Seche VIte

When I went to America Seche Vite was one of the things I picked up. When I spotted it in target it went straight in the trolley. I'd heard so many good things about it I couldn't resist it. I love my No7 top coat and have mentioned my love for it loads on this blog.

Excuse my slightly battered box. It has been on a long flight. The bottle seems large and this will definitely last a while.

Seche Vite has a unique formula which allows it to be put on wet nails. Something I found my No7 one wasn't allowing. Lately when I was using it, it would streak the wet polish on my nail. Seche Vite is truly amazing. A drop on the nail does spread really well.

This topcoat really deserves all the good reviews it gets and I now wouldn't use another. It drys really quickly, leaves nails looking glossy and doesn't smudge wet polish. What more could you want. The brush is also very good. The way it holds the perfect amount of topcoat allows the nail to be covered easily and quickly.

You can pick it up readily on eBay it's a bargain £6.25 from this seller and they have 100% feedback. I cannot recommend this top coat enough and will be ordering some of their treatment base coats.

Have you tried Seche Vite? What's your favourite top and base coat?

Love M

xxx

Review: Avene Eau Thermale Mineral Cream SPF 50

Following on from yesterday's post, this is another product I picked up at the same time as the Liquid Gold. 

I've heard (obviously) many times about wearing SPF to prevent skin from aging and protect it from UV rays etc and I completely agree especially after the fabulous Joan Collins has amazing skin, apparently down to no skin exposure to the sun since she was 16.

With that and the fact that using products such as Liquid Gold containing glycolic acid I was adamant I needed to pick up a separate SPF just for face with a high factor but that could be used on my currently sensitive and unpredictable skin.
It used to be oily and nowadays it leans more to the dry side...confusing!

With all my skin woes in mind I headed to Boots to pick up a facial SPF from a skincare brand I knew I shouldn't react to, and so I picked up this one from Avene.
I wasn't bothered if it was from Vichy, La Roche Posay etc as long as it was a well respected brand catering to skins needs.

So I added this to my skin care routine without any negative effects to my skin whatsoever.
This was a HUGE relief to me and I would be happy to keep this in my routine forever more because of this!

You can see in the photo below the colour and consistency of the cream.
It's a pinky colour and quite thick, when rubbed into the face this does take a bit of effort to blend as it turns white on application.
The white can make you look a little pale but does match your skin tone after a few minutes.
I do wonder though, I'm very pale and can have trouble looking a bit ill and washed out after using it, so if anyone with a darker skin colour used this would it rub in and blend any easier?

If you've used it I would love to know what you think!




On a pale day this blends in easily enough and could give me the option of just wearing the SPF without make up as it does somewhat cover up some blemishes.
If you only had a few this would be perfect!
However I have a few more and so need to apply make up still, but this does create a nice base to apply make up on.

I believe this was a good addition to my skin care regime, it's had no negative effects and as my moisturiser has either a low SPF or none at all this is the perfect way of ensuring I'm protected from the pesky UV rays that are there even though there's no sun!

What do you think of using an SPF? Do you wear it every day? What number do you use?

I chose 50 as it was the only one there, I might have chosen 30 if it was there though!

L xxx

Don't forget our Christmas Giveaway!

Review: Alpha H Liquid Gold

I've been waiting to write this for a very long time.

I was filled with lots of hope when I got my hands on some Alpha H Liquid Gold.

I'd heard lots of things about the results and after spending so long with skin problems over the summer I couldn't resist.

I purchased it asap and followed everyone's guidelines on using it, cleansed my face and then used a cotton wool pad to apply the solution to the entire of my face before bed without applying moisturiser (just my normal eye cream and lip balm!)

I felt a slight tingle on my face sometimes, but as I expected this to happen I'm not sure if it was my imagination as initially I was worried my skin would react to it.

I have sensitive skin sometimes and as it has been a problem for the past couple of months I was worried it would make it worse.

After my first use, the very next day I saw an improvement.

My spots has shrunk, some of them looked a bit weird like they were yellowy but didn't feel pussy or painful at all and the swelling had been reduced by a huge extent.

However this effect was short lived.

As I was using it every other day, by the time it came to my next use the spots had come back, and so began a vicious cycle!

