Review: Sleek MakeUP ONE Finishing Powder

Sleek MakeUP are a brand that I have had a pretty good run with for the most part. I think they offer great products for a high street brand and offer a good range of colour choices. The eyeshadows I must admit are too powdery for my liking, but some of the others I adore in my makeup collection.

The ONE Finishing powder is a water-based powder milled to an extremely fine consistency. It claims to absorb oil leaving a sheer finish on the skin and never looking cakey. There is only one universal shade available which I can see working for all but perhaps the very dark-skinned. It contains antioxidants and botanical extracts (whatever type of plant those may be) to produce a gentle cooling sensation when applied. I really enjoy using this with a small powder brush. The texture really is incredibly fine and the finish is JUST-mattified, never dulling. The skin still appears radiant somehow, which is exactly what I love in a powder. Once applied my make-up stays set all day (not that I am oily though, so I cannot speak for you guys out there, sorry :(!)

At £7.49 the price is very reasonable and I think you must give this is a try if you are searching for a new powder! Can be found here.

Review: Origins GinZing Mascara

I was blessed with many things in life, but long, luscious eyelashes were definitely not one of them! And thus I think mascara makes probably the biggest difference to my face (that and filling in my ridiculously uneven eyebrows which you will see below in their naked state haha!!)

Having been a huge fan of Origins for a long time and a user of their GinZing brightening eye cream, I was so excited to give their new GinZing brightening mascara a test drive! It gives 100% lift and volume to the lashes, two coats can be applied with 0% clumping and included are nourishing ingredients: Panax Ginseng to strengthen lashes, eye brightening pearl complex to make the whites of the eyes appear whiter, and carnauba wax to condition.

I honestly can vouch that this mascara is incredible. The wand is HUGE and as a small lash girl, I tend to stick to little rubber wands for fear of blobbing. However, with a little practice you can really work this into the lashes and build up some serious length and volume.

At £17 the mascara is pretty reasonably priced for a high-end brand. And at the moment you can receive a free 5ml sample of their best-selling GinZing eye cream with a mascara purchase! Head to your nearest store and take a look for yourself!

Review: Caudalie Vinosource SOS Serum

Hello my lovelies :-)! Today I bring you my honest opinion on an incredible product: Caudalie's Vinosource SOS Thirst-Quenching Serum.

I don't know if it is the rubbish English weather, stress, not drinking enough water, or whatever else, but for the past couple months I have had a problem with my skin looking dehydrated. As a baseline standard, I have normal, clear, healthy skin that swings slightly towards the dry side at times. However, due to dehydration, my skin had been producing excess oil to make up for the water loss. This was resulting in a few break-outs and a tight feeling in my skin throughout the day.

My Oilatum moisturiser had been doing a great job, but I just felt I needed something to give me an extra boost. I had heard great things about this serum and had just run out of the Sonoma Naturals Avocado one I had been using, so decided to give the Caudalie SOS a try. I kid you not, within a day I noticed a huge difference! I apply it in the morning before moisturiser and instantly my skin looks plump and dewy and really glows. I have had several compliments lately on how great and healthy my skin looks and I really see the difference.

This product ranges from £26-30 depending on where you shop, but I had a 20% off voucher for HQHair which allowed me to get it for about £23 - bargain! I recommend signing up to this site as they send you 20% off vouchers quite often AND they offer free shipping.

Honestly, amazing stuff. I would recommend to anyone with dehydrated skin.

Review: Weleda Sea Buckthorn Hand Cream

Almost 2 months ago I decided to make the switch to skincare and bodycare products that do not contain parabens. I placed a nice little order with Feel Unique (post here) but vowed not to review anything until giving them a proper testing.

First up is the Weleda Sea Buckthorn Hand Cream. This stuff is literally the best hand cream I have ever used! It is rich and moisturising but absorbs instantly, so as to not leave a greasy film on the skin. For those of you who aren't sure of the scent of sea buckthorn, it is similar to ginger - zesty and warm. 

I would absolutely recommend this bad boy to anyone in the market for a hand cream! At £7.95 for 50ml the price is pretty good, for the quality is fantastic.

