A beauty junkie in London

WIN: One of 10 John Frieda Sheer Blonde Sets

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:30:00 +0000

Sheer Blonde was one of the first ever 'higher end' shampoo and conditioners that I tried - back when I was a teenager, the idea of spending around £7/8 on a shampoo felt like a really big deal but for Sheer Blonde it was always worth it! Since then the range has extended and extended to a veritable feast of blonde-tastic good stuff for fair haired beauty lovers out there. The latest addition to the range is this Everlasting Blonde 'Everlasting Blonde' - designed to help colour treated blonde hair last longer and stay looking fresh and I have 10 sets up for grabs! Just click read more to enter via the Rafflecopter widget!

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Space NK Treats

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

Space NK has some sort of magnetic appeal to any beauty obsessed girl (or guy) a whole shop, filled with beauty treasures...including some of the most lust-worthy brands out there (Laura Mercier, Nars, Kevin Aucoin, Hourglass....the list goes on).

Last pay day I made a little trip to the branch near my house - with one item in mind...

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Aerin Summer Style Palette

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

Summer time means one thing, Summer holidays - or at very least, dreams of them! If you're going on holiday or even just want to look like you have been on one then this new Summer Style palette is the ideal partner for that. If you're travelling - this palette is a compact all you need Summer beauty. In typical Aerin style, it's simple but totally beautiful.

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Spring Shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +0000

I love a bit of a shopping spree - always at the start of the month, and then later in the month I tend to regret the spree part... but at the time it feels good and I love the bits I'm left with! So thought I'd do a little 'show and tell' about some bits I've picked up lately...

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Spring Hair Refresh: Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

The weather might not have gotten the memo, but apparently it's meant to be at *least* Spring now, if not actual Summer. So it might still be on the cooler side, but the days are long and when the sun does make an appearance it does feel rather lovely.

With any new season it's nice to have a bit of a beauty-audit, refresh the colours and products you're using and the overall look. Whilst I love being blonde year round - I do like to go as light as possible (and still keep on the natural side) during the warmer months - so when invited by Clairol to give this a shot at home I decided why not!

As part of the process of the before and after I'll also be sharing a few little insights from the nice'n'easy 'All they see is you' survey - a little peek behind the bathroom cabinet door of women in the UK...

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Perky Pink for Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

I'm about as much of a girly girl as you can get. Make-up, sparkly things, shoes, bags.... all those stereotypical girly things make it onto my love-list! But pink? Not normally my thing at all - but for some reason I've recently been leaning towards the shade more and more so decided to put together a little look with a perky pink theme... the ideal colour for a fresh Spring face!

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Bye bye Google Friend Connect...

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:22:00 +0000

A very sad day in the world of blogging is coming very soon - google is taking away google reader and it's expected that 'google friend connect' won't be far behind. It was already removed from being used on wordpress or other blogging platforms, but now it's no longer going to be available on blogger - where my blog is currently hosted.

Why is this a sad thing I hear you ask? Well...let me tell you a few reasons why...

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Three Simple Things

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

In all walks of life, things can get a bit hectic sometimes and it can be easy to forget to take some time to just chill out. I absolutely adore blogging, and wouldn't do it all on top of my day job if I didn't - but as with all hobbies that you are dedicated to doing, things can get a little exhausting and busy and then the emails start to stack up and then you end up feeling like the last thing you want to do at the end of a long day at work is fire up the laptop and click away.

So I decided to dedicate a post to this and all the simple things I turn to when my slightly double-life - social media manager by day...blogger by night - (hardly like catwoman or something) starts to make me need to take a break.

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Birchbox June

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Another beauty box to share with you! This is the latest Birchbox - which you may notice has a new look! I actually also have a little peek at what was in last months box too - which being a bad blogger I hadn't managed to post about - so this is sort of a double-header/comparison of two boxes!

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Sale picks: Clarins

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

A new little type of post for you today - a top six list of sale picks. I thought these might be interesting for any of my fellow compulsive shoppers out there! I don't know about you, I love a bargain but somtimes the idea of trawling through page after page does take the shopping-buzz edge off. So I have picked out my top six picks from the Clarins

GlossyBox June

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Another month, another little GlossyBox review to share with you - this month's box is a selection of five 'Summer Essentials'... including:

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Wedding Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

If you read THIS post then you will already know that over Christmas 2012 I got engaged. Since then I could say that life has been a whirlwind of wedding planning and food tasting and dress trying and all those things associated with preparing for the big day...but that would be a lie! In reality, for me - it's been mostly confined to the odd pinning session on Pinterest and the occasional google...

In my defence, I'm not in a rush - more than happy to be just enjoying the 'being engaged' part! But with lots of pinning comes lots of inspiration, so I thought I would share a little snapshot of the images that have been inspiring how I'd love for the day to look and feel...

Moroccanoil Dry Scalp Treatment

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +0000

What's this?! Another scalp related product that I can't help but give mention to... who says I don't like to keep things glam on A Beauty Junkie in London.... mmmm, dry scalp talk! What fun!

