Beauty Blog - Beauty Geek UK

New Skin: First Look at Baby Quasar Plus

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

I was sooo excited to receive the Baby Quasar Plus*, having spent the last week or so lusting after it online (considering the weather I've had plenty of time to do so), so I'm happy to report that it finally arrived this morning. I say "finally", but it actually only took five days to get here from America which I thought was pretty impressive!

The Baby Quasar Plus (which I'm going to refer to as Baby Q for an easy life) is designed to combat signs of age around the eye area, often referred to as Crows Feet. However, many online users have used it all over the face and reported positive results for skin clarity, pore size and reduction of all signs of ageing, so I'm going to be trying it out with that in mind. To be honest, I did think it was a tool designed specifically for all over the face but the instructions dictate otherwise, so I'll double check that with the manufacturer and update on my next Baby Q post.

The Baby Q arrives in a really well packaged carrier which I'm a big fan of for gadgets, as I hate having them just sitting around waiting to be broken. Inside you get the Baby Q, the adaptor, the instruction manual and the quick start guide. It's very easy to use; you simply plug it in, place it on your face, push the button and off you go. Each treatment cycle lasts for 3 minutes, so technically it should only take 6 minutes a day if you're just treating the eye area.

You have to be careful with your placement as you DO NOT want to be shining this directly into the eyes as the lights are extremely bright. The treatment itself was extremely easy and not half as awkward as I expected it to be. The device is comfortable to hold (I can happily waffle away on the phone whilst still holding it in place) and I ended up doing 7 treatments in total; 1 on each eye, 1 on each cheek, 1 on each jaw line and 1 on the forehead.

There was no real sensation other than a bit of warmth and the skin felt warm afterwards for a couple of minutes. Rather horrifyingly, my crows feet looked much more pronounced after use but this settled down after 10 minutes or so. Other reviewers have mentioned that they noticed a firmer, glowier look to their skin immediately afterwards. I didn't notice that, but one thing I did see was quite a reduction in the depth of my eye bag: you know that line you get from the inner eye that goes all the way out towards the temples, and the skin within this is usually quite puffy? I'm struggling to see any puffiness at all which is great, but could be temporary (and could just be me flattening it with the head of the device!) so we shall see.

So far so good; the device is easy to use, easy to set up, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens and I'll update as I go along. The recommended treatment programme is 5 times a week which I think will be quite easy to integrate into daily life i.e. in front of the telly.

The Baby Quasar Plus is currently on special for £249.99 and comes with a 5 year warranty and a 60 day money back guarantee.

How Not to Conduct Your Business on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:16:00 +0000

There was mucho furore on Twitter today, as MUA attempted to launch their (apparently) much anticipated code for 50% off all their products. However, as is usually the case with these types of promotions, word got out and before you knew it, all make-up lovers were heading to the site to start their shopping which resulted in a mahoosive site crash.

So, rather than take to Twitter to apologise for any inconvenience caused, loyal fans were tweeted these gems:

"Everyone, please get off our website!"....really? I'm sorry, you want your customers to NOT visit your site? Your site can't handle the surge of traffic and the fault of this lies at the feet of your customers?? I imagined a middle-aged, matron type sitting there Tweeting and getting all flustered that her charges were being awfully naughty.

Obviously I understand and even sympathise with the fact that it was probably quite stressful for the MUA team; I would imagine they wanted to get it sorted as quickly as possible so everything could go back to normal, but barking patronising orders at your Twitter and Facebook followers is not the way to go; at best it's unprofessional and at worst it's just plain rude. Clearly they didn't plan very well for this and I'm sure lots of lessons were learnt, but seriously MUA, apologise for inconveniencing the very people who keep your business afloat, don't shout at them over Twitter!

Ole Henriksen Truth is in the Eyes Eye Peel

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

Ole Henriksen is one of those brands that I'm fairly certain I would be addicted to if I wasn't on a strict regime for another company, as all his products not only sound amazing, but they're beautifully formulated with some cutting edge ideas, and nothing encompasses these elements more than the Truth is in the Eyes Eye Peel*.

I've always thought that the beauty market was crying out for a product that would effectively yet gently rejuvenate the eye area (Olay made an attempt at this a few years back, but their efforts weren't great), as since it's an area that quickly starts to show signs of wear and tear, surely it would make sense that it would benefit from some very gentle peeling. Ole's Eye Peel fills that gap perfectly and does all these things and more.

It's an eye treatment that you apply before your moisturiser; you apply it to the outer orbital which works on the main areas that show lines, i.e. the crows feet. You need the teeniest, tiniest amount which you tap in and leave to dry, before applying your usual eye cream.

Not the most helpful image, but this should give you an idea of the consistency; this is enough for one eye.

I was using this last night when I realised I hadn't actually reviewed it on here and thought this was something that should be rectified immediately as it's a product I will most definitely repurchase, although I'm limiting using it to only my "facial days" which equates to three to four times a week. You can use it daily and when I purchase the larger size I will definitely move up to daily treatments. It's just brilliant at smoothing the area and I can definitely tell the days where I've used it the night before as it really does make a difference. Tread really carefully during application as you DO NOT want to get this in your eyes, but other than that it's just wonderful; it slotted straight into my skincare routine and will no doubt remain there for quite some time. It's available now from Feel Unique for £39.

New Skin: I don't want normal skin, I want great skin!

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 17:41:00 +0000

It's a few weeks in since my last update and my skin is still acting normally. I'm not completely clear, but I'm down to one teeny tiny spot most days (I'd say all days but I had a day last week where I had two) and these are the type of spots that acne-sufferers dream of; they're barely visible, easy to conceal and disappear within a couple of days. No pain, no bleeding, no infection, no manky scabbing and no month-long heal time...it's all looking very promising!

Therefore, with the new year comes a new skincare focus. Instead of only taking into account my spots and little else, I can now start work on my other skin issues which I've narrowed down to mainly scarring, slightly enlarged pores, skin tone and clarity and, sadly first signs of ageing. Therefore there are a few things I'll be starting work on shortly and I thought I'd give you a heads-up so you can get an idea of firstly, what I hope will work with these skin issues and secondly, what reviews will be appearing soon!

Jan Marini Glycolic Peels*

Now the lovely peeps at Jan Marini have decided it's time for me to start the next phase of my new skin plan and crank it up a notch with some Glycolic acid peels. My mum used to administer these when I was a teenager so I've already tried them (a long, long, long time ago, back in the day when I was a Goth with a secret Spice Girls obsession) and they were fantastic for my skin, so I can't wait to start on these again. Glycolic acid is one of the best things for acne scarring and skin clarity and it's most suitable for people who are no longer suffering from acne (if you are and you want a peel then consider trying either Lactic acid which is great for sensitive skins or Salicylic acid which cuts through the glue-like oiliness that most acne sufferers have on their skin) and as I'm tentatively regarding myself as this, I'm hoping these will reduce my scarring considerably.

Baby Quasar Plus*

Man am I excitedly and anxiously awaiting the arrival of this bad boy as firstly, I do love me a beauty gadget and secondly, I've spent days and days reading reviews and apparently it's really amazing! It's a red-light device that promotes cellular renewal as well as healing which is perfect for me at the moment as these are both things that will benefit my skin type immensely. I'm hoping that it'll speed up my scarring recovery (by stimulating collagen thus forcing my skin to renew at a quicker rate), improve my overall skin tone and also work on my early signs of ageing which are mostly faint lines on my forehead and around my eyes. A lot of users have reported that this gives skin the most unbelievable glow after the first few uses, so I cannot wait to get my mitts on this!

Slendertone Face*

Another beauty gadget! I must confess, I've had this sitting around for absolutely ages but I didn't see much point in using it since my skin was so chock full of infected spots that I figured I probably wouldn't notice any results as whenever I looked at my face, all I saw were spots. This facial exercising tool is mostly aimed at tightening and lifting any sagging. Thankfully I'm a little too young to show any major signs of sagging, but since I have a long and rather angular face, I'll be much more susceptible to sagging so the earlier I start trying to combat it, the better! The other reason I'm keen to introduce this into my regular skin maintenance is due to the fact that I'm hoping the stimulation (the tool sends what I'd describe as little electric shocks which force the muscles to contract) will also stimulate cellular renewal and ensure my skin is repairing as quickly and efficiently as possible. I'll update with a more thorough post on this device when I've played with it a little longer.

