2012 Favourites - Part 5: Skincare and Haircare

Okay, I know this is possibly the least exciting post of the 2012 Favourites series, but I wanted to do it anyway because now that I'm getting older, I'm finding it increasingly important to have a good skincare routine. Mine isn't really complicated, especially because I'm always so late going to bed, I never have the energy to do a lenghty routine. I do have a good cleanser and make up remover, and also a good serum, night cream and eye cream, with the occasional scrub and mask thrown in, so that's fine. In the mornings I just use a face cream having washed my face in the shower with clean water. I don't have time for more, it's as simple as that.

I did a video about my skincare routine back in April and although some products I'm not using anymore (have run out or have decided to change), it gives you a good idea about which products I enjoyed using in 2012. Check it out here. 

I'll start with cleansing. I usually use Boots Botanics Soothing Eye Make Up Remover (old style, this has now been rreformulated) followed by Simple Kind To Skin Facial Cleansing Wipes. The two together work very well for removing make up and dirt from my skin. I haven't found a cleanser I am that chuffed about, I just can't really get excited about a cleanser, but every one I've used so far does a good enough job. I'm currently using a L'Occitane cleanser with the longest, most complicated name that I refuse to copy. I also really like Lancome Bi-Facil and will probably use it instead of the Boots one because I've heard that the new, reformulated version isn't very good.

See which other products I loved in 2012 after the jump!

My Skincare Routine Video

I decided to do a short video about my skincare routine and products I use. Check it out below!

Finished! The January Edition

Finally, January is over. Is it just me or did it feel like the longest month ever? I was really willing it to be over for a few reasons. Firstly, I want spring to come. I've had enough of the dark afternoons and mornings, I want it to be daylight when I get up and daylight when I'm cooking dinner by my south-west facing kitchen window. I want flowers in the garden, cherry blossoms on the trees down the street. Secondly, I couldn't wait for Guerlain's spring collection to be finally released. And thirdly, I'd already exceeded my monthly beauty budget by the middle of the month and I desperately needed it to be February to start again. Sadly it has turned really cold in the UK, so there's no sign of spring yet unfortunately.

At least, with January being such a long month (or at least it felt like it), I've managed to finish a few products, so there are some positives there too. A lot of the products I finished this month I have reviewed on here at some point, so I will just link them to the reviews instead of repeating myself.

First though here's something I've not reviewed before, this is Avon Skin So Soft Signature Silk Nourishing Body Cream. I used to buy lots of Avon products a while ago, and I'm still finishing some of them off. This particular body cream sadly isn't a good example of Avon's good quality products. Very pretty packaging, nice scent, but a pretty rubbish moisturiser. It sort of feels like body butter, at least it's texture, but it's not at all that creamy and doesn't really spread well, so you actually use up quite a lot of cream, and it's not even that moisturising. So it's a no from me I'm afraid.

See what other products I used up after the jump!

2011's Favourite Products: Part 4 - Skincare

This is the last part of my favourites post for this year, and this one contains skincare. As I'm getting older and wearing more make up than a few years ago, I'm trying to take care of my skin better. I used to go to bed without taking off my mascara and used not to own any make up remover just a few years ago (I know, shock horror!), and I also didn't use any face creams at all. Of course that was a while ago and now my bathroom cabinet is full of skincare products. So let's see which ones I really liked this year. By the way I have reviewed most of these products before, so I will link them to the more detailed reviews.

First off, make up remover. My go to make up remover used to be Estee Lauder's Gentle Eye Make Up Remover, but I have discovered an even better one which is Clinique Take The Day Off Make Up Remover and I can happily say this is my new favourite. The Estee Lauder one doesn't remove waterproof mascara and neither does this, but it removes regular make up much more quickly. I use Lancome Bi-Facil for waterproof mascara that I only wear very occasionally, so for my everyday needs this is perfect.

Keep reading to find out which other skincare products I loved this year!

