A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

£20.50 makes for an expensive concealer.  It needs to live up to the hype.

I bought the Make Up For Ever Full Cover concealer in shade #1 a few months ago.  I was looking for a great all rounder that I could use under my eyes and to cover blemishes.  On paper at least, this seemed to fit the bill.

It’s fragrance-free, non-comedegenic and suitable for sensitive skin… blah, blah, blah.  All I really care about is this…  Does it cover?  Does it cake?

Yes and No.

There, review done.

Yeah… you wish…

For such a professional brand, I was hoping for a touch more longevity from this concealer.

I apply just the tiniest amount under my eye and it spreads out beautifully without dragging or settling into fine lines.  I set it with a touch of powder and hope for the best.  It gives a beautiful finish.  Though not brightening, it will disguise any obvious dark circles really rather well and a little goes a very long way.

The shade range is marvellous, I usually opt for the lightest, and unfortunately for me…. #1 is a touch too light and gives me a slight ashy look under the eyes, I should have gone for #2 or #3 but for paler gals than me, I know this will be great news!

It covers blemishes nicely, though I find that 2 thin coats works better than one thick one (doesn’t it always?).   This also tones down redness on my nose, though I do occasionally find that it clings to the dry patches there if I’m not well-moisturised enough.

So back to my longevity issue.  This lasts about 4 hours on me… so it sadly doesn’t see me through a working day.

Would I recommend it?  Yes, I think I would… despite the price tag, I think it’s a pretty lovely full coverage concealer that gives great results without looking like you’re using a full coverage concealer.

See how nicely it blends out and how a teeny amount pretty much covered the back of my hand?

You can purchase MUFE Full Cover Camouflage Cream from Guru Makeup Emporium instore or over the phone (0207 731 4646)

Do you own this or any of MUFE’s other concealers?

It’s time I be brave and post a before treatment / during picture.  Now that the irritation and redness has completely subsided (took about a week) from my first Sk:n laser hair removal treatment, I’m thoroughly enjoying my new (relatively) hairless face!

I have 5 more treatments to go and I’m in it for the long haul.  6 treatments in total, each separated by a 4 week period to allow for different growth cycles means I should be finished in October.

Let me show you the (gruesome) photos first and then I’ll share my observations about the current hair growth.

Yeah, looking at this 6 weeks on is a little bit upsetting.  I can’t believe that I sruggled with this for so many years.  Maybe I’m being blase…. I don’t know that this is going to be permanent, but jeez… one session is all I’ve had.  One.  Look.

I catch myself stroking my chin with the back of my hand occassionally… surprised at the feeling of smooth skin… but mostly, I’m loving just not having to think about it at all.

I’m currently shaving every 3rd/4th day, compared to once or even twice a day previously.

When the hair does come back through, it feels finer and less coarse.  It’s still dark and the pinpricks of colour under the surface of my skin are noticeable if you look closely.  But what an astounding difference.

I didn’t expect to achieve such instant results.  I know I need to continue the ‘course’ and not be lulled into a false sense of security as I’ve been told the hair can sometimes appear to get even thicker than previously after the 2nd/3rd sessions thanks to the different growth cycles… but for now…. I’m on cloud nine.

Now that I’ve had some time to play with the products I chose to bring home with me from the Une Natural Beauty blogger unveiling, I thought I’d share my thoughts on some of the pieces and a little FOTD with them.

Une Natural Beauty is a new brand with “natural formulas for a natural result, for a natural style”.  It boats impressive eco-credentials and with prices ranging from £4.99 – £13.99, it’s accessible to all.  This is all well and good, but how do the products perform?

I chose 2 eyeshadows, a creme blush, a lipstick, 2 eye pencils, a brush and a concealer.

I didn’t like the shade selections for the base products, so I left those alone.

Let’s start with the Une Multipurpose Brush.  It’s goat hair, and a little scratchy.  It’s densely packed and the most perfect shape for sweeping blush onto the apple of the cheeks and outwards.  It just fits my cheeks brilliantly and totally stops me from applying too low or too high.  I’ve also experienced only one or two shed hairs.  Priced at £7.99, I’m pleased with it.  I’d love it to be a little softer, but hey, it’s less than a tenner.

