Review: Urban Veda Exfoliating Facial Polish

- Urban Veda Radiance Exfoliating Facial Polish £8.99 - 

After receiving this as a sample in a Birchbox a few months ago this has quickly become part of my daily routine (which you can read about here). To control my oily skin an exfoliator is mandatory, especially in the Summer, and after going through various others this one is my favourite so far. It's completely natural with no parabens or GM ingredients and consists mainly of marigold, papaya and coriander all to help aid radiant skin and an enhanced complexion.

The microbeads within the product are fine and really small which I think is essential for facial exfoliators. If the grain is too thick you can often be left with feeling like you've lost a layer of skin which after many red faced incidents, I learnt the hard way. I use this every morning and night after using a cleanser and before moisturising. It makes my skin feel super soft and makes a huge difference to how my moisturiser and make up apply, helps keep the oil in my skin at bay all day and balances and brightens my complexion.

This works wonderfully as an exfoliator and it's a great product for the price, I'd definitely recommend trying it if you can!

Do you use exfolaitors? What one's your favourite?

Lots of love.

Review: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation

- Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation £10.99 - 

Even though this is a relatively old addition to Bourjois, I have continued to love it since I tried it last Summer and have gone through two bottles over the past year. The texture of this foundation is lovely and with it being a gel it's a dream to apply, blend and all of the above. It's lightweight and airy which I'm sure you know by now is my favourite type of foundation so I've been reaching for this a lot this Summer so far, especially as it's been too hot to even think about putting on both a concealer and a foundation without wanting to scratch my face off. It has enough coverage to stand alone (it's light to medium coverage) and it lasts a good 6-8 hours without any movement at all - even without a setting powder! It doesn't have the most varied colour range which is a little disappointing but I've still found a shade that matches me pretty well so there's hope for you yet!

Overall I'd say this is a winner from Bourjois and I'm looking forward to trying some of the products they've released as part of their Summer 2014 range.

Have you tried this foundation? 

Lots of love.

Forgotten Photographs

Kind of a different post to what I'd usually do but I was looking through an old memory card the other day and found some pictures I took from when I went to America last August. It was incredible especially going to San Francisco which is now firmly my favourite place in the entire world. If you get the chance I'd definitely recommend going. You'll love it, trust me.

Anyway, I just thought these pictures were just too lovely to be kept on a memory card so as well as getting them printed I'm putting them on here too. These are just a few of my favourite ones out of the 1000 that I took. That's not excessive, right?

 What's the best holiday you've ever been on?

Lots of love.

Review: Jane Iredale Longest Lash Mascara

- Jane Iredale Longest Lash Mascara Black Ice £26.00 -

I mentioned this in one of my what I've bought recently posts a couple of weeks ago and said that this is the most expensive mascara I had ever bought. So, was it worth the money?

I really hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think it is. Even for a mascara obsessive like me who could justify spending £100 on a mascara, this is not worth £26.

Let's first talk about what it does do. It achieves a really natural lash look, my lashes were separated well and were coated in a great pigmentation of true black. It also didn't make my lashes crispy which isn't easy to come by in the mascara world but that's it I'm afraid. I don't have anything else good to say about it.

For £26 I'm expecting good things. When I invest in a high end product it does hurt that little bit more when it doesn't live up to it's price tag. The name would suggest that it lengthens your lashes and it does slightly but I have mascaras that are less than half the price of this one that make more of a difference. It also doesn't give any thickness or definition to the lashes which is something I enjoy in a mascara. I personally like my lashes to look similar to the effect you get from false lashes but that isn't something you can expect from this mascara and the same goes for volume.

This is all just my preference and opinion though and I can see lots of people enjoying this for what it is. It just doesn't give me what I want from a mascara and I wouldn't recommend that anyone spends £26 on this, there are so many better mascaras out there for a fraction of the price.

Are there any mascaras that you haven't liked?

Lots of love.

P.S If you do want to try this or anything else from LookFantastic I noticed that they had a 10% off code, type in LFNEW when you checkout.

P.P.S Disclaimer, I found the code whilst looking for the link to the product. I do not and will not benefit financially or otherwise from you using it or clicking on the link. Happy shopping!

Review: Nars Sheer Glow Foundation

- Nars Sheer Glow Foundation £30.50 -

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this foundation yet!

This is most definitely my most favourite foundation of all time. I love the kind of make up where it doesn't feel like you actually have make up on, especially in the summer when it's most likely going to melt off anyway, and this lightweight foundation completely ticks that box for me. It is a light to medium coverage although I'd say it's more on the medium side of things. It evens out the skin tone diminishing all my redness and disguises most of the imperfections I have. I can't say that it completely covers everything because it doesn't. My dark circles look a little less terrifying when I've applied a coat of this but I still need to go in with a concealer to completely hide them and the same goes for blemishes, but with sheer in it's name you can't really expect more than that.

It has a satin finish that leaves the face looking dewy which I can't get enough of at the moment and it also makes your skin look much brighter and just gives it an all round glow. It blends in well with a bit of help from my Real Techniques Buffing Brush which you can get in a set here and the colour range is great, so I'm sure you'll be able to find a shade that matches your skin. The colour I have is Deauville (Light 4 I think) if you were interested!

It surprisingly fairs well against my oily skin which satin finishes rarely seem to do. It doesn't do a whole lot in preventing or stopping the shine I get throughout the day, but in comparison to other foundations of the same finish it makes much more of a difference. Because this foundation is quite moisturising, I've heard that it works well for people that have dryer skin too.

