Boots Beauty Bundle Giveaway

Who doesn't love a big fat giveaway with products that you're actually going to use on a daily basis?

Boots have very kindly given me the oppotunity to have one of my follows win this massive bundle of essential beauty products which includes the following products:

·         L'Oreal Paris Infallible Eye Liner in Chocolate Addiction.

·         No7 Airbrush Away Primer.

·         Ecotools Bamboo 6 Piece Eye Brush Set.

·         Boots Lux Deep Moisturising Foot Cream.

·         17 Nails Xtras Double Gloss Top Coat.

·         17 Nails Xtras Strengthening Base Coat.

·         17 Lasting Fix Pastel Nail Polish in Parma Violet.

·         Rimmel Match Perfection Bronzer in Light.

·         Batiste Dry Shampoo in Cherry.

·         Botanics 5 Minute Hair Mask.

·         Soap & Glory Breakfast Scrub.

·         Soap & Glory The Daily Smooth.

·         Gillette Venus Proskin Sensitive Razor.

·         Eco Tools Bamboo Blush Brush.

·         Natural Collection Rosemary & Witch Hazel Face Mask.

·         Soap & Glory Mini Clean On Me Body Wash.

·         Bourjois Smoky Eyes Eye Shadow in Or Baroque.

All you need to do to enter is follow this blog (via GFC, Blog Lovin' or Hello Cotton) and leave a comment below telling me your must have product available from Boots.

Also please leave me a way of contacting you; either e-mail or 

Twitter!

You can follow what Boots are upto by Liking the Boots Facebook Page (not a requirement to enter but would be lovely for them if you did!)

You have 1 week to get your entries in; this giveaway will end at 23:59 BST on 7th June 2012

Terms and Conditions:

UK residents only

I am not responsible for the contents or the postage of this giveaway prize; some contents may differ.

You must provide me with your address which will then be passed on to the PR company to have your prize sent out.

Winner will be chosen at random by random.org
If you are under 18 please ask permission from a parent or guardian before you enter.

How Do You Apply Your Tan?

We've had a bit of sun I know, but for those of us who don't tan quickly (if at all!) it's the time where we panic about getting our milky white legs out; so fake tanning becomes an absolute must. Before I discovered fake tanning properly I was very worried about how it would apply, would it streak, would it be orange... I always wondered how on earth do people get such an even, flawless application!?

Well in my opinion, it's all about the application. 

You apply with bare hands and you end up with bright orange palms; a tell tale sign of a fake tan addict, and often an uneven application as its difficult to get a good, even coverage with your palms... 

....Then there's those who use a sock (a Clean one I hope!!), admittedly I have dabbled with socks and found that a) the sock was ruined and b) the fake tan still ended up soaking through onto my hand, so for me it was false economy...

.... Latex gloves anyone? I've never tried these purely because I don't have easy access to them but I don't imagine them being pleasant; I hate the smell of them, taking them off (imagine the slippery little buggers when they're covered in fake tan) and just the general sweaty feel of them on my hands, ergh...

... But Alas!! The fake tanning mitt is the answer to my fake tanning prayers. 

They come in all sorts of colours from all sorts of shops but the one in the photo is the 'Original' mitt by VelvoTan. Basically if you've never used them you just put it on and rub the fake tan in a circular motion and you're left with a silky smooth, even finish. Mitt's are generally very smooth and a bit spongy to make for a comfortable application, they're usually priced around £4 but to me it's a good deal because you can machine dry most mitts and they come out looking fine and usable again and again. There is not a stain in sight on your hands when you wear one of these, it acts as a complete barrier between your hand and the product.

You can get them from loads of places like Feel Unique (£3), Boots and even your local supermarket (thats where I got mine from!)

Do you use a tanning mitt? If not, why not?!

Before and After: Benefit Eyebrows

As I've mentioned countless times, I'm plagued with rubbish eyebrows; partly through my own doing and partly just naturally.. I had a bit of a disaster with a HD Brows rip off last year so I decided to treat myself to a trip to the Benefit Brow bar in Meadowhall; I'd seen all the Benebabes with their admirable arches and I just had to try it out because I don't think I've ever had a proper brow arch. 

Here are the before pictures:

Pretty shapeless, light coloured, bits sticking out everywhere, mono-brow kinda eyebrows... not attractive in the slightest.

The Benefit Brow bar experience is really quite nice; better than any salon eyebrow experience I've ever had! Basically one of the brow experts will sit you down and 'Map' your brows, asking what you'd like yours to look like and they'll try their best to do it for you. I personally didn't want really oddly dark eyebrows because I'm blonde, I asked for a decent arch and just a general tidy up.

