Beauty on a Budget: Skincare

This is the first out of ten beauty on a budget blogs in this series, I hope this will be helpful for you. But, I will say now the products I use work best for me and may not work for you.

There are two scrubs that I use but I have run put of one and need to repurchase it, the one I use twice a week is the St. Ives Sensitive Skin Apricot Scrub which is £4.29 at Boots. I've used a few different scrubs in the past and I have found that this works best for me. I get really stubborn dry patches sometimes and once I've used this it keeps them at bay for a few days as long as I moisturise after. The other scrub I use is the Neutrogena Spot Stress Control which is £4.79 at Boots, I only use this one I have a bad breakout though it's the only thing I have found has worked since I started getting bad breakouts at about 13. I also find this a quite calming face scrub as it has cucumber in.

 After I have exfoliated I moisturise using the NSPA Ultra-Hydrate Cream this as far as I'm aware is only available at Asda, this is great after using the scrub or just as a daily moisturiser I use it for both sometimes but feel it works better after the scrubs. It soaks into the skin great and quite fast, it can be focused mainly on dry patches and I tend to put more on them and just let my skin soak it in.

There probably isn't many people that think that the Boots essentials brand isn't very good but I love the Cucumber Eye Gel which is £1.50, for the price you can't really go wrong there are probably better eye creams/gels that are pricier and better but this is extremely purse friendly and it's lovely and cooling around the eyes, I could tell a difference a few days after I started using it. It's for reducing the puffiness and to hydrate and it has certainly done that for me.

Then last but by no means least there's the Garnier Moisture Match in Dry to Very Dry Skin which is £5.99 from Boots but I always seem to get it when it's on offer. I use this as a daily moisturiser before my make up and on a night after I take my make up off, it definitely leaves my skin feeling soft and hydrated. When I'm having a difficult skin day I also mix a bit into my foundation just to add that extra bit of hydration. I would definitely recommend this moisturiser and if you don't have dry skin check the others out as I'm sure you will find a Moisture Match suitable for you.

Lou

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Beauty on a Budget Series

I have decided to do this series as I can't afford high end products and I know there are a lot of other people out there that can't. As much as I would love to be able to buy high end products and try them. I have to stick to budget brands.

The series will consist of all my favourite affordable skin care, primers, foundations & tinted moisturisers, eye products, lip products, blushers and bronzers, haircare, make up brushes and nail products.

I will be uploading them every friday, starting this week and if you have any ideas for my next series let me know.

Lou

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Elf Haul Part 2

Sorry it's taken me a while to get this post up I've had a few problems with my laptop lately so lets get into the second part of this haul.

So the next thing I added to my basket was this Lipstick in Sociable, it applies really nice and has gorgeous pigmentation but isn't long lasting I had to reapply throughout the day. But, for only £1.95 I would recommend it.

I then decided I wanted to try one of the Moisturising Lipstick in Coral Cutie, I have been wanting a nice coral lipstick for a while and this is a gorgeous colour its not as moisturising as some of the other moisturing lipsticks, but it is good. This lipstick lasts longer than the lipstick above but I did have to reapply it during the day.

Nail Polish in Mango Madness

Nail Polish in Mint Cream

Nail Polish was next as I can never have too much, so I got Mango Madness and Mint Cream, I got these as I don't have any colours similar to these because for some reason I always stayed away from them. I'm glad I got these colours as they are great for this time of year. I applied 2 coats to get it nice and opaque, I also applied a top coat to some and left the other nails without it to see how long it lasted without the top coat, after 2 days there was a bit of chipping but not much so if you're wanting some nail polish to try then you can't go wrong for £2.50.

Mineral Loose Eyeshadow in Outdoorsy

Super Glossy Lip Shine in Mauve luxe

I got two free products with my order I don't really use green eyeshadow so that's going to my sister and the glossy tube I will give to my cousin to use if she wants it as the only glossy tubes I like are the Barry M ones but I don't mind giving these away as they were free.

Thanks for reading

Lou

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Elf Haul Part 1

Last week I did a bit of online shopping and after ordering a set of new make-up brushes, I decided to see if elf had an offer on and there was an offer for 2 free gifts if you spent over a certain amount, so I decided to order some make-up as I've heard lots of mixed reviews about elf.

From just opening the products and swatching them I am quite impressed with the pigmentation, I will do reviews on a few of these products, but I have a feeling I will like them all.

So first off I had a look at the brushes, I just stuck to the basics though as I get fed up of always having to wash my brushes and make sure they are dry by the next day so I ordered a Total Face Brush, Bronzing Brush and a Blending Eye Brush. I did use the eye brush today and it blended my eyeshadow nicely and is soft, the other 2 brushes do feel quite soft as well but I notice a bit of fall out from the Total Face Brush, but it wasn't much so I'm not too bothered.

