Latest In Beauty | Glamour Summer Edit Box

I've been a little mia recently so many apologies for that, life basically just got in the way and I couldn't really be bothered with my blog, but recently I've been really wanting to get back into the swing of things, so here we go! 
If there is one beauty box I'll always go back to, its the Latest In Beauty boxes. They aren't subscription boxes, and are usually a fair bit pricier than normal beauty boxes. This one cost about £16.95, and it is definitely more than worth the money that you pay. 

This box is packed full of lovely bits that are perfect for the summer months, the two things I was most excited about were the Nails Inc nail polish and the Eucerin Sun protector. 

This was one of the first things I saw in the box, I was fairly intrigued by them and the designs are absolutely stunning! If I was going to a festival this year I'd be putting a fair few of these on, I'll probably put one or two on when I go to Bulgaria or if Glasgow is blessed with a hot day or two. 

Next up is the Vita Liberata Luxury Tan Bronzer, this comes with a little brush to go along with it. The bronzer is a first of its kind - its a self tanning bronzer! Your face gets more tanned as you use it! A lovely natural looking tan will develop when you wear it and will last for upwards of 5 days. I can't wait to give this a try and see how it works with my skin. 

My absolute favourite item in this box has to be this stunning Nails Inc Gel Effect polish. One coat gives more than enough colour to the nails, but a second coat never hurt anybody. 

The Bourjois Lip crayons are amazing and recently I've been moving away from reds, I'll be interested to see how this colour suits me. They have two other new colours, a mauve looking shade and an orange looking one. 

I have incredibly pale skin, and this year I'm finally going abroad and I'm going to need some serious sun protection. SPF 50 is certainly going to be enough for me, could maybe even do with a plus factor. Lucky for me I've already got a factor 50+! 

I've wanted to get my hands of the Pixi Glow Tonic for the longest time, so this having a little sample of it in the box is brilliant for me. Hopefully this will do wonders for my skin, making it look and feel better in no time! 

The Claudalie Divine Oil looks like it could be really good, you can use it on your hair, face and body. Apparently it can also make for a heavenly bath by adding a few drops to the tub. My hair is feeling pretty crappy just now though so hopefully this can sort it out a bit. 

Recently my hairs been feeling so oily but so dry at the same time, and I'm just about up for trying anything to give it a better condition. This shampoo and conditioner hopefully can fix something with my locks. 

Body scrubs are my favourite things to try. They are fairly hit or miss though, some are not harsh enough and others leave a horrible oily residue on my skin. I'm feeling like this one might be a good one! 

Have you tried any of these products before? 

Nails Inc Micropedi | Review

The other day I went into Boots and picked up their star gift - its that time of year again folks! The star gift was the Nails inc Micropedi set, it was originally meant to be something like £79.99 and was on deal for £29.99. How could I say no? It came with 3 nail polishes worth £33 on their own, and obviously the foot buffer. 
I wanted to try get this post up before the offer ended, but I was just too busy to write up a post before the deal ended. So sorry about that, but keep a look out on Boots for the new deals they have every week!

I've used this a few times since I got it and I'm actually really impressed with it, its sort of gross though watching the flakes of skin fall away. Ew. But despite that, it really does work! Your feet are left feeling softer and smoother than before. It takes next to no effort to use and takes no time to get soft toes. 

The nail polishes are really pretty as well, there's a really pretty gold that would be so perfect for Christmas, a red that I'm pretty sure I already have but its my favourite colour and a pink - this I'm not so fond of but it is pretty none the less. 

I'm so glad I picked this up, it was a total bargain and works a treat. 

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Colgate Toothpaste and Free Nails Inc Nail polish

It was brought to my attention that I could get a free nail polish with the purchase of a Colgate Max White One toothpaste. Being me I decided I absolutely had to get this deal - y'know why wouldn't you take advantage of it? Also I actually needed new toothpaste, so its easily justified. The colour is super pretty, a lovely mint/ light blue - super pretty! The shade is Optic Wave and I can't wait to apply it to my nails - I currently have gels on so I'll need to wait a while before I can apply it.

