Beauty on a Budget: Boots Botanics Organic Rosewater Toner Review

Hi everyone. I've decided to start a series of posts called 'Beauty on a Budget'. Good skincare is important to me, but in such a tough economy I try (try being the keyword here, as I don't normally succeed) to save where I can. In these series of posts I'll share with you my reviews on inexpensive beauty finds, as well as a few recipes on making your own skincare products such as body scrubs and hair masks.

Boots Botanics Organic Rosewater Toner

For my first post in this series, I'm reviewing Boots Botanics rosewater toner. It's definitely a budget beauty buy at £3.99 for a 150ml bottle from Boots (~$6 US). I'm a fan of Boots products as I find them very affordable and pretty effective.

What attracted me to this toner was that it was from the Botanics range, which I'm fond of (especially their soothing eye makeup remover). I also like the fact that it had a 'certified 100% organic' tag on it, and that it contained rosewater.

According to Boots, this toner 'gently cleanses and refreshes. Rosewater soothes and tones.'

The toner is a colourless, slightly cloudy liquid. It only contains 5 ingredients (water, alcohol denat., glycerin, damascus rose oil and citronellol), all of which are certified as organic. I like my products to contain as little ingredients as possible, as I believe this would decrease the chances of it irritating me skin. The toner has a nice delicate rose scent. When applied to the skin, the toner feels really nice and refreshing. It also made my skin feel cleansed and well toned. Though it contained alcohol, it did not make my face sting nor did it make my skin feel dry.

After regular use, however, I noticed this product caused minor irritation to my skin in the form of small bumps and redness. It could be the alcohol that is irritating my skin, or I could have a slight allergy to the rose oil. Whatever the cause, I sadly could not continue using this product.

Pros:

Made from 100% certified organic ingredients. Dermatologically tested. Very affordable, smells nice, and feels refreshing on the skin.

Cons:

Contains alcohol. Caused minor irritation to my skin.

Overall, I find this product to be good value for money. It's a nice, simple toner which does the job. I would have really liked this product if my skin wasn't so sensitive to it. I think it'll be great for non-sensitive skins which love rose products and do not mind the addition of alcohol.

B-

Tag: 8 Most Worn Things

Hi everyone, I saw this fun tag on Miss Kei Kei's blog in which she tagged all her readers.

Most worn hair product?

Aveda Brilliant Emollient Finishing Gloss

I love the way it smoothes my hair while adding lots of shine!

Most worn lipstick/gloss

Nars lipgloss in Strawberry Fields
My favourite of their Autumn collection. To see my swatch, click here.

Most worn earrings

I dn't wear earrings all that much as my hair covers my ears, making it hard for earrings to be seen. My favourite pair are these that I bought in a little boutique in Den Haag when I used to live in Holland.

Most worn top

I've been wearing this top quite a bit lately. It's a lovely blue and white polka dotted sweater that my mum gave to me as a gift. I think she bought it from Hobbs.


Most worn nail polish

Opi in Dulce de Leche


Most worn shoes


I love this pale blue, gold studded suede pair from Dune.


Most worn perfume

Guerlain Aqua Allergoria, Pamplelune
I love this perfume! It's grapefruit, with a hint of vanilla. I love citrus perfumes and this one is slightly sweet smelling too.

Most worn bag


A little Miu Miu bag with cute bows on the side, given to me as a gift from my husband.

I don't know if the following like doing tags, but I've tagged them anyway:

Angmogirl
Bangbangsheshoots
Bittenbefore/yumeko
Elle
Fuzkittie
Loveevebeauty
Ooh...pretty!
Peonyinlove
Rainydaysandlattes
Serenaeveryday
Tummycake
Yellowjellybaby

New Lancome Teint Miracle Foundation and Collection

It's been a long time coming, but I've finally manage to find my HG foundation. Lancome's new Teint Miracle range has everything I'm looking for in a base; light, flawless coverage that gives me a radiant, dewy look.

This foundation has just been introduced to Selfridges 2 weeks ago, and will be made available worldwide around September.

