Thursday 30 September 2010

September In's and Out's

Once again, it has been ages since I last posted. Being back at uni has been a bit of a shock to the system. As I have just gone into my 4th year, I have been starting my dissertation, which has been a bit stressful. I am doing eczema (my degree is in nursing), and I thought I had it all planned, but then had a supervisor meeting today, and she wants it all different! I am just hoping its all worth it in the end.

Anyway, instead of a monthly favourites post, I thought I would do some In's and Out's.

In


My best friend having a little baby boy yesterday! He was 7lb 10oz, and so cute. He doesn't have a name yet, but hopefully will when I see him tomorrow. I went to visit him when he was just 12 hours old, and got a wee cuddle. I took him his first teddy bear, he is going to get spoilt by his Auntie Anna!

I won a giveaway on Who is she? I was so excited to win, and got LOADS of goodies! I will do a post very soon with my prizes. The lovely Rach is having another giveaway, which you can enter here.

Celebrating a year of being with my lovely boyfriend, Chris. The year as flown by, and I am still as head over heels for him! We have known each other for over 8 years, and its still a bit strange that we are now a couple, but very good strange. Awwww!

Watching trashy TV. Don't tell the bride, Four weddings, Underage and pregnant,Snog marry avoid, X factor, love them all!

Getting 20 pens for a fiver today! Not rubbish ones either, highlighters, propelling pencils, and inky ball points. I love stationary almost as much as I love make up!

Out

Getting up early for uni. I am really not a morning person! I realise this doesn't really bode well for my chosen career, but weirdly, I am fine getting up at 6.30 am for a 12 hour shift, but getting into uni for 9.30 kills me! I do also love night shift though!

Missing afore mentioned awesome boyfriend. He lives 80 miles away, so we only get to see each other at weekends, at lately its only been every few weeks, due to us both having stuff on. I just wish sometimes he was there for a hug when I need one. My plan is to move up there when I graduate, as I used to live the same city before, so know it and have friends up there. Fingers crossed.

Being skint. This is my second degree, and I am so bored of being a skint student. I just want some guilt free shopping. Soon, soon!


All in all though, its been a good month. I am now looking forward to getting into the winter woolies, and making a pumpkin costume for the new baby!


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Friday 17 September 2010

Avon Lotus Shield Review

Hey everyone! Sorry its been a wee while since I last blogged, but you know how it is, sometimes you just need a bit of a breather. I am going back to university next week, so hopefully this will make a bit more organised, as I have spent the summer lazing about! Anyway, enough about me, and on to the review!

I have already shown Lotus Shield in my first Avon Haul, and in my August Favourites. I wanted to give it a proper run for its money before I reviewed, as it is a product that has received quite a bit of coverage. As I have mentioned before, my friend Katie recently became an Avon rep, so she keeps me up to date with all the new products, and it was her newly acquired sales skills that persuaded me to buy this!



Firstly, I want to quickly talk about the price, which might seem strange at the start of the review, but this is a factor that does matter to me when buying a product. As a student, I don't have a huge amount of money, so find it hard to justify spending loads on one product. Then again, I buy lots of cheaper things, so its probably is a false economy! Anyway, I paid £5 for it, but as is often the case with Avon, this was an offer price, and the normal price is £7. Now, I do think this is quite alot for a hair product, and also alot for a product from Avon, as their prices are usually very reasonable. Price aside, lets get on with the review!

Packaging-

The picture above shows the outer packaging, a white cardboard sleeve. Once you manage to slide this off, the inner packaging is revealed-


Now, isn't this a bit excessive, and certainly not environmentally friendly? I can't help but think Avon have produced this fancy packaging to make the product seem more high end, and therefore justify the higher price tag? Pretty much all the other Avon products I have bought have come without packaging, and I really don't think this packaging adds anything. I looks nice I guess, but its just going to go in the bin anyway. Given the fact that Avon is only sold through the brochures or online, its not like the packaging is going to be drawing in the customers. Anyway, rant about that over! I do actually like the product, honestly! Once you open the silver packaging, you can then pull out the actual bottle, which isn't that easy.


