Boots Extra Points Offer on Premium Brands!!

Buy any 3 premium brand beauty items and until Wednesday 27th July you'll also get 750 extra points on your Advantage Card - that's £7.50 back on your card to spend on something fabulous!

If that isn't good in itself, then don't forget that a lot of premium brands do multi-purchase gift with purchase offers so you could also bag yourself a ton of freebies in the process too if you choose wisely.

For instance you can currently get a free Alice Temperly gift with any 2 purchases from Lancôme (one to be skincare) - I got a Lancôme/Alice Temperly gift last year and still to this day use the fabulous bag (the products are long gone though)!

Gift Contains:
Trial Size Genifique
Galateis Doucier
Tonique Doucier
Jucy Tube
Hypnose Mascara
Alice Temperly Bag

Buy a further Lancôme to get your points and you'll also bag yourself a free Nutrics Hand Cream (100ml, above) to boot. Fab, yes?

Love it when Boots have multiple offers on to take advantage of (literally, pun intended) - will you be making use of any of these offers?

Boots Website!

Lancome Teint Miracle!

Victoria Beckham calls it a ‘must have’ and I totally agree; Lancôme’s Teint Miracle foundation is quite possibly one of the best foundations I’ve ever used. It’s a bold statement, but one that I am more than willing to stand by.

I'm wearing it here, just before my holiday!

 

The fact that when I first wore it, Mr Beauty Scoop said that my skin looked “like your skin but loads better” and that “it looks glowing” says it all as he has barely any interest in these things and usually just mumbles things along the lines of ‘yerrr, it’s ok’ whenever I ask what he thinks of my makeup! I have to agree with him though, this product lights up my complexion and gives it a beautiful luminosity that no other foundation ever has.

Can you see the light reflecting particles?

I’d say this foundation is of medium coverage which is more than ample for me and it covers without being heavy. You can see the coverage a little between the following 2 photographs where my freckle on my hand disappears – see it?

Another great thing about this product is that you don’t need to use a great deal of product to cover the whole face, and of course it is totally buildable if you do need a bit more coverage in some areas. I can’t find any fault with this product, unless you consider the £26 price tag as being too expensive... but I’ve always said that I don’t mind paying more for products that work well/do what they say they will so I have no issue paying this price for this foundation!

In fact it was the foundation that I used most on my holiday, even though I took a number of others; although because of the shade difference, I had to use bronzer with it to correct my skin tone; which brings me to something you have probably noticed, that being that in my photographs I am tanned from my holiday and my foundation is my normal ‘no tan’ shade (Shade 02), so there is a noticeable colour difference, see below – whoops, sorry about that!

Please also excuse my dry looking hands, this is due to swimming pool abuse on my holidays  - well there were water slides there, it would have been rude not to!

Lancôme Bi-Facil Eye Makeup Remover!

Advantages: Removes eye makeup easily but gently.

Disadvantages: A little oily.

Removing eye makeup can be a pain in the bottom at times, especially when you're wearing waterproof products. I love my eye makeup but nothing I ever used would get the stuff off without a big struggle, rubbing away at the eye area it went red through doing so (this is really not good for the ultra sensitive skin around the eye) - not until I found out about this treat of a product anyway!

Bi-Facil is an eye makeup remover from Lancôme that is designed to remove even the most stubborn of eye makeup without a struggle and without damaging the eye area. It is suitable for even the most sensitive of eyes and those who wear contacts and is ophthalmologist tested for safety.

The product comes in a clear bottle with Lancôme branding and product information written in white on it. You can clearly see the two-tone liquid that is inside the bottle which consists of an oil based part and a water based part, which is why it continues to stay separated in there (to put it simply without going into science mode by giving a complete chemical breakdown of why the molecules do not combine).

To use it you need to shake the bottle to combine the 2 fluids and then drip a little onto a cotton wool ball or pad; you don't need to use too much I have found as it is so effective at removing the makeup that a little really does go a long way. Once you have done this, it is just a simple case of sweeping the cotton wool with the product on it over your eyes, basically anywhere that you have eye makeup applied; and the product will work its magic and lift it right off. After using it my eyes feel fresh and clean and most of all do not look red or irritated, and this has continued to be the case in the whole time of using it.

The product claims that it will:

Remove all traces of eye makeup, including waterproof - Well there's no argument from me on this one, as this product has always removed my eye makeup easily and without any real effort on my part.

Leave no oily residue - I disagree with this a bit if I am completely honest, as I do find that there is a slight oily residue left after using this product; although it doesn't bother me so much as the product does as it says it will when it comes to removing my mascara etc and it hasn't made the skin around my eye permanently oily after using it.

According to Google translate (since my French is very rusty after not using it for more years than I care to remember, or admit) the French to English translation for Bi Facil is 'Two Easy' which I would say it quite apt as it is definitely two toned and most definitely easy to use and easy to remove the makeup too.

The price of this product is currently £19.50 for a 125ml bottle but luckily for me so far, I haven't actually paid for a bottle of this as I keep getting it as a free gift (or as part of a free gift) when I buy Lancôme products from various department stores - usually offers such as getting it free when you buy 2 or more items from the range etc; however I would be prepared to buy this if this stopped being available as a free gift, even at full price as I think it's well worth the money.

