Quickie Review: Soap and Glory Bright Here Bright Now

 

I picked this up on a buy two, get one free Soap and Glory offer a good while ago and it was a surprisingly good little find. I do like a bit of Soap and Glory, I must admit. Their scrubs and shower gels last for ages and are pleasingly enormous to boot!

Rather annoyingly, I believe Soap and Glory have changed a lot of their packaging, so if you’re looking for this in store, I think it’s now a white plastic tube. I actually prefer this sort of ‘metal’ tube as you can get every last bit out.

Bright Here, Bright Now is a soft golden champagne colour in a fairly thin, lotion-like formula which claims to  be ‘brightening, illuminating and radiance-boosting,’  have a ‘tightening and lifting effect’ and that it ‘minimises fine lines & wrinkles, moisturises, smoothes & energises.’

There are really mixed reviews of this product online, which as with any ‘skincare’ item is probably to be expected. The comment I’m seeing most is that it’s balling up/flaking off. It does have silicone in it, so you’re going to want to check what other products you’re using it with it, but I’ve never had that problem when using it at all and find it glides on easily and my foundations play well with it. The tightening claims though? Nah. I never buy into those claims past a temporary effect anyway, but I’ve certainly not noticed anything. However, I do find it lightly moisturising which is a bonus and I really, really like the brightening effect that it has.  I use it all over the face except the T-zone, and have even ran a little down the centre of my legs and my décolletage as well. It’s very subtle, and one of those things that someone else wouldn’t notice, but I do personally notice it and I really like it. Being so subtle on the face, it’s really hard to capture in photographs….

…See? You’d have no idea I was wearing it, but rest assured*I* did! A nice subtle illuminator is a mini confidence booster.

I’ve become really accustomed to wearing an illuminator under my foundation and this has become my go-to. I’ve been wearing it with Revlon Nearly Naked or Dr Jarts BB Cream for the last couple of months, and I’m interesting to see how it plays with Revlon Colorstay which is my winter foundation of choice.

For £12 this is a nice little product, and a nice find when many high street illuminators seem to be very pink! I really recommend this little lovely for winter, and if you keep your eye out in Boots, Soap and Glory are quite often on offer.

LOTD: Knickers In A Twist

I tidied all my pigments the other day and was instantly sad that I neglect them so much as I have some beautiful, beautiful colours! I threw on a couple for a warm, autumnal kind of look.

Eyes: Lid, OCC Loose Color Concentrate in Triptych. Crease and lower lashline, Fyrinnae Knickers In A Twist. Liner, Maybelline gel liner in brown (waterline), Collection2000 24/7 pen liner in Black. Lashes, Eyelure Naturalites.
Cheeks: Sleek Suede, Boots No 7 Vital Enlightening Highlighter, with Soap and Glory Bright Here Bright Now as a base.
Lips: NYX Round Lipstick in Saturn, blotted (thanks Kathy!)

I’ve waxed lyrical about OCC Triptych before. Go and get it.

And just for fun, here’s the outfit that I wore that day too. I was on a lovely shoot and wanted to look cute. The t shirt is from Hot Topic and is a present from my lovely friend Rachael who knows me all to well. The shoes are Topshop, cardigan/jacket is really old H&M and the leather swing skirt is from a random little ‘market’ shop.

 

I love this outfit and makeup and having worn literally nothing all week on my face and nothing exciting clothes wise, it felt good to throw on some lashes and some sparkly shoes!

May Favourites and Not-So-Favourites

Favourites

MAC Girl Next Door

Anyone who knows me will probably be scratching their head at this entry on my list, but I've been reaching for this a lot! It's a (dupeable) blue based pink, but I've been layering it with just about everything! I've bought tons of pink and purple lip liners recently and I've been using this over them. Also, every man and his dog loves the cute Archie’s Girls packaging! Thanks to Priscilla for sending this to me :)

MAC Nightmoth

I love this. I just love it. It is fucking rad.

MAC Magenta

Last MAC item for this month, I’ve been wearing this pretty much non-stop since I’ve got it. It’s simply gorgeous and doesn’t budge. 

