Finished! November Edition

Few things are as gratifying to me as getting to the bottom of a product. It helps alleviate the guilt of having bought so much makeup. I’ve actually been very good lately and my spending has all but ceased. With the exception of one pigment set from the MAC Tartan Tale collection (does anyone want a post on that?), the newest Sleek Palettes (apparently there is ANOTHER coming out by the end of the month) some tinted lip balms and £1 glitter liners I haven’t bought anything in the last month. Oh... that’s actually quite a bit. Never mind. Anyway the following products have reached the end of their lives and are heading to the great makeup stash in the sky. Most of this stuff has been reviewed by me so check the tags for full reviews if you want.  Skin care first;

Simple Kind to Skin Vital Vitamin Night Cream – Some people complain that this is too basic and not rich enough for them but I find this to be perfect for my skin. I’m 23, I don’t need super heavy moisturisers but I do have the odd dry patch. This does the job beautifully and I have already started using my next tub. It’s £5.99 for 50ml but Simple’s stuff is always on offer in Boots or Superdrug. 

Estee Lauder Gentle Eye makeup Remover – I know some people love this but unfortunately for me it was a disaster. The skin under my eyes reacted really badly to the point of flaking and peeling. It stung my eyes too. Just goes to show what works for some won’t work for everyone. Thankfully I got this free as a gift with purchase but needless to say I wouldn’t buy it. 

Nivea Q10 Lip Effect lip balm – This is what appeared when I asked my husband to pick me up a ip balm at the supermarket. I think this is supposed to be an anti ageing lip balm... All I know is it tasted pretty awful and didn’t do a whole lot for my lips. As such it was relegated to the post of ‘bedside table lipbalm’ to be slapped on before bed. I wouldn’t bother buying it again. 

It’s been a bumper month for mascaras going off. I’ve noticed that all of these have the older style wire bristles and I’m sure this type goes bad faster than rubber wand. Here are all the makeup items I’ve finished recently;

17 Clear Definition Mascara – I used this for my brows. It still has plenty of product left but as you can see traces of foundation have turned it a delightful shade of murky brown. I liked this a lot but I won’t buy it again because (drum roll please)...... I have found an even cheaper clear mascara for my brows. Yes, cheaper than £4.69. Score. 

Lancôme Virtuose Mascara – As mascaras go this was nice enough but it wasn’t ‘oh my god this is amazing’. I’ve had cheaper, better mascaras. Like the 17 Wild Curls actually. At £20 a pop I certainly won’t be buying it again. 

17 Wild Curls Mascara – This was definitely a winner for me. For £6.29 you get some rather sexy packaging and a really nice mascara. It had started the flake off and smell a little funky though so I knew it had reached the end of its useful life. I’ll buy another one day but I have a tonne of mascaras to use up first. 

Estee Lauder Lash Primer Plus – This was a little sample that came in a gift set. It’s just a white base coat. I didn’t find this did much for me and I spend long enough doing my makeup in a morning, I don’t want to add yet another step in! If lash primers are your thing you might like this but I wouldn’t personally buy it again. 

Estee Lauder Projectionist High Definition Volume Mascara – Again this is a sample size. I actually really liked this. I have lots and lots of quite thick lashes so normally volumising mascaras end up giving me one great big eyelash all clumped together. This did a really nice job of separating my lashes whilst making them even thicker and more dramatic. At £18.50 I’d have to be feeling very flush to buy a full size tube but maybe one day I will treat myself to one.

Collection 2000 Illuminating Concealer - This was a decent undereye concealer but thepen applicator got properly disgusting towards the end. Washing it made it worse. I don't think I'll repurchase it though I do still like it as a concealer.

And finally my Maybelline Dream Creamy foundation has bitten the dust. I *think* this is the UK version of the US Smooth Mousse but correct me if I’m wrong. Now I don’t think this is a bad foundation. I can see that it would be perfect for someone with dry- normal skin who wanted a dewy finish and light-medium coverage. Why I bought it with my combination/ oily skin, preference for matte finishes and full coverage I will never know. It looked waxy and oily on me and lasted roughly half an hour on my super oily nose. I persevered and used it up but I won’t buy it again. 

What have you used up recently? Have you been trying to curb your makeup spending too? Let me know in the comment xx

*I bought all of the above items apart from the 17 Wild Curls Mascara which I was sent by 17*

Finished! October Edition

Over the last month or so I’ve gotten to the bottom of a whole load of products. So many they wouldn’t all fit in the one photo. Is it sad that it fills me with a real sense of pride? Even sadder is the fact that there is a little basket under my desk that I put finished items in till  I’ve taken a photo of them for this blog... and occasionally wave it under hubbies nose to say ‘look I do use all this stuff!’ Anyhoo...

Treseme: Heat Defence Spray: Love this. Leaves my hair super soft and really reduces frizz. I have already repurchased. In fact I believe this was one of the first reviews I ever did!

