Do you Bat for Lashes?

Wet and Wild is a budget American cosmetics brand that i had heard was good on the web. I didn't know that it had launched in England but it had- via the web. So i had high hopes when a few months ago everything was on sale. I was sorely disappointed and my wetnwild products were destined never to see the light of day until about 6 weeks ago when scrambling round for a mascara my stubby fingers clasped this. Wet and Wild's Mega Wink Mascara.
This is a bloody good mascara. It is a curved wand mascara that is smaller than usual(its not pocket sized- but smaller than the average mascara tube) and it may be a placebo but i feel it defines and lengthen my lashes. ( i always use lash curlers so the curl factor is not something i'm looking for). I would put it on a par with Bourjois/Maybelline and other drugstore/chemist/non high-end mascara's i have used in the past. For £1.99 it is a bargain! Apart from this and the lip liners everything else i used was awful, and this is the only thing i will ever repurchase.

http://www.wnwbeauty.co.uk/eyes/megawinkmascara.html

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

Everyone loves products that you can use on more than one part of the body.
One of these is Rosewater Glycerine.
It is a great moisturiser for Kinky/Curly hair- just pop it in a spray bottle and for someone like me with very dry skin it is excellent when incorporated into a skincare regimine.
It is less sticky and thick than its half-sister Glycerine.
After washing my face, and whilst it is still damp i use a cotton wool ball to apply to my face and then i apply my sunscreen(or coconut oil and then sunscreen).
Since i have done this i have had zero flakes(yayy!) and when it was hot, i could get away with the rosewater only( i think as winter approaches i will have to add the coconut oil). My skin feels moisturised and i feel it looks better.
You can buy rosewater and glycerine seperately if you cannot find them combined. I use a brand that is readily available in Afro hair shops- Eternal Beauty Rosewater Glycerine. It has only two ingredients, Pure Glycerine B.P and Rosewater(the Glycerine is vegetable and is approved by the UK Vegetarian society).
I know that Boots also sell RWG as part of their retro "Original beauty" range.
You can use it on the whole of your body and add it your bath if you wish as a moisturising treat.
Good stuff

Ohh as you can see i bought it for £1.79 and it is a staple.

Pink Elephants and Lemonade

At Superdrug Collection 2000 dazzle me! Eye dust, is half price , i think each pot is just under £1.50 till the end of the month, so i thought i would do a post on them.
I've used them sporadically for the last year or two and for bright colours at cheap prices that last i think they are great for experimentation and cheaper than many of the other bedazzled /razzle/glam/fairy pot/ eye pollen dusts, which are produced by nearly all makeup brands at the drugstore( what is the english version, chemist?, just doesn't sound right)

Using my 8 year old glamorous assistant Nadia , i used Collection 2000 dazzle me! Eye dust in sugarplum. It is a cute colour which is quiteiridescent and multifaceted, it looks like you are actually wearing two eyeshadows as it starts off a golden lemony colour before developing into the pink.
The crappy Camera phone pictures do not do it justice and although it is twinkly it is not glittery as the pictures suggest.

They actually last a decent amount of time too( i have dry lids though so factor them in)
They have a lot of shades and if you don't like it at least you haven't paid too much.
The website
http://www.collection2000.co.uk/products/eyes/eye-shadow/dazzle-me-eye-dust/
Available at all Superdrugs to the best of my knowledge

Laval Cosmetics

Laval Cosmetics are a cheap brand of make up that you usually find in the chemist, the market and little shops. Like nearly all product lines, things are hit and miss, but for the price i think you can experiment. Most of the products i have seen start at £1 and go up to £3 maybe more.

I have used, the lip pencil, the jumbo eyeshadow pencils( as a base), and little things here and there, but i must make this post about the one thing i cannot live without.
Laval Blusher in Chincilla. It is my holy grail blush and i love me some blush!
Where do i start, i bought this for 2 quid in a market and went back and bought another one. I just love the colour, it gives a warm rich colour and it lasts all day.
No camera(i'm working on it!) so no swatches(boo!) but it is a lovely colour.
It comes in 6 shades: Cinnamon, Chincilla, Peach Haze, Damson, Frosted Pink, Mulberry, Terracotta, Russet and Tawny.
http://www.lavalcosmetics.co.uk/

You can purchase from here, for £1.50
http://www.makeupcounter.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=30_68&products_id=55

So fresh and So clean and So Smooth

Jergens Skin Smoothing Cellular Renewal Moisturiser

Jergens has just recently started advertising on British television( well in my living memory) and the ads have been for their naturals range. However they produce a whole host of body lotions so don't miss out. I have only just started seeing Jergens in the big shops/supermarkets, however it has always been in the BSS/Afro hair shops. I picked this up because it has AHA's ( Alpha hydroxy acids) and i had never seen that in a body lotion.



What i love about this lotion is that leaves your skin moisturised. I have very dry skin, so i often have to use thick butters, but this lotion does not leave me dry at all.
However there are a few things that i could see, that would be problematic for others. Firstly, the smell. I like it but if you do not like heavy scents this could be a problem. It doesn't leave a smell on the body nor does it linger but it does have a perfume like odour. Also there are tiny little microbeads that just melt into the skin. Not problematic just a bit odd. Maybe to hit home that it really DOES exfoliate.( see little beads! It works!)

