Brassy / Orange Hair – At Home Toner – Wella Professional Color Fresh Silver pH6.5

beauty

Last September I decided to get a new look and treat my hair to a brown Balayage. I chose the Balayage technique as hair maintenance is not my strong point – just the thought of having to deal with ‘root touch ups’ exhausts me. I loved the initial results and decided to do whatever I could to preserve the look. I reduced washing my hair to just once a week, used cold water only and stocked up on blue shampoo. To my horror, the brassy orange tones started to surface after a couple of months. Here is an picture of the freshly Balayaged hair (left obviously)…

Above on the right, is my hair after 5 months…brassy, orange and the obvious overgrown roots. I was conscious of my hair colour but tried to ignore it as much as possible, purely to save money. The moment came when I could no longer ignore the absolute disastrous hair situation, when I went to an event and took a whole load of pictures. I came back completely cringing at the orange locks I was donning.

The length of my hair doesn’t help because it just means I have to pay double the price for hair treatments. Still keen to save money, I decided to try a bit of DIY and purchased the ‘Wella Color Fresh Semi Permanent Hair Toner – pH 6.5 Silver‘ costing £13. I chose this violet shade to neutralise the brass whilst maintaining the highlights (note; a brown toner can also lessen the orange look but would just do so by darkening the hair). I followed the instructions which were very easy to follow. The 75ml toner was just about enough for all my hair – so plenty! Once evenly distributed, I left the toner on for around 10-15mins (recommended 5-20mins).

On the right is the results post – toner. You can certainly see an improvement! and it was a fairly easy and cheap process. To be honest I am pleased with the results and will probably continue to tone at least once a month, in order to build up the ashy tones. I am also keen to try a blue toner as this is known to be more effective for orange hair. I will let you guys know how that goes, so stay tuned.

Kiehl’s Turmeric & Cranberry Seed Energizing Radiance Masque Review

Skincare, Uncategorized

Although it has recently become something of a super food, Turmeric is no new revelation. The ingredient has been used for centuries in Asia, and is a common ingredient in herbal remedies. Even turmeric as a mask, is a well established tradition in Southern Asian wedding ceremonies, used for purification and in wedding preparation to give the bride and groom a healthy glow. Spanning from curing acne, treating eczema to even delaying ageing, the supposed skin benefits are certainly impressive.

Given all these health benefits, it is no wonder why Kiehl’s have leveraged this unique ingredient to sell their ‘Turmeric & Cranberry Seed Energizing Radiance Masque’ retailing at £34. Along with the Turmeric, the added cranberry seeds are high in antioxidants, protecting the skin against environmental free-radical damage. Winner!

As soon as I applied this product to my face it caused an instant cool, tingling sensation. For me, this is a good thing as it gives the illusion that something must be working. I washed it off in a circular motion with warm water providing that added exfoliation from the cranberry seeds to reveal a noticeably brighter complexion. There is no doubt that this product does brighten the skin. Sounds great?…yes, but the truth is you don’t need to fork out £34 because the undisputed benefits of turmeric, can be achieved by using any homemade turmeric mask for a fraction of the price.

Get your hands on some turmeric powder, gram flour, and mix with yoghurt, lemon juice and honey. This is a tried and tested recipe for skin brighting and fighting blemishes at a fraction of the price.

My First Hair Dying Experience – Subtle Red Balayage

balayage, beauty

Being a hair dye virgin, I must admit, I have always found the prospect of getting the foil and bleach out a little daunting. Every time the thought crossed my mind, questions like, ‘will my hair get damaged?’ or ‘what if it looks horrendous??’ circled my brain until I eventually convinced myself it just was not for me. To be completely honest, my experience with hair dye of any sort, was pretty much limited to a bi-monthly chore of box dying my dad’s greys with a toothbrush.

Having minimally tinkered with my hair since birth, I recently had an unexpected moment of spontaneity and decided to take the plunge. Actually, it wasn’t completely spontaneous—I was inspired by my sister Jas—she has a lot of greys and seems to be going for the Cruella de Vil look lately (sorry Jas!). Anyway I was her guinea pig, and she too, will soon be getting hers done!

