Quick Pick: Nivea Daily Essentials

As long as I can remember, my skin has always been a little troublesome. My cheeks have quite a bit of red pigmentation in them, and can vary from oily to very dry and sore. I also still have quite an oily t-zone. I have to be careful with what I use on my face. After a pretty severe reaction to a Clean and Clear wash a while ago, I'm pretty wary when it comes to washes and scrubs. However on a whim I picked the wash from this line a few months ago, and the scrub more recently.

I love nothing more than the clean feeling a nice face wash leaves, and as I've always been a fan of Nivea products I thought this would do the trick. It has a lovely clean, fresh scent, and a little goes a long way. It foams nicely and leaves my skin feeling lovely, albeit ever so slightly tight. I use this pretty much every morning, and have just bought a new one as they are on offer in Tesco right now. This is a staple of my skincare routine. The exfoliating scrub is a more recent purchase as I've been dealing with blemishes and blackheads recently. Again it has a lovely scent, and is gentle yet leaves my skin feeling thoroughly cleaned and refreshed. I highly recommend these products to even those with sensitive skin. They really are a budget friendly gem of a line. Nivea is available nationwide.

Do you use a face wash, or prefer to stick with cream cleansers, or perhaps even wipes?

Till next time,

Toodles,

Collection 'Work The Colour' Eyebrow Kit

Eyebrows... I have an obsession. The first thing I notice on anyone is their brows. I will not let anyone touch my own as it's taken me years to get them how I want them. I'm still not totally there yet. I feel a makeup look isn't complete with brows being filled in, so I picked up this little kit from Collection a few weeks ago as it was on offer.

(NO idea why these uploaded sideways, and for some reason it won't let me flip them) But I digress... This cute little set comes with 3 colours, a brow gel and a little double ended brush. The one strange thing I noticed was that once you remove the plastic packaging there's no where to store the gel. I'm not a big fan of brow gel anyway so this didn't bother me too much. Too be honest I didn't even open it :)

The powders themselves are quite a nice texture and a nice range of colours. I imagine this would be a nice addition to a students kit, or someone starting out in the business. Although you don't have to be an mua to use this, as the colours you don't use on your brows can double up as eye shadows too.

This would be handy to carry in your bag as it also has a small mirror inside and with the double ended brush you can fix brows and eyes on the go! This is priced at €4.99 in Boots at the moment which is pretty reasonable for 3 pretty matte shadows. Are you a fan of Collection? Is it all about the brows??

Till next time,

Toodles,

Blank Canvas Cosmetics Eyeliner Pens

The first makeup product I remember buying was black eyeliner. I wore it all the time. In recent years I've learned about blending and, you know, not looking like a panda, but black liner has always held a special place in my heart. I own all types, pencil, liquid, gel and pen. However the latter isn't always easy to find, and certainly doesn't always live up to the standards some brands imply. Recently Blank Canvas Cosmetics have jumped on the band wagon. If you know me at all you know I love BCC brushes. They were some of the first brushes in my kit back when not many people even knew who they were. I still use those brushes today. So I was very intrigued to say the least when I saw these two new liners on their page.

First up is Winging It. This is my favourite of the two. It has a long pointed tip which makes it much easier to give a lovely defined cat eye look. You can also create thicker lines with this pen depending on your preference. Second is Borderlines. The tip on this is also nicely however not quite as thin and long. I prefer this for a thicker more dramatic liner effect.

Top: Winging It

Bottom: Borderlines

With a small amount of practice these are easy to use. The dry relatively quickly, are smudge proof, and leave a nice opaque black, slightly glossy line. You can also wear these alone or over shadow (which I was impressed by as I've purchased similar products before that didn't show up well on top of shadow). The only thing I will say is make sure when putting the lid back on you push it down till you hear a click as you don't want them drying out! 

Left: Borderlines

Right: Winging It

I do really like both of these for creating different looks but at a push I'd probably favour Winging It. My eye shape can be tough to create a liner flick on but this made it much easier for me. These are on offer on their website at €9.99 right now. (Normal retail €11.99) 

What do you think of pen liners? Would you give them a try or stick to the old reliables of pencil and liquid?

Till next time,

Toodles,