Scene Anime

Evening all!! I’ve seen lately that the Boots Original Beauty Formula range is doing the rounds on the beauty blogs, so I thought I’d review a few of the bits I have.  I have practically everything in the range, the cleanser, rose toner, cold cream cleanser and the vanishing day cream.  I have only yet tried the cleanser and toner however, so I’ll review the cleanser today!

I first saw this range on one of my favourite beauty blogs – The Gloss Goss, and fell for the lovely natural ingredients and cute vintage packaging.  So I picked some up when Boots had the 3 for 2 skincare offer.  I have been using this for a few weeks to take my eye make-up off and it does a lovely job.  It has a milky creamy consistency, which, when applied to a cotton pad and placed on the eye, removes a lot of my everyday eye make-up.  I do wear a lot of eye make-up daily, and I normally need to use up a few cotton pads for each eye to remove every trace of make-up. 
The smell is gorgeous, a sweet rose smell which I adore.  It has 19 ingredients, mostly preservatives and natural ingredients such as Olive fruit oil, Cocoa seed butter, and a few flower oils.  Saying this, it doesn’t leave my skin oily or tacky at all, instead my skin feels rather fresh and moisturized.
One thing I really dislike about this, is the fact that I can never get any product out of the bottle, so I have to shake it and then loaddsssss of it comes out on to my cotton pad!  It is seriously messy (or I’m just extremely clumsy!), and I end up with it everywhere.  It would be so much easier if it had a pump, or if the bottle was able to be squeezed, although I know this would affect the aesthetic-ness of the vintage bottle.  Because of this, I do get some product in my eye, it doesn’t sting but it goes cloudy, obviously, which disappears once you rinse it off.
Would I buy this again – Probably, yes!  I can’t help but feel like an elegant Victorian lady in her boudoir when I use this, or see it on my dresser.  It does a good job of removing make-up and it smells really nice.
The whole Boots Original range is very affordable, this was about £3.99!  I will update soon with what I think of the other products in the range!
Has any one used this before? What did you think? Do you like the vintage packaging?
XXX

Ladies, I HAVE A DILEMMA!  I have a whopping £20.05 worth of Boots points on my Advantage card and I need help with what to spend them on!

For the past three years or so I have always saved up enough points to repurchase my Urban Decay Primer Potion and that's it, but now I’ve finally saved up enough for that and a few more treats, they only go and bloody stop selling Urban Decay in Boots!  So now I’m going to have to buy that with my real pennies, which means I have a few other options of what else I can spend my points on.

My real dilemma is – do I keep saving a bit more and buy myself one piece of high end makeup as a treat, or do I use my points to repurchase all of my toiletries to save me actually buying them?  I’ve compiled a wish list below for each category, so please, what would you do?!

High-end makeup choices

1) Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte Lipstick (exact shade undecided but I love #13 so much that I quite fancy another)

2) Estee Lauder Blush in Peach Nuance (I’ve wanted this blusher for a year now and always drool over it when in Boots – could now be my chance to actually get it?)

3) Yves Saint Laurent Volume Effet Faux Cils Luxurious Mascara (I’ve never tried a high end mascara and I want to!)

4)YSL Teint Radiance Foundation (…and I’d also love to try a high end foundation if they have one pale enough)

5) Estee Lauder Lipstick in Crystal Baby (a back up for my current one which I’ve nearly finished).

Toiletries and Cheaper Treats

1) No7 Eyeshadow Brush (It looks super fluffy and nice, but I could just purchase it next time Boots do a £5 off voucher)

2) Aussie 3 Minute Miracle (My favourite conditioner and I’ve just run out!!)

3) Batiste Dry Shampoo (I go through about two of these a month so I could stock up!)

4) Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner (I’ve seen soooo many reviews on beauty blogs about this and I’m dying to get my hands on it!!)

