Seventeen Cheek & Lip Stain

Seventeen Cheek and Lip Stain

Liquid or gel blush can be really hard to work with, the ever cult Benetint is so watery that if you don't apply it quickly and carefully you end up with red water stains down your cheeks. I've tried many from different brands and never really got along with them, traditional blusher will always be my favourite.

So why bother trying another product? Well why not. These from Seventeen who have some wonderful products but also some that are just too gimmicky, cheek stamp anyone? These are by no means a unique or innovative product, most brands now have a multi purpose cheek / lip product.  I haven't used a gel cheek tint before, a quick search around the internet show Pixi also have a Cheek Gel.

Packaging wise, it is in squeezable tube with a sponge "applicator" at the end. Not sure how you would ever apply blush like this though, far too much product would come out and it would be impossible to blend. Instead I found the most effective way was to apply with a stippling brush and blend it in. You have to work fast, it is very thick but not that pigmented.  The sponge applicator is not exactly hygienic. Usually I'm a stickler for ensuring there are proper swatches but I've lost that photo and have already thrown these in the bin. There wasn't much to show anyway.

Basically not worth the faff.

Eucerin Dermo Purifyer Active Night Care

Eucerin Dermopurifyer Active Night Care - £9.50

Recently I have been struggling with awful skin, I thought I had my skin routine sussed but something was clearly causing it to become angry and full of spots. Every morning I was waking up with another blemish, always angry and painful. I upped my water intake and became more vigilant with my cleansing but no luck. My trusty Effaclar Duo + just wasn't being magical enough. I searched Boots, even tried the traditional Clearasil sport fighting products but they were far too drying.

I have used some Eucerin products before but for extremely dry skin, I did not know they had a range for blemish prone skin. After some serious reading of the packaging I decided to go for the Night Care cream, hoping it would work miracles and I would wake up with radiant clear skin. It has a high concentration of Lactic Acid, a AHA, to help improve skin turn over. 

You know what? It works. I've only used it for around a week now but my skin has calmed down, no longer am I waking up to a new angry spot every morning. I shall keep using it and will report back, but now on my wish list is the rest of the Eucerin Dermo Purifyer range!

Tea Tree Pore Minimiser

I love The Body Shop skin care ranges, they have something for everything from extremely dry skin to acne prone blemished skin. The Tea Tree range was one of the first items I tried, my mum bought them home from a Body Shop party (eh remember them!) once and I loved the cooling feeling they had on my acne ridden skin. They were perhaps a bit too drying for my skin but I still slathered them on in the hope of perfect skin.

Fast forward 10 years and the range has also moved on a bit, they ahem everything from day creams to night lotions. The newest member of the family is the Pore Minimiser, promising to make pores smaller and at the same time instantly mattifying skin with the added benefits of tea tree oil. 

Now firstly it does nothing to the size of my pores, especially compared to something like Benefit's pore minimising POREfessional. For a product that promises as to minimise pores this is pretty crap. It's second promise is to leave skin feeling fresh and pore, it does this. There are better products that leave a perfect base for makeup. That said it is nice to smooth on if my skin is feeling particularly warm and oily.

Mainly though this is a big fail from me, sorry Body Shop.

Tangle Teezer Obsession

Tangle Teezer Compact - Tangle Teezer Original - Tangle Teezer Aqua Splash 

(cheapest I could find was Amazon, all under a tenner)

As a child I had out of control hair, always in a plait and I hated washing my hair. I remember the tears and pain as my mum tried to untangle it. To this day I have no idea why she didn't just cut all my hair off. A few years ago I discovered Tangle Teezer, I thought they would never work on my tresses but how wrong I was! It really does work. They were developed by colourist Shaun Pulfrey and was even turned down by the Dragon's Den in 2007. Now they are a global brand and constantly growing, 

I originally bought the Compact Styler, mainly because it was leopard print. Even the smaller version managed to untangle the dreaded knots in my hair. (Mine has since been dyed slightly red due to my permanently dyed red hair) In the Selfridge's Beauty Box a while ago the Aqua Splash version was included, perfect for the shower. It doesn't slip out of your hand, doesn't have any holes for water to build up going manky and horrible. The hollow middle allows it to be really light weight, no dropping it on your toes in the shower (other people do this, right?)

