November Empties

Nivea Creme Soft Shower Cream
This is a little mini I got in a small gift set months and months ago. I didn't expect much, just the usual crappy shower gels you get in gift sets but I absolutely loveeeeee it! I have never known a product to lather so well and feel so soft on the skin! Its a very fresh, unisex scent too! I'm definitely going on the hunt for the full size of this!

Natural Collection Vanilla Body Spray
So I have had this product for literally the longest time. I included it in a haul here on the 17th January!!! I love it and I used it so frequently but I could never get rid of it so I made a special effort this month, purely because I was sick of the sight of it! The scent is a gorgeous sweet vanilla (that my friends all seem to think smells just like white chocolate buttons?!?) that lingers for hours! Probably the best thing about this product is the price - a measly £2.03 from Boots. Let's face it, £2 for a body spray that lasts a year ain't half bad! I'd repurchase this, just in a few months when I've finally managed to get the scent out of my system!

Garnier Fresh Essentials Grape Toner
I've banged on about this product so many times, I guarantee at least 3 of the related posts below include it! Strangely enough I also bought this at the same time as the body spray (weird) Basically it's a very gentle toner with a lovely grape scent. I used this for my skin in Summer so I've finally used it all up! I think I would repurchase this next year when Winter is on it's way out because I don't necessarily think it's the best product for dry skin!

Colgate Sensitive Whitening Toothpaste

I always feel so weird talking about toothpaste on a beauty blog but whatever! I'm literally obsessed with this product, I've become almost as dependent on this as my Batiste Blush dry shampoo! It makes you teeth unbelievably white and I will repurchase for ever more, end of!

Primark 4 in 1 Deep Cleaning Face Wipes

I should probably state before I go on that I at no point used these on my face! I used these generally for 'baby wipe showers' (festival goers or teens who spent too much time getting drunk in field will understand)  or just generally body cleaning but not on the face, I can't say I trust Primark with my face really! Overall they're an all round good wipe for a rather nice price of £0.50 a pack! I would repurchase, although I'm interested to see what other variations they have as I've seen quite a few. I'm probably best of picking up their baby wipes next time!

How many empties have you manage to collect this month?

November

College applications suck / MARBELLAAA! / Aw so pretty / So glad Leticia won / Crop tops in Winter? / Started a cat sanctuary within 5 minutes of being in Spain / Far too many of these hanging around / Attempt at 'Autumn clean' / This is pretty / This on the other hand... / I worship IKEA Tindra candles / Got 2nd degree burns off our malfunctioning jacuzzi / Can't wait for more of these / Onsie sleepovers / First F21 purchase / Examination failure / Lipstick obsession / Walking through this is like heaven / I get bored sometimes / RAINBOWW!

Overall November was a pretty erm... eventful? month. The highlight was definitley my holiday, it feels like so long ago though! Looking back at all these photos of the sea I soooo wish I could just walk through all the sea foam again - best.feeling.ever. Oooh and Movember supporters too, you guys are awesome! The end of my month was greeted by science and Spanish exams, I guess we'll see how that turns out next month.

My month was overall pretty good, how was yours?

November Favourites

Cherry Carmex £2.99
This is a product I'd heard tons of hype about but never actually tried. Usually I go straight to Blistex for Winter medicated lip balms, however this was actually cheaper when I went to buy my usual so I thought I'd give it a go. Not gonna lie I don't understand the cherry flavour hype with this one, to me it doesn't even taste remotely fruity. My love for this product is based purely on the fact it's a great moisturising lip balm that gets to work in no time! I've gone through so much of this already!

Monogotas Mango Body Spray 3.15e
Okay so I'm gonna be a naughty blogger and post about a product most of my readers won't be able to get hold of. However for the 5% of my readers that are Spanish this is one for you! I picked this up in the Supermarket (I believe Mercadona, but don't quote me!) while in Marbella early in the month. I just needed a cheap body spray to throw in my school bag when the new term started again. Mango is my favourite scent EVER! and I love the fruity, fresh subtle scent this one gives. I'll definitely pick some more up next time I'm in Spain, the melon one is for sure on the wishlist!

L'Oreal Ever Pure Reinforcing Hair Mask £6.99
This was featured in my recent haul, I picked it up pretty much on a whim. I've seen this line advertised recently although rumour has it it's actually being repromoted from 3 years ago! Either way I wasn't expecting great results from this product but was pleasantly surprised to find I had lovely soft hair (something that's very difficult with wavy hair!) that remained soft for a long time. It's easy to use in the shower or the bath and something I will definitely use again and again!

Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel £10.25
November was the month I got my first bottle of Snow Fairy! I pretty much just picked it up without even sniffing it purely because I'd heard so many positive reviews. Regardless it does smell amazing! Its pretty average at being a shower gel, but it's scent and it's price means it just has to be in my November Favourites! I just wish there was a Lush closer to home!

Whats your November favourite?

My Christmas & New Year Dress Picks!

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Yumi was a brand I discovered a few years ago while in Cornwall. The downside is that it's a predominately Southern based clothing chain with very few or no stores at all in the North, but I guess that's why stores such as House of Fraser are such a beauty. They host tons and tons of concessions for all different tastes. Even better is the fact that they are currently working to offer more and more for their younger customers! Above are some of my favourite dresses for the festive season. I tried to pick out not only the dresses I thought were perfect for Christmas and New Year but also covered a broad spectrum of tastes and were in a student friendly budget of £100.*

What are your favourite festive dresses?

Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in '04'

You should all probably note before I start that  this lipstick is from the first Kate Moss collection to avoid confusion! 04, a deep dark purple in the lasting finish collection is formulated for longevity. I find the colour wears well even after food and drink and has a glossy finish. Although the colour isn't to everyones taste, it's a perfect Winter lipstick to pair with an LBD on a festive night out. I should warn that as with many bold lipsticks the colour does bleed so I'd suggest investing in a dark purple lip liner, MAC is probably your best bet at finding an appropriate shade. The packaging is a sleek black case with red signature, the reverse to the second collection. The price is lower than the average drugstore lipstick at £5.50 making this the perfect cost effective lipstick for an outgoing girl this season!

A/W Outfit Inspiration 2012

Images: Style Pupil / Viki Imrie / Monster Diaries

It's important for me to feel comfortable and warm during the Winter while keeping fashion as a factor. I LOVE disco pants and the way Ellie pairs them with slouchy jumpers and vans - casual but stylish! Another of my favourite trends that tend to pop up around now are all black outfits. A contrast to Springs all-white outfits, I think they can work for day and night and pieces are very interchangeable. If you're not in love with the idea of dressing all in black, using metallic (neon is good too!) jewellery and small accessories such as Viki's studded collar and leather belt are a good way to break up the colour. Now although you'd probably freeze wearing Tammy's outfit in the Yorkshire Valleys I'd totally risk hypothermia to wear this out. My favourite thing about Winter fashion is the different knit textures. Tweed and boucle are two of my favourites, perfect for any Chanel fans!

Images: Style & Starbucks / Monster Diaries / Style & Starbucks

The one piece I'm really on the look out for this Winter is a Tartan scarf. They'd look great with an all black outfit like mentioned before for a casual day out shopping. Another staple item for Winter is a good leather jacket. I love the way Tammy throws it over a blouse and skirt of the same colour pallet but contrasts this with a bold lip! Last but not least is Ellie's outfit which really sums up Winter fashion for me. The mix of leather, ankle boots, knits, collars, berry tones and neutral makeup highlight several A/W trends all of which are really wearable and readily available at any store for any person to pick up and style in their own way!

Again a big thank you to all the girls for letting me use their blog images! If you'd like to see who my A/W style inspirations and general favourite fashion blogs are, the ones above pretty much summarise everything! I'd love to know what/who your A/W style inspiration is!

Beauty Haul

Maybelline Falsies Mascara - £8.99 Boots / Carmex 'Cherry' Medicated Lip Balm - £2.00 Tesco / Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzer in '52' - £6.99 Boots / Superfacialist Neroli Treatment Mask - £11 Boots / Soap & Glory Flake Away - £7 Boots / Snow Fairy Shower Gel - £10.25 Lush

This recent haul is a mixture of things I've been wanting for ages and complete impulse buys. The Bourjois bronzer has been on my wishlist so long so I eventually picked it up along with Maybelline Falsies which I've heard wonderful things about (so far not too sure) along with a repurchase of my favourite exfoliant, Flake Away. The rest are complete impulse buys that I have absolutley no idea why I bought but we'll see how they fair against my current products. Possibly the most exciting thing about this haul is the fact I, Rachael *Beeeeeep* have finally bought my first ever Snow Fairy! woooo! The nearest lush is so far away that I don't visit often so I decided to go crazy and buy the biggest size!

