Clinique Haul/Review + Freebies :-)

Hey dolls, hope your all doing good? Just thought I'd share a quick review of some more Clinique products I purchased a few weeks ago as I think I've had more than enough time now to try and test etc! After trying a sample of the anti-blemish clarifying lotion I was pretty keen on trying out the formula for oilier skin as it hadn't really done much for me in that department, I also ordered the dramatically different moisturizing gel as I'd rediscovered a sample I had from years ago which I ended up finishing and loving finally!

Clarifying Lotion 4

I've been using this for a few weeks now and I have to say I'm not overly impressed by it taking into consideration the price of it. I use it after cleansing with a facial wash and whilst it does make my skin feel clean and smooth, I don't think it "sweeps away oil" as Clinique claim it does. 
 










As you can hopefully see...there isn't a huge difference in the amount of oil before and after using which is really disappointing considering this lotion is supposedly for very oily skin types. At £15.00 for a 200ml bottle, I think there are definitely better alternatives available for much less.

Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel As I'd mentioned earlier, I had a sample of this with about half left over and I have to admit that it had just been chucked into the bottom of a drawer and forgotten about for years. Anyways in an attempt to get rid of my hoards of samples, I used the rest of this up and discovered that it was actually a really good product.  I thought this would clog up my skin and make it feel oily and horrible like most "oil-free" moisturisers tend to do but I was pleasantly surprised. As it's a gel based formula it feels really lightweight but moisturises just enough.    Considering I normally pay around £6 for a moisturiser, this is way expensive at £28.50 for the 125ml size but I honestly think its kind of worth it and I'm the biggest cheapskate ever just for the record! A little definitely goes a long way and I think I may of even used a bit too much when I took the picture on the right.  Freebies!!!  If you've bought Clinique before you may be aware that they are quite generous with giving out free samples and when I ordered there was a bank holiday promo to receive 3 sample sized treats plus 2 extra samples with online orders...PLUS they also threw in an extra sachet sample.       I have to admit, I haven't actually tested out all the samples they sent as I haven't quite found a use for everything yet for example the Repairwear Laser Focus serum. From what they sent I've started using the All About Eyes Cream which I love :-) and the mini lipgloss which is surprisingly lovely - not too sticky and a really wearable colour considering it looks quite a deep shade of pink in the tube. I've also tried the High Impact Mascara which is anything but IMO...nothing comes close to Maybelline Colossal for me at the moment!  All products reviewed available from:  http://www.clinique.co.uk/   I think this will be my last haul for a short while as I am now only 2 weeks away from meeting my precious bubba and spending £50+ on skincare just isn't going to be an option from now on, not when I have nappies etc to buy!! So what have you lovelies been hauling recently and are you constantly searching for holygrail skincare products like me?!?

July Favourites

Hey everyone, hope your all having a great summer! I'm so happy it's finally stopped raining here and the sun has (sort of) been making an appearance :)

Just thought I'd share some of my favourite purchases from last month, I was considering doing a post like this every month as I tend to rave about products I've just bought and consequently, some of my holy grail products become forgotten about. I have actually spent quite a lot on make-up this month, mainly on E.L.F. products as they had a 50% promo on about a week ago I'm gonna do a haul post on everything I got from them another time though as there is so much to review, so much that I've not even had a chance to try everything I bought yet! Anyways here's my favourite new purchases & products from July:

 

H&M Brick Red Poncho

I'd had my eye on this poncho for a while as I knew it would cover my bump and it looked lovely in the catalogue promo photos. I'd resisted purchasing for a while when I noticed it had gone into sale for the other day and considering the lack of affordable and fashionable maternity clothing I caved in and bought it....as well as a few other things :) 

H&M Feather Earrings

I can never just buy one thing from H&M, it's so bloody cheap and on-trend! Which leads me onto these boho kinda earrings I also purchased. Long, embellished earrings have always been a bit of an addiction of mine but recently I was trying to give my poor earlobes a break from all the heavy fake metal I'd been hanging off them over the years :\ Fortunately these are really lightweight and look stunning on.

Available from: hm.com

Neutrogena Visibly Clear Spot Stress Control Ultra Light Spot Treatment Moisturiser

I've always found Neutrogena products slightly hit & miss especially when they changed the formula of one of my HG face washes :\ Anyways, I reluctantly purchased this moisturiser as it was on promo in Boots and needed something cheap to replace my Body Shop skin clearing lotion. Whilst I'm still not sure of it's spot fighting abilities, the way this makes my skin feel is great. It feels really light and refreshing on the skin and which I'm guessing is down to the cucumber ingredient. On the days where we've had really humid weather, this hydrates my skin just enough as well as cooling it down.

Witch Anti-Blemish Skin Clearing Primer

I absolutely love this product. It fades the redness around my breakouts and previous acne scars, mattifies oily patches of skin, makes my skin surface smoother before applying make-up and I love the fact that it acts as a barrier to the plethora of make-up products I apply over the top. I've been using this for a few weeks now and admittedly it is my first ever primer! I don't use moisturiser underneath as I feel like applying both a moisturiser and primer is just drowning my face in products which doesn't help if you have oily skin plus this does a great job of moisturising on it's own. Overall, great product if you want a purse friendly primer :)

Boots Skin Clear Oil-Absorbing Sheets

These have been a god send for me over the last month! I hate applying powder over greasy skin so oil blotting sheets are a must-have for me. These are quite powdery when you tear them off the adhesive inside the packaging but they work wonders at absorbing oil from the skin and my make-up doesn't come off at all when using them either which I've noticed can happen with other oil blotting sheets I've used in the past.

 Products shown available from: www.boots.com

Make Up Academy Professional Eye Palette Heaven & Earth

After seeing several bloggers raving about this value for money neutral palette I had to have it considering I'm pretty much always on a budget and Superdrug were offering free delivery on all purchases so win win for my lazy, pregnant self :) Honestly though, this is a fab eye palette if you love neutrals as that's pretty much all this consists of.

Top row swatches taken in natural daylight.

Top row swatches taken with flash.

Bottom row swatches taken in natural daylight.

Bottom row swatches taken with flash.

Overall, this is an amazing product for the price, it retails at £4 which I think makes it well worth trying out. The shadows are very easy to blend and pigmentation is good so I'd definitely advise snapping this up before it sells out!

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss Peach Petal

 This had been on my wish list for a while simply because I was yet to find a nude coloured lip gloss that actually gave a nude lip and having googled swatches of this, I was hopeful this would end my search!

Bare lips with no product applied.

Lip swatch of Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Peach Petal.

 For your reference I'm an NC25 in MAC, so as you can see, this is highly pigmented and does in fact lighten my lips to give a more nude lip. One thing I would say is that this gloss is really sticky so it can go on quite streaky and kinda sit on any dry bits of skin. Overall I'd say this is a fab lipgloss, just make sure you really moisturise your lips beforehand which I mistakenly didn't do when I was swatching! I'm definitely going to be purchasing some more colours from the range in future.

Products shown available from: www.superdrug.com

 

 I hope you've enjoyed this post or it's at least been a bit helpful, would love to get some feedback.

 Have you tried any of the products I've spoke about and what products or brands are you loving at the moment?