Monday Moodboard #2

Currently surviving (not very well, might I add) off about two hours sleep, and frankly, I'm outrageously tired. I've a sore throat and would like to just complain all day and feel sorry for myself. Instead I thought I would scour the pages of Pinterest and Tumblr and make another Monday Moodboard. Except its Tuesday, so this will go live next Monday. It's all so confusing for a simple mind like mine.

(None of these pictures are my own. All are sourced from Pinterest)

An All-Natural Hair Miracle - Lani Hair Oil

Hola! Seems like forever since I posted, but now I have a new camera it's all about getting back into blogging. As of now I've a huge pile of products needing photographing and it's SO overwhelming. I need a little photography elf.

I thought I'd come back with a review of one of my current favourite products. And yes, it's another hair oil. I am completely obsessed but for good reason...

The ingredients used in Lani Tropical Hair Treatment (£10.95) are simply; virgin coconut, kukui nut, macadamia nut and camellia seed oils, so it is completely 100% natural and suitable for vegans. When combined these oils all have antioxidant and vitamin packed benefits for looking after the condition of your hair for both long and short term results. The coconut oil (which I'm pretty sure we're all obsessed with now?) means Lani smells heavenly, and completely reminiscent of beach holidays, meaning you get "Beach babe hair in a bottle."

On their website they suggest that every 100ml bottle will last 6-12 uses, which of course depends on how much product you use on your hair. I'm about half way through, use it relatively sparingly and have done about 8 applications so far.

My preferred method of using Lani is to slather the ends of my hair in product, put my hair up in what I call a "Pineapple bun" on the top of my head and let it do it's thing whilst I sleep. And I can pretty much guarantee when I wake up my room will smell like heaven, and my hair will look well, greasy until it's washed off... But that is when the magic happens. My hair looks shiny, feels deeply conditioned and the frizz is non-existent. Being such a wonder product, styling my hair afterwards is made so much easier and quicker thanks to the need for less tools and styling products.

Honestly, my hair has never looked so good and soon as I reach the bottom of this bottle I'll be repurchasing. I can't get enough of this stuff!

Sephora Haul

Like the rest of the beauty-obsessed world, I got SUPER excited when Sephora started to ship to the UK, and after a small amount of scouring I was left underwhelmed. Most of the brands weren't available for UK shipping, and not to mention the £75 spend to qualify for the £10 flat rate shipping. Then there's the tax... But finding out the delivery rate had been lowered; I caved. Yes, I do have very little willpower.

Being someone that reads a lot of American blogs and beauty sites I feel like I'd heard an absolute ton about this Japanese wonder-brand and the huge cult following in numerous countries. The Koh Gen Do Aqua Foundation is something that boasts a lightweight, "aqua" formula, with light-medium coverage and still allows the skin to breathe. Think Chanel's Vitalumiere Aqua but in a fancier bottle and much harder to get hold of. This foundation really is a thing of wonder and offers very lightweight coverage whilst staying put all day and not looking like you're caked in makeup. Not that I'd suggest buying foundation online and from America, I spent a good hour looking at colour swatches and definitely got lucky.

Being faithful to my Nars Pro Prime eyeshadow base, I felt like I was cheating a little buying Tarte's eye primer. I haven't actually used this yet, as for once I'm waiting till I've finished one before starting another. There's a first time for everything, right?

The LipSurgence lip pencils by Tarte dragged me in straight away given they have a matte finish, and how much I love applying lipstick in a pencil applicator. I bought the shade flush which is a highly-pigmented, deep berry pink that can be worn heavily or blotted down to a natural flush (no pun intended.) And stays put for a good 5-6 hours before needing reapplication. If you eat a ton of burgers however I'd give it a much shorter lifespan.

How sweet is the packaging on these pencils? Definitely want more! 

