Little bit of a product rave...Revlon Photoready Foundation (and some Revlon polish swatches)

For the time being, I've decided I need a foundation with a bit more coverage than Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua (which I love but it just isn't doing enough for me at the minute) and as I'm a little unwilling to spend £20+ when I already have two Chanel foundations and a Clinique foundation just hanging around, I decided to go for Revlon Photoready...I think I actually meant to get Colorstay but ho hum, yet again I've made a foundation error.

I bought Nude which seems to be a good match for my skin and it seems like my foundation error has paid off. It covers enough without looking like I have too much make up on, and I actually feel like I look much more awake with this on which pleases me. I quite like the way it doesn't look too caked on as it's summer. I've read somewhere that this is too shimmery for some people but to be honest I'm not getting that it's shimmery when I wear it. Sometimes after application (I apply it with my fingers), I notice a bit of a shimmer on my hand if I've not washed it off yet. My boyfriend has actually also commented with how much "better my skin looks" - I didn't mention that I'm just wearing different make up!

I get a full days wear out of this which is great, I've not had to do any touchups other than a bit of powder. I have noticed that it can go a bit cakey on any dry skin after wearing it for a few hours but this just means I'm prepping my skin better to stop this. I also quite like the packaging, it's fairly inoffensive and the pump applicator is good, the bottle also isn't ridiculously heavy which is something that sometimes worries me about foundation bottles as I think I might smash them in my bag!

All in all, I'm pretty impressed with this foundation for the price - especially since Boots were doing 3 for 2 and I got two nail polishes too (Passion Fruit and All Fired Up, swatched below) - and I would buy again, it's actually tempted me to try out some other Revlon foundations etc which I've never really bothered with before!

Passion Fruit is meant to be scented but I don't get that from it at all, not like the Revlon Cotton Candy polish I reviewed last year! I actually bought it without realising it was scented, I just liked the colour.

Blonde Ambition

As a faux blonde, I'm constantly trying new ways to stop my hair from going brassy or the colour darkening. I've just had my full head of highlights (I'm quite bad at getting this done quite as regularly as I should) so I'm trying to start as I mean to go on - I thought I'd show you what I'm using on my hair at the moment to try and keep it in optimum bombshell condition. I'm also planning on just getting a whole head of blonde rather than highlights next time, so trying to keep it all as light as possible.


John Frieda Go Blonder Lightening Shampoo and Conditioner



For me, the jury's out on whether this does anything much to my already-highlighted hair but it's not making it darker so I'm happy for now. I'll probably try something different once this runs out though, as I don't like the fact that the conditioner is yellow - I spend half my hair life trying to stop brassiness so it seems a bit mad to put something yellow on it as blonde hair can be pretty porous/dry and therefore absorbs other colours quite easily.


Provoke Touch of Silver Twice A Week Brightening Shampoo


This was a random Boots find, I was looking for a cheap purple shampoo as I figured it was probably a bit more cost effective than the Wella Toners & Shaders sachets I'd been using. It does its job, is a reasonable price and I might actually look into this range a bit more once I take the plunge and go even more blonde. I've seen good reviews of this and it's so much better than the Lee Stafford one I used which gave my hair a distinct tinge of blue rinse!


John Frieda Beautiful Blonde Ice Cool Platinum UV Shine Protector Spray




Blonde hair doesn't reflect light as well as darker hair so doesn't tend to look as shiny, plus my own hair is quite dry at the ends, so I use this to add a bit of shine and moisture to my hair without weighing it down or making it look darker. It works well, keeps my hair straighter for longer and adds shine - it smells nice and fresh too.


John Frieda Go Blonder Lightening Spray




I've only used this once but it's definately made a colour difference to the parts of my hair that aren't highlighted. Expect a more thorough review on this one soon!


In addition I also use an intensive conditioner (usually an Aussie 3 Minute Miracle) at least once a week and either the spray or cream from the Aussie Take The Heat range before blowdrying. If anyone has any blonde-friendly tips I'd love to hear them!

I have a new Lush favourite to add to my list!

My favourite products from Lush goes a little something like this:

1. Lush Honeytrap Lip Balm


2. Snow Fairy Shower Gel


3. Butterball


4. Creamy Candy


5. Flosty Gritter (I don't think they make this any more, boo! I might have to start a petition or something!)


6. Buffy Scrub


7. Rock Star Soap

Mainly ridiculously sweet and girlie, yes? Well I have a new addition that isn't necessarily quite as sweet as those - Dragons Egg, I love it! It's a white circular bath bomb with little flashes of colour, when you get it in the water it fizzes and froths away, then bursts in an explosion of orange colour, as it fizzes a bit more, it has a gold centre like a little rock made from pyrite that then fizzes away. It smells lovely as well, very citrusy but with a hint of sweetness, like sherbert. The only downside is that it turns the water bright yellow (which looks a bit suspect!) and makes a mess of your bath at the end.

I've also got Mrs Whippy to try and after reading the Lush Times, I quite fancy Ultrabland cleanser as well, but I tend to stick with products I know and love from Lush as I tend to find when I wander, I don't like things as much (face masks, foundations etc).

Elegant Touch Limited Edition Matte Nails - Chocolate and Purple

I bought these on a whim from a tiny little Boots near my work when I was looking for something else. I know matte nails aren't as "in" as they once were, but I still love them and thought this would be an easy way to get perfect matte nails without any of the annoyances like chipping! I've been waiting to use them until my nails are a bit shorter.

