Jason Wu for Caudalie | The Cult Beauty Elixir Spray Review

I haven't picked up one of Caudalie's Beauty Elixir sprays in yonks. I remember years ago this being a blogger favourite and also Victoria Beckham was a big fan.

If you haven't heard of Caudalie's cult Beauty Elixir spray, it's a hydrating mist for your face which you can use morning and night as a toner to tighten pores. You can also use it as a setting spray after your make-up is applied. Models and celebrities are said to use this multiple times a day to smooth features and get an instant boost of radiance.

Any who, I was browsing in Space NK recently and I saw this on offer, so I picked it up. The 30ml was only £5.50 - such a bargain *raises hands emoji*.

This version is a special edition bottle and I think it may be exclusive to Space NK. The bottle design is in collaboration with the Fashion Designer Jason Wu. It features an elegant black and white printed design which looks like lace on the front and has a lovely brass-gold lid (I think they are normally sliver).

The formula has benzoin, myrrh and essential oils of rosemary, lemon balm and peppermint. It also has orange blossom, rose and a grape pulp extract, Caudalie's flagship ingredient. The scent and formula is exactly the same as I remember. It has a heavily scented smell, very minty and refreshing.

My verdit: I do enjoy using this as it's super uplifting and I do notice results right away. My skin looks glowing and my skin feels a little tighter. I feel very fancy whenever I use this as it has such an unusual luxurious scent.

I think this would be great for popping in your handbag and taking with you whilst travelling around London, or even to use on the plane to get your glow back. As it's a great little travel companion and makes me feel wonderful, it gets 5 stars from me. So so glad to have this back in my life.

Any who, I just wanted to mention this here... I love social networking, it's a great way of making new friends in the blogger community. I want to meet more creative like minded people this year. Maybe to do a collaboration or something.
As some may know, I work full-time and do my blog in the evenings and at weekends so it would be really interesting to see how others in a similar position work and cope with it all.

Do you have Instagram? Follow me @zoeyoliviablog to see what I get up to daily, also leave a comment, I'll always respond. You can also reach me on twitter: @zoeyoliviablog. Or, if you like Bloglovin', I'm kind of new to it, but follow me on there. I also have Pinterest, I'm often procrastinating and pinning my life away. Apart from that, I also do vlogs on Youtube, subscribe if you like the content I put out and don't forget to leave a comment too. Feedback on my content is important, whether it's positive or negative - I'd love to know. It's the only way I can improve and up my game and produce the BEST content for you guys. And it's always nice to just speak to you guys. So do get in touch :). 

Wedding Planning #5 | Choosing your wedding day make-up

Planning to do your own wedding make-up? Or interested in what I wore on my face? Then keep on reading...

I recently wrote about 'choosing your wedding day lipstick', but after writing it I thought it would be useful to talk about what I wore on my whole face and talk about the daunting task of choosing and doing your own wedding day make-up.

Doing your own make-up on your big day is for sure a stressful task, but if you're fussy like I am it makes perfect sense to do it yourself. I could of had a make-up artist and not worried about my make-up but I thought what if I hate it? What if I have a nervous breakdown and call the wedding off because I didn't like my make-up? Bit dramatic, yes...  But you know your face best, and you know what you like to put on your face.

I trialled more make-up than you could of possibly imagined, but to me that seemed normal as I am a massive make-up fiend anyway.

I began researching on my desired wedding day make-up look back in June last year, so I'd say around six months before my big day was when I started to trial my make-up. Maybe this is a little extreme, but I wanted to get my make-up just right. I wrote about my initial ideas for my hair and make-up back in August here.

Towards the final few weeks, I was set on using my all time favourite foundation, Estee Lauder's Double Wear and then I tried Giorgio Armani's Luminous Silk Foundation two weeks before and decided that was the one. It appeared more natural on the skin and didn't have any SPF in it which was great in case my photographer was using a flash.

I also changed my mind ten million times on what lipstick and blusher I was going to wear. I go into more detail about this in my previous post on 'choosing your wedding day lipstick'.

As well as the daunting task of finding the perfect eyeliner to stay put on my annoyingly watery eyes. I trialled Guerlain's Liquid eyeliner and Bobbi Brown's Long Wear Gel Liner and it was so hard to choose between the two. The struggle was real ladies!

The amount of eyeshadows I bought and ended up wearing my all time favourite from NARS' Limited Edition Laser Cut eye, cheek and lip palette that I got a few years back...

Sometimes you may already have it in your bag. So experiment with what you've got, try new things and make sure it's what you want. It's your wedding, your face, so do the look that's going to make you feel like a million dollars on the day.

