Choosing a Good Eyecream

Most people tend to ignore their eyes when it comes to moisturising. Your eyes actually need more moisture than your skin because they get dehydrated more easily (that's why tiredness shows there) and eye wrinkles are notoriously difficult to get rid off cosmetically. That's why eyecreams were created.

Eye cream is really important when it comes to make-up. A lot of mature women don't wear make-up because they are worried it will set and accentuate fine lines. Actually this may be because the skin is dehydrated and when you put on make-up, it 'drinks' up the moisture in the make up and dries it out. A good eye cream will not only hydrate the area and reduce this, but it can also serve as an eye base for your make-up too.

Of course there are many out there which all claim to do weird and wonderful thing. Some are designed to brighten up the eyes because of the reflectiveness. Some claim to make the skin look smoother,  hide puffiness and in the long run, reduce fine lines and wrinkles.

The important thing when choosing is to consider, as you would do other skin products, the ingredients and if you are sensitive to them, your kind of skin (dry/normal/oily/sensitive) and the results you are after. If I wanted an eyecream, I'd want one that brightens,moisturises and is natural. You might need one that reduces dark circles or one that reduces puffiness and fine lines, or one that is calming. Don't just buy any eyecream or else you might not be impressed with your purchase. You must also invest in one which gives good value for money. With most eye creams you only need a little at a time but look at the net weight and the price and ask yourself if it is a reasonable investment. Your best bet is to read customer reviews. There is nothing more handy than the experience of someone who has tried it before (eyecream.org and eyecream. com are two places to start). Watch out for magazine and other media reviews. You will probably not get it right the first time you try and you may need to try a few different creams before you find the one that works for you. My advice would be to give it about 4-6 weeks for results to start showing. Mischievous had a go with the Garnier eye cream. This is another experiment from Total Beauty. Don't forget the SPF as sun damage can accelerate wrinkling and also you can get skin cancers around the eyes. Most eyecreams do not have have SPF so I would suggest an SPF moisturiser over the eye cream or an SPF foundation. Use eyecreams overnight if you are trying to replenish the moisture content or cause cell regeneration. I use Burt's bees radiance Eye Cream on myself.  Like I said it is all about preference.

Using a good eye cream can save you from looking like you need 100 years of sleep everyday! Hopefully you'll be more adventurous with your make-up when you realise that the fine lines aren't so bad anymore...

Stay beautiful...

Veludo Velvet by Christopher Drummond Beauty

Type: Beauty product- Natural foundation
From: Just Beauty Direct (UK)
Price: £50.00; $65.00 from CDB
Relationship with Brand/Store: None
Rating

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Do we recommend it: Only if you have extremely sensitive skin or feel like spending a lot of money.

Details:
Veludo Velvet is Christopher Drummond Beauty's all natural, organic based vegan foundation. This is basically a mineral powder foundation, but the unique thing about it is that it contains no Zinc Oxide, Bismuth Oxychloride or Titanium Dioxide. These three things are known irritants in some people who can't even tolerate normal mineral foundation. There's also the added claims from the website:

* Sweat resistant, yet allows the skin to breathe.
* Contains plant extracts, exotic fruit infusions, and antioxidants to help improve skin texture.
* Helps protect against the sun with phyto ingredients.
* Cosmetic-grade ingredients will not clog pores,
* Ingredients help bind moisture to the skin, so it is not drying.

When you buy it you get 8grams of product in a dark jar, a little travel jar and a spatula so you can transfer a small amount at a time from the dark jar for use (this is because the powder is sensitive to UV light); and a flat top synthetic brush.


All these come in a large cylindrical container.


First of all mineral foundation is very good for the skin because of the lack of chemicals, healing properties etc. Also a product that can be created without including Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide will be a welcome relief for all those who are sensitive to these ingredients. I like the idea of the little travel jar and using a little at a time. It stops you from contaminating the entire product and it also stops the product being degraded by UV light. You get a brush with it, which means you don't have to go out and buy a brush. The brush is synthetic, in keeping with the vegan theme.
Every time I've used it I found that it blends really well with my skin and a tiny amount is all I need.

