Current hair care favourites

From left to right: Dove nourishing oil care conditioner, Inecto pure coconut hair repair treatment and Organix moroccan argan oil

These are the current three products which I've been using nearly every day to keep my hair looking healthy and shiny. My favourite has to be the Dove nourishing oil care express treatment (full review here) it just leaves my hair so soft and I'll be forever repurchasing it. 

Next is the Inecto pure coconut hair repair treatment and I actually picked this up in home bargains for around £2 but noticed the other day that they are actually sold in superdrug too along with other products by them. With this product being quite cheap I thought it wouldn't do much or smell to great, but actually it's smells quite nice. This conditioner really helps to condition my ends and leave them feeling soft. The conditioner it's self has quite a strange texture, it claims to be 100% coconut oil but doesn't fully resemble an oil, it's abit like an oil mixed in with conditioner. But it does the job so it doesn't bother me, it's not like I spent a lot of money on it. I also have their glossing/shine spray and will get a full review up of that soon.

Finally is the Organix moroccan argan oil (full review here) and I've been using this everyday on wet hair to smooth out any frizz and just give it that extra shine. This product is a lot cheaper than the Moroccanoil  and is a great alternative. I think I'm still going to buy Moroccanoil as it's always been in the back of my mind, I may purchase the smaller bottle to give it a try then that way I won't be spending a lot of money on something which I could get a lot cheaper.

Using these products on my hair really help to keep it in good condition and looking healthy and they are all within a good price range, which is always a bonus. I'm currently trying out my Davines cleansing nectar and moisturising balm from my january glossy box. Will also post about that once I've used them for a little longer.

Does anyone have any recommendations of any other products I could try?

♥

Project perfect

A different type of post today, but one that I really wanted to do and that is Amy's from Flaws and all blog (click here for her blog link) 'project perfect'. The whole idea behind this is to raise peoples self esteem about themselves, as often, I am guilty of this myself, people always put themselves down and dislike things about them rather than focusing on the positives. Well Amy wants to change this and to help people to feel better about themselves and it's a lovely idea and something I certain need to do. 

Here's what you need to do...

1. Post a photo that you like of yourself and say in a couple of sentences why you like it.

2. State some things that you DON'T like yourself but say why others may love to be like that.

3. State 3 things that you DO like about yourself.

So here's my photo that I like about myself (excuse the awful webcam picture) 

The reason that I like this photo is because I like my hair in it. I have naturally curly hair, which I have a love/hate relationship with, but I think this photo shows it quite nicely.

Thing that I don't like about myself, but others do/might want
1. Like I said above, I have a funny relationship with my hair, I sometimes love that it's curly but most of the time I hate it and would much rather have straight hair. However other people and my friends say that they love my hair and wished they had naturally curly hair.

2. I really dislike my nose, I just see it as being quite big, but other people, especially the boyfriend say it's cute and not even that big. 

3. I'm quite pale and lack iron due to being a vegetarian (which doesn't help the matter) and I wish I had more colour to my skin. However pale is quite a desired natural look these days and is becoming more promoted with the likes of celebrities such as Nicola Roberts, therefore I should embrace this more!

Three things that I do like about myself

1. I actually really like my eyelashes, they are naturally quite long but with mascara they go super long and volumised.

2. I like my hazel coloured eyes. So to sum up 1 and 2, I basically like my eyes!

3. Finally I quite like my freckles, I have a few on my face and on my arms. But I especially like the tiny triangle of freckles I have on the top of my foot. A little random but true, I've literally shown everyone, well that I know. Whipping out my foot and showing my 'freckle triangle' to a complete stranger and someone I barely know would be a little strange!

So there we have it, my contribution to Amy's project perfect. I think this post really helped me to think about the positive things about myself for a change rather than what I don't like. If you fancy having a go at doing this, then go for it and just answer the same questions I did and post a link on Amy's blog (link here again) as I'm sure she would love to read it and see the involvement from others and she will also link the post to her 'project perfect' page.