Garnier Night Cream: I did like this however there is a scent and I think it’s the perfume that stung a little if my skin was feeling particularly sensitive. Most days it was fine though. I won’t be repurchasing simply because I prefer the Simple night cream. 

Carmex: (original): Love this stuff. Have gone through hundreds of these little tubes and no doubt will go through hundreds more. Most of the flavours have SPF but the original doesn’t so this is the one I keep on my bedside table. 

Simple Eye Cream: It was nice and cooling to apply. Again this lacks SPF so because the eye cream that I used at night. I have a few others to try first but I’d be happy to buy this again in future. It probably wouldn’t cut it if you were looking for some heavy duty anti ageing but for my 23 year old skin it was fab. 

Smashbox Lash DNA in Burgundy: Loved the colour but hated the giant wand. Seriously it was bigger than my eyes... IT stank of play dough when I got it and progressively got smellier throughout its life. Needless to say I won’t be repurchasing. 

Blistex: Smells, tastes and feels foul but for severely cracked lips there is no better product. I hate it but I’ll never be without it. It sinks in quickly leaving your lips feeling so much better. This is usually the lip balm I have on my dressing table. I apply it first thing in the morning and by the time I go to apply my lipstick it has totally sunken in. Fab/ horrid. 

No7 Cleanse and Care Eye makeup remover:  Got this as a freebie thankfully. I really didn’t like this. It took loads to remove any makeup and I always still woke up with panda eyes the next day. Would not purchase personally. 

ELF Clarifying Pressed Powder: Honestly for £1.50 I wasn’t expecting greatness and I certainly didn’t get it. Mattified ok but quickly started to look cakey and unnatural. Euch. 

Lancôme Day Cream SPF15: Another gift with purchase. I expected this to be too heavy for my skin but I experienced zero breakouts or irritation. Whilst it is a little heavy for summer for me I may well repurchase during the winter. 

Rimmel Stay Matte Mouse (foundation of Dooooooom): Thankfully I dropped this (by accident I swear) and over half of it fell out. Their lightest shade is, on me, the colour of a Wotsit. I managed to use it up by mixing it with a lot of sunscreen to lighten it. I am not sorry to see the back of this!

L’Oréal Absolute Eye and Lip Makeup Remover: This was ok actually but I’ve used better, cheaper products since so I won’t be repurchasing. Everyday makeup wasn’t a problem but it really struggled with anything waterproof. 

Not a bad month really! X

*I bought the above products myself*

Lancôme Blush Subtil Highlighter

Ah outlet stores. Why pay £25 for a Lancôme Highlighter when you can pay £10? Once again please excuse the terrible photos. I’m getting there with the new set up but I’m not quite sorted yet.
In a rather sleek black case you get 6g of shimmery gold highlighter with the Lancôme flower embossed into it and a good sized mirror. The powder is very smooth and finely milled with no chunky glitter. It’s a just a soft warm sheen. It is much less frosty and metallic than the MAC MSF’s so it is an ideal day time cheek highlight.


The powder has a very distinct floral scent. It fades pretty quickly and personally I quite like it however if scents put you off then this won’t be for you. It’s not often I suggest sniffing before buying but it’s probably a good idea (though the SA may call security). The brush is pretty useless so it went in to the bin the day I bought it.


It isn’t hugely pigmented which again is probably a good thing for during the day. I don’t want to look like a bionic woman with frosty metallic cheeks at work. It works well for me with a MAC 168 or similar style blush brush. I like it but is it worth £25? Not really. I’d like something super pigmented that I only needed the tiniest amount of for that money. This is nice, but it’s not £25 nice. For £10 though I’m quite happy with it!

*I bought this myself*

Lancôme Colour Fever Gloss – Shade 125

I recently discovered a local outlet shop selling all sorts of premium brands a insanely low prices. There was a lot of tat (some really awful colours that clearly weren’t selling in normal shops) but some hidden gems jumped out at me. This gloss should sell for £17.50. I think I paid £7! I can’t see a shade name but this is shade 125. It’s a bright true red.

The applicator is this funny shaped doe foot style wand. Cute but almost too big. It feels slightly unwieldy to me. Precise application is key as this is without a doubt the most pigmented gloss I’ve ever worn. You don’t get a hint of red, you get a full on scarlet lip!

The gloss is slightly sticky but this combined with the pigmentation means that it lasts incredibly well. I can get 3 hours wear out of this which is unheard of for a gloss and after the gloss itself is gone it leaves a just bitten stain behind. There is a very slight floral scent to it but I can only detect it if I shove the bottle right under my nose.

The packaging is a thick substantial feeling plastic. It certainly feels expensive. I’ll be stocking up on these next time I’m at that shop!

