Sunday 29 September 2013

Moroccan Oil Light Hair Treatment



I will admit that when it comes to beauty I can be a fickle one, I'm always looking for something new and exciting but there are some products that I stick to religiously and buy over and over again, The main culprit is The Moroccanoil Light Hair Treatment.

I started using the original version a few years ago after my hairdresser recommended it, this was back when my hair was black and thicker than it is now so the original oil was the way to go back then. This was when it first came out and it was a bit of a cult salon product, not many reviews about so I just had to trust her and I've never looked back. Since I bleached my hair to blonde and my hair is shorter and slightly thinner than it was, I've switched to the version for light coloured or fine textured hair. The only real differences I've found between the two is that the light version doesn't weigh my hair down as much as the original and the latter is a slightly thicker texture.

At a first glance it doesn't seem like anything special, it just looks like a basic yellow oil but a little of this goes a long way to helping keep my hair smooth and manageable. I tend to use a 50p size amount and run it through damp hair, focusing mainly on the ends as they have the most damage before leaving my hair to dry naturally, occasionally I blow dry it but I'm trying to lay off the heat a little at the moment. This helps to make my hair feel soft, smooth and nourished and I also feel that it has helped to improve the overall condition of my hair. I do get a little complacent with it and forget how much it changes the texture of my hair which normally ends up with me not using it for a few weeks and then realising that my hair looks so much better when I use it it regularly. I also use it as a deep conditioning treatment by covering my dry hair in it and leaving it on for a few hours whilst I potter around the house (and of course receive parcels because delivery men have notoriously bad timing.)

Aside from how much it does towards healing my poor fried hair, the other thing that makes me love this and all of the other products in the Morrocanoil range is the gorgeous smell, Honestly it's amazing. If they made a perfume of this scent then I would be first in line, I adore it to the point where I'm guilty of using the oil as a hair mask a couple of times a week just to make my hair smell amazing.

I would say that the only downside to this product is the price, It isn't cheap at all at around £30 for 100ml (the price normally depends on where you buy it.). I think the only real way to justify the price is how long it lasts, I use it every time I was my hair (around three times a week give or take) and as a mask and my current bottle has lasted me over a year, the shortest time a bottle has lasted me was eight months after it spilt inside my overnight bag (which annoyed me until I realised just how good my bag smelt) so you really do get your money's worth. I tend to ask for this for either Christmas or my birthday but I would buy it for myself, it just makes sense for me to ask for it as a gift as I can never really think of much else to ask for and now it's become a bit of a tradition for my mum to buy it for me. I think if your looking for something to invest in that will give great results and will last you a long time then this is the one to try.

Have you tried Morrocanoil or any other Argan Oil products? Thoughts?

Saturday 21 September 2013

Review - Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Deep Intensive Mask





As the weather gets colder I always notice that my hair starts to get drier and if I'm not careful can become a little bit dreadlocky (techical terms here guys) and so I become a little bit obessed with hair masks. The ones that I tend to go for are either the Aussie versions or one of the Herbal Essences range, mainly because I'm on a budget but also because they are pretty great and after trying all of their masks except this one, I decided it was time to give it a go. Of all the different Herbal Essences specific ranges, I've always said that my favourite has to be the Hello Hydration range, however I don't know how I could have honestly made this statement before now as I hadn't tried one key product, The Deep Nourishing Intensive Mask. Now that I have, It's official, this is my Favourite Herbal Essences Range.

To start off with it has the same gorgeous scent as the shampoo and conditioner, which if you have used it then you know what I mean and if you haven't you seriously need to! All of the HE products smell amazing but the Hello Hydration range is particularly incredible. You know those old adverts where the women are going crazy and your just sat there like 'Really? Who gets that excited over shampoo?' but I actually understand it now because If I could figure out a way to smell like this at all times, I would, they need to start making shower gels and body lotions etc. I'd buy them. It claims to smell of coconut and Hawaiian orchid and there is a faint hint of coconut there but I find that the floral scent is slightly overpowering.

