Blog Birthday and May Favourites 2012

Hi! Today's post is primarily about my May Favourites, however before we jump into that, I wanted to make a quick announcement...

Image: Google

My little blog turned two earlier this month and I sincerely cannot believe how fast the past two years have flown by! Thank you to all the old and new readers for your continued support. I truly appreciate all of your comments and thank you to those who take the time to read my little blog. To celebrate my blog turning two, I have given the design an overhaul. What do you guys think? For some reason, I couldn't sleep last night and ended up working through the night to make the design perfect and personally, I am rather proud of it :)

Moving onto my May favourites. This month I have been loving a variety of things, ranging from make-up to nail varnish to skincare. I have also included a 'random' favourite of the month too. 

From left to right: American Apparel Nail Lacquer in 'Office' - Rimmel 60 Seconds Nail Polish in 'In Style Coral' - La Roche Posay Effaclar K & Solait Mattifying Face Sun Fluid - H&M gold hair cuff - Garnier Body Tonic Sugar Scrub - NARS Laguna

Sleek Life's a Peach

What products were you loving this month?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Review: Origins Brighter By Nature High-Potency Brightening Peel with Fruit Acids

I bought this jar of Origins Brighter By Nature High-potency brightening peel with fruit acids pads from the CCO in Bicester Village last year for £29. (From now on, they will be referred to as High-potency pads as the name is one helluva mouthful!) I thought I was getting a good discount until I looked on the Origins website to find they usually retail at £30! The jar contains 40 textured cotton pads that are presoaked in the fruit acids. The High-potency pads are supposed to rival a professional glycolic peel without the redness and also claim to help restore clarity and improve evenness of skin tone.

The High-potency pads are super easy to use, as you just move it around your face in small circular motions. The raised texture of the High-potency pads almost feels like you are using a grainy exfoliator, so you are essentially getting two exfoliations (chemical and mechanical) in one product. Then you just leave the product on overnight to work its magic. As you use the High-potency pad, you may feel a tingle on your skin. This is just the fruit acids getting to work and I like that you can feel the tingle, so you know that the pads are working.

You are recommended to use the High-potency pads twice weekly, however I didn't stick to that. Some weeks I would use them twice, some once and some none at all. I wish I had used them on a more regular and organised basis, because I think my skin would have reaped the benefits sooner. However I have still seen an improvement in my skin.

After use, my skin feels so soft and definitely looks brighter. Over time, I have noticed some of my post acne hyperpigmentation and scars fading. I occasionally get a few milia around my right eye, but they have all disappeared and I accredit their disappearance to these High-potency pads.

I would definitely repurchase these again, as my skin feels great after using these pads and I can really see the benefits. The High-potency pads are priced at £30 for 40 pads, which is 75p per pad. If you use two per week, the product would last 20 weeks/5 months, so I would say that's pretty good value for money. I think these High-potency pads would be great for people who suffer from hyperpigmentation, dark/sun spots and discolouration.

Have you ever tried these pads?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Eggplant

I am not the greatest cook, but I can follow a recipe to produce an alright meal. This week I tried out Ruth from A Model Recommends' pasta recipe and loved it, so I thought I'd share it with you! Her video is here and she has an accompanying blogpost here. The recipe is nice and easy to follow, which is great.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly, as I used Quorn mince, 1 aubergine, Tesco pasta sauce and had it with lentils. Looking back, I wish I'd had it with pasta! But that's the great thing about the recipe - you can chop and change in things that you like or don't like.

Yum!

What are your favourite pasta recipes?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

NOTD: Utopia

2 coats of Models Own Nail Polish in 'Utopia'

This is a lovely milky, pale lilac colour, which is a lovely alternative to the typical summer pastels. The application was great. Each coat dried quickly and the colour was streaky with 1 coat and opaque with two coats. I find Models Own polishes last well on my nails and remain chip free for days. I am seriously impressed with Models Own nail polishes!

Why is my application always so messy?! Haha! I always get nail polish over my cuticles and, for some reason, on the lids of the nail polishes. Does anyone have any tips for neat application?

What are your favourite Models Own nail polishes?

xoxo, Joy

Clothing and Jewellery Haul

Hi everyone, I have uploaded a quick clothes and jewellery haul to Youtube and thought I'd share it here.


The day after filming the video, I actually bought more things... Eek, my spending is out of control! I'm definitely going to have to keep more of an eye on my spending. I was wondering if any of you know of any good (and preferrable free!) money tracking iPhone apps? Thanks.
Thank you for watching. xoxo, Joy

Winning (+NOTD)

This post was supposed to be posted on Friday, but I must have pressed the 'Save' button, rather than the 'Publish' one as it wasn't published and I thought it had... Oops, that's what you get for blogging when you're tired!

Anyway, I was super lucky to win the lovely Leanne's 3 year anniversary, 2000 followers and 500 posts giveaway. She was asking for suggestions for nail designs and I suggested 'The Hunger Games'. I hope it doesn't sound like I'm bragging, but I just wanted to share a sneak peek into the things I won because I am so overwhelmed with the prizes and so excited to try everything! :D Thank you so much Leanne, I am so grateful!

Leanne posted all the prizes with a lovely little note with it :) When I opened the parcel, I felt like a child at Christmas!! The main biggie was the Sleek Spotlight Kit, which is absolutely amazing! I can't wait to try everything out. I can't stop staring at all the the pretty blushers! The other prizes came in a lovely orange box and had a mix of things, including an Orly nail polish, an OPI nail polish, Max Factor goodies, Burt's Bees Honey Lip Balm, etc.

