Caudalie Beauty Elixir

One of my favourite skincare products EVER, is the amazing Caudalie Beauty Elixir. Ive lost count of the amount of bottles of this I have used up. My friend, who was a smoker at the time, got me into this product. She used it to counteract the effects of smoking which apparently its very good at ! Truth be told it was also the name that spurred me on to purchase this, for me anything which is called an elixir conjures of conotations of some magical brew, plus the fact that it is inspired by the "elixir of youth" used by Queen Isabelle of Hungary.

Caudaulie Beauty Elixir is a facial spray which is said to help tighten pores and "provide an instant burst of radiance to the complexion".  This beauty elixir contains Grape Extracts for a glowing complexion, Rosemary Essential Oil, soothing Orange Blossom and Rose Extracts, Benzoin, myrrh and astringent Organic Mint  - This stuff is amazeballs !! I use this every morning to freshen my skin after cleansing and I also use it to counteract the drying effects of air con or heating if Im travelling long distances in my car, it will help to revitalise and brighten your skin, its very refreshing and its a great way to perk yourself up due to the fantastic smell (that'd be the mint) This little miracle spray is even loved by the likes of Victoria Beckham, she famously tweeted about it a while back now and if she uses it, well its good enough for me.

If you dont wish to purchase a big bottle of this you can purchase a dinky 30ml bottle from Beauty Expert for £9.90 with free Uk delivery, Its a great size for keeping in your handbag so you can use it anytime you like. Try it, you wont be disappointed.

Beauty Expert also have some fantastic offers on at the moment on Molton Brown gift sets - Im thinking they would make fantastic Christmas presents if you can bear to give them away.

 

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

Clarins Gloss Prodige Grenadine

With the arrival of the colder weather its always tempting to reach for darker, richer colours of lipstick and gloss, however Ive been feeling a bit down in the dumps and wanted something which would help perk up my mood and bring back that summer feeling., so today I reached for my Clarins Gloss Prodige in Grenadine. This was one of my favourite glosses of the summer and Im bringing it back in protest of the cold weather ha ha.

Gloss Prodige lip glosses promises "intense colour and mirror like shine" and I can safely say it ticks those boxes. It feels nice and light when applied and has a lovely fruity scent. Grenadine is a strawberry pink gloss with gold micro-particles and has an amazing formulation which isnt at all sticky. I wouldn't describe it as particularly long lasting but then what gloss is, it did however last through my morning cuppa and it has such a nice smell and consistency I dont really mind applying it regularly.

If you would like to check this out Clarins Gloss Prodige can be purchased from Escentual.com for the special price of £12.40, I think Ive got my eye on the blackberry next which looks gorgeous, rich and decadent - the perfect colour for the Autumn.

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx



Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm

The humble lip balm seems to have come along way in recent years. I remember whilst I was growing up, regularly plastering chapstick over my sore dry lips which only seemed to serve in making them worse.  One of my favourite lip balms at the moment is the Nuxe Reve de Miel which is especially for dry or chapped lips. Reve de Miel is infused with honey and precious plant oils as well as Grapefruit Esscence and Shea Butter. If you read my blog yesterday you will know Ive been suffering from dehydrated skin, my lips also seem to have been drained of all moisture but my Reve de Miel has succeeded in getting them back in tip top condition.

Reve de Miel is a fantastic product which can be purchased from Escentual.com for £9.50.

 

Whats your favourite lip balm ?

 

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

 

My Little Saviour - Clarins Face Treatment Oil

The temperature has dipped, the heating has been switched on and overnight my combination skin has succumbed to dehydration so I decided, it was time to turn to a little skin saviour of mine, the Clarins Blue Orchid Face Treatment Oil. Containing hazelnut oil, rosewood, patchouli and blue orchid this is a must for dehydrated skin and it will literally infuse your skin with moisture and leave it re-hydrated and re-balanced.

Clarins Face Treatment Oil is designed to be used in the evening before your moisturiser and you only need a tiny amount so the bottle will last you for ages. You can choose an oil which is specific to your skin type so you can really tailor your treatment to your skin concern. Winter is the perfect time to add a little extra to your skincare routine and face oils are an excellent addition, I also like to use mine under a moisture mask to give my skin a little extra treat.

Clarins face oils usually retail for around £29 for 30ml however if you head over to Escentual.com they have the full size bottles on offer for £23.20.

What are you skincare saviours in the colder months?

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

Topshop

Hi everyone

 

I recently popped into Topshop and bought a few items from the range which Ive been dying to try for a while.

I bought two of the lipstick pencils in Powder Room and Coy and a nail polish in Prim and Proper.

