Manicure Monday: Gold Geometric

Whilst browsing stationary in WH Smith, we've all done it haven't we? I saw that they had a gold Sharpie and I remembered this post I had read on The Beauty Department and thought I'd give it a go as nail art and you know what it turned out not half bad!

Manicure Monday: Kate Spade ♥ Nails Inc

November is always my favourite time of year when it comes to nail polish as it only means one thing... Glamour magazine freebie! There is a full-size Nails Inc polish with their December issue with four shades to choose from. And the best part about it is that the magazine only costs £2!

Feel Unique Sale Edit

Its that exciting time of year where feelunique.com have their sale and although there's not many prices being slashed beyond 50% off there are a few gems with modest discounts that may tempt enough to take the plunge, some of these may be making their way to me as we speak. Here are my picks...

MAC Attack!

Now I now this looks excessive for a MAC purchase but to my defence these were not all bought at the same time, and Naked Lunch was a gift, but yes I know I went a little crazy. I am now desperately trying to resist urges to stop at MAC counters, especially with the  new Archie's Girls collection out, as I can just see my pennies, or rather pounds, disappearing!

Manicure Monday: Robin's Egg

It may not feel a lot like spring outside, but with the clocks going forward not all that long ago we are very much into spring, freezing and snowning spring! Today the sun is out and it is slowly starting to feel like springtime!

Fashion Focus: Oscars 2013

The Oscars is known as the creme de la creme of award shows and therefore it's red carpet fashion is talked about for years to come. Everyone remembers Gwyneth Paltrow's pink Ralph Lauren dress she worn for her big win in 1999, and Julia Roberts looked stunning in her monochrome Valentine in 2001 dress and who can forget Hilary Swank's 2005 completely backless Guy Laroche gown, all memorable for their gowns and their best actress wins.This year was no different with Jennifer Lawerence stealing the show in her Dior Couture light pink and ivory gown and matched her best actress win perfectly.

Manicure Monday: Greige

Greige- A grey with a hint of beige to it. Its a very popular nail colour and works well in the colder months and goes with about any outfit and is subtle enough to get away with at work...

The French Table

A couple of weeks ago I went to a little restaurant called The French Table (website) , I might even go so far as calling it my favourite restaurant, even though I have only been to in 3 times, but boy is the food incredible!

Wishlist #2

Happy New Year!

I can't believe last night we waved goodbye to 2012 and welcomed 2013 and another year has flown by super quick, seriously where did it go!

I always look forward to the new year as I always like to make resolutions which will probably be quickly ignored, nevertheless I like the idea of a fresh start to the year, and I hope big things will happen in 2013. Firstly I have a new job to look forward to and I start tomorrow, nervous much! Next I am hoping to buy, yes BUY a house, probably more like a flat with the house prices where I live! And finally I am hoping to blog a lot more!

Here are my main resolutions what are yours?

Butter Up Your Body

Now this is a type of product I've never tried before, probably the closest thing I can compare it to is a moisturising shower cream, the product I'm talking about is the Lush King of Skin Body Butter. The very helpful lady in Lush described the use for this product perfectly, she said it was a moisturising bar that you use in the shower or bath so you can skip the step of moisturising your body after you wash, which I had a dubious raised eyebrow about. I also asked her what it is like for sensitive skin with eczema (which is my body skin type) and she assured me its all natural ingredients which should not irritate my skin, and as the King of Skin Body Butter did not have any harsh grains in it she said that this one would suit my skin.

Now I always moisturise my skin, especially my arms and legs and I usually use some type of liquid paraffin cream or gel that was recommended to me by the dermatologist because my eczema has come back in the last few years. But I always find that it is still has very dry patches towards the end of the day that I occasionally bother to top up with my moisturiser.

But since using this body butter in the shower I find I do still need to use my boring old liquid paraffin moisturiser but towards the end of the day my skin still feels hydrated, instead of skipping a step this product makes my body feel moisturised all day and it doesn't irritate my skin! Which I can see  it potentially being enough for those of you with normal skin to skip the moisturising your body which can be so time consuming!

