Thursday 31 January 2013

What's in my Shower?





Everyone girl likes a good nosey right? if you answered yes then this post is for you! This tag has been floating around blogger and YT for a while now, so its about time that I jumped on it.








So heres whats in my shower...



















Starting at the top of my shower I have my scrunchie, this one came with a gift set I received for Christmas.

Champneys Spa Treatments Citrus Blush Body Scrub.

This is the first time I have purchased this product, I normally opt for the Sanctuary salt scrub which doubles up as a good treatment for dry cuticles! I've only used this one once, but so far so good, I used it in the bath and afterwards my legs were left feeling smooth and exfoliated so I guess it did its job. I'm not overly keen on the scent, next time I will try another scent.







On the top shelf of my little caddy I like to keep mainly hair products but I also have a shower gel that didn't fit on the next shelf.





Champneys Spa Treatments Skin Comforting Shower Cream.

I love the smell of this product! I started using this shower cream over all my others becasue over the winter months my skin has become dry and a little sensitive, but since I started using this it has improved. I would defiantly re-purchase this!




Organix Brazilian Keratin Therapy Shampoo and Conditioner.

This has quickly become my favourite shampoo and conditioner, it has dramatically improved the look and strength of my hair, and are products I would re-buy and re-buy. I have occationally strayed away from this shampoo but have always gone running back.




Organix Coconut Milk Conditioner.

I always like to keep a back up conditioner in my shower. After my success with the Brazilian Keratin shampoo and conditioner I thought I would try their other ranges, but unfortunately I wasn't blown away by this conditioner.




The bottom shelf of my caddy is skincare. I like to keep "drugstore" skincare. I typically just pick up anything on offer to try.



Biore Blemish Fighting Ice Cleanser.

I'm not going to lie, I bought this product on a whim while shopping in Boots, it was half price and my skin was playing up (probably from all that bad food over Christmas). I think it has helped in clearing up my blemishes and it wasn't too drying for a product containing salicylic acid, which normally leaves my skin dry and itchy.




Clean and Clear Blackhead Clearing Daily Scrub and Deep Action Cream Wash.

I always keep a tube of this scrub handy, although I have never suffered from blackheads after seeign the add campange I have wanted to prevent them.



Imperial Leather LE Shower Foam.

I LOVE this foam for shaving my legs in the shower, I've used it for years, re-purchased time and time again and will never go back to regular shaving foam.





Radox Spa  Radiant Shower Scrub.

I always keep a shower scrub to hand incase i have applied a gradual tanner the previous night. This one came as part of a gift set so I don't know if its available separately but its really creamy and smells good too!



So thats the contents of my shower!

If you have done this tag, please link it in the comments so I can take a look.

Have you tried any of the products I mentioned?








Wednesday 30 January 2013

Swarovski Haul

This is beginning to become a yearly tradition! Its no secret that I love Swarovski jewellery, or anything sparkly! I find it to be just that little bit different from most things available on the high street, and of far superior quality. I would rather buy 5 good quality pieces from Swarovski that will last me a lifetime,  than to pick out little, cheaper pieces and have to risk the dreaded green skin and they only last me a month before its broken or discarded.




I have been collected Swarovski jewellery since about 2008 when C treated me my first piece while on holiday in Paris. I had been longingly looking at it in a shop near our hotel, little did I know he had already purchased it and surprised me at Christmas! Ever since, at Christmas I will always have a little Swarovski in my stocking or under the tree :)


This year I treated myself to a little sale shopping. I can never resist a 50% off sale. I only got three pieces but I am happy with everything I picked out.


First I chose this Tinker Bell Christmas Pendant.




Its quite a lot bigger than I was expecting, but I have been looking for a Christmas necklace for quite some time now and it was nice and festive looking. I have quite a collection on Tinker Bell Swarovksi jewellery now so this fits in perfectly! plus Christmas is my favourite time of year to visit Disneyland Paris and Paris in general so I think I will get lots of wear out of this, even if it is only for the festive season. (I was a little disappointed she didn't have a face, but oh well)!


