Ren Clarifying Toning Lotion.

A toner should be a part of your skincare routine. It can be calming, exfoliating, moisturising or whatever you feel your skin may need that particular day. This Ren clarifying toning lotion is an exfoliating toner, it has chemicals in it that break down any dead skin which leaves you with a radiant, healthy glowing complexion. In terms of how strong of an exfoliator it is? I would say it's a medium. You get a slight tingle, not a proper tingle like you would with Pixi glow tonic. 

I like the packaging, the frosted plastic looks classy but it is travel friendly and practical. You can see how much you have, the lid stays on firmly and the plastic is sturdy. Brill. It's £18 which is around how much you'd expect to pay for a toner that works! What do you think about it? Do you like it?

Love, Ashlea Xx

Essie Sugar Daddy.

Sugar Daddy is a very very sheer pink. You can't get opaque with this polish, believe me, I've tried! That being said I love it, I think it's very cute and classy and elegant and any other good thing that I haven't said! 

In the above photo I have two coats on and you can still see the whites of my nails but I don't mind. For that reason this polish would be a good one to use for a French manicure, no? The brush is nice and chunky so it's easy to get an even smooth finish. I wouldn't expect anything else from Essie. It lasts really well, a good week without looking too disheveled. Fab. I highly recommend this. 

This retails for £7.99

Love, Ashlea Xx

A match made in heaven.

When looking through my nail varnish stash to see what I fancied essie go ginza and eternal optimist were next to each other and they looked so gorgeous! So I painted my nails alternating between colours. They are so complimentary to each other, I love it! 

Just thought I'd share, although i was tempted to be selfish and keep this little gem all to myself.

Love, Ashlea Xx

Real Techniques Duo Fibre Brushes

These duo fibre brushes are part of the real techniques brand created by the wonderful Samantha Chapman (pixiwoo on YouTube). They are also limited edition so if you want them, act fast! So the reason why you might want to grab some duo fibre brushes instead of a regular one is because duo fibre don't pick up that much product, or as much as a normal brush. It works because there aren't as many bristles at the end if the brush so it can't pick up as much product because the brush is much less dense.

They are still nicely colour coordinated like other brushes in the range and the bristles are handily white to see how much product you have on the brush.

The face and contour brush are both flat which makes them more versatile but especially with the 

contour brush, it makes it easier to create a contour and a subtle one too, unless you want to build it up.  The face brush is brilliant for people who are not powder girls, who love the dewy look but want to use powder to set their makeup. The shadow brush is perfect for blending as it doesn't take off and of the product you have put on. The contour brush is also a good blush brush in particular with heavily pigmented blushes as it stops you going too full on straight away.

I have to say these brushes don't seem to be as good as the others in the collection. They are gorgeously soft like the others but they shed like nothing else! In particular the face brush. Other real techniques brushes shed once in a blue moon but I've had at least 5 bristles fall out! However this doesn't stop me loving them. I still love love love them and would highly recommend them. I also think that in time they might actually stop shedding. 

This set will cost £20.00 upwards, I've found prices to vary! 

Love, Ashlea Xx

Boujoirs Chocolate Bronzer

This is an affordable and compact bronzer which can easily be used as a contour or to add a sun kissed look.

The colour is neither muddy or red toned and it contains undetectable glitter particles which is why it can be used for a contour; it's practically matte! Another thing to mention is that is smells divine, chocolate is always going to be a winner. Although the packaging is cheesy and cheap looking, it's very robust so no issues there. In terms of consistency it is not too powdery which could lead to excessive bronzer and it is not so solid that it's near impossible to get any product on your brush. Overall it is definitely one of the best high street bronzers about.

This retails for £6.99

Love, Ashlea Xx

Ren Clearcalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser

The alliteration isn't the only thing I love about this cleanser. I don't use it with wet hands like it instructs, instead I apply it to a dry face with dry hands and wait until it dries. It sets like a face mask and then I wash it off using a hot flannel. It leaves my skin clean but not dry, it does not strip moisture...if anything it adds moisture! I can't say about it's ability to remove makeup because I double cleanse when I wear makeup so I use a lotion cleanser first (simple cleanser at the moment) then follow up with the Ren cleanser. It's so handy that you can see how much you're using because of the packaging.

I started using this cleanser at a very stressful time (before exam season) so my skin was at its worst, completely covered in angry spots. This cleanser single handedly calmed them down completely and I did notice results after a couple of uses. This is most likely due to its antibacterial nature. Fab. 

It doesn't contain any yacky mineral oil or any other nasties so you don't need to worry about pores clogging, in fact it says it minimises the appearance of pores! It smells like lavender so avoid it if you don't like lavender but I think it adds to the relaxing experience.

I really love this cleanser and will most definitely repurchase it. Cannot fault it.

This retails on the Ren website for £18 but look fantastic sell it for £16.20!

Love, Ashlea Xx

How to wash your makeup brushes.

So, I thought it would be useful to a lot of people to show how I wash my brushes. This post is pretty picture heavy but I thought it would help you to understand better! This is what you will need.  I use baby shampoo because it is inexpensive, not heavily scented and gentle but cleansing. Also you can substitute the flannel for kitchen roll or anything light coloured and durable that you don't mind getting makeup on!

First off you want to pour some shampoo directly onto the brush, before you get it wet.

Then massage it in like so. You get get your fingers in there or you can brush the brush in circular motions on your hand. Whatever you like as long as the shampoo is really getting in there.

Then you can was it out and repeat until you think it's clean. To test whether it's clean, rub it in circular motions on your light coloured flannel.

You can tell it's clean if there are no marks left on the flannel. As you can see from the photo below, I need to repeat my process again.

Then all you need to do is leave them to dry! 

Hope this helped guys!

Love, Ashlea Xx