No 2.....

We are getting there slowly but surely folks! Here is Number 2 in by countdown of my (current) top 5 Hair Styling Products.

It is Smoothing Lusterizer by Tigi S Factor:

What is this product for Jayne, do tell!? I hear you all cry. Well as you can see, the tag line on the bottle itself is 'Defrizzer and Tamer'. Now I like my taming products as you all know by now, I have unruly frizzy curls and my mission in life if to achieve loose curl perfection. Admittedly, progress is slow but a product like this gives me an extra push along the way.

www.gorgeousshop.co.uk describe this product: "This Lusterizer contains special moisture absorbing ingredients which help to reduce drying time resulting in a super glossy style in minimum time." 

It is a smooth light creamy formula, is not greasy or sticky, kind of somewhere in between. I was first introduced to this product by my hairdresser who was astonished at the affect it has on brunette hair as she is blonde. Mixed into the cream is a kind of shimmer/glitter. Now it's not in your face (or in you hair) sparkle, but what it does is very subtly adds a gorgeous shine and makes your both look and feel super healthy.

And just like the Foxy Curls, Lusterizer smells utterly divine. It is just like sweeties, not so much skittles, just very fruity and sweet. If you buy it for anything but smelling it then I'd say it's worth it!

Now there are two ways to apply to your hair. I have quite long hair, and I use a baked bean size amount, and rub it in the palm of my hands. It can be applied in wet hair to help smooth out whilst styling, or as I do in dry hair to help control those fly-aways and pesky ends.

There are so many places you can buy Tigi as I'm sure you are all aware. RRP's are always very high - for this it's £14.95 - which may put you off but have a shop around and you can get them at wholesale prices.

I recommend Gorgeous Shop who sell the Lusterizer for just £8.97 for 200ml. Remember, a little goes a long way!

Verdict: 5/5 - Lushness in a bottle. To be honest it could have been joint 1st, but I am saving confusion!

:o) xx 




NB. I purchased this item with my own money and all opinions are my own. I am not affiliated with Sleek and was not asked to review this item.

Review: Sleek Volume & Curl Mascara

So here it is, the not so long awaited review of one of the several Sleek Mascara's available.

I opted for the Volume & Curl in black, and purchased from Superdrug for a lovely little price of £3.49 for 8ml

On the packaging it says "Special brush that curves and separates lashes from base to tip"

Here is said special brush....

Now it's 'special' because the wand has that narrow in the middle bit, and if you stare at it it make your eyes go funny. Whether this really does the trick at helping to volumise, maybe. I'd say it does help to curl as you can easily get right to the base of your lashes, and you can then use the brushes to lift them up, up and awaaaayyy!!! Sorry, got carried away.

Anywho, here is the effect (without having used eyelashes curlers might I add)

So I think that's quite good. I mean for £3.49 you can't really go wrong. It means I can save my £12 Max Factor for an occasion, or when I want proper gurt big lashes.

Sleek is available online www.sleekmakeup.com and instore at Superdrug.

NB. I purchased this item with my own money and all opinions are my own. I am not affiliated with Sleek and was not asked to review this item.

Woo Shopping trip: LOTD

Oops.

The word that came to mind yesterday when I got home and realised I had spent quite a tidy sum of cash (which I don't really have to spare) on yet more unnecessary makeup.

Who am I kidding, most of what I have is unnecessary, but it sill doesn't stop me buying more!!

So I toddled off to the miniscule Boots and Superdrug in my town and lavished myself with goodies to preen and pamper.

I invested in the No 7 Hot Cloth Cleanser (LUSH by the way...), more rosewater, some sun lotion (Piz Buin BOGOF in Superdrug at the mo, bargain) and also some Girls Aloud Festival Lashes (will do a post with pics next week as they're real perdy).

And the following makeup items, all Sleek and MeMeMe which are my first goes at the brand...


The above is Sleek Cream to Powder Foundation; Shell, Sleek Revive Liquid Foundation; Shell, Sleek Kajal; Nocturnal, Sleek Volume & Curl; black, Sleek Pout Polish (after the freebie incident); Raspberry Souffle, MeMeMe Beat the Blues Highlighter; Moonbeam, MeMeMe Cheek'E Cream Blush; Pinki'E , MeMeMe Metallic Duo Eyeshadow; Earth Bound.

Today I had a fiddle with the new products. I simply cannot do the whole wait until you finish one before you start another lark (specifically foundation/mascara - I have about 7 of each on the go at the same time, all mood/day dependent).

I used the Cream to Powder foundation today, set with ELF's Mineral Booster, as well as their Undereye Concealer/Highlighter, and Eyebrown Treat and Tame (new found eyebrow love).

For the time being, as mentioned before, I'm having to use my iPhone for the pictures, which look OK when taken and even uploaded. Stick 'em on here and they are grainy and just pants. Cannot see the colour really as the blush is VERY pink, because I got a little apply-happy with it, and the Pout Polish is really pinky/purple, shame but hey ho.

Smile, duh...

