Review and Rave: Nivea Lip Butter - Caramel Cream

First of all let me start by saying I love this!!! (a little background info...) I spend 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year torturing my lips with matte lipsticks and sugar scrubs so its payback time - Autumn.The season of pumpkins, mittens and of course disgustingly dry and chapped lips! In my hour of need I have always turned to that little yellow tin of loveliness, Carmex, however this year Carmex didn't work!! Dun Dun Dunnnn.. SO it's okay, Blistex will come to my rescue, slightly more medicinal but much less yums - this didn't work either :( And then... After seeing this on a few blogs and noticing it retails at £1.25 at Superdrug I thought 'ah, why not!?' I picked it up in Caramel Cream as this appealed to me most.

Formula - Buttery, soft and smooth.
Smell - In my eyes, the most delicious smell EVER.
Taste - None (suits me).
Look - Slight shine but not too glossy.
Packaging - Practical, matte tin.
Results - Amazing. My lips are the smoothest they've ever been.

I'm converted! This tin holds an impressive 16.7g compared with 7g of Carmex at double the price!? Its a no brainer. If you haven't already tried this I recommend you do asap :)

More Magazine Freebie NOTD

 

 

I'm sure you've all seen/nabbed the great More freebies in this weeks issue, the lovely people at More are giving us the chance to collect four great Model's Own products. I only picked up this one as I couldn't find the other nail varnish anywhere and I'm not a huge fan of lip glosses.

 

Today I'm celebrating handing in my Sociology assignment, FINALLY! It's been a huge drain on part of my life since September and I'm so glad to have it over and done with, it is however a small victory as I still have two more assignments due before Christmas.. Under pressure!

 

To show off my new polish and to spend a congratulatory half an hour on myself (a rare treat) I decided to put together a little NOTD. My nails are ridiculously short and flaky at the mo so to be honest I don't really like the look of this combo on my nails right now, however I'm sure it would look lovely on anyone with nicer nails than me!

 

 



Model's Own - Nude Beige / NYC - Wild with Passion / Barry M - Pink Irridescent

Did any of you grab any of the great freebies?

 

Sian xoxo

NYC 16H Lip Stain and Applelicious Glossy Balm - Reviewed.

NYC 16H Lipstain in 'Berry Long Time'

I'm strictly a matte lipstick or softening balm kind of girl, there is no in between. I don't 'do' with sheer tints, lip butters or gloss, its a full on pigmented lip or just a slick of 'medicinal' balm. However lately my lips have been so rough and dry that I haven't been able to wear any bold lip colours (I have just found the solution to all my problems in the shape of Nivea Lip Butters, but that's a separate post) so I went in search of something a little more easy going on my lips, something which would forgive the horrible scaly texture of my pout and give me just a sheer tint on top of or underneath my lip balm, as I didn't want to spend a great deal on a product that isn't really me I turned to NYC, a great value for money and very overlooked brand (in comparison to MUA).

The two products I picked up are the 16H Smooch Proof Lip Stain in 498 'Berry Long Time' and the Applelicious Glossy Balm in 356 'Big Apple Red', swatches below.

L-R - Berry Long Time and Big Apple Red

 

 



Berry Long Time

£3.99 - Superdrug

 

This is packaged like a felt tip pen, very in-offencive but not anything to write home about looks wise. It takes a while to get used to the application (may be because this is my first lip stain use) but once on I find this doesn't bleed, leaves a nice level of colour and has no scent however it seemed to have rubbed off on me after about 4 hours, far from its promise of 16 hours. It's an okay product considering the low price but not something I'd repurchase, unless a new colour is released which wows me.

 

 





 

Big Apple

£2.49 - Superdrug

 

 

On first glance this is packaged just like an ordinary cheapo lippie but when you open it up it has a lovely apple design in the core of the balm - very cute touch! It smells of the typical artificial apple-y scent you find in washing up liquids, hand soaps etc, nice and fresh but nothing spectacular. This offered me a very low level of colour but with the addition of a non sticky glossy finish. This didn't do anything to sooth my chapped lips, so again a lip balm would also be needed. I probably wont repurchase this, although it is great for the price!