Glimmer Eyes Shadow G02 is a neutral cream shadow with shimmer.  It feels greasy and although the shimmer is indeed beautiful, it invariably ends up in the socket line less than an hour after applying.  I’ve tried with UDPP underneath and setting with eye shadow ontop.  I’ve decided that the best way to work with this is to pat a tiny amount near the tear duct for a subtle sparkle and resign yourself to a bit of creasing.  I’m cool with that, but I just can’t work with this as an allover lid shade.

Sdumato Eyes Shadow S23 is a matte aubergine.  It’s quite… powdery and kicks up a lot of dust when picking up the product with a brush.  It’s not the best matte I’ve worked with in terms of pigmentation but it’s buildable and the texture is pretty soft.  Lasting power over a slick of eye primer is fair.

Overall, I think the eye shadows that I’ve tried here are overpriced at £8.99 each.  That’s a lot for a high-street mono eyeshadow, at least £2 too much in this case.  Though you do get a fairly generous 1.8g of product, they just haven’t blown me away.

Une Natural Beauty’s Breezy Cheeks blush in B02 (£8.99) on the other hand, has.  It’s a beautiful mid-toned pink (leaning towards mauve) cream blush to powder formula.  Applies like a dream with my fingertips and blends beautifully, leaving a subtle colour that is pink without being too flushed.  It doesn’t have the most amazing staying power, but I can get through most of the day without needing to reapply.  I’d absolutely repurchase this product.

A quick note about the packaging…

Slidey mobile phone of 3 years ago-esque.  I reckon it’s a brave choice… love it or hate it, it does what it’s designed to do which is be easily recyclable.  It’s a little chunky, but not particularly cumbersome.  I’m a fan.  It has that slidey satisfaction thing too… yano when you close a drawer?  And the last couple of cms glide to a satisfying stop?  This does that.  By the way, I’ve left the peel-off stickers on… underneath, the surface is mirrored… generously so!

All the eye pencils from the range are reasonably priced at £4.99 each.

The Sfumato Eyes Pencil in S23 is a color match to the Sfumato Eye Shadow I mentioned earlier.  An earthy aubergine shade.  One thing that I adore about the Une Natural Beauty range is the colour selection.  I’m all for creating a collection based solely on natural and muted colours, and I think that this has been done exceptionally well here.

However, some of the formulas, just don’t work for me.  I understand that a lot of the products are sheer in support of the natural beauty ethos, and I commend that.  Infact, I’m often a fan of more sheer products (especially in darker shades) as I can be heavy handed and prefer the option to build colour rather than desperately try to remove it once overdone!

Unfortunately, I’m finding the Sfumato Eyes Pencil is just too hard and sheer.  It drags across my lashline and doesn’t deposit enough colour to make the uncomfortable application worthwhile.

The Glimmer Eyes Pencil in G13 is sadly even harder.  Such a shame as it contains the most beautiful and fine-particled glitter… I adore how it looks.  Infact, once on… it’s more comfortable than my NARS glitter eye pencils, but what a total drag it is to apply.  Pun intended.

The Skin Glow Pencil in G01 is slightly more expensive at £6.99 and is the most perfect colour match concealer for pale cool-toned ladies I’ve seen on the high street.  It’s creamy and soft and applies really nicely.  I’ve been using this around my nose and in the corner of my eyes to highlight and lift areas where I’m naturally more shadowed.  It’s a great pencil that fills a void in my collection.

My only wish is that it were chunky.  I’ve only used it twice and already it needs sharpening.  I’m literally gonna go through one of these every few weeks if I use it daily.  Bigger please!  More product for the same amount of money, thank you!

Finally the lipstick, Une Lip-Toned Colour in L02.  Love it.  It’s a beautiful nude… a proper nude, not one of your concealer-lip nudes.  It’s creamy and glossy without being too sheer.  No hint of frost, just proper ‘my lips but better’ goodness.  A makeup bag staple done well.  Priced at £7.99, it’s what I’d expect to pay.  Another definite repurchase!

Finally (are you still with me?!), my Une Natural Beauty FOTD.

