No 7 Skin Illuminator!

I've had this 'No7 Skin Illuminator' for quite a while (bought with those amazing £5 off vouchers). I bought it after the brilliant Lisa Eldridge mentioned how good it was, I mean anything that amazing lady recommends should definitely be tried.

Bad Points:
I was so excited to use this product, I got it in the 'peach' tone because my skin a very yellow (they also do it in a 'pink' tone for those who have pinker skin tones). I went to try it the next day and it would not dispense! The applicator is a brush, so you push the tube and the product should peak through the brushes for you to blend in. The brush, personally, is rubbish, I would much rather use my fingers.

On top of that, when you do squeeze, which within itself is a task, you get far too much product out! You can't even get it back into the tube. *sigh* So I drastically chopped off the brush bristles so I could get to the hole (hence no picture of the applicator). It was still a little difficult to get the product out, so this product got left in its place for a rather long time…

Good Points:
…until recently. I decided to pick it up and try it once more, and low behold the product is coming out as I want it *smiles happily*. I don't know why it has decided to work properly, but if you want it then I would suggest decanting it into a tub or something that is air-tight.

I can honestly say I know why Ms Eldridge suggested this product. It gives the most loveliest sheen. I've been using it on the tops of my cheek bones for the past week or so, I feel like my skin has been looking rather dull so I've been trying to get it to 'shine' again.

Texture/Application:
It's a liquid formulation. It blends seamlessly into the skin. I use my middle and ring finger to dab it on. I powder the rest of my skin to get rid of all the unnecessary shine I don't want as I have oily skin. From the picture you can see how the micro specs of glitter pick up on the light. I assure you it doesn't look like you've got glitter on your face when you wear it.

Price:
£11 (but they always have money off vouchers) for 30ml.

For the winter months it provides the perfect skin pick me up. I probably wouldn't repurchase it unless the packaging changed, and to be honest, this is going to last me for a very long time. I know that No.7 have redesigned all their products so they may have improved this fault. I would definitely recommend going to see how you find the tester in store.

Have you ever tried this product? What do you think of it? What cream/liquid highlighter do you use?

♥ RP ♥

Lover of Light!

Top - Boohoo | Jeans - Primark | Boots - New Look

Eyes - Estee Lauder palette 'Gold'; NARS 'Surabaya'; Sleek palette 'Brown'; False Lash Effect Mascara | Cheeks - No 7 cream blush limited edition 'Blossoming Pink' | Lips - Revlon 'Peach'

Firstly I would like to say HELLO to all my new friends ('followers') that I have recently joined my blog after Sunday's #bbloggers chat on Twitter! It never ceases to amaze me how amazing this blogging community is, thank you!! =D

Now on to the post...Today I went to see my gorgeous sister-in-law (my cousins wife) 2 weeks before she is due to give birth. We both have been busy for a long time to meet up and finally we both have time for some tea and biscuits! I thought I'd just share my OOTD and FOTD.

Can you tell that I need a new camera, or a tripod! Excuse that faceless picture.

It was just a casual afternoon and I wanted to be comfortable. I recently got this jumper from Boohoo and I am in love! I was skeptical about the quality when buying it but loved the print, but when I got it I was so pleased! It's soooo soft and warm! Perfect for these colder months. I got mine in a size S/M and it's quite baggy on me, but that's what I like.

The boots are really old; like 2/3 years old, but they are a solid pair of boots. With a decent heel. I always prefer wearing heels when they are in the form of boots because you have more stability! No more tripping around!

I just went with a simple gold eye and a nude lip. Nothing too outrageous.

Hope you all had a chilled day!

♥ RP ♥

Purple Thunder Storm!

Finally, another make up post. I don't know how many of you really enjoy reading such posts, but I sure do like doing them. I just had the urge to do a purple smokey eye. I find that purple is such a lovely colour to wear if you have brown eyes. With the festive season truly here, this would be a great evening look. Now let's get to it…

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Face

I just used my MUFE HD foundation all over the face and down my neck. Used my well loved MAC studio finish concealer in NC42 to cover my blemishes and bags. On the tops of my cheeks I used Illamasqua's powder blush in 'Create'.

Eyes

I primed my lids using Urban Decays primer potion. Then applied the Avon supershock eyeliner in 'Plumful' to the inner half of my lid to intensify any colour that I put on top of it.

Using a flat eyeshadow brush I packed my Inglot shadow in (the purple) '446 Pearl', (sexy name ;-)) onto the inner half of the lid, where the eye pencil was.

Then using the other side of the brush I packed on NYX shadow in 'Sensual' and placed it on the outter half of my lid. I dragged any excess underneath the eye.

Using a pencil brush I picked up, what I have labeled as, (3) from my sunset sleek palette and lightly placed it along the crease of my eye to add a hint of warmth to the eye.

