Category Archives: review

Summer Nails with Oriflame’s long wear nail polish

26th June 2014
I barely get a chance to paint my nails these days so my skills are more than a little rusty. Working in healthcare has left my hands in a dire state- dry from constant washing and with super short nails that can’t have a trace of colour on them…I’ve gone from being the girl who was always playing with new colours to the one who by the weekend often can’t be bothered!
Despite this I have a huge collection of nail polish and I’m always looking for new colours and formulas to add to it. Oriflame have recently added five new Summer shades to it’s range of long wear nail polishes as part of it’s fashion focused “The One” range. The claims are that this will last for up to 14 days chip and flake free (with a base and top coat + touch ups) making it perfect for a Summer holiday. I was never going to be able to test out this claim in full as I get two days wear max out of my polish before having to remove it for a clinic, but given I can chip through the sturdiest of top coats in a matter of hours, I can still see how it holds up against my clumsy nature.
I was sent a gorgeously bright orange polish to review, which is one of my favourite shades for Summer nails. I am so out of practice with painting my nails that I did a rather hasty and messy job, but this polish applies like a dream thanks to it’s specially designed curve edge brush and dries quickly. Two coats gives really good, solid coverage which is brilliant because after two coats I just can’t be bothered any more, nail painting becomes a chore!
Longevity wise this survived the weekend chip free, which is pretty unheard of for me. This included a hen night and long hair washing session, both of which would ordinarily see me having to remove my once perfect polish. As ever Oriflame have left me impressed with their creation and once the shades go on sale on the 4th of July (limited edition until 7th November) I will probably pick up a couple more. With an RRP of £5.95 they are good value for money, with the kind of quality I usually pay more for. There’s a gorgeous green shade I have my eye on, so watch this space!
Who do you turn to for long lasting nail colours and what are your favourite Summer shades?

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Lunching with M&S

10th June 2014
For some reason food from Marks and Spencer never lets me down. I think this comes from growing up with it as a luxury as to this day it’s always a treat rather than an every day occurrence. I’m sure this would change if I ever move somewhere that has an M&S nearby, but as it involves a bus ride in to town it’s a rare treat.
Marks and Spencer have recently added to their food on the move range and were lovely enough to arrange some samples for me to collect on a recent trip in to town, with the not so difficult task of reviewing it on the blog…honestly, sometimes blogging is such a chore!
I love sushi, so the M&S team’s selection for me was perfect! I am so rubbish at capturing photos of food (practice time for me!) but this looked so delicious…and I confirm it tastes amazing. I really loved the Futomaki selection with a honey, ginger and chilli dressing (£3.50 per pack) as you got a good variety of pieces to try and the dressing added an extra dimension to the flavour; I find shop bought sushi can be on the bland side. The Salmon and Prawn Nigri (£3.50) was also excellent, the best shop bought Nigri I’ve tried and perfectly accompanied by good old soy sauce. I sadly couldn’t try the Yakatori Chicken Skewers (£2.00) as they had nuts on them, my bad for not mentioning that allergy but Ben reaped the benefits and gave them the thumbs up!
The new range from Marks and Spencer focuses on fresh and flavour packed lunches. As well as the sushi there is also a range of American inspired delights such as pulled pork and crunchy slaw on a soft white roll (£3.30) and some fantastic looking Bento boxes.
I try not to buy my lunch too often, but usually treat myself once a week. I wish I lived closer to a M&S as I’d love to explore this range further, I always find a long day at work is made better by an luxurious (well, not home made) lunch!
What do you guys do for lunch? Any one else agree nobody does food quite like M&S? Pass me the Percy Pigs!

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Chilling with FruitBroo

29th May 2014
Back in December I did a little post about FruitBroo and their awesome fruity hot drinks. It was love at first taste and so I was super excited when they got in touch to tell me they’d launched iced teas for the Summer in two amazing sounding flavours.
A few days later samples of the new flavours arrived at my door, and I dug them out especially for that gorgeous weekend we had a couple of weeks ago. These have to be the easiest way of making iced tea ever. All you need to do is add 3-4 tsps of the broo in to a glass, add iced water and ice then stir and enjoy. Containing no caffeine, gluten or dairy and containing only 14 calories per serving these are the perfect refresher for a hot sunny day (or to add some sunshine to a not so sunny day!)
My favourite flavour was the Elderflower & Lime as this is one of my favourite flavour combinations when it comes to drinks anyway. This was lovely and light and would be a really good alternative to wine at a BBQ for the non-drinkers. Not that mine will last long enough to make it to a BBQ as it’s diminishing at a rapid rate!
The other flavour is Peach, Pear & Honey which despite being peach, which I dislike was still really very nice. The combination of flavours is beautiful and sweet, it almost reminds me of drinking cocktails on holiday.
Each 200ml bottle costs £3.50 (you get 22 servings from each) and if you order three or more online you get free UK delivery. I’m so glad to have discovered FruitBroo, a local company as well, which is just an added bonus! I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
Have you tried these? What other flavour combinations would you like to see?

