Wednesday 25 November 2015

Vitamin E Micellar Water





You may have already heard my micellar rant HERE but you may also know that I really love my micellar water and it has it's place in my skincare stash. 




So when I came to the end of my Garnier Micellar Water bottle I thought I'd give another one a go so I picked up Superdrug's own label Vitamin E Micellar Water. I tried a few things from the range, in fact I wrote a review about their All Over Body Cream HERE and most of the range I love but this product unfortunately wasn't a hit with me.

The Vitamin E Micellar Water did remove my make up but it left my skin feeling sore, particularly around the eye area to the point my skin looked a little red afterwards. This could just be because it doesn't agree with my skin but in my experience I found it to be quite harsh. It has the signature Vitamin E smell that all of the Superdrug Vitamin E range has, personally I really like the smell but I've read other blog posts and some people are really adverse to it. If you haven't smelt it, it has a slight cocoa butter smell to it crossed with a very slight, old fashioned face cream smell, kind of primrose-ish. I realise that's a dreadful description and makes it sound awful but it's not awful, I suggest if you find yourself in a Superdrug go and have a sniff! 

I had a gripe with the packaging too, it had lid on it, but when you opened the lid it had another lid, which you push down to open the bottle. I didn't see the point of having two lids, the first one I lost even before I managed to take the photo and the second one where the product came out wasn't the best choice in my opinion. It wasn't so terrible you wouldn't be able to use it but it was a little awkward as it meant the product came out at a slight angle rather than just straight out the bottle onto your cotton pad. I hope that makes sense! 

Vitamin E Micellar Water £2.99 is available HERE or at your local Superdrug store (currently buy one and get the second half price).

Thanks for reading,

Wench x  

Monday 23 November 2015

Beauty Advent Calendars on a Budget!



Beauty advent calendars have really gained popularity over the last few years but I've always found them to be rather pricey so I never bothered.

This year however, I really wanted one but didn't want to pay a fortune and settled on the Makeup Revolution Advent Calendar (£45) which contains 25 FULL SIZED items (which I'm ridiculously excited about!) 



I've been really pleased to see lots of budget friendly beauty advents this year and although I couldn't buy them all (how I wish I could!) I thought I'd leave some links to some others I stumbled across.

It's Kissmas Beauty Advent Calendar (£5) - This super budget friendly offering contains everything a nail lover could need for a perfect manicure on the big day.

Flutter Advent Calendar (£8) - This little bargain contains a collection of mini make up items for lips, eyes, and nails.

Bomb Cosmetics Advent Calender (£19.99) - Perfect for bath time lovers (and who doesn't love a soak in the bath?). This calendar contains mini soaps and bath blasters.

Yankee Candle Christmas Calendar (£19.99) - Technically not beauty but this calendar contains a Yankee candle tea light behind each door, Christmas never smelled so good.

Mad Beauty Advent Calendar (£19.99) - This calendar contains 24 mini makeup treats by Mad Beauty so you can look prettier everyday. 

W7 Cosmetic Treats Calendar (£24.99) - W7 is a brand I love for copycatting high end products at budget prices! If your a nail lover this contains 10 polishes amongst other goodies.

It's nearly time for me to start opening my calendar, I'm so excited! If you haven't got yours yet be quick! It's almost December! 

Have you got a beauty advent calendar?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x







 

Friday 20 November 2015

Superdrug Killer Volume Dry Shampoo



I love dry shampoo (or tramp shampoo as I call it when I'm just being plain lazy). We all lead busy lives and its definitely earned it's place on my dresser.

However, not all dry shampoo's are made equal and this one, Superdrug Killer Volume Dry Shampoo, unfortunately just doesn't do it for me. I find it leaves a white residue even when I've shook it and that's a big no-no when you've got dark hair like me. I know it's supposed to absorb oil but I feel like this over does it leaving my hair feeling dry and stiff, although this might be good for those of you who have super oily hair.

Volume-wise I found it lacking also, it didn't give me any volume, just a dry sticky mess. No thank you! It's a thumbs down from me!

Superdrug Killer Volume Dry Shampoo is available HERE or in your local Superdrug store.

What's your favourite dry shampoo?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x 

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Garnier Ultimate Blends The Sleek Restorer Shampoo and Conditioner



Hello again internet! I have a review for you today of Garnier Ultimate Blends Shampoo and Conditioner The Sleek Restorer (long ass name!)

