Monday 18 June 2012

Fushi – Rosehip Oil and Extra Virgin Coconut Oil


I’d heard a few people sing the praises of Rosehip Oil and it’s something I’ve wanted to try for a while. I’d read up on the trilogy bottle, which seems to be the favourite amongst many beauty bloggers, but I was reluctant to spend the best part of £20 on a teeny weeny bottle, even if a little goes a long way. Boots have started stocking it too, I noticed. I did some research and discovered a brand of organic skincare called Fushi, who conveniently for me, sell through Amazon.



They had a 100ml bottle which I paid £9.95 for, but is now being sold at £12.00 - I wonder if we have Miranda Kerr sparking a rosehip oil frenzy to thank for that? Whilst I was browsing their range I also came across their Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. I’d been recommended this by a customer when I worked for Claire’s Accessories, who was very precious about her hair. I remember spending ages trying to help her find hair sticks or clips with no rough bits on the plastic (not even minuscule bumps) that could possibly snag her hair. She did have lovely natural hair, and revealed to me (the terribly naughty bleach blonde), that she swore by coconut oil. So at only £5.30 for a huge 250g jar, I thought what the heck, I’ll give it a whirl. It's still at that price too, luckily! I'm keen to try their Argan Oil as well.

































My first impressions of the rosehip oil were that it smelt like cold used teabags! However, it’s really not too offputting. It feels a bit greasy when first going on the skin, and is a tinted brown colour, but not after its been massaged in. I’m pretty sure the general idea with rosehip oil is to use this at night, so it absorbs fully whilst you sleep and leaves you looking all ‘glowy’ in the morning, as it takes a while to really sink in. My skin did feel lovely and soft in the morning, but I don’t think I’ll see any real benefits until I’ve been using it for a while. I do like it so far and am happy to add it to my evening beauty routine. The only thing I feel it's missing is a pipette (or a pump as it's tall), it's quite fiddly getting it out of the bottle, and using a cotton wool ball absorbs more product than it applies, so I've just been carefully drizzling a tiny bit into my hands before massaging it in with my fingers, which feels quite nice :)



I was impressed with the extra virgin coconut oil straightaway. This is actually an edible organic product. I don’t really know what the health benefits of consuming this product are, and the directions on the label only mention eating two-three tablespoons a day, with nothing about directions of use for hair. Some of the reviews on Amazon are about eating it, some are about using it as a beauty product. As I mentioned before, I purchased this with the intention of using it on my hair.
































I did actually sample the teeniest bit to taste, and it was a bit weird and yucky, so I definitely won’t be eating my way through this product! The consistency is actually more of a thick, semi-opaque white paste – I actually think this is quite a pro, because it means you end up using less. You scoop out a little of the paste, and then after a few seconds and as if by magic, it melts from the warmth of the palms of your hands into a clear oil, which you can then apply through the ends of your hair. I prefer to use it on dry hair, rather than towel dried or damp hair like a lot of other oils and serums, as I didn’t really notice a difference that way. I found that it leaves it feeling shiny and nourished, and a little turns into a good amount. You can apply little bits where it needs it most too.








I depotted a sample into a travel pot when I went on holiday, and it was great to help my hair recover from the sun and sea. When I took the pot in my beach bag, it melted into pure oil, which was good for application, but not for the container. It leaked over my stuff, which didn’t necessarily damage anything, I just lost half a tiny pot!

I was much more gutted when, with the weather warming up recently, the whole jar melted into half paste half oil and clumsy me knocked it over! So even though it looks like I've used loads in the pictures, I've actually not. I do now however, have a very soft patch of carpet after I cleaned the goop up...
One downside for me though, is the smell. I really LOVE coconut – the fragrance and the flavour. But this stuff smelt sickly sweet and tasted that way too. I wonder if used in cooked dishes whether it would still be that way, but in my hair I’m not too keen on the scent. I can’t really complain too much as it’s a natural and organic product, so it’s doing good for me without fancy additives. I'm actually getting used to it and it doesn't bother me so much now as it first did.

I will carry on using both and by the time I get to the end of them I’m sure I’ll know if I want to re-buy.

Sticky Kisses!

