No 7 Mineral Perfection Loose Blusher

Afternoon!! How is everyone's Tuesday going? *almost midweek yaaay!* 

Now, I'm sure everyone can remember their very first blusher? The one you wore every single day, religiously! My go-to blush was Boots No 7 Natural Blush in the shade 'Soft Damson', which I would describe as a soft dusky pink. 
As my blush collection has expanded, poor old Soft Damson has lay neglected in the depths of my make up drawer, however one day whilst browsing the No 7 counter (with a £5 off voucher lurking in my purse), I noticed this loose blush in yes, you've guessed it, Soft Damson. I bought it hoping to restart a love affair with an old friend...

The packaging in pretty typical of No 7 products, sleek, no-nonsense and straight to the point. This blusher also comes with its own brush which I have rendered useless as it sheds like crazy (massive pain in the bum) and its quite hard to control the product with it, therefore I prefer to use my real techniques blush brush. 
I'm usually such a klutz that loose make up products are typically not my friend, however this has actually remained largely in the pot thanks to the protective casing inside which helps trap the majority of the product. Clever bigwigs at Boots! 

I realise now that this is a terrible image to try and show the protective casing as its hidden underneath all the blush! However I had done this so you could see the colour :) There are methods to my madness ... kind of!

The blush is highly pigmented, much more so than my pressed blush and so a light hand is required and you must tap off any excess product in order to ensure an even application (easier said than done). 
The colour itself is pretty much the same as its compact counterpart, a dusky pink, however I have noted that wear time seems to be less and within 4/5 hours of wear it can become patchy, and this never happened with the pressed blush so I can only assume its to do with uneven product distribution on my blush brush? 
All in all, I probably wouldn't repurchase this particular item however it did remind me why I wore my soft damson blush as  the colour is very natural on my skin tone, therefore my other blush is no longer neglected and has made its way back into my make up bag! 

Clean + Clear Persa Gel 10

Happy Sunday girlies!! 

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend? Mine was nice and chilled, just what I needed after a few hectic ones! I finally got round to seeing iron man 3..and it was epic! Loved it, so if you haven't seen it already I suggest you head down to your nearest cinema and spend a few hours in the company of Robert Downey Jr....

Anyhoooo - lets get down to blogging!! Today I am going to be discussing not a make up item but a treatment for all us 'problem skin' ladies! I present to you - Clean + Clear Persa Gel 10 :) This gel is widely available in the US (I got mine from amazon.co.uk) however, acne creams/gels in the UK tend to favour Salicylic Acid as there spot vapouriser whereas the US favour creams based on Benzoyl Peroxide. 

Now this cream is very effective at getting rid of those pesky 'under the skin, I ain't ever gonna turn into a whitehead' kinda spots...very effective. The high strength (10%) of Benzoyl Peroxide essentially 'burns' away the zit and flattens it which makes it far easier to cover with concealer - Benzoyl Peroxide is also anticbacterial so it kills all the nasties harbouring undernead the skin. The gel is white in colour and is a good consistency, its neither thick nor watery and it rubs into the skin without leaving a residue. 

Make no mistake though when I tell you this stuff is Powerful, with a capital P. Please do not be tempted to rub this all over your face in attempt to kill off any lurking spots as you will wake up in the morning looking like Samantha from SATC when she had a chemical peel. This stuff does cause your skin to go red and dry however its nothing a little heavy duty moisturiser can't cure e.g. 8 Hou Cream or Bio oil. 
I also would only apply this once a day, maybe only every other day if you are new to benzoyl peroxide as you need to let your skin adapt to it, and only at night as it can potentially react with sunlight. 

This gel is definitely not for the faint hearted and I would only recommened it to sufferers of cysts and severe spots.

Soap & Glory: Thick & Fast Mascara

Hello lovelies! 

Another day...another blog post! Currently sitting at work shovelling an Activia yoghurt into my mouth when I got the the urge to post to my blog...random I know, but my English teacher always taught me to 'set the scene...' 

Today I am going to review one of the many Soap & Glory products available, their Thick & Fast Mascara. Soap & Glory started out with moisturizers and cleansers, became known for their quirky retro packaging and we all knew it wouldn't be long before they ventured into the make up world...

Tah-Dah - here it is in all its glory!

This mascara claims to give 'Super Volume'....do I agree? Emmm...well in a word no...but thats not to say I didn't enjoy this mascara! Whilst it didn't provide my lashes with the mega volume I lust after, it did coat them well (no clumping) and it didn't flake over my face throughout the day. 

I think this is an OK day-to-day mascara when you're rocking bare-faced chic...you know, the 'I totally woke up looking like this' look. 

I also liked the wand, as it had a brush head. In todays modern mascara world where there are numerous plastic applicators its nice to comb a brush through my lashes...no tugging yay! Application is nice and smooth although it can be hard to reach those teeny corner lashes. 

All in all, I probably would not purchase this again as I feel there are much more effective mascaras available however I wouldn't actively stop someone from buying this. All in all - a decent day to day mascara for a minimalistic, natural look.

you can find this mascara at Boots online or by raiding your local boots store...provided they have a Soap and Glory stand!

Body Shop Tea Tree Foaming Cleanser

Good Afternoon my pretties!

Today I am going to be reviewing a product which I absolutely adore, and it will remain a permanent fixture in my beauty routine until something better comes along!
I suffer from what I would call 'problem skin.' My face can be all super dooooper and clear then next morning..BAM!!!! My face looks like the surface of the moon :(
I've wasted ridiculous amounts of money trying to keep the cysts at bay but everything I tried just seemed to exacerbate the issue, until I found this...My Holy Grail cleanser.

