flutter and sparkle

Popbands in new summer colours

2013-05-25T17:00:00.000+01:00

You might remember a while back when I reviewed popbands for the first time in this post. Since then some new summer colours have been launched and I got to play with two brightly coloured multi-packs.

Popbands are dubbed the 'no rip, no slip hair band' because they're so much kinder to your hair than your normal skinny elastic hair bands which can often tangle and pull out bits of hair as well as feeling either too tight or too loose in you hair and leaving a dent to show where they've been. Popbands solve all of these issues and they do it with style.

This is the *peace multipack from the new Summer range. You get 5 popbands in the pack in bright summer colours and the design is almost a subtle tie-dye effect as the colours fade in a random pattern.

The other popbands I tried out are from the *glo multipack which contains 5 hot neon popbands. I love the bright pink and yellow.

Because I didn't explain what popbands are quite clearly enough last time I blogged about them I thought I'd try to demo a little better! Although there's a knotted end on each band you don't need to do any tying or untying - it's a really stretchy band of fabric which you can use to tie your hair up in a pony tail or in a big messy bun on the top of your head - which is what I do every evening.

They're also the perfect size for keeping on your wrist when you're not wearing your hair up but might feel the need later on if your hair is making you hot or getting in the way.

You can see the whole popbands range here - thepopband.com - or if you're looking for the summer colours you'll find them here. The multipacks of 5 cost £6 each.

Rio professional teeth whitening kit

2013-05-24T10:30:00.000+01:00

I think I've probably mentioned on the blog before that I'm keen to get my teeth whitened. I've looked into laser teeth-whitening a few times but to be really honest I'm a little bit afraid of it and I'm not entirely sure why! I plucked up the courage once and booked in and then on the day I was due to go I came down with a sickness bug - I think I was relieved to have a good excuse to chicken out! I haven't gotten around to manning up and re-booking yet, and perhaps I won't need to as Rio have sent me a teeth whitening kit I can use myself for some less scary at home teeth whitening instead.

Rio have a huge range of professional beauty solutions covering dental hygiene, electrolysis, eyebrow threading, nail art and loads more. I've tried their roller waxer before and was very impressed with it, so I'm quite confident about trying out the teeth whitener. I'm also thinking about trying their 14 day UV polish kit which is like a gel top and base coat you can use with normal nail polish colours to make a mani it last for two weeks - my nails usually chip in two days so that would be amazing!

So anyway, I thought I'd introduce the teeth whitening kit to you now and share my first impressions, and then I'll do another post after I've been using it and hopefully I'll have some impressive before and after shots of my pearly whites.

I've tried teeth whitening strips before - the stronger ones you get from the US - but I didn't get on very well with them. I didn't like the feel of the strips on my teeth and (sorry if this is too much information!) I felt like my mouth was filling with saliva and I just couldn't stand keeping them on for very long. Teeth whitening toothpastes only ever brighten slightly or whiten by a single shade, so I'm really hoping this kit will be the answer for me.

*Rio's professional teeth whitening system costs £79.99 and it really does look rather clinical and very professional to me. It comes with mouthpieces which you mould to the shape of your own mouth (by popping them in hot water) for a neat fit, the whitening gels and then the machine which delivers the blue-light technology to do the whitening magic. You only need to use it for 20 minutes at a time - so that sounds much more appealing to me than the strips I'd tried before which you were supposed to keep in all night.

I'm not sure how many times I'll need to use the kit to get the level of bright whiteness I'm after (not quite Simon Cowell gnashers but close!) so I'll give it a go and then report back with some comparisons to see how much whiter my teeth are.

If you've got any teeth whitening tips for me, please leave them in the comments - I'd love to know if you've tried something like this too and how you got on.

How I store my perfumes / my perfume collection

2013-05-23T10:30:00.000+01:00

I like having plenty of choice when it comes to perfume and have loads of bottles on the go at once, but storing them can become a bit of a problem. Most of the perfumes I like come in really pretty bottles, so it's a shame to store them away when they could look so good displayed nicely. I wanted to come up with a way to keep the bottles tidy at the same time as being a bit of a feature.

What I came up with in the end was quick and easy to put together, so I thought I'd share it with you. All you need is a wire fruit or cake stand with a few tiers like this one from Homebase and something to line it with so that the bottles don't fall over - I used this drawer liner material from Ikea.

The drawer liner comes on a roll so I rolled it out and roughly measured the base of each tier and drew a circle to cut around. I then cut a slit half way across from an outer edge to the centre of the circle to fit them around the base of each tier. No need to do this for the top tier on my stand as the central support only goes through tier two and three.

Without the liner I found that most of my perfumes wouldn't stay upright in the stand and the wire base of the tiers wasn't sturdy enough for them. The drawer liner provides a more even surface and some grip against the glass bottles.

I also used to use a cake stand like this to store and display my lush bath bombs and bubble bars but I found they didn't last so well being out in the air and direct sunlight - they keep much better now that I store them in a big tin.

So that's literally it - all that was left do was to fill the stand with my prettiest perfumes and admire my new storage solution / pretty display.

It seems as good a time as any to have a little walk through some of my current scents - first of all here we have all of my Marc Jacobs perfumes. As you can see I have a fair few - I always seem to like the fragrances Marc Jacobs brings out - the bottles are gorgeous and the scents are lovely too - they're usually really girlie and I've loved all of the ones I've tried. I'm really looking forward to adding the newest one - honey - to my collection.

The original Daisy is probably my favourite as I think I'm on my third or fourth bottle now. Daisy eau so fresh (sunshine edition with the brightly coloured flowers) is my current favourite as it's the newest addition to my collection. It's not actually on my perfume stand as I've been keeping it on my dressing table and obsessing over how pretty it is for the last few weeks or so! Dot has a lovely fresh fragrance and such a fabulous bottle design, as does Lola, although that's probably my least favourite of the bunch. Kumquat is one of the tropical splash perfumes which I bought on a whim when I was delayed at an airport - the bottle doesn't stand out next to its more extravagant cousins but I love the fragrances and keep meaning to buy the others from the same range - they're quite reasonably priced too.

And these are some of my other favourites from a variety of different brands.