 



Thursday's Girl in Photos #4

Costa getting me in the Festive Spirit / New fave skirt c/o Izabell London / Cute swallow earring I found deep in my jewellery stash / Roast Beef and Sprouts / Truly Red Matte Lips / Cute Mittens c/o Primark / The World's Softest Socks / Kitkat

So the Christmas countdown properly begins this week, just think this time next month we will all be stuffed full of turkey and surrounded by wrapping paper and lots of lovely new stuff!! Exciting :) Before all that I have two assignments due, a very stressful couple of weeks ahead for me!!

 

I'm going to be doing a few lip product reviews in the next week, so be sure to check that out!

 

Hope you're all having a lovely week

 

Sian xoxo

Thursday's Playlist

Not Giving In - Rudimental feat John Newman and Alex Clare

The Power of Love - Gabrielle Aplin

Breathe Me - Sia

Ottis Redding - Try a Little Tenderness

This week im loving... #2

Hey Beauties,

So... I caved *hangs head in shame* not majorly though, just a couple of cheap lip products (I will review soon) and the stunning nail varnish above. It was 3 for 2 in Superdrug so I felt rude not to!!

1) I love NYC for a quick pick me up and this nail varnish has done exactly that - Its a beautiful mid purple berry shade - Wild With Passion - it's a great formula, just like all NYC nail varnishes are and is opaque in just two coats. All this for £1.49!!

2) While browsing the gift aisle in my local Boots I noticed this and the Scrub of Your Life were being sold in dinky travel sizes for just £2.50, I'm not sure if this has always been the case or not. I already own and love the Scrub of Your Life so I thought I'd try Flake Away out and as with all other Soap and Glory products it has not disappointed me! Smells yummy and leaves my skin lovely and smooth = happy girl!

3) Have you been missing Nathan in the past two series of Misfits? Yeah me too. In fact I've stopped watching in protest! So you cannot imagine my joy at discovering Robert Sheehan is now over at the BBC playing the gorgeous Billy in a new sitcom - Me and Mrs Jones, BBC1 Fridays at 9:30pm.

4) This foundation and I have never quite got on for a number of reasons; It's too greasy for me in the summer, I was wearing it in a shade 2 darker than I needed, its felt too thick and never lasted the whole day. But now... Oh were best friends! I'm not sure why, perhaps my skin has changed, getting the right shade definitely helped too! It offers me medium coverage and lasts up to 10 hours when used with a primer and powder. This is now my day to day foundation - I even repurchased it last week, something I only ever usually do with my holy grail, Revlon Colour Stay, for days I feel like I need more coverage. I now have all my foundation boxes ticked :)

 

What have you loved this week?

 

 

Sian xoxo

Wishlist #1

 

- Michael Kors, Champagne Chrono Dial Watch MK5055: buy

- YSL Rogue Pur Couture in Rogue Roxanne: buy

 

- Vivienne Westwood, Winter Tartan Small Flapover Purse: buy 

- Rubber Duck Onesie: buy

 

- Ebay, Red Christmas Deerlet Jumper: buy

 

- Model's Own, Wonderland Collection: buy

Thursday's Girl in Photos #3

Tuesdays failed ootd featuring leopard print h&m skater and tan Chelsea boots //Yummy limonata//
Grey and copper notd//Fridays face//James Arthur survives another week on Xfactor - Love him! Watch//Finally got my shelf up after months of moaning at anyone and everyone who knows how to use a drill!//The new season of Big Bang started Thursday :)//Over-sized chunky knit from Primark

Hey Beauties...

Bit of a small week in photos from me today - I've been spending a lot of time studying and getting stuff done at home. I'm also on a self imposed spending ban in an effort to save money before Christmas and so I can start to use up some old products and get  more wear out of the clothes and accessories I already own! It's been 6 days since I bought myself anything pretty and I'm feeling the strain already :( anyone else have this problem!?

Hope you've all had a more interesting week than me?

