Happy Halloween!

Here's a bit of nail art I did using Illamasqua Ruthless (red), Barry M Nail Effects (black) and a nail decal - it is meant to be Halloween themed but I think it looks a bit more Spiderman themed because of the colours and the spider decal!

As you can see, you can sort of tell it's a decal up close but from a normal distance away you can't tell, hopefully no-one will be that near my hand. Really like the Nail Effects too, hope they bring these out in other colours! I kept the last pic in as the flash has made my hand look like a scary pale zombie hand. Happy Halloween!

November Giveaways!

Since my blog is a year old in November, I decided that it's time for a giveaway for the lovely people that follow my blog. Then I decided that rather than having one big giveaway, I'd have one smaller one each week in November - that way it gives more people more chances to win.

Here's what the prizes are going to be:

• Week 1 - Montagne Jeunesse Indulgent Spa Facial set worth £20
• Week 2 - Wahanda voucher for Fish Pedicure at Wonda Fish, London
• Week 3 - Miss Budd Make Up Bag
• Week 4 - Hotel Chocolat Chocolate worth £22

So if any of those prizes interest you, keep an eye on my blog in November. The giveaways will be going up every Monday! You'll need to be a follower to enter, so if you're not following already, now's the perfect time - as ever, winners will be selected at random.

Two months until Christmas...

...and I'm pleased to say for the first time I have Lush Snow Fairy! I can't believe I've not tried this before, it's totally my thing - really sweet scented (like sugary, fruity candyfloss), a little sparkly and pink. The scent really lasts as well, on body and in the bathroom.

This is definately a Christmas tradition I'll be keeping up with! Weirdly my Dad bought me this, I don't know how he knew, I'd not even mentioned to anyone I wanted this.

Do you have any Christmas traditions you keep up? Will you be buying Snow Fairy this year? I totally love Christmas and get really into it!

Strawberry Carmex Lip Balm

In my opinion along with Anatomicals Stop Cracking Up and Balm Balm, Carmex is one of the best lipbalms for when your lips are really dry (i.e. winter) and need to sort them out. The only thing I'm not hugely keen on with Carmex is the smell/taste. So when I saw the strawberry one, I went for it.

Um...when you first but it on there is a vague whiff/taste of strawberry but after that it's back to the usual Carmex smell and taste. At least I tried! And since the product is so functional and does what it's meant to well, I can put up with that. If they could make one that smells like Lush Honey Trap, I'd be a happy girl.

Apparently they've brought out a mint one too, which I'll have to try to see if it's any better. Has anyone tried it? Have they ever made tinted Carmex too? If not, I think they should!

Lush Haul Update

I got round to using the rest of my Lush products that I blogged about previously here and here

Rockstar Soap

It's pink, smells sweet without smelling synthetic or overpowering, lathers really well and I have a huge chunk of it. Nuff said, I love it! Would definately buy this again.

Sweetie Pie

Really didn't like this. It smelled like synthetic sweet blackcurrant...really sickly. I also found it quite hard to use (though it did lather well) as it was quite firm in the pot, and left bits at the bottom of the shower rather than melting away. It does look cute though and I like its little pot.

Buffy

Oh my god, I loved this, why haven't I known about this before? It smells ok (there is an underlying scent that I got a whiff of tht I wasn't quite sure I liked) and it's a dream to use. It has ground almond shell in it that scrubs your skin as you use it over your body - it's definately the right amout of "scrubbiness" as well, it didn't feel harsh but it did its job. It even works on my extremely dry elbows, which is a feat in itself. It does leave a slight residue on the skin, but this is moisturising rather than oily or tacky. Definately one to repurchase as winter moves on!

So, two goods, one bad here...not bad really since I liked the Emotibombs and Creamy Candy Bubble Bar I bought too. Good work Lush!

OPI DS Chiffon

I love holos and have wanted a pink one for ages! After googling I was a bit overwhelmed by the choice (particularly the OPI DS and China Glaze OMG collections) but I went for OPI DS Chiffon as I wanted a light pink, not a bright or fuschia one. I should also have China Glaze BFF coming to me to but the store won't send me details of how to pay so......y'know, whatever.

OPI DS Chiffon

This is from OPI's Designer Series. I love the silver lid on this, miles better than the normal OPI black ones! Under normal light, this just looks like a medium pink glitter but under bright light or sunlight the holo shows,

Kind of hard to photograph the holo-ness of this, but you can see it in on the middle pic on the index finger. This is definately a subtle holo rather than a totally in your face blingy one.

Application was fine, it had the standard OPI brush (which I like, I know some people don't) and the formula was easy to work with - this is 3 coats. Longevity was fine too, it lasted 4 days on before it started looking a bit unkempt. I'm really pleased with my choice and this is definately a polish that I'll wear a lot.I just want a Nfu.Oh holo now...why are they such a pain to get hold of in the UK?! Are there any other amazing pink holos I need to know about?

NOTD - Models Own Grey Day with GOSH Rainbow

Just a quick NOTD for you - I'm not quite sure if it "works", what do you think? In some lights the flakies glow red and green...