L'Occitane's Pivoine delicate was one of my firm favourites this time last year and I still love this gorgeous floral scent - I blogged about it here. Nina by Nina Ricci is a fragrance I've repurchased a couple of times - it's quite reasonable and makes a great every day perfume. In total contrast is Dior's J'adore which is probably the most expensive perfume I own - it's the one I think of as my signature fragrance and I've got through countless bottles of this - I always ask for one at Christmas to keep my supplies going! I've been wearing this perfume on and off for about 7 years or so - it's a go to fragrance for me for any special or important occasion - it somehow makes me feel more ladylike and sophisticated when I wear it. Lastly I have two fairly new perfumes. Vera Wang princess, which I mainly bought because I liked the bottle - I saw it in a gift set at half price to I bought it without trying it - luckily I liked the sweet and fruity scent. Victoria's Secret Angel has a lovely show-stopping bottle too, although I made sure I liked the fragrance before I bought this one in duty free on my way home from Canada. I have the matching body spray to this too and like to layer them up to make the fragrance last longer.

How do you store your perfume? What's your favourite?

My Barry M gelly polish collection

2013-05-21T10:30:00.000+01:00

I've found myself getting more and more colours from the Barry M gelly polish collection since the sun has started to shine. I really love the thick and glossy formula of these polishes and I think they're pretty amazing for their £3.99 price tag. As I've bought a few new colours recently I thought I'd show you all of the gelly polishes I own.

I was about to say which of these is my favourite but I really can't choose. Pomegranate and Watermelon and more winter colours, so they're not coming out to play much at the moment - the polish I've worn the most out of all of these is Lychee - it's the perfect classic nude. I'm loving all of the brights and have been having fun wearing them all at once like in this. I was wearing papaya just the other day, which is much more coral than orange when it's on, and I currently have grapefruit on my toes.

I'm a little bit crazy for these polishes at the moment and as some more summer colours have just been launched I can;t see my obsession ending any time soon!

You can pick up the Barry M gelly polishes for £3.99 from Boots and Superdrug where they're currently on 3 for 2.

Can you pick a favourite?

Simple sun-kissed moisture cream review

2013-05-20T10:30:00.001+01:00

I hadn't used a gradual tanning product on my face for years until I tried this one from Simple. In the past I think I'd tried one which wasn't so gradual, so I noticed my hands turning a bit orange and a tell-tale mark on my neck too. This one from Simple is so gradual I didn't think it was even doing anything until I started to look a bit more alive on day three and then I realised it had been working away subtly in the background.

The cream itself is nice and light so I was using it as my morning moisturiser until I decided I needed to use a more mattifying moisturiser in the day for the warmer weather because of my oily combination skin. I switched to using the *Simple sun-kissed moisture cream at night instead for the same gradual glow effect.

This is a pleasant gradual tan moisturiser to use without the typical fake tan biscuits smell, and it has UVA and UVB protection too, so perfect if you're going to use it as your day cream.

When I'm not wearing foundation on lazy days at home this gives me a more even and healthy looking complexion. When I am wearing foundation, it adds a lovely warmth and glow to my skin. I can see me using this throughout the summer as I totally avoid catching any sort of natural tan on my face these days because it's just too ageing.

You can pick this up for just £4.99 at Boots and all skincare is currently on 3 for 2.

Little updates

2013-05-19T15:20:00.002+01:00

It's snooping time! I've almost been forgetting to instragram things lately - odd because it's usually my number one obsession. The other day I ate out for dinner and didn't take a single photo - I must rectify this situation immediately!

1 - adding even more Barry M gelly polishes to my collection

2 - being indecisive and wearing all of the colours at once

3 - rainbow glitter nails

4 - wearing Barry M gelly in Papaya

1 - Boots / Debenhams beauty haul

2 - doing a micellar water blind trial with escentual.com

3 - duty-free haul from Gatwick

4 - I've been away in Edinburgh for work (and as you can tell I've discovered the 'a beautiful mess' iphone app!)

1 - rainbow first birthday party of dreams

2 - our fabulous rainbow cake

3 - cokes with our names on

4 - the space NK goodie bag

5 - in love with my new Steve Madden shoes

6 - hedgehog birthday cake - not so diet friendly

1 - roasted peppers stuffed with mushroom risotto

2 - diet coke chicken noodles (yes really)

3 - chicken korma with bombay potatoes and rice

4 - diet friendly barbecue food

5 - I've been eating lots of salads

6 - diet friendly burger and chips

Practically all of the food I've been insagramming lately is Slimming World diet friendly. I've just completed four weeks on the diet so as promised I'm going to put a post together which explains what it's all about and I'll share a few recipes too.

Sad news about my giveaway to win a Jacava candy floss polish - unfortunately this giveaway has been removed from by blog. Despite the company approaching me to run the giveaway on their behalf in honour of skin cancer awareness month, their marketing manager sent me some rather unfriendly emails purely because I said entrants to the competition had to be a follower of my blog - crime of the century eh?! Unfortunately despite me agreeing to change the giveaway rules the prizes were still withdrawn which I think is very mean spirited considering the giveaway was to raise awareness for a cancer charity! Unfortunately there can't now be ten winners, but because I don't want you guys to be affected by this issue I've decided to pick one winner who will receive a selection of Nails Inc polishes provided by me. Nails Inc are one of my favourite polish brands anyway so I hope you won't be disappointed. I've chosen the winner from the original entries and it's Emily Grace.

I've had such a hectic couple of weeks what with helping out to prepare the rainbow party (which I blogged about here) and with being away for work. Things are calming down now so I should be able to get back to daily blogging - I'm bursting with new products I can't wait to share :)

If you want to follow me on instagram you'll find me there as fluttersparkle and don't forget to enter my main giveaway if you haven't already - there's a hefty box full of prizes to win - most of them things we can't easily get in the UK - check it out here.

Have a great week xx

Getting summer ready legs with Veet (eeek pasty skin alert!) #veetdaretobare

2013-05-18T13:00:00.000+01:00

Veet set me their #veetdaretobare challenge to get my legs summer ready and very kindly supplied me with all the bits I'd need to prepare for unleashing my legs back into the world again, including some flip flops and some sunglasses - are they to keep me from blinding myself with the pasty whiteness of my legs eh Veet?!

I really love summer, but that transition period from the safety of winter's woolly tights is one that fills me with dread. The sun comes out for its first few appearances and I know my cosy comfort blanket is about to be ripped away. It's time to man up and shed those winter scales!