MUA Undress Me Too Palette

This is kind of an odd one to shout about for me as when I look at the palette, it doesn't make me excited, but I find myself reaching for it pretty much every day. For four quid, you can't beat the quality and useabilty and I won't go away without it now.

Boots Botanics Super Balm

I've basically really liked everything I've ever tried from Boots Botanics and I think they generally do fab skincare for bugger all money, which is something I can't argue with! This is a multi-purpose balm that claims to 'soften, soothe and calm skin in need'. I've not been using it on my skin but I have to say it's the best lip balm I've tried for a long, long time. For a few quid, you get tons as well.

Soap and Glory The Fab Pore

I love me a clay mask from time to time but often find they're really drying on my skin which outweighs any other benefits. This one doesn't dry my skin out at all, and I'm giving it full credit for cleaning up the most hideous spot on my chin ever.

A-Derma Sensifluid Lait Demaquillant

I picked this up in Boots - I can't lie here - because I really liked the bottle. If you like milky, lotion-y makeup removers, or you have sensitive skin, this one is a bloody good bet. I don't like using this type of consitency on my eyes, but it removes face makeup like a dream. Sadly it's not online at Boots, so I don't remember the price, but it was less than £10 for sure.

Hates

MUA Undress Your Skin Foundation in Ivory

Hate might be a bit of a strong term but this literally didn’t sit well with me. On inital application it looked nice – better coverage than I was expecting and a nice dewy finish. But it separated horribly on my and for my dry skin that’s kind of weird. I hate to wear skin primers and for the money this cost I really can’t be bothered to find a solution for it.

Benefit They're Real Mascara

I hate this. I hate it. It would be an okay mascara – it seperates pretty nicely actually – but it WON’T COME THE FUCK OFF. It’s not billed as a waterproof mascara and I don’t expect to have to reach for an oily remover to get it off. It has that kind of goopy, gummy texture when you go to remove it and it’s such a pain in the ass. It was a freebie and thank god for that.

 

What are you loving and leaving this month?

April Favourites

Clockwise from top left:

Bobbi Brown Eyeshadow in Heather Mauve – I’ve been wearing this product a ton this month. It’s not actually a mega stellar product in itself, more that it’s suited my rushed makeup routine, which is to say, it’s sheer, neutral and has a little shimmer, so it’s dead easy to apply on the tube! It’s a grey-taupe with slight purple undertone, so it goes with quite a lot of lip and cheek colours, and it’s great to just throw in my bag.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer – A favourite in the blogging community for quite some time now, and it’s easy to see why. It does stay put for ages, it’s not cakey, and it’s dead cheap at around a fiver. This month, for reasons unknown, I’ve had some god-awful acne on my chin and this has taken away any redness whatsoever. And I mean really, really awful spots, they were huge!

Soap and Glory Bright Here, Bright Now – Part illuminator, part primer, part moisturiser. I don’t buy the lifting and firming claims whatsoever, but it keeps my BB cream sticking around a bit longer and adds a really subtle glow. A bit of an odd products but I really like it.

Crown Brush C315-A Soft Taklon Foundation – I won’t like to you folks, I bought this because it looked cool, and I wanted it. As a foundation brush, its actually pretty great. It covers large areas quickly and it’s very thin, so great for contouring with cream or liquid products.

Crown C250-1 Taklon Liner – This is just a really basic, thin liner brush, but I love it. I also have the C250-2, which is the next size up. The bristles are well shaped, it’s synthetic and it’s just the right length to allow for nice fluidity of movement. What more for you want for £1.69?

Bourjois Delice de Poudre in 52 – I have a review of this here, so I won’t say too much about it. Subtle, pretty, smells nice, good price.

ProCharts – £12.99 for 35 charts. I’ve never used actual makeup for face charts before, I’ve just done rough sketches. Learning to use these is a bit of a pain, but I can tell already they’re going to help me so much when planning for shoots.

MAC Sheen Supreme in Korean Candy – I wanted this for ages and it just fell into my basket. Everyone knows I love the Sheen Supremes, I basically just want them all. This particular beauty is a punchy orange-red and I luffs it.

 

What have you been loving this month?