Product Empties-Empty Products #1

I love reading these kind of posts, but I'm at a loss as to why everyone calls them 'product empties' - never in normal conversation have I ever heard anyone say those two words in that order...! Blogging madness.

Anyway, I love these cos it's like a little review and I think you find out more than in a 'haul' post cos the person has actually used the thing they're talking about.  Incidentally...I also hate the term 'haul' - again, never used in the real world! If I said to my friends that I had been shopping and has a massive haul they would look at me with blank faces. Blogging bolloxology, can't beat it.

I appear to have finished up quite a lot of skin and haircare products this month, sadly some fairly expensive-to-replace things have run out all at once, isn't that always the way?!

First is my absolute favourite toner - Michael Todd's Blue Green Algae, which I talk about more than is acceptable.  I posted about it here so I won't go on too much, but it is amazing and my wonderful friend LouisaLoves217 ordered me a replacement when she was ordering her own stuff, so thankfully I won't be without it for too long!

Next is my Clinique Mild Clarifying Lotion, which I've been trying to ration because it was running out, but it's finally gone. Waaah! I'll definitely repurchase it because it;s a really good, gentle exfoliator, and with an oily t-zone I need to be able to chemically exfoliate daily, which I can do with this because the salicylic acid isn't too aggressive.

Another toner I've finished recently is my Lancome Tonique Douceur, which is a mini size (125ml) I got with a very generous Gift With Purchase a while ago.  It smells lovely, but I didn't feel like it did anything of note, and at £22 for the full size I'd need a bit more effort on it's part to make that kind of commitment.  It was nice while it lasted though.

I posted recently about Aussie Miracle Hair Insurance, and having become completely addicted and used it every day, it's now all gone, but will soon be replaced because it's really good.  You can read my post about it here

Continuing with haircare, the next empty bottle I have is Tresemme's Platinum Strength Shampoo. The conditioner is stubbornly hanging on in there n the side of my bath, with another few uses left, but the shampoo sadly died first.  I used this all summer and loved it.  Apart from tresemme's heat defence spray I've never been a massive fan, but this does wonderful things to my hair and makes it all shiny and soft.  The downside is that it makes me play with my hair constantly, which probably means everyone I come into contact with thinks I'm trying to flirt with them, but It's too hard not to do it!  I'll definitely be repurchasing this once I've used up my current bath-side stragglers.

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation is one of my favourites and I've repurchased it quite a few times now. I'm already onto the next bottle  - you can read my post about it here.

I thought I'd lull you into a false sense of security with all the smiley happy products at the beginning, and then fit my angry little rant in at the end..Toni & Guy Casual Sea Salt Texturising Spray, you cruel maiden.  I thought you were the answer to my lazy tendencies and that I could have an extra 10 minutes in bed and look all beachy and carefree, which I did for the first two uses...after that sadly the liquid couldn't get down the tube...(no that isn't an innuendo..), as the salt appeared to have clogged it up.  In the end the salt had evidently affected the pump part because it was jammed and couldn't be pressed down.  I tried a few times to just screw the lid off and pour it into my hands, but I quickly decided life was too short for that and just bought a different salt spray. This is now on it's way to landfill and I won't be repurchasing. 

This shouldn't really be in an empties post because technically there's just under half left, but since the remainder is unusable and the charming folk at Seche Vite informed me upon complaining that the product can be expected to thicken over time.. I give up.  The first half of the bottle was good, gave me a nice shiny top-coat and made my nail polish last longer.  The second half of the bottle was so thick it couldn't be painted onto my nails without pulling off the polish, and eventually solidified into a gloopy mess.  Seche vite suggested that I buy another product from them to restore it's original consistency, which I have zero intention of doing, cheers anyway.  Won't be repurchasing.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my collection of empty bottles :) have you used any of these products?

Suzy

Xx

#TheSOproject Week 5: Blusher!

Last week's Starting Off Project post was a bit of a 'mare for me since I don't use bronzer (if you haven't had a read of my unmissable (!) tips yet you can catch up here), so I was happy when I checked the schedule and this week was blusher week.

I've always been a big fan of a rosy cheek.  In my teenage years slightly too much of a fan - think big pink doll-like circles - but blusher has remained something that I tend never to leave the house without, along with foundation and mascara. Make sure that when you apply you blusher you aren't smiling and applying it to the apples of your cheeks like off of the 80's! Follow the natural line of your cheekbone.

