The Sunday Pick Me Ups: Part Two

There are (rare) occasions where chocolate doesn't fix situations, and wine is just too heavy for Sunday evening when you know you will have a hangover all week, so where to turn? Beauty and makeup naturally. My previous Sunday Pick Me Ups still ring true, but I can always find additions to add to the list of products that make me feel like it isn't really Sunday evening....

Post weekend makeup my skin and face looks dead, and a glow real or fake always makes me feel better. Especially when it is of the highlighting kind. Hello Loreal True Match Liquid Highligher in Golden Glow. Even though I just use this for highlighting and strobing purposes, I find my entire complexion looks brighter and more alive. Ideally made for more medium skin tones, I find this still blends in and looks subtle enough make me feel much more alive than I'll ever feel on a Sunday. 

So why is it that all Jo Malone colognes smell good? That can't be right...well at least that is what my bank account says. The Jo Malone Blackberry and Bay Cologne is no different and a spritz of this perfume has never failed to lift my mood with it mixture of fruitiness and freshness there is something weirdly comforting about this scent. A scent that can make me feel like I have my life together on a Sunday evening? This is the one. 

What are your Sunday night pick me ups?

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No7 Beautiful Skin Day & Night Cream

Where would we all be in life without the No7 £5 off vouchers? No where. Life gets even better when you have two and can buy a set and you feel all smug afterwards (not at the till when I was handing over 39573 voucher note).

I used to use No7's Essential moisture range but as my age went up, I decided to go 'up' in the skincare range too. The No7 Beautiful Skin Day & Night Creams are design to give a 'intensive hydration to instantly nourish, energise and smooth for flawless make-up application.' Not sure why they have a night cream in the range then as I defiantly do not apply makeup in the evening, but a bit of dodgy marketing isn't going to sway me.

Both these creams have a very similar texture, with naturally the night cream being thicker, but both have consistency that is in the middle of the thickness radar. Thick enough to heal my winter dry patches, but thin enough that I wouldn't use it in a real dry skin disaster. Both containing SPF15, there is also a light floral scent to both, again with the night option being slightly stronger, but neither have a smell to put me off. 

Both of these tubs have become part of my daily winter skincare routine and a step up from their Essential Moisture range, but if I have a dry skin flare up of red patches and flakes (attractive) neither would quite have the power to calm this down. I still find after all my years, the  best my eczema  flare ups is some old fashioned Oilatum or Eucerin. For £12.50 for both I would pay full price for these, but then I would probably just hang it out till Boots hand out their vouchers again...I am getting old.

Have you tried the No7 Beautiful Skin Day & Night Creams?

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The current wishlist, thanks to bloggers

Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk lipstick Lily at Pint Sized Beauty | I could not call myself a beauty blogger if I did not want this. I know its the current cliche, but I really do want it. Plus Lily's photography of this doesn't help, she could photo a felt tip pen and it would make me want to use it as eyeliner. How am I ever going to resist a dark pink lipstick in a rose gold case that can make my lips feel fuller? I don't care, I will be a cliche.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Ultimate Glow Kit Emily at British Beauty Addict | Probably another 'oh you're so a blogger' item, but I can never resist a highlight palette, especially one that offers limited edition gold toned highlighters. You would have determination of steel to not want this. Emily's swatches have sold me as all six look like something I could include in my everyday makeup routine. I just need to get a bonus at work first before I spend the £44.

Kat Von D Tattoo Liner Beckie at The Pale Tails | I could justify a black eyeliner as a essential yes? I know my eyelids would agree as they like the company daily of a black line drawn on them. Beckie looks incredible in the look she has created, but this has decided for me that this liner would be perfect for my daily black drawing. Every black felt tip eyeliner I use seems to disappear off by the afternoon, so I think I am at the time in my life where I need to spend more than £10 on one and opt for this £16 one. I will just keep telling myself it is a essential....

What is on your wish list at the moment?

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L'Oréal Paris Volume Million Lashes Fatale Mascara

Okay. So I may be borderline on owning too many mascaras...but is there such a thing, really?