Veet have helped me ease into the process this year by sending me their *easy wax electrical roll on kit. I've tried this before and I really like it - I almost enjoy waxing and don't find it all that painful at all - I think it's really satisfying to see the hairs you've caught on the strips even if that makes me a bit of a weirdo! The wax is pink too, which adds a bit of fun to the whole experience as well as making waxing easy as you can see exactly where you've put the wax. I have a full review on this kit here and I've also just seen that Veet have now brought out another version of this kit for sensitive skin. I've also got a refill of the body wax - I find I can get at three to four full leg waxes from each cartridge.

Veet also sent me another of their *precision wax & care face kits - of course I'd rid myself of any pesky upper-lip and brow hair at any time of year, but this would come in particularly handy to take on holidays with you as all you need is some boiling water to use it. I'm still using the first kit I got as you really don't need a lot of the wax for small areas - there's a review on the kit here.

So without putting it off any further, here's me daring to bear the legs.... all I need now is some fake tan and some sunshine! Thanks Veet, that wasn't so scary after all :)

Are you ready to get your legs out for summer or have you been brave already?

kiko long lasting colour lip markers

2013-05-14T10:30:00.000+01:00

Lots of brands have brought out lip markers - felt-tip pen style lip stains - in the last year or so, and I kept meaning to try one but I wasn't really sure as I thought you might need super smooth lips to pull them off. I just thought they'd probably have a really drying formula.

Recently I was sent these *lip markers from KIKO, so I'm finally giving the lip pen formula a try. The colours I have are a bright pinkish red, a fuchsia pink and a more orangey-red. The pink is my favourite and I couldn't wait to try it on, so I gave it a go without even prepping my lips and was surprised at how easily it went on without making my lips look flakey.

As these are a stain product I expected them to be long-lasting - I got around 4 hours wear from each application, even when I was getting through lots of cups of tea. The finish is matte and you get great colour payoff.

I'm really pleased with these - lip markers weren't a product I necessarily expected to get along with, but I've really enjoyed using them. They apply really easily too - I sometimes make a few mistakes applying a bright colour but I find the felt tip style of these makes it easy to be precise, even when I'm reapplying during the day. My only negative is that my pink pen seems to have dried out a bit, I'm not sure if I managed to leave it with the lid off some how or something - the other colours are fine.

The KIKO lip markers come in 8 different colours and cost £6.90 each from kikocosmetics.co.uk

Have you tried a lip marker before?

MAC baking beauties pearlmatte face powder in pink buttercream

2013-05-13T10:30:00.000+01:00

I don't often buy much from new MAC collections - they're so frequent you could literally spend a fortune. If something does catch my eye it's usually one of the limited edition lipsticks, but when I took a peak at the Baking Beauties collection I instantly new I was going to break that trend when I saw this pretty.

I've never bought a MAC powder before other than a MSF natural, and I didn't really expect to get one, but this was just too beautiful to pass up on. The pearlmatte face powder in pink buttercream is a gorgeous pale pink powder with a shimmer. The gorgeous floral pattern is made up of four shades - white, peach, pink and lilac.

Each of the elements swatched separately - white, peach, pink, lilac.

Much as it pains me to mess up something so beautiful, here's a swatch of the colours swirled together. A shimmery white-pink highlight.

I didn't need it, but I wanted it so bad, and it makes me happy just to look at it :)

Have you bought anything from the MAC Baking Beauties collection?

How to throw a rainbow first birthday party!

2013-05-12T15:43:00.001+01:00

I love a bit of baking and DIY so a themed birthday party is right up my street. My best friend's baby girl has just turned one, so I thought I'd show you what we got up to for her first birthday party. Heather picked a rainbow theme for the party which gave us lots of scope to go crazy with colour....

Our table centrepiece was made up of a large birthday cake surrounded by rainbow cupcakes. They took forever to make but looked so good once they were all lined up together.

When the cake was cut the final rainbow surprise was revealed!

Scrummy rainbow cookies made by Zara - lucky I'm on a diet because I could have scoffed the whole plate of these they were so good.

Marshmallow pops made by threading large marshmallows onto a stick and then dipping them in chocolate and covering them in rainbow sprinkles. We used rainbow drops in a vase to stand up some of the pops.

Rainbow fruit platter with marshmallow clouds! I love how this turned out, it's so pretty.

Multi-coloured sweeties in large jars / vases.

Rainbow party bags for the kiddies.

Check out that spread - there was also some real food to help people out of their sugar coma!

And of course the birthday girl with her beautiful mummy. She's not looking totally impressed here, I get the feeling she didn't quite appreciate all of our efforts. I'll remind her when she's older!

I made Isla's little birthday outfit to go along with her rainbow party theme. I designed the babygrow and had it professionally printed. The rainbow tutu was made using a few metres of bright netting and pink ribbon I bought on ebay and I made bow for her shoes from the leftovers. I bought the baby shoes and leggings from Primark and used left over ribbon to stitch a little bow on to a hairband - shockingly she didn't pull it out of her hair! I loved that she wore the outfit I made, and that she had the decency not to throw up on it.

I can't wait to find out what themed we'll get to play with next year!

What do you think of our rainbow party? Isn't Isla the cutest? :)

April beauty favourites

2013-05-11T12:00:00.000+01:00

Okay okay so I know we're nearly half the way through May, but I still wanted to share my favourite products from April with you. I missed March favourites partly because of my laptop disaster, and also because the products I was using hadn't really changed since February. But, now that spring is finally here I've completely changed up lots of my products, some through want and some due to need because of the effects the changing weather has on my skin.

I love pretty spring makeup and can't resist purchasing new things at this time of year. I instantly fell in love with the world famous neutrals palettes from Benefit - I bought two of the three that came out earlier in the year, but this one's my favourite - glamorous nudes. I must swatch this again soon (yep, lost all the original photos) and do a full review. This goes so well with the sweetheart blush from Too Faced - I really fell for the packing with this beauty but it's a gorgeous blush too, so I'm really pleased I bought it and I've worn it loads. In the back here you can also see I've been making a huge dent in my hello flawless powder - I reviewed that here and I'm still loving Benefit's fake up concealer which you can read about here.

