REVIEW:Nivea Daily Essentials Express Hydration Primer for Dry Skin

I remember I was having dinner with my mam whilst in Dublin and we were talking about make up when the bar man came over to us. He overheard our discussion and starting giving us tips, I thought he was joking and asked him 'what did he know'. Turns out the bar man was a bar man by night and a make up artist by day...
Bearing in mind this was a good 2 years ago when i was only 14, i always remember him telling my mam and I "If you can take anything away with you today, remember to always wear a primer under your makeup." As I was only in the prime of my adolescent years, I didn't care what he said, but now it really stands to me.
My mam got given a Smashbox primer gift set for Christmas and since then I had been using one of those the odd time that I wore make up, then they ran out.
Don't get me wrong, the Smashbox primers are extremely good but I couldn't justify paying 30 euros for a product that I'd only use an odd time, so I was on the hunt for something cheaper and just as good.

I picked up a primer by Seventeen Make Up- I really didn't like it at all, the liquid was really dark, darker than my actual foundation and it was extremely thick and dried really quickly making it hard to work with.
I then saw that Nivea were doing their own primers. I read some reviews and the majority of people were saying it was a great product. I went down to my local chemist and saw that it was only €4 (In Boots it was roughly €7) and I thought "Ah if its a miss, I'm hardly breaking the bank"
Nivea do two versions, one for dry and sensitive skin (pink lid) and another for normal skin (blue lid). I bought the sensitive kind but from reading reviews, a lot of people were saying there is hardly any difference between them.
When i opened the product, I was a bit confused to see that it looked like a moisturiser than was partially diluted by water. I then realised that its a mixture between moisturiser and primer, so you're skipping a whole step of moisturising!
I love this product, it smells fresh, you're skipping moisturising but your skin is still being moisturised, your make up goes on so smoothly and doesn't have a cakey appearance even after a dew hours of wearing and best of all its cheap!
The only negative thing that I'd have to say is that the container is glass like most Nivea face moisturisers so doesn't have a 'travel friendly' feel to it. Also the box that the container comes in is pretty big compared to the actual container so don't be disappointed once you see the physical jar, its 50ml pot!
So to finish, I love this and I will repurchase as long as there isn't anything better released! I really would love to give the new L'Oreal primer a try though, hmm....
Until next time,

Becca x
(This has not been sponsored and all products mentioned were bought by me)

Collection Gorgeous Glow Review

As someone who doesn't wear makeup that often at all, only really for when I've an occasion, I like to keep things on the face pretty natural. Basically what i use is CC cream, concealer, mascara, maybe eye liner and lip gloss BUT i felt like something was missing, that my face just looked...blegh.
I then tried some bronzer but I'm pretty bad with putting on "minimal make-up" and when i try put a little bit of something on like blusher, i end up looking like a clown.
 I was in boots looking through the make up stands, I had the Bronzer Block by Seventeen which was roughly €7 in my hand when all of a sudden I saw basically the exact same product but less glittery and cheaper! Collection recently brought out Gorgeous Glow which is a bronzing block with 5 different shades. Basically its pink tones with gold all through it and I think there is another version of it in brown tones but I'm not 100% sure on that.

I absolutely love this product! The tones are perfect for my skin tone (which is pale as f**k) and it just gives such a beautiful healthy glow. Not too glittery and pretty subtle but still gives definition to where you want. Just sweep it on your cheekbones whilst smiling, blending out to the hairline and maybe some down the nose and across the forehead. I did use a little bit on my eyelids and it actually works pretty well but you might end up looking like a disco ball...

I cant stop looking at it though, look its just sooo pretty! The damage is €4 and can be bought in the typical places, Boots, Superdrug.

Becca x

Honest review on Benefit's Puff Off

Hi everyone,

So a few months ago I entered a competition on Twitter for the new Benefit Puff Off.
Debenhams tweeted me telling me that I had won and I was delighted as I very rarely win anything.
The packaging is very cute and really attractive. One thing about benefit is that they put an awful lot of effort into their packaging and all of their products are very well presented and super cute looking.
The product retails for 30 euros and the tube is 10mls. The end of the tube is a silver little iron which is great as the product claims to "Iron out puffies" The cream is a light pink colour and it has a good consistency, not too gloopy but not too thick either.

From reading other peoples reviews a lot of people really love this product but honestly if I had paid the money for this I would be pretty disappointed. I don't really feel that the product does much for me. Puff Off claims to soothe your eyes and reduce puffiness and I felt that it kind of had a burning sensation for me. My skin is pretty sensitive so maybe if you have sensitive skin it wouldn't be the best idea to buy this. If you do have skin that isnt as sensitive then this product might work wonders for you but for me it has to be a no.

                                 

Becca.x
Good luck to everyone who has exams!

OCM: The Oil Cleansing Method

Around two weeks ago, I ended up in the dark part of YouTube. C'mon, we've all been there. Anyways I remember I saw a video titled The Oil Cleansing Method and curiosity got the better of me, so watched it. Apparently loads of people in the blogger world has been raving about this!

The concept of OCM, is weird but wonderful. I never would've thought about putting oil onto my skin (where I have an Oily T-Zone but dry everywhere), and was pretty sceptical about doing it. I decided I would read further into it. Basically, oil breaks down oil that is already on your face or something like that, it does sound pretty silly, but there is some science to it all.
 Of the reviews which I had read, most of them were positive with them saying the cleansing had done wonders to their skin. A small percentage were pretty negative and said their skin had reacted dreadfully to the oils.
I really was at a lost, I was just about done with having disgusting blackheads covering my face (exaggeration.),so I decided to throw caution to the wind and just do it.

For the OCM to use Castor Oil(my HG product) and another oil such as Jojoba oil, Sunflower oil, Olive Oil, etc. *From my readings about OCM, don't use Coconut oil as this just blocks pores, due to it turning back into solid form once it has cooled.*
The Castor Oil is a thick oil that can be used orally in order to *ahem* clear you out internally...meaning the oil is incredibly strong. As it is pretty strong, you should only use a small amount of it in your blend. For my blend I use roughly 30% Castor Oil and 70% vegetable oil but you just need to mess around with the properties until you've found one that works well.

(Found of Google images. Belongs to-Hildablue)

HOW TO DO THE OIL CLEANSING METHOD

Mix your oil blend together and using clean hands massage the oil all over your skin for around 5 minutes. Then, place a hot face cloth on your face and leave on for 1 minute. Using the same cloth, wipe all the oil from your face. Alternatively I steam my face with a bowl of hot water just tom loosen the oil and wipe off the oil with cotton pads. You do not need to put moisturiser on your face as there will be some remaining oil on your face.

Your face might go through a bad patch when you start the cleansing, this is down to your skin not being used to having so much oil on it. I swear by this cleansing, my skin is so much smoother and I had very rough skin on my nose due to the amount of blackheads I had. I still have some, but definitely not as many as I had before I started the method. My skin just looks so much more cleaner now than it was two weeks ago.
Give it a try. Its much more healthier than using typical cleansers, just think of them amount of ingredients in those!

Becca.x