Toner-Tastic?

Aloha Bloggerinos,

As you'll know from my previous Battle of the Cleansers post (HERE), I am currently on a skincare mission. I have basically good skin, but I know if I look after it better, it will thank me for it in the long run.

So, I have been properly cleansing, and moisturising and have recently added toning into the equation.

I will admit, I don't really get this Toner business. Tightening the skin? Ummm Ok but I don't really like tight skin and instantly want to slather moisturiser on it to sooth the tightness. I've half looked into this terribly important matter but I'm still not 100% clear. If you know more about why it's important to tone or what precisely it does for you, puurrlleeaasee let me know because I'm just being a bit of a beauty sheep and doing it because I feel I should! Ha.

So, on Boxing Day I bought a 250g bottle of Lush Breath of Fresh Air Toner. I would love to tell you how much it retails for but the Lush website is still down due to hacking. I think maybe the £7-8 mark. Hoowwwweevvveerr, prepare to be jealous.....I got it for free!!

How cool is that? I don't know about you, but I really do think Lush are good to their customers and that's definitely part of what makes me go back there so often. That and I luuurrrvvee the products of course!

I have been using this toner regularly (not everyday, slaps wrist) for about a month. Now, I really like it, it smells fresh, doesn't irritate my skin at all, makes me feel like I'm doing the right thing skincare wise annddd apparently is boosting my face with vitamins and all sorts of goodness. That's it.

I haven't noticed anything different, good or bad, in my skin. I feel pretty 'meh' about it all. I have tried applying it in a variety of aways- spraying directly onto skin, spritzing on dry or damp cotton wool and applying to face and even squirting onto my hands and patting on.

So really, I'm throwing the ball in your court dear Bloggerinos, what shall I do? Am I doing it wrong? I want to join this Toner club but can't find the bloomin' door!

Please help!

Toodlepip!

xx

PS. Only six more days left til giveaway time, so get your entry in now. To have a looksie, click HERE.

London IMATS 2011 and Lauren Luke

Aloha Bloggerinos,

(Picture heavy post. I'm yet to meet anyone who doesn't like to look at pictures of makeup but if that's you, this isn't going to float your boat! haha)

Sunday was my day at the London IMATS 2011 and I has a brrrrrilliant day! I was umming and arring about going, but I'm so pleased I did because I bought some lovely things, feasted my eyes on gorgeousness annnnddd met Lauren Luke!

(bumpaliscious)

I was really fortunate to be given a Press Pass and a ticket for my chum Charly who would have assisted in a 'uh-oh-i'm-going-into-labour-early' crisis, so we were able to have a mooch round the exhibition haul before all the crowds hit.

We didn't have too long though because by 10.50, I was sitting on the front row of the main stage room, eagerly awaiting the YouTube Guru Q&A with none other than....drum roll please.......Lauren Luke! She came on stage and smiled at everyone and I just sat there grinning like an idiot on idiot pills, so I expect she thought I was a bit mentally disturbed. Goodo.

(When I asked my question and went a sexy shade of crimson, it was all caught on this enorrrrmmmous screen, splendid!)

Lauren answered all questions really well, not patronisingly and easily relatable to, if that makes sense. It was like listening to a chum, rather than a tip top Beauty Guru with her own book, nintendo game, column in a major newspaper and makeup line. Hmmm can you tell I'm a fan?

At then end, she stood chatting to us all and was sooooo nice and exactly like how you see her in her videos. I had a snap with her, we chatted about Baby Glitter dans la tum and she gave the bump a little rub- lucky baby is already rubbing shoulders with celebs and she's not even born yet, mwahaha.

After being all excited about meeting Lauren, we headed into the exhibition hall to fight the crowds and buy some goodies.

My first stop was the Sleek stand. I've always really liked Sleek products and was looking forward to talking to the SA's, but was a bit disappointed actually. There was a new primer palette out and I asked if it was solely for primer (as in could only be used as primer) or if it was multifunctional, like so many products are, and I was met with "It's a Primer Palette". Yes, thank you, I can see that Mrs Helpful. I felt like she thought I was a total dumbo and left feeling a bit disgruntled. I did still buy a few bits (it wasn't the product's fault the SA was so unapproachable after all).

