Stella by Stella McCartney Limited Edition Perfume

This is another occasion where I have been seduced by the packaging. I don't really like Stella McCartney ( I think she is overrated as a designer), so I think if I had smelled this and been presented with the original bottle, I would have been less inclined to buy this (Yes, I am that shallow). Giving credit where credit is due however, the scent of this perfume has grown to be one of my favourites. It's a musky, subtle floral (a mixture of amber and rose that I normally wouldn't have chosen) which I think is perfect to wear all year round and at any time of the day. And the second thing I love about this perfume is the lovely floral print on the bottle.

These limited edition bottles are stunningly dressed in a bold floral print to match Stella McCartney's Spring/Summer 2011 mainline runway collection. There are three different designs and I think despite the fact that these came out some time last year, they are still available to buy in most of the large department stores (I spotted all three designs at Debenhams). These bottles are guaranteed to become future collectors' items. They also fit neatly in my handbag bag and look pretty on my dressing table. So, there's no reason why I shouldn't buy all three, right..?

May Magazine Freebies - Benefit for Glamour & Ciate for Marie Claire

If like me, you like a bargain, then I highly recommend getting this month's Glamour and Marie Claire magazines as they are both jam-packed with goodies this month!





Marie Claire has team up with Ciate nail polish to give their readers a free bottle of nail polish (usually worth £9) with every magazine (£3.70). There are three different shades available; Bon Bon (a pinky-brownish taupe), Jelly Bean (a hot pink with a purple shimmer) and Purple Sherbet (a soft lilac pastel). I'm not sure if these colours are exclusive to Marie Claire, but I think they might be as I can't see them on the Ciate website. Being the crazy nail polish obsessive that I am, I bought three copies of Marie Claire and got all three. If you love Ciate nail polish, there is also a discount code available via Marie Claire. If you enter the code CIATEMC12, you will get 15% off your total order when you shop online - but hurry as this offer ends on the 31st of July.





Next up, Glamour magazine have again teamed up with Benefit to offer their readers trial size versions of three of their best-selling products; 'That Gal' (a face illuminating primer), Bad Gal black mascara and 'The Porefessional' (a pro-balm to minimize the apperance of pores). Since I already have full-size versions of the first two products, I simply opted to buy three tubes of 'The Porefessional'. Each tube contains 7.5ml of product. The full-size version of this product costs around £23 and contains 22ml of product, so for a total of £6, I have actually managed to get myself as much product as there is in a full-sized tube at a fraction of the price. Bargain! I sure do hope this stuff is good...

Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades

Despite the fact that Collection 2000 is a budget brand, they still manage to make high quality products. (I think they are now called simply 'Collection'. I supposed what with it being the year 2012, '2000' doesn't really evoke something very modern and fashion-forward any more). I recently bought these two Shimmer Shades by Collection 2000 in the two shades that they were available in - 'Way to Glow' and 'Blushalicious'.





Both of these products come in a very sturdy plastic compact and include four different shades of blush, which you can either wear on their own or blended together. Both compacts are highly pigmented and not at all chalky, but I would conclude that these shades would look best on pale skin as they are not too dark and just give a nice flush of colour and glow.

'Way to Glow' is a bronzer and if you are as pale as a ghost like me, then this is the perfect shade for you as it is not too dark. What I like about this palette is that if you wanted to, you can use the darker shades separately to contour your cheeks and the lighter shades to highlight. You could also use these shades as eyeshadow if you wanted a completely matching look.

Below are some swatches. The first photo is each different colour in the 'Way to Glow' palette, and the second photo is all the colours in 'Way to Glow' blended together. I had to swatch these quite heavily so that my camera could pick up the colours.





'Blushalicious' is a gorgeous blusher with different shades of pink and coral and is perfect when blended to add a nice rosy, healthy looking flush to the cheeks. I think this is the more popular of the two Shimmer Shades as every time I went to a chemist to buy it, they were always completely sold out.

Below are some 'Blushalicious' swatches. The first photo is each different colour in the palette, and the second photo is all the colours blended together.(My camera didn't pick up the colours very well, this time. Grrrr!)






Shimmer Shades are available to buy at most chemists, including Boots, Wilkinsons and Superdrug and cost £4.19 each. They are also currently available in Asda for £4.

NOTD: Boots Number 7 Mojo

Is this the most perfect shade of nail polish for summer? I think it might be! I absolutely love this colour - a bright, happy coral with a soft gold shimmer running through it, which unfortunately my camera did not pick up. I love wearing this shade, especially when the sun is shining. It makes me feel all happy and summery. I have this right now on my toes and even my feet look happy!

I bought this using the Number 7 £5 discount vouchers which Boots promote every other month, so I got this polish for the bargain price of £2 instead of the usual £7. This polish is very soft and buttery and the application is great. The only negative I found with this polish is that I needed three coats to get the look in the photos, and I think it probably could have done with another coat as I could still see a visible nail line. Other than that, I can't say enough good things about this polish. The colour is amazing. Put a little sunshine in your life and try it!

Rediscovering The Body Shop - Mini Haul

Long ago, when I was a tweenager, The Body Shop was popular amongst me and my friends and just about every other girl aged between eight and fifteen. We'd all save up our pocket money in order to be able to buy little bottles of strawberry or orange scented shower gel and shampoo, and when it was your birthday, you always knew that you would get a Body Shop gift set from one of your friends. How things have changed since then!

