Going Organic: ila Face Oil & RMS Living Luminizer

My skin's been super-sensitive lately, with harsh products easily irritating it. I've been thinking more about the kind of chemicals in products I've been putting on my skin. I decided to be kinder to my skin and try explore more into organic skincare.

Firtly, I'm reviewing ila's Face oil for glowing radiance.

Ila is a British organic beauty brand that bases their products on the principles of Ayurvedic healing. The name of the face oil I am trying sounds extremely promising, and the packaging is so inviting with its simple bright pink box.

According to ila, this face oil works as a moisturiser to nourish and revitalise skin. It contains damascena rose otto essential oil for regenerating and nourishing the skin's cells, as well as bringing glowing radiance. Argan oil and rosehip seed oil are high in anti-oxidents and fatty acids to fight wrinkles and helps skin cells to regenerate.

What I think:

It states on the box that the product is 92.52% organic, but I know from past experience that organic ingredients does not necessarily mean that it won't irritate my skin. The oil itself feels and smells luxurious. The scent is an uplifting rose.

Here is a pic of the oil once it's been applied and spread out.

It's not so evident in the picture, but it does really provide an amazing glow. When it is applied onto my skin, the glow looks 'lit from within'. Alot of face oils are very irritating to my skin. This one seems alright now, but will update if I encounter any problems.

The downpoint to this oil would be that it's probably not suitable for oilier complexions. I can imagine it being too rich for those in more humid countries. I'll be travelling to Malaysia next month, and will be seeing how this oil works out in the tropics.

Keeping with the theme or organic beauty, I'm also reviewing the RMS living luminizer. This is one of my HG products, and reported fans of this include Gisele Bunchen and Mirander Kerr.

RMS beauty is an organic brand that strives to make products which are not only non toxic but also heals and nourishes the skin -sounds like my kind of makeup! the luminizer is a sheer mineral highlighter which gives a translucent sheen, for a gorgeous healthy looking glow. It comes in a frosted glass container. It's a satin pearl colour with has a lip balm sort of texture, but not oily.

I love it on my skin!! And it doesn't clog up or irritate my skin either. Am so happy I came across this product.

I especially love applying it across my cheekbones. I'll include it some of my future FOTDs so you can see what it looks like on the face.

Here's a sneak preview of a British brand of mineral makeup that I've been looking forward to try. It's Lily Lolo, and I've ordered some products as well as lots of little samples to try. Will review them soon!

I heart Paul & Joe

I did a Paul and Joe haul awhile ago, but never got round to blogging about it. I love this brand! They have such beautiful packaging, and I think their products are lovely, with really pretty easy to wear colours. However, they're so difficult to get hold of in the UK that I mostly buy them online from Beautybay and HQhair.

Here's what I bought. This would be the last of my big hauls for awhile as I'm trying to save up. But then again, I'm going to Japan next month. I don't know how on earth I will be able to resist all that shopping.

This is their Lipgloss G in Love Berry 07


A thick texture, but goes on as a sheer strawberry red. It feels really light on my lips and not too sticky:

I also bought their base makeup:

Moisturizing foundation primer 03 and Protective fluid foundation N 10

The primer is on the left and foundation on the right:

I like to blend the two together for a super sheer look:

This is their Creamy cheek powder in Marionette 01. According to Paul and Joe, this colour is highly translucent and delivers a glow, like that of bare skin. Marionette is a pretty rose pink, that looks more natural once on the skin. Texture is unlike anything I've come across. It fel like both a powder and a cream at the same time.

I also bought 2 Lipstick N's in Bougainvillea 12 and Strawberry Jam 14

Bougainvillea is a pale nude rose with a very creamy texture:

Strawberry Jam is a lustrous red-pink colour. It contains small gold shimmer. Sorry the pictures are not very bright! We've been having such dull weather here, it's hard to get good natural lighting. I've added an additional side pic of the swatch to get a better idea of the colour.

Here's me using my Paul & Joe products. I'm using the base and foundation mixed together, the Marionette cheek powder and Bougainvillea lipstick.

As lovely as the bougainvillea lipstick is, it does wash out my complexion a little. Sadly, I do not suit too pale colours and better stick to slightly darker, rosy colours.

* I'll be in Japan and Malaysia for a month (am very excited -my first trip to Japan!), but I've scheduled some posts in the meantime to keep my blog going. See you all when I get back! *

Mac marine life swatch, What's in my bag and Topshop Beauty

Hi, a few of you has requested a swatch of Mac to the beach Marine Life high light powder, so here it is! This is what my marine life looks like after a few uses. The gold on my seahorse has completely dissapeared.


This are swatches of the two colours seperately:


and the two colours combined:

Another request was for me to do a post on what's in my bag. First of all, I would like to say..my bag is not a fake. I've had a helpful comment telling my bag was definately a fake. Thank you for your concern, it was very sweet of you to worry that my husband got ripped off. He bought it from Harvey Nichols, an upmarket department store chain that rivals Selfridges and Harrods. I doubt that Harvey Nichols would sell fake bags, and would be angry if they did. Anyway, my husband has kept the receipt incase I did not like the style of colour and would want to exchange it for another bag, so if it is indeed a fake, I can return it.