As I favour such a matte finish to my make up, if I don't put a little bit of colour back into my cheeks, I risk looking like a corpse. To brighten up my cheeks I always use either a powder blush or a cheek stain.  Cream blushes are out of the question because I feel as though they slide around my skin by the end of the day...and they remind me of old women.  I can't even explain why they remind me of old women, they just really do.  I also find cream blush incompatible with the powder I use to set my make up - at no point does it seem like the correct step for it to be applied!


As luck would have it I posted a couple of weeks ago about cheek stains and why I think they're wonderful - you can have a read of that post here, but in summary my favoured stain is Cheekmate by Soap and Glory, and I like to apply it with my ring finger. It stays put for ages and it's a lovely rosy shade.

My recommended powder blush is MUA Blusher in the shade Lolly which is £1.  It's described by MUA as being 'soft orange' but I think it's more of a rose pink.  It's a matte blush, which I favour because I don't like shiny cheeks, and it applies beautifully with my Real Techniques Contour Brush. 
I honestly don't think you could tell once it's on the cheeks that it only costs £1, and now that MUA have changed the packaging and it's a little sturdier I'm even happier.

(Lolly: I can't even describe how far away this is from the actual shade. Sadly mine is too grotty to show)

If you're after a slightly more extravagant cheek then I also really like Clinique's Fresh Bloom All Over in Peony Blend, which is a highlighter as well as blush, but is really subtle and pretty. Unfortunately it's £26 so I haven't been abled to justify repurchasing it just yet.

 

Thanks for reading & I hope you enjoyed week 5.  Next week is Mascara week - follow me on Bloglovin to make sure you don't miss it! I'm genuinely excited to write mine and to read everyone's recommendations cos I loooooove mascara!

Suzy
xx

 

The Autumn Tag

Jess from Lovely Jubbly Blog tagged me to do the Autumn Tag, which is definitely appropriate as it's flipping freezing this week..I've cracked out the fluffy socks and everything!

For Autumn what's your.... 

1.  Favourite thing about it? 

Getting home from work, putting the heating on, snuggling up on the sofa and knowing I don't have to go back out again cos it's cold and dark. 

2.  Favourite drink? 

Malteasers hot chocolate or Ovaltine. Mmm.

3.  Favourite scent/candle?

Vanilla candles are my all-year favourites.  I do like spiced candles for winter, but for Autumn I still stick to my vanilla.

Perfume wise I love Hugo Boss Deep Red as it's a little heavier than Daisy/Fantasy which I've been wearing for spring/summer.

4.  Best lipstick? 

I tend to stick to lipbalms in autumn because I get horribly chapped lips. This year I'll probably be whacking on the Maybelline Babylips quite a bit but I always have a trusty pot of Body Shop's Passionberry in my drawer at work.

5.  Go to moisturiser?  

I mentioned in my #thesoproject skincare post that I am yet to find my perfect moisturiser.  I'm still plodding my way through Clinique Superdefense, which is ok, but I'll be buying a new moisturiser for winter in the next month or so - any recommendations??

6.  Go to colours for the eyes? 

I only ever wear neutrals- colours feels a bit 'fancy dress' on me! Bronze, gold and taupe are my favourites. My most worn shadow in the day time is soap and glory's Lid Stuff - the champagne shade (Top right, below).

 I've been using my MUA undressed palette over the last week or so again too and I'm really liking it.  

7.  Favourite music or band/singer to listen to? 

I hardly ever listen to my own music.. is that weird?! I spend at least 2 hours commuting to work every day and I always have the radio on cos it keeps me more entertained feeling as though someone's chatting to me, so I'll be listening to whatever Radio 1 play to me!  I'm really liking 'Roar' by Katy Perry and 'Same Love' by Macklemore at the moment, but I have a short attention span for music so that'll likely change by the end of the week! 

8.  Favourite outfit to wear?

I am completely obsessed with scarves and I wear them with pretty much everything in autumn. They're so cosy and reassuring though! My favourite things to do though is to get changed into my PJs after work, so without a doubt that's my favourite outfit!

9.  Autumn treat?

Starbucks hot chocolate after a chilly shopping trip or a cheeky Dominos whilst watching X Factor!

10.  Favourite place to be?

At home, all cosy and warm while it's raining outside! I'm such a homebody in autumn/winter!

Thanks again to Jess for tagging me.  

Here are the lovely bloggers I'd like to tag

Louisa at Louisa Loves 217

Charley at Rambling of a Beauty Blogger

Anoushka at Anoushka Loves

Charlotte at Char's Insights

Steph at Steph's Inside Voice

Suzy

xx

#TheSOproject WEEK 3: Foundation

This week the Starting Off project is all about Foundation; one of my favourite things to buy! I've tried some absolute stinkers before,both high and low end but im going to keep this post positive and just tell you about my favourites!