If you know much about mineral foundation, you'll know that Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide are the main natural sunscreens used. So this foundation compromises on sun protection to give you less ingredients. There is some 'sun protection' in it but there is no mention of the SPF, which is not a good thing. Sun exposure is itself a skin irritant and in this day and age of increasing sun damage, SPF is not something to compromise on. I also find it a bit ironic that other products from this brand in the same category (e.g. Saude Pele) have Zinc Oxide in them, because of its soothing properties. Hmm...
I would never pair a flat top brush with loose powder, simply because of the potential of packing too much on the brush. I also know that natural brushes are better for powder than synthetic ones, because of their ability to hold and release more particles evenly. However, I never really got to test my CDB brush properly because this is what happened after I took it out of the packaging for the third time:



Considering that this product cost £50, surely a better quality brush would have been more appropriate. I could not return it because you can only return within seven days of purchase. This foundation blends very well, but so does my Jane Iredale PurePressed base and Bare ID foundation. You get 8g of product here whereas with my JI one, I got 10.5g for half the price!

The conclusion: If you have the need for foundation that is absolutely rid of all irritants or you are a vegan through and through, then this is for you. Also if you are professional, this would be a good addition to your kit, because you might across one of those people. Otherwise, I recommend you get another brand of good mineral foundation. It will cost you a lot less and you will get better value for your money.

Stay beautiful...

Amarya.com- Organic beauty store review

Type: Website- UK based online store
Products/Services- Certified organic beauty products
Shipping- UK/EU/International
Relationship with Brand: None

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Do we recommend it: Yes!

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Finally we have a 100% certified organic beauty store in UK! Amarya is an online store that sells certified organic beauty products. They also have a store and salon in London, where they offer therapeutic services. I took advantage of a promotion which I saw on facebook and purchased a few products from them.

I had been searching for a particular lotion from Santa Verde for a very long time and was excited at discovering they stocked it. I don't have to pay €15.50 for shipping from Germany any more.
They have a wide variety of brands and I was very impressed with how my products arrived in 2 days, especially as I didn't pay a dime for shipping.This store offers free shipping on all UK orders and 28 days money back guarantee.

The downside of course is the cost of the products. Certified organic products tend to be more expensive than regular ones anyway. The Santa Verde Medium Aloe Vera cream cost €19.90 (£18.10) from SV and £28.00 from Amarya. It is still cheaper than buying from SV and paying the cost of shipping though. The cost may be justified by the purity of what you are buying. You know that extra care was taken when that product was being made and it has gone through a certification process and passed.

If you are a natural beauty freak I would certainly recommend you visit this store. Right now they are offering free gift wrapping services and a free gift when you spend £35.00 or more. Perfect timing for the festive season.

On the side: In my part of the world- Amarya means first time bride. It is a word associated with innocence :)


Stay beautiful...

Look like a star by Lauren Luke Review

Look like a star by Lauren Luke


Pages: 208
Price: £16.99
Weight: 520 grams
Available from: Any major book store
HRP Rating:

I have to say I was very eager to get my hands on this book. I am extremely proud of how far Lauren has progressed from YouTube tutorials. I enjoy her tutorials when I get to see them and when the lighting allows me to see what she is doing clearly.

My first impression: The book is colourful!
You get 15 pages of basic information and 25 celebrity look tutorials.

Of the 208 pages in this book, 44 are full of random information. Stories about Lauren's life, fan notes, dedications, random 'talks' etc. That's 21% of the book filled with stuff you don't need. I suppose her story is a very important aspect of who she is hence the inclusion but I was particularly annoyed at how 2 whole pages were used to introduce a chapter and for every time Lauren wants to say something e.g. 'I want to make everyone feel special'.

