June Favourites/ Items of the Month

I really enjoy reading 'favourites' posts and watching ones on Youtube, so I thought it was about time I shared my favourite products of the month with you! I might have had a few of these for over a month, but only just really used them properly, and I can't seem to get enough of them :)

Liz Earle Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask, Boots Coconut & Almond Hair Mask, Mac Melba blusher, Natural Collection lipstick in Raspberry, Mac Strobe Cream, Essie Sand Tropez, Benefit The Porefessional.

 This is the sample of the Porefessional I got in last months Glamour magazine, I had wanted to try out this for ages, so I was happy to see it in the miniatures offered by Benefit to Glamour readers. This is a flesh-coloured primer which blends into your skintone (I don't think it really gives any coverage), leaving my skin feeling smoother and ready for my foundation. Since using this my makeup has lasted longer and my skin has felt less oily throughout the day. I like everything about this primer, including the light fruity scent, and I can see myself buying the full size of this when this little one has run out. Thumbs up!

I'm a sucker for a mac product, I'll happily jump on any mac product bandwagon if I see it raved about enough. So when I saw this talked about on blog posts/videos, I knew I had to try it. I got the smaller 30ml version to see if I liked it. And I do! It's lovely to mix in with my foundation and it gives the skin a glow. You also don't need much, this little tube will last a long time. It's full of nice stuff like antioxidants and green tea, so it's good for your skin and I can confirm it hasn't made my acne any worse. It also makes my skin feel soft and moisturised, dry skin sufferers would benefit from this I feel. I can see this becoming a staple in my makeup bag and routine. Well worth parting with some cash for this if you haven't tried it.

 Loving this treatment mask at the moment, another great product from Liz Earle (yes, I am obsessed!). I got this as the free product when I bought the monthly skin care offer a while ago. It's a rich cream that you slather on and take off with a muslin cloth run under warm water. I apply this before showering and leave it on until just before I get out. It makes my face soft and feeling smoother, and also helps with any redness from my spots. I only use this once or twice a week, but my skin thanks me for it. Worth investing in, and I believe any skin type can use and benefit from this.

 Yay for Essie! I've got a little collection of this brand going on, but so far this shade is my favourite- a light nude that can be built up into a sophisticated shade. It's similar to Models Own Utopia, but less purple. The longevity of this is fantastic (a week with no chips and without a top coat) and I am hooked. It also looks good under some nail art. Love it.

 When I bought this I was initially disappointed, but then I discovered I was using the wrong brush to apply it, and now I adore this shade. Melba is a popular one, and for good reasons. It warms the face up without being orange and lasts very very well, even without powder on my skin. I love it and really recommend it! I'm keen to invest in some more mac powder blushes (purchased Posey cream blusher last week, which is lovely), so I'll keep my eyes out for some shade inspiration.

 This smells amazing! I can't eat coconut due to some weird intolerance, but I love the smell and also using products with it in as it really makes my skin/hair feel lovely. This is a great hair mask and helps with my dry ends where any bleaching and heat appliances fry them. You get a huge tub for... £1.89! Bargain! Find this in Boots.

 A lipstick for £1.99?! It must be crap! Umm nope, it's actually very nice, moisturising and sheer, but buildable! And in quite a few different shades too, thanks Natural Collection (Boots). This was the last Raspberry shade left in store so I snapped it up, and I'm very glad I did. I like finding cheap-but-good products that work and don't cause too much damage to my bank balance ;)

 What are your monthly favourites? Found anything worth trying out?

X.

Liz Earle Colour

*I am only reviewing the Sheer Skin Tint and the Cream Blush, there are a lot more products in the range from Lip gloss to Bronzer, but I have not yet come across those/bought any. I paid for the blush with my own money, and the Skin Tint samples came with it. I am basing my review on these after trialing them for over two weeks.

 These products are my first experiences of the new makeup collection recently launched by Liz Earle, and after the success of their skincare range, I had very high hopes. Perhaps too high... I had been keen to try out a cream blusher for a while, so I went for a Liz Earle one. Usually I read how much product you receive for your cash, but on this occasion I failed to. For your money you get 2 grams of product, compared to 6 grams from mac for a very very similar price. I do feel a little cheated in that respect, but I'll admit it was something I should have checked beforehand. Lesson learned.
 The colour I chose was 04 (Rose), a very beautiful dark, dusky pink. I am impressed with the actual product, it applies well and I can build up the intensity of it easily. The formula is very creamy and lasts well on my skin, it can also be used as a matte lip colour which looks very pretty (dry lip sufferers beware! Use some lip balm beforehand!). Overall I love this blush, but I think I will look for a cheaper alternative in a similar shade when I use it up. If this was even £5 cheaper then I would give it top marks, but the pricing and quantity for money really lets it down for me.  

 Onto the Sheer Skin Tint. I was really excited to hear about this launch, finally a foundation from my favourite skincare company! Liz Earle are sending out quite generously sized samples of every shade with orders, you can try the samples out at home to find the best match for you, minimising disappointment if you buy online. Genius! I wish more companies offered this service. They also send you a colour chart with every single shade pictured for every product (see top picture).
 There are currently four shades available: Fair skin tones, Medium, Medium to Dark and Dark. In the pictures I have swatched them from fairest to darkest, in natural daylight. The keyword surrounding this product is in the name...Sheer. From the product information I gathered that you could achieve a reasonable amount of coverage, not so. If you have good skin or are in the search of a nice tinted moisturiser then this will be for you. However, even the dark didn't really look... dark, it came out rather orange. I tried the lightest shade, and then had to apply the medium as the light one sank into my skin and disappeared, it didn't correct any uneven skintone, it simply vanished! The medium was a little better, but no way would this cover blemishes. As an acne sufferer I want coverage, and lots of it!
 I was hoping this would be the answer to my foundation issues, light but buildable coverage for the warmer months, moisturising, and able to even out any redness. But for me, it just doesn't work, I'll be sticking to my mac Studio Fix fluid for now. I think this really is aimed at people with good skin, who require the minimum amount of coverage possible. Don't get me wrong, it is a lovely product but for the right person, and that sadly isn't me.

