Pamper Night Essentials.

I love a good pampering sesh, there's nothing better than getting home and having some proper 'me' time. I regularly make time to treat myself, I find it helps me feel less anxious and I sleep better; as a result I have some pamper night essentials. 

First either pop on one of your favourite films (I've put a few of my top 10 there- He's Just Not That Into You, Beauty and the Beast and Rent...I have an eclectic taste!) or get the latest copy of your favourite magazine and give your face a good old wash with your cleanser of choice. 

Now it's time for a face mask. There are two I seem to alternate between, the first is Sanctuary Spa's 5 Minute Thermal Detox Mask-  this self warming, charcoal mask opens up pores and gets right in there to get rid of any impurities. If I fancy a bit of a more vigorous exfoliation then I've been opting for Lush's Brazened Honey Fresh Face Mask, the great thing about this is that it has ground almond shells in it to exfoliate. I usually find beaded exfoliators too harsh and steer clear of them, but the all natural ingredients in this make it a winner. As it has no preservatives, you need to keep this in the fridge to ensure it keeps which makes it that bit more refreshing when you put it on.

 While my face mask is doing it's job I like to give myself a bit of a mani-pedi. I run a small bath of hot water and dip my feet in, then using Soap and Glory's The Scrub of Your Life I give my feet a good seeing to- gross I know but if you don't regularly scrub your feet you'll end up with cracked heels and flaky skin which is never a strong look. After my feet are baby soft, I slather a bit of Heel Genius on and rub in a bit of Hand Food on the backs of my hands to make sure my skin is hydrated. 

The most stressful part of a pamper evening comes from choosing a nail colour, more than 9 times out of 10 I use Barry M Nail Paints, they have a huge range of reasonably priced colours to choose from and the quality is great. The time of year completely depends on my choice of nail colour- pastels in spring/summer, muted tones in autumn and brights on the run up to Christmas...I can't be the only person who does this, right?

Now I've put myself in the mood to pamper so I will leave it here- what are your pamper night essentials? 

Top 10 Over £10

I love a good beauty bargain as much as the next girl, but there is something so nice about treating yourself to a bit of luxury every now and then. Unfortunately I treat myself a lot more than I should and would often rather forego something necessary in favour of getting my hands on an expensive foundation- I'm trying to work on it, I promise!

I've compiled a little list of my favourite high end products, by no means is it in order nor is it an exhaustive list, but here is my Top 10 Over £10;

1)NARS Sheer Glow Foundation

2)Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel

3) Benefit Box O' Powders

4) MAC Eyeshadow Palette

5) MAC Lipsticks in Crème Cup, Fanfare and Velvet Teddy

6) MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle

7) MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural

8) Urban Decay Perversion Mascara (and Subversion Lash Primer!)

9) Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray

10) Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara.

For more details about why I love each of these, why not watch my newest video? 

Top 10 Under £10 || Video

Here I share with you all my favourite make up bits that don't break the bank. It's so easy to get caught up with feeling like you need to be spending a fortune on your make up but I'm here to show you that you really don't :) Enjoy!

Urban Decay Perversion Mascara and Subversion Lash Primer || Review

The last time I was excited for a mascara release was when Benefit released They're Real- unfortunately I was hugely disappointed. For me, it did nothing it was supposed to and it was a royal pain in the backside to remove, so when I heard Urban Decay were releasing a new mascara that was supposedly incredible I was sceptical to say the least. 

But after reading several rave reviews online, I decided to take the plunge and see whether Perversion worked any better for me. At £17, it's a tad more expensive than my beloved The Falsies, but so far I think it might be worth it. 

For a limited time, Perversion comes with a free sample of Subversion  lash primer. I've been using the two together for the past few days and I have to say, I'm impressed! There's something special in this blacker than black formula that makes it immune to clumping no matter how many coats you apply. And something else that makes it different to any other mascara I've tried is that you can easily reapply later in the day- not that you need to- so if you're the kind of person who likes a subtle lash during the day but wants to pump up the volume for the evening then you can easily add a couple of extra coats of this bad boy. I usually find that mascaras go a bit crispy and so make it nigh on impossible to add extra coats later in the day. 

