(A Very Late) April Favourites

Firstly, apologies for how late this is. It has been planned for weeks but I have only just got around to cleaning up and making space to photograph products. I'm just gonna go through these quickly as it won't be too long before I'm compiling my May favourites and I have lots of other posts to get round to.

First up are some Soap & Glory products. I've been loving Soap & Glory lately and will do a big S&G review sometime in the near future, but in April I particularly loved the No Clogs Allowed Deep Pore Detox Mask, The Fab Pore Hot Cloth Cleanser and The Breakfast Scrub Body Smoother. I will go into more detail about what I thought about these products in my upcoming review.

I also LOVE Yankee Candles. My favourite lately has been Red Velvet, it's so strong and sweet and vanillary when burning and I will be sooo upset when this one runs out, I will definitely be re-purchasing or buying something similar. These aren't cheap candles but are well worth the money, I've tried so many other cheaper alternatives and for what I've wasted on those I wish so much I had just invested in a Yankee Candle. Mine is the medium jar candle if you were wondering.

A nail combo I loved throughout April was the Barry M Glitter Nail Varnish in Rose Quartz Glitter (NP349) layered over Illamasqua's Stagnate Nail Varnish. It's super pretty but neutral so will go with pretty much anything you style it with.

Again Revlon has done me well with their Kissable Balm Stain in Lovesick. The colour is gorgeous and lasts and lasts. These are a great low maintenance option and have the added bonus of moisturising your lips at the same time. The photo below shows me wearing just one application but it can be built up to create a stronger colour.

Finally, and possibly my greatest find of the month, the L'Oreal Telescopic Waterproof Mascara. Not the false lash version. This is amazing and it worries me how hard it was to find in stores. I really hope it isn't being replaced or phased out because this is the first mascara I have ever found that holds a curl in my lashes. It's so easy to apply, the wand is a nice size and shape for getting every lash. It lengthens and separates, it doesn't volumise as much as a lot of mascaras but I don't think it needs to. It creates such lovely fluttery lashes and lasts all day, no flaking, clumps, fading. It is, for me, the perfect mascara. Just don't expect to be able to remove this with a normal make-up remover or wipes. You do need an oil based remover such as the Nivea Double Effect Eye Make-up Remover. Or you could always use baby oil if you can't get hold of anything else but it can be a little too much and make your face greasy the following day.

Forever21 Jewellery Haul

Hey there!

Something I haven't bought for a while is jewellery. A lot of my costume jewellery, while still very lovely, is quite dated in style. I also felt it would be nice to have a few statement pieces that can dress up an outfit.

I really like the Forever21 jewellery. I have visited the Trafford Centre store a few times and spent a long time looking at the accessory section but have never bought anything, I'm not sure why. Perhaps because they do a lot of gold. I was never into gold, but some of the newer jewellery that is available isn't as harsh or brassy looking. The prices are very reasonable and the quality looks pretty good. We shall see over time how long they actually last but I have faith.

So, not being able to go shopping in store, I put in an internet order. The items are shipped out from Holland and are delivered by UPS. You can track your package from start to finish, a relatively common thing these days but it's still something I like to be able to do. P&P was £3.95 or free with orders over £50.

I was very impressed with my items once they arrived. They look and feel very sturdy and I can't wait to start wearing them out. The only thing I will say is that the colours did vary slightly on a few of the items from the website but that is to be expected.  

I'm very happy with my order and thought I would share as Forever21 is relatively new to the UK and it's quite difficult to find a store. If you are interested in any of the products shown I will put links below or just head to the Forever21 UK website which can be found here.

xx

Items pictured above clockwise from top:

Rhinestone Rosette Necklace Cream/Gold £8.90

Sparkling Snowflake Studs Mint/Cream £3.90

Double Spiked Necklace Black/Gold £7.40

Bejeweled Faux Stone Earrings Purple/Gold £3.90

Braided Square Bib Necklace Pink/Gold £8.90 

(Unfortunately the last two items are already no longer available on the website, but there have been some new additions since I placed my order a few days ago so go take a look) 

April Glossybox Review

I was still hanging on in there! Waiting for a box that would get me super excited. I think the April Glossybox may have initially done the trick.

When I ordered this the estimated delivery date range was just after my op so the idea was that I would get this after coming out of hospital as a bit of a treat to myself. It didn't quite work out that way and I'm kinda glad.

The box arrived the day before my op and as I opened it I began to get excited. Over the box itself. Anyone who knows me well will possibly know I have a slight thing about boxes. I cannot throw out a nice or potentially useful box or piece of packaging. Maybe this goes back to my days as a graphic design student, who knows. I remember having sketchbooks with carefully broken down packages stuck in them, for no real reason other than I just liked them. Anyway, borderline box fetish explained, let me show you a photograph of the box.

This box is beautiful. A lot of the time when I can't part with a box I use them for storage around my room and this will look really nice. 

