Get your glamoxy on

I got a goodie bag from a recent beauty event at Harvey Nichols and in it was a sachet of Rodial's Glamoxy Snake Serum and by Joe is it good stuff!

I'll admit I don't have wrinkles but I do have expression lines on my forehead that I hate with a passion. To be honest I'd never heard of this serum before I pulled it out of the goodie bag and didn't really know what to expect, so last night I was getting ready for a night out and thought it would be the perfect time to try this out.

I was amazed! If you follow me on twitter you may have seen my update raving about this. My skin was glowing, the fine lines on my forehead had been plumped out and I was practically jumping for joy at the results. The serum also freezes the muscles temporarily, so I sat in front of my mirror for 10 minutes making strange faces at myself. This really is great stuff it's definitely worth seeing if your local Rodial counter can do you a sample just to try this serum out for yourself, I highly recommend it.

However, there is one downfall - it's £127. Yes, one hundred and twenty seven of your shiny pounds for 25ml of this product. Oof. I did start following Rodial on twitter and they must have an automated message set up for new followers which gives you 10% off an online order, definitely worth the follow if just for that!

I'm wondering if I would ever pay so much money for this, even if it is a brilliant product. Nip Fab frown fix is on my want list to see if it can achieve some kind of result like this and its under 20 quid, but with the shopping ban on it will have to wait till the end of June..

A quick check in

This is going to be very brief as I've not really got much to say other than very sorry for the lack of posts from myself recently, have not been well this week and despite having a few posts planned I've not been able to get myself to write them! It happens to us all.
I'm going into hospital next week for an operation, nothing major just a routine op on my throat. well for me it's routine anyway lol. So I imagine I'll be pretty quiet then too. Michelle will be keeping us all posted with her shopping ban updates however and having just finished a very unsuccessful one myself & considering another I know how she feels!
But sure its all good fun! I'm gonna leave you with a few photos from last week when I wasn't as ill as I am now. The first is a gorgeous dress I got from Asda, totally out of the norm for me in its non boobular sense. the second is my make up with said outfit and finally a picture of my messy nail art I posted on Instagram. My poor Instagram followers get flooded with my NOTD posts and this was the most recent.

Thats all for today folks! I'm off back to bed. xx

Pre shopping ban haul

I'm going on a shopping ban as of tomorrow in a bid not just to save money, but to save me from myself. I can go into a shop to buy a pack of tissues and come out with everything but the till. So, for 1 month, till the 26th of June I shall be purchasing none of the below:

Make up

Skin care

Hair care

Clothes (including shoes and accessories)

Pretty much everything I love. If Boots goes under in the coming month it may be because of me.

In preparation of this I allowed myself to go out today to buy necessities, which turned into a little spree. First stop - Boots. I needed a new razor, E45 cream and a small bottle of perfume. While I was walking from the razor section to the perfume section (which is not more than 5 meters) I got collared by a lady from Clarins asking me if I wanted a mini facial. My immediate answer to this was "no" but she persisted. I HATE getting my make up taken off while I'm in public I feel insecure, horrible and spotty. I don't go out without make up on and under the harsh lights of Boots I wasn't about to be stripped of my dignity - or so I thought. I don't know what happened in the split second between me standing there putting up a pretty good fight and following her to her display area. When I say display area this lady had a chair sat out with all the products in the middle of the shop floor... and then she put her head set on. fml.

I went trough with it though and I have to say the products she used were excellent. First the daily energizer cleansing gel, which is a really great foamy cleanser that gets rid of all traces of make-up. Then the daily energizer wake-up booster which is more or less a toner but really brightens up your skin (once i'm off my spending ban I'll be getting some). Finally the daily energizer cream, I really liked this as well and a couple of hours on my skin still feels great and not at all uncomfortable - normally the skin around my forehead gets really dry throughout the day. That done they put some foundation on (or else I wouldn't have left)they used Skin Illusion. I've never tried Clarins foundations before, I always thought it was more of a "mummy" brand but I have to say I realllllllllly like them and the foundation brightened up my face no end.

I ended up buying the cleanser and a lipstick, Clarins have an offer on at the moment that if you buy 2 products you get a free gift (a beach bag and your choice of three sample products from a select range) and also a massive 1000 Boots points!! I had to go back to the perfume counter to pick up the Marc Jacobs Daisy purse spray that I wanted before I was ambushed!

Then off to House of Fraser to get some concealer, The Bobbi Brown creamy concealer kit has been on my want list for about a month and the girl also talked me into the corrector she matched me up put it on and gave me a free sample of eye cream as well.

Now that the shopping ban has kicked in I wont be updating about what I've been buying, but I have a few things that I really love at the moment and also how the shopping ban is going. argh.

