Slight absence...

I won't be able to post until Monday onwards as I'm currently in Wales with no wi-fi and my iPhone makes it way too difficult to post things so I'll resume as soon as I'm home! 

Amanda :) xx

Superdrug Naturally Radiant range

A few weeks ago I noticed items from the Superdrug Naturally Radiant range on offer and decided to buy a few. As I mentioned in my last post I get extremely dry skin and lately it has been playing up more than usual. I decided to give these a go while I tried to find a good moisturiser for my face (Liz Earle goodies are now on their way to me!) and was pleasantly surprised by the result. My skin was feeling extremely uncomfortable and dried out that I was moisturising at least three times a day (not practical at all).

So after using these products consistently at least twice a day I thought I'd give you my verdict on them! This is what they look like on the shelf:

I bought the Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser, Brightening Radiance Balm, Brightening Eye Cream and the Brightening Renewal Face Mask. I haven't actually tried the cleanser yet so I don't think it would be fair to write a review on that item however I will tell you I am excited to try it soon as it comes with a muslin cloth and seems like a low budget dupe for the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish. This is what the Hot Cloth Cleanser looks like:

 

The cleanser is usually £5.99 but is on offer for £2.99 in Superdrug stores and also on their website linked here.

My favourite product out of this range is the Brightening Radiance Balm:

I found that this balm is not too heavy on my face so you could probably wear this underneath your make up. It sinks straight in to your skin and it left my face feeling soft for hours, which is something I don't get very often after moisturising. I'm currently waiting for my Liz Earle products in the post but if that moisturiser doesn't live up to my expectations then I think this balm is going to become my staple cream as it really has made so much of a difference to how my skin feels. It claims to instantly make skin look radiant and feels moisturised, after one week skin should feel softer, smoother, more refreshed and energised, after four weeks skin tone appears refined and evened out. I can honestly say the softer, smoother part of their claims are definitely true from my experience and I have also noticed that my cheeks are not as red as they usually are so my skin tone seems to have evened slightly, however I can't say I've noticed my skin appearing brighter or radiant. That being said it's definitely a product I now love and will be buying again. This is also on offer for £2.99 instead of £5.99 and again is available from Superdrug stores or this link here.

Next up is the Brightening Eye Cream:

Again, this cream is not too heavy or overly fragranced either which is good seen as your eyes can be sensitive area. I like the smaller nozzle on the tube, allowing you to get just enough cream out and not wasting any of the product. After one week this product claims to make skin around the eye area feel softer and smoother and also more refreshed and energised. After four weeks the appearance of dark circles and puffiness is supposed to be minimised. I can say that the skin does feel softer and smoother around my eye, but no change to my dark circles as of yet but I am hoping to notice a difference soon! This is also on offer for £2.99 instead of £5.99 in Superdrug stores or on the website linked here.

The final product I bought was the Brightening Renewal Face Mask:

I've only used this once since I bought it and I'm not sure if I like it or not. I will be trying it out again to see if I like it any better second time round. It's quite a thick clear gel that you put on your face and wash off with a warm/hot flannel after 10 minutes. The 10 minutes itself was fine and it actually felt quite nice on my face but once it was off my skin felt even more dry than usual so I had to smother it in the balm and eye cream mentioned earlier. This probably only affects me because my skin is super dry but I didn't notice much change in my face and I don't personally think it is worth being uncomfortable for. That being said it could be perfect for someone else with less dry skin than me :). This is currently on offer for £2.49 instead of £4.99 in Superdrug stores and on their website linked here.

So, overall I love the balm and the eye cream and honestly may have gone a little insane the past 2 weeks if I hadn't had them around to ease my skin! I'm hoping the Liz Earle products live up to their reputation or I'll be continuing to use these two products instead! The face mask is not really my cup of tea as it dried my face out more than other I've had experience with, but I do recommend giving this range a little look as I have been really pleasantly surprised by this!

Has anyone else tried this brand? Thoughts?

Amanda :) xx

Garnier Ultimate Beauty Oil Skin Perfector

I wasn't supposed to be doing a post today as I have university work to do but I just couldn't resist. It isn't going to be very long but it is about one of my new favourite products - Garnier Ultimate Beauty Oil.

I picked this up in Superdrug about four weeks ago because it was on an introductory offer and it caught my eye. I have extremely dry skin, so much so I have to moisturise immediately after stepping out the shower because my skin feels so taut and dry. This means I'm constantly looking for skin products to fall in love with and make my life a little bit easier.

