Haircare: My holiday haircare combo just keeps on giving...

I always leave my hair curly on holiday and don't bother even packing my hairdryer or straighteners for hot weather breaks.

The first night we arrived in Mexico I tried out a combination of Frizz Ease Serum and Mark Hill Straight Balm (I know...straight balm for curly hair but bear with me!).

This combo really worked. Usually curly hair products leave my hair crunchy and the boy calls them crispy noodles but this combo just leaves it soft and defined.





What's your favourite curly hair styling combo?

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Haul: Holiday Haul & Exciting News!

Hey everyone, sorry for the radio silence we've been on holiday to Mexico. Very hot (100 degrees!) and gorgeous resort. For those interested we stayed at the Gran Bahia Principe Riviera Maya Resort.

I couldn't resist a small haul at Manchester airport on the way out and a small on-plane purchase on the way back...so here's what I bought...





I got the Clinique All About Eyes Serum de-puffing eye massage roll-on, the YSL eye shadow palette in number 6 and finally picked up the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion. All were a couple of £'s cheaper than normal drugstore prices but I used my holiday money so technically it doesn't count :)

Here is the YSL palette open. Gorgeous range of greens to go with my red hair...






I haven't tried any of them yet as came home with a terrible stomach bug *damn you weak English stomach!* so expect full product reviews soon.

Some other exciting news is that we got engaged on holiday! On the beach under a shooting star...perfect! Here is the obligatory ring shot.






Hope you're all ok xxx

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Product Review: EOS Lip Balm

After reading Hellcandy's blog about the goodies she brought back from her recent New York trip I had to try and get hold of the EOS lip balm. It looked so cute...like a little egg!

I found it easily on eBay for a couple of £'s and it arrived at my desk this morning. First impressions are...I love it! It feels super moisturising and easy to apply. Here are some poor-quality iPhone pics for your viewing pleasure.

















The balm is 95% natural and 100% organic. Yum!

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Nail of the Day: Urban Outfitters Matte Purple

Whilst in Urban Outfitters last night picking up such essential items as monkey-topped chopsticks and an 'I spreadsheets' mug (!) I noticed they had a new nail polish range.

There are no brand names on the bottle so I can only assume this is an own brand range. There were a limited number of colours but they did have a small matte range and that's what I picked up.




This, you may not believe, is Matte Purple 3. The colour is really a bubblegum pink and the finish is more of a satin than a true matte.

This is the result of two coats of the colour and two coats of Essie's Matte About You.

While I love the colour this literally only lasted one day, so not much different to other matte polishes then! Next step is to try this with a normal topcoat to test the longevity.

Have you tried these polishes? What are your favourite matte polishes?

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Make-up: Goodbye sunshine...hello lipstick!

Now call me a summer kill joy but I was secretly pleased the temperature dropped today so I could enjoy the glorious combination of Revlon's Cherries In The Snow and Barry M's number 3 lip pencil.

I just can't deal with full lipstick in hot weather. I don't know if it's the increased liquid intake (ie. G&T!) or the threat of the dreaded sweaty upper lip but it just feels like too high maintenance...and that's coming from me!





This photo (taken with rubbish iPhone camera) really doesn't do the lipstick justice. It is the perfect cherry red as the name suggests. Much easier to wear than a true red like Mac's Russian Red, especially if you have a typical English rose complexion or you're a redhead like me...insert gratuitous lipstick wearing photo





Have you found your perfect red?Which make up item(s) do you skip in hot weather?

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Product Review: Loreal Perfect Clean Foaming Gel Wash

I recently bought the new(ish) Loreal Perfect Clean foaming gel wash after watching makeupbytiffanyd's drug store skincare video (although the packaging is different in the US).





I went for the 'refreshing' variety and it was indeed refreshing! I think this was partly due to the scrublet that came with it, which is basically a soft, white rubber scrubby thing (!) that gets a nice lather going.

Initial thoughts on this were great. I'd been getting a lot of breakouts on my chin and this totally cleared them up...however after a few weeks of use this made the skin around my nose dry and cracked. This is really unusual for my generally combination skin. Must be due to the acne-clearing ingredient, salicylic acid. Great for spot clearing but not great if the rest
of your skin is normal/dry.







Think I'll stick to my beloved Avene for now....still using the scrublet though as the old muslin cloths were getting hard to cart around whilst travelling.

Have you tried these face washes? What are your thoughts?

Disclaimer: I have not been paid to write this review. All opinions are my own and I bought the item(s) with my own hard-earned dosh!

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Location:Mancunian Way,Manchester,United Kingdom

Product Review: Collection 2000 Big Fake Mascara & FREE Fast Stroke Liquid Eyeliner

Boots recently had an offer to get a free Collection 2000 fast stroke eyeliner with their new Big Fake false lash effect mascara so I thought I'd give them both a try.







I'm a big Rimmel liquid liner fan but after seeing that this also had a sponge tip I was confident I could get the same effect with this...how wrong I was! The nib is hard and scratchy and the resulting line was patchy :(

I wish I could report better things about the mascara but, similar to Benefit's Bad Gal Lash, it has a huge brush that doesn't separate my lashes enough. It's ok with a stroke of Rimmel's Glamour'eyes to separate afterwards but I wouldn't repurchase.







One good thing about these two products is that they were only around £2.99 for both so at least I'm not out of pocket!

Really want to try Loreal's Million Lashes next. Has anyone tried this? What do you think?

x


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Make Up: New Storage!

So since I started watching make up videos on You Tube my make up collection has grown about three fold and was starting to take over my bedroom and my lounge (where I do my face!).

The other day whilst taking a short cut through Clas Ohlson, which is like a mini B&Q or Home Depot, I spotted a little storage If you don't have store near you, you can buy it here.

There are 25 small drawers, two medium and one large at the bottom. The unit is perfect for make up as the depth is quite deep so you can fit pencils etc. in all of the drawers lengthways (if that makes sense).

So far I have eye shadows in the top 10 drawers, mascaras, eyeliners, liquid eyeliners, paint pots and pigments in the third set of 5, concealers, primers and highlights in the third set of 5 and lip glosses, lipsticks and lip liners in the last set of 5.

I then have blush, contour and eyebrow products in the left-hand medium drawer and face products (foundations, setting powders) in the right-hand medium drawer.

The bottom drawer has some of the palettes I use the most and some Mac brush cleanser in a little spray bottle.

This only cost about £15...bargain in my book especially since the Muji sotorage (example below...now empty) is so expensive. It looks so pretty though aahhh...

What are your storage tips?

BB x

Nail of the Day: Best boyfriend ever!

Just a quick post to say that I have the best boyfriend ever. After weeks of mentioning the OPI Alice in Wonderland collection he bought me the mini collection as an anniversary-eve present today!!!

Very excited to try Mad as a hatter in particular. This is a dark but multi-faceted glitter polish that will look amazing over a black polish. Might wear it for the anniversary weekend in Edinburgh this weekend.

Have you tried these yet? Any thoughts??