The week that was....

Last week I started to get a cold, Chris came home with it and decided to spread his nasty germs, and after feeling loads better on Sunday, I felt rotten on Monday. Urgh! I hate, hate, hate being ill!

Tuesday we went to York and visited Appy Feet for a little fishy pedicure! My haul post can be found here and my fish pedicure post will be up soon!

I also sold the majority of my items on ebay and made a grand total of £175! Of course I'll have my ebay fees to take off which is about £30 but all in all it's not bad! But on saturday when I woke I had a message form someone who I sold a nail polish too saying that it had been used and they wanted a refund and an address to send it back to. Of course I know it was brand new, when I asked what was up with it they said it had polish on the bottle neck and it was droopy. Yes droopy. I presume they mean gloopy which is normal as it's a thicker consistency. But anyway they've had it for around a week and they requested it to be sent to a PO Box address and I have no idea the sellers name! Yes when I sent it I was slightly dubious about this but thought would could go wrong?

Now they've opened a case against me, if I don't respond and loose then I'll be £8 down and lose the product. Annoying. Soooo I've told them to email me photo's of why they think it's been used and then I'll decide from there. Thing is they've got negative feedback about not giving a buyer a refund when they accused them of selling fake goods! And they're selling Chanel nail polish! Rant over...for now!

And also this week I got my first Graze box. As I don't like nuts or seed I was somewhat limited at what I could choose but they have a great selection of foods.

(Image from weheartit)

Hero product - Bourjois Little Round Pots

Bourjois Little Round Pots (LRP)...I think everyone has at least one of these regardless of whether it's an eyeshadow, highlighter or blusher...but if you haven't, why not?!?!?

LRP's were developed way back in 1863 when Bourjois developed a specific baking process for their powder products. The LRP features a baked eyeshadow/blusher/highlighter, an applicator/brush and a mirror n the inside of the lid.

Every year Bourjois release limited edition LRP's with pictures, normally vintage designs, on the lids.

This year they have release Limited Edition blushers which come in 6 different shades and the picture theme is Paris:

These are only available to buy until the end of March and are available from ASOS and Boots.

Review - Tara Smith

 
I got sent 3 Tara Smith products to review which I was really excited about as I first heard about Tara Smith way back last year when I was researching about paraben and SLS free products, which you can find here and here.

Tara Smith's press release says that:

"The Tara Smith range combines professional expertise and performance with natural and organic ingredients and no harsh chemicals, available at accessible prices"

All of Tara Smith product are:

• Made with natural and organic earth friendly ingredients
• Contain certified organic fragrances
• Made in the UK
• Vegan approved
• BUAV approved
• Easily recyclable
• All shampoos are anti-fade
• Sulphate free so suitable for after Keratin treatment use

All Tara Smith products do not contain:

• Parabens
• Sodium Laureth Sulphate (SLS)
• Glycols
• Phthalates
• PEGs
• Artificial colouring
• Synthetic fragrance
• Animal derivatives

Products I got sent are the Big Baby shampoo and conditioner and the Top Coat Glosser.

Big Baby Shampoo (£3.75 - 100ml, £6.50 - 250ml)

"Gently clarifying shmpoo for babies and grown ups with Aloe Vera leaf juice. This very gentle shampoo contains both Aloe Vera leaf juice, to provide the hair with moisture, plus the active ingredient from Chamomile to soothe and calm sensitive scalps."

The first thing I noticed about this product is that a little goes a long long way and I used way too much! It lathers up really well, in fact it lathers up better than any other shampoo I've ever used but it did leave my hair with a few knots. After my hair felt light and it smelt really clean and fresh.

Big Baby Conditioner (£3.75 - 100ml, £6.50 - 250ml)

"For light and gentle conditioning with Chamomile extract. This conditioner combines the active ingredient of Chamomile with Aloe Vera leaf juice to soothe and moisturise, while Marine Algae softens hair to make it easy to manage."

I generally need to use a good amount of conditioner as I have really thick, wavy hair and it needs a good moisture boost. This isn't as thick as some conditioners I've used but I think, if anything, I used less but it went further and it sorted out my knots no problem. The soothing chamomile scent smells lovely and after my hair was left feeling light and not coated like some products can make your hair feel.

