Lush Gorgeous facial moisturiser review

A while back, I received a bunch of complimentary goodies from Lush.

Read my unboxing post here.

I reviewed two of the products that I received but haven't got round to testing the others until recently.

Read the Comforter Bubble Bar review here.

Read the Rub Rub Rub review here.

So this is the Gorgeous facial moisturiser review!

I received the Hello Gorgeous box and inside was this 10g trial size version of the Gorgeous moisturiser. 

Here are the facts:

☮ It contains 18 natural ingredients and 7 safe synthetics

☮ None of the ingredients have been tested on animals

☮ It's vegetarian

☮ It costs £39.95 for 45g

My experience?

First, I must comment on the smell. As you can probably guess, it smells divine - like most Lush products. It smells fresh, light and little bit like orange-scented flowers.

One thing I have to say about Gorgeous is how universally suitable it is for all skin types. If you have dry skin, you'll notice how it soaks into any patches but isn't too heavy. If you have oily skin, it will hydrate you but not leave a thick layer on top of your oily spots. And, if you're like me and have combination skin, it's basically perfect. 

This product goes a long way. One little scoop on your forefinger and it's more than enough to cover your face and even a bit of your neck. I only have a 10g sample but I imagine that a 45g tub would last a long time (though, the expiration date might be a problem).

It is quite runny - something I'm not really used to with moisturisers - but I suppose this helps it to soak into your skin.

It contains pineapples which contain enzymes to help refine pores; fresh organic limes and oranges to help skin stay matte/not develop extra oil and remove dead skin cells and orange blossom honey water to soothe and moisturise. 

Gorgeous is perfect for anyone with dull or tired skin as it really brightens you up.

Overall, it is a little bit too expensive for a student, like myself. Almost £40 on moisturiser? I just cannot justify it when I can get a Simple moisturiser for about £3.99. Nevertheless, if you have a spare £40 to spend on beauty products, I would definitely recommend trying it. If you don't want to part with your money on a product you aren't sure about, ask for a sample in store.

I do love how this moisturiser made my skin look and feel and I was really surprised that I didn't break out in a rash due to my sensitive skin. Hallelujah!

I'd probably rate this an 8 out of 10. It would easily have been a 9 if the price wasn't quite as steep.

Thanks, Lush! ☮

Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette in Streak || Review

Managed to get my hands on this little baby! 

I believe this colour (along with two others) doesn't come out in the UK until the end of the month but I could be wrong. I know you can definitely get them in the States.

This is the Urban Decay Naked Flushed palette in the colour Streak. It's £22 for 0.49oz. I always like to look at prices from a student budget, and I think this is totally affordable!

You get a bronzer, highlighter and blush in one palette. If I were to buy all three products individually, it would cost me at least double so I found this to be a bargain.

The palette comes in a soft coppery/rosy coloured, plastic case. It isn't metallic like the Naked 2 and Naked 3 palettes. If you've seen the original Flushed palette, then it's the same as that. The lid opens and shuts easily and it has a very slight magnetic pull to it to keep it shut in your makeup bag.

The original Naked Flushed palette is now called "Naked". For those that don't know, it contains a medium shade satin bronzer, a pale pink champagne-ish highlighter and a rose satin blush.

The other two new palettes are called Native (medium bronzer with a shimmer in it, a pale pink highlighter and a bright pink, matte blush which is super pigmented) and Strip (darkest bronzer of the palettes, a beautiful golden highlighter and a deep mauve, matte blush).

Bronzer: The Streak palette has the lightest shade bronzer so it's ideal for my pale skin and helps me achieve that natural look that I aim for. It's matte but on closer inspection, there is the slightest shimmer. This was another selling point for me. I like everything in matte. I don't mind a shimmer highlighter, of course, but I like everything else to be matte.

Highlighter: The palette contains a peachy highlighter which blends so beautifully with the blush. It's super shimmery and gorgeous.

Blush: I don't think I suit bright pink blush so I usually opt for corals or peachy shades (not orange though). As you can see below, this palette contains a coral-y blush which was 100% the biggest selling point for me. It also has a matte finish. What more could I want?!

You can blend the different parts together or put them on individually to create different looks. I chose Streak over the others because I think it suits my skin tone best. I don't like blushers which are too pink so this peachy colour really won me over as it isn't too orange or too pink. The trio isn't too powdery so it looks as natural as possible which is perfect for me.

Disclaimer: This review is 100% me. I BOUGHT this product. Urban Decay did not send it to me. The lady at a makeup counter brought me one from the back. I will not say which city/town I bought this in as I do not want her to get in trouble for selling me something too early. I always go to her when I want Urban Decay products - this is why she sold it to me.

Lush - Rub Rub Rub review

Back in April, I received a bunch of complimentary goodies from Lush (see my unboxing post here). 

On April 22, I reviewed the Comforter Bubble Bar and in that post (read here), I said I would review the other product that I had tested "tomorrow" i.e. April 23. In case you haven't guessed, I didn't review said product.

Almost a month later, and here it is - my Rub Rub Rub review!

