Sunday 30 June 2013

Essie Sunday Funday from Summer 2013 Collection!

Wearing my beloved MDG Jewellery custom made knuckle rings!








Hey beauties hope you had a lovely weekend! Just a super quick post, today I painted my nails in Essie Sunday Funday [fitting name] and wanted to share it with you as the shade is super cute! Sunday Funday is a warm toned tangerine coral with a soft shimmer. It is a very flattering shade, and it makes a tan look even more tanned!


LOVE

Essie Summer 2013 Collection!

Available in Boots an Superdrug from June 2013!






From L to R: 
The More The Merrier, Sunday Funday, Full Steam Ahead, The Girls Are Out, Rock The Boat


 Essie The More The Merrier


Essie Sunday Funday


Essie Full Steam Ahead


Essie The Girls Are Out
 

Essie Rock The Boat


What a pretty collection! The colours were created to inspire relaxation and a sunshine state of mind. The shade that I don't have from this collection is Naughty Nautical, a marine blue-green shimmer. All the colours make me think of sunshine, ice cream and lovely days spent by the sea. The More The Merrier is a juicy lime green and it's the only shade with a cream finish. Sunday Funday is a warm toned tangerine coral  with a shimmer finish, makes a tan stand out. Full Steam Ahea is a pearlescent medium toned lilac. The Girls Are Out is a fuchsia peony with a subtle sparkle. Rock The Boat is a shimmering French blue, a greyish light blue. All the shimmers and glitters are pretty subtle.


LOVE

Saturday 29 June 2013

Essential Summer Face Make-up Brushes!



These are my make-up brushes that I have been using for ages, and when I travel and have to pick just the most essential brushes with me they are these six! For foundation, especially during summer when I use my Dr.Jart+ BB cream SPF30 I love to apply it with RealTechniques Expert Face Brush! This brush is great for that flawless air-brushed skin finish. To set my bb cream with Laura Mercier Mineral Powder SPF15 [my favourite combo] I find RealTechniques Stippling Brush works the best with this product, it applies it gorgeously and lightly buffs it for a luminous sexy skin finish. Sometimes I'm also in the mood for more coverage and like to touch up in the evening with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural with MAC 109 a small contour brush, but I find it fits perfectly under the eyes and around the nose area buffing the mineral foundation beautifully. 

Speaking of contouring, my favourite brush is Sigma Large Angled Contour Brush in F40, it fits perfectly in the hollow of my cheeks for a natural looking contour! I think it's meant to be the dupe for MAC 168 brush. To apply powder blush I only ever use MAC 119, it lays a blusher flat and the size is perfect for my cheeks as well. And finally to finish off with a glowy complexion I apply a touch of highlighter on top of the cheekbones taking it lightly up into the temples with RealTechniques Duo-Fiber Contour Brush. This brush is great for many things, but I happened to love it especially with a highlighter, it acts almost like a fan brush placing the highlighter gently for a natural sheer finish.

LOVE

Kanebo Sensai Silky Bronze SPF50 Sun Protective Cream for Face!



What summer would be without a high sun protection? Knowing that I will be exposed to the sun I packed Sensai Silky Bronze Sun Protective Cream for Face. This one has a very high SPF50, which is practically a sun block. It also comes in SPF10, 20, and 30. On the face it is good to wear a very high sun protection to avoid premature skin ageing, pigmentation and other skin damages. When you see women with very deep wrinkles most probably they enjoyed the sun but didn't protect their skin. Although sun and Vitamin D are vital for the health and skin, it is still very important that you also protect your skin from the sun! 

Firstly I was a little confused by the Silky Bronze title as I thought it has a bronzy finish and would give you that immediate bronzed glowy skin while protecting you from the harmful UVA/UVB rays. However, the cream is white and doesn't have a bronzy tint to it. Silky Bronze simply means that you will end up with a silky smooth bronze tan after wearing this SPF while exposed to the sun. This SPF is highly resistant to perspiration and water, however you should still be careful and reply it ever so often.

Sensai skincare is pretty amazing from my experience, and so is this SPF cream for face. It is packed with powerful ingredients and the formulation is pretty amazing. While it protects your skin from the harmful sun rays it also has anti-ageing properties. Barrier Power Booster, Hyaluronate/Collagen Booster, and Apricot Essence Complex all care for skin working in conjunction to provide the skin with moisture, keeping it hydrated and firm reducing the appearance of fine lines resulting in a youthful and lustrous skin. 