I've tried a few new shampoos this month but my best new discovery is the full detox shampoo from Ojon. I made a bit of a mistake when I bought this as I thought it was a shampoo for every day, but it's actually one you should only use every few weeks or once a week at the most. My hair feels cleaner than I can explain when I use this shampoo. It's a lot like Bumble and Bumble's Sunday shampoo. Also on the subject of hair I finally got around to buying one of the Elnett heat protection sprays after one of my friends recommended them to me. I bought the one for straight hair and it's really good for giving a smooth finish when blow drying without adding any greasiness or heaviness.

I've had to change up my moisturiser because the warmer weather has left my face a shiny mess most days. The *Good Things miracle mattifier has been doing a great job - I still get shiny, but this makes a good difference to how shiny - it smells really nice too and is a good base for makeup. I now need to find a new eye primer as my shadow has been creasing like crazy on my oily lids - I always used to use Urban Decay's primer potion but it's stopped working for me - sad face.

And lastly here you can see my new favourite perfume of the moment - Marc Jacobs Daisy eau so fresh sunshine - don't even get me started on how gorgeous the bottle is. The fragrance is lovely too - a lighter more summery version of the original daisy, which I also really like.

My spring lips have been a mixture of pinks, peaches and corals. Left to right these are YSL rouge volupte in 8 - kissable rose, MAC haute altitude, MAC cut a caper and Revlon lip butter in creamsicle.

After I went along to the Bioderma launch as well as getting to try out their world famous micellar waters, I was also given a tube of the *Sébium pore refiner which I've been really impressed with. It does exactly what it says on the tube - it instantly makes my enlarged pores look smaller and much less noticeable. I didn't expect it to be half as good as it is and now it's part of my daily routine.

Lastly an old favourite in a new shade. Esteé Lauder double wear is my holy grail foundation but I've always had a bit of trouble getting the exact shade right. Even when I was properly matched at a counter I found the shade a bit dark so I've had another go myself and am now wearing Fresco, although I sometimes mix it with what's left of my darker colour to get a really perfect match. Nothing else I've tried compares to double wear for my oily combination skin - it's an all time favourite.

Are any of these products your favourites too?

Models Own hedkandi 2013 collection - sunset chillout and bora bora review and swatches

2013-05-10T12:00:00.000+01:00

We all know models own make some fabulous polishes, and there have been some great collections coming out lately (iced neons, fruit pastels and nail art pens), but when they release polishes in association with hedkandi, you always know there's something a little bit extra special on the way.

The latest hedkandi releases don't disappoint. *Sunset chillout and *bora bora are just crying out to be worn all summer long. I thought I couldn't get excited about another gold polish, but bora bora has a special edge - it really does remind me of golden sandy beaches with its subtle fine glitter. It works perfectly as a full coverage polish in two coats too.

Sunset chillout is this year's answer to Ibiza Mix (I'm still in love with that polish too) - it's a multi-coloured, mixed-size glitter polish dominated by chunky blue glitter. There's enough glitter packed in for it to be worn alone - although that's not my favourite look as I have an aversion to naked nails - but it looks great over pretty much any colour. Here I'm wearing it over models own pastel pink as I thought it contrasted really well with the blue glitter in sunset chillout.

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of Models Own's new Splash collection which is due to hit the shelves of Boots on 15 May - how beautiful are these sparklers?

From left to right they're called aqua splash, pink paradise, red sea, golden shores and mermaid tears. I hope they look as good as this in real life!

Have you tried any of the new models own collections?

Cath Kidston Bicester Village outlet haul

2013-05-09T11:00:00.000+01:00

I mentioned in this post about my sneaky Mulberry purchase, that I'd been to the Bicester Village outlets in Oxford. While I was there I couldn't resist a good raid of the Cath Kidston outlet, so I thought I'd show you what I picked up.

My best bargain was probably this bag. It's a really roomy shopper sort of bag - too big for me for every day probably, but great for times when I have a lot of junk to lug around. It has expandable sides too, so you can really cram a lot in here if you need to. I really like the pretty pink floral print on a deep grey background and this was only £16 so it would have been rude not to buy it!

I also bought a set of four star print mugs which come in a pretty tin. They don't go with my kitchen at all, so like a bit of a mad woman I'm putting them away for when I get my new kitchen in the future. They were £12.50 reduced from £25.

More star prints, but in different colours - I bought this massive clear umbrella. I've always liked the clear domed sort of umbrellas and used to buy them a lot years ago. This one's a regular umbrella shape rather than a dome and it seems really sturdy compared to the flimsy domed ones I used to have. It was raining and snowing when I was in Oxford, so I justified this purchase as a necessity! I had the tag snipped off in the shop for me, so I'm not sure of the exact price -I'm sure it was somewhere between £12 and £15.

In this photo you can also see my new Cath Kidston table cloth - this was an intended purchase as I've wanted one for ages. I bought the large size for my big dining room table and it was about £25.

On my way to the till I added a few more unnecessary items - a cute little makeup bag and purse. I sort of needed the purse as when I use a small handbag my long Ted Baker purse doesn't fit inside, but I really didn't need another makeup bag! The makeup bag was £6 and the little clasp purse was £4.

As they had some of my favourite prints in stock I also grabbed a couple of pretty tea towels for £4 each.

And lastly another thing to hoard until my new kitchen is these pretty nesting tins. They were £10.50 and I had to have them as this is probably my all time favourite Cath Kidston print - provence rose.

So all in all I was very impressed with the Cath Kidston outlet - lots of the things I bought are still being sold on cathkidston.co.uk for full price, so they definitely felt like bargains and I can't wait to see what they'll have next time.

Are you a Cath Kidston fan? What's your favourite print?

Illamasqua Paranormal collection - Hydra Veil, Gleam - Supernatural and Ouija UV nail polish review and swatches

2013-05-08T10:30:00.000+01:00

In this post I showed you the new Paranormal collection from Illamasqua and shared my first impressions. Now it's time to get up close and personal with some of the products I was lucky enough to take home with me.

I should have saved the best until last really, but first up we have *Hydra Veil. I thought this would be amazing as soon as I saw it and felt it. I knew it would be amazing after David Horne explained exactly what it was, how it was developed and what it could do. It was confirmed to be amazing the first time I tried it at home in the morning as part of my usual routine. I can't get enough of this - I may need to request David to start selling a jumbo value tub version.

