Oskia Bedtime Beauty Boost

I was sent a lovely sample of this gorgeous night cream and now I’m totally hooked! I had never heard of Oskia so I was really keen to give it a try. It’s a brand that uses very natural ingredients and that was something that really spoke to me. I was also in love with the fact that they claim their products are able to help increase collagen levels in your skin cells! Hooray for looking younger again!

The Bedtime Beauty Boost has been a dream for me while I’ve been using it. If it wasn’t on the higher end of the price scale, £75, I’d be running to the shops to buy as many jars as I could fit in my largest handbag! It feels really light when you put it on but it still gave me that really nourished and moisturised feeling. As always, I put it on with a cotton pad.

My skin hasn’t been very happy lately. Both broken out and feeling on the dry side all at the same time. Meh. While I’ve been using the Beauty Boost all of that has really calmed down and my face is looking a lot fresher and smoother than it was before.

You can see more about the Bedtime Beauty Boost on Oskia’s website here. If you’re in the market for a high end, high performance night cream then I can’t recommend this one enough!

Kisses,

Rebecca

Neutral Eyes Using A Cream Eye Shadow To Vamp It Up

One of my lovely Twitter friends, Stef, was looking for some makeup inspiration a little while ago. She’s a fan of neutrals and just wanted to tweak her look. My favourite way to keep things within the neutral palette is to add in a saucy cream eye shadow. My personal favourite is a metallic purple. It’s weird because I’m not a fan of purple in the rest of my life for the most part but it’s a great eye shadow colour for making anyone with any eye colour look more awake and bright.

I started out by putting Nars Maracaibo cream eye shadow all over the eye using s synthetic brush. The concentration was over the mobile lid and then I faded it out up to the eyebrow. Over that went Wedge by MAC. The neutral powder shadow tones down the metallic cream but lets just enough of the colour come through to give the look some va va voom.

As I do in most of my looks I used my Laura Mercier Cake Liner in Black Ebony to tight line. This is such a quick, effective way to make your eyes look more open and awake. I love that it’s not terribly obvious either.

As a little extra option, I blended some Laura Mercier Chambord through the outer corner and a little into the crease. This gives some serious sultriness without looking too full on. I then went through the lash line and a tiny bit up into the outer corner using my Laura Mercier Smudge brush and some MAC Carbon. All that was left to do was curl my lashes and put on some mascara.

On my cheeks I had blended some Mustique Multiple from Nars using my fingers for a pretty flush. The lip liner I used was Fair Nude from MyFace and I went over it with a tiny speck of Grandma Lip Tar from OCC.

I hope you enjoyed this look! I’m thinking I might do some more looks using the cream/powder layering technique. Requests are always welcomed so just let me know!

Kisses,

Rebecca xxx

Hair Colouring with L’Oreal Casting

I’ve recently started colouring my hair again. I only use semi permanent colours though. There are a few reasons for that…

• I’m too flakey to be able to commit to permanent colours
• I’m worried about the damage permanent colours have on hair and mine is really fragile
• I like the shine you get from a semi permanent
• Semis have conditioning properties for your hair
• In case I ever see another grey hair, I’ll know that the semi is staining it darker so it doesn’t show

Usually I use the Superdrug own brand colour.I like using Superdrug own brands. They’re cruelty free and they’re purse friendly. Sadly, my local store didn’t have the colour I wanted when I went down there the other day. I had my heart set on taking my hair super dark brown so I had to find something else.

Without thinking I picked up a L’Oreal Casting box. Unfortunately L’Oreal are on the cruelty free “naughty list”. Drats. That was fail number one.This is the messiest home colour kit I’ve ever used! I’ve been colouring my hair on and off for more years than I can remember and I’ve never created so much damage before.

It has one of those clip on systems where the colourant mixes with the activator from the bottom. Even though I shook it really hard for ages, most of the colour ended up coming out at the end of the application process. The mixture itself is really runny. Without realising I got it on loads of surfaces before I was finished putting it back on. The white tiles were ok but it’s stained some of the grout in between the tiles and the white woodwork it came in contact with needs to be repainted now. It’s soaked right in and won’t come out no matter how much I scrub.

It stung a little while it was on but I have to admit that I have a really sensitive scalp so that’s not too unusual. On the other hand, that’s never happened with a semi permanent before.

On the upside, I’m really happy with how it’s turned out. I used shade 14, Jamaica. It’s a nice deep brown colour. I’d be interested to see if I can take my hair any darker actually. I shall keep you posted on any developments. This time it’s turned out nice and shiny and it looks loads better than it did before. For some reason, over the last six months it’s lightened up loads. My hair has a lot of natural red tones to it and it was on it’s way to auburn again. I like how the red comes out through this dark brown though.

