This Weeks Beauty Buys Feat: Boots & Superdrug

Once again, I'm being pretty poor on here but this week I had a valid reason - we've had a pretty crazy week as one of our dogs got ridiculously i'll and we had to pretty much reevaluate everything and learn how to not spend a penny topay for her operation. I think I might do a post about Pyometra in dogs sometime soon as theres nothing personal online for help at all!

-- These buys were all bought before we took her to the vet before you think I've been spending when my dog needs the money more --


Superdrug

Real Techiques Powder Brush - £10.99 - BUY
Real Techniques Expert Face Brush -  £8.99 - BUY

I first entered the world of Real Techniques back in February (here)and havent looked back. Althought most bloggers refer to this as affordable and inexpensive - for me personally, Its not often I can justify spending a tenner on 1 make up brush so these are a slowly growing collection but I'm trying to slowly grow these - I did get the face brush for half price which is what sold me to add to my others.

MUA Blusher in 'Bubble Gum' - £1 - BUY
MUA Blusher in 'Cupcake' -   £1 - BUY

How could I not for £1? These are perfect handbag size and I plan on using a Benefit brush to apply these are theyre the exact same shape!

 MUA LUXE Velvet Lip Lacquer in 'Reckless'- £3 - BUY
MUA LUXE Velvet Lip Lacquer in 'Funk' - £3 - BUY 

The new LUXE rangeis amazing - my aim is to eventually buy all of these as theyre so beautiful - I want the purple one but they keep selling out as soon as its in!

Boots

 

Boots 3 for 2

 No7 Pointed Tweezers - £8 - BUY  

Real Techniques Shading Brush - £7.99 - BUY

Real Techniques Mini Brush Trio - £9.99 - BUY

I'll admit, I only went in for the tweezers after years of sticking to my GOSH ones for so long. However, I turned around and saw the mini trio set and  couldnt believe that these have only just entered my life. I spent 3 years of uni planning my night out makeup for anything that didnt require a brush once I was out and now these have come to my rescue-perfect for slamdunk festival in a few weeks! 

The shading brush is to add to my collection and it was free so why not?!

Maybelline Baby Lips - Boots Clearance -Was £2.99 Now £1 - BUY

You can't even tell in this photo but the back of the pack has ripped so I got this for £1!

What have you guys been buying this past week?? Have you bought any of these and have any tips? Let me know below :)

100Follower GIVEAWAY! - Still time to enter here - Running until 21st May!

xXx

The Ultimate Bath To Relax Pulled Muscles

So I've been a bit quieter on here the past few days, this is due to my first experience on Friday morning with a pulled muscle.

I was unfortunate enough to pull a neck mucle (whilst stretching of all things) and after feeling it snap - a bit like a rubber band pinging in my neck - I pretty much spent the day in entire agony.
Jamie was reassuring as ever by simply telling me its my bodies way of telling me i'm getting old - wahhh I'm 22!!

If you've ever done this, then you'll know the pain and sheer misery it puts on your day and I'm here to show you the ultimate bath to ease your pain away!!

- I'd just like to clarify: I'm not saying this will beat any kind of doctors pill, I've also taken copious amounts of prescribed painkillers along the way but this bath was the final thing I needed to kick any kind of real pain it was causing.

Full reviews of these products will be coming in the near future so if theres a product you want to know about, comment below and i'll get on with the review sooner!

The Orange Tree Bath Soak
Wiccy Magic Muscles Massage Bar - Lush
Big Blue Bath Bomb - Lush
No7 Body lotion - Boots
Sanctuary Body Souffle - Boots

Step 1) 
Once you have quite a nice shallow bath, add your bath salts - these can be any kind of bath salts/crystals but I would recommend looking for any that are specfic for muscle/relaxing properties. 

Step 2)
Now hopefully your salts have started to dissolve, add the AMAZING Big Blue BathBomb. This is a complete dream - it contains sea salt and sea weed too which are super relaxing and the scent is so strong it just eases all your senses into a calm bath. The colour of your bath will also turn the most vibrant of blues - this isnt a muscle point, but I think its always nice to be aesthetically pleasing.

