Beauty Lovers Advent Calendars

 Liz Earle Advent Calendar £100* (free delivery until 4th December)

 You Beauty Advent Calendar £59.95 + £2.95 P&P*

Every year, I will be given a chocolate advent calendar from my grandparents (yes, i'm 22 years old) and each year, I still find it just as exciting opening the little door and having a cheeky piece of chocolate for 24 days of the month (even though we all eat chocolate all year round, but it's in the shape of Snowmen and holly...thus making it 100% DIFFERENT...okay?) . However, being a complete beauty junky, when these got delivered to my door, I suddenly lost all enthusiasm for my chocolate advent calendars. 

The first one is a Liz Earle advent calendar. As most of you know, I am a huge fan of Liz Earle. I've used their cleanse and polish for well over a year now, and although I dip my toe into the realm of other cleansers, nothing ever comes close. This is the perfect pre-christmas, skincare lovers treat. I appreciate that not everyone will have £100 to splash out on a lavish advent calendar, but look how amazing it is! The perfect early Christmas present for your best friend, Mrs or your Mum. It houses samples of all their best selling skincare, eye care, haircare and body care. I can't express to you how excited to am to start opening this. The end of December can't come quick enough..

The second beauty advent calendar has been created by Latest in Beauty to celebrate their 1 year partnership with You magazine. If you aren't really much of a skincare enthusiast, then this would be much more "up your street". The calendar is made up of 24 different branded beauty samples including Benefit, St Tropez, Espa, L'Occitane, Eve Lom and Dermalogica (a few of my favourites from the long list). There is much more of a variation of products in this one, from mascara and lip balm, to hair masks and hand cream. The calendar is worth over £210, so you are getting yourself an absolute bargain. It's like one giant beauty box! :) You can click here to go the site and take a peek at the products included (or if you want it to be surprise i'd advise you don't scroll down on the website and go straight to the "add to basket"). I, myself have looked at the products included (as I wanted to see if the advent calendar was worth the price tag), and I can confirm that it is! I'd probably use almost all of them. 

Have these interested you? Are you contemplating spoiling yourself or someone else during the exciting Christmas run up? I personally think these are a brilliant concept, I just wish they'd been around sooner. 

♥

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Review | Liz Earle Makeup Range

As many of you may know already, I am a huge fan of Liz Earle. Their hot cloth cleanser is the one skincare product I am always repurchasing, I think i've got through around 8 bottles of the stuff! You can read my review of the Liz Earle skincare HERE but for now, i'm going to talk about a new addition to Liz Earle, a makeup line!

It was only right that after launching their sheer skin tint, they would then follow with even more makeup!  I was super excited to see the collection as I knew that in true Liz style, it would be exceptionally good quality and I was not disappointed.

I'm going to try and sum up my thoughts on the makeup items that I've tried as best I can without boring you or making you want to gauge out your eyeballs (how pleasant). 

Natural Finish Loose Powder   

£19.50*

I am super fussy when it comes to powder. I don't like my skin to look matte, and so I like something to have reflective light properties or that gives a healthy glow. Although this powder didn't give me as much of a glow as i'd have liked (let's face it,  if I want a glow I can use a highlighter) I really love this powder. I actually find that it works really well with the sheer skin tint as that can be very dewy (I'm talking top of the dewy scale here). There is a whopping 12g of product in this plastic jar, so this is sure to last you a long time and in terms of pricing, works out cheaper than my beloved Bare Escentuals. This powder contains vitamin e, borage and avacado oils, so benefits the skin as well as just sitting pretty on it. I've not worn this powder alone, so I can't comment too much on overall coverage, but as far as setting other foundations goes, this works a treat. 

Natural Glow Bronzer

£19.50*

Now, the first thing you will notice, as far as bronzers go, is that this is quite a pricey one! However, the quality of this bronzer is perfect. It has a soft consistency, is easy to blend and leaves a very natural bronzed colour on the face. The powder itself is not overly pigmented, but this is why I like it. They have designed this specifically for a natural look. If you are someone who is a little scared of going OTT on the bronzed front, this will be perfect for you. It comes in one shade so far, so this may not be ideal for you darker skinned ladies but being a pale missy myself, I love it and have been reaching for it quite a lot recently. 

Healthy Glow Powder Blush 

£16.50*

Again, this is quite high up on the pricing scale, although nowhere near the price tag of my beloved Nars blushers (£21 *gulp*). This blush is also very smooth and soft and easy to blend and work with, and again, offers a natural flushed finish. The blush is available in 7 shades, the one I have is Rose 04. Although this isn't hugely pigmented, it gives such a pretty colour, and just like they marketed, very natural. 

