Gift Ideas - Makeup

 I seem to have a bit of spare time today so thought I'd try and get another post up offering my gift ideas for any friend or relative you may have that is interested in makeup (or maybe even just a treat for yourself). The items that I have chosen for this are ones that I would be interested in myself and are probably mostly towards the high end and from Debenhams as they are currently offering 10% off their beauty products at the moment. Whether the products are high end or not I will let you know where they can be purchased, how much for and if there are any offers.

 There's a lot of fuss about this product at the moment so I thought it would be the best product to start off my makeup gift ideas. I'm sure I don't need to tell any of you that this is the Urban Decay 'Naked 3' palette. On the Debenhams website this is priced at £37 and doesn't seem to be included in the 10% off deal but I'm sure you'll all agree that this would be a great gift for those makeup lovers.

 For any of those Benefit lovers out there, I have here the How to Look the Best at Everything kit which is usually £25 in Debenhams but is currently on offer for £22.95. I've been eyeing this product up for a while myself with its various face products and I like how this comes in 3 different shades so targets different skin tones however, I'm not sure if they would be suitable for everyone. In the kit you get POREfessional, boi-ing concealer (this is in 2 shades which vary dependent on the kit you get), hello flawless oxygen wow face brightener and hello flawless! powder.

 Next up we have another Benefit product and I'm sure you all know this is the World Famous Neutrals kits which cost £23.50 each but are currently on offer in Debenhams for £21.15. There are three of these kits all with different shades of neutrals (most galmorous nudes ever, easiest nudes ever and sexiest nudes ever) and come with 2 cream shadows and 4 powder shadows. Personally I think all 3 of these kits are gorgeous.

 This gift is a bit price coming in at £60 however, this is reduced from £99 and it may be something you lipstick lovers may want to put on your own Christmas lists. Although Illamasqua can be purchased in Debenhams, I found this gift on the Illamasqua website. It includes 6 lipsticks which are Plunge (bright mauve pink), Fable (bright rose pink), Scandal (warm coral pink), Over (bright coral pink), ESP (vivid violet) and Isis (red pink). For those of you who haven't tried Illamasqua lipsticks before, I have to admit they are one of my favourites and I don't actually have any of these colours. Due to the offer, each lipstick in the set works out at £10 whilst bought separately they would cost £16.50 each. For those of you who may be interested in trying these products but can't afford it, in the January sales Illamasqua had an amazing sale where some of their lipsticks were just £5. If they run this offer again I will let you all know.

 Here we have the Master Makeup Collection from E.L.F which is available at £35 and although E.L.F don't currently have an offer for a discount, they may well do nearer to Christmas however, if you do choose to order this now you will receive a free gift. I'm not sure what the free gift is but when E.L.F do offers like this its usually a palette of new products. The website doesn't list what this palette includes however, from the pictures it looks like 84 eyeshadows, 36 lipsticks/glosses, face powders, bronzer, blush, contouring powders and stuff thats included in their complexion kits and also some brushes. E.L.F products are surprisingly good for their price and I think this kits quite a good price for what you get. If you are interested in this product for yourself, you may want to wait until the sale starts after Christmas as E.L.F's sales are usually pretty good.

This 50pc Makeup Artist palette is also from E.L.F and is available for £15. In the set you get 40 eyeshadows which look to be pretty nice colours, 6 blushes and 6 bronzers. I think this kit is quite a handy little thing to have as it doesn't look look bad and has a mirror so may be quite a good product for travelling with.

 These are my top makeup choice that I personally think would make great gifts for a friend, relative or even yourself. I do realise there's not many but I'm going to try and not overload each post with loads of products. If I do see any other great makeup gift ideas and offers then I will be sure to let you all know.

 Thanks for reading.

Love
          Lou xxx

Gift Ideas - Body Shop

 If you're stuck on any gift ideas for your loved ones this Christmas, the Body Shop is a good place to look as they cater for everyone from your grandma to your little sister. At the moment Body Shop are running a 50% off all purchases offer on both their website and in store. If you're ordering from the website, there is also free delivery on orders of £5 and the offer of 50% off will apply when using the offer code 19809.

 The Body Shop is somewhere I always turn to for gifts especially for my mum as she loves their products but only tends to buy them herself if there's an offer on. I've had a quick look through the website and picked out a few gifts to show you in case you are stuck on any ideas.

 First up we have a limited edition Christmas gift set and it is the Gingerbread scent which they also had last year although I don't remember this gift set being available last year, I feel like the only set available in a tin last Christmas was the Chocomania gift set. This gift set is quite a decent price at £17 at full price and it is really cute. I think the scent itself is probably not for everyone however, I do think its quite a Christmassy scent. This set includes Ginger Sparkle Shower Gel 250ml, Ginger Sparkle Body Butter 50ml, Ginger Sparkle Body Polish 75ml and Ginger Sparkle Mini Heart Soap.

 Next up I've decided to show you one of the more expensive gift sets that Body Shop have and this is also one of the limited edition Christmas ones but this time it's the Cranberry Joy one. This gift set is £25 however, if you do take advantage of the off then it would be only be £12.50. I think this gift set is good value for money as the products are all full size and you get Cranberry Joy Shower Gel 250ml, Cranberry Joy Body Butter 200ml, Cranberry Joy Body Polish 200ml and Cranberry Joy Lip Balm. 

