October Favourites and Disappointments!!

Hello,

I hope you had a great October...

Starting from this month I am going to post my hero products and also name, if any, the products that disappointed me..

October has been a TERRIBLE skin month for me. My face has resembled braille at the best of times and small creators at the worst!! I have tried so many different products and ways to cover up and to be honest I haven't felt happy with anything. The best I can do is hide behind my hair and hope it looks worse to me then anybody else.

I put this breakout down to my hormones, At the beginning of the month My baby was 3 months old and any one that has had kids will know that all that surplus hair you acquired falls out as your body is letting go of the last pregnancy/baby hormones. i think this imbalance in hormones has certainly made an impact on my skin.

So with all that said lets start with what have been my heroes!

1. Chanel Perfection Lumiere (30) I have loved this to even out my skin tone, knock out all the red in my skin and to also make my appearance child friendly. When I first got this I wasn't keen at all. It didn't sit right on my skin and made me look like a dry old prune. I now pare this with a moisturiser and the end result is much better, much more velvet as opposed to old prune!

2. Mythic Oil This has done me proud. Perfect for smoothing my hair down and giving my hair a shiny sleek finish and although I don't believe it helps in the restructure and internal health of my hair, it does give me the swishy hair feeling.

3. O.P.I (Lincoln Park at Midnight) I have mentioned this before, its a different variation of that classic Rouge noir colour. But it has been the nail colour i have opted for the most.

4. La Roche-Posay Hydra phase Intense. I cannot have a creator face and big fat eye bags at the same time so I have been making sure I'm a good girl with the eye gel application. This has ensured that the skin around my eyes is a smooth as is possible for me.

5.Loreal Super Liner (intense black) I have been trying to achieve the perfect cat flick eye this month and although this smudges I can get the perfect shape with this felt nipped liquid eyeliner. What I then tend to do is go over the top with my Maybelline gel eyeliner to really seal the deal.



So I guess this leaves us to the rather tricky subject of what really disappointed me. Lets start by saying that when I first bought this set I had complete and utter faith that this would be the stuff to save me. I had once tried the Murad Vitamin C face wash and although it was a trial size it worked wonders for my skin. It cleared up all my blemishes and left me, dare I say it, Glowy?!?

So when I saw this set on HQHair.com I thought this has got to be the stuff!!

 

Unfortunately this was not the "stuff". If ever there was a time for a product to really show me what It could do, this would be it. I mean an Acne treatment kit for a girl with enough zits for her and her five friends!! Unfortunately this kit did nothing to improve the look of my skin and some days I even thought my skin looked worse. I saw better results by smearing Sudo cream on my face.

There was also a face wash in this kit which I used up in the vain hope of clear skin. All it did do was leave my skin looking like I had, had a reaction. Very red/purple and inflamed. I do feel really disappointed with this kit as I had so hoped it would help with my skin but it was not to be. 

So my quest for clear skin goes on, I am seriously considering taking up the harsh method explained by Gossmakeupartist and using a whole barrel of Benzol peroxide on my skin.. or as my friend Jodie calls it...Mental Peroxide!!

My Lash staple!

I'm from Essex. I wear eyelashes
Let's get that out there to start with. Being from Essex I think I'm more then qualified to talk about sticking something to my lash line to enhance my flutter.

I have tried professionally applied lash extensions and offerings from MAC, Ardell and Eyelure to name but a few brands. I have tried the double layered lashes (hard work), single bunches, super natural pre clued strips and bottom lashes ala Kim Kardashian.
I have also tried all variations of coloured. You get the picture?!

I generally favour Eyelure lashes for a few simple reasons:
1) easily available
2) inexpensive
3) most "models" have a slim band

Let me tell you I have found my dream lash in Eyelures 151

They are perfect! Naturally lengthening and thickening, they have an organised randomness to each hair which I feel gives a more believable result. The lashes are longer in the centre giving a wide eyed look as opposed to longer at the outer eyed for that feline look.

Since wearing my first set three weeks ago I have been on the hunt for another set and hadn't been able to find them until today! Let's just say I took full advantage of the boots 3 for 2 offer!

Xx

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure

I had spotted the Complete Salon Manicure nail polish in Boots and Superdrug before but with so much choice of nail polish these days I've never actually picked one of these up. However whilst in Asda last night I saw a small modest stand selling about 10 of the available colours from this range. My basket contained apples and baby milk at this point and needed glamming up, so in it went.

I decided to go for a classic milky pink, 160, shell we dance.

This nail polish claims to be five in one
~Base Coat
~Strengthener
~Growth treatment
~Colour
~Top coat

It also claims to be chip resistant and for nails to still be shiny for up to 10 days.
I love the idea of this and to make application even speedier the brush is double thickness meaning one swipe should cover the nails.
The finish is very nice and it does deliver on what it promises although I did have to apply four coats to achieve an opaque coverage.
Day one and my nails are still chip free.
Praise the lord, time will tell whether this lives up to the chip free 10 day claim.
Overall I think this is a lovely polish and I will certainly be checking out the other shades in this collection.
xx

I Heart St.Moriz

Hi again,

It's LOVE! St.Moriz is brilliant.

