Current Loves...

Book  White Wedding by Milly Johnson.  This woman writes the literary equivalent to chocolate, you just want to gobble them up and they make you feel soooo good (I think they're a smooth Galaxy...mmm Galaxy).  If you haven't read anything by her, you are missing out.  I read the whole book in a couple of days and then feel bereft once I've finished! 

Hand Product  Phenomen Oil by Jessica.  I love massaging this into my cuticles before I go to sleep so it can work its magic overnight.


Nail Varnish Essie Cute as a Button, it's just a gorgeous summery coral that lets me believe that it's June despite the torrential rain outside! Check out this post to see this nail varnish for more detail.

Face Product  Honey by Bees! Refer to this post if you want to know what I'm talking about!


Lip Product  Blistex Lip Massage This stuff smells absolutely divine and because it's Blistex you know it is doing you some good! I'm not sure that the 'massage' actually elevates the cracked and flakiness of my skin but for the smell I really do not care!

Hair Product Schwarzkopf got2b guardian angel 220C heat protection  it makes your hair feel so silky, and it sprays in a fine mist which is nice.

Food  Percy Pigs from M&S.  Enough said.

Website  YouTube  I spend hours watching beauty video after beauty video and never get bored! and Blogger.com of course, because I am officially addicted! 

Music  The Lateness of the Hour by Alex Clare this album is just amazing and has got to be played loud! Check out the YouTube video below! 

What are your current favourite things? 

x

123 Perfect

I know this might seem awful, but it has been YEARS since I bought a 'low end' foundation, and even this at £10.99 isn't cheap (although I did take full advantage of the 3 for 2 across all beauty that Boots were running last month!) 

I had heard everyone raving about the Healthy Mix range by Bourjois so I thought, for some deluded reason, to go for this instead (probably because it was new and put at the front, and like a magpie to a broach, I couldn't resist), but then I read Fleur's review on it, and I was literally too scared to try it.  All she'd said was that she didn't like it, it's not like it was going to make my face to melt away anything, but anyway I put it off and put it off, but now I've faced my fear and wore it, and you know what, I like it!! It just serves as a lesson to me not to believe everything I read as if it's the holy grail, it's just personal preference, and everyone is different! 

On to my thoughts about the foundation itself.  It glides on so smoothly, it really is so lightweight and makes my skin feel really soft (which I think we'd all agree has got to be a good thing).  This colour, 53, blends really well into my skin tone, it really does look as if I'm not wearing foundation.  As for the three different pigments working their magic to reduce circles around the eyes, brighten complexion and reduce redness, I'm not so sure, but then the dark circles under my eyes resist every product I throw at them, so I wasn't shocked that this failed to do the trick! 

I'd say that on the most part it wears well, although my t-zone needed to be touched up after a few hours as the make up seemed to have slipped, so I don't think, for me anyway, I'll be getting the 16 hours of wear it claims...what a shocker!  It does wear off a lot quicker than my Mac Pro Longwear for instance, but if you're not planning to wear it for a long day then I don't think you'd have too much of a problem.

I have found that on my chin (a problem area for me, with drying breakouts) this foundation looks a bit flaky, but then even my MAC foundation sometimes does so that's not a big disappointment either. 

Overall, I'm pleased I bought it, it's nice to have something that feels more lightweight than my usual MAC Pro Longwear. I'm a happy shopper with this one! 

Have you tried either 123 Perfect, or Pro Longwear? If you have, what do you think? And if not, what's your favourite foundation? 

xxx

Decleor Aroma Cleanse.

I am an absolute sucker for beauty products and I am a salesman's dream, I will literally buy whatever anybody tells me to buy, or sign up for any charity I am stopped by much to the dismay of my bank balance.  I was asking my lovely beautician friend about which cleanser she would recommend (I was running dangerously low on my Clinique three step program), and this is what she uses and sells in the salon, and of course she only had to wave the muslin cloth in my face and I was sold, I think it was £25, which is pretty steep but I buy first think later where these things are concerned! I also bought the Aromessence Neroli oil (which I didn't really need but can't say I'm surprised I did it!).  Once I got home I was filled once more with shopping remorse and guilt, but now I can look back over the past ten months or so that we have been in face washing harmony for and think it was money well spent! 

