It's Love - Benefit's Tinted Balms

This product is something I've been waiting for a very long time. I love a bright statement lip but because I'm not a lover of the shape of my own lips (that sounds odd saying that) I rarely indulge in a hot-to-trot bold lip colour. I tend to just enviously gaze - sometimes a bit too much - at women who can pull off a lobster red lip staring longingly at their full, colourful pout.

It's strange though, even though I don't tend to wear bright colours on my lips, I think shopping for lip colours and blushers is my favourite thing to shop for, purely because the colours suck me in. It's just a shame I can't find the confidence to wear a bright colour. Until now…

I have searching for the perfect tinted lip balm for YEARS. And now I've found it, it is my soul mate, the Adam to my Eve, the Gin to my Tonic, the marmite to my toast... Yeah yeah ok, you get it… In my search before now I've never really found the right formula for me - either too sheer (Nivea rose lip balm) or too full (sometimes the Sleek Pout Polish, sorry). But this has all the answers.

Benefit tinted balms come in four different shades (and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more). Each shade matches one of the lip and cheek stains from Benefit so you can look pretty and flushed with the cheek stain and then top off your look with a splash of matching colour and moisture for your lips. I have tried all the shades but the two I have bought are Benebalm (rosy red colour) and Lollibalm (a candy-orchid, purply colour). The other two, Chachabalm (coral colour) and Posiebalm (pinky flush) but were both lovely as well but I had to limit myself and these didn't show up as well as the others on my lips.

The balms promise to condition & hydrate with mango butter and sodium hyaluronate, giving you very soft and full looking lips. I can honestly say they do. I've been wearing mine in this sweltering heat that we've been lucky enough to have and my lips still feel very plump and hydrated. Not a dry patch or flake in the room.

At £14.50 these balms are pricier than what you would expect to pay for a lip balm, but I think they are worth it and I'm really happy with my purchase. If you just want a sheer but noticeable flush of colour on your lips these are for you.

http://www.benefitcosmetics.co.uk/product/category/makeup/lips

YSL Baby Doll Kiss and Blush - Don't mind if I do

On my lunch breaks I always tend to find myself wandering the beauty hall of Debenhams lusting after many beauty must-haves, and today was no different.

This afternoon I found myself hovering around the YSL counter, which was no surprise as I tend to love YSL around spring time due to their pretty, punchy colours.

I came across the Baby Doll Kiss and Blush, which forgive me if I'm behind the beauty times, but it was the first time I'd heard of it. Well, let me tell you, I will be back to purchase this on pay day!

YSL say: "A hybrid between a lip colour and a blush, this innovative air-whipped formula allows for an instant application on both lips and cheeks. With a luminous matte finish, colour is easily buildable from a soft and natural look to a more intense sophisticated look. The patented "hidden pearl" applicator is customised to glide perfectly on the lips and to allow the optimal amount of formula to be dotted on the cheeks."

I tested no.8 Pink Hedoniste, which in the bottle looked like a light peachy pink. Normally I'm wary of cosmetics that look peachy pinky as they tend to not show up on my skin or completely wash me out (I'm quite yellow toned). But, let me tell you, this was SHA-amazing!

The colour made me look like I had a real natural flush on my cheeks, and on the lips it enhanced my natural lip colour adding a pinky girly wash of colour.

The packaging is gorgeous - it is in a small tube like lip gloss so it's easy to transport around with you and apply on the go. What's more is there are 12 divine colours to choose from.

Put simply, I love it. At £27 it is pricey, is it worth it? Answer: yes.

Get yours here: http://www.yslbeauty.co.uk/make-up/lips/baby-doll-kiss-blush?gclid=CPvp-LDDnL4CFYXItAodCToAnA

Sleek Make-up's Pout Polish Is The Bomb!

