Recent Beauty Buys

Hi everyone, hope you're all well! Today I have a post on some items I snapped up from Superdrug the other day, yet again in one of those times where you go in to buy an essential and end up buying some things you didn't really need...in my case, I can (sort of but not really) justify it as I haven't purchased much new makeup so far this year at all - I've been trying to use up what I have and then only buy the makeup I need (a new mascara every six months is fair game, right?) and save money, and this plan is going well for the most part!

Anyway, having picked up my essential items I noticed that Superdrug were doing a 3 for 2 offer across all makeup, so you can guess what happened next...

As a side note, I like it when the 3 for 2 isn't restricted to one brand! I don't always find it easy to pick three things I'd like from just the one brand. Anyway, the first thing I picked up was the Bourjois Radiance Reveal Concealer in Ivory.

Bourjois Radiance Reveal Concealer in Ivory packaging and swatch

I didn't really need a new concealer that much so I have no excuse for this but I do like trying new ones as I have terrible dark circles and get spots quite often (although with this one I don't think I'd use it on spots, as I don't want to add radiance there and draw attention to them!) I love Bourjois for foundation (I reviewed their 123 Perfect CC Cream in my last post) and had heard great things about this new edition to their range of concealers, so I thought I'd give it a go. The shade ivory is probably the lightest shade and is a reasonably good match for my skin tone. It's also said to be a great dupe of, or at least a similar product to, the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, which I've tried and really like but can't afford to repurchase! This Bourjois one comes in quite fancy packaging for drugstore/high street and has a sponge tip applicator. It's a bit more than I'd usually like to spend on a drugstore concealer, at £7.99, but this is still pretty good considering the NARS offering is now £22.50. Anyway, I might come back with my thoughts on this after I've used it for a while! 

The next thing I got in the 3 for 2 deal is one of the new Rimmel Kate Moss 15 Year Anniversary Lipsticks in the shade Boho Nude. These lipsticks have been launched to celebrate 15 years of Kate Moss being the face of Rimmel, and come in gorgeous rose gold packaging which I adore. It caught my eye instantly and is definitely making its way to my Instagram...

There are three nudes and three reds in the collection and unfortunately I couldn't swatch any of them as my local Superdrug only had the sealed ones at the Rimmel section (I have mixed feelings about Superdrug using these stickers. On the one hand, they're great because it means you can be sure no one's been in and touched the makeup before you bought it. On the other hand, they're a pain in the arse to remove.) that is, until I was standing in the queue for the till and spotted a nearby mini-Rimmel stand which had a few testers. I'd already put Boho Nude in my basket after looking up swatches of it and deciding to take a risk, but when I saw the tester I gave it a quick swatch to actually confirm that I liked it.

It's a bit of a brown-toned nude, so I wasn't sure if it would suit me (I haven't really tried the recent brown lipstick trend, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't suit me at all!) but it's unlike any other lipstick I own so I thought I'd try it. I've worn it once and my first impressions are pretty good - it smells lovely (a similar smell to my other Rimmel Kate lipstick...I don't know how to explain it. It just smells good) has a great formula, and looks quite nice. It was £6.49 which I think is reasonable, especially considering the fancy packaging.

The final makeup item I got was a Maybelline EyeStudio Color Tattoo 24hr Cream Gel Eyeshadow in Creamy Beige. I've been meaning to pick up another one of these for ages (I already own one in the shade Pink Gold) and decided to get this as my free item in the 3 for 2 - it's £4.99 otherwise.

It's not a daring colour or anything but more of a good everyday basic brown eyeshadow that will last all day and can also be used as a good base for other eyeshadows. As you can tell from the name, these eyeshadows promise to last 24 hours - I don't know about that, but they do have brilliant staying power and are just generally really great quality and stay put. They have some really bright and more interesting shades as well which look nice but I thought I'd get more wear out of this shade.

Moving on to skincare, I needed a new cleanser and moisturiser so after a bit of deliberation (looking for ratings or reviews using the free wifi) I decided to try Superdrug's own brand Tea Tree range. They had lots of cleansers to choose from but I got the Foaming Face Wash. The range had a '2 for £5 deal' on so I also got the Tea Tree Moisturising Face Cream. You only get 30ml with the moisturiser which I thought was quite small, and both products are £3.29 normally so the 2 for £5 deal is pretty good. I've only been using these for a few days but so far I quite like them, they may not have worked miracles on my spots but they work well at getting the jobs done of washing and moisturising my face - the latter leaves my face feeling nice and smooth without being greasy at all.

I always find it a bit funny how Superdrug offer a '100% happiness guaranteed' deal with their own brand skincare - if you're not 100% happy, they'll give you a full refund and 25% off your next own brand purchase. So I could just go back to the shop and say "I'm only 99% happy with this" and they'll give me this offer? Also, it's so cheap I don't think anyone would actually bother with the offer unless it was really convenient for them to do it/they wouldn't feel awkward/they really really hated the product. But I digress...another good thing about these products is that they're both paraben free and cruelty free, which I like!

Sort of sticking to skincare (only it's skincare for the body) I decided to try a new body scrub. My local Superdrug didn't have a huge range to choose from so I was tempted to leave it and get one from the Body Shop or somewhere instead but then I saw the Palmers Cocoa Body Scrub, which was on offer for £3.29 instead of £4.99.  I've not tried anything from Palmers before but thought they're meant to be a pretty good brand for body products and this one sounded good -"This unique formula contains pure Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Vitamin E and natural crushed cocoa beans which moisturise, refine and polish skin." 

