Review: Garnier BB Cream

I got a free sample of Garnier BB Cream in one of my magazines this month and, having tried it and watched a review video of it on You Tube, I decided to buy a tube. I like to give my skin a bit of a rest at the weekends and BB cream is lighter than foundation but still gives some coverage. Just a note that if you are looking for this in Boots, I found it on the skin care aisle with the face creams and moisturisers rather than with the make up. Other brands have their BB cream on the make up stands (Rimmel, Maybelline etc) but there isn’t a Garnier make up counter in my local Boots and so this BB Cream was on the skin care aisle.

I like the coverage that this product gives – I didn’t put that much on but it still covers blemishes pretty well and I guess you could use more and build up the coverage. It feels very light on the skin and almost as if you are not wearing make up at all.

There are various types of BB Cream available from Garnier, but I bought the Miracle Skin Perfector for Combination to Oily skin because it is oil free and I often get shiny patches on my T zone. For completeness of this review, I tried it on Saturday on its own, and on Sunday using my mattifying primer and my make up fixing spray, both of which I would usually use with foundation. By Saturday evening my forehead was a little shiny but not too bad, and nothing that some face blotting papers wouldn’t fix. The BB Cream had stayed in place pretty well all day.

On Sunday evening there was no shine and the product had stayed in place really well.  With primer and make up fixing spray the BB Cream held up as well as foundation.  I will definitely be using this as an alternative to regular foundation on weekends from now on, and perhaps as a lighter option if we get some good weather this summer.

Garnier BB Cream is £9.99 at Boots (and had £2 off when I bought it last week)

Note: This is not a sponsored post, I just really liked this product and wanted to share it with my readers.

Outfit: Closet Freedom!

I was a little overwhelmed last night, knowing that I could pick anything from my closet to wear today. I think the most exciting thing was having a choice of any of my shoes though, not just the six pairs I’ve been limited to over the past month.

My feet were a little sore from walking to the pub in my boots last night, so I plumped for nice comfy trainers for today.

Black top – Long Tall Sally
Brown denim skirt – John Rocha (charity shop)
Black tights – M&Co
Burgundy wedge trainers – Esprit (c/o Sarenza)
Cream and silver bead cluster – New Look
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £39

Outfit: 30x30 Day 28, Outfit 30

I saw a way out and I took it. The 30x30 is over! I created 30 outfits in 28 days out of 30 items. My 30th and final outfit was worn last night to go out for tea at our local pub with some friends. We got seats by the fire and I was lovely and cosy in my thick sweater and scarf.

A full round up of the 30 outfits will follow in the next few days, along with my thoughts on the challenge.

Black wool sweater – Bench (eBay)
Jeans – Armani (David Jones, Sydney)
Leopard print booties – Bocage (c/o Sarenza)
Turquoise scarf – H&M

Total Est. Cost £102

Outfit: 30x30 Day 28, Outfit 29

I’m so close to being done with this! We have plans this evening with some friends and I’m toying with the idea of doing one last outfit and calling it quits. Would that be cheating?

Last night I went to the gym and worked out. Since my Monday night classes got cancelled I’ve been going into the actual gym and using the equipment. Well, the cross trainer and the treadmill at least. There doesn’t seem to be any mobile phone signal in the gym (probably because the whole building is a metal box) which is annoying, as I have an app on my phone that allows me to watch TV on it (it’s called TV Catchup, my phone is Android, no idea whether there’s an iVersion) and I had hoped I would be able to watch Neighbours at the gym. But there’s no signal. Gah. So I have to make do with reading the subtitles on whatever channel the gym TVs are tuned to and listening to my mp3 player.

When I got home I took a shower and caught up with last week’s episode of The Big Reunion (ITV2, 9pm, Thursdays if anyone’s wondering), then we watched an episode of Lost. I looked up Lost online yesterday and discovered that there are 121 episodes of it so it’s going to take some getting through!

Grey jacket – Topshop Tall (eBay)
Teal top – H&M
Denim skirt – Jasper Conran (Debenhams)
Grey rib tights – H&M
Teal heart necklace – Scope
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £65

Outfit: 30x30 Day 27, Outfit 28

After I wrote yesterday’s post I made some chocolate chip flapjack and watched several episodes of Gossip Girl, Season 5. We had some tea and then I did the ironing whilst we watched part of Top Gear, then two more episodes of Lost.

It’s Monday again and a short week for me as I’m off work on Thursday and Friday.

I am looking forward to the end of the 30x30 now as I’m getting a bit bored with the restrictions on my wardrobe, especially on the footwear front. I feel like I’m wearing the same things over and over again (which technically, I am). I don’t regret any of my choices, I’m just getting fed up of them now.

Grey sweater – New Look Tall (eBay)
Turquoise top – Long Tall Sally
Red jeans – New Look Tall (eBay)
Red suede boots – Georgia Rose (c/o Sarenza)
Silver hoops – gifted
Turquoise necklace – Dorothy Perkins

Total Est. Cost £37

Outfit: 30x30 Day 26, Outfit 27

Sunday morning I was on Sunday school duty so I got myself up and went off to church. We had a teachers’ meeting after the service and then I stopped for diesel on the way home so I was later back than usual. I made us some dinner and then we had a quiet afternoon. I wrote some blog posts, did some washing and drank tea.