 

 

Sian xoxo

A tad jealous

So I've been waiting for today since the minute Breaking Dawn part 1 finished... You'd expect I'm getting myself ready for an evening of swoony R-Patz, vampire babies, awkward bella-isms and a giant hot dog, right!? Well no. I'm sitting at home sulking. Sulking that tonight I will not find out the ending to the phenomenon that is Twilight. Nor tomorrow night or the next. I have to wait until an opening appears in my only other Twilight loving friends schedule (to be fair she is working and not just being deliberately awkward) because no one else will go with me. My boyfriend point blank refuses (apparently he's asserting his manliness through cinema choices :/), my mum laughed in my face, Molly's to young (whatevs) and my other 'friends' - if that's what they call themselves - would rather eat their right foot than see it with me (I'm hoping this isn't personal).

So if any of you are seeing it tonight then do have a lovely time (don't worry about my irrational jealousy) I'll be fine miserable and let me know how it was :)

On a slightly less bitter note - I've just made my own DIY lip scrub using brown sugar and rapeseed oil mixed together in an old (cleaned out) carmex pot, it was super easy, works amazingly well and doesn't cost £5+ yes, Lush I'm looking at you! The rest of my night will be spent cuddled up in bed with my boy (whenever he makes it back from work - I hate Friday night traffic), films and a takeaway pizza (the diet starts tomorrow - as always). The rest of my weekend is free for whatever else takes my fancy, perhaps a walk in the woods, LOVE lazy weekends :)

Have any of you got any nice plans?

Sian xoxo

This week im loving... #1

Soap and Glory Hand Food / Kate Moss for Rimmel, Matte in 107 / Taylor Swift - Wonderstruck / Hello Kitty Travel Cup

Hey beauties..

This is the start of a new weekly feature where I will be showing you a few bits I'm loving that week; the majority of these will be beauty products but I will add in a few fashion and lifestyle items, basically anything I've got a lot of love for at that moment!
I know a lot of the items from this week are spread all over the blogging world but I thought I'd throw in my opinion too.

An item I'd heard a lot about but not got round to trying until last week is Soap and Glory's Hand Food - I bought this in the travel size as I like to keep hand creams in my bag for use throughout the day. This has been great the last couple of days in the freezing cold weather, its smells lovely and is super moisturising = win!

Next up is the very popular Kate Moss Matte lipstick in shade 107 - this is a gorgeous deep berry red colour, it glides onto the lips, lasts really well and suits all skin tones. I'm really loving this dark lips trend, I find it compliments my pale winter skin perfectly and is extremely wearable.

Now I'm not usually one for celeb perfumes but this is a true beauty! It smells as the name sounds - amazingly sweet and super girly. The three main scents that stand out to me are vanilla, raspberry and musk. This has been cheering me up no end on horrible wintery mornings.

A friend bought me this last week, I love getting little gifts that you can see a lot of thought has gone into - this is another one to cheer me up on winter mornings, taking my own tea into classes really brightens up my day :) Thanks Bethany!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend :)

 

 

Sian xoxo

Review: Babyliss Smoothing Brush

Image c/o Boots

 

Babyliss are a brand I'm quite familiar with having tried their hairdryers, curling tongs and actually my first ever straighteners were a hot pink Babyliss pair. The brand is very reasonably priced and to my opinion their hair tools do exactly what they claim to. Until now I hadn't tried any of the brushes from this brand, whilst browsing Boots for a hair brush that I could use for blow drying without pulling out a lot of my fine hair or breaking the bank I found this, (unfortunatley I have already removed the packaging from mine as I wasnt sure if i would review it so have nicked this image from Boot's page) The Babyliss Smoothing Brush £9.49: this brush claims to smooth straight hair whilst giving a glossy finish and cutting down on breakage, it contains a mixture of nylon and pure bristles which help to distribute the hairs natural oils.

 

 

My hair is naturally quite wavy but when i blow dry it tends to fall straight-ish and flat, admittedly this brush doesn't claim to increase hairs volume at all but when using the right styling product and technique a voluminous blow dry can be easily achieved. I have definitely noticed a huge improvement in hair breakage / loss since using this brush, I no longer find piles of my hair in the brush (ick) and overall my hair does seem an awful lot smoother and glossier after I've used this brush. I do try not to brush my hair too much once its dry, preferring to use a wide toothed comb on just conditioned hair and a wide barrelled brush whilst drying, however at times when i do feel the need to brush my dry hair this works perfectly at not adding extra puffiness to my hair, even on next day hair.