While Peach Seed Extract combats the dullness of the skin and also pigment spots from within, creating a beautiful naturally even skin tone. Pretty amazing SPF! Oh and did I mention the delicious delicate peach and apricot scent?!


LOVE

Friday 28 June 2013

New: Darphin Uplifting Serum Eyelids Definition!

Available at www.darphin.co.uk at £45,
which is quite pricey but all good eye skincare always are!


I have briefly mentioned this eye skincare serum in my Summer PM Skincare blogpost, click here to read. Darphin Uplifting Serum Eyelids Definition has been launched this year in February so it's pretty new! I particularly like the gel like texture, which is great for the summer as it feels super light and refreshing. This serum has a triple anti-ageing formula and provides the delicate eye area with an immediate tightening effect. 

The Smart Firming System improves the skin's elasticity, which helps to visibly reduce the appearance of wrinkles by encouraging the production of collagen and elastin fibres. The Everlasting Essential Oil works in conjunction with The Smart Firming System reinforcing the action by boosting skin's natural collagen to provide a lifted appearance. The Wheat and Sweet Almond Extracts - these two extracs work on the surface on the skin lifting and soothing the eye area. The scent is very gentle hardly noticeable and great for those who don't like scented skincare. And I love the sleek packaging, great for travelling!


LOVE

L'Occitane La Collection de Grasse Eau de Toilette: Jasmin & Bergamote!







This has been my go to fragrance this month! L'Occitane came out with a new fragrance range called La Collection de Grasse, a French Provençal town. Every fragrance in this collection connects a scent from Grasse with raw materials from close and distant lands. Jasmin & Bergamot is a sensual scent, with an uplifting citrus touch! Jasmine absolute from Grasse is combined with bergamot essential oil from Italy. I almost treat it as a body mist and touch up every time I need another hit of Jasmine. The scent is beautifully fresh and gorgeous!

LOVE

Thursday 27 June 2013

Summer Haircare: Beach Waves!



These are the three main haircare products that I use during summer to style my hair with. The hair style that I go for most of the time during the hot season is beach waves because it's so effortless and easy to do. After I wash my hair while it's still damp I apply Percy & Reed No Oil Oil for fine hair right into the roots and middle length, it gives my hair a gentle lift. Then I spray the Bumble and bumble Surf Spray, it's a salt spray that gives you that sexy seawater+sun matte-ish texture separating hair into strands. 

And finally after my hair is dry I spray through the Paul & Joe Body & Hair Mist to keep my hair smelling gorgeous and to give it a little bit of shine. The subtle scent of orange flowers is truly delicious, a citrusy uplifting summer scent! When I was on the fright I read this article about hair scents becoming a new trend. There is something about hair that makes a scent last longer than skin does! Remember that scene in SATC Movie 2 when Carrie sprays a fragrance into her hair at the flamboyant wedding of Stanford Blatch and Anthony Marentino?!

LOVE

On Trend Beach Beauty Look: Bright Eyeliner!



Nails: Nails Inc. in Kensington Palace Gardens, from the SS13 Collection. 
I have also reviewed the entire collection, so if you want to see the other five shades click here!










Apart from BB Cream and lipgloss I don't wear much make-up to the beach but when I'm in the mood for something a little more fun I like to pull out a bright eyeliner, which is one of the major beauty trends this summer and probably one of the easiest as well. Bright eyeliners can look really modern and chic if you keep the rest pretty simple and fresh! When I went to the Stila event a few months ago I really loved the double eyeliner look, the make-up artist applied the bright teal shade to a bare lid above the classic black, which was super original and inspiring.

To create this look I have firstly applied a thick line [keep in mind that half of it will be covered by black] with N7 Stay Precise Liquid Liner in Mermaid, which is a very bright shimmery teal, really beautiful shade! Then over the top I applied a black eyeliner as normal making sure it follows the same shape as the bright liner. For the black I went for Bourjois Liner Clubbing in Absolute Black, which dries matte and I really love the saturated intense matte black contrasting the bright shimmery teal! For the lip I kept it very natural with the new Bobbi Brown Tube Tint in Air Kiss

I have done a full review on the Bobbi Brown Tube Tints with swatches of all four shades available, click here to check it out! And for the hair, to create this beachy wave all I do is the day I wash my hair I make a messy bun with one of those flat looking hairbands [I got mine at H&M] and sleep on it, in the morning I wake up to a fun looking curl which later relaxes into a pretty wave, and no need for any extra heat and curling tools! 


