Review: Vichy Cleansing Gel

I picked this up a few months ago when there was a new deal in Boots, I think when you picked up 2 other products this came free? 

I'm not exactly sure but this normally retails at £12.50 on my last check, which as a free gift is a great deal!

I love Vichy as a brand, everyone seems to be loving French pharmacy brands as a whole and this is no exception.

I have previously raved about the Normaderm moisturiser and this is the Deep Cleansing Purifying Gel.

I've been using this as a cleanser in the mornings.

My cleanser of choice is Liz Earle but as I have so many to try and to use up I often trial these in the morning.

This cleanser has almost gone now as I've been using it for such a long time.

It's a foaming gel that you use on wet skin and rinse off (I use my muslin cloth for this).

When using this I find I have a 'squeaky clean' face afterwards and the tight feeling on your skin.

I know some people aren't fans of this feeling so thought it was worth a mention.

It's not my favourite feeling, I used to love it but as my skin is now drier I feel a cream cleanser is better for me.

This is perfect for the morning as I know my skin is clean of oil for the day and a light moisturiser will see me through the day before applying heavier creams at night.

One thing I did love was the squeezy tube.

I like to vary how much cleanser I use depending on how much make up I have on my face and it's nice to see how much you've got coming out and how much you have left. 

Also I loved that they were each sealed individually, always a plus with all the bacteria around!

If I enjoyed the squeaky clean and tight feeling on my face I would definitely buy this again, a little goes a long way and this definitely helped keep my skin oil free.

What Vichy products are your favourites? Do you like the Normaderm range?

L xxx

Countdown to 'Class of 2012' (4)

So after my really good pledge to lose weight/tone up a few weeks ago, in order to look good at graduation I was full of the best intentions.

However after an alcohol fueled Halloween week causing me to miss last week's weigh in due to my horrific hangover and also a plethora of interviews to attend I've been pretty bad at going to the gym and eating healthily.

For those who follow us on twitter, you'll know that I got one of the jobs I was interviewed for and now work in Boots (hurrah!).

This means I have been sooooooooooooooooooooo busy this week starting I haven't had chance to think much about what I've been eating and keep forgetting to weigh before I eat.

However I have remembered to do it this week and ......... I have stayed the same.

This doesn't bother me too much, I'd rather maintain than gain so hopefully ill lose something over the next few weeks!

I have ended up buying some meal deals and also taking some pasta salads etc with me.

As my shifts are at random times it's a little hard to plan my meals and I'm hoping it will become easier when I have set shifts and know what I'll be doing with my day.

Do you have any tips for me about how to cope with random meal times and rushed breaks?

In order to cope with attempting to tone up, I have also upgraded my membership so that I can turn up to the gym whenever which increases my chances greatly of actually turning up!

I'm hoping next week will run smoother as I now have 5.5 weeks until graduation which is not a lot of time at all!

I need to find a dress too eek!

Do you have any other tips for me??

L xxx

Eylure Shape and Shade

After seeing a photo @LydiaEmillen (you can find her blog here) posted on twitter I instantly noticed her perfectly groomed eyebrows and had to ask her what she used. Eyebrows is something both L and I notice on people and I think a well groomed brow really finishes a make up look and frames a face. I have very fair brows due to being blonde and if I don't use any product on them they are easily hidden.

My two favourite before discovering this pencil were the New CID i-groom pencil which costs £15.50, found here. This comes in one colour which is meant to suit everyone. It works really well on my faint eyebrows! It comes with a groomer on the end and both have lids to keep them clean.

Image from New CID website

The second brow product is the Eylure Brow Palette. This is a set with two brow shades a highlighter and a wax, aswell as stencils. I'm not someone who has got into using a wax yet. I just can't get into the habit and only one of these shades suit my brows. This retails at £10 and can be found here. While I like the powder it wasn't my perfect brown product as I found I only used one thing in the set. The brush was ok but got dirty quick.

Image from ASOS

Onto my new eyebrow love. The Eylure Shape and Shape. I use this in Shade 3 for Medium to Light blonde. This is £5.39 from Boots and is currently on buy one get one half price.

It's a simple packaging with the colour of the product the colour of the packaging. It comes with a cover for the pencil but not the groomer which I would prefer it did.

It comes in three different shades and is described as being good to fill in sparse brows. I agree with this. It really fills in the bald patches in my brows. I always seem to have a slight bald patch annoyingly, and this fixes it.

The pencil itself is quite hard but I like this. It's easy to do lots of little strokes to build up brows so they look natural. I find some pencils that are softer hard to build up a natural look as you get large strokes.

The brush part is pretty standard. It does the job well. I like to brush my brows down after I've applied the pencil as I find it gives the best result and blends the pencil into the brows further.

As you can see here it's quite a natural blonde shade. For anyone one with lighter hair that doesn't like to dark of a colour and just to enhance there natural brow to shape the face this is perfect.

Please ignore my unplucked brows and slightly swollen make up free eye I was sporting a very unpretty eye infection that meant no make up. I still did my brows to give my face a little something. As you can see it just gives a nice natural effect.

This is my new favourite eyebrow product. Thanks for the recommendation Lydia. 

I have such brow envy! and make up envy in general of Lydia! Doesn't she look flawless!

I really want to try the New CID i-fix next in my quest for the perfect brow. Have you used any of the products mentioned? What's your brow go to product?

Love M

xxx

Hair Style: Big Bun Ring

Huge buns are seen everywhere at the moment. They are such a popular hair style and see on many celebs. They look elegant, clean and simple and create a smart look to any day or evening outfit. The gorgeous Lauren Conrad has been seen sporting this look along with many others.

image from shxxox,blogspot,com

This is a look I've been embracing regularly as it's so quick and easy to do. I did a tutorial a few weeks ago using my regular size bun ring that you can find here. This was using a regular size bun ring as I thought my hair was to short to be able to use a bun ring any bigger.

For Halloween I purchased a bigger bun ring from Claire's for a bargain £5 seen on other sites for around the £15 mark!! You can find it online here. Careful ordering from eBay I ordered one advertised as large and it was a regular small one.

Here you can see the size between the bun ring used in my original tutorial and my new one. If you see my original tutorial you can see I have quite short hair. It's around shoulder length and it's rather fine. I was surprised my hair covered it as well as it did.

 Here is the big bun ring in. I love the size of it and the way it looks and it's a hair style I do a lot. I fix this in the same way as the small one. There are step by step instructions on the link above. I do the same thing for the big bun except use a normal hair band as the small elastic ones are too small. You need a band with a good stretch that will fit over the bun but hold the hair tight once over it.

Another way these buns can be achieved is by using a clip in bun. Beauty Works has a great selection of them. Website found here!! They have loads of different styles I'm especially loving the Instant Celeb Bun which is going on my wishlist. The lovely Laura from Secret Diary of a Fashion Journalist showed how to use the messy bun hair piece in this post. It looked so great on her I instantly added a note to my wishlist.

The lovely Laura! Looking amazing in her Beauty Works Bun!

How amazing does it look! So if you don't have enough hair you can definitely fake this trend easily with great results!

What do you think of the bun trend? I'm thinking the bigger the better!

Love M

xxx