A Return To The Darkside

I've been debating it for a little while now but today I eventually took the plunge and get rid of the blonde in my hair

I know it's not the most interesting of colours but my hair looks much healthier and glossier now so I am a happy bunny -  you can still see a slight natural tone change where the blonde streaks were but I think this stops it from looking too flat. I always love to have darker hair with a tan, but I always worry that it washes me out in the winter so Vikki my hairdresser says we can put some caramel highlights in when my tan fades

Excuse the hideous facial expressions I don't know what it is lately but put me in front of a camera and I start to gurn lol - these were indeed the best of a bad bunch - concentrate on the hair though, a nice chocolate colour don't you think?

Nails Of The Day - Smashed Or Mashed

Hey my loves I thought I'd try and squish in an another nails of the day post for you this week. I'm going to apologise for the length of my nails, so much for having nice nails for my holidays :( every other day lately I've had some form of nail breakage boooo. So that was the smashed in the post title what about the mashed? well it's another apology I'm afraid this gorgeous polish was a limited edition, may I present the beauty that is NARS - Mash!

What an amazing colour this is - a super combination of olive green, gold and black love it, love it - this is two coats x

I really love colours like this on my nails, trouble is they aren't that easy to find, I think I only have one other golden olive shade this time by George at Asda but alas that's been discontinued too :( What do you think of Mash and can you recommend any similar colours?
(ETA Thanks to Bettina at Beauty Swot I may have found a dupe already Butter London - Wallis - definitely one to check out - any more? )

Happy Monday - LouLouLand 500 Followers Giveaway - CLOSED

Hi Guys
Today is a good day - over the weekend I hit 500 followers on LouLouLand - I actually made at to 501 at 1 point but it's back to 500 again this morning lol - gotta love blogger haven't you! I'd like to say a huge thank you to all of you from the very first followers, to the most recent additions. I appreciate every single one of you and the fact that you all take time out of your busy days to read my ramblings. So to say thank you to you fabulous people I thought I'd do a little giveaway. I've actually been picking up things for the last few months now so I already have a nice little pile of goodies - I'm still adding to it but it will be a combination of high and low end goodies, including Nails Inc, MUA, All For Eve, Mavala, Accessorize, The Body Shop, L'Oreal HIP and much much more. I will post a picture of all the goodies just before the giveaway ends so you can see the prizes. One lucky winner will get a huge box of goodies to enjoy - so what do you need to do?

ETA - Here is a picture of just some of the things you can win much more to be added

Rules

Leave A Comment Saying What You Would Like To See More Of On LouLouLand On This Post

Only 1 Entry Per Person

You Must Be A Follower - I Will Check !

Open Worldwide!

My Giveaway Will End At 6pm UK time on 9th October 16th October

So there you go you have just under 3 weeks to enter, good luck everyone xx

This week on LouLouLand is going to be a busy one I have lots and lots of posts planned, including 2 reviews, a few nails of the days, and a new post in my Budget Beauty Series featuring my first post on Vivo cosmetics. I hope you all stick around thanks again for following and I hope you have a great week x               

Pump Up The Volume With Batiste

First of all a huge apology - I've had this product for a little while now and I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get the review up - I'm trying to do a few catch ups before I go on holiday :)
As you guys already know I am a huge fan of Batiste dry shampoo (click here, here, here and here to see some reviews), so when I heard that they were releasing a new variant I was of course keen to try it. I was very kindly sent a 200ml can of their latest product Batiste Dry Shampoo XXL Volume.

As the name would suggest this is a volumising product. It still does the same job as the other dry shampoos in the range - refreshing the hair, and getting rid of oily roots but at the same time, it can help make the hair look thicker and more volumised, without hours of backcombing and without washing your hair. The process is simple all you do is spray the product into your roots, rub it through and then comb or style your hair as normal.

The product looks pretty similar to the other dry shampoos in the Batiste range, with a similar floral smell it's basically a white powder, the particles in XXL Volume though do seem to be a tiny bit bigger than in the other products in the range, so you will experience a bit of fall out. I actually made the mistake of applying it whilst I was wearing a dark top, not a good move, it was covered in white sprinkles. Obviously if you have really dark hair you will need to be careful with this to avoid an ashy finish.

