Neals Yard Beauty Balm....amazing multi-purpose skin fix all!

I've never really been that fond of Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream - despite having dry skin and being a perfect candidate for it. I loved the smell but I found it greasy and unsuitable to put on the skin - grand for lips and flaky elbows. So I wasn't too excited about trying Neals Yards Beauty Balm but my sister swears by it so figured it was worth a try. And the verdict....its amazing! It can be used in three ways - as a rich exfoliating cleanser, a balancing mask or a deeply nourishing and protecting balm for dry skin. Or you can combine all three steps to recreate an at home facial to decongest and leave your skin glowing.

The balm contains rosehip oil, shea butter, jojoba oil amongst other gorgeous ingredients and is 99.2% organic. It includes a muslin cloth and a handy guide to facial massage to help you get the best out of the balm. I gguarantee if you follow the massage guide with the balm before bed, you'll wake up with younger looking skin!

I picked up mine in London but you can get Neals Yard at fab Limerick store Alchemist Earth.

Five minute face to brighten dull tired skin!

Have to share this with you guys! Said dull tired face would be my own and recently I had literally five minutes to make myself look beautiful (well alive anyways) and I have to say I was most impressed with this product combo!

Prep

Cleanse was as always with Ponds Cold Cream (as you know I'm obsessed) and removed then with a warm facecloth.
This was followed with the new serum from Lancome, Visionnaire (will do a full review on this in a few weeks when I can really get a handle on the results but the blurb reckons its brilliant).

THEN, I popped on the new BB cream from Garnier (again full review to follow but I LOVE it)

Makeup

Base was Illamasqua's Skinbase foundation - I'm mad about this foundation and one of my favourite makeup artists in the UK is using this on her wedding day and she has to have tried every foundation on the market!

Bronze/Contour was Lancomes mineral powder bronzer, Tropiques Minérale which has a lovely sheen to it without being sparkly.

Eyebrows were strong, I used Benefits Browzings.

Eyelids were covered with a cream eyeshadow, Bare Study by MAC.

Lashes were Rimmels Glam'Eyes Day to Night.

For the lips then I used Rimmels Kate Moss lippie in 03.


And that's it, a lovely daytime look, done in minutes, that manages to blur the dehydration lines and give a bright look to the face and open the eyes.

PS Entirely aware that tis a picture of Jenn Aniston on the blog rather than myself but twas that type of radiant skin the look gave (and much nicer to look at than my mug :))

Get the London Look!

Well last weekend in London was fab...even veered off the makeup trail a little - long enough to manage to put together a lovely Autumn wishlist (I know, I know, summer hasn't even arrived! But new season clothes, shoes and makeup have and they make the piles of summer sale stuff look a little stale!).

On Friday, after a lovely brunch in the Wolesley http://www.thewolseley.com/  had a little wander in H&M and fell in love with a burnt orange 60's swing coat.

On Saturday, a trip to Selfridges and a stop at the Sisley counter and their Radiant Glow Express Mask....

Also wandered into giant topshop and tried on the most beautiful Vivienne Westwood shoes ever! So comfortable and in lovely colours.

Gave up after that and went for a glass of vino the the Wonder Bar in Selfridges and watched the expensive handbags go by!

60 second hair saviour!

This week I'm all about a new product from Elvive. Hair is a bit dry and straw like at the moment and I would love to blame the sun but unfortunately its more likely to have been my attacks with the hair dryer/straightener/wand (insert as appropriate!).

So I picked up Elvive Full Restore 5 60 Second Saviour (phew! Is it me or are product names getting longer and longer!) It promises that weak, limp, damaged hair will be restored and replenished and it promises not to weigh down your hair like some intensive treatments do.

And it pretty much does what it says on the tin, it leaves hair a lot softer and shinier - the only thing is I find hair gets greasier a bit quicker than usual. I love that you don't have to wait around for 20 minutes too. Overall, a good purchase and good value. Although I still think I prefer Matrix or Kerastase for hair products you really see a major difference with.

Wonder Pots!