Eyes

~ Une Natural Beauty Sfumato Eyes Shadow in S23
~ Une Natural Beauty Glimmer Eyes Shadow in G02
~ Une Natural Beauty Sfumato Eyes Pencil in S23
~ Avon Super Shock Mascara in Black

Face

Une Natural Beauty Breezy Cheeks Blush in B02

Lips

Une Natural Beauty Lip-Tined Lip Colour in L02

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Une Natural Beauty is a huge brand launch and I’ve only delved into a tiny percentage of the 25 new products and 148 shades.  It’s a varied review with a couple of stand outs and a couple of disappointments with one or two “OMG this could be awesome if only they…” thrown in.

Une Natural Beauty is available in the UK online and in selected stores at Boots.  It should be rolling out into Superdrug from September 2010 and launching in Irealand sometime in August.

Let me know if you’ve tried anything from the range yet!

As previously threatened, I went and picked up the new Bourjois Elastic Mascara yesterday. I ended up going to Superdrug to make the most of the £2 off promotion and ended up paying £6.99 for mine.

I know some of you think it’s daft.. but I kinda love the packaging! I have a billion mascaras, so being able to spot the one I want immediately is always useful. It does look a bit like a toilet brush holder though (well spotted Rhamnousia!)

The brush is one of those spikey bristle affairs… ideal for separation and lengthening, not so good for volume. The emphasis on the Bourjois Elastic Mascara is on lengthening, so I wasn’t surprised to see this brush design.

What I was surprised to see was the amount of product the wand picked up in those reservoirs. Too much. Combine this with quite a wet formula-ed mascara and I knew I was going to have issues with application before I’d even lifted the wand past my nose.

I was right. It actually reminded me a lot of the issues I had with the last Bourjois mascara I bought (1001 Lashes). Admitedly, 1001 Lashes has actually grown to become one of my favourites… but it took 3 months for the formula to dry out enough for me to fall in love.

I love the brush on this Bourjois Elastic mascara. It actually ‘grabs’ my lashes. I can feel the pull as I drag through from root to tip. It keeps hold of them like no other brush I’ve tried. So if that formula thickens up a bit after a couple of months, I could have an winning combination on my hands!

Having said that, once dried… it’s a slightly crusty mascara, this doesn’t really bother me – but I know some of you prefer more flexible and soft finishes. It doesn’t actually *look* crusty… but you can feel the crispiness going on!

The weird handle is actually another thing I love about the Bourjois Elastic Mascara. It makes me more ‘light handed’ with the wand and I find myself applying with fluttery light but sweeping strokes as opposed to my usual ham-fisted, poke yourself in the eye efforts.

Another cool thing about the handle is that you can ‘twizzle’ the wand whilst applying to get maximum coverage. Didn’t think about that did you?! Rolling the wand between my thumb and forefinger feels quite a natural action as I’m pulling the product through the lashes. Unfortunately, the action just encourages this damn formula to clump… I’m still clinging to the hope that with a bit of age, the formula transforms into something amazing.

Definitely lengthening… not volumising or even very defining (I’m blaming the formula).

I’m on the fence with this one.

Something I’m not on the fence about?

This promo image:

Seriously? Just. Sod. Off.

Bourjois, you may be my favourite high street brand… but you hands down win the sucky Photoshop bs eyelash promo image award.

EDITED TO ADD:

The above promotional image shouldn’t be on the website under Elastic Mascara apparently, some kinda mistake as it’s a few years old.. here’s the correct model image!:

…this Alhambra eyeshadow duo from NARS.

I wanted something that was soft, fairly pale and neutral… and I found exactly what I was looking for the last time I went to the NARS counter at Liberty.

Alhambra is a soft, romantic nude duo.  It’s perfect for daytime wear or if deepened with a darker crease colour you can create a beautiful smoky look.

I reach for this when I’m feeling lazy… admittedly I usually reach for one side or the other rather than wearing both together.  A sweep of the ‘pink champagne’ side paired some brown eyeliner and mascara gives me a fresh, wide-awake look that’s polished but not at all overdone.

The shadows are soft, pigmented and shimmery with a metallic look rather than glittery or frosty and I imagine the shades would easily complement many skintones.

NARS Alhambra Duo is priced at £23.00 and available at counters nationwide or online.

Do you like?  Or is it a bit plain for you?

Take a stroll through Soho and you’d be hard-pressed not to end up in Japanese store MUJI…  There’s something about that small store on Carnaby Street that draws passing foot traffic like bees to honey.

