I'm Penny And I'm A Lip Balmaholic

You know when you have so much of something it borders on ridiculous, well that's me and my hoard of lip balms. I just can't seem to help myself, these little lip treats just continuously call my name.

I only realised I had a problem today, when I rustled in my bag for a lip balm and realised I had a choice of six. SIX in one small bag.

I wanted to share with you why I love these little lifesavers and my faves at the moment, starting with my all time favourite Creme de rose from Dior. It is amazingly moisturising and gives your lips a nice subtle plump. It's the perfect base for lipstick and ensures that you can go all winter long without chapped lips. It's slightly on the pricey side, but it's a gem that I buy again and again.

Baume de rose from By Terry is also lovely, again on the pricey side but you get what you pay for. This balm feels very luxurious when you apply it and coats your lips in a rose smelling, almost glossy seal. It keeps your lips really nourished and healthy and is my desk side essential.

I also love a good Chapstick, they smell so good, look really pretty and are incredibly cheap so it doesn't matter how many times you lose it, you can pick up another.

I've also spotted another one I want to try in Holland & Barrett today, it was coconut flavour which instantly sold it to me and promised to nourish and protect the lips. Hello new lip balm, it's payday tomorrow!

Do you have a beauty addiction?

WANT THIS!

Five Minute Makeover

Nearly Friday guys, we're almost there! I think I might do a post soon about how to create the peacock eyes that seems to be the trend at the moment, TBC... I wanted to do a blog post today about my make-up essentials for on the go. As you know I commute to work, which takes about 2 hours each way and I often get asked how early I have to wake up. People are generally shocked when I say I get up 15 minutes before I leave and they don't understand how I have time to get ready. Well people, I shower and brush my teeth and literally do everything else on the train! So I wanted to blog today about the essentials you need to create a nice daytime look with minimal products in a short amount of time.

So, imagine me on a train... I would have cleansed my face in the shower with Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish and moisturised with Decleor Aroma Purete, so my clean is prepped for makeup. Firstly I apply my Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser in shade nude and I let this settle on the skin for a while before I apply my trusty Touché Éclat by YSL every where that I need a bit of radiance - under the eyes, bridge of the nose, chin and between the eyebrows.

Next I take my eye lash curlers (only cheapy ones from Primark) and curl my lashes to give maximum length. Using the mini Clinique high impact mascara in black I coat my lashes as much as possible to create a fluttery lash look.

Using my favourite bronzer, the bronzing pearls from Me Me Me I sweep the colour over my cheeks, across my temples and down the sides of my nose. I do this a couple times to ensure I look alive, using the Real Techniques stippling brush. To finish my look off I dot a few blobs of Benefit's benetint on the apples of my cheeks which gives them a lovely natural looking flush. I was never convinced by this product before, but I got it free in this month's InStyle magazine and LOVE it.

Altogether this takes about 5 mins and the products aren't heavy in your bag so you can carry them all day with no hassle. And there you have it, 5 minute makeup with 5 products.

Pale And Uninteresting

I really think I suffer with SAD, the dark mornings really affect me and come mid-October I'm depressed right through to April! I'm so much more of a summer person, I prefer the clothes and the whole 'look' of summer. I resent having to spend so much money to stay warm in the winter. If I was the PM I'd make sure everyone got Dune boots and Reiss coats for free - they're essentials!

Anyway, I digress, I was saying how much I hate winter, the pale, pasty look just doesn't work for me so this winter I am going to make a conscious effort to stay tanned! This might look odd for the middle of winter so I'm going to do it gradually, using a very light colour so it looks as natural as possible.

The best product for this type of tanning is the St. Tropez Naturals Self Tan Lotion, which gives a really subtle glow. You can just apply this like a moisturiser after a shower so there's minimal effort and no excuse to be pale!

If all else fails I will get a spray tan, I cannot be doing with another pale winter!

Are you a summer or winter person?

Give Your Eyes Some TLC

Your eyes are a huge tell-tale sign of what you're thinking, how you're feeling and how old you are - so it's important to look after them. I have particularly dry skin under my eyes so I use an eye cream to add moisture to the delicate skin, but I know a lot of people are unsure whether they should be using an eye cream or not, so I thought I'd do a little run down of some of the creams I've been using recently and why they're good and maybe not so good.

I do think it's important to use an eye cream from your twenties onwards, just for preventative measures! You can get some really amazing affordable creams on the high street, as I'm about to show you.

