Naughty LouLou - More Haulage and Some Gifts

Well after doing so well on my spending diet for the first two months of this year - this month has been a disaster, that's life though I've needed to by a few things and I've generally felt a bit blargh so shopping has been a bit of a pacifier. Anyhow onto the goodies - first up ASOS - I used my groupon voucher to buy my mum some jewellery bits for Mothers Day but thankfully Diet Coke has an offer on special where you can either win vouchers or get £5 off a £20 spend being a bit of a caffeine junkie I already have a whole load of vouchers - I believe the vouchers are on special packs till the end of April and are valid till the end of June, so it's well worth picking some up x I bought my mum something else and got a couple of bits for me including this beauty - Illamasqua nail polish in Bacterium
                                           

I really can't wait to try this out, the colour is like nothing I've seen before - I promise to do a NOTD with it soon - I also got this ring - alas even in the largest size it's a bit small but I can't wait to wear it as a pinkie ring until I can hopefully lose a bit of weight on my fingers

                                   

   pic borrowed from ASOS

It's a little cream mouse - it's has crystal eyes and the tail moves, so cute it comes in black too but I think that one is still full price x
 

I also popped to Boots this week and stocked up on Botanics eye make up remover - all the Botanics products are currently on 3 for 2 :) and some Veet wax strips which were 1/3 off - no pics I am sure you all know what they look like ;) I actually went to Boots to use my No7 £5 off voucher but they didn't have the product I wanted - thankfully my mum popped to the Metro Centre on Saturday morning and picked me up a bottle of this - the Boots Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth Cleanser
 

I have a review on this coming up but since if I've got another one that probably tells you what I think of it.... ;) My mum was an angel and paid for it for me, she also got me this on Friday from the Factory Bargain Shop - I love this shop it's has all sorts of bits in and from Thursday to Sunday they had  25% off everything in store - so she got me this New York themed t-shirt 

 

They sell a lot of high street end of lines and seconds and this top came from Dorothy Perkins, and originally retailed at £16, Factory Bargains had it on sale for £6 and with the discount me mum got the t-shirt and a bag of M&M mini eggs (not for me;) for just £5.25 :)
 

As well as the t-shirt she also got me some other bits from the Metro Centre on Saturday including a few Body Shop Cocoa Butter things the creamy body wash and some more body butter -( there was an offer where you got a body butter and a shower gel for £12)

and she also got me the Cocoa Butter Moisturizing Stick that I wanted

I had heard a little bit about this and I really wanted to give it a go - It's basically a twist up stick of solid cocoa butter that melts on contact with the skin, I am intending to use it directly onto my ankle scar to help with healing

She also got my some of the new Earth Lovers Shower Gels with were on buy one get one half price - she got me the Lemon and Thyme version, and the Apricot and Basil fragrance, they smell amazing and I can't wait to try them out x

and because she had spent more than £25 after the in store and Love Your Body discounts she also got a freebie a full sized Vitamin E Body Butter - I've used the Vitamin E skincare before so I am interested to see how I get on with this - Vitamin E is supposed to be good for scarring too :)

All in all a lovely little bag from MummyLouLou - I am so grateful to her - she always tried to find ways to cheer me up when I am feeling down and she normally hits the spot perfectly. If you have any questions or if you would like and reviews please let me know xx

All For Eve Hand Cream - A Product Rave and Something To Make You Think

I've decided to make my product raves a weekly feature so every week I am going to 'rave' about an item be it beauty, fashion, or anything else that I really love, this week it's a hand cream.