Inside, shelves are packed from floor to ceiling with countless arrays of practical and simply-designed products that are guaranteed to make your life a little easier.

One of the latest installments in the “making life easier” category is a new range of skincare that I first talked about a couple of weeks ago.

As a bonafide cleansing oil addict (I currently have 6 bottles on the go) I was keen to see how the new MUJI Cleansing Oil stacked up against some of the more established market leaders.

MUJI were good enough to send me out a couple of pieces from the new range, and I’ve been using them for nearly a month now.  I know there’s been a lot of interest in this product particularly so I wanted to get my thoughts ‘out there’ without too much delay.

MUJI’s offering is cheap.  Not the kindest way to open a review, but I am talking money!  In a world where you can easily pay £35 for a simillar sized bottle of  cleansing oil, this is a bargain.  Hand over a tenner and expect change.

MUJI’s Cleansing Oil comes in a standard, no frills bottle… the emphasis is on functionality rather than aesthetics, although many would argue that the minimalistic design is more aesthetically appealing than many alternatives.

The biggest draw for many will be the fact that this cleanser contains no mineral oils.  A plus point indeed!  Mineral oil is one of the world’s cheapest substances and is a cause of skin irritation and dryness for many.  I’ve moaned previously how one of the most expensive cleansing oils in my bathroom cabinet is full of mineral oils, to see that MUJI (with such a low price point) has taken the care to avoid such fillers, impresses me.

So what does it contain?

Well, the most active ingredient is Hydrogenated Polyisobutene which from my (very limited) research (thank heavens for Google) appears to be a far more sensible alternative to mineral oil. It’s colourless, odourless and tasteless. Non comedogenic, non-irritant, non-toxic, emulsifies in water and is also used in many emolliating products for it’s hydrating qualities. This is all sounds good to me. The other less active (but more recognisable) ingredients include olive oil, jojoba oil, peach leaf extract and orange flower water. Unfortunately, it’s one of the (few) products in the range that does contain parabens, so if that’s something you’re trying to avoid, the MUJI Cleansing Oil won’t be for you.

It’s a light feeling oil, practically colourless and certainly odourless.  Two pumps is plenty to cleanse a heavily made up face.  The oil spreads smoothly over my skin thanks to a fairly thin texture, dissolving my foundation as it goes.  It’s easily as good at removing all powders and lipsticks as any I’ve tried… mascara takes a touch more work, massaging it gently into my lashline does the job after a little while.

The first couple of times I used the MUJI Cleansing Oil, I did feel a little bit of eye-irritation which was very disappointing.  I experienced a slight sting and eye cloudiness as I was cleansing, which although didn’t last longer than a couple of minutes, left me feeling thoroughly disappointed.  However, it’s important that I state that I haven’t experienced any irritations since those first few days of using.  I can’t explain what caused them, perhaps my eyes were suffering from some irritation already without my knowledge.  It’s something I want to make you aware of incase you have particularly sensitive eyes.

The product emulsifies nicely in warm water, though not completely… I need to follow this up with a cleanser (which I always do anyway) and there’s only ever been one cleansing oil that I would happily use without double cleansing (and I must review it soon!).

This is also one of the least drying cleansing oils I own aswell.  For the price and availability in this country, I’d put this in my top five cleansing oils quite happily.

MUJI Cleansing Oil is available in store and online from MUJI.  It’s priced at £9.95 and quite frankly, is a jolly good buy.

An edgy release from an edgy brand that fits perfectly with the Body Electrics ethos of makeup to enhance movement, dynamics and light.

Illamasqua released two Illumine Oil’s with the Body Electrics collection and it was the oils that first drew my attention.  Pulse is a golden bronze shimmer, whilst Volt is an iridescent silvery violet shimmer.  I was very kindly sent a bottle of Volt to slather myself in so I thought I’d do the good blogging thing and not keep my opinions to myself.

Firstly, I’m put off by the price…  £32 is a lot of money to pay to decorate your decolletage with shimmer.

Don’t get me wrong… the shimmer is beautiful, it’s radiating and it catches the light perfectly.

You could DIY it, I think it would probably look chunkier and less effortlessly elegant if you did… But still… £32? *whistles*

Anyway, I swerve from being wildly extravagant with my money to tighter than a ducks arse, so let me review this on it’s own merits first before you all get out the fans to revive me from the price tag.