The Teint Miracle collection also includes the Eclat Miracle Serum and Multi-lights Touch Corrector Pens. Below are the foundation and serum in its packaging:

The Foundation is called Teint Miracle Natural Light Creator Bare Skin Perfection SPF15, and I have it in 01 Beige Albatre. This is the first foundation by Lancome which recreates the aura of natural light emanating from beautiful skin to give a brighter complexion, which is flawless and fresher looking day after day.

What I loved about this foundation was its light feel, as I like my foundation to look and feel like real skin- only better! According to Lancome, it contains 10x less powdery fillers, with a high concentration of water. I didn't feel like I was wearing foundation, and it didn't irritate my skin or break me out.

The serum is the Eclat Miracle Serum of Light Universal Radiance Booster and it is my favourite of the collection. Below is the serum on my hand:

The serum is designed to light up the complexion flawlessly with intense hydration and light, non-greasy texture. It can be used on its own, beneath foundation, or as a highlighter. The sales assistant recommended me to mix it with foundation for an extra radiant glow, and this is now my preferred method of use. The only downside of this serum is the small packaging (20ml), and feel that i might run out of this fairly quickly.

Below is the Multi-lights Touch Corrector Bare Skin Perfection. Available in different shades, it acts as both a concealer and radiance booster, much like the famous YSL Touche Eclat.

I bought it in 05 Aura Universelle. This colour was a beautiful pearly pale pink, and works brilliantly as a highlighter on the cheeks. Below is a swatch on my hand, unblended.

Here is a pic of the corrector once it is blended into the skin:

It gives a gorgeous subtle shimmer the skin without glitter. Below is a pic of me using the foundation mixed with the serum as a base, and the corrector pen on top of my cheeks to highlight.

I love the radiant dewy look it gives my skin, and I feel that this foundation really brightens up my skin. The only downpoint is that I would prefer foundation feel a little bit more hydrating on my skin. Overall I am very happy with this foundation and find it gives me the perfect amount of coverage whilst feel super-light and glowy.

Nars Autumn 2010 mini haul and swatches

Hi everyone, here's a mini haul on one of my favourtie cosmetic brands, Nars. I find myself always looking forward to the release of their new collection, and their Autumn 2010 collection was no exception.

This collection was describes as Victorian vies with femme fatale. I bought 3 tiems from this collection; duo eyeshadow in Tzarine, Strawberry Field lip gloss, and blush in Douceur.

The Tzarine eyeshadow is a highly pigmented, gold infused with silver reflections and a bold, stell grey.

Swatches of the colours:

Strawberry Fields lip gloss, is very much like a glossy lip stain. I love it, and it's my favourtie of the collection!

The colour is a bright raspberry stain:

And lastly, I also bought the blush in Douceur. It's a beautiful nude like pink-brown, which I used to bring a little warmth to the face.

The texture is really soft and blends well with the skin (almost too well, as you can hardly see it in this pic!):

That's all for now, nut i'm already eyeing the Nars Holiday Collection that I've read about some some blogs. Especially a beautiful baby peach-pink blush called Sex Appeal. Swatches can be found in Lipglossing Blog.

Classic Rose FOTD

Here is one of my favourtie simple looks, with rosy cheeks and lips. The products used for this look are shown below:

Face:

Une Soft minerals powder foundation M03

MAC blush Pinch O' Peach

Eyes:

Max Factor false lash effect mascara

Bobbi Brown gel liner in black

MAC eye kohl in fascinating (line bottom lid)

Lips:

Bobbi Brown lip colour in Rose

Une Beauty is a new organic makeup line from the creators of Bourjois. Where possible, they use organic ingredients approved by ECOCERT, a French organic organisation. For my FOTD, I tried out their mineral foundation.

It provided nice, medium coverage and does not have a heavy, powdery feel. I also found this foundation to last pretty well throughout the day.

To finish off the look, I used my favourite MAC/Bobbi Brown blush and lip combo. I used this look for my PhD graduation a few days ago, and will post a couple of pics of it up soon.