I am a huge hand cream freak I love the stuff, my hands get really dry, so I always have a tube, or a pot near me. I have to say that I have several favourite hand creams but this is one of the newest additions

It's the All For Eve Hand Cream. It was created by Urban Retreat to support The Eve Appeal, which aims to raise awareness of women's gynacological cancers, for example cervical and ovarian cancer, not only that but all net profits from the All For Eve range go directly to The Eve Appeal to fund specialist research in this field. Just a few stats for you

Every year 1 million women worldwide are diagnosed with a gynacological cancer, that is just 200,000 fewer than women diagnosed with breast cancer

These cancers account for 10% of all cancer deaths, and 65% of women diagnosed will sadly die

Every year in the UK 18,000 women are diagnosed with a gynacological cancer, and around 7,500 die for the disease

Despite these statistics research in this area remains underfunded, hence the formation of The Eve Appeal. My and my mum bought The All For Eve Todays Special Value from QVC just before Christmas, when it was demonstrated by the lovely Caroline Hirons. We were simply appalled by the statistics and shocked by the realisation that no woman is immune from such terrible diseases.

The kit contained the core products from the All For Eve range, which was as brand set up specifically to help The Eve Appeal.  Still available on QVC (click here) The kit contained the Eve Red lipstick created by Daniel Sandler (click here for a fuzzy pic of me wearing it at Christmas), a body butter, a bath and shower gel, a bodyscrub, and a hand cream.

Widely regarded as the most popular product in the All For Eve range - the hand cream comes in a lovely chunky, matte, rubberised plastic tube. It's pretty simple but I have to say I love the feel of it

The cream itself which is paraben free, contains Vitamin E and Organic Cucumber, it has a super fresh but not overpowering smell that reminded me a little of after sun :). It initally appears to have quite a thick texture

but it spreads easily and quickly on to the skin.

The best thing about this hand cream for me though is the absorbency, it completely sinks into the skin, leaving a super smooth matte finish. It's ideal if your working on the pc or reading, as there is absolutely no greasy residue at all, your hands just feel soft and smooth.

This is an amazing day time hand cream and it's definitely one I will repurchase, not only is it quality but you are also supporting an amazing charity. All For Eve Hand Cream retails at £7.50 for 100ml. For more information and to purchase please check out the All For Eve website . You can also purchase this and other All For Eve products from other retailers such as Beautique.com, QVC, look fantastic and John Lewis.

(With thanks to the All For Eve website for the statistics and some images )

Nails Of The Day - Beauty UK - Electric Blue

Hi Guys - Here's another NOTD post for you and it's another one from Beauty UK - I'll start with a few apologies, first up I'm sorry for such an awful paint job, I did this in a real rush, secondly apologies again for the bad cuticles again, I am seriously dosing up on the cuticle oil to try and rectify them, and thirdly I'm sorry that my pics just aren't doing the colour justice.

I've said it many times but blue is by far my favourite nail polish shade I have lots of blues (click here to see most of them), and I have to say this colour is one of the nicest - It's Beauty UK  Glam Nails - No.39 - Electric Blue and it is, a real proper dark, electric blue. Unfortunately due to either my camera or my poor photographic skills it just isn't showing up that true to life. In real life this is quite a bit darker than it's looking here but either way it is a gorgeous colour. It didn't apply as well as the previous colour I tried and you definitely need two coats for full even coverage, and I have to say it is one of the strongest smelling polishes I have ever used, Mummy LouLou could even smell it downstairs, but despite that for the price it's a good polish, and I will definitely be looking to buy more from the range.

Apologies again for the bad paint job, have you tried any of the Beauty UK colours and which ones would you recommend ? Any questions please let me know x

Pictures of The Day

Well today me and Mummy LouLou went on a road trip, well not really my mum had to go to the local Peugeot garage to get her car serviced and to sign some forms for her new car order. The dealership has recently moved to the other side of Durham so seeing as the weather was nice I went with her and we decided to make a day of it. Here are some pics of my day :)

The purpose of the trip -  the inside of the Peugeot dealership, lots of new car smells but lovely fresh coffee

B and Q - Whilst the car was being serviced we headed across the road to B and Q - OMG this store is huge, we got some wall lights, and spent ages looking at the plants

Then we stopped for a cup of lovely Whittards tea in the coffee shop - mum had a caramel slice but I was super good and had nothing ;)

