I'm back!

After a busy couple of weeks where work and a much needed holiday kept me away from blogging I am back and think I have got my mojo back on the blogging front. To be honest I was starting to wonder whether the blogging was really worth it, I enjoy twitter and reading other peoples blogs and was just not loving blogging that much, I think I'll see how it goes for a little bit longer and if I am still boring myself then I'll kick it into touch, although will still be tweeting, following other blogs and commenting like a demon, so you wont have heard the last from me if I do stop!

Got a couple of nice bits in duty free and on holiday that I want to blog and another post on the couple  of products that were total life savers when I got burnt on holiday - I know, cardinal sin! In the meantime have a mass of work to catch up on and loads of photos to sort so please bear with me for a little bit longer.

PS - in the meantime there are some holiday snaps to have a look at here on the photo blog!
x

Bourjois Sweet Kisses Naturel - Framboise Exquise

Recently I raved about a rather bright Bourjois lipstick so I decided to get one in a my lips but better shade that would be a bit more every day.

At the time I hadn't registered that the case was pink and not purple and didn't realise that this is because it is from their "Naturel" range.  Still love the satisfying "click" on the cases of these! What they say:

100% natural formula
100% radiant shades

All the benefits of Nature in one lipstick!
Its formula of 100% natural origin brings radiance and care to lips.
Enriched with magnolia oil and shea butter, its melting formula intensely nourishes lips, leaving them supple and providing them with 8 hours of moisture.
The intense and radiant shades illuminate your lips thanks to the 100% natural pigments selected for their purity and benefits: antioxidant green tea and soothing rose.

So more lip loving ingredients!  I have to say much like the previous Bourjois lipstick this one does feel very creamy and non-drying on your lips.  Again this one has reasonable wear - it can pretty much withstand a cup of tea - and wears off evenly without staining.  This one seems slightly more matte than the purple case Bourjois lipstick and again is very opaque.

Its a lot more wearable for days when I cant manage to live up to the brighter pink!

Swatched indoors in natural light

 It has more of an orangeyness to it than I am completely comfortable with but I think its ok.

Outdoors, dull morning swatch!

Just for comparison here is the other lipstick in this range.

As you can see very similar waxy texture but much more in yer face!

And finally in context of my face!

In my opinion both the Naturel and non-naturel Sweet Kisses lipsticks are lovely and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them if you fancy a smooth creamy shot of colour. I love that the two I have are cream without any hint of glitter or shimmer.


Available from Boots (not online?) for £7.99.  Have just discovered that there is a third option, the pale purple case is the Sweet Kisses Shine version of this lipstick. Guess what I have just added to my wish list?!

Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser

Am about to confess to something weird, I have googled Liz Earle skin care for years, looked at the website, read glowing reviews and never purchased anything, in spite of knowing that it would be perfect for my skin.  Part of the reason is that on a limited budget I am terrified of making mistakes and when you could only purchase on line I was loathe to part with my cash - I like to have tried things on the back of my hand before opening the purse!  I also think a tiny bit of the reason is that I am weirdly envious of Ms Earle, I mean have you seen her? She looks so amazing. Which for anyone normal would have been reason enough to purchase anything and everything produced with her name on it.  I am clearly not normal!

Having known instinctively that my skin would completely love this cream I was still amazed by just how much!  I honestly don't think my skin has ever felt more comfortable.  I am sure that everyone has already tried Liz Earle Skin Repair cream and I am preaching to the converted but just a quick overview for anyone that hasn't!   The cream itself is dense and rich without lagging your face in oil, I have dry skin so bought the version for dry skin, often heavier creams for dry skin are not a great base for make up, this is not the case with this.  It soaks in well leaving my skin feeling calm and plump.

It smells like heaven, not an overly strong fragrance just a lovely comforting smell which helps to make it a pleasure to use.

Obviously its chock full of skin loving ingredients and if you have mature, dry, sensitive skin that needs a lot of moisture and love I strongly recommend you give this a whirl.

I am all about getting the best product for my skin for the least amount of money and for just £17.50 for 50ml this cream ticks all those boxes too.  Available on line here as well as in John Lewis and Liz Earle stores - dying to visit the one in Leeds!   

The Cleanse and Polish, Instant Boots Skin Tonic and Superskin Concentrate are all now on my list of things I really want to try!

If you are already using Liz Earle let me know what your absolute fave product is and I'll add it to my list! 

Bourjois Sweet Kisses Lipstick - Rose Seduisant

You know when you find your "perfect" lipstick, when the formula, the packaging the colour and the wear all come together?  This lipstick, for me, is one of those.  

