Nail Polish Exchange Haul

I don't know what it is about mail, but it's just so exciting.  A huge part of why I join these online gift exchanges is purely for the joy of opening up a mystery package.  I present to you a package that I got yesterday :)

Love the wrapping!

 

My secret exchange buddy hooked me up with my favourite american candy! Oh god the inner kid in me jumped for joy lol

 

So happy to have a back up of the Bourjois magic nail polish remover!

 

China Glaze Luxe n Lush

My favourite out of this whole lot had to be the China Glaze Luxe n Lush. 

Thank you kezza30! really had a good time opening up my box and playing with the polishes xx

No 7 Essential Moisture Day Fluid

As the bills keep coming, and pockets feeling a bit light from the past Christmas and birthday splurges, I definitely need to skimp somewhere.  Well, I ran out of my face lotion, and I decided I need to stop holding onto the concept that expensive means better.  The days of buying $150 bottle of skincare are gone, at least for now.  So I took my broke behind down to my Boots and used my £5 off voucher and came home with this.

 

After parting with £5, I felt really good that I have a 100ml product.

I did test it at the shop and liked that it was a light texture.  I'm the type of girl that doesn't like to feel things caked onto my skin.  That's probably because my skin isn't on the dry side, and also because I'm in my 30's where my skin still retains a lot of moisture.  I'm sure older ladies face the complete opposite.  So I opted for this vs. the day cream which was thicker.  Just an fyi, the day cream comes in a pot where as this is a pump, and it is also £9 for 50ml.

I came home and washed all my makeup off.  I really applied it thick today - extreme cat eyes and all lol!  So my skin was definitely feeling dry after stripping off all my makeup.  I applied that moisturiser at 3pm, and now at 7:45pm, my skin still feels very supple and soft.  Very impressed Boots!

*Hypo-allergenic

*non scented and

* Cheap!

Can't ask for anything more.  I'll report back if my opinion changes after using a whole bottle, but if this works out.  I think I just found my new cheap HG moisturiser.

I also did walk out with something else from Boots, but it wasn't for me. Oh and before I forget...

DEAL ALERT!

Christmas stock is now 75% off in stores only (sold out online), so you better rush down now otherwise there will be nothing left.

No 7 Completely Quenched Moisturising Body Lotion

For my birthday, my friend gave me a No 7 Trio set. I was excited, because although No 7 may be a common line for those who are from England, but for me, it's still a fairly new brand.  Also,  this particular lotion cost £10.  I don't know about you, but for me that is a little steep for a chemist brand product.  So I was very thankful to have gotten this as a gift. She sure did spoil me.  The set included a body scrub, body wash, and this body lotion.  I'm going to review this lotion first as I've been using it nonstop for the last couple of weeks.

 

"Wrap your skin in head-to-toe luxury with this velvety soft lotion.  Light, airy and quickly absorbed, it vanishes into thirsty skin to quench and care all day long.  Softens, smoothes and evens out texture to leave skin looking healthy and radiant."

Let me give you the nitty gritty...

TEXTURE & PERFORMANCE: This is a non oily/greasy light lotion.  It does absorb very quickly into your skin, but it does not cover you all day. I end up reapplying this twice a day.

SCENT:  Light, slightly "nutty" scent.  You know how much I hate vanilla/nutty scents in lotions, well this is just at the borderline of getting to be too much for me, but it is very very faint.

PRICE: £10 at Boots

I'm super thankful to have had a chance to try this lotion.  It is moisturising my skin during the winter days, so I'm satisfied.  Although, I'm not sure that I would repurchase this.  I prefer a bit of a fresher scent to my body products.

Have you tried this?
How do you like it?

What other No 7 body products do you recommend?

***Also, I'm switching my font, let me know how you guys like it and if you prefer this font of the font from before. Thanks!****

No 7 Metallic Eye liner in Camouflage

Another Boots No 7 £5 off voucher? Don't mind if I do!  I instantly grabbed the Camouflage metallic eyeliner for £2.25 after seeing my friend's eyeliner.  

 

 

Soft and creamy, but smudges very easily.

I highly recommend this as a pencil that you would smudge to create a smokey eye.

For £2.25 I don't regret this, but for its' original retail price of £7.75... I would return it.

Dior Nirvana vs. No 7 Totally Teal Comparison

I just made life much more complicated for myself.  Why do I always do this? Well I had all my nail polishes in the upper right hand drawer, and for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to move it to the bottom drawer (too much time on my hands?).  Bad move, it's completely out of order now, and an awkward position, so I can't find anything.

A few months ago, I decided that I didn't need every single nail polish out there under the sun, so I decided to sell some polishes to fund my savings account, and essentially riding my collection of dupes.  It looks like I missed one.

