L'Oreal Colour Riche Nails - Boudoir Rose

I first tried these little beauties out in the summer, however, the colours that I had weren't very summery so I didn't really use them. I recently bought this shade Boudoir Rose (number 204) as I thought it was a lovely pink nude shade that would go with everything.

At £4.99 you may think that's really good for a L'Oreal nail varnish, however these only contain 5ml of product. Whereas, a Barry M has 10ml and a Models Own has 14ml of product, so not such a good deal price wise.

However, L'Oreal claim that these nail varnishes have a new LiquiGel technology which "offers easy application, even coverage and lasting glossy shine." As you can see in the above picture, L'Oreal have also created a paddle style brush which helps the application of the polish.  I actually really liked the brush, at first I didn't believe it would do anything, but it makes the application so much easier and a lot quicker than other polishes from other brands.

 As far as the LiquiGel technology, it is true that you would be left with a glossy finish that other varnishes do not have, and the reason I repurchased this product. However, they claim it is long lasting, but this shade did not last long on my nail at all. The first 24 hours were fine but after that a few chips started to appear, which to be honest did not bother me that much, (I know that some people cannot stand it though) but after 3/4 days I needed to repaint my nails completely,  therefore, I definitely would not call these long lasting nail varnishes.

It is really annoying that the colour does not last a little bit longer as I think L'Oreal Colour Riche nail varnish would be my favourite out of all the brands I have because the finish on the nails is so lovely and is so easy to apply. I think these would be brilliant for anyone that likes to change their nail colour every few days but wants a glossy finish without the faff of a topcoat. I personally am going to use these for when I go away for a few days or to a special occasion and want a nice quick manicured look.
Boots have a 3 for 2 offer at the moment so you could get 3 different shades for just over £3 each which I think is a good offer.

Money Saving November

I've decided that next month I'm going back to my roots, and going to post reviews on cheap high street makeup and I really mean cheap. All the drugstore reviews will be on products costing under £3 each. So, brilliant for stocking fillers at Christmas, little treats for yourself or if you're just getting into makeup and are interested in finding good cheap products to play around with.

The main brand stalls that I am going to be raiding are MUA, Natural collection, ELF, Rimmel, 2true, not forgetting own brand products. I'm going to see how skincare fairs as well within the price budget. 

If anyone has any specific requests for products or brands please leave a comment or send me an email beauty.secret@hotmail.co.uk and I will do my best.

Thank you x

Products I Regret Buying

In the blogging/Youtube world it is very easy to get caught up all the hype that surrounds some products, which as a beauty lover, is very bad for my bank balance. 

 But sometimes its nice to take a step back from all the positive, love love love attitude and find out what not to waste any money on.  These are my personal opinions so I don't mean to cause offence as I know that there are people that probably swear by each of these products.

Boujois Chocolate Bronzer

This has to be the biggest let down for me out of all the products I've ever bought. The main problem is getting any of the product onto the brush; I’ve used various types and brands of brushes on this bronzer but it refuses to leave the pan.  In order to get anything I have to scrape the top layer off with my nail, then swirl a brush to get even a light dusting. Even then it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  I just do not understand as people rave about this bronzer.

Revlon Lip Butters
Revlon lip butters exploded on to the scene a while back, and I, like everyone and their mother, rushed out to buy one. I was thinking about dedicating a whole post about these but I thought I might as well include it in here instead. I hate the packaging, it's cheap, flimsy and feels like it's going to break as soon as you try to use it. As for the product itself, I'm not a fan of chunks of glitter in my lip products, well any products at all really, and they didn't actually do much for my lips, moisturising wise. I find the colour selection also to be a bit poor as I don't really see much variety within the shades.

Cacao Butter

Cacao butter is raved about none stop as being one of the best moisturisers on the market, I wish I hadn’t bought such a big bottle.  The smell is too overwhelming, I only have to pump a small amount onto my hand and my tummy turns inside out.  I normally don’t mind products that have a smell, but it’s too sweet and sickly. This is a shame because I like the consistency and do believe it is actually a very good product.  I’m not a big fan of the ear wax yellow colour of it either but I would be willing to put up with that, but that smell is too much.  There is a fragrance free version, but I think I’ve been put off too much.

