Happy New Year 2017 everyone! 

I hope that you all had fun and happy times over Christmas and New Year, however you spent it. I am looking forward to new things in 2017 and hoping to try some new challenging things. I’ll keep you posted!

Then I realised it has been quite a while since I posted, so here’s a little round up on some recent-ish products I have been using and have liked/hated. 

This has been one of my favourite purchases for a while. 

Lip oils are a hot thing at the moment and I am not one for greasy-sticky-slick like lips. HOWEVER I ordered this on a whim and it’s pretty great. It fixed my super chapped lips over winter – although it is called a night lip oil I used it whenever (wherever) and it just looks like a shiny clear gloss.  It has a slightly honey like scent/texture – it’s not runny but not UBER thick, it is a little syrupy but not annoyingly sticky (my hair doesn’t stick to it). 

It contains various oils too and is supposed to be 97% oils. ME LIKE VERY MUCH. Also the egg thing on the container is the Gudetama which is a Korean cartoon character if you like that kind of thing. 

I like it so much I might order a back up since I lose lip balms at the rate of 2 a week.

I bought mine from Korean Depart, it was only about £4.

2. Maskorea Instant Glow 3 Step Mask *

This sheet mask is quite different to others I have tried in that it comes with a cleanser and cream to use after too which is nice of them, if you fancy using their skincare products that is.  I wasn’t going to be after using the mask so ended up skipping the cream that particular day but it’s a nice enough idea…although if you were getting your skin to glow would you really go to bed straight after?

Still this is a decent sheet mask. It is quite wet as you can imagine and fit my face well. I left it for half and hour and didn’t experience any reaction (slightly red upper cheek) and my skin did look brighter and felt soft. Not keen on fragrances added to sheet masks though which this has. Also it’s priced at £7.99 which is a little steep for one mask (or you can have 4 delivered for £12.99 from their website) which takes the price down a bit. 

Overall…it’s one I would probably gift to someone new to sheet masks, don’t think I’d go out of my way to purchase it however. 

3. Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Long Long Long Mascara (about £13)

I haven’t used MM products in a very long time indeed, because you know a lot of these Japanese brands are so same but when I was on the hunt for a new mascara I figured I would give this a go because who can resist a mascara called LONG LONG LONG?

Anyway, mistake. 

See all those fibers in the mascara? Those fibers up end up on your eyeball. It’s inevitable and not the first time a MM mascara with tons of fibers has given me the most irritated eyes on earth. This one is just as bad and no matter how careful i was, they fell in my eye. Primer did not help. It is hellish and not worth the irritation and also, it adds strange length (like if a fibre sticks to the end of one lash you suddenly have one ridiculously long lash and that’s it) but zero volume which is a bit spidery. 

I really wanted this to work cos you know, £13, but now I know, YOU DON’T MESS ABOUT WITH YOUR COFFEE DEALER AND YOU CAN’T MESS AROUND WITH BRANDS OF MASCARA. 

Don’t buy this, it’s rubbish. 

4. Kiko Unlimited Double Touch Liquid Lipsticks (£8.90 each)

For some reason, I sent Mr C in to Kiko to grab me two of these and let him choose (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). His picks are not bad actually, I would wear these at any point. 

The colours are 117 Cyclamen (Hot pink) and 119 Rhododendron Pink (Light Pink):

Anything that has a lip stain and a clear gloss reminds me of Max Factor’s lipfinity which dried the hell out of my lips. I guess this is a much much much improved version!

Now these lip colours are very pigmented but not in an ugly way in that…they still look lively on the lips. You know how some matte colours look quite “dead” – I know this is the trend – but these don’t make you look deathly like some mattes do. Once dry it’s not a very drying matte, it looks pretty good like a light film on the lips and lasts for a good 3-4 hours. 

Swatches:

The gloss is a nice idea but really, I don’t use it, I don’t bother reapplying in the day – I think I’d prefer a balm over the gloss.

It’s nice enough, not sure if I would buy any more though.  

You can buy it here.

5. 3CE Stylenanda Mood Recipe Lip Color in 115

I do like 3CE make up since it’s more interesting than other Korean brand releases (they are a bit more edgy…). Anyway, I bought one of these from the Mood Recipe collection shade 115 which is a matte natural dusty pink. 

This is quite a “dry” lipstick, and is actually a little tricky to apply (I have another matte shade from their collection which is one of my favourites ever ever ever) which is disappointing. This colour is also SO close to my real lip shade that it’s almost like not wearing much lipstick – and I am not drying out my lips for little colour. 

As always 3CE is so hit and miss. 

Buy it here (About £15). 