This past weekend there was a lovely discount code for ASOS so I caved and bought the full size beauty. It is perfect. Especially for only £6 ;) Somehow the lovely soft teeth manage to glide through my hair without hurting too much and untangling knots and snags from wearing my hair in a top knot for far too much of my life.

I just wish the Magic Flower Pot had been around for my child hood years! 

Nail Polish Organisation

Nail Varnish is one of my biggest obsessions and even though I try to avoid buying more sometimes they are so easy to pop into your basket when nipping into Boots for something or even the Supermarket. After a big clear out of the gloopy nail varnishes and the multiples as well as the shades I just never wear here we are. The wonderful A Thrifty Mrs posted about how she organised nail varnish with little stickers on top and I haven't looked back. 

I ordered these circle stickers from Amazon which were perfect and painted each colour onto them. I found this wonderful box in Ikea, unfortunately can't find it on the website but it is very new and was only a few pounds. Perfect for my little collection of polishes along with nail files, top coats and other manicure bits and pieces!

I would love to have my nail varnish on display on little shelves but living in a small cottage with a man means I can't completely take over. This is compact enough to pop on top of my chest of drawers and is a lovely hot pink.

How Highbrow Of You

I love eyebrows. I find myself watching eyebrows and staring at them when I should be concentrating on a tv shows plot. (Julianna Margulies, Alicia in The Good Wife? Perfect brows).

Only problem is I grew up when thin drawn on eyebrows were the best so I plucked my beautiful thick eyebrows into a state of none return. Now I struggle to grow them without them being super patchy. So my tools? I tint my brows every month or so, just to help darken the lighter hairs. I've never paid to have my brows tinted, the Colorsport 30 Day Mascara & Brow Dye in dark brown does the job however they have recently changed the formula and it is really hard to mix. Why change something that isn't broke!

I used to wax my brows but found I was taking too much hair off. Now I tweeze my brows, I am still trying to grow them out / get thicker brows but am not committed enough to leave them for weeks and weeks without being attacked with a tweezer. I have had them threaded a few times but they always leave me with super thin brows. 

Depending on how heavy I want my brows I either use a pencil blended with a spoolie - I use MAC Brow Pencil in Strut (red undertones) or Spiked (for dark brown hairs) or MAC Eyeshadow in Espresso with an angled brush. I also love the ELF Brow Kit which has a pigmented wax and shadow to set, it is a bargain at £3.95. 

The new Gimme Brow from Benefit has changed my routine, I thought it would be a complete gimmick but is actually really good. Some days I now just use gimme brow alone, just with some help from an eye brow pencil to perfectly define this shape. The tiny brush helps catch every eyebrow hair creating dark thick hair where there is none. My only problem is the tiny amount of product you get for the price, but am going to post a full review of this with before / after photos once I have tidied up my very neglected brows. They are not close up ready at the minute.

Yey, eyebrows!

Four Things That Saved My Skin

My skin is a constant battle, these are just some of the things that have helped turn my forever blemished skin into blemish prone but still red / acne scarred skin. It is a work in progress! Next up to tackle is scarring..

Cleansing Properly

This might sound so simple to most hardened beauty bloggers. But simply ensuring I removed my make up properly (without using face wipes) has made such a difference. I now have a ridiculous collection if cleansers to use depending on my mood. I even double cleanse these days, who knew! First I use an oil cleanser which helps remove every trace of makeup, the oil just clings to all the dirt and makeup.  I love The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Oil. Second up I use a balm or gel cleanser. Emma Hardie Moringa Balm will forever be my luxury choice but the The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Butter is equally as effective. On lazy nights I use a micellar water, such as Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water before cleansing to really make sure all my makeup is removed instead of double cleansing. 

