Going On A Skincare Journey With Ioma Paris

Hello there,

If you know me then you know that I am crazy about skincare. Wherever I go I can guarantee that I'll have some sort of serum or moisturiser in my bag and whenever I go away on holiday my loved ones echo "all of that is for your skin?!". Why yes, yes it is. I am a self-proclaimed skincare junkie which comes with it perks and of course downfalls. That's why when I was offered to visit the Ioma Paris counter in Harrods for a skin diagnosis I couldn't resist.

I first met the lovely Ioma Paris team at the Blogger's Hangout BLFW event and I was instantly intrigued by their skincare range. I loved the fact that you could completely tailor it to your skin and its needs as well as have an action plan to help you undertake your new skincare regime. They even have an app where you can record how your skin feels during your new regime and then the app changes and adapts your regime even further to suit your ever changing skin. My thoughts? Finally a skincare range where there is no thinking done on my part, I can just carry on with my routine without second guessing.

When I arrived at the Ioma Paris counter I was met by the lovely Victoria who was going to talk me through the range as well as do my diagnosis. I was excited to get started and talk about all things skincare.

When you first get your diagnosis done you're asked a few questions about your current skincare routine and what sort of skin you think you have. I explained that I have quite sensitive and dry skin and that I cleanse every day as well as exfoliate every other day. Whilst, I thought this would good and kept my skin clean, Victoria actually told me that exfoliating this much can actually damage your skin. Say what?! I know- I had no idea. I was just following the instructions that came with my old products.

I also explained my dark circles (which come with being so pale and having sensitive skin). I am not one for applying eye cream religiously (guilty!) but Victoria advised me to start doing so to protect my sensitive skin from ageing when I get older. It was nice to talk to someone who believes so passionately about taking good care of your skin and gives such informative advice.

The first step in the skin diagnosis was the check how hydrated my skin was. My skin was measured with Ioma's very own technology which can give you a full skin diagnosis in as little as three minuets. To my surprise my dry skin wasn't too bad. However, there is always room for improvement. Making sure that your skin is fully hydrated can eventually make your skin clearer, softer and protected from ageing prematurely.

Next my skin was scanned to analyse what sort of condition it was in, in terms of oiliness, ageing, sun damage and under eye circles. Yes, Ioma technology can tell you all of that! Although my readings were pretty average for someone of my age my skin is very thin so can be more vulnerable to damage. In addition to this I had been exfoliating too much which had left my skin too open and more prone damage such as sun burn and pollution damage. My skin had been creating pools of oil in my pores to protect itself resulting in quite a high oiliness score. This shocked me as I had such dry skin. It goes to show that you don't actually know your skin as well as you think you do.

After my scan was complete I was given a "shopping list" of which products would work best for me based on my diagnosis. As you can see all of the products have a different number on them. Each number represents which Ioma line the product is from as each line has it's own specific skin problem it solves. For instance, I have two products from the number four range which focuses on calming the skin and combating redness. However the beauty of Ioma is that you can mix and match all of the lines to suit your skin. Additionally you can always change and adapt your skincare regime as your skin changes. So if you feel that your skin is very problematic or has various different needs you don't have to worry about fitting into just one line. There is something for everyone.

I was very lucky and am very grateful to have been gifted quite a few samples and their new Lip Lift product (which I am really loving by the way) so stay tuned for an update of how I got on with my Ioma skincare products, coming very soon.

Blogiversary Giveaway!

Happy birthday to my blog!

It has been a year (ish) since I re-started my blog. So, to celebrate a whole year of a consistency (ish) I thought I would do a giveaway for all of my lovely readers.

I don't know where I would be without you all and I am grateful for every single one of you. There is nothing I love more than typing away on my blog and knowing that people are reading it. To be honest when I first started I had no idea what I was getting myself into or even if anyone was reading what I was writing or if anyone even cared about it.

But it turns out quite a few people do and I love you all! You're all the only reason why I am doing this giveaway.

Now let's get into what anyone of you lovely readers could be receiving and I'll go over the rules below.

1. One Sleek Face Form Powder Contour Palette in Medium

2. One Sleek Eyeshadow Palette in Au Naturel

3. One Sleek Matte Me Lipstick in Bittersweet

4. One Gosh Velvet Finish Lipstick in Delicious 

5. One #NoFilterNeeded Make-Up Bag

6. One Blooming Beautiful Lush Gift Set

7. One Multi-Coloured Floral Neon Scarf

Now for the technical part- the rules...