I've never really found a body moisturiser that's perfect for me and believe me I've bought my fair share of brands and types, always buying the options for extremely dry skin. They do stop my skin feeling tight but they don't seem to moisturise my skin and make it softer. However, this oil is in a totally different league. This is what it looks like:

The bottle caught my eye before the product itself and I think it looks beautiful, especially with the patterned background.

I was sceptical if an oil would do much for my skin but I was totally wrong. I use 2 sprays for my arms, one on my forearm and one on my upper arm. This is plenty to cover all my arms and also more importantly, my elbows. My elbows are insanely dry and rough and nothing ever works on them. I instantly noticed a difference and by consistently using it, my elbows have improved so much that they almost feel baby soft to touch now! I've been using this since I bought it and the bottle is still almost full! I literally could not believe this product did so much for my skin! 

You are left with a bit of residue on your hands, but it's nothing a quick wash doesn't sort and if it is doing so much good for my skin I can certainly live with this. 

I have to say, one of my favourite things about this oil is the fragrance, it smells exactly like sun tan lotion.  Whenever I use it I am instantly transported back to my holidays, lying on a beach in the hot sun and it completely makes me relaxed. I can't get enough of the way this smells and what it does for my skin. The best news is that it is back on offer in Superdrug at the minute for £5.32 instead of £7.99 and you can find the link here.

I would recommend anyone with dry skin to give this a go as it really has worked wonders for my skin. Or if you're just a beauty fanatic then maybe give it a try while it is on offer? 

Has anyone else tried this? What did you think of it?

Amanda :) xx

Neutral shadow - Urban Decay, MUA, Crown Brush, VIVO

As promised earlier today, this post is about various neutral eyeshadow palettes I own. There's a palette to suit all budgets here and I'll be reviewing them alone and comparing against each other. I only usually wear neutral eyeshadow as I'm not brave enough for bold colours (yet). Lots to do so here goes...

First up we have the VIVO - Innocence palette:

This palette contains 3 eyeshadows and a sponge applicator. Personally I can't stand sponge applicators and never use them when they come with products, I just don't think they stand up against brushes for application and blending. The shades are simply referred to as Shade 1, 2 and 3 and they all have a slight shimmer to them. If you've never used eyeshadows before to create a smokey eye then this has directions on the back of the case telling you to apply shade 1 as a highlighter to your brow bone, shade 2 across the eyelid and shade 3 across the lash line. I guess this is helpful if you really are clueless but I do have a fair bit of practice with smokey eyes after many laughable errors so it really wasn't of much use to me. 

You can find VIVO available in large Tesco stores and also from their own website linked here. The trio retails for £2.50 which is pretty good for what you get as it's less than £1 per eyeshadow. This is what the eyeshadows looks like when swatched:

They are not the best eyeshadows I have used in terms of pigmentation however when you take in to consideration you're paying less than £1 for each colour it seems quite worth it. They do look quite nice when worn however I'd probably mix these shades with some from my other palettes as I don't like the look they suggested on the back of the product. I'd say they were worth buying if you aren't really used to eyeshadows. 

Next up is the Heaven and Earth palette by MUA cosmetics:

Again this product come with the sponge applicators I hate and I would seriously recommend investing in a brush, however, if you have no brushes this is most likely a good thing rather than applying with your fingers!

This palette contains 12 neutral shades which is a good variety, however the only quarrel I have is that they are all shimmer shades whereas I like a mixture of shimmer and matte shades. That said, the pigmentation from this palette is pretty good for most of the shades with only a few needing to be built up. If all of the shades needed building up I'd be getting pretty annoyed with the palette but as I said it's only a few and I can live with that :). 

I swatched them in rows on my hands so here is the top row:

The bottom row looks like this:

As you can see you do get plenty of colours in the palette and you could use some as highlighters and the darker ones in the crease of your eye etc, so it would allow you create a variety of smokey eyes. I'd say this was worth buying as it only retails for £4 which is probably less than a single train journey nowadays and considering the previous palette was £2.50 for 3 shadows, you're getting 12 for £4 in this so that's like 33p per eyeshadow - bargain! You can find this in Superdrug stores, the Superdrug website or the MUA website.

Next up is the Crown Brush 88 Nude Palette:

As suggested in the name, this palette consists of 88 (yes, you heard right!!) neutral eyeshadows!!! Crown Brush is a recent discovery of mine and after receiving my first order of brushes off them and falling in love, I went back to order more and this caught my eye. I wasn't really sure what to expect as Urban Decay are usually my go to eyeshadow brand (they're coming up next) but I was pleasantly surprised! The variety of colours here is unbelievable, I could probably create 50 looks and still have more combinations available. Colours aside though, the actual quality of this palette is amazing, the eyeshadows are sooo pigmented and smooth to apply with minimal fallout. I also found them pretty easy to blend. I have fallen in love so much that I'm now lusting after the metallic palette which I think will be my next purchase. Their customer service is unbelievable, with my parcels consistently arriving within 3 days of placing my order. This brand is going to be huge (bigger than it already is), I completely love it!!