Summary: Worth buying, does the job!

Lancôme La Base Pro Perfecting Makeup Primer

Advantages: Smooth skin, Long lasting makeup, Great makeup finish, Good value 

Disadvantages: May be a bit expensive for some people, even for a product that works well!

I don’t know about you but a few weeks ago I got to the end of my tether because I was sick and tired of spending time applying my makeup, only for it to slide all over and sometimes even off my face hours into the day/evening. Not only was this frustrating and a waste of my time, but it was also a waste of perfectly decent makeup.

I saw this primer on the boots website and it looked like it could be just the product that I needed. It said it was inspired by makeup artistry techniques and promises to reveal the secret to a professional-finish complexion. It also said that it was a translucent makeup base with an ultra soft finish that smooth’s the skins surface and boosts makeup results. I also noted that it had received a 5 out of 5 star rating on its one and only review; I decided that it was worth a punt as I trust Lancôme as a brand.

I was so excited when it arrived that I put it to the test straight away.  The leaflet that comes with the product states that it should be applied to cleaned and moisturised skin, which I had already done in anticipation.

This product box says that it resurfaces and preps the skin using their innovative ‘Elasto-smooth’ technology that visibly resurfaces the skin. This means that all imperfections such as visible pores, fine lines and signs of tiredness appear instantly smoothed away and skin feels silky soft.
I can honestly say that this was true in my case; I wasn’t expecting to see such a (or in fact any) difference without even having put any make up on at this point. It wasn’t so much a miracle transformation into model perfect skin but I could definitely see that my skin looked smoother and more refreshed than it did before I put the primer on.

The product also states that it ‘boosts makeup results and improves its hold and that the oil free texture helps to control shine and glides on seamlessly’. It then states to ‘apply your best suited Lancôme face makeup product for a more evened complexion and enhanced blendability’.
Personally I was a bit worried when I first felt the texture of the serum as it was so silky on my fingers that I thought that it could make my skin too oily, even though it contained no oil within it. I was so very wrong, thankfully. The serum glided on and my skin felt amazing, velvety smooth and not at all greasy in any way.

The instructions say that you should deposit the serum onto your fingertips and then to blend towards the outer contour of your face; It then says to blend your foundation or powder with a brush or your fingertips and then repeat the action down the nose, along the cheekbones and around the chin. I found it just as easy to apply it all over my face before putting on any foundation or powder and don’t think it made a difference in how the product worked on me personally.

The end result was brilliant: Easy to apply foundation, even skin and tone, and smooth fresh looking makeup finish that looked natural but in the best possible way. I was able to add glow in the form of a Bobbi Brown shimmer brick, whilst feeling comfortable that my skin wouldn’t go shiny all over on top of the shimmer (which would be overload) and this is something I’m never usually confident in my skin enough to do. I also applied it around the eye area and on the lids and this really helped in keeping my eye makeup where I had put it, and without creases. I honestly feel that my makeup has never looked this good, or lasted as long as it does when I use this product. My fiancé who doesn’t usually bother looking too close into my makeup said that my makeup looked really classy and smooth – now if that isn’t a (possibly backhanded) compliment then I don’t know what is, haha!

I must also mention that I have tried this primer with a variety of foundations ranging from your everyday No.7, 17 and Rimmel foundations; to more expensive ones including Benefit and Bobbi Brown. I have even used it with cheap mineral make up (Rimmel and L’oreal) and my Laura Mercier mineral powder. Each time I have had a great result, and a long lasting one for that matter too.

When I went to V Festival this was my obvious choice to take in my attempt to travel light and it worked a treat. My make up stayed put all day, I didn’t have to carry any spare in my bag, nor go back to the tent on numerous occasions to reapply. Even on the last evening of V when it rained, my make up stayed where I wanted it to be; this is something I have never experienced when not using this product, not ever!

When it comes to taking makeup off after using this product, you’d expect there may be a bit of a struggle but actually I was really surprised to find that it came off easily using my normal cleanser. I am always a bit reluctant to take the makeup off when I’ve used this if truth be told, as it usually still looks like I’ve just put it on.

I feel like my skin has benefitted immensely from using this product as my sister made a comment that my skin looked better than usual, even when I was wearing no makeup and no primer. I am wondering if this is because the primer stops the direct contact that my makeup has with my skin or whether it has some long term skin benefits to add to the list. Either way, I am not complaining.

I’m trying to think of any real downside of this product that needs to be mentioned (apart from it making me not want to remove my makeup as mentioned above) but I am finding it very difficult to do so; the only niggle I guess would possibly the initial price outlay of £25 for 25ml of product, but to be honest I think it’s quite a fair price for a product that does what it says it will do. You must also remember that you don’t have to use half a bottle of this to get the desired result as this serum goes a long way. In all fairness I would probably be happy paying for one of these every month if I had to, but this isn’t necessary as I do believe this bottle will last much longer than that.

Summary: Primed and ready for action. A worthy purchase, fully recommended.