Beauty Rehab

Hey everyone!

It's that time again when I've almost filled another bag full of empties and need to share them with you. Again I've been pretty good but my stash just isn't going down, facial skincare seems to take up so much of it and you just can't pile it on or use it up like you can others like body moisturiser!

So without further ado here's my recent empties:

Clarins Cleansing Cream  - quite a good sample to try though I'm not sure I'd purchase the full size,felt a bit greasy which is surprising as my skin is on the dry side now
Vichy Densifying Care - honestly, I'm not sure what this is but I used it as a moisturiser. It was quite nice but I've never seen anything like it in the shops!
Benefit Porefessional - another travel size used up, I'll need to stock up somehow for my future travels! It's a great primer for all round
Rimmel Brow This Way - the high street version of Benefit's Gimme Brow, admittedly not as good but for my minimal budget whilst I'm saving it has been great. I've bought another to keep me going!

Antipodes Reincarnation Exfoliator - I have really liked every product I've tried from Antipodes but this one did feel a bit on the safe side, as a scrub it had more of a powder texture so was a very light scrub. Wouldn't repurchase but does smell amazing!
Antipodes Aura Manuka Honey Mask - I need this in my life again, I must repurchase it but I'm using it as an incentive to use up all my other hydration masks and oils!
Rimmel Stay Matte - still the best powder out there for me, works a charm and doesn't break the bank, winning.
Models Own 4 way Nail Block - Can never go wrong with one of these blocks, makes me have natural looking manicured nails, perfect for work.

Sachet central this month!
Bb Color Minded Shampoo and Conditioner - really liked these and have miniature versions to try soon!
Rodial Stem Cell Facial Oil - REALLY liked this, shame about the £60/30ml price tag which means that I will never be able to afford it :(
Kiehls Cucumber Toner - as someone who can take or leave toner I was surprised how refreshing this felt though I can't say I would purchase the full size
Philosophy Keep the Peace cream - can't say this was for me, felt too perfumed and my skin didn't have a positive reaction
Benefit It's Potent Eye Cream - Really liked this when I had a full pot of it, the minis are great for travelling
StriVectin Antioxidant Defence Lotion - this was a lovely sachet too and my skin drank it up, haven't tried much from Strivectin before so would like to try more

Caudalie Vinoperfect Serum - this was a nice serum and my skin seemed to drink it up but the tester was really stingy. Not sure I'd purchase this
Jurlique Rosewater Mist - not a toner fan but I can't say this did anything for me
REN Global Protection Day Cream - not a fan, my skin didn't like this as it felt greasy and brought me out in a few spots
Vichy Dermablend - love this foundation, looks so natural on my skin and I have already repurchased

White Company Shampoo and Conditioner - these were from a set of testers given to me, I still stand by my statement that shampoo and conditioner need not be expensive
Stile One Step Primer - really liked this but it's expensive for the effects that it has, I've used cheaper with the same effects so I wouldn't repurchase right now
Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defense - this was light and didn't weigh my hair down but didn't feel any positive effects either!
Nip and Fab No Needle Fix Serum - full post coming on this one soon but I personally prefer the Dragon's Blood serum from N&F

No7 Brush Cleaner - This was sometimes useful but tended to leave a film on the brushes so I gave up in the end, made them far too oily
St Tropez Body Moisturiser - lovely moisturiser pre tanning as it's so light, would buy this if it wasn't more expensive than other moisturisers that do a similar job
Aussie Color Mate Shampoo - Aussie is my favourite hair brand, their 3 min miracle is my favourite conditioner and this shampoo is also on my repurchase list
SachaJuan Hair Repair - this was a lovely conditioner but nothing on the 3 min miracle mentioned above, wouldn't repurchase

JPG MaDame perfume - I have 2 bottles in the sidelines, favourite scent EVER
S&G Slimwear - Not sure this does anything at all to help reduce cellulite but extra moisturisation can never be a bad thing
Nioxin Scalp Treatment Spray - I think has gone off courtesy of the weird smell, can't comment on the effects of this one
Nip and Fab Cleansing Oil - after finding out this has mineral oil in I've been avoiding using it on my skin so it's just going to go in the bin now

