Wednesday, 8 August 2012

The Beauty of Ebay!

I have a love-hate relationship with Ebay, I love how cheap it can be, but hate how many fakes are on there.  My biggest tip is to use sellers that are recommended to you.  And also, when buying branded products expect it to be fake, I always ask myself 'would I pay this amount if I knew this wasn't the real deal?'  If the answer is yes then there's no tears when my 'Mac' lipstick breaks within 2 days. 

However, there are some little gems to be found floating around in that big Ebay pool.  The first is seller coastalscentsuk the name gives it away really.  Best customer service I have ever received and also no duty and delivery charges from the US.  I purchased the Coastal Scents 22 brush set and as far as I'm concerned it is the real thing and I've been on their website http://beautystore4u.co.uk which, if were fake hopefully would have been closed down by now.


I am a big fan of lashes, my own, other people's and false ones.  These eyelashes are probably the biggest money savers for me, 20 pairs for £3.99 (+postage and packaging) and I love them.  The band is not at all flimsy and used with Eylure glue you cannot go wrong. I've gone out, come back in and accidentally fallen asleep with them on and they did not budge an inch.  There are all different styles and can also be sold as a single pair or in sets of 10.  Also suitable for contact lens wearers.


A trend that was sort of going round on YouTube was the UV Nail Curing Lamps, mine cost me £9.45 and saved me loads in not having to get my nails done professionally all the time.  I think this is a good little gadget if you've got some spare money, but it can be waste because the gel nail varnish can get pretty pricey.  I would recommend to start with, buying just a gel top coat and then in time, if you wish, to buy colours in order to get full use from the lamp. (And then the genie will appear, no, wait, wrong blog.)


Lastly, these caviar beads are a new find of mine.  Who needs £18 Ciaté caviar when you can get 40g of beads for £1.99? (+postage and packaging)  Saying that, I haven't tried them out properly yet so the final effect may alter my view.  I'll keep you posted on how they fare with a nail of the week coming soon.

Thanks for reading, But sshh remember... it's a secret
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Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Monthly Favourites - June

June has been a very busy month for me and these are the products that I have reached for the most.  In May I decided I wanted to try and sort out my skin care routine because I do sometimes neglect my skin and dare I say it, I don’t always take my make-up off before I go to bed.


Therefore, I’m going to start with my favourite of my skin care routine.  My daily moisturiser is La Roche-Posay Hydreane Light  which I love, not just because it works and my skin feels better than ever, but the consistency is perfect which, for me, is very unusual for a light moisturiser.   Normally I find them a little bit watery and don’t feel they actually work, whereas with my La Roche-Posay you can feel it settle into your skin and notice a difference.  The other thing I love about this cream, is the smell, hands down the best smelling cream I own, when I open the bottle I forget I bought this from Boots for £14.30, so luxurious and fresh, but not strong so that it lingers after its been applied to the face. 





Second moisturiser is Garnier Intensive 7 Days Daily Body Lotion with calming HONEY for Sensitive Skin. This moisturiser claims that it will keep your skin soft for 7 days, after applying it for 4 weeks, my skin felt hydrated after just a few days.  The lotion absorbs really quickly so there’s no need to hang about before getting dressed, and has a lovely honey smell which lasts for hours.  There are five different variants for a range of skin types which all have their own fragrances.  I use my body butters religiously but my Garnier body lotion, for the moment has definitely taken their place at only £4.99 for 400ml.

I’ve used exfoliaters on and off for years but mainly before I fake tan to remove any dry or dead skin cells.  But recently I’ve been using them just because I love how they leave my skin so smooth and I think my shower gels are more moistening after use especially on my arms.  I can’t decide which body scrub I prefer out of Soap Glory Flake Away and Cocoa Butter Cream Body Scrub both work so well to transform your skin to be so silky smooth which I haven’t found in other scrubs.  I will be doing a more in-depth review on these products as well as other Soap & Glory and Body Shop products.



This is definitely my favourite product of this month and maybe even of the year so far  L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipstick, I stumbled upon these on the Boots website and saw these had a high rating and good reviews so next time I was out shopping I picked up one in Sweet Berry.  Sheer but buildable to create a pop of colour, these just glide on so softly they leave you rubbing your lips together, maybe that’s just me.  Light weight and moistening I ran back and picked up 4 more, slowly I want to buy all of the different colours because since buying my first Caresse lipstick, I haven’t used any other,  including forgetting about my MAC lipsticks and I would always choose these over the Revlon Lip Butters.  As much as this pains me to say it, this would not be fair if I didn’t point out one small criticism.  You do have to reapply these more often than many other lipsticks which for some people will be a big no no!  But I actually don’t mind this, the application of these lipsticks will never get old for me I love this product and would recommend to anyone.  At the moment Superdrug is doing 3 for 2 in L’oreal products or £7.99 each from Boots.



 Next, a brush, Coastal Scents Flat Top Kabuki Brush which I purchased from Ebay in the 22 Brush Set and is by far the best brush I’ve ever tried for applying foundation.  I know everyone keeps saying about the Samantha Chapman brushes but since using and falling in love with this brush the immediate need for the Real Techniques brushes has, for now, been suppressed.  When I use this brush I get a flawless base, whether I use a light coverage or a fuller coverage foundation, and due to this I'm starting to come round to thinking that it is the brushes that make a high quality makeup look.  Saying that, this brush proves that you don’t need to throw £30 at a MAC counter for one brush, you can pay half of that and achieve the same beautiful effect.  Probably the softest brush I own and when I went back and used my ELF Powder Brush, I couldn’t believe how rough it was I have been completely converted.  The only downside to this brush is that where it is so dense it sucks in a lot of product into the bristles so a waste of product, however, I slightly dampen the ends to stop it absorbing my foundation.



Eyebrow pencils are another product that when I use get into the habit of using powder I completely forget how good and precise a pencil is and Rimmel Professional Eye Brow Pencil is one of the best I’ve used.  The dark brown colour I use is not the perfect colour for me but the brush on the end just adds to making a more natural filled in brow.  This month I don’t even think I’ve picked up my normal ELF brow set that I have used day in day out for a good year or so, and think the pencil application is quicker.  Sometimes this pencil makes me wish that I could just change my eyebrow colour whenever I wish, just so I could collect all the colours of these pencils.



I have a love-hate relationship with doing my nails, I love what they look like afterwards, but it’s hard for me to find the time to sit down and do my nails.  I also get really impatient waiting for my nails to grow to a normal length so I use false nails and these Boots French Nails are brilliant to pop on with Nailene Ultra quick glue and you’re good to go.  Due to the fact I have been gifted with weirdly small hands, I use the extra small pink nails and think these give a beautiful nature look to the nails.  The longevity of most false nails depends on lots of different factors but mainly how you treat your hands.  For example someone who works with their hands a lot or their hands are constantly in water the nails are more likely to come off easier than someone who isn’t heavy handed and take care not to knock or weaken the nails.  Another thing is the glue that is used, Boots own nails glue I definitely would not recommend, however Nailene Ultra Quick Nail Glue which is only £2.80 and even though the bottle is little it will last a very long time, it’s really strong and as the name suggests, very quick drying.  False nails normally last 5 days without any coming off at all, but when one or two do I reapply them and they last another couple of days, then I remove all of the nails.

Thanks for reading... But shh remember... It’s a secret
x
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