 Sticking with the Christmas collection, this is the Vanilla Bliss gift set which at full price costs £17. I actually purchased most of the products in this set in the January sales and I think it smells so nice, it is probably one of those scents that cater for pretty much everyone although I do think the body polish smells a bit like battenburg and I wanted to eat it. In the gift set you get Vanilla Bliss Shower Gel 250ml, Vanilla Bliss Body Butter 50ml, Vanilla Bliss Body Polish 75ml and Vanilla Bliss Mini Heart Soap.

 I feel this Shea gift set is a pretty safe bet for anyone as it doesn't have a strong scent which some people not like so if you're not sure what sort of smells the person you are buying for would like then I would go for this one. I got this for my mum last year and she loved the products in this and says they were really nourishing. At full price this is again £17 and comes with Shea Shower Cream 250ml, Shea Soap, Shea Body Scrub 50ml, Shea Body Butter 50ml and a shower lily.

 If you are aware of smells the person you are buying for likes best then the Shea gift set does also come in Coconut, Mango, Olive, Satsuma, Strawberry, Chocomania and Honeymania so there's quite a choice to pick from and they all come with the same products in the respective scents. The Vanilla gift set is also available in Cranberry Joy whilst the Cranberry Joy gift set you can get in Chocomania, Coconut, Olive and Shea.

 I wasn't going to include this gift  at first but I decided to as I think it's quite a fun concept and a bargain with the 50% off. I also think this would make a great gift for anyone who loves body butters. This set is £20 and you get Coconut Body Butter 50ml, Shea Body Butter 50ml, Moringa Body Butter 50ml, Strawberry Body Butter 50ml and Satsuma Body Butter 50ml. Apart from the Strawberry and Satsuma scents which are quite strong, I think the products featured are quite suitable for anyone no matter what their preference of smell is.

 I hope this has helped a little if you have been struggling for ideas and I will be back with another gift ideas post hopefully within the next few days.

Love

       Lou xxx

Calling all Soap n Glory addicts

As promised, I have kept my eye out for any fantastic deals. I mentioned in my previous post that last year the Soap n Glory gift set that comes in at £60 did get reduced to half price for a couple of days. 

When looking through my emails this morning I noticed one from money saving expert which I get on a regular basis and would you believe it, Boots have decided to run the offer on this gift set again and it will be available as of tomorrow priced at £27 which is a huge saving.

I've been on the Boots website this morning and it currently says 'stock coming soon' so I'm assuming that the stocks being taken off the website until the offer launches as if last years anything to go by it will sell out pretty quick.

If you want to bag this gift set for yourself or as a Christmas present for a loved one then I suggest checking the Boots website first thing in the morning (maybe even later one tonight) or get to your nearest store as early as possible tomorrow. If I remember correctly the offer got extended for a few days last year but I would assume it's while the stocks last.

This is just a quick one as I am on my way to work but I'm hoping to be back tomorrow with some more Christmas offers/gift ideas for you all :)

Thanks for reading.

           Love 

              Lou xxx

Christmas Gift Ideas - Boots

Good evening everyone,

 With the festive season upon us, I fancied letting you all know about offers that are currently available for you to take advantage off  however, I've found quite a few gift ideas when I've been looking so I've decided to mix these gift ideas with the various offers available. As there is quite a lot rather than overloading you all I've decided to break it down into stores.

I popped into Boots today and although I didn't actually purchase anything as I'm planning on buying my Christmas presents next week, I did notice that they did have some good offers on particularly on fragrances. The offer available on quite a few fragrances seems to be up to 50% off however, I'm not sure if this offer will be able for a while or whether it is part of there 4 day offer event.

 The major offers I noticed on women's fragrance were Lady Gaga Fame 50ml which is on offer for £15.50 instead of £31 and Paco Rabanne Lady Million 50ml £31 instead of £48.50. I feel that the offer on the Lady Gaga perfume is pretty good as it would actually would out cheaper to buy two 50ml bottles than it would to buy one 100ml bottle.

 For men, I found that Paco Rabanna 1 Million 100ml was on offer for £35 instead of £54.50 and Hugo Boss 50ml is £26.66 instead of £39.99. Considering the R.R.P on these products I think its a particularly good deal.

 As I said I'm not sure how long this offer is available for so if you are interested in buying your loved ones a fragrance this Christmas then you might want to pop into boots or order from that website at some point over the weekend. If you are a Boots Advantage Card holder you will obviously also earn points on these purchases or if you're lucky enough to have enough points available to spend, you can use them as payment towards any of these items. I am aware that there will be good fragrance deals around at this time of year especially with websites available such as Cheap Smells so if I do find any of these fragrances or any others cheaper then I will let you know.

 The other good offer available at Boots at the minute is 3 for 2 on gifts. I'm sure you are all aware of this one as it's something Boots do every year and seems to be an on going offer all year round on Soap & Glory but I have picked out a few things that would make good presents for pretty much any woman. I've not picked out any men's gift as they all seem to be pretty much along the same lines but I am going to try and get together an overall men's gift idea guide together possibly with the help of my boyfriend.

