Review: Liz Earle Natural Glow Bronzer

This product has been on my wishlist for a while. I'd heard it was great for paler skin tones and from what I could see online gave a gorgeous natural effect. This was something my other half got me for Christmas. From L giving him a list.

It did come boxed but I was a bad blogger and used it before I photographed it. I like items that come boxed. It feels more luxurious. Though a waste as the box just goes in the bin.

The compact itself is navy with a slight shimmer. It's wipe clean and has stayed looking surprisingly clean. Even after I've got my mucky foundation covered hands on it. It's got a solid closure which is good for putting in your handbag and a good size mirror.

It has Liz Earle embossed into the product and as you can tell I've used quite a bit of mine. For around 6 weeks usage to be only down to the embossed layer is good in my book. The product is a gorgeous matte product. It's not super pigmented but this is why I love it. As if you are like me and pale it can easily be applied to the skin and built up if needed and you don't have to worry about having brown stripes.

Swatched on the skin it does look slightly orange but when on the face this doesn't translate. A word of warning don't be put off if you swatch in store and it doesn't really show up on your skin as this product comes across on the face a lot better. I'd recommend asking to have it applied.

Here it is on just foundation. As you can see it just gives my face natural shape back after foundation and makes me look like I have cheekbones.

This photo shows it's contouring off better. I have used this almost everyday since I got it in combination with Benefit Dandelion (reviewed here). For me these two are the perfect cheek combination. They are easy to apply without having to worry about over doing it.

You can pick it up for £19.50 in John Lewis (here) which I think is reasonable. It will last a long time. Lately I find myself swaying towards more high end brands. Which is probably what has put me on a spending ban. A great alternative for a contour shade is No7 blush in honey. I used it on a FOTD here so you can see the effect. This was my everyday go to before the Liz Earle.

Have you tried the Liz Earle make up? What do you use to contour?

Love M

xxx

NOTD: Valentine's Day

With Valentine's day on Thursday we thought we'd post some ideas for cute nail art. Any excuse for us to play around with our nail polishes collections as we are both huge nail polish addicts.

L had picked up a cute Nicole by OPI polish called Have a Heart which is just perfect for Valentine's nail. It's a pretty fine clear glitter that has pink foil hearts suspended through it. 

Over the top of a Essie Lovie Dovie which is a gorgeous medium pink nail polish the hearts really stand out.

As with a chunky glitter and other polishes similar to this to achieve the even effect with the hearts it works best to more dab them on from the brush.

It gives a really cute effect and is perfect for Valentine's day! 

From looking online this polish now seems a rare one! It may be different in the US but if you want this ladies I could only find 3 bottles of it on eBay.

Lately I have been back to biting my nails. I'm so annoyed at myself but just can't seem to stop. Back to the bad tasty polish and stuff I think. Any tips let me know.

For now I tend to keep false nails on as much as possible as it means I can't bite them. I stuck some on Tuesday and was playing around with some designs. After those come off I have bit my nails so low I can't put false ones on at the moment so I only have my playing around ones to show you all.

Image from Get Nailed Facebook.

I had to share this with you. I've recently found this on Facebook. You can like her page here. She hand paints the most amazing nail art designs for reasonable prices and does amazing phone cases too. Once the spending ban is over I'm going to be ordering from her. If you're quick she has a competition to win these ones going on till tomorrow (Monday 11th)

Anyway when I saw these nails I was totally inspired. Especially by the heart tips. I love the simplicity of it.

I started off with a base coat of OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress. I got this in the best of the best collection a few years ago from my other half (who told me the other day he wanted to be referred to as A if I have to blog about him) I tossed this colour aside. It was one of those I didn't swatch and decided from the bottle I wouldn't like it. Something about it in the bottle made me think of a colour for my mum more. I mean a shimmery metallic darker red didn't scream put me on your nails.

I missed judged it. On the nails I love it. It comes out as such a gorgeous shade of red. Bad M judging nail polish on it's colour in the bottle. I was impressed with the quality. After one coat it was perfect but I went with two out of habit.

I tried to use my white Model's Own nail art pen to draw heart tips. Who knew that would be so hard. I didn't like the way it looked so I tried to cover it with glitter. I still didn't think it looked that good. I love the way it looks on Get Nailed's nails but on mine I couldn't get the shape right.

So I tried something different, a little simpler and it worked a lot better. I think this would look cute on just the thumb and ring finger. I used the Nail Art pen again. You could use a dotting tool or kirby grip just as easily. I used three dots to get the heart shape. Sometimes simple is best.

Something I may have to try for my nails though is this design from Polish You Pretty.

I really love how cute this looks.

Hope you like our ideas.

Love M

xxx

Review: Dior DiorSkin Forever Foundation

I am not sure what has taken me so long to write this post as I bought this foundation before Christmas in the Boots 3 for 2 spend over £60 and get £10 of points offer thing.

