A/W NOTD: Nails Inc's Regents Palace

Another nail post in my A/W series!

This week's is a GORGEOUS shimmery metallic purple which whenever I use am surprised why I don't use it more often.

Regent's Palace is beautiful in every light and perfect for the party season.

It looks amazing whether you're wearing it to work or out in the evenings, therefore making it perfect for day to night events!

I personally love the red/blue/purple shimmer running through this and it applies really easily with 2 coats.

Couldn't help myself but take looooooooooooooooooads of pictures, it really does look a treat in the light.

What do you think of Regent's Palace? Do you have a similar purple in your collection?

Also, did you pick up Motcomb Street after it was free in Glamour magazine?! Love it as much as me??

L xxx

All I want for Christmas... (6)

Having put up with Christmas songs for a month already due to Boots blasting out all manner of festive cheer I have firmly got Mariah Carey's 'All I want for Christmas' playing in my head 24/7.

So because of this I am constantly thinking about what I want for Christmas (whilst stocking up Peppa Pig, Hello Kitty and Star Wars obviously!)

There are a few things I'd like in terms of make up, DVDs, clothes etc but there are others that I really would like that aren't so easy to come by.

1) I would do absolutely anything to get a job related to forensic science, analytical chemistry, toxicology etc.

I've quite frankly worked my butt off for 5 years, working up to 95 hours a week for a year just to get another qualification.

So far, it would seem that although my MSc has helped get me noticed more, my lack of experience is still holding me back, yet I can't get any unless I am employed due to the nature of forensic science (can't leave important samples in the hands of a temp!)

I've been so stressed out about it all that I've given myself IBS and now I have acne.

Please someone give me a job in a lab.

2) Follows on from number 1 really. My skin is absolutely awful at the moment.

When I got back from America after spending 7 weeks in the sun it was the best it has ever been.

Shortly afterwards for no particular reason I started getting loads of really painful red lump type spots, white heads and really attractive scars to go with it.
Lots of people seem to be having the same problems but at 24 and about to graduate you would hope your skin would be the last of your worries!

3) I have 2.5 weeks before I graduate and having luckily found my dress I am hoping to get a flatter stomach in time for it.
However having started a new job recently my meal times are all mixed up as I have to work over them being in a shop and often end up eating multiple meals.
I've so far stayed the same weight but this hasn't improved any further because its so hard to get to the gym when you've worked til 7/8/9pm.
So I'm looking for any tips to get a flatter stomach??
Any tea drinks or fat busting foods/fruits/snacks you can think of?!
I'm not looking for miracle weightloss, my dress is a smaller size already (a 10 woohoo!) but I would like a smoother silhouette at the front.
Ill also be planking and crunching every evening I can to help keep it more toned.


So that's my Christmas wish list.

Probably a little different to any others you've seen as there is for once not a single product or item of clothing on there!
But never the less, if I got these for Christmas I'd be the happiest person alive.

Any tips, ideas for far busting, skin clearing or scientific job hunting please feel free to leave a comment or get in touch!

L xxx

Review: Origins Clear Improvement

I picked this up over a month ago when L and I went to a beauty event at John Lewis. Lots of the counters were offering good deal when things were purchased. Origins was one of them. I wanted a new mask and had heard so many great things about Clear Improvement I decided to pick it up.

Clear Improvement is a mask aimed to deep clean skin and unclog pores. You get 100ml of product for £20 which I think is quite reasonable as it is a large tube and better than lush products as it lasts longer than a month. I've found lush counter staff are great to chat to about skin issues and are happy to give you samples of products to try.

I like the packaging. A tube for a mask is easy to just squeeze out when you are in the bath. My does look a bit dirty in some of the photos are the mask is black so that does stick around the lid.

I tend to use it after using my Liz Earle cleanse and polish so my skin is clean and the warmth of the muslim cloth means my pores are open. This mask dries onto the skin as it's a clay mask. I like to use it in the bath so I can really sit back and relax and keep my face really still. The addition of charcoal to this mask helps to draw out the impurities in the pores.

The ingredients contain nothing that stands out as immediately bad for the skin. As you may know both L have certain chemicals we try to avoid in products. Origins is a company both L and I love. It has such a great range of products that really work. We are both loving the enzyme pads we got free and will be reviewing them soon.