Nars Creamy Concealer - new fave concealer, hydrating and good coverage, already repurchased
Nip and Fab Viper Venom Eye Roll On - really liked this, would repurchase when I finish some others in my stash
Caudalie Polyphenol Protect Fluid - not sure if this was a serum or not but it was lovely and hydrating, as an extra step with SPF I'd consider buying this
Caudalie Polyphenol Anti Wrinkle Defense Serum - another lush serum, my skin drank it up and felt really hydrated, would consider purchasing this

I have definitely been a busy bee finishing these up. As a quick life update I've just bought a house this week (SO SCARED AND EXCITED!!!!) so now using up my stash has become a huge priority so that I don't have to lug it all with me when I move all my stuff out!

I'll be starting working my way through more samples so the volume of products can be reduced as much as possible, big efforts are needed!

What have you been using up recently? Have you been getting through products at this rate?

L xxx

Review: Stila One Step Illuminating Primer

Good morning! 

Hope you're all doing well. I'm currently at my first ever work conference and I'm excited, nervous and a general bag of beans about it all.

It's all paid for including meals and over nights stays by my company which is lovely and I'm going with another of the girls from work which will be good for some general bonding as I haven't been there long.

But enough of the life updates, we're here to talk about products!

Today I've got a review on a well known Stila One Step Illuminating Primer.

I love using this when I'm in a 'treat' kind of mood or for weekends and nights out.
I've had it since Christmas and have used it most weekends when going out and to events like weddings etc, which when you see pictures below of the product you can see how much I still have left!

This is one of their triple swirled serums which not only primes, brightens and illuminates the skin but also fights wrinkles and smooths fine lines.
As if that wasn't enough it also minimises pores, controls oil and generally hydrates and balances your skin.
This is just quite simply a bit of a wonder product really isn't it?!

Being a triple swirled serum it absorbs into your skin really easily which is great when I'm in a rush, nobody likes sitting around waiting for things to sink in!
The serum is compiled of three different colurs for three different purposes.

Light gold highlights the skin, the pale pink warms the complexion and 'kitten' (an infamous Stila shade) brightens and illuminates.

As mentioned previously I still have so much left of this primer considering I've had it and been using it since Christmas. You need such a small amount to cover your face as it's a serum and it looks great.



I could honestly look at this all day. Things like this will always baffle and entertain me, being a scientist I just want to know how it works and why!



You can see the primer once it has been dispensed on my hand below, it was the easiest way to show the colours, but even so they're so hard to photograph it's hard!

Both me and M are huge fans of Stila primers as we've already posted about their Color Correct serum previously. This was a great present from my mum at Christmas as she knew I'd love the illuminating one too!

It absorbs super quick, leaves a great base, illuminates my skin without being glittery and helps to keep my make up in place for the majority of the day.
In order to maximise my make up longevity I do often mix thi with Revlon's PhotoReady primer for the benefits of them both combined and it's a winning combo for me and my skin!

What's your faovurite Stila product? I've seen some beautiful palettes and blushers, which would you recommend?

L xxx

FOTD Red Toned Smokey Eye

So who over indulgded in pancakes last night? Until last year I was never a fan. Then I started making pancakes american style!!! MMMMMmmm so much better. I'm planning to have my pancake day next week. What's your best topping?

Anyway on to today's post. I've decided to do another step by step FOTD. You can see my first one here. That one was my go to every day make up. A few people said they preferred the step by step way so here is another post.

Here are the products I used.

I started by applying a base of  Revlon PhotoReady Perfecting Primer (here £11.99) mixed with Stila One Step Correct Primer (here £24). I love the combination of both of these and regularly mix products. Especially foundation. When I want a flawless finish I always grab my Revlon ColorStay Foundation (here £12.99). I find this foundation perfect. It applies well doesn't look cakey and really lasts. I use my Real Techniques Expert Face brush (here £9.99). This is by far my favourite foundation brush. It's soft but dense.

