Current skin care routine

When it comes to skin care I like to stick to products which I know work!

Therefore my skin care routine doesn't change much!

I have an odd skin type, I'll be here all day explaining it, but it's mainly combination/oily.

You may also notice I love a particular brand of skin care, *cough, Liz Earle*

It's just Liz Earle products have really helped my skin, see this post

Morning

In the morning I like to keep it simple, basically to spend more time in bed!

I use my beloved cleanse and polish to give my skin a good clean.

Then I use my Liz Earle instant boost skin tonic, which really is radiance in a bottle,

 to make sure my skin is really clean!

Then, my favourite part is using Liz Earle's soothing eye lotion to help refresh my tired, not so awake and slightly puffy eyes!

 I pop on some Manuka Doctor repairing skin cream as moisturiser.

Then Origins GinZing eye cream to brighten and moisturise my eye area.

Evening

My evening routine is pretty similar to the morning.

I cleanse and tone as I do in the morning, but use my Liz Earle light moisturiser at night time because I find it a little too heavy for day time use! 

I then use the Balance Me wonder eye cream to add plenty of moisture back to my eye area after a day of wearing heavy make up!

I usally pop on a serum/night cream from a beauty box if I have any too!

 Extras

Due to having oily skin I find it important and estential to make sure I unclog my pores and control any excess oil to prevent blemishes!

I use the Liz Earle deep cleansing mask to give my skin a super clean and to absorb any oil about once or twice a week.

I've recently been using the Soap and Glory scrub your nose in it facial scrub/mask to give my skin a good scrub to remove any dry skin and unclog pores! 

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Lipcote

Lipcote £3.99

Whenever I buy make up I want it to last for as long as possible, this includes lipstick! But unfortunately I've never been able to find a lipstick that just won't budge! This is where Lipcote comes in, well at least I thought so!

Lipcote is a lipstick sealer which claims to make your lipstick last longer! To apply you apply your lipstick as normal, blot and then repeat, apply Lipcote and let it dry with your lips apart. One thing that I really don't like is the smell/taste of this product, it really is like nail polish remover, it's awful and burnt a little if my lips were chapped. 

Pre-warning, the next picture isn't a pretty site!

I told you! Well this is basically the result on my lips of using Lipcote. I would let the product dry for a good few minutes and it would be fine but the second I put my lips together this would happen. My lipstick just clumps together and goes awful! 

I thought this may be a one off and tried this product with a few different lipstick brands, shades and finishes but unfortunately the results were similar. I have read blog posts about how this has worked for other people, but don't understand why it doesn't for me. It's such a shame because I can imagine this being an amazing product and something so useful! I'm not giving up on it though, I'm going to find a way to make it work! Any tips?

Have you tried this? What did you think?

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Liz earle deep cleansing mask

Liz earle deep cleansing mask

Liz earle's deep cleansing mask is targeted at people with oily, combination and problem prone skin. It deeply cleanses the skin to remove any impurities and help control excess oil. This mask contains manuka honey which calms the skin, clay with absorbs oil and removes impurities and many others ingredients such as aloe vera and geranium oil. This product does have a strong smell due to the manuka honey and rose scented geranium but it's not a bad smell and is not as prominent when dried on the skin.

Before application I clean my face with my Liz Earle's cleanse and polish to ensure that no impurities get absorbed into my skin. Once applied the mask dries really quickly and hard and doesn't crack or crumble throughout wearing time. I like to apply this to areas which need it most, such as my oily chin, forehead and nose and any places where a breakout has occurred. I leave this on for around 10 minutes and wash it off using warm water with one of the two sponges provided.

Once it's washed off I tone and moisturise as normal. What I love most about this mask is that even though it absorbs and controls excess oil it really isn't drying at all! My skin feels clean, looks fresh and most of  all my oily skin is controlled for a couple of days. If I have a break out I find that this helps to clear it up a little and keep the area clean preventing any more nasties appearing!

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Samples, samples, samples

Because of beauty boxes I have a lot of samples, this is just the amount I've collected since coming home from uni in June, so I think it's about time I started using them up so that I can attack my mountain of samples at uni too!

In order to use them up I've decided to find a box to pop a couple in which I am going to use every day until they are finished. This will prevent products expiring and going back into the sample box half used. Also it will give me a good time to see any long term effects of products, due to using them for a long period of time rather than just every now and again!

These are the products I'm trying to use up at the moment! I picked out these products as my skin needs a pick me up and the mascara and toothpaste won't last to long so need using up! Once they are finished I will do an empties post on them and let you know my thoughts. I'm hoping this method of picking out certain samples to use at a time will help me get through my mountain of samples and I'm quite enjoying trying new products out too!

