Balm Balm Tea Tree 100% Organic Lipbalm - Review

I got this lipbalm for Christmas but didn’t use it at first because I’d never heard of the brand and was perfectly happy with the Anatomicals balm I was using. I can’t remember why I started to use it all of a sudden actually?

The packaging was pretty unassuming:

My first thought was “hmm, this balm feels hard in the tub” and my next was “oh my god I don’t like the smell”, because let’s face it, tea tree isn’t the nicest smell in the world.

But actually, this is one of the best lipbalms I’ve used, it’s really really moisturising and feels nice and glossy on the lips. It keeps your lips looking nice, and I have now got over my initial reservations about the smell and the hardness in the tube, it melts into the skin on contact like a lovely oil. It also has a lasting moisturising effect, I can reapply it every few hours rather than every 10 minutes and it still works its magic.

It's nice with lipstick over too - it makes more of a sheer wash of colour rather than a strongly pigmented one. I've got it on under my Revlon Colorburst lipstick now and the colour looks really nice, not too heavy for work either.

I wanted to re-purchase when it ran out, but had no clue about the brand. After going to their website (http://www.balmbalm.com/), I then discovered that their products are 100% organic, multi-purpose and certified by the soil association; this isn’t something that I personally think about when buying products but it is nice to know! And yes I realise it says some of that on the tub but what can I say, I'm not the most observant. I also found out from the website that it comes in a frangrance free version as well, hallelujah!

At less than £3, it’s a make up and handbag staple for me! I got mine from Boots if anyone was wondering but it is available from other places too.

Leighton Denny Silver Screen Collection plus some other Leighton Denny polishes (yes, I'm spoilt...)

My mam came down this weekend and brought with her some amazing treats for me, for absolutely no reason. I'm far too spoilt (and lucky) and my mam obviously knows me too well!

Leighton Denny 9 Piece Silver Screen Collection

It includes four polishes (this is the brights collection, it also came in neutrals apparently), a hoof stick, cuticle oil, nail and hand cream, polish remover, base coat, corrector liquid, a brush to do corrections with, a file and some instructions on how to do various things with the polish.

Let's have a closer look at the polishes...

Millionaire is my favourite - it's a gorgeous pinky-lilac shimmer with a gold duochrome. And these polishes LAST. It survived 2 days of moving house on my nails and is still going strong!

And just because, obviously that wasn't more than enough, she also got me three more Leighton Denny polishes. I LOVE these!

Notorious is my favourite out of these three - a really nice turquoise-teal colour that again, lasts really well.

I will get into swatching them hopefully pretty soon - some of these colours really HAVE to be seen on!

China Glaze Nail Lacquer in Cloud Nine (white with pale multi glitter)

This is the first China Glaze polish I’ve owned . Cloud Nine is a sheer frosted white with pale multicoloured glitter in it. I struggled to choose between this colour and Kwik Silvr and I kind of wish I’d gone for the latter as the swatches I’ve seen show that Kwik Silver was probably what I wanted (so an excuse to purchase more polishes, yay!)

Whilst I really like the colour from a distance (i.e. where you can’t see the mistakes), the application left a lot to be desired. It managed to be gloopy and patchy at the same time, even when it had seemingly dried, resulting in bald patches on the nails which annoyed me up close. It took 3 coats to achieve the opacity I wanted, and the finish still wasn’t great – there was still also a bit of VNL. It isn’t as white/opaque as it looks in the bottle at all.

It chipped after a few days and almost started to peel off fully once it had chipped. D’oh! For a glitter, it wasn’t that rough, but didn’t feel smooth to the touch (same as most glitters).

Mac Cremesheen Glass in Crème Anglaise (and The Cosmetics Company Store at Cheshire Oaks)

I made such a great discovery last week when I went to Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet for the first time ever (sorry this is going to sound like I’m on this companys payroll and I’m really not) – The Cosmetics Company Store.

OH MY GOD. It’s full of discounted (I assume overstock/discontinued/end of line) cosmetics from brands like Mac, Bobbi Brown, Estee Lauder, Prescriptives, Clinique etc.

The stock is a bit hit and miss and haphazard but if you look there’s some great stuff – don’t be put off by the fact that everything there looks like a well-used tester, if you pick up the product and colour that you like and take it to the counter, you get a brand new fresh one in new packaging from the sales assistant. I nearly didn’t buy anything because I thought you had to buy the manky old used ones!

For example, this Mac Cremesheen Glass in Crème Anglaise that I bought for £9 usually costs £14.50 and is a really nice neutral “my-lips-but-better” colour that lasts pretty well for a gloss. I really wanted a Mac lipstick (see my wishlist) but I didn’t really fancy any of the ones available so I got this instead. It also has a yummy vanilla scent and (I think) it tastes like ricepaper - which is totally fine by me as I really like ricepaper :-)

They had Mac stuff from the Dame Edna and Hello Kitty collections, as well as some of the more staple collections and some stuff I didn’t recognise. I’m not mad into Mac, as I don’t wear eyeshadow (one of Macs strong points I believe) and only really bother with their lashes. But pffft, when it’s discounted…count me in!

There’s also a Revlon store at Cheshire Oaks as well which I stayed in for as long as my boyfriend would let me (aka not very long). And if you go to the Cheshire Oaks website and register, you get a 10% discount card that can be used at selected retailers.

I got it! YSL Elle Limited Edition Collector 2010 Perfume

In my post last week about Pucci Vivara I mentioned a perfume by YSL that I had seen in a few shops whilst I was in town, liked the smell of, liked the packaging and thought I had the name of (YSL Elle) but after looking online hadn't been able to find. With your help I managed to find it and snap it up, yay!

