Sunday 16 June 2013

Colours of The Rainbow TAG!! Blog Edition

It's no secret that I love watching make-up guru's on YouTube. I love watching tutorials I know I'll never use, hauls of things I know I can't get here at home, and vlogs of lives that are far removed from my own!

Lately there's been a tag going around, and I wanna participate, but I wanna do so in blog form, because I'm far too much of a chicken to video myself and edit. I don't know the first thing about it. Maybe someday, in the future though, who knows?!
Not a crock of gold to be seen...What a sham!!

So anyway, this tag is called "Colors of The Rainbow" wherein you choose a product to correlate with each of the colors in the rainbow. As a kid I learned the colors as Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red. I was never taught the "Roy G Biv" thing that all the American vloggers like Grav3yardGirl and BeautyBaby44 use!

Violet


Lets open with something I hate! I seem to always love the things I buy, but I despise this and I only used it once! Its a Rimmel London Quad palette in "01 State of Grace". I have no words, because this palette actually puts me in bad humor. Its so prone to fallout, you wouldn't believe!! Stay well away from this, I'm doing you a favor, I promise you!!

Indigo

I picked Maybelline The Rocket Volum' Express as my Indigo product. This mascara has been the model of what I want a mascara to do. I'm not out for super long lashes, I'm out for a bit of lift, curl and volume. This gives me everything I want and more besides!! I already spoke about it in a June BBC post, but I will keep going on about it! It's true love Maybelline, let's go steady!! ;) I think this set me back €8.99, but I'm not sure! Less than a tenner, anyhow!


Blue

 I swore I was keeping this a secret. I wasn't going to tell anyone about this. But guilt forced me into it. This is L'Oreal Derma Genesis Pore-Minimizing Serum. I've been using this for about 3 days now and I'm obsessed! I use it over my nose and T-zone twice a day followed by my moisturiser. I found it on a clearance shelf in Tesco for a fiver last week... a FIVER!!

Green

This is my Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Spot Wand. The clear gel is for daytime use, and the thicker, more creamy looking gel is for night time. I love this stuff to bits and back again. Many spots have been stopped in their tracks by this product! Not bad for green goo, eh?! This beauty set me back €4.50 about 6 months ago and I haven't even made a small dent in it. There's value for money, if ever there was any!!

Yellow

Carmex. This yellow tube of lip healing goodness needs absolutely no introduction. It's been the saving grace of plenty in its time. I use this before bed to keep my lips hydrated overnight. In fact, many nights have been rudely interrupted when I wake to find my very beaten up tube, having forgot to apply it before I turned in for the night. I couldn't go anywhere without this, it's a staple in my life at this point! 

Orange

Before I discovered Maybelline, as shown above, I used to swear by this mascara. It's Essence Maximum Definition Volume Mascara. Now, while its half the price of Maybelline, it's still every bit as good. The wand is thin and tapered at one end, reminiscent of the Lancome Doll Eyes mascara wand, only made of rubber with short rubber bristles similar to the Maybelline wands. It's a great mascara for those on a budget, and definitely one I would return to using is The Rocket is ever discontinued! €3.49 in any good pharmacy or Penneys nationwide

Red


One day, I will stop plugging these products, (spot the LoTR fan!!) but is not this day!! Natural Collection lipstick in Crimson retails for about €3.09 in Boots, and has the most wonderful, creamy consistency!! I would easily shell out double that for something of its quality anywhere else! In fact, I find myself reaching for this over my Revlon Ultimate Suede or my Essence Stay Matte Lip Cream. Crazy, huh? I always use my Essence Lipliner in Femme Fatale, as it seems to match all my red lipsticks in some amazing stroke of fate! It retails for €1.29 and you can find it in Penneys nationwide!

Time for tagging. I'm only gonna tag 5 people, because that seems like a reasonable number. Lets hope this takes off!!

Audrey over at The Nail Affair
Lauren over at Makeup By Lauren Marie
Kayliegh over at Kayliegh Land
Suzy over at Glamour & Go
Dani over at The Glamour Nazi

I hope you enjoyed this and sure, we'll see where this goes!!

Big Smiles,
Amy
xoxo

June BBC Day 16: Skincare Routine

I've always been about minding my skin. I've never suffered from acne, and most of the time, my skin is pretty well behaved aside from one or two small spots here and there! I don't believe, and have never believe in wearing a full face of make-up everyday. It's expensive and tough on your skin. I fully advocate going without. And I have to say, I've never bothered much with make-up and I still get told I'm attractive, beautiful (and if you're from the sticks, you'll know what it means to be called "a fine lookin' young-wan" by your elders). Going Au Natural has never stopped me meeting people, never stopped me getting male attention. While I fully understand why girls go out everyday with their face all made up, that's just not for me. I stick with my skincare routine, and that's enough for me!


When I'm in the shower I use Loréal Men Expert Pure and Matte facial scrub. It's designed to fight impurities and mattify the surface of your skin. I use two small blobs every time I get into the shower, the first to get rid of the oil on my skin, the second to get down into the pores. It never fails me!

After I finish with that, I gently run my Body Shop Facial Brush over to help increase blood-flow slightly. The bristles are soft and it just makes my skin lovely and tingly before I hop out of the shower.

After that, I run a Skin Wisdom Youth Protect wipe over my face to remove any residue that might be on my face, because the water isn't always great here at home! Then I take a little of my Elemis Softly Softly moisturiser and rub it til its all sunk in...

For my body, I've recently started using exfoliating gloves in the shower with my shower-gel, and then moisturizing with either Lush's Charity Pot, or if I need to look glowy for something, I will use my Garnier Summer Body Gradual Tanning Lotion. It's brilliant and not streaky at all. It also smells like apricots, but when you get into the shower it takes on that horrible burnt biscuit scent that we all loathe. Oh well, you can't win every round!

If I'm feeling like a treat, I'll pop this mask from the Boots Essentials range on for 3-5 minutes while I'm slathering myself in some lotion or another from the shoulders down! It's enriched with cucumber and I personally find it extremely softening and deep cleansing! It's somewhere in the €2.50/€3.00 price range, so its easy on the pocket. Also its good for using solely around the nose area if that's what you would rather. It comes in a bigger version too, so if you fall as hopelessly in love with it as I have, then you will be dying to repurchase the bigger tube, which is only a euro or so more expensive!

After I use the cucumber mask, and I've rinsed it off with barely warm water, I like to run a cotton ball with a little toner on it. Now, I'm not terribly fancy with my toner, and only that I already had the toner I have now, I'd have invested in the toner from the Boot Essentials like too. I use the Tesco Cucumber Toner to remove any leftovers from the Clay Mask, and then top it off with the Elemis moisturiser. I only use the mask 2 or 3 times a week, so this extra couple of steps just slot in pretty seamlessly to my normal regime.

So that's my very lengthy explanation of my skincare routine! Sorry if its a bit waffley or possibly a bit preachy, I got a bit caught up!

What is your skincare routine like? Do you get as involved in yours as I do in mine? What's your favorite product? Can you recommend any other masks for me to try? I would love to read your comments and suggestions down below!

Amy
xoxo