Spa Magik Skincare Review

Ello lovelies!

A little while ago i was sent a box of goodies to try from Spa Magik / Spa Find, it was over a month ago and I've been meaning to do this review for a while. I'll start off by saying just because i was sent these does not affect my opinion at all, all my opinions on these are honest and completely my own. The package included their Mild Exfoliant, Delicate Boosting Mask, Salt Brushing Sachets and their Acne Treatment. They also sent me a super cute tote bag which I've been lugging my uni books around in lately. The Acne treatment i won't be reviewing, simply because i don't have acne. But to save waste I'm donating it to a blogger friend who does suffer from time to time, so when she reviews it I'll be sure to link it here! Anyways, enough rambling!

I've got to admit I'm a little bit of a snob when it comes to skincare. I honestly wasn't expecting much from these but I'm glad to say i was pleasantly surprised! I'm EXTREMELY fussy when it comes to facial exfoliants, i like the exfoliating particles to be very fine but also to be enough of them to give my face a good scrub. I used to sneak my Mum's St Tropez Body Polish (even though it's not meant to be used for the face!) and have been disappointed with every exfoliator since. I was delighted when i first used this product! It's fine and not at all scratchy, my absolute favourite type of facial exfoliator. 

The Delicate Boosting Mask works wonderfully too. It's aimed at dry/sensitive skin so was perfect for me. These two have been permanently in my bathroom for the last month and used 3 - 4 times a week I'm that impressed. I feel like the mask really does help to soften my skin and the two together are brilliant combo! 

Salt Brushing! I again wasn't very excited when i first saw this product. It wasn't till i actually used it i sort of remembered it... This product in it's full size comes in a large blue and white tub and i remember this being one of the products i was 'banned' from using as a teenager as i had a habit of using all my Mums products! It's quite a coarse salt scrub so using this gently is key for me. I suffer with a bit of congestion on my left arm and this has been great for tackling that! I'm in love with the scent too!

Overall I'm really impressed with Spa Magik! All their products are now paraben free and have allergen free fragrances which is great for us sensitive skinned girls!

The products aren't pricey either! The mask and exfoliator are priced at £7.75 each and the full sized 500ml Salt Brushing Scrub at £13.40 which i think is pretty reasonable. I will 100% be purchasing these products, which is a rare thing for me to say! I've really noticed a big difference in my skin while using these and am keen to keep up the results.

These can be purchased online here on the Spa Find website, or alternatively online on both Debenhams and the John Lewis online store.


Are there any Spa Magik products you love? Let me know!


xox

Another Sugarpill EOTD!

As you can tell I'm still loving my Sugarpill goodies! Just thought I'd upload another look i was messing around with! Excuse the terrible eyebrows, they are definitely in need of a wax! When i attempt this look again I'd probably pop some Bulletproof through the crease to blend the blue and pink a little bit better. But I'm really pleased my skills seem to slowly and surely be improving. Practice really does make perfect!

Products used:Nyx Jumbo Pencil - Milk

Sugarpill Sweetheart Palette
E.l.f Liquid Liner - Black

L'oreal Volume Millions Mascara

If you have any Sugarpill looks please leave me a comment!


xox

And the winner is...

So my 100 followers giveaway ended today and I've used random.org to pick a winner! Since i only allowed one entry per person i went by order of comments so it was simple!

Congrats to Amii of Scarlet Pout!!
 

Her tip was:

 "My ultimate beauty tip would be when you're wearing fake nails and you're looking to take them off safely, get a disposable shotglas and pop a drop of water and nailvarnish remover (acetone free! and with vitamin e, you want to have lovely healthy nails!) and soak each nail in for a good minute or so, then gently peel them off. Your nails will be left practically undamaged compared to if we were to do our usual and scrape them off (come on, admit it, everyone's done that at LEAST once!)"

I've already sent an email out to the winner so your prize should be with you very soon!

A massive thank you to everyone subscribed to my blog, I've loved reading all your tips and have learned a thing a two! If you didn't win, don't worry I'll hopefully have another giveaway soon!

