You beauty discovery box unboxing: September 2014

Happy Birthday You Beauty! This month You Beauty are celebrating their 1st birthday and giving away a free box with a coupon which I think may have expired now.

(L-R: Crabtree and Evelyn tea, Hello Fresh £25 gift card, Mavadry Polish, Toni and Guy Volumising Plumping Whip, Makeup sponge, Eyeko Hydrogel eye patches.)

I'm super happy with the contents of this months box and i'm definatley going to be ordering next months; so let's get into whats in my actual box...

You beauty is a unique beauty box that works differently to others. First of all you get to choose 2 products from the monthly list that you will recieve and the rest are all free gifts!

So this is the first thing I picked; Mavala Mavadry, a quick dry top coat. However, I can confirm that this is the best top coat I have EVER bloomin' tried!!! Such a time saver within about 5minutes your manicures complete, amazing!

The second product I chose were these Eyeko Hydrogel eye patches which are basically face masks for your eyes and I cannot wait to try them!

Now this is the main free gift this month; Toni and Guy's Volumising plumping whip. This smells, just, ahhhhmahhzingg! I love the smell of Toni and Guy products and this one has the same scent! Another thing that really excites me is that RRP this product is £7.19 and the whole You beauty box plus postage is £6.95!

And here's the other free gifts, don't get me wrong i'll probably use some of these but these are the let down of the box. I'll probably give the £25 Hello Fresh to my mum, never use the makeup sponge and i'll definatley try the herbal teas from Crabtree and Evelyn. Oh and i've already read the nifty lil magazine that comes with the box, what a nice touch!

So the You beauty discovery box is £6.95 a month whereby each month you choose 2 products to receive and a few freebies.

Have you tried any beauty boxes?

Lauren

x

*Disclaimer- in no way am I bias/sponsored/paid for this post this is a completely individual post written by myself*

DIY- Duck Tape Notebooks!

I hope it's not just me whose bored out of their minds with plain notebooks. I'm fed up of seeing the same ones in my bedroom and the struggle to find cheap AND cute ones is just bloomin' impossible!

So when I saw this Duck tape in Asda I had a brainwave...

Duck tape notebooks!

I got this hardback notebook from Wilko for £1.25 but you can use any notebook you have, I prefer A5 but the size is completely upto you, I also find hardback works best but any notebook is fine.

The duck tape is avaliable in Asda for £3 or here there are other designs but this was my favourite.

So, here goes:

Step1: Measure out a strip of your duck tape either the length or width of your notebook.

(Apologies for the bad quality, I have no idea where that shoe lace has come from :/)

Step2: Cut the strip with a pair of scissors, make sure your line is straight though.

Step3: Place down the strip starting at the spiral end with the strip on the edge of the spirals or end of your notebook.

Step4: Smooth down your strip so there is no air bubbles.

Step5: Fold over the excess tape onto the inside of your notebook to make the edges neat ( you can always stick a piece of card over it at the end).

Step 6: Continue this until you get to the bottom where you will need to create another neat edge at the bottom of the notebook by folding it over the inside again. The corners can be tricky, cut a slit to stick them over each other.

Step7: Continue this on the back of your notebook.

ANDDDD.....

TAH DAH! 

Duck tape notebooks! Cost me £4.25 to make and I still have 3/4 a roll of tape left!

Let me know if you try this craft,

Make sure to follow my blog for more posts like this,

Lauren 

x

Beauty blogger tag!

Whilst searching for ideas on what to blog I stumbled across beautyguide101's beauty blogger tag and I found it a good way of introducing myself again into the blogging world, so here goes...

1. Is your hair naturally curly or straight?
It's naturally quite straight but has a mind of it's own and is sometimes wavy

2. What is your natural hair colour?
Dark Blonde

3. Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon?
I go to a salon

4. How often do you wash your hair?
Every other day but sometimes I try to go three days, my hair's really greasy :s

5. Do you wear the same style every day or change it?
I live in black leggings but I've recently been loving my Topshop jeans but I change up my style all the time!

