Top 5 Drugstore Liquid Liners

'I love a good liquid liner.  A thin line on my top lid and a flash of mascara is pretty much my go to day to day look.  

(L-R - Bourjois Liner Pinceau, Max Factor Colour Xpert, Rimmel Exaggerate, L'Oreal Superliner and Rimmel Glam Eyes) 

There are an abundance of liquid liners out there, and the drugstore has some not too shabby options for pretty good prices.  When we can't afford that gorgeous Tom Ford liner, then the next best option is to find one at a more purse friendly price, that won't leave you eating toast for the rest of the month.

I'm going to start with my all time favourite of the bunch the Bourjois Liner Pinceau (£6.99), the brush applicator is perfect for applying just the right amount of product and I found this excellent for wobbly hand syndrome.  The formula doesn't flake and it dries down instantly to a matte finish. 

At the opposite end of the scale on formula, the Max Factor Colur Xpert (£6.99) liner is a lot shinier in finish with a much more opaque colour and a firmer nib top which can make precision a bit trickier if you're a newbie. 

The Rimmel Exaggerate (£5.29) is one that I see a lot of people loving on, and I must admit the forumla is pretty amazing, it's the blackest black, matte and it really doesn't budge but I'm not so keen on the applicator, personally I find it a little bit awkward to get a good line, close to the lashes. I tend to use the Real Techniques silicon liner brush to apply as I just find it a lot easier. 

The L'Oreal SuperLiner (£6.99) on the other hand has a pretty great applicator, a soft foam nib that gives a soft line with no fuss. My only gripe here is that the formula could do with just being a bit more opaque. However the line that does come out lasts a good 8 hours without flaking or fading and it's brilliant for sensitive eyes. 

Lastly is another Rimmel favourite amoungst the masses, it's the popular GlamEyes liner (£5.29). It has a super, super fine brush applicator which let's you get right up close to the lash line, and build up and wing out if that's the look you're going for. 

Overall, all 5 have their good and bad points but really are great quality for the price and application ease. 

Can Phil Smith Rescue my Hair?

Supermarkets are brilliant places to scour for bargains, or even lesser known brands.  Sainsburys was my place of choice on rainy afternoon (no surprise there England!), the one nearest to me has just had a brand new facelift, and a shed load of new brands injected into their health and beauy isles.  

The one I gravitated towards was the Phil Smith line, with it's brightly coloured tubes and bottles, it was like a moth to the flame. 

The SOS Rescue range enticed me in most, because of the ever popular mention of the Moroccan Argan oil content.  With claims to help frazzled, frequently styled hair I thought I really had nothing to lose by giving it a whirl - the ends of my hair are looking particularly sorry for themselves lately despite my recent cut. 

I picked up the Damage Protection Shampoo (£3.50) and the Damage Protection Conditioner (£3.50) in the hope that my hair might start to love me again. 

First of all let me tell you about the scent, because my-oh-my they both smell incredible. It's like a soft, warm scent with just the right hint of a professional blow dry about it. I literally kept swishing my hair around for hours afterwards just to get a whiff of it again. 

I was really impressed with the shampoo, it lathered up instantly and I really felt like it got to every inch of my scalp, right through to my ends.  Rinsing out was easy too, and I felt like it actually left me hair feeling nicely moisturised. The conditioner was where I hit a worry though as the formula was just a bit thinner than I was expecting (think more along the lines of a body lotion consistency).  I felt like I had to use a fair amount to get it on all over, and when I washed it out my hair didn't feel like I'd had anything on it at all.

I thought styling was going to be a nightmare, and I assumed because my hair didn't feel very conditioned that once dried, it was going to be knotty and dry. 

Well...I was wrong. It was a bit of a pain to brush through at first but once I'd got the tangles out the rest of it was a breeze, and I actually felt like my drying time was significantly less than usual.  Afterwards my hair felt soft and managable, a far cry from what I was expecting really. I did find that it got a tad knotty again just before I needed to wash it, but it was nothing a tangle geezer couldn't sort out. 