These are fairly new offerings from Garnier, they have a whole range of different ones for different hair types but today I have The Sleek Restorer. I chose this one because my hair is naturally poker straight but for whatever (many!) reasons the ends have been quite frizzy recently and it needed sorting out.

These made my hair feel nice and clean and they smelt gorgeous although I feel the scent faded quite quickly. A little went a long way. This is a particularly good thing as since I moved from Manchester to Stoke on Trent I noticed the water here sucks. Nothing foams up like it used to in Manchester resulting in me using twice as much product here as I would back up north. Before I start on a massive rant about water, I'll just say I liked that I didn't have to use loads to get a good foam.

Unfortunately, they didn't do much else for me. My hair still felt dry and frizzy at the ends after use and I'm now at the end of both my bottles I feel I've given them a fair shot. Before buying these I'd heard such good things about them but they just weren't for me, it wouldn't stop me trying other shampoos and conditioners in the range but it goes to show you that what works wonders for one person doesn't for another.

Have you got any shampoo recommendations?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x

Monday 16 November 2015

A MAC Velvet Teddy Dupe?




Isn't it wonderful when you find something really cheap that's a near match to something really expensive?

I have just that for you today! I know the colour isn't exactly the same but it's very close. MUA Fawn Fancy is a new shade from MUA's matte lipstick range and it's very close in shade to MAC Velvet Teddy and they both have a matte finish.  


However, MUA Fawn Fancy at just £1 is a fraction of the £15.50 you'd pay for MAC Velvet Teddy and at that price it's definitely worth a try!

Yes you need a few layers of MUA's offering to really get the colour, it's not as comfortable to wear and it will need topping up during the day but for a pound you can't really complain!



Get MUA Fawn Fancy HERE or at your local Superdrug store

What's the best dupe you've ever found?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x


Friday 13 November 2015

Freebie Friday! #13



I've been at it again! 

Stealthily taking photo's of magazines again I mean! This month we've got some really good offerings. Also, a random nugget of information, this Freebie Friday is the 13th edition and it's on Friday 13th, spooky huh?!





Glamour £2 are giving it's readers a free Clinique gift. There's four to choose from including a red lipstick, a nude lipstick, a moisturiser or a mascara (together worth £29).


Marie Claire £3.99 are giving it's readers a free Elemis sample. There are two to choose from, the Pro-Radiance Illuminating Flash Balm or the Papaya Enzyme Peel. Both dubbed "hero" products of the Elemis range (together worth £22.50). 


InStyle £3.99 are giving it's readers a free sample of Eyeko Mascara worth £12 

By no means free in the true sense of the word but worth it to try something new and something that would normally be out of my price range!

What's the best thing you got out of a magazine?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x 

Wednesday 11 November 2015

What Do Those Numbers On Your Hair Colour Mean?




I was eyeing up hair colours as I quite often do the other day and I was looking at the shade numbers on the boxes. It got me thinking, what do all these numbers mean anyway?


A picture of Nutrisse Hair Dyes

I had vague knowledge of what they mean from working in my shop but staring at all the hair dye boxes and not being sure exactly what the numbers and shades meant I decided to do some research and thought I'd share my findings with you.

First thing first, there is a system known as the International Colour Chart (ICC) which most companies use but many use their own numbering system. For the purpose of this post though we'll use ICC. 

So for an example if we take Garnier Nutrisse colour 4.3 Dark Golden Brown.


Nutrisse 4.3 photo

The number 4 indicates the level of colour (how light or dark it is) and in this instance it's Dark Brown. The numbers after the decimal point .3 indicates the tone of colour, in this case the tone is Golden. Confused? The charts below might help

 COLOUR LEVEL 

1. Black
2. Darkest Brown
3. Dark Brown
4. Medium Brown
5. Light Brown
6. Lightest Brown
7. Dark Blonde
8. Medium Blonde
9. Light Blonde
10. Lightest Blonde

Manufacturers name colours differently but you get the general gist and some also go higher up in number to signify extreme blonde colours.   

TONE LEVEL


.1 Blue Ash      - Cool
.2 Purple Ash   - Cool
.3 Gold              - Warm
.4 Copper         - Warm
.5 Mahogany    - Neutral
.6 Red               - Warm
.7 Khaki            - Cool
.8 Pearl Ash     - Cool
.9 Soft Ash       - Cool  

So the tone of the colour changes its appearance to look either warm or cool. Ash usually means a colour is cool and golden usually means that it is warm, these descriptions can help when looking at your hair colour.

