A/W NOTD: Nails Inc's Heddon Street

This is the final post in my A/W NOTD!

This week's is Nails Inc's Heddon Street and as you can see it is absolutely flipping amazing.

I love colours like these and love having them on short or long nails.

Look how luxurious the colour looks!

It's perfect for day time in work or at the weekend, and would be great for taking you from day to night if you have a Christmas party to go to.

I love how shiny it looks with a top coat and the metallic particles really do shimmer in the light.

I applied 2 coats of this as normal with a base and top coat and this lasted me a good 4 days.

You can see the bottle doesn't strictly look like the colour that it actually comes out as, which is sometimes misleading as I looked at this colour in my collection and wondered what on earth it was.

However it was a lovely surprise for it to come out looking as great as it did and it will be featuring on my nails a whole lot more now.

What do you think of this colour? I think it would suit so many skin tones.

Have you liked the other colours I've used in my A/W NOTD series? Which was your favourite?

L xxx

Review: Revlon Photoready Cream Blush in Coral Reef

Revlon have a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge fan base, including myself and M.

Both of us have been going mad for their products recently including Colorstay, nail polishes, lip butters and general love for the PhotoReady range.

I picked this up a fair few weeks ago now and have been meaning to write about it but the photos I kept taking were useless!

So finally I have something fairly decent that shows the product on my skin with true colours.

I love monochrome and I love simple shapes and designs.

This means I obviously love the packaging for this and that it comes in a box, it is wasteful as it's going straight in the bin to be honest (a recycling one!) but it makes it feel more expensive.

This cream blush is really easy to use.

I personally use the expert face brush from Real Techniques to apply this as its the perfect size and shape to pick up the product and apply it to the cheeks and particularly the hollows.

Eeee I do love how simple and amazing it looks.

It's faired pretty well in my gym bag too considering it gets carried around all day. It has never opened up by accident and the product sits at the bottom unaffected by any heat from car heaters etc.

I wish it still looked as perfect as this though:

This product is so easy to swirl onto a brush and straight onto your skin.

It blends with minimal effort and you need such a small amount that you will not need a new one for a long time!

You can see below pictures with a small amount and then the second with more:

It's really natural and can be worn all day every day, and out for an evening look.

After buying Cha Cha Tint in the summer I would say that the colours are comparable, with the Revlon being slightly easier to use with it being in a pot and not being runny.

However both have their place as I think Cha Cha Tint does last longer.

The only problem I've had with the Revlon Cream blush is bits of fluff from seemingly nowhere always finding their way into the product. This is easily rectified by wiping the surface with a tissue and it removes minimal product but it isn't great to see it all on the surface!

I would certainly buy this cream blush in another colour and have been eyeing up the pink!

It's currently on 3 for 2 in Boots which is asking for it really....

What do you think of the Cream blushes? Have you tried them out?

L xxx

Save, Spend, Splurge Night Creams featuring Avon, Lush and Clinique

So a few weeks ago I did Save, Spend, Splurge on day creams, you can see that and my eye make up remover one by clicking here. I'm liking writing these as it's making me compare things to make sure I'm not just liking something more because I think I should. I have a few more of these planned including clear primers, cream based primers, hot cloth cleansers, volumising mascara, lengthening mascara and some foundation ones but I need to pick up a good save one for oily skin to test so any recommedations let me know or any other products you particularly like compared. I will try to do them regularly but most likely they will be fortnightly so I can test new things as I seem to have two things for most categories.

So on my day creams last month Splurge won (save only lost out due to lack of anti aging properites) and Spend won the Eye Make Up remover battle. Will Save win this to even up?

Let's see what I've picked as my night creams. I'd say it's only really the last year (since blogging really) that I've really paid attention to my skincare and made sure I cleanse, tone and moisturise twice daily. 

SAVE

Avon Complete Balance Night - Oil Free Gel

This is a super light weight oil free gel that just sinks into the skin. It has the most amazing fresh, clean smell that doesn't smell fake. It skins into the skin quickly and provides a good level of moisture for oily skin types. It can feel a touch tacky sometimes. Annoyingly this is in the current Avon brochure but it is in there regularly and I have checked with Mummy M (my mum's an Avon lady) and she has reassured me she hasn't seen that it is going out. This one tends to come and go from the catelogues. The Avon Solutions skin care range is great for those on a budget and Avon does some truely amazing deals.

I think this normal retail price of this is aroun £7.00 which for 50ml is very reasonable. But it regularly is in deals such as half price or even lower. I know when I picked it up it was £2.50-£3.00 so it's definitely worth looking at. I find it harder to find cheap skin care for oily skin, especially moisturisers. This doesn't have anti aging products which I have started to look for but is perfect for oily skin. If you have oily combination I don't think this will help any dry patches. I will re visit this and add links when it's in the next Avon Campaign. It's standard packaging for your moisturiser. Glass tub with a screw on lid. Not great for travelling but it does mean it's unlikely to get stood on and broke if you live in a messy environment like me. (I favour the floordobe, I'm trying to improve) Also glass is recyclable for you green ladies :)

Spend

Lush Vanishing Cream

I loved this cream from the moment I first started using it. This was one of the first moisturisers I spent a lot of money on. This technically isn't aimed as a night cream and can be used as both day and night. Which is handy if you are someone who travels a lot or doesn't like to have too many products. Vanishing cream is advertised as a Low fat moisturiser meaning it contains little fat/ oils and is great for us oilier skinned ladies. Vanishing cream sinks into the skin straight away. It feels light and fresh on the skin but provides a good level of moisturisation as well. It helps with any dry patches I get left from where spots have been without leaving greasy patches on my skin. It smells nice and fresh and contain lavender (which gives this a very subtle smell not at all over powering) and also witch hazel to help control any oil and help with blemishes.

