My Visit to Prescriptives

I've been having a few problems with my foundation of late. I've happily had success with Benefit's Hello Flawless! that I got hold of at the weekend, however when I collected it the original purpose of my shopping trip was for Prescriptives (what can I say - I got distracted!) :-P

I switched formulas two months ago from Mary Kay's Normal to Dry skins formula to Combination to Oily formula. This was because after a huge improvement in finding the right skincare products for my skin, it had returned from dry and sensitive back to what it used to be - combination.

As my Normal to Dry foundation was compensating for dry skin and providing hydration where I didn't need it I chose to go for the Combination to Oily formula which was great at keeping oil at bay all day! One problem - although I was using exactly the same shade for some mad reason, in the new formula the shade appears too red on my skin. I tried bumping up a shade to a more olive-y tone to complement the olive undertones in my skin but no, too orange.

I decided I'd had enough and had been eyeing up Prescriptives for a good month. I'd been reading interesting reviews and had visited their website. Their products are non-comedogenic (great!) and the MU Artists at the counter really listen to what you're looking for and find out the perfect match ideal for your skin. You can even go the extra mile and have your foundation custom made right in front of you!

I've often walked past Prescriptives' counter in House of Fraser. The poor girls very rarely get a visit from anyone, which is worrying because they do have great customer service and what they essentially offer is a really unique approach to makeup. I think the unfortunate thing for the counter at my House of Fraser is that it's right opposite MAC - with its bright posters, colourful collections and music it's hard to not want to wander over there instead.

But that doesn't mean to say Prescriptives isn't worth the time of day. Their products are a little more expensive but no more so than Estee Lauder or Dior for that matter. But what you pay for is their approach in making makeup unique for you and your skin, providing a personalised service so that you get everything out of makeup that you want and need, because everyone's different! Hence the name, essentially your makeup is 'prescribed' to you based on assessments of your skin.

I came away with Flawless Skin foundation, which retails at £28. The packaging is very nice, simple but a lot like Clinique's packaging. It comes in a 30ml frosted glass bottle so it's quite heavy - if you don't mind carrying that sort of thing round in your handbag then great but if you do I suggest getting hold of a cheap dispenser tube/bottle so you can transfer some into that for on the go!

Flawless Skin claims to works to "protect against sun damage and external assaults" - as it contains SPF 15, another bonus! It goes on to say it "achieves a flawless finish while working 'undercover' to provide your skin with superior skincare protection and boosts skin's own internal defenses against damaging environmental assaults...This lightweight, long-wearing foundation provides natural-looking medium to full coverage for all skin types. Available in 30 shades. Oil free."

I thought when I explained my skin type to the MUA I'd end up with Virtual Matte - their foundation for oilier skins. However Flawless Skin is ideal for combination skins like mine because it's oil-free so doesn't add oil to where there's already plenty but also manages to keep other drier areas hydrated.

Once we determined what formula I'd be having the MUA got to work on "Colorprinting" me - this is the method used by Prescriptives to determine your skin tone and which family it sits in: Yellow/Orange, Red/Orange, Red or Blue/Red. I'm Red/Orange. I have undertones of olive within my skin but I also have rosy cheeks and a hint of red in my skin so I need a foundation that will bring out that peachiness that I have.

Once she Colorprinted me and showed me to make sure I was happy with her conclusion she got to work applying the foundation. She tried two of the lightest shades and it turned out I was Vanilla. I've been using the foundation since, and I save it for weekends and nights out as it's my HG foundation so I don't want to get through it too quickly.

It's fantastic, you need very little - probably not much more than a 5 pence piece-sized drop on the back of your hand so despite the cost I can see this foundation lasting a long while! Then take your foundation brush or stippling brush and get to work. It's very easy to put on, distributes nicely across the skin and blends in beautifully. It makes my skin feel very fresh and dewy and it's the PERFECT shade to my skin colour - no more 'mask' of foundation which I hate - a beautifully clean match.

It also lasts all day and doesn't slide off my face in my T Zone but keeps my skin looking matte but not dull. It's great, in fact I'd almost say that Flawless Skin isn't a bad name because the finish is very natural and it almost looks like my own skin just without the odd blemish - a more even tone all over! I can see this being my ultimate favourite product for months to come...

If you live in the UK you can't buy Prescriptives online but you can find them in any House of Fraser and also QVC.