FOTD: Chartreuse, Gold and Brown

This look is a bit different from what I would normally wear, firstly I don't often wear greens and certainly not chartreuse, but I was playing with my Frontcover loose powder eyeshadows and decided to do this look. My inspiration partly was the Models Own Golden Green Beetlejuice nail polish, I actually wore this look at the same time.

It wasn't this bright and in-your-face in real life, maybe it's the flash, I don't know, but it does look a bit scary, especially the full face pictures. Oh well, nobody stopped me to wipe it off my face, so I guess it was alright. Feel free to let me know what you think (but please be kind)!

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Frontcover Pigment Powder in Lime Lime inner part and middle of lid, and under lower lashline
Mac Vintage Gold pigment in outer part of lid and above crease, and under lower lashline
Frontcover Pigment Powder in Saddle Brown in crease
Frontcover Shimmer Powder in Desert Dust on browbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero on waterline
Clinique Lash Power Mascara in Black Onyx
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse foundation in 030 Sand
Mac Truth & Light Magically Cool Liquid Powder
Mac On A Mission Beauty Powder Blush

Lips:
Avon Ultra Colour Rich Moisture Seduction lipstick in Mocha Plum

See more pictures after the jump!

FOTD: FrontCover Eye Popping Eyeshadow Palette Cover Look

As promised, here's my attempt of recreating the cover look of the FrontCover Eye Popping Eyeshadow Palette that I reviewed yesterday. This is something I don't do very often, partly due to lack of time and partly due to lack of interest, I prefer doing my own thing. But I do like the cover look on the palette and wasn't too sure what to do with the bright green shade in the palette, so I thought right, I will try to do the look.

So here it is, what do you think? I was quite pleased with it, although I need to add that it's not a look I would wear on an average weekday as it was brighter and darker than in the photos. It's good fun though and I did this last Sunday, so I didn't get many funny looks (other than from my family, but they are used to me wearing bright make up by now).

Keep reading to see more photos and find out what I used to create this look!

Finished! The October Edition

Firstly, sorry about neglecting the blog these last few days. I've been very busy with shopping (the new Mac collections are out as well as Dior, Chanel and those gorgeous Models Own Beetlejuice nail polishes) and also updating my blog sale (nearly done). Plus little everyday things like children and cleaning and washing and cooking... You know.

Anyway, another month has gone past, so here's another post about all the products I've finished last month. Only five though, sadly, however there are quite a few other ones just hanging by their teeth. Just like this first product was, I thought I'd never finish it.

It's Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub. Couldn't wait to finish it off. Firstly, it's not a scrub. It's a creamy cleanser with some very soft bits in it. It does not scrub, nor it does exfoliate. It is not a deep cleansing scrub like it claims. It did nothing for me, my pores are still there, clogged and as big as ever. Waste of money. (Can you tell I didn't like this?)

Find out what other products I finished after the jump!

Finished! The August Edition

Another month has gone by and I've managed to finish a few more products. Mostly skincare, but there are a couple of mascaras in there too. Let's start with the one thing I don't have a photo for, that's because I took it with me on holiday and managed to leave it behind. It was nearly finished, and since I don't have it any more, I'll consider it finished. What I'm talking about it a sample of Clinique's 7 Day Scrub Cream. It's an okay scrub, but not too special. Certainly not £17 per 100 ml special, so I will not be repurchasing it.

Onto the next Clinique product, I also had a sample of Take The Day Off make up remover. I did like this one very much, it's very effective at removing make up, and I will definitely buy a full sized one once my current Estee Lauder make up remover runs out. The full size (125 ml) costs £14.50, it's not cheap, but it is certainly a very good make up remover.

Read about all the other products I've finished this month and see more pictures!

Avon Ultra Colour Rich White Gold Lipstick Swatches and Review

One of my favourite lipsticks is Avon Ultra Colour Rich 24k lipstick in Natural Gold (reviewed here), so I was very curious about the new White Gold lipsticks when I saw them on the Avon website. Avon described these lipsticks as "moisturising lipstick infused with glistening pearls of real gold for instant sparkle". Similar to the 24k lipsticks which are also infused with real gold for instant sparkle, these are quite shimmery lipsticks with fine silvery sparkle. Similar to Mac Dazzle lipsticks, but a bit more subtle.