I don't think I've stepped into a Body Shop since I was in high school, and the only reason I went in was because I'd read a good review about their hemp hand cream and wanted to try a tube for myself. I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly impressed with all their new ranges (which have probably been there for years and I've completely dismissed - when did they start doing make-up?! And stuff for grown-ups?!) that I went on a mini-haul and bought a load of stuff! I even signed myself up for one of their loyalty cards, which I won't get into right now, but all I will say is that it's not much of a bargain unless you are a Body Shop addict and shop there religiously.

Here's what I bough: (I've yet to use some of these, so for now I'll just write a mini-review of them all and maybe talk about them at a later date)






Hemp Hand Protector (100ml, £10) and Almond Hand & Nail Cream (100ml, £10)





These were on a special half-price offer (£5 instead of the usual £10) so I decided to buy two. I was a bit disappointed in the hemp hand cream when I initially bought it as I thought the smell was revolting, (it smells like an old hippy), but now that I have been using it for a few weeks, I have got used to the smell and I absolutely love this cream! A little goes a long way, it thoroughly moisturises your hands and leaves them silky soft and smooth. I bought the almond version to try simply because I liked the sweet almond smell.


Vitamin C Microdermabrasion (75ml, £12)




This was also on a special half-price offer, so I bought it for £6 instead of the usual £12. My mum thinks this smells like washing power, I think it smells like a citrusy toilet disinfectant. I've never tried any type of microdermabrasion product before, so I am curious to see how good they actually are.


Blue Corn 3 in 1 Deep Cleansing Scrub Mask (100ml, £9) and Honey & Oat 3 in 1 Scrub Mask (100ml, £9)




I got one of these free with my Body Shop loyalty card(Once you have a certain number of hearts on your card, they give you £5/£10 to spend in store). I have tried the Bluecorn mask before and I think I liked it, but can't say for definite at this point whether it was actually any good. I like that this product has different uses; you can use it as a deep-cleansing mask or you can use it as a face scrub, saving you money and space in your bathroom cabinet.


Facial Buffer(£3)




I am obsessed with body scrubs and exfoliation as I have very dry skin. I have exfoliation gloves for the body which I use every now and then when I feel my skin needs a little help, so I immediately put this in my shopping basket when I saw it as I have never tried any kind of facial scrubber before.


Vitamin E Illuminating Moisture Cream (£10, 100ml)




I love love love Vitamin E products. I am very big fan and they really do wonders for softening the skin. After seeing many good reviews of this cream... in it went into my shopping bag! This daily moisturiser contains light-reflective particles for a healthier-looking glow - I can't wait to use this!

Kerastase Cristalliste Luminous Perfecting Shampoo

My favourite shampoo of all time (and I know that's overestimating things) was Pantene's 'Brunette Expressions'. This shampoo was part of Pantene's range for coloured or colour treated hair which they surreptitiously discounted and my hair and I were left bereft. We both loved it. It made my hair so soft and shiny...

After a year or so of aimlessly trying out several different types of shampoo, most of which left my hair in worse condition that it originally was, I think I have finally found one that my hair has happily made friends with - Kerastase's 'Cristalliste Luminous Perfecting Shampoo'. It has been specially designed for thick, long hair (which is exactly what I have) and its light-weight silicone-free formula claims to 'smooth the hair, leaving it soft and supple'.

Given its hefty price tag of £13.90, I expected this shampoo to work miracles, and I wasn't disappointed. It has a rather watery consistency which lathers up nicely in the hair up to a certain point and then sort of melts away, leaving you with very little to rinse out. You'd think that this would afterwards leave you with lots of residue in your hair, but far from it. It washes away all impurities and styling products without leaving any residue and leaves my hair super shiny, soft and very light and 'free-flowing'. It also has the added bonus of having a delicious fragrance (think subtly floral, delicate and feminine) which leaves my hair smelling the nicest it has ever smelt. And I've always wanted a shampoo which would make my hair smell nice. What more could one want in a shampoo? I will definitely be purchasing this again when the bottle I have runs out and I'd also be interesting in trying out the accompanying conditioner and hair serum.

PS: If you don't have long, thick hair - fear not! There is also a version of this shampoo for fine hair, so everyone's a winner!

Paul & Joe Nail Enamel Remover

Is it wrong that I bought this product for the bottle alone? Hear me out. I am a nail polish addict, I am always buying nail polish and painting my nails (I need to join a support group or something), therefore, my bottle of nail polish remover is always out on display...so was it wrong of me to fork out £11.50 simply for this gorgeous 100ml bottle which will look super cute on my dressing table? Yes, the price tag is a little (ok, a lot!) excessive for nail polish remover, but once I have used up the nail polish remover it currently contains, I can refill it with Wilkinson's super-cheapy brand of nail polish remover, therefore I will still be using the bottle, it will still look super cute on my dressing table and all will be well with the world. This is my conclusion and I am sticking to it!

Despite the fact that I only bought this for the bottle, I must admit that the polish remover itself is actually very good. It removes nail polish very easily and quickly and it has the added bonus of leaving a lovely floral fragrance on your nails once the awful alcohol-y nail polish remover smell has faded. It also contains natural emollients such as sunflower oil, grape seed oil and rosemary extract to condition your nails and fingers, which many cheap nail polish removers do not have.

Would you spend £11.50 on this product? Or am I just crazy?