Attractive mask shot. I love this mask it really cleans out my pores and leaves my skin looking much better. I really want to try out of trouble and modern friction soon as L raves about both of these.

What's your favourite mask? Are you an origins fan?

Love M

xxx

Healthy diet recipe.

Last week we posted for the Sophia and Sandra on there bloggers go skinny blog. 

Its a great blog with weight loss tips,  progress and tasty recipes. The perfect motivation to get into shape.

Last week we blogged our top 10 weight loss tips. 

This week we posted one of our favourite recipes on there. It's a tasty one.

Hope you enjoy it. I know L has some updates on her fitness and health regime this week.

Love M

Xxx

Seche VIte

When I went to America Seche Vite was one of the things I picked up. When I spotted it in target it went straight in the trolley. I'd heard so many good things about it I couldn't resist it. I love my No7 top coat and have mentioned my love for it loads on this blog.

Excuse my slightly battered box. It has been on a long flight. The bottle seems large and this will definitely last a while.

Seche Vite has a unique formula which allows it to be put on wet nails. Something I found my No7 one wasn't allowing. Lately when I was using it, it would streak the wet polish on my nail. Seche Vite is truly amazing. A drop on the nail does spread really well.

This topcoat really deserves all the good reviews it gets and I now wouldn't use another. It drys really quickly, leaves nails looking glossy and doesn't smudge wet polish. What more could you want. The brush is also very good. The way it holds the perfect amount of topcoat allows the nail to be covered easily and quickly.

You can pick it up readily on eBay it's a bargain £6.25 from this seller and they have 100% feedback. I cannot recommend this top coat enough and will be ordering some of their treatment base coats.

Have you tried Seche Vite? What's your favourite top and base coat?

Love M

xxx

Review: Avene Eau Thermale Mineral Cream SPF 50

Following on from yesterday's post, this is another product I picked up at the same time as the Liquid Gold. 

I've heard (obviously) many times about wearing SPF to prevent skin from aging and protect it from UV rays etc and I completely agree especially after the fabulous Joan Collins has amazing skin, apparently down to no skin exposure to the sun since she was 16.

With that and the fact that using products such as Liquid Gold containing glycolic acid I was adamant I needed to pick up a separate SPF just for face with a high factor but that could be used on my currently sensitive and unpredictable skin.
It used to be oily and nowadays it leans more to the dry side...confusing!

With all my skin woes in mind I headed to Boots to pick up a facial SPF from a skincare brand I knew I shouldn't react to, and so I picked up this one from Avene.
I wasn't bothered if it was from Vichy, La Roche Posay etc as long as it was a well respected brand catering to skins needs.

So I added this to my skin care routine without any negative effects to my skin whatsoever.
This was a HUGE relief to me and I would be happy to keep this in my routine forever more because of this!

You can see in the photo below the colour and consistency of the cream.
It's a pinky colour and quite thick, when rubbed into the face this does take a bit of effort to blend as it turns white on application.
The white can make you look a little pale but does match your skin tone after a few minutes.
I do wonder though, I'm very pale and can have trouble looking a bit ill and washed out after using it, so if anyone with a darker skin colour used this would it rub in and blend any easier?

If you've used it I would love to know what you think!




On a pale day this blends in easily enough and could give me the option of just wearing the SPF without make up as it does somewhat cover up some blemishes.
If you only had a few this would be perfect!
However I have a few more and so need to apply make up still, but this does create a nice base to apply make up on.

I believe this was a good addition to my skin care regime, it's had no negative effects and as my moisturiser has either a low SPF or none at all this is the perfect way of ensuring I'm protected from the pesky UV rays that are there even though there's no sun!

What do you think of using an SPF? Do you wear it every day? What number do you use?

I chose 50 as it was the only one there, I might have chosen 30 if it was there though!

L xxx

Don't forget our Christmas Giveaway!

Review: Alpha H Liquid Gold

I've been waiting to write this for a very long time.

I was filled with lots of hope when I got my hands on some Alpha H Liquid Gold.

I'd heard lots of things about the results and after spending so long with skin problems over the summer I couldn't resist.