6. Do you do your own mani/pedi or go to a salon?
I've never been for a manicure or pedicure but I have gotten acrylic nails at a salon a few times

7. How often to you change your nail polish?
I tend to pick my nail polish off, whoops! So most of the time every 2 days or so. Although I can't have nail polish on for work so it all depends on my shifts that week

8. Do you polish your toes in the winter, too or just in the summer?
I'm so lazy with toe nail polish, mine tends to last a good month but I do paint my toes in the winter

9. How long does it take to put on your makeup?
Usually around 15-20 minutes but if i'm going out usually around 30-40 minutes

10. What do you do first? Face or eyes?
I've always done face first, well foundation and face concealer then I do eyes then the rest of my face :s

11. Do you "collect" makeup or just buy what you need when you need it?
I only buy products I will use but I do have an excessive amount of makeup haha!

12. How often do you wear false eyelashes?
Hardly ever, only if I go out

13. Do you do a full face of makeup every day?
Most of the time yes but, it all just depends what mood i'm in and what i'm going to be doing that day

14. Do you wear makeup when you are home alone (or with family)?
If family are coming round i'll put a bit of mascara on but that's about it

15. Will you leave the house without makeup?
Yeah, I don't have a problem with wearing no makeup but if i'm going out I generally have makeup on

16. How many high end products do you have?
I definatley have more drugstore than high end products but I have a fair few Mac, Urban decay, Bobbi Brown etc products

17. How often do you wash your makeup brushes?
I used to religiously wash them every week but now it's hardly ever :s

18. Do you plan your OOTD every night or decide when you are getting dressed?
If it's a special occasion or a planned day out I generally decide the night before, however on a day to day basis I decide as i'm getting ready

19. How often do you change your handbag?
I have two main handbags that I use on an everyday basis one's black and one's a pastel pink so it completely depends on my outfit

20. What time do you get up & go to sleep?
For school/college I used to get up at 7am but for college i'm going to have to get up at 6am :( and I typically go to bed anywhere between 10pm-1am depending how tired I am

21. How often & when do you workout?
Whenever I can be bothered, whoops

22. Left-handed or Right-handed?

Right-handed

23. How tall are you?
5'2"

24. Do you speak a foreign language?
I took GCSE French but I am no where near fluent

25. How many pets do you have?
Currently, none :( but we used to have lots of fish

26. How often are you on Blogger?
I read other blogs every single day but recently I haven't been dedicating the time I should to my own blog, but that's all going to change!

27. Do you read the comments on posted blogs?
Yeah

28. Do you keep a list of products to try as you see other posts?
Not really I have a pretty good memory so usually just keep an eye out in Boots

29. How did you come up with your blog name?
My blog used to be called Salute a eclat which is french for salute to sparkle but it didn't fit me so when racking my brains for a new blog name it just came to me, what better name than a story about my life? After all that is what blogging is?

30. What kind of camera do you use for photographs?
Fujifilm finepix Z90

31. How often do you clean your house? (Daily, weekly, other)
I tidy around the house everyday and we deep clean it every week

32. What is your favourite colour?
Pink, Pink and more Pink!

33. What is your favorite beauty/fashion magazine?
Glamour magazine

34. Do you swear?
Ermm.... sometimes...

35. What are you doing with the rest of your day?
I've actually booked into get my eyebrows done then i'm off to shop for a few new items for college and a back to school haul!

So, I tag every single one of you to do this tag!

Lauren

xoxo

Essences arrives!

I cannot tell you how long I have been waiting for Essence to come to the UK. I discovered this brand around 3 years ago in Spain and I've been dying to get my hands on some more!

First of all these nail polishes caught my eye immediately! L-R (Tip painter in white, Colour and go in bejos de brazil and Nail art special effects topper in Get the party started) Unfortunately I've only been able to play around with these on my toes as I have acrylic nails on, however I will be purchasing more and will do an in depth review of the brand very soon!

This next product was a purchase purely because I wanted to test one of the most difficult shades to create. This is the eye shadow in Blockbuster and it is a Matt cream colour. The formulation is amazing and using this all over the lids gives me a 'no makeup look'. Now that's the problem, the pigmentation on every other eye shadow was amazing except for this. Why the heck did I choose this shade? Grrrrrr.