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Welcome to the Makeup Revolution

08th May 2014
As much as I love my high-end beauty products I only ever purchase them with Birthday/Christmas money or ask for them as gifts. I’m quite realistic and know that I personally can’t afford to be splurging on makeup right now (although fair play if you can!) and so I’m always on the hunt for good quality and affordable beauty brands. I’d heard a lot about Makeup Revolution on Twitter, Instagram and the many beauty blogs I read, so when they kindly offered to send me some goods to try I had high hopes as the feedback I had heard was very positive!
Firstly I could not believe the prices of these products, nothing in this package cost over £4.00 and they don’t exactly look cheap!
The eyeshadow palette was the first thing I tried (I swatched a few of my favourite shades above- sorry for my rubbish swatches by the way, I am still getting used to this beauty blogger lark!). I was sent the Redemption Palette in Day to Night (£4.00) and I just love it. I often find with palettes I’ll use one or two of the colours and ignore the rest but these are all super wearable. For day I’ve been using the nude shades for a base and then the super bright turquoise as a liner. The pigmentation of these is incredible, often with cheaper products you loose pigmentation but I’m delighted to say this isn’t the case here. This would be so perfect to take on holiday as you have every colour you could possibly want to take you from beach to bar.
The next product I tried was the Liquid Blush in the shade Rush (£3.00). I’ve always been scared of liquid blushers in the past as I’m a bit heavy handed when it comes to colour but this was a lovely, build-able colour which I wore quite sheer for daytime (swatch is the top pink in the first photo). There was no trouble blending this blusher which was my other concern, in short this is every blush addicts dream.
The Velvet Salvation Lip Lacquer in the shade “What I Believe” (£3.00) is probably my favourite product. This went on so smooth and dried to the perfect matte finish which lasted me an entire day of shopping! Unlike many matte products this didn’t dry my lips out and I love a shine free finish so I’ll be stocking up on these!
The other eye product I had was one of the Eye Foils in Rose Gold (£4.00). These are such a genius product and you can’t really see in my swatch just how pigmented and metallic the finish is. This is THE product for a night out, you just pop a little of the liquid primer in to the tray provided and mix in some of the pigment. You get a solid, metallic eye colour that really stands out from the crowd. I can’t wait for a proper excuse to wear this…I’ve not seen anything else comparable on the high street.
Lastly I tried out one of the nail polishes and to be honest, priced at just £1.00 I did not expect much as I’ve had bad experiences with cheaper polishes in the past. It’s always nice to be proven wrong though and I was! Two coats of Maybe Tonight gave a good solid finish which lasted me two whole days without chipping (with no top coat). With 40 shades to choose from I think my already huge polish collection may soon be expanding.
If you’ve tried any of the products I’d love to know your thoughts, especially on ones I haven’t mentioned here. I have my eye on the foundations next so links to reviews on that would be fabulous! As you can tell, I really rate Makeup Revolution and can’t wait to see more from the brand.

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Oriflame- The One

26th April 2014
New product launches from Oriflame always excite me as I can pretty much guarantee it’s going to be good. Recently they launched a range of products called “The One” and although I couldn’t attend the launch event I was lucky enough to be sent some products from the range to review.
The One brings the latest fashion and beauty trends from around the world with three ranges that cater to all your makeup needs. With names such as High Impact, Everyday Beauty and Longwear it’s easy to pick and choose products that suit you and how you choose to live.
The products I was sent came from the High Impact range, designed to create a bold statement and impressive finishes. This is the range I was most interested in to be honest, I like my products to make a bit of a statement, although Longwear and Everyday Beauty also appeal. Basically, I want everything.
First up was the Colour Impact cream eyeshadows in Beige Pearl and Intense Plum. These are really lovely and apply like a dream both with a gentle finger tip or an eyeshadow brush. Beige Pearl made a brilliant base for powder shadows and also looked great alone with a flick of black liner. Intense Plum is a stunning purple shade and initially goes on quite sheer so you can build it up to get the look you desire. My only gripe was that these did tend to crease towards the end of the day, but I find that with every cream shadow on me so I don’t hold it against this specific shadow.
Next came the Power Shine lipstick in Red Ovation; a lovely orange toned red that is so on trend for Spring/Summer. I’m always a bit shy when it comes to red lips but this built up from a really sheer gloss to a much stronger colour with ease so I could take baby steps in to the world of a bold lip.
Last but not least came the Volume Blase mascara. I didn’t actually hold out much hope for this as I’m not a fan of this type of mascara brush at all. It was a pleasing surprise when this turned out to be up to the usual Oriflame standards though and two coats later I had dramatic, volumatic lashes with no clumping. I love it when a product exceeds expectations and this one certainly did!
Overall this is another stunner of a range from Oriflame, is there anything they can’t do? I’d love to try some products from the other two ranges, and if I do I’ll share my thoughts on the blog. Which products would you most like to try? Oh, and any tips for wearing cream eyeshadows without creasing?

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