Empties #10

I actually enjoy hanging onto my empties to then share on my blog for you guys, but also for me to look back on and think "yeah, I actually really loved using that product". Within this bunch there are definitely some staple products which I would highly recommend.

Firstly the Dove Derma Spa Summer Revived Fake Tan which I purchased after watching Anna Saccone's fake tan routine video. This is now one of my favourite fake tan products and I've written a full blog post all about it here. Anything to help with spots/blemishes is right up my street and the Garnier Pure Active Anti-Spot Exfoliating Scrub. It's a really invigorating scrub which really feels like it's doing something to help my skin out. Again you can read more here. Another great spot product is the Out of Trouble mask by Origins. This I personally find really soothing for my spots and it also helps calm down the redness.

The Urban Decay Naked Concealer is such an amazing concealer. It's obviously slightly more expensive and there are great concealers which you can purchase in the drug store. However, I do really adore this one for everything - spots, blemishes and those under eye bags. Next the Rimmel Super Curler Mascara which is aimed at holding and improving the curl of your lashes. This is quite a natural looking mascara which I love for everyday. I'm not sure it really helps with the curl of my lashes, I did still curl them myself, but it was a great mascara.

Jimmy Choo Flash Perfume is a new favourite of mine. I got this on one of Boots flash deals, when it was half price. It was a bit of a whim, as I had never smelt it before, but I absolutely loved it. Finally I picked up this SPAtopia Argan Oil Body Scrub from TK Maxx. I was simply in need of a new one and spotted this one so thought I would give it a go. I'd never even heard of the brand before but now I've fully used the product up, it was a really amazing scrub. It was invigorating and actually felt like it was getting rid of all the dead skin.

There we have it, that's another one of my empties posts all done. There are some great products featured in this post which I would really like to re-purchase in the future. If you've tried any of these products before, then I'd love to hear your thoughts about them in the comments below!

Current High End Beauty Wishlist

Estée Lauder lip treatment
£30 - sephora.com

Origins exfoliating face wash
£20 - belk.com

Nails Inc nail polish
net-a-porter.com

Bare Escentuals foundation
selfridges.com

Clarins lip makeup
£18 - macys.com

Too Faced Cosmetics mascara
£16 - macys.com

Lancôme lancome makeup
selfridges.com

Smashbox makeup primer
£11 - smashbox.com

NYX COSMETICS Wonder stick
selfridges.com

I love being nosy and looking at various wish lists, whether that's beauty or fashion. I thought I hadn't done one myself for quite some time, so thought I would get back into it with a high end beauty wish list. Personally at the moment, I feel there are so many high end beauty products that I'm lusting after! Is it just me? There seems to be a lot of new releases also which have made me all excited. I wish I could just purchase all of these, unfortunately not, however I'm hoping to tick them off one by one!

The new Lancôme lipsticks look AMAZING! I've seen and heard good things and I think they may be the first thing from this wish list that I will purchase. I'm not an avid lip stick wearer but I feel these would be perfect for myself due to not be too bold but would work with my drier lips.

The Nails Inc spray on nail varnish is something I'm unsure about and I keep thinking, how can this work? However I would still love to get my hands on one to try it out for myself. I've read a couple of reviews but haven't heard all that much about this product to be honest.

Most of the other products have actually been on my wish list for quite some time now. You know when something has been on your wish list for so long and after a while you're just like "can you be mine now please?" - well that's how I feel about these products.

I'd love to hear what's on your current beauty wish list, whether it's high end or high street. Also if you've tried any products and have reviewed them on your blog, then leave a link below for me to have a read of :-)

Empties #8

I seem to forget how many empties I actually have, until it gets to the point where I physically cannot fit anymore in my little basket I keep them in. It's surprising how many empty products my storage basket can hold, then when it comes to photographing them I know it's going to be a pretty lengthy blog post. So I apologise in advance but there are some great products featured in this empties post.