Precision Brush

£13*

This was probably the one thing I was least excited about. I own a lot of precision brushes (mostly targeted for use with concealer) but they say that this brush is multi purpose. It can be used for face, lips, eyes and brows. It has a great thin, and rounded tip which would make use for all the above things very easy. They currently have 3 brushes, the one that most appeals to me is the powder brush, which looks really nice. They are all made with 100% man made fibers and all have a clear acrylic handle, which I really liked. It's stylish and different from any other brushes i've seen. 

Sheer Lip Gloss

£13.50*

This is the only product where I feel the price isn't quite justified. I'm not the biggest fan of lipgloss, but I do know that some of my favourite glosses, cost me in the region of £7 from the High Street. Had this been more around the £10 mark, I think I would have been slightly more inclined to purchase one myself. The glosses are quite sheer in order to give a very natural finish on the lips, which I know for a lot of people, is something they would choose over something with far more pigmentation. One thing I do like about this gloss, is that it doesn't feel too sticky on the lips. They also include avacado oils and shea butter to nourish the lips, which is a nice added bous. The colour I received is Quince 09, which although looks quite orangey (a colour you know I love) is more of a neutral dark toffee red once on the lips. 

Swatches

Overall, I was really impressed with the quality of the Liz Earle makeup line. I don't think their target market is young teenage girls however, and I can imagine that it will more suited to the more mature women after a very subtle, natural and youthful look. I personally loved the blush, bronzer and loose powder and would recommend them to anyone after something a little more natural. I like the packaging, it's not edgy or overly exciting, but it works and it represents the brand well. I also love that the compacts have mirrors, very handy for on the go touch ups.  I think I would have liked the lipgloss a little more if it was in a more neutral shade and a little less pricey. I do really want to try out a few more shades of the blush though, or even purchase a cream blush as they too look really interesting.

Have you tried anything from the Liz Earle makeup line? Anything that stands out to you?

♥

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Liz Earle Mothers Day Treat.

As you know, I am the biggest fan of Liz Earle Skincare, so when the lovely people at Liz Earle asked if I wanted a gorgeous, gift wrapped little skincare kit for Mothers Day, of course I said yes. And no, I didn't keep it for myself, as much as I would have loved to as everything in it is so lovely, I gave it to my Mum so she could trial it, and give her opinions on the products herself. I'm also quite aware, that not everyone reading my blog has glowing, youthful skin, and so for those of you with dehydrated or dry skin or skin with signs of ageing, you may find this review helpful.

This particular kit comes with the following products:
♥ Superskin Body Lotion 50ml
♥ Superskin Concentrate 10ml
♥ Superskin Moisturiser 15ml jar
♥ Sample size of the new Superskin Eye & Lip Treatment
RRP: £30

So what did Mummy Zoella think?
"I absolutely love all the scents, they're really fresh & floral. The Superskin Moisturiser feels light when applying and sinks it straight away, which is a thumbs up. I don't really like the feeling of a heavy, hydrating cream on my skin, so the fact that this sinks in so easily is great. This also applies with the Body Lotion, which I have thouroughly enjoyed using so far. The Superskin Concetrate smells amazing, and using this is a real treat. It leaves my skin feeling refreshed, energised and smooth. I am beginning to see some great results from using these skincare products. I normally stick to Dermalogica as my preferred skincare regime, but after using some of these products I may have to go ahead and purchase the full sizes when these run out."

This is not only a fabulous present for your Mummy, but why not get this kit yourself if you've always wanted to try out a few of the Superskin products? They are the perfect size, and obviously you'd be saving yourself a lot of pennies by trialling the smaller sizes. I just wish all skincare brands offered things like this, as we don't always want to spend the full price on the full sized product, especially if they don't agree with your skin.

I know it's possibly a bit late to be suggesting Mother's Day presents, but if you're anything like me, and leave it right to the last minute as you have no clue what your mum would want, then maybe she could wait a few days for something a bit more thoughtful instead of that tacky mug you quickly picked up in "The Card Factory" that was next to the till. Also, it doesn't necessarily have to be for Mothers Day does it. Mums are special all year round.

Buy Liz Earle in selected stockists on the High Street or Online. Treat your Mum...or yourself ;)

♥

Review: Liz Earle - Skincare Miracle

I want to start off by saying that I know there are a good few Liz Earle reviews floating about on the Internet, but if you know me, and you know my blog, then anything I choose to rave about, I really love or desperately want to share my opinions of with you, so I hope this helps a lot of you.

I was actually sent the cleanse & polish, along with the toner and moisturiser last summer. You could say this review is long overdue, but I wanted to get full use of the products in order to review them properly. I don't know if its just me, but I don't particularly want to read an opinion on a product that someone has used for a week. When I was sent the products, I hadn't heard too much about Liz Earle & I hadn't ever used a muslin cloth in conjunction with a cleanser. Nor had I ever applied cleanser to a dry face, so it was all a very new experience. One which I shall now be using for the rest of my life.