Finally I picked up their lip liner in Cute pink, a medium warm pink shade. I'm pretty sure this was only 99p and although this is the only lip liner I have ever owned I can tell you for that price it is worth it! This isn't a majorly hydrating, creamy product but the pigmentation is great and let's face it i'm only going to apply lipstick over the top?

Unfortunately I can't tell you the price of these products as silly Wilkinson had offers on their cosmetics and only put the reduced price on my receipt, sorry. However, all of these goodies only cost me £6.50, BARGAIN ALERT!

Have you tried any Essence products?

xoxo

Haul: Pretty Pastels

This summer I am obsessed with pastels, they're just too cute! So I ended up purchasing a few things from Primark and Wilkinsons.

How cute?! This miniature mint green satchel was just £6 and I am very tempted to buy the lemon and pastel pink ones too at that price! Although miniature it has a front pocket for your phone to fit in and the inside fits my purse which is pretty big (it's from River Island so the size of something like this.) Plus I could probably squeeze keys and a lipstick in too.

I also picked up this mesh box tee in this coral colour. I loved the mesh flower pattern although I had to buy a vest to go underneath as it is a bit too see through for my liking. The top was £4 and the vest £2.

I then found a bargain in Wilkinsons. All Rimmel under £5 YES PLEASE!

I ended up picking up the Fix and perfect pro primer which is usually £6.99 for only £4.99. I can't really comment on whether my foundation stays better yet as I haven't actually tried it properly. However on my hand it felt really smooth and moisturising.

I then picked up the Lasting finish 25hr Foundation. This is usually £7.99 and I picked it up for £4.99. I picked up the shade 100 Ivory which was their palest shade and suits me perfectly (i'm a Mac NW20) although looks stupidly dark on my hand here, I promise it isn't it was just my flash. 

If you'd like to see reviews on these products then let me know in the comments down below, but make sure you don't miss out on these savings and watch out in your local Wilkinson's for Essence! As soon as mine gets Essence in stock i'm sure they'll be a huge haul! Whoops.

Lauren 

x

Free eyeliner?!+ First impressions

 I must admit i've never been an avid magazine reader myself but I have been tempted recently by some of the freebies inside of them.

I'm not afraid to say it i'm one of those girls who can't resist a bargain and this was one of those times! This months June Glamour magazine is currently on sale for £2 with a FREE! full sized Eyeko Skinny liquid eyeliner in Black or Navy Blue, which is usually £12 that's a £10 saving!

I opted for the Black as I figured i'd get more use than Navy blue; to be quite honest I was shocked that Navy blue eyeliner was back in fashion i'm sure that was a 90's thing? 

First impressions:
Well, personally i'm extremely impressed with this product when I first saw the nib though I was slightly skeptical. I mean, come on it's not exactly 'skinny' is it? Especially in comparison to my Rimmel precision micro liner I thought this wouldn't even compare. Well, wasn't I wrong. I actually think ease wise there both entirely equal however having a slightly thicker nib makes it alot quicker to attempt a winged eyeliner look. The eyeliner it's self was very pigmented and is a complete black, with not an ounce of those horrible chunks of glitter in them, yuck!

The slightly thicker nib makes it easier to create a winged look whilst the tip of the nib is very precise. The actual formulation itself is quite smooth and seemed to just glide across my eye. One of those nice formulations which is not too wet or dry.

My First impressions of this product are amazing and i'll be keeping my eye out for more freebies in magazines this summer! Pssttt... There's Clinique freebies in next months Glamour.

Lauren

x

May favourites!

L-R Top row:(Tresemme Split Remedy, Soap and Glory Heel genius, Frozen!!!)
Bottom Row: Mac Swiss Chocolate Eyeshadow, Estee Lauder Advanced night repair for eyes, Barry M Gelly hi-shine in Greenberry, Real Techniques Buffing Brush.)

This month I really wanted to jump aboard the favourites post band wagon, let me know if you like these and I shall continue them as a monthly thing. As a new member of the blogging world I love the idea of noseying into people's makeup bags (is it just me?) and stealing some of their favourite staple products as my own new favourites.