Firstly the Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder which I absolutely loved. It's a really lightweight powder and doesn't make you look chalky but does the job really well. It kept my oiliness at bay for a reasonable amount of time but I always knew I could reapply without worrying about looking powdery. Next the Mark Hill Turn Up The Heat Spray which you can apply onto dry hair and that's how I used it. I normally wash my hair in the evenings and then style it the next morning so a heat protector which works on dry hair is a must for me and believe it or not, there's not many out there that I've found! There's not much I can say on this product but it did the job and I enjoyed using it. Then the Boots Dream Pillow Spray which is my second bottle of the stuff. It's easy to use and leaves my pillow smelling of lavender which is lovely. I'm not fully convinced this helps me get to sleep but it's definitely a nice product to use.

One of my all time favourite mascaras is the L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes which I've repurchased many times in the past. This particular tube was sent to me but obviously I loved the product due to trying it previously. It leaves my lashes looking lengthened and completely natural, no clumps in sight. Next is the Olay Complete Care Moisturiser which I purchased when my skin started becoming drier in places. I really liked it to begin with, then another one came into my hands so I stopped using it but recently I went back to it and loved it. It's really lightweight for a normal/dry skin moisturiser and sunk into my skin nicely. It helped my dry patches stay hydrated and didn't effect my oily patches all that badly. Next I used up the Witch Overnight Clearing Serum and after using it all up, I'm not sold on this product. I used this nearly every night for a long period of time but I really didn't see much difference in my spots in the morning.

Pen-ultimately I used up my Origins Super Spot Remover which I absolutely loved and would you believe it this tiny pot lasted me such a long time. I definitely think this product works better on the larger, more painful spots rather than those pesky little ones. You get the stinging feeling and it really helps reduce the size and redness of big spots. Finally my Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover has all dried up so I have invested in a new one. This product is genius and makes removing nail varnish so, so much easier and much less hassle. It's definitely worth it and as I said I've repurchased already so it goes to show how much I need this product in my stash.

And that's my lengthy empties post complete! I hope you found a new product which takes your fancy that I've raved about in this post. Let me know your thoughts on any of the products I've mentioned in this post :-)

Origins Super Spot Remover

I've actually had this product for a really long time and it wasn't until recently that I realised I had never written a blog post about it before. This was a product that I had wanted to get my hands on for a very long time and I then splurged my Boots points to buy it. For a spot remover gel I do find it expensive as I believe it is £13 and I must admit to begin with I was like woah, this pot is tiny! I will tell you now, a little does go a long way.

So yes this is a small 10ml squeezy tube which to begin with I was like, seriously? £13 for this teeny tiny tube? But as I mentioned a little goes a long way and you can see how little I have used already, and I've had this for quite some time now. Around the time I purchased this product it was being absolutely raved about in the blogging community which was what made me buy it in the end. I believe this product is still raved about a lot as one of the best spot gels.

I use this most evenings, especially when I have larger spots as I find this product to work better on those kind of spots. You know those huge, red pesky things and also the ones that hurt. I find this spot gel super soothing hence why I think this works so well on the larger, more painful ones. Once applied this is cooling and then it sets pretty quickly on the spot. Once it has dried it does do the standard "make my spot area really stiff" thing, which can be seen as annoying but I do get that feeling that it's actually working because of this.

In the morning, after using this product, I find my spot(s) to have reduced in redness and 9 times out of 10 are not painful anymore. The look of the spot just makes me feel less paranoid about them in general, which is such a huge thing when you suffer with spot prone skin. I can find that this product dries out spots but not all the time which I know sounds weird. But if this is the case and a spot is dried out after using this product then the following night I will just make sure to not use this product again on that particular spot.

Overall this is a great spot gel for those huge, red spots that you just can't get rid of, this product is definitely a saviour for that! Yes it is expensive but in my eyes it is definitely worth it and if you can save your Boots points up then why not spend it on this product. Let me know your thoughts if you've tried this product :-)

Origins Face Mask Gift Set

I received this gift set for Christmas actually, which seems a lifetime ago, and I've given all three of these face masks a good going now to tell you all about them. I've always wanted to try skin care, especially face masks, from Origins. I think this is such a perfect way to get to try all three, in a smaller size and also at a smaller price. This whole set was £25 which I think is an absolute bargain considering you get three, pretty decent sized, face masks.

