NOTD/June GlossyBox

Hey there my gorgeous lovelies. I have painted my nails and wanted to show you a pic :)

This polish came in my June GlossyBox. It is OPI (Designer Series Nail Lacquer in Extravagance. I would say this is more of a wintry colour, but I couldn't wait to try it as I like trying new colours. I would describe this as a deep rose colour with fine shimmer. The bottle is a really cute size, but obviously I wouldn't have turned my nose up at a full size. This is my first OPI polish though so I was excited to try it.

This Batiste (Dry Shampoo Original) was also in the GlossyBox. I have never used Batiste products and new things are always good to try, but why oh why would this be a product to include. It is not high end. I really can not fathom why GlossyBox would do this on their 2nd box. Some people were waiting to see if the 1st box was a one trick pony with the full size Nars product before subscribing. I don't believe this product will gain GlossyBox more subscribers as it is quite old and very cheap to buy.

GlossyBox say this BIOEFFECT (EGF Serum) is suitable for all skin types. I will try this product, but no matter how good this is I can not see me spending £125 for 15ml. There is high end and then there is absurd. Maybe I am in a minority, but I really can't see how any skin product can say it's okay to charge that price. I will expect to look 18 again obviously after using this product, haa haa ;) I was very disappointed with the dirty little squeezy bit of the dropper. What's that all about?

As I finished my Ed Hardy perfume at work the other day I have been using this Lalique (PERLES DE LALIQUE) perfume for the last couple of days. This is not the typical aroma I would go for. I didn't like it at all when I first used it, but it's okay. I will keep using it for now, but I won't be buying it.  I do like the design of the bottle though. GlossyBox describe this as having an abundance of Orris and and Bulgarian rose.

Mama Mio (Omega Body Buff) is the last product I received in this GlossyBox. It is the first exfoliator that I have seen to be used on both face and body so I assume it will not be too harsh. 

Overall I really like my nail polish, but I wish it could have been full size. If I'm honest I would have much preferred to have had the OPI polish along with the Abahna (White Grapefruit and May Chang Shower/Bath Gel), both Rouge Bunny Rouge (GLEAMING TEMPTATIONS Secret Places Of Love Lip Glosses) and the Margaret Dabbs (Hydrating Foot Soak).

Were you happy with what you received in your GlossyBoxes, as from the blog posts and tweets I have seen most people were not? I am not sure how long I will give GlossyBox to redeem themselves, but for now I will not cancel my subscription. There may be those of you thinking I'm mad, but I will live in hope for improvement for another month. I will have a think before the new delivery fees come in. They are very cheeky bringing those out on the very day everyone is in uproar. I am considering signing up to @boudoirprive I just wish they had some information on their site before asking for you to request an invitation. Are any of you lovelies signing up for this? Do you know much about it?

Love to you all

Ed Hardy Original EDP/Shimmering Body Lotion

Hello there my lovelies. Are you still melting like I am? Today I finished my perfume that I have been using at work. It is the Ed Hardy Original For Her EDP. I have also been using the matching Shimmering Body Lotion as a hand lotion and on my arms as it came in a set with the perfume when I bought it shortly after Christmas.

I love the design on the bottle and I really like the way the whole lid pops off when you want to use it. I checked edhardyfragrances.co.uk and the fragrance notes of this perfume are Apple Souffle, Mango, Wild Strawberry, Ruby Red Grapefruit, MID: Freesia Petals, Watery Muguet, Linden Blossom, DRY: Warm Amber, Sensual Musks, Tonka Bean and Vanilla Pudding.

I would describe this perfume as a sweet, summer scent that is not overpowering, but lingers throughout the day. I have had a lot of compliments when wearing this from friends, my Mum and even the ticket seller at the train station.

The body lotion has a lovely, creamy texture with a subtle shimmer. Great for highlighting areas such as the decolletage, arms, legs and even cheekbones.