 If I leave my hair to dry naturally I have very big, very wavy hair but as you know I like my hair straight, I don't have curly hair but I do have very wavy hair which I like to keep looking as sleek and as shiny as possible- Here is a before picture for you please excuse the lack of make up here

Yup that's pretty flat and lacking in volume isn't it, so I sprayed a bit of XXL Volume into my roots particularly around my crown, I then massaged it in and scrunched it a bit and volia!

Excuse the gurning expression I really don't know what's going on there - shocking and a little cringe worthy! but you can see that my hair certainly has a lot more volume and uplift. What surprised me is that unlike a lot of mousses and backcombing products my hair didn't feel sticky, if anything it actually felt a little bit dry, which worried me when I came to wash it out. I needn't have worried though it washed out really easily without leaving any product build up.

If you want a little bit or even a lot of extra volume in your hair this product certainly does the trick. My only real drawback has to be with the white colour and the fall out I don't think this product would work particularly well on darker hair, I think the white residue would just be too noticeable. It was ok on my hair which has a lot of blonde in it but since I'm going back over to the darkside on Tuesday I don't think this product is for me in the long term. Batiste Dry Shampoo XXL Volume retails at around £3.99 for 200ml. If you have any questions please leave me a comment xx

(Batiste Dry Shampoo XXL Volume 200ml Was Provided By PR For Review Purposes)

A Trip To The Metro Centre

Hey Guys
Well we made it after a few weeks of aborted attempts we eventually made it to the Metro Centre yesterday. I have to be honest and say I'm pretty broke ahead of my holidays so my mum bought me a few things, meaning I only made the tiniest little dip into my monthly spends, first up the things that St Mummy of LouLouLand bought me :) She gave my £20 for spends so I did what any bargainista does and I went into Primark. I've read so many posts lately on the delights of Primark at the moment but I have to say I was a bit disappointed nothing really jumped at me and the things that did seemed to stop point blank at a size 12 :( Never mind I did pick up one thing that I have seen in pretty much every Primark haul lately some lovely and cozy fleecy PJ pants

For just £5 these will be sooo warm for the winter, Mummy Lou is even considering getting some for herself! That was the only clothing item I got the rest was all accessories - first up one of these ski headbands - I got one last year and it kept my ears toasty and warm - it was £1.50

Next up hair bobbles -  as you know Primark hair bobbles are a real staple of mine (click here to read a review) and I was delighted to see that they had introduced a whole load of new colours, so yes your eyes aren't deceiving you I picked up 5 packets!

That's 150 bobbles for £5 which I don't think is bad, and yes I will get through them all they are probably Tallulah's favourite play things, and I lose about 3 a week to her very sharp teeth, I'm loving all the new colours I really will be able to coordinate my bobbles with my outfits :)

Next up a cute little charm, it has a turquoise stone, and a little silver tone bird and feather detail, these are only a pound and there were lots of different ones to chose from, as well as a faux silver sweetie style bracelet to put them on. I have a little faux Pandora style bracelet that I was going to put it on but once I've got it home it's a different shade of turquoise entirely - never mind I'm sure I'll find a use for it it.

Finally I picked this cute little highlighter up from the make up range High Beauty Baked Highlighter

All the make up items seem to have been reduced to just £1.00 which I guess indicates the end of the range which is a bit of shame to be honest I have discovered some real gems in it. If your interested in what to grab before everything disappears don't forget to keep checking back, one of my planned schedules posts whilst I'm on holiday is a Budget Beauty Series post  focusing on the best of Primark Beauty.

So that was my Primark haul - just £13.50 spent so can you guess what I did you I crossed the mall and went to Superdrug to finishing spending my £20. First up I headed to the Sleek stand which I have to say was an absolute disgrace the stand was coming apart nothing where it was supposed to be, it was horrid. I actually complained to a member of staff who told me that the stand was actually damaged the slots were coming apart so things couldn't stand up and Sleek wouldn't replace it!! She was actually pretty mad at the state of it and the products on it and so she should be, the stand design etc maybe Sleeks responsibility but the state of the products and the damaged testers etc is surely Superdrugs? I tried to get a photograph but I was being glared it constantly after I dared mention it! Hmm anyways I wanted to check out the nude collection, the eyeshadow palette never really appealed as I'm not a huge matte shadow lover, but it was in such a smashed state it would have been hard to swatch it anyways - The blusher on the other hand had sparked my interest!