Red Karat, Golden Berry, Glistening Rose, Platinum Pink, Shimmering Nude, Gilded Brown

I ordered all 6 shades available as thanks to Avon's excellent return policy I can always return the ones I don't like, but I am happy to say that I might not be returning any of them. The shades I got are Red Karat, Golden Berry, Glistening Rose, Platinum Pink, Shimmering Nude and Gilded Brown. At the moment the only shade I'm not too sure about is Shimmering Nude as it's the sheerest of the lot and I'm just not sure I need it. However, it is a lovely nude peach colour. These lipsticks are pretty moisturising, although I don't suffer from dry lips, they certainly weren't at all drying on my lips even after 6-8 hours. The darker shades especially last really well, around 3-4 hours without much fading which I find really good for a lipstick. This of course doesn't involve eating, but I did have some drinks and it didn't seem to matter. These lipsticks do have a pretty strong fruity scent, but it's quite pleasant and doesn't bother me, and does disappear eventually.

All in all I would definitely recommend these lipsticks if you like shimmery lipsticks and you're on a budget. They cost £8.50, but are on special at the moment at £5.00 and they're available from Avon's website or your Avon representative (if you have one).

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Finished! The May edition

This month's damage: 5 products. Well, 4 and a half. I'll tell you why in a minute. But first up here's something I have repurchased many times in the past and will do again. One of my favourite perfumes ever: Yves Saint Laurent Paris. I have loved this since I was about 18 and in fact this was my very first "proper" perfume. I love the bottle, I love the scent, I love everything about it. Even though I own 40+ different perfumes, I know I will repurchase this one as not many other scents have come close to it in my heart.

See what other products I've finished after the jump!

Finished! The April edition

Despite thinking I might not have many empties this month, I still managed to finish 7 products, so that's pretty good. My first one is Avon Clarifying Toner Pads which are basically pads soaked through with toner that's supposed to help keep your skin blemish free. They were okay, but I always forgot to use them, it took me probably more than a year to use up 45 pads, and I don't think I'll bother with buying them again. I don't normally use toner and these pads didn't seem to make much difference to my skin.

See what other products I used up in April after the jump!

My holiday make up bag

Since I really enjoy reading about what make up people take on holiday with them, I decided to write my own post about it. As you know (or don't, but will now), I was away in Florida for 2 weeks last month. I always struggle with packing, usually end up taking far too much, clothes, shoes and make up alike, and while I will not go into details about the clothes and shoes, I can assure you, I did the same again - both for me and my 3 children (my husband packs his stuff). I swear we could have left at least one suitcase behind and not be without anything. I mean who would've thought you don't need long trousers, sweaters and raincoats in Florida at Easter? I always pack warm clothes just in case, but honestly, I didn't even wear a light summer cardigan, it was always over 25 degrees even at 10 o'clock in the evening. Anyway, moving swiftly on, here's what I took with me make up-wise:

My 88 Shimmer and Metal Mania palettes

All other make up products I took with me

As you can see, all of the products are fairly cheap, drugstore or similar products. I'm always really afraid to take expensive high end and limited edition products with me in case they get damaged or lost in transit. I find the 88 eyeshadows palettes (especially the Shimmer palette) very useful as they contain all the colours (including some really good highlighters) you ever need. Although the quality of the eyeshadows isn't that good, with a decent primer they lasted through most of the day, and it was usually over 30 degrees, so I guess that's not too bad.

So what else did I take? I managed to photograph it upside down, but you can see my Maybelline Dream Creamy Foundation (reviewed here) which I actually managed to finish on the last day of the holiday, talk about great timing eh? I took my Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch concealer (reviewed here) as well as my  Mac MSFN & Shimmer in Medium, great for setting foundation and highlighting. Not sure why I needed an extra highlighter, but I took a Ruby & Millie one, not sure what it's called though, it's from a set. I took 4 blushes: First Kiss and China Pink by 17, Sleek Rose Gold (see review here) and Laura Geller Tropic Hues (a handy travel sized one, full sized one reviewed here).

