Beauty and Bentley

Today I have another empties post sharing everything that I've used up over the last few weeks/months and if I liked/disliked the products. This month it's mostly skincare items with a few bits of make-up thrown in, I enjoy writing these kinds of posts as it allows me to reassess my thoughts having fully used a product and keep track of how quickly I work my way through them. 

B. Hydrated Hyaluronic Acid Facial Spritz

I've had this moisturising spray for a while now and used it on and off over the last few months and I have enjoyed it, it can be used before or after make-up to refresh the skin and boost hydration. The mister on this spray bottle isn't the best, it does sometimes leave small droplets on the skin but so long as you hold it far enough away from the face it isn't too big of an issue. It does have quite a fresh floral scent which I don't mind but I think I would prefer it not to be so fragranced as it is a skincare product and fragrance has no benefit for the skin. The bottle contains 75ml of products which isn't a huge amount but it still lasted quite a while, it costs £7.99 and I believe it can only be purchased from Superdrug (I picked this up on an offer and believe I paid about £4). I think it's a really nice skin refresher and I enjoy using any products that contain Hyaluronic Acid to give a boost of hydration, I sometimes felt it could be a tiny bit sticky so I would use a light hand when applying but I do like it and I would probably repurchase this in the future although I would probably wait till it was on some kind of promotion.

L'Oreal Infallible Longwear Shaping Stick 

This was the first foundation stick I had ever tried out and I really liked it, this has good coverage and a lovely dewy finish. This is a great foundation for travelling and for a really quick and easy application, it's not 100% transfer proof but it wears well throughout the day you may just need to blot/apply powder to stop things going from dewy to oily but it's all about personal preference. This foundation costs £8.99 and I would definitely repurchase this again in the future, it doesn't last as long as a lot of my liquid foundations but I still think it's worth it especially if you can pick it up while it's on offer. I have a full review of this foundation which I will link here.

L'Oreal Paradise Mascara

Okay, I loved this mascara it gives you really pretty, full and fluttery lashes that look great all day and don't flake or crumble onto the face. The packaging is a lovely rose gold colour and it comes with a traditional wand that's the perfect size to coat all of your lashes. I think the only criticism I can make is that the formula does dry out a bit quicker than a lot of other mascaras I have tried out but you are supposed to change your mascara every 3+ months to stop any build up of bacteria so technically speaking it did last its full shelf life but I think it could have just lasted that little bit longer but overall it's a great mascara and I would repurchase again in the future.

Simple Kind to Eyes Soothing Eye Balm

This is a lovely light eye cream that absorbs quickly into the skin, I don't believe it does anything to combat dark circles or wrinkles but I'm yet to try an eye cream that does. I think this would be great for anyone with sensitive skin as it contains no fragrance, colour or chemicals and it has a nice soothing feeling. It's an amazing budget-friendly option costing just £3.99 and I would repurchase this again in the future actually, since having used this up I have bought the Simple Kind to Eyes Revitalising Eye Roll-On which is a little more expensive but feels so cooling and refreshing.

The next few items are sample sizes that I received from the Marks and Spencer beauty advent calendar.

Rodial Dragons Blood Sculpting Gel

This is a beautiful light gel that instantly sinks into the skin and leaves you feeling plumped and hydrated, I really enjoyed trying out this little sample although I didn't love the scent it certainly wouldn't put me off using this product. I must say I probably wouldn't repurchase this again in the future but it has nothing to do with the product itself, this sculpting gel costs.....prepare yourselves......£85! I wish I earned enough money to afford these kinds of luxuries but at this point in my life, there's no way I could justify this price tag. If you are someone who loves luxury goods then go for it this is a lovely product!


REN Keep Young and Beautiful Instant Firming Beauty Shot 
This is a serum that you apply before your moisturiser which really makes your skin feel more firm after using. I really like this 'beauty shot' it made my skin feel lifted and smoother, it is expensive costing £42 for 30ml but if this is within your budget for skincare then I do think its worth purchasing, at this time I don't think I'll be repurchasing but only because I don't have a high enough income to justify the price. I really enjoyed using this along with the Rodial Dragons Blood Sculpting Gel as both these products work to lift and plump the skin and I really felt a difference when using both at the same time.


