From Sample to Love Affair! Skinetica Anti-Blemish Solution

     Recently I’ve tried something else that I just have to share with you. Whilst I’ve never struggled with anything like acne or any major blemishing, I do, as most people, experience breakouts at various times in year. During the winter I feel like I’m constantly eating left over chocolate from Christmas and changing up my skincare routine to accommodate the ever changing weather. Together these cause my skin to just malfunction on every level. When I was having some trouble with a particularly nasty blemish on my shoulder (it can be used on your face and body) my sister gave me a sample of Skinetica Anti-Blemish Solution. The product claims to have dramatic results within three days and it’s no word of a lie.

     I was so impressed I went onto their site and ordered a sample for myself, having had this for only a day I am desperate to order a full size bottle.

      So here it is: The actual product consistency is like water. Apply it to a cotton wool pad and sweep over the face like a toner if dealing with large areas, for individual spots do the same but only apply to those blemishes. It’s gentle so don’t worry about all over face coverage. Allow the product to air dry. Once dry the solution is active for twelve hours. I apply it in the morning and before I go to bed. The product must be applied to clean, dry skin before any moisturisers or makeup but can be worn beneath both of these as it doesn’t leave a residue on the skin. I have noticed no reactions between the product and my makeup.

      What I’m trying to say is that this is very fuss free but works brilliantly. I noticed a drastic reduction in the size of spots and also the redness surrounding them.

       The only thing I don’t like about this is the smell. Don’t worry it’s very faint and will not linger once applied to the skin. The smell is a little like… if you dissolved a lot of sugar in water. A kind of sweet and a little sickly. But again, nothing I can’t handle for the fast acting miracle in a bottle.

      If you’re living in the UK free samples are available and a full size bottle (100ml) will only set you back £9.99 with postage included. Postage will be added to all orders outside of the UK.

       As this is a new company this is their only product but I really hope they will expand into other skincare products in years to come as, you can probably tell, I’m in love with it.

MUA Haulin'

If you have me on Twitter, which most of you don’t! You’ll know that I went out to Superdrug the other day for a bit of an MUA haul. After being rushed along I only ended with two products which I thought I’d do a quick review of for you. 

The first product I picked up, and this was more of an experiment. The Matte Perfection Shine Control Foundation is only two pounds which is why I decided that if I don’t like it won’t kill me to throw it out. I wasn’t expecting this product to stand up to my more expensive foundations but you can never judge a book by its cover. Some of my favourite products are very cheap so anything is worth a try even if this only became an emergency foundation. I have mixed feelings about the foundation. On a daily basis I only really use foundation or conceal on blemishes and around my nose as my blackheads are more noticeable there.  

The packaging is pretty much what you would expect. It is cheap but it’s easy to look past that. I found that on first application the product matched my skin tone well (I use the shade –Fair) as the product is fairly neutral, perhaps a little on the yellow side which is good if you’re trying to combat redness. I felt that whilst this is supposed to me matt the finish was dewier than I expected but once set with setting spray and powder the product gave a healthy glow without shine. Throughout the day I found the foundation did keep shine at bay however the finish wasn’t as good as I would hope and it became slightly patchy as the day wore on. Coverage is definitely light and would work much better for evening wear when it’s not being battered by the elements. This is the foundation I would buy if I was ridiculously skint because for the price, it’s not too bad but, as I expected, it doesn’t match up to any of my other foundations.

The second product that I grabbed was MUA’s new Fixing Mist. RRP of £5 has been reduced to £4 pounds in Superdrug which is where MUA is sold exclusively. The bottle is 85ml which seems small but is bigger than Collection 2000’s £5.99 Fix Me Up Makeup Fixer.  Compared to most budget makeup fixing sprays this is almost fragrance free. It has a slight sent but unless I’m really paying attention I barely notice this. I would have liked this to be more ‘misty’ when sprayed, as suggested by the name but otherwise this does dry quickly and I have noticed a difference in how long my makeup lasts. This was tested with my regular foundations, not the MUA one. If you’re looking for a good but cheap fixing spray or you’re new to makeup fixers this is a good one to go for as it’s cheap enough and small enough that if you don’t like the product, you having paid a small fortune for it as you would for a Skindinavia or Urban Decay setting spray.