Also, do experiment with your bridesmaids! Two of my bridesmaids came over a few weeks before the wedding and we did our make-up together. It was great to get their opinions and ensure we were all happy with what was going on our faces. It was also nice to talk about other beauty related things, such as 'What nail varnish should I go for?' 'Should I spice things up with a red lip in the evening?' 'Will this look go with my bridesmaid dress'. There's lots of things to consider in the beauty department and it's great to bounce off other peoples ideas and opinions.

My wedding make-up was very natural yet provided enough coverage to cover any blemishes or dark circles. I went for coral-nude shades with a teeny bit of sparkle on the eye lids. I wanted to rock a winged eye as it's my go to too. I wanted that 1940's look, yet very natural and pretty.

Here's what I wore on my face. Let's start with the base, I moisturised with my Environ AVST moisturiser and then primed with my Urban Decay All Nighter make-up setting spray to ensure everything would stay put all day. I then chose Giorgio Armani's Luminous Silk Foundation for a natural radiant glow, as well as concealing those pesky blemishes and dark circles with my NARS trusty creamy concealer (I could not live without this!). I left it for five minutes before applying Laura Mercier's Translucent Loose Powder to ensure my foundation and concealer wasn't going to slide around.
I also applied a teeny bit of my Hourglass' Ambient Ethereal Light Powder too.

After that, I applied my holy grail Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Dim Infusion and my Mary Lou Manizer highlighter on my cheekbones, underneath the brows and on the cupids bow.

For the eyes, I applied my Maxfactor cream eyeshadow and then applied a beautiful gold shade from my NARS Laser Cut eye, cheek and lip palette. I then winged it out with the Bobbi Brown Long Lasting Gel Eyeliner and applied this to my waterline too.

For my lips, I prepped my lips with Charlotte Tilbury's Lip Cheat Lip Liner in the shade 'Pillow Talk and then applied my lovely Chanel Rouge Coco in the shade 402 Adrienne. To make my lips appear fuller and plump, I applied Chanel's clear lipgloss on top.

I then spritzed my face with the Urban Decay All Nighter setting spray again and that was the look complete!

I also trialled another 'Bridal make-up look for Pale Skin & Brown Eyes' here if you're interested. I don't go into detail about the products but it's a sped up video on the look I was going to go for.
Perhaps I'll create another video on my actual wedding day make-up in the near future. If that's something you would like to see then do let me know :).

If you're interested in reading more about my wedding experiences, I blogged about mine and Joe's initial ideas here. As well as my initial hair and make-up ideas here. And last but not least, the stressful period with eight weeks to go, you can read about that one here.

As always you can reach me on social media. I have Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog, and twitter: @zoeyoliviablog.

LUSH Valentine's Day Haul!

My lovely husband bought me some goodies from Lush over the weekend. He got me some gorgeous bath bombs and bubble bars which are all from the Valentine's Day range. 

The Valentine's Day collection always excites me, just as much as the Christmas collection! They all smell so sweet and delicious. The only downside is that they seem to be getting more and more expensive. Why Lush why!

Anyway, last year they brought out some really cool bath bombs and bubble bars such as the 'Unicorn Horn', the 'Ladybird' and 'Rose Bombshell', and they have brought some of those delightful treats back this year.

So when Joe came back with a bag full of Lush goodies with some of my all time favourites inside, I just wanted to cry... partially because I've been feeling like an emotional wreck recently (I'm blaming the change in weather), but also just in awe at his kindness. Ok... this is turning a bit mushy now. Anyway, so yes, he got me three of my favourites, The 'Unicorn' Horn, 'Rose Bombshell' and the 'Ladybird'. As well as two other bombs 'Cupid' and 'Lover Lamp'. I couldn't get my hands on Lover Lamp last year as they had sold out so I was super happy to have this in my life. The other one, 'Cupid' is a newbie or so I believe.

Moving swiftly on to the individual reviews...

Rose Bombshell. Let's start with this one. This has to be my all time favourite Lush scent. It's so sweet and smells of roses and candyfloss intertwined. And it turns your bath a pretty pink colour. Really really excited to use this again!

Ladybird. Snug as a bug in a tub. This one is a bubble bar - you crumble this underneath a running tap and it creates lots of bubbles, as well as turning your bath a gorgeous red-ish colour.
I also adore the smell, it kind of smells a little minty. Interestingly enough it has been made with peppermint oil so that explains the minty scent, as well as geranium oil and cornflour (which is a bit of an odd one, but it works).

Lover Lamp. This has a very interesting scent too - smells quite zesty, orange like. I'm really excited to try this as it has little hearts that melt away in your bath tub. Made with cocoa butter, vanilla absolute and Brazilian orange oil.

Up next we have Cupid - the newbie bath bomb of the collection. This one smells of palma violets, those old school sweets. It's quite nice but not my favourite scent. However, I'm looking forward to trying this as the bubbles on Lush's demo look insane. It is said to be a 'floral fizzer' which I'm sure I'll be fascinated to watch. Made with rose, bergamot and violet leaf absolute.

