Urban Decay Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Colour

Just a quick review for you today guys. I was reading a well know fashion magazine the other day, Look magazine and I saw a write up on this Urban Decay lip gloss.

It stated “This contains phytosterol, a plant oil that not only moisturises, but helps prevent collagen loss as our lips age”.

Now I don't believe everything I read in the glossys but with technology advancing at break-neck speed I didn't think this statement was too far from what could be reality, also I did see Xsparkage (youtube make-up artist) use it in one of her videos and it looked really nice so I thought I'd give it a go.

We have to bear in mind I'm never going to know if this one lip gloss in the known universe has single handedly prevented collagen loss from my lips, namely because I use loads of plumping, priming, moisturising products on my lips and also I'm only going to see the results when I'm about 50, in about 25 years.............ok in 23 years time! And I'm not sure you guys want to wait that long for a review so why don't we disregard this aspect and talk about the things we can see in the here and now.

So here it is, in all its glory. There are 5 colours to choose from in this range: F-Bomb (true red), Punch Drunk (orange red) and Crush (pink) which are all matte, and Adrenaline (red with gold glitter) and Big Bang (magenta with silver glitter). I decided to play it safe for my first one with Adrenaline, it was a toss up between that and Big Bang but I was a little worried that magenta might clash with my red hair. 

So Adrenaline it was, £14 from Debenhams and I have to say I am in LOVE with this product! I'm a lipstick girl anyway but I hate the faffing around that comes with lipstick. Normally with lipstick I would line the outside of my lips with a waxy anti-feathering lip pencil, then I would line and colour my lips in with a lip pencil that matched the colour of my lipstick, then I would put my lipstick on with a lip brush, then blot and lip brush again, and if there was time to leave the house after all that lol, I would take with me, the chosen lipstick, lip brush and a mirror for touch ups. Wow that sounds a lot, it really doesn't take that long but note the faffing involved. 

Well with this lip product you could even leave your mirror at home if you were cleaver enough (I am not so the mirror is with me at all times). I literally just took the lid off and crayoned the colour on to my lips, no out line, no lip pencil, actually I don't even think I blotted. I love the fact that I can take this product anywhere and reapply anywhere, with my trusty mirror of course. It felt lovely on my lips, it wasn't sticky or heavy, just lightly moisturising so my lips didn't dry out. This is the first time I have tried a lip crayon and I understand that Urban Decays offering may be a little expensive for some, but for me I am very impressed, so impressed in fact that I will also be purchasing Big Bang. Glitter lips are my favourite for the festive period so these 2 colours will see me right through. What I would like to see from Urban Decay though is a few more colours added to the collection, maybe some lighter colours as well because I think this product would be excellent for brides that want to wear lipstick on their big day but don't want the hassle.

Well I hope you have enjoyed the review today guys. Any questions or recommendations let me know.

Stacey x x

The Big Nails Inc Swatch

As a new season is upon us and companies are busy promoting their new wares (all of which I want of course), I wanted to get this post out to show you guys what already takes pride of place in my kit.

With that in mind I have started with my Nails Inc polishes, due to the fact that they have some amazing products coming out this season and I have a feeling I may be purchasing a few. 

(I apologise in advance if some of these polishes have been discontinued or if you are unable to get hold of Nails Inc where you live)

 From left: Jermyn Street, St James's, Birdcage Walk, The Mall, Clerkenwell, Victoria, Thames, Draycott Terrace.

 From Left: Clerkenwell, Jermyn Street, Draycott Terrace, The Mall, Victoria, Victoria, Thames, St James's, Birdcage walk, Clerkenwell.

Sorry guys the ones above were the first polishes to be photographed and I didnt think to put them in the order that I had painted them, however I noticed and rectified my mistake below. 

  From Left: Seven Dials, Tudor Way, Beaumont Street, Pembroke Close, Strawberry Hill

 From Thumb: Seven Dials, Tudor Way, Beaumont Street, Pembroke Close, Strawberry Hill

The 2 pictures above and the 2 pictures below are both Creme nail polishes, which means they have no shimmer, glitter, special effects etc, they are just pure, unadulterated colour. 

