Beauty. Fashion. Lifestyle.
Archive for October, 2012
Nail Art: Halloween Pumpkins
18Happy Halloween everyone! Halloween has always been one of my favourite days of the whole year, and every October 31st I love to dress up and cook up a big feast for my family and friends. This year is my first Halloween as a beauty blogger, so I thought I would create some Halloween inspired nail art to share with you all. So, here are my Halloween Pumpkins!
Aren’t they cute? The whole design took less than half an hour to do and I’m so happy with how they turned out. The colours I used to create this look are:
- Models Own ‘Orange Sorbet’
- NYC In A Minute ‘High Line Green’
- Primark ‘Black’
I hope you’ve all had a spooktacular day 
Naomi x
Avon Brochure 1, with Christmas Gifts Under £5!
0
6 years
by Naomi in Order Avon
Yes, it’s that time again! Welcome to Avon’s NEW Brochure 1! Just click the picture below to be taken to my Personal Online Brochure.
Brochure 1 features over 350 Christmas gift ideas for under £5 each, and there are also plenty more fantastic gifts and treats for yourself to be found throughout the rest of the brochure. Here are my Brochure 1 highlights…
- Page 5 features Avon’s NEW Ultra Colour Rich Rubies Lipstick range, at a fantastic starter price of just £2.49 (RRP £8.50)! The range includes six sparkly shades which are perfect for the party season, and they all contain real crushed rubies for extra shine. Check out my review of the gorgeous deep purple shade ‘Princely Plum’.
- Across Pages 7-21 you will find an array of Mix ‘n’ Match items, including make up, fragrance, and gifts for men, women and children. The Mix ‘n’ Match offers are 2 for £8, 3 for £10, 2 for £12 and 3 for £15.
- Pages 24-39 highlight Your Stars of 2012, all of which are at bargain prices. Featuring Nailwear Pro+ and Glimmerstick Chromes Eyeliner for £2.49, SuperExtend Extreme Mascara for £3.99, Ideal Flawless Invisible Coverage Foundation for £5.99, 360 Nourishment Moroccan Argan Oil for £2.99, Silky Moisture Creamy Body Wash for £1.25, Far Away Exotic for £5.99 AND Clinical Pro Line Corrector Treatments for £12.49!
- Between Pages 40-49 there are a selection of beautiful make up, fragrance, hair and body gift sets available at Buy 1 Choose 1 for £2.
- You can save up to and over Half Price on all Colortrend make up and nail products across Pages 105-107.
- You can save a small fortune on Pages 110-115 as ANEW Day and Night Creams are all Two for £15!
- On Pages 134-135 there is a gorgeous little treat for you… Buy 1 Choose 1 Half Price on selected lingerie.
- There are plenty more Christmas gift ideas across Pages 162-181 in Avon’s Last Chance Christmas Shop.
- Avon’s 3 for £5 on selected toiletries is back on Pages 188-195, including brands such as Senses, Footworks, Skin So Soft, Naturals and Avon Care.
- Last but not least, on the Back Page you will find Avon’s Christmas Care range, starting at just 99p and including Lip Balm, Hand Cream and Body Lotion.
And of course, as usual, there are many other amazing offers to be had, so keep an eye out!
If you would like to place an order with me, you can visit my Personal Online Brochure here, and either submit your order through the brochure or via email at . Postage is charged as standard second class Royal Mail prices, and orders will be posted on or after November 13th 2012. Visit my Order Avon From Me page for more information.
Happy browsing!
Naomi x
NOTD: Models Own ‘Northern Lights’
30
6 years
by Naomi in Nails
Welcome to my first long-awaited, much requested review of one of the beautiful nail varnish shades from the new Models Own Wonderland Collection. The Wonderland Collection features five sparkly shades, all of which are perfect for the festive season and have particularly wintry names, including Jack Frost, Southern Lights, Snow Flake, Northern Lights and Blizzard. They can all be used as a top coat for a hint of shimmer, or can be layered up to create a bold glitter look! The three varnishes I currently own and will be reviewing over the coming weeks are Jack Frost, Southern Lights and Northern Lights, with Northern Lights being featured today.
Northern Lights consists of a very fine dusky pink glitter, and is studded with delicate flakes of holographic glitter which shine purple, blue, orange, yellow and green in most lights. Even in the bottle, the varnish is breathtaking, and I have never seen anything quite like it before. Northern Lights is an extremely suitable name for such a shade, as it has so much depth of colour and appears to have a fluidity to it that alters the colour at every glance – it’s just SO pretty! I really can’t do it justice with words.
