Time to Shine!

So before you click away deeming this post the worst attempt at fashion blogging - don't!

Tonight I will be walking 26 miles across London raising money for skin cancer and Cancer Research UK.

I'm very nervous but I have done a half marathon in the past and that had a very casual atmosphere, so I am hoping tonight will be the same.

Because the event is called Shine, I wanted to wear the brightest clothing and makeup I could find. I have kept my makeup simple, with the main feature being bright pink lips. I found the tutu, leg warmers and gloves all on eBay for a grand total of £6.

On my nails I decided to wear another set of ImPress nails, this time with a fun pink and purple leopard print.

Please wish me luck and if you would like to donate to the cause, this is my link!

Doughnut head — the effortless bun hair style

The first thing I do when I get home in the evenings is put my hair up in a bun. I like to have my hair out of my face, but that being said, I rarely wear my hair up to leave the house.

It has been years since I sported any sort of up-do, since generally I don’t think it suits my features and having my hair down acts like a shield on bad skin days or, occasionally, weeks!

That being said after my colleagues returned from the Superdrug press event with a huge doughnut, I knew I wanted to give it a try.

The doughnut is really easy to use. I feed my hair through the hole (you can tie it into a pony tail first but I prefer not too for a looser/messier look) and pin in the ends underneath the doughnut using bobby pins and/or hair pins. Simple!

I usually leave my hair curly, which adds to the messy look but I imagine with straightened hair and a bit more time put in this would be the ideal look for a wedding or any other formal event.

Since, I have also picked up a smaller sized bun and played around this. This is less dramatic for the day time but I have found it takes a bit more fiddling, because I have more hair that needs to be tucked away.

I’ve always had compliments when wearing my hair this way and everyone has commented that it looks much harder to achieve than I have described. The doughnuts can be found in Superdrug, Boots, Clare’s Accessories and almost everywhere that does hair accessories. The larger doughnuts are usually around £10 and the smaller around £5. I have noticed a difference in the quality though and would suggest looking for one that feels firmer.

On a side note, I am loving accessorising the look with flowers. I picked up a selection from a Clare’s Accessories outlet for between £2.50-£4 each.

ImPress press on manicure review

I have to admit I highly doubted these were going to last 7 minutes let alone 7 days. I’ve used the sticky pads for false nails in the past and they have pinged off immediately and I expected these to be the same.

But I was very wrong, this is day 10 and, with the exception of two, they are still on and feel strong. Two of the nails began to feel loose, and from what I can tell the glue from the sticky pad disintegrates and the nails can then be popped off easily and with no damage to the real nail.

They do not feel as thick as false nails and, therefore, don’t take any getting used to. The length of the nails is perfect too, so there is no need for filing or trimming.

I received these as part of the LFW goody bag earlier in the year so I didn’t choose the colour and at first glance I wasn’t really that impressed if I am honest. However, once I actually took them out of the packet and applied them I saw that the nails are a very pretty brown/red shade (actually very similar to my hair colour) and are very autumn appropriate. In fact I am on the look out for a polish that is this shade so if you know of any please comment below!

I would definitely repurchase these, I think they are around £7-8, which is a little on the pricy side, but I would save them for a trip away or an event and choose a set that has a design rather than a block colour.

Mememe dew pot (willow whisper)

I haven’t seen too many reviews of these dew pots in the blogging world. It seems the Maybelline 24 hour tattoo may have over shadowed them somewhat (see what I did there?)

Anyway, I digress, Mememe offer a completely different set of shades, much more subtle and wearable on a daily basis in my opinion. I picked up Willow whisper, which is a shimmery champagne colour.

I've taken to using this on a daily basis, either alone all over the lid or with a darker brown colour in the crease to add definition. I have also used this as a base for nude looks, to intensify the base colour.

Willow whisper with a darker brown shadow in the corner of the eye

Because the pot is so small I use a large concealer brush to remove the product and apply to my lid. It is easily buildable, which makes the shimmer in the product more obvious but I prefer to apply a thin layer, which I then blend out with my finger.

The shadow does crease after about six hours, but using a primer and applying thinner layers helps to combat this.

At £7.25, I think the dew pots are a little overpriced, so I would recommend waiting for a 3 for 2 or money off offer.

Smashbox London — on location

To celebrate Smashbox Cosmetics re-launching in the UK exclusively in Boots, they hosted a Smashbox on location event in London last night.

I found out about it via Facebook and without really knowing what to expect hopped along after work to the location near Oxford Circus and entered a room filled with make-up, make-overs, photography booths and a chance for a phootshoot experience.

There was nothing not to love. I loved the photography filling the room and the corner dedicated to photos that were being uploaded to Instagram in real time.

Unfortunately the event finished at 7 and we didn’t get the chance to have a photoshoot or take advantage of the photo booths, but we did all get our eye makeup done and walk away with a goody bag filled with sample and full sized products!

If you would like to check out more photographs from the event check out the hash tag smashboxlondon on Instagram or Twitter.

