A-England Iseult with Paul & Joe Pixie

This is the last of the three A-England polishes I bought a few months ago. Iseult is a pretty pale pink with a fine shimmer but not at all frosty. It's not exciting in anyway but it is lovely. I do so tire of wearing brights that it can be lovely to put something on that's a little subtler.

Then while I was wearing it my Paul & Joe Pixie polish arrived from the summer collection which is a beautiful holographic silver glitter... I'll show you that in more detail in a future post for now though, here's my manicure of last week (as it will be by the time this post goes live!).

Super pretty and fresh. I found Iseult a little tricky to apply streak free but I was happy with the finished result.

All bought and paid for by my own fair hand.

China Glaze Summer Neons 2012

It isn't Summer until we have a China Glaze Summer collection rammed with neons and this year the collection is a total wow. Most of the neons have a subtle shimmer that make them really amazing, there are a couple of creams and a jelly in there as well and it's taken me ages to get this post done because I've kept most of the shades on for at least a day or two rather than doing one mega swatching session!

You're going to have to forgive the varying state of my nails and cuticles in these pictures, in some of them I have acrylics on, in others I don't, some of the acrylics are not good, some are overdue an infill and in nearly all of them my cuticles are terrible. As I've been wearing acrylics I can only use a non-acetone based polish remover and I have to say I find it far more damaging to my cuticles than pure acetone.... anyway, I'm heading off topic so lets just crack on with it. Also, please forgive me, I find neons very difficult to capture with my camera. Oh and PS - I have extremely bright white acrylic tips on in some of these photographs which are nigh on impossible to cover with polish... normal nails would almost certainly achieve full coverage.

Final note, a lot of these colours contain shimmer but because of the size of the images that I can fit on this page you can't see them too well, please feel free to click to enlarge the pictures.

Surfin' For Boys

No top coat. Super incredible bright orange with a hint of purple shimmer... original and glorious but alas my picture does not do it justice.

Love's A Beach

No top coat. This is so neon it's incredible, neon pink, also with a hint of purple shimmer. Much much much brighter than it appears here.

Ride the Waves

Blue jelly. Very sheer, which isn't a complaint, jellies are sheer, this was three coats. Nice blue but definitely not my favourite of the collection.

Beach Cruise-r

This is perhaps my favourite of the collection, shown with a flash here because out of all the photos I took of this, this is the most accurate, only it's a bit brighter. Like wow.

Sun-Kissed

You know those reflective jackets you can get, or patches or bands on bike riding gear so you can be seen at night? That's what this is. In the flesh its mind blowing, even causing my husband to proclaim "woooahhh" and he never has a reaction of any kind to nail polish. Incredible.

Flirty Tankini

I honestly wished I could get away with not showing you this one since my photo sucks. After over 50 attempts at photographing this one I had to give up.  A warm pink shimmer, it's not orange, although it does have hints of coral, it also has hot pink shimmer.

Orange You Hot?

Bright orange shimmer with a yellow shimmer, it's gorgeous. The name really makes me chuckle because of Chloe's favourite joke:

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Banana!

Banana who?!

Orange.

...Orange who?

Orange you glad I didn't say banana???

I'm With The Lifeguard

Unbelievably bright neon green, shimmery and gorgeous. I'd imagine this would be stunning with a tan!

Pink Plumeria

Not really neon, well, not as neon as the others, this is flattering and gorgeous, a warm pink with shimmer.

Hang Ten Toes

The shade I am indeed wearing on my toes. Glorious bubblegum pin neon with purple shimmer. To die for.

Under the Boardwalk

Gorgeous cream shade, not quite sure what to call it, but I like it! Sort of a pinky purple.

Splish Splash

Very pretty shimmery blue. Not my cup of tea as I don't generally wear these shades but if I saw it on someone else I'd think it was lovely!

And there we have it. I'm sorry my pictures just don't do the collection justice, my camera does NOT love neons! The only colours it captured well are all the less neon shades. For more accurate pictures,  take a look at Vampy Varnish because hers are amazing.

Omorovicza Complexion Perfector BB SPF 20

Hello summer skin product of choice! Please meet Omorovicza Complexion Perfector BB SPF 20.

Lets just get the price out of the way first, it's £80. Is it worth it? I think so, would I buy it? No, but only because I don't have that kind of money for a BB, if I did, I'd buy it.

A little bit of background on this beautiful brand. The founders of Omorovicza, Margaret and Stephen de Heinrich de Omorovicza met in Budapest. 2,000 years ago Huncary's thermal waters were discovered to have curative properties and the famous baths were built. Whilst Margaret and Stephen were relaxing in the ancient thermal baths the couple were amazed by the effect of the mineral rich water on their skin and they saw their potential to be harnessed in a  skincare range...with a Noble-prize winning laboratory of dermatology Omorovicza Cosmetics developed Mineral Cosmetology which was then launched in 2006, in Budapest. Since then the range has gained an international following and is much loved by beauty editors. And I have to say the range sounds incredible.