 I'm quite a fan of Nivea products and my mum always seems to get me either a Nivea or Dove gift set every Christmas. When looking through the boots website I noticed these two and would quite like them as gifts myself so thought I'd share these products. The gift set on the left is Nivea Pampered Skin Ultimate Collection and does retail for £15 however I think that the price is worth it as you do get included Nivea Daily Essentials Gentle Facial Cleansing Wipes (20 pack), Rich Moisturising Day Cream SPF 15 (50ml), Nivea Aqua Effect Nourishing Honey Mask (2 packs of 75ml), Nivea Pearly Shine Lip, Nivea Irresistibly Smooth Body Lotion (75ml), Nivea Express Hydration Hand Lotion (100ml) and Nivea Soft Moisturising Cream (200ml). The set on the right is Nivea Silky Smooth Skin and is a lot cheaper at just £6 so if you are on a budget this one may be a bit more up your alley. For £6 this set includes Nivea Irresistibly Smooth Body Lotion (75ml), Nivea Smooth Nourishing Hand Cream (100ml) and Nivea Lip Butter in Vanilla & Macadamia. Personally I like both of these and think they're both quite a bargain.

 As the person you are purchasing the gift for may be more of a Dove fan than Nivea, I've found two gift ideas that would be the alternatives to the Nivea gift sets. First up we've got Dove Wonderful You Gift Set which is available for £15 and includes Silky Nourishment Cream (300ml), Purely Pampering Shea Butter Bar (100g), Silk Glow Nourishing Body Wash (250ml), Silk Care Cream Bath (500ml) and Pampering Nourishing Body Wash - Shea Butter with Warm Vanilla (250ml). This set also includes an eye mask and a shower puff. Up next we have Dove Radiance Duo Gift Set which is £6 and I think I may have had this one last Christmas but it may have been one similar. In this gift set you get a shower puff, Nourishing Body Wash Revive Pomegranate & Lemon Verbena (250ml) and Nourishing Body Wash Burst Nectarine & White Ginger (250ml).
With these gift sets I have given both a budget option and a slightly larger budget which won't break the balance however, below I'm going to show you two gift sets that are probably luxury purchases and a cheaper gift set from the same brands which although they aren't as cheap as £6 are a decent price.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find pictures of the next two gift sets however I will provide a link to where they can be found on the Boots website. Both of the gift sets are from No7 with the most expensive one being No7. The Ultimate Collection (http://www.boots.com/en/No7-The-Ultimate-Collection_1375459/) coming in at £65. Although this is an expensive product I do think it is worth it as there are 8 skin care products, a mascara and a lip gloss and all products seem to be full size as well (if not then they're still a good size). As I've provided this link for this I won't list the products enclosed as it can be found on that page. The bargain gift set I've found from No7 isn't the cheapest one they've got but it is only £15 and I thought was a lovely little gift for any female relative or friend. This gift set is No7 The Skincare Collection (http://www.boots.com/en/No7-The-Skincare-Collection_1375451/) and does contain 4 products, a muslin cloth and a headband.





Next up we've got everyone's favourite - Soap & Glory and I'm sure you can all guess that the luxury gift set from this company is The Yule Monty Gift Set which comes in a £60 however, if Boots do run the offer they did last year then this item may be on sale for a few days at half price. What I like about this gift set is that every year although revamped, it always comes in packaging that the products that could be kept in and can be used again with this years being a toiletry bag, In the gift set you will get Sugar Crush, The Righteous Butter, Heel Genius, Hand Food, Peaches & Clean, Thick & Fast mascara, The Scrub of your Life, Butter Yourself and Sexy Mother Pucker XL Plumping Gloss in Pink Out Loud. All of these products a full sizes as well.

 The more bargain product I've chosen from this brand is Relaxstation Gift Set coming in at £20. This isn't the cheapest gift set available from Soap & Glory however, I think it is a reasonable price for the products that you get. In this set you will get a full size Clean on Me and The Scrub of your Life along with minis of Hand Food, Heel Genius and The Righteous Butter. You'll also get a shower puff and hair turban thrown in there.

 All the gift sets I have shown you are available on the Boots website and I'm sure the majority of Boots stores will stock these items especially the larger ones and are all available on the 3 for 2 offer which I imagine will run up to Christmas. Half way through writing this post I did realise that all of the gift sets I've included are body and skin care gift sets but I have decided I'll do an overall makeup Christmas gifts in its own post within the next few weeks so I will include any makeup gift sets I find in that.

 I am sorry if this is just a rambling nonsense post but I hope it helps some of you if you are stuck on Christmas ideas for your loved ones.

 Thanks for reading guys.

 Love
       Lou xx

Lush Haul

Well good afternoon everyone.

I do realise it has been a while since I've posted anything but life's been quite hectic as of late but now I'm giving myself a kick up the backside starting with my recent Lush hauls.

I've always been a fan of Lush products and when I was at university as there was a Lush in the town I regularly purchased things from there but since I moved back home its been a rarity that I've bought anything as my nearest store means travelling into Manchester. The lack of Lush in my life needs to change.

We are currently in the process of having our bathroom taken out and a whole new one put in so I've decided that I'm going to always have a stock of Lush products in the new bathroom ready for me to have a nice relaxing bath (along with making the bathroom smell amazing!) With this in mind a couple of weeks ago I took a trip to the Trafford Centre and purchased the below items from the Christmas range.