Don't forget Glamour mag is giving away Benefit freebies -High beam, benetint and posietint - in the next issue out on 9th June - I'll be buying 3 copies! (Doesn't count as the make up is free, right?)

Feeling blue

I chased this man just to get this snap - maybe he's embracing colour blocking.

P.s I thought this was Russell Brand the first time he walked by - but he's just a pretty good Persian lookalike.

Palazzo Palaver

I'm jumping straight in there with the pictures because I want you to see what I'm up against. These Palazzo pants from Zara have been causing me much trouble for a week or so, I don't know if I should love them or hate them. When they first came out I knew for definite I hated them, then I spied these ones and fell a little in love. At the weekend I seen a girl wearing them and then had the great idea that if she was wearing them then I could probably pull them off too.

So today I went to Zara, marched straight up to them, grabbed 2 sizes (sizing in these go xs/s/m/l/xl not normal sizing which really annoyed me) ran to the chaging rooms and honestly spent about half an hour in there agonising over whether to get these or not. To be fair they are like giant jammie bottoms crossed with clown trousers. Another thing is every time I look at them I'm sure they change colour, which is why I put 2 pics up there...

So, in the end I did buy them, these wide legged clown jim jams.

I'm still not 100% about them. However, they are the first pair of trousers I have bought in about 3 years, I normally live in leggings/skirts/dresses as well as the occasional pair of trousers for work.

So my main question is, what do you think? Am I going to look like an absolute idiot in these - or is that the point?

ps if you want to look like you're going to run away with the circus you can buy them here and we'll go together!

Barry M Lavender Hexagrams & the art of Zen

I've been known to give myself simple manicures once or twice in work (during my breaks of course) as a way of relaxing. It's like Zen meditation for me and makes those stressful days a little easier to handle.

I've also been meaning to write a review of this Hexagram polish for a while. So while I calmed myself the other day I snapped a few pics along the way.

 Barry M Lavender Hexagram & Berry Ice Cream

1 coat.

 A you can see the Hexagrams don't go on easily, You usually have to resort to a light blobbing technique & then pushing the Hexagrams around with the brush to evenly distribute them across the nail.

2 coats.

Slightly denser but still quite gappy. I left it at 2 coats as it took ages to dry & a 3rd would have made it impossible to do anything with my hands.

The saving grace of this polish is that as well as the Hexagrams which are basically large squares of glitter & not as I'd hoped actually hexagonal (how raging was I realised that!) is that it is also densely packed with tiny flecks of purple glitter which add a sparkly effect to the clear polish & really emphasise the blingy effect of this polish making me love it despite initially a bit disappointed.

A sparkly thumbs up.

Essential Therapy

Its strange to think that shopping used to be my worst nightmare. I hated it! I'm not a hunter. I really hate digging through piles of clothes to find that hidden gem. Which is probably why my wardrobe in the past was to be perfectly honest... bland!

I still have issues with shopping, I still hate digging through those piles, Primark is a frightening experience for me. If its not easily seen & doesn't grab my attention from a distance I wont see it. I'm also still very picky about clothes and shoes so if it doesn't look exactly right I wont touch it. Come to think of it, I think I'm the nightmare when it comes to shopping.

But every now and then I have a day when it is the easiest thing in the world. Today was that day. I had a small list of essentials that I absolutely needed, new black pumps for work, a cardigan if possible & nail polish remover. I got the shoes... 

... and a few other things too.

I think my first mistake was making House of Fraser my first point of call, those Benefit girls know me all too well & suckered me in with two easy words, "Free Samples" I bought their Stay Don't Stray Primer (I needed a primer anyway!) & newly released Moisture Prep (shall be reviewing that over the next few weeks!) and got their Refined Finish Facial Polish & Triple Performing Facial emulsion free. Not too shabby, but I pretty much ran away from the make up counters after that... Just in case.

I'm not sure how I ended up with 3 pairs of shoes but I'm pretty chuffed with them and they were really really needed. Like, in an "I threw my old ones out as soon I left the shop" way. If you check out the above picture the patterned black ones in the middle are from New Look, the plain black (see right) & pewter pumps were £4 from Primark & so comfy!

Ps check out me rocking the bare legs! A rare sighting.

Now speaking of Primark, I've been examining my receipts and I'd like to give a wee shout out to the girl that served me because thanks to her I got my gorgeous new handbag completely free... Oops!

Not sure how she missed it because I made a point of setting it on the counter but hey, I'm not one to look a £10 gift horse in the mouth! 

Here it is in Green, which I loved but it didn't suit anything I own so I opted for the plain Black version.

I'm not sure who came up with concept of a denim trilby but for the sake of hats everywhere I'm putting my foot down. This is awful. How did it make it into mass production?!?!

