Hourglass Lighting Powders: Ethereal Light & Dim Infusion - Worth the Hype?

Hourglass powders have been getting so much hype on the interwebs in the past year or so and I've been experimenting with wedding make-up the past few weeks so I wanted to give these a go.

Setting powders are something I've always struggled with for some reason. And believe it or not, I've only really been using setting powders the past three years or so!

I like a semi-matte finish, yet glowy and natural looking. Ideally I want a powder that I apply once and it stays like that all day with no touch-ups. In the past I've tried many from Clinque, Estee Lauder, Soap and Glory, MAC, jane iredale and many many more, however there is always something I don't like about the finish, or it makes me oily in a few hours, or the lasting power isn't as great as I'd hoped. Maybe I'm just being a bit of a fuss-pot... But with my wedding coming up, I need to find the perfect powder!

Any who, going off on a bit of a tangent there... So yes, after all the hype over Hourglass' powders and watching loads of YouTube reviews, I decided to give them a go. I picked up Ethereal Light (£38) which is suitable for fair skin. And, Dim Infusion (£32) a gorgeous coral shade which is part of the blush range.

These powders have been formulated to deliver a soft focus effect that look amazing under harsh fluorescent bright lights or other unflattening light sources. The key benefits of these powders are to capture, diffuse and soften the way light reflects on to your skin by using cutting-edge photo-luminescent technology—transparent micron-size, colour correcting particles to alter and refine the appearance of the complexion. And to deliver a multi-dimensional luminescence to every skin tone, making it appear younger, unlike traditional powders which simply sit on the skin to cover imperfections.

After trailing them for a month or so, I have to say I am completely in love with them and yes they are 100% worth the hype! They are such beautiful powders.

First off the packaging is stunning - luxurious, weighted metallic cases. And, the marbled effect of the blushes are too pretty to look at! Also the finish of the powders are incredible, they are so finely milled and they give you a healthy glow whilst looking airbrushed.

As my skin gets fairly oily through-out the day, I do have to touch-up or use a matte powder underneath, but that doesn't bother me too much because they leave such a beautiful finish on the skin.

(Wearing Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation, jane iredale PurePressed Base, Hourglass Ethereal Light and Dim Infusion in the photo above.)

Ethereal Light is a soft, cool white powder with a hint of lumionsity. The finish is a 'moonlight glow' super radiant looking.
This powder is kind of like a highlighter for your face, without looking shimmery or like a disco ball.
If you do prefer more of a matte finish or have combination to oily skin, I would recommend using another powder before applying this on top.

This is the perfect powder for fair skin girls and those who enjoy a glowy, yet soft focused finish.

I absolutely love this powder, I've been wearing it every day since I got it, and I will be most likely wearing this on my wedding day!

Dim Infusion is a beautiful coral shade that add's a bit of warmth to the cheeks. This shade works really well with my hair colour and my fair skin-tone, but I do think it would look lovely on other skin-tones too.

I've also been wearing this every day since I got it! It's the perfect peachy coral shade and looks lovely and natural on the cheeks!

I will most likely be wearing these for my wedding day. Or, if not these shades, then perhaps 'Dim Light', 'Diffused Light' or 'Ethereal Glow' - I haven't yet decided, too many choices of different 'lights'!  But for the time being I want to look air-brushed every day and these two are doing me wonders! Highly highly recommend these and I get the hype! They are frickin' amazing!

Feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

Aromatherapy Associates vs NEOM - The Battle of the Bath Oils

When it comes down to bath oils, Aromatherapy Associates and NEOM don't compare.

In my humble opinion, they are the most gorgeous scented, most relaxing, luxurious oils on the market today. But who comes out on top? Let's find out shall we.

So let's talk about the Miniature Bath & Shower Collection by Aromatherapy Associates (£39.00) first...

This set includes ten therapeutic mini oils (3ml bottles). You get:

Deep Relax -
 Vetrivert, camomile and sandalwood for a tranquil night.

Light Relax -
Made with Lavender, ylang ylang and petitgrain.

De-Stress Mind -
Frankincense, petitgrain, wild camomile and rosemary to organise your thoughts.

De-Stress Muscle -
 Rosemary, black pepper, lavender and ginger to de-stress your body.

