Collective Haul: 50% off

Hola Dalimoos

Hope you are all well?

I have been looking at the sales online over the last few weeks and although I have refrained myself from buying too much I obviously I had to buy something in the sales!

The first thing I bought was from Marks and Spencer's they were having a 50% off sale on all christmas beauty gifts.

There was so many things I wanted but the thing I decided to buy was from the REN Moroccan Rose Otto range.

It comes with body wash and body lotion.  It retails for £36 normally but I got this for £18. 

If you love turkish delight you will love this stuff.  As strange as this may sound, when I use the body wash I get images of being in Narnia! I can imagine this is exactly what the white witch would smell like!  

Whilst the wash has a really strong scent the lotion is not overbearing at all, it is a mix of cream and a slight roses (turkish delight) scent *god I am so crap and describing!*.  I am not sure whether this is because the lotion is quite thin in consistency so it doesn't hold a scent too well.  It is still nice though and leaves you feeling moisturised and you get a hint of roses.  I would love to have a body spray in this scent, to smell of turkish delight all day....yummy!

The Body Shop were also having a 50% sale.  

I have never tried their Japanese Cherry Blossom range.  So with 50% I thought why not try it out.  As you can see I think I got practically the whole range!

Thankfully I was not disappointed with the scent.  It is a fresh floral scent without it being to overpowering.  When I smell this it gives me that summer evening in a garden feeling...ok I am not the greatest of describers of smells but I hope you get the gist!

I am pretty excessive when it comes to things in general and I have to have all things match!  Plus building up a scent you like with all available products, why not? I bought the shower gel (£6.50), Fragrance Mist (£7.50), body butter (£13) and the eau de toilette (£10).

I also decided to try out their Atlas Mountain Rose range.  Again I bought practically the entire range. Now this is floral heaven!  It is a bouquet of roses in a bottle!  Whilst Ren does smell of roses it has that sweet smell of turkish delight, whereas Atlas Mountain Rose is like smelling freshly cut roses.  Every time I have washed, sprayed and creamed myself with this scent people have complimented me!

In total for both Cherry Blossom range and Atlas Mountain Roses range, I only paid £37. Bargain!

Any my lovelies, until next time.

Ciao for now xx

Sensationail Starter Kit

Hola Dalimoos,

As you know I am an avid nail polish fiend and my biggest bugbear is nail varnish chips and for some reason nail varnish chips so easily on me.  I know it doesn't help with the constant washing of hands and an active "home life" but to chip within an hour of painting gets to me.  The thing is I absolutely love doing my nails I just wish I could appreciate my efforts for longer!

So when just before Christmas the Sensationail Starter Kit was Boots' star buy I had to have it.  I got my other half to buy it for me for Christmas.  Now obviously I had to wait until Christmas to get it!

I got the sugar plum starter kit.  The kit came with:

• Two nail polishes:  Sugar Plum and Tag me Taupe
• Gel Cleanser
• Gel primer
• Gel base & top coat
• 1 pack of 12 lint-free wipes
• double sided nail buffer
• manicure stick
• removal tool
• LED lamp 
• £3 off voucher towards a new nail polish.

On Christmas morning I opened the box and started straight away.  It came with easy to read instructions including pictures so there was no going wrong!  I decided to stay festive and use the Sugar Plum nail polish which was a pinky/purple red colour.

It was so easy it seemed like I was doing something wrong.  My nails were completely done and dry within I would say 5 minutes.

The day after boxing day I decided I wanted to add to the "collection" and bought Blue Yonder and I used my £3 off voucher.

 I didn't leave the Sugar Plum on long enough to test out the longevity of it as I was over excited!  So I removed the Sugar Plum and painted my nails with Blue Yonder.

A week exactly worth of growth

The following Friday speaking with someone on twitter I tweeted them the above picture showing them that it had held up brilliantly after a whole week.  Not a chip in sight.  It didn't even dawn on me until that conversation how well it had held up.

On Saturday I decided to change up the colour again.  The slight nail growth showing at the top and started to bother me.

Below I will show you how I got the varnish off and how I used the lamp:

I first used the double sided nail file to file the top layer of gel off my nails, this makes it easier for the remover to work its magic.

Sensationail do a removal kit which I haven't purchased (yet!) and decided to do a bit of a DIY foil removal.  I put acetone nail polish remover on a cotton pad and put the pad over my nail and then wrapped it in foil.  I left it for about 5-10 minutes and then used the removal tool to peel the varnish away from the nails.  I had to scrap a little bit but I don't know if that is the remover I was using or whether I hadn't left it on long enough.

(sorry forgot to photograph then next couple of instructions)

I lightly buffed my natural nail with the softer side of the file and then washed my hands.  I used a lint-free cloth with some gel cleanser on it to clean my nails.