They Say:

Create a sultry shimmer with an after-dark edge.  Smooth Illumine Oil over skin for a light-reflecting finish that makes every movement a drama.  Infused with pearlised particles, passionflower seed oil and vitamin E, this luxurious dry body oil is quickly absorbed and leaves skin illuminated.  Bask in a radiance of your own making and demand to be worshipped.

You get 100ml of product for your money and to be fair, you only need a very very small amount (2 fingertip fulls) to fully cover your entire decolletage.  I could imagine this lasting easily over a year of regular use.

I’ve tried very hard to capture the iridescence in the bottle, it’s quite breathtaking… kinda like the Prism nail polish but on a much larger scale!

If there was one time this blog needed smell-o-vision, it would be now.  Volt smells ah-mazing.  It’s tropical and heady, perfect for warm summer nights.

The packaging, whilst elegant and simple is a source of irritation for me.

Picture the scene… glass all over the floor, £32 Illumine Oil soaking into your floorboards giving them an ethereal, sparkling glow… only to be matched by the sparkles in your eyes from the big fat tears.

Maybe it comes with being a Mummy… I mean… I’m not asking them to sell it in this:

…. but accidents happen.  And that bottle with it’s standard bottle opening is asking for trouble.

Anyway, how does it sparkle?

Ohhh… I tried and I tried to capture it’s delicate shimmer… here’s the best I could do.

You can see the sparkles that are suspended in the oil… and yes, they are indeed mostly violet which gives a true ethereal (though not Edward Cullen) type glow to your skin.  The sparkles are very, very fine and small… not at all chunky.

The sparkles stick firmly and whilst transfer is still very much apparent (hello strange glitter speck in the corner of my vision) the sheer density of sparkle ensures that you will remain suitably spangly all evening long.

I think I’ve covered everything…

Is it expensive? Yes.  Is it beautiful? Yes.  Did I rock it whilst doing a trolley dash in Tesco last night? You betcha.

Illamasqua Illumine Oil in Volt is £32 for 100ml and available at Illamasqua counters nationwide or online at Illamasqua.com

Ever since reading a recommendation by the lovely MakeupByKaty, I’ve been intrigued by these little pots of shimmering shadows.

Bourjois have always been my favourite high street brand and I knew that as soon as I’d read about them… I was going to be parting with some of my hard earned cash at the very next opportunity!

I picked up three shades for around £6 each:

#31 Molecule D’or – A true gold

#37 Blanc Chrome – Iridescent White with pink reflects

#35 Gris Platine – A dark steel grey

I’m not much of a fan of the applicator, it’s quite tricky to wield and apply with any precision… but it’ll do in a pinch, otherise I recommend swiping some of the product onto the back of your hand before using a brush to transfer onto your eyelids.

The product dries very quickly to a budge-proof finish, so you need to work quickly… I haven’t managed any great successes with using this anywhere other than on the lids for a metallic look.  If I try to blend the shades out into the crease, I find the overall effect to be a bit patchy.  Probably because of that fast drying time the product ends up setting more opaque in the areas I’m slower at reaching.  Does that make sense?

Overall, I do love these… and I have my eye on two more… I can’t remember the names, but one is more chocolate-y and the other is what looks like it would be a lovely beige lid wash (especially if I can sheer it out quickly!).

Have you tried these and do you have a favourite high street brand?

These little pots of loveliness are currently enjoying a bit of a resurgence in popularity, and so they should.

I own 4, yes I can count (just about)… but couldn’t find my ‘Flatter Me’ shade for the photos – boo!  Above, from left to right are: R.S.V.P (a peach shade), Skinny Jeans (an oh-so-popular pewter) and My Date’s My Brother (a girly pink).

The heavy glass jars seal well, ensuring that your product stays in the best condition for as long as possible before eventually (like most cream products) becoming a little drier and harder to work with.  So don’t forget to screw the lids on as tightly as possible!  The usual cutesy kitsch Benefit design is apparent on both the outer box packaging and the glass jars.  I think I’m in the majority when I admit to being a perpetual fan of this 50s style design.  A lot of brands try to mimic the Benefit styling, but none pull if off quite so well in my opinion.

