Tuesday 24 February 2015

The Repurchase - Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm


So here's the rarest of things for the beauty blogger - the repurchase.

This one is for the Clinique Take The Day Off cleansing balm - a product I use as my first step in removing my make up before going in with my second cleanse to properly get my skin cleaned, normally with a different cleanser.

I used to reach for Bioderma to remove my make up, and I won't deny that I always do keep some Bioderma in stock for the days when I have a lot of make up on or I'm just feeling extremely lazy, but in winter my skin has a tendency to be more dehydrated anyway and using water on the surface of your skin - whether thats water in the shower or water in the form of micellar - will just contribute to that. Last winter I picked this up in Florida to try and combat the dehydration caused by the plane journey and the change in temperature freaking my skin out a little, and it was love at first use.

I use this straight on to dry skin and remove it with either a muslin cloth or cotton wool pads - though I prefer the former. It melts make up off my face and leaves me skin feeling hydrated and clean but not stripped. You can see it in action in my night time routine video below.


In case you couldn't tell from the fact I've repurchased it I love this cleansing balm, and I can see me repurchasing it many a time hereafter.

I do sometimes use the Lush Ultrabland cleansing balm in its place, which is a much more budget friendly option (£7.25) and is much more gentle on my eyes - the Clinique one doesn't irritate them if I'm careful but I do need to be careful, whereas the Lush version can be slapped on with no thought and no irritation; however when it comes down to it this has more slip to it than the Ultrabland and that's ultimately why I prefer it on my skin. Though for the foreseeable future I will have both in my stash and switch between them depending on what take sky fancy. Because I'm flighty like that...

Sunday 22 February 2015

Rimmel Salon Pro Nail Varnish


Today's post brings you a prime example of what is in a name - because it's safe to assume when this nail polish name referenced one of my biggest and oldest literary crushes (yes, there is more than one!) I was going to buy it - no matter what type of colour it actually was.

What it is is a super wearable greige that I'm getting a tonne of use from, because it's that perfect colour that blends into the background and goes with any outfit but is also a fast track to looking totally polished and put together.

Colour aside the formula of this is top notch - I can't paint my nail for shizzz and I can chip them within a minute of painting - I go in the shower, wash my hair and come out to find half my nail varnish gone. Somehow though this formula really does last and I do get a few days out of it without chipping. It's also super easy and quick to apply because of the lovely wide brush, even for a cack handed painter like me.

Now, what colour should I go for next?



Thursday 19 February 2015

Cargo Vintage Escape Palette



Whilst this palette was in stock on Debenhams I wanted to bring it to your attention, because this might just qualify as my favourite palette ever. It's neutral enough that it compares to the likes of the Naked palettes in terms of wearability but the shadows are versatile and pigmented enough that you really can produce a show stopping look with this.

The top picture was from when I photographed the palette when I first bought it and the second picture is a more recent snap - I wanted to show you guys just how much use I have had from this one in a few months - you can see me hauling it here back in November, every shade has been touched and I'll admit to having to run a wet wipe round this palette just to make it look presentable for photographs!

All the swatches are one swipe up and one swipe down with my fingers, so as you can see they're all massively pigmented, but a 217 touched lightly to them buffs them in to look totally natural, or you can really pack them on with the 239. The only shadows that aren't totally smooth are the darkest two - you can see that Black Crow in comparison to the rest isn't maybe quite as pigmented and buttery as the others but I don't reach for black shadow all that much so it doesn't make much difference to me, and it can still be built up with more than 2 swipes of a finger if you're really keen for a deep black pigment.

The matte shades in general in the swatches look slightly less smooth than the shimmers (that's Harvest Moon, Hot Cocoa, Autumn, Chestnut and Black Crow, with chestnut being probably the worst looking) but that doesn't really transfer to the lids when used with a brush so it's really not a problem.

You can see me using the shadows in this post and this post, and I'd say overall my most used shades are predictably Cuddle, Frolic, Cinnamon and Rustic, but I love all the shades and have used all of them multiple times, with the exception of Black Crow which I've used a handful of times - though as I say that's down to personal preference!

The quality of these shadows really is up there, I'd say actually more so than the Naked palettes and the wear time without creasing has been super long - my eye make up has still been fully intact every night when I'm taking off my make up having out this on in the morning, so it's a minimum of 12 hours!

I'm trying to sound vaguely balanced in this review but honestly, it's just a rave. I love this palette a lot, it really doesn't let me down on any front and it's perfect for both every day wear and building up for a night out. There's really nothing bad I can say (and that's not something I say all that often!)