Bargain-tastic Haul

Hello lovelies

I thought I’d do a quick post on some of the bargains I have picked up this week.

First up are two of the Special Edition Nails Inc polishes in London and Paris. I’ve had some issues with Nails Inc polish in the past, however I pretty much run on Diet Coke and figured that as they were free it would be rude not to get involved. I’ve fallen completely in love with London and am planning on picking up a back-up over the weekend.

Next, I put my No 7 vouchers to good use for once. Usually I use them on eye make-up remover as I’ve never been very taken with No 7 products, but after a glowing reference from Rhamnousia I picked up a couple of the Metallic Eye Pencils, in gold and green. I’ve been really impressed by these so far and may have to pick up some of the other colours, turquoise and blue in particular have been screaming out to me!

Finally, my favourite bargains of the week were 3 full-size Paul Mitchell conditioners for £6 in Debenhams – yes, you read that right SIX POUNDS!! All in, they should have set me back somewhere around the £30 mark. As regular readers will be aware I’m a Paul Mitchell junkie and (after concealing a squeal of excitement) I picked up a Super Skinny Treatment and two Daily Moisture Boost conditioners. I found out the reason that they were on sale at such a knock-down price was because the in-store salon was closing down, if only I’d realised this earlier in the week I’d have cleaned them out!!

p.s Sorry about the dodgy picture quality, I’ve lost my camera lead – again!!

xxx

REVIEW: Paul Mitchell Hot Off The Press

Regular readers will be aware that I’m a bit of a Paul Mitchell devotee. I’ve tried out hair products from almost every brand going, but I usually always come back to Paul Mitchell. Though they are slightly more expensive than the products you would pick up in Boots, I’m a firm believer that its worth splashing out on professional products as they are so much more effective, and generally last much longer too.

The latest Paul Mitchell product I’ve tried is the Hot Off The Press Thermal Protection Spray. I picked this up last time I was at the hairdressers, and I believe its a relatively new product. Because my hair is bleached it needs a bit of extra protection, and my hairdresser has always drummed it into me that drying/straightening my hair without first using a a heat protection spray is a cardinal sin, akin to lying by the pool without wearing sun cream. I generally use Heat Seal as my heat protection spray, but my hairdresser sold this to me as it’s part of the Express Style range, and anything that makes drying my hair quicker is worth a try in my book.

Hot Off The Press is much more than just a heat protection spray, it also acts as a flexible hold hairspray which means that I don’t need to overload my hair with products – one will do.  According to the blurb, rice hull extract acts as a barrier between the hair and heat  and wheat proteins strengthen the hair.  The spray is an aerosol and gives a lighter mist than traditional heat protection spray. I find that a light spray before drying/straightening and also immediately after leaves me with perfect straight hair that holds its shape and volume for a good couple of days. The hold is very natural so it doesn't look like you’ve piled on the products or make your hair crispy like some hairsprays. I’d liken the hold to Soft Spray, and the smell to Hold Me Tight (which to the uninitiated is lovely).

The thing that I really like about this product is that it is as effective on dry hair as it is on wet hair, meaning that it is great for touch-ups, or straightening naturally dried hair. 

I haven’t yet tried this before curling my hair, but from past experience with Paul Mitchell products I’m sure that it will be fabulous. I’d definitely give this product a massive thumbs up!

xxx

…and the winner is…

Thank you for all of your entries – I was really happy to get so many, but in this case there can only be one winner and that lucky lady is….

The lovely Laura at Lollipop Loves!!

Congratulations sweets, email me your address and I’ll get your goodies posted out!

xxx

Product Rave: OPI Nail Envy Natural Nail Strengthener

Unluckily for me, along with stumpy eye lashes, I also have another beauty affliction – weak nails. My mum suffers the same problem, but she has always put hers down to the fact that for years she was a hairdresser, so spent a lot of time with her hands in water, unfortunately I have no such explanation! I religiously had nail extensions for 5 years which gave me great looking nails but cost me a fortune and left my real nails in a worse state than they were in the first place. 

