April Favourites

Hi lovely ladies, hope you're all okay! Just thought I'd start by saying sorry for the delay in posts but I've been a very busy lady! Anyway, today I thought i'd finally share with you all my April Favourites. It's the 5th of May today, so I've been pretty rubbish and should have probably got this out much sooner but better late than never right? I've had a few things I've been loving this month especially as I can now officially see the start of summer on the way and therefore can crack out the more appropriate makeup.

Lacoste Eau De Lacoste Pour Femme - 50ml - £45.00 here

I recently mentioned this product in a recent haul post and I love it. This stuff smells incredible, I actually won it in a competition but I can't get enough of this stuff. This is just the perfect Spring fragrence and I honestly haven't stopped spraying it throughout the whole month of April. I have had so many different compliments whilst wearing this perfume and loads of people keep asking me what i'm wearing, it's one of those scents that is strong enough so you can smell it but isn't too overpowering and it's just a really nice fresh and clean scent. It's sweet but also has hints of floral scents which I love. This bottle is pure heaven and if you see this bad boy around give it a sniff.

Benefit Fake Up Concealer - No.1 - £18.50 here

I won't blabber on about this one because I just recently mentioned this in a full review on my blog - here - but I love this and it's been my favourite beauty discovery over the last month. I'm so glad that I purchased this because it's just so refreshing and cooling under my eyes in the morning and also help keep those bags at bay! So overall a massive winner.

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation - Soft Ivory - £33.00 here

At the start of the month I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this bad boy but I've found out the perfect way to apply it and this really is amazing. The rave reviews it gets are for a reason and I'm soooo glad that I picked this up, the coverage is crazy good and I love the finish of this. I'm not going to go into too much detail about this one because I'm planning a review in the near future but it's pretty impressive.

Rimmel Instant Tan Sun Shimmer - Light/Matte - £3.49 - here

This is one of the cheapest fake tans on the market coming in at an impressive £3.49 me and my friend picked it up whilst we were in boots and were feeling like we wanted to be a bit sun kissed. To be honest I wasn't expecting a lot from this tanning product but it's actually really impressed me. I personally love fake tans that are instant just because I hate having to wait for them to develop because if i'm honest I hate not knowing how it's going to turn out. But anyway, this has beat the St.Tropez instant tan & the fake bake instant tan I've tried hands down and become a new favourite product for me. I'm thinking of doing a comparison between this instant tan and the 17 one so look out for that but yeah this just leaves me feeling and (hopefully) looking sun-kissed and healthy and I love it. Another win for Rimmel this one.

Soap and Glory - The Daily Smooth Body Butter - £8.50 - here

Another month and another Soap and Glory product is featured in my monthly favorites  my addiction knows no bounds and I've found another product that I love from the brand. This is the Smooth Body Butter and I just really like this, it is really moisturizing and creamy and sinks into my skin really quickly. It smells just like the Soap and Glory Mist you madly mist (here) you can get so I like to apply this after I've had a shower and then mist my self with the matching scent and I feel really clean and relaxed and moisturised so I've been really enjoying that.

Nars Laguna Bronzer -  £26.00 - here

Again I've just done a review of this so I won't ramble for too long but I feel like I want to shout my love for this product from the roof tops or something. It is the perfect summer accessory  you need this in your life for Spring and Summer because it's just going to warm up that complexion and make your skin glow. It is just amazing and deserves every single bit of love it gets from the blogging community in my opinion.

Maxfactor Lipstick in Lilac Wine (665) - £7.99 here

This lipstick has become my absolute go-too for the month of April, it's a really pretty pink but it has a really nice golden sheen to it so it looks lovely with a golden/bronze eye and bronzed up skin. It's just a really nice formula and isn't drying and I just find that it's the perfect colour for my skin tone and helps to warm my complexion up and give my makeup that va-va-voom it needs.

Nivea Lip Butter in Raspberry Rose - £2.25 - here

Mmmmm, this product is gorgeous, I've heard about these in the beauty community a little bit and thought I'd give this one a sniff and the second I did I bought it, this smells like those really nice raspberry yogurts I used to have when I was a kid, but really it just smells like raspberry and it's really sweet and is just super yummy. It's really nice and moisturizing on the lips too, it doesn't transfer a huge amount of colour but it's great for chucking in your handbag.

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this post, thank you all for reading. I hope you have a lovely May & I'll speak to you all really soon.

