Monday, March 31

Mini haul : The body shop


The body shop had a 3 for 2 offer recently, I usually don't go to the body shop all too often especially for makeup bits - I'm not too sure why. But after receiving quite a few bits for christmas, I have become more interested in the body shop.
I purchased the All-in-one BB cream, the moisture it skin primer and the matte skin primer.

Funnily enough, each face product I bought cost £12 - which for the price and size (25 ml) might not necessarily be the best deal but is considerably less then high end brands. I'm looking forward to trying these products out and I'll let you know how I get on. I might actually end up nipping back to the body shop as they gave me a lovely little £10 off my next purchase which I'm eagerly awaiting to use up!.

Wednesday, March 19

Hand and nail TLC


If you're suffering with short, flaky, weak nails - here's 3 types of products that you should definitely be digging for to bring some life and vitality back to your nails. These key products strengthen your nails and encourage growth so you can have lovely long nails without paying a salon price.

The Essie grow strong base coat, is a clear base coat that helps strengthens nail and there's actually a visible improvement in the strength, flexibility and overall condition of the nails. I use this as a base coat or even on it's own. the price tag might be a little high for some people as it's £8.99 but boots always do 3 for 2 and it's a great nail treatment, which I will repurchase for sure. I will say though, that it lasts forever! i've had this for around 2 years perhaps? and it's still going strong and I use it quite regularly.

The burt's bees cuticle butter/cream/balm whichever you prefer, is a life saver for me. I always find hangnail around my cuticle, and you know when you pull it off it only gets worse...Anyway I rub some of this balm on all over my nails and it helps cure the dry areas and helps make your cuticle's more manageable if you want to push them etc. It's so moisturising and has a lovely lemon scent, you need the tiniest bit to cover all 5 fingers because it melts on contact with skin.

Finally, hand creams! at the moment i'm using this body shop hemp one. To be fairly honest I hate the smell. It smells of shit, I can't even try to sugar coat it. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's actually a unbearable scent but I've read some of the other review on the body shop site and no one has mentioned the scent yet. But, despite that, it is extremely moisturising and is especially great for very dry skin. Moisterising your hands with a hand cream helps keep your hands looking young, feeling smooth and can also help with dry flaky nails. Plus perfect nails and dry hands aren't a great combo.

Hope this helped anyone who needs some hand/nail TLC



Saturday, March 8

Lazy girl : Makeup




I'm a lazy girl. I don't even wear makeup to school because I literally oversleep everyday and get ready in 15 minutes (not even kidding). But when I go out, I'm still kinda lazy and a creature of habit, I wear literally the same kind of makeup look all the time and I always go for the 'natural' or 'barely there' look although I do switch up products. This look is something that I've worn quite a lot recently, most of these products double up so they have multi use which is great for traveling or doing makeup in a rush! I've omitted primers, bases etc since I don't really bother putting them on when I'm in a rush or feeling too lazy.

The bobbi brown moisture rich foundation has spf 15 which is great since you won't have to put your own spf on underneath (although technically you still should) I usually put this on to my skin with my fingers, this foundations lasts a good 8 hours or so on me so I can skip primer. I then gently pat on some smash box o glow gel blush, which gives you the loveliest rosy glow (review here).  On to the eyes, I've kept it simple with the max factor smokey effect eyeshadow, this has two colours which you create a smoky look with or you can just use as separate eyeshadows. I tend to use the darker colour as a substitute for eyeliner to keep the look very natural and effortless, and the lighter colour I'll just sweep across my lids.  Next max factor false lash effect mascara, in black/brown - this colour is so natural on my lashes but it definitely gives the false lash effect. And finally for my lips, lately I've been using this lioele bubi bubi tint in coral, it's such a moisturising lip balm which gives your lips a lovely coral sheen - so basically gives you colour and moisture at the same time yay.



