Beauty secrets that won’t break the bank

Last week I met Annabel for lunch at one of our favourite one-stop destination shops, The Burford Garden Company, and Annabel paid me a lovely compliment. She told me my skin was looking really great, that it was glowing and virtually line-free. I was so thrilled even though, at the time, in typical British fashion, instead of just saying thank you so much I made a joke…..something about Specsavers and the glow being perspiration as it was over 30℃!

Actually I was secretly really chuffed as with two school-age children and a busy restaurant to run I have very little time to indulge so my beauty and make-up routine needs to be simple….and cheap.

Anyway she asked me to share my new beauty secrets and I will as, actually even I can see that my complexion has improved.

I think it is all down to the Boots new no.7 Lift and Luminate Skincare which has recently been improved – though I thought it was good before. The tagline for this range is IT WORKS, IT WORKS, IT WORKS and it truly does. I use all three products – the serum, the day cream and the night cream. I tried the serum first and once that was showing results I rushed out and bought the two moisturisers.  A little goes a long way so the £85 investment will last. If you don’t want to splash out all that money then just buy the serum – there is a 30ml tube for £27. However there is a 3 for 2 deal (cheapest for free) on this range so click here to start shopping.

My new foundation is my new discovery – Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation which comes in six shades and is only £8.99. I think it is equally as good as any of the £40 + designer name foundations. I believe that there is also a concealer which, if the foundation is anything to go by, is probably very good. It is easy to apply and it stays put even with these high temperatures. It feels and looks very light so my face does not feel ‘caked’ or ‘clogged’. Click here to buy

Finally I love a good mascara and this one from Maybelline, The Falsies Push Up Angel  is the business. It has a comb rather than a circular brush and so you can get close to the lashline. I don’t know how it does it but it really does lift my quite long and heavy lashes and yes they stay up i.e. they don’t drop half an hour later with the weight of the mascara. I think that is the secret as the comb application covers the lashes but does not add globs to each lash. Click here to buy

So that is it – my beauty secrets. I am sure many of you know about these items but if you don’t do give them a try.

Annabel and I did laugh as unfortunately the Burford Garden Company did not have any air conditioning but as it is such a gorgeous shopping experience we battled on and then found the following sign, ‘Carry to Car Service available’, and we loitered hoping that some gorgeous young man would carry us to our now overheated cars – no such luck!

For Annabel’s review of the Burford Garden Company click here.