My Skincare Routine 2016 Update…

Time for another skincare update.

For the past 18 months or so I was following the Proactiv or Proactiv+ skincare routine. I was getting great results however for a period it stopped working.

In a bid to save my skin from becoming spot and blemish central I rushed to Boots and have ended up finding a regime that works wonders! So much so I stopped my Proactiv subscription and haven’t looked back.

So what are the magic products I hear you ask…

In the morning I wash my face with the St Ives Apricot Scrub. I like using this to buff away any dead skin cells and keep my skin smooth.  I follow that with Clean & Clear’s Blackhead Clearing Cleanser (described below) and Simple Kind To Skin Moisturiser.

At night to remove my makeup I use Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. I usually need about 3 soaked cotton wool pads to fully remove my make up. You get an amazing average of 200 uses per bottle meaning it lasts a long time. Boots more often than not have this on offer and I tend to stock up whenever I see them.

Next step is a face mask and I go between three. A lot of people will tell you using a face mask every night is bad for your skin but it’s keeping mine looking amazing.

If I feel a breakout coming on I use the Tea Tree & Witch Hazel Charcoal mask from Boots.  A charcoal mask is great for breakouts and this one gives a really nice cooling sensation when applied. I leave for 10/15 minutes then wipe off with a lukewarm face cloth.  I’ll use this upto three times a week.

As a top up for the other days I use another Tea Tree & Witch Hazel mask from the same range but this time it’s a peel off mask. This is great mask for tightening up my pores. This is a great one to use before a night out. I leave this on until it dries then peel off.

At least twice a month I use the self-heating sauna mask by Garnier. This is a 3 minute mask that heats up on contact with your skin. It’s a warm sensation that isn’t uncomfortable but I do get a bit of redness which disappears after about 5 minutes.

After I’ve used the face mask I’ll use St Ives again to wash my face.

Then I soak another cotton wool pad with Clean & Clear’s Blackhead cleansing lotion. I always had issues with blackheads even when I used Proactiv and this lotion is the only thing that works! I use it morning and evening.

I end the routine with Simple Kind To Skin Moisturiser.

Using all of these products in combination has made an unbelievable change to my skin. I still get a spot here and there but it’s nothing compared to how bad my skin was previously.

If you have oily to combination skin like me or simply suffer from regular breakouts give this routine a try and fingers crossed it works as well for you!

H x

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Hello & Thank You…

I took a short break from Blogging recently due to starting a new job but missed it too much to stop completely! 

To put 100% into this blog I’m going back to one post a week but I hope all my followers will stick with me. 

Over the past week or two I’ve gained so many more followers and I wanted to do this short post to say thank you. Of course I also want to thank all of you who were already here too because without any of you I wouldn’t be doing this blog.

I’m working on some great posts so look out for them soon. 

If there are any reviews you’d like to see please comment. 

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @holly_mrs.s 

H x

Perfect Summer Nail Colour…

If you’ve read some of my other posts you may know that I have a Shellac manicure every 2 – 3 weeks.

Any nail polishes I buy are for my toes to keep my feet looking good (as good as feet can!).

Like last Summer, coral is a top choice for Summer.

I got this Nails Inc polish as a freebie courtesy of Colgate last year and it’s still my favourite colour to see me through the Summer.

This shade is ‘Expert Coral’.  I don’t think this one is still available (it may have been a limited edition) but there are other coral shades to choose from by Nails Inc such as this shade Charlotte Villas Coconut Bright.

I use a base coat and then apply two coats of this for the perfect coral shade.

I’d love to know what your favourite summer colours are!

H x

Faking It Summer 2016 Update…

Summer is finally here and it’s time for a tanning update…

(Links to all products mentioned below will be added at the end of this post)

I love to have glowing skin during the summer months but unfortunately I live in Scotland and can’t rely on the weather for a healthy looking tan.

When it comes to tanning I have two options; instant or gradual. Instant tan is great and my choice is always St Moriz however sometimes I like to use a gradual tan to give a burst of moisture to my skin.  My go-to gradual tan is Garnier Summer Body.

While at the airport and looking for something to read on the flight home, I picked up a magazine that had a great freebie for topping up my tan…

Gradual Tan Glow by St Tropez has really impressed me.

As the name suggests it’s a gradual tanning lotion that you can apply daily or as often as you wish to achieve a natural, streak free, glowing colour.   It’s also sligthly tinted on application so you can see where you’ve applied it and it gives your skin a lovely bronzed glow.

