Rimmel London | Wake Me Up Concealer

My dad thought this was an e-cigarette?..Okay dad :L

The amount of beauty bloggers that have talked about this product, they managed to convince me to buy it and i'm jolly glad i did! All the other concealers i own are very dry and don't blend very easily but this is the complete opposite. It blends like a dream (especially with the real techniques makeup sponge) and is my perfect shade. The description of the product says its good for covering blemishes and concealing under eye circles because its very brightening and from a drugstore product for £5.49 what else could you want?

 

The sponge was £5.99 and is shaped to fit in the contours of your face. Its said to be a really good dupe for the beauty blender and puffs up really big when its wet. 

The flat edge is for around the eyes and nose, although i use it all over my face. The sides are to blend large areas of the face like forehead and cheeks and the pointed edge is to cover imperfections.

I use it damp to blend make-up in easier and i really love it.

:)

Lush Bath Bomb : Sex Bomb

This fast fizzing bath bomb from Lush smells divine! Excuse the green powder on my bath bomb, i left it in the same bag as the 'Lord Of Misrule' bath bomb. It left my skin feeling so soft and my bath looking a really pretty pink colour. The petals are real soft and almost melt away, they don't get in your way unlike the seaweed in the Big Blue bath bomb. Lush says it has jasmine, ylang ylang and clary sage and claims to relieve stress and anxiety. Overall this is definitely in my top 10 from Lush.

(I don't think the camera captured quite how pink this really was)

Lipstick: Avon Red Kiss

This Avon lipstick in the shade 'Red Kiss', in my opinion is the perfect lipstick for winter. This is my favorite lipstick because its a dark pink-ie red shade and i'd like to think it suits my lighter skin. The lipstick twisted up looks really beautiful, it sort of looks like marble and the white is supposedly lip moisturizer. Its really creamy and doesn't make my lips look dry and has definitely made me more confident to wear bold darker lips.

How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes

I think cleaning your brushes is extremely important, especially face brushes as bacteria can grow inside them, leaving you with spots and blemishes. For this reason i try to clean my brushes every time I've used them. 

There are many different ways of cleaning your brushes and i just wanted to touch on the few main tips and tricks of cleaning them. 

Using soap is obviously how to clean them as hot water alone wont do the trick. There are a huge range of brush cleaning soaps both drugstore and high end. One i would recommend is the 'No7 Brush Cleaner' for £8.00. Regular hand soap works just as well though, i like using the 'Burts Bees Milk And Shea Butter Handsoap' for £8.49 (from boots).

The main tip i would say is to never, ever let the water get past the ferrule (the metal bit) as the water will make contact the glue holding the bristles in and weaken it causing your brush to shed.

I personally wash my brushes under the tap but i know some people fill a bowl and wash their brushes in that (almost like a brush bath) but if you do that i would suggest changing out your water with every other brush to ensure your actually cleaning them. I think the temperature of the water should be warm but not so hot that its burning your hand.

After turning on your tap (or filling up you bowl) you want to submerge your brush in the water making sure it doesn't run past the ferrule, also making sure that you keep the brush facing downwards so that the water doesn't then drip into the glue. A tip i like to do the make sure every bristle is wet is to find an old lid to a body butter or similar and dip the brush head in there. If i'm cleaning a smaller brush i tend to do two at a time just to speed up the process.

Then you want to put a drop of soap or cleanser onto your brushes (or hand). I would recommend putting a larger amount of soap on blush, foundation, powder or kabuki brushes and only a small amount for concealer and eye brushes. After that i like to rub it in over my fingers for a bumpier surface and watch it foam up (its really satisfying to watch all the color come out and for it to run clear). 

After that i rinse it off and repeat depending on how dirty the brush was. Then i submerge the brush head in the lid again to ensure there is no remaining soap on my brushes! I will then squeeze out the water with my finger and my thumb and dry it on a towel.

Once the brush is clean and i have squeezed out most of the water i then lay it down on a towel or the edge of a surface with the head poking of the edge so there is air flow all around the brush head. A tip i occasionally do is fold the back of the towel a few times so that the brush is laying at a diagonal angel meaning the water doesn't then roll back onto the glue. (although none of my brushes have ever malted just from laying them down). If you want to ensure that no water is going to make contact with the glue then you can stand them up right leaning against a wall with the head on the towel.

Some brushes once dried will completely lose their shape because they aren't synthetic. This is where brush guards come in handy! Brush guards just help a brush to keep its shape, your can find them most places (i get mine from ebay for about a pound) and you slide them over your brush heads, starting from the handle working it up the brush and leave it just covering it. 

