Summer skincare

Fingers crossed this post doesn't sound like I'm preaching, here it goes....

Obviously we're in summer at the minute and looking after your skin whilst out in the sun is sooooo important.

For as long as I can remember I go out in the sun, spend all day laying about in it and don't apply any form of sun cream because "I'm only young, it won't have any effect on me". Hands up who else has said/thought this?!?! Quite a few of you I'd say.

Of course it's important to use suncreams on your body but most people seem to forget their face and if you're like me you just generally forget about suncreams full stop. But last year in my final year at uni, I was doing a degree in health and for my dissertation I chose to write about skin cancer. I'm quite a knowledgeable person but this really did enlighten me and now I always try to have some form of suncream on.

I use L'Occitane's red rice face moisturiser and when I took a close look on the packaging I was shocked that not anywhere did it mention that it contained any form of SPF (sun protection factor). Ok, so I wear foundation everyday which contains an SPF from 15 - 20 but not everyone does and now its summer I don't want heavy make-up on.

By not wearing an SPF you put yourself at risk of premature ageing, skin cancer and skin damage to name a few. Depending on your skin type everyone needs a different SPF and if you go abroad chances are you'll need a higher SPF than you would in the UK.

MYTH BUSTER: you can still tan even though you have suncream on. The higher the SPF doesn't mean the lighter tan, you're just letting more harmful rays penetrate your skin.

I went on a mission to find a face suncream which smelt nice, wasn't sticky and looked attractive. So I found this in Boots for £11.99 buy one get one free.

Hawaiian Tropic sensitive face sun lotion has an SPF of 30 and it's in a cute funky bottle which is handy to chuck in your bag for on the go use. It's also 120ml which is more than enough to last the whole summer. The only bad thing about it is that it only has a 3 star UVA rating.

UVA rays don't cause skin cancer (UVB rays do) but UVA affects the rate at which skin cancer develops so it's also vitally important to look at this when buying suncreams and not just SPF which blocks UVB rays. The maximum rating is 5 stars which is the highest you can get (all of Boots Soltan range has 5 star UVA protection). This information is found on the back in a circle.

It's also recommended that once opened you throw your suncream away after a year and buy new so that you know you're getting the full SPF protection as overtime this can breakdown meaning that an SPF 30 might only be giving you an SPF of 25 after a year of being open.

Finally, skin cancer is increasing year on year particularly in young adults so lets all try to look after ourselves as this cancer is the most preventable just by taking a few simple steps:

1. apply suncream at least 20-30 minutes before going out in the sun
2. cover up
3. wear a hat
4. stay out of the sun between 11am and 3pm
5. reapply suncream every couple of hours
6. always reapply after being in water or buy a water resistant cream

That's it lecture over! Hope I haven't bored you too much and let me know if you want any more info and I'll see what I can do! Feedback on this post is also welcome (the good and the bad)!

Have a good, and safe, summer!

Amazing giveaway

Kim at Kimbox has an great giveaway running with some super cute prizes. It closes 6th July but make sure you enter!

Review - L'Occitane

As a part of their Peony range, L'Occitane has brought out a few make-up products including face powder/eyeshadow, highlighters, lipsticks and lip glosses/balms and prices range from £9.50 up to £22.00.

I bought this a while ago as I'm a total suckers for anything L'Occitane (check my blog tomorrow and you'll see this)! It's called a face powder colour and it's one of those products that you can do anything and everything with, use it as a face powder, a blush and an eyeshadow.

It's a gorgeous pink colour and has a slight iridescent tone to it which is great for the summer. I've used this as a blusher and as an eyeshadow and I prefer it as a blusher. It also has a gorgeous flowery scent of peony so it's very girly!

This cost me £12.50 and its a dinky 3.5g size so I'm going to use it wisely! I don't think I'd buy this specific product again but I'd defiantly buy another shade.

Has anyone else bought one of these products?

Review - L'Oreal studio secrets face primer

L'Oreal studio secrets face primer is a product which is meant to smooth out your complexion for a more even surface and you can use this alone or under make-up.

It is a light, but creamy pink mousse which leaves your skin feeling lovely and silky. I've been using this under make-up as it's meant to help your make-up go on smoother and last longer.

I had slight reservations about using this at first because as I have combination skin I'm a bit funny about putting too many products on it but I found that this absorbed quickly and it didn't feel like I had an extra product on. I wouldn't say it made my make-up last longer but it defiantly felt like my foundation went on better.

I would buy this again but as it costs £12.99 I'm not sure I would pay full price for it.

Review - Mascaras

I bought both of these mascaras a while ago and had very high hope for them both.

Firstly I bought the Avon Super Shock mascara which costs £8.00. The funky limited edition packaging played a major part in purchasing it - I'm a sucker for animal prints! The brush on the end of the wand is long, very long, and as for the width of it, it's nothing special. It gives nice lash definition but I wouldn't say that it lives up to it's name. If I were choosing a mascara for a night out I defiantly wouldn't choose this one.

Secondly I bought the new L'oreal volume million lashes mascara which retails at £10.99. I have commented on quite a few blogs that I didn't like this mascara but after using it religiously for the last few day I'm going to swallow my pride and say that I was wrong (phew, that hurt!).

The brush is alot smaller in length than the Avon mascara but it is slightly wider, still not as wide as my all time favourite Maxfactor False Lash Effect. I think that because of this it is easy to layer up to create the ultimate volumising effect.

Overall, I have used better mascaras: Maxfactor's False Lash Effect and Revlon's Double Twist are my number one and two favourites.

Personally I defiantly wouldn't purchase the Avon mascara again but I would probably buy the L'Oreal one, if it was on offer!

Have you tried either of these? What did you think?

A must read!

Image from Tesco.

I got this book last week and lets put it this way, it took longer to get delivered than it took me to read it!

Sharon Marshall is the soap news person off This Morning and this is her book about her time as a tabloid journalist. The back of the book says:

'I didn't know I was starting a life where I'd be asked to do three impossible things before breakfast, and be sworn at by four celebrities by lunch. I just thought, hey, I've got a job on a tabloid.' Sharon Marshall was a tabloid reporter for ten years. Along the way she saw and did some Very Bad Things. She also had a spectacularly lousy love life. It took the entire decade to realise the two may be connected. In her hilariously honest memoirs she reveals what really goes on behind the scenes at a major tabloid newspaper. What lengths will a tabloid hack go to, just to get the story? What do celebrities (secretly) do to get into the headlines? And can a job which involves fighting with popstars, pretending to be a swinger and provoking a fuming Jeremy Paxman ever make you marriage material?

It's a hilarious and shocking read with incidences that you really couldn't make up. It's a great summer read so check it out.

Recent Buys!

I've bought a few new things this week including these cute flower hair clips which were £3 from New Look. Sorry the photo isn't that great!

My Benefit 10 was off Dainty Dollymix's blog sale and was a bargain at £12. I'd wanted to try this after my mum got a make-over at a Benefit counter and this made she cheekbones look lovely and defined. When I first tried it I wasn't impressed but I now lightly sweep it on and it leaves me with a nice, but subtle, cheekbone definition (if you get that!)
Finally my last purchases were the mini Maxfactor nail polish with I did a NOTD here and three of the new 17 mirror shine lipsticks.

The shades of the lipsticks are (L-R): Flirtini, Belle and Sugar Daddy. The colour of the bullets look quite striking but when you put them on they are much more pale and subtle (I'm using that word alot at the minute aren't I!) The consistency is more of a cross between a lipstick and a gloss but the light texture is great for summer when you don't really want to feel like you're wearing a lot of make-up.
Have you tried any of these product? If so, what did you think?