Hand it to Me!

Another essay has been handed in, which means I've been shockingly busy this past week - so much so, I woke up Tuesday morning thinking it was still Friday, because my weekend went so fast!  This also meant I've has quite a few lazy beauty days; apart from cleansing and moisturising, I've rarely worn make-up.. but one product I have been using daily is my Soap & Glory Hand Food.  This was purchased as part of my Big Splendour gift set, and the only item in the whole bag, apart from the foot cream, that I brought back to uni with me.

With claims it's 'the most astonishing hand cream ever', I just thought 'really?'.  I've never been big on hand creams, with all the body moisturising I do, my hands always seem soft!  But I have owned a few, and this one is on another level.  Firstly, the smell.  It's absolutely gorgeous!  I think it's the same scent as their 'Mist You Madly' body spray; I end up sniffing my hands until it's worn off.  And secondly, it does what it says on the tube.  Soaks in very fast, doesn't leave a residue and hands feel silky soft afterwards.  I use this every night as part of my bedtime routine, and my hands don't show a single spot of dry skin, even round my cuticles!  This is one item I will definitely be re-buying, and at £5 for 125ml, this is very good value for money, since you only need a little blob at a time.

xx

Britney - Fantasy: Review

Now I know Britney's Fantasy is not a new perfume by any stretch of the imagination; it was however, a new one to me until I purchased it in the Boots' Boxing Day sale!  I had heard the reputation of Britney's perfumes around the internet and by word of mouth, so at about £10 for a box set, I thought 'why not!?'  Britney is one of the few celebrities who have managed to bring out a successful perfume line, and to me, that's more than just one or two fragrances!  Britney incredibly boasts many, which seem to be popular with mainly girls, teens and young women with their fruity, light fragrances and more than popular price tags.

I think it's quite obvious that Britney is more than aware of her target audience with the whole design and feel of her products - especially Fantasy - with it's Fairytale-esque bottle covered in sparkles.  So, so perfect.  And the smell, my God.  I'm hooked.  I was looking for a cheap, everyday perfume which would keep me smelling lovely for the day.  This does the job, and more.  To me, it smells fruity, floral, vanilla-ry and light; perfect!  Unknown to me, the back of the tubes state that the Britney range is actually licensed to Elizabeth Arden - who knew!?  So no wonder the fragrances are so high quality.  I actually realised that on the tiny print on the bottle, so tiny, I could barely read, let alone photograph, that the perfume is EDP, not EDT.  The likes of my Coco Chanel Mademoiselle sport the EDP tag with glee, so to find Britney's perfumes do too with a bargain price tag is incredible.  The perfume literally stays on my skin until I shower, it's so powerful.

Elizabeth Arden, see?

The Perfume Shop will do the scents for me, because I'm rubbish, I just say 'smells nice', which is no help!

Heart notes - Jasmine Petals, White Chocolate Orchid

Top notes - Red Lychee, Golden Quince, Kiwi

Base notes - Musk, Orris Root, Sensual Woods

Scent - Floral 

Feel - Charismatic, Enchanting, Seductive

In fact, The Perfume Shop is still retailing the gift set I bought from Boots at £9.99 which is an absolute steal! 30ml perfume and 2x 50ml tubes which smell just as good? I might buy another!  So there you have it, Britney isn't only a goddess of the music business.. In fact, I think I prefer her perfume!

xx

Boxing Day bedlam at Boots

I hope you've all had a fantabulous Christmas and been enjoying your presumably beauty-related gifts!  I can certainly say I've been spoiled by the fam and the boyfriend, so I've felt very lucky *blush!  I was in two minds about spending several hours cooped up in my local Boots (quite a small, but well stocked branch outside Manchester) with loads of crazies.  My mother was adamant we were going, so after turning down a local Boxing Day walk (yes, that's the kind of area I live in) I thought 'may as well' nip to Boots to see what they had on offer.  I took £30 of Christmas money.  Boy, did I under-estimate my own enthusiasm, and learnt that in a 'buy or lose it' situation with beauty gift sets, I also become a crazy.  Ohh.. So £95.99 later, a gorgeous birthday present for my boyfriend (which is in April..) and a perfume set sold on to my sister after a re-think, this is what I ended up with..

