A blogging disaster

As you can probably see, all of my blog pictures are gone :( I inadvertently deleted them and I don't have them saved on any device anymore. As there is nothing I can do about this I am just going to carry on my blog as normal and start again as it were. I will be alot more careful about saving my pictures this time though!

Cya soon,

Sophie <3

Olympic nail fever!

Hi everyone,

I know it's been a while but I have lots of posts lined up! Today I'm going to be showing my Olympic nails. I first painted them on the Friday of the opening ceremony to show my support for team GB! I repainted them today with more gold in light of our recent success :D 

When I first painted my nails I did them all in the classic GB flag as shown on my ring finger. However today I felt like refreshing them and adding a little bit of gold so I came up with this! I used 291 Cobalt Blue and 320 Gold foil effect both by Barry M. I then used the white and red nail art pens by Rio. I got these in a set for Christmas and they're available from Argos for £24.97. 

I have absolutely been loving the Olympics and have been behind Team GB all the way! Hopefully we have a lot more golds on the way :D

Sophie <3

Review: Bourjois magic nail polish remover

Hi Everyone,

This is going to be a review on the Bourjois magic nail polish remover. It really is magic! I absolutely love it. I really can't say enough good things about it but I'll try!

This is my nails before removing any polish. As you can see they're slightly chipped but nothing major so the remover has a tough job! I have 2 coats of nail polish on here. 

You get 75ml of product in the tub. When you open it up you are greeted with a strong smell of nail polish remover but that soon dissipated. There is a dark grey sponge with a hole in the top to put your finger in. Then I twisted it around 4 times and voilà! All nail polish on my thumb is gone!

In the time it would have took me to remove polish from one nail I can do all 10! I can't imagine being without this now! Bourjois claims one second removal and that you can remove polish in a twist but I'd have to disagree. As I said I can remove all polish in 4 twists which is still unbelievable! I literally can't believe my eyes when I use this. It is priced at £4.99 which seems expensive for a nail polish remover but I believe that it is that good that it is totally worth the money and I will continue to buy this until they stop making it (which I hope is never!). Overall I would definitely recommend this for anyone and everyone. I cannot praise this stuff enough! 

Sophie <3

Sigma essential kit - Make Me Cool - Eye brushes

Hi everyone,

This is the follow up post to my Sigma Make me cool face brushes post. The post will contain all the eye brushes in the set. 

Medium angled shading - E70.

I use this to apply colour to the crease of my eye. The angled shape makes this perfect for placing the shadow in exactly the right places. It is quite soft so it enables you to gradually build up colour rather than putting on too much straight away. 

Small angle - E65.

I use this brush to fill in any sparse areas in my eyebrows. It isn't flimsy at all and so doesn't flick product everywhere. I don't really have much to say about this brush other than I really like it for the job I use it for. 

Eye shading - E55.

This is probably my favourite eye brush! It packs colour on perfectly and is also really soft so it blends it out just as well. I use it to apply eye shadow to the outer half of my eye, it does this brilliantly because it is small enough to not put shadow past your crease but big enough to cover the whole outer half in one go. 

Tapered blending - E40.

I don't use this brush for its intended purpose. I use it for concealer! It works perfectly to blend out concealer and give it a seamless finish. It really buffs the product in well. There is only one thing I would change about it, it sheds a little, so it would be good if I didn't find black hairs on my face after using this!

Large shader - E60.

I use this to pack colour on all over the lid. It's quite stiff and so it does a really fantastic job of picking up colour from the actual eye shadow pan. 

Pencil - E30.

When I imagine pencil brushes I automatically think that they're going to be really stiff but this is really soft and great for applying a sparkly colour in the inner corner of my eye. 

Eyeliner - E05.

I have only used this brush a couple of times with a gel eyeliner and then said eyeliner dried up and I haven't repurchased another one as of yet. However when I did use this it was unimaginably easy to get a perfect line and I find it much easier to use than an angled eyeliner brush. 