Chemical Exfoliator 

I used to use harsh alcohol based toners, in a way they were exfoliating but also stripping my skin. I first tried the Alpha H Liquid Gold that every blogger flipping adored (not so much I see!) but now I am onto my third bottle of the Clarins Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner. The fruit acids really help finally remove any left over dirt as well as boosting the skins renewal. On my wish list is the PIXI Glow Tonic however it is never in stock when I can buy it. (It is right now and I am resisting all temptation to tap in my card details)

La Roche Posay

I know I know. Stop harping on about them. Effaclar Duo has honestly improved my skin ten fold. I don't know the magic behind the white cream but if I don't apply this to my cheeks, chin and jawline at night by the morning I always have a pesky spot appearing from somewhere. My understanding is  LHAs and Salicylic Acid exfoliate the skin with added Niacinamide to soothe the inflammation. 

Moisturising

Having oily skin I was always too scared to add extra oil to my skin. I would strip all the oil from my skin leaving it red and sore but at least I had no spots! I would barely even moisturise my skin in fear that I would cause more breakouts. Now I swear by the Vitamin E range from The Body Shop, which I have raved about before. It is for very dry skin but find it perfect for my forehead that really struggles from dehydration lines. 

Honourable Mentions
The Body Shop Facial Massager, really helps with the under the skin spots. Read Caroline Hirons' directions here. The Caudalie Beauty Elixir was in every bloggers wish list / holy grail / hand bag a year ago. As always I'm slow to the trends but this is perfect for soothing redness and just smells amazing. The REN ClearCalm Clay Cleanser is amazing. I find it too drying to use every night but find it perfect to use in the morning before applying make up. The clay really helps clean my skin, I tend to massage it on for a few minutes before washing off with a hot flannel.

Real Techniques Retractable Bronzer Brush

Real Techniques Retractable Bronzing Brush - £13.99 Boots

Who is guilty of leaving a big powder brush in the bottom of their bag? Or at least in a makeup bag in their bag. Yep. Hangs around in there gathering crap and dirt and then using it to apply powder to your face. In steps the new retractable brushes from the now iconic Real Techniques. Also in the new offerings is an angled kabuki brush and lip brush. I went for the bronzer version as it seemed much more useful for me.

It is a beautifully soft duo fibre brush. The perfect size for buffing pressed powder onto your face either to set your makeup or to touch up with when out and about. It is like a bigger version of the real techniques stippling brush. It can be used to apply bronzer to parts you want to look sun-kissed, not so useful for contouring or applying blush. It is easily protected with the plastic lid once you have  pulled up the metal casing. I was concerned it would damage the bristles every time you put it back in but no such concerns after multiple uses. 

It is the perfect hand bag brush, I'm considering getting the kabuki version next as it would be perfect for blusher on the go!

Primark Beauty

I was picking up some essentials in Primark the other day and I couldn't resist trying a few of bits from their newly expanded beauty range P.S Love. Budget beauty isn't a new thing to me, I have many favourites from MUA and ELF in my collection. ELF do some of my favourite blushers for £3.95 and often run 50% promotions.

Back to Primark, the products are packaged beautifully and are a complete bargain. £1 for nail varnish and £1.50 for the eyeliner and lip stain. So first impressions are great. However I wasn't that impressed upon trying some bits. I tried to love them as they are a complete bargain, the nail varnish colours are amazing. The neon pink is just so bright and perfect!

The eyeliner applied easily and was a perfect opaque black. It dried quickly however I am one for rubbing my eyeliner and my usual favourite (Seventeen Wet Look Lacquer) doesn't budge. This? I hardly touched it for it to be all over my face.

Moving onto the lip stain, when tried on the back of my hand it was a beautiful pink except when applied to my lip it felt like using an actual felt tip to colour in my lips. I love a good lip stain, Revlon Just Bitten in Passion is my favourite pink. This just made me feel like I was getting what I paid for.

Lastly the nail varnishes, now the colours are perfect. The packaging looks wonderful. However the lid is hard to tighten once used once and the brush is large to help apply easily but is bigger than my little finger. They are fully opaque in two coats and would be fine with a top coat, on their own they chipped easily. 

So Primark Beauty? Perfect for a teenager just starting out on a make up journey but doesn't live up to the other bargain beauty brands. Sorry!

