Bobbi Brown Corrector

I have to confess I've never even bought any Bobbi Brown products. I've been given an eye shadow palette which is ok but didn't inspire me to make any further purchases. But I managed to lose my husband in the airport on the way to South Africa and accidentally bought some of the corrector and oh my god I am in love with it.

How can I have gone this far through life with really dark circles under my eyes and not had this in my makeup kit. This really puts all the other correctors I've tried into the shade - it is just fantastic. I got Light Bisque which is really quite pinky and it is so creamy it goes on really easily (I use my Real Techniques domed shadow brush to apply it) and any concealer I've used goes over the top of it well. You don't even need concealer sometimes.

If you have dark circles go and try this out - I was amazed by it and still am when I use it every day. I also loved that the lady who sold it to me said if I had other concealers I didn't necessarily need one of theirs but I needed this in my kit. She was so right. It's £17 online - obviously a bit cheaper if you buy it in the airport xx

Travalo

I think I must have spent about £75 on different varieties of portable atomisers that have just not worked at all. They are either impossible to fill without losing most of you scent or the leak everywhere, the most expensive one I bought (from John Lewis) comes apart completely in my hand bag about five seconds after it goes in no matter how securely I put it together.

So I'd given up on the whole thing. I know just drench myself in perfume or lug different bottles around on holiday which is a bloody nightmare. Just before I went to South Africa however, I got sent a Travalo to try out. It looked good and the principal seemed pretty sound but I was dubious. Surely it would not work.

I was wrong. It is fantastic. Totally worth the £12.49 price tag as I'm going to use this all the time. I usually buy my scent in the airport but I'd got some at Christmas and really didn't want to lug a whole bottle of Chanel around SA as it's my winter scent daaaaarling and I only really wanted it for plane journeys and sultry nights out. So I followed the instructions (remove the spray head from your perfume, put the Travalo on top of the nozzle peg and pump it up and down to fill it) and filled the Travalo up with the really easy pump action - and without breaking my scent bottle - and that was it. There's a level indicator window to show you how much scent is in there (you don't want to overfill it) and it is completely mess free. In it went to my plane freezer bag of products and I checked it every ten minutes for signs of breakage/leaks/crapness and it was perfect.

It's now in my handbag. It is just perfect - no more dribbling your scent all over yourself and your bathroom, no more finding the lid has dropped off and your scent has been spritzed all over your handbag. It's shatterproof, aluminium coated and available in 10 different colours.

I think this would be great as a going-away present for a friend. In fact this is a great present for any of your perfume wearing friends - it is so incredibly useful I am in love xx

Friday Treat

I love it when these girls get creative and this is one of my favourites...

Shell Lip Balm

Oriental Fan Shell Lip Balm

These are really sweet and would be a great, girlie present. Made using real shells and organic lip balm, I really like Shell Lip Balms because... well the balm really works, the mirror in the shell is great and it's so unusual. If you are trying to put together hen party presents or maybe as an alternative to the Easter egg, this would be a great solution. They will also put together a wedding pack for you to use as wedding 'favours' (I hate that word).

I have the Oriental Fan and was worried it would be a bit flimsy. Not at all, it's much more chunky and sturdy than I expected and it comes in a little bag so you can keep it dust and dirt free in the bottom of your handbag xx

BB Creams - do not be fooled!

This is a post I've been planning for a long time. BB creams seem to be everywhere and I was initially really confused as to what they were as they all seemed to promise different things. The 'BB' seems to stand for Blemish Balm mostly although sometimes it's billed as Beauty Balm and they are basically based on the real BB Creams that are huge in the Asian market and have been for sometime.

However, just because they are based on these creams does not mean they do the same thing at all. In fact, they really don't. The original BB creams soothe and regenerate the skin and help with blemishes, pigmentation and even out skin tone. They supposedly do the same thing here but they really don't.

I think they sound amazing. A moisturiser that is also a primer, that also has a bit of colour, that also helps your skin, that helps spots, that evens skin tone. This product would be amazing. But it is not what these creams do. I have been using them for the last month and I can tell you that these are nothing but often quite nice and reasonably priced tinted moisturisers.

I have been going through a spotty stage, I don't know if it's to do with no longer working in an office and therefore no air conditioning/heating, or that my diet has changed or if it's anything else but the spots are there and I'm hating it. Using the BB creams has not helped this at all. I'm still just as spotty.