I've used it once and so far I really like it, it does really well at exfoliating and moisturising your skin and smells AMAZING. Just like chocolate. I kind of want to eat it, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea. I'm sometimes a bit too lazy to use body scrubs but with this one I think I'll enjoy using it!

That's it! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings about buying some new beauty things, which I probably didn't need but what the heck...treat yo self.

What have you treated yo self to recently? :)

Sabrina xx

I'm back with a Boots Haul!

*sorry about the bad photo, it was taken at night time

Hello everyone, so I'm back after many months...many people won't be bothered but if you do want to read my excuse explanation then I'll leave it at the bottom of the page, otherwise read on! 

So, the other day I went to Boots, and stuff happened. I was actually going in there intending on buying the famous YSL Touche Eclat - despite being on a budget. I justify this because ever since my MAC Prep and Prime highlighter ran out I've missed using a pinky brightening pen under my eyes and wanted to see what all the fuss was about with Touche Eclat (I actually did buy it once ages ago from Cheap Smells, now called All Beauty, as it is slightly cheaper on there, but I barely recall if I liked it or not because it ran out suspiciously quickly. I should really have chased them up about it at the time because it makes me wonder if I had a dud).

My other excuse is that I've not bought myself new makeup in ages (basically just mascara and concealer late last year when both of the old ones were running out) and so when you think about it that £22.50 (it was on offer at 10% off) was probably what I would have spent on random stuff anyway if I hadn't decided to stop buying more makeup items I don't need, because I wasn't running out of those things at all (lipsticks, eye shadows, blushes etc). Plus, you've got to treat yo self once in a while, right...?

Fun fact: this video was posted on my birthday.

Anyway yes - the lady at the counter didn't need to sell this to me much at all. One odd thing was that she told me it was a concealer but I'm not sure this is true - I mean, as I understand it, you use it under your eyes to brighten, not conceal. I fully wasn't expecting this to cover up my dark circles, just to really help cancel out the darkness under my eyes and help make me look like I've had my eight hours (when really I've been writing blog posts at half midnight).  

Another thing that was tempting me was that I had these vouchers from boots to boost my points - these are great as they're easy to redeem and you can get loads of points quickly. So when I did this haul I gained about £9.50 worth in points! Another way I boost my points is through the offers on the app, which are sometimes better than the coupons they send in the post. For example, I have a coupon left to get 200 points when I spend £20 or more before 15th March, but another one on the app gives me 400 points if I spend £20+. So obviously I'll go with that one, and before 15th March I'll head back to Boots to get some more things, mainly essentials as like I said I don't really need any more bits of makeup! The app can be a bit glitchy but if you don't have it you can still access the same offers under your advantage card account page on Boots.com.

But yeah, YSL Touche Eclat is one of the most iconic makeup products of all time and sometimes it's just nice to own a beautifully packaged, top quality luxury beauty product. So I don't feel too bad about buying this, but if I repurchase it, it will probably be using my points!

I've used it a few times and really like it so far, I get terrible dark circles so anything that makes me look more awake is a winner. I might do a full review in the future, so let me know if that's something you'd be interested in! 

The next thing I bought was a Soap and Glory Foam Call Bath and Shower Wash. These body washes always smell amazing and are a nice treat (not that they're expensive at £6.50, but this is a fair amount to pay for a shower gel) and I got 200 points for buying a soap and glory product. I haven't tried this particular one before but I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy it, these are great products.

My Garnier Micellar Water was running low so I decided to try out Nivea's offering in the micellar water trend - the Daily Essentials Sensitive 3in1 Micellar Cleansing Water, which I've also heard good things about. It's currently half price at £1.84, but I wouldn't really buy it full price as it's not as good value for money as the Garnier one, which gives you twice as much product for not much more money (it's also on offer quite often).

Staying on skincare and another points offer was to buy a Boots Skin Clear product - they do a lot of offers around this range and in taking advantage of them I've ended up with so many spot sticks! I decided to try out their Deep Clean Daily Face Wash, which was only £2.99. Reading reviews before I bought it I could have sworn some people said it had beads in it, which I wasn't too keen on - I wouldn't really want to use an exfoliating wash once or twice a day, it's too harsh. But it doesn't have any beads - I don't know if they might have reformulated it since these reviews were written? But anyway so far I'm liking this. I've heard that foam washes aren't that great for the skin as they can dry it out but to be honest I like using them, they give you more of a feeling of having a squeaky clean face than milky/lotion type cleansers like Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean do (don't get me wrong I like that cleanser a lot, but it doesn't make your skin feel as clean as foam washes do). 

In case you wanted to have a looksie inside

And another skincare item I bought, again from Boots' own brand range, is their Boots Essentials Cucumber Moisturising Cream. To be honest when I picked this up at Euston station a while before I bought this other stuff I just needed a new moisturiser and couldn't be bothered to look up loads of reviews, but the ones for this seemed promising. It's aimed at all skin types, so I knew it wasn't going to do anything special, but I'm really enjoying it - it's refreshing to use, not too heavy, and makes my skin feel nice and soft. The only thing I don't like is that it takes ages to sink in to my skin, so if I'm getting ready in the morning and want to do my foundation it's a little annoying if the moisturiser hasn't finished sinking in. But yeah, I wasn't expecting anything too fancy from this but I quite like it, and you can't go wrong really at £1.50. I think quite a lot of people have tried the eye cream in Boots' cucumber skincare range, but I'd recommend this too if you're looking for a good, cheap, basic moisturiser. 