So there we have it! Note that I'm avoiding anything too brutal (yes, microdermabrasion, I'm looking at you) as one of the main things the Jan Marini skincare regime has taught me is that my skin doesn't need to be scratched away with nasty manual exfoliators and can instead be aided in exfoliation with chemicals such as Glycolic acid. I really do think that chemical exfoliation is much, much better for all skin types and if you're like me and miss that buffed feeling you get with manual exfoliation then you can get it from a Washi cloth, muslin cloth or flannel. Fingers crossed for me everyone and I'll keep you regularly updated on what's working and what isn't.

Quick Post: Models Own Lip Balm

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 17:01:00 +0000

Models Own have recently launched a set of three flavoured lip balms including Watermelon, Peach and Coconut. I have Watermelon* which would've been the last flavour I'd have chosen, but it's actually rather nice!

The lip balm is packed full of flavour without a hint of anything synthetic or plasticky, and the lip balm itself is much thicker than it appears in the pan, resulting in a very rich lip treatment that provides a good dose of moisture with added SPF15.

The packaging itself is slightly rubberised which I think might result in it becoming a Nars style fluff-magnet, but so far it's holding up well and doesn't look too grubby. I'm not a fan of lip balms in pans as I don't like having to stick my finger in them, but if you're not oddly OCD about such things then this is a great choice as it really does deliver on both flavour and treatment, and the compact also contains a mirror making it a very handy bit of kit. All flavours are available now at Models Own priced at £4.

Una Brennan Superfacialist Rose Products: At Home Facial

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

Anybody who follows me on Twitter will have had to put-up with my somewhat irrational excitement over the news that I'm now allowed to introduce certain products into my skincare routine thanks to the fact that my spots are considerably reduced and I no longer suffer from infected spots. I still have to be very selective about products I introduce and they can only be complimentary treatment type products, so nothing that needs to be used daily.

Therefore, this means I'm allowed to use masks again and I can't tell you just how much I have missed the indulgence of a bit of at home pampering. The Jan Marini products are absolutely wonderful and very effective, but they're also very clinical and don't pander to that pampering element that I love so much in skincare, so to find out that I can use masks again was extremely pleasing and I immediately started working out what masks I would use. Within minutes I had decided the first one I wanted to try was one from Una Brennan as I've been lusting after her products for a while, and coincidentally, a couple of days after I purchased her Rose Intense Moisture Mask, the oil and cleanser from the same range landed on my doorstep, so I took this as a sign that I needed a night of good ol' fashioned, indulgent pampering.

I would say my skin is leaning towards normal at the moment with the occasional breakout. However, it has been showing signs of pretty severe dehydration; no flakiness or dryness, but it just feels a little tight and looks a tad crepey if I play around with it, as you do. The Superfacialist Rose collection is designed to rehydrate skin so I figured it was a perfect starting block for my new skincare freedom.

Miracle Makeover Facial Oil*

The Rose range contains two products for cleansing to allow and encourage double-cleansing which is one of the things I've missed doing as I'm a firm believer in thoroughly cleansed skin. I absolutely love oil cleansers so it was almost impossible to explain just how happy I was to start using an oil cleanser again, albeit only as a pampering treat. This is a beautiful, rich, gentle and clarifying oil with a delicate rose scent that you warm in your hands and work over your face. If you've never oil-cleansed then this is a great product to start with, as it's a really rich oil but it doesn't feel greasy and washes away without leaving a film. I implore you to spend a couple of minutes massaging your skin with this as you'll wonder why you didn't delve into oil cleansing sooner.

Hydrate Cleanser*

This is another rich product that doesn't feel like it's chocked full of pore-clogging grease and instead feels gentle and soothing. I've mentioned many times that I'm not one to get particularly excited about facial washes (although I will say that the Jan Marini one is exceptional; however it contains a pretty strong dose of Glycolic Acid so inevitably it's going to pack a punch) and this one is no exception, but it is a good-quality and well formulated cleanser that will leave skin feeling hydrated, cleansed and clean without that horrid stripped feeling that a lot of wash-off cleansers leave. I used this after the oil and with the Clarisonic to give my skin a really deep clean before applying the mask.

Intense Moisture Mask

I've always been a big fan of moisture masks as regardless of your skin type, every skin needs a moisture boost now and then (especially spot-prone types as we're the ones using all the drying ingredients) so I've amassed quite a collection over the years. This one feels very indulgent and cooling and again doesn't swamp your skin, so you end up feeling like your skin is free to take what it wants from the mask. This is also one you only need to leave on for five minutes and it does seem to perform quickly, as I wouldn't say there was any difference between how much was left on the skin surface after 5 minutes to how much remained after 10 minutes. This is a really good choice for those who have dehydrated rather than dry skin as it left skin feeling very smooth and softened, although I'm not sure if it would be rich enough for dryer skin types.

If I had to pick one product to recommend from the above three then I'd say go for the facial oil as it's the sort of product that will easily integrate into any existing skincare routine you may already have in place, and I would imagine would suit most skin types. These three products combined made for beautifully smooth, plump and moisturised skin that felt pampered and taken care of. I have to be strict with myself and not go overboard on new skincare, but I'm really craving the indulgence and simplicity of this routine again, so it's safe to say this mini-facial will be my go-to whenever my skin is feeling in need of a moisture boost.

All products are available now from Boots, and they've got various specials on meaning you can save anything from £2 to £5 depending on the product.

No7 Deco Darling Palette: Swatches, EOTD and Review

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

Way back in 2012 during Christmas in July, I first laid eyes on the amazing Deco Darling palette* from No7's Creative Director Lisa Eldridge's Deco themed AW12 collection. I swooned like nobody's business until I finally got my hands on it last month.

It's one of those palettes that isn't limited by seasonal trends due to it containing four incredibly wearable shades. In the palette you get a warm, light, bronze-flecked gold, a darker, earthier brown, a shimmery, blue-leaning grey and a matte black. In this EOTD, I've used the lighter bronze all over the lid, the darker brown on the outer "V" and smudged under the eye and finished with a line of the matte black smudged into the upper lashes; all this is finished with a coat of Green People's mascara.

Interestingly, in the pan the lighter bronze shade looks like it leans very yellow, and I thought it'd be my least favourite due to this. But on the eyes it comes to life and is so incredibly flattering on pale skin tones like mine. The darker shade works really well for contouring the eyes whilst blending seamlessly with the lighter gold shade, and the matte black is an absolute staple for me and gets used at least every other day.

I haven't really used the lighter grey shade as I've been so focused on the other three which all match together to create an extremely wearable, daytime smoky eye. What's great about this palette is how pigmented yet blendable they are; you can really build-up a lot of colour, but as the powder is so finely milled, it'll all blend in together making this a perfect palette for people who are a bit crap at blending eyeshadow...so it's perfect for me!

The matte black is the star of the palette as it's just so easy to use as an eyeliner; applied with a firm, angled liner brush, it creates smoky, daytime eyes that look naturally enhanced rather than lined. So if you're a fan of easy to wear and easy to use make-up that looks gentle and soft, then this is a dream palette for you.

I included this rather squinty picture so you could see the almost metallic finish of the shimmer!

As I said, I spent months lusting after this palette so it was great to finally get my hands on it to find that it delivered on all expectations. My post couldn't be timed better as it's currently available for £5 on the Boots site here, so if you like easy, day time shades that can be built-up or dressed down, or even if you're just after a great black powder liner then this will be £5 extremely well spent.

Glossy Box January 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

Yesterday saw the arrival of my first Glossy Box* for 2013 and it's another goodun'! At first glance, I was a little disappointed to see so much skincare for two reasons; firstly, I like a box that mixes it up and I always prefer getting make-up items to skincare, and secondly, I thought there was a high likeliness that there would be very little for me to play with since I'm so limited on what skincare items I can use due to being on the strict Jan Marini routine. However, if you follow me on Twitter then you'll know that I'm now allowed to use masks from other brands, and this box was surprisingly mask heavy, so it's a total result for me!

