Chloe’s Current Make up Base!

C: Since starting this blog, my love for make up/beauty products has got a little crazy… meaning I have a large collection of make up and items tend to get forgotten about. So recently I decided to have a little make up shake up and I have re fell in love with several products and changed my every day make up a little. I personally love seeing what base products people are using (mainly as an excuse to buy more), so thought I would share my current favourites with you!

Mac Matchmaster Foundation in 1.0 – this rarely changes as my favourite foundation, just because it is the one foundation I have found that completely matches my skin colour but doesn’t make me look like a ghost! It is true love and I will continue to repurchase this until I am old and grey or Mac stop making it. Whichever comes first.

Benefit Boi-ing Concealer in Shade 1 – another old favourite that until recently I had forgotten about. I always like trying new concealers but in the end I always return to this. It literally covers everything and anything and lasts all day. You hardly need any product, so 3g of this lasts ages!

Soap & Glory Kick Ass Instant Retouch Pressed Powder – I won’t go on about this as I reviewed it here – but this goes perfectly with my Mac foundation. I buff it in with my RT Buffing Brush and together this duo makes my skin look flawless! It gets rid of any telltale foundation marks and keeps shine at bay all day.

So there are my make up base essentials! Any of you guys use these products? Or have any recommendations on what I should try next? #twolittleowls

Review: Garnier 5 Sec Perfect Blur Primer

C: I received this in one of my Pink Parcels, and although I love using a primer this got lost at the bottom of my make up stash until I recently rediscovered it! I have been using it ever since and I absolutely love it! This is available from Boots here for £12.99

Now the texture of this is very similar to Benefits Porefessional – so similar I would consider this as a cheaper dupe for the cult favourite! All you do is apply after moisturiser to blur imperfections and reduce shine and it provides the perfect base for make up. All of my foundations have applied flawlessly over this, as it makes your skin so soft and smooth!

Garnier’s primer also helps foundation and make up last longer, as there is less slip from shine, and foundation doesn’t disappear into pores or go patchy throughout the day. Overall I think this is incredible value for money when compared to Benefits offering, due to being so similar in performance but this is half the price! I have also noticed that it does not clog my pores as much, and my skin still feels lovely after taking it off!

Have any of you guys tried this primer? If so what did you think? #twolittleowls

Review: False Lash Effect from P.S. Love…

A: Mascara is a daily must for me, and it’s the one thing I rarely (pretty much never) leave the house without because ridiculously fair lashes are an unfortunate ginger trait. I did have a HG mascara which I was really happy with; What’s Your Type Bodybuilder Mascara from theBalm Cosmetics (reviewed here!), but it wasn’t the easiest product in the world to get hold of (we live in the middle of nowhere) and it costs around £15 with postage and packaging. And I go through mascara pretty quickly. So whilst browsing Primark on payday last week (always dangerous) I decided to give Primark’s beauty range a go because I’d heard such good things.

The False Lash Effect Mascara from the P.S. Love… range is just £2.50 so I didn’t really have a lot to loose, but also wasn’t expecting amazing things. But my god was I wrong. This is one of the best mascaras I have ever used! The brush (what I like to call a real brush, instead of those horrid plastic ones) is super chunky, so adds tonnes of volume. It also holds a nice curl, and let’s you apply lots of length. It’s not designed to create long, elegant lashes – but that isn’t a look I go for. It does exactly what it says on the packaging, and really does create a false lash effect.

After I applied it for the first time, I thought it must be too good to be true. I was fully expecting to have severe panda eyes by lunchtime and to not be able to get it off at the end of the day. But it stayed put all day, and was no more difficult to remove than Benefit’s They’re Real. I’ve actually been and bought two more and put them in my reserve make up stock!! I’m a massive fan of the packaging too. It’s shiny and gold, so I was always going to love it. I can’t wait to do a make up look featuring this for you guys.

Have you tried any of the P.S. Love… range? #twolittleowls

Big news!

A: There’s an awful lot of exciting things happening on two little owls at the moment. Chloe is currently busy making a baby for her and L, which she has been writing about here, and now I’ve got some super exciting news too!