 I then looked at blushers as I have gone a bit blusher crazy at the moment and whenever I go to town I buy a new one, I was looking for a new bronzer as well so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and get a Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder in St Lucia, the blusher is quite light so I may just use it as a highlighter instead and when I swatched the bronzer it is quite shimmery but I don't mind that, it also doesn't seem to orangey like most cheaper bronzers.

An All Over Colour Stick in Pink Lemonade was next to be added to my basket, let me just say it smells so good but I can't think of what it reminds me of, I don't like the idea of using this on cheeks, eyes and lips so I will just be using it as a blusher, I love the colour of this, it's a rosy light pink and very shimmery, it will be lovely in spring and summer to add a healthy looking colour to the cheeks.

Next is an Eyelid Primer in sheer, I'm always wanting to try different eye primers as I hate it when my eyeshadow creases, lately though I haven't been using a primer I've just been using one of my Calvin Klein cream eyeshadows as a base which works quite well but I don't have that many colours, so I thought I would give this primer a go. It's not very thick and is nice and creamy so I'm looking forward to using this.

I love eyeshadow pencils as a quick, in a rush wash of colour over the eyelid, also being able to blend them easily is always a plus, I wanted a nice everyday colour so I got the Jumbo Eyeshadow Stick in French Lace, it's like a light rose gold colour, I also use these as bases for eyeshadow aswell so they are always handy to have in my make up collection.

The final thing in this part of my elf haul I ordered was a Single Eyeshadow in saddle although I have a lot of brown eyeshadows I always want more, I thought that this colour would be great to great a smokey eye with, I also think it will be a nice colour to wear alone, it's a medium brown with a nice shimmer to it.

Part 2 will me up later this week.

Lou
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Just a short message

Sorry there hasn't been any posts uploaded for a while, I have some written just haven't had the chance to upload them and I have also had to change the days I write posts as my sister doesn't have time to do posts anymore so I'm going solo, but keeping this blog as I don't see the point in starting another.

So I will post the next blog tomorrow, and then try and post 2 a week if not more.

Thanks for reading.

Lou
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My Hair Dying Experince

I was about 13 when I decided I no longer liked the colour of my hair, I had blonde hair when I was little and as I grew up it started to get darker and it became a mousy brown colour, it was then that I decided I was going to dye my hair blonde. At 13 I knew a bit about dying hair at home as I had seen people do it, so after school one day me and a school friend bought 2 boxes of Clairol’s Nice’n Easy Permanent colour. I can’t remember which shades I bought but they were the lighter blondes in the collection.

So I let my friend apply the first box of dye and left that on for longer than recommended on the instructions, we then washed it off in the kitchen sink as it was the easiest place to do that, I let my hair dry and decided that the colour wasn’t the colour I wanted, so this is where to made the mistake of dying it again the same day, the outcome of this was that the colour was right but my hair had become quite dry and wispy at the ends, so I had to go to the hairdressers and have my cut. Over the next few years I didn’t have my full head dyed I just had highlights done at the hairdressers. Once I moved back to Leeds when I was 16 I started using nice’n easy again and as I learnt from my previous experience my hair was still dry and damaged at the ends but I knew how to look after it better. I carried on dying my hair blonde until the beginning of last year when I decided to dye it brunette to give my hair a rest and to let it repair from all the damage I had caused dying it.

Even a year on my hair isn’t the same as it was before dying it but now I use hair masks once a week. I wouldn’t say don’t dye your hair if that’s what you want to do, do it, just make sure you have a good hair care routine to help your hair from the damage of the dye. Now that I have a good hair care routine I will be dying my hair blonde again in the near future. So I will be writing a blog post about that and the products I recommend for dyed hair.

If any of you have any hair care products you like, let me know and I will try them out as I’m always willing to make my hair care routine better.

                                      Lou

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Everyday Makeup Tutorial

Before I start doing my makeup I wash my face and moisturise it with nivea day cream and then put my contact lenses in.

I don't prime my face because I feel like I don't need it as I think my foundation 'Rimmel Lasting Finish in 100 Ivory' stays on my face all day, I use a foundation brush by Barbara Day.

 I only conceal under my eyes and around the nose then I use a concealer brush from a brush set to blend it in. I use 'N°7 Instant Radiance in 2'.

 I like my face is not feel sticky after I've put foundation on so I always have to set it with 'Rimmel Stay Matte Powder' using a powder brush from Morrisons.

 I start doing my eyes with 'Rimmel Studio Secrets' in white on my lower water line to make my eyes look bigger.

 I then use 'Seventeen Smudge Pencil' in Blackest Black on my upper water line to make my eyelashes look more darker.

 I use 'Collection No Clumps' in Ultra Black on only my top lashes as I think my bottom lashes are long enough anyway.

I don't have a very confusing makeup routine but I have to do it everyday for work and I never go out the house without makeup on now so I've got use to it. Hope you enjoy reading this.

                                                   Love AJ.