GLOSSY BOX - OCTOBER!

Oh my gosh, it's been so long I've almost forgot how to blog!  Laptop is still 'hibernating', but I after receiving this months Glossy Box I thought I would put my differences with this netbook aside, I HAD to blog about it.  I think it may be the kickstart I need to just get the hell on with it!  So first of all, here's all the items I received this month - wowza!


UH-MAZE.  Now I haven't included a photo of the product card, but it now included those little barcodes you can scan with your smartphone to get discounts on each product, nice touch I think.  The box contains as follows:

 

1. 15ml Dermalogica Age Smart Multivitamin Thermafoliant (WHAT a mouthful!)  - £40.50 full size price

2. 15ml Dermalogica Age Smart Multivitamin  Power Recovery Masque - £33.00 full size price

I'm not a big user of anti-aging products yet, but still so chuffed with these as I've always wanted to try Dermalogica, especially the face masks.

3. Leighton Denny Experts Nails in Babydoll - worth £11.00

Apologies for stubby fingers, my nails were in SOS mode so I have chopped them all off and I'm regrowing them!  I love love LOVE this colour, it's very similar to a pink pastel shade Model's Own polish I use regularly which has now gone a bit gloopy, so this has arrived in the nick of time for me (when my nails grow back anyway!)



 4. Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner in Moray -

worth £13.00.  My photos do not do this eyeliner justice, it is a lovely moss green with flecks of gold, and it really stays put, I managed the washing up without it coming off the back of my hand.

I've been expecting Stila to be included in the box at some point, as they recently returned to the UK with a new range and something to prove!  I have not tried any of the new stuff, though I was a big fan of their lipglosses during their original stint over here, so this eyeliner has definitely sparked my interest =)

5. Robert Piguart Eau De Parfum samples x3, Fracas, Visa and Calypso Full size £65.00

There is actually three samples in this bag which I didn't realise in my hurry to take photo's!  They are described as 'three signature scents from the most Parisian of fashion designers' .  Visa and Calypso are far too strong a scent for me, Fracas was more up my street with it's jasmine and lily of the valley scent - though I doubt I would pay £65.00 for it!

I did not include photographs of the final two products, but they were a teeny tiny Dermalogica Renewal Lip Complex (Full Size £22.00) and a nice wee black and burgandy Dermalogica cosmetic bag.  I am a sucker for lip products so the teeny lip cream will be gone within 3 days easily.

Well to summarize, I think this month's box is a showstopper, I will definitely use every single product or at least try it, the standout products for me are the eyeliner and nail polish - which are what really make it worth the money. 

What did everyone else get?  Will you use all the products?

GLOSSY BOX - AUGUST!

First up, I must apologise for my complete lack of attention to this blog for over a fortnight now.  My laptop has very tragically bit the dust and needs a new screen :-(.  My husband has a netbook which quite simply is not a viable alternative and I find uber infuriating to use!!!  Anyway I thought I would at least suck it up for the monthly Glossybox post, also so I can see what everyone else got!!  So here goes: 

So here's some close ups of what I got and a brief description of all:

MURAD TIME RELEASE ACNE CLEANSER 30ML
Sample size included in box, the full size 200ml version retails at £22.
"Now you can fight two stubborn skin concerns at the same time with the first patented time-release Anti-Aging Acne regimen clinically proven to reduce acne while diminishing fine lines and wrinkles. This high-performance solution includes an innovative anti-acne treatment technology that continues to work even after you rinse it off. Breakouts and wrinkles won’t stand a chance! Additional features and ingredients: Multi-active acne fighting system, featuring encapsulated Salicylic Acid technology, provides a sustained release that continues to treat acne, even after rinsing. Amino acids and Hyaluronic Acid bind moisture to skin while antioxidants neutralize free radicals to preserve a more youthful appearance"

Ok initially I was quite intrigued by this until I found out it was also an anti-ageing product.  At 24 years of age this is not something I think about, maybe I should?  Maybe I'm in denial about my need for such products? Ha!







