My Friday Favourites :-)

Ah Friday, you're finally here. Just thought I’d do a quick round up of some of my favourite beauty-related things at the moment rather than doing loads of different review posts.

1. Flower hair accessories – nice and summery, perfect for when you can’t be bothered with your hair but still want to look like you made an effort.

2. Max Factor Masterpiece Max Mascara in Rich Black – highly pigmented, works wonders with my tiny stubby lashes, comes off easily without taking any lashes with it, brush is easy to use.

3. E45 cream – been using this rather than my Clinique (credit crunch and all that) and my skin is just as good

4. Wella Toners & Shaders Sachets – keeping my hair looking half decent until I go to the hairdressers to get my highlights done for my hols, all for the princely sum of 99p

5. Topshop White Stud Clutch – this is what I shall be dragging around all summer.

6. No7 Cleanse and Care Eye Make Up Remover – this removes absolutely everything easily from your eye area and feels nice and nourishing!

7. Aussie Dual Personality Hairspray – this stuff smells amazing and really holds hair. I like! I'm actually impressed with everything I've used from the Aussie range - this, Dual Personality Heat Protection Spray, Luscious Long Leave In Conditioner and any of the 3 minute miracles are my fave

(Pics are from Ebay and Google, not my own)

Fun with nail decals and stickers

Firstly, I’d like to apologise for the crapness of the white polish in these pics, the only white crème I had was a one for French tips so it just hasn’t worked well as a proper polish, it looks like Tippex! I did think white was best to show these off and can assure you I will be rectifying the “not owning a white crème polish” as soon as possible.

Here we have some fab nail decals and stickers from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/The-Nail-Art-and-Wristband-Shop?_rdc=1 – I’ve tested my favourites on my hand here:

The decals are a little more tricky than the stickers (but even then, hardly so) but both types come with very clear instructions on how to apply – I’d got the hang of it by the time I came to apply the unicorn one, which is a bit better positioned than the best. I’d say the top tip is to cut them out as close to the sticker as possible. Also, just to add, they don’t feel rough in any way either!

The seller was even kind enough to send me the playing card ones with a thicker outline to see if they were easier to cut out. I think he does custom nail stickers/decals too if you ask, I couldn’t see the playing card ones in his items for sale so I just asked and he made :-)

Legally Blonde - The Musical

I went to London at the weekend and part of my trip was to see Legally Blonde - The Musical at the Savoy Theatre. Quite frankly I bloody loved it!

It was camp, cute, funny, frothy and lots of fun - true to the film and just what I expected. The songs are catchy, the comedy element is there and the dance routines were good. Sheridan Smith wasn't playing the lead role when we went which was a bit disappointing but Richard Fleeshman and Gill Halfpenny (both of whom can really belt out a tune!) were in it, you'd never know Gill Halfpenny was the same person as dowdy Kate from Eastenders though, she looks totally different.

The cutest cast members however, were the two little dogs playing Bruiser and Paulette's dog. Actual, real, cute little doggies on stage, I loved it! I felt so sorry for the little chihuahua at one point though, he/she misjudged a jump onto a bed and fell over, looking very startled. Aaaaw!

I would totally recommend this if you're in London and like the film Legally Blonde (which incidentally I have realised I don't own, how did this happen?!! I must rectify this at Amazon immediately). It's probably my favourite girly film and as a blonde myself who is prone to being a bit ditsy I like the idea that in theory I could be super-successful in a traditionally "demanding" career, I think the film sends out a good message. Yes, I know it's only a film - and a pretty unrealistic one at that - but we can dream right?!

I also did a lot of the tourist attractions whilst I was there, ate at Pret a Manger a lot and went to see Wicked at the Apollo (also great) - I hardly shopped at all though, apart from buying two plain tops in Topshop for my hols (less than 4 weeks to go, yeah!).

Green People Organic Formula Self Tan Lotion

I was given this to try by our resident organic champion at work. It contains 88.57% certified organically grown ingredients and works by sugar derivatives reacting with your skin to create pigments (basically the same as a "chemical" fake tan would). I googled and it seems to cost between £13-17 online.

It doesn’t look like fake tan – it’s a slightly yellow cream that looks a bit like cocoa butter and when you rub it into your skin it leaves a startling thick white residue that thankfully sinks in after 5-10 minutes. But other than the initial shock application is pretty straightforward (I did manage to mess up my ankles though, which I happen to do every single time I try any fake tannage!) and at least you can see where you’ve applied.

It also smells nothing like fake tan – it has a strong herbal scent (that’ll be the rosehip, geranium and sandalwood then) that stays even when the tan is developing, and you definitely don’t get that horrible biscuity smell that usually comes post–tan development. My boyfriend described me as “smelling like a lovely curry”, which I’m not sure is a good thing. I think the smell might be a bit much for some people.