Hydra Veil is not a primer or a moisturiser, it's an in between sort of prepping product which hydrates the skin making makeup application much smoother and giving a more perfect end result, especially around areas prone to being dry or flakey. It's perfect for oily or combination skin like mine as although I have areas which produce oil-a-plenty, so I avoid any heavy creams and moisturisers, I also get some odd dry patches such as around my nose and lips. Hydra Veil is also great for the under-eye area which can be an issue for most people - our eyes always look more awake and younger when the delicate skin around them is nicely plumped and hydrated.

I had a long chat with David Horne about my skin and he was kind enough to listen to me moaning and gave me lots of tips. One of the things he realised I was getting really wrong for my skin type is that I tend to exfoliate in the morning with a gentle daily facial exfoliating product - he told me that this is making my skin rough and angry in the morning when I'm trying to create a smooth base for makeup - common sense really! I've now relegated my exfoliating to night-time only and wow he was right, it makes a huge difference. One morning I exfoliated accidentally without thinking and really noticed the problems it caused me when I came to put on my makeup.

The first time used Hydra Veil I just put it on my dry areas - my foundation (Esteé Lauder double wear) applied smoothly even in the places where I'm used to it getting patchy or cakey. I knew I was on to a winner so the next day I applied Hydra Veil on my whole face before my makeup and it was simply perfect - I even noticed that my foundation seemed to last longer and looked better at the end of a long day than it does usually. You only need a little scoop of Hydra Veil for your whole face, so I'm hoping the jar will last me between 4 - 6 weeks and I shall definitely be purchasing when I run out.

Hydra Veil is said to be really good with Illamasqua's skin base foundation, especially if skin base doesn't usually work for you. I've owned skin base for a long time, but found it didn't seem to sit right on my skin - it's also a bit of a bad shade match for me - too dark - so I didn't persevere with it so much. I tried using Hydra Veil with skin base and it made application really even so I thought all the problems were fixed. But, by the end of the day I noticed the foundation had clumped in some patches and it had also oxidised on my skin and had gone a bit darker - my skin is extremely oily in places, so I think that's why skin base doesn't work for me, even when I combine it with the wonder that is Hydra Veil.

The other exciting thing about Hydra Veil is it's unique consistency and levelling qualities. Whilst I thought it was just a lot of fun to make it slime and goop around and to swirl it up and then watch it all slither back into a completely smooth tub full again, I'm also geeking out on the science bit. How they make Hydra Veil self-level in the tub no matter how much you try to wreck it I don't know, but it's going to do the same magic trick on your face to even and smooth the surface. Genius.

Next I got to play with one of the *UV nail polishes from the Paranormal collection. This shimmery pink is Ouija. It's a multi-faceted polish, almost like a cross between a muted fine glitter and a subtle shimmer. In natural light it has a slightly pearlescent shine to it - very other worldly! Under a black light - unfortunately I don't have one to demonstrate - the polish glows a white hot pink. Perfect for wearing to a club, theme park (I'm thinking of the spooky rides) or anywhere Hallowe'en related where there's likely to be black light so that you can show this off. If you aren't encountering any black light, it's equally pretty as it is in natural daylight as well as being an excellent quality and hard-wearing polish.

And finally I got to try out Illamasqua's new *gleam highlighter in the shade supernatural. This one confused me a bit as I usually expect my highlighters to be a little bit paler in colour, but hey this is Illamasqua so nothing should surprise me really! I think this would be an amazing highlight on a deep skin tone - on me, as I have dark hair and medium skin, it actually looks perfect as a shimmery blush come bronzer. It's a very buildable cream product - I've swatched it very heavily, but you can also get a much more subtle wash of colour from this too. I think it'll look even better on me once I've gotten around to a bit of fake tanning.

I've ordered the new gel liner from the Paranormal collection and I'm really excited to get my hands on it, so I'll share my thoughts on that as soon as I can.

Illamasqua's paranormal collection is available now from Illamasqua.com, Selfridges and Debenhams.

What do you think of the products I tried out? Do they interest you?

Baking a teapot birthday cake

2013-05-07T10:30:00.000+01:00

Cup of tea? Slice of cake? Not sure which one you'll get from this beauty! I helped my bestie bake this cake for her Nan's 80th birthday - isn't it amazing?

I started out taking photos for a step-by-step tutorial on how to make this cake, but in the end we got too stressed out as we made the whole thing in one evening at the same time as baking and icing 30 cupcakes, so there wasn't so much time for posing for pictures. Instead I thought I could just talk you through what we did.

So to get the basic teapot body shape, we baked the cake in two halves using round pyrex bowls and a standard madeira cake recipe. This gave us two half circles which we put together. We trimmed the round end of both halves - more for the bottom piece to give a flatter surface for the cake's base.

The two halves of cake were sandwiched together with buttercream and jam, and we used trimmed wooden kebab skewers through the middle to keep it together. This was more difficult than it sounds!

Next we iced the cake with a thin layer of buttercream to capture all of the crumbs and to give us a tacky surface for the outer icing. The outer icing was made with one pack of white royal icing and one pack of pink mixed together to give this pale pink colour. We rolled it out in a big circle before draping it over the cake, cutting off the excess and tucking in the edges. To make the edges look neat we rolled left-over icing into little balls and make a pearl like decoration around the base.

The teapot lid was also just cut from the same icing and we decorated it with little balls of icing again and a large one for the top.

The spout and handle were made in advance from white royal icing and cocktail sticks - Heather made these a couple of days before so that there was time for the icing to harden. We attached these to the cake with skewers again and ran into a bit of difficulty as they were quite brittle and threatened to break, but with a bit of patching up we managed to keep them in once piece.

Finally we used left-over buttercream to stick on pretty little sugar flowers - we cheated and got these ready-made from ebay!

And there you have it - it sounds a lot easier than it was! Set aside a good few hours if you're thinking about making something like this, and enlisting a friend for an extra pair of hands really helps too!

What do you think? Does it look like a proper teapot?

L'Oreal Ever Riche sulphate free shampoo, conditioner and hair mask review

2013-05-06T10:00:00.000+01:00

I've been trying out some new products from L'Oreal's hair expertese range. *Ever Riche has now been added to the collection - it's designed for very dry hair - it has no sulphates and it's made with botanical oils.