The next place I bought from was MakeUpForEver. I've heard a lot about this from YouTube Guru's, mainly Wayne Goss, and was eager to have a look. I was instantly drawn to the gorgeous array of glitters, gems and the famous Diamond Powders. I was going to buy a Diamond Powder but if memory serves it was about £15ish (and that's with a discount) for a teenyweeny pot, so I felt I could live without. I already have a MAC Pigment in 'Reflects Teal' so i will make more use of this. Anyhoo, I bought 2 glitters, 10 and 11 which are black and light copper. I'm really excited to use both of these and when I do, I will show you pictures because I love a Sprinkle of Glitter ;). See what I did there?!

After a little walk round, and being SEVERELY TEMPTED to part with £40 for a stack of Naked Pigments, oh my they were amazing, we fought our way to the Crown Brushes table- no mean feat when you're 8 months pregnant. I was really good and bought 4 brushes and they were all ones I need. I bought a tiny and a normal sized kabuki, a fluffy face brush and a big thick fan brush, which I plan for body use- ie. when I want to dust shimmer or glitter onto my decolletage, arms or legs.

By this point, pregnancy was slowing me down and I was starting to feel a bit bleaauuggh and ready to sit down, so we slooowwwwlly meandered about, looking at all the goorrgeeous makeup stands, honestly I was in heaven, and just soaking up the atmosphere.

The MAC Pro area (they had a whole area) looked really swanky with a raised wooden platform and sexy men in speedos being painted, so we had a little gander. I was hoping they would have all their eyeshadows there because I had a few I wanted to pick up but they just had a few matte pro colours and glitters. I was again tempted by some of the holographic glitters but let's face it, when am I going to wear them? I bought another 15 pan Pro Palette, because I'm going to put my nice MAC shadows in there and then depot allllll my other shadows into the older scruffy one- woop!

We had a bit more of a look round at various brands, I thought about buying an Inglot Palette but funds were low and the stall was rammed and I was tired so we decided to make like a tree and leaf. Just as we were on our way out, we walked past Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics and I asked the man if it was OK to take a few snaps of the pigments and glitters. I was really impressed because he said yes but then said "oh hang on, do the displays look good?" because they had got a little messy earlier. He was the ONLY person the whole day who made an effort like that and I thought it said a lot about his pride in the OCC stall. He must have seen my press pass because as I was leaving, he handed me a little black bag of goodies and a press pack. I didn't really know much about OCC but having tried out the Lip Tars and read the bumf, I think I can feel a new addiction coming along!! Watch this space for a review soon.

(Sorry it's blurry, it was really busy pushy shovey)

After all that, we headed back to the car where bump and I had a good old rest and I felt fully splurged (oooerrr misses!!).

I'm already looking forward to next year and am well stocked for upcoming Lou's Reviews and a YouTube Haul video- yeehhaaa!

What do you think?

Toodlepip!

xx

Lou's Reviews :: Battle of the Cleansers

Aloha Bloggerinos,

For the past few months, I have become somewhat obsessed with skin care. In my quest for beautiful skin, I have tried a few different cleansers/makeup removers and I thought I'd share my thoughts with you. I have actually already made my YouTube video on this, which you can see HERE.

 

Way back when in about November, I was given a little sample of a Lush Cleanser called 9 to 5, which claims to 'clean the skin thoroughly with a mild antibacterial action'. I totally used all the sample (I don't always do this if I'm not enthused. I was also given an 'UltraBland' sample but didn't really warm to it) and wanted more! Soooo, in the boxing day sale, I bought a bottle for half the original price. I was going to link you to Lush and tell you the rrp but as you may well know, the site has been hacked and is temporarily shut. I *THINK* 9 to 5 Cleanser is around the £6-7 mark for a smaller bottle.

Seeing as 9 to 5 is infused with orchid oil and everlasting flower, it really does have the most soothing yummy effect on the skin.

To achieve this I wet a piece of cotton wool pleat, squish it down so it's damp, not soaking, squib on some cleanser (yes, squid) and gently rub onto my face. A lot of makeup comes off with this step, but then I take another damp cotton wool pleat with no cleanser on and rinse. I can't describe the soothingness, but it feels really calming.

