Spring Series: Tanning!

We're back with our last but one installment in our Spring Series.

We've already covered fitness, hands, feet, facal skincare and body care.

This weeks topic is tanning, and I will be referring back to Pinterest for the obligatory pictures of tanned and toned bodies.

 

So that's enough to get me laying off the pizza for a few hours...

As we all know tanning can help to make your skin appear more uniform, hide scars and make you look more toned and slimmer. As far as I'm concerned this is a pretty damn good thing so I try and do this every time I go out (which sadly is getting a more rare occasion!).

To do this I normally have been keeping up with my scrub and moisturise routine so my skin is in good condition.

Then I start with a few days tanning 'prep' by using Dove tanning moisturiser.

I find that I'm so pale I need a few layers of this to get my skin to a relatively normal colour.

After this when my skin is super moisturised and a few shades darker than it was before, my first choice for application would be Vita Liberata's Extra Rich Silken Chocolate lotion which I have previously posted about.

I just haven't found anything else like it that is so easy to apply, gives a great even colour and fades more evenly than anything else also. It's a lotion in a pump that seems to last such a long time before you need to buy another, I'm a huge fan!

Having said that, if you're looking for a mousse option I am a fan of St Tropez's mousse which is great for your weekend tan as well. It's easy to rub in and control how much you're applying for an even colour.

If you're looking for a spray option then I recommend Garnier's Ambre Solaire which is also a great budget buy and always on offer. It dries pretty quickly but I do recommend covering your flooring before hand, don't cover your blue carpet and make it a brown colour like I did.....

I like to make sure my tan is done before the day it needs to be done so I can apply some sort of shimmery stuff but this isn't always possible and i find they don't mix together too well!

So as for wash off tans, I absolutely love Rimmel's Sun Shimmer Instant Tan range. There's everything you want from a mousse to a lotion for some instant even colour. 

After this I do like to apply some shimmer to the middles of my limbs and collar bones.

Mixing High Beam with your facial moisturiser can be really good to apply to your collarbones and chest area.

I find a spray such as Soap and Glory's Easy Glistening super easy to use as you can just hold it a fair distance away for a sheen and closer for a heavier coating. It's made from almond oil so its more of a dry oil and gives a subtle sheen which I prefer to an all over glitter look!

What are your favourite tanning products?? Do you prefer mousse or lotions or sprays?

L xxx

I'm naturally very pale, if I'm not the palest shade in a foundation it's a surprise. Being naturally blonde I have very freckly skin too so during the summer I get a little tan if I sunbathe but my skin doesn't tan particularly well (50 degree sun in Ibiza and I still came back with white legs despite using factor 8 on them, it's like they repel the sun).

I love fake tan. I've mentioned before I'm naturally very pear shaped, hello huge bum, this does mean I have cellulite towards the top of my thighs which never looks great with a dress. I always tan for a night out as it does help improve the appearance, and I prefer the way I look with a tan.

I'm like L and start with a good exfoliation (favouring Next Spa scrub or a Soap and Glory one) followed by  lots of moisturiser and shaving 24 hours prior to tanning.

My tastes in tan has changed over the past 18 months. It started with me absolutely loving Fake Bake Mouse. It gave an even colour, was a reasonable price and was easy to apply.

After trying a sample set of St Tropez lotion I was totally converted to lotions. I find they are so much easier and I think they last longer so are therefore better for value. I loved St Tropez but as I'm so pale I was finding I needed to apply it for 2 or 3 days in a row to get a good colour pay off from it after washing off. The other thing with St Tropez was that it has the typical fake tan smell. Which results in my Other Half complaining I stink.

After much deliberation I decided to try Lauren's Way. Something about celebrity endorsed products always puts me off and makes me doubt how good they are. This product received so many rave reviews I wondered if it could be that good. Plus lets face it Lauren has sported more than one bad orange tan and no one wants that look. I ordered the darker than dark lotion.

