Foundation Empties

I've never done an 'empties' post before and when I ran out of four foundations this month I thought It was about time I started. These are all empty even though they don't look it at all here! I do have a few tiny drops of the MAC ones left however. So we'll call it more of an 'almost empty' post shall we?

 

 I used my normal Face and Body in NC15 and my Estee Lauder double wear in Shell together so that the DW didn't make my skin looked caked up can dry like it can do when i wear DW by itself.

Revlon photo ready is a really decent foundation and it's so much cheaper than the MAC Prolongwear I used to use, not to mention a heck of a lot paler! This is the paler one to the one I reviewed here. Unfortunately the finish isn't as good on the paler one which is such a shame! 

I'm so sad to see my MAC Pro Face and Body in white to finally run out. I've had this for well over a year now and it's been a complete godsend for a pasty girl like myself. Someone bought me this as a gift from America and I'm really unsure about ordering MAC Pro items over here, you do it over the phone or something right? These two F&B are so worth the money! They both cost about £23 each and lasted me well over a year.

I Wanna See Your Peacock

I got coloured acrylics again last time I went to the salon and loved them for the first week but they start to look quite shabby after a little while so I tend to paint them over the weekends to make them look less battered and bruised. (I work with food on weekdays so i can't wear polish for work). Which is why I never buy a lot of new nail polishes or do many Nail posts.

My dear old Grandma gave me a big bag of nail polishes she didn't use anymore last year and this was one of them. Now every time she sees me wearing it she proceeds to tell me what a lovely shade it is and asks where it's from and if I'll pick up one for her. Bless her! It's such a nice metallic bluey greeny shade that looks different every time the light hits it.

I don't have any fancy OPI or China Glaze polishes or anything like that so all my nail posts are always of cheaper brands such as this. These 'Fast Finish Nail Polishes' come in twenty different shades. I'm not quite sure if all the rest are metallic too though. Sorry kids! I find this dries really fast and I don't need to use big thick gloopy coats like I sometimes need to with Barry M.

Availability

Grandma's box of unloved nail polishes or alternatively from Boots. They're also a total bargain at £2.99 so you can snap up all twenty.

Eco Tools Buffing Brush

It was 3 for 2 in Boots a few weeks ago and I wanted two items anyways so I got a Lip Butter free which I'll post about in a week or so, not that you haven't seen a million posts about those already!

Anyways, I spotted this brush while I was on the hunt for the Real Techniques core collection on the Boots website as Carlisle's store doesn't stock them but they were out of stock on the website! So this was my second option.

I really am a fan of eco tools brushes and the majority of brushes I use every day are by them.  in fact all of them I use are aside from my MAC eyebrow brush of course. They're really good quality brushes and are all really cheap too. They're cruelty free too!

It's a flat headed brush and it's excellent for blending foundation in. I've used it every day since I bought it which was around a month ago I think. It could do with being a little bigger but other than that I have no complaints.

Even though it does blend foundation really well into the skin and allows me to be able to wear a little less as it doesn't just cake it all up, I still use a makeup sponge to pat over the top of my foundation once I've finished but I do this no matter what brush or foundation I use.

Overall Impression

A really soft brush that makes foundation application a complete doddle.
Availability & Price

I got mine from Boots and they normally have on some kind of 3 for 2 offer and it was £9.99.

♥ ♥ ♥

A Paraben Post

Parabens are something I only just became aware of around two months ago and until around the last two weeks I never really thought twice about them or let it bother me but I did a little bit of research into them and their effects and now I can see why so many of the Beauty Guru's I love from YouTube have been so concerned about their products being 'Paraben Free'. Parabens are essentially preservatives. They're used in both food and things like makeup, moisturiser, shampoo, conditioner etc. 