Right, first and foremost, my sister and I were a little obsessed with finding the perfect salon. We wanted a place with good hair reviews at affordable prices. Some salons offer hiked up prices in exchange for extras such as a glass of champagne on arrival. For us, this just sounded like unnecessary kerfuffle so we stayed clear of these options, seeking rather the skill and ability for our money. Having very long, thick hair, we needed an accommodating place that was willing to take on the challenge—some were not so keen . Trawling the internet, luckily we stumbled upon a cosy hair salon tucked away in West Hampstead called Crystalise Salon. This place had everything we were after, highly skilled staff, with creative vision and a genuine passion for what they do (not to mention great prices & discounts)—perfect.

The day of the appointment arrived. I felt mixed emotions. A little apprehensive about this decision, it was now or never and I knew I could not back out. Equally, the rebel inside of me (which I rarely let out), couldn’t wait to just go for it. Jas & I travelled quite far to get to West Hampstead. Luckily we arrived just in time to grab some lunch and a coffee before the appointment (I say luckily, as the appointment ended up lasting around 4 hours). We arrived to a very warm welcome. I didn’t have time to research extensively about what I was after, so asked for a warm brown/subtle reddish balayage with Olaplex to limit the damage. I wanted a balayage as opposed to highlights as it is more subtle and blended. Balayage is a technique in which hair is delicately painted with dye in a natural and blended manner. I was not too nervous at this point as I saw all the other customers looking beautiful with their new hair, so immediately felt confident that I was in great hands. I was a little confused though, as I had always believed balayage is done without foils—I guess every colourist has their own method.

Me, with my black hair pre-dye. I hate this pic, but Jas seems to think it’s nice.

Within a couple of minutes, the foils were out. I don’t think I had mentally prepared myself for this point, but felt a sudden gush of excitement that overcame any doubts. It took a good hour to get all my hair foiled up, an additional 45 minutes to let it all marinade (not too sure of the technical term for this). With the lovely atmosphere and the staff regularly offering tea or coffee, the time went by pretty quickly.

All foiled up like a jacket potato.

When the foils were removed, I was in utter shock. My hair was bright red. The colour of a London bus. Although I was on a daring streak this was a little too far. Fortunately the hair stylist had no issues with toning it down for me.

The result was better than I could ever have expected. A fiery mahogany brown/red. The perfect shade that I could not have described even if I had tried. In fact, I was so happy with the results, I had to give the salon a tip! The Olaplex treatment has left my hair feeling healthy, it is still in the newly blow dried state so I can’t fully commit to an opinion on the success of this treatment, but I can honestly say that my hair doesn’t feel particularly damaged after the bleach—which I somewhat attribute to the strengthening power of Olaplex.

I got home and couldn’t wait to play with my new locks. Here are a few styles I tried out…

I have found that I need to tone down my make-up a bit now though, I use more neutral colours…with nude lipsticks looking the best to offset my new fiery locks.

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation Review for Oily Skin

foundation, Make-Up

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk…the name ring a bell? I am sure it does as it has been everywhere, and actually for quite a long time – I admit I am very late to jump onto this particular bandwagon. Kim Kardashian loves this foundation, and over on our side of the pond, the beautiful Michelle Keegan swears by it too. I had to try this legendary foundation for myself.

Giorgio Armani’s iconic Luminous Silk Foundation

Pros

Lightweight and does not look cakey
No SPF means no flashback
Dewy, glowy complexion

Cons

It is extremely expensive, retailing for £40 in the UK
Can get very shiny on oily skin

My Experience

This foundation looks amazing when first applied – it provides beautiful glowy skin and it just fuses onto the skin to look quite natural. I was a shade 6 (I am NC 30 in Mac and 3W1 Tawny in Estée Lauder); this was a beautiful match for my skin tone. Although I must admit, when I first put it on it looks like a bit of an odd, almost dull, slightly greyish colour. Once all of the highlighter, blusher, bronzer and whatever else has been applied over the top…the colour is a lovely healthy warm shade. At this point it was all looking extremely promising…had I found my HG foundation?

