My Top 10 Coffee Inspired Beauty Products.

Every year on the 1st October when International Coffee day comes around, I always think to myself that I wish I fore planned a really interesting post about coffee inspired beauty products as I have used a few over the last few years and always ended up loving them.

This year I have finally got myself organised and got a post I am really excited for you to see!

As far as drinking coffee I can confirm that I am a lover of coffee, however after cutting down from 6 grande Starbucks a day at uni, I can safely say I am now a one or two cup a day kind of girl!

So why do we love coffee so much?

Coffee has actually been thought to improve heart health (in moderation) and also prevent liver disease, although most people drink coffee to brighten them up and caffeinate them to tackle the day ahead. It is also a diuretic so it cleanses the digestive system, hence why people drink coffee after large meals.
These are the health benefits of coffee on the inside, but what can coffee do on the outside that sees it becoming more and more used in cosmetics?
Well pretty much the same to be honest. In skincare, coffee can cleanse and stimulate the skin, and for cosmetics, warm coffee colours are highly sought after around Autumn and Winter times.

I've chosen ten coffee inspired products which I think do coffee justice, all of which are affordable and from high street stores. So without further ado, here are my top 10 Coffee inspired Beauty products.

I featured this Cup O' Coffee Scrub, £7.25, Lush scrub on my Instagram the other day and it got a great reception from all of you saying you loved this product too. I also got a regram from the Australian Lush page so that was quite exciting for me! This exfoliating face and body scrub contains large chunks of coffee that stimulate the skin and sloughs away dead cells. It smells absolutely delicious and it leaves the skin feeling silky smooth and soft. The scrub is fairly abrasive so I use this maybe once a week when I want a really deep all over body exfoliate.



Whilst I use the Lush scrub once a week, I still like to gently exfoliate my face to avoid clogged pores when wearing makeup daily. I like to feel as though my face is always looking it's smoothest and the Origins GinZing Refreshing Scrub Cleanser, £15.50, Boots helps me do this on a daily basis but gently enough to not cause sensitivity. The main ingredients are GinZing and caffeine, so the range is really invigorating, brightening and radiance boosting. I have tried a few other products from the range which I absolutely loved so make sure you check out that post here.

Next I have a few coffee inspired nail polishes which I think are perfect for the next few months! Kicking of the coffee claws is Mavala nail polish in Espresso, £4.75, Boots which is a beautiful deep brown, perfect for someone who likes a dark polish but wants something warmer than black. I really like wearing this colour in Autumn and think it looks really sophisticated.

Alternatively, if you are someone who prefers a lighter, more natural looking nail, then Maybelline nail colour in Latte, £3.99, Boots may be the polish for you. It is a high gloss, barely there nude but it looks really beautiful on and adds a touch of polished, subtle, glamour to natural looking nails

Nails Inc Caffeine Hit Collection

Now if you are someone like me who likes to make a statement with your nails, then you should look no further than Rise and Grind, £11, Nails Inc which is actually from the 'Caffeine Hit' collection they brought out a short while ago. The collection itself is stunning and contains four coffee shades that actually dry smelling of coffee! If you ever liked the coffee flavour in ministerial chocolates (controversial, I know), then that is what the polish smells like when it is dry. 

Whilst the collection is beautiful, I think you can find other polishes on the market with similar colours for much less. For example, the Mavala Espresso polish is pretty much identical to Nails Inc's Espresso Martini and is a fraction of the price, but Rise and Grind is a beautiful blend of rose gold, orange and deep shimmers that I couldn't resist picking up!

 

The next coffee inspired beauty product is L'Oreal lip stick in Moka Chic, £6.99, Boots which I thought would actually be a little more brown due to it's name. However this shade is quite pink and is a beautiful natural nude. This is from the Colour Riche Matte Addiction range so it has a fairly matte formula. Unlike a lot of Matte's however, this formula is so creamy and doesn't dry the lips out at all. Whilst the lipstick is quite matte looking in the bullet, I don't think it gives a very matte finish. It is a really lovely colour so if you're looking for a affordable, beautiful pink nude then look no further than Moka Chic.

 

Next is an eye product and this is the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Iced Mocha, £5.50, Boots which can be used as an eyeliner and also an eye shadow stick. This subtle shimmery bronze/ gold is again, really pretty for the Autumn season. The pencil is really build-able on the lid and can be used to create a light every day look or something more sultry. On the look above, I used a light sweep of the shadow and grunged it up with black liner but using this product for the water line and inner corner will really open and brighten the eye.