 

 

Overall I'm very happy with this brush and would recommend it to anyone with hair care needs similar to mine.

 

Thursday's Girl in Photos #2

Hey Beauties...

Its been far too long since I did my first and only catch up in photos post so I have quite a lot of stuff squeezed into this one post. From now on I'm hoping to do a Thursday's Girl in Photos post once a week either on a Sunday or Monday.

Ive been a bit poorly lately, probably due to the change in weather but also something to do with a recent night out in which I insisted on wearing a skirt and tube top with no jacket or tights well into the early hours of the morning. Silly girl. I'm just starting to get better and although my cough is still really bad I'm past the disgusting cant move phase of the bug so YAY me :)

Earlier today I ventured out to meet my Dad and little brother Aran for a yummy Sunday lunch in the pub and to watch the football - I say watch the football but all I really did is check Twitter on my phone and ask my brother the score occasionally whilst stuffing my face with chocolate fudge cake and cider!

Last week my boyfriend and I went to see the hilarious Frankie Boyle's tour The Last Days of Sodom over at Cliff's Pavillion in Southend on Sea - we had a lovely night. I gave the tickets to my boyfriend for his birthday back in September and he's been counting the days ever since, he's a massive fan of comedy, in particular the dark and controversial Frankie Boyle type of comedy. This is Frankie's last tour so if any of you get the opportunity to go see him then do as I'm sure you'll love it as much as we did :)

Watching my all time fave programme // Ickle Baby Bot Bath // Yummy biscuits my waistline does not thank me for // My sick bed // Minestrone Hug in a Mug // Molly's Nails

Hot sweet tea and Millie's cookies after a long day at work // Freebie Bad Gal Lash in Instyle//Pastel Pink and Purple Glitter nails // Yummiest Lemon Meringue Cupcake from Tesco // Mols all wrapped up ready for the Circus // Me and my bestie in a rather large ornate mirror at our local pub.

 

 

Monster bowl of sweeties ready for Halloween // Much needed junk food // My hands getting into the festive spirit // Cute Jean Paul Gaultier Diet Coke // Ultimate guilty pleasure of mid afternoon milky coffee, toast with bovril and towie catch up // A snap from a recent family dinner inc my cousin, little brother and sister, my mols and me

 

 

 

Emmerdale catch up // New studded clutch from New Look // Molly as a witch // Pretty Pink French Mani // Toadstool mushrooms we found on a woodland walk // Crisp Autumn leaves

 

 

Hope your all having a lovely evening :)

 

 

Love Sian xoxo

 





Umberto Giannini Incredible Body Volume Blow Dry Spray For Big Hair

 

 

In my quest for a perfectly smooth, shiny, volumnous, natural looking hair do

 I have tried all manner of products to help - salt sprays, dry shampoos, body boosting powders, various shampoos and conditioners and leave in conditioners designed for flat hair. Despite the ridiculous amount of money I've no doubt spent on my hair I've never tried a blow dry spray, partly because I believe that an in salon blow dry is impossible to recreate at home (especially by me) and a lot to do with the fact I cant be bothered/have the time available to spend 45mins+ on my hair - I'm very much a wash and go sort of girl.

I picked this up in Boots on a 3 for 2 offer a couple of weeks back, the other items I bought were both haircare repurchases. It is also available on ASOS and Amazon.

What Umberto Giannini say:

 

Incredible Body - Volume Blow Dry Spray for Big Hair - 200ml / £5.49

 

The Claims

 

Volume Blow dry Spray for Big Hair / Heat Protecting with Hold

 

Suitable for all hair types in need of volume

 

Creates big Hollywood hairstyles

 

How to

 

Spritz to roots and then lengths of damp hair and blow dry

 

All you need is this and a wide barrelled brush for a long lasting big blow out

 

 

What I say:

 

Packaging

 

The bottle is made of standard plastic which I like as its practical and durable - I could chuck this in my bag for a weekend away without worrying about spillage or smashing.