The other thing about this tan is that it develops FAST, the colour was coming out in about 2 hours and fully developed after about 5. It gives a nice golden colour – quite subtle, but definitely still noticeable.

The con of this tan for me was it’s longevity - 2 showers later and you’d be hard pressed to tell I ever had tan on apart from a few little areas. But this also has a plus point as it means that you’re not ending up really patchy like with some other tans, but who wants to be reapplying tan every 2 days? I’m sporadic enough with tan application as it is!

If you want a quick developing tan that doesn’t stink or you're a bit scared of tan and want some where any mistakes aren't there for long, then this is the stuff for you! I have actually applied this just before work before, then left it to develop throughout my working day (no awful tan smell), then showered off when I got home and went out. I think I’ll be sticking with my L’Oreal Nutrisummer though– sorry colleague, your organic mission has failed on this occasion.

This warm weather we've been having has really played havoc with my Mac Cremesheen Lipstick in Speed Dial...

This WAS my 3 week old Mac Cremesheen in Speed Dial - it's died a death in the warm weather before I even had a chance to review it. I loved it and it had quickly become my go-to lippy. I even tried to resuscitate it in the fridge but no joy :-(

Here's a swatch of it to show just how pretty it was:

Weirdly, Mac Chatterbox (not a Cremesheen) which I bought at the same time and kept in the same conditions is ok. Has anyone elses makeup gone strange? How do people who have hot weather all the time cope with their lipsticks melting?!

GOSH Polishes - Holographic 549, Rainbow 546, Vanilla Ice 539

L-R: Rainbow, Vanilla Ice, Holographic

Just thought I'd show you some GOSH sparkly polishes I bought when they were on 3 for 2 a few weeks ago (making it £10 for these 3 polishes in total). All of these are pictured without basecoat or topcoat, just call me a rebel!

GOSH Holographic 549

• Application takes a bit of practice - it has a tendency to drag pretty badly. The bottle suggests for best results to use GOSH 565 Fix Base Coat but I don't own this so I didn't!
• 3 coats got rid of any baldy spots
• As with most holos, this badboy dries quickly
• Chiptastic and the surface almost scratches away after a few days....I still love it though, and even though it's high maintenance (like the best of us) it looks so nice!

GOSH Rainbow 546

• Yellow toned clear polish with light red/pink flakies - reminds me a little of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure
• In the pic below it's shown over Leighton Denny Monroe - it was hard to tell the flakieness without a base colour, it's a good layering polish but a bit wishywashy on it's own
• Doesn't feel too bumpy
• Application is straightforward enough - two coats over a base colour gives good impact

GOSH Vanilla Ice 539

Not much to say about this, it's a sheer (check out my nail staining, lovely!) frost with very fine glitter and it looks as it should. Probably another layering polish I think. No application issues.

I am obsessed with....

Montagne Jeunesse Fudge Sauna Face Mask. It costs 98p, so whilst I'm saving up for my hols (and coming to terms with the public sector pay freeze, d'oh) this is the perfect treat, it smells yummy, feels warm and comforting on the skin and makes your skin feel lovely afterwards. The Honey & Cream one is amazing too but seems to be a bit harder to find.

However, this doesn't mean I'm not coveting other stuff (see my wishlist!). It just means I'll wait until after my holiday to buy it (plus my birthday's in September so I'm hoping a few heavy hints dropped in August will lead to good things!)

Guest reviewing Clinique Anti-Blemish over at Vex in the City

I trialled Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Liquid Makeup as a guest reviewer for Vex in the City over the past week or so. If you want to know what I thought, you can see my review here

Illamasqua Nail Polish in Ruthless

I know, I’m a bit late to the Illamasqua party but Illamasqua polish was on my wishlist, so when I saw that this colour was £8.50 on ASOS (and I had a £5 voucher) and they were doing free delivery I went for it!

“Ruthless” is what I’d call a true red – a bright, classic, jelly colour more on the orange side of red than the pink, as I think the first pic shows.

Application was lovely, the formula isn’t too wet or too gloopy and the brush is firm enough for you not to end up with polish everywhere, but not so stiff that it causes drag. I didn’t have a problem with the square lid of the brush when I was painting either, which I've read is a problem for some people - they just remove the square part of the lid and use the smaller bit underneath. It dries in a reasonable amount of time (note to self: find Seche Vite, AWOL since I moved house!) and lasted 2 days on without chipping, this is without a topcoat though since without a fast-drying one available I’m too lazy to put it on.