Wow, I feel awful - I haven't blogged for almost seven months. That's a lifetime in blog years and I deserve a slapped wrist. So much has happened in seven months, so I'll try and fill you in one short paragraph… I've bought my house with my boyfriend, which we are loving, I've been to Ibiza, I've had a birthday, I've taken up hula hooping and managed to do the race for life while hooping, I've spent a shocking amount of money on makeup and skincare, I've booked a holiday to Berlin for November and my boyfriend's sister welcomed into the world a gorgeous baby boy. All in all, a great seven months! To ease me back into the blogosphere I just wanted to do a quick post about what I'm loving right now. With this confusing weather my skin is really suffering, but it's my lips that suffer the most in this strange, one minute warm, next minute freezing weather. I need constant moisture to keep my lips supple, but in the dull winter I also crave a pop of colour for my lips, but I've always found it difficult to combine those two requirements. That was until I found Sleek Makeup's Pout Polish. These little pots are so moisturising, plus they smell fantastic and have SPF15. When you see the colours in the tester pots they look really bright, but they are more subtle when applied to the lip. If you are seeking a bolder colour, you could wear the balm over a lipstick for that extra wow-factor or mix and match to customise your own desired colour. These were only around £5 from Superdrug and I really recommend them as a budget buy for winter. They don't last particularly long, but I am always topping up my lip balm so that doesn't really bother me. I bought Raspberry Rhapsody which is a magenta/purple kind of colour, which is amazing and I also bought Peach Perfection, the soft peachy colour looks amazing in the pot but for me it's just a bit too subtle on the lip - but it's great for someone who is looking for a really subtle, barely there look. Overall a great cheap buy that does what it says on the tin!

Bleurgh - Winter is here

What is your summer to winter beauty regime? Do most of us even have one? I highly doubt it. But this time of year, ladies, is a rough time for our skin. It's adapting from the hot summery days, giving it a beautiful sun kissed glow and allowing for the drab, windy and cold months ahead. Not sure if you can tell, but I'm not winter's biggest fan. The three D's of winter skin: dry, dehydrated and dull. Obviously we still want to be looking fabulous all winter long, but we can't just rely on our faux fur to keep us looking glam, our skin needs to be s**t hot too! To get your skin ready for winter I've compiled a list of top tips and products for you to use to get your skin from drab to fab this winter! This first one is on the pricey side, but man will you see a difference in your skin! Clarisonic Mia Sonic Cleansing System is a bit of a mouthful, but you don't need to worry about that. All you need to know is that this thing works. The way it works is it has a round brush head that you can use to cleanse your face by a gentle vibrating motion. You move it around your face in the shower and it buffs away at the skins surface, removing impurities and dead skin cells. In winter, I tend to get really dry patches on my skin that even Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream can't budge, but one use of Clarisonic buffs that right off. It's expensive at around £125, but 100% worth the price tag. I'm totally evangelical about this gadget. I'm also pretty enthusiastic about this next tip… drink lots of water. Water is one of the very few beauty products that is free and still does an amazing job, so take advantage! Aim for around 8 pints a day to keep your skin in tip top condition all through winter. I don't want to seem all goody-two-shoes about this though, I struggle to drink this amount as much as the next person. My tip to keep yourself hydrated is to buy a pretty bottle that you will want to keep refilling and taking it to meetings! Paperchase have cute bottles, including this cupcake one for £6: http://www.paperchase.co.uk/invt/00504495/. Bargain! Other products that I cannot live without during winter include my Eau Thermale Avene Moisture Mask, you can soak your skin in this cream and it will instantly look refreshed and hydrated. Carmex lip balm is a cheap item, but essential one in my book; berry lipstick does not look hot on flaky lips. Clarins Liquid Self Tanner for Face is another 'can't live without' to keep your skin looking radiant. At least you'll be looking glowing, when all you can really think about is squirreling yourself away for the rest of winter. It's ridiculously easy to apply and can be done with one sweep of a cotton pad et voila, a sun kissed you. I can't lie to you and say that's all I use during winter. I am a skincare hoarder and constantly change my routine, but these are my staples that I buy again and again. I'd love to hear what products you can't live without during the cold, cold winter months.

Desk Saviours

Today I wanted to share with you my desk saviours, all my beauty favourites that accompany me to work each day. I used to have a ton of products that sat pride of place on my desk at work, but now I'm hot desking (don't have a permanent desk to anyone who doesn’t know what that means), and so my beauty products have had to be slashed to only the bare essentials.

I have a real thing about dry hands, if my hands feel even the tiniest bit dry I get a bit freaked out! Slightly dramatic I know but I've heard that everyone has someone slightly OCD about them, and I think this is my thing. So because of my weird thing about dry hands, I always have on my desk a hand cream. One that I've been loving for almost a year now is my Dr Organic Virgin Olive Oil Hand & Nail Cream. It's a really intensive moisturiser with a blend of natural and organic ingredients; it's great for dry, rough skin and leaves my hands feeling really nourished all day. My most absolute favourite thing about Dr Organic is that all the products are so affordable; I think this hand cream is about £6.19 and it is AMAZING! You can pick this up at most Holland & Barrett stores, if I were you I'd pick up a few things from Dr Organic while you're there. It's one of my favourite skincare brands simply because you get quality products but you're not paying extreme amounts of money for them. Brill!

