Top Pore Perfecting products for oily/blemish prone skin. Large/Over active pores? This post is for you!

Hi Guys,

I know I've semi abandoned you and for that I will be forever sorry but since I last updated I've been terribly busy, getting Married, organising my honeymoon as well as my actual full time job which is going crazy at the moment I have however in what little spare time I have been watching a load of planner videos on youtube and I am now waiting for the delivery of a planner of my very own to help get myself and my life organised and back on track.

With that let's go into what should be a really helpful post about the best products I've found to help minimise pores and breakouts. Most people who have large pores or are prone to blemishes suffer from oily skin so most of these products will be recommended for or targeted to oily/combination skin. Please be aware that not every product mentioned has been photographed, as I used them up and my new hubby likes to throw things away (apologies) but I have used everything I mentioned I have used!

Cleansers

So, the first step to minimising pores and controlling breakouts will always be cleansing it's super important and there are far too many women who are skipping this step all together or even worse just using face wipes! So if you're one of those people who complain about having bad skin and then don't cleanse regularly or properly a simple solution is investing in a good cleanser that doesn't strip or dry out the skin. 
I have noticed that when I skimp on adequate cleansing (just using a Micellar water and not a foaming cleanser) I definitely notice a difference in the lustre and overall feel of my skin its looks duller and feels rough and I basically end up avoiding the mirror so as not to depress myself! So for me personally cleansing is a majorly important step.

Micellars

Now I know I said if I use a micellar water alone I don't feel like my skin has been properly cleansed but I do think adequate and proper make up removal is a very important to pore perfection and recently there has been an uptake of micellar waters being made especially for oily/blemish prone skin and my advice is to invest in a good one! My favourites are:

Bioderma- Sebium

Now everyone knows that Bioderma created the original micellar water and there's a reason why they're known throughout the blogesphere as the best. Now in the UK they're quite pricey and a little hard to track down as they're currently only sold in Selfridge's, a few independent pharmacies and various online shops. Their Sebium range is is specially formulated for oily/blemish prone skin and this is such a lovely Micellar water to use it doesn't dry out the skin and smells really nice. It's not overly perfumed but just likely fragrance'd so it doesn't smell like you're wiping science water on your face but you are Bioderma prides itself on the science behind skin not the science behind skincare. It replicates the skins natural biology it not only does what it says on the tin as a cleanser but actually (overtime) helps improve the quality of the skin.

Garnier Pure

Garnier Pure Active is the micellar water that is easy on the pocket and the face. While it doesn't have the moisturising properties of Bioderma and in a side by side comparison I could definitely tell which side of my face I had wiped with the Bioderma and which I had used the Garnier on but in a comparison with just a normal micellar it was definitely more moisturising and mattifying. The Garnier Pure Active range is all specially formulated for oily/blemish prone skin so a great range to look into and great on the pocket.

Vichy Purete Thermal  Micellar Oil

Now I know this one isn't a water, it's a cleansing oil but it is AMAZING! It's a great combination of a micellar water and a cleansing oil that just melts away make up and the oils leave the skin super moisturised. Now I know people with oily/blemish prone skin tend to shy away from oils so I'm here to tell you to go for it especially with this one which is formulated not to clog the pores and is just feels so good to use. I literally cannot stop raving about it!

Foaming Cleansers

Tea Tree and Witch Hazel with active charcoal
Now this one of the cheapest things in my arsenal against large pores and I absolutely love it. Noticeably smaller pores in minutes. Removes any excess make up you may have missed with a Micellar and cuts through any greasy skin and leaves you feeling super fresh and clean. Of course it also has the benefits of Tea tree which is naturally anti-fungal and anti-bacterial and of course soothing witch hazel it's a complete win win!

La Roche Posay Effaclar
Now EVERYBODY already knows about this stuff and if you don't you've been living under a rock it's amazing! Perfected for sensitive skin, one of my friends was experiencing hormonal breakouts due to her pregnancy and I recommended she try this and in a week she was like 'Oh my God! my skin feels amazing and that says it all!!