 From Left: Ibiza Orange, Jermyn Street, Victoria Gate, Haymarket, Baker Street (yep I have Jermyn Street twice)

               From Little Finger: Ibiza Orange, Jermyn Street, Victoria Gate, Haymarket, Baker Street

     From Left: Kensington Square Caviar, Kabaret, Kensington Road Caviar, Electric Avenue, Monmouth Street

 From Little finger: Kensington Square Caviar, Kabaret, Kensington Road Caviar, Electric Avenue, Monmouth           Street

The 2 pictures above and the 2 pictures below both show a selection of shimmer, sparkle and glitter finishes. 

                  From Left: Park Lane, Chelsea Square, Earlham Street, Belgrave Square, Manchester

               From Thumb: Park Lane, Chelsea Square, Earlham Street, Belgrave Square, Manchester

Well this has been a mammoth of a post today. I hope you have all enjoyed having a peek in to my collection and I hope all of the nail enthusiast's out there have found some thing of interest.

Stacey xx

New Red Hair

Hello and welcome to another very dull and rain sodden day in Lancashire. It feels like it has rained constantly for all my life (although it's probably only been two weeks). So to brighten my miserable mood, and maybe partially due to the fact that my hair was looking decidedly like a mullet, I decided a hair cut and colour was in order.

Now I'm really picky about where I go to get my hair done, not because my hair is amazing, but because it's really not! Its fine, its limp, its lifeless and a whole host of other adjectives that I probably shouldn't mention here. Yep, I think you can guess em. So I booked in with the fantastic Steph Osgood at Dash Hair Design near Bolton. Steph has been styling my hair for about 9 months now and I have gone from mid length brown hair (with the black ends, I was home dying before this), to an inverted purple bob, and to the fiery shortness that I have now. Throughout this time Steph has been consistent in her greatness, offering many a pearl of hair wisdom, and her cutting isn't too bad either lol

This time all I had in mind was that I wanted to go a little more red. I have to admit, I'm not very good when it comes to fully formed hair idea's so Steph normally has her work cut out.

This is the before picture

and (a drum roll please) Voilà

As you can see the red idea was kept and Steph added the darker and lighter flashes and the blunt fringe. The result? I absolutely love it! I think the colour makes my skin look amazing and the blunt cut brings it bang it up to date.

Now to round this up, what blog post wouldn't be complete without a little product loving so below you will find a list of products that I currently use to keep my hair looking it's best.

 

 

 

 

 

Wella Brilliance Shampoo

Bastiste – Nude Dry Shampoo

Charles Worthington – Rough and Tough Salt Spray

Tigi – Bedhead Small Talk

Tigi – Hard to get Wax.

Fudge – Paintbox in Red  Corvette

Thanks for reading and if you have any hair product recommendations for me let me know.

Stacey xx

Nails Inc Magnetic Nail Polish

HI Guys,

I am very excited with what I am about to show you today. Lets begin by setting the scene: yesterday I was working hard as usual when I got a nice surprise, an email from the lovely people at Nails Inc. Now it is no secret that I LOVE Nails Inc and at the moment you may or may not know that they have a Special Effects range out at the moment (I wore the Glastonbury glitter polish on my wedding day, it looked Awesome). Anywho the email enlightened me to the fact that they had just launched their Magnetic nail polishes. So I hot footed it down to my local Debenhams to snap one up to review for your fine selves, and maybe because I really wanted it.

And here it is in all its glory.  
I chose Trafalgar Square magnetic polish and this was £13.

Even though I love Nails Inc I was a little sceptical about whether the idea surrounding these polishes was a tad too big to pull off. I mean a magnetic polish that moves around the nail to make a pattern. Pah! How can this work when we are not yet riding around in space cars like George Jetson?

So using all my super human ingenuity and reading the instructions (peal back sticker on the lid) I got down to it……………..trying the product that is. 

1^st Step: I painted my nails with a base coat. I used Soho Silk.

2^nd Step: I then painted my nails with the first coat of Magnetic polish and waited about 5-10mins for drying time, as it was the first time of using this product and I didn’t want to be painting and repainting in to the wee hours.

3^rd Step: I then applied a moderately generous amount of the Magnetic polish to one nail at a time and then held the magnet over the top of my nail so that the ridge was touching my skin near my cuticle. I held the magnet over for about 20secs and within that time THE MAGIC HAPPENED.

And then ……………………..Ta Da!