To conceal under my eyes and my spots using Benefit Erase paste (here £19.50). I love this concealer. It's thick, covers everything, lasts but doesn't settle. To set my make up I'm absolutely love the Natural Collection Loose Powder (here £1.99). I love this powder. It's really soft, fine and looks natural on the face. I use my Real Techniques Setting Brush (here £8.99) for under the eyes and around the nose. I find using a smaller brush makes such a difference to how my make up looks by the end of the day. Then I use the Real Techniques Powder Brush (here £12.99). I love how soft and big this brush is.

On my brows I used my Benefit Browzings (here £22.50) I really like this but even though it's the light shade I do find it a bit dark some days. I'd love to find a product with a lighter coloured wax.

On the lids I used my mini Urban Decay Primer Potion (here full size £15.50). I do like this but I feel like there are other ones just as good for a lot cheaper so I'm just trying to use it up. I've been waiting ages to try out my Illamasqua Pure Pigment in the Shade Fervent (here £15.50) I love this shade. It's the first pigment I own. It's red/brown in some lights with a green/turquoise shimmer running though. I'm impressed with how these apply. Not at all messy as I expected. I really want more now. How do the Barry M dazzle dusts compare? Have you tried either?

I blended Mac Cranberry Eye shadow (here £12) I seriously love this eye shadow. I never thought I'd use a red eye shadow so much but I actually use this most days. It's surprisingly wearable. This was my first mac eye shadow and now I want more. I'm turning into such a brand girl. Believe it or not until last march I didn't own a high end make up item. L changed all that for me!

To smoke it out a bit more I applied Blackout  from my Naked 2 Palette (here £36). This is a perfect Matte Black, Natural Collection have a really good matte black shade too. I'm so excited to see MUA bringing out a version of this palettes. I will definitely be picking that up once the spending ban is over. I applied it the outer third of my eye and blended it. I also applied it under the eye.

To finish the eyes I applied a slick of black gel liner. Of course the Maybelline one (here £7.99) This is the best gel liner in my opinion. It's so smooth and lasts amazing. Mines getting low so I'm trying to use up normal eye liners and save it for when I'm going out. Stick eye liners just don't compare. I can't wait till the spending ban is over to pick up the other black shades of this. Especially the purple. I added 2 coats of  Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Mascara (here £21) I really do love this mascara but I don't honestly know if it's worth the extra £13 over my beloved Maybelline Colossal Volume.

I won a twitter competition before with Bourjois and was lucky enough to win some of there lashes. These are the Faux & Fabulous Lady in Black (here £7.99)

I've never used a half lash before. I love how these add subtle volume to the outer corner. I was worried you'd really be able to tell but they nicely thickened the outer lashes. I'll be picking up more half lashes to try. They also have black crystals on so are great for special occasions.

For cheeks I used my favourite duo Benefit Dandelion (here £23.50) and Liz Earle Healthy Glow Bronzer (here £19.50). I have reviewed both of these recently so won't say much about them. If you missed those posts you can read them again on this link.

I finished with Mac Angel Lipstick (here £14) with a smokey eye this is a perfect pinkey nude lip. It's subtle but still looks done. I feel strange without a lipstick now.

I really love a red smokey eye. I think it's a little different to the normal grey's and blacks. I want to try more colours from my collection and smoke them out. I want to get back to being brace with eyeshadow.

I really like the lashes on. I can't wait for a night out so I can wear this. 

Wow long post. Hope you liked it. I included links and prices to all the products this time. Let me know if you prefer posts to have links to all the products. I'd love to know what you think of posts like this as I'm enjoying doing make up looks but they make for long reading.

I love playing with my make up, I need to do it more and experiment. What's your favourite eye look for a night out? Do you stick with what you know? I think I need to buy a big palette after the spending ban.

Love M

xxx

Selfridge's Beauty Box winner!

After 2 weeks of entries we can finally announce the winner of the Selfridge's Beauty Box giveaway was Lola from Lola in the Lounge!

Congratulations Lola, I hope you enjoy the skincare products they're such a treat!

We'll be contacting you on twitter today (if we haven't already!) to get your details.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to everyone who entered.

