January 2016: Collective Beauty Haul - Chads

In the spirit of the new year, I decided to take a break from my shopping ban and take advantage of all the sales & offers which are currently on. I ordered most of these products on-line and bought a few in-store over the past few weeks. So here's my collective beauty haul for the month!

I popped into Boots last week to buy some toiletries and ended up with these in my shopping basket:

Rimmel Glam Eyes Liquid Eye Liner - £5.29

Boots - direct link

This was a repurchase, and also one of my favourite liquid liners. The brush has a thin tip so I can get a precise and easy cat-eye with this. Plus, its lasting power is also very good.

Soap & Glory Supercat Eyeliner Pen - £6.00

Boots - direct link

I have been meaning to buy this eyeliner for the longest time ever, but always seem to forget about it every time I'm shopping. I have read so many positive reviews about this pen so I obviously had to try it out. From first impressions, the tip of the pen looks very precise and the colour pay off intense and pigmented.

Soap & Glory Massage Glove - currently £5.67

Boots - direct link

Okay, so the first thought in my head when I saw this was what a remarkable resemblance it had to the 'Sigma Spa Brush Cleansing Glove'! The Sigma glove isn't readily available in the UK and is also much pricier - but it's a popular favourite amongst many beauty bloggers & Youtubers for cleaning their make-up brushes. For only a fraction of the price, the S&G glove is such an affordable dupe. I'll be using this glove to clean my brushes soon - anyone interested in a review? Oh, and I forgot to mention, I actually bought it for only £3.99 from Boots in Westfield.

KIKO Mixing Solution - currently £1.90

KIKO - direct link

I really want to start experimenting more with different eyeshadow looks this year, especially glitter, so I bought this mixing solution from KIKO. I did a glitter eye look recently, using loose silver glitter and the DUO lash glue - it did the trick and I had no fall out but..my days was it hard to remove! Hopefully, I won't be having that problem with this.

KIKO CC Cream Cushion System - currently £11.10

KIKO - direct link

Normally retailing at £15.90, this foundation is currently on offer (in-store and on-line). I can't explain to you how excited I was to buy this. Recently, I have been super obsessed with South Korean beauty & make-up and  cushion compacts have been around for a few years in S.Korea, but only recently in the West. Lancome came out with one last year and KIKO shortly after. To put it simply, the compacts come with a sponge which is soaked in a liquid foundation or CC/BB cream, and another sponge applicator which can be used to pat/dab the formula (from the soaked sponge) onto your face. The formula is paraben free, non-comedogenic and contains SPF 25.

I have been using this for a few days and I realllly love it. I've even convinced 2 friends to buy it. I was expecting it to have very light coverage, but surprisingly it has a more medium to buildable coverage, yet looks like skin. I love that it is also travel friendly for touch ups. I will be testing this out for another week and write a review on it soon :)

KIKO 208 Water Eyeshadow - £8.90

KIKO - direct link

After a year of searching for this, I am still in disbelief that I finally have it. I have read countless reviews on this eyeshadow/highlighter and can see why it has such glowing reviews. It's a gorgeous gold which can be used dry or wet (for a more intense colour pay off) and if you Google it, you can see it's a dupe to many high-end gold highlighters, such as Estee Lauder 'Heatwave' and MAC 'Whisper of Gilt', but at a much lower price.

Glamglow Supermud Face Mask - RRP £40.00

ZestBeauty - direct link

Another blogger enabled purchase..I just had to.

I've been on the look out for new face masks to try out, other than Lush ones and the Glamglow Supermud face mask always seems to come up as a favourite. You can purchase this from various websites, including FeelUnique, Space.NK, CultBeauty and LookFantastic. The mask is currently on offer on many of these sites but I purchased mine from ZestBeauty.com, simply because I couldn't decide between the orignal 'Supermud' or the 'Youthmud' face mask, and they're currently giving away free travel size Glamglow Youthmud (worth £12.99) when you purchase the 'Supermud' mask. Plus, they do free delivery in the UK when you spend more than £15.

The mask is a gentle exfoliating mud mask, with many benefiting factors such as:

un-clogging and tightening pores, improving skin texture, help fight against breakouts, aid healing of scars and help pigmentation issues.

Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre - 

FeelUnique - direct link

FeelUnique had an offer going on a few skincare brands, including Embryolisse, and on top of that, a 10% off everything promo (including sale items). Code: LASTCALL.

