Best of March

My Top Products of March.

Can you believe that tomorrow is April and it's time for another ' Top Products Of ' post?

No nor me..

Anyway here are my top products from this past month.

Soap & Glory's Fab Pore Facial Peel.

Containing;

Fomes Officinalis Extract: A mushroom extract to tighten pores.

Salicylic Acid: Which loosens up the dead cells that contribute to pore clogging

Kaolin: It sops up extra oil on your skin and smooths your skin

Vitamins E & C: Antioxidants.

It's a great face mask for those with blemished skin. (A full review to follow shortly)

Liz Earle's Cleanse & Polish

Containing;

Cocoa Butter: Has moisturising effects.

Hops Extract: Has astringent and toning properties.

Rosemary Essential Oil/Extract: Is invigorating and stimulating, with beneficial antioxidant properties.

Chamomile Essential Oil/Extract: Soothes the skin.

Eucalyptus Essential Oil: Has decongestant properties.

D-panthenol: Otherwise known as pro-vitamin B5, this B vitamin is necessary for the normal functioning of the skin and has a moisturising effect. It also helps stimulate cellular renewal.

Glycerin: Vegetable derived. It is a humectant (attracts water), and aids hydration.

Beeswax: Skin protecting properties and helps to relieve chapped skin.

This fantastic cleanser was sent to me by the lovely people at Liz Earle and once I've used it a while longer I shall be posting a full review here.

Burt's Bees Pomegranate Lip BalmContaining pomegranate oil to help protect your lips, can you say tasty? This lip balm tastes amazing and smells fantastic. (Full review to follow shortly)

Barry M Nail Polish in Dusky Mauve

Such a lovely colour, I have many new polishes to try out but can't stop using Dusky Mauve.

Maxfactors False Lash Effect Mascara

I think I have a new favourite mascara. Although saying that I change favourite mascaras quite frequently. But my current new favourite mascara is...

Maxfactors False Lash Effect Mascara.

The one in the black tube. I was going to buy the newer version of this in the purple tube but two things stopped me.

Firstly none of the newer purple ones were wrapped in that plastic stuff so I didn't know if they'd been opened and started to dry up already.

And secondly the purple one was slightly more expensive, for what seemed to me to be a slightly different name and a purple tube. So I got the one you see above. (£10.99 Boots, a little more than I'd normally pay for a 'drugstore' mascara but it came with a freebie even if I turned out allergic to said freebie)

As you can see quite clearly in the photo I went for the black/brown colour as I've had enough black mascaras and fancied something a little less drastic.

The actual wand of the mascara is HUGE... very thick indeed, with short little bristles. To be completely honest I nearly didn't get it because it was so thick and I was a little worried about putting it near (think in) my eyes. But I decided to try something different and get it.

And I'm glad I did.

The mascara goes on very easy, no clumping and in light layers. Which means you can wear as little or as much as you like. I wear it all day to work and have yet to experience any kind of flaking or smudging under my eyes, even though I tend to rub at my eyes a lot.

The huge wand is actually very easy to control and I haven't poked my eye out with it. (phew) I actually think the thickness of it lends itself to ease of application because it's not wobbling all over the place it stays nice and steady as you take aim at the eyelashes, tongue out, concentrating.... (or is that just me?)

Anyway here are my eyelashes with two coats of my new mascara on, it still looks black on my lashes but not as intense a black as my previous mascaras were.

I don't really think it gives a false lash effect though, nice name and nice try but my lashes are quite short and sparse and while black mascara plumps them out a little and defines the curl slightly I don't look like I'm wearing falsies.

But don't let that stop you enjoying this mascara.

Origins GinZing Eyecream

About two weeks ago I gave in to the great offer that was the Origins Good To Glow set (£12.50 from Boots online)

Since then I've mentioned the Liquid Lip Colour but have given it a little time before talking about the GinZing Eye Cream.

This little lovely here.

The cream is very slightly tinted a creamy colour as you might be able to make out, I'm guessing the tint is what is meant to, "provide an immediate appearance of vibrancy, radiance and evenness with a blend of optic brighteners to diffuse darkness and illuminate under eye skin"

I can't really say I have noticed this, I still need concealer and under eye brightener in the morning but the cream does provide a little sheen/shimmer. So perhaps on somebody without the potato sacks I carry it would be enough to lighten the under eye area.

As for the claim that the cream, "fights the appearance of puffiness, swelling and signs of fatigue in the delicate eye area while improving micro circulation and increasing the flow of energy so skin remains resilient and balance is restored."

Well I've got to admit my eyes aren't puffy or swollen and the fine lines that bother me don't seem to be as noticeable. Considering this cream contains caffeine which is known for tightening the skin I'm not surprised my eyes seem firmer round the edges.