AHAVA MINERAL BODY LOTION 40ML
Average R.R.P of £22.00 for 250ml, couldn't find a set price anywhere on a British website, and frankly was too lazy to keep searching!

"This quickly absorbed protective lotion pampers the body and keeps it feeling perfectly comfortable throughout the day. It revives the skin, leaving it softer and smoother. This quickly absorbed body lotion protects your skin with soothing aloe and richly moisturizing Dead Sea minerals." Not a big experimenter when it comes to body lotions, they just do not interest me - but I will give this a go.  I am still using the Weleda Pomegranate Oil from last months box which frankly I think is amazing, so will wait until I have finished that! DANIEL SANDLER JUMBO JET MASCARA FULL SIZE 15MLGenerally retails at around £15, not a brand I am familiar with however have seen it on Very.co.uk - and I am a complete mascara whore lover so this is the product I'm most chuffed with!

KMS CALIFORNIA COLORVITALITY SHINE & SHIELD FULL SIZE 150ML Found this retailing at £13.

"KMS California Color Vitality Shine and Shield heat protection and shine is infused with a combination of protective and regulatory oils that gives a brilliant shine and frizz control. It enhances the natural movement of the hair and protects from thermal tools.
KMS Color Vitality Shine and Shield is infused with Natural Native Ingredients, like lilac and ginger, to help calm the scalp and assists in gently cleansing the hair while protecting from UV Rays. This shine and shield also has Flavonoids to help protect against environmental influences."

I haven't used KMS California since I was a teenager buying their stuff from Home Bargains type stores, I remember the products being quite effective and smelling lush but would not pay full price for them.  This smells beautiful and I'm hoping will have some affect on my heavily coloured and heat styled hair!







REBEL NAILS NAIL WRAPS - TOES - R.R.P £7.99I couldn't find the particular design I had been sent on the Rebel Nails website, but it looks like a Tattoo style

Now I was very excited when I took these out the box as I've been waiting to try nail wraps for AGES, until I read 'TOES'.  I love the design but have no interest in trying to put these on my toes, can anyone she3d any light on if you can fit these to the fingernails???

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So that's it, I think this month's box is chock full of great products again, probably less I will use than last month's but we will see, that is the point of samples I guess!  I apologise for shoddy layout of post but as I said, this netbook is INFURIATING and I couldn't wait to get off it lol!

 What did everybody else get???  Feel free to link to your blog posts below and I will pop by and check them out =)

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Beauty Bargains Round-Up

Not as many deals this week Ladies,  but deffo a few I think deserve some recognition!

First up, theres a 50% off code knocking about for The Body Shop, needs using by Mon 8 Aug 2011 - enter the code FRIEND50 at the online checkout.  It's free delivery on the website for orders over £30, this includes the cost of your order before discount, so if the code takes it below £20 ou still get free delivery - bonus!

Visit www.thebodyshop.co.uk
Magazine 'Freebies'

Firstly the one I'm most excited about:

£9 Ciate nail polish with Marie Claire (Anne Hathaway on the cover) Cost £3.60
The two colours are beach melba, and a plummy purple I can't quite tell which shade but its a shimmer.  I'm definitely going to be getting these - I feel I owe Ciate another chance after my previous review and I may have more luck with the nude pink colour!

£8 Balance me Body wash in Red Magazine - Cost £2.80 Two scents are available: super moisturising (yarrow and patchouli) or rose otto (aloe vera and rosehip), depending which copy you pick up. 
Both of these look lush I may go after the rose otto :-)

It's also worth noting that the Asda mag that is available through August, has a voucher in it for £1 off magazines - which will make either of the above deals even more of a scoop. 