Boujois Little Round Blush

  These blushers reach some people's top favourites, but to me I have the same problem as the bronzer, it's hard to get any product out of the pan. Even if I'm lucky enough to swatch a little, it just shears out to next to nothing.  Sadly, a waste of my time. I did have my reservations about the blushers because I have tried the eyeshadows and I’m not a fan of those either (which is why I have never purchased any).  I really like Boujois liquid products, but for some reason I find their powder products have very little pigmentation.

Tea Tree Cleanser

Tea tree is known to be good at fighting spots, which I do agree with.  The reason why it is so good is because tea tree dries the spot and stops any moisture spreading over the skin.  Lovely, you might think.  Maybe not, because when using this cleanser and toner the major flaw is that it is placed all over the face, drying the whole face not solely on the affected areas.  Friends and I have had the same problem with this product resulting in my face having patches of dry skin and the area around my eyes becoming so dry my skin used to flake, (Yeah, that’s right, I’m a stunner).  So cleansers and toners of Tea Tree is a big no no in my books. However, on the other hand I have a tea tree stick which is used only on the spot, which I think is worth a purchase or two. Also since purchasing this product, the packaging has changed so this product no longer looks like this.

I definitely prefer doing positive posts, but I don't  want to fool you into thinking that everything you buy will be amazing. And remember that products that work for one person, may not work for another. Please take all these opinions as a result of my own personal experience.

More positiveness shall now be resumed.

10 Small Non-Beauty Related Things

As I am a secret blogger, it is hard to get readers to connect and relate to my blog. Therefore, I like to shine some of my personality into my posts and I thought I would share some personal facts about me with you lovely lot. Grab a cuppa.

1. My favourite feeling is getting out the bath after shaving my legs and rubbing them together. It's so smooth! This is in a completely non sexual way. Brilliant way to start off aye?

2. I am scared of spiders and wrists. I don't like the thought of the vains being there and definitely do not like touching them.

3. I love pasta. I could have it for dinner every day. And lunch. And probably breakfast.

4. Songs and smells always hold memories for me, both good and bad.

5. I wish I was tanned. I love sunbathing and feeling the sweat run down my side. Oh hey sexual talk again.

6. I never used to cry at all, but since 2 years ago I get really emotional at films, speeches and general sad things.

7. I am a massive hypercondriac. I can't help it, I'm always ill.

8. I hate coca cola, dr pepper and tomatoes. But love fruit.

9. I don't have a musical bone in my body, I can't even play the recorder. And I am completely tone deaf, though I honestly believe I am a good singer.

10. I trust everyone completely, until they break my trust. I truly wish that I could not hold grudges, but I am the perfect example of someone that can forgive someone for their mistakes, but never forget. It makes me sad that I really struggle to put somethings behind me.

Accessorize Bronzer in Laguna

A bronzer called Laguna, but not the Nars version, you say. I have you intrigued don't I?
I bought this when I picked up my Accessorize Blush over a month ago now and I didn't actually see the name of this bronzer until I got home and examined the product more carefully. I believe this was about £6 from Superdrug, sorry I could not find a link to it on the website.

 Even though this is a 'bronzer' I actually use it has a highlight mainly across the tops of my cheek bones and down the bridge of my nose. As you can see there is a spilt in the middle of the product as there are 2 shades, these can be used as two separate shades or mixed together.  I orginially thought that the shade on the left side of the pan was going to be the more 'highlight' shade and the other to be the bronzer of the two. Now, I think there's not really much in it, both have golden tones amongst shimmer that looks beautiful on the skin.

Top shade:Mixed together, Middle Shade:Shade on the right of the pan, Bottom Shade:Shade on the left of the pan

Like the Accessorize Blush, I quite like the packaging, girly, simple and looks pretty in my makeup bag. I also said in my other review how the case closes with a snap, and I did like that about it. Until this morning when I caught my finger in it. I still don't understand how to be honest.

Even though I use this product mainly as a highlighter, I do also use it as it's proper purpose, a bronzer. Due to the shimmer, there is always the worry about accidentally looking like a disco ball, however, with a light hand this can be used as an all over face bronzer. I would personally try and emphasize my cheek area more if I were to use the product in this way.
Also, please bare in mind this would definitely not work for contouring or to sculptural the face in any way. Not solely for the shimmery side of things, but also because this shade doesn't have the ashy tones that a contour should have, it consists of a more orange tone which works for a bronzer and not contour.