The Phil Smith range is available in Sainsburys in stores and online, currently on a 2 for £5.50 offer. 

Sleek Make Up - Vintage Romance Palette

Sleek make up has really put itself out there lately onto the beauty seen, especially with it's recent venture into Boots store, and online. One of my favourite products from them is their eyeshadow palettes. They're extraordinary quality and budget price point are really something that sings home to my beauty lover's heart. 

One of my braver purchases is their Vintage Romance palette (£7.99, Boots). Its chocked full of deep, yet vibrant jewel toned shades, which really compliment green and brown eyes wonderfully. I've never really been brave enough to wear bright colours on my eyes, however the shades in this palette are so wearable and can really make a smokey eye something special.

The pink and purple shades were really ones I worried about most, because pink is sometimes a no go with eyes, as it can make you look ill if worn wrong. However the tones in these shades are spot on, and the deeper one are perfect for crease work. The quality is brilliant, with each shade extremely pigmented and smooth to apply. There's no fall out of product either, so it makes application easy, especially for beginners and for day-to-day use.

A two ended sponge applicator is included with all palettes, however it's not my favourite tool to use and I find the shadows go on much better with brushes.  You can really pack on the shadows for smokey, full on feel with an ELF Eyeshadow Brush, or if you prefer they sheer out wonderfully with a fluffy blender brush like the Zoeva Luxe Define Crease Brush.  I've even found that the darker shades work wonderfully as liners for the eyes either dry or dampened down for a more intense look, using a Real Techniques Fine Liner Brush.

The wear-time of the shadows is fair, and can be prolonged with an eye primer which I would recommend anyway if you suffer with oily lids.  Removing the shadows is also pretty easy, even the darer shades come off with ease when using a make up remover.

Overall these palletes are incredible for the small price tag.  There are numerous of different collections within the palette range with amazing colours and unlimited looks.

Top 5 High Street Foundations

I think I probably go against the beauty grain here by saying at I actually prefer high street foundations, to most of the high end, premium ones I've dabbled with.

The high street has an amazing array of foundations on offer.  

Ok so you don't get the personalised colour matching or recommendations you'd get from visiting a conesssion in a department store, but if you can spend a bit of time at one of the high street stands then you can pretty much figure out what you need by using the testers provided. 

My favourite high street foundations range from matte and full, to sheer and dewy, with a few in-betweens. 

The Revlon Colorstay Foundation (£12.49, Boots) comes in two formulas, one for combination/oily skin, and the other for normal/dry skin, and it has a brilliant range of shades especially if you're particularly pale.  It has a very natural, soft finish and coverage is decent enough - it won't cover up very stubborn blemishes though, but it will create a nice base for concealer. 

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation (£6.99, Boots) is an amazing quality foundation, for it's teeny tiny price tag.  I picked this up on a whim one day when I needed something a bit more moisturising and it really worked well to add a nice healthy looking glow to my very dehydrated skin.  The technology in this foundation is also quite interesting - it has something called Smart-Tones, which helps the foundation to adapt to changing light, so even in those horrible, harsh fluorescent lights skin is supposed to stay looking flawless. 

Another one from Rimmel, this time from their Wake Me Up range (£8.99), which aims to awaken skin and give a 100% pore less coverage.  This one is slightly darker and the rest of my foundations because it end to use it while I'm on holiday.  A lot of the shades in this range run on the darker side, with much warmer undertones. 

My favourite pick of the bunch, and the one I've been reaching for for the past few months is the Bourjois Health Mix Serum Gel Foundation (£10.99, Boots).  If it's one thing Bourjois does well, it's foundations, and they hit the sport perfectly with this little gem.  The forumla and finish is above anything else I've tried.  It sinks into the skin and lasts really well, it provides a flawless coverage and it blends like an absolute dream.  I use my Real Techniques complexion sponge to apply it which helps to sheer it out in places where I don't need too much coverage. 

