Products I'm Loving Right Now!

I did a bit of shopping the other day and bought a couple of items which have turned out to be really good products, so I thought I'd show you the products I'm loving right now and am wearing pretty much every day!

YSL Elle Perfume -

This winter I've not really been wearing perfume but I'm starting to get back into wearing it. I got this for my birthday last year and I wore it pretty much everyday. That was during the summer so every time I wear this now it reminds me of summer days. It's quite a heavy perfume but I find that after a few minutes of wearing this, it settles down into a nice sexy, slightly sweet floral smell. I also like the bottle, nice and classy, very YSL! It's a nice size as well so you can throw it in your bag easily if you want to.

L'oreal Volume Million Lashes Mascara -

 I love this mascara. I am now wearing it everyday and I like it more and more each time I wear it! The brush is surprisingly good at getting right to the roots of my lashes, and I wore my Estee Lauder Projectionist the other day which I was in love with but it's crap compared to this mascara. Very surprised at how much I like this!

17 Lasting Fix Lipstick in Hot Chilli -

I have been after and orange-y red lipstick for a while. Collection 2000 had what looked like the perfect colour but when I got to the shops I couldn't find it at all! I saw Hot Chilli by 17 though, which looked similar so I opted for that. It's a nice colour, maybe not orange toned enough for what I'm after but I still think it's a nice bright coral-y red. Good Lady Danger dupe!

Clinique Instant Lift For Brows -

I bought this on a whim but am in love with this product. I use it along with my MAC brow gel to do my brows. The pencil is a perfect colour for my very fair brows and it's so easy to use. I love the texture of it as it's a lot softer than the usual eyebrow pencils out there and it almost has a waxy like feel to it, which I find is good for keeping the hairs staying in the right direction and it coats the hairs better, giving better definition.

On the other end it has a highlighter colour which you are meant to put on your brow bone, but I use this on my eyelids as a cream eyeshadow and find it gives a really nice sheen to them, and it stays put all day. The colour is very similar to Hush Cream Colour Base from MAC.

Swatches -

Top to Bottom - Clinique Highlight Colour, Clinique Brow Pencil in Soft Blonde, 17 Hot Chilli Lipstick.

 Estee Lauder AeroMatte Pressed Powder -

I have been after a pressed powder which I can take around with me in my make up bag. All the other powders I own are loose powders, so they aren't very practical for taking around. I researched into many different brands, as I was wanting a mattifying powder which doesn't give any coverage or look cakey. I bought this AeroMatte compact from Estee Lauder, which is pricey at £24 but I know Estee Lauder's products are always going to work, and I'm going to get a great product.

They had discontinued this product but have recently starting selling it again, which I am so glad about because it is fantastic. It gives a gorgeous finish to the skin, mattifies but does it in a way that doesn't make me look dull or dead. It doesn't change the coverage or colour of my make up either.

So those are my favourite products at the moment...what are yours?

My Skincare Routine

I've added a couple of new products into my skincare routine lately as well as cutting out some products which my skin is benefiting from, so I thought I'd show you my updated skincare routine!

Firstly every morning I exfoliate with my St Ives Invigorating scrub. It's the best scrub I've found and have been using it for about 2 years! I find a bottle of this lasts me a good three months. St Ives do lots of different scrubs, I used to use the scrub for blemishes but it was way too harsh for my skin.

Every evening I cleanse my face with Simple's Refreshing Facial Wash Gel. It's a nice bog standard gel cleanser, gets rid of oil and dirt, cleanses my skin. Nothing amazingly special.

I'll soon be finishing my latest bottle of this though, and am going to start using my Avene Clearance Gel cleanser, which I was sent along with my Trilogy products to review. So I will let you know how I get on with it. Have you ever used this product or any Avene products, if so what do you think of them?

A new product in my routine is the Clinique Clarifying Lotion in number 3 which is for oily combination skins. I really love this! It gets rid of any dirt that your cleanser has left behind, as well as mildly exfoliating your skin so it's left really smooth. I find my moisturiser and other products sink into my skin so much better and much quicker. All in all my skin looks really healthy and glowing after using it. It's also helping to tone down my oily skin.

 I've been reading that a lot of people find this too harsh for their skin, but luckily I haven't had any reaction. It contains salicylic acid too which helps clear up any blemishes.

Next up is my Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel for oily skins. I really like this, my skin is so smooth from using this, and it doesn't make my skin oily at all. Pretty much the perfect moisturiser for my skin! I use this morning and night.

I remove my make up with Simple Wipes, I buy them simply because they're always on special and they are good refreshing wipes!

I have scrapped my medicated spot creams which were drying out my skin (I also didn't like the idea of using all those chemicals on my skin) I've started using the Lumie Clear UV Light Treatment, which you can find more info about in my post here and I'll be updating you on how I'm doing with it every two weeks in a blog post.