I bought some fab new cream blush's a couple of weeks ago and I absolutley love them! Maybelline's Dream Touch blush comes in four shades (that I could see in Boots) and I bought the Berry, Peach and Apricot ones (see aforementioned addictive Three for Two offer, I am a marketers dream I know!). Peach and Apricot are much of a muchness but the Apricot one also makes a fab highlighter on the brow bone and cheek bone and I have also used the Peach on the eyelids. They are lovely and soft and while maybe not as long lasting as you might need say for bridal, they are a lovely addition to add glow and great for a more natural look. Used them recently in a photoshoot and they looked fab!

Phantom of the opera mask!

Well its not pretty, in fact you are pretty much guaranteed to scare small children with it on, but the Olay Total Effects is really really good (worth looking like a nutter for 15 minutes per week!)

I love that it comes in seven individual packages and the mask is literally a mask with slits for the eyes and nose that you spread over your face and stretch into shape. So no messing around with products, just slap it on and go about your day for about 15 minutes, although I left it on around 30 minutes.

When you take it off you are left with a film of the product which you massage into your skin and let dry before finishing off with your usual moisturiser (you might be able to skip this step if you have an oilier skin). A tip is to squeeze out the mask before you bin it, theres lots of product left on it and I used it as an overnight hand treatment.

So here's what Olay says it will do and my findings as to if it really delivered...

• Line Minimization: Reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles

Yep, would have to agree with this claim - it definitely helped with lines around the eyes.

• Nourishing Moisturisation: Intensively hydrates the skin

Skin feels lovely and soft after the treatment and well into the next day.

• Tone enhancement: Balances colour and reduces appearance of age spots

Not sure on this one, I think you might need to use it regularly before you see this effect.

• Gentle exfoliation: Smoothes and evens skin texture

Hmmm not sure on this one, I exfoliated before I put it on.

• Pore Refinement: Minimises the appearance of pores

Yep!

• Brightening: For a radiant, healthy glow.

Yep!

• Spot minimisation: Reduces the appearance of age spots

I'm not too sure how this is different to the earlier point above but again, would need to use it for a bit longer to see if this is true.

All in all a good purchase and works well with a decent exfoliation before hand.

Retro moments in makeup and beauty products

Two major flashbacks this week while strolling through Boots - first up was a trawl through the Rimmel counter to see whats new (great brand, often overlooked but has some good products worth looking into, more to follow!). I was checking out the lipstick shades when my eye was firmly drawn to what looked very much to me like HEATHER SHIMMER! Now those of you in your thirties and above will remember Heather Shimmer very well - in the 90's it was a makeup mainstay, along with panstick, dark lipliner a la Pamela Anderson in the Baywatch days and blue eyeliner inside the eye and without Rimmel and the Body Shop we would have had no makeup at all (BT's being way out of our league and frankly a waste of good vodka money). Well, it isn't called Heather Shimmer this time round and its not exactly the same but it is a really nice nude/pink shade and its very long lasting without being drying so gets the thumbs up from me - Rimmel Lasting Finish in 077 Asia.

Ahh the classic 90's lipline!

The second came in the hair aisle - hands up who remembers Sun In? And who hasn't had a DISASTER with it? Sun In first came to my attention on my very first holiday to Torremolinos! I was armed with Sun In, a tanning oil I bought in a sunbed shop (it was before we became SPF aware!) and some lemons for good measure. If it killed me, my perm and I were coming home from that holiday blonde! And that I did - frizzy, yellow, brassy but definitely blonde! Shortly after, I discovered that highlights were a much safer option. And everyone I know has a similar Sun In story! So I was very surprised to see that John Frieda has brought it back! Well granted he has called it Go Blonder Controlled Lightening Spray Exclusively For Blondes (phew, what a mouthful) but it basically seems to work on the same premise. You spray it in all over or on small sections, and then whack on the heat and bobs your uncle. So yes, a bottle of it went into the basket, just for the purpose of the blog! I will let you know how it goes!

Before!

After!

I'm off to get a bottle of Fuzzy Peach perfume! I heart the 90's!