Review | Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish | Beauty Brags

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot
Cloth Cleanser - RRP:
£13.25

This is a product that my mum always nagged me to use as a teenager to help with acne and skin imperfections and I think it's fair to say that I wish I had listened to her sooner! I have a feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot throughout life but at least I can do a review on this mistake right now - a silver lining, perhaps?

Although people I've recommended this product to in the past have complained that it's quite expensive, I actually think it's relatively cheap for the sheer quality of the product. The RRP on the Liz Earle website is £14.75 for a starter kit of Cleanse and Polish. This means that it includes the muslin cloth that you need to wash the product off, whereas once you have this cloth, you can simply order the product for £13.25 until the cloth needs replaced. Although I think this is a decent price, the chances are you can get it cheaper from retailers such as Amazon, although I do know that some Boots stores do stock the product as well as John Lewis.

Instructions at back of Liz Earle
Cleanse and Polish pump

Using the product is so simple. If you order it in a pump (as shown in the picture), you only need to use the pump once in order to get the amount of product required to cleanse your entire face. If you're using the tube, one regular squeeze of the tube should suffice! Once you have spread the product evenly, wait a few minutes and then wash the product off by soaking the muslin cloth in warm water and bathing your face. Finish the routine by quickly splashing your face with cold water. And that's it - you're ready to go!

My face after using Liz Earle
Cleanse and Polish for around
two weeks

Of course, this range does come with other products such as the Tonic Skin Booster and a moisturizer which I will be reviewing in due course, but the Cleanse and Polish product on its own, in my opinion, is more than enough to open your pores and cleanse your skin. In just over two weeks, any spots or blemishes on my face have cleared up leaving my skin baby smooth and glowing - yes, actually glowing! I didn't actually notice the improvement until a friend of mine took a picture of me and a few other friends at a Halloween party on Friday. I've included a copy of this picture just so you can see the quality of my skin now (as I didn't use concealer or much foundation that night) although I don't have a copy of what my face looked like before I started using this product daily. I should also say at this point that I have also been using this product in conjunction with the moisturizer and skin booster, but as I have been using the cleanse and polish twice a day and occasionally without these other products, I feel that this product has been a contributing factor in clearing up my skin.

Anyway, I hope that this has been informative and I really would encourage anyone who struggles with skin impurities to give this product a try! It's really helped my skin so much and I couldn't imagine not using it now!

Have you got any cleansing products you think I should try out? Let me know!

Review | Rimmel London's Glam' Eyes Professional Liquid Eyeliner | Beauty Brags

Glam Eyes Professional Liquid
Eyeliner by Rimmel London
RRP - £5.29

Okay, so I'll admit that this is not the best photo I could have posted but I wanted to assure everyone that I actually have the product and have used it (as you can see from the faded writing on the bottle) so I've used a photo I've taken of the product I actually used instead of just a generic photo I could have got off the company website. Although, admittedly, that picture would have looked a lot prettier but oh well.

I randomly picked up this product a few months ago when I got a bit fed up of the pencil eyeliner I'd been using and fancied a different effect. The only experience I'd had of liquid eyeliner before this was from when I was about 14-15 and going through an extreme emo-phase ... and that hadn't exactly went well, as you can imagine. The only thing I could recall from it was how thick it was and that it had actually hurt a bit once applied.

My quick application!

This one was a pretty different experience and I can't say I'm disappointed with the results! The application of the eyeliner is quick and easy due to thin and flexible brush. The liquid itself doesn't clump which means there are no big clumps of liquid on a dried out brush (as long as you shake it before use, as with any other product). The brush actually has a thin tip and gets thicker as the brush goes up towards the lid which means you can simply turn sideways for a thicker application. I prefer to go for a thinner look to open my eyes, a picture of which I've included in this post. It's not the perfect application but it shows just what you can achieve in just a  few seconds for a photo opportunity!

I did find, however, as I had before, that the product sometimes stings when you first apply it and although it subsides after around a minute or so (approximately), it's not exactly the most comfortable experience. I can only assume that this is just an unfortunate side effect of liquid eyeliner, in general.

Overall, I cannot fault this product and it's by far the easier liquid eyeliner I've come across. Perfect for anyone just beginning to apply eyeliner, especially liquid, and extremely long lasting!

                          Whats your favourite eyeliner?

Review | Rimmel London BB Cream | Beauty Brags

Rimmel London BB Cream 9-in-1
£6.99 from ASOS

I accidentally ordered this product online as a present for my mum before realizing that she had actually asked for the No.7 BB Cream, not Rimmel London. Oops. So naturally, I took it for myself! Luckily we're more or less the same skin tone and so not much damage was done, thankfully.

The product promises quite a lot, the packaging boasting "skin perfecting super makeup" and I can't exactly say it lives up to that...it's really not much more than another marketing hype. However, that doesn't mean that the product itself is bad or average. In fact, I would rate this product at just above average, although nothing spectacular.

The shade I bought was light - there was only two you could choose from; light or medium. Usually I would have went for medium, but given the lack of other alternative and the fact I am Scottish (with pale white skin in comparison to the rest of the world, unfortunately!), I went for the light shade, figuring that the medium tone would be more suited to people with tanned skin. I wasn't impressed with the lack of option!