My excuse for being a bad blogger:
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I have a bit of an obsessive personality. Not that I get hooked on drugs or anything like that haha, but I get periodically obsessed with things like songs, chocolate/sweets/snack types, and makeup. When I stopped blogging it wasn't just because I'd slightly run out of ideas and couldn't afford to keep buying new products all the time (this is another thing - there shouldn't be too many hauls, because I really want a holiday and living in London now is expensive!) it was also because I just wasn't all that bothered about makeup anymore. And if I'm not interested in or passionate about it, I don't think it would make for a good reading experience for you (and writing experience for me) if I forced blog posts just for the sake of it. Besides, moving to London was quite a big change last year, so I had so much on my mind with my new job and everything that blogging and makeup and beauty just sort of got sidelined. So apologies if anyone has missed my blog (doubtful, but thanks very much if you like my blog that much!). I don't know how often I'll blog from now on, but I have a few posts in mind, and I'm getting a bit back into beauty, so we shall see. ;)

Hope you enjoyed this post! Have you tried any of these products? 

Sabrina xx

Trying New Things

Hi everyone! So (and I hope this doesn't come off as me showing off) I recently won a giveaway (YAY!) from the lovely Zinita of Beauty & the Payroller - which I was really excited about, not least because it included the coveted Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette, which is top of everyone's wish list lately!

The bundle of stuff I won has enabled me to try new things - including stuff that's not actually available in this country, like the Sephora Kiss Me Lip Balm, which I love. At first I was a bit confused by it, as it's a massive rollerball lip product that looks like an egg! But the colour - 'Strawberry Fizz' is gorgeous and reminds me a little bit of Mac's Show Orchid lipstick. It has a lot of pigmentation for a balm and applies really nicely. I would definitely recommend checking this product out next time you get the chance - it would be great if we had a Sephora in the UK!

I also really like the Benefit lip balms Benebalm, Posiebalm and Cha-cha balm, which are all adorably small and great for travel. 

As you can see, Benebalm is the most pigmented of the three, but the other two aren't bad either. These balms are designed to match their corresponding lip tint, and I actually own samples of Benetint and Posietint (Posietint is almost empty!) so the only full size tint I own is Lollitint, which I think would still go quite well with Posiebalm.

The beauty bundle also included some nice bath/shower minis from Cowshed - a brand I previously hadn't tried before. The body lotion smells amazing and the little bag it comes with would make a lovely makeup bag.

I've also finally got to try Bioderma and see what all the fuss is about - again in a handy travel size - and it is quite good! It seems to get off loads of makeup quickly and leave my skin feeling nice and clean. I'm not sure if I've been wowed by it enough to pay more than I would for the Garnier micellar water though. Another product I've heard a lot of good things about is the Cocoa Brown 1 Hour Tan - as I've mentioned before, I'm not really into fake-tanning, but I'm still interested to try this out sometime (possibly for a night out, because flash is unforgiving). It sounds very quick and easy, and the mitt included is machine-washable, which is handy!

Zinita also gave me some face masks, two from Sephora and the Pur Minerals Dirty Girl Detoxifying Mud Mask, which I literally just tried before typing this - first impressions are that this stuff goes seriously tight, so it was a relief to wash it off! I now have super-clean feeling skin, although my nose is a little red. Also from Pur is a 'Big Look' mascara which comes in lovely pink packaging.

For eyes, as well the Naked palette, Zinita sent me a Lord & Berry smudgeproof eyeliner in black (plus a handy waterproof eye makeup remover from Sephora, which is good because this eyeliner is waterproof!) and two Fashion Fair eyeshadows in Suede (a dark brown) and Nude (a lightish brown) these should look great together, and again the brand is new to me. In fact, I think the only brands I've tried out of what I've received have been Urban Decay and Benefit!

After some consideration, I decided to sell the Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette. It is untouched, as literally all I've done with it is open the packaging and marvel at its beauty, but the packaging doesn't look opened. I hope Zinita doesn't mind - it's just that, as much as I love the look of this palette (and am very tempted to swatch it) I don't think I would get much use out of it, as I own the original Naked palette but barely touch it - partly because I don't wear eyeshadows very often anyway (I rarely have time in the morning for a proper eyeshadow look) and also because the shades don't suit me very much, being quite warm-toned. So my Naked palette is sitting unloved, which is a shame because there's nothing actually wrong with it, and I don't want the same thing to befall this palette! It deserves to go to a loving home.

(With that said, I just looked at online swatches of it, and I need a dupe of the shade 'Armor' in my life - if anyone owns the palette and knows of a similar shade in their stash please let me know!)

It's now sold, but please take a look at the other things I'm selling :)

Thanks for reading!
Sabrina xx

Current Favourites and a Mini Blog Sale

Hi everyone! Sorry about the lack of posts lately...I started a new full-time job last month (I'm getting paid to write - eeee) so I've been busy settling in, so that unfortunately meant that my blogs have been a bit neglected!

In this post I'm firstly going to talk about my favourite products recently, and then I'm making my first foray into the world of blog sales with four items for sale including two MAC lipsticks.

So, recently my Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara has been looking a bit gloopy and generally worse for wear, so it was time to get a new mascara (one of the few makeup items I can justify buying despite being skint - because if you don't get a new mascara at least every six months you'd basically be putting yourself at risk of getting an eye infection!) I actually really liked that mascara, it was definitely one of the best I've tried in the past year or so and if it weren't for my penchant for trying new mascaras I'd probably repurchase it.