What I do with it run it under the shower water and rub it gently all over my body, then have a quick rinse off and that's it! It does leave a film on your skin when you get out the shower but after towel drying it isn't that noticeable and it smells great too, a muted fragrance of the Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula is as best I can describe it.

This Lush body butter is available on the Lush website or in Lush shops for £5.25 and you get 75g of product. They have a few body butters to choose from but looking in the shop at them they all seems to be very grainy apart from this one, so would also double up as an exfoliator. Have you tried any of the Lush body butters?

Soap & Glory Galore

 

What girl doesn't need all the Soap & Glory she can get and my latest Boots purchases definately satisfies this. With most of the beauty products on 3 for 2 at Boots lately I realised this could be very dangerous on the purse strings, but I managed to show some restraint and came away with only three products and these all happened to be Soap & Glory. I'm not sure what gravitated me to the Soap & Glory section, maybe its their funky retro packaging and amazing smell combinations, but once I was there I quickly found three products that I wanted.

The product that I actually knew I wanted from Soap & Glory was the Sugar Crush Body Scrub, I've heard great things about this scrub and I didn't have a body scrub on the go so I thought I'd give this one a try. The best thing about this product has to be the smell, sweet sugary goodness is how I can best describe it, but next time you're in a Boots just go have a sniff because it just smells so damn good! I have only used this product a few times so I won't comment too much on what I think of it as a scrub, but I will say that it is not a harsh in texture, which is something I need with sensitive skin. When you use it is doesn't feel like it might be ripping away layers of skin and the scrubby chunks in it are surrounded is a creamy gloop making it a pleasure to use, so far so good. 

The next product that caught my eye was the Arch de Triumph double ended brow pencil, before this I didn't own a brow pencil as I just used a brown eye shadow if I ever used anything through my brows which was on a rare occassion, but the double ended functionability of this just appealed to me. The downside is that it only comes in one colour but I have found it blends in with my brow colour which is a light brown but it wouldn't be suitable for someone with dark dark brown brows. The other end is a highlighter for your brow bone and for quick everyday makeup this is just a great little tool.

I had to hunt around a bit for the third product and wasn't quite sure what I wanted and for some unknown reason I went for the face mask, The Fab Pore, after reading the packaging I wasn't sure if this was right for me and I have the Aesop parsley seed mask on my wishlist as a clarifying mask, but I thought as it's essentailly the free item I'd try this one to see how my dry skin deals with it. And so far it's been alright, not the best mask ever and by what it says on the packaging describing it as a 'facial peel' you will be surprised as to what the product is actually like. It is thick, white and creamy with little blue dots that as you massage it onto your face burst, so not a peel at all! But I will report back after using this product for a few months as there isn't any instant effects to talk about and I have only used it twice.

Topshop Blush in Flush

I picked this up a few weeks ago whilst mooching around the shops. After being very impressed by my first purchase of a Topshop blush in Head Over Heels (post here) I thought I'd try Flush out.

They are both very different colours of blushes, as Flush is more of a pink based blush as opposed to the prominet coral tone in Head Over the Heels. When applied this blush gives a lovely rosiey flush to the cheeks (no pun intended!). The colour is stronger than Head Over Heels so you really don't need much of this product to get the desired effect, I would say a small dab of one finger on the apple of each cheek blended out with either a small brush like the Real Techniques contour brush or with your fingers.

For me Head Over Heels has been my go to blush for summer as its apricot coral tone works so well with the summer bronzed look, however summer is not longer with us and the weather has got gradually grimmer and my bronzer has been toned down, this is the blush that I have been reaching for in the last couple of weeks. The pink tone in this blush work well for autumn and as it gives that just been out in the cold glow to your face. It has everything I liked about thr previous Topshop blush I brought, a cream to powder formula which can take a while to get used to applying but now I have got the hang of it  I do love the finish the Topshop blushes leave on the cheeks , and as they are a cream they are long lasting too. I think I will be picking up a few of the other shades in the future as these blushes really are very good for their £6.00 price tag.

   

I have done a few comparison photos of Flush and Head Over Heels next to each other just so you can see how they differ in shade and intensity. Flush is on the left and Head Over Heels is on the right.

Have you tried any of the Topshop blushes? What do you think of them and their formula?