I decided to go for the 'very dry and rebellious' version - there's also a choice for dry but fine hair. I have greasy roots but very dry and coarse ends to mid-lengths, so although I knew my roots might not like these products, I knew the rest of my hair might.

For a no sulphates product the shampoo lathers much better than I expected. It's not a massive amount of lather like a regular shampoo, but it's a lot more than some of the 'natural' shampoos I've tried that sometimes feel like they're not even cleaning my hair. I like to do the squeak test, and my hair squeaks after using the Ever Riche shampoo, so I know it's completely clean.

I've been using the shampoo and conditioner daily over the last two weeks and I love the smell of the conditioner - it's an almondy sort of fragrance and it smells really lovely. The shampoo smells the same, but the fragrance is stronger in the conditioner. I only put the conditioner on the ends and mid-lengths of my hair, as I would with any conditioner. I just leave it on for a minute or so before rinsing through and it leaves my hair easy to detangle and pretty soft by the time it's dry. I do find my roots get greasy by night time when I use these products, which I expected seeing as I have oily roots and I'm using a product for dry hair, but as I'm an every day washer anyway, it's not really a problem.

The nourishing intense mask is a conditioning treatment you can use once a week. I've only tried this once so far, and left it on my hair for a good while when I was having a bath. It has the same lovely fragrance and is a really thick and creamy conditioner - I'm really impressed with the quality of this considering its price. I can't tell a whole lot of difference between using the conditioner and the hair mask - they both leave my hair feeling softer and more hydrated. I've only used the mask once so far so that's probably why I've not noticed more of a difference between the two - using it every week I'd expect to see a my hair looking less damaged too.

You can buy L'Oreal Ever Riche at Boots and the whole hair expertese range is currently on 3 for 2.

Have you tried any of the L'Oreal Hair Expertese range?

My Spring wish list

2013-05-05T20:09:00.002+01:00

I'm fighting a serious desire to shop for pretty spring things today, so I thought I'd pop up a wish list instead of spending any real money.

I have tonnes of blazers, but for some reason I've decided I need a pale blue one in my life and this one from Zara is exactly like the one I'd made up in my head. Next are the sunglasses I've been lusting after for a while - lots of places are selling this sort of floral adorned style this year but these are my favourites. I'm slowly increasing my Barry M gelly polish collection and can't wait to snap up even more of their pretty spring shades. The amazing tan heels are something else I dreamt up - these are the sort of shoes I want to wear with my spring wardrobe for work - I spent hours trying to find something like the ones I'd imagined and now I've found them they're a bit more than I wanted to pay, but they're fabulous. On the more bargainous shoe front, how cute are the flats from Zara? Next I've been eyeing up swimwear - I'm dieting at the moment so looking at holiday destinations and beachwear is one of the things I do to motivate myself! Lastly something that's not even out yet, so no danger of me spending, is the new Honey fragrance from Marc Jacobs. I know I'm being totally sucked in by the bottle but I just love it - I'm sure I'll be a fan of the scent too, I've never met a MJ fragrance I didn't like so far.

Also on my hitlist for May, I need some new reading glasses for work - I've been browsing here and have my heart set on a cat-eyed Dior pair, my Mum's birthday is coming up so I'm hoping to get her tickets for Cirque Du Soleil London and finally and ever so boringly, I think I'm going to have to pay for a little trip to the dentist as I have a super sensitive tooth that probably needs a filling - the last thing I want to spend my cash on!

Because I've started Slimming World I'm steering myself away from clothing related purchases as much as possible - if I'm serious about losing weight I don't need to buy clothes until I'm smaller - well that's what I keep telling myself! Shoes are allowed though of course, and make-up - I may have treated myself to a little gem from the MAC baking beauties collection - nothing motivates better than MAC!

What's on your wish list for Spring?

New beauty box offering - Beauteco Box - choose your samples!

2013-05-04T10:00:00.000+01:00

There's a new beauty box subscriptions service on the scene - welcome the Beauteco Box!

So, my first impressions of the Beauteco box. I was surpised the outer packaging didn't contain another box or bag - purely because that's what I'm used to with other subscription boxes. It's probably more environmentally friendly as it's not wasting any extra packaging and I really don't need to collect any more empty boxes! I like the cute little drawings on the outside and the inside of the box too, they're a nice touch. I also like the bright colours inside the box although it's a bit of a shame that we have the standard bow, tissue, sticker and shredding that so many beauty box companies use - I start to wonder if they're all put together in the same factory or something! It's not a problem of course, I just find it odd that Beauteco have followed that same trend when in other ways they're setting themselves apart as being a different service.

Inside the *Beauteco Box I found the following products - Dr Brandt Age Management moisturiser, Mitchell & Peach Body Cream, Melvita Rose Cleansing Oil, Anatomicals Body Scrub and Anatomicals Vitamin Enriched Hand Cream. Most beauty boxes contain 5 products, but the beauteco box feels like a more generous helping as all of the products are either very substantial sample sizes or full sized products.

The biggest and best difference between Beauteco and other beauty boxes is that I knew what the contents of my box would be before I received it. I got to make some choices about what I was being sent from a selection of three different boxes, so I could avoid any products that I knew I wouldn't like or wouldn't use. Finally! I think this is something a lot of people want from their beauty box rather than being overrun with products that aren't right for your skin or aren't a suitable colour etc.

Beauteco Box have just launched in May and they plan to expand the amount of box choices on offer as they grow. Boxes will cost £10 per month plus £2.95 for postage, and you can save money by ourchasing a 3, 6 or 12 month. You can subscribe to beauteco box at www.beautecobox.co.uk and you can also check out their facebook page for more details.

Are you ready to try a new beauty box? Do you like the option of choosing what goes in the box?

Models Own new artstix - pink stuff swatches

2013-05-03T10:00:00.000+01:00

Have you seen the new artstix from models own? They're new mini duo polish sets and each comes with an opaque coloured polish to 'paint it' and a glittery or pearlecent top coat to 'cover it'. It's a great way to try two new models own polishes as the artstix cost £6 whereas a full size polishes usually cost £5 each.

I've been playing with the one called *'pink stuff' which has pastel pink at one end and hot stuff topcoat at the other. Here they all are swatched seperately and then together.