Sunday 17 June 2012

NOTD - Butter London Disco Biscuit

I'd been lusting over this nail polish for literally months. I'd seen swatches of it online and it looked like the perfect nail polish for my taste. I actually tried to purchase it from this seller a while ago. After I placed my order they sent me an email to say it was out of stock, yet it was still being listed, albeit at a higher price! I wrote a reply expressing my annoyed confusion, but my clumsy fingers accidentally knocked the 'send' button on my iPhone before I'd finished, making me sound very rude indeed. Needless to say I didn't hear back. Eventually the same seller must have bumped the price back down, so when I'd made my mind up that I should just definitely have it because I positively needed it in my life, I went for it. At £12.00, it might be the most I've ever spent on a single polish thus far! It's a popular shade that is hard to find.


Did it live up to my expectations? Not quite, regrettably. I'd been intrigued by Butter London's range and especially this polish - I love the idea of a hot pink jelly with tiny flecks of iridescent blue glitter - if I were a nail polish, I imagined I would be this one! It looked exactly like MAC's LE Hello Kitty Glaze Lipstick in Big Bow, just in Nail Polish form. It was an added bonus for me to learn that the Butter London range are all '3 Free' - meaning they don't contain any of the Toluene, Formaldehyde and DBP toxic chemical nasties that are not the best thing to put on your nails.


So what let it down? Well, judging from some swatches I'd already seen, I was expecting this to be a lot glossier, and with a much more magical dazzle. The brush is ridiculously tiny. I painted two coats on top of OPI's Nail Envy. Annoyingly, it also made my VNL look dark - I can assure you my nails were clean! In the top picture they look like they're really grubby underneath, which is not a look I want to be rocking! It makes me paranoid and I can't stop checking them...


The application was okay, not too streaky or gloopy and didn't take ages to dry - it's quite a matte finish. I feel that it might look better on slightly longer nails, I'd just cut mine before these pics. Also, there's already the teensiest bit of nail tip wear already, even after a coat of Seche Vite. This polish definitely needs a topcoat, if not 2 or 3, to get it looking seriously glossy and to show up the glitter. In the pics with flash below I had a topcoat on my thumb and index finger - I think you can just tell the difference. 


The glitter is hard to spot unless you're up close, or in a really good light. It looks more like a sheer blue toned metallic fuschia, and I already have polishes like that. I'm disappointed, but I would've taken the plunge and bought it one day anyway, I couldn't have left it forever wondering whether it would be my perfect polish! :P


Look how gorgeous it looks in the bottle!


And here it is in bright sunlight looking a tad more jelly with 3 coats of Disco Biscuit and 2 of Seche Vite! You can see the glitter here a little more:


It's still a beautiful polish. And maybe if I play around with it a bit more I can get it looking more like those other pics. I'll definitely still wear it (I'll even match it to Big Bow), but probably not as much as I'd envisioned. I'll keep toying with it and see if I can get it to look like the beautiful sheer jelly with tiny sparkles of wonder I was hoping for!

Does anyone out there have this polish, and have the same problem? Or perhaps some tips on how to get it looking really great? I'd love to know!

Sticky Kisses!

Z Palette, and fixing a broken eyeshadow!

I've been aware of Z Palettes before, but never really wanted one as I hadn't depotted anything. This changed after I received a couple of gift sets for Christmas, both of which were in extremely bulky packaging. So when I decided which bits I wanted to save and take out of the ridiculous chunky boxes, I ordered my palette in the small leopard print. This one measures 3.8"L x 3.8"W x .44"D, and the large one is 8"L x 4.75"W x .44" D. They come in Black, Pink, Zebra, and Leopard. If I ever need a large one, I might go for pink or zebra to mix it up a bit!



The Z Palettes are magnetic and come with tiny magnet stickers that you affix to your depotted pans. The round pans that I had (two blushes) were just the right size - about the standard size of a MAC eyeshadow. I have absolutely no recollection of what brand they were, all I remember is that they were in one of those massive gift boxes made to look like a magazine cover. I think it was called 'Colour Collection' - my bestie got it for me. The blush and bronzer pictured here are actually really nice, so I saved those and a few baked eyeshadows from set and tossed the box along with all the other bits I wouldn't use. The metal in the pans wasn't strong enough to stick to the palette on its own so I used the stickers.




