Late to the Party

I thought I might just have gotten away with it this season! The seasonal transition from Autumn to Winter is usually pretty dramatic - an instantaneous and very apparent switch in my skin where in a blink of an eye, I can be oily one day and dry, tight, sensitive and dehydrated the very next day. But as of yet, it's been an incredibly mild winter - who knows if the real severe weather is to follow in the next couple of months? My skin was behaving quite nicely up until I succumbed to a bad cold and my body felt all ill and stressed, my skin followed suit very rapidly. After a bit of a blip and utilising all the most potent products in my skincare arsenal, I've managed to bring my skin back under control. Here are my favourite winter products:  Products marked * are PR Samples. Morning Lime & Lilac - Light Facial Oil* This is perhaps the most versatile facial oil in my collection, suited for all-year-round-use and works in both my morning and...

  Another month and another selection of products that I want to use up. I'm actually finding it harder to choose products as this project rolls-on. Maybe that's a sign that I'm finally getting my stash under control? So I've decided to run the 'Use it Up' project till the end of the year and then maybe start an anti-haul project in the new year.     Here's what I chose to try and finish off in November:       * Pixi - Glow Tonic Although I think this glycolic toner is great, I don't think it's the best. I've also noticed that I get better results when I haven't used it for a while.   * The Body Shop - Vitamin E Toner Like The Body Shop Chinese Ginseng and Rice toner that was selected for the last Use It Up project, this Vitamin E is extremely hydrating. But fortunately, unlike the Chinese Ginseng and Rice toner, it doesn't ever irritate my skin.   * Dove - Derma Spa Body Oil I bought this from a clea...

    Not a brilliant month! Just 3 out of 6 products finished.   * Scinic Aqua All-In-One Ampoule I only just scraped by finishing this up by the evening of 31st July! I've been using 2-3 skins of this ampoule every morning and night for almost every day in July. I really like this product for it's intense burst of hydration but it's such a huge pot of product (250ml) and only has 12 months shelf life once opened. This is definitely on my 'will consider repurchasing' list for the future but at the moment I have more hydrating products I'd like to use first.   * Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Essence This was such a chore to get through! There wasn't too much product left but I found that when I included this in a routine, it would generally be to the detriment of another product. It always left my skin feeling a bit tacky so wasn't great for morning use and it had a tendency to cause any facial oils to pill, so didn't work great in the ev...

  Overall, I had a really great month for using items up (but I also bought quite a few new ones too!).   Here's a reminder of the six items I chose to try and use up in June       And here's what I managed to use up!   Four out of six is not bad! Although one was de-cluttered when I realised that it had expired.   * The Ordinary - Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution  - I'd been using this intermittently on my body as I had found the 7% of Glycolic Acid a bit too harsh on my face. However, after pulling it out again and trying it on my face, I didn't find this quite so harsh this time around. It's not my favourite Glycolic Acid and I won't be repurchasing.   * Nuxe - Reve de Miel Lip Balm - I had several moments of 'Why did I choose this?!' this month as I was reminded just how ultra-rich this lip balm is! I had been using it as a lip sleeping mask but I always woke up feeling greasy-lipped and opted to u...

Here are the items I've chosen to try and use up this month:   * The Ordinary - Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution The 7% strength of this was always just a little too much for me and I've favoured other 5% strength glycolic toners. I've found that I can use this on my body also, so it will probably get used up in this way.   * Cosrx - Advanced 96 Snail Mucin Essence I didn't manage to finish this off last month, so it remains in the project.   * Nuxe - Rieve de Miel Lip Balm This has a lovely scent but it's extremely rich. I started off using this as a lip sleeping mask, but I would wake up feeling greasy-lipped! It's taking forever to get through this small pot as is it so rich.   * The Ordinary - Hyaluronic Acid Another item that was in last month's selection that I didn't manage to finish off.   * TonyMoly Apple Tox Peeling Cream Initially bought as part of a fruity packaged set, I don't mind this product as a peelin...

