Clinique Deep Comfort Hand Cream

Clinique Deep Comfort Hand and Cuticle Cream, £16 for 75ml.

The Deep Comfort range from Clinique has always appealed to me, I think partly because I love the thought of a product giving me 'deep comfort' (!) and partly because the range focuses on really nourishing and moisturising the skin. 

My first purchase from the range is this hand cream. It's thick in consistency and is pastel lemon yellow in colour. I'll start by saying it's probably not the type of hand cream you'd want to carry around in your handbag because it is so thick that it does take longer to absorb into the skin than other hand creams I've used in the past. This one stays by my bed so that I can remember to slap it on before bed time and let it do it's good overnight.

Clinique products are 100% fragrance free, which in a hand cream might be a downer for some, however as I pop it on at night I can overlook this matter!

As the hand cream is so rich, I found that during colder weather the product seemed to actually help protect my hands from further dryness or chapping, then I read on the Clinique website that it 'strengthens skin's moisture barrier against environmental stressors.' It does soften hands beautifully as expected though I noticed no improvement in my cuticle or nail condition. Next on my list is to try the Deep Comfort Body Wash and the Body Butter, but I think I'll wait until Autumn and Winter to get those, when my skin will need them the most!

Midweek post: Candy lips

I've got back into my bold lips and simple eye looks recently. The other day I thought I'd wear bright candy pink lips so thought I may aswell document it as a FOTD! I put ombre lips into practice, a look I'm really loving at the moment as it let's me be (a bit) creative but is also wearable for day to day! I love the depth it adds to lips when you use a darker liner and blend it to a lighter shade, though it's always important to remember, and god knows, AVOID that not so charming look that was so popular in the 90's- sorry Naomi!
It was also the second time I used Illamasqua's Sealing Gel. I'll pop a review up of this in a couple of weeks when it has been tried and tested properly!

Let me know if you use any of the products used and what you think of them.

FOTD:

Estee Lauder DoubleWear foundation in 'Shell' mixed with L'Oreal Lumi Magique primer

Chanel Poudre de Universelle in '20 Clair'

MAC 'Harmony' blush (contour)

MAC MSF in 'Soft and Gentle' (cheekbone highlight)

Benefit 'Sugarbomb' blush

Eyes:

Estee Lauder peach/gold eyeshadow from the 'Topaz Mosaic' palette

Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner (waterline)

Yves Saint Laurent 'Shocking' mascara

MAC 'Showstopper' on brows

Lips:
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lip Liner in '004 Indian Pink'

MAC LE lipstick in 'Naughty Saute'

Thankyou for reading!

Orange 'Tangy' Nails!

No.7 Nail Varnish in 'Tangy', £7 for 10ml.

Whenever the £5 No.7 vouchers make their way into my life, I buy one item and one item only! Nail varnish! At a usual price of £7, being able to pay just £2 for a fairly good quality varnish is just a bargain not to be missed.

Today's offerings is the perfect summer orange, 'Tangy';

Positives;

-The elongated, fairly slim handle makes the practicalities of nail-painting pretty fuss free!

-The wide brush distributes the polish evenly and makes it a joy to use. 

-The formula of all the shades I own always seems to be opaque in two thin coats

-The polish dries quickly

-Vivid and vast range of colours

Negatives;

-It does seem to chip after a days wear, even with topcoat.

Very similar to Illamasqua's 'Whack' if any of you happen to own that, it's the nail varnish version of 17's lipstick in 'Hot Chilli'. It's an orange infused red, putting a spin on the classic and giving it a fun summer twist. We all know orange is really hot right now, and nail varnish is such an easy way to embrace a colour trend both subtley and on a budget. Like I mention above, it's such a shame that no.7 polishes seem to chip very easily on me, as other than that I can't fault them.

What do you spend your money off no.7 vouchers on?

Bumble&Bumble 'BB Prep' Review

Bumble&Bumble 'BB Prep' £15 for 250ml.

This is one of my favourite Bumble and Bumble products that I use (I just can't get on with their salt spray, but I'll save that for another time ;) )

It's name states exactly it's use; 'prep'- think priming and preperation.
My hair is always a little tangled after washing and generous spritzes of this helps make the combing process a lot easier. It's a thin milk-coloured liquid that helps detangle and it supposed to help 'enhance the performance' of other styling products (Bumble and Bumble website.) It's also a refresher spray- it can be used to refresh hair and it's products between washes, though I haven't used it for this purpose yet.

One thing that impresses me is that although I always end up feeling like I've sprayed a lot of the product, it doesn't seem to decrease in the container much, which means this product will last a very long time (hellooo value for money!)