I knew straight away that I wanted to use one of the products and opted for the much talked about Max Factor's Fantasy Fire. It's a lovely purple duochrome. The formulation was quite sheer and took 4 coats to get a somewhat opaque colour. I should have probably looked around online before applying, because a lot of people recommend wearing it over another nail polish. But the colour is super pretty! I love it!

4 coats of Max Factor Nail Effects Nail Polish in 'Fantasy Fire' Please excuse the messy application and my horrible cuticles!!

Thank you for reading. If you haven't checkout Leanne's blog already, then definitely do so! her blog is full of pretty nail art, nail polish and beauty! :) xoxo, Joy

NOTD: In Style Coral

2 coats of Rimmel 60 Seconds Nail Polish in 'In Style Coral'

I first saw this on Lydia's blog and thought it was the perfect coral nail polish! It leans more towards an orangey-coral, but still has an element of pink. It is however a lot less pink than some other coral nail polishes in the market. This shade has fast become one of my favourite shades for Spring/Summer! It dried super quick and only needed 2 coats. If you were in a rush, you could probably get away with just 1 coat as it was semi-opaque and only needed a thin layer on top to ensure full opacity. The wide brush is so handy, I can paint most of my nails with just 1 stroke, which is great for lazy people like me!

I'm definitely going to be trying more of this Rimmel 60 Seconds range. I already have Rose Libertine, but do any of you have any recommendations for other colours to try? I think there's a lovely bright blue in the range?

xoxo, Joy

Review: Neal's Yard Remedies Rehydrating Rose Daily Moisture

This was one of my April Favourites, but I thought I'd do a slightly more in depth review of it as I love it!

It's quite a thick moisturiser, so a little goes a long way. It doesn't leave my combination skin feeling greasy and has never broken me out. It sinks in quickly and leaves your skin feeling soft and moisturised. Along with the other products in my skincare routine, it has really helped my dehydrated skin due to the hyaluronic acid and rose extract. I found that it is great for use day and night. With twice daily use, the 45ml tube has lasted me around 2 months and I am unfortunately nearing the end of the tube now.

It smells of roses, which is lovely. The scent is particularly overpowering and doesn't linger. Some people may think it's a slightly granny scent, but I really love the scent.

Running along the bottom of the packaging, it says that the product has no mineral oils, no synthetic fragrances or colours, no parabens, no silicones, no phthalates - Which is great for people with sensitive skin or people who want to avoid chemicals like mineral oils, etc.

Have you ever tried this product? Do you like the smell of roses?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Review: Garnier Body Tonic Sugar Scrub

I usually use products for a month or so before I review them, so that I can give them a thorough testing and write a reliable review. However, I have only used this Garnier body scrub a few times but I couldn't wait to write this review, because I am so in love with this product!

My skin felt so smooth after use! You can really feel the difference between the skin that has been exfoliated and the skin that hasn't. I sometimes get dry patches on my calves and my arms and this has definitely got rid of them. I also think this will be a great scrub for my keratosis pilaris, as it is scrubby and gritty enough to exfoliate thoroughly without being too harsh.

It has a gritty texture, due to the large sugar particles in it. If you don't like gritty exfoliators, then you won't like this. I found it easy to rinse off and it didn't leave any residue on my skin, which is fantastic! I hate when bathing products leave greasy residues on the skin as it makes me feel like I haven't showered properly.

It has a lovely zingy citrus smell, which is a great wake-me-up scent and perfect for early mornings!

The scrub is priced at £7.15 for 200ml of product, but I managed to pick it up for half price in Boots last week. I personally think £7 is quite expensive for Garnier, as their products usually cost around the £5 mark. However, upon using this scrub I would definitely repurchase it at full price.

This exfoliator is everything I wanted the Soap & Glory Flakeaway scrub to be when I was using it last year! I rarely dub products as 'Holy Grail', but I can forsee this becoming my HG body scrub.

Have you ever tried this exfoliator? What is your favourite body exfoliator?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

NOTD: Winter Berry

I received this nail polish for my birthday from a friend and opted for it this week. Winter Berry is a gorgeous mid-tone purple. It applied like a dream, becoming opaque in just one coat! It dried super quick, which is great for me as I get fidgety and hate waiting for my nails to dry. I'm definitely going to have to check out more of Accessorize's nail polishes in the future!

1 coat of Accessorize Nail Polish in 'Winter Berry'

Although the colour is lovely, I thought that my nails needed a bit of jazzing up so I opted for my new glitter polish. I posted about Models Own 'Ibiza Mix' a few weeks ago and mentioned that I had bought a new glitter polish that day... Well, this is it! It's by H&M and it's called 'Confetti' (what a cute name!).

Similarly to Ibiza Mix, it has large hexagonal pieces and smaller circular glitters. The coloured glitters are in a clear base and are lovely, with a blue, green, red, gold and silver. I personally think that this makes it quite 'neutral' and would go with any colour base coat.

1 coat of 'Winter Berry', with 1 coat of H&M Nail Polish in 'Confetti'

The coverage of the polish is great, with lots of glitters on the nails after one coat. However sometimes I would get too much of the clear base on the brush making it too thick and no glitters were transferred. But with practice, it got easier and I found dabbing it on meant the glitter was distributed better than when applying it like a normal nail varnish. I was surprised at how easily this removed, as glitter polishes are usually a pain to take off. I have to say I am thoroughly impressed with this polish! Another great thing about it is that it only cost £2.99!

Have you ever tried any Accessorize nail polishes? What are you favourite glitter polishes?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy