Skincare Haul

Recently I have been on a bit of a mission to try and find a new cleanser that I can use on days that I am being lazy and don't want to use an eye makeup remover and have no clean muslin cloths or flannels! 

I had asked at a few beauty counters but they were being professional and kept saying they always recommend an eye makeup remover... Then I saw on Essiebutton's blog that she had bought Avene's gentle cleanser, I thought a gentle cleanser would be perfect to use to remove my eye makeup, and I read some very good reviews on makeupalley, so I took advantage of Boots 3 for 2 offer.

 I thought I would share my skincare haul as I love seeing other bloggers posts, and it helped me find a new cleanser to try! I have been using the products for about a week now so I can tell you my first impressions.

Eau Thermale Avène Gentle Gel Cleanser - £11.50

So far I really like this cleanser, as the name suggests it is very gentle and leaves my skin lovely and soft. The cleanser is pretty good at removing all my makeup, there are still traces of mascara but it's nothing Bioderma wont take off very quickly, so I would still class this as my lazy day cleanser! I really like the packaging, the pump means you only get the amount of product that you need.

You can find it here from Boots.

                        Eau Thermale Avene Cleanance Anti-shine Regulating Lotion - £10.50

This moisturiser caught my eye when I was looking at the cleanser on the Boots website, and it had great reviews on makeup alley. I really like this moisturiser it leaves my skin feeling matte and I do think it helps keep the shine away, although with tricky foundations (Revlon nearly naked foundation!) you still need to apply powder around lunchtime. 

You can find it here from Boots.

La Roche-Posay Hydraphase Eyes - £14.50

I have the Hydraphase mask (post here) which I love so I thought I would gamble on this as I needed a third item for the 3 for 2. So far it's ok, I haven't noticed any difference around my eyes maybe it needs a good while, but it's good to know my skin is being hydrated.

You can find it here from Boots.

Clinique Moisture Surge Intense Skin Fortifying Hydrator - £20 

I bought this from Boots.com when I bought my new Revlon Lip Butters (post here), it wasn't part of the 3 for 2 offer. I don't have dry skin but during the winter (and spring apparantly) the cold weather has been battered my skin leaving me with dry patches, so I have been using this as a rich night cream or over night mask. I really love it, I have noticed a huge difference in how soft my skin feels and my skin also feels less sensitive. 

You can buy it here from Boots.

I love reading Haul posts so feel free to leave any links for me to read.

Elaine

New Revlon Lip Butters - Wild Watermelon & Juicy Papaya

I was really excited to hear that Revlon are releasing 4 new shades of Lip Butters in their Spring collection, and that 3 of the shades from the original line up in the US will be added to the permanent range here (Red Velvet, Brown Sugar and Sugar Plum). 

I'm not sure whether the new shades of lip butters have officially been released yet, but when The Sunday Girl had some swatches of the spring range on her blog and said she had found them in her local Boots I knew I had to have them. But after a week of stalking Boots and Superdrug obsessively I gave up and ordered 2 of the spring shades on Boots.com, they were on offer for buy one get one half price, they cost £7.99 each, (current offer in Boots is 3 for 2 on all makeup). I bought Wild Watermelon and Juicy Papaya.

(L-R) Juicy Papaya & Wild Watermelon

I absolutely love these lip butters. 

Juicy papaya is a lovely coral shade that is very easy to wear, it looks quite orange in the swatch but the orange tone is actually quite subtle on your lips. Wild watermelon is a really vibrant red shade, it's quite a unique colour it's red with a hint of purple/pink, which will be a gorgeous bright spring/summer shade.

They are the same formula as the original lip butters so they are very easy to wear.

Other shades available in the spring launch are Pink Lemonade and Sorbet, they are available on Boots here.

Elaine

Dainty Doll Makeup at Fragrance Direct!

*claxon* Dainty Doll makeup is on Fragrance Direct! *claxon*

I heard about the new addition to Fragrancedirect.co.uk through twitter and within 5 minutes I had already placed my order, Dainty Doll is a brand that I have wanted to try for a very long time, but the price has always put me off. I love that this brand is aimed for pale skinned ladies like me but that anyone with any skin tone can also enjoy the products.

There is quite a lot of products from the range available from blushers, eyeshadow, concealer to double ended mascara/eyeliner, the prices are soo cheap and have been heavily reduced.    I did try to limit myself (although it might not seem like it) and I bought 3 cream blushers, a concealer and a lipstick, I bought another of their lipsticks from a cheapy makeup stall. 

Firstly I absolutely love the packaging, the design and the feel is very high quality and I love that the blushers and concealer contain a little mirror, I can't quite bring myself to throw away the boxes they came in just yet!

L-R Billion Dollar Babies, Paper Roses, Orange County Girl & Concealer in 002

I bought all 3 of the cream blushers available, 001 Paper Roses, 002 Orange County Girl and 003 Billion Dollar Babies, and I am really impressed with the quality of the blushers, they are lovely and soft which makes them very easy to blend, when you first apply the colour it is quite sheer but also very buildable, the swatch above was built up after 2 or 3 applications, I'm really looking forward to using Billion Dollar Babies as a cream contour.