Thanks for reading!

xox

Naked Skincare

 I love skincare!

I'm pretty late to jump on the bandwagon for Naked Skin and Bodycare but I'm dead pleased I've discovered them. I was recommend the hair care by a friend a little while ago and after spotting I'd missed a 50% off sale I'd been a little bit reluctant to order. Being the bargain hunter i am i decided to try and wait until they had another promotion running. I feel a little cheap saying this as they are reasonably priced to start with! But my patience did pay off and i noticed Superdrug had a 50% off selected skincare offer with free shipping. So i went a little over the top and ordered all but one of their skincare range.

• Thirst Aid 24 Hour Moisturiser - £7.49
• Looking Good Soothing Eye Gel - £7.49
• Blinking Lovely Eye Makeup Remover - £4.49
• Up Tone Girl Toner - £4.49
• Perfect Getaway Cream Cleanser - £4.49
  
  Here's what Naked have to say...
  
  "Yes, we’ve removed the bad stuff.
    And the natural active extracts we add in are widely recognized as being the best at what they do eg. Cocoa Butter for moisturizing, Sunflower for sun damage protection, purest Rose oil for anti ageing.
  
  But you may be asking why we don’t use parabens, SLS and  petrochemicals in our Naked products.
  After all they are in the vast majority of toiletries on most bathroom shelves, so can they really be that bad? For us, it’s all about choice - about preferring to reduce our toxic load and use as many friendly ingredients  as possible. "
  
  I'm a little skeptical about products claiming to be "natural". I'm also not the most well educated person on the matter but just because things are natural doesn't necessarily mean they are good for you. But saying that each one of these products has some lovely ingredients packed in them that you wouldn't normally see in other products in their price range. Star flower, argon oil, neroli and alpine herbs to name just a few.
  
  The one stand out product for me out of the five is Thirst Aid. I'm terribly fussy with moisturisers, i have quite dry/sensitive skin so finding something that suits me is a nightmare. After using this just once i noticed how smooth and hydrated my skin felt, i was so happy with the results i ordered a second tub while the half price offer was still running! Even at the full £7.49 price it's well worth the money because you get a whopping 100ml of product. That's double or sometimes triple the amount of your average moisturiser which i think is awesome. I've yet to try this under makeup since I'm a bit reluctant to give up my Oilatum, but if it performs as well it'll be a lovely replacement.
  
  My second favourite out of the bunch is the cream cleanser. I was unsure at first if i liked the fragrance of it and taking a total stab in the dark I'm guessing that's the ginseng i can smell. Its quite thin in consistency which was a refreshing change from my other "lazy cleanser" Simple Purifying Lotion. I generally only use this sort of cleanser if I'm too lazy to cleanse and polish but it will definitely be replacing my Simple one.
  
  The other three products i could frankly live without. I'm not fussy when it comes to toners or eye makeup removers but these do the job and will last me a long long time. The only product i didn't get on with was the Eye Gel, it stings! I'm obviously not putting it in my eye but every time i try to use it i have to wipe it off as i start tearing everywhere. So that's the only product i definitely wouldn't buy again.
  
  Overall I'm delighted to have found some new staple products. I'm also interested to try out some of their hair care products I've heard so much about.
  
  You can purchase theses from Naked's website here.
  Or online or in store at most Boots or Superdrugs.
  
  Do you have any favourite Naked products? Let me know!
  
  xox

Halloween: Messing about

As i said in my previous post I've been messing around lately trying not to be a boring cow for Halloween. So i woke up surprisingly early and was in the mood to try something really out of my comfort zone! I'm not trained at all in makeup and after seeing a few tutorials over the past weeks i thought I'd give something new a try. I'm all about enhancing my features so uglying myself up was a bit of a scary task!

For a first ever attempt i was quite happy! Though the wounds didn't look how i first imagined. I've gone straight to ebay and ordered some liquid latex so hopefully i can perfect this look a little.