Good Luck frugal beauties! xxx

Got my hair did!! (DIY)

I went a bit mad 5 weeks ago and decided to radically change my hair. I've always been one to experiment but no matter what I do to my hair I always always go back to red. it's the hair colour that feels most natural to me and I definitely feel more 'myself' with it.  For some reason I decided to ditch the red hair recently and go blonde!  It was a mammoth task involving stripping my hair, then using a toner and highlighting cap.  My natural hair colour is a very pale ginger.  Did it all at home, I never go to the hairdressers for hair colouring *naughty naughty*

Anyway the results were this ........ photos in diff lights.

As nice as it was to have a lighter shade for the summer, I didn't feel myself.  That and my hair was really dry and I didn't want to ave to put it through bleaching again once the roots came through!  So after my very brief experimentation, it was time to revert back to RED. 

My weapon of choice!!!

I noticed that the new Live Salon Style permanent dye was on offer in Boots, a £1 off making it £4.29.  The bo is absolutley tiny so to be on the safe side I brought two.  I ended up needing both even though my hair is only mid length, but I was really pleased with the results - photo below!

Apologies for dodgy camera phone shot.  I'm chuffed with the colour and feel it goes with my pale skin much better.  That and I hadn't a clue how to do my make-up with the lighter hair!

The dye goes on dry hair, if your hair is thick and/or medium length or longer you will need two boxes.  I think its testament to how good the dye is though that I just went in gung ho and chucked it on bleached streaked hair and managed to acheive an even colour.

Here's to being 'back to red' thanks Schwarzkopf!!!!

You can purchase Schwarzkopf Live Salon Style from Boots here or instore at £4.29 for a limited time :-)

E.L.F. Cosmetics Haul

As most of you know, and I posted the other day - E.L.F recently had a 50% off EVERYTHING sale.  I've not tried their products before so thought this was the perfect opportunity.  A lot of the most popular products went out of stock pretty quickly as expected, but I still managed to get my hands on this lot.

 

I got the following goodies:

Eyeliner & Shadow Stick  in black/smoke
Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter in glow/fair
Eyelid Primer
Nourishing Cuticle Pen
Set of two Cuticle Pushers
Nail Block
Nail Polish in Golden Goddess
Mineral Infused Face Primer
Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in Luminance
Natural Radiance Blusher in Innocence
Cream Eyeliner in Gunmetal
Studio Stipple Brush

All this for about £16!!

I haven't got round to trying it all out yet, but here's a few close ups of my faves I can't wait to get using :-)

The nail polish in Golden Goddess - how pretty is this!! Definitely for use as a top coat though as the glitter is not as dense as it looks in the bottle.

Cream eyeliner in Gunmetal.  This comes with a teeny brush to apply, quite hard to get a decent pic of it on my hand, is a lot more shimmery than the camera has shown.  I'm holding out on opinion for this until have tried it on my eyes, when swatching I found it very creamy and little sheerer than I would have liked, had to build up the colour.  I think I was expecting a thicker consistency like my Maybelline Gel Eyeliner, but in fairness it does seem easier to apply - we shall see!

Eyeliner and Shadow stick.  This is one side 'gel' eyeliner in black, and the other side is eyeshadow in 'smoke' very similar to the gun metal colour of the cream eyeliner.  I'm quite familiar with these sticks from other brands so don't think I will have any trouble with this, plus it cost me only £1.75!

The Mineral-Infused Primer.  Website description, 'Transform your face into a flawless and smooth canvas with the mineral Infused Face Primer. Developed to combat excess oil, flaky dryness, enlarged pores and fine lines to result in a natural and youthful looking radiance. This clear multipurpose skin primer will prepare your skin so makeup goes on evenly for a lasting finish.'  The primer is clear, and very silky.  Don't go overboard though as I pumped a bit too much out of this and it was very greasy, a little goes a long way.  I've wore this one today under my foundation, it works pretty well and has had a moisturising effect on my skin.  I can get quite dry skin so this is good but I can't see this primer being of much use to those with oilier skin types as it is quite greasy in application.

