Sunday 30 September 2012

Review: Chit Chat juicy lipstick in Peony

Hello everyone!

If you are a regular reader of my blog then you may have read my posts on the Revlon just bitten kissable balm stains in charm and cherish that I thought were great! After reading a blog post about a dupe from poundland (I'm useless and can't remember what one!) I thought I would try it as after all it is only £1!

I had to search around the beauty isle in poundland as it was such a mess and found four different shades of these juicy lipsticks but I decided to go for peony which is a pink colour as this is the only shade out of the ones that I saw that I would actually wear.

So what did I think about the product?

I'm actually extremely impressed! I absolutely love the colour and find this very moisturising! I also find that It   doesn't feel as heavy on my lips as the Revlon balm stains do. There is actually a fair amount of product and unlike the Revlon balm stains it doesn't smell minty which many people will probably like! 

The only problem I have with the juicy lipsticks is the packaging as it looks very cheap but what can I expect for £1?




Have you tried the juicy lipsticks?

Thanks for reading!

xxx

Friday 28 September 2012

Bourjois magic nail polish remover dupe for £1?

I'm sure most of you would have heard of the bourjois magic nail polish remover but like many, I didn't want to pay £4.99 for a nail polish remover! Whilst in poundland the other day I spotted this which looks pretty similar to the bourjois magic nail polish remover but obviously is only £1 so I thought I would give it a try.




The pot states you should put your finger into the sponge, twist your nail against the side of the sponge and then remove. The picture below is after I followed these rules... 


As you can see from the pictures, it actually works very well! For a £1 item, it is so quick and easy to use and actually works very well, a lot better than I thought it would have to be honest. 

Unfortunately I have also found two negatives with this product. If you look at the picture above you are able to see that there is still some nail polish left on the nail. This happens on every nail and is extremely difficult to remove using this pot so this is a bit of a pain. The other issue I have found that it does have an extremely strong smell of nail polish remover (more so than any other nail polish remover I have ever used). 

However, saying that, I am extremely impressed with this and the fact that it is only £1 definitely makes me recommend this product!

Have you tried this bourjois magic nail polish remover dupe?

Thanks for reading

xxx

Wednesday 26 September 2012

Essie and Revlon nail polish haul

Hello!

So today's post is just a quick haul which I bought from fragrance direct. Every blogger has probably heard of fragrance direct due to them selling Essie nail polishes for £1.99! Am I right? Originally I decided I wouldn't order any but as a couple of days past I was sucked in by the amazing prices and just HAD to order a couple.

Fragrance direct is a website that sells beauty items for much cheaper than their original retail price so I would definitely recommend looking at their website if like me, you can't resist a good bargain!


Top row: no shrinking violet, peach nectar, touch of mauve, cloud and ruby ribbon
Bottom row: case study and very structured 

 

I had never tried any Revlon nail polishes prior to this order and let me tell you, I am extremely impressed! I painted my nails using two coats of 'ruby ribbon' last Monday and I wore them a whole week before changing the colour without them chipping! AMAZING! 

The Revlon nail polishes were only 99p each and the Essie nail polishes were £1.99.

Have you bought anything of fragrance direct?

Thanks for reading

xxx

Monday 24 September 2012

Perfume for £1?

Hello everyone!

So whilst in Canterbury yesterday, me and my friends decided to do a bit of shopping after registering for university. We went into poundland as I wanted to have a look at the beauty isle and I managed to smell this perfume. 



 Firstly I'll start off with saying that I have never bought perfume from poundland before as generally they are horrible but after smelling this I decided to give it a go as it was only £1 after all! I always wear perfume and always carry some around with me during the day so I thought I'd also get this as it doesn't matter how quickly it is used up.

I thought the packaging was rather sweet and thought it looked more expensive than it is but I'm not too keen on the look of the actual bottle as I think it's a really unusual shape and it's quite big so it isn't convenient to carry round with you.

On to the actual perfume - I actually really like the smell! I think this is one of the perfumes that can be worn either day or night and I can actually smell it hours after spraying it which is a lot more than I expected from a  £1 perfume. I would definitely recommend this as it's only £1 so even if you don't like it it's not the end of the world.

