Wednesday Wishlist - 3

Murad Vitalic Set for Combination Skin - £25.00

Pop Shine Decline Primer - £16.00

Curve Fit and Flare Dress in Fairisle Print - £28.00

All available from ASOS

What Are You Wearing?

You may have seen my post a few days ago about how I was asked to do a post for Voucher Codes UK on their What Are You Wearing blog and for some reason it wasn't uploaded right and photo's were missing, well.......this has since been rectified and as means of apology I got an ASOS voucher (this makes Karla a very happy blogger!) So thank you to Voucher Codes UK for sorting out the post and for the voucher!

To read my post click here!

The week that was...

It's been a while since I wrote one of these posts so thought I'd post one today!

I've just about managed to unpack all my stuff and get things sorted. I also have sorted out cancelling/sorting out final bills for utilities and stuff so I think I can relax about everything now!

I also left my second job last week so I now have every weekend free :-)

I'm still finding time to blog very hard so there will be a lack of posts over the next week or so, sorry about this.

And finally hope you all have an amazing Bank Holiday weekend!

Oh and check out Hannah's blog, she's new to the whole blogging thing so show her some love!

Source

Review - Montagne Jeunesse face mask

I won this face mask in Glamour magazines monthly giveaway in May and as I had never seen this one in the shops I couldn't wait to try it out.

The face mask I got is an anti-blemish variety which is good as I seem to have a slightly spotty face at the moment (stress induced I think). This contains rosemary, witch hazel and other ingredients and it smells amazing! It is a thick consistency and there was loads of it, you could possibly get two applications out of this sachet.

You simply smooth the 'mud' onto your face, let it dry and then wash off. Afterwards my skin was left soft and smoothed. I'm not sure if my skin had cleared up but most importantly it hasn't brought out more spots which in my view is always good!

NOTD - Bourjois Bleu Model

This is part of the new neon collection from Bourjois and when I saw them I couldn't wait to get my hands on some of the colours. Bleu Model is a turquoise shade which is perfect for the summer months.

It took two coats to achieve this opaque look but I think another coat would be needed for the perfect block colour effect.

What makes you feel sexy?

Superdrug recently commissioned a survey to find out what makes a woman feel sexy. They surveyed 2,000 women and here are the top 20 results:

1. Applying their favourite perfume
2. Wearing a big happy smile
3. Paint nails
4. Getting their hair coloured or highlighted
5. Spend hours straightening their hair
6. Cleavage on show
7. Indulge in a long hot bath
8. Legs on show
9. Wearing a push-up bra
10. Pedicure feet
11. Apply heavy eye make-up
12. Exercise religiously
13. Spend hours curling hair
14. Wear red lipstick
15. Wear a tight fitting top
16. Waxing from head to toe
17. Applying fake tan
18. Wearing false eyelashes
19. Wearing a short skirt
20. Adorn tons of jewellry

The survey also found that 71% of women were left feeling glowing after being given a compliment by a stranger and only 7% said they felt sexy everyday of their lives. On average women said they spent 35 minutes getting ready for a date compared to just 10 minutes getting ready for work.

Do you agree with this survey? What makes you feel sexy?

 Source

Full article can be found here.

Wednesday Wishlist - 3

Soap & Glory

Peaches and Clean Cleansing Milk - £6.00

Deep Pore Purifying T-Zone wipes - £4.00

Available from Boots

 Good Things Bodycare

Range available from Sainsbury's

'Facing' the facts - our make-up habits

A recent poll conducted by shopping channel QVC has found that one in three women never leave the house without make-up on! They also found that 23% then reapply it just two-three hours after being out.

They also found that a third of women in Yorkshire said that putting on their make-up is the most important part of their day and women in the north-west think about their appearance at least once every hour which is more than any other region. Women from the north-east also admitted that their make-up habits hadn't changed since they first started wearing make-up.

This got me thinking about me and my beauty regime. I think I was about 15 when I first started wearing 'proper' make-up. By this I mean foundation, mascara etc. My first foundation was a solid foundation which you applied using a sponge and it was by Avon. I also started wearing lipstick by Rimmel which was Metallic Shimmer and for some reason I also used to wear lilac eyeshadow and in particular a rollerball eyeshadow from Maybelline! I then started wearing No7 tinted moisturiser after my skin started playing up. Today I don't think I use any product that I used to use when I was younger and I think this is due to a number of factors; my skin's changed, it's not as oily which I think is due to a good skincare regime, I've become more confident in doing my own make-up and experimenting and because I can now afford 'quality' products which suit me better. Oh and because things become discontinued!

