What I have in my bathroom

I'm one of those people who buy a product, use it twice and then buy something else and never get round to using it. I have so many half used shampoos, conditioners and body scrubs. I recently did a big clear our of my bathroom and the shower in my bedroom. I'm ashamed to say that I managed to bin 3 carrier bags full of stuff. Everything was at least half full but it got to the point that I just had no room for anything and my husband wouldn't let me buy anything else until I cleared some room. Obviously that was motivation enough to get rid of some. So heres what I have left

When I did my clear out I bought these little baskets from Argos they were only £10 and from now on if theres too much in the basket something has to be binned, hopefully this will stop me from hoarding products. So lets empty out the basket.

L-R  - Neutrogena face wash, N-Spa body brush, Tigi Self absorbed conditioner, Philosophy shower gels, LUSH helping hands, Soap and Glory Feel The Knead, LUSH RUB RUB RUB Scrub, LUSH Whoosh jelly, Soap and Glory Scrub em and Leave em mini, DeadSea Source Body butters and LUSH Each Peach massage bar.

Theres quite a few so I wont go into great detail about anything in particular unless you would like a review on a product, just comment below and I'll be happy to do a full review for you.

The Tigi conditioner I really dislike, it didn't leave my hair soft and wasn't a particularly nice smell. I don't rate this product at all.The philosophy products are gorgeous love the smell and they leave my skin lovely and soft and the scent lingers on your skin. I love using these before bed so I smell myself.

Here are just some random LUSH soaps and Bomb Cosmetics bath bombs and soaps. I have only tried one of the bath bombs by Bomb Cosmetics but I was impressed, it didn't leave my bath smelling as strong as the LUSH ones and I didn't find them to linger on my skin afterwards. I would try some more but I can only find them online and I do like to smell them before trying so I wont be purchasing any more unless I can find someone who stocks them locally to me so I can have a good sniff before parting with my hard earned cash. The oval black soap above is the Dead Sea Natural Black Mud Mask Soap I absolutely adore this range, it leaves my face feeling so clean and doesn't irritate my skin like other soaps. I recommend checking this out. 

Second basket I have in my bathroom contains the bigger containers

 

And here it is emptied out

L-R Cellulite Serum from Betrousse Box, Olay Ribbons Body Butter Wash, Burts Bees Exfoliator, Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Wild Ginger Treatment Oil, Dermalogica Cleanser, Hand Cream from a beauty box, Philip Kingsley Elastisizer, Burts Bees Conditioner and right at the top is the N Spa Hot Butter Fudge Body Butter.

 Love the Philip Kingsley, this left my hair feeling amazing and will definitely be on my repurchase list, everything else just is what it is, I will use everything up but from what I have seen so far will not be repurchasing anything.

Pantene 2 Minute Deep Repair Masque, Veet Pre-Epilation Comfort Spray, N Spa Hot Cloth Polish, N Spa Strawberries & Cream Shower Gel and at the top is the Toni & Guy Leave in Conditioner

 No repurchases here nor anything that particularly stands out, the Nspa smells lovely but there are so many yummy shower gels out there I very rarely repurchase any because I'm always keen to try out as many scents as possible. The only reason I purchased two was because they were on offer.

L-R Burts Bees Honey and Orange Wax Body Lotion, Burts Bees Milk and Honey Body Lotion, Boots Brazil Nut and Vanilla Scrub, Batistle Dry Shampoo in Cherry & a mini Burts Bees Milk and Honey Body Lotion.

 I do love all of the above, the Burts Bees smells lush and leaves my skin feeling really soft and not sticky. The Boots scrub also smells amazing, its not as scrubby as I would normally like but it does leave you smelling lovely and does do a good job of exfoliating. I'm sure most people have used the Batiste dry shampoo, it is what it is but it smells of cherries, I love this one. 

I also have a shelf on my wall which contains some more bath products and my shampoos.

All of the shampoos and conditioner have been used once or twice and will now just be sat waiting until I run out of shampoo and need to use one before I purchase my current favourite which is the L'oreal Ever Pure shampoo and conditioner. I quite like the Aussie, the smell is amazing but I don't think its as good as people make out, or its not for my hair anyway.

This is the top of my medicine cabinet.

This is just a selection of random products which don't get used at all but hopefully will get used by someone at some point. Just not me. Apart from the Mandarin Spa scrub which is amazing and super scrubby and the Macadamia Mask, this is also a must have product for me.

