Facetheory Skincare: Cleansers and moisturiser review

I did a Facetheory skincare haul back in January. 

Having picked up a few products in the sales and have been trialling them since then.

I kept it simple and picked up 3 items. 
2 cleansers and a moisturiser.
Things that I knew I could test throughly and really see results with.

Gentle Skin Cleanser C1 (signature)
Containing avocado, coconut, silk and apricot.
This is targeted towards dry and combination skin- which fits my skin perfectly atm.

This is my favourite cleanser out of the two I bought. I really like how moisturised my face feels post cleanser.
It's very gentle yet oh so effective. It has just the right amount of creaminess and glides on over the face easily. 

You need a pump and half maximum for face and neck coverage so it lasts a long while.
I found the signature cleanser very easy to remove and it didn't leave any residue.
 I have also been leaving this on my face as a mask for about 5-10 mins whilst I potter about and it leaves my face hydrated and silky.
I really do see a subtle glow every time I use it.-Bonus!

Glycolic Exfoliating Cleanser (E1) 

Has natural micro pumice stones. 
As well as glycerin, glycolic and salicylic acid.
This means that the cleanser helps to keep skin moisturised as glycerin is a humectant but works 2 fold as a chemical exfoliator and a physical one.

I reach for this cleanser less than the other as the formula is a lot more runny.
I prefer a slightly thicker consistency but I have tried mixing the 2 together for a more substantial consistency.
Which works, so when I buy my next batch, I will mix the leftovers into one container.

I do however like the ingredients and how they make my skin look when I do use it.
My skin feels fresh, bright and soft.
This leaves a really even surface to work with and was a great help when testing out the Madam LA LA bronzer in my February blogger beauty box.
I have found that my skin responds particularly well to bark extract after testing out the Madara  clarifying toner and a few other products, So the willow bark in this formulation is a bonus.

The pumice stones are not abrasive and don't leave my face feeling sensitive or scarred. 
They are used sparingly which I like.
This is also a great gentle exfoliator for hands and feet!

Moisturiser for Oily Skin M3

Packed full of hyaluronic acid, vitamins E & C and passion fruit extract.

I really, really, really like this moisturiser!

I actually have combination skin but this is so nice.

It has a whipped quality, which works well with my skin.

From the moment I tested it , I liked it. 

It works well as a day and night cream and really helps to keep the cold weather from battering my skin.

I am experiencing light dryness on my cheeks and chin atm as explained in my Pampering and treatments: Facials- 7 things you need to know post,
 atm so having a moisturiser that is rich and nourishing but doesn't make my face greasy as heck is important.

It is very hydrating yet absorbs to a dewy matte finish.

This is just perfection!
One pump or even half a pump is enough to moisturise my face and neck. 
I also use this a hand moisturiser and find it to be excellent also.
This is a must have in my next order.

Overall I am soooo expressed with the quality and can't wait to stock up.
Being able to customise with natural fragrance. 
As well as having skincare questionnaire to offer you solutions specifically for your skin type really appeals to me.
I am also looking forward to seeing if they bring out any new releases to add to the range.
I think a serum and eyecream would be a great edition.

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays

The Body Shop collection: Body mists

The Body Shop and I have a long and glorious history.
My mum would always buy their kiwi collection - very old school and is obsessed with the hemp products.
You can see that my obsession with the Hemp hand cream is also very real, in my Skincare savers/ saviours post.
So they have always been around my home and part of my beauty/skincare awareness.

There are so many products, that I enjoy but I personally have always been drawn to the Body Shop mists.
When I was in secondary school .
I would walk past the one on Victoria highstreet and spritz my jumper lavishly with the vanilla Body Mist and dab an oil (my bro used to use the oil too) liberally on my wrists before sashaying out to start my day.
(the testers obvs lol)
Now I have a long tradition of doing a massive haul of my fav scents every other year.
They last so long I don't need to purchase them more regularly.

Although not the most expensive, quite a few of them are long lasting and I continually return to stock up as many of the mists hold great memories for me.

 There have been some great sales so far this year and I definitely splurged.
I usually opt for the mists as I find that some of the perfumes don't smell the same as their mist counterparts or surprisingly don't last that long on me.

These are my current all rounder favs are :

Vanilla Body Mist

Pink Grapefruit Body Mist

Red Musk™ Fragrance Mist

Moringa Body Mist

Satsuma Body Mist

They are all really fresh and vibrant, which is always important for transitional scents.
Each one can take me from a crisp winter morning to bbqs at the height of summer.