It does get more confusing than that when two numbers come into play after the decimal point. If we take Garnier Nutrisse colour 4.15 Iced Coffee. 


Nutrisse 4.15 photo

The first number after the point is the primary (stronger) tone and the second is a secondary (weaker) tone. The .1 is the primary tone which if we use the chart above is a cool, blue ash tone and the 5 is the secondary tone which is neutral mahogany (neither warm or cool, this surprised me as I thought mahogany would be warm but its not).  

So the colours below are all the same depth level (4), but the tones running through give them a different appearance (.3 gold and .15 cool mahogany


a photo of different shades of brown

I hope this sheds some light on the subject, this is only a basic summary but it interested me so I thought I would share. It definitely opened my eyes, who knew there was so much to it?!

What's your favourite hair colour?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x

*This is not sponsored and these are not a product placement it just so happened Garnier had the best examples for me to use at the time :-) 


Monday 9 November 2015

Got2b Mind Blowing Express Dry Styling Spray


a photo of got2b xpress dry spray


I have to say, since having my son I find washing my long hair such a chore, and drying it even more so! Then I found this!

Got2b Mind Blowing Express Dry Styling Spray claims to add heat protection to your hair, detangle, condition and most importantly speed up hair drying time and I have to say it ticks all those boxes! I spray onto my towel dried hair after I've washed it, give it a good brush through and then dry with my hair dryer and it literally takes me half the time I love it! A few things worth mentioning, it doesn't speed up hair drying time if your just leaving it to air dry, that's probably obvious but I thought I'd chuck it in there and also be careful you don't use too much as it can leave your hair crispy!

It's one of those things that I had seen in my shop and deemed totally unnecessary but I picked it up out of curiosity while it was on offer and I have to say it's earned its place in my stash as I've got better things to do than dry my hair for twenty minutes!

Get yours HERE or from your local store

Thanks for reading,

Wench x   

Wednesday 28 October 2015

Maybelline Color Drama Velvet Lip Pencils






Hello internet! I have some more make up musings for you today in the form of Maybelline Velvet Lip Pencils.

Maybelline Color Drama Lip Pencil Swatches

You know when you find something that you love so much you have to have more? This is what has happened to me with these beauties! I have totally fell in love with the formula of these lip crayons and now I own 5 of them. So let me tell you about them.

The formula of these are lovely and creamy, they apply really smoothly and the pencil format of them means its really easy to outline your lips and fill them in quite precisely (which is great in particularly for the bolder colours). I wouldn't go as far as to say they are like lipliner because they're too thick for that but it does make application a bit easier. 

Once applied I wouldn't say they were completely matte, more of a satin, velvet like finish (as the name suggests, duh!) I really like this finish as completely matte lipsticks tend to be very drying where these are only slightly drying on your lips but have the full staying power of a matte lipstick. When I wear these for work they stay put and don't slide around all over my face (definitely a no-no when working with the general public face to face) and I only touch up on my break after eating and that's more out of habit than necessity. 

The five colours I have are Keep it Classy, Berry Much, Minimalist, Nude Perfection, and Red Essential. My favourite of the bunch has to be Keep It Classy which is the first one I got, it's the perfect balance of bold colour but is also a wearable, everyday colour for me making it a staple in my handbag.

Maybelline Color Drama Lip Pencil Keep it Classy
Maybelline Color Drama Lip Pencil in Keep It Classy on the lips
I'm not sure if 5 is enough of these!

What's your favourite of the bunch?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x

Thursday 22 October 2015

I SPIED!




I spy with my little eye something beginning with N Y X!

photo sourced from boots.com
Photo Source Boots.com
Okay, that was rubbish but cosmetic brand NYX is coming to Boots online! I'm probably the last one to hear about it but it got me excited as I've had a few things from the brand and when I went to my local Next to pick up some more they informed me they stopped doing it and all hope was lost (maybe a little dramatic, but I was gutted!) There's no date for it's launch but click HERE to join the waiting list for the new Liquid Suede Lipsticks, there's limited stock!  

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

photo sourced from superdrug.com
Photo source Superdrug.com

My favourite offer of the year is now on at Superdrug! It's currently 3 for 2 mix and match across all make up, nails and false lashes. Shop online HERE or at your local store, exciting stuff huh?!

Thanks for reading,

Wench x


Saturday 17 October 2015

Freebie Friday! #12




Freebie time again! The beauty mags have got some good freebies this month so without further ado here we go!