 

Another pencil is the Rimmel 1000 Kisses lip liner in Cappuccino, £2.99, Boots which is a lovely deep brown to go with all the darker lip colours that we tend to wear more in the winter. This is a really durable lip liner and will keep lipsticks tightly inside the lip line.

Speaking of darker lips, this Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Lip Colour in Mocha, £5.99, Boots is a fantastic long wearing dark nude lip. I tried this along with 'Latte To Go' from the collection but that was too light for me. After swatching them on my handing the shop, they did not budge all day and the same can be said for when they are on the lips. This is a very matte formula so once this dries down to matte it will not budge. I love using this with the Cappuccino lip liner to intensify the colour and it is a really gorgeous colour.

Wearing NYX Mocha eyes, Cappacino Lip Liner with Rimmel Stay Matte lip in Mocha

Finally is a body product which is the *Vita Liberata Body Blur in Latte, £29.50, Boots which is perfect for this time of year when you're looking for a faux glow. Vita Liberata is a very luxurious tanning company but their products are really gorgeous. I first saw this product on Victoria from In The Frow and remember how amazing her skin looked with this product on. The body blur is an instant tanner that lasts for 24 hours. It can be used all over the body and sparingly on the face as a makeup base or for a natural look. It dries so quickly so is perfect if you're in a rush and the finish really does blur any perfections leaving you with gorgeous bronzed, airbrushed looking skin.

So these are my favourite coffee infused or inspired beauty products. I really hoped you enjoyed the post as I spent a small fortune and ages researching individual products with coffee names to the point the staff in Boots thought I was a bit shifty! I also made my whole house stink of coffee from the beans in the cover photo so I hope you enjoyed and got some inspiration to add a little caffeine in your routine.

See you next time!

*sent as a PR Sample

Cheryl X L'Oreal Matte Lip Kits

I am a sucker for a good lip kit. The idea of having a lipstick with the perfect matching lip liner all packaged up together in one little neat box makes me really happy, and whilst that may be quite sad, I reckon there a lot of people out there who feel the same.

Way back in October, I saw Cheryl Tweedy Fernandez Cole Payne had collaborated with L'Oreal to create three lip kits, and I was very excited to give them a try. Although I'm not a huge lover of Cheryl herself, I do like L'Oreal products and think they are starting to become a more luxurious drug store brand.

The packaging of the kits are very reminiscent of the lip kits from a certain reality star from the K Klan, and whilst they're one coloured dribble away from being the exact same, I do think they look really lovely with the metallic swipes.

Looking at the colours, I thought Burgundy would be a sure win, Greige would be a beautiful alternative winter colour, and the peach colour would be too light for my fair skin giving me the good old foundation lips look.

With the fabulous Boots 3 for 2 offer though, I thought I may as well pick all three up so I could try the whole collection. At £10 each, I think six lip products for £20 isn't half bad!

As it is the berry lip season, we will start with the Burgundy kit.



Packaging wise, it is fair to say this collection is very instagrammable. The actual lip wand is a curved shape so it slides against the actual shape of the lip making application easy.

Swatching the colours on my skin alarmed me slightly as the colours seemed a lot browner than I imagined. The lip pencil itself was basically a rusty blood colour which I wasn't expecting.

The first time I wore this kit, I used the liner around the edge of my lip as you would! The lip colour was completely gone within an hour, and I went back and read that you need to use the liner as a base to the lip colour which I think is a little annoying.

Matte lipstick in general are meant to be long wearing and almost a little too hard to remove. They actually don't dry very matte at all and still remain fairly shiny. The fact these colours need the liner as the base would make me say these cannot be classified as a matte lip paint.

As you can see from the images the liner is a little bit smudgy. These liners are a cream formula which are always a little harder to get precise, so the final look is not very sharp.

Verdict: I would say this isn't really a burgundy colour and more of a black cherry. Both products are  called 'Stripped Brown' (a Liam Payne reference perhaps), so this is obviously meant to be more brown toned which is a bit unusual as it is branded as a burgundy lip kit?! As this was the colour Cheryl designed and customised herself, I have to say I was a little disappointed. Perhaps on darker skin tones the red comes out a little more, but on me  it is a little too deep. 