Basically it's two UV lights, which kill the bacteria in your skin naturally, without any chemicals or any risk of breaking out. So far I am really loving this product and I don't have any dry areas from nasty spot creams.

I also don't feel the need to be using a face mask at the moment, since my toner helps my skin stay clean and I've not got a lot of oil build up any more.

Lumie Clear Natural UV Light Treatment- Week 2+3 Update

Hi everyone, I've decided to do my Lumie Clear updates every two weeks and so here is week 2 and 3!

I've noticed my skin is generally a lot clearer, still getting hormonal breakouts which are inevitable really however the Lumie really reduces them a lot in size and redness and they are clearing up a lot faster. 

The Lumie seems to dry them up, not in a horrible way but they seem to shrink in size the next day after using the light.

I'm really happy to see that the product is working. I'm not having any ''commitment issues'' with it and am still using it for 15 minutes on each area I want to treat. I find doing it while I'm watching the TV works well. 

So that's my update, short and sweet! 

If you have any questions just comment below...

For more info on the Lumie you can read my post about it here.

Lumie Clear Update- Week One

Hi Everyone

Today I'll be updating you on my first week of using the Lumie Clear. For more info on the Lumie you can always read my previous post about it here.

So after a week of use I have definitely seen an improvement on my chest, it's not red and the inflammation has gone down, it's actually almost clear now. My face is pretty clear too although a blemish did come up yesterday. It does seem to dry them up and shrink them really quickly though.

I'm not going to change any of my skincare or start using any new products (okay maybe my Clinique toner...) just so I can be sure that the Lumie is working and I know it's not something else.

You're meant to use this once a day for 15 minutes on each area for 12 weeks, so I'm pretty happy with the results I'm getting in the first week.

The 15 minutes can seem like a long time especially if you have to hold it, but I use it while watching the TV and it's not too bad. I think you have to be pretty dedicated and want to get the results with it because it is very easy to become lazy and forget about it. 

So that's all I have to say so far really, I will update you every week and let you know how it goes! 

If you have any questions just leave a comment below :)

Lumie Clear- Natural UV Light Acne Treatment

Lately my skin has been acting up a bit due to the weather. I was trawling the Internet looking for new treatments and stuff, and I remembered about the Lumie Clear which I saw in Boots in the January sales.

Lumie Clear is basically two LED lights, one red and one blue. The blue kills the bacteria in your skin and the red helps reduce and soothe inflammation.

It's rather pricey at £152 at Boots, but you can get it for £149 on the Lumie Clear website and a bit less than that on sites like Amazon.

I decided to invest in one, and bought mine from Boots as I got 2000 bonus points on my card if I bought it which translates into £20 on my Boots card- happy days!

I've heard before about how UV/LED lights can be used to treat all kinds of skin complaints, but before hearing about the Lumie Clear I'm pretty sure this kind of treatment was only available in places like Harley Street clinics in London, so it wasn't easy to access and would have been hugely expensive.

What attracted me to the Lumie Clear was that it is a natural way to treat acne, so I could stop using the creams from the doctor which while they work, the also dry my skin out and cause me loads of hassle. So while the Lumie is pretty pricey, it's more of an investment because you'll be saving on all the acne creams and treatments you buy.

Although my skin has been pretty good for nearly a year now, I still get the odd break out and as I said before my breakouts have started to become more regular the past few weeks due to horrible winter weather. 

I find that when I go on holiday somewhere hot and sunny, or when it's summer time here my skin always improves. This is down to all the sunshine and heat we get, and the Lumie Clear is sort of mimicking that sunshine because it's using the same light we get in the sunshine.

Lumie, with the very sexy goggles provided! 

It comes with a stand as you can see... so you don't have to hold it. 

Or you can take it off and hold it like this...(I prefer this way)

You're to use this for 15 minutes on each area you want to treat, once a day depending on how far away you're holding it. For example if you're holding it directly on the skin, you only have to use it for 15 minutes, but if you're wanting to cover a bigger area you'll have to hold it slightly further away so the light can stretch to cover the area. They say if you're holding it 4cm away from the skin to use it for 30 minutes. 

It comes with a 15 minute timer which starts when you turn it on and goes off 15 minutes later, so you don't have to worry about checking the time. I also like that you can use it to treat anywhere on the body.

So my Lumie Clear arrived last Wednesday and ever since I've been using it everyday, sometimes doing it once in the morning an again in the evening. 

The areas I'm treating are my cheeks and chin and my chest. I've already noticed that a small breakout on my chest has cleared up extremely quickly, so that's good news. 

I've decided to do a weekly update and let you all know how I'm getting on. 

I'll update you on Wednesday! :)