Haulin'

1. John Freda Thickening Blow Dry Lotion - These were two for £7 so I stocked up, they really add volume to the roots as you dry your hair and it's one of the rare products that work on my long hair.

2. Garnier Skin Naturals Face Wipes - By far one of the best, they smell lovely and remove every trace of make up. Rimmel Black Nail Varnish - Staple. Collection 2000 Big Fake Lashes Mascara - After hearing the PixiWoo sisters rave about this I had to pick up one to try out!

3. Coconut and Shea Butter Gift Set - I already recieved one of these but decided to pick up another, the lip balm is really light and moisturising and the hand cream comes in handy to pop in my bag for work.

4. Body Shop Body Butters - Papaya 200ml half price at £6.50, 50ml spiced vanilla which smells lovely and I picked up the new 400ml body butters they are currently just £12.50 - it's huge!

5. Little visit to Mac - Yipppeee!

6. As an early birthday gift my mum let me loose in Mac, I was impressed with my self control and picked up a blushcreme in LadyBlush, eyeshadow in Espresso and a Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark. I also had my eye on Myth lipstick, the 109 brush, lashes and primer but I resisted!

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Current Make-Up Faves

Mac Fix + Spray - I hated this when I first purchased and thought it was a complete waste of money but I love this now. It can be sprayed on shadows to intensify them or use as a liner or my personal favourite is spritzing it on a stippling brush when my make-up looks too powdery or when I'm getting ready for a night out, it softens everything up and makes your face look dewy and polished - plus my make-up doesn't budge!

Chanel Mat Lumiere - I hated Pro Lumiere, love this. It smells amazing! I love the luxurious bottle and the foundation is beautiful, it glides on easily, blends well and leaves a luminous but semi matte finish.

Superdrug Coconut & Shea Lip Butter - I recieved this in a gift set, it's a really light moisturising lip balm and it's the only one I've found I can wear over a nude lip without it looking odd.

Bourjois Highlighting Powder - I've gone through several of these already and was devestated when my local Superdrug stopped stocking this. I searched online and picked one up on ebay and it's just as good as I remembered! I've very fussy with highlighters an this adds a gorgeous pearlescent sheen to your skin without the horrible shimmery glitter partciles most highlighters have.

Benefit Hoola Bronzer - Everyone needs a good flat brown matte bronzer!

Illamasqua Rich Liquid Foundation - This has unbelievable coverage. So much so that I would never wear it alone purely because it would be far too much and could end up looking mask like. It's incredibly pigmented so I pop a TINY squirt in with my mat lumiere on nights out or days when I want full coverage. I have no doubt this will last me forever.

Topshop Cream Blush in Flush - I've been using this pretty much everyday lately, it leaves a lovely pink flush to the cheek and blends seamlessly into the skin. Alone it leaves you fresh faced and pretty, teamed up with a powder blush it wont budge all day!

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Fake Tan Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Before you apply your tanning products you need to get rid of the old dead skin and leftover tanner to create a clear, smooth base.
I find that if you shave first, then exfoliate after you're not left with any areas where the tanner has sunk into your pores so that's always my first step.

Next up is the exfoliating, I alternate between using scrubs and exfoliating gloves and sometimes both so here are my recommendations..

(Left) Natural Collection Body Scrub in Vanilla - £3.99 for 200ml. These come in a variety of scents, have lots of tiny little beads in and get the job done really quickly.
(Right) The Body Shop Body Polish - £5 for 75ml. This is a really lovely one because they smell gorgeous, lather up, have tiny little beads in but exfoliate very gently so if you have sensitive skin these this would be perfect.



The Imperial Leather Foam Burst Shower Gels are without a doubt a firm favourite of mine. They come out as a gel and once they make contact with water they lather up like crazy and leave skin feeling silky smooth. You really want something that foams up well otherwise you'll end up using half a bottle of shower gel in one exfoliating session or end up scrubbing your skin red raw!
For stubborn tans that wont budge the best product I've found is Johnson's Baby Oil. A decent splash of this in a warm bath paired with a good 20 minute soak really helps soften up your skin making it easier to remove old self tan.

