October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Crème de la Mer

Tomorrow is October which is actually quite hard to believe and the beginning of winter L As I am sure you all know October is Breast Cancer awareness month and the best thing for me apart from the good cause, is all the products are pink!! I always make an effort to pick up some products to support the campaign and thought I would tell you about one of my favourites. Crème de la Mer have produced a limited edition Crème de la Mer, The Lip Balm, which is presented in an originally designed pink leather pouch, embossed with the Crème de la Mer and Breast Cancer Care logo and packed in pink tissue paper, inside a specially designed white, hinged presentation box. I haven’t actually seen this for myself as it isn’t out yet but you can see if for yourself in Harrods, Knightsbridge and Brown Thomas if you are lucky enough to get one! It will cost £35 and £5 will be donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which is generous considering most charity donations are normally about 10p!

There are many good reasons for buying the Lip Balm, Breast Cancer aside. It is a luxuriant, soothing and comforting balm which more than lives up to its promise and its heritage and smells gorgeous. It works on contact to soften roughness and relieve dryness and really makes your lips feel smoother and softer. It is also strong to treat the skin’s most delicate area by blending a concentration of the nutrient-rich broth found in Crème de la Mer, and incorporating this with other essential ingredients. It is expensive for a lip balm, but is very high quality and worth it if you suffer from troublesome lips as it leaves them so smooth and good enough to eat! What other products will you be buying for Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

My holiday!

I'm back! I have lots of blogging I want to catch up on but have no time as I am at work until Friday. So I thought I would share a few nice pictures from my holiday near Alicante in Spain with my lovely boyfriend. I particularly love the picture on the sunrise (taken from the bathroom window at 7am lol), it was heaven! We had lovely weather apart from the last 3 days where it rained :( Not good for the tan!! Anyway hope you like the photos - the beach is called Playa de la Mata and is stunning!

I am off on holiday - time for the Bikini Goddess 5 Day Challenge

Hey guys just to let you know I will be off on holiday tomorrow for 12 days - off to sunny Spain! I will miss blogging and religiously reading all the blogs every day but am enjoying getting a total break away from work and hectic life! I thought I would write about how I have been preparing to reveal my 'bikini body' ! According to Gillette Venus Embrace, 97% of women dread revealing their body on holiday, which I can totally relate to and so can the women in the video below.

I was sent an amazing bikini body kit from the lovely ladies at Gillette Venus in a cool beach bag. Inside there was a lovely yellow bikini top, some Aussie haircare products which I will be taking with me on holiday, along with a Gillette Venus razor and some shaving gel. They actually challenged to me to test the Venus razor against a rather scary Wilkinson Sword Quattro for Women Bikini. I have to admit I tried it once and was scared with the evil looking trimmer so gave up! I am generally not a fan of Wilkinson Sword razors as I find they don't shave as smooth as my trusty Venus. I am a real baby as well so won't touch waxing and find the Venus is great for your bikini line. You also don't get horrible red bumps like other razors so I am happy! Thanks Gillette for the lovely kit and I can't wait to keep trying out the products on holiday. You can also get expert tips and advice on feeling like a bikini goddess this summer by visiting www.gillettevenus.com/uk.

Hope you all have a nice few weeks and look forward to catching up on all the blogs when I am back!

Maybelline Colour Sensational lipsticks

The past week I have fallen in love with the amazing Colour Sensational lipsticks from Maybelline (£6.84) along with lots of other UK beauty bloggers!! The new lipstick range consists of crispier colours created by pigment technology that have a gorgeous creamy feel. This is down to the fact they are enriched with honey nectar and they taste amazing too!

There are 26 shades to choose from, divided into four easy to use colour groups - plum, brown, pink and red. I have fallen in love with the pink shades - bloggers favourite 112 Ambre Rose (left) and 148 Summer Pink (right). They are easily applied and I love the texture as I have quite dry lips and these lipsticks don't dry them out at all. Sorry for the rubbish photo - I decided to start taking photos in the dark! Boots also have 3 for 2 on Maybelline at the moment so for under £15 you can have three new lovely lipsticks :) What are your favourite shades from Colour Sensational?

Body Shop Autumn goodies!

I was very lucky to sent some lovely goodies from the Body Shop, which included all their key launches for the Autumn. I thought I would write about my favourite products which are shown in the photo above! The Love Etc perfume is really nice - very sweet but I have found it does last quite a long time and smells different from any other perfume I use. It is also well priced at just £16.00 for a 50ml bottle and makes a lovely present for a friend to show how much you care about them. I love the cute heart packaging as well and it really brightens up my bathroom cabinet!

The hand cream you can see in the photo is the Soft Hands Kind Heart hand cream (£5), which is a fantastic product for a really worthwhile cause. £3.45 from your purchase is donated to ECPAT, who are actively working to stop the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and young people in the UK and around the world. The donation will help fund ECPAT UK campaigns and prevention projects against child trafficking in the UK. I am not so keen on the fragrance of the hand cream but it makes your hands super-smooth and as it's for a great cause is worth every penny. You can find out more at www.ecpat.org.uk.

Finally on the lovely sparkly make-up! My first impressions of the make-up are the products are similar to MAC's Colour Craft eyeshadows and Mineralize Skinfinish and are actually quite similar in price range as well. I am impressed by the pigmentation of the Monlight Lustre Eye Trio (£9.50) which blends onto your eyes easily and gives you fab smoky eyes! I love the Blush Trios (£12.50) which are really moisturising and contain skin softening organic cupuassu butter made from the seeds of the Amazon native cupuassu fruit. The Cool Dusk shade gives a lovely pink shimmer to cheeks that lasts all day - this product is definately my favourite of the new range and I can't wait to use it all through the Autumn.. and summer!!

The Body Shop are also having an Autumn Trends Face-off competition for bloggers, using the new producs! To win, simply create an autumn look using the Pearlescents collection from The Body Shop and send two pictures (one full face and one closed eye) to blog@thebodyshop.com. Chase Aston will shortlist the 10 finalists and then it’s up to the public to vote for the winner!

Treats for sore feet!

I don't know about you guys but shoes in general reallly hurt my feet. A lot. I actually hardly ever wear heels anymore because I always end up with sore, rubbing feet and all my shoes are really old as I trust them not to blister my feet. All very attractive - not! Well I have been trying out some new products for my poor feet over the past few weeks, which is well deserved I think due to me neglecting them!!

I have unfortunately missed the Scholl Party Feet Diary competition (damm having no internet) but was kindly sent some products to try out instead. I tried the Scholl Party Feet Ultra Slim Invisible Gel Cushions (£4.88) when I went out last week with my friends and was really pleased with the results. They basically provide invisible cushioning to help prevent the burning pain in the balls of your feet, by effectively reducing pressure on the ball of your foot. I hate that feeling and get it every time when I wear a pair of heels out and then can't wait to get home and get them off!!! The now thinner, improved design provides even better comfort and allows 25% more space in your shoe than previous Party Feet Invisible Gel Cushions. I definately recommend these if you're wearing a thin, sandal-type shoe as they are really discreet and ensured that my feet didn't ache evening!!

I also have tried a similar range of products from Kiwi - the Kiwi Smiling Feet heel liners (£3.29) which have been fantastic when wearing new pairs of pumps for the first time. I love wearing pumps but it is guaranteed every time I get a new pair I will end up with a horrid blister on my heel - great!! The Smiling Feet heel liners are designed to be worn in any style of closed back shoes, to prevent slipping and rubbing, and improve comfort. They definately helped look after my poor heels and have meant that I can wear new pumps - hurrah!

My advice is if you suffer from painful feet and blisters to definately try out some of these products as both brands have a massive product range (I like the sound of the flip-flip strips!!!) for all parts of your feet! They are all unbder £5 as well so worth it to save having painful feet all evening and having to plaster yourself silly the next day!

Great day out at Thorpe Park!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend - I have just got back from an amazing day out at Thorpe Park with my sister, boyfriend, aunty and uncle . I know it's not really beauty-related lol but thought you might want to see some of my pictures from the fantastic rides!! My favourites were Colosuss and Tidal Wave (got sooo wet!!) and we were lucky to have a lovely sunny day :) Who else has been to Thorpe Park and what's your favourite ride?

