L'Oreal Paris Nude Magique Eau De Teint Foundation

Just before Christmas a package landed through my letterbox containing three different shades of newly released Eau de Teint foundation from L'Oreal. I have become a foundation horder recently so couldn't wait to try the shade most suited for me. I sent the two other shades to Kerri and Rachel to see what they thought of it too!

Top left is without foundation, although hard to tell with my lack of photography skills!

Firstly I love the sleek packaging, it's a small glass bottle containing 20ml so super handy for travelling. I tried shade 110 Warm Ivory which I believe is the second lightest shade available. Whenever I buy foundation I'm generally the palest shade in the selection and sometimes that even comes out too dark so I didn't have high hopes- shade wise. I needn't have been worried as the colour was easy to work with and I can get away with wearing it despite not being one I would have chosen myself.  The consistency of the liquid is a lot thinner than any I've tried before but I really do like it, so much that I have now bought the 100 Porcelain shade to use through out the colder months and it has been my go to foundation for day to day wear, Porcelain is just that bit more suited to my skin tone.

 L'Oreal Eau De Teint is available from Boots for £9.99, and as far as I can see only comes in 6 shades- hopefully more will follow! Keep reading to see what Kerri and Rachel think of the foundation L'Oreal say is 'Our lightest foundation yet' . 

The foundation gives a 'my skin on a very good day' look as you can see above and the texture is identical to the Armani foundation.

Natural beauty in a bottle. 

I love this foundation, even with my slightly awkward skin (in every way imaginable), this makes my skin look so bright, smooth and dare I say it, beautiful? I'm thinking this might be a dupe for the Giorgio Armani Maestro foundation which I had been testing out before hand and at a fraction of the price, that's got to be a win, right?

I have the shade 150~nude beige and although at first I thought it might be a little dark, it blended amazingly and matched perfectly! I had to add a little concealer due to some nasty hormonal breakouts but it smoothed over my pores and discolouration like a dream.  I think this would be the PERFECT summer foundation and I can't wait to use it when I start going back to my more 'fresh faced' look. Literally the only criticism I have about this product is the lack of a pump on the bottle... The foundation is so thin (watery) that it pours out and there is no controlling it. I find the only way to apply it without getting too much is to remove the lid, cover the top with my finger and shake so the foundation goes onto my finger and I can then dot it onto my face. Other than that, I can't fault it! I'd recommend this for all skin types.

I was really excited to try this foundation as L’Oreal is my favourite high street make up brand and I’ve always had a lot of success with their other offerings.

The texture of Eau De Teint is like nothing I’ve tried before, sort of like a soft velvety water! It smoothes into the skin like a dream, almost melting away. Even though the shade I have is slightly too dark for me I was pleasantly surprised by how it softened and blended it as I applied it and ended up matching nicely.

I have an awful lot of redness in my skin so I tend to go for a high coverage foundation to mask it as best as I can. Eau De Teint is of course a low coverage due to its water like feel, however it does seem very buildable. It masked my pores and imperfections beautifully and toned down my redness, perhaps not quite enough for me to wear it on an evening out but day to day I think it is perfect. I’ll definitely be wearing it for my daily trips to and from uni, especially because it’s so easy to apply it’ll mean I get an extra five minutes in bed!

I haven’t taken any pictures because I’m in the middle of a rather unpleasant dissertation related breakout but Kerri and Linzi have done a cracking job. I must say though that I think that the bottle is gorgeous, very luxury with its heavy glass feel and shimmering purple letters although you do need to go steady when pouring it out!

If you like an easy to apply, natural looking foundation then I would definitely recommend that you give Eau De Teint a try.

Have you tried Eau De Teint foundation? What do you think of it?

Australian Bodycare Tea Tree Hair Care

Back in August, I was sent the Australian Body Care Tea Tree Oil Face Cream to review- see here. I loved it! At the end of my post I mentioned that the shampoo and conditioner from Australian Body Care we're next on my wishlist- wish granted, I'm now back to give them a mention!

There is no mistaking that these haircare items are from the same brand, simply but well packaged and informative. I have been using these for about a month now, although I must say I when I received these I had only just had my hair newly coloured- which is expensive as we know so I have been mixing these up in my haircare routine along with my usual hair products for coloured hair. 

Described as :

- 2% Tea Tree Oil
- Colourless, clear shampoo
- Rich and concentrated
- Cleanses hair and scalp, lathers and rinses easily
- Contains peppermint to cool and refresh
- Helps prevent dandruff and itchy scalp 

Again the tea tree oil scent is not over powering but makes your hair feel really clean and the peppermint is defiantly welcoming. From the short time and frequency I have used these I have felt even at once or twice a week, my scalp is less itchy- as claimed. I feel like I have to step up my haircare, and bodycare at the slightest hint of winter appearing as it seems to affect me easily! 

The conditioner compliments the shampoo excellently, I have been using this on my 6 year old daughter also as it is great for keeping long hair tangle free- always a battle in this house! I have enjoyed using these, priced at £8.50 each from FeelUnique for a 250ml bottle these are good value for money as you do not need to use a lot of product to achieve the claimed results. The only tiny little thing that wasn't quite 'there' for me was the shine, different products work in different ways for individuals- and I can easily use other items when styling my hair to get the look I desire so it isn't so much of an issue for me. 

Overall, a great product for yourself or your family. 

Linzi

xo

Revlon Lip Butters - Review

I got really excited a little while ago when I walked into Boots on my lunch break and spotted an offer on the Revlon stand! I've wanted to try the lip butters for a long time now as the blogging scene went a little bit crazy on them when they first came out. I picked up five shades (Red Velvet, Peach Parfait, Candy Apple, Provocative and Macaroon) and I'm actually really impressed!