I apply a coat of the gel primer and you need to leave this to air-dry (not sure why!).  Once this has dried you apply your first coat of gel top coat and cure it under the lamp for 30 seconds.

You then apply your first coat of your colour.  I decided to use the other colour in my kit and that was taupe tulips.  You cure this for 60 seconds.  Then apply a second coat of the polish and cure for another 60 seconds.  NB:  What I like about this lamp is after 30 seconds it beeps and you can do your other hand after 60 seconds the lamp turns off completely.

Then you need to protect the nail by using another layer of the base/top coat and cure your nails for the last 30 seconds.

Once you have done this you have one final step to do and that is use some more gel cleanser to wipe over your nails (I used the same lint-free cloth) to remove any moisture layer and tada your nails are done and dry as a bone!

finished nails

The biggest tip I can give to you when doing your nails is less is more.  You really need to be careful about putting too much product on as you don't want to get it on your skin or over your cuticles as it sets rock hard and you cannot pick it off no matter how much you try!

The only negative thing I can say are the prices for the individual nail polishes.  Boots are selling them for £15. However you can get them direct from Sensationails' website for £12.50.  I am gutted I have just found out about the polishes being cheaper on the website because I bought Blue Yonder from boots, I know I got the £3 off but still how can you sell it for a higher price?? But worse still if you are in the US you can buy the nail polishes for a mere $10 which makes it roughly £6 a bottle!  I did have a rant on twitter about the cost difference in the US to the UK and they did tweet back explaining that import costs, custom fees and VAT hikes the prices up so I suppose they're not really able to keep it at the price of their US counterparts!

That little rant aside, I absolutely love this product and have been looking at their website for some new colours.  They have a deal at the moment that you can get 12 polishes for the price of 8 (£100) which works out about £8 a bottle which is personally  more affordable, it is just paying the £100 up front...I don't know what to do.  Should I or Shouldn't I buy some more colours.....oh what to do?!

The starter kit is now full price (£69).  You can still get them from Boots or direct from the Sensationail website.

 Anyway my lovelies, until next time.

Ciao for now xxx

Laura Mercier Portable Palette

Hola Dalimoos

I decided not to do a "what a got for Christmas post" but you will see most of what I got for Christmas in upcoming posts anyway.  Let's get started with the first one...

One of my pressies this year was the Christmas Limited Edition Laura Mercier Portable Palette for eyes, Cheeks & Lips in Natural Nudes.

(L-R) Buttercream – Matte, Rosewood – Luster

Cocoa Brown – Sateen, (Tightline Cake Eye Liner) -

Chocolate Brown

Matte Bronze, Sweet Mandarin (blush)  and
Lip Glacé in Sweetheart

This is my first ever Laura Mercier make up product and I am not disappointed.  The shadows are pretty pigmented and give a really nice neutral eye look.  I haven't used the tightliner shadow yet as my eyes have been really sore recently and I cannot put anything on my upper or bottom tightline.

The bronzer is matte with no sparkle or shimmer so I have been using it more as a contour than a bronzer.  The blush is a peachy colour with little sparkle going through it.  It gives a nice natural flush of colour nothing too heavy and for an everyday look it does the job really well.  I haven't used the lip gloss as I am not that into lip gloss, but swatching it on my hand it is a muted pink colour, which I think would be pretty sheer when put on the lips.

 Is there anyone
out there that can teach me the
art of selfies? *awkward face*

I like that you have everything for your face in one small palette so it is perfect for travel and it has everything you need to complete your look without having to have so many extras!

Trying this I now want to try other Laura Mercier make up products.  What is your favourite?  What could you recommend to a newbie like myself?

Anyway my lovelies, until next time

Ciao for now xxx

Babyliss Curl Secret

Hola Dalimoos,

If you could look in my hair tool drawer you would be disgusted with how many different apparatus' I own that all do the same job!  But I am a sucker and when Babyliss released the Curl Secret.  I just knew it was something that was right up my alley, so for my birthday in October I asked for it.

Ok it does seem a bit gimmicky...you put a strand of hair in, it sucks it up and "tada" you have a perfectly formed curl!  But if you are someone that is useless at curling your hair with your average tongs or using heated curlers then this is the thing for you.

The instructions say that it should not be used for really long hair (hair no longer than your bust).  My hair is just on top of my shoulder so would say it is more on the short side than long.  The effect on me isn't really a curl but a wave, which I like but for this post I wanted to show you the effect on longer hair.  I used my daughter for this and as you can see her hair is at her shoulder blades.

It comes with 2 heat settings and 3 timer settings which gives you different tightness of curls.  For me I use the hottest heat setting and the longest timer setting but when I used this on my daughter I used the lowest heat and number 2 timer setting.