This poll also reminded me of a woman who told me how she's used Maxfactors Creme Puff since she was 15 and she was now in her 60's! So how has your beauty regime changed over the years? What products did you used to use when you first started wearing make-up?

Full article can be found here.

 Source

NOTD - No7 Tangy

As the sun was shining I decided to choose a summery nail polish colour and settled on the new No7 polish in Tangy.

This is an orange shade but in some lights it's a more pinky orange, almost a coral. It also matched my skirt really well too!


I would strongly recommend that you use a base coat with this polish as when I took it off my nails were left a stained yellow colour, not good.

The week that was....

I wasn't going to write a post this week as my internet was meant to be cut off on Friday as I'm moving but as it's still on (this is a scheduled post by the way, written yesterday) I thought I'd do a quick one.

So yes today is moving day, I've got most of my stuff out, there's just my bed and last miunte stuff to pack and some random odd bits and then I've got to clean it. I'm going to have a busy week next week as I have to unpack and I'm starting work at 8am everyday so that will mean 5.30am alarms and I'm working my last saturday too, phew! And I'm meant to be going out saturday night. At this rate it'll be lucky if I can stay awake long enough!

A while ago I used an anti-cellulite product by Dead Sea Source (I think the range is now discontinued) and I was really impressed with it but to my horror it was no longer available in Boots. Today, well it'll be yesterday now, I nipped into Savers as I was down that end of town and it was in there! And it was at the bargain price of £1.99 instead of £6.99 or whatever it was! I would recommend people try this if they're looking for a similar product. A photo of the product can be found on the second picture down on this post.

I've scheduled a few posts for the next couple of weeks as I'm not sure when I'll be able to write as I'm going to be rather busy so I hope you'll enjoy reading them and I will be reading all your comments but may be slow in replying.

Finally I was featured as a guest blogger on Sabrina's blog. To read the post click here:

 Have a fab week!

Part 5 - Ghosts of perfumes future

This is the final part in my fragrance mini series and it's which perfumes I want to buy in the future.

Oh Lola - Marc Jacobs

Super G - Harajuku Lovers (Gwen Stefani)

 Information on these can be found in a previous post here.

212 VIP - Caroline Herrera

30ml (£31.00), 50ml (£43.50), 80ml (£60.26)

Top notes: Passionfruit, Rum

Middle notes: Gardenia, Musk

Base notes: Tonka Bean, Vanilla

So this is the last post in my mini series, I hope you've enjoyed it! Please tell me which perfumes you're currently lusting after and if you have any questions please feel free to ask away in the comments below and I'll try my hardest to answer!

Part 4 - Ghosts of perfumes present

Next up in my mini series is which perfumes I'm currently wearing and loving. I have to admit I don't wear perfume that often as I'm not supposed to wear it for work (I work in a hospital) but I do have quite a few bottles!

L'Elixir Hypnotic Poison - Christian Dior

Notes: Liquorice, Star Anise, Jasmine, Vanilla

Taj Sunset - Escada

Top notes: Blood Orange, Nectarine, Mango

Middle notes: Lotus, Raspberry, Waterlily, Star Apple

Base notes: Coconut, Sandalwood, Musk

DKNY Delicious Candy Apple - DKNY

Top notes: Lime, Granny Smith Apple, Raspberry

Middle notes: Magnolia, Peony, Sweet Notes

Base notes: Coca Cola

Which perfumes are you currently wearing and which types do you prefer? Personally I love fruity, sweet scents, any recommendations?

Part 3 - Ghosts of perfumes past

Whilst writing my post on new perfumes I got thinking about which perfumes I first stared to wear years ago and which ones I used to love!

Escada 2005 - Escada

Top notes: Blackcurrant, Nectarine, Green Leaves, Cassia, Cucumber, Bergamot, Lemon

Middle notes: Peony, Magnolia, Orange Blossom, Freesia, Jasmine, Lily of the Valley, Rose

Base notes: Orris, Sandalwood, Amber, Patchouli, Musk, Vanilla Tangerine

Live - Jennifer Lopez

Top notes: Pineapple, Lemon, Italian Orange

Middle notes: Violet, Peony, Redcurrant Blossom

Base notes: Sandalwood, Tonka Bean, Caramel

 Sui Love - Anna Sui

Top notes: Japanese Osmanthus, Passionfruit, Orange, Sicilian Bergamot

Middle notes: Orange Blossom, Tuberose, Violet, Pink Pepper, Rose, Jasmine, Waterlily

Base notes: Vanilla, Nutmeg, Musk


So can you guess what I'm going to ask?!? What were your first perfumes that you used to wear?