*I bought this myself*

Lancôme Virtuose Mascara

I have a drugstore only policy for mascara. I’m sure there are plenty of amazing high end mascaras out there, I just don’t have the lashes to show them off on. Therefore I prefer to save my pennies for other high end makeup and leave their mascaras to those with long, luscious, curly lashes. I don’t know what possessed me to buy this then.

£20?! Why? I mean it’s nice enough but for £20 I could get almost 4 other mascaras that are, let’s be honest, equally as nice! Enough ranting and onto the review. The wand is a curved affair aimed at curling your lashes. I don’t think this idea works personally though I do find the formula itself doesn’t drag down any curl I’ve managed to coax my lashes into with a curler.

It’s a fairly black formula too and provide quite a lot of thickness. As a result of the thickening effect I do find it can get a little clumpy. It provides a bit of length too so it’s a fairly good all-rounder. The girl at the counter told me that whilst it isn’t a waterproof mascara the ingredients that are supposed to make it curl your lashes do make it a little bit waterproof. To its credit I haven’t found that it flakes or melts on me at all though I wouldn’t go so far as to say it actually is waterproof. Here is a picture of some naked lashes:


And some with mascara:


I know, I’m being biased. It’s just that for that price I was expecting the most amazing mascara I’d ever used and this is just nice. Nice doesn’t cut it for £20. Of course on your lashes it may well be amazing as mascara is one of those funny products that acts differently on everyone. Let’s face it, my lashes are rubbish...

*I bought the above products with my own money. I always give my honest opinion of a product. For further info see my disclaimer in the menu on the left*

Finished!

I like the last post I did on items that I’ve finished recently. I think it’s useful to look back at a product, even if it’s already been reviewed by me, and ask myself whether I miss it enough to repurchase now that it’s gone. I may love or hate a product after the first few uses but by the end of a bottle/packet/pan you have a much better sense of it. Here are our goodbyes this month: (ones with a * have been reviewed here fully)

Simple Eye Makeup Remover * :
No no no no. I will not be repurchasing. I love many Simple products. This is not one of them. It stung the skin underneath my eyes and did not do a good job of removing waterproof mascara.

Lancôme Bi Facil Eye Makeup Remover * :
Love it! I will repurchase one day but not today. At just under £20 a bottle it’s just too pricey for me. This little sample lasted me a good long while though.

The Body Shop Mango Body Butter:
Mmmm this smelt so good. It was a rich, moisturising treat post bath. The cream is insanely thick and I found it to be very moisturising. I have another body butter on the go right now!

Simple Radiance Brightening Moisturiser SPF10 * :
I really liked this. It was a good, fairly light daytime moisturiser. The SPF could do with being a bit higher but at least it has some in it. It’s super cheap too. I’d be quite happy to repurchase this in future.

Garnier Makeup Remover Wipes * :
I hated these. They did a pretty shoddy job of removing my makeup and pulled at my skin whilst doing it. I won’t be repurchasing.

MAC Brush Cleanser:
The remnants of this are in a spray bottle but I need to pick up another ASAP (and will be back to MAC-ing the bottle once I have 5 more empties!). I love this stuff, I just wish they’d put a damn spray on it.

Boot Vitamin E Night Cream * :
I really liked this too actually and for less than a fiver I’ll be picking some more up in future. I’m currently trying a couple of other things though and when I was last in Boots they were sold out! Evidently I’m not the only one who likes this beauty bargain!

Lush Bubble Gum Lip Scrub * :
No I didn’t use this up. It exploded in my travel makeup bag whilst on a business trip. It took me 20 minutes to clean sugar out of my eyelash curlers... This was always the problem with this product though. It does a fantastic job for a reasonable price but it’s as messy as a toddler with a paint can. For this reason I won’t be repurchasing which means I’m on the hunt for a new lip scrub. Any suggestions?

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder:
Ah my dear, we knew it had to end one day. This thing is so old it’s in the old packaging and all the type has faded off. Look!

I really liked this stuff. I go through a lot of powder in an effort to keep my nose none shiny and this has been an invaluable companion in that quest. The Sam to my Frodo if you will (Ok who let the geek out?) Ahem anyway it’s a fab drugstore pressed powder that I will happily repurchase in all its shexy new green packaging. I need to use up a couple of other powders first but when I have I’ll probably buy it and give it the full review it deserves.

So it’s been a mixed bag. Some hits, some misses, some unnecessary Lord of the Rings similes. I always get such a sense of satisfaction when I finish a product. I prance about waving the empty container in my husband’s face in a triumphant demonstration of “see! I really do use all this stuff!” Do you get the same sense of satisfaction? Xxx

*I bought the above products with my own money. I always give my honest opinion of a product. For further info see my disclaimer in the menu on the left*

Collection Overview – Highlighters

Erm, how did I acquire so many of these? Honestly I have no idea. I do know it’s too many for me to go into too much detail in this collection but if you have a look at the tags on the right hand side chances are you will find reviews for all of these if you need more info (reviews on the Sleek Contour kit and Benefit High Beam are in the works). 