Grey knitted dress – Kew 159
Black cardi – New Look Tall
Black leggings – New Look Tall
Tan boots – Georgia Rose (c/o Sarenza)
Tan leather belt – River Island
Wood heart necklace – Scope
Silver hoops – gifted

Total Est. Cost £76

Outfit: 30x30 Day 25, Outfit 26

Happy weekend y’all! Are you having a good one? What are you up to?

Friday night we went out to a dinner with an association the young man is involved with. We travelled across the city to the venue and there was a meal and a guest speaker. The food was good and the speaker talked about the end of Concorde – the events that caused the fatal crash in Paris in 2000: what the official report said and what really happened. It was interesting. That meant it was a late night and it was gone 12.30am by the time we got home.

Saturday morning was cold and we headed out for a walk to visit the young man’s aunty (a different one than we visited last Saturday – we seem to be seeing a lot of his family recently!). We had a couple of hours chatting with her, then walked home and had some dinner. In the afternoon we walked up to the young man’s parents’ house and visited with them for a few hours. We had a quiet evening and I planned my Sunday school lesson and made banana pancakes. I used my hand blender on the bananas rather than just mashing them and that helped to make a smoother batter. Then we watched two episodes of Lost on Love Film. We've decided to watch the whole of it from the beginning. I gave up on it halfway through season 2 when I decided it got silly, and the young man was forced to give up on it when it went onto Sky. So neither of us have seen the later seasons although I do know how it ended as I looked it up on the internet.

Navy and white spot dress – Topshop Tall
Black leggings – New Look Tall
Black sweater – New Look Tall
Tan boots – Georgia Rose (c/o Sarenza)
Black belt – free with a top
Brown wood heart necklace – Scope
Silver earrings – gifted

Total Est. Cost £55

The Week in Instagrams

l-r:
French knitting
Chocolate cake
Flapjack

Belt
Ring
Food processor

New glasses sneak peek
Faux fur scarf
Favourite scarf

Outfit: Day 24, Outfit 25

Only 5 more outfits to go, then I regain the use of the rest of my closet! Woo hoo!

Some bright red for a happy Friday. And leopard print. One of my favourite combinations.

Last night I tried something different for tea. I used the Julienne disc on my food processor to make skinny French fries. They came out a bit skinnier than I thought they would, but they didn’t take long to cook, no blanching was required before they went in the oven and they tasted pretty good. I’d make them again.

Red sweater – Long Tall Sally
Jeans – MiH (TK Maxx)
Black leather boots – Arturo Chiang (Century 21)
Leopard print scarf – H&M
Silver hoops – gifted
Brown wood heart necklace – Scope

Total Est. Cost £161

Outfit: Day 23, Outfit 24

I know that the young man doesn’t really like my red jeans so when I got home yesterday afternoon I changed into blue ones and took the opportunity to grab some photos for an extra outfit. I added boots and a cosy knitted scarf and hey presto! New outfit!

I wish I could tell you that I went somewhere exciting but it was just my usual Thursday supermarket visit. When I got home I unpacked the shopping, made a cup of tea, read for a bit then started watching the Big Reunion. Then the phone rang and it was my friend S so I’ll catch up with the Big Reunion on the ITV player at the weekend.

Navy and cream stripe top – Forever 21
Denim shirt – H&M
Jeans – Armani (David Jones, Sydney)
Tan boots – Georgia Rose (c/o Sarenza)
Blue scarf – gifted

Total Est. Cost £102

Brantano Senior Savers Event

I'm not sure how many 'Seniors' read my blog, other than my mom (hi Mom!) but if you are over 60 and are free on Wednesday next week then get yourself along to your local Brantano store. After the success of two free coffee mornings in 2012, their exclusive Senior Savers event is back! On Wednesday 27th February the over 60s can enjoy free tea or coffee and 20% off everything in store!  The discount is valid from 25th February to 10th March, and can also be obtained online with the code SENIOR20.

Outfit: 30x30 Day 23, Outfit 23

I wore my brogues today because I feel they are getting a little neglected in this challenge. As are my dresses (which surprises me as usually I wear dresses more than anything else). My other shoe option this morning was the navy wedges, but they didn’t quite work and the brogues did, so that’s what won out.

It was another quiet night in last night – reading, French knitting, watching Porridge. Are your evenings any more exciting than mine? What is a typical weeknight for you? Leave me a comment!

Navy and cream stripe top – Forever 21
Denim shirt – H&M
Red jeans – New Look Tall (eBay)
Tan leather brogues – c/o Deichmann Shoes
Cream beads – local boutique
Cream earrings – gifted
Cream bracelets (including one worn as a ring) – Diamonds and Pearls
Tan leather belt – River Island