Essence Colour Flash Volume Mascara (All Shades 1 - 5)

Every summer we see bright coloured make up ranges coming out and in particular coloured mascara! But at prices like £14 from Ciaté for coloured mascara which is a risqué product... I think cheaper alternatives are a must! I love a pop of colour and the concept of coloured mascaras amazes me and luckily these were given to me at the Essence Event so here is a complete range of coloured mascaras from Essence which you can get in Wilkinson  for £3 each.

There are 5 Shades available and they are, Petrol (02), Bright Blue (04), Emerald Green (01), Purple (05) and Pink (03). I've written them in the order of the photo so that there is no confusion! I know you are probably thinking that these are not wearable, however I believe you can wear it on just your bottom lashes to bring attention to the eyes or if your brave just full on colour! The darkest blue is probably your best bet!

So here i'll show you swatches of each shade but in numerical order! These are my natural lashes and I have NOT used an eyelash curler as a fair test to all my mascara reviews.
 (Please Excuse my Eyebrows!!)

Emerald Green (01)

 This Emerald Green shade is not what I saw the mascara. I was expecting a sort of a green turquoise just from looking at the bottle, however I am pleasantly surprised! I actually think despite how shocking this may look I actually think this may be very wearable. Maybe I'm insane but I really do love this and I think this may even be a dupe of the Ciaté - Nymph Mascara which retails for £14. No word of a lie I desperately wanted it because I hadn't seen that shade of coloured mascara done before! You can't imagine how glad I am that I didn't have to fork out £14!

Petrol (02)

 

 

This Dark Blue/ Navy shade called Petrol is the most wearable shade in the whole collection. And the shade that you can wear all year round, especially as we are going into the A/W Season this mascara would fit right in! I personally love this shade as it looks almost (well)  and I think it makes brown eyes look amazing! My sister who mind you is older than me bought one of her own after seeing it and incorporated it into her makeup bag. So I've seen first hand that it lasts all day and does not flake so for £3 it is a huge bargain!!

Pink (03)

 

 

This is probably the least wearable shade in the whole range as I find that I like/hate it. I think this would only be great as costume/festival makeup for someone with maybe green or blue eyes or maybe even a darker skin tone. But personally I find that I look like I have an eye infection or as if my eyes have been irritated. I think this is just going to be used as costume makeup for me or on my hair.

(!!This shade contains CARMINE!!)

Bright Blue (04)

 This lovely appropriately named Bright Blue Shade is a shocking electric looking colour. Personally I fond it most wearable on the bottom lashes and I really like it because as a glasses user I find that it helps my eyes stand out behind my glasses. Again I find that this shade helps brunette eyes stand out on a beautiful way and I will probably be using this frequently when I feel like I want a strong flash of colour!

Purple (05)

 Now this is another extremely un-wearable shade if not worse than the Pink, but yet I absolutely love it. I know I'm insane but I just love how frosty it looks! I feel like this would be amazing for Halloween or a festival! Or even an extreme winter look, or a harujuku style.... okay I'm not sure how you could wear this and not look a bit strange. But the most wearable way would be on the ends of your eyelashes as if snowflakes had fallen on them! Another reason why I like this is because I actually haven't seen this colour mascara before. EVER. So I can't wait to experiment and see if I can try and make this as wearable as possible!

 (!!This shade contains CARMINE!!)

 

 

Overall I am a big fan of this range due to the two extra colours that aren't usually available by budget brands and I find that compared to the MUA Coloured Mascaras (which I've reviewed before) paying £2 more does make a difference as I found that my eyelashes were more spread out (not as clumpy). What I will say is it dries quickly so you do have to be a bit quick when applying them. Again like any other mascara as I have Dark Brown/Black Eyelashes I did need to add a couple of coats for maximum colour, but it does not flake at all which I LOVE. 

 

So are there any here you would use? What other brands would you recommend?

 

 

L.F.A. Xx

 

*These were given to me during an event however I always give my full and honest opinion*

#BBloggersLDN Meet

On Saturday (I know, I know! I'm sorry for posting so late!) I and Summer's Beauty on a Budget attended the #BBloggersLDN Meet in Hyde Park. It was at 10.30am so it was definitely an early start, which is painful for a weekend but it was definitely worth it!

So when we arrived, there were a number of bloggers there already and we got to speak with them all, introduce ourselves and generally network! I was so glad to see a familiar face too, as Olivia (Beauty from the Fjord) whom I met previously at another event. And loved meeting new people like Naomi (Throw Me Something Beautiful).

