London Shopping Haul - Suqqu, Dior, Chanel and Clinique

I had a fabulous London shopping trip with an even more fabulous new girlfriend of mine this week.  I don't know why, but it is always much more fun to go shopping with someone else.  Well, we hit up the usual hot spots...Selfridges, Harrods, Bond Street, and this time we went to Camden.

This is my haul from this trip, and needless to say that other than my watch that I have been going on and on about, this will have to be the last of the major hauls.  All these beauties has set me back a pretty penny :)

Sorry about the instagram photos. I honestly wanted to get a blog post up as it has been forever since I last posted. I will review these products as I use them a bit more.

 

The haul consist of:

Dior mini palette in Royal Khaki - thanks to my awesome Dior SA!

Dior creme abricot nail cream - I have no idea why I waited to so long to buy this, it's really awesome!

Suqqu eyeshadow brush F - Where have you been all my life? The softest eyeshadow brush that I have ever touched. I died a little and gone to makeup brush heaven!

Dior foundation brush - this new brush just came out with the nude foundation.  This brush is the best brush that Dior currently has. It feels so soft that you can't even feel the individual bristles. It is the 2nd softest brush that I currently own

Chanel illusions d'ombres in Vision - Thanks to my wonderful DH xx

Suqqu eyebrow pen in green - sorry you can't see this too well in my photos but it's next to the Dior foundation brush. This is my HG eyebrow pen for that natural/everyday look.

Clinique skincare - Liquid facial mild soap and moisture surge

I have used both products a long time ago and although I liked it, I never returned to it, until now.

I got this set, because Boots had an advantage night which was £12 worth of points with any purchase of £50 or more. So ultimately I got this for a lot cheaper than retail.  I think my skin needed some moisture surge as well.  This stuff is amazingly hydrating.

Dior nude foundation 040

I had to get the full size bottle as I am always on the hunt for good foundation, Dior has never let me down and I do like this foundation a lot; however, I do prefer my extreme over it.

Last but not least...

Dior J'adore L'eau perfume

Boots is currently selling this for £34.99 for a 75ml. What a bargain. I tried to find the link, but it looks like it is all sold out now :(

dior eyeshadow, dior nail cream, chanel vision

Suqqu, Dior

Out of all these items, my favourites are the Suqqu eyeshadow brush and the Dior foundation brush. I am so excited to have these in my stash and I honestly feel like they are the best brushes I have used ever.  I definitely will be saving up for more Suqqu brushes.

So that is the end of my London shopping trip haul. If you have any of these, please share with me your rants or raves about the products. I'd love to hear about how you all got on with them :)

see you soon xx

Clinique Redness Solutions Corrector Review

Clinique's Redness solution range is one of the first solution ranges that I went for.  I am still using my redness solution powders from last year.  This range is widely available at your nearest department store, Clinique.co.uk, Boots, and other places where you would find a Clinique counter.  They are like the Starbucks of cosmetics.  I grabbed mine from Sephora from the states right before I moved to the UK.

I suffer from redness around my cheeks and discoloration all over my face due to previous acne scaring, therefore, I take skincare and cover up makeup extremely serious.  I spare no cost, and I try many different ranges in order to find what works the best for me.

This corrector was only £17/$19.50, so I was extremely happy to purchase this.  This is my experience with this product.

PROS

* Easy to use cream formula - this came in a wind up stick concealer that could be applied directly onto your skin, with your finger tips, or concealer brush.

* Affordable - Usually any corrector adds on a few more bucks

* Readily accessible

* The yellow pigmented concealer did conceal redness

CONS

* Heavy and slightly cakey - as someone who doesn't like to feel like her pores are clogged, this formula as too heavy for my liking

* Comes in only one colour, so it definitely has to be used under your foundation

* It didn't feel like I got a lot of product for what I paid for it. The redness solution powder was slightly more, but you get tons of product

My honest opinion is that this product is effective, but due to the heavy formula, I will not be repurchasing this product again.  It's quite a shame as I do like Clinique products and if this product did work on me, I could easily pick it up at my nearest Boots.

Have you used this product? How did you get on with it?

The products I am using this week

Today I shall commence with spring cleaning.  I'm ready! It's time to dust, clean, organise everything. Am I a nerd for being excited about this? lol.  That is my plan today.  Well I do have to some paperwork, but other than that, I will be a cleaning machine until my cold medicine kicks in and makes me drowsy :)

Ok! So what am I using this week?  Basically it's whatever I got new from last week, so this is a haul/"what I'm using this week" post.

My new items are:

* Aveda hair conditioner in Shampure

I love the way this product smells. It brings me euphoric pleasure, but it doesn't make my hair happy at all.  It's unfortunate that I ended up with a liter bottle, because my hair is quite dry and brittle after use.  Oh well, you live and learn....this won't be repurchased ever again.

