The Easy, DIY Way to Clean Your Brushes!

We’ve spent years learning which brushes are for blush and which are foundation, what works best for contouring and what’s the ultimate for all-over glow. With all that effort, we’re definitely committed to putting in the time to keep them in perfect condition. But is anyone else totally tired of breaking the bank on brush cleansers!? Especially since experts recommend you clean them once every week. We thought: there MUST be DIY brush-cleaning methods that are just as (or more!) effective than store-bought brush cleaners, right!? Since we’re total suckers for DIY, we did some investigating & found a few methods using products already in our bathroom & kitchen cabinets!

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Our ultimate clean-brush approach uses coconut oil (we are SO on the coconut oil train: hello, ultra-soft hair!) to gently, and naturally, clean your brushes. You simply melt about 2 tbsp of coconut oil in the microwave (appx. 30 seconds) and then gently swirl your brush around in it. Once the brush has been fully coated in the oil, blot on a paper towel to remove product. Don’t be alarmed by the amount of product that comes off—if you use your brushes as much as we do, it’s normal! Once you’re done blotting, run under lukewarm water until the oil has completely washed off. If you’re having trouble getting all of the coconut oil off with just water, lightly run the bristles over a bar of soap.  Once the coconut oil is completely rinsed out of the brush, reshape and lay flat on a paper towel to dry.

It will take a few hours for your brushes to dry, so make sure you do this AFTER applying your makeup for the day! It’s also important to be careful not to get the handle of the brush wet, because it can cause it to expand and loosen the bristles. You can also substitute coconut oil for a simple bar of soap, or baby shampoo mixed with warm water.

So, are you planning on breaking up with your brush cleanser, too?

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Autumn Skincare: Soothing Moisturisers for Sensitive Faces

skincare sensitive skin

Some gorgeous, soothing moisturisers for skin that’s on the dry or sensitive side or that’s beginning to feel the effects of the slightly cooler weather. All of the face creams and lotions above are very calming, I find, and though they each vary in their density and richness, the final results are the same; happy, moisturised skin that feels fully guarded against the Autumn chill. They are brilliant moisturisers all year round, of course, it’s just that a couple are a little too rich for my summertime skin and so I’ve been waiting for October so that I could write about them with renewed experience and full enthusiasm and vigour! If you have sensitive, dry, flaky skin that simply won’t behave, these are all your friend, all of the time. I tend to use them (as I don’t have particularly dry or sensitive skin) when I’ve been doing a makeup shoot and my skin is feeling raw and irritated; makeup off, a quick spritz of something lovely, just for the soul (usually it’s Queen of Hungary Mist or the Spray-On Moisture from This Works) and on with a big layer of soothing moisturiser. I leave that on overnight – obviously you don’t have to go overboard with the application, you don’t want to end up with more on your pillow than you have on your face!

Pai’s Chamomile & Rosehip Calming Day Cream is a dream product for sensitive skin. Pai specialise in creating skin care that can be used by the most temperamental and needy of faces; they list every tiny ingredient so that you can spot anything your skin might not agree with (not that it’s likely,  with everything so very nicely formulated) and they have quite comprehensive product guides and interesting blog posts to help you find the right routine. Their Calming Day Cream does exactly that; the rosehip helps to repair and the chamomile and other ingredients help to reduce redness and irritation. It’s nourishing and hydrating without sitting too heavily on the skin, there’s no residue and very little in the way of scent. £32 at Pai Skincare.

More skincare for sensitive skin….

MV Organic Skincare’s Rose Soothing Protective Moisturiser is an interesting one; it feels very light in comparison to the others – it doesn’t have that “plumptious” kind of feel – but it’s very effective as a moisturiser and it’s a joy to use. High quality organic oils together with Vitamin E make this a great skin healer if you feel you’ve overdone it with your exfoliating regime or your skin is wind-battered and sore. I find that this one is the best choice for my combination skin – it’s not at all rich – but you could mix it with one of MV’s Boosters if you wanted extra moisturising power. Ironically, it’s the one best suited for my own needs but it also happens to be the priciest! It’s £70 at Cult Beauty, but you do get a whopping 70ml, so the cost for comparison would be £50 for 50ml (genius, me) and you can also get a little 15ml travel size for £22.