And here's the pink stuff artstix compared to it's big brothers in the same shades as I happened to already own these colours. I'd forgotten what a perfect shade pastel pink is and I've gone a bit crazy wearing it loads since I've re-discovered it. I'm wearing it right now in a combo with one of the new Models Own Hed Kandi shades, but more about that in another post...

I really like this idea and would rush out and buy lots of the artstix if I didn't already own most of the colours. I'm a bit of a Models Own addict, especially when it comes to the glitter topcoats, so I already have most of the duos in their full sizes. I'm greedy like that!

There are 8 different duos available and you can check them all out here on the models own site - I think my favourite is snow mix.

Are you a models own fan too?

New brand alert - Cargo Cosmetics - review and swatches

2013-05-01T18:32:00.002+01:00

Today I'm sharing with you the first products I've tried from American brand, Cargo Cosmetics. It's new to the UK highstreet and will be sold in Debenhams. If you think you've seen Cargo before, you're not going mad as it did used to be sold here years ago, and now it's back. I never tried Cargo the first time but I seem to remember it being sold on QVC and I think my Mum had some products.

I've been trying out a Cargo blush, eye shadow and lip gloss in some really complimetary spring shades. I'm really drawn to the stainless steel effect packaging - it looks striking and simple all at the same time - it also makes the products easy to store and grab in the mornings.

The *blush in the shade 'the big easy' is my favourite - it's a gorgeous rosey, dusky pink and I really like how it works on my medium skin tone. I've been wearing it loads since I got it - it applies really evenly and it's long lasting. It's also huge so I think it'll last me for years - it's 8.9g and it costs £19.

I don't often buy single eye shadows - for convenience and to save space I tend to stick with palettes and I always buy really neutral and nude shades, so it was nice to try this golden *eye shadow in Mo Jave to get me slightly out of my comfort zone. It's not a gaudy gold at all, it's quite soft and muted, totally suitable for daytime, and I really like it. It's well pigmented, applied smoothly and lasted well, although I do always use an eye primer under any shadow. Cargo have some other really pretty looking colours in this range too - St Tropez and Columbia look particularly tempting to me.

The lip gloss is the least exciting to me as I really can't get back into being a fan. I never used to wear lipstick and only ever wore gloss, but for the past couple of years or more it's been the total opposite. If you are a lip gloss fan this is a lovely shade and it's not a sticky gloss at all. I tried it layered over a nude lipstick and it really brought out the shade and added a bit of shimmer. This *lipgloss is in the shade Sahara which I'd say is a pinky nude - the glosses are slightly smaller than your average lipgloss tube, but they only cost £7.50 each.

Check out the full Cargo range at beautybay.com - I'm particularly taken with the gorgeous beach blushes - they're just too pretty.

Have you tried Cargo makeup before?

My new stripey louis armchair from outthereinteriors.com

2013-04-30T10:00:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my hallway. Fancy a sit down in my snazzy new chair?

I've long admired gorgeous vintage-esque, shabby chic, french furniture, and particularly wanted a beautifully ornate and eye-catching chair like this one. This chair is actually destined to be a bit of a showpiece in my bedroom, but until we redecorate in there it's adorning the hallway and greeting all of my guests with its smiley stripes.

*The chair is called Bethany and she's really striking as well as being sturdy and well made. My boyfriend keeps calling the chair a throne when I sit on it - if he's insinuating that I'm a princess I won't argue...

The only thing that's slightly disappointing is that one of the arm covers has almost no stripes on it, so it looks a bit like it doesn't match - it's because there's an extra wide purple stripe in the pattern though, and I guess each chair is unique.

The company has quite an amazing array of beautiful products like this chair - I could have spent hours browsing everything. This chair comes in other colours, plus I fell in love with some gorgeous patterned mannequins and a fabulous ornately framed mirror. If I was re-decorating my house with an unlimited budget I could do some serious damage!

What's your home decor style? Does french style furniture appeal to you?

Little updates

2013-04-28T16:22:00.001+01:00

Happy Sunday everyone! I'm not sure why I'm so cheerful today - it must be all of the sunshine we've been getting in London. I love Winter but it went on far too long and I'm so pleased Spring is here and I can stop lugging around a big winter coat! I hope it's sunny where you are too.

1 - playing with some fab new makeup from Cargo - I love the blush - blogging about this soon

2 - One of my favourite glossybox themes ever

3 - I finally posted my big Canadian / US goodies giveaway so go ahead and enter here

4 - I also have another giveaway on the go to win a Soak Yourself Love Soak kit - enter here

1 - I love these beautiful trees on all of the streets where I live - it's a shame they only look like this for about two weeks a year

2 - Trying out the new Everriche shampoo and conditioner

3 - Searching for cures for shiny face

4 - Bathtime product overload

1 - speckly beige nails with L'Oreal and Topshop polishes

2 - Essie nice is nice from glossybox

3 - Nails Inc Hobart Place

4 - Illamasaqua paranormal nails

5 - Models Own Hed Kandi polishes

6 - My bestie's pretty glitter mani

1 - back into loving graze boxes

2 - fruity treat as I'm now doing Slimming World

3 - these pancakes are much healthier than they look - they're made with bananas!

4 - I tried making my own houmous - to be honest it wasn't that great

5 - one of the best Slimming World recipes I've tried so far - meatball pasta bake

6 - pasta salad lunch at work

1 - Testing out a rainbow cake recipe in preparation for a special first birthday party
2 - teapot cake I helped my bestie make for her Nan's 80th
3 - my cupcake production line
4 - One of the neatest cupcakes I've ever iced!

Lately I've been totally addicted to Prison Break - I never watched it when it was on TV but I've been catching up with it on Love Film. I'm just starting season 3 now and I love it. To me it's as good as 24 or Lost and Wentworth Miller is a total hottie, so that helps. I need to find a new equally amazing show to watch when I finish the last season.

As I mentioned I've started Slimming World - I'm in my third week and it's going really well so far. I'll probably do a post about it in the next week or two as I know some of you may never have tried that diet and will be interested to know what it's all about.

