A year of nail polish - September

Rimmel - Stormy Skies

MUA - Love Hearts

Bourjois

Models Own - Mirrorball Disco Inferno

Product use up: July - September

It's hard to believe that the next time I do a product use up post it will be the end of the year but this last 3 months I have done really well in using up my stash of products, here are my empties!

Deodorant - 5

Handcream - 2

Body scrub - 3

Dry shampoo - 2

Shower gel - 6

Make up remover - 2

Cleanser - 2

Face wash - 2

Shampoo - 2

Conditioner - 3

Face wipes - 3

Mouth wash - 1

Heat protection spray - 2

Hairspray - 1

Face mask - 2

Hair mask - 2

Face cream - 3

Total - 43 empties!

That's a huge amount of empties and I'm aiming to use up more in this last 3 months of the year, I do have certain products that have been open for quite a while that I want to finish by the end of the year so hopefully I'll get them finished by December 31st!

How's your product use up challenge going? Link me to your posts.

Revlon Quick Dry Base and Top Coat

I have to admit I rarely use base and top coat but that was until I used green nail polish and it dyed my nails, they looked like they'd gone mouldy!

As I love Revlon nail polished I thought that I'd try the base and top coat as they were also on offer at buy one get on half price - even better!

The base coat gave a nice coating on my nail and my coloured polish applied smoothly over the top. On the rare occasions where I did use a top coat I was always very careful to make sure my polish has fully dried before applying it to avoid any smudging. This didn't happen with the Revlon top coat. I applied quite a thin layer and it did dry very quickly.

My polish lasted a very long time. Normally my nails last a couple of days but with this top and base coat they lasted all week with no chips at all! Very impressive!

These ar both £6.49 each and available from Boots and Superdrug.

Wednesday Wishlist 21 - Next bedding

Natural Damask bedding set - £25-£55

Natural Rose bedding set - £30-£60

Coral Roses bedding set - £25-£55

Plum Flower bedding set - £25-£55

Bright Bird Print bedding set - £25-£55

Navy Rose Print bedding set - £25-£55

Red Rose Print bedding set - £30-£60

All available exclusively from Next.

Rimmel waterproof gel liner

I love Maybelline's gel liner and as I was running low I thought I'd try another gel liner from another brand. The one from Rimmel caught my eye.

The brush come as a part of the lid which screws out.

As for the liner itself I wasn't that impressed with it. It did seem quite pigmented when first applied but after a couple of hours it faded and did smudge a little.

Overall I wouldn't buy this again as I much prefer the Maybelline liner.

If you want to try this it's £6.49 and available from Boots and Superdrug.

Bath and Body Works shower gels

Since I got some Bath and Body Works shower gels back in June I've been itching to try them out and the first two I tried were Coconut Lime Breeze and Malibu Heat.

Coconut Lime Breeze is scented with, surprise surprise, coconut and lime! Unlike some products where the scents can sometimes smell synthetic this smelt like fresh coconut and lime which was really uplifting to use in the morning.

Malibu Heat is scented with pineapple, orange and coconut and it is a richer, more intense fragrance which I loved using at the end of the day as I found the scent relaxing. 

The shower gels in general are really good quality. A little goes a very long way and they lather up really well. The scent wafted round my bathroom and did last a long time.

Overall I am very impressed with these shower gels and will definitely be buying more, I just wish Bath and Body Works delivered to the UK!

Breakfast Scrub anyone?

I love finding a product that literally smells as good as it sounds and what's even better is finding one that smells good enough to eat!

Soap and Glory's Breakfast Scrub contains oats, shea butter, sugar and maple syrup to give it a gorgeous sweet scent that makes exfoliating something you want to do everyday just because it smells so good!

It's not the most coarse scrub I've used but it does give a good exfoliation, I had a tanning disaster which was soon fixed by using this!

Yet again this is another Soap & Glory that doesn't disappoint. I will certainly be repurchasing this when all my scrubs have been used and at £9.50 for 300ml from Boots it is the most expensive Soap & Glory scrub but it's the best one I've tried so well worth paying a little more for.

Which Soap & Glory scrub do you love?

