Products I've Used Up #6

 

My empty products drawer was starting to get rather full again, so it's time to show you all the things I've used up! I finally got round to buying the Soap & Glory Sugar Crush body scrub after all the hype, and was not disappointed. The smell was amazing and although the scrub was a little sticky, it did scrub well and left my skin really soft. I would definitely buy this again and am debating buying the matching shower gel. Next is one of my regular products - The Body Shop All in One Face Base. I love this powder - its technically a powder foundation, but I wear it over my liquid foundation for amazing coverage. It lasts a lot longer on my combination skin too, so I have to powder less through the day. I buy this all the time, I will have to devote a post to it soon! I've also used up the Nip + Fab Gylcolic Fix Exfoliating Facial Pads mini pot I had - and already bought the full size product. You can find the review on that HERE.  I've starting going through the mascaras in my drawer and used up the Maybelline Mega Plush Volume Express mascara. I'm really on the fence with this mascara - the wand was super bendy so I found I kept poking myself in the eye with it. It the mascara was a lot better when it dried out a bit, however. I think I'm still on the quest for the perfect mascara. 

I've started leaving a hand cream on my office desk so I remember to use it more - and I've used up my mini Crabtree and Evelyn La Source hand cream. I loved the smell of this and it sank into my hands really well and left them super soft. I have a few more hand creams to get through but would probably consider buying this again. Another regular - Batiste dry shampoo.  This scent is the Oriental, which I really liked as it reminded me of Japanese cherry blossom and gave a  nice scent on days I forgot to wear a fragrance. I'm currently using the Cherry scented dry shampoo but I tend to bounce between that and this one. I've gotten through two shower gels - the Imperial Leather Foamburst in Blackberry and Wild fig. I loved the smell of this but it did leave my skin quite dry and I didn't really like the foam as much as I thought I would. I also didn't like how after pressing the button, a little bit of foam would always come out after you've used it and get on your other products. I also got through the Dove Go Fresh body wash in Plum and Sakura blossom - which again had a great smell, but I really didn't find this too moisturising either. I found I had to use quite a lot of this in my hard water area - not great. I've got plenty of other shower gels to plough through so I probably won't be buying these any time soon.

Have you tried any of these products?

NOTD #4: Stiletto Nails

I've been gone a looong time. I'm back now though! I've had a little re-design of the blog to try and make it a bit cleaner. Let me know what you think!

I've been swooning over stiletto nails for some time now, ever since I saw them on Lana Del Rey and I filled my Pinterest Style board with images of her and her nails. This mild obsession meant that I MUST have stiletto nails that I can call my own. I'm not a huge fan of acrylics, for me they are a little bit permanent, so I searched my faithful friend Ebay and bagged these babies for an absolute bargain. These I believe are a medium length, and they came in two colour options of natural and clear. I opted for the natural - no particular reason, I wasn't sure there was a huge difference between the two. I've painted mine with Ciate's Cutie Pie.

I think Stiletto nails have a lovely elegance about them and they certainly make a statement! However, I'm not used to having such long nails so for me typing (and basically everything else too) was certainly a challenge. I had mine on for about three days, specifically for a night out, and after that I snapped them all off. I would wear these again though! I'm sure with some time I would get used to them, because they look so good.

I purchased mine from HERE in the teeny pack of 24 for £3.29 (One wear, just lots of different nail sizes). I think I'll be buying the larger pack though!

Do you like Stiletto nails? How would you wear them?

Along Came Betty Pure Pores Detox Mask

I'm a bit of a sucker for this brand, the girly packaging and fun names really draw me in, not to mention the super budget price. Along Came Betty, a Tesco exclusive brand, have an impressive range of body and skincare products that are inspired by 1950's movie stars which is definitely reflected in the kitsch names and packaging. I picked this up on a special offer for about £3.50, otherwise full price it is a bargainous £5.50. It promises to target 'greasy, spot prone areas and purify the t-zone' for the ultimate deep cleanse. I really like this product, for its simplicity, it promises just to give your face a good old-fashioned clean and help those with oilier skin types. I have a bit more of a combination skin and I find this doesn't dry me out in the slightest, and just makes my face feel so smooth and clean after using. You can leave this on for five minutes for a quickie, or for 15 for a pamper. Its not going to shrink your pores, but then it doesn't promise to, but it does promise to give a deep cleanse, and that's exactly what it does. I love the fact it comes in a pot too, its so easy to use, and it smells fantastic. If you are on a bit of a budget and want something to spoil yourself with, this is definitely it, I've had better results with this than some masks that are twice the price. This one's a keeper!

