NOTD: Barielle Shades Bridal Collection

Hello and good morning! 

Currently writing this in my dorm room in America when I should be sleeping but instead I've stunk my room out with nail polish so I'm wide awake!

On one of my recent shopping trips to different malls around North Carolina and Georgia I've picked up quite a few beauties (all for the blog obviously...) the first that you are seeing is this amazing set of 'Bridal' nail polishes from Barielle.

Firstly I'd like to point out that no, I am in no way anywhere near getting married but the colours were so pretty I couldn't resist, who doesn't love a box of nude nail colours!

As you can see from the box there are 5 different colours, a solid white, shimmer white, coral nude, pink nude and general flesh coloured nude.

I did buy these from TJ Maxx (who on earth knew they had the same store but with one letter difference? Anyone know why this is? I'm intrigued!) but anyhow for half the price at $9.99 i couldn't resist picking them up.

They were a little dirty in the box and i had to clean them when I opened them up but aside from the the bottles were all sealed and in tact.

The colours look beautiful lined up, I'm tempted to set them out somewhere in my room as they look so good!

As I couldn't resist testing them out I quickly painted each nail with a base coat, and 2 coats of each colour, you should be able to tell which is which as they are in the same order as shown above:

(Please excuse the state of my nails...they're doing pretty good all things considering but 6 weeks of digging in the mud results in all manner of nail/hand problems and I can't apply moisturiser fast enough!)

I love the three nude colours as they go perfectly with my skin tone which is rare as my skin is so pale! The shimmer white I know won't use as much but it is still a pretty colour and the solid white will be perfect for nail art/french manicures.

In fact I actually love all of them which is pretty cool considering I bought them on a whim with the 'nobody else can have this bargain' kind of attitude!

I have painted my nails with the coral coloured nude (middle finger) to see how they fare over time as I'm not sure they're very thick so could chip easily.

We shall see!

Have you heard of Barielle before? Do you love going into TJ/TK Maxx and picking up some bargains??

I absolutely love it and bought quite a few things....I have bought lots from departments stores and Sephora too. 

Would you like to see a post on what I've bought during my 7 weeks in America??

Let me know!

L xxx

Tea Pigs

Today is a bit of a random non beauty post. I hope you don't mind. As I'm think L has mentioned in some of her America posts (or it may be one coming, sorry if it is) we are both huge tea lovers. Non tea lovers this may not be a post for you.

Since the new year I've tried to reduce my intake of regular tea. I was on 7-8 cups of tea a day and thought it was too much so switched to healthier options such as green tea and peppermint after the obligatory cuppa in the morning (milk no sugar please, made for me each morning by my OH, we have a deal going so he makes me tea. Nothing better than a cup being bought to you haha).

Getting used to green tea took a while. L struggled and couldn't face it. It's a unique flavour that takes getting used to. I like the fact it boosts antioxidants etc. If you fancy trying it I'd recommend trying green tea with pineapple or apple and pear, I know twinings do these as it adds a slight sweetness. To be honest switching from normal tea to green tea I can't say has made a huge difference but I feel it's better.

So the point of today's post. My new 'high end' love. Yes I believe tea pigs are the high end of tea. I was introduced to them by one of my lovely work ladies. Instantly I was intrigued by the silk tea temples the tea sits in and couldn't wait to try them.

The next time the lady I work with placed her order online at tea pigs she ordered me some too. I got the chocolate flake and green tea and peppermint blend.

I also got sample packs of these. You can buy tea pigs online or there are local stockest listed online and cafes local to you that sell them. Link to that here

I was blown away by the chocolate flake. The tea comes in silk tea temples and is leafs that swell up when water is added to them. The chocolate one has actual pieces of chocolate that melt into your tea. I personally prefer to drink this black. It has a subtle chocolate flavour but not sweet or overpowering the tea.

How pretty are they. (ok I sound weird now)

I like that on the back of each tea if gives a description of the base tea and how you should drink it. Being a tea novice I'm not sure what should and shouldn't have milk. The more I try the more I prefer non milk. My mum is kindly buying me the mix and match set where you get 12 different types of tea and two of each type.

Sorry if my tea talk has bored you but I really would thoroughly recommend these to anyone and the sample packs are a great way to test it. The average price for 15 tea temples is between £3.49 and £4.29 (I think) and some teas can be bought in 50 packs.

Have you tried tea pigs. Everyone I know that has loves them. I'm saving L a chocolate one for when she gets back from America.

I'm off to brew a pot of chocolate tea now.

Love M

xxx

I'd love to know if any of you try these xx

Save, Spend, Splurge - Eye Make Up Remover, Baby Oil, No7 and Clinique

I've been wanting to do posts like this for a while. I like reading posts like this to see if it's really worth paying out for the higher end products. In some cases I think it is while in others the high street alternatives are sometimes just as good if not better.