* Aveda volumizing hair mist

Another Aveda product that smells amazing.  It's that fresh, herbal, botanic, earthy scent that Aveda just gets so right.  This helps slightly with volumizing my hair, but since my hair is so flat, it needs a bit more to make it plump up, so sadly, after I use this, I will not be repurchasing it either

* Clinique 7 day scrub cream

This lovely deluxe sample came free with a magazine.  It's one of those products that I enjoy, but never enough to buy the full retail bottle of.  It's a great daily exfoliater, but I tend to like creams that have a bit more exfoliating beads.  It's still lovely and a great product for those who want a daily scrub.  For now, I will stick to my Clarisonic.

* Elemis Soothing Apricot Toner mist spray

A gentle and lightly scented toner mist.  I was worried that this would be too sweet and powerful, but it isn't at all.  This is also my first Elemis product that I tried, and I'm very happy with it.  I'm eager to try more from this UK line.

What are you using this week?

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TUNE OF THE DAY

TOP - Turn it up

 

Clinique Acne Solutions Spot Healing Gel Review

I am the victim of hormonal acne.  My chin is at war with me this week as I am fighting off 4+ blemishes.  Just in time for my birthday I see...curse you hormones.

As a way of combating this horrible breakout, I'm currently using Clinique's Spot Healing Gel.

I grabbed for this as my friend gave it to me a few months back.  I believe she couldn't use salicylic acid and this product does contain 1% of it.

The product is as described, a gel like formula that comes out the top spout.  I will keep this review short, as I'm sure the only thing you're interested in knowing is if this actually did heal spots?  I can honestly say this product takes a good 24-48 hours to work.  In the meanwhile, you will have to deal with the tightening of the skin while this is working.  I've never had botox, but this gel dries and tightens your skin so much that the area goes a bit numb and a bit unable to move freely. haha.

It's worth a try, you can buy yours for £12.50 /  $14.50 usd at Debenhans, Clinique online, Sephora or anywhere else where there is a Clinique counter (i.e. Boots).

Beauty haul from Cruise - Chanel illusions d'ombre Emerveille & Clinique spf 50 Face Cream

It was so hard to resist all the duty free shopping.  

I'm actually quite pleased with myself.  I only purchased items that I needed or really wanted for quite sometime now.  

First up, I purchased the Clinique Spf 50 with Solar Smart Face Cream

I am so happy to have found this face sunscreen.

Let me start by saying how much I hate the smell of sunscreen.

You guys know what I'm talking about.

You know it's sunscreen, because of it's white cream formula, and that god awful smell.

This product is a thick white cream like most face creams and most sunscreens, but it DOES NOT have that awful sunscreen odour!

YAHOO!

I was so pleased, and honestly I will be repurchasing this next time I go on holiday for sure.

This was also a very effective product for me.

I did not get burned (which I almost always do despite slathering on sunscreen), and I didn't break out from the heavy consistency.

Major bonus points for me.

My entire family used it, and nobody got burned.

A little goes a long way, and for $16 usd, this was a really good purchase and highly recommended.

Next up, is a product that my faithful readers are probably sick of hearing me go on and on about.

Chanel's Illusions d'ombress in Emerveille.

This creamy, long lasting eyeshadow cream is my favourite item of my recent cruise.

I will be doing another post to show you what I packed for my trip, and this was my #1 product.

It was not only great for my eyes, but this can really work as a highlighter too.

You have to work quick with it before it sets, but it is very flexible.

I loved my other cream shadows, so when I saw this at duty free, I instantly purchased it.

I don't know if it was just me being in a good mood because I was going to see my family and go on a cruise, or if it was the lack of sleep for 24 hours, but either way....I bought it, and I love it!

Another highly recommended product for all you T&O readers.

 

Something about that Chanel logo gets me every time!

 

You can see from here it's a gorgeous pink/peach/beige colour

Suits pretty much every skin tone

 

I used this for about 8 days straight, and there is still plenty of product left.

 

Shimmery goodness in a jar!

 

Classic, and suitable for all skin tones

I think that leaves me with just one more Chanel cream eyeshadow left to purchase.

After seeing Cami from Camiloveskiwi use Mirifique as a eyeliner, I haven't been able to get my mind off of it.  So thanks for the suggestion Cami!

So yes, this was all that I purchased beauty-wise on my cruise.

It's small, but these are products that I will definitely re-purchase.

Prices:

Clinique: $16 usd

Chanel: £18.50

My All Time Favourite Skincare Products

  This blog post is dedicated to all the wonderful skincare products that I have used over the last 4 years, and absolutely loved.  I wouldn't hesitate to repurchase any of these products.

So here they are separated into 3 categories: Drugstore, Mid range, and high end.

Drugstore/Chemist Products  

($1-$19) 

      

Aveeno Daily Cleansing Pads

Garnier BB Cream

**I do have a confession.  I have not really tried a lot of low end/chemist products. 

So I can't recommend a lot of them, but I really did find that these products were just as good as their higher priced competitors.

Mid Range Products

($20-$49)

 

IQQU Jasmine Rice Bran Scrub

Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief   

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion

 

High End Products

($50+) 

CAUDALIE Vinoperfect Day Cream SPF 15

Chanel Rinse-off Foaming Cleanser

Dior Hydra Life Moisturizer

I am in love with all these products because:

1. Lovely clean and fresh scents

2. Light and moisturizing texture

3. and the diminished presence of blemishes during its' use

I have combination skin with slight redness, discoloration and acne prone.  All these products really worked well with my skin and I saw a decreased amount of blemishes during the duration of usage.