Lots of Love,

Gem xxx

Collective Beauty Haul

Hi Ladies, hope you're all doing okay! Today I thought I would share with you a beauty haul of some bits and bobs I've been buying lately. I've gone a bit crazy to be fair but I think a mix of Easter and all the amazing offers that are around in both Superdrug and Boots lately have kind of made me want too pick up some new beauty products. Plus every girl needs a splurge once in a while right? Anyway I haven't shared a great amount of haul posts with you guys just because I'm rubbish, as soon as I get home from buying something new I have to try it and then the photo's always look rubbish and it just isn't the same, I was pretty good this time though so thought it was definitely time to share. I'll be doing reviews on some of the products featured over the next few weeks too, so let me know if there's anything you want too see in a little bit more 

detail.

Revlon Lip Butters - here
Creme Brulee, Sugar Frosting, Cotton Candy & Sorbet

Firstly is some Revlon Lip Butters, I realise it was probably a little bit excessive to pick up four of these but I already love them. I was in Boots and I saw the Revlon stand and started swatching them, I remember last year when I first started blogging there was a massive hype around these lip products and every single blogger was talking about them but I never actually took the plunge and picked them up because to be honest it wasn't until the end of last year I really started wearing lipstick. Anyway I picked up the shades Creme Brulee and Cotton Candy, went home and tried them and fell soooo in love with them that I went back the next day and picked up Pink Frosting and Sorbet. These have a really nice formula, you can wear them pretty sheer on the lips or you can build them up, but they're so comfortable and moisturizing and they're perfect for wearing every day. I really like these and will definitely be picking up more of these, so look out for a post about these baby's sometime soon! 

Make up Academy (MUA) Brow Kit - here

The next thing I did was pop along to Superdrug to pick up a few MUA goodies, I love MUA as a brand, they're cheap and cheerful and have some really good quality products. Anyway I picked up there 'Pro Brow Ultimate Eyebrow Kit'. I love filling in my brows and up until now I've been using the Elf eyebrow kit but mines recently ran out and I wanted to try something new. This is a really cool product you get 3 different shades that you can mix together to create the perfect eyebrow colour and you also get a white, clear wax which you can use to set your brows in place. You also get a teeny, tiny pair of tweezers and little brush housed in this really sturdy plastic case so this was a winner for me. Only £3.50 too!

Make Up Academy - Undressed Palette - here

I know,  I know, I'm late to the party, I think every single blogger has owned this palette and gave their two cents on it but I actually hadn't tried this until recently. I actually bought this palette for my mum for Christmas as a little stocking filler and she was really enjoying using it and I kept stealing it because I think it's ah-maaaazing! This is apparently a dupe for the Urban Decay Naked Palette which I've wanted since I picked up Naked 2 and I just think all the shades in this are gorgeous & really compliment your eyes. Plus these shadows are lovely quality and really pigmented too so I thought it was time I picked up my own. This is a bargain at £4.00 too.

Maxfactor Lipstick in Lilac Wine (655)  - here

I love Maxfactor as a brand I think they're face products, powders and mascara's are definitely the best quality from the drugstore and I really enjoy trying out some of their products, I also love the classy gold packaging. Anyway I thought I'd try out a lipstick from the brand and the shade Lilac Wine is pretty perfect,  it's one of those lipsticks that looks like your lips but better, it's quite a rosy pink colour and has a bit of shimmer in it, but I think this will be really pretty on the lips. I love the big Max Factor X imprinted on the lipstick too. 

Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Nail Paint in Lychee 303 - here

I won't ramble on about this purchase too much, this is the Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Lychee, I pretty much had to pick up one of these Gelly Nail Paints by Barry M, they are soooo talked about in the beauty world right now and after seeing them featured on loads of blogs I had to pick one up. I thought i'd pick up Lychee because it's a lovely shade, this is perfect for everyday and just really neutral and nice and I don't actually own a shade like this. I really look forward to trying this one out and doing a nail of the day for you all.

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation - Ivory here

I bought this foundation a few weeks ago but thought I'd include it in this haul because it's a recent beauty buy all the less. I love this, this foundation is incredible and if you're on the market for a new drugstore foundation then I can already tell you that this one is one to watch. If you've read my blog for a while you will know I'm the biggest fan of Rimmel Wake Me Up but this one is a massive hit with me too, It's got the coverage of Wake Me Up but doesn't have all the glitter and is literally light as air on the skin, the colour match is a bit better for all you paler girls too. This is fab!

