Andrea Fulerton Mock Croc Nail Varnish

So you may remember the blog post I did a while back about the Andrea Fulerton Nail Salon Kit Box I received as a Christmas present? Then again, if your memory's as bad as mine you probably won't, so you can find said post here if you need a little refresher!

Anyways, I am going to start off with showing you the Mock Croc nail varnishes I received in the box, in the two shades Mi Mi and Chi Chi.

(L-R) Mi Mi and Chi Chi

To be perfectly honest, I really wasn't overly excited to see these in the box; the whole crackled nail trend seemed to lead a very brief existence a good few months ago. Having said that, I'm really surprised to say that I actually do like these nail varnishes a lot.

The metallic base shades are a lot nicer and more eye catching than any of the other metallic polishes I have in my collection, so I will definitely also be using these separately from the croc top coat as they are so pretty!

Chi Chi

The crackle coats themselves have come in really useful when I'm in a bit of a rush, as you can totally get away with a couple of smudges whilst looking like you've spent ages on your nails and no one would be any the wiser. Result! They're a great addition to my collection and something I'm positive I will get full use out of.

Mi Mi

Andrea Fulerton mock croc nail varnishes can be bought from Superdrug here, and are currently reduced from £7.99 to £5.99 each.

What do you think of these?

Are you still a fan of the crackled nail trend?

Jo xx

Ojon Restorative Leave-in Treatment for Brunettes

I've never had much of a problem at all with the condition of my hair. Having never coloured it before (I'm just not brave enough!) it's never really been in too bad a condition.

Because of this, it's never had the love and attention it so rightfully deserves (sob). It gets washed and conditioned but that's about as far as it goes, so I thought it was about time it got a bit of a treat!

Cue Ojon's Restorative Leave-in Treatment for brunettes.

This product claims to "add shine and hydration to brown hair", which is just what I was after. The idea is to apply this evenly throughout damp hair before either blow-drying or leaving it to dry.
As I usually leave my hair to dry overnight I decided to stick to that same routine.

The consistency of the product seems pretty damn spot on; not too runny and not too thick, and I found it really easy to spread evenly throughout my thick hair. I even applied it through my roots (brave in hindsight!), so I was delighted (and pretty relieved) to find my roots were not left at all greasy by the morning.

I was also happy to see it was deep brown and shimmery in colour; I'm not sure why this is, but I just tend to trust hair products that little bit more if they match my hair colour...please tell me I'm not the only one?

Although my hair felt quite a bit softer once dry, I have actually seen a much bigger difference in the results after washing my hair a second time as normal without reapplying the treatment. The packaging doesn't mention a second wash being necessary, but I would recommend it as my hair felt so lovely and soft and actually looked a hell of a lot healthier and more hydrated afterwards. It felt a lot sleeker and was much more manageable, with a lot less crazy and uncooperative flyaways and a noticeable shine, even though I hadn't noticed a lack of shine beforehand.
It's actually kind of made me realise the need to thoroughly condition even 'healthy' hair!

Although I am delighted with the results I was left wondering whether the same result could have been achieved with a much cheaper product...the price tag really is pretty hefty to be quite honest.

Has anyone reviewed any similar, much cheaper leave-in hair treatments?

I purchased my Ojon Restorative Leave-in Treatment for brunettes at a reduced price from QVC where it is no longer available.
Ojon restorative treatments can be purchased from Boots here from £16 for 50ml.

Have you tried any Ojon products before?
What did you think?

Jo xx

Farewell Google Reader...

So I'm sure you all know the deal with Google Reader by now. It's really annoying to say the least and I'm not a big fan of change, boo hoo.

 

 

Anyway the last thing I want to do is lose any of my lovely followers! So this is just a quick post to remind you of all the other ways you can follow me...

 

Now, as I'm a little bit thick, I can't actually find all of the links for these following methods (there's most probably a very simple way to find said links, but I haven't a clue).

 

So please be a little gem and take a peek on my sidebar to the right. You'll find a few buttons where you can follow me on either Bloglovin', Google +, GFC, Hello Cotton or Twitter.

 

I do suggest following me by another method if you're a GFC follower, just in case that goes walkies at the same time as Google Reader!

 

Thank you!

 

Much love,

Jo xx

Illustration | Courtesy of Sparrow Mint!

If you're observant like me (ahem) you may have noticed the new little illustration on my blog sidebar! A few days ago, after spotting Kimberley's version I hastily got in touch with Sparrow Mint to ask if she could do one for me.

I sent her a picture and voila, just a day later I received the illustration in my inbox, courtesy of her amazingly talented boyfriend!

I absolutely adore it, I literally could not be more delighted with how it's turned out! I know you've nothing to compare it to but what do you think?

I think it looks amazing on my sidebar and fits in so well with my blog design, I'm absolutely chuffed!

At the moment Sparrow Mint is offering free illustrations, so if you fancy one of your own just pop her a message, I'm sure she wouldn't mind.

Please also check out Sparrow Mint's blog, she's such a lovely girl and her blog really is worth a peek.

Let me know if you decide to get your own, I'd love to see yours!

