Models Own Haul

Hey guys, if you read my blog already you may remember me posting a nail of the day a few weeks ago featuring Models Own Beth's Blue which I bought along with four other polishes when the 50% off sale was on a few weeks ago. I finally received my 2 faulty replacements yesterday so I thought I'd share what I picked up with you.

Left-Right: Beth's Blue, Pink Fizz, Champagne, Smash-Up Black and Grace Green.

L-R: Beth's Blue, Pink Fizz, Champagne, Smash-Up Black with Champagne Base and Grace Green. Two coats applied.

Polishes and swatches in natural daylight.

Polishes and swatches with flash.

 Overall, I was really pleased with what I chose as I was kind of missing an element of each colour in my collection. I didn't have a blue I really liked, no glitter, gold or green and no crackle...I know I'm really, stupidly late on the bandwagon with that last one but I'd never really been that won over by the whole crackle craze.

I personally love Models Own nail polishes because the formulas are really pigmented and generally smooth to apply. What do you think of their nail polishes and did you pick anything up when they had the 50% promo on?

September Glossybox

I'm sure most of you in the UK will of heard about Glossybox by now (if not click here) and to be honest I only subscribed recently because the last few months boxes contained products that I'd been desperate to try or already used...needless to say I was pretty gutted I missed out! 

In a nutshell, Glossybox is a monthly subscription of £10.00 plus P+P where you receive 5 luxury miniature products. I'm pretty sure the Glossybox concept is available in other countries aside from the UK but maybe offered by a different company...you non-UK beauties would have to confirm that though!?

As you can see from my first box, the packaging is absolutely gorgeous and definitely gives off that luxurious feel that you'd expect when receiving premium products.

 So this is what I got in my first ever box which was the September 2011 box. I'm not quite sure why it looks like somethings missing out of there, great example of my not so fantastic photo arrangement skills haha! If you are interested in finding out more about what I received carry on reading :-)

Rahua Shampoo

What it claims to do: Cleanses to create healthy, lustrous, bouncy hair and is ideal for colour-treated hair. Rich with organic and 100% natural ingredients, Rahua oil fortifies weak, damaged strands while nourishing and regenerating the scalp and hair follicles – allowing for hair to grow longer and stronger.

I have dry, curly, frizzy BUT surprisingly manageable hair naturally and this did nothing for me whatsoever. It dried out my hair beyond belief and there was literally no lather whatsoever which I think should pretty much be a given with any shampoo! I also hated the smell which I can only describe as medicinal?

Rahua Conditioner

What it claims to do: Protects to create manageable, soft hair without any build-up — and is ideal for color-treated hair. Rich with organic and 100% natural ingredients, it allows hair to grow longer and stronger. Rahua oil fortifies weak, damaged strands while nourishing and regenerating the scalp and hair follicles. 

Again, this was a bit of a let down for me. I didn't like the smell again and it didn't make any significant difference to my hair in terms of helping damaged strands which I have pleeeenty of! 

Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm

What it claims to do: Effectively cleanses skin without stripping, to leave it radiant, soft and silky-smooth. Hungarian Moor mud, rich in calcium and magnesium carbonates, swiftly removes impurities and make-up. Sweet almond oil replenishes skin to leave it soft and silky. Mineral Cosmetology, a patented mineral delivery system, leaves skin firmer, more supple and younger-looking.

 I doubt this will be replacing any of my usual cleansers at £46 for a 50ml tub!! :-0 But I was grateful of the chance to try it out nevertheless lol. I don't think this is exactly ideal for my skin either as it contains a variety of different oils which is exactly what I have to avoid to prevent me breaking out. 

  

Plum Eau De Parfum by Mary Greenwell

Top notes of plum, blackcurrant, peach, bergamot and lemon blend with heart notes gardenia, tuberose absolute, orange flower absolute, rose absolute and jasmine absolute and a base of precious woods, sandalwood, oakmoss, patchouli, amber and white musk.

I do love little sample bottles of perfume, as there great for nights out. However, this is quite strong for my liking and I don't think this is something I would wear on a regular basis, it reminds me a bit of Joop for some reason and I'll probably end up passing this onto my Mum as it smells exactly like something she would wear.

Huile Prodigieuse Dry Oil

What it claims to do: A unique super activated formula combines 30% Precious Plant Oils and Vitamin E to nourish, repair and soften face, body and hair. Face and body are left beautifully soft and moisturised, whilst hair is supple and glossy.

