Late to the Party

  Considering I very rarely wear eyeliner, I own far too many to feel comfortable about. As a teen and in my twenties, winged eyeliner was pretty much my signature look. But I've found that now I'm older, I'm just not favouring this style anymore. And more practically, the more wrinkly my eyelids have gotten over time, the more that eyeliner bleeds - which ends up looking messy and unseemly! Plus - I've completely lost my wing skills in the intervening twenty years!   This is what I'm working with: Starting total:8     The moral of this story: Absolutely no new eyeliners! To be fair, a lot (most) of them came in Beauty Subscription boxes where eyeliner seems to be a guaranteed inclusion and since I've stopped subscribing to any regular Beauty Boxes, I shouldn't end up accruing any more in that way. De-Cluttering: I've been trying these out again recently but still haven't regained a love for eyeliner - so some of these have go...

    Pixi by Petra - Retinol Tonic RRP 100ml £10/ 250ml £18.00 What is it? This potent youth preserving tonic features a unique time-release Retinol to help rejuvenate the skin for a natural glow. Powerful antioxidants and botanicals replenish the skin for a smoother, softer appearance while soothing sensitive skin .( From the Pixi website)     Ingredients:   Aqua/Water/Eau, Rosemarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Water, Glycerin, Propanediol, Methyl Gluceth-20, PEG-8, Panthenol, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Lecithin, Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Flower Extract, Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis Flower Extract, Sodium Acrylates Copolymer, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-27, Hydroxypropyl Cyclodextrin, Retinol , Phenoxyethanol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Jasminum Officinale (Jasmine) Flower/Leaf Extract, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract, Eugenia Caryophyllus (Clove) Flower Extract, Vitis Vinifera (Grap...

Quite happy with my empties pile for January. I was half in a 'use it up' mode of thinking and half in a 'find an established routine' mode at the beginning of the year. Writing out and taking stock of my skinventory always gets me in a bit of a panic so it's always a time when I madly try to finish things up. However, there were a couple of products that needed to be gotten rid of this month due to expiration - so that's always a reminder to use things up before it's too late!   Key: WR - Will repurchase/have already repurchased. MR - Would consider repurchasing at a later date. WNR - Would not repurchase (not necessarily because I really disliked something, but maybe it just wasn't suitable for another reason.   Skincare     * Ziaja - Natural Olive Cleansing Milk WNR - Since I prefer using a cleansing balm or oil for my first cleanse, I wouldn't repurchase this. But that said, for a cleansing milk (which I find a bit bor...

Nudge Boutique   Shop HERE * These products were gifted. Links are not affiliated. All views are my own.   About Nudge Boutique   Nudge Boutique is a luxury, handmade natural skincare brand, based in North Norfolk. Brand owner and formulator, Jo Klassen, created Nudge Boutique as an age positive brand to " help women re-nourish their skin and reclaim their sense of wellbeing during a time when midlife hormones change the physiology of their skin and challenge their sense of wellbeing".   I started to notice Nudge Boutique on Instagram a few months ago and my interest was piqued initially because they are a local brand and also because of the use of Norfolk Saffron in their products. I was very eager to find out more but I kept missing out when the brand was showcasing at local events. I finally got to meet up with Jo in person when she had a stall at an event in central Norwich, where she invited me to come and meet up and try out h...

  Annabelle Minerals     Who? Annabelle Minerals is a Polish brand whose products contain just four ingredients - Mica - to illuminate; Zinc Oxide - gives a matte effect; Titanium Oxide - for perfect coverage and also providing UVA/UVB protection with SPF value of 15 and iron oxide - ultramarine colouring. Their products are 100% Organic; paraben-free, silicone-free and don't contain any preservatives, parfum or phthalates. They are not tested on animals and are suitable for vegetarians and vegans.   Where to buy After recently receiving some samples of Annabelle Minerals matte powder foundation, it absolutely changed the previously held views I had about powder/mineral foundations! I had wrongly assumed that they would just sit on top of my skin making me look all powdery and cakey - but it's definitely always worth challenging your own (often erroneous) views and trying something before you jump to conclusions. I'm really so glad that I go...

I make a weekly pilgrimage to T.K Maxx as they always have some great skincare items. Over the past few months, the brands seem to be getting more impressive too - from bigger high end names to many, many international natural skincare and beauty brands, plus a good dollop of K Beauty too!   But I think I've been pretty restrained in the past few months. There once was a time when I'd snap up anything that even remotely caught my interest. But after coming to terms with my extra large skincare inventory, I've held myself in check. Asking myself, "Do I need it?", "Will I use it?" and telling myself "This is going to make your skinventory numbers go up when you're supposed to be reducing them"!   BUT...   I kind of fell off the wagon in the past couple of weeks - there have been several items that were just too good to pass by. These are the items that I've picked up in the past couple of weeks:     See, it's not ...