I decided to buy the Bourjois Volume 1 Seconde Mascara: (which was £3 off when I bought it but the offer has ended, sorry!)

Look at this fancy limited edition 'Retro Summer' packaging! It might not even really be summer anymore but this packaging is lovely and cheerful. This mascara is one Bourjois' most well known but the only mascara I've tried from them has been the Volumizer one (one of the many Mac Haute and Naughty copycat 2-in-1 mascaras that were coming out in 2010 - I really liked that one, even if the 2-in-1 thing is a bit gimmicky.)

Anyway, this isn't technically a favourite because I've only been using it a few weeks and haven't made my mind up yet (I'll probably write a full review on this once I've been using it longer) but so far I have quite mixed feelings on this mascara. On the one hand, it does provide a very nice look quickly, with good volume and length. You certainly don't have to put much effort in to get a decent mascara look. On the other hand, the brush is flipping massive, so you have to be careful, and I've noticed that at the end of the day a few times it has smudged onto my lower lash line, so that's not ideal. But I will keep using it and I'll let you know how it goes!

In terms of other makeup, I've been enjoying long-lasting lip products - at work sometimes I can simply have a cup of tea and a biscuit and the next thing I know the lovely pink lippy I had on before is almost gone. So Benefit's Lollitint (which I talked about in my high end favourites post) is great for increasing the wear of my lip colour. It looks good either on its own or layered with a lippie like Nars Roman Holiday.  

In terms of long-lasting lipsticks, Rimmel's Lasting Perfection lipstick by Kate in 01 and No7's Moisture Drench lipstick in Rosy Ribbon have been great options. Rosy Ribbon is a dark pink which leans slightly reddish on me, although next to Rimmel's Kate in 01 it looks very pink! It was recommended for my particular skin tone with the No7 Match Made Service.

Left - No7 Rosy Ribbon. Right - Rimmel Kate.

Rimmel Kate promises up to 8 hours wear, which I don't think is true although it does last very well. I can't see any claims about wear time in the description for No7's Rosy Ribbon, so it may or may not be this particular shade which is long lasting. At £5.49 Rimmel's Kate in 01 is more affordable than the No7 one which is £9.95 - quite pricey for a drugstore lipstick, but No7 do offers quite often, for example right now there's a 'buy one get second half price on selected No7 cosmetics' offer.

Moving on to concealer and I'm still loving the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer - I don't know whether mine is actually starting to run out though as I keep having to put more effort in to get product out. It doesn't look like it's nearly empty, but still...nooooo. Living in London, I'm now on a serious budget so I can't really afford to repurchase this when it runs out, sad times. But I am still happy to use the good old Collection concealer (you know the one) as a perfect budget alternative which is around £18 cheaper (seriously.)

I'm still using and loving the Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean Cleansing Milk which I reviewed here. It smells amazing, albeit a little bit sickly sometimes, and is great for removing face makeup. Finally, a haircare favourite I wanted to mention was the Garnier Ultimate Blends The Colour Illuminator, a one minute treatment which nourishes my hair as well as protecting the colour radiance. My hair gets quite dry at the ends (especially as I've been blow drying it more lately - oops) and this stuff really helps. I also use coconut oil occasionally as an overnight treatment.

The Mini Blog Sale...

This is UK only - sorry! The prices below include £2.80 postage. Please let me know in the comments if you'd like to buy something and provide your PayPal email address - I will then send you a PayPal invoice. (If you don't want to post your email address on here, just DM me on Twitter.)

Please try to pay within 24 hours of me sending you the invoice and then I will post your item/s as soon as I can and let you know they're on the way. Also, if you live near ish to me in Tufnell Park in London then we might be able to knock £2.80 off the price (from postage) to meet up in person so I can give you what you bought - walking distance only though please. I won't accept returns/refunds I'm afraid.

From left to right in the image above, here's what's on offer:

1. Eyeco Skinny Liquid Eyeliner Black (never opened or used as I already have one) RRP £12, Price: £7

2. Jemma Kidd Light as Air Foundation in Ultra Light (about 80% left) (not sure what its RRP was, I think around £25) Price: £13

This foundation used to get raved about a lot before Jemma Kidd's makeup line was discontinued. This is a really nice foundation but I'm selling it because it doesn't work very well with my oily skin. (It used to work with my skin when I first bought it!) It has an SPF of 18 and the shade Ultra Light matches fair skin tones like my own quite well.

3. MAC Viva Glam Nicki Lipstick (used about 4 times) RRP £15.50 Price: £11

I wrote about this in my MAC lipstick collection post - (you can see swatches for both lipsticks there.) It's a great lipstick but I'm selling it because it doesn't work well with my skintone! It's been discontinued.

4. MAC Vegas Volt Lipstick - used 4-5 times. RRP £15.50 Price: £10.50

I'm also selling a Chase Your Shadow: The Trials of Oscar Pistorius book over on Gumtree if anyone's interested!

Closer look images:

Thanks for reading!

Sabrina xx

Review: Boots Skin Clear Oil-Free Mattifying Lotion

Hello! Today I have a review for a product that I've actually repurchased about three times, usually when it's on offer (although it's still quite cheap when it's not on offer!) This product has cleared up my skin really well in the past, and although I have been using an Avene moisturiser recently I still use this one when I have more breakouts than usual as the salicylic acid in the formula helps to get rid of them.

