Small Boots Haul

The other week I received my Christmas boots points booster vouchers & decided to treat myself!

I'll be doing full reviews of individual items as & when I've used them properly but thought I'd give you a sneek peek of my naughty pre-Christmas spending!

The benefit "real cheeky" gift set. 

In this set you get dandelion-a ballet pink shade, rockateur-a dusty rose with gold shimmer, sugarbomb-this has 4 shades that when I swatched looked like a highlighter, hoola-a great matt bronzer, coralista-a shimmery coral, watts up-a cream golden highlighter & minitures of their famous they're real mascara & push up liner. 

From the swatches I'm rather disappointed because you don't get as much colour payoff as I was expecting! I'm gonna wait till I've tried them properly before passing too much judgement though!

Smashbox shape matters palette

I've recently got into contouring my face (I know! Only about a year behind the times! But I alway thought I'd look stupid & it wouldn't be for me!) & thought this would be good starter kit!

Inside you get: 

a huge mirror! I used this mirror at work yesterday to curl my hair & do my makeup! For the mirror alone I'm gonna take it away with me from now on!

3 brow products, 2 powders & wax, the powders look too light for my brows but I'll give them a go!

9 eyeshades - I haven't even swatched these yet but I love smashbox eye shadows so am expecting good things.

A matte contour shade, a matte highlight & a shimmery bronzer & highlighter!

Kate moss for Rimmel lipstick in 107

While doing my makeup at the beginning of the month, I realised I own very few berry shades of lipstick & decided to rectify this & get into the autumn/winter spirit! 

Also not owning any rimmel lipsticks seemed sacreligious for a beauty blogger! I haven't tried it yet but it does smell oddly of cucumber?

Batiste dry shampoo in fresh

Dry shampoo is probably a staple in most women's homes & im no exception! I always have a can in the house! This seems ok, kinda powdery compared to others I've used & doesn't really have a scent!

Imperial leather sherbet lemon shower cream

Having the surname Lemmon has made me obsessed with lemon scented, flavoured & printed things! & as soon as I saw this I knew I had to try it!

It's very much a novelty item, the smell doesn't last out of the bath or shower but it is really creamy on the skin & smells great at the time!

Rimmel wake me up mascara in extreme black

I've been umming & arring about this since it came out. On the one hand I loved the idea & using this on days when I'm tired & just want a slick of mascara, on the other hand, don't I already have 100 mascaras that could do the exact same thing? 

But this time I bited the bullet! I haven't used it yet but I've noticed this also smells like cucumber? Do all rimmel products smell of cucumber?

Maybelline lasting drama gel 24 eyeliner pencil in sapphire strength

This is a lovely jewel toned blue eyeliner, I bought it because I had an idea of blue winged liner but I couldn't find a blue liquid eyeliner at boots anywhere! This seemed like it might fit the bill! I'll let you know once I've tried it!

Revlon super lustrous lipstick in black cherry

This was another "I need more berry lipstick shades" purchase. Darker than the rimmel, I am a little worried it may wash me out? But we will see!

Revlon colorstay concealer in 01 fair

Expect a full review on this soon but so far I think it's amazing! 100xbetter than my nars creamy concealer! I think this will be my go to concealer from now on!

Revlon colorstay foundation for normal/dry skin in 209 nude

I've only used this once & was disappointed! With all the hype I was expecting great things! But for me the coverage was practically nothing, it clung to dry patched & only lasted about 3 hours! I will be trying it again with a different sponge & brush to see if that makes a difference!

Swatches: L-R rimmel Kate moss in 107, maybelline blue eyeliner, revlon lipstick in black cherry, revlon colorstay concealer & revlon colorstay foundation. 

Have you tried any of these? Do you rate any of these items?

Louise X

Espa Optimal Skin Pro Cleanser & Oil

The cleanser is described as an "advanced tri-phase cleansing for naturally radiant beautiful skin"

I don't know what "tri-phase" means! But whatever is in this it works for me! This has a gel like consistency with little waxy beads (apparently these are jojoba spheres) that exfoliate & melt into the skin as you massage into your face. 

This can be used in 2 different ways. 1) as a daily cleanser, removing once all the "jojoba spheres" had melted. 2) how I use it, as a mask that you leave on for 15 minutes once or twice a week. 

I can tell you it contains moringa seed extract & pumpkin enzymes, I don't what these do for the skin but whatever it is, my skin has never been better!

I bought this on a recommendation from an assistant in Liberty while my skin was incredible bad. The worst it's been. Dry & covered in red, angry acne that caused my makeup to cling to my dry patches & not cover all the redness. 