I have swatched this on my palms as the skin on my hands is horribly dry at the moment…this shade blends in quite nicely onto my NC30 skin.

Not quite. I found my face was getting shiny after a few hours, it was such a shame. This foundation looks amazing on my sister, who has dry skin; her pictures come out beautiful as well. Part of me was still so adamant that I could make this foundation work for my skin that I contemplated buying the Luminous Silk Powder Compact along with it: It can be used to set the foundation as well as blot during the day. The sales assistant assured me that you can apply the powder multiple times during the day and you still will not get a caked-up look as this powder is very sheer. I did try powdering this over my foundation once the shine had started coming through and it does make a difference – but I feel I would need to powder quite regularly to keep the shine at bay. I was recommended shade 4.5 in this powder. It retails for £38 but this is only for the refill…to buy the plush Armani compact case to store it in, costs an additional £18. Because this is the best Armani foundation for flawless photos, the sales adviser still recommended this foundation for occasions (despite my oily skin) and advised the use of the powder to quell any shine that decides to creep through. Although, this is an option, at a combined price of nearly £100; I decided there must, surely, come on be another foundation option on the market which can offer me a shine-free, healthy and flawless (or at least less flawed) complexion. So I have decided to continue my search…I am thinking of trying the Power Fabric Foundation by Armani next. It is one that a different sales person at Armani recommended for lasting, shine-free coverage and apparently it is a less cakey alternative to Estee Lauder’s Double Wear. Sounds like it could be a contender…

Jas xx

Huda Beauty Liquid Matte – Nude Love Collection – Crush, Sugar Mama and Girlfriend Review & Comparison with Bombshell/Venus

lipsticks, Make-Up

My relationship with Huda’s liquid mattes so far…head over heels in love with some of the colours in her initial offering (Venus, Trendsetter and Icon.) Then I ordered one of the special effects shades, Socialite; a shimmery, peachy, pink which I was not bowled over by.

However, I was confident that I would love any of the nudes released by this brand so I ordered 3 out of the 4 new shades that released as part of the Nude Love Collection; Sugar Mama, Girlfriend and Crush. I could not get hold of Wifey as it was sold out on Cult Beauty…it seems to be in high demand! I was eagerly anticipating my parcel…

Top to Bottom: Sugar Mama, Girlfriend and Crush

Pav kindly tried these colours on for me…I have posted pictures below with a short description of each colour:

Sugar Mama—a warm peachy nude.

Crush—the lightest colour of the three. A very light nude with cool, pinky undertones.

Girlfriend—this was a lot lighter than I had anticipated. It is a light, very warm brown—with yellow undertones.

It was all so promising…

Top to Bottom: Sugar Mama, Girlfriend and Crush

I would say that Crush, Sugar Mama and Bombshell are extremely similar in the undertones and hue…in fact, Crush and Sugar Mama just look like lighter variations of Bombshell, with Crush being the lightest shade.

Left to Right: Venus, Crush, Girlfriend, Sugar Mama and Bombshell. I think Crush, Sugar Mama and Bombshell look like light, medium and dark versions of the same colour.

Verdict

These new colours are lighter than the lightest nudes in the previous product offering by the brand—Bombshell and Venus. Bombshell and Venus were nudes that were still dark enough to wear with minimal make up, and were able to make my face look more polished regardless of the amount of make up I was wearing. But in my opinion, when a nude gets light enough, it becomes the kind of colour that looks best with a full strong-eyed, bronzed look; I feel these new shades that I purchased fall into this realm.

