Hydraluron Review

After reading about this product on Caroline Hirons blog I went straight out and bought this in the hope that it would be the answer to my skins prayers. My skin is very dehydrated so I figured this would definitely help to re-hydrate it and hopefully add some plumpness to my skin.

I saw so many people commenting on how they saw results from using this product almost straight away, so I was disappointed when I didn't see any to begin with. But I persevered with it, knowing that everyones skin is different, however I just didn't seem to be noticing any difference with my skin.

For Christmas I received another serum by REN and decided to stop using this serum in favour of my new serum to see if that worked any better. I noticed my skin gradually looking more and more dehydrated, so I decided to use both Hydraluron AND my new serum to see how that worked, and Im so much happier this second time around.
I apply this serum after cleansing, followed by my REN Radiance Perfection serum, and I then apply my moisturiser on top.

I've realised that Hydraluron had actually been working for me all along, it's just that the improvement was so gradual that I didn't notice it. I've noticed as well that, if I have the odd lazy day where I use face wipes instead of a cleanser, that my skin doesn't seem to suffer as much as it usually would.

All in all I'm really happy with this little tube, and I'm so glad I gave it another chance. It has lasted me a while too, so I don't mind its price tag. When it does eventually become summer I will most likely just use just the Hydraluron alone before my moisturiser, but with the cold harsh weather as it is at the moment the added moisture can't hurt!

Have you tried this serum? I'd love to hear what you thought of it.

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Mark Hill Glam Goddess Hot Air Review

One of the main things I struggle with is getting any kind of volume in my hair. I’m pretty uncoordinated so if I’ve never been able to get the hang of blow drying my hair, and can guarantee that if I do attempt it I will hit myself in the head/face with either the hairbrush or dryer at least once!

I've been wanting something like this for a while now, and originally went into Boots to get the BaByliss Big Hair, however I saw that this was down from £59.99 to £28.99. I took a bit of a risk getting this as I'd not heard of this before and couldn't find any reviews either. It would either turn out to be a huge bargain or big waste of money.

The box contains a large barrel brush, as well as two curling wands with the option to use them with or without the clips.

I will definitely be reviewing the curling wands at a later date, but my focus for this review is the brush.

On the front of the box is a QR code that brings up a youtube tutorial when you scan it, which I love. 

The styler works as a hair dryer, so the brush has holes/vents to direct the air flow. This way it blow dries your hair without all the faffing around. I dried my hair in layers working from bottom to top and, as you can see, the small section of hair I have done has already gained some much needed lift.  Naturally the hair at my roots falls flat against my head, so it's great to see a bit of volume there for once!

This is the final result, and it is a vast improvement from how it usually is - I don't have to worry about straightening it after either. 

I have to be honest and say that I didn't expect a lot from this, however I'm really pleased with the outcome and am glad to say this turned out to be a bargain! Before I dried my hair I used volumising mousse, however I didn't apply it to my roots so I'm sure I will get so much more lift if I apply it there next time.

One thing I will warn you though is, if you have long hair, you will need to keep pay attention when you use this as it's so easy to catch your hair in the air vent and rip out a load like I did towards the end. 

I'm really glad I got this, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the curling wands work out compared to normal wands.

What's your go-to hair tool for adding more oomph to your hair?

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Stylebook

I thought I'd do things a little differently today and review my favourite iPhone app. I downloaded it last year, and have loved it ever since!

Sometimes it's easy to forget about items that are hiding in the back of the wardrobe, and its even easier to get stuck in a rut, wearing the same outfits and sticking with what is 'safe'.

This app helps you catalogue your entire wardrobe from tops, to shoes, to accessories etc. That way you can see what you have, and create as many looks as you want with the items in you wardrobe. So you can see what works, what doesn't, and come up with new looks you probably wouldn't have thought of before - all without having to turf everything out of your wardrobe or make a mess - which, lets face it, a lot of us do!