(left - right: Bombardino bath ballistic - £2.50, Snow Fairy shower gel 100g - £3.50 and Candy Mountain bubble bar - £2.65)

I'm pretty sure you have all heard of Snow Fairy and Candy Mountain before as they seem to be a favourite amongst many bloggers out there but I just couldn't resist them as they're probably some of my favourites from Lush as well. Bombardino is new to the Christmas collection however, I have seen quite a buzz about this little guy in the blogger world. As some of you may not be familiar with these products, I will tell you what the little blurb on the labels says and my opinion of the smells.

Bombardino - This bath ballistic smells a little like a lemon meringue with added cocoa butter for your skin. Launch him into your bath and watch him fizz away.
 I'm not overly convinced this little guy smells like lemon meringue although it does smell sweet and does have a slight citrusy and probably a little bit like you could eat it (I realise I am rubbish at describing smells). Either way I really like the smell of this guy and will be purchasing another before the end of Christmas.

Snow Fairy - This product doesn't have a blurb on it however, the website says "Our winter temptress shower hair and body gel that’s bursting with fruit fragrance and has a sparkle of ice through it." Personally I wouldn't say this smells fruity, I think it smells a bit more like a sweet shop but it smells so yummy! Although I usually use this as a shower gel, it can also be used to wash your hair with which I have done in the past and it made my hair really soft.

Candy Mountain - This bubble bar shares its sugar sweet scent with Rock Star soap. Crumble under a hot running tap for mounds of pretty pink bubbles.  I can't quite figure out what this product smells like although it is very sweet and I do agree with the blurb that it smells like Rock Star. For those of you who are not familiar with Rock Star, the website describes this as being a sweet vanilla scent. It's definately sweet but I can't decide if I can smell vanilla. One of the things I like about this product is that you can use the whole thing in one go and create a mound of bubbles or due to the soft texture you can break a bit off and crumble it under the tap. If you do this you do get a few baths out of it.

Sticking to my idea I've had of either visiting the Lush store every few weeks or placing an ordering online, I went into Manchester over the weeekend and picked up another couple of products. This time I decided to go for a couple of items from their main range which is available all year round.

(left to right: The Comforter bubble bar  - £4.50 and Mmm Melting Marshmallow Moment bath melt - £3.95)

From what I've seen and heard, The Comforter is one of Lush's most popular bubble bars and although it is a little more on the pricey side it is definately worth it due to the size of it meaning you could probably get a few baths out of it. The blurb on the label doesn't actually describe the smell however, the website says "Berry yourself under a blanket of soft fruit foam" and I can get the hint of a typical berry scent but I also think this smells really sweet and a bit like those Swizzlers sweets you used to get as a kid, or maybe even Love Hearts. It smells so good!

Similarly to The Comforter, Mmm Melting Marshmallow Moment doesn't have a description of the scent on the blurb but the website says "If you love our sweet products like Snow Fairy Shower Gel and Godmother Soap, you’ll be pleased to know that this has the same fragrance." I completely agree with this statement as the smell does have that same sweet smell as Snow Fairy. I've not tried any of the bath  melts before but I've wanted to for a while and decided I'd give this a shot. It's also quite a decent size so you could probably cut a bit of and make it last. 

As you can probably tell, I seem to be drawn towards the products from Lush that smell really sweet and to be honest, I tend to go for this scent most in other products as well as fruity smells rather than floral ones. I can't wait to use these products and will probably be repurchasing some if not all of them.

That wraps up my Lush haul however, I would be interested in hearing what your favourite Lush products are or if there are any you would recommend me trying.

Thanks for reading guys.

Love
          Lou  xxx

Collective haul

Well hello there everyone.

I am well aware that it has been a while since my last post and I really am sorry about that. I had a pretty hectic week before I went to Download getting everything sorted and then since I got home its been none stop with work and things so I've been a pretty busy bee.

In the past couple of weeks I have managed to pick up a few things which I'm going to share with you today. I have had a couple of Avon deliveries but I've not actually bought that much really, if I have I actually can't remember what or where I've put them. At the moment as well I can't actually find my invoice thing so I'm not sure of the prices but if anyone wants to know the prices then I will try and find them.

Here we have Extra Lasting Eyeliner in Black and I think is one of their new products and decided I might as well give it a go. I also got Foot Works Papaya Sorbet Exfoliating Scrub, Color Trend lip balm in Juicy Raspberry, Orange Kiss and Lush Lemon (I am a sucker for lip balms, Nailwear Pro+ in Inky Blue, Room Fragrance in Juicy Watermelon and Color Trend Lasting Smile Lip Paint in Melon Drama.

 

 

This is the liquid eyeliner which just off the swatch I like and I think I'm going to have to get round to using this as soon as possible. With liquid eyeliners I tend to stick to my Collection one that I've used for years but I feel I might enjoy this one. I do realise the swatch of this is quite bad and in person it is actually blacker than this which I didn't really expect.

 

Here is the lip paint in Melon Drama (along with a sneak preview of my other swatches). I've worn this a couple of times and I can't quite decide on the colour as it has quite a satin finish to it but it is quite a nice shade for just throwing on for work. The product itself from what I remember does seem to last and when I've rubbed the swatch on my hand it hasn't smudged which is always a good thing.