And I really really like these - as I thought, they look like the perfect matte nails, actually so perfect they look either fake or professionally done, which isn't a bad thing I suppose. They were easy to apply and the glue held well. I would say that the Chocolate ones look more black or at the very most a dark charcoal grey with a bit of matte shimmer to it. I like the length too, they're not so short they look stubby but they're not so long they get caught on things.

I didn't bother with the gloss topcoat as it seemed a bit like it was just clear nail varnish - for me I liked the solid matte too much to change it, I had intended to do french tips witht he gloss but I didn't fancy it in the end. I might have a go when I'm getting a bit bored of the nails.

These nails cost £6.45 from Boots and I'll definately buy them again, I like them. I managed to ping a few off during wear, but this is something I expect with stick on nails when they're put under strain - I'd rather that than they snap my own nails off with them - and they survived plenty of washing dishes and clothes which is good!

Also, just to go off on a bit off a tangent, how do they size false nails, was there a study somewhere that worked out the size of the average nail?

Does anyone use Quidco?

I use it for pretty much every purchase I can! For those of you that don't know, Quidco is a legit cashback site based on referral links - so if you're buying something you visit Quidco first, search for that retailer then click through the Quidco link to be taken to the website. You can even do it for Ebay or things like mobile phone deals and they do money off vouchers too.

There's nothing dodgy about it and you don't even have to give your bank details, my payments are paid into my Paypal account so it just waits there to be spent on treats! My boyfriend thinks I'm a massive geek about it because I'm a little bit obsessive about going through Quidco for everything, but I just see it as a way to make money from things I'd have bought anyway. I think in the last 6 months or so I've made about £70, without buying or doing anything different than I would have regardless of Quidco. Better in my pocket!

I'm not affiliated with Quidco or anything, I just think it's a good idea and thought I'd share! You also get a little payment for recommending Quidco to friends as well, this is my referral link http://www.quidco.com/user/707796/ so if you're thinking of joining follow that link and I'll get a few pennies. No pressure though, if you'd rather type the Quidco URL in the address bar yourself, please feel free.

(I've actually just noticed from writing this post that you can register your card details with Quidco and you get cashback on purchases you make in shops as well....woo hoo!!!!!)

Isn't this picture pretty?

I've not really ventured into the world of Etsy properly yet, I've had a look around and I like the look of a lot of things, but I've not taken the plunge and actually bought anything! It's even harder than Ebay to browse if you're not really sure what you're after and some of the things on there are so unique I don't know how you'd ever find them!


But anyway, this picture is by an artist called Kristina Hultkrantz who is based in Stockholm and creates all sorts of girly pictures...McQueen shoes, Chanel 2.55 handbags, macaroons, pugs, perfumes, Louboutins etc etc. Basically all the good stuff! Check out the YSL Rouge Volupte on the poster above, now that's the kind of detail I like! You can see her Etsy store here


Another Etsy find of mine has been fimo canes in a playing card design...eeek! I know it's trashy but I have a weird love of tacky Vegas-y stuff. I must have been a gambler or a casino girl in a previous life (despite the fact I've never been to Vegas and don't understand card games other than Snap in this one).

Benefit Bella Bamba

If money was no object, I'd happily buy every Benefit blusher going because of how pretty they all look. But as they're quite pricey (and smaller than I thought), I limited myself to one. After swatching all of them whilst avoiding the sales assistant that was circling around me, I decided on Bella Bamba. Benefit describe Bella Bamba as a "3d watermelon blush laced with gold undertones."

With my general love of pink blush I expected to really love this but in actual fact, I don't really. The colour doesn't suit me, I just feel like it's a bit too bright and pigmented for my skin. It will maybe look better if I have a bit of a tan (fake or hopefully otherwise!). I can't really see the gold in it, or the "3d" effect.

I love the packaging which comes with a mirror and a little brush too. However the mirror is a bit pointless as it gets dusty quickly and because it's encased in the box it's a bit hard to see yourself in it. The brush is too stiff as well, I feel like it wastes a lot of product and that it picks up too much, which means my cheeks look a bit too pink! As a few other people have mentioned this is 8g of product whereas most of the other Benefit blushes are 11g which I think is a bit disappointing for the price. It is fairly longwearing though!

I don't think I'll be buying another Benefit blush, I think I'm going to repurchase the Pixi Lumi Lux palette that I've ran out of, I preferred the colour and the effect of that, plus I managed to find it a bit cheaper on Ebay than it is in Boots.

CND Shellac launching new colours in October

And whilst I like them, I still feel like the Shellac colours are quite "safe", with some of these being quite similar to existing Shellac colours - Purple Purple and Asphalt are my favourite new colours but I like the idea of Zillionaire too, it seems to be a "glitter" for layering which is something that I feel has been a bit missed in Shellac collections. I suppose the colours are kept quite neutral as they're so long lasting, there's only a limited amount of time you want a bright blue/green/yellow on your nails I suppose, and your average nail tech customer probably does go for something a bit more understated.

I've been looking at Gelish recently (which is a similar concept, but not the same) and they have a much more interesting colour range but aren't a solely professional product like Shellac and works slightly differently. Plus it's more expensive to buy (though the bottles are twice the size of a bottle of Shellac).

Anyway, the new CND Shellac colours will be coming out in Autumn in the UK, debuting at Olympia Beauty in September, then Professional Beauty North for us Northern ladies in October. Exciting!