Gatineau Melatogenine AOX Probiotics Advanced Rejuvenating Cream
This cream claims to provide a powerful anti-ageing boost and the name certainly makes it sound super fancy but this is my least favourite product in this months empties post. It's not necessarily bad but I don't love how this wears under make-up and sometimes it feels a little heavy. This cream does feel very moisturising and perhaps with long-term use, it would provide some anti-ageing benefits but I just didn't notice anything that wowed me about this product and given that it costs £87 for 50ml I don't ever see myself repurchasing this in the future.


So, there you have it all the beauty products I've been using over the last few months, I would like to try out some new skincare once I use up some more of what I already have in my collection so if you have any suggestions let me know!

I love trying out Primark make-up, everything is so affordable and the quality is constantly improving so I'm always picking up something new, this time I decided to try out the My Perfect Colour Liquid Concealer so that's what I'm reviewing for you today!

I still really want to try out the Primark foundation that everyone's calling a dupe for the Estee Lauder Double Wear but yet again they didn't have any instore that would match my skin tone and I have been trying out quite a few foundations recently so when I spotted this liquid concealer which has a similar look to the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer I decided I'd try it out instead.

This concealer costs £2 and I picked the shade Porcelain, it claims to have medium coverage, vitamin E and aloe vera. It contains 7.8ml of product which is quite generous, when I looked at some of the other concealers I own the average seems to be around 7ml except for my Revolution Conceal and Define which only contains 3.4ml.

This concealer has pretty standard packaging, it's fairly sleek and simple so I have no complaints, it also comes with a flat doe foot applicator which makes application really easy and allows you to apply a generous amount under the eye area. It claims to be medium coverage which I would agree with, this won't completely take away all darkness and imperfections but I find if I use a small amount of my foundation under the eye area then layer up this concealer I can get enough coverage to be happy with how things look. This also works well as a highlight for the centre areas of the face, it blends easily into the skin and looks smooth, I prefer using a damp beauty sponge for blending out as this gives the best results. I really like that this concealer doesn't look dry under my eyes and the creasing is pretty minimal, once set with powder it lasts well throughout the day.

I've been using this concealer almost every day for the last fortnight and my feelings are mixed, I don't hate it and I don't absolutely love it. I think if this concealer had a bit more coverage then it could have definitely been a new favourite of mines but on the other hand, it's so reasonably priced and does look good on the skin. Overall, this is a great concealer for anyone on a budget that likes natural looking make-up and that doesn't need full coverage. If I was comparing this to the Revolution Conceal and Define I'd say I prefer the coverage of the Revolution concealer but I prefer the look and wear of the Primark concealer.

Soooo.....would I repurchase this again in the future?.....yeah I think I would.

What are your favourite concealers when you're on a budget?

Did you know I have an Etsy store selling digital downloads, including art prints, planners and clipart - check it out here!

Over the last couple of weeks, I've picked up some new products from Superdrug and I thought I'd share them with you and give you my first impressions. These products are all Superdrugs own brand so they are very reasonably priced and I wanted to test them out and see if they're good quality. I picked these up over two different trips to Superdrug and I bought three different products each in two different scents.

Layering Lab Body Mists (£3.49)

These body mists come in a variety of different scents and originally I wanted to pick up the Exotic scent as it's apparently a dupe for my favourite perfume, YSL Black Opium but they didn't have any in stock so instead, I decided to try out a couple of the other scents, Fresh and Cocoon!The idea behind these mists is that you can layer up different scents which will work with your own body chemistry to create a unique scent.