Jo xx

Collective Haul | Includes Zara, Boots and Mally

Wow, what a busy year third year is! I have been working hard at placement whilst also juggling uni lectures and my dissertation, but lets face it, us girls can always find the time to do a spot of shopping. So I thought I'd show you what I've been buying of late. Hope you enjoy!

First up, I mentioned a while back that I won a £25 Zara voucher from Twitter. Well, having my nearest Zara store quite far away I have only just broken into the voucher, so here are my first couple of purchases with it. Thankfully I still have a tenner of it left after a nice surprise at the checkout!

Baggy t-shirt* | Zara | £15.99 £5.99

I'm in desperate need of some new t-shirts so this is great and really comfy for lazier days, and is long enough to cover your bum and wear with leggings.

Dark blue trousers* | Zara | £35.99 £9.99

These were marked as £22.99 but were £9.99 at the till, don't you just love it when that happens?! They were really hard to photograph and they do just look like jeans on here, but they are lovely dark blue skinny trousers that give a smarter look than jeans. I especially love the gold zips on the legs!

Jumper | Oasis at Debenhams | £40 £15

Another bargain, this is actually a nice deep aubergine purple (again difficult to photograph) and has sparkly thread intertwined. It also has a dipped hem at the back.

M. Asam Aqua Intense Face Toner | TK Maxx | £11.35 £3.99

Max Factor Kohl Eye Liner Pencil | Boots| £4.99 £2.49

Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara | Boots | £10.99

I bought the Max Factor products when there was an offer for buy one get one half price. I have repurchased the mascara about four times now and it is my absolute favourite.

17 lipstick in Belle | this eBay seller | £2.40

This was recommended to me by Mollie a while back after I mentioned I was looking for a 'your-lips-but-better' lippy shade. So far so good!

Last but certainly not least is this amazing selection of Mally makeup my auntie gave to me! I am SO excited to try all this out, as I've never tried anything from Mally before!

The selection includes:

3 x cute metallic Mally gift bags and the gorgeous box

1 x 24/7 Illuminating Blush in Deep

3 x High-Shine Liquid Lipstick Pens in (top-bottom) Punch, Raspberry and Peach Sorbet

3 x Age Rebel Eyeshadow stick in Jade, Sugar and Burnished Violet

1 x Shaded Liquid Face Defender Foundation in Tan

1 x Face Defender Blush in Pink Perfection

1 x Double Ended Concealer Brush

1 x Champneys Ultra Shine Lip Gloss in Rose

Amazing selection! If there's any particular product you'd like me to review please let me know in the comments. As you probably know, I'm so busy at the moment so I'm not sure how long it will take me to start getting some of these reviews done (sorryyy!).

Have you tried any Mally products before?

What have you been buying recently?

Jo xx

DIY project | Small Drawers

A long while ago now, in a haul post I showed you some pretty paper and promised you a DIY post...

...well, this is that DIY post my friends.

My mum has had this set of drawers in the utility room (ooo, posh) for a long time now. She knew they were boring (I had told her countless times) but to be quite honest they were practical, so they stayed put.

That was until she got the utility room done, and I offered to decorate them for her.

Well, they actually turned out a bit nicer than I expected them to be so I am trying to make room for them somewhere in my bedroom instead!

(They will fit)

So, in case you were wondering, here's how I did it (it was literally the easiest thing ever):

1. I started by sanding it all down to make it a bit rougher, giving the paint something to grip onto

2. I then painted the drawers with two coats of off-white, satin finish paint

3. I drew around the front of the drawers onto the pretty paper and cut it to size, also cutting out a middle piece for the label holders to stick through

4. Lastly, I stuck the paper onto the front of the drawers using double sided sticky tape

Simples.

I have to admit I had a massive facepalm moment when I realised that there wasn't enough paper to fill the front of all four drawers, so instead I left two of the drawers with a white border.

I know it would look better with the full drawers covered, so next time I pop into the range I think I'll see if I can find some more of the paper to finish it off properly. But for now, it'll do.

The sheets of pretty paper can be bought from The Range for 49p each (I used two sheets)

What do you think?
Have you done a similar DIY jobby recently?

Jo xx

Bio Oil

I've never really had much of a problem with spots. Even as a young teenager, I only ever really got one or two spots at once.

 

I've heard that getting spots in certain places means something, for example that you've got a poor diet or lack of sleep, but unfortunately I don't really know that much about it. All I know is I always had a spot inbetween my eyebrows, often on my chin and very rarely, if ever on my cheeks (anyone have any ideas why this might be?).

 

Anyway getting onto the actual topic of the post, this left me with dark, slightly purple-y coloured spots of skin inbetween my eyebrows. I left them a while hoping they'd fade on their own before attempting to do anything about it, as they still looked like actual spots. However, after a few months I just wanted rid and this is where the Bio Oil came in!

 

 

I'd never really considered Bio Oil as I actually thought it was solely for stretch marks, however after Tweeting for advice it was recommended to me by another blogger (I'm really sorry, I can't remember who this was!).

 

Bio Oil claims to improve the appearance of scars, stretch marks, uneven skin tone, ageing skin and dehydrated skin.