Hair Basket

I have already written about about my thick hair and how I tame it, this is just an extended version of my current favourite hair products (new and old!).

I have got far too comfortable wearing my hair in a massive bun on the top of my hair, it is just so easy. Last week I had a few inches cut off and have vowed to make a bit more effort drying and styling it properly. In fact I did the whole routine this morning only to tie it in a top knot without an hour. Baby steps.

Before drying my hair I tend to use a oil but at the minute I am favouring the Macademia Straightening Balm from The Body Shop as recommended by a friend on twitter. It seems to have vanished from their website so hope this means it hasn't been discontinued. It is heat activated so perfect for use before hair drying. If my hair is extra tangled, as normal, I tend to give a quick spritz of L'Oreal Kids Detangling Spray before running a Tangle Teezer through it. 

I dry my hair with the GHD Air hair drier which deserves its own special post, after all I did spend a ridiculous amount of money on a hair drier. I love using a big round brush to half blow dry bits when I can be bothered.

I use the amazing Cloud Nine Wide Plate Straighteners. After borrowing my friends wide plate straighteners I was hooked, so much quicker for long hair. These were a Christmas present but also a bargain with 25% in the pre-christmas sales! The adjustable heat is wonderful as I really don't need the full 220 degrees C to smooth my already mostly straight hair. Before using them I spritz them with Lee Stafford Flat Iron Protection Mist which gives such good protection against heat, my only problem is the smell which is a bit too chemically for my likening. I prefer the Argan Oil version as it leaves my hair so smooth, except it is double the price. 

One of my longest used products is After Party from TIGI Bed Head. It smells amazing, comes in a wonderful pink bottle and is the perfect finishing smoothing cream. I tend to tip my hair upside down and run this through from the middle to the ends which helps smooth the ends. I like big hair, so if I am going out I tend to add a matte powder such as Toni & Guy's Sculpting Powder, it doesn't feel as tacky in my hair as some do and gives wonderful volume. I do really love the Osis + version which was the first I used but the high street versions are just as good and more readily available.

If just a normal day I tend to spray dry shampoo through the roots, yes even on clean hair, to give it that two day wash feel. Batiste are the ultimate in the dry shampoo world and only ever buy their version. And look, leopard print bottle!

If I lost all my make up..

Now this post idea is stolen from the beautiful Rebecca, I thought it was too good an idea to not ;) So onwards, if you were to lose your entire collection of make up what would you repurchase?

BASE

Benefit Porefessional is a marmite product, for me it works perfectly at smoothing the lumps and bumps on my skin and minimising my huge pores. I love an illuminating base as it really helps even my skin tone and soften redness, Revlon Photoready Skinlights in Pink Light is perfect for this. Not too shimmery and glittery like some illuminating bases.  MAC Studio Fix Fluid and Studio Fix Powder Plus would be my go to foundation and powder in NW13, perfect shade and buildable coverage. For a concealer it has to be the bloggers favourite Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair which is impossible to track down due to its cult status

BLUSHER / BRONZER

I feel like I'm cheating picking the Sleek Blush By 3 Palette in Lace but the shades are amazing, the colours can look scary in the pan (especially Chantilly on the left) but are lovely on my pale skin. The bronzer would have to be The Body Shop Honey Bronzer which is fairly new to me but the perfect matte shade.

EYES

I have now bought three pots of the Wet Look Lacquer Liner from Seventeen, even posted a rave review here. It has wonderful staying power and is under a fiver. A new love of mine is the L'Oreal Miss Manga Mascara, it gives wonderful black thickened lashes. MAC Eye Shadow in Espresso is the perfect shade for filling in my eyebrows, beautiful matte dark brown.

LIPS
Now I tried to pick a lipbalm, instead I did a whole post. For a lip colour though it was easy to pick the Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Elusive, so easy to apply and perfect for day time.

What I'd Tell My 18 Year Old Self

Sometimes I think how far my beauty knowledge has come in just the past few years. My skin has never been in better shape and my foundation always matches my skin. Beauty blogs were not as huge as they are these days, all beauty tips came from magazines who swore blind that celebrities relied on £2 tubs of Vaseline. Then I remember the days I was too scared to wear blusher and plucked my eyebrows within an inch if their life. Sometimes I wish I could go back to my 18 year old self, about to embark on university for the first time and give myself some helpful hints. 

