A Massive Amount of Empty Products

Since its been an absolute age since I actually made a video or typed up a blog post I've accumulated a stupid amount of empty products. Daisy, my puppy for those of you who don't know, has really enjoyed running around with all the plastic packaging. She has a real thing for plastic stuff, and shoes - the more expensive the better apparently...
I'm sorry if the pictures are a wee bit rubbish, I took them fairly late at night. But I think messing around with the settings made them come out okay, what do you think?

First things to mention are all bath type products. The Body Shops Honeymania bath melt, is absolutely lovely. It gives really nice silky soft bubbles that smell beautiful. If your not an overly huge fan of honey scents I would still recommend giving it a smell - my mum hates honey scents but really liked this one. Another Body Shop product is their limited edition blueberry body scrub. It looked and smelled like jam, the scrub was really good considering it wasn't overly harsh feeling on the skin. And of course it left your skin smelling divine. Another Body Scrub by Soap and Glory this time, this is ( possibly was...) my favourite scrub ever. Its the old design - maybe the formula is different now too - but I love it, it just leaves your skin feeling so so soft and nourished, I'm all for something that scrubs and moisturises in one step. I finished, after the longest time of owning, the Sweetie Pie shower Jelly. I don't know why it took me so long to get through this - I adore Whoosh - I think it might have just been how sweet it smelled or that its a little glittery? Who knows, but it basically just smells like jelly beans but only about 1000 times stronger in scent. Bath and Body Works, oh how I wish you would come to the UK. I did have two products finished from them but I think my mum threw out the other bottle. This mini sized bottle of Japanese Cherry Blossom smells absolutely heavenly, I don't think I'd ever smelt something even remotely similar. The other one I had was one of their aromatherapies bath foam and body washes. It was in the scent Sensual and boy oh boy did it smell good. I need more of it like... I cant think of anything that doesn't seem slightly insulting or rude, hmm. But I really want more of it, its just so good and for $13, which is approx. £8 its not that bad. Yes its maybe a tiny bit more expensive than the average shower gel but its more of a luxurious product, like Soap and Glory and Champeneys would be. 

Hair care now, and I've not used that much in the grand scheme of things. I've gone through another bottle of the 10 Wishes Marrakesh Oil, and I'm very close to finishing off my current bottle. I get this from my hair dresser as it acts as a heat protection and a detangler. The Umberto Giannini hair mask is something I actually finishes months ago and I'm only certain it made my hair feel soft, sorry I can't say much about it. I'm just a bit forgetful sometimes all the time. Since going from natural to red to brown hair I've been using products from my colour so thats why theres a nice empty bottle of the John Frieda Brunette shampoo. I've repurchased this in the big massive salon bottle as it worked out to be better value, I do find that it does help my colour last that bit longer - which is always a plus when getting it coloured is so expensive to start with. Two empty cans of the amazing Aussie dry shampoos. Best dry shampoo I've ever tried. Period. There's no competition with it, I'm still to try more but from the ones I've used this comes out on top. 

Skin care time, I' actually quite surprised at how much skin care stuff I've been using recently. The DHC Cleansing Oil is an absolute love of mine, I've yet to repurchase this exact one but I have bought a few other brands recently. The Philosophy Microdelivery exfoliating face wash is something I bought last year, and I've really enjoyed using it. IT may be a little on the pricey side but I'd been using it 3 times a week for a whole year and that's it only just being used up now, so it really is well worth the money. The Sanctuary Spa Hot Cloth Cleanser isn't something I've had for long, a couple of months maybe. And since it is about a tenner, its a little on the expensive side. I did really enjoy using it but I think next time I might just try the Liz Earle one. The Ren Clearcalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser is such a lovely product to use, your skin feels so clean after you use it, but not tight! I'll definitely be buying this again soon. Can you tell I wanted to get absolutely wanted to get all of the Origins Checks and Balances Cleanser out? I mean look at it! I cut the top off, sign of a good cleanser - looks like it. 

Final thing, is the Hello Mouthwash. I love all the products Hello sell, their mouthwashes all taste lovely and give you a really fresh feeling mouth. I'm currently using the Mojito mint one and I have to say I think it might be my favourite one. 

What have you been using recently? 

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Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer Review

I have a horrible problem with buying things, putting them in a drawer and forgetting about them. This concealer is one of the products I bought, never used and then forgot about. The Kick Ass Concealer is like a 3 in 1 type thing: it has a powder, and 2 different colours of concealer. Its a 3 step process, each step is written on the front of the box, although which colour you use for what did baffle me a little at first - I was just being silly though.

