Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation in Soft Ivory - £34.00

Ah, full coverage foundations... I've never really been a huge fan of them, especially for everyday wear, as I find them too heavy and feel like I'm wearing a mask. But for special occasions or nights out, I do tend to favour a full coverage foundation with impressive longevity and coverage. Enter, Laura Mercier Silk Creme foundation.

I managed to grab this at a bargain price in a blog sale, but typically it's not quite the right shade for me. I have the shade Soft Ivory, which is the palest going in this range. Since travelling America last summer, my tan is still lingering around ever so slightly, and I'm not pale as a ghost like I used to be. I could really do with the shade one step down from this one, but topped up with some bronzer, this does the job for now. When I first tried this foundation, I was far from impressed. It was thick and heavy and seemed to accentuate any blemishes and flaws in my skin - pretty much the opposite from what I wanted to achieve, really. I tried blending it with my fingers, a buffing brush, a damp sponge... and I still hated the results.

However, I persevered. I knew that this foundation was hyped by so many people for some reason, and I was determined to find out why. And now I do. Priming my skin with Becca Rejuvenating Primer, and then Clarins Instant Smooth primer provides a lovely smooth base to work with, and really helps this foundation to sit nicely. This time, I took a tiny amount of product - literally the size of a very small pea - and used my fingers to apply. The results were much more satisfactory. No cakey-ness or flakiness in sight, just a smooth and flawless base. The coverage you get from this really is great, I barely need to use any concealer and it lasts an impressive amount of time. The only thing I don't like is how this wears throughout the day. It seems to separate on my skin and it wears really patchily on me. But, for a night out or a special occasion, this is my go-to purely for the high coverage it offers. It's definitely not one for everyday, casual daytime wear for me, anyway.

LUSH Mask of Magnaminty

My skin is feeling really aggravated and unhappy right now and this is the product I've been reaching for to make it happy again. LUSH Mask of Magnaminty is a face mask which fights break-outs and troublesome skin. Unlike the Fresh masks, this one has a much longer shelf life which is perfect for me because I always end up wasting some of my Fresh masks by forgetting about them or not using them up before they go 'off''. As you can see, this is a bright green face mask and the consistency is thick but it glides onto the skin quite easily. It contains ground aduki beans, so I like to scrub as I'm washing it off to get a wee bit of gentle exfoliation. The peppermint oil in the mask makes it so refreshing to use and it also stimulates the skin to revitalise dull and tired skin, whilst helping to treat any blemishes. This doesn't dry out my skin at all, which I find can happen when trying to treat break-outs, but instead leaves my skin feeling refreshed, cool and any blemishes are calmed down.

It's not a miracle worker - ie, my spots haven't miraculously disappeared after using this - but it does help to calm break-outs, minimize their appearance and I really do feel like it does something positive to my skin. I bought a smaller 125g pot which costs £4.95, but I'll definitely be investing in the larger 315g pot at £8.75 because of the longer shelf life! I've used the mask maybe 5-6 times already, and my tub is still 3/4 full. You don't need to use a lot of the product, and I tend to use it just on my problem areas (chin, jawline and t-zone).

What do you reach for when your skin is throwing a tantrum?

MUA Lipsticks

It seems like everyone is going mad for budget beauty brand MUA recently. With most of their items priced at just £1 and receiving great reviews, it's hard to resist! I picked up a couple of their lipsticks in shade #15 Juicy and #4.

First off, the packaging doesn't excite me. The lid on shade #15 is very loose and keeps falling off - not great! They have black plastic packaging with silver writing - not the most glamorous, but what can you expect for £1? The one thing I do like about the packaging is that at the bottom there's a small pot of the lipstick which screws off, and you have a little extra product there! And it means you can see the actual lipstick colour rather than a label representation.

On to the actual product... I have to say, I'm disappointed. Maybe I hyped these up too much from reading such great reviews, but I'm really not a fan. Shade #15 is much more pigmented than #4 and it's a gorgeous colour, but the staying power isn't there for me. This barely lasts an hour for me and if I eat or drink anything - forget it. However, I do love the colour so this one is worth the constant retouching just for that.

As for #4, I'll probably never use it. The pigmentation is non-existent. It looks okay swatched on my hand, but I tried it on my lips and it just looked like a balm. I could see no colour at all on my lips which was a shame as it looked like a gorgeous colour in the tube.

I hate to write a negative review, but I really was disappointed! The difference in pigmentation between these 2 lipsticks was massive, and it does make me a little hesitant to try more of their lipsticks in case I come across another #4! I feel like I shouldn't complain because they were only £1 after all. It does have to be said that MUA have some star products like their eyeshadow palettes, and perhaps some of the lipsticks have better pigmentation than others and I just got unlucky with #4!