Anyways, back on track. With the current colder and harsher weather conditions, my skin needed a more intense and hydrating moisturiser to use at night and days where my skin needs a pick-me up. I am yet to test this out but I have high hopes for it.

The cream is also multi-functional; it can be used as a moisturiser, primer and make-up remover!

It claims moisturise, nourish and repair the skin and disappear signs of dryness. 

TONYMOLY I'm Real Mask Sheets

Amazon - direct link

Continuing on with my new found obsession with Korean beauty - I was super excited to see CultBeauty stocking TonyMoly products (along with other Korean brands)! 

The 'I'm Real' face mask sheets are sold on Cult Beauty for £6 each..and I was very close to purchasing a few of them from there!

However, you can get them for much cheaper from Amazon - I got a pack of 11 (as shown above) for just £5.19.

Each different mask sheet has different beneficial properties. I'm especially looking forward to trying out:

Rice Face Mask Sheet - for clear skin
Red Wine Mask Sheet - to tighten pores
Lemon Face Mask Sheet - for glowing skin and pigmentation

Etude House Collagen Eye Patch (pack of 3) - £3.89

Ebay - direct link

I've been very sleep deprived the past few weeks and it's becoming visible. So I ordered these under-eye patches to moisturise, smooth and tighten the skin under my eyes.

Eye patches work similarly to face mask sheets, but are usually more hydrating.

This was a longer post than anticipated but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.

- Love Chads x

Afternoon Tea & OOTD's

Afternoon Tea at Sofitel's Rose Lounge

During the Christmas break, we had our cousin from New York over and we thought it would be nice to take her out to her first British afternoon tea experience. We looked online for a few a places and came across the cutest room: The Rose Lounge at Sofitel St James. We just fell in love with the feminine décor, pink colour scheme, chandeliers and roses. 

The lounge is only a 5 minute walk away from Piccadilly Circus St.

On arrival, we were taken to our seats and given a menu to choose our teas from, we chose a few different ones between us, but our favourite was definitely the pink 'Nuit d’Eté' - made from a blend of hibiscus flowers, apple, rose hip, raspberry, strawberry & cream ♥.

Our waiter then brought us a selection of sandwiches, savouries and fresh warm scones with strawberry jam, clotted cream and lemon curd.

We ended our afternoon with French pastries and dessert. The Raspberry macaroons were just so delicious.

Our Outfits:

Dress: H&M  // Tights: Primark // Boots: H&M  // Necklace: Ebay

Top: Topshop // Culottes: Forever 21 // Heels: Zara

- Love, Ishy & Chads

My 2015 Beauty Favourites - Chads

Happy New Years! It's been a while since I last wrote a blog post.. I've just been so busy with work and spending time with friends and family over the holidays. But anyways, I'm back ♥.

I've been meaning to do my 2015 favourites for a while now, and I guess it's better late than never? So here are the beauty products I loved & reached out for the most in 2015 (they aren't in any particular order):

NARS All day Luminious Weightless Foundation:

 I'll admit, when I first bought this foundation from John Lewis (with high expectations) I wasn't really fond of it. The foundation would look flawless for the first 3 hours, but after that I would look extremely oily and I also found that the product really clung to my dry patches.. so I stored it in the back of my makeup drawers for a while. It was only after I really took a good look at my skin care routine and changed it up according to my skin type I realised that the only reason the foundation wasn't working on me was because of lack of skin prep! This foundation honestly looks so beautiful on the skin if you exfoliate and moisturise your skin well. So since I fixed that issue, it's been my most used foundation. It's easy to blend, light weight and has medium to high coverage, without looking cakey.

Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer:

I was introduced to this concealer by one of my close friends ♥ and I've fallen in love. I really wish I had tried this concealer sooner. The concealer is so pigmented but very light in consistency and blends flawlessly with a damp beauty blender.

 Highlighters:

There was a massive craze over highlighting & strobing in 2015 and I loved every bit of it.

Although so so many good highlighters were released last year, I controlled myself and only bought a few which I pretty much use on most days. My go-to highlighter which I reached out  for most on special occasions or evenings out was The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer highlighter - which I always receive compliments on. I use it mostly on my cheekbones and brow bone. 

Another highlighter which I absolutely love is the Topshop Horizon highlighter. It gives such a soft and glowy finish.

Palettes:

1: Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit: 
I received this as a birthday gift and since then I have pretty much used this everyday other day through summer to winter.
I love using 'Fawn' as a contour shade as it's quite cool in comparison to other contour shades so it's perfect for creating the illusion of 'natural' contours on the face. 'Banana' is also another favourite and I use this most days just to set my concealer and brighten the under eye and high points of my face. 