I purchased it asap and followed everyone's guidelines on using it, cleansed my face and then used a cotton wool pad to apply the solution to the entire of my face before bed without applying moisturiser (just my normal eye cream and lip balm!)

I felt a slight tingle on my face sometimes, but as I expected this to happen I'm not sure if it was my imagination as initially I was worried my skin would react to it.

I have sensitive skin sometimes and as it has been a problem for the past couple of months I was worried it would make it worse.

After my first use, the very next day I saw an improvement.

My spots has shrunk, some of them looked a bit weird like they were yellowy but didn't feel pussy or painful at all and the swelling had been reduced by a huge extent.

However this effect was short lived.

As I was using it every other day, by the time it came to my next use the spots had come back, and so began a vicious cycle!

Better skin for a day before the spots returned.

The Liquid Gold did help my scarring and this was improved by the use of another product which will be in an upcoming post as I used it on the alternate days I didn't use the Liquid Gold.

I continued using it this way for a few weeks to see if it got any better but unfortunately all my spots were just the same, if not a little worse.

I decided to try using it every day for a bit to see if this had any better effect.

This luckily didn't make my skin worse as I was worried that it would dry it out or just generally burn off my skin with that much acid use!

It didn't make it any better either.

Eventually I have stopped using it as I have used almost all of the bottle without any positive effect on my blemishes and spots.

However.....

The skin that is unaffected by my spots (around my nose and forehead) seemed to have a much better look about it.

It seemed more even in tone, my pores looked smaller and there were no blemishes to speak of at all.

It also seemed to have the 'glowy' look that makes you look a lot younger and I have been trying to get back for ages!

But I think after all my best efforts that Liquid Gold may not be for me.

I would be willing to try it again when whatever seems to be unbalancing my skin has been sorted out as i think it would improve the overall look of my skin, but unfortunately for me has not solved my skin woes.

I think this may largely be down to reviews on skin care from other blogs.

I know almost all have disclaimer that obviously what works for them may not work for you and that is very true. But a lot of bloggers who review skincare have never had skin problems in the first place to know whether the products work on ridding you of blemishes, which is something that I've noticed recently having bought and tried so many products deemed to help that actually haven't at all.

So just beware, as I've spent a LOT of money trying and failing over the past few months.

I have a second part to this post as it's related to the use of glycolic acid and also 'should' feature in everyone's skin care anyway....

Don't forget to enter our Christmas Giveaway for the chance to win a £20 voucher!

L xxx

YSL Shocking

When I went to America at the end of September YSL Shocking Mascara was something I really wanted. I'd seen so many positive reviews I just had to have it. You can see my full haul here.

The first thing that caught my attention is the gorgeous YSL packaging. All the products feel so luxurious in their gold packaging. I'm personally a fan and I love the black writing on them. I like that they are heavy to as it makes me think I've got my monies worth (stupid I know)

Look how pretty. When I was in duty free unfortunately they didn't have the mascara so I picked up Lancome Hypnose Doll Lashes instead. Review coming soon. But luckily they had this on the plane. I paid £20 for it. Which is a lot for mascara but after picking up this one and the Lancome one I'm converted to high end. You can pick it up for £23 here.

When I first opened it I was instantly disappointed  I judge this one straight away. After loving my Maybelline Colossal Volume for so long for something to give me volume I assumed the brush would be bigger. It's average size and I have just assumed it would be huge. It also just looked average, I expected something different to it.

As I tried it the first time my disappointment continued. My lashes clumped together and the formula felt too wet. Having had this with a mascara before I left it for a few weeks before trying again. That was when it all changed. The brush also picks up a lot of product and is very highly scented (warning incase you aren't a fan) I'm used to a scented mascara as my Maybelline one is.

After giving it a second chance all changed. Here is my eye with no make up on at all above. This mascara separates and lengthens my lashes amazingly.

Please ignore my ungroomed eyebrows (if you saw my brow post last week you can see what my natural brows look like in this post, here if you want to read it) This is after just one coat. I love how black this mascara is and how my lashes appear. I always like to apply two of more coats of mascara.

After two coats you can see there is a lot more volume to my lashes. I think this mascara is perfect for days when you only want to wear mascara as it leaves your lashes looking amazing. It's also perfect for nights out and this would make me consider ditching false lashes.