It's also handy to have on your phone while you're out shopping and trying to decide on new items, as you can see your entire wardrobe and can buy things that actually go with what you already own, rather than buying things that don't go with anything, or (something I've done far too many times) accidentally bought different versions of the same thing!

I thought I'd take you through the ins and outs of the app so you can see why it's my favourite:

Organising Your Wardrobe

In the 'Closet' section you'll find all of your items, which you can organise however you want. I have categories for Tops, Dresses, Bottoms, Outerwear, Accessories etc. Within each of these categories you can add subcategories. So within my Shoes category, I have Flats, Boots, Heels etc. Above you can see all of my high heels (my shoe collection has been a bit neglected).

Adding New Items

To add items to your 'Closet', you need a photo of each item. The easiest way to do this is to try and find a photo of your clothes online, as these are photographed with a plain white background and have great lighting, and are so much easier to edit. 

However, if you can't find the item online, you'll need to take the photo's yourself. It works best if you have a plain white background, and try to take it in a well lit room (natural lighting is best). You can edit the background away within the app, but if the item is a bit of a fiddly shape I prefer to edit it on my laptop first using photoshop (there are free programs out there that are similar).

Creating Outfits

Once you've added your items to the app, you can start creating looks with them. Above are a few examples of looks I've made with my clothes, and you can arrange them into categories to help make it easier to decide on a look. For example if I can't decide what to wear on a night out, I'll just look at the outfits I've made in the 'Evening' section.

Inspiration

You can also use this app to collect images that inspire you, so if you see photos of inspiring looks that you love, you just save the photo in the 'Inspiration' section, and then when you're out shopping you can use it to help you find the types of clothes you need to recreate the look for yourself. 

I use this section a lot, and use it to inspire my makeup and hair styles too.

Planning Your Looks

The calendar section is handy to plan what outfits to wear in advance, so you don't have to stress about what to wear, and you can see at a glance what looks you have planned. It also helps that you can see what you've been wearing so don't accidentally keep wearing the same outfit.

Packing

As you can see I haven't really used this section, but here you can plan what items you want to take with you on holiday, or for a weekend away. If I ever DO go away this year, I'll definitely be using this as I have a habit of packing far to much, and not getting much wear out of it, or still feeling like I have nothing to wear because none of it goes together!

Style Stats

I really like this section of the app. It tells you what your most and least worn items/looks are. So if your wardrobe is getting a bit crowded, you can look here and see what you've never worn (and most likely never will wear) then you can decide whether you even really need it. Though you may also find you've just not worn them because nothing you own goes with it, so it could help you see what kind of items you do actually need in your wardrobe.

Final Verdict

I haven't got around to putting my whole wardrobe on here yet, and some of the photos that are on here I want to retake, but I'm planning on finishing it before the end of summer so I can finally start making outfits with my entire wardrobe.

This app cost £2.49, and there is a men's version of this app too.
It does seem a lot for an app, but there are no more add ons to purchase, and I really do think it's worth it for all the features. I definitely haven't regretted buying it.
-I've downloaded a 'free' app like this before, but it wasn't as good, and you could only add 5 items on there. If you wanted to add more you had to pay, which I thought was really misleading, and the end cost would have worked out so much more than this app for less features. I thought that was ridiculous, so I just deleted it.

This app, however, I'm seriously impressed with. The only downside to this app is that it's not available on android yet, only iPhone. But they are bringing out an iPad friendly version soon.
If you do have an iPhone and need inspiration when it comes to outfits, then I highly recommend this to you!

Have you tried this app before? What did you think?

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Real Techniques Stippling Brush Review

So you've probably been seeing reviews of Real Techniques makeup brushes, particularly for the Stippling Brush, so I doubt this needs another review. But it's still getting one!

I decided I wanted to buy more animal friendly brushes, so I started looking into synthetic ones. I also needed a better brush for applying my mineral foundation, so I thought I'd give this one a go. Before I ordered this one, I was using Elf's buffing brush, but wasn't really impressed with it. I ordered this brush from Love Makeup, and it arrived really quickly.