The next step is to moisturise.
I love, love, love the Body Shop Body Butters. They're thick and creamy and I'm never left with horrible dark bits when I use this, it is a tad expensive though. £5.00 will get you a 50ml pot or£12.50 will get you a 200ml tub.

Slather the moisturiser on elbows, knees, armpits, feet, hands, toes, wrists and any other parts you find to be dry.
Application.

Tanning mits will remove any chances of streaking or a patchy tan. These really help to buff the tanner into the skin evenly and overall results are far better. I always pop on a pair of gloves underneath just to be safe, no orange palms for me!

Hands
These are always a hassle for most people, the best way I've found to do the hands is to exfoliate really well, apply copious amounts of moisturiser and once dry, pop a squirt of tanner onto the mit and use that to spread around the hand, blending up the arm ensuring you get in between the fingers. Then pop a bit more moisturiser the mit and use this to blend out and tell tale tan lines on the wrists, knuckles and finger joints.

Maintaining your tan
Moisturising on a daily basis really helps keep your skin soft and help your tan fade more evenly. People have suggested to me in the past using a gradual tanner to maintain the colour but I hate the smell of those so I just use Palmers Cocoa Butter all over, reapply a bit more tan on the third/fourth day and allow to fade naturally. I always use a bit of vaseline around my hairline aswell and on my eyebrows because they tend to pick up colour really easily and the slight ginger tinge resulting from bad self tanning is not attractive!

Feel free to leave your favourite tanning products and tips below to share with others!

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Accessorize 'With Love' Gift Set

One of the gifts I recieved over Christmas was the Accessorize 'With Love' Gift Set from my little brother. These retail for £9.99 but you can currently pick them up in the sale for £4.99 if you wish, each set includes a sleek-like eyeshadow palette, eyelashes and a lipgloss.

The lipgloss I personally wouldn't of chosen it's a dark pink with tons of glitter and shimmer, feels sticky and just isn't to my taste! I prefer my subtle, simplistic nudes or full on red lips and never usually go for anything in between.

The lashes, once again I wouldn't of chosen they're pretty dramatic, the glue is quite watery and the band is quite stiff which makes it difficult to attach to your eyelid as they just stay in a straight line instead of bending.

Then we have the eyeshadow palette.

Finally, something that put a smile on my face. It has a variety of colours ranging from off white, grey, purple to blue, they're all really pigmented, shimmery and perfect for nights out.

The eyeshadow palette is definately the savour of the kit, they colour are easy to work with and merge together really nicely making it easy for blending failures like myself!
The 'With Love' gift box is worth a go now it's only £4.99, otherwise a sleek palette will only cost you a fiver aswell and deliver the same results.

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St. Moriz goes Dark!

For those of you that have tried out the well known St. Moriz Tanning Mousse you'll be excited to hear that they've just brought out a new St. Moriz Dark Tanning Mousse along with bronzers and a shimmering body souffle lotion.
It's available online from Fragrence Direct for £2.99 like the original, plus postage and packaging.

The label on the new bottle seems to of changed slightly and now offers tips on how to achieve the best tan, but apart from that they're pretty much identical!

First impressions on the dark mousse is the slight colour difference, it's a bit darker - obviously - and seems less runny than the original version. I'm just about to slather it on so expect a full review on this in the next few days along with before and after pictures and my top tips for tanning! :)

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Product Fail: Nivea Oil Free Moisturising Day Cream

A little browse around my local Supermarket while my mum did her Christmas shop left me clutching armfuls of unneccasary products from the skincare isle. Amongst my purchases was the Nivea Visage Daily Essentials Oil Free Moisturising Day Cream for Oily & Combition Skin.

This claims to:

• Regulate your skin's oil balance to leave your skin shine free.
• Hydrate your skin without clogging pores.
• Provide an spf of 8 and extra UVA filters to help protect skin from environmental influences and premature skin ageing

It all sounded promising, the packaging is nice and simple and the scent is really refreshing. It's quite a light moisturiser so I didn't think there was any chance of making me oily whatsoever.