I don't find this all that moisturising but it definitely does what it says and mattifies the skin. It has a non-greasy formula so it effectively soaks up any oil on your face, just like it promises:

However this lotion does have one downside that is fairly annoying and does limit its use: it doesn't really leave a good base for makeup. You have to be careful how much you use as it can leave little white flakes on the skin, which especially annoying when you're trying to apply foundation! This is quite a shame really as it limits when you can use it.

Overall though this is still a great buy and it's definitely worth picking up if you suffer from breakouts/oily skin! If you have combination skin you may only want to apply this to your T-zone or wherever you're oily as you might find it a little drying otherwise. This is usually £2.99 but seems to be on offer a lot and is currently £2 available here.

Hope you enjoyed this review. If you're new and like my blog, please follow me here on Bloglovin, and it would also be lovely if you'd like to nominate me for the Bloggers Blog Awards! :)

Sabrina xx

Recent Beauty Buys

Hello! Well so far I've been successful in my makeup spending ban and have been happily using my stash rather than adding to it unnecessarily (I have been ridiculously tempted to get one of those Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks from Bourjois though) so this post is going include a few skin and haircare bits that I've bought over the past month or so, with the Avene and Nice and Easy purchases being the most recent. Obviously it's only a matter of time before I crack and buy more makeup but hopefully by that point it will be something I actually need!

Firstly I went to Savers to save (heh) 80p off the Boots price for the Nice and Easy Root Touch Up Kit. My roots are beginning to show again and I fancied saving money by not going to the salon just yet and using this kit just to touch up my colour at the roots until I go again (for a haircut as well since I had my hair done yesterday.) I was deliberating between the Dark Blonde and the Medium Blonde shade as my hair is dark blonde but quite a few reviews of this I've read on Boots.com and Makeupalley have mentioned that this kit turned out darker than they expected. So I went for the Medium Blonde one and I'm just going to leave it on slightly longer than 10 minutes to let it have more time to develop and hopefully match the rest of my hair.

I'll let you know how I get on with this, probably in a review! I haven't seen many reviews of this in blogs but the ones on Boots/Makeupalley seem quite positive. The main complaint I've noticed seems to be from girls with very thick hair finding that they didn't have enough product, I have fine hair so that's okay but it's something to bear in mind.

I've pretty much all used up my No7 Beautiful Skin Day Cream (review here) so I picked up the Avene Cleanance MAT Mattifying Emulsion. Boots had an offer on in which you get a free 150ml Eau Thermal Spring Water Spray (worth £7) when you buy an Avene moisturiser so I was pleased with that - I've never tried anything from Avene but I've heard great things about the Thermal Spring Water, which is also part of the ingredients of the moisturiser. I'm going to use the water as my toner and then see how I get on with that and the moisturiser. Unfortunately I can't see anything about this offer online so it might just be an in store thing!

Anyway, I've only used these twice so far but I'm really liking both of them - the spray is very refreshing and the moisturiser sinks in perfectly, mattifies, and leaves my skin feeling really smooth. I'll probably review these properly once I've been using them for a while.

I've also been trying out the Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque which is a very highly rated product for fighting acne that I bought almost a month ago. I use it once a week because it's quite strong - I've used it 3 for 4 times so far but I haven't really noticed much change in my skin after using it yet which is a bit disappointing, but I'll keep trying it.

I wouldn't say I really have severe acne but when I mentioned my frequent breakouts in a visit to the Doctor's the other day I was actually prescribed Fucidin Cream which is an antibiotic. So hopefully my skin will clear up soon!

Moving on to hair stuff, and I bought the Dove Oxygen Moisture Root Lift Spray when it was on offer at Superdrug. (I just looked, and it's still on offer!) Again I may do a full review on this soon but so far I like it for using on wet hair, but can't seem to get it to do anything but wet my hair a bit when using it on dry hair (it's meant for both uses.) I feel like the fact that it's a spray makes it work better for blow drying, but I don't blow dry my hair often and I'm not sure that this has heat protectant.

When my trusty Batiste Dry Shampoo ran out I decided to try one from COLAB by Ruth Crilly as these have been raved about a lot lately. I have the Paris one which has a pleasant floral fragrance. However so far I haven't been sold on the oil-busting effects of this (I think a few times I've simply sprayed too much by accident and that's not helped) but I'll keep using this and trying not to spray too much of it and we'll see!

Update: Oops. Today I bought this month's InStyle Magazine and got the free 50ml St Tropez In Shower Gradual Tan and saw there was a voucher inside for £2 off the full size...guess what happened next.

I originally went into Boots for a prescription but when I saw that they'd restocked on the In Shower Gradual Tan I decided to ask if the £2 off voucher would work alongside the introductory 3rd off price (which has now ended, sorry!) and it did, meaning I only paid £8.33 I think for the full size one when it is worth £14.50! (For some reason it came to 10.33 rather than 9.67 on my receipt, but I didn't feel like querying it since it's only a small difference.) I'm going to use the 50ml one first as if I don't like it I can simply return the full size one unused.

I had been quite unsure about whether to buy this or not as not only is it pricey but it does get very mixed reviews - I think it might be a good option for me though as I'm super pale, still quite new to tanning and just looking for a radiant hint of colour rather than anything major.