2: Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow Palette:
The first and original Naked palette was one of my first high-end beauty purchases ever, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I have several other eyeshadow palettes but to date this is my favourite and I always recommend this to others. There's a large variety of colours which can be used to create both subtle everyday looks or dramatic smokey eyes. I love how pigmented the colours are and the fall-out isn't bad either. I've found myself using this palette for so many occasions, especially to weddings and parties. 

Ardell Demi Wispies:

I purchase these lashes online from www.falseeyelashes.co.uk - £10.99 for a pack of 4 + free delivery :)
They are hands down my favourite and most worn lashes as they're perfect for those days where you want to dress up a bit more but still stay pretty casual and effortless. The lashes are easy to apply, look natural and are also comfortable. 

Lip Products:

1: Liquid Lipsticks:
Liquid lipsticks were one of my 2015 obsessions, especially the peachy, mauve and brown shades. My favourites out of the ones I own would definitely be:

a) Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in 'Lolita' - a rosey brown colour.

b) Sleek Matte Me 'Birthday Suit' - this shade is very similar to MACs 'velvet teddy' lipstick. On the lips it's a mauvey dusty rose colour, light enough to be considered a nude lippy, but one which doesn't wash me out or look like I have '"foundation lips".

c) LA Girl Matte Flat Finish Pigment Gloss in 'Fleur' - a neutral peach shade: which looks especially ahh-mazing  if you have yellow/olive/golden undertones in your skin.

I picked these 3 because they last super long, don't dry out my lips, aren't sticky and the colours really compliment my skin tone. 

2: MAC Lipsticks: 

2015 was the year I went a bit MAC crazy and started buying MAC lipsticks pretty much every month. My favourite formula's are definitely Satin & Matte finish. The lipstick shades which I used almost every day and are basically almost finished are Twig & Taupe. You can't really go wrong with these two colours and they look good on pretty much all skin tones. 

Beauty Blender:

I never really understood the hype around this tool until I used it. Before, I would always use my real techniques buffing brush or the real techniques 'miracle complexion sponge' but I just can't go back. The beauty blender just effortlessly blends the foundation and concealer on to my skin so flawlessly, especially when damp, and I even use it to bake and set my under eyes.


Clarisonic Mia II:

So, a lot of people probably don't know, but at the start of 2015 my skin went through a terrible hormonal breakout which lasted for over almost a year. After a lot of research I decided to invest in a Clarisonic. I got the Mia 2 model because it was the best option for acne and I am so grateful for purchasing this. After a 2 months of using this religiously every night with my chosen cleanser, my skin cleared up dramatically and it really helped keep my skin clear of cystic acne and white heads. Now I only use it about 2-3 times a week on days I wear heavy makeup, just to make sure my skin has been cleaned thoroughly.

I ordered mine from feelunique.com - they usually have offers where you can get 20-25% off. 

Skincare:

I discovered La Roche-Posay, a French brand, last year. I absolutely love their 
1) Effaclar Duo [+] - which I use every day and most nights. It acts as both primer and moisturiser on my skin. This cream has helped fade most of the blemishes and acne scars on my face, controlled my oily T-zone and kept dry skin at bay. 
2) Serozinc Spray - I use this as a toner before my moisturiser, as a face mist throughout the day to hydrate my face and it also soothes the skin and reduces redness after threading.

Another great brand is Nip + Fab. I use their Glycolic Fix Cleanser and Glycolic Fix Exfoliating Facial Pads every other day and they have both helped lighten blemishes, brighten my skin and smooth the appearance of my skin.

Almond Oil:

Yes, I know coconut has been all the rage last year, but to be honest I still stuck to my trusty almond oil. I use this stuff as a body moisturiser almost everyday and on my hair at least once a week. I like that it is non-scented and feels pretty light and non-sticky on the skin. Using this long-term, I've noticed that skin has improved in appearance, stretch marks are lighter and my skin is softer also. I don't even bother wasting money on buying all the nice fruity smelling fancy body moisturisers any more as this does the job.

What were your beauty favourites of the year? For 2016, I really want to branch out and try out more different products and brands and try out different makeup looks for myself.. So let me know if you have any recommendations :)

Oh and keep an eye out for Ishy's post, her 2015 favourites will up on the blog soon as well.

- Chads x