Visit their website here.

Image Source

Image courtesy of Prescriptives.com

Popping my Benefit cherry...

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend - I LOVED the sunshine, I made the most of it on Sunday in the pub garden - true bliss! Oh and I also had a very interesting haul weekend. I swung by the Benefit counter at my House of Fraser on Saturday as I normally do to look at what they have to offer.

I've heard hit and miss things about Benefit's collection, but their counter always gets me looking due to their quirky product names and even cuter packaging and branding! Some people don't like it at all but I think it's very vintage - what's not to love?!

The only thing that's really ever put me off is their pricing - some of their products are two times more expensive than their more established counterparts and I've found that interesting since Benefit have been around for a fraction of the time in the UK. Still I gave them a shot for the first time the other day and I must say I'm impressed! Here's what I bought...

Hello Flawless!

This is Benefit's brand new hot-off-the-counter product so you may not have heard of it yet but go along to your local Benefit counter and give it a go! It is also my favourite buy from my Benefit haul so I have to tell you about this one first :-)

Hello Flawless! is a cover-up powder that really does do what it says on the tin... or box! As I was in the market for a new foundation I thought I'd give it a go. The cover up powder comes in 7 shades so there's a shade suitable for everyone, I'm "Me Vain? Champagne" and each powder comes in a compact with a mirror, sponge and small brush.

The great thing about it is it also has SPF 15 which is something I've been on the hunt for for a while. My current foundation's been letting me down recently and the other downside is that it doesn't contain any SPF in it for that extra mile of protection. More and more of us are being made aware of the damaging effect the sun's rays can have on our skins and after seeing many demonstrations of the damage on television I think it's too late to be ignorant.

The only trouble is my current SPF protection cream that I put on before foundation is a little too greasy and heavy for my liking. It cancels out all of the effort that I go to in eliminating oil on my skin and not to mention the smell - I can't really describe it other than think of the unpleasant greasy smell you can get from some sun lotions, but instead sits on the face all day right under your nose. Bleh. So having the advantage of an all-in-one SPF & foundation is a God-send!

The cover up powder provides 3 forms of coverage:

1) Sheer coverage - for those of you who like your coverage light and just want a quick dusting, use the brush provided and sweep onto your face in upward and outward motions starting from the centre of the face.

2) For concealing spots or dark circles use the sponge and dab the powder onto any, as Benefit call them, "boo boos" :-) Keep building up for ideal coverage.

3) For full coverage use the sponge to apply the powder as you would with the brush.

Because I have a few blemishes and ruddyness in my skin I prefer to use the sponge for concealing and also all-over coverage. I was so impressed as I swept it on, I dabbed it onto a couple of recent blemishes I had and in no time at all and with very little product they disappeared. To finish off my face I swept the rest of the powder across my cheeks and forehead very quickly and easily and I found I was done. SO much quicker than my liquid foundation!

Putting this on seems virtually effortless, it seems so quick and easy and the great thing about it is that the powder doesn't look powdery on the face - it doesn't cake up even where I've layered it on in the blemishy areas! I'm so impressed with the match to my skin colour, there's no clear line/tide marks so it doesn't look as if I'm wearing a mask of foundation. It just looks natural and I love that because it's a powder it keeps the oil at bay for most of the day.

The ultimate test now will be waiting to see if it causes breakouts. It's not non-comedogenic so I'm waiting to see if I get some spots as a result of using it. After only two days of use it's hard to tell at this stage but if it doesn't cause problems I will most definitely be buying this product in future!

The powder retails at £24.50 which I know is a little on the not-so-very budget side but trust me give it a go at least, it's very, very good!

Coralista

This is a blush that I think has been one of their best-selling products for a while now. It comes in a very cute leopard print box with its own small wooden blush brush. The blush, as you can probably guess from the name, is a coral, pinky colour - perfect for someone like me who has a natural pinky blush to my skin anyway.

When I first used the blush on myself I noticed it actually has a scent - it smells a little like raspberries! I think quite a few of Benefit's products are scented, as I tried a bronzing powder of theirs which smells like roses. So it might not be recommended for those of you with sensitive skins who might react to scented products.

This blush is very good however, you can build it up as you apply to take it to the level that you like. I'm new to blush so I'm always a little timid with it as there's a fine line between looking like an English rose and a clown! I'll certainly be adding this to my beauty routine more often as it gives the right level of warmth to the skin :-)

Coralista is £22.50.

Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner

I've never tried a cream eyeshadow before so decided to get hold of this when the MUA tried some on me to bring out the bluey greens in my eyes. I bought the shade Birthday Suit which is a lovely nude brown or as Benefit describe, a brushed chrome colour.

This stuff is very creamy and shimmery and feels very smooth as it goes on. I was a little worried that cream shadows might feel a little thick and heavy but not this one. It blends great and you can build it up from a sheer sweep of colour to a deeper wash of colour, or use it for contouring in the crease of your eye for added depths!

It mixes nicely with other eyeshadows so don't worry about blending. Plus it can double up as a fantastic eyeliner if you take an angled eyeshadow brush, run the edge of it through the cream shadow and then glide along the lash line for added wow!

I like this shade so much because it seems to be so versatile - it's most definitely a shade to be worn in the day, to work, or when built up and/or combined with other colours is perfect for a night on the tiles!

You can find this cream eyeshadow/liner for £13.00 from your local Benefit counter or on the Benefit website.

Image Sources
All images courtesy of Benefit

ZooZoom

Today I'm going to touch on fashion rather than makeup as I have done so far. Even though makeup is one of my passions, my other soft spot is also for fashion ever since I can remember.

Whilst I've been missing in action recently I've been desperate to blog about ZooZoom - the "original online glossy" and it is quite simply a fashion magazine exclusive to the web. I stumbled across it completely by accident during one of my very many makeup research sessions :-P Once I found it I was blown away by the awesome photography, outlandish fashion shoots and fantastic makeup pieces.

Around and About the Site

To give you an idea of the layout and feel, it's a lot more like i-D magazine rather than Vogue - there are more photos rather than pages of articles amongst the images. You can choose to subscribe to their newsletters and viewing the entire content is completly free (which is another favourite bonus of mine!).

Navigating however is the tricky bit as it's not immediately obvious at first. Once you go on there you'd be forgiven for thinking that all you see in the main menu is all you get but please don't leave now! :-) The menu panel towards the bottom of the page is a little crowded, but bear in mind that the default section is always the Editor's Picks, so this will always be the section that appears when you enter the site.

The other categories are listed above the article thumbnails in Editor's Picks. Click on any of these to load up what you want to take a look at. Just be patient - you might sit there wondering if the site's down at first at it doesn't do anything for the first 5 seconds or so. Once it's had a think about it you'll see the new thumbnails appear as your category of choice pops up.

Once you've taken a look at the articles in the panel and want to see more in your category, hit the very small 'Next' button to the far right of the thumbnails. Wait patiently and more features will appear in the panel. You'll then notice a 'Back' button underneath the 'Next' button so you can now go back and forth between the pages. You'll know when you've reached the end of a category when the thumbnails run short of the panel space.

If at any point you want to get rid of the menu click on the 'Close' button at the top right hand corner of the main menu panel. To open it again, look to the very, very bottom on the left of the screen and you'll see an "Open Menu" option.

Makeup!

All things makeup-related can be found under the Beauty category in the main menu. The looks and features created are truly stunning. Current titles covered include 'The Freedom', where they revisit 1920s makeup (period makeup is a fave of mine!), 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' showcasing the harder, metallic makeup for those punk-inspired looks and a fantastic piece called 'Lip Service' where crazy, avant garde uses of colour, textures and makeup materials are created for the lips, eyes and face - very awesome shots!

And that's just the tip of the iceberg! There are many more articles covering what's hot in makeup, a wide variety of editorial pieces, articles covering the best beauty buys on both skincare and makeup products.

The only sad thing is that the makeup section has been sorely neglected compared to the fashion sections! Articles are much more sparse over the years since 2005 whereas the fashion pieces get updated regularly each month. The makeup section alas needs a little TLC :-( Hmmm, I wonder if they need someone to write for them? :-P ...

Check out ZooZoom here.

Image Sources

All images courtesy of ZooZoom.

To Tone or Not to Tone?

Today I'm going to be talking about the preparation side for makeup, or skincare, specifically toning the skin as part of the 'Cleanse, Tone, Moisturise' routine that most of us follow each day.