 

 

First up the lippies. These cost £7 each and I have to say Im a little disappointed  - they feel powdery on the lips and the formula is very matte and quite drying - it seems to gravitate to any dry/flakey areas on your lips making them look absolutely awful, Ive given my lips a good scrub with my Lush Lip Scrub and slathered on the Vaseline Cocoa Butter Lip Balm but I still cant make these look good on me ha ha !! I would definitely say if you are prone to drier lips like myself then look for one with more of a sheer formula and glossy finish like Revlon's just bitten balms or Clinique's Chubby Sticks.

 

 

Toopshop Lipstick Coy

Topshop Lipstick Powder Room

 

The nail polish on the other hand is great - £5 will buy you a gorgeous dusky pink which applies with ease. The brush is a nice size and the polish is quick to dry. A great neutral pink for the working week. I will be keeping an eye out on the new collection as there are a few colours there I have my eye on. You can purchase Topshop Make Up at Topshop.com

 

 

 

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara

This is a sneaky little purchase which managed to wind its way into my shopping bag last weekend. Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara "does exactly what it says or the tin" or the wonderful little floral tube in this case ! It is specially formulated to coat those tiny, pesky little lashes with a beautiful concoction of waterproof mascara which boasts 24 hour wear.

I usually find that my mascara ends up half way down my cheeks by the end of the working day but this mascara stayed put until I removed it at bedtime. I love the packaging, the mascara is long wearing, has a great little wand for application and does a fantastic job of defining my bottom lashes (more so than my normal mascara). Please excuse my rather tired looking eyes in the following pictures - it had been a rather long day! Im also trying to grow my brows back after a rather over zealous waxing session !!

This is a fantastic little find which is not too expensive at £11 - quite reasonable for a clinique purchase. If you've been pondering this one its definitely worth a try. You can purchase Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara from Clinique online.

Before

 After

Lots of Love
Lipstick Fridays
xx

Nuxe Baume Prodigieux Levres

This week I haven’t been without my new Nuxe Lipgloss or Baume Prodigieux Levres if you prefer to use the “technical” name. This was another generous gift from my lovely friend and I have so say I’m very impressed. Lip gloss can be really hit or miss for me - it’s not something I tend to like people buying for me because I’m really fussy about it. If something doesn’t smell nice, taste nice or feels just a little bit too sticky then it’s not for me - many a tube of gloss has been “donated” to my mum when it hasn’t stood up to my strict “fussy” checklist ha ha !!

I really dislike Lancome Juicy Tubes and Bobbi Brown Glosses, they just aren’t for me. My favourite brands of gloss are Mac and Clarins - for me the other brands Ive tried just haven’t come close to beating them.

My new Nuxe gloss in Rose Legendaire ticks all of my “fussy” boxes. The formula is lovely and in no way sticky, it glides on and feels silky smooth on your lips. Nuxe Baume also protects your lips whilst infusing them with moisture and contains mango butter, sunflower and vitamin E. The gloss has great pigmentation and colour but also smells nice and has a little bit of a fruity taste. This is a lip protector with an SPF of 15 so will be great during the winter weather which seems to have descended upon us. 

Nuxe Baume can be purchased from FeelUnique.com for £15.50

What brand of glosses do you love to use?

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse October Favourite

One of my favourite products this month was a present my friend brought back from her holidays. I have been using it to tend to the dry skin on my legs and arms. Bring back summer time !! My skin is struggling !!

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse is a cult beauty product with a massive following. It is a multi-purpose dry oil spray which can be used on your face, body and hair to help keep you nourished and moisturised, only it wont leave you feeling oily just nice and moisturised which helps, if like myself you are always in a rush in the mornings.!The oil has a wonderful fresh smell and contains a "high concentration of 30% precious plant oils, including borage, sweet almond, hazelnut, St. John's wort, camellia, and macadamia. An added infusion of soothing, nourishing vitamin E ensures antioxidant protection and long-lasting moisturisation."

This stuff is amazing and I will definitely be buying this again when my massive 100ml bottle runs out. This is a fantastic product will be a saviour now the colder weather is coming in and we are piling on the layers and turning up the thermostats.

 You can purchase Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse from Escentual.com for £28.30.

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

Superdrug Dry Shampoo

Dry shampoo is one of those products Im always on the look out for - Ive tried Tresemme, Baptiste and Charles Worthington but they all seem to make me look as if I have stuck my head in a bucket of talc, even after a good brush and a vigorous head shake, so when I seen Superdrug's dry shampoo in Chocolate Brownie I thought I might of just found what Id been looking for.

How wrong could I have been ?

My first question is ...

Have any of you tried this? I really would love to know what you think of it.

and my second question is...

Surely you just point and spray - Dont you?

The reason for my second question is this dry shampoo has succeeded in making my hair look more greasy than when I started !! Ive used this once and ok its not exactly expensive at the grand price of £1.99 but when I buy something that claims to be a dry shampoo Im actually hoping that it will help make my hair look like its been shampooed ??!

