Collection: Facial Scrubs

A couple of days ago it suddenly occurred to me that over the, ahem, years, I have managed to gather quite a few facial scrubs...

I am on a bit of a 'use everything up and start again' kick recently so I am now on a mission to try and finish these!  It is also partly because none of them are cruelty free!  It shows you how long I've had some of them for, I probably technically shouldn't be using a couple but they all smell fine to me haha!

I have two of these, one I got in a set along with a 30ml VitaZing and GinZing eye cream (For £25 I think, what a bargain, eye cream itself is £21!) and the other I got as a free sample - questionable!  I've not opened either of yet so I can't comment, however I'm not doing this as a review post anyway due to them all (not sure about St Ives to be honest...) having animal testing connections.  This is more of a 'why the hell do I have this many scrubs?!' post...

I have actually had this for so long!  Thank goodness I only got the sample size!  I bought this after seeing Fafinettex3 (I think that was her username, anyone else used to watch her?) or Aubrey on Youtube raving about it.  However I don't particularly like this as it has a very strong smell and the particles are quite rough and are not regular spheres so it is quite harsh on the skin.  It does leave my skin feeling soft afterwards but during it isn't very pleasant!

I think I bought this to help with blackheads on my nose.  I keep this one in my shower so it gets used slightly more often than the others!

I bought this one because I have what are called 'milk spots' under my eyes which are just like teeny white spots but they don't heal themselves and they just stay there always :( I read that salicylic acid is good for helping them and this one contained a higher percentage.  I don't even know if it works to be honest I only stuck with it for like 3 days...  So you never know, once I've finished this I may be milk spot free!

If anyone has any suggestions for cruelty-free scrubs when I (eventually) finish this lot please let me know!  I was thinking Soap and Glory?

<3

The Liebster Award

I have been awarded the Liebster Award by Hayley from Water Painted Dreams!  Thank you!

These are the rules: 
1. Link to the person who awarded you.
2. Choose 5 blogs with under 200 followers to award.
3. Let them know!

Here are the blogs I have awarded:
Amiiee
Alex
Caroline
Melissa and Rebekah
Morag

Hope you have a look at these blogs!!

<3

E.L.F. Mineral Moisturising Lip Tint SPF 8 in Berry Review

I was ordering some bits on E.L.F. a month or so ago and I decided to try out their new Mineral Moisturising Lip Tint from the Studio line which is £3.50.  I thought that it may be similar to the infamous Revlon Lip Butters, although I don't actually own any so I can't compare them!

I got mine in the shade Berry - I tend to be drawn to things which have that name!  First of all, I was really quite impressed with the pigmentation.  My lips are a very strong colour naturally (may sound good but it's the bane of my life!) and it was pretty much opaque!  I only got the one colour so I can't say whether or not it is the same for the other shades.  They smell really good, however they actually taste horrible!  Obviously you're not supposed to eat them but while wearing something on your lips it's usually going to find a way into your mouth!

Overall I did like this product however I would not use it as a moisturising 'balm', I found it really didn't do much for me on that front.  It wasn't drying but I definitely didn't find it particularly moisturising either.  So I like this as a lipstick which is semi-moisturising rather than a moisturising product with a tint - if that makes any sense at all!!  I won't be buying any more of these I don't think, just because none of the other colours really take my fancy, but I do enjoy this one!

Bare lips

After application

Wear after about an hour

Sorry for the dodgy photos, these were all taken under different lighting conditions - rookie mistake!  Hopefully my photography skills will improve as time goes on haha...

<3

I Made My Own Nail Varnish!

Sort of...

I got bored of studying so I decided to try and make my own nail varnish - as you do!

All I did was pour some clear nail varnish into a little pot and then I mixed in a couple of little scoops of a loose eyeshadow.  The one I used is a combination of two, a Barry M Dazzle Dust (Gold Green I think?) and some really old Avon loose eyeshadow (a green colour again) which I just poured in at some point!

I used one of those weird synthetic eyeshadow brushes which are quite useless for actually applying eyeshadow to your eyes!  I used the end of it to mix the powder into the nail varnish, then wiped it and used the brush side to apply it.

Obviously it wasn't the best application and I ended up with quite a few tiny bubbles (or maybe it is just powder particles?) so it doesn't look very smooth but overall I am quite pleased how it turned out!  I've got another pot of two purples I combined so I can't wait to use that and see how it turns out!

What do you think?  If you have tried this or plan on trying it I'd love to see photos!

<3

Treating Myself!