Lastly, and probably one of the best known foundations is the L'Oreal Infaliable Foundation (£9.99 ,Boots) as it has recently been repackaged and there has been quite a bit of advertising for it.  This foundation is my saviour for bad skin days, as the coverage is quite high and it does last on the skin really well. It is quite a thick foundation, so using a very moisturising primer would be a good idea, just to stop it looking too dry or cakey. It has a bold 24hour wear claim, but don't buy into that one too much - it does help,to hide tired eyes and dull skin for a good 6-8 hours though. 

You can find all my to picks online or in-store in Boots - or if you have a quick Google, you may be able to find some of them at a discounted price (HINT: AllBeauty have Revlon for £7-ish). 

Budget Buy | Seventeen Falsifeye HD Mascara

I mentioned a while ago that I bought a few things from the make up brand Seventeen (link here).  One of those products was the Falsifeye HD Mascara (£6.99).

When I first picked it up, I was instantly drawn into the image on the pack of the box.  The before and after comparison was amazing, yet still completely natural looking.  They also only had the shade brown/black left, which I actually prefer, especially for everyday use, as I find it complements, and sets off my green eyes well, without having to use too much other eye make up.

First off, the packaging is actually really nice for such a budget product, it doesn't feel cheaply made or too flimsy like some high street mascaras can do. I also really like that it comes packaged in a box too, it just give it a nicer feel.

Now let us talk a out the brush.  I. LOVE.IT.  It' has a plastic bristle applicator, but the bristles are close enough together so that it's kind of comb like. What it means is that it gets right to the root of the lashes, lifting them up, while also ensuring that every side of each lash is coated.  I was so surprised by the quality of the brush alone that I knew it was going to be a great product. It doesn't come out of the tube with too much product coated on it, which keeps clumping and build up at bay. 

As for the formula, it's easy to apply and not messy, neither is it irritating to sensitive eyes.  After one coat of the mascara I noticed that my lashes look longer and a lot more noticeable.  I didn't quite get the same effect as the packaging may have suggested, but I had no eyelash curlers to use due to mine mysteriously going missing, so I assumed I may not get that "lifted" look. 

Yet, I was still very impressed with this little bargain.  I've been using it daily for work and was pleased to see that it didn't flake or rub off after a good 8 hour wear.  It's also super easy to remove with a cotton pad and some micellor water - it's definitely got itself a place in my daily routine.

How to Manage Naturally Wavy or Curly Hair

When I was younger, my naturally thick wavy hair was the bane of my life.  I hated it so much, and I never really knew what to do with it, so it always ended up scooped up on top of my head.

Now, after many, many years of trial and error I have some sort of control over the madness that is my hair. It's pretty much down to leaving it to do its own natural thing, rather than try to force it too much.   Naturally curly or wavy hair can often look a little bit unkempt or unhealthy because it hasn't been smoothed out by heat and styling.

I have a few products, and a bit of a mini-routine which I couldn't live without when I'm having a bit of an unruly hair day, which help to keep it looking and feeling soft and cared for.

First of all I'll start out by washing my hair - I don't use a shampoo and conditioner specifically for curly hair, because I prefer one that focuses on eliminating frizz and adding moisture for whatever style I decide to do.

After washing, I'll always apply a leave in conditioner.  My favourite at the moment is the Charles Worthington Salon At Home Moisture Seal Leave-In Conditioner (£5.99), as it's light weight, smells amazing and is super moisturising.  After I've applied that through the lengths, I'll brush out all the tangles using my Lee Stafford Squeaky Clean Paddle Brush (£8.99) - doing this also helps to make sure the leave-in treatment is brushed evenly throughout the hair too.

Then I'll do either one of two things. The much more natural of the two - if I've washed my hair just before bed, then I'll  towel dry as much as possible and apply the John Freida Frizz Ease Miraculous Recovery Creme Serum* (£9.99) to the mid lengths of my hair, then when I get up in the morning, I spray with the Umberto Giannini  Curl Friends Natural Curl Spray (£5.99) all over and have a bit of a scrunch through the front and back to give a bit of a "yes, I definitely have just rolled out of bed" look, but it does help hugely to eliminate frizz and help me to look a bit more presentable.    Now my hair is quite long I get away with this look much more, because the weight of the thickness pulls out a lot of the bounce.