Max factor Facefinity Compact Foundation - 01 Porcelain here

I love this compact, if you read my last Boots haul you would have seen me rave about this product and tell you all that I love it. I have really oily skin so I like to use a powder to set my foundation. My favourite ones are from Mac but for a cheaper option I like to use the Max factor one, it's probably the best powder I have found on the high street (and I've tried a lot) and this gives a bit of coverage too which is always good. I was in two minds whether to pick this one up or repurchase the Rimmel Stay Matte but I find this one much better for touch up's and it's a better colour for me so I went for Max factor once again.

Max factor MasterPiece Colour Precision Eyeshadow - here

Coffee 3 & Pearl Beige 5

I haven't really tried a lot of liquid eye shadows but these ones from Max Factor are lovely because they're really creamy and not too watery. My lovely mum actually picked these two up but she said I could feature them in this haul because she knows I'm bound to steal them anyway haha! The lightest shade is Pearl Beige and it's a gorgeous champagne colour which will look lovely on the inner corner of the eye and the second shade is coffee, which is more of a deep chocolate brown. I think these will be really nice for a really simple eye look and they are sooo creamy and easy to apply. I just hope they last on the eyelids.

Paco Rabanne - Lady Million Eau De Parfum - 30ml - here

This perfume is probably my favourite thing in the world right now, I picked this up over the Easter Weekend after loving the smell for such a long time, my friend has this and we went out a few weeks ago and literally everyone was stopping and asking her what she was wearing (including me). I find it really hard to describe scents but this is a really strong perfume and it's a really classic and quite grown up scent. It's quite a floral scent and I think I like it so much because it's sweet enough for my tastes but is really mature and sensual too, I just love it. If you're in Boots or Debenhams give this a spray and you'll love it, I promise. The gold blingy bottle is pretty cool too.

Lacoste Eau De Lacoste - 50ml - here

This perfume wasn't actually one that I bought, I won this in a competition that I entered on Glamour Magazines website months and months and months ago and I actually forgot about it until I got an email from them saying I had won a competition, if I've completely honest I couldn't even remember what I entered for but I got this about 2 weeks ago now and I love it. I think this is their new fragrence for Spring and oh boy! It smells amazing, the bottle of this perfume really reminds me of a golf ball though, so that's a bit strange haha! Anyway this again is a very floral scent but it's a lot sweeter which I love, this reminds me of Spring and it's really fresh and clean smelling, I've worn it a few times and people keep telling me I smell fresh and really Spring like which I think is a pretty good thing, it lasts really long too.

Primark - Backcombing Brush - £1.00

I've been doing a bit of clothes shopping in Primark over the last week too so I will get a clothing haul up soon but I thought I would include this Primark Backcombing brush in this beauty haul, I saw Zoella feature a backcombing brush in one of her video's not too long ago and I thought it looked pretty cool. I have pretty flat hair and I think this brush just makes it really simple to give your hair some volume, I'm actually really enjoying using this brush and think it works pretty well, feels well made too & I love that it's pink! Plus it's an absolute bargain at just £1.00!! 

Anyway lovelies, this post has taken me what feels like a year to write so if you're still here & you made it this far then thanks for reading & let me know if you want me to do a post on any of these bits down below! Hopefully I can stay away from buying anything else for a little while, although I am really eyeing up the Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation at the mo! Eeeep, someone help me! Anyway I hope you all have a lovely Sunday & i'll speak to you all really soon! :)
Lots of Love,

Gem

xxxx

Products That I've Used Up..

Empties Post #1
Hi everyone, hope you've all had a lovely weekend and your Sunday has been nice and relaxing! I've been looking at a new car today so that's been fun! Anyway, I've never done an 'empties' post on my blog before so after collecting some finished products for a few months now I thought I would give it ago. I love reading other peoples empties posts, I think you can really get an honest opinion of how somebody liked a product if they've used it all up. I find it really hard to use products up too and to be honest I only full use something up if I enjoy reading it otherwise it just seems to lay unloved in my drawer. Anyway i'll get on to the actual post.

Skin, Body & Hair Care Empties
Soap and Glory Calm On Me - Bubble Bath - This is probably one of my most favorite products ever from S&G and I have tried a huge amount of them. I love it because it has a built in body lotion which means your baths double up as a creamy lather and your skin is left smooth and moisturized as well as you having a lovely sweet smelling body bath. I will definitely be repurchasing this especially as this bottle lasted me a good year with weekly use. Such a good product.

