Big Fat Beauty Haul #1

A lovely package from the online beauty store Feel Unique arrived for me at the end of last week, a box of my favourite goodies! 

It's been one of those months where I've run out of practically everything, so it was time to stock up. Although I haven't tried this yet, the beauty store Feel Unique offers a subscription service for your favourite go-to products that you know that you run out of every month or so. I think this is a great idea, and just one of the many reasons why Feel Unique is the best beauty store in the web! You can read more about their Subscribe and Replenish service here: 

http://www.feelunique.com/page/subscribe-and-replenish

So in my beauty haul I've got (starting from the top) 

Clinique's High Impact Extreme Volume mascara in Extreme Black

Clinique's Quickliner for Eyes Intense in Chocolate

Bare Minerals Original Foundation powder in Fairly Light

Bare Minerals All Over Face Colour in Warmth

Bare Minerals All Over Face Colour in Rose Radiance

Avene's Cleanance Micellar Water (a BIG bottle this time!) 

As I've blogged before, these are my favourite, everyday essentials. I use them all the time. This haul set me back £94 and that was with a discount code. However, these brands can be fairly pricey, and as I've learnt, when you find a product or a brand that just works, money kind of goes out of the window. I know these products work with my skin and don't cause me to break out, and that alone is justification for spending nearly £100 on cosmetics. 

Just don't tell my partner...  😉

I'm running low on my Clinique Anti Blemish products so my next Big Beaity Haul will include those! 

Lisa x

Bargain Beauty Haul #1

So you will notice from my last few posts that I am a lover of Clinique, Bare Minerals, Too Faced and Avene. These brands are very luxurious and also tend to carry a hefty price tag too. So I thought that I'd try some new products from brands available in most supermarkets and chemists. 

The Collection palette really caught my eye as a mini dupe for Urban Decay's original Naked palette. The colours are great for creating natural day looks and something a bit more subtle and smokey for evening looks. 

The powders went on easily and were easily blended and buildable. I would recommend using an eyeshadow primer first though as they don't have the staying power of other brands. best part is that this palette cost me the grand total of £2.98! 

I also thought I should try a new brow product to tame my wild eyebrows into shape, especially after looking through the photos on my last post. I opted for Maybelline's Brow Drama that set me back around £5. 

You can see from the mascara-like wand that it is shaped to stroke the formula onto the eyebrows easily. I would say after using it for two days that my brows definitely look more groomed, although it does sort of feel a bit weird when I raise my eyebrows to actually feel something on them!

My final purchase was a new nail varnish from MaxFactor's Glossfinity range in Burgurndy Crush. This was about £6 and is a really beautiful, deep cherry-red shade. The results were really good after just one coat. I only ever wear nail varnish on my toenails - never on my fingernails as I don't like the feel of it. But this is a lovely shade and did make me want to apply it to my fingernails too. 

So a bargain beauty haul for under £20! It's always good to break from the norm and check out a cheaper alternative brand if they're doing something new. I'm certainly impressed with the Collection eye palette and will be checking out their other shades! 

Lisa x

My Daily Routine

Ok so I'm going to do something I've never done before and post a picture of my face WITHOUT makeup! I want to show you the products I use pretty much everyday and, inspired by My Pale Skin's blog and viral video 'You Look Disgusting', I think it's important and healthy for more women to show themselves with bare skin. However, this post has taken me totally out of my comfort zone and I've angsted about posting this for a while. So, here goes:

Did the world stop turning? 

Did small children across the world cry?

Did old ladies fan themselves and faint? 

I certainly hope not! 

But yes, this is my 30 year old face. I've seen my fair share of breakouts, family struggles, heartbreak, some epic nights out and numerous sleepless nights raising my toddler. Given everything my poor old skin has been through I don't think I look too bad.

Oh and yes, I'd just come out the shower. That's when I tend to do my makeup because my hair is naturally slicked back off my face. I'll talk more about my morning skincare routine in another post, but this is what I look like after cleansing, toning and moisturising. 