Last night, my boyfriend of seven years and I got engaged! He gave me the most beautiful antique ring, and I obviously couldn’t say no (we are already in our third year of living together and have two beautiful/crazy cats). So it’s all systems go here, with both of us helping each other plan, prepare and get ready for the most important moments of our lives. Hope you are ready for some bridal blogging!

#twolittleowls

Review: Organic Surge Eye Gel

A: This was another Pink Parcel goody I received last month, and after both Chloe and I using it morning and night for the last two weeks we’ve decided to share our thoughts on it with you.

I don’t have problems with dark circles or puffiness (unless I’ve had a super late night with too much wine…) but I do like to use an eye gel, mainly cause it feels nice! The pump action on this is perfect and works really well – and the product is smooth and cooling to use. The gel is silky and not sticky at all – which I have come across before with eye gels. It doesn’t really have a scent, to be honest it does smell a little clinical which I was surprised about because Organic Surge use 100% natural products. I love their Face Polish (which I reviewed here), but to be totally honest I’m neither here nor there with this product. Whether that’s because I just don’t have a need for an eye gel, or because this one hasn’t wowed me I’m not sure. I also think it’s pretty pricey, at £9.95 for just 15 ml.

C: I agree with Annie in that the pump action works really well, and the product is lovely and cooling to use. However, I do suffer with puffiness in my tiny eye area so can comment a little more on its effectiveness rather than just its pleasantness to use! Since being preggo I literally cannot sleep enough, so have been suffering with dark circles and puffiness and this has really helped. Especially by applying first thing in the morning whilst I am still in bed, as by the time I get up I almost look normal! It also provides a lovely base on which to apply concealer/foundation in order to cover up those dark circles even more. So for me, this product is totally worth the pennies! If you don’t have puffiness/dark circles then this product isn’t for you – please comment below and inform Annie that she doesn’t need it and should allow me to keep it, thanks!

Have you got any eye gel or cream recommendations for us? #twolittleowls

A Pregnancy Skincare Essential/Holy Grail!

C: I don’t know about other pregnant beauties, but one of my concerns (around myself, not the baby – the babies health is obviously most important!) is having a whole body of stretch marks! I am literally on daily stretch mark alert and make L check too! Poor man. So I did a little research into what exactly causes stretch marks and therefore what skincare products to focus on.

Now clearly stretch marks are caused by your skin stretching… but what makes that worse? Dry skin. Dry skin isn’t as supple, and will not stretch as nicely as lovely hydrated skin. Plus dry skin is super itchy as it stretches and no one wants that. So whilst out baby shopping (buying things in miniature is so much fun) I kept having a little goosey at skincare and eventually picked up this:

I got this Derma Mum Superior Moisturising Stretch Mark Cream from Babies are us for about £6. It is a massive 500ml tub which I can see lasting me until the end of my pregnancy – although lets already state that I will be repurchasing this if I run out! It is a thick, white cream that requires a lot of rubbing in but does sink into the skin nicely once warmed up. It doesn’t smell of anything lovely… just slightly like aqueous cream or something similar which can easily be disguised by a little perfume/body spray.

Now just look at the ingredients: Rose Hip, Evening Primrose, Shea and Cocoa Butters. It was seeing the ingredients that decided the purchase for me! All ingredients that are good for your skin and okay to use whilst preggo. Now since using this all of my dry skin has disappeared, I still haven’t got any stretch marks even though baby has decided to go through a sudden growth spurt and that itchy stretched skin feeling has disappeared. Perfect.

So if pregnant, have very dry skin, or you are loosing/gaining weight (which can lead to stretch marks too unfortunately!) I would 100% recommend this! It truly is amazing! I shall add a little update to my post when super preggo to let you all know whether the stretch marks are still banished! #twolittleowls

A Super Easy Spring Nail Tutorial

C: as the title suggests… a super easy and fun nail tutorial, that looks way more profesh than it really is! I saw something similar on Instagram, but I can’t find it now so I shall add in a link when I can find it again. But here is my attempt:

All you need to achieve this is a nail dotting tool and three to four complementary nail colours! It was super easy to do and lasts ages as you cant tell when it first starts chipping. I went for Spring pastel colours, but you could do it with any you fancy – it just doesn’t work well with glitter polishes.