I recently wore a bright red lipstick and whilst the orangey bright red I wore I didn't love I did really like how glam a red coloured lip made me feel.  I had my heart set on a dark vampy red, but decided that it would just be unwearable and was lurking around in Boots admiring the packaging of the Bourjois lipsticks when I spotted this shade which is I guess a berry pink shade in the bullet but on my lips looks quite red without being over the top.

What Bourjois say about it:

Bourjois Sweet Kisses Lipstick dress your smile in intense radiant colour thanks to the unique complex of waxes and oils which coats the pigments for ultra luminosity. Voila! A luminous satin finish in one stroke!
A new generation of gliding formula, plus a selection of fine and infinitely light oils, which offer maximum comfort upon application. Argan oil gives upto 8 hours moisturisation for ultra kissable lips.
A true beauty accessory!

Years ago I had a Lancome lipstick in this sort of shade and I loved it.  What I really like about this is how comfortable it is to wear, all those oils really do seem to help prevent my lips drying out and I love the satin finish, bit of sheen without a heap of shine!  I have been wearing it with a bobbi brown pencil to prevent bleeding and then applying it with a brush for a really neat application - its not the sort of colour I would want to smear all over the place!  Although it does work nicely if I just pat a little on for a less "done" look as well.

In shade

In sunlight - this is very colour accurate

I feel this really brightens up my face and love that it feels really comfortable on.  It has no real taste or smell and I like that too. 

The 2 above were a rush job when I got in from shopping as was dying to try this!

This one I made a bit more effort for - including the taupe and grey from the Ruby & Millie quad!

The packaging is great too, although it took Em and I a while to work out how to get into it! You push down the silver button and the lipstick comes completely out of the purple case and then slots back in with a satisfying click, very novel and more importantly very secure.

You can buy it from Boots here for £7.99, I will definitely be going back for more. 

Ruby & Millie Bargains!

Wondering around Huddersfield feeling a tad dejected.  I literally had £15 left in my secret stash of cash which I keep for emergency make up purchases.  Even by my standards £15 is not a whole heap and everything I wanted was way more.  

Em and I wondered into Boots just on the off chance and look what I found!

Ruby & Millie bargains!! These were reduced to £1.81 each - an eye shadow compact in the gold case and a lip gloss one in the red.

Really nice neutral collection - the light brown in the top right section really caught my eye as the UD Naked palette doesn't have a pale brown/taupe with subtle shimmer, the 2 palest browns are in that palette are matte.

Swatched in shade, clockwise from the white

Same order, in the sun - clipped the white a tad!

The shadows are gorgeous! soft and buttery, well pigmented and with light shimmer and no fall out, I am made up with them.

The lipglosses are a nice range of colours too.

Swatched in shade, clockwise from the red

Swatched in sunlight, same order

 The glosses aren't as strongly pigmented as the shadows but I think for glosses the colour pay off is pretty good.  They have a really nice balm like texture, rather than gloopy sticky gloss with no taste or smell.  I was really pleased to pick these up for for under four quid even if the glosses aren't pristine - should have been more careful and nabbed one of the still sealed kits, didn't think about it in my haste to grab one!

In addition I got one of their eye liner brushes for 83p - I already have one which I use daily to tight line using shadow, its a straight brush and is fantastic for tight lining, pleased to have a spare just in case!  Resisted the £1 foundation brush as I already have one of those too!

I also got a GORGEOUS lipstick - but saving that for a later post!

Whats everyone been up to this weekend, anyone else nabbed a bargain?

Sanctuary Therapists Secret Facial Oil & Mir Argan Beauty Oil joint review

If you are a regular reader you will know that I have really dry skin.  I was recently going through a really dry phase when I was in Boots with a £5 voucher off facial skin care burning a hole in my pocket when I spotted the Sanctuary facial oil.  Without the voucher this would have been £17 which isn’t bad, for £12 it was a steal!

The oil is in a nice glass bottle with a pipette top, which initially I really liked – very apothecary. Reality is if you are as cack handed as me, a glass bottle, a tricky top and lashings of oil are not the best combination!  I did eventually work out that if  you hold the bottom of the bottle your left hand you can unscrew, suck up and drop a couple of drops of oil onto the palm of the left hand using your right, but that entailed a good few near misses.  

The Sanctuary oil is a blend of Essential oils of Frankincense, Jojoba oil, Rose, Rosehip seed oil, Sunflower oils and wheat germ oil – the fragrance, which is very delicate but rather lovely, clearly comes from the Rose and Frankincense.
 