 Thousands of articles can be found all over the Internet discussing the use of Parabens in cosmetics and the dangers they can cause. To help explain their dangers a little it'll be a little easier for me to simply include this;

"They have been found in extremely low concentrations in breast cancer tumours (an average of 20 nanograms/g of tissue). Parabens have also displayed the ability to slightly mimic Oestrogen (a hormone known to play a role in the development of breast cancer). No effective direct links between parabens and cancer have been established, however. Another concern is that the oestrogen-mimic aspect of parabens may be a factor in the increasing prevalence of early puberty in girls."[1]

(The research however was conducted on a very small sample size so obviously it wont be a very decent representative of the entire population). (Thanks A-Level Psychology for that one!)

Many cosmetics companies now display on their packaging a small Paraben free symbol now to allow consumers to see at a glance if it's 'safe' to use or not. I have to say I do tend to try and pay attention now to the ingredients in my cosmetics, especially on things I'd use every day.

Even the study which suggested that Parabens do cause breast cancer in some women and mimic Oestrogen has not actually proven it to be a solid fact that using cosmetics containing them causes breast cancer. Sometimes however once someone hears something like that they tend to become very vary about using products with things in that one study has suggested is dangerous. It's better to be safe than sorry though right? Especially with something as serious as breast cancer.

Products which don't contain the 'Paraben Free' logo still may not contain them but it's best to double check so look out for things like 'Methylparaben' or anything along those lines. 

So there isn't a significant amount of evidence to safely say that they do cause any form of Cancer and I'm sure it'll be a while until a definite conclusion is reached. I think it's up to each individual person as to whether they use products with it in. Some people may even argue that products need them in to preserve them amongst other things.  I'd love to know everyone Else's opinion on this matter so please do let me know!
 

Garnier Skin Care

As I've complained about many times on Twitter my skin has been dreadful over the last few weeks. My life's been a bit up and down recently so my entire skin care routine just totally went out of the window. All I was using was baby wipes to take my make up off and I just didn't bother washing or cleansing my face after that or anything so as we all know that just totally plays havoc with your skin. My poor face has been a break out factory and I decided to get back on track and fix it.

I normally tend to like Garnier skin care products and they were on a 3 for 2 offer (or something along those lines) so I bought a cleanser, toner and moisturiser.

This 'Intensive 7 days moisturiser' comes in a large or a small bottle and I think the large one is more of a gel type formula whereas this one, which is the small one (250ml), is a lotion. They come in around 5 different scents which are all so gorgeous but this one was my favourite.

This product's being advertised quite a bit lately as I believe it's a new product of theirs.

It claims to contain L-Bifidus which it explains is 'A Garnier innovation that helps to prevent moisture loss from the skins surface'. It suggests that this product is not to be applied to the face but in tiny little letters at the bottom of the back label so I didn't even see it until I'd been using it on my face for about a week so I just continues using it there as I'd had no problems.

It's fast absorbing and is quite runny so I love applying this before my makeup if I'm in a rush as I don't have to sit and wait ages for it to dry.

I also picked up this cleanser and toner as I never use either of these things and I especially never use ones that are a set so I thought I'd be coordinated and buy the pair of them. These smell SO beautiful, especially the toner. Unfortunately I didn't notice that they're for normal to combination skin and as I have dry skin these do kinda just dry my face out even more. The cleanser doesn't really but the toner does.

Now I haven't been using this cleanser to take my makeup off fully. I normally use a baby wipe and I've just been using this afterwards to get all of the makeup off that wipes miss. (I've recently upgraded to Bioderma since I bought this product which is amazing). I've found this does sting my eyes quite a bit but saying that, my eyes are over sensitive little things at the best of times. It claims to be non-greasy and I have to agree somewhat. Initially when applied it does have a quite greasy feel but this disappears quickly.

It's such a shame this toner drys my skin out so much. I'd be in love with it otherwise! Solely just for the delicious smell. I did go back to find a cleaneser and toner for dry skin but only managed to find the cleanser which I'll post about soon, It dosen't smell as beautiful though, such a shame.