♥

Sleek contour kit

I've never really contoured before yet alone use a contour kit so I was very excited when I saw and decided to give it a go. The kit comes in a lovely black elegant packaging and contains a bronzing powder and highlighting powder (pictured above).The bronzer is a matt bronzer, which is just perfect as I find matt bronzer can be quite difficult to find and it looks really nice against the shimmery highlighter. In the picture the bronzer looks quite orange, but it's really not, that's down to lovely winter lighting which I'm sure all bloggers are loving at the moment, hmm. 

If your like me and never tried contouring before then your probably thinking to yourself where do I start and what goes where. Well inside the box you get a leaflet which shows you where to put the highlighter and the bronzer which I think is very handy if your a little unsure. The kits comes in a choice of three colours, light, medium and dark. I purchased the light kit and the bronzer is perfect for my skin tone and doesn't show up to dark at all.

Only thing that I feel could be included with the kit is a brush to use, as it doesn't come with one and personally to me a kit should contain everything you need. Saying that I never usually use brushes provided in kits as they are usually too small and not that greatly produced, so this wasn't that much of a problem, although it would of been nice.

Overall this is a really good product for anyone, weather you know how to contour or not. It's cheap at around £6.50 and looks good on it's own or with a little blusher.

Have you tried contouring before, what do you use? What's your views on this kit?
♥

High street picks 001

Topshop
 jumper, playsuit, raspberry skirt, purse & contrast heals

New look
ditsy floral dress, jumper,  bangle set,  satchel  & scallop heals

Miss Selfridge 

colour block vest, green playsuit , scallop shorts , tassel handbag, green knot belt & court shoe

A bit of a different post today compared to the usual beauty ones, a post showing some of my current favourites from certain shops on the high street. Let me know if this is something you would like to see more often on here and i'd be more than happy to do more.

♥

Dove nourishing oil care express treatment

Dove nourishing oil care express conditioner

You've probably read thousands of reviews on this product, but if not read on as this has to be my new favourite hair care product of all time. I've always been into using deep conditioners on my hair, not because my hair is damaged but because it is naturally curly and quite dry and I find that conditioners alone don't help moisturise or de-frizz my hair. I've literally tried everything but since using a Moroccan argan oil on my hair I have finally discovered what my hair needs, nourishing oils.

With this in mind and having read plenty of amazing reviews I purchased the Dove nourishing oil care express treatment conditioner (mouth full). The product comes out from the bottle in two stripes, the white stripe container normal conditioner and the yellow stripe contains the treatment and together they work wonders. Your directed to use this instead of conditioner, due to the product already containing conditioner along with the treatment and leave it on for three minutes or more. The treatment/conditioner together smells beautiful and has a really thick creamy texture and literally works in three minutes so is great if your in a rush and don't have time to sit with a conditioner in your hair for twenty minutes. 

It is literally amazing, I can't stress how much I love this product and will be forever using it, every single day of my entire life. It makes my hair which is super dry and hard to manage lovely and soft. If there is one product you need in your life it is this one. Amazing. 

♥

Benefit hervana

Benefit Hervana £23.50

Ever since I seen this little beauty pop up on peoples blog's and on the American benefit website I wanted it. So much so that I was willing to pay delivery from America just so I could get my hands on it. But I patiently waited for it to be released in the uk and now, finally, it's mine and I haven't stopped admiring it since.

Benefit describe Hervana as a 'good karma face powder' to provide you with a 'flush of enlightment'. The powder it's self consists of four shades; lucky shell, divine peach, heavenly rose and berry delight and I guess could all be worn separately. Personally I like to wear them swirled together as I adore the light matt pink shade it gives you and also part of the fun of these separate coloured blushes is to mix them altogether right? 