No surprise there. After all it's not like I haven't read at least four other blogs claiming this to be brilliant.

My real question was... How does it compare to the Holy St.Tropez?

I applied the tan with a mit, which cost nearly as much as the bargain mousse and I did this pretty slap dash. A big squirt of product and a brief rub all over was about as far as the application technique took me. The mit really did help to speed things up and help ensure an even application. I really would recommend getting one. I guess I could of been more precious with the application but life's too short.

The best is yet to come.
The worst thing about fake fan for me is being sticky and smelling. I can't imagine anyone enjoys it but I really hate it. This product passed the test I was fully dry in under 5 minutes and there was no "urgh you stink" comments from my boyfriend. Result!

So back to the original question... For me this product is better then St.Tropez it's a lot cheaper and a pleasure to use. The results are only a shade lighter but you can't have it all.
Xx

Battle of the St.'s, 3 years too late

I apologise for this post. It comes about 3 years after the likes of lollipop26 mentioning it.
Let's just say this, I first tried fake tan about 12 years ago. I tried every brand or so it seemed and I sported the most orange knuckles/knees/feet! I gave up on fake tan until I jumped on the St.Tropez bandwagon and discovered that I could look tanned and avoid the oompa loompa look without going in the sun. From that point on I refused to use anything else why would I waste my money on cheaper brands that were a complete waste of time and money.
St.Tropez has one fault, it costs over £30 for a bottle.
As I said, I had read blog posts on St.Moriz literally 3 years ago. It was then claimed that this fake tan is the fake tan to rival St.Tropez at a fraction of the price. I took no notice until today.
Whilst in TKMaxx I spotted St.Moriz retailing for £3.99 for 200ml and thought why bloody not!
I will be giving myself a full body tan Friday night and I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
Fingers crossed the orange knuckles don't return xx

Autumnal nails

Long time no blog.. Sorry for the quietness.
There seems to be a nail feature in most magazines currently on sale, it got me thinking... What are my favourite nail paints.
Having riffled through my collection I have pulled 5 varnishes that I absolutely love.
The first in my choice selection is nails Inc; Heathrow. It's a nude skin coloured polish that dries matte. It doesn't always give the most flattering of finishes but with a bit of patience and a good base/ridge filler the pay off is beautiful. Thanks to the skin hue of this polish it almost gives the illusion of longer and slimed more elegant fingers.
Onto polish number two. OPI Rainbow
Connection. This is a great polish for a winters night out. It catches the light and gives you a disco feel and due to all the different colours in this glitter it seems to go with a lot of outfits.. The only downfall this baby has is that it's a buggar to remove!
Polish number three is OPI Lincoln park at Midnight. It's one of those beautiful cherry colours. I have previously owned Chanel Rouge Noir which is the original cherry coloured polish however this OPI polish offers a tiny amount of shimmer which hides nail flaws alot easier!
Polish number Four is from the luxury brand YSL. Simply known as number 3 this polish was a present from my younger and much hipper sister. I love this classic red. It has a slight blue undertone so not to appear too orange. It goes well with my light olive skin but does take about three coats to get to a nice opaque coverage.
Lastly polish number five feels like a cheat.. Enter Seche Vite,
This top coat will help dry your nails faster and will also leave a really high shine. This polish almost gives a gel like finish meaning no peeling and nails that are less likely to fade. For me this is the ultimate top coat I haven't found anything else that makes any polish look instantly better like this does.

So that's my mini nail round up in other news I previously mentioned my Murad face kit bought from HQHair which completely and utterly dried my skin out. I think I overdosed on Salicylic acid. However I stopped using it and allowed my skin to go back to normal and now I'm ready to pick it up again. I'm going take it easy and see how I get on.
Xx

Shellac update

No one likes to see pictures of manky nails but I'm afraid this is what you'll get with this post.

My Shellac is 10 days old and in those 10 days I have washed up between 30-40 times (damn those baby bottles)
Changed between 40 - 50 nappies (nice) and also subjected them to daily wear and tear.
Let me tell you, these babies have actually lasted pretty well. I have the obvious growth space at the bottom which is standard and actually gives me a good indication of how much my nails have grown. On the tips there are signs that that my hands are in constant use, as you can see that the colour has worn away.
My actual nail feels protected. I have had no breakages and they have actually grown pretty long.

I can feel myself wanting to get these tidied up. Part of me wishes they could just infill them the other part of me wants to have them off and give myself a good buff and reshape.

A few of my friends have had these and I haven't heard a bad word.
Have you experienced Shellac? What was your experience like?

x