 

Since I stopped getting extensions I’ve tried every lotion and potion going to try and coax my stumps into becoming beautiful talons, but I haven’t been having too much luck. I found that a combo of Soap and Glory Hand Cream and Boots No 7 Nail and Cuticle cream gave me a kick start growth-wise but they didn’t do anything much for the strength of my nails – they were still bendy and brittle.

 

I’ve been a fan of OPI colours for a long time (mainly because I can get them cheap with my Sally Trade Card) and I’ve picked up Nail Envy on a few occasions only to balk at the price of £15 and put it back on the shelf. Having tried Hard as Nails by Sally Hansen and been unimpressed I decided to take the plunge and invest in Nail Envy. This is one of the first products I’ve picked up without doing any research online first and I’m happy to say I’m really impressed, my nails are in the best condition they ever have been!

The instructions say that you should apply two coats of OPI Nail Envy strengthener on the first day, and then one coat every other day for one week. After a week, you remove the strengthener and try again.

I’ve been using Nail Envy for 3 weeks and I can’t stop singing the praises of this product. Within a week I was already beginning to see results, my previously soft and bendy nails became strong and flexible, and they have stopped peeling. I’ve also used Nail Envy as a base coat and I’m pleased to report that it works really well.

The verdict: If you have soft nails that are prone to breaking I couldn’t recommend this enough!!

xxx

 

Last Orders!

Just to let everyone know that you have until Friday at midnight to enter my giveaway. If you haven’t entered yet what are you waiting for?!

Enter HERE!

xxx

Aussie Goodies

I’m sure you’ve all read lots and lots of posts about this already but I thought I’d put my two penn’eth in!

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Emma at Aussie to ask whether I would like to be part of phase II of Aussie Angels and of course I jumped at the chance (special thanks to Sinead for recommending me!) I attended a couple of the Aussie events during the first round and had a fab time so I was really excited about being more involved during phase II. The first this to d was to decide which tribe I belonged to – I identified with most of them (except Luscious Long) but given that my hair is generally flatter than a week old bottle of bubbly I plumped for the Aussome Volume tribe.

Being a bit lazy, when the postman knocked on my door at 6am on Saturday morning I grumbled a bit and rolled over for another hours beauty sleep – I regretted that decision when I spotted what seemed like half of the world tweeting about their Aussie welcome packs later in the day! Turns out my laziness meant I had to wait until Monday morning to pick my treats up from the Post Office, that’ll teach me.

So On Monday morning, I toddled off to said Post Office to pick up this little bundle of joy:

Which contained:

• Aussome Volume Shampoo and Conditioner
• 3 Minute Miracle (I love this stuff)
• An Aussie Mirror
• Comb
• Badges
• and a Crunchie (slightly irrelevant but who doesn’t love free chocolate?!)

I was really surprised to receive this, so I want to say a massive thank you to Aussie!

I haven’t tried out any of the Aussome Volume range as yet so stay tuned for reviews!

Shout up if you’re in the same tribe as me – I can’t wait to meet up with everyone at the party in July!

xxx

Figure Envy / Gymspiration

I’m pleased to report that my gym going has been going pretty well, I thought that it may have been a short-lived flash in the pan (as these things generally are) but I’m consistently going 4 times a week. I’m not good at self-motivation so I find that classes work best for me and I’ve found 4 that I really enjoy – Boxing, Spinning, Power Step and Zumba. I’d like to try Body Pump but my gym buddy isn’t quite as keen and I’m not brave enough to go on my own yet!

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll never be skinny, I’ve got an boobs and hips and I’ve finally decided to embrace them! So instead of aspiring to a figure I’ll never achieve I thought I’d put together some pictures of girls with the kind of proportions I could realistically (with a bit of work) have. 

xxx

(All photos courtesy of Google Images)