Here you can see with and without which I'm sure you'll agree is pretty amazing. This mascara is so good at making lashes look amazing. BUT don't go more than two coats. This is a mascara that easily goes clumpy as the wand is very much loaded with mascara. I think it will be a better mascara as it runs out more. This mascara made L stop me mid sentence to ask if I was wearing falsies. My sister in law also did the same thing. Pretty impressive right.

I'm so converted to high end now. Also I love high street mascaras and I think they are great but when I can afford to spend the extra I will now.

What do you think of high end mascaras? Have you tried YSL?

Love M

xxx

Save, Spend, Splurge Day Creams featuring Avon, Origins and Clinique

I've been meaning to write this post for a while after I got quite a few positive response on the one I did on eye make up removers (found here) I always wonder whether it really is worth paying more for things. I plan on doing posts on night creams and hot cloth cleansers too. Would you be interested in seeing posts like this on beauty products as well?

Anyway today's post is day creams. Let's start off with my skin type. I'm an oily combination skin type. While I used to sway away from moisturiser as I was oily skinned I used to not bother as I thought it was unnecessary to add more to my skin. How wrong was I. Since realising this I've been trying different ranges of skin care to find what's perfect for me.

In a day cream I like something that's light and sinks into my skin easily so I can apply my make up on a nice base and not have something heavy on my face as it doesn't need it.

SAVE

The first one I started using was the Avon Solutions Complete Balance Day Cream. This is an absolutely brilliant moisturiser for anyone with oily combination skin. It's a mattifier day cream which just leaves the face with a nice shine free finish. It's oil free which is always good and has SPF15 which is what I like day creams to have so I don't have to worry if my foundation doesn't. The cream has a great consistency which leaves my skin feeling suitably moisturised without being oily. It sinks in easily too which means you can apply your make up onto a nice base. The RRP for this is £7.50 for 50ml which in itself is a great price but you can usually get it on offers and in deals. It's currently £5.00 here or you can get a travel set with a mask, day cream, night cream and cleanser here which is also £5.00 and is a great way to try them out. I got this one for £3 when it was on offer.

Apologises for the tatty pot. I like the pot it's similar to the Clinique one and means you can get all the product out easily. It does mean if you have long nails you do get some product under your nails. This cream has a nice fresh fragrance that is very subtle and possibly a little floral.

SPEND

For if you want to spend a little more I have the Origins Balanced Diet Moisturiser.\This is also an oil free moisturiser. It uses Japanese seaweed and sodium hyaluronate which is apparently what makes it great for oily/combination skin types as these give moisturiser without weighing down the skin. This lotion blends easily into the skin and feels very light weight. It has an almost minty fresh fragrance. I find it pleasant. This one cost £23.00 for 50ml so is significantly more than the Avon one. You can find out more about the ingredients and how they work here. I like the brand Origins and a lot of their products. But this isn't a cream I'd repurchase and I prefer the Avon one over this. Mainly because they are very similar but the Avon one also has SPF.

I do prefer the packaging of the Origins though.

SPLURGE

Onto the Splurge. The Clinique Superdefense age Defense Moisturise SPF 25 for Combination oily to oily skin (with Clinique you can get the same moisturiser but for different skin types). I have previously done a full review on this day cream here. This moisturiser is brilliant. It's perfect for oily skin as it's lightweight and sinks into the skin easily. It feels fresh on the skin and sinks in well and has the highest SPF value of the three creams. I love that this cream is not only aimed at oily skin but is also Anti Ageing and while I'm only 23 I'm a firm believer of prevention is better than cure and it's best to start young. I find it hard to find anti ageing products that aren't heavy on this skin and this is brilliant. But it comes at a price. £37 for 50ml unfortunately. While it's pricey I really think it's worth every penny and would definitely repurchase. The product lasts a long time though. You can purchase here.

The packaging looks and feels luxurious and classic and is plastic which is handy if you are travelling. No one wants to spend £37 then drop it and it smash.

So overall this time for me SPLURGE wins. It's such a great all round cream to prevent anti ageing, sun damage and control oil. I love this. But when I'm skint I turn to my SAVE option as I think it's as good as SPLURGE so it's not worth spending the extra.

