THE SENTIMENTAL MAKE UP I CANT THROW AWAY

Recently, while I was clearing out my make up I threw a good amount of make up away that was a little too old to probably safely use anymore. Most of the products were cheaper bits that I'd picked up along the way and that I didn't really get as much use out of as I thought I would but there were a couple of bits that really pulled on the heart strings and I couldn't possibly let go of, even though there is no way that I will be using them at their age! I'm not sure if this is slightly normal, well for us make up addicts or if it makes me some kind of crazy hoarder - It's probably safe to say that I'll accept the latter. 

The older of the two, the Benefit Gorgeous Georgia set was my first high end make up item and bought for me for my dare I say it - 13th birthday from my mum. I'm shocked that this little palette is soon to turn 10 years old and slightly ashamed that there is still a lot of product in it. I absolutely loved this palette, probably one of the main reasons being that we shared the name Georgia. It had very natural nude shade eye shadows, lip product and a peachy coral blush. I used to love dusting the blush shade over my whole face and thinking that it was going to magically transform my complexion, which of course it never did but it's pretty and smelt good back in the day! I think I cherished this palette and felt so proud to own it. 

A year or so later I bought the YSL Touche Brillance which is still the only YSL product that I own. I bought this while I was on a school trip to France when I was 14/15. I remember taking absolutely ages deciding which colour to choose, the women that worked there must have been going crazy over all of these teenagers touching the make up. It's a pretty shade but not something that I would go near now. It's a sheer pink shade but has a lot of shimmer in it. It is gorgeous but not the most wearable due to the shimmer. I can't throw it away as I remember how happy I was with myself for buying it and how excited I was. Looking back I remember that know one else had any idea why I was so excited or what it even was... It's YSL?! It also reminds me of how much fun I had on that trip and  the friends that I had. 

It's now that I have realised even more the weird obsession that we have over make up that no one else seems to understand. Make up is definitely leaning a lot more towards an actual collection rather than the few everyday products that most people use everyday until they run out and then repurchase. 

Do you have any make up items that you just can't throw away?

THE BEST CLEANSER FOR BLEMISH PRONE SKIN

'French Kaolin Clay absorbs excess sebum and detoxifies impurities while Zinc Gluconate reduces sebum production. Salicilin, from Willow Bark, provides mild exfoliation to unclog blocked pores while anti-bacterial and anti-microbial actives purify the skin. An Essential Oil Complex of Chamomile, Lavender and Sage reduces and calms inflammation and is antibacterial. Flavonoids from Mayblossom Extract tone skin and help reduce the appearance of large pores'.

The Ren ClearCalm Clarifying Clay Cleanser has been a staple in my skincare routine for a long time and it's one that I will constantly repurchase. I  like to use this cleanser a few times a week once I have removed my makeup. I will especially reach for it if I have pesky spots that won't leave, I find that this cleanser really soothes the skin and helps to get rid of blemishes. My skin feels so refreshed after using it and I'm pretty sure my pores appear reduced. As it's a clay formula it has a thick but creamy and easy to apply texture, which actually feels like you're applying a quick face mask. It also smells really lovely and fresh, which is probably down to the lavender and sage. 
I also love that Ren are so good ingredient wise and boast about their clean and 100% natural plant and mineral derived ingredients. All of the products are pretty reasonably priced too and can be found on so many websites that I'm sure there would always be a discount code flying around somewhere. I only have a few products from the brand but I'm sure I will be adding lots more to my skincare regime over time and I've already got my eye on a few that I definitely want to try. 

MAKE UP REVOLUTION HAUL

Well, this post has taken a while to find itself on here but I've just been so distracted by Pretty Little Liars. I know I'm also late on watching that one too, which appears to be a common theme at the moment... hmm. Every evening when I sit down and watch PLL I think I'll get blogging too but I can't draw my eyes away - t's just too good! 

Anyway, onto something else very good. I placed this order a few weeks ago when Make up Revolution had an amazing offer on, which gave you loads of free products with your order and £10 off so I think I only paid just over £20 for all of the above. They actually have a free product similar offer on at the moment so I'm starting to think it's not so bad that this poor post has taken so long to get here. As a make up junkie/hoarder I'm always interested in more make up and especially when it's free! I wasn't expecting too much from the free products, as well they're free but the majority were actually really nice and one of the lipsticks has even made it into my hand bag and has become my go to quick and easy lip colour.  I think it's called 'Never be a Millionaire' and is a sheer beige nude colour. You also got another nude lipstick, a dark red lipstick/gloss which will be nice for winter (is that still a forbidden word atm)? and a pink duo lipstick and gloss. Two eye shadow palettes, one pigment, a primer and a few single eye shadows. It was exciting me enough opening up all of the freebies, so much so that I nearly forgot I had more stuff that I had actually chosen! 

