Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque Review

Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque - Amazon

 



This clay mask is rated highly by many US bloggers/reviewers which led me to try it out for myself. I bought it off Amazon (I can't remember the seller I bought it from or how much I paid as I've had it a while now), I don't think it is sold in the UK. As my skin is blemish prone and I suffer with bouts of acne now and again I need a good clay mask in my stash which will help to control my outbreaks. This is a cheaper alternative to other good clay masks including Origins Out of Trouble Mask and Ren Invisible Pores Mask.

 

Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque is exactly how a face mask should be, bright green with a thick texture and one which prevents you talking/smiling/moving whilst it dries. I love the texture, I prefer a mask which is thick and applies smoothly on to the skin like this one. The directions say to leave the mask on to dry for 15 minutes. Within this time whilst the mask is drying it can make your skin feel really tight so you are unable to move your face without it cracking....I always find myself wanting to burst out laughing for no apparent reason whilst I have a mask like this on. I then use a warm damp flannel to remove the mask.

 

The mask claims to help 'dry up acne pimples. rinse away blackheads and shrink enlarged pores' and to 'relax tired muscles and ease tension lines on the face and neck'. I'm not sure about the latter statement but the first has some truth in it. I found that after using the product inflammation is reduced, my face feels smoother and squeaky clean. I don't really get many blackheads so I can't comment on whether it will help to reduce them. I do find that when I use the mask I need to use a good moisturiser afterwards because it can be quite drying on the skin, I tend to use this mask when my face is feeling particularly oily or congested because I know this product will help to reduce inflammation and oiliness. The mask has a very strong minty smell, like toothpaste or chewing gum which is quite pleasant and is refreshing on the skin.

 

PROS

- Good value (it comes in a big tube)

- Reduces inflammation

- Helps to control oiliness

- Refreshing

- Makes your skin feel clean

 

CONS

- Drying on the skin & makes the skin feel quite 'tight'

 

INGREDIENTS: Water (Aqua), Kaolin, Bentonite, Glycerin, Zinc Oxide, Propylene Glycol, Sulfur, Chromium Oxide Greens (SI #77288), Fragrance (Parfum), Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben

May Favourites

Not too many beauty favourites this month because I've been spending most of my money on clothes and new furniture for the house, but i'm happy with these products they have been serving me well this month.

 

1. Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Natural Bronze Body Lotion

Gives the skin a slight natural looking tan, perfect for using mid week when the fake tan is starting to fade. This product is also very moisturising and sinks into the skin quite quickly, I hate thick moisturisers which seem to sit on the skin.

 

2. Caudalie Beauty Elixir

This has been my skin saviour for the past few weeks. Slightly drying but has helped to clear some pesky pimples I had on my chin. Many people complain about the smell, but I love it as it's so refreshing. This is the second small bottle i've purchased, when I run out I may have to get the bigger size.

 

3. Estee Lauder Sensuous

Gorgeous, a sweet and woody fragrance. It always makes me feel sophisticated when wearing it.

 

4. Mac Fix+

I've talked about this before, great for setting my makeup and removing the cakey/powdery look I sometimes get if I've applied too much powder. One bottle of this lasts forever!

 

5. Laura Mercier Mineral Powder

Helps to conceal blemishes and red patches after I've applied my foundation (great for coverage!), my makeup also lasts longer when I set it with this product. I like to spray Fix+ on top of this powder so that it doesn't look too drying and cakey.

 

6. Models Own Tweezers

Once again I lost my tweezers so in a panic (with bushy eyebrows) I rushed out to buy some and found these. I love the bright colour, it may prevent me from losing them! They are good, sturdy tweezers which are sharp enough to grab the smallest of hairs.

 

7. Topshop Lip Bullet Covet

I love this bright peach colour from Topshop. The application is smooth and the product is heavily pigmented as with all Topshop makeup items. I will definitely be purchasing the other bullets when I get chance (Heartbeat and There She Goes are next on the list).

 

8. Rimmel Pro 317 Coral Romance

My absolute favourite nail polish for the summer. It's more red toned than orange, a lovely coral colour which goes with everything. The lasting power on these nail varnishes are fab!

What are your beauty favourites this month? I'd love for you to send me your links!

9 to 5 Saviours

 

I work 9 to 5 from monday to friday in an office so it's safe to say my makeup doesn't stay in place. By 11am i'm looking in the mirror wishing i'd spend more time getting ready that morning. These are the products I carry with me to work in my handbag on a daily basis. They do the job.

I carry the products in this lovely Cath Kidston makeup bag which I bought from the store in Bicester Village, I love it! So girly. I don't carry too much around, just little bits which will allow me to quickly touch up throughout the day and make me look half decent.