The scent aside, In my opinion, it is actually a very good conditioning mask, especially for how inexpensive it is. I tend to use this as well as a conditioner purely because that's what I do with all masks as my hair can get very dry due to all the bleaching and leave it on for ten minutes whilst I carry on with my shower. After I wash it off my hair is left feeling soft and smooth but without the feeling of there still being product in my hair which is something that I find happens with a lot of moisture boosting products. If I leave my hair to dry naturally then i'm left with soft waves and my hair still has volume at the roots but I do find that my ends are not as smooth as I would like them to be. I get the best results from this product if I blow dry my hair as I end up with smooth hair that looks like it is in great condition, which I'm happy to say isn't far from how my hair actually is due to me upping my hair mask game over the past few months.

If your looking for a great but inexpensive hair mask to hydrate your hair over the coming cold months then this is a lovely product and at only £4.39 it's a bit of a bargain. I picked mine up in Boots but it seems to come and go there so your best bet is one of the supermarkets as I find that Asda and Tesco always have a better Herbal Essences selection than either Boots or Superdrug.

Have you tried this or any of the other Herbal Essences Masks? What are your thoughts?

Sunday 15 September 2013

Sunday Series- Life Lately and a few links


This week has been pretty hectic, I've moved from Derby to Nottingham (and come back for the weekend to work) and started my college course. I started on Wednesday and the first few days were a killer, in a good way if that's at all possible, there's nothing quite like being thrown in at the deep end and trying to swim. As much as I've been loving it it's also very tiring so after I've got home, showered and cooked my dinner, all I want to do is sit down with a cuppa and watch Emmerdale (I'm getting addicted to the soaps nowadays) so all social media has taken a backseat this week. I also don't have the internet on my laptop during the week so I've queued up a few posts for you guys to read this week and I'll be writing more next weekend, I will be checking up on this blog from my phone though so if anyone comments or has any questions for me I'll do my best to get back to you. This is how it will be for a while as I'm going to either be at college or working seven days a week from now on but I will do my best to keep my little blog going as smoothly as possible! 

I'll leave you with a few links to posts that I've loved reading this week and let me know what you've been up to this week, have you been a busy bee too?

Dana at the Wonder Forest has put together a step by step guide to creating a great header for your blog, It's extremely useful and i'll definitely be keeping her tips in mind if I make a new one for this little blog.

I've really been loving Nspa's range of products lately, especially their melting cleanser and the skin renewal gel, they've really been helping my skin in this cold weather that's suddenly come about. I feel a few reviews coming on.

One of my favourite blogs to read is Copper Garden by Jess, She has such great personal style and she also has some lovely guest bloggers at the moment, Take a look, here.

I've decided that I need to start saving up so that I can one day own a pair of Louboutins, So of course I've spent hours looking through their online shop and playing about with their search function, My favourites at the moment are these So Kate Glitter Mini pumps (How pretty!) but I also love some others like these, these and of course these. Take a look, I promise you'll be there for hours!

Have you got any recomendations for me this week?









Friday 13 September 2013

Superdrug Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser - The Review



A lot has been made of Hot Cloth Cleansers over the past year or so, the one that first came to everyone's attention (but not necessarily the first of it's kind) was Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish and since then versions have been popping up everywhere. I tried Cleanse and Polish a few years ago whilst I was still at college thanks to my Nan's addiction to Qvc and I loved it but the only thing that puts me off repurcahsing is the price, so when I saw this one in Superdrug on offer for just £2.49 (RRP £4.99) I thought why not give it a go. I' haven'tactually thought to look at Superdrug's own branded items since I was and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

The packaging is pretty standard but I do like the pale green as it's a little different to the rest of my skincare which is mainly white and cream so it does stand out on my shelf. I also quite like that it comes in a box which makes it feel more expensive than it is (well to me anyway.) Like all hot cloth cleansers it came with a muslin cloth which I don't have a photo of as every time I get one and put it in the wash my mum thinks it is a cleaning cloth and it ends up being used for polishing the house instead of my face. That is also why I can't compare it with my LE version which has also bitten the dust (literally) but they look pretty much the same. I know that they are supposed to be amazing for your skin and gently exfoliate etc. but I've used the cleansers with both the muslin cloths and with basic flannels and it doesn't really make a difference other than it feels a little bit more luxurious for a pamper night than my hot pink asda flannel.

