Wednesday 30 October 2013

Planets Align with Eclectic Eccentricity

How beautiful is this...
(Image belongs to eclecticeccentricity)
This beauty is £45 and can be purchased here. I absolutely love it more so because planets, space everything up there intrigues me. It's beautiful and so very interesting.
Now I'm trying to decide if I can wait till Christmas for this gem.

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Accidents and a Mini Skincare Haul with M&S and Apivita

So after this happened to my beloved...

Which yes I am gutted about, my own fault of course. I surprise surprise will now end up spending a bomb on a beautiful new lens...I might even just start fresh and go the whole shabang and get a new body too.
Anyway, going a little off track there, I will be using my handy Iphone for pictures so sorry for the lack of quality.
I wanted to share a little Skincare haul today!
Mark's and Spencer's beauty hall is pretty amazing since they updated it and added some amazing brands from all over the world. There is so much to choose from so I'd absolutely recommend a visit or check it out online here.
Another added bonus is that they have 20% off every now and again which is a nice perk especially if you're splashing out. Sometimes they have a discovery event on (like now!) which means they give you free gifts which are normally travel size or full sized so a great way to 'discover' when you buy products.
I had a little shop during the 20% off not long ago and bought some Apivita. Which is one of my favourite ranges that they stock, the brand is all about using as much natural ingredients as they can in their products and leaving out all the nasty parabans,silicones, mineral oils etc.
Here are my purchases:
                                                                         Revitalizing Face Mask £3.00

 Radiance serum: Free!! Because I spent a little over £40 I got this serum worth £29.50 for nothing. So along with 20% off all the prices I also got the added delight of this little gem. Love it!
Have you bought anything from the M&S beauty hall lately?
<3

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Little trip.

Not long ago I went on a little trip with my family and we stayed in Milton Keynes which just made me nostalgic for America believe it or not. The area we were in was so nice and rather new, boulevards and trees and the way everything was set out just reminded me of California. We were within walking distance of a shopping centre so I of course ventured off.



 I wish I got more and better pictures but these will do, I of course did a little shopping and got some things I had been after some of you will have seen the picture below that I posted on my instagram (monikarr) account.
I actually managed to not spend too much, I am trying to spend less and save up for nothing in particular (except maybe a holiday to America!) and even opened a new savings account and so far it's not going too bad but all these new products that keep coming out are such temptations to a beauty junkie like me. So I only got some of the new Barry M nail art pens which I will review soon (love them) and the much talked/hyped/raved about falsies mascara from Maybelline. Have you guys tried any of these? what do you think?

Sunday 14 April 2013

Nails inc Black taxi & Floral street

I do love me some black polish and of course white is the perfect colour to go with it especially with the monochrome trend that's hot right now. Cue bold lines, graphics prints, contrasting colours, and textured leather effect polishes (which are definitely on my hit list when I next go shopping).

nails inc nail polish black taxi and floral street
Today I used Black Taxi and Floral street on my nails and turned my accent finger into the infamous yin yang symbol which I'm a huge fan of.
nails inc nail polish black taxi floral street yin yang swatches
 For someone with a huge nail polish collection I don't own a whole lot of Nails inc I think the £11 per bottle price tag puts me off but I do have to say I really enjoyed the application process, it was very opaque I only used one coat (could have done two to make it more even on some nails but not necessary). It makes life easier if your using base and top coats, in this case I just used a top coat and I'm very pleased with the results and the polishes themselves. I also love the look of the leather effect nail polishes- the edgy black or nude leather look with skull embellishments are my favourite.
What's your favourite Nails inc polish?
*I was kindly sent these to try out but of course my opinion is unbiased and honest.

Saturday 13 April 2013

Oh hello Nike x Liberty floral High roll blazers

How lovely are these? Now I love heels but also flats just as much. Nike who collaborated with Liberty hence the cute classic purple pepper floral print on these blazers. I look forward to rocking these. I managed to get them in a sale too, happy times.

nike liberty floral blazers high roll
nike liberty floral blazers high roll
nike liberty floral blazers high roll
 What are your favourite flats?

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Pur minerals All that pops Lip Gloss Sticks review.