This months box focuses on products that help with the new year detox, so it's lots of pampering treatments and treats for the skin. You think this would've been the perfect excuse for GB to dump another body lotion in the box (I swear, I need never buy another body lotion again thanks to beauty boxes, and I don't even use them that often!) but thankfully they've managed to avoid that, and have instead included five products that are all to be used on the face.

As usual, my run through will be listed in order of my personal favourites first:

Sanctuary Spa Active Reverse Thermal Transformation Mask

This'll probably be the only time you'll ever find me happy to have a sachet sample included in a beauty box, but I have been eyeing this treatment for absolutely ages, just waiting to be given the go ahead to start using other products again. Therefore, this arriving within days of me getting the go ahead is absolutely joyful as it'll save me risking the £27.50 that this retails at. It's a two-step facial treatment; the first layer is a peptide treatment and the second is a Rose clay mask that warms the skin. I love rose scented facial treatments (I'm binging quite severely on them at the moment) and I absolutely cannot wait to give this a whirl.

Monu Renu Flash Relax Mask

Another mask! This sounds rather interesting as it's a detoxing treatment that gives skin an instant facelift...apparently. It certainly contains some goodies, such as vitamins C and B5 and Hyaluronic Acid so I can imagine this would make for a rather lovely pre-night out skin perk-up. There appears to be enough for a couple of uses as the sample is a fairly generous 30ml, so I'm definitely looking forward to trying this. Full price, this is £32.

Jason Lips Bee Healthier

Rather wonderfully named, don't you think? I'm always happy for a lip balm or lip treatment to feature in a beauty box as I can never have enough; I get through them at an astounding rate (I'll be doing a feature on my favourites soon) and I like to keep as many as possible dotted all over the place so I can replenish my lip moisture levels as often as possible. I'll rarely get excited about a lip balm and tend to find them functional rather than rave-worthy, but I definitely like receiving them...certainly much, MUCH more than body creams! The sample included is full-size and retails at a cheap and cheery £1.99.

Vichy Normaderm 3in1 Cleanser

The main reason this falls so low in my list is due to the fact that I already have it, so obviously I'm not going to get excited about receiving it again, especially as I can't currently use it due to it containing scrubby bits, which is a big no-no in my current skincare routine. It is a fabulous product though, so if you haven't tried it and got it in your Glossy Box this month then I recommend giving it a good go as both a mask and an exfoliator. This was a decent sample size at 50ml and the full sized tube of 125ml retails at £11.

Premae Skincare Balance Rescue Face Tonique

This sounds absolutely beautiful and like something I would love to use, so I'm definitely sulking about the fact that I can't (whilst secretly trying to justify it's use; I'm thinking of incorporating it into a facial) as it's got some lovely sounding ingredients; sandalwood oil, lemongrass and rose water, all of which sound like they'd be a gentle and dreamy tonic to weather-beaten skin. Again, it's low in my list due to the fact that I can't actually use it but it's definitely something I will try my hardest to find a way to use soon! Again, we got a fairly generous 30ml sample, and the full-sized 50ml retails at £27.50.

Glossy Box Sleeper Mask

I really like the fact that we now appear to get monthly added extras from the GB brand itself, as it's a nice finishing touch. This month we got a sleeper mask; I'm a bit weird about them as I love the way they look (and consequently I have several) but I'm too scared to use them as I'm worried that I'll end up tricking my body into believing it's night constantly and become some sort of Sleeping Beauty type without the beautiful dress and instead wearing PJs with holes in them. Tad irrational, maybe, but there you go...

All-in-all, a pretty superb start to the year for Glossy Box! There isn't one product that I think is a cop-out (no body or foot creams anywhere in sight) and I feel like all these products, themed around 'detox', are well selected. Hopefully this means that GB are back on course in delivering beauty boxes that are worthy of excitement and something to start looking forward to again.

NOTD: Chaos Colour

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

For the past few months my NOTD posts have mainly focused on individual shades, so I thought it was about time I brought back my themed and quaintly named attempts at nail art like I used to do. Have you missed them? Have ya? No? Okay then.

Anyhoo, here is something I've been wanting to try for a while after I saw this post (scroll down before you get confused by the black) as I thought it looked cute, colourful and most importantly, fairly easy. The colours in the above post were mostly pastels, so I thought I'd try some brighter shades.

The shades I used are:

Nails Inc St James's* (bright red)

OPI Get Your Glamour On (coral pink)

Nails Inc Notting Hill Gate* (neon pink)

OPI Need Sunglasses? (yellow)

Nails Inc Holland Park* (neon purple)

Avon Arctic Waters* (bright sea blue)

All these were applied over a base of Nails Inc Floral Street*. I kinda like these, although I'm not sure on the colour choices as the merging of the blue, yellow and red has all gone a bit too primary colours for my liking.

This is very easy to do and it's just a case of applying your base shade (Floral Street needed two coats to stop any streaking), let the base dry for ten minutes or so and then literally just layer each colour one stripe at a time. Once you've worked your way through all the colours, start again, then work out what colours are under-represented (I'm nothing if not an equal opportunities nail painter) and add a bit more of them.

I like the fact that these are the antithesis of winter nails; they're bright, colourful and fun and that's what I'm craving at the moment so in that regard it works well. I have to say, I'm mostly leaning towards loving these but I think the fact that they're so chaotic - something I'm not usually a fan of with nail art - is leaving me a little non-committal. If I try this look again I think I'll allow a bit more of the white to show through and I'll also use thinner strokes as, ironically, the streakier the finish, the better it looks.

So what do you think?

Are they bright and fabulous or garish and unkempt or all of the above?!

Lancome X Alber Elbaz Make-Up Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:48:00 +0000

Later this year we'll see the arrival of a collaboration between Lanvin's Creative Director, Alber Elbaz, and beauty powerhouse Lancome. This will be the designer's first venture into the world of make-up and all products and shades being featured in the collection are being kept under wraps. However, there is this rather cute teaser video (as illustrated by Elbaz) to whet your appetite:

Are the bright make-up shades featured in this a hint at what's to come? The Lancome X Alber Elbaz collection lands on 15th June 2013.

Green People Volumising Mascara

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

I think if I really had to pick just one product to take to an island with me, it would be mascara. I'm terribly fickle, and tend to fall in love with a new mascara every other week, however, Green People's Volumising Mascara* is a total winner for me at the moment.

I think it might be due to the way I apply mascara, but I rarely find volumising mascaras which actually volumise my lashes particularly well. Instead, the best I can hope for is some good length and definition. This mascara manages to tick the two aforementioned boxes whilst also adding volume too. It's very easy to work with and apply, doesn't clump or flake and comes off easily when it's time to take my make-up off.

I have absolutely no issues with chemical at all (unfortunately I think that's a bit of a bi-product of having problem skin like mine; you accept that very little is going to do much other than some hardcore chemical action!) so it's safe to say that picking products that contain natural ingredients is not high on my priority list. To put it another way, I won't give up on a product if it's working, regardless of what it contains.

Therefore, for this mascara to make it in to my daily use (any recent face shot posts with full make-up will show me wearing this) even though it's formulated with 98% ingredients from natural origins speaks volumes (boom, boom) about just how great this is. It contains vitamin E and plant oils to nourish and condition lashes which for me is the icing on the cake. A mascara that actually does what it says on the tin and is good for your lashes? Yes please!

Green People Volumising Mascara is available now, priced at £14.35.

Laura Mercier Mineral Powder SPF15 in Natural Beige and Tender Rose

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 19:27:00 +0000

I first mentioned Laura Mercier's Mineral Foundation in my high coverage post here, but I also stated that I wanted to give it a full test drive before writing a full review, and now I think I've used tested it thoroughly enough to share my thoughts.