Top Coat Glosser (£8.99 - 100ml)

"Set the style add the shine with organic Sweet Orange. A top coat finishing spray for all hair types to add instant shine and the delicious delicate scent of organic Sweet Orange."

I have used shine sprays before but I wouldn't say I particularly like them. My hair is quite shiny anyway so I don't feel the need to buy sprays to make it even shinier. Going off on a slight tangent here but I love how the bottle contains no metal so that it's 100% recyclable and it has a groovy little pump! But back to the product, it is fragranced with sweet orange and smells gorgeous! I used about 5/6 pumps of this all over my hair and it left my hair with a lovely healthy shine.

My super shiny hair

My hair after using only Big Baby shampoo, conditioner and Top Coat Glosser

I didn't use any styling products after washing my hair to see the true effect of these products and my hair is left feeling light, smooth, soft, manageable and it smells gorgeous!

After using these 3 products I would without doubt purchase them myself and recommend them to others. I would also use other products in the range which includes:

• Base Coat Serum
• Feed the Root shampoo & conditioner
• Straight Away shampoo & conditioner
• C Curl shampoo & conditioner

Tara Smith is available to buy from Cult Beauty and Bodycare 2000.

PLEASE REMEMBER - EVEN THOUGH I RECEIVED THIS TO REVIEW I HAVE GIVEN MY 100% HONEST OPINION

If you won £10,000.....

Just a quick fun post....I'm currently watching Loose Women and if you enter their competition you could win £10,000 and this got me thinking....what would you buy if you won £10,000?

The possibilities are endless but here is my list:

• Pay off my debts - ok it's only my mum and dad who bought me my computer when I was at uni as my laptop kept breaking
• A holiday for me and the boyfriend - we've been together almost 5 years and have never been on holiday together! Yes, shocking I know!
• New things for my house. My Next wishlist can be found here but it includes a new sofa, a chair and some decorative bits and pieces
• A new fridge - we bought ours off our landlords and it's looking a little bit tired
• An iPad - no explanation needed!

So what would you buy?

New cosmetic launches

There have been a few new cosmetic launches this last week or so and this is a quick post to show you some of them.

Rimmel

Glam'Eyes Quad eye shadow - Available in 8 different colour combinations (£6.99)

Revlon

CustomEyes mascara - Available in 2 shades (£9.99)

No7

Triple Protection tinted moisturiser - Available in 3 shades (£12)

Bourjois

Limited Edition blush - Available in 6 shades (£7.49)

17

Vintage Eye Palette - Available in 2 colour combinations (£5.49)

New shades of blusher, nail polish and lipgloss also available.

Collection 2000

Skyscraper Length and Definition mascara - Available in 2 shades (£4.99)


Are you planning on buying any of these or have you already? What do you think?


Stockists
Rimmel, Revlon, Collection 2000 & Bourjois - Available from Boots and Superdrug
No7 & 17 - Available exclusively at Boots

Hero product - Vaseline Lip Therapy

Ok, I have previously mentioned that I'm not a fan of Vaseline lip therapy tins but with the launch of their cocoa butter tin late last year I changed my mind.

Ever since the launch of the original vaseline lip therapy these little tins have been flying off the shelves and many people see them as a must have for their handbag. There have been a few additions to the range including the green tin (aloe vera), the yellow tin (spf, I believe this is discontinued), the pink tin (rosy) and most recently the brown tin (cocoa butter).

Vaseline have also introduced new lip therapy sticks where you can buy your favourite variety but in a formulation like a lip balm. This appeals more to me.

 Image from: Google Images

Are you a fan of these little tins? Which is your favourite one? Will you be trying the stick formulations?

Haul - York & more

Just a quick post to show my recent purchases and what I got from York when I went on Tuesday.

Savers and Home Bargains

From Savers I bought 2 dental flossers, yes I admit this is boring, but they are really good! I normally buy Wisdom ones but these were only 59p or something so I thought I'd give them a go. The floss is on the end of the handle and it makes it really easy to get to the back teeth or if your teeth are close together and normal flossing is hard. Oh and the floss is on replaceable heads incase you were thinking that it sounds unhygienic!

