June 2014 Favourites

It's a smaller favourites post than normal this month, mainly because I've not been trying out many new things, however there have been three products particularly taking my fancy recently.

First up, a fantastic budget buy, the Rimmel Scandaleyes Kohl Kajal in the shade Nude. This is just a simple nude eyeliner, but I've really been loving it recently for making my eyes less red around the edges. You know how it gets in hay fever season, but I just slick a line of this all the way around the outer edge of my eyelids and smudge it in with my fingers, instant wide-awake eyes without any fuss. I know lots of people use this in the waterline as well for a similar effect, but I wear contact lenses and my eyes are pretty dry anyway so I never put makeup on the waterline.

Sticking with the eyes, this Stila All Over Shimmer Powder in Kitten has been my go-to eyeshadow this month. Now I don't think it's strictly supposed to be eyeshadow, but I love the shades and find that they blend into the eyelid very well. I've been using the lighter shade all over the lid with the darker shade blended through the crease, it makes a really lovely summery eye look.

Finally, a perfume. I wanted a lighter, citrusy perfume for summer, and I've been lusting after Jo Malone Earl Grey & Cucumber for months now. I picked it up for myself as a little treat one day, and I've barely worn anything else since. Its such a nice fresh scent, not overpowering and I pick up little bursts of scent from it all day long. Definitely a new favourite there.

What have you been loving in June?

Jen xx

Makeup Revolution Vivid Baked Highlighter

Top-Bottom: Pink Lights, Peach Lights, Golden Lights

So as you're reading this I'm winging my way south for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. I've scheduled a few posts for while I'm away (which I hope works, I've never tried that before) and I'll be back in the land of internet next Tuesday.

Much like my post on Makeup Revolutions Vivid Baked Blush, baked highlighter, well really even powder highlighter, was not something I had tried before. Thanks to the Superdrug 3 for 2 I just had to try all three of the Vivid Baked Highlighter, right?

Turns out, I've been missing out! I've always used cream highlighters before, and was really surprised by how bright and pigmented they turn out on the skin, you really need to use a light hand! Golden Lights is my favourite of the bunch, a nice subtle flush of brightness as long as you don't use too much. Peach Lights is slightly more subtle, very good for a no-makeup-makeup-day, and Pink Lights is my least favourite of the bunch. Don't get me wrong, it's a good product and the pigmentation is very good, I just prefer the tone of the other two for my skin tone.

Have you tried these yet?

Jen x

Makeup Revolution Vivid Baked Blush

Top Row L-R: Loved Me The Best, All I Think About is You, Bang Bang You're Dead
Bottom Row L-R: Hard Day, One For Playing Games

L-R: Loved Me The Best, All I Think About is You, Bang Bang You're Dead, Hard Day, One For Playing Games

After posting about my Makeup Revolution Haul the other day, I couldn't resist ordering a few more of the amazing Vivid Baked Blush. There are six shades in total, and I now own five of them. Oops.

This is the first time I've ever actually owned any baked products, but I'm definitely converted now. The colour payoff from each of these is absolutely brilliant, and they only cost £2.50 each! 

My absolute favourite of the bunch is Loved Me The Best, a really beautiful  reddish-pink with a slight sheen to it. All I Think About Is You is also really lovely, slightly sheerer colour payoff but a soft peachy-pink. Bang Bang You're Dead is a bright violet-toned pink with a whole load of shimmer running through it. Hard Day is another really pretty peachy-pink, a bit more pigmented than All I Think About Is You but also with a bit more shimmer in it. Finally, One For Playing Games is a really similar colour to Bang Bang You're Dead, but with this the violet tone is cooler.

So far I really like all of the colours, I'm finding it harder to work with the ones with a lot of shimmer, but I think that is down to inexperience really, I'm much more used to matte colours so with a bit of practice and a lighter hand I should be able to get them to work for me.

Have you tried anything from Makeup Revolution yet?

Jen x

Hair Routine

One of the things I get asked about the most is my hair, is it natural? How do I style it? What does CG mean? FYI it means the Curly Girl method. Today I'll go through a brief run of my morning hair routine and answer all the questions, and another day I'll do an in depth post covering the basics of the Curly Girl method.

First up, yeah the curls are natural but the colour is not. I wash and style it using aspects of the Curly Girl method, which in a nutshell means cutting out sulphates and silicones and using conditioner only to wash your hair. This may leave straight hair a bit greasy or lanky, but for curly hair it works really well as curls crave moisture and shampoo can really dry them out.

I've been CG for about two years now and I've seen massive improvements in both the health and the growth rate of my hair. Before I never knew how to manage curls so I just straightened it everyday. This made it dry and damaged and it really took forever to dry and straighten in the morning. One day I just got sick of it, I figured if I just embraced the way it looks naturally I would save so much time and travelling would be so much easier. I started looking online for curl care tips and found so many people talking about something called CG and how great their hair was after trying it. A few hours and a lot of B&A pictures later I was converted and went to get some products.

The bones of CG is cutting out sulphates and silicones and washing hair with conditioner alone. You can use a sulphate free shampoo if you like as well (known as low-poo), but it isn't encouraged for everyday use. I use my low-poo around once a month just to make sure my hair isn't getting weighed down. I use the Naked Bounce Curl Defining Shampoo as it is easy to find in Boots and relatively cheap. I find that on the days I use this my hair does frizz up a lot more, another reason to keep use to a minimum really.

My everyday silicone-free conditioner is the Tresemme Naturals, again very easy to find on the high street. With this I use a small amount first and rub it into my scalp as if it were shampoo, then rinse this out and use a larger amount over the lengths of my hair. Once this is on, I use a wide-toothed comb to brush out any tangles and then leave it on while I do the rest of my showering, rinsing it out is the last thing I do in the shower each day. I've tried a few other silicone free conditioners, but this is my favourite, plus the huge bottle is really handy seen as I go through conditioner so quickly these days!

Out if the shower, the first thing I do is to scrunch dry my hair a little with an old t-shirt. As this is a smooth material it keeps the curl strands intact without pulling at them like the little threads on a towel would do. I put on a tiny amount of sillicone-free leave in conditioner, I use the Naked Little Miracle, and then brush it into position. This is the last time my hair gets brushed until it's next wash, straight haired people always seem to think this is disgusting, but it just isn't worth brushing. It would tangle and damage the strands, as well as ruining the curl pattern you've worked so hard to form, and trust me on this, it would look so so so much worse if it was brushed when dry.

One it's in position I can put some product on to hold the strands in place, silicone-free of course. Recently I've been using the Boots Essentials Curl Creme. £1.69 folks, £1.69. I split my hair into two sections and coat each one straight down with product spread over my palms, and then use the residue to scrunch strands up to my roots and pump a few times at the top. This ensures each strand is covered in product and will stay in place when drying. There are two different methods I use for drying. Most of the time, I just let it air dry after this point making sure not to touch it until it's fully dry, or it it's freezing or I'm in a hurry I'll use a diffuser on a cool setting to hurry the process up. It's really important at this point not to touch it until it's fully dry, at which point I repeat the scrunch-and-pump technique to break up the product and leave the curls soft and free. If it's touched a lot while drying, the product can't hold the curl formation in place to dry and it frizzes up badly. I also run my fingers through the roots just to lift them away from my scalp. After this it's done! Soft, frizz-free curls without anywhere near the effort of drying and straightening. I have saved so much time in the mornings since starting this.

Once a week I like to deep condition my hair to keep it nice and healthy. For this I use another, cheaper silicone free conditioner, currently the Garnier Ultimate Blends. I wet my hair under the shower and then apply this all over, brushing it through and then covering it with a shower cap. I then use my hair dryer on a low setting to apply heat all over my head and let it soak in for around 20 minutes. I then rinse out and wash and style as normal. This makes my hair so much softer and shinier so it's important to do regularly.

There we go! Sorry about the actual essay I've written there, but if you have any questions about CG or curly hair then just let me know in the comments below!

Jen x

Masks and Treatments

Apologies for the delay in this post going live, unfortunately it's been a bit of a tough week work-wise and it's been difficult to find time to get online. However, let's push on and end this trio of skincare posts as if they were posted in sequence!

For the third and final post of Skincare Week on Curls and Collages, I am looking at the masks and treatments I use over the course of a week. I have already written about my Morning Skincare Routine and my Evening Skincare Routine so go and check those out if you've missed them.

Once a week I like to use a clay mask to really clean out my pores deep-down. As I've said before I get quite oily in my T-zone, and so the pores there tend to be larger and more visible; a clay mask really goes a long way to improving the overall look of my skin. Recently I have been using the Superfacialist Tea Flower Pore Purifying Clay Mask which does the job well, but it really isn't my favourite. It has a really strong floral smell which can be very overpowering if you are applying it anywhere near your nose! My favourite clay mask is the Ren Invisible Pores Detox Mask which will be a swift re-purchase once this tube is finished.

During the week, I also like to occasionally use a hydrating mask as I can get quite dry patches on my cheeks and forehead. I picked up a box of Origins goodies recently, which I wrote about in my Skincare Bargains post, and one of the items I got was the Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask. I love this stuff! I use it twice a week, usually on a Wednesday and a Sunday night in place of an overnight moisturiser, and in the morning my skin just feels so plumped and moisturised. This will be a definite repurchase when it runs out.

I am quite new to the exfoliating toner scene, and as such I have only tried one! This is the La Roche Posay Effaclar Astringent Micro-Exfoliant Lotion, and I really like the effects it gives me, I definitely get much less micro-exfoliation from my makeup brushes when I have been using this regularly. I use this roughly three or four times in a week, really need to be much better with my regularity there! I use it at night after cleansing and before my spray toner. I think that when this runs out I will try a few others as this is the only one I have ever tried, but it will go on the possible repurchase list.

What treatments and masks do you like?

Jen x