balance Me. pure skin face wash

I've been in-between cleansers recently after using all of my Burts Bees cleansing balm. I'm always on the lookout for lovely natural ingredients to nourish my skin, and thanks to a fantastic freebie courtesy of Glamour Magazine's August issue, I found myself a little treasure.

The issue included a cute little 50ml bottle of balance Me pure skin face wash. The brand boasts 98.8% natural ingredients in the product to create a balanced formula that works naturally with your skin.

I've been using this face wash for about a week or so now and its kept my face effectively cleansed and beautifully clear. It has a yummy fresh and revitalising scent that I love, and rubs nicely into my skin to make a soft and foamy wash. The pure skin face wash lives up to all it's promises and strips away all of the dirt and grime of the day, leaving my skin feeling perfectly pure.

Although the wash hasn't been drying out my skin, I'm still looking for something with a little bit more moisture to compliment my skin type. So I did some research and found balance Me also have a cleanse and smooth face balm containing 100% natural ingredients. Next pay day I will definitely be trying this one!

But for now this awesome freebie has served me well. I'm feeling pretty fresh and flawless,
So thanks Glamour mag and balance Me, for a natural balancing cleanser!

Benefit Brow Zings

I've been feeling a little bit under the weather recently so I decided I should go out and buy myself a beautiful treat. Another trip to the Benefit counter to spend all of my pennies!

A few days ago I'd ran out of my favourite brow tint, and as I like to mix things up a bit in my make up bag I barred myself from buying the same product again. I like to keep my face interesting. So I went out looking for something different. Only that's not really what I found, when once again I went for a wax and shadow shaping kit. I guess the brows just want what they want sometimes!

The lovely Benefit rep was pretty adamant I should go for their Brow Zings shaping kit and I have to say I felt pretty compelled after the level of shock she showed me when I told her I'd never even tried it before. I'm also a fool for a cute case with a mirror so needless to say I didn't need much convincing.

When I got home I played a little game of makeup artist and made up my face with my new toys! Brow Zings turned out to be really easy in creating the perfect definition to my brows. It's not too waxy and doesn't give me plastic eyebrows, but adds the right amount of depth to fill in the gaps where my teenage plucking went out of control. It's pretty perfect! I'm not sure how they do it but Benefit really know how to make a girl feel her best.

Thanks Benefit Brow Zings for that shape and definition!

Flawless Woman Magazine

Make-up, quick fixes and gallons of hair spray, I love it all! But sometimes it's easy to lose sight of your true self. Natural beauties appear few and far between these days; hidden under fake lashes and flooded with foundation, but being yourself and being beautiful can be the same thing. As a woman it's easy to dress up your face and paint over your imperfections, but the true challenge is finding your best bits and worst bits and loving them all! 

It's important to love who we are. Investing too much time in how you can change yourself can become an endless obsession, and a pretty expensive one too! Why not try out some of my top tips to becoming a natural beauty, and be proud of yourself.