5) Rimmel Nail Polish in Rose Libertine (I’ve also been eyeing this up for a year but always forget when I go into Boots)

6) Vaseline Lip Balm in Cocoa Butter (I LOVE the smell of this, its identical to the body oil which I absolutely adore and now I want this too!!)

7) Simple Soothing Eye Balm (My eyes have been quite sore lately and I’m looking for a nice gentle eye cream to use, this looks perfect)

 What to do? – My gut instinct is to spend my points on toiletries and the little treats above, as I’ll get more little bits instead of just one thing and I’ll save some actual money, but at the same time a luxurious treat would be nice. 

However, I’ve just been looking at my money situation and it works out that I have around £20 a month to spend for the next month if I don’t want to come to the end of my overdraft, so I’ve decided I’m going on a spending ban starting tomorrow (1st April) and won’t be allowed to purchase any clothes, makeup and beauty products for a month.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to stick to it but I’ll try my hardest.  (I’ll still be able to spend my Boots points though because that's not actually coming out of my bank account, right? :p)

What do you think I should do?  What would you do?  And have you ever been on a spending ban before? Have you got any tips?

xoxox

I am SO angry at beauty brands at the moment for releasing SO many beautiful products that I can’t help but buy, leaving me in more and more debt!  This is another Limited Edition product that I could not have passed up; is it just me or are all the Spring LE beauty ranges beautiful this year!

This little beauty can be bought in Boots, by their own makeup brand - 17 for a mere £5.49, which is FANTASTIC value in my personal opinion.  I’ll give you the swatches and then tell you what I think.

 

So you get six eye shadows in a little compact with a mirror and a sponge brush.  Each of the e/s are stunningly pigmented.  Each swatch above was literally a swipe of my finger which I then transferred to my arm and they are all still sparkling and gorgeous.  These types of golds and browns are colours which I can easily use daily for a smokey look, and in my opinion are pretty similar in colour and pigmentation to the Sleek Storm shadows.  I’m overly impressed with this product and I think 17 should invest in bringing out some more palettes like this in their core range!

Have you picked this up yet?  Are you also impressed?

XXX

Who, like me, always has a problem of finding a decent foundation?  I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I’m glad to say have found my Holy Grail foundation which I will continue to use until it gets discontinued (which I hope never comes).  On my quest for the perfect foundation I picked up a few others and I will review them all today and swatch for you.

L-R - L’Oreal Paris Infallible Long Lasting Perfecting Foundation in Porcelain, MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC15, Revlon Photo Ready in 002 Vanilla, Boots Botanics Quench Your Face Foundation in 10 Almond

My biggest problem when looking for the perfect foundation is the colour.  I am very pale and most make-up brands have completely ignored us Caspers and haven't catered at all for us in the foundation department. 

What I look for in a foundation -

• COLOUR – It has to match my skin perfectly, meaning it has to be pale, I don’t want to look like a tangerine.
• COVERAGE – I want the foundation to even my skin tone out.  I don’t want to look patchy. (Not too worried about it being able to cover spots as that's what concealer is for, right! and I always use concealer.)
• FORMULA/finish – I do not want to look cakey.  A big no no.  Nor do I want to look oily.  I want my skin to look like skin – natural, silky and dewy in certain weathers.  The formula is a big deciding factor for me.
• PRICE – I don’t mind paying £25 for a foundation, but only if it really is the most amazing, perfect foundation ever.  If it has faults then I’m not blowing my hard earned cash on it. 
• SPF – I obviously would prefer a foundation with SPF.

I will review each foundation in each of these categories so that you know exactly what I think about each.

