The Fuss Free Face

 Can we just take a moment here to talk about how green this grass is?! I mean like, seriously, I haven't edited these photos one iota. Pretty green huh?

I decided to take advantage of the beautiful natural sunlight on my day off and take a few pictures outside, so there are a few posts coming up with a grassy background.

So yesterday was one of those days where it's so hot and humid out that being anywhere other than under airconditioning makes you feel like you are melting, so it felt like the perfect time to share this post.

I don't know about you, but when the weather is this ridiculously hot, makeup is the last thing I want on my face. However, I'm still not quite face-confident enough to bare all when I'm out and about. So I've come up with a product rotation that will protect your eyes from the horror of my naked face, but not make me feel like a chocolate bar in Satan's back pocket. 

First off, when it's hot, you sweat more. Gross but true. I'm prone to a bit of shine at the best of times in the t-zone, and it's even worse on the underground at rush hour when it's almost 30 degrees out. Although I'm not a massive fan of Benefit's Porefessional, it does help keep the oils at bay on the face, so a slap of this goes under my No 7 BB cream for Normal to Dry skin. This is a very light coverage base, that just helps to even out my skin tone, whilst giving me SPF protection on my pasty white face. I then buff a little of my trusty MAC Studio Finish concealer onto any blemishes or areas of redness that aren't quite covered, and a little Illamasqua Under Eye concealer topped with Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer under the eyes. 

The brows are lightly filled in with my trusty Along Came Betty set (hold the wax though, too sticky for a hot day!), which I cannot rave about enough, it's an infallible dupe for the Benefit Brow Zings for a blink of the cost. I prime my lids with the Urban Decay Primer Potion, which is a recent acquisition, that is impressing so far. It makes any attempt at eye magic stay put all day. Top this off with MAC's Paint Pot in Rubenesque, blended across the lid, and a little of the Rimmel Scandaleyes pencil in Bronze along the upper lash line, and nude on the inner waterline, to hide any zombie eye signs. Top off with any decent long wearing mascara, in this case Smashbox's Hyperlash Mascara*. 

Cheeks get a smudge of the Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Fresh Melon for a natural flush, and a dab of Benefit Sunbeam under the brow and on the upper cheek bones, to add a little dimension. Lastly, a slick of a natural long wearing lipstick, I'm loving the L'Oreal Rouge Caresse in Dating Coral, which is a very subtle pink coral.

So there we have it! I hope you are all making the most of this gorgeous weather!

The SPF Factor

So when you're the pastiest shade of white known to man, SPF in the summer is not just a necessity, it's a life saver. When exposed to the sun, my skin goes from uncooked chicken, to beetroot, in under thirty seconds, so it doesn't really matter that we get very few sunny days here in England, if there's no clouds in the sky, the SPF comes out.

These are the two sun protections that wiggled into my suitcase when I went on holiday. I realise I'm committing a massive blogger crime by photographing these used, but I wasn't going to post on them originally!

First up, I was using the Piz Buin Wet Skin Transparent Sun Spray SPF 30. Because it was really hot, I was darting in and out of the pool, and this stuff is great since you can apply it to wet skin. I always start my holiday with a higher SPF, just until my skin is a little tanned, which is why I picked the SPF 30. I really liked this SPF, it kept my skin protected throughout the day without really having to touch up much. The only gripe I had is that despite this being an oil, it was really drying my skin out.

After the third or fourth day, I switched to the new Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration SPF 15, since my skin was a little tanned, and was really dry. I wish I had a picture of this before it got all melted and mixed up in my bag, because it looked really pretty! This is quite a unique product, it's a suncream laced with 'hydrating ribbons' meaning it's pretty damn moisturising. My skin was being dried out by the sun and Piz Buin spray anyway, so my skin really needed this. It smells gorgeous, is super hydrating, applies easily and evenly (not like the oil spray that left me pretty patchy) and in terms of the amount you get, goes a lot further than the Piz Buin. I'll definitely be using this on my legs this summer, if we get any more nice days!

Have you tried any of these?

The Weekly Round Up #15 - The Holiday Edition

So if you follow me on my twitter or instagram, or read any of last weeks blog posts, you'll know that I darted off on an impromptu holiday, before starting my new job, with my family. It was a real last minute thing as we realised that that week was pretty much the last chance we were going to get to go on one last family holiday (I'm old now, sob), so we booked up five days before we left, and headed out to Mallorca.

In an effort to make this blog a little more personal, I thought I'd share my holiday instagram snaps, and add in a little bit more information about what we did/where we stayed, stuff like that!  Hope you enjoy this!