It's great for taking skin makeup off but I found it struggled with my eye makeup. I think if you are a gal that only wears a light dusting of eyeshadow and a slick of mascara, you might be ok, but for my primer, shadow, eyeliner and looooadddsa mascara'd kind of eyes, it's no match. Sad times. Because if this flaw, I only use this in the mornings to kind of pep my skin up and to cleanse it of general impurities, not as a makeup remover. Or sometimes, I just use it for a little skin treat :)

As always with Lush, packaging is spot on. Sleek, unique to Lush, enjoyable to have on display in your bathroom and I enjoy that it has a small opening so you can control the flow of product, preventing mess.

In the absense of the UK site, you can check out the Lush USA site HERE.

Next up on my little quest for cleany clean skin is the MAC Pro Eye Makeup Remover which retails at £13.50 for the big 100ml bottle. I was actually sent a sample with a little postal order I made a few months back and had been saving it.

I used it all, so far so good. I had high hopes for this little number, especially since my opinion of a lot of other MAC Products is uber high, but sadly I was a bit let down. It claims to be a 'mega effective remover that lifts off every look', but as with the Lush Cleanser, I found it didn't really remove all my eyemakeup. I will be fair though and say that the sample was really teensy, so I wasn't overly generous with how much I put on the cotton wool pleat, and also I dampened the cotton wool, thus diluting the remover a bit.

I really liked the fragrance of this, not chemically but just pleasantly clean. This is a really winner for me because I am ultra fussy about smells. I also found it left my sensitive skin calm and happy, which isn't always the case with makeup removers.

I won't really go too far into this one as I don't think I had enough to fully give a fair opinion on it but I would say it's OK, but not something I will be buying soon. It works alright, but unlike the Lush 9 to 5, it doesn't make my skin smile.

On a side note, have you tried the makeup wipes from MAC- wowzas I bloomin' love them! I wish I had some of those to review for you because it would be smiles all round :)

You can check it out for yourself HERE.

Last but by no means least, is the hero of the hour. This is the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser Kit- phewf what a mouthfull!

The idea with this is to squirt a little bit of the product (which comes out as a smooth, rich, white cream) onto your fingers, massage into dry skin, then using a wet with warmed/hot water muslin cloth (2 are provided in the kit), remove (or 'polish off') the massaged in cream and it takes away all makeup and impurities.

At first I was quite sceptical about this product. Yes, I too have read a lot about it on other blogs, but I couldn't see how this white creamy stuff would manage to get off all my eyemakeup/how my eyes wouldn't sting after having something massaged into the lashes. I was wrong. Oh so wrong. This is a remover of kings I tell thee.

I could go on all day about this item but I'll try and just keep it short with what I love about it.

It is uber gentle on my skin. I haven't felt tight/dry/irritated, just fresh as a daisy. I think this may well be down to the fact that it is 'plant based'. Winner.

It has a really refreshing scent to it. As I have said a million times before, I am super fussy about fragrances but this just smells really zingy and fresh. It took me about a week to work out it was the eucalyptus. Love it.

In the kit, which retails for £13.25, you get the 100ml bottle, 2 generous sized muslin clothes and a cute pastel green wash bag to keep it in. I was really glad of the 2 clothes because it means you can have one in the wash and still use your cleanser. Top tip- Don't be a fool and put your cloth in with your jeans...unless you like baby blue. Top Fact- I read somewhere tha Kylie Minogue uses muslins to remove her makeup and look at her skin- Flawless!

The packaging is very bathroom friendly. Pastel green, sophisticated and grown up. The bottle has a pump top, preventing wastage and contamination. I only use one or two pumps a night, so hopefully this will last a while.

It removes ALL my makeup!!!!!!!!! Even dark bases like MAC SharkSkin Shadestick can't fight this.

It's pretty fair to say that I am a convert and will buying this over and over, for richer for poorer, til death us do part.

I urge you to have a look at this little wonder, HERE.

Have you tried any of these products or do you have something that you lovity love? Let me know :)

Toodlepip!

xx

Little Disclaimer- Liz Earle Cleanser was sent to me to review, but as I'm not paid by them or anything serious like that, I give you Bloggerinos my honest opinion and thoughts. Woop woop.