Phew.  So all together the gift sets I purchased were:

• Umberto Giannini Glam Hair Fashion Kit - £30 to £15 - Contains all UG products shown.
• St Tropez Bronze Set - £25 to £12.50 - Contains all St Tropez products shown.
• Lee Stafford Poker Straight - £15 to £7.50 - Dehumidifier, Dry Shampoo & Protection Spray
• Lee Stafford Big Fat Healthy Hair - £15 to £7.50 - Shampoo, Conditioner, Comb, Hairspray & Shine spray
• Love Plaque - £8 to £4
• Britney Fantasy Gift Set - £20 to £10 - 30ml Perfume, Body Lotion & Shower Gel
• Britney Cosmic Radiance Gift Set (Sold to sister, not pictured) - £23 to £11.50

NB: Those without links have disappeared off the website!

Realistically there was so much more I could've bought but thought I shouldn't spend any more!  I think if you're planning to shop Boots' sale either go today or first thing tomorrow, as there's certainly not going to be anything left!  I'm really pleased with the bits I've picked up and can't wait to gradually use them throughout the year (the haul was to cheaply stock myself up for most of 2012!) and I'll be writing reviews for the products as I use them.  For me, the sale wasn't about picking up bargains, hence why I asos shopped pre-Christmas for some bits (River Island sweater and cardigan, and an asos blouse), but getting ready for spending less in 2012.. hopefully!

I've got another post or so to write before Thursday, as I'm jetting (read: Virgin Train..) off to London for New Year to see my boyfriend, woohoo!  So hopefully I'll manage to get them up in time to wish you all a wonderful start to 2012!

Big Christmassy love,

xx

Ps.  I'm now on Bloglovin', so if you'd like to follow me the button's on the left of the blog!  Thank you :).

Are you a Big Splendour?

Things have settled down a bit now, I've arrived in Manchester, enjoyed the city Christmasness and some gorgeous German mulled wine and a macaroon!  I've also had chance to try out some of my Soap & Glory Big Splendour set, woohoo!  The case it all came in was fantastic too, I piled it high with all my cosmetics, including the stuff in the set and it all fit in perfectly.. although it weighed a ton!

I'm sure you've seen on tons of other blogs, but here's the contents:

I can't believe how much was in there for £25, plus Boots card points!  Bargain!  I love the fact the set contained products for all areas of body and skincare that you'll need (sort of!) with:

• Clean on Me™ Creamy Clarifying Shower Gel has a bonus, built in body lotion, so you can get clean, smooth, sexy skin simultaneously.
• The Righteous Body Butter™ A smooth, creamy, and velvety intense body lotion. With skin softening shea butter and aloe vera to attract moisture.
• Pulp Friction™ Foamy fruity body scrub with fig powder, pumice, peppermint oil, lemonade tree liquid, orange waterjuice™& vitamin balls™(A,C,E). Includes new Fruitigo™ fragrance with notes of frozen yuzu, orange oil, green fig, and jungle pomelo essence.
• Face, Soap & Clarity™ For super clean, fresh & bright skin. A 3 in 1 daily detox vitamin C facial scrub - a great exfoliator and brilliant for flaky skin.
• Off Your Face Wipes™ 3-in-1 cleansing, toning and skin smoothing for the quick ridding of makeup, dirt, oils and dead cell build-up. With a mix of skin softening glycerin, quick cleansing agent and PORESHRINK-RS, Soap & Glory™ Off Your Face™ Cleansing Cloths are your quickest route to clean.
• Heel Genius™ A soak-in foot mask marvel that smoothes and softens while you sleep.
• Hand Food™ A super-silky gorgeously-scented non-greasy hydrating hand cream featuring fennel and lotus flower extracts, which leaves your hands super smooth. Relish in the delightful aromas of fresh bergamot, strawberries and mandarin, with floral and fruity midnotes, musk, amber and warm vanilla.
• Mist You Madly™ A flirty, floral, fragrant body spray featuring notes of bergamot and blackcurrant, magnolia, freesia, vanilla and musk.
• Sexy Mother Pucker™ Extreme formula lip plumping gloss, in seductive Candy Gloss colour with a fabulous vanilla flavour. Scientifically-proven plumping microspheres that explode in volume up to 10x when they come in contact with water. (They’re like tiny, dehydrated little sponges that expand when you apply them onto your lips. It also contains a rare circulation enhancing ingredient that gives your lips a little ‘electric’ buzz, to move more blood around the area, creating the swelling effect mentioned above).
• Calm One, Calm All™ A double function deluxe formula bubble bath soak. With a built in body lotion and a moisture magnetising skin conditioner you’ll be smoothed while you’re soothed! Indulge in the wonderful fragrances of fresh bubbled bergamot, strawberries and mandarin with floral and fruity mid notes, and musk, amber and warm vanilla.

(As listed by Boots.com)

Although I said on my last post I'd try out all the products before I reviewed, I didn't want to leave this post any longer, and I haven't had chance to try them all out yet!  However, I have been using the Face, Soap & Clarity, Mist You Madly, Sexy Mother Pucker and Hand Food.  The face wash is nice, quite zingy (!) and seems to have little popping-type beads in it.  My skin always feels super clean afterwards, but I'm not sure I prefer it to the St Ives scrub I normally use, so I probably wouldn't repurchase.  Mist You Madly smells lovely, quite floral and fresh, but with a bit of musk; it faded quite a lot after not very long, so I'd maybe only purchase the small bottle for a refreshing smell on days I'm not wearing perfume (which isn't that often really!)  Sexy Mother Pucker is shiny and sexy, but unfortunately far too sticky for my liking, so I'll maybe try giving that one away!  I have piles of stick lip glosses and I just cannot wear them, I hate sticky lips with a passion.  Plus, it supposedly makes your lips bigger, I'm not sure this worked on me, but having rather large lips this isn't something I'd try and make happen!!

The real winner for me is the Hand Food.  It's incredible.  It soaks in almost instantly without residue, and my hands after are gorgeously soft!  It also smells beautiful; similar to Mist You Madly but I think the smell actually last longer with the hand cream than it does with the body spray!  I kept getting a whiff of my hands and thinking they smelt scrummy ;).  This will definitely be a repurchase, I love it.

xx

Just dropping in..

To say I haven't forgotten about you!  I know that sounds like a cheesy card slogan, but I'm afraid it's also true..

But, I do have some exciting news ;) The boyfriend went into the city today to find me a Christmas present, which was ridiculously last minute, especially since he needs to give it me tomorrow so I have it on the day.  So I thought I would utilise the opportunity!  Off he went to Boots to buy me their gift of the week: click here is you haven't seen it yet.

I've never used Soap & Glory products before, which I know is probably seen as crime by most of you.. But I guess I just never got round to purchasing, although the vintage-y look is so 'me'.  So, I've packed the travel bag it all comes in with all of the ten products, which is an insane amount for £25!  I wholly intend to give these a full trial over the month I'm at home, and will write a review of all the products, and let you know if I will repurchase any!

Here is just a quick look before I do any proper reviews; I just had to show you this!  I'm a huge lover of bows, and when I saw this I just squealed!!  So cute :).

I hope your week hasn't been as destroying as mine as!  Have any of you managed to get hold of the Soap & Glory set?

xx

Ps.. Have you all been watching This Is England '88?  I'm a huge fan of the film and the last series, so I finally got to watch the new series today on 4od.. I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears!!