Have you tried any of the MUA range? What do you think?

New Haircare Range @ Lush!

Once again, I'm sorry for the Blackberry photos - still haven't managed to bring my camera back to life!

Last Friday (07/09) I attended a haircare launch night at my local Lush store. I'm a huge Lush fan, but I've never actually tried any of their hair products so I took this as a great opportunity to see what I'm missing out on - quite a lot, apparently! There are 8 new products that have been added to the haircare range, so I think there's definitely something for everyone.

1. Sea Spray Hair Mist £9.95/100g - I've tried so many sea sprays, but this one seemed different as it contains essential oils such as grapefruit oil which gives a lovely scent to the product. It claims to give body, volume and hold so it's more of a styling product than anything else.

2. BIG Solid Conditioner £9.00/100g - BIG Shampoo is one of Lush's biggest selling haircare products, so I can imagine this solid conditioner will be a big hit! It's absolutely loaded with coconut oil and smells divine. We were shown a demo of how to use this, and the creaminess of it is unreal. It also contains sea salt for volume and lemon and lime juice for shine.

3. Superbalm £12.00/45g - This is a hair treatment aimed at those who suffer from dry, irritated scalps. It doesn't appeal to me particularly, but I did have a little feel of the balm and it felt so nourishing so I can imagine it will really help those with troublesome scalps. It contains lots of lovely, good-for-you ingredients like lavender oil and extra virgin coconut oil.

4. Happy Happy Joy Joy Conditioning Hair Perfume £9.00/100g, £18.00/250g - Now this is right up my street. I love when I use a product and I can still smell it on my hair hours later. It smells so good! The main scents are neroli, rose and grapefruit so as you can imagine, it's a really lovely fragrance, not too overpowering - very subtle but gorgeous.

5. Shine So Bright Hair Balm £4.50/10g - This is a super nourishing balm for split ends - we all have them, right?! It has quite an oily consistency, but we were told that a tiny little bit goes a long way so if used correctly and just on the ends of your hair, it won't weigh down your hair or make it look greasy/oily. Again, this is packed with amazing ingredients like shea butter and lots of lovely essential oils!

6. Fair Trade Honey Shampoo £7.00/100g, £14.00/250g, £23.50/500g - I'm not going to lie, I ran for the hills when I saw this. The smell of honey makes me so nauseous, I absolutely hate it! But I do know that honey has some great benefits, and I can imagine that if you like the scent of honey, you'll love this and I'd love to hear if anyone has tried it and what they think!

7. Roots Hair Treatment £9.95/225g - This is a treatment for fine or thinning hair. I have super fine, flat hair so I might have squealed a little when I spotted this product! I bought it, but haven't tried it yet so expect a full review when I do. The treatment is infused with fresh mint and peppermint oil and it smells so gorgeous. I can't wait to use this!

8. Blousey Shampoo £18.00/240g - The final product in the new haircare range - and one which I incidentally forgot to photograph - is the Blousey shampoo. This is aimed at those of us who have bleached, colour damaged or naturally fragile hair. It's crammed full of fresh bananas which really come through in the scent of the product, and they're an amazing ingredient for restoring nourishment and shine to lack-lustre hair!

I also entered a raffle on the night and I actually won! I was in complete shock because I don't think I've ever won anything in my life. I actually said out loud "I never win anything!" before my name was called out, cue me shouting in the middle of the shop "shut uuuup" in true TOWIE style. Slightly mortifying. But it was worth it, as I had a full hair consultation and got to pick some lovely goodies which I will be trialling and reviewing very soon!

I'd like to thank LUSH Dundee and all of the lovely girls working there for a great night, and I'm looking forward to the next one already!

Have you tried any of Lush's new hair care products, or anything from their hair care range at all? I'd love to know what your stand-out products are!

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains

L-R 010 Darling, 040 Rendezvous, 015 Cherish

Firstly, I have to say that this is my first post in TWENTY THREE DAYS. This month has been super hectic for me - I've been working a lot, I started college this week, I moved into a new flat and I've also been crazy ill this week. But I'm feeling heaps better now, and I'm so excited to be writing a new blog post! I've missed blogging and the entire community so much in the past month, and I'm ecstatic to say that you lovely people have still been leaving me comments, following my blog and tweeting me - thank you so much.

On to more pressing issues (!) - Revlon's new Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains. Not the catchiest name for a lip product, but there you go. I think these launched a good while ago now, and the blogging community has been going wild for them. I'm a little late to the party, but I have to say I'm in love.