From MAC I have (Clockwise from top left) By Candlelight MSF, Petticoat MSF, Truth & Light Magically Cool Liquid Powder (in Venomous Villains packaging), Belightful Iridescent pressed powder (in Fafi packaging). The swatches are in the same order. 

My only liquid highlighters are Benefit Moonbeam (left) and Highbeam (the little sample from Glamour magazine). Again swatches are in the same order. 

The 17 blush/ highlighter duo is called Peaches & Cream. On the right is NARS Honeylust. Swatches are in the same order. 

Finally I have (clockwise from top left) Rituals Cheek & Eye glow in Pink, ELF Gotta Glow, the highlight side from the Sleek Contour kit and Lancôme Blush Subtil in Highlighting Or 00. For some reason I swatched them from left to right Rituals, ELF, Lancôme, Sleek. 

My favourites are the Lancôme, Rituals, By Candlelight MSF and ELF Gotta Glow. I could probably live without the Belightful pressed powder and the Magically Cool Liquid powder. Petticoat MSF and the Rituals Pink and perfect compliments for cooler toned pink blushes. 

Do let me know if these collection overviews are of any interest to you. Is there anything you would like to see in particular? Let me know in the comments! X

*All bought by me. My poor bank account*

Lancôme The Pink Side of Me Lipstick

This lippie will always hold a place in my heart as it is the lipstick I wore on my wedding day! Is it the best formula in the world? Erm... no. Actually I find it quite drying. But it’s the perfect neutral ‘my lips but better’ pink on me.

The packaging looks gorgeous but feels surprisingly light weight. I was hoping for a more substantial weight to lend it more of a luxe feel but never mind. At £18.50 I won’t be buying any more colours in a hurry although I will buy more of this colour when I run out!

The wear is pretty good. It will last about 3 hours on me before needing reapplied which isn’t bad on me. And no it didn’t transfer onto hubbies face during ‘the kiss’.

So this is a pretty odd review. It’s my most precious lipstick but I wouldn’t urge others to run out and buy it. Hmm... x

Lancôme Bi-Facil Instant Cleanser

On waterproof mascara days the Simple eye makeup remover just doesn’t cut it for me. I’m thrilled then that I received this little bottle of loveliness with a box of samples as a gift with purchase. A full sized bottle (150ml) costs a whopping £19.50 which I balked at but if I don’t find anything else that removes my Bobbi Brown mascara quite as well I may have to bite the bullet!

You shake the bottle vigorously to mix the two parts then apply with a cotton wool pad. I like to hold it to my eyes for 15 seconds and then wipe and 90% of my eye makeup comes off in the first swipe. This means no rubbing at the delicate eye area which is always a plus. It is suitable for sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers according to the Boots website and I’ve certainly never experienced any stinging. One factor which may sway the argument for me is that though it costs a lot (to me anyway) you only need a little. I’ve had this sample bottle a while (30ml) and I’m only a third of the way through. Unlike some eye makeup removers where you have to completely soak the cotton pad you need the smallest splash of this stuff.

My one little niggle is that though the bottle says non oily I do find I have an oily residue left behind on my skin when I use this. It’s not the end of the world and a wipe with a damp flannel removes it but it is very noticeable to me.

All in all I do like this product and if I can get over the price I will probably repurchase. It’s the best remover for waterproof mascara I’ve tried so far.

Sample Sunday - Lancôme Teint Miracle - Fresh Foundation Veil SPF 15 30ml - For all Skin Types

Another Saturday afternoon spent looking orange for the sake of these reviews :p The things I do for this blog! They say:

“Perfection through light – Teint Miracle works to help recreate and boost the skin’s luminosity.
Immediately the complexion appears flawless and fresher-looking.
Skin feels smoother, looks unified and is hydrated for up to 18 hours.”

I love the coverage. It is fairly full yet looks like skin unlike more matte formulas which can look a little mask like. It dries down to a satin finish which is very flattering... for a while. On my oily nose it looks exceptionally shiny after a couple of hours but a quite blot and powder sorted it out.

The formula is very thin and runny so blends in very easily. You have plenty of time to work with the product before it sets. I did notice a slight alcohol smell initially but it disappeared quickly. Considering that the finish isn’t really designed for my oily bits it lasted pretty well. I wore it for about 6 hours and it hadn’t disintegrated on my nose yet (though as I said I did blot and powder).

Would I purchase it? I don’t think the formula would be suited to my skin in summer as it would get too glowy too quickly. In winter it would probably work very well with my dry patches. So it’s a possible maybe for next winter. A 30ml bottle will cost you £25.53

*Sample was in a magazine somewhere*