This pic is after the 2 days and you can see the tip wear, particularly on my index finger - again, I must stress that this is without topcoat.

Diamond Cosmetics Nail Polish in Chainmail Charm (310)

After seeing amazing pics of this polish on a few blogs (which you’ve probably already seen too), I thought I’d give it a go – I bought it for £5 including postage from Funky Nails and it arrived the next day.

When I first started applying it, I was like “hmm.” It seemed very watery, thin and not like it would actually reach any sort of decent pigmentation no matter the number of coats at all. And the glitter just looked silver. After 3 coats I was still a bit disheartened as it looked a bit of a greyish black with lots of fine silver glitter. Um, why in everyone elses pics did it look an amazing multicoloured holo and mine looked like this? But I then found that under bright light – artificial I’m afraid as I live in crappy old grey England – the gorgeous holo effect comes out as you can see in the pics.

I’ve said before and I’ll say it again…WHERE’S THE SUN?!

For £3 plus postage, I can’t argue with this. I’m love black polishes with glitter, and multicoloured glitter? Count me in! I’d definitely buy this again. I used Stickey basecoat and Seche Vite topcoat. The polish lasted 4 sparkly holo days before chipping.

"Women turned to nail polish during the recession"...

...I don't mean that women all over the US were turning into bottles of polish, but they were definately buying them!

According to this piece of research by Kline Group , US nail polish sales grew by 14.3% in 2009 "due to the return of nail color in the fashion world, as well as the shift from nail salons to at-home application as economic instability motivated consumers to forego salon visits. Nail industry marketers also responded well to consumer demand and focused on new launches, offering a wide range of new products to engage the recession-stricken consumer."

Sales of lipsticks and glosses declined by 5.3% and perfumes considerably more. Other toiletries and personal care items (the every day stuff like deodorants, shaving stuff etc) suffered the least.

God if my business degree was about this kind of thing, I'd enjoy writing the damn essays!

Pixi Lip Blush in Youth

I used this product previously a few years ago but I bought “Happiness” and “Love” (pink and red, respectively) and was a bit surprised at how bright the colours were, especially compared to the swatches on Pixi’s website, so didn’t really wear them.

Anyway, I had wanted this for a while but didn’t really want to pay £12 plus postage from their website and hadn’t seen it anywhere else. I was just browsing around Boots one morning on the way to drop some keys off and I noticed they had a Pixi stand, I raced over, swatched a few and came away with this (and paid using my Boots points so essentially this was free – I’m aware that’s not quite true but still…). Just to go off track a minute, has anyone noticed that Boots has gotten way better? I did during this visit, they have Ardell lashes, Pixi, Butter London and loads of other great new stuff I hadn’t seen there before.

Back to the lip blush - it’s a really nice sheer, light pink that gives a hint of colour to my lips (mine are quite pale) so it looks like I’ve got something on but isn’t too OTT like the other colours of this I had. All of the lips blushes are matte and this is no exception. I didn’t realise until just now that a stray hair has stuck itself to my lip in the pic either!

Application is reasonably easy – the nib is like a felt tip pen so you basically just draw on your lips, it’s not hard on the lips or anything though but does feel a bit weird. One thing I will say is there is a bit of a strange smell to this, it isn’t strong, but it smells really vaguely of marker pen. Also, you need to make sure your lips are in tip top condition as this really shows up any dryness, I would imagine the formula might be a bit drying on the lips too if you were wearing it all the time. Pixi Lip Blush is pretty long lasting (maybe 4-6 hours) and because the colour is light, I don’t experience that horrible thing where you eat/drink something and the colour wears off in the middle and leaves you with a gross feathery lipliner look.

To summarise (can you tell I’ve been writing essays a lot at the moment?), I like this product and would buy again, I like it as an everyday lip colour – however I think it’s a little overpriced for what it is so I might look for an alternative. This is much easier and neater to apply than the Bourjois Rouge Hi-Tec lip stains though (between £3-8, depending on where you get them from)

If your Boots doesn’t stock Pixi, these lip blushes are available from http://www.pixibeauty.com/

How nice are these false nails by Urban Rebel!

Midnight Graffiti
Leopard French

Feline French

Boudoir French

Black Lace

Pics all taken from ASOS.com

I just spied these and whilst I'm not generally a false nail wearer, I think these are LOVELY! And they look (to me anyway) like a cheaper version of Minx. And since I can't do konad to save my life...

They're £5 and are available from http://www.missselfridge.com/ and http://www.asos.com/ - there are a few other designs but I wasn't so keen on them.

So, what do you think? Do you wear false nails? Any recommendations for fancy falsies (I'm not keen on the french mani ones, I can do that on my own nails)?

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!