Jumbo lipbalm/lipstick/lipgloss type things are seriously everywhere and along with the Revlon Just bitten balm stains I have been loving these Pur minerals 'Lip gloss stick collection' since I got them around December last year. I feel like this lovely American brand isn't as well known in England but that's because it wasn't available here until it hit the shelves in Marks & Spencer's beauty departments.
This set has four satin finish colours in a jumbo retractable pencil.
 So we have a hot pink called 'Shocked', the darkest plum colour is 'Desired' the bright red is 'Amped' and lastly the nude is 'Tickled'. Pretty pigmented colours which are buildable too so you can go for softer or bold looks.
And here's a picture with the flash on so you can see the glossyness...
It cost me £24 for this set although there was also an offer on at M&S so I got it even cheaper. It's not available on their site at the moment unfortunately but I'm pretty sure many of the stores still have this set. I think it's a steal because normally just one of these lip gloss sticks cost £16.00 so for an extra £8.00 your getting 3 more!
Overall I'm a definite fan, I'm not a huge fan of lip gloss but these are the perfect texture, they feel more like a glossy lipstick. I find them moisturising, they taste fruity (a pleasant surprise!) the pigmentation is great and I feel like for what they are they last a good amount of time on your lips especially the darker colours such as 'Desired' which is one of my favourites along with the hot pink!
<3

Monday 1 April 2013

Lush Sunnyside Bubble Bar Review

Lush is my favourite place for gorgeously smelling things. My favourite thing's to get are normally the bubble bars, my favourite is The Comforter which I mentioned here.
The Sunnyside bubble bar is covered in gold glitter and costs £3.65 and it smell's pretty lovely. I wouldn't have picked this up myself as I'm not a fan of glitter in products but as it's Andrea's fave I of course had to try it and fyi the glitter is rather fine.

It's not a overpowering smell but you can definitely smell the 'sweet wild orange' in the bar, there is also lemon and tangerine in it. Crumbled into a hot running bath it just smells devine.
lush sunnyside bubblebar
lush sunnyside bubble bar
 This bubble bar left me with ton's of bubbles a slight shimmer in the water as the glitter is really fine (lots of glitter left once the bath was drained) and I don't remember the smell lingering around for too long which is unfortunate as I love it!
Maybe next time I'll crumble more into my bath as I only used a small amount but overall I loved this bar!
What is your favourite bubble bar?
<3

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Bath and Body Works Candle Haul

Well I guess it's not a proper haul as these Bath and Body Work's candles were sent to me by Andrea in our latest swap which you can watch the unboxing of on my youtube channel here and read in my last post here.
I have wanted to try some of these babies for so long, there raved about by American bloggers/you tubers all the time. I normally burn the pricey Yankee Candles which smell gorgeous before you burn them and when you burn them too but it can get expensive. I notice that a lot of candles will smell gorgeous but when you actually burn them...nothing!
So I have Cotton (smells like clean cotton by Yankee candles), Sun Tan, Leaves, Salted Caramel, coconut water (I love coconut smells) Cinnamon Sugared Donut, Pumpkin Cupcake, Sweet cinnamon Pumpkin and Pumpkin Caramel Latte.. Most of these smell like something I would happily eat.
So far I have only burnt this little baby, it's one of the mini's, you can't tell so much in the pictures but their tiny. I'd say there wasn't much of a scent throw (my room unfortunately didn't smell of Cinnamon Sugared Donuts) but I have a feeling this is the case because it's a 'mini'. But they did burn well, I'm looking forward to trying the rest.. I have faith in them!
What's your favourite smelly candle?
<3>

Saturday 23 March 2013

My USA swap unboxing haul - Chanel, Bath and Body works, Tarte, Too faced..

So this has to be the longest swap ever, Andrea who lives in the wonderful place called America and myself in rainy (or should I say snowy?) England took forever (atleast 6 months) collecting things for each other and behold this is what the lovely lady sent me. From Wet n Wild, Tarte, NYX to Bath and body works, Lush, Chanel...
USA SWAP HAUL CHANEL BATH AND BODY WORKS WET N WILD TARTE
USA SWAP HAUL TARTE TOO FACED BATH AND BODY WORKS
Seriously so many goodies, we both made unboxing videos on our you tube channels check out mine here and Andrea's here and feel free to click subscribe if you want :D.
Anyway's I love doing swap's, especially with this lady..it's so much fun and I'm incredibly grateful that our paths crossed (thanks to the beautiful world of internet) and I now consider her as one of my good friends.
So many cool products right? you can have a look at what she sent me when we did a swap last year in my post here.
What product would you like to try the most? I love everything but I'm the most excited about Tarte!
<3>