They are the kind of very muted, light colours that look amazing offsetting a face of full make-up, but they are not colours that you wear on the days when you have little or no make-up on. The application of these was also a tad streaky I found (Crush, in particular )…which was not the case with her previous shades. Crush is pale and chalky on me so to avoid it washing me out I would need a very bronze, warm, full face of make up to make the colour work. Also, I like to draw a little around my lips to make them look bigger, and these shades are a little too light for that trick to have any impact. I am sure I could use these to mix and blend with other Huda shades that I have, to make them a bit lighter and experiment…but I wouldn’t intentionally pay £18 each, for this particular use. I have seen that a recommendation from the brand is to use a darker shade of liquid matte to line the lip and to use these lighter colours in the middle for an ombre look; again that does seem like a faff and not something that instantly appeals to me. I still love the formula; it is long-lasting, wears well and feels comfortable.

Pav liked Sugar Mama out of these 3 shades…she has NC35 skin and I have to agree with Pav on this one. I guess Sugar Mama is the warmest…(healthiest?!) looking colour of the 3—compared with the other 2 you do not need loads of make-up with this one. It is the nicest and most flattering of these 3 nudes. Girlfriend and Crush are pretty with the right make-up—but would look awful with the wrong or too little make-up. I think Crush is probably too light for any skintones above MAC NC30, it may look too washed out. Bombshell, Trendsetter and Venus are definitely more versatile nudes which will flatter a greater range of skin tones.

Next time Huda releases any more colours, I think I will have to test before buying…as these were a lot lighter than I was expecting…you live and learn.

Jas xx

Lily Lolo Product Haul Review

Make-Up, Natural Beauty Products, natural make-up

Hi all, as I mentioned in my previous post I went a little crazy recently when I discovered this fantastic, all-natural make-up brand…I was extremely excited to find a UK company specialising in natural make-up. The sheer fact that a lot of self-confessed make-up junkies in this country have never heard of this brand, highlights how little natural make-up has flourished on these isles.

Lily Lolo do not use use a lot of the nasty ingredients typically used across the make-up industry; no parabens, silicone, talc or mineral oils. Plus, they have kindly chucked in some excellent, nourishing ingredients into a lot of their products. The lipsticks have lanolin so are extremely moisturising; the illuminator includes argan oil, a superfood for skin. Whereas the brand’s eyeliners are infused with jojoba oil and other conditioning ingredients to make them perfect for sensitive skin.

I wanted to try their entire make-up range; every single type of item that I would wear on a normal day, everything from a highlighter to a lipstick. Luckily for my bank balance they do samples of some of their products for £1-£1.50, so I opted for these where I could. In the end I ordered: A colour correcting powder, Peepo (£9); a loose mineral blusher, Sunset (£9); a loose mineral bronzer sample, Bondi Beach (£1.50); a loose mineral highlighter sample, Star Dust (£1.50); a brown eyeliner pencil (£7.50); a lipstick, Intense Crush (£9.50); a mineral foundation sample, Butterscotch (£1.50); a powder brush (£11) and two finishing powder samples (£1.50 each), in tinted and matte variations, Flawless Silk and Flawless Matte. I also wanted a mascara but there was a two-week wait on that item!

My Peepo box looks a little worse for wear as my toddler seemed intent on opening (destroying) all of mummy’s nice new boxes…

Verdict on Individual Items

Corrector, Peepo: After I ordered this I realised Lily Lolo also do a creamy concealer which I would have probably preferred. Although this does look quite yellow in the pot, it does cover my under-eye darkness to a certain degree and I will continue to use it. It obviously has nowhere near the coverage of my Kevin Aucoin concealer but I didn’t expect it to; I wanted this product for days where I don’t need flawless make-up.

Peepo corrector for dark circles and pigmentation

Loose mineral blusher, Sunset: I am not in love with the shade I picked. It is quite a dark pink and I would have preferred a more contemporary colour. I do, however, think this colour would look quite nice on darker skin tones. Longevity- and pigment-wise it provides a good, buildable coverage.

This blush in Sunset is a very dark pinky, red-y, browny colour to me and I am kicking myself for not picking one of the other beautiful alternatives.

Loose mineral bronzer, Bondi Beach: Beautiful, shimmery bronze colour; a good colour for my NC30 skin. It stays put quite well throughout the day.
Loose mineral shimmer, Star Dust: This is an extremely subtle, natural highlighter which you could probably build up if you prefer. I find it’s too lightly pigmented for days when I would want a full make-up look…but nice for everyday make-up.

