SOS - winter skin

Back again with what I class as 'the best of the best' when it comes to keeping my skin moisturised and lovely throughout the winter months. Excuse the generic product pictures but this is gonna be a super quick post as I'm in a rush to head out - this week has just been none stop!


My skin is horrendously dry anyway, so when winter comes around my face is literally drier than the Sahara, so a good super intensive moisturiser is a must for me!

 Firstly I'm back here with my Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream...I just cannot get enough of this stuff! Specifically the Intensive Daily Moisturiser with SPF15. I pop it on before my makeup in the mornings and when I take my makeup off when I get home in the evenings and it just leaves my skin soft and smooth all day! You can pick it up in places like Boots and Debenhams and it comes in at around £29. It will change your skin forever!

Nars Aqua Gel Luminous Mask. I'll keep this one short and sweet...Apply before bed, wake up with beautifully soft glowing skin. Personally I think that summed it up fine, but I will add that for a night cream/mask this isn't at all sticky or messy and you won't be waking up stuck to your pillow case, it's a lovely light formula that sinks in pretty quickly and really does do wonders. If you're not a fan of a super complicated daily skincare routine I would definitely recommend this as your one easy, go-to product! If I remember correctly it's around £27, but it lasts forever!

My last pick is from Liz Earle and it's the Skin Repair Moisturiser. It hydrates, it smoothes, it protects, it does everything you could want from a facial moisturiser! I find this a little heavy on my skin during spring/summer but it's perfect for this time of year. I slather it on after using Liz Earle Cleanse And Polish and it instantly brightens my skin, leaving it glowing and awake-looking for the rest of the day. You can pick this up for around £19 from Boots and John Lewis.

That's all for today.

I'm super excited for next month as I am planning on taking part in Blogmas, where I'll be posting everyday in December. I'm already working on a few ideas and can't wait to get them up!

Thanks for reading.

Emma 

xx

SOS - winter lips

Personally, I adore this time of year! The bitter chill in the air, the leaves on the ground, nights spent in by the fire, all the cute scarves! The same, however, cannot be said for my skin...that isn't such a fan!

This will hopefully be the first in a series of SOS winter skincare posts, and today I'm talking lips! I will be running you through a few of my holy grail products to keep the dreaded chapping at bay!

(L-R) EOS lip balm, LUSH Sugar scrub, Carmex lip balm, Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream lip protectant spf15.

How adorable is the packaging of these?! This is in my bag literally all of the time! It's the perfect day time lip balm...super moisturising but not overly wet or sticky, flavored; but only with natural ingredients so it's not artificial tasting...it just keeps my lips soft and smooth all day, and eradicates any soreness if my lips are ever cracked. Mine is the pomegranate and raspberry flavor and it's delicious, but there are tonnes of others to try.

I'm so glad that these are now more readily available in the UK and for just a few pounds each you can find them here.   

I'm just gonna jump straight in and say this...EVERYONE should own a lush sugar scrub. I know so many people that are obsessed with body exfoliation, but they never seem to remember the skin on their lips. These little pots of wonderfulness contain only natural ingredients and exfoliate my lips like a dream. By getting a tiny amount and just rubbing it over slightly damp lips it removes any dry skin and other nasties that might be lurking about leaving nothing but beautiful soft lips underneath. The one pictured is a limited edition one for christmas, it tastes like cherries and cola and I will definitely be stocking up on it. The main line that they run in store permanently has bubblegum, popcorn and mint choc flavored scrubs which are all equally as lovely. They all cost around the £5 mark and you can get your hands on one here.

Carmex has been a lip savior of mine for forever! It soothes and treats the driest of cracked lips, as well as protecting them from any further chapping. It gives an instant injection of moisture, leaving lips smooth and supple. You can get this from almost anywhere for a few quid and it comes in about a million variations...pots, tubes, tinted, flavored...the lot! For a lower end lip balm this really cannot be beaten.