I think it's just me being a bit dense but I've no idea what toner is supposed to do. It just makes my skin feel tight even if I use ones made for my skin type.They seem a little pointless to me. This claims to leave skin looking 'Fresh, radient and toned'. I never really look at my skin and wish it was more toned! Not sure if anyone else does. 

Just as a warning, all three of these products contain Methylparaben which you can read about here. There seems to be a large amount of controversy at the moment about Parabens and their use in cosmetics and I know now that alot of new skincare products like to be Paraben free and unfortunatley I don't think this is something which Garnier are concerned about as none of their products seem to be, or at least not the ones that I've used.

Availability:

You can get all three of these products from the Garnier website or from Boots and Superdrug. (If you can actually get the Superdrug website to work that is. It's useless everytime I use it).

Price:

Intensive 7 days moisturiser £1.99 (here's a Link to all the variations on this one!) Or you can get a free sample of it here on the Garnier website.

Cleanser and toner £3.15 each.

 ♥♥♥

April Glossybox

I'll keep this short and sweet since there's so many Glossybox posts already. This is April's Glossybox and as it was Earth Month or Day or something? (Help) They've made this month's box an eco-friendly one. 

Now I won't lie, I'm really by no means an 'eco-warrior'. I'm lazy and forget to recycle, leave lights on all day and night and have about 10 different electrical items on at any one time. So this box Really isn't up my street this month.

Okay so on the top there is an Inika Cosmetics Lip Liner in a really nice plum shade. I do love this and I have a lovely lippy already that it goes perfectly with.

From left to right there is Monu Hand and Nail cream. This stuff does make my hands feel so soft but it's bloody lavender! Which I honestly can't stand. Thankfully it's not too overpowering so i'm using this as my new handbag hand cream.

Phillip B styling Gel. Yeah, totally pointless me having this. What are people with long hair supposed to do with this? Just no thank you. This will either go in the bin or be put into a box and lost forever.

Caudalie SOS Serum. Love this so much! perfect for my dry skin at the moment. It describes itself as a 'pre-moisturiser'. it's super lovely and creamy and just perfect!

Fig and Rouge Lip Balm. Smells like candy canes and makes my lips soft. I've been wearing this when I get home from work and take my makeup off.

My apologies for my slightly sulky post guys. People always seem to get better stuff in their boxes than me so I always get in a little bit of a pap about it every time I read other people's Glossybox posts every month. I really shouldn't blog after work when I'm this sleepy. It just ends up in a moody post every time!

Incredibly tempted to get a Joliebox subscription too so I'll get double the products each month!

♥♥♥

Stop Costume Jewellery Turing Green

We all love our costume jewellery. It's cheap, stylish and thanks to it being cheap we can buy loads of it. The only thing wrong with it is when it turns your fingers/ears/neck green or even worse, when the actual jewellery turns green and is ruined forever.

I love this little tip and every single time I buy costume jewellery from Topshop or anywhere else now I always do this before I wear it. Just take any clear polish and paint a layer of it over your jewellery. I just use this MUA one as it's perfectly good as in only £1.

Some things like rings tend to need two coats so I stick about two coats on anyways just to play it safe! 

These earrings are really old and are sort of foundation covered (sorry about that one guys!) but they were the easiest things I had to demonstrate this on.

Just leave it to fully dry and then you're good to go! Green finger free.

♥♥♥

Collection 2000 Fast Stroke Eyeliner

Collection 2000  have just recently had a complete brand overhaul and this included changing their name to 'Collection',

Collection isn't a brand which I tend to use that much aside from their Lasting Perfection Concealer which every single blogger seems to be utterly obsessed with, and for a good reason. I was in a rush on my way out of Superdrug when I bought this so just picked up the nearest and cheapest liquid eyeliner I found as I'm never really fussed about which brand of eyeliner I buy.

