Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Superdrug Vitamin E Eye Cream Review

I bought the Superdrug Vitamin E Eye Cream hoping it would be a good cream that moisturises my eye area making it easier to apply my under eye concealer.
It claims to reduce puffiness, dark circles and the appearance of fine lines. You get 15 ml of product, I can see this lasting you ages as you only need to use a tiny bit. It also has SPF 15 in it which I love as I have been on the hunt for an eye cream with SPF in.

I have no complaints about the packaging, however I do have a few problems with the product itself.
  • It has glittery particles which are probably there to make your under eyes look ''illuminated'' and lovely but you just end up with bits of glitter on your face.
  • The cream is a nice creamy consistency when you get it out of the tube but it takes ages to rub into the skin and it goes all bitty with areas of white where it hasn't sunk into the skin
  • I get a chalky like film under my eye once it's on. I want a soft and smooth moisturised under eye area not a dry and chalky one!
After ages trying to rub in.
I really don't like this product but when I apply my under eye concealer I seem to get a heavier coverage with it. However my eye area looks quite cakey and fine lines are emphasised.
Won't be using this again I'm afraid!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Shoes, Glorious Shoes!

Now that the weather is warming up and it's slowly but surely getting closer to summer, I've been sorting out my wardrobe and getting it ready for the new season. 

I'm chucking out a lot of things and selling some of the nice stuff on E Bay. A lot of it is shoes and this means that I have some space for new shoes!

I decided I needed sandals and some form of wedge sandal. It's so difficult to find good quality shoes nowadays and the shoes in a lot of highstreet shops are cheap and nasty, but expensive! So I headed to TK Maxx in hope of a designer bargian and found two perfect pairs, both Firetrap - 
Gladiator Sandals £27.99 (RRP £45)
Wedges £24.99 (RRP £60)
These will go with pretty much everything in my wardrobe and I'm really happy that I got a bargain! 

I'm in love with the wedges and can't wait until it's warm enough to wear them....

xxx

Friday, March 25, 2011

Totally Teal NOTD

I recently bought No7's Totally Teal nail varnish with my £5 off voucher at Boots. I have been wanting to get this colour for a while now and I find No7 polishes to be really good. 

I never wear blues or greens and always tend to wear safe colours like reds and purples but I like this colour and thought I'd try it out.



The camera makes it look quite blue but in real life it's more of a greener shade.

What's your favourite colour to wear?


Tuesday, March 22, 2011

FOTD: A Very Natural Make Up Look

This is just a really natural make up which I wear most days during the week if I'm not doing anything special.


FACE - I used my Lily Lolo mineral foundation and concealer as usual, applied their mineral blush in Clementine. Then under my eyes I applied my Clinique Airbrush Concealer. To finish off the skin I used Estee Lauder Lucidity Loose Powder which I love.

EYES - I used Painterly Paintpot from MAC on my lid, lined my upper lash line with Brown Down Eyeshadow from MAC on an angled brush. Then I applied what was left on the brush to my lower lashes and blended for some natural definition. I lined my upper waterline with Collection 2000 Lasting Finish brown eyeliner and applied Volume Million Lashes from L'oreal. 

I also curled my lashes before my mascara which I think makes a real difference to your eyes and highly recommend!

BROWS & LIPS - On my brows I used MAC Brow Set in Beguile. And on my lips I put a bit of tinted lipbalm on.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Haul!

Here's a few things I've bought recently - 

Free Clinique Gift with Glamour Magazine

It's Glamour's 10th Anniversary and to celebrate they have teamed up with Clinique and are offering a choice of 10 free Clinique products with every magazine. I chose the red lipstick but I'm thinking about going back and getting the eye cream too as I've heard good things about it.... 

The lipstick itself is called Rosette and has SPF 15. It's a nice colour with gold specks running through it that would flatter everyone.

Lancaster Infinite Bronze Sunlight Make Up

I got this set of Lancaster make up in TK Maxx. The RRP value of all three products was £60 and I got them for £8 which was a very nice bargain! 


First is the Lip Variations duo. There's a red cream lip colour and a pink gloss and you also get a pretty good lip brush. I LOVE the red colour, it's really highly pigmented and the formula is nice and creamy. You can wear it as a stain which is what I've been doing or really go for it and have bright fire engine red lips!

The pink gloss is also quite highly pigmented, it's basically a slightly more pigmented tinted lip balm. The colour is a nice bright pink that's wearable and peps up the face.