Margaret sent me the stunning Complexion Perfector BB to try out and I must say it arrived at a bad time, when my skin was suffering its awful reaction to the mask I used a month or so ago... but as soon as I was fixed and needed less coverage, and the weather warmed up and I wanted less product on my face, this came into it's own.

A moisturiser, foundation, sunscreen, concealer and anti-aging cream all in one and I have to say my absolute favourite out of all the BB's I've tried. No silicones for a start. Then there's plumping and resurfacing over time, there's Vitamin C to boost collagen and reduce free radical damage, white lupin to energise and revitalise, ruby crystal to minimise the appearance of fine lines and imperfections and Mineral Cosmetology, a patented mineral delivery system to leave skin firmer, more supple and younger looking.

Sounds incredible, and it is. The only things I want to add are as follows, applies flawlessly, covers redness well but I needed extra concealer on my blemishes, the shade was perfection for me and it feels weightless on your skin...just like you've rubbed a light moisturiser in.

I can't rave about this enough. I've been wearing with a dab of concealer on blemishes, and certainly absolutely no powder, I don't want to lose the glow.

I am going to cry when this runs out. It's absolutely stunning. High price to pay, not too much in the sense that its not worth it, just too high for my personal financial circumstances, but if things were different, I'd never use anything else.

The rest of the range also looks sunning. Queen of Hungary Hydrating Mist... yes please!! Gold Flash Firming Serum.. yes! Instant Plumping Cream sounds amazing as does the Copper Peel and the Thermal Cleansing Balm... truly I could go on. What a truly beautiful range of products. Highly highly recommended.
http://www.omorovicza.com/uk/

*Disclosure - PR Samples*

Miners Mood Gloss and Blusher Brick

Miners is a brand I remember from some time in my past, perhaps when I was just getting into make up, but it's not a brand I've looked at for many many years, probably twenty years! Recently a friend donated a couple of bits to me as part of a package that also contained quite a few high end bits and I have to say that although I was grateful, I wasn't as enamoured with these products as I was the rest of the package. Turns out though, these are the first items I'm reviewing from my lovely gift as they are the items I've had the most wear from!

So the Mood Gloss I have is Glastonberry. It's a nice idea, and has colour changing technology that reacts with your individual ph-level to create a colour that's unique to you.  I actually wonder if really it's just temperature that makes a difference to the colour because look here...

You can see that as it comes out of the tube it's creamy white and the bit thats been out of the tube the longest is pink... not that this is a problem at all, its a very worthy gloss.

On me it's a pale pink, feels more like a lanolin lip balm, it's not sticky and feels moisturising and best of all it's £2.49! Seriously, thats a bargain. Love it.

The other item is the Blusher Brick in Browns.

Except it's not really browns, it's a pale peachy beige, a lovely peachy shade and a pinky bronze. And guess what, it's also lovely!

A lovely natural, non-shimmery cheek colour. Also love. And also a bargain at £4.49, there's also a pink one. Very nice indeed.

So thank you generous friend, these have come to a very happy home!

If you like the look of these then you can grab them from http://www.minerscosmetics.co.uk

Exciting M&S News!

M&S are about to relaunch it's beauty departments across all stores nationwide and I have to say it sounds impressive. M&S own brand products are all being repackaged and improved but not only that you'll be able to find selections of some incredible niche beauty brands such as Apivita and the amazing Dr Murad.

Not only that but there's be a new own-brand range called Pure with a natural and eco friendly proposition. There also seems to be a massive change in staffing as the Your Beauty departments will be staffed by experienced and expertly trained beauty advisers to offer advice but without any hard sell. All advisers have been specially selected and will be undergoing rigorous training to include skincare, hair care and make up training as well as skin analysis.

I think the whole thing sounds really excellent. The first department opened on 22nd May at the Kensington Hight street branch in London and you can have a look at what's on offer now at www.marksandspencer.com.

Two further departments open in June and the roll out of new departments will happen over the next 12 months with over 100 stores by Summer 2012. Sounds wonderful.

Glossybox - Just when you thought I was done...

Back in March I did a post about Glossybox which I entitled "My Final Thoughts", partly because I thought I'd said all I had to say about Glossybox and I suspected I wouldn't receive another one. It's not that I hate Glossybox but I certainly don't think the process has been perfect in many ways.

So I had decided that if I did receive another box I wouldn't review it because I'd already said all I wanted to say, and then came April's Natural Box and it turned out to be my absolute favourite of all the boxes I've received to date. Not one single dud product. I'm not going to give you the run down of everything in the box because, it's May now, the April box has been and gone and I know the contents have already been done to death in the blogsphere, but here's a quick look.

