A Personal Update

Hi peeps! I thought I would let you know I'm in Brazil at the moment! It had been a year since I hadn't been home, so I can't even tell you how happy I am to come and visit my family! The blog willbea bit dead because of that, though. I shall see you in the beginning of April! Meanwhile, if you follow me on GFC, you might want to start following be on Bloglovin' by clicking HERE, since GFC will become extinct in a few months!

See you in April!

Kerastase Cristalline Lait Cristal Review

These are my first ever Kerastase products. I've always wanted to try something from them but in Brazil their prices are prohibitively high. I feel like here in the UK, while it certainly isn't cheap, it's definitely affordable! I decided to go for the Cristallist range first mainly because I really like the packaging (being honest here! haha). The reviews I'd read were very mixed, but, like I said, I really wanted to try the brand out, so here we are!

This line was developed for people with long hair and I got the fine hair version (there's also one for thick hair). The shampoo is clear, which I tend to associate with clarifying shampoos. It lathers up really well and does an amazing job at cleaning the hair, but in no way dries it out. My hair usually needs conditioner before it starts feeling nice and soft, so I was really surprised when I rinsed the shampoo out it it felt really smooth and soft! It smells just like the hair dressers, which I like. hehe This has probably become one of my favourite shampoos ever! The conditioner added a nice bit of moisture to my hair and detangled it really easily. It's a really nice addition to the shampoo, they work really well together! This duo made my hair so shiny, like I hadn't seen it in ages! It does contain some weird, unpronounceable chemicals and it's definitely not a natural choice at all, but by God, it makes your hair look good! If you're not fussed about these things, I recommend this duo. Kerastase is definitely worth the price tag, in my opinion!

I got these from Feel Unique, the shampoo is £12.65 and the conditioner goes for £14.08.

Battle of the High End Polishes

These are my first (and so far only) designer nail polishes. I thought it would be a good idea to compare them and let you guys know which one I think is worth investing in as I do have a definite favourite out of the two!

First up is Chanel's Vertigo. When I was browsing the Chanel polishes at the counter, this one stood right up to me. I absolutely loved the hint of purple it has on the bottle and I could see the very subtle sheen that is a trademark of the Chanel polishes. It is the prettiest mix of purply/pinky, almost invisible little glitters. When applying to the nails however, I was really disappointed to find it doesn't show up at all on the nails! There is no sheen to be seen, the color appears completely solid. I do like the formula, but I hate the brush. It is very thin and the end is flat, which leaves a strange mark at the base of the nail. It lasts pretty well on my nails, around 3 or 4 days without chipping, although I have read some unfavorable reviews saying it chips quite easily. Even though I don't like the brush, I would probably buy more of these. I can't afford a Chanel 2.55 but dammit, I will have some Chanel in my life!!! haha At £18 a pop, they're not cheap, but are affordable. 

Then we have the nameless YSL #137. The packaging is absolutely gorgeous, it's definitely my favourite. It claims to be long lasting, but to be honest it lasts the same as the Chanel, so no complaints, but no praises either! I find the formula of this one easier to apply, I feel it glides on better on the nail. Also standing out here is the brilliant brush. It's got a slightly rounded end, which fits perfectly on the nail, making a cleaner application much easier to achieve! For this reason, the YSL is the winner for me. I bought it at the House of Fraser winter sale and snatched it for £13, when it's usually £17. I think it was a good bargain, and I would still pay full price for these and be just as happy, as the quality is excellent!

Now, of course you could get comparable quality nail polishes for a lot less, but let's be honest with ourselves. We all like the luxe factor! If you do not mind a bit of a fussy application, I would still recommend the Chanel. If you're NOT a manicure pro, like me, the YSL is the one to go for! They are both available at counters, nationwide.

New In - MAC Cosmo & Ruby Woo

MAC lipsticks must be one of the most hyped up products ever. it's really not hard to find girls on the internet with an insane collection of dozens of them. I personally never saw the point in having so many lipsticks... until I started wearing them! These are my first MAC lipsticks and I'm happy to announce they ARE worth the hype. I picked up two very different colour to start with. First is the perfect peachy pink nude colour, Cosmo. I had a really hard time finding the perfect nude colour, as all the one I tried ended up looking too light on my darker skin, but this one looks really nice and flattering on my skin tone! It's the ideal every day lipstick. It is very creamy and wet looking, so I was surprised at how well it lasted on my lips!