Next we headed to the huge Tesco's near by - they have a great gluten free selection and their Easter selection was great loads of lovely chocolate - yum, yum :) These were new and they are gorgeous I love Aero and the little lamb was so cute :)

Not only that but I also got this how cute - a little hollow, chocolate egg in a ceramic Hello Kitty egg cup :)



Finally not the best picture of Durham Cathedral taking whilst coming back through an increasingly gloomy Durham

Hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into LouLouLand today -  any questions please ask and I'll see you soon I have loads of all ready xx

More Batiste - It's Tones Time

As you know I am a huge lover of Batiste dry shampoo and I was recently made aware about their new launch Batiste Tones. I know a lot of people have a few issues with the white residue of traditional Batiste varieties so hopefully this product is the answer. Batiste Tones comes in 3 varieties - Light and Blonde, Medium and Brunette Hair, and Dark and Deep Brown. As well as freshening up the hair and helping with oiliness, Batiste Tones obviously contain colour, so they can also be used to hide grey hairs, and to hide regrowth on coloured hair.
I was sent the one for Medium and Brunette Hair

and the one for Light and Blonde Hair

This is probably my biggest issue - it was a hard choice as to which colour to go for - as you know my hair is notoriously two tone I have natural mid brown hair with lots and lots of ash blonde streaks.

Thankfully I was sent both colours to try but I have to be honest and say neither of them really worked on my hair colour. The Medium and Brunette was straight away too dark for my hair admitadly it covered the blonde but that isn't really the look I personally wanted If however you were covering grey I can really see the advantages of this product - these pics were take after I'd had my hair coloured - sorry they aren't great

Before

After

Powdery is the obvious word with this I had a lot of brown powder fallout which wasn't great if your wearing a white top, and it also had a tendency to stain your skin a bit, and your hairbrush :(
The Light and Blonde still wasn't perfect, it did cover to some degree but it still left a powdery residue - I did a few before and after pics before I got my hair done last week so there were plenty of roots to cover

Before

After Spraying

After Working Through

As you can see after the initial spray it looks super powdery, after working it through a bit the powder is still evident, but it looks a bit better.
If you have darker hair I think Batiste Tones will be much better for you than the traditional sprays which may leave a white residue. However if you have multi coloured or toned hair like me I really don't think these sprays are that great an investment - these are probably the two colours that are the closest to my own hair but I just couldn't make them work for me :(  Batiste Coloured Dry Shampoos are available in 3 shades and retail at around £2.99 for 150ml spray. Any questions please ask, and please check out the Batiste website for more details x

(Batiste Dry Shampoo in Light and Blonde, and Medium and Brunette Were Provided For Review Purposes)

NOTD - Beauty UK - Smokey Lilac

If you watched my recent haul video then you'll know that I got a couple of Beauty UK nail polishes to try, one of which was number 51 - Smokey Lilac

The name described it perfectly predomnantly lilac but with a grey, smokey tone. I have to say I really like this polish, this is two coats and for a cream it actually applied really well and it appears to be pretty self levelling so you don't seem to get many streaks.

Please excuse my terrible, dry cuticles, but I really wanted to show this one off. My first Beauty UK polish experience appears to be a good one, and I can't wait to try the other shade that I got, and even better still they are only £1.99 each - bargain :) Any questions please ask xx

This Weeks Goods and Bads

Hey guys it's good and bads time again :)

Bads

• My Aunties Health - They have potentially found another two aneurysms, including 1 on her lungs - she is going to have a full body scan today but understandably we are all rather concerned.
• Comments On You Tube - I've had a couple of blinders this week that really got me down on Saturday - it really makes you wonder if it's all worth while and it also makes you wonder why people are so nasty
• The Foot - the aches and pains are back after a week or so off :(
• Toxic Nature has launched on ASOS but all the things I want either aren't there or have already gone  :(
• The World In General - Everything is so awful when you watch the news now, if it's not the devastating news from Japan, it's the violence in Libya - the world is a scary place at the moment :(