Please let me know if like me you're willing to ditch your Nars for your Accessorize.

Vaseline Pink Bubbly Limited Edition

I haven't really seen many posts on this product so I thought I would indulge in the world of Vaseline. Pink Bubbly is the new limited edition lip therapy and is supposed to smell like champagne, I personally would describe it more like a fruity scent with a kick really. But I do like it oddly enough and the more I smell it the more I like it. 

I don't use mine as a 'lip therapy' as I don't think Vaseline actually does anything to moisturise or hydrate the lips.  There are other useful ways, on my lashes to help them grow, over lipstick to add a sheen to the lips and also on any small dry patches of skin. Saying this, I do own every single version that they bring out, my excuse is that it's a staple item. 

Vaseline is always quite sheer, hence why no swatch, and mine now lives in my handbag. A normal pot would be £1.99 but this one is £3.49 from Boots, smacked lips face! I really cannot tell why this one would be £1.50 more than the others. However, I do spy with my little peeper, there is wine extract in the Pink Bubbly which may explain a little.

Overall, I think this is my favourite scent but was a bit of an impulse buy, I don't know if I would repurchase this if I happened to lose it though.

Mini 21st Birthday Haul

Morning guys, this is a post that I have been debating about for a couple of weeks. I know these types of posts are loved by some and completely hated by others so I've decided to show just some selected items that I think are relevant to my blog and hopefully things that you are interested in seeing.
I know I have been completely spoilt and I really appreciate and love all my friends and family that made my day amazing. 

 These are just so cute white and milk chocolate cows/flowers

I also received some lovely flowers and cards. My day was full of little surprises by my friends and family which made it so special.

Rimmel Lasting Finish - Pink Blush

This was in my haul last month and I said how I normally don't go for bright pinks. I love this shade, it's a matte finish which can be a little drying but if applied on top of a lip balm it isn't a problem for me. This particular shade does show cracked lips which as it's coming into winter could be a problem. As the name suggests this is a long lasting lipstick, I found it lasted a couple of hours, but not all day. I don't know if I would wear this alone during the day without gloss but in the evening I really like this lipstick.

This is the shade without balm or lip scrub

I am loving Rimmel lipsticks at the moment and even though I still think Pink Blush looks a little scary, once it is applied it looks lovely, especially with tanned skin. I like the packaging too, just simple black with the Rimmel slanted lid. You can pick this up for £4.99 and boots have 3 for 2 at the moment which means more shades :)

Flat Shoe Love

I sadly was not given the gene of amazing long legs, and luckily my back isn't oddly stretched so I stand at a very small height. Leave any guesses below in the comments. Normally, short girls become attached to their heels and wouldn't even give a flat pair of shoes a second look. I am the complete opposite, even on a night out my friends have given up asking if I'm going to wear heels. They already know the answer.
So I thought I would share my love for flats to prove that girls you don't need to give yourself heel ache and blisters no matter how tall you are.

These are my everyday flats, not including my boots and wellies. As you can see I trust my feel with Primark a lot. I know Primark isn't necessarily the best quality but I think they have some really nice designs and love that they copy Topshop and River Island who charge ridiculous amounts for their shoes.

These girly hightops are my only pair of River Island shoes, and they were a bit of an impulse buy on pay day in the summer. They are very comfortable and I love the design, I believe there are flatforms in River Island with the same print. I refuse to wear them when it's raining though as I don't want them to get dirty :( but as I live in England I think its inevitable really.

Plimsolls have sort of gone out of fashion now, but I think in the last 3 years I've had about 4 pairs, 3 different colours and the white ones are the only ones I've repurchased. Forever 21 have some amazing colours though. I really like these with skinny jeans. You can get these basically anywhere but mine are from Primark, good enough quality to keep the shape and not let water leak through to my socks but also cheap enough that if they do get ruined in mud that I would just buy another pair.

These suede beauties are my newest pair. I love these I think I picked them up form Primark for about £8/£12 and compared to other retailers I think that was really good. Again another pair that I don't want to wear in the rain as I know they would get ruined.  I find these really comfortable  I originally thought that the bottoms of my feet would hurt after a day of wearing these. I was mistaken, due to the very slight heel, your foot is not completely flat so your soles don't feel like you've been walking around bare foot all day.

