Friday, May 31, 2013

My Galibardy Picks of the Week

Welcome to the next obsession of mine. I stumbled upon this site a couple of weeks ago and ever since then, I have been hitting up the site every day. They do restock new products in at quite an amazing speed and I decided to spend my hard earned money on some very affordable and well made (and truly fashionable) pieces.




The Gold Horus Afrocentric necklace was £18 and up until last night it was in stock, but I'm sorry to inform you all that it is now sold out. I love pairing this up on top of something black or a black & white top with a fierce red lips. It is just my favourite piece right now.




The silver lion necklace crept up only last week and I just knew I had to have it. It is reminiscent of a vintage Versace, which is the Versace that I prefer and not the new styles under Donatella. The Silver lion necklace is not as heavy as the Gold horus necklace, but it is still very well made and I love it. I wanted a silver chunky necklace and I finally found one for an amazing price of £14.




They are affordable and similar price to Gogo Philip which was the jewellery that I was obsessed with last month, but I find that they don't tarnish as easily. My Gogo Philip bracelet tarnished within a week. The Galibardy jewellery also comes in a pouch (I love little extras like that) and the Gogo Philip stuff does not.  Overall, I much prefer Galibardy jewellery for the uniqueness, artistic creations, and better overall just better craftsmanship/quality.

You can find her stuff at www.galibardy.com

Have a fantastic warm Friday :)

Thursday, May 23, 2013

The Synchrorose® fast Active Face Cream Gel Review

This week has been a very odd week for me.  A lot has been going on and I feel I haven't really slept peacefully and I feel worn very thin. Ever feel that way? I'm sure everyone can empathize with me. 

This review has been in the works for quite sometime. I was asked to review some products from the Synchrorose line and after testing out the few that I was given, I decided to review the Active face cream gel. 


Personally, the others did not work for me as well as this cream did.  First let me tell you a little something about this line. In less than 54 days, this line is going through a name "make over". They will be known as, Rosacure. You can find out more about this new launch here. The entire skincare line is backed up by research that can be read about here.

So after reading what felt like a science textbook lol, I decided to start using this cream at night.  I have some redness on my cheeks that has been there for years and I'm not sure which category that I might fall under when it comes to the causes of my rosacea, but I know it's something that I struggle with, so I was very eager to give this product a try.

The website describes this product as follows:

"A fast-acting combination of original plant based active ingredients, incorporating the synergistic properties of MSM, which visibly reduces permanent & intermittent redness and thread veins. (Subtype-1 Rosacea Symptoms).

Main functional treatment, for an immediate intense soothing action that combats intermittent and permanent facial redness. Reduces the sensations of discomfort such as stinging and burning. Rosacure® FAST shows visible redness improvements in 10 to 14 days in 75% of cases in clinical dermatology controlled hospital trials on confirmed rosacea sufferers and after just 2 months of regular use, a significant reduction in the visibility of small facial blood vessels is evident.

The product is presented as a cream gel to improve application & absorption and reduces the skins reactivity to sensitising triggers while leaving the skin feeling fresh and hydrated. Rosacure® FAST is extremely well tolerated, improvement continues with repeated use on rosacea prone skin."


This cream gel was the only product that I was able to use.  It has no fragrance to it and it glided onto my skin easily.  I haven't used the entire tube, so I can't say that I have seen any drastic changes, but I will say that it hasn't had an adverse reaction on my skin either. This would be a very soothing gel if my skin had a flare up.  I usually get flare ups if I'm extremely hot/sweaty and/or stressed, so I think I'll make sure I have this handy if I plan on going somewhere hotter than the uk (which is just about anywhere else at the moment lol).  I need to give this another month of so to start seeing some changes to be honest.

Here are the ingredients:
Ingredients: AQUA (WATER), DIMETHYL SULFONE, GLYCERIN, C12-15 ALKYL BENZOATE, DICAPRYLYL ETHER, ETHYLHEXYL ETHYLHEXANOATE, SILYBUM MARIANUM EXTRACT, HYDROXYETHYL ACRYLATE/SODIUM ACRYLOYLDIMETHYL TAURATE COPOLYMER, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, POLYISOBUTENE, SODIUM HYALURONATE, SOYBEAN (GLYCINE SOJA) PROTEINS, PEG-7 TRIMETHYLOLPROPANE COCONUT ETHER, HELIOTROPINE, DISODIUM COCOAMPHODIACETATE, PPG-2 METHYL ETHER, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, PHENYLPROPANOL, DISODIUM EDTA, BHT.