If I were to swatch every colour I literally would be here all day, so I've chosen a selection of different finishes (matte and shimmer) and a variety of the colours in the palette to swatch:

As I mentioned I like to have a variety of matte and shimmer shades to play around with in palettes and this has both. You can see you get silvers, whites, beiges, browns, golds, blacks and even berry shades! The possibilities are literally endless with this palette and you're probably thinking that this must retail at a high price but you're wrong! This beauty of a product retails at £22.99 and can be bought from the Crown Brush website. I am so impressed with this brand and palette it is a definite recommendation from me. 

Finally is my trusty Naked 2 palette:

I LOVE this palette so much. As you can see you get 12 shades in the tin which are a variety of matte, shimmer and glitter finishes. You also get a 'Crease & Shadow brush' included which I love, it's so soft and makes the application and blending of my eyeshadow so much easier with a perfect finish. You also get a mini Lip Junkie gloss which says it cools and plumps - and it does. It has a minty fragrance to it and makes your lips tingle which in turn plumps them up shortly after.

I've swatched this palette in two halves from left to right in the palette so here's the first half:

From left to right in the above pictures we have Foxy (which you can barely see on my hand so I use this underneath my brow), Half Baked, Booty Call, Chopper, Tease and Snakebite. 

The second swatches are below and I also swatched the gloss for you:

 From left to right in these pictures we have Suspect, Pistol, Verve, YDK, Busted and Blackout with the gloss on the far right.

These eyeshadows are a firm favourite of mine and I would recommend them to anyone in a heartbeat. They are so pigmented, easy to blend and look absolutely beautiful on. I'm going to show you a look I created a few weeks back using this palette alone:

The Naked 2 palette is the most expensive of them all in this post, retailing at £36.00 and available to buy from Debenhams stores or their website linked here. That being said I definitely think it is worth the investment as it is a beautiful set but you also get the brush with it. 

So, to finish this post I would absolutely recommend that people buy the Naked 2 palette from Urban Decay and the 88 Nude palette from Crown Brush as both are great investments! I would also say anyone on a budget, try the other two from MUA and VIVO as if I didn't have the money for the other two they would be my choices on a budget, especially MUA as they are probably the best eyeshadows available for less than £10.

I hope this gives people an insight if they have their eye on any of these palettes or if you were unsure that it has helped you choose what is best for you! Any questions just ask below!

Amanda :) xx

Neutral eyeshadow post later tonight!

Working on a post at the minute about 3 different neutral eyeshadow palettes I own. They are MUA Heaven and Earth, Urban Decay Naked 2 and Crownbrush Nude 88 palette. I do love all 3 and there's something for everyone's price range! Should be posting this later on tonight when I've sorted all the pictures :)

Amanda xx

Blog giveaway

Okay, so I'm a little bit apprehensive about doing this after tonight's drama, but I want to do a small giveaway. I say small because I am a student and unfortunately have a student budget to deal with (apart from when my lovely boyfriend treats me). So, I think everything cost me about £6-£7 in total... Not a huge giveaway but something nonetheless, plus everyone like to receive something for free right? Brightens your day! 

It consists of a few MUA products: 

- Extreme Curl Mascara

- Blusher - Shade 3

- 2 eyeshadows: Shade 27 - pearl and shade 30 - pearl

- Intense colour eyeliner - Black

I know it's not much but I thought I'd do it anyway.

So just comment below and I'll do a random number generator to pick the winner! 

(UK entries only please) 

I'll choose the winner and post the winner on Monday 18th March :)

Bloglovin

Just trying to claim my blog on Bloglovin, so here goes...

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Pukka Hair Extensions and Enrapture Totem Styler

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, had an important university essay to do and have been soooo busy, but I promise to blog as normal now! :)

So, I received my first ever set of hair extensions in the post this week!! I've always wanted to try them but could never figure out what colour I'd need, what length I'd need and to be honest couldn't really afford them. Anyway, I discovered Pukka Hair  who sell 100% Remy Human Hair extensions at a reasonable price. I wanted human hair extensions so I could style them and wash them etc.

After much deliberation I decided I didn't want them to look too unnatural and too long for my own hair so I settled for 18" extensions. I still wasn't sure what colour I needed so I emailed Pukka Hair to ask for a colour match and sent them two pictures of my hair. They replied within 24 hours telling me my match would be #60 which is Lightest Blonde. They cost me £49.99 for the extensions and delivery was £5.99 for 2-3 days delivery (4-7 days is available for £4.99 but for the extra £1 I decided I'd rather have them sooner).

