Skincare Routine: Make Up Removers and Toners

I’ve been meaning to do a skincare routine post for ages, but I’m worried if I did it all in one post in might be a bit too long! So today I’m talking make up removers and toners!

I always use a make up remover as soon as I get in from work, to get both my eye make-up and the majority of my foundation off. If I’m wearing quite a lot of make up I use the Bioderma Sebium H2O (I use this seller) on a few cotton pads, I find this really cooling on the eyes, and the best way I’ve found to use it is to hold it against my eye for as long as possible, so I don’t have to rub my eyes at all. I also use another cotton pad just to get the majority of my face make up off. A new addition to my collection is the No7 Cleansing Water, it’s great to see British High Street Brands catching on to the cleansing water trend, and I picked this up for £4 (£9 without a voucher). I really like this product but it isn’t as effective as Bioderma, and I struggle to remove all of my eye make up with it. It’s great as a refresher in the morning, but I wouldn’t rely on it to get all of my make up on it. I do LOVE the packaging though, having a pump is so useful, saves spilling it everywhere/overloading the cotton pad with product and I will probably decant my Bioderma into this bottle when it runs out, and I would repurchase it.

I don’t use face wipes to remove make up generally, but if I have no other choice, the only ones I have found that don’t irritate my skin are the Sainsbury’s Skin Therapy Sensitive Cleansing Wipes (link) which are fragrance free, and the wipes are moist enough that they don’t drag.

I currently have two toners in rotation, I use a few spritzes of the Caudalie Beauty Elixir (link) in the morning, which makes my skin feel refreshed and I normally pat it onto any blemishes, as I find it really calms them down. At night I prefer something a little more moisturising (also the Caudalie Beauty Elixir is ridiculously expensive!) so I use the Avene Gentle Toner which is really gentle and soothing on the skin.

What are your favourite make-up removers and toners?

No7 Vital Enlightening Highlight Powder

Wearing No7 Vital Enlightening Highlight Powder ~ £13.00 ~ Boots

My latest purchase from the No7 Vital Brights Spring Collection. I love a good highlighter, and they can be the perfect thing to wake up your face and add some dimension. This is the most inexpensive highlighter I own (even without the £5 off voucher) and it’s texture definitely competes with my others from Stila and Dior.

It’s got a really soft, buttery texture that makes it a dream to blend. The colour is quite neutral, not being too pink or peach toned, so it should suit most skin tones. It looks fairly sparkly in the pan but on the skin it is a gorgeous subtle highlight that can be worn for day time or built up for night time wear.

The packaging is lovely, the same floral design as the Cream Blushes (review here) and it’s sturdy enough without being clunky. The floral design of the highlighter is really pretty and remind me of the much more expensive Guerlain highlighter.

If you’re scared of highlighters, or don’t want to spend a lot of money on a high-end brand, this is a great one to start with. I’ve found myself wanting most of the new No7 collection, aside from maybe the eyeshadow palette, and think it is one of the better spring colour ranges on the high-street. If your not a fan of bright pastels but want to switch up your make up for spring, the vital Brights collection is one to check out!

A Small Haul : Maybelline Color Tattos, No7 & Avene

Just a few things I picked up at Boots and Superdrug today. Maybelline is currently on 3 for 2 at Superdrug, so I had to pick out a few 24hr Color Tattoos, so glad the Taupe shade got released here! I also found this Gosh Fan Brush for 10p! Definitely worth checking out for that price!

I used my No7 voucher to get the Beautiful Skin Moisturiser for Oily skin, it has SPF 15 and 5* UVA Protection, which is great as I forget my SPF quite a lot! I also got the Avene Cleanance K to try, a chemical exfoliator with AHAs and BHA’s.

I will try to get some swatches of the Maybelline Color Tattoos up tomorrow!

What have you been hauling lately?

No7 Vital Brights Lipstick in Blossoming Pink

There’s something about No7’s Spring collections, they always seem to get me. So when I found I had No7 vouchers coming out of my ears, I felt like I needed to pick something up. The lipstick in Blossoming Pink is a sheer pinky nude. This is my type of nude, anything paler than this scares the bejesus out of me and tends to make me look a bit corpse like. I love the pale lipped look on some, but on me? I have quite pigmented lips and  it just doesn’t work.

This has a really easy to wear creamy texture, and because it is quite sheer it should suit a wide range of skin tones. I really love this shade, and will definitely be pairing it with the Blossoming Pink Blush (reviewed here).

