December Favourites

So this is kind of late... I've been super busy since New Years revising like a crazy person. It only hit me after Christmas that these exams actually count > . < I wish I could be a first year again... I'm probably not going to be blogging an awful lot until February (unless of course the exams kill me), but I'll try to do a few posts, mainly to keep myself from completely losing my marbles from too much revision - _ -

Last month I didn't really have many favourites, but I did discover some new skincare, which I've fallen so very much in love with, and although it isn't a new discovery I have been really loving my shampoo and conditioner too.

Firstly are my three Body Shop Seaweed products. I'm in love. I went out and bought the Ionic Clay Mask after Christmas because I loved my moisturiser and toner so much. I've noticed such a difference in my skin, it's not nearly as shiny looking as it used to be, even at the end of the day and with no other product on my face. The mask has really helped to clear up my post Christmas/New Years skin as well. If you have oily/combination skin I could not recommend these products more!

Next is an old favourite, Herbal Essences Smooth and Soft shampoo and conditioner. This is formulated for dry/frizzy hair so it's right up my street, especially in winter. It feels really luxurious (and smells yummy!). This is my favourite of the Herbal Essences range because it makes my hair feel so soft and lovely afterwards.

Finally for my very short December favourites is The Return Of The King. I started reading this a couple of weeks before Christmas and finished it the night before Christmas, it was so good I stayed up really late and was incredibly sleepy on Christmas day :P So worth it though. I'd seen the films before I read the books and I have to say the books are so much better! Especially because Eowyn and Faramir (two characters I never really liked in the film) are so amazing in the book! I love both of them incredible amounts :P I'm just sad that it's over now :(

Now I'd better get back to revising *sigh* hopefully it won't be too long until I find time to blog again...

Sunny xxxxx

Updated Skin Care Routine

So technically I've only been using this current routine for about a week, but so far I'm really liking it, and I'm going to stick with it, because I've used all the products before and I know that they're safe for my skin. A while ago I had a horrible allergic reaction on my face (this post) and for a while after that I hardly touched my face. Now that it's better (thank god) I decided to only use products I was 100% sure on, so here is my updated skin care routine.

After my allergic reaction I went out and bought the amazing Liz Earle cleanse and Polish (review here) which I had been using and loving a few months ago. I've been using this as the hot cloth cleanser every morning, and in the evening I use it with my Clarisonic Mia. Because of my allergic reaction I stopped using the Clarisonic Mia for agesssss, and so now that I've been using it again for the past couple of weeks I've had a bit of 'purging' going on on my forehead, but that's pretty much cleared up now. I'll probably put up a Clarisonic Mia review soon, because I reallllly love it ^ - ^

The only moisturiser I've used in the past 4 or 5 years has been Simple's hydrating light moisturiser. For the price I think it's fantastic, no perfumes or colours, and it works.

Once a week I use my Cure Natural Aqua Gel which is another incredible product. I bought it online (from ebay I think...) and it was around £10. To use it you rub a tiny amount all over your face and it gently buffs away the dead skin...and you can see it coming off...it's kinda disgusting....But once you've rinsed the nasty skin bits off your skin just feels so smooth and lovely!

At the other side of the week (so it's not on the same day as my Cure day) I use a sheet mask. Since going to Korea 8 months ago (I can't believe it's that long! > . <) I've fallen head over heels in love with these. I've been using The Face Shop's Pearl sheet masks (yes I bought so many they've lasted me 8 months - not every week though :P). Over the summer I used more mud masks to combat the oiliness, but now that it's getting colder and my skin is getting a bit dry I've been perking it up with these masks.

Finally at night I use my BareMinerals Pure Transformation Night Treatment (review here). I stopped using this for a while as I thought it wasn't giving me the same results and it was just an added extra to my skincare routine, but for the past week I've started up again, and I've remembered why I first loved it.

I've also been using my free sample of Ren's Radiant Eye Gel to help combat my dark circles and puffy eyes. I like this product, but it's nowhere near as good as Chanel's Beaute Initale Eye (my last eye cream free sample), so I intend to buy the Chanel one once the Ren one has run out, even though it's expensive the sample took me a good couple of months to run out, and it worked so well.

I'll keep you updated about how my skin feels about this (relatively) new routine, but so far (once the purging has completely gone) it's really good :)

Sunny xxxxx

(p.s. my housemates are evil, one of them woke me up with the fire alarm this morning after burning his bacon, then tried to convince me the house was haunted, and then, after hearing thudding noises upstairs I went to check on my other housemates, but their rooms were empty. I was about to head back downstairs when they jumped out of the cupboard...giving me a heart attack and making me hate them a lot > . <)

BareMinerals Pure Transformation Night Treatment Review

Hello :) I've had such an unbelievably long and tiring day today > . < I'm so glad I'm finally home to sit down and relax! I had an eye test booked for today, which meant I had to get into the city centre. Because I can't drive this meant a 45 minute walk to the train station, 15 minute train journey and then 20 minutes to walk to Specsavers. Not too bad, but still a little bit of effort (especially as my legs were burning after yesterdays pilates), when I arrived though the receptionist told me that my appointment was for 2:45 not 12:45... Needless to say I got very bored, I wasn't allowing myself to shop so I went to the cathedral and sat on a bench in the grounds for an hour and a half, it was actually quite nice, just a bit cold :P

Long story short, I got my eyes tested eventually, got a new prescription, went home, ate chocolate. I am now rather happy.