New hair colour, Fiery Red!

I’m not an impulsive person in nature but this weekend I coloured my hair, and not my usual some  shade of brown that makes me feel like I’m being adventurous with colour colouring, but a proper obvious and very different hair colour.

The shade was Fiery Red by Garnier Nutrisse, maybe it was the curly haired woman on the box that drew me to it, I’m not sure, but knowing full well that it wouldn’t actually look that shade I decided to try it anyway.

So how did it turn out………

The application was easy, mix the two tubes together, apply all over and rinse. I left the colour to develop for about 25 minutes, with the maximum recommended time 35 minutes. It then took about twice that time to wash the colour out. The instructions state to rinse until the water comes away clear but this never seemed to happen. 

I absolutely love the shade, in the past, colour has really scared me and had this been a negative experience I would have immediately coloured my hair brown again! But for now I am happy to stay a red head. It is one of those shades that looks different depending on the lighting, and is very difficult to photograph because of that reason!

As much as I love the shade I can’t decide what it has done to the appearance of my skin tone, do I look more red generally to you? Or do I look fairer than I actually am? My eyebrows seem to look naturally darker now, which is a good thing.

One thing I have noticed though is that I do feel much more confident as a red head and I want to try being a bit more adventurous with my makeup looks to compliment the new hair shade, maybe it is time to channel my inner Jessica Rabbit or master the pin-up look?

#LiveBloggers event

Tuesday night I was fortunate enough to be invited along to the #LiveBloggers event organised by Grace (from All that slap) and Ewa (from SocialBeautify). The concept of the event was to get beauty bloggers together having a live bbloggers chat, interacting with one another as well as people on twitter.

The girls did such a great job in organising an intimate event where we could all meet and indulge in talking about beauty, makeup and blogging. I was glad to meet some of the people whose blogs and twitter accounts I have followed from the early days of my blog — including Epiphany A and Laura —  as well meeting lots of new bloggers.

One of the topics we discussed was our high end and low end best beauty buys and brands. In a future blog post I am going to compile my personal list of favourites but I did come away with a long wish list of products, which I know will be dangerous for my bank account!

As if the venue, food and event in itself wasn't enough we were also sent home with a huge bag of goodies, which you can be sure I will be reviewing soon. Of course I am most excited about a cleanser from a brand called Super Facialist, it has to be love right?

I didn’t do too badly with the tweeting but I completely failed when it came to taking pictures, one of the bloggers I met though, Julie from Sweets Are My Weakness, has done a fab write up of the event and included lots of pictures so I encourage you to visit her blog. 

In the mean time tweet me or leave a comment below telling me what your favourite high end and low end products are. 

Victoria Secret, Amsterdam and I

Those of you who follow me on Twitter or Instagram will know that last weekend I made a very impromptu trip to Amsterdam!

I'm not usually one for being so spontaneous, so booking flights and accommodation, packing and getting hold of currency on Thursday for a trip starting on Friday was stressful to say the least! But, in the end we got there fine and we were lucky to get what will probably be the last of the hot weather for the year.

The city is extremely beautiful and I think it is a shame that most only associate it with the Red Light District when there is so much more to see.

What about the food?! 

The weekend also gave me the chance to test out my 'ultimate supermodel' palette from Victoria Secret, which is perfect for weekend trips and holidays because it contains everything you could need in a palette.

The kit does come with brushes but I packed my own and the only additional things I needed were my foundation, eyeliner, mascara and eyebrow kit.

I was safe and stuck to more neutral colours but I never had to use the same shade twice and it will be nice on future trips to have the option to go for bolder or brighter looks.

I love the fact that the palette contains a combination of blushes, bronzers and highlighters too, which have different finishes depending on what look you are going for.

The eyeshadows and face products have are very smooth in texture and have good pigmentation. I used them with my Mememe face base and Bella Pierre eye primer and my makeup lasted all day.

The kit does contain lip glosses and lip sticks but these vary in pigmentation, finish and consistency (with the lip sticks being very soft and the lip glosses much harder and difficult to build the colour). There are some really nice colours available to use but, of course being in a palette, you aren't able to reapply throughout the day, which is the only negative of the palette in my opinion.

The lighting in my hotel room was awful so I wasn't able to take any face of the day shots unfortunately, but for a palette that looks quite shimmery it is great for producing some lovely day time looks. I haven't had a chance to check out the new Victoria Secret stores in London, so I don't know what the availability of this palette is. Amsterdam airport was offering a smaller palette and the quality of the products appeared to be the same, so I would recommend keeping an eye out for this in Duty Free for those of you based in Europe.

Montagne Jeunesse, SPArty and fabric clay!

Thanks to the lovely Annabella Skinscrubs, back early in July I was lucky enough to attend the Montagne Jeunesse SPArty for the launch of a new face mask range.

Montagne Jeunesse is a brand I have used since my teens, sneakily slipping sachets into the shopping trolley, so it was great to learn more about the brand — for example, did you know it is British and based in Wales?