Monu Moisture Rich Collagen Cream
Caudalie Vinosource SOS Thirst-Quenching Serum
Burts Bees Naturally Nourishing Milk and Honey Body Lotion
Figs & Rouge Cherry & Vanilla Lip Balm
Inika Organic Eyeliner in black.

All beautiful products and the Monu and Caudalie have been exceptionally useful to me since my experience with that mask...that said, as always, if you've got oily skin, those two products will not have been ideal at all but for me, April's box was the best yet. I even loved the actual box. It's biodegradable and lovely.

Well done Glossybox, loved it!

*Disclosure - PR Samples*

Illamasqua Naked Strangers

I just wanted to share with you some images and information for the newest Illamasqua collection, Naked Strangers.

This is so stunning.

Stunning image. Aside from the glitter and gold leaf that is what I wish my make up looked like every single day.

And check out these nails... to die for...

Took me a few looks before I realised both hands were different!

So the collection is a gorgeous combination of golds and nudes. In Alex Box's own words

"Naked Strangers captures inner glows and depths. The deeply and darkly alluring exists alongside ethereal shimmering brilliance. We are complex and multifaceted whilst also being naked to the world."

It's a nice small collection.

Naked Rose Powder Blusher and cream blusher in Zygomatic (£16.50). Intense Lipgloss in Stranger (platinum gold) and Sheer Lipgloss in Intimacy (£13) and three Nail Varnish in Monogamous (creamy flesh pink, matte), Faithful (coppered metal) or Swinger (platinum gold) (all £13.50).

I like the look of everything but am particularly drawn to the polishes, Sheer lipgloss and both the blushers.... what about you?

The collection launches on 31st May.

BlanX Extrawhite Intensive Whitening Treatment

I've seen BlanX toothpastes around but somehow had not quite gotten around to trying it. In recent months my whitening toothpaste of choice seems to have disappeared from Superdrug and Boots shelves so the chance to try out BlanX came at a good time.

BlanX Extrawhite Intensive Whitening Treatment is not a cheap toothpaste at £10.50 but it is very effective. The idea isn't that you use this constantly as your toothpaste of choice, but instead use it as a treatment, twice a day for two weeks, four times a year.

I've used this this product for three weeks now (that'll teach me to not properly read the instructions!) and have certainly noticed a fantastic difference.

Alas, I totally forgot to take a before photo so the photo I'll show you in a second won't be much use to you, but what you need to know about my teeth is that they are naturally fairly yellow and that I apparently have quite "grainy" enamel which attracts stains... that and I drink way too much coffee.  So the following results are amazing for me, excuse the horrible grin, I hate showing my teeth, but I can do it with a little more pride since using this stuff!

Gurn!

So this is a definite winner for me, highly recommended. I like the fact it's not tested on animals, it's suitable for vegetarians, it's not gritty and so won't destroy your enamel and finally, I like that its made with Arctic Lichen because I think that's super cool (the Lichen inhibits the growth of bacteria, helps prevent plaque, reduces staining and soothes gums)!

BlanX is available From ASDA, Boots, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Superdrug and Wilkinson.

*Disclosure - PR Sample*

Carmex Carmex Carmex!!

Carmex! Everyone knows Carmex right? Everyone loves it don't they?!

Well I've been carrying around a little pot of Cherry Carmex for ages, because a) it lasts for ages and b) it works and c) because nothing beats the dryness you get after you've had a cold and I get a LOT of colds and d) the mentholly strawberryness is yum.

Carmex sent me three products to try out. A little tube of strawberry carmex, smells and tastes yummy, does a great job, like all Carmex does, but is perfect for those of you who don't like tubs you have to put your fingers into. Good job!

Then there's a little pot of original Carmex, for me this is my bedtime lip balm, I keep it on my bedside table and its the last thing I do every night along with applying my cuticle oil, sometimes I don't even bother with cuticle oil and just use the Carmex! I wake up with soft moisturised lips. Marvellous.

The main product I wanted to tell you about is the Carmex Moisture Plus Ultra Hydrating Lip Balm, perfect for me, lip balm meets colour. I absolutely adore lipstick, I have billions of them, but I actually don't wear lipstick that often, I far more often reach for a gloss or a balm, or one of the sheer lipsticks around these days... now I can have subtle sheer lip colour with all the benefits of an ultra balm. In this case. Peach.

SPF 15 Peachy shade, vitamin E and Aloe. I absolutely love this product.

 The Mositure Plus Ultra Hydrating Lip Balms (bit of a mouthful!!) are £4.49 and Carmex tubes and pots are a bargainous £2.54. Amazing.

Available from Superdrug,  Boots and all sorts of other chemisty type places.

