NOTD: Avon Nailwear Pro+ Blue Water Lilies

I'm sure you'll be able to tell by now I'm a huge fan of Avon make up especially the lipsticks. You can see the Avon products I've reviewed so far here. Today I bring you on of their nail varnishes. 

The Nailwear Pro+ formulation is currently on offer for £3. What a bargain. That's what I love about Avon you can usually get great deals on the products. I think £3 is such good value. The normal price is £6 which I do also think this nail varnish is worth.

They Say

Nail enamel fortified with acrylic gel for strength and Dura-Plus Complex. 12 days of lasting colour, shine and nick-resistant finish. 

I find this formula to be really long lasting it also glides on easily and gives a gorgeous finish  in two coats. As for lasting 12 days. I can't comment on that as I never leave polish on that long but after 5 days it's still looking good.

I've got the shade blue water lilies which if you can find I suggest ordering (that's the only thing with Avon, due to campaign changes products aren't always availble). It's such a beautiful summer colour. It's a pastel periwinkle blue with a soft gold shimmer running through.

The gold through the blue looks stunning on. It adds a subtle shimmer without the colour looking glittery. 

I paired it with a gold statement nail (max factor Ivory) to highlight the gold in the polish. Ignore my shoddy topcoat. My beloved Seche Vite is going gloopy on me :(.

In sunlight you really notice the soft shimmer in it. This is a colour I've been reaching for lots lately. I love the shade and find it really flattering against my skin tone. It also looks great when I'm tanned. I love this shade of blue for nails and have been looking for it for ages. I have other light blues but none quite as pretty.

Are you a fan of blue nails? Have you tried the Nailwear Pro+ formulas?

Love M

xxx

Review: Outback Organics

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to be sent some products to try from Outback Organics. I had seen them on twitter and seen lots of positive reviews on their products so when they asked for people to try stuff I sent them our information.

Outback Organics is a company from Somerset (my home town) so that intrigued me even more. It's great to support local businesses. They've grown into a successful business which is used my professionals in salons and available to purchase online. We were sent three products to try. The Face and Body Scrub, Face and Body Wash and the Botanical Body Oil.

The Face and Body scrub was the product I was most excited to try. The scrub comes in a tube which I prefer in products. I'd much rather this than a tub as I find tubs like soap and glory end up with the product going gloopy as it gets water in it. As someone who uses an epilator unfortunately ingrown hairs are part of what comes with this method of hair removal. This product was developed to use prior to waxing or epilating to help prevent them and is gentle enough to then be used after and on the face.





I love multi-functional products. They are handy to leave my bathroom less cluttered. This product is a white cream with a soft exfoliation. No rough particles. The beads are a good size but don't feel rough on the skin. The micro-beads are make from jojoba which helps to buff away dead skin without irritating it. I've used this a few times a week since receiving it. I've had no reactions to it and I've used it all over my body and face. It's been perfect for the bits of skin left behind after spots and has helped with ingrown hairs. The scrub retails for £8.99 for 100ml. It's also not tested on animals (big positive) and is free from synthetic chemicals. I also have to add the smell of this whole range. I love it. All the products smell very spa like, they are fresh, almost woody smelling. They smell exactly like spa massage oils to me. I definitely want to try the ingrown hair serum from this range.



The skin wash is another multi purpose product but I've been using this just on my face. This is from the tea tree range. Anyone with oily skin will know tea tree is great for helping cleanse it. I usually stay away from tea tree products as I find them over powering and while this smells of tea tree it isn't as strong as I usually find them. The tea tree oil in this in organic and it also contains peppermint oil. The combination of these help to clean pores and prevent spots.



The skin wash retails for £5.99 for 100ml. I personally think this is a great price and this product will last a while. I like to use this in the mornings as it has a fresh scent to it. I also prefer to use a gel cleanser in the mornings. I feel like this is giving my skin a deep clean and leaves it feeling fresh and not greasy. This will definitely be a repurchase for me.