I have to say I love this make up brush! I know most people recommend buffing brushes for applying mineral foundation, but this stippling brush does the job perfectly, and gives me a flawless finish. It's amazing the difference a great brush can make to your makeup! I've mentioned before that I have a small head, and obviously with that means I have a small face, So I usually find most makeup brushes a far too big for my face, but this one is perfect! It fits my face well, and gets into all the contours around my nose and cheeks for great coverage.

I think this brush would also be great for applying powder blush too as it's narrow enough for contouring.
As I don't use liquid foundations or cream blushes, I can't comment on how well it works with those, but there are plenty of reviews out there where the user has used it to apply a liquid foundation.
The bristles are very dense, and not too long or flimsy. It's a nice sturdy brush, and it is so much better than any other stippling brush I've used! And it doesn't irritate my skin either (I've had troubles in the past with some brushes).

One of the things I really like about it is the base of the handle, which is flattened so it can be stood up on your desk. Though if you like to keep your brushes in a jar/pot then this may be a problem as its quite bulky, so may be too awkward to fit in with all of your other brushes. But thats the only 'downside' I can see to this brush

I would recommend this brush to absolutely anyone! It's no wonder these brushes have received so many rave reviews if this one is anything to go by. I think I may have a problem, because I want to go and buy the rest now!

Have you used any of the Real Techniques brushes? Which is your favourite?

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BeauBronz: Abi O Bronzed Goddess Dark Tanning Mousse Review*

I was recently sent a self tanner to try by Abi O, which is a new range from the House of BeauBronz. I chose to try the Bronzed Goddess Dark Tanning Mousse. Even though I am quite pale I went for the dark one because I want to achieve a deep colour. 

When I was offered the chance to try a product from the new Abi O range, I jumped at the chance as all of the products contain natural and certified organic ingredients, they are paraben free, and best of all cruelty free! This particular product from their range is fragrance free too. 

What BeauBronz say about this product:

"This couture tanning product contains 100% natural active ingredients and is completely fragrance and alcohol free.

-EcoCert approved DHA provides a more natural & eco-friendly self-tan.

-Natural amino acid derivatives boost the foam without need for harsh foaming agents.

-Bioactive Aloe Vera

-Organic Cucumber Extract to sooth and moisturise.

-Organic Quinoa protein rich in amino acids to help develop a deeper and more natural tan.

-Fragrance free

-Paraben free"

Before

Above is my leg before using the tanner. You can probably tell I'd badly applied a self tanner previously, which was a bit streaky, and this is how it looks after desperately scrubbing in the shower. Not very glamorous, and still quite pasty. Well... nothing much left to say about my leg!

Application

As you can see this self tanning mousse has a colour guide, which I love, and the mousse has quite a nice consistency. This applies really nicely and evenly, and has a very subtle, almost non-existent scent - so no worrying about stinking of fake tan! (Though I don't mind the smell of fake tan, I don't want it to be too obvious that I've used any.)

After

I took this photo immediately after applications, and I'm very impressed with the after results of this self tanner! The streaks you can see are from my failed attempts with a previous tanner (I am hopeless), but I experienced no streaks with this one. (If it looks more streaked, it's literally because the 'after' photo shows more of my leg. I feel a bit embarrassed letting you see just how bad my last attempt was!)

It dries very quickly, and once dry the scent doesn't develop (as some do) but stays very subtle/almost non-existent. The finish is a lovely bronzed finish, as the name promised, and there is no orange-ness at all. Usually, after using some fake tans, my tanning mitt is left looking a bit green, but I'm happy to report there is no hint of green at all with this tanner!

Quick Comparison

Before | After

As well as the Dark Tanning Mousse, the Abi O range also sells a Gradual Tanner, Shimmer Tan Boost, a Medium Tanner for fair skin, a Body Wash and a Creamy Exfoliating Scrub.
   