I love No7’s lipsticks, and they’re one of the first things I go for when I get a voucher. I have tried a couple of the forumlas and I’m yet to find a bad one!

I still have about 4 No7 vouchers left so do I be good and get some sponges for free, or more lipstick?

You can find No7’s Vital Brights lipsticks at Boots where they retail at £10 (£5 with a voucher)

No7 Vital Brights Cream Blush in Blossoming Pink

Yesterday was a massive fail in regards to my Project 20 Pan, I got a No7 £5 voucher when I bought the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua, and I couldn’t just ignore it. The new cream blushes were calling out to me. I blame the pretty packaging.

Blossoming Pink is a warm corally pink in the pan but blends to a gorgeously wearable warm pink. It’s a cream blush but I don’t find it gives a dewy finish, it it a lot like the Topshop cream blushes, in that it dries down to a powder and has a fairly satin finish, not matte bu8t definitely not dewy.

I wore this yesterday as soon as I bought it as my blush had faded, and I needed a bit of colour, it lasted about 4 hours before I wanted to add a bit more, this is without a powder on top.

It applies really well with fingers, you won’t need a brush for these. The formula is just about perfect, they apply gorgeously, and blend with no streaks. The colour is beautiful, it really pops on my skin tone, it has just enough warmth to brighten my complexion but not so much it looks unnatural.

My one gripe with this is the price. I obviously used a £5 voucher so this only cost me £5, there would be no way I would of paid £10 for this. You only get 2g of product which is pretty damn stingy, to compare a MAC Cremeblend blush contains 5.6g, for £17.50, which works out to £31.25/10g, these work out to £50/10g very overpriced for a supposed high street brand. I could understand if the packaging was a bit more expensive, but it’s just plastic. No7 where do you get off charging that much for blush? I don’t see this lasting very long at all, and I’m undecided as to whether I would buy a a back up.

There is one other shade in his formula which is a much brighter cool toned candy pink, which I was tempted by, but I don’t think I would reach for it as much, and couldn’t justify the purchase.  The rest of the collection looks gorgeous, but again slightly overpriced. I have no problem dropping a lot of money on make – up, but with No7 it seems unjustified. Why would I spend as much on a high street brand as a high end brand? Never mind the fact that the Limited Collections always seem to have a big price hike.

Have you tried any of No7’s Spring Collection? What do you think about No7’s pricing?

You can find No7 Vital Brights Cream Blush at Boots where it will cost £10 (£5 with a voucher)

Get Beautiful Skin with No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream

Since trying Boots 17’s BB Cream I’ve been rethinking the way I use foundation. I love my Estee Lauder Double Wear but the weather has been playing havoc with my skin and my usually oily skin has been getting dry and dull. So I was very excited to hear that No7’s BB Cream would come in three different formulations targeted at different skin types. I had a No7 Voucher burning a hole in my pocket a couple of weeks ago and picked up a tube of the Normal/Oily BB Cream.

‘Take off those winter layers and reveal your outer beauty this spring with new No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream. Its unique 3-in-1 formula evens and enhances skin tone and disguises imperfections, while the nutrient-enriched formula helps to banish blemishes.

And with the added protective power of SPF 15 and 5 * UVA technology to help skin stay youthful, BB is the only way to wear this season’s must-have essential - perfectly-pared back, beautiful skin.

For Normal / Oily Skin’

It comes in two shades (Fair + Medium) and although I would of like to have seen a few more shades the Fair is a pretty good match for my skin. It has an SPF of 15 and 5* UVA protection, which is great as I can never remember to put sunscreen on when it’s cold out!

I been experimenting with how to wear and apply this and I get the best results for me by mixing about 2/3’s with a 1/3 of Double Wear and apply it with my MAC 129 (but whatever flat foundation brush you like would work just as well) and then to blend it fully I buff it in with a MAC 187 (but again any stippling brush would work) I find this way gives me the coverage I need but stops my skin looking dull, and prevents the Double Wear clinging to dry patches.

Although I do wear this with Double Wear to work, if I’m not at work and don’t want to wear such heavy make – up I will wear this alone, apply it with fingers with some MAC MSF on top. After applying it has quite a dewy finish, but it sets down to a natural semi-matte finish. The coverage is good, I still need to use concealer as I have quite bad acne scarring.

