Garnier Ultimate Blends Conditioner: The Sleek Restorer

I admit I probably use conditioner slightly too much - I just hate the feeling of my hair when I haven't used it. I have used a Herbal Essences conditioner for years; honestly only because it's usually on offer in Boots or Tesco, not because it works wonders for my hair. Because of this I decided to try something different recently and picked this up in Boots as it was on an introductory offer. I believe this is somewhat of a new release, and I think there is a whole range, targeting different hair types and problems - but the one i tried, the Sleek Restorer, is targeted at 'dry, frizzy hair'.

"Our Ultimate Blends Sleek Restorer Conditioner, with Coconut Oil & Cocoa Butter infuses dry hair, leaving it beautifully nourished and silky to the touch"

Garnier claim that this will leave hair with 'touchable smoothness'. I have to say, I wasn't all that impressed with this. It smells lovely but for me this is where the positives end.

I simply felt that this didn't leave my hair feeling soft and smooth; in fact I often struggled to get a brush through my hair after using this. I found it left my hair feeling quite dry, despite being aimed at people with dry hair, which to me, should mean that it is hydrating.

My hair also did not look as shiny as it does when I used the Herbal Essences conditioner. I found my hair looked quite dull and lacklustre as opposed to being beautifully nourished and silky to the touch as Garnier claim.

Overall I'm quite disappointed in this - I hadn't read much into it before I purchased it so didn't know what to expect but I did expect my hair to be left shiny and soft at least. Of course this may work for some people as it's extremely subjective depending on hair type etc, but sadly it didn't work for me.

This is available from Boots priced at £2.79 for 200ml. 

Lush Lip Scrubs

I'm not sure if many companies actually produce lip scrubs - I know the only ones I've ever heard much about are the Lush lip scrubs and some others which are stupidly expensive so needless to say I haven't ventured into trying them. I am, however, a big fan of Lush's offerings.

The two I have are the infamous Bubblegum one, and Lush's seasonal offering, the Santa lip scrub. Both claim to buff away dry/dead skin and leave your lips super smooth and soft. Surprisingly, the two actually have very different textures - the Bubblegum scrub is quite grainy and doesn't hold together all that well, and the Santa scrub feels less harsh but is actually easier to use as it holds together and is easier to get out of the tub. 

The two sugar scrubs are edible - meaning that once you have buffed your lips with them, you can lick your lips rather than remove the product with tissue/a cotton pad. This is a nice concept, although I am aware some people would find this rather disgusting! The bubblegum scrub is (obviously) bubblegum flavoured, and tastes amazing. The Santa scrub is supposedly cherry cola flavoured, although I can't say it actually tastes of cherry coke. It does have a pleasant taste though, which is good.

The Santa scrub actually came with little red hearts on top of the scrub, which looked nice and cute but I have to say they added nothing to the scrub - they seemed to stick to my lips and teeth and tasted horrible! They are just on the top of the scrub though so once you've used the top layer they aren't an issue.

I do like these - they leave your lips extremely soft and would make your lips a nice smooth canvas to apply lipstick should you wish, and the bubblegum one especially tastes amazing. I do think they're slightly overpriced as you could make them yourself since they are predominantly sugar and oil, but I do think they are a nice addition to your collection!

These are £5.50 each and available from lush.co.uk (the santa scrub was limited edition for christmas though - sorry!). I believe these also come in popcorn flavour, and a mint choc chip flavour, so there should be something for everyone!

L'Oreal Studio Secrets Smoothing Resurfacing Primer

Having oily skin, it is a constant battle to find make-up that will stay in place all day. I already use a pretty heavy duty foundation (Revlon colourstay), but wanted to find a primer that would really help lock my make-up in place all day. I actually bought this one on a complete whim as L'Oreal was 3 for 2 in Boots so I thought I'd try one of their primers, but I'm so glad I picked this up!

 

 

The packaging isn't the most eye-catching, and the round pot makes it slightly awkward to get the product out with your fingers when you're running low, but honestly that is the only bad thing I can say about this product.

 

It has quite an odd consistency to it - it's thick but also easily blendable. It is white in colour,  but sinks into the skin without leaving any white residue on the face. You only need a tiny amount, so a pot of this will last an absolute age.

 

I have been using this for around 2 months now, and I can honestly say it is probably the best primer I have tried. I am a big fan of Benefit's "The POREfessional" but after trying this, I think I have a new favourite. It creates an amazingly smooth base for make-up application, and I have definitely noticed that my make-up looks better for longer when I apply this than when I don't - I would say I probably get another couple of hours out of my make-up when this is applied.

 

I would definitely recommend this - it's not cheap but in my opinion it's worth every penny! This is available from Boots and Superdrug and is priced at £14.29



Meet Oscar

So, in the time since I last wrote a post on my little blog, a few things have happened in my life - some good and some not so good. However, one of the most amazing things to have happened is the fact that we now have a new little furry friend in the family! Meet Oscar, my 12 week old springer spaniel puppy!

 

 

 

 

Oscar turns 12 weeks old tomorrow (4th October), we brought him home about 4 weeks ago now and he is just the cutest little puppy (though I'm obviously biased). He's just been allowed out for walks etc in the past week, and he already loves going for 'walkies'!

 

He loves meeting new people and has already learnt to 'sit' and 'lie' - such a clever dog!

 

I can't believe how much he's grown just in the last 4 weeks, he's pretty much double the size he was when we brought him home already!

 

Anyway this was just a quick post to introduce Oscar and normal beauty related posts should resume shortly!



Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment

My hair has been the same length for about as long as I can remember. I would absolutely love to have long hair, but unfortunately for me my hair never seems to grow past a 'certain length'. Enter this product which claims to be specifically targeted at hair 'that never grows past a certain length'. Sounds perfect no? (apologies for the state this product is in, I've had it for ages and completely forgot to photograph it before I used it - oops!)

 

 

 

 

First of all, I really love the packaging of this! Mainly because I am a complete sucker for anything bright pink. but it's just such a lovely colour and looks really nice on display in your bathroom! Anyway, I digress..

 

"Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment with Pro-Growth complex, contains a protein-based complex to fertilise your follicles to help hair grow faster and reach its maximum potential length."

 

It is recommended that you use this every time you wash your hair until you see an improvement, and then to reduce the use to once a week. It also recommends that you use an "egg sized" amount but I found this was way too much for my hair, I used a lot less than that (obviously this depends on the length and thickness of your hair - mine is medium length and quite fine so I didn't need a huge amount). I used this every time I washed my hair for about 4 weeks, and in all honesty I didn't notice any difference in the length of my hair at all. I now tend to use it just once a week like the packaging suggests.

 

Although I didn't notice any difference in the length of my hair, I did love how this made my hair feel after use. It made my hair extremely soft and shiny, and did make it appear fuller.

 

I do like this product, just not for its main use. I didn't feel it made any difference to the length of my hair, but I do think it makes a really good hair treatment in terms of making the hair feel super clean and silky. I probably wouldn't repurchase as I am basically using this as a deep conditioner and I know there are other, cheaper ones on the market, so I would probably try a different brand. I was slightly gutted this didn't work for me, as I know a lot of people rave about this!

 

You can buy the Lee Stafford treatment for £7.99 from Boots.

 



 

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation

Okay. So. It's been almost 2 whole months since I last wrote a blog post. In all honesty it really doesn't seem that long ago, I really don't know where the time has gone! In truth there wasn't a reason why I stopped writing on my blog, I just lost my 'blogging mojo' and just generally had nothing I felt I wanted to write about. In any case, I finally feel ready to put some effort back into my little piece of the Internet, so here goes!

After getting back from my holiday, I needed a new foundation in a darker shade to match my new found tan, so I went to Boots and picked up the Bourjois Healthy Mix on a complete whim. I have used this foundation before, and really enjoyed using it so I decided to give it another whirl. Since the last time I used it, they have revamped the packaging to give it some lovely red accents, and I am actually a huge fan of the new packaging. It now comes in a glass bottle as opposed to the plastic bottle it used to come in, and I personally feel that the red accents make it look quite classy.

 

 

 

 

"16 hour radiance booster! Instant anti-fatigue result! Give your skin a boost of radiance with Bourjois’ Healthy Mix foundation with a vitamin-rich fruit therapy formula for an even complexion and an instant anti-fatigue result! "

 

 

Bourjois claims that this foundation will make you look 'flawless' for up to 16 hours. I'm not too sure it lives up to this claim, as I do tend to find myself powdering my face after around 7/8 hours, although I do have quite oily skin so this may be down to that. I will agree with the claim that it makes you look flawless though, as it really does make your skin look smooth and evens out any imperfections you may have.

 

The formula of this foundation is quite strange - it's almost gel-like, but because of this it blends into the skin really easily. I tend to apply this with my Real Techniques expert face brush, but it also blends in really well with your fingers if that's how you roll!

 

I have the shade 52 'vanilla', which is slightly darker than I would usually go for due to just returning from holiday, but it is a really good match. I find a lot of Bourjois foundations have quite yellow-y undertone, which can be a pain but fortunately it works for me! There are 8 shades available to choose from, which isn't a great shade range but unfortunately this is quite typical of drugstore foundations!

 

I really like this foundation and would definitely recommend it if you can find a shade match! It's probably most suited to drier skins as it's quite hydrating, but that's not to say it doesn't work for oily skins too!

 

This is £9.99 and available from Boots and Superdrug.



Barry M Passionfruit & Confetti Nail Effects



 

(L-R 2 coats of passionfruit; 2 coats of marshmallow over passionfruit)

 

Barry M are probably my all-time favourite brand when it comes to nail polish. They have such a wide range of colours and always seem to be one of the first in line when it comes to bringing out cool 'nail effect' polishes.

 

Passionfruit is a new release from their 'Gelly' nail polish line, which if I'm honest, I wasn't a huge fan of. I found them a lot more gloopy than the regular Barry M polishes, and found they took an absolute age to dry. However, I really liked the colour of Passionfruit, so I put my doubts to one side and I'm really glad I did. It's a beautiful pinky-red colour, which is absolutely perfect for summer and will look amazing with a tan. This isn't gloopy in the slightest, it's really easy to work with, and you can even get away with only applying a single coat, although I tend to apply two just because I'm fussy! It dries to a really high-shine finish, and I found it lasted a good 3/4 days without chipping.

 

The Confetti Nail Effects line is also a new release, and I wasn't sure if I'd like the effect at first, but again this one has pleasantly surprised me. I think it gives a really cool effect to the nail, without being too 'in your face'. It dries amazingly fast, although you will need to apply a couple of layers of topcoat if you want to achieve a smooth finish over this. I have the shade 'Marshmallow' which is a pink bar 'confetti' suspended in a clear base. I think this is the most subtle one of the range - other colours include: Dolly Mixture - a blue, peach and yellow confetti, Liquorice - black and white confetti, Bubblegum - blue and white confetti, and Sour Apple - blue and yellow confetti.

 

These are both £3.99 and available from Boots and Superdrug.