We were given our goodie bags in a very cute shopper tote bag and then we all made our way to Westfield White City for a spot of lunch and shopping! We decided on Gourmet Burger Kitchen and I got the delicious Chicken Grilled Burger and Lemonade (you best believe I enjoyed it (^.-)
Whilst in Westfield I treated myself to a little bit of Lush!

As you can see we were so incredibly lucky as the goodie bag is just amazing! As you can see we got products from Cocoa Brown, Face the Future, Scent City, Time Bomb Timeless Truth, Yves Roche (super excited), Rio Nails (can't wait to start using!!) and IS Clinical. And the lovely Vicky (Being Tilly's Mummy) was sweet enough to donate some products from Superdrug! Thank you!!

And a really big thank you to Becky (Candy Floss Cloud) for organising the event, which was just so much fun and so relaxed and I wish her the best of luck for the next event she is planning!

 You can get yourself tickets here for the BBloggers Winter Event! Details are on the website!
So have you guys tried any other products from the named brands?

L.F.A. Xx

KIKO Ultra Long Nail Post Stress Treatment Base Coat

This is lovely gem is from KIKO's  Nail Care Section and at the time I had very short sad looking nails, so I thought it'd be perfect to try it out as I had never tried any of their Nail Care Products before, and was quite frankly fed up with having short nails.

You can see that the colour is a nice clear natural pink which is nice as on it's own it gives my nail a very healthy looking glow and natural shine. You could get away with wearing this to work on its own and your nails looking nice!

This also dries remarkably quickly and since it has a fat brush it is easy to apply and quickly covers the whole nail in one go. (I'm usually not a fan of fat brushes but I didn't find it that annoying! Maybe I'm getting used to them?)

According to the description given by KIKO on their website, this nail treatment comes with:

"Vitamin E - An Antioxidant and Moisturizer,

Vitamin A - Helps form Keratin (Protein that makes up the structure of the nail)

Vitamin C - Fights free radicals and helps maintain youthful looking nails. "

 

Which are all fantastic things to hear about a nail polish, and to even convince you further to try these is that this polish is a 5-Free Nail Polish which, means it does not include ingredients like:

"Toluene,

Camphor,

DBP (Dibutyl Phthalate)

Formaldehyde,

Formaldehyde Resin,"

Which are all considered to be not particularly good for you in their own respective ways. Especially if your using a treatment nail polish which is meant to benefit you not the opposite. For some I have added links so that you may quickly read more about it or you can Google it too!

This information of course made me even more eager to try this to see if it worked because it seemed like it would be perfect!

 

Now as a Base Coat itself I didn't find that it prolonged the duration of my nail polish. In fact I found that my nail polishes lasted about the same as if I hadn't used one, but it does serve its purpose of protecting the nail from getting stained too.

As a Nail Treatment I believe IT DOES WORK 100% as my nails are significantly longer than when they first started, and the look better, haven't become brittle or prone to shedding and are honestly much stronger. But I would say is this treatment isn't one that is absorbed like the Mavala Nail Strengthen (which I've used in the past) where you would see it is be absorbed by the nail. This sits on top of the nail as a base coat would but it does work! And of course it does take some time, because obviously your nail does need time to grow too!

Personally I loved this and will be 100% repurchasing this and adding it to my staple favourites.
 What about you? Have you tried it? Or will you?

You can get this In-store or Online for:
£3.50 (SALE) - £4.90 (RRP)

 

L.F.A. Xx

Recent Buys (Primark, H&M, &OtherStories)

There are a couple of things that I think you all should really get! Plus they are cheap and will help you with your summer wardrobe!

So firstly I got another & Other Stories - Body Scrub - Méditerranéen for £7 which smells amazing and I needed it so...hehehe.

From Primark I got a White Tank Dress for £3.50, A Crop Halter Cami for £2.50, a Turqoise Sheer Vest for £4 (I have been using this non stop!) and Polka Dot Red Flipflops for £1.

 

And from my faveourite store H&M I got 3 (although I there's only two here as I got it afterwards) Crop Cami Tops for just £1.99 each! I got one in Grey, Black and White. Although I recommend you get 2 sizes down (I got a Small and am usually a Large). 

Lastly some Jewellery of course! I actually got this set of stackable Aztec/Tribal looking rings for £3.99 and another for £1.99 (which like the Cami Top I got afterwards but just keep your eyes out for nail posts as I know I'll be wearing it a lot!

What have you gotten recently?

L.F.A. Xx

Sanctuary Spa Relax Cocooning Body Butter

"Blended with essential oils to help relax &calm the mind, providing a gentle unwind to a stressful day."

