Snow flurries!

I have just spent the most lovely week in Austria with the bf. We had such a fun time skiing, relaxing and filling up on Gluhwein, strudel and lots of hot chocolate ;).

And it looks like I have brought the snow back with me to England... perhaps I was a bit too speedy in putting my thermals away! xxx

Ted Baker – Come Rain or Shine

Keeping your fingers crossed for warmer weather? With the shops now stocking Spring/Summer collections it is becoming increasingly tempting to shun the cardis and fill your wardrobe with pastel separates.

In preparation for another drizzle filled English Spring every girl needs a practical trench coat that effortlessly translates into work and play. I absolutely love this classic Ted Baker mac (£229 here) with a full skirted, girly twist!

I prefer the tan for my colouring, but the Nexaa coat also comes in a gorgeous olive green.

For a limited time Ted Baker are also offering a beautiful tulip printed umbrella as a gift when you purchase the mac!

The beauty is in the detail.. the umbrella even matches the lining of the coat. Super cute!

Are you looking forward to Spring? Have you started thinking about your Spring wardrobe? What are the key pieces you will be purchasing for next season? xxx

Big Bouncy Curls with Enrapture Totem Styler

The Totem Styler from Enrapture is a unique, versatile tool that lets you create a myriad of styles with it's three separate heat settings in one barrel.

The Totem Styler is beautifully packaged and has a weighty, sleek design. It is the first ever styler to feature three independent heat zones that can be set to different temperatures using the encoder dials. Its titanium plate technology helps it to heat up quickly and evenly to create smooth curls in seconds! The mini flipper also allows the styler to be used as a traditional curling iron by clipping the hair securely in place, but it is also flat enough for the styler to be used as a wand!

I have been playing around with this tool for a couple of weeks to see what kind of curls I could create. So far I think my favourite is achieved on the 1-2-3 setting, which gives looser waves nearer the root and tighter curls towards the ends.

To see how I created this style please watch the video below:


For more information on the Enrapture set of tools please visit their website here. The Totem Styler can be purchased here and retails at £74.99.

Have you tried any of Enrapture's innovative tools? What do you think of the Totem Styler? What kind of hair style are you desperate to recreate? xxx

Cosmetofruit Total Body Booster

Whilst browsing the SpaceNK website today I came across this little beauty - the Cosmetofruit Total Body Booster, which is now available half price in the sale (£25 here)!

This amazing elixir was actually sent to me a little while ago and I have been meaning to tell you all about it for quite some time!

The Total Bosy Booster is a delicious (it really is!) nutritional concentrate that helps to detoxify and revitalise your body. With its free radical fighters it also helps to prevent ageing and boost skin health, as well as reduce the appearance of cellulite and recover skin tone and firmness.

The elixir contains a host of active ingredients including spiruline seaweed, which helps to provide elasticity and tone to the skin and has antioxidant and antiradical properties that are effective against oxidative stress and green coffee extract, which helps reduce water retention and lipid accumulation to reduce the appearance of cellulite.

The elixir comes with a nifty little spoon that makes it easy to measure out your daily dose (4ml). I found that the 100ml bottle lasted about a month and it actually became a supplement I enjoyed taking every day. You can take it alone as a 'shot' or even dissolve it in water, but the pomegranate/ berry flavour is quite tasty so I was happy to take it alone. Although I didn't see the most dramatic effects straight away I did see an improvement in the general appearance of my skin after just one month. I am definitely going to be picking up another in the sale... though I am also really tempted to try their Luxurious Hair and Nails elixir (£25 here)!

Have you tried the Cosmetofruit Total Body Booster or any of their other elixirs? Are you tempted to pick this up in the sale? What are your thoughts/ experiences with health supplements? xxx

Eyeko Mascara Wardrobe

Many of you might have noticed that Eyeko has had a little makeover. After first launching in 1999 the founders decided to update the brand and focus the product range. Eyeko is now all about the eyes!

The main product Eyeko has been concentrating on is mascara. I was already a big fan of the original Big Eyes Mascara so I was very much excited by their new offering - a trio of mascaras (£15 each) designed to give you a mascara wardrobe for your eyes!

“With three different bristle brushes - Skinny, Fat and Curvy  –developed to give a better grip for longer, bigger and curlier lashes with treatment formulas that solve a multitude of lash problems from premature breakage to lack of hold."

Each mascara also includes an innovative Eyeko shield (just seen above). Essentially this is a plectrum, which can be used to protect your lids from mascara smudges during application.

Curvy Brush Mascara

This mascara features a superior curling formula with Shea Butter and Keratin for conditioned lashes that hold a 90degree curl for over 12 hours without making eyelashes feel brittle. The multi-action brush with tiered bristle clusters is designed to plump, define and curl lashes.