Overall I absolutely LOVE these brushes and I do think they're worth the money if you live in America but with the cost of shipping to England they did end up costing quite alot (although considerably less than a set of MAC brushes). The set is $109.00 plus $17.88 international shipping. With current conversion rates that works out at £81 roughly. Don't forget to check out part 1 of this post here. 

Thanks for reading, 

Sophie <3

Sigma essential kit - Make Me Cool - Face brushes

Hi everyone,

I'm going to have to split this post into 2 parts as it would be ridiculously long if I didn't! This post is going to be on the face brushes from the Sigma Make Me Cool kit. I received this kit for my birthday last December and have used it every time I have worn make-up since then and I can officially say I love them! There is one brush that I didn't get on with at all but I'll get to that. 

The kit comes in a variation of colours but blue is one of my favourites. The packaging is brilliant! I use the 2 pots to stand my brushes in and if I needed to take them away with me I would feel confident that my brushes were well protected and not getting damaged. 

First of all it's the Large powder brush - F30.

I don't use this brush on a regular basis but when I do I use it to apply a fine dusting of powder. It is one of the softest brushes I have ever felt and applies just the perfect amount of product. 

Foundation - F60.

I switch between this and my Real Techniques stippling brush to apply my foundation. I mainly use this brush with my Clinique Anti-Blemish foundation as it applies it evenly and blends it out to perfection. Again this brush is super soft and spreads your foundation around your face rather than dragging it. 

Duo fibre - F50.

This is the brush that I have a problem with. When I used it to apply my foundation it was like sticking needles in my face, it was so sharp! It really irritated my face and was really quite painful! When I tried to use it for blush it tugged at my skin and didn't apply the product evenly. If anyone has any ideas on this brush and how I could use it, I hate seeing it sat there unused, than please let me know. 

Large angled contour - F40.

I use this brush for blusher. It does the job, blends out colour well and is nice and soft on the skin. I have also used this for contouring and it works really well for that aswell. 

Concealer - F70.

I did use this brush for the intended purpose, concealer, but I use one of my eye brushes for that now so this just sits there waiting for my other brush to get dirty! It's exactly like a miniature version of the foundation brush but alot stiffer. I would prefer it to be softer for concealer application but it does the job none the less. 

So that's it for the face brushes. Overall I absolutely LOVE these brushes and I do think they're worth the money if you live in America but with the cost of shipping to England they did end up costing quite alot (although considerably less than a set of MAC brushes). The set is $109.00 plus $17.88 international shipping. With current conversion rates that works out at £81 roughly. I will follow up this post within the next couple of days with the eye brushes that come in this kit. 

Sophie <3

The Body Shop Lily Cole Shimmer Cube

Hi everyone,

I bought the new Lily Cole shimmer cube on Tuesday and I love it! I've used it everyday that I've worn make-up and it hasn't disappointed one bit. 

My favourite part about the packaging is that each individual eyeshadow can be took out and have its own lid placed on it so that if you like 1 particular shade you can take that with you. 

I did do some swatches but they didn't show up on camera as well as I would have liked. 

Don't be put off by these pictures, the pigmentation is AMAZING in real life! They last a good few hours without primer and all day with primer. You get 4 x 3.5g shadows which are all lovely and transfer so well onto the eyelids. There is a deep plum with pink shimmer, a rose pink, a light pink with a purple hue and a violet colour. It retails for £16 which is pricey but I may treat myself to other colours in the future as if I go away I can mix the colours into a little cube of my own. It was money well spend as I think it will last for a long time and be loved for many years to come! 

Thanks for listening to me ramble on about another Body Shop product! I'll make sure I have something different next time! 

