No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation Review

There's not many products that I've repurchased more than once so when I'm on my 4th bottle of something I know that it's definitely love. Until I met this little guy I was a bit of a foundation snob; I didn't think that any high street offering could work for me but Boots No.7 have proved me wrong with their Beautifully Matte foundation...

No.7 Beautifully Matte Foundation (warm ivory) £13.50 Most of you will know by now that I have combination skin which means I have an oily t-zone and dry outer cheeks so finding a foundation which doesn't slide off the oily bits or cake on the dry bits is quite difficult. No.7 Beautifully Matte has a really soft texture which is really easy to blend and provides a full coverage which is perfect for the days when my skin isn't co-operating. It doesn't cake and it stays on for a good 5-6 hours which means I get a good days work out of it without having to reapply.  This is one of those products that I feel lost without if I run out; obviously I have back up products but they just don't seem to match up to this. It comes in 14 shades which I think is quite impressive for a high street foundation, I buy 'warm ivory' which is ever so slightly darker than my natural skin but not dark enough to look orange. The beauty about No.7 is that in some larger Boots stores they do have someone on hand who can help you match a shade to your skin so you don't have to spend hours umm-ing and ahh-ing over hand swatches.  OK so it's probably a bit on the pricey side for a high street foundation but Revlon Colorstay is a similar price and that's still regarded as high street. Price aside, I do think this is one of the best high street foundations for oily skin and I will repurchase it until the cows come home!
What's your favourite high street foundation?

Maybelline Forever Strong Lunar Grey

I've had a busy weekend at work this weekend with a wedding on Saturday so I realised that orange nail polish probably wasn't the most appropriate shade when I was dressing smart so I picked out another shade of Maybelline Forever Strong in 'Lunar Grey'...

Maybelline Forever Strong 99p Fragrance Direct When I bought it on the website I actually didn't realise that it had shimmer in it and to be honest when I first looked at the bottle I thought 'oh dear it's sparkly silver' but I was pleasantly surprised when I actually applied it; it's like a muted, conservative silver shade. It made my nails look tidy and presentable for work without being in your face and out of place. The formula is exactly like the 'Orange Couture' shade I used the other day; it's fine and for 99p and I'm not about to complain too much but what I forgot to say in the other post was that it takes an age to dry, when you think it's done you'll get a smudge so I think the only way to keep this looking perfect is to top coat it straight away with something which you know dries quickly. Also it doesn't last 7 days... I get 3 at the most and on my index finger I didn't even get that but like I've said before I can look beyond that, especially when I like the shade. Do you have a favourite shade of Maybelline polish?

La Roche Posay Anti-Blemish Skincare System

If you're into skincare then you'll be no stranger to French Pharmacy brand 'La Roche Posay'. Now quite widely available on the UK high street, La Roche Posay are famous for their Effaclar Duo which has been a skincare favourite among bloggers for a while now but when it comes to cleansing and toning, LRP have been somewhat forgotten about until now...

 La Roche Posay Effaclar 3 Step Anti-Blemish System* £32.50

With the release of the new Effaclar Skincare Sysem, La Roche Posay are offering those with sensitive, oily and blemish prone skin an answer to their problems. Tell tale signs of problem skin include blemishes, clogged/enlarged pores, excess oil, uneven/rough skin and red/brown marks are all targeted with this new skincare system. These three steps have been selected and formulated to 'dramatically improve skin' within 4 weeks or you get your money back.
Obviously they wouldn't make a bold claim like that without researching first; a 3 month trial saw 100 female participants assess the kit both by their own evaluation and also through clinical evaluation. 88% said it provided an immediate mattifying effect, 82% said it was well tolerated by their skin and 80% said it provided an immediate hydrating effect... 
.... Of course you'll know by now that I like to put these claims to the test so for 4 weeks I will be using this as my skincare regime morning and night to see what difference it makes to my skin. I have high hopes for it as I know Effaclar Duo + does work so I'm thinking that adding an Effaclar cleanser and toner will work well. My skin has gone a bit loop-the-loop just recently (being tired and run down hasn't helped!) so this release has actually come at quite a good time.
This officially launches in stores on 3rd September but it's actually available online now on the Boots website

Maybelline Forever Strong Orange Couture

It's been a while since I posted about nail polish so when I bought a few nail polishes from Fragrance Direct I figured it'd be rude not to share my thoughts. I absolutely love Fragrance Direct for nail polish, they seem to get some real gems in at a fraction of the price of what you'd find in stores. It's usually because the brand have changed the packaging or discontinued a line but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the product itself. The first one I'm sharing with you is Maybelline Forever Strong in 'Orange Couture'...

Maybelline Forever Strong 'Orange Couture' 
I would never normally consider wearing orange on my nails, I'd always considered it to be a bit too 'garish'; you know, the kind you'd wear when you were like 12 and think you were the bees knees? But this is such a gorgeous shade, bright and summery but also quite grown up. 
It did need 3/4 coats to give a proper opaque covering but I'm assuming they've done something to the new formula to rectify this? The brush is perfect, nice and wide but small enough for precision application (which is important when you don't have really long nails) and it's got quite a nice shiny finish. 
This older-packaging version is only 99p from Fragrance Direct which is an absolute steal, I highly recommend stocking up on polishes of every shade from there because you could save yourself a fortune.