Collection Primed and Ready Primer Powered by Witch

Morning everyone!

It's my first day off for Christmas and I'm so excited, this is the first time I've taken annual leave at Christmas since being old enough to work so I've got 10 days off which is lovely!

I have lots of family things planned for Christmas time including making some gooey Nutella desserts so I'm very much looking forward to that.

For the last few months I've been testing out lots of high street products, one of which is the Collection Primed and Ready Primer that I picked up from Boots.

The Collection Primed and Ready Primer Powered by Witch is a mattifying pore minimiser. That's a bit of a mouthful!

The primer itself is transparent and contains witch hazel to help keep your skin clear with its antibacterial properties, it has long been known as an aid for spots.
It blends easily on the skin and gives a good base for make up, I haven't had any experience of it coming back off my skin in rolled up bits so that's always a good thing!

It mattifies my skin and has been really good for work, I don't think it would last much longer than that, so not all day and night but for a bargain £4.99 (currently £3.99 on offer at Boots!) I don't think that's a problem.

You could use this primer without make up if you wanted, it does help to keep shine at bay for the day but if I'm having a no make up day I'd also skip the primer.

I've been using this recently with the Invisible Setting Powder which has also been really good. I'd recommend using the two if you have a shiny t-zone like me, and the powder is really fine and doesn't seem to sit on the skin and appear to be powdery

Have you tried anything from Collection? What's your favourite?

I've been trying lots from them recently and have been really impressed, the Lasting Perfection Concealer is a personal favourite!

L xxx

Beauty Rehab

Hey all!

Autumn is my absolute favourite month, the leaves changing colour and falling off the trees plus the cold crisp weather, I love it!

It's also a great time to get rid of the old stuff in your own life, so I've been using up as fast as I can. I might start Project Ten Pan soon to try and use some other products up, but I feel like it will take too long!

Collection Conceal and Light Like a Pro Palette

Hey all!

As everyone else seems to be, I'm totally obsessed with concealing, contouring and highlighting my face. Sometimes you have the time to spend to do the job properly, other times (like Monday mornings....) you don't, and that's where the Collection Conceal and Light Like a Pro Palette comes in.

I picked this up on a random shopping trip when it was on offer, it was £3.99 then and is £5.99 now.

I was attracted to it firstly because of the price but also because of the range of colours that would suit my skin tone. The concealer was really light and the contour not orange, so this was hopeful!



There are 8 shades in the palette in total, all of which are cream concealers. I would say that 2 of these are typical concealers, 2 shades for contour and cream bronzer, 3 for colour correcting and then 1 for under eyes.

Obviously this is taking into account that I am super pale, anyone with a tan or darker skin would be able to use the shades differently to me.



So these are the first four, the top 2 I use as concealers and the bottom 2 I use as the contour/bronzer as appropriate - sometimes if I'm tired I'm totally washed out and the darker shade can look too orange but is a great shade for bronzer and bringing some much needed colour to my cheeks!

Helpfully I have swatched them in rows so the images don't match up - I will have to remember this next time!

Below are the other four shades, top are the reflective pink (undereyes) and yellow contour (good for covering up purple areas - under eyes, veins etc).
Bottom shows the green (good for redness) and blue/lilac (good for yellowing skin tones that may look a bit pasty and dull)





I've been using this the last few weeks with both a Real Techniques Expert Face brush and also a Beauty Blender sponge and have been getting on quite well (for my first cream product palette at least!)

They are swatched below for you to see, it should be pretty obvious which is which but they are arranged 1-4 is the top row, 5-8 is the bottom:





These are swatched quite heavily but blend easily into the skin to correct any issues. Primarily I use the lightest concealer and the pink reflective ones for undereyes and blemishes, the darker concealers I use for contour and bronzing. The others I use as and when depending on how i look in the mirror on that day!

I find they blend well with my make up and do the jobs they were intended for, however they may not last a full day. I've used them for work but by the time I've been to the gym after work there isn't much left, I'd probably get something longer lasting if I was intending to use similar shades for a wedding or full day event but for every day usage they have been great, especially for the price.

I've heard great things about concealer palettes like this and I'm glad I finally picked one up and had a go.

Have you tried concealer palettes like this? What are your favourites? Do you use all shades or just a few?

This is well worth the £5.99 price tag and I'd recommend anyone give this a try!

L xxx

Beauty Rehab

Gooooooooooood morning! 

Today's post is so well overdue that I can't believe I didn't overflow my house with empties. This is in fact not even all of them as some were doubled or tripled or even more and I couldn't possibly photograph them all! I've also tried out a new photo idea but I'm not sure it's going to work out, so let's get to it and I promise I'll try harder next time...!

Collection Lip Liner in 5: Damson

Morning!

I've been meaning to write this post for a veeeeeeerrrrry long time, as I've been wearing this Collection Lip Definer all winter - well since October time seeing as we haven't really had much cold weather yet though I hear it is making an appearance this weekend...

If I'm being honest with you all, I never used to see the point in a lip liner. But ever since coming across the Urban Decay liners and realising how much better lipstick looks with them I've been sold - the Mia Wallace was my first and it's a staple that i use often now. However at £13.50 they aren't always something that you can splash out on.

The Collection Lip Definers come in at a super cheap £2.79 which is absolutely perfect when it may be a colour you are testing out or something you might not wear very often.

I've mentioned before that I'm still in the process of recovering financially after buying a house - if I'm honest I don't think that ever really happens but Urban Decay is certainly on the 'win the lottery' list for now. So I picked up Damson from Boots one day and couldn't wait to give it a go to compare the results.