QUICK HINT: Skindinavia and Urban Decay’s product are the same formula but Skindinavia is cheaper. 

So if you’ve got any budget beauty finds that are must haves let me know.

How can we connect?

Hello.

As TopKatTV reached 1000 views last night I thought I'd do a quick post to let you know of the easier ways to follow what's going on with the blog.

Firstly I would like to direct you over the Get Linked page which will tell you everything you need to know about getting in touch or just keeping up with the recent goings on.

Also something you won't find on this page is how to follow me on SheSaidBeauty if you're a member of the site. You can find the widget to do this in the sidebar on the right.

The newest way to connect with TopKatTv is through Twitter, yes I know, I'm truly braving the internet now. So you can find the blog at @TopKatTv.

And below you can find a list of every other possible way to stay in touch:

•  FACEBOOK (Friend): sophie.lambie.9 
•  FACEBOOK (Like): TopKatTV 
•  TWITTER: TopKatTV
•  INSTAGRAM: TopKatTV 
•  PINTEREST: topkattv 
•  YOUTUBE: TopKattTV
•  EMAIL ME: TopKatTV@hotmail.co.uk 
•  BLOGLOVIN: TopKatTV 

Please bare in mind that TopKatTv's Youtube is a future account and is not yet running as a vlog.


I hope to hear from you soon.

Bye x

Face Base - I just woke up this perfect.

 

I was so happy to have this post requested that I decided to do it as a little two parter, because I feel that there are two sides to getting this right. So I’ve been asked to do a bit of ‘how to’ on getting natural blusher, bronzer and foundation. I thought I’d throw a little bit of highlighting in there too and do a big post about the face. As far as I’m concerned with the flawless base you’re pretty much good to go. The second part of this little segment will be uploaded on Saturday... hopefully. It's what I'm going to call English Rose. This look is all base. No filled in eyebrows or smoky black eyes. This is the skin you have, just at its very best. 

Site Seeing: 2012 on the Tinterweb

 

Have I said welcome to the New Year yet? Yeah, probably I know. This year I discovered some amazing sites, websites that is and I thought I’d share with you some of my favourites from 2012. 

Some of us are better at forking out massive amounts of money for products that we’ve never tried before. I’m a little more try before you buy so I wanted to find a site that gave me the opportunity to try out new things, without paying £10+ which I just can’t afford now that I’m unemployed. So my first site of the year is Latest In Beauty. This site does a lot of different but the main three are their LIB Collection, Little Beauty Box and Luxury Sample. 

The LIB Collection are boxes created by Latest In Beauty experts Boxes of full size products for specific needs. Want a beauty box designed for pampering? Or maybe even Mother and Baby. Either way, there’s at least one box for you. (Boxes are not a monthly subscription.)

The Little Beauty box is a box that costs you only £1.50. Take the beauty profiler. Like the recommended products? They arrive at your door. It’s as simple as that. All paid for in one text. 

Lastly the Luxury Samples. As it sounds this is the place to buy travel size samples of that massively expensive eye cream you want to try, but at a fraction of the price. But don’t be silly. Work it out value for money against the full size thing, including postage. And be aware that some things, the eye cream again, can last for months.

Wow, that’s a description! Let’s not ramble like that again.

The biggest thing to happen to me this year is obviously starting this blog and I don’t think I could have done that without SheSaidBeauty. Think… Facebook, but with makeup. Follow bloggers, there are some famous people on there, another way to keep up with Essie Button and the lovely Megan Isobel. So here it is, new blog posts with show up on your newsfeed, like products and brands, upload photos, don’t tag people, tag what you’re wearing on your face and connect up your blog, YouTube, facebook, twitter so that everyone knows when you’ve got a new post and how they can follow you. It’s a small but vastly growing community. 

This next site is a little bit of wish fulfilment. FantasyShopper is basically Sims for outfits! You can browse hundreds of shops and collections, add them to you online wardrobe and put them together to make outfits and share them with other site members. It also keeps a tally of how much your outfit costs. For me I use it as more of a shopping tool because you can just click buy and Fantasy Shopper will take you straight to the item at it’s supplier and I’m sure we all know how to internet shop. 