Revive Morning -
Grapefruit, rosemary and juniper for a fantastic and reviving start to the day.

Revive Evening -
Geranium, ylang ylang, patchouli and sandalwood to re-energise you for the evening ahead.

Support Breathe -
 Eucalyptus, pine, tea tree and peppermint to maintain easy breathing and a clear head.

Support Lavender & Peppermint -
Comforting powers of lavender and peppermint to keep you feeling your best.

Support Equilibrium -
Geranium, rose and frankincense to help lift your spirits during challenging times.

Inner Strength -
Clary sage, frankincense and cardamom to help find your strength in challenging and difficult times.

My favourites are Revive Evening, Support Breathe and De-Stress Mind. But to be honest they are all really lovely and relaxing. I really enjoy coming home from work, running one of these under the tap and indulging in bath heaven!

What I really love about this mini collection is that you can test out near enough all of Aromatherapy Assosicates range and see which ones you really like! This is great for all the indecisive ladies out there... Especially me!

The outer packaging is really sleek and I love the gold foiled text which adds a sense of luxury. I also think the little bottles are adorable and I love the little touch of the gold lids.

This would be a perfect birthday or Christmas present. A real treat for those who adore baths.

Moving on to NEOM's Six Blissful Nights In Mini Bath & Shower Oils (£24.95). A friend from work actually gifted me this beautiful little set which I'm really grateful for. 

This collection includes six mini bath and shower oils (5ml bottles). You get:

2 x Tranquility Oils -
English lavender, sweet basil and jasmine combine to relax the mind and body and help to induce the perfect night's sleep.

2 x Time to Unwind -

Bluebell, guaiacwood and rose have been blended to create a treatment that helps you unwind and focus.

2 x Real Luxury -
 Heady jasmine with a little French lavender and the soothing, spicy tones of Brazilian rosewood. Gently calming and pampering.

I absolutely love Real Luxury and Time to Unwind. These scents are really unique and special. They really help me relax, and I feel like I'm bathing in gold! I could spend hours and hours in the bath with these.

The only downside to this set is that you don't get a huge variety like Aromatherapy Associates collection. You only get three different oils. However, you do get slightly bigger bottles, instead of 3ml you get 5ml (almost double)!

But any who, this collection would be a great birthday or Christmas gift, or for someone who travels a lot.

After trialling, testing and weighing up pros and cons. If I had to choose which one I prefer or gift someone, it'll have to be Aromatherapy Associates collection overall, as it comes with a much better selection and variety, and is a really good price point for ten oils.

 However, NEOM's 'Real Luxury' scent is my absolute favourite of them all. It's feels like you're being wrapped up in a blanket whilst watching a fire. It's so comforting! Seriously do try this one!

Feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

MAC's Faerie Whispers Foiled Eyeshadows | Review

I don't normally get too excited about limited edition collections from MAC, apart from the Dita Von Teese lippy that I missed my hands on... But, when I saw MAC's Faerie Whispers Foiled Shadows go live on the website, I just had to have them!

And, with my wedding coming up, it's the perfect excuse to play around with new make-up - especially the eyes as I have no idea what to do yet! So I picked up Joy Toy, Enchanted Forest and Faerie Fayre from the collection.

These foiled eye shadows have been created to 'light up the eyes with luminous wet or dry shades' to achieve a beautiful glowing fairy tale look. And they do exactly that!

Joy Toy is a golden coppery shade, and my favourite of the three. 

Enchanted Forest is a warm golden rich brown.

And, Faerie Fayre is a deep brown red.

The pigmentation of these are amazing, and the formulation is so smooth and buttery - they honestly blend like a dream. I've also tried and tested them both wet and dry and I do actually prefer the dry finish. The wet finish would be perfect for a high-end photoshoot, or a night out!

The packaging is the standard 'MAC Packaging', nothing special, however the shadows are embossed with a crinkled effect which is a nice little touch.

In the photo above, I'm wearing 'Joy Toy', which is my favourite of the three. I really like that it's in between gold and copper. And a little bit peachy too.

I think this would be lovely for a wedding day look, paired with Hourglass' blush in the shade 'Dim Infusion' and MAC's Brave on the lips. It would also be perfect for every day if you do like a bit of shimmer!

Feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

Four days in Venice

On Monday, we flew away to the beautiful land of Venice for four days! This was a much needed break for both of us (those who have been through the whole wedding planning experience will know what I mean...) and this was also a little birthday treat for Joe.

During our time in Venice, we indulged in heavenly foods - I had the best savoury crepe of my life, we visited the colourful houses in Burano and also got lost a fair few times.

It was a pretty chilled trip, and that's exactly what we wanted. As whenever we do city breaks we always jam-pack our days with so much to do that we end up feeling exhausted by the end of it. And with everything going on at the moment, a semi-relaxing holiday was all we could ask for.

Anyway, I hope you liked our Venice Photo Diary. I will be doing another post on Venice shortly - of things I recommend doing if you plan on visiting. Until next time...

Feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog to see lots of other snaps from our trip, or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

Love, Zoey

Spring Primark Haul

It feels like ages since I've sat down in front of my camera and filmed a video! And reason being is that I've just been so caught up in wedding planning, learning to drive, as well as being mega busy at work.

This week I flew to Venice, just to get away for a few days with Joe. Everything has been feeling a bit overwhelming and exhausting lately, and our little break away was much needed.
I will of course post a few snaps on here and share my trip with you very soon.

Anyway back to the main purpose of this blog post, I have a Spring Primark Haul that I wanted to share with you all!
These are one of my favourite videos to film, and they tend to be my most popular ones too. So, I hope you enjoy it :).

Also, I will be back soon with a humongous beauty haul, so keep you're eyes peeled for that. As well as writing lots of reviews on here in due course!

In the meantime feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

Love, Zoey

Belated Lush Boxing Day Sales Haul

First off, let me start by saying how sorry I am for posting this so late! I'm normally on top of things, but if you read my life update post you'll understand why I have been falling behind a little.
I was also going to film what I got from Lush too but I think it's far too late to post, but we shall see...

So, a few days after Boxing Day, I purchased a cheeky online order with Lush. I do this every year as the majority of their Christmas collection is half the price.

And, well I got quite a bit! I'll start with the items to the left first.

Santa's Sack Bubble Bar, this is an online exclusive and I've never actually seen this before! It's really really cute.
This bubble bar is three baths in one - take the presents out and leave them aside and crumble the sack under water, and then re-use the bubble bar presents for two baths at a later date.
The main ingredients in this little sack are tonka absolute and neroli oil which are super comforting and warming for the colder months.

Snowcake Soap, this is limited edition and I've only seen it pop back over the Christmas period.
I don't usually buy Lush soap's, however I wanted to give this one a go as I love marzipan, and that's exactly what it smells like!
It's main ingredients are Rose, Cassie and Benzoin oils which combined gives it that marzipan fragrance.

Golden Wonder Bath Bomb, I've had this before and it's amazing! It has a fresh smelling scent that's quite citrusy and not usually the kind of fragrance I would go for.
When you pop it into your bath, it turns your bath a greeny-blue colour, with lots of glittery stars floating around along the top. It also creates lots of bubbles too!

Cinders Bath Bomb, this is one of my favourite Christmas Lush bath bombs. It has a spicy cinnamon scent and crackles when you drop it into the bath. It's super warming and comforting for the winter months. Highly highly recommend.

Frozen Bath Bomb, this is part of Lush's fairly new collection and has been inspired by the film Frozen.
This one has quite a fresh scent, it has grapefruit oil, neroli oil, rose oil, amongst many other ingredients. Quite excited to test this one out soon!

Intergalactic Bath Bomb. I bloody love this one! It creates the most beautiful galaxy bath! I've previously spoken about it in a past blog post, if you're interested, click here to read it.

Snow Fairy Shower Gel. Snow Fairy is highly raved about on the interwebs and is exclusive over the Christmas period! I picked up a 100g bottle which is plenty enough for me.
If you haven't tried Snow Fairy, it's a sickly sweet scent and you will smell like unicorns, candy floss and all things sugary sweet!

The Experimenter Bath Bomb. I've always been intrigued by the shape of this, it's very cool. And the scent is unusual - it's quite minty and spicy vanilla-y. I'm excited to give this one a go!

