L'Oreal Paris Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Micellar Solution

There has been quite a lot of hype about L'Oreals Micellar offering in the past few months and since I stocked up on another two bottles of the stuff a few days ago (two for £5 in Superdrug!) I thought it was about time that I wrote about it.

Now the only other Micellar water I've tried is this one from Etat Pur, which I enjoyed but wasn't wowed by. I've not tried Bioderma, but I have spent approximately 5/6 nights a week for the last six or seven years taking off my make up so I can confidently say that this is a brilliant make up remover.

The water feels, well, like water on your skin, very gentle and soothing. Instantly refreshing but somehow magically it takes off all traces of my make up in a few swipes. Now I don't wear waterproof mascara but I have read that it comes off very easily.

In my cleansing routine I count this as a half/full cleanse depending on how thorough I want to be. Followed by a cleansing balm or cream (or two) all traces of make up are thoroughly removed and my skin feels lovely and clean.

Overall I absolutely love using this cleaner, it's so refreshing in the evening (especially after a long day) and makes removing my make up an easy task. My only complaint is that I get through it at a ridiculous speed.

I often see this on offer so scout around if you want to pick one up. They are currently available for 1/3rd off in Boots and Superdrug or for £4.99 full price.

Revlon Lip Butter in Wild Watermelon

<sup>Heavily swatched


After about an hours wear</sup>

I love Revlon's lip butters, they are well pigmented while slightly sheer and buttery soft. It might surprise you then to know that until a few days ago I only had one in my collection.

Revlon launched their Lip Butters well over a year ago now and they immediately because a cult beauty favourite. While the formula was fantastic, the shade range was slightly lacking (in the UK anyway). There was a wide choice but many of the colours had a slight shimmer which put me off them.

Earlier this year Revlon launched four new shades in the UK. And there isn't a hint of shimmer in sight, just beautiful balmy lipsticks.

I picked up the shade Wild Watermelon which in the bullet looks like a bright orange toned red but looks a lot pinker on the lips, especially once worn for a while.

Like the other lip butters the texture is lovely, buttery soft, glossy but balmy not sticky. The pigmentation is good, easily buildable until it's opaque but you could also wear a sheer wash of colour. I found that the wear time was quite good. If you swatch the colour heavily it dies down quite quickly but it takes a long time to completely fade away leaving you with a slight stain. The lip butters are really easy to apply on the go anyway so isn't too much of a problem if you find that it wears quickly.

The only quibble I have with the Lip Butters is that they don't contain much product, just 2.55g. Most lip sticks have about 4g of product so that's a little disappointing.

You can buy Revlon Lip Butters for £7.99 in most chemists including Boots and Superdrug

Eco Tools Fresh & Flawless Set

Wandering the isles of Boots recently I began browsing the Brush section - always a dangerous pursuit. I spotted a cute little box containing a set of five of Eco Tools face brushes. The box promised a 'Smooth Airbrushed Finish' and 'Beautifully Soft Brushes' and was under £15 so I popped it in my basket and left Boots a happy girl.

Firstly, I think that these brushes look really cute. They're travel size so perfect for popping in your handbag or taking on holiday. The ferrules are also different colours, unlike the usual Eco Tools brushes, and have pretty leafy and floral designs on. The ferrules are also made out of recycled aluminium, and the bristles are cruelty-free so you can feel good about yourself for being eco too!

The set includes five different face brushes which I could easily use for ever step in my makeup routine. All of the brushes are of a lovely quality, I love the bamboo handles and the bristles are nice and soft. They aren't quite up to the softness standards of a Real Techniques set but they are cheaper and perfect if you're just delving into the world of beauty and want a nice set of make up brushes to start out.

Firstly the Precision Foundation brush, this is very similar to the Foundation Brush in the Real Techniques Core Collection. It's a small flat foundation brush perhaps a little petit for applying foundation but it is perfect for blending out under eye concealer.

The Buffing Concealer brush is a bit like a tiny buffing brush, it's quite densely packed with a slightly rounded top. I like to use it to blend out concealer. I did find this a little bit more scratchy than the other brushes but works fine used with a soft hand.