Top-Bottom: Sunset blusher, Bondi Beach bronzer and Star Dust shimmer (which is barely visible in this picture…)

Lipstick, Intense Crush: A beautiful, wearable, light pink/peach colour. I am extremely happy with the colour; and for me, that largely determines whether I will ever wear it. It is not too bright and is a muted enough colour to wear on a daily basis. In terms of the formulation, I am impressed. And I am not easily pleased when it comes to my lipsticks, let me tell you. It is a highly pigmented, creamy matte colour, with a subtle shine. It feels so moisturising on the lips and the staying power is actually better than I expected too!

A beautiful, creamy, matte, highly-pigmented lipstick – Intense Crush

Take a look at the ingredients in this lipstick…

Eyeliner, Brown: The black coloured one had a waiting list, but actually I prefer brown anyway. Again, I am surprised at the pigmentation of this product. It also lasts quite well, and doesn’t smudge too much in a really bad way…basically it is not all over your face by the end of the day, just to reassure you.

A bold, creamy, brown eyeliner

Powder brush: I haven’t really tried any expensive brushes so I cannot compare this brush to high-end alternatives. I do however, use EcoTools brushes, and this one is so much softer and silkier. In fact, I want to purchase a few more.
Finishing powder, Flawless Matte: I used this after moisturiser and before the mineral foundation…it has kaolin in it which absorbs oil so when layered directly over moisturiser it should mean a less slippery surface for the foundation to adhere to. It worked! My make-up lasted around 6 hours; despite not using any primer or finishing powder over my make-up.

Note: I have not yet tried the Flawless Silk finishing powder (which looks a little pink..!) or the mineral foundation.

Overall Opinion

Wow, I am blown away. I had almost accepted low coverage and weaker pigments as a given, but still wanted to try these product because I thought they would allow my skin to breath. I was wrong. These products combined (I wore with my Bare Minerals foundation) provide a nearly flawless look. Based on performance alone, these rival normal, chemical-ridden, high-end make-up products. Peepo didn’t entirely get rid of my dark circles…but I think I am meant to combine with a mineral concealer – I was under the possibly wrong impression these performed the same function. But, to be honest, I am happy with the coverage Peepo alone provides for the everyday make-up that these products were intended for.

My make-up (minus lipstick) lasted around 5-6 hours – which is pretty good. My Bobbi Brown BB cream (with a primer) typically lasts me for less than that. I think it could have been the Flawless Matte foundation placed in the order that it was, that made all the difference.

In conclusion, I am in love with Lily Lolo. Affordable, nourishing make-up that is free of so many nasties that are prevalent in make-up these days. This company is a breath of fresh air and I am sure they will go from strength to strength as more people find out about their gorgeous product offering.

Jas xx

My First Foray into All-Natural Make-Up…

Make-Up, Natural Beauty Products

I am on a quest…two things that I am trying to find. Firstly, that perfect set of medium-full coverage make-up products to make me look airbrushed and look my best for those photo-ready occasions. A set of go-to wonder products that just work on my oily/combination skin, for days when I need my make-up to last and look flawless. Secondly, I want to amass a selection of completely natural, no-nasties make-up. Products which help to perk me up and improve my complexion, but do not have to be as long-lasting or full coverage. I would like make-up for everyday use that does not clog up my pores and which could potentially even improve my skin over time…I don’t ask for a lot do I? 😉 I haven’t got a massive budget…so I want to love every product I get…rather than get loads of different options. I can’t afford to buy a whole heap (2 heaps even) of expensive items – I want to be able to achieve the above while purchasing the fewest number of products possible.