Bioderma Sebium Moussant
HELLO! it's Bioderma of course it's amazing! on the higher end of pricing and unlike the La Roche Posay you can't get it in a great money saving kit but it's worth the expense as Bioderma is a brand that improves the overall condition of the skin with continued use so the long term benefits are worth the initial payout.

Toners

Toners can be very drying so if you have combination skin like me it might be an idea to only use toners in the summer when the heat makes you super shiny and you really need to cut through that grease! but in the winter leave the toners at the door and go for deep moisture.

La Roche Posay Serozinc
For those of you who are new to the internet meet Serozinc perfectly mattifying for oily skin and applies evenly with it's facial mist application. Great thing to have around through the day I like to keep it on my desk at work for the afternoon spritz (I don't tend to wear make up at work so its just to refresh my face) those of us with oily skin know the feeling of wanting to wash your face in the afternoon due that sticky feeling. I just spritz this on and pat dry and I'm refreshed for the day.

La Roche Posay Effaclar toner
This product comes as part of the Effaclar 3 step kit it works in conjunction all the products in the Effaclar range to give you clear oil free skin. I find it works to clear your skin similar to Serozinc but with a cotton pad application instead of the mist spray, I like to use this at night before bed.

Visibly Clear blackhead eliminating cleansing lotion
Now I've been using this in the fight against black heads since I was about 15! It's more of an astringent toner so those with super sensitive skin say far away. Use very carefully around the eyes it can sting but it's great if you're having severe breakout this stuff will really help and also if you find a nest of blackheads this stuff works in mere days! To get rid of them.

Masks

Now anyone who knows me knows I love a face mask and I prefer clay masks to sheet masks. I love that drying stiff feeling (weird I know) but it makes me feel like it's working! So maybe I have yet to find the sheet mask for me but there will be no sheets here, sorry about it!

Super Facialist salicylic acid anti blemish 
By far one of my favourite masks available! Instant pore minimising, I love it, it drys really nicely it says leave on for 5-10 minutes I leave it on for 15-20 but that's mostly due to laziness on my part and not wanting get up and wash it off! Also it says salicylic acid right in the name so you know it has all the pore clearing, blemish defying power you need for pore less flawless skin!

Sanuctuary Spa Thermal charcoal Detox
This is my favourite winter mask due to it's warmng element. It was one of the first charcoal masks I tried before charcoal was everywhere and I still love it till this day. It's a thermal mask that starts heating as soon as you apply it. which makes me feel like it's really getting the product deep into the pores and clearing them out as we all know heat opens the pores.

Masque bar pore minimising masque

Masque Bar, if you haven't heard about them, hear about them now! They're know for their sheet masks but they do have clay masks in their range and one of those is their pore minimising mask. It does exactly what it says on the tin teeny tiny pores. Now this mask it a bit on the pricey side for a mask, it's £9.99  but you get 3 in a pack and they really work so I feel like it's worth the price!

Moisturisers

Embryolisse lait creme concentrate
Super moisturising. Great prep for the skin before applying make up. Sometimes I feel it can be a little bit heavy on the skin so I don't use it on hot days I try to use a lighter moisturiser regularly but this is my staple moisturiser if I'm going to be wearing a full face of make up.

Olay flawless skin cream
This is my everyday cream, moisturising, not to heavy and anti aging because no one wants to look old before their time (or even during their time)  Its got SPF30 so your sun protection is built right in and it's a nice, would call it medium moisturising, if that's a thing? Not too heavy that it stays on the skin but doesn't disappear as soon as you put it on.

Indeed Hydraluron Gel
Love it! I use it when I'm having a breakout and I don't want to do too much to my skin and just let it breathe. It absorbs quickly but does leave your skin feeling plump and moisturised. Not for the faint of heart with uber sensitive skin indeed labs is known for their high quantity of acids and active ingredients so their products can some times be too harsh for sensitive skin. 