So far I have 3 of the 7 shades available here in the UK. I believe there a few more shades which were released in the US (Charm being one of them, which I'm gutted they haven't released here!). I bought all of these whilst they were on an introductory offer of £5.99 (usual RRP is £7.99) at Boots and Superdrug. I think the offer is still on, but please don't quote me on that.

The first shade I have is Rendezvous, which I can only describe as orange. It looks more red in my photos, but on the lips it comes across as quite a bright tangerine when applied heavily, or it can also be applied as a sheer wash of coral if you apply it lightly. I think that might be what I love the most about these - they're so versatile. I'm not a bright lip girl, so I love the fact that I can build up the colour to something I'm comfortable with. The second shade I got was Darling, which is a lilac-y, blue-toned pink. Very different to everything else in my lip product collection! My most recent shade purchase was Cherish, which is more of a bubblegum pink to me.

I find the formula quite moisturizing, definitely more than most lipsticks but I do still apply a little touch of lip balm before I use these (sort-of defeats the purpose of a 2-1 product, whoops...). I've also heard of people complaining about the smell/taste. They do have a slight minty scent but I find it really refreshing and it doesn't linger too long for me. The pigmentation is really good considering these are essentially glorified lip balms, and the staying power is just amazing. I always forget that I'm wearing it, then I check my face hours later and the colour is still going strong!

So to summarize, I definitely approve. If you haven't already tried one of these balm stains, or if you're looking for a cheaper alternative to the infamous Clinique Chubby Sticks, you've found it. I wanted to try a Chubby Stick but since finding these, I seriously begrudge paying £16 for something which I can get for less than half the price which does a great job.

Have you tried the Revlon balm stains? Are they worth the hype?

Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Mistress

I bought this lipgloss last week on a complete whim. I'm really not a lipgloss fan, I always find it too sticky and SO irritating when my hair gets glued to my mouth. But I was browsing the Debenhams sale section online and saw this, and since I'm not one to refuse a bargain, I just had to get it. I've never tried anything from Illamasqua before, so I was quite excited!

The lipgloss is usually £13 but is currently selling at £5.99 on Debenhams, and you get free delivery if you have a beauty card! I went for the shade Mistress as from the pictures online, it looked like a nice orange/coral. When I opened the package, I was gutted because it looked a bright red colour in the tube! However, once it's applied it does tone down a bit and it is more of a sheer coral on the lips. I really like it!

The thing that surprised me most about this lipgloss was the lack of stickiness! It's a really great consistency which gives good colour pay-off and high shine, but it doesn't feel like I've smeared syrup on my lips - yay! I really didn't like the applicator, it made it really awkward to apply the colour so I've been squeezing it out on my hand and then applying it.

I'm really tempted to pick up a few more shades whilst they're at this price!

Have you found any great bargains in the sales? Have you tried Illamasqua's lipgloss?

ELF High Definition Powder

I always have to use a powder to set my foundation as I do have oily skin and I prefer a matte look. This ELF High Definition Powder pretty much instantly mattifies my skin and I love that I can use it throughout the day without it being cakey. It's a very finely milled white powder which I find gives a "soft focus" effect to my skin. You do have to apply it with a light hand, or you risk ending up with a white face - not a good look! I've also heard that it can sometimes give a "ghost face" appearance when used in flash photography, but I haven't found that at all.

The one negative thing that I have found with this product is the packaging. It's bulky and messy. It comes with a powder puff but I prefer to apply it with ELF Studio Powder Brush so that I can better control how much product I'm using.

If you're looking for a powder to set your make-up, provide a soft-focus finish and mattify without cakiness - this is it. ELF's prices are super affordable, this costs £6 but since the tiniest bit of product goes a long way, I think it's great value for money. It also comes in a shimmer variety and a corrective yellow powder.

ELF are currently having a huge 50% off everything with the code INDEMAND50 for orders over £30 and with most products being between £1.50 and £3, I'd get stocking up now and take advantage of this great offer!

What's your favourite setting powder? Are you a fan of the ELF make-up range?

La Roche Posay Effaclar K

This is the first product I've tried from the La Roche Posay range, which is a French skincare brand. On their website, they provide heaps of information catered to each skin type which is great. I opted to try the Effaclar range which is designed for oily skin with imperfections which pretty much describes my skin to a tee. I have dry patches around my nose, but everywhere else is oily and I have red marks on my chin left over from cystic acne, as well as having at least 1-2 constant blemishes. Nightmare skin, really!

