Alva makup organic duo eyeshadow in Gold

When it comes to eye make up, I tend to play it safe with neutral colours or glam it up with a smokey eye, so when I saw the pretty swatches of Alva eyeshadow duo in Gold on Louise's blog, I couldn't resist including one in this month's Mypure parcel.

On first impression, the product looks a bit cheap. The packaging is sturdy and secure, but the clear plastic reminds me of cheap drugstore makeup.

The actual eyeshadows are lovely. Both are finely milled, smooth and pigmented with a gorgeous shimmery finish.

I'd describe the darker colour as a rich coppery brown and the lighter shade a pretty beige colour with a subtle pink sheen.

Given the quality of the eyeshadows and the natural ingredients, I think it's reasonably priced at £11.95, but the product is somewhat let down by the packaging.

Have you tried any Alva make up? Is packaging important to you?

Top beauty discoveries of 2010

As the year draws to a close, I thought it would be a good time to look back on the last 12months and post about my favourite new discoveries of 2010:

Maxfactor Xperience volumising mascara
A truely lightweight mascara that lengthens and defines lashes, without weighing them down, clumping or smudging. By far the best mascara I've tried this year!

Hot cloth cleansers
I'm a big fan of No 7 radiance cleanser and the infamous Liz Earle Cleanse and polish. The creamy cleanser does a great job of removing make up and the cloth gently exfoliates, which removes more make up and leaves my skin soft and smooth, ready for moisturiser.

Liz Earle skin tonic
I always thought toners were an expensive alternative to water but Skin tonic smells so nice, removes any last traces of make up and lightly hydrates my skin- a definite repurchase for 2011!

SLS free shampoo
Since I've switched to SLS free shampoos, my scalp no longer gets itchy and my hair feels much healthier. I highly recommend A'kin Mandarin and Fragrance free shampoo, both of which foam up well, rinses away easily and leaves my hair clean and shiny.

Sleek contour kit highlighter
I used to avoid anything glittery for fear of looking like a disco-ball, but a dab of highlighter on the cheeks is the easiest way to brighten up the complexion, and gives a gorgeous lit from within glow to the cheeks.

E-one hair removal
The treatment was quite painful, but with regular use I was almost hairfree on my underarms. I only did 3 sessions (they recommend 10) so a few weeks after the last session, the hair did start to grow back. However even if the results aren't permanent, a session every 4-6 weeks is a lot easier than shaving daily, and if I had the money I would definitely invest in an IPL machine.

Honourable mentions- Pantene aqua light conditioner, Barry M dusky mauve nail paint, Lancome teint miracle foundation, ELF studio brushes, Urban Decay razor sharp finishing powder and Forest secrets skincare serum and oil.

What new products did you discover in 2010?

Merry Christmas

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

(picture from Google images)

Hope Santa brings you lots of presents and you have a fun filled day tomorrow :)

Lush mini-reviews

The olive branch shower gel
Don't let the banana yellow colour of this shower gel put you off, because the complex mixture of citrus fruits, olive oil and vine leaves smells amazing! It foams up nicely and although not the most moisturizing shower gel I've used, it didn't leave my skin feeling dry either.

If you like 'Pop in the bath' bubble bar then definitely give this a try, because the scents are near identical.

So white bath ballistic
This smelt so crisp and fresh in the shop but unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment in the bath. Designed with bits of bubble bar, it fizzed away nicely on contact with water but didn't create many bubbles. Most disappointingly, the apple scent was too subtle and the white foam disappeared too quickly for my liking.

Sugar scrub
I wouldn't recommend using this in the bar form as it's very scratchy, however once crushed up, it up it's a lot gentler and does a good job of getting rid of any dead cells whilst leaving my skin refreshed. Plus the mixture of fennel, ginger and ylang ylang smells so nice!

Don't forget to enter my festive giveaway for your chance to win some Lush goodies.

Have you tried any of the above products? Which Lush products have impressed/disappointed you?

Foundation help please

I've dabbled with foundations in the past, but they've always felt too heavy on my skin or took too much effort to apply, but this winter, I've become really fed up of that cakey look you can get with powder and I'd love to achieve a more even skin tone so have decided to give liquid foundations another go.

However I've no idea which ones are good, so I'd love to get a few recommendations from you girls.

My idea foundation would be:
- light to medium coverage
- slightly dewy, semi matte finish
- yellow toned
- and most importantly not heavy on the skin

From reading online reviews, I am tempted to try Lancome teinte miracle, so if you've used that or if there are any other foundations that you'd recommend then I'd be really grateful if you could leave me a comment and let me know.

Thank you in advance!

Top 3 products of the week

It's been a while since I've done a favourite post, so I thought I'd write about 3 new favourites today:

Bumble and bumble quenching masque
I love deep conditioning my hair, and this creamy fruity scented masque works a treat! It always leaves my hair completely detangled and feeling so soft and silky, right up to my next wash!

I've got loads of split ends at the moment, but whenever I use this, it feels as smooth as if I'd just had a haircut, plus it rinses away easily so my fine hair doesn't get weighed down.

Purity facial exfoliator
This has been a great natural addition to my skincare routine. The coconut shells are finely ground, so you can feel it working on your skin, but all the beads are nice and rounded, so it's not at all scratchy or harsh.

It also contains coconut oil, sweet almond oil and aloe vera although rather disappointingly the scent doesn't come through when you use it.

Like all exfoliators it leaves my skin smoother and brighter, but what I like most about it is how creamy and gently it is on my skin.

Yankee midnight jasmine candle
This is my first Yankee candle, but I have a feeling this is going to be the start of a new addiction!

The natural sweet and floral scent makes me feel like I'm standing in a field in flowers and although not a very Wintery scent, it somehow manages to 'warm' up the entire room and give it a lovely homely feel.

I'd love to try more Yankee candles, so please let me know what your favourite scents are :)

Are you a fan of scented candles? Which products have you been loving this week?

Festive giveaway

As a way of saying Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and also to say thank you to all my readers for all the support over this last year I thought I'd hold a festive giveaway:

Prizes include: Lush Angel's delight soap

Lush So white bath ballistic
Lush Lemslip butter cream
Nivea glamorous gloss
Barry M dusky mauve nail paint
The Body shop warming mineral mask
L'oreal renewal lash serum
Lancome body sculptesse sample
Lancome colour ID foundation sample
Bare Minerals foundation sample
Mini clinique colour surge lipstick
Simple cleansing facial wipes

Giveaway rules:
- Leave me a comment telling me what you are most looking forward to this Christmas
- You must be a follower of this blog as this giveaway is to say thank you to my readers
- Feel free to post about this giveaway on the sidebar of your blog/twitter for 2 extra entries each (let me know if you do this so I can enter you accordingly)
- All valid entries will be numbered and the winner chosen using random.org
- Remember to check back in the New Year to see if you have won

The giveaway will end at 11:59 UK time on 31st December
and is open to UK and international readers :)

Good luck!

Clothes Show Live 2010

Situated at the NEC in Birmingham, the Clothes Show features a massive selection of stalls, catwalks and demonstrations-so you can imagine my excitement when I found out I'd won a pair of tickets in Lauren's giveaway!

On the day, we headed straight to the beauty section, where there were a fantastic range of stalls, with many of the brands (Bourjois, Barry M, Rimmel, Benefit,Carmex, Lush etc) offering make overs and big savings compared to the high street.

Pantene were also there, handing out samples of their aqua light shampoo and conditioner, inviting members of the public to film their best 'swish', as well as a mini catwalk show throughout the day.

Dotted around the exhibition, there were several catwalk shows and make up demonstrations:

(an Awards show, featuring outfit ideas for

music, beauty and movie awards)

The highlight of the day was definitely the live show, which was presented by the fabulous Gok Wan!

Based on classic movie themes, it featured a stunning visual display of dancers 'acting' out scenes, followed by a catwalk of outfits based on that particular theme.

There were about 8 themes all together and all too soon, the show ended with a Dirty dancing finale which was simply amazing!

All in all, it was a great day out and although neither of us brought that much, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and I want to say a massive thank you to Lauren for hosting such a great giveaway and to Lucy from Pantene for getting me and my friend tickets to the fashion show!

Have you ever been to the Clothes Show?

Barry M dusky mauve giveaway winner

Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway. After numbering all the valid entries I used random.org to select a winner:

And the winner is...Lizzy!

Can you please email me your address and
I'll get the nail varnish posted asap!

Thanks again to everyone for entering and don't worry if you didn't win this time as I'll try and include this nail varnish in a future giveaway :)

Maxfactor Xperience make up

Launched in Autumn 2010, the Xperience range from Maxfactor aims to give a naturally flawless look, yet at the same time feel weightless on the skin:

Weightless foundation
This was the product I was most curious about trying, and it really does feel very light on the skin, although it can feel a little sticky to the touch after the foundation has set.

I would describe it as a light-medium buildable foundation that sets to give a semi-matte finish to the skin. I was originally sent Dark gypsum, but I've since tried Brown Hessian, which is a much better match for my NC25/30 skintone, however for everyday wear, I still prefer to just use my MAC msf natural.

Volumising mascara

(top- xperience volumising mascara, bottom- false lash effect mascara)

The brush is very similar to the false lash effect one, but with a tapered end to reach those corner lashes. Unlike the MAC zoom I've not had any problems with clumping and it helps to lengthen and thicken to gives a naturally defined look to my lashes.

A lot of mascaras feel a bit 'heavy' by the end of the day, but with this one you really can't feel anything on the lashes, plus it removes easily without leaving black smudges all over my face- a must have mascara for me!

Sheer gloss balm in Pink oyster shell
This goes on quite pigmented so I would say its more of a lipstick than a balm. The colour looks frosty in the stick, but it applies to give a slightly shimmery plum red colour to the lips that can be layered for a more intense look.

I've never had a problem with lip products feeling heavy so in that respect it doesn't feel any different to my other lipsticks. Because my lips are very dry at the moment, I like to apply this over a lipbalm, but if you apply it straight to the lips, you can get a few hours of wear before a touch up is needed.

As someone who doesn't like wearing a full face of make up, I can definitely say this range delivers on the promise of being weightless, and although I wouldn't use the foundation daily I would highly recommend the mascara for defined everyday lashes without that heavy weighed down feeling!

Do you mind that heavy feeling you get from wearing make up? What are your favourite products for a naturally flawless complexion?

Boots Botanics soothing eye make up remover review

When it comes to eye make up removers I always go for an oil based one as I feel they do a better job of removing make up and after reading lots of positive reviews, I decided to give this Botanics one a try:

Like my favourite No7 eye make up remover, it's a two phase product that you shake before using, however the bottle isn't the best for this. By the time I've unscrewed the lid, the mixed product has started to separate, a pump bottle would be so much better!

However I can't fault the actual eye make up remover. I simply apply some to a cotton pad, then hold over my lashes for about a minute and it quickly removes all traces of eyeshadow and mascara without any need for rubbing.

Considering it's oil based, it doesn't feel greasy on the skin and any residue can be easily removed by pressing a tissue over the eye area.

All in all, it's a great eye make up remover and at £2.99 it comes at a bargain price, I just wish it came with a pump instead of a screw lid!

Have you tried this eye make up remover? What to you use to remove your eye make up at night?