I also bought two Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean Deep Cleansing Milk Cleansers (review here) for the following reasons:

1. Soap and Glory have kindly increased the amount of product you get from 200ml to 350ml but the price has stayed the same at £8 which makes it great value for money, especially compared to some of their other products.
2. Boots are currently doing a 'buy one get one half price' offer on Soap and Glory skincare, meaning I got these two for £12.
3. I also got double points for spending over £10 on Soap and Glory skincare (this offer was via the Boots app) - so around 80 points.
4. I'm happy for this to be my new makeup removing cleanser and now I have tons of the stuff so I won't need to buy any for quite a while (unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if S&G increased the price soon.)
5. It smells amazing.

^ So yes, I have slight shopping guilt now but at least I've taken advantage of some great offers! The 350ml size does mean it's obviously heavier to travel around with so what I'm thinking of doing is using one of my new ones at home and keeping the 200ml one (which I don't have much left of) for taking with me next time I travel down to see my boyfriend.

Have you tried any of these products? What have you been buying and testing out lately? :)

Sabrina xx

Review: Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean Deep Cleansing Milk

Hi! Today I have another review, and you might remember a while ago in a little haul I bought Soap and Glory's Peaches and Clean Deep Cleansing Milk while it was on offer in Boots.

I've actually used this up at an alarming rate and the first thing I have to mention is the smell. It might not be to everyone's taste (not that you want to eat it) but I'm with Mikhila (Miss BudgetBeauty) on this one. I love it. It's quite strange, being peachy yet minty at the same time, but I find it really refreshing and maybe even relaxing!

I was a bit confused about this product at first. I normally use foaming cleansers but apparently they can strip moisture from your face so I thought this would be a good alternative, but I wasn't sure how I was supposed to use it. I mean, it is a cleansing milk, so should I use it as my makeup remover? Should I use it with a flannel? The answer is basically you can use it however you want, but it needs to be left on for at least 5-10 minutes or it won't have had a chance to do anything. I really like how it just gently tingles as I leave it to work. Sometimes I'm knackered and just want to take my makeup off, do my teeth etc and go to bed, so in that case I just leave this on while I do other stuff. Miss Budget Beauty has even said before that she's left it on overnight! So in that way it's sort of more a face-mask-that-doesn't-dry as opposed to a normal cleansing milk.

It doesn't sting and it actually seems to moisturise a bit while it's there. I have used it both for normal cleansing and for makeup removal and I think it works well for either, although an important thing to remember is you shouldn't use this bad boy to remove your mascara - it will hurt your eyes. It's gentle, but not gentle enough for eye makeup. It will definitely help make sure every last trace of foundation/concealer/blusher/bronzer is gone from your face though. Soap and Glory claim it 'melts away makeup' and it does! I typically use face wipes or cotton pads to remove the cleanser, along with warm water.

If you're a regular reader then you'll know that my skin is usually pants, so I won't bore you with too many details! But yes, my skin is quite oily/blemish prone and the only reason I'm not quite 100% in love with this product is because it's not really done anything to help fight breakouts. To be fair, this product is aimed at all skin types so that tells me right away that it's not going to tackle a specific skin issue, though if you have dry skin I think you'll quite like the moisturising feel you get whilst you leave the product on. If you have very sensitive skin you might want to avoid this because of the glycols it contains. If you buy this and are nervous about whether you might react badly to it, maybe do a patch test on your neck just to be safe.

Another thing that was a downside and is more my fault than the product's is the fact that I couldn't work out how to lock the pump before I went travelling down south to see my boyfriend, so I wasted some of that peach-smelling-creamy-goodness in the little bag I put it in! Does anyone know how to lock the pump?!

Anyway, let's round up the pros and cons:

Pros:

The smell
Attractive girly packaging
Somewhat moisturising
Tingles but doesn't sting
Melts away makeup as you rub it in
The smell
For all skin types so universal

Cons:
You need a separate eye makeup remover
Might not be suitable for very sensitive skin
Can't lock the pump packaging
For all skin types so not targeting any skin issues

Here are the ingredients:

Overall, this is a great cleanser, even if you only want to use it for makeup removal and then use something else afterwards just to be sure. It's definitely worth trying. I would probably repurchase this for the smell for makeup removal and then use Micellar Water/cotton pads for getting rid of eye makeup. At £8 normally that's a bit pricey for a makeup remover so I'm probably more likely to buy it again when it's on offer. Speaking of which, it's in a 'buy one get second half price on selected Soap and Glory' offer at Boots right now.

Edit: I just realised that not only has the packaging changed again, but the amount of product has been increased from 200ml to 350ml which in my opinion makes this product great value for money! Hopefully Soap and Glory won't decide to increase the price soon to reflect that, but still it's great to see a brand increase rather than decrease the amount you get and not change the price.

I hope this post was helpful!
Have you tried this product? What's your favourite cleanser right now?

Thanks for reading,

Sabrina xx

Out, Damned Spot - Witch Blemish Gel Review

Hello, so I've mentioned before about how I have quite bad skin (which has actually got a bit worse lately thanks to a certain thing.) Obviously having bad skin isn't the end of the world but it does get me down a bit, so considering I have no control over my hormonal breakouts it's great that I've found (and many times repurchased) the Witch Blemish Gel, which has been probably the best spot-zapper I've used so far.

It's basically a clear gel with (as the brand name suggests) extract of Witch Hazel. You're meant to apply it at night so that it can get to work while you sleep but I occasionally use it during the day and it still works well - though not if you want to wear makeup over where you've applied it.

