Three ways with a camel midi skirt

Now the word "camel" as a descriptor doesn't exactly get my heart beating faster.  I know it's an eminently sensible colour and every woman is urged to have a camel coat for winter.  But I'd never thought of having anything else in camel until I saw this midi skirt in Marks and Spencer.

Beauty hits and misses

Beauty boxes are a great way to try new products, and I've been delving into the Cult Beauty 10th birthday gift box and and the Marks and Spencer summer beauty box. I'm also still wading through the many beauty products I had for Christmas. So here are my latest hits and misses.

Striped Maxi Dress

Surprising confession:  I've never had a maxi dress.  I've often meant to put that right, after seeing other bloggers looking fabulous, or women wafting around in maxis on holiday.

It was the eye catching colourful stripes that attracted me to this dress from Monsoon, even though it's sleeveless, normally not something I embrace. Lately though I've been thinking: who cares about someone's arms? Life is too short. Older women get bingo wings, no matter how many bicep curls and tricep dips you do.

The dress has a fun, floaty vibe and doesn't look too formal. I can imagine wafting around Skiathos, getting on the water taxi and going to one of the lovely restaurants in this dress.

I've styled it with old accessories- my Pure Collection sequin straw bag from last year;  pink sandals and a necklace. The hat was in the Next clearance sale a few months ago for around a tenner - I knew it would come in handy one day!

Sharing this post with Fake It Until You Make It at Fake Fabulous, #IwillwearwhatIlike at Not Dressed as Lamb,  Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style; Creative Mondays at ClaireJustine, Style with a Smile at Stylesplash; Turning Heads Tuesday at Elegantly Dressed and Stylish, Chic&Stylish at Mummabstylish,  Top of the World Style at High Latitude Style, Fancy Friday at Nancy's Fashion Style. Fabulous Friday at A Pocketful of Polka Dots , Hat Attack at Style Crone, Tina's Pink Friday and Weekend Wear at Threads for Thomas.

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New from StriVectin: wrinkle blurring primer and multi action eye cream

I've been trying two new products from Strivectin, an interesting brand which provides clinical anti-aging skin care solutions. They have developed a patented technology, NIA-114, which is a form of niacin/vitamin B3 said to strengthen the skin's barrier and supercharge the performance of other ingredients.

First up: Strivectin's new Multi-Action R&R eye cream. Most eye creams claim to try to improve either dark circles or puffiness, but this cream says it targets both, plus it helps reduce sagging, dehydration and lines and wrinkles.

I always test eye creams by using the product on one eye and my usual product on the other. I've been doing this for about three weeks.

I like an eye cream to have good "slip" so that it glides on easily without pulling the skin or needing to be rubbed in. It needs to provide a non-greasy, smooth base for eye make-up underneath an eye primer. The Strivectin product did this as well as my usual product. 

I didn't notice any difference between the two, either in immediate appearance of the eye area and how it looked several hours later.

The key difference however is the price: my normal eye cream by Clinique is £27.50 for 15ml. The Strivectin product is £45 at Amazon UK ($65 from their official US website). So I would stick to my usual product unless the price comes down once it's more readily available. It wasn't listed yet at Look Fantastic which sells Strivectin products.

Strivectin R&R eye cream ingredients: Aqua (Water, Eau), Glycerin, Dimethicone, Isopropyl Palmitate, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Myristyl Nicotinate, Sodium Methyl Stearoyl Taurate, Glycol Distearate, Stearic Acid, Stearyl Alcohol, Caffeine, Allantoin, Alginic Acid, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Sodium Hyaluronate, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5, Asparagopsis Armata Extract, Dunaliella Salina Extract, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Phenoxyethanol, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-150 Stearate, Maris Aqua (Sea Water, Eau de mer), Ascophyllum Nodosum Extract, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Chrysanthellum Indicum Extract, Sucrose, Tocopherol Acetate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Panthenol, Sorbitol, Butylene Glycol, Albizia Julibrissin Bark Extract, Ethylhexylglycerin, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Steareth-20, Sodium Benzoate, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Chlorhexidine Digluconate, N-Hydroxysuccinimide, Mica, Pantolactone, Darutoside, Chrysin, CI 19140 (Yellow 5), CI 16035 (Red 40), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77491 (Iron Oxides)

Strivection LineBlurfector Instant Wrinkle Blurring Primer

The new primer boasts a very long name and also features Strivectin's NIA-114.  a form of niacin/vitamin B3 which is said to strengthen the skin's barrier and supercharge the performance of other ingredients.

I always use a primer before make-up so I was keen to try it.

This is me with the Strivectin primer applied over my usual serum and moisturizer, with my normal foundation on top.

I found that the primer did a good job of blurring the imperfections and wrinkles to some extent, but gave a flat, matte appearance which is not very flattering.  I like a primer to give a smooth, light canvas for makeup and to contribute a certain dewy glow.  My current primer de jour, Becca Priming Filter, does do this:

But to be fair it's not really comparing apples to apples because the Becca product makes no claims about blurring out imperfections: it's intended to create a luminescent glow. So it's a matter of personal preference. I would expect the Strivectin product to perform well in selfies on Instagram!

The Strivectin primer costs $39 at their US website or £29.50 at Amazon UK. The Becca Backlight Priming Filter is £32 at Cult Beauty. 

Primer ingredients: Cyclopentasiloxane, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Isododecane, Dimethicone, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Mica, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Myristyl Nicotinate, Evodia Rutaecarpa Fruit Extract, Hydrolyzed Verbascum Thapsus Flower, Dimethiconol, Propanediol, Tocopherol, Glycerin, Fragrance (Parfum), BHT, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol, CI 77491 (Iron Oxides), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77492 (Iron Oxides)

Sharing this post with Fake It Until You Make It at Fake Fabulous, Saturday Share at Not Dressed as Lamb and Weekend Blog Hop at Claire Justine.

FOR MORE MUTTON

Don't miss a post -  follow Is This Mutton? on Bloglovin or Feedspot. I post extra goodies (handbags and shoes) on the Is This Mutton? Facebook page. And check out the Is This Mutton? Pinterest boards, including boards on other bloggers in fab outfits plus beauty, jewellery, hairstyles and fashion picks. Is This Mutton? is also on Twitter.  

Disclosure:  I was gifted the Strivectin eye cream and primer and as always provided an objective editorial review based on my personal experience.