Clinique bonus time!

Afternoon!

Just to start off, sorry I've been so awfully terrible at blogging lately - I recently started my first lifeguarding job so I'm doing shifts around the clock and trying to fit a social life around it. Unfortunately, this has left little to no time for blogging! Because it was results day today (aaaah), I don't start work till 5 this evening, so in my afternoon off I thought I could take the time to write out a little post! My results this morning went really well, 6 A*s and 4 As, so I am very happy - I hope everyone else's results went fantastically!

I also had Sunday off, so I took the time to go on a little shopping haul for sixth form, which I start in a couple of weeks (yet another thing to stress about!). I'm planning to upload a haul sometime in the next week with the clothes I bought, so that will be coming soon! However, when me and my mum were there, we also needed to go and get some more of my foundation (Clinique anti-blemish solutions liquid makeup)- we're both major Clinique-aholics so we were ecstatic to find it was Clinique bonustime!

For anyone who doesn't know, Clinique runs 'bonustimes', which is basically an offer where if you buy a certain amount of products (usually 2, with at least one being skincare-related), you get a wash bag or tin or whatever with some free products in. It's always such good value, so we always try to plan our Clinique shopping around when they have a bonus time on!

This time was no different, and to get your free tin you had to buy two or more products, one being skincare - this was no problem for us, as I needed my foundation and my mum needed to pick up some moisturizer, so we got it free, yay!

You got six products in total - Superdefense age defense moisturizer, High impact mascara in Black, Dramatically different moisturizing lotion, Rinse-off foaming cleanser, Moisture surge tinted moisturizer and Superbalm moisturizing gloss in Grapefruit. Unfortunately, in the time between Sunday and now, the lipgloss has gone walkies (most likely claimed by a female member of the household as their own), so I can only show you 5 - sorry!

The first product I got was the Moisture Surge Tinted Moisturizer in shade 03. I found it a bit annoying how you couldn't choose your shade, as out of the 01, 02 and 03 which I could have recieved, this was the darkest - and consequently the worst for my pale as pale can get skin. Therefore, when I rub this into my skin, I do end up looking like I've rolled in a bag of doritos.. not a good look. This could just about work for me on holiday, when I have a slight colour to my face, but I'll probably end up just giving it to my mum, as she has slightly darker skin than I do. Apart from the colour, this tinted moisturizer actually looks really nice - it gives a medium coverage for a tinted moisturizer and goes onto the skin really smoothly - so it's easy to get even coverage. The SPF 15 is also an added bonus - this would be so good for holiday, as it would solve the whole 'suncream on your face = greasy skin' issue. Just a shame about the colour!

The next product was the High Impact Mascara. I have to say, this one let me down a bit! Firstly, the packaging looks very cheap - it has a very plastic-y feel to it, and the external packaging colouring of the so-called 'black' mascara is a weird forest-green glittery colour - very odd! For a sample size, the brush is decent sized, and the consistency looks good - not too gloopy but not all watery either - so I was expecting great things from this. However, the real problem with this is that it just doesn't do much! I put it on my lashes and it barely showed a difference, meaning I had to then just return to my usual 'Rimmel Scandaleyes' mascara to go out. To use this up, I'll probably end up using it for my bottom lashes, where I don't want so much volume or length - but I'd be very annoyed if I had paid the full £16 for this!

I was so happy when they included this in the bonus time - I LOVE THIS PRODUCT SO MUCH. This used to be my go-to cleanser before I discovered my body shop cleanser (see my skincare saviours post), and it's just gorgeous. The main thing I love about this cleanser is that you use literally a pea-sized amount, and it lathers up so much - meaning that the product lasts an absolute age. It also leaves your face feeling moisturized, so you don't experience the 'squeakily clean' feel that I absolutely hate in cheap cleansers or soaps. What's more, the sample I recieved was a huge 50ml, which will last me a few months at least - the full sized bottles are an absolute godsend and last months and months. This fully removes all traces of makeup and 'day dirt', leaving your face feeling lush morning or evening.

This was the first time I had experienced the 'Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion' and I was excited to give it a try! My mum had already said it wasn't moisturizing enough for her skin but I should try it, and I would agree that it's not the most moisturizing of lotions, but that actually works well for my skin - because it's oily, I only need a bit of moisturization for it to feel soft and lovely! The packaging of this is also lovely - I love a glass bottle, to me it makes the product feel a lot more high quality and expensive. I love how soft this makes my skin feel and how it gives me that certain dewy finish - glad I found it, and this 30ml sample should last me a while!

I haven't actually had time to try this moisturizer, but seeing as it's 'age defense', I may hand this over to my mum - not sure my 16 year old skin is looking old just yet! However from first impressions, this looks like another lovely product - I like that the consistency is quite thick, almost like clotted cream, though this could make it hard to apply. Though it says fragrance-free, it has quite a clinical smell, which puts me off a little - though it also makes me believe it will produce good results - so I'll leave it up to my mum to judge this one! Love products with SPF values though, such a bonus in summer!

I also adored the tin that we got this time! The colours are lovely and I'll probably use it to store my make up brushes in - how handy!
Overall, this was an amazing bonus time as usual- I thoroughly suggest you all get yourselves down to your nearest counter and get buying!

Liv xo