Simply pure: simply amazing!

Thanks to boots and their decision to discontinue my favourite cleansers, I have been on the look out for a new face cleanser for my poor dehydrated and ageing dry skin. What I am after is  a cleanser which:

1. cleanses effectively
2. specially formulated for dehydrated or dry skin
3. doesn't cost the earth (maximum £6)
4. visually attractive (nice packaging)
5. something which has a nice smell or a smell which I won't be bored of half way through the bottle.

I stumbled on the Superdrug ‘Simply Pure Aqua Hydrating Cleansing Gel’ facial cleanser last week end and guess what? I am baffled on how many boxes this ticks already.



The whole line was designed with sensitive skins in mind and are meant to very kind to your skin. No fragrance or parabens which some find irritate their skin, just kind for you, and as harmless as a feather coming close to your skin, hence the packaging. There are 4 ranges within the line, but more about that later.

When I read the description (see picture below) of the 'aqua hydrating cleansing gel' I felt it was just designed for me. I've already used it for a week now, day and night and I am happy to report that it works: No feeling of dryness, quite hydrating and it does exactly what it says on the tin. So that's 2 boxes ticked right away.





The price was the aspect which shocked me the most. Usually this would retail at £4.59 but it was at half price. KERCHING. This sounds too good to be true. If I carry on enjoying this product, I won't have any problem repurchasing and it's even cheaper than my beloved discontinued botanics one. Can't go wrong with that!


The packaging is inoffensive, simple, discreet and minimalistic (a bugger to photograph though ) Will I get bored of the smell? Absolutely no risk of that, the product is fragrance free. So just like that, Superdrug ticked all the criteria boxes. BAM!


Do I love this cleanser? No. I will repurchase this product, without the shadow of doubt. It does everything I ask, it's functional but it doesn't send me to cloud nine. Yes the packaging is inoffensive but omg, how boring. I am drawn to something which reminds me of nature, something green, a leaf, a plant and now all I get is blue. I don't connect with this cleanser. At this point, I hear you scream 'get a grip, who needs to connect with a cleanser, a cleanser is supposed to cleanse your skin, not having a romantic fling with' I know, I know but what can I say, I miss the fresh herby olive oil or honey smell of my boots cleansers, I miss the cream texture (this one is a gel) and I am still grieving their disappearance. This aqua cleanser is like the guy you find at 2.00am when the bar is about to shut, the guy which will do I guess but it's not James Bond.


Have you found the james bond of cleansers?



If I am not mistaken, I *think* that the dehydrated range from simply pure range is still on half price at the moment, but don't delay if you want to try. This would also cater for oily skin, and yes oily skin can also be dehydrated. Even though the whole range is for sensitive skin, they also do a calming range,  combination skin range and oily skin (now the packaging for the oily skin grabs me so much more. I wish I had oilier skin just to be able to buy that)




















If, like me you've been left high and dry by Boots discontinuing your cleanser, one of these might be for you.  Thank you Superdrug

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My summer handbag essentials

Please don’t laugh as I've been waiting for a nice hot, sunny and summery day to  write about this but the weather hasn't been playing balls.  Then I thought I could wait for the first official day of  Summer (was it 21 June?) but it tipped it down on that day  like you wouldn't believe. This morning, it was cloudy but  I was greeted with the most delightful hot breeze, it is so rare that we have warm winds in this country so I thought  this is it: perfect time to share with you my summer handbag  essentials. Most of you will hate the weather we had today and will  find it 'stuffy, close, sticky' but I love it: it reminds me of the tropics where I spent the first 18 years of my life, of the greenhouse my mum keeps her orchids in and it just puts a big ‘papaya slice’ grin on my face.





On a sunny hot day, in England, and if there is a possibility that I  spend a little bit of time outside (not full on sunbathing for hours)  this is what I would take in my handbag.




