Cosmopolitan 2014 Blog Awards!

I would love you all if you could all vote for my blog to be nominated for the Best New Beauty Blog!

All you have to do is click this link... http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/_mobile/blogs/cosmopolitan-blog-awards-2014/enter 

Go to the bottom and click next page, then fill out the form at the bottom.

Fill in the details..

www.fairestofthemallblog.blogspot.co.uk

under the category 'Best New Beauty Blog'

I would really appreciate this, thank you so much for your support!! 

Xxxx

Nouveau Ultra Bond Challenge

Fragrance Shop Discovery Box

I’m really excited to show you all this unique box. The fragrance shop have come up with a brilliant idea to send out perfume samples every 3 months which include the latest new releases and popular perfumes. You pay £25 for the year and you receive 1 box every 3 months (a total of 5 boxes jam packed of miniature perfume bottles which would cost £10 if they were sold separately) so good! I think this would make a fantastic gift for any perfume addict or a hard to buy for female. Within the box, you also receive £40 worth of vouchers! How amazing is that?! For each perfume sample you are sent, you’re also sent a voucher for £5 off if you buy the full sized version. So when you think about it, you have basically received the box for free! Regardless of that, I love having mini perfumes as I think they are great for popping in your handbag, purse of clutch bag on a night out. I’m looking forward to receiving my next box already! You can purchase this box from www.thefragranceshop.co.uk 

Tanya Burr Lipglosses

How lovely are these? I love a good lip colour as well as a gloss and when I saw Tanya Burrs range claim to add both I had to try them out. Also, how cute is the packaging?!

I received the colours Champagne Toast which is a nude lip gloss with tiny speckles of glitter within it – this gloss gives your lips a natural nude shine to them; this also works beautifully over a lipstick. I have been enjoying using this as my daily work lip colour because you don’t need a mirror to apply it. I then received Exotic Island which is a beautiful purple/pink shade. With this colour, there is no need to wear a lipstick under it. I was so impressed with how pigmented the colour was for a lip gloss. I wore this yesterday teamed with a dark smokey eye and I received so many compliments. Both glosses, aren’t sticky at all, they glide on super easy and feel really lightweight when they are on your lips. I am seriously a convert and will be picking up some more shades from the range! I have fallen in love with the formula and how pigmented the colour is.

You can purchase these from Superdrug or feel unique for £6.99 each.

Sheer Cover

I have heard a lot about Sheer Cover but I have never got round to trying their products until now. I love Sheer Covers advertising campaigns on QVC as the results always look fantastic so I thought I would try their Sunkissed Bronzing Mineral Powder and their Base Perfector Primer.

 

Lately, I have really been getting into my primers, I never used to wear a primer before but I have learned by using one it makes your makeup last a lot longer. Sheer Covers primer is great when used with mineral powder make up. It makes the powder foundation sink into in to the primer, making it look like a liquid foundation and natural. – so fabulous as it feels really lightweight on your face when compared to a standard liquid foundation. When I use mineral powder foundation without using this primer, it makes my face look really powdery and unnatural. I would highly recommend this primer if you tend to use mineral powder foundation a lot – take my word for it, it will honestly change the appearance of your base!

 

I thought I would try the Sunkissed Bronzing Mineral Powder as it has 3 sections within it. I thought this would be fab for popping into my handbag because it has a lighter shade which I use as a highlighter, a medium shade which I use to bronze my face and a darker shade which I use to contour. It’s so handy having all 3 powders in one product! When I am in a rush, I swirl all three colours together and pop this on my cheeks. It gives you such a lovely colour which is great for the summer months ahead. Such a bargain product too considering you are getting 4 different products in one – great for you ‘on the go’ girls like myself.

 

You can purchase both of these products from Sheer Covers website www.sheercover.co.uk or on QVC.

 

He-Shi Tanning Mousse

 As you must be aware, I am a tanning addict. There we go I said it.. I am always up for finding new self tanning products as I go through them so quickly. I recently tried the He-Shi tanning solution and fell in love, which is why I needed to share it with you guys!