Garnier Soothing 2-in-1 Eye Makeup Remover

For some unknown reason I felt inclined to buy this, probably because of the colour to be honest. Eye makeup removers are generally far too harsh to use on my sensitive skin no matter how 'soothing' (am I the only one that think that looks like it's spelt wrong?!) they claim to be. However this one has no alcohol and no perfumes (I'm afraid rubbing will always be a factor when your allergic to everything) so I figured I'd give it a quick try just to see if it's any better than my current alternative. Basically you shake the oil and solution layers together and apply to a cotton pad to remove even waterproof mascara. I love that this product doesn't leave an oily residue like most eye makeup removers. Regardless of my positive views on this products I won't repurchase purely because I know long term use of this will agitate my frequent allergy rashes, however I would definitely recommend this to any one with normal or midly sensitive skin.

Garnier Simply Essentials Soothing 2-in-1 Eye Makeup Remover 200ml £3.99

Soap & Glory Make Yourself Youthful Super Serum

Okay so yes this is an anti-ageing product, however if you've read my 'Olay Anti-Winkle Tinted Moisturiser' review you'll know why I sometimes buy these products specially formulated for a more mature woman.

The Soap & Glory Super Serum has been clinically proven to 'Trigger DNA repair, hyper-boost collagen and cell respiration and smooth the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.' In my experience of using this product, I can agree that it does smooth over fine lines and wrinkles and does not emphasise flaws in the skin surface. The serum also contains hyluronic acid (currently popular amongst bloggers), organic coconut oil for elasticity and Maracuja Oil for a hit of brightening vitamin C. The brand recommends you use 1-2 pumps of this morning and night for 30 days to see strong visible results. Although the few fine lines in my skin are perhaps not as deep as the ideal user of this product would have, I did see an improvement around the eye area (be careful with application around eyes!) and to the sides of my lips after around half a month, I can imagine with further use these lines will become almost invisible, definitely a winning product for me!

Although I would say if your interested in purchasing this, take a good look as Soap & Glory have two separate Make Yourself Youthful serums, a normal one and this 'super' one too.

Soap & Glory Make Yourself Youthful Super Serum £20

Available at Boots or Sephora online

The Perfect Winter Leather Jacket

For me, the 'perfect leather jacket' would be one that looks good, feels good, and doesn't cost a bomb. I recently found my idea of heaven on Earth in Forever 21. I had a leather jacket on my wishlist anyway but popped in to the new Trafford Centre store as I needed some new 'going out' dresses and their stock is usually pretty dressy and elaborate when I stumbled along this as I was heading out of the store. I was at the time considering buying the Primark £25 leather jacket which has been described rather well as a 'black condom jacket' because of the cheap material, to think I can find this beauty for £18.50!!! is absolutely crazy, It was one of those 'I'm robbing the store!' moments when I walked out happy with my blinding lumo pink forever21 bag. Having said that the happiness didn't last long after I went home and checked my bank statements a few days later to see that they had charged me double on everything I bought. Thankfully the fiasco is well on its way to being fixed.

Natural Collection Lipstick in 'Apple Blossom'

A couple of days ago I posted a review on the Natural Collection Lipstick in shade 'Sorbet' and could give it nothing but positive reviews. Today it's the turn of the famous 'Apple Blossom' popular amongst bloggers, but reeeeally not a personal favourite. Although the packaging is the same, there's really nothing else I can compare to 'Sorbet'. This lipstick is in a different line to 'Sorbet' meaning it has a slightly different formulation, one I really don't get on with. I find this shade paired with this formulation can accentuate flaws in lip shape and the surface of the skin (cracks, uneveness ect.) partly because of it's drying formula and very pale colouring.

The shade of this is partially what makes it so popular amongst the beauty community, often likened to MAC's 'Angel', I find it to be far far to pale and pastel pink toned for a lip colour. Even just dabbing on the colour gives a dreaded 'concealer lips' look a la Barry M's 'Marshmallow'. For this reason I certainly wouldn't repurchase this particular shade however I would buy from the other 'Sheer Natural' line again.

Natural Collection cosmetics, for those who aren't aware are a measly £1.99 per product exclusively at Boots. Often, 3 for 2 or 3 for £5 offers run on the line, making them the perfect cost effective cosmetics!

The Laine Blogger Award

I was absolutely delighted to see that familiar face on Twitter and all round lovely follower Tasha from Belleza Kisses had given me the Laine Blogger Award (my SIXTEENTH!! this year) It feels like a while since I did one of these Blogger tag/awards so It was tons of fun picking the Bloggers I wanted to award from all my new subscriptions! So on we go!

Here are the rules:

Tag the blogger who awarded you.

Answer the five questions below.

Award 5 more bloggers the Laine Blogger Award!

5 Questions:
What is your current beauty obsession?
Highlighting! I've contoured everyday for a long time, but highlighting is becoming almost as important!

What is the one beauty item you wished you owned?
Oh goodness theres so many! I'd say the YSL Shocking Faux Cils mascara!