Organic Surge product review

I was asked a while back (six weeks ago) if I would like to review some Organic Surge products. I follow Organic Surge on Twitter and am a big fan of the brand so was more than happy to review some of the products. Organic Surge claims their products love your skin and feeds it what it craves; naturally-derived, skin-loving ingredients and organic essential oils, which are certified by the Soil Association. I am a sucker for cute packaging and I love the packaging of the products - for organic products (which normally have dull packaging) they look really trendy.

I particularly liked the Daily Facial Wash (£4.99) and Super-Intensive Daily Moisturiser (£7.99) which I have been using every other day, for the past six weeks. I must say that the moisturiser is incredibly thick and isn’t the easiest to rub into your skin – so if you don’t have dry skin then this isn’t for you. However, the Daily Facial Wash is a lot lighter and smells lovely, which I believe is the Rose geranium essential oil. It’s quite a distinctive smell and I love the fact that organic products can smell so lovely. My face is left feeling super-clean and it’s perfect to use in the morning after getting up!

I would love Organic Surge to bring out an SPF 15 daily moisturiser as I use always use moisturisers with at least SPF 15 in them – I am not entirely sure if that’s possible to be an organic product but thought I would say it! I’d also like to try out the Skin Perfecting Polish as well as I am a big fan of face scrubs! Finally Organic Surge also has developed a Detox Diaries iPhone Application app www.detoxdiaries.com, which was created for people who are looking for motivation in dejunking and purifying their lifestyle. The Detox Diaries provide fun and daily health and beauty tips and follows the story of one normal woman called Megan who undertook a proper Detox for six weeks! You can see the results video below – I don’t think I could Detox for that long though despite the results!!

I think you're an awesome girl award

I was tagged by the lovely Tegan at Hot Hobo - thanks hun! Apparently, the rules for this one are I must tell you people 10 random facts about me and then tag some other awesome blogs. So here we go!

1) I actually have met more of you bloggers than you realise! That's all I am saying... hehe!

2) I am a massive football fan and support Southampton FC who are lingering in league one - argghhhhhh!

3) My parents have lived in Istanbul for the past two years and have just arrived back in the UK. My boyfriend is also German so I have a very multi-cultural environment :)

4) I am really scared of heights!

5) I am a fussy eater as well - my favourite type of food is seafood!

6) I set up this blog after my university lecturer told me to do 'anything online' for an assignment - fun times!

7) I hate liars and bitchy people - have had some really bad experiences in the past so am wary when I first meet people.

8) I LOVE reading beauty and fashion blogs - I read them all day and would all night if I had internet!

9) My favourite animals are cats - I have one cat who is living at my parents house still and I miss him so much :-(

10) I also love playing netball and used to play in the college team until I broke my arm!

So I tag:

Marie at Marie Loves

Amy at Lipgloss86

Kelly at Kelanjo

Amy at Dollyboo101

Muhsine at Bubblegarm

Thanks!

Elemis Visible Brilliance

Hope you are all having a nice weekend - hopefully I will have internet by Friday, thank god! Sky are going to get such a big fat letter of complaint.. .hope they are prepared lol!

Anyway I am ranting again sorry - back to the beauty post. Elemis kindly sent me a sample of their new Visible Brilliance serum (£40) which they have spent two years researching and developing! Wow! This product is designed for all skin types and ages, actively targeting the skin’s metabolism to brighten, lift and re-energise dull, fatigued and stressed skin. Harnessing the power of multi-minerals including Copper, Zinc and Magnesium combined with Red Seaweed, Swiss Garden Cress, Blonde Pea Protein and Dew Bean it revitalises and re-energises the skin to restore and repair for instant radiance. I was really keen to try out this product as I suffer from dry, tired skin so recommend it to anybody who always suffers from this! I have been using it in the morning and evening for the past two weeks and have noticed that my skin is much softer and smoother. It's a great base to use before applying foundation as well, as skin is super-smooth and radiant! I will be carrying on using this product for ever now - thank you Elemis!

I have also noticed that QVC have the whole Visible Brilliance Collection available to buy for £39.90 - what a bargain considering the RRP of the serum is £40.

