L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil

This oil is great for putting into the length and tips of your hair. It can be used in wet or dry hair, before shampooing or when styling. A few drops leaves your hair feeling soft and looking shiny. Avoid applying close to the root or scalp as this will lead to a greasy look. The difference is very noticeable and your hair is enhanced in seconds!! Suitable for all hair types. 

I have only tried it on dry hair so far so next test will be using before shampooing. 

La Roche Posay Rosaliac - Localised Redness Intensive Serum

This product is a must have for anyone who wants to hide redness. It works really well. It says to apply morning and evening and whatever it is made of, minimises redness considerably. Yesterday I applied this and didn't have to cover the redness further with make-up. It made a huge difference. I highly recommend it as someone who has rosacea. 

It is not green like most anti-redness products, it is peachy coloured, then is clear when rubbed in. It also has a slight scent.

Yes to Carrots Nourishing Cleanser & L'Oreal 15 Second Miracle Cleansing Oil

I thought I would talk about these two cleansers as they are both very good and very affordable. 

Yes to Carrots is very creamy and indulgent. The carrots are said to nourish dry skin and are rich in beta carotene, a powerful anti-oxidant. I love that it is thick and creamy, a change from my usual type. I sometimes count it as 1 of my 5 a day!! :) This is the only Yes to product I have so I must keep my eye out for more.

 L'Oreal's Cleansing Oil is amazing and one of the best cleansers I have used. It says it instantly dissolves make-up which it does very easily. It is lightweight and non-greasy. I remember thinking when I bought it that it was unusual to clean my face with oil but it works a wonder!! My face is left very clean and soft. You only need a few drops so it will last you a good while. I highly recommend it!! 

I have started using face cloths again but avoid any dragging. When I don't use face cloths I use damp cotton pads. 

Returning to work!

Well it is coming up to a busy time of year for me - returning to work after a lovely, relaxing break. I don't have children and admire all parents out there who devote their lives to theirs. I only have myself to dress, wash and feed, however this self-management routine gets pretty tricky when I am not organised, which is most of the time!!

I remember mornings I got out of bed too late, only to find I had nothing to wear and had no choice but to spray my hair with dry shampoo. Night time showers make so much sense if your time is limited in the morning, but do I take them then - no! 

I'm the type of person who keeps on driving past garages when the light comes on. This is just not good enough. 

So I thought I would share with you my life's little challenges. 

• Meals: Going through the work day without eating a lunch, because I didn't have anything suitable to bring or I did not have enough time to stop at the shop. 
• Piano Practice: Too tired to practice, no motivation or no time.
• Clothes: Outfit not suitable for work or in the wash.
• Work: Paper work building up, time-consuming and not very thrilling!
• Gym: Too tired and the couch a much nicer option

And here is my POA (Plan of Action) for each of them.

• Meals: Be prepared and buy plenty of lunch type foods. 
• Piano: Be disciplined and do a bit every day instead of 5 hours practice close to my lesson!!!
• Clothes: Decide what to wear the night before.
• Work: Do a bit every day and avoid it piling up!
• Gym: Make time to go

Each weekend I will let you know if I am sticking to my new plan. What do you do to stay organised??

COOLA mineral sunscreen tinted moisturiser

I received this in July's Glossybox, and tried it at the time and again this morning. At first I was a little reluctant as it looks very orange-brown but it blended very well, giving a very slight hint of colour. For a tinted moisturiser, it has practically no coverage. I would consider it more a sunscreen product rather than a tinted moisturiser. It is lightly rose scented and has an SPF of 20.  In terms of its moisturising qualities, it feels pretty good and soaks in nicely. Would I use it again? Yes 

Would I buy the full size product ( $36 for 50ml) ? No

New Name & a challenge!!

I have been thinking of changing my blog's name and today decided on "Diane's Daily Dabbles", which in turn will lead to quite a challenge, to blog on a daily basis!! Between skincare, makeup and healthy living I am sure I will have no shortage of things to talk about. Who knows what else will crop up along the way!! If you have any suggestions, I would be delighted to take them on board  x

Update!

Hi everyone! Just two things. Firstly, I hope you like the new design on my blog - do you prefer it? Also I was experimenting on YouTube and made a very simple, little video. If you are interested click here
Hope you enjoy it!! :) I am working on a much better one and will let you know when it is up! 