OK, rant over but I seriously I would love to know if anyone has tried this and what success you have had with it let me know.

Lots of Love

A little greasy Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

Clarins Instant Light Complexion Perfector

Hi everyone

 

I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend.

I know everyone seems to be jumping on the BB cream band wagon lately, but I want to tell you about a product I've been using pretty much everyday for about the last four months, Clarins Instant Light Complexion Perfector. When I first purchased this I was initially looking for a BB cream however when I stopped at the Clarins counter to ask if they had anything similar the Clarins Beauty Asssistant immediately produced this and told me  "its pretty amazing, I love it".

 

To be honest Im always some what sceptical when the assistants tell you they love a product, especially after a little experience at the Chanel counter with a vivid red lipstick. "You look lovely" she assured me, only to be met by my husband who looked at me like I had a third head and said "What the **** ? Oh honey, that really doesnt suit you at all"

Thanks Chanel !!!

 

 

Anyway this little beaut of a product is described as a "true beauty secret, it illuminates to reveal the skins radiant freshness and natural transparent beauty" and boy does it do all those things!

I use this every morning and it feels like I am applying liquid sunshine !

 

 

 It bronzes without being too heavy, it illuminates whilst giving you a natural glow and it perfects without being too heavy. I follow this with dusting of my Clarins bronzer and thats pretty much my routine at the moment followed by some blusher of course. You can also use this as well as foundation but I feel that this gives me enough coverage on a daily basis. For evening I do like to pop on my foundation first then apply this all over my face. When I think of bronzing products I would say this is like a liquid form of Chanel Soleil De Tan only I love this MORE ! I have combination skin with quite a fair skin tone and find this pretty much stays in place all day. The added bonus of the Complexion Perfector is that it contains Clarins Anti-Pollution Complex which will help protect your skin from free radicals. This product is a joy to use, smells amazing and if you are looking for something to give your skin a pick me up then this is definitely for you.

Clarins Instant Light Complexion Perfector can be purchased from Escentual.com for the special price of £20 - BARGAIN !

 

 

Before

After

 

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

 

MeMeMe Goddess Rocks

Hi Lovelies

I have wanted to try MeMeMe Cosmetics for a while and because I love anything which will make me look a bit more bronzed and healthy and give me a luminous glow I decided to try Goddess Rocks. I seem to be hooked on buying blushers,bronzers and illuminators right now ! Do you ever find you go through stages like that ?

Goddess Rocks (love the name) are luxury bronzing rocks which help you give a gorgeous sun-kissed glow.

My initial thoughts were - I loved the packaging but Im bad for just chucking things into my handbag and I dont think the tub would with stand too much of that but thats no problem cos they look great on my dressing table and to be honest I should really be using a makeup bag anyway instead of just throwing things into my handbag !

They also come packed with a little sponge in the top to keep the little gold and bronze rocks from breaking up in transit.

The product itself is beautiful - little bronze and gold rocks which deliver that glow and luminoucity without it looking overly glittery looking - now I do love a bit of glitter but sometimes you are just looking for something a bit more natural.  

Take your blusher/bronzer brush and swirl it around in the tub then sweep over your cheek bones and decollete to add a beautiful glow to your skin. You can also use the individual rocks as eye shadow or on your lips with your lipgloss.

You can go for a more natural glow

Or you can build up the colour

Im really impressed with the quality of this product and it will definately encourage me to try other products from the range  - they give you a gorgeous sunkissed glow, have multiple uses and would fab for the holiday season to enhance your tan. You can purchase Goddess Rocks from Me Me Me cosmetics online for £12.50.

Has anyone else tried MeMeMe Cosmetics ?

I would be interested to hear what your favourite products are.

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

Loreal Lumi Magique Primer

I love highlighters - Im a big fan of that luminous, dewy make up look, I think it looks beautiful so when I discovered the new Loreal Lumi Magique Primer which is designed to give skin that luminous glow I parted with my cash without hesitation. My favourite highlighting cream is Mac Strobe but I think this is fantastic if you dont want to spend as much. This wonderful little product which will infuse your skin with a beautiful mother of pearl glow comes in a slim size tube with a handy pump dispenser so you use as little or as much as you like.

The lotion itself is extremely light and feels quite hydrating on the skin, infact Loreal guarantee that this will provide your skin with up to 8 hours of continuous hydration. It can be used as a primer before your make up and gives you a fantastic base on which to apply your foundation, it will also help keep your make up in place whilst giving your skin a luminous glow or you can use it as a highlighter - it looks great applied to the tops of your cheek bones. I tend to mix it through my foundation or BB cream which is a little trick Ive been using for a while now - it gives you a lovely radiant glow - Loreal advise that you could pop some lotion on your fingers and draw a 3 from forehead, nose to chin for maximum effect - just remember to do both sides.