Last but not least of a biggy! We all know it but this year I’ve fallen even more in love with plain old simple… YouTube! I cannot even tell you how many amazing things I’ve learnt from YouTube this year. My subscription list has certainly grown and it’s been lovely to see how massive the beauty community is and it keeps growing. Can’t wait to discover more amazing people on YouTube this year.

And there you have it. What have been your big online discoveries this year?

Ta Ta for now :) 

Is Liz Earle getting a run for her money?

Look familiar?

For Christmas this year I begged and begged for the Soap & Glory FabPore Hot Cloth Cleanser. The reason I set my sight on this is because it came as part of a Christmas set from Soap & Glory along with Bright Here Bright Now, their illuminating moisturiser that has become a huge favourite of mine over the last few weeks.

No we all know about the infamous Cleanse & Polish from Liz Earle but I want to have a little talk about whether she might be getting a little run for her money. Be prepared for ingredient comparisons, value for money, product size, actual usage results and a general ramble on the other hot cloth cleansers out there.


Soap & Glory FabPore.

• FabPore comes in a 4.6 stars average rating on the Soap & Glory website. 
• RRP of £10 makes this an affordable little addition to your skincare routine. 
• A little goes a very long way, which is good at 100ml per tube.
• Packaging is very pretty but of average quality. 
• Cloth included. 
• Ingredients: (The Good Stuff) Panthenol, Natural Sweet Almond, Orange and Lavender essential oils.

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish.

• List as long as my arm in beauty awards. 
• RRP of £14.25 for 100ml.
• A pump! That may sound like a sill advantage but it just makes life easier.
• Solid packaging but no different to your average plastic can.
• Cloth is very good quality. 
• Ingredients: (The Good Stuff) Beeswax, Eucalyptus, Glycerin, Hops Extract, D-Panthenol, Cocoa Butter, Rosemary Oil, Chamomile.

(Ignore the following white box, apparently Blogger and Microsoft Word aren't compatible. Who knew!)

For me Liz Earle is a bit of a miracle but there’s always a little bit of a Earle bandwagon to be jumped on. Now I’m alright with a leap of faith but let’s face it, we’re talking about whether £4.25 extra is worth it.  Value for money is always important to me but what is £4.25. It’s a meal deal at boots, or perhaps it’s a new pair of earrings (if you’re savvy enough) I even bought a Mango t-shirt for £4.75  the other day so there’s a lot you can do with 50p and that extra difference.

So it really does, for me, come down to product quality and I’ll admit I’m torn. On the one hand I can spare the extra £5 for a really good quality cleanser  and at the same time I can’t help but think I can put up with a product that does a very good job, maybe doesn’t quite measure up but does save more money in the long run.

So there you have it, a little competition. If Liz Earle is a 10 then Soap and Glory’s a definite 9.

So what do you think? Who’s closing in on the finish line for best cleanser?

Some more hot cloth cleansers hitting the market:

-          Sanctuary Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser (125ml)

-          Sarah Chapman Skinesis Ultimate Cleanse (100ml)

-          This Works Clean Skin Gentle Cleanser (120ml)

 

My apologies!

Hello Beauty Addicts!

Well that feels weird; no 'Happy Holidays' or 'Merry Christmas.' Yes, it's finally happened, the new year has hit and my first post of the year is going to be a big apology. I am aware that I am a part timer. It's a fact. I have a lot of new commitments that are just eating up time but there is another reason of the more technical nature that explains why I haven't posted since... wait for it... the 20th of December! LAST YEAR! As far as I'm concerned, that's appalling. So here's the deal. Google mail for some reason suddenly decided that oh, my email address doesn't exist and let's face it, how can you sign into a blogger account with an email address that doesn't exist, oh, yes, you can't. A little bit of a pickle. So here's a quick one to say that yes, I have a lot of catching up to do. (Thanks computer, the internet is supposed to be revolutionary.) In the meantime, a quick beauty tip to keep you going and let you know I'm not dead?

     Vasaline acts as a protectant barrier between your lips and the world. It's moisturising properties are actually about nil to meh. Try using a moisturising lip balm (Hint hint: Burts Bees are superb!) and applying Vasiline over the top to lock that moisture in.

Tah Tah!