First off I would say that the twist up mechanism makes life super easy, you never run out as you just need to twist up more so it's great for on the go. The only downside I can foresee is when you have one of those really precise lines to be drawn which may need the help of a sharpener which this one can't use, but you can create a sharper edge by drawing at an angle, you just may need some practice.

After this I couldn't see too much difference in the pigmentation between UD and this offering from Collection, I was really impressed by how the colour turned out and you could definitely layer it for a more dramatic look.

See the results for yourself below:

In fact, the only downside I could see to the lip definer at all was the longevity. It lasted very well, impressively actually considering its tiny price but it did start to look a little patchy and dried my lips out faster than the UD ones. To me though this isn't really a downside because I tend to use the lip liners to line my lips and give a better shape before applying lipstick, which I would no doubt reapply anyway, and could replace with lip balm if necessary once my lips were stained.

I would definitely recommend these to anyone who asked! After looking into the range a bit further so I can pick up more of them I'd have to say I'm disappointed purely because there only seems to be 3 of them.....you what?! Collection! What on earth are you doing?!
Everyone needs more than three lip liners....tut tut!

I think they need to get a move on and make more, I can't say I wouldn't buy the Urban Decay 24/7 liner as a treat for myself but I would certainly pick up these without a second thought!

What do you think of the Collection Lip Definers? Have you tried the other shades? Do you wish they also had a few more shades to add?

I imagine with the Kylie Jenner trend for super size lips they'd make a small fortune if they had more!

L xxx

Orla Kiely Home Fragrance Collection

Hello there!

I recently wrote a post about how I've just bought my own house - I'm still moving my stuff and still don't have broadband either (let's not even get on that conversation shall we....) but my house is feeling so much more like a home now that it doesn't smell of cleaning or paint.

ORla Kiely have some absolutely amazing products for the home.

Orla Kiely is relaunching her Home Fragrance collection by adding three new fragrances to the three pre-existing ones, each with their own statements prints.
I was kindly sent the Sicilian Lemon Reed Diffuser and Orange Rind Scented Candle for my new home and I can't have been more pleased with them!

The Sicilian Lemon reed diffuser contains a blend of lemon, mint, frankincense and lavender oils, and to be honest it smells fantastic. I'm a huge lover of citrus and mint scents so this is perfect for me.

The bottle is also beautiful, the pattern is beautiful and typical Orla Kiely. Prints with patterns please me due to their symmetry, this is the kind of bottle that you would be happy to put out on display around your house.

I can't comment as to how long the scent lasts for as they have been in my house for a week and still going strong as you would expect. The reed diffuser is in the window in my living room that over looks the garden, I can smell it every time I walk through my living room and especially when the doors are open! 

The Orange Rind Scented Candle is another amazing product. The pattern is again beautiful and symmetrical and the colours match the scent.

The candle contains orange rind, sandalwood, eucalyptus and nutmeg for a warming glow that reminds me of winter time as oranges always do - but it isn't a wintery scent at all.

I love the jar that it comes in as it was so simplistic but also comes with a matching coaster to put your candle on, it's touches like this that make a product what it is.

Here is the candle on my windowsill on the stairs, I'm slowly but surely filling my house with citrus scents and it smells wonderful!

What I love most about these products is that the fragrances are so accurate and not synthetic at all.

The Sicilian Lemon Reed Diffuser is 200ml and costs £32, the Orange Rind Scented Candle is 200g and costs £25.
I always think it pays to buy a more expensive home fragrance product, you cannot beat a genuine scent and these are really great.

Do you like Orla Kiely patterns? What's your favourite scent?

L xxx

FOTD: Workwear

Hi there! 

I've been really enjoying shopping my own stash recently, its great finding products you'd forgotten about and can use again without spending any additional cash.

I had a bit of time before starting work the other day and decided to photograph my face of the day to share with you.

These are the products that I've used for this. Naked Skin is a great foundation for lightly covering blemishes but without masking skin as if it needs to be coated. The Make Believe bronzer is one I use rarely but its such a lovely natural glow.

The Perversion liner is the best I've ever tried and the blush is another that i forgot is quite similar to Coralista. The Naked palette needs no introduction really!

I do like how my skin looks quite natural after using Naked Skin especially on my forehead. The concealer is great for covering dark circles for its price and I've set it all using Stay Matte powder from Rimmel.

Having not used a brow kit for a while it took a few attempts to get them right as Gimme Brow is so easy to use but the Sleek brow kit allows you to have so much more control over the shape and definition.

The blush and bronzer gives a gorgeous colour that also looks really natural:

The Naked palette is a staple most people have in their make up wardrobes; I love how you can apply a wash of a colour or intensify it quite easily as they're so pigmented. As they're nudes the colours are perfect for day time and evening and so are very versatile.

After this I applied UD's 24/7 liquid liner in Perversion to my upper eye lid and 24/7 eye liner pencil on the inside rim of my lower eye lid.

After that it was a slick of the Rimmel Wonderfull mascara to my lashes with argan oil in and I was almost done.

I completely forgot to include the lip products in the first two images so apologies for that, to complete my Face for the day i just applied a quick coat of Naked Lipgloss to finish it off.

It's amazing how many products you can use on a face with a natural ish look.

Do you go product light or product heavy for work? Are you adventurous with colours on your eyes or lips?

I'm never brave enough for work as nobody else seems to wear much!

L xxx