I'll take a cheap pair of sunglasses (1). These are from  BHS and cost me £8 if my memory is correct. I don't really  know if these suit me to be honest, so they gravitate  between my handbag, my eyes when it's very sunny and my  head as a hair accessory.




Having worn had long hair pretty much all my life, I am  going nowhere without hair accessories. You'll have to  excuse me as I don't remember all the prices but I can tell  you with confidence that my cute little butterfly claw (2) is from Superdrug and that it is probably my most repurchased hair  accessory together with this pretty basic 'wooden' effect hair claw (4) from Claire's Accessories. I actually find it quite  difficult to find a good hair claw which keep my hair in  place. Most of the hair claws these days have got some  stupid long winded teeth while I find that short straight  and simple teeth, like the basic hair claws you'd have at  the hairdressers' work best for me. I go through those mini  claws from Claire's Accessories (3) so fast as they're so  small, I spend my time losing them or stepping on them with  my big wedges. But they are the best thing for keeping my  side fringe out of the way. Love love love them!




Come rain or sunshine, winter or summer, anytime of the ...  month, I will, without a fail have some tampons (6) in my  handbag. My 'magic day' app on my phone is there to remind  me when the pixies come to visit me but I always like to  have some with me for peace of mind and just in case mother  nature decides to play tricks with me. Those bright green  sweetie-like wrappers are actually the Tampax Compak*  (£3.15). According to a recent survey from Tampax  a third of women voted tampons as a vital  accessory in their handbags. Apart from a purse, phone and  keys half of the women surveyed revealed their handbags  always contain makeup, followed by tampons (38%), a diary  (30%), and, to keep hunger pangs at bay, food or sweets  (28%).


I must share with you some other bits of the survey  which made me feel good about myself and the amount of stuff I  carry around with me.
'Women spend 858 hours of their life searching through  their handbag, rummage for items buried away into their  handbags an average time of 4.8 times a day, and the  average handbag weighs around 3.5lbs' (is that 7 kilos?  OMG!!). I think I might be rummaging through my handbag more  often than that, but there is no way that my handbag weighs  that much :)



I will probably never be able to forget the boots marketing campaign on Soltan, years ago, with those pretty and young models covered with age spots. Boots really sold their 5 stars UVA protection to me (UVA rays are the ones responsible for ageing, the UVB for browning and ... burning) so my conscience feels better when I have a broad spectrum of sun protection and when I use Soltan. My purse also feels good as Soltan is usually on offer during the summer months. I had to buy a new one (5) before my week end in Amsterdam and it was at half price (£4.49).


The smell is not too overpowering, it doesn't leave me with a white cast after application, and it absorbs quite quickly. I have yet to test it thoroughly used in conjunction of a foundation. They say that once opened, a tube of sun cream doesn't last long so I don't feel guilty to skip carrying a normal moisturiser for my poor elbows and hands and use the Soltan as a sun protection and moisturiser on the go even for small parts of the body.  For the sake of this post, I wanted to re watch the advert,  and guess what, it *stills* sends shivers down my spine.





Ideally, it would be the Dove 'pomegranate' or the 'lemon'  deodorant/anti perspirant which I would love to carry around with me, as I  just can't get enough of those deodorants but they don't do  the miniature of these 'flavours'. The cucumber deodorant (7) does the  job more than adequately though and it doubles up as a foot spray.






Item 8 has a special space in my heart. It's a miniature  coconut body mist from Yves Rocher (£5) and I like to save it  for summer days and it makes me feel on holiday even when I  am going no further than my local park. While people have Caudalie, Bioderma and other poncy French skincare  on their shopping lists whenever they go to France, I never  come back from France without a trip to Yves Rocher and a  good supply of mini coconut body mist. You thought the  Bodyshop coconut stuff smelt good, you gotta try the Yves  Rocher one!


It's my closest colleague who introduced me to item no.9.  For 89p at half price or less.com you get 2 packs of eye  makeup remover pads which are just perfect to correct  makeup mishaps during the day, when you have rubbed your  eyes forgetting you had eyeliner on and so on.



