Alpha H Liquid Gold

Alpha H is an Australian brand created 20 years ago. It is a family run company and over the years have developed products for men and woman and all skin types. I was first introduced to the range from watching QVC (I am addicted!) and one of my beauty therapist friends suggested I try Liquid Gold as I had spots around my chin and jaw line. 

Liquid Gold contains glycolic acid and liquorice extract to gently resurface the skin and is great for scarred or dull skin. I use it every other day at night on a cotton pad and gently wipe it over my skin. It tingles for a few minutes as the glycolic gets to work. When I first used Liquid Gold, I came out in more spots but my skin tends to do that when I try a new product and it settles down quite quickly. I now use it every so often when I have an outbreak of spots but my skin has really cleared up a lot since using the Liquid Gold. I really recommend using it, it is suitable for all skin types. I first used it when I was 21/22 and it is a great addition to my skincare routine. My skin feels really soft the morning after I have used it and it definitely improves the look and tone of my skin. 

October Glossy Box

After much waiting and checking of my emails to see if it had been dispatched, I finally received my October Glossybox. If I know something is due to arrive, I get very impatient waiting it! As I never seem to be home when the Glossybox gets delivered, our kind delivery lady always hides it in the same place  so I don't miss out on it and have to trek it to the post office to pick it up. I wasn't as excited about the goodies in the box this month ...

Another perfume sample this month in the form of Katy Perry 'Killer Queen'. Not my favourite of scents I have to admit although it smells nice, just not my type of perfume. It has top notes of dark plum, wild berry and bergamot which to me is like a headache in a bottle but some may like it! 

Me Me Me Cherub's Blush- fits the theme of the month which is 'Dark Romance', I kind of hoped I would receive a plum/red lipstick but this is the next best thing. It is a cheek and lip tint but I will probably just use it on my lips and then put a clear gloss over the top. It stains a nice pinky colour and doesn't rub off easily (from my hand anyway!).

Premae Multi-Vit Smoothie Serum- I was excited to see this in my box as I love anything lemongrass scented and on closer reading of the accompanying card, I saw it is for combination skin. It claims to 'hydrate the skin whilst keeping it matte free' so I can't wait to try it out and see if it does the trick. 

One thing I love about the Glossyboxes is that they include some lesser known brands. The Gamila Secret Cleansing Bar really intrigued me as I had never heard of it before. I'll admit that as soon as I got it out of the box and realised it looked like a bar of soap, I was immediately put off (the similarities to soap stop there, it doesn't work like a soap does). I really hate soaps and how they then sit by your sink collecting germs and hair but I'm willing to give this one a go. It doesn't actually strip your skin like a soap does, it contains more than 80% pure virgin olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil, Shea butter oil, grape seed oil, sweet almond oil and lavender oil. Phew that's a lot of oils! Suitable for sensitive skins, it heals any problems within 28 days. 

Last but not least I received Monu Illuminating Primer SPF 15. Being a Make Up Artist I have come across loads of primers, admittedly most of these are specifically for particular skin types so I look forward to trying this one. It smells clean and fresh and absorbs into the skin quickly leaving it feeling soft  it I'm doubtful as to whether it actually illuminates. I shall investigate further! 

Xx

L'Occitane Ultra Riche Body Lotion

I don't know if I have mentioned this before but I love L'Occitane products. Every year for Christmas I get a box full of their gorgeous creams, shower gels and hand creams to use up through the year and I can honestly say I finish every one of them (apart from the soap, I'm not a soap user). I have a hand cream in my makeup bag and in every hand bag I own and also there is one beside my bed to use morning and night. 

I first used this body lotion when I received a sample of it at the L'Occitane shop. Although I have oily skin on my face, my body is strangely dry. I think this is mostly down to sun damage (oops!) and I'm generally lazy when it comes to moisturising anywhere but my face. I go through stages of doing every day for a week or so then get out of the habit of it. I don't like sticky, greasy body lotions but when I find one I do like, I use it all the time. I have 2 cats and getting into bed after moisturising my skin and feet etc only to find balls of fur have stuck to me, is not a nice thing! One is long haired and she seems to permanently be shedding fur everywhere and no amount of hoovering gets rid of it so using a body lotion that soaks in straight away is ideal for me. 

This one contains 15% Shea butter to really moisturise my skin and the smell is gorgeous. A little bit of this goes a long way or you will be left with a slight residue on the skin if too much is used (not such a bad thing for some people). I bought the 250ml size and I still have over half left and that's with using it for a few months. After I have used all of it, I will probably buy the Ultra Rich Body Cream as my skin gets even more dry in winter but I will definitely be buying this lotion again in spring/summer. 

Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel

Hi guys! I've been so manic recently with work and writing blog posts. I have a whole list of products I want to write about as I'm always discovering new ones or rediscovering old favourites. I know there's tons of blogs out there with info on the same things as mine but I still like to write and inform you of my opinions as everyone is different. 

Today I want to tell you about the Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel. I don't know if I have mentioned before that I used to use really rough exfoliators as I have oily skin and thought they would help, turns out I was doing more damage than good so I switched to more gentle products. This seems to have worked as I have far less blemishes and less greasy skin as I'm not over stimulating my oil glands or stripping my skin of its natural oils. I bought this peel as part of a set a while back, I'm a sucker for sets with full size products and little try me sizes. This peel is the 15ml size which is actually not that small, you only need a little amount of this product for it to work its magic. 