Blusher is not the enemy

I used to suffer with awful redness and I still do to some extent. This meant blusher to me was the opposite of what I was trying to achieve, why cover up my rosy cheeks to just apply something red on top?! I have been blessed with lovely round hamster cheeks, instead I ensured my skin was all the same shade of pale ignoring my cheekbones. Then I learnt that blusher didn't just come in red but beautiful bright pinks and corals. I found my cheek bones and even lightly contour some days.

Makeup brushes are your friend. 

I used to apply everything with my fingers. Including Barry N dazzle dust (remember that stuff? Amazing) I think my foundation of choice was a mousse one by No 7 which came with a little spoon. Obviously heavily applied with my finger tips. My makeup brush collection consisted of a powder brush I used to keep at the bottom of my bag and those foam applicators that would come free with eye shadows.

Moisturise

With age my skin has got a little drier, however I do still suffer from an oily t zone. I've learnt that oils and moisturisers are good for all skin, even oily skin. Instead I used to strip my skin with whatever spot face wash was on offer and applied sudocrem to spots. Which in turn dried my skin out making it produce more oil. If only I knew!

Leave your brows alone

I look at so many photos from my first year at university and I have the perfect shape brows, I didn't fill them in but somewhere around that time I must have started to get heavy handed with the tweezers. Back in 2007 brows were thinner, a spouse brow was unheard off and HD brows would sound ridiculous. So I over plucked my beautiful thick brows to be left with the thin sparse brows I have today. Thanks teenage Zoey. In fact aged 11 I fully shaved one of my eyebrows off for some reason unknown to myself or my mother and tried to draw it back on with a pencil crayon. Fortunately it was the summer holidays and I had a fringe but maybe that is where my obsession with brow grooming began?

 Other notable mentions include please don't bite or pick at your nails, don't dye your hair that strange ginger / blonde colour and not to worry as eventually make up companies would start to make shades pale enough for my Celtic skin tone.

Basically, I loved silver eyeshadow and glitter.

Escentual Wish List

Throughout March Escentual have upto a third off French Pharmacy brands - La Roche Posay, Vichy, Avene, A-Derma, Klorane, Caudalie, Rene Furterer and Pierre Fabre. I've heard of some of these, mainly due to the cult status some hold on blogs. I am already a huge La Roche Posay fan as I posted about the other day but there are some other favourites on my wishlist as well as some products I would love to try.

La Roche Posay Cicaplast Skin Recovery Accelerator & Cicaplast Lips - My love of the Cicaplast Baume has meant these are top of my list, the lip cream promises to reduce irritation and prevent new cracked lips appearing. Perfect. The Skin Recovery Accelerator was created with the after care of cosmetic procedures in mind, it boosts the skins recovery time. Perfect for the many acne scars I have as well as surgical scars and grazes.

Caudalie Beauty Elixir - Remember when this was THE blogger product? In every must have and every what's in my handbag post. Of course I bought into the hype.. and unfortunately actually really loved it. Jenny has a lovely post on it which I completely agree with, it basically just soothes my skin and smells divine. 

Nuxe Rêve de Miel Honey Lip Balm - A few months ago I asked twitter the best lip balm as I had tried everything and nothing was working to stop the recurrence of my dry lips. I spotted this in Marks and Spencer a few weeks later after hearing lots of positive things about it. I am now on my second pot, that's how good it is. Who ever finishes lip balm! I don't know if it is the repairing honey or the soothing grapefruit but this pot of wonder is amazing, tempted to buy a back up while it is 1/3 off!

Avene Cleanance Purifying Mattifying Lotion / Toner - I love a good toner, especially one for blemish prone skin. This promises to soothe and irritation and leave skin matte. Perfect when my skin goes through it's oily stage in Summer.