Will you be raiding your samples collection now?

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Empties 001

This is my first ever empties post! Mainly because I take forever to use things up. I hate when something ends and I no longer have it in my life, so I always make sure I only use tiny amounts of things. Strange I know.

Hair care

If there is one thing I go through quickly though it's hair products. I have quite dry hair so I tend to use a lot of deep treatments on it during the week.

Batiste dry shampoo in blush - I've always loved bastise, this smelt nice and most of all did it's job!

Repurchase - yes

Vo5 hot oil - honestly, this did nothing for my hair, it didn't feel any different after using all four tubes

Repurchase - no

John Frieda full repair deep conditioner - this left my hair so nourished, soft and manageable.

Repurchase - already have!

Skin care

Montagne jeunesse de-clog pores - i didn't notice a huge difference in my pores when using these, but they gave my nose a deep clean removing any impurities. They hurt a little to take off!

Repurchase - no

Noble isle summer rising bath and shower gel - i loved every drop of this. It smelt beautiuful and was just so relaxing when used as a bubble bath. This was one product I didn't want to end.

Repurchase - I wish :(

Make up

No7 exquisite curl mascara - I really like this mascara, it really does give your lashes a beautiful long lasting curl without any clumps. It did dry out quite quickly though!

Repurchase - yes

NARS smudge proof eye shadow base - such a tiny little sample, but a little went a long way! It made my eye lids really smooth and helped eye shadow go on easily. It made a difference to the wear time of my shadows. It would of been nice if this was coloured, to even out the tone of my lids.

Repurchase - no, too expensive

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John Frieda full repair perfect ends deep infusion & styling videos

John Frieda full repair perfect ends deep infusion*

If there is something my hair needs it's a full repair! I have really dry hair with a little damage, so between hair cuts I rely on products to help make my hair look and feel healthier. This product appeals to me in particular as it contains Inca Inchi oil which penetrates the hair deeply, rather than just coating it. It is also a heat protectant, which means I don't have to use loads of separate products when styling my hair.

At first I was a little suprised at the size of this product as you only get 50mls, but's it's more than enough as I only need two pumps for my whole hair. The size also means it's perfect for my handbag! It suggests that this is used on wet hair, but I have used it on dry hair and found it more effective as my hair is frizzy once dry and this helps smooth the hair, control any frizz and make the hair look more healthier and less 'bushy'. 

The serum has a delicate smell, a light consistency and is non-greasy on the hair. Once applied my hair it absorbs quickly and leaves it feeling much softer and looking shiny, without being weighed down. It really helps to control my frizzy hair throughout the day, especially when it's humid! I've been using this with the John Frieda Full Repair deep conditioner and my ends are starting to retain more moisturise and appear less dry! 

                

You may be interested in watching these videos from John Frieda's celebrity hair stylists Jake Davis and Giles Robinson which use the products from this range to create easy to follow step by step hair styles to create at home! My favourite out of the series of four videos is this one above as I love wearing my hair in a top knot but always struggle to make it look sleek and neat. But thanks to these videos I can now create this easy hair style in a matter of minutes. For more videos, such as how to create a full body blow dry check out John Frieda's channel!

Have you tried this product? Will you be trying any of the hairstyles from the videos?

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Recently

♥ pastel nails ♥ cute diary ♥ i eat too many of these ♥ peps looking cute ♥ natural ginger ombre appearing ♥ ice cream in the sun ♥ amazing lip balm ♥ because it was tuesday ♥ all stars ♥

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Pack of chalk

Revlon sunshine sparkle, topshop forget me not, topshop prim and proper, ciate bon bon, essie fiji & essie set in stones as top coat.

Currently walking around looking like a sparkly pack of chalk with these nails and they make me happy. It's the small things hey!

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Wednesday wishlist 016

Korres lip butter in jasmine, revlon just bitten kissable balm stain in charm and honey, alpha h liquid gold, balance me wonder eye cream, liz earle intensive nourishing treatment mask & liz earle super skin concentrate 

I'm aware it's a little sad and slightly ocd that my wish list is in size order, but it looked strange not being. Anyway, this weeks wishlist is only skin care and lip products because that's what I've been really enjoying and wanted recently. 

I've wanted a korres lip butter for ages and with having dry lips it would be perfect for me to have a slight hint colour to my lips whist keeping them moisturised. Do I need to say anything about the Revlon just bitten kissable balm stains? They are probably on a lot of peoples wish lists, I want the shades charm and honey! Finally the skin care items are because my skin isn't at it's best recently. It's not dry or super oily it just needs a good pick me up! I also really want the balance me wonder eye cream after trying it out in my glamour mag and falling in love!

What's on your wish list?

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