I purchased these about 18 months ago from New Look and they have held up pretty well. They have a very small cork heel that has taken a bit of a battering as I have a tentency to fall over, a lot. These are the shoes I normally wear out in the evening and are from that gladiator faze that went around shoe heaven for a while. 

These have been my most worn shoes over the last couple of months, and I don't just mean indoors, I actually wear these everywhere. Even in the past week when we've had rain, there has been me, my umbrella and my flip flops! They aren't the most comfortable of flip flops, they are very flat. I know that sounds like a ridiculous comment to make, but after a few hours my soles and heels hurt because I am walking basically bare foot. I used to hate flip flops but I really like these and I even have them in white. yay!

I don't know what most people call these type of shoes, I call them dolly shoes, don't ask me where I got that from because no one else seems to call them that. So anyway, the first of the Primark dollies, and I love these. On trend with the studs, there is an exact copy of the Topshop ones as well but I prefered the studs to go all the way around the shoe and not only at the front. There are white, cream and black, maybe more by now, I would definitely recommend trying Primark shoes on in the shop, because every pair is a different size. I am a size 3 and sometimes I have to try on 2 or 3 different pairs of size 3 to find a pair that fit me. It is a downside to shopping in Primark but I don't mind, it doesn't really take that long to try them on. I think these were about £8 and compared to Topshop at £28 I prefer the Primark version.

I think these are beautiful and sophisticated, now there was a bit of mix up and I don't think these are the pair I tried on in the shop. I say this because when I put these on they always feel a bit odd, and they didn't in the shop. The shoes are very straight, they don't bend with your foot. So you can't quite tell which shoe is for which foot, I could use either shoe for either foot and it would feel the same. Again a slight problem with Primark but it doesn't bother me that much, I don't think its causing my feet any damage or I would have taking them back.

Thank you for reading my ramblings about my shoes and sorry for picture heaviness.

Accessorize Blush in Scandal

After spending years hating the 'baked' form of products I recently had a change of heart. They look too good in the pan not to fall in love, aren't they? They sort of reminded me of the Heavenly Creatures Collection from MAC with the swirls and mixes of colour.

The shade I have is Scandal, a pink toned blush which is such a lovely girly colour. I can lightly dust this over the apples of my cheeks for a daytime look, bring out more of the shimmer for a more glamorous evening look. This blusher is really pigmented, I was pleasantly surprised. I love the shimmer it's not too full on and I think it really brightens the face and looks beautiful in photographs. I had doubts as to whether this would actually stand up as a good quality, long lasting product, or if the pretty shade in a pretty box was all it was. I was definitely wrong, this blush lasts a good 6-8 hours on my skin without a setting spray and the texture is lovely and smooth as it is applied.

As you can see, it's not as burgundy as it looks in the pan but I think it could probably be built up to a deep pink if that is what you are aiming for.

I like the packaging, one of those plastic snappy cases (some people may call cheap) but I actually prefer this style sometimes because I know that they close properly. A transparent lid to see the colour of the blush and the butterflies are cute which I think appeals to the more girly amongst us.
I picked mine up at Superdrug for around the £4 mark, sorry I cannot seem to find this product on the Superdrug website so can't add a direct link. I do know that this will last me as I've been using this blush nearly every day for about a month and haven't even started to make a dent in the pan so I am definitely going to pick up some more shades soon.

Have you tried any Accessorize makeup?

Topshop Lipstick - Brighton Rock

Last week I posted about how I was a bit late on the hype and finally purchased some Topshop lipsticks. Originally, I only wanted to try lipstick out, in case I didn't see what all the fuss was about. So I was there, swatching till my little heart was content, then saw this bright pink shade down the other side of the makeup stand. 

I didn't realise until I actually read the label that is was Brighton Rock, possibly one of their more famous shades due to Zoe's love for it. Also, I would like to point out that on the Topshop website it seems a lot redder than it actually is, so don't be put off.

It is a bright pink with almost an undertone of red to deepen the colour. It's a very bold move, so if you aren't too confident about out there lips, then I would stay well away from this one. I like this on it's own, I was worried that it might need a lip pencil to make it work, but I don't think it does.

The shades I have does last on the lips which I am impressed with. I can't believe I didn't own a Topshop lipstick before and now I have two :)

What is your favourite Topshop shade?