MAC: NEW Summer Brights!

I adore bright lipstick anytime of the year, but for summer especially I think a bright pink, red, or coral is effortlessly glamorous. I popped in to my local MAC store to 'Back-to-Mac' some empties. The newish 'Reel Sexy' and brand new summer 'Hey Sailor!' collections were in and fully stocked, so I decided to pick up 2 stunning lipsticks - my favourites for a long time.

Watch Me Simmer (Reel Sexy) is a bright coral pink in an Amplified finish. Super-pigmented, bright and rich on the lips, this colour is unlike anything I have in my collection and I cannot wait to wear it!

Sail La Vie (Hey, Sailor!) is a Satin version of Lady Danger. I adore any kind of bright orange/red and this I will be wearing all Summer long. I do own Lady Danger, but don't always want to wear such a Matte formula; this allows me the same amazing pigmentation but with a nicer formula on the lips.

Below I have provided swatches with the closest MAC comparison I have for each :)

(L-R: Lady Danger, Sail La Vie, Watch Me Simmer, Impassioned)

Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman

If you watch Sam & Nic on Youtube, you will know that they almost always use Sam's synthetic brushes during tutorials. I have watched their channel for years and ever since the release of Sam's brushes, have been dying to get my hands on them! With the huge success globally, I thought they must be a sure thing.

This month saw the national availability of these brushes at British drugstore, Boots, so I dashed in to purchase a few to try out. I went with the Core Collection (£21.99) and individual Stippling Brush (£11.99). No joke, these are the softest, most comfortable brushes I have ever had the pleasure of using. They wash incredibly and feel like a dream on the skin. I have been loving all the brushes and would 100% recommend them. They are all synthetic and work wonders at creating the softest, most blended of looks.

Even if you only get one, I guarantee you wont be disappointed!

Mega Love xx

Smells so good you'll wanna eat it!

I find LUSH to be one of those shops that you either love or loathe. My boyfriend claims the place gives him a headache just walking past, whereas others could literally set up camp in there and happily inhale the inviting aroma.

I've been using their products for years and wanted to give praise today to my favourite body lotion in the world.

Vanilla Dee-Lite Body Lotion is a 'Delightfully soothing, creamily smoothing, vanilla scented lotion for your body and hands. With natural coconut and illipe butters and vitamin-packed, fresh kiwi fruit.'

At £11.75, this definitely is not the cheapest of lotions, but once you start, you cannot stop using it! The very strong vanilla scent (and not the nasty artificial kind) hits you every time you use it, and lasts for over 24 hours on the skin. If I shower in the AM and apply, the next morning when I get in the shower I can smell it rubbing off! It is wonderfully calming on any red, dry, waxed or irritated skin, which I think is a trait that many find surprising. Generally these days, if a product has a strong scent to it, those with sensitive skin tend to stay away thinking it will only make matters worse, but LUSH products include natural scents, not the artificial perfume that causes all sorts of issues!

This beautiful lotion is easily absorbed but thoroughly moisturising, a rare trait I find, thus can be used all year round! It lingers on the skin, and is perfect for those that don't like to wear perfume, but want smell wonderful with their lotion. Even if you don't want to shell out for it, please just do me a favour and go take a whiff next time you pass a LUSH store :), it'll make my day!

Mega Love xx

My Favourite Mascara

Below is a big ol' scary shot of my eye, wearing a little bit of shadow on the lid etc. but I want you to focus mainly on my lashes...

Not bad, huh? My lashes look pretty well fanned out and long, with just the right amount of volume in there. Now, to put this into perspective, below is my eye with no make-up...

Can you see how pin-straight and short my lashes are?! Ahhh!

My mascara of choice is Boots No7 Exceptional Definition nutrient enriched mascara. I first tried this out when it came out about 2 years ago, and have repurchased every 3 months since. It is literally perfect for what I want: defined, long lashes with volume and seperation. The wand is very similar to Benefit's They're Real, but better in my opinion...it consists of a rubberised material with a fine-toothed comb one side for length and seperation, and thicker teeth the other side for volume. The end of the wand also has a ball with a comb on it, aimed at coating the smallest of lashes on the inner and outer corners, but I find this clumps up a little bit with excess product, so if you want to use it, you have to be gentle or dab off a bit of product.