The packaging is clean and smart looking and looks expensive standing on my shelf. The peel itself is a cream consistency which can easily be spread across the face, avoiding the eyes. I leave it on for ten to fifteen minutes to do its thing before I remove it with warm water and go on to use a facemask and then moisturiser. It leaves my skin looking fresh and clean, removing the rough skin and dead skin cells that clog up my pores. I am running low on this product so I will be sure to pick one up when I go to the beauty show next weekend eeeek can't wait! That's a whole other blog post in itself as we go for the whole day and I always come back with more than I need but I do pick up some Christmas presents along the way! 

Primark and New Look

So...this happened! I was very restrained though and only bought one thing from New Look and a few bits from Primark. 

I went to New Look first with my sister, I've been looking for a pair of ankle boots for ages but can't find any that fit me and one of my clients suggested New Look. Unfortunately I couldn't find any so I got distracted with looking at clothes and heels! These shoes jumped out at me....

I love them! I'm not really a shoe person, my sister has loads and they look great on her as she can actually walk in sky high heels whereas I walk like I've had one too many to drink. All the heels I own are stupidly low and pretty much boring and black so I am trying to force myself out of my comfort zone and wear different colours and styles. It is my 25th birthday in November and I want to wear these shoes for a night out.. May just have to train my feet to walk in them! I haven't worn shoes this high(and they're not even really high) for at least 4 years if not more, could be an interesting night out! 

I have quite a few skater style dresses that I don't think I have worn enough this summer so I was looking for some cropped jumpers to layer over the top of these when it gets slightly colder. I went to Primark to have a look as I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I bought two cropped jumpers/tops- one black and grey striped, one plain black....

I actually picked up another skater style dress for £5 as you can't really go wrong with black! Then on to the jewellery section, I really want to get into wearing rings so I was specifically looking for some. My fingers are stupidly thin and long so I have never really worn many rings as it's hard to find some that fit. I found a ring and a necklace in Primark that I can wear with a variety of clothes to jazz them up a little....

I also bought two exfoliating gloves as mine has gone for a walk about somewhere in my house. I wear fake tan nearly all year round, only having a break for a week or so every few weeks so I need to use the gloves to get the remainders of the tan off. 

I can't wait for more Autumn/Winter clothes to come out in the shops, it's my favourite time of year although it's not good for my bank balance! 

Xx

Olympia Beauty Show 2013

One of my favourite places to go is the beauty show, I go to Excel in February and Olympia in September. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's where beauty brands go to exhibit their products/makeup/nail polishes etc and you can buy them at trade prices or on special show offers. I love looking around at everything and having a girly day out with my friends! 

After getting the train and the tube, we arrived at Olympia at about 10.15am and were surprised that we could walk straight in as we usually have to queue up outside for ages. Once we had our name badges, first stop was NYX Cosmetics which was very quiet( glad we went there first as the queues for it were crazy the rest of the day). 

I bought a set of ten lipglosses, 2 eyeliners and a lipstick. The huge OPI stand is always in the middle of Olympia but we resisted going to it until after lunch as its always so manic, you need to get your elbows out to be in with a chance of actually getting to the polish stands! Although by the time we went there, I was getting so annoyed and tired of the crowds that I just adopted the same technique as most of the shoppers- just shove your way through and push people out of the way haha! I lost count of the amount of times someone tried to take me out with a swipe of their basket to the back of my knees or an elbow in the ribs! I bought a base coat, 5 nail colours, an Avoplex oil and a mango Avojuice. 

Two of the girls we went with needed to go to the S2 stand to stock up on Shellac but the queue was 3 hours long so they gave up in the end and bought OPI Gel Color instead. After a visit to the Eve Taylor stand for some facial wash and a massage candle, we went to buy some products at Australian Bodycare. We had decided to leave this one to last as we always buy litre bottles of their Skinwash and Hand and Body Lotion, I didn't fancy carrying them around all morning. 

We were disappointed that Leighton Denny wasn't there as I needed a new nail file and always like looking at his new polish collections. Big facial brands like Decleor and Guinot never go to Olympia as they exhibit at Excel every February and I'm already looking forward to going there! 

Bourjois Color Boost Lipstick

Everyone has been raving about these Color Boosts so I picked one up when I went to Boots a few weeks back. A lot of drugstore brands are now bringing these lipsticks out and I'm assuming they're modelled on Clinique Chubby Sticks as the packaging is very similar. One of the Clinique ones is sold every few minutes or something crazy like that, amazing when you think of it!! 

The colour of the packaging mimics the colour of the lipstick inside so mine is a peach colour as I bought 'Peach on the Beach'. It apparently lasts 10 hours which I don't think is necessary although I won't find out if it lasts that long as I'm constantly nibbling my lips and licking them! They do contain an SPF of 15 which is good for holidays etc as I like to have something pretty on my lips while I'm out and about in the sun. 

The colour pay off is good, I only need a few swipes of it across my lips to achieve the colour I want. I will probably only continue wearing it while the sun is still out as it's a summery colour and I tend to wear reds or darker colours in winter.