Rub Rub Rub Body Scrub, I'm unsure if this is new but I've never seen it before! And, I haven't tried one of Lush's scrubs in a ridiculously long time so I thought I'd trial this one.
It's main ingredients are sea salt, illipe butter and has a cherry blossom flourish. It's very Japanese like, so I was very much drawn to it for that reason!

Candy Mountain Bubble Bar. if you like Snow Fairy, you'll love this one! It's sugary sweet and creates a beautiful pink bubbly bath! I usually get this every year as it's quite nice to be bathed in pink water and feel like a princess.

Dashing Santa Bath Bomb. Last but not least, we have Dashing Santa! I usually get this one every year as well.
He's pretty awesome as he dashes around your bath and turns your bath a lovely red colour.

So there we have it, my belated Lush Boxing Day Sales Haul! If you would like to see what these look like in your bath, follow me on Instagram, @zoeyoliviablog as I'll be posting them over the next couple of weeks!

Love, Zoey

NEW Charlotte Tilbury Lipsticks Kiss Chase & Between The Sheets Review

Charlotte Tilbury has just launched her two new and exclusive lipsticks just in time for Valentine's day! One of the lipsticks is new to the Matte Revolution range, named 'Between The Sheets', and the other is now apart of the K.I.S.S.I.N.G range titled 'Kiss Chase'.

Charlotte held a competition on Instagram, Facebook and on her main website a little while back, asking everyone to name her new lipstick shade, which I thought was really cool and lovely to get her audience involved. I had a few ideas and did comment on Instagram but I can't actually remember what I wrote (bad memory alert!) But, I'm really liking the shade names that were selected, especially 'Between The Sheets'!

Anyway, I bought the 'Date Night Duo' set which works out cheaper than if you were to buy them separately. And I got two free samples with my purchase which is always a bonus! I got a sample of the Magic Foundation in the shade 2, fair and Light Wonder Foundation in the shade 2, fair as well.

Back to the lippys... I bloody love them! I love all of her lipsticks to be honest, especially 'Bitch Perfect' it's one of my all time favourites, you can read about that lipstick here if you're interested.

Ok, so starting with her Matte Revolution: Between The Sheets lipstick. This is a matte formula in a 'dreamy vintage rose petal' shade.
On the website, this does look more of a vibrant pink than it is in real life. It's a lot more subtle and more of a toned down nudey-pink. It is the your lips but better shade!

I really do love Charlotte's  matte formulas, they are creamy and the longevity is fab, I would say they last around 4-5 hours before needing to re-apply.
The formula is also enriched with 'Lipstick Tree extract' which protects the lips and is a natural oxidant, and also has Orchid Extract which soothes and hydrates for a soft, build-able cashmere finish.

And for packaging, it comes in Charlotte's classic beautiful rose-gold casing which I absolutely adore. Packaging makes such a difference in my humble opinion!

Moving on to the second shade, 'Kiss Chase', new to the K.I.S.S.I.N.G range! The name is a reminder of that game we all used to play when we were young.

Likewise, to the other shade, this is shown as more of a vibrant berry on her website and is a lot more toned down in real life. 

Charlotte describes this shade as a 'tawny berry hue' which I agree with. And is curated to suit any skin-tone.

This formula is also enriched with Charlotte's secret 'tree extract' which is an anti-oxidant that naturally protects lips from UV damage and external pollution leaving your lips cashmere soft and adds moisture to the lips.

This shade is gorgeous, I think I prefer this out of the two! And the formula is super nourishing!
The longevity is pretty good as well, I applied this around 8:00am and it lasted till around 12:00pm where it just needed a little touch-up.

Also, it reminds me of MAC's Plumful a little bit - which also suits near enough every skin-tone. So if you are looking for a cheaper alternative, I would highly recommend Plumful. And, if you're interested, I have a blog post about it as well, click here.

I'm wanting to try more and more of Charlotte's range and with my wedding coming up, it's an excuse to buy and experiment with more make-up! I've got my eye on the Film Star Bronze and Glow, the eye palettes and the foundations! So much to choose from!!

Let me know what you think of Charlotte Tilbury's new shades in the comments below! And, what you would like me to review next. As always you can always tweet me, @zoeyoliviablog, watch my vlogs, or follow me on Instagram, @zoeyoliviablog.

Love, Zoey