The first thing I have to say about this eyeliner is that is relatively watery and It's not a true black, it's more of a deep Gray  shade which I don't tend to mind. In some ways I like that it's quite fluid. I blooming hate it when a 'liquid' eyeliner's so solid you have to pretty much scrape the brush along your lash line to transfer any product to it.

This however could do with being a tad less fluid and it takes quite a while to dry and has a tendency to just go all over the place If I blink before it's fully dried. I don't mind the Gray sort of shade it has to it for everyday but I doubt this eyeliner would be my first choice for a night out or a special occasion that my makeup needs to be at its best for.

I also feel I should point out that this really hurt my eyes. With quite a few liquid eyeliners by various brands it feels like my eyes are just burning and unfortunately this just happened to be one of them. I used this for around a week and I've since stopped having to use it simply because it hurt too much. Pain shouldn't be a part of my everyday makeup routine. If anyone else has the issue with liquid liners please do let me know! It's nothing to do with how I apply it since it does only do it with certain brands.

The thin, pointed sponge applicator with this product allows you to create either fine or thick lines. I much prefer these to the liquid liners that have actual brush type applicators which just bend all over the place when you're trying to draw a line with it.

This eyeliner comes in Black, Brown and Blue and there's also a waterproof version of the Black one. These can be purchased from Superdrug here or you can view it on their website here. These retail for £2.99

♥♥♥

My Week In Pictures

 

 Superdrug order. Over did it on the dark eye shadow. Leopard nail. Cheese bacon and egg toastie. Finally like my Perfect Day lippie. Found my long lost Easter egg. Lunch with Kerrie. Starbucks strawberries and cream. Living room wallpaper's up. wearing the one pair of jeans i own. new eyeliner stings so much. blogging with a latte. bought my favourite film on dvd. drinking juice instead of pop from now on. M&S Mojito Jelly.

♥♥♥

Lacoste Touch Of Pink

 I find it quite hard doing perfume posts as all I can ever think to say is "yeah, it smells good" which really isn't helpful to you lot at all so I did a little bit of research for this one using the magic Internet machine.

I've worn this perfume for years and years and whenever I try out new ones I always end up coming back to this one sooner or later. It's pretty much my go-to perfume or my little safety net' scent.
I ran out a few months ago and just totally forgot all about it and how much I loved it so I didn't repurchase it until last week when I actually went to buy one of the new DKNY perfumes but I spotted this instead at it was at a cheaper price than normal. How could I resist!

Okay, now to the 'science' well, you know, the part about what it actually smells like. 

The top notes are Orange and Coriander, the heart notes (or middle notes) are Jasmine and Violet and the Base notes are Sandalwood and Vanilla.

Now it's maybe just me but If i here about the notes of a perfume I still wouldn't have a clue what it smells like. To me it smells sweet but not in a Britney Spears 'Fantasy' sort of way. In a more mature grown up sort of way. I think the easiest way for anyone to understand what it smells like is to just give it a quick whiff next time you're in Debenhams!

If you ever meet me in person I can guarantee I will stink of this stuff! Just so you know I sprayed this on myself about 18 times while writing this so I could refer to the smell of it and remember what I'm talking about. I now smells like a tart's boudoir and will gas out my entire family when I go down for dinner in a little while.

I tend to buy all my perfume from Debenhams and this 50ml bottle was £22.80 down from £25 which isn't the greatest saving in the world but every penny counts kids. You can buy it here from Debenhams or I'm sure you can find it cheaper on the Internet somewhere If you have a little shop around!

  I hope you all have a good weekend!

♥♥♥

MAC Brows

I've been having so much hassle with my eyebrows over the last few weeks, I couldn't get them to do anything I wanted them do and I was ending up with a scouse brow all the time which really isn't a great look on me at all.

I was using Omega eyeshadow and a 208 brush so I thought maybe if I had a little switch around and bought some new eyebrow supplies my problem might resolve itself.