Laura Mercier is a brand I've developed quite a thing for lately, and the sales really didn't do much to stop my deepening infatuation as you can see in my sales post here! I was sent this foundation in Natural Beige* which I applied straight away, and immediately realised it was the wrong shade for me. However, I was so impressed with its coverage that I decided to order the right shade for me, which turns out to be Tender Rose.

Laura Mercier Mineral Foundation: top Tender Rose, bottom Natural Beige

Natural Beige is still a fairly pale shade but it leans too yellow for me and I'd say it's around a shade and a half to two shades too dark for me as well, whereas Tender Rose is a fraction too pale, but it balances out any redness in my skin and I'll always go for a shade that is too pale rather than too dark as it's easier to correct with blusher and bronzer etc.

Laura Mercier Mineral Foundation: Top Tender Rose, bottom Natural Beige

This is a typical mineral powder in the sense that it needs to be buffed into the skin well to perform at its best and needs to be built-up slowly. It comes in a good, solid container which contains a fairly generous 9.6g of product. Inside the container is a sliding lid that allows you to close in the powder to reduce mess, although I keep forgetting to close it after I've finished!

Left before, right after...just in case you can't tell...

Interestingly, when I first got this and swatched it on my hand I was horrified by how shimmery it was. It's safe to say that if I wasn't sent this then I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it based on a hand swatch alone as it's soooo shimmery in a swatch, but for some reason the shimmer doesn't show up much when the powder is applied to the face. Instead the finish is very dewy, glowy and incredibly flattering.

With the rest of my make-up.

All I have on in the after picture is a touch of Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer under my eyes and this powder, so as you can see it covers acne scars really well. I did have a spot when I took these pictures and it did reduce the redness, but obviously it didn't completely cover the spot itself. This doesn't work well as a setting powder as the few times I've used it over other make-up, I've found it to cake, smear and not settle properly so I think this is something that needs to be used alone, especially if you're prone to oiliness.

Since my skin has started showing signs of improvement I've been enjoying wearing (or getting away with) less make-up as I now don't feel the need to use lots of products for day-to-day make-up. Instead I use under eye concealer and this powder before applying my usual products. This is a brilliant, high-coverage foundation with a beautiful finish that I highly recommend if you want a one-stop product that'll bring your skin to life whilst covering it well.

Laura Mercier Mineral Foundation is available now from Harrods and the usual stockists for £31.

Beauty on the Go

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:31:00 +0000

Source

There once was a time when anything salon related was perceived as a pampering and indulgent experience, where we’d put aside a few hours to take the weight off our feet and enjoy a bit of time out. However, life has become increasingly busier (studying, working, having a social life, keeping a blog) and suddenly we’re expected to do it all and still look amazing whilst we do it, but how are we supposed to find the time?

Thankfully there are ways to beat time restraints so we can organise our lives at a rate that suits us. Instead of having to work around salon opening hours, there are online booking systems and salon software that allow us to plan our schedule and book appointments for everything from pedicures, to tan appointments, to hair cuts. These simple and easy to use software programs allow you to search for whatever treatment you want, find a suitable appointment and book your slot accordingly. The best part is that you can do this at a time that suits you. If you’re like me (read: disorganised) then this approach to appointment making is ideal; as soon as you remember that your roots need doing or your tan has started to fade, a quick search for a treatment and your appointment is made.

One of the great things about these types of sites is that they allow you to try out new salons and hopefully find new favourites. You can log on and find out about other customer experiences and read both positive and negative reviews, so you don’t need to risk visiting a salon that might not be a good fit and you may even find a new favourite.

Being a London girl, I’ve lived all my life in this bustling city and I’m aware of how busy the best salons are, and as is inevitably the case, the better the salon, the longer the waiting list, especially when it comes to hair salons. Another benefit of using salon software is that you can find salons that are similar to your favourites and that are recommended by other customers, making it much easier to find out more about the best hair salons in London.

The fact that salon sites have paved the way in convenience for booking treatments is a massive positive alone, but the last important point to mention is how many deals are available through these types of sites. So if you’re trying to save a few pounds, then try searching for a deal in relation to the treatment you’re looking for as there are plenty to be found! It really is as simple as picking a treatment, picking an area and picking a date before you’re faced with a wealth of choices covering every price range.

*Sponsored Post*

Penhaligon's Artemisia EDP

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

I'm very lucky to be currently working my way through a couple of fragrances that I'm absolutely loving, and the first one I'd like to share with you is Penhaligon's Artemisia*. When I was given the opportunity to try a scent from Penhaligon, I decided it would be best if I headed down to one of their London stores to select a fragrance rather than blind-choosing as I'm very fussy about what I like!

Apologies for the make-up smear on the box; I kept it in pristine condition until I swatched make-up for pictures and ended up smearing the box :(

I ended up going to their Mayfair branch on Brook Street. I really recommend visiting a Penhaligon store if you're looking for a new fragrance as it's a very positive experience for fragrance selection. All the fragrances are set-up in a circle and you sit next it to it with one of the store experts to discuss what sort of scents you like. Then, through a process of elimination, you eventually settle on a few you like, which you can take away on scent sticks to explore further.

I narrowed it down to a fragrance from their Anthology collection and Artemisia, before deciding to go ahead with Artemisia. What's most interesting about this is that I was pretty confident I knew which scents I would like (by reading up on the notes of their various fragrances online) but my choices turned out to be completely different, thus proving how important it is to familiarise yourself with a scent beforehand.

Artemisia is one of Penhaligon's most popular fragrances and the notes are as follows:

Head Notes

Nectarine and Green Foliage

Heart Notes

Green Apple, Lily of the Valley, Jasmine Tea, Violet and Vanilla

Base Notes

Oakmoss, Sandalwood, Musk, Amber and Vanilla

Considering that both the heart and base notes contain vanilla, it was inevitable that I would like this fragrance. However, the vanilla really doesn't dominate the fragrance as you might expect, but instead merges well with the other fragrance notes.

Artemisia is a scent that I would refer to as "grown-up girly" as it's incredibly feminine, but it manages to avoid the typical traits of overtly girly scents and isn't too sickly or too floral. It dries down to a very gentle, powdery finish that's a little musky with a hint of vanilla. Interestingly, even though there's a few fruity elements, I wouldn't say there's a particularly fruity finish at any point and instead the fruit blends with the other scents and keeps them all fresh.

For me, this was a bit of a grower fragrance and I didn't fall in love with it immediately as it's quite different to my usual scents, even though it contains a lot of the same notes that I usually enjoy. However, I wore it every day for about a week before it started to really appeal, and now it's something I really love wearing as it's such a pretty, gentle and unique scent; one thing I love is that it isn't something I've smelt on others so it isn't generic and instead I get to feel as if it's my scent rather than something that everyone smells of. This is now a firm favourite in my scent wardrobe that I happily wear regularly and have received many compliments on, including from a random stranger in a lift who got out their phone to make a note of it. If you like your scents to be gentle yet present, feminine without being too girly and pretty without a hint of sickliness then I recommend checking out Penhaligon's Artemisia.

Available now from Penhaligon's starting at £68 for 50ml. It also features in Penhaligon's Scent Library which is a great way of trying out Penhaligon's 10 most popular fragrances for £16, which would make such an amazing gift!

Lucris Washi Cloths

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

So rarely does a product come along that you know is immediately going to become a staple and leaves you wondering how you didn't know about it sooner! Lucris Washi Cloths* are a range of essential cleansing basics which include the key product - the Washi Cloths - as well as two further products; the Skin Polishing Towel and the Spiral Cotton Buds. This review will focus on the Washi Cloths.

The Washi Cloths are small, cotton cloths that are used to remove cleanser and very gently buff skin; both incredibly basic functions that I'm sure most people do regularly. One of the many differences these cloths offer is that they are brilliantly produced; so they hold water and heat well, are soft and very kind to skin and are so easy to use.

The buffing element is perfect for my skin type as I've really tried to avoid anything too exfoliating ever since I started my new skin regime, yet I still love that 'buffed skin' feel that you can only really get from manual exfoliation. Washi Cloths are far more gentle than a flannel or even a muslin cloth (the latter of which I always find a little too tough on spots; especially if they're infected) so the result is that skin is left feeling well polished without feeling overly exfoliated. The balance is absolutely perfect.