Treatments

Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Day and Night Spot Wand
this is my secret weapon against spots. You know when you look in the mirror and you have flawless skin except for one spot! this is the best thing ever! The wand makes it so easy to get it exactly where you want it, I prefer the night gel to the day but when it's a particularly bad spot I'll use both!

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo [+]
Hello! Must I go on and on about La Roche Posay?! I think you realise by now that to me La Roche Posay can do no wrong, I love them, I love what they do for my skin, I think they're perfect. With this remember it's a treatment not a moisturiser so if you need a little extra moisture like I do sometimes I use it along side the Thermal Spa Water as recommended by the La Roche Posay skin consultants which makes it into a great moisturising balm.

Nip and Fab Glycolic fix pads

It's a great overall prep to smooth the skin as well as pre make up as it resurfaces the skin. It's like a skin peel though obviously not as harsh. it helps to deep clean the pores and is great for acne prone skin as the glycolic acid really gets into the skin too work it's magic and in the winter I change it up into the Dragon's blood fix pads (a Kylie Jenner fav!) as they really hydrate the skin.

So That's It!
Those are my top picks for pore perfection, you can mix and match until you get the perfect balance for you! Let me know what your favourite pore products are? Have I missed something that you believe should have made the list?

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HD
xoxo

Benefit Roller Lash, Seventeen Eye Shadow and a NEW Bourjois Rouge Velvet Shade!

Hello!

I know I'm a horrible person who owes you blog posts, it's been a crazy week! I mean crazy, I might even use the words cray cray. Wedding planning, Working, getting over a cold, and all in all just being my tired lazy self so my deepest, sincerest apologies.

So I owe you a treat post! Just FYI I took over 153 photos for this post they're still transferring in from my phone to my laptop so I must want your forgiveness.

So to make up for my crappy-ness I will be doing a nice big assortment of make up review. I got a few new things this month; both new to me and the market and one of these is a new shade release and another is a new shade coming out next month (Can you spot them?)

Benefit Roller Lash

So let's start with the one everyone is talking about, the new Benefit Roller lash!
I know I usually start with packaging but this is a funny one because there have been a lot of reviews from people who didn't get on with They're Real saying how much they love this new mascara and I have to be the one to explain. 

It's the SAME mascara! I'm sorry but it is.

The amazing-ness is all in the brush, the hook and roll brush that's the secret. That's the magic of benefit roller lash.

Bristles

The teeny tiny (hard to photograph) bristles are amazing and what makes this mascara so great. I was previously in the market for a bottom lash mascara and was considering investing in the Clinique bottom lash but this has eliminated my need for one. The brush makes getting both your upper and lower lashes simply and easy giving you an amazing wide eyed look.

No make up but the mascara

On to packaging! 
Black and pink, black and pink, black and pink. 
Now the one I had to photograph is the sample pack which was adorable and small and shiny. Very sleek and premium, even for sample. The full sized packaging has a soft top shaped with a diamond pattern which is suppose to give the impression of a hair roller and also makes it really easy to grip and open which is always helpful.

So in my mini pay day splurge to myself I purchased a few new eye shadows both singulars and palettes. I bought two singulars from Seventeen. So this is one of my new shade purchases as the Gold is actually a newly released shade which excited me as I've been looking for a vibrant gold for ages!

I love seventeen's new packaging much sleeker and easier to use, unlike their old round pots with the textured powder. I bought gold and purple, because I've been looking for a really vibrant gold for months and a nice deep purple. These are going to be my wedding colours and I'm working on perfecting a great eye make up look with them that's subtle but still pulls in the colours scheme (does that make sense).

I don't have these swatched because when I was doing the photos for this blog I kind of threw them in at the last minute and forgot the swatch while I was taking the photos but the vibrancy you see in the pictures is is what you get during application. If you want it to be really bright I would recommend applying it with a slightly damp brush as it really brings out the colours.


So saving the best for last, the new shade from Bourjois' Rouge edition Velvet line. Now this shade won't be released until later one this month so keep and eye out for it! I have shade 12 Beau brun in the matte finish. I'm not going to analyse the packaging on this one as it's of course the same packaging as the current rouge edition velvets that are already on the market. 