And as for the claim that the cream can, "combat dark circles by strengthening capillaries and providing both anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant benefits."

Well that remains to be seen but I think I'll be having to use the cream a little longer than I have before I see that kind of improvement.

All in all I'm pretty pleased by the eye cream, it's light and refreshing to use, it's not greasy nor does it take ages to sink in and as you need such a little amount the cream will last a while yet.

Maxfactor Smoky Eyes, Eyeshadow

Anybody who read yesterdays post about my little haul from Boots (here) will know that with the Maxfactor False Lash Effect Mascara I got one of these free..

Smoky Eyes, eyeshadow in Onyx Smoke (Black & White). (Normally £7.99)

It being a new make up gizmo to play with I went and had a go, and I can report back now that I am actually rather allergic to this eye pen device.

Not long after applying the make up my eyes began to sting and itch like crazy. But before I took it all off, and for your sakes I took photos.

Firstly I'd like to point out the 'pens' come with Step 1 and Step 2 written on either end, but no further instructions on what to do.

So I took to the internet to discover that first you apply Step 1 (white) to the eyelid and up towards the brow bone and then you apply Step 2 (black) around the socket to create the smoky look.

So here is Onyx Smoke applied (unblended)

It actually took a lot of effort to get the black this black, because it actually comes out more of a sparkly grey. Which I wasn't expecting.

If the intense look of the full on black is to much then here is the same eye but blended out this time.

To be honest, blending was a nightmare. It was like trying to blend a coloured grease, it smudged and went patchy, disappeared into fine lines to create a slightly scary look and in the end disappeared almost altogether.

And when the stinging became to much and I dashed to the bathroom to remove it all it took a lot of effort to get off. It had settled into my fine lines (argh) and would not budge.

Even if I hadn't have turned out allergic to it I wouldn't have been happy with the way this worked out and I am very glad this was a freebie and not a purchase.

Make a Saving on The Sanctuary

Mini Post with an offer I received in an Email.

Making a saving of £23.87 you can get;

The Sanctuary's Radience Boosting Facial Oil (30ml)

Perfectly Polished Hot Cloth Cleanser (150ml)

Warming Charcoal Detox Mask (100ml)

and

Warming Microbrasion Polish (100ml)

For the grand total of £20.00

Click here to go to the site to purchase this amazing offer.

Mini Haul. Maxfactor. Soap & Glory

I only went out to post the census form and maybe pick up a nail polish, but they didn't have any polishes I was interested in so I found myself looking around (lethal)

Anyway, I decided I needed a black/brown mascara so I picked up Max Factors False Lash Effect Mascara (£10.99 from Boots)

I was going to get the new one in the purple tube but I couldn't find a sealed one and I was a bit wary the product would have dried out with everyone opening it. So I got this instead.

Because I got the False Lash Effect Mascara I got the Smoky Eyeshadow in Onyx Smoke (normally £7.99) FREE.

Which is fine by me, I love freebies.

And then I remember Miss A over at Beauty Boudoir saying how much she loved the Eau De Soap & Glory so I was going to get that but then I saw this..

Three Soap & Glory Scents for £5.61 and I was sold.

So there's my mini haul. I'll let you know how I get on with them in a later post.

Dirty Works Mask & Scrub

A little while ago I got Mr Red to take me to our local Sainsburys to do the food shop specifically so I could pick up some Dirty Works products, that day I picked up Belle of the Ball face mask, Pore-fect face scrub and Go Balmy lip balm. (which I blogged about here)

Now it's time to talk about Belle of the Ball and Pore-fect.

Belle of the Ball contains super fruit extract Blueberry, skin clearing Willow Bark and detoxifying Green Clay and Kaolin to draw impurities from your skin leaving it fresh and glowing.. or so the back of the tube states.

To be honest reading the ingredients list, while there is plenty of Kaolin in this mask both the Blueberry and Willow Bark are so far down the list they might not have been included at all.

One good thing that's not mentioned though is there is both Avocado Oil and Shea Butter in the mask. Both are great moisturisers.

To be fair I liked this mask. It smells fab nice and fruity, it goes on well, it washes off well and it didn't break me out.

My skin felt tighter but not in a bad way after using it and the few blemishes I do have were a lot less red and noticeable.

So for approx £3.50 I'd say it's pretty good value for money.

Pore-fect, when I first used it, actually gave me a fright. I hadn't read the ingredients list properly and missed the fact it had Menthol in. Now normally I avoid Menthol like crazy as my skin and it doesn't agree but I was very surprised when I didn't react to this product.