As a teenager foundation was something that was quite daunting to me for a few reasons:
1)My mum discouraged me from using it as I didn't need it.  She was, rightly so, trying to protect my skin from becoming clogged up with an unnecessary amount of product.
2) Seeing other girls the same age experimenting with foundation and appearing at school with bright orange, muddy looking faces made me go for a more subtle look. My school was super strict and made us wash off any traces of make up if we were caught out wearing it, so I'd much rather have just worn a little mascara and powder and be undetectable.
3) Liquid foundation is scary: it's messy, not something I wanted to get all over my clothes and hands and I  didn't feel confident I'd be able to apply it without getting the dreaded tide line around my jaw.


My Recommendations

Young skin
Eventually vanity took over  around the age of 16 and I discovered  Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse.For years and years I used this in the shade Ivory, which was the a perfect match for my pale Northern skin. It served me well: it was cheap, lasted fairly well on the skin and was super easy to apply using my pinkies.

I started to find though that once I was working full time rather than dossing around at college or uni, it wasn't holding up too well by the end of the day and it begun to cling to any dry patches I had.

I think its hard to go wrong with this for teenagers just starting out with make up & I'd definitely recommend it. Currently £7.49 from Boots.

Drugstore/pharmacy

 

 

I would recommend Rimmel Match Perfection which I posted in detail about here. It's cheap and cheerful and the foundation I use the most.
Currently £6.99 from Boots.

Higher end foundation

 

My favourite higher end foundation is Clinique Even Better foundation. It gives a medium to high coverage with a moderately glowy finish but holds my persistent oil off pretty much all day. It is also SPF 15, which is really handy, especially for the winter when I prefer not to bother with a separate SPF. I've just finished this but I'll definitely repurchase, for about the 4th time. Clinique provides a generous choice of 25 shades for this foundation so there's no excuse for not having a perfect match!
Currently £24 from Clinique

Mineral Foundation
Mineral foundation is also a really good option, but for me I only crack this out for days at home and good skin days as I am far too lazy to buff and buff and buff to increase the coverage!

The one I'd recommend is Bare Minerals Original Foundation although its not cheap at £25 it does last ages, especially if you buff buff buff!!
It lasts really well throughout the day and it doesn't feel like you're wearing make up, which would be good for teens at school!

 

Application

Although most foundations can be applied by hand I pretty much always use a brush. I don't like to end up with messy hands when I'm about to go out and I like the smooth finish a brush gives.

 I posted here about the brush I use most for foundation: Real Techniques Buffing Brush. I'm yet to find a foundation that this brush doesn't work with!


What foundation would you recommend?  I'd love some ideas for what to try next!


Suzy
xx

 

#theSOproject WEEK 1: SKINCARE

So welcome to theSOproject!

I haven't done an introductory post to this series as I think it's pretty widely known and no one wants to read 150 versions of the same thing do they! It is going to be 10 weeks on different themes relating to starting out with make up and beauty, with a view to giving younger and less experienced readers some handy hints and tips about super duper products and techniques for using them.

This post is all about skincare, which I think could be a difficult one for me as I can tend to wang on about this to anyone that dares to look in my direction! I shall try and keep it short, sweet and not too ranty, however.

I should probably mention that I have oily skin, which results in the odd spot and perennially clogged pores. So my routine might not suit those with dry skin as you'll maybe need more moisture.

Keeping skincare simple and without 1000 steps is what's important as far as I'm concerned.  Who has the £££ to be buying superfluous lotions and potions and more to the point who the heck can be faffed with a gruelling 30 minute routine either in the morning or evening?! I'm pretty much of the opinion that if you're putting on 10 layers of various toners, serums, oils and moisturisers, at least some of them are cancelling each other out.  Pointless.

So keep it simple: cleanse, exfoliate, tone and moisturise.  Then leave well alone and get on with the rest of your day!

Cleanser
If you are using soap...STOP. It isn't 1945 and we don't still have rationing. I find it bizarre that soap even still exists! It strips away your natural oils, dries your skin out terribly and most are so heavily perfumed that they're likely to irritate your skin and cause nasty spots.
Cleansing wipes: these really are vilified in beauty circles.  Okay, the ingredients wont do your skin any good as such, and they should never be used as your only cleanser, but for me, as a quick first cleanse, to get rid of my eye make up especially, I haven't found anything I prefer.  Bioderma is ineffective at removing my mascara and I have to use far too much of it, which is expensive and time consuming. In my opinion as long as you're washing it off with a proper cleanser afterwards, a face wipe is absolutely fine for a pre-cleanse.
At the moment I'm really enjoying using Boots Essentials Fragrance Free Wipes, which are £1.50.