Fresh

This scent contains citrus, apple and peony and is very 'fresh' (as you would expect from the name). It has a slight aftershave vibe not that it smells masculine but it's also not a super girly scent, it would be great for summer days and although it doesn't last as long as a perfume it has a nice strong scent that I really enjoy.

Cocoon

I picked up Cocoon the second time I visited Superdrug whilst still hunting for the Exotic scent but it was still sold out. This contains jasmine, vanilla and musk and is a beautiful warm, comforting scent, even though I think this would be a great scent for Autumn I'm still loving it now and think this one is my favourite of the two I've tried (it also seems to last longer). 

Shower and Bath Soak (£2.99)

Usually, I will pick up Radox for my bath but these were on a buy one get one free offer so I decided to try them out. The first one I picked out was Mango and Coconut which I wasn't sure I would like because I'm not a lover of the coconut scent (or taste) but this smells so good, it reminds me of some sort of sweets.....maybe refreshers or a wham bar....either way I love it! The second one I got was Salted Caramel, this one is more relaxing and smells a bit like toffee. These are both really great and give a decent amount of bubbles to your bath, I would definitely pick these up in the future.

Dry Shampoo (£1.99)

Okay so yet again I picked this product up in two different scents, Bloomin' Barnet and Summer Crush, both smell good but I prefer Bloomin' Barnet. I don't know how much I can say about dry shampoo but for the price, I think these do a good job, they don't seem to give a strong white cast and they absorb excess oil to leave your hair feeling refreshed. I like that these dry shampoos aren't immediately powdery, if you spray a little on to your hand you'll see that it's a liquid that dries down to a powdery finish. I don't use dry shampoo all the time but my hair has been getting greasy very quickly recently and this is helping me go that extra day without washing. 

I have been impressed with all the items I picked up from Superdrug and would have no issue buying any of these again in the future!


What products have you tried from Superdrugs own brand? What did you think of them?

Revolution is the brand that's taking over the drugstore, they are constantly bringing out new products and everyone's obsessed with them so it's no surprise that the Fast Base Stick Foundation has been flying off shelves! Now I'm a little late jumping on the bandwagon of reviewing this product because I hadn't actually planned on buying it, I read a couple of reviews and the opinions were very mixed so I was just going to give it a miss but my mum was picking up a few bits of make-up in the 3 for 2 promotion at Superdrug and she said I could get the 3rd free product so I caved in and got the Fast Base Stick Foundation. 

The packaging was actually prettier than I expected, it's a nude matte plastic container with rose gold details, it doesn't feel super luxe but it definitely doesn't look cheap either. The foundation costs £5 and I picked up the shade F3 which is for fair skin with pink undertones. It contains 6.2g of product which seems to be less than most other brands (the Primark stick foundation contains 11g and the L'Oreal one contains 9g). Revolution products have amazing prices but they do seem to have much less product than the standard for most other brands so you may find you're not really saving that much money because you need to repurchase more often.

After Initial Application

The foundation is super creamy and quick to apply, it does blend out nicely although not quite as easily as the L'Oreal Infallible Shaping Stick. I like to use both a brush and sponge to get the smoothest, most even results, the coverage is good I would say it's medium buildable and has a very dewy finish. Once it's applied and set with powder the results are nice and I'm happy with how everything looks. 

After 5-6 Hours

When I take a look in the mirror after a good few hours of wear I notice the foundation no longer looks its best. My acne is beginning to peek through and the overall coverage is wearing away. It's definitely not transfer-proof, any time I touch my face make-up comes off and where I've itched my nose all of the foundation in that area has been removed. From a distance things look okay but close up you can see foundation settling into my fine lines and pores. My skin at this point looks shiny and I need to reapply powder but at the same time my skin somehow also looks dry and overall a bit cakey, it's something about how the foundation clings to the skin that emphasises texture.

I have only tried out this foundation a couple of time but each time my opinion has been the same as above and I've decided that this foundation is not for me. Every time I wear it I like the initial result but as the day goes on the foundation begins to look like it's sitting on top of the skin and gets particularly cakey in my t-zone area. This might be better for someone who doesn't have a lot of texture but as I do suffer from mild acne I can just notice every little lump and bump.