The Calendula & Rose Damask Moisturiser from Elemental Herbology is just ever so slightly on the rich side for my skin on a normal day, but I slather it on if I’ve been travelling or my skin is feeling particularly dry. I’m careful with it because it contains shea butter, and every now and then shea butter makes my skin produce monstrous spots, but it’s a gorgeous cream. Heavier than both options above and containing patented ingredient complexes to help with redness and sensitive skin protection. You can add it to your ASOS order here – it’s £37 for 50ml.

More moisturiser reviews….

Finally, the Coconut & Roses Face Cream from Suti. Suti’s skincare is based around the idea of energy healing; the ingredients are selected for their energetic qualities as well as their skin-enhancing ones. In this case Rose, Queen of Flowers, has been selected not only for skincare benefits but for the “power to refresh soul, mind and spirit”; then there’s Coconut to protect the skin and Date Seed Extract for its anti-wrinkle and antioxidant effects. The idea behind the cream is honour; to honour the “divine feminine within”. Not everyone’s cup of tea, the more holistic side of things, but this is a thoughtfully put together cream and out of all of the four, it’s the richest if you have very dry skin. £47 at sutiskincare.com

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#BBBDreambox3

#BBBDreambox3

#BBBDreamBox3

So, here we are again! For anyone new to the BBB Dream Boxes with Latest In Beauty, they happen twice a year, with a minimum of 15 full and sample sized products for you to try. Part of the pleasure of being a beauty blogger is that I get to try and test so many products and if I find something I really love, I try and ensure that it’s included in a box so that everyone else can see if they like it as much as I do. The aim of the Dream Boxes is to give the best possible value within the box (it’s over £110 value this time), as well as offers from the brands included, with a mix of luxury and great budget performers. The box is £21.95 including postage. The link is at the bottom of the post.

Last time, the Dream Box crashed my site and then crashed the Latest In Beauty site, so we’re going for an early start on this one and hoping that it might stagger traffic a little.

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Salon Science Reglosse Smoothing Serum Full Size: When I first tried the Salon Science range last year, I was so impressed with it, I immediately wanted it for the box! I use this serum all the time now for its ability to soften and relax the hair without weighing it down or leaving an oily feel. Value: £18. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: 20% off all products with BBB code.

Scottish Fine Soaps Luxury Soap Full Size: I love proper bars of soaps, and these are soft, lathery and gorgeously scented, Portable tins that mean you never need face a bland hotel soap again. And, the 40 year old family run business is from Scotland, like me, so it’s a pleasure to present a quality brand from my home. There are two varieties: Au Lait (a sweet, milky scent) and Sea Kelp (a fresh, green scent). Value: £4.95. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: 15% off all products with BBB code.

Vita Liberata Luxury Tan 20ml: This brand is a long-time favourite of mine for self-tanning. In fact, if at all possible, I don’t use anything else. When I first came across it, Vita Liberata wasn’t as readily available as it is now and I used to stalk every single branch of Boots I passed to stock up! It gives a warm, natural looking tan that lasts and lasts (this is the 2-3 week last formula) without drying out the skin. There’s also a mini-mitt included and you can use it on face and body. Value: £9. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: 1/3 off the Phenomenal collection with BBB code.

Orelia Gold Tattoos: I absolutely adore gold temporary tattoos and wear them frequently through winter and summer as an accessory (I love bracelet effects best of all). Orelia’s temporary tattoos are reflective of the brand’s jewellery – innovative, beautiful and exciting and it’s a natural fit with Vita Liberata for golden skin with a flash of metallic. There’s a mix of 9 different styles so which one you get will be a surprise. Value: £5. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: 20% off everything with the BBB code.

Crabtree & Evelyn Pear & Magnolia Body Lotion 50ml: I love the scent of pears, and in this travel sized body lotion, it’s predominant with a gentle backdrop of magnolia. Once it quickly sinks into the skin, you’re left with instant softness and a gentle trail of fragrance. The body lotion feels far more luxurious than the price would suggest. Value: £5. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: 20% off all Crabtree & Evelyn with BBB Code.

BBBDreamBox3

essence Nail Polish Full Size: I’ve got two little essence polishes for this box in two wearable colours (each box contains both), so that you can see how budget nail varnish should be done! The formulas are strong and reliable – even outperforming much, much pricier brands in terms of wear. The shades are split into a nude and a pastel so you can experience different textures for clean, spring looks. Value £3.60.

Ole Henriksen Pure Truth Melting Cleanser 15ml: I can remember being so impressed when I first discovered this product! It’s such an unusual texture, being part gel and part balm, and I used the entire full size pot down to the very last drop. It leaves skin gorgeously soft and properly cleansed. Value £3.05. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: Free African Red Tea Foaming Cleanser with 2 products purchased with code.