The botanical body oil is a product with four uses. It can be used pre wax, post wax, pre shaving and as a moisturizer. I've only tried it the last two ways. Being an oil I was definitely skeptical of putting it on as moisturizer. I don't enjoy the feeling of being slippery. This took me a while to try out. After I did I wondered why. It really is a dry oil. Which is quite an unusual texture. When rubbed in it sinks into the skin leaving soft skin feeling that lasts. This has really helped my sun burnt skin. I've been applying it morning and night and so far I've not had any peeling (fingers crossed it stays that way). It's really kept my skin soft.



I also tried it out under my shave cream (shampoos I didn't like) and found it made my shave much smoother. I definitely like this as a moisturizer and a spray bottle is much easy than a pot of body butter. I'm a fan. This retails at £11 for 100 or £15 for 250ml. I know which size I'll be reordering. If your a fan of dry body oils I definitely suggest trying this one. It'll last ages too.

I've really enjoyed trying these products and it's nice to find a new company that doesn't test on animals.

You can purchase outback organics online from here and they have some great July offers on.

Love M

xxx

Unfortunately for me I had a bit of an allergic reaction recently, so haven't been using anything new on my skin until it cleared up. You can see any pictures of it on twitter, but after a trip to a spa I was covered from head to toe in a pretty nasty rash which took a week of super strong antibiotics to get rid of. 

This meant that I haven't been able to try the Outback Organics products as much as I'd have liked.

I have however used the products once or twice (without any reaction!) and I think they're really great.

I tried the body oil first and that sunk in really easily leaving my skin with a sheen but not feeling greasy which a lot of body oils seem to do. It seems a lot drier than others I've tried and smells really fresh and clean, I'd definitely be interested in repurchasing this if the long term effects are as hydrating!

The face and body wash is also another that smells great. It smells of tea tree oil and from my childhood this always reminds me of being really clean and would be great for oily and blemished skin to fight off spots and kill bad bacteria on skin. It foamed up nicely too!

The face and body scrub felt really gentle and smells of rose I think? It's a really soothing smell and my body and face both appreciated how gentle the scrubby bits were as they weren't abrasive at all.

Another plus was the multi functional usage of the wash and scrub as you can use them on both face and body. This is perfect for morning showers when you are in a rush! 

I can't comment on how they are over time as I've only just started using them, but on initial usage I really like all three products and would definitely be interested in looking at other products from Outback Organics.

What do you think of these products? Do you like multi functional ones?

L xxx

Wedding Fever!

Hi all!

I hope you're having a lovely weekend!

Today I will be off to my friends wedding and I'm so excited!

It's the first wedding out of all of my friends and I think all of us are really looking forward to it.

I've been getting ready pretty much all week, as you can imagine! I've been scrubbing and scrubbing so my skin is buffed to perfection before my tan was applied last night so fingers crossed it won't turn out to be patchy or streaky!

I had a pedicure the other week that I am hoping will still be in tact by Saturday. I went for gold glitter for lots of sparkle as choosing an actual colour was so hard!

For my fingers I have been playing all week with different nudes and effects. I am sure I will be tweeting a picture of my nails if you'd like to see the end result...

I previously wrote about my dress choices in my post here i you'd like to see them, but I eventually picked this pink shift dress from LK Bennett:

It's such a classic cut in a bright colour and I think it will be perfect!

I'm teaming it with nude heels and bag and this jacket for when it goes colder in the evenings:

What do you think of my wedding outfit choices?

I've also got a diamante comb for my hair, I always curl it but never do anything else with it so am planning on pinning it half up with the comb so it's a bit more special.

Any tips for weddings?? Do you have any friend's weddings to go to coming up?

I have another in a month or two after so I'll be planning my outfit for that one soon enough!!

L xxx

Beauty Rehab

Good morning ladies!

I hope you're excited for the weekend!

I have been rather sneaky the past 2 months....as I have actually been on somewhat of a spending ban but just couldn't bring myself to admit it to anyone apart from M. In previous 'bans' I've cracked under the pressure and lure from working in Boots and seeing new products EVERYWHERE.

However now that I no longer work there and am instead surrounded by drugs and chemicals and spend an hour driving to and from work each way my free time has been considerably shortened and i now spend my weekends doing things, as opposed to shopping.