So for the last month or so (I think...) I've been using the BareMinerals night treatment every night before bed. This is a bit of a strange product, but I like it.

When I first started using this I found the concept really odd, it's a fine powder which you buff all over you face as the last step of your routine before bed. At first I was paranoid that I'd have to sleep flat on my back (which I hate) or else the product would rub off, however this product stays on no matter how much a wiggle around in my sleep. The only time I've noticed it rubbing off has been when I occasionally use my eye mask (I don't have curtains).

I have the clear version, there are pigmented ones, but I found those wayyyy too odd :P I'd feel funny about wearing something with coverage to bed. However I can see when I have it on as it gives my face a very light sheen, but you'd only notice if you were really looking.

I can definitely see the benefits of using this powder already. My skin has improved quite a bit, the texture and overall look of my skin just seem better. I still have blemishes, (mainly on my chin because my hormones have been a little bit crazzzzzy recently) but I really think that this treatment helps to fade the red marks faster.

The pot it comes in is half product half brush. The brush is very dense and very soft, perfect for buffing the product into the skin. Despite the product only being in the bottom half of the tub there really is quite a lot of it, mine still looks full after quite a lot of use. I can imagine this lasting me the rest of the year, which is a good thing because it costs £45. I bought this after a lot of umm-ing and ah-ing, and although I do think that it's worth it, and I will repurchase, it is pricey.

Overall this powder hasn't completely magically overhauled my skin, but it has improved it quite a bit, I would recommend this product to anyone willing to pay the £45 price tag. Oh and also, it smells like butterscotch Angel Delight, delicious :)

Sunny xxxxx

Laneige Foam Cleanser Moisture Review

I have two weeks of being alone in the house dog sitting starting tomorrow...yay... Luckily for me, Friday saw the start of two weeks of great sporting entertainment, the Olympics. I loved the opening ceremony, the Queen and James Bond bit (I can't believe she actually did that :P), Mr Bean and Chariots of Fire, the Artic Monkeys and Sir Paul McCartney finishing it off. It was really fantastic.

Now moving away from all the fun of the Olympics and onto something a lot more in keeping with the theme of this blog : my Laneige Foam Cleanser Moisture review. So as a few of you will remember I went to South Korea in March and bought a lot of beauty and skincare items, including this Laneige cleanser. Now I'd heard good things about Laneige and their skincare, and this was one of the higher priced items I bought, so needless to say I had high hopes for this product.

As you can see from the squishiness of the tube, I used a fair amount because I reallllly wanted to like this product :(

This cleanser is designed for normal to dry skin types and promises clear and bright skin, other than that the rest of the packaging is written in Korean Hangeul letters. When I visited Korea it was quite cold and still wintry, so my skin was fairly dry with a few blemishes. I used up my Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish (which I love, review here) in Korea, and when I came back I decided to try out this one.

Firstly this product is huge, 180ml, and I only ever used a small blob with warm water. It foams reasonably well on the skin and feels soft. It has a light clean smell and is light pink in colour. Overall a little underwhelming so far. Once it's washed off my face started to feel a little tight, but once moisturised it wasn't a problem, although for a cleanser claiming to be mild it was a little annoying.

I've used this product for a few months now, and for the most part it was a bit useless, it wasn't awful, but my skin stayed in the same condition, blemishes, perhaps a little too dry in some areas, but it seemed a normal cleanser. I was disappointed. However, during exams and especially the last two months I've noticed that this cleanser cannot handle my breakouts. In hot weather my skin becomes more oily (which I know this cleanser is not suited for), but oh my gosh I've had awful skin recently. I carried on using it though, because I didn't think it could be making the problem worse. But after switching cleansers (less than a week ago) my skin has calmed down so much!

Overall I simply do not like this product, when my skin's behaving it's underwhelming (and a bit too drying), but when my skin's being bad (in the heat, stress, bad food, too much drink ect.) it really shows that it's just a bad cleanser. I'm really disappointed because I was looking forwards to trying this out so much and as I usually like foaming cleansers I was really looking forwards to this > . <

I still haven't found the perfect skincare routine, but I'll keep trying!

Sunny xxxxx

Shopping Weekend With Not Much Shopping

I have three things, four if you count my haircut, to show for my weekend of shopping with my mum. Don't get me wrong, I wanted more, but as a poor student I managed to show a lot of self restraint :P I did get a good opportunity to point out my birthday wish list to my mum :P Not entirely sure if she'll remember any of it though :P

Anyway, onto the teeny weeny haul :

First these sandals from Zara were in the sale, very cute and casual, and only a tenner :D Nice.

Next is the sickly sweet Strawberry Buttercream Yankee Candle. I love this smell. I have such bad taste in scents (I am very aware of this) and I love all the ridiculously sweet headache inducing ones :P I'm not sure how my housemates next year will feel about the smell, but I'm just really excited that I'm allowed candles in my house next year!

Finally is the bare minerals pure transformation night treatment in clear. I've been pining over this for months, and it was my 'big' purchase of the weekend. You can buy these with colour, so that they provide coverage, but I found the concept of wearing something with coverage to bed just too weird. I need to have a naked face when I sleep! :P Once I've used this enough to know I'll do a review. So far I'm liking it, and my skin does seem a little better (only 3 days in) but time will tell. Also as this is £45 it's not something to buy on a whim :P

I'm off to curl up for a while, walks with the Tolly dog are tiring :P

Sunny xxxxx