So, the way I use this is by combing through my lashes with the lengthening side to seperate and..um.. lengthen. Next up I use the volumising side, wiggling at the roots and combing through to produce thicker, darker lashes that really stand out!

At £12.50 this is a bit more costly than your average high street/drugstore mascara, but with a £5 off voucher that Boots dish out several times a year, this baby is a real winning purchase! I recommend it to everyone :). And for those of you that shy away from black, they do a brown too!

Mega Love xx

Product Review: Tweezerman Deluxe Eyelash Curler

An eyelash curler is a funny thing, a funny love-hate thing. Some people think that it looks like a weapon of mass lash destruction, others cannot go anywhere without it. I fall into the latter category, but only as of about a year and a half ago. Before then, I was always scared that I would rip my eyelashes out or somehow blind myself if I used one, but suffering from pin straight lashes and desiring the oh-so-feminine curl, I decided to go ahead and try one out. I went for the No.7 one when I was shopping in Boots one day; I had a £5 off voucher so thing only cost me about £2.50 I believe.

The difference it gave me lashes was fantastic!........For a while. It, like most other lash curlers comes with one of those foamy pads that with time and use weaken at the point where it presses against the top metal plate as you curl your lashes, causing a tear to occur, and subsequently every time you curl your lashes they get stuck in that gap and instead of a pretty curl, look creased. Blegh! Those pads also aren't the easiest things to clean...hello bad hygiene near sensitive eye region!

So I had been thinking about purchasing a new one, but didn't really know where to look as most I had seen had the same foamy pad, then whilst also in boots I glimpsed the Tweezerman curler! *Angelic 'ahhhhhh'* I adore my Tweezerman tweezers, so took a closer look. For £14 you get a sturdy metal curler with non-stick, thick silicone pads...yes, pads! Not just the one on the curler, but and additional 3 to last you for many, many years! I knew I should give this one a chance, and the next morning whilst I was putting on my make-up I gave this a try. It feels quite different to other curlers, in that as you clamp down on your lashes, there is very little of that 'spongy' feeling, but the result is the best curl to my lashes that I have ever seen, no way of tearing the pad, and an easy-to-clean surface.

Overall these are absolutely fantastic, and I would recommend them to anyone sick of lash creasing. They are a bit costly compared to cheaper curlers, but if you consider the fact that these will probably last you a lifetime, you cannot go wrong!

Mega Love xx

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation

Now if I'm having a relatively good skin day, I simply choose to slap on the Origins Vita-zing as my single form of 'coverage', perhaps with a tad of concealer under the eyes if its been a late night. But there are times when I want that extra boost, that extra-perfect look to my skin, so liquid foundation comes into play. For about a year now I have been using the Bourjois 10-Hour Sleep Effect, and it has been fantastic, but I thought as my bottle had emptied I would try one of the other raved-about Bourjois foundations: Healthy Mix Serum. This is a new, alternative version of the original Healthy Mix, and is more of a gel-like formula, claiming to boost radiance for up to 16hrs, and creating an 'even, revived complexion' and contains vitamin-rich lychee, goji berries and pomegranate.

At £10.99, this isn't the cheapest highstreet/drugstore foundation, but considering I would have placed the last Bourjois foundation I used on a par with all the high end counterparts out there, I thought that this would be worth the dosh. And boy was I not wrong! This foundation applies like a dream, the pigmentation is light-medium but buildable, has a slightly dewy finish, would work on skin types ranging from oily to dry, and the colour pulls neither too pink or yellow - perfection?! My one complaint applies to all the Bourjois foundations unfortunately, and that is that although the shades they do sell are neutral, the range is rather limited and many skintones must surely have to go without.

Below are photos of me without any foundation, with just foundation, and then the entire look:

(I think its rather funny how I smile a little bit more in each photo haha!)

Overall the wear is amazing! I haven't yet had to wear it for the full 16 hours, but after 12 it still looks and feels great; no grease, no caking or creasing, and my skin still looks glowing. Definitely worth it!

Mega Love xx