Skincare Haul

There are a few websites that I check on daily to see if they have any new products or any offers that catch my eye. One of those websites is QVC,  they sell a few brands that aren't that accessible and they often do some really great offers and whilst browsing I found this little bundle. As soon as I saw it I couldn't not add it to my basket.

I love Liz Earle products and use the Cleanse and Polish, Instant Boost Skin Tonic and Skin Repair Moisturiser on a daily basis and they do wonders for my skin.

I think considering you can go to Boots and spend £10 on what would be considered as a budget brand cleanser, £13.25 for the Liz Earle C&P is a really good price. I have really sensitive skin and I struggle to find cleansers that don't irritate it but Liz Earle is the one I come back to time and time again as it does the job its supposed to and doesn't cause any reactions with my skin. 

The set I purchased is the 8 Piece Revitalising Botanical Beauty Treats. Some of the products are just for back ups to products I already have but there are a few that I haven't tried and have wanted to pick up at some point. This set costs £60 plus £4.95 and can be found here on the QVC website

In the set you get the following:

Contains:

• 1 x Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser (100ml; full size) - RRP £13.25
• 1 x Instant Boost Skin Tonic Spritzer (30ml; travel size) - RRP £5.50
• 1 x Skin Repair Moisturiser (50ml; full size) - RRP £19.25
• 1 x Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion (150ml; full size) - RRP £10.75
• 1 x Daily Eye Repair (10ml; full size) - RRP £14.75
• 1 x Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask (50ml; full size) - RRP £14.00
• 1 x Botanical Shine Shampoo (200ml; full size) - RRP £8.75
• 1 x Botanical Shine Conditioner Normal (200ml; full size) - RRP £8.75
• 2 x pure muslin cloths - RRP £4.25
• 1 x Silky Body Lotion sachet (15ml; sample size)
• 1 x leaflet with instructions
• 1 x ingredients leaflet

total cost if purchased separately would be £99.25. 

I just think this is a real bargain if you like Liz Earle products or you just want to try a new skin care regime as this has everything that you will need to get you started. 

Bargain Poundland Find

This isn't really a review, more of a heads up if you are near Poundland and are in the market for some new polishes. 

I saw someone mention on Twitter that they had found some nail polishes in Poundland so the next time I found myself near to my local I popped in to see if they had any. 

I was really pleased to see that they did. They had quite a few colours but these were the ones that caught my eye.

I opted for:

African Tea Rose - A cool toned bright pink with blue/purple shimmer running through it.

Moonlit Woods - Metallic lavender

Ginger Melon - Pinky Coral

I've seen these in Boots and the bottles are really cute but I don't wear nail polish that much so £6.49 for a bottle is just more than I will pay. I really like Barry M polishes too so I can never justify really paying more than £2.99 a bottle,  at a quid each with these you can't really go wrong. I tested them each out on a finger and they took 2 coats to be opaque so not bad at all. Not too sure about the scented claim though, they just smelled like nail polish to me? 

Patisserie De Bain - Sugared Violet

I found these two products in TK Maxx, when I saw the name sugared violet there was no way on earth that they were not going into my basket. Immediately I assumed they would smell like Parma Violets, one of my all time favourite scents! 
They were £3.99 each and I picked up the Moisturising Lotion (350ml) and the Bath & Shower Creme (500ml) and much to my delight, they do smell like Parma Violets!

I'll start off with my least favourite of the two, the Bath & Shower Creme. The smell of this product is nowhere near as strong as the body lotion, that may be good for some but for me I like my bath products to be quite scented so it lingers on my skin when I get out.

The back of the bottle advises you to either add to running bath water to create sweetly scented bubbles or use in the shower on a natural sponge or loofah for a non-drying body wash. I used it in my bath water and as a body wash whilst in the bath. It didn't create many bubbles nor where they 'sweetly scented'. Not impressed on that side. 
As for using it as a body wash, I found the texture quite strange. A little like lumpy jelly... that sounds disgusting but I really can't describe it any other way.It didn't really foam up and I didn't feel particularly clean after using it. It did leave a slight scent on my skin after but this faded after about 20 minutes. Basically by the time I had dried myself off. 

So next up we have the body lotion. If you are looking for something super moisturising  I really wouldn't recommend this. It has quite a thin, watery consistency that really doesn't do much in terms of adding any moisture to the skin. It just smells really bloody lovely! I use it just before bed and it just smells amazing, my husband loves it too. As with the bath creme, it doesn't stay for very long, you won't smell it the following morning but I do enjoy going to sleep with the delicious scent of Parma Violets around me. 

Although they were £3.99 in TK Maxx you can pick them up online from Rose & Co Apothecary directly and a few other online retailers they are around £9.00 for the bath creme and £10.00 for the body lotion.

I personally think that is way overpriced for these products, you can find much better for the same price or less elsewhere but for under £4.00 I may pick up the lotion again, purely for the scent.

They do offer a few different scents like lemon bon-bon and strawberry shortcake, if I ever see the body lotion of either of these at this price I may have to give them a go. 

