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Almost orange to almost perfect 🍊👌🏼💁🏼

I know it's not just me that is so unbelievably pale that any foundation by any brand in the lightest shade is just not right; It's either too neutral, too cool/ashy, too dark or just a little bit orange! It's something I've struggled with for so long and I've had enough of looking, I have a few foundations and even BB creams that I love but the shades just aren't right but the finish and hold make me not want to look elsewhere! I was constantly stuck in this pickle but thankfully a new "hero product" came to save the day, Lightening Shade Adjusting Drops from The Body Shop. A new innovative product claiming to turn your almost there shade into a perfect one with one drop! Now of course this seemed absolutely perfect for my situation so I got down to my local Body Shop and grabbed one as soon as possible, the sales advisor told me these are suitable to mix with any liquid foundation as long as the shades range from fair to medium. The lightening drops contain a mixture of pink and white pigments to lighten and reduce yellow tones with one drop of product being half a shade lighter. I simply couldn't wait till the next morning when I was to open these miracle lightening drops and change the face of well my orange face!






















Following instructions I shake the product thoroughly before squeezing the pipette and opening the product, foundation at the ready on the back of my hand I squeeze one drop (or in this case attempt to) into the center of my foundation and mixed with my fingers, seems simple right? Not so much! The problem I had immediately with this product was the packaging, the pipette simply doesn't work! It doesn't allow you to drop one drop of product into your foundation without you squeezing it many times and getting a little angry. You either over squeeze the pipette to produce a huge blob of product or you press it a few times and get little spit droplets of product which ultimately cause no effect on your shade of foundation at all.

I have used the lightening drops for 5 days, mixed in with liquid high cover foundation, BB cream and a lighter cover liquid foundation all of which were an off match for my skin tone being too dark or too 'orange' for my complexion. As well as the packaging of this product the smell of the drops were a little overwhelming, almost reminding me of paint which isn't pleasant to put onto your face however once you manage to get the correct measure of product into your foundation or BB cream the lightening effect is quite effective! Take my high cover liquid foundation for example, in my case it's Estée Lauder Double Wear in 1N1 Ivory Nude, I've recently found this shade too yellow and neutral for my complexion and it leaves me with a significant line on the jaw however once I added one lightening drop into the foundation the shade became much more wearable.


Before 
After with 1 drop added

I feel it's still a little too yellow for my liking even with the lightening drop added but the overall appearance of my foundation improved along with the line on my jaw almost disappearing! I know it doesn't look like much of a shade difference but when applied it did seem different for me, I couldn't seem to capture the effect on camera but check out the results I got with my Mac BB cream! This product is something I found myself not wearing at all purely because of the shade, it was the lightest in the range and made me glow all sorts of orange but just look at the difference -

Before 
After with 1 drop added

I've found myself using this product at least twice a week now I can effectively adjust the shade to my liking and manage to wear it without looking like a tangerine! Perhaps the shade adjusting drops work more effectively with lighter foundation/BB formulas as in my experience the lightening effect has been most apparent in this case rather than with the thicker foundation. Let's round this off with some pro's! The shade adjusting drops certainly don't effect the overall finish or lasting power of my makeup, the off putting smell I mentioned earlier is forgettable once your makeup is applied and it's a great trial and error product; you can mix it with all of your liquid foundations/BB creams/tinted moisturisers etc to see which ones it works best with! All in all the product does its job, it effectively lightened my foundation and definitely made it more wearable however I wouldn't purchase this product again simply because of the packaging issue with the pipette. If The Body Shop were to redesign/improve the packaging I would definitely purchase again!

You can find the Lightening Shade Adjusting Drops in your local Body Shop store or online at here for £10 (15ml)

💕 Lucy 





Spring Fragrance Favourites 🌷🌱🍬🎀

There's nothing I love more than indulging in a new perfume! Now Spring is here (finally!) I love using more floral, sweet based fragrances so I can say goodbye to my spicy, warm Winter scents and hello to Modern Muse Le Rouge, Olympea and Gucci Bamboo. Having worked in the beauty industry and on a cosmetics department I think I've smelt every fragrance new and old but these three are definitely some of my favourites!



Modern Muse Le Rouge from Estée Lauder is an innovative twist on their bestseller Modern Muse eau de parfum that I treated myself to at Christmas in anticipation for the spring, I didn't even indulge in the first spray until a few weeks ago I don't know how I lasted so long without it! The gift set I treated myself to contained a 50ml eau de parfum of Modern Muse Le Rouge, a 100ml shimmer body lotion and a gorgeous mini purse size spray of Le Rouge. This fruity yet floral fragrance is bursting with notes of Bulgarian Rose, Raspberry, Patchouli and Pink Pepper and is described by Estée Lauder as "extroverted, glamorous and sophisticated". On first spray it's an instant oriental floral hit of the rose and the slight spice of pink pepper with the raspberry completing the sultry scent. It's truly an addictive fragrance that lingered on my skin for hours and always got me noticed! Its perfect for wearing both during the day and night, layering the fragrance on top of the shimmer body lotion is amazing for the night giving a subtle sparkle and a longer lasting scent. It's certainly different to any other fragrance I've purchased before but each spray leaves me wanting more so it's definitely a classic for me.


 Gucci Bamboo is another fragrance new on the scene, I didn't quite know what to expect from the scent when I had first heard the name of the perfume but it's a unique soft but intense array of notes. These include Italian Bergamot, Ylang Ylang, Sandalwood, Tahitian Vanilla and Grey Amber; on first spray Bamboo uplifts with ylang ylang but becomes more intense with the vanilla and Amber bouncing off each other. It's an oriental floral through and through that screams unique to stand out above the rest. Bamboo is wonderfully long wearing, very feminine and exudes confidence. Personally I'd only wear this in the day, it doesn't have the sexy twist for night that I always look for!

Now I believe I've left the best till last, Olympea by Paco Rabanne. I remember last year when this was launched and how excited I was at work when we received the tester, I instantly fell in love with this fragrance! It's a stunning oriental but sexy fragrance with notes such as ginger lily, mandarin, hydroporic jasmine, salty vanilla and cashmere wood. It's simply gorgeous, it's almost delicious with the mixture of the mandarin and salty vanilla and I can definitely say I agree with Paco Rabanne when they describe their use of salty vanilla as bringing "carnal and addictive magnetism" to the fragrance! It's certainly a confident, empowering perfume that really does reel people in; I'm forever getting compliments when I'm wearing Olympea and its quickly becoming recognised as my signature fragrance! This is always going to be a classic Spring/summer fragrance that I come back to year after year!


You can find all three fragrances in your local department store, boots or superdrug! Estee Lauder's Modern Muse Le Rouge EDP ranges from £45-£90, Gucci Bamboo EDP ranges from £49-£80 and Paco Rabanne's Olympea EDP ranges from £40-£70.

What's your go-to Spring fragrance?
💕 Lucy

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