Have you tried any poundland perfumes?

Thanks for reading!

xxx 




Saturday 22 September 2012

Review: Purity skincare facial exfoliator

Hello!

If you are a regular reader of my blog then you might have read a post I did on purity skincare here. As I stated in that post, I was kindly sent the whole range of purity skincare products to sample and review and the facial exfoliator is the first item I have decided to review!

What they say:

'A deep pore cleanser uses rounded, ground coconut shell to exfoliate within a blend of softening, moisturising retaining and conditioning Coconut Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Glycerine and Aloe Vera to leave your skin cleaner, softer and brighter'

Now onto what I thought about the product...




I have never been a person that has suffered with spots and have always had extremely clear skin however, recently I've been breaking out with spots and everything I was using on my face wasn't working so I decided to try using this last night to see whether it made a difference. 

This product isn't too thick and isn't too runny which means it's extremely easy to use and unlike other facial exfoliator's I have used this is very easy to spread around. I put it all over my face and then gently rubbed in into my skin and once I had done that I removed it using warm water. I then put Vaseline aloe vera moisturiser on my face and when I woke up this morning I was amazed with the results!

Before applying this product I had quite a few big/painful spots and as I start university on Saturday I didn't want the first impressions of myself to be a spotty one. When I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror I was actually amazed, the spots had gone down so much that most of them were just blemishes on the skin instead of actual spots which are so much easier to cover with makeup and they will definitely be gone by Saturday! 

Overall I absolutely love this product and it's made completely of natural ingredients so will work well on most peoples skin. The only issue I have with this product is the smell. It is a natural product which means it isn't fragranced and I think the natural smell is awful (it actually makes me not want to use the product!) BUT because it isn't on your face for long it is bearable and it's amazing so I'm willing to overlook that!

You can buy this facial exfoliator from the purity skincare website here for £5.99 or from Holland and Barrett here for £6.29.

Thanks for reading!

Have you tried any of the purity skincare products?

xxx

Thursday 20 September 2012

Review: MUA Undressed palette

 Hello!

So I'm pretty sure that everyone has heard of this product and many have you have probably tried it for yourself but as always, I like to give my opinion.

MUA are a makeup brand which you can either find on their online site or superdrug. They are extremely cheap with most items for only £1 and are raved about in the blogger community due to the quality you get!

As many of you have probably heard, Undressed is an eye shadow palette that costs a mere £4 and is often compared to Urban Decay's 'NAKED' palette and the colours in both are extremely similar.


 

 I've never been an eye shadow person but as I heard everyone go on about it I thought I would try it as it was so cheap so even if I didn't like it I wouldn't have wasted much money. 

I actually bought this palette in a MUA haul recently which I wrote about here and it was on sale meaning I only got it for £3!

I have to say, I absolutely ADORE this palette! It has a great range of colours and I now wear it every time I have make up on whether this is during the day or the evening! The only thing I have found about this palette is that the matte shades don't show up as much as the shimmers with one swipe and that the shimmers have quite a bit of fallout. However, for the price it is AMAZING and I would definitely recommend getting it!

Have you tried this?

xxx

Monday 17 September 2012

Review: Revlon just bitten kissable balm stain in charm

If you are a frequent reader of my blog then you may have read the review of a Revlon just bitten kissable balm stain in cherish here and therefore might be aware that I had purchased 'charm' and was patiently waiting for it to be delivered.

This is going to be an extremely similar review but I will be stating my thoughts about the shade 'charm' and hopefully this isn't too boring.

What Revlon say:

It’s a pampering balm fused with a lightweight lipstain in an adorable chubby crayon. Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain gives softer, smoother lips with a perfect flush of color that lasts hour after hour. The gel formula comes in 12 vibrant shades that match any look or mood. 

