Refa Active Review: Massage Roller for Face and Body

Face and body roller massagers seem to be the trend nowadays, but one of the most popular ones is the Refa Active. This is a handheld massager, with two rollers and an easy-to-grip handle. Refa has a few models of massagers, but the Refa Active is also made specifically for athletes, and has some unique features of its own. Of course, non-athletic people like me can also use all the features too, because it's claimed to have aesthetic effects, beyond the health benefits. In fact, I'm told that some people may also see a slimming effect with consistent use of the massager!

Refa Active: A fully-featured massager for face and body

I've blogged about massage rollers before (and have looked at the science behind facial massage too), so these don't need an introduction, but out of the ones I've tried, the Refa ones are the best. My mum consistently steals my Refas from under me (my Refa Carat, which I've Instagrammed here previously, is now permanently located on her dresser table), and out of all the massagers she's tried, this is still one of her favourites.


Refa Active: Made with athletes in mind, but anyone can use it too
I know roller massagers like this one can look a bit confusing, so let's take a look at the features of the Refa Active, what makes it different from other massagers, and some of my favourite things to do with the Refa Active!

Urban Decay Vice 4 Palette Swatches and Review

Urban Decay's Vice 4 Eyeshadow Palette is probably one of the Holiday 2015 makeup items. Urban Decay's Vice Palettes have always been popular, starting with the original Vice Palette launched in 2012, the following iterations on the Vice themed (named Vice 2 and Vice 3) were also really popular, and tend to sell out pretty fast. If you're an eyeshadow lover, you probably already have Vice 4 on your radar - if you haven't already gotten it!

Urban Decay Vice 4 Palette: New for the Holiday 2015 season

The Vice 4 Palette has a whopping 20 eyeshadows, like the 3 other Vice Palettes before it. And according to Sephora, the palette "is formulated with Urban Decay’s own Pigment Infusion System™, a proprietary blend of ingredients that deliver rich, velvety, blendable color that lasts and sparkle that stays in place". Urban Decay's eyeshadows are famous for their pigmentation and good texture, so I'm happy to hear that!


Urban Decay Vice 4 Palette: A great complement to the existing Vice Palettes
Anyway, without further ado, let's move on to the swatches!

Too Faced Christmas in Paris Swatches and First Impressions

Too Faced's Christmas in Paris Collection is quite hotly anticipated, and after previously bringing you swatches of the Le Grand Palais set, I've decided to (finally!) post the rest of the swatches! Better late than never, right?

Too Faced Christmas in Paris: A holiday collection that looks super festive!

The Holiday 2015 items I have here are the Melted Kisses and Sweet Cheeks set, the Le Petit Tresor set, and the French Kisses melted set. Most of these sets consist of existing shades from Too Faced's permanent collection, so I guess if you're already familiar with the shade range these swatches may not excite you as much, although the Le Petit Tresor set does contain one exclusive shade.


Too Faced Christmas in Paris: Sets featuring some of their most popular products
As with the Le Grand Palais swatches, I also took these photos indoors at a restaurant, and was multi-tasking (eating while swatching makeup is fun, but not easy), so pardon any less-than-perfect swatching! I hope these swatches help, however!

Too Faced Le Grand Palais Swatches and First Impressions

Too Faced's Le Grande Palais is one of the key items in the brand's Holiday 2015 collection. It's basically a set, with a palette of 18 eyeshadows, two blushes, a bronzer, and a highlighter. It also has minis of the Melted Lipstick in Peony, the Better Than Sex Mascara, and the Shadow Insurance Eye Primer. I've gotten a lot of interest ever since I posted about this on my Instagram (and one person even bought it when it came out on account of the Instagram pic), so I figure I'd better get around to swatching this!

Too Faced Le Grand Palais: One of the stars of the Holiday 2015 collection

Le Grand Palais is a Sephora exclusive, so if you want it, you know where to get it! Also, this is limited time only since it's a Christmas item. So I wouldn't wait too long to get it if you're interested! Swatches of the other Too Faced Holiday 2015 makeup items will be up soon too - I've just been busy, and there are a ton of Christmas collections out now!