Some of the high-performance items that I am contemplating…(after a lot of research!):

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation (in shade 6)
Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation (in shade 3W0 Warm Creme)
Dr Brandt Pores No More Primer
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder (not sure about colour yet)
Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer

The all-natural, no nasties make-up that is looking good to me:

Lily Lolo – the entire range looks impressive and extensive… And they sell samples 🙂
Inika Pure Primer
Ilia Illuminator – Polka Dots and Moonbeams
RMS Buriti Bronzer
RMS Living Luminizer
Beauty Kitchen Seahorse Plankton Beauty Boosting BB Cream
Williamspro Zero Powder

I do not know a lot about natural make-up products…I have only just stumbled onto the concept and am looking to take my first step into this magical new world. The trigger for me is that my skin is looking worse than ever before. Surely, all of these harsh chemicals and additives, although they may provide short term results, could be dramatically harming our skin in the long term. I feel like I need to do something now, as in right now (yes, I have literally just made an order on Lily Lolo in the last few hours..! ) to prevent any further damage to my skin. ‘BB creams are fine though right? They aren’t as heavy as foundation, so my skin is able to breath.’ Wrong. I used to think like this. But when your BB cream contains silicones your pores are getting clogged…even on your no-make-up days.

I am looking for natural products free of silicones, parabens, silica, talc. It is so much harder than it seems – these ingredients are everywhere. It seems like the Australians are miles (light-years in fact) ahead of us on this…so many big players are Australian, which can make products difficult to get hold of here and expensive to ship I then stumbled across what could be my saviour, Lily Lolo. A rare UK-based company specialising in cruelty-free products with all-natural ingredients, and they are very reasonably priced too with outstanding reviews!! I do not understand why I have never heard of them before now – they look really promising.

Me and Pav (she is looking for an alternative, natural make-up routine too) are looking forward to trialing some of the products mentioned above over the coming weeks/months…

Jas xx

Impulse Beauty Kitchen Buy @ Holland & Barrett

Natural Beauty Products, Skincare

I was in Holland & Barrett the other day and something caught my eye…The Beauty Kitchen has increased it’s range of products. They used to have a small offering of scrubs and lip balms…they are the things that I remember anyway – but I never knew they did BB creams and facial masks?! I don’t know when this growth for the brand happened, but I am pretty sure all the company’s products used to fit on one shelf as opposed to being sprawled out over 3! Some of the items from their Abyssinian oil range were in the penny sale. To clarify, for those that don’t know, Holland & Barrett regularly do a penny sale where you can mix any two items qualifying in the sale and get the lower price one for a penny. Effectively, think of it as buy one get one free. I knew it was the perfect opportunity to stock up on some essentials to take advantage of the offer. I looked at the ingredients of the products and I was instantly sold.

An impressive list of natural ingredients…

Normally I trawl through the reviews to try to make informed purchasing decisions – that is how rare an impulse buy is for me..! But I love the brand so much, I trust their products. And at half price (pretty much) – I am not going to let a fantastic offer slip me by.

My Purchases

I bought the Facial Moisture Cream and Aroma Facial Concentrate in the Abyssinian Oil range.

You will always need a replacement moisturiser for when your current one runs out right…

And this anti-ageing skin oil looked impressive too

This is what the bottle looks like

About the Brand

The company strives in producing ‘100% effective, natural, everyday luxury beauty products’ at affordable prices. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that this is what the company aims to achieve in the market place. On their website, they have openly stated that they saw a gap in the market because other companies claiming to be natural…actually weren’t all that natural when one inspects the ingredients in their offerings. I have seen that sometimes, when a product boasts a wonder ingredient…it will form like 0.1% of the product but percentage-wise that ingredient will be completely overshadowed by a range of horrible-sounding chemicals and additives.

Furthermore, on their website, I saw the word ‘affordable’ dotted around quite a lot – this is something that I highly respect. Other producers in this industry, it seems, are hell-bent on bleeding us obliging and unsuspecting victims dry. It is quite widely known that the mark-up on a lot of beauty items is astounding – so much so, that a whole new company, Beauty Pie, was created to highlight and create a solution to the issue. Beauty Pie is a subscription-based company where you can purchase its supposedly luxury quality items, at factory prices. When I last looked – reviews for it’s product offerings were not amazing – but if that ever changed – I would gladly become a paid-up Beauty Pie member. But who knows if people reviewing these items are just being psychologically sucked into the hype of big brand names and therefore underrating these products…I have no idea!