Marie Claire is giving its readers a free L'occitane Hand Cream (worth £8), this is one I picked up myself and got the zesty lime scented one, lovely! 

Elle is giving its readers a free Orly Nail Polish (worth £10.50)

Glamour is giving its readers a free Nails Inc Nail Polish (worth £11)

InStyle is giving its readers a free Ren Skincare Set (worth £14)

I know it's not exactly free, but it's a lot less than buying the product the full price. Tesco also has some special offers on their magazines, InStyle is reduced from £3.99 to £2.50! There's only a couple of weeks left on these so be quick! 

Thanks for reading,

Wench x 

Thursday 1 October 2015

Slimming World! #5




Slimming world 1 stone award
I put a sticky label over my name because they always spell it wrong! It looks like I stole my certificate!

I got my stone award from Slimming World!

I'm so pleased! Goodbye baby weight (and the little extra I accumulated myself.....ahem!) it's slow and steady weight loss and although in the past I've lost weight quite dramatically and quickly it's not healthy and generally unsustainable. Slow and steady wins the race and it's also more likely to stay off too! My work trousers are loose and its quite annoying actually because I'm skint and can't buy anymore yet! 

I know I say it a lot but I'm shocked I lost anything this week, with the baby Splodge at Gran's house for the weekend we had a Tesco takeaway!

It was also taster week and people brought lots of yummy sweet treats which I'm going to have to give a try at home so I will show you how I go on!

Thanks for reading,

Wench x   

Wednesday 23 September 2015

Garnier Micellar Water



Micellar water has soared in popularity, particularly now that there are more affordable brands and choices available. 

But what is micellar water? I get asked this a lot and it basically removes make up, dirt, oil and cleanses the skin without having to rinse, ideal for when you can't get to water to wash your face properly! The name comes from the "micelles" which are tiny cleansing balls that float in the water and when they come into contact with make up, dirt, oil etc it can all be wiped away. Pretty cool right?

 Before I carry on though, I do feel there are many misconceptions around micellar water, they were designed to be used where water isn't available and are not a substitute for washing your face properly! I keep seeing them described as a "gentle" way of removing make up or as having no chemicals, or fragrance, or soap, or whatever other vague terms they can think of but actually, although it's micellar WATER and WATER sounds all lovely and natural and gentle and the like the fact is they do have chemicals in, how else is it going to get rid of make up etc? The idea is to use them when you can't wash your face properly, not as a regular thing. At the end of the day the best thing you can do for your face is wash it properly!

Now I've had my little rant you may notice my bottle of Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water is actually empty! I find it really useful to take off make up when the baby is asleep and I don't want to wake him filling the sink up and prattling around the bathroom, or I can sit and do it in my living room so I keep an eye on him (or when he starts going crazy when I leave the room, he's at that age now) or when I'm just feeling plain lazy! I got mine on offer for around £3 (RRP £4.99) and you get 400ml of product which I think is pretty generous as other ones tend to be about half that for a similar price point. I found it to be effective at removing make up but my only gripe was that it couldn't remove my waterproof Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara (more on that HERE) which is VERY waterproof indeed! It also didn't sting my eyes or skin which I have found can be the case with your standard make up remover.

All in all a thumbs up from me but not in place of a proper cleanser!

Get yours HERE or at your local store.

Thanks for reading,

Wench x

    


Monday 21 September 2015

Mask Monday! #7



Happy Monday everyone! 

I have a Mask Monday for you today! I picked up this Montagne Jeunesse (do not ask me to pronounce that one!) 7th Heaven Manuka Honey Peel Off mask in Boots last time I was in there and this morning I put it to the test! 

First things first and I actually found this really easy to open! You may be thinking I've become a 90 year old woman but fear not, I always find sachets of things really god damn hard to open with wet hands in the bath! Next it smells divine, like a nice, sweet, honey smell (believe it or not!) that made me want to eat it! (Not recommended!) and it has a slight yellow colour to it (which I think is expected of a honey scented product). It doesn't sting or tingle, I personally don't mind a little tingle as I feel like a mask is doing something if it tingles but there is a fine line between tingle and sting, and sting is not good but you don't get any of that with this, so I think it would be fine for sensitive skin. It says it's a peel off formula and as you can see from the picture above it does peel off but I'd say there was about 10% of it that I had to wash off. I think it was just in areas where I applied it a little thick but it wasn't difficult to wash off with water and a sponge. 