This gel is £26.95 for 30ml and can be purchased through Skinmed on their website here along with some of the other products in this line.  They basically carry a skincare line for every single skin woes that people might have.  So if you are someone who likes to know that there is a lot of research behind their products, then hop onto Skinmed and have a read, you may find something on there that's convincing.





Monday, May 20, 2013

My first experience with Penhaligons and Review of Amaranthine

Last week I was at Bank and had about an hour to kill before my train so naturally I gravitated towards the shops. I glazed like a lost puppy dog outside Louis Vuitton and Gucci and realised that this was not the time for me to spend my hard earned savings on accessories, but the money was burning a hole in my pocket, so I ran into Penhaligons before my co-worker could object.

What a glorious trip that became to be.  I fully appreciate excellent customer service as that's something that I train my staff in on a daily basis.  The women of Penhaligons were warm and friendly.  They never sized me up, and they never acted snotty or better then me. How refreshing to have that kind of service in London, let alone in Bank.

I spoke to women briefly about my love for the packaging, the beautiful shop displays and how beautiful it smelled in their small shop.

 (My apologies for the iphone photos, I didn't expect to be blogging so I didn't have my camera on me)

Gorgeous statement candles
Neroli candle , £87

Of course this gorgeous decadent chandelier caught my eye. How beautiful is that! I absolutely loved the old perfume labels that adorned the back wall.


How beautiful does that all look next to each other? I seriously wanted to take a loan out and buy it all.  My photos do not show, but they featured their fragrances, shower gels, body lotions and other fragrance accessories.


I got to try some perfumes on my skin based on some of my favourite oils such as bergamot and neroli.  After 30 minutes of asking a million questions, I decided to drop some hard earned cash up in there.  I ended up buying a 50ml of Amaranthine, a Fragrance library set (£16), and walked away with a smile on my face.

I picked Amaranthine out of all the other lovely fragrances, because I do not own anything even remotely close to it.




Penhaligon's describes their fragrance as:

"Amaranthine is a corrupted floral oriental for those private moments when everything is anticipation. It opens with a dramatic flourish of spices and tropical green. This unsettling lick of drama is beautifully ambushed by an unctuous accord of jasmine and ylang-ylang, a heady bloom renowned for its aphrodisiac properties, and clove swathed in spices, tea, musk and the rounded beauty of tonka bean absolute."

Now I don't know about you all, but I absolutely love fragrance descriptions. They really believe that fragrance is an Art.  I absolutely agree with them 100%, but sometimes their descriptions will either encapture someone's imagination or deter someone from reading it.  I believe whoever wrote the descriptions for Penhaligons is doing a superb job.

We all know that fragrance smells different on different people as long as they use raw materials. CK will smell like CK wherever you go, that's their brand recognition.  That goes with a lot of different fragrances on the high street, so when you get into the niche fragrance world, the description of fragrances become complex and you get a variety of opinions.  How does one describe an abstract painting? They do by emotion.  I believe niche fragrances are the same way.  So here is my "artistic" interruption of Amaranthine.

Amaranthine at first glance (sniff) is:
Seduction
Anticipation
Lust
Yearning
Seedy/Dark/Underground
Floral
Night-time
Smell of perspiration
Mimicks natural endorphines
Vintage

When it settles, it is:
Delicate
Warm
Sweet
Comforting
Satisfying

This fragrance is a seductive fragrance that represents sex for me.  The boldness and seduction of the "hunt" and finishes off with the morning after satisfaction.

I absolutely love this fragrance when it settles on my skin after a few hours, it is so sweet and warm.  The lasting power on this fragrance on my skin is 8-10 hours and even after I had a bath, I could still smell residuals of the sweet base note.  I was really impressed.

My love for niche fragrances is born.

Amaranthine is available on their website here and it can be purchased for £68 for 50ml ad £95 for 100ml.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Galibardy Rocks My World

I can't believe I only just learned about this indie jewellery maker based right in London.  The creativity, the energy, and the raw style that exudes from this brand has just made it my #1 jewellery brand for 2013.  That place was recently held by Gogo Philip, but there is just something very authentic about this brand that just has me in love.  Here are a few pieces that really stuck out to me and have made it onto my wishlist.

£21 found here

£22 found here


£21 found here



£18 found here


I feel an Egyptian 80's revival up in here! I can't wait to grab some of these necklaces. Swoon!

Check out more of her pieces at www.galibardy.com
and get 20% off your purchases with code: TOKKIANDOLIVER20.
Valid until Monday so get yours fast x


What do you all think of these?
Let me know which ones are your favourite?