The consistency is that of a lip balm. They're so moisturising, I've even used them at night when I can't find my favourite Burt's Bees balm! They come out as a sort of sheer gloss lip stick, but they're quite buildable and the shades are really wearable. I usually stick to matte shades when it comes to my lips, but these have almost converted me to the glossier territory.

 Candy Apple

Red Velvet

The first two shades, Candy Apple and Red Velvet are super buildable, and both have a real glossy sheen to them. I initially bought Candy Apple as it seems to be the one everyone raves about but although the colour is beautiful, sometimes it's difficult to make it look even even if it does feel super moisturising. Red Velvet is a gorgeous, vampy shade and will be perfect for Autum/ Winter with a low impact eye.

 Macaroon

Peach Parfait

On to the glittery shades! Mararoon and Peach Parfait both have a bit of sparkle to them. Macaroon is the perfect "your lips but better" shade with added shimmer, and Peach Parfait adds a beautiful peachy (as the name says) tint with a gold glitter. Definitely my favourite out of the bunch!

Provocative

Finally, Provocative is a little bit different. It looks scary, a bright purple colour in the stick, but comes out really sheer, with a hint of purple shimmer. I think it's great for when you can't really be bothered to have a full face of make up day but want that extra "something". I bought it as an impulse experiment really as I hadn't actually seen the pay off and wondered if purple lips were the way to go! I'm really glad it isn't actually bright purple and I've been wearing this one daily for work.

All in all, I'd recommend these lip butters to anyone, and I might even buy a few more. They'll be even better as the weather gets cooler and the heating get's switched on and our lips all need that extra moisture boost, whilst still looking great!

Kate A x

Hydraluron- does it do what it says on the box?

According to the box, Hydraluron is a hydration serum inspired by injectable hydration treatments employed in Swiss clinics. It uses the world's purest grade of hyaluronic acid from the Netherlands as it's hydration active, which can hold up to 1,000 times it's weight in water. Hydraluron also contains a bio-engineered strain of marine red algae, which causes controlled and mild stimulation of skin turnover to allow thorough penetration of the hyaluronic acid. Basically, it seems to be a product that allows us to retain high levels of moisture in the skin, with clinically proven results. Not only is skin hydration improved drastically in 8 weeks, skin elasticity is increased by 27% and skin roughness is reduced by 10%. It's available in Boots stores for £24.99.

A small amount of the serum can go a long way! The amount in the picture is enough for my whole face, and so don't be put off by the small tube. It's used as the last step before moisturiser, and it smooths onto the skin beautifully. I've been using it morning and night as part of my usual routine. 

I started using hydraluron with high hopes. After seeing it hyped up by all of the beauty bloggers out there, I started to believe that there was finally an answer for the dry skin problems that have plagued me through life! I promised myself I'd wait to review this product until I had been applying it for the eight weeks used by the testers so I could give a full review.

Through the first few weeks, I could honestly say it was a wonder product. I used to have to moisurise my nose several times a day and that necessity seemed to vanish within the first few days. Had I found a wonder product?? After I passed the six week mark, my skin was starting to dry again. Now I don't know if this was because my skin was exceptionally dry after being subject to the constant changes in the weather or not but I really did expect there to be a more constant improvement. 

I would buy the product again as I think that, with a lot of products like this, I'm just used to the effects now and my skin was really dry before so without using a serum it will just return to how it was! I'd love to try more serums out there but the reality is that they're just too expensive right now. At £24.99 this is most than half the price of loads out there. What serum's do you swear by?

On another note, I seriously do think that a healthy diet and eight glasses of water a day could be a "wonder product" by itself. I've decided to drink at least two litres of water a day and see where that takes me before I start spending a lot of money for a product that is not guaranteed to work! I'll continue to use the serum until it runs out (STILL going after eight solid weeks!) and let you know the results. Have any of you tried Hydraluron? Did it work for you?

Kate A x

A miracle moisturiser? Austrailian Bodycare Tea Tree Oil face cream review

Let me tell you about this beauty, the  Australian Bodycare Tea Tree Oil Active Face Cream. I received this around a month ago to try and having been using it since, having chose to give it a 'proper try' before sharing my opinions. The cream comes in a 50ml easy squeezy tube, in what I would describe as fairly plain no fuss packaging. Recently I've been reading more reviews on products I'm interested in before buying more often than not and this is one I hadn't heard of so would have been more likely not to have given this a second glance, how wrong I would have been to pass it up as this little tube of thick white cream that has been fabby for my skin! I do suffer from quite dry skin on my face all year round, especially some stubborn parts on my cheeks! Highly unattractive, especially when it affects how your foundation wears. 

Previously I had been switching and changing moisturisers as I felt nothing was doing what I wanted it to, not a big ask I thought! I'm fully converted to this product, and can now understand the plain packaging- it's a simple product that actually performs!

 Now on the front of the tube it doesn't actually say for dry skin so bonus that it has tackled mine. "Paraben free, moisturiser for all skin types with nourishing Aloe Vera and Vitamin A&E" is the short statement on the front, I would recommend it to everyone. The Tea Tree smell isn't overpowering either. On the back it does say that the Australian Bodycare products help to soothe and condition the skin, and help to restore natural pH balance while also being suitable for sensitive skin.  I'd be happy using this and other products in the range on myself and my daughter(6) , both day and night. This product can be bought online from Feel Unique, where there is currently 20% off some products in this range making it only £10.39 with free delivery! Bargain for me as I have before spent double the amount on similar products with much less than hoped results. 

Finding a product that works well  makes me want to try others by the same brand, I'm now lusting after the Shampoo and Conditioner (£8.50 each) .  Have you tried any of the Australian Bodycare products? What skincare products work well for you? 

Till next time,

Linzi

xo