Using my Inglot shadow in (the gold) '405 Pearl' I placed the colour on the inner corners of the eye to draw some light in.

Finally I thinly lined my upper eyelid with the Collection (2000) Extreme Eyeliner in black, used my Avon Super shock eyeliner in black in my waterline and applied my No.7 Extravagent Volume mascara.

Lips

I just smudged in this No.7 lip liner in 'Melon'.

And there you have it. Now looking at it I may have smudged some black shadow on top the liner that I did and maybe dragged some black underneath the eye as well, but it just depends where you are wearing it. Hope you guys liked it! =D

♥ RP ♥

Birthday!

It's official, I'm quarter century, contrary to what that 21st birthday card says…definitely don't feel it! Only hits me when I say it out loud. This post should have really got published over the weekend, but I have just wanted to chill out on my birthday weekend after a very fun night out on Friday.

I really wanted to share a proper picture of what I had worn on the night out, but that was a complete fail! My friends came down to my house and we headed out from here, but in true fashion we were running slightly late.

I wore this dress from Boohoo. It's got a lace centre which shows off a bit of skin. I bought a size 10 and the fit was perfect and it was £20, I know I will definitely wear this dress again. I wore my M&S black bow platform shoes. For jewellery I wore my new (birthday present, below) Jade stone ring from Accessorize, my peace ring from Boots and another ring that I can't remember where I got it from. My earrings were from Topshop in their sale last year.

For makeup I done a gold 'smokey' eye with red lips, using my trusty MAC viva glam I. I was going to leave the makeup at the eyes, but something was just missing. When I put the lip on it looked complete. On my nails I wore my Inglot polish in 955 with a Revlon glitter (340 Stunning) as a topcoat.

My friend and I were celebrating our 25th's together, his birthday is a week after mine, and we decided to go to a club called Guanabara in Covent Garden, it was such a brilliant night! I literally danced the night away, from 11.30pm - 3.00am with a 15 minute break! I'm going to say that this was my best birthday celebration, ever! It was such a good turn out, so a massive THANK YOU to those who came!

I've tried to use the best picture from the night but unfortunately my camera decided to die (even though it was fully charged!) so I've only got 28 photos in total, most of which are not flattering in the slightest. Below are a few gifts I received from my friends.

Hope you all had a good weekend! =)

♥ RP ♥

Blue Jeans!

Top - Forever 21 | Jeans - ASOS | Boots - Aldo

Let me start by saying I've been splurging a little this week. I'm celebrating my birthday tonight (I'm soo excited) and in obvious fashion I was trying to find the right outfit for the night. I have now decided what dress I am going to wear (post will be up over the weekend) out of the three dress purchases I made. I also bought these Cobalt Blue jeans from ASOS! I am in love with this colour! It's so crisp and bright!

I had been eyeing these up for the past two/three months (not exaggerating) and they went down from £28 to £19.50 (unfortunately they have gone back up to the original price)! There was no way I was going to let that discount go after lusting after them for so long!

I was skeptical as to the sizing, but they fit perfectly. I wore them out yesterday and paired them with a chunky burnt orange knit. I didn't know what would go with them because they are so bright, but I think these two went well together.

I'm so excited about this weekend! Can't wait to share my birthday celebration pictures with you! =D

Hope you all have a good weekend!

♥ RP ♥

Blistex!

This post is gong to be an utter rave. I am loving this Blistex MedPlus pot. I have been using Carmex for the last probably 4 years, I loved it when I first applied it, the slight tingle and my lips looking cared for. But after the third tube of it, the magic had somewhat disappeared. I don't know if this is just because my lips got used to it or it no longer worked for me, but I knew it was time for a change.

I definitely wanted to try Blistex as a brand because I have heard so many good things about it via YouTube and Blogs. I'm not sure why I was drawn to the tub rather than the tubes but it's the one that I got. All I can say is from the moment that I put it on I have loved it.

It has improved my lip condition a lot since using it. I haven't gotten any dry patches since using this, which, with the weather change is a miracle. I use this morning and night. I don't take it out with me because I don't think the tub is commuter friendly (don't want those manky germs infesting my lovely Blistex). When I have forgotten to put this on my lips in the morning my lips are fine all day, but I definitely notice that my lips are dry by the end of the night. I slather this on before I go to sleep and in the morning I can just rub off the dry skin (sorry, that doesn't sound nice) and my lips are lovely and soft again!

It's got a slightly a mediciney (not a word I know) smell with a mix of coconut (ok, that doesn't sound appealing but it's not as bad as that), it's not offensive and I like it. It was £2.59 for 7grams of product!

I'm so happy that I got this product! If you're looking for a new lip care product I would definitely encourage you try this little beauty!

Have you tried this product? What are your thoughts?

♥ RP ♥

Rimmel K.Moss 107!

