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

Week 5: Christmas Accessory

Hola Dalimoo's,

So this is the fifth week of the #Thewinterproject and this week it is about favourite Christmas accessories.

When I think of accessories I think of Christmas hats and silly Christmas Jumpers.  I love the run up to Christmas and since having children the inner child in me makes an appearance each year.

This year I have two hats and two jumpers!

I have already worn my first Christmas jumper of the year and this was to get into character at work to pick the names for the secret Santa (apparently being vertically challenged has its benefits!) it was £18 from Peacocks but got it for £14 as they were having a 20% discount in store the day I bought it.

Excuse the lame pose...

I forgot to put the hat on when I took the picture so this is what the hat looks like:

Bought for £1 from poundland

The second jumper I have for this year I will also be wearing to work on Friday 13 December as it is National Christmas Jumper day for Save the Children and with this I have a sequin Santa hat! I got this jumper from Next for £28.

Again £1 from poundland

This is my favourite accessory for Christmas!  I decided for a not so serious post this week, I hope you enjoyed it.  I can't wait to read all your posts on what your Christmas Accessory is.

Until next time my lovelies...

Ciao for now xx