 

 We stayed at the Protur Biomar Gran Hotel and Spa, which is a five star hotel located on the east of the island. I don't think anything I say will really do this hotel justice, but I will say they deserved every single one of their five stars. We were given a complimentary upgrade to two suites, I don't actually have any photos from the room because I took them on my camera and the memory card has bugged out :( but it was a beautiful room with a long corridor, a little tv room with a sofa and arm chair, a big twin room and then a gorgeous new bathroom complete with massive tub! (needless to say, I got in there pretty sharpish!). We arrived really late, and had missed dinner but the hotel kindly sent up an assortment of meats, cheeses, salad, bread and fruit for us to eat (good job too since the champagne at check in was going to my head having not eaten!). The hotel was pretty quiet, we never struggled to get a sunbed, breakfast and dinner were never busy and there weren't many kids there (there was a separate sunbathing area for over 16s anyway). There were two big outside pools but we spent most of the time at the one pictured above, since that's where the bar was!

With our room we also got complimentary access to the spa, where there was a giant pool with different jacuzzi seats and big jets of water, and also steam rooms and saunas of varying temperatures.

The staff also were all incredible, very eager to help and all very polite and chatty.

We were half board and ate at the hotel for a couple of lunches too (the sandwich and burger both came from the terrace bar).  Despite the hotel being pretty pricey, the food and drinks were actually quite reasonable. Lunch was around the ten euro mark, cocktails were 7€ and the sangria was 5€ (pretty impressive when you consider the size of that thing!). All the food I ate there was incredible, and there was a huge selection, but it was the desserts that really impressed! They had the biggest selection of hot and cold desserts, along with selected ice creams and fruit, as well as a chocolate fountain. I'm probably about a stone heavier now!

 The downside to this hotel is that the surrounding area isn't great. It's got a lot of tacky tourist shops, and cheapy english bars, but that wasn't really what we were after. Luckily we had a hire car so we went out a couple of days exploring, with some recommendations of places to visit from family friends! We headed out to Mondrego on the south coast (middle two pictures) which is a very small cove in a nature reserve with beautiful views, crystal clear water, and white sand. It's tucked away at the bottom of a nature reserve and was pretty quiet. The water was gorgeous (once you got used to swimming around next to the fish!). We also visited Porto Christo (bottom picture) where we had lunch. My parents and sister also visited the Drachs Caves at Porto Christo, I sat that out however since I'm incredibly claustrophobic! On our last day we drove up to the northern part of the island and planned on visiting Formentor beach, which had been widely recommended, however, parking was really expensive, you had to pay for a whole day, and we only wanted to go down for a little look, so we followed the road round to Formentor Lighthouse. Whilst the drive is pretty hair raising (think narrow roads, winding round cliff edges, jagged rocks and no barriers) the views were incredible, along the drive and from the lighthouse, so it's well worth a visit!

I shall be getting back into the swing of blogging asap, but I'd like to thank my wonderful guest posters for helping me out while I was away! If you haven't already, go check out Ambi, Elysia and Linda's blogs!

Hope you've had a good week!

What's In My Travel Makeup Bag?

The art of packing light is one that elludes me. Unlike Linda, who's travel makeup bag you will get to peek into next week, I feel like, in the makeup department, I need a few options, depending on how my skin's behaving and so on.

Even so, I feel like for me, this is minimal! My makeup bag is from Tesco, it was part of a set of three for £5. This is the smallest one, I'm using the medium one for my carry ons, and the largest one for all my other beauty products. I really like them because they're rigid so they hold their shape and you can see everything in there. So, on with the show...

Laura Mercier Foundation Radiance Primer (sample size) - I would feel rude not taking this with me, it has holiday written all over it! Whilst it's not all that great at holding on to your makeup, it gives my lacklustre skin that dewy, radiant, holiday feel that I so need. Plus it's a sample size, even better!

No 7 BB Cream in Fair for  Normal/Dry skin - When I'm on holiday, it's not about coverage, it's about keeping my skin hydrated, protected from the sun, and evening out my skin tone. This base is creamy, and although a little dark for me now, it blends out seamlessly, plus I may even get a tan so it might suit me better! It's got the added bonus of SPF and it's super hydrating. The only BB cream that works on my skin!

MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation - For evenings when I want a little more coverage, I can either mix this into my BB cream, or into my moisturiser, for medium coverage. My go to foundation.

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer - My under eye concealer! The only thing that works for these under eye bags!

MAC Studio Fix Concealer - My concealer of choice for blemishes or redness. This stuff blends into any foundation or BB cream like a dream, and is super high coverage, whilst drying out spots!