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Nails I've been loving | NOTD

I never used to be the kind of person that was bothered with painting their nails - for me it was just a pain in the butt. It took way to long to do and was more of a hassle than what it was actually worth. Recently though, I've been loving painting my nails. All be it they do chip pretty easily, meaning I do need to repaint my nails daily. Could someone please recommend me a really insanely good top coat? It gives me something to do when I'm bored and stops me snacking as much. 

Every time I paint my nails I always start by filing my nails to a shape that I like, if they aren't already a good enough shape for me. I'll then use my little mini O.P.I Nail Envy as a base coat to stop my nails staining, and to help strengthen them. My little mini bottle is almost empty though and I think I'll be needing to get a new strengthener soon. This takes almost no time to dry, I do leave it to dry for a few minutes before I apply the colour - just to make sure that there is going to be no smudging. 99% of the time I smudge my nails. 
So once a sutible amount of time has gone by, I'll apply the colour I've been loving. And for me just now that colour is the horribly chipping Nails Inc in Baker Street. I'm not sure why, but for some reason this colour just chips so easily. The other Nails Inc colours I have don't chip nearly as badly as this one does. But I love the colour too much to care about the chips. Two coats of polish are usually perfectly fine, but occasionally I'll pop a 3rd coat on - just to make the colour look a billion times better.  
To finish my nails off I'll use a top coat. The one I've been using recently is the Essie Rock Solid one, I quite like it. It dries really quickly and leaves your nails looking really glossy. 

So there you have it, the nails I've been loving recently. 

January Favourites

I didn't do a favourites for December, for me December tends to be a month where I use the same old products and tend to use as little as possible. But January is one of my favourite months of the year - most people hate January, you spend loads and the build up to Christmas and New Year is gone. Not me though - I love January, I buy loads of new products and try so many new things. This month I've got 8 products that I've been completely loving this month.

I have four make-up bits that I've been using basically non-stop since getting them. The first is an Illamasqua blush in the shade Lover, I got this on their sale - as soon as it arrived I was in love with it. Love at first sight. It is the perfect peachy coloured blush, it looks lovely on my skin - fair skinned girls, this will be your best friend. It is highly pigmented though, so you only need a tiny bit - and if you needed to then you could build it up. 

Another make-up item I've been loving is my NARS Laguna Bronzer. As soon as I had it applied to my face I knew I wanted needed it in my life. I got mine from ASOS since I could get student discount on it. Again for fair skinned girls this is perfect. I didn't own a bronzer before this and I'd honestly be happy if I never tried another one. This one is just perfect for adding a bit of colour to the face and to contour with - it doesn't look muddy or orange, and its subtle enough for daily use. I'm completely smitten with this. 

Second last make-up item is my wonderful YSL Baby doll mascara. It makes my lashes look so so so lovely, fluffy, full of volume and incredibly long. Everything about this is perfect (apart from the price), the packaging is beautiful - the gold with red writing looks so sleek - and the way it makes my lashes look - magnificent. I really am so glad that it is as wonderful as it is, it makes it worth the price you pay. 

Final make-up bit, if you can call it make-up, is my Nails Inc polish in the colour Baker Street. It is the most beautiful blue colour, its not as dark as I'd like it to be but I think that makes it an all year round kind of colour. I got this is in the Nails Inc Nail polish Diary back in the sales, I've not tried all the colours yet but this is one of the ones I've tried most, and I've basically worn it all month. Must be love. 

The next few things I've been loving are skin care items, two of the items I've included I haven't been using for very long but I love them so much already so I thought I had to include them. The first thing I've been loving is my Origins Checks and Balances Frothy cleanser. This for starters smells amazing, very minty and lovely. You only need a tiny amount to wash your face and it fixes any dry or oily bits you may have, I use this in the morning and I think it really helped to control my shiny forehead. Before using this between my eye brows and on my nose was quite dry and the rest of my face was quite oily - but I genuinely think this has helped to fix that. I'm really wanting to now try more of Origins products since this one is so good.

