Well hello Ms Cold

Well that lovely time of year is upon us. Mulled wine, Christmas tree and enough Mince pies to build a city and also ........... the common cold and for a lot, the flu.

I love make up. Playing with, applying, writing about, reading about, really anything but when I feel rough I really can't be bothered to apply my face but don't want to scare the public.

We have two choices here, either go for a full face which can take longer to deal with the puffy eyes and the rudolph nose, or go for the natural (my choice).

One thing that I have to keep to hand is: Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream

You know after going through miles and miles worth of tissues, that your nose will resemble as victim of a cheese grater. Peeling skin is a major No-No especially around the nose. 

Apply a small amount of the cream on the effected area and ............. its gone rather quickly. I recommend before the peeling even starts, get into the habit of applying this. Flaky snouts are not sexy!

Make up

To combait the red nose. Well this is tricky because I don't really want to apply to much make up as most of it will end up coming off on your tissue after 10 minutes.  I like to go for a green correcter, my fav is from No7, and then apply concealer. I am really like the mousse concealer from Maybelline.

While tackling the nose, also remember to calm down your eyes as well with concealer. My eyes can look a bit puffy so try and contour a little or at least reduce the redness and dark circles.

If you have been keeping on top of the eyebrow plucking/waxing, then just tidy and go. I have very light eyebrows and dyed black hair so I need to add a bit of colour here. Only a slight amount. You want them to look tidy not done as they will look strange against the pale face.

Do Not apply white liner on the inside of your eyes. A lot of sneezing will leave the eyes slightly red and this will just be increased by highlighting them in white.

Time for the brown mascara. Brown will help define the eyes without making them really dark. I tend to apply it to just the top lashes but this is your choice.

A small amount of a creamy pale blush on the apples of your cheeks to help you look fresh faced.

But be careful, if your face is red from sneezing etc, then blusher can just add to the problem. In this case, I tend to miss blusher and stick to contouring my cheekbones with bronzer and highlighter.

Lastly, just a lip balm. This is your choice if you want a plain one or a tinted one. Either is great.

I know that it sounds a lot but it isn't. The main thing is to control the redness. So if you are happy, you can just do that step.

Oh course you don't have to wear make up at all if you are happy but this is for people like me who just want to conceal it a tad.

It is important to keep up with your cleansing routine. Even if this means using facial wipes and a moisturisers. Your body is busy fighting this infection so it needs a little help from you at this point.

I know, I know, you just want to go to bed but it will be worth it in the long run.

I hope you all get through this yucky stage quickly. Stay warm, keep your energy up with food, lots of fluid and rest.

See you on the other side

x

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick: 006 Pink Champagne

BARBIE LIPSTICK!!!

I am not usually the sort of girl to wear a pale lippy as I have very pale skin and black hair, I like to wear one that packs a punch. However, I love this lipstick.

Eventhough it is pink, it is a bright pink that goes beautifully with smoking eyes.

Firstly I love the name of it. Come on .Pink Champagne, what is not to love. It is very girlie.

I am a massive fan of Rimmel products, especially there lipsticks and this one doesn't let them down.

The packaging, is there usual minimal style with the Rimmel Crown engraved on the top of the lid.

This lipstick as a smell to it. Not the usual smell of a lippy but a sort of creamy sweet smell which just adds to the loveliness.

One application is all that is needed as it is rather thick when applied but it feels very comfortable of the lips. 

Be careful of applying it to think because you can easily go from cute barbie to trashy.

With any lipstick, I always recommend using a liplock to help the staying power. As this is a pink colour, it can easily disappear without you realising.

This lipstick retails at around £7.

Super cute and worth every penny!

Boots Traditional Skin Care. Glycerin and Rosewater Toner

What the packaging says

Boots traditional Glycerin and Rosewatrer is a cooling, refreshing beautifier that softens and moisturisers the skin.

As anyone that has read my reviews will know, is that cleansing, toning and moisturising are very important to me as my skin changes so quickly.

When it comes to picking a toner, I want something that smells fresh, is light weight and leaves my skin calm.

I love the boots original range. They are really cheap compared to some of the other products on the market. I also keep coming back to this range again and again because it has been around for years. And if a product has been around this long then there must be something worth looking into.

I love the smell of this toner. even before using it I feel clean and refreshed.

I have been using this for ages and it has helped keep my skin blemish free and has improved my skin.

Also I advice keeping your toner in coolish place as I find that this helps with the refreshing feeling and helps calm any redness that may have occured during the day.

You can get this lovely toner at Boots (obv) and retails at around £3.

Great little pick me up.

Rimmel Fix & Perfefct Pro primer

What the packaging says

Skin-perfecting formula for 5-in-1 results: 

1. Smoothes
2. Resurfaces
3. Brightens
4. Mattifies
5. Protects

Prolongs foundation  wear (doesn't that make 6-in-1?).

Apply to clear skin. Wear alone or under foundation.

I can't go without a primer as I have combination skin which can change quickly, so primer is a must.

The product is a white watery cream which spreads easily onto the skin and does sink in, however it can take long than some primers.

Ok we will go one step at a time

1. Smoothes - My skin did feel smooth after use but to be honest, I have quite soft skin anyway. At least it didn't feel tight or react to my skin. Very comfortable to wear.
2. Resurfaces - Sounds scary if you ask me. Wouldn't say it resurfaced the skin.
3. Brightens - I didn't notice a change in the brightness of my skin really.
4. Mattifies - Well, to start with.....yes. But after a couple of hours, my make up was starting to slide.
5. Protects - Its may do, it doesn't say that it has SPF in it so I am unsure of what it is actually protecting us from. Maybe the enviroment, but I don't it.

I would like to focus on point 4 - Mattifies. As I have said, my make up was starting to slide at 2 hours which could easily be touched up with power. After 8 hours, I looked like a total grease monkey. I touched my forehead and all make up was coming away without any problem and it looked and felt horrible. I am going to take a picture at some point so you can see how bad it was. I have never wanted to cleanse my skin in public before but I really wanted to today.

Ok the weather has changed in England but this would stop a primer working this much.

I am really sad about this product. I love Rimmel and it won't stop me using other products of theirs in the future, however, this is bad.

As I always say, this is just the reaction it had on my skin, it may work better on yours, but for me this is a total no go product.

Maybe if you have dry skin, this could be perfect but any oil at all, then stay clear.

Disappointed.

Retails at around £7.

There at  a lot better products out there.