Clarins Fathers Day Gift Set

Clarins bring out gift sets for different occasions and I was really excited for this years Fathers day set to come out. I had spoken to the Clarins lady a few weeks ago and she told me the products that would be in the gift set and I knew I wanted to get it for my dad. A few months ago I gave him some samples of the products to check he liked them and he did.


It contains a full size 125ml of their new exfoliating cleanser 2 in 1 product which was only released last week. It contains 50ml of super moisture balm, 30ml of shampoo and shower gel in one, 5ml of fatigue fighter energizing gel, 50ml of smooth shave foaming gel and this all comes in a lovely toiletry bag. I thought this was great as the set only costs £34. 

The exfoliating cleanser is a cleansing gel that refreshes the skin and helps get rid of any impurities to make the skin look healthier and less dull.


The super moisture balm is used in the morning and the evening which is good as some men may not want too many products. This means they only need one moisturiser for morning and evening. It helps moisturise, protect and hydrate skin.


The shampoo and shower wash cleanses skin and hair. It can be used in the morning and evening and is good for sensitive skin.


The fatigue fighter is a great refresher and revives stressed or dull skin.


The smooth shave gel soothes and energizes skin and makes shaving a lot easier and comfortable.


This set is available here for £34.


Hopefully this post has helped you if you didn't know what to buy you dad for Fathers day or wanted more information on the Clarins gift set.


What are you buying your dad for Fathers day this year?

Top 3 High End Lipsticks

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in the colour Boy is without a doubt my favourite lipstick. First of all, the packaging is lovely. It looks so expensive and elegant which I love. The colour of the lipstick is a mid tone pink with very subtle shimmer in which is a perfect every day lip colour. The formulation is very hydrating and moisturising and leave my lips with a glossy finish whilst still managing to last a long time on. My lips tend to get quite dry now and again but with this lipstick I don't even need lip balm underneath. This lipstick is available here for £23.

Mac lipstick in Hue was my first high end lipstick purchase and it has remained one of my favourite lipsticks. The packaging is black and quite compact which makes it great to have in my handbag. The colour is a pale pink nude which is really nice on the lips. It doesn't wash me out and is just the right amount of pink and nude to be flattering. The formulation is so smooth and creamy which makes it lovely to apply and the finish of this lipstick is a glaze finish. If you aren't aware, Mac lipsticks have various different finishes and this one is a glaze which means the colour is quite sheer and very glossy, however it doesn't last very long on the lips. Mac lipsticks are available here for £13.50.

Lastly is Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte lipstick in 02, Sensual Silk. The packaging of this is a beautiful gold shade which looks and feels expensive and chic. The colour of Sensual Silk is a beige toned pink which is very pigmented. I feel if I use too much of this it can wash me out slightly so I apply it and then use my finger to blend it out slightly. The formulation is so incredibly creamy and soft and leaves a glossy finish to the lips. I find the staying power isn't very good though. This lipstick is available here for £22.

As you can tell, I definitely prefer wearing natural, every day shades. I do own a couple of brighter pinks and reds but these 3 are my favourite, most worn lipstick shades. 


Please let me know in the comments below of any other top 3 products you would like me to write a post on.

Top 3 High Street/Drugstore Foundations

I wrote a post a few days ago on my top 3 high end foundations which you can read here, so I also thought I would do a post on my top 3 high street/drugstore foundations. I love high end makeup and I do believe that with some products you get what you pay for, however I also think there are some amazing cheaper, high street alternatives which are really good. My favourite 3 foundations are Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation, Revlon Colorstay foundation and Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation.

Rimmel Wake Me Up
Revlon Colorstay
Bourjois Healthy Mix

Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation is my favourite drugstore foundation. I would say the coverage is medium to high and it feels nice and lightweight on the skin. It leaves skin with a lovely glowing, radiant finish which looks really healthy and is especially lovely in the summer. If I build this foundation to a high coverage then my skin still looks and feels fresh and radiant. The bottle is a nice glass bottle with a pump which non of my top 3 high end foundations had, but I prefer a pump. The shade range is pretty poor with only 6 shades. I have shade Ivory. This foundation is available here for £8.99. 

