My Updated (And Upmarket!) Skincare Rountine

I have done a post about my skincare routine before but since then it has changed and without thinking about it I've noticed I've gone for higher end and better quality products this time.

A few months ago I started using the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish. This is fantastic, my skin doesn't feel tight or stripped of any oils when I use this, as it did with my previous cleanser which was just a cheap one from Simple. My skin is properly cleansed, soft, I've noticed it's less oily and congested and the product is such a lovely rich cream it makes washing my face something I enjoy (without wanting to sound too weird...). I don't feel like I need to quickly grab my moisturiser after cleansing either because my skin isn't tight or dried out.

I massage this into my face with my make up still on, it gets rid of absolutely everything. I even use it on my eyes and it doesn't sting whatsoever. Then I ''polish'' the cleanser off with a muslin cloth. The result being soft, cleansed glowing skin.

Cleanse and Polish is the most expensive cleanser I've used but it's also the best quality. I've never really thought about using a slightly more expensive cleanser before because I never saw the point as the product is only on your face for a minute. Oh how wrong I was! This is definitely worth the money and I think I'll struggle to find something better than this.

After cleansing I use a toner from Elemis which I bought while on holiday recently. The hotel spa where I was staying was an Elemis Spa and I had a facial where they used this on me and I really liked it. 

I hadn't been using a toner for a while as I'd stopped using the Clinique toner because it was drying my skin out unfortunately. This toner doesn't have any alcohol in so it doesn't dry or strip your skin. It's a lavender toner for combination skins. Lavender is an antiseptic so it's good for breakouts and things. I find this makes my skin nice and soft, balances it out nicely and gives me a nice base for my moisturiser.

The latest addition to my skincare routine is the Sanctuary Pore Refiner Facial Scrub. I mentioned this in my previous post so some of you might know that I really like this for a good exfoliate when my skin is a bit congested. I have been using this every 2-3 days.

Finally we have my trusted Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel from Clinique. As you can see from this picture I've very nearly finished the bottle which has lasted me about 8 months! I love this product, it moisturises without being heavy or greasy, sinks right into the skin, doesn't make me breakout or make my skin oilier. I bought a second bottle on my way back from holiday in Duty Free so I will be starting that very soon.

If any of you have seen my previous skincare routine post you will probably have noticed that I'm using much better quality products than before. I am still on the hunt for a good eye cream so please let me know if you know of any!

Hannah x

Pamper Yourself....

As most of you will know I have recently started working at a new restaurant as a waitress which I'm enjoying but it's very hard work! I'm on my feet all day and they are usually a bit swollen and very sore by the time I get home. I felt my feet needed a bit of TLC so I bought a Peppermint Foot Mask from the Body Shop along with their Intensive Peppermint Foot Rescue. 

A few times a week when I get home I soak my feet in some warm water, dry them off a bit and apply the foot mask. It has a really refreshing minty smell to it and makes my feet feel a lot fresher. When I wash it off my feet are nicely clean and really smooth. After that I apply the Foot Rescue which is a really intense moisturiser. It moisturises really well without being greasy and heavy. One problem I have with it is the packaging - I wish it was a nicer colour than baby pink! The product itself works well though.

To make the rest of me feel pampered and refreshed I've been using Sanctuary's Deep Cleanse Facial Exfoliating Pore Refiner about 3 times a week. I'm impressed with it - my skin is really smooth and glowing after I use it and it gets rid of congestion really well. It has things like Witch Hazel and Seaweed in which do great things for your skin and make it smell really nice too. It's not overpowering at all and the exfoliating beads are really gentle yet you get really glowing skin afterwards.

There was a 3 for 2 offer on skincare in Boots when I bought the facial scrub so I decided to get another Sanctuary product, this time their Smoothing Silk Scrub for the body. It's got lots of essential oils in and has a lovely relaxing smell to it so is great to use just before you go to bed. It makes my skin really smooth and soft. I'm impressed with these Sanctuary products as I've never used any of their stuff before.

What are your favourite products to pamper yourself with? 

Hannah x

Back From My Travels!

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately, as I mentioned in my last post I've just been on holiday to Turkey for a couple of weeks which was a really good break.

I thought I'd show you a couple of MAC lipsticks which I got at Duty Free.

I bought So Chaud on the left and Vegas Volt on the right.

I initially wanted to get Lady Danger lipstick but they were out of stock and the sales assistant recommended this instead. I really love the colour, I don't mind that I never got Lady Danger because this is the perfect orangey red that I've been looking for.

It's matte but unlike some matte lipsticks this isn't drying (I use lip balm to prep my lips before hand though). It stays on all day and is incredibly highly pigmented. 

To give the lipstick a bit of depth and to make it suit me a bit more I use a red lip liner around my lips and blend it into the lipstick. The sales assistant at MAC did this with Cherry lip pencil and it looked great. I've been using Rimmel's red lip liner which is just as good.