The cleanser itself is quite thick and creamy and it melts into your skin as you massage it onto your face. It doesn't quite remove all of my makeup in one go but I always double cleanse anyway with whatever cleanser I am using so for me this isn't a big deal but If you only cleanse once then you'll probably want to be using a toner to remove the excess traces before you moisturise. It has quite a herbal smell which I didn't like at first but it's grown on me a bit and now I don't really notice it at all when I wash my face.It claims to gently exfoliate and leave the skin feeling renewed, soft and and ultra clean and it lives up to this, my skin feels lovely after I've used this and I do feel like I've had to exfoliate with other products a lot less since I started using this. I've noticed a difference in the amount of blemishes I've had since I started using this cleanser around a month ago which is always great but I'm not quite sure if it is to with this product, switching my foundation or a combination of the two. I do also think it gives me a little bit of a radiance boost as the name suggests as I look fresh faced after I use this in a morning which is no mean feat and anything that makes me look human before my first cup of coffee is a winner for me.

I think I'll be buying this product again as it's a lovely inexpensive cleanser that I love having in my cleanser rotation (I'm aware it's a bit excessive but it seems to be doing the trick) and I also have my eye (no pun intended) on an eye cream from the same range so I'll let you know how that one goes for me.

Have you tried this or any of Superdrug's own branded products? What do you think of them?

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Soap and Glory - The Righteous Butter - The Review



I'm normally pretty patient when it comes to hair and beauty but I'll be honest I'm not a huge fan of moisturising my body, which is a beauty sin I know but it just seems to take too long and get bored halfway through however since I started blogging I've made an effort to moisturise more and this is one of the products that makes it easier to get through.

I first came across The Righteous Butter after I purchased the massive 'Best of All' Set last December whilst it was on offer in Boots (Anyone else excited for this years big Christmas offer?) and I fell in love with it. This is actually a repurchase of the tub that came as part of that set and my love is still going strong.

Like all S&G products, this smells lovely which means I would probably love it just for the scent alone but luckily it's a pretty amazing body butter. According to the tub it has Shea butter and Aloe Vera which could explain why it smells so nice but would probably be better to explain just why it is so soothing a moisturising. I don't use this to moisturise every time I shower but I find that it is great to use after I've shaved my legs as it really soothes my skin and helps to prevent the dreaded razor rash. It's also very moisturising, since I've begun using this I haven't had any issues with dry skin at all which is a first for me.

I also love that this doesn't take that long to sink into my skin, I'm not great at waiting around for moisturisers to stop being sticky, especially in winter as I just can't stand the cold. I also find the tub very handy as it's easier to use when my hands are covered in moisturiser than a bottle which can get really difficult to squeze after a while, has any one else noticed this or am I the only one silly enough to get my moisturiser on both hands?

If your looking for a lovely but inexpensive body butter then I think that this is your answer, It retails for £10.50 but there are plenty of offers on all the Soap and Glory line in Boots at various times so if you keep an eye out you could get a good deal!

What's your favourite Soap and Glory Moisturiser?

Monday 9 September 2013

Vichy Dermablend Corrective Foundation - The Review






When my usual foundation ran out I decided to try something new, as my skin had a little bit of a meltdown so I ended up with a bit of scarring and a lot of the foundations I tried just weren't cutting it when it came to covering up my scarring. After seeing this on a few blogs I decided to try it out and I'm so glad I did.