I am getting off topic here – back to Beauty Kitchen. If you visit their Glasgow-based HQ you can take part in a ‘Create your Own’ workshop – where you can learn to make your own 100% natural beauty products. That is definitely on my bucket list! The other thing that I have to say is that the customer service I have received from this relatively new player has been astounding. A while back, I saw their hand scrub featured on a UK TV programme (This Morning on ITV) – and off the back of that – I really wanted to get my hands on one of their products. I managed to order 2 (one for Pav) on the H&B website, I was excited…I waited a while for the product…nothing came…I waited some more…still nothing. I then contacted H&B, a little confused as to where my product was! H&B said that as they had run out of that item, they had refunded my money back into my account. This was a huge let-down for me. Firstly, at least give me some warning that I will not be receiving this item. Secondly, they offered a measly 10% discount that I could use on my next purchase. So I went to the Beauty Kitchen website directly, where for some reason my payment was just not going through this one day. By this point I was frustrated – how was I ever going to get this item!! I sent Beauty Kitchen an email telling them how difficult it had been for me to get hold of this scrub (bearing in mind most of my annoyance had been caused by H&B and not them.) They were so lovely, they offered to send me 2 (yes 2!) of the scrubs for free. When I received the package – two complimentary lip balms had been sent as well. That level of customer service is unheard of these days and can only be applauded.

Final Verdict

All in all, this is an outstanding company with award-winning products. They have a new Seahorse Plankton range – which boasts some amazing anti-ageing properties. I really want to try the BB cream in the range too; specifically for days where I want my skin to breath and heal, and strip it from all the pore-clogging make-up that I subject it to on a regular basis.

Jas xx

Huda Beauty Liquid Lipsticks Special Effects – Socialite Review

lips, Make-Up

Ok so I am obsessed with Huda Beauty Liquid Lipsticks…I mentioned my fave colours so far in this range in a previous post. So when Huda released the new Special Effects shimmery colours…I knew I had to sample. Would it be a chance to add to my holy grail collection of liquid lipsticks..? The answer, for me, was no. This was a massive disappointment for me. I had been eagerly anticipating my Cult Beauty order and I had almost assumed that I would love this product as much as some of Huda’s previous lipstick offerings…this did not happen.

There were 2 colours in this range: Showgirl and Socialite. Showgirl is a cool shimmery red, while Socialite is a soft peachy pink with rose gold shimmer. In the promo pics released by the company Socialite looked beautiful and the colour seemed more up my street. I did not think that Showgirl would be that wearable (and in hindsight, I think that was a good call that I made.). I guess it presented a new step in the liquid lipstick phenomenon…from matte to shimmery.

Ah it all seemed so promising…

Verdict

I was not impressed with this lipstick…it was a huge let-down. I felt that the colour was wishy-washy—it doesn’t pop on your lips as much as a matte one. You cannot draw over your lips with this because the colour is not as defined; you can’t make your lips look fuller with this. Also, I realised that the matte colours do a lot to make our lips look their best…but this shimmery one almost highlighted every wrinkle in my lip. Maybe because I have dry lips it didn’t work for me? Also, to be honest, mattes are a modern movement in colour. Shimmery/frosty colours were what the matte colours were moving away from—so for me, these special effect colours do not look cutting edge or new in any way. I say this after having wasted the money purchasing the item…

My sister, Pav, also tried this…

Pav trialling Socialite…

I think it looks really nice on her in this picture (a lot better than it looked on me!) but she said she will probably not be wearing Socialite (or shimmery colours in general) as she thinks mattes still suit her better. Although she liked the idea, sadly, she was not a convert either. She also felt the colour was less pigmented than what you would find in a matte.

I would say buy these special effects colours with caution…they are not as flattering as their matte counterparts. If you are intrigued though, if possible, try the colour on before purchasing.