Ingredients:

aqua, dihydroxyacetone, glycerin, sodium cocoyl glutamate, sodium cocoyl rice amino acids, sodium cocoyl hydrolyzed amaranth protein, polysorbate 20, phenoxyethanol, propylene glycol, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, cucumis sativus fruit extract, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, benzoic acid, chenopodium quinoa seed, alcohol, citric acid, Cl 16035, Cl 19140, Cl 42090

Scent: 5/5

This has almost no scent. I can only really smell this product if I put my nose right up against my skin, and even then its very faint!

Effectiveness: 5/5 

The colour guide is very helpful for me, and this appllies really well. I was a little worried that this dark tanner might come out a bit weird on my pasty skin, but it's made me look quite tanned, and not at all orange or patchy. It dries very quickly too, which is great as I usually get so bored waiting for tanners dry!

Added bonuses: 

Cruelty-free, Eco friendly, Uses natural and certified organic ingredients, fragrance-free, and paraben-free.

Overall Rating: 5/5

Overall I am seriously impressed with this tanner!
The Bronzed Goddess Dark Tanning Mousse retails at £26 for 200ml, and can be purchased here.

P.S. There is a 25% off code on Pampered Prince's blog (which I'd seriously suggest you check out if you haven't seen it already!), and he's kindly let me share it with you all! You can find the code here.

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*These products were sent to me for review purposes, but all views are honest and my own.

Guest Post: Break-Out Mask Review* by Cityscape Bliss

Today is a guest post from Tereza, who's blog you may have heard of: Cityscape Bliss. I've been following her blog for a while now, and I absolutely love her photography and style of writing. The way she writes really lets her personality shine through, yet it's still informative and I think that's really refreshing, yet hard to do. I still worry that my personality doesn't fully come across on here, yet she seems to make it look effortless!

You may have seen the review I posted a few days ago on Montagne Jeunesse's Skin Heroes masks. A few of the masks had ingredients derived from milk, and as I'm allergic to milk there were some I couldn't use on my face. As I loved the blemish face mask from their original range, I wanted this mask to be reviewed properly to see if it lived up to its counter-part, so I asked Tereza if she would like to review it for a guest post on here, and as you can see she said yes. So here's what she thought of the Break-Out mask:

Stop The Spot!

You're probably gonna be surprised, but I’ve never used Montagne Jeunesse face mask before (or at least I was convinced that I haven’t). I have to admit that the packaging is definitely eye-catching, but I never really bothered investigating. I’ve been using Chanetelle masks instead, because they come in a double packaging and are a few p’s cheaper. Oh wait. What? Chantelle is made by Montagne Jeunesse?!! Yeh, I’ve been in love with Chantelle masks for maybe 2 years and never knew they were the same thing! Now imagine the excitement when Carrie asked me to help her with review of one of the ‘actual’ Montagne Jeunesse masks! Big yay! The one I tried is the Break-Out Mask for problem skin, which is prone to spots.
My skin is not exactly acne or spot-prone. About 7 years ago I had a bad allergic reaction which turned my skin into right mess and brought up some serious acne trouble. Over years I managed to get rid of it (with some annoying scars left behind) and was left with rather dry skin with a spot or two every now and then. Well, that was until three weeks ago. Three weeks ago I brought a little ball of fluff (in normal people’s language a kitten), which although the cutest and sweetest thing in the world, does have a thing for my chin and jaw line. And by a thing I mean it keeps biting it, slapping it with paws or just casually dribbling on it. That means nothing else than the perfect environment for spots and pimples. Yay! This mask came just in time to save me!