This mascara was easy to apply and gave a clean, natural look to my lashes. The wand grips lashes well and is easy to manoeuvre in order to coat all lashes evenly. This is a great mascara to use if you have naturally long lashes and need a bit of lift. Personally, I prefer a fuller, longer lash look and would reserve this one for more natural makeup days.

Skinny Brush Mascara

Eyeko's skinny brush mascara is designed to elongate the lashes. The bristles are sparse and evenly dispersed to coat each lash with the pigmented black formula, which combines natural oils and waxes with pro-vitamin B to condition and promote lash growth. The formula is indeed a rich black and lasts well throughout the day without flaking.

It seems that Eyeko have taken their Big Eyes mascara formulation and improved it! I love the lengthening and volumising effect and the deep inky black of this mascara. The brush makes application effortless as it holds enough product to coat the lashes and is small enough to use on the corners and the lower lashes. The Skinny Brush mascara is my favourite of the three!

Fat Brush Mascara

The super sized brush with dense bristles coats and extends lashes for maximum volume. The fibre-enriched formula with extracts of keratin boosts and nourishes lashes.  

The large brush delivers impact by adding volume and depth to the lashes. However, the large brush can be a little difficult to use, especially if your eyes are on the smaller side. 

Which is your favourite mascara in the Eyeko trio? What do you look for in your perfect mascara? Which is your current 'go to' mascara? xxx

Work It Out: Seamed

It's been a while since I have done a Work it Out post! With the dark mornings my snooze button has been getting quite the workout, but many of you have commented that you have missed them so I have tried to make a little more effort!

 

Magenta midi pencil dress with seamed detail - ASOS (now on sale for £27), Patent belt - Ted Baker, Blazer - Zara.

This dress is very form fitting, yet comfortable. I love the bright colour and seamed detailing around the bust, which echos the underwear as outerwear trend, but in a subtle, conservative way. I decided to team it with a structured, black tuxedo style blazer to toughen it up with a little masculine tailoring.

Are you wearing midi dresses this season? Are you a fan of 'work it out' posts? What kind of fashion posts are you most interested in seeing? xxx

Royal Manicure

Unfortunately my nail painting skills are nothing to write home about, but I do like to have a play around!

In the colder months I tend to stick to a darker palette of nail polish, but it's always fun to change it up a little bit every now and again. I am a big fan of the new french tip - namely glitter, but unfortunately glitter is not work friendly so has to be reserved for the weekends. So instead of creating a gold tip I decided to make a bolder statement.

OPI Plugged in Plum and Nail Star nail art polish in gold.

I like the idea of the design, but my shaky hands have somewhat failed in the execution. Practice makes perfect...

What nail polish colours are you wearing at the moment? What are your favourite nail designs? xxx

The House of Rush

New Year, new you? I would never be so dramatic, but it's nice to update your look a little every now and then. So I was excited when I was given the opportunity to review the newly opened House of Rush in the heart of bustling Picadilly. With it's ultra glamorous decor, and a team of top stylists it makes a great flagship for the RUSH chain of salons.

With a list of treatments that ranges from the usual cut and colour through to eyelash extensions, facials, massages, waxing, tan and even permanent hair reductions I was spoilled for choice. However, when I think of Rush I think of hair, so I decided on a half head of highlights to give my hair a new lease of life.

 The before:

My lovely stylist Amanda met me on arrival and gave me a full consultation about the look that I wanted to achieve. After dying my hair a deeper red/ brown earlier in the week I felt that my hair colour was looking a bit flat, and wanted to add some vibrancy and shine. What I was hoping for was to have a variety of tones throughout my hair and achieve a look that would make someone say "oh, your hair looks nice" rather than "oh, you've had highlights".

I have to admit that I was a little worried about getting highlights as often red can turn into streaky orange/ brassy sections if bleached or stripped. So instead I was delighted that Amanda chose to add slightly lighter, more vibrant red highlights throughout my hair, which would catch the light and add dimension and shine, rather than bleaching or lifting my existing colour. The highlights themselves were placed just under the line of my natural parting, so that they looked more natural.

As many of us find the hairdressers can sometimes be a bit of a stressful experience I have to point out that I felt very relaxed during my colour. Amanda was absolutely lovely, extremely friendly, bubbly and thoughtful. It was an absolute pleasure to meet someone who was genuinely excited and enjoyed their job! The mood at the salon was also very calm and it was refreshing to see that due to the longer time slots allocated for each appointment care and time was taken over my hair, unlike at other salons where I have previously felt rushed out of the door, or handed over to a junior because my stylist had run out of time.

So here is my after shot, though unfortunately this was taken after I had come back from dinner (in the drizzle) so my hair had lost some of its volume and bounce.