Next you need a proper cleanser: preferably not a foaming one as SLS, which enables the cleanser to foam, strips the moisture from the skin. I'm currently using Michael Todd Charcoal Detox Cleanser, which is 70% organic and wonderfully gentle on my skin.
A cleansing milk also gives effective but gentle cleansing, I love Clinique Take the Day off Cleansing Milk, as it can be gently massaged into the skin to remove the make up and dirt, and then washed off with water and a flannel. 

I recently wrote about using a cleansing brush such as Clarisonic, or No7, which is something to think about but certainly not an essential purchase when you are first getting into looking after your skin.


Exfoliator

To have lovely clear skin you need to be exfoliating regularly.  I don't mean the god-awful manual exfoliants that my Fiancé describes as rubbing bits of rock on your face, but an acidic exfoliant, to clean out the pores. It doesn't hurt at all, despite sounding quite extreme.

I use Clinique Mild Clarifying Lotion morning and night as it is so gentle, but efficiently cleans my pores with salicylic acid. I have also tried Pixi Glow tonic, which didn't go so well as I explained here.
I also love Paula's Choice 2% BHA lotion for this purpose, as it does a wonderful job on any blackheads.  I usually use this at night, never in the day because the BHA can cause sun damage if not protected by using an SPF.

Toner
It might seem a little extreme to essentially double tone - exfoliating toner and then normal toner, but it's important to get some moisture back into your skin after the acid has worked it's magic.
The toner should never contain alcohol as it defeats the purpose by drying out the skin.
I'm using Michael Todd Blue Gree Algae Toner which I blogged about recently as it is super moisturising due to the hyaluronic acid it contains. I also like Lancôme Tonique Douceur, but for £22 I don't feel there are enough skin care benefits compared to the Michael Todd which is around £11.50.

Moisturiser
Moisturiser is the area of skincare I feel least qualified to talk about: I still don't feel I've found what completely works for my skin and I'm still pretty much on a merry-go-round of trying new ones out.  The one I've stuck with for the longest, purely because it protects me with a high SPF and it doesn't irritate my skin is Clinique Superdefense, but I don't feel like it's working hard enough to justify the colossal £38 price tag. I'm going to have a look at REN next for moisturiser, but on the more budget-friendly side, Adam absolutely swears by Aldi Lacura Aqua Moisture Cream, and he has ridiculously sensitive skin so it must be good!

What products would you recommend for cleansing, toning and moisturising?  I would love to hear about them!

Suzy xx

Never again: Pixi Glow Tonic

I've needed to get this off my chest for a few weeks now: Caroline Hirons, I love you, but this stuff is never coming near my face again!
Why I did it to myself I don't know; I had several perfectly functioning acidic exfoliants that worked really well, but the grass is always greener, isn't it?!
One tweet that the glow tonic was back in stock and I had a bottle on it's way to me within 5 minutes. Is it just me or is there something about a product being stock limited that does crazy things to your brain?

I had such high hopes for this stuff.  In theory it should have worked wonders for my skin; glycolic acid to clean out the pores, and witch hazel, ginseng and aloe vera to tone, smooth and stimulate the skin.
Sadly, the glycolic acid seems to have reacted with my skin in a way salycilic acid or BHA doesn't and after 5 day's use I ended up with very angry, red skin.  I developed spots the like of which i've never seen; nasty cystic acne-type under the skin mounds, and I even ended up with a little pimple just inside my nose. Attractive.

I didn't care for the smell either.  My fiance decribed it as smelling  like 'old pensioner' and I think that's fairly accurate. The packging is actually lovely though, I really like the simple bottle with squared sides, and it has a pump which means you don't waste any product.

This wouldn't put me off trying Pixi products in the future and I'll definitely be popping into the store next time i'm in London, probably in September as their make up line looks beautiful and I'd like to try their face masks too.  Just not this.  Ever again.

Pixi Glow Tonic is available only by mail order or in their London store (not on their website) I paid £16.50, plus postage. 

I've now gone back, with my tail between my legs, to my old faithfuls: Paula's Choice BHA and Clinique Extra Mild Clarifying Toner, which do a wonderful job of clearing out my pores, and the horrible spots on my face have gone, thank goodness!


Suzy
xx