Longchamp Le Pliage Jeremy Scott Travel Bag - Leopard Flourish

Greetings everyone! So...I've been very good about my expenses so I could bring this baby home!

Photos from Selfridges.com

Longchamp Le Pliage bags are supposedly inspired by Origami and are very handy bags to have to travel with. I mainly bought it for practical reason....yeah right. I bought it because it was loud and flashy and I wanted something to pop when I travel for business (which I've been doing a ton of).
I have to give a shout out to Zara at Mouldy Fruit, as I didn't even know that Jeremy Scott did a collab with Longchamp until she featured a pink bag with doggie bones on her favourites video.  Since then, I've been on a hunt and although the other bags were cute, there was nothing that quite felt like "me", until this!

I'm in a very strange place with fashion. I'm trying to find statement pieces that are borderline "out there" - sort of like yours truly :)  Actions shots to follow soon.

For £210, this baby can be purchased here on the Selfridges website.


Sunday, May 5, 2013

Christian Dior nail polish in Dune

All these posts are long overdue. My fantastic Dior SA gifted this to me ages ago...yikes, I'm so rude.  I never go for brown polishes, but for some reason, I just love every colour that Dior ends up doing.  There is just something very elegant and subtle about this version of taupe brown.

Application was flawless, brush was amazing as usual and this is 2 coats.







Dune was part of a previous collection, but a simple google search produced many different places that were selling it for £18.

Hope you enjoyed the swatch and please leave me a message and let me know what your favourite Dior polishes are? x

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Lush cosmetics bubble bar in Magic Mushroom and The Carrot

Hello there :)  Hope everyone is having a fantastic week.

I'm excited to finally indulge myself and use my Lush bubble bars.  I'm such a hoarder and I need to stop.  A while ago, I had a chat with a co-worker about how we should use our products instead of hiding them away for that rainy day. So I decided to photograph the two products that I've been holding onto because I thought they were too adorable to use.  So here they are in all their adorable glory and I shall be using them up in the next couple of days.

MAGIC MUSHROOM



I love the soft and mild vanilla scent and let's be honest, look how adorable it is.

Magic mushroom is a retro product and is available online for a limited time.  You can get yours here.

 THE CARROT




The carrot has a unique scent to it that I have never smelled before so I looked up the ingredients and there is something called Bucchu oil in there that smells like blackcurants.  I love how they added this oil and that's exactly the smell that drew me in.

The carrot was a limited edition Easter product, but it doesn't mean it'll never come back.  You can still get it if you buy the Spring tin gift set or the Mr. Hoppy giftset.

So if you can grab it, definitely grab this reusable bubble bar x

Ok it's going to hurt using these, but I'll try my best to enjoy it haha.




Friday, May 3, 2013

Hare Polish The Monster nail polish swatch and review

This review is so long overdue and huge apologies to my friend penelopetree who sent this to me.  I'm not really one who ventures into the world of indie polishes, other than Elevation polish, so please forgive me if my post sounds a bit like a nail polish novice :)

Monster is a green jelly with sparse green and black glitter.  The formula is very thin so I had to do 4 layers, next time I'll use a base coat.



one coat

two coats

two coats

3 coats

3 coats

4 coats

4 coats

The glitter was dispersed evenly throughout the polish and the colour build up nicely.  I personally would have loved the polish so much more if there wasn't green glitter inside the polish, but it's very hard to tell so I do like this polish quite a bit.  It's different and not too glittery and sparkly.  It's just perfect for a non girly girl like myself :)  I'm not a fan of glitter polishes, but I'm starting to warm up to it.  Maybe all this sunshine is making me feel upbeat and cheerful lol.

For Hare polishes, please visit their website http://www.harepolish.com for more info.


Thursday, May 2, 2013

Spring RAOK revealed

It's been so long since I joined a raok, but I remember now why I missed it so much.  I put together a short collage of all the fantastic box that was gifted to me recently.  There are some amazing products and I am really looking forward to trying them out and reviewing a few of these.




The box contained:
* Clarisonic brush replacement head
* Chanel rouge coco shine in Sari d'eau
* Aveda hand relief
* L'occitaine Pivoine Flora hand cream
* Godiva hazelnut creme coffee
* Lush 25:43 perfume, Ma Bar, Whoosh, Ice blue soap, Demon in the dark soap
* Aveda soy candle
* Gourmet Dog treats and biscuits

It was such a fun package to open up and I had so much fun! Thanks mm16 for this amazing package!