Rub Rub Rub is first and foremost a body scrub but wait... what's this? It can be used on your hair? Um... 

Here are the facts:

☮ It contains 10 natural ingredients and 6 safe synthetics

☮ None of the ingredients were tested on animals

☮ It's vegan

☮ It costs £8.50 for a 330g tub (my tub is only 130g - I don't know how much this would cost)

My experience?

Smell-wise, it's amazing as expected. It has a jasmine/blossom smell to it and it is absolutely lovely. I'm not one for floral scents at all - not even in perfume. But this smelt wonderfully sweet and not too flowery at all. 

It has a bright blue colour to it which made me a little excited, if I'm honest. It's the small things in life...

The scrub can be used on dry skin for an intense exfoliating session or in the shower/bath.

It's made with fine sea salt which to me sounded a little bit scary but mostly just strange. Why? Well, salt is supposed to dry out your skin and hair and this product claims to "wash, volumise and add shine to hair".  

Fortunately, Rub Rub Rub leaves my skin feeling significantly softer after each use. When used on your hair, it removes unwanted oils and exfoliates your scalp. Weirdly, it did give my hair a little volume and I have completely flat hair normally.

Overall, I really liked this product. I loved the colour, smell and the results. You don't really need to use much at all so the cost is justifiable if you're on a student budget, like myself. I'd probably rate this an 8 out 10.

Thanks again, Lush!

Naked Palette 3 || Review

I'm a little late to jump on the Urban Decay Naked 3 bandwagon... But what can you expect from a broke student?! 

I recently won the first stages of a local style competition. Round two commences tomorrow! For some reason, I find it really embarrassing that I won...

Anyway, the prize was a £100 gift voucher for the shopping centre. Naturally, the first thing I bought was the Naked 3 palette. Eek!

I've had a little bit of time to play around with it and by "play around", I mean I've tried two make-up looks and basically just stuck to them.

This palette costs £37.00, just like the other two Naked palettes. You get 12 brand new full-sized eye shadows. I love the fact that all the colours are new. You also get a double ended brush which has a flat shader on one side and blending brush on the other. I love that both the brush and the case are kinda rose gold themselves. The case is made from some kind of metal. I actually prefer this packaging to the original Naked palette.

 Look how wonderfully rosy they are! 

You also get four free samples of the Urban Decay eye shadow Primer Potions. The first one you get is the original and it's probably my favourite because it's invisible once on.  The next one is called Eden and this one is a nude matte shade. Again, really nice. The next two I haven't actually tried yet. One is called Sin which apparently has a hint of shimmer and the last one is Anti-ageing which does what it says. Each sample comes in a little pod and has a few weeks worth of primer in each.

If I'm honest, It took me a while to get into it. I fell in love with the original Naked palette instantly and I thought it would be the same with this one. Before I owned it, I wanted it so much. I love how all the colours are kind of rose gold or a taupe-y or mauve-y version of rose gold. Even the darkest shade, Blackheart, has little red flecks in it which I think is a lovely touch. But when I actually went to use the palette for the first time, I found that I didn't really know what to do with the colours. I wasn't sure which to mix to get certain looks. 

After playing around for a while, I have realised that I love this palette just as much as I thought I would. I have quite green eyes so pinky shades really make my eyes pop. I also love the smoothness of the shadows and the fact that they are all really pigmented - something that I think is a common thread in all Urban Decay eye-shadows.

The first four shades:

The first colour in the palette is called "Strange". I presume most people use it to highlight their brow bones and maybe the inner corners of the eye which is exactly how I use it. I really like this colour. It's possibly my favourite brow bone highlighter ever. At first glance, it looks matte but it actually has a really light shimmer to it which I think is so beautiful. It's kind of an ivory shade but has a very slight pinky tone to it once applied.

The second colour is "Dust". It's a light, metallic, glittery pink. Super girly. The glitter is kind of big and you can really see the glitter chunks.. "Glitter chunks" - I come up with some weird phrases.

The third colour is "Burnout" and it's a satin pink colour. Not quite as pink as Dust but I actually prefer this colour and I'm wearing it in the corners of my eyes right now. It is a perfect shade for wearing all over the lid though.

Next we have "Limit" which is one of the two matte shades in the palette. I absolutely love this colour. It's a light dusty rose and it's prefect as a blending/transition colour in the crease.

The next five colours:

The fifth colour in the palette is "Buzz". This is a metallic rose shade with little bits of silver glitter. Super pretty and super pink.

Next is "Trick". For me, this is THE rose gold colour in the palette - it's metallic and beautiful.

The next colour is the second matte shadow and it's called "Nooner". This is my favourite colour in the palette. It works perfectly in the crease and is a dusky, mauve-y kinda colour. I sometimes like to use this on my lower lash line too.

The eighth colour is called "Liar" and it's a metallic mauve shade with a rosy shimmer.

"Factory" is the next colour and it's a satin brown. Really pretty and easy to pack onto your lids.

The final three shadows:

The tenth colour is "Mugshot". It's like a metallic taupe. I love this colour - I've been using it loads.

"Darkside" is the next colour and this is a satin grey taupe with a rosy hint to it. I love this for the outer corners of the eye. 