And from Home Bargains I picked up 3 Montagne Jeuness face masks which were on offer at 3 for £2! I got 2 chocolate and 1 white chocolate. You can win a chocolate one as well as other goodies if you enter my 100 followers giveaway which can be found here!

Beauty Expert

I had £10 in Tesco clubcard vouchers to use and in their clubcard rewards scheme you can now exchange them for vouchers for Beauty Expert. For every £5 you have in Tesco vouchers you get double the value in Beauty Expert vouchers. So for my £10 I got £20!

I was spoilt for choice about what to get and as I'm on a spending ban I didn't want to put much money towards my purchase but I found this little starter kit from Ren for £19. I have been wanting to try this brand for a while so this gave me the perfect opportunity to do so. And it was free!

Boots

In my local store they had Soft and Gentle deodorant on clearance at only 97p so I picked up a can and they currently have all skincare on 3 for 2 so I used my points and got the new Garnier Intensive 7 days body lotion in mango (£2.99), Nivea pure and natural cleanser and Nivea pure and natural toner (both £3.36).

Also on clearance was Eylure body tape, Babyliss straightener brush and Mavala nail polish remover pads.

Boots and Zest

I should have took these photo's separately but never thought, I don't feel very well today so you'll have to forgive me!

From Boots I got Sanctuary moisturiser and toner (both with £5 off as I used my facial skincare vouchers). I wanted the face wash too but the Boots in York was out of stock :-( And I got the 17 photo finish face primer (this was free as my mum got this for me!) Sorry for the bad light on that product too.

And from Zest, which is one of those tiddly little shops crammed with discontinued cosmetics, I got a Sally Hansen Kwik Off nail polish pot (I already have the Apricot one and love it) and a Wet n Wild mineral foundation in fair (again I have one of these but it's in medium).

The Gift Company

I've been looking for decorative things for my bathroom for ages and in the shop window this little pelican caught my eye and I had to have it! It was £7 and my mum bought me the matching boat but I'm getting that for Easter.

Daisy Taylors

Daisy Taylors is a cute little gifty type shop in York and they sell some really pretty stuff. I got a little basket (£3.99) which I knew would come in handy, only problem is that I've forgot what I wanted it for!

And I bought my friend a gorgeous card for her wedding (£4.90) and a cute little cat card (£1.99) for Chris's niece's birthday which is on saturday.


Have you bought any new goodies recently?

PTD - Challenge 37

This weeks challenge at Pear Tree Designs is to produce a card using one colour. You can use different shades but it must be the same colour! And I chose to use blue and here is my card:

The fairy is coloured a very light blue but it does look white on the photos.

Entries must be submitter by 4pm Sunday and you could win 5 digi images of your choice from Cardmadfairies Creations.

Good Luck!

The week that was...

This has been quite an eventful week! After I posted my last 'week that was post' I received an email from Elizabeth at The Best Beauty Buys to say that I had won her giveaway! The prize was a Dolce & Gabanna perfume rollerball set! I've never really tried D&G perfumes so these are a nice size as a try before you buy.

And I also got a lovely card and a lipgloss

Yesterday I also found out I've got a weeks holiday left over at work and 30 lieu hours so my boss has given me quite a few days off so next week I'm only working wednesday!

And also yesterday I got a letter saying I had a job interview! Yey! It's not exactly what I want but it's working in the area which I want to train in so it'll be a foot in the door! Excited much...never!

How was your week? Hope you all had a good one!

NOTD - Gosh Holographic

You're all probably fed up of seeing about this nail polish but I managed to get my hands on one, well 2 actually, a couple of weeks ago and here is what it looks like on:

Without flash

With flash

The second bottle can be won in my blog giveaway. Details can be found here!

GOSH is available from Superdrug and this polish, in Holographic, is £4.99.

Review - Batiste

A couple of weeks ago I was sent a can of the new Batiste hint of colour dry shampoo to review.

This is part of the new hint of colour collection from Batiste which comes in three shades: light and blonde hair, medium and brunette hair and dark and deep brown hair. As I have dark brown hair I chose the dark and deep brown option.

