Pre-Holiday Haul

As the title of this blog suggests, I am going on holiday so I needed to stock up on a few travel size goodies as well as some other products that I'd either run out of or had been eyeing up for a while. I'm off to Cornwall with about 10 of my friends for an end of exams/chill out week. I'll probably do a 'what's in my travel makeup/washbag' type post as well as post what Lewis and I get up to (see my lifestyle blog).
Here's what I got:

 Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Conditioner, Cuticura Anti-Bacterial Hand Gel and Arm & Hammer Brilliant Sparkle Toothpaste. I don't want to have to lug full size toothpaste and conditioner on the train and tube and anti-bacterial hand gel is a must when I plan on eating fish and chips on the beach.

 Neutrogena Visbly Clear 2in1 Wash & Mask, Simple Kind To Eyes - Eye Makeup Remover and Simple Age Resisting Eye Cream (I already have one of these but as it was reduced to £5 I got a backup).

I just ran out of my Neutrogena face wash so I had to pick up another before my face freaked out! Do you want me to do empties posts? I know they've become quite popular as YouTube videos, but I don't use up that much in a month... maybe I'll do them bimonthly. I find it really hard to find an eye makeup remover that doesn't irritate my eyes and I love the Simple Kind To Eyes Eye Makeup Remover Cream so I thought I'd give this a go. 

 Sally Hansen Maximum Growth Daily Nail Treatment, Superdrug Nail Polish Remover - Acetone Free, Elnett Hairspray  - Extra Strength & Nutri Protection. My nails are just a disaster, so as a last ditch attempt to give them some strength before my Leavers Ball tomorrow (super busy next few days) I am hoping this nail treatment works wonders overnight! You can never have too much nail polish remover, I don't bother with branded ones, to me they're all the same. The only hairspray that was in my house went walkies, I didn't really like the way it made my hair go crispy and it didn't really hold my hair. I preferred Elnett when Penelope Cruz was the face of it, can't stand Cheryl what's her face at all. However I saw that they did a variation for damaged hair that has 'nutrients' so I figured it can't be bad and with the extra strength hopefully it will hold my fine hair in a curl tomorrow. We'll see. 

Swatch of the NYC Kohl pencil (you can just about see it in the top picture) in the shade 925 Sable. At just under £2, hidden away in a box on a discount shelf I thought to myself, I'm nearly out of my Rimmel Kohl Eyeliner in the shade 011 Sable Brown so I picked this up, it will last me forever! Its one of the longest eyeliner pencils that I've ever seen!

Hopefully I'll get some good pictures in Cornwall as well as at my Leavers Ball, I may show you what makeup I wear if I remember to take a picture after each step. I can't decide if I want to start my own beauty channel on YouTube or not, my voice always sounds weird when its recorded.

The Body Shop Sale Haul

So I was walking past The Body Shop the other day and I noticed they had a sale on, so of course I had to go and have a look even though I didn't intend to buy anything. First of all I should explain how much I love their products especially as they are cruelty free and they have strong values to defend human rights and the planet. Therefore I do not mind paying that little bit extra for beauty products over your cult drug store/high street alternatives as the lines can get blurred over animal testing and company ethics. And of course most of the products that I have tried are amazingly high quality and effective.

Save the world rant/introduction over, here's what I got:

The first product that I picked up was the Hemp Moisture High Balm for very dry skin. For only £1 I think that it was an absolute steal as you only need to apply the tiniest amount for your skin to bounce back from dry flakiness. My elbows have already been rescued so hopefully my investment will last me a while

The second product that I picked up was the Passion Fruit Body Scrub for £5, which they must have discontinued as I cannot find the link on the website. However it smells divine and hopefully the seeds will give me the exfoliation that I like, especially as I love the Coconut Body Scrub, but I am trying other body scrubs as the £12.50 price tag is a bit hefty.

