Montagne Jeunesse Chocolate Face Mask Review

You can never have too much chocolate, not even at Christmas when you stuff your faces full of it - well I certainly do! Last night I tried a chocolate face mask too. Apparently it is great for moisturising, and as its Winter with a chill in the air drying out my face I thought it would be perfect.

I even got the fiancé involved! Although he used Superdrug's Sensitive Deep Cleansing Mud Mask. He looked a bit funny as he was laying on the sofa with his glasses over the top of the mask reading his Kindle - so cute!

Anyways, the Montagne Jeunesse website says this "Indulge in our guilt free natural treat of creamy delights with our Chocolate Masque. We’ve blended Fairly Traded Cocoa Butter from the sunny islands of the Dominican, with crushed Cocoa and ultra-moisturising Shea to leave skin silky soft and deeply cleansed."  The listed ingredients are: Cocoa, dead sea salt, mediterranean clay and shea butter. And the instructions say: "Cleanse with warm water only. Apply evenly over face and neck with fingertips, avoiding eyes and lips. Lie back & relax for 10-15 minutes, or until dry. Rinse off with warm water. Pat dry. Use weekly"

I applied a thin layer to my face, then squeezed out more product from the sachet to give a thicker layer, then there was still more mask so I actually ended up what I would call a really thick heavy layer of face mask on my face. Thumbs up for the amount of product you get versus the price (usually around £1). The 10-15 minutes of waiting went by very quickly and I could gently feel my skin tightening as the mask dried. I took pictures but tried not too smile too much in case the mask cracked!

Once I had washed off the mask (I used a flannel and warm water - it didn't take too much scrubbing and I think this shows a good mask - you shouldn't have to make your face go red/sore from rubbing!) I stroked my face and it felt as smooth as a baby's bum, I'm not even joking - I don't remember the last time it was this smooth! I am going to stick to my new skincare routine and hope the feeling lasts! I have been moisturising my face more than normal due to it being Winter but that's what everyone does isn't it?

Overall a cheapish product which is fun (they come in so many flavours/varieties!), easy, not time consuming and very effective.

Let me know if you have had any good experiences with face masks!! ext post I'll be jumping on the bandwagon and doing a "Best of 2011". xoxo

Very Quick FOTD

Ok so today I was putting away some of my make up and rediscovered the following Benefit items:
Eye Brightener
Concealer It Stick
Bad Girl Eyeliner

So I was in the mood to use them for a quick natural-ish look.

I used:

FACE
No.7 Tinted Moisturiser in medium
Max Factor Pressed Powder in Medium Beige (41)


EYES
Benefit Eye Brightener - lower waterline
Benefit It Stick - under eyes
No.7 Smoky Rose Quad - all four shades used for eyelid, crease, under eye & highlight
Maybelline Colossal Eyes Mascara in black


LIPS
No.7 Wild Volume Lipstick in Toffee Apple


Definitely not as many items as I would normally wear for a day or evening look!! I think the eye brightener actually looks a bit weird - maybe I haven't done it right?! But I didn't get on with this mascara at first as it seemed really gloopy, possibly a dodgy tube?, although now I can see how long it makes my lashes look and it gives a great curl without using eyelash curlers - time saver maybe?

Is there anything you do to save time when making yourself up? Let me know ur tips/tricks! xoxo

200 blog posts!! This will be celebrated by a NOTD look!!

Hi all, well 200 posts, that's certainly an achievement for me! Some days I hardly find the time to blog, but I'm happy to know there are always people out there interested in what I am writing :)

For Christmas I got a few new bits of clothes - but no makeup and I haven't been buying any in the sales either - I've actually been super good. Hoping it means paying for the wedding will be a bit easier!!

Anyways, today I fancied a bit of gray...the weather hasn't been great! But then I felt it looked a bit sad and lonely so have divided my nail up diagonally with another silvery gray shade and separated it with a white line.
My pictures aren't great as I did my nails as quick as I could and the bottom layer wasn't quite dry enough for the "straight line using sellotape" trick. Nevermind, it's not something you notice up close as I don't know who would be getting that close to my nails in real life!!

Nail varnishes used:
No.7 Base Coat
Collection 2000 Hot Looks Fast Dry in Wham (27)
No.7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in Night Silver (62)

P.s. if you have any ideas for me as to what posts I can do in 2012 please let me know - I am hoping to have a strong year of blogging and vlogging up ahead, and would really love to get my followers to 100 by the end of next year!! Thanks for reading xoxo

Merry Xmas everyone!

Hi all, hope you had a great Christmas - I'm still enjoying mine - although I am back to work in a week :(
Here is a quick FOTD for you - I can't remember much of the make up I wore so I will just skip it for this blog and give you a few looks instead and an Xmas day special of me and the hubby to be!

Red hair! and natural look - foundation, mascara and eyeliner

Dark brown eyeshadow and plum lips!

Red updo

Gold eyeshadow, pinky/brown lipstick

Christmas day outfit! Love that the hubby to be is wearing a trimby!