This will come in handy for those times when I've missed a spot when moisturising my body e.g. my poor elbows and knees! Whether I'd use this on my hair, I don't know but seeing as I'm in a lazy phase of wearing it au naturale bush woman style this is something I may try to tame my frizzy curls...I'll let you know how it goes :-)

 HD Brows Eye & Brow Palette

Of all the products in this months box that I felt about mehh about, this absolutely made up for all of them...I love it! There's a great shade range and the fact it doubles up as eyeshadow and eyeliner is really handy.

 Overall I'm pleased I signed up and I don't think £10 a month is bad at all for receiving potentially brilliant products such as the HD Eye & Brow Palette which by the way was a full size product that normally retails at £19.95!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the whole Glossybox concept and if you know of any alternative concepts...what can I say I just love hoarding samples! Have a great week :-)

NOTD: Muted Polka Dots

Just thought I'd share another little quick and easy nail art design I'm currently rockin...so easy that I was able to do the right hand fairly quickly with my unloved left hand and no mistakes!

I know the dots aren't exactly uniform but I didn't want them to be if I'm honest, I'm more of a go with the flow kinda girl. I used a really old but surprisingly good, Collection 2000 nail polish in black and one of my fave nail polishes ever, Models Own Nude Beige.

This is pretty much all I used minus clear base and top coats, the dotting tool came in a pack of 5 from an eBay seller in China and they cost me about £2.50...you could just use the end of a hair pin but for that price I thought I may as well buy specific nail tools and you can obviously create many more designs other than simple polka dots (plus I tend to lose hair pins all the time so I don't fancy wasting them on my nails!).

 Hope you've enjoyed this post anyways, have a great week :-)

Easy Peasy Fruity Frenchies

I'm not a big nail art person but with so much time on my hands at the moment I've quickly become obsessed with googling all sorts of nail art designs, anyways I thought I'd have a dabble myself and share my first attempt with you :-) 

 I've seen tons of gorgeous designs using these fimo fruit pieces but as I've literally never experimented with nail art I decided to take rather small babysteps and start off with something quite basic and easy to acheive. It's not exactly a work of art what I created but I was relatively pleased considering my inexperience! If you want to know how I did this, read on :-)

Step-by-Step

1. Make sure nails are clean and filed to your desired shape, you could use nail tips if your nails are quite short or you wanted something more dramatic.

2. Paint your nails with a clear base coat.

3.Once the base coat has dried, paint the tips (white bits) of your nails with a bright, fruity colour e.g. oranges, corals and yellows would work well.

4. Once the tips have dried, put a few blobs of nail glue on the corner tip of the nail and a few blobs down the side to create almost triangular section of glue (you only want this to take up a small section of the nail..say less than a ¼ of the entire nail).

5.Using a pair of tweezers, stick on the fruit slices and hold in place for a few seconds until they feel secure.

That's it :-) You should now have a fabulously fruity french manicure! 

Here's what I used:

1. Maybelline Salon Manicure Calcium Strengthener 

Available from most drugstores but I purchased two for 99p + 80p Postage from this eBay seller - Lippy Lounge

2. ELF Nail Polish in Mango Madness 

Available from: ELF Cosmetics 

3. Elegant Touch Brush On Nail Glue 

Available from: http://www.boots.com

4. Old Pair of Eyebrow Tweezers

5. Fimo Fruit Slices 

Available from various eBay sellers for under £2.00

In hindsight, I think I would either paint the whole nail one colour or use false tips as the effect is a teeny bit lost on the length of my nails...suppose that's the nature of
learning though! 

Hope you've enjoyed this anyways :-)

Clinique Haul/Review + Freebies :-)

Hey dolls, hope your all doing good? Just thought I'd share a quick review of some more Clinique products I purchased a few weeks ago as I think I've had more than enough time now to try and test etc! After trying a sample of the anti-blemish clarifying lotion I was pretty keen on trying out the formula for oilier skin as it hadn't really done much for me in that department, I also ordered the dramatically different moisturizing gel as I'd rediscovered a sample I had from years ago which I ended up finishing and loving finally!

Clarifying Lotion 4

I've been using this for a few weeks now and I have to say I'm not overly impressed by it taking into consideration the price of it. I use it after cleansing with a facial wash and whilst it does make my skin feel clean and smooth, I don't think it "sweeps away oil" as Clinique claim it does. 
 