 

He-Shi are a premium self tanning solution, there products range from gels, liquids and mousses so they suit everyone’s needs. I love the packaging of He-Shi’s products it looks so luxurious but simple. When I first applied the mousse to my He-Shi tanning mitt I automatically saw it has a guide colour. which in my eyes is a major plus as its practically impossible to streak tan if it has a guide colour because you can see where you have applied it. I also liked the scent of the product, Not only did it have a light floral scent when I was applying the tan, once the tan had developed I had NO sign what so ever of the typical ‘biscuity’ fake tan smell – a huge plus in my books as even Xen-Tan tanning products seem to get the biscuit smell after a while – well done He-Shi! I was a bit wary with how dark this tan would go, as I like using ‘extra dark’ tan’s. This gave me a lovely tanned colour which everyone noticed. It also looked a lot more natural and I received more compliments. The tan managed to last 5 days, it says 7-10 days on the bottle but I felt I needed another layer after 5 days (I do shower twice a day though!)

 

You can purchase this product from most drugstores or from their website – www.he-shi.co.uk

Botox in a bottle!

Oh wow, I am so excited to show you guys this miracle product! Botox in a bottle.. no literally! Most of these creams that claim to give you the same benefit as Botox are a load of rubbish in my mind... however, after trying this product I thought I would let you know why I think it’s so great compared to others. As soon as you apply the serum you feel instant affects whereas other products say they work after using the product for a set period of time, not an instant pick me up. Your face is instantly tighter and it feels a lot ‘stiffer’ to move your facial muscles – me and my mum were in ore! As soon as she tried it, within 20 minutes she was on the internet purchasing a bottle. The packaging is also so luxurious, its gold and just looks wonderful! If you are second guessing buying this product before you have tried it out, then pop into Harvey Nichols where I’m sure you can ‘try before you buy’ and I guarantee you will be walking away with a bottle! You only need the tiniest amount so it will last you ages too. This product retails for £45 from Harvey Nichols. 

Tan Truths

Whilst I was at the professional Beauty Expo in London I came across a brand I hadn’t heard of before, Tan Truths. I was automatically pulled in my their bright packaging and professional looking tan so I ended up receiving the Tan Truths Tan and the Tan Truths Exfoliator. First of all, the exfoliator smells exactly like fresh raspberrys – so delish!  It’s such a summer fruity smell. I have been using this as my everyday body wash to ensure my tan fades evenly, the little granual’s arn’t too harsh on your skin like a sugar scrub, which I personally don’t like as I find sugar scrubs completely strip your tan, whereas I like it to fade evenly and not completely remove it. Also, how can you not like this? Its bright pink and makes your bathroom smell like raspberry’s everytime!

 

The second product I received was the Tan Truths Tan, This is a really watery tan which I haven’t come across before, it reminds me of a professional spray tan solution, which you would normally use in a spray tan gun but it works just as good applied to a mitt. Something I would never of thought of doing. It makes it mega easy to blend – in fact, it’s the easiest tan I have. All you do, is apply a small amount of the tan to a tanning mitt and rub it into your body. Easy peasy! I like the fact this tan has a very dark guide colour so you know exactly where you have applied it, it also makes me super dark ready for a night out. This has become my weekly tan and is now a staple in my tanning routine due to it being so dark and easy to apply. You can purchase both of these products fromwww.tantruth.co.uk or via their facebook page TanTruthTan. 

Diet Chef - week 1

On the 31^st May 2014 I have my Aunties wedding and I was over the moon when she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. Unfortunately for me, the other bridesmaids are tiny. Sizes 6 and 8! And then there’s me, a size 14. When we had the bridesmaid fitting I knew I needed to drop a dress size as compared to the others, it made me really stand out and look a lot bigger. I needed a quick solution that would make me drop at least a dress size in 2 months.. I looked into various diets and ended up picking the Diet Chef diet. What swayed me to picking Diet Chef was the fact everything is delivered to your door for the month. 28 breakfasts, 28 lunches, 28 dinners and 28 snacks – perfect. All you need to add is your 2 fruit portions and 3 vegetable portions (I tend to add 1 piece of fruit on to my breakfast and 1 piece of fruit on to my lunch. I then add 3 portions of vegetables to my dinner to bulk it up into the size of a normal dinner portion.)  I’m a very much ‘on the go’ sort of girl and don’t really have time to plan in my meals, I need something quick and easy. With Diet Chef all the meals heat up in the microwave in under 4 minutes which is brilliant for me as I am very lazy when it comes to planning and preparing my meals. I know.. I’m going to make someone a lovely house wife one day.. not! I am going to keep you updated weekly over the next month with how I do, what I eat and how I find it each week.

