The Stash Edit

When Boots sent me this doozy of a leaflet, it made me just want to buy everything in it. I mean, everything. Glow Job is at the top of my hit list (a moisturiser with a tan in it) but with money being tight at the minute (read: after buying too many drinks at the bar last night), I settled for shopping my stash.

If you caught THIS Soap and Glory haul, you would have seen I bought three products; two of which really stole show. I'm still using the Face Soap and Clarity facial wash (full review here) over a year later and continue to feature Peaches and Clean  (how I use it here) anywhere I can. Despite giving No Clogs Allowed a glowing review (see here), I have to admit to using it five times or less. A travesty I know! 

I reluctantly rubbed it onto my face, thinking all the time how I wanted some of the new products. This product heats up like crazy though and that soon pulled me out of my mood. I left it on for about five minutes and then washed it off. As I washed it, I realised there were some scrubby particles in the mask so gave my face a little scrub as well. I was amazed at how smooth and soft my skin felt afterwards. My moisturiser and make up went on so smoothly afterwards, I couldn't believe it! 

This product is definitely in my skincare rotation now and although I'm still lusting after the new products, I'm happy to have unearthed an unloved one from the stash. Do you think you have any gems in your stash that needs some lovin'?

GFC| Bloglovin'| Twitter| Instagram| Pinterest

FOTD- The Fall Back Look

I can never resist pulling a funny face! Face of the Day's have never been my strong point photo wise, I just can't take a picture of my face seriously! I was in a bit of a rush this morning so hence the less than perfect photographs and minimal make up.

As I've looked at my previous posts, I've seen that this look is very similar to one I have already done (HERE). I've been mixing up my eye looks recently but of course the day I decided to do a FOTD... it appears this make up is my fall back look. True name of this post? 

In a time pinch? This is what I throw on my face..

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation Hale Clair 56

Full review- LINK

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer Medium 3

Full review- LINK

Rimmel Soft Kohl Eye Pencil in Sable Brown

Used as eyeshadow- How I do it- LINK

Bourjois Paris Volume Glamour Max Holiday Mascara

Topshop Beatnik Lipstick

Full review- LINK

What make up products have you been enjoying recently?

GFC| Bloglovin'| Twitter| Instagram| Pinterest

January Favourites

Oooh check that product positioning...swish (not! Haha)

First month of the new year and it's whizzed past (I will carry on to say this every month of the year, without fail!) I'm going to try and keep this post short and sweet as my favourites tend to always turn into a ramble! Also most of these products have featured on this 'ere blog before so I'll link individual reviews where possible. 

Oh, Lola! Marc Jacobs perfume

This perfume has quite a heavy scent, don't let the (lovely) ornate flower bottle fool you. I once had someone tell me this perfume 'smells like you' and it has been a firm favourite ever since. I have never repurchased a perfume before (being quite a floozy in the scent department) but this could soon be the first. Only downside it that it is the least travel friendly thing I have ever seen. A Travalo purchase may be in order for this perfume alone!

Full review- LINK

Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean Cleansing Milk

On searching AG (Alex Georgie, geddit?) for a full review of this cleanser, I'm astounded not to find one. Must get on fixing that immediately. I love this product for giving me a really deep cleanse and it has been a permanent fixture this month in getting rid of those pesky post Christmas spots! It's been repackaged since I bought this bottle and I've just seen that it's now a '3 in 1' cleanser as opposed to a '4 in 1' one. I don't believe the formula has been changed so I'm unsure why the change in wording. Does anyone know?

See how I use it here- LINK

Eye lash curlers

These are of no particular brand or make, just some hand-me-down from my mum who didn't use them. I'm lucky in the lash department, in that my lashes are naturally quite curled. However I've been loving adding more of a curl with eye lash curlers this month; a step I would usually skip for that extra minute in bed. 

Botanics All Bright Refreshing Eye Roll On

I've been trialling this product this month and have been loving it as a refreshing step to cool down my prone-to-puffiness eyes. I'm not sure if it has helped my dark circles (can anything really?) but it has been a lovely addition to my skincare routine. Full review to come!