Like all Models Own nail varnishes, Northern Lights applies easily and evenly due to the long, wide brush. The glitter might be fine but it is also very dense, so it only took me two coats of varnish to achieve a completely opaque look, and as with most dense glitter varnishes it dries very quickly. The varnish doesn’t have a smooth finish and actually feels slightly rough due to the density of the glitter, but I suppose that’s to be expected. I added one layer of top coat over the top to see whether it would make it feel smoother, but it didn’t make much difference in all honesty.
Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Swatches! I found it quite difficult to capture the true beauty of Northern Lights, so since it looks different in different lights anyway, I decided to take several different swatch photos.
Inside with Flash
Inside without Flash
Outside with Flash
Outside without Flash
Close Ups
See, I told you, it’s amazingly stunning! Right? You can see the holographic shine in some of the pictures above, but none of them really show it in all its twinkly glory. You just have to see it to believe it really (which is a great excuse to go shopping in Boots if you ask me!). Northern Lights is worth absolutely every penny of the £5 I paid for it, although I did get it in a 3 for 2 offer which makes it that little bit sweeter. It’s perfect for this time of year too… It makes me feel so Christmassy and I’ve had countless compliments whilst wearing it, even from people I don’t know.
Northern Lights is also very durable and long-lasting. I applied it on Monday this week, and only yesterday (Friday) did it start to show wear at the tips of my nails. Today it has chipped slightly, but it stayed looking close to perfect for five whole days, and survived four long, hard days at work – impressive! Unfortunately, like most glitter varnishes, it is a massive pain in the bum to remove, so you need to have a lot of patience when taking it off.
Northern Lights is available separately or as part of the Wonderland Collection Box Set on the Models Own website, or can be found in most Boots stores for just £5. If you’re thinking of getting it but can’t decide then my advice is to go for it… I can guarantee you will NOT be disappointed!
Naomi x
Montagne Jeunesse Exotic Fruits Collection
4The lovely folks over at natural skin care company Montagne Jeunesse recently launched their latest face mask collection, Exotic Fruits, and I was lucky enough to be offered the chance to try the range for myself. There are three Exotic Fruit Face Masks available; Dragon Fruit Sauna, Paw Paw Peel Off and Prickly Pear Peel Off, all of which are animal friendly and suitable for vegetarians like me.
The first thing that struck me about these masks when I received them, other than the eye-catching, colourful packaging, was the size of the sachets. They are slightly smaller in size to the Montagne Jeunesse sachets that I’m used to, but they still contain a generous amount of product which is more than enough for one application, so you’re not getting ripped off!
As soon as I saw it I really, really wanted to try the Dragon Fruit Sauna mask as it is self heating, and I absolutely love Montagne Jeunesse’s self heating Hot Chocolate mask, but this one contains kiwi which I’m allergic to, so I will be passing this mask on to a lucky someone at some point. So, the mask I will be featuring in this post is the Prickly Pear Peel Off.
The Prickly Pear Peel Off is described as being a ‘Shockingly Juicy Skin Boost’, and contains nourishing, natural ingredients from unusual fruits which are included to tackle blemishes. The Prickly Pear extracts are rich in minerals and Vitamin C, which help to soften and smooth the skin, and the second fruity ingredient, Mangosteen, is known for its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory spot fighting properties. The mask also contains Melon, which is rich in Vitamin A and cleansing antioxidants.
The product itself is really quite pleasing to the eye, as well as the nose. It is a bright pinky purple colour which, in all honesty, I would LOVE as a nail varnish shade, and it smells absolutely divine. The sweet smell of pear comes through really strongly, but not overwhelmingly, and other fruits such as the melon come through too. It smells and feels so light and fresh – it’s just lovely, and a nice little flashback to summer!
As with all Montagne Jeunesse masks, application is simple. After washing your face with warm water, you simply smooth it on with clean hands and then relax for 15-20 minutes whilst it dries. I found that the smaller size of the sachet meant that, for some reason, it was a lot easier to squeeze the mask out of the sachet without making a mess. It’s really important to create an even layer of mask on your face when applying so it dries evenly, and this was also very easy to do as the thicker areas showed up darker, so I just evened these areas out whilst it was still wet.
When I first applied the mask it made my skin burn slightly, which obviously worried me a little bit, but after 5 minutes or so the burning sensation calmed down and my face was left feeling cooled and invigorated. I’m not sure what caused the burning sensation but I have been using medicated gel on my face lately, which can make my skin feel quite sore, so it could have been down to that.