Rouge Edition Velvet: 12 Beau brun

Now the shade is in the plum/brown shades leaning a little towards the pinks which I love because I don't like to go too bright on my lips especially for day to day wear. It looks darker in the bottle than it is when it's on, I was a little shocked when I first tried it as it was much brighter on than I thought but I adjusted and I'm loving it.

Remembered to swatch it

As it's  a matte finish it can be a little drying on your lips which helps give it the staying power. I've tried putting a balm on underneath but it made it rub off too quickly. same problem with putting a balm on top. I kind of wish I could find this colour in a lip stain it would be great because those come with balms that you can top up all you want but lip stains are slowly disappearing which kind of sucks.

So besides the drying which is a side effect of the matte and lasting effect I have no complaints about this product, and I wear it pretty much every other day to work!

Thanks for reading!!

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My First Qwertee arrived!! Nerd Alert!

Hey!

So I've spent this week trying to figure out what today's post was going to be about and this morning I received my answer through the post. My First Qwertee order arrived!

For those who don't know what Qwertee is I highly recommend you check out their site, here. Trust me you won't regret it they're stuff is amazing for everyone's inner nerd. A quick explanation of Qwertee is that they're a company that sells unique limited edition tshirts with a pop culture influence created by the artists on staff. All the shirts are only available for a limited time (duh! limited edition) and are completely unique as you can only get them from the Qwertee website. 

A lot of people don't understand the name Qwertee, they get it's a play on tshirt but that's as far as they understand. To those people I advise that you have a look down at your computer keyboard. in the top left hand corner of the letters you will find the letters q,w,e,r,t,y. This means you're using a QWERTY keyboard (it's a thing Google it). Now I learnt this in IT class in high school but as it turns out not everybody did so I've had to explain this a lot to people.

And that's when they realise that all this time they've been talking to a nerd. O.o

People don't realise I'm a nerd when they first meet me as I've perfected coming across as a completely normal person who remains unattached to any sort of fandom and can carry on a conversation without pop culture references. That is until you ask me explain something. . .anything. Then the floodgates are open and you get a sneak peak at how my mind works and the random connections I can make between random things I once heard, saw read or smelled.

but now I'm rambling  on to the purchases!

As usual, let's start with the packaging!

Look how adorable this is, getting this through the post was quite exciting. I must admit I forgot I had purchased this until it was delivered, because Qwertee doesn't ship your order until the run of the tshirt is finished and everyone's order is in so it takes roughly 2-4 weeks to receive your order depending on when your order is placed but waking up this morning to be greeted by this cheerful robot face was such a delight!

I ordered two tshirts, the grey one on the right I order for Jay as a surprise gift. It's called 'Are these the droids you're looking for?' and I just thought it he would love it, with reference to Doctor Who, Star Wars, Futurama and Wall-E. It was just the perfect shirt for my Jay who wears his nerdiness with pride. The shirt on the left I ordered for myself, I didn't know what I would be getting because with Qwertee you can get a shirt for £6 through their insaniTEE random sale in which you give them your size and they just send you a random shirt. I ended up with SAILOR MOON! 

Jay absolutely loved his tshirt, he's worn it today while we've been out and he loved all the characters on the shirt as it combines so many of his fandoms (remind me to give you guys a tour of Jay's man cave; maybe next week). So when I said Jay and I didn't really celebrate Valentines, this had been intended as a gift to him for Valentines but as it only arrived today it become a gift for 'just because' which are always the best kind.

The shirt combines several different fandom robots in a 'Usual Suspects' type line up while a storm trooper attempts to identify which is the droid he in fact is looking for. 

Now I'm in love with the random tee they sent me. I was a little nervous as there is always a chance they'll send me a shirt I don't like or understand as it could sport a fandom I know nothing about. I'm so glad I took the chance as the t shirt I received was a great representation of two fandoms that I love the Anime series Sailor Moon and Game of Thrones and features Sailor Moon on an Iron throne made of the the weapons of the other Sailor scouts.