Finally I have a mini basket in the shower room in my bedroom. I tend to keep mostly face products in here because this is where I wash my face on a night and in the morning. I have tried to keep a few minis from beauty boxes to get them used up.

 

The only products here that stand out for me is the Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant, Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean, FAB Face Cleanser and Body Moisturizer and the Murad Acne Cleanser. I love each of these products and they will be repurchases of mine.

I hope you enjoyed a little sneak peak into my bathroom. As I said previously if there are any products you would like a review on please comment below and I will be more than happy to for you.

Have a great weekend all!

Lots of Love 

CF x x x

First Illamasqua purchase

Hi all,

I popped into Debenhams today expecting to come away with a huge haul but for some reason I couldn't find anything to spend my money on. I started shopping at 09:10am and finished at 5:20pm and this is the only I purchased. Clearly there is something wrong with me!

So whilst wandering around aimlessly I spotted this bad boy by the till. It was £38 but the contents are worth £91.50 (although I think some may be in the sale on the website so the £38 value may be correct at the moment).

Here is what the box contained:

So I knew I would be getting the gold cream eyeshadow and the pink nail varnish but the other items were a mystery. I'm really bad at deciding what colours to go for and always end up playing safe and picking boring neutrals so I thought this would be a good way to experiment with colours I wouldn't normally go for. The colours I got in my box are a million miles from anything I would normally choose. Heres what I got:

The first thing I spotted when I opened the box was the blush, it is bright red, and when I say bright I mean BRIGHT. At first I thought there is no way I will ever be able to wear this, I swatched it on my hand and again thought no way will I be able to put this on my face. 

 

Just look how bright this is.

So you can see from the swatch that its a really bright matt red colour, I gave it a go and put some on my cheeks and I love it. I really really love it. I'm so shocked I honestly never thought I would ever be brave enough to wear something like this and I thought I would look like a clown but its amazeballs! If I saw this is a shop normally I wouldn't have even given it a second glance but I really am loving it and will definitely be investing in some more of these blushes. They blend so well and you can achieve a more toned down look if required. 10/10 for this one!

 

Continuing on with the red theme I also received a lipgloss in besotted, I generally don't go for bright glosses or glosses in general really but this one is nice. Its not too sticky and its really true to the colour you see. I hate it when you buy a gloss for the colour and it comes out pretty much clear with a slight tint. I like the gloss but I don't wear lipglosses so I wont be buying any more of these but I will get some use out of this one.

Onto the eyeshadows. Firstly the one I knew I was getting, the liquid metal in electrum. It looked so pretty on the front of the box so I was quite excited to try this and I wasn't disappointed.

 

Oof how pretty is this. I absolutely love it, I'm so happy this was included in the box set as its a gorgeous. I'll definitly be purchasing more of these, they are really blendable and so pigmented. Another 10/10 product.

Secondly was a powder eye shadow in Fallen, its a matt purple colour again super pigmented and easy to blend. Its a buildable colour so you can really build the colour up if you want to. I can't wait to purchase some more of these and I'll be picking some colours that aren't my usuals, maybe yellow or turquoise? or maybe not :-) we shall see.

 

The nail varnish in the box is also absolutely bootiful! I already have my finger nails painted so I have done the swatch on my husbands finger. After he argued with me about already having the same shade on my fingers at the moment. It is NOT the same shade, the shade on my nails is alot darker. Men! 

 

This was only 1 coat of the polish, it covered brilliantly and dried really quickly. My husband is still currently wearing the polish and the moment to check for chipability (yes, this is now a word!) so will let you know how long it goes. Not sure I can persuade him to wear it to work tomorrow though, unless I hide my polish remover mwahahahaha!

Finally the thing I looked at and straight away said no, no this is not for me I will have to swap it with someone. I even posted a photo on the Facebook swap site I am on to see if any of the other girls wanted to swap me for. Its purple, I could never wear purple lipstick. What will people think? I'll look stupid. It will be far too dark. My husband will laugh at me. Well these were all the things that were going through my mind until I caked and put it on. I'm in love, just in love. I am wearing this to work tomorrow I do not even care. Its amazing. I love the colour, its so moisturising on my lips and it actually suits me. No lipsticks ever suit me but this purple one does. I have no idea how this works but it does. I'm super happy and can't wait to wear this out. I have it on my lips now and my husband hasn't even commented which is a good sign! I have my eyes on a couple of other lipsticks on the Illamasqua site so watch this space for more!

