No7 Foundation Match

A couple of week ago, I popped into my local boots to get my foundation matched with the new No7 Match Made service. Normally, when I buy foundation, I do swatch checks on my hand and across my chin, and settle for the lightest shade in the range! (in some high street brands, this is still too dark for my skin - I'm looking at you Bourjois!) I've never had my foundation matched at a counter before, so it was a first.

The process was really easy and it took 5 minutes all together. The consultant (I forgot her name!) talked through what I was looking for in terms of coverage and how often I wear foundation. And then came the fun bit. She pushed the camera thing into my cheeks with some pressure to some the light getting in to the picture, and gave me my perfect foundation.

Despite my usual shopping habits, I was the second lightest shade in Stay Perfect foundation, not the lightest which me and my friend were actually shocked by. I've been wearing the foundation every day for the past few weeks and it is the most perfect foundation for me in my collection.

I really recommend this service because I would have ended up buying the wrong shade without it. I really hope this technology spreads to other make-up counters in the near future.

Body Shop Earth Lovers

Earth Lovers Shower Gel, £5

What a surprise, I've bought something else from The Body Shop.
The Earth Lovers shower gels come in five or six different flavours. I got the Watermelon and Eucalyptus one, but I really wanted the Fig one.
The shower gel is like an oil/water which is something I've never seen before. When I first tested it, I thought the consistency was a bit strange as normally I'm drawn to the foamiest gels. It's really good though and it foams really nicely. I pour some in my hand (about the size of a 10p piece) and it lathers so well and smells amazing. I would buy the whole range because they're all beautiful.  Any more than that at a time and it begins to smell a bit overwhelming. But other than that it's an amazing product and its going to last me ages!!

Clinique Liquid Facial Soap Mild

Clinique Liquid Face Soap Mild £15

I have tried quite a lot of skin care products from Clinique. Their seven-day scrub cream is one of my favourite daily exfoliators. (I reviewed it months ago and am still in love with it!)

Clinique Liquid Facial Soap Mild comes in four types depending on your skin. I really like this idea because I don't think one size fits all when it comes to skincare. I chose skin-type 2 - Dry Combination 'dry in the cheeks, comfortable to oily in the T-Zone' which suits me perfectly. It makes my skin feel really soft and clean, and I don't get any tightness across my cheeks like I do with other face soaps I've tried.

I really like it because one pump will do my whole face, so I now it's going to last me ages.

It's a gel like consistency when it comes out of the tube and it doesn't lather too much. That means I can feel it on my skin, rather than loads of bubbles.

I use this with the seven-day scrub cream, this toner and this moisturiser in the morning. I also use it at night after I've taken all my make-up off and before my night cream.

I really recommend this because of the options available for different skin types.

L'Oreal EverPure

I've really got into haircare in the past year. I never used to 'shop' hair products. I used to just grab a bit bottle of tresemme shampoo (I didn't even buy conditioner - gasp!). In the past year or so, I've been noticing my hair drying out and getting static quite a lot so I've been trying to find products that complement each other and give my hair a more natural and glossy finish. L'Oreal Ever Pure Colour Care & Smoothing duo are my every day go-to hair care products.

I've been using it for just over two weeks and I can definitely see a difference in the condition my hair. My hair feels less tangled and it hasn't been static at all! Which is a miracle! I even feel that my colour hasn't faded as much, which I love! 

I would recommend this to anyone with coloured/dry hair. The only thing that might put you off is the scent. The shampoo is Rosemary & Juniper and you can really smell the rosemary in it. I don't normally like herbal smelling products, so its taken some time for me to get used to it. The conditioner is lovely though. It smells strongly of mint. It really wakes me up in the mornings! 

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Body Shop Body Butter in Chocomania

I cannot rave about this product enough! It's the nicest smelling thing I have ever sniffed. Honestly. Too good for words. 