 

Also from Avon, I got 3 of their bubble baths which I love and if I remember right they were on offer for buy one get 2 free. My favourite ones as I think I've mentioned before are Strawberry Sorbet and Blackberries and Vanilla but neither of these were available so I chose Soft Pink and as I didn't fancy the others went for 2 of the Watermelon ones as they smell amazing! I would have included these on the other picture but I took that then remembered I had these in the bathroom.

Next up I got a few products from a local cheap shop by my house named Gee-Tees, I know there's a few of these shops in the Wigan area but I'm not sure about the rest of the country. But this shop is amazing anyway, I get all my cleaning products and stuff like that because they're so much cheaper than going elsewhere but they also do beauty products at a good price as well.

When I popped in a couple of weeks ago I noticed that they'd started selling L.A Colors with literally everything being £1 so I picked up a lipstick in Matte Cranberry Red, 3 Jumbo Eyepencils in Bikini Time, Iridescent Light and Sea Shells and an eyeshadow in what says CES142 Matte Bare. On this trip I also picked up some Malibu lip balms which were £1.99 for all 3 and the flavours are Watermelon, Mint and Vanilla and Schwarzkopf got2b Guardian Angel Heat Protection for £2.99.

I used the 3 Jumbo Eyepencils above so I went back a few days later and bought 2 more in Summer Love and Vacation and also got a nail varnish in Sea Siren but I've not got round to using these yet.

(left - right: Sea Shells, Iridescent Light Bikini Time, Summer Love and Vacation)

As you can see from the swatches there seems to be quite a bit of pigmentation in these products and so far I am impressed with them but I will be giving them a proper try out.

 

 

I don't know if I was hiding under a rock when these came out but I'd never seen these before and picked them up for 99p each in B&M and since purchasing them I have discovered they have been out for quite a while. If you don't know what they are they're Vinyl Jelly Gloss Lip Liner by Rimmel and to be honest for the price I couldn't say no plus I could do with more lip liners.

 

(left-right: Sorbet, Succulent, Hot Spark and Moreish)

This is a really bad picture I know but my camera just wouldn't focus at all. You can't really tell from the pictures but as the name suggests these are quite glossy lip liners. Although I do have lipsticks that go with all of these colours I have only used Succulent and for some reason when I put it on I didn't expect it to be quite so glossy and it seemed to make putting my lipstick on a bit harder but I think I'll be having a faf around with these at some point.

 

 

I used to have a bit of an obsession/OCD thing about putting hand sanitizer on my hands a ridiculous amount of times in one day but since Download I think I've got it back so I thought I'd also invest in these Anti-Bacterial Hand Wipes which were £1 for both from Primark. They've got a bit of a funny smell but it's also a clean smell so I can deal with that and they're handy to have in your bag. The packagings also really cute.

 

Last up I picked up from Superdrug this weekend a Superfruits Exfoliating Mask, MUA Eyebrow Pencil in Brunette and Satin Care Shave Gel in Radiant Apricot and I also grabbed some Batiste Dry Shampoo in Sassy, Daring, Wild from Boots.

 

 

As I was about to post this I remembered that I also bought 3 Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine nail varnishes as they are currently on 3 for 2. The colours I got are Greenberry, Prickly Pear and Grapefruit. I love the colours I've picked out and they are summery colours however, it took me ages to choose these as the colours available at the minute are all beautiful and I think I will be going back for more.

 

So this is everything I got the past few weeks. I am sorry it's so long and that I've not gone into too much detail about things but I've not really had chance to try the majority of them out. If anyone wants a review on anything then please let me know and I'll get one done for you.

 

Thank you all for reading and I promise I'm going to give myself a kick up the backside and get posting regular again.



 

Love

    Lou xx



April & May Empties

Hello girlies,

 I'll apologise now because this is going to be quite a large post. When I was moving I realised that I had so many products that need using so now I'm on a mission to get as many used up rather than buying more as we don't really have places for everything at the moment. In April I did use up quite a lot of products but before we moved I had products I was using at home and then I had stuff at my boyfriend's as well and they were all running a bit low.

 During this post I will let you know whether I liked a particular product and if I didn't and also if I will be repurchasing them. As there are quite a lot of products I'm going to try and keep what I say about them to a minimum

 

 

 First up I used up my Natural Collection Wild Strawberry Body Lotion, I love the smell of this body lotion and it does make your skin feel really soft but the cream bits are a lot harder to rub in the the gel parts. There are other body lotions/butters that I do prefer so I would probably only buy this if I'd ran out of everything and was a bit straped for cash.
 I do purchase Radox Nourish Bath Soak in Shea Butter and Ginger quite regularly so I will more than likely be purchasing this again. Similarly to a lot of people out there, I love Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor and I actually repurchased this before I even ran out of this one.
 Tigi Rockaholic Livin' the Dream Daily Conditioner is a product that I've never tried before and one day a local hairdressers by my parents were having a big sale on some products and reduced them all to £1 despite their retail price all being quite expensive so I snapped up a few products. I really liked this conditioner and it made my hair really soft so I think I will be buying this again but probably when I have a bit more money unless I see it on offer or something.