Firstly if you are pale don't be worried about darker than dark. It gives a gorgeous natural glow, it's green tinged before being washed off which does help it not turn orange. Another bonus it doesn't smell typical fake tan straight away. I find when it's developed it does have a slight smell but nothing as bad.

Overall I love this tan. It's even colour, gives a great colour pay off after one application, smells better than others and is cheaper than St Tropez.

My favourite tan at the moment is Glo Tan Tan in a Can. Since receiving this product it has now been released for public sale and the packaging looks a lot better. Much more sleek.

I'm so glad we were lucky enough to try this (original review here), I've been totally converted. My can has now done three full body applications and still has around half left. It gives the most natural result (once you've mastered application which I had by the second attempt). Due to being a spray it gives a light coating all over the skin so no streaks are left. I tend to use a clean mitt and slightly buff it in. I do still think it's harder to apply than other tans but for me I wouldn't use any others now.

I favour Glo Tan over others still because with this I can tan on a Friday night and wake up on Saturday with a good colour. Other tans require two coats on my pale skin. It also really doesn't smell. I find other tans that claim not to smell do after they've developed. Literally can't say enough positive things about this tan. It is slightly more expensive at £26. But it does last a long time.

In 18 months I've gone from mouse to liquid to spray. What's your favourite tan? Will you pay more for a better product?

Love M

xxx

Review: Smashbox Fusion Soft Lights in Baked Starburst

This was a sneaky CCO purchase a few weeks ago when I was supposed to be on a spending ban and obviously that went straight out of the window.

I mean, I didn't own anything from Smashbox and ended up in a store with it discounted. It was fate!

Look at how shimmery and beautiful it is:

This is Smashbox's Fusion Soft Lights in Baked Starburst.

It's a highlighter with a touch of colour, not enough for it to be a shimmery bronzer but enough to give you a warm glow.

We're both massive fans of Mac's MSF in Soft and Gentle, and I imagined this would be a similar kind of product.

It's baked just like MSF and is a very fine powder that you can swirl on top of make up for a shimmer without being glittery. It sort of gives that 'been in the sun for an hour at lunch and managed to catch some rays' kind of look.

It is fragrance and paraben free which is always a good thing, as pointless chemicals are nassssssty.

Look at those colours! They're so pretty and easily swirled together on top of any make up look. Just relax and check out the make up porn for a little while...

So how does it actually look on the skin??

You can see my skin has a shimmer to it, particularly where I applied it heavier on the cheek bones where the light catches. It's a beautiful colour and perfect for day wear. It's very subtle and doesn't look too glittery on the skin that it's over the top.

When comparing this to MSF, this is the much more subtle day wear version and I believe I have used this most days since I bought it. 

I tend to save MSF for weekends now as to be perfectly honest that one is still my favourite. Though I think sometimes it's too much for day wear especially work as it's not the kind of place for lots of make up.

Ultimately I love them in equal amounts as they're different enough with Smashbox having warm tones and MSF having champagne gold colours and both show up beautifully in photos.

What do you think? What's your favourite highlighter?

L xxx

Review: 17 Doll'd Up Mascara and Eye Liner

I'm sure most of you have seen 17's new mascara 'Doll'd Up' on the stands at Boots.

I picked it up a few weeks ago when me and M went to London for LFW. At the time it came with their new 3 Way Liquid Eyeliner also from their Doll'd Up range.

We'll talk through the mascara first....it claims to provide up to 24 Hour Curl, which is something I have mentioned before that I am in vital need of!

I am lucky enough to have very long eye lashes which are also really thick. This is great for the fluffy eyelash look, but using every trick in the book my lashes just do not curl.
I've not had them permed yet so it's a possibility for the future when I've found somewhere I can trust with putting hot things near my eyeballs....



Back to the mascara.
Because my lashes are long i rarely spend much on my mascara, I don't need lengthening or volumising as such so a mascara from Rimmel, 17, Maybelline etc usually does me fine as there's not much point spending a lot for me.
(Having said that I absolutely love Benefit's They're Real!)