As you can hopefully see...there isn't a huge difference in the amount of oil before and after using which is really disappointing considering this lotion is supposedly for very oily skin types. At £15.00 for a 200ml bottle, I think there are definitely better alternatives available for much less.

Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel As I'd mentioned earlier, I had a sample of this with about half left over and I have to admit that it had just been chucked into the bottom of a drawer and forgotten about for years. Anyways in an attempt to get rid of my hoards of samples, I used the rest of this up and discovered that it was actually a really good product.  I thought this would clog up my skin and make it feel oily and horrible like most "oil-free" moisturisers tend to do but I was pleasantly surprised. As it's a gel based formula it feels really lightweight but moisturises just enough.    Considering I normally pay around £6 for a moisturiser, this is way expensive at £28.50 for the 125ml size but I honestly think its kind of worth it and I'm the biggest cheapskate ever just for the record! A little definitely goes a long way and I think I may of even used a bit too much when I took the picture on the right.  Freebies!!!  If you've bought Clinique before you may be aware that they are quite generous with giving out free samples and when I ordered there was a bank holiday promo to receive 3 sample sized treats plus 2 extra samples with online orders...PLUS they also threw in an extra sachet sample.       I have to admit, I haven't actually tested out all the samples they sent as I haven't quite found a use for everything yet for example the Repairwear Laser Focus serum. From what they sent I've started using the All About Eyes Cream which I love :-) and the mini lipgloss which is surprisingly lovely - not too sticky and a really wearable colour considering it looks quite a deep shade of pink in the tube. I've also tried the High Impact Mascara which is anything but IMO...nothing comes close to Maybelline Colossal for me at the moment!  All products reviewed available from:  http://www.clinique.co.uk/   I think this will be my last haul for a short while as I am now only 2 weeks away from meeting my precious bubba and spending £50+ on skincare just isn't going to be an option from now on, not when I have nappies etc to buy!! So what have you lovelies been hauling recently and are you constantly searching for holygrail skincare products like me?!?

NOTD: Models Own Beth's Blue

I'm a big fan of Models Own nail polishes so I was obviously quite excited when I finally received my order from the 50% sale they held a few days ago, unfortunately two of the polishes I ordered will be going back...one of the bottles had cracked and broke and this one I'm wearing is basically faulty. So now I'm guess your thinking why is this nail of the day if it's faulty weirdo?! Basically I think I got a dodgy bottle as the formula was really gloopy and applied horrible but on the other hand I absolutely LOVE this colour, I think I've finally found a blue polish that suits me!! I'd say it is more of a purpley blue tone which is probably why its not as unflattering as other blues I've tried.

Was anyone else tempted by the 50% sale and if so let me know what gems you bought! As always I appreciate any comments so feel free to drop me a comment :-)

MAC Lipstick Cherry Popped!!

Just thought I would do a quick review of these MAC Cremesheen lipsticks I purchased a few weeks ago. If you've read my blog before you may be aware that I have only just started to dabble with lipstick hence why these are in fact my first ever MAC lipsticks :-) After googling tons of lipstick swatches, I plumped for a blueish pink shade called Creme Cup and a rosier, yellow toned pink called Fanfare.

Left-Right: Creme Cup and Fanfare.

L-R: Creme Cup and Fanfare swatches in daylight

L-R: Creme Cup and Fanfare swatches with flash.

 As you've probably gathered from the swatches and the name of the finish these are really creamy textured and leave a nice sheen on the lips which is great for people who are stuck on lipglosses like me.

Creme Cup in daylight.

Creme Cup with flash.

I love this shade purely because I'd been looking for a subtle blue toned pink but everything I'd tried seemed to be overly blue toned which doesn't look great against my skin tone. It's really buildable aswell so you can wear it as bold or subtle as you want.

Fanfare in daylight.

Fanfare with flash.

 One application of this is fairly close to my natural lip colour but again, it is very buildable. I do like this colour but I haven't quite got used to wearing it in the daytime yet...I just feel like my lips are standing out too much which I guess is to be expected when I normally only wear lipbalm or gloss!

Hope you've enjoyed this post, feel free to comment :-) I'd love to know what everyones favourite MAC lipstick or other branded lipstick is seeing as I'm such a lippie virgin!