Don't forget to enter my USA goodies giveaway and my Soak Yourself giveaway - I have another giveaway coming up in May too! xx

Baby botox review - before, after and 3 months later - So Be Beauty London

2013-04-27T18:41:00.000+01:00

I freely tell anyone who wants to know that I have botox. I know some people find it a bit weird, or a bit taboo, but for me it fixes one of my major beauty hang-ups - deep frown lines - and it makes me feel so much better when I look in the mirror.

Frown lines have been my enemy since I was 18 or 19, so they're not so much about age - generally some people are more prone to them than others. I guess I must spend a lot of my time frowning and scowling to have such deep lines on my forehead! Looking at my Mum, who's 27 years older than me, she has fewer lines on her forehead, but my brother, who's 5 years younger, has them about as bad as me, so I guess we were just made that way.

I had baby botox for the first time back in 2011, and I was really pleased with the results and surprised about how easy and painless the whole process was. I blogged about that here - baby botox before and after.

The only reason I didn't get it done again straight away was probably the cost - I kept meaning to put a bit of money each side each month, but then spending it on something else. When I went to get baby botox done again in January this year I actually thought it had only been six month since the last time - not sure how I got that so confused but it had been 18 months! Possibly it's because the effects of the botox last really well on me, so I thought that's what I'd tell you about this time, rather than doing a straightforward before and after post again.

So this is me on 26 April - I had baby botox on my forehead on 29 January, so roughly three months ago. I'm only just now starting to notice the first signs that the botox is wearing off.

One of the first signs that time's up, is my eyebrows. This is going to sound weird, but I naturally have one eyebrow higher than the other, but baby botox seems to fix that. The first time I had botox done I felt it made my brows super arched and I didn't really like that, but I then realised when I went back a second time, that it could be to my advantage. I went to the So Be Beauty salon in South East London to get my treatment and Doctor Anand worked his magic in a way that evened my eyebrows out and made them look the most symmetrical they've ever been. To me this is a perfect two for one bonus - gone are the craggy lines and I have better brows!

I think I'll probably book in to go back within the next month or so as having a line free forehead (and fairly even brows) gives me so much more confidence. Without the botox treatment I feel like the lines on my forehead are so obvious and make me look old before my time. When I look in the mirror they're literally all I see. I'd forgotten how much better having botox made me feel about my skin until I had it done again for the second time.

I took some 'before' photos which I lost when I had my big laptop death episode recently, so I've zoomed in on a photo from one of my other blog posts which shows my botox-free forehead.

As this photo wasn't taken specifically to capture the lines, you can't see them in their full glory, but you can certainly see the ringleader - the biggest and meanest line right in the middle. You can also see some other 'before' pictures in my previous botox post here, they're older photos, but I was doing some extreme frowning!

And now the after - and bear in mind this is three months after.

I have quite enlarged pores on my forehead I know, but in terms of lines, we're all smooth.

So just to cover off a few things you might want to know about baby botox -

It's a lower concentration than actual botox - it's like botox light. I can move my face, smile, frown, raise my eyebrows etc.

Nobody really notices I've had it done (other than perhaps thinking I look a bit better but not being sure why) and when I tell them, they say they wouldn't have realised because I don't have that 'frozen' or 'plastic' look that they expect people who have botox to have.

The treatment I have costs £200 and that covers the whole forehead area and between the brows. If you're wanting botox in the same place as me you have to have the between the brows area done too to avoid any drooping.

Botox doesn't really hurt - it's no more or less painful than having a vaccination in your arm. My skin doesn't bleed or bruise and it only takes about 15 minutes to have it done. I think the Doctor injects about 10 times at defined points on the skin. The effects come on gradually in the week following the treatment.

The salon I go to is called So Be Beauty and it's in South East London - you can find their website here - sobebeauty.com The treatment is performed by a qualified professional called Doctor Anand - he's a really nice guy and makes you feel very much at ease and talks you through everything as he does it.

If you sign up to So Be Beauty's mailing list you'll get an email when they have special offers and discounts and the offers change each month - they don't just do botox either so there might be another offer you'll be interested in. This isn't a sponsored post and I paid for my treatments - I'm just really impressed with the results and the service from Doctor Anand and So Be Beauty.

If you have any questions about baby botox that aren't covered here leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer, or you can tweet me - @fluttersparkle

How do you feel about botox? Would you ever get it done?

Neom scent with love body care gift set

2013-04-27T14:58:00.004+01:00

If you're new to Neom, or are thinking about introducing a friend to the brand with a gift, *Neom's Scent with Love gift set is a great place to start. It comes presented in a pretty gift box and you get to sample several fragrances at once as well as a great variety of Neom's body products.

The scent with love gift set includes three of Neom's different fragrances to try - Complete Bliss, Sensuous (fab floral scent) and Tranquility and four different body products - hand cream, body lotion, body wash and bath oil.

I love Neom firstly for their candles, but their bath oils come a close second and this one in the tranquility fragrance is amazing. When I use this oil in my bath the scent fills the whole house and you only need a few drops so this 30ml size would last for ages.

This is the perfect gift set for a luxury bathing experience. It costs £35 and you can get it from neomorganics.com

Have you tried any of these Neom fragrances or products? Which is your favourite?

April Glossybox - the Pearl Lowe edition

2013-04-26T18:00:00.000+01:00

Ooooh looky here, another conended for prettiest glossybox ever! Like lost of people I keep all of my glossyboxes for storage, so this is a super lovely one to add to the collection. The contents ain't half bad either!

In this month's box I received Model Co cheek + lip tint in Rosy red, Yves rocher france so elixir purple eau de parfum, NIP+FAB dry skin fix body butter in Pistachio sundae, Sunsence daily face SPF50 and Essie nail lacquer in Nice is nice.

I didn't expect to see an Essie polish in the glossybox, so this was the first excitement when I lifted the lid. It's a lovely playe greyish lilac colour and I posted a swatch of it on my Instagram here.

My next favourite product in the box is the NIP+FAB pistachio sundae body butter - it smells gorgeous and I'm currently using it as a hand cream on my desk at work.

The other three products are ones I'm not familiar with but I'm keen to try. Although I'm usually a bit critical of perfume samples in beauty boxes, So Elixir sample is a fair size for travel and it smells really lovely too.

*Glossybox costs £10 per month plus £2.95 postage and you can subscribe here - glossybox.com

Did you get the Pearl Lowe glossybox? What was in yours?