Products i used:

Duo eyelash adhesive
Tissue

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation

Sugarpill Burning Heart Palette
Mac Carbon

Clear Gloss

I'm really loving experimenting with crazy looks lately and i shall definitely post an updated look when i improve this! Also please link me your Halloween looks or tutorials as i would love some more inspiration!

Thanks for reading!

xox

EOTD: Sugarpill Burning Heart

Ello lovelies!

I'm one of those boring people who NEVER dress up for Halloween. This year i thought I'd try an experiment a little bit and stop being so damn boring! Having bright red hair led me to the slightly unimaginative idea of going as sort of a "Red Devil", so basically i opted for the easy option. It's not the tidiest EOTD but you can see where i was going and with a little practice would look a lot better! Eyebrows are not my thing, i very rarely fill them in and although quite messy I've got to say i adore the red! It matches my hair perfectly so hopefully with a few more attempts i could (sort of) pull it off!

Products used:

Nyx - Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk

Sugarpill - Burning Heart Palette
Sugarpill - Tako
E.l.f - Black Liquid Liner

L'oreal - Volume Million Lashes

Just a quick post! If you have any Sugarpill looks please share them with me I'd love to get some more inspiration!

Thanks for reading!

xox

Sugarpill Swatches - Part 1

This is quite possibly my most exciting purchase of the year. I've debated which items i wanted for some time and in the end i came to the slightly obsessive decision... I WANT THEM ALL!

So after a little bit of scheming i managed to get the entire range from my family for my birthday. Best birthday present ever. I stalked the post man every day for nearly two weeks while i eagerly (and very impatiently) awaited my pink package of prettyness! Ha, try saying that three times! Eventually everything arrived from the US and a UK website and i was ecstatic! I'm a little disappointed i didn't photograph the actual package from Sugarpill as it was adorable! A blue cat printed on the box and filled with pretty pink paper! But sadly i ripped open the package quicker than you could say "addict" and it was a little on the destroyed side by the time i realised.

Most people reading this will already of heard of (and quite possibly already be in love with) Sugarpill. But if you have been living under a dull, makeupless rock "Sugarpill Cosmetics is a custom line of vibrant, richly pigmented, velvety pressed eye shadows and sparkling loose powders." Another big selling point is that absolutely none of their products are tested on animals, most are vegan and are clearly labelled so there's no confusion. Part one I'll be swatching the pressed shadows, Chromolusts will come when i can get some sunlight to show them off. So enough rambling, onto the good stuff!

How fecking cute is the packaging? I'm always a sucker for pretty products and these are up there with my favourites. There has been so much thought and detail put into each bit of packaging it's amazing!

There are a total of 9 pressed eye shadow shades and all can be purchased individually or in palette form apart from the black shade Bulletproof which is only available as a single. Priced at $12 each or $34 for the palettes it worked out cheaper to buy the quads. The packaging other than being super cute is made out of sturdy cardboard and has a reasonably sized mirror inside which is perfect for anyone on the go. The pan size is generous at 4g a shadow which is much bigger than your average Mac pan. These are also extremely easy to depot if you like to hold all your shadows together.

Each palette has two matte and two slightly shimmery shades. But if your a fan of sparkle don't worry! They have 18 gorgeously glittery Chromolust loose eye shadows which I'll be swatching soon! The pigmentation of these is phenomenal and they apply like a dream. The only small downsides is that some of these do stain a little but using a good primer will minimise that, and if I'm being finicky the white shade Tako is a little powdery. But i do honestly consider those tiny downsides for the vibrancy and gorgeous quality of these eye shadows.

Bulletproof Single Pressed Eyeshadow

Dollipop - Afterparty - Midori - Tako

Flamepoint - Buttercupcake - Love+ - Poison Plum - Bulletproof.

These were swatched with no base, just simply on my bare arm.

If you're a fan of brights i really couldn't recommend these more. Fantastic value for money, packaging and quality just to re-mention a few points. Spending over $75 will get you free worldwide shipping so no extortionate postage costs is an added bonus. I also received a gorgeous pink glittery Sugarpill sticker and free sample of Junebug which I'll be giving to a friend to try and convert her!

You can buy all of these products from the Sugarpill website here.