The final product that I bought was Bronzing Powder in the shade 04. I already had one of these in the shade 01 which I got at least two years ago and I have only just hit pan, possibly due to the fact that I am so ridiculously pale and even using the lightest hand with this can make me look orange. I love the sun pattern, it makes me feel like I'm making myself tanned without the damage the sun wreaks on my skin as I burn really easily.

Left: Shade 04, Right: Shade 01

For some reason Shade 04 (left)  seems to be lighter and less orange than Shade 01 (right)

As my birthday was this month I got to choose a free gift up to £5 in value. Yay for the Love Your Body Card. I got the Almond Body Butter and paid £1 as it was £6, reduced from £12.50. I am a fan of the almond hand care products so hopefully this body butter will give my skin the same level of love and moisture.


In total this haul was £10.30 and I saved £6.30. Man do I love The Body Shop.

What are your favourite Body Shop products?

L'Oreal Paris EverPure Review

So I got a sample of the new L'Oreal Paris Hair Expertise EverPure shampoo and conditioner with InStyle magazine that my mum picked up the other day, just for the two Body Shop eyeliners that were the freebie, in fact they are worth £16 in total so it was a bargain paying just £3.80 for the mag.

Getting back on track, I tried out the sample of the shampoo and conditioner, but before I tell you what I thought I should probably give you the background information of this product.

The claims the shampoo makes are that:

• is Vegan friendly
• is sulphate free
• protects coloured hair
• is not tested on animals
• contains natural botanicals  

The shampoo lathered really well in my hair which I love as I can just massage my scalp and it feels luxurious. It left my hair feeling clean from root to tip. The conditioner is my favourite out of the combo as it smelt really minty and left my hair feeling really refreshed. I am a sucker for a great smelling product, that could be a reason why I have become obsessed with perfumes lately (not the cheapest of addictions).

Overall there is nothing special even though the packaging is in your face about how lovely and 'pure' it is. Its only the smell of the conditioner that would make me consider buying a full size even though it didn't condition my dry hair very well. I think I will be sticking to my regular shampoo and conditioner.

Mini Haul & First Impressions

Hello everyone! And thank you for taking the time to read this. I guess I shall kick start this blog with a mini haul (the first of many)
So I was on my lunch break on Friday and I finally caved and bought two of the Revlon ColourBurst Lip Butters. I have been eyeing these up ever since I heard about them and so far I haven't managed to convince myself that I needed them, especially with the £7.99 price tag. Thankfully both Superdrug and Boots had a save £2 offer on them therefore making them £5.99, BARGAIN! Normally my local Superdrug is all out of student discount slips, either their printer is broken or they have run out, so I shop for my beauty supplies at Boots, however on this rare occasion I flashed my NUS card at them and they had one left. HURRAH! So with my student discount on top each lip butter was just under £5.40. I honestly don't know what I would do without my trusty NUS student card, it is definitely worth it.

left: 025 Peach Parfait, right: 095 Crème Brulee

I got the colours 025 Peach Parfait and 095 Crème Brulee. My first impression of this product is that the criss-cross design gives you more grip when you open it and the square base makes it less likely to fall over when stood on its end.

Peach Parfait is a semi-nude pink with golden flecks which makes it slightly shimmery and a gorgeous amped up 'natural' lip colour.

025 Peach Parfait

025 Peach Parfait swatched on my lips

On the other hand Crème Brulee is a pale nude with just a touch of shimmer which gives the lips a natural sheen without looking like a ghost. Overall on the lips they feel more wearable everyday than lipstick with the added bonus of being hydrating.

 

095 Crème Brulee

095 Crème Brulee swatched on my lips

 The other item that I picked up was the Sally-Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat because I am fed up of spending ages painting my nails and then smudging it and having to start all over again. Hopefully this will prevent me wasting both nail polish and remover in future nail painting. My nails are really brittle and dry, do you have any suggestions and tips to help revive them?

Apologies for the bad photography, I need to sort out decent lighting, hopefully this will be sorted for my next blog post.