-Lightweight Lipstain + Moisturizing Balm
-100% of women who tried it felt their lips were instantly moisturized with a soft stain of color
-Retractable chubby crayon, no sharpener required

Originally when looking for the shade that I wanted as my first RJBKBS I really wanted charm and when I found out that it wasn't available in the UK I wasn't too happy as I felt all the shades available in the UK are quite bright and I'm a girl who always prefers neutral shades. However, after buying cherish and loving the product so much I decided to order another one and knew that it had to be charm so once again I headed over to eBay and purchased charm from an American store. You can get it here for around £6.77 which is cheaper than they cost over here anyway as they retail at £7.99! The delivery was pretty fact considering it came from America and I was so excited to try it out!


(Sorry for the HORRENDOUS photo's! the lighting was awful and my camera battery died so I took them on my iPhone)

Like I stated on the other review, I am extremely impressed with the RJBKBS in cherish and charm is no different. However, charm isn't the shade I actually thought it was going to be which is slightly disappointing. I thought this shade would be a neutral shade (which is why I bought it) but it actually makes my lips look quite pink! This wasn't the shade that I aimed for however I still love it and will definitely be wearing it all the time. I'm glad I bought this and even though the colour isn't as accurate as I thought it would be I'm definitely happy with it and can't get enough of the RJBKBS.

What colours do you have?

Thanks for reading!

xxx

Saturday 15 September 2012

Winter boots

So a couple of days ago I bought a new pair of boots for winter. This year I wanted a black pair of boots that are different to the boots that I generally wear any other year and I'm pleased to say I found the perfect pair (for me anyway!).


I admit, in these photo's the boots look horrible but once they are on I love the look of them! They sit about mid calf and have sort of a crinkle affect which I love, they are completely black even though they look a bit shiny in this photo.

I bought them for only £9.90 brand new from a shop on Ebay which you can find here (they've gone up to £10.52 now). However, when they arrived there was a slight bit of glue on the inside of the boot but I contacted the seller who refunded me 50% meaning I only paid around £5 for them! They are definitely worth the money and I love them, I cannot wait to start wearing them!

Thanks for reading

xxx

Tuesday 11 September 2012

100 day spending ban: Update 1


If you've been reading my blog for a while then you would know that I decided to do a hundred day spending ban which you can read here. I thought it might be interesting to let everyone know how I am doing as I go along and because of my lack of spending I thought I would include a wishlist of what I want to buy.

I'll start by saying I didn't think a spending ban would be this difficult which clearly shows me I spend way too much without actually realising that I'm spending it. For me, actually going shopping isn't a problem because I very rarely do it but I get tempted to shop online all the time! The biggest problem I have found is that being a blogger and reading blogs mean that I become aware of loads of deals and discounts that online shops are currently having and this tempts me a lot! I have almost bought things from H&M, the body shop and matalan, simply because they had deals but I didn't allow myself (go me!)

I'm going to be completely honest and say that I have bought three items but I have justified this as they are practical and not just things that I want to have. I bought a pair of boots (£9.90) for university as I want some comfortable boots which are also versatile, they were brand new and very cheap for boots! I also bought some slippers (£6.00) which I needed because I didn't have any and I love slippers, especially in the colder months so once again this is more of an necessity than a want. The last item I bought I don't feel guilty about at all because out of all three things I bought this was the one I didn't the most. I start university in less than two weeks now and so I bought a student planner so that I keep organised and it was extremely cheap (£1.99).

The items above are the items that are on my current wishlist! 

Black boots - Select
White converse - Bank
Mac lipstick & blush - Debenhams
Black studded leather jacket - New look
Black bag - New look
Ralph Lauren perfume - Debenhams

I hope this post wasn't too boring, thanks for reading!

xxx

Monday 10 September 2012

My first graze box

Today's post is going to be slightly different than what I normally post but I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on the 'graze box' that I have recently tried out. I'm sure that many of you have heard of graze boxes and have probably tried them out for yourself but I thought it would be a good idea to share my experience on it with you all. 


The pictures above are of the graze box, the contents that I received and my voucher code so that you can all get your first box for free if you want to try it! 