Lancaster Star Dust Sparkling Powder Trio


This is a trio of powder highlighters which you can use on the body too. It comes with a white colour, pale yellow gold colour and a light bronze so any skintone can use this. It's quite glittery which is slightly disappointing because I would like a highlighter to be less glittery so it looks more natural. The colours are still nice though and there's no reason why you couldn't use the powders on the eyes.

Lancaster Face Luminizer


This is a tinted moisturiser that makes you look glowing and healthy. The colour is a good colour match for me and the cream sinks into the skin nicely and quickly. The colour very similar to a Nars foundation shade called Gobi.

I am always apprehensive about putting creams on my face which aren't noncomedonic or hypoallegenic because my face breaks out easily. I will definitely keep this and use it on others though as I think it's great.

Top to Bottom - Tinted Moisturiser, Pink Gloss, Red Lip Cream, Clinique Rosette

Superdrug Vitamin E Eye Cream


 I bought this as I wanted an eye cream but didn't want to spend a lot on one. This was about £3 in Superdrug and I've used it a couple of times so far. It feels a bit chalky and is a bit difficult to rub in...but I will review this after a while of using!

The Pink Cow Vanilla Biscuit Shower Gel


I think I have found my ''HG'' shower gel...

I spotted this AMAZING shower gel in Boots. It's paraben free which is great for us and the enviroment, you get 500ml (usual shower gels are 250ml) and it smells good enough to eat!!

What attracted me first was the ammount of product you get and that it was on offer for £2. It's normally just over £3 I think. They have other ''flavours'' but I decided to get the Vanilla because I adore vanilla. It smells exactly like it's name and reminds me of when you're making the base for a cheesecake and are crushing up digestives and butter!

Umberto Giannini Grunge Glamour Tousled Salt Spray

I love salt spray for adding texture and volume to my hair as it's naturally quite straight and sleek. I like to wear my hair messy most of the time and had been meaning to get some more spray.

I've only ever used the Vo5 one and so I decided to get this as the packaging is lovely and to see if it's better than the Vo5. It has a really nice sweet vanilla smell to it. I will review this and let you know how I get on!

So that's my haul ladies.. I would like to say a big warm welcome to the new followers that have subscribed to my blog this week! xxxx

Monday, March 14, 2011

... Because you never know what's round the corner

Hello guys and dolls! Today I've got some advice for anyone who's job hunting or struggling to get anywhere... be that in work or life in general! (Beware - I babble a lot in this post!) 

Weheartit.com
I don't think I've mentioned this before, but for almost a year now I've been trying to get a job. It's very difficult for everyone at the moment given our economic climate, even the most qualified of people are struggling to find work.

So I'm sure a lot of you will be in the same boat as me and know how depressing and tough it is when you're applying for a load of jobs and no one even bothers to get back to you with a response.

About a week ago the whole situation suddenly got to me and my confidence completely disappeared. I was really down about everything and had pretty much given up hope of ever getting a job.

Because I wasn't getting any repsonse from any of the arrogant people at the companies I'd applied for, I decided to start chasing people up so I sent e-mails to them asking if they could tell me when I would get a response from them.

This was a very good idea and I recommend that EVERYONE does it. Even go into the shop or wherever you've applied at and tell them that you want to know why no one's got back to you. This will show them that you're serious about the job, as well as (hopefully) getting you a very well deserved response!

Not everyone who I contacted has replied to my e- mails, which I find incredibly rude and completely puts me off ever wanting to work for them, however I got a reply from one company and they wrote back offering me my first ever job interview!!

I was incredibly nervous but the interview was really layed back and I didn't have to do much talking at all. I was offered the job which I couldn't believe and still think I'm in shock!
So I FINALLY have a job and things are looking up. The whole point of this post and what I'm trying to say is NEVER GIVE UP HOPE. A week ago I was so depressed and had totally lost all confidence, now a few days later my life has completely changed and everything is GOOD!

Never give up hope or loose faith. Keep trying beacuse you never know what's round the corner and your time for good things to happen WILL come.

Lots of love... Hannah xxx




Sunday, March 13, 2011

FOTD Life's a Beach

Last night I played around with a bit of make up and here's what I ended up with...


I hardly ever go out wearing bright colours on my eyes but I'm starting to get into wearing blues and purples.