First on my list is a cream I'm not too keen on, it's Burt's Bees radiance under eye cream. Anything with radiance in the title I'm immediately sold, but this one didn't perform as well as I would have hoped. I bought it on the promise that it would lighten my under eye circles but I didn't notice a difference at all, it felt nice on application though. It has a pearlescent type glow to it and I think it would be lovely for younger skin that just needs a bit of a perk, but my under eye circles are too dark and it just didn't really do anything for me.

Next I've got the Monu Eye Gel, which was lovely in the summer. It is really cooling and soothing on the eye so perfect for taking on holiday with you. It's not greatly moisturising so not a favourite of mine, but the cornflower extracts really work to soothe your eye and reduces any puffiness - great for a hangover!

This next one is amazing for more mature skin, ladies who are worried about crows feet will love this! It's Dr Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Eye Perfect, which works in 15 minutes to fill out your crows feet. I've tested this on my mum this morning and it actually works! And it's only £8.99 from Holland & Barrett, bargain.

I've been using another one from Dr Organic as well which is the Royal Jelly Eye Serum, this is lovely and moisturising and is perfect for those days when your skin really needs some rejuvenation. The royal jelly is deeply moisturising and works wonders on my crusty under eye area - gross but true.

One of my favourites is Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream, this is soothing, brightening and lifting and is made from 99% natural ingredients, which is a winner for me because my eyes are so sensitive. After I've used this my eyes feel bright and tightened, which is great for my early morning starts. It has hyaluronic acid in, which isn't as scary as it sounds - it's a natural filler that boosts the moisture in your skin and fills out any wrinkles while it's at it. This is slightly pricey at £20 from Lookfantastic.com but it is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone.

I also love the Clinique All About Eyes, which isn't in the picture, but it's so lovely! It has a gorgeous creamy texture which feels really luxurious when you put it on and it does everything it claims to, my under eye circles were definitely reduced. Again, I think that's quite expensive at around £20 but it's worth it. I really want to try the new one from Clinique so once I have tried it I'll let you know what I think.

Generally I think it's really important to use an eye cream, but it's equally as important that you don't use too much, which will leave you with greasy, heavy skin under the eye. Apply a small dot on your ring finger and dab onto your other ring finger. Start by gently dabbing into the outer corner of your eye socket and follow the cheekbone down gently pushing the cream into your skin. You don't need to go too close to the eye as the heat from your eye will draw the cream in.

Do you use eye cream? What's your favourite? x

From left to right - Monu, Dr Organic, Balance Me, Dr Organic and the little pot is Burt's Bees.

By Terry Hyaluronic Face Glow

Each month, on pay day, I tell myself that I will be good and won't buy myself any makeup or skin care that I don't need. But then every month, I manage to convince myself that I do need just a couple things and end up poor by the end of the first week. October has been no different.

On Saturday morning, before my bf had even woken up I bought the By Terry Hyaluronic Face Glow. I felt like I was doing something really naughty but like the best naughty things, it felt so good! Credit to space nk, the product arrived yesterday with a couple freebie bits (blog to follow).

Now this product was £44, ouch right? I thought from things I've heard about By Terry that it would worth it, but I have to admit the jury's still out on this one.

I bought it on the promise that it offers full correction without a heavy feel, and erases open pores, wrinkles and blemishes. I love the texture of it, it's a whipped mousse that blends nicely into the skin but I don't get the coverage I thought I would. My pores and blemishes are still pretty visible but my skin does look 'perkier'.

They say you can use it under foundation also, to add to your coverage and give you a glow so I'm going to try this and report back.

It's good for a natural day time look but I don't think it fulfils all its promises - an ok product but I don't think I would buy again. Still a Laura Mercier girl through and through!

Just put it on again to double check I'm not giving a false review, but no, I'm not sold on it I'm afraid. Teaches me for impulse buying!

Have you ever tried it?

Ps sorry for the shoddy photos!

Get Flushed!

I have been searching for orange blusher for what feels like a decade, desperate to recreate that summer glow of flushed cheeks on bronzed skin. Ok, so it's a little late for that summer glow now but I was still excited to find this gorgeous palette by Sleek Make-up at a pretty cheap £9.99.

It's called Lace and it is a trio of orange, flamingo pink and rose gold - it is so amazing! The colours are so pigmented you really don't need much on your brush, meaning it will last me an age - hopefully until summer so I can finally do my 'orange glow' look!

The colours look bright and scary but you can build up the colour to what you feel comfortable with.

Have you tried anything from Sleek?