be saturating the market everywhere instead now.  I don’t know if the original has actually been discontinued now?  I hope not!  Anyway, allbeauty did have the Polo Green in stock, and cheap  too (the 59ml size EDT retails at £45.00 but they’re selling it for £36.25 right now which is an amazing 19% off!).  Unfortunately for me, they didn’t have the larger size in stock, but it didn’t stop me from looking around to buy a little ‘Christmas’ treat for myself. 

Okay, time for a little aside.  I have to confess that this is entirely how I operate.  It’s October and I started my Christmas shopping around three weeks ago.  And when I do my Christmas shopping online I almost always wind up buying a treat or two for myself as well.  I call it buying Christmas presents for myself but I’m sure you know as well as I do that I’m going to tear open and use those babies as soon as they reach my house.  And that I probably would have bought things for myself even if I weren’t Christmas shopping at the same time.  But that’s how I wind up justifying the extra purchases to myself haha. 

Anyway, this is what I bought from allbeauty!

Korres White Tea Fluid Gel Cleanser, Shiseido White Lucency Recovery Night Cream

I’ve been on the hunt for a night cream for a while now, and while I was looking around the website I found that they had a certain one that’s been on my Want To Try list for… three years?  Maybe longer actually Easily since the last time I went to Canada, as I very nearly bought it from Sephora last time I was at home visiting my family.  From allbeauty the price for the Shiseido White Lucency Recovery Night Cream was £35.00, which was a whopping 36% off the RRP of £54.50.  I couldn’t pass up a deal like that, so it swiftly found its way into my cart. 

The only product I’ve tried from this line before was the foaming cleanser, which I absolutely loved even if it was maybe a little drying on me.  Since then I’ve wanted to try the whole range, but I didn’t see the point in splurging for the day and night mousturiser from the White Lucency line right now, as it would have been a tragic waste of the pricey Chanel day cream I just repurchased a couple of weeks ago.   I’ll not do a full review just yet, as I’ve only just started using it, but it does seem to be decently hydrating and feels very nice on my skin.  I’m happy with this purchase, I just wish it came in a slightly bigger tub for the price.  Although again, I can’t complain too much as I saved just shy of £20!

I don’t even remember how this wound up in my cart, I just remember seeing it and immediately needing it - Korres' White Tea Fluid Gel Cleanser.  I love a good flavoured latte as much as the next girl, but truth be told I’m more of a tea addict than anything else.  Up until recently I kept a fancy glass looseleaf teapot with matching glass cup and saucer on my desk at work to enjoy a variety of different teas – my favourite being the jasmine green tea pearls, or a nice cup of lightly sweetened white tea.  So you can probably see why this cleanser appealed to me. It cost £15 which I don't believe was on sale, but is still very reasonable if it gets along with my skin well.

I don’t have much firsthand experience with Korres as a brand, but I’ve heard good things about their skincare from numerous friends and other bloggers in the webosphere.  The one product I have tried is their lip butters, which I absolutely love.  Korres products are touted to be natural and containing less chemicals than many other brands, which also appealed to me.  So the cleanser has now replaced my usual Clinique gel cleanser.  Again, a full review of this will come later when I’ve had a chance to use it for a while and see how it gets along with my skin, but my first thought after using it was that my skin immediately didn’t feel quite as dry and tight as it does when I use the Clinique cleanser – even though the Clinique is for Skin Type 2 which is a dry skin type.  Very weird!  I’ll see how I get along with this one.  I just wish it came with a pump top as I feel like it’s going to slip and I’ll drop it when I pick it up with wet hands.

 Korres Pomegranate Tonic Lotion, First-Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads,

Not long after I placed by allbeauty order, I stumbled across a discount code for feelunique.com - £10 off a £25 spend.  Feelunique was one of those websites I had heard about and seen once or twice, but I’d never made a purchase before.  But seeing the discount code, I thought I might as well take a look and see if there was anything that caught my eye.  In fact, there was one product in particular that I’ve been dying to try for a while, so it was the first thing I searched for.  Lo and behold, feelunique came through! 

I’ve been doing some reading up on chemical exfoliation lately, as physical scrubs just aren’t really cutting it for me.  I still have clogged pores all up in there, I still get flaky patches and, most tragic of all, I’m almost out of the only facial exfoliator that I’ve ever felt worked well enough on my skin (MAC’s sadly discontinued Microfine Refinisher, RIP and let us say a brief word of mourning over its loss).  From my research, I knew that I wanted to incorporate both an AHA and BHA into my routine – with a Beta-Hydroxy Acid in the morning and an Alpha-Hydroxy Acid at night (as AHA’s can increase photosensitivity and I wouldn’t like to put it on my face just before walking outside, sunscreen or no).  Several reviews made me convinced that the FAB Facial Radiance Pads were the AHA I wanted to try, containing both Glycolic Acid and Lactic Acid.  The pads are convenient to store and to use, and I’ve heard very good things about their effectiveness as well.  And I mean, with £10 off I really couldn’t go wrong!