I took numerous eyeliners, all Urban Decay 24/7 ones, as I love their eyepencils and I like the variety of colours. I also took 3 mascaras: L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara (reviewed here), Max Factor More Lashes waterproof mascara and a Rimmel waterproof mascara (its name escapes me completely, sorry). For my brows I took my trusty Mac Brow Set in Show Off. And of course my favourite eyeshadow base: Barbara Daly for Tesco (I've reviewed it here).

I took 2 lipliners and 8 lipsticks, plus 4 double ended lipglosses as well as several of my GOSH eyeshadow brushes, 2 blush brushes and a cheepo noname face brush. Oh and a double pencil sharpener.

Now, do you want to see how many of these products I actually used over the 2 weeks? See after the jump!

Finished! The March edition

I had quite a successful month as I managed to finish 7 products. First up is Avon Shimmer Swirls Face Illuminator. I actually finished 2 of these as I had one upstairs and one downstairs with not much left in either. This has long been discontinued, but I wouldn't repurchase anyway because it's not that good. There was a time when I thought it was great and bought tons of it, but back then I didn't even wear foundation just used this, however, this isn't even a good base, let alone good illuminator. Doesn't blend very well and ends up quite patchy, plus it's quite drying on my skin. I have since managed to flog my remaining stock on eBay, I was surprised how many people still wanted them and they soldat quite a good price. Originally I think they cost £10, I sold mine for £5-6 which isn't too bad. 

This is what they looked like when full(ish):

Find out what else I managed to finish after the jump!

Purple look with 17 Vintage Love Perfect Pastels Palette

Last week I reviewed 17 Vintage Love Palettes here and today I would like to show you a look I created using the purple shades in the Perfect Pastels palette. Unfortunately the pictures don't do the colours justice (I really need to get a better camera!), but here it is anyway. I would appreciate if you let me know what you think of my eyebrows, I've done some DIY work to them, I think they do look a bit better.

To create this look I used the following:

Eyes:

Barbara Daly for Tesco eyeshadow primer

17 Vintage Love Perfect Pastels Palette (see picture below)

Shade 2 (pinky purple) all over lid

Shade 1 (dark purple) in outer lid and crease

Shade 3 (light violet) inner lid and above crease

Marks & Spencer Jewels eyeshadow quad light pink shade below browbone to highlight

Urban Decay 24/7 eye pencil in Perversion on lower waterline

No 7 Candy Lavender eye pencil on lower lashline

DiorShow Black Out mascara in Black Khol

Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:

Avon Shimmer Swirls Face Illuminator

Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch concealer

Chantecaille White Tiger face powder

Accessorize Starlet baked blush

Lips:

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Rose Sorbet

See more pictures after the jump!

Avon Ultra Colour Rich Moisture Seduction Lipstick Review

After seeing these on Musing of a Muse, I've decided to try them out for myself and ordered most colours (there were 10, I didn't bother with Smooth Mocha, not my colour), especially since thanks to Avon's excellent returns policy, I knew if I don't like them, I can just return them. Luckily, that isn't the case.

According to Avon these lipsticks are "rich, ultra-creamy, intertwined with ribbons of hydrating moisture to give you seductively dewy lips". I agree, they are very creamy and moisturising, although to be honest I could do without the "intertwined ribbons" because they make it less easy to get an even colour. You will see below in the swatches what I mean. However, on the lips you can get an even colour by smooshing (is that a word?) your lips together a bit. Also going over the colour once or twice should do the trick too.