I have a fair complexion and find that after one application I have beautiful, sun kissed skin.

It dries almost instantly and unlike some gradual tans has a pleasant scent. It still has that fake tan smell but it isn’t as overpowering as some of the other products I’ve used.

I apply this every second or third night depending on how happy I am with the current shade.  It fades at a not too bad rate and most importantly fades evenly!

I loved it so much that when the sample size was finished I purchased a full size straight away from Boots.  Being St Tropez this product is expensive but I’m so impressed with it I’m willing to pay £15.

I’ll be honest and say I would probably never have picked this up off the shelf because of the price and the risk it might not be very good so extremely glad I was able to get myself a sample size first.

So, if you’re looking for a new tanning product for Summer 2016 why not give this a try?

H x

St Tropez Gradual Tan Glow

St Moriz Tanning Mousse

Garnier Summer Body

Sleek Matte Me Lip Colour…

I’m back with a good old Sleek Makeup Review.

On my recent, extremely quick trip to Superdrug I picked up three colours from the Matte Me Range. These were the only three colours the store had.

The Matte Me range is a selection of liquid lipsticks in a matte finish.

Swatches and Colour Overview:

Bittersweet is without a doubt my favourite from these.  It’s the perfect nude for me with lovely pink undertones. It’s on the darker side for a nude for my skin tone but I prefer this as it won’t wash me out.

Petal is a beautiful pink on swatching however once on my lips it had changed colour slightly and looked more of a salmon/coral pink.

Vino Tinto didn’t apply as dark on my lips on first coat and as this one was harder to apply (and going to be a nightmare to remove right away) I stopped there. On a night out this is the type of colour and staying power I’m looking for and I’ll spend an extra 5 or 10 minutes putting it on.

Product Quality

I never normally have a negative thing to say about Sleek but I feel the applicator for these colours really let the product down. I had to use my fingers/Zoeva lip brush to get the application even. This was fine on the nudes but for Vino Tinto it created a bit of a mess.

The creams themselves had a nice creamy consistency and applied well when not using the applicator.

Once on my lips they were very drying so I would suggest making sure you’ve done your prep and used a lip balm etc to avoid over drying and flaking.

One thing that can’t be argued with is the colour staying power. I swatched these on my arms and it took a good few cotton pads of micellar water to remove them.

Price

These were £4.99 each and are currently on a 3 for 2 in Superdrug.

H xx

My New Bag…

**Disclaimer**

I love reading posts like this or watching youtube videos on what new things people have purchased. This isn’t intended to be a showy post. I know a lot of people are like me and enjoy seeing what people have treated themselves to! 

Every girl has a ‘thing’ and at the moment handbags are mine. I like to save up a little money and then treat myself to a new designer bag every so often.

Michael Kors is always my go to store. The bags although expensive are still very affordable to me and I struggle to think of a design I don’t like. I’d happily have a Michael Kors bag over a Mulberry – that’s just my personal preference.

I chose the Savannah in a beautiful tan saffiano leather. This is the first tan bag I’ve bought and was a good choice rather than opting for the standard black.

The lining is embossed with the MK logo.

It comes with a strap which can be removed if you prefer just the handles. I very rarely use straps but I like the option to free up my hands if I’m shopping.

One of the design features I loved about this was the compartments. It’s split into three; the two outer compartments are button fastenings and the middle is a zip. There are also two pockets in each of the sides so plenty room for everything and anything you want to carry.

I can’t wait to use this bag!!

H xx

The White Company Fresh Fig Handwash…

Every now and then I like to get an expensive handwash for the bathroom and The White Company is my go to store. 

It can also be nice it I have people round or people staying over to have a nice handwash on display. 

Okay so some people might think that £12 for a handwash is ridiculous; others might think it’s nothing. I personally think it is a luxury product and as I don’t purchase items from here very often, they are always a really special treat to myself. 

One of my favourite scents is Fresh Fig and I was lucky this time as there was 30% off this time. 

  
As you can see it’s classic The White Company style. I love how simple it is. 

As I said at the beginning these set you back £12 but they are worth every penny. 

The scent will stay on my hands for a really long time. 

Fresh Fig as it says is a really fresh, clean smell.

They make great gifts too! 

H xx 

St Moriz Fast Tan…

I’ve been abscent on here for a few weeks but back with a review on a new product This is new for me but I’m not sure how long this has been around. It does say new on the bottle so I’m guessing not too long!