If I know I'm going to want a slightly (but not much more) polished look - think "dinner-date beachy waves" then I'll do the same as above, but instead of towel drying, and leaving.  I'll use my paddle brush and hairdryer to dry my fringe area and the top section of hair.  Then I'll pop in a bit of the super lightweight John Frieda Frizz Ease Dream Curls Enhancing Oil* (£9.99) to add a bit of extra smoothness and control - then I simply leave to air dry.  Once I notice that it's about 90% dry, I'll spray a bit of the Umberto Ginannini spray mentioned above as I find when sprayed on dry hair it really helps to keep a nice shape to the natural wave of the hair.  I always keep this little bottle with me and it's a handy travel size and is great for freshening up styles.

The key thing really though, is to find a good few products to help tame frizz and fight dryness, and then just embrace the natural movement of your hair.

Let me know if you have any tips and tricks for naturally wavy, or curly hair.

Escentual.com | Top Picks

Escentual.com is one of the many, many online stockists of beauty, skin care and hair care with a wedge of the web.

They currently have an amazing site wide sale on their website, which ends tonight at midnight. So if you have a few extra pennies to spend, then I suggest checking them out. (TIP: they have a great range of French skin care brands too). 

Here are my top sale picks: 

Bioderma Sensibo Micellor Water 

NOW £3.59 - RRP£4.50 | 100ml - the mother of all Micellor waters. This is where the magic started, so it wouldn't be fair not to stick up on a bottle (or four).  Also the 100ml is the perfect size for the travel bugs amongst us. 

La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume B5

NOW £5.19 - RRP£6.50 | 40ml

NOW £10.79 - RRP£13.50 | 100ml - pretty much a do it all balm. Great for tough skin, dry nails, fly away hairs or any emergency situations you can think of. I love that it comes in two sizes as the 100ml would take an age to get though if it was just me using it. 

Klorane Mango Butter Shampoo

NOW £4.80 - RRP£6.00 | 200ml and Klorane Mango Butter Conditioning Balm

NOW £5.19 - RRP£6.50 | 150ml - I love mango scents. It's so warm and inviting, plus mangos are super nourishing too. 

Tisserand Jasmine Absolute Oil

NOW £5.80 - RRP£7.25 | 9ml - a friend of mine told me that she uses oil instead of perfume as a fragrance for day time so it's spurred me on to give it a try. I also love Jasmine - it's so light and girly and easy to wear.

Vichy Aera Teint Pure foundation 

NOW £13.60 - RRP£17.00 | 30ml - a brand that I always pore over whenever I'm near it, but never really bought anything from. The reviews for the foundation are good enough to convince me that I need to try it though, so it's a firm new need of mine. 

Schwarzkopf Professional Essensity Colour Mask

NOW £6.95 - RRP£13.97 | 200ml - every blonde needs a good hair mask, and finding one to moisturise and treat my colour damaged hair, without stripping or fading the colou out over time would be a godsend to me.

I surprised myself by only having one make up item in my basket, but there's such a great range of skin care and hair care, that I seemed to find myself poring over those pages for longer. 

Have you bought anything in the Escentuals sale? 

Queen of...Ta-Da Shaving Gel

I have extremely sensitive skin on my legs - it's dry and easily irritated when in contact with the wrong products.  Shaving gels and razors have, in the past, caused me stupid amounts of discomfort, apparently it was something to do with being allergic to the metal blades on some razors. Who knew!

I seemed to strike it lucky with the Venus Gillet range though and have really had no problems, until in try to add in a shaving foam or gel.  I've just found most too rich or over perfumed for my poor legs. 

I've always been a tad envious of the shaving products on offer to men - they seem to have a huge range of accessories, lotions and potions for all types of skin; especially gel and cream products. 