After 20 minutes the mask was completely dry but it didn’t go tight at all like some masks do, which is great. It also peeled off really easily (but unfortunately not in one piece so I wasn’t left with a ghost face to scare anyone with!). After use my skin felt amazingly soft and I didn’t need to use any moisturiser afterwards as it added moisture to my skin rather than taking it away. In fact, the next morning my face still felt as soft as it did after using the mask, which is pretty good going.
The whole Exotic Fruits Collection is available on Montagne Jeunesse’s website, as well in Asda and Boots, and each sachet costs just £1.29 – a small price to pay for such a fruity little treat!
Have you tried this range yet?
Naomi x
NOTD: Yes Love, a Little Treat from Portugal
12
6 years
by Naomi in Nails
I have a gorgeous Nail of the Day to share with you all today. Earlier this month my mum went to Portugal for a fortnight and I asked her to bring a bargain nail varnish back for me. The nail varnish she chose was a gorgeous purple shade by a brand called Yes Love, which I wasn’t familiar with before, and it cost just 1 euro.
Yes Love’s packaging isn’t particularly outstanding, but for 1 euro I wasn’t expecting buttons and bows. It’s what’s on the inside that counts anyway! The bottle contains a generous 16ml, which is a very good size for a cheap nail varnish. I have to say, at first I was slightly dubious about this product due to its small price tag, but I have to hold my manicured hands up and say that I was wrong to be so judgmental!
The large lid is easy to grip, meaning that it is also easy to control the brush, and the brush itself is fairly wide and flat. Due to its shape (which happens to be my favourite nail varnish brush shape – yes I have a favourite!) the brush covers the nail in just a few strokes which minimises streaking, making for even, smooth coverage. The formula of the varnish is lovely too. It has a slight thickness to it so it doesn’t run everywhere, but it is thin enough so that it doesn’t go gloopy.
I was really impressed by the drying time of Yes Love’s varnish as well. It only took two thin coats to achieve good coverage, so it didn’t take long to dry at all, perhaps a few minutes at the most. In fact, I started chopping vegetables and cooking dinner about 15 minutes after painting my nails and all but one of them remained unsmudged (the smudged one was the result of knife slippage, woops). In the future I’d probably apply a third thin coat though, or a slightly thicker second coat, for completely opaque coverage.
For me, the most special thing about this varnish is the colour. As you probably know by now, I’m a sucker for purple, and this really is a perfect shade of purple. It reminds me of the colour of a Cadbury Dairy Milk wrapper, which is such a regal, luxurious shade, but also very bright. The varnish also has a lot of dimension and depth to it, due to the stunning shimmer which runs through it.
The shimmer looks a lot like a classic flakie top coat, but it is a lot finer and is incorporated into the varnish itself. It has a very strong golden shine to it, but I’ve also spotted hints of pink, red and orange in some lights. The burst of colour and glimmer means that, even in dim light, this varnish looks fantastic and incredibly eye-catching. I really can’t get enough of it – I’m amazed at how high quality it is considering the price!
Overall, Yes Love’s purple golden shade is, well, beautiful. The deep berry colour and glitter make it bang on trend too. I just wish I could get my hands on some more Yes Love varnishes in the UK! I may just have to steal the pink and golden green shades that my mum bought for herself and my sister…
Naomi x
Mini Nail Varnish Haul featuring Models Own and Barry M
20Hi everyone,
Just a quick post from me today as I want to share with you my recent nail varnish buys. As well as the Models Own sale items I ordered a few weeks ago, I have acquired a few more shiny pretties lately. In fact, they’re ALL glittery! It must be the time of year, what with the party season and Christmas just around the corner.
The most exciting new varnishes in my collection are three from the new Models Own Wonderland range. The range features five sparkly, wintery glitters, all of which give a different stunning effect. The three I went for are…
From Left to Right:
- Northern Lights (pink micro holographic glitter)
- Southern Lights (purple micro holographic glitter)
- Jack Frost (Blue micro glitter in clear varnish)
Aren’t they ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL?? The photos really don’t do them justice. I can’t wait to try them on! I nipped into Boots to buy these yesterday and was extremely pleased to find them included in a 3 for 2 offer, so I got all three for a total of £10, saving £5. If you want the whole set I recommend you grab these whilst they’re on offer as it works out cheaper than buying the full boxed set from the Models Own website!
The next varnish in my little haul is a new one from Barry M – Ruby Glitter.
Barry M released this shade along with a few other glitters a few weeks ago. There are quite a few in the range that I would like (especially Amethyst Glitter), but I went for this one first because I instantly fell in love with it. It consists of different sized flecks of black glitter, studded with red/magenta glitter. It reminds me of Valentines Day (my birthday) for some reason… It just has an air of passion and luxury about it! Like most Barry M Nail Paints, Ruby Glitter retails for an affordable £2.99.