This stuff is special! Its a foam cleanser (bonus for us dry skinned ladies) and the fact that its tea tree and not harsh chemicals like Benzyl Peroxide or Salicylic Acid mean its not overly drying on the skin..but you still get results! In fact, studies have shown tea tree oil to be just as effective as Benzyl Peroxide at dealing with blemishes but with few side effects....score!!! 

  It lathers up well and leaves you skin feeling refreshed and clean, but not tight - fabulous! Tight skin after washing can sometimes mean the cleanser used has been to harsh.
It smells of tea tree, an off putting scent for some but I've grown to love it as I associate it with clear skin!

This cleanser is available from Body Shop and comes in at £5.00. Body shop also regularly participate in 3 for 2 deals so you perhaps pick up another Tea Tree Range gem...or pick up your favourite Body Shop product. 

Do you have a holy grail cleanser? Have you tried this Body Shop range? 

Gosh Smokey Eyeshadow

Hello lovely ladies! 

Today I am going to be reviewing a product I purchased on a whim whilst browsing the counters at my local superdrug. 
Back in my late teens (17/18/19) my signature going out look included a very smokey eye using a variety of silver, deep grey and black *gulp* eyeshadows..and I thought I looked the business. Turns out I didn't...*sadface*. 
When I look back at pictures from that time in my life, I genuinely cringe at how awful the smokey eye looked...it didn't flatter my skintone, didn't make my peepers sparkle...all it really did was make me look like a young girl who had gotten loose in her mothers makeup! As I got older (and wiser??) , I began to take a more neutral approach to my eye makeup and began experimenting with the browns, golds, champagnes and found them to be much more flattering on the eye...thats where this palette comes in....

This cost £7.99 from Superdrug and I thought it would be a nice addition to my expanding neutrals collection....meh, I got that one wrong!! 
I'm not gonna lie, I don't particularly like this pallet and I think its been on my eyes a grand total of, erm....once!! 
The very first stripe is barely pigmented (or maybe its just my snow white skin..?) so it's pretty much useless, I may aswell swipe a bare finger across my lids! And secondly, the colours are all matte :( I find matte eyeshadows quite hard to work with as I find them rather unforgiving and harsh...not my cup of tea at all unfortunately - but hey! if you like a matte eyeshadow, this palette could be a friendly addition to your make up bag! 

look at that left swatch....hardly anything!! :( The other shades don't look as matte on these swatches, but trust me, they are! Maybe it's just my glowing skin? HA! I Wish! 

Last but not least you don't even get an applicator with the palette (say whaaaat?!) luckily I have my own stash of trusty brushes but still, a girl expects an applicator! 

Right well I'm going to love you and leave you's before I turn into a right negative nelly about this palette...and nobody likes to listen to a moaner, but at least I am being honest...right?!

Benefit Coralista

Well, well, well...everyone raves about Benefit boxed blushes whether they are talking about the powders appearance on the skin or even just the dinky packaging which Benefit has become associated with...and its about time I threw in my 2 cents aswell! Lucky you's....

The blusher I am going to be reviewing today is the world famous Coralista! This is described by Benefit as "coral blush for a tropical flush! This shade cheers up every skin tone in seconds"...Big claims from such a little box....

can it live up to its claims...?

But Coralista definitely delivers, well for me anyways. I find the colour warms up my alabaster skin without looking to obvious and adds a healthy dose of shimmer for a dewy look but not too 'glitterball',  making this blusher ideal for day or night time use. It has a decent wear time (around 5-6 hours) and doesn't become patchy throughout the day (score!). 

The packaging is girly and very Benefit, however it doesn't withstand much wear and tear within my handbag or make up bag and the box can end up looking tatty ... See my above pictures for evidence! 

Aside from the packaging getting a bit 'rough around the edges', do I have any other gripes with Coralista? Weeeeell, yes I do actually. Number uno is definitely the price, £23.50 for a box of blush is extortionate, lets not beat around the bush here...that being said, you do get a decent amount of product for your dosh and I've had my blush for around 5/6months and I see no sign of the pan, therefore when you spread the cost over the length of time the blush will last you, its pennies really (I really need to stop justifying these splurges..)

This is rather heavily swatched - there is less colour payoff when blended or applied with a brush

My final issue with Coralista isnt't a personal one as the colouring works for me however I feel that this wouldn't work as well on darker skin tones due to the fairly light pigmentation of this product however if you are darker and you rock Coralista, let me know and I will take this last remark back! 

Coralista retails at £23.50 and is available from Boots, Debenhams, Benefit...and a host of other places! 

Right, I'm away to put the kettle on before I write an epic novel here.....*must stop blabbering..*

Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream

Hello girlies! 

Thought I'd start off proceedings with my first ever review of what I would call a staple in my beauty routine! 
For ageeees I'd heard various websites, magazines and bloggers harp on about the many wonderful benefits of Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream yet I refused to buy into the hype. I thought how can (essentially) a moisturiser cost soo much money and really be any better than my regular face cream? Then one fateful flight back from a holiday, I had some unspent holiday money loitering in my purse, and this coupled with the duty free prices meant I snapped up a pot. 

The consistency of this cream is thick...like really thick. And it's browny-yellowy in appearance and smells like medicated shampoo but once you build a bridge and get over all of these aspects,  it is a truly fabulous cream (although I think I'd say its more a balm than a cream..

This 'cream' is far too heavy for daily wear and its best used at night time before bed to replenish any dry, chapped areas of skin on your face/body. 
I really do find this helps immensely with dry areas of skin around my nose and cheeks which helps with makeup application in the morning as it won't cling to any of these pesky spots! 

It is pricey but it lasts a lifetime as you really do only need the smallest amount in order to reap the benefits and I would only apply them on the areas which need the most TLC and not all over my face. I've had my tub for around 10 months now and its only just needing to be replaced...so view this as an investment rather than a splurge!