The second cleanser I've been loving recently is the REN ClearCalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser - such a mouthful to say. It smells reasonably nice - sort of lavendery, with a slight herbally smell. When you use it, you skin is left feeling really fresh and soft, I also I think this has helped with the redness in my skin - I've noticed in the past few weeks that my cheeks and stuff don't look nearly as red as it used to. 

The last skin care thing I've been really enjoying using is Hydraluron. I don't know really what this has done for my skin, but I do think my skin looks and feels better for using it. I think when it runs out I'm going to leave repurchasing it for a few weeks to see if I can notice my skin going downhill slightly - I think its easier to see your skin getting worse than improving. 

The final thing I've been loving is by Avon. Its their Planet Spa Sleep Serenity Pillow Spray. The pillow spray smells really nice, its Lavender and Camomile scented, when I smell it I feel really calm and sleepy. I don't think it helps me fall asleep, per say, but I do think it helps me have a better night sleep - when I wake up I feel a lot better and so much more rested. I think it also helps my brain to think less when I use it, it relaxes me and helps my brain calm down - I tend to have a lot on my mind when I go to sleep. 

So that's everything I've been loving this month.

What have your favourites been? 

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Sales Haul | Urban Outfitters, Boots, Debenhams ect

So yesterday, the 30th, I went into town with my mum after I finished work. There are just some shops that Braehead doesn't have - like TK Maxx, John Lewis and of course Urban Outfitters. Urban Outfitters is possibly my favourite clothing store - and definitely my favourite more expensive clothing store.
Anyhoo, on to the haul. When I got into town I met up with my mum and brother, the first place we went to was TK Maxx - I didn't get anything from there but I did find a Korres moisturiser that I was really close to buying and a big ceramic owl storage pot. I had to hold myself back and really ask myself if I needed it - the answer was no to both. But all I can think about is that owl pot!!!
The first shop I actually bought something from was Debenhams, I had £5 on my debenhams beauty card so I used that on my purchase. The first thing I picked up was from Philosophy, I had seen their Christmas stuff every day in work, and was practically drooling over it. I decided when I saw their little area that I was for sure going to pick something up since it was 50% off all their Christmas items, the one I went for was the Peppermint Stick.

Basically all of Philosophy's items are like 3 in 1s. This one is a shampoo, shower gel and bubble bath. How good is that!! 3 in 1 baby. Not sure how my hair would react to this but I do definitely think this would make such an amazing body wash and bubble bath. Imagine if you had a cold and you went for a bath with this - it would make your cold disappear. For £7 down from £14 is a total steal.
The only other thing I got - which is possibly my favourite thing ever - was from bareMinerals. Its their Affair to Remember palette - I think this is a party type palette as its got a fair few shimmer colours. I do love this little palette and I'll probably cry when this gets scratched.

How pretty are those colours?! There are 4 matt(ish) colours and 4 shimmery colours. There's a white - with a slight shimmer and a tiny hint of pink, a pretty brown that looks like its a tiny bit metallic, a salmon pink colour, a shimmer dark purple, a matte lilac, a slightly shimmery grey/blue, metallic purple and a sort of greeny brown. This is such a beautiful palette, some of the colours are less wearable day to day than others but I think this will be a prefect palette for a special occasion or a night out.

Next up was Urban Outfitters. They always have an epic sale and I decided I absolutely had to have a look to see if I could find any little treasures. I made the fatal mistake though of checking their website first though - going to have to put a little online order to get the few things I couldn't get in store. First thing I saw was something I didn't have in mind when I went in, and it is this cropped green coloured jumper. Its super soft and really cosy. Everything you could ever want in a jumper. Although I say its cropped - as you can see its still reasonably long. It was £30 down from £45 and I got student discount on top of it. Gotta love the Urban Outfitters sale. The picture makes it look a lot more blue then it actually is - so sorry about that.

I also got myself a skirt. I say I, but what I mean is my mum kindly bought me it. Its a really dark green/ blue colour with white leaves and little flowers on it. The skirt also has a zip going right up the front of it which is a really cool detail - at least I think it is. It was £25 down from £38 - bargain. Theres another skirt I'm going to buy online later since I couldn't find it in the shop.

