Products I regret buying

I thought I'd do a different post today and one I've never done before. There aren't many products I buy and then think "why on earth did I buy it?" but there have been a few including these four:

Left - Right - Tresemme Intensive Conditioner, Toni & Guy Firm Hold Hairspray, Benefit Confessions of a Concealerholic and L'Oreal Studio Secrets Primer.

Tresemme Intensive Conditioner

I first used Tresemme years ago when it first came out and it just doesn't agree with my hair and scalp. So what on earth possessed me to buy 4 tubs of their intensive conditioner I really don't know. I use this very occassionally so the huge 500ml tubs will last me a lifetime at this rate!

Toni & Guy Firm Hold Hairspray

I have review this already and that can be found here but in a nutshell it's sticky, the hole always blocks and it's the worst hairspray I've ever used.

Benefit Confessions of a Concealerholic

I couldn't wait for this to come out! I was so excited! But for £28.50 it was a major waste of money. It contains two shades of boiing concealer in mini sizes which are stuck in the box, a mini lemonaid (also stuck in the box), a mini eyebright (can't be removed), 2 mini brushes, a mini that gal face primer (can be removed) and a mini erase paste (also can be removed). The amount of product you get for the money is teeny. I've only used the erase paste and I've just started using the primer. A complete waste of money.

L'Oreal Studio Secrets Primer

When I first bought this I loved it, then loads of other primers came onto the market and these just highlighted how bad this one was. For £12.99 it's really overpriced and I hardly use it. I'd much rather use cheaper alternatives from 17 or Witch which both give better results.

Has anyone else tried these products? What do you think of them? Also what products have you bought which you wish you hadn't?

Review - L'Occitane handcreams part 2

So this is part two of my L'Occitane handcream adventure! I have four more handcreams to review for you:

Honey and Lemon, Lavender, Rose Velvet and Verbena Cooling Handcream Gel

Reviews:

Honey and Lemon

Couldn't get a price for this one

I really thought I wouldn't like this one. Honey and Lemon immediately makes me think of cough medicine but no no no! It has a lovely balance of honey and lemon, not too sweet. It did take a little time to absorb and my hands were a little tacky but were left moisturised.

Lavender

£13.50 (75ml) and £7.50 (30ml)

Most of us when we think of Lavender think of old ladies and a synthetic fragrance! But this handcream is different. It has a gorgeous lavender scent which is the next best thing to rubbing lavender leaves in your hands. Gorgeous.

Rose 4 Reine Velvet Hand Cream

£13.50 (75ml) and £7.50 (30ml)

This only had a slight scent of rose to it which I wasn't expecting, I thought the fragrance would be really strong. This absorbed quickly and my hands were left lovely and soft, not sure if they were velverty soft though.

Verbena Cooling Hand Cream Gel

£13.50 (75ml)

My full review on this can be found here but a quick sum up - perfect to use in the summer as it is a cooling gel so it absorbs quickly and had a gorgeous lemony scent. Probably the lightest consistency of all the hand creams.

Any repurchases?
After trying all of these there are several which I repurchase. These are the shea butter, lavender, verbena, fleur cherie and cherry blossom ones.


Also available:
Relaxing Hand Balm - £12.00 (50ml)
Organic Rameau d'Or (olive) Hand Cream - £13.50 (75ml)
Rose Jardin Delice Hand Cream Gel - £13.50 (75ml)
Rose des Neiges Hand Cream -  £7.50 (30ml)
Cherry Blossom Petal Soft - £13.50 (75ml)
Pivoine Flora - £7.50 (30ml)

Review - L'Occitane handcreams part 1

One of my all time favourite beauty products is L'Occitane handcream. I simply love it but there are so many different fragrances and formulations available it is slightly baffling as to which one would suite you the best. I have tried and tested as many as I could to give you a quick guide to them. I have divided this into two posts, the second will be posted tomorrow so what's up first:

Shea Butter, Cherry Blossom and Fleur Cherie

Reviews:

Shea Butter

£17.50 (150ml) and £7.50 (30ml)

This was the first L'Occitane hand cream I tried after hearing rave reviews about it. It is a very rich formulation as it contains 20% shea butter so you need very little, inbetween the size of a pea and a broad bean. It does sink in quickly but as it's that rich I prefer to use it at night as an intensive moisture boost for my hands.

Cherry Blossom

£13.00 (75ml) and £7.50 (30ml)

I don't normally go for floral fragrances but Cherry Blossom seems to have taken the beauty world by storm since it was first released in 2007 as a limited edition. Needless to say it is now a permanent fixture in the L'Occitane world and I haven to admit I get what the fuss is about. This isn't as rich as the Shea Butter formulation but this doesn't compromise on it's quality. As it's lighter I use this during the day and the scent lasts such a long time! And my hands feel moisturised for hours on end.