What is your favorite post to read or write about?
I love beauty hauls but ootds are always fun to read in A/W! As for writing I'd say anything on lipstick!

What inspired you to become a blogger?
The friendly and welcoming vibes of the beauty community on Blogger and Twitter give you a bit of peace away from a busy 'real' life and helps you make friends while developing your hobby!

Which nail polish are you wearing right now?
Essie Muchi Muchi and Ballet Slippers!

The bloggers I am nominating:

A Day In My Wheels

Totally Vogue

A Pretty Mess

Alexabella

Florals And Freckles



Daniel Galvin Jr Hairjuice Melon Shampoo

"DGJ Organics Honeydew & Watermelon Hairjuice Shampoo will gently cleanse hair of impurities and stimulate the scalp to strengthen hair."

After picking up Daniel Galvin Junior's famous Hangover Hair (review can be found below in related posts) Shampoo and Conditioner I 100% new I had to go back and pick up the 'Hair Juice' shampoo too. I didn't buy the conditioner purely because I already have a large amount despite not using it all that often so perhaps I'll review it at a later date. The main thing that enticed me was the scent, melon. Don't ask me why I love melon scents so much, it's probably because these bad boys were melon scented too and my blessed childhood memories have distilled my addiction inside all these years. I prefer this melon scent over the lavender scent of Hangover Hair, but I dislike neither.

I have absolutely no idea what nourishing qualities melon as, or in fact why it's in the shampoo at all. But hey it's melon, I wont complain! As for 'purifying, refreshing, strengthening and stimulating' I'd say it definitely improved the texture of my hair when compared with standard drugstore shampoos (usually different variants of Loreal Elvive) however it also made my usually slightly-dark than mouse brown hair brassy and dull. I experienced all the same effects of this shampoo plus a healthy shine with Hangover Hair. For this reason I think I'll stick with Hangover Hair. Although it is still a very very good shampoo, I'm not sure I can be forking out an extra £12 a month on a shampoo that's not as good as my alternative.

+10 brownie points for anyone who actually counted the ridiculous amount of times I said melon in this post.

Shampoo and Conditioners are £5.99 available at Waitrose and Online

Natural Collection Lipstick in 'Sorbet'

(please do excuse the poor photos, didn't realise until editing!)

It's probably no surprise to you all that I'm a pretty large fan of the Natural Collection at Boots, whether that be their bath and body products or cosmetics. I recently bought some lipsticks (one product I hadn't actually tried yet!) as the amount of positive reviews they've had is overwhelming. First up, sorbet, a bold bright coral in the bullet, but a pretty soft coral with tiny flecks of gold shimmer on the lips. For me, the shade of this is my beloved Buxom 'Destiny' Lipgloss in a lipstick, which makes them P-E-R-F-E-C-T together! I love the fact you can really build this up, from a sheer wash over the lips to stop you looking washed out, or layered on to create the bold bright colour shown in the bullet (as shown in the two swatches below). It really is a perfect lipstick, especially for those who don't think they suit bold lips!

'Sorbet' is part of the Moisture Shine collection which generally consists of more natural shades with less pigment but more moisturisation. I can definitely agree with these claims, it slicks on just like a lip balm and has the staying power of a tinted lip balm too! One thing I would say is really do not go off the colour on the end of the packaging as in all occasions of me buying these lipsticks the bullet by no means matches the paper swatch, be sure to use the testers where available!

Natural Collection cosmetics, for those who aren't aware are a measly £1.99 per product exclusively at Boots. Often, 3 for 2 or 3 for £5 offers run on the line, making them the perfect cost effective cosmetics! Although I can't give anything but positive reviews for this shade, it isn't the same story for other shades.

Ready for round two?



OPI Nail Envy Original

If you saw my other review of OPI's Nail Envy (pink) you'll know that I'm fast becoming a fan of these nail treatments! As a whole the Nail Envy Original Nail Strengthener offers all the same qualities as the Nail Envy Pink, only it is to be used as a base coat under other nail colours whereas the pink alternative is a nail colour in itself. So if youre a nail colour enthusiast and are forever damaging your nails with acetone and polish but cant face to say goodbye to your malibu blue mani's this ones probably for you! Just like most nail treatments Nail Envy follows a course of two weeks, applying layers and removing layers on selected days, leaving you with lovely strong nails at the end of the cycle. The only downsides to this product are the price (£18) which correct me if I'm wrong is one of the 5 most expensive nail polishes on the market (up there with YSL + TF) and the fact that it does run out quite quickly because of the meticulous application, lets just hope I don't go getting too addicted eh?