Step 3)
By this point you should be in the bath, I personally opted out of bubbles as I think they can just get in the way and I wanted to purely focus on getting the pain away than the appearance of my bath (minus the blue of course)

Step 4)
Let yourself get totally emerged in the bath and make sure the pulled muscle area is warm and as relaxed as you can get it. Then take your Wiccy Magic Muscles Massage bar and this is where you'll truely start to feel the difference. It works better if you have a partner or someone very close to help you here- but fear not, I was home alone so is completely manageable on your own.
This is bursting with cinnamon and Peppermint - I actually hate cinnamon but for the sheer pain I was in, I didnt care at all and oh my god, was this worth the compromise!
It pretty much soothed every ache and pain and as well as giving it a gentle massage alongside it, I was shocked at just how well it worked.
The side with the Aduki beans are perfect for the knots in your muscles you want to ease away, you can pretty much work it out for yourself when you're using it but this will cure that pain after a good 5 min massage.
- As a side note, it can get pretty messy and it does melt quite quick so for the price tag (£6.50) , this might be a slight downfall but it you're looking for something that works then just try to justify spending the cash  that way.

Step 5)
Relax and enjoy the rest of your bath with withever shower gel you have - I chose a No7 one ( i accidentally phoographed my body lotion instead oops) as I think these are really relaxing and smell really classy and soothing.

- Candles / Music / Alcohol / TV Optional -

Step 6)
Once Out and dry apply a soothing body lotion into skin. I sadly couldn find one on my lunch break so I stuck with my Sanctuary Body Lotion - However, the massage bar produces a body lotion-esque feel once dry so you actually are left with a lotion on your targeted area. I wasnt sure if you should rub this off so for review purpose I didnt and it stayed calm all night and didnt start to pain me once - the only downside for me was the scent was very strong as I tried to sleep and got up my nose quite a lot but for fans of cinnamon, youll love this I'm sure!


So there you go, my ultimate muscle relax bath - I had this bath on day 2 and honestly, it was pretty much gone by day 3! I'm now on day 5 and other than when I woke up, I've been completely fine!
Everywhere online kept saying this will last me upto 10days so I think I've done pretty well and if you need a bath to help massage the pain away, then I could not recommend it more!!

- Once again my ode to Lush continues.....

Have you got any pulled muscles tips and tricks to share?? Whats your ultimate bath for relaxation??
Let me know in the comments below incase it happens again!

Boots Hidden Clearance Gem

Hidden in every Boots store is a small shelf of absolute gems. This is also called the clearance shelf and I've only recently discovered mine.

They obviously don't go shouting out about these as they're full of bargains and I'm guessing they're not always amazing but I'd recommend finding your local one and having a nose before doing your Boots shopping.

Luckily for me, there happened to be 3 huge shelves full of products this week, mainly full of 17 make up products, I think this is because the company recently rebranded themselves from '17' to 'Seventeen' but it was HUGE!  Not being hugely familar with the brand myself I did limit my spending to trying a few products but with a few more bits in tow, these are the bargains I came away with:

note - my 'buy' links are all to the full price items on Boots (I'm guessing clearance is subject to each individual store)

1) Dr. Ceuticals Body, Tone and Tan - FullPrice: £14.99 Clearance:£4.00 - BUY

This brand isnt one I'm actually aware of, however the lotion claims to firm and shape, show slimming effects and provide a natural glow.
I'm not all that guilable for 'slimming effects' on skincare products, however I do believe they tone (this is just the rubbing effect you do which increases blood circulation you can achieve this with any body lotion but I'll give high end brands the benefit of the doubt to state their claims).

I probably won't actually do a full review until summertime when I love a natural built tan from lotions but I'm excited to try this out, especially for £4.00.

2) 17 Instant Glow Bronzing Powder - FullPrice: £4.59 Clearance: £1.50 - BUY

The link is to the new rebranded version of this product and from first appearance you can see why. The leopard print on the product is a little bit outdated now and dare I say, a bit young/chavvy? I've bought this simply to give it a cheeky review and experience abit with ome bronzers. I'm yet to venture out of the occasional bronze useage but I think this will be great to try with hints of golds and deep browns I'm hoping this will provide a great finishing touch. The only thing that puts me off is its 'wash off' claim. I don't like the idea that it has to tell me it will wash off making it sceptical it won't look all that natural, (please don't make me look terrifying).

3) 17 Hide & Chic Anti-Fatigue Foundation - FullPrice: £6.29 Clearance: £2.00 - BUY

When it comes to foundations, I'm normally abit of a snob and spend a tad more on a good quality one. I mean, it is covering your entire skin so you need to be kind. The downside to this is, they run out and I'm poor so as a quick back up I bought this in soft ivory. It was the lightest shade on offer I'm hoping it'll suit my skin tone, if not, £2 isn't the worlds worse lost.

4) Sally Hansen Sugar Coat Nail Polish in Razzle-Berry - FullPrice: £6.99 Clearance: £2.00 - BUY

Considering this is in perfect condition and was literally on the main shelf last week, I was so pleased to grab this at such a good price. Sally Hansen is very hit or miss with me but these are lovely. The sugar effect isnt too messy and the blue colour is so vivid. They actually had both the pink (cotton candy) and the green (sour apple) but as both had been opened and were starting to crust I decided against them.

