Recent Purchases - other make up bits

Following  my previous recent purchase post here on lip products, I thought I should document some other recent make up purchases

My first purchase is the Real Techniques make up sponge - which I have used quite a lot during the past couple of weeks and I really like it.

My second 2 products are 2 eye colours from essence, the one on the left is pink and grey shimmery eye shadow in 03 irresistible first love which doesn't give much colour however it gives a lovely shimmer.

The one on the right is a lovely purple colour in 56 hyped up, which is also shimmery and gives a lovely light pinkish shade

The last product to be mentioned in this post is the Collection Shimmer Shades in 2 Blushalicious which consists of 2 matte (the top 2 shades) and 2 shimmery blushes (the bottom 2 shades) which combined together gives a lovely radiant colour. 

Have you purchased any makeup products recently?

Recent Purchases - Lip Products

I went a bit lip crazy recently, and although I haven't bought all these products at once, I have bought them withing the past 2 month.

The first 3 products are all from Kiko, and have been mentioned in the kiko purchases post here, and these are:

• Kiko Extra Volume lipgloss (plumping and moisturising action) in 10
• Kiko - Crystal Sheer Lipstick in 411
• Kiko lip gloss pencil in 07

The second 2 products are from 2 different brands:

• Sephora Glossy Gloss in 12 think pink (mentioned here)
• Catrice Ultimate Colour in 050 Princess Pizza

And the third and last batch are 4 products all from Rimmel, and these are:

• Rimmel Moisture Renew in 720 Notting Hill Nude (back left)
• Rimmel Lasting Finish Colour Rush in 710 Drive Me Nude (back right)
• Rimmel Apocalypse in 600 Nude Eclipse (front left)
• Rimmel Lasting Finish 1000 kisses in 100 Endless Blossom (front right)

As you may have noticed, most of my purchases were of nude light colours, and now I want to inject some more colours into my collection. Any tips or suggestions?

Have you used any of these products? 

Until next time!

Empties - Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm

I have only done 1 other empties post here, mostly because I don't tend to finish products very often, but this is a different story and this product deserves a whole post to itself.

As defined in the title this is about the Emma Hardie Amazing Face Moringa Cleansing Balm and I have previously posted first impressions of such product here. I have been using this product for the past 5 months nearly everyday and I love it, and I am sad that it came to an end but I am also impressed that I have managed to use up a full size cleanser in such a short amount of time. I will definitely repurchase this product but for the time being, I will be trying out the Clinique Balm which is similar, and I have posted my first impressions here.

Back to the Emma Hardie Balm, I love using this cleanser, it is soft and smooth and very gentle on my skin. In fact I could also use it even during my worse eczema and acne breakouts (which unfortunately I suffered both from during the past couple of months and still have acne scars). During such times most cleansers I tried made my skin more red, sore and tingled alot during application. On the contrary the Emma Hardie Balm had none of these effects on my skin and I could use it everyday without worsening my condition while leaving me with clean soft face.

It is an amazing product to use everyday and makes it possible to massage your face with every application. It also dissolves makeup very easily, even eye makeup as it is gentle enough to use on the eye area.

I would highly recommend this balm as I do think that this suit most skin types, however it does have a fragrance, which may cause irritation to some. The scent is soft with a light hint of citrus/woody fragrance which I love.

The texture is soft and very gentle and the product turns to oil upon application.

Final Verdict: This balm feels like heaven on my face, I would highly recommend it and although it is a bit pricey, I would definitely repurchase as it is worth every penny.

Until next time

First Impressions: Clinique - Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm

Clinique TTDO packaging (I got a little xmasy with this pic )

I have been using the Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm for quite some time now, but as it is approaching the bottom, (and a dedicated post to thoughts on the EH balm will follow) I wanted to try something different for the time being.

My skin is quite sensitive and recently I have been having breakouts on my cheeks, so  I am quite conscious when choosing facial products. I wanted something balmy, as this is my favourite type of cleanser and without a lot of fragrance. After researching quite a lot of products, I settled on purchasing the Clinique TTDO balm, and after reading a review by Caroline Hirons where she recommended such product, I was sure that this is the product I want to try.

I purchased this product a couple of days ago, (literally 2 days ago) and I have since used it for both my double evening cleanse and my morning cleanse, and my first impressions so far is that I love this cleanser.

Its formulation is a thick balm,which turns into oil upon application, which is great for removing make up and giving the skin a deep cleanse.

How the balm looks - the dent is the amount I used so far

In comparison to the Emma Hardie balm, the texture of the clinique is thicker, however it turns oilier upon application. Also the clinique one is scent less where as the EH has a soft scent.

Final Verdict on First Impressions: I am loving this product and I think I would love using it as much as I have loved the Emma Hardie one. Well at least I hope so. The only downfall in my opinion is in the packaging, as when you open the lid, it doesn't have an extra protection cap, it opens directly to the cleanser and it comes without a box!

Have you tried the Clinique TTDO balm? or do you use a different balm cleanser? I am always looking to try different products.

Until next time!

Week 2 Progress - #newbodymakeover

As mentioned in previous posts here and here, I have been following  the 12 weeks new body makeover hosted by blogilates, and I think I am doing good so far.

