The key to soft supple skin: Cocoa body butter

It's well known that cocoa butter is a great moisturiser, it's the natural fat extracted from the cacao bean from South America and West Africa. But I didn't appreciate JUST how good it was until I set off on my travels around South East Asia! Having been away for just over a month during April - the hottest month of the year, I began to notice my skin becoming, naturally, very dry. This was everywhere from the highly sun exposed areas such as my shoulders, legs and chest to my less exposed stomach! Having been a good traveller and drinking a lot of water along with rehydration salts daily, there was only one thing left I could do.. MOISTURISE LIKE CRAZY.

I've now been using my cocoa butter religiously and there's not a dry patch in sight! Cocoa butter also increases your skins natural elasticity, perfect for keeping your skin supple and youthful.. a bonus if your out in the sun all day! However.. don't forget to keep your sun protection topped up, I use an SPF30 all over, it doesn't stop you tanning, but I've not burnt once!
It's also been noted that the natural emollients in cocoa butter create a barrier against the environment and can help to alleviate the symptoms of eczema and dermatitis.

Here are a two of my faves, both of which I've brought on my travels,  as you'll know all ready from my previous post! They're both effective and affordable!

**The Body Shop Cocoa butter is so good, I was told off for putting lotion on by a Thai waxing lady.. Over 24 hours before!**

1. Body Shops Cocoa Butter Body Butter, smells amazing and is my number one go to! £13.00 for 200ML

http://m.thebodyshop.co.uk/mt/www.thebodyshop.co.uk/bath-body-care/body-butter/cocoa-butter-body-butter.aspx?un_jtt_v_pdp=yes&un_jtt_redirect

Body shop do a full range of other Cocoa butter products all of which are fair trade from lip care to lotions, oils and scrubs! Its worth watching out for their promotions and offers.. always a good deal to be had!

2. Garnier intensive seven days body lotion. Just as fabulous and for the budget conscious.
You can get it in 200ML and 400ML starting at around £2 from most high street chemists/superstores. 

Happy moisturising!

Beauty abroad: For those with wanderlust

I'm currently off on my travels around South East Asia. So whilst I'm away I'm going to be keeping you updated with some of the products I'm using.. hair, body and makeup, to see what works and what doesn't in this hot sticky climate!

But first.. I'm going to talk to you about the dilemma that all beauty addicts/junkies/obsessives so on and so forth, face when going away, even for a weekend, let alone a few months. That being the joy of PACKING. 

I struggled choosing what makeup and beauty
essentials to take initially due to as always, convincing myself I might need it all at some point or another. But as one of the big rules for back packing is travelling light I eventually managed to make sacrifices... In fact, I even managed to leave some of my faves at home, for fear of them getting lost/stolen - we've all heard the stories. Leave your MAC blushers and bronzes at home ladies!

I managed to whittle it down to a few bare essentials, mostly great but non luxury brands, ones that won't break the bank if they get lost! So, makeup wise here's what I took:
1. BB cream from The Body Shop which adjusts to your skin colour - perfect for when you get a tan.
2. Mascara by Illamasqua
3. Eyebrow powder by The Body Shop
4. Vaseline Lip balm with SPF15
5. Natural Collection Bronzer
6. One small eyeshadow by NARS
7. Colourglide lip colour from the Bodyshop
8. Eyebrow, eyeshadow and blush brushes.

So far the only thing I've missed is my gel eyeliner, but in all honesty I've not needed it.. that's just my vanity speaking! I don't think you need much more than what I've listed above whilst travelling.. Keep makeup light and natural .. everything looks better with a natural glowing tan, so no need for heavy makeup. Which wouldn't last long in the hottest month of the year in Thailand anyway, so why waste precious beach time?

Body/beauty essentials:
1. Cocoa body butter from the Body Shop
2. Cocoa body lotion by Garnier (just incase!)
3. Shwarzcopf sun protect, after sun hair treatment
4. The Body Shop Aloe soothing Day cream
5. The Body Shop Vitamin C With SPF 30 moisturiser
6. Nivea pearl deoderant.