Seriously, believe the hype on this one. Anastasia Beverly Hills throws it out the ballpark once again with this stay-put formula. I bought one of the newest shades, Medium Brown, as all the others were too dark, and this is an ideal match for my brows, being not too dark or red. This dinky little pot packs a punch when it comes to pigmentation, and I find it best used with an angled brush once the excess has been wiped off. The best part? It completely stays put, like doesn't budge at all. They should have contemplated calling it Bulletproof pomade. Because it sets so quickly, you do have to work a lot quicker than you usually would with brow products. Something you can overlook for perfectly defined brows.

Hope you guys enjoyed a little nosey at what I bought. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my camera will be back within the next week and I can get busy on new posts. iPhone photography is definitely NOT my thing.

Guest Post | The Pyjama'd Traveller

I came across Ellie on Twitter via this article she did for Your Zen Life; I found her to be completely inspiring, and most definitely wise beyond her years. When I asked for guest posters on Twitter and Ellie replied I just knew she'd come up with something amazing. Instead of asking her to do a beauty post, I asked that she shine some of that amazing positivity over here, and she definitely delivered...

The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones that do that. UTA Hagen once said, “Overcome the notion that you must be regular. It robs you of the chance to be extraordinary.” 

You don’t have to follow suit or conform to anything that you don’t want to be, to conform kills your creativity, that spark of who you are. Who is anyone else to judge you for what you want in life. Don’t put your self-esteem in the hands of strangers. Likelihood is that they’re just jealous that you have the courage to be real and go for your ambitions with a determination like no other.

Think about it like this, where would you rather be in ten years’ time; sat at home thinking of the ‘what ifs’ or be out doing something incredible? It’s okay to make mistakes along the way to figuring ourselves out but we live in a culture where our every move is under a microscope, every event goes onto Facebook and pictures are uploaded within seconds of anything happening. It makes life seem suffocating and like we have no room to mess up. But we learn so much from our mistakes, they teach us about ourselves and they tell us what we really want out of life so do the courageous thing and go for it anyway. You just have to be brave enough to know that other people’s opinions don’t matter and they shouldn’t affect us. Our journey through life and the mishaps along the way are our business and our business alone. Everyone always wants to be there during your successes but look around and take a note of those who are there when you fall flat down, they’re the ones you want to surround yourself with.

It’s not immodest to know who you are and know what you can do, once you believe in yourself you become unstoppable. Never limit yourself as to what you can achieve because you feel pressured by the world around you to be a certain way. Go for something and if it doesn’t work out, present your mistake to the world in all its glory because we’re humans and that’s just what we do, we make mistakes! Society has made us think we need to be 100% perfect beings who never screw up but that’s just not possible because that’s not how we’re made! Don’t be afraid to be a dreamer, a do-er or a try-er.

Be out there, be spectacular, be courageous, be inspiring, be different. 

You can follow Ellie on Twitter, here. And find her blog, here. 

Hope you all loved this post! 

Giving Moroccanoil Competition - Redken Shatterproof Shine

How did every body's long weekend go? Mine was hectic to say the least. To put it this way, I'm glad to be sat down at my laptop watching Despicable Me with some cake and lemonade. Rock and Roll...

Without a doubt, when I think of hair oils, Moroccanoil is the first thing I think of. With it being my first foray into oils on my hair (well, all oils for that matter) and being one of the greatest things to ever happen to my hair, I truly thought it would never have any competition. But after voicing my opinions on being in a beauty rut, and coming across a silicone free formula by Redken, I ventured out into the land of hair oil, and was pleasantly surprised.

First of all, how gorgeous is that diamond inspired bottle? It isn't completely opaque though, if you hold it to the light you can see how much product is left - genius! Much unlike Moroccanoil, Redken's Shatterproof Shine has a dropper in the lid to get it out the bottle, and I have to admit, this is the one thing I don't like about this. Given its very runny texture, it has a tendency to get a little messy at this point. Pumps are much friendlier for hair oils. Companies, take note. 