Step 1 is to apply the brightening under eye concealer. It's the peach coloured one, I don't know enough to explain why its peach but I suppose the colour will just cancel out and cover dark circles? The concealer is incredibly creamy, and blends really easily. I think I maybe like this for the under eyes as much - if not more - than my Seventeen concealer. I've not noticed this creasing, and if you were maybe worried about it then you could always set it with powder.
Step 2 is the other concealer is pretty close to my skin colour. Its a pretty full coverage concealer - this makes it great for covering spots and redness. Its not nearly as creamy as the under eye concealer, but it is still pretty easy to blend.

Step 3 is a setting powder, perfect just for making extra sure that the concealer isn't going to move. This really helps my make-up stay in place, which is really helpful for me since my skin is incredibly oily and make-up usually just slips off my face.

I've used this a few times now, and from what I've tried of it I find it slightly to dark for me. The under eye concealer is pretty darn good in the grand scheme of things, I think I maybe like it as much - if not more - than my Seventeen Phowarr Paint. It blends pretty seamlessly, brightens the eyes and hides any nasty dark circles. The blemish concealer I'm not overly fond of, I find its a little dark for my skin and doesn't blend as easily, I just couldn't seem to get it to blend properly for me - I always could see the edges of it, maybe I'm just doing something wrong? Who knows. I like it, but I'd rather just have the under eye concealer if I'm honest.

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How Much Is Your Face Worth | TAG

I've seen this TAG floating around for quite awhile, and I love reading a lot of them and found them really interesting as you get to see how much people spend on their make-up and what it is they use on a daily basis. It kind of doubles up as a daily make-up post.

Base

No7 Airbrush Away Primer Full Size £19.50 \\ Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum £10.99 \\ Seventeen Phwoarr Paint £5.49 \\ Soap and Glory One Heck Of A Blot Powder £12

= £47.98

Eyes

Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer Full Size £15 \\ Urban Decay Naked Palette £37 Shades Virgin, Naked and Hustle \\ YSL Babydoll Mascara £21 \\ Lord and Berry Brow Pencil £10 \\ Soap and Glory Smoulder Kohl £5

= £88

Cheeks

Illamasqua Blush Lover £18 \\ NARS Laguna Bronzer £27

= £45

Lips

Nuxe Reve De Miel Lip Balm £9.50 \\ Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain Romantic £7.99

= £17.49

Total = 198.47

Thats a bit crazy... Almost £200 worth of make-up goes on my face every day! All the products I've put down are the ones I've been using basically every single day recently, its a routine that I've been really enjoying and will continue to do.

Theres a couple of girls that I'd love to see do this - Zoe, Rena, Charlotte and Ella, if you lovely ladies haven't done this then I've love to see what you write!

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#2014BloggerChallenge | Skincare

So this is the second week of the 2014 Blogger Challenge - and a topic I'm much happier with, the last topic was fun but I'm - in general - not an inspirational or motivating person. Anyway - skincare! Gaby - the creator, if you will, of this challenge - picked this to be the second topic as it is still winter - probably never will end in Scotland - and looking after your skin - not just your face - is really quite difficult. So yah, this week over 400 bloggers will be posting their tips and tricks, products and routines on how they look after their skin - or don't... 

Like I said before this is a topic I'm much more at ease talking about, I've recently been trying really hard to look after my skin and get into some kind of routine. So far, its been going all right - but the days where I don't do it I notice a huuuge difference in how my skin looks and feels. I think I'll do this in two sections, facial care and body care stuff. That way I can sort of see where I'm going and ramble a little less. 

Facial care

Really recently I discovered what I now believe is the answer to every ones prayers. I could not use any other product - can I continue to use moisturiser - and just use this product and I think my skin would be better than it is without it. I really hope that made sense. A few weeks ago I bought myself Hydraluron - after looking at it for so so so long and reading blog post after blog post about it. I have really oily skin so I was unsure about getting it since its essentially a moisture booster. Most of the reviews I saw for this were positive and from those with dry skin - one post I read the girl said she had oily, dehydrated skin and that it worked for her. I'm now thinking thought that in some form or another everyone has dehydrated skin. I can for sure say that my skin is dehydrated - I haven't stuck to my skin care routine and my skin is disgusting, I seriously think its just down to me not using Hydraluron. I don't know what it is about it, and I can't pin point what its done for me but I just think my skin looks and feels better after using it. I've also not had a spot since I started using it. Result! 