Sophie X

The Body Shop haul

Hi everyone, 

It's time for more Body Shop products! Before I get into the haul I just want to say that all this stuff isn't for me, they're Christmas presents. We are very well prepared in this house and with the offer on The Body Shop website of spend £90 and get £45 off we couldn't pass up the opportunity! So although it's June we do have Christmas presents for all the women in our family! We really do love to be organised and trust me it comes in handy when you don't have to brave the shops in December! There are 8 items in this haul which I'm aware don't add up to £90, this is because I have used up a few things so can't take pictures of them. Anyway on with the haul!

Neroli Jasmin Eau De Toilette 30ml - £9 

I can't really review this as it is a present but I do know that it is lovely from smelling it in the shop. The official website describes it as having " The enchanting scent of orange blossom and jasmin, amber and sandalwood" . 

White musk gift bag - Shower and Moisture set - £10

This set includes White musk shower gel - 60ml, White musk body lotion - 60ml, White musk Eau De Toilette - 30ml (full size) and a lilac bath lily. I think this is amazing value considering you get a full size perfume which on its own cost £9! 

White musk libertine Eau De Toilette - 30ml - £9 

My mum has this perfume and I have to say it is absolutely gorgeous! I love white musk anyway but sometimes it can be over powering, well not any more! You can still smell the white musk but it has a hint of floral-ness and that just kicks this scent up to the next level. This shall be a favourite for a long time to come! 

White musk libertine body lotion - 250ml - £9

I don't have much more to say about the scent but I can say that the packaging of this is brilliant! My favourite thing by far is the pump. I tend to skip body moisturiser because it takes to long when I'm in a rush but with this I never miss a chance to use it. It's so easy and convenient that I can not fault this product one bit. 

 Coconut soap - 100g - £2

Shea soap - 100g - £2

I can't seem to find these on The Body Shop website anywhere?! Luckily I bought a couple of back-ups of the Shea soap! I'm going to look in my local Body Shop ASAP and ask if they're discontinuing these, I hope they aren't as I have fallen in love with these beauties!

Coconut gift cube - £6 

This perfect little set comes with a Coconut shower cream - 60ml, Coconut milk body lotion - 60ml and a white bath lily. It's a perfect little set and I would love to get something like this for Xmas!

Dreams Unlimited Sun Fresh Eau De Toilette - 50ml

I had a cheeky spritz of this and I have to say it's one that grows on you. When I first smelt it I thought "Hmmm it's nice but nothing overly special", then when I went back 10-15 min later I was overwhelmed by loveliness! It's gorgeous and I would definitely recommend nipping into your local Body Shop and testing it out! They are limited edition after all!

And last but not least is the Born Lippy stick lip balm - plum

I haven't tried this colour yet but I do have 2 of the others, pomegranate and toffee. I love them and have been wearing them this month more than any of my other lip products. 

I planned on this being a short blog post but it's turned out quite long :P Oh well! 

Cya soon, 

Sophie <3

May favourites

Hey everyone,

It's that time of the month again, favourites time! I thought I was going to struggle with this but once I started looking for things I found it so easy. So without further a do here are my May favourites. 

First of all is my L'Occitane apricot flower 95% shea butter - 30ml. I've had a squiz on the L'Occitane website and they only seem to be selling the orange and honey scent. It retails at £10. It can be used according to the packaging on face, lips, hair and body. I put this on my lips at night and it is still there in the morning having moisturised my lips like no other. However I won't be repurchasing because I do not like the smell of pure honey so I wouldn't be able to stomach the other scented version of this. I might buy the 100% shea butter pot instead though. 

Next is my Body Shop coconut shimmer body lotion - 250ml for £8. I loved this is the sunny 2 weeks we had to add a light shimmer to my skin. It states on the packaging that this is for normal/dry skin and I definitely wouldn't recommend this for sensitive skinned people as I got a slight burn when I put this on for the first few seconds. Nevertheless I love this and no doubt I'll be wearing this all thorough the summer (if we get one in england!). 