See, all that packing, for a little bottle! I do like the size of the bottle, its small enough to be portable, but not too small that you don't get much product. It also very orange! Which kind of goes against the sleek packaging, but hey, least I can spot it on the shelf! You also get a leaflet in the box-


 Again, I don't really see the point of this! I have just shown the english portion here, its in other languages too. I think the important information could be on the bottle, this just seems like blurb to persuade you its great! The use instructions aren't great either, there is no indication of how much to use. I think this is a bit of an issue generally with Avon, they don't give great instructions for their products. Or maybe i'm a dumbass!

The product itself has a thin, gel consistency. The first thing that I noticed about the product is the lovely smell! It smells a bit like melon I think. The smell doesn't really stay on the hair once its applied though. As there is no guide to how much product should be used, I have been experimenting with amounts, and conferring with Katie. I generally apply about this amount-


Please excuse the shadow of my big head! I have found this amount does leave a little bit of a residue in my hair once its dried, but when I used less, I didn't get the same effect. What effect is that? Well, I feel that it smooths my hair, and makes it less 'big and puffy'. I tend to avoid straightening my hair on a daily basis, and with this product I can get the smooth effect that I like, without the heat! I have quite thick hair, and the lotus shield seems to calm it down. As for the humidity repelling effect, here in Scotland we don't tend to get humidity, its more like bucketing rain! So I haven't really noticed it making much difference, but when I can eventually afford to go back to South East Asia, i'll be able to test it out with humidity!

Oh, I almost forgot. One of the other main points that Avon say about this product is that it doesn't need to be used every time you wash your hair, as it lasts between washes. I tend to use it every second or third time, as I don't want product build up. Given this, and the fairly small amount I use, I think this bottle will last a good while.

So overall, I like the product as a smoothing, calming serum, but can't vouch for the humidity repelling. I think I probably would repurchase, but not at £7! Its been £5 for the last few brochures, so I hope that continues.

Have you tried Lotus Shield?
Do you have any other products you would recommend to calm my hair?
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Thursday 9 September 2010

Models Own Haul

Like many in the beauty blogging world, when Models Own announced a 50% off sale, I was powerless to resist! The only Models Own products I had tried before this were the blushers, which I reviewed here. Having loved these, I thought I would try a few more products.


I got the other blusher in the range, this one is Peach, normal price £5. I had heard good things about the nail polishes, so I got Lili's Pink, Silver Spangles and Lilac Dream. The normal price of these is also £5.


I had a quick swatch of these when I got them, and was impressed. They go on easily and the colours are lovely. In retrospect, the silver spangles maybe wasn't the best purchase as I probably won't use it much, but it will be fun when I do! I am sure NOTD's featuring these polishes will make an appearance soon.

I also ordered the eyeshadow brush set, which contains an angled, a blending and a shading brush. Normal price of this is £7 for the set, or £3 each. I seem to keep buying eye brushes, but i'm not getting any better at using them!

(L-R, blending, shading, angled)

I haven't actually used these, but they feel nice and soft. I will keep you updated as I use them.

So overall, I got £27 worth of stuff for £13.50, so I'm happy! This sale was advertised on facebook and twitter, and alot of companies seem to be doing this, so its worth following them so you can get the bargains!

Did you get anything in the Models Own sale?

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Tuesday 7 September 2010

August favourites, with a little extra!

Again, can't believe another month has ended! OK, so it was a few days ago now, but i've had a few things on. I don't have many new favourites this month, as I have mostly been using the same things as last month!

Yes, the Sleek palettes are featuring again! As you can see, I have a new addition, Storm! I asked on my post about the palettes what one people liked, and the resounding answer was Storm. So, I had to obey,and purchase it. Other favourites this month are Avon's lotus Shield, which I will be reviewing very soon. Another upcoming review I have is the MUA eyeshadows. This lilac shade is my favourite, but I am really impressed with the pigmentation of them all. Last up, is the brow brush I got from Poundland a while back.


This brush is designed for brows, but I have been using it to add some black eyeshadow as an eyeliner. I have fairly small eyes, so I find normal eyeliner can make them look even smaller. If I use this brush and some eyeshadow, it creates a more smokey look, without the tiny eyes!