LOVE

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Tara Smith Vegan Haircare Shine On Tool Kit!







This is an old-ish pic of me and Tara Smith [taken in December 2012],
I have changed my hair since, it's a few shades lighter and I am finally growing out my bangs, woohoo!


Back in December last year I met Tara Smith herself at the press event for her vegan haircare products launch! Tara Smith is a celebrity hairstylist to a crazy long list of famous people including Demi Moor, Jerry Hall, and Kristen Davis. She has also styled the hair of the Sex And The City girls and many many others. So it was an honour to meet Tara, she is a big character and a lovely woman who cares about the environment which is reflected in her products! In my goodie bag I had this Shine On Tool Kit, which I haven't tried until yesterday. I'm actually happy I kept it till now, as the packaging is summer-perfect!

Firstly this little kit is a perfect travel size, you get a 50ml shampoo, 50ml conditioner, and 20ml serum. And since I have had my hair highlighted for the summer going blonder my hair feels quite dry at the moment. So I thought this is a great opportunity to finally try this kit! For those who wonder what Vegan Haircare is, it just means that it was not tested on animals! And I love the packaging, looks beautiful in the bathroom and quite different to your regular conventional sham & cond. After meeting Tara I realised that the stunning parrots and exotic birds packaging fit Tara's flamboyant personality perfectly! My hair got quite tangled after the shampoo but that's probably because it's so dehydrated right now. The serum is lightweight and makes my hair really pretty and shiny, and the scent is lovely too!

LOVE

New Bobbi Brown Tube Tint Lipgloss in All Shades!



 Bobbi Brown Tube Tint, shades from L to R: 
17 Pink Cloud; 22 Air Kiss; 5 Naked; 17 Bronzed Pink




Bobbi Brown Tube Tints are the perfect lip product for the summer, they are new, effortless and come in cute shades! I find that although this lip product comes only in four shades they are super flattering and would suit most if not all complexions. They are so pretty in fact, that I wouldn't even be able to pick a favourite, yes they are that good! The brightest of them all is Pink Cloud, it has enough colour to give you freshness yet isn't too bright of a pink.  I find this one makes the white in my eyes even whiter and gives me an over-all brighter complexion. Air Kiss is the perfect nude bare lip, my lips but better type of colour, perfect for medium or pale complexions. Naked is a perfect nude for darker skin tones, equally looks beautiful on any other skin tone, a nude with a touch of colour. And finally the beautiful Bronzed Pink, it's a shimmery toffee bronze goddess classic summer shade that every girl should have in her make-up collection anyway. Apart from the shades being so pretty, I love the texture, it's absolutely non-sticky and it seems to moisturise my lips beautifully as I tend to get dry lips in a hot climate. It's summer perfection!


LOVE

Tuesday 25 June 2013

Nails Inc. Spring/Summer 2013 Collection!



 Wearing Nails Inc. in Chelsea Physic Gardens... <3>






These are so adorable, six mini Nails Inc. nailpolishes in delicious summer trend shades! I have already worn half of them, and all are super cute. Chealsea Physic Gardens is a pretty pastel blue, Royal Botanical Gardens minty green, great toes shade [actually wearing it right now!], Kensington Palace Gardens is a yummy peach, all very glossy. Primrose Hill Gardens is a hot pink that dries matte, but it looks very pretty with a topcoat, almost like a jelly shade. Hampton Court Palace Gardens is an orange and Belgravia Gardens is a taupe, and I haven't tried them on yet. All of the shades are really pigmented and two coats are plenty! 


LOVE

Monday 24 June 2013

Summer PM Skincare Routine for Oily/Combo and Blemish Prone Skin!



If you haven't read my updated summer AM skincare routine blogpost yet click here! In the evening I add a facial and change up moisturiser. I start by taking off my make-up and cleansing my face thoroughly using the same products as in the morning. About few times a week I like to exfoliate my skin with Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser, which is super gentle and very soothing. I've been using it for years, and literally repurchase it as soon as I finish the bottle, keeps my skin clear and the scent is beautifully calming! If I need a deeper exfoliation I do an enzyme peel, this one is Caudalie Vinoperfect Enzymatic Peel Mask. Next day I make sure to wear a high SPF50. 