So what do you think? Would you be interested in these boxes and would you dare to rock the purple lipstick and red blush? Comment below and let me know. 

Lots of Love

CF x x x

Budget Bronzers Review

Hello you gorgeous ladies,

Today I thought I would do a quick review on the budget bronzer/highlighters that I have, well I say quick I thought I may have a couple as a very rarely wear bronzer with me being so pale but turns out I have quite a few so may not be the quick review I was expecting so I will get straight into it.

The swatches are in order of the picture above, we have Vivo in Sun Kiss, Vivo in Healthy Glow and NYC Color Wheel in Island Spice. The Vivo bronzers are amazing, the Sun Kiss gives a gorgeous glow to your face its just stunning, its really buildable colour also, I'm really pale (as you can see from the pics above) and I can apply just a small amount just to add a bit of colour to my face but you can also add more if your slightly darker and it builds up nicely without making you look caked in make up. The healthy glow I use as a highlighter on the top of my cheek bones and it really does do what it says on the tin, gives you a perfect healthy glow. You only need a tiny amount as its really pigmented so I can see this lasting me a long time. I would definitely recommend these to anyone. I think Vivo cosmetics are definitely worth the money. The NYC bronzer is not so good, it looks quite pigmented in the picture but I had to rub my finger in the bronzer for a while and keep building it up to get this colour, its not very pigmented at all and if you use a brush you get next to nothing on there, unfortunately this is a bit of a fail for me.

Here we have the 17 from Boots GLOW bronzers in pink bronze and gold bronze and at the end the MUA bronzer in shade 3. The 17 bronzers are super pigmented and super shimmery, I have tried them on my face and they are very pretty colours but far too shimmery for me. Each one is 4 separate shades that you can swirl together to get a nice glow, I can't use them on my face, they accentuate the pores on my face and just do not look flattering. I use the colours individually on my eyes as a shimmery eyeshadow and they are really pretty, especially if your doing a bronzed summery look. So for these its a fail on the bronzer side but a win if your using them as eyeshadows. The MUA bronzer comes in at only £1, it has decent pigmentation and is a matt finish. Its a nice product, just a bog standard bronzer really nothing special but nothing bad to say about it. The packaging is sturdy so I would feel ok popping this in my bag to take out with me for the day or for travelling. For a quid I don't think you can go wrong. I think it would be good for someone who maybe hasn't tried a bronzer before and they don't want to splash the cash with something they may not like. Win for me on this one!

Ok, so pretty sure some people are going to hate me for this, we have the ELF Cool bronzer and the blushed/bronzed duo. I know alot of people have raved about these but I just cannot get on with them at all. The cool bronzer makes me look dirty, I so wanted to love this product but I just can't. It doesn't seem to blend at all and just looks awful I have tried it a couple of times but every time I have had to take off my make up and start again because its just terrible (for me anyway) next the blushed/bronzed duo. These aren't very pigmented, I can't get any colour from the blush at all when I use a brush and the same with the bronzer, I have tried to use it for contouring but I can't get anything from it at all. The only time I see any colour is if I rub my finger vigorously in the pan but then thats not much help really is it? Sorry ELF both of these are a big fail for me.

Another 2 17 products, the bronzing rocks and the instant glow bronzer and highlighter. I love both of these especially the instant glow. 

The bronzing rocks don't give to much colour when using a brush and sweeping over your face but rather a nice looking glow to your skin, I would think these would look stunning if you have tanned skin. There are pink rocks and bronze rocks, if you can see above I have taken a swatch of a pink rock and a bronze rock, I have also used these on my eyes again and they both are really pretty on the eyes too. Gotta love a multi use product! The instant glow is amazing, gives me a perfect bronzed look for my pale skin and the highlighter is great on its own on the cheek bones or the brow bone. I'm pretty sure I got this free using the Boots vouchers from the machine, something along the lines of buy 2 17 products and get this for free. They often have amazing offers on these machines so don't forget to check them out when you go to Boots. Both of these are a win in my eyes and I would repurchase them both.

These are the W7 boxed bronzers, I think we all can see where W7 have got their inspiration for these boxes. Maybe another higher end brand that do something similar? Anyway, these are super cheap, I picked up the Africa from New Look for £2, the Africa is really pretty on the cheeks, its not good for a bronzer as it comes out really pink but it gives a lovely glow to your cheeks. The Honolulu is lovely, a matt bronzer its lovely to blend and the pink packaging is super cute. Unfortunately its a little too dark for me but for something with darker skin than me it is a lovely product and for the price I don't think you can go far wrong. 