Overall Im really impressed with this primer - it doesnt quite replace my favourite Mac Strobe cream but its a little beauty bargain - I bought mine from Boots online for £9.99 and Loreal has a 3 for 2 promotion on at the moment so you could save yourself some cash if you wanted to try this out.

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

Soap & Glory - the bigger the butter

I was out shopping at the weekend and I was really excited to get my hands on one of Soap and Glory's limited edition Righteous Butters. Im a massive Soap and Glory fan and think that their body moisturisers and scrubs are just amazing. This is one huge tub of moisturiser !! One litre to be precise !

This limited edition version has been infused with diamond-dust particles to give your skin a wonderful sheen from head to toe and for Righteous Butter fans it has the same wonderful original pink scent - Soap and Glory describe it as a "summery fragrance with orange leaf, lemon, peach, sweet strawberries, summer rose, gardenia blooms and jasmine" .

This feels wonderfully luxurious on the skin - I feel that its a rich, heavy body butter but it sinks in quickly leaving your skin feeling soft and moisturised. I slather this on all over after my shower in the morning onto damp skin to help lock in the moisture.

Hopefully you can see lovely sheen on my skin in the next shot.

 

If you would like to buy your own limited edition butter then head on over to Boots online and this can be yours for £25 - now you may think that this is a little steep but the 300ml size would cost you £10.50 so 3 of the 300ml tubs would cost you £31.50 and you still would need an extra 100ml of it to give you a litre ! Hope that makes sense - maths was never my subject.

If you are thinking of buying this then be quick as only 2000 of these were made and according to the Soap and Glory website as of the 14/03 there were only 1347 left.

For more details on Soap and Glory products check out their fantastic website soapandglory.com

 

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

Nanoblur Review

Hi everyone

Im sure you've all been hearing about a new wonder cream which has recently been released in the UK called Nanoblur. This cruelty free cream promises that you will "Look up to ten years younger in forty seconds or less". Thats quite a promise and when this popped up on Buyapowa a few weeks ago I thought I would give it a try even though I was a little sceptical about the results.

Nanoblur is not make up, it is made using advanced optics technology and provides "Superficial optical coverage of skin imperfections". I bought this cream to try to see if it would help the little lines which have been appearing around my eye area seemingly on a daily basis - why is it as soon as you notice a wrinkle it seems to all of a sudden get bigger overnight ?!

Nanoblur is an untinted skin cream which is not at all what I was expecting. I expected it to be more like a BB cream - which of course it's not ! Nanoblur can be used without makeup or after your liquid foundation and it helps to smooth away those imperfections. 

I have to say that I am actually astounded by the results. When you apply the cream it has a nice cooling effect on the skin and will remain there until you remove your makeup at the end of the day.

I dont find it to be drying on my face but I do have combination skin.

Nanoblur really does work - now it wont give you a face lift and make your wrinkles disappear for good but it really does help make those little lines look less visible. I find the effects quite subtle but it has definately made my eye area look alot smoother and younger - hooray !

Before

After

Nanoblur can be purchased from Boots online for £19.99 or you check out Buyapowa they will send a reminder to your email when this is back on sale. 

What do you guys think ?

Have you tried this yet ?

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx

Clarins Instant Light Blush

The Clarins Instant Light Blush is part of their beautiful spring collection.

There are three limited edition shades to choose from - Vitamin Pink, Coral Tonic and Brown Fizz. Today I have the pink and coral to show you and Im so impressed I think I will definately invest in the bronze to add to my collection. The blushes have quite a dewy finish so if you are looking for something more natural on your skin then these are for you, they are also quite sheer and not overly pigmented so I think that these would look better on fairer skin tones. I think that they would be fantastic for taking on holiday as they feel so light on the skin - they give my cheeks a really subtle glow, great for when dont want to go for a full on powder blusher.

To apply you dot the liquid blush on to your cheeks then blend out to your temples using the large foam applicators - I do this after I have applied my base.

Both the Vitamin Pink and Coral Tonic blushes have a subtle shimmer to them however it is not over powering , the Vitamin Pink is quite cool in tone and has a silver shimmer to it and because of the blue undertones this gives the shimmer a beautiful duo-chrome effect. The Coral Tonic has a duo-chrome effect with a more golden/pink shimmer to it and it has yellow undertones.

I found that with my skin tone I got more visable results with the Vitamin Pink however you can apply as little or a much as you like to alter the effects. I have combination skin so I have found the wear time of these to be a couple of hours however if you have drier cheeks you may find that they last a little longer.

Vitamin Pink

Coral Tonic

The Clarins Instant Light Blush can be purchased from Clarins for £19.

Have you tried these out yet ? I would love to hear what you thought of them.

Lots of Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx