Although I’m a Manchester blogger, you’ll often find me based around various other places at present. I’m recently working in Cheshire, and I spend a lot of time in the Staffordshire area too, meaning the term ‘Manchester Blogger’ is becoming a bit more part-time. It also means that with splitting myself across various different areas, I’m having to move a lot of my belongings to different places, which has lead to a huuuuge clear out.
My most recent clear out wasn’t an enjoyable one, as it involved rummaging through all my recently un-loved makeup and beauty products to do a little bit of a throw out. Yes – it’s as sad as it sounds, piling up unwanted, old, knackered makeup products and labeling the pile ‘for the bin’. However, I do feel so much clearer, less cluttered and genuinely a little bit cleansed after doing it! Over the top? Try it for yourself!
The first thing I did was invest in a fantastic beauty oraganiser from a retailer called Store. It’s photographed in the top photo, and you can see just how simple, classic and clear it is, yet is such a handy little investment!
The little crystal clear acrylic organiser is fantastic for bringing to my ‘other home’ and saving it for my most regularly used make-up. I’ve planned to position is close to my dressing table so that my essentials are to hand, with its handy pull out draw, slots and sections for keeping all my makeup bits organised. As it’s small in shape, it makes a great portable choice too if I need to carry it anywhere and transport it around with me!
As part of my ‘Summer Clean’ throw out, I’ve replaced some old, pesky pieces of makeup I was holding onto and switched them with some new beauty and make-up loves in my life. Here’s some new bits I’ve been bringing in…
Skinn: Plasma Fusion Nourishing Serum Foundation
It wasn’t very long ago when I heard about ‘Skinn Cosmetics’ – in which professional make-up artist and licensed aesthetician Dimitri James is the founder of. I got introduced to the brand by hearing about their very first serum-strength foundation called The Plasma Fusion Serum Foundation, which intrigued me because I was yet to try out a serum foundation. Yep, a 7 year strong beauty blogger who hadn’t tried this revolutionary product out. Anyway, I finally got my hands on the set, and I say ‘set’ because this product comes as a duo set featuring two unique shades that you mix together to create an entirely custom and perfectly matching shade – meaning no more foundation lines! It also comes with a Professional Fusion Illusion Foundation Brush which you can buff away at with the liquid, creating a flawless finish and full coverage.
Full coverage is the finish I always want – I have way too many blemishes and marks to go for anything less. Serum foundations always look and feel much more lightweight though, and this is definitely the feeling I get with this. I mix a little bit of the Beige and Natural together and get a super complementing shade for my face. The best thing about this serum foundation – and why I’m currently using it at the moment as my go-to – is that I find the serum formula gives the freshest, dewy finish, and it also feels like it’s moisturising my skin at the same time. It’s so easy to blend and work into my skin effortlessly, delivering a glowing complexion. If you’re interested in hearing about this fuss-free, results driven brand, then You can find out more about the brand and the products here.
Kiehls Nightly Refining Micro-Peel Concentrate
So I just have a little sample of this at the moment, but I’ve heard fantastic things so far. This nightly micro-peel concentrate helps to refine the feel of rough texture and reveal newly radiant, refreshed skin. I currently feel like my skin is always uneven and rough, but would rather leave a product to work it’s magic throughout the night so I was drawn to this after hearing beauty bloggers rave about it.
It’s liquid formula is clinically-demonstrated to help accelerate surface skin cell turnover to reveal fresher, newly radiant skin, while visibly refining. Now I’ve hit 30, I’m noticing a lot more lines forming around my eyes and forehead (does you skin just know when you turn the big 3 0?) so I’m hoping to see some result from this!
Essence Shape and Shadow Eye Contouring Palette
I have raved about Essence numerous times on the blog, mainly because it’s such an affordable brand which delivers exceptional products that do the job spot on. And did I mention the packaging is always adorable? This latest eye palette is a multi use eye & brow palette and was inspired by glamorous Hollywood women, who influenced style and fashion. It has a fun geometric print and has a nice little shiny mirror making this a great eye compact for on the go, as well as sitting in my new organiser!
Inside you get treated to 4 shadows, a highlighter, a prime & fix brow wax and also a small dual ended brush. One end of the brush has an angled brush and the other a cute brow spoolie, making it easy to keep brows tamed. Three of the shadows are lovely neutral matte shades, which can be used for both eyes as shadow, and brows too. These brown shades really make blue eyes pop, so if you’re a blue eyed girl, you’ll love these! The powder is pigmented and quite soft so they’re easy to blend. I don’t tend to use brow wax too often, but if you do, it seems to be a fairly decent texture and formula so shouldn’t clump up when smoothed onto brows.
The fourth shade is more of a dramatic deep brown, which I’ve been playing around with applying wet as an upper eyelid eyeliner shade. I have to say the highlighter shade is my very favourite though – it’s like a creamy gold shade with dazzling particles which looks fab when dabbed onto the brow bone. Again, Essence have done me proud!
Superdrug’s 50th Birthday!
To celebrate Superdrug turning 50 (yes… it really is that long-running!), I treated myself to a cheeky little haul a few weeks ago. Amongst my haul included various MUA lipsticks, because at £1.00 each anyone can afford to stock up! It’s when I come across brands like these, I wonder why I ever forked out so much money on lipsticks before. These ones by MUA genuinely do the job just as good. I own that many of them now that I feel I can make that statement hand on heart. My recent purchases include the shades Peachy Keen and Pinky Pout, and are super girly and glossy.
Another product I’m loving from Superdrug is the Make-up Revolution Radiance Palette. Firstly, when it comes to palettes, this is your brand. You can bag yourself eye shadow palettes with multiple colours for as little as £4, and this highlighting Instant Radiance palette is just as much of a bargain costing just £8! Containing three glowing Radiant Light Illuminators, the three different tones can be used to suit your mood or occasion. I tend to use the lightest on on the tops of my cheeks and under my contour so a strong highlight/contour look, but I’ll switch to the softer, bronzed shades when I just want that Summer glow. Each shade applies easily with only the slightest bit of shine, looking incredibly soft and natural. This palette brings instant illumination to my complexion, so it’s staying in a prominent place in this beauty organiser!
Look Fantastic #LFJETSETTER Beauty Box
Last but not least is the June edition of the Look Fantastic Beauty Box, which is again filled with some lovely beauty treats. My favourite products had to be the Caudalie Eye Creams, which come in small sizes in which I can can keep in the little slots at the front. I keep one in the organiser, and one by my bedside table. The cream is lightweight and absorbs quickly, but leaves me waking up with much fresher feeling eyes. As the Look Fantastic beauty boxes contain lots of little ‘sample’ sized products (well, larger than your average sample…) they make great additions for this little organiser, as they can slide into the draw, or slot into the sections. I’m currently awaiting my next box, which will be August’s, and I just know it won’t disappoint!
So there we have it, a little beauty/cosmetics update. Now all I got to do is remember to keep using these products and to stop buying new ones so I don’t end up with the same hording problem!