Revlon Colorstay foundation is slightly thicker than some and provides a medium to high coverage. I don't find it feels as lightweight on the skin and the finish is almost matte, but it has really good staying power. I can get slightly oily around my nose and this foundation will not budge. When applying it, you have to blend it quite quickly because it dries and sets on the skin and once it has it doesn't move all day. A negative about this foundation is the bottle. It is a glass bottle with no pump so you have to pour the foundation out which can get messy. There are two different Revlon Colorstay foundations - one for normal/dry skin and one for combination/oily skin. The shade I have is Sand Beige in the Combination/Oily skin version. This foundation is available here for £12.49.

Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation is a medium coverage foundation that leaves a natural, dewy finish to the skin and I find the staying power is really good. My skin looks healthy and radiant with this foundation. This contains  apricot, melon, apple and ginger and smells amazing. The smell does fade pretty quickly once its on the skin though so if you don't like smelly foundation then the smell doesn't linger for long. This foundation is available in 8 shades, I have the shade 52, Vanille. This foundation is available here for £9.99.

I really like doing my 'Top 3' products so I am going to post my Top 3 High End Lipsticks later on this week. Let me know in the comments if there are any other products you would like to see my top 3 of. 

Top 3 High End Foundations

Jemma Kidd Light As Air
Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua
Clinique Superbalance Makeup

Jemma Kidd Light As Air foundation is a great foundation that I love to wear in the summer. It is  a fairly thin liquid foundation making it great for the warmer months as it feels lightweight on the skin. I would say the coverage is medium and usually in the summer I prefer light, sheer coverage, however because this foundation is so lightweight on the skin I don't mind. I find it lasts a really long time on the skin and doesn't melt off in the heat which is great and it is really easy to blend. The tube is a squeezy tube which I find gets quite messy sometimes because the foundation is so thin. The shade I have is Light, 2 which is actually a little too dark for me in the winter, but when I get a bit of colour in the summer it is a good match. This foundation is available in 7 shades which isn't that great of a shade range. It is available here for £25.

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation is my favourite foundation. Chanel describe it as a 'second-skin' which I agree with. It evens out my skin tone and gives a lovely dewy glow to the skin whilst also being really lightweight and light coverage. This foundation is water based which makes it almost cooling on the skin which is great in the summer. I wear the shade B20 in the summer and the photo above is in B10 which I wear in the winter. This foundation is available in 9 shades and available here for £31. I have a full review on this foundation here.

Clinique Superbalance Makeup is not as lightweight as the other two foundations. I find the coverage is medium/full and is buildable, so I tend to wear this foundation if I am having a bad skin day as the coverage is great. It doesn't go cakey if I build this foundation up which is really good as I can build it up and not have to wear concealer too. The finish of this is slightly dewy which I really love, especially in the summer. A negative I have about this foundation is the glass bottle. It doesn't have a pump so I have to pour it out which can get pretty messy. This foundation is available in 20 shades which is great! I have it in the shade Alabaster, 27. It is available here for £21.50.


These are my favourite high end foundations. I am planning to post a Top 3 High Street / Drugstore Foundations next week so keep a look out for that.


What are your favourite foundations?

Benefit They're Real Mascara

The other day I went to the Benefit counter and the makeup artist used this mascara on my eyelashes, but I already had mascara on so I wasn't expecting it to make much of a difference. She put this mascara on one eye and the difference was amazing so I bought it! The next day I was really excited to try it to see how it looked when I didn't have another mascara on already. It gave my lashes everything - length, volume, curl and separated them really nicely. One coat of this is enough for me to achieve the 'false lash' effect however even with two coats, I don't find it goes clumpy. This mascara is gel-based which means that it won't dry out. It last all day on my upper and lower eyelashes without smudging. The bristles on the brush extend right to the tip of the brush which makes it great the get into the inner corners and for the lower lashes. 


The lady was telling me this is the UK number one best selling mascara and I can understand why! 


This mascara is available here for £18.50.


This is my new everyday mascara. What's your favourite mascara?

Barry M 147 Peachy Pink Lip Paint

Barry M 147 lipstick is the first one I have ever bought from Barry M and I love it! It is a peachy pink colour (as the name suggests!) with a slight hint of coral as well. I would say it is much more peachy then it is pink which I really like. The formula of this lipstick is really nice. It feels really creamy when I apply it but leaves a matte finish. I have slightly dry lips sometimes so I was worried that because it was matte it would be drying, but it's not. It's not exactly moisturising either, it just sits nicely on the lips. The pigmentation is great as well. I don't own any other matte lipsticks because I have always thought I prefer a moisturising, creamy lipstick with a sheen or glossy finish, but I absolutely love this. This lipstick is available from Boots or Superdrug for £4.49.