Now, my skin still has acne, it probably always will because of my pcos, but now it's smooth, hydrated & makes me feel confident enough to go out without makeup!

The oil was given to me as a sample when I bought my cleanser to try. Before I tried it I thought all skin oils were created equal! Boy was I wrong! I've tried a few skin oils, boots botanics organic oil, kiehls midnight recovery oil to name a few & could tell the difference. 

This however leaves my skin feel plump & hydrated without feeling greasy & can be used both at night or in the morning. I've had to start rationing myself with this after my cat knocked the bottle over, & as the sample doesn't have a lid, I lost  about 70% of it!

I'm definitely gonna be trying more products from espa as my experience with these 2 has been nothing but godsend!

Have you tried anything from espa? Do you have any holy grail skincare products?

My Evening Skincare Routine

Happy Saturday everyone! Today I'm gonna show you my current skincare routine & tell you what works for me, what I'm loving etc! So lets get on with it!

To start I'll tell you a little about my skin type! I suffer from dry skin & hormonal acne caused by my PCOS. I react better to organic & natural things so try to only use these where possible. I have found since I started using these products together, my skin is the best I can ever remember it being! I have hardly any acne (I do still suffer from a lot of redness in my skin but I think that is a hereditary thing because my mum is the same) & my skin is no longer dry but soft & plump!

So the first step is to remove my makeup. I start by taking the Loreal skin perfection micellar water on a cotton pad & remove the bulk of my eye makeup. I don't wear much in way of eyeshadow but 99% of the time I have liquid eyeliner & a lot of mascara! I don't have a favourite eyemake remover, I usually just get whatever is on offer & hope it works! This does the job well enough I'm just not loyal to it! I got mine from asda ages ago because they were BOGOF. Its now £2.50 which is cheaper than boots & superdrug!

Then I tackle my foundation! I love the Botanics softening cleanser! Its 82% organic which I think my skin prefers & contains lots of things that are meant to help improve your skin. I'm sold! I just squirt a dollop on my hand & massage into my face (ignoring my eyes because I've already done those) & remove with a large cotton pad. There is usually an offer on botanics, but at the moment this is the only thing excluded from up to a 1/3 off sale thing boots has on botanics! Still in my opinion £4.99 for an organic cleanser, that I love, is a really good price!  

The next step of cleansing my skin, I vary the order of the products & sometimes I will only use one or two or all 3! So from left to right, we have:

Liz Earle cleanse & polish. I'm sure at one point or another every blogger has talked about this product! & I love it! It has a lovely creamy consistency that I massage into my skin & remove with a muslin cloth. As you can see, I have 2 versions there. The original, that I'm running out of, & the special edition summer scent of orange flower & chamomile.  I wasn't a fan of the scent so I'm now just trying to use it up so I can buy some more. There is a new special edition christmas scent of sweet orange & mint that I'm really looking forward to! I find you get the best deals direct from the liz earle webpage.

Botanics organic hot cloth cleansing balm. This is a solid balm that turns into an oil with the heat of your skin. Its great when my skin is feeling particularly dry! Again I just massage into my skin & remove with a muslin cloth. Its currently out of stock on the boots website, but its worth checking it out at your store. Mine had loads!

Lastly in cleansers is the Soap & Glory peaches & clean. This is described as a 3 in 1 wash off deep purifying cleanser. I'm not sure about the 3 in 1 thing, but this is great as an acid exfoliator cleanser. The peach enzymes really leave your skin feeling soft & plump. It can make your skin tingle & leave it a little red but most things leave my skin red! Soap & glory is currently on 3 for 2 at boots. & as boots is the only place you can buy soap & glory in the UK you may as well take advantage of the offer!

Final Steps! Every evening I use the Pixi glow tonic to exfoliate my skin & remove any dead skin cells. I like it because its gentle enough to use everyday but still feels like its making a difference! I like that you can buy it from Liberty now but the Pixi website has cheaper shipping.

I like to use Liz Earle instant skin tonic again when my skin is feeling dry as its a non-drying toner that refreshes, soothes and brightens your skin. Its also gentle and alcohol-free & adds a fine layer of moisture Great as a skin prep before moisturiser! 

Again, another product I alternate, is my moisturiser! The 2 I'm currently using are Liz Earle skin repair moisturiser. Its a perfectly balanced moisturiser that softens, smoothes and conditions skin for a naturally healthy-looking glow. & the No.7 beautiful skin night cream for dry/very dry skin. This is a rich and intensive moisture cream that instantly nourishes and promotes optimum hydration while you sleep.

What are your holy grail skincare items?

XXX