This has not put me off the Huda liquid lipsticks and I will definitely be getting hold of some of the new Nude Love Collection. I love her original nudes…so hopefully it cannot go this wrong next time…fingers crossed…

Jas xx

W7 Cosmetics – It’s Magic! Make up Remover Cloth Review

Make-Up, Skincare

A friend of mine recommended this to me – (thanks Leyla!!) I normally use cheap wipes to take off my make-up; spending loads of money on expensive ones doesn’t even enter my mind. It is bad though, we are happy to spend loads of money on the make-up itself, because we want to look our best, but scrimping on wipes could potentially ruin skin long-term. According to this article from Marie Claire, we should actually be washing our face after using the make-up wipes because of the harsh chemical residue they leave on our face… (I haven’t been doing this…oops.) So surely, just using water should be much kinder and far better for our delicate skin.

The cloth comes in an elongated shape…there is quite a lot of surface area here to clean your entire face.

So this ‘magic’ cloth just needs warm water and it can be used to wipe off the day’s make-up – including waterproof mascara!! It is reusable and can be picked up on the internet for around £3-£4. I have purchased 3 of these (I will buy 1 or 2 more if I find I need them)…with the intention of chucking them in the wash after every use. I do laundry every 2-3 days (with 2 small children it is unfortunately an endless cycle of laundry…) & at last there is a benefit of this incessant washing for me! I guess compared to someone who only does laundry once a week or so, I am better placed to continually have a fresh cloth to hand. So my plan is to wash them quickly by hand and then chuck straight into the machine. I also use Dettol Laundry Cleanser in each wash…which kills off all the bacteria in my wash – I guess this will help the cleanliness of these cloths for me too.

Another benefit is that in theory, you should never need to buy make-up removing wipes or lotion ever again…so that should save a lot of money in the long run 🙂

When I searched the internet, this product did seem to have amazing reviews overall…that is always a major pull factor for me…I just had to try them. But how did this potential wonder product fare…?

Day 1

Make-up applied on day: Primer, BB cream, Setting Powder, Waterproof Mascara, Cream Eyeshadow Stick (as eyeliner), Liquid Lipstick, Highlighter, Blusher

How easy was it to take off? I am quite lazy when it comes to taking off make-up, I just quickly wipe off what I can before I get bored lol. It took off pretty much all my make-up. My waterproof mascara came off better with this than any other remover or wipe…I normally always have a bit of black residue around my eyes (which is more obvious the following morning :0 …) I still had a tiny bit of shimmer from the cream shadow stick – but it was only very slight. And maybe that was due to me not being as thorough as I could have been. Overall, I am very impressed with results 🙂

Day 2

Make-up applied on day: Primer, Estée Lauder Double Wear (this stuff is extremely full coverage..!), Setting Powder, Waterproof Mascara, Cream Eyeshadow Stick (as eyeliner), Liquid Lipstick, Highlighter, Blusher

How easy was it to take off? So I thought I would try this cloth once more before giving my verdict and I upped my make-up a bit – to make it more full coverage I used Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation. I would say the previous day when I used the cloth to take my make-up off – everything had slid off quite a lot by the time I actually used it. But this time, I had a full face of make-up still on (this EL foundation seriously doesn’t budge!!) Again though, I was so impressed. Waterproof mascara – gone so easily 🙂 This time there were no shimmery specks near my eyes. Also, I find my skin feeling a little bit irritated and sensitive after using make-up wipes (or make-up remover-soaked cotton pads), but with this my skin just feels clean and for some reason tighter?!

Verdict

I think the fact that it can take off waterproof mascara with ease says it all really. That is the big pain when I remove my make-up – and, for me, if it can tackle that so well, it is an fantastic product 🙂 As I mentioned before, whenever I look in the mirror in the morning – I can, without fail, detect some of the previous day’s eyeliner/mascara – after using this cloth I no longer have that problem – that is how good it is…

I also think, if you can be bothered, using the cloth with filtered or boiled but warm water could be even better, as it would be an even cleaner substance that you would be rubbing into your skin (as opposed to tap water.) It is an amazing product & if you, like me, do regular laundry anyway – it would be so easy to incorporate these little babies into your life/make-up routine.

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