We'll be having another giveaway soon featuring some products hard to get your hands on in the UK, so look out for it soon!

L and M xxx

Selfridge's Box Part 1

I'm sure you're probably sick to death of hearing about the Selfridge's Beauty Box, especially if you didn't get one so apologies for that.

But we are doing a giveaway for one (woohoo!) and so we decided to do a more in depth post on our halves with mine being up today and M's being put up next Sunday.

I was super excited to try out the Stila One Step Correct Serum, the Philip B Katira hair mask and the Antipodes Avocado and Rosehip Divine Face Oil so that's what i chose from the box and M will be covering the other three items next week.

(We split a box between us, you can find more details on the giveaway page here)

First up is the Antipodes Organic Avocado and Rosehip Divine Face Oil all the way from New Zealand.

Antipodes are a brand that I'm really interested in because their skin care range uses only bioactive botanical ingredients, many of which are organic, and also have a strong ethical value.

Also I love that they have loads of scientific information on their website, I've fallen in love with a brand again!

The website states:

Scientifically shown to stimulate Type I collagen in human skin fibroblast cells by up to 51%*.

Give a lift to tired, stressed and sun-damaged skin with this nutrient-rich, certified organic face oil that helps to deliver essential nourishment for fresh, healthy skin. The superior collagen boosting action of avocado oil helps reduce the appearance of lines and age spots, while added rosehip helps avocado oil target scars and wrinkles.

Interesting!

Also how much do you love the bottle??

I love old style medicine bottles including these dropper style ones.

I mean obviously you'd have to use this for a few weeks to notice a big change and to give it time to work its magic....but I've been struggling big time with my skin recently.

I've been breaking out left right and centre and every spot seems to leave a really bright red scar that doesn't heal. Initially I was worried about using an oil on my face as my skin has always had issues with oil.

It's early days as I've only been using it since Wednesday but I am 100% sure that the scars have started fading which was not happening at all before.

I'm hoping over the next few weeks it will improve even more and hopefully will turn into the wonder product I've been waiting for!

I've tried every other product you can think of so here's hoping.

Next up is the Philip B Katira Hair Mask which I used this morning.

I've also been having a few issues with my hair being very dry considering I don't heat style it and have been taking good care of it.

First off I love the packaging as I love simple and anything talking about 'Magic' sounds good to me!

The website states:

PRODUCT DETAILS

A gentle yet surprisingly versatile rejuvenator for all hair types.

The unique, clear-gel formula sinks right in to plump up fine, limp strands or calm and smooth coarse, hard-to-manage hair.

HOW IT WORKS:

Pure Katira Extract – the "it" conditioner of the Middle East – fills in weak, damaged spots in the hair cuticle for added smoothness and strength. It also gives your hair a slight electrical charge – you’ll feel it during your blowout – that leaves it fantastically light and bouncy.

A high-tech L-Amino Acid Complex infuses your hair with a perfect dose of weightless, oil-free moisture and nourishing proteins for enhanced control and elasticity. Just one application will instantly revitalize your hair color, speed up blow-drying time, and lock in shine for a sexy, touchable, red-carpet finish.

It's also paraben and pthalate free (woo!)

I quite liked the consistency of this but it was quite thick and I can imagine needing a lot of it.

It says on the back about mixing it in with their conditioner, so I mixed it in with my current conditioner and applied it, leaving it for as long as I could (probably around 5/10 minutes).

My hair definitely feels in better condition though I can't agree that it took less drying time as I didn't feel there was any difference.

I was impressed to see that my hair doesn't feel heavy at all however so I will definitely be using this a few times this week with the hope of improving the condition over time but so far it's doing the job!

Last but definitely not least is the Stila One Step Color Correct Serum.

I didn't own any Stila products until a few conveniently found there way into poundland!

But I have ALWAYS lusted after this product.

Everyone can see how cool it looks but for me, being obsessed with science as I'm a complete geek this is the ultimate in make up.

It looks like a beautiful DNA helix or something which is just amazing (I'm going to stop waffling on don't worry!)

