Liz Earle Botanical Essence No 1

Yes this is about to be another rave about how much I love Liz Earle, this time I shall be focusing on her perfume, but before I start saying how much I love it I'd like to say how much fun the event at their London store was last Thursday. It was just a lovely evening, I arrived late and stressed and thought I wasn't even going to make it on time and everyone there was just so nice and welcoming and I felt soothed and so pleased that I was able to make it. I had missed the talk by the wonderfully inspirational Lorna McKay but spoke to her about the inspiration behind the fragrance, and the development process with one of the top perfumers in France... I did this whilst sniffing my wrist every two minutes where I had sprayed the fragrance because I loved it and it changes whilst you are wearing it.

I have quite a hard nose to please - I like grown up musky perfumes rather than anything to sweet or citrusy. Botanical Essence No 1 by Liz Earle hits the nail on the head. Fantastic for summer days when you want something lighter but still with a bit of back bone and a real pick-me-up in the depths of winter. I was really surprised by just how much I loved it - I just could not get enough of it. If you doubt me just check out the reviews for it here. I could also still smell it hours later which is incredibly unusual - my skin seems to absorb perfumes.

It's incredibly hard to review a fragrance as smell is such a personal thing and everyone has different preferences. I think you'd struggle to find people who didn't really like this perfume though. It's much more complex than I was imagining... Bergamot Essential Oil, Damask Rose, Coriander Essential Oil, Vetivert Essential Oil, Nutmeg Essential Oil are just a few of the ingredients and the balance is so perfect I think that's what I found most surprising from this fragrance. It's got the good smell of rose without it being sickly and overpowering, the freshness of Mandarin Essential Oil without being too orangey. I'm not putting this as eloquently as the scent deserves...

This is not just another aromatherapy type smell, this is a proper fragrance - it is grown up, womanly, spirit-lifting and sensuous. The Liz Earle team held nothing back when developing this - I really think you should try it.

What You Need to Know - Liz Earle Botanical Essence No 1 

•  £49
• 50ml
• Contains essential oils - Bergamot, Vetiver, Coriander, Lavender, Mandarin, Cedar wood
• Also contains - Damask Rose, Tonka bean
• Available in the UK from Liz Earle, John Lewis, QVC 

Stippling Brush

This is my weapon of choice for foundation application and I can't recommend it highly enough if you have more mature skin. Stippling is the action of dabbing the bristles of a brush into fresh paint to create a design - you can do this with your makeup but what's so good about these brushes is that they work the foundation right into your skin so rather than it sitting on top of lines and blemishes it blends it in making the finish more natural and is now great for high definition makeup. They are not restricted to foundations you can use them with blushers and highlighters, setting powders and blot powders so this is a great all-rounder brush to have in your collection.

Mac 187 and 188

MAC do two very good stippling brushes of different sizes, both of which I have in my kit, and which they call 'duo fibre brushes'. The 187 is the larger brush for all  over the face and the 188 is smaller and better for under the eyes or those with smaller faces. They do a 130 which is a short handled version. The 187 is £34.50 though and I just think it's not as versatile as the Real Techniques equivalent. The 188 is £28 so I think unless you know you need the larger one this one would do just as well.

My absolute favourite and the one I use everyday is the Real Techniques Stippling Brush. Incredibly reasonably price at £10.99 available at Love Makeup - this brush stands up by itself for easy storage, has synthetic taklon brushes which makes it great to use with powders, liquids or creams and very easy to wash and my personal reason for loving it is the size. You can do your whole face with it but it's small enough that you can clean up under your eyes with it very easily too. You all know I love Sam and Nic Chapman of Pixiwoo so it should come as no surprise that this brush is designed by Sam (as are all the Real Techniques brushes) and I've posted her video below so you can see her work her magic.

Friday Treat

I love this... 

Collection 2000 Smokey Eye Palette

I just cannot stop using this new Smokey Eyes palette from Collection 2000! I like it so much I think I may well get myself another one just in case I use this one all up and they stop doing it!

