It’s one of those essential items that all but the most blessed-with-flawless-skin use, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like the most exciting of cosmetics when there are shimmering eyeshadows and glittering glosses out there to be played with.
For quite a few years, it felt like foundation as a product went a bit quiet. But now? Now, foundation has found its mojo again.
There are tonnes of exciting developments happening, mostly thanks to our friends in South Korea. Korean skincare has become a subject of national interest over the past few years, and they seem to have firmly taken over from the French as the nation we look to for guidance on our skin habits and trends.
There’s just so much to go at. Where else in the world is an eight to ten step night-time skincare routine normal?
In the UK, we place more emphasis on disguising flaws under thick layers of makeup. The Korean approach is to invest far more time, money and effort in getting the canvas right in the first place.
So the cosmetics there are less about concealment and more about enhancement.
Korean products like eye masks, sleeping packs, essences, foot peels and sheet masks have all come into the spotlight in the West recently.
And the latest item making a splash? Cushion foundations.
French skincare and beauty giant Lancome was an early adopter of this trend, with its Teint Idole Ultra Cushion formulation. I was very curious to see what a French interpretation of a Korean product would be like…
I'm a little behind the times with my October Birchbox review - to be honest I forgot that I had it! When I opened it, I wasn't that excited by the contents and so it sat on my kitchen table for quite a while!
I think after the huge excitement of ordering my Tili box, it was always bound to be a bit of an anti-climax. Read on to take a peek at what was inside....
Phew! When it comes to subscription boxes, it can be hard to keep up.
Sometimes it feels like the format has taken over the world, from beauty to tech gear, food and even boxes that cover your time of the month.
People seem to really like the idea of signing up, and I can’t blame them – getting a little box of loveliness through the front door sure beats piles of bills.
But there are so many beauty boxes now that its hard to know which ones are worth getting. I’ve subscribed, un-subscribed and re-subscribed to several, and although some of the boxes I’ve had have been amazing, others are full of repeat products, stingy samples or unexciting items.
So when I first heard about ‘Tili’, the sub box from shopping tv channel QVC (who incidentally are actually one of the UK’s biggest beauty retailers), I didn’t pay much attention at first. What makes this one any different? I thought. But then I took a closer look and realised that Tili was something different to the rest.
For a start, Tili is only released once a quarter, rather than each month. This box is only the second one they have done. When you sign up, you don’t automatically become a recurring subscriber - you have to order each one.
And you can see exactly what will be in the box in advance. True, this does remove the element of surprise but I much prefer seeing the contents and deciding if they are something I would actually use or not.
And I can honestly say that once I saw the super contents, I was way more excited to receive this than I’ve ever felt about a beauty sub box – I couldn’t wait for it to arrive! So it didn’t take anything away from the experience for me.
Tili is £20 which is around double the price of most boxes – but the items are mostly full size and the value is clearly worth it. I would much rather pay £20 for a set of mostly full size products that I want to try than £12 for some hit-and-miss samples.
But what was in the box that tempted me so badly? Take a peek…
When you prepare to welcome a little one, a big milestone moment is getting their nursery ready. It's when it all began to become real for me, watching the room come together and wondering who would be appearing to occupy it.
I realised I had never done a post about it at the time, so here is a belated little peek at Theo’s room.
If you’re switched on to just-under-the-radar skincare brands, you may have heard of Merumaya. Or, to give it the full title Merumaya Integrative Effective Skincare.
Its a based on a philosophy of empowerment, no hype, just great products that deliver. They formulate each product using the full concentration of active ingredients and shy away from claiming miracles happen when you crack open a pot of their face cream.
Instead, they’re all about age-positivity and looking the best you can for you. And everything is manufactured right here in Britain.
Merumaya is a brand with a lot going for it, so when I got the chance to try out one of their star products, the Melting Cleansing Balm, I couldn’t wait to see what it was really like.
How is Autumn treating you so far?
I love the season, apart from the darker nights, and I’ve been enjoying the return of jackets, ankle boots and being able to double my work wardrobe with the re-introduction of black tights (tall girl short hemline problems…)
Of course, there’s also the joy of new Autumn beauty launches. I’ve picked up a few brand new products and rediscovered a couple of old favourites over the past few weeks. Take a peek…
Hi Lovelies!
A very quick post today – after my wonderful evening at the Intu Victoria Centre VIP Autumn Fashion event, I wanted to do an outfit post and show what I wore to the event.
I’ve been enjoying adding a few more new autumnal pieces to my wardrobe and beginning to return to some of my favourite items for the coming season. The Intu event gave me bags of styling inspiration and I’m finally getting excited about clothes again after almost a year post-baby of living in leggings and long t-shirts.
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