Roaccutane the saviour pill

I am so sorry I have been MIA for quite some time. Today, I was more than motivated to blog, as I want to RANT! I have been so disgruntled lately with the 'news' on short bursts of current affairs on the BBC and of course hypeuptheproblem Daily Mail. Everyone and their uncle is trying to highlight the dangers of Roaccutane. 

Having been prescribed the drug myself (I think for a 6 month course) I am a living testament of what a miracle these pills are. Yes, there are side effects hence why it can only be prescribed by a dermatologist. He or She monitors the patient very closely on the course of the prescription (every 3 or 4 weeks). Also, you are told of the negative outcomes; including depression and how a small statistic of patients have committed suicide, which was probably due to the drug. Not only does the dermatologist lists the side effects but you are also required to sign a waiver, saying you have been told of the side effects, you understand and agree to go ahead. 

During my final months of the prescription, I was on 70mg a day. This is a rather high dosage but the doctor prescribes on the the basis of how well you have been coping with drug (emotionally and other side effects); how the progress of trying to clear the acne is going and height and body weight. I didn't feel I was effected in terms of my emotional health, my main side effects were extreme dry and sensitive skin and very achey achey joints. Nevertheless, my dermatologist always made a point of asking how I was feeling emotionally. 

Roaccutane saved my life. I know I would never have been able to do well in university academically as well as socially. How does acne effect your studies??? Simple, I wouldn't have had the confidence to participate well in group work or even talk to lecturers without being self conscious and insecure. 

Yes, I understand some young adults have died from the nasty side effects of this drug. However lets not forget everything in life has risks, surgery has risk, would we stop operating on people due to 1% of those patients unfortunately die? no. I wish their parents would stop campaigning for Roaccutane to be banned. It's none of their business, this drug in my personal opinion does more good than bad. Banning this drug would mean that thousands of young adults who could take the drug and only have minor side effects like me, can't have the desired, insecure and self conscious free life they could. 

If you are a sufferer of acne, choosing the the best course of action is ultimately up to you and your body. There are many different treatments for this awful skin condition and if it has been long term, I would suggest speaking to your GP. I was told at 16, that I would grow out of it, I didn't and had to suffer years of waiting for the miracle day I would wake up with clear skin. As a result of that, I have a few prominent areas of scarring and terrible memories of being insecure and ashamed. 

It feels quite sad and superficial to say that a skin condition has held me back in the past. Should I have embraced my flaws instead of feeling sorry for myself? It's hard to say, maybe I could have been a little less negative and focused on all the positive aspects in my life. Nevertheless, my acne is gone and I have to thank Roaccutane and my dermatologist from the bottom of my heart.

No7 match made service

Remember to ask for a sample to take away :)

I am no way a fan of No7 make up, even with the whole redesign from make up artist Lisa Eldridge, I still find the brand dreary. Of course, there are perks, such as the £5 vouchers Boots frequently gives out and lately the new promise of finding your perfect match shade of foundation

My experience.

A small amount of makeup removed from each side of my jaw line and then a snap on each by the sales assistant. Simple. The shade that I was matched to was 'warm ivory'. 

I asked the No7 girl, where that shade is on the colour spectrum, pink or yellow? She hadn't a clue what I was talking about. Sigh.

I was not given a tour about all the types of foundations they had on offer, or what type of coverage and finish I wanted. She simply grabbed 'stay perfect' which is fine as it's like Mac studio finish.

Below is how the colour compares to my usual choices of foundations right now, L'oreal lumi magique and Mac studio sculpt. 

Even though the No7 shade looks lighter than L'oreal, I did find No7 looked much darker on my skin, as it oxidised... but only slightly. I've got incredibly dry skin at the moment, so stay perfects gluey formula made the skin very uncomfortable and highlighted the dry patches, making everything appear even more pinky and inflamed.

I'm not 100% happy with the shade compared to my lovely yellow based mac, which neutralises everything on my face, so no purchase here.

Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner Vs Jemma Kidd define eyeliner review

Elle magazine is currently giving away Jemma Kidd's make up school, i-glamour, define eyeliner. On her website the eyeliner is described as "velvety soft, stay put, maximum impact and no dragging". Sounds very similar, I thought, to my loyal Urban Decay 24/7 glide on eye pencil. Which they in turn describe as "creamy and forever lasting". So let the battle begin!!!

Essie Fifth Avenue swatch and review

A new lacquer has arrived into my collection!

Essie in fifth avenue.

A beautiful red with a hint of orange. More red than coral but I still love this unusual shade. Painted with one coat (can you believe it!) with Essie's protein base coat. The base coat makes my nails feel much harder than others I have tried, a new favourite!! Click here to find the £1.79 dupe!!

On a side note, I feel lavishly pampered with my Fekkai shampoo and Korres body milk. More on another post :)

Mavala nail polish review

I feel everyone seems to forget about Mavala with bigger brands like O.P.I, Essie and Nails inc. Mavala however do amazing polishes, better than average chip resistant, strong glossy colour in one coat, no streaks, lovely. 

They also come in more convenient sizes (5mls) so remember all the hype about the new L'oreal polishes? Well Mavala did it first. 

Their polishes are described as nail cremes, which is the perfect description. They are nice and thick, so won't run down the sides if you're too heavy handed like Essie polishes. I think they retail about £5 each in Debenhams or if you buy a pack you save x amount as always. The colour pictured below is called 'Freshy'. 

GLOSSYBOX JUNE UK 2012 REVIEW

Sorry for the late post, it got delivered at 12 (my Hermes guy is super reliable) but I've been moving out of my uni house hence posting just now.

Firstly, you get a Glossybox blush brush (said rrp £15 but it obviously only took £2 to manufacture). Dermalogica clean start kit (Toner, cleanser and matte spf moisturiser) rrp £12. A bare minerals sample of bronzer value is £1 ish. An Yves Rocher mascara sample. Vichy dermablend sample kit.

What do I look think?

Glossybox has definitely taken on board that people want to sample make up. However, I'm a little disappointed with what I got. I don't really like anything in the box. The skin care kit looks like its for oily young skin type, it definitely smells like it has some strong astringents in! The bare minerals bronzer has already stained my carpet with my first attempt to just swatch it. The Glossy blush brush is scratchy. The Yves Rocher mascara although is lovely and does as it says on the tin, unfortunately, isn't waterproof, so won't hold a curl. Lastly, I can only use one colour with the Vichy sample but will be cutting out and handing the tiny sample to my friends with x skin tone.

Yes, complain, complain, complain!!

L'oreal and Revlon eyeliners review

Click here to enter my Asian skincare giveaway

Currently I have three eyeliners in my collection. The old L'oreal superliner carbon gloss (discontinued), its new replacement L'oreal super liner black lacquer and Revlon's colorstay liquid eye pen. Here are the snaps.  

Drawn on the hand from top to bottom are carbon gloss, black lacquer and Revlon. I tried to press down using the same strength for each. Revlon is very poor even when layering. I'm not sure if you can see in the picture but the L'oreal eyeliners are very glossy and the pigment is truly dense and wonderful. 

The smudge test with a wet finger! As you can see Revlon is none existent and the new super liner, black lacquer is super resilient. I can confirm that teamed with Urban Decay eye primer, even oil based eye make up remover has a hard job! 

In Boots, L'oreal carbon gloss retails at £6.49 and Revlon's doesn't appear on the website any more but again retailed at around £6.