Review : Clarisonic

I was a little dubious about doing a review on the Clarisonic; firstly because at the time I purchased it is only available in the USA, and secondly because of the price. However, Space NK will be stocking the larger models in October, and the Clarisonic Website now offers the Classic and Plus models in the UK. There might be some of you skincare aficionados willing to spend the money, and I absolutely love it so I thought that I would give you my thoughts.

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A little about the product:-
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The Clarisonic that I purchased was the Mia, which is the small version with the Plink travel adaptor, meaning that it can be used safely throughout the world, combined with that Countries specific adaptor, and the Plink changes the voltage.

The Clarisonic is made by Philips, the people that brought you the Sonicare Toothbrush and it uses the same sonic technology to deep cleanse your face. It has been proven to remove 6 times more makeup from your face than manual cleansing, and the vibrating / pulsating action of the Clarisonic improves your skin texture and makes the application of serums and creams much easier and more effective. It also reduces the appearance of visible pores and fine lines and wrinkles.

I bought mine, from EssentialDaySpa.com (p.s they also send you samples!) with is a Canadian website for £87.00 with £8.95 shipping, it arrived in just over a week, however, it was held up at Customs and I had to pay £21.10 in duty for it to be released. I hear that it is just luck of the draw as to whether it will be stopped by Customs, and mine was! You can also purchase a Clarisonic Classic and Plus, which is the original products and a bit bigger than the Mia. These are also slightly more expensive but you can get body attachments for the Plus. You can also find them on Ebay but EssentialDaySpa.com was the cheapest I could find it. You will also need to purchase a US to UK adaptor, which I bought for £2.99 from Maplin.

What I think about the product:-

So far I can honestly say that it is one of the best products I have purchased in a long time. I love the action of it when it cleans your skin, it's very soothing! It pulsates for 1 minute and in that time you should spend 10 seconds on your forehead and nose and equal amounts on your cheeks and chin. The idea is that you put your cleanser on, wet the brush (which is waterproof) and turn it on and massage the cleanser into your skin for 1 minute and then rinse. You are left with lovely clean, glowing skin!

Would I re-purchase:-

Well I should hope that I never have to! This is designed to last you a good few years I would imagine, but certainly I love it enough to buy another if anything was to happen to it.

If you would like some more information about the Clarisonic, I found that the Clarisonic Website is very helpful, albeit a bit "sales pitch" and also a YT by Allthatgitters21, and you can find many more videos on YT just by searching.

Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipsticks

I know that you have all been pretty inundated with reviews of Maybelline's Coloursensational Lipsticks, so I will keep this short but sweet; these are a fabulous drugstore / budget buy, with a large array of colours to choose from, and a really nice texture, so if you can't stretch to the more high calibre brands these are absolutely worth a look.

Here are the colours I have (I also have Sweet Pink, which appears to have gone AWOL!)

(L - R) Midnight Plum, Precious Beige, Ambre Rose and Summer Pink.

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Here they are on the lips:-
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When I find Sweet Pink (which is very similar to Ambre Rose) I will show it to you all!

Review: Soap & Glory Butter Up

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I am going to be slightly controversial here and say that I do not personally like the standard Soap & Glory products. I'm not going to go along with the crowd and say I like the smell when I don't - it gives me a headache! I will however sing the praises for their Spa range and in particular the Butter Up body butter.

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A little about the product:-

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Marketed as their "deluxe body smoothing cream" this body butter contains numerous dry skin ridding ingredients such as cocoa butter, shea butter and vitamin e, all known for their skin renewing properties. You get quite a hefty tube of product (200mls to be precise) for a fairly reasonable price of £7.50 from Boots and Harvey Nichols in the UK and I believe Target in the US.

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What I think about the product:-

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The scent of this body butter is much less cloying for me, it is not dissimilar to orange blossom and it doesn't interfere with any other perfumes you might choose to where as the scent is very subtle and fresh. I usually have a bath every morning and have been applying this butter after and have no problem with my skin being too sticky to get dressed straight away, it absorbs really quickly and doesn't leave a greasy residue on the skin. What I also love about this product is that it gives a lovely healthy sheen to your skin, not sparkle or shimmer, it just makes your skin look luminous and glowing, now who wouldn't want that! It is very moisturising but without being too heavy, seeing as it is a body butter.
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The only thing that slightly worries me is how easy it will be to get the product out of the tube when I have used quite a bit. The texture is very thick and whereas usually for instance a Body Shop body butter is in a tub you can easily get all of the product out, but I see myself having to possibly cut the tube at some point!

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Would I re-purchase:-

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I absolutely would! When Boots next have an offer on Soap and Glory I will be stocking up and I would definitely like to try some of the other Spa products.

What's in my makeup bag

These are my makeup bags; well the top one is actually my makeup bag, the bottom one is more of an emergency bag. They are both from Bombay Duck. I carry these both around with me everyday in my handbag.

So firstly onto my makeup bag. I don't carry around my whole makeup collection (I would need a suitcase or two!) I just take with my the essentials and anything I might need to touch up during the day or if I go out somewhere straight from work.