Scrub a dub dub!!

I felt I had to share my views on these Body Shop products as they are so good!!  One for the face and one for the body.

For the Face

It is a Honey and Oat 3-in-1 Scrub Mask, which I use about once a month. It kind of looks like Readybrek!! I leave it on for about 10 minutes and am left with lovely soft skin :) It feels very gentle, not harsh in any way. This is for Normal/Dry skin. As you can see I am nearing the end of this tub - a good sign!

For the Body

This Brazil Nut Body Scrub smells divine and is a very good exfoliant. I cannot say I am a regular exfoliator but when I do feel like it, I go for this one. The formula includes evening primrose seeds and crushed walnut. It does a great job in leaving skin super soft and smooth.

Glossybox August

It's that time of the month again! This time it is a "High Flyers" edition with travel-appropriate products from around the world. 

Firstly the eye lash curler jumped out at me as I have just recently started using mine again. I learned a good tip too - to heat the curler briefly with a hairdryer to get more of a curl - which works! Just be careful not to overheat it. This curler is by Emite,  a Swedish brand, and costs about £20 sterling. Curling your lashes can make all the difference!

The MakeUp Remover pen by Oceane, a Brazilian brand, would be handy for touch ups or in an emergency. It comes with 3 refills. It is meant to be used for removal of excess makeup around eyes and lips. It feels like those jumbo colouring markers children use and when rubbed on the skin, feels slightly wet. Quite strange! This is not available in the UK or Ireland yet.

The Jelly Pong Pong 2-in-1 crayon can be used as an eyeliner and an eye shadow.  It gives a very thick, precise line and seems pretty pigmented. This costs £10.50.

The TRESemme Keratin Smooth Concentrated Rinse Off Treatment claims it returns weathered hair to its former glory in 60 seconds! I like the sound of this as I am not mad about standing around waiting for conditioners to take effect.

Finally, Urban Veda, founded on Ancient Indian principles, is one of the latest skincare ranges and I received their Daily Radiance Facial Wash, which is supposed to leave skin less vulnerable to the environment. As someone with sensitive skin, I am looking forward to trying this out.

I will try and test these in the coming weeks and let you know how they go.

More makeup!!

Sorry I have been away so long - the days are flying by! On the bright side I have a good few things to blog about!

I got this lovely present from my mother. It is by a company called Makeover Essentials and has lovely shades of eye shadows, lip glosses and blushes. I really like that all the colours are usable and very suited to Irish skin colouring. In the past I have only used a fraction of similar sized kits but this one looks like it will be well used! 

I also wanted to mention these L'Oreal products - True Match Super Blendable Powder (W3 Golden Beige and Glambronze  (101 Blonde Harmony)

I have used the powder a few times as a mattifying powder but want to try it this week again to see how good it is - will let you know. 

On the other hand I have used the Glambronze for the past few months and I love it. It is handy that it comes with a bronze and highlight. What I sometimes do is mix both together to get a very healthy natural glow. If you wanted a reasonably priced bronzer this would be perfect. 

Update

For those of you trying to be healthier or become more toned, feel free to follow my progress here. I am very happy with how it is going so far!

I am going to be doing a "What I wore in ... July" in the next few days. I would love to see what you loved wearing in July. I think it will be interesting to see how our clothes change through the seasons. I would love to hear from you as always.

I also have many more things to blog, let me know what you think! x

Looking forward to wearing ...

I was shopping yesterday and picked up a few nice basics including these t-shirts with lovely feminine detail around the collar and sleeve. I think they are very pretty. I am trying to wear brighter colours so I went for this reddish colour and also the black as a neutral. 10 euro each in H&M.

I found this on the sale rail in Oasis for just 10 euro. I like that it is flowy and light and that it has a wide neck. If you look closely you can see nice detail on the shoulders and sleeves. It was there in brown too but I thought I would go for this greeny colour (I am not great at naming colours!!)

 I also got this on the sale rail in Oasis for 19euro a week ago. I have been wearing it with leggings and it's really nice. Another wide neck! Again if you look closely you will see zips on the front, at either side. I love prints so this immediately drew me towards it.

At the end of the month I will be posting "What I wore in August" 

New Shoes!

The last few weeks I have gotten so much wear out of these! I got them in Penneys and I am very pleasantly surprised. They are so so soft and comfortable. They look great with leggings or jeans. I love them!! 