 

I was very impressed with how easy it was to order the meals, you can pick exactly what meals you would like to receive and they deliver your parcel to you within 5 working days. You can order yours from www.dietchef.co.uk for £245 per a month (I know this seems a lot, but when you think about it that’s all your food shopping done for the month!)

 

So week one down and this is how I got on...

 

Day 1 –

Muesli cereal bar, coffee and a banana for breakfast – this was surprisingly quiet filling, I normally miss breakfast so this really did set me up for the day.

Bacon & Bean soup and an orange for lunch – This soup was so yummy, it had chucks of vegetables and beans within it which made it filling, this soup reminded me of the Covent Garden Soups as it had so many chucks within it.

 Salt and vinegar popcorn for my snack – this is quiet a big bag of popcorn so I was really happy to open this up at 3pm!

Sausages in gravy sweet corn, carrots and cabbage for dinner – the sausage’s tasted like proper sausages in gravy – again a very good meal.

 

Very impressed with my first day on Diet Chef, I didn’t go hungry at all at had a few compliments in the office on how good my soup smelt and looked!

 

Day 2 -

Breakfast - oat and fruit cookie (so yummy!) 

Lunch - carrot and bean soup 

Snack - maple popcorn (the first item I haven't been that keen on..)

dinner - lasagne and salad - this was delicious!

Day 3 - 

Breakfast - oat and fruit cookie and a banana 

Lunch - bacon and bean soup and an orange 

Snack - chocolate oat bar - I wasn't too keen on this as it tasted very much like the snack a jack rice cakes

Dinner - lamb hot pot and salad - this was sooo yummy I'm glad I ordered a few of these! 

Day 4 -

Breakfast - chocolate cookie

Lunch - spicy tomato and beef soup

Snack - salted popcorn

Dinner - spag Bol with salad 

Day 5 - this was my birthday so I cheated a little!

Breakfast - cinemon granola 

Lunch - tomato soup

Snack - birthday cake (not diet chef)

Dinner - Chinese takeaway (not diet chef)

Day 6 

Breakfast - original granola

Lunch - tomato pasta pot

Snack - salted popcorn 

Dinner - chicken curry with rice and salad

Day 7

Breakfast - original porridge 

Lunch - vanilla protein bar

Snack - Fruit Oat Biscuits 

Dinner - beef in ale with runner beans and carrots 

All in all, I haven't really gone that hungry and I have also learnt a lot about portion control and what a correct portion size is.. Basically kids meals! Week one on diet chef hasn't been that bad at all and even with my cheats on my birthday, I still managed to lost 3 pounds! So im ecstatic, can't wait to see the results after next week. :-) 

Batiste Dry Shampoo

My hair gets greasy so quickly, if I wash my hair in the evening the next day my hair will start to get limp and slightly greasy towards the end of the day. So my saviour product is Dry Shampoo and nothing comes close to the well known Batiste brand - the experts in Dry Shampoo with such a varied range to suit all hair types. 

When your hair is needing a refresh, all you do is spray this all over your hair (paying perticular attention to your roots) comb through to get rid of the white powder and whaler.. fresh hair with no sign of grease at all. Another time I like to use dry shampoo is to lighten my dark roots when they start to come through, I find it helps blend the blonde in with my dark roots better and makes my roots less obvious. I also like to use dry shampoo to mattify my hair when I would like to add volume or curl my hair, it makes it so much easier to work with as sometimes with freshly washed hair it is impossible to get volume to stay as well as curls. 

I highly recommend these products, this is something I will forever repurchase. 

You can purchase your Batiste Dry Shampoo from most supermarkets and dry stores. 