I personally don't use a toner, instead I always use water as a toner to rinse off excess cleanser and make the face ready for moisturising. I know a fair few women, and even celebs, who claim that water is as good a toner as one bought off the shelf! However I read an interesting article the other day that claimed that toning is important, because unlike water, it opens the pores after cleansing allowing any impurities such as pollutants and dirt resting in them to come out and be wiped away so that they don't sit in the pores instead creating the dreaded blackheads and comedones many of us are used to!

Confusingly, and this is what I previously thought, I read another source a few days later that claimed toning shrinks the pores so that they don't absorb horrible pollutants and toxins that cause comedones. Well it can't do both so which one is it?!

I used to use toners but the two that I tried in the past weren't very gentle on my skin and despite me having combination skin I found the toners to be too drying leaving it taut and uncomfortable mostly owing to the fact that a lot of toners have alcohol in them, which is reknowned for drying out the skin!

So the article got me thinking - if I try a toner that doesn't contain alcohol, which is these days, a lot easier to find considering the range of toners are so much more varied nowadays, will I find that I prefer using one to water? I've carried out a few makeup appointments in training and when prepping the skin quickly I always tone with an organic, gentle toner made with rosewater. I haven't actually tried it out on my skin yet, but I am tempted to now...

If you have a Holy Grail toner that you swear by please let me know. Right now I'm hearing great things about Nivea's toner and Lush's Tea Tree toner! Watch this space as I may try the Lush one out as I hear it's great for oily skins :-)

To be continued...

Image Source

Image courtesy of Bella Sugar www.bellasugar.com

Miss K Co Makeup

Hey y'all!

OK for my second and final haul from my Vitality Show visit I'll be reviewing Miss K Co Makeup's Contour brush, Glitter Eyeliner in Blue, Bronze powder in Terra Cotta Blonde Bake and their eyeshadow pot in Green. This haul costed me a bargainous £12 on special offer.

I'd never heard of Miss K Co before so these guys came as a total surprise. Having visited their website since the show I think they must be fairly new as the site's pretty much under construction and sadly none of the products have been added to the site yet so you can't buy online right now. Because of this I can't give you a standard price list of what these products would cost you ordinarily. And I can't tell you where to find their products in the shops as there's no mention of this yet. I will keep checking the website though and if there are any updates I'll let you know!

When at the show however the flamboyant ladies brandishing their brushes kept jumping at us to try their stuff out so I thought why not! I wasn't so keen at their enthusiasm to use the same brush on every person's face so readily but hopefully I haven't contracted an eye infection that's incubating LOL! (It still horrifies me that hygiene still has no place in these events and at some counters, I wig out a little when I see them double dip and happily take the same brush to a thousand faces! However this is another story...)

Contour Brush

This brush has quite a long handle for easy control and the hair is quite soft - I'm not sure if the brush is natural or synthetic hair as there's no info available yet but I assume from the appearance it's synthetic. It's not quite as fluffy or as full-bodied as the MAC Contour Brush (168) but because it's soft on the skin I prefer it to the MAC 168 as that has the potential to be a bit scratchy from time to time. I haven't seen how well Miss K Co's Contour brush would fair being washed yet (as some of the cheaper brushes on the market shed like mad when being cleaned, reducing their life span) but hopefully I won't have any troubles with that.

Glitter Eyeliner in Blue

This glitte eyeliner is quite watery - i.e. there's more gel than glitter pieces unlike glitter eyeliners from high-end brands where I find the brush comes out smothered in glitter lol! At the prices offered though, you can't really expect them to be in the same high-end category.

The blue however is very dazzling, it's a midnight blue and I'd say a great addition to an outfit for nights on the town, or even dressing yourself up for dinner because the blue isn't too bright or offensive. :-)

Bronzer in Terracotta Blonde Bake

This bronzing powder comes in a cake form and as the lady on the counter demonstrated, it has many purposes other than a bronzer:

1. You can use it to gently bronze the key areas where the sun would naturally hit your face, forehead, cheek bones, chin, nose or even the decollete!

2. You can use it as an overall dusting to give you a little glow - gently swirl your powder brush once round the cake and then dust lightly over the face to give yourself a little sparkle for an evening out (or to fake that "Yeah-I've-just-been-abroad" look when really you only went to Skegness!) Please note: don't go heavy-handed with this stuff or you'll end up looking like your face needs a much-needed wash rather than a sparkly fresh diva!