The first time I heard of a graze box was on someone else's blog but I cannot remember the post (useless, I know!). I didn't sign up for a while but decided to finally try as it was free after all. The basic idea is that you pick a box (I chose snack box) and choose what items you would like to be given/what you wouldn't want to be given. For example I didn't want anything with cinnamon in because I hate the stuff so I just clicked 'bin it' and this meant that I would never be sent it. 

Once you have chosen what you would like to be sent you give your bank details (because only your first box is free) and your address, you then get to choose what day you want the box to be delivered. The boxes are around £3.80 per box.

I was happy with what I received and liked it all (I got toffee apple, billionaire shortbread, Korean chilli rice crackers and summer berry flapjack) - the flapjack was my favourite!

Would I pay for this box? No, I wouldn't spend that much on some snacks so all you do is cancel it once your free box has come and then you get a free box (this is what I did)

If you would like to try a box for free click here and use the code I was given: 51YTDLRD

Thanks for reading!

Have you tried graze boxes?

xxx

Thursday 6 September 2012

100 day spending ban

Hello

After reading Sophia's post here on doing a spending ban I decided that this is the perfect thing for me to do as I am ALWAYS spending money and then I constantly moan about how much money I have. I am currently unemployed and a full time student so I am relying heavily on my student loan to pay for things such as my car, car insurance, petrol etc.

I am forever spending money on the latest beauty items, DVD's, books and other pointless things: none of which I need. For example, in the past week I have bought 21 DVD's as well as an MUA haul, two Revlon balm stains and a Revlon lip butter (I didn't need any of it, I just WANTED it).

I have decided like Sophia, that the best way for me to do this spending ban is to set myself some rules about what I can spend money on etc.

Rules:

1. I am not allowed to spend money on ANY beauty products, DVD's, books or any other pointless items that I do not need for 100 days.
2. If I NEED something then I am only allowed to spend up to £2.00 on any one item.
3. The only things I am allowed to pay for completely is my petrol, car insurance and car tax.

I will try my hardest to stick to these rules and will do updates about how I am getting along (hopefully not failing!). As a treat for doing this I am going to purchase my first MAC lipstick, I know they're not that expensive but it's money I can't afford to always be spending.

So I will do this challenge from today, 6th September to the 14th December (think I counted that right). Wish me luck!

xxx

Tuesday 4 September 2012

MUA haul!

Hello!

Recently I put in an order with MUA online, simply because I wanted the 'undressed' palette and it was on offer for £3! I ended up ordering more than I wanted (oops) but I got free stuff as well so it wasn't that bad.

The pictures below are of the products that I ordered. 

I bought:

- blusher shade 1 & shade 2
- lipstick shade 5
- nail varnish shade 16 & frozen yoghurt
- intense colour eyeliner pencil in jet black
- going for gold palette (Olympics limited edition)
- undressed palette

I got for free:

- eye dust shade 6
- extreme volume mascara shade 2 in black/brown
- false lashes: siren


Overall I'm extremely happy with what  I bought and separate reviews of the products will follow! I've tested out the palettes and I love them! I don't generally wear eye shadow but used 'undressed' the other day and got lots of compliments so will be using it frequently now! 

Thanks for reading

Have you tried any of these products?

xxx

Monday 3 September 2012

Review: Revlon just bitten kissable balm stain in cherish

So once again I have caved and bought the latest craze is the bloggers world. I'm sure you've heard of Revlon just bitten kissable balm stains by now and if not, where have you been?!

What Revlon say:

It’s a pampering balm fused with a lightweight lipstain in an adorable chubby crayon. Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain gives softer, smoother lips with a perfect flush of color that lasts hour after hour. The gel formula comes in 12 vibrant shades that match any look or mood. 

-Lightweight Lipstain + Moisturizing Balm
-100% of women who tried it felt their lips were instantly moisturized with a soft stain of color
-Retractable chubby crayon, no sharpener required


I didn't really know what shade to buy because I don't wear bright colours on my lips and in the UK most of the RJBKBS colours available are bright. However, looking at other peoples review I loved the colour Cherish and decided that would be the first colour I would try. Every time I went into my local boots or superdrug they didn't have this colour so I decided to order it off eBay, it was only £5.99 with free delivery and the delivery was extremely quick so I was very happy! 