I have been using Garnier's Miracle Skin Perfector Daily All in One BB Cream about £8 from Boots and Boots own 17 which is £6.99. They were the ones closest to hand and there is such a flood on the market at the moment I just thought I'd go with the two that perhaps other people would pick up and choose as they are the most obvious ones in the shop.

Garnier's Miracle Skin Perfector makes some very bold claims on their website and I definitely don't hate it at all but it is a tinted moisturiser nothing more and therefore looking at it as such I should hope that it made my skin more luminous and evens skin tone. That's what you want from a tinted moisturiser. This one smells fantastic, is very easy to use and does even out skin tone somewhat. I did need quite a bit of extra concealer around my eyes especially in one corner where I have some pigmentation so it didn't sort that out as promised. It has a very nice texture but Mrs W who does wear foundation very often and doesn't really like the feel of it on her skin found this quite heavy. Interestingly also, although they have a form for you to fill in on the website to give feedback they don't actually have any of these comments available for viewing. I'd say this is a good, reasonably price tinted moisturiser that's easy to use. It has an SPF15 which is good but not good enough for this to be my holiday tinted moisturiser of choice.

It's been so long since I bought anything from 17 I thought I should give their BB cream a try. Again this is just a tinted moisturiser but this is lighter on the skin and has an SPF of 25 so is more likely to make it into my makeup bag for South Africa. It does even out skin tone but I still had to conceal my pigmentation. It doesn't smell as nice as the Garnier but somehow felt healthier to use.

I think either of these creams would be great to try if you have a tight budget, don't like foundation but want to try something to just even out your skin tone a bit. Please don't expect anything more from them - a good skin care routine and a good tinted moisturiser is going to make your skin look good, not a cream that claims to do it all. They are both very light coverage and easy to apply and I think I probably will take the 17 one on holiday with me - it has an SPF (although I will use another one underneath), is small, easy to use and most of all it's cheap so I don't mind if I lose it.

If you have money to spend however get yourself to Laura Mercier and get their tinted moisturiser - much better range of colours and much better coverage xx

Friday Treat

The brilliant Rae Morris....

Liz Earle Botanical Shine Treatment

Ok, ok I am trying to ween myself off gushing about all Liz Earle's products. I mean it's getting a little undignified now isn't it but I'm allowing myself this one because it involves her hair care range and I've never reviewed any of these products before. I'd lie to say this was going to be incredibly critical and I'd finally found something that the Liz Earle team couldn't do but well... I haven't. Yes again I've found one of their products that's amazing. Sorry.

Liz Earle's Botanical Shine Treatment

The Botanical Shine Treatment is for frizzy, course and unruly hair and you use it as a 10-30 minute treatment after you've shampooed as normal. I'm always wary of products that are for 'course' hair because mine is so fine that often then make it lifeless and flat. My hair can get very damaged if I do not use treatments on it weekly though, because of the amount of colouring it's had done to it over the years so it needs all the help it can get. It has a slight natural curl which goes to frizz when it's not very happy (80% of the time) and I trust Liz so I was desperate to try this. In fact I was trying it 15 minutes after it came through the door.

Of course it smells great and it's reasonably easy to use - I mean you put it on like a conditioner it's just a bit of a faff waiting for the 10 minutes. I put a bath hat on and folded some clothes and cuddled my dog. Then rinsed it well and dried as normal. My hair actually looks better than when I come back from the hairdressers - it looks healthy, sleek, shiny but the treatment has not affected the volume and it smells nice and it even looks thicker. The list of ingredients tells you exactly what everything does which I always like to know - including cotton extract which forms a barrier around the hair smoothing it and helping it reflect more light.

This is going to be a regular feature in my hair routine now and for £12 it's not going to break the bank. If you don't believe me just read the reviews for this - they are fantastic xx

London Fashion Week Tickets

So... three of the five winners haven't claimed their London Fashion Week tickets... this means that the first three people to email me their full name and postal address will win the tickets as described in my post last week. Email your details to littlemissbmail at gmail dot com. xx

Friday Treat

I've raved about their dry shampoo but if you weren't convinced then hear it from the horses mouth...

Holiday

I'm going to South Africa on holiday which I'm very excited about. There will be posts going up on here but I'm also going to try and post things on my other blog if I can work my phone... xx