The Flat Concealer brush is a reasonably dense flat brush with a rounded tip. It's fairly small so great for applying concealer precisely over spots and blemishes.

The Complexion Blending brush reminds me of the Real Techniques Buffing Brush but a lot smaller, it's also slightly flat and nor completely round. I reach for it instead of my Buffing Brush to blend out foundation, concealer or blusher if I'm travelling as it's so tiny. I've also found it to be a great shape for contouring.

Finally the Full Powder brush is a nice soft fluffy brush, less densely packed than the Complexion Blending brush. I use it to apply my face powder or a powder highlighter.

I love this little set and use many of the brushes daily, especially when I'm travelling as they're just so handy and small. I would definitely recommend this, it would make a perfect gift for somebody new to make up or a handy travel set if you just want to expand your collection.

I picked up my set in Boots but for some reason these aren't on the Boots website. If you can't find any in store you can buy these from Feel Unique for £11.99 which equates to about £2.40 per brush - bargain!

Max Factor Masterpiece Max Mascara

I picked up this Max Factor mascara in a free gift box with a purchase a few weeks ago. I'd not heard anything about it online so didn't have high expectations but when I reached for it on a whim one morning I was pleasantly surprised with it.

First up the brush, which plastic with soft plastic bristles, does a great job of getting in-between each lash and gliding through. With a little brushing back and forwards it's easy to create thick, fluttery lashes.

The formula works well, it gives my lashes good length, great curl and wonderful volume. It's also a very black formula and doesn't give me any clumps. I really like the effect it gives, my lashes look full and almost have a false effect while still looking quite natural. It's buildable too so you could easily opt for a subtle natural look with one coat or build it up a lot for something quite dramatic.

They also hold a curl very well. I'm very lucky and have quite naturally curly lashes so I don't have trouble with the curl falling throughout the day but I have noticed with this mascara that they still look very curly eight hours on.

The staying power of this mascara is really commendable. I'm wearing it now and after about 9/10 hours wear and it looks almost exactly the same as when I applied it this morning. I have the tiniest amount of smudging underneath my lower lash line but I think I can blame that on hay fever and itchy eyes.

Overall this is a great mascara, since I started using it I haven't been tempted to pick up my previous favourite Benefit's They're Real mascara which is nearly twice the price. I will definitely repurchase this when I run out of my travel size tube.

Max Factors Masterpiece Max mascara is £9.99 and available in Boots, Superdrug and many other pharmacies. It's also currently on offer for £7.99 in Boots and comes in blue and brown as well as black.

Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Stick

I'd been eying up the Max Factor Lip Giant Pen Sticks for a good while before I took the plunge and picked up one when there was a free gift offer at boots.

I went for Subtle Coral but the shade pictured above is Foxy Amber which was in the gift set I received. No idea why it was named Foxy Amber as it isn't an orangey shade at all, just a pretty pink.

The formula is somewhere between a lipstick and a lipgloss - closer to a gloss. When sharpened, the product on the shavings feels like a really thick gloss (yep, I dipped my finger in and swatched the pencil shavings...). Personally I prefer a balm to a gloss, I don't like the sticky feeling.

While these aren't the most gloopy/sticky they certainly will grab hold of any stray hairs if they wander close enough. If you're happy with a sheerer colour but don't want a sticky feeling, maybe try blotting and then applying a balm on top.

In terms of colour these dish out a sheer wash of pigment, very pretty and sheeny. Perfect if you want to experiment with colour but don't want something too dramatic. These are buildable, and some of the swatches for other colours I've seen look very bright. I think these would be a good choice if you want something fun but subtle enough to wear to school.

A plus side of the glossy finish is that these aren't the least bit drying though I'm not sure that they do anything beneficial for your lips. They last probably 3-4 hours, less if you're eating or drinking. But these are super easy to apply on the go and really small to carry around.