Another great thing about these cloths is that they're so incredibly cheap, so you can buy a pack of 10 for £7.95 and I'd say each cloth can be used 4-7 times before it needs a wash...it's worth pointing out that up until writing this review I thought they were disposable, but having read through the site they're actually washable. I've been using mine and chucking them away so I'm now really pleased (and slightly miffed that I've thrown a few away) that they can be reused!

They come in a multitude of designs (although this relates to the packaging and not the product; all the cloths are pure white) and can be purchased in various amounts, for example you can pick a selection of individual designs or packs in different quantities and they arrive in lovely pink packaging that's oh-so-pretty and would make a gorgeous gift.

These are total bargain wash clothes that I recommend if you do any kind of water-based cleansing (they're great around the eye area too) and if you use any AHA or BHA products then these are ideal due to how gentle they are. Have a look at the Washi Cloth site here where you can check out the various designs available.

NOTD: Nails Inc Concrete in Stonehenge and London Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 07:35:00 +0000

I've been meaning to try these new Nails Inc Concrete varnishes for a while, but to be honest I kept putting them off as I wasn't sure I'd like them! The two colours I have are Stonehenge* (blue) and London Wall* (grey-tinged nude).

I've spoken to a few people who have the Concrete polishes in their collection and the general census has been that the whole "anti-smooth" finish of them is rather off-putting. My main fear was that nails would look like you've painted them and then not been careful afterwards, resulting in lots of pulls and smudges.

I actually really like the shade of London Wall even though it isn't a colour I'd normally seek out. The reason I chose it was because I figured it was the one that looked most like the colour of concrete...if you're going to do something different you may as well do it properly.

Sadly, even though I like London Wall as a colour, it doesn't really suit my skin tone and tends to bring out ruddiness on my hands that I wasn't aware I had. I think this is a shade that'd really suit olive or dark skin tones.

Stonehenge is pretty much a Concrete version of Baker Street; a brilliant, bright blue that manages to stay slightly shy of neon; it's an all-round flattering shade that I would say would suit most skin tones.

In all pictures there's just one coat; I wasn't sure if additional coats would spoil the effect so I thought I'd better err on the side of caution. I'm still very undecided on these Concrete textures as I quite like them, but I'm not completely taken with them. They do look interesting and thankfully they don't look like a botched paint job, but I think out of all the upcoming Nails Inc textures these are probably my least favourite.

Available now in four different shades priced at £12 a pop at Nails Inc.

New Skin: N-Lite Review and Picture Update

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

I'll start by apologising for the gory close-ups of my horrid skin but I thought it was necessary!! The pictures well all taken about 4-6 weeks apart to give you an idea of the changes occurring.

I've now completed my course of N-Lite and I'm still using the Jan Marini products as mentioned here. As a blogger, I believe it's my job to try and give my readers as much information as possible so they can assess the product/treatment themselves and decide accordingly whether it's something they'd be interested in pursuing, so that's what I'm going to try and do today.

I'll start with the N-Lite review. Firstly I'll say that after months of moaning about my spots, I've *finally* reached a point where I'm not really getting many any more which is great. I had three treatments in total and pain wise they were quite uncomfortable; the first one I had wasn't too bad, but the following two were done using a stronger level on the laser and boy did they smart. However, it's not unbearable and definitely worth tolerating to get the final outcome which appears to currently be clearer skin. Thankfully the treatments are quick - 10 to 15 minutes tops - and there's no real downtime so you can get on with your plans straight afterwards.

Now on to the results. I've really thought long and hard about what's been going on with my skin lately so I could try and make an informed conclusion on the results provided by both the Jan Marini products and the N-Lite. I'm definitely at a point where I'm getting virtually no spots; certainly none of those horrid, cystic types that form to a giant infection - I haven't had for I'd say probably about 4 weeks now - and the spots I do get are tiny - either on the surface or just beneath - and disappear quickly without causing any drama, but this has all come at a price.

When I watched my original video talking about my bad skin, I was quite surprised to see the texture and finish of my skin. Yes I had some pretty nasty breakouts, but they were mostly confined to my jawline and chin and the scarring was pretty minimal. I was diagnosed with mild to moderate acne, yet once I started treatments this progressed to what I would deem moderate to severe acne as there were lots of angry, infected spots (including on my holiday where there appeared to be one growing on top of two which is as lovely as it sounds) and this lasted for quite some time; a good 4-5 months I'd say. So whilst my skin is now virtually clear, I'm left with pretty severe scarring and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

Now, there are a few arguments to be made here; firstly, am I better off with PIH than spots? In a way, yes. It's a hell of a lot easier to cover, doesn't hurt and in theory should fade, and of course I could be just being a big drama queen moaning about them as they may all have faded within a few months. If that's the case then I will be shouting from the rooftops as this really will be the perfect treatment plan for skin like mine. I would be MORE than happy to recommend this treatment if it was a case of a few months with terrible skin, followed by a few months with terrible scarring before skin started looking half normal, so I really hope that's the case with me and obviously I'll definitely keep you updated as to what happens. It is worth pointing out though that the scarring does appear to be easing up and fading quite rapidly, so I'm hoping this will continue. I will also be starting a course of peels soon to speed up the process even further.

I'm very lucky to have had an amazing rep at Jan Marini who appears to be on a one-woman mission to give me perfect skin (partly because she's lovely and incredibly sympathetic and partly because she had skin exactly like mine for a really long time before she started using Jan Marini products) and the next phase will be focussed on repairing my scars (which thankfully are mostly surface scars) so as soon as any progress has been made with that, I shall let you know.

So in conclusion, if it isn't obvious, I'm still very undecided about it all and I don't think I can form a confident conclusion until a few months from now, where I'll be able to assess how the scarring is fairing and, more importantly, if my skin has stayed clear. In the meantime I'd say I'm probably leaning towards saying that it is worth it as it's certainly great to have so few spots, but again I'll have to wait a little longer to give a definite yes or no on my treatments. One thing I will say at this point is that my overall skin tone and finish has definitely improved and I really enjoy using the Jan Marini products. Therefore, I'll shortly be writing up a post designated to my thoughts on the Jan Marini products I'm using to give you an idea of what's worked so far.

More info about N-Lite at The Private Clinic can be found here and more info about Jan Marini can be found here.

So what do you think; can you see the improvement?

Do you think the pros outweigh the cons so far?

Disclosure: treatments and products provided for the purpose of this review.

Remington Easy Curl Styler

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

At the end of the year, I attended a Remington event at Lucy in Disguise to have a good nose at the Remington range and their upcoming releases. I was allowed to choose a few products to try out at home, and the one that excited me most was the Easy Curl Styler*.

I am absolutely rubbish with styling tools as I always manage to burn myself or end up with strangely angular hair shapes which I try to pull off as post-modern, but it rarely works...however, my initial excitement for the Easy Curl styler was thankfully well placed, as this is an absolutely brilliant tool that's easy to use and really works!

This is pretty much a styling tong for dummies (so it's got my name written all over it) and the way you use it is by clipping a small amount of hair into the clip at the bottom, then just rolling it up the hair tong. The spiral around the tong itself (which doesn't heat up so it'd be quite tricky to burn yourself with) then captures the hair and works as a guide so the hair is evenly placed all the way up, the result being perfectly formed spiral curls.

Remington Easy Curl: clip closed to the left and open to the right.

The two reasons this is virtually foolproof is due the guide as mentioned above, but also the clip which will only take in a certain amount of hair. Therefore, you can't use too much hair (otherwise the clip won't hold) and the hair is heated evenly and accurately; it's just a brilliant design, so if you've ever tried tonging hair and not quite ended up with the desired results, this is most-definitely one for you to try.

The pictures I've used were taken after the first time I used this before a night out (sadly my skin was still rather spotty then!) and on the night out, two different girls stopped me to ask how I got my hair to look that way. I never get asked about my hair styles so this was quite exciting for me!