So yesterday was my first opportunity to wear the Kate Moss Lasting Finish Matte Lipstick in 107 that I bought a couple of weeks ago. All I can say is that I love it, even my mum was impressed! I think that says it all. I went out for dinner to wagamama's with a friend and decided I would rock a bold lip.

Formulation:

Obviously it's a matte finish but it's also creamy/velvety in consistency so it doesn't leave the lips feeling dry. I worked it into the lips first with a lip brush, blotted and then applied a second coat straight from the bullet and it lasted all evening, even whilst I ate. It does transfer, so my chopsticks had lovely raspberry kisses on them.

Colour pay off:

The pigmentation is amazing and the price tag (£5.49) really matches! This is my first Rimmel Lipstick (weird I know) and I am definitely impressed with their quality. I find it hard to wear raspberry type colours because they don't really suit asian skins but this one really didn't offend me when I applied it. So if you're olive toned definitely have a look at this product.

Have any of you tried any of the lipsticks from this collection? What have you thought?

♥ RP ♥

Energizing Lotion!

As someone who has started taking their skincare routine much more seriously in the last year, getting this new moisturiser was a massive gamble. But I'm glad to say that I am super happy with this new purchase.

I got this Clarins Daily Energising Lotion (SPF 15) when I went to Bluewater back in August. I hadn't done any specific research but I had heard a lot of good things about Clarins as a brand, so I started browsing and reading the description and ingredients of the different creams they had. This one caught my eye because it didn't have any oils in it *tick*, I continued reading, and it stated that it contained Tumeric. I know that Tumeric is good for the skin and it's an antiseptic, but I never heard of an actual product contain it *tick*. I wanted something that was going to be much more hydrating than my La roche Posay Effaclar, this states that it hydrates *tick*. When I went to purchase it I got three good sample sized products from the same range! *tick*

The lotion comes in an easy pump dispenser, one and a half pumps of this does my whole face. The texture is light and you can feel the hydration when it's applied onto the skin. It has a light fragrance, it gets absorbed into the skin quickly and it provides a good base for my foundation.

It hasn't caused me any kind of bad reaction, so that within itself is a good sign. My skin has felt noticeably softer since I've started using this product and it definitely feels more hydrated.

I don't really have anything negative to say about the product! I could say that they could provide more of the product considering the price tag/quantity ratio. It was £20 from the Clarins counter in Boots for 30ml. After using it for 2 months I've only got half the bottle left *thumbs down*. But other than that I have really enjoyed using it and this being my first Clarins product I am definitely intrigued by the brand.

Have you ever tried this product? What other product would you recommend from this brand?

♥ RP ♥

Super Shock!

I've mentioned this product in a few posts and thought it was obviously about time that I shared how much I genuinely love this product. It's the Avon super shock gel liner. I don't really use this product on the lid but more for my waterline, I don't find I work well with pencils to put eyeliner on.

If you are YouTube obsessed (like me) then you would have heard the amazingly talented Pixiwoo sisters talking about how much they love this product to tight line with. I was a bit skeptical about getting this product because I had never ordered anything from Avon before. So last year I was talking to a friend and she mentioned she had started selling Avon (as a representative). I knew then I would make an order with her, with the Gel Liner top of my list.

But alas, the product was out of stock. I still wanted it, the yearning never went away, so on my birthday day (last year) my friend (the avon rep) gifted it to me (along with other goodies), how lucky was I?! =D I was so excited to use this.

Formulation/Texture:
It's a very soft, gel like (obviously) formula. I have very sensitive eyes when it comes to putting liners on my waterline. The MAC smoulder liner, which is lovely, stings my eyes when I use it on my waterline. The Avon one does not, I can't say it will suit everyone with sensitive eyes but for me, I find gel liners don't irritate my eyes.

Sustainability:
On the skin it does not budge! The swatch above did not rub off like most other kohl liners. On the waterline it lasts for 5-6 hours. I find that most liners (if not all) don't last that long on my waterline, especially on the outer and inner corners. I tight line with the liner just in the middle avoiding the areas where it comes off and it really lasts.

Colour:
It's very black! They come in a few colours but if you just want a good black that is like MACs Smoulder then I would definitely give this a try.

Price:
£6 (original price; but it is often reduced to half price!)

Bad points:
There is only one thing that I can think of and it's not really to do with the liner. The avon online store only shows what products they have in stock (that's what it looks like to me), therefore when you know they sell a product but they don't have it on their website its a little disconcerting because you assume that it's not coming back. To write this post I went to find the product on the website and I only found that product in a 'cobalt' colour! I don't know if they are still selling this product or not.

If you can get a hold of this product I would definitely give it a go. Espically if you are trying to find a good liner that doesn't smudge.

Have any of you tried it?

♥ RP ♥