I begin with Bare Minerals Original Prime Time primer (rrp £22). This gives my pock marked and scarred skin an excellent base to begin the Bare Minerals foundation routine. I then buff Bare Minerals Original SPF Foundation in Fairly Light (rrp £26) into my face, concentrating on my T-Zone first and sweeping out across my cheeks and jawline in light, circular motions. I use the Bare Minerals Full Flawless Application Face Brush for this (rrp (£24). I should also say at this point that I started using Bare Minerals just over a year ago in an attempt to reduce my son's eczema. I was concerned that the thick, creamy foundation I had been using was making his skin worse as I spent a large amount of time cuddling and kissing my newborn. His skin often flared up when someone wearing lots of cosmetics and especially perfume held him. So I made the switch and was really impressed with the amount of coverage I got (it's buildable), that my skin condition seemed to improve and so did my son's! 

Sorry about the moody shots... I don't really photograph well! I then use Bare Minerals Warmth All Over Face Colour (rrp £20) to lightly contour my face underneath my cheekbones, top of my forehead and jawline. I use the Bare Minerals Tapered Blush Brush (rrp £13.50) for this, just using gentle stroking sweeps. 

I then sweep Bare Minerals Rose Radiance (rrp £20) lightly onto the apples of cheeks. This again just adds a soft warmth and definition to the cheekbones, though the colour is very buildable so you can certainly use more if you want a more dramatic look. I also dab in very gently Clinique's Airbrush Concealer in Illuminator (rrp £19) under my eyes and into the dark parts of my eye socket. I just use my fingertip for this. 

I then blend a little of Clinique's Chubby Stick Shadow Tint for Eyes in Bountiful Beige (rrp £17)over my lids. Sometimes I use this just on its own if I'm in a hurry / can't be bothered to apply loads of eye shadow. Most of the time I use it as a nice, creaseless base for some powder eyeshadow.

This is where I feel like my face finally starts to look like 'me again' - when I apply eyeliner! My go to eyeliner of choice is Clinique's Quickliner for Eyes Intense in Chocolate (rrp £16). It's not a pencil, but a very long-wearing creamy formula that glides very easily. And no need for sharpening as you can just twist it up. I love it and wear it everyday!

I then use a combination of colours from one of my numerous Too Faced eye shadow palettes. These colours were Heaven, Cashmere Bunny and Sexpresso (seriously - who comes up with these names?!) from the Natural Eyes palette (rrp £25). I love Too Faced eye shadows. The colours are gorgeous, their palettes always have a great combination of night and day looks and the shadows themselves are long wearing, easy to blend and buildable.

Nearly done! Just a slick of my favourite mascara - Clinique's High Impact Extreme Volume Mascara (rrp £19). I've tried many mascaras over the years but my skin is so oily that normally by lunchtime I find I'm constantly having to dab under my eyes to mop up stray black marks. This is one with real staying power and gives just a nice, natural long-lashed look. I'm so over the whole spider-eyes look and don't have the patience for falsies. If you want a good, solid mascara which just doesn't go bitty, blob or dry out quickly, this one is ideal.

Finally, one last buff with my Bare Minerals Full Flawless Application Face Brush with a little bit of Ben Nye's Luxury Banana Powder (rrp £22 - I got mine from eBay). It sets makeup like nothing else and just helps to even everything out and give a nice glow. 

I then just use a bit of lip balm on my lips and my brows are just too unruly for pencils and shaping. To be honest, I mostly use a teensy bit of leftover lip balm from my finger to slick my brows down. If I have time or I'm going out, I may make a little bit of extra effort with my lips and eyes but most days I just don't have time!

And that's me!

My whole everyday routine takes around 10-15 mins. I'm smiling in my last photo because I'm thinking - yep! I look OK! Now I'm ready to face the world! 

Seconds after I took this photo I had the crushing realisation that I had yet to pick out an outfit or dry my hair... And I was already 10 minutes late... And my toddler has just pulled off his nappy and was trying to climb out of his cot...

😩 

Lisa x

Avene Cleanance Micellar Water

Jumping on the bandwagon of the 'micellar water' craze, I started using the Avene Cleanance Micellar Water about 6 weeks ago. Micellar water is hugely popular in France and has been for centuries as a way of cleansing skin gently without having to rinse afterwards. I have used products in the Eau Thermal Avene Cleanace range before and had been impressed, so it was a no-brainer for me to try this product from a brand I trusted. This particular range (Cleanance) caters for those with oily, blemish prone skin, though there are other options for dry and sensitive skins.

This particular bottle was about £7 from Boots and is a good size to try, being only 100ml. I've since ordered the big 400ml bottle which I hope will last longer, as I have got through this pretty quickly. Micellar water is an excellent replacement for makeup remover wipes that whilst convenient, are often packed with preservatives to help them last. I have now seen Micellar water makeup remover wipes on the market though so you can potentially get the best of both worlds.