From the ridiculous to the sublime. I love this ring, it's so cute and a bargain too!

I complain about Primark but they do deliver the goods sometimes. We'll just ignore the hat fiasco.

So that was my haul, now I'm off to sort my mop of  hair out & go see a comedy gig with my bestest of bests, Gayle. What an awesome Tuesday! x

Fishy Business

Believe me the last thing I thought I'd be writing about today would be Garra Ruffa fish - but such is life.

After a boring morning of walking around town and aimlessly wandering in and out of various shops I spotted a young chap touting a sign on a stick for a fish pedicure. It took two attempts at going in the shop before I went for it, the first time I went in i got a leaflet and asked the lady if they accepted debit cards (they don't).. so off I trotted and came back about 20 mins later under the cover that I needed to get cash out.

Feeling braver I filled in the necessary forms for health and safety (!) and handed over my money. I went to aqua preena who are Leeds based and they also have another store in York. It;s meant to be £10 for 15 mins or £15 for 30 mins but they have discounts like 20% off mon-thurs if you work in the city centre, 241 for students on Mondays and £6 for 15 mins for OAP's on Mondays also. As I work in the city centre I got my 15 mins for 8 quid - and a complimentary drink of juice, tea/coffee or wine (I had OJ) - bargain.

The lady got a foot spa filled with warm water to rinse my feet in and Then it was time for me to roll my leggings up and take the plunge. I squealed like a child.... Like. A. Child. The strangest feeling in the world is the moment you dip your big toe into the water and all these fish fight over themselves to get a taste of your feet. It took a couple of run ups but my feet were finally in the pool and these fish were having the time of their lives over my tootsies.

It tickles like mad for the first couple of minutes until then you get used to it and it feels like dull pins and needles. After 5 minutes had passed I was actually enjoying it! I was a bit worried about then getting caught between my toes but they seemed to like it as much as I did even when my 15 mins was up they were still trying to nibble at me. Feet dried you can instantly tell the difference in skin condition - smoother and healthier looking feet.

Foot cream applied, leggings rolled down, shoes on and I was on my way again. You can really notice the difference - all the hard skin around the balls of my feet and most from my heels is gone, everything has been nicely exfoliated by these toothless little fish. I'm so pleased with the results. AND, they have a loyalty scheme - buy 6 and get your 7th free, I'll definitely be going again.

The only thing I regret is not shaving my legs before I went. Damn.

Face value

I've seen a couple of bloggers doing this and thought I'd give it a go - How much is your face worth?

I'm going to admit I'm still a bit shocked at the value i put on my face everyday, so here goes!

Burt's Bees Moisturiser £20

Shu Uemura under base - £29

Dior Nude foundation - £29.50

YSL Touche Eclat - £24.50

Dior crayon eyeliner - £16.50

Clinique gel liner - £13.50

Estee Lauder lash primer plus - £16.50

Benefit Bag Gal lash - £16.50

Benefit Thrrrob - £23.50

£189.50!!!!!!!

That's a crazy amount for everyday make-up! What's even worse is this is just a scratch in the surface of my heaving make-up collection and this is only what i wore on my face today. Mad.

So, the big question is - how much is YOUR face worth. I'd love to know - it all adds up so quickly!

Indulge

Or N.dulge to be more precise.

This morning my Space NK N.dulge card arrived in the post. (They spelt my surname wrong - sigh) It's more or less the Boots advantage card of Space NK, however, you get a gift on your birthday, invites to instore beauty events and of course your points.

I will mention the points aren't as generous as Boots with only 1 point per £1 and when you get 100 points you then get a £5 reward added to your card to spend. More or less the same structure as the Debenhams beauty club card. I'm not 100% sure if they will have events where you can earn more points per pound á la Debenhams, but sure isn't any money off a good thing?

I didn't hear about this card until I went into Space NK to get some bits and bobs a week or so ago but by the looks of it, it seems to be a relatively new thing- and worth it if only for the birthday treat!

Window Shopping

This month I've been on a spending ban. No seriously, I haven't purchased any new Make up or Nail Polishes since exactly the 8th of April! Craziness! But what I have been doing is perving over the internet & deciding on what my next purchases could be once I lift my ban. 

Here are a few examples of what I've been looking at.

Sigma Brushes

ELF

Tinted Moisturiser

Porcelain

Eyeshadow Collection 

Everyday Basics

Cream Eyeliner

Benefit

Lemon Aid

MAC

Spirit Of Truth Lacquer

Illamasque

Powder Blusher in Disobey

 

And there you have it, just a few of my most wanted items. I might do another most wanted list later in the month as there are already several items I'm obsessing over since originally choosing these ones. Can you think of any must haves that I've forgotten or left out?