One for the Contourphobes - Becca Lowlight Sculpting Perfector

Back when I first started using makeup, I made tinted moisturiser, mascara and brow pencil my best friend. I never touched eyeshadow (until the neon pink phase - but let's not go there, hey?) and lipstick was out of the question, because the texture just grossed me out. I didn't think for a second I'd be buying muddy looking creams to emphasise the very small cheekbone situation I have going on. But, here we are...

I picked up the Becca Lowlight Sculpting Perfector on yet another Space NK whim, (they're the best whims, aren't they?) expecting great things as a lover of their super popular Shimmering Skin Perfectors. This contouring cream is dubbed on their site as a "adaptive and blendable, combining the warmth of skin-authentic undertones with the coolness of a natural shadowing effect". Despite its daunting appearance in the pan, it does adapt to your skintone, and with blending will look very natural on even the palest winter skin. 

While it is called a cream, I've found it to be quite waxy in texture, and can drag a little when applied with certain brushes. I apply this straight after my foundation, using my finger to leave a stripe of colour (just enough time to let panic set in) just under my cheekbone. After doing my brows and eyes I return to the product, which should have meshed with the foundation and after some more blending with my fingers and a clean fluffy brush the look will be akin to your skin, and look completely natural. The colour is absolutely perfect, and for anyone like me, that uses all cream products for a fresh, dewy look, this will become your new best friend.

My Secret Skincare Weapon - Kiehl's Clearly Corrective Solution Review

While I am blessed with relatively good skin, I do still have my qualms like the next person; "this bit is too dark, that's too light, and UGH... those spots." I do try and keep my skincare routine as simple as it needs to be, and I even winced when the internet informed me of Korean 14 step routines last week. Yikes - FOURTEEN STEPS? This is exactly why I try and pick products that pack a punch...

The Kiehls Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Solution is something I picked up a while ago, on a complete "I can't resist SpaceNK" whim, not expecting much, but enamoured by the simplicity of the packaging. While it doesn't look like much, this serum brightens the skin, by fading any unsightly dark spots, and evening out the texture to make your skin feel like (for the lack of a better analogy) a baby's bottom. I've tried a good few of the serums that claim to brighten the skin, but none have performed as well as this, and I constantly find myself going back to it eventually. I'd say you've found a winner when it costs £36, but you'll happily throw the money at the sales assistant. (N.B. I do not actually throw money at strangers)

So if you're still in a winter skin slump, or simply looking to spruce up your skincare regime, I can fully vouch for this beauty from Kiehls. (Also, their SPF is amazing whilst you're at it)

Have a good weekend folks!

Beating Dull Winter Skin

I couldn't have picked a more relevant time to write this if I tried. The ground outside is covered in a layer of ick (formally known as snow, but I much prefer it's new name) and I've been donning a sheet mask, which made me look like a murderer, thanks for asking. All because of the evil season, Winter. While buying a new coat is usually exciting, nothing else about this freezing cold season is. Everyone cranks the heating up, and your skin dries out until it resembles a flaky desert. So I figured I'd share the couple skincare bits I've been turning to to look less like a horror movie character... 

I always underestimate Clarins as a brand, so it was quite surprising for me to realise just how often I use their products during the winter period. Their Blue Orchid Face Treatment Oil is well raved about, and for good reason. It's a lightweight face oil, which hydrates much more than a moisturiser alone, or can be mixed with a moisturiser to make it slightly more hydrating. My favourite method of application is to take about four drops and massage them into my face with my fingers, then with the Body Shop Facial Massager to encourage the products to absorb into the further layers of my skin. The Radiance booster is ideal, as it's a self tan designed to be customisable, of which comes in handy during winter, meaning I can put one drop into my moisturiser, and have my skin appear less sallow, but without looking as if I'm overly tanned.

Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre and Avene's Thermal Spring Water are ideal products for day-time use, encouraging your makeup to have a good, well-hydrated base to avoid it clinging to any dry patches. My technique varies with these two, depending on just how dry my skin is, and whilst my techniques may make professional make-up artists cringe, my experimental application tends to work well for my skin. The moisturiser can be used heavily under a base, or can be mixed in as a DIY tinted moisturiser. If the moisturiser doesn't go far enough by itself, I use the thermal water prior to or post base to ensure it is hydrated, which helps to ensure the makeup is even and helps provide that dewy look we all long for.

I won't push drinking water, as I know it's a cliche. But it really does work...

Somewhat of a Haul

It is somewhat a rite of passage for bloggers to do a Christmas haul, isn't it? I feel like I've broken the rules as I'm not actually sharing my Christmas presents, instead, more of my excessive online shopping habits. "Well, those Debenhams beauty card points aren't going to spend themselves, are they?!..." 