I also had four small rectangular pans from another gift set that had unnecessarily bulky packaging. These eyeshadows were part of Fearne Cotton's Christmas range for Boots - which I love! I've had quite a lot of Fearne stuff over the past two Christmases, including brushes, lipglosses, loose powder eyeshadows, lipstick sets, eyeliner and so on. I'm a fan of Fearne's style anyway and I love every colourway that her ranges produce. Unfortunately as I was easing these fiddly and akward pans from their cardboard packaging, this dark purple shade broke - boooooo!




I did some research on how to fix a broken shadow, I'd seen instructions before but I needed to refresh my memory, so I googled it and watched a few youtube vids. Here's what I did...


I used the wrong end of an Estee Lauder lip brush because it was flat, and crushed the shadow up into a finer powder.


I added a few drops of Strictly Professional surgical spirit, which I bought here for £3.27 on Amazon - not bad for half a litre! I can also use it to sterilize my tools like tweezers etc. I use the Strictly Professional cosmetic brush cleaner to deep clean my make up brushes, which is pretty good.


Whoops - my clumsiness demonstrated for all to see! It looks really metallic here, but in reality is actually more matte. I usually use this in my crease when doing a smoky purple look.


I wasn't too fussed about losing a bit of shadow - I just wanted a solid block again so I wouldn't have to bin it! I used some tissue wrapped around the end of an unused toe separator to press down. With MAC eyeshadows it is recommended that you use a coin, but as my pan was an odd shape, this was the only thing I could find that was the appropriate size to compact the wet shadow with. I then left it overnight to dry out.

This is what it looked like when dry - managed to stick my nail in it, d'oh! I actually think that the colour payoff is better now - it seems like this little fixing trick has actually improved the formula and made it swatch more pigmented, which is a plus for me, as before it was hard to pick up a decent amount easily with my brush, to the point where it applied a little patchy - you know when a bad shadow looks a bit dirty? It doesn't look perfect, but it's usable, which is what I was aiming for! :)



Anyway, I'm really pleased that I bothered to rescue it, and it's now sat neatly in my Z-palette with my other depotted pans.

Has anyone else got any good tips for rescuing make-up?

Sticky Kisses!
xxx

Monday 11 June 2012

NOTD - No7 Pinky Pure

I initially hated this polish. I'm not a big fan of the No7 formulas, although they have a pretty range of colours. I only ever buy them with one of Boots' £5 off promotional vouchers, which i a bargain as I'd never spend £7 on them! I think I have about six colours, a few from both the Stay Perfect and Speed Dry range.


Pinky Pure is a Stay Perfect formula. I love a baby pink polish, but most of my experiences with these kinds of shades have been disappointing. More often than not they turn out watery, streaky, and far too sheer - Nails Inc Warwick Avenue, to name one. This is what happened the first time I tried Pinky Pure.


I decided to give it another shot and be patient, going very carefully. I used a basecoat of OPI's Nail Envy and a topcoat of Seche Vite. It was worth trying to make a steady slow effort, as the application was a lot better this time.



Much less streaky, and more opaque. Personally, I don't like to see the white tips through a polish (or 'Visible Nail Line!') and unfortunately after 3 coats there is still a slight hint of this. The colour itself is a slightly cool-toned pastel creme, and it was much closer to what I was hoping for when I picked it up.


I also managed to smudge it (I always do somehow, even when I'm super careful, sit still, use a drying topcoat etc...). Mr BNH never understands the importance of keeping my nails dry and always seems to conveniently require me to perform some kind of task that involves getting my nails smudged. I was furious one time when he urgently needed an item from a box in my wardrobe. Six ruined nails...



Anyhoo. My nails are a little scruffy here (as per) and this is after a day' wear. Even with Seche Vite on top, there's a slight wear at the tips. I must say though, it's not as bad a polish as I first thought, and I'm not ready to resign it to the rubbish bin.


Sticky Kisses!

Wednesday 6 June 2012

May - finished products!