Overall I am in love with this combination, the formula is creamy, it volumises and lengthens lashes and it's easy to remove. I'm not sure whether it's waterproof, but I'll be wearing it to see Les Miserables this Friday so I will edit this post once I find out ;)

Bourjois Bronzing Primer || Review

Bourjois Bronzing Primer- £9.99

For some reason cream face product scare me, when it comes to bronzer, highlighter and blush I am a powder girl through and through- I think it's because I once tried a cream highlight that didn't blend well at all. Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel seems to have come back into the spotlight (I say back, wasn't it big a few years ago? Or did I dream that?) and I've been toying with the idea of giving it a go, but at £32 it's not exactly cheap and did I really want to pay that much for something I might never use?

I clocked this Bourjois Bronzing Primer when strolling through Superdrug; at first glance it looked pretty similar to Soleil Tan de Chanel and at a third of the cost I was more than willing to give it a go!

I kinda wish I'd got a picture before I'd used it, woops!

I've been applying this over my foundation using a Real Techniques contouring brush and pop it in the hollows of my cheeks, swirl it up to my temples and bring it onto my forehead- basically where I'd apply bronzer usually- and this gives such a lovely sunkissed glow. As it's a cream, it blends really well and gives such a natural finish. It looks a little orange toned in the pot so I'm fairly sure that if you try to build it up too much it'll be orange toned on the skin, but when used sparingly it's subtle but lovely. It's not the best for contouring, but for an all over glow it gets the job done. 

I'm not fully converted to cream products, but this has definitely made me want to try a few more. Probably starting with Chanel...

What are your must have cream blushes/bronzers/highlighters? 

My Evening Cleansing Routine || Video

I've found that my skin has recently been in better condition than it has been in months. Whether this is due to the lack of stress or down to my updated cleansing routine I do not know, but just in case it's the latter I filmed my evening cleansing routine. Enjoy!

Benefit Gimme Brow || Review

Gimme Brow- £17.50

I have been a massive fan of Benefit's Brow Zings for years- I'm fairly sure it was the first brow product I ever got, actually! Brow mascaras seem to be getting more and more popular now that many are opting for the 'Cara' brow, so I chose to put my relationship with Brow Zings on hold and hot footed it to my local Benefit counter to see what all the fuss was about.

At first I didn't really get on with this very well, despite the teeny tiny wand I found it almost clumsy to apply and the wand picks up SO much more product than necessary. After a few goes I've got a bit better at it, but rather than use it to fill in my brows, I use it to set them after I've filled them in with MAC's Charcoal Brown eyeshadow.

Honestly, I'm not completely blown away by this style of brow-fixing but I think once you get used to it it may well work. I know I've read so many rave reviews about Gimme Brow. Maybe I'm just using it wrong?! 

xxx

Monthly Favourites || July

Here's a little link to my July Favourites video. I always love favourites videos and I hope you like mine :) What products have you been loving lately?

Before we do anything can we talk about those ADORABLE little bug things I found on Picmonkey? They were too cute to be left out.

Hey guys, the whole world and his dog knows about MAC eyeshadows, right? 99% of bloggers seem to own palettes and I've seen various posts detailing the colours they've chosen and various swatches etc, but I've not seen one telling you a) how to do it and b) whether or not it's worth it. Don't worry though, I'm here to answer those burning questions- or maybe not so much burning as simmering? This isn't a post preaching the greatness that is MAC eyeshadow, it's just about the building process.

There are various sizes for the palettes, so you'll have to look and see what would suit your needs best. I just have the single sided, 15 pan one. This is quite a splurge as the empty palette will set you back about £16.50 and each refill costs £10, but I have to say I'm so glad I started building my own. I always found with pre-made eyeshadow palettes there were colours I loved and used up so quickly and then others I never touched, so in theory money was wasted. The perk of building your own palette is that you can only include colours you would use. Also, there is no pressure to buy all the refills at once, I've built this over several months and some people take years to fill theirs.