1. Relax - Take a few minutes for some 'me time' and indulge in luxurious bathing. Easing your muscles and soaking your skin helps you to look and feel great. Put that glow back in to your skin with an aromatic, body loving bathe. I recommend Elemis Aching Muscle Super Soak, it's the ideal product for rejuvenating tired skin.
2. Oil up! - After a scrub in the tub it's time to moisturise. Keeping your skin soft and supple is the key to a great summer look and the best way to achieve this is through a luscious coating of some delicious body oils. My favourite at the moment is Garnier Ultimate Body Oil; a fantastic soothing product that soaks into the skin much faster than traditional creams, giving you more time when getting ready. For a quick and easy spritz of skin perfection, this product has just what you need.
3. Cleanse and tone - Not satisfied with your complexion? It's time for a good scrub and toning session. Use Dermalogica daily microfoliant followed by their multi-active toner and treat your skin to something special. The unique microfoliant will scrub away all those blemishes and leave you looking fresh while the toner has gentle, natural ingredients to soothe and repair.
4. Keep it simple - My favourite facial moisturiser of all time, Simple Hydrating Light moisturiser. It's the perfect product for post cleansing. Free from filthy chemicals and harsh perfumes, this is the best way to hydrate your face without any sticky oils found in other, thicker moisturisers.
5. Primed and ready - You need your makeup to last, otherwise you find yourself piling on layers and layers of gloopy pore clogging foundation just to keep your face in check. All you need is a good primer, so you have an even base to work from. I can't find one better than Benefit Porefessional. It's my must have makeup item that I cannot live without. It smoothes out your skin for a clean canvas and covers up those pores to help you look flawless.
6. Ooh baby bb - BB cream should be in every woman's makeup bag by now, but if you haven't got involved yet I'd recommend Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector. The lovely smoothing formula gives great coverage, but still leaves you looking natural. And the best bit is there's lots of choice for different skin types, so you've got no excuse!
7. Highlight - If you've not got model cheek bones, bright big eyes or big beautiful lips then help them all the easy way. Just take a light coloured concealer and mark those areas that need a bit of a lift. The top of your cheeks, across the lids and along the cupids bow are a great place to start. See anything else on your face that could benefit from a non-surgical lift? Highlight away with Maybelline Super Stay 24H Concealer. 
8. Bright eyes - There's no need to blind yourself with fake lashes or hide your eyes in thick, dark liner to make them stand out. A more natural approach to the cat eye look is to leave the liner off your lids and instead just mark a tiny flick at the very end of each eye. It's quick and easy to perfect, leaving your eyes looking bright and open, whilst adding extra length to the end of your lashes. Rimmel London Exaggerate liquid Liner is easy to use for precision and perfection. Finish off with a coat of Rimmels Lash Accelerator.
9. Brow time - Thick shaped brows look great and really help bring focus to your eyes, which is perfect for taking the attention away from problem areas. Drawing them on with harsh pencils can create a look that's just not realistic, and can only work with heavy makeup. For something more suited to a daytime, natural look use Jane Iredale's Bitty Brow kit. Just a brush of powder fixed in to place with a tiny bit of brow wax and your eyebrows are looking fuller without looking fake.
10. Pucker up - Top off your look with a basic lip stick. Nothing too sticky and bright, just a soft complimentary colour for a subtle burst of beauty. I use ColorSensational Lipcolor by Maybelline in coral fever for a cute day time look that brings out the brightness in my skin tone. 

Natural Beauty from Benefit Cosmetic - Get the look

(From left to right) Elemis Aching Muscle Super Soak, From Eden Day Spa
Garnier Ultimate Body Oil, From Boots

Dermalogica daily microfoliant and multi-active toner, From Pretty Chic, Health and Well Being

Simple Hydrating Light moisturiser, From Boots

Benefit Porefessional, From Benefit

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector, From Superdrug

Maybelline Super Stay 24H Concealer, From Boots

Rimmel London Exaggerate liquid Liner, From Boots

Rimmels Lash Accelerator, From Boots

Jane Iredale's Bitty Brow kit, From Pretty Chic, Health and Well Being

ColorSensational Lipcolor by Maybelline (coral fever), From Boots

Homemade face mask

As I continue to be plagued with hay fever, my swollen face and puffy eyes are starting to get me down. It's fair to say i'm certainly not looking my best this summer, but i'm determined to stay positive! There's a beauty solution for everything.

I tried a quick google search for some homemade face mask recipes in an attempt to brighten up my eyes and knock my face down to its normal size. I found some great sites that help tackle oily skin and uneven skin tone, but for today I was looking for something slightly more specific. I found exactly what I needed here, but rather than recreate the same masks, I decided to use the site more as a source of inspiration. 

So with the help from the information I'd gathered I decided to make my own face mask, with my own ingredients. I started by adding cucumber, which I figured would be ideal for cooling and hydrating my irritated skin. Somewhere had suggested using honey and banana for uneven skin tone, so I threw those in too for some added goodness. I finished my face mask off with some natural yoghurt and a few plain oats for a lovely scrub and a sweet moisturiser. 

It wasn't as thick as I'd hoped, but I thought I might as well give it a chance. I applied it all over my face paying special attention around my eyes. The ingredients were soothing and refreshing, helping to ease the irritation and swelling on my face. I left it to soak into my skin for around 10 minutes like I would a store bought face mask, and then rinsed it off with warm water. 

My skin feels soft and refreshed after the mask. It was pretty fun mixing up my own potion and trying it out. I'd highly recommend trying it yourself. Just make sure your using ingredients that are kind to your skin.

Thanks to a bit of research, creativity and good old mother nature for helping me feel myself again!