The first face mask included in the Clear Improvement active charcoal mask. This is aimed to unclog pores and towards combination/oily skin. This mask applies rather thick, so can take a while to dry although it does recommend 10-15 minutes. I then rinse it off and am left with soft feeling skin and can definitely see a difference in the size of my pores. I tend to get them all around my nose and they can really bother me when they are large. So using this mask can really help reduce them and it also helps with my redness and blemishes. It can help soothe them and just leave them not as dry and easier to deal with.

Secondly is the Out of Trouble 10 minute mask which is aimed at problematic skin. This one I was really drawn too as you know I suffer with blemishes. The first thing I noticed about this mask is the scent, it's quite a strong natural, herbal scent. It's not a horrible smell but it is rather strong if you're not a fan of that. But this face mask works like a treat, it really helps my blemishes, more so than the charcoal mask. Also when this face mask has been left on, it doesn't get that "hard" feeling which I think really helps those painful blemishes. It also really helps the blemishes that are painful, it soothes them and diminishes redness.

Finally the Drink Up Intensive over night face mask. Only recently has my skin taken a turn for the worst and become really dry in places. So this face mask has really been helping in that department. It can take quite a while to dry once applied, so just leave it a few minutes before plopping your head on your pillow. Again this one has a scent but no where near as strong as the previous. This works amazingly well, in the morning my face feels super hydrated. Sometime my dry skin becomes flaky and this completely stops that leaving it ready to apply make up the next day.

Overall I am really enjoying using these face masks. I love that all the Origins products include natural ingredients as someone with blemish prone skin it's nice to know I'm not putting anything nasty on my face. This is a great gift set to be able to try out all three face masks, I'm just unsure as to whether it's available anymore or not. I'd definitely recommend trying these out if you haven't already. I'd love to hear your favourite Origins product that you would recommend? :-)

High end beauty wish list

 

1. Origins Clear Improvement Mask

2. Benefit Hydra Smooth Lip Colour

3. Benefit Stay Flawless Primer

4. MAC Crosswires Lipstick

Hello! It's been another busy week for me again and yesterday was my first day off in two weeks! My god I was (and most probably still am) shattered, the whole uni, placement and work is getting to me but fingers crossed hopefully I will soon get into the swing of things and keep posting regularly. Since having a few evenings free I simply find myself lusting over new things and now I'm not working full time due to uni, I find myself with less money = problem. So I've built up a small high end beauty wish list.

1. Origins clear improvement mask is something I have wanted to try for a very long time, having that problematic skin prone to break outs I've heard this clay mask works wonders for this. I've never tried an Origins product but it's always the website I check up on and always a brand I've wanted to try as they are so lusted over. Alongside this mask I'd love to try the spot treatment which many people rave over too.

2. Benefit hydra smooth lip colour is a relatively new product from benefit. They are lipsticks which come in different coverages such as sheer, medium and full. As soon as I saw these hit the internet they instantly caught my eye due to the unique packaging and range of colours across different coverages. Although the packaging looks very unique and different I feel it could be a bit clumpy and large but that doesn't stop me wanting to try it! It has a slightly special feeling about it and I've tried many benefit products before and loved all of them.

3. Benefit stay flawless primer, another Benefit product! Since this primer was released I've tried to reason with myself about whether or not to purchase but to be honest I really just want to try it! Again another pretty packaging from Benefit and I like the fact that it's a primer on a stick and not a liquid based primer. I think this is one of the reasons as to why I'm intrigued into trying it!

4. MAC Crosswires lipstick, I can't tell you how long I've wanted to purchase this particular lipstick or simply just any other lipstick from MAC. Yes you heard right, I've never tried a MAC lipstick and my lord I so want to. They are obviously so raved about everywhere in the blogging world and out. Since I haven't really been into lipstick for that long, I now think I need to purchase one to see what all of the fuss is about! I've had my eye on Crosswires but I can't get over how many there are to choose from! I think I really need to head down to my nearest counter and have a real nosey! That is one downside to MAC for me, there is only one counter which isn't too close to me so it's rather annoying to get my hands on!

So there we have it, probably only a slice of my beauty wish list right now! There probably are many more but these are the four I've wanted to try for the longest amount of time and which I've heard the best about :-) Let me know if you've tried any of the products that I've mentioned and what you think about them, I'd love to know! xo