Boots No 7 Totally Teal and Dior Nirvana appeared a little too close to both remain in my collection.  

Although, they aren't exactly dupes, they are definitely in the same colour family.  One is just a little deeper teal than the other...not sure which one I like the best.

 

Smooth medium consistency

Lovely flat brush for one coat application

Now I mixed Boots no 7 and Dior up with this manicure to show just how similar they are

2nd & Ring finger: No 7 Totally Teal

Middle and pinky: Dior Nirvana

 

One is slightly darker than the other, and the Dior has a bit more grey in the formula

 

 

 So I still haven't figured out, if I like the darker teal or the more greyed out teal from Dior. Either way, I just felt that these two were a little too close to keep them both.

The consistency of the No 7 was pretty close to the Dior as well.

If you want to save some money, opt for the No 7 Totally Teal during the £5 off voucher promotions which will bring your total to only £2 for this nail polish (and you get a lot more), vs. £17.50 for the Dior polish.  

Now which one to keep...hmmmmm

Grey Nail Polish Comparison

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Dior Gris Montiagne, and a couple of people said they loved it, but the price was too steep.  Well, I'm a grey polish lover, so I pulled out the other greys that I had and did a comparison swap.  Although, I didn't have a dupe for the Dior, the others were definitely in the same colour family and pretty close. 

Dior Gris Montaigne, No 7 Grey Skies, Barry M Grey, Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy

  

 

 

Of course I forgot one, because right now all my nail polishes are hidden inside a drawer, but luckily I remembered I had this one.  So another close one, but still no dupe.

Models Own Grey Day

 

I'm glad I did this comparison post for many reasons.  First, I can show this to DH and show him how different my grey polishes are, because I'm tired of hearing him say, "You already have a grey nail polish" LOL. Lastly, because this makes me feel better about spending the money that I did on the Dior LOL xx

Which one do you guys like the best?

Also, did you know I'm hosting a blog giveaway that is sponsored by Incoco?

You can find all the details at

BLOG GIVEAWAY SPONSORED BY INCOCO

Take care everyone xx

Shopping Trip Photos & Mini Haul

The sporadic thunderstorms almost kept me from going into town today, but I had to get out of the house.  I stopped by my usual stops today: Boots, Superdrugs, Debenhams, TK Maxx.  Sadly, that's pretty much it for me in this town i'm in currently. 

Here is my super tiny tiny haul for today.

Total Spent: £3

£1 for the Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Shampoo

£2 for the No 7 Beanie Nail Polish after the £5 off voucher (not for me, this is a gift)

£0 for the Celebrity slim strawberry diet shake

(There is a voucher at the back of the Superdrugs magazine)

I almost went to crazy at Superdrugs, but I really resisted all the good sales due to my ban.

Then I popped into TK Maxx.

Lots of Eyeko, Freeze24, Clarins, Calvin Klein, Revlon, and Nails Inc sets.

The thing that annoyed me the mis-pricing of items. 

Well here is the same Clarins lipstick #11

One was just inside a protective sleeve...that's all.

And look at the price difference or should I say pricing error.

That's a £4 difference basically.

Someone ain't doing their job right clearly LOL

Gorgeous colour, but still on a ban, so this baby couldn't come home with me.

Then I went over to the homegoods section, and found this little thing.

It was a beautiful cobalt blue lacquer storage unit.  I'm in desperate need of storage solutions since moving here. It was £5.99, but because of a little nick, I ended up getting it for £4.

So what was I going to use this for???

To hold my favourite lippies :)

Well that's what I plan to use it for now.

So that was my mini haul. I wanted to rush home and make sure my elderly parents were prepared for the hurricane that's suppose to hit, and of course they weren't. SIGH!

So luckily they are on it now, and I wish everyone on the east coast a safe weekend!

And for those in the UK - Happy Bank Holiday!

Treat yourself and come and enter my 50 followers giveaway.

The next giveaway will be at 75 :)

Until next time, take it ez !! xx

NOTD: No 7 Violetta

I've been eyeing this for quite some time, but have never taken the plunge.  When I saw it in the swap box that Ashley from button boxx gave me, I knew this was going to be my NOTD.  It's a beautiful blue purple.  It took one coat to be completely opaque and drying time wasn't bad at all.  I don't like these No 7 brushes, because they are too long and that makes it more difficult to control, but the colour is worth it.  It is slightly more blue than my favourite "blurple" Chanel's Vendetta, but it is quite edgy on it's own accord.

 The stripe in the middle is Orly's Cotton Candy (another polish in my swap box).  It is a sheer baby pink, but when I made the line it really created a beautiful moody lilac.  Fantastic. 