A moisturiser with SPF is very important in these climates but it's not excuse to forget your sun screen! Even back home in the UK, I'd always recommend one, they helps to avoid dark patches and premature ageing!

Keep an eye out for my next post! 

Love from Asia! <3

Professional Eye & Brow palette by HD Brows

I have genuinely NEVER been so excited about the pigmentation of a product before, but this palette has oodles of it and I had to share it with you guys! I turned 23 recently (boo) and was spoilt enough by my friend to be given it as a birthday present. I fully expected it to be great when it came to the brows but was a wee bit skeptical about using them as shadows. But oh, I couldn't have been more wrong! To start off with the pigmentation and colour pay off is ridiculously good, and as they're designed to be smudge proof they have great staying power, what more could you ask for? A double ended applicator? It has one of those as well! With one end being an angled brush and the other a handy smudger.

The palette comes in six different shades to match anyone's brow colour, which means six different matte browns shadows -varying from carbon to a light beige - with varied undertones to suit individual skin tones. As they're matte shades they're ideal for applying to the eyelids natural crease to create depth and definition (shimmers are no good here!) Or using an angled liner to create a soft flattering eyeliner. 

You can pick one up for £29.95 from the Nouveau Beauty Group website, I would highly recommend having one of these in your kit, even if it's just for brows, as you have all the shades you need in one place! 

http://shop.nouveaubeautygroup.com/brows/hd-brows/professional-eye-brow-palette/

Anna x

Back to blogging! Avon SuperShock Gel liner

I'm finally back to blogging having been absolutely caotic with projects and work! However I had to put a stop to that last week when I broke my foot which has played havoc with my schedule and move to Brighton for the summer but on the plus side I now have copious amounts of time for my blog! So I'm back on the wagon and ready to go..

Being dutiful family members my gran and cousin popped round earlier today with a pile of magazines and chocolate (not so good if your stuck on your bum for the foreseeable future) to keep me busy. Amongst the pile was Marie Claire magazine, with low and behold a full sized free sample of Avon's SuperShock gel liner in pencil form, yipee I thought some new makeup to review, and here it is....

Now, I have to admit that this is the first Avon product I have EVER tried (whether that's classed as a sin or not I don't know) but providing me with a free full sized product will always put my mood on the sunny side, and so far so good! The product glides on like a dream, it's a very soft, jet black pencil and as long as you don't press too hard it's really easy to apply. Once dried it's pretty much smudge proof, but this doesn't mean vigorous rubbing won't cause some colour displacement! The only issue I can really see with this product is that when it comes to sharpening you're likely to loose quite a bit of the liner as it's VERY soft and the pencil is obviously hard, although it's made from plastic so will offer less resistance than wood! You can get your sample in this months issue of Marie Claire on sale for £2.50 instead of the usual £3.80, however if you miss this issue you can always buy it direct from Avon where I think they have it at the offer price of £3.00 plus postage instead of £6.00, there seem to be discounts everywhere at the moment! You'll have a choice of gel liner, brow definer or red lipstick with the Marie Claire mag, I'd get all three if I could get to the shops!

So in a nutshell the SuperShock gel eye-liner is ideal if you love the longevity of gel liner and the convenience of a pencil, it's quick and easy to use, and won't break the bank, just be prepared for some sharpening issues! 

If you've tried it let me know what you think..

Anna x

My Top Three Highlighters

I've found that certain highlighters work best on certain foundations, which I'm sure is common knowledge. So I thought I'd do a short post on my favourite highlighter for three different foundation bases, liquid, Cream and airbrush! Highlighters are used to draw attention to and enhance certain areas of the face, such as the tops of your cheek bones, brow bone, temples and cupids bow.

So here they are...

1. Liquid foundation: My absolute go to highlighter for using with a liquid base has to be Smashbox's 'Artificial Light Luminizing Liquid', it comes in three shades; Luminous pearl, peach & bronze... one for every look and skin tone! It can be mixed with your foundation for an overall but subtle glow and dewy finish or simply dabbed and blended onto the desired area.

£20.50 from www.smashbox.co.uk, each order comes with a free primer/mascara sample, which are also amazing!!