The final thing I bought from Urban Outfitters was this beautiful dress - I want to say its a smock dress? Its not something I would usually go for but when I tried it on I fell completely in love with it. And the jumper goes with it!! This was also £30 (£27 with discount) down from £55, that I think is such a good deal.
There is so much jewellery that I want from UO, but I think I'll just have to wait for that.
Next up - really the proper first place I went - was Boots. I had a wee look again before I started my shift, and I managed to pick up a couple of gems. I bought two different sets and paid a total of £14 ( £16 with out staff discount)

I wasn't planning on looking at the sale stuff, but at I walked past I noticed some Soap and Glory sets. So, y'know I just had to wander over and have a look. I decided I was going to buy the Eye Box kit, this is quite an impressive set - even if it was full price its amazing value. You get their Thick and Fast Mascara, 6 shadows, a little brush and one of their waterproof kohl eye liners. It is quite a bulky palette, which is maybe its only downfall but I don't mind as I'm going to be getting some new storage very soon. IM SO EXCITED!!!!

Next up was something that I had looked at online - Joules Fabulous Fingers & Toes set. I hadn't seen this in my store for a couple of weeks so I was really surprised when I saw it. The set contains: a foot scrub, soap, hand cream, a foot scrub rock and a foot cream. They also have a little set on mini nail files tied onto the box - I'll definately be putting them in my bag.
The last place I went to was John Lewis. This was a very nail orientated purchase, as both things I got, all £21 of it, was nail polish. The first thing I saw was this little set by Ciate - I saw this on their website both before and during the sales and decided if I could get it in the shop then I would definitely get it.

I managed to pick up the Ciate Red Velvet nail set for £7 - half price! £14 is still pretty amazing for a nail set like this. The red one was the obvious choice for me - I mostly wear reds on my nails - I just think it looks so sleek and classy. And fuzzy red nails just seems like the best thing ever.

My final purchase for this shopping trip was the Nails Inc My Nail Polish Diary. Oh Em Gee. I was under the impression that is was sold out basically everywhere, so when I saw it on one of the shelves ends in John Lewis I practically ran across the store to grab it. When I saw it I didn't even think about buy it - I just knew I was going to buy it. No question about it. I actually thought these would be miniatures, but no it contains 12 full sized nail polishes. I got this for £21 down from £45(I think) and considering these are £11 each that is such an amazing deal - even full priced.

So thats everything I bought on this shopping trip. 

There will probably be another sales haul like this soon.

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#TheWinterProject Week 1 | Favourite Winter Nail Polish

On twitter I noticed a couple of people talking about The Winter Project, I love series type posts so I jumped at the chance to take part in this. I quickly emailed Kellie about taking part, and now here I am getting waaaaay to excited to join in with this. Winter is definitely my favourite time of year, I love the cold weather and of course CHRISTMAS!! So every Tuesday at 6pm I will be posting the weeks topic from the Winter Project.
So I missed out last week, so both week one and week two will be going up within days of each other. This is for week one and I'll be talking about the nail polishes I love most for winter time. I love dark reds, purples and blues for winter time. I've yet to get myself a lovely blue for this year, but I think I'll find one soon. I love dark polishes all year round, they tend to look better on my nails than pastels and bright nail polishes do.

So first up is by Nails inc and it is in the colour Piccadilly Circus. I got this ages ago free in a magazine, its such a lovely deep dark pink/red colour.

Next up is by Rimmel and its in the shade Black Cherries. My bottle of this is starting to run out, so I'm going to have to go and get myself a new bottle. This is a really dark red/purple, that looks almost black in some lights. The polish is really thick so you could easily get away with only one coat. It lasts a good 5 days without chipping, I really love this colour!

My final favourite is one of Barry M's new matte colours. I have the colour crush and I love it so much already. It doesn't have the best lasting ability, but the colour is so cool and the finish is so lovely.

Hope you enjoyed this post. And I'll see you in the next one!

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