So these are my favourites.

Now I want to know which ones you love :)

Clinique Acne Solutions Post Blemish Formula Review

The Clinique Post Blemish Formula is a twist pen that has a tiny hole at the top where the cream formula comes out of.  For $14/£11, this is that that much more expensive then a lot of the acne products out there, but it isn't cheap either in my book.

This is quite handy for travel and to keep in your purse, but you definitely don't get a lot of product either.  Sometimes I think that if the product is small, then the product must be potent and so you don't need a lot, but truthfully, it could just be that the product is expensive because they know people will buy it if they are desperate enough.

I thought my prayers have been answered! A product that claims it fades away scaring? That's great! Sign me up! I do suffer from scars, because I have such little self control and pick when I'm not suppose too.  I know I'm not alone out there lol!  So I have a lot of discoloration and scaring.  

I followed the directions and applied this day and night under makeup. There were some days that I didn't wear any foundation at all to give my skin some time to rest.

A friend was nice enough to give this to me to try, so I didn't pay the $14/£11, but if this product worked, I was all ready to buy a stock pile of it!  I'm sad to say that, I did not see any diminishing of my scars, nor did I see any improvements.  I didn't want to jump the gun and review it after a week, but I have used it as directed and used the entire product and I still didn't see any results. Disappointed really.

Do you suffer from acne scarring? What do you use?

My Top 10 Favourite Products for June

I can't believe it, another month is gone.  I will now have been in this country for close to 3 months and it feels like I've been here all my life...it's a strange feeling.  I don't feel quite like a foreigner, especially since I know the language lol and been here many times before, but I always felt like this was my home, from my very first visit in 2005.  I'm having so much fun trying all the new products however. It's all so new to me and it's just a lot of fun!  June has been a good month as far as products go.  Lots of promotions, events, and swapping has really made this month full of new products.  So I gathered together my top 10 products for this month.

1. Chanel - Bronze Universel/Bronzing Makeup Base

Review can be found here

2. Amazing Cosmetics - concealer in Light Golden

A little bit goes a really really long way with this concealer.

I have been suffering from some major acne this month, and thank god for this concealer, nobody ever has to know.

3. Chanel - Lift Lumiere Smoothing and Rejuvenating Eye Contour Concealer - 30 Abricot Lumiere (why talk about a long title). 

I love this eye concealer, enough to have recommended it to other people and they love it as well.  It is a very smooth formula for around your eyes and gives you enough coverage without looking cakey.  Where has this been all my life?!

I do believe however, I'll need a shade lighter, since I'm not getting much sun living here.

4. No 7 eyeshadow in Wheatsheaf

Click here to see the review

5. Makeup Academy (MUA) eyeshadow in 

Click here to see the review 

Both were very very cheap and gave me a great neutral shimmer that I need for my day-time look. I am so pleased with these two cheapies :)

6. Guerlain Terra Inca Sublime Radiant Powder for Face & Body 

I still love this, I'm still pulling it out to smell the wonderful fragrance, and to see the beautiful and intricate design.

Click here to see what I thought about this.

7. Poshe - Super fast drying top coat

They were not kidding, less than 1 minute, your nails are dried and you can go about your day.  I honestly can not live without this topcoat.

8.  Illamasqua nail varnish - Raindrops

I do not regret buying this polish at all, despite all the rumours about it being so sheer.  Mine was not sheer at all, 2 coats were enough for a complete opaque polish.  This is my go to summer polish! I love the formula, the colour, and the best part is just how long Illamasqua's varnishes last on me.

9.  Burberry lipstick - No 2 Cameo

I've had this lipstick for almost a year now and I never really gave it a chance, but this summer, I find that I keep reaching for this lipstick.

You can't go wrong with this adorable and sturdy packaging, but the colour wears well on my cool-toned skin.  It is just the equal amount of pink and beige mixture with a hint of coral for summer.

10.  Clinique - Redness Solution Powder

This is another product that I never gave a fair chance too, and this month I tried it again and I could really tell how much redness this powder covers up.  I lightly dust this on after my moisturizer and I see a significant coverage on my cheeks, around my chin and around my nose.  This has become a staple now.

So I was very happy about the 10 items that I choose that I am constantly reaching for this month and then it dawned on me that I forgot the number 1 most important item in my stash that I have been reaching for.

MY Skin79 BB Cream!!!!!!

Looks like whipped concealer and a bit thick and gooey

But it applies like a dream and blends so well

I could not live without my BB cream now.  It is my June top 10 and probably for the rest of next month as well.

I purchased majority of these items (except for the Poshe which was a gift) for below retail or during a promotion, so they were all at a discounted rate. So I felt that I did very well keeping to a tight budget.  Although the Guerlain did blow that budget out of the water, I love it so much, and I will have it for many many months and years to come. 

Now only if I didn't have a budget, I would have bought 2.

So here are my June's top 11

Have any of you guys tried any of these products?

Do you love? hate?

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