I have the following:-

L'Oreal Color Appeal eyeshadow trio in Toffee Crystal, MAC Lipglass in Florabundance, MAC Plushglass in Pretty Plush, Apple Blossom roll-on perfume, Tweezerman tweezers, YSL Long -Lasting eye pencil in no 1, Benefit Badgal mascara, MAC Shadestick in Butternutty, Clinique Airbrush Concealer in 01 Fair, small hair clip from Boots, mini hair clip from Claires, MAC Select Cover-Up in NC20, Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge for Lips and Cheeks in Pale Pink 11, Boots Skin Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets, Avon Lipstick in Sequins Pink, MAC Lipstick in Creme Cup, Maybelline ColorSensation Lipstick in Ambre Rose, Burts Bees Honey Lipbalm and MAC Studio Fix in NC20.

Next is my little emergency bag, which houses the following:-

Nail file, aspirin, indigestion tablets, paracetamols, spare contact lenses, dental floss, hair band, small vial of Marc Jacobs Lola perfume, plasters, spare chewing gum, mini sewing kit and personal items (you can guess what these are girls!).

FYI:- If you wonder about my hairbrush, I use an Aveda paddle brush which is way too big to go in my makeup bag so this is loose in my handbag, along with the perfume I am wearing that day (this is changed on a daily basis, so I only keep an emergency one permanently in my bag just if I forget my other one day). I also keep a large bottle of Victoria's Secret antibacterial hand gel in my bag.

There are a few things that I feel I need to add to my bag though and they are; eye drops, mini deodorant, hand cream and possibly a small toothbrush and toothpaste. - I like to be prepared! What do you think?

What do you have in your makeup bag?

Review : Maybelline Forever Strong Professional

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I am loving baby pink nails at the moment. To me they just look polished (excuse the pun!) elegant, classy and pretty inoffensive so suitable for school, work, college or whatever.

A little about the product:-

Pink Whisper Forever Strong Professional Nail Polish, currently on 3 for 2 at Boots and are priced at £3.91 for a 10 ml bottle.

Maybelline have introduced a fairly new range of nail colours called Forever Strong Professional. They currently have 19 shades ranging from the neutral Eternal Ivory to the more "look at me" Midnight Blue. They are enriched with iron and calcium to give long-lasting results, and also benefit from a very user friendly curved brush.

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What I think about the product:-

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The colour Pink Whisper is my favourite (although to be fair I have only tried this and Pink Shimmer!) It is the perfect creamy baby pink, no sparkles or pearl effects, which is just fine for me when I just want nails that look healthy and like my nails but better, which this polish does fantastically.

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They last extremely well, better I think than in comparison to Nails Inc polishes, which I hate with a passion! Two coats of the polish was fine to give an nice finish and it tried quite speedily too.

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Would I re-purchase:-

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Yes! I am looking forward to trying a couple more of this polishes, in particular Tornado Rose and Strong Pink.

Mini MAC haul and a rant

I am so sorry for the lack of updates lately, I have really just lacked the time to sit down and write a post but I am back now!

Last weekend I popped to the shops and to MAC. As a lot of bloggers have been saying, the new collections really did nothing for me, so I took this as an opportunity if adding to my MAC collection from their permanent line.
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Here are the goodies I picked up:-

Golden Bronzer, Foundation Pump and a 217 Blending Brush.
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I asked the MA (who shall be referred to as MA1) if by any chance they might have a 226 brush lurking around from the Colour Craft Collection - well I could have been talking french for all I knew:- She said "Oh a 266?" I said "No a 226 which was limited edition." MA1 said "That's a brush that's only stocked in free standing stores, so check Brighton." What?!

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Even I know that it was limited edition with Colour Craft and not permanent, I just wondered if they had any lurking in the back! Sometimes I do wonder whether these MA's actually know what their talking about, I mean it's their job after all, it did not fill me with confidence!

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Anyway, with my little rant over with, back to the haulage; I had decided to get Golden Bronzer after reading a few blogs and watching some YT Videos saying that it was a good colour for blondes. I have never been able to get the hang of bronzer, I just end up looking orange so I am looking forward to giving this a try, but can you recommend the best brush to use? The 129?

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The 217 Blending Brush was recommended to me by MA2 (I went away and came back again later when MA1 had gone!) when I said that I was looking for something smaller than the 224, for use in the crease.

The foundation pump doesn't really require any explanation!

Perfect Partners

MAC Studio Fix Fluid and I have had a love/hate relationship in the past.

Firstly, it was too dark for me, I bought another colour and then it made me break out, I tried it again and it looked too cakey, I persevered and still no, it did not work for me, using both a 190 MAC brush and fingers.

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SFF is a gorgeous, full coverage liquid foundation, loved by many. I was desperate to have this work on me.

As a last resort, having purchased a MAC 187 brush in a brush set, I sat down to watch a few YT videos of people applying their SFF with the 187, I thought what the heck, I'd give it a try!

Utter amazement - it worked! The SFF went on effortlessly and didn't look too thick, nor has it broken me out and I have been wearing it 4 days straight!

It makes my skin look natural, flawless and I can't stop looking at it (vain!)!

How I apply it is I apply a small blob to the back of my hand, dab the 187 into the SFF and dot it all over my face, I then blend it in with the 187 in circular strokes and voila! (For reference I am NC15 - pale!).

It just goes to show that when you have the right tools, it makes such a difference. So girls I urge you not to give up with a product whether it be foundation or shadow or blush, maybe by investing in the right tools you can make it work!