I bought the Effaclar K from Boots when it was on a 3 for 2 offer, and it cost £13. It's marketed as a "daily renewal fluid" and is essentially a micro-exfoliant. It's paraben-free and non-comedogenic. As you can see from the photo, I've used a fair bit of this already. I think I've had it just over a month, and I use it both in the morning and at night - in between toning and moisturising. It sinks in to my skin really quickly and leaves it feeling soft. My only problem with using the product is the smell. It smells very medicinal and clinical. LRP also state that it makes a great make-up base, which I agree with as it does make foundation application a lot smoother.

I've seen an improvement in the skin on my cheeks, which suffer from redness, and the overall texture of my skin has improved. It's a lot smoother, softer and more even. However, I haven't seen any improvement in my pores or blemishes, although it does claim that "imperfections are erased, and the pores are tightened and unclogged". I'm still going to continue to use this as I love the effect it has on my skin's overall texture, and I really want to try and incorporate more of the La Roche Posay range into my skincare routine.

Have you tried any of the La Roche Posay products? What did you think?

JolieBox June 2012 - Birthday Box

2 weeks after its dispatch, I finally received my first JolieBox. I unsubscribed to GlossyBox last month and since this month's JolieBox is their birthday edition box, I figured it was as good a time as any to subscribe. I know there's been a lot of frustration and anger surrounding the delays with the box, but I'm not going to talk about that here because I'm really pleased with this box so I'm keeping it positive! The box costs £10 a month plus £2.95 P&P, and you receive 4-5 luxury samples.

There were 2 different box designs this month. I had already googled the spoilers to death, so I knew that I wanted the orange box and I'm so pleased I received this design. It's bright and colourful and will look super lovely as storage in my room.

As if the orange box hadn't pleased me enough, I opened the box to find the products in a cute little draw-string bag - more handy storage! I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, and JolieBox has definitely impressed me in that aspect.

Time for the exciting bit! I received 5 products this month plus the additional nail file.

1. Leonor Greyl Volumizing Shampoo - I'm really excited to have received this as I do have fine, limp hair and I've been looking into buying a volumizing shampoo for a while now. I tried to find the RRP online but I can't find a UK stockist, so if you have better luck than me then please let me know!

2. Institut Esthederm Bronz Repair - I've heard great things about this brand and the sample size tube will come in handy when I go on holiday in September. The anti-wrinkle aspect isn't something which I'd particularly go out of my way to find in a product, but I'm looking forward to trying this anyway.

3. Elysambre Long Eyelashes Mascara - I was really hoping to receive one of the Elysambre lipsticks, so I was a little disappointed to receive the mascara. I got it in a brown shade, and since I don't own any brown mascaras this might come in handy for a "no make-up" make-up day instead of my usual intense black mascaras. The thing I do love about this brand is that they use 99% natural ingredients, which is great.

4. L'Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream - I already talked about this in my June Favourites post, as I received it in my Latest in Beauty skincare box. I love it, so I'm glad I've got a second mini pot because they're so handy for traveling and it means I can pop one in my handbag, and keep one at home.

5. Yon-Ka Pamplemousse for Normal to Dry skin - this was the first box where JolieBox offered a customized product for those who had filled out their online beauty profiles. However due to the delay and box mix-up, we were told that we may not receive the correct customized item. I have oily, blemish-prone skin, so I was a little gutted to receive the dry formulation. But I've tested it on the back of my hand and it's not too heavy or greasy and it smells divine, so I'm hoping I'll be able to use it at night since I do still love a nourishing moisturizer at night.

There was also a JolieBox nail file as an additional bonus product.

Overall, I'm really happy with this box. If I'd have received the oily formulation of the Pamplemousse (isn't that just the best word you've ever heard?!) cream, I'd have been even happier. Even though there were a lot of problems with this month's box, I'll still continue to subscribe for next month.

Did you receive a JolieBox this month? What did you get?

Sleek Au Naturel Palette

Sleek i-Divine Au Naturel Palette

I finally bought a Sleek eye palette! I rarely use eyeshadow but that could be down to the fact that the only eyeshadow I own is in an ANCIENT Virgin Vie palette and there isn't much left. When I do use eyeshadows, I prefer a neutral, understated look so I figured that this palette would suit me best. I really wanted to get the Urban Decay Naked Palette but I can't justify spending nearly £40 on eyeshadow when I rarely use it anyway! So I opted for Sleek's more affordable palette.

Sleek palette case

You can buy Sleek make-up at Superdrug, or online here, and this Au Naturel palette retails at £6.99. There are 12 shadows included, 8 of which are matte shades, and 4 shimmer. This is great value for money considering you could pay that for just one eyeshadow from another brand. The shadows come in a simple but sophistcated black matte case with the Sleek writing on the lid.