Now onto the products that I actually ordered! When I placed my order it was right when the new contour palette was released so of course I had to buy that.  I only recently nearly caved and bought the Anastasia contour palette so I'm now so glad that I didn't. I had also been eyeing up the two Iconic Pro palettes as they appear to be very good dupes of the Lorac palettes which are just too hard to get in the UK. They are gorgeous and the brushes that come with them actually seem pretty good too. As if I didn't already have too many eye shadows, I also bought the Flawless Mattes palette  as you always need every matte neutral shade in your life. The last item that I ordered was The One Concealer which seems to be a dupe of one of the Benefit concealers that I've been wanting to try for ages. I also had my eye on some of the lipsticks, the concealer palette and some of the blushes but I thought I would behave myself and save those for another time. 

What are your must haves from Make up Revolution, that I can add to my list?

STEPPING OUT OF THE EVERYDAY NEUTRAL COMFORT ZONE

I'm sure I am not the only one who sees all of the new eye shadow releases and continually feels so certain that I just need each and everyone of them, so desperately that my eye lids are just crying out for them... okay a bit too much, but you get the point. I probably have every colour that I could ever need and want in some shape or form in my collection, so really I should be content. Lately I've been noticing that, not surprisingly I don't even get to make use of some of the more daring shades that I own. I stick to neutral browns, maybe the odd taupe 5 days out of the week for work and by the weekend I will either wear no make up or not much at all, still reaching for the very neutrals. I've been trying to use different shades that I don't normally reach for as much, that you can pull off as just a little more daring than neutral, but still don't look out of place for work. Coppering by MAC is one of my all time favourite shadows; I used to blend it with more orange/red shades like Rule and Red Brick by MAC and black shades for a heavier make up look but it also works really well blended with light browns to make it more everyday appropriate. Obviously for photo taking purposes, I have packed on a little more colour than I normally would for work but it's still not crazy. For work days I usually apply Coppering all over the lid and blend something like Texture or Wedge both from MAC into the crease. Any light brown shade would work. I would then usually put a little bit of the light brown shade along my lower lash line and add mascara. I really love the Coppering shades of eyeshadow as they look gorgeous on all eye colours and really make the eye pop, looking really bright and awake. I like to use shades like this or purples when I'm wearing something very plain, neutral or black as it just instantly makes you look more glam. This kind of shade is also great for wearing in the summer and the autumn months. 

Hope you're all having a great weekend so far!

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Last week my boyfriend Jamie celebrated his 22nd birthday, so we decided to go out to dinner at one of our favourite restaurants. The restaurant is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by the countryside, so it's a really beautiful place. I decided to wear this teal colour dress from Forever 21, as it's an easy to wear nice dress, without being either too casual or too dressy. I wore my trusty Zara lace up heels with it. I seem to always wear these heels even though I have lots of others that probably deserve some adventures out too. 

For starters I had the soup, which turned out to be tomato and basil. I was kind of hoping it would be something more interesting but really you can't go wrong with tomato. Jamie had the mackerel pâté, which was really nice too. For the main meal we both had the same, which never normally happens. We both had the Chicken breast wrapped in streaky bacon, pommes Anna, spring greens, au lait jus - A fine example of a copy and paste job, where I would have no idea what any of that was if I hadn't have eaten it! Jamie had cheesecake for dessert, of which I managed to steal one raspberry off of. I'm not the biggest fan of desserts so decided to pass. All of the food on the menu sounded amazing and I did feel that I should have been a little more adventurous but I have had the chicken before and it's just like no other chicken (sorry Nandos)! Next time I think I will opt for something more daring! 

I decided to be a good blogger and attempt to photograph the meals, which was slightly awkward at first and Jamie didn't like the idea of having to wait until I had taken a decent-ish photo before eating. Considering how subtle and quick I was trying to be, it wasn't the worst first attempt! 

WHY I LOVE L'OREAL FOUNDATIONS

A few weeks ago I cleared out and tidied up my entire make up collection and was slightly ashamed by the number of foundations that I own. It was then that I realised the majority are L'oreal foundations, in different formulas and shades - yes I have a winter and a summer shade in all three of these formulas. My all time favourite foundation is still and probably always will be the Bare Minerals Ready Foundation but that's definitely not the cheapest, so I prefer to have some cheaper alternatives. I have tried lots of different brands, high and lower end but the L'oreal foundations are definitely my favourite after the Bare Minerals and work the best for me. I rarely feel like I need to try other foundations, even exciting new high end foundation launches don't really appeal to me anymore now that I have found these and would happily keep repurchasing them.