However, this month has held the month of 2 weddings (one of which I was a bridesmaid for arghhh!), family parties and the arrival of good old Mr sun! My first favourite is my Real Techniques buffing brush which can be found here as part of the Core collection which is £21.99 for 4 staple base brushes. I love this set but have found an amazing difference in using this buffing brush to apply my foundation. Just one problem; how the heck do you clean this thing!!? I've tried shampoo, soap, brush cleaner you name it and i just can't seem to get this squeaky clean. It always feels clean but never looks it. Anyway, if you are a master brush cleaner yourself this is amazing for stippling on and buffing in liquid foundation and i've found myself needing to use alot less product.

My second favourite for this month is the nail polish i'm currently wearing, Barry M's Gelly hi-shine polish in Greenberry. Which you can find here for £3.99. This I can see being my go to summer nail polish this year, purely because of it's ease to apply and wear. I can wear this for at least 3days before I have to take it off.

For a few month's now i've been extremely conscious about keeping my hair healthy and especially split ends. So I purchased Tresemme's Split Remedy Leave in treatment which is avaliable here for £5.75. This leave in cream leaves my ends so soft and it smells amazing! Aswell i've noticed my ends getting seriously stronger, which for me is a miracle, they were so dry!

My only skincare favourite this month is the Estee Lauder Advanced Night repair for eyes which was actually in a gift with purchase which I was given by a family member around Christmas. It's avaliable here but it's a little pricey at £38 a pot, Ouch. However, this product is amazing I think this is the only eye cream i've tried that has actually reduced my dark circles and hasn't irriated my eyes. I've had this tiny tester pot since Christmas and i've been using it day and night and still have half left.

Please excuse the awful swatch, my camera is broken so i'm using my phone for the time being. But this month my favourite crease shade has hands down been Mac's Swiss chocolate. Which is a matte medium brown and super easy to work with. I love pairing this with All that Glitters such a natural everyday look, it's avaliable here for £12.50.

My final beauty favourite is Soap and Glory's Heel genius. Yes you heard it, a foot cream. But now that summer's approaching us I figured I needed to take it upon me to make my feet sandal ready. I won't harper on about a foot cream because it does it's job, it's avaliable here for £5.50.

Now onto the non-beauty favourites...

My fashion favourite of the month hands down has to be my new Juju Jellies sandals in white which were a present for my birthday. These are £25 and are avaliable here and in most of the high street stores at the moment. Despite these having a heel these are so comfortable, I can seriously see these becoming a summer shoe trend.

My electrical favourite this month has got to be my GHD's. I got these as a gift for my birthday and i'm in love with them!

These are £125 and avaliable here but is currently on offer for £103.99. But hurry because these are limited edition for breast cancer awareness.

johnfreida

My final favourite has to be Frozen the movie. I am obsessed! I'm currently watching it actually now.

Please leave your requests for future posts and hit the follow button,

Thanks Lauren x

The quest for longer hair...

Well it seems that summer may finally be gracing us with it's presence and i'm sick of having mid length hair. Now don't get me wrong bleaching and using heat on my hair probably doesn't help but I do feel like my hair is refusing to grow anymore. Does anyone else get that?

L-R (Aussie 3minute miracle Light, John Frieda Luxurious volume shampoo and conditioner)

So i've made it my mission to take care of my hair and hopefully help it grow. This week i've purchased some new haircare items. I have limp, lifeless, bleached hair which is weirdly extremely healthy. I researched and in order to gain hair growth or the illusion anyway it's best to use products that give your hair tonnes of volume.

I purchased the new John Frieda Luxurious volume shampoo and conditioner for coloured hair, this way i'm still taking care of my coloured hair and getting volume and thickness. I've heard amazing things about the original luxurious volume range, surely this can only be better? Now after reading rave reviews about the new Aussie 3 minute miracle light volume edition this had to make it into my shopping basket. These 3 smell amazing and I cannot wait to try them, especially the new Aussie 3 minute miracle. I mean how cool? Conditioner in a mousse form now that's got to be interesting.

Have you tried any of these products?

John Frieda Shampoo available here £5.89 and the Conditioner here £5.89
Aussie 3 minute miracle light avaliable here £4.99