Naughty No7 haul...

I've had a horribly depressing week in uni. It has been rubbish. I just happened to be in town today when I 'spotted' a No7 £5 off voucher lingering in my purse and decided to go in and treat myself to something pretty. I also purchased some other bits and bobs that I needed and managed to wangle myself some more vouchers. Inevitably, one thing leads to another and I ended up with 5 very pretty things....

Beautiful Skin Hydration Mask - £12.50 £7.50

I'll be having a go with this, this evening so a review will come soon!

Stay Perfect nail colour in Lucky Lilac - £7 £2

Stay Perfect nail colour in Cheeky Chops (best name for a product ever?) - £7 £2

Vital Brights Cream Blush in Blossoming Pink - £10 £5

This is such a lovely shade. I'd actually say it's distinctly more coral than pink. I find coral colours a bit weird on my fair skin tone (anyone else have the same problem?) but this is perfect. The formula is lovely but I'm finding cream blushes in general very difficult to work with.

Vital Brights Lipstick in Blooming Pink - £10 £5

Blogging sin! Already used it. I couldn't resist :)

 I love eveything about this lipstick! It looks ridiculously garish at first but the formula is just wonderful; moisturising, long lasting, opaque but with enough sheerness not to make the colour too much. I have a feeling I'll be using and abusing this, this summer!

Wearing the Blossoming pink lipstick and blooming pick blush

On a side note, The Vital Brights spring range in general is wonderful, aside from it being some of the prettiest packaging I've seen in a long time. I almost got the highlighter after seeing it reviewed but I managed to restrain myself. Be proud.

I know I'm not supposed to be spending money but when you look at it, I've actually saved myself £25 on things I would have bought anyway. Kind of.

How have you spent your No7 vouchers girls?

Heather 

xo

NOTD - Rimmel Lasting Finish 053 Apricot Punch & Gold Sparkle

Ahh finally, spring has sprung! I smelt my first bout of freshly cut grass a few days ago (is there anything else that encapsulate the smell of summer better?! Answers on a postcard please) and I can finally see the light at the end of this long wintery tunnel. 

In celebration I opted for a beautiful, bright apricot colour from Rimmel paired with a spangley gold flecked varnish from Saffron - which quite frankly has become a bit of an obsession after seeing it on Meg's blog

Isn't that such a pretty pairing? It's much more wearable in the daytime than I expected and when I caught a glimpse of my nails, it gave me a bit of a lift when the clouds inevitably came back.

I used three coats of the Apricot Punch as I wanted the colour to be really opaque but two coats still gave good coverage. The brush isn't the best but it dried quickly between coats unlike other cheap varnishes - *ahem* I'm looking at you E.L.F.

I then used a single coat of Saffron and a coat of a new Sally Hansen top coat. All this, combined with a base coat gave me a very good 4 days wear but it could have lasted longer (I have a terrible habit of peeling off nail varnish when I'm bored in lectures...)

Any other Hex glitter obsessives out there or is it just me? :)

Heather xo

Notd- Deborah Lippmann Valentine's Day nails

So, I'm 4 days late but better late than never. I have been ridiculous busy travelling for job interviews as well as trying to pass my degree so apologies for the lateness of this post!

Even though I'm single, I absolutely love Valentine's day as I see it as a chance to tell the people who mean the most to me that I love them. It is perhaps a little ridiculous but I always send my mum and my best friend's a card. On the big day I was a very lucky girl who was spoilt by my beautiful house mates and I also recieved a very beautiful, unexpected bouquet of flowers from a friend who lives in Holland :).

In honor of the day (and taking advantage of any opportunity to coordinate my nail varnish), I wore the Deborah Lippmann nail varnish that I received in December's Glossy Box. The shade is Razzle Dazzle which is a beautiful blackened raspberry/purple glitter varnish.

3 coats, no top coat. 3 days wear.