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Multi-Purpose Dry Oil Spray - This is something else that has seen a lot of love on beauty blogs. I used to be petrified of oils, even to use them on my dry hair because of the fear of it getting greasy. I am now a convert to The Body Shop's Vitamin E Serum in Oil (post here) and often use oils in my hair. This sounds like the perfect all rounder with the added spray applicator an added bonus.

Vichy Dermablend Fluid Corrective Foundation - I have blogged about my love of this foundation before, it is serious coverage and in the end I stopped using it as a foundation and moved onto using it as a concealer mainly as the shade wasn't perfect. However looking back on photos from when I used this foundation I can't believe how flawless it made my skin look, full coverage without the cakey finish some foundation causes. I am curious to try it again due to discovering buffering brushes which has completely changed the way I apply foundation (don't I sound dramatic). 

I love La Roche-Posay

La Roche-Posay are a blogger favourite, a French skin care brand from the La Vienne region. Their famed thermal skin water claims to be beneficial to the skin due to the high selenium content. My first step into their products was the cult Effaclar Duo product which was a miracle for my skin, shrinking blemishes but at the same time not drying my skin out. Since then the Efflaclar Duo + has been introduced with all the benefits of the original product but with the added benefit of helping the scars blemishes leave behind.

The Effaclar range is aimed to help oily, blemish prone skin. There are cleansers, treatment creams and a soothing moisturiser. The most popular is of course the Effaclar Duo +, I use this every night on my chin and cheeks and it keeps spots at bay! It is far too drying to smother your face in. Next up is Effaclar Mat which is my go to moisturiser in Summer. I don't tend to struggle with such oily skin in Winter, the drying weather takes its toll on my skin. It leaves my skin feeling smooth and matte and helps control shine all day. It is the perfect base for make-up. I have never really come across such a good mattifying cream that actually does leave your skin matte but also long lasting hydration. 

The Effaclar Astringent Micro-Exfoliant Lotion is  to be used after cleansing, it contains LHA and other cleaning agents to help ensure all pores are left unclogged and pore size reduced. I find this too drying to use every morning and night but like to use it when my skin is feeling a bit dirty after a night out or a long shift at work. It leaves your skin refreshed and completely clean. 

Effaclar H is aimed to be used on skin that has become victim to over drying spot treatments, it is all too tempting to strip all oil from blemish prone skin in a hope that drying out spots will make them vanish. This provides skin with lipids to help weak and fragile skin feel comfortable again. 

I have saved the best to last, not in the Effaclar range the Cicaplast Baume B5 is a truly wonderful product. It is a "Soothing Repairing Balm" which helps repair and soothe skin. I was recently in hospital and only had this in my bag when I was admitted. I used it on my face, on my hands, on my lips. The hospital made my skin so dry and this was just lovely to treat me skin to. The combination of copper, zinc and manganese in theory should also help with any scarring or marks on the skin. Next on my wish list is more from the Cicaplast range, especially the lip cream and Cicaplast Skin Recovery Accelerator.

La Roche-Posay is currently 1/3 off at Escentual throughout March, as are other French Pharmacie brands such as Vichy. Now is the time to give them ago! They can do no wrong in my eyes.

Beauty Budget February

Every month I am trying to use up my ridiculous collection of beauty products before buying any more of that type, yep pretty much like the over done empties blog posts you see every month on every other blog. But I then add up what I've spent to try and get a hold of my walk into Boots and spend £25 problem. Here is the original Beauty Budget post.

Hair Care
Toni & Guy Red Brunette Conditioner was £2 in Sainsbury's around Christmas. It sounds perfect for my dyed red hair except even the added hydration of olive oil just was not enough for my dry hair. It did nothing to untangle and I was just happy to use it all up. I actually think it may have been discontinued as I cannot find it anywhere.  Herbel Essences are a clear favourite, Silicone free and back in its original packaging it can do no wrong, they smell amazing. I have used up two bottles of the the conditioner this month (Silk n Shine and Seriously Smooth) as well as the Moisture Balance Shampoo. Honourable mention to Batiste dry shampoos, I have used up my mini Blush which I carried around in my handbag and the Fresh scent. They are the best Dry Shampoos out there and always on offer. Of course the Wild scent in its leopard print bottle is my favourite. 

