New beauty and make up buys – here’s my take on them

As you may know if you read this blog once in a while I am a bit of a make up and beauty product addict. Now that I am nearly 8 months pregnant and not spending any casharola on clothes I am totally indulging my beauty product habit. Hey, if I look like a whale at least I’ll look like a whale with decent skin. (Whales probably naturally have decent skin though right….?) Anyway, you have to do whatever it takes!

I came across an article on the web about best beauty products and made a list of the ones I hadn’t tried. Unfortunately, I didn’t bookmark the article but I know it was on a magazine website like instyle or allure. Have tried to find it again using the power of Google but it is not coming up. No matter, I usually give a whirl to things that either users have collectively voted for or that a panel of beauty experts have agreed. Sometimes the wisdom of the masses is a good thing.

Here are the things I bought and here’s what I think of them so far.

Note: as usual no one is paying me for this post 🙂 This is just my personal opinion.

1. Olay Definity Eye Illuminator Treatment

I have chronically dark circles under my eyes and am starting to get the odd wrinkle but haven’t managed to find an eye cream that has been able to tackle both. If I am honest I think the dark circles are a mixture of genetic handover plus maybe bad diet to a certain extent but I am willing to try a cream if it says it will help.  The cream claims to lighten the under eye area immediately because it has light reflecting particles but also actually fade the dark circles over time. I buy into the first part, not so sure of the 2nd claim but I have only been using it for a week so time will tell. What I do know is that my under eye area feels much moisturised, looks brighter and crucially has not got any little blocked pores in it which I get with other eye creams. I am a convert! Gets a 9/10.

2. Laura Mercier Metallic Creme Eye in Alloy

This eye shadow was mentioned as a great every day product which has a fairly neutral colour. I only wear cream shadows as my eyes are quite deep-set and I find that matt/powder shadows don’t help them pop at all. Cream shadows, especially those with a hint of glimmer work well to make my eyelids stand out a bit more. I usually stick with a fairly beige or pink shade like my Urban Decay primer but this one sounded interesting. The colour itself is actually more of a silverly/purpley grey shade but is not too dark. It is light enough to wear during the day but if you built it up it would be a great base for an evening smokey eye. It goes on really easily and also has great staying power. My eyes are fairly dark brown and the purple tint to it works well with this eye colour. The product is quite expensive but I only used a tiny amount and covered the whole eye area easily. Again, another winner . Gets 8/10.

3. Yves Saint Laurent Gloss Volupte in Tangy Orange

Oooh, I really like this one. I don’t tend to wear lipstick as my lips are always quite dry and it settles in the cracks! Balms don’t tend to give enough colour coverage and glosses can be pretty sticky. This product seems to combine the best of all 3: good depth of colour, moisturising and adds a bit of shine. Plus it tastes of YUMMY mango! Remember, when you were a teenager and used to buy the Body Shop lip balms that taste of fruit? This is what this is like but in super grown up, glamorous packaging. The colour itself is a slightly red/orange colour which I think would work well with most skin colours. It tends to just amplify whatever your natural lip colour is plus add some gloss. My only slight complaint about it is that it is pretty expensive and not very big. Not sure how much it will last but could see myself buying it again, especially as it has a built-in SPF 8. It got the kiss seal of approval from my husband but then he happens to be very fond of mango! Gets a 7/10 (would get more if was less pricey).

4. This Works Perfect Cleavage Firming Lotion

Out of all the things I bought this is my definite favourite. Being a bit of an idiot in my younger days (have times changed?) I stupidly got badly sunburnt on 3 occasions on my chest area. Once by spending an entire June day in the sea and sunbathing at the Italian coast near Cinque Terre (check it out, it’s awesome!). Once on the beach in Koh Samui in Thailand (check it out, also awesome!) when I decided to ditch the sun tan lotion as I wasn’t getting tanned enough… oh so silly. Once when I was on safari in the Selous National Park in Tanzania and despite having SPF 30 on I still got sunburnt (check it out, even more awesome!!, the Selous that is, not my sunburn). I digress… the downside to these lovely holidays is that now at the age of 34 I have weird, crepey wrinkled skin on my cleavage area. It ages me about 20 years and sometimes puts me off wearing low-cut tops. I have tried various moisturisers but they have had no effect apart from making that area break out. I read a bit about this This Works product on a few websites and users seem to rave about it. It’s not as expensive as some of the creams I have been recommended and it is a natural product. You are supposed to put it on morning and evening but I haven’t got that organised yet. I have been using it for about 3 days and already I can feel and see a difference. The skin in that area seems firmer and tighter and looks in good condition. The wrinkles are still there but already they seem less obvious. I am really keen to stick with this one and see how it goes. I’d really recommend trying it if you also were an idiot in your younger years! Gets a 9/10.

Those are my new purchases. Would love to know if you have tried them, what you think or if you have any other recommendations.