Part 2 - New perfume launches

Next up in my perfume mini series is new perfume launches. It's been a while since I've done one of these posts so I thought as I'm slightly lacking in inspiration at the moment for blogging topics I would focus on perfume which I don't blog about too much.

Fan di Fendi - Fendi (EDP)

30ml (£39.95), 50ml (£57.00), 75ml (£69.00)

Top notes: Tangerine, Blackcurrant, Pear

Middle notes: Jasmine, Tuberose, Rose

Base notes: Patchouli, Leather

Flower Tag - Kenzo (EDT)

30ml (£31.00)

Top notes: Mandarin, Blackcurrant, Rhubarb

Middle notes: Jasmine, Lily of the Valley, Peony

Base notes: Musk, Vanilla, Tea

Reb'l Fleur - Rihanna (EDT)

30ml (£20.00), 50ml (£30.00)

Top notes: Peach, Plum, Red Berries

Middle notes: Tuberose, Violet, Coconut, Hibiscus

Base notes: Musk, Patchouli, Amber, Vanilla

CK One Shock - Calvin Klein

50ml (£23.00), 100ml (£34.00), 200ml (£48.00)

Top notes: Passion Flower, Poppy, Peony

Middle notes: Jasmine, Narcissus, Mexican Chocolate, Blackberry

Base notes: Musk, Patchouli, Amber, Vanilla

Super G - Harajuku Lovers (Gwen Stefani)

30ml (£20.00)

Top notes: Tangerine, Pineapple

Middle notes: Freesia, Banana

Base notes: Musk, Vanilla, Raspberry

Oh, Lola - Marc Jacobs

30ml (£37.00), 50ml (£47.00), 100ml (£63.00)

Top notes: Wild Strawberry, Pear, Raspberry

Middle notes: Cyclamen, Peony, Magnolia

Base notes: Sandalwood, Tonka Bean, Vanilla

Are there any new perfumes which have caught your eye? Let me know in the comments below! And the next post in my mini series will be posted tomorrow so stay tuned!

Part 1 - Fragrance: what's it all about?

I decided to do a mini series of posts on perfume and fragrance. I don't talk about perfume too much but it can be an absolute minefield why trying to decide what type you like, what strength, where do you spray it etc etc etc. So todays post is a basic guide on all of the above.

What is a fragrance type?
When I worked for a beauty retailer and people asked me advice on fragrance one of the first questions I asked them was 'what type of fragrance do you normally wear?' and this was mainly greeted by a blank expression. There are many different types of fragrance and these are sorted into classifications. Since 1945 the majority of perfumes fall into one of the modern classifications:

• Bright floral - floral bouquet e.g. Estee Lauder - Beautiful
• Green - cut grass & cucumber e.g. Calvin Klein - Escape (for men)
• Ozone - clean e.g. Davidoff - Cool Water
• Citrus - lemon, grapefruits e.g. Calvin Klein - CK One
• Fruity - fruits other than citrus e.g. Jimmy Choo - Jimmy Choo
• Gourmand - edible scents such as vanilla, tonka bean e.g. Thierry Mugler - Angel
• Oriental - sweet animal scents from the middle and far east e.g. YSL - Opium

 Source

How do the scents work together?
To make a fragrance a number of oils are blended together to make the finished product. These are added in different quantities depending on how strong they are and what overall fragrance you want to create. These are normally described as notes.

There are three different categories of notes: top, middle and bottom.

• Top notes - these are what you smell first when spraying perfume. They evaporate quickly and these are normally what you form an opinion on. Generally they last for between 5 and 30 minutes
• Middle notes - these begin to come through after the top notes. These are sometimes called the 'heart' notes as they form the main body of the fragrance. These last for between 10 to 30 minutes
• Base notes -  these are the last scents to come through. They are often heavy, rich and deep scents which you begin to smell around 30 minutes after application

 Source

What's the difference between EDP and EDT?
There are many different strengths of perfume and each lasts a different amount of time. The larger the amount of perfume oil the longer it will last:

• Eau Fraiche - 3% perfume oil or less
• Eau de Cologne -  2-5% perfume oil
• Eau de Toilette -  4-10% perfume oil
• Eau de Parfum - 8-15% perfume oil
• Parfum - 15-25% perfume oil

So eau Fraiche is the weakest formulation and Parfum is the strongest.


