The Routine: Skin

Moving to London by train meant I had to be picky with what I brought so I thought it would be the perfect time to give you an insight into my skin care and makeup routine.

The morning set: After showering I use this Coola sun care sample for extra protection then the REN Day Cream and Elemental Herbology Facial Hydrator alternately to moisturise and leave a smooth surface for makeup to sit on. Benefit's The Porefessional I use to blur imperfections on my nose and the So Susan Lip Cushion I put on first thing to start hydrating my incredibly dry and chapped lips.

At night once I have cleansed using the L'Occitane Cleansing Gel I use the matching toner on a cotton pad to cool my face then massage in the Roger & Gallet Huile Sublime followed by the REN Night Cream. The Blistex Intensive Moisturiser stays on the lips throughout the night and really does work to help repair damaged lips.
When I wake up after this my skin looks incredibly healthy and none of my normal dry patches are dry at all, however I am still looking for a morning moisturiser which is really effective for dry skin so if you've found one I'd love to know!

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Cambridge Haul

I thought I'd show you what I picked up while I was in Cambridge because we all love a good haul post :). Nail polish wise I got hold of No 7 Galaxy which is rumoured to be a dupe of Chanel Taboo; whether it is or not Galaxy is an amazing wine shade with tons of shimmer including occasional flashes of blue shimmer- it's just beautiful. I also went to the pound shop and got three Sinful Colours polishes; Cinderella, UFO and ___. To finish off the nail polish buy I went into M&S and was seduced by their textured nail polishes in pastel shades. There are beautiful lilac, peach, blue and sage green colours and I eventually chose the sage green colour to try at home before maybe buying more. I would say these are slightly less textured than OPI Liquid Sands, more similar to the Zoya Pixie Dusts.

On Friday while I was on the tube (in London) I saw a girl putting on a lip product and it looked so amazing on her that I knew I had to have it! Luckily I recognised the packaging and went straight to Boots to buy Rimmel Apocalips in Eclipse. Although this looks a little scary in the tube it gives a fantastic glossy but not sticky finish and the colour is not overpowering for girls with very fair skin. It is also relatively easy to apply- I put mine on while on a bus, it does require a mirror though. I also picked up two of the new Revlon Matte Balm Crayons in Standout and Mischievous. I ordered these online to pick up in Boots and actually thought I was ordering Complex instead of Mischievous but now I've tried Mischievous I really like it. I also have my eye on Sultry and may well pick that up at some point. 

My fabulous boyfriend also got me this gorgeous yellow leather Filofax in the January sales- he knew I'd been looking for one. I've been using it non-stop since and I love it so much.

And to top off a brilliant weekend I got home and my mum had bought me a tangle teaser (the red thing in the background of the first pic), although it is not good for styling it's fantastic for making your hair shiny and detangled. I can't really say if it is less painful than other brushes though as I don't have knotty hair. The daisy bracelet was my treat to myself after a long series of interviews and looks very delicate and classy on.

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Makeup Weekends- L'Oreal Free Gift

I've been thinking about branching into makeup for a while now- I really don't want or have the time to change my nail polish every day and I do want to improve my makeup skills so I've decided to do occasional posts on weekends about makeup :). Boots is full of free gifts at the moment (the sort where if you spend £15 on a brand you get some freebies and I was very interested in the L'Oreal one for the Volume Million Lashes Holographic Top Coat mascara. In this set you get the Mascara, Nail Polish in Rouge Pin Up and Colour Riche Lipstick in Scarlett Creme plus a couple of moisturiser samples and a voucher for €3? off True match foundation. I'm not sure why the voucher is in euros when I purchased this in England.

First up we have the Volume Million Lashes, this is what really drew me to this set as i like the idea of a slight glittery hint to my lashes. The brush is nice and pretty easy to use on my tiny eyes.

I swiped the brush a few times on this bit of paper to give you and idea of the glitter pay off.

The other two items in the set are a fairly standard red lipstick and nail polish but if you've been looking for a pair to match your tips and lips these will do that for you.

Overall it's quite a nice little kit so if there are a couple of other things you've been wanting from L'Oreal it might be worth having a look (three nail polishes will get you close to £15).

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