The puerto ricans they were playing their salsa in the rain ...

As I said in the last post, did a bit of shopping in Bluewater and thought I'd show you all :) I've also picked up a few things during the last few weeks, mainly beauty related, so you'll be seeing those as well. Most of them I've had time to use and form an opinion on, so I'll write a mini review for the ones I've used ...

To begin with, I'll talk about the Origins 'Super Spot Remover'. Now, this is well known within the blogging world, and I'm sure you've all seen it before. However, I'd never tried it and thought I'd give my opinion on it. Now, my skin isn't that bad. It used to be when I was younger, (I was one of those kids who got spots really early, before some of the boys had even hit puberty), but my skin's cleared up in the last year and I now only get the odd spot or two. However, the ones I do get are big ANGRY buggers, the kind that pop up and just laugh at you, screaming 'Ha, you thought I was gone did you? Well I'm back, and I'm back with a vengeance, and I'm gonna make applying makeup hell for the next week or two'. But good GOD this stuff is good. What would normally have taken at least a week happened in the course of about 2 days, and by the end of the 3rd, the spot was completely gone. My mom tried it on an angry pimple she had too, and she found the same thing. I tried things like Freederm etc when I was younger, but they never really worked but I really cannot recommend this enough. It's £12, and from the amount you need to cover one spot, should last forever. I'd definitely pick it up, even if you only suffer from the odd small pimple like I do as it really does make a world of difference!

Origins Super Spot Remover 10ml £12 at Origins Counters

I was out of morning cleanser, and needed something new. I quite like this, it's nice to have a gentle scrub first thing in the morning, it smells quite refreshing, and I find it helps to wake me up at 6am (yes, I wake up at 6am to go to school ...). The smell's nice, and it does help a bit with the oiliness I tend to get around my nose and on my forehead throughout the day. Then again, I use a mattifying moisturiser so that may have something to do with it as well.

Clean & Clear Morning Energy Shine Control Daily Facial Scrub 150ml £3.99 in Boots

Now onto my night time cleanser. I'm sure this needs no introduction, it's practically a holy grail in the blogging world. I got a small 50ml bottle on my flight to Japan, and I recently ran out and had to buy a new one because damn girl this stuff works. I went through a bit of a purging stage at the very beginning, and broke out a little more than I usually do, but once that cleared up my skin has just felt amazing. It's so much softer, and just feels so damn clean when I go to bed after having washed my face with this. Anyway, I'm sure you know all you need to about this, so I'll stop singing it's praises and move on ...

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish 100ml £12.75 in John Lewis

My mom very kindly treated me to this set of 3 L'Occitane hand creams. To start with, I really love the tin and I can definitely see myself using it after I've finished the hand creams. It comes with three travel size tubes. One of their best selling 20% Shea Butter which is amazing, but unfortunately smells very strongly of talc, and baby wipes. Personally, I love the smell and I find it quite soothing. Unfortunately, most of the people around me really don't like the smell of it, so this has been restricted to use before I go to bed. This is by far the most moisturising of the three in the collection, so is perfect for putting on over night to wake up with nice, baby soft hands. Suits the smell I suppose ...

This is the Peony scented one, which is a slightly thinner consistency than the Shea Butter one. However, the smell is far more agreeable to everyone, so I've been enjoying keeping this in my handbag/jacket and whipping it out whenever my hands are feeling a bit dry.

Finally, this is the Cherry Blossom scented one, which, again, is a thinner consistency than the Shea Butter one, and I haven't had a chance to use it yet as I've been using the Peony one since I got it, but I do really like the smell and am looking forward to using 

L'Occitane Beautiful Hand Collection 3x30ml £18 on the L'Occitane website

I'm on a never ending hunt for a good drugstore matt red lipstick. I know that I could pick up Mac's Ruby Woo or something for a few more pounds, but I just refuse to fork that out if I can pick something nice up for cheaper. This is Revlon's 006, 'Really Red' and I really love it. I generally find it very difficult to find a red lipstick that suits my skin tone, as everything just looks a bit too pinky on me. However, this has a distinctly orange tinge that suits me well. It is slightly drying as it's matt, but if you exfoliate your lips, and slather them in lip balm before you apply it, you should be fine. I may use this in a face of the day at some point, so  you can see how it actually looks on. Unfortunately, today has been one of those days where you stay in your pyjamas, and I really can't be bothered to put makeup on just to do a swatch of this lipstick.

I also really like the packaging of Revlon lipsticks generally. I find the simplicity classy, and I just like the feeling of the matt bullet. 

Revlon 006 Really Red Matt Lipstick £7.49 from Boots

Now, slightly off topic, but still somewhat beauty related. One of my very close friends from school, Natalie, left school at the end of this year in order to go to university in Hong Kong early. Yes, I did say going to university early. I can't help but feel a little bit inferior, but hey, nothing I can do about the brain I have. Anyway, I'm very sad that I won't be seeing her this next year. Natalie really helped me with my singing, she was always happy to accompany me, even when I barely gave her any notice, she'd still manage to learn the piano part to a song that she'd never heard before. She boosted my confidence when I needed it, and without her, I really don't think I would have been able to go and sing in the big school concerts I'm now happy to apply for. We also had conversations about asian food and toys that no one at school really understood, so it felt like we had our own little world to talk about. She gave me this small makeup pouch with a picture of the two of us printed on it. I absolutely love it, and will be keeping it in my handbag at all times so I can see her beautiful face every time I go out. Natchau, I'm going to miss you so so much, and you'd better come back and see me at least once every holiday because I don't know what I'm going to do without you.

The bag is from 'Bags of Love'. I couldn't think of a more fitting brand. Love you Natalie.

from london, with love.