Lush Storage

Happy Valentines Day!!

First of all apologies for the lack in posting, I've been super busy with work at the moment, so im just squeezing in a quick post on how I store my Lush products.

For those of you who don't know, the Lush range consists of fresh handmade natural cosmetics, including soaps, bath bombs, shower gels, shampoos etc. You can buy Lush from one of their many stores around the world, found on most high streets, and also online; although recently, the UK website was hacked which resulted in a number of customers having their credit card details fraudulently used. Lush have annoucned that;

'they are currently building a new website which will go live in a couple of months, and that a team of forensic investigators are currently analsying their web servers to provide a report on the security breach'.

Back to the way I store my Lush products. I really only purchase the soaps, bath bombs, and sugar scrubs. I find that the best way to preserve the freshness of the products is to wrap them up individually with cling film. This not only allows you to easily identify what product is what, but the scent of each product will also linger in the air faintly, with the added bonus of maintaining the freshness.

With the soaps I personally like to slice them up and wrap each slice in cling film so that I dont clutter my bathroom with lots of lush soaps. This makes it sooo much easier when I want to use them as I have pre cut the required slice big enough to get through one wash in the shower or bath.

How do you store your lush products?

Top 3 L’Oreal Make-up Products

L’Oreal is one of those brands that have a great make-up range, at affordable prices, with a great selection of products. I am particularly fond of their mascaras and lip glosses.

L’Oreal Glam Shine lipgloss come in a range of fruity shades, with a fantastic heart shaped applicator. My favourite colours are 174 Sheer Peach, a peachy coral gloss with pink shimmer, 172 Sheer Watermelon, a ‘honeysuckle’ pink with pink shimmer, & 175 Sheer Papaya, a vibrant sheer orange with pink shimmer. The texture of the gloss is sheer, so colour pay off depends on how much you apply. The gloss does not feel tacky at all which is surprising as they last very well on lips. The shimmer is not gritty as the particles as so small – overall these glosses are great for giving lips a hint of colour, crystal shine, and volume all the same time. Currently they are on offer in Superdrug for 3 for 2. Bargain!

Boots are currently promoting the L’Oreal mascara range for 2 for £15.

I picked up the L’Oreal Telescopic Mascara & the L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black x5 Mascara. I have been using L’Oreal Telescopic mascara for years! I love the thin high precision flexible brush as I find it can coat both the top and bottom lashes. The consistency of the product is also great – it not only provides minimal coverage for an ‘au natural’ look, but you can easily build up with this mascara to provide think voluminous lashes.

“Up to 60% longer lashes IN JUST 1 STEP”, I don’t know how this percentage was worked out, but I think it’s a slight exaggeration. I have naturally thick, long lashes anyway, so with one step they do appear A LOT longer and curlier - 60% longer though? I don’t think so!

Overall, a great mascara, that doesn’t clump, is easily buildable, and can be used for both a natural look, and a dramatic look.

L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black x5 Mascara is another great mascara. I feel that considering the price you pay for more high end make up products, L’Oreal mascaras are really comparable for a fraction of the cost. This particular mascara gives great volume to your lashes and really gives you that false lash effect. You have to be careful with application, as the extra volume brush is quite big so I suggest you apply your mascara before applying eye shadow, until you get used to the applicator.

What are your favourite L’Oreal products?

Usher OMG Tour

On Wednesday 26^th January one of my friends treated me to the Usher concert as a birthday present. I have always wanted to see Usher live so this was a real treat for me!

That day I washed/blow dried my hair then put them in Velcro volume rollers as I wanted to have swishy big hair for the night. I personally feel that these rollers work best on longer hair when you have layers, as this defines the volume and gives your hair more of that classic Victoria Secret Angels look. I left the rollers in for approximately 6 hours and when I took them out, with a little backcombing and hair spray my hair was lovely and big, just how I wanted it.

Now, back to the concert… We had lower tier seats which were great as we had a full view of Usher, and as the seating rows are slightly slanted, the row in front of us were not obstructing our views! We danced the whole night away singing along to all the classics “U make me wanna”, “Nice & Slow”, “U remind me”, “U got it bad”, “Burn”, “Caught up”, “Confessions”, along with some extras, a Michael Jackson tribute set, and of course, releases from his latest album “OMG”, “DJ Got Us Fallin In Love”. I wasn’t too impressed with Tinchy Stryder, his support act, but as for Usher, the show was great – a true performer, who can sing, dance, get the crowd off their feet, and most importantly, connect with the audience. I will definitely be searching EBay in a couple of weeks to try and get myself some more tickets for 20^th February show in the MEN. Usher, I adored you when I was 13 when I first heard “U make me wanna”, and 10 years down the line I adore u even more! :-)

Have any of you seen Usher on his OMG tour? In concert before?? What did you guys think?

Pantone Honeysuckle Spring 2011 Colour Forecast

Pantone reveals that the colour of Spring 2011 to be Honeysuckle.

“Honeysuckle emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor. A dynamic reddish pink, Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting. It elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life.”

I would actually give Pantone 9/10 for their depiction of Honeysuckle. I would describe the colour as muted watermelon brûlée – a concoction of vibrant watermelon with pastel peach underlying tones. Maybe ‘Watermelon” would have been a more appropriate name?

As you can see from my polyvore below, I feel that the exact colour is very hard to come across in the fashion world, as clothing tends to be a lot more vivid, verging towards hot pink shades. However, upon reading Pantones press release I did immediately recollect an item of clothing that I purchased exactly 12 months ago. The item being an ASOS diamante hoop split front maxi dress. This is the perfect Honeysuckle shade! (maxi dress located far right on my polyvore)

I know that this shade is not for everyone but for me I cant get enough of it. I think this shade works best with medium/dark skin tones although in terms of make up, I feel that the pastel hues would be best suited to light/medium skin tones.

What do you think of Pantones Spring 2011 colour report? Do you think it works best as a make-up colour or a clothing/accessories/shoes colour?

Hot New Trend 2011: return of the Floppy Hat

The Brigitte Bardot floppy hat is back! The 70's inspired Spring/Summer trends are in full pledge with this bad boy. I remember years ago watching Jennifer Lopez rockin' one of these beauties to the MTV awards show, teamed with a gypsy style top, white shorts, and killer heels. Suchhhh a gorge look, and what I like best about these hats is they classify any pair of shorts and heels. The past few years I've never worn shorts with heels simply because I didn't want to look like a 'hoochie' but I think the addition of dark designer shades and a floppy hat just oozes GLAMOUROUS...

Oooo flossy flossy!!

I purchased these a few weeks ago from ASOS;

The left image is the ASOS 70's floppy hat, which cost £17 at the time, but it has since gone up to £25. The felt was nice and soft but I found the brim to be overly floppy, in particular, the sides, where they would just fall flat to the side of my head! Not exactly the JLo-esqu look I was going for!!

The right image is the Catarzi felt floppy hat, colour Nero, which cost £27. I purchased the two as I wanted to see which one was the better hat, and hands down it has got to be the Catarzi one. The brim is so much more sturdy yet it still has movement. ASOS returns are not only free, they process the return really quickly so I had the intention of returning the less desired hat. In this case, I returned the ASOS branded hat.

That evening I went to TK Maxx with my mum, and found 3 floppy hats in the EXACT same style as the Catarzi. They are by Failsworth, and at £5 a hat I got all 3! Caramel, Brown, and Grey.

Do you like the 70's floppy hat trend? I clearly cant get enough of it!