I am so glad that I picked up this box set after Christmas. I can't remember how much it was, but I know it was cheap. I think I actually bought three perfume box sets from Boots Pharmacy and two from asos.com. I will definitely do that again this January :)

Have you got any favourite summer scents? Would you recommend the other products that you have tried like the body lotions or shower gels? Let me know in the comments below.

Love to you all

Xen-Tan Dark Lotion Advice

Hey there my gorgeous lovelies. In today's post I will not ramble on too long as I am sure you are all far too busy enjoying the sunshine.

I will be popping to see my GP next week for a general appointment, but while I am there I will be asking her for some advice about fake tanning. Sounds strange right, but it really isn't. 

I had a couple of skin tags removed almost 8 weeks ago and I had a few stitches. Everything has healed nicely, but at around the same time of getting this done my Xen-Tan Dark Lotion arrived in the post. I ordered it from feelunique.com for £17.99 with free delivery.

My concern is that I don't want to fake tan too early in case I cause infection, which I know is unlikely now or stain my scars a nice tan colour. That would so not be a good look. 

The lovely @Sarahloolaa advised me that 6 weeks after getting the stitches removed I should be fine, but to use a barrier cream if I was still concerned. Something like Vaseline or Sudocrem. Sarah also suggested that I use latex gloves to apply it. 

I was going to ask my GP for advice when I was next attending the surgery, but I felt a little silly until @EllyBellyBaybee suggested that I do that very thing.

Can you lovelies suggest any tips for me when I get the okay from GP?

Here is my Xen-Tan Dark Lotion and the pack of 14 disposable latex gloves that I purchased from Superdrug's Essential range for £1.00. 

So my little loves do you have any tips for applying this tan? Would you use latex gloves? I have never used them when tanning, but I do have a new mitt if you think that would be better? I have used only one tanning lotion years ago which went horribly wrong so I would be grateful for any advice.

Love to you all

Primark/H&M Haul

Hi there my lovelies. It's the weekend, woo hoo :) I wanted to show you these bits and bobs that I got from Primark and H&M. I am really pleased with what I got for the prices. Some of these things I have been on the look out for so I was extra chuffed when I found them. Let me begin with Primark.

These gorgeous off-white, grey, black dip-dye earrings were £1.50. They are quite long, but because of the colour I don't think they are very obvious or obnoxious. They are very lightweight too because of the tassle material.

Now this little beauty was reduced from £4.00 to just £1.00. As you can see it is a chiffon flower design with pearls in the centre of each flower. The chiffon is grey with a slight mauve colour running through it. In the first shot I think you can see just how beautiful these flowers are.

 

In the second shot I wanted to give you more of an idea of what the chain looks like. I think it's really nice to have the contrast of the subtle, delicate flowers with the toughness of the multi-strand silver chains.

I have been using these face wipes for some time. You get 2 packs of 25 wipes (so 50 wipes) for just £1.00. There are 3 types of wipes that Primark sell. These are the white pack ones that are fragrance free. They claim to be dermatologically tested. Also they say they cleanse, tone, moisturise and remove make-up. 

Now I do not use these every day, but they are very handy when I am in a rush or just too tired to do a thorough deep cleanse. I know that there will be those of you saying that you should make time when removing make-up, but I would only use these very rarely for removing a very light application of make-up or just to refresh my face. I think it's better than not taking my make-up off at all.

I also like that these are fragrance free. I tried the pink coloured packs which I believe are for sensitive skin, but I really didn't like the smell. I can only describe it as the smell of a cleaning product for the house rather than your skin. I am not sure what the green coloured packs are for as they were only at the tills, but not my till. I couldn't get a chance to see as it was so busy. It really annoys me when shops do this. If you want to give people a chance to look at a product at the tills put it on every till please!