Under eye concealer and highlighter.  Can't wait to use this, I get awful dark circles under my eyes and am constantly looking for the perfect concealer (my fave is Lancome Teint Miracle but can't afford it at the mo!).
This one you use the flesh coloured concealer, and then when that dries the highlighter.  I always put highlight over the top of concealer so having the two products in one is a winner - but will see how effective it is!

So those are my faves so far before having a real experiment - will let you know which products turn out to be permanent fixtures in my make-up bag!

Beauty Bargains Round-Up

As a Mum with limited funds - I'm always on the look out for bargains to get my fix - and I know everyone loves a good deal!  Every week I will be rounding up the best bargains, deals and freebies I can find for you to check out.  Let's get shopping!


NAILS INC. 6x polishes for £15 - its a lucky dip you don't get to choose the colours, but what a brill chance to try a new colour you wouldn't normally choose!
ONLINE ONLY EVENT ON 29TH JULY
Visit NAILS INC on Friday 29th July ONLY


E.L.F. Cosmetics 50% off EVERYTHING, minimum spend £30 before discount, enter code SUPERELF50 at checkout
ENDS SATURDAY 30TH JULY          (just had a haul on here myself can't wait for Mr.Postman to come!)
Visit Eyes Lips Face HERE

Free Helen É lipgloss worth £10, (£2 p&p) 15 colours to choose from, Enter code LIPS at online checkout, ENDS SUNDAY 31ST JULY
Visit Helen E Cosmetics here

MAGAZINE DEALS

Free £5 Missguided varnish in COSMO mag (August's with Rihanna on cover) £3.50
3 colours available blue, orange and coral pink

Ciate Lip Gloss (worth £9) with MARIE CLAIRE magazine (Audrey Tatou on the cover) Mag costs £3.60
Two colours available hot-pink and nude

£10 Body Shop mascara/£16 eye pencils free with INSTYLE Mag (Nicole Scherzinger on the cover)
Choose from black mascara or 2xeye pencils, black and navy worth £8 each.


Hope you guys find a bargain, let me know what you get - Will post again next week! :-)

Illamasqua Powdered Metal in Ether

Another review for a product I received in this month's Glossy Box.  Though I was over the moon to receive a full size Illamasqua product, I was left feeling a bit stumped on what to do with it!
The packaging is very opulent as can be expected from Illamasqua - they market themselves a 'evening make-up'.

The powder is a pale gold and very finely milled.  It also has a lovely sweet scent to it, I can imagine you'd smell lush if using this as a highlighter on your décolletage.

The product can be applied to body or face to acheive anything from a subtle sheen to a  metallic finish.  So the possibilities are endless. Below I swatched the product wet and dry, though it can be used much subtler than what I have done here.

After having a good play with the powder at different intensities I decided to brush it over my eyelids for a glossy sheen before applying my eyeliner.  The effect is very subtle considering the intensity of the shimmer in the powder.  This was just applying the product dry with a soft eyeshadow brush.





<-----Shown here with no eyeliner or mascara.


Below with my Beautyuk Pearl Eyeliner in Sphynx

Mascara - Rimmel Day to Night

I've shown a pretty safe way of using this powder, but it really is very versatile.  Another option is to mix some in with your foundation for a radiant finish - I will be trying that one nearer winter when my skin just 'gives up on life'!

Illamasqua Powdered Metal is available here direct http://www.illamasqua.com/shop/catalogue/category/face/products/powdered-metal/40/  For a reduced price of £15.75 (usually £22.50)  It also comes in three other shades - Thalia (Golden Tan), Bebhionn (Soft Pink) and Erzule (Deep Bronze).

Alternatively if you just want the Ether Pale Shimmer there are a lot of them knocking about on eBay at the moment. 
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_nkw=illamasqua%20powdered%20metal&rvr_id=250512886917&clk_rvr_id=250512886917

Anyone with unwanted Glossybox products, check out the 'Don't strop. Just swap.' Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-strop-Just-swap/170796619656878?sk=wall


Have you used Illamasqua before?  How would you use this product?