 

Another one that I think people may hate me for. Here we have the Bourjois Bronzing Powder and the Sun Kissed Bronzing Pearls. I really really dislike the Bourjois for two reasons, the first is the smell. People have raved about this smelling like chocolate but I think it smells like a cheap car freshener, I cannot stand putting this on my face because it stinks, I really wanted to like it because it looked like chocolate but I can't it just smells so bad. The second reason is because I cannot get any colour from this at all. The swatch above was me layering colour over and over again, it must have been over ten layers and there was still hardly any colour, the sunkissed next to it was me swirling my finger around in the pot a few times and swatching and there is a massive difference. Unfortunately the Bourjois was a big miss for me and it was the most expensive of the lot. The Sun Kissed I got from the Poundshop, these are ok, they're cheap and cheerful a but a bit shimmery for me not as shimmery as some of the others I have mentioned. I cant wear these on my cheeks for a slight glow but I do have to be careful otherwise I can look a bit like a glitter ball. Not a good look!

So for someone who doesn't really wear bronzers I think I have quite a few. Oops. I also have some higher end bronzers that I didn't include as I wanted to focus on more budget friendly products, plus there are some here that I think are much better than others which have cost me over £20, especially the Vivo I would repurchase these over and over as they are just so pretty.

Hope you enjoyed my little(ish) review. Do you have any budget bronzers that you think are really good or do you know of any bronzers that are good for the paler girls amongst us? Please leave a comment below.

Lots of Love

CF x x x

A little Debenhams bargain!

So I spotted this little set at Debenhams for the bargainous price of £13.50 and couldn't resist purchasing it. There are a couple of brands I haven't tried and a couple I have and like. 

Here is what the set contained:

I have worked out the individual prices using the costs for the full size items at Feel 

1.8g Benefit Dr Feelgood  - £1.61

5ml Dead Sea Spa Magik Delicate Boosting Mask - 51p

5ml Dead Sea Spa Magik Rich Moisturiser - 51p

20ml Natio Ageless Illuminating Primer - £4.00

15ml Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream - £22.98

10ml L'Occitane Hand Cream - £2.67

So the total value of the box would be £32.28, not bad for £13.50

I have tried the Dead Sea products before and they are OK, nothing to write home about but they don't break me out or irritate my skin so they will get used. I have tried Benefit products before but not this one in particular so I am looking forward to giving this a go. It does have a lovely texture and if its good the price of the full size product is only £21.50 so not bad at all. Again, I have tried L'Occitane products before but never a hand cream so I am looking forward to using this I currently have around 15 hand creams all being used, they are all over my house, in hand bags and all over my desk at work. (and on my bosses desk as he tends to steal them!) So I shall pop this one in my current handbag and make a point of using this all the time to see how it works for me.

I have never tried Natio before. I have seen them in Debenhams but in all honestly I have always walked right past the stand and never given it a second look. I've always thought it looked a bit cheap (sorry Natio!) but I'm really excited to try this out. I love primers and it contains some rather lovely sounding ingredients like aloe vera, shea butter and organic rosehip oil so we shall see, plus if I like this the full size is only £10.00, BARGAIN!!!

Finally the Elemis, I have never tried an Elemis product before. With my skin being really sensitive and a lot of products really irritate my skin I'm always reluctant to try expensive products without trying a sample first to make sure its OK for me. I've never seen or been given an Elemis sample before so this is perfect, however I'm kind of hoping that I don't like it with the full size being over £70 for 50ml.... Eek!

So I'm hoping to have some reviews up shortly of the products and maybe a haul with some repurchases if any of them actually turn out to be any good. Hears hoping!

Thanks for reading

Lots of Love

CF x x x

Todays Sleek Purchases

So, I have been trying to get my hands on two Sleek products for the longest time but everytime I go they are always out of stock. I have tried over half a dozen Superdrug stores in my area and they never have them. I went to the Trafford Centre in Manchester today to check again and nothing. I decided that it just wasn't meant to be. Poor me! We then went to the Golden Square Shopping Centre in Warrington so I could have a mooch in the TK Maxx as its so much better than the one near to me, I went into Superdrug to have a look at the hair dyes and what did I see? The two items that I have been wanting. What were the products I hear you ask? Well firstly was the well known Rose Gold Blush, I know most people will probably already own this as its been spoken about to death on Youtube and on beauty blogs but I just haven't been able to get my hands on it and today there were 3, THREE!
Secondly was the contour kit, I have been wanting to try this for ages but everyime I go they only have the dark and I need the light as I am so incredibly pale and they had 1 left. I don't think I have grabbed anything from a shelf so quick in my life and I walked around Superdrug guarding them with my life.
I was so happy I forgot to put the diet coke I had on the counter and almost walked out without paying. I did pay but the sales assistant didn't look impressed. Oops!