Dermablend is a corrective treatment foundation specially formulated to cover up severe scarring and other blemishes and is also supposed to be non irritating for even sensitive skin which are the main two reasons I decided to buy it. It's other benefit is that it lasts up to 12 hours which is great but wasn't something that was that important when choosing this, my main issue was to conceal.

I have the lightest colour, 15/Opal which when I first squeezed it out of the tube I was worried it would be too dark but once blended onto my face it's unnoticeable. You also only need a little bit to cover my entire face which is great as it means that the little tube will last longer, It does need quite a bit of blending for a flawless finish but all foundations do on my skin and unlike others this doesn't thin down the more that you blend it, the coverage stays exactly the same. I find that as I'm so pale my scarring and dark circles show up easily and are very difficult to conceal but with one coat of this they are almost completely covered and if I dab a little more onto my blemishes then I don't need to wear concealer. It doesn't completely cover my dark circles but I don't expect it too as I have hereditary dark circles and also slightly deep set eyes that cast a shadow so they will never completely disappear to my dismay but if yours are just regular dark circles then I think this will do the trick.

As it is a full coverage foundation it is quite thick but it doesn't give the mask effect that some full coverage foundations do and I can't feel it on my face all day which is one of my pet hates when it comes to foundations. It also gives a lovely finish to my skin, at first it is completely matte but as the day goes on and I start to get oily it has a lovely dewy finish. It also doesn't cake at all, even on my small dry patches so my face looks even all day. Since I started wearing this daily I've noticed that my skin has been a lot less irritated and the number of blemishes I've had has gone down significantly. I'm also hoping that I will be able to wear it once I start dancing all day everyday again without too many issues. In the above photo I am wearing this foundation with Bourjois Healthy Mix blush but no concealer, powder, highlighter etc so you can see the finish that it has on it's own.

The packaging isn't that exciting, it looks like typical skincare packaging but I quite like that as It doesn't look cheaper than it is and for some reason it makes me think it's going to work better than your typical high street offering, I know that's a bit silly but it's just how it works in my head. The tube is smaller than a lot of foundations from both the high street and high end brands but because you don't need to use a lot of the product it last for a long time. It's also in the mid price range at £15.50 for 30ml but I'm happy to pay that price for a product that is this good and it doesn't cost that much more that some of the pricier high street offerings.

In the month I've been using this foundation I've had so many compliments on my skin which genuinely doesn't happen at all when you have acne so that's a lovely change and I really would recommend this for anyone who needs to cover up either blemishes or dark circles on a regular basis or even just to use for those lovely hormonal breakouts that we all get once a month. I'm definitely going to buy this again and I'm even thinking about trying the concealer stick, not because I need both as this is amazing on it's own but just because I want to see if it lives up to the expectations this has given me.

Have you tried this? What are your thoughts?

Saturday 7 September 2013

Bourjois So Laque and So Laque Glossy Nail Polish - The Review







I'm a fan of Bourjois as a brand but one area that I tend to overlook is their nail polish line, I usually make a beeline for the foundation and mascara's and don't give a second thought to all of the polishes on the next shelf. So a few weeks ago I decided to give them a go and I picked up two polishes, A regular 'So Laque' Polish in 'Noir De Chine' and a 'So Laque Glossy' Polish in 'Coton Sur Ton' and so far it's mixed results.

I picked up Noir de Chine as I've been meaning to get a black polish for a while. I like to wear it sometimes in winter and it's a good polish for my toes when I dance a lot as it tends to hide quite a lot of damage. This polish was opaque in one coat but I applied another just for security and it had a lovely shiny finish as you can see from the above photo's. It lasted a good three days without chipping before I had to remove it for work but I think it could have gone on longer if I left it which is pretty good for me as I tend to use my nails for everything (bad habit I know, I'm trying to stop.) The drying time isn't that good, it took ten minutes before they were touch dry and I had to be extra careful for the next few hours but I think this may be because the polish is quite thick but for that glossy finish I'm happy to wait the extra few minutes. However I'm thinking that this is not a quick fix polish and is only for when you have the time to sit and paint your nails properly. I am very happy with this polish and I'm thinking about getting others from this range to see if the quality of the coloured selection matches up with this colour.

