Real Techniques Stippling Brush - Review

Hi everyone,

So as I mentioned in my previous post I picked up a Real Techniques Stippling Brush in Boots on Saturday. I have been wanting to try out the Real Techniques brushes since I knew that Boots were stocking them and some of my brushes have seen better days so I thought it was about time I treated myself.

The brushes, although more expensive than any I have previously bought are so much more affordable than MAC brushes but are amazing quality.

They are synthetic and therefore cruelty free and are so so soft on the skin. I bought the stippling brush for £11.99 and have tried using it with foundation and blush. Although I think it works fine for foundation I am interested now to buy the Buffing Brush as I have heard good things about the way this applies foundation. For blush the Stippling brush is amazing!
I would definitely recommend checking out the line for some affordable but good quality brushes which make applying makeup much more simple!

You can pick up this amazing brush in Boots stores or on Boots website here!

Frances x

Picture from realtechniques.com

Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation - Rave Review

Hi everyone,

Good news is I have finally finished all my essays for uni and am now about to go home for 2 weeks to revise for exams and then I'm done! Yay!

So yesterday after having finished my essays I popped to Boots and treated myself to a new foundation. I had previously been using the Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation, which I really love - it gives perfect medium coverage and does make your skin look really awake. The only problem is my skin is going through a really oily stage at the moment, especially on my cheeks and the Rimmel foundation was making me look way too shiny and I hate powdering too much, I prefer a less obvious makeup look.

So I went to the Bourjois stand ready to pick up the Healthy Mix Foundation which I know from experience that I love and works well on my skin (I wore it in 30 degree heat on holiday last year and didn't suffer from oilyness). However, whilst at the stand I saw that there was an offer for the new 123 Perfect Foundation, which was £4 off making it only £6.99. When I read the claims of the foundation it said it offered an even complexion, lasting coverage and a matte finish, which I thought sounded perfect!

So I thought I would give it a try today and so far I must say I absolutely love it. There's no sign of shininess on my face even though I've been out, been packing and generally rushing about! It has stayed put perfectly and covered my oilyness but is really natural and doesn't have that obvious makeup look or feel. I am extremely impressed!


You can pick up the Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation for the reduced price at Boots instore or on their website here!

I'll be back this weekend with some things I've been obsessing over! Have a great Friday!

Frances x

Obsession of the Day

Hi everyone,


I'm back after a lovely weekend away and ready to tell you what I'm wanting this week. Today it is not an item of clothing (how unlike me!) but a makeup product that has got me lusting.

This beautiful highlighter looks high end to me. The embossing, the colour which seems like it would suit both cool and warm skintones are qualities of something pricey. But even better than the product itself is that it is available in Boots as part of the No 7 Limited Edition Spring range which focuses on brightening products.I've seen a few blogposts about this range and for me this is the pick of the bunch and at £13 whilst not being the cheapest highstreet makeup price it's also not going to break the bank!

You can get your hands on this beauty here

I am going to do another post later about some things I picked up at the weekend as well as a post on my picks for the best coloured jeans around for spring!

Frances x

Bit of a shopping trip...

Hi everyone,

So today I have been doing some spending that I cannot afford... oops. I have been seduced by some new high street foundations that I've seen advertised and wanted to give them a go. Did it stop there? Well... no....

First off I went to Boots and had a look at the Rimmel 'Wake me up Foundation' which claims to take away the fatigued look (which being a student I definitely need) and give a glow. Now although I have combination skin with a fairly oily T-zone I actually prefer a glowing look to my skin as opposed to matte for general everyday wear. I mainly snapped this up because it was on a special offer for £3 off meaning that I got it for £5.99. I got mine in the shade True Nude. I will of course update you with my thoughts on it at a later date.

You can pick one up, for the special offer price here



Whilst at the Rimmel stand I also noticed the Kate Moss collection of lipsticks which completely passed me by until recently. I picked up the nude colour which is No. 3. I love a pink toned nude so I picked this up for a pound off (£4.49)

This is a small close up of my lips with the lipstick on (as the rest of my face looks awful!). I really like it and think it rivals some of my MAC nudes (Plink, Hue, Viva Glam V) in terms of consistency, longevity and how flattering a colour it is.

Again, for the reduced price pick one up here

So after that needless spending I decided to carry on and headed over to Superdrug whom I knew had Maybelline's new 'Dream Nude Airfoam' foundation for £2 off. I have been intrigued since seeing all the adverts which are constantly popping up everywhere and have heard good reviews on what seem to be similar skintypes to mine so I thought it was worth a go. Like everyone says, you do need to only press the pump slightly as a load comes out at once. I haven't yet tried this on my face but the consistency seems nice on my hand; a fairly light coverage foundation but it looks like it could be buildable. As with Rimmel's offering I will keep you posted!

To get yours on the Introductory price click here

And finally on my beauty spending spree was a genuine repurchase of a necessity! This was L'Oreal's Infallible Eyeliner in Choc (or the brown one as it is known to me). I purchased this a few months ago after having a mini breakdown when I realised that Boots had stopped stocking Prestige products. Up until this point Prestige was the only brand whose kohl eyeliner I trusted to stay on my waterline with no smudge or panda-like effects. I searched around and actually one of the shop assistants recommended me the L'Oreal one as being budge-proof. I have to say I totally agree. It creates a lovely smokey effect (which I find easier to achieve with a brown rather than black) and really does not smudge all day. I love it. It has actually meant that I have stopped wearing winged black liquid liner on my lid every day in preference of a softer look where I line my tight line and water line and then just use mascara. I cannot recommend this enough!

To buy yours click here

So have you tried any of these products? If so what did you think? What beauty products have got you spending your money this week?

Frances x

Product Rave - VO5 Miracle Concentrate

Hello again,

So I thought that it was probably a good idea if as well as blogging about items which I want to own, I also featured items which I do already own and love (or not as the case may be). With that said I want to talk about VO5 Miracle Concentrate.

This is a product which has been around a good while and has been popular within the beauty blogging world; in fact it was the reason I picked it up. I have never really thought of my hair as dry - it gets greasy irritatingly quickly if anything - but I had noticed that, having naughtily gone without a haircut for a few months too many the ends of my hair were looking and feeling lank and a bit in need of a treat. I stumbled across the Miracle Concentrate in Superdrug just before Christmas and thought that for under a fiver it was a reasonable way to enter into the Argan oil maze which seems to have developed in the past year or so.

I tried it the next morning on damp hair through my mid sections to ends and I immediately noticed a difference in the ease of styling my hair. The end result was that it looked nicer and less weighed down and it felt amazing - I kept getting people to touch it!

Since that day just before Christmas I haven't looked back. This product has been applied to my hair every single day and I don't think I could live without it. I am addicted to how soft my hair feels. I will definitely be repurchasing this as soon as mine gets near to running out although because of how little you need to use (I use around half a pippet every time) it really does last you ages. I've been using mine for nearly 2 months and it's not close to being half gone yet.

I absolutely recommend this to anyone who has not yet tried it... it's cheap, easily accessible at Boots, Superdrug and even supermarkets and it really does work and give your hair that added boost it needs especially after the damage of the winter months.

Frances x

(Picture taken from vo5.co.uk)