Then I like to spray face and neck with Caudalie Beauty Elixir, it's a beautiful tonic with a bunch of great ingredients. On a hot summer's evening I really like to use Darphin Uplifting Serum Eyelids Definition. The gel texture feels refreshing and super light, great eye serum this one, I will do a separate review about it this week! As a face moisturiser I use Avene Cleanance Lotion with anti-shine regulation. It's designed for oily and blemish prone skin, also very light feeling and I find I wake up with a less oily skin next morning. If I have a blemish situation going on I apply Avene TriAcneal Skin Care, which helps eliminate severe skin imperfections. I apply it just on the spots and scars to make them heal and fade faster.


LOVE

Summer Morning Skincare for Oily/Combo and Blemish Prone Skin!







Hello Beauties, I've haven't blogged for a bit and really have missed it. I celebrated my big birthday, tho still feeling like 25 over and over and over. As I desperately needed a bit of a break, next day I woke up with a full blown flu and some irritation on my eyelids, so I haven't worn make-up in days and just now starting to recover, so that's why you haven't heard from me for a while.

I decided to update my skincare routine as it is summer, and those of us with oily/combo skin type get even oilier and pores tend to get blocked and spots and blemishes go slightly out of control. I used to have acne for years so I'm very careful with my skincare, and even though I only get a spot here and there now I still make sure to look after my skin thoroughly and not provoke any breakouts. Hot summer weather can be terrible for oily skin so I find I need problem focused skincare products.

This is my current morning skincare routine:
I start by taking off my night skincare with Vichy Purete Thermale 3in1 Calming Cleansing Micellar Solution. I lost count how many bottles I've been through, as soon as I run out I get a new one, I find it's very gentle and a great make-up remover and cleanser. It's really soothing and great for sensitive skin and eyes. Then for my eyes I like to use Avene Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover for sensitive eyes, although I use Vichy on my eyes most mornings too, I sometimes like the additional fresh and cooling effect of the gel texture on my eyelids. 

For the face, depending how my skin is feeling, if I don't have spots I cleanse my face with Vichy Purifying Foaming Water, Skin Radiance Revealer. It removes the impurities and restores skin radiance and freshness. However if I do have a spot on the radar I always wash my face with SkinCeuticals Blemish+Age Cleansing Gel, which is a decongesting cleanser for aging skin and imperfections [anything after 28 is aging in my book]. Also when ever I use this type of cleanser I always wash it off with one of those facial sponges, they give you extra bit of exfoliation. And I also like to follow up with the tonic from the same range, SkinCeuticals Blemish+Age Solution. It comes in a spray bottle, you just spray couple of times onto a cotton ball.

Then I apply Liz Earle Daily Eye Repair, which is a SPF10 Triple Eye Care with Echinacea, Borage and natural Vitamin E and Avene Cleanance K Cream-Gel over my face, which is a exfoliating moisturiser. And then do my make up or if go straight under the sun then I apply a heafty SPF like Sensai Silky Bronze Sun Protective Cream for Face SPF50, which I will blog about separately. Also I find that my lips tend to dehydrate during summer, so I use the DHC Lip Cream throughout the day topping with the spf. This routine seems to get things back on track even if I do get a few spots right at the beginning of changing climate etc after a few days my skin starts to clear up again.


LOVE

Sunday 16 June 2013

Lush Gorilla Perfume Sikkim Girls 28g Review!



When Lush Gorilla Perfumes first came out I didn't have a chance to check them out, and last month I decided to drop by at my local Lush shop and dedicate some quality time to sniffing and trying out the fragrances. To start with there were a few which weren't my style, but then I asked the girl at Lush if there was anything with Jasmine my favourite scent note. And she instantly urged me to try the Sikkim Girls! Oh my there and then I fell in love with it. I must say I adore the packaging, kind of retro. Whatever fragrance I wear I top it off with Sikkim Girls just on my wrists!! This scent is so beautiful and sexy, some of the notes are Jasmine, Frangipani and Tuberose. When ever I smell it it just calms me down and makes me feel happy. If you love Jasmine I really recommend you try this one!!

