February Favourites

I can't believe how fast February has gone! I'm really enjoying the first signs of spring though, we're starting to have a few more sunny days here in the UK and flowers are starting to pop up! And it's my birthday in March so obviously this is my favourite month ;)

 

 

 

 

First up is this gorgeous hair oil from the February Birchbox. I really wasn't expecting to like this as I've never used a hair oil before, but I've just been applying a small amount of this to my hair when I get out of the shower and it has made a massive difference! My hair is now silky smooth and fantastic to style as well. A full size bottle of this will set you back £16, and it's available here.

I've also fallen completely head over heels with the new Barry M Silk collection! They just scream spring to me, and I am 100% in the mood to start digging out some pastels. These are £3.99 each, and are available at Boots and Superdrug. I've got full review of these bad boys here.

I've been loving this gentle cleansing milk from La Claree. This came with the February Love Me Beauty box, and initially I was a bit sceptical. However, after using it for a few weeks, I've had my mind changed! This removes make up and grime really well (apart from mascara) and leaves my skin feeling refreshed and smooth. I've not had any breakouts since using this, and my skin seems to just drink it up! What more could you ask for? This retails for about £19 for a 150ml bottle, and is available here.

Next up and also from the February Love Me Beauty box is this dry conditioner from Percy & Reed. This is another product that I was initially unsure about, as haircare isn't really something I tend to go for! I'm normally just a shampoo and conditioner kind of girl. But this is just so easy to use, I've just been spraying a small amount on my hairbrush in the morning and it just adds a gorgeous shine to my hair on days when it's looking a bit dull. You can get this here for £12.

Pretty much every day since I bought it, I've been wearing Katy Perry's Killer Queen fragrance. I absolutely love it. I already did a quick review of it earlier this month which you can find here. It's such a gorgeous perfume, and the bottle is super awesome too! You can get this from Boots and Superdrug, and the 100ml bottle costs around £30.

Finally, the Garden of Eden palette from Sleek. I knew as soon as I saw this palette that I'd absolutely have to get my hands on it! I love the range of gorgeous earthy colours, the browns and pinks are perfect, and the greens are simply stunning. You can see my full review of it here. This palette is £7.99 and is available from Sleek's website here.

Phew! Quite a few favourites this month! I'm so pleased that I'm getting introduced to products that I wouldn't normally choose for myself through being subscribed to beauty boxes, and those products are becoming firm favourites. Have you tried any of my February faves? If you have, what did you think of them?

Sleek Garden of Eden Palette

I was so excited to spot this in Superdrug the other day, I wasn't expecting it to be available until later in February! It was the last one left so I grabbed it and practically ran to the till haha. This is the stunning new palette from Sleek, featuring gorgeous earthy tones in both mattes and metallics. I love the box this came in, unfortunately this was just the cardboard outer layer. The palette inside is the standard Sleek black matte.

Unfortunately, it nearly took me three goes to get decent photos of this palette! I think my camera's battery was dying, so it wasn't focusing very well. So apologies for the already-swatched pan! I still haven't really managed to capture the gorgeous shimmer and colour that these shadows have, which I'm so disappointed by.

Poor photos aside, I think you can still get an idea of the pretty! I've also got some on the arm swatches to talk you through.

Below is the top layer of the palette. These are mostly metallics, and apply super smoothly. I didn't find that there was much fall-out from these when applying with my finger, but there might be more if you were to use the applicator. The only mattes on this part of the palette are Forbidden and Flora, which I had to swatch a couple of times to build up the colour. They're quite smoky, and Forbidden has a tiny bit of glitter to it, but it's hardly noticeable. I think my favourite shades from this level are Gates of Eden (shimmery apricot, very pretty) and either Eve's Kiss or Paradise on Earth.

