TWO BUDGET CLEANSERS

Being a teenager, I have a lower budget than most of the beauty bloggers out there, so the majority of the products in my collection are budget based (and I don't think there is anything wrong with that personally), because there are so many gems in high street/drugstore, and by the looks of it, that's no different for when it comes to cleansers.

The first of the duo is one I have mentioned a few times now, and as I had a new bottle sitting in my drawer (my third bottle of the stuff) I feel like it deserves to be in this post. The Superdrug Naturally Radiant Hot Cloth Cleanser is a thick, cream/hot cloth cleanser which does a good job at removing makeup in the first cleanse, or fully cleansing as the second cleanse. I also really like this one in the morning, and it doesn't leave any kind of a tight feeling on the skin.

A recent discovery for me is the No7 Melting Cleansing Gel which I got when I had the ever so famous £5 off voucher. Don't be fooled, this is called a gel, and at first it is a balm-like gel. Once you start massaging it into your face though, as it warms up it turns into an oil texture, and then upon rinsing, washes off more like a milk. I prefer this for the second cleanse, and although it does remove the majority of makeup, I had a little eye-stinging action with this when trying to get of the remains of my waterproof mascara - so keep that in mind.

If you know of any budget oil-cleansers out there, do let me know as that is what's next on my skincare wishlist.

POST-SPENDING BAN BUYS

As my spending ban came to a close, I was browsing the aisles like no other. Luckily my ban ended just before the Boots 3 for 2 came to an end so I managed to get in on the deals, which I can't complain about. I definitely enjoyed spending some money on what I love after having such a break.

In the clearance of my local Boots, I spotted the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Timeless Black for £2 and I thought it would be a good choice for a gel liner-esque product. For another small £2 I found the Revlon Colorburst Lip Gloss in Bellini which is a milky peach-nude. The other 2 items on the makeup front were a repurchase of the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder, and a Rimmel Lasting Finish Blush in Santa Rose as a lot of people rave about this guy, and the colour is stunning and natural, perhaps a new everyday favourite?

Onto skincare, I got another Superdrug Naturally Radiant Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser as it was on offer for £2.98 and I love this as my go-to cleanser. To prove my love for it, how about I tell you that this is my third bottle of the stuff. On the radiance path, I got 2 items from the Boots Botanics All Bright range. The first was the Cleansing Toner, as the whole 'chemical exfoliant' thang interested me and I thought I would start at the budget side of things. As well as this I got the Night Cream, and on first impressions this looks to me really hydrating as it is so thick, so I cannot wait to incorporate this into my routine properly.

Finally, I got the L'Oréal Studio Line #TXT Volume Supersizing Spray, as I am practically begging for some texture and volume in my hair, and from the first use I really like this, and for a budget price of £3.79 I don't think I could choose any better way to start getting into these products.

It's typical for me to have only just gotten off my spending ban and have a nice shop/splurge in Boots. Well... there isn't much that can separate a blogger from buying products...

COLLECTING AND SPENDING POINTS

Loyalty cards and points cards are where it's at in the beauty world, as I am sure most of us can't resist
getting a treat free of charge. When you do the maths, it can be a little staggering to find out how much you have actually spent in order to gain those beloved points, so maybe put the calculator down on this one.

I only have 2 points cards, as I don't have the likes of Space NK locally, so I only have the option to get some pennies back from Boots and Superdrug.

The Boots Advantage Card is the one which gives you more points for your money. Coming in at 4 points per pound you spend, and then each point counts as 1p, it isn't too bad. In theory, its 4p back from every £1 worth of purchases. The only downside is that you have to have the entire amount of points equivalent to the product price in order to make the purchase, whereas with the Superdrug Beauty Card, you can spend your points in multiples of 100 towards any product.

If you are unsure what I mean, maybe this will help. For Superdrug, if you had 364 points on your card - equivalent to £3.64, you could put 300 of these towards your product. Did that even help you? But, there is a downside to this one too, you only get 1 point per £1 spent, so really you would end up spending a minimum of £100 in order to get £1 off a product.

