Review: Lancome Clarifying Cleanser Pearly Foam

Good morning!

When it comes to skincare, I think as long as you have the right cleanser you're on the right track. I occasionally deviate from my usual products and this was one of those deviations. My aunty gifted this cleanser to me the last time she visited, knowing my love of products!

I'd never tried any Lancome skincare before so I was super excited to give it a go!

The Clarifying Cleanser Pearly Foam is a gel type cleanser. The first thing i noticed about this product was that it was SO DIFFICULT to get out of the tube.

It was probably a decent workout for my hands every morning - in the non weirdest way.
I actually had to wrestle to get this out of the tube and genuinely had to use both hands to get enough cleanser onto my flannel. No jokes.

That aside though, this was so thick that you really didn't need a lot to get it foamed up and into a lather to wash your face with.

The tube contains 125ml of product and costs £23 from the majority of website I looked at.

I have to say that the packaging of this product doesn't really excite me - it's boring and although the rose design iconic to Lancome is incorporated into it I just feel like they could - and should - have done better.
Their other products such as their infamous mascaras look so much better than this, so on first viewing I was disappointed.

So far it's not looking promising is it?

I have to admit though that this product surprised me and I actually really liked it. You can use this both morning and evening and a tiny bit will go really far - good job when you have to wrestle it!

This cleanser lathers up pretty well and removes most make up. It doesn't remove the most stubborn product known to womankind - Benefit's They're Real mascara - but it does a good job of the rest.
I found that my ever dehydrated skin really liked this product and it didn't ever feel stripped or tight after use.

I'm surprised in thinking that I would consider purchasing this again, although I would try and wait for a deal in a department store with free gifts or points, £23 for a cleanser is quite steep as my usual one is £18.50 (though I buy it on offer at £14) and that's a treat!

Another thing I liked about this product was that it was sealed when purchased, this is always good news to me as it means that no one else has tampered with the product, used any and got any additional germs into it!
Shopping in stores with used make up nowadays can be pretty grim, I'd hate for this trend to spread to products like cleansers too, do you agree?

Have you tried Lancome skincare products? Have you tried this cleanser?

What else would you recommend from Lancome?

I do love their mascara, the Christmas sets are the best!

L xxx

Benefit Stay Don't Stray

Hey All

L and I have realised we've got a lot of products we both love to share with you so expect some double posts coming up! Today's post is about Benefit's Stay Don't Stray, a concealer type primer to help eyeshadow stay on your eyelid for longer.

Stay don't stray is Benefit's eyeshadow primer. It comes in two shades light/medium and medium/deep as we are both really pale we went for light/medium. It can be used on the eyelid and under the eyes to help eyeshadows last longer, be more vibrant and not crease. Under the eyes it helps concealer to stay put and is brightening enough it can be worn just under the eyes for day's you don't want to wear make up, it'll neutralise discolouration and even skin tone without looking life you are wearing make up.  It also contains vitamins to help with aging and sodium hyaluronate to hydrate.





As for packaging it comes in a screw top lid with a doe foot applicator which makes applying it too the eyes easy. The packaging does feel a bit bulky so it makes me think it's one of those that is fat to make you think you are getting loads of product, though saying that I have used it a lot and it shows no signs of running out.

The idea is that you add 3 dots on your undereye and blend, and 3 dots on your eyelid and blend. Give it a minute or so to dry completely and then apply your concealer and eyeshadow as normal.





You can see how it easily blends into the skin and barely leaves a covering at all, your skin isn't left with a layer of visible make up like with foundation and concealer. You can see where M has used eyeshadows on her hand with and without the primer:

Here you can really see how it improves eyeshadow intensity. It's still easy to blend eyeshadows out when this on on the lid.

Stray don't stray has a soft, light texture so easily blends onto the eyes without them feeling heavy with product. I find it does intensify colour but not as much as Urban Decay primer potion in Eden, I do think Stay Don't Stray blends out easier though.

I've been leaning towards using this for everyday wear and so far I really love it. It lasts all day, eyeshadows don't crease and it's easy to apply to the eyes. For £20.50 you do get a great product.

Love L and M

xxx

Lush Baths

Hey all.