So what do you guys think? Let us know if you decide to recreate this nail look #twolittleowls

Chloes April 2015 Empties

C: Hi guys! It is almost moving house time, which means… must. use. up. beauty. stash. Well, I have been trying anyway, so here is what I have finished using this month/what I thought about them.

Lush Dream Cream – an essential for any eczema sufferer, or lover of tattoos. We always have a pot of this in the house, to calm down sad skin or for post tattoo care. I think I am over my tattoo phase (mainly due to being a wimp), but L often still gets new ones and swears by this.

Repurchase? Always.

Batiste Dry Shampoo – Batiste isn’t my fav dry shampoo, but I always seem to still buy it? No idea why/probs cos it is always on offer. I suppose it gets the job done, I just prefer a coloured one so there is less of a grey tinge in my hair.

Repurchase? Realistically? Yes.

Soap & Glory Righteous Butter – one of my absolute favourite body butters. I love everything about this. The smell, the formula, how quickly it sinks in and how much it helps my dry skin.

Repurchase? I have about 3 more already!

Aromatherapy Associates Triple Rose Renewing Moisturiser – I got a sample of this free in a magazine (a great way to try out new skincare etc). It is very thick, which I am not used to as I usually use a gel/serum moisturiser but once I got used to this I actually really enjoyed using it. Plus I love anything that smells like rose!

Repurchase? Probs not, as I have too many to use up already!

No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream – this was my fav BB cream, and then I started using the Rimmel one… and now I miss this one. So I may have to buy it again. They don’t do many colours, which was my only issue over winter as the lightest one is still too dark until I get a little Summer colour. But it is easy to apply, and makes your skin happy. Lovely.

Repurchase? Yes.

So there are my empties this month! Have any of you guys tried any of these products? Did you agree with my mini reviews? Let us know #twolittleowls

Fabric and Sewing Haul

C: so this morning we did our usual Saturday morning ting and went shopping! But instead of our usual sort of haul, we went fabric shopping instead! Annie is a super good sewer and I am super good at buying things ready made…. So we don’t normally do this sort of thing together! However, Annie found some amazing fabric that I NEEDED for curtains for my new house so we decided to go fabric shopping and then Annie is going to teach me to sew!

This is the material we bought! The bee material is for my curtains and I’m in love with it. I love it too much to risk ruining so my mum is making me curtains out of this, but Annie is teaching me to make a cushion today.

The rest of the material is Annie’s which she is using for various projects that she will be sharing with you all soon!

Here is the master at work! She is pro and just made a cushion in the 10 mins I have been writing this…. Mental! So anyway, let us know what you think of these prints and we will be posting the lovely things Annie has made soon, as well as my first attempt… Wish me luck! #twolittleowls

Review: Nivea In-Shower Moisturiser

C: Some of you guys may have seen my recent haul post, if not you can see it here, where I picked up some old favourites and some new things to try. One of which was the Nivea In-Shower Body Moisturiser which I had seen around a lot recently, and since suffering with preggo related super dry skin thought it was worth a try! So here is what I thought!

Now the packaging isn’t exactly beautiful, but its functional and works well. No complaints there. The smell however… not sure if it’s my super human sense of smell (which is a lie according to Annies other half, no one has super human smell) but I hate it! I don’t even know what it smells like, and haven’t used any other Nivea products so I can’t compare it… I just aren’t keen. Its not particularly offensive though as once dressed and perfumed up you can’t smell it. So thats only a minor complaint too!

So on to its effectiveness. I love it! I apply it whilst in the shower, leave it on for a bit whilst I wash my face or something (it doesn’t say you have to leave it on, I just figured it might work more if you did) and then wash it off. It leaves your skin feeling silky smooth and moisturised. I personally still apply my body butter afterwards as yes, my skin really is that dry. But I would say people with normal skin wouldn’t need to at all. This has literally been a godsend. Before using it I still had horrid flaky, dry skin after using my usual body butter and this has completely got rid of it! Amazing!

Have any of you guys tried this? If so what did you think? Any other recommendations for super dry skin? #twolittleowls