Have you tried any of these? What's your go to day cream? Are you happy to spend on day creams?

Love M

xxx

Guest Post - ENDED

Hey all, if you've seen twitter you may have seen I've been sent home from work. I'm not too well at the moment. I'm hoping more sleep will help. It's all I've done for the past two days.

Anyway a while ago Sophia from Bloggers Go Skinny asked if anyone would like to do a guest post on the black. It's Run by Sophia (From Tattoed Tea Lady) and Sandra (From The Black Pearl). Both L and I are trying to live healthier lifestyles and try and blog about it on here on Thursdays.

This post is our top tips for weight loss. Hope you find them helpful!

Love M

xxx 

Xmas Wishlist

I've seen lots of these posts lately and I've not done one of my monthly wishlists lately so I thought I'd do a Christmas one. Plus I'm feeling ill at the moment so what better way to make myself feel better than day dream at pretty things online.

I've asked for a few things for Christmas but most other things on this list are more dream world to get not stuff I expect.

The things I know already are these boots from my Grandad. I usually get shoes from him. I'm lucky that he worked for Clarks most of his life so now gets 33% discount. I love Clarks boots. They are classic styles that really last and look great. I tend to sway towards brown or tan boots as I struggle to find nice black ones. This year I was determined to find some.

image from clarks

I really liked the simple style of these and they look great on. They are a sort of suede material so not completely black and shiny which I love. You can find them here for £79.99 I was lucky to get them for just under £50 as I had another discount.

I've also asked for Real Techniques brushes as I really want to have a good set of brushes and these are such a reasonable price and I love everything about them. I've got a lot of these coming from different family members as I couldn't think of anything else I really wanted.

image from Real Techniques

They are also currently on offer in boots.

I also really love the Vans/Converse/Toms style. I want some practical shoes that I can wear with my jeans for dress down days. I love my dolly shoes but want something a bit warmer for days I don't want to wear boots. I think I'm more swayed to Vans as I think they'd look better on my feet (I have big feet, a size 7 and worry converse would exaggerate this) Toms are probably more Summery but I like them and Imagine them being so comfy. Schuh have a great range of both.

image from Schuh

I love the floral girly version of these.

Image from Schuh

I think Burgandy version of these would be perfect for dry winter days.

I'm still yet to find a foundation that makes me want to stop trying others. I have lots at the moment I really like but I still think there is better. I'm loving Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish and have heard great things about there make up range. I'd love to try the natural glow bronzer and signature foundation from this range.

image from John Lewis

I think this will be great for contouring as it's a matte shade.

image from here

I've seen lots of great reviews for the signature foundation and would love to try it out. I've seen good reviews for oily skin too which make me lean towards it more.

If you've seen any of my wishlist you'll probably know I've been lusting for coloured skinnies/jeggings. While getting my dine in for £10 deal the other day in M&S I was very surprised by there selection of coloured and patterned skinny jeggings and jeans. I can't wait to try some of these.

images from M&S

These three are my favourites. I love the zip detail on the purple ones and the subtle patterrn on the middle ones. I'd love to be brave enough to pull off the full on floral but I don't think I am. If you are on the look out for new jeans I say look in M&S you may be surprised. They seem reasonably prices too.

The Benefit Feeling Dandy is probably at the top of my wishlist. I recently purchased Erase Paste and the MUA put Dandelion blush on me and I loved the way it looks. 

image from John Lewis

The set is great, you get mini posie tine and high beam as well as a lip gloss to match. All the colours in the set compliment each other. They also have them with Coralista Blush and Sugar Bomb so there is a shade to suit everyone. I'm wanting to try more Benefit make up. I love all the gift sets. What's your recommendations?

Being winter I'm also eyeing up snuggley jumpers. George at Asda has a great range of jumpers for a reasonable price. These are some of the ones I'm loving.

And lastly and totally not something I'll own but I've been lusting over these for years so just thought I'd share these beautiful shoes! The Love Moschino Heart Studded Pump. I saw these a while ago and have been in love with them since.

What's on your Christmas Wishlist?

Love M

xxx

CLOSED Christmas Giveaway!

Both me and M have had a long and busy couple of weeks and so haven't been posting as regularly as we normally would have.