It's got a fresh and fruity smell that's quite distinctive and nice to use after a bath or shower. The issue I often have with after wash hair products is that feeling that my hair is being weighed down. I really dislike that feeling that my hair is full of 'stuff' yet 'BB Prep' doesn't do this. It contains great ingredients to help hairs condition such as Vitamin A, H and Sea Kelp amongst many others.

A downside to the packaging is actually the pump spray. It doesn't seem to have much control and the product sprays out at wide angles, so although it covers the entire hair, it can also spray into the face...which is not so pleasent! This aside, the packaging is nice and practical, with a semi-opaque container so you're able to keep an eye on product useage.

Although I like this product, I'm all for experimentation with hair products until I find one that is super-duper fantastic (yeah!) so I don't think I'll be repurchasing straight away when it runs out unless I am ultra disappointed with my next endeavour. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this product or any tips...I'm the first to admit I'm not very skillful or knowledgeable with hair styling.

Midweek post; MAC Vegas Volt! (vs Watch Me Simmer)

MAC lipstick in 'Vegas Volt', £13.50 for 3g.

Yes, some of you may be yawning 'another MAC lipstick?' but as lip products are one of my favourite things, I like to document them!

Vegas Volt is one of those 'in your face' lipsticks that many of us know and love. Excellent for brightening up a pale complexion such as mine and absolutely divine on tanned skin, it's one of those colours that if you have the balls to wear it, it'll be a colour that'll be much loved in your collection.

One thing I noticed when I got it home is that it reminded me of one of my favourite lipsticks 'Watch Me Simmer' which if you read my blog regularly you'll know it first appeared in my 'Shop MAC' mini haul and has featured in monthly favourites posts too. I will say that I do still prefer Watch Me Simmer due to it's coral pink leaning, whereas Vegas Volt is more of a orange coral infused tomato red. Both are neon-esque shades and are great worn subtley and dabbed onto the lips or at full opacity!

The photograph below shows Watch Me Simmer on the left and Vegas Volt on the right.

Watch Me Simmer was limited edition in 'Shop' and then re-released in the 'Reel Sexy' collection however Vegas Volt is a permanent shade.

I love both of these lipsticks, and shades such as this really are staples on my summer face!

Do you own Vegas Volt?

Limited Edition OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection- Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It!

OPI LE Nail Varnish in 'Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It', £11.50 for 15ml.

I'd been waiting (albeit impatiently) for Lena White to launch this collection for days, so I ended up doing a quick search on Amazon and found that there was a few of these available. I ordered and was so excited when it arrived through the post on Friday! (FYI the collection is now live on Lena White)

I knew I needed this in my life, I'm a huge fan of Disney and Minnie Mouse though I'll be honest and say that the other three polishes in the collection didn't particularly catch my eye. 'Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It' is a glitter top coat with heart confetti. The polish itself is translucent with a very slight tinge of pink. The glitter is abundant in the polish and is very fine, it sparkles a gorgeous lilac pink colour when it catches the light. The heart confetti is fairly sparse in comparison and is medium sized and in the same shade of pink as the fine glitter. I've personally never seen a topcoat like this before and I absolutely love how unique and pretty it is.

Although the heart confetti is fairly sparse, it's actually not too difficult to get at least one heart per nail per layer. A little bit of skill may be needed here and there to get the hearts into a position you're happy with, but this was fairly easy especially if the bottle is shaken before application. I've read a couple of moany reviews about this from US bloggers, but I found the process really quite straightforward when I was expecting it to be quite frustrating. This certainly isn't an 'apply and go' polish, you do have to set a bit of time aside, but I personally think the results are completely worth it. 

At first I applied it on top of OPI 'That's Hot! Pink!' to achieve this look I applied two coats of 'Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It'. It was a bit of a rushed job and they ended up a bit gloopy as I didn't allow much drying time.

A day later I thought it'd be interesting to put it on top of Essie's 'Mint Candy Apple' and the results are a stunning finish that reminds me of a mermaids tail! The pink glitter and confetti compliment the aqua tones of Mint Candy Apple so well. Below shows one coat of 'Nothin Mouseie 'Bout It', which I think I actually prefer to two coats as it is a bit more understated. Apologies that my camera just didn't seem to pick up the glitter very well :-(

Overall, I'm super happy with this polish and cannot wait to try it on top of other colour combinations! I'd recommend it if you love sparkly, over the top nails! Snap it up while it's still available!

Ojon Dry Recovery, worth the hype?

Ojon Dry Recovry Shampoo £18 for 250ml and Conditioner, £19.50 for 250ml.