Now, this is obvious - but cleaning your face properly is a must. Even when drunk I always make sure to give my face a good clean, it may not be squeaky clean but I do use my Bioderma to take off my makeup before I pass out. Bioderma isn't exactly the best way to wash your face though - as a quick fix or to take your makeup off before a good cleanse is fine though. I've recently been loving adoring using my Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean face wash. It doesn't foam - so if your skin doesn't like that then your good with this. It is a very creamy product, I recommend 1-2 pumps massaged over your face then wiped off with a flannel. Deep clean, check. 

Exfoliating, this isn't a must as such - especially if your using a flannel - but I would seriously recommend you do it at least twice a week. Doing this will just clear your pores out, and potentially stop horrid spots appearing. For me, I find it helps to control my oilyness as well - and that is always good. On top of these things, if you have little flaky dry patches - I get them on my nose and inbetween my eyebrows - then exfoliating will just help to get rid of that. I would recommend Soap and Glory's Scrubatomic for use 2-3 times a week. 

Moisturising - the only other step in my skin care routine now. I don't really have any tips for this apart from do it. Do not cut this step out of your routine. Use a cheap one, an expensive one - what ever works for you. Currently I'm using one that cost me about £4 - its by Simple and its their oil free one. One day I'll invest in an expensive one - but for now this one works so I'll stick to it. 

Body Care Foot Care

Body care, oh I really shouldn't give advice on this. I 99% of the time neglect to give my body more than about 10 minutes of care. The only part of my body I scrub and moisturise often is my feet. My feet are horrid - they even put me off, I'm sorry for the image I've just planted in your head. They honestly aren't awful, they are just really dry. And ever since I ran bare foot through my town to get to the train station on time - my soles have been extremely cracked and hard and dry.

Sorry about the photo, had to use an old one as lighting was bad

 So we're now going to forget our bodys and take care of our poor poor feet. They carry our entire body weight everyday - my little size 3/4 feet must feel so happy at bed time to be given a rest. I recently picked up a Joules set from Boots in the sale, and it has the best foot care stuff. The scrub and foot stone work wonderfully together to soften down skin and to help the foot lotion sink in so much easier. Also they both smell lemony. The smell lingers for awhile as well - so instead of smelling like an old sock your little peepers smell cool and zesty. 

So scrub away at your feet and drown them in foot lotion - cover your feet with socks as well, its so much more satisfying. 

I get bored of talking about body care really quickly, as you can probably tell - but I figure by the time I add the pictures - that you'll all now see - the post will be really long and adding any more of bodily care would make it crazy long. Also I never moisturise my body, I should, but I don't... 

What are your favourite skin care products?

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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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What I Got For Christmas

I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but I will anyway. I am in no way at all trying to brag about what I got - I know for a fact that I am extremely lucky to have been given as much as I have and I will love everything that I was given from the people I love. I love these posts so I thought I would do my version. Warning - this is going to be a very picture heavy post. Oh, I was going to do a Christmas OOTD but then I realised that the post would be the exact same as my birthday post was.

My mum completely spoiled me, not everything here is what she bought me - some is from other family and friends. My mum always gets me an egg themed gift and this year she didn't fail on that. I think I'll do a wee post on my new egg holder. Its so cool!! Because of the lush stuff and the air freshener my room now smells like a perfume factory. I got a few Soap and Glory things, two were slightly damaged - so I'm hopefully going to get them replaced. My mum also got me an epilator, I'd been after one for ages so I was really happy with this - its not nearly as painful as I expected it to be.

I hope you had a brilliant Christmas and I hope your New Year is great too! 

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Secret Santa #1

I call this one number 1 as I took part in two different blogger secret Santa's. One that Georgia & Laura had organised, and the other that Gemma and a couple of other girls organised. This first post is going to be about the items I received from the Secret Santa organised by Gemma - this one was a complete secret and I didn't know who was buying for me until my little gift arrived.

Please excuse the rubbish picture - I took it as soon as the parcel was delivered in the morning not even 2 minutes before I ripped open the items. I was so amazed to see how many little presents there were - I never seem to be able to get very much for the amount of money given. My Santa was Danielle - sorry to the person I sent to I was very vague with who I was. After finding out Danielle was my secret santa I took to her blog and had a wee read, I really enjoy reading her blog - so if you're looking for a new blogger to read definitely check her out!

I think this is everything that Danielle sent me - sorry if I've missed something I may have used a couple of the things I was sent.

I love all the stuff Danielle sent me and I can't wait to try everything out - I've wanted to try stuff by Lee Stafford and Umberto Giannini for ages and now I have a couple of bits to try out so thank you so so much! Danielle covered all the bases - hair care, body, lips and facial products. Makes me think my Secret Santa isn't all that great - so sorry to you when you get it.

I'm going to leave a little space in between both secret Santa's so look out for my next one!

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