The oil itself has a gorgeous scent, (which my non-technical nose would suggest to be apricot) and luckily, it disappears as soon as the oil has soaked into the hair, meaning you're still left with the clean, fresh scent of your shampoo. Whether it's used on damp or dry hair, this soaks in instantly and leaves behind tame, frizz-free locks with a beautiful, natural shine. I tend to use one dropper pre-blow dry, and two droppers post-blow dry and have found that my hair requires little/no styling afterwards, which is where Redken wins in the hair oil stakes. Whenever I've applied a lot of Moroccanoil, I have to wait overnight for it to soak in, Redken's is much less high-maintenance, and will leave hair looking healthy and conditioned immediately.

If we overlook the poor applicator it's very very possible I just went and found a new favourite hair oil. I would truly recommend this to anyone in the market for a new hair oil, and given it's only £23.95 at the moment on FeelUnique, it would be wrong to say no, right?

Have a great week guys! Hopefully I'll be back to regular posting soon as that camera of mine starts working again.

Getting Rid of Dark Circles? - Strivection Dark Circle Corrector

Eye-bags and dark circles don't make eye shopping easy, do they? Buying a cream to moisturise the area usually does just that, moisturise. Then what happens to the dark circles and anti-ageing? I'm 110% sure that I hate shopping for new eye creams, it's too difficult to decide what I want, and to find the perfect one without spending a near fortune. So I usually source an article online about eye-creams and see which one gets the best reviews, it's not scientific, but it sure does work for a lazy soul like me. This time, I found Strivectin coming out on top... 

This is a brand I know very little of, I've never tried anything by them before, and I honestly had no clue where even stocks their products. A little scouring on the net had me finding the Get Even Dark Circle Corrector on a site called "Salon Skincare" and with them having it discounted, I stuck this little pot in my basket quicker than I knew humanly possible.

It is the NIA-114 chemical which apparently does the brightening. And I definitely will not be getting all scientific on you, as I simply have no idea what I'm talking about. But I've had this since about March now, and have been using it twice daily to some results. I feel like my overall eye area has definitely been brightened, but not as much as I'd like it to be, and much unlike other eye creams I've used as a treatment, this one does have moisturising properties, so still keeps the delicate skin around the eye area looking soft and supple.

The texture of the cream is very silky and lightweight, meaning its the ideal cream for me. In the past I've used thicker creams, and they tend to feel tacky on my skin, at what point they usually get thrown away, as I hate my skin feeling sticky. This is perfect for day use, given it's so light, this doesn't make concealer sit funny around the eye area, is meshes with the skin as if you haven't just doused your eye area in dark-circle cream. A little goes a long way, and I'm only just about to run this down after using continuously for nearly 5 months.

I'm still unsure as to whether this will be a repurchase for me immediately, the results from using this weren't spectacular, but the texture was. I'm sure I'll decide to try something new then regret it and return to a brand new tub of this. I guess we'll see...

What are your favourite eye creams? New recommendations for these are ALWAYS welcome.

Glowing Skin - Eucerin Even Brighter Range

It's very much starting to feel like I talk a lot about glowing skin and how to achieve a beautiful complexion recently. So who am I to mess with my current streak? Here's my current moisturiser duo that's helping me on my way to perfect skin, minus the make-up... 

Honestly, I'd never tried Eucerin before these products. I knew very little of them as a brand and stuck to brands like Kiehl's and Bioderma cause I was too damn lazy to branch out. So I decided to suck it up and try something new a few months ago, and since then, I haven't looked back. The Even Brighter range is designed to even skintone and reduce any hyperpigmentation in the skin. 

The moisturisers themselves, are as you can see, very thick. Despite this they apply like a dream and don't sit heavily on the skin, and they're usually quickly absorbed, leaving behind a natural looking sheen to the skin. The day cream especially, has immediate effect, hydrating and plumping the skin to look perfectly dewy, and almost good enough to get away with zero foundation. When used together these are a force to be reckoned with. These will keep skin moisturised and the skin-tone even, whilst the day cream works extra hard, having an SPF of 30, this is the ideal moisturiser for sun protection and preparing skin for make-up.