Then I came across the Queen of...Ta-Da shaving gel (£4.29, FeelUnique), and instantly I was drawn to pick it up. It's the first gel formula I've seen, designed for women, that doesn't lather up into a foam, but rather goes on a bit like a conditioner. 

It's a smooth, non-drying gel with an intoxicating but light piña colada scent.  It contains tea tree and aloe vera to sooth skin, and give it a beautiful smooth, moisturised feeling. The forumla is paraben free too which my skin is absolutely loving, as well as being light weight, so you get a close and comfortable finish. 

It definitely softens my skin so much, my legs feel silky and smooth for hours afterwards, and even the next day there's still a lingering of softness there.  It's really one of those products I probably would have bypassed if I hadn't have noticed it when I did, and I definitely wouldn't have gone looking for it. 

If you suffer with sensitive skin when shaving then I definitely recommend giving this a try out, at just under £5 for 150ml, it might just change your life!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Almost Lipstick?

Have you ever looked at a lipstick and thought 'uh oh, that's way to scary looking for me to pull off?'

If no, then you're a bloody lucky girl, if yes then the initial first look of Clinique's Almost Lipstick in Black Honey will have you popping the cap back on quicker than you can say drag queen lookalike'. 

But wait before decide against it completely, because Clinique's Almost Lipstick (£17.50) is exactly that, almost a lipstick.  

It's much more of a tinted balm, in a very flattering universal red shade.  I've literally been wearing this everyday since I bought it, and it hasn't let me down yet.  I've also had people commenting on how healthy I look, and I do think it's attributed to the slick of perfect sheer colour this gives off.  

I've found it can be applied in three stages; once for a subtle little payoff of colour, twice for a more noticeable sheen, and a third time for more of a just bitten, darker colour. 

It's a brilliant handbag essential, as the packaging is compact, and also application is quick and easy.  It is both moisturising and non-sticky so the payoff is quite a natural one in terms of wear day-to-day, however as I mentioned it can be layered up for a bit of a more noticeable look. 

There is no stain left over from the product once it's worn down, as I possibly thought there would be and I did find that I had to reapply more often than I probably would have normally done but the moisturising gun element stays for a long while after the colour has rubbed off. 

Have you used anything from the Clinique Almost Lipstick range? 

Nail Polish Haulin' | Fragrance Direct

I don't quite know how I've need up with haul post, straight after another, but eh...? 

This posts comes in the shade (see what I did there) of a nail polish haul, from the insanely discounted Fragrance Direct website.  If you've never graced the web pages of Fragrance Direct then I urge you to scamper on over there and have a look at their offerings, because there are some huge savings to find.  

For example I picked up 8 polishes with the high street retail value of just over £48 combined, and managed to bag them for a little over £14 including postage and packaging. 

Yes I know....it's madness. There are limited shades with some brands, however I've found that if you keep checking regularly they get new stock in every so often.

The first polishe's to drop into my basket where of course the Essie ones with a price tag of £2.25 each (RRP £7.99 each). I love Essie for their quality, and one coat application. I opted for Canyan Coral and the glittery Hors D'Oeuvres. 

I also took the opportunity to try out a few Bourjois polishes from their 10 Day No Chips (RRP £5.99 each) range, and at the discounted price of 99p each, I am super amazed at the quality and application.  The opaqueness is also spot on with a nice bold colour, and the drying time is quick.  I choose the pretty pearly pink No13, a pastel purple No26 and a vibrant neon coral No25.

I was honestly about to head on over to the check out when I spotted these super cute little polishes from the L'Oreal Colour Riche range for a tempting £1.30 each (RRP £4.99)...and what's a girl to do? 

Buy three that's what!

So I chucked in another pastel blue toned purple in Amazon Flower, a fun metallic ice blue Saphire Treasure, and finally a deep purple apdlty named Wild Purple. My one disappointment from this range was that they weren't as easy to apply, and they needed an extra coat to get that finished look. 

My only one piece of advise, and this goes when buying polishes offline from any retailer, is to search for a colour swatch online before you buy. As most places just give you a block colour closet to the polish. 