So some product info for you: 

Full product name: Hydra-Radiance Smoothing & Cleansing Mousse 

Volume of product: 100ml

Comes with: 2 wonderfully soft muslin cloths and a nice little bag to keep it all in

Price: £26 from Decleor here or for £22.50 from feelunique here (so if I were you I'd get it from Feel Unique and check out the Decleor site for more product information)

I might be a big beauty spender but I need to eek everything out and get my moneys worth, and with this product this is made so so easy. You really do only need a pea sized amount, (which is about half a pump) I squeeze a little out onto wet hands and rub them together to get a velvety lather and then really massage it into my skin (although lets be honest here, sometimes when I'm tired all massaging goes out the window and I just slap it on, but the results are just as good!).  I then rinse the muslin cloth under warm water and squeeze it out so it's only damp (but still warm) and use it to wipe away the mousse, it really does feel like you are stroking your face with the softest combination of things imaginable!  I like to kind of smooth the cloth upwards to get every last bit of grime off my face (if you only stroke downwards you might not get under all the little hairs).  Once you do this you are left with baby soft skin, you truly are, and it just makes you look all radiant and glowy.  I feel properly clean after using this cleanser, and it's so lightweight and fresh. It's like the getting into a freshly made bed feeling but on your face if you know what I mean...and we all love getting into a freshly made bed!! 

Because Decleor use so many lovely ingredients this is a really natural and nurturing thing to put on your skin which I like because my poor old skin doesn't half get a pasting, I love the sun, I love make up, and I am forever touching my face (if I have a spot I can't leave it alone, I just can't) so there must be so much dirt and damage done to my poor little moon face that it just needs this twice a day as a breath of fresh air and a reminder that I love it and really do appreciate everything that it does for me! 

I also use the Tonifying Lotion, Aromessence Neroli oil, Hydra Floral Anti-Pollution - Flower Nectar Moisturising Cream and Neroli Essential Night Balm (crikey I am in love with Decleor).  But don't worry I bought all these things over a long period of time.  When I bought the Neroli Oil, it came with minis of the night balm and moisturiser so I used these until I'd saved some more and then I bought the moisturiser in full size, and I got the night balm for Christmas (lucky me!) They are all available from Decleor online or Feel Unique, alternatively if you like to see products first and speak to someone in the know then there are Decleor counters in many big department stores, John Lewis and House of Fraiser for shizzle (well ones that I've been to anyway!). 

I'm going to do separate reviews on the other items at another time as this is pretty long as it is...I hope I haven't bored you to tears.

The blanket/throw that my product is sitting on is made by the amazing Gabrielle Vary, and you really should check out her stuff if you're life is lacking a bit of handmade luxury knitwear http://www.gabriellevary.co.uk/ or on Not On The High Street - she happens to be one of my oldest friends and I love her dearly but her pieces really are beautiful, we have three of her cushions and the throw all in the same design and they bring our lounge to life! She doesn't know I'm writing about her (none of my friends know I blog!) so please don't think I'm just mentioning her out of duty, I'm not, she's just ridiculously talented! 

What is you favourite cleanser of the moment? Or you favourite soft furnishings for that matter?

xxx

dermalogica

I started my make up and manicure weeks and weeks ago but it wasn't until today, the day we started doing make up, that I decided to use the sample cleanser to make sure I wasn't allergic to it (would have been a disaster if I had been - silly girl!) I thought I'd let you know what I think of the product that I used anyway and as the weeks progress and I use more products from the same brand I'll update you on my thoughts! Anyway the sample I used was Dermalogica 'dermal clay cleanser'.

If I'm being brutally honest my first thoughts about the colour and consistency was that it looked a bit like sea gull poo...a slightly off white, thickish but runny at the same time (this really isn't making it sound any better...) 

So, aside from my childish thoughts about its appearance, I liked it.  I splashed my face with water and then applied half the sachet to my face and I've got to admit I felt the burn - it really did sting the sensitive areas (where it came in to contact with my under-eye skin   (bags!) and around my nose which is always sensitive for me) so I was quite pleased to get it off my face. I used my muslin cloth to remove it as that's just how I like to do it these days being the crazy cat that I am! I was a bit reluctant to reapply it (it does suggest cleansing the skin twice) after the burny burny stingy sensation but I went for it and finished the sachet and I have to admit the second time was better, I think my skin had prepared itself and had its little fists up ready to fight ye olde dermal clay! Once I'd washed all the sea gull poo, I mean clay cleanser, off my skin felt quite tight, which I like to think translates as 'nice and clean'. It claims to 'provide deep-cleansing to oily, congested skin' so this is probably why it felt tight, I always think a deep clean means those poor pores don't stand a chance, see you later natural skin oils! 

At college I was given a more relaxing and thorough cleanse, tone and moisturise using Dermalogica 'Ultra-Calming cleanser', 'multi-active toner' and 'active moist' moisturiser (yuck, can you imagine a worse name combo?!) and I've got to say at the end of it even my thirsty old skin feels super smooth and healthy! So thumbs up from me. And I've got to say that 'ultra-calming' has got to be the way forward for my delicate skin, I do believe it properly chilled out, no getting up tight like it did with the clay! 

Sorry that this has been a boring ramble but hey ho, its good for me to write it down because I always forget how I get on with certain products so I can never tell if it's a good idea or not to repurchase, damn my idiot brain!