Along Came Betty Foaming Lovely Face Wash

Let me set the scene for you. I'm in tesco's, with the aim of doing a spot of healthy food shopping. You know the likes, quinoa and lettuce and all the things that taste like I'd rather not be eating them. So I got a little distracted and popped into the beauty section, and came across the brand Along Came Betty. I'm pretty sure I've had some bath salts from them before, but that's a little off topic. Everything from the brand was marked with a lovely half price sticker - so I had a little nose and walked away with two products. One of them just so happened to be this Foaming Face Wash. I did pick up the quinoa, but I didn't pick up the lettuce, and the other half of my shopping list. Ooops.

The Along Came Betty range is a skincare/bodycare range inspired by the Hollywood Sirens of past times, and the vintage packaging reflects this.

So the words that really hooked me onto this - brighter radiant skin. Who doesn't want that? I also got drawn in by the fruit I've never heard of either - the Kakadu Plum. Fancy! Soo I paid the lovely half price ticket of £1.74 (full price of £3.49).

Well let me firs of all, tell you how lovely the Kakadu Plum smells - if its anything like this then its bloody lovely. I've never smelt a Kakadu Plum but it smells like, generic fruity, very tropical.

The Budget Series: Montagne Jeunesse Iced Crystal Exfoliating Face Masque

I feel like it has been ages since I've written a budget post. Montagne Jeunesse still hold a great place in my heart as my favourite face masks, and I picked this one up completely on a whim. Turns out to be one of my better whims, so I'm introducing to you - the Montagne Jeunesse Iced Crystal Exfoliating Face Masque!

I do have a great fondness for these sachet face masks and you can read my previous reviews HERE and HERE. I really didn't know what to expect from this one as it is the first scrub mask I've used. The sachets as usual are super helpful and tell you exactly how to use with the our simple steps - splash, massage, relax and rinse. Easy!

So this mask contains spearmint and menthol and dead sea salt to give a combination of cooling, exfoliating and cleansing, sounds pretty good to me.

The Budget Series: Montagne Jeunnesse Green Tea Peel Off Masque

I'm still on my search for the perfect face mask. I saw this in the shops, and thought I would try it. I really like peel off masks because there is such little mess with them.

I'm not sure how I feel about sachet masks - I always find there is just a little too much in there for me, and then I don't know how to store it, so just waste it by throwing. At £1 a sachet it isn't such a crime, but I wish I could get more use out of the leftovers!

So this one contains Green tea, ginger and lemon, to refresh, cleanse and give a radiant complexion. I really liked this one, it certainly did refresh my skin - I felt so clean afterwards! It didn't leave my skin feeling tight either, which was great, and there was no tingling on the skin which sometimes makes me feel as if I'm going to react to it. I found it took the full 20 minutes to properly set, but after that it peeled off lovely.

The Budget Series: Montagne Jeunesse Chocolate Masque Face Mask

I've not had much like with face masks recently, after buying plenty of Lush ones over the past few months and really wanting them to work, I've given up. I found this baby sitting at the back of my skincare stash, and I used to love the brand as a teenager, so maybe it will work for me now?

These masks are super cheap and most places sell them. I've found the best range is actually in Wilkinson, where they all retail for £1. Montagne have a website too that you can order from if you are stocking up.

So this is the chocolate face mask, and it claims to deeply draw out all the impurities and give your skin that lovely soft feeling. Its a mud style mask, that dries and washes off. It is suitable for all skin types, according to Jeunesse.

The Budget Series: Collection Pressed Powder

Its not often that I write a review where I didn't like the product, because I generally don't think it is a good idea to have lots of bad reviews especially from brands that I usually love. I suddenly found myself without any pressed powder and on a super whim grabbed this one, which you can find in my superdrug haul post. It is super cheap at only £1.99 and comes in a range of shades, this being 18 Ivory. I do quite like a lot of Collection (or collection 2002) products as many bloggers do (concealer anyone?) so I had total faith in this product.

Unfortunately I'm a little disappointed.

The Budget Series: Adee Phelan Opulent Dry Shampoo

This is a product I picked up on a bit of a whim, in the 99p shop. I've never heard of Adee Phelan but I thought the product name sounded rather grand, and as I'm running out of dry shampoo I thought I would grab one and try it.

Turns out Adee Phelan is a hairdresser famous for David Beckhams Mohawk, and this actually retails at betewen £6-7. After some googling it turns out that Phelan has focused on hair dye removal products rather than general haircare which is why this discontinued product probably ended up in a 99p store.

The Budget Series: Collection 2000 Colour Pout Lip Stain in Pout

It feel like I've had this for ages and ages and totally forgotten to write about it - which is shocking as I'm completely in love with this product!