So there you have it my current collection. Are you a Bodyshop body mist lover like me?
What are your favs?

Until next time........................

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays

Pampering and treatments: Facials- 7 things you need to know

Hi Loves,
Over the last few years.
I have tried to actively set aside some relaxation and me time.

Pampering treatments and massages are always at the top of my list and I have become adept at hunting out a great treatment deal.

It was my Birthday back in February and I had my first facial of the year- woop.
(Other treats included my first Blogger Beauty Box and My UK ColourPop haul.)

As it was cold, windy and very dry I went with a hydrating facial.
I thought it would be best as not only would I get a deep hydrating facial but any winter dullness would be brightened up.
As this is something I really enjoy. I wanted to share a few things I have learnt along the way.
Here are 7 things I have learnt about getting a facial.
Hope this helps ...........

1. General

• Hygiene is important. So offer your facialist the same curtsey you expect brush your teeth and pop a mint.
• Get to your appointment 15 minutes earlier. To fill in forms etc so it doesn't eat into your allotted facial time.

2. skincare. 

• Avoid exfoliating with scrubs or acids for a day or 2 before your facial as your skin will be more sensitive. This also goes for waxing or threading your face/ eyebrows. 
• Don't try and do fancy things to make your skin look better, let your therapist see what your skin is like. 
• keep your routine the same as you usually would. Literally like cleaning your house before the cleaner comes round. -come on!
• Bring up any skin issues, you have. Having gone over my skincare routine. My facialist said my routine and skin were really good, but did agree with me that I had a few dry patches and my cheeks were a little dryer than usual. She also told me I had some dryness on my chin. Which I hadn't spotted. I am thinking weather and central heating are the main factors.
• Don't touch your face after your facial. Just let the products marinate. It will feel gorgeously soft but this will minimise the amount of bacteria coming into contact with your face.
• Try to avoid drinking alcohol/ coffee/ fast food 24hrs before and after your facial. It can be drying to the skin.

3. Hair and Make up

• Avoid wearing any makeup to your appointment. It wastes time as it will need to be cleansed off.

Wearing makeup also isn't advised for up to 24 hours after your facial.

If you are uncomfortable not wearing makeup for that long, wear sunglasses, work from home, go to a facility near your home to minimise contact with people.

I suggest a bun. It is out of your face during the facial and is kept off your face after. This means any product in your hair wont touch your new sexy ass face.

Try and keep transferable hair product residue to a minimum.-I once put leave in conditioner in my hair having forgotten about my appointment. I just took a scarf to wrap my hair and let my therapist know. 

4. Comfortable clothing

• Wear comfortable clothing. You will be in one position for a while. This is to relax your mind as well as pamper/ treat your face. So don't wear something too constrictive.- I usually go for leggings , a slouchy tee or jumper and a vest underneath which can easily be pulled down.

Also smelly feet - we also have those battered converse we love that are a bit smelly. Facial/ massage day is NOT the day to be wearing them as your feet will stink. Probably ruining your experience of tranquillity and assaulting your therapists nostrils. Sure they finish off your sports luxe/ casual outfit perfectly but lets not yeah!

5. Pain

• Extractions hurt! It's not unbearable but it does hurt. I had excess sebum on my nose. My nostril area hurt the most but it isn't a lingering pain once it is done, it's done. 
• Facials also include chest and shoulder massage. I carry about 80% of my stress and tension in my shoulders which means that when properly massaged it can hurt. You will feel an ache the next day BUT so much better, mobile and lighter.

6. Relax and enjoy it.

• Really immerse yourself in the experience and take the time to chill.
• Communicate with your facialist
• You may feel tired a few hours later, which is normal for facials and massages.
• Be ready to glow! you may also be a little flushed/ red depending on your complexion.

7. Observe. 

• Look the products your facialist is using and what feels nice on your skin. I usually take a picture on my phone at some point before or after my treatment. 
• Don't be pressured by sales jargon! You don't have to buy the products that were used on your face. wait a while and see if you like them. 
• As this is relaxing your eyes will be closed most of the time but try and remember a few hand movements your facialist uses and try a few at home.
• Post treatment. See what your skin looks and feels like. In some cases, people notice their skin may breakout slightly or become a little oilier too. This is often due to your face having a super specialist cleanse, that it doesn't get on a daily basis and the purging of toxins. Extra oil is being produced due to this. In a few days it should be fine. If you have a rash or prolonged breakout steer clear of those products in future.