Real Techniques stippling brush - £11.99. I LOVE this brush! It applies my foundation like no other and I use less product when using this brush. I was sceptical about the size of the brush as I'm used to big stippling brushes but I can safely say I like it even better then any other sized brush. 

Next is my Body shop honey and oat 3-in-1 scrub mask for normal/dry skin. I've always had trouble with face masks breaking me out but I've had no trouble with this one. I got a sample of this from my local Body Shop before buying the big size just to test in on my skin. I loved it from first use and bought the full size when my sample was all gone. Don't let the word scrub in the name put you off as it doesn't scrub but it does VERY gently exfoliate. The only downside to this is the price. It's £9 for 100ml which pains me but I got mine on offer. I would recommend waiting for an offer because they do have them alot and it's miles better value. 

I've never been a fan of watches. I love the idea of not having to get your phone out of your handbag every 10 minutes but I just couldn't stand the feeling of having something tight around my wrist. Cue my Next black rubber watch. It's really thin and because it's made of rubber I barely notice it's there. I take it off when I shower and go to bed but other then that I haven't taken it off all month. It comes in white and black but I thought the white one would get dirty really easily. My favourite thing about this is the glittery background of the watch face which makes it very feminine. I also can not fault the price either, £7.50! BARGAIN!

Allow me to introduce my favourite perfume of the year - The Body Shop White musk sun glow limited edition eau de toilette. It is described on the box as having a blend of "peony, soft peach notes and a shot of zesty lemon". I can't really say much more then that other then it lasts brilliantly on the skin and for 60ml at £15 is fantastic value! 

Last but certainly not least is the Bourjois magic nail polish remover. I'm planning on doing a full review on this soon which is why I haven't included any pictures of its removable powers! Let's just say it is truly magic and certainly worth £4.99 which seems expensive for a nail polish remover but it is definitely worth it. 

I know my blog is quite Body Shop heavy but I strongly believe in the no testing on animals policy that they have and support them fully. 

Now for a few personal favourites! My favourite song of the month is Florence and the machine - shake it out. My favourite TV programme of the month has to be Game of Thrones without a doubt (needless to say I can't wait for the final on monday!). 

See you for the next post,

Sophie <3

NOTD: Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Hi everyone,

I jumped on the bandwagon and I'm so glad I did! I've fallen in love with the Max factor nail polish in Fantasy fire. I had heard so many stories about people not being able to find this colour anywhere but I didn't have a problem at all and have since seen it in various other shops as well! I've applied this on top of Barry M Berry ice cream but my favourite is on top of Barry M's Cobolt blue.

It is very hard to photo all the different colour shimmers but in the picture above you can see green, blue and a slight hint of red. Depending on what angle you look at the nail you see different colours which is lovely! Oh and just for reference I have 1 coat of each polish on and have had this on for 3 days with no chips at all! 

I love this nail polish and even though it's only one bottle I feel like I've gained 5 different nail polishes! I would recommend this to anyone who loves nail polish like me :)

Sophie <3 

Skincare routine

Hi everyone,

I've been using this particular skincare routine for just over 2 months and I LOVE IT! It has cleared my skin dramatically and also made a start on fading my acne scars. I have tried so many different cleansers and moisturisers in the past, the proof is in the half empty bottles stashed in my wardrobe, but none even come close to this! So without further ado, here is the collection I am talking about...

The Body Shop Tea Tree range! I seriously can not say enough good things about these products. I have tried L'Occitane skincare, Neutrogena, Clearasil, Clean and Clear and Nivea to name but a few, but none of them even come close to this routine! Not to mention the price difference between L'Occitane and The Body Shop, another major plus! 

The range consists of a cleanser, toner, moisturiser and 2 spot treatments plus a lot of extra add-ons I.E. face masks, blotting tissues, night lotion, concealer, wipes and a blackhead wash. The cleanser comes in two variants, facial wash and foaming cleanser. I went with the facial wash as I hear that foaming cleansers are for more oilier skins, however if you prefer cleansers that really foam up than that will probably be the better option. Both are very reasonably priced at £4.50 which I think is fantastic and I was certainly expecting it to be a lot more! 