I have heard that the Barry M lipsticks all have different finishes so I am excited to try some more. Have you tried any Barry M lipsticks? Which ones would you recommend?

Favourite Foundation Brushes

I mentioned in my Real Techniques post that I would talk about my favourite foundation brushes to use for different types of foundation. I have 5 different foundation brushes that I am going to talk about which are the Real Techniques Buffing brush, Real Techniques Stippling brush, Ecotools foundation brush, No7 foundation brush and Mac 187 duo fibre brush.

The Real Techniques buffing brush is my favourite to use for liquid foundations that are quite thin and light. It buffs foundation on really nicely and leaves a flawless finish. The bristles are really soft and make it easy to buff foundation into the corners of the nose and it leaves a streak free finish as I find that thin foundation can sometimes look a bit streaky if applied in strokes. I don't tend to use this for thicker, creamier foundations as I don't find it buffs them in as nicely as other brushes but I absolutely adore it for thinner foundations. I use this for my Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua. This brush is available in the Real Techniques Core Collection from Boots for £21.99 and other sites which are here. I have a review on the Real Techniques Core Collection which you can read here.

The stippling brush is my favourite for any consistency of liquid foundation. It works really well for slightly thicker foundations such as Rimmel Wake Me Up. It also works nicely on thinner, runnier foundations like my Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua. I don't use this for thick, moussey or creamy foundations as I don't find it is dense enough to buff them in flawlessly. This brush leaves a perfect, flawless finish when I use it with liquid foundations with no lines or streaks. It blends foundation seamlessly and so easy. This brush is available from Boots for £11.99 and other sites which are here.

Ecotools foundation brush is a traditional foundation brush which means it isn't as good to buff foundation into the skin using circular motions - it works best at smoothing foundation onto the skin in strokes. I really like this brush for a variety of foundations though. I don't often use it for very runny foundation, however I do like it for thicker consistency foundations and also cream foundations. This brush is available from Boots for £7.99.

My No7 foundation brush is a traditional shape foundation brush, however it is slightly thicker than the average foundation brush meaning it can be used in circular buffing and blending motions as well as sweeping  motions to apply foundation. I use this brush for most consistency foundations - cream and liquid, thin and thicker.

This was the first foundation brush I bought and to use with my Mac Studio Sculpt foundation and I did really like it for this. I only use this for thick, creamy foundation like the Mac one and I find it works well, however it definitely isn't one that I reach for very often. It is duo fibre, like the Real Techniques Stippling brush so if I want a brush like that I will reach for that one over this. I find the the bristles are not very compact so when I apply foundation I cannot be very precise as the bristles just spread out. It is an okay brush, but I have others that I prefer and tend to reach for over this. On a side note, I really like using this to apply bronzer over my face as because the bristles are not dense, it doesn't apply too much and it applies the bronzer quickly as it is quite a big brush. This brush is available from Mac for £32.50.


What are you're favourite foundation brushes?

John Frieda Full Repair Hair Review

The John Frieda Full Repair line is a hair care line that repairs damaged hair. I was excited to try this line as I have fairly thick, damaged and very dry hair due to the fact that I regularly blow dry, straighten and curl my hair! The products I bought were the full body shampoo and the deep conditioner. I have been using these products for just over 10 weeks now so I thought I would tell you my thoughts on them.


I was using both these products together and I noticed a massive change in my hair very quickly. My hair became soft, smooth, had less breakage and felt hydrated. It was a lot more manageable and was significantly less dry. I was so happy and my hair was moisturised and full of body. I used up the conditioner before the shampoo so for a couple of washes I was using the John Frieda full body shampoo but with a different brand conditioner and I quickly noticed that my hair started to become dry again and definitely felt less hydrated and less soft. This showed that the John Frieda deep conditioner was definitely the source of my soft, smooth, frizz free hair. 


Once when I washed my hair I decided to use a different shampoo with the John Frieda deep conditioner to see how different my hair felt. After this my hair definitely had more breakage when I combed through it and it had less body and volume. This showed that the shampoo definitely helped repair my hair and prevent breakage.


These two products are the best shampoo and conditioner I have used and have definitely repaired my hair and made it soft, smooth, full of body and reduced the breakage. I would recommend giving these a try if your hair is damaged and if you regularly use heat on it.


What are your favourite hair care products?