Soap & Glory hair care

Whenever I buy a Soap & Glory product I know straight away that it'll be highly unlikely that I won't like it.

I had this Glad Hair Day shampoo for about a year or so before I got round to using it due to my huge stash of haircare products. 

It is a girly pink colour and smells lovely and fruity. when using this it's important to remember that a little really does go a long way as it foams up like crazy.

After washing my hair is left feeling fresh and clean and it even feels the same the day after washing.

So after shampooing I've been using the Glad Hair Day Intensive Conditioner for full, frizzy or fried hair. I have really thick hair that I straighten nearly everyday so I prefer to use thicker more intensive conditioners and this one sounded perfect.

I used the same amount of product as I would with a normal conditioner and rinsed off. My hair was left feeling moisturised and smoothed and was really easy to style.

Overall I am really impressed with both products and would repurchase them in a shot. Have you used either of these? What did you think?

They are both priced at £5.50 for a 250ml tube and are available from Boots. 

Soap & Glory Face Soap and Clarity

Yet another Soap & Glory product and yet another product I love!

I could slap myself as I had this for over a year before trying it and I've been missing out.

This is a 3-in-1 face wash as it cleans, smoothes and scrubs which the help of plum extract and little scrubby beads which help to get rid of all that nasty dirt sitting on your skin.

I've been using this every morning for the past month in the shower and it leaves my face feeling lovely and clean and the scrub isn't harsh at all so you can use it everyday without any risk of irritation.

The tube is 150ml and I'm halfway through mine after using it for a month so for £7 a tube this is great value!

Oh and next time you're in Boots make sure you pop on of these into your shopping basket!

Dove Nourishing Oil Care Conditioner

I got a little sample of this Dove Nourishing Oil Care Conditioner with a magazine way back last year but only got round to using it a few months ago and I have to admit I didn't expect to much from it as Dove isn't a brand I love but how wrong was I?!?

This conditioner contains two stripes of product: the gold stripe is a nutri-oil treatment which replenishes and nourishes your hair and the white stripes is a conditioner which prevents frizz and seals cuticles. The two stripe system makes this much more than a normal conditioner as it can be used as an intensive treatment which makes it 3 times more effective than a normal conditioner. 

I love using intensive conditioners but I hate having to wait around for it to work but with this Dove conditioner you leave it on for just 1 minute and hey presto you're left with gorgeous soft silky hair!

After my results with using the little mini I went out and bought a couple of full sized tubes which at £3.39 for a 180ml is a bargain! 

Have you used this? What did you think?

Review - REN T-Zone Balancing Day Fluid

REN is a more premium skincare brand which I have used before and loved.

They recently had an offer on their website where if you spent a certain amount you got a mini set of products free and some samples so I thought I would try out their T-Zone Balancing Day Fluid.

This was £26.00 for a 50ml pump bottle which is alot more than I normally spend on a moisturiser but I knew that it would be money well spent.

You need one pump of this for your face and it absorbs quickly and doesn't sit on your skin. It leaves my skin feeling matte and lasts all day. Since using this I haven't felt that my skin was slightly oily looking half way through the day which it has done when I've used other moisturisers.

If you have combination skin then try this out as I think you'll be as impressed as I am with it!

This is available from REN Online and you get 10% off your first order!

L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil

A hair oil is a hair oil isn't it? Hmm well maybe not.

I bought this a couple of months ago mainly because the sleek, glass packaging drew me in as it looks very professional.

It is a little pricey at £9.99 for a 100ml bottle but as I normally buy John Freida's serum which is £6.19 for a 50ml bottle this works out quite good value and it should last ages as you only need 2-3 pumps.

Recently my hair had been feeling quite dry and neglected so I went on a mission to inject some moisture and I saw this sat on my shelf unopened so it was the perfect time to try it out.

I washed my hair and towel dried it before rubbing 3 pumps of this between my hands and rubbing in my hair. I blow dried it before straightening and my hair was left feeling amazing! It was so soft, silky and glossy looking and the oil didn't leave my hair looking greasy like some others can. I will be using this for the next week every time I wash my hair to get it back into good condition.

The oil also comes in a variety for coloured hair and if you were thinking of buying either bottle I would highly recommend you do as I'm sure you'll be impressed with the results too.