I don't know where to start with this, I only got it quite recently but already I just cant picture life without it. Amazing is an understatement. It may be pricey (around the £20 mark) but I fail to believe that there are any lip woes that this will not treat! I put it on at night before I go to sleep and by the time I wake up my lips are totally transformed, it leaves them smoother and softer than they have ever been! It is scented, the smell reminds me of rose water and Turkish Delight, and personally I like that. If the scent's not for you, you can get a fragrance free version. As well as all of its moisturising benefits, this lip treatment also has an spf of 15, which is ideal for in the daytime or under lipstick to protect from UV rays. I have fallen head over heels for this little beauty and I don't think I will be without it ever again! 

All of these products work wonderfully for me and I hope that they work just as well for you!

Thanks for reading

Emma 

xx

Bargain Beauty : MUA Matte Lipstick Collection.

I love a high end lip treat as much as the next person, but as we all know, they come with a pretty hefty price tag! So for someone on a budget, it's a delight to find a cheaper 'high street' product that is actually pretty darn good (leaving more pennies in the bank towards the pricey goodies on my wishlist)!

The only thing I love more than a bargain? A matte lip!

So when I heard about these offerings from MUA I headed straight to my local Superdrug to check them out.

There are five lipsticks in the collection and, naturally, I had to have them all.

Each lipstick comes in a tube with a little pot attached to the bottom, and the pot contains a highly pigmented balm in the same colour as the lipstick, which I thought was a nice little touch.

They are definitely matte, but if you're looking for something along the lines of a Mac matte then these might not be for you! They're ever so slightly 'satiny' and quite mosturising, but they do dry down really nicely.

The best thing about these lipsticks? They are just £1 each! (or around £0.67 if you utilise Superdrugs ever lovely 3for2!)

I've tried to capture the colours as true as possible, but as the photos are taken on my phone it was pretty hard.

L-R Scarlet Siren, Pouty Pink, Totally Nude, Peachy Keen, Wild Berry.

Scarlet Siren is a deep red, probably the most pigmented and most matte of the whole collection. I found this quite hard to apply without lining my lips first, but once it was on it was going nowhere. The staying power of this one is incredible! 

Pouty Pink is a fairly sheer blue toned pink. This is my favorite of all the lipsticks in the collection and I've been wearing it everyday since I got it! Although it can be built up to be completely opaque, I think the sheerness of this makes it perfect for a subtle daytime lipstick. Just the hint of colour on the lips is super pretty! And again, super staying power!

Totally nude is, as it says, a total nude! I didn't have a matte nude in my collection so this has been a nice addition. Although this is lovely, I feel it might not be a good choice for darker skin tones as it is quite a light browny nude and could easily look quite 'concealer lippy' and no one wants that! If you're not a fan of a nude lip this also works well as a base for brighter bolder colours.

 Peachy Keen is an orange-y peach. Much like Pouty Pink this is fairly sheer, subtle lipstick, perfect for a simple day look. I don't have too much to say about this one as it's not one I've really worn yet.

 Wild berry is a very sheer pinkish purple. For me, this was the disappointment of the collection. The colour in the tube is totally different to what transfers onto the lips. I was expecting this to be cross between Macs Cyber and Talk that talk, but it was not to be. It's incredibly sheer, the colour's almost undetectable on the lips unless you really build it up. For £1 it's an okay lipstick, but it's certainly not one I'm going to rave about.

All in all, I'm really impressed with these lipsticks! For the price, the quality is amazing. The colour range might not be huge, but it's certainly varied! I'm sure you'll be able to find at least one colour that appeals to you.

They are selling out pretty quickly, so if you're interested I'd move quickly to be sure of getting them.

The last time I checked they weren't on the Superdrug website, but you can find them online here.

Thanks for reading.

Emma

xx

To new endeavors!

My name's Emma, and that's me in the picture just above. I live in a little city called Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, I'm 23 years young and I love all things fashion and beauty.

I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for what feels like an eternity now, and I've decided to stop procrastinating and just give it a go!

I plan to use it mostly to document my fashion and beauty experiences but I can't promise that there won't be the odd lunch post and dodgy pictures of my cats thrown into the mix every now and again!

I'll be working on my first 'proper' post shortly, so watch this space!!

See you soon.
Emma
x