A little face wipe tip lovelies. You can use them to remove those pesky stickers from new products, especially the bottom of shoes. The stickers can often leave a sticky residue behind so you pick up anything that you tread in. Not nice :( Just rub any face wipes you have over the sticker and it will come off a lot more easily. I also like to have face wipes to hand when doing swatches for my posts :)

There are days when I just want to throw on a cap to run an errand. I have had the one same Diesel cap for so long now that I thought I had better pick up a new one. I found these two cheap-as-chips caps in Primark for £1.50 each. They have a slightly different hawaiian style symbol on each of them. 

Left: White cap with grey/silver tropical flower

Right: Navy cap with white palm trees

Now on to my H&M goodies. 

Navy

Grey

Light Stone With A Very Pale Green Undertone

Coral/Creamy White Leopard Print

These cotton skirts are all the same style with an elasticated waist. They are a nice length as they fall just above my knee. Ideal for work. I will wear them with blouses tucked in or a tight vest with a cardigan belted over the top.

Black

Canary Yellow

Peach

Stripey Creamy White, Peach, Black & Pink

All of these cotton shorts are the same style too. They have elasticated waists with a pocket on either side. I am not brave enough to wear these without tights, but I think they will look great on tanned/darker skin toned pins. If they were a bit longer I would want to wear them tights free with fake tan instead, but they fall a couple of inches lower than my butt and that's just not long enough for me. I will wear them with ballet pumps and a t-shirt or with a cardigan/vest combo.

 

I got these 8 items from H&M for just £51.93. I do love a bargain.

Have you picked up any bargains lately?

Love to you all

Nail Of The Day: E.L.F. Lilac

Hello my lovelies. I have painted my nails tonight with this lovely subtle colour that I think a few of you might like? This is Lilac from E.L.F. (eyeslipsface.co.uk)

I would best describe this as a lilac watercolour shade with a smokey grey undertone, as it comes out quite translucent. I used 3 layers of nail polish here.  

Pretty for spring/summer and great if brights on the nails are not for you. I am 99.9% sure that this nail polish was £1.50, but the website is down tonight so I can not check, sorry. I think that all of their nail polishes are this price actually :)

Have you got any great spring/summer nail polishes? If so, what are they?

Love to you all

Beauty UK Gel Eyeliner/Eye Shadow Palettes

Hello my little lovelies. I hope you're having a good day? I wanted to show you a couple of recent purchases of mine from the Beauty UK range at Superdrug. I bought these gel eyeliner/eye shadow  palettes for £3.99 each which I think is fantastic value.

This palette is No 1 with 2 gel eyeliners and 6 eye shadows.

 

Here are some swatches as you see them in the palette.

I was a little disappointed by the pigmentation of the gel eyeliners on the left, especially the black. I think it looks a bit washed out. Not what I would call a true black at all. I do think however that the colours and pigmentation of the eye shadows are amazing. They are not wishy-washy at all. I can't wait to try the matte and metallic blues and the pink. The next palette is a lot more neutral and less scary if you are not into brights. 

This palette is No 2 with 2 gel eyeliners and 6 eye shadows.

Again the swatches below are as you see them in the palette.

 

I much prefer the pigmentation of this brown gel eyeliner. It is not too harsh, but has enough colour to give a defined line. These eye shadows are amazing for how much you pay. Both the middle colours would look great on a hot summer night I think, either together or alone with some jet black liquid eyeliner.

I also have these palettes without the eyeliners: 

No 1 No 2 No 4 & No 5

My No 4 palette has different colours to what is shown on Superdrug's website? Mine is a very neutral brown, grey, white and black palette unlike this ?????

My No 5 palette includes white, greys, blues and blacks which I can not find at all on Superdrug's website?

All palettes with eye shadows only all cost £3.99 each.

Obviously i can't comment yet on the gel eyeliners as I haven't tested them out properly, but from my own experience of using my other Beauty UK eye shadows I can safely say I love those. They last well with eye primer and have really high pigmentation. For £3.99 each I really can not fault them.