The t shirts themselves are of high quality, they're made of ringspun cotton are super comfortable and machine washable :)

I'm definitely going to be ordering more of these shirts and even if you think you might not want what they currently have onsite make sure you sign up to their daily t shirt email which will let you know what designs are available that day.

Thanks for reading!

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Review: Bourjois Colorband; eyeshadow & liner

Hey!

Hope you all had a nice relaxing Sunday!

As promised it's a make up review today and it's for Bourjois Colorband (being British this spelling of colour is killing me) but it's the brand's choice not mine. Now this product is new to UK market as part of the Bourjois range and I have shade 03 beige minimaliste.

So as usual let's start with the packaging.
Not much to say but I will say the colours of the sticks (before you remove the lid) are really representative of the colours as they look and as they apply. Which I think is great, there are quite a few products out there where the packaging can really misrepresent the colour you get from the product but Bourjois has always been really great at getting the right colours for their packaging.

For the pigmentation of the product Bourjois is still true to form, you get beautiful pigmentation from these shadow sticks. Now I love nudes, I much prefer a natural look to being fully made up, especially since I don't wear make up that often when I do I like to look like I'm not wearing anything or just wearing a nice hint of sparkle (got to love a hint of sparkle). I've never liked the overly made up look on myself I always feel really obvious so I either stay away from make up all together preferring to concentrate on keeping my skin healthy or when I do feel to do something a little special I'll opt for a natural look and maybe if I'm feeling brave a nice smoky eye with a nude lip. This colour is beautiful a great shimmery nude can be wore alone of would look beautiful in a smoky eye.

Top: Blended Swatch (sparkly)
Bottom: Block Swatch

The formulation of this shadow stick is lush, it's creamy and smooth and blends out beautifully. It takes a little time to set but once it does it doesn't budge which I love. Now I will have to stipulate this is mainly when it's drawn on my hand, I do have oily skin and oily lids so there was a little creasing when I was wearing it without a primer so for us suffers of oily skin a primer is definitely recommended.


For overall wear-ability, I received this at work around 10 or 11am and being the kid at Christmas I am. I put it on straight away. So setting the scene by this time of day my lids are already getting quite oily, it applies really nicely and blends out to my entire lash nicely. By 2pm when I do a check, I have a few creases but they blend away easily and my eye shadow is still in place when I get home at 5pm.


So all in all, I love this product and will definitely be using it in future, and will be trying out some of the different shades within this range.

Thanks for reading!

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Dim Sum-day, little plate of heaven

Hello Lovelies!

 Happy Valentines Day!

Now Jay and I don't really celebrate Valentines, we don't see the point, but I do get a card and wine so I can't complain :)

 

This isn't going to be a long blog post, but the next one (tomorrow) will be another review. I'm going to try and post twice on the weekends. One review and one catch up of my week (we'll see how it goes) but that is the plan! So this post is my catch up.

Sunday:

So I kicked off this week with a lovely catch up with one of my dearest friends who I don't get to see nearly enough, so we decided to catch up over our favourite dim sum restaurant, Mandarin. It's tucked away in Hockley, Nottingham City Centre (across from the Capital FM arena). 

Photo Credit: Mandarin Restaurant website.

                                      

Ready for food

Now I don't know how most people do it but Elle and I have our own system, she orders the things that she knows we like and taste night and I order anything that says the words BBQ pork or shrimp because they're always amazing! Ordering like this does mean that we always end up with too much food but its all so small we make the same mistake every time!

Forgot to take a picture before we started eating

I love dim sum, I love the sharing and the enjoyment and in my humble opinion it's more filling than tapas. While tapas tastes great i just never find it as enjoyable as dim sum. Plus as an added bonus dim sum never leaves me with eating guilt.

Steamed BBQ pork bun

Custard Buns!