 

REVLON PHOTO READY

 

• COLOUR – I’ve actually been really surprised with this foundation.  When I first bought it I discarded it thinking it was too dark and orange, but since coming back from holiday with a bit of colour I’ve been using this everyday!  The colour is almost perfect for my skin after holiday and can always be lightened up with my powder.  You can see in the pictures above that this gives me a really healthy colour and glow!
• COVERAGE – Really good medium coverage, again, I’m impressed.  Evens my skin tone out and covers blemishes well, although leaves them looking a bit dry, so moisturize spots before hand.
• FORMULA – I really like the formula of this foundation.  Nice and creamy and quite silky, applies really well to the skin, sinks in nicely, doesn’t dry my skin out.  Makes my skin look glowing yet natural.  Many people have moaned about a sparkle in natural light, but I haven’t noticed this at all.
• PRICE – Retails for £12.99 in Boots.  When I first picked this up I thought it was quite expensive and didn’t realllly want to part with the cash, but I’m glad I did.  I’d say its worth the price and I guess its a lot more affordable than high end brands.
• SPF – The highest SPF out of the bunch, SPF20!  Fabulous!

L’OREAL INFALLIBLE

 

I’ll mention now that this foundation is my favourite.  I’m on my third tube of this and it just gives me everything that I want out of a foundation.

 

COLOUR – This matches my pale skin perfectly!  I was so surprised when I tested this out in store and I can’t express how happy I am with it.  Its pale but it doesn’t make me look ghostly or colour-less.  Perfect for winter and spring for me.  I can always add bronzer to add colour!

COVERAGE – If you have lots of pimples and are looking for a heavy coverage foundation, you won’t like this.  The coverage evens my skin tone out perfectly but isn’t thick enough to completely banish red spots, which is why I always use a concealer with it, just on the areas that need it.  Its has a nice light coverage which is perfect for smoothing out.  (No concealer used in the pictures above though – just foundation in those pics!)

FORMULA – I ADORE the formula of this foundation, it is so silky and thin and just perfect, I can’t really explain it.  It isn’t at all thick or runny, its feels like a very light cream silk that blends really well into the skin, whilst also leaving me feeling moisturized but never greasy or oily.  It almost dries as a powder which feels really nice.  I can’t find any faults with it.

PRICE – Such a bargain at around £12, I can always afford to grab this when I run out.  Great price, affordable for a great foundation.

SPF – Includes SPF15, what more could I ask for!

On the bottle of this foundation it states that it is a ‘Long Lasting Perfecting Foundation’ that ‘lasts 16 hours and fights the signs of make-up meltdown’.  I never bought it for this reason and only just noticed that it stated this not long ago, but I don’t agree with it.  This foundation is perfect, but I’ll admit it doesn’t last all day, which is why I always carry around a tiny concealer and powder for top ups.  I kind of wish that it didn’t state this on the packaging so that people wouldn’t be let down by that statement.  It lasts well, but not all day.

MAC STUDIO FIX FLUID

 

 

COLOUR – SO disappointed with this foundation. Its such a shame and it angers me that my NC15 concealer matches my skin perfectly – whereas this is the SAME number, but SUCH a different colour.  Such a letdown.  This makes me look like I’ve been tangoed good and proper.  Foundation line is clearly noticeable no matter how much I blend.

COVERAGE – Maximum coverage.  If you have lots of pimples and uneven skin tone this would be perfect for you.  It covers all blemishes really well and almost makes the skin look airbrushed.

FORMULA – Very thick and creamy and almost cakey once on the skin.  I guess you’d expect that from a high coverage foundation.  If this foundation was the correct colour for me, I’d wear it on special occasions where I wanted perfect, almost fake looking skin.

PRICE - £19.  I think this is very expensive for a foundation, but maybe I’m saying that cause I'm biased because of the colour.  This is definitely worth having if your going to get your moneys worth and use it everyday but it was a waste of money for me, personally.

SPF – SPF15. 

I’ve included this extra to show how dark it is, in natural light.  You can clearly see a orange line but my hair/ear.  Covers blemishes well though.  For the palest foundation in MACs huge collection, I think this is totally unacceptable!

BOOTS BOTANICS

 

 

I picked this up in Boots Clearance a while ago ( I think it may have been discontinued or repackaged?) as I couldn’t believe that it was so pale and needed it, impulse buy, and I’ll admit that I haven’t used it much as although the colour is perfect.