L-R: R.S.V.P, Skinny Jeans and My Date’s My Brother.

The creams pick up well on a synthetic brush like a concealer brush or simillar.  I mainly use my creaseless creams as an allover base which is why I prefer the paler, more neutral shades.  I only use Skinny Jeans if I’m doing a smoky eye.  My favourite of all the Creaseless Creams I own is R.S.V.P, it’s a beautiful peach that works well as an allover wash with a taupe shadow (powder) blended into the socket line for some definition.

As their name would suggest, these things don’t crease.  Infact they don’t budge an inch once set, which means that any other shadows you apply ontop also hold fast.  Benefit Creaseless Creams hold a dear place in my collection and I’m always on the hunt to add some new shades!

Are you a fan of cream shadows?  What are your favourites?

A few months ago (read 5… yeah, I’m slacking), I started trialling Mavala’s Double Lash that I’d picked up in an effort to improve the condition of my eye lashes which had been breaking and looking a little sparse ever since giving birth to my daughter.

Anyway, how did I get on?

Here’s how my lashes looked back in October:

…and here they were when I finished the trial at the end of December:

I applied Mavala Double Lash every night as directed for around 10 weeks.

They say:

Eye lashes are an essential element of face beauty. Double Lash contains proteins which strengthen, cover and protect the lashes allowing them to become healthy, long and resistant.

It is the natural active ingredients in Double Lash which stimulate growth of the lashes giving them a lovely luxuriant and silky appearance.

I think I see a teeny bit of difference if you use my eyelid crease as a benchmark.  I felt on occasion that my lashes were longer and thicker (particularly when I was wearing mascara) but I just wasn’t convinced that I couldn’t attribute at least some of those feelings to plain wishful thinking.  Unless there’s a significant difference with things like this, I think it’s pretty tricky to judge.

I didn’t experience any irritation using the product, and it literally took seconds to apply each evening.  But, I guess the crux of the trial can be summed up with this simple observation… I haven’t bothered to repurchase it.

Mavala Double Lash is available online priced from around £8.50

Tell me, do you see any differences?

I’m a certified skincare fan, but Mr. L hates anything remotely greasy.  Infact, he doesn’t really understand the concept of ‘moisturising’ or why he would ever need to do it.  Machismo aside, that doesn’t stop me getting him to moisturise my back for me when I get out of the shower.  I’m lazy and it’s always nicer if someone else does it don’t you think?

Aveeno sent me a few bits a while ago, and after giving them my unadulterated attention (not easy to do when you buy as many products as me), I’m back to let you know how they performed for me.

I’ll start with the Aveeno Moisturising Creamy Oil.

Not quite an oil and not quite a cream means that it has a hella confusing name!

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first pumped the lid.  It is a very light, runny cream with a bakewell almondy smell.  I’m not sold on the scent, it’s not offensive in any way… it’s just a bit biscuity for me.

Aveeno say:

• Combines the concentrated goodness of naturally active colloidal Oatmeal and sweet almond oil.
• Provides the benefit of an oil with the convenience of a cream.
• Helps to maintain the skin’s natural moisture level and prevent dry skin.
• Skin is left looking and feeling soft, smooth and healthy without a greasy after feel.

I adored the texture of Aveeno’s Moisturising Creamy Oil, it glides onto the skin with no dragging and I can instantly feel it relieving any tight patches (I suffer from small areas of eczema).  Unfortunately, the cream isn’t rich enough for the effect to last the whole day on me, so if you’re very dry-skinned, I’d look for something a little heavier.

If you have normal skin, I’d whole-heartedly recommend this body moisturiser.  Especially for the Summer and morning applications.  It’s light and absorbs quickly leaving a slight sheen on the skin.  A definite good buy and one that I will be repurchasing.

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Next up is the Skin Relief Moisturising Lotion with Shea Butter 200ml

Shea butter based, it applies thickly and more heavily than the creamy oil.  I’m not a fan of the tube packaging, I seem to consistently dispense too much product.  However, I believe that if you buy the 300ml version of this one, it comes in a pump bottle like Aveeno’s Moisturising Creamy Oil.

