Travelling long haul? Here's my hand luggage essentials.

Travelling long haul? Here is my bag of essentials that I travel with when going anywhere over a few hours. 

      

First of all, the make up bag. As I'm sure you all know, you need to have your liquids in a see through bag to get through security. This Harvey Nichols make up bag is perfect for this. Not only does it looks super cute, it is still pretty see through when filled with your make up goodies. 

Face 

For me, when I'm travelling long haul, the two most important things are face wash and moisturiser. Still on a plane for a long period of time without 'fresh' air is not great for your skin. And when I go long haul I normally like to catch a few hours sleep. I wouldn't sleep at home with my make up on, so I wouldn't sleep anywhere else with it on, especially a plane. I use the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil for make up removal at home, so I packed a mini sample size to make sure I could have nice clean skin before applying my moisturiser. Which leads me onto my next must have. Creme De La Mer. Hydration is so important when flying. The recycled air on the plane can really dry your skin out, do I used my Soft Cream to keep my skin looking healthy. You can pick up these minis when you are getting your normal size products. I always like to keep them for then I am travelling. 

Around an hour before landing, I like to top up on a bit of make up so that I look reasonably human when I land. My Boots Foundation is the perfect size for my travel bag, so in it goes along with my Sigma Kabuki brush. I also added my ABH dipbrow pomade and Morphe brush to fill in my brows before I land as they just don't look right otherwise. I don't do them as well as normal, just filling in the patchy bits ;) 

I also added some Benefit Benetint and a lip colour from .... to add a little bit of colour. 

I've also got a spare brush from RealTechniques and a little sample of They're Real Remover just encase! You never know.

Hair 

Although my hair will be a little greasy, I put it up out of the way as soon as I get on the plane to try and eliminate as much grease as possible from my face transferring to my hair. But I've added my little BirchBix hair brush which was new in this months box. Perfect timing for my holiday! It also matches my make up bag hehe. 

So that's my long haul essentials make up bag. I will admit I forgot to put some mascara in, but found it wasn't really an issue. 

DLJ 

Xoxo

P.S. I was travelling from the UK to Hong Kong if anyone wants to know! Around a 12 hour flight 

Pop Beauty : Peach Patfait Bright Up Your Life

Fresh from this months BirchBox or should I say BirchBAG is the Pop Beauty eye shadow trio.

I was a little apprehensive about this eye shadow set when I first pulled it out of the bag. Being a converted MakeUpGeek eye shadow lover, I thought 'argh I bet they are going to be so chalky' but I was so so wrong!

These colours are so far from chalky I almost couldn't believe it. The original palette comes with not 3 (like the BirchBox sample) but 10 colours for £15.50! That, is a bargain.

The full palette looks like this...

(https://www.birchbox.co.uk/shop/pop-beauty-bright-up-your-life)

The palette in my birchBAG however had just three colours and can be seen below. The colour on the far left is a beautiful opal/white colour and also makes an amazing highlight.

The middle colour is a pink shade with flecks of gold making it a stunning rose gold colour and then finally the colour on the far right is a warm brown, again with undertones of gold. 

Here are some watches of the three shadows.

I seriously cannot fault these eyeshadows. The colours are beautiful, the texture is creamy and not the slightest bit chalky and the pigment is great. Then there is the added bonus that the whole palette is just £15.50! I serious bargain I think.

I would rate these as being on the same level as the MakeUpGeek shadows. And they are my fav eye shadows so that's saying a lot!,,

Shock up ladies and gents. This palette is a keeper! 

DLJ

Xoxo

July BirchBox ... BirchBAG!!

July's BirchBox came with a little twist. Rather than being in the traditional box, this months products came in a super chic pool ready bag.

There were a selection of four different coloured bags, St Tropez (Orange), Hydra (Green), Somerset (Yellow) and Ibiza (Pink). Mine was this beautiful Yellow which personally I feel should have been named SunShine instead of Somerset!

I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed with my June BirchBox, so there was a lot riding on this months selection.

Of the 6 items in my box, I used 3 within the first few hours, which is a pretty good sign of a good box!

Soigen Nail Lacquer - The first thing I reached for was the nail varnish (shocker) which is this AMAZING baby blue shade. at £11 a bottle, I would defiantly by this baby again and have already been eyeing up some of their other shades. I haven't had any issues with my nails become weak or chipping like I have had with other nail products such as LOLA Barcelona.

SpaToYou Nail Buffer - The perfect accessory to go with this nail colour was also in my bag. It has four different surfaces you can use while giving yourself a mini mani. 

Pop Cosmetics Eyeshadow Trio - When I first pulled out this next item, I was a little apprehensive. After being converted to Make Up Geek eyeshadows, I was worried these eye colours would be 'chalky' and dry. But they are incredible. I was so shocked when I discovered how creamy and pigmented they were! All three colours are beautiful. I will be doing a blog about this eye shadow palette specifically on Sunday along with swatches!