 I am keen to try more of this range, the bronzer looks promising and the lip products have some lovely shades. Hopefully Liz Earle might in the future make a foundation? Please?!

 Have you tried any of the Colour range? What are your thoughts?

X.

Sunday Post: life via Instagram

Finding new clothing combinations//Initial heart pendant from my mum//Slimming world strawberry cupcakes (surprisingly good!)//Leopard creepers that had to be returned :(//Studded collar//One of my bird sketches//Antique poison ring//Patterned accent nail//My cat keeping watch in the garden today//My vintage mirror found at my local recycling centre for £12//What happens when a Liz Earle product gets some surgery (the pump broke)//A lovely morning cup of tea :).

X.

Glossybox: June 2012

June Glossybox contains: Pro Beauty Brush, Yves Rocher Mascara, BM Beauty summer warmth bronzer, Agent Provocateur perfume samples & Vichy Dermablend Concealer sample kit.


 Good job Glossybox! Loving the contents! The theme this month was 'sexy summer style' (bit cringe if you ask me), with products you could take on holiday easily without over-cramming your suitcase.

 The stand out product for me is the Dermablend test kit, I tried this out today and I'm very impressed, when my mac concealer dies I'll be investing in some of this, maybe even the Vichy Dermablend foundation too. The concealer has great staying power and coverage, although I found I needed to set it with some mac MSF. I also like how you have the option of creating your own custom blend with the colours, although I was a bit surprised at how few colour options there were- darker skin tones might find these too light to wear I fear.

 The brush was a nice feature, although no way would I pay £15 full price for this, Sigma offer cheaper and better brushes than this, as do Real Techniques, sorry Glossybox. The mascara is something I'm looking forward to trying, as I prefer bristle brushes as opposed to the plastic wand applicators.

The BM Beauty bronzer is very very lovely, just apply with a light hand as a word of caution, or the side of your face will turn orange (this might have happened this morning...) ahem. It's very finely milled, creating a very soft product. The full 4g size is only £8, sounds very reasonable to me. If it was a pressed powder it might easier to apply though, as I tend to waste this as it's awkward to tap the excess back into such a small pot.

 And finally the perfume samples, cannot complain this month as I adore Agent Provocateur! I'm lucky enough to own quite a few pieces of their lingerie courtesy of Adam and I have gone through a few bottles of their perfume too. Beautiful scents! Although I have read you can get this little sample box free from the official website, so it's a bit cheeky of Glossybox but I do love all the perfumes so I won't gripe too much ;)

 Do you subscribe to Glossybox or any of the other beauty box services? Let me know :)

X.

Weekend post: in the garden

This weekend I went to visit Adam in Dorset. We had some sunshine so decided to go and visit a garden which is in Poole, called Compton Acres, where my dad used to work when he was my age. It was beautiful, broken up into themed gardens such as the Italian garden and the Japanese garden, there was even a wedding going on. I took lots of pictures for my parents to have a look at, so here are a few...

carving inside the grotto

 We also went to Pamp Hill near Wimbourne and stopped at the farm shop where we bumped into my relatives who help run the antique shop there, I bought an antique poison ring which I love- it's very gothic-Victorian era. We also went to visit the beautiful little church there too:

 I might have had a little shopping trip this weekend, I bought a few clothes and beauty bits which I'll show on here later in the week, I'm hoping my bank balance will be ok until next Tuesday, payday seems to have come around quick for once! I'm also on the hunt for another camera (yes, another!), at the moment I like the look of a Nikon D3100, but I have seen a Pentax Q which looks great. I also want to get a polarizing lens to make the light and colour balance better.

 I'm afraid I missed Father's Day, but I left a huge bar of chocolate for him to find, that counts right? Hope everyone had a nice weekend, I'm off to have a large mug of tea and an early night, working nine hours tomorrow is not sounding appealing right now!

X.

sketchbook

 I felt creative last night, so I got my battered little sketchbook out and drew some doodles and then progressed onto some bird studies, I might have been inspired by the last episode of Springwatch- loving that program! I haven't really drawn anything for ages, despite taking GCSE & A-LEVEL art, but I like the results :) The book above is one of my favourites, I used to look at it when I was small and spend ages looking at all the drawings. The wren is one of my favourites, it's also my mum and my grandma's favourite bird too.

 I've spent today looking through University prospectus's for my MA course, I want to do Msc Osteoarchaeology (the study of human and animal bones), and I plan on applying for 2013. It's so nice to have a goal to save towards again, and some sort of future plan, I do not plan on being a dispenser forever and I really want to go back into education again. I had a lovely chat with one of my best friends the other night and we were discussing life and where it might take us, I love those sort of chats, it helps me get some perspective if I'm feeling stuck in a rut and reminds me that my life will go somewhere, but I have to make it happen. Little steps are being made, but in the right direction which is what counts!

 Later on today I'm driving to Bournemouth for a weekend with Adam, we're hopefully going shopping tomorrow and having a nice relaxing few days, shame about the weather! I'm dreading driving really, I get scared about trees falling onto the road! I'm sure it will be fine though :)

 I'm taking my film camera and then I can hopefully get the pictures developed next week!

X.