Much unlike the moisturisers, the little pigmentation stick is nothing short of a huge disappointment and a pain in the a*s. It's doe foot applicator means you can apply precisely to darker areas, but it also means it makes your skincare routine take much longer, and smells completely gross. It ran out after about a month of day and night use, and had done nothing to my skin despite reportedly being a stronger concentration than the moisturisers. Huh? Not for me, Eucerin.

Street Style on Sundays #7

Totally obsessed with complete Minimal Animal style at the moment. Not the whole "Normcore" boring style, the chic, clean-lines minimal style. (The "animal" was just me thinking I'm funny.)

You've had the slouch variety... Now the structured...

Hope you're all having a great weekend. I'm off to indulge as much as humanly possible. Champagne counts, right?!

Images are all off Pinterest.

A Haul of the Large Variety

As I write this, I sit angrily staring at my camera, that has temporarily decided to go kaput. Of course I'm not actually sitting giving a Canon camera stink-eye, I just do every time I'm stuck for words. I did promise quite a while ago to share another haul, which I just managed to shoot before my camera went to sleep. So there is some good news to accompany the bad.

Here's some of the things I've bought recently... (And pretty please do note, that some of these were birthday gifts, some bought with birthday money, a couple were gifted by companies, and some were bought with various reward cards). 

Naturally, there's a good dose of Chanel. I'm obsessed with the Destiny cream blush and the mascara, so they will be popping up here on ze blog, and on my face much more! Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in Utopia was something I felt completely smitten with, and it's pretty much the lavender version of Emerveille, but the purple tones are much more brightening on the eye area (apparently lilac lids are something we associate with children, hence the anti-ageing. Smart!)

I caved. After buying my first Charlotte Tilbury bits a few months ago, I had to jump on the Filmstar Bronze and Glow bandwagon, and BOY is it amazing. (I'll be reviewing all my CT bits on The Beauty Corner soon.) When you think Dior can't make even better nail polishes, they go ahead and reformulate to a gel-finish and release beautiful vintage red shades like Rouge 999 - I'm in love! And needless to say, I just NEEDED two more lip balms. 

I'm blaming the purchase of this wonderful bottle of Lani hair treatment on Steph, cause it's always much easier blaming it on someone else. This is an all-natural hair oil treatment, that smells like holidays, and does incredible things to your hair. I insist you try it. And as I found a LookFantastic discount code, and kept hearing about Shu Uemura's Art of Hair products, I am a bad person that doesn't need this many hair products had to make a purchase.

More hair products? I have a problem. Another oil? Yes. Neal and Wolf were darling enough to send me the blow dry balm to help me along the way whilst I'm introducing my hair to cleansing conditioner. FYI, the first stage isn't pretty, but when you get used to it, you feel like you're living a shampoo commercial. The lightening spray is 110% justified, if you could see my roots you'd be trying this too. My hairdresser is on maternity leave, so I wanted something to keep me going until she got back. Unfortunately I chickened out, and I'm still waiting on her return, just this time with about 2 inches of roots instead of 1cm. 

No haul is complete without a couple bits from Space NK. After running down my second bottle of REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal I was impatiently trying to replace it - I love this stuff! I wish I could say the same for the He-Shit tan (That was HONESTLY a typo. It seems pretty darn relevant though.) which is the worst fake tan I've ever used. It soaks through mitts, smells of biscuits, and has zero benefits, whatsoever. BOO, what a waste of money.

This beautiful necklace was my Birthday present from my Nanna and Grandad. I love it so much. Dogeared has lots of jewellery with meaning, and the packaging helps make it so much more personal. I can see this becoming attached to my neck like no necklaces have done before.

What does anyone that's obsessed with fashion do with their birthday money? Ray-Bans of course! These are the small Clubmasters, and they're the perfect mix of classic styling, hippy influences, and the ideal amount of me in the reflection. Hey!