High Street Foundation Series #2 Max Factor Facefinity 3 in 1

I've used this foundation quite a number of times now and I do like the coverage and finish.  After trying various methods of applying it I have found that my favourite way is by using the Real Techniques Sponge, a brush can sometimes leave it looking a little heavy for me and I don't feel like I can fully blend it into my skin.
The foundation retails for £11.99 which I do think is slightly pricey for high street but Superdrug and Boots often do special offers on Max Factor so its worth shopping around. Allbeauty also have this in stock with a discount here the price depends on which shade you are looking for but its still a few pounds cheaper than other places. You do have to spend £15.00 for free postage so its worth bearing that in mind. 

Face Finity All Day Flawless 3 in 1 foundation holds like a primer, corrects like a concealer with the long lasting finish of a liquid foundation with SPF 20.

• Lasts all day, giving a flawless finish
• Primer gives a smooth base for hold
• Concealer corrects for a flawless look

I do wear primer, foundation and concealer everyday so this claiming to be all those things in one for me could be a pretty good time saver in a morning, especially with time being so limited anyway (I like to sleep)

The foundation comes in a glass jar with a good pump that allows you to control the amount of product you want to use.

Left side is with foundation and right side is without. 

First picture is full face with the foundation and then full face of make up with powder and concealer under the eyes.

Full face including powder and concealer under the eyes.

It does give really good coverage for a foundation alone, as you can see from the first picture I do have quite a few blemishes at the moment and on the last picture they are much less noticeable. I didn't use any concealer on my face only under my eyes. 
The foundation gives a lovely satin finish and lasted a good 8 or so hours. 

Pros

Medium-full coverage
Has a pump (that is actually useful)
Lasts all day

Cons

Not a great range of colours
Slightly pricey for a high street foundation
Can look quite heavy

High Street Foundation Series #1 - Garnier Oil Free BB Cream Review

Image from here

I've had a love/hate relationship with this for a long while now.  I absolutely loved it when I first bought it, the coverage was great but the colour was slightly off for me. 
It only comes in two shades - light and medium, I use the light but during the winter months this is too dark for me. It isn't too bad at the moment as I have a bit of colour to my neck and chest area so it blends in quite well but in a month or so I won't be able to wear it again.

I find this BB cream easy to apply with either a brush or my fingers (I used the Real Techniques Buffing Brush today). 

It has a very thin and watery consistency, I did think that the coverage wouldn't have been that great because of this but it really isn't too bad, leaning on towards medium coverage I would say.

It doesn't dry too quickly which means you don't have to work too fast to get it blended in which I like.

Apart from the colour one of the only other issues I have with this is the smell, you can really smell the alcohol in it when your applying to your face, although this does disappear quite quickly but initially it does stink. 

Here we have my bare face, as you can see we have quite a few areas that need covering. Mainly on my nose, chin and a little area on my cheek.

Full face of make up. Base is Garnier Miracle Skin Cream with the Ganier Oil Free BB Cream on top. I did not use any concealer on any blemishes only under my eyes.

The first picture is my bare face, next is just the Garnier Miracle Skin Cream and then finally full with the BB Cream.

The BB cream retails for £9.99 but more often than not you can find this on offer, I got it when it was 1/3 off so around £6.60 but I would be happy to pay full price for it.

Here is a quick rundown of the product. 

Pros

• Decent coverage
• Low price
• Easy to blend
• Good for oily skin
• Lasts all day

Cons

• Strong initial smell of alcohol
• Lightest shade is quite dark, not suitable for those with very pale skin
• Only available in light and medium so not suitable for those with darker skin

High Street Foundations

After attempting to get my make up into some kind of organised state, I realised that I have quite a few high street foundations. 
I'm going to be posting reviews on each of the foundations and showing how they apply on the skin, the finish and how long they last throughout the day on my skin with and without powder. 
As you can imagine its going to take quite a while to get through all of these so I thought it would be a good idea to photo all the foundations that I have so if there are any that people want to see sooner rather that later I can prioritise them. 

Here are the foundations I currently have (all of them have been used so please excuse the mankiness of some of them). If there are any at all that you would be interested in me doing a review of shortly please comment below.

Not Another Beauty Blog!

I've been reading beauty blogs for many years now and recently I have found that the majority of my old favorites are posting more and more higher end and more expensive products.
Whilst I do love the odd luxury product or two, my budget vary rarely stretches to 25 quid for a blush or a 30 odd pound lipstick.
I can still read my favorite blogs, drool over the ever so beautiful packaging and perfectly taken swatch photo but not very often can I go out and actually buy the products mentioned.

I wanted my blog to mainly focus on more affordable products, I'm a big believer in you get what you pay for although I have found that high street brands have certainly been upping their game recently and there are plenty of products being released that could give much higher priced items a run for their money.

I'm hoping my reviews and opinions will help people who either don't have a budget for expensive products or people who want good quality without the huge price tag.