If you want to give this a try, just click the link here. I’m definitely going to go back to my Superdrug own brand next time.

Kisses,

Rebecca xxx

MAC Brickola

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love a statement lip! It’s great for maximum impact with minimum effort! If you’re in a rush it’s so easy to throw on some eyeliner, mascara and then really big up your lips with a great colour.

This is exactly the situation I was in the other week when I was meeting some friends to go see some live music. I wanted to look pretty but I already felt like I was going to be over dressed (as usual). To make matters worse, I’d been faffing around so was in a rush.

I threw on some neutral eye shadows using MAC Brulee, Cork and Wedge. The combination makes the eye look nude for the most part but creates depth in all the right places. With my Laura Mercier Black Ebony Cake Liner I tight lined to create the illusion of bigger eyes and then drew in a nice kitten flick to go with the rest of my outfit. (I LOVE a retro vibe in my ensembles). If you’re going somewhere that isn’t as casual as where I was going, some false lashes would look terrific with this eye combo.

The lipstick I had my heart set on using was MAC Brickola. The whole makeup look pretty much revolved around it. I wanted a red lip without it being too “red”. I was wearing a yellow, brown and navy retro printed dress and a regular red just wouldn’t have looked right. This was perfect. I lined my lips and filled them in with a long wearing lip liner then used a lip brush to put on the lipstick. It was pretty full on at first but by the time I got there and had a glass of wine (or 500) it had worn down to the perfect level of density. More than a stain, less than a full coating.

This is always a great way to create maximum effect with minimal input.

Kisses,

Rebecca xxx

Superdrug Optimum Apple Serum

I can’t live without a serum. I’m not one for rich, anti ageing moisturisers at this stage of my life but I NEED to have a serum. I love to try everything from Superdrug’s own brands as they’re all cruelty free and they’re generally easy on the bank balance.

The whole cruelty free is something that’s more and more important to me. I have to admit, I should do more research on what is and isn’t cruelty free but it’s on my radar and when I find out a brand isn’t, then I’m afraid I can’t purchase from them anymore. My conscience won’t let me.

On paper I should have loved this product. I think I might have been expecting too much. After all, I’m comparing it with the likes of products at least double it’s price point and with some that have zeros added onto the end of that price! It’s basis is using apple cells to protect the skin. I’m not so certain about all that malarkey but it has argan oil (one of my fave skin care ingredients), vitamin E and B5. All those things should keep me hydrated, radiant, nourished and youthful.

I just felt underwhelmed. I had been without a serum for a little while so I could properly look at the results and I just didn’t see enough of an improvement to be excited. I’ve even waited to write this till I finished the whole bottle hoping for a last minute change of mind.

I’m not saying this isn’t a product to be purchased. I think it’s great for someone in their mid to late twenties that wants to think about protecting their skin form the ravages of time. If you’ve hit your 30’s and seen some sun, I think you might be too late for this one.

The texture is very light and absorbs really quickly. As always I put it on using a cotton pad and put an night time moisturiser over the top of it. I never felt like the serum was overloading my skin or leaving it greasy. It’s lasted a really long time as well. I would use one pump for the most part and two if I'd had a big night out, was feeling sleep deprived or generally not great.

At £15 it’s a bit of a bargain and I even managed to get mine for £10 during a special offer. Check out the link here.

Kisses,

Rebecca

Natalie Portman Inspired Smoky Eye Look

The last Natalie Portman look! Woohoo! This final one is the smoky eye look at the top of the page. Rather than a traditional smoky eye using blacks and greys, this has neutral tones all over the eye and then uses a strong liner to smoke things out.

As in the previous two videos, my base was done using Face Atelier Foundation, Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer and ELF HD Powder. My brows we shaped using a Yaby brow powder and my lashes were curled using a Shu Uemura lash curler.

I think the cream eye shadow I used is called Savage by Nars. I know it’s definitely a Nars product but I’m not entirely certain of it’s name having put it in one of my Z-Palettes. Anyway, it’s a light golden bronze and I put it on all over the eye up to the brow. Over the top of that I put some Tempting by MAC to just above the crease and went into the outer corner as well as along the lash line with some Satin Taupe.

To create some real drama I used a black gel liner on the upper water line, in the roots of the lashes and created a cat eye shape along the top of the lashes. Then I put on a pair of Revlon false eye lashes and went back over the top of that with the gel liner to make sure the join was completely covered up. When putting the lashes on I squeezed my lashes and the falsies together in between my fingers so they blended in together.

Underneath the lower lash line I had put some gel liner and used my Avon Glimmerstick in Blackest Black on the waterline. Both the lower and upper eye liner was all locked in with some MAC Carbon eye shadow with my Laura Mercier Smudge Brush and smoked out to create the soft, dramatic effect for the final look.