I went into the Body Shop last week to pick up some bits and make use of a voucher I had on vouchercloud. (I tweeted about it on the day) The voucher was a free body butter when you spend £15. My friend had been raving about this product and how yummy it was so, obviously I picked it up. The lovely lady at the Highcross Body Shop gave me a free sample of the multi-use oil in the same scent. It's divine. The stores website describes the scent as indulgent and I completely agree.

I am a massive fan of the Body Shop Body Butters anyway, I always have three or four tubs on the go. This is just another level. It's a 48hour hydration. I can't say that I've tested it out for 48hours, so I can't really comment on that, but the smells lasts and lasts on the skin. So it's not really for you if you don't want to smell like a walking Mars bar all day. It's cool though, because I do.

L'Occitane Fresh Face Water

I bought this a few weeks ago because I just loved the scent! As I said in my haul post, I hadn't been using a toner for a while (naughty, naughty!) and had a hole to fill in my daily routine.

This is more than a toner though, you can use it by itself as a cleanser. I have to admit, I haven't done that. I've been using it after my make-up remover. I use it in the evenings by spraying it onto a cotton pad and I just go over my whole face, picking up any last bits of make-up. You can use it over your eyes as well, which is a bonus.

It leaves my skin feeling really cleansed and smooth. 

The lady at the shop said that I could use it like you would Fix Plus to refresh your face or make-up throughout the day, but I'm not sure if you can. 

 L'Occitane Fresh Face Water: £14

Clinique High Lengths Mascara

I got this mini mascara when Clinique did the mascara swap a few weeks ago. 

I chose this one purely for the 'willow' brush.

I actually really like this mascara. It doesn't get all claggy and clumpy on my lashes, and leaves a natural effect. There are a few reviews on the Clinique website that disagree with this. It really is down to application. I found that I had to be patient the first few times I applied it because I was getting used to the odd angle of the brush, but now I've got it I really like it!!

If you want big lashes for a night out, this isn't really for you but I really like it as my day to day mascara. 

It retails at £16.

Revlon Lip Butters

 l-r: Candy Apple, Sweet Tart, Peach Parfait

I've wanted these for ages! I've seen tonnes of reviews since their launch in the US last and they definitely didn't disappoint.

The formula is a lot thicker than I thought it was going to be. Revlon describe the texture as a buttery balm, which makes them more long lasting and moisturising than a regular balm.
The colour pay-off is brilliant as well.
I don't really have anything bad to say about this product!

Glossy Box for Men: Box 2

What's in the box?
Organic Homme by Green People Active Fix Repair Serum
4711 The Original Eau De Cologne
The Legends London Alum Matchsticks
Fab Body Moisturiser
Liz Earle for Men Face Scrub
Kyoku For Men Sake Infused Shave Cream
Dr Bronner's Magic Liquid Soaps Lavender Hand Sanitiser

The boys get seven products every box because it's a quarterly product. I actually get really excited opening this box (it is my boyfriends but I love seeing new beauty products - women's and men's)
The two stand out products for me are the Liz Earle Face Scrub and the Alum Matchsticks.
I've never seen anything like these matchsticks and I'm really intrigued to see them in action. You just run the matchstick under water and then rub the tip over the skin to calm shaving rashes.

I actually stopped my subscription to glossy box because I wasn't using many of the products I received. It would be awesome if it was made like Glossy Box for Men - a quarterly service that sends you products tailored to your needs.

Lush Easter Eggs (Spoiler Alert)

(I didn't realise until I uploaded these that you can see an old glossy box in the first photo - sorry!)

I went into Lush to grab some bits that I'd ran out of (The Comforter, Porridge etc) and saw the cute Easter Eggs by the till so I obv had to pick one up! I chose this yellow one because the smell was my favourite. (I didn't think about what colour the bath would be though lolz) 

I really like this concept. Normally when you buy a bath bomb, you get one bath out of it, but with this one you get three and I don't think it was that much more expensive than the regular ones. The middle bomb looks like a little animal with whiskers. I'm not sure if its a cat, mouse or rabbit because there's no ears, so who can say. But the smell is really nice, the yellow one is like vanilla and really sweet. The middle one is more lavender, herby smell, so it's a really nice contrast. 

