THE 'UNSUNG HEROES' OF THE EVERYDAY BEAUTY PRODUCTS

As I write this post I am currently enjoying the sunshine outside in my garden and typing away on my new Macbook Pro. The only downside is the flies that seem to enjoy landing on it - much to my disapproval. Apart from that it's quite a nice experience blogging outside, as I can't actually hear any other people, that is apart from my boyfriend who is just inside currently shooting people on Grand Theft Auto, which is definitely lowering the tone just a little. Today I wanted to share the products that I like to use everyday but kind of go un noticed most of the time, my everyday essentials that don't really make it into favourites posts because they're not really that exciting but nonetheless they are products that I've really been enjoying using every day.

First would be the products that I use in the shower. My sister had been telling me for months that I had to try the Garnier Ultimate blends Shampoo and Conditioner as she absolutely loved it and we do have the same type of hair; thin, flat, boring... I put off buying it until I had run out of my current products, so it did take me a while. I was using the L'oreal Thickening collection before but didn't find that it left my hair feeling anything special so I was happy to change. My sister told me to get the ones that she got, which were the Silky Smoother range, designed for people with mid to long hair and split ends. Now, I don't really have any of this but she assured me I still needed it. I had my hair cut very short last year so it has now just about grown out to a long bob, just about touching my shoulders. As it was cut so short I also don't really have any split ends. She was right though, as they both make my hair feel so lovely and really soft and silky as the name suggests. It looks and feels so much better than before I started using these. They contain vanilla milk and papaya so of course they also smell amazing.

I've been using the Soap & Glory Orangeasm Body Wash and although I don't think you can go hugely wrong with any shower gel, it is really nice to use. Once again it smells amazing, quite citrus with a little zest but not your typical orange scent. It's a great product to wake you up in the mornings and leaves my skin feeling pretty soft, even before moisturiser. One product that I don't use everyday but do enjoy using if I want a little more moisture, is the Soap & Glory Whipped Clean Shower Butter. I like to use this after the body wash if my skin is feeling particularly dry or if I just fancy a little extra pamper. I don't actually need to apply moisturiser after using this product but I normally tend to, as I use self tan so I don't want to risk going patchy!

The moisturiser that I have been constantly using lately is The Body Shop Shea Butter Body Lotion. You may notice that it's not actually in the photo...I only realised once I had uploaded the photo and put everything away so it'll just have to hope it makes it into a future post.  It's quite a lightweight formula and has a pump, which makes it great at applying very quickly and absorbing fast so you can get dressed straight after. I find that it hydrates and moisturises the skin really well; I never feel like I have dry skin throughout the day, even though it is more light weight than others. The smell is fairly subtle and kind of reminds me of a very toned down coconut smell.

Throughout the day I like to use the Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream, I can't stand my hands feeling the slightest bit dry and as everyone over maybe 30 says; you need to take care of your hands and neck as these are the areas that aren't afraid to show their true age!

I thought I would include a perfume here, as lately I have been wearing perfume most days. My favourite at the moment is the Giorgio Armani Si perfume.  I actually nabbed this off of my nan, believe it or not. She said her friend gave it to her, I presume because she didn't really like it anymore and my nan isn't really the person to wear perfume so she said I could have it. When it was released I worked in a department store on one of the make up counters. At the time I wasn't sure if I really liked it but then I kept smelling over people wearing it and really liked it. I think it's quite a unique fragrance and I've just realised that I also liked the Armani Diamonds fragrance, which I think it is of a similar scent family... I don't know!

APRIL FAVOURITES

April was a pretty good month; I experienced my first ever bank holiday, where I had four whole days off work, which was absolutely amazing when you've been used to working all of them and getting a whole two days off together was rare, and so a treat in itself. On the subject of weekends, I've had a really lovely month just spending my weekends seeing family, it's surprising how the simplest things can be so special. Now onto the favourites; I haven't got too many this month as I haven't used a great deal of products or explored too many new ones, but the ones I will be talking about have really stood out to me. 

