Pep Up Your Winter Skin

Happy Sunday everyone! Today has been wet & dreary, and I'm ill as well, and this has got me thinking about my skin and skincare routine. Winter is notoriously harsh on skin, and even worse on already dry skin such as mine. 

Changing weather, the cold, heating, illness - these all contribute to wrecking my skin, by drying it out more, congesting it and breaking it out. However this year I have found a few great ways of pepping my skin up, and I want to share them with you!

Mac Studio Sculpt // Review

Mac Studio Sculpt has been my go-to foundation since the New Year, and I honestly can't believe it has taken me this long to review it! I have it in shade NC15, and I must say it is the perfect match!

The formulation is thick but extremely blend-able, and there is no chance of a tell-tale tide line or any other forms of foundation 'obvious-ness' (as long as the shade is a true match!). The coverage is probably medium, and it leaves a semi-dewy finish which is super lovely. I tend to buff this in using the real techniques buffing brush, and place over the L'Oréal Paris Lumi Magique Primer to really take full advantage of the lovely dewiness of the foundation itself.

At £24, it is certainly not cheap, but the quality is outstanding, and you only really have to use a pea-sized amount to cover the whole face, so it will last a good long while. Also it works effortlessly with my dry skin; not clinging to dry patches or drying the skin out more. All in all this is my favourite foundation that I have ever used! I would highly recommend!

I used it in my latest video, so if you want to check out more about it / what it looks like watch below:

My January Favourites!

Charles Worthington  Overnight Ultimate Hair Healer: £14.99 // Mac Studio Sculpt: £24 // L'Oreal LumiMagique Pure Light Primer: £9.99 // Mac eyeshadow in Wedge: £12 // Brow zings by Benefit: £22.50 // Real Techniques Buffing Brush: (from the collections) £21.99

Where has January gone?! Between exams and essays and my birthday the whole month has just flown by! Anyway this month I have been loving a few things, and I just couldn't go another month without sharing :D Also the videos, makeup tutorials and makeup reviews that I have lined up will have to wait as I have become ill and therefore can't film myself or test out any new makeup. Sad times for all. But never fear here are the lovely products that I have been in love with this past month!

First up is a haircare product, the Charles Worthington Secrets Collection, Overnight Ultimate Hair Healer. Wow that's a mouthful! The product is an overnight hair mask which you just smother all over your hair, and when you wash it out in the morning you hair feels fabulous! Seriously, after using it the first time I was sold, as my hair feels plumped up, less damaged and smoother. I haven't come across any other products like this, and it is the first hair mask that I genuinely feel is doing what it says it does. I cannot rave about this product enough!

Moving onto makeup, there are a few products that I have worn pretty much everyday of this month. First up: Brow Zings by benefit. This is a eyebrow kit with a wax and a setting powder. You can use the wax to shape your eyebrow, and then fill them in with the setting powder which, if used sparingly can create a really soft and natural look. I do feel that I can sometimes be a little heavy handed with my eyebrows and don't really suit a scouse brow, but that is all trial and error. This kit is just really handy and the product works really well.

Next up I have been loving wearing the L'Oreal LumiMagique Pure Light Primer under Mac Studio Sculpt. The foundation is a godsend in itself as it is really good for dry skin, as it doesn't cling to dry patches and the colour match is perfect! It also leave a dewy finish, which is what I go for. This is where LumiMagique comes in. I have read a lot of people on the internet complaining that it is a highlighter not a primer, but if you want a radiant finish, use this. When worn under a dewy finish foundation it gives you a lovely radiant look without being shiny or iridescent, like it would be if you were wearing a highlighter. I have definitely worn this combo almost everyday this month, and a radiant face throughout the horrid weather of January was the perfect way to beat the blues :P Still in the sort of foundation realms, my next monthly favourite is my Real Techniques Buffing Brush. Words cannot explain how much this has revolutionized my makeup life. This brush is, as a brush, fantastic, it is soft, reasonably-priced, and sturdy. But by using it to buff my foundation in, my skin has never looked so good! I thoroughly recommend as it makes my foundation flawless and natural looking.