This product is especially good at helping to reduce the size of any large, red 'angry' spots (like the ones you might get during that time of the month) but it also helps with 'juicy' smaller spots. It won't make a spot disappear overnight but it still does an amazing job of soothing and reducing it and then hopefully making it go away sooner. I find that any large spots quickly dry up and form a scab after I've used this a few times..sorry if these details are disgusting haha. It can sometimes feel tingly as it works which itches and I have to resist the urge to touch the area!

At £3.29 for 35ml from Boots it's also really good value for money. I used to use Witch's Blemish Stick which was okay but I found it to be not very hygienic as you dab the stick onto your face or use your fingers, whereas the Blemish Gel is in a squeezy tube. Witch say this is great for all skin types but especially oily/combination skin and this is true - if you have dry and/or sensitive skin then I'd recommend only using it lightly.

Overall if you're looking for a new spot treatment I would really recommend this product, it really works!

Have you tried this? Do you have another spot treatment that you'd recommend?

Sabrina xx

Disappointing Products

Hi, so today's post is going to be a bit negative I'm afraid! But I do think it's great to share what products have disappointed you so we can see the other side of the story and maybe even decide to save our money. I'm most disappointed with things that get a lot of hype and great reviews but end up not working well for me, but it just goes to show, opinions on cosmetics (especially skincare) are always going to be varied because of how personal they are. I still use some of these sometimes because I don't like to think I've wasted my money!

Firstly a product that isn't too bad but still a bit of a let down is the Good Things Blemish Control Gel Mask. I still use this directly on spots every now and then because it can be quite good at reducing the size and redness of them, but as a mask it's awful. It's an unusual face mask because it's thin and runny. It smells quite medicinal which isn't very pleasant, and it stings my face and makes my eyes water. I don't think the stinging was as bad when I first got it, but now if I was to apply this all over my face I would instantly have to wash it off again because it actually hurts! It's one thing feeling a product 'tingle' but clearly this is way too strong so it might be too much salicylic acid which is causing the stinging. If you have even slightly sensitive skin I wouldn't go near it.

I wasn't a fan of the Max Factor Wild Mega Volume Mascara. I usually love Max Factor mascaras but this one is a bit of a let down compared to the usual standard.

It wasn't the worst mascara I've ever used or anything dramatic like that, but it was quite clumpy and wet and therefore hard to work with. It takes a lot longer than it should to get the desired effect with this. The brush is slightly oddly shaped, which didn't really work as it picked up too much product from the tube. The packaging is eye-catching but a bit tacky compared with the usual look of Max Factor mascaras.

Last year I tried out La Roche Posay's Effaclar Duo after seeing a lot of rave reviews (Ruth at A Model Recommends loves this!) but unfortunately it didn't work for me at all. It claims to correct the appearance of blemishes but if anything it made me break out even more, so I suppose something about it irritates my skin. I persisted with it for a while because I really wanted to like it, and I still do try it again every now and then in case it works, so I've actually used up a lot of my tube. Luckily I got my money back with a satisfaction guarantee, which was very nice of La Roche Posay - I have no idea if they're still doing that offer but it would be great if they did!

Next is a lip product, and you'd think you can't generally go wrong with lip products as a swatch on your hand in the shop would show you how pigmented it is, and you can also smell the tester to make sure it doesn't smell bad before you buy it - however I must have forgotten to do that when I bought Rimmel's Apocalips, as this product smells so awful!

It smells horribly plasticky and I'm usually not too bothered about smells in lip products but when I wear this I just can't ignore it. I bought this back when there was a lot of hype around the Rimmel Apocalips because of its interesting 'lip lacquer' formula and gorgeous shades, however I seem to have accidentally chosen a bit of a boring shade - Celestial.

Maybe it looked prettier under the lights in the shop and it's not a terrible shade at all but I do think I have nicer pinks in my collection. That said if you can get over the smell the red shade does look stunning, I only didn't buy it because I already had a red and knew I wouldn't get much wear out of another one!

This one isn't that much of a disappointment, but I still haven't been a big fan of the Boots Essentials Fragrance Free Eye Makeup Remover Pads. They do remove eye makeup quite well and they're very handy when I have a lot to remove, but I can't stand how greasy they are to use. I need to use a cotton pad after using these to get rid of the oily residue around my eyes. They also cloud up my vision a bit for a while which is annoying. At £1.50 for 40 pads though I can't really complain - they still do what the job and are very affordable.

Months ago I bought Charles Worthington's Volume and Bounce Texturising Spray expecting great things as it gets raved about a lot and is considered a dupe for Oribe's Texturising Spray which is £38 (!!!) for 300ml, while CH's option is £6.99 for 150ml. I have quite fine hair which often goes flat even when I use volumising products, but I just can't get on with this.

I follow the instructions but barely see any volumising effect; it seems to just make my hair feel sticky and greasy and therefore weighed down, despite my attempts to rub it in. I wish it actually worked as I don't particularly want to fork out for the Oribe one! I'll keep trying and see if I can get it to work (I wonder if I'm spraying a little too much) but for now I'm loving Bumble and Bumble's Thickening Hair Spray which, combined with blow drying my hair upside down, can give me beautiful volume and thickness. I got a 50ml travel size of it free with a magazine and will definitely be purchasing the full size one when it runs out!

Do you have any thoughts on these products? I'm sorry if this post has been a bit moany/negative or if I bashed any of your favourite products, but I would be interested to hear if you swear by any of these!

Have any products disappointed you recently? I'd love to know what products to save my money on and avoid!

Thanks for reading!