The cream blushers are £1.99 - I can't see them on the website anymore so they may have sold out so I would recommend you try a cheapy makeup stall, all of the ones I have seen are selling Dainty Doll makeup too.

I bought the concealer in 002, I haven't really tried it out yet, but it seems like a good match for my skin tone, however it seems like it might be a bit thick for under my eyes. 

The concealer is also £1.99.

L-R In His Kiss & Baby Love

I actually bought Baby Love after reading a review from someone saying how much they loved it on the Boots website, and for £1.99 you can't really go wrong, I picked up In His Kiss from a makeup stall.

The lipsticks are lovely quality and feel moisturising, they are very easy to wear.

 I was hoping that Baby Love would be more of a pinky nude than it is, and In His Kiss is more of a pearlie pink than I like, so instead of thinking 'meh' to the colours I have been mixing them together which has given me a lovely pink nude colour and at only £3.98 for both it is still cheaper than buying one colour and much better quality.

I really love my Dainty Doll purchases and will be keeping my eye out to get more!

Does anyone know why Dainty Doll makeup is being sold off so cheaply? I know in Boots they are on offer for a 1/3 off also, is the line being discontinued or are they making space for new products?

Elaine

Twitter                    Bloglovin                  Hello Cotton

How to follow our blog!

There is a whole lot of panic happening on twitter about Google Reader being retired on July 1st, I don't use it as I read blogs through my Blogger dashboard but it is a site that allows you to read all the blogs that you follow, there is no news yet about GFC going but everyone agrees it will probably be next! 
You can already follow our blog through Hello Cotton and Blog Lovin, but I had kind of been neglecting those sites, so I'm going to try and be a bit more active on Blog Lovin' and Hello Cotton. I have transferred all of the blogs that I follow to Blog Lovin and downloaded their app, and I love it, it has made keeping up with blogs much easier, I think I had been missing a lot of posts by reading through the dashboard!
If you want to make the move, you can transfer all your Google Reader blogs over to Blog Lovin' really easily when you make an account, they have rather handily made the announcement about Google Reader at the top of the page with a link to their Google Reader import page, here is the link, it only took me a minute.

So you can follow our blog via Blog Lovin', Hello Cotton or GFC until it goes but there is no news when that will happen yet, using the side bar buttons, or you can follow me on twitter as I always put up updates on new post or general nonsense tweets!

Elaine 

Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation Review

There is quite a lot of hype around this foundation, mainly as US bloggers were raving about it before it was launched in the UK, when it was released I have to admit I jumped on the bandwagon and bought it straightaway, mainly due to the fact it was reduced to around £6, I normally like to research products before I buy them.

I know there have been hundreds of reviews of this foundation but I wanted to write a post as I have had mixed impressions on this foundation. 

The foundation has a lovely consistency almost gel like which reminds me of YSL's touche eclait foundation or Bourjois Healthy Mix, and it gives a really good light coverage I find on days I don't have blemishes I don't need to apply concealer, even on the redness around my nose.

After I have applied the foundation it gives a nice healthy skin glow, and the shade matches my skin tone well, the shades seem very neutral - not too yellow, not too pink.

But despite these positives I have really struggled with this foundation and I have mainly been trying to persevere with it as I am sick of buying foundation after foundation that don't work for my skin type, so I am determined to make this foundation work!

It's a struggle from the start, I have applied this foundation with my fingers, Real Techniques expert face brush and buffing brush and still find that I get streaks in the foundation (especially with the expert face brush) so I do need to spend extra time ensuring that all of the foundation is blended in properly, on a recent #bbloggers chat another blogger mentioned she also had this problem and found a damp sponge helped the foundation apply much better, so I am definitely going to give this a try.

Even when I do blend the foundation in well I wouldn't agree with Revlon's description that the foundation is 'unbelievably light with an undetectable finish', I can definitely still feel this foundation on my skin, I mean it's not heavy but it's also not unbelievably light either.

Hmm... and as for undetectable finish... the first day I wore this I was shocked at the state of the foundation by lunchtime, as it was the first application I only used a small amount with a light dusting of powder, and by lunchtime my skin was shockingly shiny around my T-Zone I actually gasped when I looked in the mirror, I could even see around my nose and cheeks where the foundation was shifting, it was not reacting with my oily skin well at all.

Since then I make sure I only wear the foundation when I am able to use my L'oreal studio secrets primer (mentioned here) and Rimmel stay matte powder along with it, these products have made this foundation a lot easier to wear, the shine is kept under control (and by that I mean my skin is shiny by lunchtime but no where near looking like I have smeared my nose in vaseline!) and the foundation has a nice finish throughout the day.

On a positive where I don't have issues with oily skin the foundation wears really well and lasts all day at work, I think this foundation would be amazing for people with normal or dry skin. Overall I don't hate it, I actually quite like it now I know the best ways to apply it but it's definitely not the holy grail product people claim it to be, well not for me anyway.

Have you tried it yet? What are your thoughts?

Elaine