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