So my lovely Benebabe, Amy, did all that for me and checked that it was ok before she sat me at the brow bar. Instead of using the dark tint she mixed the light and dark together to get a shade more suited to my face and hair, before applying she put the some vaseline on the skin around my brows and then she popped the tint on for 2 minutes. I've just had a thought, this might not have been in the right order but I'm just trying to give you an idea of what its like.

The tint was then wiped away and the waxing and tweezing commenced. Before she applied the wax she tested it on my palm to make sure it wasn't too hot for me and then she began working her magic; there's no escaping the fact that waxing/tweezing flipping hurts, but for whatever reason this process doesn't seem to hurt as much, whether its the wax or the technique I don't know!

Once she'd shown me the finished product (which I was obviously over the moon with) she popped some Boi-ing concealer on just to reduce some of the redness. And this is what they looked like...

What do you think? I absolutely love them and although it takes me like 40 minutes to get to my nearest Benefit Brow Bar I consider it totally worth it! It's £18 which is a little bit more than some salons, but again... Totally worth it!!! If you do want to try it out you can look for your nearest Brow Bar online and get the phone number to book; although booking isn't always essential I think it's best to do so to avoid disappointment!

Have you tried Benefit Brow Bars? If not will you be?

The Perfect Red Nail Polish for under £2

I've talked before about the discount store near my house where I can get some real good beauty bargains; they often have discontinued products at an absolute steal of a price! I haven't done a nail post in ages so I thought this was the perfect opportunity.

Since Miss Sporty has gone through their little rebranding process; with new ranges of polishes and new wider brushes, my discount store got a whole load of their 'Lasting Colour' polishes in priced at just 49p! I had a quick look and picked out this gorgeous red shade... absolutely beautiful I think! I'm really into bright reds this summer, I've even dipped my toes into the red lip market, ooo!!

I've tried the Clubbing Colours polishes before, which were fabulous in both ease of application and formula of the product and this one didnt disappoint! One coat and the nail is pretty much covered, if you were in a rush you would get away with it (I did on saturday night, I only had 5 mins to do my nails so base coat, one coat of colour and top coat it was!) Granted, it's not great for longevity when you only do one coat but if you take your time and put 2 good coats on you'd be fine for around 3/4 days!

Despite the fact that this polish is discontinued, I have managed to scout one out on ebay but if you want one I'd hurry because I'm not sure how many they have! Although it's not 49p it is just £1.29 (excluding P&P) but I definately recommend having a look in your local pound shop for more bargains like this one!! 

What is your favourite shade of Red Nail Polish?

Glossybox 1 Year Anniversary Box

Yes, I know... I unsubscribed to this box a while ago but I've only lasted 2 months without it, when I realised it was Glossybox's one year anniversary I figured they might come up with something a bit special so it'd be worth resubscribing for! What I'm going to do today is tell you my first impressions and give separate reviews for some of the products.

May 2012 Glossybox Contents

HD Brows Brow Beater (Full Size) - This is worth £14.95 on the Nouveau Beauty Website so for me makes the box well worth it, especially as I had my eye on it anyway because my brows are pretty unruley at times. This is basically a finishing product which sets and conditions your eyebrows, I'm so looking forward to trying it and will definately review it fully. It's also nice to try another product from HD brows because although Glossybox have had HD brows products in before I don't think it matters on this occasion.

Collection Lasting Colour Gel Eyeliner (Full Size) - £4.99 Sadly I can't find the black one anywhere online so there's no link to this one at the moment. I was a bit like 'meh' when I saw Collection (2000) in a 'luxury' samples box but I'm going to keep my trap shut until I've tried it because this could be an ace product like the Lasting Perfection concealer... I'm not really looking forward to having a go with it to be honest though because liquid/gel eyeliners arent really my thing, I only really wear pencils on my waterline, but we shall see.

Weleda Wild Rose Night Cream - £14.95 - I assume this is night cream because of the little half moon at the bottom of the bottle but because there's no english on the bottle that I can see It's not overly clear! I am actually quite looking forward to trying it because I loved the Weleda 2 in 1 toner I got in a previous box. 

2 x Lolita Lempicka Perfume samples - I know people moan about perfume samples but as long as they're in spray form I really don't mind them!! and the L'eau en Blanc actually smells really nice, a bit like Versace Baby Rose Jeans which I used to wear when I was younger; nothing overpowering... quite a light powdery pleasant smell... not keen on the Parfum but you can't have it all can you!?

Noble Isle Summer Rising Bath and Shower Gel - I really like trying out new bath products; this one seems like the same sort of quality as Molton Brown with its attractive little bottle and oriental sort of scent... can't wait to try it!! Topped off really quite a good box for me!