The Sanctuary - Youth Boosting Warming Microbrasion Polish and 5 Minute Thermal Detox Mask

I love Sanctuary products and I love products that warm up on your skin (especially now it’s gone so cold), so when I saw these on offer in Boots I had to try them. I used the machine that gives you extra points vouchers etc. in Boots and it gave me some extra points on these as well – I’m on about £14 of points now…YSL Rouge Volupte, you shall be mine!

The Sanctuary Youth Boosting Warming Microbrasion Polish

Sanctuary say: “Youth Boosting facial favourite. Our spa microdermabrasion combines intense warming to help open the pores and stimulate circulation, with an ultrafine polish of marine earth and natural kaolin to help detoxify and leave skin feeling deeply cleansed and refreshed.”

Packaging is nice, the product smells strongly of rosewater (or something like that anyway) which I don’t personally like. This is a good exfoliator; not so gritty that it’s taking off the first 5 layers of skin but not so gentle that you can’t actually feel it working. It was easy to apply.
Now, onto the “warming” part of this…it initially felt warm in my hands but that basically stopped as soon as I applied it to my skin. The warming bit was the bit I was most looking forward to!

My skin definitely looked more radiant and felt smooth after using this, so I’d probably buy it again if it was on offer.

The Sanctuary 5 Minute Thermal Detox Mask

Sanctuary say: “The warmth of this self-heating mask helps to open up the pores so the charcoal and kaolin clay can help draw out the impurities from deep within the skin. As well as purifying, the mask also rebalances the skin’s oil levels to clarify, cleanse and leave skin with a silky touch, essential oil of myrrh helps soothe and calm.”

Again, nice packaging, the smell of this product is weird…it reminds me a bit of Play-doh or something, but that must be down to the charcoal in it. It also looks a bit weird…again, like grey Play-doh. I found this quite tricky to apply first as it has a weird consistency (almost a bit too “firm”?) that doesn’t quite seem to want to go onto your skin easily or evenly, I sort of got the hang of it, but it was tricker than applying face mask should be! The “warming” aspect was a bit disappointing again, it warmed up for about 10 seconds then that was it. Hmm, in comparison with the Montagne Jeunesse warming masks that smell lovely, apply easily and feel warm for ages (and cost 99p), this mask isn’t coming out to well.

But actually, it was worth it for how smooth, soft and evened out my skin looked and felt afterwards. I kept touching my face (not good, bacteria from hands+into pores=spots) because my skin felt so lovely. I used this when I’d been out for a few drinks the night before and the “detox” part was definitely true, you’d never have known I’d been out the night before!

I would buy this again as a bit of a boost for my skin when it needs it. It hasn’t quite replaced Montagne Jeunesse for me though, those little sachets do a similar job on the skin and smell, look and feel a bit nicer in some respects too. To me, this is a functional product rather than a nice treat!

Bringing the 90's back with a bit of nail piercing...

Just a little bit of sea-themed nail art I came up with here - I quite liked the way this turned out but I think it could have been better. And I don't think I'd wear this out of the house, the nail charm on its own would be enough of a pain!

To create this nail art I used:

• Random green striping polish (for the "seaweed)
• Leighton Denny polish in Notorious (for the background)
• Brush on nail glue (to attached the crushed shells)
• Viva La Nails crushed shells (for "sand")
• Millennium Nails seahorse nail charm
• Crystals (for the "bubbles)

Some more pics below if you're wanting a better idea of how it all looked:

It was all reasonably simple to do as well - painted nails, added nail glue to lunula and sprinkled the crushed shells on top, made sure they were stuck. Added the crystals and the seaweed, then attached the seahorse charm. I also managed to pick up the bag of diamantes from the wrong end and ended up with loads of crystals all over my floor - it looked ace! :-) And even though I've hoovered, I'm still finding the odd crystal stuck to my foot/bag/hairbrush etc.

What do you think? Of this design, and of nail art in general? I love nail art from a visual point of view and think some of it is amazing and requires loads of skill but I'm not brave enough to wear anything too "out there". I'd rather look at fancy nail art than go to an art gallery any day!

September Superstars

These are the products that I fell in love with all over again last month:

Sanctuary Salt Scrub

Smells lovely, exfoliates well and the essential oils in it moisturise my skin beautifully so I don't have to use moisturiser afterwards. By far the best scrub I've ever used!

OPI Nail Envy

I found this in my "beauty drawer" and started using it again - I find it good to use when I'm not wearing any polish...whether or not it actually does anything is debatable but it makes me feel better about my nails and certainly seems to reduced flaking and snapping that my nails are prone to.

OPI Avoplex Nail & Cuticle Replenishing Oil

Discovered in the drawer with my Nail Envy! Seems to be helping my raggedy, dry cuticles and smells nice too - I've been applying it at least once a day.

Lush Creamy Candy Bubble Bar

Mmmmm! It's ridiculously sweet (which I like), pink and leaves my skin feeling gorgeous after a bath (when I get the chance to have one)

Any September rediscoveries you've made? Or completely new products?