6. Bagsy Beauty Hair Wonder (£5) and Glamour Tease (£8)*

I’ve had greasier roots than normal and also less time than normal so I have been using Dry Shampoo just to transport the the morning hair wash to an evening hair wash. The dry shampoo in my arsenal currently is from Bagsy beauty, which is a cute little British brand. These dry shampoos are quite compact and suitable cute:

Now on the plus side both of these smell like heaven.  

The Hair Wonder has a vanilla like sweet scent it’s really beautiful like wearing scent.  The Glamour tease, which also works as a dry shampoo, adds more hold, texture and oomph to the hair – smells lovely too. 

What I will say is be sparing and remember to spray far enough from your head. I did not a few times with this and my mum asked me if I was going grey – DOH. Less is more. I find CoLab dry shampoo disappears better in to the roots but that makes my hair feel icky so I need to wash it on the same day, whereas my hair still feels quite “light” after using these. 

I think my best dry shampoo is still Klorane though. 

Buy these here.

 7. Charlotte Tilbury Color Chameleon in Enchanting Indigo (£19) 

I have quite a few of the Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon pencils ALTHOUGH I admit I like them, I don’t LOVE them (I wish they were twist up) I am all for quick and easy make up. I had to buy Enchanting Indigo is because it’s the ONE for brown eyes. So this was a little treat for me.

The colour is quite unique in that it is a very particular shade of navy, pearly-grey perhaps a very slight hint of violet.  It actually wouldn’t be my first choice as I like strong turquoise tones in my blues but this is a more…wearable…blue?

It’s creamy and pigmented and once dry stays put quite well (it does eventually crease). The shade is fine and does make brown look quite fiery I suppose although I do think my beloved Nars Abbey Road turquoise blue eyeliner REALLY makes my brown eyes pop. But I get why this navy is more wearable for every day. 

You can buy this here. I actually love the violet shade in this set more. 

8. Etude House My Little Nut Dear My Enamel Lips (WHY ARE THESE KOREAN BEAUTY PRODUCTS NAMED LIKE THIS?!)  – PK009 (about £9)

Not on the market for a new lipstick but couldn’t resist this pure stick on pink holo glitter. I love glitter. 

This lipstick is part of Etude House’s Christmas offering, “My Little Nut” – it’s a sheer pink with tons and tons and tons of pink holographic silvery glitter in it. It’s quite harsh worn alone if you like that kind of thing but it’s not totally unwearable alone AND it’s great as a top coat over these mattes everyone is crazy for. I have been dabbing this over some of my mattes to make it more 3D. 

Swatch:

This is obviously not for everyone – you end up with glitter stuck to your lips, but I love it, I love the shimmery look and whilst it is frosty, I think it’s nice on top of other shades and is just a bit of fun! I bought this from eBay.

9. Garnier Ambre Solaire No Streaks Bronzer*

I don’t usually fake tan but I figured a spray is easy to test so I used this on my legs, and my cousin used the larger bottle all over herself and YES she as at least 3 shades more tan.  

She was impressed by this product too – said it was quite even, quick drying and more importantly, didn’t go orange on her. 

I guess I was cautious with this because you know, how do you actually control a spray? What if there are missed patches everywhere and you don’t know right away? Well this tan has come a long way since I used to use it cos this develops in about 2 house and you don’t even have to rub it in. But do be careful obviously – they aren’t responsible for missed patches. 

Overall if you are total fake tan noob like me, this is easy to use and if you are light handed, seems to be fairly foolproof. I didn’t go orange or have any missed patches. 

These are sold at Boots (£11)

nearly there….

10. Hylamide Hydra Density Mist (£15)*

If you haven’t heard of Deciem yet, they are a brand offering some rather fancy skincare ingredients that traditionally are quite costly for LOW prices – I mean price of a cup of coffee prices.  I am going to do a big write up on several serums I have been trying for the last six months within the month so keep your eyes peeled! 

One of the newer products I used is this facial mist, called Hylamide Hydra density. This is supposed to help with duration and contains ingredients like Marine Exopolysacchiarides and Green Tea Polyphenols – it’s supposed tube good for dry and sensitive skins. 

This should be used after cleansing and pre-serum. 

So far so good with this. I have to say it feels like a regular face mist to me BUT I like the texture more than some of my other ones that sit a little sticky on this skin. This feels very lightweight like it is just water except it isn’t tightening at all, it’s lightly hydrating and makes my skin feel ready for other steps.  It feels like it has more to it than one of my other favourites Roche-Posay Serozinc, although that one is good when the skin feels a little oily, this one feels good when the skin is a little drier. 

Definitely worth a look at £15 for a large bottle.

And that concludes my big post Christmas post for you all.  Is there anything here that you like the look of or hate?!

ALL ITEMS MARKED WITH AN * ARE PR SAMPLES