 

 

 Matrix Essentials Sleek Look Shampoo is another product I got in the £1 sale at the hairdressers and I remember it being quite good but if I'm honest I don't really remember. I do remember my hair being in quite good condition though so I may try this again.
I will probably be repurchasing Johnson's Daily Essentials Gentle Exfoliating Wash as this has been my go to face wash for quite a few years as it does exfoliate and always makes my skin feel really fresh. At the minute though I am trying different face washes just because I felt like a change.
For Christmas my mum always fills my stocking (which is big enough for me to fit in) with loads of beauty products and she got me a gift set that included Thai Spa Coconut & Rice Milk Deeply Relaxing Cream Bath and Thai Spa Lotus Flower & Orchid Heavenly Foam Bath, there was a body lotion as well but I've not used that yet. These two made so many bubbles in the bath and they smelt amazing! However, about 10 minutes into the bath the bubbles disappear completely which is a bit disappointing. If I saw them I would probably consider buying them.
The Avon Naturals Herbal Care & Repair Conditiong Balm didn't smell particularly nice and if anything if made my hair feel a bit weird so I don't think I'll be repurchasing this.

 

 

 I have used Dove Go Fresh Cucumber & Green Tea for quite some time and I probably will be repurchasing it but at the minute I prefer to use the Pomegranate & Lemon Verbena one because it smells amazing. However the Avon Ideal Flawless Invisible Coverage Foundation in Light Pink I don't think I will be repurchasing. When I first got it I did like it but in the last moth of wearing it part way through the day my forehead would go really shiny and look greasy which never happens with my Mac and Illamaqua foundations.

 

 



 

As there is quite a few procducts here I'm just going to say what I'll be repurchasing and what I won't.
Will repurchase: MUA Eyebrow Pencil in Brunette (I have actually already repurchased this), Vaseline with Aloe Vera, Avon Naturals Strawberry Moisturising Scrub (if they released it again - it smells like Nesquik strawberry milkshake), MAC Mascara X, Planey Spa Japanese Sake & Rice Luminous Face, Avon Super Extend Mascara, Aussie Miracle Hair Insurance Leave in Conditioner and MAC Studio Fix Powder in NC15.

 I won't be repurchasing Avon Care Repairing Lip Balm, Avon Naturals Strawberry & Guava Shakes Body Lotion, Avon Skin So Soft Silky Stay Shave Gel, Skinology Anti-Blackhead Scrub, MUA Concealer (has good coverage but quite hard to apply), Simple Hydrating Light Moisturiser and Simple Replenishing Rich moisturiser. I used to use the Simple moisturisers quite a bit and I liked them but when I've been using them recently and I've found it really hard to apply my foundation and concealer on top of it.
 The product I'm not quite decided on is the MUA Primer, it is a little bit greasy and it doesn't last as long as others I've used such as the E.L.F Primer but if I desperately needed some I would rebuy it.

 

 

 These products are the ones I've used up in May and as you can see Ozzy decided to photobomb the picture and lie above all the products.
 I will be repurchasing Alberto Balsam Shampoo and Alberto Balsam Conditioner both in Sunkissed Raspberry as for a cheap product they're actually really good. As you may have guessed from my previous mention of deodrant, I will be repurchasing Dove Go Fresh in Pomegranate and Lemon Vernena. Other than these I think the only products I will be repurchasing are Avon Strawberry Sorbet Bubble Bath, Boots Naural Collection Wild Strawberry Body Spray (which I have actually already repurchased) and Paris Hilton Heiress - this perfume has actually been one of my favourites, it smells like sweets and I just love it. I'm gutted I've ran out but I will be buying more as soon as I can.
 As good as the Sweet Snuggles Hot Fudge Body Scrub smells, I wouldn't repurchase it as it doesn't make for a very good scrub. The Avon Naturals Body Lotion in Strawberry & Guava is quite moisturising but I don't think I'll repurchase it. The same goes for Avon Naturals Shower Gel in Black Cherry & Nutmeg. It smells good and it did its job but there's others I prefer.

 The Avon Care Rich Moisture Nourishing Face Cream was moisturising and made my skin quite soft but I think it was a bit too thick for me and my skin feels better since I've stopped using it so I don't think I'll be buying it again. I also don't think I'll be buying Avon Solutions Body Cellu Defy again as I don't really notice any difference but if i'm honest I've not looked and I do have other products similar to this to try. If anyone has tried this though I would like to know if you noticed any difference.

 

 As always thanks for reading and I'm sorry for the long post which I feel may be a bit boring. I'll try and make my next post more interesting for you guys.

 

Love
        Lou xx

Avon Always On Point Eyeliner First Impressionsish

Hello ladies,

 Today I have another review for you and unfortunately much like the last one I was very disappointed with this product.

 When I got handed the Avon book in work a few weeks ago and saw this new eyeliner, I decided straight away that I had to have it. It looked amazing and looked like a greay way of doing winged eyeliner without using my faithful liquid eyeliner. To show what I mean I've found a picture of the book I saw this product advertised in.

 As you can see the pigmentation looks fantastic and the fact the sharpener is in the lid meaning the eyeliner never goes blunt.

 Avon describes this product as being "creamy, smooth liner stays colour-true" so all in all with this description and the images above I thought "great! I need to try this product" and immediately ordered it in Black.

 Upon receiving this product I was very excited to try it and did at the first opportunity. As always I had swatched the eyeliner as soon as I received it and the pigmentation looked great as you can see from the picture below. Along with this it doesn't seem to smudge and takes a bit of rubbing to get off so on first impressions it seemed great.