YSL Elle Limited Edition Collector 2010 (90ml)

Mmm, to me it smells like YSL Babydoll crossed with Dior Addict Shine - two of my favourite ever perfumes. I haven't actually smelled the original YSL Elle but I probably should since I suppose it's been the inspiration for this one.

It's very light, sweet and fruity, and like YSL Babydoll has a bit of a grapefruity scent to it. This is again a lovely perfume for summer and basically reminds me of sunshine and cocktails (I don't mean it smells of booze by the way!). Also, how nice is that bottle?! The picture doesn't really do it justice but it looks really striking in real life with the splashes of colour on it.

Why is it I like these "follow-up" perfumes like this one and Dior Addict Shine rather than the original ones (e.g YSL Elle and Dior Addict)?

L'oreal Matt Morphose Souffle Foundation

I’m a bit confused (again) as to why L’oreal have randomly brought out a mousse-type foundation a few years after a lot of other brands did. But never mind, they're the multi-national cosmetics company raking in millions, not me. I’m biased anyway as I don’t really like mousse foundations much.

Can’t really comment on the packaging as this was just a tester but from what I have seen of the packaging it doesn’t look like anything particularly fancy - the colour I had was 140 Beige Natural.

On first try it was as I had expected; very thick, matte, not particularly easy to work with (the fact that when I rubbed it in, it kind of pilled into little balls and flaked wasn’t great) and pretty heavy coverage. I didn’t think the finish was very natural at all but in fairness the shade was a little too dark for me so that may have contributed to this.

Don’t think I’ll be buying the actual full size of this…

Emilio Pucci Vivara Perfume

My usual Dior Addict Shine was about to run out and I needed a new perfume - so when I spotted this in Space NK, I had to have it:It's called Vivara and is by Emilo Pucci.

Now I am OBSESSED with Pucci prints (I've actually gone into House of Fraser just to ogle £200 Pucci scarves I have no budget to buy) so if I'm honest it was all about the packaging for me. I quite like the smell but it is a lot more heavy and "grown up" than I usually wear.

I'm normally a fan of sweet, fruity perfumes (Britney Spears Fantasy, anything by Escada etc) so this mix of amaretto, jasmine and patchiouli is quite different to my usual scent.

However, today when I was in Debenhams I spotted a YSL perfume that I loved the look and smell of (it was very sweet and citrusy, not a million miles away from Dior Addict Shine actually) - I think it was called Elle but when I've googled it, the packaging is nothing like the one I saw in store, it looked like it had paint splashes on it? I saw it in another perfume shop too so I haven't just dreamed it up. I'm confused!

What's your favourite perfume? Or your favourite "type" of perfume?

L'oreal NutriSummer Mist and Face Tanner Review

As a huge fan of the Loreal NutriSummer Gradual Moisturiser, I saw that they had a face moisturiser and a tanning spray and had to try them. I bought them a while ago but haven’t used them yet, I’m such a lazy tanner I either pay to have a spray tan or don’t bother. But I’m on an economy drive at the moment, and the weather is so crap, might as well cheer myself up with tannage!

L’Oreal NutriSummer mist

£8.99 for 150ml (slightly more expensive than the moisturiser which is £8.99 for 200ml)

Aerosol spray tanning liquid. Instructions were very good – clear and exact, even down to what order to apply it to your body parts. However, this doesn’t give that lovely moisturising feel that comes with the gradual moisturiser and as the liquid is clear it’s hard to tell if you’re applying it evenly or missing places out, particularly as you’re instructed that if the skin feels wet, you’re applying it too closely. The tan dried very quickly and left no residue on the skin, which I like.

It smelled strange – not fake tannish, but not a great smell. I applied this before bedtime and come the time to get up it did have that faint biscuity smell that comes with fake tan.
With the moisturiser, I usually have to build it up over a few days anyway so this was no surprise that it took two applications of tan to get the desired colour – not really really dark but not unnoticeable either. However, as I had predicted, because the tan is a clear liquid it was extremely patchy on my arms where I had missed huge patches without realising (I THOUGHT I’d sprayed carefully and evenly) so I had to wear a long sleeved dress to go out in! I’m not sure how long it actually took to develop as I left it overnight. The colour lasted about 3 days before I noticed patchiness where the tan was coming off.

I don’t think I’d buy this again,I’ll stick to my usual NutriSummer moisturiser, I find it easier to work with, even if I do have to get someone to help me do my back! The spray is really good for doing if you’re in a hurry because of the quick dry time and the colour is just like the moisturiser one but it’s too easy to miss areas - which isn’t as bad with the moisturiser, though it’s clear it at least looks “wet” on your skin so you know where it is, even if I have to dry out for an extra 5 minutes.

Also, even though it’s a really fine mist that comes from the bottle, I felt a bit like I was spraying for ages and after two full body applications it feels a bit empty, so I don’t know how many tans it would actually last, especially when building the colour up. I may update!

L’Oreal NutriSummer 24 Hour Moisturising Lotion Face

£7.99 for 50ml

Again, instructions very good and clear. Strangely, the smell of this was quite nice, like peach yoghurt – this did smell “biscuity” by the morning though. Application very easy and straightforward, to be used in place of your moisturiser basically. Again, dried quickly and left no residue on my skin. Previously I’ve used the body moisturiser on my face (naughty I know) and it seems to cause me to breakout, this didn’t.

The colour was fine and had applied well, it’s slightly lighter than the body tan but I think this is probably the general idea. I’d probably buy this again in conjunction with the 24 hours gradual tanner as it gives the colour, is a similar formula to the tan but doesn’t make me break out. It also contains SPF 15 which I think is a must-have for facial products. Yay!

I also noticed that NutriSummer products are on offer at Boots at the moment (cheaper than what I paid for them and have stated in this review, d’oh!), so head on down!