The final shade is "Blackheart" and this is black with little pink or red sparkles. I can't quite tell! Either way, it's perfect for creating a smokey eye but the pink/red glitter "chunks" make it just that little bit softer. I actually feel like this is something you could wear in the day quite easily.

Overall, I love how unique this palette is. It's completely different to the other two Naked palettes.

I hope at least one person finds this review useful!

Estée Lauder product review

If you have read any of my previous posts, you may be aware that I have sensitive skin. The way I often buy products is to ask for a weeks worth of samples first so I can make sure that I won't react before parting with my money. 

But that's not quite how I bought these... 

*ahem* Impulsive splurge *ahem*

In this post, I'll be looking at three Estée Lauder products that I bought over Christmas.

Sorry for the scruffy background and the iPhone photography!

The first product I want to talk about (and my favourite of the three) is the Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex II serum. I bought the 30ml bottle for £48 (50ml is £65 and 75ml is £78) from Boots. It's kind of expensive but it actually WORKS! I absolutely love this product! There has been a lot of research into anti-ageing products and also into how our skin and cells try to fix themselves over night. The Advanced Night Repair serum works with your skin's natural renewal process to reduce signs of ageing so you wake up looking as beautiful ever!

The product is fragrance free - which is possibly why I can use it without my skin flaring up. The serum still has a scent to it which smells quite perfume-y but it's a nice smell. Just to clarify for those who may not understand: "fragrance free" means that no scents have been added to the product to mask its natural smell... I didn't understand this for years.

Like I said above, my skin doesn't seem to react to this product. I'm not entirely sure why because I have unbelievably sensitive skin (I currently have bobbly cheeks because I slept in my foundation). Now, I'm not saying this will work for everyone with sensitive skin but I don't react at all to this! The label says it is suitable for all skin types. I've used it almost every night since I bought it over the Christmas holidays and, as you can see in the photo below, there is still LOADS in the bottle. You don't need much at all. It should be applied to clean skin before you moisturise. I apply it by popping a little blob on each of my four fingertips, lightly rubbing them with the fingers on my other hand and, starting at the centre of my forehead, lightly drawing round to my temples and down towards my mouth. I then put my fingers on my nose and sweep them out towards my ears. I'm not sure if this is the correct way to apply it but it works for me and I don't want to pull my skin too much. This should NOT be applied to the eye area. Your skin is 40% thinner around the eyes and this product contains some pretty strong chemicals. If you want a product for the eyes, Estée Lauder do have an eye version of this product. I have sampled the eye serum and it is lovely!

I know some people may think I'm a bit daft having a product like this when I'm only 19 and I don't have any permanent lines on my face. However, for me, prevention is better than cure! If I have a stressful day, I often get little faint lines on my forehead and this product makes me feel better and they are completely gone by the morning. 

The only reason I have the next two products is because they came free with the Advanced Night Repair! It was a limited time offer so I doubt you will be able to get the same deal I did. If I were to buy this product, I would have definitely sampled it first. Creams are my skin's arch nemesis! 

This is the Advanced Time Zone Age Reversing/Wrinkle Creme. Again, this product should NOT be applied to the eye area for the same reasons as above. Normally, this would cost £53 for 50ml. My tub is only 15ml, so it's a baby. I don't think you can buy this size. I think it was just available on the offer.

What I love about this product is that it is oil-free and has SPF 15. It's quite a luxurious and thick cream. It even smells expensive! Again, it's fragrance-free but it still smells like a lady's floral perfume! I usually don't like any scent in my products at all but this is quite a nice smell. The product claims to make you look younger in five days. Obviously, I'm probably a little too young to notice any difference on my skin right now. However, like the Advanced Night Repair serum, this does reduce any fine lines that I have. 

The science behind it: it contains something Estée Lauder call "Tri-HA Cell Signaling Complex". This helps skin boost its natural production of line-plumping hyaluronic acid.

It should be applied AM and PM after the Repair serum.

The problem? My skin isn't a fan of this product. I get a few rashes around my cheeks and chin after a couple of days use. I think I will give this to my mum since I can't use it. I know she loves her anti-ageing products and she never shops at Estée Lauder so this will be a new experience for her.

The final product I want to talk about is the Advanced Time Zone Age Reversing/Wrinkle Eye Creme. I am a bit of a novice when it comes to eye creams. This usually costs £38 for 15ml. Again, I got a dinky version since it came free. This is only 5ml. For me, that's quite a lot. It'll last me a while because you don't need much.

This product should be applied AM and PM after the Repair eye serum.

I love wrinkles around the eyes. I think it really gives a person character to see laughing lines. However, I'm still young and I don't want them just yet! I like this product a lot. It works. Another brilliant product. It reduces any lines that may have appeared during the day.

Surprisingly, this didn't give me any rashes but it did have a slight burning sensation. I probably won't use this often (a burning feeling can't be a good thing, can it?) but I think I will keep it.  

Estée Lauder really smashed it with these products. I would go as far as to say that the Advanced Night Repair serum is possibly the best product of its kind right now!