With my Waterstones card collecting money like there's no tomorrow, I went a tad book crazy. I love reading, so I like having a good selection to choose from when I'm due a new read. I'm currently reading Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, and it really isn't the best book to read in bed, but it's definitely peculiar...

Hope you're not all wasting away by the time you've reached the bottom of this post. Congratulations though, you've made it, you can go and get a cuppa now and go back to the real world.

Lots of love.

Catch-up.

Hola everyone! How's it going? I'm currently in the middle of  one big mess, as I've started decorating my bedroom. You don't realise how much hard work it is until you start and have no furniture left, do you?

Anyway, before I trail off onto a completely different topic, I just wanted to share something with you guys. I've been spending some time writing for the amazing Stephanie new site, The Beauty Corner. It's so amazing, with beautiful photography, reviews, routines and so many products to drool over. So on occasion, you can find me over there.

Here's a sneak of the first two posts I've done. (And links to both)

I've now got the Benefit BeneBalm, because of course, being infatuated with the Benetint just isn't enough for us beauty addicts.

And the Chanel Les Beiges Tinted Moisturiser I haven't stopped raving about? Here's a full review. 

I'll probably be keeping you updated here with links to some of The Beauty Corner's articles. But if you scroll to the bottom of their page, you'll find all the relevant links to keep updated on all of our beauty goings on! Also, look out for my upcoming guest post on Crownbrush UK's blog... 

Lots of love.

Cheating Perfect Skin

If someone complements me on my skin, I always do a little snigger internally. Not that I can't take a complement, (I can't, but we'll leave that for another day) it's more that it takes me forever and a year using skincare products and various makeup products to cheat something not even close to "perfect" skin. These two products are the ones that are currently acting as real-life Photoshop for my face...

Given tinted moisturisers were my first venture into make-up (and that's something we usually wish to forget) I somewhat surprised myself with how much I liked this Chanel Les Beiges fluid when I tried a sample. So I took myself down to the closest Chanel counter and the rest was history. It offers a very light coverage, but covers everything you want it to. I'm looking at you, hormonal redness and spots. And being someone that prefers an unfragranced base product, the white rose scent of this is heavenly, and helps to protect skin from environmental damage, whilst offering boosts of hyaluronic acid to up the moisture levels of your skin.

And once again, I find myself revisiting the This Works Perfect Look Skin Miracle on ze blog, and I realise how big of a cliche this is now becoming, but I just cannot get enough of this literal miracle product. This "tinted skin perfector" is highly rated by Lisa Eldridge, and for good reason; it's sheer, hydrating, and has the good variety of natural ingredients, that collectively help to make us all beautiful. With the caramel and mica ingredients offering the colour, this is suitable for all skin tones, and will adapt to your natural skin colour.

These two products work amazingly together, and just as well on their own. The This Works perfector is ideal for light coverage, but won't cover any spots, at which point the Chanel offering will come in handy. Layering both of these products or using them singularly will perfect skin, depending on whether you want a sheer or heavier coverage depending on time of day and skin concerns. With each of them having no nasty ingredients, the only other thing you'll be needing is your SPF, then you're good to go.

Have you tried either of these products? And what products do you use to fake perfect skin?

Current Summer Favourites

I'm not sure what it is, but I'm totally repping shiny skin right now. I don't know how it happened but my nose is occasionally glossier than a mirror. Unrelated to this post, but there you have it. I'm shiny.

I've been obsessed with these products lately. Naturally I had to share them...

The always lovely Dave Lackie surprised me with this little wonder a couple weeks ago, all the way from Canada. This Chanel parfum is utterly beautiful, so feminine and something which really reminds you of the classic floral fragrances. Despite feeling a tad wary of whether or not I want to use it (just so this bottle never ends) I'm finding myself reaching for this more and more. Sorry, Jo Malone, you've got competition.

