MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH NIVEA

When it comes to skincare, it really does depend on what your skin is like and what your personal preference is. I have combination skin but it's definitely more on the normal to combination type, so I always buy and try products that are suited to my skin. And trust me, I have tried a ton of products, drugstore to high end, but one that always stands out for me is Nivea.

Nivea have been going for years, 103 to be precise, so they must be doing something good. Nivea is so affordable and definitely a favourite of mine. Their products are so gentle on my skin and don't break me out. So this post is dedicated to a few of my favourite Nivea skincare products. 

I miss and match my skincare products and update my routine like there's no tomorrow, to make sure I'm trying out new things, but the above products make always make a regular feature.

When it comes to removing makeup, I always use Nivea Facial Cleansing wipes for Normal to Combination skin and usually use a cleanser afterwards. These wipes are ideal for me because they get rid of majority of my makeup so cleansing is a breeze. I typically use Nivea eye make up remover first to avoid the panda eyes look. Next in comes the 2-in-1 Cleanser and Toner.

I like using ordinary cotton pads with the cleanser to make sure everything is off my face and it leaves my skin feeling fresher.

Nivea's Daily Essential's face wash gel and gentle exfoliator are a dream come true. They do exactly what they say they will without leaving my skin feeling irritated or tight, like some face washes have in the past.

When it comes to lip balms, I've got millions and I love them all, but this basic lip balm from Nivea just tops them off for me. It's so cheap, so nourishing and it smells really good too so I'm not going to complain!

What do you think of Nivea skincare?

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Refreshing Facial Wash Gel

Gentle Exfoliating Scrub

Eye makeup remover

Facial wipes

2-in1 Cleanser and Toner

Lip balm

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SO I POPPED INTO BOOTS FOR FOUNDATION...

So I popped into Boots to get some more of my favourite drugstore foundation, Rimmel's Match Perfection, and then this happened. Whoops!  

I grabbed a few essentials like the foundation and powder, Nivea face wash and daily moisturiser and also got a few new things. I'm personally a fan of 'colour your hair at home kits' plus my little sister is a hairdresser, so if anything goes wrong I've always got her to hand. I picked up two of the Garnier Nutrisse permanent hair colour in the shade 4 Dark Brown.

That grey round tub you see, is in fact a nice big tub of Umberto Giannini Frizzi 'When Nothing Else Will Do Intense Mask'. The main reason I bought this was because I'm colouring my hair, so it becomes a little bit dry and any mask that promises to stop frizz is a must for me.

Had to pick up the Dove Go Fresh deodorant because it smells fab, and because deodorant is a fundamental necessity. Same with the Oval face pads, an essential for removing makeup!

A few more new things from MaxFactor for me to try. I love the colour of these two polishes (lilac lace / flushed rose) so I thought I'd give them a whirl and for some reason I just picked up the mascara and didn't think twice about it! Baring in mind how much I am in love with No7 Lash Impact mascara, I'm not sure what I'll make of it, but I'll keep an open mind.

Keep an eye out on my blog for reviews of these products!

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Garnier Nutrisse Creme permanent hair colour - Cocoa Dark Brown

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation

Nivea Daily Essentials Facial Wash Gel

Nivea Daily Essentials Light Moisturising Day Cream 

Umberto Giannini Frizzi Mask

MaxFactor Nail Glossfinity nail varnish

MaxFactor 2000 Calorie Mascara

Dove Go Fresh Deodorant - Pomegranate & Lemon Verbena scent

Boots oval face pads

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MY GO TO SUMMER LIPS

So with all this nice weather I thought I would do a post on my favourite summer lips. Traditionally, I'm a nude lippy lover and I rarely stray from this but lately I've been feeling a little bit more confident and have decided to give the bright lips ago! Apologies for the lack of my typical 'in the packaging shot', I took the images today and they have come out RUBBISH and I've given up all hope. Anywayssss, here are my top five summer lip colours!

First up is Rimmel's Apocalips in the shade Luna. If you read my blog you'll know this little lovely popped up in my April favourites and is an all time love for me. When it comes to brighter lips, I love a good orange shade and Luna is perfect for me. It's not too in your face but there's enough orange-y-ness to make an impact. The Apocalips glide on like a dream, last for aaaaages and have such a lovely finish to them.

In comes my favourite bright of all time, Rimmel's Lasting Finish by Kate in the shade 110. This is a true orangey red and is ideal for that pop of colour I need in summer, especially because I'm typically a monochrome gal when it comes to clothes. These are so raved about with bloggers and it's well deserved! This lipstick glides on brilliantly, has amazing pigmentation and has a matte finish which lasts all day without clingy to any dry bits.

