Jones Road Miracle Balm

 One of the most requested reviews, Jones Road Miracle Balm. I do like it but I'm not sure I love it. Lots of people do but some people have struggled. Could this be the marmite of the beauty world? 

Christmas Gift Ideas

Some ideas for christmas presents, stocking fillers and things you may want to add to your Christmas list

• Eye Masks - these look lovely and go well in a stocking, tucked into a Christmas card and aren't expensive to post! 

• Blue Bowl - I love this place to get presents and Florence is doing advent calendars too 

• Hourglass Palettes - I love Hourglass Palettes and the new ones look absolutely divine. They are worth the money for the amount of use you can get and their longevity but it helps that John Lewis currently have them 20% off
  
  
  

• Nail Collection - All nail buffers are the same. Not true, for some reason this one is better than others. You could get this kit, split it up and use them in stockings

• Ian Snow - another nice website to look for unusual presents 

• Oskia Super C - I'm very dubious about which Vitamin C products actually work but these do and I love them. You'd be surprised at how many messages I get from husbands asking me for skincare recommendations for their wives 'something expensive they'd never get themselves', this is one of those things I'd recommend and it's currently on sale

• Barry M Drop & Dry - help your nail varnish to dry 

• Barry M Cheek & Lip Tint - these look like fun colours 

• Hydrogel Eyemasks - these are fantastic for all skin types and they come in a pack of five so great to split up if you have multiple stockings to fill 

• Illamasqua Lip Pencils - these are lovely and some reallly wearable colours  

• Illamasqua Lip Polish - these are amazingly discounted and have some lovely colours & they do these as mini's

• These Natural Collection Nail polishes are pretty much the longest lasting ones I have ever used  

• Rare Beauty Sincerely Me Eye Kit - this looks really sweet and a nice selection of colours in the palette. This beautiful palette also looks stunning. 

• Sunday Riley Multivitamins Kit - great for anyone who's been wanting to try Sunday Riley but put off by the price tag  

• Scalp Massager - using one of these was a complete game changer for my hair. It removes any product build up from the scalp and encourages thicker, healthier hair 

• Sephora Lip Balms and Lip Scrubs - these look really fun and a nice choice of colours for the balms and I always love having a lips scrub to hand 

• Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant - I'm not a fan of Dermalogica but I love this

• Beauty Baubles - choose to suit skin type or goals if in doubt, go hydrate. 

Makeup & Skincare Empties March 2023

 I have not done and empties video in a long time - here's my most recent bag of empties

Products mentioned: Farmacy Cream Clean Cleanser Honest Beauty Hydrogel Garden of Wisdom Hyaluronic Acid VO5 Volume Boost Gel Spray Doterra toothpaste Doterra Conditioner NuSkin Stain Removing Toothpaste NuSkin Activating Cleanser for Sensitive Skin (to be used with the LumiSpa) Tropic Skin Shade (I wear Light/Medium) Clarins Eau Dynamisante Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye Mascara Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara Nourish London Illuminating Face Shimmer Naturismo Recycle Your Empties

Clean Your Makeup

 Take this as your kick up the bum to go and sort your makeup out. Most of use have a ton of makeup that we don't use, have forgotten we own or is in the bottom of a really gross makeup container and we'd rather pretend it wasn't there. We're going to fix that 

What You'll Need:

• Kitchen roll or a couple of old tea towels
• Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) - a good thing to come out of covid is that this is more readily available and cheaper too. I use this to clean every thing in my pro kit and to clean my pro-brushes because it gets them really clean and dries almost instantly. You do not need to clean your makeup brushes with this unless you really want to, using this wrong can damage brushes so a soap is often better. Keep the lid on this - it evaporates so if you leave the lid off it will disappear. This spray one looks good 
• Solid Brush Cleaner - they have, of course, discontinued my favourite Japonesque one but next time I need to restock I will probably get this. You don't need to spend a lot of money and the reviews are excellent
• Sellotape 
• Pencil sharpener

You will also need three bags, receptacles or just three clear piles on you floor will do - Keep, bin, give away

• Keep - try to be ruthless though the more often you do this the easier it will be because you will realise what you are using and what you aren't. Keep products you use or you think you will use. I tend to keep concealers that are the wrong colour to use as eye primer
• Bin - anything that is gross, past it's sell by date, smells funny or you are never going to use and isn't ok to give to someone else
• Donate - maybe you have a mother/daughter/son/friend who would love the makeup you are just not using. Anything that is unopened can go to Give & Makeup (address below)

And then it's time to start. Have a quick glance through and anything you see that can straight in the bin, bin it. 

Then get everything out and onto a clean surface and clean out whatever you keep your makeup in. 

Now you are going through product by products, open things, smell them think about how long you've had them. Be ruthless. 

Clean anything that needs cleaning, see my video below, you can spray everything with isopropyl alcohol - it evaporates in air so you need to keep the lid on if you have a non-spray bottle and, once you've sprayed makeup, leave it open for a few minutes. 

Make a pile of things to donate, have a box ready to post of things to Give & Makeup or to give to a friend who might want things. There is no point holding onto something that you are never going to use

Concealer

When I first started wearing make-up concealers came in a lipstick-style bullet. Chalky in texture and very limited in colour they were ok for covering a spot if you had a whopper. They were pretty pigmented and unblendable.

Now a lot of clients I work with, especially those over 35, have not kept up to date with how concealers have evolved, often using a heavier coverage foundation and skipping the concealer altogether which makes it hard to get a natural finish. 

I often get asked how to get dewy skin without losing coverage and I always recommend a lighter, dewier foundation and a good concealer. They've come on a long way since the 80s/90s bullet, now you can get the coverage you need, where you need it whilst still keeping a light finish everywhere else.