Eye Of Horus Charcoal Obsidian Goddess Pencil Full Size: One of the softest, most blendable eye liners I’ve ever discovered – an absolute beauty if you love to smoke up your eyes. I use mine on both inner and outer rims – it’s rather addictive! We have a big split of colours from smoky black to the brightest of blues so that you can start experimenting straight away. Value: £17.99. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: 20% off the entire Eye of Horus range with BBB code.

Benefit They’re Real Mascara Remover 7.5ml: This is a miracle formula that makes even tough mascara glide away from your lashes without pulling or tugging. It even works on waterproof mascara and it’s fine for sensitive eyes or contact lense wearers, too. Value: £2.18. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: Free in-store makeup lesson.

#BBBDreambox3

Roger & Gallet Fleur de Figuier 1.5ml: Fleur de Figuier is the freshest burst of summer, full of fruity notes in a light juice that instantly gives your senses a lift. This fragrance range has a special place in my heart (and has been in previous BBB Boxes) – behind the brand is an amazing team who truly have a passion for what they create. Value: £1.26

Bourjois Rouge Velvet Full Size : These beautiful velvet textured lip shades are such a deserved success for Bourjois. They’re easily outperforming luxury competitors by giving strong pigment and last with a soft finish every single time. We have two stunning shades; Nude-ist or Don’t Pink Of It, for nude lips with attitude! Value: £8.99.

Deciem Hand Chemistry 30ml: If you’re a regular reader of BBB, you’ll know this is my favourite ever hand cream. Put it to the ten day test and see the results for yourself – Hand Chemistry has put its money where its mouth is using a high percentage of active ingredients, and the formulation is transformational for needy hands. Deciem is brand to keep your eyes on – they’re adventurous, exciting and deliver on claims. Value: £8. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: 20% off Hand Chemistry lines with BBB code.

Nuxe Masque Crème Fraiche Full Size: Nuxe is the most requested product for my beauty boxes from BBB readers, and at last, it’s here! This is a wonderfully soothing and rehydrating mask that left my skin looking more vibrant and much smoother. It’s an absolute skin treat that I’m so happy to be able to share with you. Value: £18.50. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: 15% off your first order with BBB code.

Dr Organic Lip Balm Full Size: I was so taken with these balms when I tested them out earlier in the year that I knew I had to include them in the next box! We’ve got three variants; Cherry, Mint and Argan, each with SPF15, for smooth and noticeably softer lips. Value: £3.40.

MakeUp Revolution The One Fluid Blush: I’ve included this lightweight and fluid textured blush because it’s really one to try for the beautiful, real-skin sheerness that it gives. If you haven’t used a fluid blush before (there aren’t many around), my advice is to put a couple of drops into the palm of your hand, swirl a brush over it and blend over the cheeks until it’s seamless. Makeup Revolution is storming the budget beauty market with their affordable and quality products. Value: £3. #BBBDreambox3 Offer: 25% off all MUR with BBB code.

The Big Pavlova Disaster

how to make pavlova

Sorry, we’ve had a mixed bag of posts this week what with egg separation and arm pits, I promise we’ll be back to beauty soon. I just need to be able to get through the door of the beauty room and I can get started with some photography and makeup tinkering. Mr AMR may well have to use a battering ram to get me in, as a pile of something heavy (possibly candles) seems to have avalanched from the shelves, jamming the door firmly shut!

Anyway, from eggs to arm pits to pavlova. This pavlova malarkey has been something of an ongoing saga – I was intending to make Nigella’s Prodigious Pavlova for Christmas Day but things just kept happening that should, by all accounts, have given me a little inkling that perhaps the pavlova wasn’t meant to be. Firstly I couldn’t find a baking sheet to fit the oven, so off Mr AMR went to get one from Tesco. Then I didn’t have any caster sugar, at which point Mr AMR gently suggested that maybe a Pavlova Postponement (PP) was prudent, especially as he had been back and forth to the shops in excess of five times already, collecting important things that I had forgotten for the Christmas period. (Bread, milk, potatoes, butter, the list goes on.)

After the three-day Pavolva Postponement, I decided to try again but my fruit had gone off and so had the cream. It was as though the pav was never meant to be!

