New lippy storage

Obsessed with my new bargain lippy storage. Under £3 each rack from EBay. 

Snapshot Sunday #6

Beautiful bottle, beautiful fragrance...

No7 BB Lips in Blink Pink

No7 have expanded the BB bandwagon with their new BB Lips Beauty Balms.
I have to confess that aside from skincare, i rarely venture towards the No7 stands unless I have one of Boots' infamous vouchers and this is no exception . I find that many products are expensive for what they are in comparison to other drugstore brands.

The BB lips comes in shades ranging from neutral to red. I was deliberating between a coral and a pink and in the end i plumped for 'Blink Pink'.

The balm is a non glittery and natural pink when applied. The colour payoff is minimal when blended out but it does enhance the natural lip colour with a nice glossy shine. The formula feels moisturising and smooth and offers an SPF of 15. It lasts no longer than any normal gloss but it wasn't too quick to disappear.

I'm not sure I would be willing to use this instead of a more pigmented gloss but it makes a nice alternative to a regular balm.
I don't feel any desire to explore other shades either as personally I prefer a but more colour pigmentation.

The BB lips range is £8.50 from Boots but I purchased mine for £5.50 with a voucher.

Maybelline Baby Lips

After reading wonderful things about this product online, I decided I had to try it for myself.

I hear Maybelline's Baby Lips are soon to hit the UK but me being a little impatient decided to buy one from EBay (selling for £6-£7 approximately). I chose the 'Cherry
Me' variety as I'm a sucker for all things cherry!

From Walmart website (where is much cheaper to buy if you happen to be in the USA!):

'Maybelline Baby Lips Moisturizing Lip Balm moisturizes lips for a full eight hours. Made with an exclusive skincare formula, lips are visibly renewed after using this Lip Balm for just one week. In addition, Maybelline Moisturizing Lip Balm is available in six varieties to both moisturize and protect your lips, whatever the occasion. For clinically cared-for, baby-soft lips, Maybelline Lip Balm is easy to carry with you and designed to be effective.

Maybelline Baby Lips Moisturizing Lip Balm:

Moisturizing lip balm with SPF 20 sunscreen
Gives eight hour moisture plus lip renewal
It's clinical care for baby soft lips.'

I found this product to be softening and moisturising though not for the promised 8 hours. It leaves a glossy sheen though the colour pretty much disappears on application.
Am impressed with it though not so impressed that it hands down beats my other favourite Balmi lip balms. Maybe given more prolonged use I'll see those impressive results it promises!

I'm not sure it warrants the current price on eBay and I would be more likely to purchase this again in UK stores if the price point is lower.

Colour B4... or a bit before...

For some years now my hair has been getting darker after a quest to go from dark mousy blonde to brunette. All this resulted in someone black hair which was starting to make me look washed out and pale.

A chat with my hairdresser suggested it might be a pricey and time consuming affair to undo the process and me, being impatient and impulsive, decided to give it a go myself courtesy of Extra Strength Colour B4.

My first attempt was an experience not to be forgotten in a hurry! It turns out the smell of Colour B4 is akin to a bottle of rotting eggs. So bad was the smell that I actually threw up! This is not something I would recommend for those with a weak stomach as you can't escape it (the room has to be kept warm). The process is also a long one, an hour with the liquid on, head wrapped in cling film as a towel. Then approximately 15 minutes rinsing in total. By this point my hands were prune like!

The result was definitely less black, someone yellowy orange at the roots so a follow up colour was necessary. What puzzled me is that this went well initially but my hair darkened as the week went on.

I repeated the application the following weekend and my hair is still dark though not black. Is more a gingery dark brown.

If you are after reducing the harshness of a colour this does the job but really wasn't what I expected. I can live with the result for now but is not startlingly different to before and is uneven. Also, most worryingly, I experienced a lot of hair shedding.

Has it saved me money visiting the hairdresser? Probably not.

Extra Strength Colour B4 £9.99 Sainsburys

Split picture shows pre treatment and after first application.

Other picture shows after second application.

UPDATE: after two weeks 'reoxidised' hair is now virtually black and has shed a bucket load. Wouldn't let this anywhere near my hair again.

Obsessions #1

Soap and Glory Hand Food

This has to be the ultimate hand cream! It's fragrance alone is delightful then there's the moisturising, smoothing effects on the hands. The combination of shea butter, macadamia oil and marshmallow sounds good enough to eat and is a winning combination in my eyes.

I have the large pump dispenser which is ideal for my bedside table and the mini tube which was part of a Christmas gift set and is ideal for handbags.

All in all, I cannot recommend this enough!

Vapour Candle

Having being plagued by every sniffle going, I could not resist picking up this little candle. It's called 'vapour candle' and smells like Vicks/Olbas. There are no instructions etc but the 'breathe easy' wording on the lid suggests its should be ideal for clearing your nose. Can't wait to give it a go next time my nose is stuffy and, whilst it's not a scent you'd want to burn to generally fragrance your home, at 59p is well worth giving it a shot! Yes, that's right, 59p!!!!