The final little gem in this haul is one that my mum brought back from Portugal last week – a lush purple shade from a range called ‘Yes Love’.
This varnish is Cadbury purple with a delicate golden shimmer running through it. I’m wearing this at the minute and it looks really lovely on. Apparently it only cost a bargainous 1 euro as well, which is a miniscule price tag for such a good quality varnish.
I’ll be reviewing all of these varnishes over the coming days and weeks, starting tomorrow with the ‘Yes Love’ purple so keep an eye out. Which is your favourite so far?
Naomi x
Avon Ultra Colour Rich Rubies Lipstick in ‘Princely Plum’
14
6 years
by Naomi in Lips
Hi all,
Once again, I’m very sorry for not blogging much this week. I have had a very busy time at work, and in between all the working hard I have also been playing hard! On Wednesday I went to a gig to see one of my favourite bands and that, combined with the work, has left me very tired with no energy to blog in the evenings. But anyway, here I am with another little review for you all, so allow me to introduce you to Avon’s latest lipstick which is perfect for the party season – Ultra Colour Rich Rubies.
First thing’s first – the packaging. I think it goes without saying that the ruby-red and black ombre tube is very sleek and beautiful, and bang on trend. In fact, Avon say that it has ‘perfect party packaging’, and I’m inclined to agree as it looks so much more eye-catching than a plain old black lipstick! The lid also closes with a satisfying click so it definitely won’t come off in your make up bag and make a big mess.
The lipstick’s formula is very creamy so it smooths on easily and evenly with no dragging of the skin. The creaminess also means that it is delicately moisturising, so it doesn’t dry your lips out as the day progresses. A little word of warning though… I used this over the top of a slightly oily lip balm the first time I used it and it had worn off within a few hours because of how creamy it is. Luckily, it’s soft enough to use on its own without lip balm, but for an extra protective layer it sits fine with a thin layer of lip balm over the top.
Without the lip balm, Avon’s Rich Rubies is a laster. I applied this today before I went to work and it lasted through the morning until lunchtime. After I’d eaten my lunch I was pleasantly surprised to see that, though slightly faded, the lipstick still looked quite bold and even a couple of hours later, after it had mostly worn off, there was still an ever-so slight (but nicely even) tint of colour to my lips. Furthermore, I found that it doesn’t bleed at all which is always a good thing.
If you look closely at the photographs above you will see that the lipstick has a lovely pink shimmer to it. According to Avon, all of the Rich Rubies lipsticks contain ‘real crushed rubies’, which makes for ‘instant sparkle and shine’. I doubt that the ruby content is very high, but believe me when I say that the micro pink glitter particles that the lipstick boasts are absolutely stunning. It might sound vain, but I couldn’t stop staring at my lips in the mirror when I first used this as I was so mesmerized by the shimmer! In my experience, a lot of shiny, shimmery lipsticks tend to have a gold, sliver or blue glitter tinge to them, so I think this pink addition is really quite unusual.
Now onto the colour… Princely Plum is a luscious, deep purple shade which does in fact look very regal, hence the name. The colour looks quite dark in solid form, but once on the lips it looks a lot brighter due to the shine, but layers can easily be built up if you do want it darker. The above lip swatch shows one generous layer of lipstick. I really, really love Princely Plum. It’s right up my street and is absolutely perfect for the 2012 Autumn/Winter trend for deep, luxurious colours.
The Ultra Colour Rich Rubies range features five other shades – Noble Nude (a nude peach), Imperial Pink (a girly, light pink), Majestic Mauve (a pinky purple), Fuchsia Fame (a bright, bubblegum pink) and Radiant Ruby (a bold red). The lipsticks will debut in Avon UK’s Brochure 1 (which I will be launching soon), and will have an introductory price of £2.49. For a good quality, all-round fabulous lipstick this is a MASSIVE bargain and well worth it, especially when considering that the RRP is £8.50 – you could get 3 for the price of 1, WITH CHANGE!
Which shade will you be trying?
Naomi x
NOTD: Models Own Green Tea
16
6 years
by Naomi in Nails
As promised yesterday in my Models Own Haul post, here is a review of one of the nail varnishes that I bought in the Models Own online sale – Green Tea. I don’t usually like to photograph products indoors or with flash, as the flash usually alters the colour, but strangely enough the only way I could get an accurate representation of the Green Tea shade was with the flash on. For some reason it just wouldn’t photograph well outdoors!
My collection of Models Own varnishes is slowly getting bigger and bigger, and with good reason. As I’ve said before, their varnish formula is fantastic, and Green Tea is no exception. The consistency is just thick enough for it to apply smoothly with no gloopy or runny mess, and the brush is long with a substantial handle which makes application effortlessly easy.