And last but not least the Unicorn Horn. I wish Lush did this one all year round because it's so fucking cool. The endless amount of selfies you could do with this... which I'm not going to... but the idea is there. Anyway this has been made with lavender oil and ylang ylang and neroli oils, it smells divine.

Besides bath bombs and bubble bars, Lush also have a pretty sexy looking massage bar, 'Love Spell' out this Valentine's Day. As well as this, 'Prince Charming' shower gel, which smells incredible and is out for v-day too.

Any who, I'll be snapping the stuff I got and putting them up on Instagram in due course. So do follow me, @zoeyoliviablog to see them! You can also reach me on twitter: @zoeyoliviablog.

HUGE HAUL: ASOS, TOPSHOP, River Island, New Look & More!

Bonjour, I have a huge haul video that I wanted to share with you. Spendy spendy times.
I'm really really sorry for uploading this late! It's a belated fashion collective haul with lots of things from ASOS, TOPSHOP, River Island, New Look and more. And sorry if it's a bit choppy, I couldn't seem to get my words out when I was filming this *hides face*!

As always you can reach me on social media. I have Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog, and twitter: @zoeyoliviablog, come say hello!

Neals Yard Aromatic Foaming Bath and Seaweed & Arnica Foaming Bath Review

If you know me in person you'll know that I'm an avid bather - Joe tells me off for having too many baths, oops. But yes, I love all kinds of bath products, from bath bombs to oils to bath salts. 

In the January sales I treated myself to two of the foaming bath oils from Neals Yard. I picked up the Aromatic Foaming Bath and the Seaweed & Arnica Foaming Bath. They both smell incredible and I've actually used up the Seaweed & Arnica one already, sob!

Aromatic Foaming Bath - "A delightfully fragrant bath to bring a sense of wellbeing". A soothing aromatheraphy blend of lavender, spanish marjoram and geranium essential oils with a skin conditioning herbal infusion to help you relax and unwind. Hmmm, yes please!

This actually smells incredible, it has that 'spa like' scent, so so lovely. I can definitely smell the lavender and geranium.
I love using this after a long hard day of work.

Seaweed & Arnica Foaming Bath - "A restorative bath to enjoy when overtired". Infusions of mineral-rich seaweed, comfrey and arnica are combined with pure essential oils of lemon, pine, juniper and lavender to ease tired muscles and restore a sense of vitality.

Out of the two, this one is my favourite and I'm really sad that I've already used it all up! Likewise to the Aromatic it smells amazing - it's quite unusual with the seaweed scent, but it just smells heavenly.

With all this talk of baths, i'm going to run myself one now! Mhmm, can't wait to use the Aromatic one and feel zen for an hour our two. Ciao.

As always you can reach me on social media. I have Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog, and twitter: @zoeyoliviablog.

Wedding Planning #4 | Choosing your wedding lipstick!

If you're planning on doing your own make-up on your big day or if you're in search of the perfect everyday lipstick, then this may be somewhat helpful to you. Or if you're interested to see what combination I wore on my big day and liked it then perfect!

Choosing my wedding lipstick was a real struggle. Lipstick's are my guilty pleasure and I had six options to begin with. It was a toss between Charlotte Tilbury's Bitch Perfect or Stoned Rose, Mac's Brave, Cosmo, Fanfare or Bare Again (which sadly they've now discontinued... why MAC, why!!).

Four weeks before my big day, I was settled on going for Charlotte Tilbury's Stoned Rose, and then I went shopping the week before my wedding, stumbled across my local Chanel counter and decided to look at some more lipsticks.

I spoke to a lovely lady named Chloe and explained that I was getting married in a week's time and that I'm unsure if I have found 'the one' in terms of lipstick talk. I said I was after something subtle, very natural and something that would work well with my hair colour and fair skin. I also wanted it to be a little glossy as I think gloss tends to suit me better.
She came back to me with a couple of options, and I settled for 'Rouge Coco 402, Adrienne' paired with '171 Levres Scintillantes Glossimer'.

These two paired together create the most beautiful natural lip. And they will always have a special place in my heart. Adrienne is the most gorgeous nude with a bit of shimmer. It has specks of glitter in the formula, but don't let that put you off as it gives your lips dimension! The formula is ulta hydrating and easy to apply. I did re-apply this a few times during my wedding but that didn't bother me so much as it was simply beautiful to wear.

The lipgloss really wowed me too. I never thought I'd spend so much money on a simple lipgloss, but it gives your lips a gorgeous plumping effect. They appeared fuller and almost seemed like you had a lip job (lol). This also has specks of glitter in, but again it gives that dimension to your lips.