I wore these for the first time a few weeks ago on a night out. My lovely sister actually bought them for me for my birthday a few years ago in Adelaide and it was always too wet or too cold to wear them! I intend to wear them any chance I get as they are very flattering and comfortable too! 

Laying the foundations!!!

Here are 4 liquid foundations which would really suit anyone with redness they wish to cover up. 

I am a big fan of the L'Oreal True Match! I remember when I first read the label I was persuaded immediately. 'Matches Skin Colour and Texture', 'Super Blendable', 'True to Skin Shade' convinced me anyway. I started out with W3 Golden Beige, which was a teeny bit to dark but still I made it work I think, by blending properly. This completely covered any blemishes or redness. Recently, I got the W2 Golden Vanilla which is a good bit paler, maybe too pale, but again I make it work. Actually the paleness of  it works well on the redness. If I was going out at night or had a special occasion I would go for the darker W3. They are so reliable in terms of coverage and there are so many shades, you will definitely find the one for you! It also has SPF 17.

Another favourite from L'Oreal is Infallible. I don't know what shade this is but it is a really nice, sandy shade. It looks very nice on pale skin and has good coverage. It is a little less effective at covering redness. 

Finally Estee Lauder Double Wear. I got this in 1C1 Shell which is way too light for me and makes me look like a ghost but it does have amazing coverage so I need to get it in the right shade! I sometimes use it to cover some blemishes and they vanish completely. 

I posted about Rimmel's Wake Me Up and Bare Minerals in July.

Review of Dove Summer Glow, Hoola, Benefit Facial Emulsion, Benefit It's Potent Eye Cream & Revlon Lip Butter

Ok, so I posted about my mini haul this morning and then I went and tried 5 of the products. I thought I would write about them right away before I forget my initial thoughts. 

So first the Dove Summer Glow, if you want a tanner that does not have a strong scent then this is not for you - it has that typical tanning smell and it's quite strong! I think my tan is coming up already and it's looking nice and even. 

I thought the Facial Emulsion wasn't that creamy and quite light, a little hard to rub into my skin. It almost felt that it is not for dry skin and more for oilier skin. I'll have to try it again to be sure. 

The eye cream felt very similar to The Body Shop's. I didn't see any immediate difference but I'm sure it would need to be used consistently over a long period of time. 

Hoola was nice, a little goes a long way. It is definitely more pigmented than my usual L'Oreal Bronzer, but it would want to be as it's nearly 3 times the price. In saying that I would say Hoola will last a long time. 

Finally, my favourite of the five was the Revlon Lip Butter. I thought it would be very moisturising and it is. Usually I put on lip balm before lipsticks but I did not need to with this. The colour Berry Smoothie is lovely and now I want to buy more lip butters!! Yum!!

A mini haul!

I am just back from visiting a friend and we treated ourselves to some goodies!! 

Here is what I got ...

-Benefit Triple performing Facial Emulsion Oil-free SPF 15 ... I think the packaging is so cute, I have never used it so looking forward to doing so. It came in a little mini size set with the eye cream and the Porefessional Pro Balm.

-Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Brightening Makeup in Honey ... a few weeks ago I got this in Ivory and was very happy with it, I think this is a darker shade so it will be interesting to compare the two. I like that this sample is of course bigger than the last but comes with a pump - very cute! Thank you Benefit!

- Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie ... it sounds yummy. I have been hearing about lip butters and how buttery they are so am dying to try it. It sounds like it will be moisturising but we will see.

-Dove Summer Glow Nourishing Lotion ... I have heard a lot about this too but have never tried it. I am curious to see how the shade Fair to Medium will come up! I only want a hint of a colour just to look healthy.

-Benefit It's Potent Eye Cream ... this came in the little set and looks so cute. Benefit's packaging is my favourite!! As I have only one other eye cream it will be interesting to compare their texture and effectiveness.

- Benefit Hoola Bronzing Powder ... I have had my eye on this for so long and have bought it at last! I have heard it is amazing but will see for myself once I get ready very soon!!

-Artdeco Blusher ... This brand caught my eye as I had never heard of them and they are reasonably priced. I like to try new brands. They are numbered not named, I got 44, a peachy shade.

-Benefit Stay Flawless 15 Hour Primer ... I was kindly given this sample. I am not the biggest fan of primers at the moment but of course will try it out.