COLOUR – Great colour, lovely and pale, suits me well.

COVERAGE – The coverage of this is quite light, I’d compare it to that of a tinted moisturizer.  It gives a natural coverage, but you can still see your skin underneath in – I think it just evens the skin out a bit.  I actually quite like this as a beach/holiday or uni/work foundation as its natural and light and affordable for everyday use.  You can see in the pictures above there are a few areas around the chin/cheeks/forehead where you can still see red blemishes.

FORMULA – The formula of this is weird! Not weird, just quite watery and runny, which I presume is down to the natural ingredients in it.  Its very runny and finishes quite dewy, which is very nice but I feel as if it sits on the skin quite a bit because of its formula.

PRICE – I have no idea what this retails for in store but I picked it for about £2, which is good but probably no good if its been discontinued! (I apologise if it has!)

SPF – SPF 12! This foundation has added ginger and jojoba to help moisturize.

There you have it! My four foundations.  After doing this whole post I realised I have a GOSH Velvet Touch foundation as well which I completely forgot to include, so if anyone would like to see that then comment below and I’ll write it up in a separate post!

What do you think?

Are you disappointed with MACs colour range?

What do you personally think looks the best?

XXXX

My local Boots has been renovated, and it looks fantastic. It has the nice new shelving units, the big new makeup counters, self service tills, everything! Yes, it has the new Models own make-up range as well, which I drooled at for ages when I visited. I bought a few bits and bobs that I’d been wanting to try out.

Boots Original Beauty Formula Hand Cream

I love this hand cream!! I picked it up as I already love the Original beauty formula range (you can see my post on the cleanser HERE) and at the moment, everything in the range is half price! This was under £2, bargain! It smells delicious, the packaging is just adorable, it leaves me with smooth hands and it is also the perfect size to carry around in my handbag. I usually need a generous pea size about to moisturize my whole hands and the tube is 45ml, so hopefully it’ll last me a while. I think the packaging is really unique; it looks like a metal covering, but its actually squeezy, so it doesn’t dent which is a bonus. On the packaging it says it contains lavender oil, and I know lavender scents can sometimes be overpowering, but this is so subtle and smells more like rose with a hint of lavender, which I like. I am probably going to pick another of these up soon whilst the offer is still on, as I can see myself using this lots!

Boots 17

Boots had a wicked offer on their 17 make-up range. If you spent £6 on any 17 products, you got a cute little nautical tin with a nail varnish, eye shadow and eye liner in! I couldn’t resist! I had been wanting a pale purple nail varnish and wanted to try out their eye shadows anyway so I picked up Parma Violet nail polish, and glitter Chalice eye shadow for £6!

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Above is what I got inside the cute tin, Knockout red nail polish, Viva Diva eye shadow and Azure eye liner!

Swatches of the eye shadows, without primer, and the eyeliner with the blue eye shadow on top – a great combination. I cant wait to experiment with these, the colours are beautiful. I have already worn the purple polish and I love it! It makes even my pale hands look tanned! I will take pictures for all of you soon with a small review!

Has anyone been naughty with their cash lately and bought a few selfish purchases? I really can’t help it myself! Does anyone have the hand cream also? What do you think? XX

P.S The Body Shops new Summer Trend make-up is now available, check it out on their website HERE!!! You can see what I thought about the range with some swatches HERE!!!

I hate how fast time flies when you are older!  I remember being fifteen and sitting in my room watching the clock, and five minutes seriously lasted forever!  I guess its good at the moment as it means that summer is approaching, but it makes me want to really enjoy every minute of my life as it happens, you know, cause it all goes so fast?

Anyway!  Here are my favourite make-up and beauty products that I’ve used the most this month!