Vegas Volt is a really bright orangey pinky coral. It's an amplified lip creme formula so it's really intense but you could always pear it with a bit of lip balm for a more wearable bright lip which is what I do. I think it's a really nice colour for summer.

Thank you for reading, there will be more frequent posts now that I'm back home xxx

Cream Eyeshadow Addiction

For ages now I've wanted to get some nice cream eye shadows as I think they look gorgeous and are far nicer than how powder shadows look.

I saw Lisa Eldridge mention the Rimmel 8 Hour Shadow Mousses in one of her videos and so I decided to check them out next time I was in the shops because the colour she had looked gorgeous.

I went in and spent ages swatching them. They have about six colours and I only came in expecting to get one shadow but came out with four because they were so lovely. They are fantastic wearable colours and apply so nicely. At £4.99 each they are definitely cheaper than other cream shadows out there but the colours and formulas are just as good.

Rimmel Colour Mousse in Get Fresh. This is a lovely salmon pink shimmery colour.

Rimmel Colour Mousse in Galaxy. All these shadows are shimmery without being horrible and glittery. This is a lovely vivid purple and can't wait to wear this!

Rimmel Colour Mousse in Glitz. A gorgeous gold!

(left swatch) Rimmel Colour Mousse in Sassy. This is the colour Lisa Eldridge talked about, it's a lovely taupe.

A nice little high street find - for once I didn't have to go to MAC for some good eye shadows!

Just a little note to let you ladies know that I'm going on holiday for two weeks, so I will be back blogging from the beginning of May xxxx

Product Rave: Liz Earle Cleanse And Polish

I have been using the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish cleanser for around a month now and thought I'd share my thoughts about it with you as I think everyone should have this!

First up, I love this product, and won't be using anything else to cleanse my face from now on. I have always used cheap gel cleansers as I didn't see the point in spending a lot of money on something that's only going to be on your face for a few seconds. Oh how wrong I was!

From using this product I've found that 

• my skin isn't dry or tight when I wash my face
• my complexion is so clear and glowing
• areas of my face such as breakouts aren't red or inflamed looking
• one thing I wasn't expecting to get from it is my face is less oily. 
• my skin is better regarding breakouts and blackheads.
• my make up is going on better and lasting a lot longer because the texture of my skin is so much better now
• my face isn't irritated at all

I bought the 200ml tube but you can get it in a 100ml pump bottle which I think I will get next time. I ordered this online and when my cleanser arrived the lovely people at Liz Earle had given me a free muslin cloth and a mini bottle of Cleanse and Polish. 

Using the muslin cloth to take the cleanser off leaves my skin really soft and glowing. I also use this with my Botanics Face Brush every morning which works a treat.

Believe the hype about this, it's definitely worth the money and will work for every skin type.

Hannah xx

MAC Pinch Me and Fleur Power

 Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of interesting posts! I have just started my new job and so I've been really tired and working late nights. Today I have a day off though and thought I'd tell you about my latest MAC purchases.

I ordered a couple of blushers as I've been wanting to get some nice blushers for ages. I love the range of colours MAC have and their products never really fail me or wear off through the day.

I decided to get a blush that was more on the pink side and then a peachy coral colour. It took me a while to narrow it down but here's what I got - 

MAC Fleur Power (left) and Pinch Me

Fleur Power is a pinky coral satin formula and a really lovely blush. It's my favourite of the two beacuse it's really highly pigmented and I love how this makes me look glowing and healthy.You can really build this up or apply only a wash of colour. This looks good with a whole load of make up looks.

MAC Fleur Power

Pinch Me is also gorgeous. It's a sheertone formula so you get a completely different application from this. I love the colour, it's a dirty peachy coral without being too dark for my fair skin. This gives a sunkissed healthy look and really warms up my face. I can tell this is going to be a summer staple.

I plan on doing a few more face of the days using these products so you can see how they look on.

Also a welcome to my new followers :)

xxx

Turquoise NOTD

As I mentioned in my previous Nail of the Day I'm trying out more adventurous nail colours. I was looking in M&S the other day which is something I very rarely do and I stumbled across their make up section and saw they had quite a few bright nail polishes.

I bought this colour called Jade as I think it's lovely bright summery shade and I'm loving turquoise at the moment.

Please excuse my wrinkly dry hands! Should have put some hand cream on...

The application was a bit streaky as the polish seemed to dry as I was trying to apply it. To avoid this you have to make sure you have a lot of product on the brush. You definitely need two coats with this as the first coat was quite sheer.

I'm pretty impressed with this polish as I'm writing this on the 3rd day of wear and it hasn't chipped apart from a teeny bit on one nail which you can see in the picture. Most polishes usually chip within a day on me. I didn't apply a top coat either as I wanted to test it out.

What are your favourite spring nail colours?