I'll be the first to admit that when I did a quick swipe of this at first, I was not in love; the first coat is sheer, unpigmented with glitter and just generally underwhelming, especially considering the packaging feels heavy and good quality. But everyone else in the blogoshere seemed to be raving over it, so where was I going wrong?

However, I realised the secret to lasting love was perseverance. The first coat looks rubbish, the second coat is better but the third coat is to die for. Nails look like they've been dipped in full on in glitter, its got a long lasting formula; I ran out of top coat but I'm on my 3rd day of basically chip-free wear in the picture above and I've been receiving compliments galore!

Down sides? It's £16 a bottle which by anyone's standards is pretty steep for a nail varnish. Not only that but I would expect to achieve the right look in 2 coats for that price. Would I repurchase? No probably not, unless I won the lottery. However, I wouldn't say no to another bottle.

You can buy it at the House of Fraser for £16.

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's day, single or not. You are loved.

My gift to my house mates, with 'You are loved' inscribed on to the bottom.

January Glossy Box

I'm not really in to girly pink colours, I'm more of a greens, browns and golds kinda gal. However, today's post is in fact super girly and super pink and super lovely!
My January Glossy Box arrived this morning; Valentine's themed in a hot pink box the theme is pretty in pink. I love the Glossy Box box itself and this one will make a very cute addition to my ever-growing make-up storage collection. What's more exciting is that I resisted looking on beauty blogs before I got my box so everything was a total surprise (especially my self-restraint)!

EYEKO Skinny eyeliner in Plum - Full sized

I've not tried this out on my eyes yet but it'd describe this colour as a plum colour with just a hint of brown. The box says it's a "long-lasting wax based formula with a blendable cream finish". It'd say that's pretty much spot on but I have swatched on my hand and I'm not sure how long lasting it will actually be.


ORLY Nail Lacquer in Ruby - 5.3ml

Never tried Orly varnish before but I know that some people absolutely love it. This is a sweet little sample sized bottle, perfect for in your handbag or travelling. I love the colour, I do have something similar but I don't think you can ever have enough of this beautiful, classic red shade.


WELEDA One Step Cleanser & Toner - 10ml

Again, another company that I haven't used before but I've been wanting to try the Weleda Skin Food moisturising cream (opinions please!) for a while now so was very pleased to see this in the box. It smells very fresh with a hint of a medical smell (which I happen to like). It's a bit odd putting it on the skin as it doesn't foam like traditional cleansers; I took my make-up off first and then applied this to a slightly damp face and wiped off with a wash cloth. My skin felt absolutely lovely! Smooth and moisturised. Very impressed, I'll continue to use it for a little while but this may well be a future, full sized purchase. 


FAB Gentle Body Wash - 56.7g

If you've had Glossy Box before, you'll remember that there was a FAB face wash in the last box so I was a little surprised to see anther product from them in this box. I must say, I'm not crazy on this product; it has a nice formula and it smells fresh enough but it doesn't blow me away. What I will say is that it doesn't dry my skin out quite as much as some other body washes I've tried in the past. Having said that, it does what it's supposed to and gets me clean! It's also a great size bottle to take in my gym kit. 


MURAD Hybrids Skin Perfecting primer - Dewy Finish - 5ml

Murad isn't a brand that I've heard anything about however this primer is really intriguing. It claims to "create a smooth resilient canvas" whilst minimising pores. When swatched it comes out as quite a dark runny liquid which worries me as I'm incredible fair (NC15 would be my "I've just spent 4 weeks on a holiday to the sun" shade. Maybe that's an exaggeration). It seems to sink in nicely though and does deliver on the dewy finish it promises. However, I've going to reserve judgement on this one for a few weeks.




And that's it! In terms of products that I'll actually use, this month's glossy box has been the best by far! It hasn't made my heart race due to the lack of luxury brands. Having said that though, when I find a product I like in Glossy box, I'm much more likely to buy it full sized so it works for my student purse.


So girls, what do you think of this month Glossy Box? How does it compare to other beauty boxes that you've tried?


Heather xo