Pore-fect does contain quite a few fruit extracts such as, Pomegranate, Raspberry and Cranberry along with both Sunflower and Sesame seed oil. But the overwhelming scent of the product is the Menthol, I've got to admit I'm not keen on the smell at all.

Scrub wise though it is very effective, it has tiny granules that really get to grips with your skin. I'd compare it almost to Dermalogica's daily microfoliant with the way it felt on my skin.

I would likely buy Belle of the Ball again, but because of my dislike of Menthol and the smell of Pore-fect I probably wouldn't get that again. But if you have no problems with Menthol then I would recommend it.

NOTD with Sparkles

Not feeling on top of the world today I decided to paint my nails again.

Using the same nail polish as here, Accessorize Shade 8 Idol, and adding NYC Starry Silver Glitter.

Two coats of Idol with one coat of Starry Silver Glitter. Idol is a gunmetal shade, not quite black, not quite grey with a subtle of a silver shimmer. Starry Silver Glitter is a clear polish containing tiny silver particles and larger blue and pink chunks of glitter.

Here's the nails without flash.

And with flash.

And my favourite photo, blurred, showing the lovely colours of the glitter polish.

The Accessorize polish is £4 from Superdrug, and the NYC polish cost me 99p (in a sale) also from Superdrug.

Dainty Doll Thoughts

Recently I decided to purchase some Dainty Doll make-up making a rather large saving as I went. (Read about it here)

As a few people expressed interest in how I found the Dainty Doll products I though I'd share my thoughts with you now.

I purchased a blusher (in Gold Finger) and mineral powder foundation (in Light).

As you can see from the pictures the blusher arrived not attached to the compact, okay so it only took a little glue to fix it, but for the price it would have been (if I'd have paid full price) I wasn't very impressed. I expected better quality.

Reading the back of the boxes I was a little surprised by the claims;
Highly pigmented, soft natural powder blush for long lasting buildable coverage; use lightly for a fresh healthy look or add more for a high impact look. In a girl's got-to-have compact with mirror for easy on the go application.

Natural powder blusher. 

Heavily pigmented formula. 

Contains vitamin A and E rich in antioxidants. 

Contains vitamin C to help reverse wrinkles and age spots.

Might need to correct me if I'm wrong but can anything short of surgery reverse wrinkles?


Also Talc is the first and primary ingredient... I did feel that was a bit cheap of them for such an expensive product. As for the colours, the mineral foundation I got in light, although you can get it in extra light I do believe too, light has been fine on my extra pale skin BUT I'm not using it as a foundation, it doesn't give enough coverage for my liking so I'm using it as a powder after foundation and concealer. I haven't done a swatch of the mineral foundation as it is to light for my camera to pick up, so here is me wearing it as a powder.

As for the blusher, well I'm a bit disappointed to be honest. The shade name from ASOS was Gold Finger (although from Harrods it's called 'Money Talks') so I was expecting something with a golden shimmer. What I got was a blusher that looks a lot like dirt. Honestly it looked like I'd smeared my face with dirt when I applied it.

Here is a swatch without flash.

And with flash.

I could probably use this as more of a shader/bronzer but it would require a lot of blending to be wearable on my pale skin.

All in all I'm not very impressed with the Dainty Doll products I have, which is a huge shame as I really wanted to love them. The foundation is ok as a powder but I won't re-purchase. The blusher I've got to find some kind of use for... eick!

Simple Eye Make-up Corrector Pen Out Now.

It's Available!

Introducing the NEW Simple Kind To Eyes Eye Make-Up Corrector Pen

What the website says;

"Its ingenious pen-like design with precision tip dispenses the award-winning Simple Kind To Eyes Eye Make-Up Remover, so you can swiftly and easily wipe away those day-to-day make-up mistakes like smudges, flaking, streaks, and even waterproof mascara, whilst leaving the rest of your make-up untouched. Even better, it contains skin-friendly Pro-Vitamin B5 and contains no colour and no perfume so won’t irritate your sensitive skin."

Pro-Vitamin B5 actively restores, softens and smoothes
No Alcohol, No Oil
Non Drying and Non Greasy
No Perfume, No Colour
No unnecessary ingredients and No harsh chemicals so it won’t upset your skin.
Dermatologically Tested and Approved

Just what I need/want. I've been waiting for it to come out for ages. Now I'm off to the Boots website to order one. £4.99.

I think it's a good idea, here's hoping it works out.

Rocking NOTD Idol

My nails finally look semi decent so I thought it time to break out some of my new polishes and do a NOTD.

First up is a gorgeous polish from Accessorize, on the bottle it is labeled as Shade 8, Idol.

I'm pretty sure this is from the Rock Star range although it doesn't say. But the colour lends itself to Rock very well.