Where should I spray perfume?
To make your fragrance last longer you should spray it onto your pulse points: behind your ears, base of the throat, the bend of your elbows. If you apply it to your wrists don't rub them together as this will crush the different notes and you won't get the full scent.

Also to prolong the scent layering is key. This involved using the matching perfumed body lotion, shower gel, deodorant and other products. Not all scents have a bodycare line but Chanel do the most complimentary products.


Why does a perfume smell lovely on my friend but not on me?
So you've tried a perfume which smells gorgeous on your friend but on you it smells awful, if you can smell it at all. You assume you've tried a different variety because why the difference in scent but in fact every fragrance will smell different on each person.

Everyone has a different skin chemistry and the different oils in the skin will 'react' to different scents in different ways, this is why perfumes will smell different on people.


I tried a perfume how long should I wait before deciding to purchase it?
It is so easy to try a fragrance, get hit by the top notes, buy it and then half an hour later can't smell it on you any more. As a rule I would wait at least an hour when trying a perfume so that all the notes will have had a chance to come through. Personally I would wait 24 hours before making a final decision on purchasing a fragrance


How do I store my perfume?
To make you fragrance last store it in a cool room away from direct sunlight. Perfume does go off so if you've had a bottle for a long time test it on your wrist before spraying it all over, trust me there's nothing worse than dousing yourself in your favourite perfume only to find it's gone off and you smell like cat piddle. By spraying it on your wrist you can wipe it off using soap or a face/baby wipe.

Source

I hope this has cleared up a few things for you and if you have any questions leave them below and I'll try my hardest to answer them. In the mean time this mini series will continue all this week so please keep reading!

The week that was....

So my week off has flown by but I've been quite productive.

Monday I took my friend to Nandos for her birthday. She'd never been before so I took her as I'm always going on about how amazing it is!

Tuesday me and and mum went to York on a little shopping trip! It was nice to go and have a reasonable amount of money to spend rather than only £20. My haul post can be found here! I also arranged to have my windscreen chip fixed but when the Autoglass man put the resin in it cracked even more so I had to have a full replacement which got done on Thursday.

I did loads of packing this week and almost everything is now packed, just got to take some stuff to the tip and finish packing the stuff I'm using and then I'm done.

I also had a really exciting email about taking part in a blogger series on a website which is, well, really exciting! And I also had an email asking me to do a guest post for an amazing blog but I'll tell you more about that nearer the time. Needless to say I was very honored to be asked!

And I'm not going to do a whole blog post on it but I also picked up Septembers mags with the free gifts: Marie Clare (Ciate nail polish and Dove conditioner), Elle (Mavala nail polish) and Red (Balance Me shower Gel).

And finally this an article that was on Yahoo! comparing branded and non-branded beauty products, click here to have a read.

Haul - Clothes & more!

On Tuesday I went to York for a shopping day out with my mum and it was nice going and having money to spend for a change. And as I'm moving back home soon I could afford to spend a little more than I normally would have so here is what I bought.

New Look

Floral print top - £12.99

Bird print top - £9.99

 

Rusty coloured t-shirt - £6.99

Also bought:

Skinny jeans - £9.99

Black trousers - £12.99

Next

Stripe t-shirt - £18

Stripe jumper - £16

 Grey jumper - £18

Marks & Spencer

Purple button shoe boots - £29.50

 These are much nicer in real life and they are so comfy.

Superdrug and Boots

Africa bronzer - £2.99 (from a little shop called Zest)

MUA heaven and earth palette - £4 (Superdrug)

Little White Lies tanning lotion - £9.99 (Boots)

Mama Naked stretch mark cream - £4 or 2 for £5 (Boots)

 

 Paperchase

Butterfly letter tray - £7.00

Argos

Bush freeview recorder - £99.99 (was £149.99)

So there is my massive haul, oh and I also bought two books! Have you bought anything lately? Let me know in the comments below!

Product use up

This months product use up had been really important as I am moving in a couple of weeks so I've needed to really try hard in using up my part used products and I think I've done really well as I've finished a huge 25 products!

I'm not going to name them all because the post would be like a million miles long but there is a mixture of haircare, skincare and bodycare. 

How have you done this month?