5) No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in Stand Back - FullPrice: £6.00 Clearance: £2.00 - BUY

Although this colour isn't on the link above, I'm sure you'll find one you love with the array of choice they have on offer. These are so bright and unique. I can't wait to try it out soon.


TIP: I would always advise you check the products before buying as sometimes they are old testers / being opened / not completely full and although you're grabbing a bargain, its still nice to get a brand new product.

Christmas 2013

I hope you all had a great Christmas this year and got everything you asked for. For me, this year marked the first where I honestly wasn bothered about anything in particular I did/didnt recieve and cared more about the gifts I bought other people.

That doesnt mean I wasnt truely grateful for what I got, but as I hadnt asked for anything, I wasnt expecting anything either.

I ended up with lots of new things from my family, friends and Jamie which were all incredible and I know I'll use it all, especially the amount of baking things I recieved.

When it came to Beauty / Perfume items, I usually ask for a range of more affordable bits but realised this just ends up in my make up drawers so I asked for products that have become my daily routine this year so I know everything will be put to good use.


Heres a quick run down of some of the Beauty gifts I got...

Boots No7 Illuminating Mirror - Link - Ive been after this for a good few years now after having my old housemates hand me down one and since leaving it at home in July, I finally got my own.

Secondly comes my beautiful Benefit addiction. These were gifts from Jamie and my Parents.

The 'best of benefit' (link) set is ideal for any bene-newbie or someone that just wants to top up their collection without buying the full sizes.

The set includes

The Porefessional Primer
They're Real Mascara
Hoola Bronzer
Boi-ing Concealer
High Beam Highlighter.
Benetint Cheek Stain


The second set is an amazing perfume, Crescent Row (link) miniatures set. I originally asked for Laugh with me Lee Lee as this is a perfume I've owned already, but for the same price my mum bought me this with 4 to chose from, ideal for my handbag and each include their own box so you don't even feel like you're getting abit cheated for the small size.

This set includes:
Laugh with me Lee Lee
Ring my Bella (fastly becoming my fave)
Under my spell Noelle
My place or yours Gina

Although I love The Body Shop, I never seem to shop there as often as I should so to get all these was amazing.

I seem to have gone a bit Mango (link) crazy with this gift set from my manager and the shower gel from my family along with the satsuma one which smells amazing.

The perfume set was actually a gift from my uncle who didn't even know how much I love TBS' White Musk (link)  (it's quite old lady-ish I know but I love it) so to receive this I now have 3 bottles and couldn't be happier. The fragrance mist will also be super handy for a daily top up without drowning myself in perfume.

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a sick adiction to Soap and Glory so much so, we have a box in our bathroom purely dedicated to the stuff so it was always going to be a sure present to get me for christmas.

My grandma bought me this Bright and Bubbly Gift set (link) which includes:
Hand Food
The Righeous Butter
Clean on Me
The Scrub of your life
A pink wash scrub


I also received two full size versions of Clean on Me Body Wash and Calm One Calm All Bubble Bath.

Boots No7 Ultimate Gift Set - Every year No7 release this amazing set full of full sizes of their best products but at the price of £65, its not exactly something I can just splurge out on so I waited until it went down to £32 as a star gift and asked Jamie if I could have it as one of my presents.

I've always considered the boxs' contents as a bit too 'old' for me but the depressing thing, at 22, I think protecting face creams are now my calling in life so i'm excited to give all these a go, however, at the smallest price of £9 for individual items, they will have to be used more sparingly...or at least until next christmas :)

The No7 Ultimate Collection includes

Blissful Body Wash
Completely Quenched Mosturising Body Lotion
Sumptuous Bath Soak
Beautiful Skin Cleansing Lotion
Beautiful Skin Dry Skin Rescue - This will  a god send in the summer
Protect and Perfect Day Hand Cream
Protect an Perfect Intense Day Cream
Protect and Perfect Intense Night Cream
No7 Lash Adapt Mascara
No7 Lipgloss

 

 A few Full Size Benefit Goodies off my Mum.

The Porefessional Primer - My everyday go-to product, I get through this at a depressingly fast speed

Hydra Smooth Lip Color - I'm yet to try this or any of Benefits Lipsicks but I was given the shade, Air Kiss, an intense pink shade which I cant wait to try.

Thats my top christmas beauty gifts, hope you are all having a fantastic New Year (we just booked Harry Potter tickets so thats my first resolution ticked off)