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.

My Japanese Makeup Collection

As alot of us love Japanese beauty brands, I thought I'd share with you part ofmy Japanese makeup collection that I have accumulated so far.

I haven't included my Paul & Joe items in this post, and my collection has increased somewhat after my trip to asia. Above, I have a couple Jill Stuart blushes, Canmake cream blushes, RMK cheeks palette, and a Kose Esprique Precious Symphonic eye palette.

As you can see I'm a pretty big fan of blushes (especially sweet, pink colours!), but lets start with the eye palette. I got the palette in F1.

It contains 4 eye shadow shades (glittery white, peachy pink, glittery lavender & dark shimmery grey), and a pearly cream base

It comes with a suggestion of how/where to use each colour:

These colours are higly pigmented, and a bit too glittery for my taste. The colours are really pretty though, which is a shame!

Onto the blushes. I have a couple of Jill Stuart blushes in Rose Fairy 11, and Little Bouquet 09

(L-r: Rose Fairy, Little Bouquet)

Rose Fairy swatches:

Swatches of Little Bouquet:

RMK Spring modern cheeks:

A cheek palette with fresh and bright colours. The white highlighting powder is a bit too powdery and matt looking for my taste.

And finally, Canmake cream cheeks in 01 Peach Dream, and 02 Cherry Pink:

Cute looking colours that are easy to blend and really stand out on the cheeks.

My Holiday Haul

I did quite alot of shopping for beauty products during my trip to Asia. I mainly bought things I couldn't find in the UK, such as whitening products and Korean/Japanese brands.

First up is the Diorsnow White Reveal Makeup UV Base in Beige:

I was looking for a UV lotion that could double up as a very light tinted moisturiser. The base has a very light, watery consistency, and provides a slight touch of colour.

I also got Olay's White Radiance Brightening Serum. I haven't got round to using this yet, as my skin is super-sensitive at the moment. I don't want to put too many things on my skin until it's calmed down. Can't wait to try this though!

Sunsilk has partnered with 7 famous haircare expects to including Yuko Yamashita (creator of the Yuko straightening process) and Thomas Taw (a damaged hair expert). I bought their sunsil hairmasks. One for reconstructing damaged hair, and one for silky smooth hair.

I bought this Canmake Loose Cheek Powder in 02. This powder is not very pigmented, but it gives a pretty and natural look. My sister tried it, and loved it so much that I bought her one of her own.

Now onto the Korean brands. I came across this brand in KL. I've never heard of it before, but am not liking the name much, Baviphat. Some of their products look very similar in style to Benefit.

I bought their Apple Magic Lip Tint. The tint is a VERY subtle cherry colour (sorry, I didn't but up a lip swatch as the colour is too subtle), but the smell is gorgeous and apple-like! The lovely sales assistant gave me lots of face mask samples that come in the same cute packaging as this lip tint.

From Skinfood, I bought their Gold Caviar Serum, and Sugar Hand Cream. The hand cream smells divine (like sugarcane and citrus). I ended up buying a few for family and friends.

I noticed that Etude House has arrived in Malaysia since my last visit. I bought a blush. I don't know the name as it's written in korean, but I do know the colour is 02.

It comes with a cute little puff with a pink bow on top.

The colour is a gorgeous peachy-pink.

I also bought Etude House's Precious Mineral Brightener. It's meant to 'rejuvenate' the complexion (bascially, a highlighter).

I bought it for its pretty, pearly colours:

Now, onto my favourite product of the entire holiday haul. The Face Shop's Peeling Day in White Jewel. It's a facial exfoliator which gave me amazing results. My face feels transformed, alot clearer and more radiant. I'm now using it very sparingly as I don't want to run out!

Also from The Face Shop is The Skin BB cream. I've not used this much, so cannot comment on it at this moment!

And from one of my favourite skincare brands, SKII, I bought the Facial Treatment Clear Lotion and the new Cellumination Essence.

The Cellumination Essence is great! And i can really see a difference in my skin when used together with a previously bought SKII treatment essence.

In Malaysia my husband and I, together with my family, went on a beach holiday at a cute little private island called Pangkor Laut. From a gift shop at the resort, I found this lovely makeup case with little pink elephants on it!

That's my holiday haul, please feel free to request any reviews on these products!