The only fault I can find with this product is that it doesn't come with a pump which can cause some particularly messy make up routines (there have been spillages) and really just wastes a lot of the product. There is a pump available to buy separately but I have no idea where to get it from, so if you could enlighten me I would appreciate it! 

This is pretty expensive at £30.50 but I think that it's absolutely worth it. It's a great foundation for summer and all year round. I love it!

Have you tried this foundation? What do you think of it?

Lots of love.

Brand Review: theBalm Cosmetics

 Founder - Marissa Shipman

Founded in 2000 and based in San Francisco, as it seems a lot of beauty brands are (Benefit, I'm looking at you), this brand has been around for a while across America but seems to have only become available in Europe pretty recently. It has been popular among beauty bloggers most of this year with their highlighter named the 'Mary-Lou Manizer' fast becoming the most loved highlighter, dare I say it, of all time.

Their packaging is incredible taking inspiration from 1920's pin-up girls and rockabilly styles alike. Their unique named products are all the hype at the moment and owning three of their product (so far) I can see why.

                                                             Bahama Mama Bronzer £13.50

This is a matte bronzer more on the darker side of things in comparison to Benefit's Hoola for example. Having quite fair skin I was a bit apprehensive to try this but it really isn't as dark as it looks. It blends beautifully which allows you to let it be as light or dark as you choose. I use this as a contour shade as well as an all over face bronzer as it doesn't give have an orange tinge nor does it look muddy, it's a perfect balance. I've been using this everyday since I bought it and I'm really impressed. I think it's great value for money for the quality of the product you recieve. I apply this with a Real Techniques Blush Brush for all over my face and less precision blending and a Sigma F05 for more detaled contouring. 

Sexy Mama Translucent Setting Powder £13.50

This has a very similar texture to the bronzer and also the same colouring issues. In the packaging it does look like a salmon kind of colour but after applying it, it is completely translucent. I've tried a lot of setting powders and this is one of the best. It is a bit more powdery than some other pressed powders I've tried which I can't say that I love, but it does it's job. I apply this over my t-zone and despite having particularly oily skin it wards off shine for most of the day. It has a complete matte finish but when applied over a dewy foundation it doesn't completely cancel it out which is what I love most about this. I love a healthy, dewy look in the Summer but was never able to achieve it because I had to completely cover my face in matte setting powders to avoid getting shiny throughout the day. This powder seems to eliminate the shine but still allow the effects of your foundation to come through. Again, I think it is really reasonably priced and I'm really impressed with this too!

I apply this with a big fluffy brush like the Real Techniques Powder Brush.

Mary-Lou Manizer Luminising Powder £15.00

  This honey toned powder highlighter is everywhere right now and I am so on that bandwagon. I've never really been all that into highlighters as I much prefer a matte look but I've been completely converted. Applied as a highlighter it leaves a beautiful sheen that seamlessly blends in with the rest of your make up. It's beautifully pigmented in a flesh kind of colour and has almost a creamy texture. This is much more of a shimmer than a glitter and is completely smooth to the touch. It can also be used as an eyeshadow or inner corner highlight as well as on the browbone. Most of their powder products are multi-use for the face and the eyes - even their blushes!

I have absolutely no complaints about this product, it seems faultless as do the other products of theirs that I own. It's safe to say I'm a big fan of theBalm brand and I can't wait to try more of their products.

Have you tried anything from this brand? What's your favourite product?

Lots of love.

Review: Eyeko Brow Gel

- Eyeko Brow Gel £18.00 -

I've been having a bit of bad luck with Eyeko products but I've finally found a winner.

After using powders to fill in my brows for so long I kind of got bored with how they looked. I wanted them to look more defined but I don't completely trust myself to use a pencil so I decided to go for a tinted gel. I'd heard a lot about the Benefit brow gel but because this one was on offer when I bought it, I opted for this one instead.

At first I found it quite hard to evenly distribute it over my brows and product would collect in certain parts but it only took a couple of days to get used to it. I apply this by first brushing through my brows with a clean MAC 204 brush to get them into shape and to get rid of any foundation and then I lightly apply this all over my brows and then apply an eyeshadow on top. I'm not sure if that's the way everyone does it but I find that it seems to hold the eyeshadow a bit better this way round. 

The tint within this product seems to simultaneously make a massive difference and no difference at all. When I first got this I dabbed the wand on the back of my hand to see what the colour was like, as it is meant to suit all shades, and it seemed like it would be too dark but when it's actually applied it blended in to the natural colour of my eyebrows really well. When on it's own it doesn't make my brows look any darker at all but when a powder is put on top of it - it does. Despite this potentially sounding like a fault in the product, I like it. I wanted something to give my brows more definition but not be overpowering and this has a nice balance. It allows you to be as bold as you want to when used along side other products but I don't think that this would work if used completely on it's own. Depending on what look I'm going for I can apply multiple layers of this and it will darken my brows and give me a more defined look or I can just do one and it will look more on the natural side of things.

The longevity of this product is great. It holds the shape of my brows and the eyeshadow I've applied all day. I do think that it may be slightly overpriced at £18.00 and I'm not completely convinced that I'll repurchase it but I like it for now and I'm glad I have it.

At a whole £5 cheaper I think I may try Benefit's Gimme Brow next time.

Have you tried this product? Do you use a brow gel?

Lots of love.