*Disclosure - Products provide to me free of charge for review purposes*

My Groupon and No!No! Hair Removal Experience

I was approached by Groupon a few weeks ago with the invitation to try it out and purchase a deal so that I could share the experience with my readers.

For the uninitiated Groupon offers daily deals on things to do, see, eat and buy across cities in the UK, along with national deals. The deals are usually great value, and highly discounted and although I've been registered with Groupon for quite some time now, I'd not yet actually given it a go.

So, I had a look around at all the deals and although I fancied treating myself to some kind of beauty treatment, at the time there wasn't anything available for my city, so it was that I ended up going for the No!No! Classic Hair Removal Device at a bargain price of £99.99 including six extra blades (which had I bought from the same supplier without the Groupon deal would have cost me £259.96).  I'll tell you all about the No!No! in a minute, but first let me explain the process to you.

A deal appears that you fancy. In order for the deal to go ahead a certain amount of people need to buy it, and at that point you are ensured your deal will go ahead. You purchase your deal and then will receive a voucher or voucher code, this I believe, nearly always comes to you via email. For me, I purchased the the Groupon No!No! Deal and the following day the voucher code arrived in my inbox along with the the details and link to the site from where I'd be purchasing my No!No! from. The device wasn't available immediately, but a couple of days later, all of which was explained in my email. And so it was that a couple of days later I headed off to the Chemist 4U website, added the No!No! to my shopping basket, redeeming my Groupon code, and a couple of days later my device arrived in the post. Very simple, very quick and very easy.

Included in my No!No! box was the device itself, a buffer, five blades, a little brush to clean the blades, a pouch to keep your bits in, and a power adapter, in this case it was a two pin adapter but there was also a adapter so I could plug it into a UK socket. I had also got the deal with the extra blades so they were included but I've not photographed those.

So far so good. It's actually extremely easy to use but a little confusing at first, once you've got your head around it though its simple. You have to truly understand what this device is supposed to do though before starting. This hair removal method requires patience and time. You don't use this once and remove your hair, that's not the idea at all.

Let me explain. The basic idea of the No!No! is that over time, it will decrease the amount of hair on your body, and the time it takes that hair to grow back. You can use it on most parts of your body except your face, genitals (bikini line is fine) and breasts. There is another model I think that you can use on your face if you needed to.

The No!No! looks like an electric shaver but it doesn't actually cut, it uses a thermodynamic wire to pass heat to the roots of your hair follicles. The heat (which you can't feel) disrupts communication to the spot that stimulates growth and it lasts as long as you want it to with a continuous treatment. You can use it daily, but the manual suggests 2 -3 times a week. I've been using it 3--4 times a week so far and haven't seen any results yet but haven't expected to. This isn't an immediate hair remover, the good news is you can still shave  in the meantime so you don't have to be hairy!

You will be left with hair after using the device thats for sure, but as I say you can shave, but you also buff each area after you've been over it which removes a lot of stubble. Also, one big thing that I can tolerate but you may not be able to, is the smell of burning hair. Be warned.

As I say I've been using this for about 2 weeks now but I wouldn't expect to start seeing results until the 4-6 weeks mark so I'll of course come back to this and review again, for now though I'll just say it's a breeze to use, I'm optimistic and beware of negative reviews where the reviewer hasn't realised that this isn't an immediate hair remover. I'm just doing my lower legs at the moment but we shall see. You need to use for about 15-30 mins about three times a week for as long as you want to the product to work, and by around week 5 the need for additional shaving should be gone... we shall see, but I must thank Groupon for the opportunity to try this product out.

I can highly recommend the whole Groupon process and will be looking more closely at deals in future!

Take a look at what beauty deals there are on offer at the moment here.

*Disclosure- I was provided Groupon vouchers by Groupon which I spent on the No!No!*

Paul & Joe Summer Love Potion Lipgloss

I don't think its a secret that I'm a huge Paul & Joe fan. When they release a collection, I invariably want it all and as for the permanent line I've got a fairly hefty shopping list for that too...

The Summer Collection is called Midsummer Night Dream and the products are as you would imagine, magical (not Shakespearean!).

I was sent the Love Potion Lipgloss (£15) from the collection which is lovely. As always, the packaging is beautiful.

A softly shimmering pink with the delicious scent of strawberry and vanilla. It's very yum.

The rest of the collection is equally, if not more so, gorgeous and here's my wishlist.

Under the Stars, Love-in-Idleness and Moonbeam Self Select Eye Colours.

 Nail Enamel in Pixie, a holographic silver glitter £10.50

 Shimmering Pressed Powder £22. Need this, if I can only afford one thing, it will be this. Paul & Joe do amazing powders.

 Cheek colours in Faune and Nubile £15

Most of the collection is available on www.asos.com now and it will also launch on www.beautybay.com no 14th June. If things sell out before I get there I'm not going to be happy!