Eyes -
  • MAC Paintpot in Painterly
  • MAC Amber Lights Eyeshadow in socket
  • NYX blue eyeshadow
  • MAC Vanilla Eyeshadow on browbone and inner eye 
  • MAC Brow Set in Beguile
  • L'oreal Volume Million Lashes Mascara in Brown
  • Collection 2000 brown eyeliner on waterline
Face - 
  • Clinique Airbrush Concealer
  • Lily Lolo Mineral foundation and concealer in Blondie
  • Estee Lauder Lucidity Loose Powder
  • Lily Lolo mineral bronzer in South Beach
  • Revlon blusher in Tawny Peach
  • MAC Hush Cream Colour Base on cheekbones
Lips - 
  • MAC Honeylove lipstick
  • Revlon Peach Petal gloss

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Brightening Up Dull Winter Skin

Lately my skin has been quite dry, which is rare for me as mine is always quite oily. My skin is still it's oily self but I've been getting annoying dry patches, and my complexion has been looking rather dull because of it.

I've decided to take action and sort it out! I'm using Boots Expert Sensitive Restoring Night Cream before bed. It's a really good moisturiser for any skin type and sorts out any dry areas quickly. It's also designed for sensitive skins so it won't irritate or break you out. You'll want to exfoliate regularly too, I exfoliate in the morning.


While I've been sorting out my face I decided what the heck I might as well look after my body too! So on my legs, feet, elbows.. anywhere that's dry really, I've been using Superdrug's Aqueous Cream. 


I think both of these products are great because they are far better than other 'high end' moisturisers I've tried, are for sensitive skin and best of all they are very inexpensive!

A couple of good tips if you're experiencing dry skin like me is to keep hydrated! It's just so important and keeps everything working, looking and feeling great. Another thing is diet, obviously important to eat lots of lovely fruit and vegetables!

Hope that has been useful ladies :)

Thursday, March 3, 2011

NYX Make Up Box

I was in TK Maxx yesterday rumaging through their make up and beauty section as they sometimes get in some really nice high end or foreign brands.

A brand which I have been wanting to try is NYX. I've seen quite a few blog posts about them on here and in YouTube tutorials.

TK Maxx were selling these NYX make up boxes which have 12 eyeshadows, 5 lip colours, 6 highlighters and blushers in as well a quite a nice mirror. I was really excited to see that they had NYX, and what better way to try them out than get a box with lots of different products in! It was a really good deal too beacuse I payed £9.99 for it when the RRP was £25.


So when you open it up, you have a side of bright eyeshadows, then on the other side you get grey/silver colours and a brown.


The bright eyeshadows are quite highly pigmented and bright, but the quality is nowhere near as good as other shadows I have. The silver/grey side I find to be slightly less pigmented, and again the quality isn't that great. I like the choice of colours, the bright blue and grey shadows are nice and aren't too shimmery. All the other silver/grey shadows are quite shimmery. 

 
If you were to use these shadows I think you would have to work quite hard to build up the colour. Applying it with a sponge applicator makes it easy to build up the colour though if you pat it onto the eyelid. I also think if you used these shadows wet you'd get a nice highly pigmented colour from them and even use them as liners.

Then you have your blushers and highlighters. I don't see a highlighter colour here apart from a really sparkly brown colour, which could only really be used to highlight on dark skins. 


All of these products have sparkle in them though some more than others. They have a nice orangey coral blusher which looks nice and then a really bright pink, but I especially like the three contour/bronzer shades they have which are almost matte.

Then finally you have the lip colours. You get a nude, and sparkly browny nude, an peachy pink, an orange and then a fushia/purple. I really like the selection of colours and the formula is nice and creamy. I like how there is only one lip colour with sparkle in and the rest are creamy because I hate wearing sparkle on my lips!


You also get some cheap eyeshadow applicators as well as a blusher brush and lip brushes. I find these are always useless and impossible to use, however the lip brushes might make good gel liner brushes!

What do you think of NYX products?

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

LUSH Happy Hippy Review

I bought Lush's Happy Hippy shower gel back in January. I was after a shower gel which would leave my skin nice and clean, and I also wanted to get away from using chemicals on my body.


It's got lemons and grapefruit in it which gets rid of grease and dirt in the pores, which it did very nicely. I found that it left my skin feeling really smooth and soft as well. 

It foams up to a nice creamy lather, and you only need a small amount. You can buy it in 3 different sized bottles and I opted for the 250ml which lasted me about 6 weeks. Next time I will get the 500ml although it is quite pricey at £9.95.

I would prefer Lush products to be cheaper or at least a lot larger, but because they use fresh and natural ingredients they're bound to be more expensive than all the other brands out there.

I don't have any complaints about the packaging, the bottle is nice and when the product is nearly all gone it's not difficult to get out of the container like some other shower gels.

I really like this shower gel and would recommend it, will definitely be re-purchasing.

PS- You can now buy online at Lush again. Their site was hacked into a couple of months ago and was down for a while but I was on there today and they have PayPal now so your details will be safe :)