Let me know if you have any recommendations for polishes that I should try! 

Beauty on a Budget | Seventeen Haul

Seventeen, or 17 to the older of us is a Boots own brand make up concession. For those in the US then Boots is a pharmacy that stocks drugstore and high end beauty products as well as everyday essentials. 

Seventeen is a brand that I bypass a lot. Mostly because I'm pretty faithful to the likes of Bourjois, Revlon and, Max Factor, but also because I just always imagine that it's a brand aimed for younger fanatics. 

Well, I was wrong, and I really don't admitting it on this occasion because the product range is actually pretty amazing.  The price point on all their products is extremely reasonable and the packaging isn't too bad either, the only thing that throws me out a bit is that some of their branding on their products uses the new brand logo of writing 'seventeen', while a few others bear the old logo of the numerical '17' which I suppose is not a big deal really, but might be a bit confusing. 

I picked up four products, because they had a special buy one get one half price offer, and obviously I can't just buy two things. 

I've been searching for a nice primer that's not heavily silicon based, but does help to hide pores and shininess, so the Miracle Matte Skin Primer (£4.99) with it's cream like formula and a promise of 22 hour shine control and flawless skin seemed to be what I was looking for. 

I've always found drugstore mascaras to be a bit hit and miss with only a few solid repurchases over the years, however I'd heard brilliant things about the Falsifeye HD mascara (£6.99) so I grabbed the last one they had, I'm hoping the availability of it I store speakers volumes about it's quality.  The picutre on the back of the box packaging shows a pretty amazing before and after shot of the lashes, so I'm hoping it lives up to that claim.

Staying with the eyes, I also had a bit of a nose through their single pot eye shadows, and after swatching every patch of skin on my hand, I pluck for the shade Mardi Gras (£3.98).  It's a beautiful metallic taupe colour which is insanely pigmented once swatched. 

The last pick of the bunch was really an impulse grab (mainly because the boyfriend was getting impatient).  I have a renewed love of blushes at the moment, and I've been testing out liquid and cream  formulas, as they seem to compliment my complexion so much better that a powder, so the Cheek and Lip Stain Gel Tint (£4.99) seemed like a good bet.

So far I'm quite impressed with Seventeen's budget offerings! Have you tired anything from the brand? Let me know your thoughts...

YouBeauty | August 2014 | Summer Essentials

I love the idea of subscription boxes, but in reality some are quite poor, and leave you a bit disappointed. 

That however is not the case with the YouBeauty Discovery boxes. 

YouBeauty subscription boxes are by far, one of the best ones I've tried, and because of that it's the only one that's stood the test of time with me. While others have been cancelled, the YouBeauty box continues to pop through my letterbox each month. 

The idea is that on the 1st of every month, you log onto your account on their website, and pick two products from the list they give you to choose from. Once that's done, they package it up in (usually a letterbox friendly sized) box and send it off you to with a few extra surprise treats. 

The two products that I chose this month are the Lousie Galvin Sacred Locks Treatment Masque (100ml) and the JustBe Botanicals Hydrating Serum (10ml).  Both are samples, and petty decent sizes for that matter.  The masque comes in at £26 for a full 250ml and the serum at £34.96 for a 30ml. 

Like I mentioned, YouBeauty include a few extra freebies, and this months don't dissapoint, with two Jimmy Choo fragrance samples, one for female and one for male, as well as a sample sachet of the FaceD 3-Luronics cream and a nail block buffer, which I love as I find these so much easier to use than a traditional file. 

I've really enjoyed this months box, and have definitely got my money's worth with the samples, which is a continuous theme each month. 

Have you tried any subscription boxes?

Beautiful Skin by No 7

When my skin behaves, I like to have something light to pop on, to even out tone and just give my complexion a nice finish. I've tried handfuls of BB and CC creams, and tinted moisturises, but I've never really found a foruma that's made me think 'wow' about my skin. 