Thursday 21 March 2013

My favourite: Exfoliator - Caudalie Deep Cleansing Exfoliator

The Caudalie Deep Cleansing Exfoliator has to be my absolute favourite exfoliator that I have come across so far. In the past I have used St Ives Apricot scrub and Clean and Clear's exfoliating daily wash both of which I liked oh and Soap and Glory's 'Greatest scrub of all' which was okay.

This one was introduced to me by my friend Andrea and I had wanted to try it, it turned out I had a sample of this from when I did a swap with my friend who live's in Paris so I was super excited to try it.
Once I did I fell in love it.

Why? you may ask.
Well let's have a more in depth look into the product:
-Contains micro-particles to deep cleanse and unclog pores
-Grape pulp to soften and moisturise
-Menthol extract to leave you feeling refreshed.
-Free from Parabens, Sulphates and other nasties.

The texture was pretty unique compared to the other exfoliators I have used in the past, a whipped and more fine gritty texture which didn't feel too harsh but definitely felt like it did a fantastic job at deep cleaning my skin and gettinf rid of dead skin cells.
My skin felt smooth, refreshed and very clean after using this exfoliator which tick's all the boxes for me. The scent is light but nice I'm thinking grapefruit and something sweet. I overall just loved how it felt on my skin - the feeling of something working as your using it!

A few downsides however:
-The price 60ml for £18.00 is rather pricey. I bought it for slightly less as there was an offer on sites like feelunique who have 10% off this product at the moment.
- Although it's free of some nasties Polyethylene is second on the ingredients list which I didn't pay attention to till now. Polyethylene is plastic, it's what 'exfoliates' and gives that gritty/beady texture in a lot of skin care products and is also found in many other cosmetic products like mascara and powders. It's hard to avoid but there is of course talk on side effects of this ingredients which you can read about here, Skin Deep site and various other sites.

Overall I love this product and it is a favourite regardless of the downsides but I do wish it was more natural than it seems, maybe a more natural exfoliating ingredient like sugar rather than Polyethylene. Personally I'll still use it but be careful of avoiding it if I have broken or irritated skin and use it less frequently than I would have.

What's your favourite exfoliator?
Look out for my post on natural exfoliators!
<3

Tuesday 5 March 2013

A Perfume I'm enjoying: Liz Earle Botanical Essence No15

Yep girlies I'm still here, I've been lost somewhere between work, family issues and the gym and just haven't felt like blogging for a while but oh how I've missed it.

So I love my perfumes, I have around four at the moment all of which I like using in rotation, I'll be blogging about all of them eventually. One of them is Liz Earle's Eau De Parfum Botanical Essence No15 which I kindly got sent to me sometime last year.

Liz Earle Botanical essence 15 perfume

Some Facts:
-It's described as ..' a fresh spicy oriental scent. This clean, sexy and addictive eau de parfum is synonymous with feeling seductive and elegant.'
- 90% of the ingredients comes from sustainably sourced natural ingredients which is always great to hear.
- 50ml for £47.00
- Some of the 15 notes are Bergamot, Virginian Cederwood and Patchouli.
Liz Earle Botanical essence 15 perfume

Liz Earle Botanical essence 15 perfume

What do I think of it? (and my mum!)
I literally just sprayed some before I wrote this blog, my mum came upstairs and in the hallway mentioned how gorgeous something smells. She actually stole it off me as she loved the smell, I guess we kinda share it now.
It's definitely a strong scent (which you can smell for quiet sometime after spraying) it has a fresh undertone along with the spicy oriental notes.
It's different to anything I own, I normally go for either fresh and sometimes citrus scents or something sweet, fruity and floral but having said that I do enjoy this perfume I feel like it's my more 'mature' smell.
The packaging is really nice too, something very different to other perfumes, the front has pictures of all the different notes and on the inside it also tells you a lot about the perfume and the names of the notes that are in it.
Overall I like it and would suggest getting a sample or trying it out at the store, I think it would make a great mothers day present too!

What's your favourite perfume?