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SLEEK Pout Polish

I've been looking for a tinted lip moisturiser for a while. I know a lot of people use the pink Vaseline one, but I don't like the scent. I've heard a lot of good things about the Sleek ones, so I wanted to check them out.
I picked up Peach Perfection because it's a little different to the lip colours I've had before.
I really like this product. I've only had it for just over a week, and I can already feel a difference in the condition of my lips. Over winter, I always have chapped lips, so this is a saviour!

REVIEW: Garnier Simply Essentials Soothing Cleansing Lotion

>>Garnier Cleansing Lotion £3.99

I've been on the market for a multi-purpose cleanse for a while. I've been using a simple version of this for a while, but its quite thick and is hard to move around the face without getting some in your eyes or leaving a horrible residue.
So I went into boots to find something similar but better than the simple one with only two criteria in mind: it had to be a budget beauty product ie high street brand/price and it had to be able to removes make-up and more importantly mascara easily.
This definitely lives up to what I wanted. I really like this product. The consistency of this cleanser reminds me of a moisturising milk so its really light, which is what I prefer, especially just before I put all my lotions and potions on before bed.
I have no complaints about the claims. It takes off all my eye make-up with ease, including my thick coats of Scandaleyes Mascara.
I would recommend this to anyone who needs to stick to a budget or wants to try a cleansing make-up remover.

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L'Oreal Elvive Triple Resist part 2

L'Oreal Elvive Triple Resist Reinforcing Masque

I really love this hair mask! 

I'm still really new to hair masks (as I said last time, I'm not very good at looking after my hair!) so I bought this on a whim when Superdrug had a BOGOF offer on the new L'Oreal range. 

This mask claims to reinforce hair and 'provides intensive care to fragile hair with a tendency to fall' and also to aid detangling. This describes my hair type exactly so I knew I had to have it! I'll be honest though, I've only used this mask a couple of times since I bought it, so on average about once every three weeks. It doesn't actually say how often to use it but I suppose once a week would be best in order to see real results but so far I'm loving it.

The texture is so lush! It's like a creamy conditioner, but its enriched with a serum that leaves my hair really glossy and smooth. I would recommend this to anyone.

>>pic from L'Oreal website

L'Oreal Elvive Triple Resist part 1

L'Oreal Elvive Triple Resist Reinforcing Treatment.

For a little while, I've felt that I am loosing way more hair daily than I should be. This is probably thanks to years of straightening my locks without heat protect (I know - I'm awful!) and colouring my hair thousands of different shades of red. With that in mind, I was really excited when I saw a BOGOF offer in Superdrug this week on the new L'Oreal Elvive Triple Resist. I bought the hair mask (which I'll review in a later post) and the root spray.
I've tried a root spray before (the John Freida Collection Root Awakening Strength Boosting Leave-In Spray - pic on my dailybooth here). and this spray was something that I just loved! It was the first root spray I'd tried so don't have anything to compare it to, so it was an obvious choice to pick up this spray for free.

The 'triple resist' claims to reinforce and nourish hair while making it feel stronger. It also says that the root spray is for fragile hair with a tendancy to fall, which I deemed a perfect way to describe my hair atm.

This spray really intrigued me because it says you can use it on wet or dry hair up to twice a day. The weird thing about this compared to the John Freida version was that it didn't say to comb it through afterwards. I did this anyway, as I thought the product would start to build up on the roots.

How I prefer to use the root spray is as part of my blowdry. I section my hair and spray the roots, massage the formula into my scalp and then comb the excess product through the hair, add heat protector spray (I use this one) and then blow dry as usual.