Rimmel Stay Matte in Translucent - The more observant amongst you will notice that this puppy is brand new. I'm on the last dregs of my current one, which is 003 Peach Glow, for extra coverage, but I decided to pick up the translucent one, so it won't matter if I get a tan on my face!

NARS Laguna - Aren't bronzers a holiday essential? NARS Laguna is the only one that works for my pale skin, matte enough to be used as a contour or dusted all over for a glowy, bronzed look. Also has a really decent sized mirror.

Revlon Photo Ready Blush in Flushed - Still not sure about this one yet. I love the colour payoff and the lasting power, but I haven't worked out how to apply it best yet. Not with a stippling brush that is for sure.

Benefit Coralista (sample size) - I talked about this find earlier in the week. A beautiful coral pink blush with that signature Benefit smell. The only powder blush I'm taking. Very glowy.

Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Fresh Melon - I love cream blushes for summer. This is my favourite of the lot, a beautiful coral blush that applies like a dream and looks gorgeous on cheeks and lips.

Topshop Sunbeam Highlighter - I'm so in love with this at the moment. The perfect golden summer highlighter, I'll be using this in the evenings for a golden goddess (hah!) look!

Benefit Sunbeam Highlighter (sample size) - For using in the day. Great staying power, easily blendable and natural glowy looking.

Along Came Betty Brow Kit in medium/dark -  This is my favourite brow kit. Comes with two brow shades, a tinted wax, highlighter brush and spoolie. Everything I need for perfect brows, and it comes in at £6. Bargain.

MAC Paint Pot in Painterly and Rubenesque - I'll be smudging these across my eye in the day for fuss free lid colour, plus they're waterproof, so they'll stick even if I'm in and out of the pool all day!

Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Bad To The Bronze - Same principle as the MAC Paintpots. Just in case I fancy a darker colour on my eyes. This bad boy takes some serious elbow grease to get off, so the pool and beach won't be an issue!

Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Liner in Nude - Waterproof. Long lasting. I wear this every day on my waterline. Plus I always feel like you can get away with liners since they're so small!

Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeshadow pencils in Bad To The Bronze and Bulletproof Beige - Again, these are super small so I don't feel bad taking these. They're waterproof and the two colours blend together really nicely for an effortless smokey eye. You can build it up too if you want a more intense look.

NARS And God Created The Woman Palette and Isolde Duo - The And God Created the Woman palette is perfect for travel, the six shades in it are super versatile and the palette itself is really small. You can use this palette to create so many looks, so it's coming along! I'm also gonna take my Isolde duo, because the colours look great on tanned skin.

L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic in Waterproof - This is my favourite drugstore mascara, so I rushed out to buy the waterproof version for my holiday. I've tried it out and it's pretty much the same on application, it just doesn't smudge and is pretty hard to get off unless you use a cleansing balm or oil.

Shu Umera Eyelash Curlers - The only curlers worth getting in my opinion. These are the only curlers that actually hold a curl in my lashes, and it will hold all day.

Revlon Lip Butter in Wild Watermelon - I don't like taking lipsticks to hot climates since they tend to melt, but I actually bought this one with my holiday in mind. I won't take it out of the hotel room, but I'll just use it for a sheer wash of colour in the day, or a bold lip at night.

Rimmel Apocalips in Celestial and Apocalyptic - Celestial for day, Apocalyptic for night. They last all day, and won't melt like my lipsicks.

L'Oreal Glamshine Stain Splash in Romy and Lolita - I love these, they won't melt in my handbag, they have a pretty gloss finish that isn't sticky, and when the gloss wears off, they leave a lovely stain colour, that will last most of the day. Romy is a really pretty pink, and Lolita is my perfect nude.

Nuxe Reve de Miel - My favourite lip balm, I may actually slip this into my in flight bag, since my lips tend to get quite dry on planes. I'll use this in the night, and then in the day, I've got a Piz Buin SPF 30 lip balm in my suitcase, to stop my lips burning.

Rimmel Salon Pro Kate Moss lacquer in Hip Hop - This slipped into my basket at Superdrug the other day, along with a couple of other colours from the range, I just love them. This is the colour I'll be rocking on my hands for the week. My Seche Vite and Sally Hansen base coat are in my suitcase.

Rimmel 60 Second Nail lacquer in Rose Libertine - A blogger fav at the moment, I love this colour so much. It's been on my hands this week, so next week I'm going to switch it up and pop it on my toes.

And that's it! I have another small soft makeup bag that has the brushes I'm taking in (Real Techniques Buffing Brush, Powder Brush, Blush Brush, Crease Brush, MAC 215, Topshop Eyeshadow Brush) but that's it! It's really not that much in the scheme of things...is it?

What are your travel makeup essentials?