Nonetheless, the spending part is very fun. Being on my spending ban, I needed (read: wanted) a new foundation, something a little lighter to coincide with my 'wear lighter coverage' New Year's resolution. The Rimmel Match Perfection was on the till, and I can tell you, I am very much enjoying that foundation as my go-to base, so points well spent if you ask me...

BEST 5 OF 2013: SKINCARE

This year, my skin has been the worst I think it has ever been, and as we come to the last day of the year, it doesn't look much better if I am honest, but there have been a few improvements. This has also been the year in which a lot of us discovered that foaming cleansers weren't all that good, and that you can buy face masks that aren't in sachets. Brilliant. Today is the day I will be going through my top 5 skincare picks from the year.

So, the Super Facialist by Una Brennan Tea Flower Deep Clean Pore Purifying Mask got a lot of hype this year, being a good quality, low priced face mask, and I must say, all the hype is true. I absolutely adore this mask, as it calms any blemishes or sore areas almost overnight, and I wake up feeling fresh faced every time I use this.

Another hyped product this year has to be the La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo, a treatment product designed to unclog pores and get rid of all your impurities, and basically clear the skin. It does that, and pretty well. I think I will need to repurchase this soon, as I have that weird paranoia that if I stop using it, my skin will get worse.

The Dr Jart+ Water Sure Gel has been plumping my skin, and locking in the moisture these colder months, and I am definitely feeling more hydration in my skin. Concept wise, this is Hydraluron in a pot, and that one plans to be my next purchase after this has been used up.

An extremely budget offering is the Nivea Daily Essentials Double Effect Eye Makeup Remover, and this must be my 3rd or 4th bottle of the stuff. For a lower end eye makeup remover, this does the job very well, and costs about £3 so isn't even going to break the bank.

The final skincare item which has been rocking my world in 2013 is the Superdrug Naturally Radiant Hot Cloth Cleanser. I am on my second tube of this now, but I have discovered more in my older one after cutting the top off. For an own brand, drugstore hot cloth cleanser (retails for £5ish, but is generally on offers anyway), this is so thick and creamy, isn't stripping on the skin at all, and really does a good job at cleansing.

So, no moisturisers/day or night creams involved here, and that is where you guys come in handy. I would like you to suggest some of your favourites, for combination skin, as I am still looking for something I can be faithful to, so maybe 2014 will be the year for that discovery.

 

Mini Weekend Shopping Haul

 

 

Hi everyone! I have done a bit of shopping this weekend, and I thought I would share with you what I got as I got a couple of bargains!

MMM Shopping Things :)

I firstly went into Superdrug and got 2 things. The first being the Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair. This is my holy grail concealer, and I needed to repurchase it, as the one I have at the moment is shade 2 which is the slightest bit dark for me, as that was the only one in stock last time. This was reduced from £4.19 to £3.69 on offer.

I then went on to buy the Superdrug Naturally Radiant Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser as it was half price to £2.99 instead of £5.99. This has been out of stock for weeks in my local Superdrug so when I went out with family to a further shopping centre, I found it and couldn’t leave it there. You also get the muslin cloth with it, which gently exfoliates the skin. This smells great too!

 

I went to Lush and picked up the all famous Happy Hippy Shower Gel for £3.25 as I haven’t owned it before, but tried it and loved it. The smell is so fresh and I can’t believe I hadn’t bought it sooner! I did go to purchase this before Christmas but the price was £4.25 which I wasn’t prepared to pay for 100g of product, but it’s back to normal now and was in my basket in a flash!

Finally I went to the Body Shop, as I spotted that they had a sale on over a few products. One of them being the Sweet Lemon Shower Gel, which was £2 instead of £5, so I picked it up as there were only 2 left. I know, I know, buying 2 shower gels in one trip may be a little excessive, but one was on sale, and the other was in a store that isn’t anywhere near me, so I have an excuse…haha.

So overall I made a total saving of: £6.50! Not bad in my opinion!

Have you done any shopping recently? If you found any bargains let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading, don’t forget to follow me on GFC, Bloglovin’ (Buttons to the right) and twitter: www.twitter.com/thebeaubow - Tweet me anything you like! J

Bye! Lauren x