the fashion blog for the stylish bargain hunter
One of the things that I’ve been doing a lot of since being on maternity leave is watching make-up tutorials. I particularly love Lisa Eldridge’s YouTube channel for its variety of make-up how tos.
Making videos has increasingly become a part of my day job and so in order to try to retain the skills I’ve learnt while I’m away from the office, I thought I would try my hand at making my own make-up video. Let me know what you think – but please be kind, it’s my first time!
Shop the video:
With just 12 days until the start of December, have you got your advent calendar yet? There’s no better way to build the anticipation for the festive season than a countdown. Chocolate advent calendars are so 2012 though! For the past few years, beauty advent calendars have been creating a storm throughout December – offering treats every day for a month. It really is the gift that keeps on giving.
This year, I’ll be opening a door on the No7 advent calendar each day again. Last year, the calendar was filled with mini and full sized versions of some of my favourite products from the beauty brand. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s behind each door this time round.
If you want in on the beauty fun – we’ve hunted out some other options that will help get you in the festive spirit:
Shop the post: 1. No7 beauty advent calendar; 2. Benefit calendar; 3. Kerastse calendar; 4. Selfridges Cosmic beauty advent calendar; 5. Liberty London calendar; 6. The Body Shop calendar; 7. Charlotte Tilbury 12 days of Christmas box; and 8. Ciate calendar.
Will you be counting down to Christmas with a beauty advent calendar this year?
There’s only a couple of days left to save up to £5 on No7 goodies with their latest voucher. If you’ve got a spare voucher in your purse, don’t let it go to waste – here our our top seven things to spend your No7 voucher on:
What will you be spending your No7 voucher on?
I’ll confess, I love to spend time in the shower. A bath, I can leave, but a shower, I just love. So when I heard that No7 were launching their new Beautiful Skin Indulgent Bathing Range, I was pleased to see that it included luxury shower products, as well as beautiful bath goods.
For me, a shower is a little bit of “me time” every day.
The new No7 Beautiful Skin Indulgent Bathing Range is packed full of bathing and body products for silky smooth skin, all in a new look, a new fragrance and a variety of new luxurious textures to help you relax and feel pampered.
Whether you prefer to relax in the bath, lather up in the shower, or simply want to give your skin a little pick me up, the range ensures your skin is left hydrated, moisturised and glowing whatever time of day.
I’ve been trying out the new No7 Beautiful Skin Foaming Shower Oil (£12.00) which feels so luxurious gently massaged onto skin in the shower. It’s a little (lot!) steeper than my usual shower gels, so I’ve been using this whenever I’ve felt like I need a little but of extra TLC.
Both the No7 Beautiful Skin Foaming Shower Oil and the No7 Beautiful Skin Sheer Indulgence Bath Oil (£12.50) include Sweet Almond and Grapeseed Oils to nourish the skin, and a dose of Vitamin E and Argan Oil help to lock in moisture.
If baths are your thing, try adding a few drops of the Beautiful Skin Sheer Indulgence Bath Oil under running water for a relaxing bathing experience.
The new range also includes No7 Beautiful Skin Blissful Body Wash (£9.50), for the ultimate in cleansing and moisturising and the No7 Beautiful Skin Gorgeous Glow Body Scrub (£13.50), which gives your skin a helping hand on the way to radiance. This rich and indulgent scrub is made up of Walnut Shell, Almond Oil, Argan Oil and Rosehip Seeds to sweep away dead skin cells and restore your skin’s silky soft feel.
The collection also includes three products for post bathing/showering pampering. I’ve been using the No7 Beautiful Skin Pampering Dry Body Oil (£13.50) which is perfect is you’re in a rush as it sprays onto skin in fine droplets for quick absorption, so you can get dressed shortly after applying.
If you’ve got more time post bath/shower, try massaging the No7 Beautiful Skin Shimmering Body Oil (£13.00) onto your body. Not only does it help moisturise and condition skin, but it also gives you a subtle, sun-kissed glow. And, if your legs are in need of a bit of extra TLC, slather the No7 Beautiful Skin Silky Leg Oil (£12.50) all over for irresistibly smooth and softly glowing pins.
If you think you know someone who might want to try the range this Christmas (or you might want to ask for it yourself!), Boots have created two gift sets: No7 Beautiful Skin Pampering Core Collection Gift and the No7 Beautiful Skin Pampering Mini Collection Gift.
Have you tried the new No7 Beautiful Skin Indulgent Bathing Range yet? How do you make your bath/shower time a little bit more special?
Have you noticed there’s a bit of a trend for designers and beauty brands teaming up?
First up is NEUTROGENA® who have teamed up with up and coming fashion designer Danielle Romeril to create an exclusive limited edition design for NEUTROGENA VISIBLY CLEAR® Pink Grapefruit Facial Wash and the NEUTROGENA VISIBLY CLEAR® Pink Grapefruit Oil-Free Moisturiser.
Danielle’s designs are inspired by Memphis, an Italian design and architectural movement from the ’80s that championed bold colours and a surreal style. She’s combined this with a modern take on camouflage to create the fresh and eye-catching new design that will look good in any bathroom!
Meanwhile, Simple has teamed up with British fashion and accessories designer, Holly Fulton, for their latest Limited Edition Cleansing Facial Wipes.
Holly has created two Limited Edition pack designs, (one in playful pink and the other in classic black) and has drawn inspiration from the graphic, but feminine, hand-drawn prints featured in her AW15 collection.
Finally, shoe designer of the moment, Sophia Webster, has redesigned some of the bottles in the TONI&GUY collection.
The designs exclusively feature an “Amazonia” take over, with Aztec prints in flashes of multi-coloured neon – totally worth getting in a lather over!