In order to make use of the discount code, I needed to spend over £25 – and at £20.50 the pads didn’t take me above that threshold on their own.  So I had a look around and settled on the Korres Pomegranate Tonic Lotion for £14.00 – which also helpfully contains Salicylic Acid and therefore fits the bill for the BHA toner I’ve been looking for.  This is a pretty standard toner to be honest – after cleansing, you put some on a cotton pad and wipe over your face before you apply your moisturiser.  I’ll be using this one in the morning, and hopefully the BHA will help unclog my pores over time.  It has to be a damn sight better than the no-toner I’ve been using recently, anyway – I had to nix my Clinique 3-step toner as although it’s meant to be formulated for dry skin, it feels like pure alcohol and completely strips my skin when I use it.  So far I’ve used it a couple of times and I like the way it feels, but time will be the deciding factor as to whether this becomes a staple of my skincare routing or I wind up BHA hunting again in a couple months’ time.

Just a note on feelunique’s services, since I went a bit more indepth about allbeauty already.  First and foremost, I find that while they do have some items available cheaper than alternative retailers, they do sell primarily around RRP - however I find their customer service is well worth the fact that it's not a "everything on super-sale all of the time" website.  Although having said that, their promotions and discount codes are really quite frequent, so I really think you'll be able to find a great deal basically any time you want to take a look.  Plus another little added bonus is that you can select samples when checking out as well, which I think is a nice little extra touch you don't get at a lot of beauty retailers.

Samples from feelunique.com

Again though it was feelunique's service that really made an impression on me.  When I placed my order, they were doing some revamp work which meant that orders weren’t being processed for a few days.  So I placed my order on Saturday night and it was processed closer to mid-week than the next working day.  However this was all very clear up front when I made my order, so was not at all a problem – it would have been very irritating to place an order and then for it to not be dispatched without any word of an update as to why.  I really appreciated the proactive approach here for the customers.  And then even after that, I received an email later on offering a 10% discount code as an “apology for the delay.”  I mean really, how sweet is that?  Completely unnecessary, but feelunique is very clearly a website that cares about its customers and strives to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction.  Just from my initial order I would have been a repeat customer anyway, as I was happy with the service at that point and they have a wide range available online which includes things that I’ve struggled to find elsewhere here in the UK.  But things like this really make a difference, you know?  So thank you!

Until next time!

XOXOX

Wishlist Wednesday: Vol1 : Guerlain Edition

It wasn't all that long ago that I made my first foray into the wonderful world of Guerlain.  I'd coveted their beautiful packaging for absolutely ages, but for a long time I guess it just felt a little too high end.  All of that changed a couple of months ago, however, when I stumbled across some EOTD posts using some Guerlain eyeshadow palettes.  This led to reading reviews and swatches and other EOTDs using them and I very desperately needed them in my life.  Luckily I stumbled across a little website called Escentual at the same time, which sells a lot of premium brands at a discounted price.  I wound up buying four of the palettes.  And a liquid liner for good measure.

And now it's safe to say I'm hooked. Those shadows are probably the prettiest beauty products I own, and I'm in love with them as much for the product inside as well.  Which brings me to this week's Wishlist Wednesday: products I need in my life, featuring Guerlain.  These are all things I've wanted to try for ages - and eventually, I will.  One of these days.

Wednesday Wishlist: Guerlain Cosmetics by lipstickandlightplay featuring Guerlain

1. Meteorites Voyage (01 Mythic) - £94.50 at Escentual
2. Meteorites Brush - £24.30 at Escentual
3. Meteorites Travel Touch Powder (01 Mythic) - £31.95 at Escentual
4. Meteorites Pearls (02 Clair) - £33.75 at Escentual
5. Ecrin 4 Couleurs Long-Lasting Eyeshadow Palette (various) - £35.10 at Escentual
6. Rouge G Exceptional Complete Lip Colour (various) - £28.35 at Escentual
7. Meteorites Base Perfectrice Pearls - £39.15 at Escentual
8. Lingerie De Peau Foundation (02 Beige Clair) - £33.75 at Escentual
9. Meteorites Bubble Blush (02 Cherry) - £25.65 at Escentual

Until next time!

XOXOX

Note: This post is not sponsored by Escentual in any way, however does contain affiliate links.  Please see the Disclosure page for more information.

Fashion Fix: Which Witch : Halloween 2014

Which Witch : Halloween 2014 by lipstickandlightplay

Back on the theme of homemade Halloween costume ideas, here's a modern take on the old classic: Witch.  Now these pieces are all things that you could wear again at any time of the year, from that beautiful Ted Baker cloak to that dress, which I am absolutely in love with.  Adding a cute little headband-come-hat makes the Witchiness stick out a little bit more, but even without it I think you could carry it off.  And those boots?  They scream witch but they're also completely utilitarian, with good grips on the bottom which are perfect for traipsing over fallen leaves and keeping your toes warm in these chilly autumn evenings.

Until next time!

XOXOX