And so finally let me tell you about Mac eyeshadow in Wedge. This is a soft, matte, muted grey-toned brown. It is epic for contouring, and that is how I have been using it this month. I love to contour my eyes as I think it defines eyes and makes cat-eyeliner (my go to look) pop. The colour is subtle but buildable, and the formula is looovely: super pigmented, soft, and a little definitely goes a long way. This is an all round perfect colour to have in my collection, and I have been loving it!



So there you have it! My monthly favourites for January. I do think I will be doing this every month, however how quickly each month goes is going to scare me haha. Thank you for reading!

No7 'Beautiful Skin' for Dry/ Very Dry Skin: Product Review

No7 Beautiful Skin for Dry/ Very Dry skin: Cleansing Balm £9 // Day Cream £12.50

No7 is one of those brands that I have forever ignored. I think this is mainly because it is essentially a 'Boots own brand', but is not cheap, and the money off tokens that you often get at the checkout don't lead to free products, and this annoyed me. Silly me indeed!

However I recently made the decision to switch up my skincare routine, as I had grown to hate my moisturizer, and buying 2 packs of face wipes a month was starting to seem excessive. I also knew there was a cleansing world beyond all-in-one face wipes, and felt it was time to explore! Therefore when perusing the skincare aisles in boots I kept being drawn to these products. Specifically because it claims to be made specifically for dry/ very dry skin, which is a skin type that is often ignored by skincare brands.

I picked up the cleansing balm a few weeks ago and fell in love, it applies like a moisturizer and quickly dissolves all makeup, which you then wipe off. I also love the fact that it leaves my skin feeling soft and nourished, as if I have applied a moisturizer! Therefore, as I knew that I desperately wanted to replace my moisturizer I decided to try out the day cream of the same range, which retails at £12.50, but, having a sudden fit of savvy-ness, I got for £7 because of a £5 off No7 skincare voucher I had got when I bought the original cleansing balm! Yay me ahaha.

The day cream is very thick, but doesn't feel heavy on my skin, which just drinks it up. There is no greasy residue and my skin feels super soft and nourished, and sort of 'plumped up'. The main description for the range is making your skin behave like normal skin, and I can honestly say I totally get that from using these two products together. My usually difficult skin feels completely normal, and I put that down to these products! They also have a night cream in the range, which I may test out in the future, but for the moment I am happy just using these :)

Have you tried any of the No7 Skincare products? The 'Beautiful Skin' range has specific products for all kinds of skin -type, and I am sure they are just as good. I am starting to think I should test out some of their makeup, as I think it is probably very high quality!


This is the moisturizer that I used in my Every Day Makeup for Pale Skin video. If you haven't already checked it out, please do, and don't forget to like and subscribe! Thank you for reading x

I Love Lush!

So I have never been into Lush, as I used to think the smell of the shop was overpowering and the products confusing. However, recently I became intrigued again, and ventured in. By some miracle my opinion of the shop was completely different! The smell was delicious, the products exciting and the staff lovely. On my first  outing I bought Honey Trap Lip Balm which I mentioned in this haul post. I adore it, and don't know how I lived without it. And so I decided I needed more Lush in my life!

I recently had a 3000 word essay due for uni, and the only thing that kept me going was the thought of an epic bath and pamper sesh at the end of the long essay tunnel. I dreamt of bath bombs and face masks :P On the day I finally handed it in, I headed into town with Hailey and we went to Lush where I picked up the Oatifix face mask and the Enchanter Bath Ballistic. May I just add that the customer service is impeccable  Uber friendly and helpful!

Oatifix: This looks like porridge and smells of oats with an after-smell of honey and vanilla! It is full of natural oils and is good for dry skin. It feels a bit weird to put on your face at first because it feels just like you are smearing food on your face, but I must admit that it felt gorgeous on my face, and afterwards my face was soo so smooth! A few days later, and it still feels luxurious! This tub is apparently enough for 2 uses, but I think I could get 3 or 4 from it, as I only used a little bit. I would definitely recommend this if you have dry skin, because it really does soften and smooooth! :D

The Enchanter: This bath bomb smells fantastic, but I can't for the life of me work out what the scent is! It was a Halloween exclusive, but they have decided to continue it. It turns the bath a deep orange colour, but when it is fizzing the fuchsia core mixes pink through it. A very nice bath bomb!

What do you think of Lush? I am definitely converted, and want to try more of their skincare range as I am very impressed with the facemask!