I went crazy and got Coralista (review here), Origins Make A Difference Moisturiser (review coming soon!) and then this....Dior Skin Forever Foundation.

First up let's talk about the packaging:

What a beautiful white bag! I love the thick card that makes this bag and the gold and white ribbon tying it together looks amazing. So simple but chic.

When I got home I also found a load of samples in my bag!

Look at that haul! Perfumes, moisturisers and serums, how lush.

The blue box of the foundation was unexpected, I just assumed it would be black like everything else as this was my first Dior purchase.

But I quite like the navy blue colour and it's a little different from other brands yet still quite classic.

As you can see from the box I am colour 010, which is the lightest colour available.

This blends perfectly with my skin as I'm quite pale (NC15/20) but I feel they could go paler.

I took a photo of the blurb on the box for you to see.

I hadn't heard anything about Dior foundations if I'm honest and pretty much bought it on a whim.

One of the girls on the counter I've spoken to a few times was working and I needed to make my money up to £60 so I told her to sell me something haha.

I had no idea how much I was missing this from my life!

The bottle is beautiful (though really hard to not get finger prints all over!), I love the matte effect glass and the lid is quite chunky and feels nice and sturdy.

It also has SPF25 which is amazing for a foundation. Many have SPF 10 but don't normally have a high level like this.

I apply this like all my foundations, using my Real Techniques buffing brush and it goes on perfectly.

It's really easy to build up and cover certain areas but it doesn't feel cakey at all.

It has a semi matte finish which is perfect for me as I don't want it to be too matte but dewy foundations can make me look shiny.

In short I absolutely love it!

The photo on the left shows just the foundation, and on the right shows with Benefit's Coralista and Dallas.

What do you think of it? I think it covers well but doesn't look cakey.

For the time being, most other foundations have been completely forgotten about and I can see this is going to turn into an expensive habit of mine!

Also, I love how many sample items you get. I have always wanted to try out the Dior perfumes and some of their skin care has really good reviews.

I've been using the night cream for the past few nights and it's so thick and luxurious!

What do you think of Dior make up an foundations? Do you prefer high end or high street?

As my first high end foundation (exclusive of Mac) I can see how it costs extra and love the added benefits.

Also on a side note.....this foundations smells DIVINE!! It's so fruity and fresh smelling, not like some others...

L xxx

Spending Ban Update (5)

Hi all! Hope your spending bans are going well. I'm here with another update on mine....I've been doing really well and now have enough to actually pay off a  portion of my overdraft hurrah! Because of this I decided to treat myself with my Boots points, obviously! As part of our rules, this isn't actually breaking the ban so this is a good way to treat myself as it's a limited amount. I picked up some Apocalips as I just couldn't not buy them any longer. I'm a little annoyed at myself as I umm'd and ahh'd at the available colours for so long because there wasn't many left that were still sealed, that eventually I ended up putting back the wrong colour...booooooooooooooooo! I'm so annoyed. I'm hoping as it's still sealed and I have the receipt I can take it back and get the right one. I should really know the policy on this from working there haha. I also picked up the new Maybelline Rocket Mascara as the only mascara I have left isn't too great, not sure if it's too wet still but it can be clumpy sometimes. My update is early this week because I'm going to London with some friends, I cannot wait and may even do an outfit post next week if the photos are good enough! So copied from my last update my wish list now stands at:

1) Macadamia oil hair mask. Having used a sample of this it is quite honestly one of the best and I need to get my hands on it and make my hair feel like silk again!

2) An Origins serum. I feel as my 25th birthday looms ever nearer that I need to take better care of my skin, as mentioned in lots of previous posts. I would like to invest in a serum to prevent further wrinkles and damage to my skin so hopefully I can pick up one of these soon.

I have actually got a sample of the Perfect World serum to try this week!

3) Benefit boxed blushes. I clearly missed out on a few years of new products and now feel like my blush collection needs updating and revitalising with additional Benefit products.

4) A number of DVDs. I really want to update my DVD collection having not bought many in the past 5 years, I'm thinking Game of Thrones TV box sets along with others as well as ones like Magic Mike for some eye candy!

5) A new dress to go out in. I have my birthday coming up so I will be needing a new dress! No idea what type as op yet.....but I'm sure something slinky and figure hugging will be just the ticket!

6) Urban Decay Oz Palettes. The palettes are absolutely gorgeous and I want my hands on both the Theodora and Glinda looks, both serve my split personality for pretty pastels and smokey neutrals. I'm devastated that these have come out during the spending ban and I'm actually considering buying them and screwing over the ban.

7) Liz Earle Bronzer. I've seen M's and its such a gorgeous colour, I need it in my life for contouring for every day use!

I would have added Apocalips but now have them. What's on your wish list? Is your ban going better or worse than mine?! L xxx