Mini Boots and Superdrug Haul

I headed in to town to celebrate a friends birthday last friday and ended up having an hour to kill before meeting her. Only one place for it... Boots! So after some browsing (and a majorly long time at the new Ojon stand) I picked up a few items.

Burts Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme

I am really enjoying using this hand creme since purchasing it. It is an incredibly thick formula, therefore more of a night treatment for your hands. It smells gorgeous (reminds me of Christmas for some unknown reason), and i've really noticed a difference in my hands. I smooth this over just before bed time and wake up with lovely soft hands! Perfect.

Essie Nail Polish in Splash of Grenadine

I fell in love with this colour as soon as I saw it. It's so pretty, I had to have it. I think it'll be perfect for an autumn pink as it's a darker plummy shade. I applied two coats and that seemed perfect. I wore this for 4 days, and didn't even chip even without a top coat. I can see myself wearing this colour a lot this autumn.

Ojon Damage Reverse Restorative Hair Serum

I was very excited to see Ojon finally had a stand in Boots. After talking to the rep and trying some products out, myself and my friend were sold on this brand. I've been wanting to try there products for a long time, so this was a welcome opporutnity. I have written a full review with my thoughts on both these products, so if you would like to read more on these, you can do so here.

Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover

This product truly is a wonder. We've all been at the point where our nail varnish is chipping, but we just can't be bothered having to sit down with nail polish remover and several cotton pads to take it off. Well this makes life soooo much easier. As it says in the title, this product is truly 'magic'! You basically put your finger in the hole, twist it a couple of times, pull it out, and hey presto... no nail varnish. I literally had my nails "varnish free" within 30 seconds! Wow!

MUA eyeshadow 
Lastly, i just picked up this eyeshadow from MUA. I wanted a really bright white colour for the inner corners of my eyes for a particular look I wanted. I got this in Shade 1, Pearl. It's such a bright shimmery colour and really brightens up the eye area. And for a £1 who can argue?

So that's it for my mini haul this time. Really enjoying using all these products at the moment. Have you tried any? What are your thoughts?

Ojon Damage Reverse Review

I've heard a lot about Ojon products and always wanted to try them. So I was very excited when Boots announced they would be stocking Ojon and a counter appeared in my local store.

Ojon oil originally comes from a nut which is grown on the Ojon tree deep in the rainforest. I like products which have a story behind them, it gives it personality, and I enjoy using them even more. You can read the Ojon story on their website here.

I went shopping with a friend and was very excited to see that Ojon finally had a stand in Boots. It's been on the website for a while now, but nothing beats browsing the products in person. We got talking to the lady on the counter who suggested some products from the damage reverse collection.

We tried the damage reverse oil on our hair and the results were instantaneous and it smelt so good! The oil was £22, but she offered us a free hair treatment worth £18 with our purchase, so we snapped up the offer.

I have been using the oil religiously every day and it really seems to tame and add shine to my hair. You take a couple of drops of oil in the palm of your hand, rub your hands together to slightly warm the oil, then apply it mostly to the ends of your hair.

You can use it as often as you like, and it doesn't leave the hair looking greasy at all. You only need a couple of drops of this product, so even though the initial price may seem steep, you won't be running out of it any time soon.

The product we got free was from the same line, but was a restorative hair treatment. You use this around once a month when you feel your hair really needs a boost. On initial look, you don't seem to get too much of it, I'd say enough for around 4 treatments. When it's rocking in at £18, I'd say it's a little pricey for what it does.

You take a teaspoon size at a time, and rub it between your hands until it melts completely in to an oil. You then distribute it throughout your whole hair including the scalp. Leave it on for 20 minutes, then wash your hair as normal.

Myself and my friend had different experiences with this product. I have quite thin, naturally straight hair and I actually really liked the finished result this product gave me. I felt my hair was shiny, had more volume and looked in generally good condition. I must admit, it was a nightmare to washout. I shampooed my hair 3 times, then used a small amount of conditioner. I didn't use a styling product afterwards, just my Unite 7 seconds detangler.

I asked my friend to write her thoughts on the product as her hair is much thicker than mine, here is her review:

I have long, thick hair that is extremely prone to frizz so I was excited to try the Ojon damage reverse restorative hair treatment. My first thought was that it was a little bit awkward to apply from the tub, and having such thick hair, it took a fair while to get complete coverage. I applied it to my hair and scalp and waited the 20 minutes as directed. After the allotted 20 minutes had past, I thoroughly rinsed my hair in the shower followed by a shampoo and condition. I left my hair to dry naturally over night. In the morning, I felt like my roots were a little greasy (similar to what you might have after a couple of days without washing your hair) but the ends of my hair were really well conditioned and soft. Although I did spend quite some rinsing out the treatment, I’m assuming because of the thickness of my hair I may need to rinse for even longer. Hopefully this will eradicate the greasy roots. I am definitely going to give it another whirl!

So I think our collective review for the restorative treatment is that we will definitely be finishing these pots and trying it again, would we repurchase? Hmmm... i'm not too sure yet.

In regards to the oil, yes, definitely love it and would purchase it over Argan oil any day.

Has anyone else tried any products from the damage reverse range? Or any Ojon product at all? What's your thoughts?

New Dressing Table

I've recently moved back in to my mum's house, trying to do the adult thing and save for a mortgage. Since moving home I am really missing the space I had in my flat in Manchester, my bedroom was humongous compared to the tiny box room I have at home! :(

I really wanted a dressing table, but my room is so small i needed to browse around. I eventually found one in my catalogue which is designed for small spaces, yay! I spent a FULL Sunday putting it together, (yes I am a DIY genius, not!). Here it is in all it's glory...

