OFFER | TRIO OF ORIGINS FACE MASKS

I had to write a post dedicated to this fab offer - Boots are offering this trio of 75ml Origins face masks at better than half price, which is £23!  Obviously when I saw this bargain I snapped it up straight away, at £23 each for a 100ml tube usually, getting three 75ml tubes for the same price is pretty damn awesome.  This offer is on until this Thursday (13th November) so go go go! 

I have used the Clear Improvement charcoal mask before and loved it, so I have been desperate to try the others for a long time to see if they were as good.  My skin has been suffering lately so I'm looking forward to seeing if any of these masks help!  

You can pick up this offer here xx 

REVIEW | Origins Ginzing Moisturiser

Hey!  Yet another product I’ve bought thanks to reading other bloggers’ reviews on it!  Blogging really is a bitch on my bank balance..sob.  But never mind, this little £23 beaut was well worth it!  I have previously used the Origins A Perfect World moisturiser, but the two are very different, particularly in consistency as A Perfect World is much thicker and richer.  Ginzing is an ‘energy boosting moisturiser’ which interested me because I am always despairing over my dull, probably very dehydrated skin. 

The first thing I noticed when using GinZing for the first time is the smell; it is so fresh and zesty (I think….this is why I could never review a perfume, I’m crap at describing smells etc!) and it feels incredibly light on the skin.  It also absorbs very quickly, meaning you need to wait only a minute or two before applying the rest of your base.  I have combination to oily skin, and I find that this moisturiser doesn’t feel greasy at all, and doesn’t aggravate my more oily areas like my t-zone. 

My first impressions of Ginzing are that it is a great daytime face cream, especially if you have problem skin like mine and you want something light but beneficial.  The natural and plant derived ingredients don’t particularly mean that much to me if I’m honest, but it’s reassuring to know that what I’m putting on my face is something that is just a bunch of chemicals thrown together!  The only slight downside if I had to have one is that there is no SPF, which is something that is usually a must for me when choosing a new moisturiser.  I have SPF in my current foundations etc. so that is the only reason I turned a blind eye to it, but I definitely think that having some form of sun/uv protection is important whatever your age or skin type so I will keep that in mind when choosing what bases to use for the summer.

Have you tried Origins Ginzing Moisturiser?  xx

Sarah..x

Review | ORIGINS CLEAR IMPROVEMENT MASK

Hey :)  I have been wanting to review this very popular mask for a long time now, and just haven’t got round to it.  I guess that is actually a good thing, because it has given me more time to actually use it and form more of an opinion on it. 

Lately my skin has gone a bit mad and reverted back to how it was when I was a hormonal teenager – not acne but annoying under-the-skin spots and little clusters of pimples around my chin.  I’m not really sure what has caused it, I have a sneaky suspicion that it started around the same time that I began using Origins A Perfect World Moisturiser, which I really loved but in hindsight it was a little rich and oily for my combination skin.  I have stopped using it now and have reverted back to my trusty No.7 Beautiful Skin Day Cream which I love, but something still isn’t right so the investigation continues..

Well you obviously don’t want to hear my skin life story so I’ll cut to the actual product now..!  In a desperate attempt to clear my skin a little, I invested in the highly praised Origins Clear Improvement Mask which retails at £22.  It is an ‘active charcoal mask’ that is designed to clear the skin of any crap basically.  The consistency is nice and thick, and it dries within 15 minutes when you was hit off again.  I have to say that after my first use I already noticed a difference, not as in my spots had vanished (I wish), but my skin generally looked like it had had a deep clean right into the pores.  I noticed it particularly around my nose, which is the worst place for blocked pores for me, and right now the area looks better than it has done in a very long time!  I am so impressed with it, I have been using the mask weekly when my skin is almost back to normal, and twice weekly when the more stubborn spots are hanging around.  It is obviously not a miracle worker, it does not clear up my spots but what it does does is help hurry up the healing process by clearing out the skin and leaving it clean and free of excess oil that aggravates spots etc. 

I would really recommend this mask, it is on the pricey side but I have used it about 9 times already and as you can see from the photo I still have loads left, so I’m definitely getting my money’s worth I think.  Plus there is the fact that I think it actually works!

Have you tried this mask before?  What do you think of it? xx

What I Bought This Week #11

Well hello there!  It has been a bit of a while since I sat down and began writing a new post, it kind of feels like I’m starting from scratch.  I decided to take a break from blogging for a while as there was a lot of stuff going on, mainly a much-increased work load, and I was coming home in the evening feeling so tired that blogging was the last thing I wanted to do.  The blogging challenge I had a go at (#blogyoursocksoffseptember) was a great idea and I stuck to it forrrrrrr a fair old part of the month (!) but sadly life got in the way and my daily posts soon became every other day, and eventually none at all.  I am really annoyed at myself, because I was really enjoying it but then the pressure of planning posts every single day started to take the enjoyment out of it for me.  Apparently working full time and blogging daily was a bit too ambitious for me, but after a much needed break I’m excited to get going again and blog purely when I really want to!  That was a bit of a ramble, I started typing and it just kept coming!  I do apologise!