Shades in Au Naturel palette

Above, you can see the colours included in this palette. You also get a handy little eyeshadow applicator, and a large mirror on the lid of the palette. The packaging is so pretty, I didn't even want to swatch the shadows because they look so nice as they are! But I did swatch them, just for you guys.

Swatched

I've tried to catch the shadows in the best light possible, but I do apologise as it's still quite hard to see, especially the lighter shades. From L-R, the shades are Nougat (a pale matte cream), Nubuck (a light grey-brown matte), Cappuccino (a light matte beige), Honeycomb (a warm yellow-beige matte), Toast (a matte light orange-brown), Taupe (a shimmery light brown/gold), Conker (a shimmery purple-brown), Moss (a shimmery green-brown), Bark (a matte true brown), Mineral Earth (a shimmery dark brown), Regal (a dark matte purple-brown) and Noir (a true black matte).

My favourite shade is definitely Taupe, it's the perfect gold-brown for me. I haven't used these on my eyes yet so I can't comment on their durability, but they are well-pigmented and at £6.99 for 12 eyeshadows, you can't go wrong really!

Have you tried any of the Sleek palettes? What's your favourite shade?

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter

This is yet another product that I've heard so much about, and something I've been dying to try since I heard about it! As I've mentioned, I'm not a lipstick fan at all. I'm always too conscious that it's there, it feels awkward to eat or drink with and I somehow end up with lipstick all over my teeth and god knows where else. So when I heard about this lip butter, I thought it sounded great - basically a moisturizing lip balm with colour!

I intended to purchase the shade Peach Parfait but I couldn't find it anywhere, so I settled for Tutti Frutti which is more orange than I anticipated. Revlon claims that these lip butters will make your lips softer, more hydrated and and smoother as they are enriched with mango, shea and coconut butter.

Firstly, how gorgeous is this packaging?! I love it. You can see how bright it looks in the applicator, but it actually applies quite sheer so there's still a pop of colour but it's not so in-your-face. These retail at £7.99, but Superdrug is currently selling them on offer at £5.99.

Swatched on hand

It applies really smoothly and has a very creamy, buttery (as the name suggests) consistency. I love the fact that you can apply it really easily as it's more like a lip balm than a lipstick, so you don't have to be as precise as you do with lipstick. Great to chuck in your handbag for touch-ups during the day! And - bonus! - this hasn't transferred on to my teeth at all yet!

I'll be making sure I pick up a few more shades of this on my next trip to the shops, it's so easy to apply, made my lips feel super-soft and gives a lovely shine without the stickiness of a gloss.

Have you tried Revlon's lip butters yet? What's your favourite shade?

Topshop Lip Stick: Powder Room

Topshop Lip Stick in Powder Room

Continuing my foray into the realm of lip colour, I decided to purchase a Topshop Lip Stick in shade Powder Room. I actually really wanted shade Coy, but my local store was out of stock so I settled for Powder Room. I'd also like to apologize for the picture quality, my digital camera is broken so I'm having to make the best of my resources - Blackberry camera and a webcam! It's really hard to get the true colour to show up, but I've tried to catch it in the best light I can.

Topshop Lip Stick in Powder Room

The packaging is gorgeous, as expected from Topshop. It looks really cute in my make-up bag and I just love it.

Topshop Lip Stick in Powder Room

I thought the colour would be a dusky sort of rose pink, but when applied it's actually brighter and more of a baby pink. Very summery and easy to wear!

Swatched on back of hand

 Application wise, I love the fact that it's a chunky crayon because I find regular lipsticks to be quite fiddly to apply. You basically colour in your lips and I also like that the colour can be built up from quite a natural flush of pink, to a brighter colour. The formula is matte, so it is a little drying and I found that I had to give my lips a really good scrub before I used this, or my lips would look really dry and horrible.

In terms of longevity, I found this to be amazing. I applied it at 12pm yesterday, went for lunch, got caught in the rain, smoked, ate and drank and the colour still looked freshly applied at around 7-8pm. This really surprised me because every other time I've used a lipstick, I've had to retouch every hour or two because it just wiped off. I think because this is a matte formula it's much better at holding the colour to the lips.

I can safely say that I love this product! I'm still on the hunt for Coy, but I'm really glad that I bought Powder Room because it's going to be a staple in my make-up bag. Topshop Lip Sticks retail at £7.

Have you tried the Topshop make-up range? Do you have a favourite product?