Thanks for reading everyone - look forward to blogging more once I have seen all my family, I don't think I have got any make up for Xmas this year - except nail varnishes from my secret santa at work! Speaking of which I need to paint my nails tomorrow! Perhaps I will recreate todays outfit as well as I wore a lovely new skirt! xoxo

Leopard Print OOTD

Hi all, apparently animal print is in again this season. I am not a huge fan of it so I try to keep it minimal. I think the matching necklace and belt might be a bit too much especially with the patterned tights...!! 

I do however think that the skinny belt works well with the green shorts and the black top and cream and gold glitter cardigan! What do you think? Next time I might try it with plain black tights but on this occasion I couldn't find any.

My black top is from H&M for £3.99, the cardigan is from New Look, and was on 50% off, then I got a further 25% off code so it was £7.50, the shorts are from River Island for £28 and the tights were £4.99 from Miss Selfridge but I can't remember where I got the belt or necklace.So who's looking forward to Christmas?!

 I know that with my wedding coming up I won't be getting much this year but I will still be creating a Christmas wish list, although it won't be completely unrealistic, ie this perfume Lauren Luke asked for from eBay as a joke!

You know your make up is too old when...

you go to pour out some liquid foundation and out comes water!? I didn't even know this is what happened after you'd left it so long? Even when some of the product comes out and I put the lid back on and shake it, it still sounds like there's more water in there!

I am going through my foundation stash and getting rid of shades that either no longer suit my skin colour, or those that need to go in the bin!! I don't think I spend long enough using up my products these days. New ones entice me too much and therefore I end up buying new things before I finish the old ones, then they end up being forgotten about!

Ok so what else is left of my collection apart from water? Well there is a picture below:

Of the above about 6 of them have been purchased in the last 12 months so all still in usable condition and can go safely back into storage! The other 8 (including the watery one) are over 12 months and I am going to test each one, or throw it out!

Rimmel Recover foundation in Soft Beige, watery - BIN
17 Super Wear Long Lasting Foundation in Biscuit, too pink for my skin - GIVE AWAY
Rimmel Lasting Finish in Pale Biscuit, little bit leaky - BIN
Avon ...... in Warmest Beige (name of the foundation has worn off!), perfect condition, wish I knew what it was now that I know it lasts so long! - KEEP
Rimmel Lasting Finish 16 Hour Foundation in Soft Beige, my favourite so far (I think you can tell I have bought a lot of Rimmel in the past, cheaper than many brands, but not lacking in quality!) perfect shade for Winter for me! KEEP
17 Skin Perfecting Shine Free Foundation, shade has worn off! Consistency however is great, perfect shade - another KEEP
NYC Natural Matte Foundation in 004 and 005, strangely 005 has gone very watery but 004 is perfect, and again is a great shade for Winter. Its a shame to split this pair up as I would use the darker shade for contouring, but what can you do?! 004 KEEP 005 BIN

There we go, after half an hour my foundation stash is now 25% smaller! Thanks for reading! xoxo

Sparkly Christmassy NOTD

After 4 OOTD posts I'm sure you're glad to see a NOTD post. I used two different polishes to see what kind of layering effect it had and I loved the results! Perfect for this time of year too, really brightens up my day!

I used a No.7 Base Coat, No.7 Stay Perfect in Betty Blues, then JRB Nail Enamel 190, followed by No.7 Top Coat.

What do you think and what nail polishes do you go for at xmas? xoxo

Wedding OOTD

Recently I went to my hubby to be's sister's wedding. I didn't really want to splash out on a new outfit for the occasion because I knew I had so many dresses that hadn't been worn much anyway. After much deliberating, trying on dresses, cardigans, jackets. Checking they weren't too long, too short, low neckline etc. All this was almost too much for Dave! lol.

In the end I chose a rather colourful number, wouldn't have expected anything less with Dave's help!

I wore a multi coloured dress from ASOS, a yellow blazer from ASOS, a simple black back with a flower attached to the zip, black tights and black peep toe high heels from New Look which also featured a flower on the toes. I think it was quite simple but pretty, and suitable for day or night!! The second picture shows my toned down make up, after all I didn't wanna steal the show :-P

The only thing I hate about this picture and some others, is the massive vein that shows up on my forehead - how can I hide this?! Please help! xoxo

Birthday OOTD

Hiya guys, I've just recently celebrated my 24th birthday, hence why I have been away for a bit. So to jump back into the swing of things here is the outfit I wore on the day, something casual, but some new items making an appearance!

I got the jacket from H&M (£20), the jumper from Hollister (£38), the green jeans from Miss Selfridge (£38) and the boots from New Look (£25), total of £117, not bad, the top under the jumper is just a cheap top from HandM (£8) if you want me to include that as well to take the price up to £125. Do you ever consider how much your outfit has cost you? It's definitely interesting for a number freak like me :-\

I'm sorry I seem to be featuring so many OOTD's lately, I think they are just the simplest for me at the moment. Especially as I have to wear clothes everyday, whereas I can't seem to find much time for make up lately, it makes me sad!! :(

I am hoping to do a nail video or liquid eyeliner video at some point today - please comment below and let me know which you would prefer? xoxo