I will continue to try out some different ways to apply/mix this foundation to see if I can get it to work better for my skin but right now I don't love it and I won't be repurchasing it in the future.


Have you tried this foundation? What were your thoughts?

I have been blogging for roughly 10 months now and although I do most of my actual writing on my laptop I do use my mobile phone for a lot of other things to put together my blog posts. Today I thought I'd talk about a few of the apps that I use most often to organise my time, edit pictures and prepare everything for my social media.

I'm a Samsung girl, I've had phones from the Galaxy series for years and I've never owned an iPhone. I'm perfectly happy with Samsung phones and I wouldn't want to switch the only thing I wish is that more stores would sell cases for Samsung phones and that I could get hold of some apps that aren't available for Android but those are the only complaints I have.


Google Keep
This is the app I use to try and stay a bit more organised and write up lists, I love a list! This app allows you to save images, write notes and capture voice memos on the go. You can also give priority to specific items so they show up at the top of the page and assign colours to notes and lists. I mainly use this to create lists, that could be for post ideas, blogging goals, or to do lists but I don't just use this for blogging I always plan out meals for the week and write up a shopping list, this helps stop me from over-spending and makes it easier for me to eat a more healthy diet. Overall this is a really handy little app to have and for anyone who loves keeping things organised.

OI.Share
The Olympus Share app allows me to easily transfer images from my camera to my phone, I use the Olympus Pen EPL-8 and although I'm no photographer I'm loving learning and taking more high-quality images that I can easily transfer to my phone for editing. The app also allows you to use your phone as a remote control for your camera so you can set up your camera on a tripod and take images from a distance. I haven't used this particular feature much but it'll definitely come in handy in the future. This is a really great app but obviously, it's only useful for those who have an Olympus camera although most camera brands do offer something similar.

VSCO
This was my main editing app for a long time and although I'm not using it as much at the moment (the app I'm now using is Lightroom which I will talk about later in this post) I still wouldn't delete this app. VSCO has lots of really pretty filters and there are tons of different editing features including a crop, straighten and sharpen tool. You can also adjust the exposure, saturation and contrast. You can get some really great edits from this app and it's what I used for a long time but now I save it for quick edits, you can throw on a filter, adjust some basic settings and you're good to go.

UNUM
This app is very simple, it basically allows you to plan out your Instagram feed, you link it to your account and all your Instagram images will show up on your UNUM feed then you can add in images from your gallery and move things around to decide what you want to post next and if it fits with your theme (if you have a theme). It also collects information from your Instagram account to show you your top performing post, best posting times and best hashtags. I don't have a strict theme but I do like checking that any pictures I post won't look out of place.

Lightroom CC
This is the newest app that I've been using to edit my images, it's actually a proper editing program that many professionals use that's been made into an app, the original editing suite is quite expensive so for the time being I've settled for the app. This app is available for free but has an additional option for a small monthly fee to be able to use all of the features available. This is an amazing app which has all of the regular editing options as well as the ability to change up and intensify different colours. This is how I'm currently editing most of my images for my blog and social media and I think that this app mixed with my Olympus camera has allowed me to improve the quality of my images.


These are just a few of my favourite apps, let me know if you would like me to share more in another post?

Inara Candles

I love burning a beautifully scented candle, especially at night so I was very excited to be gifted a candle in a scent of my choice to test out. Inara Candles are based in Glasgow and create luxury natural soy, hand poured candles. I chose the scent White Petals and Bergamot which arrived quickly and was well packaged, I'm not the best at describing scents (I apologise) but obviously this is quite floral and it's definitely a strong scent I was initially worried that it might be too overpowering but once it's lit I actually think the scent is even nicer, it's a lovely sophisticated floral scent. This is definitely a new favourite and I will be continuing to burn this throughout April.