If L’Oreal claims that this L'Oréal Paris Volume Million Lashes Fatale Mascara (£9.99) will give you their “most killer eye look” yet, how was I meant to walk past and not buy it? Yep exactly. I can't lie and say I wasn't attracted to the packaging, as I was like a magpie for the gold and sleek design.

This mascara is made of buildable formula that is designed to volumise and thickens with its 'intense pigments'. I don't often find too many faults with L'Oreal mascara, and this one is no different for me.

With a short spiked bristles on the wand, these grab all my lashes coating them evenly and ensuring my lashes are left with a even non clumping amount of mascara. The bristles are actually quite short so reducing any accidental poking and eye stabbing. I didn’t even feel the need to curl my lashes before as this mascara gives my lashes a lift and held the curl all day long. The formula of this is buildable and starts of with a more au natural look and can be built to my level of the fake eye lash look.

This is only other mascara I have tried apart from Benefit Roller Lash that does indeed lengthen my lashes, and of course the clump free volume always goes down well with me. The only slight fault with the L'Oréal Paris Volume Million Lashes Fatale Mascara is that if it is on for over 8 hours (grim I know) I have noticed a slight smudge/transfer onto my lid. But then that is probably karma for me leaving my makeup on so long.

This has easily topped my L'Oreal mascara league table, and unless you really don't like plastic wands I can't imagine you won't join me on this thought.

Have you tried the L'Oréal Paris Volume Million Lashes Fatale Mascara?

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My Valentines Love List

Being Valentines Day next week (in case you have managed to this that one) I thought I would compile my list of things I'll loving on the most romantic day of the year - note no chocolate or alcohol are mentioned.

NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil in Iced Coffee -Being a caffeine addict I picked this up purely based on the name, and then realised I acutallu love the brown/netural shade of this. I have just been nosing in MAC and lusting after their new Retro Matte range when this NYX option caught my eye. This isn't matte but the shade is what attracted me, it is like a nude, just more exciting.

Charlotte Tilbury Eye Pencil in Bronzed Garnet - Are you really even a beauty blogger if you don't include something Charlotte Tibury in a 'love' list? Nope. And this does not disappoint with its creamy bronze meets plum shade designed for green eyes. No eyeshadow has ever beat this one, and I would say this is perfection in stick form. There is not a bad word to say on this - and something that is infused with 'Synthetic Sapphire' is hardly going to disappoint is it?

L'Oreal True Match Foundation in Rose Vanilla - I have surprised with the addition of this L'Oreal foundation to my list, being a foundation snob. Yet this foundation really does match your skin tone (who would of thought it does what it says...) and leave my skin looking like I am barely wearing makeup and just have a natural glow to me. Luckily this even stays put all day so I am yet to give the game away at work that I did not wake up with luminous skin.

What are you in love with this Valentines Day?

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L'oreal Paris Pure Clay Glow Scrub

I hate face washes and scrubs. None have ever done much for my skin except dry it out and make it feel so tight. Some have given my skin a slight sheen, but once the 10 second mark has passed I am back to the dry situation. I know as well as anyone that regardless of my dry skin, I need to exfoliate regardless how against the grain (no pun intended!) it feels. I am yet to find my one and only that I can use daily and still continue my love affair with.

But a new display (and reduced price) in Boots of the L'oreal Paris Pure Clay Glow Scrubs (around £5.99 at the moment) meant I was of course going to give one a whirl. Never one to look past L'Oreals makeup before, as I purely forget they do other items beyond mascara. Now I know need radiance so I opted for the red bottle designed to give skin luminosity and radiance. Containing Red Algae extract, hence the red, this exfoliating scrub is a twice (!) a day scrub. I have to admit, I can't quite bring myself to doing it twice a day...yet.

Once applied to my wet skin, this surprisingly non-drying texture transforms into a light foam and releases the micro-beads. The formula itself it quite thick but it does feel like it is 'doing' something to my skin. Its not a harsh exfoliate where you feel like your removing a layer of skin in your bathroom, but more of a refresher. I doubt this would remove those scale things you can get on your nose, but surprisingly my skin is lack some real dry skin at the moment to try it.