 However, when I went to use this instead of my liquid eyeliner, it didn't seem as creamy and I felt like I was having to apply a fair bit of pressure and was dragging it along my eyes only for it to look grey and patchy. I ended up going over it with my liquid eyeliner anyway.

 Since then I've been using it along the waterline and it seems to be quite good for this although not as good as Avon's SuperShock Gel Eyeliner which I absolutely love. Saying that I got very annoyed over the weekend as I went to use it, I found the point had snapped off and it wasn't sharpening so I rendered it useless. I didn't expect that to happen after only using the eyeliner a few times.

 I've taken the lid off a few times since then especially this morning seeing if it was worth me even taking pictures of it or even swatch it as I didn't have a picture of this. When I decided I was going to show you guys what has happened, I took the lid off to take the picture and was shocked to find this had happened:

 Yes that's right, the point has eventually been sharpened back. In a way this has caused it to redeem itself as I can now continue to use the eyeliner the way I was doing rather than wasting my money on a product that's going to go in the bin.

 I think I'm kind of torn on this product because I can't use it for what I purchased it for despite it being shown in this way in the book however, I don't mind it as an eyeliner for the waterline and I will continue using it. However, I don't think I'll be repurchasing it in this or any other colour. Normally when I see new products like this in lipsticks I buy more than one colour but I'm glad that on this occasion I'd decided to only go for one.

 After writing this I decided not to post it and to try it again after I'd had a shower and see if I could make it work. Although it was still a little harder to apply than liquid eyeliner, it felt smoother last time and I'm actually pleased with the outcome. The colour is darker than it was last time and I didn't need to touch it up with liquid eyeliner.

 I decided to keep this post as it was to show how disappointed I was in the first place. I'm quite happy with it now, its stayed on all day and it's had a decent pay off. It probably won't replace my liquid eyeliner but I will be using it for winged eyeliner on occasions. Maybe this was one of those products that doesn't have great pay off on the first use but then gets better, I'm not sure but I am a lot more impressed with it than I was when I first tried it.

 Has anyone else tried this product? It'd be great if you could let me know your opinions :)

Thanks for reading guys.

Love
       Lou xx

Superdrug Dry Shampoo Review

Hello ladies,

I had planned to make a few post this week as my hours had been cut in work but then I got a phone call on Monday saying they'd messed up and I was meant to be on full hours. Along with this I've had to make a couple of trips to hospital as I'm clearly very clever and shut my finger in a door and broke it. So yeah its been one of those weeks.

Anyways, I've found some time to get up a quick review on Superdrugs own dry shampoo. A few weeks ago I purchased Chocolate Brownie and Away with the Fairies when they were on offer and I was hoping that this would be a cheaper alternative to Batiste dry shampoo.

When I first before these I decided to check out some reviews before I tried them and found that the majority of people weren't overly impressed with this product. Despite this I really wanted to like it and thats why I've taken a while to get this review up, I wanted to keep trying it so I could give it a fair review but unfortunately it just doesn't do it for me.

The only things that I really liked at all about this product where the packaging, they smell really nice and I quite like the fact they're clear and don't feel too heavy on the hair. If I'm honest it doesn't really bother me using dry shampoos that come out as a white powder as I've managed to brush it out of my hair well plus I feel like it's the thick consistancy that gives my hair volume. My hairs pretty fine and I usually go through quite a bit of dry shampoo because I use it on freshly washed hair to add the volume. This product although it didn't feel heavy on my hair which when first applied made it feel quite fresh, it didn't add any volume at all.

Due to this I stopped using this product on my hair when it was freshly washed and only between washes. When first applied it does feel like your hair has been refreshed which is ok for a couple of hours. After this period my hair just started to feel really dirty and I felt to look at it was greasy and could do with a good wash as well. This really disappointed me as when I use Batiste it makes my hair look clean for the whole day and doesn't feel dirty and greasy.

To be honest I don't really know what else to say about this product. I've used up the Chocolate Brownie one and I will finish Away with the Fairies before I buy a new can of Batiste but I doubt I will be repurchasing this unfortunately.

If any of you guys have tried it then please let me know what you think of it. It frustrates me that I couldn't get it to work for me.

Thanks for reading guys.

Love

  Lou xx

Yet another Avon Haul

Hey Ladies,

 Well it would appear that I have been slightly naughty with the Avon book again a couple of weeks ago. This may be the last Avon haul for a bit though because I need to save my money for Download festival and also buy things I need for that so I've not put an order in this time and I'm going to try not to until I get home.

Advance Techniques Moisture IQ Moisture Genius Leave In Treatment - £3.90, Advance Techniques Back Comb Brush - £1.30, Nailwear Pro+ Nail Enamel in Viva Pink - £2.99, Color Trend Color Me Pretty Nail Enamel in Mint Ice - £1.50, Nailwear Pro+ Nail Enamel in Honeydew Dazzle - £2.99 and Nailwear Pro+ Nail Enamel in Lemon Sugar - £2.99

 This haul makes a little bit of change for me as normally I end up buying at least one lipstick but this time I managed to resist.

 I was looking through my nail varnish collection when I received the book I ordered these from and all my nail varnishs apart from a few are quite dark/Wintery colours and I decided I wanted to inject a bit of Summer and pastel colours into my collection. Over the weekend I'm going to order a nail wheel so I can swatch nail varnish and I will update this post with swatches.