The brush is a comb type brush, the bristles are quite short and hard but cover the brush all the way around, so it's more than just a comb.
I find this is really good at picking up all of the hairs individually and find all of them are coated and separated out.



I have other eye make up on in the photo below but you can get the jist of it in regards to the mascara....it lengthens and separates out all of my lashes individually and looks pretty good if i say so myself!



This was such a good price to pay for the mascara, I've tried more expensive ones and got the same results so I'm pretty pleased with this.
It lengthens, separates and does give my lashes some curl though due to their stubborness this doesn't last long.

The eyeliner as I have previously mentioned came free with the mascara. I was dubious about this but also very interested to see how the design made a difference.





Firstly I love the simple packaging, monochrome will always win me over.
Secondly the cute bow design is pretty but not over the top, enough for us girly but not overly pink and glittery types like myself.
Thirdly LOOK AT THE BRUSH/TIP/PEN THING!

I'd previously seen another brand had brought out a similar design (Clarins was it?) and it was mentioned that  using the 3 tips dotted along the lash line made eyelashes appear thicker at the base and therefore more voluminous as well as producing a varied range of eyeliner looks.



As you can see by my hand abov the pen draws a really smooth and straight line pretty easily when the pen is turned with the tips aligned.

For a thicker line you can use all three vertically, though as you can see you would need to colour in the small gaps.

As for the dots at the base of the lashline theory, I tried multiple times to create this look but failed miserably. It was hard to do without looking like I'd drawn dots on my lashline and I think these pen tips are just too big.


It is super easy to draw a flicked out wing though particularly in the morning rush hour at 7 so it's definitely been a useful product for me.



I always find with pens like these that even with the lid on tight they seem to dry out pretty fast but so far so good with this one. Will update once I've used it a little while and see how it is then!

What do you think of eyeliner pens? do you prefer the ease or something like a gel eyeliner instead?

I will always prefer gel eyeliner due to its long lasting colour all day and staying in place, but this is a worthy contender for it's ease especially for work!


L xxx

NOTD: OPI James Bond Collection 1

So I feel that there is something I need to clear up about me.

I am not the kind of girl who likes films like the Notebook, I don't enjoy crying at films and just honestly don't get much enjoyment out of watching sadness and heartache.

I have seen the Notebook and enjoyed the story, I did feel sad at the end as I'm not a complete heartless bitch but I have no desire to watch it again.

What I personally love is films like Batman, The Avengers and my absolute number 1 currently: James Bond.

I absolutely LOVE the glamour, the Britishness, the fast cars, the fight scenes, the Bond girl's clothing, the exotic countries and obviously Daniel Craig is not hard to look at by any means!

Topping that off is a massive budget for everything and an all star cast which makes the films top notch in my opinion.

Image from Hollywoodlife.com

Obviously OPI bringing out a James Bond collection I was drooling and massively excited as soon as I saw the pictures.

Not having a job was a little detrimental to my plan to purchase them all but spotting them in the ASOS Christmas sale having finally been paid just sealed the deal.

I snapped up 7 of them as some were sold out (and I just couldn't part with that much money just for nail varnish) and so I bring you the first beautiful Bond polish from the collection:

This is the Spy Who Loved Me:

This is a beeeeeeeeeautiful red with gold shimmer through it

How gorgeous is it! The name makes it so much more exotic I know, but even as an all round red polish, the colour and shimmer are gorgeous.

I've been wearing this for weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeks on my toes as it's so easy to reapply and looks good with everything.

It's so beautiful and glittery but not over the top and applies like a dream.

I've worn it to work and been complicated so many times I couldn't tell you, even by men!

Did you pick up any from this collection?? I'm still missing a few but expect some of the others to be featured in posts soon ;)

I previously posted about The Living Daylights which you can see here if you'd like.

Which is your favourite so far?

L xxx