This break-out mask is a 2 step mask – first you use the mask & then the moisturiser. As you can see from the picture above, the mask has a lovely creamy consistency and goes on like butter! My skin felt immediately refreshed and I even felt a slight ‘tingling’ in my cheeks (guess it may have been the tea tree tickling my pores? haha!). After 20 minutes, the mask dried and went all stiff, so I washed it off with a muslin cloth (it was quite a hard work so I suggest you do it in a shower!) and applied the enclosed moisturiser, which felt thick and greasy but very nourishing on my skin. The next morning I woke up to incredibly soft skin and reduced spots! To illustrate how good it worked – you know the painful under-skin spots that you can’t see but they give you almost a migraine? So these were gone! Just like that! Gone! Wooohooo! Basically what it did, or what it seemed it did, is that it penetrated under my skin and dried out the little monsters leaving my skin with bits of dry skin but definitely no pain or obvious spots. I honestly cannot believe how good this mask is!

You can get this mask off the Montagne Jeunesse website here for £1.49 which is an absolute bargain for what it does! If you suffer from painful spots or that-time-of-the-month breakouts, you should definitely give this a go!

Thank you Tereza for a great review!
It's a shame I can't try this mask as it sounds like something I could definitely do with right now.

Make sure you check out Tereza's blog here: Cityscape Bliss

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Montagne Jeunesse Skin Heroes Review*

I have used Montagne Jeunesse masks in the past, my favourite being the blemish mask, but they have recently released new Skin Heroes two-stage masks.

The main bulk of the sachet at the bottom contains the face mask, and at the top of the sachet is a separate section which contains a moisturiser to use after the mask. Each moisturiser is specially formulated to help aid the effects of the mask. The Skin Heroes masks contain only natural ingredients, and as ever they do not test on animals. Though sadly the ingredients aren't vegan, as most contain an ingredient derived from milk.

I was sent a few of their masks to review a while back, and after trying them out I thought I'd let you know how I got on with them!

Dry Skin Mask

First up is the Dry Skin mask, which contains Blueberries and Raspberries. 

I love blueberries, so I definitely loved the scent of this mask. Unlike in the photo on the packet, this mask comes out white. I don't know about you, but I much prefer masks that show up when they're applied, rather than clear ones that look like slime. Mostly because I've had to answer the door to a delivery man whilst wearing a clear mask, and could see him trying to work out what was wrong with my face! At least with these kinds of masks its not too embarrassing if you get caught out using it.

After using this mask my skin was feeling soft, but a little tight. Which seems strange to me as this is supposed to moisturise dry skin. The moisturiser supplied with it may counteract this tight feeling and add more moisture, but it was hard to tell as it contains an ingredient that comes from milk, so I couldn't use it.

I did also test the mask on my hand so I could test the moisturiser that way too, and the moisturiser was a nice consistency (not too light, but not rich either), but as I don't suffer with dry skin on my hands it was too hard to judge. I think this would be good for dry skin as long as you used the moisturiser after. Though I can't see it being that effective on really dry skin if I'm honest.

Shine Control Mask

The Shine Control mask contains Acai and Argon.

Both the shine control mask and moisturiser contain an ingredient which comes from milk, and as I'm allergic to dairy I didn't want to risk using it on my face in case it broke me out like crazy. So I tested it out on my hand instead. Again, the colour of this mask is different to the one displayed on the packet, I don't really understand why. The scent is quite unusual, though I've never used Acai or Argon before so that's most likely why it's so unusual to me. I did really like it though, and its not overpowering at all.

Although I can't comment on how it removes shine, as my hand isn't particularly oily, it did leave my skin feeling quite soft, especially after applying the moisturiser. And the moisturiser didn't feel at all greasy. 

T-Zone Peel Off Mask

The T-Zone Peel Off mask contains Tea Tree and Witch Hazel.

I don't want to give you all nightmares by showing you my makeup-free face covered in green 'slime'. So instead I thought I'd show you its consistency on my hand. Again I left this on for the time indicated, and peeled the mask off. this is probably my favourite of the face masks, especially when it comes to removing it.