Whilst I have had the Sanctuary oil I have also tried a small sample of the Mir pure Argan oil which was part of a Mir Sample set that I purchased to try, the full size bottle of this comes with a pump  - much less dangerous!

Photo borrowed from www.mirskincare.com

The two oils feel quite different. The Sanctuary oil is much denser and as such feels a little as if it sits on the skin more, the Argan oil is a lighter oil and did seem to soak in very much more quickly.  The Sanctuary oil is more fragranced than the Mir pure Argan and if you are a very sensitive soul this might warrant bearing in mind.  My skin has relished both.  I use a couple of drops of whichever is closest to hand morning and evening, after cleansing and before moisturizer – it is an option to add a couple of drops of oil to your moisturizer but my skin seemed happiest when I applied the oil direct.  My skin feels nourished and plumped up and once it got over a major hormone induced blip recently has had a much more even tone and less visible redness. 

I am rather partial to a good exfoliate before bed and again the oil has been lovely smoothed into my buffed face, on the nights I have exfoliated I have been a bit more liberal with the oil and applied it more as a mask rather than a base for a night cream – the Sanctuary oil may be better for overnight as it is more heavy weight.  It is lovely for a pre-sleep facial massage too as it gives nice slip and the fragrance is soothing. The pure Argan is my preference in the morning under my moisturiser as my skin just mops this up.

Will I buy again?  Absolutely. I have to say I love the convenience of being able to nip into Boots to pick up the Sanctuary oil so it will probably win out but I think the Mir is actually better for your skin, not least because it is so easily absorbed.

The Sanctuary oil is £17.35 for 30ml and available in Boots.

The Mir pure Argan oil is £17.50 for 30ml and available here (although you will need to add p&p to that too!)

Trafford Centre haul

Have had such a lovely day! More than made up for not especially wonderful birthday and 22nd wedding anniversary!  Steve and I had a day to ourselves, we work and live together so are in pretty much the same place 24/7 but having a guest house full of guests, 2 kids, 2 dogs and another business each as well as the guest house "quality" time is in short supply.  

We aren't getting a holiday together again this year and our birthdays and our 22nd wedding anniversary came and went without much fanfare so we have decided to shut up shop on Sunday night and head up to Ripon when we have finished breakfast on Sunday morning and got rid of all the guests - there'll be no polite post-breakfast chatting on Sunday thats for sure!  I have booked a room in what according to Trip Advisor is a very nice hotel, LateRooms guests hurtle between loving and hating, so if its pants there will be trouble!  Have booked a table for dinner in an Italian Restaurant nearby and then on Monday we are going to Fountains Abbey before heading home Monday pm ready to see in the guests that are arriving that evening.  So Steve needed some new shirts for our "trip" away which is why he suggested the trip to the Trafford Centre today.

The last time I was there Em had managed to forget her card and I only had limited cash so I stood with a tube of Lanolips Lemonaid in my hand and had to put it back just in case that £9 was needed for a more important purchase later in the day.  Have regretted putting it back ever since and today I got to rectify that and am already addicted.  For those of you that don't know it is "An ultra rich & creamy whipped lanolin lip treatment with organic lemon oil to naturally exfoliate, leaving lips fresh, soft and moist".  It has a mouth watering, tart, freshly made lemonade smell to it but only a little hint of lemon flavour, it does feel incredibly rich on your lips and because it has some shimmer in it you end up with glossy, smooth, lemon scented lips with a hint of shimmer. Treats like a balm, looks like a gloss with no hint of stickiness, its my new love thing!

I had also been trying to convince Steve that I was worth £33 of Alpha H skin care, he has remained resolute that I am not. Rather than go without a decent moisturiser any longer I decided that I would march into John Lewis and purchase Liz Earle Skin Repair moisturiser for dry skin, as if it were my right, which worked!  Will do a proper review of this in due course, but first impressions are that it is much denser than I had anticipated - had thought I might have to go down the Superskin route - so I am hoping it will be just what my skin needs. 

I also picked up a 5 day sample of Clinique Moisture Surge tinted moisturiser - the SA in Boots was unable to give it to me because they "haven't had the pots delivered yet and if I put it into a pot and anything happens we would be liable" What on earth could happen - tinted moisturiser causes outbreak of plague perhaps? More like a case of "naff off you freebie hunting low life". Went to John Lewis where the Clinique SA was more than happy to play ball, although am assuming she paid for my sample out of her wages as I would need a face the size of a gnat for her sample to last 5 days. Oh well, it's free and I am planning to buy anyway!

So that was the haul.  Oh and Steve got some shirts too!