(not my own photo)

Once the brush guards are on you can place them on a window cill with the window slightly open and leave them there over night just to ensure the brush goes back to its original shape and maintains its purpose!

I know washing your brushes can be quite annoying (if you have a lot) but when spending a lot of money on brushes you may as well take the best care of them you can.

Depending on how often you use them you can spot clean your brushes after uses. Ones i would recommend are the 'Mac Brush Cleanser' and the 'Cosmetica By Manicare Brush Cleanser'. 

Thank you for reading!

:)

L'occitane Verbena

(So glad this is a blog post because i would not be able to pronounce L'occitane) :'D 

L'occitane have a huge variety of collections and products but my favorite by far is the Verbena Scent. It basically smells like i'm spraying fresh lemons on me and i love it, its so refreshing! I've had a lot of the Verbena scent products before mainly the shampoo and the scrub (which i would definitely recommend!) 

The body lotion (on the left) is so moisturizing and has the same strong lemony scent. This was £20.00

The Fragrance (in the middle) is probably my second favorite perfume, i'm obsessed! This was £42.00

I could find this moisturizer on the website (on the right) but if you see it in the store, know it smells so good!

You can buy a small size of all of these for a fraction of the price if you just want to try them.

http://uk.loccitane.com/l'occitane's-fresh-and-lemony-scents--fragrances--citrus-body-care--lemony-lotions,83,1,29793,0.htm

:)

Anew Brow Filler

Brows are such a huge thing recently. They really frame the face and everyone seems to be obsessed! I really like this Avon Anew Brow Filler for a natural full brow that don't look fake or look like I have a lot of product on. It gives me fuller looking brows because its a gel with tiny little hairs to fill in any gaps! Avon sell two different shades Light Brow & Dark Brown for £9.00. I know this was a short blog post but I wanted to share a cheap product that works very well.

Little tiny hairs in the gel.

http://avonshop.co.uk/product/make-up/anew-beauty/anew-beauty-transforming-brow-filler.html

:)

Soap And Glory

Above : 2 Sugar Crush Hand Creams, 3 Sugar Crush Body Wash, Clean Girls Body Wash, 3 Loofah, The Righteous Butter, Flake Away (Travel Size), Righteous Butter (Travel Size), 2 Sugar Crush Body Butter cream, 2 Sugar Crush Body Scrub.

As you can see there are quite a lot of repeated sugar crush products, that's because i received to gift sets for Christmas. The sugar crush scent includes squeezed lime, lemons, vanilla musk, almond oil, sea salt, brown sugar, macadamia oil and sometimes coconut oil so skin goes soft after using it. I really love the Soap and Glory products because the scents lingers. The Righteous butter is like a miracle cream and smells amazing it says to use it on damp skin but i use it on damp or dry skin!

I'm really tempted to try some of the Soap and Glory face scrubs and moisturizer soon. Would you recommend any?

:)

Hair Care

 I have light ginger ombre hair so the ends of my hair are quite damaged. You will notice a lot of argan oil based products because i find my hair is super soft after is use them! I try to do masks often but i usually forget to when I'm in the shower or bath.These are a few of the products i like best. 

The Lee Stafford mask is more for length and along with this all the other products in this post, i think it has helped my hair to grow quite a lot since i last had it cut. 

Above From Left: Lee Stafford - For Hair That Never Grows Past A Certain Length, Avon Advance Techniques 360 Nourishment, Pantene Pro-V 2 Min Mask, Avon Planet Spa Blissfully Nourishing.

I think its important that if you have colored hair to use shampoos especially target towards colored hair as bleach can be quite damaging to the hair (especially the ends)

I'm not a big fan of the 360 Nourishment Shampoo & Conditioner as it doesn't really clean my hair so i really only use this once a month.

Above From Left (all are from Avon) : 360 Nourishment Shampoo & Conditioner, Color Protection Shampoo & Conditioner.  

My favorite shampoos (scent wise) are these Alberto Balsam ones!

After i have had a shower or a bath and my hair is still wet, i tend to spray it with a shine spray. If i sprayed it on my hair when it was dry it might make it look a bit greasy. 

I like the Mellor & Russell spray (the one in the middle) because it smells the best and doesn't make my hair look greasy. Plus it was only a £1 from Poundland!