Any designer beauty collaborations I’ve missed? What do you think of these? A bit of a gimmick or a bit of glamour for your bathroom?
I’ve blogged about the No7 Match Made service before. I’ve been using their amazing Match Made radiance concealer (think YSL Touche Eclat without the price tag!) for a long time now and have tried out their lipstick collection too.
They’ve already got nine foundations, from liquid to powder to mousse, in their Match Made collection and now they’ve launched their latest: No7 Airbrush Away Foundation. I was lucky enough to be sent a bottle of the new foundation – as well as the Airbrush Away Primer – to try out.
I love the bottle of the new foundation. It’s very simple and looks chic on my dressing table. It’s a lovely and light formula – which is ideal for me as I really hate heavy foundations.
The new No7 Airbrush Away Foundation glides onto the face. It offers buildable coverage and blurs the appearance of fine lines and pores.
The new foundation also contains Berryflux Vita to hydrate and care for skin.
Interestingly, for No7, this new foundation doesn’t contain an SPF. I was actually told by a make-up artist before my wedding that if you’re going to an event (like your own wedding!) where you’ll be photographed, you should choose a foundation without an SPF. Ever looked at a photo of yourself and thought your face looked very washed out while the rest of you probably looks a lot darker? It’s the SPF! It basically reflects light and therefore gives your face a much paler complexion. So this foundation would be ideal for a big event.
Of course, if you’re wearing it during the day, remember to use a moisturiser with an SPF underneath.
Would totally recommend the Airbrush Away Primer – it is so silky soft when it goes on and provides the ideal base for the rest of your make-up.
There’s some debate over whether to have your hair and make-up done by a pro for your wedding, or to do it yourself. A few people were surprised by my decision to get a professional in to do my make-up, given my blogging background and love of all things cosmetics.
I spotted this post over of Cider with Rosie in which she talked about doing her own make-up. To be honest, it’s something I did consider. A few years ago, one of my best friends got married and I was one of her bridesmaids. She was having a make-up artist and left it up to us girls to decide if we wanted to use her too. Originally I thought, no way. But then it transpired that my boyf (now hubby) and I would be in Morocco until the day before and I’d be heading straight from the airport to her’s for the wedding prep. I never really take make-up on holiday and didn’t want to lug around a load of make-up for our trip, so decided I’d have my make-up done professionally. I was sceptical that I would end up looking a little like a clown but I figured I could probably tone it down. It turned out to be amazing and looked so good and was so much easier. Plus, I find getting my make-up right, so it will still show up in photos can be difficult.
So when my wedding day came round, I knew I wanted to book a professional. It meant I knew I would look good (having had a trial beforehand) and would also mean one thing I wouldn’t have to stress about on the day.
It turned out to be one of the most chilled parts of the day – but also the point at which it suddenly hit me that it was my wedding day!
The two hair stylists took over our kitchen (downstairs) and so it was filled with people and a lot of noise and chat. The make-up artist was in our living room (upstairs), away from all of that. It was quite serene and very peaceful. And it gave me the space and quiet to think about the day ahead. And I suddenly realised that I was about to get married!
If you are thinking about go down the professional route, these are my top tips to ensure that you are happy with your look on your big day:
Would you do your own hair and make-up on your wedding day?
Photos by Ed Bagnall Photography
My wardrobe is a veritable rainbow of blacks, greys, whites and navys. I’m not really one to add too much colour to my outfits. If it comes in black, I’ll probably choose that option.
So when No7 asked me to get involved in their #ColourYourWay campaign I thought it might be a fun way to express myself in an unusual way.
The No7 Colour Your Way campaign uses powerfully contradictory statements about colour and feeling in a bid to inspire women to play with colour cosmetics in a new and exciting way that’s personal to them and in a way to help them empower themselves.
No7 have totally transformed the usual approach to colours and the feelings associated with them: serious pink, fiery blue, quiet red, sunny grey, hot green, electric nude and cool orange.
I’ve been adding a flash of green around my eyes for sunny Sunday drinks at the pub, a pop of blue on my nails to accompany an all-black look for the office and a hint of orange on my lips for lazy weekend brunches. So far, I’m loving playing with colour in unusual situations.
How do you Colour Your Way?
*The new ad will continue No7’s commitment to using real women as all women featured in the campaign have been ‘street cast’ from all walks of life, and none of their images have been retouched or airbrushed.
We’ve all got bottles of old nail polish that has gone gloopy or that we just don’t like anymore. Well, Crabtree & Evelyn are offering everyone the chance to swap their old nail polish for a NEW one completely FREE! 
You just need to take any brand of nail polish (except a Crabtree & Evelyn one) into your nearest Crabtree & Evelyn store from today (13 August) until 29 September (while stocks last) to exchange your old nail polish for a brand new nail lacquer from Crabtree & Evelyn worth £6.00! All bottles will be recycled where possible.
Crabtree & Evelyn have a great collection of shades, from classic reds to pretty nudes and summer brights to moody navys.
Image via
I’ve read time and again that if you’re a glasses wearer, brows should definitely be a part of your make up routine. I’ve never really bothered with my brows. They are thin and almost non-existent in places, after too much plucking as a teenager! So when No7 offered to send me their new No7 Beautiful Eyebrow Kit, I decided it was time I tried out the advice.
The Brow Kit includes two brushes, a double ended slanted brush and a mascara wand. It features a brow gel, a highlighter and two shades of powder for filling in your brows. It’s so easy to use. This diagram via the No7 Facebook page shows you exactly what goes where:
You know what? It works! Filling in my thinning brows really does help to define my make-up look. I don’t use much at all, as I don’t want to suddenly have very dark brows but it works to frame my eyes and makes me look made up, without too much actual make-up.
Do you fill your brows? Which product do you use?
Sugar & Spice 