On the lower level, we have the greens. When I originally heard about this palette over at British Beauty Blogger (where you can find some much better shots of the palette), the greens were what sold it to me! Fig, Evergreen and Fauna are my absolute favourites from the whole palette. There is slightly more fall-out from these than the metallics from the upper level, but I don't even care. I want them on my eyelids now. Looking at the mattes on this level, Entwined and Adam's Apple needed building up to really show for swatching, especially Adam's Apple. Entwined is also quite similar to Forbidden from the upper level in that it has a slight glitter to it, but it really isn't that visible. Tree of Life is also a matte, but it needed no building up whatsoever. This is a highly pigmented green that I think I will probably find quite difficult to wear, but I still love it just the same!

 

So there you have it, another beautiful palette from Sleek! I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

The Garden of Eden palette is £7.99 and is available from Sleek's website and Superdrug's website.

 

Sleek Blush in Antique

As soon as I spotted the Vintage Romance collection from Sleek, I was hooked. I managed to get my paws on the eyeshadow palette which I freaking love, and I've had the blush for ages and have only just gotten around to reviewing it.

This is a lovely dusky pink colour, with a shimmery mix. I actually find that its slightly too shimmery for me. I tried to use this the other day for a Face of the Day post, but I applied a little bit too much and I felt that it was too glittery for work! I think smaller amounts are key here.



Shimmery Glittery!

The packaging is pretty robust, I dropped the bag with this in on my way back to work and instantly thought that the blush would have cracked and broken, but it was all still intact! I love the little mirror, and the design on the outside of the box looks really high end, even though this was a bit of a bargain at £4.49.

 

I will definitely be keeping my eye out for further new releases from Sleek! Have you tried the Vintage Romance collection from Sleek?

Halloween in Cambridge

This is kind of a random Librarian Work Wear/Face of the Day/Photography bundle. Obviously I wanted to wear something Halloween and work appropriate, so I went for this dress from my trusty Modcloth. Apologies for the blurry photos, the light has been pretty awful for photos today!

The cardigan is also a Modcloth special! The tights are from Primark, and the shoes are from Clarks.

I have loads of these necklaces from a seller on Etsy, who unfortunately doesn't make them anymore. They're made from resin and are too cute! I thought Elphaba might fancy a trip out on Halloween.

Make up wise, I went for one of the golden shadows from my new Sleek Vintage Romance palette, and the Antique blush. I later teamed it up with the Wild Berry matte lipstick from MUA, but didn't get any photos! I did however, get some lovely autumnal photos from around Cambridge today, so enjoy!

Sleek Vintage Romance Palette

I absolutely heart this palette soooo much! As soon as I spotted this doing the rounds on various blogs, I knew I had to have it!

 

Just look at it. Gorgeous purpley shimmery shades mixed with beautiful golds, as well as a few dark shimmery shades and a silver too. As soon as I got this in the post I wanted to start swatching it straight away, but I've had to wait for the weekend so that I can really take my time and do it justice!

This is the top row of the palette. Look at the shimmer! Romance in Rome and Propose in Prague look quite matte but they do have bits of glitter in, and Pretty in Paris didn't show up very well because it's so silvery, but I kind of love that. I like a delicate silver more than anything too grey and heavy.

 

I haven't messed with the light in either of these images, because I wanted the true colours of these shadows to really show. Marry in Monte Carlo and Honeymoon in Hollywood are my favourites in this row. The other shades are all gorgeous too, and I really can see myself getting loads of use out of this palette!


No doubt I shall be getting some Face of the Day posts done with this soon! If you want one of these gorgeous palettes for yourself, they are available here for £7.99.

Superdrug Haul

I felt a bit down in the dumps on Friday, so I decided to go and have a little splurge in Superdrug at lunch time!

Following my recent introduction to New York Color, I decided to have a nose at some of their other products.

 

I picked up this lip balm, which has a cute little apple set into the stick, and also has a slight apple scent. This shade is 'Applelicious Pink' and costs £2.49. I also got this top coat. It actually looks really pretty applied on its own, I thought it was quite Halloweeny! The only shade I can seem to find on Superdrugs website is this black one. These are £1.99 each.