 Above From The Left: Avon Advance Techniques Ultimate Volume, Mellor & Russell Instant Shine, Avon Advance Techniques Mirror Shine Spray.

Also whilst my hairs wet i like to put a serum on the mid lengths and ends to try and repair all my split ends and it makes it easier for brushing later on. 

I like the Aussie Dual Personality Shine Serum best, because its targeted for colored hair and smells the best.

Above From The Left: Aussie Dual Personality Shine Serum, Avon Advance Techniques 360 Nourishment, Gum Salon Serum Intensive (< From Poundland)

Whilst my hair is wet i like to brush it so that it drys straight, but hair is at its weakest when its wet so brushing it with a wide tooth comb makes it less damaging to your hair. When my hair is dry i brush it with a tangle teezer because then I'm not tugging on my hair!

Bit of an 'Avon Advance Techniques' theme throughout but its just because its delivered straight to your door and is so much easier!

:)

My Favorite : Lip Balms

Starting From The Left

• Nivea Pearly Shine : This doesn't really improve my lips and stop them from chapping but it smells amazing, though it doesn't taste amazing (I don't eat it but when I'm wearing it, it sometimes gets on my tongue and doesn't taste great) I wouldn't really recommend it.
•  Blistex Intensive Moisturiser : The tube is very small and runs out very quickly (as you can see in the picture) This is my second tube now. It smells so nice, sort of like fresh mint! It is really watery, when i first used it i thought it was going to dry my lips out but it didn't also when i first used it i didn't realize it was white and only later on in the day (after walking around town with opaque white lips) did i then realize.
• The Body Shop 100% Natural Lip Roll On - Rose : I got this for Christmas so i haven't been using it very long but it does hydrate my lips a lot! I'm not a huge fan of the rose flavor, i like the mint one from the same collection.
• Carmex : Oh My Giddy Aunt, this is my holy grail lip balm! I suffer from dry lips and this really helps! its not scented (although you can by scented ones) and is mainly medicated which is what i like best as it really makes your lips soft!
• The Body Shop Lip Care Translucent : I also received this one for Christmas as well and i love the packaging because it looks like it would be a lip stick rather than a moisturizing balm. I also love it gives a nice subtle sheen to my lips.
• Baby Lips - Mint Fresh - Peach Kiss : These are the two nicest smelling ones of the lot! The mint fresh is my favorite scent as it smells like after eight mints to me! These lip balms make my lips look shiny when i put them on but if i don't keep applying them my lips dry up after a while which is quite annoying.

^HOLY GRAIL^ 

Some have nearly run out but I'm determined to get as much lip balm out of it as i can!

:)

Hot Chocolate

As a Christmas present from some friends, i received a cute drinking glass that came with a hot chocolate packet and some mini marshmallows from new look :) so i decided i would make myself a drink.

A tip my dad taught me when i was younger, was to pour in the hot chocolate powder first, then add a small amount of milk and mix till smooth. This way the drink wouldn't have chocolate powder lumps!  Afterwards just add hot water or more milk and microwave it.

 Personally i prefer a milky hot chocolate ;)

Stir, Sprinkle, Slurp!

:)

The Body Shop : Shimmer Cubes

I have used and loved this pallet for nearly over a year now and is probably my favorite eye shadow pallet i own. They blend amazingly, are very pigmented and i love the shimmery colors...they are gorgeous. The one i own (as far a I'm aware) is no longer available as i have had it for a really long time. The pallets cost £16.00 which you could argue is quite expensive but they last a really long time and are good quality. Nowadays the body shop sell the shimmer cubes with 7 different pallets to choose from (my favorite is 06 warm). The cubes come out and can be mixed and matched with another pallet which makes them great for traveling! 

I like using the two middle colors >

all over my eyelids for special occasions with a matte color in the crease OR the two outer shades in the crease for a sparkly yet subtle smokey eye.

Here is a link to the body shop shimmer cubes webpage.

http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/make-up/eyes/shimmer-cube-palette.aspx

Lush Bath Bomb : Northern Lights

This bath bomb isn't Lush's usual shape for bath bombs and they released this one along with a yellow one called 'Sparkler' which i have not tried :(  When its placed in the bath, it fizzles really slowly compared to some of there other bath bombs and makes turns you bath water purple. Yellow and blue then come out of each end and cute little stars spread out all over the bath. I really like this bath bomb because although i love the citrus-ey scents of the other bath bombs from lush, it was quite nice to have a bath bomb that didn't really smell strong and wasn't over powering. (although some may say it was disappointing)

:)