You can buy this from Boots.

Review - Revlon Photo Ready Eye Primer and Brightener

Well I was left devastated when my Benefit Stay Don't Stray ran out and I tried to find a suitable replacement as I didn't fancy paying out for a new tube for Stay Don't Stray when I have a lack of Pennies right now and this little tube caught my eye.

I use this under my eyes to try to brighten my dark circles and on my eye lids as a primer for foundation and eye shadow. You need very little and it does come in a brush tube so you can paint it on. Personally I prefer to put it on my finger before applying it rather than painting it straight on to my eyes.

I find that it does brighten my skin but not as much as the Benefit product which I love but it does provide a nice primed surface for my eye make up to go on to. I like that it's in a brush rather than a pump as it means you get much less wasted product. 

I don't think I would buy this again but I will continue to use it until it runs out.

This costs £9.99 and is available from Boots and Superdrug.

Nail polish dupes - Greens

Green isn't a colour I wear that often but I seem to have acquired 3 different teal coloured polishes.

1. 17 - Exquisite - £2.99

2. Revlon - Ocean Breeze - £6.49

3. No 7 - Dollar - £7.00

I'm not a general fan of 17 nail polishes I've always found they chip easily but I love this deep green colour. The Revlon shade is a nice green for a summers night out and I haven't actually used the No 7 green yet but I think I'll be wearing it a lot in the winter months as it's a nice deep green.

Personally I would go for the Revlon or the No 7 polish as I don't get on with 17 polishes but as the colours are so similar I would say go with which ever brand you refer or choose depending on your budget.

Review - Spa Find Heavenly Hydration Mineralizing Body Lotion

I was sent a little pack of goodies from Spa Finder about a month or so ago and this little sample of body lotion was included. I have recently been trying to get back into the habit of using body lotion as my skin is crying out for a major moisture boost due to me being lazy and slacking on my bodycare routine.

This lotion was quite light in consistency which meant it sunk into the skin quickly and left it feeling silky soft. It also had a nice fresh scent but it wasn't overpowering and it actually finished off the whole bathing process really nicely! This is actually the best body lotion I've used in a long time and at £23.20 for a 400ml pump top bottle it's not too badly prices either!

Available from Shop for Spa.

Review - Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer

I'm a little late on the bandwagon with this one but after hearing all the rave reviews from other bloggers I decided to take the plunge and try this tittle beauty out.

The concealer says it has 16 hour wear and it is a medium to heavy coverage which is how I like my concealer as I have mega dark circles under my eyes. It comes in four shades and I got medium.

It does look a little dark on the swatch above but over my foundation it's the perfect match. As for coverage it does cover really well. I tend to apply one layer and then another over the top and then touch up through out the day but it does generally last all day. It would be my concealer or choice for a night out as it does have staying power.

This is £4.19 for a tube and is available from Boots and Superdrug.

The month that was..... August

Wow August has been and gone. It will soon be christmas before we know it.

August began with the Olympics ending. I was kind of sad that it finished as even though I didn't plan on watching much of it I watched something everyday and was really getting into it. The closing ceremony was really good and I stayed up to watch it all which meant that I spent the rest of the week catching up on sleep I missed!

I also redecorated my bedroom. I moved back home a year ago and decided it was time I had a change from turquoise that my mum decorated my room in when I left home last time! I decided on zebra print wallpaper and beige/light brown walls. Sounds horrible but I think you'll agree it looks pretty damn good!

I also got new storage boxes from Matalan for my shoes and handbags to go on top of my wardrobes but I could have done with another one as I had more stuff than I realised and I also got a cute flower laser cut light shade.

And I got a new curtain pole and new curtains but they're not that exciting!

I've also been at my new job a whole month now and I feel like I'm getting there with knowing stuff and multi tasking which can be quite hard in my job. But I'm still liking it so that's the main point!

And one last thing that happened this month is that my car lost it's plastic grille thing that sits in the front bumper. No idea where it went or how long it's been gone but a new one is on it's way to me from the power of eBay!

So that was my month, how was your August?

Oh and a quick piccy of a double rainbow I spotted out my bedroom window :-)