 

My face and lips regularly feel dry which is caused by working under an air conditioning vent. I use Nivea Lip Butter on my lips (which smells gorgeous) and spritz some Caudalie Beauty Elixir on my face to give me some hydration. This is the reason why I don't carry a face powder around with me...I never need it. I use cream products to help me get that dewy look and prevent my makeup looking too cakey, Topshop blush in Neon Rose is great for injecting some life into my face when it's looking tired along with Laura Mercier Secret Brightener which I apply to my cheek bones and cupid bow for that healthy glow. Healthy Mix Concealor is in there in case an unexpected spot pops up throughout the day (this ALWAYS happens). I don't need two mascaras in here to be honest but both are travel friendly, Benefit They're Real Mascara (which I got free with the most recent Elle Magazine) and Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara. My lipsticks change all the time, I like to have a pink shade and a nude depending on how I feel, I'm currently wearing Maybelline Color Sensation in 132 or Rimmel Nude Delight. I'm quite proud at how little I take to work with me, but these products work well to refresh my makeup. What products do you take to work with you?

Day Trip: Ironbridge

I went for nice little daytrip to Ironbridge yesterday. Ironbridge is a village which is situated along the River Severn in Shropshire by Telford. The villa is named after the Ironbridge for which it is famous for, this bridge was the first arch bridge in the world to be made of cast iron (not common due to how expensive they were to build). Our first stop of the day was to see this bridge, you can walk across it where there are many people taking photos of the bridge, river and surrounding countryside.

 

We then went for a walk to Blists Hill, which is an open air museum set up as an old Victorian town. We assumed the walk would be about 15 mins, but after following the signs for directions on foot we were walking for up to 45 mins until we finally got there. We didn't wear the right footwear at all, it was all hills, mud, stepping over trees etc, but we had fun getting there anyway.

We spent a few hours at Blists Hill and we had a really good time. The museum is full of old style cute little shops, such as a pharmacy, candle makers, sweet shop and more where there are actors working within each one who talk to you about the history of the trade or shop you are in. They also sell things in the shops which you can buy using what they call 'modern' money (pounds) or old style money (shillings) which you can get by converting pounds in their bank (a lot of kids seemed to have fun with this). There were even actors walking the streets in their bonnets and baskets, they would say 'Good Afternoon' whenever they passed you, it was so fun! We stopped for a cone of chips which were freshly cooked in beef fat (so yummy but not good for the waistline)!

On the way back we popped into the Ironbridge Antiques Arts and Craft shop for a nosy and a coffee at the tea shop. It was a lovely way to end the day with the sun still shining and our feet aching.

I would definitely recommend going to Ironbridge on a day trip. Such a cute little place that's full of history. What did you get up to this weekend?

Favourite Makeup Brushes

These are the makeup brushes I use on a daily basis. You're probably thinking 'why didn't you wash them before doing a post?', well to be honest I really couldn't be arsed. #keepingitreal. I find washing brushes such a chore but I know it has to be done. I tend to deep clean them once a week with baby shampoo but i'm going to buy some spray brush cleaner for when i'm feeling lazier (like today). I don't own many more brushes than this as I don't find them to be essential, I don't understand people who own hundreds of brushes (I'd rather spend my money on the makeup than the brush). Here's just a quick overview of what I use each one for;

Real Techniques - Stippling Brush; I don't know how I applied Soleil Tan De Chanel before purchasing this brush. It's the only brush which allows me to apply just the right amount of the product onto my face without it looking streaky. I also use this brush to stipple in my foundation if I want a heavier coverage before I go on a night out.

Real Techniques - Contour Brush; I don't use this brush to contour as I feel it's too small and prefer to use it to apply blusher to the apples of my cheeks. I find the brush to be the right size to apply just the right amount of blusher where it is needed.

 

Real Techniques - Buffing Brush & Expert Face Brush; These are my most used brushes, I use them to apply my foundation. I find that the buffing brush gives a lighter coverage than the face expert so it depends on how my skin is looking on the day. I apply little blobs of my foundation (currently Laura Mercier Silk Creme) all over my face then use either brush in circular movements to buff the foundation into my skin .I find that I need to use much less foundation when using either of these brushes rather than my fingers and it still gives my skin a smooth, even appearance.

Eco Tools - Smudge Eyeliner Brush; I use this brush to apply eyeshadow on my lower lash line. It's not something I do everyday but I love to apply Mac Mythology underneath my eyes as it really makes the green in my eyes pop out.

 

Real Techniques - Eyeliner Brush; I would actually be lost without this brush, I apply my Clinique creme/gel eyeliner with it every single day. No other brush would do the job. It allows me to draw a clean sweep of eyeliner really easily without smudging or messing it up.