Shrimp...Something....but it tastes amazing

Pork dumplings in spicy sauce

So this was definitely the highlight of my week! We did have some great visitors at work I won't tell you who yet, but hopefully soon, I'm waiting for something to arrive and then you'll get a whole post about it! (Start getting excited)

Tomorrow will be my review post of the week, and this week it's a make up review!

Thanks for reading!

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Review: Chloe- Love Story Eau de Parfum

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Hi Everyone!

So it's been a busy day.

Been running errands all day and I'm exhausted. So decided to wind down by writing a new for a new perfume I just just received.

It's the new Chloe Love story fragrance and I have to say it was love at first whiff. It's amazing! But before I get to the scent let just talk packaging. It's not your usual perfume box where you have to undo the flaps at the top and have to slide the product unceremoniously into your hand while trying not to drop your new purchase on the floor. If you're like me you usually have to open your new perfumes in the privacy of you room with no one around so that you don't have to go through the embarrassment of dropping in front of your friends and loved ones while they point and laugh. The Chloe box opens like a present, the top comes off and your beautiful bottle of perfume greets you from the safety of its chic white box.

The bottle is gorgeous, it's square and textured with vertical lines. The top edge of the bottle is wrapped in gold and embossed with the Chloe logo and love story is written in gold script towards the bottom. There is a ribbon attached making the the whole thing feel more like a gift but lets just talk about the cap. the bottle comes with instructions on how to remove the cap from the bottle. and the instructions are written on this little note card that is so cute (I forgot to photograph it I apologise). Removing the cap involves flipping down the gold crescent before pulling clear cap off but the complication is well worth it once you get to the scent.

The top notes are orange blossom, with heart notes of stephanotis jasmine and base notes of cedar wood.

Now I love cedar wood, it's not too sweet and gives you a really love last scent that's not too over powering and lasts all day and I mean it this is a long lasting scent and it's brilliant because that's what everyone wants out of the scent they're wearing. The orange blossom and jasmine definitely come through as well, when i was wearing the scent (before i read what the notes where) i was trying to figure it out and all that kept coming to mind was that it was both floral and citrusy and just amazing.

The scent makes you think of romance and summer, and happy thoughts. It makes me want to go for picnic, or a romantic dinner for two.

All in all, I really loved this scent. So much so I've decided to save for my wedding day. Yes that's right i will not be wearing this absolutely gorgeous fragrance again till I walk down the aisle that way I know I will only be thinking the happy romantic thoughts I should be on that day.

If you'd like to get this I have the 50ml eau de parfum which is available from Boots, Debenhams and House of Fraser and retails for around £65.

Thanks for reading!

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The Pros and Cons of starting 'Beauty and Lifestyle' Blog.

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Hello & Welcome!

So I've been out of the blogging game for far too long! The game has changed and blogging has grown in a big way. As you can see this is the only post currently residing on on this blog. That is very simply because I got rid of all my old posts. All my mewling teenage whining is gone and here is me.

I'm Hestia Dimitri.
I'm 25.
I live in Nottingham.
I'm getting married in less than 3 months to the love of my life Jay.

I work in the UK beauty industry, so I get to see products before they hit the market and I even get to test some of them. Now this doesn't mean that you'll get to see every product I see when I get it as of course there are legal issues around that but I will share what I can when I can.

Now due to the nature of my job it can be easily misconstrued that my posts/reviews/opinions are not my own but I can assure you that anything said here if strictly and only my opinion.

So I named my blog 'Queen of this Pirate ship' when I first put it up because I thought it sounded funny. It came up in a very strange conversation with a friend of mine and has kind of stuck no one really understands it, and neither do I. I did consider changing it for this when i was updating everything but I like it. So the name stays.

I use to go by the on-line name of Hestia Dimitri because i had a weird thing about people knowing my name and I never really had nicknames as a kid. So I came up with the name Hestia Dimitri because I thought it sounded cool. Hestia means Goddess of the Hearth and Dimitri just reminded me of vampires (I was young don't judge me!) and  thats what I came up with.

So follow my journey here on blogger,

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