Fleur Cherie

£7.50 (30ml)

This is one of the most recent releases by L'Occitane and again with it being a floral scent I wasn't to sure if it would be for me. It is a neroli and orange blossom fragrance and I have to admit it is one of my favourites! As it's got orange in it, it's more of a fruity floral and I love fruity fragrances. Again it is a lighter formulation so I use it during the day and the fragrance lasts a long long time.


Coming up tomorrow.... Lavendar, Rose, Verbena and Honey and Lemon.

The week that was....

Yet another week has gone, seriously where is 2011 going?

So this week my car failed its MOT :-( but it's nothing serious and can be fixed quickly and cheaply, ahh the joys of having a boyfriend who's a mechanic!

I also went shopping to get a few last things for work including some new glasses. This turned out to be a nightmare as I was told 2 pairs of glasses, normal ones and sunglasses would be £100. Ahh perfect, bang on budget. Then when I went to pay it had bumped up to £164 and then I had to pay £5 to get them done in the hour! Luckily my mum was with me and she payed as I couldn't afford that. Three separate assistants told us they would only cost £100 so we spent the rest of the day in a shocked daze! But I do like my new glasses and I do need them. My haul post can be found here if you want a look but my glasses aren't there as they're not that exciting!

Hmmm what else happened....I had wanted to finish my book by today but I have another 100+ pages left to read so I don't think I'm going to do this.

I also got my CRB check back so I should get a start date for my job now, excited yet very scared and nervous!

So that was my week, exciting like always! Haha! And like always a cute little piccy to leave you with!

Image from: weheartit

I was in it and won it!

The last few weeks I've been lucky enough to win a number of competitions and giveaways so here's a round up of what I've won.

Tigi Your Highness Catwalk

I won this from Escentual on one of their online competitions. The set includes a small paddle brush, root boosting mousse and thickening gel creme.

Mac

I won Sherries competition on her blog (if you don't follow her already then do so now her blog is fab!) where the prize was a MAC lipstick and eyeshadow of your choice. 

As I have never used MAC before (yes I can hear you all gasp in horror at that fact) I wasn't sure about which colours to choose.

I chose Retrospeck eyeshadow and gave Sherrie the choice of two lipsticks to choose from to give me a surprise and she chose Midi Mauve which I LOVE!

ASOS

Ms Red was offering a voucher code for £5 off a £20 spend at ASOS and I won! Yey! I have my eye on some jeans so am going to put this towards them. There are still 2 codes left to be won so check out her blog for a chance to win them.

And finally....

Ren

On their Facebook page they were offering samples of their new Micro Polish Cleanser to the first 500 people who emailed them and I was one of them! All I have to do is try the product, email them back with my feedback and I could win 1 of 10 full sized products! Review of this to come.

Have you been lucky lately and won something? Let me know in the comments below!

♥

Images from: weheartit

Haul - Next, Boots, ASOS & more!

This is the last big haul post I'm going to do for a while due to tarting my new job and having no pennys as I have shed loads of stuff to pay for when I get a decent wage. So I went shopping on wednesday to get the last few bits for my job so here is what I got:

Lakeland

Cupcake caddys - £3.99 (was £7.99)

 Next

Peter Pan collar top - £10

I thought this would be way more than £10 so snapped it up at this bargain price!

Boots

Sanctuary Brightening Eye Gel - £10.20 (£5.20 with my £5 skincare voucher) 

Sanctuary Purifying Face Wash - £8.99 (£3.99 with my £5 skincare voucher)

Models Own eyeshadow applicators - £3.00

Une mineral foundation - £9.99

Bourjois Smoky Eyes eyeshadow in Rose Vintage - £7.99

L'Oreal Color Riche lipstick in shade 235 - £8.19

Cosmetics are currently on 3 for 2 so the Bourjois eyeshadow was free!

Swatches:

Top: L'Oreal lipstick

Bottom: Une foundation

Bourjois eyeshadow without flash

Bourjois eyeshadow with flash

From Lanzarote

So technically this was a present but thought I'd show you anyway. My grandad bought this back for me but it's not exactly what I wanted but it still smells gorgeous! It's soap which has sand in it so it's exfoliating.

I love the detailing on the back with the embossed tree and brand name

ASOS

Jersey Wrap Top - £25

This was from their Curve range which starts at a size 20. I'm currently a 16-18 so thought this might be too big but it fits perfectly. I'm keeping this for my birthday night out which isn't for a month and a half but hey ho!

Waterstones

Paradise by Katie Price - £3.29

So there we have it my last big haul for a while. Hope you enjoyed seeing what I bought! Have you bought anything recently or have you a product you'd recommend? Let me know in the comments below!