Garnier Pure Active

Garnier's Pure Active Range is said to help fight spots and fade marks. Superdrug had a 2 for £5 offer on Garniers skin care range a couple months ago so I decided to get the make-up remover purifying gel and intensive charcoal scrub (each £4.99, so at the time I got one for 1p. Bargain!)

The make-up remover works quite well at removing all my make-up apart from the mascara needed a bit of a extra scrub. The scent reminds me of beauty college when we used dermologica products and so does the texture. I wouldn't not buy this product again but I wouldn't rush out to get it in a hurry. 

Now the charcoal scrub, that's a little different as it's something I would repurchase. It says you can use this daily but I've been using it 3-4 times a week over the last couple of months and I must say it has improved my skin. Since recently coming off my contraceptive pill I've been getting spots on my chin but this seems to help clear them up, although not prevent them. They don't magically disappear but my skin does feel nice and clean afterwards. The scrub foams up little and is easily washed off after you've had a good scrub. The product is not too harsh on skin and doesn't dry my skin out at all or leave it feeling tight.

It's now officially out with the make-up wipes and mission on to get a good skin care regime going. What are your favourite skin care products?

Charissa x

Long time, no post!

I must apologise to my followers and readers for the lack of posts and replies lately! I've been pretty busy starting my new job at a health & beauty store over the last couple of months and on top of that there's been a lot of family stuff so I've not had time to sit down and write some decent posts. No posts is better than bad posts, right? Well anyway I promise I will get some written up asap. I've still been checking out all your blogs so don't worry you've not been forgotten about! Hope everyone's well. 

X

Have I found the perfect foundation?!

Like most of you, I have tried so many drugstore foundations it's pretty ridiculous. Recently I had a clear out of my make up and had a ton of 3/4 used bottles all from the same brand and I asked myself why on earth do I keep purchasing these foundations I'm not that happy with. I guess it's just easy to be like 'oh it works alright I'll just buy this again' so I took some time to look for a foundation I thought would become my make up bags new best friend.

One thing I hated about my old foundations is after about 4-5 hours wear my skin would look shiny and it literally looked like it was sliding off my face despite the use of primer and powder! I began looking at foundations suitable for combination skin and that's when Revlon Colorstay seemed to be a perfect match as it's also a medium to full coverage foundation. I don't think I can recall ever buying anything from Revlon so I didn't have any bias opinions previous to my purchase.

Revlon Colorstay comes in formulas for normal/dry skin or combination/oily. I picked the oil free formula for combination skin after swatching Buff it seemed the perfect shade. Usually even the palest foundations I seem to try still have that dreaded tangerine tint and myself being pale but having a freckly face it's pretty hard to find a good match. On Revlon's website it claims Colorstay will last for 16 hours and your skin will still look fresh. Sounds good to me, so now see if they're telling pork pies or not.

Before

& After

I applied Revlon Colorstay at around 6am on top of primer with a foundation brush knowing I wouldn't be in from work that day until around 12 hours later. The first thing I noticed was not the coverage or the colour but the smell. It had a slight paint smell (after a few uses I cannot smell anything at all so I don't really know why the first application did have this strange scent!). Next was obviously the coverage and how it blended on my skin and all I can say is simply amazing! I was finally blessed with a full coverage and a shade that matched my skin tone. Next up, round 3 ding ding ding.. time to test the staying power. 12 hours after application and a full day at work I must say I was impressed. I did have a little shine on my chin and forehead but it was no where near enough to feel the need that I had to re-do my foundation and something just a little powder could fix! Any cons? Well it doesn't have a pump so you'd need to buy one if you insisted on using one but to be honest I think I prefer just using a brush as it gives more control over how much you are applying.

I am really impressed with Revlon Colorstay and it will be something I will repurchase without a doubt. It retails at £12.49 which you can buy from your nearest Boots or Superdrug.

Have you tried Colorstay before? How does it compare to the likes of Mac?

x

Barry M's Lip Paint, Touch Of Magic.

After my last dissapointment (see review here) I decided it was time to see if BM's make up could impress me. Barry M has always been my 'go to' brand for nail polishes but I've never thought to try any other  cosmetics from the stand. Lipsticks seem to be my new favourite product recently although I have never been that bothered about them before so I am still trying to figure out which shades and tones I prefer. Barry M's touch of magic lip paint once applied is a different pink for each individual person. Yep, I said pink, even though it's a bright green bullet so don't be scared thinking you're going to look like your off to a Halloween party.

The lipstick comes on clear so be careful how much you apply as the more you put on the darker it is obviously going to go. I put quite a few layers on as I wanted to see the maximum colour it would give me, plus I was wearing it for a short 4 hour shift at work to test it's staying power. Once applied I saw the pink colour bursting onto my lips, a very bright pink with a little red tint! I did like the shade and it wouldn't be one I would usually pick so thumbs up for the magic colour change. As for the staying power, Barry M claims touch of magic lasts for 8 hours so a 4 hour shift at work seemed a fair test, right? Well. By the time I'd finished I was just left with a stain in the middle of my bottom lip and all colour had vanished!

