Konjac Sponge

The Konjac Sponges are the strangest, most intriguing face care accessories I have seen for a while. These completely natural, man made sponges are infused with different ingredients for certain skins, and are completely biodegradable so great for the environment. These sponges are so natural you could eat them as they are from the potato family!

With brands such as Liz Earle and Eve Lom, encouraging the use of a muslin cloth whilst cleansing, the Konjac Sponge is its own accessory, and can be used with cleanser or without.

These little sponges encourage gentle exfoliation so can be used daily, and the natural clays infused into the sponges can help every skin type. I have had two sponges from the company. The 'All skin Types' (pictured above) and the 'Dry and Sensitive' (pictured below)

The red clay sponge has Iron Oxide and helps the skin to regenerate and repair damaged skin. It is hydrating and helps reduce blemishes from damaged capillaries. The texture of the sponge is quite slimey at first, but do not let it put you off! The sponges last for about 3 months or longer depending on how well you look after it. 

I am currently using the 'All Skin Types' sponge and I can't imagine cleansing without one now! The shape of the sponge allows you to use different parts of the sponge to make sure you get the best cleanse possible. 

My skin type has dramatically changed recently and I have become more oily skinned, so when I replace my sponge I think I will try the Green clay sponge, which is for more normal to oily skin, and is the brands best seller. It removes oil and bacteria and deeply cleanses.

For only £7.00, I think these sponges are a great investment into improving your cleansing just that little bit more, and the brands newest additions are sponges for the body, which are larger and have a waved look to them.

For more information on these sponges, and to see what other types of sponges they do, click the link below

http://www.konjacspongecompany.com/

Tom Ford Lip Gloss

The department store I work at got a Tom Ford counter a few months ago. When it was going in I went in early to help, and this is what I got as a Thank You which was so worth getting up early for!

The counter where I work specialises in the fragrance of Tom Ford, and also sells the nail varnishes (which I have had my eyes on!). We do not sell any of the makeup, but the quality of the lip gloss is fantastic so I would be interested in trying it.

The gloss I received is called 'Lost Cherry' which is a very bright red colour which, as a lover of a red lip, I absolutely adore. You can apply it by itself for a very intense colour of over lipstick to add shine. I prefer to wear it by itself. I don't usually like gloss, but this is not sticky at all.

Here is a picture I posted on my Instagram a few weeks ago wearing it. As you can see it has a very strong colour. It such a great accessory for my handbag as the name is an accessory itself. The packaging and everything about it is so classy, and especially around this time of year, it has been one of my most used products.

Lip Care Regime featuring Lush and Bliss

Tis the season to wear red lipstick! I love red lipstick and have been wearing so much recently that even when I take it off, my lips are still a little bit stained and it looks terrible when my lips are dry cracked.
I have had a few lip treatments lying around so decided to finally try them out.

Firstly, I used the Bliss Fabulips foaming lip cleanser. It makes sense to cleanse your lips seeing as you cleanse your face everyday. This cleanser is made to lift impurities from the lips and to leave them clean. I would not apply this straight onto lipstick as it just smudges it round your face, so I'd suggest wiping of the lipstick best as you can, and then applying it after to remove the last stained bits. The foaming action of the lip cleanser gives you a tingling sensation, and once wiped of with water, there is not a trace of lipstick. I used this when wearing one of my darkest lipstick and it worked a treat!
The Fabulips cleanser retails at £12.

Next in my lip care regime, I used the Lush Santa lip scrub. Lush have lots of different flavours in the lip scrub such as popcorn and bubblebum. This festive flavour is meant to taste like Cola, but I think it smells slightly like that banana medicine you used to get when you were a child, which I loved so I'm not complaining. As Lush is a natural company, the scrub is nothing more than sugar, and is gentle enough to be used on the more delicate area.

This product is applied to dry lips, and then any excess should be washed off with water. This product tastes really nice, so you can afford to go to the inner bits of lip. This is a perfect product to gently remove dry flakes of skin on the lips. It doesn't hurt at all, and afterwards your lips feel so so smooth. This little scrub is only £2.75!

 The other product I have from Bliss is the Lip plumper.  This is just a clear gel form that has a peppermint taste and leaves a tingle on the lips to make them appear plumper. I've always been a bit skeptical about lip plumpers. I don't think lip plumpers actually work, I think the tingling feeling makes you pout slightly making them appear fuller, but they actually don't physically plump up the lips anymore. That said, this product leaves a nice gloss and feels very hydrating which makes the lips feel fresh and looking healthy. This retails at £16

Finally, the Lush Santa lip tint. This is perfect for giving your lips a rest from lipstick, but still gives you a bit of colour. The pigment in this product is actually really strong, and it can be built up to have a denser colour. A big fan of this product and at only £5.75 its perfect for the handbag.

Are there any lip products that you swear by? I would love to hear from you!

*one of the tags in this post is 'natural ingredients'  which only applies to the Lush products!