My makeup bag runneth and spilleth over this week as I cram it with single eye shadows in an attempt to use everything I have. This is the penultimate eye shadow palette this week - after next week's I can go back to cycling through them again. Just one newbie added this week - the Maybelline Khol eye liner. I feel like I haven't used a khol liner in years, but after my fruitless search for a single blue eye shadow a couple of weeks ago , I turned my attention to seeing if I could find the right shade of blue in an eyeliner - I did, and here it is!   * Primer (not pictured) The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer - I used up a sample sachet of E.l.f Mineral Infused Primer last week and really liked it - it's definitely on the 'will repurchase' list when I've finished up some more of the primers in my stash. I reluctantly bring in The Ordinary primer this week - reluctant because how I feel about the brand now that CEO Brandon Truaxe has made it so ...

 As the weeks go on I've been re-visiting lots of old and over-looked products, which isn't making the most exciting of weekly make up choices (they're over-looked for a reason!) but is helping me to streamline my make up stash. One of the most exciting inclusions in this week's bag is my D.I.Y Cushion Foundation (you can see a step-by-step guide HERE on how I made it) - because it's given new life to an old foundation that really wasn't working well for me.   * Primer (not pictured) - using up some sample sachets of primer this week, including DHC and E.L.F.   * Foundation - DIY Cushion Foundation   * Under-Eye Concealer (not pictured) - Inglot - still!   * Powder - Physician's Formula Glowing Nude Powder - I've been loving this for a quick setting sweep of soft powder. Also using the L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Powder for touch-ups.   * Bronzer/Highlighter - Mannakadar duo. This is one of the items that I'm deciding...

  I received some products from Ioma to test, including the Ioma Lip Lift and the Expert Rituel, which is a handy box of mini samples (enough for a weekend away) of several Ioma products.       Ioma Lip Lift - £44 for 15ml BUY HERE   What is it?   Lip Lift is a product designed to plump and contour the lips and can be used as a standalone lip treatment or as a base pre-lipstick. According to Ioma it provides 4D effectiveness: * helps 4 key zones: the lips, the contour, the lip shape, the corners of the mouth.  * 4 actions: plumps, smoothes, restructures, moisturises.  * 4 dimensions: immediately, long term, on the surface, deep within.   Key ingredients: *  Volulip: Mimics the effect of hyaluronic acid injections doubling the synthesis rate for this molecule, which is naturally present in the skin. Recreates lip volume and redraws the contour.  * Seacode: Reduces appearance of lines. Also improves the...

Always very happy to receive my Look Fantastic Beauty Box and it's one where I intentionally avoid seeing any 'sneak peeks' as I'm usually delighted with the contents every month. In the past, I've tended to 'go off' a beauty subscription box after a few months as they always seem to get weaker. Not so with the Look Fantastic box, but there have been a couple where I haven't been as excited at first glance.   I'm going to rate this beauty box a little differently this month - giving a first impressions/excitement score for when you first open the box and a score for the design of the box, as I've realised that this actually has more of an impact on me than I thought it did. Also, I'm going to score each item for their desirability level and also a score for their performance after first use (I won't be scoring items I haven't tried out yet)!   Here's this month's box!     Box Design - 2/5 - I think I prefer ...

I didn't choose any November favourites because I was incredibly restrained in November and hardly bought a thing! But I spied so many lovely things that I added to my Christmas list from the Black Friday sales and others from my ever-growing wish list.       Apothaka SOS Recovery Nail Oil   One of my major beauty must-do's is to sort out my nails, and particularly those on my right hand! Three of my fingernails have been in terrible shape for a couple of years now and I really want to get back to having healthy and strong nails in 2018. I knew that I'd be receiving this Apothaka nail and cuticle oil and I almost couldn't wait till Christmas day to open it! The founder of Apothaka, Natasha also included a sample of her hand cream too and I'm loving using the oil and cream every night.       Dr Botanicals Moroccan Rose Superfood Facial Oil   This was sent to me for review purposes and two things about this ...