100% huge rave from me for this amazing styling tool. It costs a very purse-friendly £30, but Debenhams currently have it on a promotion for £20 here.

Have you ever used a tong with disastrous results?

Any tips for styling hair with tongs?

January Sale Binge featuring SpaceNK and Nails Inc

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:09:00 +0000

Can I ever be accused of doing things by half when it comes to spending money on beauty-related products? Sadly not, which is why judgemental Pug is judging me:

"I don't think you really needed all those nail varnishes, did you mum?"

Even though there's quite a bit here, I didn't actually spend that much...it's all relative really isn't it? Yes, yes it is.

Space NK

I bought four things in total from Space NK, 2 palettes and 2 single items.

Here is the first of the two Laura Mercier palettes I got which is the Shimmer Neutrals Eye Trio as, let's face it, I don't have enough neutral eye shades in my collection. There are two variants in the Laura Mercier Trios and it appears every blogger I follow bought one or the other. The other one contained cooler shades and leaned towards purples and burgundy shades. It was difficult to pick which one I wanted, but I have a few similar shades to the cooler one in my Colour Luxe palette, so it had to be this one. It was £10 and is sadly sold out, but there are a few other shops who are still stocking it (I believe Harrods is one) for £20 which is still a bargain considering you get three individual and full-sized shades.

The next palette is the Laura Mercier (yeah, her again) Bonne Mine Face & Cheeks Colour Palette which contains five cream shades for contouring and sculpting. I took a risk on this as, due to dodgy skin, I can't really get away with cream finishes as creams don't blend well with the high coverage powders I use. However, as my skin has recently showed signs of easing up, I'm optimistic that I'll be getting plenty of use out of this soon. Apologies for the rubbish shots, unfortunately the palette refused to stay open so I had to hold it in position. This is quite a palette as it contains little sculpting guides that you slide out from the lid, plus a decent sized mirror. An absolute bargain at £8.50.

Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimted Supreme Shine in 326 was a bit of a punt for me, as the shade swatch on the site came up as black for some reason; so I thought I'd risk it and see what shade it turned out to be. Thankfully it was a risk that paid off as this shade is a brilliant, glossy, baby pink that is right up my street and has been getting plenty of use since it arrived. I thought I'd risk it as I have a red variant of this lipstick which has a wonderful finish and formula and I've wanted to add to my collection for a while. Is it just me, or are the shade numbers really confusing with Shu Uemura lipsticks?! I remember finding the red one difficult to work out and I had the same issue with this one. I dig these lipsticks though so it's no biggy.

I've never tried anything from Chantecaille so I thought this would be a good opportunity to sample their range without spending a fortune. I opted for the Poudre de Perle because I've been hunting for a new highlighting product (for no real reason other than boredom as my Mac MSF is still doing a great job) and I hoped this would be a great and easy to use highlighting product that would add some pinky warmth along with light in the right places. So far, I'm not blown away as it appears to just be a load of powdery glitter that's difficult to use and I can't believe that this originally costs £48. This was half price for £24 and not the best introduction to the range, but there you go. Sometimes products land in sale lines for a reason...

Total SpaceNK spend: £50.

Nails Inc

I was immediately wooed by the products in the Nails Inc sale so it was inevitably that I'd have a little binge. I opted for 2 colour sets plus a corrector pen. I also joined the VIP club which I'll explain more of below.

Two things I'm loving at the moment are metallics and pastels, so I bought colour sets that fit in both of those themes. The first is the Winter Metallics Collection which contains 3 autumnal, moody shades and 1 bright pink. I haven't swatched it yet, but the pink doesn't appear to be particularly metallic so I'm not sure why it was included, but any pink shade is always welcome in my collection. This was £10.

Next up are the pastels, otherwise known as The Candy Shop which contained a pink, a blue, a yellow and a purple. I like all these shades so I'm looking forward to giving them a go, and I think they'll be perfect for SS13 with it's inevitable, yearly popularity of pastel shades. This was also £10.

The Nails Inc VIP club costs a one off payment of £5 and comes with some fairly decent perks, such as 10% off every time you shop, a free nail varnish on joining and a birthday present. There's also a rewards scheme; you get points for every order which you can eventually redeem. I thought this was quite a sensible £5 investment, although I'm not too sure on the free shade (which I believe is the same for everyone - Ledbury Road) so I'll try and swatch it soon to give you an idea of what it's like.

I was very close to ordering the Corrector Pen a while ago, then I decided to just pick one up from Boots. I ended up buying the OPI one before losing it...so I went ahead and bought this, making use of both the VIP discount and the first order discount of 20% (which you get when you join their newsletter) meaning that this ended up costing £7.20. After a pretty high level of commitment to nail polish for well over a year, it seems my application technique has shown no signs of improving, so I definitely need this!

Total Nails Inc spend: £32.20

So quite a binge for January! I actually thought this would be a nice, quick post about my little buys, but it's turned into an essay it seems. In my defence, I didn't go out on NYE so I saved quite a bit from that; there's my justification and I'm sticking to it. Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to review.

Did you buy anything good in the January sales?

Or did you miss out on something you've been lusting after for a while?

Online Sales Still Worth Checking Out

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

I don't know about you, but it already feels like the Christmas season ended ages ago...or maybe that's just my wishful thinking? Thankfully there are still ways to carry on the Christmas spirit and fight away the New Year blues by having a little splurge and grabbing a bargain.

A lot of people tend to visit the sale pages of sites when the sales first launch, but it's worth remembering that not all sale stock is put on the site immediately, plus as time goes on, further reductions are made.

Therefore, I thought I'd put a quick list together of some of the sales that still have plenty of bargains remaining, and later on I'll be showing you what I picked up.

All links will take you directly to the beauty-related sales page:

Nails Inc

SpaceNK

Harrods - Make-up Sale

Harrods - Skincare Sale

John Lewis

In the image above, 1 and 3 are from the Harrods sale, 2 and 4 are from the John Lewis sale, 5 is from the Nails Inc sale and 6,7 and 8 are from the Space NK sale.

Sk:n Laser Hair Removal: Final Assessment

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

This week I visited Sk:n for my final, post-laser hair removal* assessment. I've had six treatments in total, spaced six weeks apart, and I then came in for the assessment eight weeks after my final treatment. The point of the assessment was to assess (no, really) the effectiveness of my laser hair removal treatments and we concluded that there was roughly 80% reduction on one underarm and about 60% on the other underarm. It's worth noting that they tend to recommend 6-8 treatments to really finish off the job, and having seen how much of an impact the six treatments had, I'm fairly confident that one or two more would've reduced the hair growth to virtually nothing.

So there's still a bit of hair coming through, but it's a lot finer, a lot lighter and a lot softer; it's virtually invisible unless you're really looking for it and I don't need to shave more than once a month, if that.

It's definitely a treatment I would recommend if you want a considerable reduction in hair growth, and whilst it's difficult to tell whether it could completely and permanently remove hair, it's certainly had a significant enough impact on my underarm hair for me to be very happy with the treatment.

I won't go into too much detail about the individual treatments, instead I'll list links to them so you can read about them all in more detail:

I had my treatments at the East Finchley branch and you can find out more about the treatments available here.

Top 12 of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

It's finally 2013! I hope everyone's year has started well and you're happy to be back to normality. If not, it won't be too long before the snow starts and we'll all be stuck at home again so just hold on for that!

I've spent the last couple of hours going through all the products I've used throughout the past year and working out which I think deserve to be in my best of 2012 list. The ones I've included are things that have really impressed me, become firm favourites and are all things I'll replace when I run out. So without further ado, here are my top 12 of 2012.

Clarisonic

I've had the Clarisonic for quite a while now and I keep stopping using it, then start again and wonder why I stopped! This is such a great product for me as I love to deep cleanse, yet as my skin is no longer young enough for deep exfoliation, I'm trying to avoid anything too stripping or scrubby. Since I purchased the new acne brush head, I've been really enjoying using the Clarisonic again so I'm definitely going to try and keep at it from now on.