Skin Care

Clarins Gentle Exfoliator is something I have repurchased a few times, I'm not sure if it makes that much difference to my skin but love using it before bed. It helps to brighten your complexion by removing and build up and encouraging skin renewal. It is on the wishlist to repurchase. Clean & Clear Deep Cleansing Lotion is something I have used since a teenager, it is very similar to the likes of La Roche Posay's Clarifying Lotion but much more drying. L'Oreal's Micellar Solution and Eye & Lip Makeup Remover were purchased a while ago, however I am prefering to use an oil cleanser to remove all my makeup at the end of the day so were reserved for lazy days. I still have one bottle of the Micellar Solution lying around somewhere as they were on offer in Sainsbury's!

The Sanctuary 5 min Thermal Detox Mask is an all time favourite, I have recently replaced it with one from the Body Shop which is pretty similar just not as good as completely drawing out all impurities. It warms on contact with wet skin and just makes your face feel really clean after using. Another Clarins product is the Pure Melt Cleansing Gel. This is one of the first cleansing gels I used and have repurchased several times. It transforms into a cleansing milk that easily washes away all make up.

I have a post later this week about my love for La Roche Posay, two products I have used up this month are Effaclar K and Effaclar AI. The first is meant to be used every day to help corrent uneven skin texture, gently exfoliating the skin. I didn't find it any more effective than my favourite Effaclar Duo. Effaclar AI is meant to be a targeted treatment, applied directly to the spot. Again I found it effective but no more so than Effaclar Duo so won't bother repurchasing either of these. I went a bit Effaclar mad when I realised how well it worked for me.

Misc

Rose Jam from Lush was in a Christmas gift set I bought in the 50% Boxing Day sale. It smells amazing, like Turkish Delight. I was gutted when I used up the tiny bottle as it is limited edition and am unable to get any more until next year! Givenchy Summer Vibrations is a fragrance from a few years ago, from a limited edition run in 2010 (!) It is a very sweet fragrance, one I have only ever used lightly in summer hence taking forever to finish the bottle!

I am addicted to Body Shop scrubs, the mango one smells amazing and is perfect for giving your legs a good scrub in the shower. The ultimate deodorant is this one from Sure, it may be pricey at at around a fiver but it really does the job. Even on a 14 hour shift.

And what have I purchased?

Herbal Essence Shampoo and Conditioner - 2 for £4

Tresseme Colour Revitalising Conditioner - £2.50 for 900ml, so basically a bargain.

The Body Shop Haul - £25

Maybelline Better Skin Foundation - £9 but used Boots Points

Blistex Relief Cream - £2.50 - Worst packaging ever, best lip cream for dry sore lips.

Total: £43 So not really much of an improvement on last month, but that Body Shop haul was just too hard to resist. 

Stay Time from Seventeen

Stay Time Foundation - Stay Time Primer 

I have had this foundation and primer gathering dust in my drawers for a few months now. I just never got along with them. I thought I would revisit them however to see if my opinion changed when I have them a proper test. 

The primer (shown above on the right) promises to work as a glue and keep your makeup in place all day. It comes out in a a thick tinted gel and quickly absorbs any shine on the skin, however it promises to be light which it is anything but; tt really does feel like glue.  I then applied the foundation in Porcelain over the top. It is quite a thick foundation, offering full coverage. The lightest shade even almost matches my skin tone, just slightly too yellow but workable if you blend into the jawline. On paper it sounds perfect, I love full coverage foundation. 

Except this is incredibly hard to blend, it sticks to any dry patches even when my skin has been well moisturised. As you can see it looks very chalky on my skin and has an odd tacky finish. I seem to be alone as on the Boots there are quite a lot of rave reviews. I've tried to foundation with different primers and it still has a horrible heavy feeling when applied. I am used to wearing full coverage foundations such as Estee Lauder's Double Wear and they never leave me wanting to quickly remove all my makeup. The primer does have quite negative reviews on the Boots website, many commenting they have also found it too sticky.  I'm sorry Seventeen, this is a no from me.