As you can see the change is very subtle, but the freehand placement of the highlights adds some lovely tonal variation to my hair, without making it look 'stripy' or unnatural. I absolutely loved the final results and will definitely be going back to the House of Rush and particularly Amanda, who was absolutely wonderful!

Have you been to the House of Rush? I'm so excited to have found a salon that is a one stop shop for all my beauty needs and can't wait to try some of the other treatments they have available! xxx

Joliebox

Starting from December the wonderful Boudoir Privé has joined hands with JolieBox! JolieBox is the leading beauty box subscription service in France, having worked with a range of luxurious, high-end brands such as Benefit, By Terry, Caudalie, Kiehls, Essie and Lancôme.

Both services embrace Parisian sophistication; mixing an eye for high quality samples while seeking out niche products. By joining with JolieBox Boudoir Privé aims to continue to provide new and exciting brands to sample, alongside a wider range of established brands at the height of luxury.

Each box still has the same chic French flavour, contains 5 deluxe samples and the price and payments have remained the same. So without further ado let's take a look at December's box!

 

The December Joliebox contained 5 samples, as well as 2 bonus items!

1. OPI Gold Shatter Nail Lacquer (full size)
2. Mitchell and Peach shower wash (mini) 
3. New CID Cosmetics i-gloss (full size)
4. Jane Iredale 24-Karat Gold Dust (full size)
5. YON-KA Vital Defense Anti-aging prevention cream (mini)

Bonus

• Kusmi Detox Tea (20g)
• Joliebox concealer brush

This is definitely one of my favourite beauty boxes of 2011. It contains a great range of products from a variety of brands. My favourite product in the box was the i-gloss in Baby Doll (£19 here)- a gorgeous creamy shade in fun and practical packaging. 

 With it's light up wand and mirror it makes it perfect for application on the go!

The gloss is a gorgeous peachy pink shade with subtle blue and gold reflects. It is pigmented, without looking too opaque on the lips and gives a beautiful glossy finish to the lips, without being sticky.

You can subscribe to JolieBox for £10 per month plus p&p to receive 5/6 deluxe sized samples.

Have you tried the new JolieBox? What did you think of December's box? Do you subscribe to any beauty boxes? What are your favourites? xxx

Monday Mornings...

Just the usual Monday Morning...

 updating a few spreadsheets...

Have a good week my lovelies! xxx

New Year's Eve Outfit

A few of you have requested that I post some pictures of my Christmas and New Year's celebrations, especially as I took a little break from the internet over the festive season. Since my Christmas was pretty low key there are no pictures to speak of, but I did manage to convince the bf to take a few snaps before heading out to celebrate the beginning of what will hopefully be an amazing year!

On the night itself I chose to wear an old dress from French Connection (circa 2005!) with opaque tights and the most obnoxiously glittery shoes that I had picked up in the Ted Baker sale a few days earlier.

They may not be for everyone, but I absolutely love them... they make me feel quite the modern Dorothy ;). If you are looking for a glitter shoe that is just that little bit more sophisticated (and I use that term very loosely) than the chunkier versions all over the high street then I highly recommend you check these out. They are currently available in red, black and my favourite rose gold colour on sale for £67 on the Ted Baker website here.

Continuing on the rose gold theme I also wore my new Folli Follie rose gold Heart 4 Heart key necklace. Unfortunately this is no longer available for purchase alone, but you can still find it as part of a special edition set here. I wear the plainer key for work by shortening the chain, and keep the crystal one (worn above) for occasions that require a little more sparkle!

I styled my hair with a new curling iron that I have been experimenting with over the last couple of weeks - the Enrapture Totem Styler, which has three separate heat setting for different areas of the barrel. I set mine at 3-2-3 for defined curls and back combed my hair at the root to create lots of volume.

Makeup wise I wore a smokey eye similar to the one I created for my birthday party. The main focus was MAC's reflects antique gold glitter applied over the lid, with a shimmery brown eyeshadow smoked into the crease and below the lower lashline. I then brightened the lower lashline and inner corner using Urban Decay's heavy metal glitter eyeliner in baked. I completed the eye look using the You Complete Me mink lashes from Velour.

On my cheeks I used a mix of NARS Angelika and MAC Well Dressed blush with MAC's Perfect Topping MSF to highlight. On my lips I applied MAC's Hue lipstick, followed by my favourite gloss, the absolutely delicious Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in No.2 Apricot Shimmer (£12.15 here).

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and celebrated the beginning of the New Year in style!! xxx

Proactiv's 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway

On the 12th day of Christmas Proactiv gave to me... a Refining mask and $200 to Action for Children charity!



Thank you to Proactiv for their kind donation!

To win your own refining mask please enter by leaving a comment on my video!

For more information on Proactiv, as well as a full list of products, please visit: http://www.proactiv.co.uk/default.aspx

For more information on my chosen charity Action For Children or to make a donation please visit: http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/