Keeping with the Tinker Bell theme I also picked out the Tinker Bell Wings Ring.



I like this piece because it will bring together a lot of my pieces, I have a wing pendant from my haul last year which I think this will complement nicely.




and last but not lease, I chose a bangle. I don't have the name of it to hand, and on the invoice it just lists it as Bangle M Sapphire. It is a very fine, delicate bangle that will be great for stacking. I think the colour is beautiful, I am a sucker for that blue!




What have you been hauling in the sales?

xoxo


Tuesday 29 January 2013

Red White and Blue

Yesterday C and I finally had a free day together, so we decided to go see Les Miserables at the cinema! the film was great, I was afraid I wouldn't enjoy it as much as the stage show, or that I would be forever be comparing the two. But I am a massive fan of Ann Hathaway so I don't think I was ever going to hate it.

For the occation I though I would do a fun but easy manicure inspired by the french flag.


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I used OPI Vodka and Caviar (my favourite red), Alpine Snow and China Glaze First Mate.



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What films are you looking forward to in 2013?

Whose excited for The Great Gatsby? Monsters University? The Lone Ranger? The Great and Powerful Oz?

Monday 28 January 2013

on the Fly

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Fly is a true teal creme finish polish, at last! its photographed fairly true to the colour. This polish is everything I wished Ski Teal We Drop would have been. This was three coats, which I felt was needed for full opacity, but the colour is worth it!


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For a little bit of glitter I decided to add Pirouette My Whistle over the top, I love how subtle this glitter is, so it isn't so overpowering when being used as a top coat. I need to use this polish more, and I think it would be a perfect bridal manicure.

Sunday 27 January 2013

Kaleidoscope Owls

Today's nail art is something to cheer up on your Monday morning, I mean whats more amusing than cute, multicoloured owls on your nails? I dare anyone to have a gloomy Monday while wearing this manicure!

There are so many variations of this nail art floating around the bloggersphere so I don't really know who to credit the idea too, but here's my own multicoloured variation.

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Aren't they just so cute?

I used mainly OPI polishes for this mani,
The pink is Dim Sum Plum and Mod about You,
Green is Jade is the New Black and Mermaids Tears,
Purple is Funky Dunky and Rumples Wiggin,
Blue is Ogre the Top Blue and Whats With The Cattitude
and the orange is Flit a Bit, and I used it mixed with white for the lighter colour.
The yellow for the little owls eyes was a Barry M, as was the black.



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Saturday 26 January 2013

Melanzana Glitter

This is Melanza (Aubergine) Glitter from the Italian brand Collistar. I picked this polish up at the airport while I was in Rome back in 2011, and hauled it here. I must add that it wasn't a quick decision to pick this one from the tens of others. Collistar nail polish, like their make up, is beautiful. If I could go back to Italy I would definitely do my research and set out with a list of polishes to buy.

Collistar is available in Sephora's in Italy, I've also heard rumours they are available in Belgium, but I'm not sure how true that is.


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MG is a dark purple/magenta glitter dispersed in a dark brown/black base. The combination is unlikely but gorgeous and oh-so sparkly!


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On the nails this polished reminded me a lot of OPI Tease-y Does It from the Burlesque Collection. So here it is compared.

In the bottles both polishes look pretty similar, in fact its hard to pick out any differences, very close colours, both have a yellow/gold almost green duo-chrome effect.


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Both polishes are pack with a dark purple/magenta glitter, MG applies a lot darker that TDI and the base colour is darker, TDI is a few shades lighter and took an extra coat to be opaque, this is three coats compared to MG's two coats. Drying time on both polishes was superb, and both dried to a nice glossy finish, not gritty at all.

Friday 25 January 2013

Cake Pigeon

Last November we traveled to Nottingham to see this lovely lady on tour and I an kicking myself for not posting this nail art! I cannot believe I forgot to post it.




