Tuesday 26 February 2013

Most Wanted List Feb 2013



Hi guys,

I've just whipped up a list of what I've had my eye on over this month and haven't got round to buying yet...but I soon will!

1. The Ojon rare blend oil is a product I'm in dire need of because my hair is going through a really bad dry stage and it seems like no matter what I do, it just wont go back to being silky soft. I don't know if it's because I've dyed my hair red but it's starting to get on my nerves how damaged my hairs getting due to the dryness. If you have any suggestions I'm all ears, literally will do anything! Until then, I'm looking forward to purchasing this oil. I've heard good things about it.

 2. Philosophy is a brand I haven't had the pleasure of trying but I love how they look, since pictures of their products are all over Tumblr! I really want to give my skin a break and start wearing BB creams during the day. I was opting for the Garnier BB cream but then I laid eyes on this and its reviews I changed my mind! I read them all and all of them were really really flawless. So I think I'll be getting my paws on this one instead!

3. Garnier is a product that I am pretty familiar with on the other hand, and was one of the reason why I was going to get the BB cream. Even though I wont be getting the BB Cream, I will however be purchasing the Garnier caffieine anti-dark roll on concealer. I watch a lot of beauty guru's on Youtube and they all more or less use this! I love how it covers circles and prevents puffiness but still doesn't set in fine lines or go all cakey. Can't wait to try this!

4. I have the Real Techniques Core Collection and I'm pretty much set except I don't have anything to apply blush with, so this is a must have as Real Techniques are quality brushes. Everyone should own some.

5. Nars orgasm is a cult classic to be honest but I never really felt the need to run out and buy a high end blush, until recently. I've noticed my make up doesn't always look pulled together and I feel maybe a good quality blush would be the right road to go down. I've always been into that Victoria's secret blush vibe but can never find one that mimics their blush. I heard that Orgasm is one they use ( not sure they do though) but I'm excited to try this finally!

So that's it! What are the items you have your eye on at the moment?




Thursday 21 February 2013

My daily make up !



Hi guys!

I thought I would do a quick post on my everyday make up, as I find these sort of posts pretty interesting. I always like to see what people are buying and using daily, it gives a good insight into what they really find the best for them.

I live by the rule that no matter what you should always have a good high-end foundation. It is, after all the base and foundation of your beauty look. Without a good base, an even canvas, your make up most likely won't turn out as perfect as you'd like. With everything else, you can experiment with different drugstore/highstreet alternatives!


So first off after moisturising my face with some good old E45, I spritz my face with the MUA Pro Base fixing mist and then wait for a few seconds before moving on to my foundation. With this Estee Lauder foundation, I find you have to work pretty quickly to get the best results because of it being long lasting it sets pretty quickly. I use my Real Techniques Buffing brush to work my foundation in, I do this for a while to make sure it is completely worked into my skin and doesn't look cakey or uneven. I then move on to concealing, which is usually just under my eyes. I mix both Collection Lasting perfection and MUA cover and conceal together under the eye and then blend with the Real techniques buffing brush once again. I then Powder my face with the collection loose powder with a big fluffy blush brush and then go over my entire face with the MUA Undress your skin illuminating powder, to give my face a lovely glow, it brings life back into the skin. I like to leave my blush and contour until I've finished my eyes etc. so I can see how much I need. 


So, I  move on to my brows with the MUA brow kit, and use both the dark and medium brown with a models own angled brush. Once that's done, I use the MUA Pearl eyeshadow in Pearl on my brow bone, in the corner of my eyes, a little dab down my nose and across my cheek bones (not too much because we've already applied the illuminating powder!). I then use the lightest shade from the MUA Undressed Pallet all over the lid and then contour the socket with the brown 3rd along the top. I tight line with the kohl pencil and create a cat eye with the collection felt tip eye liner. Finally, I curl my lashes with the lash curlers and add lashings of Benefit's they're real. 

Okay so now we can add blush and contour! I don't know why I like to leave it to the end, I guess I feel it's the final thing to do to bring the look together. I contour my cheekbones, temple, hairline, jaw and under my chin with the MUA Bronzed perfection with the Real Techniques contour brush. Make sure to blend this out really well or you'll look muddy and weird with lines down your face haha! I then go on to use my Estee Lauder blush (can't remember the name but I know it's discontinued so use any of your favourite blushes!) and sweep this up my cheekbones with a fluffy blush brush. I find that because I have a chubby face, I can't apply it so much on the apples of my cheeks because it weighs down my face. By applying the colour lightly on your cheek bones, you're further sculpting and lifting the face. A tip is to remember that when you apply your blush on the apples of your cheeks you tend to smile, and so when you drop your smile the apples drop and your blush is further down your face.