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays

Current favourites: nail edit staples

I have really been taking the time, recently to do my nails and wanted to share a few current favourites with you. 

I love nail varnish and have a pretty good collection but sometimes I honestly don't have the time.

Recently however. I have been taking those 10-15 minutes to just chill out, choose a colour and clear my mind as they dry.

Neutral tones and grungey feeling nails are an all year round favourite.
These have been my go to choices.

Current favs:

Barry M picks:

Grey and Blue from the Barry M classic range

Barry M is one of my absolute favourite affordable nail companies.

They always have large range of colours and finishes to choose from.

They also seem to last forever, I have had one nail varnish from their classic range for 10 years and it still perfect- no word of a lie. I t has only recently been replaced.

MUA pick:

Midnight is a really pretty metallic shade and only costs £1. 

MUA is a very trend led brand with a very low price point.

So it is great for checking out new colours without having to spend too much.

Essie pick:

Vested Interest  Is a really striking greyish toned teal green.

Essie is another brand that is of great quality and has excellent colour ranges.

The tones are always pretty cool.
They can be a little pricey but shopping online or going to TK Maxx like I did can save your a fair bit of money.

OPI pick:

OPI Brazil Collection - I Sao Paulo Over There

This is such a stunning colour and just adds something to an outfit, as well as making your hands look beautiful.

It is totally an understated statement colour.
Again OPI Can be pricey so look around. 

I also found this in TK Maxx for £2.99 or £3.99 saving over £7.

Primark pick (In Stores)

019 At 80p this is the cheapest polish in my edit.
 The colour appears a little different in the bottle.
Which is what attracted my attention but it is a pretty deep petrol denim colour.

Kiko picks:

226 Rouge Noir, 508 Rose Sand and 317 Dark Antique Pink from the Kiko nail lacquer range.

Kiko is one of those undercover cult beauty brands, that totally deserve the hype.

They have very affordable items that rival and surpass much bigger brands.

I will however say that without a top coat 317 does chip after a day or 2.
However it is still such a pretty neutral blush colour in real life.

What colours are you reaching for?

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays

COLOURPOP UK Haul: Impressions and UK shipping (basic starter kit for dark skin)

Woop woop finally guys, finally I have some ColourPop in my life! 

As I said in my Blogger Beauty Box post.
 February is my birthday month and I went into full "treat yo'self" mode.
I just decided to get myself a few little things here and there and let the parcels roll in all month.

I have been waiting a long time to get my hands on these.
As I am pretty sure like many bloggers have.

I remember seeing a woman on youtube, who had pretty much every colour in early 2014 I believe.

I promptly sent it to my friend like uhhh yes, we need some of that sexiness ASAP and waiting for it to become available in the UK....

Unfortunately ColourPop still don't deliver to the UK.

(They have our spelling of colour but you don't deliver here?!)- woe is me yada yada, you get it I just couldn't wait any more.

So as the clock struck midnight on February 1st, I took the plunge and placed my first order.

The only way to get it to the UK is to use a courier service.
As you can imagine.

I have had a lot of time to check out courier websites and ColourPop, reviews, swatches and hauls and compile a list of things I wanted to try.

I decided to chose things that would be the foundation of collection.
A basic starter kit for dark skinned folk, if you will.

I went through my original list and cut it down ruthlessly, to things I really wanted and that would fit that brief.
Making sure I stuck to a reasonable budget.

This is also important to keep your overseas shipping costs down.
I am happy to say there are many products on the website, that cater to several skintones.

This time around, I mainly chose lip products as I will get more use out of them.

The products on the website are between $5 and $8 for individual items, which is incredibly affordable against the pound.

At this time this is an equivalent of £3.47 to £5.55.

I also signed up for their newsletter which snagged me a $5 welcome discount.

I am really into grungey tones and the colours I chose work well with this.
I chose liquid lipsticks and matte lipstick formulas as I love a matte lip!

Colourpops strength definitely lies in their liquid lipsticks. 
From the selection I picked up I am most impressed with the liquid lipsticks and highlighters.
 That is not to say however I don't like the matte lippie stixs, I just don't think they are the second coming.

*Each product type in order of favs*

Ultra Matte Lip $6 each

Lax -vampy darkened brown berry

Limbo -neutral chocolate brown

Tulle -dusty pinkish mauvey brown

Chilly chilli - orange pinkish brown

The ultra matte liquid lipsticks are very forgiving and not as drying on me as other formulas.