At first glance it had appeared to be too dark for me but the more I saw it the more I thought I might be able to get away with it - today was the first opportunity I'd had to swatch it and I have to say I really like

Suede 921 is a gorgeous peachy nude, is it anything different to what I already own probably not but hey ho but for £4.29 of not my money it was well worth it, especially since the pigmentation is amazing

The last proportion of Momma Lou's money went on a bottle of Drench Orange and Passion Fruit Juice - OMG how amazing is that stuff , and a little item from MUA. Like my local Superdrug the Metro Centres stand was predictably half empty but I did spy one of the new eyeshadows, this is Shade - 30 Pearl

What an amazingly pigmented metallic copper shade, this brand just impresses me more and more with every product I try!!

I did pick up one thing with my own money in Superdrug - one of the NYC Smooch Proof Lip Stain 16H in 490 Persistent Pink

I've only managed a quick swatch so far but it seems a bit more wearable than the Revlon one I picked up.

I'll do a full review of this product when I get to my Budget Beauty Series post on NYC but first impressions are good x

I did buy one tiny little other thing the time in WHSmith - a copy of Papercraft Inspirations magazine. I used to subscribe to this magazine a little while ago but like the rest of my mags I cancelled it. This months copy though has a free Forever Friends Christmas card making kit with stamps, toppers, and cards. I have a few Forever Friends Christmas kits already  and I thought this would be a great addition to the things I already have.
After that we headed home via Lidl but not before my mum treat us to a little Starbucks trip -  this is one of the new Creme Brulee Macchiatos

I have to say it was yum, the Caramel one has been one of my favourites for a while now but this was equally good, sweet but with a lovely strong coffee taste. I also had one of their Gluten Free Chocolate Brownies which are gorgeous - Starbucks Gluten Free range isn't the biggest but at least us Coeliacs aren't completely ignored!
So that was yesterday, today I am utterly exhausted, achey and sore -why do a few hours pleasure lead to so much pain grr. Anyways if you have any questions on what I've bought please let me know xx

My Nail Polish Collection - Color Club

Hey my loves and welcome to the first proper post in My Nail Polish Collection series. In this super long series I am going to be showing you all the nail polishes in my collection through pics and paper swatches as well as including link where appropriate to nails of the day posts. As I said in a previous post this has been requested in video format but this is probably the easiest way to do it x
I've decided to start off with quite a new brand for me Color Club, I have to say I hadn't heard of the brand until late last year when it started popping up on You Tube channels and on blogs. I think it's a US brand and I've bought the 3 bottles I have from ebay for a pretty reasonable price. However I know a few people including the lovely Lillian have managed to pick up some Color Club polishes from TK Maxx so it's worth having a look there too x
The 3 colours I have are all pretty much in the same theme, sparkles, glitters and holographic, and I have to say I am super impressed with the colours, application and wearability of the polishes I have, so without further rambling here they are, Oh and don't forget if you click the names of the polishes it will link you to them on my little fingers in a nails of the day post

From left to right - 850 Worth The Risque, 852 Revvvolution, and 859 Fashion Addict

It's so hard to show you on here just how fabulous these colours actually are, the sparkle is amazing, Worth The Risque is an amazing silver holographic a worthy and easier to apply dupe of Gosh Holographic,  859 Fashion Addict is a beautiful lilac shade with lots of holographic sparkle, and as you can see 852 Revvvolution  is a gorgeous dark charcoal shade, again with lots of holographic sparkles

If you love sparkle these polishes are definitely worth a look, I really want to try out some more Color Club polishes so if you have any recommendations please let me know x

Smoother Skin With Raw Gaia

If you've followed my blog for sometime you'll know how much I love scrubs, facial scrubs, body scrubs, lip scrubs I have a passion for them all. Facial scrubs in particular are an essential for me, especially at this time of year when I'm fake tanning and preparing for a bit of real sun so when I was offered the chance to try a new type of facial scrub of course I accepted.

Raw Gaia have produced the worlds first range of living organic skin and body care products. All their products are made by hand using only cold pressed, organic, vegan, cruelty and chemical free ingredients. I have to see after looking into the company in more detail they are definitely one of the most ethical beauty companies I have came across whilst beauty blogging. The company very kindly sent me a full sized pot of their best selling Bamboo and Pumice Exfoliator to try out for you.

Containing just two ingredients, finely ground Bamboo and Pumice, Raw Gaia claim that regular exfoliation with this scrub will help improve circulation, and aid cell regrowth, whilst at the same time deep cleansing your face and removing the dead skin cells.