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Another product being trialled, I've really liked this topcoat for giving that almost gel nail look. I had a bit of trouble with it applying thickly at first but have worked through that with practice. I'm definitely finding it works better with different nail polishes than others but this is another plus, as it means I'm working through my stash to see who's top dog!

Maybelline Colour Tattoo- On and On Bronze

I have nothing to say about this product that hasn't been said. Good pigmentation, long wearing, perfect for the one colour lid and that is exactly how I've been using it this month. A quick swipe of the finger over the lid, just for something different really. I'm not much of an eye shadow wearer (except if I have time/ for an occasion) so this is what I've been using to mix it up.

First impression- LINK

What have your favourites been this month? Do you like any of these products?

GFC| Bloglovin'| Twitter| Instagram| Pinterest

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum review

First time in a while I haven't had a post scheduled, starting to slip eh?

If you saw this post- LINK- then you may have seen I picked up this foundation. I'd been eyeing this up for a while and finally decided to chuck it in my basket when Bourjois had a gift with purchase going on. I'm going to say from the get go, I like this foundation but I got it at the wrong time. Being in mid winter, my skin has been dry and more blemish prone than usual and the lighter coverage of this foundation hasn't suited that. It also doesn't help that in my rush to get it, I got a shade too dark for my pale winter complexion. I think this will be perfect in summer when the sun has cleared my skin up and the colour will match but right now... not so much.

I don't think it lasts for 16 hours as claimed. I'd get home some days and parts of my face would look patchy. However I do agree with the radiance boosting. I have very lacklustre skin and this foundation is able to just perk it up somewhat. Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum is light coverage (but it can be built up) and easily blendable (handy in my case when some serious blending into the neck is needed!)

Overall a thumbs up on the radiance side of it. This is the first foundation I've tried with that sort of thing in it and I really liked it. This will be the first foundation I reach for when I go on holiday! For reference my shade is number 56 Hale Clair.

GFC| Bloglovin'| Twitter| Instagram| Pinterest

Beauty Sins

Let's be honest here, we all do things beauty related that we know we're not supposed to. Something we know Caroline Hirons would tear her hair out at, something our skin hates us doing. I thought I'd share my beauty sins with you today, in the hope that I can shame myself out of them and that together we can come up with some tips for avoiding them!

1. Going to bed with make up on

It's less of an occurrence now but one that still happens (last Saturday being one of them!). When I've come in from a night out, I just can't be bothered to do my whole skin care routine. Hell, I can't even be bothered to crack out the baby wipes sometimes. I admire you girls that go to bed with fresh skin every night, whatever the circumstance. You go girls!

Tip: Take your make up off as soon as you get home (and aren't going out again). My problem is that I like to settle in a bit so when it comes to going to bed, I just want to drop straight into it. Doing it immediately means it's out of the way, done and dusted, and you can completely forget about it. Do this every day and not just nights out and this will give your skin some breathing time too.

2. Chipped nails

Now this one happens all the time and what is worse is I hate chipped nails! I like painting my nails (I know some find it a tedious job) but I just seem to be so slow at removing the old to apply the new. My mum scolds me for it as she says it looks awful. And I know it too! Any tips for this one ladies?

3. Picking my spots

This one has a been a bad habit for years, resulting in scarring, angry spots and scabs but nothing seems to deter me! I just can't stand the look of a white head (or blackhead for that matter) on my face. Not that a huge red mark looks any better.. makes me feel better though.

Tip: Now I'm preaching here as I can't take my own advice but replace one bad habit with a good one. Invest in a spot treatment (I like Clean and Clear Dual Action Moisturiser- mini review- LINK) so that when you see a spot, you apply the treatment instead of picking.

I think I'll leave it at that today. The last one was pretty shameful but if I think of any more, there will definitely be a Part 2. What are your worst beauty sins? Do you have any tips for any of mine?

P.S Happy birthday Nana! Love you!