The product itself has an SPF 25 which is normal for a BB cream, but impressive and incredibly useful. The texture feels like a normal liquid foundation would do, but slightly creamier and not as runny. It was slightly disappointing that you would need a fair bit of the product to have completely even coverage of the facial area as it didn't seem too willing to spread far when applied. The coverage was decent, but not flawless. Pimples, spots and red blotches were still visible on the skin after application, even if slightly covered up, reducing the redness of all, but still making it seen to the naked eye. I also felt my pores were slightly blocked with it, but then perhaps I was applying a bit too much in desperation to cover all my flaws (which are fairly extensive, hence the foundation/bb cream search!). It did, however, feel light and natural on my skin.

Overall, it's not perfect and definitely not "skin perfecting", but it is ideal for a sunny day when you don't want to be covered in foundation and concealer, but don't exactly want to let the world see the full extent of your dark circles!

Have you tried Rimmel London's BB Cream? What did you think of it?

Review | Maybelline New York's SuperStay Better Skin Foundation

Maybelline New York Superstay
Better Skin Foundation (tester)
Normal bottle priced at £8.99 from
Boots or on 3 for 2 offer.

Recently I was told of a really good discount website called Student Hut - just sign up and it will send you free samples of various items and exclusive discount codes for students, etc. After being told this, I signed up and found a few offers of brands sending free samples of makeup; one of which was Maybelline New York. All you had to do was complete a short online survey regarding your skin type - oily, dry, easily tanned and so on - and they would send you a free sample that would suit your skin perfectly.

I must admit, it took a few weeks for the sample to be sent out but when it finally arrived, I was excited to try it. Wrongly so.

I was given the shade of "sand" from their range which I felt could work but it wasn't a tone I'd ever gone for in other brands. The actual texture of the foundation was fairly average; just like any other regular liquid foundation. I tested it quickly on the back of my hand and found that it spread very easily with little product covering a large base of skin. However, the colour did not match my skin tone at all - it was far too light and orange. I dismissed this briefly, knowing that the skin on your hand is different from that on your face and began to apply it evenly with a makeup brush, starting from my nose and spreading outwards. But it was still too light so I simply stopped applying - quite lucky I wasn't going anywhere that day! Upon inspection of the parts of my face I had applied the product to, the coverage was fairly average and slightly too "caked" in places, despite the fact I hadn't used much of the foundation at all.

Unfortunately I can't comment much on the name-sake promise of long lasting coverage as I wasn't about to wear a foundation that didn't suit me for the entire day but it would definitely be great if it gave good coverage for a long period of time and the product suited your skin type! I've heard plenty of reviews of this product from people who love it...and I'm rather disappointed that it doesn't suit me at all - not in the shade I was given or for my skin type.

Shade - sand.

Overall, it seems like a decent product that you would eventually get used to applying over time in order to get that perfect, even coverage. Perhaps not a miracle worker, but worth a shot if your skin isn't as dry as mine! Priced at £8.99 in Boots or as part of their 3 for 2 range right now, it won't break the bank, but definitely try before you buy.

Have you tried Maybelline's Super Stay Better Skin Foundation?
What did you think?

Review | Lush's Bubblegum Lip Scrub | Beauty Brags

Bubblegum Lip Scrub by Lush Cosmetics
£5.50

I was given this product as a gift for my twentieth birthday by my friends from uni. I'll admit, I've tried it before but I thought I'd do a wee review on it anyway!

Although I've never tried the bubblegum flavour (as I'm not a big fan of it usually!), I was pleasantly surprised that the taste of the sugar is not extremely strong and is just more sweet and candyfloss-like than anything else. As the scrub is made mainly of sugar, tasting a little bit or "accidentally" getting it in your mouth when applying will do you no harm whatsoever which is a relief given how nice it actually tastes! 

There are two other flavours included in the lip scrub range - popcorn (which I've tried) and mint julips. I'm assuming that the mint one may be a tad newer than the other two as I can't recall seeing it last time I was in the Glasgow store, but having tried the popcorn one, I can assure that it's just as nice (if not a tad nicer) than the bubblegum flavour. 

At £5.50 per tub, it's not exactly the cheapest lipcare product, but it definitely works! My lips were in a right state when I started using the product as I have such a bad habit of biting my lips when I'm nervous, but with only one application, I could already feel that my lips were a lot smoother! I applied the product another 3-4 time throughout the day and by night, I was regretting not buying it for myself earlier! The rough, ragged bits of skin on my lips were gone and I could run my tongue over my lips without feeling disgusted at how chapped it felt!

When I woke the next day, my lips felt dry and not as in great condition as they had felt directly after each application, but another application soon rectified that! That's pretty much the only issue I have with the product - the numerous applications needed in order to maintain the polished look and feel. A couple of days without this and you might find yourself back to square one! Not much of an issue though seeing as how quickly the problem can be fixed!

Sure the sugar might get under your fingernails, and yes it's pricey but if you don't have the time to attempt making your own DIY versions (which I'm sure wouldn't be hard), then this is definitely the product for you!

Have you tried Lush's Bubblegum Lip Scrub? Or maybe you tried one of the other flavours?

Let me know what you thought!