The pen sticks are £6.99 at Boots, Superdrug and other cosmetic stores. Personally  while I do enjoy using them I don't think I'll repurchase them or pick anymore up. I'm just not a gloss fan.

(sidenote: the pens are currently on offer in Superdrug for £4.99 if you wanted to pick one up!)

A Sweep of Teal: Collection Felt Tip Liner

I'm a neutral girl through and through, I must have a hundred different shimmery champagnes, metallic golds and buttery browns, but on occasion, once in a blue moon, I'm in the mood for something a little brighter.

When I do fancy swiping on a spot of colour, I tend to stick to something subtle. I think partially because I'm not very daring, but also I find that colour can be quite hard to work with. I lean towards graphic sweeps of colour because I think it's easier to keep it chic.

I bought Collection's Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner in Teal last summer. I figured at just £2.99 it wouldn't be a huge loss if I seldom used it. It applies really nicely, heavily pigmented, quite wet but quick to dry and once it's on it will stay put for a long time. I swatched it on my arm this morning and it hasn't budged a bit. Even if I rub it like crazy it doesn't seem to fade. The felt tip format is also really easy to apply - perfect if you find liquid eyeliner tricky.

Unfortunately despite it's long wear this liner has a habit of transferring onto my crease. No matter how much powder I pat into my eyelid it always seems to settle there. The only thing I have found to counteract this is pressing a similar coloured powder on top of the liner. It works but it's risky, for some reason my left eye has a faint arc of green above the socket but my right eye is fine. And even if it does leave you crease-line free, it is a lot of effort to put in when it should take seconds to sweep on a line of colour.

This is also really difficult to get off. Eye make up remover quickly gets rid of most of the green but leaves a faint line that will probably stick around for a good 24 hours regardless of the amount of scrubbing.

If it didn't involve such effort and constant worry that I have a crazy sixties style crease line going on, I think I would wear this a lot. It really is a brilliant product with just one drawback. I'm sure I'll keep breaking it out every now and then but it isn't something I can use frequently.

Collection Felt Tip Liners are £2.99 from Boots & Superdrug.

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I wanted to mention that I have the same product in black and it is a completely different formula. I've heard good reviews about it, I know that Alix of I Covet Thee recommends it, but I find that it isn't very pigmented, and it wears off quickly.

Face of the Day #2 | Warm & Smoky

Today I wanted to put on a lot of make up. Not for any real reason, I'm not sure I actually left the house aside from a trip to Sainsburys. Sometimes I just want to play with my make up.

I used Revlon's Nearly Naked Foundation in Ivory and Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair for my base. The Foundation is a little to dark for me, even though it's the lightest shade, so I blended down my neck too. I contoured with Sleeks Face Form Palette in Light using just a touch of the blush on my cheeks. I filled in my brows with Benefit's Brow Zings Palette in Medium.

Then the fun started. I began with Soap & Glory's It's A Prime eyeshadow underbase, then blended Maybelline's Colour Tattoo in On and On Bronze. I swiped on a bit of the Rimmel Scandal Eyes Shadow Stick in Bad Bronze on the outer corner and underneath my bottom lashes then blended it out. These created a lovely base for a heavy smoky eye.

I used shades from the Accessorize Lovely Day Palette to achieve a warm, bronzed smoky look. I applied a shimmery champagne shade to the inner corner of my eye then used a gorgeous shimmery bronze berry shade across the lid sheering out towards the brow. I used a matte brown shadow in the crease to add definition and Corrupt a matte black shadow from Mua's Undress Me Too Palette in the outer quarter of the lid and as a liner. I blended everything well with a clean fluffy brush before dotting on more of the berry shade in the centre of the lid for a more vibrant colour.

I finished with a few coats of Yves Rocher Sexy Pulp Mascara in Black to curled lashes and a swipe of 17's Mirror Shine Lipstick in Beehive. I love the dramatic effect of this eye. I couldn't quite capture the gorgeous berry colour in the photographs. It's such a bold bronze cranberry shade, perfect for adding colour but sticking to the safety of nudes at the same time.