Too Faced Le Grand Palais: 18 eyesahdows and 4 face colours are the highlight of the set
Without further ado, let's move on to the swatches! Before we start the swatches proper, though, let me apologize for any lack in quality of the swatches. These were made over lunch indoors in a restaurant, so I had the ultimate first-world-beauty-blogger-cum-foodie problem of eating and swatching makeup at the same time! Obviously it was a good problem to have, so I'm not complaining! I've tried my best with these swatches, so I hope they help somebody!

Givenchy Teint Couture Balm Review, Swatches Ingredients Analysis and FOTD

Givenchy Teint Couture Balm (aka Givenchy Teint Couture Blurring Foundation Balm) SPF15 is the latest base product for skin to come from Givenchy. Givenchy has some really gorgeous face makeup - their Prisme Libre loose powders, as well as their little squares of pressed finishing/brightening powders are some of my favourites (and I recently hauled yet more of their stuff, as this IG photo shows), and make up some of the brands best known products. So I had high expectations for the Teint Couture Balm.

Givenchy Teint Couture Balm SPF15: The latest lightweight foundation/BB cream-type product from Givenchy

The Teint Couture Balm is advertised as being a "an invisible, ultralightweight, skin-fusion foundation for a flawless, bare-skin effect, and it's a lighter foundation/base product addition to Givenchy's range. I'm pretty late to the party - these were launched a couple of months ago, but I'm only reviewing them now, but on the bright side, a thorough review is always good, right? And I'm glad to say, the Teint Couture Balm performs very nicely!


Givenchy Teint Couture Balm SPF15: Also known as Teint Couture Blurring Foundation Balm in some countries
And by thorough, I do mean thorough - I've got swatches, ingredients analysis, and a photo of the Teint Couture Balm on my face! Of course, we'll start with my favourite part - the ingredients analysis of the product.

Kiehl's Daily Reviving Concentrate Review and Ingredients Analysis

Kiehl's Daily Reviving Concentrate is Kiehl's latest face oil, and is the day counterpart to their iconic product, the Midnight Recovery Concentrate (which I've made mentioned of on my blog before). The idea behind the Daily Reviving Concentrate is that you use it during the day to protect your skin, and you use the Midnight Recovery Concentrate during the night to help your skin repair itself. For facial oil lovers, this is pretty great!

Kiehl's Daily Reviving Concentrate: A companion to the iconic Midnight Recovery Concentrate

The Kiehl's website calls this a face oil that "strengthens skin’s defenses against daily aggressors to keep skin youthful and radiant-looking all day", and "provides antioxidant protection with a powerful blend of naturally-derived oils, including Ginger Root, Sunflower and Tamanu". It also claims to be "Paraben free, 100% natural origin, Mineral oil free, Non-comedogenic, Non-acnegenic". I guess that's going to appeal to a lot of people!


Kiehl's Daily Reviving Concentrate: The latest facial oil product from the brand
Of course, I'm sure there will be questions - for one, what is in the Kiehl's Daily Reviving Concentrate that's so special? And can a facial oil really be non-comedogenic and non-acnegenic? We shall see!

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette Review and Swatches

Urban Decay's Naked Smoky Palette is the latest eyeshadow palette addition to Urban Decay's Naked range of palettes, and the fourth in the range (after the original Naked, Naked 2, and Naked 3). Urban Decay traditionally has been known for its bright and bold eyeshadow shades, but the addition of the Naked Palettes has helped to really establish the brand as not just for neon lovers, and brought the brand to a whole new audience.

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette: The fourth palette in the Naked Palette series.

I'm a pretty big fan of Urban Decay's eyeshadows, I have some in the really old packaging with the old logo and in the tin packaging, and the quality of the eyeshadows now is just as good as it was then. Of course, the brand image has gotten a bit more glamorous and a bit less grungy over the years, but the quality is still pretty great.


Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette: The shade range consists of both smokey and everyday shades.
Anyway, without further ado, let's move on to the review and swatches!