The basic information is exactly that- basic! If you are not entirely new to makeup skip those pages. There is no detailed information on highlighting and contouring and special application techniques.

Finally I got to the main bit, the celebrity looks. I have to say I was disappointed in most of it. The celebrity photos are are there but she does not replicate their looks at all. She merely uses them as an introduction to the look she is trying to create. If the book had said celebrity-inspired it would have been different but it says 'Learn how to recreate your favourite celebrity looks'.

So I decided to replicate one of the looks to see how easy the book is to follow. I chose the Taylor Swift natural glow look on page 50.



Before every look Lauren has helpfully compiled a list of everything you need for that look. For this particular one, I need:

• Beige creamy eyeshadow
• Peachy gold frosted eyeshadow
• White frosted eyeshadow
• Silver pewter frosted eyeshadow
• Black mascara

This is not all for this tutorial but I'm only attempting the eye look.
By the way there are no images of the colours- so everything is left to your imagination. Can I just express my amazement at the vagueness of the colours I'm supposed to use? What is peachy gold?

On to the tutorial then...
First I'm to apply the beige creamy eyeshadow with my third finger (even though I've always known that ring finger is better as it applies the least pressure on the eyes) on my lids all the way to my eyebrows.



Next is to apply the peachy gold frosted eyeshadow with my eyeshadow brush all over the lids, into the crease and slightly beyond the outer edge. Lauren has a page in the beginning where she list all the brushes with images of what they look like. I mixed a gold and a peach eyeshadow together.





Next is to apply a white highlighter with my finger under my brow and work down to the crease. My first problem with this instruction is that there is no highlighter in the list of things I need. I only have white frosted eyeshadow and I don't think I can apply that with my finger. So I'm going to use my angle liner brush to apply a bit of white frosted eyeshadow underneath my brows.



Now I'm supposed to tilt my head back and apply the silver pewter eyeshadow with my blending brush in circular motions along the crease towards the inner corner. I must not allow it to be too dark.
Why am I tilting my head back? And if I tilt my head back how can I see the mirror?
(Honestly try it for yourself). I'm gonna do it my own way, with my head straight.



The magic tip for this look: Try not to get eyeshadow into your eyes because it hurts! (how helpful)

Now I'm to use my angle eyeliner brush to apply the same colour (I assume its the silver pewter) on the lower lash line to two-thirds of the way inwards.


Finally, I tilt my head backwards and apply black mascara upwards and outwards to the upper and lower lashes.



I took 2 attempts to get this right. The first attempt was quite disastrous, mainly because I didn't get the colours right. It looked like she was wearing black eyeliner in this look, but there is no mention of it in the tutorial. I think I got the look OK with some tweaks here and there ( I am a different skin tone from Lauren obviously). It was very hard to pretend I am not a makeup artist. I can see a beginner struggling with these instructions. The descriptions are quite vague and there are few or no images to help.

First Attempt:


2nd Attempt:
Taylor Swift


Lauren

Didnt she say don't get it too dark?
Me:



My conclusion:
If you are new to make up or you would like a quick guide to creating different looks, then try this book. It uses very simple terminology and the instructions are straight forward. When you read it it's like Lauren is there talking to you. The colour descriptions are a bit vague but the basic idea is there and you can gauge from her eyes what you are supposed to look like afterwards.

If you are a professional or good with make up, this book is not for you. She does all the looks on herself and this makes the book comes across as if it was rushed. Like she just took old pictures of looks on herself, wrote out some quick 'how to' and then looked for celebrities to match with the looks. With more time investment; and clearer and more detailed tutorials, this would have been a better book. The tips are silly sometimes and at 16.99, this, in my opinion, is way more expensive than it is worth. Luckily you can get it for about £10 from Amazon.

Looks like someone is going to get this book from me for Christmas after all. I shall stick to the YouTube tutorials.

If you have/get this book and try out the tutorials, let us know how you got on, especially if you are new to makeup.

Stay beautiful...