It was incredibly difficult to photograph as the camera couldn't seem to capture the colour right. It is a dark charcoal grey with subtle silver shimmer in.

You can really see the silver particles shine in this picture.

(excuse the dodgy application, out of practise)

While in this picture it looks almost black with a sparkle. But it definitely isn't black.

I know spring is in the air, and most girls are wanting spring/summer shades now but I really can't see why this shouldn't be a spring shade too.

At least for those of us who like to Rock n Roll.

With my pale skin and silver rings this colour is me to a Tee.

£4.00 from Superdrug.

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Beauty Subscription

Just a quick post about something I've seen that is very inventive.

It is the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Beauty Subscription

Same as a magazine subscription this means that each month a Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser 100ml pump plus two pure muslin cloths will be delivered to your door, or the door of someone you love. (I.e your mother?)

The first delivery will arrive in a luxurious white zip-up case. And there is Free postage & packaging on the subsequent 11 deliveries.

It's not cheap at £159.00 for a 12 month sub, but if you don't live near a place that sells the cleanser, or don't always remember to pick it up when you're out then if could be well worth it. Either for yourself or perhaps as a Mothers Day gift that keeps on giving?

Is this something you'd be willing to try, and do you think more companys should offer subscriptions for products.. if so who and what?

Top Shop Makeup. Picture Heavy

Shopping sprees with birthday money are great, especially when you can get your mitts on these Top Shop items I've been hankering after for a while.

(I made the pictures all mini and cute)

My little stash consists of a cream blusher in 'Butterscotch' (£6), highlighter in 'Sunbeam' (£9), and a gloss stick in 'Ablaze' (£8).

Now for the serious photos..

This is the highlighter in Sunbeam and it is a GORGEOUS shimmery gold, absolutely stunning patted across the tops of the cheekbones.

Catches the light beautifully. You can also use it for other areas of the body, so collarbones etc, anywhere you want the light to catch.

The cream blush in Butterscotch, a very subtle blush colour. More apricoty than pinky... for days when you want a very discrete colour on your cheeks. I'd already swatched it before photographing it and as you can see it's lighter than it first appears.

The gloss stick in Ablaze, this is part of the Sandstorm collection and I don't think it's going to be part of the main collection so best stock up now just in case. I know I'm going to.

Just like it's name, this gives a subtle gloss of colour without being sticky at all. It's perfect for me as I don't like lipsticks and can't stand stickiness. I'll be buying another as soon as possible as a back up.

So for the swatches themselves..

First up,

The highlighter Sunbeam (top) and the blush Butterscotch (bottom) I swatched both quite heavily to ensure my camera picked them out.

With flash, just look at that shimmer.

And blended together they make a lovely subtle shade.

The gloss stick in Ablaze, a lovely sheer wash of coral. Ideal for summer.

And on my lips, it's a subtle shade. But it's defiantly my thing.

I could have easily have purchased a lot more from Top Shop.. in fact there was a eyeshadow I liked the look of, and I'd like more shades of the cream blush... along with another gloss stick.

I think it defiantly helped how the make up was laid out in the store (Cardiff) It was set against the wall, with a huge mirror so you could (and I did) dab colours on to see how they looked.

(That's what made my mind up to get Sunbeam)

You weren't in the middle of the store getting in every ones way and being disturbed either, which I liked as I hate being bothered when I'm browsing. Plus they had little hand wipes for getting rid of an hour or twos swatching.

Bonus points!

So Top Shop has my vote for makeup.. do you like anything from their range?

I'll Shop if I want to

Shopping spree heaven, after receiving lots of money I popped into Cardiff today for a touch of light retail therapy.

Here's my Simple pack arrived this morning.

Eye make up remover, toner, day cream and night cream...

And then what I went into Cardiff and spent my money on..

Left to right there is;

'The Courtesan and The Samurai', Garnier Pure Active roll on, Iron Fist T-Shirt, Topshop highlighter in Sunbeam, Topshop blush in Butterscotch, Soap & Glory Fab Pore facial peel, Organic Surge face wash, Top Shop gloss stick in Ablaze, Burts Bees lip balm in Pomegranate, Collection 2000 Top Coat and Gloss Enhancer and a Silver thumb ring from Pia.

I also picked up this Natio facial skincare set which consists of foaming facial cleanser, gentle skin toner and moisturiser along with a waffle headband and cute little carry bag, reduced from £27.00 to £13.79 and then £5.00 extra taken off do to the reward on my Debenhams BeautyClub card.

Along with all those lovely goodies, I had lunch out and treated myself to a new piercing. Good times.

Do you go on shopping sprees, if so I'd like to hear what you got.