As I don't have many favourites to show you, I thought I would show you what else I have been up to in August. First up, I went to visit my Granny in Somerset with my Mum and Brother. I took my boyfriends camera and had some fun mucking about with the close up settings-



We then went to visit my mums cousin, and his dog had just had puppies! They are 7 days old here, and too cute-



When I was younger we spent every summer holiday at my grans, and the highlight of the holiday was always visiting the beach, at Lyme Regis. So of course we had to go back, and my mum treated me to a pink bucket and spade! I am going to use these to store toiletries in the bathroom!








I always wanted one of these boats, but I was never allowed!

We went to a country show, and they had lots of these cute wee guys, Alpacas!



How awesome are they?

Continuing on the animal front, I went with the boyfriend to a local wildlife centre, which is a bargain at £3.50, so we always go on a sunday when we are bored! My favourites are the lemurs-



and the skunks, they were the friendliest ever!



Hiya!



Sorry there were so many photos, but I hope you like the glimpse into my August!

Did you get up to anything exciting?

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Thursday 2 September 2010

NOTD Barry M Blueberry Icecream, and a wee bonus!

I am pleased to say, I still haven't bitten my nails! I have had a few breakages, which is a bit gutting. I have also trimmed a couple to try and make them all a more uniform shape. I don't know if my nails are weak, and thats why they are breaking, or if I am just catching them on things. Ah well!I am still loving the Barry M ice cream shades, and here is another one for you, blueberry-


Its actually a little less bright than this in real life, more like the shade of the bottle in the picture, not the nails! It applied easily, and this is with 2 coats and a topcoat. It lasted well for 2 days, but then I went camping and did some gardening, and that was it! 

I have another quick NOTD, which is a bit too rubbish for its own post, but I thought i'd add it as a wee bonus!


This is Barry M Pink Iridescent. I was going for a night out the other week, and didn't have enough time to do a proper colour, as i'm so clumsy at doing my nails still. I didn't want to go out with 'naked' nails, so I did a couple of quick coats of this glittery number. Its light, so fairly forgiving of mistakes. It does feel grainy to the touch, even after a topcoat. There was a slight pink tinge to it, but mostly its silvery glitter. I mainly bought this to use over other polishes, so will try that soon. I have to say though, it was a nightmare to get off!

Do you have any favourite Barry M polishes?

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Making me blush! Part two- Bourjois Rose D'or

Now, by rights, this should have been the first part of my series. Do you remember the days, pre beauty blogging, when you only had a few bits of make up? Well, back then, this was my blusher! I maybe had another few,but this was the one I used, day in, day out. In fact, I have 2 of these, as I lost it once, and instead of being adventurous and buying a different one, I bought it again! Since I started blogging, and buying alot more make up, its been a bit unloved. I still do love it really, and need to use it more!



Packaging


The packaging for the Bourjois Blushers is the same as the eye shadow pots, which can lead to confusion,as I have an eyeshadow in a similar shade! I do like the packaging, its compact, and sturdy. You get the wee mirror, which wouldn't be much use for doing your whole make up, but is ok for touch ups.  I actually think the brush isn't too bad, again in those dark pre-blogging days, I just used to use this. I have now upgraded to an E.L.F blusher brush. Overall, the packaging gets the thumbs up from me, it has a good clasp, so stays shut during transit.


Onto the product itself. You get 2.5g, and mine looks hardly used, even though I have used it alot. I'm not sure i'll ever get on to the second one! It also has a slight smell, kind of powdery, flowery,which doesn't last too long on the skin, but I actually quite like when I am applying. I like the colour, its a darkish pink shade, with a golden shimmer. It actually looks alot more shimmery here than it actually looks when blended on the cheeks. This swatch is unblended-


and blended-



Again, my pictures aren't great, but this blusher isn't hugely pigmented. It gives a subtle glow, which can be built up. I often use it over a cream blush. All in all, I still like this blusher, even if it has been ousted from the favourite spot by my recent purchases. Oh, nearly forgot, it costs £6.99, which is maybe a little on the pricey side for a high street blusher. Or maybe i'm stingy! I would like to try some more from their range, so i'm keeping my beady eyes out for a 3 for 2 offer!

Do you have any bourjois blushers?
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