Candle - 59p from B & M

Snowflake nails

Bourjois Very Vernis in Rouge Diva
Models Own WAH Nail Art Pen in white

Snapshot Sunday #5

A festive selection...

Dress up in diamonds!

Boots have a L'Oreal offer on at the moment, spend £15 and get the 'Dress Up in Diamonds' gift set free. I am a fan of their gifts as they usually include some full size products and this is no exception! The set includes:

- nude magique sachet in medium
- mini revitalift pot
- true match sachet in shade W3
- full size color riche diamantissme lipstick in fuschia 325
- full size color riche nail topcoat in crystalissme
- full size volume million lashes in diamantissme

I love their volume million lashes mascara and for this alone, the gift is worth every penny spent getting it. The topcoat is not something I would have picked out normally but looks like it will give a nice pearlescent finish to any polish. The lipstick is the perfect shade for the season and is something I'm sure ill be wearing very soon.

If you're a L'Oreal fan it's definitely worth investing in a few favourites to acquire this set (worth approx £25) .

Boots, spend £15 on L'Oreal.

Starbucks Redcups: a festive tradition

While doing some Christmas shopping I couldn't resist the obligatory Starbucks seasonal special...Toffee Nut Latte! Their redcups scream Christmas and I hopers squeeze in another couple over the festive season!

Essie Leading Lady

I spied this in a magazine last week and couldn't resist one of Essie's festive offerings! The polish is a burgundy type plummy red with glitter within it. I was worried it would be a bit too thin in terms of the colour of the actual polish but I was wrong! With two coats there is good coverage so it's not the kind of glitter polish that you need to apply on top of another colour. It is the perfect berry shade for the Christmas and party season.

£7.99 Boots

A Sweet Treat: Skittles Candles

I came across these little candles whilst browsing in my local B and M bargain shop and couldn't believe how delicious they smell! These candles are made by Skittles in collaboration with Star Candle Company. I bought the Strawberry and Raspberry versions though there is also a green version with a melon type scent which personally did not appeal to me. The box states that the burn time is approximately 25 hours which is excellent considering these candles were only 89p each! Yes...89p!!!! They are presented in simple grooved glass jars so are quite stylish (unlike the delicious but not well packaged Jelly Belly candles).

For 89p you can't go wrong and at this time of year would make an excellent stocking filler!

Yankee Candle Addiction!

I can't help being a little bit in love with these candle products! I have been working my way through a selection of their festive fragrances in jar form and also as samplers and wax tarts. I am new to the wax tarts but am a convert after buying a burner on EBay (approx £5 for an official one via eBay). The tarts crumble easily into the pot and melt amazingly quickly using a plain tealight. The scent appears much stronger than a normal candle and it fills the room quickly. I am currently burning Soft Cotton from their Simply Home range (£1 asda) but have also purchased Midsummers Night and my favourite Christmas Eve, along with Vanilla Frosting. I think it will be getting a lot of use.

The Yankee Samplers are also an inexpensive way to test the fragrances. They burn away to nothing with no waste if instructions are followed. I picked up mine via one of the many eBay sellers for approximately £1.70 each.

Snapshot Sunday #4

This week I thought I'd share a few more of my autumn/winter photography efforts. I must make more of an effort with the photography next year! In the meantime I shall make do with being Santa's official photographer at the Christmas Fayre!

Yankee Candle Christmas !

As its December 1st I've finally lit my Yankee Candle Christmas Eve candle (large jar). Promised myself I wouldn't burn it until today as I am planning on it being my official Xmas aroma! I've even bought the wax tart version and similar scented tealights in Happy Christmas. I love Yankee Candles and find them really good value for money and that the fragrance payoff is good. At the rate I'm burning it I hope it makes it to the big day!

Large Jar approx. £15 via
eBay.

Snapshot Sunday #3

Winter part two!

Snapshot Sunday #2

This week I have raided my snaps an have gone with a 'beside the seaside' theme. I love a bit of time with my camera, only wish I had more time for it!

Damson Dream

In a bid to save money I am sticking by my 'rediscover old treasures' mission and am starting with Boots No7 Stay Perfect nail polish in 'Damson Dream'. This is not a new purchase and I got this for a few pounds with one of the £5 No7 vouchers. It is also available for a few pounds on EBay. The colour is a warm plummy shade which has a slight shimmer. It needs a few coats to appreciate the depth of the colour but it also looks pretty with one coat for a more sheer version. I think I will be coming back to this shade over winter! The only downside is it does not wear for a huge amount of time without scuffing but if, like me, you like changing colours frequently, this shouldn't be a problem.

Scrimp and Save

Well this is not exactly the kind of post I planned on writing and given that my blog is so new, not one I wanted to write. Have come to the realisation that my finances need to be sorted so that means less spending for me! I love trying out all the new things I find calling me on the shelves but in the spirit of saving money, I have decided that at least in the short term, my blog will have to chart my attempts to rediscover the copious amounts of beauty products I already own. No doubt ill still treat myself to odd bargain bits but I'm considering this a challenge and don't want to let it put me off continuing with the blog.

Here's hoping my efforts pay off! (Literally!)