Once washed and dried my skin defiantly feels cleaner, and not dry and tight (hurrah!). I am not sure my skin is glowing or with a real luminating finish but it is better than when I stared and I can perhaps see why this would be needed twice a day. I can't say I have found the one face wash that means I will no longer look at others, but this will do a very nice job whilst I remain browsing the market.

Have you tried the L'oreal Paris Pure Clay Glow Scrub?

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NYX Sculpt & Highlight Brow Contour

Why can't I ever find eyebrow products to match my brows? Why do I have funny coloured eyebrows? I mean they are not overly dark or light, they just a bit mousey and too ashy for most (affordable) eyebrow products. I am sure if I ventured over the £10 mark for something I would of found something by now that would fix my problem...but have I? Course not.

Luckily for me and my tight purse strings I have found the NYX Sculpt & Highlight Brow Contour (£8). A waxy double ended pencil with one end made up of colour - I opted for Taupe and Vanilla, and creamy pale highlighter. Like most I do like a bit of contour so the option to transfer this to my brows is pleasantly welcome.  Each ends twists up, meaning neither side ever needs to be sharpened which I personally love for convenience sake as my pencil sharpener is never where I left it.

The taupe colour is a ashy brow shade, just a bit lighter than Illamasqua Brow Cake in Motto which is too dark for my brows really, and blends in well so it looks like those where the brows I was born with, and the creamy texture make it much more workable on those rushed mornings. The highlight end fits perfectly under my brow bone and again has that creamy texture allowing for a ultra smooth, easy application. The colour can be built up too without being too heavy looking, so if I fancy a Lily Colins look I can. After applying, I just blend it in slightly with a brush (or finger if I am really rushed)  to make sure I do't have any harsh lines left. Don't want to give away my brows aren't natural...

If like me your brow are a bit nothingy then NYX Sculpt & Highlight Brow Contour could be your answer, and considering they do such a wide colour range I'd imagine most brows would be catered for. Well, at worst all you will be left with is contoured brows, and what possibly could be wrong with that?

Have you tried the NYX Sculpt & Highlight Brow Contour?

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L'Oreal Paris False Lash Superstar X Fiber Mascara

Purple...lace strap things...yeah I am not entirely sure either why L'Oreal have opted for this combination for their latest release, the L'Oreal Paris False Lash Superstar X Fiber Mascara (currently £7.99). Nether the less, it is L'Oreal and I love their mascaras so they can make them as tacky (a.k.a Ann Summer-esque) and I would still buy them. Through in a introductory price of £7.99 and I barely even considered the fact I don't really like double ended mascaras before I headed to the till with this.

This could be a upgraded/newer version of the L’oreal Paris False Lash Superstar Mascara that L'Oreal released a few years ago, but this one contain the 'X Fiber' element and the cleverly thought of black primer. White primers that start to show through your mascara by lunchtime? No I will skip that one, and that thrown in the faff of applying two mascaras in the morning is the reason I steer clear of double ended options. 

However L'Oreal have fixed half this issue and offer a volumising black (hurrah!) primer that does indeed thicken the look of each lash and could very well act as a mascara on its own. The second layer of this really does length them out with looking clumpy or like I have stuck fiber bits to my lashes. Both brushes themselves are fairly similar so it must be the formula that separates the two sections into their own, although the second mascara is very just a 'finisher' in my opinion rather than another mascara. Regardless of this, and excuse me while I blow my own trumpet, but my lashes are so long and volumised. Considering the above photos are without any other sort of eye makeup (Monday photo laziness), the finished look of this double ended offering is well worth it. False Lash Superstar X Fiber hasn't given the dreaded spider lashes either, and has given a natural yet 'wow her lashes are long' sort of look.

Even I can forgive the tackiness for these lashes.

Have you tried the L'Oreal Paris False Lash Superstar X Fiber Mascara?

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