 

The design of the bottle is pretty pleasing to the eye, purple all over with gold lettering - no complaints whatsoever with the look of it.

 

8/10

 

Formula/Smell

 

This spray smells very fresh but with a strong chemically smell to it as well - this fades shortly after application to a more subdued and non-offencive scent. It reminds me of Impulse Body Spray or something similar.

 

The formula of this is slightly tacky if over used but I've found that if i brush it through the lengths of my hair properly it leaves almost no residue. I have quite fine hair and have found this product doesn't make my hair greasy at all or leave too much of a build up on day old hair.

 

7/10

 

Results

 

After spraying this generously onto the roots and lengths of my hair and brushing through I used my wide barrelled brush to blow dry my hair. It took me about 35 minutes to get through my hair (it usually takes around 45 minutes) which I'd sectioned into 3 on both sides of my head. My hair is about mid to long length and as mentioned before quite fine. I'm not sure if its the spray which reduced my drying time by ten minutes or whether its because I towel dried before hand.

 

Although this product claims to protect against heat I also used my usual Aussie Heat Defence cream and my Trevor Sorbie Leave in Conditioner to help brush through any knots and keep my hair soft.

 

After blow drying my hair was noticeably bigger and had a lot more swooshy (technical term) volume to it, my hair does tend to get quite frizzy as soon as I leave the house so I also smoothed a little serum through it and added a spritz of hairspray to seal it all in.

 

My hair did seem to be falling slightly by mid afternoon (7 hours post blow dry) this is amazing compared to how long my volume usually lasts (3-4 hours) I expect a little bit of a droop during the day anyway and this is easily fixed with a spritz of dry shampoo and a violent head bash (that sounds so bad) in the ladies loo's.

 

8/10

 

As this is the first blow dry spray Ive obviously not got much to compare it to, overall I'm pleased with this and for the price I would definitely consider repurchasing but perhaps I'll try another brand next time to compare it too! 

 

 

 

 



MUA Nail Constellations in Scorpio (with Bourjois Bleu Violet)

Firstly I'd like to apologise for not posting much lately, I have no excuse. Life happened. A few things are going pretty badly at the moment and a lot of things are going really well - cup half full and all that :) I finally seem to have got the time to be doing a few posts this weekend and then after that I plan to post twice weekly!

Onto the review - I finally managed to get my hands on this little beauty Tuesday, after placing a small MUA order the week before. I got a magnetic polish, a cream blush and a lipstick too, I'm sure they will all be featured on here very soon. I had been wanting to order this in Gemini or Leo but as its autumn/winter I thought this warm toned set of beads would be more appropriate.

I know that every blogger and their mother has these now and therefore I wont talk much about the formula or application, all I will say is that I found it to be much easier to apply than I'd expected.

I chose to only apply the beads to my ring finger and paint the rest of them in this nail varnish, Bourjois So Laque Ultra Shine in Bleu Violet. I would describe this as a purple toned navy rather than a blue toned purple as it looks in the bottle. This polish was given to me by a friend who found she didn't suit the colour, its the only Bourjois polish I own and to be honest I doubt I would have picked it up myself as I find the colour range is very limited and the price to be rather high (can be bought cheaply on Amazon as per link above) for a high street brand. Having said this I'm quite impressed with the formula and finish on my nails, its a great partner for my Nail Consteallations too :)

                                                                  With topcoat

                                                                
                                                                      Without topcoat

The MUA website advises you to use a topcoat over the beads but as you can see in the images above this slightly takes away some of the colour of the beads, particularly the green, purple and red beads with Scorpio. This has disappointed me a bit but I'm hoping the topcoat will help the beads to stay put longer as I do still love the look of my nails with this on.

Overall I'm very impressed with MUA's dupe for Ciate's Caviar Nails, I hope MUA bring out shades of this for the rest of the star signs as I want to see what my star sign Virgo looks like!

You can buy MUA Nail Constellations in Superdrug or on MUA's website for £3.