Guerlain Lingerie de peau

So Lingerie de Peau and I set about our love affair early this summer. After trying many many foundations and reading a lot about this product and was keen to give it a try, due to claims it gave a skin like finish. This was something that i was looking for as I have more fuller coverage foundations and also lighter coverage ones and tinted moisturisers. So off I hopped to a Guerlain counter and was colour matched with a little help to the correct shade to my tanned summer skin. I walked away happy.

Now, my skin is fairly normal and can lean towards oily on my t zone. I apply it with my Sigma flat top F80 brush and I feel that this gives me a medium coverage. This is all the coverage I need really as my skin is only really problematic on my chin (damn you hormonal acne) and that can be covered with concealer if needed. This foundation gives my a glowy natural finish that I find looks like my skin only slightly better. It bonds well with my skin after blending and sinks in to create a smooth finish.

My only downside is its staying power, and being a lover of a foundation that is long lasting without the need for powder, (YSL Teint resist and Estee Lauder Double wear light), this is something I feel I have to compromise on with the Guerlain. I do powder it and have dabbled with the Guerlain Les Voilettes Mineral loose powder, but at the moment its my Bare Minerals Mineral Veil thats getting the most love. The powder helps with the staying power obviously, which will then make the product last the most part of the day. 

Now in the winter my shade has lightened from 04 to 03 so obviously I had to buy that shade as well, so at £33 my purse is considerably lighter and so is my foundation! £33 is expensive I know, and even still, I'm on the look out for something even better (I can't help myself!), but for the time being, this is my holy grail due to the natural finish this gives my skin with a lightweight consistency.

Any recommendations for anything to try next in my hunt for perfection?

Sigmax brushes

So I'm a bit of a fan of Sigma brushes. I find them to be a cheaper alternative to Mac brushes but just as good quality. So when Sigma launched their new Sigmax range of synthetic brushes I was keen to try them out. I like brushes that are dense to buff products into my skin as they give more of an airbrushed finish. 

I purchased all of the above brushes as part of a set as they were slightly cheaper than buying them all separately. I got them from the Sigma website in the US and for these three brushes including shipping to the UK, it wasn't too expensive at all (can't remember how much, but they are still on the Sigma website.) 

The F80 is the flat top kabuki (top of the picture) that I use to buff in my foundation. This provides a flawless finish and is fairly dense to allow the product to sit on top of the brush, thus wasting less product. 

The F82 is the round top kabuki (second in picture). It can be used for many purposes but I use it for buffing in powder, to set my foundation or for cream blushers. This one is the most densely packed of the three and I imagine it would be great with mineral foundation.

The angled top kabuki is the F84. this is a great contour brush and I use it with bronzers and cream bronzer products. 

If I was to only have one of these brushes it would be the F80. I love how it blends my foundation and is sooooo soft! It could also be used as a chisel brush to contour as it has a flat top edge to it. All of these brushes are so soft and are great quality. I have had no problems with shedding and they wash well. I am pleased to have all of them in my ever growing collection. Has anyone tried any of these brushes?

oooh shiny

OOOh my two new little loves are these shiny looking beauties. They are from the Boots 17 range and are from the mirror shine collection. I first heard about these on Laura 's blog. I thought these looked like a great high shine lipstick with a subtle wash of colour, I was not wrong.

I chose the colours beehive and peace. Beehive is a great neutral pinky tone that is pretty subtle and looks like a nice gloss. Peace is a light coral colour that looks more red on the lips, (sorry for the lack of swatches but my camera couldnt pick the colour up well) These are great inexpensive high shine lipsticks for just a subtle hint of colour, nice for summer when you dont want a sticky gloss or heavly pigmented lips. The magpies amoungst us will love them, anything shiny has certainly got me.

xxx

Lush Ocean Salt scrub

I like a good old scrub now and again and my choice of exfoliator is usually one that is pretty grainy or has big granules. At the moment I'm loving Lush's Ocean Salt scrub. It can be used on your face and body, but as I have so many other body exfoliators that I prefer (with essential oils in), I only use this on my face. At first it did sting my face, perhaps that was the lime, grapefruit and vodka, but after a couple of uses I had no issue with the stinging (it was only minor in the first place.) The scrub is very rough in texture and the sea salt provides the granules, some fairly chunky, others more finely milled. At first you need to mix the scrub as the salt settles on the top.