I was very excited to try these products, luxury hair products always excite me a little and using the Ojon oil ingredient they're famous for I was hoping the treatments would work for me.

The smell of these is absolutely divine! It may sound silly to some, but the scent just reminds me of what I imagine it would be like to be in a middle Eastern spa! It's quite undescribable to be honest, but I am a sucker for a good smelling shower product and I always look forward to cracking these open!

I may have chosen the wrong treatment for my hair by choosing the Dry Recovery range,  but I almost feel the moisture within the shampoo has almost over compensated and my hair has become overly nourished (I'd be interested to know if others may have found this too). By this I mean I've found that my hair feels greasier a day quicker than it used to when I was using a Tigi shampoo and conditioner, which means I've in turn had to use more dry shampoo in those days between washes.  However, a plus side of this point would be to say that the range really does do what it says on the tin, and if you do suffer from severely dry hair then definitely give this a shot, if I'm honest I don't think my hair was in as bad condition as I assumed it would be.

I've been using Ojon for about 5 weeks now, aside from the vast restoration of moisture into my hair, I haven't noticed a vast difference in the condition of my hair in terms of split ends or colour protection. I love that it does feel light and clean after washing and I've never had any product residue remaining- it washes out very easily. I think I would purchase from Ojon again however I would probably choose a different treatment next time!

Midweek post: A product I do not regret buying!

Although I love reading monthly favourites and reviews, I'm always so interested to know what makeup products some people continually choose to use and go back to. For example, until about 9 months ago I'd only used L'Oreal Telescopic mascara for about 5 years. The term 'why fix it if it ain't broke?' comes to mind. However since then I've tried YSL Shocking, Benefit 'They're Real', numerous other L'oreal mascaras as well as a few testers of Clinique and Estee Lauder's offerings (post coming up about those!) and I still go back to Telescopic as my favourite.

While looking through my makeup collection (and yes I view it as a collection!) I noticed that there's one product I specifically return to time after time, and believe it or not it was an impulse buy when I was Christmas shopping in MAC a couple of years ago.

Behold the 'Dashing Lassie' palette from the 'A Tartan Tale' collection, 2010!

Please excuse it's now tatty state but one things for sure- it's well loved!

At the time it was a lot to pay (I was a skint post-grad) but something about the palette spoke to me and I got it without a second thought. For me it was the perfect palette of browns, and it certainly hasn't disappointed! Below are swatches of each colour so you can see, but rather than an actual product review this is just more of a chat, as I'm curious to know which products you go back to time and time again, Limited Edition or not I think it's nice to see such a used palette, especially from a makeup blogger who loves nothing more than a fresh pan of colour!

Dashing Lassie: Thinking this may be the most used, the colour pigmentation is the most disappointing. It applies a sheer wash of 'frost', there's no other way to really describe it! It barely shows in the photo above and unfortunately barely shows on eyelids either.

Once Upon A Time: A much loved colour! A neutral colour with shimmer, lovely worn on it's own or as a base, as you can see I don't get to wear this anymore, it ran out long ago and I struggled to get enough product to swatch.

Magical Mist: Looks silver in the pan but applies a dirty, metallic taupe colour.Really stunning and understated, looks lovely against green eyes!

Bronze: A beautiful metallic copper bronze shade, great for adding warmth as a contrast to the other shades in the palette. It's super pigmented and can be used to create a really striking bronze eye- one of my favourite looks.

Buckwheat: A deep brown with red and golden undertones. Buttery soft and gorgeously metallic, everyone needs a colour like this.

Showstopper: This will have featured in several of my recent FOTD's as it's a colour I favour to fill in my eyebrows at the moment. A deep matte brown with fabulous pay off. Also great for adding depth to neutral eye looks or adding natural definition under the eye.

It's sad to know that all of these shades were Limited Edition, because I think they'd be popular permanent lines. However, I know I'll use each section until it looks as worn as 'Once Upon A Time'!

Did you buy this palette when it was released? What is your most used makeup purchase?

Vichy Thermal Spa Water

Vichy 'Eau Thermale', Thermal Spa Water, £7 for 150g.

Hello lovelies! Today I thought I'd let you all know how I've found this product so far!

A litle dubious of a product that is 100% water I gave into the fact that the water is from Vichy in France, the spring water from this town was recognised by medical bodies for having a large amount of minerals (15 to be precise) and fortifying properties.