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Shine Mask - I love Aussie hair care, I discovered this product in December and I've been using it on my hair pretty much every wash since, the bad thing about this was the fact that I thought this was a normal conditioner not an actual hair mask, but regardless my hair has never felt softer, shinier or in better condition and the smell of this product is out of this world. I have never ever repurchased a hair product but I couldn't imagine my hair without using this, i'm in love & I would recommend this to everyone.

Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Scrub - This isn't the most glamorous product but I suffer with blemishes and problem skin and this is one of the only products I've found that sorts it out and sorts it out fast. This is basically a gel with beads which exfoliate the skin and also help to get rid of any spots, blemishes or black heads and help to reduce pore size. If you're looking for a quick fix for your skin then this is a really good one & it's pretty inexpensive too.

Hugo Deep Red Perfume - I love this perfume & i'm really sad to have got to the end of the bottle, I think it's always a sad moment when you finish a fragrance and this was definitely sad for me. I love the smell of this perfume, it smells really sweet and refreshing but it almost has quite a musky scent and smells quite grown up so is lovely to wear in the evenings. I would recommend you giving this a spray if you can find it it's smell amazing!


Face Wipes
Boots No.7 Beautiful Skin Wipes - These wipes were a huge disappointment to me, I've heard a lot of people rave about them & because they retail at £7.00 a pack I thought they must be really good. I had a voucher which only made them £2.00 but I don't think I'd even buy them at that price again, I found them hard to use, they didn't remove my makeup very well and I had to use 2 or 3 to make sure my face felt really clean. I didn't mind these that much but I wouldn't say that they were worth the price or were anything to rave about.

Johnson Face Care Wipes - These are my fav face wipes ever, I've already got another 2 packs at the ready, I don't know what it is about these but they just remove makeup like a dream, they smell really good, they're wet enough and can cope with getting rid of waterproof mascara and they help improve the condition of my skin and leave my skin feeling really moisturized too! If you're looking for any face wipes look no further than these! 


Foundations, Powders & Concealers 
Mac Mineralize Skin finish Natural - I love this powder, I actually did a review about it here! It's the best powder I've ever tried, it looks so natural but gives amazing coverage and really makes your makeup look much more expensive and professional. I want to repurchase this but I think i'll keep it for night time wear from now on just because I go through powders ridiculously quick that's why there's so many mentioned in this post haha!

Max-factor Powder - I really love this powder too, it comes in the nicest compact with a sponge and  a mirror, you can read more about this in a haul here, it's perfect for every day, it has amazing coverage, is great for touch up's and lasts all day. I'd really recommend this beauty.

Rimmel Matte Perfection Powder - This is also a great powder and cheap as chips, this is just a translucent mattifying powder and to be honest at first I really didn't understand the hype but this powder is actually amazing for oil control, especially if you have an oily t-zone you can just sweep this on with a big fluffy brush and it will take care of it instantly. It's also fab for setting your makeup in place. 

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation - If you've read my blog for a while it's probably no surprise to you that I have used up yet enough bottle of my trusty Rimmel Wake me up foundation, I love this stuff and will continue to repurchase it forever I think. I won't ramble too much about it because this bad boy has had a huge amount of coverage on my blog already but if you want to know a bit more about it feel free to read my full review here beware though it's a really old post & the picture quality is pretty awful.

Benefit Bo-ing Concealer - I find that I go through concealers pretty quickly and this one was no exception this is the Bo-ing Concealer by benefit, I didn't mind this the concealer and it did the job whilst I used it but I much prefer my Mac Studio Finish Concealer and therefore won't be picking this up again, I just felt like I needed a little bit more coverage personally, but if you don't have too troublesome skin or your dark circles aren't too bad then check this out because a lot of people love it.

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer - Another concealer I've really liked is the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer,  it's amazing and just great because it's only around a fiver, as you can see I like this concealer so much I've gone through 2 and I will buy more once I've used up the rest of my concealer, I just sometimes think this one can look a little cakey under my eye area & the mac one I use now looks a lot more natural because it's a lot creamier.