In other news, notable goings on in my life have included a night out that resulted in an impromptu trip to the fair (I don’t recommend the dodgems – my neck hurt for THREE DAYS after that), a standard trip to Thorpe Park, a random but fun Sunday night party in the work canteen of all places (as if we don’t already spend enough time there, but there was a good reason), and a whole lot of shopping.  Not the most amazingly exciting of things, but they keep me more than happy :)! 

SO, on to the make up products I have been buying lately.  As you can see, they are mainly products that have already been doing the rounds in blog land, and I just couldn’t resist trying them out for myself!  I am most excited to try out the Origins Clear Improvement mask, I have seen some of my favourite bloggers rave about it, and my skin is in desperate need of some sorting out right now so I hope that this is the product for the job.  As always, when ordering from the Origins website, I was able to choose a whole load of little samples as well which I think is really nice, and makes parting with more cash than I’d like a bit more bearable!  I could no longer ignore the hype surrounding these Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoo eye shadows, I was put off buying them in the past because I was worried that they would give me those horrible creases that you get on your eyelid from cream shadows.  The No.7 moisturiser is what I bought using a Boots voucher, I have used it before and it was really good for my combination skin.  I have run out of primer so I thought that now would be a good time to try something new, I never buy any make up from Seventeen so I thought that their new primer should be given a chance! 

Full reviews of these products will follow soon, I know you have probably read a fair few reviews of some of these products already but I may as well throw my thoughts out there too!

What have you been buying lately?  Have you tried any of these products? xx

My Daily Make Up #1

Heyyy!  I named this as my first daily make up type of post because I can guarantee there will be more, since I change my make up so often!  I actually feel quite guilty spending so much money on make up that I don’t need (even though I convince myself that I do need every single thing), and in fact I reckon that it has recently over taken how much I spend on clothes which is actually a little worrying.  Most of this can be blamed on my foundation addiction, I love buying them the most and I’m ashamed to say that there are a couple of ones laying around that aren’t even half used >__<.  I say this here because I think this is the only place where there may be some people who read who actually understand this madness!

Anyway, so these are the current products I am using.  I am still getting through my first ever Origins product, their A Perfect World moisturiser, and I love it.  It feels very gentle on my sensitive skin and I love the fact that it has spf 25 in it.  I use the Hydraluron Moisture Booster under my moisturiser and it helps to get the very most out of it and claims to hold in a lot of the skin’s moisture, giving you a healthy glow.  I have already reviewed this product, and I really do think that it is helping to make my skin look better than it has in a long time.  I’m really enjoying using my new Real Techniques blush brush, at first I was surprised at how soft and light it was, and it took some getting used to, but I am loving it now.  The Illamasqua Skin Base foundation is still going strong too, this is one of the best foundations I have ever used, and I’m still so pleasantly surprised that I found my perfect shade!  My beloved Naked 2 palette is also there, I hated how much I paid for it, but at the same time I love every colour in it so I use it almost every day and am making sure I get my money’s worth!  The GOSH eyebrow pen is a great buy, I highly recommend it.  I looks like an eyeliner and the tip is very similar too, but it makes it really easy to create a nice natural shape with your brows, if you suffer with pale brows that have little/no shape like me (I don’t think they have ever recovered from being plucked to within an inch of their life back when I was a teen).  The little angled brush came as part of a set of brushes from Ebay, and I use it for filling in my brows if I happen to use a powder product on them, or as an under eye eyeliner brush which is what I’m currently using it for.  Benefit Sugarbomb blusher is gorgeous, and it has lasted me absolutely ages!  It has a lovely peachy coral glow and a light sheen which makes my cheeks look subtly flushed.  Benefit High Beam is another firm favourite of mine, it really completes my make up by creating a glow in places like the top of my cheek bones and the arch of my brows.  MaxFactor Masterpiece Max mascara cannot be beaten in my opinion.  It was talked about a couple of days ago on here, and this is one product that I repurchase over and over again.  MaxFactor is really underrated in my opinion, I have always loved their mascaras and they have a great selection of foundations and nail polishes too. 

So there we go, my current make up that I use on a day to day basis!  I didn’t include any lip products because there isn’t really any one product I use every day right now, I sometimes just put on a little balm if I’m going to work, or I switch between various nude shades I have. 

What are your current make up products? xx