Hope you enjoyed this colour.  Remember boots does have a £5 voucher off any No 7 product, so make sure you use your vouchers and save that £5.  I believe these are £7.75 otherwise.

Well I know what I'll be doing tonight! Soaking and fixing my cuticles, damn! hahahaha

And while I do that, I hope you'll pop over to my blog giveaway xx

Until next time, take it ez! :) xx

My Swap Haul For June

My DH is looking at me and giving me this face, because he thinks that the products surrounding me are products that I purchased.  I quickly put him out of his misery and told him that they were all swaps, so he leaves the room.  Why do men not understand our obsession? Well I guess it's in the same manner that I don't understand his electronics or dvd obsession.  I can't begin to tell you how happy I am about swapping again.  It's been way too long, and it really has saved me so much money, and I will continue to swap until I have swapped out everything on my swaplist.  For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm talking about makeupalley right now.  I've also met a lot of nice English girls on there as well, so overall it's been a great experience.  Now onto the haul reveal!

* Mac false eyelashes - These are the older packaging, but since it's not makeup, it doesn't matter.  I love falsies for when I go out, so I can never get enough

* Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 11 -

 Ok, I am a freaking idiot. When I agreed to swap for this, I must have looked at the wrong swatch, because I thought it would be my colour, obviously it is not.  It is for dark skinned girls, so that was clearly a dumb mistake on my part, but I did find a very clever way to use this.  I have placed 2 drops in my face lotion and have created a tinted moisturizer out of it, so this won't go to complete waste.

* Armani Fluid Sheer 13

This is a meant for an all over face colour, but clearly it is too dark, it is like a dark Burgundy tone which I plan to use mixed with some other cheek blush and blended, or even to use as a contour

Both formulas ARE amazing, and it just solidified in my head that I need an Armani foundation (in my shade lol) in my life.

* Bare Minerals - medium beige

This is my favourite mineral foundation, so I jumped on the swap when it was in my colour.  I love how it gives a great luminous day time look without looking cakey or overly done.  Sure you'll need a concealer for any blemishes, but this is quick and effective.  I just hate their infomercials so much though lol

LIPPIES GALORE

* YSL - Rouge Pure Shine Sheer Lipstick 1

* Guerlain Matte kiss kiss lipgloss in 03

* Clinique superbalm moisturizing gloss in 10 Grapefruit

* Chanel Glossimer in 117

* Edward Bess lipstick in Night Orchid

* 17 - Shine on lipstick in Flirty

YSL, Guerlain, Clinique, Chanel, 17, Edward Bess

Out of all of these, I am so excited to have the Edward Bess lipstick. I am definitely obsessing hardcore over all his stuff at the moment, 

I'm quite pleased with all of them, but the one that shocked me the most was the 17 lipstick. I did not expect it to be that nice and creamy. Wow! I'm a fan now.

* Rimmel - Lash Maxxx mascara

Something about the brush won me over. I heard this doesn't last long, but I'll be holding onto the brush for sure.

* Barry M - Glitter lashes

A little litter on the lashes - sounded too fun to turn away

It's actually not a mascara, but looks like a lipgloss and you just brush it onto your lashes.

* No 7 Amazing Eye Pencil in 05 Black

I can't say no to black eyeliners, and since I have never tried no 7 eyeliners, this was a great chance for me to try it out 

I will not need bath products for the next month.

I got 3 huge and i mean HUGE products to try

* FCUK Whipped Body Cream - 300 ml

* Sanctuary Body Milk Spray - 250ml

* Sanctuary Bath relaxer oil - 250ml

Let's see what all this Sanctuary hoopla is all about shall we....

Overall, great big items to last me this month :)

* Gosh stippling brush

I haven't used this yet, and quite impressed by the size. I'll have to give it a go and report back to you on how I feel about it.  I love collecting brushes hahaha, so glad to have swapped for this.

* MUA eyeshadow in shade 16 - Matt

So I have gone on and on about MUA eyeshadows only being £1 and being a good bargain, so I wanted to give another colour a chance. So far so good. 

* Chantecaille La Baleine Bleue

Eyeshadow Palette

OK....I never in my wildest dream would think I'd own a chantecaille limited edition item.

First, because they cost way too much.

We're looking at $95 in the states, and £85 in the UK

Who can pay that?!?! OK, I guess lots of people could, but not this person right here haha

So when the chance came to be able to swap for this, I did all I could to make it happen.

This is a gorgeous trio meant for a soft and subtle look, and that's what it delivers.

The shadow feels like SILK!!!! I think Dior just lost to the softest eyeshadows out there.

I'll do a separate post on this for sure, but I also love that 5% of the proceeds do go to the wild life foundation to help the animals that are featured in the palettes.