You could easily get some cheaper face and hand wipes than this 99p little pack of 10 H&M (item no.10 on the photo above) but you'd be hard to find a  pack with a cuter packaging and one which smells of  vanilla. If I were a little more organised, I'd keep a  normal size pack of wipes and put it in my handbag when there's only 10% left, but that would be way too organised and boring, no?



I am a little bit shy at sharing with you what I  carry  around with me in terms of beauty products. I actually  carry very little and I hope you will still consider me as  a beauty blogger a little bit.





I've never really been a lip  person, I will carry more on a night out, but during the  day, I can't get enough of Collection 2000 cream Puff  powder puff (swatched and reviewed in full here). Lasting power is  not very good at all, but the colour, the feel on your  lips, and the smell is to die for and makes it one of my  ultimate favourite lip products.


I am as surprised as you to find that I carry a lip balm  (16) in my handbag. To tell you the truth, it's this very  lip balm, Sugar Lips* (£2) from MUA which converted me to  lip balms. In short, my lips are moisturised without being  sticky, the smell again is divine, and I get excited like a  big kid to pull out this giant sweetie out of my bag. (swatched and reviewed in full here)


The rest of my beauty products is not very exciting really:  a very inexpensive black eyeliner. The one you see (13) is from  2true and only costs 1.99. The black eyeliner one from  Collection 2000 is better really but this is the one I had  knocking about at the time of the photo. Even more  important than my little mirror (15), and purely for peace of mind I  like to carry around a small pot of eylure eyelash glue (12). I  usually keep it in my actual purse or back pocket as in  there is no chance i'll find amongst all my crap, if I  chuck it straight into my handbag.







Last but not least, I will have a box of sweeteners with  me, a bottle of tabasco to liven up a burger or a bland  soup at work, and a small purse (the one you see is quite recent actually, I got it from Claire's Accessories) big enough to carry my 3 essential cards (debit card, superdrug beauty card and  boots advantage card) and the change for a tenner. Now, many a times I've had some  mishaps with my bottle of tabasco whereby I've not closed  the cap properly and it leaked everywhere. Since then,  tampons are lodged in back 'money' pocket of handbag and  tabasco is wrapped in lame carrier bag, which I didn’t photograph.



So that's it. These are my summer handbag essentials. I  hope you haven't found the contents too boring and that my  small amount of makeup and my budget items didn't turn you off.



Do you carry around similar things?
What are your summer handbag essentials?


disclaimer: items marked with asterisk were provided for review purposes at some point in the past.

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Pirouette my Summer by No.7

It's tipping it down outside, blowing gale and I have my thickest winter coat welded onto my body. But Boots has decided it was summer and went all out to celebrate its arrival. There are plenty of offers throughout the store to help you bare your body for cheaper and there is a new seasonal no.7 make up range whose name never fails to wind me up. This year, it's called 'Summer?In your dreams  in my head it's summer 'Summer of Dreams'.





Annoyance of the name aside, there are 2 gems I couldn't wait to try: The glitter top coats.  Would you believe (and this has never happened to me) they had an official tester of the silver top coat today and naturally I had to try!





My quick snap below shows one coat (applied in a patting motion) on one coat of no.7 lucky lilac. Not bad for one coat, hey? This glitter top coat reminds me of the 'Pirouette my whistle' from OPI, the only colour which I fancy from the recent 'New York Ballet Collection'. It's so pretty!





To complement the collection, Boots released 2 lipglosses, 1 bronzer and 4 eyeshadow crayons.







Not sure if I am happy to fork out the £8 requested to purchase a glitter polish but with a no.7 voucher (are they going to have some time round?) it's going to be very hard to resist.

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Warmer Sunnier Days = Happier Days?