The contents of the box are as follows:

- The usual fold out "magazine" showing all of the products and info, interviews and suchlike

- Nip+Fab Dry Skin Fix Body Butter in Coconut Latte

(50ml travel size, RRP £9.95 for 200ml according to the magazine or £8.49 in Boots)

- Sleek Makeup Blush in Flamingo

 (Full size, retails at £4.49 for 8g)

A-Derma Intense Repair Lip Balm

(Full size, 15ml costs £7.95)

- Yves Rocher So Elixir Purple Perfume

(5ml sample, 50ml retails at £44)

- Essie Nail Lacquer in Sugar Daddy

(Full size, RRP £7.99)

I was so excited when I saw the contents of this box, everything was great at first glance, even the perfume sample as it was in a little bottle instead of one of those annoying vials that contain nowhere near the amount stated as they are never full. So lets look at the individual products and see how they fared.

         

I have wanted to try the Nip+Fab products for a while as I have heard good things about them, however I always thought they were quite an expensive brand. I guess the firming and toning products are but I never realised that they did other products like body butters. I am not a fan of coconut. Not the taste, not the smell. This actually reminded me more of Play-Doh, just not so heavy scented. You might think that sounds disgusting for a body butter but for me it's way better than coconut. Scent aside I really liked the product and found it left my skin feeling really soft and moisturised without leaving a horrible film that a lot of body butters do. It's quite light and absorbs well. I am definitely going to be trying this in a different fragrance.

Next up is the Sleek Blush in the shade Flamingo. I love Sleek products but haven't yet tried any of their blushes despite eyeing them up numerous times in Superdrug, including this particular shade. So I was stoked when I saw this was in my box. I haven't yet tried this blush as I haven't been anywhere post-op but it will be one of the first on my list of things to try out once I'm back on my feet, but I've heard fantastic things about these blushes with people comparing them to the quality of Nars and other high end brands.

Another brand I had heard of but never tried. This lip balm is really nice. I tried it out a couple of times when my lips have been quite dry and it feels instantly soothing. It's more of a creamy consistency and is nice if you don't like the tingling sensation products like Carmex have.

  

I think I liked this more for the packaging than the scent, it's not something I would go out and buy but I probably will wear this. It's an ideal size for those occasions you only have a small handbag or for travelling. 

  

The Essie nail polish was my biggest disappointment from the box. I had never tried Essie but really wanted to as the formula is supposed to be fab. However out of the 15 shades available the one I received sucked. There is no other way to describe it. It had zero opacity and was just like applying a slightly pink tinged clear polish. It took five or six coats to even begin to show signs of any colour and then it just wouldn't dry at all. It's such a shame as it has put me off the brand a little, the brush was nice, application was good. But I know nothing more about how the polish performs despite having a sample as the colour just wasn't worth messing about with finishing off applying to all of my nails. I just removed it in the end and chucked the bottle in my box, probably never to be used again. Maybe I will give another shade a go sometime.

So that's my opinion on the April Glossybox and it's contents. After the initial excitement I do feel it was a little bit of a let down although it did introduce me to some new brands and while the particular smell or colour of a product wasn't right for me I might go out and purchase something more suitable from those brands, which in the end is the point of this subscription.

If you would like to subscribe to Glossybox or just want more information click here.

Thank you once again for your time, please feel free to follow me, or comment, and I hope you will visit this blog again soon.

xx   

Crown Brush Purchase

It's been quite a while since my last post, for those who don't know I have had surgery which meant a night in hospital and a lot of time recovering. I'm finally starting to get up and about so I thought I would do a blog post.

Yesterday I decided to order some new make-up brushes from Crown Brush. I wanted some eye make-up brushes but didn't want to spend a lot of money at this time with me being off work sick, even though good quality brushes are a great investment. I knew Crown did some reasonable quality brushes quite cheap and have quite a few of their brushes already, so I put in an order. I was really quite surprised when they turned up today. 

In total, with postage (£2.99) and VAT included my order came to £24.15 which isn't at all bad for five brushes.

So the brushes are (from top to bottom):

- SS012 Deluxe Crease £3.49

- C431 Precision Pencil £4.39

- SS021 Syntho Blending Fluff £4.99

- BK45 Deluxe Angle Liner £2.19

- C433 Pro Blending Fluff £6.09

They are all excellent brushes but after trying them out I would love to buy a few more of the two blending brushes. I prefer the C433 brush for applying colour to the lid rather than blending as it is a little scratchy for blending but in shape it is very similar to the MAC 217 brush. I love the SS021 brush for both blending colour, applying cream eyeshadow and for applying concealer so will definitely have to order a few more of these. The angle liner brush makes for a great brow brush as well as liner so I may have to double up on this also. Overall a good order, the only brush I am unsure of is the SS012 Deluxe Crease brush, I thought it would be more of a blender as all of the other "deluxe crease" labelled brushes I own from crown are quite fluffy. This is very much a socket brush and I don't really have a defined socket. This would be fantastic for those who do so this one might have to make its way into my kit rather than my own personal collection.

If you are looking for good brushes at a good price you really can't go wrong with crown, particularly for smaller brushes for the eyes. I've never had a problem with service and with good care their brushes do last well.

If you are interested in placing an order they currently have a 10% off promotion running this bank holiday weekend (I was a little too eager and missed out on this). Enter the code "Sunshine10" at the checkout.

Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy reading these posts. If you do please let me know, there will be a few more going up soon as I am playing a bit of catchup, so keep a look out for the April Glossybox review and my April favourites amongst other things.

xx