My current skin care routine

I can't remember if I've ever done a skin care routine, so I thought I'd show you my current favourite skin care (all of them paraben free!) items. 

Left to right: Hydraluron Serum by Indeed Labs, Naturally Radiant 2 in 1 Moisturiser and Serum by Superdrug, Miracle Mattifier Moisturiser by Good Things and Wonder Eye Cream by Balance Me. 

My skin is combination/oily (normal outer cheeks, normal under eyes, slightly oily forehead & chin, very oily nose and inner cheeks (nearest nose)

I apply the Hydraluron first, wait until it sinks in and then apply 3 pumps of the 2 in 1 serum/moisturiser straight after all over my face (I use another 2 pumps for my neck). Hydraluron's moisturising properties won't work on their own, it needs a moisturiser on top of it. I wait a good five-ten minutes to allow that to sink in and then apply a small amount of the Miracle Mattifier all over my face, starting from the outside (where my skin is driest), working my way in to the centre of my face. Lastly I put a grain-of-rice-sized amount of wonder eye cream under my eyes. Voilà! My skin routine for every day! 

Hydraluron can be found in Boots (although it's quite pricey). 

Naturally Radiant 2 in 1 serum can only be found in Superdrug, UK. 

Miracle Mattifier can be found in supermarkets across the UK (and it smells really sweet). 

The Wonder Eye Cream can be found on www.balanceme.co.uk and costs £20. 

Volume 1 seconde mascara

I haven't done a makeup review for a while. That's because I've been too poor to buy any! Luckily, mes amis, I bought this Bourjois mascara before I went on holiday, and I finally got around to opening it today, so this is a first impressions/review. 

This is the normal black mascara, the waterproof one has a bluey colour instead of pink. 

I think the wand head looks so cool. There are little tiny balls (or spheres) within the bristles to make sure there are no clumps when you apply it. 

Above; my bare, curled lashes. 

Above, as you can see, my lashes after 1, 2 & 3 coats, then a coat on my lower lashes and zoomed out so you can see the full effect. 

My thoughts: It has a great formula, smooth, not too wet, doesn't clump, and does create decent volume after two or three coats. It hasn't flaked but it did pull my curl out a little bit, but not too much. This is a lovely mascara, and I would love to try the waterproof version. 

Awful "Hen Do" Embarrassment...

So I was invited to a hen party by my friend (FYI I've never been to a hen do in my life). Her friend was in charge of it, but because I'd accepted so late, the details of where and when we were meeting up were very last minute (I was the one doing all the calling and texting and messaging, trying to find out what was going on, etc). Apparently there was no dress code (just wear a bit of purple) and we were meeting up at 7:15pm. So I turned up at 7:27pm in a mini dress and white skechers wedge heels, with purple smoky eyes (I own no purple clothing) and tonnes of black eyeliner. To my horror, not only was no one there waiting for me where they said I should wait for them, but the place that had been booked was middle-upper class (I'm a working class gal, poor as a church mouse); women milling around in tailored dresses and high heels and the men wearing shirts and ties. I was mortified, to say the least. I was ready for a night out on the town, not an evening meal surrounded by people substantially better off than me (and much more conservatively dressed!), sitting alfresco in the humid evening weather, watching me stand around whilst they ate and drank. I hung around, waiting, being given odd looks by the people passing me by ("The disco is back that way, sweetie,") , either on foot or by car. I waited a full half an hour, looking like a lost club-goer, before I finally flagged a taxi down, jumped in and begged him to take me home as quickly as possible.
Although a dish of humility is needed once every now and again to remain humble, tonight certainly was an experience I would happily never go through again. I was embarrassed, humiliated, stressed and angry. What's worse is that she arrived with her friends just after I'd left, and she left me loads of messages, asking me where I was. I was too angry to answer her. I'm still not happy about it now, but I'm calmer. Still got loads of makeup on, but I'll take it off in a bit. Life, eh? Luck just skips straight past me! Oh, well, onwards and upwards!

My Holiday in Ibiza

So my darling people, as you may well know, I recently had my first holiday abroad in 11 years. My little sister, my husband and myself went to Ibiza, and it was a hot, humid, lovely experience and I really wish we'd gone for two weeks instead of one. 

We went to the Playa Bella Apartments in San Antonio Bahia, and above is the view from our spacious balcony (Block 1, room 112). 

The beach around the Playa Bella wasn't the best, but by golly, it was pretty! We all went swimming/snorkelling in the sea (to the left of this photo) and we got to swim with fish and I must have taken at least 40 pics of them with a waterproof disposable camera (pictures have yet to be developed). 

We took a water taxi to San Antonio Bay and we were met with beautiful sights indeed...

It was a rather hot 30 degrees this day, we were rather hungry and thirsty, so we made our way to a restaurant... 

Which looked similar to the above picture. Those gazebo-like umbrella stands covered the alfresco diners from the overbearing (I live in Cornwall, I'm not used to anything higher than 21/22 degrees!) heat, and underneath them ran little tubes of water, which then connected to misters, that occasionally sprayed super fine mist into the air, some of which settled on the diners, which made sitting under them a very pleasant experience indeed. 

We ate and drank here. As you can see, my sister is giving me an odd look whilst sipping on her glass on Sangria. 

Talking of which, Sangria is what my husband ordered almost everywhere we went, and my sister usually had a taste or glass too (unless she went for a different drink). I don't like the taste of wine - or any alcohol for that matter - so I stuck to (well-stirred) Mojitos pretty much the entire holiday (to hide the taste of rum I sucked up undissolved sugar from the bottom of the glass and chewed it before swallowing). 

There are many Lucky Lucky Men where we were, selling (as you can see) fake sunglasses, fake watches, headphones etc, and we made friends with one of them, and he was called Michael. He sold us our fakery needs for our holiday and he always said hello and asked us what we were up to for the day. 

Our three fake watches. Fionn's (my sister's) "Rolex" definitely looks the best, but I loved all three and bought a couple more for my brother and his friend. 

Fionn and Michael in "his office" ha ha. 

The only thing that I wasn't so happy about was that whilst we were in Ibiza, on the 5th day I broke out in spots. By the 6th day I had no less than 40 spots (not heat rash, proper pus spots) on my face and chest that made me feel so awful I had to put MAC's ProLongwearConcealer on them just so I could face going out of the apartment. 

Ha ha, look how miserable I look! In my defence, I was tired, about to go to bed and my skin resembles that of my teenage skin. Enough for any beauty addict to look or feel like crap!

 I've been back in the UK for a week, and my spots have started to fade now. I've got another week or so before they're all gone, but my skin looks and feels so much better! 

So that was my holiday! Sun, sea, sand and spots! I had a marvellous time, loved every minute of it and want to do it all over again! 

Mmm watermelon liqueur and cherry 7Up... Drinks anyone?