Sprayed onto a bare face I always notice how quickly this water sinks into the skin, leaving it feel fresh and awakened. As it is pure water, it contains no scent which is a plus for me, and does seem to have helped soothe my skin, which is OK overall but suffers from irritated areas. It's hard to pin point exactly, but it seems to make my skin feel a bit plumper, and all round healthier and softer. I am currently enjoying using it in conjunction with my skincare essentials (Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish teamed with Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair are going to remain staples in my routine for a long time to come.)

Sprayed on top of makeup, I've found no negative effects. Although I'm not sure it necessarily sets or prolongs the wear of makeup (I don't think it claims to do this), it does freshen up the overall look and still manages to absorb into the skin well. Unless I was to spray too generously, droplets don't run down the face which could otherwise affect the look of makeup.

I would recommend this product but would warn not to expect a miracle worker (a mistake I always make when buying new skincare!). It's a lovely addition, either to spritz after cleansing, during work, or to keep in the car for those long, hot drives. I believe with regular use it has benefited my skin and a definite plus for me is that it doesn't affect my makeup. I'd imagine (though haven't tested it yet) that it could help soothe holiday issues such as sun burn and bites, but don't hold me to that! It is also recommended for sensitive skin and the Boots website tells me that it is hypoallergenic.

Have you used this water spray? Do you believe that water spray will benefit your skin?

Nail Varnish; The off-whites.

While everyone around me seems to be reaching for intense bold blues and pastel pinks, corals and orange, bright sea green and canary yellow nail polish, something within me has rebelled completely and is choosing the off-whites almost everytime. You know, those colours that would look like white nail polish (tippex) if it wasn't for their subtle injection of colour. I'm loving the nude & the subdude on my nails at the moment. I'll wear a bright colour for a day then strip it off to replace it with a neutral off- white.

These are the three colours I've been reaching for most lately:

Models Own 'Utopia' (£5)

This is a very easy to wear colour that is white with a pink lilac hue running through it. The warm lilac takes the edge off the stark white and makes it a joy to wear that will suit almost anyone.

Essie 'Fiji' (£7.99)

This was one of my buys from the new stand of the diffusion line in Marble Arch Superdrug a while ago. The way they're displayed would make it so easy to come away with 5 or 6 but I refrained and got two! They apply like a dream and although seem to be prone to chipping a bit easier than others I've used, they seem to last better the more coats you apply. This one is the most white of the lot, but has a lovely baby pink accent to it, again this softens the bright white and makes it more wearable and unique.

Essie 'Sand Tropez' (£7.99)

This was the second of the buys and I've worn this the most over the last couple of months (seen in my May favourites video). It's sophisticated and neutral, perfect for any outfit and any makeup look. It coordinates well and is flattering against the skin. I suppose it's an off beige, but the pastel element to it means its got that 'off white' feel to it too. I keep reaching for it, it's my favourite polish of 2012 so far, well done Essie!

What are your favourite colours at the moment?

Estee Lauder 'Bronze Goddess'

Estee Lauder 'Bronze Goddess' Eau De Parfum, £40 for 100ml.

I'm a bit late with this one (apologies!), but I thought I'd review it anyway because it's so gorgeous (and will be released again next year for those interested)!

'Bronze Goddess' seems to have become somewhat of a cult product, people look forward to it's spring release each year and will repurchase each time. At only £40 for 100ml of scent it's also good value for money!

The packaging is a rectangular transparent bottle with a stunning sprinkling of gold glitter that is heavily condensed at the base of the bottle and disperses upwards, gradually fading to complete transparancy. The 'Bronze Goddess' lettering is gold as is the spray pump and any other features. It's a bit too heavy and bulky to carry around in my bag, but aside from that I do love the bottle.

As mentioned in my 'May Favourites' video, I've been choosing very light and feminine scents at the moment (which is a bit unlike me!) and Bronze Goddess fits into this category perfectly. The scent itself is one of those 'holiday in a bottle' smells that I couldn't dream of wearing during winter but is perfect for summer or to be used on holiday. It's light and very sweet, very feminine. The obvious note is its sweet coconut smell (it contains both coconut oil and coconut cream). According to the Estee Lauder website there's also notes of magnolia, jasmine, sandalwood, mandarin and orange flower buds.

Along with the original 'Bronze Goddess' release this year they brought out 'Bronze Goddess Capri' which is also Limited Edition, it's a slightly more intense scent which is exotic and citrusy. It's just as gorgeous!

What I like most about this scent is that it will appeal to women of all ages. I find with other EL fragrances that they are a bit too distinctive and heavy to appeal to a younger crowd, and a bit too old fashioned ('Beautiful' gives me a headache!).

 Overall, I really rate this perfume! It's going to be the perfume for my summer.