 

What are your favourite makeup brushes?

Bourjois Cream Blush 02 and 04 & New Lipsticks

(L-R Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick 132 Sweet Pink, Topshop Lip Bullet Covet, Bourjois Cream Blush 02, 04)

 

I love all of my new beauty bits which I featured in my most recent haul post here. I just thought I'd do a quick post with swatches of the two Bourjois Cream Blushes and new lipsticks. I'm a bad beauty blogger and couldn't resist putting my fingers in the cream blush before I took a photo of them, too tempting not to. I love the pigmentation of the cream blushes, they remind me of the Topshop ones which I love! I have worn both shades and they lasted a decent amount of time, I wouldn't say all day, but 4-5 hours before I needed to touch up again. The two lipsticks are lovely, I have been wearing the Maybelline one to work, it's my new daily touch-up lipstick which I just throw in my handbag. Topshop Covet as with all Topshop makeup is heavily pigmented and is a perfect colour for summer. I'm wearing it in the photo below along with Bourjois Cream Blush 02 and new Toppie sunglasses.

 

 

FOTN

 

I went out in Birmingham on Saturday night and snapped a few pics before I left the house. My FOTN is quite simple and isn't too different from my every day look, I just like to add a pair of falsies and a brighter lipstick. I'm still loving my Foxy Locks hair extensions too, they are so easy to style and the curls stayed in place all night.

I started off by applying my usual foundation, Laura Mercier Silk Creme in Rose Ivory followed by Laura Mercier Mineral Powder in Real Sand. These two products apply like a dream and cover any blemishes so easily (deffo my HG brand for base products). I then used Soleil Tan De Chanel for contour and bronzing, then applied Mac Melba on the apples of my cheeks. For my eye makeup I used MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre as a base then used NARS Gstaad eyeshadow from The Happening Palette in the crease (this is basically my everyday look). I then applied Clinique Brush-on Creme Eyeliner in Black on my upper and lower lash line with some MaxFactor Falsh Lash Effect Fusion Mascara before applying Eyelure Naturalites Evening Wear Lashes. Lippie is the gorgeous MAC Chatterbox.

 

So overall quite a simple going out look. I wore my pearl earrings which I wear everyday without fail and my new gold chain from Miss Selfridge. Clothes wise I wore a H&M black jacket, Miss Selfridge lace top and lemon yellow pencil skirt from Ebay (didn't take a photo of my outfit).

Did you lovely ladies have a good weekend?

I went shopping

I had a day off on Thursday so I decided to go to the Bullring to pick up a few bits and bobs, I'm officially skint now with 3 weeks left until payday FML! Oh well, i'll enjoy using the things I bought, I love them all. A couple of things were repurchases including Batiste Dry Shampoo XXL Volume, Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm, Caudalie Beauty Elixir & Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation in Rose Ivory. All of which seemed to run out at the same time, I wish I didn't love them enough to repurchase as I spent a bloody fortune.

 

New goodies included one of the new Topshop Lip Bullets in Covet, Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in 132 Sweet Pink, & 2 of the new Bourjois Creme Blushers in 02 and 04. I also picked up a few accessories including these gorgoeous shoes from H&M, Mary Kate Olsen-esque sunglasses from Topshop and a gold chain necklace from Miss Selfridge.

 

I think I need to go and cut up all my cards. Spending ban until the end of the month!

Makeup Shakeup

 

 

I have recently rearranged the products which I keep in my acrylic storage boxes (from Wilkinsons) as I was getting bored of the makeup I was using and I thought it was a good excuse to have a rummage in my collection and use products I haven't used in a while. I'm still loving keeping the majority of my daily face in these boxes, they look lovely on my dressing table. So below is the lowdown of the products I keep in these draws and use on a daily basis;

 

TOP

Mac Fix+ - Ah-mazing! I hate when my makeup makes my face look cakey, a spritz of this solves that problem.

 

Soleil Tan Du Chanel - Now the weather is picking up I've reverted back to using this bronzer (rather than Nars Laguna) I find I like the look of this product once i've fake tanned, I don't use it for contour but on the cheeks, nose and tops of my forehead.

 

Mac Vanilla Pigment - I haven't used this much as i'm still figuring out the best way to use it. I didn't want to put it in a draw or somewhere it would get thrown around as i'm worried about the product going everywhere.

 

Clarins Lotus Oil - I have no idea why this is even on my makeup storage box....hmmmmn. 

 

 

 

FIRST DRAW (Laura Mercier greatness)

These three items when used together give such a flawless finish. They cover blemishes and scarring like no other face products i've used before. My makeup base lasts all day so all three are my new loves - reviews to follow.