Coton Sur Ton is a slightly different story, I was disappointed from the get go as the lighting in Boots led me to believe that this was a white polish when actually it's more of a cream but that's just artificial lighting for you. This took five coats before it was fully opaque which is three too many in my book but after all that it did have the same lovely shine that Noir de Chine has. I think for people who are partial to a sheer polish this might not be an issue but I'm personally not a fan of seeing my nails through a polish, I'm painting them for a reason. I also don't really understand why these are called 'Glossy' as this colour wasn't actually as glossy as the original formula. It lasted two days before I had a chip on my index finger which isn't too bad as it's only one chip but as the Bourjois site states it should last for ten days I expected more.

Overall I think that the original So Laque formula is very impressive and I'll be buying more colours to try out at some point in the future but I'm going to leave the So Laque Glossy's on the shelf.

Have you tried either of these formula's? What did you think?

Wednesday 4 September 2013

August Beauty Loves


When I started thinking about my August favourites post, It wasn't my intention to only include skincare but to be honest I haven't really used anything new this month makeup wise as it's been so busy and I've just been doing basic makeup everyday. Then I realised that the thing that's been making it so easy to get away with minimal makeup has been the fact that my skin has cleared up and no longer needs a million and one products to hide my sins (aka too much coffee and not enough sleep.)

I reviewed the Palmers mask a few weeks ago, here and I'm still loving it. This is actually still the first tube and after using it three times a week for sixweeks it's still got another couple of applications left which is pretty impressive. I've really been enjoying using this and I have plans to repurchse once this one is finally used up.

I've also been using Superdrug's Naturally Radiant Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser (I feel like product names are getting longer and longer or is that just me?) which I won't say too much about as I have a full review coming up soon but I will say that I absolutely love this and It does exactly what it claims to do.

The third product that has been helping to keep my skin under control is Elemis S.O.S Emergency Cream. This is an extremely pricey product so I don't tend to use it that often but when my skin (and me in general) is having a meltdown this is the best thing for it, I pop it on before bed and wake up with soothed and altogether less red and painful skin. I've talked about this before but this is one product I would happily save up to buy as it's been a skin saviour for me.

The other product I've been using that I forgot to include is the Cetaphil Daily Moisturiser, I've read a few bad things about this in the past few months but I still love it and until anyone can recomend something better, I'm going to have to carry on with it.

What have you been loving over August?

Sunday 1 September 2013

Sunday Series - A few links for you.


I thought I'd let you guys in on a few of the blogs and some individual post's that I've loved reading this week. My advice is: Get yourself a cuppa (maybe some buscuits if you feel so inclined), get all cosy and get reading some of these lovely post's, It'll make your Sunday night lovely and make the Monday Morning blues that little bit easier to deal with. Enjoy!

Josie blogged her favourite ways to style one of the most classic items you can have in your wardrobe, the Breton top. I love how she's created three different looks in her usual chic style and proved you can wear classics on a night out . Check it out here.

I've also come across the lovely Velia's Blog this evening actually and I can't stop reading, Her pictures are gorgeous and I love her love for her home city. You can read Cocoamourr here, I promise you'll keep clicking the next button too.

I've been loving Charissa's blog for a while and her style is gorgeous, I fully blame this post for the fact that I've spent the last hour searching for my perfect little red dress.

I love me some good nail art and I find that Caroline's blog is the place to go for creative but easy to follow tuturials. I love her Strawberry, Cath Kidston Inspired and Polka Dot Bows tutorials and once my nails have grown I will be walking round with Strawberry nails one day no matter how many attempts it takes me (Nail art is not my forte.)

Hope you all had a great weekend and let me know if you guys have any recommendations of blogs you think are great.