January Sales and GIVEAWAY!!

Just a quick blog post to show you all the bargains that I got myself in the January sales!

 First and foremost, my beautiful new Leopard Print Dr Marten boots

 Leopard Print DM boots £60.00 (Was £120.00)

I fell in lust when I saw these and at such a bargain price, HAD to have them. As with all Dr Marten boots they are hard and uncomfortable at the moment, but I know that with patience (not something I am blessed with) and perseverance they will be like slippers after a few wears.

Evans was my next stop and I couldn’t resist treating myself to some of the Clements Ribiero dresses.

First I brought the ‘Grace’ dress; this design is similar to the dress that Adele wore at the BRIT awards in 2012. It really is very nice to wear and the cut is flattering as Clements Ribiero always is in my experience as they are generous in the bust.

 This dress has now sold out! (I have no idea why it won’t let me turn this photo around!!)

Last week I decided to have another mooch around the sale and picked up the following two items.

Clements Ribiero Peplum £25.00 (Was: £75.00)

 Lace Skirt £12.00 (Was: £25.00)

I have not tried either of these on yet as they were delivered to the office and haven’t made it home with me yet! I am very pleased with the quality of material of both of them though and can’t wait to wear them.

 Evans have an extra 10% off all sale prices now, just use the code NYEXTRA10 at checkout!

 I always hit up the Debenhams sale for makeup bargains after Christmas. I love some of the sets that they do and never seem to get makeup for Xmas … I think my family think I have enough already.

 My love affair with Illamasqua was further cemented with the 2 mystery boxes that I brought from them …

 illamasqua Nails & Eyes £23.33 (Was: £35.00)

Illamasqua Alter Ego £25.33 (Was: £38.00)

 The products that I got in these gift boxes are in the picture below …

They are …

Lipstick           Tramp

Eyeshadows    Lestat, Fame and Imagine

Nail Varnish    Velocity, Veridion and Collide

Lip Gloss         Fierce

Liquid Metal   Electrum (2 of these)

Precision Ink   Glister

I also brought

 Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Resolute £10 (Was: £17.50)

The MOST amazing bronzy red coloured cream eyeshadow – if you have blue eyes then this is a must have colour, it makes them look SO bright!

 Illamasqua has a sale on at the moment, some items are as low as £5 … buy the Liquid Metal eyeshadows – you won’t regret it, they are AMAZING!

 Finally, I brought a Benefit set reduced in the sale.

Benefit Cabana Glama £19.00 (Was: £28.50)

 This will be utilised more in the summer, when I have a bit of colour … who am I kidding? When I am trying to make it look like a have a bit of colour by using bronzer!

I love the neat packaging and cuteness of the Benefits sets, they also always have really helpful instruction booklets in them too to help you recreate looks.

I have decided that as I have a ‘spare’ Illamasqua Liquid Metal eyeshadow in Electrum (a bronzy gold tone) that I will give one away!!

To win, all you need to do is, be following my blog and comment below and tell me what your favourite January Sale bargain you brought yourself was!!

I will choose a winner at random from everyone that comments and follows on Wednesday 16 January 2013.

Good Luck!
Lyss xx

£20 Makeup Haul!

I had a somewhat disastrous commute yesterday morning. Whilst deeply engrossed in Twitter, I totally missed my train stop and ended up having to get off at the end of the line and getting a train back to my office – What a doofus!

The bus that I had to get goes along The Strand, as it went past the huge Superdrug I noticed that they had a sale on. I’m a bit of a sucker for makeup and pamper gift sets, so I decided to go back this morning and have a mooch through the bargains.

I looked through the sale stuff and was disappointed by what was left so decided not to buy any of the sets. This Superdrug however, has ALL of the lower priced or ‘drug store’ makeup brands that I love in there so I decided to have a splurge on some new makeup instead.

When shopping for makeup, I HAVE to set myself a budget. I have been known to wander into Chanel for a new lipstick and emerge 40 minutes later and £200 worse off, so budgets are essential for this kind of shopping. Being that these are the cheaper ranges of makeup I decided to set a budget of £20 and see what I could find!

So, this is what I brought ….

Sleek MakeUp

I love this brand!