I know this type of post isn't original but I love reading them, and it's also reassuring for me to see that I am actually finishing quite a lot in the space of a month. I actually only started making a note of this during the last half of May so there were probably a lot more this month, such as travel items I used on holiday, make-up removing wipes etc!


So here are my May empties! There's quite a lot of skincare & hair care and no makeup.




Tresemme moisturising conditioner 900ml




I bought this after a visit to a hair salon in February 2011. I've only just finished the bitch. It's not a bad conditioner, there's just too much of it - nearly a litre! I'm never buying this size of any shampoo or conditioner again as it takes me so long to get through, and using the same product for that amount of time leads to me getting a horrible build up on the roots and crown of my hair. I also find it takes me a lot longer to finish a conditioner than the shampoo, I had the matching shampoo for this and finished it after about six months. I don't think I would buy it again unless it was the travel size!


Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Night Treatment Gel 75ml




I've had this for a couple of years - I used to love this range and had a lot of products from it. I went through a fair few bottles of their foaming face wash too. I decided to try and use the last bit up so I could finally get rid of it. I do have problem skin but I've started thinking that this stuff has little effect on improving it and is possibly even making it worse. I'd moved on to nicer products and had seen an improvement. When I returned to this to finish the last of the product up, I even had a breakout! I'm sick of the smell of this range and also don't like the way it feels on my face. It doesn't work for me and I'm fed up with this kind of drying, medicated smelling cheap teenage skincare. I could have just chucked it but I really hate waste unless it truly is awful! I think it's an OCD thing. I'm still haunted by a few atrociously bad foundations from the past that got rubbished... anyway, I wouldn't buy again.


Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Exfoliating Face Scrub 150ml


Much the same as above. The scrub is ok for everyday use as its not too rough but I won't buy again for reasons already explained :)


Boots No7 Pore Refining Serum 30ml




I quite liked this serum, I definitely noticed a difference to my skin with prolonged use and it felt nice to apply. It wasn't specifically a primer but I found it to be fairly beneficial under make up. The only gripe really is that the nozzle on the pump got clogged if I didn't use it every day and would mean I got little gooey lumps when I pumped the product out. I don't know if I would re-buy, as I have similar products to try out, including the new No7 Beautiful Skin serum for oily skin and of course, The Porefessional!


Atrixo Enriched Moisturising Hand Cream with Camomile




I used this at my desk at work. I found it too thick, and it left my hands feeling greasy and somehow chalky at the same time! I won't re-buy as I prefer something that absorbs easily and has a girly fragrance - not that this smells particularly bad, just boring.


Lee Stafford Argan Oil Deep Nourishing Treatment 200ml




I feel compelled to mention that Mr BNH thought this said "Derp Nourishing Treatment" - methinks someone has been spending too much time reading rage comics on the intuhwebz! Ok, I'm gonna come out and say it: I bloody love this stuff!! It makes my bleached, dry, damaged, over-processed split ends look and feel so much better. Even when I'm washing it out I can feel the difference immediately, and it makes styling easier. I love Lee Stafford hair care and I'm hooked on both his treatment tubs and the Argan range, so this tub of joyousness is a double-win for me. I've got another full pot in the bathroom already and will buy this for as long as they keep making it! It also smells gorgeous and lasts forever.


Palmers Original Cocoa Butter 50ml




This is another of my wonder-products - I love absolutely everything about this. The most obvious quality would be the fragrance - it's chocolatey without smelling too sickly or artificial and lingers for a long time. When I use it I smell so delicious I could gnaw on myself! The formula is really good too - it's the perfect consistency; not too runny, not to thick, and not oily or greasy. It absorbs quickly, and leaves my skin feeling soft and hydrated for hours. A little goes a long way too. I took this mini bottle on holiday with me and used it as an aftersun every day. I came back with some left and I even cut the bottom off to make sure I swiped every last morsel out! Which leads me to say that I have only one problem with this product, which is that I found it rather difficult to extract the last dregs of lotion. I'd say around a quarter was stuck to the inside hence why it was cut open - but this is more of a niggle with the packaging than the product itself. I'm not surprised as the bottle is so stiff and tiny. When I purchased a large bottle I chose the one with a pump so I hopefully won't have that problem. Deeeeelish!