Chilly Chilli seems to have a more watery formula than the others and has started to separate on occasion. However hasn't leaked yet and I am keeping it at an angle to be safe. 
It isn't streaky thankfully just a lot more watery.

I also luckily haven't had any issue with the LAX formula.
Which has had reports of being patchy. My one applies great.

Tulle is also interesting pink tone, that warms up in tone the longer it is on my lips, making it a little darker and more appealing to we wearing it more often.

I tested out the ultra matte lips thoroughly and found that they are pretty much immovable unless you eat greasy/ oily foods. I had them on for at least 6 hours
. Then I saw some transfer and rubbing off in the middle of my bottom lip.

Which makes sense as you remove them with oil based products. 

On myself however I didn't require a touch up as the area that rubbed away was small and not visible to anyone else.

Matte Lippie Stix $5 each

Ellarie - deep browned berry red

Bichette - dark red

Pitch - 60% dark chocolate and a splash of milk

They have a vanilla scent to varying degrees, similar to the famous MAC scent.
Browns/ neutrals are my my jam but surprisingly I wasn't blown away by Pitch.
It is nice to have in my collection but yeah.

In terms of the texture, I would say they are very creamy and moisturising and take a fairly long time to become matte.

I would describe them as semi matte as it took at least an 20 minute before I noticed that the sheen had settled to a matte.

In future I would be more interested in the colour pay off which is good rather than the level of matte.
Bichette is a really beautiful statement red and Ellarie looks even more striking with a lipliner.
Both stain the lips when wiped off.

Highlighter $8 each

Avalon - warm golden peachy bronze

Butterfly beach - mid tone silver/ gold flecked iridescent combo

The highlighters are just beautiful and super pigmented. 

I chose 2 stunning  pearlised shades. 

One gorgeous peachy warm toned bronze shade and a mid toned light iridescent gold tone.

They have they same texture as the ColourPop eyeshadows.

The highlight texture is so different to the touch, just like that of their eyeshadows and it is encouraged to apply with the finger. 

However they can be applied with a highlighting/ fan brush.

I really like the fact that ColourPop display the pigments on a variety of skin tones.

 Although limited to 3, they are far ahead of most companies that don't display on models of different ethnicities or solely showcase the product on a Caucasian model. 

At least you can see how the product changes tonality and work from there on how it will look on you.

Shipping

Shipping was very easy and quick, it was 9 days from ordering to delivery at my house.

A simple breakdown of ordering to delivery:

Ordered from ColourPop website - 1st Feb (midnight)

ColourPop dispatched to Borderlinx - 2nd Feb

Borderlinx hub received and  processed the shipment - 5th Feb

After a clarification email to ensure postage was correct and releasing my order, shipment was then released on the 5th feb (evening) .

Final Arrival - 9th Feb (Morning)

*please remember that Americans add their VAT at checkout.

It isn't inclusive like here so budget for that.

Although ColourPop is inclusive of VAT, Borderlinx was not and VAT was added at checkout.*

My Borderlinx experience was very easy.

From signing up, to the explanation on how the service worked and receiving my individual overseas address.

I found out about this courier service myself and saw a first hand review from The blushing giraffe.  

There wasn't a sign up fee and my sign up was done in seconds.
I also picked up a few presents for friends that will not be shown on here, that put my delivery price up a little.

My postage etc came to $40. Making each individual item (shown) about $7 (approx £4.87) including postage each.

I wasn't charged customs fees luckily, as I would have been fuming.

Thankfully I have never been charged. Fingers crossed. 

You will also find that Borderlinx has many discounts for shipping once you sign up too.

For an alternative shipping company checkout Jasmine talks beauty post, who always gives thorough info and reviews.

Colourpop is also available from individual sellers on Amazon and eBay, if this whole process sounds like a palava and you are absolutely desperate to try something. 

However I am not willing to be swindled, shegged and scammed by opportunists who target beauty lovers and tack on astronomical mark ups. 

So just be prepared to be absolutely ripped off. 
In my most deepest desperation I won't pay silly prices like those being bandied about. 
Not paying £35 for a $5 product!
So it worked out cheaper for me per product to order from the USA and also allowed me to choose from the full selection of products on the website.  

So that was my ColourPop haul!
My starter kit that caters to POC, especially darkskinned people such as myself.
Products that I know will suit me and that have surprised me with their versatility too.
I have been so excited to really test out these products and am really loving the their liquid lipsticks and highlighters.

Have your got any ColourPop products?

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays