A little update !

So some of you may have heard that tomorrow me and Bek plan on recording our first ever vlog (I don't know whether the nausea is due to excitement or nerves...) so that's the first exciting piece of news for this weekend.

Some more (perhaps slightly less exciting news) is that this week we will have a fair few reviews going up about everything from Nars (blusher, powder and foundation) to Soap and Glory (have any of you ever tried Sit Tight? SO WEIRD.)

Last but not least, I know normally this would be the weekend that I posted my monthly favourites but granted everything goes well with our vlog tomorrow, I'm actually hoping to do my monthly favourites as a video later on in the week, eek.

Just a few little things so keep your eyes peeled :)

Sammy xo

Nip + Fab Glycolic Fix Cleanser

My love for Nip + Fab knows pretty much no bounds, I went shopping to buy their Sheer Make Up Fix (has this been discontinued, does anyone know? I can't seem to find it anywhere...) and came away with this cleanser, something I didn't particularly need in any way at all. Having said that, I've fallen in love with this Glycolic Fix Cleanser.

This is definitely an in shower cleanser as opposed to a removing make-up cleanser. It's a cloudy gel that smells like grapefruit (absolutely lush) and foams up literally the minute that it hits water. I've swapped my OXY for this, and in terms of having major breakouts (touch wood) this seems to be keeping them at bay just as much as the OXY was, only it's much softer feeling on my skin. According to Nip + Fab this cleanser contains glycolic acid to exfoliate and retexture, apple amino acid to cleanse and purify and olive oil to hydrate and smooth. I literally have no idea if all that is true, but it does definitely leave my skin feeling smoother, cleaner and just as exfoliated as if I had used a much more gritty product.

This isn't the cheapest face wash in the world, I bought it from Sainsbury's for £7.99 (/150ml) but I'd definitely say it's a nice smelling, softer feeling alternative to much harsher spot reducing products on the market and, for me at least, it seems to give a similar effect.

Have you used glycolic fix? What products do you use to prevent breakouts?

Sammy xo

Soap and Glory Archery

Behold; I'm about to talk about a skincare brand who have done beauty, and done it well. That's right, I'm about to delve into the make-up range presented to us by Soap and Glory.

Although I own a couple of different pieces of make-up from their brand, today I'm going to talk about their Archery brow tint and precision pencil. Before this I used Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil which I liked but was far too dark for my newly lightened hair. Colour choice is one of the reasons that I picked Archery, they do a colour really close to my (artificially) light blonde hair called "Love is Blonde". This is a product that isn't actually similar to any other on the market that I'm aware of, one end is an almost paintbrush looking eyebrow tint and the other is a slightly darker pencil tip.

The tint is to be used first. I draw around the shape of my eyebrows using the precision tip that it offers, then fill them in as a base. This gives precise shape and an all over colour, so far so good.

Then step two is the pencil. This is to fill in spaces and build up the colour to the level that you need it at. After both steps my eyebrows are neat, fairly precisely shaped and still a natural colour that is fairly close to my own.

I do think that for an eyebrow pencil this is quite expensive (£10 just seems a little steep for what it is) and I have to say, if I still had my dark hair I think I'd still favour my rimmel pencil over archery, but for those of you out there with lighter hair using pencils too dark because that's the lightest pencil you can find, I highly recommend swapping over to Archery for a much neater, much more natural look.

Have you ever tried Archery? What eyebrow pencils have worked for you in the past?

Sammy xo

Elemis Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Gel Mask

After me sending them an email Elemis sent me some sample sachets through the post, including two sachets of their Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Gel Mask. I tried it and absolutely loved it and was devastated when I used both sachets up. I always meant to get a bottle and completely forgot, but then in an odd turn of events when I was cleaning my wardrobe out this weekend I found a tube in the bottom I'd obviously acquired somewhere along the way and thrown at the bottom of a pile without trying. Yay for unexpected surprises!

Finding this has had me falling in love with it all over again. It comes out as a clear gel that smells sweet and almost citrus-ey. You need very little to cover your entire face (excluding mouth and eyes) then you leave it on for ten to fifteen minutes (consider this time an excuse to lie back in the bath and flick through our blog...). When on the skin this has a really weird feeling, it tingles as it dries and it feels for all the world like when you breathe in cold air after eating a mint, which isn't a bad thing given that it really reassure me that it's working. After this simply wash off (use a flannel, if you use your hands it seems to just re-moisten the mask), then do whatever you normally would do.

I'm usually pretty dubious about face masks, I've had ones that make me break out, ones that smell horrible and ones that literally just don't work, but this smells lovely and seems to leave me with clean, shiny, fresh skin. At £48 this isn't a cheap product, but given that it's a once a week ritual I'd say it's definitely worth the money, I'll be repurchasing when I've used up all the samples I can get my hands on!

Sammy xo

Purity Made Simple Cleanser

I'm not entirely sure how I came across this cleanser, I think perhaps it was in my British Beauty Blogger edit box, but I was aware of it as a product before hand. Philosophy Purity Made Simple is a cult cleanser which seems to have no limits, it's a cleanser that is - in my opinion - for beginners.

I'll be the first to admit that cleansers aren't really something that I'm well versed in, I use them (obviously) but I've always gone back to my very cheap, very basic Garnier. I really wanted this to change my mind, having heard a lot about philosophy as a brand, and actually it really has swayed me. It's a yellow lotion that borders on being a cream, which struck me as odd from the very beginning. I'm adverse to using cold creams to take my make up off and that's exactly what this felt like. It's a personal choice but for me, I always feel like I should have taken my make up off with something else prior to using anything that comes out with a texture like Purity does. It does smell amazing though, like an old fashioned lavender (actually, not unlike STEAMCREAM), and it's applied to damp skin so I hoped that the lotion-ey feel wouldn't last too long, so even though I was put off by the consistency I decided to give it a chance.

Applied onto a damp face you really don't need much at all, the website suggests "the size of a twenty pence piece" and that's probably more than enough. It needs to be massaged in for a while and then washed off with warm water and patted dry. I was impressed in its ability to remove my eye make-up, and although it didn't take all of my foundation off first time around, I'm yet to find a cleanser that does.

All the above sold me on the product but there was one thing that made sure it beat out any competitors ; the lazy girl factor. This is a 3-in-1 so not only is it cleansing, but toning and moisturising too, so in one easy step you're set for a full skincare regime. For 240ml this is around £17.50 which is about average for a higher end product and I'd say that it's definitely worth it, especially for beginners and lazy girls because this is a one stop product that gives you the benefits of a three step system.

Sammy xo

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

Vaseline Spray & Go Body Moisturiser

I'm a moisturiser junkie, no doubt about it. I tend to buy any that are on offer, and that means that I usually have drawers and drawers full of bottles I've used literally once. Having said that, I couldn't just walk past when I saw Vaseline Spray & Go (£4.99/190ml and only available in Boots for the time being.) There are three different types Essential Moisture, Cocoa Radiant and Aloe Fresh. I tried Aloe Fresh and Cocoa Radiant but I wasn't keen on the smell of Aloe Fresh, so I settled for Cocoa Radiant instead.

I quite like the can, the whole design and idea makes it seems much more extravagant than the original moisturiser designs (which are still available). I wasn't entirely keen on the whole idea of the product though, I was worried getting the right amount of product would be difficult and it would either leave parts of me unmoisturised or it would be greasy and much too thick. I needn't have worried though, the spray distributes fairly evenly and goes on quite thin and watery (see the above right picture) and can literally be rubbed in straight away to leave no grease or residue (bottom right picture). It definitely lives up to the idea of spray and go, because although I can still feel it on my skin, it just feels soft and not "sticky" like other moisturisers (even the bottle version of this moisturiser, in fact.)

All in all, this is a call between whether you'd rather have ease or more money in your pocket. In my mind, there's absolutely no doubt that this is a more convenient product, after your shower you can spray and put your pyjamas straight on, in fact you could even do it before leaving to go out without worrying about your skin uncomfortably sticking to the residue, however it is more expensive than the traditional bottle version (which is £2.99/200ml), however I'm more than willing to spend that extra £2 just for the convenience.

Sammy xo

OXY

Ok, I'll say it; I'm a spotty teenager. Not so much now that I've started taking better care of my skin, and making sure I actually take all my make up off at night, but I still have more breakouts than I care to admit to. A few weeks ago, I felt like literally nothing was helping to get my skin clear, and so I emailed OXY asking if they had any samples I might be able to try to see if they'd help me get celebrity skin (or, I'd settle for just non-spotty). They very kindly sent me back some of their products, much to my delight.

Let's start with the Clear Pore Exfoliant. This is great, and like I've said before, I absolutely love a gritty exfoliator and this is definitely one. It comes out quite liquid-ey with a sand like texture, it's rough on the skin but it does really clear away any dead skin. It's too rough to use every day, but I've been using it every other day which seems to be working for me. I've then been following this with the Fresh Skin Wash. This is much more if a gel formula than the Clear Pore Exfoliant, but it does also have exfoliating beads in. This is soft enough to use every day, and it almost buffs my skin to a soft shiny level. Finally, the Deep Calm Balm, a moisturiser that again includes exfoliating beads.

Essentially, I've been swapping between a three step routine and a two step routine every other day (the exfoliant definitely isn't gentle enough to use every day) and it really seems to be having a positive effect. Whereas I've had some issues with clean and clear and clearasil in the past (I literally felt like I'd had a chemical peel with some of the products from the former), OXY's range is gentle enough that you can use at least one of the products every day, but effective enough that (touch wood) it actually does seem to be keeping breakouts at bay. Although there are 2 other products in the range (The Emergency Spot Treatment Gel and the Clearlight -Light Device) I would say just buy the three mentioned above if you're unsure, they work perfectly together and at £5.99 a piece you definitely aren't breaking the bank.

My one criticism would be I've been using the Calm Balm much more than the exfoliant, and so it irks me a little that the Calm Balm is in a smaller bottle. Admittedly though, I do probably use less of the balm each time so it evens out quite nicely. 

If you're looking for a spot treatment I can't recommend OXY enough, I'd even say buy it and use it as a daily routine, I've never had skin so soft and shiny. Plus, it's "natural skin science", which is never a bad thing.

Sammy xo

P.S. Although I received these products free as samples from OXY they were not in return for a review, the opinions above are mine and mine alone and were in no way influence by OXY, swear down.

Hi guys!

Just a quick note to let everyone know what's happening over here. As you can see our post on what we thought of Glossybox (June edition) and the products in it, has just gone up. Please check it out if you're thinking of subscribing to a beauty box - it's always good to hear about other peoples experiences! 

As well as this, obviously it is now July. This means that Sam and I will be uploading a monthly favourites post this week - exciting! Keep an eye out for that. We will be posting on our twitter when it's gone up, so please follow us on there. (@smekahmakeup)

Have a great rest of the week.
-Bek xxo