Goods

• I lost 4lbs this week :)
• Still on the mini high of my shopping trip last week I felt like a human being again
• Project 10 Pan - I have another 3 products that are on the final straight :)
• The weather how nice is is at the moment admittedly it's freezing at night still but we have sunshine and the nights are getting lighter too :)
• My lovely blog, twitter and you tube subbies - you make me realise that it is worthwhile after all - I am at 399 blog followers which amazes me daily

I hope you all had a good week and if not I hope this week is brighter x

Wednesday's Haulage

As you probably know through my bleating on twitter I actually managed a proper shopping trip this week - On Wednesday me and my mum took a little trip to the Metro Centre - I only managed 5 shops in the Red Mall, including Starbucks ;) and I'm paying for it now but it's definitely progress :) I mainly bought some fashion bits and a few accessories, and my mum was kind enough to pay for all my goodies from Primark - I bought a few things myself too which has seen me go over my spending limit this month but still I've been good for two months so I think I deserve a treat - Unfortunately I haven't has the energy to edit pics of all my goodies so I made a You Tube video of my haul instead



OK I know what your going to say "I don't have time to watch that" I understand - all you need to do is skip forward to 19:10 in the video and I've inserted all be it unedited pics of my haul x Any questions on anything or if you are desperate to see more pics of anything in the video please leave me a comment xx

Product Rave - The Body Shop Cocoa Butter

If you have ever watched any of my favourites videos on You Tube you'll probably already know that The Body Shop's Cocoa Butter range hold a special place in my heart

The Cocoa Butter Hand and Body Lotion was probably one of the first Body Shop products, bar a few Dewberry things, some Japanese Washing Grains and some Tea Rose Bath Oil Powder #OldSchooler. For me it's the perfect lighter weight but super moisturising lotion, it absorbs easily and it really does the job. though I've ventured further into the Cocoa Butter range. The Body Shop Cocoa Butter range dare I say it is heads above the Palmers range in my ease, the texture of the Palmers version is super thick, and to be honest it smells way too overpowering and sickly for me. TBS Cocoa Butter on the other hand smells, sweet but not too strong and it always makes me feel comforted.

Over the last year or so I've ventured further into the Cocoa Butter range and I've found two products that now have can't live without status. First up the Creamy Body Wash, this is a super gentle moisturising wash that you can use in either the shower or the bath, or even as I've found out recently in a foot spa :)

It looks a bit like custard and has the more subtle smell of the Cocoa Butter range and despite the inclusion of SLS I've found it super gentle for cleansing my skin, and in particular the area around my scar, and where I had my cast removed, It hasn't stung or irritated my skin at all :

Next up probably my ultimate desert island product The Body Shop Cocoa Butter Body Butter. I could ramble on for days and I probably couldn't sing this products praises enough. In the usual Body Butter texture it is super moisturising but despite that it sinks in really easily

It smells gorgeous and it really has been my skins saviour not just as an aftersun when I've been on holiday but over the last month or so it really came into own. As you might know when your take a cast off your skin is beyond disgusting and sooo dry and flaky, but using a combination of the this and the wash my skin is completly back to normally and super soft and comfortable, not onyl that but I've found it gentle enough to use on my scar now it starting to heal and I think it has really helped with keeping it soft, and comfortable and dare I say it with the healing of my skin. I really won't be without it now it's a real must have for me.


I also fancy trying the Cocoa Butter Moisturising Stick for more direct application so I would be really interested to see if anyone has tried it? I also used to use the Cocoa Butter Gradual Tanner does anyone know if this has been discontinued or is it just a seasonal thing? Any questions please ask x I intend to do a few more product raves for you so by all means let me know what type of product you would be interested in hearing about xx I'll be back tomorrow with a little haulage post from my Metro Centre trip today xx