• This giveaway is open internationally and doesn't contain items that would be prohibited from posting overseas. 
• This giveaway will be open to entries as soon as this post is live and will close at 23:59 on the 21st May 2016.  
• Entrants must be over 18 year of age or have their parent or guardians permission to enter.
• Entrants must enter this giveaway via Rafflecopter which I will link to at the end of this post.
• Entrants must have an active Twitter account.
• There will only be one winner who will receive all of the items pictured in this post. 
• One winner will be chosen by random by Rafflecopter, however if the winner does not respond in 5 days then another winner will be selected by random by Rafflecopter.
• I will contact the winner via direct message on Twitter.
• The prize will be sent the day after I have received correspondence from the winner.
• Once the prize has been sent, I will no longer be responsible for the package. The responsibility will be with the courier and/or mail service. 

And that's it! All you guys have to do to enter via Rafflecopter below! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beauty Hack: Nappy Rash Cream Face Mask?!

Welcome back!

I've been trying out a wealth of face masks ever since I was thirteen years old whilst attending and hosting some stereotypical sleepovers. I've tried them all from the £1 chocolate face mask right up to a full on gel face mask putting your pocket out by £18.

But what if I could tell you there's a brilliant face mask that doesn't break the bank like a gel one but also does a whole lot more than the £1 jobs? Well, it's been right under your noses the whole time. Sudocrem!

I first heard about using Sudocrem as a face mask when Bethan from Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model raved about it in an audition clip. And let's be honest, she has amazing skin. So she couldn't be wrong, right?

I know what you're thinking- nappy rash cream?! Ladies and gentlemen please throw your assumptions and pre-determined judgements aside because you'll be thanking me later.

The texture of Sudocrem is almost clay like when you apply it as a face mask. I like this because you can be sure that you are getting full coverage. I just applied the cream with my fingertips making sure that I got an even but thick layer across my whole face.

The first thing I noticed when I was applying my face mask was the smell; it smells slightly minty to me like toothpaste. Nothing too strong or eye watering though.

To remove the mask I just dampened a muslin cloth in warm water and wiped the product away.

Now, the results? At first my face felt kind of chalky when I initially removed the product. However after about two hours my skin felt smooth and plump. Also, (my favourite part) my usual redness had seemed to magically disappear.

I've been using Sudocrem as a face mask once a week for about three weeks now and am thrilled with the results. It seems I have found the perfect face mask without breaking the bank! Score one for me, zero for confusing beauty products.

Cleaning My Make-Up Brushes: Sephora Daily Brush Cleaner

Welcome back!

Like most make-up enthusiasts I know that it is important to keep my brushes clean to get the most out of them. But also like most make-up enthusiasts I hate cleaning my brushes. It usually takes quite a long time to get the product off and to be honest I just get bored.

Nonetheless I thought trying a new product out and writing about it might be a fun way to do it. I'm thinking about testing out some other make-up brush cleaners so if you have any ideas please comment them down below. I'd love to try them out.

Now, for the product I am actually testing out for this post; the Sephora daily make-up brush cleaner. It's a scented spray that claims to leave your brushes spotless. Let's see shall we?

First things first I put down an old towel to lay my dirty brushes on whilst I used the cleaner. I didn't want to make a mess, plus it makes it easier to take photos. As you can see, here are my dirty brushes before their clean...

The instructions on the bottle say that you just need to spray the product directly onto the entire brush covering all of the bristles. Then you wait...

I went downstairs and made a lovely cup of tea whilst I was waiting for my brushes to dry. I then came back up stairs, tea in tow to see what had happened to them. As you can see above my make-up brushes still seemed to be very much the same as they were before. However, I still had one more step to complete. I used my old towel to brush the make-up off my brushes. Gently though, so that I didn't ruin them.

After wiping them off they did seem to be cleaner. However one thing I would say about the cleaner is that when you're cleaning brushes that have had lip products on them they take quite a lot of wiping to get off. So although the cleaner did work it took a lot of scrubbing with my towel. Therefore not really eliminating the problem of a time consuming process.

This is not the perfect make-up brush cleaner I have been looking for. Never mind- bring on the next one!

Star Wars Series: C3PO Make-Up Tutorial

Welcome back!

I have finally got back on to YouTube after a little break and I thought that I'd carry on with my Star Wars blog/vlog series. If you haven't already pop over to my YouTube and give me a subscribe, I'd really appreciate it.

Anyway I thought that this week I would do a C3PO inspired make-up tutorial. It was so fun to play around with golds and yellows (colours I don't usually go for!). Here are the products I used.

Here is the finished look. As you can see I didn't want to go for just a gold smokey eye look. I wanted to go full out and make my face actually look like robotic parts. Let me know what you think of this look down below in the comments.

And here is the video. I will in insert it into this blog post, but the quality is alot better if you actually view it on YouTube. If you want the full list of products I used pop over to the video on my YouTube channel here and open the description box.