One of my favourite things to do as a kid in art classes was to completely cover my hand in PVA glue and wait for it to dry so I could peel it all off. This mask definitely satisfies that kid in me!

Seeing as it has tea tree and witch hazel in it, the scents of the two combined is a little odd to me, but not in a bad way. The mask felt very cooling when applied, which I liked, and I was left with soft matte skin.You don't want to apply too thick a layer with this mask otherwise it wont dry in time, and you wont be able to peel it all off. 

Luckily this time I could use the moisturiser for this mask! To be honest, it just felt like a regular moisturiser, nothing too special, though it didn't leave me feeling greasy or shiny, so I guess that's worth mentioning! 

All in all this mask is a winner for me.

Deep Cleansing Nose Pore Strips

You may have spotted this is not a mask! This sachet contains Nose Pore Strips, I genuinely haven't used these in years!

I remember using them years ago, and when I saw these I wondered why I never used them anymore. 

But when I did use them I remembered why - because they're so painful to rip off! I'll admit I have a low pain threshold, but I had to slowly peel this off because Im a wimp, and it made my eyes water like crazy because it hurt so much. But having said that, the best part is looking at all the grossness it pulled out at the end. Grim I know, but you know I'm right! Though from looking in the mirror I couldn't see much of a difference. 

I'm on the fence about nose strips as I've heard a lot of arguments for and against. If you like to use them in your regime, or are looking for some to try, then I'd recommend these. Though I don't think my nose can handle me adding them to my regime just yet!

If you're interested in trying anything from this new range, you can get them online here.

Have you tried anything from this line?

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*These products were sent to me for review purposes, but all views are honest and my own.

Blink & Go Mascara Review

I got this a few months ago in a Glossybox back when I was subscribed, and the reason I haven't reviewed this sooner is because quite frankly I was dreading putting this back on my lashes.
-You can pretty much guess how this review is going to go, cant you?

There were so many rave reviews about this mascara, so I was really happy to find this in my box. When I saw the brush I was a little disappointed, as I tend to prefer large curved brushes, but I figured that wouldn't necessarily ruin the mascaras performance. And I was right. It's the formula that's awful.

The Mascara

I curled my lashes beforehand like I usually do, and applied the mascara, and it just glued my lashes together into clumps, and left tiny blobs of mascara on the lashes too. Lovely. The formula is quite heavy so it tends to undo the curl a bit, so if you're like me and tend to re-curl once the mascara has dried, you'll find this mascara gets worse if you try. Re-curling my lashes seemed to press the the clumped lashes to form wide, flat, matted lashes. So if your lashes are hard to curl, I'd avoid this at all costs!

Just to give you a better idea of how badly this mascara clumps, below is a photo of me with Blink & Go on one eye, and another mascara I actually like on the other. I'll let you guess which one is which:

How awful do my lashes on the right look?! It just makes me look like I have chunks of eyelashes missing.
Plus it's so heavy that its pushing my lashes down, so my other eye look much more awake.
I dont know about you, but I dont particularly like my eyelashes to clump together to form 3 thick lashes. Of course I would love thick lashes, but I also want them to be separated and to look like actual eyelashes, not spider legs.

On top of that, this mascara is so difficult to wash off. I'd recommend saturating a cotton pad in olive oil to remove it, and even then it wont be easy. Hence why I really didn't want to touch this mascara again. I've got quite difficult lashes I'm not going to lie, they are so difficult to curl, so I understand that there are a lot of mascaras out there that just wont work on my lashes. That's fine. However, this is the only mascara that has made my eyelashes look worse than before I started!

Would I recommend this? No. Unless you like your lashes to be stuck together in a big gloopy mess, in which case look no further!

Apologies for the rant, it's just that it's rare for me to come across a product that I hate (don't get me wrong, there are plenty that I dislike). There are so many rave reviews about it too, and I really cannot understand why.

I'd love to know if there's a hyped up product that you just cannot stand?

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