Amazing bronzer from Bobbi Brown

I am sooo in love with the new Illuminating Bronzing Powder (£23) from Bobbi Brown which leaves the most amazing shimmery coverage on your cheeks. It’s not as thick as some bronzers and is formulated with a unique and innovative blend of sheer powder and micro pearls. It also glides on evenly and gives skin a seamless and really shimmery, natural glow. You also don’t need to apply much to the brush, as if you overload too much it goes everywhere all over your hands and is too heavy for a daytime look. So the good news is that it lasts a long time which is good news for the £23 price tag! You can see from my photos how shimmery it looks!

There are a few different shades in the range, which I have listed below. I have been using the Bali Brown and I have medium-toned skin so it matches perfectly.

Antigua – Gives radiance to pale, porcelain skintones

Maui – Gives a candlelight glow for light skin with peach undertones

Aruba – Gives a sunkissed glow for light skin with golden undertones

Bali Brown – Gives a sunkissed glow for medium skin with warm undertones

Barbados Tan – Gives a radiant glow for dark skin with richer undertones

Bahamas – Gives a warm glow to deep skin with golden undertones

Let me know what you think!

TRESemmé's 24 Hour Body range

I was sent TRESemmé's 24 Hour Body range for review a couple weeks ago and have been really impressed so far by the results. I don’t really need ‘volume’ products as such, as my hair is quite thick and wavy anyway, but was happy to try some out for when I wear my hair naturally. When I wear my straight I normally go for shampoos that make my hair sleek which means my waves tend to drop out after washing! I found the shampoo and conditioner used together made my hair incredibly soft and gave my waves lots of ‘natural’ volume. For the daytime I try not to use too many products as I find my hair is greasy by the evening. However for an evening out I used the foaming mousse and finishing spray which used are designed to be used in conjunction with each other AND ensured my hair held it’s volume all night! The products are all priced under £5 and I think are on offer in Sainsburys at the moment so are amazing value – definitely worth trying out if your hair needs a boast!

My favourite new perfumes :)

Hey guys, hope you all had a lovely bank holiday weekend – I went to Germany to visit the boyf family, and my sister and her boyfriend also came too! It was a lovely weekend and I enjoyed some sun as well – result! Only downside was being told off at Southampton airport for having too many liquid beauty products and having to spend ten minutes squishing them into one stupid mini plastic bag – don’t you just hate that?!

Anyway I thought I would write about some of my favourite new perfumes that I have been trying out over the past few weeks that I recommend to buy!

1) Viktor & Rolf 50ml Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose eau de toilette (£50 for 100ml). A new sparkling version of the original Flowerbomb eau de toilette, unveiled with freshness and a lighter touch for the summer. Green notes and citrus fruits have been reinforced, whilst maltol and vanilla calm, to decrease the sugary scent. My sister got this perfume on offer at Southampton Airport – 2 for £35! I really like this as the eau de parfum is a really strong scent (which I LOVE) but this one is much more suitable for the day and is a lot lighter. And cheaper if you can spot it at the airport!

2) Diesel Fuel for life summer edition (£32 for 75ml). Featuring colourful frosted glass bottles inspired by summer spirits and cocktails, this fragrance offers a refreshing take on the original Fuel for life fragrance. There is also a lovely male version of the fragrance as well, so you can have ‘his n hers’ perfume! This is a great value fragrance that smells amazing and lasts a long time for a summer fragrance which normally has less alcohol in it.

3) DKNY Purple Eau de Toilette 100ml (£29.85 for 100ml) This is the new fragrance from DKNY that is available now in Boots. The limited edition perfume is a bouquet of warm white florals juxtapose against clear spices. Top notes are a cocktail of pink pepper, ginger root, coriander buds, and wet mandarin flower. The heart includes a blend of jasmine tea, magnolia, red orchid petals and honeysuckle. While the warm base features a mix of sandalwood, cedarwood and cashmere woods, blended with elemi for sensual depth. It is a lot muskier than the original DKNY Women fragrance and not so fruity, which I love and is perfect for a stronger, autumn fragrance.

What fragrances have you been buying recently and what do you recommend to try? Let me know what you think of my three new favourites!