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GLOSSY BOX - October

Got my Glossy Box :)

I'm really excited about this box! I've been dying to try dermalogica products for ages. Mostly excited to try the face mask. I'm always looking for new masks and skin treatments so really can't wait to try them out!

The Stila pencil is not a colour I would pick for myself but I love experimenting with colour and looks.

L'Oreal Mythic Oil

For those of you who follow me on twitter, you will probably already know that I signed up for glossybox and got my first box this month.
I've been a fan of the whole idea behind it since I first heard of birchbox (the American version) nearly a year ago so was really excited to learn that there was going to be an English version. Like most people, I waited a few months to see what it was like before signing up myself.

I was going to do an open box post, but I'd seen a lot of them about and wanted to bring a different kind of post to the mix. So, I've decided to talk about my stand-out product from September's box: L'Oreal Mythic Oil.

I am in love with this product, honestly. I only received my glossybox ten days ago and already I've used so much of it.

I use it on wet hair after I've washed it just like I would a serum, but I also use it on dry hair to give my ends a boost and also just before bed as a mask.

The products claims to leave hair 'instantly more supple, tamed and glossy.' I completely agree with this. My hair has been unmanageable for ages, with constant dying, heated tools and teasing so I've had problems with dry/split ends. But after using this product, it was a lot easier to comb. 

Also the scent is gorgeous. It is made from avocado oil and grape seed oil. It smells really fresh.

This is something I would definitely buy. 

I was not paid for this review. I bought the glossybox and honestly believe this product is amazing. 

sorry for the webcam pictures, I'm having problems with my PC and camera atm.

Fave Concealer?

For a while, I've been using the most talked about product of the hour, Collection 2000s lasting perfection concealer.

But when tidying my make-up collection after moving house, I came across Benefit's it stick. And I haven't looked back.

It's a lot thicker than Collection 2000s liquid concealer and that's part of the reason I love it.

I use it solely for my under-eye circles as it draws on thick and chalky, but it blends like its cream or liquid counterparts.

So I know it'll definitely be in my collection for a while to come.




>>>pic from asos.com

REVIEW: PRIMER

Maybelline Instant Anti-Age 'The Smoother' Skin Retexturising Primer

TEXTURE: When I first tried this out in the shop, I really liked the texture of it, it's mainly the reason I bought it, as I wasn't looking for anti-ageing or anything like that. To touch it's like a thin gel, and a little goes a long way. I can literally just tap the top and have enough for my trouble areas (the sides of my nose and chin) which really impressed me. The only issue I have with it is that the texture changes slightly after the first use. I think it might dry, as it feels slightly cristallised after the first use - and I mean only slightly - but this doesn't affect the product in any way.

CLAIMS: Maybelline say [from boots.com]: 'Our gel formula retexturizes skin, creating a perfectly smooth, visibly transformed complexion. Our gel formula instantly lifts and diminishes the look of pores; retexturizing skin’s surface for the smoothest looking complexion – with or without make-up'.
I can definately tell a difference to my skin regarding pores and the retexturising of my dry areas, but I don't know if I could wear this without make-up on the top.

PRICE: £9.99

>>photo taken from feelunique.com

REVIEW:

Clinique 7 Day Scrub

 Hi guys!
Today I thought I'd try something a bit different and write a beauty review.

I'm obsessed with skincare and always trying out new brands and formulas, and what I will always try first out of new ranges or brands is their exfoliator. I am kinda obsessed with them. That sounds weird.

The reason I first tried the Clinique 7 Day Scrub Cream was due to a giveaway with Glamour Magazine UK.(The picture to the left is of the standard size though)

I really loved this product!! It was the first time I tried skincare by Clinique, and I wasn't disappointed.
I have some problem areas that my everyday exfoliator (L'oreal Perfect Clean Gentle Foaming Exfoliator) just wasn't tackling. After using this for the first time, I could actually see a difference in my skin.

After I used it, I researched its price and found out that it was £17 which I find really reasonable.