Today I brought the i-Devine Ultra Mattes Darks Palette v2  for £7.99. If you have never used a Sleek eyeshadow palette before then I really urge you to try them. I personally find that the matte texture eyeshadows have more of a colour pay off than their shimmers, but if you use a good base then you can really create some dramatic looks.

I have swatched all of the eyeshadows on to my arm and have taken a picture for you, so you can see just how pigmented they are – this is ONE swipe of each shadow so you can really see how intense the colour is!

 

The lighter colours definitely need a base and the purple was not as bright as I was expecting, but with an eyeshadow base and some blending they’ll be fab.

My favourite Sleek palettes are;

Ultra Matte V1           – Perfect if you like bright colours

Supreme                      – A limited edition palette of every day essential colours

Acid                               – For the 80s pop star in you

Primer Palette           – Cream colour bases to enhance the colour of your eyeshadow

The other product that I brought from Sleek today is a Blush in ‘Life’s a Peach’  for £4.49

Sleek Blushes are amazing. I have pretty much every colour that they do now and am ever so slightly addicted to them. They are very pigmented (as with most things in the range) and go on the skin perfectly without looking too ‘over the top’ or powdery as some blushers can.

I have to admit that I go to my Sleek blushes over my high end brands time after time. I cannot recommend these enough and when combined with the Sleek Contour Kits which are £6.49 you really can’t go wrong!

MUA – Makeup Academy Professional

This is another brand that I really like.

I am trying some new products from them today, so have decided that I will just talk you through what I’ve brought, how much they cost and then blog again later about what they are like!

MUA Pro Brow Ultimate Eyebrow Kit  for £3.50

 

Included in this kit are;

2 brow colours, a highlighter, a brow gel, mini tweasers and a double ended angled brush. Which for £3.50 is an absolute bargain!!

 MUA Lip Liner in Softly Lined  for £1 – I needed a pale pink liner and picked this up as it seemed to be the perfect colour for what I wanted. I cannot believe that they can make this product for £1! It even has a pencil sharpener built into the lid!

MUA Pearl Eyeshadow in colour 27 for £1.

The colour intensity is awesome in this shimmery bronzy gold tone eyeshadow. I really do think that this will look amazing on! It is an absolute steal at £1 and having tested the consistency on my hand, I don’t even think it will need a base!

MUA Fur_Effect Nails in Fluffy Bobbin for £2 a deep purple colour fluffy coating for nails! The Link to the website includes an instruction video – I shall see how it goes!

So there you go, my entire haul came to £19.98 but I brought myself a Crème Egg too so I finished off with a £20.63 bill … not bad I thought!!

What is your favourite ‘drug store’ brand or product?

Much Love

Lyss xxx

Skin Saviours

Let’s face it, our skin takes a bit of a battering during the colder months. If you’re anything like me, you will be making sure that you are giving it some extra love and attention during these winter months, to make sure you don’t end up looking like a shriveled up prune!

I have very dry skin, so when it is cold I have to religiously stick to my skincare regime to keep it in tippity top condition and stop me getting cracked horrid crocodile skin!

Cleansing

I have been cursed with all of the worst skin conditions possible on my face, as well as having really dry skin, it is also very sensitive and I have really intense redness on my cheeks.

The best cleanser that I have found to help with all of these conditions is Clinique Redness Solution Soothing Cleanser which is £17.00 for 100ml

This is a really delicate cleanser which is excellent for both removing make up and cleansing skin. I love this product as it does everything I need, to be honest, I don’t think that it has helped my redness to reduce – but it hasn’t made it worse so that’s a bonus for me!

The texture is hard to describe, it is a combination between a cream and a gel and it always feels cool on your skin when you first apply it.

Clinique recommend massaging into dry skin, I don’t like to do this. I spray my face with water and then massage a pea sized amount into my face using my fingertips. You do not need a lot of this product; I wear quite a heavy amount of makeup and find that a pea sized amount is adequate to remove even the most stubborn of waterproof mascaras. Once massaged in rinse off with warm water, I then follow this with my exfoliator while my skin is still wet.

Clinique do have a whole range of Redness solutions problems which have had amazing reviews, I used to be a massive fan of the redness solution foundation until they discontinued my colour. You can see the entire range here

Exfoliating

The one thing that will never change in my skincare regime are the exfoliators that I use. Having dry skin can mean that finding an exfoliator that works for you can be a bit of a challenge.