Or if you're in the UK you can buy the singles from Genie Cosmetics here.

What are your favourite shades?

Thanks for reading!

 

xox

Birthday Haul

Ello!

It feels like I've not blogged in ages! Having work and Uni nearly every day has been a real shock to the system and I've unfortunately not had the time i like to put into my blog this week. But *fingers crossed* I'll get some good daylight this week and shall hopefully have some new exciting reviews, swatches and a requested FOTD post up asap!

I had my 22nd (I'm getting old!) birthday the other week and was well and truly spoilt. I'm a little bit of a brat when it comes to birthdays and over the month beforehand had let my boyfriend and family know EXACTLY what i wanted. I'm also a little obsessive compulsive at times and i couldn't decide which Sugarpill goodies i wanted, so i managed to blag myself the whole collection. I'm mad, i know!



Having been so busy it's been torture not having to time to photograph these and having to look at them just say in the packaging. I actually can't wait to get these out and have a mega play with them. The colours are ALL absolutely stunning and i shall be doing some in depth reviews on these! I'd been eyeing the Sigma Brush Set for ages and I've completely fallen in love with Viva La Juicy.

So a massive thank you to the boyfriend and my family for the utterly awesome birthday pressies i got this year! I'm a lucky girl!

Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to review first!

xox

My first Illamasqua mini haul.

Illamasqua's a brand I've been meaning to try for quite some time now. I'm always seeing their breathtaking collections online but I've never "needed" anything enough to warrant placing an order. When i shop for makeup especially higher end i generally like to go have a look and a play around with them in store. Sadly we don't have a counter here in Southampton (along with Nars and Mac, boo!) so I've never had a real chance to give the brand a proper look.

I love BB creams. They are a staple in my makeup routine and i honestly do not know what i did before them. I was quite impressed that Illamasqua was one of the first, non Asian makeup brands to bring out their own BB cream and after a lot of contemplating (and Debenhams 10% off sale) i decided to take the plunge! I've seen a lot of buzz on the Skin Base foundation and a few posts recently on their blushes. I feel my collection is lacking in the blush department and thought it was only fair i remedy that. :P

Panic                                  Thrust

 

Panic                                         Thrust

As you've probably already noticed Panic is the most pigmented blush I've ever seen. You need the smallest amount on a brush and even then need some serious blending. Both these blushes are matte shades, i tried to step out of my shimmery pink comfort zone to try something new and exciting. Thrust is still very pigmented but not to the level of Panic. Being so pigmented i found them (Panic in particular) a little difficult to work with. It's extremely easy to over do it, but saying that I'm actually in love with the colours. Panic is your perfect Snow White flush and really does compliment my super pale skin. These super pigmented beauties will set you back £16.50 each which is on the pricey side but considering how much you don't need to use i don't think it's an overly unreasonable price.

Skin Base Foundation - SB02

Hallelujah! Illamasqua has to be one of the only higher end brands to cater for us pink toned Caspers! I've tried countless foundations from brands such as Mac, Chanel and Dior and have never been able to find a colour match. I've been using Estee Lauder Double Wear in Shell for quite some time now and have been looking for a lighter coverage foundation. SB02 may even be slightly too light for me and i never thought I'd be able to say that! It's got more coverage than your traditional BB cream which is a plus and has more of a matte finish, the only downside is i personally find it a little on the dry side. I was also a little shocked at the bottle, cute as it is it's tiny and at £25 a pop it's not cheap. You do get 30ml of product but for some reason the bottle just looks on the small size to me, but it's a handy size for popping in your handbag. I'm lucky enough to not suffer too much with my skin and this gives me the perfect amount of coverage and easily conceals my redness. I think this will have a firm place in my foundation routine for the foreseeable future. 

Overall I'm pretty impressed on a whole with Illamasqua's products and certainly won't be hesitating on trying more. I'm now on the look out for a real red blush that isn't quite so pigmented and possibly has a little shimmer!


Whats your favourite Illamasqua product?

You can buy these products online here or at your local counter.

Thanks for reading.

xox