What impressed me the most about this varnish was how quickly it dried. The first coat I applied was quite a thin one, and it was dry to the touch in less than 30 seconds – I genuinely couldn’t believe my eyes! The second coat, which was thicker, took slightly longer to dry, but within a couple of minutes my nails were completely dry. I can only put this down to it being a matte varnish as they do tend to dry quicker in my experience, so you have to work quickly with it to stop it going patchy. It only takes two coats for fully opaque coverage though.
Green Tea is a very bold, earthy green and I have a really big soft spot for this colour, mainly because it reminds me of the poster paints I used to paint with as a child. It has a fun, childlike air to it which makes me happy whenever I look at it, yet at the same time I think it looks quite classy as it lacks the yellow undertone that some green varnishes have, so it isn’t overly bright.
As I mentioned earlier, the varnish has a matte finish which looks fab, but it also looks great with a shiny top coat over the top. The above photograph was taken after a couple of days of wear, without a top coat, and as you can see there is only a little bit of wear to the tips of my nails. In fact, it wasn’t until day 4 or 5 that it started to chip properly and that’s when I took it off, so it has fantastic lasting power, even without a top coat!
Green Tea is definitely one of my favourite varnishes from my recent haul. It only cost £2.50 in the sale which is incredible value for money, but even at £5.00 full-price it is still worth it. Models Own nail varnishes are available online, or in most Boots stores.
What do you think of this shade?
Naomi x
Models Own Sale Haul and Nail Art
13A few weeks ago, to celebrate reaching a whopping 100,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook, Models Own had a 50% off everything sale on their website! As a nail varnish hoarder and a massive fan of Models Own I couldn’t pass up the chance to add to my ever-expanding collection of pretty polishes, so I ordered five bright and beautiful colours. If I was richer I would have bought a lot more, but unfortunately my budget doesn’t allow for that at the minute 
Models Own nail varnishes usually sell for £5.00 each, but in the sale they only cost £2.50.
Here are the shades I bought, also featuring some simple, fun nail art to show that I’m dotty about Models Own…
From Left to Right:
- Hed Kandi – Balearic Cool
- Purple Passion
- Orange Sorbet
- Green Tea
- Scarlett Sparkle
I love every single one of these colours and I’m so pleased with all of them. I wore Green Tea for most of the week and I was hugely impressed with it (it lasted for days without chipping) so keep an eye out for my full review which will be posted within the next few days.
I have entered the above photograph into Models Own’s Facebook competition, which involves posting a photo of your sale haul. The most creative photo will win a full refund of their order, and a set of their NEW, absolutely beautiful Wonderland nail varnishes, so I have my spotty fingers crossed!
Which Models Own shade is your favourite?
Naomi x
Dirty Works Supreme Cream Body Butter
4Earlier this month I sent off for this sample tube of Dirty Works Supreme Cream Body Butter, via the Dirty Works Facebook page. I have some Dirty Works body wash which is lovely and, as I’ve said before, I adore body butters, so I was really looking forward to trying this out. The sample tube contains a generous 20ml of product, but in Sainsbury’s stores it is sold in a huge 300ml tub, and usually retails for £4.99.
Unlike some dense body butters, this one by Dirty Works has a delicately light consistency, which is very much like a moisturiser, but it still leaves that silky sheen on the skin that you would expect from a body butter. The tube says to ‘massage cream onto damp skin until absorbed’ after showering or bathing, and it really does make damp skin feel beautifully soft, but I’ve discovered that it also makes an amazing hand cream! I’ve been carrying the tube in my work bag all week and using it on my hands a few times a day, and it is really helping with the dryness I’ve been experiencing lately caused by the cold weather – definitely a sign of a good quality lotion that does its job! I put that down to the moisturising properties of the shea butter and almond oil that it contains.
The body butter isn’t too strongly scented, but it has a pleasantly sweet scent to it which isn’t overwhelming, but leaves your skin smelling fresh and clean. It goes quite a long way too. A large pea-sized amount is plenty enough for the backs of both hands, and though I’ve been using this little tube all week (and sharing it with my sister too) it still feels almost full.
I am suitably impressed with Dirty Works’ Supreme Clean Body Butter and I will definitely be buying a full-sized tub. In fact, and this is a heads up so take note, Sainsbury’s are currently selling all Dirty Works products at half price so a 300ml tub is only £2.49 at the minute! I really, really hope I manage to get to a Sainsbury’s within the next few days before the offer ends. I may pick up some other products to try too!
Have you tried any Dirty Works products before?
Naomi x
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