I love dry shampoo and would find it hard to live without but as I have dark hair I found it was easier to spray on before I went to bed to avoid that white root look int he morning but this product aimed to eradicate this. Batiste's press release says that:

"Batiste, the UK's No 1 Dry Shampoo Brand, have introduced a range of dry shampoos with a hint of colour specifically designed to complement your hair colour whilst instantly giving you clean, fresh hair full of body and texture. Left in at the roots, it's great for blending in regrowth on coloured or highlighted hair and can even disguise stray greys too."

Well what do I think? I have to say that I love this product! It is a lot less obvious than the normal white dry shampoos and I have even used this in the morning which is practically unheard of! The scent isn't overpowering and is quite subtle but it does reminds me of something so much, I just can't put my finger on what!

I also like the idea of it being used to disguise root re-growth on coloured hair and to cover up the odd grey hair.

I will continue to buy the other varieties of Batiste dry shampoo as I love the different scents but I will also definitely buy a can of this to use in the mornings.

Batiste dry shampoo with a hint of colour is available from Boots, Superdrug & other pharmacies & good retailers, with an RRP of £3.05.

PLEASE REMEMBER - EVEN THOUGH I RECEIVED THIS TO REVIEW I HAVE GIVEN MY 100% HONEST OPINION

Essie 'Becky's Wish' for Cowshed

Essie have joined forces with Cowshed to create a limited edition nail polish where all proceeds get donated to the Starlight Children's Foundation.

The polish is called 'Becky's Wish' and it's a gorgeous blue shade.

This costs £10 and is available now from Cowshed spa's and online.

Review - Sanctuary thermal detox face mask

I got this included in my Sanctuary offer of the week at Boots before christmas but I've only just recently given it a whirl.

I am a fan of charcoal and thermal face masks as I have combination skin and it helps to balance excess oil and draw out any nasty impurities.

I got a sample sachet of face mask but there was plenty in it. If Id have used it a little more sparingly I'd say I could have got 2 applications out of it easily. The consistency was very very thick and as it is charcoal it was a dark grey colour (sorry my photo of this has disappeared). I left it on for, like it suggests, 5 minutes and then rinsed it off with warm water. It left my skin feeling very soft and not shiny or looking oily. 

I would use this again but I would perhaps get the larger tube as a little goes a long way.

This is available from Boots and is £10.20 for a 100ml tube or £2.03 for a 15ml sachet the same as what I had.

Haul - Make up

Just before christmas my mum's friend gave me some make-up which she couldn't use as they irritated her eyes so this is a quick post showing what she gave me.

Une eyeshadow - £9.29

Maxfactor Masterpiece silver cream eyeshadow - £6.99

Barry M silver metallic liquid eyeliner - £4.79

Barry M blue metallic liquid eyeliner - £4.79

Barry M pink liquid eyeliner - £4.79

Une is a fairly newish brand which is available in Superdrug and Boots where 98-100% of the ingredients used are derived from natural origins and the products are free from mineral oils, genetically modified organisms, artificial colours and synthetic fragrances. But when I looked on the back of the eyeshadow I was intrigued to see it was actually made by Bourjois!

Have you used any of these? What do you think?

A'Kin now available at Boots!

I'm relatively new to the brand of A'Kin which is mainly because I don't really know many places which sell it but it's just become the little bit more accessible as Boots have started stocking certain items.

Photos from The Purist Company

Body products include: body wash, body scrub, hand & nail cream
Skincare products include: cleanser, toner, moisturiser, mask
Hair products include: shampoo, conditioner, intensive conditioner
And many many more!

Have you tried any A'Kin products? Which ones would you recommend?

PTD - Challenge 35

This weeks challenge at Pear Tree Designs is to create a Valentines day inspired card. I haven't really got much valentines/love supplies but last week we were supplied with images from that sponsor so I used the cute teddy bear digi image and here is what I created:

You can win a goody bag from One Stop Card Crafts so get your entries in by 4pm Sunday.

Good Luck!

Happy Valentines Day!

Images borrowed from weheartit