Finally I apply a chapstick or a lipstick. Of late I've been into the Apoalips lip cream, and variate between Big bang and celestial. Celestial is my favourite, though! To finish off I spritz my whole face with the MUA Fixing mist to set everything for the day!

PHEW! That was long to go through! I was thinking about doing a video to show this look if people are interested. I could go into the products and techniques I use more but I'm not sure who would be interested watching it! Let me know :) <3



Tuesday 19 February 2013

Flawless Skin Primer







Can you tell I went on a bit of a manic spend on the Undress Your Skin range?!

This is the primer from the Undress your skin collection, and it does not disappoint. At £5 (an introductory price of £3 at the moment), it is one of the more expensive items from MUA. I can understand that they will up their prices as they start to experiment and deliver better quality prices. But I imagine they would never go past £10 as time goes on, if that.

Okay back to the product! This face primer is meant to create a radiant base for you to work on, whilst filling in lines, wrinkles and pores. I've not really seen the radiant aspect yet, but I have definitely seen that it gives me a clear canvas to work on once I've applied it and I've worked it into my skin. I was pretty amazed by how good quality it really is. When rubbing it in, I can see any shine disappear before my eyes, leaving a oily free base to work with. There's no smell which is a plus, as I've tried a few cheaper primers and they always have a plastic smell. This doesn't t smell of anything, and has a lovely feel. It obviously has some sort of collagen, because it has that lovely velvet feel as you apply. The only thing with this is that I never know where I've already applied the product, as you can't see the product as you're applying or really feel much apart from the velvet. 

The only thing that got to me is how small the bottle is. For £5, it is really tiny. I was pretty shocked when I opened my package and saw how small it was. The picture online is really misleading. Nonetheless you don't need much product for your whole face and at £5 I would't mind repurchasing a lot.

Other than that little blip, it is a fantastic product. I would recommend to anyone who is on a budget for a quality product that does what it's meant to!



Sunday 17 February 2013

Undress Your Skin illuminating Foundation






 This foundation is part of MUA's new Undress Your Skin collection, and is one of the more 'pricier' make up pieces at £5. They don't have a vast colour selection; only 3 colours being Porcelain, beige and Golden. You get 35ml, and to be honest when I opened mine it had no silver foil cap on top and felt half empty like someone had already used it. Might not have, but I wasn't best pleased to begin with!

The colour is pretty much spot on for my complexion, and it doesn't oxidise over time so it doesn't leave you patchy or left with a different colour face to your body. The formula is very liquid, and sheer. I would say it's a light to medium coverage but buildable  I would beware of going over the top though as it could become cakey if you have dry skin. That brings me to another point...


I have dry hands at the moment so this shows you kind of what you're looking at if you have dry skin. It will cling to every patch your skin can muster up, so I would avoid this foundation at all costs unless you have normal to oily (ish) skin. It does however go crap when you have oily skin too. It slides off of my nose after around an hour of wear because of how greasy it gets, and powder doesn't help too much to set the foundation. 


Okay I'm not going to lay into it entirely...

I do actually enjoy this foundation, though. It gives a lovely glow to your skin, and perks your skin up nicely. It blends well into the skin but I've found it works better with your hands, I've tried using my real techniques buffer brush and it does work with it but you don't get the right coverage with it. I think because of how sheer it is on the first coat, with a brush it just kind of disappears into the brush. I've not tried this with a beauty blender so I'm not sure on how that would work with this foundation, though I'm guessing it may absorb into the blender, too. So I'd definitely advise to use your hands!

I'd give this foundation a 5/10. I'm most likely going to use this as a heavy foundation alternative  like for days where I'm only out briefly. Nonetheless, I think it's worth a go, it may work better for you! 


Thursday 14 February 2013

Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder




SO EXCITED FOR THIS COLLECTION!!

When MUA announced their new Undress Your Skin collection, I could barely contain myself when I saw the pictures of the products. All products are exactly what I wanted MUA to bring out. Not only are they affordable to a part time working student like myself, but their product quality for the low price is second to none.

The first picture I saw (and the most exciting personally) was the Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder. At an introductory price of £2 (usually £3), this highlighter reminds me of MAC's Mineralized skin finish in Soft and Gentle. It can be used as a highlighter for your cheek bones/brow bones/nose etc. or used all over as a powder; which I prefer to do as it gives a dewy glow absorbing the excess oils on my skin. What excited me even more, was the beautiful design on the highlighter. It looks more expensive looking and fancy with this design, which I like, otherwise it would look a bit boring and like any other high street highlighter. As you may have also noticed, the packaging is white, too! I think it looks pretty sleek considering I'm into more black packaging, I think it holds up MUA's idea of a new line completely. 