My favourite affordable tan has always been St Moriz nd I don’t really look at the other tanning products anymore.

St Moriz is an amazing product for the price. I can pick this up for anything between £2.99 and £5.99 for the mousse developing tan. But I have to make sure I set aside a big chunk of the day for it to develop; I always leave it on for around 6 hours and I never sleep in it.

When I saw this on the shelf I was keen to try it out:

The St Moritz Fast Tanning Mousse claims you can choose the shade of your tan by leaving it on for 1 – 3 hours (1 hour for light, 2 for medium and 3 for dark). If I can get a dark tan in just 3 hours that will be amazing.

It’s also great if you have an unexpected day/night out as you’ll still get a little colour within an hour.

I picked this up in Boots and I’m sure it was £4.99.

I always use the dark mousse so I’ll be leaving this on for 3 hours and comparing it to that product.

On application this mousse goes on a lot darker than the original. This is probably because it needs to develop quicker than the standard bottles.

It has a really nice scent too!

As with the standard tan I’ve always found it to dry and develop patchy however when it’s washed off the tan is even. If you’re tan does this I wouldn’t panic. Different parts of your skin will dry/develop quicker than others. Plus any mistakes can be easily fixed!

Almost on the last stretch now and this tan has developed really dark. I’m not put off by this as the darker the better for me but I’ve never had St Moritz develop to this colour!

All done!! I hopped in the shower and stood under the water until it ran clear. I never use shower gels or anything that could cause the tan to come off. Once out the shower I careful pat myself dry and then apply a light moisturiser.

So I can now say I’m really impressed with this product achieving a natural looking but noticeable tan in just 3 hours.

Well done St Moritz!!

H xx

Avon Perfectly Matte Lipstick…

There was a lot of buzz around the new lipstick range available from Avon. 

Marketed as being more matte than Mac (tested by Avon but no mention of user tests in the catalogue) with an introductory price tag of £5.50 (£8 after offer) I decided to test them for myself. 

Avon claim you will get a 100% matte look. 

I picked two colours at opposite ends of the scale; Wild Cherry and Pure Pink. 

  

Here’s a breakdown of my thoughts…

Packaging

I’ve decided I don’t like the presentation of these lipsticks. They are Nars-esc with a mainly rubber covering and a silver avon banding which I quite liked. However they’ve put a clear plastic top on the lid which serves absolutely no purpose as it doesn’t show any colour. The whole product is then cheapened by the colour sticker on the bottom.  

It would’ve been much nicer to see the product colour at the bottom via clear plastic. 

Colour & Application

  

Wild Cherry is pretty much on point with the colour on the swatch when applied on my lips. 

Pure Pink however turns into an almost salmon pink shade rather than the nice brownish-pink nude on the swatch and in the book.  

Application for both is good but these are certainly not the matte finish I was hoping for. Wild Cherry had more of a matte finish than Pure Pink which is shiny and reminds me more of a satin. 

Both are very creamy in texture and are easy to apply (I had to blot and reapply twice). 

Price

At £5.50 these are good lipsticks; at £8 not so much. I would rather pick up a Sleek lipstick which is £4.99 and gives a much superior product. 

So unfortunately these aren’t winners for me and I’m really disappointed. I was so excited to get these. 

If they hadn’t been marketed as matter than Mac I probably would’ve given a slightly different review as these are okay lipsticks. 

I’d love to know if anyone else has tried these and what you think of them!! 

H xx

My Top 4 Instagram Photos February 2016(from my own page)…

I’m trying a new kind of favourites post – thoughts welcome in the comments!

These are my four favourite pictures from my own Instagram page in February and this post will explain why!

Here’s all four together:

 

The first snap is of some of my favourite shades of lip for date night. It includes my favourite Mac shade EVER – Cyber and any Instagram post with this product gets a heart from me! 

Second is the Glossybox Valentines Edition – I changed the format for my Glossybox photos and blog post which seems to have been a good idea so far. I didn’t give anything away in this box (rare for me) and I’ve used everything in it with good results. 

The third photo I’ve included because it’s something I personally feel is an extremely important issue. I’ve been on the donor register for a long time but I updated my details and received a new card. Everyone has their own opinions on this but I’d advise anyone who hasn’t thought about it before to discuss with family and friends! 

Last but not least is a picture from a brand I’ve been exploring a lot recently and this is one of the many scents from The Isle of Skye Candle Company.  If you haven’t checked them out yet head over to their website to learn their story and see what products are available.

H xx