Overall, very impressed with Sleek Mascara (review coming next), the Pout Polish which is very moisturisery and impressively lasting. Little let down by the MeMeMe eyeshadow, not very pigmented, quite difficult to build and nay happy I spent £5.50 on it. Will def not be repurchasing. The foundation was OK, little temperamental with a primer (I was prewarned by lovely ZebyK about this though) but I'd like to try it a bit more to give a proper opinion on it.

If anyone would like a further conflab about any of the purchased items let me know

:o) xx

NB All items were bought with my own money and all opinions are my own. I am not affiliated with any company mentioned and was not asked to review.

MissKC027's(Kim) contest entry

Because I would love the opportunity to use MAC products, so I'm grabbing any chance I get! I know I love my cheapo brands, but I wouldn't mind trying some pricey stuff too, find out what all the hype is about!!

1. What are my 5 go-to-products?

My ELF undereye highlighter and concealer. For someone with such dark circles, this brightens them up a treat.

Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara. Work, gym, dog walking I don't care. Love it.

Vaseline Lip Therapy. Classic but still the best, I slap loads on when I go to bed, my lips are still nice and soft in the morning.

Revlon Photoready Foundation. Bright, cheery and being a Twilight extra. What could be better?

Sigma Duo brush SS187. Not sure if this counts but I'm choosing it over all my makeup (it said products, I reckon brushes count as products...?). Used to apply number 4, blend number 1 and just help make me look fab-u-lous.

*************

2. Least important makeup product and why....?

Arguably all makeup is unimportant. But I do not support this argument. However there are some which are just plain old...eh? My biggest niggle is lip primers - nude lips for better colour achieved with foundation and a good moisture base with a lipbalm. Primer not necessary and I don't like them, just a ploy for another un-needed (that a word?) item in your makeup bag taking up important mascara space!!

Hope you enjoyed reading, and if you disagree with me... well tough :o)

Feel Good Sleek and ELF Fun

Apologies as what you are about to see are some photos of a fabulous extreme bluey oceany look taken with a not so fabulous iPhone camera due to lack of another camera.

I got bored one day and thought hey, lets muck around with what I've got, so I whipped out my Sleek i-Divine Original palette and looked to see what colours were there which I may not normally use. This is mainly blues, as I have brown eyes so it doesn't always work well.

I decided to vamp it up with some dark eyeliner and false lashes as well as all out shimmer and glitter.

Here are the products I used, specifically the main 3 Sleek colours used:

The deep blue outlined above went on first (after using my ELF primer of course) all over the lid and blended out at the crease. This was topped over with a Barry M Dazzle Dust number 65, a kind of blue/green iridescent colour. The sleek blue went on the lower lash line along with the purple and my ELF Studio liner/shadow stick. The Sleek green went just above my crease. I did winged eyeliner using ELF Studio cream eyeliner black and also L'Oreal Superliner Carbon Gloss. Finished off with Maybelline Falsies Mascara and a pair of Eylure lashes. Cheeks got a brush of ELF warm bronzer and a bright pink blush from the large ELF collection. I also used this blush to set my ELF Mineral Lipstick in Nicely Nude with ELF Hypershine Lipgloss in Fairy. Foundation was L'Oreal Matte Morphose set with ELF Mineral Booster and ELF Studio unereye highlighter and concealer set with Complexion Perfection.

Also sorry that I may have forgotten to smile!!! I was getting very fed up that I couldn't take a close up photo to show off all the shimmer and blueyness, ah well.

My boyfriend didn't like it, said the blue didn't suit me :o( ho hum, I liked it and although some may say this is not a wearable look.. well I so would again, I like extreme!!!!

Sleek from www.sleekmakeup.com, ELF from www.eyeslipsface.co.uk.

Both are very affordable brands of makeup, Sleek also in Superdrug, ELF online only.

NB. I am not affiliated with either company and all items* were bought with my own pennies. All opinions are my own.

(*except ELF Studio Cream Eyeliner sent for free to try out - see earlier blog, I'd have bought it anyway!!)

Haul: All About Face

Always one for a bargain that's me, none of this experiment with a £15 eyeshadow lark! So whilst I was conducting my weekly food shop I decided to stop at the makeup I normally drift straight past to go for Maybelline, L'Oreal and Max Factor. It is the Tesco make up range All About Face.

One reason for always drifting past is the presentation. Poor poor poor. These poor little fellows don't get their own display case thing with lights and mirrors. Instead they are the poor cousin sat on hooks in their cheap little packets. On closer inspection, I had a little surprise. I thought, hey this stuff doesn't look so totally awful.

They have quite a vast range of products from concealers, foundations and bronzers, to lipsticks glosses and eyeshadows.

On this particular trip I honed in on the eyeshadows:

I got four shadows. From left to right they are Baby Doll, Buttermilk, Meadow and Heather. All very obvious names for shadows. They are individually packaged in a plastic wallet thing with all the ingredient info on the back of this packet. They are then each in a little clear plastic holder with a pan of shadow approx the size of a 50p piece. They sell for £1.50 each but I got mine on offer 4 for £3 - bargain!