I do really like this product but I think in future I'll only apply it when I know I can keep on top of reapplying it. Touch of Magic retails at £4.49, you can buy it from the Barry M website or your Barry M stand at your local Boots or Superdrug.

Barry M Sequin Nail Effects.

Barry M has released yet another nail effects called 'sequins'. You've probably seen a few bloggers reviews as it was officially launched Superdrug on the 5th of June and will be available from Boots tomorrow and retails at £3.99.

I did spend a little while wondering if to choose pink, white or black. The pink and white colours have the same coloured sequins in (green, blue, red, silver and gold) whereas black has only gold. Natrually I chose pink over white and I couldn't wait to get home and see if Barry M had ticked all the boxes again.

Firstly I applied 'Strawberry Ice Cream' nail paint as my nail varnish remover seems to have disappeared and I already had some chipped nail paint on, opps! Barry M says sequin nail effects will give your nails a textured sparkle, which I didn't even think it would be as for some reason I pictured it being a smooth finish. It took a couple of coats to get enough sequins on my nail I desired but I quickly saw the gritty effect that came along and after my nails dried the feeling made me shudder a little.



Now I know that sounds dramatic and I don't know why I find the texture so horrible but I really do. As I've said before I am a huge fan of Barry M nail polishes so I feel a little guilty saying something negative. The piles of sequins just make it look gloopy. Barry M's textured effects nail varnishes have more of a fine grain of sand feel. Sequins feels like boulders. Sorry Bazza but unless you make this less grainy I don't think I'll be repurchasing! :(

Have you tried any of the sequins? What's your opinion?

B. Pure Micellar Water.

If you haven't heard of micellar water then where have you been hiding?! To cut all the science out and long confusing words micellar water contains oil molecules that will cleanse and tone without interfering with skins pH balance.

Lately I've become a little lazy in my evening skin care routine and taken to laying in bed with a packet of make up wipes. It was time to stop and swap for a few cotton pads and a bottle micellar water by Superdrugs new premium brand, B.

B micellar water is a 3 in 1 cleanser that claims to dissolve impurities in a single sweep. Simply get a cotton pad, put a few drops on and wipe with no rinsing required. Now I do wear more make up than I probably need for example eyebrow pencil for my power brows, a ton of black liquid eyeliner for my mini Amy Winehouse -esque flicks and a load of mascara (2-3 different brands at once) so removing my eye make up is definitely my biggest pain.

So could B micellar water actually remove my make up using just a couple of cotton pads? Yes and no. I've seen a few reviews by bloggers having used this product saying it stung their eyes when removing their eye make up. Well you crazypants the bottle says avoid contact with eyes. Nevertheless I decided to see if it really did sting my eyes and to be honest it didn't but it was awful at removing my liquid eyeliner and mascara and I gave up trying and used a different eye make up remover. Next up was removing the rest of my make up and it was time for the micellar water to live up to the hype and which it did indeed! It removed the rest of my make up amazingly with one minor negative; after removing all my make up my face felt slightly sticky even though you don't have to rinse your face afterwards. There was no sign of any sticky face in the morning and my skin looked so soft and thoroughly cleansed. B. micellar water is a much better alternative to removing my make up than wipes and it requires the same amount of effort.

A little fact that scores major kudos in my book about B. is that all products are cruelty free! I've yet to try anything else from B but the micellar water has single handedly impressed me enough!

B. micellar water retails at £4.99 for 150ml. You can purchase it online or from selected Superdrug stores.

Lush: Lip Scrub in Mint Juplips & Bubblegum.

Lush's lip scrubs (£5.25, 25g) seems to be favourite by many beauty bloggers, and I can see (and taste) why. Scrubbing your lips with these little gems allows dead skin and flakiness to be banished and leaves your lips feeling lovely and soft. To use the scrub you simply get a small amount on your finger lip and scrub your lips gently. The final stage to get rid of excess scrub is to lick it off. The star ingredient which makes the scrub is caster sugar, which means yes it is edible! Or if you think it's unhygienic simply wipe it off, although with the gorgeous sweet smell of them I don't know anyone who could resist even a little cheeky taste.

Bubblegum Lip Scrub: If you have a sweet tooth this is the perfect scrub for you! It smells like candyfloss (and tastes like it too!)

Mint Julips Lip Scrub: The peppermint and vanilla scrub doesn't smell as sweet smelling as the Bubblegum but I suppose this could be a good thing as it doesn't make you want to eat it all at once. Don't get me wrong it still smells really nice but it's obviously got that fresh minty smell rather than sugary sweet.



The tub may look small but a little goes a long way with these. If you can resist applying it constantly anyway!

The Body Shop: Macadamia Straightening Balm.

Straightening my hair is a part of my daily routine, sometimes it feels more like a chore. My hair is always a little frizzy, and if it's nearing the time I am due my regular trim at the hairdressers the split ends do not help. I'm always wary on using hair products as I find sometimes they leave your hair feeling like the products just stuck clinging to every strand which makes you feel like you haven't even bothered to shampoo it!