Better skin for a day before the spots returned.

The Liquid Gold did help my scarring and this was improved by the use of another product which will be in an upcoming post as I used it on the alternate days I didn't use the Liquid Gold.

I continued using it this way for a few weeks to see if it got any better but unfortunately all my spots were just the same, if not a little worse.

I decided to try using it every day for a bit to see if this had any better effect.

This luckily didn't make my skin worse as I was worried that it would dry it out or just generally burn off my skin with that much acid use!

It didn't make it any better either.

Eventually I have stopped using it as I have used almost all of the bottle without any positive effect on my blemishes and spots.

However.....

The skin that is unaffected by my spots (around my nose and forehead) seemed to have a much better look about it.

It seemed more even in tone, my pores looked smaller and there were no blemishes to speak of at all.

It also seemed to have the 'glowy' look that makes you look a lot younger and I have been trying to get back for ages!

But I think after all my best efforts that Liquid Gold may not be for me.

I would be willing to try it again when whatever seems to be unbalancing my skin has been sorted out as i think it would improve the overall look of my skin, but unfortunately for me has not solved my skin woes.

I think this may largely be down to reviews on skin care from other blogs.

I know almost all have disclaimer that obviously what works for them may not work for you and that is very true. But a lot of bloggers who review skincare have never had skin problems in the first place to know whether the products work on ridding you of blemishes, which is something that I've noticed recently having bought and tried so many products deemed to help that actually haven't at all.

So just beware, as I've spent a LOT of money trying and failing over the past few months.

I have a second part to this post as it's related to the use of glycolic acid and also 'should' feature in everyone's skin care anyway....

Don't forget to enter our Christmas Giveaway for the chance to win a £20 voucher!

L xxx

YSL Shocking

When I went to America at the end of September YSL Shocking Mascara was something I really wanted. I'd seen so many positive reviews I just had to have it. You can see my full haul here.

The first thing that caught my attention is the gorgeous YSL packaging. All the products feel so luxurious in their gold packaging. I'm personally a fan and I love the black writing on them. I like that they are heavy to as it makes me think I've got my monies worth (stupid I know)

Look how pretty. When I was in duty free unfortunately they didn't have the mascara so I picked up Lancome Hypnose Doll Lashes instead. Review coming soon. But luckily they had this on the plane. I paid £20 for it. Which is a lot for mascara but after picking up this one and the Lancome one I'm converted to high end. You can pick it up for £23 here.

When I first opened it I was instantly disappointed  I judge this one straight away. After loving my Maybelline Colossal Volume for so long for something to give me volume I assumed the brush would be bigger. It's average size and I have just assumed it would be huge. It also just looked average, I expected something different to it.

As I tried it the first time my disappointment continued. My lashes clumped together and the formula felt too wet. Having had this with a mascara before I left it for a few weeks before trying again. That was when it all changed. The brush also picks up a lot of product and is very highly scented (warning incase you aren't a fan) I'm used to a scented mascara as my Maybelline one is.

After giving it a second chance all changed. Here is my eye with no make up on at all above. This mascara separates and lengthens my lashes amazingly.

Please ignore my ungroomed eyebrows (if you saw my brow post last week you can see what my natural brows look like in this post, here if you want to read it) This is after just one coat. I love how black this mascara is and how my lashes appear. I always like to apply two of more coats of mascara.

After two coats you can see there is a lot more volume to my lashes. I think this mascara is perfect for days when you only want to wear mascara as it leaves your lashes looking amazing. It's also perfect for nights out and this would make me consider ditching false lashes.

Here you can see with and without which I'm sure you'll agree is pretty amazing. This mascara is so good at making lashes look amazing. BUT don't go more than two coats. This is a mascara that easily goes clumpy as the wand is very much loaded with mascara. I think it will be a better mascara as it runs out more. This mascara made L stop me mid sentence to ask if I was wearing falsies. My sister in law also did the same thing. Pretty impressive right.

I'm so converted to high end now. Also I love high street mascaras and I think they are great but when I can afford to spend the extra I will now.

What do you think of high end mascaras? Have you tried YSL?

Love M

xxx