Ginvera Green Tea BB Cream*

I was sent this back in February and fell in love with it's amazing coverage and flatteringly dewy finish. There are soooo many BB Creams on the market now but Ginvera's offering, in my mind, is still one of the best, especially for my type of skin.

17 Mirror Shine Lipsticks*

I've converted several people on to these - including my mum who really isn't someone who gets excited about make-up, yet she visited Boots on three separate occasions to replace her shade when she ran out - and I keep the Belle shade on me at all times. They're the perfect lip product; the finish is glossy, the texture is balm-like, the colour range is brilliant, the price is extremely affordable and the packaging is both functional and attractive, so they really do tick all the boxes.

Illamasqua Freak EDP

I've worked my way through quite a few fragrances over the past year, but I keep going back to Freak because it's the most perfect balance of pretty girliness with modern, sophisticated strength. I love the bottle too!

Nails Inc Victoria*

This is the first of two nail shades I'm including in this list. This one is one of those shades that you really have to have on to fully appreciate; it's Nails Inc's take on the always popular Rouge Noir which leaves nails with a glossy, deep, dark, blackened red. Absolutely beautiful and suits both long and short nails.

L'Oreal INOA Hair Care range*

I've had these three (shampoo, conditioner and deep conditioner) for quite a few months now and I'm still using them religiously. They keep my hair happy by ensuring it's well-conditioned without weighing it down. It maintains my colour and the deep conditioner is especially fabulous. I've tried a few different things on my hair since I started on these products and nothing comes close.

Laura Mercier Colour Luxe Palette

I think I've banged on about this palette enough, but I couldn't leave it out of the 2012 list because I've used it so many times! I've become a real Laura Mercier convert over the past year (I purchased a couple of goodies in the SpaceNK sale which I'll show you soon) and it all started with my love for this palette. I usually end up using about 50% of a palette but everything in this has been used, from the blushes to the eyeshadows to the brushes and liners cakes; total love!

The Chapel Haircut*

Not technically a product, but it needed to be featured nonetheless as it was such a drastic change that has completely revolutionised the way I see my hair (I know a few other bloggers who feel the same about The Chapel!) and has allowed me a lot more freedom with styling and gave me a fringe that I actually love! I've had a few fringes in the past and I've always got fed up with them; I found them hard work and they always swamped my face, but I love this fringe, along with the colour and the cut. My hair has grown a bit since the initial chop, so I'm undecided whether to get it cut to the original length or grow it long as I've always wanted long hair with a fringe...so we'll see!

Jan Marini Factor-A Plus Face Mask*

This is one of my favourites from the Jan Marini line and I use it 3-4 times a week. It's a bit of a Goldilocks mask as it's not too drying, not too moisturising, doesn't cake but still sets and is very comfortable and easy to use. The packaging is a bit of a pain as the opening is tiny and gets clogged, but it's a small price to pay for such a great treatment that leaves skin feeling thoroughly cleansed, firm, clear and just brilliant.

Popup Paris Candles*

I'm still loving this brilliant candle company which places a diamond in one of every fifty candles they create. The packaging is oh-so-pretty, the fragrance is lovely (my Grenadine-scented reminds me of Strawberry Hubba Bubba) and the minute I use mine up (which, alas, appears to contain no diamond) I'll be replacing.

Maybelline Forever Strong in Lilac Charm

I have a real thing for pastel shades on the nails; sometimes I like to experiment with other shades (that I equally love) but I always end up craving a good pastel. I think it's because they can easily make hands look pretty, feminine and delicate, none of which my hands naturally are, sadly! This is a particularly good shade as I love pastel purple shades and this one is a rich, creamy lilac that is incredibly flattering. I've just purchased a Models Own lilac so I'll be reviewing that soon too.

Butter London Cuticle Miracle Kit*

I've worked my way through so many cuticle products to try and deal with my severely unruly cuticles, but nothing has ever really worked as quickly or effectively as this kit. The oil is pretty standard, but the remover is just brilliant; I now try and put aside a couple of hours a week where I really work at my nails and cuticles and I use copious amounts of both these treatments. I also use a really good kit I picked up by Leighton Denny and I'll be posting about my weekly nail indulgence soon.

So there it is, my top 12 of 2012 and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what 2013 brings is in the exciting world of beauty!

Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Cleansing Brush

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

I've had it for a few weeks now, so I thought it was about time I reviewed the Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Cleansing Brush* which joins the range of excellent skincare products in the Beautiful Skin line. I was really excited to hear that Boots were releasing a cleansing brush, not just because I'm a big fan of the products in the Beautiful Skin line, but also because I thought it was about blimin' time that a company released a motorised cleansing brush that didn't cost a small fortune.

The Beautiful Skin Cleansing Brush is compact, easy to handle and comes with two speed settings. It's battery operated which makes it quite different to most other motorised cleansing brushes which usually rely on a charger instead. I personally think a battery-operated device is not such a bad thing (I've said so much with that last sentence...) as it will travel well and when the device runs out of juice, you just pop the new batteries in and off you go. I'm always letting my brushes run out of charge which then means I have to wait a few hours for it to recharge, which isn't ideal if you're in the habit of brush cleansing daily.

The two speed settings are operated with one button; so you press the button once to turn it on, again to move it up a speed and again to turn it off. The brush itself contains impressively soft bristles that feel gentle and non-abrasive on the skin and are the right length to move around the skin surface easily without flailing. The brush fully oscillates, meaning that it goes all the way around as opposed to a lot of other brushes which tend to part oscillate (move slightly right and left) or vibrate, and this is sadly where I believe the design of the brush comes undone.

Regular readers will know that I have pretty tough facial skin that tolerates most things really well. The fact that this brush is firstly fairly powerful, and secondly fully oscillates, means that it's really difficult to control when moving around the face. The result is that you can't really cleanse effectively without really pressing it into the skin, which then means you're not so much brushing and more scrapping the skin which is something that I can't see any skin type benefiting from. The fast speed of the brush also results in the skin being buffed rather than cleansed, which again isn't ideal for the delicate facial area. After using this on the lowest setting, my skin was very red and a little sore because I couldn't control the movement of the brush effectively, so it either went all over the place, or was forced too firmly into the skin.

All is not lost as I have found it a very effective brush for my body skin as there's more surface for it to move around on so the above issues are less problematic, but for facial skin I can honestly see this doing more harm than good in the long run. It's annoying, as it's pretty much bang on with the design, feel, weight and cost and I feel with just a few tweaks (maybe it could only part oscillate or the speed could be greatly reduced) it could be a really solid and effective cleansing brush, but in my mind it isn't quite there yet.

I believe this will be launching later this month (will double check) for £25.

Happy New Year and My Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 07:30:00 +0000

I'm still, on occasion, writing 2011 which tells me that readjusting to writing 2013 isn't going to go particularly well, but I'll give it a go. Happy New Year everyone! I hope the hangovers aren't caning too severely and that you saw in the new year wonderfully.

I've decided to only have five New Year Resolutions this year and try and make them as realistically and achievable as possible. My inspiration for achievable and realistic goals came from my dog training manual, so I figure if it's good enough for Ava, it's good enough for me...

1. Stop doing things because I feel like I should and instead do things because I want to:

This I won't be taking too literally as if I had my way I'd spend the duration of 2013 in bed with the Pug in matching PJs watching Sex and the City reruns. Instead, my plan is to try and learn to say no more and avoid that feeling of guilt and pressure from agreeing to do things that I don't really want to do.

2. Be more social:

I've been a rubbish friend for the past few months and have pretty much hibernated whilst I pushed forward with my MA and my beloved blog. Now the MA is done (and I really promise to stop banging on about it soon) I feel free and light and airy like a free, light, airy thing (there's that writing degree being put to good use: Pulitzer here I come) so I can allocate some time to things like seeing friends, dating (eurgh, if I can face it) and generally being a better friend. This may or may not include sitting in bed with the Pug in matching PJs watching Sex and the City reruns.

3. Get the music back in me:

Music was/is a passion of mine, which is why I did an MA in it, but ever since I started studying it I've kind of lost interest in the enjoyment side of things to instead focus on the academic side. This coming year I'd like to sing more by joining a vocal group and hopefully having some lessons to keep my vocal strength up. I used to love singing but I haven't made time for it so now's the time for changin'.