The bag is from their new collection of rose coloured studded bags, hance why it may look different from conventional Balenciaga bags.

Anyway, onto what is in my bag. Sadly, I don't carry interesting stuff. These are the everyday items I carry with me in my bag:

My phone, keys, wallet from Ted Baker, my favourite sunnies: Ray Ban aviators, Tiffany pen that was a viva passing gift from my husband, Eve Lom kiss mix lip balm (the BEST lip balm I have ever tried -and I've tried lots!), bobby Brown concealer (for my terrible under eye dark circles), Bobbi Brown lipstick in Rose (my favourite everyday colour), and an Aveda hand cream.

Topshop has recently released their new makeup line. I couldn't resist getting a few things:

I bought their skin glow in Light. Here's a swatch of it on my hand. It's an illuminator with a pink sheen for, and it gives a nice glowy look.

I also bought their duo eyeshadow in Rocky Road

Fairly neutral colours, but very pretty:

Lastly, I bought their cream blush in Neon Rose

a bright peachy pink.

My Birthday, Sweet Blog Award & Mac to the beach highlighter

It was my birthday a few days ago. We went to celebrate in a nice Malaysian restaurant, and I had a great time. My sweet husband baked me a birthday cake:

I was very lucky to receive much love this year. Lots of sweet texts and lovely facebook messages. Nice presents too! Here are a few of my birthday gifts:


From my husband, an amazing Balenciaga bag and Marc Jacobs sunglasses. He really spoils me, I don't deserve such lavish gifts.

From my sis in law, a case full of Lancome goodies!

I also received lots a Selfridges gift card and lots of Harvey Nichols vouchers!

Onto my award, thank you to Winniewingyi for this sweet blog award! It's very cute, and came as a nice birthday surpirse!

The rules of this award are to:

-give this award to 10 sweet and friendly bloggers

-let them know they've been nominated

The lovely 10 blogs I've nominated are:

Elle

Serenaeveryday

aimei

White Rabbits Time

Ohh... Pretty!

Ushishi
Innerchild

Mademoiselle loves BEAUTY

Love Eve Beauty

Bang bang she shoots

I finally managed to get my hands on Mac To The Beach Marine Life highlighting powder. It sold out completely online, and in one Mac store in Manchester. But luckily managed to get two (one for me, and one for my sis in law) in town.

It looks beautiful! And the colour is a fresh peachy pink.

Missha M Shiny BB Cream Review

I wrote this post ages ago, and completely forgot about it!

I'm reviewing another BB cream, this time it's Missha's M Shiny BB cream SPF27 PA++. I bought this at Cosme-de.com which does free shipping worldwide. It comes in this really pretty and cute pearly tube:



This BB cream is said to contain pearl powder to give a radiance to your skin. It's moisturizing and antioxident ingredients protect your skin and provides a natural glow. I'm a huge fan of dewy, radiant skin so this BB cream sounded hugely promising.

I was very excited when my BB cream arrived. I found gave a nice, light, even coverage. It wasn't a thick cream, so it was easy to apply and spreads quite well. I also liked the fact that it contains SPF, and felt moist and comfortable on the skin.

However despite all this, I'm not a big fan of this BB cream. The dissapointing thing about it was it's glitter overload. It's really difficult to see in the picture below, but the BB cream was much to glittery for my taste. You can just make out white flecks in the pic which are light reflected from the glittery particles. The glitter is much more apparent in real life than in this pic.



My concern about how glittery this cream is grew when I tried it on my face. I was happily working on my laptop, when my husband came to see how I was doing. He greeted me with 'hello sparkly face'. Appalled, I looked in the mirror under bright light to see my face was extremely sparkly. I felt lit up like a Christmas tree. After that, I have never used this BB cream again.

Rating:

This BB cream definately had its good points, but the sparkles but me off it, hence the rating above. I've read reviews though, where others have not found this cream too glittery. Maybe my batch was particularly sparkly, or it could be that everyone has a different sparkle threshold.

MAC To The Beach mini haul

How exciting! Mac To The Beach products are out online in the UK, and will his the stores in a few days time. I bought the Lustre Drops in Pink Rebel, Bronzing Powder in Golden, and Blush in Hipness. I also wanted to get the highlighting powder with the seahorse, but they've already completely sold out online!

L-R: lustre drops, bonzer and blush

Here is a close of of the Pink Rebel Lustre Drops:

This is my favourtie of the three. It's a beautiful ight pink with gold pearl.

Here is a swatch after it's been spread out:

The blush in Hipness, a pinky coral.

..and the bronzer in Golden, a tan beige with golden shimmer:

Here are swatches of them both, wth the bronzer above and the blush below:

Can't wait to try these products out, for a lovely summer look!