I've written the name of each shade I have in case any take your fancy- you can clearly see which ones I favour (it's currently Brulé with Charcoal Brown in the crease). While building this I tried to include muted colours I would use regularly and that would complement each other for various looks- although the odd statement like Antiqued snuck its way in. Any time I've asked someone for help in a MAC store they've been great so if you're nervous, just ask! I found myself having 30 minute discussions about eyeshadows and it always helps to have a professional opinion on colours that would suit your skin tone, and I'd usually ask which colours they felt they couldn't live without in their palettes to get inspiration.

Although it's expensive to build, this palette has made all my other eyeshadows become redundant. It's not so much a splurge as an investment, as I said you can build it up over time and tailor it to you. It might be OTT to say, I probably couldn't live without this now! How about you? Do you have a MAC Palette? Do you want one?

Favourite Things || Sleek Face Form Palette

The Sleek Face Form Palette is something I have been itching to get my hands on for the longest time. For whatever reason (my money is backing the idea that I had angered the beauty gods) it was like gold dust in my town, everywhere was always sold out. Even when I ventured further afield, they'd magically be sold out too, I truly believed I was cursed- overly dramatic? I don't think so. Thankfully, there was a glorious day when I strolled past this little beauty tucked away, all on its lonesome, in Superdrug so I hot footed it to the till in case another Sleek drought hit Colchester. 

  

Sleek Face Form Palette in 'Light'

Anyway, enough setting the scene, let's talk about why this is one of my favourite things. For just £9.99 you get a bronzer, a highlighter and a blush (NB:in the darker shades there are two bronzers and a highlight). The bronzer is the most perfect contouring shade, it's completely matte and several shades darker than my skin tone so I can create the illusion of cheekbones. All three powders have great pigmentation and are perfect for blending. And they last forever- both in the pan and on the skin. I always like having palettes in my collection because they make life so much easier when travelling- why pack three products when you can just take one? That coupled with the ginormous mirror means this ticks all the boxes.

The bronzer is probably my most loved powder in the palette, since buying it I've used it everyday without fail. While the highlight is pretty, I've recently fallen in love with MAC's Soft and Gentle Mineralize Skinfinish so that's taken a backseat for now. And the blush is great, but for me it's a bit of a statement so I prefer to use it for a night time look rather than a summer one.

How do you feel about the Sleek Palettes? Love them or loathe them? Let me know! 

Favourite Things || NARS Sheer Glow

 So I have a little idea for a new feature on my blog, I'm sure other people will have done it before but never mind- each week I'm going to feature a product I love. Now, these won't necessarily be my holy-grail, can't live without, products, they are just bits that I really enjoy using and would definitely recommend.

First in this little series is Nars Sheer Glow foundation in the colour Mont Blanc. This product is praised all over the internet, and there is probably nothing that I can tell you about it that you won't already know, but dang it I can try! 

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation || £31.00

As someone who generally favours a matter finish to her foundation, it is a big thing for me to say that this foundation is my favourite. As the name suggests it's glowy, but it's glowy without being too dewy. I find it gives an almost radiant look to my face, a bit like someone shoved a lightbulb inside my skull, that makes me look healthier.  Many people who review Sheer Glow seem surprised to find that the coverage isn't all that, but it's right there in the name- it's not a high coverage foundation. That being said, it is really buildable and doesn't go cakey. 

I usually apply use this using my fingers, as Mr Nars himself advises you do, and it gives a much better finish than when applied with a brush. The only downfall I've found is that it doesn't last all day when I have work, mainly because I run around like a mad woman all day so I need something fairly heavy duty to see me through. In every other situation, this baby sees me through though, albeit with a little touch of powder during the day. 

I hope you guys enjoy this new feature. Have you tried Sheer Glow? What did you think of it? Let me know!