Can't say I'm not creative with my post titles can ya.

As the title suggests, there's a gal behind this screen who has never touched fake tan in the nearly nineteen years she's been alive. In all honesty, I've always disliked my pale skin a little but have been way too scared of tanning to go anywhere near it. There always just seemed so many types, too many rigorous steps to follow and it just didn't seem worth it to me. But, your gal's also off to Mallorca and to be honest, the Caspar-the-friendly-ghost-blinding-everyone-in-the-sun look just wasn't working for me anymore. So I hesitantly went to my little sister's bathroom cupboard, attempted to use her Bondi Sands express one before deciding it was too complicated for me, and picked up the Dove DermaSpa Summer Revived gradual tanner instead. There wasn't much left in the tube she had, just enough to do my legs, so decided to test it out...and boy. All I'm going to say is that I now know why girls who fake tan never look back - the confidence I got just from doing my legs was just insane and I immediately ordered some more on Amazon Prime to do the rest of my body.

It's official, I've stepped into the world of fake tanning and I'm never going back. And, at £5.50 for 200ml, the Dove DermaSpa is insane. I apply it straight from the shower after exfoliating and the best thing is you can apply it as a moisturiser, so just with your hands, and it doesn't go streaky!! It's gone slightly patchy around my knees, elbows, shoulders and ankles I have to say, but I'm kind of thinking that's my extremely amateur and inexperienced application more than anything else!! I didn't use it on my face, although I'm sure you could because it's actually a really good moisturiser too, since my skin has been really smooth since using it!! It also doesn't have such a gross smell, it does linger a little but it's quite nicely scented. It develops over about three hours, I've found, so would also be great for a quick tan fix. The slight downside is that it leaves a slightly sticky feel to your skin like quite a lot of body lotions do which is a bit annoying but not something that bothers me too much.

Overall, all I can say is that I'm thoroughly enjoying being a slightly darker gal for once, it seems to make everything look better on me and gives me some actual muscle definition as well, so what can I say other than I'm impressed?? A tube of fake tan and confidence all in one and therefore a winner in my eyes.

Have any of you tried this tanner? If so, how did you find it? 

Em xx

Current Skincare Routine

Hi everyone!! I thought for today's post I'd change it up a little bit and go back to my beauty post roots and do a skincare routine!

I'm a lucky girl in the sense that I've never had particularly problem skin, in that it's always been pretty clear and I've managed to stay away from hormone spots and just spots and acne in general. But, I've suffered with dry and sensitive skin for quite a few years, not to the eczema extent but especially in winter it can get very patchy and peely and just a little gross in general. Because of my skin tone as well, I get a lot of blotchiness and redness around my nose and cheeks, again more pronounced in extreme weather conditions.

I don't tend to change my skincare up too much, since I stick to products my skin likes and if I change it too much it gets kind of angry at me, hence why I've never done one of these posts, but I thought it'd be quite fun to guide you through mine and tell you the products I've found to work the best for my skin type and sensitivity.

Water!!

The first "product" we'll start out with, however basic, is water. I try and drink two litres every day and it does wonders for my dryness, and as well as that, instead of cleansing every day I just splash some on my face morning and evening and we're golden.

Garnier Oil Infused Micellar Water

This is one of those genius new makeup removers that has a layer of oil on top and you simply shake the two components together before soaking a cotton pad and gently taking off your makeup. I use this firstly so that my eyelids (one of THE dryest parts of my face) get a little bit of an oil boost, and also because it just dissolves makeup so well. I'm rough enough taking my makeup off as it is, as I tend to do it as quickly as possible because it's simply a job I don't like doing! But I do always do it and this makeup remover makes it a much gentler job for me and much less effort. It's also pretty cheap too!

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Cleansing Oil

When I do cleanse my face, this is what I use. I do this two or three times a week just to get some more moisture into my skin, and this product is definitely the best oil cleanser I've tried. I did try the L'Oreal one too, and while I like it, it leaves a sticky residue that I don't feel I get with the Palmer's one. This one also smells amazing and is cheaper than the L'Oreal one which is always nice, and makes a really lovely foamy lather on your face too. It also does a really great job at removing any residue makeup that the makeup remover doesn't quite grab.

L'Oreal Hydra Genius Moisturiser for Dry & Sensitive Skin

I've been meaning to do a review for this moisturiser for the longest time because I just love it! Before you come at me, I am of course aware that L'Oreal is not a cruelty free makeup brand, and while there isn't really an excuse, I am just going to say I bought this when it was a third off the price in Boots, and because I'm a student I do tend to go for the cheapest products I can get rather than putting anything else as high priority - please don't think this makes me a bad person! I know there are other moisturisers that do the same sort of thing as this for the same normal price but considering it was reduced I did just go for it as it was the cheapest. That aside, this product genuinely is fantastic and it's honestly worked wonders for my skin this winter. My dryness is seriously reduced, plus it did the most fantastic job at minimising my sunburn peeling after I stupidly didn't wear suncream on a skiing holiday! Definitely will not be going back to normal cream moisturisers after using this, I am completely sold on the liquid gel formula ones now.

The Ordinary Lactic Acid 5% + HA 2%

This is one of those products that I never would have put in a skincare routine as I've always been one to keep it as simple as possible, with a moisturiser, makeup remover and a cleanser. I don't tend to faff around with eye creams and toners and whatever but when I was looking through The Ordinary on BeautyBay, this caught my eye as I've heard lactic acid in small concentrations is really good for evening skin tone and getting rid of dryness so thought I'd give this a go and so far so good! I'm definitely noticing a difference in my skin tone and my dry patches have definitely been reduced too!

What do your skincare routines look like?

Em xx

The Ordinary Skincare | A Wee Review

Hello guys and gals!! So following my last slightly heavier blog post I thought I'd lighten things up a little and get back to the reason why I started blogging in the first place and go for a fun post about The Ordinary skincare and makeup.

The Ordinary is a brand I'd never heard of before but came across when I was scrolling through Beauty Bay and decided to give it a go, given that their serum foundation was only £5.75 and placed an order there and then. I only picked up three products because broke buttt the ones I did pick up I do absolutely love!! 

November Favourites

Welcome to the most generic blogmas post ever!! I'm sure we're all bashing this one out at the moment so hopefully mine won't be too samey same!!