I honestly don't remember what I was doing on this day one year ago, but I really don't think we had such an amazing weather, this time last year. The past 2 week ends have been absolutely amazing, and dare I say, almost warm enough to feel the heat of the sun, directly on your skin or in lightweight clothing. You could almost feel free to finally shed some layers and bare your feet. Almost, if only the F&F police hadn't been around. I'm not referring to Florence & Fred, the clothing range on sale at Tesco, but to the Fashion and Feet Police, friends, family or people from the general public or twitterland who have become beauty experts and are not afraid to express to tell you what is acceptable to wear in this weather.


You have finally some good weather, you can finally bare your feet but oh no, you can't wear flip flops, because your feet are not freshly pedicured and they have a bit of dry skin on the heel. You are supposed to book an appointment to the beautician, sort your 'minging' feet out, have your toes painted and then (apparently unpainted toes are a complete no-no for the F&F police) and only then can you have the confidence to bare your feet in public. You know what the British weather is like, it might be winter again and chucking it down by the time I've had that done. Like we didn't feel enough pressure with beauty magazines the last thing we need is people around you making you feel ashamed and ugly because your feet are not freshly pedicured. I've started the month, as pretty much every other month with a big dent in my overdraft, and having to budget for a new shower to be fixed and various other boring stuff. Are you suggesting I am not allowed to get my feet out in my lunch break, on the grass, ‘cause the last pedicure I had was about 4 years ago, in case it might traumatize the sight of some passer-by?


I love beauty, I even blog about beauty, it's my hobby. During my free time, and when I feel like it, I like to pamper myself because it makes me feel happy and good about myself. But it doesn't  mean that when I don't pamper myself, I should feel like a recluse who should be kept in doors, away from the public eye.

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Beetle got hotter!

Following the huge success of their duo chrome beetle juice collection, Models Own will be releasing on 19 March, 3 new shades of duo chrome polishes. Inspiration is the 'colours of a hot summer haze, mimicking a mirage of complex colour-shifting shades'. As their November sisters, the polishes will be retailed at £5 each.

Have you got any favourites?
Indian Ocean is the first one which caught my eye and it will take incredible amount of willpower to resist it.

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Sneak Peek anyone? :)

I don’t usually do sneak peek posts but I couldn't resist. The colours are too gorgeous. While I try to take some decent pictures of these beauties on my nails, I leave you with a quick snap of the latest nail polishes from Beautyuk. Can you guess the inspiration behind this line, or perhaps the name of the collection?

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Spring has arrived at 17 Cosmetics

Many are excited by Valentine's Day and Pancake Day. For me, the main event after Christmas which I always look forward to is the arrival of warmer weather and double figures in temperatures. Today was lovely, temperature in my little neck of the wood has reached 10 degrees and it has been giving hope that the worst of winter, might be over. The cherry on my cake today was to discover a new collection at the 17 Cosmetics 'Counter'.

*cue improvised ghetto press release*





To complement the relatively recent release of their amazing coverage bb cream, 17 Cosmetics has just released a range of bright and summery nail polishes at the usual bargain price of £2.99. The colours are absolutely gorgeous. Two in particular have grabbed my attention: Glisten, a golden peach polish, and Juicy, a happy, bright lime shade.








Temptation to indulge in the polishes is going to be incredibly difficult, especially since there is a 3 for 2 offer on...




Edit: 21:49
Resistance is futile. No point even trying, is there? :P

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A little taste of Miami...

... at your local Boots 

What, another post about a new product release? I know but this one is super special and it has flamingos on it. I've been looking forward to the release of this collection ever since VexintheCity and TheBeautySwot offered us a sneak preview months ago. Some people get excited about Mac Collections, I get excited about 17 Cosmetics Collection, as they really have the cutest design and packaging whilst keeping their prices down, giving us 3 for 2 offers and have very often freebie chucked in for good measure.







Out tomorrow, 15 June 2011 The 17 'Miami Pop' Collection is  inspired by Miami's Ocean Drive. The range comprises 2 nail polishes, a volumising mascara and a gorgeous baked bronker with a marbled shimmer. I don't know the exact prices but they will range from £2.99 to 6.49. I've seen some pink and orange polishes before but not in a million years in such a cute packaging, I can't wait to see them in my local Boots. My only regret? I would have liked more items in this range, a blusher and a art deco styled eyeshadow palette with a big flamingo on the top of course.