Slight sarcasm aside, I do like to talk about the other side of beauty - the slightly less glossy and glamorous side but equally as important. You can have all the mascara and blushers in the world but if you have a scaly/itchy/dry scalp you're never going to feel as good and as confident as you could. So fo that reason, I bring you Moroccanoil Dry Scalp Treatment!

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Maybelline Hot Plum

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

I was going through my collection of 'to blog' bits and realised I had a few of the rather gorgeous Maybelline Colour Sensational range just ready and waiting to be tried and tested - so rather than popping them all together in one post I decided to dedicate a different post to each one (and may just do a little round up comparison of them all when I'm done) but starting with with stunner - not for the faint hearted!

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Antipodes Joyful Hand & Body Cream

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Antipodes is a brand that has slowly but surely crept it's way into my much-loved skincare routine in a quiet and unassuming way it's managed to simply impress me at every turn. Much like Origins, my other go-to skincare brand this on has delivered at every try. With my latest love from the brand being this 'Joyful' Hand and Body Cream...

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Gym Beauty Essentials

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

So, after doing Barry's Bootcamp Academy followed by Hell Week I was pretty convinced I never wanted to see the inside of a gym again... but no, the opposite happened. I have signed up for another month of ~~torture~~ daily boot camps Monday to Friday. I actually think I'm hooked - I meant it when I said that I felt something had changed in my head as much as body from the last time!

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All gone a little dotty...

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

Nail art isn't exactly my forte...to say the least. You're basically lucky if I manage to keep my nails painted and chip free for a couple of days! But when it comes to nail trends I am absolutely loving the new wave of textured and patterned type of polishes that have hit the market this year - especially the spotty/polka dot trend so decided to do a little round up of the ones in my collection - ranging from high-end with Illamasqua to low end Accessorize...

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Massive dose of cuteness with #ibisbunnies

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 10:01:00 +0000

I've just stumbled across this ad from hotel chain ibis and it is without a doubt the cutest ad I've seen... as a bunny fan thanks to my two, Chip and Charlton I couldn't resist a quick share as it made my Saturday morning... click for more to watch the Behind the Scenes video too (equally as cute)....

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Butter London Summer Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:14:00 +0000

Boots has been really upping it's nail game recently - with the addition of Essie, Sinful colours and the wonderful Butter London. I have to be honest and say that Butter London is one of the most lust-worthy nail brands I have come across. Everything from the shade selection to the names to the packaging appeals to me! So in honour of them now being on sale in larger Boots stores, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the Summer collection:

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Guerlain Mascara

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0000

Guerlain really is the top end of the luxe market, with pure gorgeous packaging and gorgeous, eternally classically sophisticated products. This golden packaged mascara is the perfect example of this - with a sleek and golden tube that's curved and smooth and one of those products that just makes you feel like you want to stroke it. Maybe that's just me... but it is just lovely!

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Barry M Gelly High Shine Nail Paint

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 08:20:00 +0000

I'm going to cut right to the point on these nail colours - I love them. It's not just the colours though, the Barry M Gelly Shine Nail Paints are amazing. Truly, if you haven't tried them - you're missing out. Big time.

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The Bobbi Brown Face

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 13:18:00 +0000

Now, as much as I am obsessed with beauty, I don't consider myself any sort of expert. But I have tried far more than my fair share of beauty offerings so I do tend to get asked a lot of questions - the most popular being 'What's your favourite brand?' which I have to be honest, is a really tough one.

I've never been a one-brand woman, so wouldn't be able to pick a single favourite, but this question did get me thinking - what if I was a one-brand woman and resigned myself to do a single brand, whole face look. And hence this new post, kicking off a one-brand face series (catchy title, I know) - this is the Bobbi Brown face, as it sort of implies - a full face using only Bobbi Brown products.

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Topshop Makeup Brow Pencil

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 09:46:00 +0000

If 2012 was all about lips then 2013 has to be the year of the brow - with the Queen of the trend being Cara Delevigne. As a previous brow-neglector I have discovered this year the HUGE difference a little bit of brow-filling can make to the face. Especially if you have pale brows like myself - that little added definition that a brow fill-in offers makes such a distinct difference to the face. Making everything look that bit more polished and 'done', even if the only other make-up I'm wearing is a slick of mascara and dab of concealer.

What can be challenging, if you have pale brows is to find a pencil that is pale enough but still adds something - without too much warmth making brows look more golden/ginger than they are naturally. Something with a cool under tone, but still warm enough not to look grey. So in comes the Topshop Makeup Brow Pencil...

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Bed Head Small Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Fri, 31 May 2013 06:53:00 +0000

TIGI Bed Head products are loud and proud, everything about them tends to stand out. The packaging, the names, the smell. They're really head-turners (no pun intended) when it comes to hair styling and a few little gems have made it into my daily rotation including this little ball of amazingness.

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Nivea In-Shower Body Moisturiser

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Riley) — Thu, 30 May 2013 07:00:00 +0000

Nivea's newest launch has been causing quite a buzz in blog-land recently with the launch of it's In-shower body moisturiser, so I went on a little mission to hunt it down. Now, it wasn't exactly hidden or anything like that so 'hunt it down' is probably an exaggeration, but I did at first look in the shower gel aisle of Superdrug - which led to the other two shower gel purchases... but more on those in a moment!

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