The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil Face Mask 100ml and Nose Pore Mask 50ml




Ugh, enough of the tea tree! I still have 5 more ghastly products to finish with that stuff in... This mask used to be pretty good in it's heyday. It is however, terribly old, and I've dug it out of the darkest corner of my cupboard to finally say goodbye. There is still a little product left in it so it's technically not empty, but it is unusable and congealed. Gross I know - I didn't realise it was still knocking around, so out it goes! Same for the nose pore mask - this was applied only to the nose to shrink pores and remove blackheads. I would like to try something with the same effect that wasn't necessarily tea-tree - it was pretty effective and there was an obvious visible difference after using it, from what I can remember. The problem with it that I had, was it was tricky and painful to peel off - I'm very sensitive around my nose and anything near the nostrils makes my eyes water. I'm cringing just thinking about it! I'll probably try some nose pore strips one day - I've used Diadermine ones before but they were a bit pants.


Veet In-Shower Depilatory Hair Removal Cream Lotus Milk & Jasmine150ml



I bought this in Spain to avoid getting razor rash shaving my legs. I usually use the sensitive version which pongs a bit,  with this one the fragrance was nice but it really stung, whilst it was developing I felt a nasty prickling sensation on my legs, and tenderness afterwards. I finished it while I was back here in Blighty and it seemed like a different product, much more gentle. Maybe it was something to do with climate and the way my body reacts in the heat (I do suffer from heat rash when I go abroad to hot countries). I love the little sponge it comes with, which is a nice alternative to those funny little scrapers! I found I used this up very quickly, after only two applications. I think I'll stick to my usual big tube of sensitive. In fact, I bought a humongous sized one with a pump the other day that I hadn't seen before, which is a good idea. I hate faffing about with the screw caps and this one is a whopping 400ml which should last me a while, hopefully. It was about £11 which might seem like a lot, but I'm usually forking out £7 for the large  tube which has a lot less in it so in the long run it'll be more cost effective.


Boots Holiday Glow Gradual Tan Body Lotion 250ml




This is a nice gradual tanner in terms of colour and evenness. Application is good if not slightly on the runny side, but it remains sticky and takes a long time to absorb. I bought a load of these when they are on offer - I have one more to use up but I feel like trying a different gradual tanning moisturiser after that's finished. I hated Johnson's Holiday Skin, I'm not a fan of the Garnier one which is very runny and sticky, but I love Loreal Nutrisummer, even though it can be a tad costly. I once used a firming version of that which was fab! I'd like to try the Dove one as I've used their face one, which smelled great.


Mark Hill De-Frizz Shine Serum 55ml




I prefer this serum to frizz-ease but I have others which I adore (will mention in future posts). It smells great, doesn't weigh my hair down or make it feel sticky, and the packaging is so gorgeous and begs to be shown off on a dressing table. I chucked the lid though as it wouldn't stay on! I would consider buying this again as an everyday serum or for dry touch-ups but I do have other wonder products to fulfill that purpose too. I wonder if you can get a mini size? 55ml might not sound like much, but it's lasted me bloody ages! It's worth trying when boots do their special vouchers.


Home-Made "Blemish Blaster"






This was a product of my own creation! I will make another batch and reveal how I do it sometime soon... ;) I'm sorry but for now it's just a picture of an empty pot... typically for me it is Hello Kitty!


Sticky Kisses!

Tuesday 5 June 2012

NOTD - Diamond Jubilee (OPI, Barry M, No7 & Stargazer)

I originally tried to post this on Saturday - but my internet connection has been fannying about, one is sincerely very sorry! I went for Red, white and blue in honour of our dear Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee! I thought I'd be patriotic and get into the swing of things to celebrate.