So Below are my Sleek purchases and a couple of swatches for you to look at!

The picture of the blush does it no justice, it really is a beautiful blush and certainly does live up to the hype. I think it will be featuring on my next FOTD.

Thanks all

Lots of Love

CF x x x

New CID Cosmetics Review

I recently spotted this brand on a couple of peoples blogs and also on the QVC website. I never really paid much attention to them because no stores near me stock them and I do like to test a brand before purchasing when possible. I needed a new translucent powder and spotted on this on the QVC website for £17.52 + £3.95 postage and it came with a brush so I thought it would  be a great way to try out the brand.

I received the product really quickly and I was really excited to try it, I applied the powder with the brush supplied after my foundation and immediately I really disliked it. It didn't mattify my skin it just wasn't very good at all. However I think this was down to the brush, the brush has rave reviews on the website but I found it to be really difficult to work with. Its a beautiful brush and its so so soft  but I just didn't think it does anything for the product. I've used the powder with my normal brushes and its so much better. It does what it says on the tin, its a translucent powder. It mattifies my skin and leaves a nice finish. Although I don't think its worth the price. I have found other much cheaper powders to be just as effective. This one for example in my opinion is just as good. 

Next up I have the pressed powder in extra light, I love the packaging and I love that it has a little light on it. Its so cute! This retails for £24.00, again it does what it says on the tin. Theres not alot to say about it really. It does mattify my skin and eliminates any shiny areas on my face it is a very light coverage. I like the powder but don't think I would purchase it again at the price. Some much cheaper alternatives that are just as good in my opinion are the Rimmel Stay Matte priced at £3.99, the 17 pressed powder priced at £3.42 and the MUA pressed powder priced at £1.00, I love this powder and think its a bargain at only £1.00.

I picked up the Look Book palette from TK Maxx for about £7.99, it looks really nice but its a fingerprint magnet. It contains 4 neutral coloured eyeshadows, 2 lipsticks, a blush and a highlighter (it also has 2 of the rubbish applicators you usually get with palettes that are really not worth mentioning) The highlighter is beautiful as are the eyeshadows, they are so incredibly pigmented and give a gorgeous finish. The blush is slightly less pigmented but for me thats great as I am really heavy handed when applying blushes and its much easier to add more if you haven't put enough on than take some away when you have applied to much and look like a clown. The lipsticks are very sheer, they look fairly bright in the palette but just leave a very nice tint of colour and a sheen to your lips, again perfect for me as I haven't quite got round to rocking the bright lipsticks yet, I'm such a wuss!

 3 down, 2 to go. The I-Shimmer, a double ended highlighter with brush. The shade is marshmallow and its so nice. Its a lovely colour and I love that it has a brush on the end, its so handy and I think its much better than blending with your fingers which I always end up doing with other stick highlighters. This retails for £18.50 and is so worth it. I would purchase more but after looking at the other colours the marshmallow is the best for me but I will be repurchasing once this runs out. Love it so much. A cheaper alternative would be the ELF all over colour stick in either spotlight or toasted and these are priced at £1.50. I have tried these and they are good but I personally prefer the New CID.

Finally we have a lip product, its the i-gloss, light up lip gloss with mirror in baby doll. These retail at £16.00 on the website. This is alot more than I would normally spend on a lip gloss I will be honest. Its very glossy, a gorgeous colour and its not sticky at all and lasts a while before you need to apply but unfortunately I would not pay the full price of these or the £4.99 I snagged this for at TK Maxx. I'm not really  a gloss fan usually I just thought the name was quite cute, I'm more of a tinted lip balm kinda girl so will be sticking to my Revlon Just Bitten Balm Stain which I am in love with at the moment.

Hope you enjoyed my little review. If you have tried any New CID cosmetics that you have thought were worth the quite hefty price tag please comment below I would love to try something on someone elses recommendation.

Lots of Love

CF x x x