OOTD S/S - Batiste Fashionista pt. 1

This is going to be quiet a fun spring/summer outfit inspired by the Batiste Cherry Dry Shampoo. I think this dress is just perfect for the summer so I tried to find assesories that I thought would go lovely with it.. Every girl loves a pair of matching shoes and a unique handbag! :-)

DnG dress - £320 

Micheal kors watch - £225

DKNY necklace - £46

Miss Selfridges Gold earrings - £6

Cherry bag - xxxxx

Ebay Cherry shoes - £24.99

Top shop Red belt - £13.99 

Love your Skin

When I attended the Professional Beauty Expo in London, I came across a brand called Love Your Skin. The packaging immediately pulled me in because it reminded me of the Jo Malone packaging. I met with the lovely Lorraine - founder of Love your skin and her lovely team (who were all so welcoming and kind)

I loved how most of Love Your Skins products were gel based. I prefer putting gel/water based products on my skin as I feel they sink in better, your skin will always thank you for putting water based products onto your skin. 

After looking at all of the products they had to offer, I decided on two and picked up the Collegen Gel and the Face Spritz. I have been after a face spritz for quite sometime now. I travel into London a lot for work and spraying this in my face throughout the day has really helped me freshen up, it's so light and refreshing that it gives me an instant pick me up. Perfect for you daily commuters like myself! I have also used this on some cotton wool pads after a long day in the office to take my makeup off on the train home (I know it's not meant for this, but it still did the job well!) you can pick this up from www.lys-London.com 

The next product I picked up was the Collegen Gel, I am in love with this stuff (along with my mother) so this will definatly be a repurchase. As you can see, this product is a gel formula which you can use all over your body or just on your face, when you apply this gel to you, it rubs in easily and feels like water... No signs of a sticky thick gel which you find with most body gels. It sinks in super quick so you can get dressed straight away and it makes your skin feel silky smooth. This is such a versatile product, I like to use it after hair removal to sooth my skin and I find by doing this I'm not left with them harsh shaving dots. You can pick this product up from www.lys-London.com

please check out love your skin's other products they are so luxurious for such a reasonable price!

Elemis Face & Body Indulgence

Every time I go to the spa I always lust over the Elemis sets and how beautifully fragranced they are as well as being known to be a premium beauty brand. So when I saw this collection on QVC for £61 I thought it was a fabulous bargain considering the contents worth. Now I have tried Elemis, I will defiantly be repurchasing some of their goodies once I run out of these. It’s really hard to narrow down my favourite products from this set, but my top two have to be the Deep Cleansing Balm and the Frangipani Monoi Body Oil. These are both quite unique products and I have really enjoyed using these because they have made my skin super smooth. They both have a relaxing fragrance to them which tends to really relax me and set me up for a good night’s sleep after using them. The scent of the Elemis products reminds me a little of the Johnsons Baby Night Time Bubble Bath (everyone loves that scent don’t they!?)

The other products in the set are just as luxurious and have the gorgeous Elemis scent to them. The bath Milk literally looks like milk and gives you lovely fluffy bubbles. I have also noticed a little goes a long way with Elemis products, you really don’t need much!

 

The Cleansing Balm is applied directly to your face and then massaged off with a warm flannel, its super easy to use and takes minutes which I like, as I’m quiet lazy when it comes to my skin care routine. This product also removes all traces of my makeup and makes my face feel fresh and smooth!

 

The Frangipani Monoi Body Oil comes in a quirky red bottle, the formula hardens in room temperature but to turn it back into an oil all you have to do is place the bottle in a bowl of warm water and it will turn back – magic! When you apply the oil it feels so relaxing because it is warm where you have had to heat it up. The oil is none greasy,  super moisturising and smells fab! I like to use this oil on my strech marks too, as whilst I was watching QVC they said its really good for reducing these. This product is such a multi-purpose solution because you can use it in your hair as a ‘dry ends’ treatment, on your nails as a cutical treatment, on your skin to moisurise, on your strechmarks to reduce visability and in your bath for a relaxing bath oil. QVC also mentioned you can use this on your baby’s skin because it  has gentle, skin nourishing ingredients within it.

 

You can purchase various Elemis products from QVC at www.QVC.co.uk – they have the most beautiful gift sets!