I was a bit unsure about whether I would actually like these balm stains as I'm not really a lip product person and for me to wear it I have to be extremely impressed. After trying the Revlon lip butters (you can read my post about them here) I had high hopes for this product as it was getting just as much praise from the blogging community and I was not disappointed!

The first thing I noticed about this product was that it was extremely easy to apply even though it looks like it would be quite difficult, it is extremely moisturising and I find the pigmentation very good for a lip balm product. I like my lip colours quite pale so using this product is perfect, however, if you want a brighter pint you can just use more of this product as it gives a lovely bright pink if more is used. 

Another thing I loved about this product is the minty scent, I have read that people don't like this but personally I loved it as it isn't too strong and doesn't smell like most lip products. As for the stain, I am extremely impressed. As you can see from the picture above, I swatched the colour on my hand and after taking this picture and wiping it off it has left a stain on my hand that has been on it all day and won't come off which shows the staying power of the stain is good!

Overall I found this product extremely moisturising and love the colour, I think I will probably now use this more than my loved lip butters *gasp*. I have already ordered Charm which is a nude colour but as this isn't available in England I am waiting for it to be shipped from America.

Thanks for reading

Have you tried these? What colours do you have? 

xxx

Purity skincare

Hello!

Today's post is on purity skincare products. I was kindly sent samples from 'purity' to try out and review on my blog and was shocked when I opened the package as I had received six full size products to try! 

"Purity Organic Skincare is a British brand, conceived and created to bring intelligent, sustainable and organic beauty to each and every one of us. Purity Organic Skincare is EcoCert certified, with 98% of the ingredients of natural origin and an average of 82% of the ingredients processed from organic farming."


The six products that I've received are facial wash, conditioning cleansing lotion make up remover, anti-ageing moisturiser, anti-ageing serum and mask, facial exfoliator and regenerating overnight moisturiser. I haven't tried all of the products as of yet so will keep you updated as I try them all. However, I have tried the overnight moisturiser and was impressed by how soft it made my skin, the only problem I had with it was the smell. I absolutely hated the smell and it almost put me off wearing it on my face, however it's made out of natural ingredients which is probably why it isn't scented.

Thanks for reading, like I have previously said, i'll continue to update you with the different purity products that I try and my thoughts on them.

xxx

Sunday 2 September 2012

Day out in Camden

So on Saturday my family and I decided to go to Camden in London for the day because even though I was born in London and lived there till I was seven we had never really been. My dad went to Camden market a couple of weeks ago and told us how brilliant it was so we decided to go for a family day out which is quite rare in my family as everyone has different schedules!

Sadly I only got to take one photo the whole day: this picture was taken from just outside the markets in Camden.


Let me start off by saying that Camden market is possibly the weirdest place I have EVER been in my life. It's absolutely huge but amazing. Most of the stalls are completely different from one another and there are loads of really cute vintage shops/stalls. There are so many good bargains but you definitely have to spend ages there! Outside the market there is a road full of shops also selling amazing things. I have literally never been so overwhelmed in my life, such a weird place!

I bought a new hoodie (comfy wear for winter) for £10, it's navy blue and says 'Oxford university' - I don't really know why I bought it but I loved it and it's so comfortable, definitely worth the money! I also bought a jumper for £10. The quality of the wool is amazing and it's so thick and comfortable (once again for winter). One thing I will say: some of the stalls sell the same product for different prices, the jumper was £20 but I found a stall selling it for £10 so I saved myself paying an extra £10! I also bought two t-shirts which were on offer for two for £10 just for lounging around. My favourite purchase is a gold Casio watch! If you read my holiday buys post then you will know that I bought a black Casio watch until I got a gold one. I bought a gold one for only £8 and I'm completely in love with it! The picture below is what I bought.


I had an amazing day out with my family and will definitely be visiting Camden again! If you live near the area and haven't been I would definitely recommend it as I'm pretty sure there is nothing else like it!

Thanks for reading

xxx