Hope you've had great weekends. Mine was spent in Oxford which was a great break away. I'm a massive fan of lush products and have been in there a lot lately so thought I'd share a few of my new discoveries with you. I'm a huge lush fan and love a good soak in the bath.

The first product I purchased was You've been mangoed. I bought this when L and I went to a spring event. I've not tried any of the bath melts before as I'm a bit of a sucker for pretty things and these just don't draw my eye. My skin has been so dry lately (probably not helped by my laziness at moisturising!) that I thought I'd give a bath melt a go. Plus the mango smelt amazing.

As I hadn't used one before I was a bit dubious at how it would melt in the bath and whether it would leave me and the bath feeling greasy and like I'd want a shower after. I dropped it in the bath and it slowly melted into the water. The bath smelt amazing. The colour remained as normal and my worries of a slimey bath were wrong. You could definitely feel the cocoa,al avocado and mango butters had been to work after getting out. My skin felt amazing and soft and not greasy. The lemon and lime oils helped balance out the mango so it smelt sweet and fresh but not sickly. 

I'll definitely be back for more of these. I may try using half next time and combining it with a bath bomb? Have you tried doing this? Any combination recommendations? 

The next lush product I treated myself too was the honey bee bath bomb. After a hen weekend I was exhausted and wanted something to relax with. I love honey scented things and for a long time honey I washed the kods was always in my shower.  I love the yellow and browns of the bath bomb. It's got a lovely sweet honey scent and also contains sweet orange oil. The bath bonb itself has rhassoul mud in to help cleanse the body (I probably needed something detoxifying after my weekend but cleansing was good enough!).

In the bath it fizzed away to leave a yellow water. Which you'd expect from a honey scented bath bomb but there is just something about yellow water that I don't find appealing. It left the bath smelling lovely and was relaxing.

The last bath bomb I picked up was big blue. I tend to go for more sweet frangrances but fancied a different one. Big Blue contains arame seaweed which is rich in vitamins and minerals and also contains sea salt, lemon and lavender oil.

 The lavender oil isn't over powering and the bath bomb has a lovely fresh scent.

I love the colour this bath bomb turns the bath. It's an amazing lush blue and leaves me dreaming of a beach and water that colour. It releases the seaweed into the bath which is in slightly big pieces for my liking as it made for a messy clean up and they were hard to get down the plug hole. This bath was also amazing as it was in a hotel and a roll top bath!

All these bath products were £3.35. I love trying new lush bath bombs. What's your recommendation? 

Love M

Xxx

Smashbox Brow Tech in Dark Brown

Hello there!

If you're a regular reader you will know that a few weeks ago we went to a Smashbox, Bumble and bumble, and Ojon event, at which I obviously spent a little cash...
A substantial dent was made in my bank account and I've been using them ever since.

This is the first of three products, the Brow Tech, in Dark Brown.

The Brow Tech contains three products, two powders in a lighter and darker shade followed by a wax.
They recommend the Angle Brow brush to apply them but I use the detailer brush from Real Techniques and find it gets in the gaps of my brows very well.

The powders in this shade are perfect for me. My brows are almost black in colour naturally, but who on earth wants to fill in their brows with black powder?? I'm also super pale so if I did fill them in with black I'd look quite ridiculous.

Although I say all this, I've struggled to find browns sometimes that are the right shade. I need it to be dark brown and not a grey shade or a redder shade, sometimes they make my brows look gingery and that's even worse!

This powder however is absolutely perfect. I use the lighter shade to fill in my brows, especially the gaps that i have. I know most people have some gaps but I have some that matches my mums! It's definitely a hereditary thing!

That being said, I then use the darker powder to help define the beginning of the brows and underneath to create a clean line:

It can be difficult in the morning before work to create a brow that's defined and filled in properly. I use Rimmel's Brow This Way to brush my brows through and then I use the powders and wax as quickly as I possible can and hope not to make a mess!








I mostly manage to keep them even though sometimes it does smudge. The colour is pretty perfect for me and the brow wax works really well at keeping brows in place all day, even through a stressful day at work.

The Brow Tech trio costs £17.50. I'd say it was a really good price for three separate products in one pot and that means it's great for me for travelling as I only need to take this tiny thing!

Have you tried the Brow Tech from Smashbox? What did you think?
What is your favourite Smashbox product?

I bought two other products at the same time as this so will be reviewing them soon!

L xxx