Lately I've started to use a separate eye make up remover as I was noticing using wipes was tugging at my eyes and I'm very conscious of being gentle to my eyes as I'm doing all I can to prevent wrinkles. I like to remove make up before I cleanse (I don't like my cleanse and polish clothes not being white, I'm odd I know, and it just makes me skin feel cleaner)

So the 3 eye make up removers.

Save is Baby Oil, which can be picked up so cheap, I like this handy travel size Johnson's one, perfect for travel and is only £1.30 for 100ml or boots own brand can be picked up for as little as £1.49 for 300ml

Spend is No7 Eye Make Up Remover is £7.75 for 100ml. Or stock up when the vouchers are out (which is a lot of the time) and it's £2.75 :)

Splurge is Clinique Take the Day Off Make up Remover for Face, Lips and Lashes and is £15.50 for 125ml

Save

First up is Johnson's Baby Oil. Oil based products are great for remover eye make up remover as they can dissolve it off so to speak and tackle tough waterproof make up without having to tug at eye lashes. This one isn't one to be used if you don't like greasy products. For me it doesn't bother me as I'm cleansing my face after so the oil is removed. This is the softest of  three on my eyes and has the least amount of pulling but is the greasiest. Even though I have oily skin I like to use this and it's great for those months when you have a little less money.

Spend

This was the first of the three I tested. This is a two liquid solution that needs to be shaken well to mix the two products. It has a subtle oily feeling but doesn't leave to much of a coating on the eyes like the baby oil does so is good for those nights when you want to be a little lazier. It gently removes the eye make up without tugging and with ease. My only issue is it's a small bottle and gets used quickly. I think it would last between 4-5 weeks so for me I don't think I would spend £7.75 on it but for £2.75 (when using the vouchers) it's amazing! This will be repurchased and is my favourite out of the three.

Spend

This was the least oily of the three products and felt gentle on the skin. This is aimed to be a multi purpose make up remover and due to this made removing eye make up a little harder. This felt the most pulling on my eyes and required more product and didn't remove all of my eye make up as well. I think this was due to being a less oily based remover. It does feel nice and light on the skin though. Personally I don't think it's worth the money when you can pick up others that do the job better for cheaper. 

I also wanted to mention the pads I used with these as I think these are the best for removing eye make up. I personally prefer a pad over a ball as it can cover the whole eye in one go. These ones are great as they have two different textures on either side and are only 20p dearer than the others.

What eye make up remover do you use? Do you use a separate one? Are posts like these something you like to read?

Love M

xxx

Apologies for the photo quality for some reason uploading from my phone to the bloggers app if ruining the quality. Have you found this?

Lipstick Monday's Maybelline Super Stay 24 Colour 510 Red Passion

From the last few weeks you'll all know by now my recent love for Maybelline lip products. Today's lip on is a little hit and miss with me. Sometimes I love it and it's amazing sometimes it bugs me.

Apologies for some photo's being sideways, having some issues with my camera at the moment and can't edit them properly. Prepare for lots of mouth photos ;)

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I have this in two shades. I haven't really used the other one much yet. It's 195 if you were wondering. First things first. I hate the balm that comes with this. As a balm it's nice but it seems like they just thought this can be drying stick a balm on the end and didn't test it. When applied over the lip tint the product seems to crumble off straight away and look awful. What's the point in the balm if it makes the '24' hour product come off. 

When the lip tint is applied it's a gorgeous bright cherry red (my boyfriend who lately hates my lipstick range,  I like bright and dark colours said how nice this looked on me over dinner) I applied this at 9.30am. 

You have to apply this very carefully or you can end up with odd shaped lips. As I did wearing this today. This is an odd product. Not a lip tint like the felt pens, more a gloss texture and is applied with a lip gloss type brush. Importantly I find is to apply it and let it dry before rubbing lips together. I then apply a second coat and let that dry. This is a dry feeling on your lips and takes some getting used to. But for lasting power I accept a bit of a dry feeling.

After two hours and a few cups of tea.

After 6 hours wear, as you can see it wears off from the centre of the lips after eating and drinking but still a lot on the lips.

 I did find today that applying my Maybelline colour sensation pop stick blended the colour back and gave me another 2 hours wear. It was still on my lips at 6.45 when my boyfriend complemented me on my lipstick colour so that's an impressive 10 hours wear. After dinner it had gone to more like a subtle lip tint. I then used baby oil to remove it from the corners of my lips as it can leave a lip liner effect and oil based make up remover is best for removing this product.

I love this product for it's very impressive wear time. But the fact the balm doesn't work with the product and the drying it feels on the lips it's hard to really love it. It costs 8.99 but can usually be bought on 3 for 2. It's available in a wide range of colours in Boots and Superdrug beware the swatched online don't really match what the colours look like. Would I repurchase?? I think to be honest I'd rather find a lipstick this shade and have to reapply it, but I will continue to use up this product and it's great for nights out with a slick of lipgloss.

Have you tried this product?? What do you think of it?? This is definitely a love hate one for me.

Love M

xxxx