Yankee Candle Bundle

I’m sure I speak for most girls when I say this but I am absolutely obsessed with Yankee Candles so I got rather excited when I saw QVC had an amazing deal on for 3 large Yankee candles for £41! I find, Yankee Candles are the only candles that make your room smell like the fragrance of the candle. Most lower end candles smell ok in the jar, but when lit, you don’t get any smell from them at all. I also love the fact that Yankee Candle release limited edition candles for each season of the year as well as their usual range of unique and lovely smelling candles! QVC collaborate with Yankee Candle quiet a lot, however, you need to move quick if you want to order one of their ‘Yankee Candle Deal Sets’ because they seem to sell out super fast! QVC sell various Yankee Candle packages including wax tarts, tea light candles, jar candles and various other YC goodies! You can purchase your Yankee Candle bargain sets from QVC for between £15 and £45. Please visit www.QVC.co.uk

P.S I wish I could show you have amazing these three candles smell.. My all time favorite smells are Black Cherry, Clean Cotton and Vanilla Lime. Perfect to get you in the mood for the summer months! :-) 

Laurens Way Darker Than Dark Glam Tan

Laurens Way are releasing a new Tanning product called Darker Than Dark Glam Tan* which you will be able to get your hands on in March 2014. I have been a big fan of Laurens Way tanning products for the past year now, I used to use Xen-Tan Moroccan Oil Tan, but since they put the prices up on their website I couldn’t justify the price tag when I can get a similar result for cheaper.

I am a big fan of a really deep, dark olive tan which I have found the Darker Than Darker tanning range by Laurens Way to be fabulous at achieving so when I received the Darker than Dark Glam Tan I couldn’t wait to pop it on!

 

First of all I prepped my skin my exfoliating in the shower with the LW body polish, this product isn’t too harsh that it will make you red, but ‘gritty’ enough to get rid of your dead skin (lovely!). Once I had dried, I then sprayed the Glam Tan on my body and blended it into my skin by using my tanning mitt. For my hands, feet, elbows and face I sprayed the tan onto the tanning mitt first instead of directly onto my skin, so it wasn’t so dark on these areas – for a more natural look.

          (Picture of before and after)

 

The results of this tan are exactly the same as the other tan’s in the darker than dark range – so dark! After just a few hours too, this is going to be my summer tan as it really looks like I have just got back from the Mediterranean! (I can dream..) I love the formula of this tan, it’s so easy to work with because it doesn’t dry too quickly or take ages to dry because I managed to get dressed after 10 minutes of tanning. The smell is also fab – no signs of the typical fake tan smell. To prolong my tan, I have been using the LW Moisturiser, which had defiantly helped keep my colour as well as keeping my body moistured with a light scent.

 

Laurens Way have announced that they are going to be launching their tanning range in Superdrug as of the 9^th March 2014, making easier to pick up this tan instead of having to order it online. Karly Oranin, Cosmetics and Bronzing Buyer at Superdrug said: “2014 is the year for home tanning, and here at Superdrug we are really excited to be a stockist of LW Tan. The brand really resonates with our customers, whether they are looking for an everyday glow or a deeply bronzed look.”

 

You will be able to pick the Darker than Dark Glam Tan* up for £19.95 from Superdrug and www.laurensway.co.uk as of March 2014.

Rituals - Hamman Body Mud & Night/Day Cream

I came across Rituals whilst I was in House of Fraser and thought their brand looked so lovely, especially the Happy Buddha range and gift sets. I headed over to their face cream range section and fell in love instantly with the packaging and after trying the creams out on my hand I realised they ticked all the boxes I was after in a face cream! I have been looking for a really good hydrating day and night cream that is good with sensitive skin, smells fresh, doesn’t feel oily or greasy, sinks in to your skin quickly and has nice packaging so it looks lovely sat on my dressing table.

 

When browsing Rituals Website I came across the hamman shower mud I thought this sounded like an interesting product as I love having mud baths and being pampered at spas and this product claims to ‘bring the spa into your home’ so on that note, I knew I had to try it out!

 

This shower mud is so fun to use, I left it on for 10 minutes to let it really work its magic. I noticed straight away when I was washing it off how silky smooth my skin was, it also left my skin feeling quiet hydrated after I got out of the shower, when usually my skin feels really dry and in need of a deep moisturise. I love this product so much, I’m only going to use it once a week to try and make it last longer – it’s my weekly pamper treat! This product is also really gentle to your skin, gentle enough that you can also use it on your face as a face mask.

 

Rituals is a quirky natural brand, which sell the most gorgeous products and gift sets.  You can purchase their products from www.rituals.com the day and night creams* retail for £29.50 each and the Hamman body mud* retails for £14.