The packaging on this and all the colour swatches on websites show this as a dusky pink - I actually bought this because it is NOT this colour whatsoever. This is a red, and a beautiful red at that - and a good red lip stain is so hard to come by.

This lipstain comes in the form of a felt tip pen nib, easy for application overall, but with the thick nib I can imagine this is difficult on those with thinner lips. Or easier, maybe!

The Budget Series: Christmas Glitter Nails part 2

Christmas is all about pure glitter, so I've got my second glitter nails ready! Please read my first post on glitter tipped nails for how to do it and where to find my bargain glitter! Find the post HERE

DIY Christmas: Cinammon Candles

Who doesn't love some DIY at christmas?

Cinnamon candles not only look great, but if you choose a vanilla candle you get a fantastic smell of vanilla and cinnamon when it burns.

I got my dried cinnamon sticks from an florist that sells on ebay as my local florist didn't have them this year, but they were actually cheaper, and you can buy them in various sizes. I bought 50 8cm sticks for £2.75, and you can find the seller HERE

The Budget Series: DIY Christmas Glitter Tipped Nails for under £3

 Christmas is the only time I really wear anything glittery, so this is my glittery tipped nails post that will cost you under £3!

What I used:

I already had the stencils and the clear varnish, I think most people do, but if not you could still buy some and achieve this look for under £5!

Primark False Nails, £1/ A clear nail varnish (I used maybelline express finish topcoat but any will suffice) / Glitter / Nail Stencils

I bought my pot of glitter off ebay. Mine cost me 99p for one pot and I chose the colour "old gold". Find the listing HERE

The Budget Series: Halloween Sugar Skull Make-up

Hello! So I've already had my Halloween celebrations - a little bit early, but I tend to do the weekend rather than the actual day if it doesn't fall on a weekend. So this year I'm actually quite poor so I didn't have the money to fork out on something expensive, and went for the Mexican Day of the Dead sugar skull. Apparently its quite a popular look this year with a DIY tutorial in Company magazine, but they're quite individual designs so its good fun to experiment and create your own look.

Photographs apart from the first one are courtesy of my friend Joanna, I took all my Halloween pics on a disposable (tradition is tradition) and I haven't had it developed yet!

You keep me under your spell

So I don't normally do nail posts...mostly because I don't normally do nails. If I do, I tend to stick to nude polish or the ever classic french manicure because it just goes with everything. I'll be honest, my nails are the one thing I really don't pay that much attention to..and as I result I tend to stick on falsies and go with that.

So anyway I've been eyeing up nails on Pinterest and thought I'd give the ever popular accent nail trend a go!

The Budget Series: Sleek True Colour Lipstick in 777 Bare All

 (source)

So this is the second part of my budget series, and I'm really excited to share with you all this particular product, as I feel as if I've struck oil after finding such a perfect summer colour!

Sleek Makeup is a high street brand that is only available in Superdrug. They also have an online shop (here) and are really reasonable prices. I haven't tried any of their other products other than their lipsticks but they do quite a wide range of foundations, lip colours, eyeshadows etc.

I have previously before bought one of their lipsticks in a really dark shade of red as it was the only place I could actually find the particular shade I was after. For £4 I was pleasantly surprised with the quality, richness of colour and longevity of the lipstick, so much so infact, I recently bought another one.

The Budget Series: 17 Miracle Matte Skin Primer

Hello! I'm starting a new mini quest that I'm calling The Budget Series. I'm getting to a stage where my postgrad fees are going to cost me a small fortune so I really need to tone down my spendage on my make-up. So I'm going to be buying all budget items for a while from now on - and I thought I'd share them all with you! I'm a firm believer in a lot of cheaper makeup being just as good as the luxury brand items (not all of it mind) and think its just a case of finding them amongst all the rubbish items.

For reference - budget in my opinion is an item that is £10 or under. I generally don't run out of all my makeup all at the same time - I think at most its normally two items at once so I think this is reasonable. But for the moment, the cheaper the better!

 17 Mircale Matte Skin Primer

So I was in boots yesterday and noticed that matt face makeup is really the in thing at the moment - there are tons of them, from foundation to face powders. 17 have recently released a new line of matt makeup, with a primer, foundation and face powder in the mix. They are all on offer currently (at the time of writing) for £1 off, so as I am running out of primer I thought I'd try theirs. Full price it is £4.99 but on offer for £3.99 I am coming to the end of my No7 Airbrush Away primer, which comes up at a whopping £19.50. Its not my favourite primer so if the 17 one can beat it I think I will be really happy.