So basically what I'm saying is........I'VE MADE IT 2 WHOLE MONTHS WITHOUT GOING ON A SPREE!!!!

There are of course a few exceptions to this statement. I did buy a lipstick and blush (totalling £20) as a congratulatory present to myself at the end of June, which I'm allowing once a month in a bid to keep me on track.

Then i found out that my Debenhams Beauty Card points were about to expire, and £15 was not worth losing! So I hotfooted it to my local store and bought Benefit's Erase Paste at M's insistence which had 10% off at the time and therefore cost me £2.55 (I feel this is surely acceptable!). I also picked up another lipstick from MAC as I had enough empties for a free one.

Lastly I picked up a No7 eye make up remover using my £5 off voucher meaning I only spent £3 on it so it is in fact another bargain. So in total I spent £25.55 in the past 2 months.

It is true I broke the spending ban but for those bargains how could I not??

As a result of my lack of spending I have been powering through my stash in a bid to reduce it down. Nobody needs enough to please an army of thousands of girls so here's what I've managed to use........

This has been my storage bag for all of the products I've managed to use. I'm going to keep it in my wardrobe and write whenever it gets full as that seems to have worked for me so far.

Here's the contents of said bag after 2 months:

I think i did ok didn't i??

Let's have a closer look.

Here are the small things:

Bit of a mish mash really. 4 concealers all of which were great. Collection probably wins in the price category and I have another already, but i did LOVE how hydrating Fake Up was which I'd consider repurchasing in the future (I have bought Erase Paste to compare it to!). The Origins serum was lovely but unfortunately only had 2 uses out of it so can't say much for it's effects.
The Soap and Glory scrub was brilliant as expected, and the Lush BIG shampoo was definitely interesting. It was a salt based shampoo that had huge granules of rock salt in, they almost scrubbed your scalp and hair in a gentle way before dissolving and then leaving your hair 'big', this worried me however due to drying out my hair.
The No7 is a great clear top coat that dries pretty fast and is worth it especially with the vouchers.
The Maybelline Rocket mascara was ok, not the greatest but pretty good for the price.

I think it's safe to say that Soap and Glory are rated highly in my opinion, and Peaches and Clean was a surprising like for me. I thought it would be average but I have genuinely loved it and would repurchase after finishing off some other cleansers I have. It's so easy to use and removes make up in a flash, including heavy eye make up.
Dove Summer Glow is my favourite tanning moisturiser and will always be repurchased! It gives me a base colour before I apply tan for a more realistic colour.
Origins Make a Difference Serum is amazing and I'd repurchase if I had the money! 

Vichy Normaderm products are really good in my opinion, they're great for oily skins and troubled skins regardless of oil levels, and if you're stuck for a product, definitely try one of these!
DiorSkin Forever foundation was a dream, literally. I loved it and would get it again!
Rimmel Recover was so glittery I would never get it again tho, they've moved on to Wake Me Up and that's a lot better.

Etat Pur micellar water was ok, but it wasn't as good at removing eye make up as I thought it would be.
Nioxin was an awful conditioner, firstly it was cooling which I'm not a fan of but this conditioner didn't do anything for my hair.
Firminator was an S&G purchase form years ago that i still had, and have just finished. Again, its cooling which I don't really like so didn't use it regularly enough for proper effects.

TIGI shampoo is awesome, I'd repurchase this for the SLS free-ness, the smell, the pink bottle and the fact it's often present in TK Maxx. Another Dove moisturiser which sunk in easily, I think that they're really good for price.
I loved my Molton Brown shower gels and this purple one was my favourite smell.
Revlon Airbrush foundation is gorgeous but can be hard to apply. The mousse foundation also lasted forever and was so worth the money g/£.
The Origins moisturiser was amazing for my dehydrated skin so I'd repurchase this unless I can find a similarly hydrating one!


So that was just a quick run down as I don't think its necessary to talk about every product.
What do you think of my empties? How long has your ban been going on for?


L xxx

P.S. HAPPY FRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!