There's no Mac counter in the city I live in  so I had to look online to find a eyebrow shade and as we all know MAC's site shading chart leaves a lot to be desired.

Normally I tend to take Tanya Burr's advice about MAC eyebrow shades (I bought Mystery, Espresso and Omega using her recommendations only). I'd heard her mention Cork before so I thought I might as well give it a try.

It's a Matte brown colour and it does seem to be quite a warm tone but I'm terrible with that whole shading thing!

My 208 brush just wasn't cutting the mustard either and I noticed a lot of Youtube beauty gurus use the 266. I will upload a photo onto this post soon showing the differences between the two but the 266 is definitely better by far.

This combo makes it so easy to fill in my brows every morning now so bye bye to me looking stupid with huge drawn on brows every day. The eye shadow is a really good shade for me at the moment but I change my hair colour so much it probably wont be after I've been to the hairdressers on Tuesday!

♥♥♥

MUA Eye shadow Shade 20

MUA eye shadow's seem to be incredibly popular within the Blogosphere at the moment. I'm constantly stumbling onto blog posts about either these single eye shadows or MUA's amazing palettes.    

I completely understand the obsession  with these shadows. They're really highly pigmented and you get 2g of product which I think it's about double what you get with MAC or something along those lines anyways. I'll be uploading a few more of these single shadow posts over the next few weeks but I thought I'd start with the basics and upload the black eye shadow first.

Shade 20 is a Matt (I always thought it had an E at the end but the packaging disagrees with me) black colour. It's super pigmented as you can see in the image below. These shadows all do have a slight tendency to produce a small amount of fallout so be vary of it if using the darker shades that are harder to clean up.

Oh, I left out the best part, this cost me £1. Yep. Less than 2 packs of crisps. There is a large range of colours but not so much in Carlisle's Superdrug unfortunately! I find if you live  in a smaller city with a small MUA stand then it's much easier just buying it online from the Superdrug site.

♥♥♥

My Week In Pictures

Ashley's Mojito failure. Popcorn and Shrek. Finally found huge rollers. Starbucks finally asked me for my name to put on my drink. Night out with all my sixform friends who were back from uni. Cheese and chips heaven. View of Carlisle Castle while eating my cheesy chips.

xoxo

Sugar Crush Body Scrub

I've really been into the Soap & Glory products recently and couldn't resist treating myself to a big tub rather than the tester ones I normally get.

I find my skin tends to look dull thanks to my paleness but normally using a good exfoliator a few times a weeks helps it out a little.

The packaging on the entire Soap & Glory range looks so girly and pretty and they do look nice when just left on display in your bathroom. I can't resist buying something entirely based upon the packaging. I'm so shallow with beauty products!

          Even just reading the ingredients in the shop it seemed like it would have such a nice smell. The sugar and lime make this exfoliator smell like the green Starburst sweets. Yum! On the days i use this I try and use a non-scented soap so that I don't wash the smell of Starbursts off.

As it has Lime in it does tend to sting if you get it in a cut or something. I found this out the hard way and was sulking for the rest of my shower.  It also says on the packaging not to use this after shaving and for some reason I decided to be a little rebel and do it anyways after shaving my legs, big mistake!

It's not a particularly 'dense' exfoliator. The black beads you can see here are the relatively large exfoliating beads and the brown sugar also acts as an exfoliant. As there's not too many beads the exfoliation isn't too extreme so it doesn't strip the skin leaving it a little sore like some can.

Since it gives you a gentle exfoliation I found it didn't aggravate my skin whatsoever using it around four times a week. Since the weather will hopefully begin getting a little warmer soon and the short sleeved T-shirts start to come out of the wardrobe a bit more it's handy to have something to rejuvenate your skin and make it look a bit fresher and sunshine ready on hand!

I love having a good read of the back of Soap & Glory products. When companies use jokes and things on their products it really makes me love them even more.

Sugar Crush comes in a 300ml tub, retails for £8 and you can buy it here.

xoxo