Here is a fun little story about how Sikkim Girls came to be [taken from the Lush website]: 
"Musician and composer Sheema Mukherjee was inspired after she had an experience with the Sikkim Girls. While hanging out in the oddly named ‘Hot Stimulating Café’ in Darjeeling, the café owner warned Sheema to stay away from the dangerous Sikkim Girls. When asked why, the owner said they had seduced and stolen away his son-in-law. Somehow they had accomplished this whilst covered head-to-toe and simply with a subtle yet sexual sway of their bodies."

LOVE

Sleep-In Rollers Review & How To!












Hey Beauties, hope you had a lovely weekend! If you follow me on Instagram you probably remember me posting a sneak pic wearing these Sleep-In Rollers for a Brigitte Bardot inspired hair look. Before writing this review I wanted to try these rollers in a couple of different ways and let you know how they work. In a nut-shell these are rollers you put on before going to bed, and wake up with an amazing volume. The first time I tried them I washed my hair in the evening and after drying it I put these in. The set I have comes with 20 rollers and 20 bobby pins, I think it's the classic set, but these rollers also come in different colours, have a look on their website: www.sleepinrollers.com 


I had them on for about four hours and then tried to sleep with them but I just couldn't. I'm a bad sleeper as it is and having practically an air-bag attached to your head didn't make it easier for me. I wouldn't have a problem having a quick day nap with them on, but having a full nights sleep would be quite a challenge. But obviously you don't have to sleep in them, but you can if you want as they are soft, inside the rollers there is a sponge. And already after about four hours I had a massive volume boost right at the crown and also a soft wave. This lasted right upto the morning, and even the day after. Then I also decided to try them on just for an hour as I was getting ready for an event. And that worked beautifully as well! 

They are really easy to use, separate your hair into three main parts, firstly doing the middle part, then the sides securing the hair with a bobby pin. If you have a fringe then obviously leave it out like I did in the first pic, if you don't then do as normal as I did in the second pic. It takes me just over five minutes to quickly roll all the hair. Then after you take the rollers out generously spray the hair with a hairspray to keep the volume for longer and off you go! I really enjoyed them, there is something so classic and glamorous of having your hair up in rolls while doing your make-up or painting your nails, reminds me of the 50s movies...



LOVE

Saturday 15 June 2013

Alpha-H Liquid Gold - Skincare Cult!




This is another skincare products I regard to as a must-have in my skincare routine! Loved by all beauty writers, bloggers, editors - it's a highly concentrated treatment with Glycolic Acid. Liquid Gold delivers instant results on the skin as it is really powerful, a much clearer skin was noticeable already after I tried it the first time. I don't use it too often, once or twice a week is enough for my skin. You can use it every other day, but I wouldn't recommend it for a sensitive skin, as Glycolic Acid always has that light tingling/burning effect. The way you use it is in place of a tonic, after you cleanse the skin you apply in onto face, neck, and décolletage. For a more intensive treatment it is advised not to use a moisturiser or serum afterwards and just let it work on its own. What Liquid Gold does is changing the surface of the skin taking care of wrinkles, imperfections and pigmentation, while Glycolic Acid helps to tighten enlarged pores for a clearer and brighter complexion. Alpha H Liquid Gold is also renowned as an affective acne treatment!

LOVE

Friday 14 June 2013

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Purse Spray + Fresh Body Cream!







I kept meaning to blog about these two for ages, it was a Christmas present in fact, so I've been enjoying this duo for a while. I used to have a full-size Coco Mademoiselle fragrance years ago, and after I finished it for some reason I didn't feel like wearing this scent for a good few years afterwards although I did love it at the time. And so during last Christmas I have united with Coco Mademoiselle again. It's a gorgeous Spring/Summer scent, very pretty and fresh. Some of the notes are: orange blossom, bergamot, mimosa, jasmine, ylang-ylang, patchouli, vetiver and white musk. 

Of course the packaging is very luxurious in a typical Gabrielle Chanel fashion. The Purse Spray is a chic twist bottle already loaded with a refill plus two new refills 20 ml each, so you get a full-size fragrance amount! I also love keeping the big elegant glass jar of the Fresh Body Cream as part of décor on my night-stand. Layering these two after a nice bath makes the scent last even longer.

LOVE