Review: L'Oréal Skin Perfection Micellar Solution & Toner Duo

- l'oréal micellar solution - l'oréal velvety-soft toner - 

Micellar water was first introduced to me in the form of Bioderma and I fell in love with it. I do also have a slight affair with cleansers which I used to solely use as a make up remover but now use the likes of Bioderma as a step before. A few weeks ago, as I was waiting for a replacement of my most beloved micellar water,  I found this duo in Asda. They were on offer so I decided to try them.

My 250ml Bioderma is still sitting in a drawer, unopened.

It's a beautiful micellar solution. It's really purifying, it softens your skin and removes all impurities you might have and it's only £4.99! It doesn't contain any alcohol, which I'm not sure many micellar solutions do, but I have quite sensitive eyes so it's just all the better that alcohol isn't an ingredient. This is just a really lovely addition to your make up removal routine especially because of the price and L'oréal must be doing something right to land this in Vogue's top 10 micellar waters!

The toner is just as lovely. I haven't been using this long as toners are a fairly recent discovery for me, but now I don't know what I would do without it. I apply this straight after the micellar solution and the pair work perfectly together just as you would assume. It's really cleansing and leaves my skin looking clean, clear, toned and radiant.  It has a velvety texture as the name suggests and, to be honest, it just feels really nice to put on your face.

I also like the fact that these are drugstore products. It's really satisfying for me to find a gem among highstreet brands for the sake of convenience and price aswell!

I would definitely recommend picking these up next time you come across them.

They are a great duo and a really nice addition to anyone's skin care routine.

Have you tried these already?

What's your favourite micellar water?

Lots of love.

Review: Birchbox

- birchbox -

This is a bit of last minute post hence the reasons why the pictures aren't great quality (we can all thank instagram for that). I just wanted to make this post as I've seen a lot of controversy over whether these beauty boxes are worth it or not.

I've been subscribed to Birchbox for about 6 months now and I haven't really been disappointed at all. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm not really expecting amazing things which I know sounds strange for something I'm paying monthly for but more often than not, or actually most of the time in my case, I've been sent a brand I've never heard of (which I love), a nice variety of products and they've seemed to actually pay attention to my beauty profile and sent me products accordingly.

The idea of a beauty box, I think, is great. I love trying new products and especially from lesser known or even international brands that I otherwise wouldn't have heard about let alone been able to find where they're stocked and that is the main reason I opted for the Birchbox as opposed to Glossybox. From other bloggers I've seen what they've recieved in their Glossybox each month and it all seems to be easily accessible 'highstreet' brands and products whereas Birchbox I've found has more of a variety. I'd still enjoy trying new products each month even if they were highstreet brands (there are no beauty snobs over here) but for the same amount of money, or I think that Birchbox is slightly less actually, I much prefer the wider range of brands and products I get each month.

So all in all I really like beauty boxes and I'd love to subscribe to more! There are always going to be some months better than others and I think that just makes it more interesting and at least there might be at least one thing you like each month rather than wasting the whole £12.95 on one product you end up hating.

Just an FYI, I really loved this months Birchbox. The packaging was beautiful and all 5 products were really useable and just all round lovely!

The products for May 2014:
benefit they're real mascara £19.50
aromatherapy associates revive bath oil £39.00
soigne nail varnish £11.00
philip kingsley dry shampoo £13.50
liz earle cleanse & polish £13.50

I'd be really interested to know what you think and if you're subscribed to a beauty box and what one!

Lots of love.

Trends for Spring/Summer 2014

Summer 2014

Hair

Hair styles of the summer bring sleek poker straight hair and head bands back from the 90's. The beach waves and loose curls are on their way out this season according to the catwalk. Personally I'm not sure if when the sun decides to come out in London I could bare straightening my hair everyday and everything in my body tells me head bands are for washing my face but who know's, maybe you will see me rocking a 5 inch wide elasticated head band. I doubt it. 

Beauty

Black eyeliner never goes out of fashion and this summer the way to wear it is smudged under the eyes. It's all about it not being perfect which is great for all of us that absolutely can not do winged liner even if our lives depended on it.
  Using a pencil to achieve this is probably the easiest but I guess a black eyeshadow under the lower lash line would essentially do the same thing. I usually wear a variation of this look everyday by applying 'Faint', which is a dark brown colour from my Naked Basics palette, under my lower lash line just to complete my eye look. I'm all for this trend but really always thought of it as more of a Auntumn/Winter look but I guess not.
Here are a couple of my favourite eyeliners:
Rimmel Scandal Eyes £3.99
Topshop Khol in Coal £4.00

I have always been a massive fan of bronzers so I was glad to hear that they should be overused this season. A natural bronzed looking face achieved literally by lightly applying your favourite bronzer to you whole face (and neck, you don't want to be leaving that out - trust me)  is the thing to do this Summer. I always opt for a matte bronzer as I'm not a massive fan of shimmer ,no matter how subtle, so most days I use my Nars Laguna Bronzer but I find at the moment it looks just a little to dark for me so my routine involves a lot of blending. If you have any recommendations for a light bronzer please please let me know.
I would be eternally grateful.

Nail trends. Who knew they were a thing? Nail art has been the subject of controversy on the catwalk with some designers such as Marc Jacobs who seem to be a true advocate of nail art using studs to accentuate his runway outfits, but as much as they deny it natural and nude nails are creeping their way back in and I have to say, I'm all for it. Natural colours, simple patterns and french manicures are the opposing trend and have always been something I've preferred. As ridiculous as it sounds I'm never brave enough to have something extravagant on my nails so nude and pastel shades are my go to for spring especially and by far the biggest part of my collection.

My favourite nude nail polishes:
Nude Beigie

Essie San Tropez

Fashion
Florals, embellishment, slogan tees and crop tops.
Florals are quite simple to wear really as they're on pretty much everything. Over the past few months they've been appearing on jeans which I think is a great way to wear them this season.
Embellishments are the new studs for S/S which I think is a nice change. I haven't seen much of this in the highstreet yet so hopefully they'll catch up before the end of summer.
I'm on the fence with slogan tees. I can't tell if you're meant to wear them ironically or not so I haven't really bothered. The only one that hangs lonely in my wardrobe is one I got from Zara last year which isn't in stock anymore but I found a replica here.


There are hundreds more trends to accompany this season but these are the ones I thought most applied to everyone.
What do you think of these trends for the upcoming months?

Lots of love.