As for lip liner underneath, I wore Charlotte Tibury's infamous 'Pillow Talk Lip Cheat Lip Liner' - the only lip liner I wear these days. As a trio they worked really beautifully together.

So, moving swiftly on, if you're in search for your perfect wedding lipstick, I would say go to a huge department store like John Lewis or House of Fraser and browse around. Explain that you're getting married, and 9 times out of 10 everyone is so helpful and so excited to help you as it's a huge huge deal.

I looked at what Laura Mericer, Charlotte Tilbury, MAC, Chanel and Estee Lauder had to offer. Looked like a crazy lady with about 35 swatches on my arm as I walked around but it was worth it as I wanted to be sure.

When you think you may have found the one, you always find another, so don't buy it straight away unless you're one hundred and ten hundred percent sure. You're kind of treating your wedding lipstick like your bridal gown, so it's ok to be fussy and trial it a few times before you buy.
The mistake I made was I brought far too many, but I do love every single one of them and I do wear them all!

A wedding lipstick needs to compliment your blusher, your skin-tone, your eye colour, your hair colour, so bare this in mind. If you've chosen the rest of your wedding day make-up, I would say look for your lipstick last. If you've got fair skin or ginger hair than great, these three products will work for you if you're after that every day natural lip.
It would also look lovely on medium skin tones.

A wedding lipstick is always going to have a special place in your heart, so make sure it's perfect.

Chanel's Rouge Coco number 402 has so many wonderful memories attached to it and I keep it in a safe place. And funnily enough, I only own two Chanel lipsticks in my collection, so it means this one is extra special to me.

Anyway, good luck finding your dream wedding lipstick! It's such a fun task and something I really enjoyed doing to take my mind off the other mundane tasks. Enjoy the process and remember it's ok to be fussy, it's your wedding day after all!

Also, if you're interested in seeing photo's from my wedding I have uploaded a few up on my Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog. And if you're interested in reading more about my wedding experiences, I blogged about mine and Joe's initial ideas here. As well as my initial hair and make-up ideas here. And last but not least, the stressful period with eight weeks to go, you can read about that one here.

As always you can reach me on social media. I have Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog, and twitter: @zoeyoliviablog. Have a fabulous week all.

Antipodes Aura Manuka Honey Mask Review

There are hundreds of face masks out there that I'm yet to discover, however, today I'll be focusing on the lovely Antipodes Aura Manuka Honey Mask. This was one of my favourite discoveries from 2016... and still a firm favourite in 2017.

I picked this up around August last year and I know this post is long over-due but better late than never right? That's usually my excuse for everything... ha. Anyway, I trialled and tested this for months and months and it's the face mask I always go back to. I bloody love it, it's my holy grail hydrating face mask which I use every single week without a doubt. Even my husband loves it... he's going to hate me for writing that!

I have never actually tried any of Antipodes products before, but I have always heard great things and this face mask has been hyped up quite a far bit on the interwebs, so I wanted to give it a go.

Let me start by saying I love all things manuka honey related, it has wonderful benefits for the skin and body, one being incredible for treating blemishes or acne prone skin as it has anti-bacterial properties. Manuka honey is ridiculously expensive to buy here in England as I was browsing my local supermarket the other day and I saw one single jar going for £20. It had a security tag on it too which did make me giggle.

As well as manuka honey, it also has something called 'Pohutukawa Extract' inside, which personally I haven't heard of before, but it has been said to be deeply conditioning and moisturising, whilst providing antioxidant and antiseptic benefits. Fab stuff.

Let's move on to the formula and what it's like. It's quite an unusual texture and mask - not like the tradition clay masks that dry rock solid and are a pain in the butt to remove. It's more of a creamy moisturising gel consistency which goes onto your cleansed skin like a moisturiser and then you leave to set for 15 minutes. I am really generous with the amount I put onto my skin, I slather a thick layer on, the more the better.

The smell is also divine by the way, I think that's why me and my other half love it so much. It's so sweet, you just want to eat it!

Anyway, once removed with a warm muslin cloth, it leaves your skin feeling super soft and hydrated. It feels cleansed and all kinds of lovely warm fuzzy feelings.

What really impress's me with this face mask is that whenever I have a devil of a spot creep up on my face out of no-where, after using this the spot reduces massively the next day and helps it go off on it's way out.

As well as this, it has lasted me ages, more than six months and there is still so much product in the tube, which is great! Although, I should probably buy a new one as you shouldn't keep skincare for over six months or so I was told. But this is great for people like me who want to share products with my friends or my other half.

It's the perfect weekly pampering treat. A great healer for those pesky spots. And great to use all year round to keep your skin lovely and hydrated. I honestly don't know what I'd do without it! 

I love trying new products, especially face masks! If there are any other similar ones you'd think I'd like, then please leave them in the comments below :).As always you can reach me on social media. I have Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog, and twitter: @zoeyoliviablog.