3. Or if you take an eyeshading brush to the cake you can layer up some nice pinky colour to your eyelids. The lady at the counter tried this on me but I wasn't too taken. I have blue eyes, fair skin and reddish hair so I don't think it complimented my features, but if you don't go too heavy or you can afford a reddy-pink wash over your eyelids then go for it! I think if I try this again with a combination of other colours though, this might work for me so I'll have an experiment.

There really is a lot of flexibility with this little number and a little goes a long way. It's also a mineral bronzer meaning that it's kind to the skin and colour impact is great. Unfortunately though having tried this myself for contouring my cheeks I'm not overly sure - the shade is rather red and I don't feel I need that shade of colour for my complexion. I think however I may have taken a little too much on the brush the first time I tried it, so I think a little-by-little approach is advisable, go easy with it and you can always build on the colour as you go! I'm going to keep giving it a chance and see how I go with it.

Eyeshadow in Green

This came in quite a large shaker pot of loose light grassy green eyeshadow. I chose this colour as I love greens and this shade would compliment my hair colour. It's possibly the best green I've ever bought. I think it's also a very flexible shade as on it's own with a little kohl pencil it makes a very pretty look for work or a day out in the sun! Built up with stronger, darker colours it could transform into a wild-child look in moments!

I find I have to use a lot of this to get the desired strength in colour but once I'm there, it's a really nice shade that I know I'll get plenty of use out of in the future. As I'm not sure what the eyeshadows normally retail at it's hard to say if I'd buy again as I don't know the range of colours on offer and I think that would be the deciding factor. I wouldn't really be prepared to pay anything more than £5-6 for this eyeshadow - anything more would be put me off because you have to use so much to get it to show up!

Overall I think Miss K Co, from what I have seen of their collection, have a nice range of products to offer - it's just a shame that you can't get hold of more info on them right now. However I would suggest going to the website and getting in touch with Kathy, as she may be able to send you a catalogue for more details.

Go to www.misskco.com to get in touch!

Image Sources

Image courtesy of http://www.indiamart.com

Helen E Shimmer Eye Powder & Sparkle Glitter Pots review

As I mentioned the other day in my post about the Vitality Show I bought myself a heap of Helen E eye shimmers and glitters to add to my growing make-up collection.

I'd never previously heard of Helen E but once I did a little research into them I learnt that they are based at selected Debenhams stores here in the UK. Not only that but their makeup is decently priced! They sell a range of makeup from eyeshadows to blush right the way through to tools. I managed to buy 6 Shimmer Eye Powders for £10 and 3 Sparkle Glitter Pots for £5, however a special discount was applied as it was the Vitality Show.

Shimmer Eye Powders

Ordinarily their eye shimmers retail at £4.99 each (and their glitters retail at the same price). The shimmers are loose and come in small shaker pots so be warned they're a tad messy as they're loose and the powder isn't very fine. I've tried three of the shades out of the six I have and created a nice subtle daytime look with Shade 2 - a creamy, vanilla shade great for highlighting, Shade 17 - a warm coffee colour and Shade 18, a chocolate brown great for accenting.

At first I wasn't really won over - even with my Urban Decay primer, I was really struggling to get the desired strength in colour. I had to use quite a bit to build the colour up a lot. Funnily enough, when at the show my friend asked the lady who sold me these if they were mineral shades and she replied that they weren't, but added that mineral shades don't normally deliver the same level of colour as their shimmer pots.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. I've used plenty of mineral shades since the mineral craze launched last summer and have never struggled to get the depth of colour the way I did with these. In fact normally, mineral shades are great for the "less is more" advantage! And another part of me felt that the shades, even though I didn't go crazy with them, had the potential to look a little cheap once applied. You could say that it's what you pay for at £4.99 a pot, but with Barry M offering some fantastic shades with great colour payoff and fab quality at the same price, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect Helen E to deliver the same great results too.

Obviously if you're not into sparkly, shimmery shades then these won't be for you. The fallout is almost unavoidable and annoyingly it's not necessarily the powder but the tiny, tiny pieces of glitter that you find half way down your cheeks, which are harder to spot unless you're in direct sunlight. Once I'd applied them however and let the colours settle I felt happier with them. I think if I'm to use these shades more often in the future it will be for work and days out - i.e. for subtler washes of colour.