I feel the need to first talk about the L'oreal Infallible 24H Matte foundation,as it was only last month that a different L'oreal foundation made it into my March Favourites post. I think I may be a foundation junkie, but I do feel that it is one of those items that really make or break your whole make up look and especially the longevity, which is important to me. I love this foundation for my normal - shiny t zone complexion. It looks quite matte but not flat when you first apply it but throughout the day I do notice that my t zone does still look a little shiny, so I wouldn't say it stays completely matte all day but unless you have seriously oily skin, I don't necessarily see that as a problem. It's more of a natural glow that it lets through with my skin type, which I'm happy with as it keeps the skin looking fresh and radiant. If you have oily skin I think this would still work for you, but you may just have to powder through out the day. I find that this foundation has really good staying power and my make up still looks good and in place at the end of the day 

I had been wanting to get a black liquid liner for a while as I only had a gel Make up Geek one, which I do love but I wanted something that was quicker and not so hard to repurchase, for everyday wear. I wanted to get a L'oreal one but Boots were rubbish and didn't seem to have any in stock or any testers for the one they did, so I picked up the Soap & Glory SuperCat black liquid liner pen. I love how quick and easy this is to use, it's also very black and lasts really well all day. The only thing I don't like is that as it is a pen form, so slightly thicker, I haven't quite mastered a neat flick/wing just yet, as I normally use a fine brush. 

Lush's Eau Roma Toning Water, has definitely made my skin feel so much more hydrated and soft. It's the most refreshing spray to use after cleansing my skin, as it's quite a 'wet' spray, in the sense that a lot more product sprays out than for example how a setting spray dispenses. This is great for a skincare product, as you're not worried about your skin getting too drenched. It does adsorb into the skin quickly, leaving such a hydrated feel to the skin. 

I have had the Bare Minerals Flawless Radiance Brush since least year, when as soon as I saw it and felt it, I loved it! Shortly after using it, I had a weird skin reaction, where my skin went very sensitive in certain areas and quite red and dry. I knew sometimes natural hair brushes can have this affect, so I stopped using it. Recently I found it again and thought I would give it another go and so far so good! It must have been something else. I love this brush for blending out the final stages of my make up or applying a light covering of powder. It's long bristles make it perfect for applying a light amount of product or just simply buffing over the face to make sure every thing is seamless. 

A negative of no longer working in a beauty department is that I can't lather luxurious creams all over my hands, arms, neck... all day everyday. I now carry with me the Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream and it really helps instantly soften and smooth my hands. It's one of my favourite hand creams and I've been very grateful to have it around when my hands have felt or looked less than perfect this month. 

Finally, I've really liked wearing Roberto Cavalli's fragrance, Roberto Cavalli. It is described as a 'vibrant and sensual,' 'exuberant and sunny' frangrance belonging to the 'ambery floral family.' It contains orange blossom, which I always find myself being drawn to.  I think the description is quite accurate and find that I get a lot of compliments when wearing this fragrance, from both men and women.

FAVOURITE BODY PRODUCTS OF 2014

Looking back over the selection of products that I have chosen, they do seem pretty random but they are the products that most stood out to me and the ones that I most enjoyed using in 2014. Most of these products were also discovered in 2014 - I think! 

Laura Mercier ambre vanille 

I first discovered how amazing the ambre vanille range smelt when my sister and I went to London to see Taylor Swift. We stopped off in Covent Garden to do some shopping and obviously found our way to Space NK. I sprayed the ambre vanille fragrance on my wrist and for the rest of the day I was sniffing my wrist non stop, like some crazed addict. It's such a gorgeous and unique scent. My mum and sister kindly bought me the fragrance and body cream as graduation presents. The only issue is I use the body cream so sparingly as it's so ridiculously expensive, but then I don't want it to just go off, so I better start slapping it on! 

Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream

I didn't think something so simple as a hand cream could be so luxurious. I've tried using cheaper hand creams, as lets face it, it's just hand cream. The Clarins cream leaves your hands so much softer and hydrated and also helps to keep your nail bed area from getting dry. As an added bonus, it has that classic Clarins scent to it. 

Xen Tan Moroccan oil 

I've had a bit of a love/hate relationship with all fake tan products; even the most hyped about products do not seem to work for me. I often apply the darkest shades, spend the next 8 + hours looking and smelling like 'biscuit girl,' as my dear boyfriend likes to call me. I then wash it off and have a slight golden glow to show for my hours of trying to achieve a dark tan. The Xen Tan Moroccan oil is definitely one of my favourites to use, as it gives the best colour, lasts well and I feel that the moroccan oil element to it really helps the skin, as a lot of fake tans can be quite drying. I also loved the Lauren's Way Rapid tan, for it's obvious speed, but like I said, the Xen Tan wins for me as it gave the best results overall. 

Soap and Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub

The Sugar Crush range has an absolutely amazing scent to it; it's so fresh, fruity, zingy and just so invigorating. The scrub elements are tough enough to leave your skin really smooth, yet not too rough and harsh. 

I've just realised that I seem obsessed with scents, which is probably true, but I just can't get into products that don't smell lovely too. What were your favourite body products of 2014?

THE NEXT BIG THING - SOAP AND GLORY

My mum first discovered and bought me the Christmas Soap and Glory set about 4 years ago. Ever since, last year was the only year that I haven't purchased this set, while it was on offer. The set was originally £60 but every year Boots reduce it to just under half price, so this year it was £29. The offer is on for the next week but as it's such a popular offer they do sell out fast, it's already sold out online! It seems that a lot of Boots stores do still have quite a lot of stock in so if you do fancy getting a great bargain then be very quick! 

This year I have been on a mission to use up the hundreds of beauty products I have and I've been so successful that I actually had to go out and buy body moisturiser and shower gel! I figured that this year I kind of did actually need the majority of the products in the set so it was definitely a must have. 

The set includes 10 full size products:

HAND DREAM™ Super Cream 100ml

ORANGEASM™ Body Wash 500ml

BUTTER YOURSELF™ Moisture Lotion 500ml

HEEL GENIUS™ Foot Cream 125ml

SUGAR CRUSH™ Body Scrub 300ml

WHIPPED CLEAN™ Shower Butter 250ml

THE RIGHTEOUS BUTTER™ Body Butter 300ml

OFF YOUR FACE™ 3 in 1 Daily Purifying Cloths (25 cloths)

SEXY MOTHER PUCKER™ Lip Lacquer in Charm Offensive 7ml

THICK & FAST™ Super Volume Mascara 10ml

I have used the majority of the products before and loved them. The only product that I have used and not liked was the Thick and Fast mascara, but I'm prepared to give it another try. I really wanted to try the Orangeasm range, so I was glad that the body wash was included so I'll just have to go and buy the Body butter now! I needed a good hand cream, so I'm looking forward to trying Hand Dream. I loved the original mother pucker lipglosses but this new formula seems just as good. It's very creamy and a gorgeous nude colour. Unlike the original Mother Pucker glosses it doesn't have that intense plumping formula, so it's gentle on your lips and doesn't feel like they're tingling off.... okay weird...  

I love all of the different scents that Soap and Glory offer so I'm so glad that I managed to get one of these sets and I can't wait to start using everything. 

WEDDING GUEST MAKE UP

Hey!

On Saturday I went to my boyfriend's mum's wedding. However, I wasn't just a guest, I was also doing the brides and brides maids make-up. I will be posting some photos of the bride's make-up very soon and chatting about how it went. I'll also post some other wedding photos and my outfit once I get my hands on the wedding photo disc!

Unfortunately my photographer (AKA Hannah), decided she wasn't going to bother doing any close up shots of the eye make-up so this is the best we have. I did my make-up myself and wanted to do something quite... well, natural isn't really the word, but I wanted it to look pretty but not too much or too dramatic as it was a wedding and I think fresh and pretty is the way to go for weddings, rather than dark and too 'in your face.' As I am a make-up lover and aspiring make-up artist, I couldn't just wear minimal make-up, especially for a wedding! So I decided on neutral colours and created a smoky eye.

 I set my alarm for 6.30am to make sure that I had enough time to get ready as I didn't want to be late going over to do the bride and brides maids make-up. Luckily, everything with my hair and make-up went really smoothly and I was really happy with both. Hannah used the Babyliss heated rollers in my hair and I left them in for over an hour and the curls stayed in all day. I wasn't necessarily wanting my hair super curly but it's so flat and thin that any volume was much welcomed. 

 I decided against wearing false lashes as it was going to be a long day, it was boiling hot and my hayfever is still pretty horrible, so they would have definitely just aggravated me.

All products used will be listed after the photos.

 

 

And the final look, with hair and make-up finished...