Sometimes I like to mix this with another favourite exfoliator of mine, the Liz Earle Gentle face exfoliator to make the consistency more creamy, however I have used it alone for a more intense scrub. The tub is available in two different sizes but I thought I would try the smaller one to see if it agreed with my skin. Overall, I will be repurchasing this when it runs out as I like the grains in the exfoliator. I also like the fresh feeling it leaves my skin.

xxx

A tummy tuck?.........

So its that time of year again that I want to feel as slim as possible, and most of the time this is an impossible task (I'm a lover of all food that is bad for me). So I thought I would give the Rodial Tummy tuck sticks a try in hope that they would streamline me to within an inch of my life, ok, maybe that's an over exaggeration but still, being £48 I was hoping for a near miracle.

So, Rodial claim that one of these sachets mixed with water after your evening meal for two weeks will "help speed up digestion to achieve a slimmer waistline". In my opinion this seems a pretty big claim for one sachet mixed with water for two weeks, but I was willing to try them to see if they worked. The sticks contain ingredients such as pineapple and papaya enzymes, fennel seeds and green clay, which all, in some way, claim to help you achieve a slimmer waist. So after just over a week I can safely say they are not worth £48.

They might have worked yes, but that also might have been down to some fairly healthy eating that I have tried to adopt. I don't really feel any less bloated, not that I particularly was before, and I am not sure I'm that much more "streamline" in the waist area, well not enough for £48 worth of product. The sachets did not taste too bad, they were ok, a pineapple flavour, however I did find it hard to mix in the water as it separated a bit and some of the mixture would float to the top in lumps. Would I repurchase, no, simply because they are expensive and I feel something like green tea would have a similar effect but for much cheaper.

xxx

Clarins Hydraquench serum

I used to work for Clarins when I lived in London and having not used any of their products previous to working for them I now have quite a few in my collection. Most of them I didn't purchase myself as we were allocated a certain amount of products every 2 months therefore I chose them from all of the products available. One of the products I will miss obtaining for free is the Hydraquench serum.

This is used underneath moisturiser to add water content, not oil to the skin, therefore can be used on all dehydrated skins from dry to oily skins. I like to use this in the summer if I have been out in the sun and in the winter to add hydration as the cold air and heaters zap all of my skins hydration. It sinks so easily into my skin and makes it feel more comfortable and less tight. This a product that I would purchase with my own money once I have run out of my little stash, which unfortunately is depleting rapidly - bad times.

xxx

May Favourites

What have I been loving this month........well, a few random bits really. Carmex in the little tube has become my new best friend. I kind of liked the one in the little pot as I like the finish it gives to my lips, they always looked really smooth with it on and i like the sheen it gives. So having spotted this I had to purchase as its cherry flavoured and I prefer lip balms in a tube as its much less messy. So I'm loving that at the mo.

Coralista Blusher by Benefit was a blusher I bought a while ago as was stopped by a Benefit SA when it was first released and got suckered into her sales pitch and ended up walking away with a couple of products I didn't really need, (I'm such a sucker for pretty packaging). Anyway, I dug this out and have been swiping it over my cheeks for a corally glow (made up word I know).

Macs Fix + is another love, I find it really refreshes me and brightens my skin and is a great pick me up for hot days in the sun.

Sudocrem has always been a love of mine and is so multipurpose. I mainly use mine on blemishes and redness on my face. I love how cheap it is and how effective it is at minimising red areas and making spots less angry.

The Mac lipstick is Angel, and although only a recent purchase it is a good all round pink lip colour that says you have not tried too hard but you have made some effort with the lip area.

The pencil is a Gosh eyebrow pencil in grey brown. I have only recently decided that I should fill in the brows on the odd occasion as it makes my look seem more groomed. This baby is only used on nights out for example and is a good match to my eyebrow colour, easy to use and is pretty cheap too.

xxx