I found that the darker shades lasted on me surprisingly well. I normally only get 2 hours wear with normal lipsticks (with some exceptions, Mac Spitfire lipstick lasted on me for 4 hours with eating and drinking!), but I got 3-4 hours of wear out of them, with the lighter ones lasting for about 2. My favourite ones are definitely the darker, brighter shades, but I also like Soft Pink, it's a pretty bubblegum pink shade. I think I will probably return Lilac Shimmer and Silky Peach as they really don't feel at all special to me. These lipsticks are currently retailing for £6 each and you can get them from Avon. Have you tried them yet?

See more photos and swatches after the jump!

Sorry for being AWOL and coming soon...

I'd like to apologise for not posting anything for a week now, but I've been very busy. I had some friends visiting last week and we went to see my favourite band, Europe play at Shepherds Bush in London on Saturday. Then spent the whole day with them in London on Sunday (I bought some nice things while in town, will show you later!) and this week it's half term, so my 3 children are at home with me so it's nearly impossible to find time to take and edit photos and write up posts. (Bring on school I say!) 

But I have a few photos to show you what I've got coming on the blog, so if you like the look of them, do make sure you check back soon!

Finished! The January edition

You might recall that I started this series last month when I managed to finish several beauty products (which doesn't happen very often, I'm telling you!) and to my surprise I'm back with another post of yet more finished products. I don't want to include basics like shampoo, conditioner and shower gel in this as I always go through those, will just stick to skincare, make up and fragrances.

First up are my beauty basics:

Mac Brow Set in Show Off is the only thing I use on my brows as I don't like brow pencils (too harsh) or powders (too obvious). This is a brown shade that just gives a bit more definition to my brows and holds them in place. I came across this product when Blonde, Brunette, Redhead collection came out in 2009 and I have loved it ever since! I actually think this was my original one, so it lasted me over a year, although I did move it to my downstairs cloakroom a while ago as it was running low (that's where I keep my emergency make up items for day when I have no time to apply my make up in my bedroom), so I guess I hadn't been using it so regularly lately ( have a new one in my bedroom). It never dried up though, just ran out. I love this stuff and have already repurchased it and will continue to do so. £11.50 from maccosmetics.co.uk.

Continue reading to see what other products I've finished last month!

Finished! The December edition

I have seen this on other blogs and thought it's such a great idea to review products that I've finished over the course of the month, however, I'd never got round to it (I did a Hitting Pan post a while ago, but that's as far as it got.) As I have such a big stash, it's not very often that I use up anything, so it's pretty unusual that I've actually managed to finish 4 products pretty much at the same time. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to show you the products I've finished, tell you how I liked them and whether I'll be repurchasing them. I will try to make this into a regular feature on the blog, but we'll see how it goes since I don't often finish products.

First up it's my favourite face primer, Meteorites Perles Light Diffusing Perfecting Primer by Guerlain. A very light gorgeously scented (parma violets, mmm!) slightly shimmery quite runny liquid that gives a nice sheen to your face while mattefying it (I know, it sounds odd, but it works) and helping your make up last through the day. It's expensive at £40 per 30 ml, but you don't need a lot, one press of the pump dispenses enough for your whole face. It's very interesting, you have loads of little balls filled with primer and the pump sucks up one or two balls and squeezes them out onto your finger. The outer "shell" is so soft it just disintegrates, so you get this gorgeous smooth wonderfully light shine controlling illuminating primer. Do you get the impression that I love this stuff? 

Here is a picture of how it looks when full. The bottle is heavy glass, it feels luxurious just as much as the primer inside does. Will I be repurchasing it? Of course. For now I have 2 back ups, so I'm okay, but I'm always looking for good bargains on this, so might stock up again soon.

Find out what other products I've finished after the jump!

My favourite high street (drugstore) make up / beauty products

As you know, I love high end make up, my favourite brands include Guerlain and Dior, and you can't get much more luxurious products than from these two brands. However, I also like products that work well no matter how much they cost or what brand they are. I am a make up snob, but not enough to pass on good bargains! :)

I thought I'd show you what my favourite high street (drugstore) beauty products are and if you like, please tell me in the comments which ones you like / work for you. 

Find out more about my favourite bargain buys after the jump!