Hair

- TIGI Bed Head Style Shots Epic Volume Shampoo & Conditioner
- TIGI Bed Head Superstar Queen for a day Thickening Spray
- L'oreal Heat Styling Spray - Volume 
- Babyliss Heated Rollers 
- L'oreal Elnett Hairspray
- TIGI Bed Head After Party Smoothing Cream 

Make-up

Face:

- Primer: Benefit Porefessional (cheap dupe here)
- Foundation: MAC Stufio Fix Fluid NW25
- Powder: Rimmel Match Perfection Soft Beige 200 + Rimmel Stay Matte transparent
- Bronzer: MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Give Me Sun
- Blusher: Benefit Hervana
- Contour + Highlight: Sleek Face Form Kit in Light (review here)
- Concealer: MAC Pro Longwear NW25 + Maybelline The Eraser (review here)

Eyes: 

- Sleek Ultra Mattes Palette
- Rimmel Gel Eyeliner Black
-  MAC Woodwinked 
- MUA Brow Kit
- Benefit They're Real mascara
- MUA PRO Base Make-up Fixing Spray

Lips:

- LUSH Sugar Scrub (Review here)
- MAC Viva Glam V
- Soap & Glory Sexy mother pucka Lipgloss

OUR TOP 5 SOAP & GLORY PRODUCTS

 We have both loved Soap & Glory for years now and it now seems that we're definitely not alone on this, as so many bloggers and youtubers rave about the products. If you don't know what Soap & Glory is, it's a brand in Boots that includes body washes, exfoliators, moisturisers, face washes, face creams and even has its own make up line. The prices are higher than most 'drugstore' brands, however there are often 3 for 2 offers on and for the past few years at least Soap & Glory have offered huge gift bags of products which originally costs £60 for 6 or 7 products, which is good value in itself, however a few weeks before Christmas Boots reduce the bag to under half the price, meaning you get over £60 worth of products for under £30. 

 

 

 

 

Sugar Crush Body Wash

The best thing about this product is definitely its smell! It's a gorgeous sweet lime scent that is so addictive! For anyone who loves zesty citrus smells, you NEED to go and smell this! It's a great feel good, summer fresh fragrance. It's around £10, which may seem a lot for just shower gel, but it is a huge 500ml bottle, which lasts for such a long time.  It has a light weight texture but you can easily build it up to a good lather, so you don't need many pumps; one or two is all you really need. The ingredients also sound really good, it contains; Lime oil, Kiwi Juice Water and Omega rich Veggie oil. 

Pulp - Fiction Body Scrub

This is such a great body scrub, (recently mentioned in a different scrub review, here).  The smell is also gorgeous and described as including, notes of frozen yuzu, orange oil, green fig and jungle pomelo essence.

It contains Fig Powder, pumice, peppermint oil, lemonade tree liquid, orange water juice and lots of vitamins.  

 It's quite a rough scrub, but still gentle on the skin. It's also really foamy and creamy so it seems to moisturise the skin at the same time, which would be especially great for dry skins.

Hand Food Hand Cream

This is a really great hand cream, which includes Shea butter, Macadamia oil and Marshmallow. It has the original Soap & Glory scent, which apparently is similar to one of the Chanel fragrances... surely that can only be a good thing?!  It instantly makes your hands feel super soft and hydrated. It absorbs quickly, so you aren't left with greasy hands! It also comes in little travel sizes, which are great for carrying around in your handbag.

                                                                                                                                                    

Scrub Your Nose in it, Facial Scrub

This facial scrub is designed to refine large pores and prevent blemishes. You can use it as a normal scrub or leave it on for longer, to act as a mask. It also has a fruit acid formula which apparently leaves skin looking brighter and more radiant.It has a really fresh scent, maybe a mint/peppermint smell. Once applied it makes your face feel really fresh and tingly,  like it's really working down into your pores. It's a light green/blue colour and is quite a thick texture and includes little scrub pieces which are gentle on the skin but really effective. It leaves your skin a lot smoother and also did seem to help unclog pores.

Butter Yourself Body Cream

This body cream contains Exfoliating AHA's Orange Waterjuice, Shea Butter, Peppermint oil and Fruitliquid fig. From this you can kind of get an idea of how good this product smells. It's a really strong fruity smell; you can really smell the peppermint and the orange. It's pretty zesty but girly and really uplifting. It has a gorgeous texture, very light weight and I want to say it's quite air whipped feeling... which may sound odd but it's different from any other body cream that I've used. It's really moisturising and absorbs into the skin really quick. It's one of the best creams that I've used for when your skin is feeling pretty dry and run down.  We've tried a few Soap & Glory body butters/creams and this one if by far our favourite.