To top it all off, like flamingos were not exciting enough, 17 Cosmetics have the cutest freebie offer, also available from tomorrow. Buy two items from 17, anything you like and grab a 'Nail Bar in a Bag' kit.




The kit contains 2 nail polishes (Knockout Red & Pink Grapefruit) a leopard print nail file and some transfer thingies bob. You know you want it.

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Sultry Sands and Golden Palms Nails from Boots No7 Sundowner Summer Collection 2011

Ever since I saw the preview of No.7 summer collection, back in February on British Beauty Blogger and on the Beauty Swot, I have been really looking forward to the release of the no.7 “Sundowner” collection. The collection was finally released this week and I couldn't wait to get my hands on 2 items in particular: the 2 golden polishes, with a sumptuous packaging: Sultry Sands and Golden Palms.





After months of  impatient waiting, I had already visualised how I would want to be writing this post. The sun would be shining, I would be wearing these polishes under a terrific sunshine: the sun would make every sparkle in the polish shine like a diamond. I would also try to capture these polishes under sunset light and try to replicate that orange glow, part of the whole promotional picture.


Well, today, the end of the world didn't happen. It's tipping it down and the only reliable light I've got is the one from my poxy but trusty point and shoot camera. I could wait for a sunny day, but I am too excited and I want to write about them now, not when the sun wants to make an entrance. 


First off, let me present to you, SULTRY SANDS a sumptuous champagne gold sparkly polish, in the most gorgeous packaging. Let's cut a story short. Don't even waste your time applying this polish on your bare nails. I've tried and even after 4 coats, I was still seeing the white demarcation of my nail. The way to work with this bad boy is to apply a nude base (I am aware of the controversy of the term nude causes, so let's just say 'the flesh colour of Caucasian people).

So I applied one coat of my trusty Missguided Misscellaneous polish (I should have bought about 5 of that polish!!) and 2 coats of sultry sands. The colour is just absolutely gorgeous and I feel super pretty elegant when wearing this colour.





However, this polish presents a major drawback, such a drawback that I would actually like to rename the polish 'gloopy sands' instead of 'sultry sands'. As soon as you apply it, your eyes are mesmerised by the lovely golden glow but they can't help but noticing the tackyness and gloopiness also. It doesn't cause a problem as such for the application in itself, you will get an even coverage in the end but this polish takes absolutely for ever to dry.In fact, I managed to smudge it whilst taking my photos and had to redo my manicure. Boots should redo it and call it … quick sands :)








Now for GOLDEN PANTS PALMS. The colours is absolutely gorgeous and I think this would suit most skin tones. Again, as with 'gloopy sands', you will need to be extremely patient before using your hands again after you've applied your nail polish. I didn't bother to try without a nude base. One coat of missguided misscellaneous and 2 of golden palms will give you this result.









It makes me sad when I imagine how much more stunning these polishes would look under natural sunlight but never mind.





My final verdict: I feel a bit let down by the Sundowner Collection. But despite presenting 2 major drawbacks (too gloopy and too sheer for my liking) I am in love with these polishes and I want to display these bottles in my bedroom. However I will need to find a fast drying top coat which will work with shimmery/metallic polishes {that’s Seche Vite out of the window then} otherwise I will never have the patience to apply these.


Would I buy these polishes full price (£7)? No way! The colour might be gorgeous but £7 is a bit steep for gloopiness. However, £2 (with a reduction voucher) seems reasonable even the polishes are not perfect.






Will you be indulging in the Sundowner Collection? Here are some other items. Pictures are pinched from the website, lousy paint shop pro montage done by moi. There is another lipgloss to go with it, but the Boots website didn’t think it was worthy of displaying a picture?

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