Obviously, this may not be a product for those that don't like to use highlighter, but I do have to say it's not so shimmery that it scares you off. It has a subtle shimmer, that perks your skin up and like it says completely transforms it. You don't look cakey, or oily, or tired looking. I really recommend highlighters generally to bring out parts of the face, but I also recommend this powder to replace your normal face powder and then maybe use another highlighter on top to bring out other areas? It's completely up to you, and that's what I love about this product; you can work it to what best suits you. 

Have you tried any of the new Undress Your Skin collection yet? 




Friday 8 February 2013

Organix Renewing Moroccan Argan Oil Shampoo Review





Whilst wandering through a Superdrug a while ago, I stumbled upon the Organix hair care range. I never even knew Superdrug had Organix in their stores, and only thought I could get it on specialist sites online, so you can imagine how happy I was when I found it! I'm a huge hair buff, and I baby my hair to death. I always use oil in my hair so when I found this Moroccan Argan Oil shampoo, I had to get it. I know the benefits of using oil is huge, and since using oils in my hair after shampooing and conditioning, I've seen a huge difference in my hair condition and length. My hair is about an inch away from my waist, and I hope to get it longer in the coming months. So buying this shampoo with an oil in it should only make that goal easier to get to.

The packaging personally is really cute and luxurious looking. I love the gold and the aqua blue with the black fancy lettering. It gives it an expensive feel without breaking the bank. At £6.99 it's about average for a decent high street shampoo/conditioner, and for what it gives you, you're getting a lot for your money. I haven't got the conditioner and oil yet, but I will soon buy them when I'm next around that particular Superdrug. They also have Macadamia oil shampoo,conditioner and oil and Brazilian Keratin therapy shampoo, conditioner, flat iron spray and serum, too.

The product itself is pretty thick, and smells amazing. It smells a bit like you're on holiday! I do find that your hair has to be completely saturated in water before you can lather this properly, or you find yourself using more product than you should if your hair is only damp/wet. Once your hair is completely soaked on the other hand, it's a dream to lather and easy to rinse. Your hair feels squeaky clean and SILKY SOFT. It feels like you've already conditioned it's that soft. Those with really oily hair or those that don't always have time to condition, this shampoo could be for you. It doesn't dry out the hair, and puts oils back into the hair shaft to condition inside out. I have accidentally forgotten to use conditioner after shampooing with this Organix shampoo and my hair can suffer from being dry/brittle but I didn't have a problem after using this, it still felt silky and conditioned.

My hair has been manageable with no static or flyaway's which sometimes I can find with shampoos I'm not used to. I'm not sure on the staying power of cleanliness before it gets greasy as I have naturally VERY greasy roots after 1-2 days after a wash so I don't like to wait around before my next hair wash. I don't think a product can really determine how quickly your hair will get greasy unless you haven't washed the product out properly. I personally think it comes down to how your hair is naturally. 

Other amazing benefits of using this shampoo is that the product also helps keep your hair protected against heat from styling tools (I would still use a protecting spray) and protects your hair from UV damage! 

Would I buy it again? Hell yes! I really want to try the conditioner and oil now because the shampoo has completely sold me. My hair feels amazing, manageable and protected.  10/10!

Have you tried the Organix hair care range?

Monday 4 February 2013

LOreal Paris Elvive ExtraOrdinary Oil UV Filter for Coloured Hair






Sorry I've been a bit MIA for a few days...I've been busy with college, work and a friends birthday which ended up me coming come at 8 am the next day! So I was pretty hungover and not capable of stringing a sentence together for the blog! lol.

Okay, on to the product. I purchased this 2 weeks ago, because I'm crazy about my hair and I always apply an oil after I've washed my hair to try and put some moister back into it. I thought this oil would be a good move, and unfortunately...it wasn't.

The packaging is a nice glass bottle, making it feel a bit expensive. It cost £8.99, so it's not too bad. Not much to else to say about the packaging! 

The forumla is crap, to say the least. It's way too watery,  I prefer oils to be thicker, I feel they work best with how much hair I have. It smells weird, and above everything...It's dried my hair out SO MUCH. I was not impressed at all, and I refuse to even put it on now. I'm going to see if my sister wants it, as she has thinner hair than I do and maybe it would work for her. I wouldn't recommend this oil, it just seems a waste. It says to squirt 1-2 pumps but I find I need 4-6 because it's that watery. I don't know what other people have said about it as I've not read any other reviews, but I generally really do not rate this at all. I've not seen any benefits from it at all. I also feel like it smells like alcohol? It also feels stiff when I put it on, just like how an alcohol based product would affect your hair....blergh I really can't express how much of a disappointment this product is. I know you sometimes get samples in magazines...give it a try and see how it reacts to your hair if you can...try and do this before you buy at least! 

Have you tried the oil? What do you think?