This brand has a pleasing, fresh smell. It's subtle and not astringent, it just smells clean. The water is ever-so-slightly oily and all I do is sprinkle a few drops onto a clean cotton pad and sweep across my face and eyes (yes - it can take eye makeup off too!) If you have a full face of makeup, expect to use 4-5 pads, if you've already cleansed your face (as I do - see earlier post) then you can get away with 1 or 2 pads, just to take away any lingering dregs of makeup and to freshen the skin. It feels very soft and gentle on the skin and mine devours the small amount of oil the water contains, meaning most days I don't bother with a moisturiser. I've been using it morning and evening and I feel quite strongly that my skin's overall appearance and texture has improved. My pores seems less enlarged and my skin seems more 'dewy'.

There are many other brands doing Micellar water now: Garnier and Simple to name a few. I figured that I'd pay the extra and opt for a brand that I trusted and used spring water that is bottled at the source after spending 40 years underground (think of all those nutrients and minerals!). Another brand which is touting Micellar water as their 'thing' is Bioderma, who have been selling it for years.

Next time you're out of makeup remover wipes, perhaps consider trying this instead. Hopefully you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was!

Lisa x

Clinique's Rinse Off Foaming Cleanser

I've used Clinique's Rinse Off Foaming Cleanser for about a year now and I genuinely love it. It's quite expensive (rrp £17) but it does a fantastic job of washing my makeup off every evening. It produces a luxurious, creamy lather that doesn't strip the skin of its natural oils, yet it's one of the most thorough cleansers on the market. I literally squeeze a small amount into my palms, rub it gently into my face (avoiding eye area as best I can!) and it melts my makeup away. Then I gently wash away with lots of warm water.

I follow up with a toner or micellar water on a cotton pad, depending on whether my skin is behaving itself. When I use this cleanser, I find that there is little, if no makeup left on the cotton pad when I do the final sweep of my face. 

This photo is of a trial sized tube as I (shock!) ran out of my main supply a couple of days ago. But Clinique do some amazing bonus time deals throughout the year where if you buy two products during a promotion you can get a cute bag and a selection of travel sized products to try. This often pops up in the bonus time bags (more about my addiction to Clinique's bonus time later...) so it's a good way to experiment with it.

I'll do a post on the Micellar Water and other other cleansers and toners I use later in the week.

Lisa x

Introduction

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on this blog. I thought that after nearly 20 years of experimenting with makeup and spending thousands of pounds on skincare that I may finally be able to share what I've learned with others. I'm not a professional makeup artist (and absolutely do not claim to be one!) so I'm not going to focus on tutorials. I simply want to share with the world how I look after my skin, the products and routines I use and the quick fixes I implement to help me face the world now I'm a busy working mum.

A little about my skin: I started getting spots when I was about 12. At first just a few tiny ones on my chin. Over the next couple of years my facial skin dramatically changed as I developed acne. I can't tell you the amount of heartbreak I endured as I tried desperately to hide my breakouts, slathering on creamy, oily foundation during the day and using harsh topical creams, ointments and washes in the evening to combat my problem skin, probably only making things worse. 

Let me tell you now: I've had prescriptions for pretty much every acne treatment out there. I've tried practically every brand of skincare that claims to help blemished skin. I've had three courses of Roaccutane (that's the maximum anybody is allowed in the UK). The only thing that has ever worked to calm my skin down is this: getting pregnant. 

Now I have a nearly two year old (you can read about him here) and my skin is still better than it's ever been in my adult life. I still get spots regularly, but only one or two, here and there. Nothing like the acne I experienced when I was a teen. However, I do have quite a bit of scarring from my teenage days and also some sun damage which has left me with darker patches on my cheekbones and the bridge of my nose.

The products I recommend on this blog are based on my own personal usage. I'm not paid to endorse any products in any way and I would always recommend doing a patch test first if you can before jumping in the deep end with any new products. I would describe my skin now as oily, combination and sensitive. That's right - those with oily skin can be sensitive too! So the products I use are mostly to help me with my skin issues. I rarely use intensive moisturisers on my face for example! 

Anyway, I hope you find this blog interesting. I have certainly learnt a lot over the years and often learned the hard way. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions for products you'd like me to try. 

Thanks everyone!

Lisa x