 As soon as I received them I couldn't resist trying the Lemon Sugar colour as this colour just really stood out to me and I absolutely love it. It's the perfect Summery yellow. I'm currently wearing Viva Pink and I really like it as it's quite a bright colour but not too bright and not too light. These two are definately my favourite colours out of this haul. Honeydew Dazzle is a colour I'm not decided on yet, it is a lovely colour but I think its quite pale but I am going to try it again with another coat of so. Overall I really like Avon's Nailwear Pro+ line, I've got quite a few of these and the colour pay off it usually amazing, they're very pigmented and some of them you don't always need two coats. They usually last a few days before chipping as well. I've not used Mint Ice yet and I've never tried the Color Trend nail varnishs but the colour in the bottle is really nice so hopefully I do like it.

 Due to years of on and off bleaching of my hair, its left being rather damaged so I'm currently trying as many things as possible to get the condition back into including keeping my hair brown and leaving it as long as possible between dying (I'm dying to be blonde or pink again). I backcomb my hair everyday which doesn't help the damage in the slightest bit so I decided rather than use my usual comb as much as it works wonders, that I'd try a backcombing brush. The bristles on the brush don't feel as harsh as usual brushes and combs and feels a lot softer on my hair. Recently I ran out of my Aussie leave in conditioner so I thought I'd try something different for a change and thought I'd give this one a go because I really like the Avon Moroccan Oil

 I am open to suggestions about hair care and I would like to try some new products that'll help my hair get back into condition and maybe even grow a bit more as well as add volume (not asking for much I know) so if anybody has any suggestions of products that have worked for them or they really like or even that you'd just like to see a review on first please let me know.

 Recently I have done a fair bit of shopping however, there may not be a proper haul post for a well. As I said earlier I am saving for Download and concentrating on getting stuff for that. The majority of things I have purchased recently are beauty items for that, once I've purchased everything I need I will make a post nearer to the time about what I've got and festival essentials etc.

Anyways, thats all for now, hope you all enjoyed reading.

 

Love
     Lou xx

E.L.F Cosmetics Haul

Hi everyone,

  I realise I have been a bit of a slacker again recently but I've been pretty busy the past week or so with work and going back to the gym and other such things. I'm gonna try work blog posts into my schedule on days off from now on.

 This post was meant to go up last week and the week on my days off however, if you follow me on instgram or tumblr, you will already know that me and me boyfriend got a kitten nearly 3 weeks ago so a lot of my time was spent going shopping for things for him and playing with him.

 A few weeks ago as some of you may know, E.L.F cosmetics had a 50% off sale and me and my sister decided to take advantage as she hasn't tried their products before and there were a few items that I wanted to try out although I must admit they aren't needed.

 

 

 The products I decided to purchase were Studio Matte Colour in Rich Red (usually priced at £3.75, Brightening Eye Colour in Brownstone (usually £1.50), Studio Eyeshadow in Amethyst (usually £3.75) and Mineral Eye Brightener (usually £3.50).

 

 There were plenty of other products that I wanted to try but I decided not to because I don't really need anything. I chose the Brightening Eye Colour as I already have a couple of these and I really like them but they're a little bit paler than this one and neutral colours are the ones I tend to go for on a day to day basis.

 

 As you can see I have done a swatch of the colours to show you what they look like on, the top line was with a primer underneath and the bottom one was just applying straight to my skin. I realise its very hard to see the paler colours especially without the primer. Although the colours don't seem to be that pigmented when I've swatched them, the darker ones are and the lighter ones can be although sometimes it can be hard to get any colour pay off from them. I don't really mind though to be honest because they can make for a suitable look and for the usual price of £1.50 its ot too bad.

 

 

 Personally I think the image and the swatch of this product is pretty rubbish. I've been eyeing this up for ages as it looked so pretty on the website. The swatch did look quite brown when I put it on my arm as it does on this picture but I have used this and it is more purple when you use it on the eye. It's a really pretty colour and the pigmentations pretty good.

 

 

 

 I thought I'd give this eye brightener a go as recently I've felt like my eyes look really tired and puffy and obviously thats not an attractive look so I've been trying various things to make my eyes look better. I've only used it a couple of times and it does seem to make my eyes appear brighter but I have been using it with a few other under eye products so I'm not sure if its a combination of them all thats working. Once I've tried it out a bit more I'll let you all know my thoughts on it though.

 

 

 Last up we've got the Studio Matte Colour in Rich Red. I have been wanting this colour for a while but I have so many red lipsticks that I didn't feel like I needed a new one but then I decided a girl can never have too many red lipsticks. Upon looking on the website I did think this was a dark red but it is more of a pink toned red. Although its not the colour I thought it would be, I do still quite like it. I'm not gonna say too much about this as I've decided as I've bought a couple of matte lipsticks recently, I'm going to do an overal review on the matte lipsticks I have and which ones I think are the better ones.

 

 I hope you all enjoy this and I promise I'm gonna start getting posts up more regularly. I've got a lists of posts that I want to get up and pictures prepared for another couple of posts so I'm just going to try and set some time aside to get them up.

 

 Thanks for reading guys.

 

Love Lou
xx