The two exfoliators that I alternate between for my face are;

Dermalogica – Daily Microfoliant

and

Kiehls – Pineapple and Papaya Facial Scrub

Demalogica Daily Microfoliant

£38.50 for 75g

I love this product, it is gentle enough to be used daily, but strong enough to really give your skin a good buff and polish and get rid of all of the dead stuff.

To use, dispense a small amount of the powder into your hand and add a small amount of water to form a paste. Apply the paste to your skin in whichever manner is best for you and let it work its magic. I find that massaging this product in with your fingers has the best results for me; I apply it with my fingertips using circular motions and make sure that I take it down my neck too.

I even keep a small jar of this in my desk in case of face washing emergencies!

Kiehls Pineapple and Papaya Facial Scrub

£24.00 for 100ml

The first thing that you will love about this product is the amazing tropical smell, that alone makes it the best thing to use on your skin first thing in the morning to give you a zingy happy buzzy start to the day.

I tend to use this exfoliator when I am cleaning my face in the shower. The instructions from Kiehls are to apply this to slightly damp skin, but I find it works better for me on really very wet skin. That is just my personal preference though and may be due to the very dry nature of my skin just needing that bit more water to get it to work effectively. As before, I massage this product in to my skin with my fingertips in circular motions, taking care to avoid the eye area.

I really do think this is a fabulous exfoliator, the texture of it is light and delicate and yet it does a really good job of getting into those pores and getting rid of dead skin without drying it out. Plus, the smell is phenomenal!

Toning

I personally don’t use toner, I find that it really does dry my skin and make it totally and utterly unmanageable no matter what moisturiser I follow it with. So, this is not a step that is included in my skin regime.

Moisturising

THE most important part of any skincare regime! I really notice the difference if I don’t moisturise and I have two products that I really cannot live without when it comes to hydrating my skin.

The two moisturisers that I use are

Clinique Moisture Surge Intense Skin Fortifying Hydrator

and

Lush’s Skin Shangri La

Clinique Moisture Surge Intense Skin Fortifying Hydrator

£32.00 for 50ml

This product was made by the skin gods. I CANNOT live without it. It is the best thing that I have ever put on my face and is perfect for use all year round.

The texture is of a smooth gel, which again always feels cool when you apply, it to your skin and soaks straight in for immediate results. You do not need a lot of this product and as someone who is used to slathering on moisturiser on a regular basis; this took some time to adjust to. I literally dip my finger in to the pot and that does my entire face.

I use this daily underneath my foundation, I do not find that I need to leave it time to soak in as it does this almost immediately. If I have run out of this product (which I did for 2 days at the beginning of the month) then I really notice the difference in how my makeup goes on. I also find that without moisture surge under my skin base, my foundation looks cracked and uneven during the course of the day.

I really cannot praise this product highly enough, it has been a lifesaver for my skin and I will always promote it to anyone that is looking for a new foundation. Clinique also do a Moisture Surge Face Spray  £19.50 for 125ml which is perfect for applying over your foundation for a moisture boost during the day. I always make sure that I have one of these handy when I am flying or on holiday when my skin dries out the most.

Lush’s Skin Shangri La £27.50 for 45ml

I really do like Lush products and for me this is the best intensive moisturiser on the market. I use this luxurious cream before I go to bed to give my skin a really good dose of moisture while I sleep.

There are so many good things crammed into this moisturiser, in Lush’s own words

” Takes your skin to a happy land, where it is isolated from the outside world

The ultimate blend for dry skin.

A rich, thick but silky-textured cream based on almond oil, jojoba oil, cocoa butter, evening primrose oil, coconut oil, wheatgerm oil and beeswax to be deeply moisturising.

We have also added Queen of Hungary Water (rosemary steeped in vodka), fresh wheatgrass juice, seaweed and aloe vera gel for their antioxidant abilities and to help soften the skin.“

I couldn’t agree more Lush!

I feel like I am spoiling my skin when I put this on. It has a really dense luxurious texture which feels really decadent when you apply it. This is one of the best heavy moisturisers that I have used and I would recommend it to anyone with dry skin.

All of the Lush range are natural, approved by the Vegan society and cruelty free – if that’s not reason alone to buy their products then I don’t know what is!

So, they are the products that my face simply cannot live without.

What products do you use to keep your skin in the best of health?

Much Love

Lyss xx