The mask claims to purify and remove dead skin cells and I do feel like my skin looked brighter and smoother after use so I do agree with those claims. No it doesn't make a radical difference but I just enjoy kicking back in the tub and having a little relax with a mask always makes me feel better. Time is something you need with this mask as it says to leave it on 20-25 minutes, any excuse to take a nice, long bath right!? 

You can pick these up in Boots or other retailers for around the £1.00 mark

Do you have any mask recommendations?

Thanks for reading,

Wench X 

Friday 18 September 2015

Freebie Friday! #11




I have to say magazine freebies recently have been pants or non existent! 

But I'm glad to say I have an offering for you today, although I'm late to the party this month! Marie Claire are offering its readers a free Balance Me cleanser, hand cream, or face cream. I opted for the cleanser as I've heard good things about it. In a previous magazine freebie I had a face wash from Balance Me and the smell was horrific! I'm hoping the cleanser is better! 

In magazines like these I find there's not an awful lot to read in them, the amount of adverts is just silly but it's worth it for the freebies and you often find smelly perfume pages (there's a Gucci Bamboo in this one!) and other little samples (there's Garnier BB Cream and Elvive Extraordinary Oil Shampoo)

Have you found any good freebies recently?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x

Wednesday 16 September 2015

Slimming World! #4


SOURCE thehousethatneverrests.com
Just another little update for you!

I lost 1.5 pounds last week which I was really pleased about as I was staying at my parents house while I did my driving course and I was being very well looked after by my mummy! It's tough sticking to plan when someone else is cooking for you (don't get me wrong though, I'm certainly grateful!) but my mummy is very healthy so it was all good. I did have some cheeky pieces of toast while I was out driving!

This week I don't think I'll have lost anything, after failing my test I had a whole pizza to myself as I was sulking! We'll see on weigh in day! 

I have lost a total of 10.5 pounds so far, I'm really chuffed!

Thanks for reading,

Wench x 

Tuesday 15 September 2015

I'm Still Learning!


SOURCE bin-the-l-plates.co.uk


First of all I'd like to thank anyone who sent me those good vibes I asked for, for when I did my test!

Alas it was a FAIL! So I'm still a learner with a massive L on my head but never mind. I was so nervous on the day my chest hurt and I thought I was going to be sick (nice!) I failed because I cut a curb turning left from a minor road to major road (I didn't even notice, the examiner said it was a low curb!) and I should have given priority to an oncoming driver on a chicane (I had seen him, I just thought I was going to get there first!) They were just silly mistakes, easy fixes and I think I made them because I was so nervous. I had a reverse around a corner on the test which my instructor said most people hate but I find it quite easy (it's just the driving forward I have a problem with....!) and that went without a hitch!

If at first you don't succeed try, try, again, and I intend to! My next test is all booked for the 13th October, it sucks you have to wait so long I want it done and out of the way but hey, that's life and better luck next time! 

Again, please send me positive thoughts for my re test day and next time it's going to be a PASS!

Any tips for passing your driving test?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x   


Monday 7 September 2015

A Crash Course in Driving!

SOURCE shop.theaa.com


A while back, I booked a driving course and it's finally come around! Eeeek!

I have done one before but at the end of it I knew I wasn't ready to do my test and I knew I would have failed it. This time however, I have booked 30 hours driving and I have a test included at the end of it on the Friday! No chickening out last minute that way.

Being able to drive is important to me and I'm not asking for the tiny violins to start playing or anything but my Hubby is disabled (a broken back and partly severed spinal cord from a motorbike accident a few years ago) and he can drive an automatic, but his feeling in his feet is patchy and sometimes he misjudges how much pressure he is putting on the pedals. Trust me, it makes for a hair raising journey sometimes! But joking aside we have a baby now and it worries me and as time goes on the Hubs condition will deteriorate and it will be ultimately up to me to get us around. I also live far away from my parents and I miss them so very much, I'm hoping being able to drive will help me feel not-so-far away (although I'm in negotiations to eventually move closer to them, how babies change things huh? But that's a whole post to itself!) My other danger is that I put so much pressure on myself that on test day I'll just crack up. I need to remember that if I fail it's not the end of the world and I can retake my test! But I so want to pass and get it out of the road (haaaa get it?) 

So as you can see there's a whole lot riding on me passing my test and to anyone reading this I would really appreciate it if you could wish me luck and send me some good vibes!

Do you have any tips on how to cope under pressure? Or how you passed your test?

Please let me know! I'll keep you updated!

Thanks for reading,

Wench x