I always used to shy away from pink but I'm starting to fall in love, especially with Maybelline's Colorsensational lipstick in the shade Fuchsia Flush. An eye popping pink with blue undertones to make your teeth look whiter, who could ask for more? This has more of a sheeny finish but it is truly beautiful lipstick that I recommend to all colour lovers out there.

Fourth up comes MAC Pink Pearl Pop. This is so usually a 'not a Paige kind of lippy' but I'm loving it lately with muted eye makeup and a bronzed skin look. Like all MAC Cremesheen lipsticks, it's got a glossy almost lipgloss look with shimmering flecks running throughout, but it feels so hydrating on my lips. This shade looks perfect on tanned up skin (and pale skin too) and is the ideal girly pink lipstick. Like all MAC lipsticks, they are a lipstick dream, you get my drift?

And last, but by no means least, MUA's amazing £1 lipstick in the shade Nectar. This has to be the lipstick I'm always running too lately, and I'm hoping the swatch above will give you an understanding why. At beyond a bargain at only £1, these lipsticks are seriously faultless; cheap, good quality, amazing pigmentation all with a gorgeous glossy finish.

What's your favourite summer lipsticks?

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MAC - Pink Pearl Pop

Rimmel Apocalips - Luna

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate - 110

Maybelline Colorsensational -Fuchsia Flush

MUA - Nectar

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FOTD - SUBTLE AND PINK

Wow is it hot in London at the moment, summer has finally arrived! And with this hot weather comes a minimal face of the face because I'm sure you all know, nothing is worse that wearing a ton of makeup of your face when it's warm out. Especially for me because I have combo skin and by midday, half of it is falling of my face, irrelevant of whether I have a primer and setting spray on!

So today I decided to go for a subtle pink, glowing skin look and this is how I got it.

Firstly I applied a little bit of MONU Hydrating Moisturiser to give my skin a bit of hydration and the MONU Illuminating Primer in order to get my makeup to last a little bit longer, and on a normal day this does a fab job of doing so. Both have an SPF 15.

As a rule I apply a medium to full coverage foundation with my Real Techniques buffing brush in order to get maximum cover, but on warmer days I automatically reach for my MAC Face and Body. I applied this using my fingertips to really work it into the skin and get a average coverage. This foundation is ideal for the dewy glowing skin I want.

On top of my foundation, I patted on a little bit of concealer from my ELF concealer palette just to hide a few of those blemishes. 

After sitting about and waiting for my base to sink in, I moved onto my brows. I've really been loving Maybelline's Colour Tattoo in the shade Permanent Taupe just to fill them in. The shade doesn't seem to come up well on camera but it's a good match for my brows and due to it being a gel eyeshadow, it stays put all day which is perfect for me!

Once they were done, I moved back onto the face. I gave my face a bit of definition with my ELF contour blush duo (see the full review here) and highlighted the tops of my cheeks, cupids bow and bridge of my nose with my MUA Undress Your Skin highlight- I highly recommend both these products, both so cheap and work wonders!

For eyes I went for a subtle pink. For this I swept on the third shade from my Estee Lauder Signiture Eyeshadow in 03 Smoky Pink quad all over my lid and gave it a bit of definition with the browny pink from the same quad - swatches are below.

I feel naked without eyeliner, so on when a small line of NYC High Definition Liquid Eyeliner in Extra Black and to finish it off, I curled my lashes and applied a few coats of my favourite mascara, No7 Lash Impact in Black as well. 

And finally to complete the look, I dabbed on a little bit of NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in the shade Tokyo. These lip creams are perfect for this weather as they're not drying on the lips but definitely do not budge and last all day on me.

And that's todays makeup, hope you're all enjoying the sunshine!

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MAC Face and Body - C2

ELF Contour and Blush duo - St Lucia

ELF Concealer palette - Light

No7 Lash Impact Mascara - Black

NYC High Definition Eyeliner - 889

MUA Undress Your Skin Highlight

NYX Matte Lip Cream - Tokyo

Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadow - Permanent Taupe

MONU Hydrating Moisturiser

MONU Illuminating Primer

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REVIEW - E.L.F CONTOUR AND BLUSH DUO WITH SWATCHES

As you all know, last week my little ELF haul was delivered and I've been testing out the products since I received it, and this is soon becoming my favourite face product! With ease this gives me shape and definition in a matter of seconds.

I must admit, how much does this duo remind you of NARS Orgasm blush and Laguna bronzer duo? From the packaging to the pigmentation to the product texture, all I can think about is the Orgasm/Laguna duo and trust me I'm not complaining! A little unoriginal I must admit but this cost me £3.95 and the Orgasm/Laguna duo retails at £30 so I'm not going to say no, but seriously this has to be the best dupe ever!