There are still three products that I am yet to try which are below, mainly because I haven't had the chance / opportunity to do so

1) Unani Aloe Vera Gel - great for using after long exposure to the sun to add extra moisture back into your skin.

2) Indemne Eau De Genie - 100% organic skin 'spritz' to enhance your usual cleanser.

3) Benefit Cosmetics Dream Screen - ultra lightweight, matte finish sunscreen. I'm excited to try this when I go off on honeymoon in September. I always hate applying sunscreen to my face as it can be so oily, but is so important to protect your face from the suns dangerous rays! 

My only 'nag' is that I have seen other boxes that have a Beauty Blender instead of the Nail Buffer and personally I would have much rather had the Beauty Blender. So that was a bit of a bummer but hey ho. 

Otherwise I am pretty happy with this months box. I will be doing more specific product blogs over the coming weeks. So keep your eyes pealed! The first will be the Pop Beauty Eyeshadow Trio this Sunday! 

DLJ

Xoxo

Cowshed : Knackered Cow

The Knackered Cow relaxing body lotion is packed with essential oils which include lavender and eucalyptus.

The bottle itself is pretty cute. Normally, they come in 300ml sizes, but this bottle came in my June BirchBox so is a 3rd of the size.

    

   

I have seen these products a few times, mainly in John Lewis and have always thought the packaging was really nice but never actually picked up a bottle, so I was quite excited to try this product out. The Cowshed range is centred around the therapeutic nature of botanical oils and are produced in England.

The blend of lavender and eucalyptus is designed to help you 'slow down and unwind'. According to the bottle, lavender helps to restore harmony whilst eucalyptus clarifies the mind. So with this in mind, I have been using this lotion before bed.

The lotion itself smells divine and really does help to relax and sooth you. My mum has always used lavender products before bed, so the smell remind me of sitting in bed reading or watching TV with my mum as a little girl after her lavender infused baths.

In terms of hydrating and moisturising, I would say that it is okay. After application, I wasn't blown away by how soft my skin felt. My favourite body moisturisers are from The Body Shop and I just didn't feel like Cowshed provided as much moisture to my skin. Don't get my wrong, my skin felt soft after application, I just didn't feel like it was a 'wow' moment, you know what I mean?

Price : on the John Lewis website, a 300ml bottle os £20. To be 100% honest, I can't see myself going and picking up a bottle of this once I have finished it. The smell is incredible but can be achieved by using oils and the moisture just isn't good enough for me to part with £20 for a bottle. Sorry Cowshed!

DLJ
Xoxo

My first BirchBox

This month saw the arrival of my first BirchBox! I decided to leave it right until the last minute to order the May box (31st May) but it arrived today (3rd June) so I'm really impressed with its speedy delivery. 

My only bug bear was that because I ordered on the last day of the month, my June subscription also came out on the same day. Not the end of the world. But I wanted to try a box first before committing to another one. However now I have my first box, I can say I'm not fussed at all as I'm really happy with what I received. 

I love the little bag inside the box with all of the contents inside. There seems to be so much thought gone into these little boxes. I'm hooked already!!

Before looking at what's in the box, I wanted to take a moment to look at the box itself. The theme for this months box was 'free your mind' and the design was the outline of some shapes ready to colour. Which I started colouring straight away (yes I'm that cool). It seemed like a great idea at the time, but oh my days the lines are so tiny and thin. After around an hour I ended up giving up haha. 

So now to the goodies. The contents of the box. 

Nails 

The first thing I was drawn to was the LOLA Barcelona nail varnish in the colour Rambla which is a BirchBox exclusive. It's a really beautiful coral colour and I can't wait to try it. Perfect for summer! 

Skin wise...

Next thing to come out of the box is the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser. I've used this before, but it's so damn cute that I can't wait to try it out again. 

Nude Treatment oil with Omega 3, 6, 7 & 9. I already take Omega supplements and they have made a huge difference to my skin, so I'm looking forward to seeing the effects of this! 

Finally, Caudalie Vinperfect Radiance Tinted Moisturiser. I'm not a massive fan of tinted moisturisers, mainly because I've never found one I've actually like! But I'll give it a try and see what it's like none the less. 

Hair 

Number 4 Lumiere d'Hiver Reconstructing Masque. I've never heard of this brand before! Love trying something new.

Parlour Moisturising Sea Salt Spray. Again another brand I've not heard of before. I've used sea salt sprays in the past and loved them! 

Beauty/ make up  

A real blast from the past for me. I remember buying Jelly Pong Pong brushes many moons ago when I was still at school! I actually didn't think they were still going, so will be interesting to give this a whirl! 

I can't wait to start trying all of these products and doing some reviews! Roll on June BirchBox is all I say!!!

DLJ

Xoxo