4. Quit smoking:

We'll see...We'll see.

5. YouTube more

I said in my NY resolutions last year that I wanted to film more videos for the blog and I kind of did...well okay, I did one, but that's better than nothing, right? I'd like to start filming more videos that are relevant and complimentary to my blog so hopefully this will be something I pursue further in the new year.

So there we have it; my five resolutions in print for me to look back on this time next year. I've really enjoyed reading about other people's resolutions in my Selfridges beauty box competition so thanks very much for sharing....

Happy New Year!! xx

High Coverage Products and How to Use Them

noreply@blogger.com (Sascha BG) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 07:30:00 +0000

Yesterday I posted about my favourite brushes for achieving a natural yet high coverage finish so today I thought I'd write about the products I use most. A few things worth mentioning; firstly, I tend to prioritise a natural finish over coverage, so if my choice is either a very heavy face of make-up and no visible blemishes or a more natural finish with a few signs of blemishes poking through then I'll almost always pick the latter apart from on nights out. However, all these products listed below can be very easily built-up to full coverage so that nothing is showing through. Secondly, the pictures I've included were for a quick application and I haven't focused too much on any of the pit marks as the layering process needed to cover these is more time consuming, although I'm happy to post a video of how that's done if anybody would like me to? Lastly, I ignore anything that needs covering on my forehead as I have a fringe so I don't really see the point :)

On to the products! These are the things I use most to achieve a high level of coverage. I've included a bit of everything to hopefully suit most people's skin issues.

BB Creams

I think the first thing you might want to consider when going for full coverage is whether you actually need to fully cover your whole face. Most people have areas that are problematic but don't need to use a full coverage foundation all over their face and instead need to zone in on the problem areas. This gives a much more natural finish and results in you looking like you have good skin rather than good make-up! There are a few BB Creams I've used that I've found to be higher in coverage and these are:

Boots No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream,* £12.95

The best thing about this range is the fact that there are variants available to suit individual skin types. I use the Normal/Dry as I find the Oily version a little too drying on my skin type. This works as a great, natural base that doesn't take a lot of work to blend in. However, out of the three higher coverage BB Creams I'm listing I'd say this is the lowest coverage.

Ginvera Green Tea Nude Cover BB Cream* (not pictured), £20

I've actually run out of this and as I'm currently using a foundation as a base I haven't repurchased, but as soon as I'm at the point where I can start using BB Creams again then this'll definitely be something I stock up on as it suits my skin perfectly. It provides a surprisingly high level of coverage for a BB Cream, doesn't break me out and the finish is dewy and glowy.

Dr Jart+ Regenerating BB Cream, £21

This is another one that provides a high level of coverage yet blends down easily and the finish is really natural. I like products that are not too matte, not too dewy and leave skin looking healthy which this is perfect for. It's also very buildable for a BB Cream and stays put for a good length of time.

Foundations

If you're not someone who can get away with lighter coverage or would prefer to finish of something slightly heavier then these are the foundations I have found provide the best coverage.

Boots No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation,* £12.50

I've already reviewed this here and the main appeal of this high coverage foundation is that the finish isn't too matte, and instead leaves skin looking polished and well covered without looking drained of any life! I won't go into too much detail as I've already reviewed it, but it's definitely a well-priced high coverage foundation that's worth checking out if you need higher coverage.

Erno Laszlo Absolute Finish,* £55

This is the foundation I'm wearing in the images below and the reason I love it, other than it's great coverage, is that it gives skin a finish that's kind of like...you know when you look at people with really great skin and it has an almost ceramic/porcelain quality? It's like that! I didn't realise that kind of finish was achievable with make-up but this foundation gives a finish like nothing else. As with all Erno Laszlo products it comes with a hefty price tag, but you only need the tiniest amount and it blends and covers like a dream.

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation, £34

I really rate GA base products (I actually realised when writing this that all I use under my eyes currently are GA products) and this Luminous Silk Foundation offers amazing coverage. However, a word of warning is that a lot of people have reported breakouts with this formula; I broke out a bit during the first few uses but thankfully it subsided quickly so I could continue using it. This is the foundation I pull out for nights out and I do tend to layer it on the problem areas over other foundations, but it works just as well as a foundation on it's own, again providing great cover and a semi-dewy finish.

Concealers

There are two heavy duty concealers that I believe work best for covering spots and scars but they both need to be applied differently. One's a stick and one's a cream and both are advertised as foundations, yet personally I find them too heavy for all over cover:

Vichy Dermablend Ultra-Corrective Cream Stick Foundation, £19

This is a very popular product amongst acne-sufferers and for very good reason, as it provides a natural, buildable coverage that stays put. It's quite a greasy finish so I'd advise using a good setting powder over the top. I find the best way to use this is with a very dense, firm buffing brush (I used Jemma Kidd one as mentioned here but any firm brush would do) to buff in and around the problem zone. You definitely need to take time buffing this in which is probably why I don't use it as much as I used to, but it's especially good for spots as it tones down redness and doesn't exacerbate the issue.

Clinique Continuous Coverage, £21.50

This is a very thick cream foundation that I would strongly advise against using all over the face unless you really want to look like you're wearing a lot of make-up! I use the teeniest, tiniest squeeze of this on my problem areas and it covers like a dream. I use the Sigma Kabuki to stamp it on, I then leave it to settle in for a few minutes before buffing it down. Repeat these steps several times for pit marks and indents but use a good primer to help you first.

Finishing Powders

Clinique Almost Powder Make-Up, £22

This is probably the powder I use most on a day-to-day basis as it sets make-up really well whilst providing a little extra coverage if needed. It buffs in well and doesn't leave skin looking too matte or chalky, whilst still keeping shine at bay. It comes with an applicator pad which I sometimes use to build up the coverage, but most of the time I prefer to buff it in with a powder brush as the finish is more natural.

Everyday Minerals Semi-Matte Base, £9.95

I've previously reviewed this brand of mineral foundation here, so for more info check out my review. This is such a great brand of mineral make-up as it leaves skin looking polished and natural rather than overly shimmery/shiny which I've found a problem with a lot of other mineral products. It can be built to seriously high coverage, but I tend to use this just to even everything out and set my make-up post foundation application.

Laura Mercier Mineral Powder,* £31

I was in two minds about whether to include this in the list as I've only used it a couple of times so far and both occasions were for short periods, so I haven't made my full assessment yet. However, the coverage and finish is really impressive. It does contain shimmer (another reason I'm holding back is because I haven't seen how it looks in natural day light yet - if I glow like a beacon then I'll let you know!) that looks pretty scary in a swatch, but doesn't seem to show up too much on the face. It's very natural but with a very high coverage finish. I will be reviewing it fully soon but I wanted to include it for it's ability to cover so well.

Touch-Ups

No7 Stay Perfect Compact Foundation,* £14

If you're prone to greasy or oily skin then it's a good idea to carry around a touch-up kit which ideally will contain a good sized mirror, an applicator and a product that will not only reduce the oiliness, but also update the coverage level and refresh the finish of your foundation. This No7 compact fulfils all these requirements and provides a really high level of coverage that still looks natural. One thing to note about this is that you can really build it up, and as long as you have the shade right then it'll continue looking like skin rather than like heavy make-up.

Other Make-up Essentials

If you've gone for a high coverage finish then the two things you will definitely need are a good blusher and a good highlighter. When using high coverage, you've got pretty much no choice but to blot out every sign of natural health and colour which will inevitably leave you looking very flat and fairly matte. A good blusher will bring you back to life and a strategically applied highlighter will ensure the finish is natural and healthy so you don't look like you're caked in make-up. I strongly recommend including these two make-up items in a full coverage routine.

Here's me with the rest of my make-up on and a close up so you can get an idea of the finish:

Unfortunately I'm gurning in the image above (as is usually the case when I'm faced with a camera) which makes my skin look strangely bumpy, but there you go! I really hope you've found this helpful and please let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know in regards to high coverage and I'll try to help.