I have most of the skincare items I'm using or testing at the moment on top of my dresser, some are in a separate drawer or in the bathroom. I also keep my brushes in front of the mirror for easy access. I try and keep the top as clutter free as possible, anything I'm not using, goes in a separate drawer unit.

As well as skincare, I also keep makeup and eye makeup removers on top as I use them daily. I found this cute heart shaped glass dish at a car boot sale I went to with my mum a while ago for 20p! I think it looks lovely and fits my cosmetic pads in just nicely.

My brush holder is from Elf, it fits perfectly in front of my mirror and is a great size for holding all my brushes with plenty of room for new purchases! :) It has 3 compartments for Eyes, Lips and Face brushes. I also tend to keep things like my eyelash curlers, tweezers and my Duo eyelash glue in here, just for easy picking! For some reason in this picture I have a Pixi eye pencil in there too (not quite sure why, ha).

The big problem I had was with the drawers. Because its a slimline dresser, the drawers are much smaller, so no storage solutions would actually fit. As you can see at the moment I am using little boxes to separate my makeup, but eventually I would like to get some proper storage for it all. In my left hand drawer, I tend to keep all my lipsticks, lipglosses, powders, mascaras, eyeliners and my palettes. I tend to keep the products I use most often in my drawers and store the others elsewhere.

 

In the right hand drawer I tend to store my foundations, single eye shadows, bronzers, blushes, eyelashes, brow palettes and brush bags.

I try to keep it as tidy as possible, but it's hard when your trying to use different products and test different things out.

 So that's it for my dressing table, and once I get my storage solutions sorted it will be fab! I love having somewhere to sit down and do my make up and skincare.

Do you have a dressing table? Or do you have a different makeup storage idea?

Birthday Fun!

Sooo, it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I had an amazing weekend with family and friends. My birthday fell on a Saturday this year which makes it even better (no work! Yay!). So I thought I'd quickly share with you some of the lovely presents I got from my nearest and dearest.

Here's the first few items; a water bottle off my mum for my gym/zumba sessions. You can put the middle part in the freezer so it keeps your drinks cool while working out (it's currently freezing away at home ready for tonight's aerobics session!). Perfect! Then off a couple of friends I got some sweets, a little cute purse and off my friend who I was recently a bridesmaid for, she got my favourite picture of her wedding day professionally printed and framed. Such a lovely idea! The book is off my mums partners mum (if that makes sense, ha). I have really been enjoying reading this series of books at the moment, so that was a thoughtful gift.

The biggest surprise gift was off my mum, she got me a Kindle Touch! Yay! I've wanted one for such a long time now as I read a lot, especially on my way to work and on long journeys. I hurriedly finished the book I was reading so I could get reading the next one on this! I also got a pink cover for it (pictured later).
My best friend spoilt me with a few of my beauty faves including the YSL Shocking mascara (LOVE this, better than the original YSL Effet Faux Cils by miles in my opinion) and MAC's All That Glitters eyeshadow for my palette (I've been wearing this nearly every day since she bought it me, such a cute colour). The clutch bag is from River Island and was a gift from another good friend. I love the style and colour. River Island bags are such good quality and always lovely designs. The After Eights were a yummy addition from my mum! :)

Also off my bestie (who knows how beauty/makeup mad I am), I got Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish starter kit complete with two muslin cloths. I love this cleanser, it's amazing. I've tried a lot of cleansers but this definitely wins the prize. It's definitely going to be a staple fixture in my skincare routine. She also bought me one of the Korres lip butters which I absolutely love. She bought me the Mandarin Lip Butter Stick in the shade Peach. It's such a pretty colour and perfect for day to day wear. They are so moisturising and really last on the lips.

I also got lots of other lovely presents from friends and family, including a boots giftcard (to feed my beauty addiction!), a ticket to watch my favourite football team Manchester City win the Charity Shield (c'mon city), a bottle of Martini Asti, accessories, lots of lovely cards and some money.

So all in all, got some lovely things, and had a great birthday celebrating in Manchester with cocktails, lovely food, a night in a gorgeous hotel and even better, spent it with some amazing people! :)

Exciting New Product

So we've all heard of the new trend at the moment, 'ombre-ing' your hair, or dip dying. Several celebrities are sporting the fashion at the moment and I think it looks really great. I'm so bored of my hair at the moment and have been looking at DIY solutions to do this.

 My prayers have been answered!!!

I heard L'Oreal were releasing a home dip dye kit in September, and it's finally arrived on Boots website (I believe it will also be available in Superdrug). Woohoo! It's called L'Oreal Preference Wild Ombre and is priced at £6.99, which is just amazing value. It comes complete with full instructions and a comb for precise application. They have released it in 3 shades:

No 1, Light Brown to Dark Brown

No 2, Dark Blonde to Medium Brown

No 3, Blonde to Dark Blonde

I am off to buy this as soon as possible, and excited to try it out. I hope it lives up to the hype and leaves me with lovely ombred hair! Review to come, keep posted!

Little Business Trip

Well I've been whisked away by my company on some training so haven't been able to blog recently. I'm currently staying at a Holiday Inn in a town called Bromsgrove. It's a really pretty quaint hotel and the food is delicious. Had a little wander in to Bromsgrove centre today, not many shops but managed to find New Look, Dorothy Perkins and Boots! Made some little purchases! Anyway, I'll be back soon and have lots to blog about!

Till then...