The packaging is perfect for use at home but it may be a problem if you travel a lot (although they do sell travel size items of all the products mentioned). It's not to big that it becomes clumsy but equally it's not to small that you don't get enough product for your money. You get 250ml which is another plus as for £4.50 you can't go wrong! As for how I use this product, I wet my face, pour a generous amount onto my hand, rub together to lather, work into my face for a minute or so and then rinse it off. I probably should mention the smell of this as I know some people are very sensitive to the smell of tea tree, it does not smell medicated in the slightest, it is by no means over-powering and I find it very refreshing. I use this twice a day and it removes make-up brilliantly although I do double cleanse to first remove make-up and second to actually cleanse my skin.

After I have cleansed and patted dry my face I move onto toner. I have to admit I had never used a toner before this but I am thoroughly converted! It does contain alcohol which will put some people off but I like this factor as I find it feels like it's zapping my spots more effectively. 

As you can see in the pictures it has a layer of powder at the bottom of the bottle (bottom left, top right picture). These are mattifying powders to help banish shine, which they do brilliantly! The bottom right picture is what it looks like all shook up. I apply this to a cotton pad and spread around the face twice a day. This is also 250ml and priced at £4.50. 

Last but not least is the moisturiser, or lotion as it is called on the bottle. 

This claims to give "lightweight hydration" which I would agree with. It is by no means a full on moisturising lotion, but it is perfect for doing the job. I find this a little drying on the skin but I love the matte finish it leaves behind, not a tiny spot of oil to be seen! One thing I dislike about this is the price, don't get me wrong it is not expensive but I do find the pricing odd compared to the other two products. You get 50ml for £7.00 which is good but I can't get my head around the fact that you get a 250ml bottle of cleanser or toner for just £4.50 but this is £7.00?! It just doesn't seem justifiable, although compared to my L'Occitane moisturiser which is £25.00 for 50ml it is still a good price and it doesn't put me off re-purchasing ( which I already have as it was on offer). 

Overall I LOVE the whole tea tree collection and I will be repurchasing all the above for the foreseeable future. I also just want to mention the Tea Tree oil, I have had one of these and I loved it but have not repurchased yet but I plan on getting it this weekend. It is a perfect spot treatment and does the job well (although it didn't last very long). I thoroughly recommend this range to anyone with problem skin as it has done wonders for me and my confidence! 

Cya soon, 

Sophie <3

Review: Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation

Update - I have now posted an updated review of this foundation with new pictures HERE.

Hi Everyone,

As promised here's my review of the Chanel vitalumiere aqua foundation. I was desperate to try this foundation out after the amount of internet buzz this had created. I've never spent £31 on a foundation so expected nothing but the best when spending that much! There's only 1 make-up item I would ever consider spending that much on and that is foundation. 

On a day out to Leeds with my Mum we were browsing around all the shops and I still hadn't made a substantial purchase. I'd never been into a Harvey Nichols before as we don't have one where I live, so we thought we would have a look at the poshness! After coming out of there we realised that we had been in most of the shops and still had a few hours until our train back home. I thought about maybe going to the Chanel counter to have them try out a foundation on me. I immediately had the Vitalumiere aqua in mind. I went into the Chanel in Debenhams as I really didn't like the atmosphere in Harvey Nichols. My only complaint about the women who served me was that when I said I was looking at buying this foundation she expected me to buy it without being colour matched or even seeing if it suited my skin type! I had to ask her if she could put it on me. After this little hiccup she was lovely and did make me feel very comfortable. Anyway onto the foundation!