The Body Shops Macadamia Straightening Balm (£7.00 for 150ml) has been sat on my bathroom shelf for a while so after towel drying my hair I put a pea sized blob on my finger tips and rubbed it through the ends of my hair and the remaining amount through the rest of my hair. Although the bottle says for curly/wavy which my hair isn't I wanted to see how it would battle against a little after a blast with the hair dryer.

Whilst drying my hair I could still feel the product sticking and predicted the end results was going to be similar to the classic forgetting to wash the hair conditioner out. I continued to dry my hair instead of rushing to the bathroom to wash the product out. As my hair was fully dry the first thing I noticed was the straightening balm seems to have not only calmed the frizzyness but my hair seemed thicker and had more volume, this being a mega bonus as my hair is quite fine. As I said before my hair isn't naturally curly or wavy like the balm is intended for but it did stop my hair from being frizzy and I didn't really feel the need to straighten it but for the sake of really testing it for what it says on the label I flicked my GHDs on.

After using heat protection products you sometimes feel like there's a thick layer of product coming between your hair and the iron but with Macadamia Straightening Balm the straighteners glided through. My hair was left feeling soft and looking salon fresh. For me personally the best use for future use of the balm is to banish frizz so I stop putting my hair through the pain of being frazzled every day by straighteners  Fantastic product from The Body Shop! Click here to shop for it online.

Lush: Cosmetic Warrior Fresh Face Mask.

Are you at war with your face? Yes Lush, I am! Okay maybe I'm over reacting a little. Now and again I do get the odd spot and now with a mini mountain on my chin and a couple of little ones on my forehead I decided it was time to try my first fresh face mask from Lush.

Cosmetic Warrior (£5.95, 75g) needs to be stored in the fridge because of the natural ingredients, which also means it has a use by date as it'll go off. Pros of this? It's nice and refreshingly cool when you take it out of the fridge.

All the ingredients are: Kaolin, Fresh Green Grapes, Fresh Free Range Eggs, Honey, Cornstarch, Glycerine, Fresh Garlic, Tea Tree Oil, Limonene and Perfume.




My first thoughts on reading the ingredients was "uh oh". Fresh garlic is one of the main ingredients and I didn't want to leave the house with a garlic smelling face. Fresh garlic works as an antiseptic in this mask and surprisingly I couldn't smell any trace of it. The main ingredient I could smell was the tea tree oil and it didn't bother me at all. There isn't any over powering smells in this mask which led to me to leaving the mask on for over the 5-10 minutes recommended on the tub.

After applying Cosmetic Warrior on my face I felt it setting in under a minute. I put quite a thin layer on as I was a little scared of how strong it would smell! Although the tub is pretty small I can see it lasting a while (well until the use by date) as I only seemed to use the top layer and I covered my whole face, so if you're thinking it's a bit much for a small ish tub then I wouldn't worry. The mask dries with a yellowy tint it to as opposed to the grey colour it comes in.

It was really easy to wash off and I couldn't believe how soft my skin felt! After just one application my skin actually looks so much healthier too. And my mini mountain on my chin? The redness seems to gone down a little but obviously I wasn't expecting miracles. You literally cannot smell any of the ingredients from the mask lingering on your skin either once it's completely washed off. I am really pleased with Cosmetic Warrior and would recommend it to anyone with combination and spot-prone skin.

Have you tried any of the other fresh face masks by Lush? What's your favourite?

Barry M: Hi Shine Gel Effect Nail Polish.

I have always been a fan of Barry M nail polishes for as long as I can remember. I have TONS of the nail paint and a couple of Instant Nail Effects, but as soon as my sister came home with the 'Hi Shine Gel Effect' (RRP: £3.99) I couldn't wait to try it out!

The Hi Shine Gel Effects come in a range of shades but this one here 'Pomegrante'. Personally I'm not a massive fan of red coloured nail polishes but this shade wasn't too poppy red, more raspberry red.

Barry M claims the Hi Shine Gel Effects Nail Polish will provide an extra glossy finish in just one coat. That is just what it did but to make it last longer I would recommend using more than one coat. It doesn't have a super shiny finish as you may expect but it's still better than the average polish. One thing that bugs me about painting my nails is sometimes the polishes take aaaaaaaaages to dry and sometimes I just continue with what I need to do with my day resulting in a lot of smudges but Hi Shine seemed to have dried really quick (I suppose only really needing one coat is a bonus).

As I said previously I am a fan of Barry M nail paints so will probably end up buying myself more of the Hi Shine as I don't have anything bad to say about it. Perhaps next time I will try Blue Plum or Blackberry though!

Have you tried Hi Shine Gel Effect before? What's your favourite shade?

.

Newbie!

Hello Bloggers!

After months of reading all your blogs and thinking of starting mine here I am. I'm still pretty unsure which direction this is going to go in but I'm thinking mainly beauty with a bit of fashion and lifestyle. All feedback is welcomed!

Pretty Pugly is not just my blogs name, but firstly began as my online store. Currently I am in the middle of creating a revamp but there is still a few items for sale! I also make kawaii/decoden style phone cases (well I say phone cases but you can request anything for me to make super cute!). Here is a couple examples and if you are feeling extra kind give the Facebook page by clicking HERE or shop online HERE