GFC| Bloglovin'| Twitter| Instagram| Pinterest

First MAC lipstick- Girl About Town

*Why does Blogger  hate to centre everything for me?!*

Please excuse this unnecessary amount of photos. I was so excited about my first MAC lipstick, I took millions of photos and now don't have the heart not to publish them all! Let's get straight to the point, I love MAC Girl About Town! My sister bought me it for Christmas and it is what I would call your standard fuchsia pink. She did a great job choosing as I would have picked this colour myself!

It's an amplified creme lipstick, which is one of MAC's various finishes. Amplified finishes are meant to be packed with colour and creamy and I would definitely agree with that. You can barely brush this lipstick against your lips without getting some form of colour! It's a dream to wear as the creaminess is really comfortable. It's weird to describe a lipstick as comfortable but some have that not-so-great feeling (anyone know what I'm talking about?) and this doesn't have that. It glides on effortlessly and feels quite moisturising actually.

I can't comment too much on wear time as I've only just brought myself to swatch it, let alone wear it outside! I have worn it around the house once or twice however and the wear time is average; two to three hours. I think for how creamy this lipstick is, I'm quite impressed as I have others of a similar finish and majority of the colour comes off as soon as your lips touch anything.

All in all, a great buy Liv! Thanks!

What was your first MAC lipstick? Do you have any favourites?

GFC| Bloglovin'| Twitter| Instagram| Pinterest

Happy Birthday Alex Georgie! & Skin Care Haul

 I'm having a little melt down that I've been blogging a whole year! When I started my blog, I had no idea that I would still be doing it a whole year later, and I hope, I will be blogging for many years to come now! I have to admit I only really joined the beauty community in October 2013. That's when I realised typing away on my own little space of the internet wasn't enough, I had to get engaging with other bloggers! Since then I've got Twitter for my blog, as well as Pinterest, and have had a ball (never used that saying before!) chatting to other like minded people. My lovely followers have slowly been expanding and I can't thank anyone who followed, read, retweeted, favourited etc enough!

As well as the mini blog celebration, I've also got a skincare haul to share with you! I actually picked these up over about three months. I seemed to think I was running out of skincare but I really wasn't! They've been waiting patiently in my drawer ever since so I thought why not haul them before I crack them open.

If you can't tell there was a little offer on NSpa, and that was what initially drew me to all their products. However the fact they smelt delicious had me wanting to pick up the whole range! My plan was to get the whole peach range but unfortunately they didn't have the body spray. I picked up the NSpa Peach Shower Gel and Nspa Peach Body Butter. I switched in the NSpa Mango Body Mist  instead of the peach one as it smelt very similar and I thought it would layer nicely with the body wash and body butter (spoiler: it does!) The NSpa Passion Fruit Shower and Bath Gel was another lovely smelling one; very fresh. I absolutely love fruit scents so all NSpa's products were right up my street! I'll definitely be checking out more from the brand. Does anyone remember those Boots fruit gift sets that everyone used to get everyone for Christmas? I'm sure I was the only one who loved receiving those!

The other bits were to replace my not so dwindling skin care products. I really wanted to try some sort of eye serum so picked up this Botanics All Bright Refreshing Eye Roll- On and so far I've been quite liking it. I get really bad dark circles so hope this will go some way at helping them. I'll keep you posted! I see you're questioning my need for the Simple Regeneration Anti Age Resisting Day Cream. You can never start with the anti-ageing products early in my opinion! No point using them when you've already got the fine lines! Saying that, I have got a few lines on my forehead...hitting my peak at 19!! I also picked up the Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Cleansing and Toning Lotion. I've actually had this before and it was a little drying on my skin but I figured with spoaradic use, it may keep my breakouts at bay. Hopefully! The last thing (well it was actually the first) thing I picked up was Superdrug's Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser. I mention in THIS post that I was looking to get one and this is the one I decided on!

I don't know how this ended up being SUCH a long post but I do love my skin care! Have you found any skin care gems recently?

GFC| Bloglovin'| Twitter| Instagram| Pinterest