A silent W.O.W appeared on my lips when the effect was revealed. Now I have tried a lot of nail products in my time (and unfortunately my time is getting on now) and there has been more than a few that have claimed the world and delivered nothing. But I must admit this product has claimed and delivered. This product is fantastic; I can’t rave about this enough. It was easy to use, the effect was pretty much instant (a must for a therapist, limited manicure time and all that) and so funky. I really am amazed and I will be promoting this product to every one that will listen. And to Nails Inc you have brought it out of the bag yet again. I salute you!! (oh and bring out some more colours please :0)

 

A little word to the wise, I’m going to try a few things with my polish to see if it gives any different results.

v     Try holding the magnet over the nail for different amounts of time to see if this gives different effects

v     This time I moved the magnet in a seesaw movements from side to side to get the pattern over as much of my nail as possible. Next time I am just going to hold it in one place on the nail to see how it looks with a selected part patterned.

v     I am also going to turn the magnet on its side to see that that gives a different pattern as well.

v     Oh and keep an eye on how close the magnet is to your nail, I had a few smudging incidents when I misjudged this.

Above all have fun with this product and let me know how you get on.

Foot note: I can only apologise for the pictures in this post, they arent quite as bright as i would have liked. Unfortunately the light in my new house is not great and the sun had gone down by the time I got home from my hard days work. I will work on the lighting for the next post though.

Stacey x x

Body Shop shower gels

Good morning ladies and gents. First of all let me apologise as I have not up loaded any post for what seems like for ever. I do have an excuse for this though. I am now a MRS! Yes you guessed it. I have been busy getting married, oh and moving house. I am in fact crazy to have attempted both these things at the same time, but we survived and now I can return my attention to you guys.

So to ease us back in slowly this post will be short, sweet and relaxing (in a bath/ shower kind of way)

Before the wedding I took a trip to one of my usual haunts, The Body Shop. Now as I love anything that smells nice, especially in the bath, and as my self and The Body Shop are already well acquainted the first shower gel I chose was an old favourite. Spiced Vanilla.

For me this show gel has such a comforting fragrance. With its warming and spicy tones it makes it the perfect choice on a cold winter’s night, or in fact any night in the UK. I really like how the vanilla is quite subtle compared to some bath products I have tried. This means that it is not a sickly, over powering smell.

My next purchase was a shower gel that I had not had the pleasure of trying before. Jolly Orange was chosen for my love of orange scents. When I’m feeling down and I need something to bring the sparkle back I use an orange scented product in my bath.

As this was in the sale as well as the Spiced Vanilla I thought I would give it a try.

Although the scent of Jolly Orange is not a bad one it could have been a little better for me. Baring in mind that I am the self confessed guru of orange smells; to me it smelt a little man made and frankly not orange enough. Now remember this is just personal opinion and it will in no way stop me from using this all up.

As well as the 2 above I also bought 2 shower gels from the Earth Lovers Range.

The Earth Lovers range carries The Body Shop eco-conscious symbol which promises that products using this symbol are non toxic to the aquatic environment, use minimum and recycled packaging and meet strict biodegradable standards.

They are also parabens, sulphates, colourant and soap-free.

And may just I say, Oh how I love these!!!

I love the face that both these scents are fruits combined with herbs. To me this makes them smell Devine. The scent is natural, not man made and not perfumy at all.

The Apricot and Basil shower gel smells predominantly of apricot, which is amazing for me as it transforms any wet and wild day instantly in to summer. Where as the basil just tones down the fruitiness to stop it from becoming too over powering. Fruity fans will love this one.

The Fig and Rosemary on the other hand is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. The first thing you notice about this scent is the rosemary, which I am aware is an acquired taste. For those of you who may not have experienced this scent before it is distinctly herby. For me this is what I love about it. To be honest I’m not completely sure what fig smells like bit it can definitely not be a bad smell that’s for sure.

So apart from the smells these shower gels perform exceptionally well. They lather up a treat, feel smooth and silky on the skin and when I pour them under running water they make bubbles to rival a bubble bath.

All in all I was very happy with these purchases and I will definitely be repurchasing from The Earth Lovers range in the future.

Stacey xx

A Professional Massage

I wanted to write this post for those of you that have never had a professional massage. I understand that your first ever massage can be a daunting experience and many people can have preconceptions about things like - towel etiquette, clothing removal etc.  So for those first timers, I want to dispel some of those worries and let you know what it’s really like to have a massage.

