Duty Free buys

I picked up a few things from Duty Free on the way back to London last week.


First up, a restock of one of my favourite perfumes, Lanvin 'aperge'.

I like strong perfumes, ones that I can smell on myself. This, I can't really smell on me, but it seems to catch on everyone else's noses and I tend to get loads of compliments when I wear it. It is pretty expensive (you can see how much I used whilst I was away for those few days) so I have to learn to not spray it like a deodorant as I do with all my other perfumes. 

Next up, seem to be a Bulgarian favourite. In the sense, that this line seemed to be everywhere. They have a whole skincare line consisting of Rose. The women on Bulgaria have good skin, if surprisingly pale, and as it was only a few Euros, I picked this up as an impulse buy.

It comes in a  plastic jar that reminds me of cheap Clarins packaging.

This cream is made on natural bases and contains the unique Bulgarian rose water with exceptionally high contents of ether rose oil. It also includes natural almond oil, marigold extract and wheaten germs oil. The high quantity of rose oil made me more intrigued about this product. 

The product itself is seems a lighter consistency than most high end night creams, but I don't mind that at all. The smell is just of rose. Nothing else. It is very strong. I've only used it a couple of times so far. I use a small amount as shown below, rub it in my hands and pat onto my face. It made my skin feel luxurious and fresh after application. I like it so far.

This brand does a whole line of skincare products with rose, but I don't think its widely available in the UK which is a shame as I would have loved to used some more of their stuff.


Lastly... *drum roll*... I finally bought it. The rouge / blush I have been eyeing up and craving for absolutely ages. The Lancome Blush Subtil in 'Rose Sable'.

Duty Free is rubbish for money saving between European flights and I think I only saved about £3 from not buying it in London, but ever since my little sample had finished, I was finding it pretty hard to justify spending so much money on another blush. But something came over me, and I just picked it up and bought it. And I'm so excited that  I did.

Its not as pink as it shows on the pictures. The reason why I love this so much is that a couple of swipes of this blends right into my skin to give it a natural enhancement to my cheeks. It builds an absolute treat for a more defined look. I am of Indian skin tone (about NC42 I think), and when I used this, I feel like I have cheeks of an 'english rose'!

I haven't been so happy with a make up product like this for ages. I might even start thinking about looking to invest in a few more of this Subtile range.


You can find the whole Lancome Subtil range here.

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Things from Sofia

Hello! Its been a while. I went away for a very long weekend (which turned out to be be nearly a week somehow!) to Sofia, Bulgaria last week.

The weather was BEAUTIFUL, averaging about 30c, and I fell instantly ill the moment I landed at Heathrow due to the sudden shock of rain down pour and plummeting of temperature.

Bulgaria you ask? Why would someone spend the only holiday they can afford to have this summer in Bulgaria? Well, I wouldn't have thought of visiting this country if it wasn't for my friend's wedding being held in Sofia. And  boy was I glad it was held there. I had the most amazing and fun packed time with a whole bunch of people I had never met before in my life. The wedding was one of the most perfect weddings I have ever been to, just fun and friendly and joyful. We got to see and experience the culture in the daytime. Then on to good food, company and dancing till our heart's content in the evening. Because they country is still recovering from a revolution (I think?); fashion, style is about two decades behind and it does at times feel like you're in a time warp. But it was all part of the fun experience!

I wish I could post some pictures up of the wedding day itself, as well as mention some of the things that took place as part of the whole day, but as you already know, no one who knows me actually knows I have this blog so it wouldn't be fair to put anything up without the couple and people involved permission. Actually a couple of people do know now but they don't know the name of the blog.

But I can put some pictures up of some things I picked up on holiday. One of my favourite things was the Antique Market which I ended up visiting three times. I'm sure everything in there is not antique, but honestly, I didn't care. It was just so lovely walking around and talking to the stall owners. Of of the guys I bought a watch from was 67 years old, and has been keeping his stall since he was 12 years old!

This is the small pieces I accumulated. I thought they might end up looking like junk when I bought it back home, but I still love them and have been wearing them here.

A special mention to their Shopska Salad (tomato, red onion, cheese amongst other things) which I had with every meal. Their beef tomatoes have become the new love of my life as well!

I picked up a couple of things from Duty Free as well, but I'll put them up in another post.

Xxx

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Make up to take away

A quick post before I go away for a few days. I've been frantically packing last minute as usual. In fact, I still haven't finished, and I have people round for dinner tonight, but I felt like writing up this post. Its going to be a looong night. I thought I'd put up some pictures of what I'm taking away with me. Bear in mind, I am going away for less than a week so I feel quite ill looking at the abundance of make up that it being packed. The only consolation I give myself is that I'm going to a couple of functions whilst I am there, so.... I need more war paint? I dunno.

Anyway, so here is my main bag, as well as a small one to keep in my handbag

Here are the contents, which are crammed into a MAC makeup/brush bag
1. Nars Sheer Glow
2. Clinique city block
3. Laura Mercier primer
4. Estee Lauder concealer
5. Clinique mascara
6. MAC Studio Sculpt concealer
7. bobbi brown gel eyeliner in brown
8. MAC lipstick
9. No7 blush
10. Benefit bad gal eyeliner
11. Ruby & Mille eyelash curler
12. Small pot of shimmer powder
13. Elizabeth Arden mineral foundation
14. New Kid brow pencil
15 Shu Umera eyeshadow

In my small make up bag (which is a pencil case for £1 at Primark)
1. Body Shop blemish stick
2. Clinique mascara
3. clinique quad eyeshadow
4. bobbi brown mini eyeliner brush
5. Cargo khol pencil
6. Body Shop blotting paper
7. Clinique eyeshadow brush
8. Revlon lip gloss
9. Bare Minerals plumping lip gloss
10. No7 lip liner
11. Rimmel liquid eyeliner
12. Shu Umera blush

It doesn't finish there, here is my MAC eyeshadow palette. The larger ones are Stila.

