tanning

TanLuxecrop

Things I like right now

Hey, it’s another post about fun things! I’m still pretending that the election isn’t happening! Here’s three things I am currently loving.

1. Tan-Luxe Facial Drops

A nice bit of glow on the face can lift the complexion, even it out, and mean you need less foundation, but I’ve always been wary of facial fake-tanning: I’m quite scared of fake tan in general as I never seem to get it right. The other option is a gradual tan in a moisturiser but that means applying a moisturising product or brand that you wouldn’t usually pick, and why am I using all these fancy anti-ageing things to just finish them with something I wouldn’t choose?

It's £35 but a little goes a long way
It’s £35 but a little goes a long way

Enter Tan-Luxe, full name: Tan-Luxe Illuminating Serum Self Tan Facial Drops (bit of a mouthful). You mix 2-4 drops with your own moisturiser (GENIUS) and then over a couple of days of use, a very natural tan develops. It doesn’t add weight or greasiness. There can be a very slight waft of fake tan smell occasionally but I usually don’t find that unless I use 4 full drops in the morning. As a light-to-medium skinned person, I would say that the Light/Medium option I went for is very subtle and I could probably have gone for Medium/Dark and used less, and the Medium/Dark is a great option for darker-complected ladies who want to warm up their skin during the winter months. I’ve been using this for about three months now and have had no patchiness or dryness, the tan has looked very natural, and I’ve been able to use all my beloved serums and Liz Earle products without compromise.

2. Cat Marnell’s How To Murder Your Life

I know this sort of book divides people, but I’ve been a sucker for a bright-woman-with-issues book since I read Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation, and then everything else she wrote. When I came across Marnell’s pieces on xoJane I was hooked; her disregard for what others think of her is fascinating and her conversational but stylised writing draws you in.

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My beloved, shabby copy

XOJane is sadly no longer being updated but articles are still available to read, and I just found Marnell’s voice- so flippant in the face of so much pain- compulsive. How to Murder Your Life is Marnell’s memoir, of her privilege, her pain, her huge talent and success, and her inability to hold on to any of it. I’m about ten pages away from the end and I’ll be so sad to finish it.

Get it from Amazon or Waterstones for 10-15 bucks.

3. Ice Cream BLVD by Jeffree Star Cosmetics

I am a terrible, decadent cosmetics purchaser. I love trying new colours and styles, and I love stockpiling any essentials. Nine times out of ten, when QVC has a Today’s Special Value deal on make-up, I end up buying it: Tarte, BareMinerals, Becca, and all the other wonderful brands they stock. Sigh. I’m also a huge huge fan of Beauty Pie but that’s a whole other post entirely.

Lipstick

So I had promised myself that I wouldn’t buy any more make-up for a while but as soon as I saw it, I just had to have the Jeffree Star Cosmetics Lip Ammunition in Ice Cream BLVD. It’s pink with a lilac undertone, so on trend but without going too purple. Densely-pigmented and in awesome, kitsch bullet packaging, this little wonder has the power to cover fully in one sweep and still get more intense. I’m wearing it with fluttery lashes and neutral eyeshadow.

Apols for the selfies. I just feel it would be rude to ask colleagues to take photos of me
Apols for the selfies. I just feel it would be rude to ask colleagues to take photos of me

My favourite thing in a lipstick is buildable colour; I want that good, pigmented pay-off, but I also want to sweep it on and get a subtle wash if the mood takes me. And you can do that too. I can’t promise I won’t be getting more colours of these (and they are vegan and cruelty free).

Lipstick 3
See? Can be subtle too
Category: Style