Next up is this mascara from Collection. I was mainly sucked in by the awesome packaging and font design on this, but I'm excited to give the mascara a go too! This was £3.99, and is available here.

Finally, I grabbed the new Sleek blusher in Antique. This is such a gorgeous dusky shade, with a slight glitter to it. This was £4.49, but I can't seem to spot it on Superdrugs website. It's available from Sleeks website, here.

And as an added bonus, one of my friends bought a duplicate of this Sally Hansen nail polish, so I've bagged another mint green to play around with! This shade is called 'Jaded', and is available here for £6.99.

Thanks for reading :) xxx

Sleek Pout Paints

Today's review is a product I received in the July Glossybox. The Pout Paints are designed to be used both individually, mixed together, or mixed with other lip products to create new colours. Here I have only used them as individual colours, I haven't gotten round to testing them with other lip products!

Pictured below is the pink coloured Pout Paint. As you can see, it's not seriously pigmented, but I only applied a small amount, as directed by the packaging. I think you could definitely apply more and build up the colour. The paint applies with a similar texture to lipgloss, but doesn't feel as sticky.

This is the white coloured paint, which I was a bit nervous about! I thought it would come out the same colour as it appears in the tube, but it's actually a really nice clear gloss. I'm not sure whether these would be particularly nourishing, or about their longevity, but I think they're quite fun.

The Pout Paints are available to purchase here for £4.99 each.

Thanks for reading :) xxx

July and August 2013 Glossyboxes

So I mentioned the other day that I'd had a Glossybox subscription before the wedding, and then had to cancel it because of saving for wedding favours and shoes and stuff. Well, a few days ago I received an email from them offering me the July and August boxes for the bargain price of £15, with £2.95 postage.

Needless to say, I took them up on the offer, and this is all of the stuff I received.

July Seaside Splash Box

So the items I received in this box are: Bamboo Style Boho Waves Tousled Texture Mist, Coola Mineral Face SPF 20 Moisturiser, Essie Sleek Sticks, Spray Misty For Me Facial Spritz, and two Pout Paints.

Thoughts

The texture mist hair spray stuff is something I am definitely interested to try out, and the moisturiser looks promising as well.

I'm going to have a go with the sleek sticks, but I don't think my nails are really long enough so I can see myself just getting annoyed with them.

The Pout Paints are intriguing, I'm not sure that they'd be something I'll use every day though. Apparently you can mix them together to create different shades, which I'm quite eager to experiment with!

The face spray has already caused some hilarity after I sprayed it in the husband's face to see what he thought, he wasn't really impressed.

Overall, there are some useful things in here, I'll have some fun trying them out!


August Highflyers Box

This box contained: Emite Make up Eyelash Curlers, Urban Veda Radiance Day Cream, Jelly Pong Pong 2 in 1 Shadow/Liner, Tresemme Keratin Smooth Concentrated Treatment Shot, and Oceane Make up Remover Pen.


Thoughts

I already have a pair of eyelash curlers and don't really tend to use them, but I'll certainly give these a go.

 I have used a bit of the Radiance Day Cream this morning and it smells fantastic (although it's quite a strong scent, so it might not be to everyone's tastes), soaked into my skin really quickly, and left it feeling really soft. A good start!

I've been wanting to try Jelly Pong Pong make up for a while, but they always seem to be sold out, or slightly out of my price range, so I'm happy to have received this liner to try out. I received the liner in black, so I might try to practice my eye lining skills!

The make up remover pen will come in handy in the mornings when I slip with the mascara brush, but other than that I probably won't use it much.

I am interested in the Tresemme hair shot, I used this last night when I got back from swimming, and its left my hair feeling really smooth and soft!

This is just a quick round up of my thoughts, I will have some more individual reviews in a couple of days or so once I've properly used some of the products!

Thanks for reading :) xxx