2. Cream/stick foundations: This has to be without a doubt Illamasquas 'Gleam in Aurora', incase you don't already know, I'm absolutely obsessed with this highlighter! it has an absolutely flawless finish, I find it works best with this type of foundation, but also works well with liquid foundations. It has champagne tones and complements any skin tone! For more on this fabulous little highlighter take a look at my blog post on it here.

£18.00 from www.illamasqua.com

3. Airbrush foundation: My airbrush is my best friend, it creates a flawless matte finish, and once set STAYS PUT. The only trouble I had with it was finding a good highlighter which would work well with this type of foundation, cream and liquid highlighters are no good so a powder highlighter is best for this! I started using the MAC 'Mineralize Skinfinish' highlighter, it's perfect! It comes in three shades; Soft and gentle - a peach bronze (this is my fave!), Lightscapade - a soft beige with a multidimensional shimmer and Gold Deposit - a golden-bronze. It can be brushed on lightly to your foundation and built up slowly, so as not to disturb the base! The only thing to be aware of is that when it's initially brushed onto the skin there quite a bit of sparkle fall out which can play up to the camera, not ideal. But with a good amount of buffing it blends to a flawless finish and creates a soft glow, which works very well with the camera!

£21.50 from www.maccosmetics.co.uk

Hope this is helpful... didn't turn out quite as short as I was planning!

Anna x

Rihanna for MAC

 

We rarely see Rihanna without her trademark red lippy, so it's not surprising that she's collaborated with MAC to re-create their classic Ruby Woo red lipstick. 

Introducing the new RiRi Woo lipstick, it has a personal touch, with her embossed signature on the lipstick itself and she's personally re-worked MAC's iconic red to create her very own matte red shade with blue undertones.

The lipstick is due to hit the shelves on May the 3rd and is limited addition, so don't forget to snap one up asap!

 £14 from www.maccosmetics.co.uk

Anna x

What's In My Make-up Bag?

I've seen a few people do this now, and I thought sharing the content of ones make-up bag on a Sunday morning seems like a lovely idea! A lot of what's in my huge Bill Brown bag is skin care, but that's for another day. So here are my essentials, and some not-so-essentials along with some hints and tips...

Contents:

- Vaseline: Everyone should have some emergency lip balm!

-Rose design compact mirror

-Kryolan translucent powder, decanted into a cheap little pot, easy enough to buy online. 

**TIP** Set your foundation with a small amount of translucent powder, this will make it last a lot longer!

-The Body Shop, Tea tree Blotting tissues: A necessity for oily skin!

-Smashbox Photo finish primer & Benefit Porefessional Primer

**TIP** Use a primer as a base before foundation, this will create a smooth base for your foundation and give it more staying power.

-Tweezers

-Topshop Cream blush Duo

-NARS Edie Eyeshadow (part of an Andy Warhol Gift set)

-Bobbi Brown Gel Liner in Caviar Ink

-The Body Shop Perfume Oil in Madagascan Vanilla - It's a perfect summer scent!

-Bobbi Brown Corrector in Peach 

**TIP** Peachy tones will counteract the dark circles around the eyes for yellow and darker toned skins & pinks will do the same for paler, pinky toned skins

-MAC Face and Body Foundation: Waterproof, light coverage

-MUA white liner

-The Body Shop Brow & Lash gel

-Smashbox Full exposure mascara - I LOVE this! 

**HINT** Pick a free sample up with any purchase from the Smashbox website, alternatively you can buy the 'try it kit' for £19 Follow this link: www.smashbox.co.uk

-Bobbi Brown Rich Caviar Eye palette: My favorite shade is 'Wheat' (top right), perfect for contouring the eyes.

-Topshop LIPS lipstick, in Charmed - I picked this up in the Jan sales (they still sell it) and it's now an essential piece in my make-up bag!

-Smashbox Lip enhancing gloss: This also comes in their 'try it kit' - Follow the above link.

-The Body Shop Brow & Liner Palette: Comes with a wee applicator.

So there it is! That's my personal make-up bag, most of the items above don't change but I'm always finding new additions! 

Anna xx