When I tested the product out in store the assistant placed 'lucky shell' (the lightest shade) alone onto my cheek bones to highlight and it blended with the blusher really well. I prefer to use this product as a blush alone as I prefer shimmery highlighters such as the one in my Sleeks contour kit. She also told me that it could be used as an eye shadow, although personally I doubt I will be trying this as I'm not a huge eye shadow wearer and it seems a little odd to use this for eye shadow.

As with all benefit blushes I've tried the staying power of this product is just as good and it has become my favourite blusher. I much prefer the packaging of this powder compared to the older ones. The lid is attached to the box and has a magnet inside so there is no chance of it opening in your bag and it also has a mirror inside the lid. The brushes are different as you can see below the black one is an older brush and is flat and the purple is the newer angled brush. I still use my own brush over the one provided as I find this isn't the best brush to swirl around a square box, but that's just me.

So will you be purchasing Hervana? What's your favourite benefit boxed powder?
♥

Sleek brow kit

Swatches: brow powder, brow wax and both together

I recently bought Sleeks brow kit in Superdrug and it has now become a part of my every day make up routine. The kit comes in two shades, light and dark, I purchased the dark kit as I have dark hair and eyebrows. Inside you get a brow powder (pictured on the left) and a brow wax (pictured on the right) as well as two brushes and some mini tweezers to get them stray hairs. One of the brushes is angled and used to apply the wax and create a defined shape and arch and the other brush is used to fill in any gaps using the brow powder. I find that you can either wear the wax or powder on their own or both together to create a neatly filled eyebrow.

I'm really impressed with this product I wasn't expecting it to be this good. It doesn't leave your eyebrows looking fake and 'clown' like, doesn't smudge, the brushes are useful and most of all it lasts all day. 

What do you use to fill in your eyebrows?
♥

Elf cream eye liner

When it comes to eye liner I always reach for my Maybelline liquid line definer and have done for years. I decided I wanted to try out a cream eye liner and purchased elf's cream eye liner in black at £3.50 from their website. The eye liner pot comes with an angled mini brush in which you use to apply the product and to be honest it is a pretty decent brush. Usually I prefer to use my own brushes instead of the ones provided with the product but the angled brush is perfect for creating winged eye liner. 

I made sure that I tested out this product on a day that I knew I wasn't going anywhere as I had a horrible feeling that I would struggle to neatly apply it or that the product just wouldn't be that good. I was wrong, the product was so easy to apply and came out as a really jet black colour in just one stroke. I wouldn't   really say that the product had a creamy texture to be honest, it's quite hard and compact. I suppose if it was really creamy it would run and smudge and be quite a disaster. Overall I am really impressed with this product, it lasts all day, the brush is decent and it's really easy to apply. I would recommend this to anyone who already loves cream eye liners or basically wants to try something a little different from their normal eye liners and not break the bank.

Have you tried any of the elf cream eye liners? What other cream eyeliners would you recommend?
♥

Wednesday wishlist 006

Topshop play suit,  Philip Kingsley Elasticizer, Topshop lip stick in nevada,  Topshop nails in prim and proper, Alexander McQueen bangle, miu miu purse

I adore the Topshop playsuit the ruffles just make it so pretty and the zip detail is perfect, I just want it so much. The amount I've heard about Philip Kingsley elasticizer who wouldn't want it, only off putting thing is the price. The topshop lipstick and nail polish are just gouegous. Now onto more expensive items: Alexander McQueen bangle and miu miu purse, if only. 

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Elf mod mauve and glitter glam nails

Main colour; elf mod mauve and accent nail in elf glitter glam

My recent elf haul resulted in me purchasing my first batch of elf nail polishes and I really love 'mod mauve' and 'glitter glam', especially together. I may have to buy some more elf nail polishes as they are really good quality and at £1.50 each you can't go wrong. Only thing that puts me off is that the swatches of the nail polishes don't always represent the actual colour of the product, as I discovered with two of the polishes I bought (nude and hot pink). But other than that the rest of the nail polishes and products are fine!