I was early to meet a friend and went to get my sister some face cream from Boots and accidentally came out with this and the felt tip eye liner I raved about earlier. This palette is gorgeous and perfect for the Christmas party season or anyone wanting to try out smokey eyes as it is incredibly cheap at only £4.19. I love it so much I'm already planning a video using it which I hope to put up soon. Really versatile with colours that will suit everyone and instructions of how to use it on the back. And the packaging means it will last for ages. You can drop this and it doesn't break. I can't recommend this highly enough. A great present or stocking filler for a make-up minded friend. 

Liz Earle Evening

Tomorrow, Thursday 24th November, between 6.30 and 8pm the Liz Earle team are hosting an evening of fragrance at their London store on the Kings Road. Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know what a fan I am of her products and I can't recommend them enough as fantastic Christmas presents. I know what I'm getting for my sister and I may well top up on the hot cloth cleanser for myself while I'm there.

The evening will feature Lorna McKay, the Liz Earle fragrance expert, who will be sharing her stories from the world of perfume. There will also be a complimentary personalised engraving service for anyone buying a bottle of the Botanical Essence No 1  and there will be delicious refreshments provided to help with your browsing!

I'm really excited - I've never had the chance to try out any of the Liz Earle fragrances before so I am shifting stuff around in my diary to make sure I can be there. All guests take home a little goody bag of treats to try out and there is a chance to win the Liz Earle Ultimate Hamper with a personalised bottle of Botanical Essence No. 1.

Tickets are £10 and redeemable against any purchase on the night . To reserve a place call 01983 813 562 between 9am and 5.30pm. Do it quickly to reserve your place xx

Monday Treat

Didn't manage to get near my computer on Friday so I thought I'd post this today  instead. I want this primer so much...

Kleenex Eye Make-up Removal Wipes

I've been using these for the last fortnight and I really don't know what to say about them. I think they are great in many ways; they remove eye make-up, they are in small easy to carry around packaging and they don't dry your skin out at all. I only have two problems with them. Firstly, why would you use these if you were into using wipes anyway, surely it would be better to use an all-in-one wipe that can do everything? Also they get a lot of my black eye makeup off but not all of it.

I think I can talk myself out of both of those problems - I don't like using wipes every day to remove my make-up but they are  incredibly useful to have in your washbag for those late, maybe slightly tipsy, nights when quick make-up removal is necessary or when you have limited resources. I do, however, like to remove my eye make-up first whether it's before I wash my face in the bath, or using a cleanser and for this these wipes are great. I actually forgot to take them with me when I went away last weekend and was annoyed at not having them. It's incredibly useful to be able to use something to get the majority of your eye make-up off first and the fact that I then either cleanse or wash my face means that anything left behind is going to get removed anyway.

Two Great Liquid Eyeliners

I've felt bad for being a bit rude about Maybelline's Collosus and Collection 2000's Pump up the Volume a couple of weeks ago but this seems to have remedied itself as for the past couple of weeks since the mascara disaster I have been testing out two of their liquid eye liners and I love them both... well I love one and really like the other.

Maybelline Drama Gel Eyeliner and brush

We'll start with the one I like... Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner . Catwalk inspired and a proper black this gel liner is long lasting and pretty easy to apply. It comes with it's own brush which makes the £7.99 price tag very appealing. The brush itself is fine - a lot more bearable than many eye liner brushes I've tried. With this product you do have to wash your brush every time as it hardens up and makes reapplication tricky. Not that this is such a bad thing - I'm all for clean brushes - but it just is a bit of a faff and unfortunately I tried this out at the same time as Collection 2000's Extreme 24 Hour Felt tip liner which I just sort of fell in love with.

Collection 2000's Extreme 24hr Felt Tip Liner

Ok so the felt tip liner does take a bit of practise - you need to use the tip to get a thin line and any wobbling is very visible but it is long lasting and easy to use and well... it just works. It comes in blue, teal and purple so is great for trying out the colour eyeliner trend. However this is not suitable for contact lens wearers which I'm a little disappointed in. Not that I wear them - it just makes me worry about what's in it. Maybelline's Drama Gel Liner is fine for contacts though so if you do wear them and want to try out a new liner I really recommend that.

These are both definitely worth a try - both claim to be smudge proof. I think I'll do a video with these two to test that theory. xx

Pixiwoo Happy Friday

Hurrah she's back...