You can use this with or without a moisturiser, but as I find my skin gets oilier when it’s dehydrated I have been using it on top of Liz Earle’s Skin Repair, and I don’t find that my skin gets oily, and I haven’t suffered with any breakouts (also due to a change in skincare but more on that later)

I can’t sing the praises of this products enough. For me I find it better suited than the 17 BB Cream, so I don’t mind that it’s a bit more pricey. I can’t speak for the other two formulations but if you have oily/combination skin, this would be a great and versatile product to try.

No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream retails at £12.95 (I used a £5 No7 voucher) and is available at Boots.

Sales Pick: No7 Midnight Enchantment Blush

Other than Lush the only shop I’ve been in since Christmas is Boots, when I spotted the No7 Winter Collection was all half price, I had to pick up the gorgeous embossed blusher. Originally priced at £13 you can now find this in Boots for £6.50, whilst stocks last.

It is made of three different shades, a plum brown, light rose pink and a white highlight, which when combined give a beautiful natural flush to the cheeks. All the shades contain shimmer but not so much that it is overpowering.

This is a lovely everyday blush, and would look gorgeous all year round. If you have £6.50 to spare, it would be well spent on this blush!

You can find No7 Midnight Enchantment Blush in Boots.

NOTD ‘I Need A (No7) Dollar’

This polish is gorgeous. Its got a great fluid, spreadable consistency that’s opaque in two coats.It’s a green/teal colour with a beautiful green micro shimmer. If you have a No7 voucher, I suggest you go buy this!

Sleek Bad Girl FOTD

I’m gonna go ahead and apologise for the serious case of shiny face… Flash is not my friend, but a dimly lit room in the evening is not my cameras friend! This was a FOTD from last Saturday, I was supposed to be going out but it ended up getting cancelled, so I stayed in and drank JD and 7UP with the boy. Still a fun evening although I was probably a little overly made up!

Products Used:

Face: Bourjois Biot Detox mixed with Estee Lauder Double Wear, Collection 2000 Concealer, No7 Brightening Concealer, Sleek Suede Blush, Smashbox Fusion Softlight in Baked Starlight.

Eyes: UDPP, Sleek Bad Girl Palette, Revlon Grow Luscious Plumping Mascara, No7 False Eyelashes No 40.

Lips : 17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Beehive

NOTD–No7 So Simple

If you find yourself with a lot of No7 £5 vouchers burning a hole in you pocket, the range of nail polishes contains some great staple colours. So Simple is nude cream that doesn’t give my hands that dead look that some nudes can. It applies a little streaky at first and needs three coats, but with the new brush, and speedy drying time application is quick and easy.

No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour can be purchased at Boots for £7/£2 with a voucher.

Honey Love! Review: No7 Natural Blush in 20 Honey

Having quite a collection of pink blushers and no neutral or peach ones, when I found I had four £5 No7 vouchers burning a hole in my pocket I thought Id check to see if they had any thing suitable. I found their Natural Powder Blush in Honey.


The packaging is simple (if a little boring, something I find with most of No7's products) with a window so you can find the colour you are looking for easily.

Although it looks fairly orange in the pan, on the skin it blends down to a pretty, neutral shade. I find the best way to wear this blusher is with a fairly neutral face, but I'm sure it would work equally well with a dramatic look.



Honey Swatched

I've been wearing this blush all week for work, as it's a little tamer than my usual pink favourites. It lasts all day on me with only minor fading. Would I buy it again? Yes for the price, its a good quality blusher that would suit most pale to medium skintones.
No7 Natural Blush can be found in Boots, for £9, or £4 with one of the current £5 No7 Vouchers.

Recent Haul

Ill be posting reviews of most of these products later in the week but for now some photo's...

No7 Natural Blush in Honey (£9.00 for 5g or £4.00 with the current vouchers!)
I had been looking for a neutral toned blush for workand this seemed to fit the bill a nice nude that doesn't pull orange on my cool toned skin. Perfect.

No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in Totally Teal (£7.50), 17 Matte Top Coat (£4.00), Barry M Nail Paint in Grey (£2.99)
I need more nail varnish like I need a hole in the head but oh well. A bit late on the matte nail varnish band wagon but at under a fiver ( and currently available in the 3 for 2 offer) I figured why not.

17 Lasting Fix Lipsticks in Hot Chilli and Dreamy (£4.29 each) also availible on the 3 for 2)
I didn't have an orangey red and I can't wait to wear Hot Chilli once summer finally arrives! Dreamy is a nice addition to my pink lipstick collection.
That it for this haul. Reviews and swatches to follow in the week!