Once I had finished I waited for the hair to cool and then with my finger tips shook the hair as my daughter wanted a loose wave.  I really loved how it had turned out.

There are a couple of negative points for me and that is:

1.  The curl secret has taken some time to get used to because of having to keep the same side facing your head at all times so going round your head proves pretty tricky.  However, using it on my daughter was so much easier! 

2.  It is pretty pricey at £120 even though now I have used it I would say it is worth it, but to be honest it is easy for me to say that now as it was bought for me as a present for my birthday!

However, if you can look past my two negatives this is a pretty great piece of apparatus and it is one I have used continuously since getting it and if you can afford to get one or you have a birthday coming up then get it, you won't be disappointed!

Anyway my lovelies, until next time 

Ciao for now xxx

Happy 2014

Hola Dalimoos,

So we have made it to 2014!  I wish you all a great 2014 and hope your wishes and dreams come true and want to thank all my followers/readers for your support these past 6/7 months.  I am definitely going to be more involved in the community this year as I can be aloof and stick myself to myself which can be pretty lonely I suppose!

2013 was not very eventful for me.  I have had my ups and downs like everyone else but nothing really to write about!

What are your resolutions for 2014?  Do you do resolutions? I am not really someone to do resolutions as it puts unnecessary pressure on you and then they get broken!  I believe that if you need to change something don't leave it to the first day of a new year to change just do it.

Even though I don't make resolutions I have been doing a lot of thinking this past couple of months and reflecting over the past year and things I want to change etc...

There are a few things in my life at the moment that I am not really happy about and things I want to achieve and there is no time like the present to set the wheels in motion.  I won't call them resolutions as I am not going to pressure on myself but I am going to look at it as making my life better.  The hardest thing will be motivation but may be sharing them, some of you could help motivate me and I could help motivate you?!

1.  Stop Spending unnecessarily:  This is the most important thing to me and is something I have battled with for many years and will continue to battle this year and hopefully I can conquer it this year and that is my spending habits.  Since I was 18 and got my first loan I have always been in debt.  I was debt free for six months when I first turned 30 but since then its spiraling considerably.  It's not got as bad as it was when I was in my early 20s but I can see it getting there if I am not careful!  This is the hardest thing to change as I am so used to spending but a few changes here and there may change my habits....I don't know....just thinking out loud really!

2. I want to learn:
(i)  I got my Ukulele for Christmas so will definitely be learning to play that this year.
(ii) I also want to learn to dance.  Ballet interests me and it is something I have wanted to do since I was a kid but never got the chance.  There is adult beginners classes close to me so may enrol!
(iii) I want to qualify in something.  I loved to learn when I was a kid, I loved school but I never did the whole college/university thing as I wanted to earn money so got a job straight from school.  The only thing is I don't know what I want to do.  I need an epiphany.  A calling of somesort. help?!

3. I want to move:  I need an extra room so need to move.  I don't like where I live very much but in general I do love my area.  I have a 2 bed property but need a 3 bed as my son and daughter are sharing rooms!  The problem is I am in a council property and like the security that gives me and with the way things are in general I don't want to buy, you have no security especially if you lose your job.  Personally the amount of money houses are selling for it's just bricks and mortar and it is not worth the asking price! To buy in London, for me, is a no go, it is just too expensive (I need to win the Lottery).  I am a city girl at heart and the prospect of moving out of London scares me.  My job is in London, my kids' school/nursery is in London, my friends are in London.  Even though I like the idea of living out of London I think it will probably something I would consider more seriously when my kids have grown up and I want a slower pace of life.  So for now I need to get a mutual exchange, but my aim is to get myself advertising etc and hopefully by 2015 I could be in a new home.

4. Holidays: I want to go abroad this year with the family.  Pre-kids I went on holiday abroad practically twice a year.  In June I went on a long weekend away to Spain with a couple of mates (first time in 7 years) and it made me realise what I have been missing.  I am already looking at holidays for August.

5. Blogging:  I want to continue blogging.  My aim is for better content to appeal to more readers.  My blog is fairly new and I am still trying to find my feet.  But thinking of content that is interesting to read is pretty hard.  This is where you, the reader, come into play.  What sort of things do you enjoy reading?  What could I do to make the blog more appealing to you?

I know the blog is mine to do with how I want, but I also want to know that the things I am writing about is worthy but pointers and constructive criticism is never a bad thing and it gets me thinking!!

So this is what I want to change in my life at the moment and I am pretty sure as the year goes on there will more added to the list.  I hope before that happens, I can say that I have accomplished my aims above.

Here is to a life changing 2014...

Anyway my lovelies I hope you enjoyed my ramble.

Until next time

Ciao for now xx