Have you tried any Beauty UK products? Can you recommend any to me?

Love to you all

Random Haul

Hello there lovelies. Today I have a pretty random haul of things for you. I will just get right into it :)

I will start with this diary from WHSmith.

I think this is so pretty. I love this style of diary that WHSmith sell every year as they are big enough for me to scribble all over and always come in fabulous designs. They also put a little reminder in to let you know when the new one is out. Very handy. This was £8.99 which is great for something I will use every day of the year Link :)

Next up I have the nail polish that many of you have been raving about.

This is of course the spring/summer shade buzzing around the block called Peach Melba (318) from Barry M. It is such a pretty and subtle shade. This was £2.99 from Boots Pharmacy Link :)

Next up is a product which I kept meaning to pick up and finally I did. 

Now this product is meant to be a good all rounder. The main reason I wanted it is for when I have those pesky breakouts. I think it will be a good soother for burns and great for my dry patches of skin too. This costs £1.99 from Boots Pharmacy Link :)

The last thing I got from this haul were these beauties. 

I have been wanting to pick up some feather earrings for so long, but I was never sure they were quite me as I always thought they looked a bit long and out of place on me. Any that I have seen always seem to have some other beads, bows or diamante hanging from them. These little gems just have a subtle bead at the top and they are such beautiful, bold colours. I love them. I hope they will brighten up these dreary, rainy days. I could not find these on the Boots Pharmacy Website, sorry. Take care my sweeties.

Love to you all

My Liz Earle Anniversary Present

Hello my lovelies. I hope you have all had a great weekend and that some of you are getting to spend some precious time with your Dad's. My Dad passed away almost 5 years ago. I went to the crematorium today with Mum and we had lunch out. I loved my Dad so much and still do. He still makes me smile just thinking about him. If you have lost your Dad I hope your memories make you happy too.

Now let me talk about the lovely present that the other gorgeous man in my life bought for me. I mentioned in a previous post that we have been together for 9 years. He asked me what I wanted as an anniversary gift. I was going to purchase this offer from Liz Earle anyway so he said he would buy it for me instead :)

My usual Cleanser, toner and moisturisers have been these below for so long.

 

L’Oreal Plenitude Revitalift Anti-Wrinkle and Firming Night Cream from Boots 50ml for £12.14 Link :)

This feels really nice on the skin. It has a slightly thick texture, but is creamy enough when you apply it to your face and neck. It makes my skin feel really supple.

 

L'Oreal Paris Vitalift Rejuvenating Cleansing - Smoothing Toner from Boots 200ml for £5.39 Link :) 

This product does an okay job at removing my make-up, but it does not fully remove it all. I do find the bottle a little annoying as when you tip it upside down more product comes out than is necessary as it is a liquid. I have spilt some of it so many times when I pour it onto a cotton pad.

 

L'Oreal Revitalift Anti Wrinkle and Firming Day Cream from Boots 50ml for £14.29 Link :)

This cream feels comfortable on my skin. My skin is less dry, but still not perfect.

I also used this Superdrug Vitamin E Cleanser & Eye Make Up Remover from Superdrug 200ml for £2.99 Link :)

This product is great for the price, but that's the good bit. My mascara is pretty stubborn, but still this product leaves quite a bit behind. Plus this product does irritate my eye area slightly. It's not the harshest make-up remover I have used, but my eye area does feel a little sore. Unfortunately I did not have any left to take a picture for you, sorry.

Below is the New Superskin Summer Skincare Essentials Offer from  uk.lizearle.com  that was bought for me for mature/very dry skin. 

I chose this as my skin has always been very, very dry. It's a constant battle for me and yes I am of an age when I want to keep those wrinkles at bay :) Above you can see the Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser 100ml pump, 2 pure muslin cloths, a Superskin Moisturiser 50ml jar and an Instant Boost Skin Tonic Spritzer 200ml. You can choose a bottle if you don't want the spritzer.