 And lastly, my make up brushes which are mixture of E.L.F, MAC, Stila, MUFE and Sonia Kashuk

I'll take some pictures of my toiletries bag and post it up when I get back
x

The Body shop and Sanctuary face masks

I'm, not much of a face make person - purely because I'm far too lazy and impatient to sit around with gunk on my face. There are two, however that I wanted to mention - plus one recent discovery -  because I find them absolutely fantastic.

5 Minute Thermal Detox mask (£9.99 for 100ml)

This was one of the first masks I used that not only didn't break me out, but actually helped stopping the break outs and dried up the ones that were already there. I first used this over 10 years ago, and always come back to this. 


A similar, cheaper product is the Body shop one Warming Mineral Mask priced at £7.50 for 100ml. 

The other one that does a smiliar job to my face, is a recent discovery. I got a sample of this Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask last time I was in the Body Shop. The sample lasted me two applications. Once dried, I gently wiped it off with a wet flannel. Its a bit tough to take off, but worth the extra bit of work in my opinion.

It costs £10 for a 100ml tub.
All three of these products are great to take away any excess oil, and doesn't dry the skin out. 

I'm about to attempt to customise a plain yellow dress

Dress: £16.99 from ASOS (its much more of a darker yellow in real life)

Picked up lace and things to jazz it up

I'm going to make a brooch out of this leaf design for the shoulder

50p from local market

Three seperate decorations (£1.50 from
local market)

Sewed together to make a fascinator

Stich this lace over the plain belt (£4 from local market)

I haven't actually started any of the stitching yet and the event is next week! I'll post a picture of the final product if I get to finish it.

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Clinique Bonus Time!

I love Clinique bonus time - this is what I got free with two purchases:

This is my favourite thing. I lOVE this quad eyeshadow, especially the colour on the bottom right. This is going straight in my work draw for evenings out on the weeknights the office.

 The Clinique lip glosses are fab, and I'm looking forward to trying this out. So on to the two things I bought.

The first is the trusty city block in spf 40 (£15 for 40ml). Its ideal in the summer to chuck on before some mineral foundation for a natural look. It also comes in spf 25 which I kind of wish I got instead. I think it is a bit more lighter on application, as the spf 40 can be a bit thick for my dry skin.

The product itself has a very slight tint, but on application, it just disappears, helping the skin look slightly more even toned. Very good for a primer as well.

I also got the High Impact curling mascara (£14.50).

Its meant to last 24hrs without smearing or smudging - but doesn't market itself as a waterproof mascara. I was tempted by it because I am so clumsy with eyelash curlers, and tend to pull an eyelash out every time I use one. I thought this may help save what eyelashes I have left if it helps give them a natural curl. I've yet to try it, so we'll see.

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Preparing those wobbly bits for a holiday

Don't expect miracles, but this stuff has worked somewhat for me. There is not summer holiday for me this year, but I am preparing for a long weekend away in a couple of weeks to a hopefully very hot place. So preparation is needed, and so I have pulled out my 'Bliss Love Handler'. I got it last year when I knew I would have to sit on a beach full of toned, trimmed and younger ladies.

This is for the tyre round my waist. Yes, I have a muffin top. I used to be a size 6, but since all the rubbish of last year, I keep eating as some sort of comfort thing, and am now a size 10. Now, I am not complaining about being a size 10, but I really wish I was a toned size 10. I've put the weight on quite quickly and for my frame, I just look frumpy. I am working on starting an exercise regime, but I've got two weeks to fit into a dress and I need to lose at least a couple of pounds.

I am hoping that the Bliss Love Handler will be my saviour as it was last summer. The idea is that in six weeks of massaging this gel like product onto the love handles, waist and tummy area, you will see a noticeable reduction on the area, as well as a more toned look.

It gives a tingling sensation on application which seems to last a little while. I find that if I do sit ups (honestly, I manage to do about 6 before I collapse, I am VERY unhealthy) or some exercise and I apply this, the whole process seems to work faster.

I have to say, it did work for me last year - I had six weeks to prepare and although my body wasn't model firm,  my belly and love handles did appear smaller and flatter. I have less than two weeks this time round, but better late than never I suppose. Priced at £30, there is not way I can maintain such an expensive treatment. But I'm glad I got it for the holiday last year.

Maybe massaging and other oils may do the same job, but one thing for sure, it made me feel more confident being out on the beach with my 'love handles' looking tamed. I heard Biotherm does something similar, but couldn't seem to find it on their website.

I do really want to try out the Bliss Fat Girl Slim which is meant to tone, trim and smooth the problem areas whilst you sleep. But with redundancy looming in the inevitable future, I might not be able to justify such a luxury just yet.

For the cellulite laden thunder thighs, I picked up the L'Oreal Body Sculpt up today after work. Its on special offer at Superdrugs at the moment.

Again, not miracle cure but when I used it last time, I did notice my thighs smoother, reducing some of the cellulite. What I'll be doing is first use a roller to massage the problem areas. I have the L'Oreal pro-massage from last year.

The product itself was okay. If you don't have a roller thingy, just used your fingers and knuckles to knead the skin. Afterwards, massage on the gel like product. Evry morning and night. It smells pretty stinky, but I'm only using it for a short while, so will bear with it. I have also found that the Palmers Olive Butter cream (the only body cream I seem to have at home at the moment) seems to do a good job as well.

Personally, I don't think anything will get rid of the cellulite completely, but to reduce? There are some things that will help with that.





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