The event was amazing, there were fruit-air infused balloons, miracle berries and my favourite part, the opportunity to play beauty scientist and mix up my own face mask!

I also had a chat with Colin, The Beauty Scientist, and although I was disappointed to learn that I probably never will get to be a beauty scientist myself, it was interesting to hear how the products are developed and some tips.

Now onto the reason for the party and the launch of two new masks, fabric, clay infused masks!

Montagne Jeunesse are keen to get everyone using these face masks once a week for a "deep cleansing experience". In the past I have blogged about my love of fabric masks, which are quick and easy to use, these however, these are unique because they are made using bamboo fabric and are infused with clay.

There are two types of mask, glacial clay and dead sea mud. The dead sea mud clay face mask feels very cooling on the skin, which I haven’t experienced with clay based masks before. I did find that my eyes stung very slightly but this wasn’t uncomfortable.

The glacial face mask on the other hand was quite different. Although I didn’t like the smell as much, the experience was much more relaxing and I even drifted off!

As you would with a typical face mask, after cleansing your skin you apply the mask and sit back for 10-15 minutes after which peel off the fabric and massage in the remaining clay before rinsing off any excess.

Apart from the experience of using the mask I didn’t notice any other differences in the way my skin looked and felt. My skin felt soft and looked brighter and clearer immediately after using these and I have already reordered both masks on their website.

These should now be available in stores, but I recommend going straight for an online order because most stockists don’t have the full range of products.

August empties

I’m very pleased with my empties this month, aside from not having them thrown away prematurely I managed to get through a decent number of products, quite possibly my highest number to date!

Sanctuary shower oil — I’m not going to lie I picked this up because of the Egyptian theme and my obsession with all things Egypt. Although I like using body and face oils, as a wash this didn't really work for me. Surprisingly unlike a regular oil this sat on my skin and didn't spread unless I applied water, at that point it was a race to get a decent lather before it washed off completely! This isn't on my repurchase list.

This works: clean skin — I’ve blogged about this previously, luckily I picked this up in the clearance section at Boots. At it's regular price it is a bit pricey for what it is but I did like using it and it cleansed my skin well. If I found it in the clearance section again or on special offer I would repurchase it.

Re-Gen cream — I love bio-oil but with the oil version of the Re-Gen cream considered its dupe I was curious about the cream version. The cream is light and runny, but it does soak into the skin well. Although this did a good job of moisturising it didn't help with my scarring too, which is what I love about Bio Oil.

Bionsen remineralising cream — I picked this up in TK Maxx because of the word “remineralising” (I’m starting to realise there are a few key words that seem to suck me into buying products and I really need to watch out for that!) As soon as I applied it my skin felt really dry, I’m not sure why this is, but that certainly isn’t what I want or expect from a moisturiser! Safe to say, even if I knew where to get this, I won’t be repurchasing.

Lynx for girls — I was completely sucked in by the advertising with this one, I thought the ad campaigns were great. The spray on the other hand smelt ok but I don’t tend to use spray deodorant so I won’t be repurchasing this.

Liz Earle shampoo — another “natural” shampoo fail for me, although the product smelt good and did lather well compared to other natural shampoos I have tried, I still didn’t get a clean feeling.

Liz Earle hand repair — I kept this at my desk at work to apply throughout the day. It soaks in well and doesn’t feel too greasy on the hands but the scent is a little too herbal for my liking. I still have a few more of these at home from kits I have purchased in the past, otherwise it is a very forgettable product.

Liz Earle eye serum — this gel is designed to be used in the evenings and I have to say that I have noticed a difference in the lines and overall look of my eye area since using this. That being said, I am terrible at using an eye cream regularly, so I think the fact that I have used something rather than nothing might be the reason for the result?

Molten Brown lip saver — another item that sat at my desk. I wasn’t actually a fan of this so I’m glad to finally be rid of it. It doesn’t feel very moisturising but it feel greasy. Also I am not a fan of having to apply lip products with my finger.

L’Oreal studio fibre cream gel — this was an experimental purchase, to see if any product could work with my curls….. this doesn’t. I have previously used, and liked, the fibre gel from the brand Fudge (another product not specifically aimed for those with curly hair) and thought that this might give a similar result for a lower price. However, the consistency was a thick gel and it left my hair feeling sticky. I’m sure for anyone with short, straight hair this would be an ideal product for really structured styles but certainly not for my fellow curly heads.

Jergens daily moisture — I have also blogged about this product recently. It is something I would potentially consider for repurchase because it is so reasonably priced, but I have so many other moisturisers to get through that when it comes round to having to buy a new moisturiser I’m not sure that I will immediately pick up this.

That’s my lot for this month. I am hoping that next month I will have at least one makeup product featured, I seem to get through skin and hair care products at a reasonable rate but rarely use up my makeup, which is probably a reflection of how much I own rather than how much I use it!