 

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation in Rose Ivory

 

Laura Mercier Mineral Powder in Real Sand

 

Laura Mercier Secret Concealor 2

 

 

 

 

SECOND DRAW

This is where I keep nearly all of my MAC lipsticks. I love that I can still see the labels on the bottom of each lipstick through the clear draw, makes it so much easier when choosing. I also keep a couple of other most used lippies at the back including Revlon lip butter in Strawberry Shortcake, Laura Mercier Lipstick Pink Blush and Kate Moss 101 and 107.

 

 

 

THIRD DRAW

Mac Harmony - I love this product for contouring, I don't use it every day but I prefer it to any other contouring product I have at the moment.

 

Mac Melba - This blusher compliments my skin when I apply it over the top of Soleil Tan Du Chanel, lovely for summer.

 

Mac Paintpot Soft Ochre - I use this as my eyeshadow primer/base daily, it doesn't let me down.

 

Sleek Pout Polish Sugar May - I have a few of these lying around, great for a slick of gloss over the top of lipstick.

 

Nars The Happening Palette - I use the eyeshadows every day! Particularly 'Gstaad' (a taupe brown shade which is limited to the palette).

 

Food Shop - What I bought.

I don't know about anyone else but my least favourite part of my week is doing the food shop. The irritation starts as soon as I drive into the carpark, there is never anywhere to park and there's usually a pensioner walking as slow as poss infront of my car as I try to squeeze into an awkward space. Then once you get into the supermarket it's jam packed with people who have all the time in the world to decide whether or not to have red grapes or green (move out of my waaaay).

Anyway mini rant over, I went on Monday and as it was bank holiday it was even busier than usual so it was my fault really, I knew I wouldn't enjoy it. I thought i'd do a food haul as i'm a nosy parker and love to see what other people buy (is this weird?).

Cupboard food; I grabbed some Heinz soups which I like to take to work with me in the week for a healthy light lunch along with these Snack a Jack packets. Cranberry & Orange tea, which i'm yet to try. Cadbury's digestives for the biscuit tin. Pasta sauce. Randomly on the end there is some shampoo as i'd ran out.

Fridge Food; Petit Filous, Carrot and coriander (god knows why I bought this along with several tins of it - can you tell it's my favourite), Alpo Hazlenut drink (great alternative to cows milk), Goats cheese and sundried tomato ravioli, Basil Pesto, Chunky Meditteranean vegetables, Butternut squash with Sweet Potato, Salmon fillets, Cooked turkey slices, Stuffed Courgettes, Iceburg lettuce, Tomatoes, Grapes, Kiwis.

Freezer Food; Quorn chicken style pieces, Garlic and herb mushroom quarter pounders, Fishcakes, Hake fillets with cheese and leek sauce, White magnums (FAVE!), King prawns.

 

This lot probably won't last me for the whole week, probably until Saturday. Some of you may find this post to be very boring and random, but I like food and like seeing what other people have bought. Do you have a recent food/grocery haul on your blog? Links please? :)

Foxy Locks Remy Human Hair Extensions Sunkissed Brown #8

Fed up with my fine flyaway hair I decided to buy some hair extensions to help make my hair look that little bit thicker. In the past, when my hair was dark, I bought clip in extensions from cheap shops where I had to sew the clips on myself, but I had never purchased any online as I felt I would be taking a risk with the colour match. I did some research online and decided to take the plunge and buy some Foxy Locks extensions based on peoples reviews and after watching several of Imogen's (creator of FoxyLocks) youtube videos here. I ordered the 20" regular clip in Remy human hair extensions in Sunkissed Brown #8.

 

I used the online color match form, where I uploaded a photo of my hair in order for my colour to be matched. You can also send a sample of your hair to the company if you prefer. When the company got back to me (within 24hours) I was suprised with the colour they matched me with as Sunkissed brown looked quite dark on the website. I decided to trust their opinion and bought the colour they recommended for £58 and next day delivery £5.99.

 

I am very happy with the extensions, they are a great match for my hair. I'm so glad I bought the colour recommended as I was really worried they'd look too dark. They are 100% human hair so they can be dyed, curled, straightened, washed, blow dried etc, which is great. Foxy Locks recommends you use heat protectant spray when styling and washing with a nourishing shampoo and conditioner once every 3 weeks. I've had some good fun the last few days testing out different styles with them in. There is 125g of hair which is really thick and feels like it's good quality hair, they give me so much confidence when I put them in! I've worn them both curly and straight....I only bought them last Monday and I've worn them every days since. See me posing with them in below.

 

Not the best photos, but you get the idea. Do any of you wear extensions? I was thinking of getting some bonded but i'm scared they will ruin my hair, what do you think?