On a recent impulse visit to Boots, I took a look at their No 7 range. I've always dabbled in No 7 make up, and skin care, but it's never been a brand that I've invested in.  I had a £3 off make up voucher, and the store had a buy one get on half price deal, so of course I was an easy target for a bit of selling. My Boots store is quite a large one, and the No 7 counter is central and spans quite a large area, so I had a good choice of products, plus their sales assistants are so helpful and friendly. 

I've always got the impression that No 7 caters for more mature skin; I don't know where that's come from but, upon further swatching and inspection I can say that I was pleasantly pleased with the broad range of products in front of me. 

I knew I was looking for a new light weight base, so I headed straight over to the BB creams, which are aptly named Beautiful Skin BB creams (£13.50). They cater for all skin types; normal/oily, normal/dry and dry/very dry, so I plucked for the normal/dry in the shade fair. 

The formula is hypo-allergenic and has an SPF 15 added in, so perfect for warmer months. The finish is so natural looking, even with a small sweeping of powder too set, it has just the right amount of dewiness to shine through and give my skin a nice healthy look. The No 7 BB creams also have the added benefit of a nutrient-enriched formula to help keep blemishes at bay

It's not going to give you a super coverage, but you can build the layers to give a bit extra, without it looking cakey or full on. Technique is the key as far as application goes, and I've tried it several ways now, but I always go back to just using my fingers to blend it onto the skin, it just gives such a pretty finish. 

The wear time is around 4 hours, before having to touch up a few places and I've found it stays put even if things get a little bit too hot and sticky (...hello public transport). BB creams are ideal for spring and summer, and even better if you're a bit of a 'roll out of bed 10 minutes before you leave the house' kinda person as they're so easy to apply and blend. 

Have you tried anything from the No 7 range at Boots? 

Mending my Hair with Umberto Giannini

I'm a huge hair care nut, I have enough shampoo and conditioner to last me years without buying anymore.

Ok, so that's a slight exaggeration. 

But still I'm always on the look out for new ranges and brands to treat my tired, dyed and dry hair. 

I happened upon the Umberto Giannini range one day whilst browsing in Boots, and decided to inspect the shampoos and conditioners a bit closer. I've tried a few things already from the brand, with their natural curl spray being something my hair can not live without on holiday, but I've never tried anything for cleansing and moisturising. 

Let me point one thing out that has started to happen with more recent launches, UG get the design of their packaging spot on, they use really pretty black and white sketches, as well as colourful illustrations to adorn their bottles, and it definitely makes them more eye catching.

In fact it was the design that made pick up this particular range - the scruffy, dead ends of the picture remind me horribly of the state my hair can get in. 

Mend My Hair claims to be damage repairing, and helps rebuild and maintain good hair. 

I'd just like to put it out there and say, you can't really repair hair itself, you can only repair the appearance of hair, and even then it's only really a temporary measure at best. 

I'm sorry but it's the truth. I have killed my hair over the years with heat and bleach, and with the effects of that I was left with very dry, limp and lifeless hair. So in an attempt to rejuvenate it, I cut out a big part of my routine: straightening.  Now I only blow dry my hair and I try to use products I know will help to improve the appearance of my hair. 

So you can imagine how pleased I was to see this range from Umberto Giannini, with the promise to mend my hair.  

I picked up the Rebuild Strenghening Damange Repair shampoo (£6.99) which promises to cleanse without stripping colour, and help to rebuild strength and elasticity.  It contains pro-vitamin B5, conditioning milk protien, liquid Shea butter and going sing extract, all the while being sulphate free.  My first thoughts when I popped some onto my hand was something that I can old describe as confusion. The texture is like nothing I've ever tried before; it's a sort of  thick gel-like liquid that does take quite a while to work into the hair. Because of the sulphate free element, it doesn't lather up much either so you might be standing there in the shower wondering why you're cleansing with such a gloopy, thick product, but once it's washed out (which it does with ease), it leave hair feeling noticeably softer. I use mine with the Umberto Giannini Smoothing Conditioner from their Frizzi range. 