You may remember for Christmas I got one of the Sanctuary Spa Body Butter Gift Set with 3 of their body butters (Cocooning, Mandel Lular and their Original Body Butter). Today I will be reviewing their Cocooning Body Butter 100ml!
I had never tried any of Sanctuary Spa Products before so I was looking forward to it, especially as I heard that they were very good.

This particular one is meant to help calm and unwind after a long stressful as it contains:

"Vetivert - Helps to calm the mind,

Cederwood - Helps promote clarity, 

Labdanunm - Helps to provide relaxation "

 

It also contains Shea, illipe (a butter pressed from tree nuts) and sacred lotus so its meant to be incredibly moisturising and perfect for dry skin. As you can tell from the ingredients (illipe and sacred lotus) are considered mainly Asian (Malaysian and Chinese) so it is expected that the overall fragrance is very Oriental and deep. This is further reinforced as you see a Koi Fish shadow on the packaging which I thought was a cute touch.

However contrary to what its meant to do I did not find this relaxing at all, which was very disappointing to me as it states its meant to relax. The scent wasn't overly strong which I like, but it want exactly phenomenal either. It was intriguing though as its a very deep unusual scent, that honestly I can't place! (sorry I suck at describing scents!)

Now the consistency is lovely! Its nice and thick but not so stiff that its hard to use. So it's perfectly easy to massage it into the skin! It is actually very moisturising and leaves the skin feeling nice and soft.

Overall this is a lovely body cream but I don't think I'd be repurchasing this for myself as the scent just didn't quite match with me. I do recommend you try it as it is cheaper then other brands (i.e. Body Shops 200ml for £13). Lastly if you don't like strong scents this might just be perfect for you as it is very understated and muted scent.

You can get this from:

Boots: £9.50 for 200ml

Sanctuary Spa: £9.50 for 200ml

 

L.F.A. Xx

Lush Tisty Tosty Bath Bomb

Its been a while since I treated myself to a good long relaxing bath, and so I thought I should try the Tisty Tosty Bath Bomb.
As you can see this lovely bath bomb has been shaped into a lovely heart shape with Rose Buds Embedded into it (7 of them) which float on the bath once the bath bomb dissolves. According to Lush's website  some of the main ingredients are:

"Citric Acid (Lemon),

Rose Oil (Lifts your spirits),

Geranium Oil (Toning and Balancing effect),

Jasmine Absolute (Oil that's a beauty tonic and perfume)"

These all contribute to the overall floral and relaxing scent. Especially if you break apart the rose buds that come embedded, the scent really is much more powerful. It also dissolves into the bath leaving a clear-whitish colour and lovely rosebuds floating on top. My skin was left feeling smooth and lovely also!
My only complain would be the size. For the same price I could a much larger bath bomb, however those baths don't have such luxurious ingredients like Real Rose buds, so in a way you do get what you pay for.

I would really recommend this if your feeling down or need a lovely luxurious bath! So have you tried it and what were your thoughts??

You can get this at Lush for £3.25

L.F.A. Xx

Allura Foundation Brush (Poundland)

As someone who only recently started using brushes in my makeup routine (I know....don't kill me for it!) I know that there are soooo many different types of foundation brushes from, Stippling to Flat, and different price ranges going from £1 to £50+! So I just wanted something simple and cheap to try so that I would find out if I should just stick to using my fingers instead. Therefore while shopping in Poundland I got myself the lovely Allura Foundation Brush! (£1)

 

As you can see this fits the bill for the usual flat foundation brush and this comes with synthetic brushes that are white with a pink end. (Very cute as it goes with the case colour scheme it comes in!) But obviously as it is stark white, due to the foundation it has actually stained which is a same, however I was expecting it to.

It's also quite soft (or at least a lot softer than what I was expecting) and I do like the sleek black handle has it makes it look very chiq. It doesn't go with my EcoTools Brushes however it does go with some brushes from Essence that I will review once I use them!

Please excuse my terrible streaky nails!!!

As I had never used brushes before I did have to practice a while till I fully got the hang of it! At first I'd find that my makeup was streaky, however once I did I found that it did the job marvellously! My makeup looks amazing, not streaky at all and I find that it helps me get an even coverage (compared to when I used my hands...)

Of course I have never tried any other foundation brushes so I have nothing to compare it to, but I actually love it and have not stopped using it! Also although it's a flat brush it does fan out a little but not so much as to damage the brush!

So if your looking for a foundation brush on the cheap! Definitely try this!

L.F.A. Xx