I tried them in my hair when they arrived just to check I was happy with the colour match (once the gold hygiene band is removed you cannot exchange them so be careful!) and then decided to style them for my blog review. 

I styled my extensions and my own hair with my favourite totem styler by Enrapture. I like these as they have 3 different sections on the barrel which can be heated up at three different temperatures to create different curls. You adjust the numbers to decide how tight or loose you want the curls which I will show you later on in the post. They retail at £74.99 but can often be found on offer at various retailers which can be found on their site. I was lucky enough to get mine for £37.50 at Superdrug just before Christmas so keep your eyes peeled for offers! I also own the Jumbo Waver by Enrapture which I absolutely love as well and will post a review on shortly. I need their heated rollers to complete my collection but have to save up money for them first as they also retail at £74.99! As soon as I'm able to purchase them I'll post a review on them too.

So, my extensions came packaged like this:

They will be more securely packaged than mine as I have removed my gold hygiene bands and played around with them in my hair prior to this post.

You receive eight pieces of hair weighing 85g starting with the 1 x 8" wide weft (4 clips attached):

I start by putting this one at the bottom of my extensions when I put them in (this may be wrong, but for the size of my head it works best so as I can apply the single ones around the side of my head which I will explain later). I usually line this up with the tops of my ears.

Next we have 2 x 6" wide weft (3 clips attached):

I apply these above the piece with 4 clips.

Next we have 2 x 4" wide weft (2 clips attached) and 1 x 3" wide weft (2 clips attached):

The 3" piece is on the left and the 2 x 4" pieces are on the right. I put these above the previous pieces of hair leaving just enough room either side to fit the next pieces which are 2 x 2" wide weft (1 clip attached):

I place these either side of the previous pieces approximately in line with my eyes at the side of my head, just so all of the hair blends. 

The extensions feel really soft and lovely to touch. I proceeded to spray them with my L'oreal Hot Straight Spray (I know that doesn't make sense if I'm curling them, however I ran out of my normal heat defence spray and I'd rather use the Hot Straight than burn the extensions as they would lose their great quality).

I styled my extensions using the Encode Totem Styler as mentioned by Enrapture. They come in a beautiful purple box that looks great on your dressing table:

I tried to package them back in their box exactly as I received them so as you can see how they arrived to me before I used them.

As you can see they look extremely professional and I just love their packaging so much (it is the same for the Jumbo Waver).

 As you can see there is a flipper which I am personally glad about as it makes it easier to style, however if you're not a fan of flippers, don't worry as it is only short and no longer than the first section of the barrel, allowing it to also be used as a curling wand if that's what you prefer. The numbers dial allows you to create the perfect curl, 1-1-1 being very loose curls and 3-3-3 being the tightest curls. I personally styled mine with the combination 1-2-3 from top to bottom (the tip of the wand being one, and the bottom being 3, so the curls at my roots were not as tight as the bottom of my curls. I absolutely love the amount of control you have over your hair with this styler and I think it is so innovative. Completely in love with this brand. 

The results of these curlers on my hair extensions are as follows:

The final picture is all of my extensions finished and ready to clip in. If you're struggling to curl them with one hand then I suggest you try and find a trouser/skirt hanger and clip your extension in to them which then allows you to hang them up and work with two hands and not just one.

The following pictures are my hair curled with the styler and without extensions:

 As you can see the curls are tighter at the bottom than at the top which is exactly what I wanted!

This is my hair with the extensions in:

Funny enough I did want a bit of length added on to my hair but as you can see not much has changed in length as they are only a few centimetres longer than my own hair! However, they have added a lot of volume! The colour is a perfect match and you can't tell I have them in at all! In the mirror pictures you can see the bump in my hair at the back and I'd just like to clarify that this is nothing to do with the extensions, but rather the fact I had my hair tied up all day which left a kink in my hair and I did not want to straighten my hair immediately before curling as it would be counter productive, so rest assured the back of your hair will not have kinks and bumps :). The extensions are so undetectable underneath your own hair and are really light and don't pull on your hair or weigh your head down, I could literally wear them day in, day out. Now I just need to buy 20" extensions for a bit of length!!!

I hope this helped anyone looking for reasonably priced, good quality, human hair extensions or anyone unsure whether to bite the bullet. I also really recommend the Totem Styler whether to style extensions or your own hair as it really is the most amazing heated hair styler I own besides the Jumbo Waver!

Amanda :) xx