I have wanted to pick up Tom Ford's Shade and Illuminate palette for what seems like forever, but constantly put it off for fear of sparking an obsession with the excessively expensive Tom Ford beauty range the same way I did with Chanel. As of right now I'm enamoured by this palette (as you can probably see from the smeared finger marks, I got impatient waiting for daylight to get blog photos done) but I feel like any obsession is kept well under control. Or maybe that is just cause I'm projecting my obsessions elsewhere? Who knows? 

I also picked up Laura Mercier's Secret Camoflage concealer palette, probably a tad too dark considering I usually wear lighter than my skin-tone concealer, but the thickness and quality of this product is like no other. It lives up to it's camoflage name, it will absolutely make any dark circles or blemishes disappear.

So, I ran all of these photos through Photoshop to resize them, and have only just noticed myself making an appearance in this photo. I'm clearly easier to find than Wally.

I've done all the Naked Urban Decay palettes now, I was underwhelmed by Naked 2, but the third offering is incredible and gets used very often by me. Naturally, I had to explore a bit more into the palette that sparked the whole obsession with their Naked range, didn't I? Half Baked, Sin and Sidecar are my current go-to shades, but if anyone has any combinations they'd recommend, do send them my way!

The Bobbi Brown Smoky Nudes palette attracted my attention before Christmas, despite being another neutral palette, it's elegant charm came from the super cute pull out drawer and incredible tortoiseshell packaging design. The quality of these is incredible, and this palette is much more compact than most, whilst not suffering on the quality of the shadows themselves or colour selection.

If you ever wanted to buy an eyeshadow palette to just ogle, this would be it...

And it wouldn't be a haul of mine without Dior or Chanel, would it? I picked up two of the standout shades from the new Spring Kingdom of Colours Collection, Le Vernis in Lady and Rouge Dior Baume in Belle de Printemps. As with all the other reformulated Dior nail polishes, the lasting power is incredible, the shine is similar to that of a gel, and the colour Lady, is just that, an elegant ladylike mauve shade. The lip balm seems to get different shade descriptions just about everywhere it is described, in my opinion, its a beautiful pink/coral shade, not too dissimilar to my favourite balm; Clinique's Mighty Mimosa. Not sure whether this collection is widely available yet or not, I picked mine up from Selfridges online.

I also picked up two of the Nars Audacious lipsticks, which can fully be blamed on Tasha, as it's her penchant for Nars that had me lusting after these two shades, Julie and Anita, like nothing else. I haven't tried Anita yet, but the quality of them is incredible, and the magnetised bullet feature has me embarassingly excited. (No shame.)

Lookfantastic had some incredible offers on before Christmas, so I filled up my basket to the extent of it reaching nearly £300 before I realised that is outright ridiculous, and went about culling my basket down to things I need want. I picked up the Aveda Smooth Infusion in an attempt to calm down my corkscrew curls and frizz to something that might resemble a beach wave (wishful thinking) and the Kerastase mousse in an attempt to control the frizz I do get. Do you remember mousse? I can't believe it still exists. This one is so far from the stuff I used to slap all over my hair until it was crispy in my teens. I think the saying "you get what you pay for" applies...

And thanks to BeautyBay no longer stocking LDN Skins, I'm in the market for a new tinted light tanner that I can build up, and have last longer than the mediocre 5-7 days of a proper self tan. It's hard work being pasty pale, but hopefully the new St Tropez tanning oil and Cocoa Brown Gradual tan can help me out a bit. Fingers crossed.

So there you have some of my more exciting purchases recently. At least the ones that have arrived, I'm still waiting on a Free People and a Levi's order to show up. I'm impatient, and the waiting for parcels period is the worst. Can every company have next-day delivery, please?

A Venture into Burberry

Upon discovering Boots' latest brand arrival; Burberry, I got super excited. As a brand I'd wanted to try since they first came on the scene, they were pretty inaccessible and where only available in the online stores that cost a near fortune on delivery. Face it, Net-a-Porter, if we're going to spend £5+ it isn't going to be on delivery!

I'm 100% aware that Latasha is going to kill me for this post, as she already wants both of these products, but I just had to share them as they are so beautiful, and incredible quality!

I had a near fortune to spend in advantage card points so I decided to treat myself to their Lip Mist in Feather Pink, and their nail polish in Ash Rose. I'm so glad I did as these two are going to become definite staples in my routine, as such neutral, ladylike shades, appropriate for all times of the year. 

The Lip Mist formula is similar to that of a gel, and offers a sheer tint of colour, whilst moisturising to keep the lips looking hydrated and healthy. When applied it lasts a couple of hours, similar to what you'd expect from a lip balm, the colour is the cliche' "your lips but better" shade, and so fades away into a nice tint, which can either be topped up, or left to fade away completely.

The polish formula is quite thin, and requires 3 coats, and the bottle size is also smaller than average, so they don't quite live up to the exceptional quality of Dior polishes, but they are still equally amazing. My nails chip like crazy, and this lasted four days without any chips, until I took it off wanting to go for another colour. It took me 24 hours to put this beautiful nude pink shade with tones of grey back on my nails. I'm obsessed!