In the deal I chose I also got the Skin-Savers Kit as below.

This kit includes an Instant Boost Skin Tonic 30ml spritzer, a Skin Repair Moisturiser dry/sensitive 15ml tube, a Superbalm 5g tub and a Hand Repair 15ml tube. It all came in this cute little bag.

This whole offer cost £56.70 Link :) I also received this complementary gift below so thank you @lizearle

This is the Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser in 30ml. It's a great size to leave at the boyfriend's house. I may even take some of the Skin-Savers Kit in it's handy little bag around to his too.

Here is a little product information I was sent and one of the muslin cloths. I managed to remember to include in this picture the Superskin Moisturiser 50ml jar before I unwrapped it. 

I am really looking forward to trying out this range as I have seen so many reviews on it and not heard a bad word yet. I think looking after your skin is so important, but I must slap my wrist as I am one of those guilty people who sometimes goes to bed with their make-up on. I can here you tutting at me :( I hope this will encourage me to change my ways :)

I am looking forward to trying out all these products and very much hope that the Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser to be used with the pure muslin cloths really does work for me as I never feel completely cleansed and free of make-up. I always wake up with panda eyes no matter how much make-up I was wearing the previous day/night. This is when I have done my utmost to remove all traces.

Have you tried any of these products? Do they live up to hype for you? Have you visited their salon?

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday my little cherubs.

Love to you all

Lips Of The Day: Two-Tone

Hello lovelies. It's raining again :( Boooooooooooo to the weather. I tried a slightly different look today that I thought you might like to see. I attempted to do two-tone lips as I was inspired by Look magazine this week.

If you want to recreate this look please see below.

Step 1: Use Vaseline Lip Therapy or any other none tinted lip balm before applying any other my make-up so that when you come to doing your lips at the end of your look they are not too slippery for the lipstick. This will hopefully stop your lips becoming too dry throughout the day.

Step 2: Fill in the lips with the MUA Snow White kohl pencil to give the lipstick a base to cling on to. Otherwise you can use any white kohl or white eye/lip crayon.

Step 3: With a lip brush apply the 17 Lasting Fix Hot Chilli Lasting Fix Lipstick to the top lip. Blot, re-apply and blot again.

Step 4: Do the same for the bottom lip, but this time with the Barry M Touch Of Magic Lip Paint. 

I should mention that the Barry M Touch Of Magic Lip Paint adjusts to everyone's skin tone differently and so the colour may not show up on you as it does on me. You may use similar colours to the ones I have used if you do not have these specific products. You may also prefer to go for completely different shades?

Although this look did last a little while the two colours did merge together eventually and so I would recommend to try using a Lipcote to seal the colours. Also, when I try this type of look again I think I will use a very pure white crayon with a denser pigment to give a really blank canvas and show up the colours even more.

Here are the products with prices and links:

• Vaseline Lip Therapy £1.32 at Boots. Link :)

• MUA Snow White kohl pencil was £1, but I could not find the link to it on Superdrug's website. Sorry!

• 17 Lasting Fix Lipstick in Hot Chilli £4.29 at Boots Link :)

• Barry M Touch Of Magic Lip Paint £4.49 on Barry M website Link :)

MUA is only available at Superdrug. Most items are £1 or thereabouts!

If you do try out this look let me know how you get on with it. You can even show me a picture of you like?

Take care sweethearts.

Love to you all

Nail Of The Day: Revlon Strawberry Electric

Hi there my lovelies. As I was freshly painting my nails tonight I thought I would try out this new nail polish that I bought from Savers the other day. It is by Revlon and called Strawberry Electric (190).

I really like this holographic pink colour which has a little purple running through it that catches in the light. I think this would also be lovely to show off your toes in the summer.

I applied this with two coats as it directs on the bottle. Have you found any great nail colours recently? I am a bit obsessed with them. Take good care everyone. 

Love to you all