I was wrong.

I popped this all over my face at night, woke up in the morning and my skin was like an oil slick. Without a doubt the worst moisturiser I have ever used.

I might pass this on to my mum if she wants it or use it as a hand cream but this will definately never go on my face again!
If you did fancy trying this out for yourself pop into your local Superdrug, Boots or Supermarket and you can pick this up for £3.99. I've just ordered myself a tub of the Mattifying Day Cream from the Body Shop, £9.00 for 50ml which has recieved rave reviews from the majority of people that have used it.

Plus the Body Shop is offering a 30% discount with the code 'SHAREJOY' at the moment :)

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Yippee! I won!

The other day I won my first ever giveaway prize, yay!

It's so exciting to open a page and see your name, especially when you haven't expected it!
The giveaway in question was hosted by Milly over at Pearls and Poodles for a Disney Couture 'A dream is a wish your heart makes' necklace, she contacted me straight away and I recieved the parcel this morning. It was all beautifully packaged up and I absolutely adore it already.

If you're not a follower of Millys already you must live under a rock or be new to blogging as she is easily one of the best beauty bloggers I've come across! Her blog posts are always beautifully written with clear, pretty pictures and I have no doubt she will become a firm favourite if she isn't already - link below! :)

Pearls and Poodles

Here are some lovely little pictures of the beauty itself!

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John Freda Precision Foam Colour

After reading other bloggers reviews and listening to the hype over the new John Freda hairdyes I decided to convince my mum she needed to try one out for herself. A few fancy words later and my mum was sold and rushed out to pick one up, these are currently on offer for £5.99, originally £9.99 and as she reguarly dyes her hair at home I asked her to let me know what she thought.

PRO'S:

• Comes in a nice range of colours
• Easy to mix up
  
• Covered all of her 'stubborn grey hair'
• Left her hair feeling shiny
• Even colour
• No dripping or mess
• Easy application
• Comes with a decent sized tube of conditioner, clear instructions and thick gloves
  

CON'S

• Price - It's originally £10 for a box which is slightly more expensive than most box dyes
  
• The colour turned out more brown with a red tinge in the light rather than the red indicated on the box

Overall she was very happy with the result, foam hairdye is a great idea as it eliminates the majority of issues associated with messy home dyes. Application was incredibly easy and even if you just slap it on and rub it in, the foam expands ensuring every bit of hair is covered and the conditioner provided acts as a weekly revitalising treatment to nourish your locks.
I've already seem an advertisement on t.v for another well known brand advertising their own version of a foam hairdye so I have no doubt there will be cheaper alternatives and a wider range of colours becoming available from other brands in the near future.

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Mac Studio Sculpt Foundation Review

Price: £22.50
Available: Here
Product Quality: 5/5
Packaging /5

I purchased the Studio Sculpt Foundation in NC30 ages ago and instantly fell in love. This has undoubtably become a firm favourite for me so I thought I would share this beauty with you all.

Although like most Mac foundations it is a little pricey at £22.50 you do recieve 40ml in a large squeezy tube and only need a small amount to cover your whole face. I've had this for months and have only just reached the half way point!

One thing I really liked about this was the gel like consistency the foundation comes out as, it's easy to dot over the face and blends beautifully leaving a dewy/semi-matte finish. I always pair this with my Mac Mineralize Skinfinish Natural and together it creates the most beautiful finish!

The coverage is medium but could easily be built up to full or sheered out/mixed in with a moisturiser, plus the foundation itself has an SPF 15 which is always a plus. I know some people are a bit wary of the SPF in foundation but I've not had any issues with white casts in photos.

The only downsides I can think of are the price, who doesn't want their favourite products to be cheaper ey?
And that it doesn't last a FULL day on my oily skin, but does manage a good 6 hours.

(Sorry about the untanned hand haha)

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