When something gains the Lisa Eldridge deal of approval you know it's a good 'un. This Works' Perfect Look Skin Miracle is no exception, with a very sheer and buildable texture, this tinted (dubbed moisturiser, I think it's a lot more like a primer!) cream perfects and brightens skin tone within seconds. It takes a lot for some people to fore-go the foundation, and this product is the one that helps you do so. This is the most incredible product, has zero faults and I recommend you buy it, now. (Sorry!) On the topic of beautiful skin, RMS Living Luminizer also helps the This Works product to perform miracles. It's an all-natural coconut oil based luminizer, with zero shimmer, just a beautiful dewy, glossy skinned finish. Completely incredible.

Dior Addict Lipstick in 571 Exotique was a limited edition from about a year ago, and given I managed to get the last one in the store, it was destiny (or so I tell everybody to warrant the purchase). This is the best lipstick for versatility, its sheer formula means you can have a light, rosy glow to your lips, or a full on hot pink pout. Charlotte Tilbury's Five Star Lashes meanwhile, gives you the most fluttery natural lashes, with added length volume and curl. Despite the fact it's somewhat of a pain to get hold of, it's completely worth it, and I'm also infatuated by the Wonderglow primer, but we'll leave that for another day...

For good reason, Homeoplasmine is one of those things I refuse to stop talking about. I dedicated a full post to this beauty, here. Sticking to the French theme, I've found myself reaching for Klorane's natural dry shampoo more than normal. I'm trying to introduce my hair to co-washing, and well, it's currently turning to the grease-side. Yuck! Klorane's dry shampoo is amazing for getting rid of minimal grease at the roots, has very little scent, and is so much kinder than the likes of Batiste.

As some of you may know if you follow me on Twitter I will be turning 20 tomorrow! I'm completely in denial that I'm no longer a teenager, so I will be henceforth calling myself "twen-teen." Of course the benefits of a birthday are that I'll be getting presents, and naturally, I've been treating myself more than normal, so expect a haul in the next few days.

See y'all when I'm filled with champagne!

Lets Be Frank

The social media presence of this pouch of body scrub is enormous, with the brilliant people behind the pages writing everything in first person as if Frank body scrub is, well, just that... A person. With the large amount of the Internet now raving about this little, somewhat dirty guy, I thought it'd only be fair to share my thoughts of the guy that's now showered with women all over the world.  

With an all natural ingredients list, including coffee, almond oil, coconut oil and grapeseed oil, this body scrub promises to help reduce the appearance of cellulite, stretch marks and skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema and acne. The premise of this scrub is quite the new one to me, which involves jumping in the shower to dampen the skin, then using the scrub in circular motions, and then getting out of the shower (I'm not going crazy) to let the scrub dry and let the caffeine get to work on evening skintone and helping any problem areas.

Honestly, I've not had any spectacular results from using Frank, and I still have pesky stretch marks on my inner thigh that refuse to budge. I have found that my skin has been really smooth, a couple scars on my legs and foot have slightly faded, but nothing compared to the results of some people. Maybe I was just expecting too much? I go through a lot of body scrubs too, to remove any old fake tan marks and to prep my skin for a new layer, but Frank just doesn't cut it for this purpose, I find it doesn't remove enough, and leaves me occasionally patchy. (My attractive level is exceptionally high right now, honest.) 

The smell of the original Frank (there's coconut and cacao variants at the moment) is heavenly, like the most amazing freshly-brewed coffee, and truly does make you lust after a trip to Starbucks.

I do find this quite fun to use however, and probably would repurchase when I run out, as I kind of enjoy the ten minutes spent drying off in a room smelling like coffee - is that weird?! But just a quick FYI, do take some music into the bathroom with you, and possibly a book. Also, be prepared for mess, EVERYWHERE.

And for those worrying that you still have to get Frank body scrubs shipped from Australia, worry no more... Frank is now available in the UK and with free shipping! You can find all three variants, here.