Tuesday, March 4

PeriPera peri's tint water #1 cherry juice review



Peripera is just an amazing yet affordable and cutesy makeup brand, I've tried a few of their lip products before and I absolutely adored them, so if you'd live to read a review on them please click here

Peri's tint water, is a liquid lip tint that stains your lips, they come in pink, purple, orange and fuchsia but I have the red "Cherry Juice". It's a vibrant pigmented red that gives your lips a strong colour, you can apply it sparingly and blend it out for a natural rosy lip glow or take one swipe and have red stained lips. As you might perhaps be able to tell from my posts, I'm an advocate of the natural look so I tend to dot this onto my lips and blend it out with my finger to achieve a subtle glow. You can also dot this onto your cheeks and quickly blend it out to stain your cheeks like a cheek tint as it looks great like that too - just make sure you swirl it around the opening to wipe the excess off the applicator and apply gently, since you can layer it up but once it's on - it's on. It's a great dupe for the benefit benetint, in my opinion. Also the lasting power is great! it stains your lips but if you're going to be eating/ drinking a lot there'll be signs of it fading near the centre of your lips.

There are some cons, I've noticed. Unlike most lip tints, there is no stopper in the opening so if you knock this over well I'm not too sure what kind of havoc this will create but it aint gonna be pretty! also because there's no stopper it doesn't squeeze out the excess water itself and instead the applicator actually absorbs the tint water so you have way too much on it and need to manually wipe the excess water off. Also this can be quite drying on the lips, it tends to seep into lip lines and accentuate them which is quite irritating, but if you prep your lips well beforehand it shouldn't be a problem.

Packaging wise, it's so cute! it has sturdy glass packaging so it doesn't look or feel cheap. I also love how you can see how much product your using. 

So, if you have dry, chapped lips this is not the one for you - instead opt for the peripera cream tint which is more moisturising in my opinion. However if you're looking for a multipurpose lip and cheek tint and possible dupe to benetint then i'd highly recommend this!
Personally, I prefer the cream tint as I don't think the cherry juice colour suits me very well! but I can see it suiting a variety of skin tones.

P.s I decided to go for a different set up for this post, I'm not sure if I prefer it to my usual photos would love some opinions! 



Sunday, March 2

Banana and oats breakfast smoothie




Today I wanted to share with you a quick and easy smoothie recipe, great for breakfast or as a snack! It's really simple and you probably already have the ingredients, so here's the ingredients:

2x bananas
handful of oats/porridge (I just used half a packet of the instant ones but I'd recommend to use normal oats)
2 cups of Milk or milk substitute i.e almond milk, soy milk etc
Greek yogurt (optional)
Honey (optional)
Seeds or fruit to garnish (optional)

I haven't added specific measurements because to be honest I don't measure it, I eyeball it and stick what looks the right amount in. If you want a thicker smoothie add less liquid, if you want a creamier one add more!. I usually add greek yogurt in but I  didn't have any on hand today but it tastes delicious with greek yogurt in. I love having the oats and the milled seeds because it makes the smoothie a little more chewy and not really smooth like an average smoothie. It's great for breakfast since it keeps me full throughout the morning, due to the oats slowly releasing energy also bananas are a great source of potassium. Also I'd recommend switching this up! add some strawberries one day or some blueberries.

Have a great day!

Saturday, March 1

Lioele active therapy ampoule whitening review




Lioele active therapy ampoule -£10

Ampoule's are pretty popular,  they're concentrated serums and essences that help target specific problems like dark sports , skin elasticity, moisture and so on. The lioele ampoule, is a Korean brand, ampoule targeted at evening the skin tone and whitening dark spots.
Consistency wise, this is just like a tad thicker then a regular oil - scent wise it's not too strong but definitely quite 'oil like' (i'm so rubbish at describing scents).  As it's an ampoule, it comes in dropper form.

Well, I do have acne scarring and dark spots since I'm a scratcher and popper (sigh), I use this when I need it like sometimes I'll put it all over my face but other times I'll just dab it onto the actual dark spots. It's not your everyday treatment, but If you do use it frequently or during the day, please wear SPF as your skin is way more sensitive to sun damage. 

So finally, I think the ampoule has definitely helped with my dark spots, pigmentation and scarring! I've been watching a specific dark spot from acne scarring to see whether it has any effect, and it has considerably gone and is now barely visible which I think goes to show that it works.

I really like this and would totally recommend this to anyone looking to even out their skin care or to target acne scars, dark spots etc however some other more easily accessible in the UK products would be the Kiehl's corrective dark spot solution , Decleor excellence de l'age  and Clinique even better clinical dark spot corrector. Although these aren't as cost effective as the Lioele ampoule.