Lets start with the first, mainly male thought:- “Will a massage turn me on?”
Now I know that this is a common thought amongst men because when I first met my fiancé he told me that he didn’t like the thought of me massaging other men. I realised then that he had assumed that a professional massage = porn massage. Needless to say that idea evaporated once he received a deep tissue massage ;0)

So all I have to say to those worried (or not) about this is that generally, the therapist is not going to whip her top off and massage you with her boobs. Unless of course you are in one of THOSE establishments, upon which I could not possibly comment. However, a normal massage can still have this effect on some people and all I can say about that is that your therapist has seen it all before!.

Moving on to towel etiquette and the removal of clothing. Generally, when you enter a treatment room your therapist will advise you of what to do. This will differ with country, treatments and personal preferences. With me, my greeting is always the same. I will ask you if you have had this type of treatment before, advise what it will entail, exactly how I need you positioned, where the towels need to be and the amount of clothes I need on or off. The best advice I can give is to just listen to your therapist and if you have any questions just ask them.

Ahh falling asleep. Massage (depending on which type) is a deeply relaxing experience and falling asleep is the most natural thing in the world. If you fall asleep during a treatment - well TBH, so what!!!! All that will happen is your therapist will wake you up either at the end or to turn you over. Also drooling, muttering, snoring etc does not matter to us. All it means is that your body needed sleep and that we as therapists have done a good job.

To finish this post I thought I would regale you with a few personal experiences.
So, I have had a young man get completely naked and place a hand towel over his bum for a back, neck and shoulder massage. I’ve had a lady disrobe to complete nakedness before I left the room. I have had sleepers, snorers, moaners and groaners and the odd pitching of tents, all of which does not bother me AT ALL!

For all you prospective clients the moral of this story is enjoy, relax and if you have any questions just ask.

As for therapists……..we have seen it all before.


Stacey xx

My first blog post about my first MAC Pro purchase

I thought it only fitting for my first ever post to be about something completely new. Now don’t get me wrong this is not the first time I have frequented the MAC counter, nor is this my first product from the fabled make-up powerhouse. But this is the first time I have ever bought anything Pro or used my discount to buy it.

This purchase all started on what was a normal day in central Manchester. Those of you that have visited Manchester would definitely have known just how normal this day was..……….It was raining, the sky was a beautiful shade of grey and the joyous squawking of pigeons fighting over a discarded pasty was in the air. 

On this very normal day I decided that I'd waited an inordinate length of  time for my MAC Pro card to arrive. It had in fact only been 3 weeks since I'd posted my application but I was EXCITED!! So much so that I thought I might burst!

So I called the MAC hotline and spoke to a lovely lady (big mistake) and not only did she get my card sorted, she also advised that I could purchase discounted products straight away if I wanted to. Surprisingly enough I did want to.

*Alas she knows me so well*

So here they are

My purchase included Face and Body Pro white foundation and F&B in C1 (which I’m under the impression is the lightest pink toned foundation that they do).

The cost of these products to buy without a Pro card is £23.50 each and unfortunately you can't buy the white foundation if you don't have a Pro card. However you can order the other F&B foundations via mail order.

So I thought it would be nice to include some full face pictures showing you the colour instead of swatches. Below you will see the foundation on the left hand side of each face (your left not mine) and my natural skin tone on the right hand side. 

This one is the  Pro White. As you can see this is a little too pale for my natural English rose complexion. I like to say English rose as it sounds much nicer than Casper the Ghost lol.

And this is the C1 which is just a smidge too dark for my skin tone.

However fear not as I was prepared for this eventuality. After a small Chemistry lesson and 50/50 ratio later the catastrophy was averted. 

I must say on a more serious note this foundation is lovely. I found it to be easily blendable, lightweight and it left my skin with a lovely dewy finish. For those of you nice people who need a medium to full coverage foundation, I would not necessarily say this foundation is for you, althought it is buildable.  As you can see from the pictures this foundation covered the redness on my cheeks and under my eyes, however I didn't have any blemishes or spots when these were taken so I'm not sure how well it would have covered those. 

All in all I am a very happy customer. Fantastic customer service on the MAC helpline, I am loving the white so I can mix my own colour and the foundation itself gets a thumbs up from me (it means you like it when you are wearing if for your wedding!)

So for those of you that want to see the bespoke mixed colour in all its glory stay tuned for a post wedding blog post documenting make-up on "the big day". 

See you soon.

Stacey x x