Sparkle Glitter Pots

Out of their selection of glitters, I bought Red Disco, Penny Copper and Blue Disco. All of their glitters come totally loose rather than in a fixing agent such as a gel or liquid, so again be careful of the mess. You can buy a fixing gel separately from Helen E for £7.99 . However you may find you don't need it sometimes, the glitter gets everywhere and sticks quite easily to the skin without the aid of a gel. Alternatively you can use a base (if applying to the eyelids) such as a MAC Shadestick or primer to give the glitter something to cling to. I tried Blue Disco on top of MAC's Shadestick in Sharkskin - the results were very impressive!

These glitters are fabulous, the glitter's aren't fine like MAC glitters though so make sure if you buy these you're after big-bang glitter for nights out and fancy dress or wild looks for the camera! The selection of colours are very striking and deep and can really add impact to any look. They're multi-purpose so can be used anywhere on the face or body, but be wary of getting them in your eyes! They are eye-safe but the glitter pieces are fairly large.

Just make sure you've invested in a great makeup remover - this glitter is as stubborn as a mule when it comes to removing it! Even my makeup remover which is fantastic at dissolving the most hardcore of makeup struggles to lift this glitter.

Overall I think the value for money on both of these products are great so I give them a 4 out of 5 there. However I probably won't purchase the eye shimmers again as the colours don't deliver well enough for me and I worry that they may look low-quality once applied so performance-wise I give them a 2 out of 5. The eye glitters however are great fun and I think once my collection of these is running low I may re-invest :-) So I give them a 3 out of 5 for performance!

Visit here for more on the Helen E collection!

Image Sources

Both images courtesy of www.helen-e.com

Hello Kitty FOTD :-)

As far as the hype goes I'm waaaaay behind on posting about this! I heard about MAC's Hello Kitty range 4-5 months before its launch... Pretty much like the rest of the makeup fanatics around the world! I came along to the counter on the second day of it being available only to hear from the MAC girls that nearly EVERYTHING had sold out online and that other stores within the area were calling their counter to get hold of more stock.

I know that some people however have felt that despite the hype, this range has very little to offer in terms of anything new or different. But I still feel that the colours, the packaging and the designs are oh-so-cute! Plus the looks developed for the face charts of Mild Kitty and Wild Kitty are fantastic - I got me some work to do :-D

On my little haul I managed to bag a fair few goodies (I wanted so much more, but really couldn't justify the expense!):

Wild Kitty Glitter in Reflects Very Pink
Beautiful pink glitter - makes me think of dusky roses!

Wild Kitty Lipstick in Fashion Mews

A very sassy lavender colour in Glaze, and if you look further down the stick you'll see a Hello Kitty face imprint into the lipstick *squeeeeeee*

Mild Kitty Lipstick in Cute-ster

A lovely pinky neutral shade in Lustre, once again with a Hello Kitty face imprint in the lipstick

Mild Kitty Glitter Eyeliner in Girl Groove

I nearly went for the pink eyeliner but the girl at the MAC counter showed me this one and I fell in love with it. It has transparent teal reflects with multi-dimensional pearl. It's very yummy and I highly recommend for nights out on the town :-)
I've tried everything but the Glitter so far - just trying to think up a look that will incorporate it, but that shouldn't be too hard as I lurrrrve ze sparkles! :-D

The other day I created a nice and easy night-time look and my piccies are below. I gotta say this look is one of my favourites so far - the glitter eyeliner goes really well over black kohl eyeliner.

What I used:

Face
Mary Kay Timewise Moisturiser
GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation Primer
Mary Kay Signature Concealer in Ivory
Mary Kay Medium Coverage Foundation in Ivory 300

Eyes
Eyebrows - Mary Kay Eyebrow Definer Pencil in Brunette
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Mary Kay Signature Eyeliner in Steely
Urban Decay eyeshadow in Polyester Bride for the highlighter shade
Urban Decay eyeshadow in Grifter for the lovely pink on the eyelid
Urban Decay eyeshadow in Oil Slick - for the gorgeous smoky outer V!
Mary Kay Ultimate Mascara in Brown

Lips
MAC Wild Kitty Glaze lipstick in Fashion Mews

The Vitality Show 2009

This Saturday I went along with Gemma (Anderra) to London's Vitality Show, held at Earl's Court 2. It's the largest annual health, beauty and wellbeing show in the UK with more than 350 health, beauty, fitness, healthy eating and wellbeing companies exhibiting over four days, so we had to go along and see it for ourselves!

In its 10th year of running, the event's aimed at any of you lovely ladies really, whether you're a fitness fanatic, a make-up maven or you just fancy having a good old girly trip with a difference! You can get some exercise at some fitness classes, or you could just relax and be spoiled rotten by a number of beauty therapists, make-up artists or masseuses. And if you like your smellies and skincare then this is a great place to spot some brands that you won't ordinarly see on the high street. It really has everything girly, there's something for everyone.

We rocked up at 10am to get a good look-in ahead of the crowds (especially for freebies hehe!) and among some of the attractions there were:

Yoga classes being held for anyone to come along and join in

Reiki and Indian Head massage, amongst other varieties of massage to boot!

Nails Inc. and other nail bars were there to give your hands and feet a treat

The 'Philadelphia Kitchen' had chefs at work throughout the show teaching everyone some great healthy and tasty recipes to try at home

A catwalk show

A day spa courtesy of Oasis

And even pole dancing!! :-)

Not only that but there were lots of bodycare, skincare and makeup companies on hand to let you try out their goodies and get hold of them at a discounted price! There were apparently a great deal of experts and celebs milling around too - Nicky Hambleton-Jones to name just one, who I was particularly keen to talk to! Sadly we didn't see any of them during our visit (anyone who did let me know, ha!)

We came across some great brands though - Tropic Skincare was one of my faves of the day - they had a team of ladies giving everyone that came by a hand massage with their body scrub and it was to die for! Their products are 100% natural and contain very yummy ingredients such as Jojoba and Patchouli. We also came across a few organic ranges such as Spiezia Organics that did an amazing cleanser which smelt a lot like green pesto :-) A body scrub with brown sugar in (so safe that you could eat it... But we gave it a miss!) And a lovely facial oil with rose and vanilla in.

And of course... Make-up!! There were a lot more make-up stands than I thought there would be! I eagerly bounded over to the Benefit counter which was choc-full of makeup artists ready to paint faces, but be warned people - this counter is absolute mayhem from the very beginning, I couldn't even get a look-in at 10am and I sadly missed out on the opportunity to grab a couple of freebies :-(

I also spotted Bourjois, which also had queues of women waiting for a bit of a makeover! But I bought my goodies from Helen E and Miss K Co who were doing some fantastic deals on bronzers, brushes, eyeshadows, glitters and other kits. I won't go into too much detail on these as I'll be digging into them very soon and producing some looks and reviews to let you know what they're like then!

Not only that but for any of you make-up addicts out there who like the right tools, CrownBrush also had a stand selling every type of make-up brush under the sun. Along with great make-up palettes - ideal for a start-up kit or just getting a great deal of shades for your money, with a typical palette costing no more than £25!

Overall we had an ultra fun day exploring what was on offer, milling around and coming out at the end smelling blissful after all of our sampling :-D It's a real buzz and it's great to chat to some of the exhibitors about what they sell and if you're keen to network then by all means go ahead, they love to hear from you if you're keen on reviewing their products online.

On the other hand don't expect many freebies. Fussy I hear you say? Not when you pay £14.50 for the ticket alone. We at least expected a free massage for 5 minutes for instance or a few more free samples. It seemed to us more of a trade event in some respects - some stands were so frantic and if you didn't want to buy that very instant they lost interest in you immediately! Some of the discounts didn't seem very reasonable with only £1 or £2 off the normal prices. Our best discovery however was with Spiezia Organics who were giving away their cleanser - normally priced £20 and a facial oil (normally £25) for only £20 for the two!

We also expected a few more organic skincare companies - we were very surprised to find so few amongst the exhibitors, especially as the show centres around wellbeing and healthy options. We decided it might be worth another visit in a couple of years, rather than annually as by then there may be a new focus and different developments.

All in all I thoroughly recommend going to the next one if you haven't been before - there's plenty to look at, do and try and overall it's a fun day out to have with your girlfriends, mum, or any other female who loves a little TLC!

Visit http://www.thevitalityshow.co.uk/index.php for more information

Other useful links

Spiezia Organics

Tropic

CrownBrush

Image Sources:

Logo courtesy of The Vitality Show

Image courtesy of www.vegfamily.com