Christmas Nail Varnishes Design

If you follow my instagram account you would have seen on Christmas day, I uploaded a picture of the 3 nail polishes I received from family and friends. Luckily the 3 colours had purple tones, so I knew I could use them altogether to create some nail art.

 The O.P.I colour is called 'Lincoln Park at Midnight' which is a beautiful deep purple with a slight silver metallic running through it. The Purple Barry M polish is called 'Prickly Pear' from their Gelly collection, and the glitter Barry M is a limited edition exclusive to Superdrug.

I wanted to see what the glitter polish was like on lighter colours and darker ones so experimented with both, and then felt it needed something extra to make them pop, so I used my MoYou stamper and used the O.P.I colour to create the twirly effect. Its a very simple nail art design but I thought it was sophisticated and still festive!

Christmas Nails 3!

Sorry I have been so rubbish at posting this month, I am sure you have all been just as busy as me, and working in retail means you spend pretty much every hour in store in the run up to Christmas. A few days ago I did these nails! I think you'll agree they are pretty cute and festive. All the nail art was done free hand using Models's Own nail pens.

The green statement nail was done using the glitter effect from my Ciate Emerald collection which I reviewed a while ago. I highly suggest checking it out if you haven't already here.

I hope you all have the most fantastic Christmas! I shall be back very soon with lots of new products. Enjoy your day and relax!

Love Steph x

Organix Coconut Shampoo and Conditioner

I was drawn to Organix, because they're a cheap alternative to natural brands on the market. When low on cash, I went to the Organix section in Boots and had great fun sniffing all the Shampoos and Conditioners. Every range has the most amazing smell, but being a sucker for coconut, I finally settled on these two.

The nourishing coconut seemed the best option for my occasionally dry hair. When I started to use it, I noticed the Shampoo slightly foamed which shouldn't happen in a natural product. When I checked the bottle, I saw there was a foaming agent in the shampoo, which is not natural so I was a bit disappointed as I felt slightly mis-led. Luckily I'm not an uber hippy who would feel violated if I had such a thing on my head, but still, slightly false advertising. Anyway, the actual experience was nice, and for a while after my hair smelt lovely and coco-nutty even days after I washed it. The whipped egg whites add protein to the hair, but after a few weeks of using it, I swear I started to smell the eggy aroma on my head. I don't know whether it is because I got too used to the coconut smell. The actual condition of my hair was good, but now I have finished using these products and moved on to something else, I am preferring the new stuff. Not a huge success, but for a cheap product you can't complain. Both Shampoo and Conditioner were £5 and they left my hair in good condition. I want to try some of the other ranges within the brand so I won't write it off yet! Take a look here to see their other ranges

Nails Magazine Feature

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been so busy with Christmas shopping and work I have been using my spare time to relax and not blog. Apologies! 

Anyway, this is not a proper post, but a few months ago I saw Nails Magazine where looking for Nail bloggers to come forward for their 'readers issue'. I got in contact and have noticed today that the article with my feature is up now!

Please do have a read of the article, and I promise I will be back soon!

Christmas Nails 2!

Here is my second Christmas nail art. I said in my last Christmas nails post I wanted to use my 'Flashy Violet' colour by Mavala a bit more. I posted this picture on my Instagram a few days ago, and I think this colour is so amazing. I got so many comments when I wore this just plain on my nails. It shimmers between electric blue and a deep purple and I love it.

This colour certainly does not need anything to make it look any better, but you know me! This colour reminded me of a dark, magical Christmas-y evening. I saw some reindeer inspired nail art in my latest Scratch magazine so I took inspiration from that.

My Father Christmas flying through the sky nail art, was done using a white nail pen. I realise silhouettes are usually black, but I played around with the contrast and I think you can tell what it is meant to be!?  Originally, I used a glitter top coat by Azature which claims to have real black diamond in it! I didn't realise that the base coat in which the glitter is held together, had a black/dark blue colour, so when I painted it over the white silhouettes it really died down the colour.

To rectify the problem, I used Mavala Pure Diamond which has chunkier glitter, and painted over the whole design to make the sky more starry. I then went over the white bits again with my pen again to make it pop against the dark background.

For the Rudolph red nose, I just dotted some pink nail art pen. Are there any other types of Christmas inspired nail art you'd like to see?

Christmas Nails 1!

It's that time of year!!! Get ready to see lots of Christmas nail art! I won't just do only nail art, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't going to do a lot!

The inspiration for this nail art came from my latest December issue of my Scratch magazine. I was instantly drawn to these festive Christmas jumper style nails. I misjudged the size of my blue panels on the edges so I couldn't fit the little reindeer which I'm a bit annoyed about, but I will make sure I do some next time!

For the red base I used 'Bright Red' by Barry M. The blue panels were done with 'Flashy Violet' by Mavala which is a stunning colour. I have't worn it on its own yet, but I can't wait for when I do. I used a dotting tool and a white nail pen.