I love this so much.

* The Dior Travel palette (on the left) 

is gorgeous and you can find my review I did here

I have reached for this so many times this month and I just wish I had another one of this.

and last but definitely not least. 

* CHANTECAILLE BENGALI PALETTE

Coming in at a whopping $117/£110

I was floored to have made this swap happen.

I am in love with the size of this palette and the texture of the eyeshadows and blush.

They are just out of this world.  I know a lot of people probably didn't buy this due to the heavy sticker price, but if you did have the money to buy it, you won't be disappointed.  it is just so smooth, and with zero fall out, and it is honestly the best eyeshadow that I have ever tried.   I will be doing a separate post on this with better more accurate pictures, but just wanted to show you guys what was in the palette.

So that was my June swap.  I'll be doing this monthly to show you all can get some great items during a swap.  Why not right? Give away something that didn't work for you, in exchange for something that would work for you.  One gal's trash is another gal's treasure right?  Do you swap? What do you love or hate about it?






COME AND ENTER MY FIRST GIVEAWAY HERE!!

My Top 10 Favourite Products for June

I can't believe it, another month is gone.  I will now have been in this country for close to 3 months and it feels like I've been here all my life...it's a strange feeling.  I don't feel quite like a foreigner, especially since I know the language lol and been here many times before, but I always felt like this was my home, from my very first visit in 2005.  I'm having so much fun trying all the new products however. It's all so new to me and it's just a lot of fun!  June has been a good month as far as products go.  Lots of promotions, events, and swapping has really made this month full of new products.  So I gathered together my top 10 products for this month.

1. Chanel - Bronze Universel/Bronzing Makeup Base

Review can be found here

2. Amazing Cosmetics - concealer in Light Golden

A little bit goes a really really long way with this concealer.

I have been suffering from some major acne this month, and thank god for this concealer, nobody ever has to know.

3. Chanel - Lift Lumiere Smoothing and Rejuvenating Eye Contour Concealer - 30 Abricot Lumiere (why talk about a long title). 

I love this eye concealer, enough to have recommended it to other people and they love it as well.  It is a very smooth formula for around your eyes and gives you enough coverage without looking cakey.  Where has this been all my life?!

I do believe however, I'll need a shade lighter, since I'm not getting much sun living here.

4. No 7 eyeshadow in Wheatsheaf

Click here to see the review

5. Makeup Academy (MUA) eyeshadow in 

Click here to see the review 

Both were very very cheap and gave me a great neutral shimmer that I need for my day-time look. I am so pleased with these two cheapies :)

6. Guerlain Terra Inca Sublime Radiant Powder for Face & Body 

I still love this, I'm still pulling it out to smell the wonderful fragrance, and to see the beautiful and intricate design.

Click here to see what I thought about this.

7. Poshe - Super fast drying top coat

They were not kidding, less than 1 minute, your nails are dried and you can go about your day.  I honestly can not live without this topcoat.

8.  Illamasqua nail varnish - Raindrops

I do not regret buying this polish at all, despite all the rumours about it being so sheer.  Mine was not sheer at all, 2 coats were enough for a complete opaque polish.  This is my go to summer polish! I love the formula, the colour, and the best part is just how long Illamasqua's varnishes last on me.

9.  Burberry lipstick - No 2 Cameo

I've had this lipstick for almost a year now and I never really gave it a chance, but this summer, I find that I keep reaching for this lipstick.

You can't go wrong with this adorable and sturdy packaging, but the colour wears well on my cool-toned skin.  It is just the equal amount of pink and beige mixture with a hint of coral for summer.

10.  Clinique - Redness Solution Powder

This is another product that I never gave a fair chance too, and this month I tried it again and I could really tell how much redness this powder covers up.  I lightly dust this on after my moisturizer and I see a significant coverage on my cheeks, around my chin and around my nose.  This has become a staple now.

So I was very happy about the 10 items that I choose that I am constantly reaching for this month and then it dawned on me that I forgot the number 1 most important item in my stash that I have been reaching for.

MY Skin79 BB Cream!!!!!!

Looks like whipped concealer and a bit thick and gooey

But it applies like a dream and blends so well

I could not live without my BB cream now.  It is my June top 10 and probably for the rest of next month as well.

I purchased majority of these items (except for the Poshe which was a gift) for below retail or during a promotion, so they were all at a discounted rate. So I felt that I did very well keeping to a tight budget.  Although the Guerlain did blow that budget out of the water, I love it so much, and I will have it for many many months and years to come. 

Now only if I didn't have a budget, I would have bought 2.

So here are my June's top 11

Have any of you guys tried any of these products?

Do you love? hate?

COME AND ENTER MY FIRST GIVEAWAY HERE