I don't think I found my Autumnal deep red lip here!

Let's see if Greige can save the day!

On my first overall observation, I have to say this is a very unusual colour. I absolutely love a bold statement lip, but I still don't know if I actually like this or not. One thing  I can definitely say is that it is intriguing.

Swatched on the hand it looked a lot more pinky than I imagined, with the liner being slightly cooler. Both the products are called 'nude-ist' which I think is a little odd as they are certainly not like any other nude I have ever seen!

This is also a perfect point to mention that the end of my liner for the Greige kit was a little smushed, and whilst this would never usually be a problem, these are plastic applicators with no spin up so you can't sharpen these liners which is really really annoying! Once the tiny little tips are gone on these, that is the whole liner redundant. I only managed to get two wears out of this lip kit because of this, so I have to say that was a little disappointing.

So what does the combo look like on? Well, like I said, I still don't know if I like it or not. It is very cool toned and I feel lit makes me look like I'm halfway to a goth, but there is something I do like about it. The colour really is like nothing I have ever seen on the market, and I think on the right person this would look absolutely stunning (like Cheryl obvs).

Verdict: I still have no idea!

So finally is the peach lip kit, and as I said earlier, I really thought this kit wouldn't suit my skin tone.

The peach liner called 'Gone with the Nude' looks a little too orange for me however the lip colour, 'Babe-in' was slightly cooler toned. I find it a little unusual how the products in this lip kit are called different names and in the others they are the same, but that is just a little observation.

When on, I actually really loved this colour and would probably say it is my favourite of the three.  My only irk with it is that it is a very thin formula, and as you can see from these pictures it is a little streaky and not full coverage.

Verdict: Although it is the safest colour from the collection, this one has to be a win from me!

My final opinion on the collection has to be a little over rated if I'm honest. I am disappointed at the level of quality from L'Oreal products, and feel they could have done a lot better all around. I think maybe too much has gone into showcasing Cheryl as the face of the collection and not enough has gone into the actual quality of the products. Although £10 a kit isn't bad, I felt that labelling these as matte kits is very wrong as none of these had a matte finish at all.

One good aspect of Cheryl facing the collection is that some proceeds go to the charity she supports, the Princes Trust.

In conclusion, I would say donate some money to the charity alone and treat yourself to Kylie's kits instead.

MAC Makeup Trip

Earlier in the Summer, one of best friends got married and as it was going to be a beautiful day, my friend and I decided we would go and get our makeup professionally done at MAC to spoil ourselves and take the stress out of getting ready that day.

I went to MAC in Fenwick Tunbridge Wells, and had my makeup done by Rhiannon and I was really impressed with what she did for me.

As my dress was a dusty pink colour, I wanted bronze-y makeup with a nude lip and I think she nailed it!

 



The great thing about MAC, is that you can have your makeup done and the payment is redeemable against products after your makeover.

The products I decided to invest in after were the foundation used on me that day, as well as the lipstick and then as I had lashes applied I had to buy those too. I kind of wish I went with the highlight she used on me as well because it was beautiful! I was also lucky enough to have been there at a good time as they were giving away a free lipstick with any makeup appointments so I nabbed one of those too!



 I got the 34 Lashes, £11.50 which are graduated in length to give a longer lash at the outer eye which worked well with my winged eyeliner. As a non false lash wearer, these felt really dramatic at first but by the end of the day I loved them and they were so comfortable. I was so sad when I had to take them off.



I also decided to purchase the foundation Rhiannon used on me, as I have been looking for quite a full coverage foundation for those awful skin days I get! I liked this one as it had a satin finish and also had an SPF 15 which I like in a foundation. It was just as well I had an SPF on the day of the wedding as it got really sunny and I burnt my chest in the ceremony! Face was all good though.
I have the shade NC20 in the Studio Sculpt Foundation, £27.00

I also purchased the lipstick I wore on the day of the wedding which was Velvet Teddy, £16.50. I have gushed about this lipstick enough on my my top five nude lipsticks post which you can read here, but as the title of the post suggests, I am a big fan of this colour!

Finally, was the free lipstick I received which is this beautiful colour called Eros from the liptensity range. It is a fantastic fuchsia and is really long wearing and comfortable wear so I was really happy with this added bonus.

What are your favourite MAC essentials?