Swatches below in the same order above:

As you can see they are very light, near pastel shades. They are have a light shimmer to them, no glitter. Finely milled and pressed well into the pan so they don't go everywhere when you swirl a brush. I figured these four were nice spring/summer shades, and they give a nice light look to my lids. I did find that they aren't great for building colour so really are just if you're looking for a hint of colour. I have not tried them wet yet.

There are other colours in the range including a nice teal and a turquoise and some browns which I may acquire on my next trip! May also have a look at their lip colours again.

They are priced the same range as ELF cosmetics but I would say that ELF are better quality and you have that cruelty-free guarantee but without doing research I can't be sure All About Face is - it certainly doesn't say on the packaging, only that it was made in China.

A great value range (most items are £1.50) where you don't have to go elsewhere for, just pick it up amongst your bread, milk and baked beans. Clubcard points too which you all know I love!

Anyone tried any of the other All About Face products?

:o)

No 3 of very long winded countdown of products...

Yes Number 3 in the ra ra ra you know what I'm chatting about, and it's Garnier Fructis Style Bamboo Flexihold hairspray.

As you can see I use the number 4 strength 'Volume and Hold' as I either have curly hair which needs to stay that way or back combing which needs to stay back combed.

A common complaint about hairspray is the smell. A lot are pongy, too chemically and just down right ming. I personally hate the smell of L'Oreal Elnette. Shocking, I know. This however smells lush, little bit fruity, bit bambooey and all very natural-esque.

On the can it describes this particular spray as having 'Flexible style; bounces back into place". It also has something about having up to 24hr hold. I'd imagine that were true if you put half a can on, didn't touch your hair and didn't move for that length of time. At all. It's good Garnier but it ain't that good!

If you put tonnes of spray on of course you will get a little bit of solid hair, but apply it generously (which everyone knows is a little bit less than tonnes) and you get a nice soft natural looking hold to your hair.

There are other varieties of this hair spray available, with different hold levels and different hold types. It is available in Supermarkets and drugstores for around £2.30-£2.50.

Verdict: 4/5

Review: Neutrogena Deep Clean Makeup Remover

I've never really been one for makeup removing lotions, creams etc as I am a lazy bum who just wants to get to bed as quickly as possibly at night so the thought of spending 5-10 mins just removing my makeup is quite frankly exhausting.

However, the winds changed and I thought I'd give it a bash and try out Neutrogena's Deep Clean makeup remover refreshing oil free cleansing lotion (and take a breath..).

Its a white cream formulation with a not-unpleasant but could be better whiff to it. Some supermarkets stock it, Boots do but Superdrug (using their website for reference) does not appear to. It sells for around £3.50 and you get 200ml of product.

The 'sell me sell me sell me' blurb on the back is as follows: "A light refreshing texture that effectively removes all types of make-up on face and eyes, even waterproof mascara without leaving any greasy residue or after-feel. Free from dirt and make-up, your skin can breathe and feels fresh and clean. Won't clog pores. Dermatological and Ophthalmologist tested."

Obviously to accompany this you need cotton wool pads. A lot of them. This is my main reason for disliking lotion makeup removers. I used two large pads for my face, one for either eye (tip: rest the pads with lotion for 20-30 seconds as this does dramatically improve your ability to remove mascara) and then two final ones to do an all over final clear up. This was just for a 'normal' face of makeup; I didn't want to try with very heavy eye makeup as I'm sure I'd have used half a cotton field in doing so.

Saying all that, yes it cleared my face of makeup very well, but of course you use quite a bit of lotion and pads in one removal.

Like I said above I never have really liked using them, I much prefer - and some may say this is controversial - to use a wipe or shall we be posh, a lingette, amongst my favourites being the St Ives wipes (when you can get them) and the Johnson's 3 in 1 (I used green pack for oily/combo, also blue for dry/sensitive and pink for normal) wipes. With a good ol' wipe I can get all my eye makeup off even the heavy mascaras and eyeliner and get most the foundation off too.

I was quite pleased then when Neutrogena brought out the wipes in the Deep Clean range, and I got all a tad giddy:

You get 25 wipes in a pack, and these are around £3 per pack. They aren't as soft in texture as the Johnson's wipes and have that same smell as the lotion.

I love them. Love love love. Nice and removing at stuff, easy to use, oo I just love them. And the perfect accompaniment is the lotion, which I use after the wipe with just one cotton pad to remove all the extra tough bits out my pores. I also use it to remove the Revlon Colorstay from the back of my hand - just shows how tough and mean it is as it wipes it away, even when dry with ease.

I am liking this Deep Clean range from Neutrogena and am slowly accumulating the other bits such as the gel wash (which is lush, it's all blue and makes your face feel super clean and fresh and tingly), and an exfoliating scrub which I will try in place of St Ives which everyone knows is the mother of exfoliators. Not even good old sugar and lemon stands up to it in my opinion.

So after an almighty ramble, my verdict is that the lotion is OK, the wipes are fab and together they are immense. Highly recommend for those folks with oily/combination skin as I can say it helps to control it well without drying my skin out.

I'll shut up now! :o)