Something I couldn't live without in my dry, air-conditioned office is my lip balm. The one that takes first place for me is By Terry Baume De Rose SPF15. I've blogged about this beauty before so apologies, but it really is lovely. The texture is very light but you know that it's doing an amazing job of keeping those lips looking juicy. It leaves a really sheer pearlescenty type of look on the lips, but trust me it doesn't look like I've been transported back to the 90s, it looks pretty. This is quite pricey but I definitely think it's worth it - I've had mine for well over a year and haven't hit the bottom yet.

I've saved the best till last, something that I think everyone should have at their deskside - in fact I'll even go as far as to say that it should be the law that companies provide all employees with this wonder! It's the Eau Thermale Avène Water Spray! At only £6.50 you really need to go and grab this from Boots on your lunch break. It's a spray of 'perfection' that keeps your skin hydrated throughout the day. Your skin will look dewy and healthy just from one spritz. I find it really chills me out as well, so when I'm having a tough day I just keep spritzing till 5pm! I have one of these sprays everywhere, including my car, my handbag, bedside table and desk side!

I used to be terrible and have beauty products all over the place, so these are the few that made the cut. Hope you enjoyed reading, I'd love to hear what you deem good enough to have on your desk at work.

Having A Fling With Spring

It was Spring Equinox last week and I'm in the mood for a fling with spring colours! I'm so fed up with the dullness of winter, everything is dark and grey so the slightest hint of spring gets me extremely excited.

Flicking through the pages of my YOU Magazine and a sea of pretty pastels consumes me, the sight literally makes me want to squeal with delight! And so to celebrate I wanted to share my spring must-haves to achieve the perfect look to welcome spring.

My favourite for a bright complexion is my Estee Lauder DayWear Sheer Tint Release. I've have had this for some time now, after lusting after it for way too long and I'm happy to say I'm still impressed each time it glides onto my skin.

I prefer a dewy glow for my skin because it has a tendency to be very dry, so I try to avoid a heavy base. This tinted moisturiser creates a lovely dewy glow, it is clever because the tint releases upon contact with the skin and gives your skin an injection of radiance, making it appear even-toned and healthy. Plus it delivers all the advanced protection benefits of DayWear, defending against and diminishing the appearance of signs of premature ageing. It also has a lovely crisp cucumber scent which is a great pick-me-up for spring!

Next for my spring must-haves is my YSL Rouge Pur Couture in 17 Rose Dahlia. I have been looking for a while for a lipstick that has brilliant colour but can be worn daily and finally found what I've been looking for. I love this because it has a lovely grapefruit smell which reminds me of summer, so I'm in a good mood whenever I put it on. The texture is sheer matt, if that means anything - it's the only way I could think to describe it. Basically what I mean by that is that it has a matt finish, in the sense that it is long-lasting and full in colour but it is quite sheer at the same time so it doesn’t feel heavy or like you're wearing too much. I'm pretty sure that none of that makes any sense but just know this - It's amazing.

My last thing for spring is my new Laura Mercier Eye Caviar Stick. I won't say too much on this one as I'm going to dedicate a whole post to this lovely product, but I will say that it has some beautiful colours in this range. Perfect for spring, it creates a shimmery look on the eye, or if you're going for subtle you could blend some in the corner of your eye to open them up slightly. These sticks are like eye crayons, easy to use and great for creating some fun summery looks.

And there you have it, my favourites for spring. Let me know what your faves are…  

Osman LFW AW13

Every LFW I love seeing the clothes, but it's the beauty trends that I love to watch emerge. This year I was inspired by the Osman show, where Nick Irwin, CATWALK by TIGI's Global Creative Director, created simple yet beautiful hair to suit Osman's Narnia inspired show.

Using all TIGI products he created an elegant, and what seems like easy style to apply at home. So here goes, firstly take a deep side parting. *HINT* Everyone's nose slightly points to one side more than the other, whichever side your nose points to put your side parting on the other side.

Apply CATWALK by TIGI curlesque strong mousse from about shoulder length and down to the ends and then dry your hair using a diffuser to give the hair some movement. Next, take a curling wand and put a few kinks and bends in the hair and pin the hair in place to give it a few more natural kinks through the ends.

When you're ready take out the pins and tuck your hair behind your ears, hold it all in place with CATWALK by TIGI Look-lock hairspray. Aim to keep your roots free from any product so that the style looks as natural and as product-free as possible. Et voila, a catwalk worthy hair do that is perfect for any occasion. I'll be pulling this bad boy out in Ibiza this summer!