Today was my first exam and it did not go well... I had expected this so I'm feeling okay, and more positive about the other 3!  We went to Boots afterwards and I had a wee list in my head of things I wanted to buy so I just took that opportunity to get them sooner rather than later as I'd thought.

I got the No7 Hot Cloth Cleanser as I've heard good things about about it, and that it is a cheaper alternative to Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish.  I had the Liz Earle one a few years ago but I was a bit young to fully appreciate it to be honest.  I did love their moisturiser but it just got a bit expensive as my mum would use it too!  So I thought I would try this as it is a lot cheaper at £10, and huge too!  However I got this as a sort of incentive to cleanse more (I am terrible!) and use up the cheapo Avon (not CF) one I have at the moment before I can use this one!

I also got the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation as I'm running low on the one I use normally (another Avon one, can you tell I used to be a rep? haha!) and thought I'd try this one.  It was £9.99.

I got the concealer to match as I've been getting a few more spots recently and I can't use my Mac Studio Finish (not CF) that I use under my eyes as it's the wrong colour, so hopefully this one will be good!  I got them both in colour 51 and the concealer cost £7.49.

So there you have it!  That's cheered me up a bit.  I also wanted one of those doughnut things for making hair buns but it was £4.69 - FOUR SIXTY-NINE?!  So sack that, I'm sure I can find it cheaper elsewhere!

<3

Kitty Face Shoes!

I've seen this style of shoe making the rounds quite a lot recently and I fell in love as soon as I saw them, they are just adorable!  They were originally designed by Charlotte Olympia and you can see those particular ones here.  At nearly £500 they are extremely exprensive!  However, the good old high street got to work and there are now a few copies floating about the internet if you can get your hands on them.

I got my pair from Daisy Street Shoes for a mere £21, with free delivery!  I had to pre-order them and wait a wee while for them but they arrived much quicker than I had expected, it was so exciting!  I think that Missguided are also selling them for slightly more.

The shoes have a velveteen feel to them and the stitching is in a pewter colour rather than gold which the original pair are embroidered with, and the little ears are floppy!  They also don't have a heel unlike the originals but I definitely prefer them without. 

As much as I love these they have taken rather a lot of breaking in!  They were very stiff when they arrived, so I just put a pair of thick socks on and wore them around my house.  They are much better now but not exactly comfy just yet!  Hopefully they will soften up soon, I still love them anyway!

<3

NOTD: Models Own Combo

Boooo it's exam time, don't think I've ever been as stressed out as I was on Thursday, but it's gone the other way and now I am too laid back...  My first exam is on Tuesday and I don't think it'll go very well but I'm feeling more positive about the others so fingers crossed!

Here I am wearing Models Own Tropical Sun with Ibiza Mix as an accent.

<3

Favourite Perfume

I am going to tell you a wee story about my favourite perfume, enjoy!

I first bought this when I was on my way back from a skiing trip in Austria in 4th year and I had some euros left over.  I didn't even like it that much at the time to be honest, I just bought it for the sake of it!  However after having smelled it a few times and now I love it!  It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, it smells kind of masculine strangely but it's so yummy!

Unsurprisingly it ran out quite quickly and I had no idea where to get it again.  I've never seen it anywhere other than that airport in Austria!  I tried to find it on the internet but to no avail.  So I forgot about it for a few years until one day I got a whiff of it - no idea where it came from, probably just my brain making it up! - and it set me on a mission to find it!  I finally found it for a really quite good price, about £29 for 100ml so I bought it.

Then... oh god, what a nightmare, first they emailed me to say I hadn't paid even though the payment had already come off, once I got that sorted it had been ages and still no sign of it so I went back onto the website and it WASN'T THERE!!!  I genuinely thought I'd been scammed!  However, apparently they are just very shit and after about 7 weeks my perfume finally arrived!  So I wouldn't recommend that website, it's called 'Buy My Makeup' I think.  But I will say that they were very good at emailing me back and seemed really friendly but it all just seemed so dodgy at the time!  One good thing was that  for whatever reason the £29 actually came off as $29 so I got it for nearer £20 :)

The bad news... Jil Sander is owned by Coty who are not cruelty free which I didn't realise at the time so I won't be able to repurchase this - assuming I ever managed to find a decent website to buy it that is! I am cherishing this bottle!!!

Has anyone else come across this perfume?

<3

PS it is exam time at the moment so I won't be blogging as much as I'd like to, this is post I wrote up a few weeks ago but just hadn't posted it yet 'cos it's not the most exciting one in the world!  I am still photographing my nails for NOTD but just not had to time to edit and make them into a post!  It will all be over at 11.30am on 22nd May.......