I was also sent this cute little travel pack, which includes: Superbalm, Moisturiser, Toner & Hand cream. I have also used all this up.

The Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser

I'll start by talking about the first, and most important step in the Liz Earle regime, and that's cleansing. For a start, the bottle is genius. You just pump out as much as you need, which then ensures there's no mess, and no squeezing necessary (something you really do appreciate when you are coming to the end of the tube - How annoying is it when you have to start squeezing product within an inch of your life like a toothpaste tube). You then apply the cleanser (which I'd also like to add, smells absolutely divine - really natural) to a dry face or full face of makeup. At first, I found this odd and hard to get used to, but after a while it became such a lovely treat. I don't know about you, but I hate having to splash my face with water as it mostly ruins my hair and me being the absolute clutz that I am, will more than likely splash it all over myself, so not having to do this, made cleansing so much easier, and it actually became something I looked forward to at the end of the day and in the morning, rather than a messy chore. After applying the cleanser all over your face and neck, and creating what I'd like to call "coal face" (the after effect of cleanser + black eye makeup then smeared all over your face), you run your muslin cloth (2 provided when bought with the cleanser pack) under warm/hot water, and use this to remove the makeup and cleanser. It's a lot more controlled than splashing your face, and the muslin cloth works as an exfoliator on the skin, which in turn helps to leave your skin feeling refreshed and revitalised alongside the cleanser.
The cleanser I used was 100ml, and this lasted me a good 7 months, used both at night and in the morning, but obviously this depends on how much you need to remove a face of makeup. For the drag queens out there, I wouldn't expect it to last as long ;)

The results of using this cleanser were seriously amazing. My skin has never been terribly bad, but I have dry/combination skin which was a nightmare to control, and I'd still get the occasional breakouts and uneven skin tone mostly. A problem that I tend to have more than any other person, is that were I'd have a spot, it would scar, and the redness left behind would take weeks or even months to disappear, and one of the things i noticed when using Liz Earle was that my skin not only started to co operate, but the redness and scaring caused by spots, would disappear almost instantly, and then spots weren't even an issue anymore, as the cleanser prevented them from rearing their ugly heads anyway. My skin was more even, much healthier and I definitely noticed a massive difference that no other cleanser has even come close to. It was a very sad day recently when my beloved Liz Earle cleanser ran out, and my skin is definitely punishing me for it!

Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic

I use this toner on a cotton wool pad after every time I cleanse my face. I know that a few of you don't use toner, or feel it a necessary step in your face regime, but personally, I don't think I could live without it. It ensures that you have removed every last trace of makeup, or cleanser from your face before moisturising. This toner is by far the best one I have ever used. It's extremely refreshing and I feel like my face literally soaked up all the goodness, which in turn, left my face looking so much more radiant and feeling squeaky clean. I still have the smallest bit left and I'm trying to use is sparingly as I just don't want it to end. haha.

Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser - Dry/Sensitive

The last step to the routine, is of course, the moisturiser. I hadn't heard many people raving about this, but in fact, it's the best moisturiser I have EVER used. Yes, dramatic but in absolutely no way an overexageration. I have dry/combination skin, which means there are parts of my face in need of a damn good thirst quench, and others that I could probabaly fry an egg on. (I'll leave you with this splendid imagery of my face for a few moments). I have never, in a good 8 years since wearing moisturiser, found anything that can combat both these problems, and still have the ability to make me look glowy and fresh. That was of course until I used this (I don't want to come across like a cheesy person on an infomercial but it's true). I used every little last bit up of this. There wasn't one day where I went without it. I think I even went through a phase where this was in my handbag because I just couldn't part with it, and the thought of not having it there when i needed it was truely horrifying...I'm aware that i'm now coming across like a crazy Liz Earle addict. Is there a rehab center for this? I don't think I ever want to use another moisturiser and I dont ever feel like need to keep buying and trying. I literally scraped the jar clean. There is nothing left, nada. Have I ever done this before? No. Normally, I won't even finish a moisturiser because I haven't gotten on with it.

I do appologise for my quite rambly, long review, but I really think it deserves all the praise it's getting. Not only do I love Liz Earle for creating these products but my skin also love love loves her, and I know that I won't be able to use anything else now. I am terribly terribly sad my products have now run out, and I will definitely be saving to buy more. Not that Liz Earle is expensive, in fact it's very reasonably priced. I do urge any of you who are stuck in a rut with your skincare to pop along to any of the stockists or get yourself online (here) or even just to talk to one of the consultants and see what it can do for your skin type. Obviously it won't be for everyone & some of you may have already tried it and not liked it, but personally I don't ever want to use anything else if i can help it.

♥