The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond
My favourite kind of books are always psychological thrillers, it's pretty much all I read and most recently I've picked up The Marriage Pact. I'm probably only about halfway through this book but so far I'm enjoying it, I won't talk too much about what happens but it's about a newlywed couple who join a club for married couples that guarantees you will never get divorced and as always with these kinds of books things take a sinister turn. The couple have to adhere to a strict set of rules that are put in place to give you the perfect marriage if rules are broken there are consequences and nobody is allowed to leave. I'm excited to see what other twists and turns will be put into this book and hopefully, it will have a good ending (nothing spoils a book more than an ending that's a total letdown). I will hopefully finish this book later this month and I'll be sure to give an update!


L'Oreal Infallible Shaping Stick Foundation
I picked up this foundation a month or so ago when it was first released and I've been using it so often that it's almost empty. This is a really lovely creamy stick foundation that gives medium coverage and wears really nicely throughout the day. One of my favourite things about this foundation is how quick and easy it is to apply, I just apply it to my skin in stripes and blend out with a brush building the coverage wherever I need it. The foundation claims to be matte but it's not true this has a natural finish and can get quite dewy throughout the day which I love for spring. I have a full review of this product which I will link here.


Epaderm Cream
This isn't a very glamorous beauty product but it is saving my skin at the moment, it's a moisturiser aimed at anyone with dry skin, eczema or psoriasis and it doesn't contain any fragrance or colouring. My skin has been very dry recently and this cream is really helping, it doesn't smell amazing, it's very much like a medicated cream. It can be used on babies skin so it's a great product for families to have, I won't use it consistently but it's great to have hiding in a drawer for any time your skin gets especially dry (which mines definitely is right now).


Estee Lauder Double Wear
I've spoken about this foundation before and I absolutely love it, it's my holy grail foundation! I ran out of it a while back and I've only just recently repurchased it so it had to go in my favourites post, it's full coverage and wears longer than any other foundation I've ever used. My skin hasn't been it's best recently and I've been having quite a few breakouts but this foundation does an amazing job at covering everything up. I'll link my full review here, it is a fairly expensive product but it's definitely worth the money.


What are your current favourite products?

A few weeks ago I was contacted by PersonalizedCart.com and asked if I would like to pick out one of their products to review, after having a quick look at the website I spotted something I thought would make a cute gift for my boyfriend whos birthday is later this month so I thought why not! 

Personalized Cart is as you might expect from the name an online shop offering a selection of gift ideas that can be personalised, it is based in the US so if like me you are from the UK you will need to check prices and shipping costs. The average delivery time after shipping to the UK is 7-10 business days, I believe mines arrived in roughly 8 days.

I picked out the Men's Wooden Watch which retails for $22.00 which works out at about £15.70, I think this is very reasonable especially as you get to have it engraved. I didn't want to choose a super soppy message so I just had it engraved with 'Happy 25th Birthday'. Okay so the watch arrived pretty quickly and was well packaged, it arrived in a padded envelope and the watch was in a lovely wooden gift box which I was surprised to see was also engraved which was a really nice touch. The watch itself is really nice it has a large watch face giving it a more masculine feel and is a dark brown colour. It's a lovely simple watch design with engraving on the back and an adjustable strap. I love the dark colours used as this makes it feel stylish and sophisticated in an understated way.

I would say the watch is definitely worth the money, I would just suggest checking out how much shipping will cost if you are not based in the US and make sure you order well in advance if you're getting someone a gift to make sure it arrives on time. The website is simple and easy to use although some of the descriptions etc. are a little difficult to understand or don't 100% make sense but overall you shouldn't have any issue using the website. Some of the other items they offer include watch boxes, pocket knives, flasks, jewellery and wine glasses.

Thank you to PersonalizedCart.com for gifting me this item (to gift to someone else 😂) I really like the product, its presentation and the quality and I think my boyfriend will be very happy to receive this as one of his birthday gifts!

Boys are so difficult to buy for, does anyone else have some good gift ideas?