Sabrina xx

Mini Boots Haul

I swear it's practically impossible for a beauty-obsessed person such as myself to go into Boots intending to buy an essential such as toothpaste, without ending up with that and some other items that were...well, slightly less essential. That's what happened with this haul. To be fair, I didn't get that much - I really wanted to pick up a Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick as they all look gorgeous and are getting a lot of hype right now in the beauty world, but I resisted. (I know, go me! Haha.)

I've pictured the Nivea Daily Essentials Night Cream, £2.24, which I actually bought the previous week and mentioned in my last post. So far I'm really liking this product, it calms my skin down overnight when it's being a bit temperamental. The other night I was breaking out, used this product anyway (which I thought was a bit risky as it's quite a thick lotion) and obviously it didn't make the spot go away, but it did definitely help with redness and made my skin a bit happier. It's also very cheap especially as it's still half price at Boots so I'd definitely recommend trying it!

I also repurchased the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair which is one I've repurchased a lot. I've raved about this so much on my blog before so I won't go on about it except to say that it's absolutely worth the hype if you ask me! I am still using the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer on dark circles and this one is for using on spots and blemishes. I did a post reviewing the Nars concealer and comparing it to Collection here.

I had my hair done on the same day I bought these items and I decided to try a new hair treatment seeing as though the ends of my hair get very dry. I've also just had it coloured again so it's now definitely in need of some TLC. I deliberated between the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Colour Deep Treatment (I've tried the normal version and loved it, it smells so good) or the Garnier Ultimate Blends Colour Illuminator 1-Minute Treatment but got the latter because it was cheaper on offer for £2.99. I have the shampoo version of it as well which I quite like, especially for the smell (Argon Oil and Cranberry). I rarely use hair treatments because my hair gets greasy quite quickly but I'm excited to try this!

The last thing I got was Soap and Glory's Peaches and Clean Cleansing Milk which was also on offer for £6 instead of £8 and was the main impulse buy of the bunch seeing as though I might not have noticed it at all if it hadn't been on offer. However I'm looking forward to giving this a go, I was on the lookout for a new cleanser and this one gets very positive reviews on both Boots.com and Makeupalley. Also Khila (Miss Budget Beauty) raves about it a lot!

I just hope my sensitive skin gets on with this as it contains active ingredients/'glycols' (I know - blank face) and interestingly although Soap and Glory describe it as gentle and able to remove waterproof mascara, they also say not to use it on the eye area. I've used it a few times and so far, so good. It tingles a bit but other than that there are no signs of it irritating my skin. It had a very unusual minty yet peachy smell which I'm not sure what to make of yet. Also as usual with Soap and Glory the packaging is gorgeous.

Do you have any thoughts on these products? Have you made any drugstore purchases lately? :)

PS: This is obviously very unrelated to the rest of this post, but I saw this kimono over on Heather at Of Beauty & Nothingness' Summer Clothing Wish List and wanted to mention it as I'm in love with it as well as the whole outfit below...which adds up to £133! (Not including the necklace or sandals! I don't own a single kimono in my wardrobe as it's just not an item I would usually wear but I think this one is so beautiful:

Sabrina xx

Review: Garnier Pure Active Micellar Cleansing Water

Hi! You're probably well aware of the micellar water craze (if not, where have you been?) which started off with everyone raving about Bioderma (which used to be hard to get hold of but is now easily available here) to Garnier being the first (I think) drugstore brand to release their own version. Props to Garnier for being first in the race to launch these things, as I believe they were first in the BB cream craze too.

I would love to try Bioderma sometime in the future and see if it's worth the hype, but that stuff is pretty expensive (£10.20 for 250ml! ouch) so for now I'm definitely happy to keep using drugstore ones - to compare with Bioderma, Garnier's Micellar Waters are usually £4.99 for 400ml.

I tried the original pink-capped version of Garnier's Micellar Water and really liked it, so when that was running out I thought I'd try the one aimed at combination to oily and sensitive skin. I don't doubt that the original is fine for oily-skinned ladies like myself as it's super gentle, but this one is formulated especially for oilier skins. The ingredients of both products are extremely similar except there's Alcohol Denat in the oily-skin version.

In terms of makeup-removing, both products work quickly and easily. I used to use face wipes to remove my makeup, so this has been a good change for me as it gets the job done just as quickly and does a more effective cleanse. I've heard that some people have found Maybelline's Lash Sensational Mascara difficult to remove, but using this to take it off I've had no problems! If I've been wearing a lot of eye makeup I like to hold the soaked cotton pad over each eye for about 10 seconds to help get as much off as I can with one swipe.

However a few days ago I used this product to take off just a small amount of makeup (mascara and concealer) and my face seemed to go quite red, making me wonder if the addition of Alcohol Denat might be irritating my skin. I was confused in general about whether alcohol in skincare is harmful or not, so I googled it and Paula's Choice's opinion is that it is harmful unless it's fatty alcohol. If this is true, then why did Garnier add alcohol but still describe this product as suitable for sensitive skin?

Overall I still quite like this, but I think I prefer the original as I think it's gentler so more suitable for suitable skin. I also prefer the packaging of the original version as it's pink! I think when this runs out I'll probably repurchase the original, or try a micellar water from Simple or Nivea.

Garnier's Pure Active Micellar Cleansing Water is available from Boots here - both this and the original are on offer at the time of posting for £3.33 instead of £4.99.

Have you tried this? What are your thoughts on micellar waters?

Thanks for reading!

Sabrina xx