Garnier Moisture Match

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, I've taken on extra shifts at work and so finding the time has been a little bit tricky, but I'm trying to plan ahead so hopefully the blog won't go so long without a post again any time soon!

Onto the product(s) in hand, Garnier Moisture Match moisturisers. If you haven't heard about these (seriously? Their advertising campaign was massive, to have missed it you must literally not own a television) this is an assortment of moisturisers- 5 in total - that are each tailor made to suit a certain skin type. The five tubes are really similar to look at, but each a different colour. When I picked these up a few weeks ago they were on offer in Asda, so I managed to pick up three out of the range "Wake Me Up" for dull skin (the orange tube), "Protect and Glow" for normal skin (the yellow tube) and "Shine Be Gone" for combination to oily skin (the green tube). You'd be forgiven for thinking that these would contain similar products, each matching the colour of the tube, but I was surprised when I tried them out because this actually isn't the case. Wake me up is a sheer slightly peach tinged gel, Protect and glow is a glossy yellow cream and Shine be gone is a lovely matte green lotion.

As their marketing campaign promised, it seems like each really is tailored to a different skin type, and perhaps more surprisingly each one genuinely seems to do a brilliant job or at least certainly in the three that I picked I can't find a dud. Wake Me Up is for dull skin, and I can see how this would work really well for someone targeting that specifically. It goes on as a gel and settles as a sheen on the skin, too much for my oily skin but for someone who lacks moisture and natural shine, this would almost definitely give a lovely dewy finish. Protect and Glow is a weird one, it's a standard moisturiser as far as I can tell and it's smell is identical to wake me up. It's not unpleasant, and it's nice that it has an spf 20 but I'm just not as blown away with it as I feel like I am with the other two. Having said that, I'd still happily repurchase it as a Summer moisturiser.

My favourite out of the three is by far Shine Be Gone, though. This is a personal preference definitely, a dewy glow is something I will take off running from and I would always pick a matte finish. This is lovely, you only need a tiny bit for your whole face and although it has the texture of some primers (l'oreal studio secrets resurfacing primer springs to mind as the closest comparison for texture) I feel like it doesn't sit uncomfortably on top of the skin but sinks in nicely instead, and it does keep shine away for a decent length of time.

I'd recommend these three moisturisers in a heart beat, but if you're not sure which one is right for you and you're not willing to pay out for a few, you can do a quiz to find out which is probably the closest match to your skin. I'll definitely be trying out the other two when I get the chance, especially at £3.99/50ml.

Sammy xo

Shiro Pigment Swatches

I've loved Shiro cosmetics for a really long time. Like other tumblr users, I was first attracted by the witty, relatable names ("bitterly cyberstalking your ex" is a personal favourite) but, although I'd read some views that suggested to the contrary, I really worried this would be novelty make-up as opposed to good quality. Still, a few weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and order 5 sample baggies of different pigments from Shiro.

The top photograph is with flash and the bottom is without (both have my gross microdermal in, sorry about that...). I feel like the bottom show the colours closest to their true selves, the shimmer in the pigments isn't as pronounced as the top photograph, they're just a nice added bonus when you find yourself standing under a strong light .

From left to right these swatches are for "eye contact", "lingered in twilight", "huntress", "chimera" and "star crossed"

Out of the five, I was least impressed with eye contact. All five were applied slightly damp and I still found eye contact, although well pigmented, really sheer and difficult to build up. This might suit some people but it's left me with a colour that's not subtle enough for every day wear, yet not in your face enough for special occasions. The hot pink shimmer isn't unpleasant but I feel like it might be difficult to make it effectively wearable. Next is lingered in twilight, a really pretty colour not unlike smash cosmetics "absinthe" (a sort of black with a really deep forest green shimmer). In contrast to eye contact, this is highly pigmented AND super easy to build up. Although dark, the green gives it a wearable edge, and the colour spectrum in the pigment means it can be worn alone. Next is huntress, a really gorgeous pigmented silver shade that can be built up, but doesn't need to be. It's more grey than white, giving it the edge over a "traditional" silver. Personally I'll be using this as a base, but it's a lovely blendable pigment so it has a whole range of possibilities. Finally chimera and star crossed. Up close and personal, these colours are actually pretty similar. They're dark bronze colours with a gorgeous, subtle shimmer, although chimera has silver undertones whereas star crossed is more gold, both are really lovely autumn colours and, again, really pigmented.

The pigments do have a fair amount of fallout, but even taking the fallout into consideration, you need the tiniest bit for a real shot of colour, and so you really do only use a the tiniest bit at a time. These are only the $1 1/4 tsp sample baggies and I don't see myself running out any time soon, so I expect that the full sized pots would last you months.

On one last note I have to say I absolutely love their website. It feels personal to Caitlin herself, and that makes it a delight to browse and buy from. There are little parts of her personality everywhere from the collections themselves (based on things ranging from the hobbit to pokemon) to the little notes about delivery on checkout (if you order make sure to actually read these because they really tickled me). All in all, the pigments are lovely and the site is one of my all time favourites to browse through. They're definitely a company I will undoubtedly be buying from again in the future, this is both make-up and geekery at their best. 

Sammy xo

Homemade Sugar Scrub

In the spirit of blogging , I've found myself following the crowd and spent one afternoon early in the week making ... This .

Looks so gross, right? I know. But hear me out on this one. This is my very own homemade sugar scrub, and I was shocked by how easy it was to make . I'm not normally very thrifty, so homemade sugar scrub is probably something I would have just scrolled past if I was at home, but instead I'm in the middle of rural Spain, and exfoliator (or a decent exfoliator in any case) is nigh on impossible to find. So, in the spirit of getting a non streaky fake tan, I set about finding a recipe that used components I'd be able to find in a village that doesn't even sell make-up. After reading through a couple of online recipes, I found out the basic components were just olive oil and brown sugar. Ok, that I could do. So, I set about making it, with the help of some diluted lemon juice (to help counteract the smell of the brown sugar which is, well... Rank.)

I won't lie it wasn't successful , I mean sure it worked , but the smell made me want to retch, and I'd added way too much oil, I found myself having to drain it every time I went to use it.

Ok, time for round two. This time I used about equal parts of white and brown sugar (probably more white , I ran out of brown not so far in, but it was pretty close to half and half), the addition of the white sugar took the edge off the horrible smell. To this I added enough lemon juice  to cover the sugar and about 5 capfuls of olive oil. When this soaked in, about a quarter of the sugar had dissolved away so I mixed in more sugar and added a tiny bit of water and a few more capfuls of oil (if you feel like you've added too much water it's pretty easy to drain off) and I ended up with the picture above.

Ok it looked gross but so does a streaky tan, so I gave it a fair go. I have to say , it works. I'm keen on quite a rough exfoliator and this is one, more so than a shop bought one. It really works, so much so I'm considering swapping it out for my regular soap and glory flake away when I get home.

If I made it at home in England, I'd probably use all white sugar, add some food colouring and maybe a mint or vanilla essence to achieve a nice smell, but even my gross looking, dubious smelling one does the job so well, it's worth putting up with .

Have you ever made any DIY cosmetics or skincare? If not , why not give it a try?

Sammy xo