Then we have Ruby Woo. It is currently the best selling MAC lipstick in America, which I think is really impressive, it being such a bold colour! I always thought that for darker skin tones it is best to stick to darker red, but then Nicole Scherzinger proved me wrong! On one of her appearances on the X Factor she was wearing a really bright red and it looked amazing on her! That's why I decided to go for Ruby Woo instead of Russian Red and I've never looked back! As you can tell from the picture it is extremely matte but luckily I didn't find it to be drying at all! It feels comfortable on the lips and I love the 50's vibe it give off!

I'm really happy with my choices and I definitely see my humble sized collection expanding in the near future! MAC lipsticks are £14 at MAC counters and from MAC online.

Anyone out there?

Hello lovelies! Yes, believe it or not, it is me! I've been away from then blogging world for a couple if weeks now and the craziness of the holiday period is not the only one to blame. Something silly happened to me but it turned into something rather serious. I got a really nasty cut with a razor while shaving my legs (I know!) and didn't make much of it at the time but it ended up getting infected and put me out of action completely! My left foot got ridiculously swollen and painful, I could hardly walk for a couple of days. 

It was really annoying to have something a silly as that turn into such a nuisance. I went to see my GP, who put me on antibiotics. It didn't get much better so I went to hospital a week later with a hugely swollen an bright red foot. The doctor there suggested doing nothing (!!!) but putting my foot up for a couple days. Sounded outrageous at the time, with all the pain but it actually did the trick! 

I'm feeling much better now and will be returning with regular posts in no time! Let this be a warning to all of your girls out there! It is something so routine that we don't even think about it anymore, but BE CAREFUL when shaving your legs! x

Philip Kingsley Volumizing Range - Review

My hair is quite fine and there's not a lot of it, so a couple of months ago I bought a sample kit with these two products and the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer. I really enjoyed all three products, so decided to go for the full sizes! Except for the Elasticizer, since the full sized tub is too freaking expensive! haha I do really enjoy it though, I thoroughly recommend it!

Firstly the shampoo! It is clear and lathers up really well. You know the feeling you get sometimes when you're shampooing your hair and your nails feel dry? I got that with this shampoo and was instantly worried it was drying my hair out. But when I rinsed it out my hair felt unexpectedly soft! I have no idea how volumising shampoos work, but this one is a miracle worker! After air drying, my hair looked thicker and the volume was amazing! I kept touching the sides of my head to feel the "poof"! haha Also, it made my hair feel really clean, without feeling stripped of moisture. The conditioner does a great job at detangling my hair and works great with the shampoo! My hair has never looked more voluminous, bouncy and healthy!

Now, girls, I want to share with you a blog I've been loving! Some of you might have heard about it already, it's by brazilian girl Camila Coelho, Supervaidosa ("super vain", in English). Her tutorials on YouTube are amazing and she just started an English channel! Check it out here!

DKNY Saffiano two-zip Shopper

So here it is girls, the content of the Selfridges bag! Apologies for the delay. I got it for my birthday in October. Hubbie and I went to the Selfridges in the Bullring and the bag I was really eyeing was the Michael Kors Travel Tote in Medium. I was really disappointed that they only had it in Small and Large and, like a child, just wanted to go home empty handed. haha I'm lucky I have a very patient and caring husband, as he convinced me to look around and check out the other bags. I found this DKNY one and loved it straight away! It's called the Saffiano Work two-zip Shopper.

I knew i was going to spend an unreasonable amount of money on this bag so I really wanted to make sure the model was simple and classic (no season trend designer bags for me -yet! haha). I love how it kind of looks like a female suitcase, I think that's very elegant! There are two straps to carry it on your arm and a longer one to wear it as a cross body. I wouldn't recommend the latter though, as I found it can really mess up the shape of the bag. This is the same material as the MK bag. I had no idea what it was, but in my head I was sure it wasn't leather. I was wrong! It's actually Saffiano leather, it's just a different treatment that the leather receives.

There are three compartments in this bag and I think it's the perfect amount of space. The middle one has a magnet to close it, it's very roomie and has 2 zipper compartments and a place for you phone. No more hunting for it in the depths of the bag! The other two compartment close with a zipper and are just as spacious and fit my iPad perfectly! Unfortunately, this bag hasn't held its shape very well. You can see the bit that stick out to the side. They used to be perfectly straight. I think that is my own fault, though, in the way I stored it. I now make sure it's always hanging instead of just sitting somewhere!

All in all, I am very happy with this bag! It's so classic and elegant, I'm getting so much use out of it! I really love this bag!