 ♥

This is what student loans are made for

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Favourite high street foundation

Having ran out of my Mac studio fix fluid back in December I had to dash to the nearest Superdrug store and grab anything that was in sight. I picked up Revlon's colour stay foundation in Sand Beige and headed home. Little did I know that this was about to become my new favourite drug store foundation.

I've tried so many drug store foundations before I discovered Mac, or at least could afford Mac and none of them were really that great and all their claims of lasting 24hours were never true so I no longer bothered to purchase them. This foundation restored my faith in drug store foundations!

I'd say that this foundation gave medium to high buildable coverage and left a matt finish once dry. This foundation is made for combination/oily skin and lasts for the majority of the day. The only problem I've found  is that it dries really fast so you have to apply it to your face in sections otherwise you end up with a dried patch on your forehead by the time you come to blend it in there. However this doesn't really affect me as I have always applied my foundation in small sections anyway.

Overall I would highly recommend this product to anyone, especially if you have combination/oily skin and don't want to spend loads of money for a higher brand foundation and most of all want a drug store foundation that lasts! This is definitely the best drug store foundation I've ever bought, I'm yet to try bourjois healthy mix foundation but I prefer matt foundations and I've heard that this is more of a dewy/glowly foundation so haven't been that desperate to purchase it. 

Have you tried this foundation yet? What's your favourite drug store foundation?
♥

Recently

Addiction to Innocent apple juice; over using owl hottie; growing concealer collection; carmex; Barry M haul; peanut butter kit kat chunky; sprinkle donuts; Olly Murs obsession; boyfriend found my old bracelet; owl book ends; new discovery's; found my love for my old handbag. 

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Wednesday Wishlist 005

Topshop dress, Models own nude beige,  Glitter belt,  Topshop wedges, Dove oil care.

Currently going through a 'I want it all and I want it now phase' when really I can't have it all now. However I've been very good with my money recently and not managed to spend any of my student loan on 'un-needed things', so I'm quite proud. Here's a list post of things I've been wanting lately. 

I love the Topshop dress, the back is just gorgeous and really girly and you can never have too many black dresses. The wedges would look really cute with it too, even though me and heels don't go well together I still want them. They can be my 'sitting down shoes'. The belt really caught my eye from Topshop also, I really like the colour and seems like one of them belts that goes with anything. Loving the nude nail polish from models own, I'm a very nude and light pink coloured sort of person so this would be perfect. Finally Dove's nourishing oil care treatment, read a few good reviews about this product and I'm always trying deep conditioners and hair treatments.

                                              ♥

Moroccan Argan Oil

Organix Moroccan Argan Oil

Ever since seeing Moroccanoil on other peoples blog's I've been dying to get my hands on one, the only thing that put me off was the price, I wasn't prepared to pay £30 for around 100mls of product. While in boots a couple weeks ago I spotted this 'Organix Moroccan Argan Oil' and at around £7 for the same amount of product as Moroccanoil and I just had to buy it.

I have quite dry, hard to manage hair with some damage from heat styling and deep conditioners alone weren't helping to improve the condition of my hair and loads of people have been suggesting that I try an oil. The product claims to 'help to moisturise, revive and create softness and strength while helping protect your hair from harmful styling heat and UV damage'

The oil it self doesn't have the nicest of scents, it has a slight smell of after shave, which is quite strange but when I mean slight, I do mean only a tiny bit. Once it's on your hair you can't smell it at all, but it would of been nice if it had a nicer more floral scent maybe?

The only let down with this product is the packaging design. The oil comes out of a rather large whole and you end up with a little too much product, however if your careful this can be avoided and a little really does go a long way. 

To the important stuff, does it actually work? It does, it actually makes my hair look shiner, healthier, feel softer and makes it easier to manage. It's amazing, I love it and use it every day and  I'm so glad that I haven't blow all my money on the actual Moroccanoil. However there is still a little part of me that wants to try it.

                                             ♥