MAC Ever Hip Lipstick – J’adore this lipstick!  I hated it when I tried it on in store, as the lighting in there is awful and always makes everything look so unflattering on me, but I bought it anyway and I’m glad I did.  Its the perfect coral/pink shade which suits me no matter how I do my eye m-u.  You can see me wearing it with a smokey brown eye – HERE!  The consistency is beautiful – really moisturizing and it smells great.  Not sure it lasts all that long on my lips, but I love it anyway.

The Body Shop Lipstick #42 – I’ve had this for a long time but I’ve only just started wearing it again.  It is the perfect natural brown/pink for my lips.  You know those days when you want to wear a lipstick, but not anything too bright or colourful? Well on those days I reach for this.  I can wear it without looking like I’m wearing any lip product which I like.  Its moisturizing once on, but you have to apply a few strokes to get a nice pigmentation.  The silver bullet case is stylish and it smells good!

The Body Shop Peppermint essential oil – This essential oil was discontinued from TBS a while ago and I’m so upset that it was, as its probably my favourite essential oil and the one I use most often.  I get very bad back-ache, especially at work (I have scoliosis – curvature of the spine, which is most probably the cause of the back ache, and the reason I’m only 4’11’’).  This week I had a photoshoot with a make-up artist, stylist, model and I was the photographer, so I hired out expensive flash kits to use which were SO heavy and really did my back and neck in.  I am still in SO much pain from carrying it all and to even move my neck kills.  So I’ve been using the peppermint oil with the monoi oil (below) to massage into my back and neck and it feels really really good.  Its feels really minty, fresh and reviving when rubbed into the skin.  It also feels really cooling and tingly which relieves my neck pain for a while after I apply it.  I highly recommend peppermint oil to everyone who gets achy!  The smell wakes you up as well!

The Body Shop Spa Wisdom Monoi Miracle Oil – I started using this product at the beginning of this year, and I really love it.  (The packaging has recently been changed and looks a lot prettier in the stores, I have the old packaging).  This is the perfect body oil in my opinion and I have no reason to ever use another.  It leaves the skin moisturized and smelling beautiful – but what I love most is that it really sinks into the skin, and doesn’t leave any greasy residue at all if you moisturize it in properly.  It smells sooo good, but I can’t describe it so you’ll have to check a tester out in store.  This has really improved my eczema dry patches and it feels like a total luxury.  I’ve also used this in the bath AND in my hair.  I add a few drops into my bath when its running and I feel so soft after.  For my hair, I dampen it, apply the oil all over and leave it in for 15mins and then just wash it out and continue as normal.  I love products that are good for multi-tasking, and this proves useful for everything.

Boots Original beauty Formula Cleansing Milk – You can read my post about what I think of this – HERE!  It looks gorgeous on my vanity table, I adore the rose scent and I love how soft it leaves my skin feeling, although I think it needs a pump to stop me getting the product everywhere!

L'Oreal Voluminous 4x Black mascara – I’ve only just started using this mascara, but so far I really like it.  The big fat brush allows me to reach all my lashes in one sweep and lets me build up layers to get the coverage I want!  I will do a review of this properly with pictures next week!

GOSH foundation brush – I’ve had this for a few years but hardly used it, as I used to be really spotty and I felt I was just spreading spots around my face by using a foundation brush (this probably isn’t true – but it’s how I felt!).  Now that my skin is good, I’ve started using it again and it allows me to apply the foundation evenly around my face and I generally enjoy using a brush instead of my fingers.  It has a nice long handle and looks very professional, and I think the quality of the brush hairs are really good.  I have another GOSH brush (the one that looks like the MAC 187) which leaves massive long black hairs on my face which I hate, but the hairs in this one do not fall out.  The hairs are soft and man made (I think?!)!

OH! And I got a BlackBerry last weekend and I LOVE it!  Its so pretty and I love all the applications and the fact that I can go on the net whilst I’m on the move!

That’s it guys!! What do you think? Are any of these products your favourites too?  XX