A week later, and armed with fresh ingredients, I began to make my meringue base. All went well, thanks to the ready-separated egg whites (see here) and the handy meringue-making tips on Google (make sure you have a clean glass bowl, add the caster sugar a little bit at a time). By 10pm, I had produced the most perfect, peaky, glossy white meringue. All ready to be piled up with folds of luscious cream and tart globs of passion fruit. (If you want the recipe, it’s easy to find on Google – it’s from Nigella’s Christmas book, circa 2004.)

Now I know that what you are about to see looks like some kind of brain operation being performed on a sheep, or perhaps a post-mortem being carried out on The Snowman‘s head, but I want you to know that when I finished the pavlova it actually looked rather impressive. It was only when I realised that things had gone drastically wrong that I decided to do a photo, and by then I couldn’t be arsed to make it look nice. I had also battered it with a spoon in a temper and the side had collapsed:

pavlova disaster

Ha! What went wrong? You may well ask. It all looked perfect, and I was about to pour on my homemade raspberry sauce, when Mr AMR (who was busy licking the spoons and whisk beaters and so on) said, “is the cream supposed to taste this weird?” The cream was completely off! I mean disgustingly off! (PS Sainsbury’s, you owe me big time – the use-by date wasn’t even close and I am mentally scarred by the whole saga.) So, the whole pavlova went into the bin.

I realise that I may have bored some of you to tears with this post, I just needed to get the whole thing off my chest. Usually I’d make my Mum listen but she was busy moving an apple tree in the garden and didn’t have time for the whole, unabridged story. Back to beauty tomorrow – I’m never attempting a pavlova ever again!

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Pure Retinol Instant Treatment Eye Masks / Mr AMR’s New Undereye.

Shiseido Benefiance Pure Retinol Instant Treatment Eye Mask

There was a genuine “hallelujah” moment when Mr AMR and I removed our Express Smoothing Eye Masks. Or I should say mask, singular. We only had one on each, because a) we both wanted to have a comparison “control” eye and b), these Shiseido masks are bloody expensive and I was feeling in a stingy mood!

Anyway, back to the hallelujah: never has an eye mask worked so well. On my eye (left one), all fine lines were totally smoothed out and the undereye area looked tighter and brighter, but didn’t have that horrible stretched feeling that some masks give you. As though you’ve applied washing-up liquid and left it to dry. Ugh, none of that. Great results.

But not as great as the difference on Mr AMR’s eye (right one, not that it matters), that quite literally looked as though it belonged to a different person! Mr AMR has a little tiny bit of creasey-ruggedness going on around the eyes, and I’m sure he won’t mind me mentioning that so long as I say that it’s the very Hollywoodhandsome kind of creasey-ruggedness. Anyway, he does, and the Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkle-Resist 24 Pure Retinol Express Smoothing Eye Mask (longest product name ever? Probably not) gave him a completely different eye. Almost totally smooth, very de-puffed and with a significant decrease in – er – crease. We were both quite wowed.

Shiseido Benefiance Pure Retinol Instant Treatment Eye Mask

I hadn’t really heard of these masks before – though I have tried many versions of the eye patch, see here – and so I went straight onto Google to see whether or not I was alone in my findings. Cue rave reviews on Makeup Alley, which only reaffirmed my belief that these Smoothing Eye Masks are the absolute bees knees. Terribly pricey, and the effects don’t really last more than a day (this is by no means a long-term anti-wrinkle solution!) but great if you have something important and jazzy to go to. (We were just off to Tesco, but still: you never know who you might meet. Shame that we only had one eye “done” each – next time I’ll push the boat out and give both a treat.)

More eye masks tried and tested…

Has anyone else tried these? I’d love to know how you got on. Unfortunately, the price of the Instant Treatment Masks is pretty prohibitive, really – I can never understand why beauty brands (and not just Shiseido, nearly all of them!) whack such enormous price tags on these eye patch/mask things. I think that all of the brands are missing a massive trick, because they could use the eye masks to win customers over to their everyday eye-care products – if you’re really impressed with an eye mask, wouldn’t you be tempted to try out the eye cream or serum from the same range? But the masks are just so expensive and I can’t imagine that a lot of people can justify splashing out on what amounts to so little, in terms of product quantity. Perhaps they are very costly to produce? I do wonder…

Anyway, mini-rant over: you can get 12 pairs of Shiseido masks for £59, making them around a fiver per pair. Find them here at House of Fraser. If you were looking for some pre-party quick-fixers, then these could be worth a go. I can imagine that makeup artists absolutely love them for pepping up tired models backstage and on photoshoots.

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