Mascara's
Maxfactor's False Lash Effect Mascara - I really like Maxfactor Mascara's and I used this one for quite a long time & really enjoyed using it, it really made my lashes look long and volumised and I think the brush on this mascara was pretty impressive. I'm not one to repurchase mascara's because i'm still on the hunt for the perfect one but this was is pretty good.

Maybelline Falsies Mascara - Again a really lovely mascara, I love the brush because it's so unique and is almost curled so this one of the only mascara's i've found that really holds a curl and makes my lashes look curly, thick and long, I love maybelline mascara's too and if i'm going to pick one up from Boots it's normally Maxfactor, L'oreal or Maybelline.

Hope you all enjoyed this post, let me know what products you've been using up & if you've tried any of the products I've mentioned & i'll speak to you all really soon! :) xxx

Boots Haul

 

 

Hi Dolls, Today I thought I would show you some bits and bobs I've been buying from Boots lately, a lot of know that I love Boots and could probably spend my whole day shopping in their and I picked up a fair few things last week that I thought I'd share for you all. I'm not going to do full reviews of any of the products just yet because I haven't trialled them for long enough but what I will do is give you my first impressions of some of the products I picked up!

The first thing I picked up was this gorgeous makeup bag, I think it's a really good buy, I have my Ikea Alex Drawers that I keep most of my makeup in but when I'm in a rush I just like to have all of my everyday essentials in one place just because it makes it easy and I don't have to root around all of the drawers. I thought this bag was really cute, it's part of the Boots Essential Range and is just called the makeup bag, it was only £2.00 which I think is a pretty good bargain and I love the pattern on it, it kind of reminds me of a Cath Kidson type with loads of flowers and stuff but without the hefty price tag. It's also great to store makeup in because it has a really cool plastic outer coating which means that I can wipe it clean when it gets dirty! I couldn't find this exact  one on the Boots website so I don't know if you can only pick this up in store but there is a similar type bag here just with a different pattern.

The next two things I picked up was some more foundation, I know I have bottles and bottles of the stuff, Boots were actually running an offer on some of their L'Oreal products where you could pick two products up for £15.00, the L'Oreal true match foundation and also the L'Oreal Lumi Magique Foundation were both in this offer so I thought I would pick them up and give them ago. It was actually a pretty good deal because together they both retail at about £11.00 each so i'm glad I picked those up. I've only tried the L'Oreal Lumi Magique foundation so far but from first impressions it works pretty well, wears quite nicely and gives me a good coverage, I'm not sure it leaves my face very 'aluminised' though. You can pick these up on the Boots website here and here.

The next thing I picked up was from Maybelline, I am a huge fan of Maybelline Mascara's, I think they offer the best Mascara's from the drugstore for the cheapest price and i'm a big fan of the Maybelline falsie's mascara as well as the Maybelline Colossal Mascara. So when I saw that Maybelline's new offering to the mascara world the 'Rocket Volume' was down too £5.99 as an introductory offer I thought I may as well pick it up. I think the packaging of this mascara is really cute and I love the blue because it makes it really stand out, the brush is also pretty great too, it's got a massive brush with plastic bristles and so far it's done really great things for my lashes and left them both lengthened and volumised. You can pick this up here.

The next thing I picked up was this Max factor compact which I really like, you may have seen me raving on here about the Mac Mineralise Skinfinish Natural and I really do love that powder but it seems to have run out so fast after I posted that review so i'm now saving it for day's when I want too look a bit nicer and so I decided to pick a powder up from Boots for everyday.
The one I decided to get was this Maxfactor was. The first thing I love about it is how compact it is, it's one of the perfect powders that you can just throw in your bag and use it to fix your makeup during the day. I've known about this powder for years and years, it's my mum's favourite powder and she uses this as her base every single day and I've always stole it off her because it gives amazing coverage and lasts really long! But I thought I would get my own so I could leave hers alone haha. This is just an amazing compact and actually has 5 star reviews on the Boots website which shows just how good it is. You can pick this up for £10.99 here and it's also buy one, get one half price on Max Factor right now.

The last thing I picked up were the new Apocalips that have just been released by Rimmel London, these were released last Wednesday and the Blogging world has gone pretty much crazy over these ever since. I picked up two shades the day they got released, I picked up 101 Celestial and the other shade is Apocoliptic. I love the formula of these products, it's like a lipstick in the form of a lipgloss but without the stickiness of a gloss, so I've been enjoying these so far. You can pick these up here for £5.99 each.
Hope you enjoyed this, let me know what you've been buying lately! xx