Overall

I know some people have really not been impressed with their box and I understand why because if I'd got another pair of false eyelashes that I would never wear I think I would scream!!!! I've just had a look on the Glossybox Website and in comparison to the May 2011 box (the first ever with the NARS Illuminator), for me, this one is actually better because I wouldn't use the Illuminator that everyone raved about!! Overall Glossybox, I know I've not liked what you've done in the past I have to congratulate you on this lovely little box! I will definately be keeping my subscription! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GLOSSYBOX!

30 Things Before 30

So I'm 21 now and I've got under 9 years to do the following things, I'll link it in my sidebar and constantly update it! Some of them might seem really daft and trivial but they're just things I want to do/achieve.

1. Graduate from University

2. Get a Job

3. Go to Vegas

4. Go to Amsterdam

5. Go to New York again

6. Have a really good Massage

7. Win a Blog Award

8. Start collecting something (Other Than Makeup haha)

9. Go to a London Beauty Show

10. Buy a Brand new car

11. Have a house which I can do up exactly how I want

12. Have a child

13. Get back into a size 12/14

14. Go to Paris

15. Have afternoon tea at the Ritz

16. Have someone over for dinner 

17. .....

If you have one of these on your blog please link me below!

Travel Pamper Pack on a Budget

I've seen so many tweets and blog posts where you've struggled to fit everything into your suitcase for a weekend away so this Montagne Jeunesse Travel Pamper Pack* should cater for most of your beauty travel needs.

This Travel Pamper Pack contains 6 x 10ml sachets:

1 x Passion Peel off Masque

1 x Skin Smoother

1 x Foot Cooler

1 x Intensive Hair Masque

2 x Body Wash

I think this pamper pack is really fabulous value at just £5 and it's in a convenient cardboard book type holder so it keeps them all together in your bag/suitcase, each sachet rips out really easy as they're all perforated so no messy accidents!

You'll be pleased to know that Montagne Jeunesse products are suitable for vegetarians and contain loads of natural ingredients... and they also don't test on animals.

Passion Peel off Masque

This smells soo fruity, exactly as you'd expect a pomegranate and passionflower (to be honest, not entirely sure what that is) product to smell, not overpowering because that'd probably give you headache but just a really nice scent. The product itself is pink and quite thick in consistency but smooths nicely accross your skin; after it's been left for around 20 mins it tightens up and you can peel it off your face (that has to be up there in my top 10 best feelings ever!).

This did make my skin feel soft and refreshed afterwards, I sort of see peel offs as a fail safe answer to facemasks because I have yet to try one that breaks me out! The only thing that slightly concerned me is that my eyes stung a little bit when I had it on, I'm not sure if that's just the smell but they feel fine now and there isn't any sign of irritation.

I reviewed the next sachets pretty much all at once, I had a little pamper night and went through them all!

Apricot Skin Smoothing Scrub

I expected this to be quite thin in consistency, a bit like my Xen Tan Exfoliator, but it wasn't it was a similar consistency to St Ives Apricot scrub... and smelt just like it, if not a bit better! Perfect for elbows, knees and feet (driest parts of your body) this can be used to scrub away the dead skin, I used it on my elbows and feet and it was really quite nice and easy to use, I find that some scrubs are a bit too abrasive but this was really gentle but still made my skin feel smooth.

Crushed Blueberry Foot Cooler

I used this just after I'd been to zumba and had a bath, you massage it into your feet and leave it on. It smells quite odd really I think because it has a hint of peppermint; blueberry and peppermint isn't a combination I've ever heard of until now! It does cool your feet down massively and makes them all tingly (in the nicest possible way!), this would be perfect if you've been trotting around your holiday destination all day or even if you've hit the Oxford Street in London for the day!!

Orange Body Wash

Body wash in a sachet really is a new one on me but I can definately see the point to it in a travel pamper pack because those ones you often get in hotels smell really boring whereas this one smells pretty divine, really orange-y and refreshing. It doesn't lather a lot which is a bit of a disappointment but I didn't use one of those shower puffs, I just used my hands so maybe it would be better if you had something to lather it up properly!

Lime Intensive Spa hair Masque

Again, lime for a hair masque is new to me but I really liked the idea! I could tell just from feeling the packet that it wasn't going to be thick and heavy and I was totally right, I coated the bottom 2/3 of my hair in it and although its quite thin (thinner than some normal conditioners i've used) it really does the job and smells quite nice too! It's not as intensive as some that I've used but what I did think about was if you'd gone on say a week long holiday you could take this, pop it in your beach bag, get your hair a bit wet or whatever you wanna do in the sea and then pop this on while you're relaxing and then wash it off back at the hotel... I bet your hair would feel gorgeous!

Overall

I love the idea of this, I hate having to choose what to take with me on weekends away because of the weight regulations and whatever, but this £5 pack caters for so many needs!! You can buy this along with loads of other  products on the Montagne Jeunesse website, and you get free delivery on orders over £7.50!