I know it's a bit messy, I'm really terrible at this fiddly kind of thing! I actually tried to be proper British and do Union Jack flags on the blue nails, but I failed miserably as I don't actually have an opaque white colour, or a steady hand. Here's a pic of what I used:


I started with a base of 2 coats of OPI's Nail Envy. For the red, I used Nail Paint by Barry M in 262 Bright Red. The white was OPI's Play the Peonies, which is actually a very pale pearl pink, but the closest I had. I nearly went for silver glitter, which would have fit with the Diamond Jubilee theme... oh well! The blue nails were one coat of Boots No7 Speed Dry in no 44 Violetta, with one coat of Stargazer's Metallic Dark Blue 105 on top. I was trying to get the right shade and the combination worked quite well I thought, as Violetta was too dark and Stargazer's 105 was too light on their own.

I finished off with some nail stickers from Hello Kitty that I bought about six years ago when I used to work there! I had a lovely pack with crowns on, and I thought to myself, "What better occasion than that of the Queen's Jubilee?". I took them to a Royal themed fete and got some compliments, and lots of likes and questions when I posted a pic on my instagram too.

Hope you've all been enjoying the celebrations and the extra days off!

Sticky Kisses!

Saturday 2 June 2012

Glamour Magazine's Benefit Freebies!

It seems now that every summer, for Glamour's Women of the Year Issue, they have an awesome collaboration with Benefit for the best freebies of the year. Last year it was Benetint, Posietint or High Beam. The year before that, it was Eye Bright, It Stick or Bad Gal liner pencils. This year was pretty amazeballs too, with three of their best sellers to choose from:


The Porefessional, a pore minimising face balm:




Benefit's website describes it thusly:
"Quickly minimise the appearance of pores & fine lines for smoother-than-smooth skin! Apply this silky, lightweight balm alone, under or over makeup. Translucent, oil-free formula complements all skintones and helps makeup stay put. Contains a Vitamin E derivative, known to protect skin from free radicals."


"that gal", a brightening face primer:




and the blurb:
"Our silky pink primer takes your complexion from dull to darling! Simply blend it on for the look of brighter, smoother skin. Contains light-reflecting pigments to help brighten all skin tones and raspberry & camomile to soothe skin."


And Bad Gal Lash, A black defining mascara:




"Sexy, sultry, pure unadulterated black mascara for full, voluminous lashes. It's as BAD as you want to be! Famously big, bodacious brush coats lashes with our super black formula."


I went a little bit overboard (in some people's eyes) and got myself one helluva haul:




I'm sure others will have bought more, but I got 6 Porefessionals, 5 Bad Gal Lash mascaras, and 3 That Gal! primers. This cost me, at £2 per magazine, a grand total of £28.


I know it sounds like a lot, but I went online to the benefit website to look up the products and their relevant prices and content amount of the full sizes. I then calculated (with my own brain!) what the amount I had would cost me at full price, then I subtracted what I had spent and concluded that I had in fact saved...


A whopping £103!!!


I expect Glamour has to be printed at least three times as much, but with addicts like me lurching to the till under the weight of an armful, they must be laughing all the way to the bank! I have to say I tried to be good and got mine from no less than four different retailers, so as not to completely empty a shelf in one place, thereby annoying staff and leaving nothing but disappointment for other beauty bargainistas... I'm so saintly!


I already had a couple of That Gal! 7.5 ml to use up from Confessions of a Concealaholic sets, hence why I gathered less of those :)


I was shocked to see that the full size bottle only contains 11ml - I thought it looked like it held a lot. This means that by purchasing 3, I have a total of 22.5ml, which is equivalent to 2 full bottles. Bazinga! The Bad Gal Lash mascara sample size is 4.0g, where full size is 8.5g, so I have around 2 and a half in equivalent. And the porefessional full size is 22ml, so I have the equivalent of 2 full sizes!


I don't mind the fact that there are 2 free products that can both be used as primers as I've been desperate to try The Porefessional. I'm all about the pore minimisers, yes sir! I love me a travel size and it's a good way to try out new things too, but in this case I've already used two of these products before and liked them. I always get on with Benefit stuff so am really keen to use The Porefessional.


I gave out most of the extra mags to friends, but I managed to get a few samples of the Pantene inside too, which I look forward to trying, as I have very thick and very damaged hair!


I can't wait to see what Benefit and Glamour bring out next year - hopefully it will be mini powders, or something from their b.right skincare - I have the trial size set of that too :)


Sticky Kisses!