The blush is a true pink shade with flecks of gold running through whilst the contour powder is a matte brown with slight undertones of orange. Both powders compliment each other perfectly and are highly pigmented, as you can see from the swatches, and blend easily upon the skin to create either a natural or dramatic look. I was nervous at first due to my pasty pale skin, but if I can blend it to go with my skin, I'm sure you can too! I love the texture of these powders as they glide upon the skin and feel very lightweight. 

Without a doubt, I highly recommend this contour blush duo to every single one of you!

JUST A FEW NEW THINGS FROM E.L.F

The other day I was having a browse on eyelipsface.com and I saw some bargains I couldn't refuse. For instance, my whole order cost me under £21, I got a free mystery gift, well gifts should I say, and I got free delivery! 

Because I've never really tried E.L.F products before I thought I'd order only a few things and go from there, but on first impressions, I'm impressed!

So I only actually purchased six items; three brushes, a contour palette, eye shadow palette and a concealer palette because you can never have too many palettes. I haven't put any swatches up yet because I'm hopping to give them all a test out first and then give you a review! I picked up the countour palette in the shade St. Lucia because it seem to be the lightest shade and considering I'm so pale, I need it to be subtile. I must admit the packaging of the Contour Palette is ever so similar to the NARS packaging which is a little unoriginal but pretty nevertheless.

I chose the 32 Piece Eyeshadow Palette in the shade Natural because funnily enough I was looking for a more natural, nudey (if that's even a word?) looking palette! I have heard so many amazing things about E.L.F eyeshadows and I wanted to give them a go myself.

I also grab the Complete Coverage Concealer in the shade light, obviously because I'm so pale. What drew me to this is the four different shades of concealer which will aid me to mask a multiple of sins but also because I'm on holiday next month, so hopefully the darker shades will help hide my blemishes if I manage to catch a tan!

As you can see in the pictures above, I also picked up three brushes. I just chose two eyeshadow blending brushes because you can never have too many and a bronzing brush. Not entirely sure why I selected the bronzing brush but I'm positive it will come in handy!

E.L.F were also really generous this past week and gave me a massive surprise gift which includes:

Baked Bronzer in the shade Los Cabos

Conditioning Lip Balm SPF 15 in Bombshell Brown

Matte Eyeshadow in Mint

Mineral Lip Gloss in Daring

Duo Cream Eyeshadow Cream in Berry Mix

Liquid Eyeliner in Plum

In all honestly, I will probably only use the liquid eyeliner as the colours of the other products aren't really my thing, but it was still super generous of them and the products won't go to waste because I'll give them to my little sister, she'll find something to do with them!

That's all for now, keep checking on my blog for new posts and a review on these products!

APRIL FAVOURITES

How is it May already? But anyways, another month, another monthly favourites and this month I've found myself discovering products I've had and never used, oh and it's also been quite a drugstore month for beauty products for me.

First up is skincare and both products I've been loving this month are samples from a previous GlossyBox.

The Harmony Moisturising Smoothie Serum from Premae Skincare is such a lovely product. The lemongrass scent is really refreshing and uplifting and I really like the texture of the product. The products states it is for oily/combination skin, which mine is, and it has worked wonders. The serum without a doubt makes my skin feel smooth and I would even say it has helped the appearance of my skin.

The second skincare product is Prime & Create Mixing Medium by Beautiful Movements. This product is beyond a god send. It can be used for a multitude of things but I tend to use it for priming my face or I mix it with pigments to make them easier to apply. It has a lovely texture and really does mattify my face. 

I've enjoyed these products so much this month, I've purchased both in full sizes.

An old favourite of mine, which I've been loving lately, is Rimmel's Apocalips in the shade Luna. I've been faithful to the Apocalips and truly love them, but I have to admit that I have neglected them in recent months until I stumbled upon this shade in my makeup set. This shade has always been my favourite as its a pale coral and glides onto my lips effortlessly and last a good while. By far my favourite lip lacquer in the drugstores.

When it comes to nail polishes, I'm a fussy girl, but I've always been a fan of Rimmel's polishes and the new Rita Ora collection is just stunning. The shade I absolutely adore is 873 Breakfast in Bed and is a gorgeous mint green colour with tiny specks of silver shimmer running throughout. Like all Rimmel polishes, the formula is lovely, dries quickly and lasts a good amount of time. I know I'll be using this shade all summer.

My final monthly favourite is a highlighter from MUA. This highlighter is a peachy shade with what looks to be pink shimmer within it and I think it compliments my cheekbones quite nicely! 

And that's it for this month, roll on May!