This isn't going to do anything for anti aging as I use this when I have more breakouts. It's £17.50 for 45g which is more expensive than I remember but a little goes a long way and it does last. It also comes in one of Lush's black pots so save these little ones up and you get a free face mask which is always good. You can purchase here.

Splurge

Clinique Super Rescue Antioxidant Night Moisturiser

The day cream partner for this won the battle of the day creams and I have to say this wins the night creams too but mainly because I'm paranoid about anti ageing and I'm hoping prevention really is going to help may skin staying looking better for longer. I find it really hard to find a high street cream with a cheaper price tag that is lightweight, oil free, won't break me out and helps prevent ageing. This really is a great all rounder. Mine is running out and I'm literally heart broken that I can't afford to replace these at the moment. (I'm moving in the New Year and have to save every penny going) This cream is slightly thicker but still dissolves into the skin without a greasy feeling. I like something that feels a bit heavier at night as I think my skin can do with that extra boost. Again there are no heavy fragrances with this cream. Skin is just left feeling soft, non greasy, moisturised and clean. 

The downside of course to the Clinique is it's rather pricey price tag. £37 for 50ml. It's expensive. It will last around 3 months though when used every night so it's not to extortionate. Another bonus is it comes in 3 slightly different formulations so even if you don't have oily skin there is still a good chance this cream will work for you. You can purchase it and read about other variations here

So Splurge did it again. I think I'm just getting expensive tastes. I love that it's a great all round cream and it offers it all that none of my other options do. I'm still on the hunt for a slightly cheaper one that is just as good but without a doubt when I have the money a sneaky purchase to Clinique will happen. For now I have others to use up. I haven't included my current night time cream in here as it's one I'm using but I don't like. 

What is your go to night cream? Would you spend £37 on a night cream? Although it's expensive I think it's worth it as what's the point in spending loads on make up if you aren't looking after the skin you put it on. Me and L were also once told to think about how much you're willing to spend on a dress for a few nights out ;)!! Skin is for life hehe!!

Love M

xxx

NOTD MUA Constellations Libra and Ciate Cupcake Queen

I was lucky enough to talk my boyfriend into getting me the Ciate Advent calender and boy was I excited for the 1st of the month to come. I love Ciate polishes. They have such cute bottles with the ribbons on. 

On the First day it was a gorgeous pink with a blue shimmer in that I couldn't wait to get on my nails. I'm really annoyed at myself as since getting acrylics on for my holiday all I've done is bite my nails. I'd stopped the habit and they were starting to look nice so in the new year I have to really work hard to stop again.

I have to say the first day left me a little disapointed as Cupcake Queen looks very very very very similar to Jelly Bean that came free in a magazine a few months ago. You can see the post on Jelly Bean here.

Here is the Jelly Bean polish from Marie Claire a few months back.

Look how long my nails are :-( well long for me. Below is the Cupcake Queen with MUA Libra Nail Constellations. L picked them up for us a while ago and I have been meaning to try them for ages. Strangley enough the night L and I started this blog I was round hers and a wheel of mixed beads I got from eBay split in my bag and I did a DIY Cavier manicure before it was even named a Cavier Manicure!!

Apologises for my unfiled false nails. I did file them before I went out. As you can see the colour is very similar. Cupcake Queen may be a fraction lighter but they both have the blue shimmer. I will probably give my mum or L one of these as if L doesn't want it my mum loves bright pinks as there isn't any point having two.

After the first day I have loved almost all the colours in my calender and it's fun opening each day and having a nail polish, I just with I hadn't bit my nails so I could play with them more.

Now onto the MUA Constellations. I'm loving these. For me it will always be a feature nail manicure and not all over. The MUA version stuck on well. I just added top coat to the tip of my nail as I've heard it's good to do this.

I really like that Libra is black beads with a few blue ones. I think this makes it easy to wear with most colours. My only problem with it is I hate the lid. I find the rubber funnel like top a pain to be honest. It's stiff to get off so the first time I flung a load of beads everywhere and when trying to get the beads back in I found it was easier to use a piece of folded paper. Maybe that's just me.

These lasted a good two days but I don't know if it helped that they were on false nails. They'd have probably lasted longer but they annoyed me and I picked them off.

I really like these nails for nights out as they are a bit special and I can't wait to try the Cavier polishes from my Calender as I've got a gorgeous colour in there.

Have you tried Constellations or Cavier? What's your thoughts?

Love M

xxx