The Rehab Salon Smooth Damage Repair protien spray (£6.99), is a nice addition to a routine to help repair damage and protect hair against further breakage from colour, heat and dehydration. The spray is a leave-in one, that you use in clean, damp hair to strengthen, nourishe and soften. The formula is a milk spray containing grapeseed oil with heat protecting and moisturising protein and keratin, which provides targeted repair to damaged hair giving smoother, shiner, healthier looking hair.  The spray is light-weight, which is great for fine hair, as well as thick as you can use it right the way through the lengths. I noticed that my hair felt and looked much healthier after about two weeks of use and the texture was improved. 

One tip, and this might just be my hair, but I could not use the Rebuild Shampoo and the Rehab spray together. My hair became very knotty and rough - maybe it was an overload of protien based ingredients? Used in seperate routines though and both can give you cracking results. 

Have you tried anything from the Umberto Giannini ranges? 

Skin Care Favourites #1

I tend to have spurts of skin care favourites, and because of that I thought it would be better to do numbered posts rather than do them month by month. 

So welcome to my first post. 

Skin care is something which came to me slowly, and now it's snowballed and my basket is spilling over with products.  The ones I've been using on a regular basis at the moment are really a mixture of budget and higher end in price range but really are on an even playing field when it comes to quality. 

First up I'll start with the Yes to Grapfruit Correct and Repair brightening face wipes.  Now I know a lot of people don't agree with the use of face wipes in an every day routine, and usually I would agree, however I don't use these for my main cleanse or for taking off my make up, in fact they're rubbish for removing make up, because that's not what they're for. I primarily use them because they're good at gently exfoliating and brightening my complexion. I use them first thing in the morning before moisturising, just to give my skin a bit of a pick me up. 

I also have a bit of a problem with buying the Montagne Jeunesse face masks packs. I have about 6 of these in rotation at the moment, and I'm using them twice a week, just to give my skin a bit of TLC. They're super cheap and are priced between £1.00 and £1.20 per pack, and I get around 2-3 uses from each one. The one I've been loving most at the moment is the Hot Spring Sauna which contains exfoliating particles, volcanic spring powder and ginger and has a self heating therapy. 

For full on cleansing, I've been using the Una Brennan Vitamin C Skin Renewal Oil and a muslin cloth, which is a lovely thick oil that smells gorgeous. I apply a small amount to my face and neck, massage it in, removing all base and eye make up, then remove using a hot, damp muslin cloth.  I love this form of cleansing as it puts moisturise back into my skin, and makes it feel lovely and plump, while still removing every scrap of make up and grime.  I then like to follow that up the the Botanics Micellar 3 in 1 Cleansing Solution from their All Bright range. It's gentle on the skin, and removes all traces of cleansers and make up without drying out the skin, and it one of the best Micellar waters I've tried for a long time. 

For a gold ol' scrub I've loved using the BeautyLabs Glycowash, Glycolic acid is one of my favourite ingredients to find in skin care, because using just the right amount of it can help to retexture the surface of the skin, and leave it feeling soft and blemish free.  Usually between 5-10% Glycolic is a good amount to use, safely at home. 

I haven't added a daily moisturiser into this mix, because really I haven't been very loyal to just one for a while now, I'm always trialling new ones.  I do have two products for specific needs though, so for any time I have horrible spots or blemishes then I'll crack out the La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo - I was recommended this by at least 4 people before I actually bought it, and now I always wonder why I waited so long. I luckily, don't suffer with really bad skin, but I do get the odd outbreak, and this stuff is brilliant at popping on to troubled areas, to help the skin clear up and heal. 

Last on my list, and probably my current favourite of the group is The Sanctury Night Concerntrate.  I picked this miniture version up on a whim while at the airport a few weeks ago now and I've used it every night since them.  Once I've cleansed and removed my make up at night, I just pop this on and go to bed, then when I get up int eh morning my skin feels wonderfully plump and healthy.  The small miniture is around the £2 price point and has lasted me absolutely ages. 

What are your skin care favourites at the moment?