I was matched to shade 20 Beige which is perfect! This is another reason why I think spending more money on foundation is worth it. The amount of times I've bought foundation from Superdrug or Boots and the colour hasn't matched is ridiculous. I absolutely LOVE the packaging for this foundation, It's so classy and not to mention practical. In terms of coverage I would say it depends largely on how much you apply. I have used a tiny pea-sized amount on my whole face and got light coverage. However when I use a pea sized amount on each part of my face, i.e each cheek, forehead, then I achieve medium coverage. I use a Sigma F60 from my "Make me cool" brush kit to apply this foundation. Before I post before and after pictures I'll tell you a bit about my skin type. I have very spot-prone skin which I would describe as dry-combination. I do have quite a few acne scars and also I usually have between 1-3 active breakouts on a daily basis which is a MASSIVE improvement on a few months ago, (I will be doing a post on my skincare routine which has improved my skin more than anything I have ever been prescibed from the doctors!). Anyway on to the photos which make my skin look worse than it actually is! Ahh the beauty of HD cameras!

Before

After

After 13 hours of wear  without primer or powder

As you can see the foundation is light-medium coverage. Most people, including me, who have scarring and breakouts like to cover everything up but just recently I do like to look more natural and don't mind the odd scar showing through. It does something very mysterious on my skin and I can't put my finger on how it does it but I find that even though my spots/scars are showing through slightly it draws all attention away from them and to the clear skinned parts of my face!  I do have a high/full coverage foundation (Clinique anti-blemish solutions foundation) that I wear on days when my skin is particularly bad or when I don't sleep all night. The flash on my camera made my skin look oiler than it was at the end of the day but in the mirror it didn't look as bad. I had had it on for 13 hours without any primer or powder all day and the coverage was still near perfect as to how I had put it on that morning. Overall I would buy this foundation again as it doesn't stick to my dry patches and has a nice finish which is perfect for my dull skin. I would say however that I couldn't just have this foundation on it's own in my collection as I don't find it's enough for my bad skin days. I like to have the choice of a high and a low-medium coverage foundation for all situations. Needless to say I do love this foundation and it is something I have never experienced in a foundation before which makes it very unique and worth the money. 

Cya for the next post,

Sophie. <3

NOTD: Nail of the day

Hey everyone,

This is going to be my very first nail of the day. I know I said my first post/review would be on the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation but I just haven't got around to taking the before and after pictures. Each time I've been getting ready in the past couple of weeks I seem to have been in a real rush and haven't had time to snap some piccys! When I was researching the product before I bought it I really wanted to see someone with acne scaring and spots post before and after pictures. This is what I'm planning on doing as it was what I wanted to see and after all it puts the foundation to the ultimate coverage test! Anyway that should be up within a week but now onto the nail polish.

I have to say this was the hardest nail polish to photograph. It's got so many reflective particles that the flash on the camera just distorted the colour totally. Regardless of this I did manage to get a few good snaps. 

As you can see it is super reflective and showing up quite red in places when in fact it has no red at all. It's a super bright pink but I wouldn't call it neon. It has noticeable blue reflects which I love. It's a Miss sporty nail polish which doesn't have a name. That is the one thing I hate about Miss Sporty polishes, they don't have names! It is a unique colour so it shouldn't be to hard to spot! I LOVE the brush applicator on these polishes, they're perfect to get the whole nail in 2 strokes. These pictures are with 2 coats of the polish but if you were in a rush 1 coat would be opaque enough if you put a thick layer on. Overall for £1.99 I think the Miss sporty nail polishes are AMAZING and no doubt my collection will be rapidly increasing with this brand.

Cya for the next post :) 

Sophie <3

Indroduction

I feel like I should introduce myself and explain what this blog is about. 


My name is Sophie and I live in the UK. I love reading beauty blogs and watching the ever increasing number of beauty guru's on YouTube. My make-up collection is getting bigger and bigger and I thought seen as I love buying and using beauty products why not share my experiences with like minded people!


My next blog post will be a review on the Chanel vitalumiere aqua foundation.


I hope you enjoy my blog!