Meal 1 - Bfast for week 2

Meal 5 - Friday

Meal 5 - Friday (the muffin like pieces are supposed to be a quesadilla tortilla but I had a little accident with the mixture)

I liked most of the meals this week, however I wasn't so keen on the breakfast as it included vegetables and I thought it was a bit too much for early mornings (usually at around 6.30am), however by mid week I was used to this meal and during the last couple of days I was almost enjoying it. To be truthful, I added a couple of teaspoons non fat yoghurt to this meal to make it more breakfast like,which wasn't included in the plan, but it made it more tasteful and made it easier for me to stick to this meal without adding a lot of calories, sugar and fats.

Apart from this adjustment to my breakfast meal I have also skipped the protein shake meal a couple of times this week because I didn't manage to eat all the meals due to a busy working schedule. I will rectify this during the coming week as I will try to stick better to my schedule!

We are entitled to 1 YOLO meal a week, and this week I swapped 1 of the meals in the plan to 1 restaurant meal , cos I couldn't pass the occasion as it was a birthday celebration of a family member.

I will do my best to follow and stick to my plan better in the coming week, however being the Christmas season it is way more difficult as I have been offered a lot of Christmas desserts this past week and it was difficult, however I have managed to avoid the temptation most of the time.

I am also following the December workout Calendar and up till now I have managed to do 5 days out of 6 days workouts during the past 2 weeks + the Sunday relax day stretches which are lovely. This is also a difficult task as I am waking up at 5am every morning in order to fit the workouts but it is extremely worth it!!

I am already seeing progress with regards to the way I feel and look so hopefully I will continue this journey to the very end.

What do you think of this challenge?

NOTD #2

I have recently posted a picture of my nails with a quick and simple design here, and I decided to post and image with a quick description of how I achieved the look every time I do a design which I like and is quick and simple enough to do another time. So here is my NOTD #2

As I have said in my previous post, I am not very good at nails design, and this time again, I have used the dotting tool to help me embellish my nails from just simple coat of colour.

The base colour is a navy blue, lightly shimmered from essence in 76 hard to resist. I love the navy blue colour in every thing and I love this colour especially this time of year as a different alternative to red. 

I then used my dotting tool  and a white (manicure) polish to dot flower like designs on my thumb and ring finger, whereas on my other nails I dotted 3 dots on the left hand side of each.

Do you do nail art yourselves? Do you have any quick nail art tips especially for the festive season?

Until next time!

Sally Hansen - Insta Dry

I love doing my nails and changing my nail colours iften, however I used to find it impossible to properly do my nails because unless I sit still ( or at least leaving my hands still) for a long time or else I would end up with messed up nails.

About a year ago, I discovered the sally hansen insta dry top coat, and I can honestly say I have never looked back. This product does exactly what it says on the box 'nails are touch dry in 30 seconds', and it keeps my nail polish colour  bold, glossy and chip free.

I really like this product, as it makes doing my nails such an easy task. I can do my nails and go to sleep in less than 5 minutes and I would still wake up with nice polished nails.

Thank you Sally Hansen



This post is not sponsored in any way, and this is not a pr product. This is just my honest opinion on such product

Week 2 Preparation - #newbodymakeover

If you have read my other posts, here and here, you know that I have been following the 12 week new body makeover plan for the past week now.

The meals are quite simple to make, however during the week I find little time to do a lot of cooking for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, therefore to make my life easier during the week, I prepared a lot of the meals today (Saturday) and will be freezing the portions I won't be using withing the next 2 days This is the first time I have tried it, so I am not sure how the meals will turn out. I'm hoping for the best!

Do you plan/prepare your foods prior to the week?

Do you have any tips for easy food preparation or freezing tips?

Week 1 Progress - #newbodymakeover

As I mentioned in an earlier post this week, here, I have been following the 12 week new body makeover challenge, and it is nearly the end of week one.

My progress so far was quite good, actually I think it went really well. The meals have all been really good. At first I thought I would find some of the meals strange and I lacking taste, but boy was I wrong, everything was delicious and it kept me full all day. There weren't much moments were I wanted to snack on unhealthy  stuff, and I managed to beat the temptation and kept to my plan.

During this past week, breakfast was my favourite meal of the day. Lets see what week 2 brings!

Sunday's Meal 1 

Tuesday's Meal 1

Wednesday's Meal 5 - Although it doesn't look it, it tastes delicious.                              

Brushes haul

I've recently submitted a post on my favorite brushes, however I was also looking for new additions to my very small brush collection and since my current favorite brushes are from real techniques, I though I should purchase more of their brushes.

And in fact I did. I purchased a total of 5 brushes, 3 of which came in the travel collection set which includes a Multi task brush, Domed Shadow brush and a foundation brush. The other 2 brushes are single brushes which are the blush brush and the powder brush. I also bought a pack of eye shadow sponges and  I bought all of these from www.feelunique.com and I must say I was really impressed with the fast delivery and the packing of the products which came in a very nice sealed box, with everything properly packed.

Since i purchased these brushes, I have only used them a couple of times but I must admit I am loving these brushes, they are so soft and gentle on my skin and pick up products well. I think I will be adding more to my favorite brushes.

Did you try any of these brushes? and what makeup brushes do you prefer?

Until next time