The cheeks were kept fresh with Cheek by MAC and the lips were glossed up using Nearly Peach by Coastal Scents.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these looks!

Kisses,

Rebecca xxx

Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Oil-Free Day Lotion SPF 15

I’ve had this tube of lotion for some time now. It’s not really the kind of thing I use all year round. I don’t have generally oily skin and sometimes I’ve needed something a bit richer. Then there is the fact that I feel quite “meh” about it.

I’ve finally finished it now and it was with a great deal of satisfaction that I’ve thrown the empty tube away. There is nothing really wrong with this product. It’s just that I didn’t feel like there was anything particularly right about it either.

For hot, balmy days it was good to have so my skin was still hydrated without feeling greasy. It’s just that I think there are plenty of other products out there that do the same for a lot less than this one cost. I do like that product is dispensed via a pump and that said pump doesn’t give you too much each time. That’s probably the only thing that was really good about it.

For £75 I definitely wouldn’t recommend running out and buying it. I was pretty disappointed in general. It’s such a shame as I generally love Laura Mercier makeup. Maybe just give the skin care range a skip.

Kisses,

Rebecca xxx

Natalie Portman Inspired Bright Pink Lips

I feel like such a diligent blogger and YouTuber! I’ve been so tied up with everything else going on in “the real world” that I’ve been very neglectful. I hope this makes up for it!

A couple days ago I posted a video on how to do a look similar to the “natural” look at the bottom of this image. Today it’s all about the bright pink lips in the middle shot. I LOVE bright lips! I think my favourite is a red lip but anything with a statement lip is always on the top of my list.

This particular lip is paired with a subtle, smoked out eye. Nothing too full on but something soft and fun at the same time.

My base consisted of a Face Atelier foundation, Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer and my ELF HD Powder. My brows were done with a Yaby brow powder. Natalie has particularly straight brows. Mine are just not like that at all so I simply filled in what I could in a straight line and left the final curve bare.

On the eyes I went with a wash of Night Bird from Nars using a fluffy brush then went through the lash line with an Avon Glimmerstick in Blackest Black. For extra oomph on the lashes I put an extra couple of coats of mascara on using the MyFace mascara. It’s nice and black and doesn’t clump terribly much.

The bright lips were done using Nars Funny Face lip liner with MAC Hollywood Nights filled in all over the lip. I went just outside the lip line with the left over concealer on my brush to sharpen it up. I also went over the middle of my lips with some MAC Steal My Heart lip gloss.

To keep everything tied in I used a Barry M blush on my cheeks in 04. It’s a super bright pink cheek colour! I love getting an excuse to use it!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this and I’ll see you again very soon.

Kisses,

Rebecca xxx

Natalie Portman Inspired Natural Makeup

I fear that the picture at the bottom of this page didn’t scan all that well. It’s a page from a magazine that I tore out. I thought it might be fun to do a look inspired by each one.

I started from the bottom up so this first video is on the “natural” style.

So, for the list of products…

* I think I used Nars Savage cream e/s

* Over that I used MAC Style Snob e/s

* I rubbed Avon’s Glimmerstick in Blackest Black into the lash line

* Then coated my lashes with MyFace mascara after curling my lashes with a Shu Uemura eyelash curler

* My cheeks were given a flush with MAC Pretty baby beauty powder and…

* Finally, my lips were given a slick of MAC’s Steal My Heart l/g

I hope you enjoy the look and watch this space for the next two parts!

Kisses,

Rebecca xxx

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeazy

Lately this quick and easy trick has been my skin saviour. If my skin has been looking tired or if I’m going somewhere and I want to look nice and radiant, it’s been amazing! It’s also been doing some really nice work on my milia. Pesky, darned milia.

So, I’ve sliced a small lemon in half and squeezed a palm full into my hand. I’ve then taken a spoon of granulated sugar and mixed it in with the lemon juice so it forms a nice paste.

With a clean face I’ve warmed it a little in my hands and then gently scrubbed it in a massaging motion. Having done that for two or three minutes I’ve gently splashed it off with warm water and given my skin a lovely, deep moisturising treatment.

I’m pretty fearful of scrubby scrubs. I’ve always preferred an exfoliating mask like Darphin’s or Dr Sebagh’s. However, trying to be a recessionista and a little more planet friendly has prompted me to give this a try. I’ve been so pleased with the results! I’m really gentle with massaging it into my face and the sugar mostly dissolves away – especially if you’ve warmed it in your hands first.

The lemon juice is terrific for your skin. And not just first thing in the morning with some hot water! The fruit acids help to melt away dead skin cells, it’s packed with vitamin C as well as vitamin B, it will soften your skin and it will encourage cell renewal.

I’m definitely hooked on this little treat and don’t think I’ll be shelling out for a super expensive solution any time soon!

Kisses,

Rebecca xxx