I bought 295mL for £2.59 and the price does differ by about 50p more, depending on the shop. There is also a giant bottle for about six quid. Its getting harder and harder to find these smaller bottles, i think people are going out and mass grabbing them.

Ingredients:
Water, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Petrolatum, Behentrimonium Chloride, Isopropyl Isostearate, Lactamide MEA, Jojoba Esters, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tridecyl Salicylate, Citrus Medica Limonium (Lemon) Juice, Ananas Sativus (Pineapple) Fruit Juice, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Juice, Dimethicone, Dicaprylyl Ether, Glyceryl Dilaurate, Lactose, Cellulose, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, DMDM Hydantoin, Fragrance, Talc, Titanium Dioxide, Red 30, Ferric Ferrocyanide, Ultramarine

Italians do it better

I must talk about two items i have fallen in love within the past few months.
The first is something i discovered by accident as i picked the cheapest apricot scrub on the shelf and it also had the best ingredients.
It is 21 Days Natural Apricot Face and body scrubbing cream. It is a part of the 21 days range of products found in most Afro hair shops that is geared towards the lightening of dark spots. *cough* bleach *cough*. But don't let that or the mad mindset behind it deter you.
In the shower/bath, this scrub gets your skin silky smooth, i was actually shocked. The particles are so soft and not hard or gritty like some ( shakes fist furiously at a shall remain nameless Swiss company). I LOVE LOVE LOVE this stuff.

Price£1.99-3.99 ( Don't pay over that)
It comes in 200ml tub. There is really only one bad point. .The smell. I'm used to it now, but you may think its gone off or something. Nah. It hasn't that's just the smell it has. I went into like 10 different shops smelling it, and it was the same in all.

Directions for use:Apply twice a week after cleansing, over face and body. Gently exfoliate with circular motion, avoiding the eye contour area. Remove with lukewarm water.

By the way i use this on my body and rarely on my face. I don't usually exfoliate my face.

Ingredients:Water, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Glycerin, Cocoa butter, Apricot seed powder, Aluminium Starch Octenylsuccinate, Jojoba oil, Aloe Barbadensis Gel, Trethanolamine, Fragrance, Tocopherol, Lecithin, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Citirc Acid, Benzophenone-4, Acrylates Copolymer, Acrylates/Acrylamide Copolymer, Mineral oil, Phenoxyethanol, Propylene Glycol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Polysorbate- 85, Imidazolidinyl, Urea, Disodium EDTA.

Aquimpex's site ( they produce loads of stuff!)
http://www.21days.net/
http://www.aquimpex.com/

The video is hilarious! A panther and Hydroquinone. Who knew they were synonymous!
Or why the model is at first wearing a lab coat and then a Bikini? Those Craazy Ital-ians!

Tesco Ultimate sun protection SPF 30 Review

Following on from my post on SPF, here i will now review two facial sun creams by two supermarket giants. First up is Tesco Ultimate Sun protection( Its written like a stamp, Ultimate in bold, just to show you how really ultimate it is! READ IT AND WEEP)
SPF 30 High protection.

For some messed up reason Tesco decided to reformulate this product, from an easy squeezy container to a "Sports pack" umm ok. They also changed the ingredients( insert pissed off smilie here)

It is £3.00 for 75 ml which i think is a great price. So lets get to reviewing my lovelys

I love the price, its readily available and it doesn't have a white cast leaving you looking like you bathed in baby powder that so many sunscreens do.
It has a pleasant smell, not too clinical and its not greasy and absorbs well. You can use it in place of a moisturiser and no dryness.
What i dislike- the packaging, its now in a weird sports pack that looks like an astronauts space food container or a massive packet of a male contaceptive device.
They also changed the ingredients- wahh and put in more stuff that i can't pronounce.

Baring that all in mind i give it 2 Thumbs up and it is a staple of mine.

I heart it *strokes space food/condom pack*

Ingredients below
Old container
Aqua, C12-15, Allkyl Benzoate, Cocoglycerides, Cera Alba, Butyl Methoxydibehnzoylmethane, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Cetyl Dimethicone, Octocrylene, Butylene Glycol, Methylene BIS-Benzotrizoyl Tetramethylbutylphenol, Santalum Acuminatum Fruit extract, Acacia Victoriae Fruit exract, Citrus Glauca Fruit extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, PPG-15 Stearyl Ether Benzoate, PEG-40 Sterate, Decyl Glucoside, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Parfum, Triethanolamine, Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Disodium EDTA, BHT, Propylene Glycol, Alcohol Denat., Xanthan Gum.

New sports pack


Aqua, Isopropyl Palmitate, Cocoglycerides, Cera Alba, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Octocrylene, Cetyl Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol, Methylene Bis-Benzotriazolyl Tetramethylbutylphenol, PED-15 Cocamine, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, PED-40 Sterate, Decyl Glucose, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Parfum, Triethanolamine, Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Tocopheryl Acetate, BHT, Propylene Glycol, Alcohol Denat., Xanthan Gum, Santalum, Acuminatum Fruit extract, Acacia Victoriae Fruit Extract, Citrus Glauca Fruit Extract.