Packaged in a clear plastic tub, the Raw Gaia Bamboo and Pumice Exfoliator has the texture of a very fine dry sand

To use the scrub Raw Gaia advise that you dampen your face with warm water then dip your damp fingers into the pot and apply it to your face avoiding the eye area. I have to be honest this method didn't really work for me, so I tended to dampen my face and then mix a bit of the scrub with a bit of water to form a sort of sandy paste.

I found that this was a slightly less messy method, I then massaged the paste over my skin in circular motion for around a minute - Raw Gaia advise you do it for 2 minutes but again this is what worked for me. I then used a muslin cloth soaked in warm water to make sure that all of the scrub was removed from my skin. This did take a little bit of time because the grains are so small.
This scrub certainly isn't one for the faint hearted, it's a very grainy scrub and gives a really thorough exfoliation. Raw Gaia advise you take it slowly when you first start using it to find out how much pressure you need and how often to use the product. Personally I only use this once a week, it's a tiny bit too abrasive for me to use more than that. The results though speak for themselves, although a tiny bit pink afterwards my skin looks and feels super smooth and bright after I've used this product. If you like a hardworking facial scrub, or if you love natural products this may be the one for you. Raw Gaia Bamboo & Pumice Exfoliator retails at £20.99 for 50g from Raw Gaia. If your interest in natural ethical beauty I would definitely recommend you have a look at the Raw Gaia website, some of the products sound absolutely amazing especially if you like chocolate I particularly like the sound of the Raw Chocolate Orange Bath Melt and the Raw Chocolate Face Pack, but then again I also love the sound of the Floral Face Toner and Living Facial Cleanser - damn you spending diet lol Any questions please let me know xx

(The Raw Gaia Bamboo and Pumice Exfoliator Was Provided By Raw Gaia For Review Purposes)

A Little Update - A New Page and Ebay

Afternoon everyone I just thought I'd let you know that I have added a new little page to my blog at the moment it's entitled Serial Index which is a bit uninspiring never mind give it a click and see what it all about x Any suggestions for a new title will also be gratefully received and encouraged xx
Just a quick reminder too to let you know I have quite a few ebays ending over the next two days including lots of Hello Kitty goodies, dvds, cds, and clothes and accessories listed as a bargain price to sell x I would really appreciate it if you just had a tiny little look - click here xx I am a trusted ebayer with 100% positive feedback with a current score of 914!! so yes I am addicted to ebay - what you see is what you get xx
Thanks for reading and I'll see you tomorrow with a review xxxx

NOTD - What's In A Name

OK guys I'm going to be honest with you, I originally bought this nail polish for the name - it set me and my mum off in a fit of hysterics. Yes there are products with more obvious rude names such as Deep Throat, Orgasm, and a nail polish I have named Shag but this one makes me snigger -Essie - Mink Muffs

Yes anyway childish behaviour aside what can I say about Mink Muffs - a lovely minky, brown chocolate shade -this is two coats but if you apply it carefully you could get away with one

It's a great shade for autumn / winter - It's hard for me at the moment; like most of us in the UK I'm starting feel as though Autumn is on the way what with the nights closing in and the weather getting a bit cooler, but at the same time I have my hols in the sun still to come I'm torn! Never mind I think I'm going to have to split my brain in two - hot - cold lol. If your interested in my preparations for both my hols and the colder weather keeping checking back to see some fashion and beauty posts xx Oh and what do you think of Mink Muffs? ;)

Katia, Katia, Katia - What A Way To Start The Week

Happy Monday Everyone

I had a bit of a crappy weekend again tummy troubles and muscle pains all weekend have curtailed a lot of things including good sleep. So I tried to have a long lie in this morning and what happened, yeah gale force winds slamming the doors and the windows, and wheelie bins and recycling boxes rolling down the road, welcome to the tail end of Hurricane Katia. If your in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England stay safe this afternoon it's only going to get worse before it gets better x I'm certainly not leaving the house this afternoon I hate wind !!!

The fur babies have had an interesting weekend too running around like loons all weekend to curling in the little balls today they certainly have the right idea

Anyway I'm sure your not reading my blog today for a weather report, instead you want to know what you have to look forward to this week, well think fingers, I have a nails of the day post coming and the start of my Nail Polish Collection series. I also have a couple of reviews coming this week including some haircare and skincare products, and maybe but maybe a gift haul but we'll see. I like to say a huge hi to all my new followers - thank you, and don't forget I will be launching a giveaway when I reach 500 followers. I hope you all have a good week and that the wind isn't too destructive xx