 

On application, it is not in the slightest bit greasy as you may expect, and it absorbs into the skin quickly, leaving it feeling really soft and moisturised. (I am actually considering using it all over my face in the hope it'll give me healthier looking skin, any suggestions? Or not such a good idea on combination skin?)

 

 

 The instructions recommend you to use the Bio Oil twice a day for a minimum of three months in order to start to see any results. Word of warning; a little of this goes a long way and I needed the tiniest blob to cover the area I wanted to. I really wish I had before and after pictures but I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word for this...

...two months in and I'd say my skin tone has evened out by about 60-70%. I can now only see the dark spots if I look for them specifically, whereas before they were very prominent on my forehead (to me anyway!).

 

I am one happy customer!

 

Bio Oil can be purchased from both Boots and Superdrug, where it retails for

£8.99 for 60ml, £14.99 for 125ml or £19.99 for 200ml. 

 

I am also considering using this to reduce the appearance of my stretch marks; have you used Bio Oil on stretch marks?

If you have, I'd love to know how you found it!

 

Jo xx

Andrea Fulerton Nail Salon Kit Box

So today I thought I'd show you the Andrea Fulerton nail art set I received from my auntie for Christmas.

I have to tell you, my eyes lit up when I opened this, and I'm sure you'll be able to see why...

 

...it's an absolute treasure trove of goodies!

 

I have decided to show you the original box of goodies in this post in bulk, then within the next few weeks the plan is to write a few mini reviews.

 

Andrea Fulerton is a brand I've never come across before (even though I've actually just discovered the contents of this box are individually sold on the Superdrug website), so I'm interested to see how the quality of the products compare with the rest of my nail varnish collection!
 

The set consists of:

2 x nail glossers

 2 x mock croc nail varnishes
2 x stripe and sparkle nail varnishes
4 x flip flop french nail varnishes
2 x pots of nail gems/studs
3 x packets of nail stickers
1 x nail buffer
2 x finger/toe separators
2 x nail files and carry case

Phew!

The nail stickers look gorgeous, I would definitely have picked these up myself if I'd seen them in store. I'm also really looking forward to trying the gem and studs, which come with their own cute glittery applicator!

Unfortunately I can't find this set anywhere online, but knowing my auntie it will have been a TK Maxx find!
As mentioned the individual Andrea Fulerton products can be found on the Superdrug website here.

Do you like the look of this set?

Jo xx

 

 

Nota Bene Skincare | Update

You may remember me writing a review a few weeks back on some Nota Bene skincare products I was sent to try out (you can find the review here if you fancy taking a peek).

You'll probably need to read said review to understand this little update.

I had no intentions of writing another blog post on them. That is until I returned back to my old skincare routine after finishing up with my 30ml pots (they actually lasted me six weeks, which I thought was fab considering the size of the bottles and £5 price tag)...

...within about 24 hours, the skin on my forehead had returned to its previous dry, itchy state.

I half expected the skin to come back but was surprised to find it return so quickly, so I repurchased and within 2 days of returning to Nota Bene my skin was lovely and smooth again.

Now I hope I'm not coming across as lecturing you on these products, but I just wanted to write this quick little post to point out to anyone that might be struggling with skin problems (and everyone else!) that Nota Bene might be worth a try.

I'm hooked!

The founder, Rebecca, is lovely and I'm sure she would be more than happy to give advice on what she thinks would be best for your skin.

I'm not one to repurchase products when I have multiple back ups floating around my room (three of each product to be precise!), but for these I'll definitely make an exception.
Although to some people the Nota Bene prices may seem a little steep, this is due to their use of organic ingredients and lack of nasty chemicals. So surely that's justified, right?!

I'd definitely recommend giving them a whirl, and I'd love to see the products get the appreciation they deserve! 

Don't forget, you can add a free 6ml moisturiser to your order.
You can also get a free 30ml cleanser worth £5 with your order by using the code 'CLEANSER' at the checkout.

Let me know if you give them a whirl!

Jo xx

*Please note, this post was in no way sponsored by Nota Bene: I just felt it needed to be published!*

Quick and Simple Valentines Day Nail Art

I know myself that I am not the master of all nail art. Nor do I pretend to be.

My skills definitely leave something to be desired, but this doesn't stop me having a bit of a play every now and again (note extra emphasis on the 'bit').

As I didn't have much time on my hands to do this, I thought I'd do a quick and simple design for Valentine's Day for all you other nail art amateurs out there.

This image was taken a couple of days after painting my nails, hence the slightly chipped tips so I apologise for that

I used an OPI mini as the base colour, which is a gorgeous pink/red with an unusual orange sheen to it. It's a really firey colour which can only really be seen to its full potential in the daylight.

I then grabbed my black polish (I'm sorry but I don't even know what brand it is as it's worn off the bottle, but I do know I picked it up from Boots on the cheap years ago, and it's lasted me since!) and using my dotting tools, I drew three dots in a triangular shape and then joined them together to create the little hearts.

And voila, you have yourself some Valentines Day nails!

Have you done any Valentines Day nail art?

Please link me in the comments if you have, I'd love to see it!

Jo xx