My skin feels slightly tacky to the touch after using this and it takes a good 5-10 minutes for absorption to be fully effective.  There’s no doubt in my mind that this lotion is far more penetrating in it’s skin relief than the creamy oil, but it’s not as “light and carefree” to use.  I wouldn’t use this after a shower before getting dressed in the morning… but I have been using it happily before bed where I don’t mind my skin feeling a little tacky.

As for skin benefits, combined use of these 2 products means that I’ve banished my dry scaly bits!  My skin is now Summer ready, so bring on the sunshine (and fake tan).

The Aveeno range is currently £2 off at Superdrug and a 1/3 off at Sainsburys.

I was sent a tube of this to try after I couldn’t fit in a proper salon tan job on my last London visit.  I’ve bored you all senseless MANY times moaning about my uber paleness.  I know that pale is kinda ‘in’, but that’s porcelain pale… smooth creamy ivory skin. Which, I don’t have.

I have blue pale.  Blue pale with red blotches.  Combine that with bingo wings and you have some sexy upper arms right there.

Having said that, I’m scared of anything that darkens my skin.  Bronzer, fake tan, eating chocolate biscuits without a plate… soooo I’ve kinda put off using this.  Every time I went to crack it open, I’d remember some important thing I had to do in the next few days and screwed the lid back on terrified of appearing in public looking like a satsuma.

Well, I couldn’t put it off any longer. ‘Cos I have nothing to do for about a week. Enough time for any hideosity to fade if something went wrong.

Xen Tan is widely regarded as one of the best faux tanners on the market (don’t you prefer the word ‘faux’ to ‘fake’?), The manufacturer’s say:

Transform has been developed especially for today’s growing gradual tan market, giving the same delicious daily dose of moisture you’ve come to expect from Xen-Tan but with an extra boost of tanning ingredient to deliver a silky smooth olive glow. With a wonderful fresh vanilla scent, its advanced formula means fewer applications are needed. Apply just like an everyday moisturiser for sun-kissed skin that’s streak-free, sumptuously soft and never ever orange.

Can’t go wrong then can I?….

I did it. I grabbed the bull by the horns, or the um bottle by the lid and just. did. it.  I’d bought a tanning mitt in preparation and used that to apply.

The cream goes on smoothly and does feel quite moisturising.  The scent is heavenly!  True vanilla with no biscuits in sight!

I finished in less than 10 minutes and washed my hands like I was supposed to.  Unfortunately, I then forgot to apply he stuff to the back of my hands after washing them (what a n00b).  It’s ok though, it just means you guys get to see how natural and un-orange the colour is on me.

I went to bed slightly sticky, but still smelling full on like a tasty vanilla pod.  I woke up, bronzed, gorgeous healthy looking and stinking of a 1 year old hob nob.  I jumped in the shower and emerged all clean-smelling again!

I love the tan.  It’s a beautiful golden olive tone with no hint of orange.  I keep catching sight of myself in the mirror (oh ok, *looking* at myself) and it seems very strange not to see a big pasty face looking back at me.  I really look about a 100% healthier.

I need to get this application malarky down.  For a first attempt, I’m happy.  I exfoliated and moisturised the day before tanning and that seemed to work well to avoid dirty looking knees and elbows (Thanks to Saskia for the tanning tips!).

I think I’ve shamed myself enough this week with my dodgy hair… but… here, have a pic of a bad tan line.

I dunno what’s with the perfect v… but anyway, the photo is more to demonstrate the lovely shade of tan I am rather than my inability to remember simple bloody instructions.  And incase you were wondering, I’ve worn foundation on my hand today to minimize my mark of stupidity.

See, S.M.U.G

I was nervous putting it on my face, really nervous!  I waited till the mitt had a small even covering of cream and I don’t think I used very much at all.  Infact, for the most part I think I over applied.. considering how little product I applied to my face and how even it’s come out, I probably need to use about 1/2 of the product that I initially applied to achieve a good result.

I’m so happy with Xen-Tan and I’ve shocked myself by how good a job I’ve made of it (forgetting the hands for a moment) there are no streaks, blobs or any other tell tale signs of tanning fakery.  I may well become a bit of a tan addict, although I’m intrinsically LAZY, and self-tanning takes dedication.  Regardless, I’ll be buying a bottle of this for the summer!

Xen-Tan Transform LUXE is £23.95 for 236ml.

Xen-Tan is available from Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and House of Fraser stores or visit www.xen-tan.co.uk