This is all written on the box but straight from their website:

The revolutionary new product contains 3 colour-correcting brighteners: 

• Green tone instantly neutralizes redness and conceals blemishes 
• Lavender tone counteracts sallow undertones for a vibrant, energised look 
• Peach tone brightens, illuminates and helps diminish the appearance of sun spots

Sooooo pretty!

Here's a few hand shots, not the most convenient but I don't have a working tripod or someone to take photos of my face where I don't look a bit silly! Plus my skin is awful!

The left is before, and on the right you can see how all three colours come out in each pump (the peach is slightly hidden underneath)

Then on the left the colour blend together SO easily and pretty much melt into your skin leaving a really nice finish, not shiny at all but the area looks really moisturised and even.

I can't wait until my skin is better and I can just apply this to my skin as I can imagine it looking great and makes everything so much easier in the mornings!

What do you think of the products? My current favourite has to be the Antipodes face oil, as it's a god send if it continues to get rid of my scars as nothing else I've tried has worked.

However I can imagine the Stila taking over if my skin clears up :)

If you would like to win these products and the other 3 also in the box, you can enter the giveaway here.

It's always worth a try and you can tweet each day for more entries!

L xxx

*CLOSED* Selfridge's Beauty Box....Giveaway!!

Good morning ladies!

I hope you've had a lovely week and are looking forward to the weekend as much as me!

As most of you will know, Selfridge's are opening up a new beauty hall which is in fact THREE times bigger than it was previously.

This is the kind of news dreams are made of!

When they announced that to celebrate this, they were creating their own version of the infamous beauty boxes making the rounds of the blogosphere this was quite frankly the highlight of my year!

Having seen a few bloggers post about the contents I drooled for a little while and then hastily signed up, and text M to hurry up and do it too!

When the time came we obviously missed the original 50/100 boxes that were snapped up before 7am because we completely forgot (i.e. I was asleep!)

However we were both ON FIRE when the second lot (around 125 more) of them came out and managed to snap up one each and were massively excited.

We'd been thinking about doing a giveaway for a while having hit another milestone in our views and generally just to thank anyone who reads our blog and interacts with us on twitter as we have really enjoyed writing it over the past few months.

We met up one evening in the past few days and were discussing the contents to find that actually we could split a box between us as there were certain products we wanted more than others.....and being conscious of the massive back log of products we both have to get through we decided to share. (see Beauty Rehab here!)

Which basically leads me to say that against all of our beauty hoarding tendencies (it almost breaks me into a sweat thinking about it!) we now have a brand new, fully stocked Selfridge's box TO GIVE AWAY.

Yes.

To. Give. Away. (!!!)

So, if you missed out when furiously refreshing your page or didn't get your details online in time then this is your chance to get your hands on one of the 200(ish) boxes.

Firstly, here's a reminder of the box and the products that you could win:

A little slice of heaven!

Omorovicza Deep Cleansing Mask and Aesop Parsley Seed Anti-oxidant Serum

Estelle and Thild Lip Balm and Bioeffect EGF Serum (EGF-Epidermal Growth Factor)

Philip B Katira Hair Mask and the booklet that explains all of the brands and products, as well as details on the new beauty hall

Stila One Step Correct serum and Antipodes Avocado and Rosehip Divine Face Oil

Drool worthy aren't they???

What we love most is that they're from all over the world (incl. New Zealand, Budapest, Hungary and Sweden) and many contain natural and organic products, something that we are both very conscious of, and so this is the perfect give away for us.

So, onto the small print:

The winner will be drawn by rafflecopter so it is randomised.

The giveaway is open only to people in the UK. 

The winner will be contacted within 48 hours of the end of the giveaway, if there is no response after 1 week another winner will be generated. (remember to leave all your details!)

Following via GFC and on twitter, as well as leaving a comment and supplying your email address are mandatory but all others are optional. 

If you do enter, all options will be checked so be warned ;)

Good luck!

L and M xxx

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(please note that the time for the giveaway is in EST as I couldn't change it, meaning it is set to 5 hours behind UK time)