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The modern Millican is renowned for her fondness of cakes, so in honour of that I decided a cupcake accent nail was needed!

The base colour is OPI Alta Ego, a beautiful sheer pinky-nude polish with a violet flash- utterly amazing. For the cupcake case I used Kiko Lilac no:330 and OPI Funky Donkey.

The base colour for the rest of my nails is Essie Turquoise and Caicos, I added white polka dots to my little finger, and some metallic nail tape I picked up on ebay for the stripes on my middle finger. The glitter on my pointer finger is Barry M np340 Aqua Glitter, isn't it gorgeous?


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Thursday 24 January 2013

Kardashian Nails

I was inspired by the Kardashian Kollection, Dorothy Perkins collaboration with the beautiful Kardashian sisters and their Key Prints designs to create this funky animal print manicure.




If you want to try this manicure for yourself, you will need...
A good opaque white polish.
A Bright or neon polish for your pop of colour.
Black polish or nail art pen.
Dotting tool or bobby pin.

First I applied my favourite white polish to clean nails. This is the one and only OPI Alpine Snow, but any opaque white will do. Allow to dry.


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Take your dotting tool and your bright colour, I am using Barry M no 291 in Cobalt Blue, and apply your spot colour over your base.


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Taking your black polish next, partially outline the spots, alternating the direction in which you do so. Add a few small splodges of black in sparse areas to complete the look.


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And there you have it, your very own animal print manicure!


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Enjoy shopping the Kardashion Kollection! I can't wait to see the new range!

xoxo


Wednesday 23 January 2013

Oxide

This was another poundland find for me. I'm starting to think I have a problem... Hi my name is Clare and I'm addicted to buying nail polish in poundland (scratch that, in general).

This is 2 coats of product, the polish I find to be very thin and runny so the application was quite tricky.


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A lot of product builds up on the brush which is quite wide  and flat, so even with brushing off the excess before application, I still find that there is enough left on the brush to paid at least three nails. But despite that I really like this polish, its quick drying (touch dry in a couple of minutes) and once you get the hang of the application its actually quite quick and doesn't need multiple coats to achieve the colour in the bottle.





Here it is compared to the nearest thing in my collection.


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This is Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, which is just a couple of shades lighter, if you own LLM, you could probably skip Oxide, but if your a hoarder of nail polish like me, why not pick it up for a £1.

I wonder if Oxide would be a dupe for Chanel Graphite? ...

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees

This shade was released as part of OPI's 2009 fall collection - Coleccion de Espana. 4 Years later this polish is still completely and utterly unique in my collection.


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A beautiful smokey, charcoal, blue-grey polish with hidden shimmer. The first coat applies almost sheer, with chucks of shimmer, then it builds to this beautiful burnt out blue colour that is so chic. I find it dries satin, but with a good top coat this baby shines! What you see here is 3-4 coats.


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Monday 21 January 2013

Ski Teal We Drop

I've said before that I didn't really care for this polish, but like many things I have changed my mind. Teal is my favourite colour so really I should have love the colour since the get go.What can I say? Our relationship has been on the rocks. But things are on the up, I even included this polish in my top 13 OPI polishes this winter.

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OPI Ski Teal We Drop is a dark teal colour with a cream finish, I could have got away with just one coat of this baby, but the OCD in me made me apply a second coat for good measure.

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Ski Teal We Drop was released with the Swiss collection for fall/winter 2010.

Sunday 20 January 2013

Glitter Stetsons




At this time of year I start to crave neutral colour polishes, a great trick to transition into the next season. But I can't quite shake the festivities, so I added just a little glitter. 


You can see just how the weather has turned here in the UK, just look at those nasty, dry cuticles!






This is OPI San Tan-Tonio from OPI's Texas Collection, a milky, almost caramel brown polish. I used Boots No7 LE Glitter top coat, aptly named "Gold" for that little bit of sparkle.