Firstly we'd like to apologise for that, we've had new jobs, break ups and family deaths to deal with which has meant little time for blogging and tweeting as much as normal.

Image from Pinterest

Secondly with all the negative stuff going on, we decided to do our Christmas giveaway early!

This is to spread a little Christmas cheer a bit early, and also so you have the prize before Christmas in case there's a particular lipstick or eye shadow you were wanting for the party season!

So without further ado....

The prize is a giftcard to the value of £20.

This will be for either John Lewis, Boots or Debenhams - it's your choice!

We tried to pick one but only Debenhams has MAC, only JL has Liz Earle and Boots is a general all round winner.

The mandatory entries are the usual following via GFC and twitter, leaving your email so we can contact you and also leaving a comment to tell us what you'd buy with it (as we're obviously very nosy and want to know what everyone else wants!)

All other entries are optional but will increase your chance of winning, as will tweeting every day over the three weeks.

The winner will be chosen using Rafflecopter so enter using the widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Image from Pinterest

It's about time there was some happiness and festive fun!

Good luck to all who enter!

L and M xxx

NOTD: Model's Own Mirrorball Collection - Hot Stuff

I'm sure everyone has seen these by now but I couldn't resist posting pictures of it too, the glitter is just so pretty!

'Hot Stuff' is from the Model's Own Mirrorball collection which contain multiple types of coloured glitter to give a crazy layered effect.

I for one absolutely love them and obviously think the 'Mirrorball' name is PERFECTION!

Here it is on a pale pink (A 17 Mirror shine one), I've layered it on a few times, think it was three coats, in order to get the effect shown below:

What I love is that there are tiny glitter particles, plus hand cut pieces of glitter in so many shapes and sizes so each layer is unique.

Here it is over China Glaze's Pool Party, a neon pink that increases the effect of the glitter!

I can see this getting a lot of use over the Christmas period and cannot wait to pick up some of the others, and obviously a quick glance at the Wonderland collection won't hurt too.... :)

Do you own any of the Mirror ball collection? Which would you recommend??

L xxx

Review: Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal

I've always worn eye liner since I was about 12, I loved having black lined eyes and loooooooooads of mascara so that was what I wore every day even to school.

For the past 2 years I've kind of slacked off using it, not for any reason but I found I was using my Mac Eye shadow in Carbon to line my eyes using a wet brush and this worked out fine for me.

Recently however I've been missing the ease of using a pencil though and splashed out on these two from Rimmel, the Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal pencil which I picked up in nude and black, no doubt on a 3 for 2 deal a few weeks ago!

I've never used a nude or white eye liner but have seen how great they are on other people so thought I'd try it out myself, God knows I need something to make me look more awake in the mornings!

The packaging is pretty simple which I always like with the pencil colour coordinated to the casing making it easier to find whichever one you're looking for.

Also I love Rimmel's details of the union jack and crown printed onto the casing, very patriotic!

So here the pencils are scribbled lightly onto my arm, they're so soft and don't drag on my skin at all and the colour pay off is pretty good.

The staying power however is second to none, after taking the above photo I immediately tried to smudge the pencils with my fingers, with absolutely no effect!

The photo below shows my arm after vigorous rubbing (not enough to make my skin red or anything though!) and you can see both colours have amazing staying power.

They don't however stay on your eye without being able to be smudged, it's so odd!

You can still smudge the black in particular so that there are no harsh lines which I think is pretty darn good!

The photo below shows my eye with nothing but the nude eyeliner on the bottom and some mascara.

The colour is a pretty good match for my super pale skin and doesn't stand out too much that it looks odd.

On a side note, this photo is from after a night out.

After taking my make up off with a face wipe and then cleansing with Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish the eye liner was still on my eyes!

This wasn't the best thing but after scrubbing at my eyes with micellar water with no progress I eventually went to sleep.

In the morning the rest of the eye liner came off quite easily so that was fine but it was a challenge!

In my book these pencils are amazing, especially for the price (£3.99 - and on the 3 for 2 deal at Superdrug and BOGOHP at Boots!)

I would quite happily buy these again and might consider some different colours too!

Do you have these? Are you a big fan too?

L xxx