L'oreal True Match

The famous True Match foundation continually receives so much hype and the first time that I tried this foundation I completely agreed with all of the great reviews; I distinctly remember all of the, 'Oh this is beautiful's'. It has great coverage and stays on the skin all day. It also comes in so many shades so you should be able to find your true match... see what I did there? I would think that this foundation would work well on all skin types as it's quite a natural finish. 

L'oreal Infallible 24 Matte

This foundation has received the most hype lately and has made an appearance on pretty much every blog in the last few months or so. I used this foundation so much earlier in the year that I have very nearly used up my 'winter' shade in it, as I used it everyday which is very rare for me. This foundation is supposed to be full coverage without being heavy and I would agree with this, it gives great coverage all day. I have normal skin that goes quite shiny throughout the day, which is still the case with this foundation so I'm not sure I fully agree with the matte claim but this isn't exactly an issue. When I first apply this foundation it does go on more matte than others and I do think I look slightly less shiny throughout the day when I use this but it's still not a matte finish for 24 hours. I find that I don't need to use much of this foundation and I can still get great coverage, which is really great. 

L'oreal Infallible 24 Stay Fresh 

This is probably my favourite of the three foundations. When I knew I was going to write this post I started paying more attention to how my foundation actually looked close up throughout the day. I applied this foundation at 7am and looked in the mirror when I got home at 5.30 and it looked exactly as I applied it, only needing a little powder to help control shine if I wanted to. I was amazed at how good it still looked. The other two foundations have a great wear time too but this just seemed to be the winner. I think I've had the most compliments wearing this foundation too, with people saying that my complexion looks very fresh and healthy. Like the others it gives a great coverage but looks really smooth and natural on the skin. 

I now feel as though I have accomplished one of life's many make up dramas, by finding my perfect foundations. I've got a huge list of other make up that I want to try but I'm satisfied that I have found the one, or the ones... for foundation. Have you tried any of these or any other L'oreal foundations?

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: THE CLINIQUE SAMPLES

Clinique isn't a brand that I'm too familiar with so it was really nice to have some samples to try as I haven't tried too many products from the brand and of course we all love getting some freebies to try out. These are all really good sizes too so you are able to get a really good idea as to whether you will enjoy the product in its full size form before you buy it.

High Impact Curling Mascara
Probably my favourite of the bunch is the mascara sample. Normally I find that mascara samples aren't as good as the full size but this little sample is really good. I like it because it's quite a thick consistency, so covers the lashes really quickly and can build up quite a dramatic amount of volume. As it's quite a thick consistency, it lasts on the lashes all day and doesn't flake off or anything throughout the day. I'm not sure about it's curling qualities which essentially is what this mascara is all about but I've never felt like my lashes need a curling mascara so it's not really relevant to me.

Chubby Stick Baby Tint Moisturising Lip Colour Balm
The chubby sticks are definitely staples of Clinique's make up line but I wasn't too intrigued about this when I first got it. After using it I have completely changed my mind and I really like it. They're great for just applying a quick colour to your lips. The formula is very hydrating and feels more like a lip balm on the lips but it does still give a really good amount of colour. I really like how quick and easy they are. This shade is Poppin Poppy and it's a really easy to wear coral shade. 

Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion + 
I still haven't found a moisturiser that I am completely loyal to, I have never repurchased the same moisturiser so I'm not that fussy when it comes to liking a moisturiser. I do like this one as it does everything that you need; adds hydration, absorbs into the skin easily and isn't too heavy. I have tried the Clinique Moisture Surge moisturiser and this one is definitely a lot more moisturising than the Moisture Surge. 

Clarifying Lotion 2 
This is probably one of Cliniques more controversial products, with people either loving it or hating it for being too strong and full of alcohol. There is no denying that it does have a very strong smell to it and for this reason I haven't been using it everyday. I have been using it when I feel like my skin seems to be stuggling a bit and needs some extra help. I do apply a lot of moisture and hydration after using it, in case it is too strong but I have never noticed anything bad from it. My skin feels and looks good after I use it. 

Rinse Off Foaming Cleanser Mousse
This was one of the samples that I was most interested to try as the Mousse in the name sounded like it could be really nice. This is the one product that on first impression I am really not getting on with. I will perceiver and try it now and again but so far I find that it is really drying on my skin and doesn't seem to do it any good. 

All About Shadow Duo in Strawberry Fudge and Blushing Blush Powder Blush in Bashful Blush 
This is a really cute little compact and would be perfect for travelling. The colours are really neutral and easy to wear, which is nice as often in freebies, you find yourself with shades that you wouldn't actually wear. 

The set also contained the fragrance Happy Heart, which has such good reviews. It's hard to explain the fragrance but it is a really nice fragrance thats easy to wear. I've had compliments when I have worn the fragrance and it's just nice to have little fragrances lying around if you fancy a change from your usual ones. 

What are your favourite products from Clinique?